IOR/L/PS/9/71/69

Extract from the journal of Captain John Nicholl Robert Campbell, the assistant to the East India Company Envoy to Persia [Iran], Lieutenant-Colonel John Macdonald Kinneir, during his visit to the camp of the Prince Royal [ʿAbbās Mīrzā Qājār, Crown Prince of Persia]. The journal details the communications between Campbell and the Prince Royal held on 21 September 1827 concerning Anglo-Persian relations and the ongoing war between Russia and Persia [Russo-Persian War, 1826-1828], including:

• The Prince Royal’s frustration at the failure of the British Government to acknowledge or respond to his communications on the subject of the war, which he attributes to a lack of interest in Persia
• His belief that Persia is entitled to a subsidy and mediation in the war from the British, as per Anglo-Persian treaty relations, on account of Russia being the aggressor in the war
• The desire of both the Prince Royal and the Shāh of Persia [Fatḥ-‘Alī Shāh Qājār] to send envoys to England
• The prospect of a timely agreement of peace with Russia so as to avoid greater pecuniary and territorial demands in the event of a prolongation of the war
• The disrespectful behaviour of the leader of the Russian forces, General Paskevitch [General Ivan Fyodorovich Paskevich-Erivansky, Governor-General of Georgia]
• The lack of funds available for the Prince Royal to continue to prosecute the war effectively.

This document was originally enclosed, numbered 1 in dispatch No. 67, in Macdonald Kinneir’s letter to the Secret Committee of the East India Company of October 1827 (IOR/L/PS/9/71/67).