'Lord Curzon's Notes on Persia' [‎639r] (1279/1386)

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position, 24 miles distant from Oroomiah on the main road from the frontier; while
the other, headed by Sheikh Abdul Kader, was in great force in the districts of
Maragha and Souj Boulak.
According to later information from Tabreez, it now appears that Sheikh Abdul
Kader, after having sacked the town of Mianboaband put its inhabitants to the sword,
had proceeded to ravage the country round Maragha, destroying a large number of
villages in the neighbourhood, but that on the approach of the reinforcements,
dispatched by the Persian Government, he had withdrawn from that part of the
country and marched to Oroomiah, and that on his arrival there he had summoned the
inhabitants to capitulate. In compliance, however, with Mr. Abbott’s representations
a delay of three days had been granted.
The Ikbal-ed-Dowlel, Governor of the town, was not in a sufficiently strong
position a fortnight ago to make any active resistance, and it is doubtful whether the
reinforcements dispatched to his support under Teimour Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. Khan, the Governor of
Khoi, have since reached him.
In Mr. Abbott’s letter of the 7th instant he mentions that the American
missionaries at Oroomiah had told him that they felt no apprehension of the Christians
of Oroomiah experiencing ill-treatment at the hands of the Sheikh, if the town were
compelled to surrender.
These views are supported by the opinion of Mgr. Chezel, Archbishop of Heraclea,
who is now at the head of a large establishment of French missionaries at Oroomiah,
expressed in some letters recently addressed by him to the Lazarist missionaries
here.
According to the latest telegraphic news from Tabreez, it is stated that Hajji
Mirza Hussein Khan, the ex-Minister for Foreign Affairs, upon whom the title of
Sepeh Salar-i-Aazen, Commander-in-Chief, has just been re-conferred by the Shah, has
for the last two days been busily engaged in the erection of barricades in the streets
of that city, and the construction of entrenchments outside the walls.
I have, &c.
(Signed) RONALD F. THOMSON.
No. 18.
Mr. Thomson to Earl Granville.
(Substance received by telegraph, October 28.)
My Lord, Tehran. October 28, 1880.
I HAVE the honour to inform your Lordship, with reference to my despatch
of yesterday’s date, that it is now reported that one of the sons of Sheikh
Obeidullah, and also a brother of Hamza Agha, the Persian Kurdish Chief, were killed
by artillery lire in the engagement which took place some days ago near Maragha,
when the Itimad-es-Saltaneh succeeded in forcing the Kurds to retire in the direction
of Souj Boulak.
Teimour Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. Khan, the Persian Governor of Khoi, with the reinforcements
dispatched in support of the forces at Oroomiah, reached Salmas on Sunday, and
ought by this time to have come into contact with the Kurds who are investing that
place. According to late reports, the insurgents have succeeded in cutting off the
water supply of the town.
I have, &c.
(Signed) RONALD F. THOMSON.
No. 19.
Mr. Goschen to Earl Granville.—(Received October 29, 10'15 p.m.)
(Telegraphic.) Therapia, October 29, 1880, 1210 P.M.
I HEAP from Van that Governor of Suraia has lied, and that Sheikh Obeidullah
has himself crossed frontier into Persia.