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'Navigation of the Tigris and Euphrates by British Merchant-Vessels' [‎110v] (9/14)

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The record is made up of 1 volume (5 folios). It was created in 5 May 1881. It was written in English and French. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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I submit that a plain and fair construction of these two Articles confers on British
subjects the right to engage in trade—internal and foreign—anywhere in Turkey, to load
merchandize and transmit in their ships from one part of the Sultan's dominions to
another part, and to employ under identical conditions British merchant-vessels in any
part of the Turkish Empire in which Ottoman vessels may be employed, just as reciprocally
• in British dominions Ottoman vessels may go wherever British vessels may go. The
terms of these Articles are comprehensive, and make no reservation in favour of the Tigris
or Euphrates or any other river. And as it is a fact that Ottoman merchant-steamers r
up and down the Tigris, it seems to me that British vessels are also entitled to navigate
that river for purposes of commerce.
I have &c
(Signed) ' TREVOR CHICHELE PLOWDEN.
Inclosure 2.
Messrs. Lynch and Co. to Consul-General Plow den.
The Euphrates and Tigris Steam Navigation Company {Limited),
Sir, Bagdad, March 11, 1881.
WE have the honour to acknowledge receipt of your letter of yesterday's date,
asking us to state the grounds upon which this Company bases its claim to tow barges on
the river between this and Busrah.
From information laid before Her Britannic Majesty's Principal Secretary of State
for Foreign Affairs by the Directors of this Company in a letter dated the 20th May last,
we learn that the right of foreign subjects to employ large native boats has repeatedly
been admitted by the Porte, and prior to the estciblishment of this Company in 1861 the
whole of our own trade was conducted by means of native boats owned by us, and flying
the English flag, and such boats have been continually used by us ever since for the
purpose of carrying coal, and, when necessity required, being towed with cargo in them.
Finding, however, that these boats were unsuitable in the low season, owing to their
excessive draft of water, our Directors decided upon building iron barges to carry on the
same services as had hitherto been performed by wooden boats. These barges, except
during a brief interval last year when they were temporarily prohibited, have been towed
uninterruptedly since their construction in December 1879.
When the Porte granted the required permission for our Company to run steamers
on this river there was no restriction placed upon the uses to which they were to be
applied, and it is well known that river steamers in these countries are more often used
for towing than for any other purpose. It seems to us, therefore, just as reasonable to
impose a limit of cargo to be carried on board each steamer as to prohibit their towing
barges, which, whether towed, sailed, or tracked up, cannot, under any circumstances,
have any political significance. No objection could possibly be raised against the employ
ment of barges propelled by either of the two latter primitive modes; the forbidding their
being towed, therefore, merely resolves itself into a prohibition against the adaptation of a
more expeditious means of transit.
We have, &c.
Pro Stephen Lvnch and Co.,
(Signed) ' THOMAS BLOCKEY, Agent.
Inclosure 3.
Reouf Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. to the Governor- General of Bagdad.
(Traduction.) ^ Le 6 Rebi-ul-Aker, 1262 (2 Avril, 1846).
J'AI pris connaissance du contenu de la dep^che arrivee il y a quelque temps, de la
part de votre Excellence, relativement aux droits que payent les batiments et les barques
qui naviguent sur le Tigre et I'Euphrate.
En meme temps, son Excellence TAmbassadeur d'Angleterre, residant a Constanti
nople, a represente dans un " Tacrir " que les batiments Anglais peuvent faire le commerce
dans les deux fleuves sus-mentionnes, en payant les droits etablis par le Traite, et il a
demande qu'une depdche comme dans ce sens fut ecrite a votre Excellence.

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Content

This file contains a selection of correspondence related to the right of British Merchant-Vessels to use the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. This correspondence is primarily between British officials but also includes copies of letters between Ottoman officials including one letter in French (ff 110r-111).

Extent and format
1 volume (5 folios)
Physical characteristics

Foliation: The foliation for this description commences at f 107, and terminates at f 112, as it is part of a larger physical volume, these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. An additional foliation sequence is also present in parallel between ff 5-128; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled, and can be found in the same position as the main sequence.

Written in
English and French in Latin script
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'Navigation of the Tigris and Euphrates by British Merchant-Vessels' [‎110v] (9/14), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/18/B78, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100023627062.0x00000b> [accessed 29 March 2024]

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