Page 52 - Gulf Precis (VI)_Neat

30 Part I.
(ill) Valia of Basrah.
105-A. Tho following is tho list of tlio Valis of Basrah from the time that
Vilayat was constituted in 1875.

Ktmo of the Paiha*. The year of tlioir appointment.

Constituted in 1876.
Rasir Pasha • • t Ml 1875.
Abdullah Pasha Removed in 1879.
Zalit Pasha Ml Ml Ml ft# 1879-81.

Reconstituted in 1884.
Saleh Pasha Ml • it 1884.
Ali Resa Pasha ... HI Not known.
Shaban Pasha • •• • •• Not known.
Hidayat Pasha ... Ml 1889.
Hamdi Pasha in
Mohsin Pasha • • • • it • • • 1900.
Mu Hiss Pasha September 1904.

(iv) Characters and Policy of some of the Valis.
106. The characters and policy of the Vali will be known from tho narrative
of events described hereafter, in which they were concerned. Below are given
descriptions of some of the leading Pashas and of their schemes and policy,
which we find in our records.
107. The early Pashas of Baghdad were like powerful feudal princes of
Europe, who were to a great extent independent of the Central Government of
the Porte in the administration of the province. Of the Pashas mentioned in
the above list the greatest and most famous was Soliman Pasha (1779—1803).
His long reign corresponds to an important period in the development of tho
British influence in Turkish Arabia. He was on the whole very favourably
inclined to tho English, and though Mr. Manesty, the Company’s quarrelsome
• Deipatcb of court of Director*, dated i6th April Resident, fell out with him on flimsy*
1795. grounds, tho Pasha as a rule treated the
English with respect and consideration. His administration was on the whole
peaceful, though plague, family intrigues and his own infirmities of old
age gave rise to disorders about the time of his death. His only son then was
a boy, and there was naturally much intrigue at Baghdad for the succession to
the Pashalio among several rival claimants. The state of things, of the rival
factions, and of the leading characters of the time are well described by Mr.
.
Harfard Jones in his despatch to Lord Wellesley, dated 9th May 1802 :—
Still deprived of Your Excellency’s promised commands on the subject of our political
relations with the Pashaw of Bagdad, 1 could wish to haye postponed laying before you any
detailed statement of the situation of affairs bore, until I might have had the honor to receive
them. Circumstances however arc so much altered within these few months and indeed 1 may
6ay within those few days, that 1 conceive deferring this task to a future period would bo a
neglect of my duty.
With Your Excellency’s permission I would divide the details I propose laying before you,
under tbreo bends :—
1st-.—1The domestic state of this Government;
2nd.—Its exterior relations;
3rd.—The 6tatc of tbe country under the Government of Baghdad.