After the capture Agent of the above

Ferrah. These troops will proceed outside the city of Herat. of Ferrah, and the return (of the troops) from thence, an quality will be sent to Herat, and Sam Khan will return. The troops of the Government (Persian Government) will not return to Herat, unless an enemy should attack Herat, or if great disorder should take place in the affairs (that is, internal affairs) of Herat.

Another point not alluded to by your Excellency, is the coinage of Herat in the name of His Majesty, which the Heratees themselves are desirous of, and which His Majesty will consent to.

Inclosure 2 in No. 24.

Lieutenant-Colonel Sheil to the Sedr Azim.

August 23, 1852.

AS the detention of the Affghan Khans in confinement at Meshed is certainly contrary to the spirit of the declarations of the Persian Government when the Persian troops entered the Herat territory, I trust your Excellency will make an arrangement for their liberation, so as to convince the English Government of the sincerity of the professions of the Court of Persia in its disclaimer of an assumption of sovereignty over Herat. It would, in my judgment, be to the advantage of both Governments to terminate as speedily as possible all subjects of discussion connected with that Principality. So long as these Chiefs are detained in custody in Persia, the British Government will not have it in its power to consider that this Government has fulfilled its agreement. Their liberation can be effected in a manner from which no one can suffer unjustly.

Inclosure 3 in No. 24.

Lieutenant-Colonel Sheil to the Sedr Azim.

August 24, 1852.

I FIND, on inquiry, that there is no such place as Heft Chemen in Toorbet Hydereeah, and that name, moreover, is applied, not to one place, but to a considerable extent of country. The tract known by that name, consisting of seven large grazing-plains, is far distant from Toorbet. Part of it, moreover, adjoins the Herat territory, and is only twelve miles from Ghorian.

It is contrary to the spirit of the former declarations and agreement of the Persian Government, as well as of the demand of the British Cabinet, that this Government should constantly hold a force in the vicinity of and threatening Herat.

If the Persian Government is sincere in its professions, and devoid of ulterior designs, instead of these vague and uncertain terms it will not hesitate to name a specific distance from the frontier of Herat to which the force under Abbass Koolee Khan shall be recalled-say 150 miles.

Your Excellency's allusion to the coinage of Herat scarcely corresponds with your expressions. What you really said was, that it was the intention of the Persian Government to deliver to Seyd Mahomed Khan's agent, now in Tehran, 10,000 tomans for conveyance to Herat, which the agent promised should be melted, and coined in the Shah's name.

The question of coinage, and the announcement thereon contained in your letter, deserve the reflection of the Persian Ministers. The assumption of the coinage is a recognised and public mode of assumption of sovereignty. If your Excellency will take the trouble of referring to your letters to me dated the 22nd of January, the 2nd and 16th of February, the 3rd of March, and the 14th of April, you will find the absolute denial of any such pretensions, and you are aware that the English Ministers have not lost sight of your written promises, and are awaiting their fulfilment.

Your Excellency cannot have forgotten the expressions of the Earl of Malmesbury, that Her Majesty's Government is watching with close attention F

the course pursued by this Government, with the object of judging how far its professions are sincere.

I therefore strongly advise the Persian Ministers to recall their intention, in order to prevent the possibility of a belief on the part of the British Government that the professions of the Persian Government are totally at variance with their actions. A frank and candid line of action by the Persian Government is the most certain mode of terminating this affair amicably.

I consider the design of sending troops against Ferrah as most injudicious. It is introducing fresh complications into an affair already sufficiently embarrassed. The Persian Government may be assured that it is the interest of all parties to terminate this transaction, and all discussion regarding it, as speedily as possible. A movement towards Herat, and the entrance of Persian troops again into the Herat territory, is entirely to be deprecated.

Inclosure 4 in No. 24.

Lieutenant-Colonel Sheil to the Sedr Azim.

August 24, 1852.

YOUR Excellency must be sensible that 100 personal attendants to a man like Sam Khan are a preposterous number. You yourself have not so numerous a suite.

With candour and sincerity we shall do a good deal, and I therefore beg your Excellency to estimate thesc attendants at their true number, which, at the utmost, is 20 or 30.

(Translation.)

Inclosure 5 in No. 24.

The Sedr Azim to Lieutenant-Colonel Sheil.

You

August 28, 1852. YOUR Excellency's letter dated the 24th August has reached me. have stated that after inquiry you have ascertained that Heft Chemen has no existence in Toorbet Hydereeah, and that this pasture-ground adjoins the Herat territory, and is twelve miles from Ghorian. I have made the necessary inquiries again from a person who has perfect knowledge of that country, and according to his statement it has been proved that Heft Chemen appertains to the country of Bakherz, in the centre of Mahmoodabad, and in the centre of Toorbet Isaw Khan, and is 40 fursukhs (160 miles) from Herat (the city). Under the above circumstances, the statement of its bordering on the Herat territory, and its being three fursukhs distant from Ghorian, is a declaration which the utterer made to your Excellency contrary to fact, or from want of knowledge and from ignorance. In this case, that is, the case that the haltingground of the force under Abbas Koolee Khan, the General, should be 40 fursukhs distant from Herat, your Excellency will comprehend that the Persian Government is sincere in its professions and is free from other views.

With regard to the coinage of Herat, you appear to think that you have stated exactly what I mentioned verbally. The real drift of my language bore reference to the desire of the people of Herat to strike coin in the name of Shah, and the acceptance of their request by His Majesty. But with regard to the quantity of coin to be struck, it ought to be in your Excellency's recollection that there was no specific declaration. The conversation may have related to 10,000 tomans, or less than 10,000, or very likely it may have related to various sums. In short, the conversation was concerning the wish of the Heratees and the concurrence of His Majesty. Please God, the Persian Ministers will not deviate from their past and future words, promises, and actions in this matter. With regard to the dispatch of troops to Ferrah, too, should the necessity arise, the agreement is that they should march by another road, which is three or four fursukhs (twelve or sixteen miles) from the city, and having put the affairs of that place in order, should return. In this there will be no subterfuge

or failure.

This means between those places.

With regard to the Khans of Herat (in confinement at Meshed), although I have addressed an answer to your Excellency, I again write to you that I will make a verbal arrangement, such as shall be expedient, in an interview with you.

With regard to the attendants of Sam Khan, which you say are estimated too numerously at a hundred people, merely to gratify you, I shall make a representation to His Majesty and arrange that he shall not retain more than thirty or forty attendants. He is to satisfy himself with this number of attendants, besides the hundred horse (agreed upon).

No. 25.

Sheffee Khan to the Earl of Malmesbury.—(Received October 30.)

(Translation.)

October 29, 1852.

His Excellency, the noble in origin, our benevolent friend, the high in station, &c. I HAVE received the letter your Excellency did me the honour to address me under date of the 27th October, regarding the affair of Herat, and have been much grieved and astonished, because my Government in their last despatches approved precisely of what I have already had the honour to explain to your Excellency, personally and in writing: there has occurred no change whatever; they have maintained the same perfect understanding and desire to cultivate the "unity of the two nations," and especially the goodwill of the English Government.

I now hasten to assure your Excellency, on the part of my Government, that as soon as tranquillity has been established at Herat, and in the boundary of Khorassan, the army will not remain in Herat, nor will any change be made in the former state of Herat.

My Government have no other intention than to see the people of Herat submissive, and that quiet and peace may reign in the frontiers of Khorassan. Although soldiers may be there, it is only to establish a tranquil state of things in the place.

This is what is necessary to bring under your Excellency's notice; and if you should wish it, I will be happy, on your making an appointment, to attend on your Excellency to explain personally the facts of the case again. Awaiting your Excellency's reply, I have, &c.

(Signed)

SHEFFEE KHAN.

Sir,

No. 26.

The Earl of Malmesbury to Sheffee Khan.

Foreign Office, November 3, 1852.

I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 29th ultimo, and I regret to have to state to you in reply that I can hold no communication with you on political matters, or place any reliance on your assurances in regard to the course which the Persian Government may intend to pursue, until, by the entire withdrawal of the Persian troops from the territory of Herat, and by the restoration to that State of entire freedom for the management of its internal concerns without interference on the part of Persia, the Government of the Shah shall fulfil the assurances which it has itself made, and shall confirm those which you have yourself heretofore made, and which you repeat in your present communication.

I have to add that under existing circumstances I must decline the honour of your proposed visit.

I have, &c.

No. 27.

Lieutenant-Colonel Sheil to the Earl of Malmesbury.—(Received November 6.)

(Extract.)

Camp near Tehran, September 17, 1852.

I HAVE the honour to inclose, for your Lordship's information, a translation of a letter from the Sedr Azim with reference to Herat, in which he announces that Sam Khan, the Persian Agent lately in Herat, accompanied by several Affghan nobles and tribute, had left that city for Tehran with all his troops, and that an officer would be dispatched from this, unaccompanied by any military escort, to reside permanently in Herat.

(Translation.)

Inclosure in No. 27.

The Sedr Azim to Lieutenant-Colonel Sheil.

September 16, 1852.

THE Persian Ministers have been informed, by letter, that Sam Khan (Persian Agent in Herat), with his troops and companions, had, according to orders given to him, left Herat with several of the Affghan nobles, who are the bearers of tribute, and are now on their way to this Court. In his (Sam Khan's) place, one of His Majesty's courtiers will proceed to Herat and reside there permanently, but without troops. No other Persian troops will return to Herat, unless in the event of the people of Candahar not evacuating Ferrab, or any great disturbance occurring in the affairs of Herat, in which case, as has been repeatedly written to your Excellency, troops will be dispatched, and, when the duty assigned to them has been concluded, they will return.

ment.

As it was necessary, I have given your Excellency this friendly announce

Lieutenant-Colonel Sheil to the Earl of Malmesbury.-(Received December 11.)

(Extract.)

Tehran, October 8, 1852. ACCORDING to your orders, I delivered to the Sedr Azim a translation of your Lordship's despatch of the 27th of August.

The Sedr Azim commenced the conversation by saying, that in his estimation the Persian Government had fulfilled all the promises it had given relative to Herat. The force under Abbass Koolee Khan had been withdrawn a considerable distance from the frontier; Sam Khan, the Persian Agent, with the entire of his escort, had been recalled to Persia; and Syed Mahomed Khan had been left to the unfettered government of his territory, on his own resources; moreover, the Persian Cabinet, in maintenance of its engagements to Her Majesty's Government, would not again send troops to Herat, unless in the event of external aggression, or unless Kohendil Khan should not evacuate Ferrah.

I answered the Persian Minister, that, however plausible this language sounded, it was not the less true that the relation of Persia to Herat, in defiance of repeated assurances and promises, was as nearly as possible that of Sovereign and subject. "This," I said, "This," I said, "was testified by the assumption or the acceptance of the coinage in the name of the Shah; by the deputation to Tehran of Syed Mahomed Khan's brother, as a sort of hostage, with a number of the Khans of that Principality; by the incarceration at Meshed of several Chiefs of Herat, over whom the Shah had no sort of jurisdiction."

The Sedr Azim said that all this was done by the desire of Syed Mahomed Khan himself, and without the exercise of compulsion on the part of the Persian authorities.

I said that this, admitting the truth of the assertion, did not render the fact of subjugation less transparent; moreover, it was absurd to talk of the Heratees having any will, when nearly all the principal Chiefs had been transported to Persia; and that all these acts were a breach of the spirit of the promises given by this Government to Great Britain.

I called the attention of the Persian Minister to the specific complaint of Her Majesty's Government, that the Persian Cabinet had, in farther breach of its promises, announced in the Persian Official Gazette, the annexation of Herat to the dominions of the Shah. His Excellency replied that the allegations of a newspaper were not deserving of notice, and that every journal contained assertions not founded on reality.

I reminded him that this argument could hold good only when the journal was private property; but that, in the present instance, the "Gazette" was the property of the Government, every article of which underwent the revision of the Shah and himself.

I proposed to the Sedr Azim to make reparation, and show in some degree the sincerity of the promises given to Great Britain, by inserting a counterstatement to that which had excited the displeasure of Her Majesty's GovernThis suggestion was rejected absolutely by the Persian Minister.

ment.

If I may be permitted to offer an opinion, it must, I think, be evident to your Lordship that no reliance can be placed in the sincerity of the language of this Government. So long as the Shah believes himself secure from any act of coercion on the part of Her Majesty's Government, he will not renounce, however plausible may be the language employed, the substantial power he has acquired over Herat. It is tolerably clear that he does not propose to confine the extension of his influence to Herat, but that he is seeking for opportunities to diffuse his ascendancy over the other Affghan Principalities. These attempts would, perhaps, be very immaterial, so long as Persia alone occupied the attention of the Affghans, but, according to my view of the question, there is no security for the permanence of her isolated interference with the affairs of Affghanistan.

The Herat Agent (the Mufti) is to leave Tehran in a few days, with 10,000 tomauns, to be coined in the name of the Shah. He is profuse in his promises of returning here with a formal document, signed by Syed Mahomed Khan and the principal inhabitants of Herat, acknowledging the sovereignty of the Shah and the subjection of Herat to Persia.

No. 29.

Lieutenant-Colonel Sheil to the Earl of Malmesbury.-(Received December 11.) Tehran, October 22, 1852.

(Extract.)

SO determined is the Persian Government to persevere in the annexation of Herat to Persia, and to give publicity to that resolution, a firman has been issued conferring the " government" of that Principality on Syed Mahomed Khan, and constituting him and his descendants Governors for ever. It is also intended to bestow on him the title of Zuheer-ood-Dowleh, which his father possessed. The hereditary government of a large district is not an uncommon tenure in Persia.

Letters from Meshed mention orders having been issued by Syed Mahomed Khan, the Ruler of Herat, that, henceforward, money is to be coined in that Principality in the name of the Shah; the imprisonment, fining, torture, and execution, by the same person, of various Affghan Chiefs, believed to be opposed to the establishment of Persian supremacy; the demand for Persian troops to act in conjunction with those of Herat against Ferrah; the influence acquired by Sam Khan, late Persian Political Agent in Herat, among the Affghan tribes close to the Candahar frontier; the open assumption of actual sovereignty by Persia, in the dispatch of agents by the Prince Governor of Khorassan, to bring to Meshed, Affghan Chiefs imprisoned in Herat by Syed Mahomed Khan; and the complete subjection displayed by the latter person to the will of the Persian Government.