!['ABSTRACT OF LETTERS FROM INDIA 1870' [‎91v] (189/798)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000000912.0x0000db/IOR_L_PS_20_CA10_0189.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "'ABSTRACT OF LETTERS FROM INDIA 1870' [‎91v] (189/798)")
'ABSTRACT OF LETTERS FROM INDIA 1870' [91v] (189/798)
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.
by the fear of the intense heat to which the crews of Her Majesty’s
vessels would be exposed. It was not, therefore, till the first week in
September that Colonel Felly appeared off Bahrein with the “ Sind ) ,,
the “Hugh Rose, ,, the “Clyde,” and the “Vigilant,” to call the
pirate Chiefs to account. No resistance was attempted. Mahomed
bin Khalifa, who was acknowledged by all the people of Bahrein to
have been the instigator of the late outrages, and to have forfeited his
claim to the title of principal Sheikh, had fled. Ali bin Khalifa, his
brother and co-Sheikh, tendered his submission unreservedly, agreed
to pay a fine of one hundred thousand dollars, and to regard Mahomed
bin Khalifa as permanently excluded from all participation in the
affairs of Bahrein, and as having no claim to that territory ; he also
promised to deliver up his brother to the Resident in the event of his
returning ; and he surrendered the Bahrein war craft, of which those
belonging to Mahomed bin Khalifa were at once destroyed. Having
thus atoned for his offence, and given suitable assurances for future
good conduct, Ali bin Khalifa was permitted to continue in power.
In the course of the following week, the principal Chief of Guttur
bound himself in like manner by a solemn declaration to keep the
peace, and to have no dealings with Mahomed bin Khalifa, whilst the
Chief of Aboothabee, without striking a blow, also sued for pardon,
and submitted to the imposition of a fine of twenty-five thousand
dollars. In October we learnt that Mahomed bin Khalifa had arrived
at Bahrein, and had tendered his sword and seat to Ali bin Khalifa.
Eventually we consented to his residing at his former capital, on
condition that his brother, the reigning Chief, was responsible for his
conduct {see p. 154 of 1869).
When the news of what had occurred at Bahrein reached the Shah’s
Government, exception was taken to our proceedings {see p. 82 of 1869),
on the ground that the island had been, and was at the time of our in
tervention, dependent on Persia. The only ground for such an assertion
consists, as we have shown, in the allegiance which, under fear of
foreign invasion from other quarters, was on various occasions nominallv
volunteered, but never really paid, to Persia by Bahrein. The same
overtures have been repeatedly made by the Chiefs of Bahrein to the
Wahabees, to .Turkey, to Muscat, to the British Government, and
indeed to any power from whom they hoped for the moment by such
means to purchase help in their difficulties. Each and all these
powers could, with greater show of reason than Persia, claim sove
reignty over Bahrein. The real status of the island, and the only one
which we have recognized or admitted in all our dealings in the
Persian Gulf
The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
and our negotiations with the Chiefs, is that of an
independent State. In answer, therefore, to the remonstrances of the
Shan s Government, we referred, through the British Minister at
Teheran, to a correspondence that took place between the Govern
ment of India and the Bombay Government in 1861, of which the
British representative at His Majesty’s Court was kept’ informed, and
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:
- The Government of India
- The Viceroy and Governor-General of India
- The Resident at Aden
- The Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
- 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. in Muscat
- 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. in Zanzibar.
- 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
'ABSTRACT OF LETTERS FROM INDIA 1870' [91v] (189/798), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/20/CA10, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100135113391.0x0000be> [accessed 24 July 2026]
https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100135113391.0x0000be
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_100135113391.0x0000be">'ABSTRACT OF LETTERS FROM INDIA 1870' [‎91v] (189/798)</a> <a href="https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100135113391.0x0000be"> <img src="https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000000912.0x0000db/IOR_L_PS_20_CA10_0189.jp2/full/!280,240/0/default.jpg" alt="" /> </a>
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
Copyright: How to use this content
- 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