IOR/L/PS/9/71/55

Translation of a letter from Mirza Abul Hassan Khan [Mīrzā Abū al-Ḥasan Khān Shīrāzī, Foreign Minister of Persia] to the East India Company Envoy to Persia [Iran], Lieutenant-Colonel John Macdonald Kinneir. Mirza Abul Hassan Khan reports that the Shāh of Persia [Fatḥ-‘Alī Shāh Qājār] has cancelled the planned mission of Mirza Abdul Hoosain Khan [Mīrzā ‘Abd al-Ḥusayn Khān Shīrāzī] to England (see IOR/L/PS/9/71/51-53), but that on account of the ongoing war between Russia and Persia [Russo-Persian War, 1826-1828] the Shāh still plans on dispatching Mirza Abul Hassan Khan to St Petersburgh [St Petersburg]. He indicates that this mission is intended to depart following the arrival of the former HM Chargé d’Affaires to Persia, Henry Willock, in Persia, or after the receipt of answers to letters conveyed to the British Government by the former Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, Colonel Ephraim Gerrish Stannus. Mirza Abul Hassan Khan also notes that it has been apparent that since the beginning of the war there has been an ‘alteration’ in the sentiments of the British Government towards Persia.

This document was originally enclosed, numbered 4 in dispatch No. 65, in Macdonald Kinneir’s letter to the Secret Committee of the East India Company of 22 September 1827 (IOR/L/PS/9/71/50).