IOR/L/PS/5/422, ff 302-382

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 52 of 1843, dated 17 July 1843. The enclosures are numbered 3-15 and are dated 31 December 1842 to 14 July 1843.

The enclosures mainly consist of correspondence (with enclosures within these enclosures, including a deposition in French on ff 336-342), mostly relating to Persian Gulf and Persian [Iranian] affairs. They concern matters including:

• The Officiating Resident in the Persian Gulf, Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Dundas Robertson, reporting that the state of affairs on the Arabian Coast is ‘very satisfactory’
• The pledge of protection given by Robertson on 28 February 1842 to the inhabitants of Karrack [Kharg, also spelled Karrak in this item] on the departure of British troops from the island and its restoration to the Shah of Persia [Iran]
• A ‘scuffle’ which occurred between Meerza Ali Akbar [Mīrzā ‘Alī Akbar], deputed by the Prince of Shiraz to make enquiries regarding the buildings on Karrack presented by the British to the Persian Government, and the Commandant of the Lar Garrison, Lutf Ali Khan [Luṭf ‘Alī Khān Lārī], to whom the buildings had been made over by Robertson, over compensation for damage caused to the buildings
• The attempts by Lutf Ali Khan to extort money from the inhabitants of Karrack
• The Honourable Company’s brig of war Tigris having been on a tour of the north-east coast of Africa without a medical officer on board, and an enquiry being ordered into the cause of the severe sickness which occurred amongst the crew
• Persian affairs, reported in despatches from HM Chargé d’Affaires in Persia, Lieutenant-Colonel Justin Sheil, including: relations between Persia and Turkey [the Ottoman Empire], and the treaty negotiations at Erzeroom [Erzurum]; and relations between Persia and Khiva
• The Assistant Resident in the Persian Gulf, Arnold Burrowes Kemball, having appointed a Native Agent at Lingah [Bandar Lengeh] without the prior sanction of the Government of Bombay.

The main correspondents are the following: Robertson; Sheil; Kemball; the Government of Bombay; the Superintendent of the Indian Navy, Captain Robert Oliver; the Prime Minister or Grand Vizier of Persia, Hajee Meerza Aghasee [Ḥājī Mīrzā (ʿAbbās Īravānī) Āqāsī]; the Persian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Meerza Aboul Hassan Khan [Mīrzā Abū al-Ḥasan Khān Shīrāzī, Īlchī Kabīr]; Mahomed Ameer Khan [Muḥammad Amīr Khān] son of the late Khan of Khiva; and the Military Secretary to the British Legation in Persia, Lieutenant-Colonel Francis Farrant.

The enclosures also include a minute by the Governor of Bombay, George Arthur, subscribed to by the Board.