IOR/L/PS/9/71/108

Extract from the private journal of the East India Company Envoy to Persia [Iran], Lieutenant-Colonel John Macdonald Kinneir, dated 15 October 1827 to 14 December 1827. The journal details negotiations for peace in the ongoing war between Russia and Persia [Russo-Persian War, 1826-1828]. Macdonald Kinneir details the events preceding and during the meeting of Prince Abbas Meerza [ʿAbbās Mīrzā Qājār, Crown Prince of Persia] and General Paskevitch [General Ivan Fyodorovich Paskevich-Erivansky, Governor-General of Georgia], at Deharaghon [Azarshahr], for the negotiation of peace between Russia and Persia. He reports his travels, including to Tabreez [Tabriz], which is occupied by the Russians during the period covered by the journal, and the arrangements for the meeting at Deharaghon. Included are details of the Russian occupation of Tabreez, and Macdonald Kinneir’s efforts to ensure Abbas Meerza’s presence at Deharaghon. The journal then discusses the negotiations at Deharaghon regarding the cession of Talish to Russia and the payment of financial reparations demanded by Russia, including a transcript (in French) of proposals drawn up for the terms for the Persian payment of reparations (ff 21-22). Macdonald Kinneir also details the mistrust existing between Abbas Meerza and General Paskevitch, and the build-up of troops by both sides, including a transcript (in French) of a proposed armistice agreement (ff 26-28).

The journal records Macdonald Kinneir’s meetings and communications with officials on both sides during the period, including:

• Prince Abbas Meerza
• General Paskevitch
• The Prime Minister of the Shah of Persia, the Asuf-oo-Dowleh [Allāh Yār Khān Qājār Davallū Āṣaf al-Dawlah]
• The Kaim Mukam [Mīrzā Abū al-Qāsim Farāhānī, Qāʾim-Maqām, the Vizier of the Crown Prince]
• M Amburger [Andrei Karlovich Amburger]
• General Paskevitch’s private secretary, M Grebiadoff [Alexander Sergeyevich Griboyedov].

This document was originally enclosed, numbered 1, in Macdonald Kinneir’s dispatch No. 75 to the Chief Secretary to the Government of India, George Swinton, of 9 December 1827 (IOR/L/PS/9/71/107).