IOR/L/PS/5/486, ff 189-226

This item comprises enclosures to a despatch from the Government of Bombay [Mumbai] Secret Department to the Secret Committee [Bombay Secret Letter], No. 14 dated 16 Feburary 1856. The enclosures are dated 15 December 1855-14 February 1856.

The item comprises the following:

1) A copy of a despatch from Charles Augustus Murray, HM Envoy to Persia [Iran], situated at Kazneen [Qazvin] en route to Tabreez [Tabriz], to the Earl of Clarendon, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, copied for information to the Government of Bombay and Government of India. Murray requests instructions ‘requisite for the vindication of the honour of the British flag’ (f 192) following the rupture of diplomatic relations with Persia, and states his intention to remain at Tabreez, despite having received indirect indications that the Sedr Azim [Ṣadr-i Aʿẓam, Persian Prime Minister] wants a reconciliation.

2) Copies of despatches from Richard Stevens, British Consul in Tehran, to Murray, copied to the Government of India, reporting his activities and news since the departure of Murray, including:

• The offer to Stevens, by French Consul Nicolas Prosper Bourée, of French protection, and Bourée's denial that he has encouraged the Persian ministers against Murray
• Reports that the ruler of Herat expects an imminent attack from Dost Mahomed Khan [Dūst Muḥammad Khān Bārakzāy] (who has purportedly amassed a large force outside Candahar [Kandahar]), and has requested assistance from Tehran, including an extract of the Tehran Gazette stating that Persia intends to occupy Herat to avert Dost Mahomed Khan whom, it alludes, has British support
• Reports that the Persian Government plans to increase to 10,000 the number of forces in Khorassan [Khorasan] in response to Dost Mahomed Khan’s purported designs on Herat, and Stevens’s complaint to Meerza Seyd Khan [Mīrzā Sa‘īd Khān Anṣārī, Mu’tamin al-Mulk], Minister for Foreign Affairs, concerning the appointment of Prince Sultan Moorad Meerza [Prince Sulṭān Murād Mīrzā] on a mission to Khorassan and Herat since the latter is alleged to have publicly insulted the Queen [Queen Victoria]
• Stevens’s protests at news of the seizure from ‘British Indians’ at Yezd [Yazd] and Kirman [Kerman] of wool intended for Bombay, by Persian authorities who declare it is prohibited
• A memorandum by Stevens on the present state of political relations between Britain and Persia, comparing the current situation to that in 1837-38, and suggesting that Britain should occupy Karrack [Kharg, also known as Khark], various places on the Gulf coast and inland cities in Persia, and noting that sending an Expeditionary Force may affect its war with Russia [Crimean War, 1853-1856]

3) Correspondence between the Secretary to the Government of India, Secretary to Government of Bombay, and Commander James Felix Jones, Indian Navy, Acting Resident in the Persian Gulf, Bushire [Bushehr], concerning: the armed steamers Ajdaha and Victoria recently sent to Bushire as a demonstration of force to Persia; the nature and constitution of the force required in the event of an escalation of the diplomatic incident; agreement that the despatch of troops is not currently warranted; and which ships of war can be sent back to Bombay if unrequired at Bushire.