IOR/L/PS/5/261, ff 368-393

Despatch from the Foreign Department, Government of India, to the Secretary of State for India, No. 7 of 1868, dated 20 July 1868, including an abstract and enclosures numbered 3-6, dated 26 June-20 July 1868.

The enclosures relate to complaints received and made by Lieutenant-Colonel Lewis Pelly, Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, regarding alleged infractions, by Persian local officials at Bushire [Bushehr], of the ‘Treaty of 1857’ with Persia [Iran] (Treaty of Peace between Britain and Persian, ending the Anglo-Persian War 1856-1857).

Pelly writes to the Government of Bombay enclosing copies of his letters to Sir Charles Alison, HM Minister at Tehran [also spelled Teheran in this item] describing ‘violations’ of the Treaty, and including copies of complaints he has received from or in relation to British subjects and Residency staff dating back to 1866. The complaints mainly concern the inability of British subjects to purchase any ‘house, habitation or plain ground whether inside the town or outside’ (f 377). They also cover:

• Excessive export duties and passport fees
• The export of corn by Persian subjects, with the apparent collusion of Persian authorities, despite the embargo placed last spring by the Persian Government
• Obstructions to trade and commerce causing even the ‘most patient’ (f 374) Hindoo [Hindu] merchants to withdraw from Bushire
• The assault on a servant of the Agent of the British Indian Steam Navigation Company, for buying meat in the bazar [bazaar]
• The harassment, assault or arrest of Residency servants
• The attempted arrest of the commanding officer of HM gunboat Clyde by Persian soldiers
• Repeated attacks on the Indo-European Telegraph Office at Bushire by Persian soldiers.

Also included are letters from the Officiating Secretary to the Government of India: notifying the Government of Bombay that the British Government will be urged to remove the restriction on the Resident’s free communication with local provincial governors, which Pelly has complained about; and instructing HM Minister at Tehran to make a firm remonstrance to the Persian Government against the ‘infractions’ and insist that the Shah [Shāh] officially repudiate the alleged order prohibiting the sale of landed property to British subjects and remove the local Governor and punish local officials if the infractions continue.