IOR/L/PS/5/446, ff 9-136

This part of the volume consists of copies of enclosures to a despatch from the Government of Bombay Secret Department to the Secret Committee, Number 116 of 1846, dated 12 October 1846. The enclosures, numbered 3-6 and dated 12 May to 15 July 1846, relate to Persian [Iranian] affairs.

Enclosure No. 3 is a letter from HM Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at the Court of Persia, Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Justin Sheil, to the Secretary to the Governor-General of India, forwarding a copy of a despatch from HM Consul at Tabreez [Tabriz], Keith Edward Abbott, addressed to HM Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, the Earl of Aberdeen, relating to the campaign of the Russian Army in Daghestan [Dagestan] in 1845.

Enclosure Nos. 4-6 consist of letters from Sheil to Secretary to the Government of Bombay, forwarding under flying seals letters to the Secretary to the Government of India, enclosing copies of despatches addressed by Sheil to the Earl of Aberdeen, and to HM Ambassador at the Porte [the Sublime Porte, or Government of the Ottoman Empire], Sir Stratford Canning. The despatches concern matters including:

• Issues in relation to the conclusion of the Treaty of Erzeroom [Erzurum] between Persia and Turkey [the Ottoman Empire], including: Sheil’s efforts to obtain from the Persian Government adequate powers to enable the Persian Plenipotentiary at Ezeroom to conclude the treaty; Sheil complaining that he does not receive ‘proper or fair assistance’ from the Russian Minister to Persia in conducting the negotiations between Persia and Turkey; differences between the Persian and Turkish drafts of the treaty, on points including a tariff, and the possession of the Pass of Kerrind [Kerend-e Gharb] by Persia (this correspondence includes an enclosed copy of a document comparing a joint note by Sir Stratford Canning and the Russian ambassador at Constantinople [Istanbul], Monsieur Titow [Vladimir Pavlovich Titov], to the instructions issued to the Turkish Plenipotentiary, which is in English and French)
• Sheil reporting that ‘a respectable Afghan merchant’ who has lately arrived in Tehran from Khiva claims that an English man and an English woman are being held captive in Khiva
• Sheil requesting HM Consul at Tabreez to remonstrate with the Prince of Tabreez about an infraction of a firman against torture, following a ‘Mussulman’ [Muslim] inhabitant of the city confessing to murdering and robbing property from the house of an Armenian women, and this man being imprisoned and tortured to force him to confess how he had disposed of the property, before it was ‘satisfactorily proved’ that he had falsely admitted to the crime. Sheil stating that he had obtained a pledge from the Prince that there should be no repetition of such scenes within his Government, and Sheil explaining that he had not complained to the Persian Ministers about the matter because the firman was issued by the Persian Prime Minister, Hajee Meerza Aghassee [Ḥājī Mīrzā (ʿAbbās Īravānī) Āqāsī], during the Shah’s illness without his knowledge
• Sheil’s unsuccessful attempts to ascertain the fate of Mr Wyburd [William Henry Wybard], from sources including: the Khaleefa [Khalifah] or Chief Priest of Merve [Merv] (from whom there are two enclosed letters); ‘Reuben’, ‘a Jew at Bokhara’; and the Asefood dowleh [Āṣaf al-Dawlah, also spelled Asofood-dowleh in this item], the Governor of Khorassan [Khorasan], who had sent Meerza Hassan [Mīrzā Ḥasan] to Bokhara [the Emirate of Bukhara] in search of Wyburd, with Meerza Hassan stating that he had been treated with distinction by the Ameer [Amīr] until the latter discovered that he was searching for an Englishman, at which point he ‘became exceedingly irritated’ and told him to leave Bokhara the next day, and also told Meerza Hassan that he was wholly ignorant of Mr Wyburd
• Sheil’s concerns about Russian influence, including: Sheil enclosing a copy of William Taylour Thomson’s report of his journey to the coast of the Caspian Sea, with Sheil highlighting the inferences which can be drawn from it on the present state of affairs in Asterabad [Gorgan] and the position of Russia there, including the Russian establishment at Ashor Ada [Ashuradeh], which Sheil states is essentially a military occupation; and the Russian Government resolving to place a permanent Consul in Asterabad
• News received that the ‘Chief’ [Khan] of Khiva, Reheem Kolee Khan [Muḥammad Raḥim Qulī Khān], is dead and has been succeeded by his brother Baber Jan Khan [Abū al-Ghāzī Muḥammad Amīn Bahādur Khān], and Sheil’s suggestion that since the Chiefs of Khiva are ‘favourably disposed’ towards the ‘English’ Government, he could encourage this feeling by sending someone to offer congratulations on Baber Jan Khan’s accession and give a few presents to him
• Reports that the Asofood-dowleh was engaged in collecting troops, for an unknown purpose, but had then unexpectedly countermanded his preparations for this and dispersed the forces he had assembled
• Nejeeb Pasha [Gürcü Mehmet Necip Pasha, or Muḥammad Najīb Pāshā, Wali or Governor of Baghdad] complaining of the intention of the Persian Government to build forts on the frontier with Turkey at Mohummera [Khorramshahr, also spelled Mohemmera in this item] and Zohab [Sarpol-e Zahab]; the Persian Government sending engineers towards Bayazeed [Doğubayazıt], Zohab and Mohemmera for that purpose; and the engineers being withdrawn from the frontier following remonstrance from Sheil and the Russian Minister to Persia, Prince Dolgorouki [Prince Dimitri Ivanovich Dolgorukov]
• Nejeeb Pasha receiving instructions from the Porte to establish passport regulations and to levy a sum of six Piastres from Persian pilgrims
• Commodore Hawkins having succeeded in obtaining from the ‘Chief’ or Governor of Kenn [Kish Island] the value of the British property which had been plundered from the wreck of the Company’s schooner Emily by the Governor and inhabitants of the island, but having apparently exceeded the instructions given to him by the Resident in the Persian Gulf, Major Samuel Hennell, in demanding an additional sum of 1500 Tomans from the Governor of Kenn on account of treasure belonging to Persian merchants plundered from the vessel.

The despatches include additional enclosed correspondence, including correspondence between Sheil and Hajee Meerza Aghassee.