IOR/L/PS/5/447, ff 412-446

This item comprises a copy of an enclosure to a despatch from the Government of Bombay Secret Department to the Secret Committee, Number 149 of 1846, dated 14 December 1846. The enclosure is dated 14 October 1846.

The enclosure consists of a despatch, with enclosures, from Lieutenant-Colonel Justin Sheil, HM Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at the Court of Persia [Iran], to Viscount Palmerston, the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, relating to affairs in Persia. The despatch is copied to the Governor and President in Council, Bombay, and the Governor-General of India, for information.

The papers notably cover the following matters:

• The efforts of Sheil and the Russian Minister in Tehran, Prince Dolgorouki [Prince Dimitri Ivanovich Dolgorukov], to persuade Meerza Tekkee Khan [Mīrzā Taqī Khān Farāhānī], the Persian Minister at Erzeroom [Erzurum], to conclude negotiations with Turkish [Ottoman] representatives and sign the Treaty between Persia and Turkey. Included are copies of instructions to Meerza Tekkee Khan from the Persian Prime Minister, Hajee Meerza Aghassee [Ḥājī Mīrzā (ʿAbbās Īravānī) Āqāsī] (ff 427-429, ff 438-442), with a warning of ‘severe reprehension’ if ‘this business is further suspended or delayed’ (f 442)
• Sheil’s investigations into alleged British captives in Afghanistan
• The opinion of Sheil that the Persian Prime Minister has rejected recent overtures for an attack on Herat as it would involve the aggrandisement of the asef ood dowleh [Āṣaf al-Dawlah]
• The cholera outbreak, including; its spread in Persia and towards Bagdad [Baghdad]; Sheil’s belief that it will not extend to Europe; and its prevalence in Tehran causing the Shah [Shāh of Persia] to remain at his summer encampment, outside the city
• Sheil’s report of anti-British ‘intrigues’ by Russian diplomats in Tehran in connection with Treaty negotiations at Erzeroom and dissent in Heart
• The plea to Sheil of the Ameer of Kaeen [Amīr of Qaen] to intercede on his behalf to the Persian Government for the restoration to him and his son of their territories, and the Persian Prime Minister’s promise to guarantee the Ameer’s safe passage to Tehran and the restoration of his governorship (ff 420-421)
• The proposal by the Governor of Fars, supported by the Resident in the Persian Gulf, to engage a ship of war in ‘punishing the chiefs on the Persian Coast of the Persian Gulf who had committed aggressions on British commerce’ (f 417)
• Persian grievances regarding the Turkish ship of war anchored near Mohemmera [Khorramshahr, formerly Mohammerah]
• Orders issued by the Persian Government for the removal of Rasool Bey, Chief of Rewadooz [Rasūl Beg, Ruler of Ruwandiz or Rawandiz, Iraqi Kurdistan] and Ahmed Pasha [Aḥmad Pāshā], Governor of Sooleimaneeya [Sulaymaniyah] from Ooshney [Oshnaviyeh?] a frontier town in the Ooroomeeya [Urmia or Orumiyeh] district in Azerbijan [Azerbaijan].