'MEMORANDUM RESPECTING THE NAVIGATION OF THE TIGRIS AND EUPHRATES.' [‎132r] (264/284)

Sir Julian Pauncefote et LOTd Ed — d «t-aunce
ob 8 e^qrr 8 t ei n ; 0DneUr ;? e -t r e Excellence fait
steamers commandfe en 1834 et en 1841 par le Canltaiue S J v h C0 MP a ?f le L y noh avec ies
telle errenr ne changerait en rien le fondle la qnestion En^ffet fjl" '' ^ 8emble T ^X 116
na pas, que je sache, reconnn officicllement 1'existence de , p' le Go ^ ve ™ ement Im Penal
tenant aux dispositions des firmans de 1834 et de 1841 fl , Co ™P a g? le Lynch; et, s'eu
de naviguer snr I'Euplirate primitivevnVf ' 'j entend mamtenIr ^ permission
dans nu but mercantile par le Capitaine Lvnch e " X <5tea ™ ers . an g lai8 . commandes
Pauncefote et Lord Edmond Fitzmauri^ Pal narte de la f\im "f" 8 . av «« Sir Julian
ipsz S.°55 ,ss£x s si'rj rv~r?i" E!* ntS
J'ai, &c.
MUSURUS.
Enclosure 1.
(Translation.) S " Cript -
A command to my Vizier, Ali Riza Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , actual Governor-General of Bagdad and Bussorah,
whose glory endure!
, L * 1 ^ D P^JNSONBY, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of tbe Government
of England, resident in my capital-may his latter days end in felicity !-iiaving, by the
presentation of an official note, requested that my supreme sanction be accorded to the stationing
by the said Government of two steamers on the Euphrates, in (the government of) Bagdad, together
- i leir alteinate plying, for the purpose of facilitating commerce, and an answer to the'letter
of enquiry written to thee, the said Governor-General, on the subject not having as yet been
reC f 1 rx ' W ea8 a . er comm unication has been made by the said embassy, stating that the
said (rovernment was in a state of expectation as to the matter, therefore my command is, and
the present my august rescript has been issued and dispatched in notification of the fact, that,
providing, as is stated, mutual advantages arise and result, while no inconvenience is thereby
caused, my august Imperial permission is accorded for the alternate stationing, in a permanent
manner, of two steam-vessels on the said river; and an official note to this request has been
handed to the embassy of the said Government. Two other august rescripts have also been
issued, addressed to the requisite parties on the right and left banks of the said river, to be kept
m the said steamers, and exhibited when necessary; and it is my command that action and
conduct be followed accordingly. Wherefore, when this matter becomes known to thy sagacity,
thou shalt act and conduct thyself in conformity therewith, exerting thy utmost to fulfil the
requirements of a statesmanlike experience and prudence
Last decade of Shaban, 1250 (17th (27th) December, 1834).
^ Enclosure 2.
[See Appendix IV.]
APPENDIX XXI.
Sir J. Pauncefote to the Law Officers of the Crown and Dr. Deane.
Gentlemen, Foreign Office, February 19, 1884,
I HAVE the honour to transmit to you, by direction of the Secretary of State, the
papers noted in the accompanying list, and relating to a grave difficulty which has arisen
between Her Majesty's Government and the Sublime Porte touching the right lately claimed
by the Turkish Government to stop the traffic of the Tigris and Euphrates Steam Navigation
Company,
The vessels of that company have plied for upwards of twenty years on those rivers,
carrying the Indian mails and interchanging traffic with the steamers of the British India
Company, whereby Bagdad has been brought into direct communication with all parts of India
and Europe.
The origin of the estabhshment of the company is as follows :—
1
From the records in this Office it appears that since 1834 the Euphrates was navigated for
many years by two steamers belonging to the East India Company, and afterwards to the