IOR/L/PS/5/463, ff 119-155

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 12 of 1850, dated 27 February 1850.

The enclosed papers, dated 6 November 1849 to 2 January 1850, concern affairs in Persia [Iran]. They comprise despatches from Justin Sheil, British Envoy and Minister to the Court of Persia, and William Taylour Thomson, British Chargé d'Affaires in Tehran, to Viscount Palmerston [Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston], Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. Copies of these despatches are sent to the Government of Bombay and the Government of India.

Several matters are covered by the papers, including:

• Sheil’s overland journey to Persia and his arrival in Tabreez [Tabriz, also spelled Tabriez in this item]
• Sheil’s conversations with Prince Bahman Meerza [Bahman Mīrzā Qājār] in exile in Teflis [Tbilisi]
• Relations between the Russians and Circassians, Russian military strength along the Kuban frontier, and recent outbreaks of conflict
• Sheil’s diplomatic engagements with Persian officials
• News from the civil war in Khorassan [Khorasan] and British efforts of mediation
• Progress of the Turco [Ottoman Iraq]-Persian Boundary Commission
• Relations between Russia and Persia, including Russian demands to build a military hospital in Persian territory
• Sheil’s assessment of the Persian Government and country in general
• Unrest in the city of Ispahan [Isfahan]
• Relations between the Imam i Joomeh [Emām-e Jomʿa] in Tehran and the Persian Prime Minister
• Conflict in the province of Asterabad [Golestan]
• The lifting of the siege of Bushire [Bushehr].