IOR/L/PS/20/CA14

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 1874. The letters are dated November 1873-December 1874. The abstracts each have one of the following titles:

• Abstract of Letters received from India
• Abstracts of Letters received from Bushire
• Abstracts of Secret Letters received from India
• Abstracts of Letters received from Aden
• Abstracts of Military Letters received from India
• Abstracts of Letters received from Bushire and Aden
• Abstracts of Secret Letters received from Aden.

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:

• Revenue and expenditure
• Administrative reports from individual provinces and territorial units
• Public works, including railways, canals, and ports
• Land issues, including taxation, surveys, and plantations
• Famine in Bengal
• Internal affairs, including communal violence in Bombay [Mumbai]
• Affairs concerning Princely States, including internal administration and succession of local rulers
• Telegraphic communication, including a proposed telegraphic link with the Andaman Islands and issues affecting telegraph lines in Persia [Iran]
• Emigration from India to South Africa, British Guiana [Guyana], Mauritius and Réunion, the Straits Settlements, and the Caribbean
• Military affairs, including frontier outposts, the supply and organisation of military units, and outbreaks of disease among troops
• Frontier affairs, including a proposed campaign against the Duffla [Nyishi] tribes on the Northeast Frontier and negotiations with the Mahsud Wazir [Maḥsūd] tribe on the Northwest Frontier
• Foreign relations of the Government of India, including: relations with Burmah [Burma/Myanmar], Siam [Thailand], Afghanistan, and Thibet [Tibet]; the missions of Thomas Forsyth and Robert Shaw to Yarkund [Yarkant]; and a proposed mission to Yunan [Yunnan Province]
• The activities of rival colonial powers, including French activity in Burmah and the Russian advance into Central Asia
• Affairs in Afghanistan, in particular the rebellion of Yakoob Khan [Muḥammad Ya’qūb Khān, Governor of Herat] against his father Sher Ali [Shīr-’Alī Khān, Amīr of Afghanistan]
• Affairs in the Sultanate of Muscat and Oman, including: the Zanzibar Subsidy paid by the Government of India to the Sultan Syud Toorkee [Turkī bin Sa’īd Āl Bū Sa’īd]; challenges to the rule of the Sultan from Syud Salem [Sālim bin Thuwaynī Āl Bū Saʿīd] in Gwadur [Gwadar], Saleh bin Ali [Ṣāliḥ bin ‘Alī al-Ḥārithī] in Muttra [Matrah], and Ibrahim bin Ghes [Ibrāhīm bin Qays Āl Bū Sa’īd]; and an expedition by the Sultan against the Ghaffrees [al-Ghāfirī tribal confederation] in Nezwa [Nizwa] and Ziki [Izki]
• Turkish [Ottoman] activity in the Persian Gulf and Arabian Peninsula, in particular suspected Turkish designs on the Trucial Coast and interference in the Aden Protectorate from Turkish authorities in Yemen
• Affairs in the Aden Protectorate, including: the trade in enslaved people in Hodeida [Al Hudaydah]; the aftermath of a rebellion in the Lahej Sultanate; the defences of Aden; and conflict between the Kayatee [al-Qu‘ayṭī] and Katheree [al-Kathīrī] states involving Arab soldiers from Hyderabad
• Affairs in Persia, including the resignation and reinstatement of the Grand Vizier [Mīrzā Ḥusayn Khān Mushīr al-Dawlah], the cancellation of the Reuter Concession, the proposed Slave Trade Convention, and the issue of the Seistan [Sistan] border
• Affairs in Bahrein [Bahrain], including: a petition from a group of exiles led by Nasir bin Mobarik [Nāṣir bin Mubārak Āl Khalīfah] claiming Turkish protection, requesting permission to return to Bahrein, and demanding the release of prisoners held in India following the 1869 conflict in Bahrein; and a threatened attack on Bahrein by the Beni Hajir [Banū Hājir] tribe from Nejd [Najd]
• Affairs in East Africa, including: slavery in Zanzibar and Mombassa [Mombasa]; suspected Egyptian and Turkish designs on Berbera; the traffic of arms to Abyssinia [Ethiopia]; the death of the missionary Dr David Livingstone; and the proposed construction of lighthouses in the Red Sea
• Affairs in Baghdad, including: disputes with Redif Pasha [Radīf Pāshā, Governor of Baghdad] concerning salutes and navigation rights of British ships on the Euphrates; and attempted Turkish conscription of Bahreinees [Baharna people] and Cashmeerees [Kashmiris] in Baghdad Vilayet.

The primary correspondents are:

• The Government of India (Home, Foreign, Financial, Revenue, Public Works, Legislative, Judicial, Railway, Marine, and Education departments)
• The Governor-General of India
• The Resident in Bushire
• The Resident in Aden
• The Political Agent in Zanzibar.