IOR/L/PS/5/144, ff 575-950

Newsletters sent out by the Officiating Secretary to the Government of India containing compiled summaries of reports from British officials and military officers in various parts of South Asia and the Middle East.

Each newsletter is divided into headings, most of which refer to the place a report was sent from. Headings which appear in a majority of the newsletters are: Army of the Indus; Cabool [Kabul]; Joudhpore [Jodhpur]; Lahore; Nipal [Nepal]; Peshawur [Peshawar]; Upper Scinde [Sindh] and/or Lower Scinde; and Items of General Intelligence. Other headings include: Aden; Ava [Inwa]; Bithoor; Bokhara [Bukhara]; Burmah [Myanmar]; Bushire [Būshehr]; Candahar [Kandahar]; Dera Ismael Khan [Dera Ismail Khan]; Egypt and Syria; Finance or Financial; Gwalior; Herat; Hyderabad; Kelat [Kalat]; Kurnool; Mooltan [Multan]; Muscat; Persia [Iran]; Persian Gulf; Sattarah [Satara]; and Turkish Arabia.

Several of the reports are concerned with the opening months of the First Anglo-Afghan War, the East India Company’s invasion of Afghanistan in order to depose Dost Mahomed [Dost Mohammad Khan] as Emir and replace him with former Emir Shah Shooja [Shah Shujah Durrani]. These reports cover:

• Movements of troops and artillery
• Logistics of feeding the troops, particularly the acquisition of grain
• Navigation of mountain passes leading into Afghanistan, including the Boolan [Bolan] Pass and the Khyber Pass
• The reorganisation in preparation for the invasion of the so-called ‘Army of the Indus’ by Sir John Keane
• The raising of troops in support of the British by the Maharajah of the Sikh Empire [Ranjit Singh], in accordance with the terms of the Tripartite Treaty of 1838
• A treaty with the Khan of Kelat [Mir Mehrab Khan Baloch II]
• The invasion of Kundooz [Kunduz, also spelt Koondooz in the file] by the son of Dost Mahomed
• Raids on British camps and convoys by so called ‘plunderers’, particularly in Balochistan and around the Khyber Pass
• Attempts by Dost Mahomed to incite a holy war against the British
• An uprising against Dost Mahomed in Cabool
• The activities of Russian and Persian armies in western Afghanistan
• The British capture of Ghuzni [Ghazni] on 23 July and of Ali Musjid [Ali Masjid] on 27 July
• The death from sickness of Mahomed Akbar Khan, son of Dost Mahomed, while retreating from Cabool
• The pursuit and attempted capture of Dost Mahomed after the capture of Ghuzni and his escape to Khoolum [Kholm]
• The creation by Shah Shooja of the Order of the Dooranee [Durrani] Empire to honour British officers involved in the war
• A treaty with Shah Kamran of Herat
• Attempts to force Dost Mahomed out of hiding in Koondooz
• Sickness among British and Sikh troops at Ali Musjid, including from water naturally tainted with antimony.

Other topics covered in the reports include:

• The health of the Maharajah, his death on 27 June, the accession and coronation of his son Kurruck Sing [Kharak Singh] and the late Maharajah’s funeral and tomb
• The subjugation of Nejd [Najd] by Ottoman forces, and perceived threats against Bahrein [Bahrain] and Kowheit [Kuwait]
• The renunciation of hostilities with his neighbours by Sooltan Bin Suggar [Shaikh Sulṭān I bin Ṣaqr al-Qāsimī], ruler of Sharga [Sharjah]
• The capture of Bushire by Bahir Khan [Baqir Khan Tangistani], Chief of Tengistan [Tangestan]
• An appeal to the British Government against the Government of India by the Raja of Sattarah [Pratap Singh] and the Company’s deposition of the Raja
• Anti-British sentiment and activities in Nipal
• Anti-British sentiment and activities in Burmah and the stationing of Royal Navy ships in Rangoon [Yangon] harbour
• An uprising by Moobaruz ud Dowlah [Mubarez-ud-Daulah] against his brother the Nizam of Hyderabad [Sikandar Jah]
• Disturbances near British borders with Colapore [Kolhapur] and Goa
• River transport between Kurachee [Karachi] and Tatta [Thatta]
• The appointment of a Political Officer to handle 'anarchy and disorder' in Shikarpore [Shikarpur]
• Relations with the Guicowar [Sayaji Rao II Gaekwad, Maharaja of Baroda]
• The capture of Kot [Kota] on behalf of Joudhpore
• An intercepted Arabic letter from Khan-i-Alum Khan, a cousin of the Nawab of the Carnatic, asking the intended recipient (believed to be Ibrahim Pasha, commander of the Egyptian army) to invade India and drive out the British
• Duties on goods exported from Lahore to Bombay [Mumbai], and a reduction of duties for boats on the Indus
• The imprisonment of Colonel Charles Stoddart by the Emir of Bokhara [Nasrullah Khan]
• The withdrawal of the British Embassy from Tehran
• The reinforcement of Aden, and a census taken there
• The death of the heir to the throne of Joudhpore
• The British occupation of Kharrack [Kharg] Island, to counter the Persian siege of Herat
• An uprising in Suddya [Sadiya]
• The journey of the Euphrates Expedition up the Tigris to near Masoul [Mosul]
• A civil war in Bhootan [Bhutan]
• Negotiations over the position of the British in Bushire
• A physical altercation between the Nawab of Bhopaul [Jahangir Muhammad Khan] and his wife Secunder Begum [Sikandar Begum]
• The arrest of forty-six Wahabee [Wahhabi] for sedition in Hyderabad
• Chinese measures against the opium trade in Canton [Guangzhou] and a proposal to send ships to protect British merchants and blockade ports
• A conspiracy against Maharajah Kurruck Sing and his son Now Nehal Sing [Nau Nihal Singh, also spelt Nao Nehal Sing in the file], and an enforced oath of allegiance to the Maharajah
• Perceived military intentions of the King of Ava [Tharrawaddy Min, King of Burma] against Britain and Siam [Thailand], and British responses
• An Egyptian victory over the Ottomans [Battle of Nezib]
• The reported raising of troops in Persia, possibly to target Herat, Bushire or Bagdad [Baghdad]
• An experiment in sending mail to Damascus via Bussora [Basra] instead of Bagdad
• Arrangements for steam navigation on the Indus
• A reported increase in Russian hostilities in the War in Circassia [Russo-Circassian War]
• The withdrawal of the British Resident from Amreepoora [Amarapura]
• Reported Russian preparations to invade Stambol [Istanbul]
• The temporary seizure by the Sheik of Muhumarah [Khorramshahr, also spelt Mohamrah in the file] of a shipment of Company coal
• The British occupation of Joudhpore to put down a rebellion against the Maharajah Mann Sing [Man Singh]
• A request from Nipal for passage through Sikkim in order to invade Bhootan
• The reported insanity of the Nawab of Kurnool [Ghulam Rasul Khan], and the British examination of troops and the arsenal there
• The outlawing of Suttee [sati] by the new Raja of Sattara [Shahaji]
• A genealogical account of the descent of Shah Newaz Khan [Shah Nawaz Khan] to support his claim to the Khanate of Kelat
• A demand from the Shah of Persia for reparations to Persian merchants who lost property during the Ottoman capture of Mohamrah
• A demand from Mehemet Ali [Muhammad Ali, Pasha of Egypt] for the removal of Khosrow Mahomed Pasha [Mehmed Emin Rauf Pasha] as Ottoman Grand Vizier
• Troops sent by the Emir of Bokhara to put down a rebellion against Moorad Beg, Chief of Koondooz [Mohammad Murad Beg, Khan of Kunduz]
• Unrest and riots in Persian cities, including against the Armenian population in Tabreez [Tabriz] and against the Prince [Fereydoun Mirza] in Shiraz
• The removal of Mirza Mahomed Hossein as Governor of Bushire
• A rumoured Russian invasion of Toorkistan [Turkestan]
• A survey of the road between Kurachee and Sehwan
• The reported intention of the Imam of Muscat [Sayyid Sa‘īd bin Sulṭān Āl Bū Sa‘īd, Sultan of Muscat and Oman] to establish a commercial relationship with the United States of America.