Skip to item: of 798
Information about this record Back to top
Open in Universal viewer
Open in Mirador IIIF viewer

'ABSTRACT OF LETTERS FROM INDIA 1870' [‎88r] (182/798)

This item is part of

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. .

Transcription

This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.

Apply page layout

to enable them to remain undisturbed at Bahrein. The Resident
recommended that the request should be granted, but the Bombay
Government declined to interfere in the matter. The next step on
the part of the Wahabees was openly to assume the
Government of Bahrein and Zobara by the appointment
of Abdoolla bin Oofeysan as Vakeel over those places, as well as over
the districts of Kuteef and Katar. His work was that of supervision
and collection of tribute, and of conversion, if the latter could be
effected. The administration remained in the hands of the Uttoobees.
Shortly afterwards, when the advance of the Turks imperilled the
safety of the Wahabee Province of JNejd, the number of troops in the
garrisons of Zobara and Bahrein was diminished ; the authority of the
Vakeel, without an efficient force at his command, ceased; and the
Uttoobees, after making him a prisoner, again remained paramount
in the island.
In 1815, the Imaum of Muscat, Syud Saeed, attacked Bahrein,
but was repulsed with great loss. The brothers, Suleman bin Ahmed
and ‘ Abdoolla bin Ahmed, were then co-Sheikhs; but even at that
early period in his career, the latter seems to have had the greater
political influence. The 'Imaum fell back on Congoon, whence he
hoped, by the help of the Prince of Shiraz, to fit out another expe
dition to retrieve his disaster. But in the midst of negotiations for
this purpose he suspected treachery on the part of Persia, and abandoned
his project. The mere withdrawal to Congoon had raised the fears of
the Uttoobees, and their anxiety was not quieted till a messenger
arrived from Shiraz with dresses of honour bestowed by the Prince of
Pars in return for presents which they had already sent him, and with
an offer of terms, to which they assented. What these terms were
does not appear. The acceptance of dresses of honour, interpreted by
the light of Oriental etiquette, looks as though the Uttoobees at this
juncture found it necessary to temporize, by giving an outward token
of their dependence on Persia. At this time they had so far departed
from their former policy as to encourage pirates to resort to their ports
in order to dispose of their plunder. But with the exception of a few
instances in which they had furnished crews to the vessels of neigh
bouring tribes, they had not themselves openly engaged in piracy.
In 1820, General Keir negotiated with the brother Chiefs a treaty
stipulating that every possible discouragement should be given within
Bahrein and its dependencies to pirates, and admitted them to the
benefit of the general treaty with the friendly Arabs concluded about
the same time, by which almost every Sheikh of note in the Gulf
pledged himself to peace with the British Government, to desist
from plunder and piracy, and to aid, if necessary, in putting such
crimes down. T.
T. he continued fear of a combined attack on the part of Muscat
and Persia caused the Uttoobees, in the course of the same year, to
send an Agent to the Imaum to conclude an agreement by which they
11603. 3 q.

About this item

Content

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
View the complete information for this record

Use and share this item

Share this item
Cite this item in your research

'ABSTRACT OF LETTERS FROM INDIA 1870' [‎88r] (182/798), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/20/CA10, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100135113391.0x0000b7> [accessed 28 July 2026]

Link to this item
Embed this item

Copy and paste the code below into your web page where you would like to embed the image.

<meta charset="utf-8"><a href="https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100135113391.0x0000b7">'ABSTRACT OF LETTERS FROM INDIA 1870' [&lrm;88r] (182/798)</a>
<a href="https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100135113391.0x0000b7">
	<img src="https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000000912.0x0000db/IOR_L_PS_20_CA10_0182.jp2/full/!280,240/0/default.jpg" alt="" />
</a>
IIIF details

This record has a IIIF manifest available as follows. If you have a compatible viewer you can drag the icon to load it.https://www.qdl.qa/en/iiif/81055/vdc_100000000912.0x0000db/manifestOpen in Universal viewerOpen in Mirador viewerMore options for embedding images

Use and reuse
Download this image