328 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. make the journey to Bokhara in company with a caravan of merchants, and when an officer was wanted to proceed to Cabul, Captain Witkewitsch was selected for the duty. There he out-manoeuvred the British envoy, Alexander Burnes, at the court of Dost Mahomed Khan, and, having rejoined Count Simonich at Herat, was despatched by his Excellency to Kandahar, from which place he was to proceed once more to Central Asia. During the absence of the British Mission from Tehran, the spirit evinced by the Shah towards the English nation was reflected by several additional in- sults committed by his subjects ; for which, as a matter of course, the Minister at the head of the Foreign Office demanded apology and redress. The British Residency at Bushire was removed to the Island of Karrack, which was protected by a squadron under the command of Sir Frederick Maitland. In the meantime Hussein Khan proceeded on his way to London to urge his complaints against Mr. McNeill ; being in nowise deterred by the warnings he received at Constantinople and at Vienna, that he would not be recognized at the Court of St. James's as a diplo- matic agent. With regard to the main object of his mission, he received at Vienna, by order of Lord Palmer - ston, the discouraging assurance that in the demand for the recall of Mr. McNeill, her Majesty's Government only saw an additional proofj if any were wanted, that that Minister had faithfully and ably performed his duty towards his sovereign and country.* Nor were the efforts of the Shah's ambassador to establish com- munication with England by means of a neutral power
- Published correspondence relating to Persia, 1841.
