IOR/L/PS/5/418, ff 137-207

This part of the volume consists of copies of enclosures to a despatch from the Government of Bombay [Mumbai] Secret Department to the Secret Committee, Number 30 of 1843, dated 30 April 1843. The enclosures are numbered 3-11 and are dated 14 February to 30 April 1843, and concern affairs in the Persian Gulf and Persia [Iran].

Enclosure Nos. 3-10 consist of correspondence regarding:

• The coal depot of Karrack [Kharg Island, also spelled Kharrack in this item]
• The conduct of Hajee Ahmed [Hājī Aḥmad], the Arabic ‘Moonshee’ [Munshi] of the Persian Gulf Residency in relation to Jehan Loz Mirza [Jahānsūz Mīrzā], who arrived at Kharrack in July 1842 ‘in the habit and character of a dervish’, claiming to be the son of the late Shah of Persia, Futteh Allee [Fatḥ-‘Alī Shāh Qājār], and the uncle of the present Shah
• A copy of a letter (not included in this item) from the Officiating Resident in the Persian Gulf, Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Dundas Robertson, providing an explanation for the letter of remonstrance addressed by him to Abdoola bin Soonyan [‘Abdullāh bin Thunyān bin Ibrāhīm Āl Sa‘ūd, also spelled bin Sooneyan and bin Senyan in this item] the de facto ruler of Nedjd [Najd], described as a ‘piractical chief’ in the Persian Gulf
• A report on the state of affairs at Muscat (also spelled Muskat in this item) from the Native Agent at Muscat, Rubil bin Uslan [Khwāji Rūbin bin Aṣlān], up to 20 March 1843
• The reported murder of Colonel Charles Stoddart and Captain Arthur Conolly, who had been confined in the Fort at Bokhara [Bukhara] on the 18 or 19 June 1842.

This correspondence is mainly between the following: the Secretary to the Government of Bombay, John Pollard Willoughby; the Officiating Resident in the Persian Gulf; and the Officiating Secretary to the Government of India with the Governor General, James Thomason.

Enclosure No. 11 is a letter from HM Chargé d’Affaires at Tehran, Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Justin Sheil, to the Secretary to the Government of India with the Governor General, forwarding copies of his despatches to HM Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, the Earl of Aberdeen, regarding Persian affairs, including:

• An apology from the Persian Consul in Bagdad [Baghdad] for ‘interfering’ with a foot messenger from the British Mission
• A letter received from Meshed [Mashhad] reporting: an ‘interview’ held at Jam between Meerza Moossa Khan [Mīrzā Mūsā Khān Farāhānī], the guardian of the shrine of Meshed, and Yar Mahomed Khan [Yār Muḥammad Khān, Minister-regent of Herat], with the latter complaining that he had derived little advantage from his relations with Persia; the death of the ‘Chief’ [Khan] of Khiva, Allah Koolee Khan [Allāh Qulī Bahādur Khān], and the succession of his son Reheem Koolee Khan [Muḥammad Raḥim Qulī Khān]; and the frontier of Persia in the direction of Khiva seeming to be ‘in tranquillity’
• The Resident in the Persian Gulf requesting instructions in relation to ‘a case of piracy, if it can be so termed’ in the Persian Gulf, in which a Persian vessel was about to sail with its cargo from the Port of Nabend, when it was attacked and plundered by the Governor of Nabend [Damagheh-ye Nay Band]
• Information from the Officiating Resident in the Persian Gulf regarding the location and recent history of the town of Mohemmera [Khorramshahr, also spelled Mohumra in this item], including a copy of a sketch map by Mr Litchfield, the officer in command of the schooner Emily, of what he recollects to be the position of Mohumra (f 167), dated 3 January 1843
• Relations between Persia and Turkey [the Ottoman Empire], including: the Persian Government receiving intelligence from the Governor of Kermanshah that the Governor of Suleimanieh [Sulaymaniyah], Ahmed Pasha [Aḥmad Pāshā], had announced his intention of approaching the Persian frontier in the vicinity of Zohab [Sarpol-e Zahab] with a military force; the Governor of Bagdad attacking the city of Kerbela [Karbala], apparently because of the ‘refractory’ state of the tribes in possession of the city, which has caused the Shah ‘increased irritation and excitement’ as Kerbela contains the sepulchres of ‘the Sheah branch of the Mahommedan faith’ [the Shia branch of Islam], and a large proportion of the population of the city is apparently Persian.

The despatches include enclosed letters from: Sheil; the British Resident at Bagdad, Colonel Robert Taylor; the Persian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Meerza Abul Hossan Khan [Mīrzā Abū al-Ḥasan Khān Shirāzī, Īlchī-yi Kabīr]; Hajee Meerza Aghashee [Ḥājī Mīrzā (ʿAbbās Īravānī) Āqāsī, Persian Prime Minister or Grand Vizier]; the Governor of Kermanshah, Mohib Ali Khan [Muḥibb ʿAlī Khān]; the Walee [Wali or Governor] of Ardelan [Ardalan]; and the Persian Consul at Bagdad.