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'ABSTRACT OF LETTERS FROM INDIA 1870' [‎86v] (179/798)

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'ABSTRACT OF LETTERS FROM INDIA 1870'
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Ref: IOR/L/PS/20/CA10

The record is made up of 1 volume (395 folios). It was created in Dec 1869-Dec 1870. 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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With reference to the relations between Muscat and Persia, we
quite concur in the views of Her Majesty’s Government as expressed
in your Despatch. As soon as we heard of the seizure of Bunder
Abbas, we informed you that we considered we had no right to
insist, under the altered circumstances of the case, on the continuance
by Persia of the lease granted to Muscat in 1855, and again in 1868
(see pp. 273 and 388 of 1869).
Before acting on your instructions relative to the Zanzibar
subsidy and the communication to be made to Syud Majid, we beg to
draw attention to a circumstance which may perhaps have escaped
the recollection of Her Majesty’s Government when this question was
under consideration. Syud Toorkee receives an allowance of 7,200
dollars a year under an agreement with Syud Salim, dated 10th Sep
tember 1867, on condition of residing in British India, or wherever
Government may fix, and not molesting Muscat territory. It is paid
from the Zanzibar subsidy of 40,000 crowns a year. The Zanzibar
subsidy is paid into the Bombay Treasury, whence it is remitted to
the Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. at Muscat. Syud Toorkee was removed to India
on the pledge that this stipend should be punctually paid him. The
money is advanced to Toorkee by the Bombay Government, and is
recovered from the subsidy when paid by the Sultan of Zanzibar.
The last payment of the subsidy of which we have any information
was made on 6th May 1868, and was 80,000 dollars, equal to
Rs. 1,68,000, including arrears.
The question arises, if Syud Majid is to be at liberty to withhold
payment of the subsidy, how is faith to be kept with Toorkee, and
from what source is this 7,200 dollars a year to be paid ? It is not a
charge which, we think, can by any means be thrown upon the
revenues of India. It is probable that the Sultan of Zanzibar would
not object to continue to Toorkee his allowance if he is allowed to
escape from the payment of the subsidy of 40,000 crowns to Muscat.
But before we commit ourselves to a definite admission of the right
of Syud Majid to be released from the payment of the subsidy, we
desire to be favoured with the instructions of Her Majesty’s Govern
ment as to the communication to be made to the Ruler of Muscat
relative to the stipend of Syud Toorkee.
An intended expedition from Zanzibar to Muscat, for the purpose
either of asserting the supremacy of Zanzibar, or for placing Toorkee
upon the throne, has been much talked of and rumoured throughout
the districts bordering upon the Indian Ocean for some time. The
late mission which was deputed by Majid to Bombay asked directly
for the permission of the British Government to take Toorkee to
Zanzibar, and with him to make a descent upon the coast of Oman.
The Governor of Bombay informed the Envoys that the orders which
he had received from the Viceroy and from Her Majesty’s Govern
ment for the preservation of peace in the waters of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
were precise, and admitted of no exception; and that under these

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Confidential printed abstracts of letters received by 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. from the Government of India, and from senior officials in certain areas outside India, during the year 1870. The letters are dated December 1869-December 1870. The abstracts each have one of the following titles:

  • Abstracts of Secret Letters received from India
  • Abstracts of Letters received from India
  • Abstracts of Military Letters received from India
  • Abstracts of Letters received from Zanzibar and Muscat
  • Abstracts of Letters received from Aden
  • Abstracts of Letters received from Muscat
  • Abstracts of Letters received from Bushire [Bushehr]
  • Abstracts of Letters received from Aden and Zanzibar
  • Abstracts of Letters received from Bushire and Aden
  • Abstracts of Letters received from Zanzibar and Aden.

Each abstract contains summaries of one or more letters from the specified source, each with a title giving the subject of the letter. Letters from India are divided within each abstract by the branch or department of the Government of India they originated from. The correspondence covers issues including:

  • Pay, pensions, recruitment, and other personnel issues in the Indian Civil and Military establishments
  • Public works, including: railways, including a proposed railway from the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ; roads; canals; irrigation; docks; and river embankments
  • Revenue, expenditure, and taxation
  • Land issues, including: the cultivation of cotton, cinchona, and silk; forestry; and coal mining
  • Education
  • Banking
  • Telegraphy, including international telegraphic links to India
  • Affairs concerning Princely States, including internal administration, debts, allowances, issues of succession, investment in railways, and territorial claims
  • Issues around emigration from India to British and French colonies
  • Legislative and judicial affairs, including the question of jurisdiction over British subjects in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
  • Military affairs, including the organisation and supply of military units and a proposed naval force for the Indian seas and the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
  • Frontier affairs: relations with tribes on the Northwest and Northeast Frontiers and frontier raids
  • Affairs in Persia [Iran], including: Persian claims to sovereignty over Bahrein [Bahrain] and objection to British actions in Bahrein; frontier disputes around Khelat [Kalat], Mekran [Makran], and Seistan [Sistan] and proposed arbitration of the Persian-Afghan border; anticipated food shortages and subsequent disturbances involving British subjects exporting grain from Bushire
  • Affairs in the Sultanate of Muscat and Oman, including: the consolidation of and challenges to the rule of Syud Azan [Azzān bin Qays Āl Bū Sa‘īd]; debates around British policy towards Syud Azan; confrontation between Muscat and the Wahabees [Waḥabī movement]; the issue of the Zanzibar subsidy; and Syud Azan’s claims to Bunder Abbas [Bandar-e ‘Abbas], Gwadur [Gwadar], Charbar [Chabahar] and other territories on the Mekran Coast
  • Affairs in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , including: the campaign of Colonel Lewis Pelly in Bahrein and the installation of Esau bin Ali [‘Īsá bin ‘Alī Āl Khalīfah] as Ruler; trade and shipping in the Gulf; the desire of the Shah of Persia for a naval presence in the Gulf; Dutch and Turkish [Ottoman] activity in the region; and tensions between Bahrein and the Wahabees, including Wahabee inroads in the Guttur peninsula [Qatar]
  • Affairs in Affghanistan [Afghanistan], including relations with Bokhara [Emirate of Bukhara] and Russia
  • Central Asian affairs, including the Russian advance in the region, trade and communication from India to Central Asia via Cashmere [Kashmir] and Ladak [Ladakh], and affairs in Eastern Turkestan [Xinjiang]
  • Affairs in Zanzibar, including the slave trade, relations with Muscat, the death of Syud Majid [Mājid bin Sa‘īd Āl Bū Sa‘īd], and the accession to the throne of Syud Burgash [Barghash bin Sa‘īd Āl Bū Sa‘īd]
  • Affairs in and around Aden Settlement, including: relations with neighbouring polities, including Lahej [Laḥij Sultanate], Houshebi [Ḥawshabī Sultanate], Fodtheli [Faḍlī Sultanate], and Kathiree [Kathīrī Sultanate]; the purchase of Little Aden; the defences of Aden; an attack on Hodeida [Al Hudaydah] from Aseer [‘Asir] and the threat to Lahej from the Zaidees [Zaidīs]
  • Affairs in the Red Sea, including attempted French, Austrian, Turkish, and Egyptian inroads in the region
  • Affairs in Burmah [Burma/Myanmar], Bhootan [Bhutan], and Nipal [Nepal].

The primary correspondents are:

Extent and format
1 volume (395 folios)
Arrangement

The abstracts are arranged in roughly chronological order. A detailed index of subjects, places and people mentioned in the correspondence is included on folios 384-393.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the first folio with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 395; 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. The foliation sequence does not include the front and back covers.

Pagination: the file also contains an original printed pagination sequence.

Written in
English in Latin script
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'ABSTRACT OF LETTERS FROM INDIA 1870' [‎86v] (179/798), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/20/CA10, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100135113391.0x0000b4> [accessed 5 August 2026]

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Reference
IOR/L/PS/20/CA10
Title
'ABSTRACT OF LETTERS FROM INDIA 1870'
Pages
front, back, spine, edge, head, tail, front-i, 1r:116v, 119r:395v, back-i
Author
East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
Usage terms
Open Government Licence