¶ [143cc] During Shah Shujaʿs stay in Shikarpur, Muhammad Shah Qajar, who had Herat under siege, exhorted the leaders of his army to intensify the siege and place the inhabitants of the city [144] in the direst possible straits. At this moment, according to the author of Nāsikh al-tawārīkh, Britain’s minister plenipotentiary, Mr. McNeill, had stopped in Tehran where he emphasized as much as he could to English officials the danger to India (of an Iranian occupation of Herat). This account is contradicted by reliable sources in Herat who record his having been in the shah’s entourage.

In any…