IOR/L/PS/5/262, ff 277-298

The enclosures chiefly comprise correspondence between the Secretary to the Government of Bombay and the Secretary to the Government of India, Foreign Department, discussing the letters (copies enclosed) and the views of Lieutenant-Colonel Lewis Pelly, Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, and their own views, in relation to affairs in Muscat and Oman, specifically:

• The succession crisis in Muscat and the British preference for the claim of Syud Toorkee [Sayyid Turkī bin Sa‘īd Āl Bū Sa‘īd], uncle of the deposed former Ruler Syud Salim [Sayyid Sālim bin Thuwaynī Āl Bū Sa‘īd] to the ‘Imamship of Muscat’. Included is a memorandum by the Governor of Bombay explicating this policy (f 295)
• The Government of India consenting to Syud Toorkee leaving Bombay [Mumbai] in a bid to establish his authority over Muscat, contingent upon his not being conveyed or accompanied by any British ships or being guaranteed British protection
• The proposed embarkation of men from the Arab Coast by Syud Salim, and the Government of India’s insistence that all naval operations by him, or any other party, must be prevented.

Pelly’s letters include copies of his communications to or from: Syud Salim; the Sheikh of Abooyabaie [Shaikh of Abu Dhabi]; the British Agent at Shargah [Sharjah]; Captain Alfred Cotton Way, First Assistant Political Resident, Persian Gulf; and the officers commanding HM gunboats Hugh Rose at Bunder Abbass [Bandar-e ‘Abbas] and Clyde at Gwadur [Gwadar].

The Political Despatch was received in the India Office Secret Department on 22 March 1869.