'Memorandum respecting the Claim of the Euphrates and Tigris Steam-ship Company to use Barges on those Rivers as a matter of "right"' [‎100r] (8/18)

Sir H. Elliot, No. 471;
December 27, 1873.
To Mr. Locock, No. 32;
February 19. 1874.
Mr. Locock, No. 137 ;
May 6, 1874.
Mr. Locock, May 12, 1874.
? three.
Sir H. Layard (Telegraphic),
August 29, 1874.
To Sir H. Elliot, No. 158;
September 30, 1874.
Sir H. Elliot, No. 247 ;
October 28, 1874.
being rnadG to Constantinople, the Porte, with some
reluctance, consented to the employment of the
launch on all occasions.
As the orders, however, did not reach Basdad,
a fresh appeal was made to the Porte on the subject
in the following year, and permission was then sent,
by telegraph, to Bagdad for Messrs. Lynch's steam-
launch to ply between Bagdad and Bussorah during
the repair of one of the Company's steamers.
In answer to a request which was at the same
time made by the Tigris Steam Navigation Company,
through the British Embassy at Constantinople, to
be permitted to replace one of their steamers by a
new one, the Porte refused to give its consent, on
the ground that there were, " at that moment, on
the Tigris four, instead of the two steam-vessels
allowed by the Firman A Persian word meaning a royal order or decree issued by a sovereign, used notably in the Ottoman Empire (sometimes written ‘phirmaund’). , and that one of these was
improperly armed as a ship of war, and doing
duty as a stationnaire attached to the British Con
sulate-General." * 3
Shortly after this another question arose as to the
right of the Turkish authorities to seize a steam-
launch belonging to Messrs. Lynch, and employed
in carrying passengers between the Turkish port of
Bussorah and the Persian town of Mohammerah,
when Sir H. Elliot was instructed—" as some doubts
might exist whether the Vizirial letter of the 2nd
April, 1846, was still in force, by which the naviga
tion of the rivers of Mesopotamia for commercial
purposes was opened to vessels under the British
flag, whether engaged in the foreign or in the
internal trade "—to ascertain whether the privileges
granted by that letter had ever been abrogated; to
which his Excellency replied that he thought it
would be unsafe to make any inquiry at the Porte
which could be regarded as implying that there was
a doubt upon the subject, but that he had alluded to
the subject in conversation with Aarify Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , who
said he would look into the matter. But his
Excellency added : " If our rights upon these rivers
are limited to those granted by the Firman A Persian word meaning a royal order or decree issued by a sovereign, used notably in the Ottoman Empire (sometimes written ‘phirmaund’). and
Vizirial letters, we do not seem entitled to claim
more than the maintenance of the two vessels
originally named."
♦ This had reference to the employment of the "Comet,"
which, being' quite a distinct q-iestion, is not alluded to in this
Memorandum.—E. H.