Mufozuk Cavenach. My people, understanding their wishes, answered that Seyud Sultan would not give a house, nor receive their letters or presents, nor see the captain, and returned.

The evening of the 27th the conversation took place, and the morning of the 28th (the 15th October), the ship was gone. On inquiry at what hour he sailed, I learned about the eighth hour; but it was not known whether they went away satisfied or displeased with the answer they got.

I now write you that it may be understood that my principal inducement for giving the French this answer, and risking a rupture with them, was my alliance and friendship with the Honourable Company and with the Honourable Governor, which I pray to God may last for ever, and daily increase, and that there may be no difference between the two States, either in property or territory; and, for the better information of the Honourable the Governor, I am sending two confidential persons, on my part, to Bombay, who will circumstantially relate to him what has passed. Moreover, you requested Seyud Sief, when you left Muscat, to get you some Backer Soleh, or desert cows, which he informed me of, and I sent, and have now brought four, two male and two female, which I have given in charge of Ahmed ben Hamed, with two hundred pomegranates, which will, I hope, reach you in good state.

Do not allow the friendship between us to cool; write to me often of your health, and whatever business you may have in this quarter, or whatever you may want; write me without hesitation, and not be lazy, as I shall not be satisfied till I hear from you. Give my respects to the Honourable Governor. What more, &c., &c.

A true translate.

D. SETON, Resident.

A true copy. JAMES GRANT, Secretary to Government.

Private.

The Governor of Bombay to Mr. Harford Jones.

Bombay, December 4, 1803. Sir-I have the pleasure to advise you that a cessation of hostilities took place between the Honourable Company's armies and those of Dowlut Row Scindia, about the 20th ult., preceded towards the beginning of the month by another splendid but dearly bought victory by General Lake, over seventeen battalions of Scindia's forces, who, after a desperate resistance near a town called Cassolee, in Indostan, were entirely cut up, with the loss, as usual, of seventy of their guns. In this engagement we know that General Ware and three or four other of our officers on the staff lost their lives; but these are not the only casualties, although we have not yet got the names of the others. General Lake had his coat cut through with grape-shot, and two horses killed under him; and his son is wounded in the knee, though he will not lose the limb.

The Admiral is here, and the greater number of his fleet, so that we consider ourselves as safe from attack, but are uneasy at not having heard from England since the end of May. I am, &c.,

JONATHAN DUNCAN.

Mr. Manesty to Mr. Harford Jones.

Bussora, December 7, 1803.

Sir-It becomes my duty to inform you that, having been suddenly and unexpectedly called upon to carry into execution the intentions of his Excellency the Most Noble the GovernorGeneral, in deputing Jonathan Henry Lovett, Esq., on a mission to the Court of Persia, I shall leave this place in a few days on my way to Bushire, whence I shall, without delay, prosecute a journey via Shiraz to Tehran.

The circumstance naturally suggests to me the propriety of soliciting from you a digested and detailed early communica

tion of the wishes of his Majesty's Ministers and of the Honourable the Court of Directors connected with Persia, as far as their orders to you on the subject may have given you a knowledge of them, in order that I may possess a criterion by which to regulate some of my proceedings in my approaching intercourse with the Persian Monarch and his Ministers, and thereby contribute to the success and accomplishment of such measures as you may be entrusted to take, in consequence of the desire at present felt by our Government to ascertain the public situation, relations, and connexions of a country, which, from locality, is now become a portion of Asia politically interesting to Great Britain.

With such a communication, I should also with pleasure receive an intimation of the line of connexion maintained by you with individuals in Persia, and a list of your correspondents and agents there, particularly specifying those who may have rendered themselves by their past conduct worthy of a future confidence, and who are, from ability, inclination, rank, and distinction, capable of rendering service to a British representative at Tehran, and authorized to employ them in important affairs.

I will further inform you that, if any political question of importance be in agitation between the Pacha and the Persian Monarch, I shall, with activity and readiness, notwithstanding late unpleasant events, endeavour to secure the accomplishment of such wishes as the Pacha may, through you, express to me, to cement an advantageous political union between the parties, and to obtain, for your information, a knowledge of the real sentiments of his Majesty towards the Pacha.

In the event of your receiving from Aleppo, Constantinople, or Europe, any packets addressed to me in Persia, I request you will transmit them to Tehran, at which place I shall hope to find an acceptable reply to this letter.

It is at present probable that Mr. Lovett may, on my arrival at Bushire, resign to me the total charge of the affairs

of that Residency, and repair to Bussora, in order to take on himself the charge of this factory and of the public duties of my office; and, at all events, whether that projected arrangement takes place or be abandoned, such measures will be adopted by us on a personal consultation as will secure the eligible transmission hence to India and Europe of the national correspondence. You will please to address your future official communications to Bussora to Jonathan Henry Lovett, Esq.

I have the honour to be, &c.,

SAMUEL MANESTY.

Mr. Harford Jones to Lord Castlereagh.

Bagdad, December 7, 1803.

My Lord-With the duplicate of my address to your lordship of the 6th of November, and its accompaniments, I have the honour to lay before you a copy of my letter of this day to the King's Ambassador at the Porte, with copies of the papers referred to in the margin of that letter.

I must, however, take the liberty of repeating the remark I have already made to his Majesty's ambassador, that the translations of the letter and notes which I received yesterday morning from Meerza Bozurg seem to me to be particularly interesting, both as confirming the intelligence from Georgia, which I have before had the honour to transmit; and communicating from such respectable authority, that an attempt to restore that country to its native princes really occupies the thoughts of his Persian Majesty.

It is with singular pleasure I extract the following passage of a private letter, dated the 24th of September, from the Honourable the Governor of Bombay to me, and received last night" You will have heard of our being at war with Scindia, Holkar, and the Berar Rajah. Hitherto our operations have proved as successful as could be expected. The Madras army has reduced Ahmednagur and the Bombay Branch, but

the stress of the campaign is only now opening; at the same time there is no doubt of its speedily putting us in possession of Agra, Delhi, Bundelcund, and Cuttack, as well as of the remaining possessions of Scindia in the Guzerat."

Major Malcolm writes me from Bombay, under the 25th of September. A salute is this moment fired for the fall of Panghur, the chief of Scindia's possessions in the Guzerat. I have the honour to be, &c.,

HARFORD JONES.

[Enclosures in the preceding Letter.]

Mr. Harford Jones to Mr. Drummond, Ambassador Extraordinary at the Porte.

Bagdad, December 7, 1803. Sir-I had last the honour of addressing your Excellency under the 6th of November, since which I have not had that of receiving your Excellency's commands. I now do myself the honour to lay before your Excellency copies of sundry papers; and, conceiving it possible that your Excellency may judge it expedient to communicate certain parts of the despatch to me, received yesterday from Meerza Bozurg to the Ottoman Ministers, I enclose, besides the translations mentioned in the margin, a Persian copy of the Meerza's letter and notes.

It appears to me a circumstance of no small interest, that the information I lately transmitted from Georgia is confirmed in all the material parts by Meerza Bozurg, and I hope that the assistance I afford this Government in their transactions with the Court of Tehran will be acceptable both to your Excellency and the Ottoman Ministers. I must not, however, conceal that, subsequently to my return to town from camp, and subsequently to my addressing, by his Highness's desire, my letter of the 14th of November to Meerza Bozurg, the Pacha has (as it is said by consent of the Persian pilgrims of consequence) re-appointed Mohammed Ameen Aga to the Thabetship of Imaum Hossein.

VOL. V.

P