'Memorandum respecting the Claim of the Euphrates and Tigris Steam-ship Company to use Barges on those Rivers as a matter of "right"' [‎104r] (16/18)

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Mesopotamian rivers would seem to be that derived
from the Firman A Persian word meaning a royal order or decree issued by a sovereign, used notably in the Ottoman Empire (sometimes written ‘phirmaund’). of the 29th December, 1834, and
the Vizirial letters of the 2nd April, 1846, and the
15th January, 1861, since no special Firman A Persian word meaning a royal order or decree issued by a sovereign, used notably in the Ottoman Empire (sometimes written ‘phirmaund’). in their
favour has ever been produced.
But whether that Firman A Persian word meaning a royal order or decree issued by a sovereign, used notably in the Ottoman Empire (sometimes written ‘phirmaund’). and those Vizirial
letters confer upon the Company the permanent
right to navigate those rivers, either by their
steamers or their barges, is a point which has never
really been satisfactorily settled; and although
Mr. Goschen was informed, on the 19th June last,
that Her Majesty's Government considered that the
Company had a right to use barges on those rivers,
and although it has been repeatedly shown that it
is most important that British interests should be
fully protected in those rivers, and, if possible,
extended, still the fact remains that no formal docu
ment (beyond those quoted above) has been produced
showing how the Company came to possess such a
rightj or that it has ever been formally acknow
ledged by the Turkish Government.
E. HERTSLET.
Foreign Office,
March 27, 1881.
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