IOR/L/PS/5/487, ff 161-202

This item comprises copies of enclosures to a despatch from the Government of Bombay Secret Department to the Secret Committee, Number 34 of 1856, dated 10 May 1856. The enclosures are dated 8 March-29 April 1856.

The enclosures chiefly comprise copies of despatches, with enclosures, to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, from: Charles Augustus Murray, HM Ambassador to the Court of Persia [Iran], then located at Tabreez [Tabriz]; and Richard W Stevens, HM Consul at Tehran. (Murray’s despatches mainly forward copies of Stevens’s despatches to him). The despatches are forwarded for information to the Government of India and Government of Bombay. They cover and include the following:

• Murray’s intention to proceed to Ooroomiah [Urmia or Orumiyeh] and then to Baghdad with the British diplomatic mission
• A copy of a letter (ff 165-166) that the Persian Government claims to have been written by William Taylour Thomson, former British Envoy at Tehran, to the Ruler of Herat, and which Murray asserts is a forgery intended to smear the reputation of the British mission and justify Persian aggression in Herat
• A copy of a circular letter (ff 169-171) from the Persian Sadr Azim [Ṣadr A‘ẓam, minister to the Shāh, also spelled Sedr Azem in this item] to all the foreign missions in Tehran, in which he explains his Government’s intentions regarding Herat and Candahar [also spelled Kandahar in this item], implying that Britain is supporting Dost Mahomed Khan [Dūst Muḥammad Khān Bārakzāy] who has occupied Candahar, and claiming that Persia is responding to calls for assistance from the relatives of Kohendil Khan [Kuhandīl Khān Muḥammadzay] and the Ruler of Herat. (Murray insists that letters supposedly written by relatives of Kohendil Khan are mostly fabrications)
• A commercial treaty about to be concluded between the Persian and Austrian Governments
• Intelligence received by Stevens that Persia is sending a large force from Tehran to wrest Candahar from Dost Mahomed Khan and Persian military and propaganda preparations for this
• Murray’s claims of ‘insulting’ behaviour towards him and the British mission and the Persian Government’s determination to quarrel with Britain causing costly disorder in Afghanistan, and Murray’s desire for hostile action against Persia
• A translation, in French, of an article in the Tehran Gazette published by the Persian Government, stating the ‘true causes’ of Murray’s withdrawal from the Persian court (ff 178-185)
• Stevens’s assertion that the young Armenian named Meerza Melkom [Mīrzā Malkum Khān], sent by the Persian Government to the British Ambassador in Constantinople [Istanbul] to mediate the quarrel between the Persian Government and the British Mission, has in fact contributed towards the rupture with Murray, is pro-French, and is responsible for distributing anti-English newspaper articles in Constantinople and Europe
• Intelligence received by Stevens, including from the native agent and news writer at Meshed [Mashhad], confirming the movements of the Persian Army under Prince Sultan Moorad Meerza [Sulṭān Murād Mīrzā] towards Herat with the aim of occupying it, and the besieging of Herat
• Intelligence that the Mooftee [Muftī] of Herat was seized, sent as a prisoner to Meshed, and insultingly paraded through the town
• Varying reports received by Stevens on whether Herat has been occupied by the Persian Army or is yet to be taken by Sultan Moorad Meerza’s force, and regarding the strength of the Herat garrison and determination of the Ruler and inhabitants of Herat to prevent Persian troops entering the town
• Stevens’s refusal of presents sent to him by the Shah and Minister for Foreign Affairs on the occasion of the new year festival of Narooz [Nowruz or Navroz].

Also included in the item are:

• Despatches from Commander Felix Jones, Acting Resident, Persian Gulf, relating to: his plan to tour the Gulf and intention to persuade the Al Ali [Āl ‘Alī] tribe to leave Demaum [Dammam]; the warning given to Sheikh Mahomed bin Abdullah, Chief of Demaum [Muḥammad bin ‘Abdullāh, Shaikh of Dammam] not to allow the Al Ali to build homes in his territory; and the movements of Persian troops in the Province of Fars as reported by the British Agent at Shiraz
• The Government of India’s equivocal notice to the Government in Bombay regarding the latter’s authority to despatch an expedition to the Persian Gulf upon the sole requisition of Murray.