Page 198 - Gulf Precis (VI)_Neat

172 Part III.
arrived at Basrah on tlio 22nd December 1839. The Secret Committee
addressed to the Bight Elon'blcthe Govornor-Gcncral of Iudia in Couucil tlio
following instructions in regard to those vessols :—
“ When tlio tlireo steamer#, which wero Fliippcd on the Urania, shall liavo boon put to*
golhor and equipped and manned for service, it is our dcsiro that they, togother with tlio
Euphrates steamer, should bo subject to the same control and superintendence as wo havo already
assigned for tlio Euphrates. It is not our wish that the Superintendent of the Indian Navy
should orginatc any orders as tbo particular duties on which four steamers on the Mesopotamian
rivers should bo employed ; and we desired Licutouant Lynch and the odiccrs and otherh under
his command may be considered ns acting under tlio ad vieo of Lieutenant-Colonel Taylor, tho
East India Company’s Agent in Turkish Arabia, subject to suoli directions as may be given by
you. Copy of this letter was, outlie 20th January 1810, forwarded to tho Superintendent of
the Indian Nnvy, Lieutenant Lynch, and tho Political Agont in Turkish Arabia, for informa­
tion aud guidance."
22. The threo now vessels, above alluded to, wero put togother immedi­
ately on their reaching Basrah, and from that period until May 181-1 tho
steam flotilla on the Euphrates and Tigris rivers consisted, inclusive of tho
JEuphrates, of four vessels, the whole being placed, in conformity with the above
orders of the Secret Committee, under the charge of Commauder Lynch. In
May 1841 tho Secret Committee directed that tho Euphrates and Nimrod
should he removed by the Government of
01 11 °‘ India for service elsewhere (Despatch dated
4th May 1841).
23. An idea of tho movements of the steam flotilla about this time may be
formed from the following extract of Colonel Taylor’s letter dated 3rd Eebruary
1841 (No. 4) to the Bombay Government:—
u Lion ten ant Campbell, in charge of the steam flotilla, is expected here daily in return
from a rip to Hit, aud Amah, preparatory to an attempt at ascending the Euphrates on his
arrival there.
Tlio steamers are, for the present, moving, in turn up and down the Tigris which will by
degrees produce bettor pilots than the natives of the country."
24. "Wo have to note how the steam flotilla used to movo up and down the
Tigris without any serious objection from the Turkish authorities.
25. An account of the surveys done by means of the stoamers on the Tigris
and Euphrates is given in Chapter XII (i).
26. A second Firman dated August 1841 was obtained for the protection of
this new arrangement which, bo it noted, had, like the first Euphrates expedition
of 1834, for its object among others the survey of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers
and tho adjacent country. It recited the previous Firman under which permis­
sion had been granted to the British Govemmeut to place two steamers on the
Euphrates for the purpose of facilitating commerce and stated that the new
firman had beon sought to secure the protection of the Commandant of the two
steamers in question in the execution of his business. It then directed as
follows/* ainsi, lorsque vous aurez soin que les susdits bateaux fassent comrae
par le pass6 le service do la rivi&ro a condition quil vy dit point un inconvdnient
quelconque et Tentreprise soit profitable aux deux parties."
27. No contemporary record of this second Firman can ho traced in our
records. Tho above account of this second firman is taken from Air. Plowden’s
letter dated *28tk March 1881. Erom
• Socrol, May 16S2, No*. 221 -242 (No. 222).
a marginal noto of his, Air. Plowden
appears to have obtained a Erencli translation of the original which is in the

VUirtlJletter U>°tbe Pubs of*Movpo/rcUUre tothe navfcaUon o! tbe Euphrates by Engliih atcamboata, Scptomter 13,1S42,
(Trsoilalloo.)
h»l ai It has become ucctuary for the erewa to laud oo the iliorc, it if dcairablc that n« uiissiuii abould bo given to them to land tempora­
lly, and that stey way b* asafated and protected. , ,.. ,
At the same time, you hare atatrd In a despatch wo hate received from Yoor Excellency that, owing lo the Arab* of that nelghljBor
hood being a ret of unreasonable people, It will bo dlrticuli. wore the erc»a or tho steamers aforesaid lo rccelvo any harm Ironi lueir, to p
a atop toil. Your observation It, In fact, Ju»l, and the Embassy d«r«not< cnylt. , , ,
heTcrlbcIcu, •(■tin* on this occasion with that prudence and that excellent Judgment which dUUnculih you, and In conformity to t
aloecre aud j«rf<cl friendship exia.ing between the two tioverunienia. Your Kxctllcnry will pormlt the latidlnc and tho slaginir cl lire c
!n ? lc# t,,T * time. You are Inalructed lo employ all po^aliJc inrau* In prevent any hind of roUchlcf being done to tneiu,
to afl-.rd to them all the protection and .lariatanrc you can ; and it la in order lo rnitago you to lake proper oicaaurca to cocci all w*» “*
1 wrote this Utter, on receiving which Your Excellency will, I hone, art conformably *o it,
Ml JMJIff. iUrf.Ul-.2Ve.rG, Vol. XIII, jr. StA Base*.