"مذكرة تتعلق بالملاحة في نهري دجلة والفرات". [ظ‎‎٢‎٣] (٢٨٤/٤٧)

32
with the employment of the vessel hy
company. As a result of Mr. Stuart's represen- To Mr- ,
tations, permission for the "Satellite' to carry February 23,1865.
the mails was telegraphed to Namick Pasha hy
the Porto, but the Turkish Minister for Foreign March 2, 1865.
Affairs, Aali Pasha, remarked that the naviga
tion of Ottoman rivers by foreign men-of-war
could not be claimed as a right, but only as an
exception, as in that particular instance.
Namick Pasha's interference with the employ
ment of the " Satellite " in carrying mails when
the " City of London" broke down induced Appendix XV.
J (Enclosure in)
Mr. Stuart to submit a memorandum to the Mr. Stuart's
Porte reminding them of the agreement made 1865 ^
between the Ottoman Government and Lord
Ponsonby in 1834, giving permission for two
British steamers to be employed on the
Euphrates (by virtue of which agreement the
"Comet" and "Satellite" were employed), and
of the arrangement made between the Porte and
Sir S. Canning in 1846, throwing open the Meso-
potamian rivers to British shipping for trade and
commerce, without exclusion of steamers and with
out restriction as to numbers. It was stated in
the memorandum that when " application was
made to the Porte in 186i for permission for the
Euphrates and Tigris Steam Navigation Com
pany to place two steamers upon the rivers, the
Porte answered that the number of British
steamers admitted must be restricted to two, and
that permission for the two new ones could only
be granted upon the understanding that upon
their arrival the old ones would be withdrawn."
It was pointed out that the "Comet" and
" Satellite " had been of great use to the Otto
man Go\ernment at various times, and had per
formed good service in connection with the Indo-
European telegraph, and that the British
Government would look upon their removal as
an act of great .discourtesy, particularly at a
time when Namick Pasha was apparently
encouraging the formation of a French steam-
packet company in the same waters. In conclu
sion it was suggested that the opportunity should
be taken to throw open the Mesopotamian rivers
to the commercial flags of all nations, thus givin-
to foreign nations their legitimate share of com
merce in those waters, besides probably proving
to Turkey a source of immense wealth and pros-
penty by promoting the rapid development of the
resources of that fertile portion of the Empire,