IOR/L/PS/9/70/67

Copy of dispatch No. 1 from HM Chargé d’Affaires to Persia [Iran], Henry Willock, in Tehran, to HM Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, George Canning, of 13 January 1826. The letter originally enclosed copies of correspondence between the Russian General Wilhemenoff and the Prince Royal of Persia [Crown Prince of Persia, 'Abbās Mīrzā Qājār] concerning an ongoing border dispute between Russia and Persia over land on the shores of the lake of Gokcheh [Lake Sevan] (now catalogued as IOR/L/PS/9/70/68-69). The letter itself also concerns this frontier dispute, detailing:

• The Prince Royal’s erroneous reports of a build-up of Russian troops in the Caucasus
• The mission of Mirza Saudik [Mirza Muhammad Sadiq Marvazi] to Tiflis [Tbilisi] to discuss the dispute with General Wilhemenoff
• The desire of the Shah of Persia [Fath-‘Ali Shāh Qājār] to open a correspondence with Canning concerning the dispute, and Willock’s efforts to defer the matter until the arrival of the East India Company Envoy to Persia, Lieutenant-Colonel John Macdonald Kinneir, in Persia.

This document was originally enclosed in Willock’s letter to the Secret Committee of the East India Company of 17 February 1826 (IOR/L/PS/9/70/66).