Page 200 - Gulf Precis (VI)_Neat

174 Part III.
" B it the chief benefits which attend the presence of a steamer upon tho Tigris aro as I
have mentioned incidental and their importance orotliorwiso depends upon a general viow of
Eastern policy which I am neither competent nor would it lie becoming in me to discuss.
JC strengthens the hands of the Jiritish Agent in the most effectual^ and at the jaire time in
the least ostentatious, manner possible ; il enables him to vindicate the rights of those under
hit protection ; it assists bis mediation between tho Turkish and Persian authorities; it
places him in tho most favourable position for maintaining tho dignity of tho Bril's]) Gov­
ernment and it acquires for him local inllucnvo to an extent which, without such a means of
support, would be altogether unattainable. The French Government has bren unceasing in its
endeavours for many years to supersede British influence in Asiatic Turkey, and that it has
not more successfully availed itself of the vantage ground which it enjoys, as tho declared
protector of tho Catholics of the liast is owing, J think as much to cur continued exhibition
or strength in this quarter and in the Persian Gulf, as to t he late success of our arms in
Syria, and to tho presence of our fleet in the Mud iter ranenn. The right of navigating tho
rivora of Mesopotamia with armed steamers, it may also be observed, was obtained wit h some
difficulty by a special firman from the Sultan; and so long as the right, continues inactive
oxcrciso, no attempt is likely to lie made at its abrogation; i.ul should tho privilege he onco
voluntarily abandoned, should we resign tho navigation of the rivers into the hands of another
power, it would be necessary, in the event of a possible desire for tho resumption of our right,
to make a second application to the Porte; and 1 cannot doubt that in th« spirit of isolation
which has for some lime governed the Ottoman Council, and which leads the Turkish Govern­
ment to exhibit day by day a more determined resistance lo measuies of European interven­
tion, such an application would be received with much distrust, and would occasion serious
embarrassment at Constantinople.
” The Honourable tho Governor in Council will I doubt not perceive that it hardly como
within my power to discuss tho question whether if a steamer be kept upon the Tigris, the
expense attending such a mc;i6uro should boborno by the Homo or by the Indian Government;
but 1 trust I shall be cxcusod fvr observing that the same argument of tho absence of any
direct bearing upon tlrn interests or security of India, applies to the entire establishment of
the Political Agency of Turkish Arabia, to the Residency of Bushirc, to tho maintenance of a
squadion in the Persiau Gulf, and to the Misskn at the Court of Tehran. All of theso es­
tablishments aro unquestionably extra-Indian, yet India has been hitherto charged with their
expenses.
I have only to add that the steamer flitocris forms an integral part of the Gulf squad­
ron; that sho is principally employed upon the same duties as the other vessels of tne squadron,
namely, in protccliug our commerce and maintaining our naval ascendancy, that sho is a river
boat and can only be made use of upon the Indus, or on the waters of Mesopotamia, and the
question therefore of her continuance upon, or her withdrawal from, this river would seem to
depend entirely on the possible existence of any more urgent occasion for her services in the
other quarter/’
33. Sir H. Rawlinson also referred to the approaching territorial settlement
between Persia and Turkey through the joint mediation of Russia and Eng­
land, and pointed out that the services ol tlio A1 Hocris would be likely to be
required by tho joint Commissioners for surveying the delta of the Euphrates
and Karun with a view to lix a Hue of demarcation.
3i. Sir II. Rawlinson again addressed the Bombay Government in bis
letter, dated 16th March 18*15, extracts from which aro printed below :—
3. By’ the establishment of wood stations along the course of the river, the Commander
19 brought into regular and most friendly communication with the Arab tribes who reside
upon the banks. lie is visited by several of the Chiefs on every occasion of his ascent or
descent of the river, and by a judicious distribution of trilling presents lie is enabled to main­
tain a connection which, if it answered no other purpose than that of pro-occupying the
ground, would still not he without its value. The rapidity also with which by the monthly
visit of the steamer to Bnssorah intelligence reaches Baghdad of the state of affairs in the
Chaol country has frequently been found of tho greatest use in supplying timely and correct
information to Her Majesty’s Ministers at Constantinoplo and Teheran and to the Commis­
sioners employed at Erzroom whilst the occasional transport of Turkish officers of rank
between Baghdad and Bussorah lay s the Local Government under obligations to us, which
materially assist my official intercourse with the Pasha. 1 attribute it, indeed, in a great
measure to the presence of a steamer at Baghdad, that, whereas in all the other provinces of
tho Turkish empire occasions of dispute between the Local Government and the resident
British functionary arc of most frequent and embarrassing occurrence, I have not been called
upon iua single instance since my appointment to this Agency to claim tin' interference of tho
Ambassador at Constantinople in the support of our interests, or the vindication of our
national rights.
4. The true point of view—at the same time in which, I think, the maintenance of an
armed steamer on the Tigris should bo regarded—is ns a part, however fractional and remote,
of our great system of universal maritime ascendancy. Our flag is at present supremo {by