IOR/L/PS/9/76/246

A copy of a secret dispatch from Harford Jones, Resident in Bagdad [Baghdad], to Marquess Wellesley, Governor-General of Bengal, sent from Bagdad and dated 21 June 1802.

Jones forwards correspondence (attached) concerning the Persian [Iranian] reaction to the sack of Meshed Hossein [Shrine of Imām Huṣayn bin ‘Alī, Karbala] and asks Marquess Wellesley not to pass the information on to any Persians resident in Calcutta [Kolkata] in order to protect his informant.

Attached are:

• A translation of a letter from Mohammed Reza Khan [Muḥammad Rezā Khān], Persian representative in Kerbela [Karbala], to Harford Jone, reporting the reaction of the Shah to the sack of Meshed Hossein by the Wa-ha-bys [Wahhābī movement], a proposed expedition against the Wa-ha-bys, and protests from the Shah to Soliman Pasha [Büyük Sulaymān Pāshā, Governor of Baghdad].
• A translation of a firman [edict] from the Shah to the chief Imaums [Imāms] of Meshed Ally [Sanctuary of Imām ‘Alī, Najaf] and Kerbela. The firman concerns the sack of Meshed Hossein by the Wa-ha-bys and a proposed retaliatory expedition
• A translation of a paper from an informant of Harford Jones describing recent events in Merve [Mary/Merv] and reports of a Persian expedition against the Ouzbegs [Uzbeks] in the region.
• A translation of a firman from the Shah to Soliman Pashaw of Bagdad. The Shah reproaches Soliman Pasha for failing to protect Meshed Hossein, demands that Soliman Pasha either immediately launch an expedition against the Wa-ha-by or provide supplies for Persian troops to do so, and demands that Soliman Pasha appoint a person to organise repairs and fortifications in Kerbela
• A translation of an arzadasht [‘arẓehdāsht, petition] from Mohammed Reza Khan to the Shah. Mohammed Reza Khan states that he has returned to Bagdad, describes the disturbed state of affairs caused by the ill health of Soliman Pasha, and asks permission to Persia.
• A translated extract of a letter from Meerza Bozurg [Mīrzā ‘Īsá Khān Farāhānī, Vizier to the Crown Prince of Persia] to Harford Jones, dated 6 Suffer [Safar]/6 June 1802. Meerza Bozurg thanks Jones for providing information from Kerbela, reports that the Shah has set off on a campaign to capture Herat and Candahar [Kandahar], and states that the Shah is planning a retaliatory expedition against the Wa-ha-by and has sent word of this to the Ottoman Emperor [Sulṭān].
• A copy of a letter from Harford Jones to Lord Elgin, HM Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, sent from Bagdad and dated 23 June 1802. The letter forwards the above dispatch and enclosures. Jones asks Elgin not to disclose any names mentioned in the correspondence to Ottoman authorities and to try to find out the proposed actions of the Porte [Government of the Ottoman Empire] regarding the affair of Meshed Hossein and communicate them to Jones.