Page 207 - Gulf Precis (VI)_Neat

Chapter X. 181
(vii) Navigation of the Tigris hy mercantile steam ships and question
of retention of the " Comet,'” 1859—71.
50. In tho year 1859, Messrs. Lynch and Company contemplated placing a
steamer on tbo Tigris to run bolwccn Baghdad and Basrah, and based their
right upon tho corrospondcnco of 1816 dealt with in tho preceding paragraphs.
Colonel Kemball, to remove all doubts upon
1 No. C3, dated 18th October.
the matter, referredJ Sir H. Bulwer, then
Her Majesty’s Ambassador at Constantinople, to Sir Stratford Canning’s des­
patch of the 25th March 1846 and to the Vizirial letter dated 2nd April 1840,
and enquired whether tho latter document constituted a sufficient authority for
British merchants to engage in the navigation of the rivers of Mesopotamia, or
is a firman or other special sanction necessary.
Sir n. Bulwer in his despatch No. 1, dated 13tli February I860, replied as
follows: “ Tho Vizirial letter alluded to could not he considered as conferring
any permanent right: such a document, giving in fact merely a temporary
permission, might he revoked at any moment hy another document of similar
character. Nor do I deem it safo, unless the Porto wero willing to give some
special sanction to that effect, that tho Company would he justified in engag­
ing their capital in the navigation of the rivers of Mesopotamia.” lie added,
however, that his enquiries whether the Porto would ho inclined to make such
a special grant had resulted in an expression of opinion by the Turkish
Foroign Minister that if Messrs. Lynch and Company were to apply for a
firman or concession to establish a line of steamers to run between Baghdad
and Basrah, tho Porte would not he averse from an arrangement of this
naturo.
51. Upon receipt of Sir Henry Bulwer’s despatch, Messrs. Lynch and
•Colonel Kcmbaii to AmbauaJor, No. ii, dat«d 2i«t Company submitted through Colonel
March 1860. Kemball an application for a firman
“ granting them the requisite sanction to navigate the rivers of the country
with British registered steam vessels;” and Colonel Kemball further intimated
that Messrs. Lynch and Company intended to commence operations with one
steamer, and, if the speculation succeeded, to increase the number of their
vessels.
62. In reply to the application of Messrs. Lynch and Company the
Grand Vizir issued the following letter to the Governor of Baghdad :—
Translation of letter from the Grand Vizir to the Pasha of Baghdad.
Tho British Embassy having recontly made certain communications for the purpose of
obtaining a renewal of the orders which were 6ent concerning the British steamer and boats
authorised by Her Majesty to ply on tho rivers Tigris and Euphrates, it has appeared from
the register that permission having on a former occasion been applied for by it to station two
steamers on the river Euphrates at Baghdad and to run them by turns for the purpose of
facilitating trade, two firmans, dated respectively the end of Shaban 1250 and the beginning
of Rojcb 1257, were addressed to tho late Governor-General of Bagdad, Ali Riza Basils,
authorizing the permanent station of two steamers on that river, provided it wero proved and
established that the advantage resulting therefrom would bo mutual, and that no sort of
inconvenience would ensue. Further that, in virtuo of a report received respecting the dues
payable by vessels and boats navigating the Euphrates and Tigris, and in conformity with
the request of the British Embassy for Vizirial instructions on the ground that British
merchant vessels might trade in those two rivers after payment of the fixed dues according
to treaty, and considering that the transport of goods from one point ou those two rivers
to another without going out to sea is in fact internal trade, and that under such circum­
stances vessels, under whatsoever flag it may be, must pay the samo dues as Ottoman vessels
or boats, and that British vessels, whether coming loaded from abroad aud entering one of
those two rivors with their cargoes or issuing therefrom to tho soa laden with Ottoman
produce and bound for foreign countries after having paid the dues payable on their cargo
according to the treaty and tariff, are only liable to the payment of palamar nhtchesi (».«.,
right of mooring or cable money) on entering or leaviog the Tigris and Euphrates like all
other foreign ships coming to other ports of the Ottoman Empire. For these reasons, on
the 6th Rabi-ul-Akher 1262, instructions were sent to Baghdad directing, as above, that
the same dues should ho levied ou British merchant vessels engaged in internal trade ns
on all boats belonging to Ottoman subjoets, aud that after the custom-house duties payable
on their cargoes shall have been levied on merchant ships of the same nation, cither coming
from abroad or going abroad, a sum of 5 piastres (cable money) should bo levied, and u<£
thing over and above that should bo exacted.
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