'Navigation of the Tigris and Euphrates by British Merchant-Vessels' [‎110r] (8/14)

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large question dealt with in your Excellency's reference under reply. There is no
i cq T m Ascribe this correspondence in detail. It is sufficient to sav that in March
IbbO Messrs. Lynch and Co. (acting as agents for the Euphrates and Tigris Steam
„ I 0 ,? Com P an y) complained that the Vali of Busrah had objected to the steam-ship
Kahfah towing a barge, and had declared that he could not allow another barge to leave,
except under sanction from Constantinople. Messrs. Lynch and Co. added that they had •
given notice six months before of their intention to employ barges, that one barge had
)w been in use for three months, while the other had made several trips.
It soon transpired that the ground taken by Zabhit Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , then Vali of Busrah, was
the old one that Messrs. Lynch and Co. were only entitled to run two steamers on the
Tigris, and that as barges were not expressly mentioned in the Firman A Persian word meaning a royal order or decree issued by a sovereign, used notably in the Ottoman Empire (sometimes written ‘phirmaund’). which regulated
the matter their use could not be permitted except under sanction from Constantinople.
T he Porte lully supported this view of the case, and when ultimately, under considerable
pressure, the barges were permitted to run, the sanction was made to depend upon the
continuance of the existing famine in Mesopotamia. And this view is maintained not
only in a recent letter dated the 13th February, 1881 (copy inclosed), from the Vali to
myself, but also in the Ottoman note dated the 11th December inclosed in your
Excellency's despatch. This note, however, differs from those which have preceded it in
one very important particular. Whereas in former notes—see, for instance, Aali Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. 's
note dated the 1st October, 1864, and Safvet Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. 's dated the 13th March, 1875—the
Firman A Persian word meaning a royal order or decree issued by a sovereign, used notably in the Ottoman Empire (sometimes written ‘phirmaund’). which is said to define Messrs. Lynch and Co.'s rights is described as relating to
the Tigris, its provisions are in the present note applied to the Euphrates. It might
reasonably be objected that a prohibition which on the face of it relates to the Euphrates
cannot be transferred to another river. The fact, however, is, as I have already established,
that the Firman A Persian word meaning a royal order or decree issued by a sovereign, used notably in the Ottoman Empire (sometimes written ‘phirmaund’). in question w T as granted to the British Government, and has no sort of
application to Messrs. Lynch and Co. or any other private firm.
21. The letter from the local agent of the Euphrates and Tigris Steam Navigation
Company, referred to in paragraph 2 of this despatch, deals with the particular question
of the right of the Company to tow barges. Mr. Blockey's argument is (1) that the
Company (or rather Lynch and Co., to whose rights the Company has succeeded) has
for years employed country boats on the river trade, and that these boats have, when
occasion required, been towed by the steamers, and that no objection has been made. If
they may tow boats laden with cargo, why may they not tow barges ? Again, the right to
have two steamers necessarily applies the right to use them in any and eveiy way m
which a steamer can be ordinarily used, and it is absurd, Mr. Blockey contends, to say
that the Company's steamers may be employed to carry cargo but not to tow it. I think
that these arsruments are entitled to consideration, and in support of Mi. Boc eys
assertions as to the frequent use of barges on the Tigris, I may cite the example of the
Turkish steamers on that river.
22. In my endeavour to suggest an answer to the question propounded m your
Excellency's letter I have hitherto drawn only upon the correspondence on record in my
office which especially relates to the navigation of the Tigris and the Euphrates. beg
further to cite Article 23 of the Capitulations and Article VIII of the Treaty of Commerce
nf Iftfil Article 23 which is confirmed by Articles I and II of the Treaty of 18 ,
Illr. Rr sh sublets to buy, sell, and trade in the Sultan's dominions, and "to load
^ every kind of merchandize at their own pleasure without
cxpenencing f : 0 ^ Al^a^ticle^w^ch ^ o" may 'be legally importable into the
imnorted in Ottoman vessels, without being liable >. y ^ f i RriHeh vessels and
of whatever denomination than if such ^
reciprocally, all arUcles w .c ^e or may ^ 0ttoman vessel ay nowise be
possessions of His imperial iu j y hi , duties and charges,
imporKd in . " ^ "8 £ ? * ' ° t .d i. —I.. Such
—>• -
drawbacks allowed, in the dominions am. p ^ ^ ^ exportable therefrom, whether
on the exportation of any article ". lut •„ Britis h vessels, and whatever may be
iftarKtiffiWtoi r* °< •»" of "» p """"
third Power."