[5] The Dawn-Breakers, p. 33 (Brit.), p. 45 (U.S.).
[6] Sheil served as the British Minister in Ṭihrán from August 1842 to February 1853, except for a period of leave from October 1847 to November 1849, when Col. Farrant deputised for him. Sheil was knighted in 1855.
[7] F.O. 248/113.
[8] The other pretenders were Ḥusayn-`Alí Mírzá, the Farmán-Farmá, Governor-General of Fárs, and Ḥasan-`Alí Mírzá, the Shujá`u's-Salṭanih, Governor General of Kirmán, both sons of Fatḥ-`Alí Sháh. Three of the sons of the Farmán-Farmá managed to take themselves to London.
[9] Sir Henry Layard (1817-1894) was the discoverer of the ancient city of Nineveh. He was elected to the British parliament as a Liberal, and served a term as the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. In 1877 he was appointed Ambassador in Constantinople. His account is taken from Early Adventures in Persia, Susiana, and Babylonia, Vol. I, pp. 257-61.
[10] The Ambassador recalled was Sir John MacNeill and the quarrel between Írán and Britain was over the city of Hirát. This beautiful city had always been considered an integral part of the province of Khurásán, but since the assassination of Nádir Sháh, the Afshár king, in 1747, Hirát had passed into possession of Afghán rulers. Muḥammad Sháh was intent on regaining Ḥirát, but Anglo-Russian rivalry and the British fear of Russian designs on India, hitherto almost non-existent, had become dominant factors in the international scene, bound to shadow the destiny of Írán; the British believed that the acquisition of Hirát by the Persians would, in the main, benefit Russia. They took counter-measures in the Persian Gulf and occupied the island of Khárg, close to Búshihr.
[11] F.O. 60/95 of February 14th 1843.
[12] ibid.