IOR/L/PS/9/71/2

Copy of dispatch No. 49 from the East India Company Envoy to Persia [Iran], Lieutenant-Colonel John Macdonald Kinneir, in Tabreez [Tabriz], to the Chief Secretary to the Government of India, George Swinton, of 1 June 1827. The letter originally enclosed papers concerning the ongoing war between Russia and Persia in the Caucasus [Russo-Persian War, 1826-1828] and other matters (now catalogued as IOR/L/PS/9/71/3-10). This letter concerns the ongoing war, detailing the Russian siege of Erivan [Yerevan], giving an account of a battle between Russian and Persian forces, and reporting on the movements of the army of the Shah of Persia [Fatḥ-‘Alī Shāh Qājār]. The letter also covers: military events in Dagistan [Dagestan]; the disgrace of the former Vizier to the Prince-Governor of Fars, Mahomed Zekee Khan [Muḥammad Zakī Khān], resulting from a dispute with British officials over the imprisonment of Sheikh Abdool Russool of Bushire [Shaikh of Bushehr, Shaikh ʿAbd al-Rasūl Khān]; and an incident in which an individual bearing letters from the Government of India to Macdonald Kinneir was ‘plundered’ by ‘banditti’. A postscript also details the capture of communications between Russian generals (catalogued as IOR/L/PS/9/71/9-10).

This document was originally enclosed in Macdonald Kinneir’s letter to the Secret Committee of the East India Company of 22 June 1827 (IOR/L/PS/9/71/1).