IOR/L/PS/5/262, ff 904-996

The despatch commences with a detailed statement by the Government of India, Foreign Department, to the Secretary of State for India, setting out its views regarding the recent conduct of Persia [Iran] in respect to its territorial rights along the whole of its Eastern Frontier, specifically regarding ‘the Province of Seistan [Sistan] and the tract bordering on the river Helmund [Helmand], her boundary between the tribes of Beluchistan [Balochistan] and the feudatories of Kelat [Kalat], and also as to the line of the Mekran [Makran] Coast with the ports of Gwadur [Gwadar], Charbar [Chabahar], and Bunder Abbass [Bandar-e ‘Abbas]’ (f 904). The statement is followed by copies of correspondence, telegrams and other papers illustrating the political instability engendered by ‘Persian infractions’ and arguing the case for negotiations to be opened with the Persian Government ‘whereby these recurring causes of alarm and irritation might be removed’ (f 904), and urging ‘that the whole frontier should be accurately defined, and that all danger of future complications, between Persia on the one side and Affghanistan [Afghanistan] and Kelat [Kalat] on the other, should be put an end to for ever’ (f 908). The Government of India argues that these issues and the inability of its officials to directly inter-communicate with HM Minister at Teheran [Tehran] make it very difficult to carry out successfully the policy laid down and the instructions of the British Government.

The copies of correspondence, telegrams and other papers cover and include the following:

• A report entitled ‘Correspondence on the progress of Persia in Mekran and Western Beluchistan, from A. D. 1860 to A. D. 1869 inclusive; occasioned by the establishment and extension of the Government sections of land telegraph connecting India with the International System’, compiled from Bombay Secretariat Records in April 1869 by Colonel Frederic John Goldsmid (ff 920-961). The report includes a map of Beluchistan, catalogued as IOR/L/PS/5/262, f 959
• The uncertain political situation in Muscat and Oman caused by the struggle for power between the deposed Sultan of Muscat, Syud Salim [Sayyid Sālim bin Thuwaynī Āl Bū Sa‘īd] and his ‘usurper’ Syud Azan bin Ges [Sayyid ‘Azzān bin Qays Āl Bū Sa‘īd, also spelled Syed in this item]
• The appointment of Hajee Ahmed [Ḥājjī Aḥmad], the former Minister of Syud Salim, as Governor of Bunder Abbass, as a Persian subject
• Events at Muscat, including: hostility against Lieutenant-Colonel Herbert Disbrowe, Political Agent, Muscat, and his staff, caused by the British prohibition of operations by sea, notably towards Gwadur and Charbar; the rising influence of Syud Azan’s senior minister Khuleelee [Khalīlī] and the latter’s alliance with ‘fanatical’ factions; recriminatory acts and threats of violence against British subjects by the Muttowas [Mutawas, religious police, also spelled Muthowas in this item]; Disbrowe’s summoning of British vessels Clyde, Dryad and Forte to secure British safety and maritime tranquility; and unverified rumours that Syud Salim has arrived on the Omani mainland
• Information concerning Nasir bin Thoweynee [Sayyid Nāṣir bin Thuwaynī Āl Bū Sa‘īd], brother of Syud Salim, and his step-father ‘Daboo’, who have gone to Gwadur and ousted the governor there (f 973)
• The aggressive activities in Mekran conducted by Ibrahim Khan [Ibrāhīm Khān], Persian Governor of Bunpoor [Bampur]
• The recommendation by Disbrowe and Lieutenant-Colonel Lewis Pelly, Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, that a naval force should patrol the Gwadur and Charbar coast
• A report that the deposed Ruler of Bahrein [Bahrain] Mahomed bin Khuleefa [Muḥammed bin Khalīfah Āl Khalīfah], who was residing at Bahrein, has been deported to Kowait [Kuwait] for further ‘intriguing’ against the current Ruler
• A report by Captain Alfred Cotton Way, First Assistant Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, on his tour of the Arabian coast in HM steamer Sind, enquiring into unsettled claims and complaints (ff 974-976)
• Rumours that the Sultan of Zanzibar, Syed Majid [Sayyid Mājid bin Sa‘īd Āl Bū Sa‘īd] contemplates moving to Muscat, accompanied by his brother Syud Toorkee [Sayyid Turkī bin Sa‘īd Āl Bū Sa‘īd] (f 981).

The principal correspondents are: the Government of India; the Government of Bombay; the Commissioner in Sind [Sindh]; Captain Edward Charles Ross, Assistant Political Agent, Gwadur; Sir Charles Alison, HM Minister in Persia and Ronald Thomson, Chargé d’Affaires; Disbrowe; Pelly; and Cotton Way. Also included are letters from: the Ameer of Cabul [Amīr of Kabul]; the Governors of Herat, Candahar [Kandahar], Furrah [Farah, Afghanistan], and Kedj [Kech]; and Syud Azan.

The Political Despatch was received in the India Office Secret Department on 12 July 1869.