IOR/L/PS/5/230, ff 210-248

This part of the volume consists of copies of enclosures to a secret despatch from the Government of India Foreign Department to the Secret Committee, Number 15 of 1857, dated 24 March 1857. The enclosures are numbered 3-9 and are dated 14 February-23 March 1857.

The initial enclosure comprises a lengthy report to the Governor-General of India, dated 14 February 1857, from Lieutenant-General Sir James Outram, Commanding the Persian Expeditionary Force, detailing military operations and conditions in Persia [Iran] since his arrival at Bushire [Bushehr], and his proposed upcoming towards Mohamra [Khorramshahr] and Shushter [Shushtar]. Outram encloses nine documents including intelligence reports, letters, and memoranda by military staff. These papers notably cover the following:

• Persian Army positions, movements, composition, strength, armaments and reinforcements
• The British defeat of Persian forces at Boorrazjoon [Borazjan, variously spelled in this item] and Khooshab [Khushab]
• Naval surveillance of Persian defensive preparations at Mohamra and the navigability of the estuary and adjacent rivers, and efforts to solicit the cooperation of the Chaab [Banū Ka‘b] tribe who reside there
• Details of the composition of Outram’s proposed Mohamra force
• Outram’s concern that Major-General Foster Stalker is urgently reinforced at Bushire, to deter a Persian attempt to recapture the town and avert any need to detach British troops from Mohamra or on the intended advance to Shushter, and his frustration at the delayed arrival of the 1st and 2nd Brigades of the 2nd Division at Bushire
• Medical opinions on the deleterious effects of the August-November summer heat on European troops at Bushire and Outram’s aim of establishing camps at Mohamra and Shushter as healthy summer quarters for European troops
• Outram’s argument for enlisting the members of the ‘semi-independent Perso-Arab tribes’ who are known to be hostile to the Persian Government
• The appointment of a new Persian Commander-in-Chief deputed from Tehran to assume command of the Persian Army with full powers to negotiate with Outram
• General intelligence from Tehran and events in Afghanistan.

The remaining enclosures comprise:

• A minute of the Governor-General of India chiefly providing a detailed exposition on why Outram, for political reasons, is debarred from seeking the aid of, or enlisting into the British force, any but purely ‘independent’ tribes in Persia, minutes of members in Council concurring entirely with the Governor-General’s views, and a letter communicating the decision to Outram
• An extract of The Calcutta Gazette Extraordinary, published Thursday 12 March 1857, comprising ‘Notification No. 1113. Fort William, Foreign Department’, including: Outram’s Despatch to the Commander-in-Chief, Bombay, describing the success of the British Army in Persia between 3 and 9 February; a return of Persian Field Force killed and wounded on 8 February at Khooshab and list of Persian ordnance and stores captured; and Field Force orders regarding Major-General Stalker who will continue to command the augmented force at Bushire.