"مذكرة تتعلق بالملاحة في نهري دجلة والفرات". [و‎‎٥‎٠] (٢٨٤/١٠٠)

83
Sir C. Ford,
No. 31,
Commercial %
April 6, 1892.
To Sir C. Ford,
No. 58,
Commercial,
June 21, 1892.
Sir C. Ford,
No. 31,
Commercial,
April 6, 1892
(Enclosure 7).
It is to be observed that the pro-memorid was
appended to article 16, but did not form part of
the treaty, and Sir 0. Eord pointed out, in the
course of observations on the article and its
annexes, that it would be necessary to obtain
from the Porte a formal note respecting
Messrs. Lynch's company before the treaty was
signed. Instructions were issued to the Ambas
sador to the effect that article 16 might be
accepted under certain conditions, one of which
was that a definite and written agreement should
be come to with the Porte with regard to
Messrs. Lynch's steamers between Bussorah and
Bagdad.
Another condition to the acceptance of
article 16 was that any restriction or prohibition
which might be made as regards petit cabotage "
should be enforced against all foreigners alike.
Sir 0. Eord remarked on the subject of " cabo
tage " that the position taken up by Her Majesty's
Government was based on the Capitulations and
more modern treaties and usage, and he briefly
described the distinction made by the Porte
between " grand cabotage" and "petitcabotage."
According to the Turkish view the former—in
which British right to participate was not
challenged — consisted in the landing and
embarking of goods and passengers in the ports
of Marmora, Dardanelles, and other inland
waters of Turkey, by sea-going vessels which left
an Ottoman port bound for a foreign port, or
which came from a foreign port to a port of
discharge in the Ottoman Empire ; whilst the
latter consisted in conveying goods and pas
sengers by a service carried on by small boats,
that never visited a foreign port, between one
port and another in the waters, and especially in
the territorial waters, of Turkey. The Porte held
as regards " petit cabotage " that they had the
power by international right to reserve to the
national flag the coasting trade in the gulfs,
bays, straits, and internal waters of the Ottoman
Empire. Article 16 recognised this Turkish
distinction between "grand cabotage" and
petit cabotage"; British right to participate in
the former was not questioned, but British ships
were excluded as regards the latter from the
Straits, the Sea of Marmora, and enclosed terri
torial waters, such as " the Gulf of Smyrna, (fcc.,"
though not from other points of the Turkish
coast-line.