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'ABSTRACT OF LETTERS FROM INDIA 1870' [‎282r] (570/798)

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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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warranted by usage ; that Sirdar Leader of a tribe or a polity; also refers to a military rank or title given to a commander of an army or division. Jugdis Sing had been sent on depu
tation away from the Court, and was alarmed for his safety ; and it
soon became apparent that the presence of an Agent at Umballa,
sympathizing with the party in Council formerly opposed to the
Maharajah, was unfair to the young Chief, and likely to prolong the
conflict of parties. Accordingly, the late Lieutenant Governor took
the opportunity of a vacancy occurring in the Commissionership of
Umritsur to propose that General Taylor should be appointed to that
Division, and the proposal was concurred in by us. He at the same
time desired that General Taylor’s feelings should be considered as
much as possible, and accordingly, when intimating his transfer,
caused a letter to be addressed to him of a soothing character, ex
plaining that the ground of transfer was a difference of opinion between
himself and the Government as regards the degree and manner of
interference with the chief Cis-Sutlej feudatory States.
To this letter General Taylor has submitted a reply, vindicating
in general terms the policy pursued by him.
Sir Henry Durand now submits a Minute in which he expresses
his opinion generally upon the subject of the policy pursued by
General Taylor, and further suggests, for the consideration of the
Government, that the time has come for
transferring the immediate political control
of the principal Sikh feudatories* from the
Commissioners of Umballa and Jullundhur
to the Lieutenant Governor.
With respect to the first three of these States, we concur in the
proposal of the Lieutenant Governor. But the Rajah of Kuppoorthulla
does not occupy the same position as the others. He was not, in
1860, given plenary jurisdiction by sunnud from Lord Canning, and
it is believed that he still refers capital cases to the Commissioner.
These circumstances make it doubtful whether any change in his
case is desirable, and we have therefore referred the question again
to the Lieutenant Governor.
[Lord Napier of Magdala disapproves of the proposed measure,
on the ground that the elevation of the States to a higher position
will have an unfavourable effect, and that the Lieutenant Governor
will not have the means of learning what is going on there in any time
of trouble or local excitement. Even when there was a Political
Agent at Umballa for the whole of the Cis-Sutlej States, the Maha
rajah of Puttiala built a large and well-designed fortification within
30 miles of the Agent’s residence, the existence of which only became
known by accident.
Sir R. Temple and Mr. Ellis also do not think that there is any
sufficient reason for the proposed change.]
* Maharajah of Puttiala.
Rajah of Jheend.
„ Nabha.
„ Kuppoorthulla.

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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
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'ABSTRACT OF LETTERS FROM INDIA 1870' [‎282r] (570/798), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/20/CA10, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100135113393.0x0000ab> [accessed 10 August 2026]

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