IOR/P/438/3

This volume contains the Proceedings of the Political branch of the Foreign Department of the Government of India for the months of October-December 1868. These Proceedings comprise copies of correspondence of the Government of India Foreign Department (renamed Foreign and Political Department in 1914).

The subjects covered include:

• Affairs in and around Aden (101, November Proceedings)
• Affairs in the Sultanate of Muscat and Oman including: discontent at Gwadur [Gwadar] due to heavy taxation on the ‘peesh [pīsh] leaf’ by the Sultan of Muscat (93-95, August Proceedings); plots in the interior of Oman, endangering its peace (195-196, October Proceedings); relations between Zanzibar and Muscat (185-186, August Proceedings); Syud Toorkee’s [Turkī bin Sa‘īd Āl Bū Sa‘īd’s] hostile intentions towards Muscat (312-313, October Proceedings); the arrival at Muscat of Captain Sicard, an officer of the French Mercantile Marine, en route to Mesopotamia (314-315, October Proceedings; 99-100, November Proceedings); the invasion of Muscat by the ‘Chief’ of Rostack [Rustaq] (363-377, October Proceedings; 68-87, December Proceedings); the change of the Omani flag from red to white (333-334, December Proceedings); the views of the Duke of Argyll on Muscat and Zanzibar Affairs; Mr C H Gill’s representation of a loan negotiated for Sultan Syud Salim [Sayyid Sālim bin Thuwaynī Āl Bū Sa‘īd, Sulṭān of Muscat], payable from the arrears of the Zanzibar subsidy, and the misappropriation of the last subsidy by the Sultan’s Agent (458-459, December Proceedings)
• Affairs in the Sultanate of Zanzibar including: the trade in enslaved people on the East Coast of Africa, (357-360, October Proceedings); survivors of the wrecked St Abbs ship within the dominions and along the sea board of the Sultan of Zanzibar (388-389, October Proceedings); correspondence on the proposed re-adjustment of the Zanzibar currency (497-499, October Proceedings); Commodore Heath’s proposals to the Sultan of Zanzibar for checking the trade in enslaved people (541-544, October Proceedings); the payment of the Zanzibar Muscat subsidy (172-173, November Proceedings); British powers to check the trade in enslaved people carried out by subjects of the Rao of Kutch residing in Zanzibar (45-51, December Proceedings); the suppression of the trade in enslaved people in Zanzibar (114-118, December Proceedings); the right of vessels to fly the British ensign when carrying passes from the British Consul at Zanzibar (403-412, December Proceedings);
• Affairs in Persia [Iran] including: an attack on one of the couriers of the Tehran Mission whilst conveying the Indian mails to Shiraz (62-65, October Proceedings); the claims of Persia and Muscat to sovereignty rights over the island of Angaum [Jazireh-ye Hengam] (104-109, October Proceedings); the rumoured invasion of Khelat [Kalat] by Persia (180-194, October Proceedings); the articles of agreement for the lease of Bunder Abbas [Bandar-e ‘Abbas], signed by the representatives of Persia and Muscat (212-216, October Proceedings); the occupation of Angaum for telegraphic reasons (266 and 267, October Proceedings); the conveying of acknowledgement and thanks by the British to the Shah of Persia for the renewal of the Bundar Abbas lease (397, October Proceedings); Persia’s intentions towards Khelat (504-506, October Proceedings); Persia’s intention to send a hostile force to Mekran [Makran] (103-104, November Proceedings); treaty infractions by Persia regarding acquisition of household property held in Persia by British subjects (115-117, November proceedings); the Shah’s withdrawal of a ban on the export of silver coins from Persia (318-319, December Proceedings)
• Affairs in Turkish Arabia [Ottoman Iraq] including: religious disturbances in the district of Akra [Akre] (186-187, October Proceedings)
• Affairs in the Gulf including: punitive measures against the ‘chiefs’ of Bahrein [Bahrain] and Aboothabee [Abu Dhabi] (275-281, October Proceedings); the residence of Sheikh Ali’s [Shaikh ‘Alī’s] brother in Gutter [Qatar] (390-391, October Proceedings).

The Proceedings also cover tribal relations, disturbances and armaments, and granting of lands in India. Printed in Calcutta [Kolkata] by J L Kingham, Foreign Department Press, 1868.