IOR/L/PS/20/CA11

Confidential printed abstracts of letters received by the India Office from the Government of India, and from senior officials in certain areas outside India, during the year 1871. The letters are dated December 1870-December 1871. The abstracts each have one of the following titles:

• Abstracts of Letters received from India
• Abstracts of Military Letters received from India
• Abstracts of Letters received from Aden
• Abstracts of Letters received from Bushire [Bushehr]
• Abstracts of Letters received from Aden and Bushire
• Abstracts of Letters received from Bushire and Aden
• Abstracts of Letters received from Zanzibar
• Abstracts of Letters received from Zanzibar and Bushire
• Abstracts of Letters received from Zanzibar, Bushire and Aden
• Abstracts of Secret Letters received from India.

Each abstract contains summaries of one or more letters from the specified source, each with a title giving the subject of the letter. Letters from India are divided within each abstract by the branch or department of the Government of India they originated from. The correspondence covers issues including:

• Pay, pensions, recruitment, and other personnel issues in the Indian Civil and Military establishments
• Revenue, expenditure, and taxation
• Public works, including: roads; railways including proposed railways to Persia [Iran] and the head of the Persian Gulf; prisons; barracks; irrigation; canals; harbours; and land reclamations
• Issues concerning Princely States, including: debts; allowances; internal administration; and police action on the borders of Marwar and Serohi [Sirohi]
• Land issues, including land revenue settlements and forestry
• Telegraphy
• Issues concerning emigration from India to British Guiana [Guyana], Grenada, Penang, and French colonies
• Military affairs, including: the reorganisation, supply, accommodation, and discipline of military units; naval deployments; and harbour defences in Aden and Bombay
• Education
• Banking
• Affairs on the Northwest Frontier, including raids by the Wuzeerees [Wazīrī tribe] and frontier policy in Beloochistan [Baluchistan]
• Affairs on the Eastern [Northeast] Frontier, including: defensive arrangements; frontier defences in British-occupied Arracan [Rakhine] and Tenasserim [Tanintharyi] in Burmah [Myanmar/Burma]; raids on tea plantations in Cachar, Sylhet, Tipperah [Tripura], and Munnipore [Manipur] by members of the Looshai [Mizo] tribes; and arrangements for a military expedition against the Looshai
• Affairs in Persia, including: frontier relations with Turkey [Ottoman Empire] and with Afghanistan concerning Seistan [Sistan]; trade issues in the Persian Gulf; famine and prohibitions on grain export
• Affairs in the Sultanate of Muscat and Oman, in particular civil conflict leading to the accession of Syud Toorkee [Turkī bin Sa’īd Āl Bū Sa’īd] to the throne and potential threats to Syud Toorkee’s power
• Affairs in the Persian Gulf and Arabian Peninsula, including: conflict in Nejd [Emirate of Najd, also written here as Nujd] between Saood [Sa’ūd bin Fayṣal Al Sa’ūd] and Abdullah [‘Abdullāh bin Fayṣal Al Sa’ūd]; a Turkish [Ottoman] expedition to Nejd, the Turkish occupation of Lahsa [Al Hasa], and the raising of the Turkish flag in Guttur [Qatar]; and the settlement of Odeyd [Khor al-Udayd], claimed by Aboothabee [Abu Dhabi], by an independent tribe
• Affairs in and around Aden Settlement, including: the capture of Hodeida [Al Hudaydah] by the Aseeris [Emirate of ‘Asir]; relations with neighbouring polities, in particular Lahej [Laḥij Sultanate] and the Foodlees [Faḍlī Sultanate]; the security of roads; and suspected Turkish designs in Yemen
• Affairs in Zanzibar, including the accession of Syud Burgash [Sayyid Barghash bin Sa’īd Āl Bū Sa’īd] to the throne and his relations with Britain and Muscat and the slave trade
• Affairs in East Africa, including suspected Turkish designs on Berbera and an attack on a British ship by the Majerteen [Mājertīn Sultanate]
• Civil conflict in Affghanistan [Afghanistan] between Yakoob Khan [Muḥammad Ya’qūb Khān] and the Ameer [Amīr Shīr ‘Alī Khān], the flight of refugees to India, and Russian overtures to the Ameer
• Relations with Burmah, including trade relations, proposed routes to China, and arms imports
• Exploration of the route from Ladak [Ladakh] to Yarkund [Yarkant].

The primary correspondents are:

• The Government of India
• The Viceroy and Governor-General of India
• The Resident in Aden
• The Political Resident in the Persian Gulf
• The Political Agent in Zanzibar.