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'Collection of journals and reports received from Captain the Hon G C Napier, Bengal Staff Corps, on special duty in Persia, 1874. Includes revised index. London: HMSO, 1876' [‎22r] (47/409)

The record is made up of 1 volume (201 folios). It was created in 1876. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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his recall from Khorassan, and caused the present Governor, an
illiterate old chief of the Shah Sevend tribe, to be appointed in
his place. The change was not a happy one for the province, for
the Shah Sevend is, so far as I can hear, a narrow-minded bigot,
without the ability and education to lit him for so high a post.
He is avaricious and short-sighted, sufficiently sensible to keep on
good terms with the powerful community of priests, whom he
flatters by many attentions and by strict performance of his
religious duties, and retains in his interest by large presents, but
insatiable in his demands on the purses of all who in any way come
within his power. He is disliked by the troops whose pay he
appropriates, by the merchants whose interests he neglects or
injures for a small personal profit, and by the chiefs whom he
insults and robs. Such was the account I received of a Governor
who has replaced the most able and popular Prince in Persia.
Thursday, \?>ih August .—Visited the camp of the Maragha Camp of _
regiment, which is pitched outside in preparation for the march a lcgl
to Teheran. Only some small matters regarding pay remain
unsettled, the soldiers demanding pay and the officials accounts
and receipts for money that has never reached the regiment.
There can be no doubt of the truth of this. The officers are not
immaculate, and a considerable portion of the men’s pay stays in
their hands, but the system of“Mudakhil” or misappropriation is
known to commence at the highest and to descend to the very
lowest grade in the service. I was much amused by a characteristic
answer of a Persian soldier to my question, whether he had any
hope of receiving his arrears of pay. “ Our fathers never got them,”
he said, “why should we? ” The camp I found pitched without
any order, and no attention paid to conservancy; the tents of
single canvas are light, and appeared serviceable. The allowance
is one to twenty-five men, and they could hold no more. TVithin
the camp were picketed 4 or 500 baggage animals, camels, horses,
and donkeys, all the property of the men, who are allowed no
carriage even for their tents. When in garrison many of them
also make a living by selling fuel, carrying bricks, &c., thus eking
out their scanty pay.
\4:th August .—Visited the Governor and found him, contrary
to agreement, surrounded by secretaries and officials, among
others the Khan of Ghaeen.
15£/i August .—Visited the “ Mutwulli Bashi,” or Chief
Custodian ” of the Shrine, Mirza Saeed Khan, Ex-Minister, Mirza Saeed
Foreign Affairs. The old man received me courteously and kept Khau -
strictly to ordinary topics of conversation, though it is known that
he has much influence with the Governor, and is in fact his chief
adviser in all matters not strictly local.
When Foreign Minister he was known to be a strong Russian
partizan and unfavourable to English interests. He was im
plicated in the cabal with which the Shah found himself confronted
on his return from Europe, and it was mainly through the in
fluence of the British Minister that he was removed to his present
secluded retreat. I feel entitled therefore to count him as an
c 2

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Content

Reprint of Collection of journals and reports received from Captain the Hon. G C Napier, Bengal Staff Corps, on special duty in Persia. 1874, with a revised index at pp 348-355 (folios 181-185). A copy of the original index is present at folios 186-200.

A letter from the Under Secretary of State for India to the Under Secretary of State for War has been pasted into the front of the volume (folios 2-3), noting that two copies of the revised version have been forwarded for the use of the Intelligence Department.

The volume contains ten documents written by George Campbell Napier, and compiled by the Political and Secret Department of the India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. . The documents included are as follows:

1. Report of the proceedings in regard to the Khaff [Khvāf] raid;

2. Diary kept during tour in Khorassan [Razavi Khorasan];

3. Observations on the topography of the Eastern Alburz tract, with notices on a few places of interest on the Persian Border;

4. Memorandum on the condition and external relations of the Turkoman tribes of Merve [Mary];

5. Reports on events in Herat and Turkistan. Diary for March 1875;

6. Report on the present situation in Seistan [Sīstān] in relation to late arbitration;

7. Report on the Perso-Afghan border;

8. Notes on the political condition of the population of Eastern Khorassan;

9. Notes on the condition of the districts, chiefships, and tribes of the north-eastern frontier of Persia;

10. Memorandum on the relations of Russia and Persia with the Turkoman tribes of the Attrek Frontier.

At the back of the volume (folio 201) is a fold-out map of the northern frontier of Khorassan, with parts of Irak [Iraq] and Mazandaran [Māzandarān].

Extent and format
1 volume (201 folios)
Arrangement

A table of contents can be found at folio 5v.

The revised index is found at folios 181-185; a copy of the original index is also present at folios 186-200.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 203; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. Pagination: the file also contains an original printed pagination sequence.

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English in Latin script
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'Collection of journals and reports received from Captain the Hon G C Napier, Bengal Staff Corps, on special duty in Persia, 1874. Includes revised index. London: HMSO, 1876' [‎22r] (47/409), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/20/229, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100037551006.0x000030> [accessed 29 March 2024]

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