IOR/P/438/11

This volume contains the Proceedings of the Political branch of the Foreign Department of the Government of India for the months of October to December 1870. 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 Persia [Iran], including: grain riots in Bushire [Bushehr], including the Persian authorities’ prohibition on wheat exports, attacks on employees of Messrs Malcolm, increasing disorder exacerbated by food shortages and lack of a permanent Persian Governor, agitated communications of Lieutenant-Colonel Lewis Pelly, Political Resident, Persian Gulf, with the Foreign Agent at Bushire and Sir Charles Alison, HM Minister in Teheran (3-55, October 1870); bread riots at Ispahan [Isfahan] and Koom [Qom] and apprehended famine in Persia (56-61, 63-64, October Proceedings; 403, December Proceedings); the Shah [Shāh] of Persia’s intended pilgrimage to Kerbela [Karbala] (62, October Proceedings, 258, November Proceedings); British plans to extend the Foreign Jurisdiction Act to Persia and the Persian Gulf (161-162, November Proceedings); hostilities along the Turco-Persian Frontier, notably at Pushtikuh [Pusht-i-Kuh] (181-189, December Proceedings)
• Affairs in the Persian Gulf, including: Pelly’s antipathy toward Mirza Mehdi Khan [Mīrzā Mahdī Khān] being appointed ‘Foreign Agent on the Persian Gulf Littoral’ due to his propensity to ‘intrigue in affairs on the Arab Coast’ (f 575) (284-291, December Proceedings); trade between India and the Persian Gulf and complaints regarding the purported imposition of additional duties by the Persian Consul-General at Bombay [Mumbai] (300-302, 381-386, December Proceedings); affairs relating to Bahrein [Bahrain] (403, December Proceedings); a proposed railway from the Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf (223-226, October Proceedings)
• Affairs in Muscat and Oman, notably: the departure of Syud Toorkee [Sayyid Turkī bin Sa‘īd Āl Bū Sa‘īd] from Bombay and his campaign to gain the rulership of Oman, including his attempts to garner support on the Persian coast at Bunder Abbass [Bandar-e ‘Abbas], from Arab Coast rulers and Wahabees [Wahhābīs], a failed attack on Bereymee [Al Buraymi], the collection of a force and its landing at Soor [Sur]; the military operations of Syud Azan bin Ghias [Sayyid ‘Azzān bin Qays Āl Bū Sa‘īd] to establish his authority over all Omani tribes, particularly the Naeem [al-Na‘īm], including besieging the Azum [Al Hazm] fort, and his defeat at Zunk [Dhank]; British exhortations to the protagonists in Oman not to disturb the maritime peace in the Gulf by launching attacks by sea (219-243, 256-283, 292-293, 403, 705-723, December Proceedings). Also covered are the Sultan of Zanzibar’s measures to avert a threatened invasion from Oman (to enforce Zanzibar’s payment of the subsidy) (244-255, December Proceedings)
• Affairs in Turkish Arabia [Ottoman Iraq], including: confirmation of Colonel Charles Herbert as Political Agent Turkish Arabia (81-83, November Proceedings); the Turkish Government’s navigation of the River Euphrates (17-19, December Proceedings); Herbert’s proposal for the replacement vessel of the Comet in the Mesopotamia rivers (421-424A, December Proceedings)
• General affairs in the Aden Settlement and surrounding region, including: movements of French ships and their scouting for suitable harbours near Aden, Turkish naval operations near Babel Mandeb [Bab el-Mandeb Strait], and affairs relating to the Sultan of Lahej [Lahij] (227-232, October Proceedings; 193-202, December Proceedings); news from the British representative at Mussowah [Massawa], and a visit of the Yaffaee [Yāfi‘] tribe to Aden (266-268, October Proceedings); discontinuance of the Foodtheli [Faḍlī] Ruler’s treaty obligation to send a ‘hostage’ to reside in Aden (245-248, November Proceedings); Aden Settlement Annual Administration Report, 1869-70 (33-34, December Proceedings)
• Matters relative to the suppression of the trade in enslaved persons between Arabia and the east coast of Africa, including: forfeiture of cargoes on board ‘slave vessels’, efforts of the Political Agent and HM Consul in Zanzibar to effect a treaty with the Zanzibar Sultan for suppression of the trade on his coast (65-66, 167-168, November Proceedings; 206-207, December Proceedings); the enslavement of Africans imported into India by Arabs (377-380, December Proceedings)
• Proposals for a reorganisation of the Indo-European Telegraph Department (90, November Proceedings).

The Proceedings also cover:

• Relations with rulers of Indian Princely States and their families, including: debts; loans; succession matters; petitions; deaths; educational arrangements for minority rulers and heirs apparent; inheritance matters
• Financial affairs concerning the Nawab Nazim of Bengal and his family
• The boundary dispute case of Maharaja Holkar (of Indore) and his request for a territorial reward
• Matters relating to senior and influential persons in India, including: positions; titles; hereditary rights; advances and allowances; pensions; petitions
• Appointments, pay and allowances of British officers and officials
• India and Burmah [Burma/Myanmar] frontier matters, including: the Assam and Munnipore [Manipur] boundary; the Tenasserim Frontier; the North East Frontier; the Eastern Frontier (Bengal); border raids
• Appointments of foreign consuls in India and Burmah
• State prisoners in India
• Political, administrative, financial, military and public works matters notably in Ulwur [Alwar], Ajmere [Ajmer], Rajpootana [Rajputana], Agrore [Agror] Valley, Kattywar [Kathiawar], Chumba [Chamba], Rewah [Rewa], Junjeera [Janjira], Ladakh, Serohi [Sirohi], Tonk, and Patna
• Affairs in Burmah, including British relations with the Burmese royal family; ‘piracies’ in the Mergui Archipelago; communications developments; trade; consulates; British agents’ diaries of events in Mandalay and Bhamo; administration; renovation of the Shoay Mawdan [Shwemawdaw] Pagoda at Pegu [Bago]
• Affairs in Afghanistan, chiefly covered by ‘Cabul [Kabul] Diaries’ of the Political Agent, 15 September-5 December 1870
• Affairs on the east African coast, including compensation to owners of a dhow illegally captured and destroyed by HMS Nymphe in April 1869
• The trial, in Meywar [Mewar], of Mehta Ajeet Singh, for exceeding his lawful authority and engaging in acts of torture.

A small amount of correspondence in French is present in this volume.