324 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. laid before the cabinet of the Sublime Porte. Mr. McNeill, however, on the expiry of the time he gave the Persian government for coming to a decision, broke off diplomatic relations with that government ; and, hav- ing ordered the English officers who had been lent to the Shah to proceed towards Baghdad on their way to India, he retired to Erzeroom with the members of his Mission. Previously to this, Hussein Khan had been sent by the Shah on a mission to England, with the view of inducing her Majesty's Ministers to recall Mr. McNeill from Persia. In the memorandum with which he was furnished for presentation to the English Ministers, and copies of which were sent to France, Kussia and Turkey, the Shah entered into an exposition of the wrongs which, he conceived, had been inflicted on him by Mr. McNeill and by the Government he represented. It commenced by stating, what was without doubt true, that the King of Persia had received great provocation from the people of Herat, and had been perfectly justified in going to war against them. Mr. McNeill had never questioned the Shah's right to punish the people of Herat, and to obtain security from them for their future good behaviour ; but he had drawn a distinction between obtaining just satis- faction from Prince Kamran and annexing Herat to Per- sia. The king protested in the memorandum, that if by his conduct he had opened to Eussia the road to Cabul, it was with no such intention that he had undertaken the expedition to Affghanistan ; the object of which was to rescue Persian subjects from slavery. Mr. McNeill was accused of having incited the people of Herat to continue their defence, and of having bestowed on them eight
