Abstract: This item comprises a copy of an enclosure to a despatch from the Government of Bombay Secret Department to the Secret Committee, Number 133 of 1846, dated 14 November 1846. The enclosure is dated 14 September 1846.The enclosure consists of a copy of a despatch, with enclosures, from Lieutenant-Colonel Justin Sheil, HM Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at the Court of Persia [Iran], to Viscount Palmerston, the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, relating to affairs in Persia. The despatch is copied to the Governor and President in Council, Bombay, and the Governor-General of India, for information.The papers notably cover the following matters:Arrangements at Erzeroom [Erzurum] for finalising the Treaty between the governments of Persia and the Ottoman Empire, notably the insertion of a tenth article authorising the appointment of ministers of both governments to implement the Treaty terms after ratificationCompensation to be paid by the Ottoman Porte [Government] in reparation for the recent attack on Meerza Tekkee Khan [Mīrzā Taqī Khān Farāhānī], the Persian Minister at Erzeroom, and his servantsThe proposed arrangement between the Political Resident at Bushire [Bushehr] and the Governor of Fars to engage a British vessel of war against any ‘chiefs’ of the Persian shores of the Gulf coast who commit ‘aggressions’ against British subjects or commerceSheil’s enquiries to the Khuleefa of Merve [Khalifah of Merv] relating to the fate of Mr Wyburd [William Henry Wybard]The mortality caused by the cholera outbreak in TehranIntelligence received by Sheil of: the arrival in Tehran of a dissident of Herat who wishes to persuade the Asef-ood-Dowleh [Āṣaf al-Dawlah], with the acquiescence of the Persian Government, to attack Herat; and the confederacy of opposition forming in Meshed [Mashhad] against Yar Mahomed Khan [Yār Muḥammad Khān], Ruler of HeratThe Persian Government’s complaints regarding another violation of its territory by members of the Bilbass [Belbās or Bilbas] tribe of Turkish Koords [Kurds] in the south-west extremity of Azerbijan [Azerbaijan]The remonstrations of the Persian Government against the Turkish [Ottoman] vessel of war anchored near Mohemmera [Khorramshahr, formerly Mohammerah] to ‘molest Persian commerce by forcing vessels bound to that port to proceed to Bussorah [Basra]’ (f 103)The improbability of the Persian Government’s orders for the removal from Kermanshah of Abdoollah Beg, Chief of the Sheref Bainees [‘Abdullāh Beg, leader of the Sharaf Baynī] being enacted due to the inaccessibility of that territory.Physical description: 1 item (21 folios)
Abstract: This item comprises a copy of an enclosure to a despatch from the Government of Bombay Secret Department to the Secret Committee, Number 149 of 1846, dated 14 December 1846. The enclosure is dated 14 October 1846.The enclosure consists of a despatch, with enclosures, from Lieutenant-Colonel Justin Sheil, HM Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at the Court of Persia [Iran], to Viscount Palmerston, the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, relating to affairs in Persia. The despatch is copied to the Governor and President in Council, Bombay, and the Governor-General of India, for information.The papers notably cover the following matters:The efforts of Sheil and the Russian Minister in Tehran, Prince Dolgorouki [Prince Dimitri Ivanovich Dolgorukov], to persuade Meerza Tekkee Khan [Mīrzā Taqī Khān Farāhānī], the Persian Minister at Erzeroom [Erzurum], to conclude negotiations with Turkish [Ottoman] representatives and sign the Treaty between Persia and Turkey. Included are copies of instructions to Meerza Tekkee Khan from the Persian Prime Minister, Hajee Meerza Aghassee [Ḥājī Mīrzā (ʿAbbās Īravānī) Āqāsī] (ff 427-429, ff 438-442), with a warning of ‘severe reprehension’ if ‘this business is further suspended or delayed’ (f 442)Sheil’s investigations into alleged British captives in AfghanistanThe opinion of Sheil that the Persian Prime Minister has rejected recent overtures for an attack on Herat as it would involve the aggrandisement of the asef ood dowleh [Āṣaf al-Dawlah]The cholera outbreak, including; its spread in Persia and towards Bagdad [Baghdad]; Sheil’s belief that it will not extend to Europe; and its prevalence in Tehran causing the Shah [Shāh of Persia] to remain at his summer encampment, outside the citySheil’s report of anti-British ‘intrigues’ by Russian diplomats in Tehran in connection with Treaty negotiations at Erzeroom and dissent in HeartThe plea to Sheil of the Ameer of Kaeen [Amīr of Qaen] to intercede on his behalf to the Persian Government for the restoration to him and his son of their territories, and the Persian Prime Minister’s promise to guarantee the Ameer’s safe passage to Tehran and the restoration of his governorship (ff 420-421)The proposal by the Governor of Fars, supported by the Resident in the Persian Gulf, to engage a ship of war in ‘punishing the chiefs on the Persian Coast of the Persian Gulf who had committed aggressions on British commerce’ (f 417)Persian grievances regarding the Turkish ship of war anchored near Mohemmera [Khorramshahr, formerly Mohammerah]Orders issued by the Persian Government for the removal of Rasool Bey, Chief of Rewadooz [Rasūl Beg, Ruler of Ruwandiz or Rawandiz, Iraqi Kurdistan] and Ahmed Pasha [Aḥmad Pāshā], Governor of Sooleimaneeya [Sulaymaniyah] from Ooshney [Oshnaviyeh?] a frontier town in the Ooroomeeya [Urmia or Orumiyeh] district in Azerbijan [Azerbaijan].Physical description: 1 item (36 folios)
Abstract: Enclosures no. 2-5 to a despatch from the Secret Department, Governmentof Bombay, dated 24 August 1844. The enclosures are dated 6 March-26 June 1844.The enclosures consist of copies of correspondence relating to affairs in Persia [Iran], including:Inhabitants of Karrack [Kharg] seeking asylum in Koweit [Kuwait], and a demand by the Governor of Fars for the removal of the British Coal Agent from KarrackThe departure from Tehran of Persian Agents to Bokhara [Emirate of Bukhara] and Khiva, in return for diplomatic missions previously sent to Tehran from those countriesThe expulsion from Persia of two French clergymen accused of proselytisingBorder negotiations at Erzeroom [Erzurum] between Persia and the Ottoman Empire, and a joint Anglo-Russian request for both governments to send agents to the frontier to ‘restrain the border Chiefs from committing the usual predatory incursions’Preparations in Kurachee [Karachi] by Agha Khan Mahlatee [Āghā Khān I], exiled former Governor of Kerman, to lead an assault on Kerman, and a demand from the Government of Persia that the British authorities in Sinde [Sindh] either arrest or exile himReports of an alliance between Dost Mahomed Khan [Dūst Muḥammad Khān Bārakzāy], Emir of Afghanistan, and Yar Mahomed Khan [Yār Muḥammad Khān ‘Alī Kūzāy], Vizier of HeratAn account (ff 64-67) by Hajee Mahomed Ali [Ḥājjī Muḥammad ‘Alī], a grandson of the late Shah of Persia Kerreem Khan Zend [Karīm Khān Zand], of an Ottoman attack on Kerbala [Karbala] in which his wife and two eldest children were killed and his two younger children 'carried away [as] captives’ to Damascus, and British attempts to secure their releaseA journey to Bokhara by German missionary Dr Joseph Wolff, and his reports confirming the executions there in July 1842 of Colonel Charles Stoddart and Captain Arthur Conolly.The primary correspondent is HM Chargé d’Affaires, Tehran. Other correspondents include: the Prime Minister of Persia; the Foreign Minister of Persia; the Russian Minister in Tehran; Agha Khan Mahlatee; Dr Wolff; and the Emir of Bokhara.Physical description: 1 item (114 folios)