'Memorandum respecting the Claim of the Euphrates and Tigris Steam-ship Company to use Barges on those Rivers as a matter of "right"' [‎101v] (11/18)

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♦ . __ _ i i. j Sir H. Layard, No. 3;
At the same Vnoment Sir H. Layard reported that j anuary ig, 1880.
the Dutch Minister at Constantinople had demanded
of the Porte that a Dutch Company might, by
Treaty right, be granted the same privileges as had
been conceded to the English, to navigate the rivers
of Mesopotamia, and that, as the claims were
admitted, a Firman A Persian word meaning a royal order or decree issued by a sovereign, used notably in the Ottoman Empire (sometimes written ‘phirmaund’). to that effect would be issued.
His Excellency added that he had taken the oppor
tunity, in speaking to Sawas Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. and the Piime
Minister upon the subject, to urge upon them the
importance of throwing open these rivers to steam
navigation, so that the trade and resources of Turkey
might thereby be developed, that his observations
were favourably received, and that a promise was
given that the request of the Euphrates and 1 igris
Company to employ a third vessel should be re
considered.
After this a correspondence arose, which has at
length given rise to the present question raised by
Mr. Goschen, namely, whether the Euphrates and
Tigris Steam Navigation Company have a right
to employ barges on the Mesopotamia!! rivers.
Great distress having been found to exist in
Mesopotamia and Armenia, the Euphrates and Tigris
Company in December 1879 employed two cargo
flats, by means of which they towed large quantities
of grain to Bagdad for the relief of the distressed
population ; but by what authority they did so there
is nothing in our archives to show.
In March following, these cargo fiats (or barges) Euphrates and Tigris Company,
were stopped by the local authorities, but on the Marcl1 1880 *
attention of the Porte being called to the fact by
Sir H. Layard, his Excellency was informed that
orders had been sent to the Vali of Bagdad to
allow the barges to pass. But, on the 24th April,
the Euphrates and Tigris Company wrote to say
that no such orders had been received by the Vali
of Bagdad ; whereupon Sir H. Layard spoke to
the Porte again upon the subject, and, on the
27th April, his Excellency telegraphed to say that
he had received an assurance that instructions had at
leiiirth been sent. Still the local authorities refused
cj ',
to allow the steamers of the Euphrates and Tigris
Company to tow barges, and the Porte was, in con- To Sir H. Layard, No. 78;
sequence, again appealed to; and,on the 13th May, May 85 1880,
a communication was received from Musurus Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders.
stating that orders had been sent by telegraph to the