Khan, Abdullah Khan, Khooshdil Khan, Esan Khan, the Sahib Zadeh, Mahomed Alum Khan, and Fatteh Mahomed Khan-written letters to His Majesty the Shah, complaining of the injustice of Dost Mahomed Khan's seizure of their home. Copies of these letters are inclosed herein for your information. They have implored the Persian Ministers to prevent the above oppressive act, and to cause the country to be left in its former position. Dost Mahomed Khan, not content with seizing Candahar, has determined to march on Herat, and Prince Mahomed Youssuf, the ruler of Herat, and all the Chiefs and authorities in that Principality, have also written separate letters to the Persian Ministers, complaining of the injustice of this.

On the other hand, Sirdar Alee Khan of Seistan has sent with great speed a letter to this Government from Sehkoohee, which is Persian territory, stating that Dost Mahomed Khan has sent one of his sons to plunder Seistan and Beloochistan. As the Persian Ministers perceive that, from the improper and dangerous policy of Dost Mahomet Khan, these countries, as well as the province of Khorassan, are on the point of being plunged into extreme disorder, and in consideration of the letter which I wrote to your Excellency on the 5th instant, they are compelled to dispatch an army to Herat to repress this disturbance, and to preserve that Principality and the Province of Khorassan, and to maintain troops between these 2 countries, so that Dost Mahomed Khan may not interfere beyond his own Government, and give rise to disturbances. The Persian Ministers are obliged to protect the sons of Kohendil Khan, and to maintain order in that Government.

No. 74. Mr, Murray to the Earl of Clarendon.-(Rec. April 19.) (Extract.) Tabreez, March 7, 1856. I HAVE the honour to inclose, for your Lordship's information, copy of a despatch received this day from Mr. Stevens. The Earl of Clarendon,

(Extract.)

CH. A. MURRAY.

(Inclosure.)-Consul Stevens to Mr. Murray.

Tehran, February 29, 1856. RUMOURS have for some days past been current here of an intention on the part of the Persian Government to send large army into Affghanistan, for the purpose of wresting Candahar from the hands of Dost Mahomed Khan. I think I can confidently state that the step has been positively decided upon, and that the force will comprise 12,000 or 15,000 regular, and 5,000 irregular troops, and 20 pieces of artillery, the whole to be commanded by Meerza Mahomed Khan, Serkeshikchebashee, assisted by the most expe

rienced native officers, who have been ordered to be ready for leaving Tehran about the latter end of March.

The Government to-day received a messenger announcing the entry into Herat of Sam Khan, who had subsequently summoned Sultan Moorad Meerza to join him with all possible dispatch. His Royal Highness accordingly quitted Toorook for that place on the 15th instant, and it is now supposed here that he has, ere this, quietly occupied it in the name of the Shah. This, however, is only a surmise; but in a very few days we may expect to hear what has really occurred.

I continue without any intelligence from Meshed. C. A. Murray, Esq.

RICH. W. STEVENS.

No. 75.- Mr. Murray to the Earl of Clarendon.-(Rec. April 20.) (Extract.) Tabreez, March 7, 1856.

Copy

I HAVE the honour to inclose, for your Lordship's information, of a despatch addressed to me by Mr. Consul Stevens, containing translation of a letter which the Persian Government has exhibited to the foreign Missions in Tehran, as having been addressed by Mr. Thomson to the Ruler of Herat. The absurdity of the letter itself would be sufficient to mark it as a fabrication; but I thought it right, for form's sake, to communicate it to Mr. Thomson, of whose reply I inclose herewith a copy. It will not be a matter of surprise to your Lordship that the Persian Government, which has lately thought fit to propagate so many slanders and calumnies against Her Britannic Majesty's Mission and Government, should, in this instance, have had recourse to forgery, for the purpose of giving a colour of justice to their own act of aggression on Herat and Affghanistan.

The Earl of Clarendon.

CH. A. MURRAY.

(Inclosure 1.)-Consul Stevens to Mr. Murray.

Tehran, March 1, 1856.

(Extract.) I HAVE the honour to inclose a copy of the letter which the Persian Government pretends was written by Mr. Secretary Thomson to Syed Mahomed Khan of Herat.

0. A. Murray, Esq.

RICH. W. STEVENS

Faclosure 2.)---Letter said to have been addressed to the Ruler of Herat by Mr. Thompson.

(Translation.)

7 Shaaban, 1270. (May 5, 1854.) THE kindly letter which your Excellency dispatched in charge of Mustoofee Moolla Akram Khan and Hassan Beg, became collyrium to my eyes at the time when they were anxiously directed along the road of expectation.

Now that the Mustoofee is about to return, I have considered it necessary to bring myself to your recollection by writing and forwarding this friendly letter. Your Excellency, as the Mustoofee is an intelligent and sensible man, I have told him 3 things: First, let an Englishman be placed in Herat, and whatever ammunition and muskets, and other warlike stores, may be required by you will not be refused; and of ready money for expenditure, he will be authorized to give as much as two crores (500,000).

But as the Mustoofee did not approve of this, I told him to have one of the sons of Zeheer-ood-Dowleh (Ruler of Herat) sent to the Governor-General. In this case whatever he desired would be granted without delay; any part of Affghanistan which the Zeheerood-Dowleh might take possession of must be open to the interference of the British authorities, however. Affghanistan, that is, all those who are Affghans in the country, will belong to the Zeheerood-Dowleh. This also did not please the Mustoofee. He said that these two propositions depended entirely on a reference to the Zeheer-ood-Dowleh.

The third matter is that if you do not agree and still continue your intercourse with the Persian Government, very good; the friendship of the British Government will not be withheld from you. You must also not neglect to send persons occasionally to the British (authorities), and do not act contrary to custom in your dealings with Persia. Refrain from plundering in Khorassan, Affghanistan, and Seistan, so that the British Government may not be liable to complaints being made by any foreign Government. You can choose for yourself in these two or three propositions. From the friendship of certain persons, about whom you have been deceived, you can expect nothing. At any time, when you feel disposed towards these propositions, you will not be disappointed in the reply, even after 10 years. No one will know the substance of this letter excepting ourselves. This paper is a voucher in your hands.

SIR,

·(Inclosure 3.)-Mr. Thomson to Mr. Murray.

Tabreez, March 7, 1856.

IN returning to you the copy of the letter said to have been written by me to some person in Herat, I have only to say that it is from first to last an entire forgery, and that no such letter was ever written by me, or with my cognizance, either to the then Ruler of Herat or to any other person in that place.

C. A. Murray, Esq.

I have, &c.

WM. TAYLOUR THOMSON.

No. 76.-Lord Stratford de Redcliffe to the Earl of Clarendon. (Received April 22.)

(Extract.)

Constantinople, April 10, 1856.

I HAVE seen the Persian Chargé d'Affaires, and listened to his official communication.

He began by repeating, on the part of his Government, the same professions of friendship, as before, for England, and the same complaints of Mr. Murray. I told him that such repetitions were thrown away upon me, as it was no part of my duty to enter into the merits of the questions which they involved.

He next informed me that if Her Majesty's Government thought proper to recall Mr. Murray, the Court of Persia would be ready to receive another British Minister in his place, not doubting that he would be directed to abstain from giving offence, and interfering with the internal affairs of the country.

I asked him in what manner he thought such a proposition would be received by Her Majesty's Government. He answered that he could not pretend to say.

I begged that he would put me in possession of whatever else he had to propose. He replied that he wished first to have an answer to what he had already stated. I rejoined that he might continue, or stop short, as he pleased, but that I was not prepared to give him the answer he required.

He then proceeded to say that the Shah would even receive Mr. Murray again if reason were given to believe that he would be more careful not to raise questions productive of bitterness, and abstain from interfering with the internal administration of Persia.

On my expressing curiosity as to the manner in which Mr. Murray would be received after all that had taken place, the Persian Chargé d'Affaires explained that the Shah might send a Chamberlain to take back the objectionable letter; that Mr. Murray might have an audience of His Majesty on the following day; that His Majesty's language would be such as to prove agreeable on learning from him that the questions in dispute would be no longer thought of; that the Sadr Azim would visit Mr. Murray the next day, and that Mr. Murray would return the visit a day later, receiving on both occasions an expression of friendly sentiments from the Persian Minister.

It was intended, moreover, that Meerza Hashem, whose proposed appointment as British Agent at Shiraz had been the original cause of disagreement, should enjoy a situation elsewhere in the employment of the Shah, with an addition of 200 tomauns a-year to his salary, which would thus be doubled, and that his wife should be restored to him.

On my inquiring whether the objections to the appointment made by Mr. Murray lay against the individual appointed, or altogether against the establishment of an agency at Shiraz, the Persian Chargé d'Affaires informed me that his Government objected to both. He added with respect to Candahar, that Dost Mahomed had attacked that place, and that the measures since taken by the Persian Government were solely directed to the defence of Herat against his invasion.

I undertook to convey the preceding communications to Her Majesty's Government and the Persian Chargé d'Affaires withdrew.

I have to add that with reference to the letter qualified above as "objectionable," the Persian Chargé d'Affaires spoke of a letter addressed by the Shah to his Prime Minister before Mr. Murray's departure from Trebizond.

The Earl of Clarendon.

STRATFORD DE REDCLIFFE.

No. 77.-The Earl of Clarendon to Lord Stratford de Redcliffe. (Extract.) Foreign Office, May 15, 1856. HER Majesty's Government have had under their consideration the communication made to you by the Persian Chargé d'Affaires, as reported in your despatch of the 10th of April, with a view to bring about the return of Her Majesty's Mission to Tehran.

Her Majesty's Government have no wish to prolong, unnecessarily, an estrangement which was created by the acts of the Persian Government; but they cannot consent to accept an inadequate reparation from that Government. They require that it should be made by the Persian Minister, who was the author of the wrong; that it should be ample in its character, and brought publicly to the knowledge of the inhabitants of the capital.

In the next place, although, if any well-founded objections of the Persian Government to the employment of Meerza Hashem as agent, at Shiraz, of the British Mission, had been duly brought before them by that Government, Her Majesty's Government might have refrained from sanctioning his appointment, yet as no sufficient explanation has been given of the reasons on account of which the Persian Government made their objection, and as the Persian Prime Minister has thought fit to impugn the motives of Her Majesty's Minister for insisting upon the employment of the Meerza at Shiraz, Her Majesty's Government must now require that Meerza Hashem should proceed to Shiraz as agent of the British Mission, his wife being at once restored to him

If the course which the Persian Government may determine to take on this matter should admit of the return of Her Majesty's Minister to Tehran, Her Majesty's Government will consent that