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 OUTRAGE ON AN ENGLISH COURIER. 321 namely, for an insult offered to a courier the measures adopted by the Persian king did not satisfy the demands of the British Government. The outrage for which re- dress was now required had been of a nature so gross, that, had it been passed over without reparation having been exacted, the safety and efficiency of those employed by the English Mission in Persia would thereafter have been seriously compromised, and a stain would have re- mained on the honour of the Government which should have permitted one of its servants to be so maltreated. The circumstances under which the outrage had been committed were these : A courier had been sent by Mr. McNeill to Meshed, in 1837, to be in readi- ness to bring back a letter in which the British Minister was to be authorized by the government of Herat to conclude an amicable adjustment of its differences with Persia, and of which permission he was to avail himself in case the difficulties encountered by the Shah in the pro- secution of the enterprise on which he was at that time bent should be such as to induce him to accept of foreign mediation. The courier was to await at Meshed a com- munication from Fetteh Mahomed Khan, an envoy from Herat, who was returning from Persia. But for some reason probably because he feared lest the road from Herat to Meshed would be unsafe for an Affghan mes- senger Fetteh Mahomed Khan induced the courier to proceed with him to Herat, where he was detained for some weeks. He finally left the place as the bearer of letters from Yar Mahomed Khan and Lieutenant Eldred Pottinger to the address of Mr. McNeill. When within about three stages of Meshed, and after he had already passed the Persian army then marching towards Herat, 21