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'ABSTRACT OF LETTERS FROM INDIA 1870' [‎90v] (187/798)

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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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176
declared a public enemy resembles in every essential
A.D. 1859. history of preceding days. Piratical outrages were
frequent; the Resident’s advice was asked only to be disregarded;
agreements were broken as soon as made ; trade languished ; the
common people were oppressed, and took every opportunity that
presented itself of flying from the hands of their oppressors. The
Wahabees, in the hope of serving their own ambitious designs, joined
gladly in the periodical attacks which Mahomed bin Abdoolla organized
against the island. At last, when repeated warnings had proved
unavailing to overcome the deep-seated feeling of revenge which he
cherished against the party in power, and when a descent on Bahrein
was imminent, the British Government interfered and expelled
Mahomed bin Abdoolla from his asylum at Demaum. Mahomed bin
Khalifa, misinterpreting the support given him on this occasion by
the British Government, thought himself at liberty to avenge himself
on the allies of his prostrate rival, and began to levy taxes on Wa-
habee vessels by force, and to seize the property which they contained.
When remonstrated with for these unwarrantable proceedings, he
declared his allegiance first to Persia, and afterwards to Turkey.
Moreover, he again blockaded the Wahabee ports. He was compelled,
however, by the British Resident to raise the blockade, and in 1861
a “ perpetual treaty of peace and friendship ” was concluded with him r
in which the engagements entered into in 1820 were declared to be
valid and in force; the Chief, as c< independent Ruler of Bahrein,”
bound himself to abstain from prosecuting war, piracy and slavery by
sea, so long as he received the support of the British Government in
maintaining the security of his own territories against similar aggres
sions on the part of neighbouring tribes ; and the British Government
on their part engaged to take the necessary steps to obtain reparation
for injuries inflicted by sea upon Bahrein or its dependencies. Whilst
this treaty was under consideration, Sir Henry Rawlinson, then
Minister at Teheran, had, in a letter to the Resident in the Persian
Gulf, expressed his opinion, with reference to a demand of the Shah
for the transfer of the island to himself, that “ under no possible cir-
“ cumstances can the British Government be expected to concur in the
“ proposed transfer of the sovereignty of Bahrein to the Persian
“ Crown, since we have contracted engagements with the Arab Sheikhs
4S of the island as independent Chiefs, and since the maintenance of
“ their independence is indispensable to the successful working of
those plans of maritime police in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. which we have
“ been at so much pains and expense to establish.”
From the year 1820, in which these mutual obligations were first
incurred, the British Government has in all respects regarded and dealt
Yvith Bahrein as an independent State. It will be within your recollec
tion (>ep. 883 of 1868) that, in the autumn of 1868, when it became
necessary to inflict punishment on its Chiefs, Ali bin Khalifa and Ma
homed bin Khalifa, for the injuries which they had, in conjunction with
die Chief of Aboothabee, committed on the Guttur tribes, no reference

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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' [‎90v] (187/798), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/20/CA10, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100135113391.0x0000bc> [accessed 29 July 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