Page 225 - Gulf Precis (1-B)_Neat

419
Somo years ago, the Hon'ble Company gave Directions to the Government of Bombay,
to establish an English Factory at Mocha ; in consequence of which Directions, Mr. George
Horsoly, a GontkMnan of uncommon Ability, was sent t> that place, with the appointment
of Resident. The factory was however early withdrawn and it is therefore to be concluded
that its establishment did not theu materially toud to the increase of the British
Commercial Interests in that quarter of the world. . As however, it is the wish of the British
Government in India to increase, as much as possible the commerce of the Hon'ble Company
as the custom of annually sending one of tbo Hon’ble Company's Europe 6hips, to take in,
at Mocha a cargo of Coffco has been lately rosumed, and as the French, have thought it,
tho interest of their nation again to nominate a Resident to Mocha, it is conceived that tho
reestablishment of an English Factory at that placo, under the Direction of an intelligent
Gentlemen well versed in mercantile Affairs, might prove, a measure, of considerable utility.

Commerce op Persia
The detail of the commerce of Persia, for the reasons already mentioned in the foregoing
part of this, report will be divided under the follewing heads :—
Past state of the commerce of Persia,
Present state thereof,
The measuros which appear most probable to increase the present British commercial
intercourse, with that kingdom and the countries bordering upon it.
In all enquiries into the transactions of past times, it will be found necessary to fix Past state of the
upon some period, at which those enquiries shall commerce and since the Records and commoroo of Persia.
Accounts of the Factories heretofore established by the Hon’ble Company at Gombroon,
Iepahaun and the interior parts of the Kingdom of Persia during the Reign of the Princes
of the House of Seffi, are many oE them lost, an investigation of the early times of the
British commercial Intercourse, with Persia, were it even an object worthy of attention,
must be given up for want of sufficient and authentic materials. It is not to be supposed that
the turbulent and sanguinary Reign of Nadir Shah, who usurped the Throne of Persia, could
by any means prove propitious either to the foreign or domestic commerce of the state,
for • notwithstanding the Shah directed, that the Loss which Mr. Jones Hanway would
otherwise have sustained by tho seizure of his woollens by the Rebels at Astrabad in the year
1744 should be made good to that Geutleman, yet such parts of the Hon’ble Company's
Records of this settlement as contain any information in respect to Persia, are replete with
instances of the oppression which the Shah practised upon the Factories of Gombroon and
Iepahaun, and of the insults which he repeatedly and unprovekedly offered to the Gentlemen
to whose care they were entrusted. From the Assassination of Nadir Shah to the etablish-
I ment of Kerim Khan the Empire was plunged into deeper scenes of confusion and distress
than it had ever experienced before, so that the Assumption by Kerim Khan of the Title
of Vakeel or Regent appears the Era, at which it will be most proper, to commence th e
account ofitbe past state of the commerce of Persia ; as from that period, to the death of the
Vakeel, the Kingdom enjoyed an Interval of Repose.
It is to be regreted, that the Hon'ble Company's Records at Bussora afford no informa­
tion of the annual Amount, of the Imports and Exports made on account of the Company
at Gombroon during the time of that Port being in its most flourishing state, and that they
contain only those of a few months, preceding the arrival of the orders from Europe to
withdraw the Factory from thenco ; from which indeed it is evident, that the British
Commerce in Persia had declined so much, that setting aside extortions which the Factory
at Gombroon was constantly experiencing, front the Persian Governors, neither prudence
nor interest could justify or induce the Hon'ble Company,' to support, so expensive an
establishment,.
Kerim Khan though deficient in tho accomplishments of Literature and Politeness,
possessed a manly and vigorous understanding, alike capable of perceiving the more minute
oircum6tance8, whioh might tend to tho advantage of Persia, and of embracing and compre­
hending the more complicated, and extensive schemes, for its prosperity after declining the
invidious Title of Shah, he at length, found himself in some measure under the necessity,
from the general Voice of the people, of accepting the inferior ono of Vakeel; to which,
howevor, ho took care to annex every careful prerogative of Royalty. The Vakeel early