IOR/L/PS/5/414, ff 445-629

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 137 of 1842, dated 30 November 1842. The enclosures are numbered 3-57 and dated 1 June to 30 October 1842.

They mostly consist of correspondence relating to affairs in the Persian Gulf. The enclosures concern matters including:

• The Officiating Resident in the Persian Gulf, Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Dundas Robertson, reporting that he has addressed a letter to Abddoolla bin Sooneyan [‘Abdullāh bin Thunyān bin Ibrāhīm Āl Sa‘ūd], the new ‘chieftain’ of Nedgd [Najd, also spelled Nedjed in this item], regarding his ‘intercourse’ with the ‘Piratical Arab Tribes of Oman’, and the Government of Bombay directing Robertson that all ‘interference’ with him should be avoided
• Robertson’s explanations for his proceedings in relation to Shaik Nassir [Shaikh Nāṣir, Governor of Bushire, i.e. Bushehr] on Robertson’s arrival at Bushire to re-establish the British Residency there
• The duty leviable on horses exported from Bushire according to the Commercial Treaty with Persia [Iran] of October 1841, and the suggestions of the Assistant Resident in Persian Gulf, Lieutenant Kemball, in relation to the purchase of colts for the cavalry and artillery
• Robertson stating that he places no value on the plan he drew up for obtaining a ‘good, convenient and healthy’ port in the Persian Gulf for the use of the naval squadron, and that it would be unwise to give the scheme a moment’s consideration
• Measures proposed by Robertson for obtaining privileges for the Honourable Company’s vessels of war in the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea
• Necessary repairs to the Residency buildings at Bushire
• The inconvenience caused as a result of the despatches sent on board the Honourable Company’s brig of war Euphrates not having been landed at Bushire when the vessel passed that port on the way to the Island of Karrack [Kharg Island]
• Robertson reporting on the intention of Persia to attack Bahrein [Bahrain]
• The conduct of the Persian soldiers stationed at Bushire towards Lieutenant Campbell of the Indian Navy when Campbell visited the Commodore in the Persian Gulf, William Lowe
• The rates of pilotage levied by the Persian authorities on Karrack
• The removal of the naval stores from Karrack to Bassadore [Basaidu]
• Commodore Lowe hoisting a flag at his house on Karrack
• Lowe reporting the occurrence of a dispute between the Garrison of Karrack and some of the subjects of the Imaum [Imām] of Muscat, leading to six of the Garrison being wounded
• The Native Agent at Shargah [Sharjah] reporting the latest intelligence from Shargah, including the success of the pearl fishing that year (1842), and that no ‘disturbance or piracy’ has occurred on the seas
• Robertson's opinion on the necessity or otherwise of maintaining an Agent at Brymee [Al Buraymi]
• The arrangements made by Robertson for filling up the vacancy resulting from the death of the Agent stationed at Lingah [Bandar-e Lengeh]
• HM Chargé d’Affaires at Tehran, Lieutenant-Colonel Justin Sheil, nominating Mahomed Alli Khan [Muḥammad ʿAlī Khān, also spelled Mahomed Allee Khan in this item] to act as Agent at Shiraz (in place of the dismissed Mirza Mahomed Reza [Mīrzā Muḥammad Rizā]) until the fourteen year old Mirza Mahomed [Mīrzā Muḥammad], for whom the position has been reserved, is qualified to take up the duties of the office
• The account of the ‘Chief’ of Bahrein, Sheek Abdoola bin Ahmed [Shaikh ‘Abdullāh bin Aḥmad Āl Khalīfah, also spelled Abdoollah bin Ahmed and Abdoolla bin Ahmed in this item], of the circumstances surrounding the murder of Hamood bin Omeeree [Ḥammūd al-‘Umayrī, also spelled Hamood bin Omeree and Humood bin Oomeree in this item] and his servants, who had obtained protection from the Native Agent at Bahrein, Mahomed Ali [Muḥammad ʿAlī, also spelled Mahomed Ally in this item], during the ‘disturbances’ on the Island; and the dismissal of Mahomed Ali by the Officiating Resident in the Persian Gulf
• The complaint of Sultan bin Suggur [Sulṭān bin Ṣaqr al-Qāsimī, Ruler of Ra’s al-Khaymah and Sharjah] against the ‘Chief’ of Amulgavine [Umm al-Qaywayn], Abdoolla bin Rashid [‘Abdullāh bin Rāshid], erecting a bastion, contrary to the agreement concluded between them in 1840
• The observations of the Advocate General, Bombay, Augustus Smith Le Messurier, on the case of the killing of a subject of the Imaum of Muscat by a British seaman, reported on by HM Consul in the Dominions of the Imaum of Muscat, Captain Atkins Hamerton; and the opinion of the Advocate General on the extent of powers with which Hamerton is vested under the terms of the treaty the United Kingdom recently entered into with the Imaum
• HM Chargé d’Affaires at Tehran forwarding copies of his despatches to HM Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, the Earl of Aberdeen, relating to affairs at Tehran
• The amount of compensation to be paid to the Shroff of the Residency at Bushire for the articles belonging to him which were destroyed when his house was attacked by a mob in 1838
• Robertson’s explanations of his reasons for not having availed himself of the permission granted by the Persian Government to reside during the Summer months at Khoormooj [Khormoj].

The main correspondents are the following: the Officiating Resident in the Persian Gulf; the Assistant Resident in Persian Gulf; the Secretary to the Government of Bombay, John Pollard Willoughby; the Chief Secretary to the Government of Bombay, L R Reid; the Secretary with the Governor General of India, Thomas Herbert Maddock; the Commodore in the Persian Gulf; and HM Chargé d’Affaires at Tehran.

Other correspondents include: Lootf Ally Khan [Luṭf ‘Alī Khān]; the Native Agent at Shargah [Sharjah], Moollah Hoossein [Mullā Ḥusayn]; the Ruler of Bahrein; Sultan bin Suggur; the Advocate General, Bombay; the Shah of Persia, Mahomed Shah [Muḥammad Shāh Qājār]; the Grand Vizier or Prime Minister of Persia, Hajee Meerza Aghasee [Ḥājī Mīrzā Āqāsī]; the Persian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Meerza Abul Hussan Khan [Mīrzā Abū al-Ḥasan Khān Shīrāzī, Īlchī Kabīr, also spelled Meerza Abul Hassan Khan, and Meerza Abool Hossan in this item]; the Collector of Customs, Henry Glass; and J A Malcolm, a merchant.