IOR/L/PS/9/76/90

This item contains four documents:

1. A copy of a letter from Harford Jones, Resident in Bagdad [Baghdad], to Jonathan Duncan, Governor of Bombay, sent from Bagdad and dated 12 December 1799. In response to Duncan’s letter of 16 October (see IOR/L/PS/9/76/100), Jones discusses routes of communication between Bussora [Basra] and Constantinople [Istanbul], recommending the route via Bagdad. The letter includes tables displaying the estimated travel time from Bussora to Constantinople via Bagdad and the rulers of the territory on this route.

2. A list of presents sent by Tipoo Sultan [Tīpū Sulṭān of Mysore] to the Grand Signior [Selim III, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire] and the Grand Vizier [Yūsuf Ẓīa al-Dīn Pāshā] which arrived in Bagdad on 24 December 1799.

The list was compiled by Jones on 26 December 1799.

3. A copy of a letter from Harford Jones to Rear-Admiral John Blankett, Commander of the British naval squadron in the Red Sea, sent from Bagdad and dated 13 November 1799. The letter forwards dispatches and an intelligence report from Aleppo (not enclosed).

Another copy of the same letter is catalogued as IOR/L/PS/9/76/96.

4. A copy of a letter from Rear-Admiral Blankett to Jones, sent from HMS Leopard at Mocca [Mocha] and dated 31 July 1799. It covers subjects including:

• The retreat of the French forces led by General Napoleon Bonaparte from Accre [Acre]
• Planned Turkish [Ottoman] and Mameluke attacks on the French occupation forces from Suez and Upper Egypt
• The French capture of Cossire [Al Qusayr]
• Relations and trade between the Government of Mecca and the French forces
• The supplies of the French forces in Cairo
• Reports from Maltese defectors that the French forces intend to offer peace terms
• The disruption of the coffee trade by Bedouin tribes
• The state of the British-occupied island of Perim.