The Sun.
London, England, 1844-06-12 00:00:00

EVENING, JUNE 12, 1844.

COLONEL STODDART AND CAPT.-

CONOLLY.

-
Captain Grover has received letters from Dr. Wolff,
dated Meshed, from the 14th to the 24th of March.
The intelligence contained in these letters was con-
sidered so important, that they were sent open to
Constantinople, for the perusal of Sir Stratford Can-
ning. This will account for the dates being anterior
to those already received, extracts from which have
been published.
At Askarea, two miles from Meshed, Dr. Wolff
was met by Mullah Meshiakh, the Jew of Meshed,
who assisted him in 1831, when he escaped from
slavery at Torbad. He was accompanied by Muham-
mad Ali Seraf, Colonel Stoddart's agent. They had
heard of his approach by the caravans.
This Muhammad Ali Seraf was the channel through
which all the correspondence with Bokhara was car-
ried on, and the Doctor says, "In less than two
hours I found this man to be a lying, treacherous
scoundrel !" Numerous proofs were given of his
villainy, and it is shown that he alone, and not '
Colonel Shiel, is to blame for the detention of the
Sultan's letter. The Doctor discovered that this man
had in his possession property belonging to Colonel
Stoddarl of the value of 2,0001. sterling. He thus
relates a conversation that took place :
" I asked him whether he had sent on the Sultan's
letter which had been sent to him a year ago, which
he had sent back to Colonel Shiel on the report of
their death, and which Colonel Shiel had returned,
with an express order that it should be forwarded to
Bokhara at any rate ?"
Muhammad Ali Seraf—" No, for nobody dared to
take charge of the letter."

Myself—"Why_did you not give it to the man who
was sent by the Vice-Roy 33 days ago, at the re-
quest of Colonel Shiel, and who also took a letter
from the King of Persia ?"

Al. A. I was afraid that the King of Bokhara
might suspect the messenger."
Dr. Wolff immediately took the letter from him,
and placed it in the case with the letters of the Sul-
tan and the King of Persia.
Sir Moses Montefiore had kindly written letters to
the Jews of Bokhara, Samercand, Balk, and Kokau,
which were to have been seat through a highly re-
spectable Jew of Meshed, named Mullah Medee, but
Colonel Shiel, of course, according to Stoddart's di-
rection, sent them to this Muhammad Ali Seraf. Dr.
Wolff inquired about these letters, and found the
most important one, addressed to the Jews of Bok-
hare, in possession of this man with the seal broken;
he took this letter, and as it was no longer of use hi
has returned it to Sir Moses Montefiore through Co-
lonel Shiel.

In a subsequentletter the Doctor mentions that Aga
Abool Kasem, a respectable merchant, formerly
British agent, informed him that Colonel Stoddart
had sent Muhammmad Ali Seraf shawls to the value
of 1,0001. sterling, for the purpose of raising money to
purchase an estate. The Doctor says :—" I asked him
about that ; he replied, that he had still the shawls in
his possession, and that he intended delivering them to
Colonel Stoddart's sister in person ! and then sat down
to write a letter to that lady. You see by this that
the fellow is a rogue."
It has already been mentioned that Dr. Wolff was
to be escorted by 270 Turcoman chiefs. He gives an
interesting account of their having been assembled in
a tent by the Viceroy, who showed to them the letters
of the Sultan, the King of Persia, the English and
Russian Envoys, and thus addressed them Here
I recommend to you an English Mullah, recom-
mended to the Kings of Bokhara and Khiva by four
Sovereign Powers. They stroked their beards, and
swore to convey me in safety to Bokhara."
Another chief of a caravan, named Kurban, who
goes to Bokhara every three months, states that Stod-
dart and Conolly are alive, and imprisoned in the
Kalai outside Bokhara, and the Doctor says—" Ka-
bulli, a Turcoman chief, showed me a letter written
by his brother at Bokhara, in which he states that
Stoddart was alive to a certainty; and his Excel-
lency the Assoof Addowla (Viceroy), of Khorassan,
to whom I sent the King's courier, to inquire whether
I should go to him, at Madden or Meshed, sent me
word that Stoddart and Conolly were alive last year."
Dr. Woolff states that the Saleh Mohammed, who
communicated to Shiel the report of the death of
Stoddart and Conolly, is not the Saleh Mohammed
whom he knew in the year 1826. He also mentions
that an Ambassador from Russia had arrived at
Bokhara.

Captain Grover communicates to the Editor these
facts as he has received them, and, as he has always
done, without comment; and he hopes to be allowed,
on the present occasion, publicly to express his grati-
tude to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs,
for the powerful means he has so kindly employed to
aid the mission, and which, should the Almighty have
spared the lives of his friends, will, he doubts not,
procure their restoration to liberty.