IOR/L/PS/9/70/182

The translation of a letter from the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Persia [Iran], Mirza Abul Hassan Khan [Mirza Abū al-Ḥasan Khan Shīrāzī], to the Governor-General of Georgia, General Yermoloff [General Aleksey Petrovich Yermolov]. In the letter, Mirza Abul Hassan Khan indicates his regret at the outbreak of war between Russia and Persia [Russo-Persian War 1826-1828], and tells Yermoloff that he should not have allowed the encroachments made by Russian troops on Persian territory in the Caucasus and that the Persian Government had no choice but to enter into hostilities following the failure of negotiations to settle the dispute. Mirza Abul Hassan Khan announces the dispatch of his nephew Mirza Mohomed Alli [Mirza Muhammad 'Ali Khan Shirazi] to Yermoloff, accompanying a party of Russian prisoners and bearing a letter to the Russian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Count [Karl Robert] Nesselrode. He also indicates that he is willing to ‘settle the existing differences’ with Yermoloff, and that Mirza Mohomed Alli is authorised to propose and effect a suspension of hostilities.

This translation was originally enclosed, numbered 3, in the letter of the East India Company Envoy to Persia, Lieutenant-Colonel John Macdonald Kinneir, to the Secret Committee of the East India Company of 11 February 1827 (IOR/L/PS/9/70/179).