"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎١‎٥‎٤] (١٧٨٢/٢٩٧)

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Ambassador, but no steps were taken to have these treaties renewed-
nor was anything done towards establishing or re-ebtablishicg- French
spttleinents at Isfahan, at Shiraz, and in the Persian Gulf, or toward
acquiring the island oi: Kharag for France,—measures which it seems
clear that M. Olivier had at least revolved in his mind. M. Olivier*
explains that his colleague and he deliberately abstained from raising
these questions on account of the unfavourable impression that they haa
formed of Persia as a state; but the fact that the t presents for
the Persian Court had not arrived when they were needed, and the
further fact that MM. Bruguiere and Olivier had not apparently any
audience of Agha Muhammad Khan himself, suggest that there may
have been other reasons I also for the negotiations ending where they
did.
'Ihe British Resident at Basrah had early information, probably
from the British Consul at Aleppo, of the presence of MM. Bruguiere
and Olivier at the latter place in the beginning of 179(3, and he reported to
the Government of Bombay that the intention of these gentlemen appeared
to be " to penetrate in the assumed character of naturalists and botanists by
the way of Baghdad through Persia into India." Accordingly on the let
of July 1796 Mr. Jonathan Duncan, the Governor of Bombay, wrote to
Mr. Hankey Smith,- the British Resident at Bushehr, ordering him to
co-operate with the Company's representatives at Basrah in tracing the
movements of MM. Bruguiere and Olivier and, if possible, in arresting
them and forwarding them to Bombay along with their papers. That
* See his Voyage, Vol. Ill, pages 88-89.
t The presents consisted of jewels, which should have followed the mission from
Constantinople, being sent as far as Baghdad in the charge of an Indian nobleman, and
beyond it under arrangements to be made by the French CoiaiDissioner for ComtnerciAl
relations there.
X See also a footnote in Kaye's History of the War in Afifhanistcin (II. 44 45)i
which presumably refers to the mission of MM. Bruguiere and Olivier. The author
states, apparently on the authority of Sir J. Malcolm, that the objects of the mission
were (1) to induce Agha Muhammad Khan to seize Baghdad and Basrah, (2) to
persuade him to help Tipu Sultan against the British, and (3) to obtain his consent t
tho re-settlement of the French at Bandar Abbas; and he attributes its failure
chiefly to the non-diplomatic character of the agents to whom it was entrusted. M.
Olivier was a very intelligent man and a deserving public servant, but it must be
admitted that his arrival at Tehran without, euikolilu and sufficient presents betrayed
the political novice.