IOR/L/PS/5/476, ff 301-349

This part of the volume consists of a copy of an enclosure to a despatch from the Government of Bombay [Mumbai] Secret Department to the Secret Committee, Number 14 of 1853, dated 28 February 1853. The enclosure is numbered 3 and is dated 10 December 1852.

The enclosure consists of a letter from HM Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at the Court of Tehran, Justin Sheil, to the Chief Secretary to the Government of Bombay, enclosing under a flying seal (for the information of the Governor in Council) copies of nine of his despatches addressed to HM Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, the Earl of Malmesbury. These despatches relate to affairs in Persia [Iran] and Herat, and are dated 11 November to 8 December 1852.

The despatches report matters including:

• Sheil’s stated intention to remark to the Sedr Azim [Ṣadr-i Aʿẓam] that a specific declaration is required to counteract articles which had appeared in the Tehran Gazette ‘boasting’ of the annexation of Herat to the dominions of the Shah (an enclosed copy of a translated paragraph from the Tehran Gazette of 11 November 1852 is included)
• Sheil enclosing a translation of a firman nominating Abbas Koolee Khan ['Abbās Quli Khān] to a permanent residence in Herat, to fulfil a function, Sheil states, of Vizier or Political Secretary but not a diplomatic agent
• A party of Toorkomans [Turkoman or Turkmen people] capturing 'about 30 Persians' in Mazandaran, and the apparent displeasure of Persian Ministers at the Prince Governor of the province requesting Russian help to pursue and punish the Toorkomans, thereby providing an opportunity for the Russians to extend their influence in Mazandaran
• Three letters (translated copies enclosed) ‘of a rather distant date’ which Sheil had received from Fatteh Mahomed Khan [Fath' Muḥammad Khān], an Afghan ‘Chief’ and ‘one of the chief notables of Herat’, who had been seized as an ‘English’ partisan and sent into captivity in Beerjend [Bīrjand] when Persian supremacy had lately been established in Herat
• News received by Sheil that Sam Khan [Sām Khān], the former Persian Agent in Herat, had marched into Herat with a body of troops; the Sedr Azim responding to Sheil’s request for an explanation by stating that Sam Khan had acted without orders from the Persian Government, that his actions were entirely in opposition to their wishes, and that a messenger had been sent to recall Sam Khan immediately (in an enclosed exchange of notes between Sheil and the Sedr Azim); and the Sedr Azim’s verbal assertion that the troops accompanying Sam Khan were only of his tribe, and that this occurrence could be attributed to the intrigues of the Governor of Khorasan, in order to prevent his recall as Governor
• Sheil highlighting the announcement by the Sedr Azim of the intention to send troops to oppose Dost Mahomed Khan [Dūst Muḥammad Khān Bārakzāʾi] of Cabul [Kabul] and Kohendil Khan [Kuhandil Khān Muḥammadzā'ī] of Candahar [Kandahar], suspected of planning a new expedition in Herat territory
• A dispute between the Persian and Ottoman Governments regarding the displaying of their respective flags at their embassies in Tehran and Constantinople [Istanbul] (enclosed copies of two despatches from Sheil to Colonel Hugh Rose, HM Chargé d’Affaires at Constantinople, are included)
• An agreement having been reached with the Persian Government regarding issues in relation to the nomination of ‘English’ consuls in Asterabad [Gorgan] and Resht [Rasht] (with enclosed translated correspondence between Sheil and the Sedr Azim)
• Sheil enclosing a portion of a letter from the British Agent in Meshed [Mashhad], containing intelligence from Herat
• The arrival in Tehran of Mahomed Sedeek Khan [Sayyid Muḥammad Siddiq Khān Alakuzā'ī], brother of the ‘Chief’ of Herat, with five other ‘Chiefs’ of Herat, and two of them, Khan Dilaver Khan [Khān Dilāvar Khān] and Ser Afraz Khan [Sarafrāz Khān], placing themselves in sanctuary at the British mission, causing the Shah and the Sedr Azim ‘great umbrage’, and with the latter sending Sheil a letter protesting against their protection.