IOR/L/PS/9/71/35

Copies of dispatches Nos. 59 and 60 from the East India Company Envoy to Persia [Iran], Lieutenant-Colonel John Macdonald Kinneir, to the Chief Secretary to the Government of India, George Swinton.

In dispatch No. 59, of 12 August 1827, Macdonald Kinneir reports the transmission of a letter, addressed from himself to General Peskavitch [General Ivan Fyodorovich Paskevich-Erivansky, Governor-General of Georgia], which was belatedly conveyed by the Prince Royal, Abbas Mirza [Crown Prince of Persia, ʿAbbās Mīrzā Qājār], following the Russian capture of Abbasabad [‘Abbasabad], the reply to which was originally enclosed with this letter (now catalogued as IOR/L/PS/9/71/36). He goes on to discuss the ongoing war between Russia and Persia [Russo-Persian War, 1826-1828], including:

• The failed attempt to negotiate an armistice and peace terms between Peskavitch and the Prince Royal, conducted by the Persian envoy Mirza Saleh [Mīrzā Ṣāliḥ Shīrāzī] and Peskavitch’s private secretary Gribiodoff [Alexander Sergeyevich Gribodoyev] (see IOR/L/PS/9/71/34)
• The poor conduct and missed opportunities in the war by both the Russians and Persians
• The deficient leadership of both the Shah of Persia [Fatḥ-‘Alī Shāh Qājār] and the Prince Royal in the war.

Dispatch No. 60, of 17 August 1827, originally enclosed confidential papers given to Macdonald Kinneir by his secret informant in the Prince Royal’s camp (now catalogued as IOR/L/PS/9/71/37).

This document was originally enclosed, numbered 2, in Macdonald Kinneir’s letter to the Secret Committee of the East India Company of 20 August 1827 (IOR/L/PS/9/71/33).