IOR/L/PS/9/71/60

Translation of a letter from Meerza Abool Hassan Khan [Mīrzā Abū al-Ḥasan Khān Shīrāzī, Foreign Minister of Persia] to the President of the Board of Control, Charles Watkin Williams-Wynn, dated September 1827. The letter is nearly identical to Meerza Abool Hassan Khan’s letter to the Court of Directors of the East India Company (catalogued as IOR/L/PS/9/71/59). Meerza Abool Hassan Khan discusses the outbreak of the ongoing war between Persia [Iran] and Russia [Russo-Persian War, 1826-1828], placing the blame for the war on the ‘Russian Frontier Authorities’ [the Russian Government in Georgia], in opposition to the wishes of the Emperor of Russia, and indicating that Persia had sought to avoid war but had been rebuffed by the frontier authorities. He reports that the Shah of Persia [Fatḥ-‘Alī Shāh Qājār] intends to send him to St Petersburgh [St Petersburg], via Vienna or London, to effect a reconciliation between Russia and Persia, indicating a wish for British mediation in the endeavour.

This document was originally enclosed 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 22 September 1827 (IOR/L/PS/9/71/50).