"مذكرة تتعلق بالملاحة في نهري دجلة والفرات". [ظ‎‎٢‎٨] (٢٨٤/٥٧)

40
Bagdad. Finally, in March 1875 the 1'orte ^ ^ •
authorised the employment of the " Despatch March 31,187o.
on the Tigris in exceptional cases and when the
water was low.
At the time when negotiations in reference to
the " Despatch " were in progress the Euphrates Navigation
and Tigris Steam Navigation Company were ^^ary 11,1874.
making arrangements to replace one of theii
vessels, "City of London," by another steamer
which they proposed to send out. An application
was accordinsrly made to the Porte for permission Mr. Locock, .
, , Mo. 14»,
to substitute the new steamer for the old one. May 12, 1874.
but was refused on the ground that at that time
there were four British vessels on the Tigris
instead of the two steamers allowed by firman.
The Porte's refusal was based on inaccurate Sir H. Elliot,
No 82
statements made by Eedif Pasha, Vali of Bagdad, j u iV 13^ 1374,
who led his Government to believe that the aiia ^closures.
" Comet belonged to Messrs. Lynch and had
recently been converted into a vessel of war.
The fourth vessel referred to was assumed to be
the " Despatch," which, however, was not then
plying on the river. The other two vessels,
" City of London " and " Dijleh," were described
by Colonel Herbert, when reporting on the
question, as " those specially provided for by
the firman of the 29th December, 1834 (con
firmed to permit the formation of this company
by vizierial letter of the 15th January, 1861),
which does not allude and does not directly
apply to Government vessels which are not
employed in trade." A further note was
addressed to the Porte pointing out the
inaccuracies on which their refusal was based,
and requesting reconsideration of the applica-
tion Permission for the snbstitntion of a new Sir3 Elliot
vessel for the " City of London " was not No - 169 - '
obtained until March 1875, and was expressed MarCh 31 ' 1875 '
in the following words :
"La Sublime Porte consent 4 ce que I'un des deux
bateaux que Messieurs Lynch et Cie. emploient en
vertu d un firman Imn ^rial nr,.,» l„ , • ,
, , , " J - m P enal ponr le service des passagers
remliT ^ ^ Soit P ro "«onement
remplace par un autre sans que le nombre des navires
autonsi par le susdit firman puisse gtre augments."
f had been out that the SirH Elliot
Comet belonged to the Indian Government '
the Porte persisted in treating the vessel as one Febru ^ 22 ' ,875 -
IndiI'Goy«Zen,. beIOIlged ^ a ° d Wa8 ,Ilaintai '>ed by the