"مذكرة تتعلق بالملاحة في نهري دجلة والفرات". [و‎‎٥‎١] (٢٨٤/١٠٢)

85
station at Bagdad ") in the manner proposed, as
such employment would be in excess of the
limits " laid down by the Sublime Porte when
giving permission for a gun-boat to station at
Bagdad." The Grand Vizier evidently referred
to the authorisation for the retention of the
<£ Comet " at Bagdad accorded in 1875. It will
be remembered that the Porte regarded the
"Comet" as being in excess of the number of
vessels authorised by the firman of 1834, con
firmed by the vizierial letter of 1861, but gave
permission in March 1875 (see p. 41) for it to
remain " sur les rivieres de la Mesopotamie
suivant I'entente precedemment etablie," this
understanding presumably being the arrangement
made in 1869 (see pp. 85, 36), when the Porte
consented " au remplacement par un autre navire
ou batiment de la marine lioyale, la 4 Comete , " :>
se trouvant sur les rivieres de Mesopotamie."
After consulting the India Office, instructions
were given to Sir W. White to inform the Grand
Vizier that, "in the opinion of Her Majesty's
Government the terms of the firman of the 29th
December, 1834, did not restrict the navigation
of the two steamers mentioned therein to Bagdad
and its immediate neighbourhood, but sanctioned
their navigating the Euphrates," and that it was
not apparent, in any other respect, how the
employment of the 44 Comet" in the manner pro
posed could be regarded as constituting a depar
ture from the provisions of the firman. Sir W.
White did not report whether he made a
communication to .the Grand Vizier in accordance
with these instructions, and, as no further cor
respondence passed on the subject, there is no
information available to show whether the
" Comet" was sent from Bagdad to Bussorah
and employed as suggested on the Shatt-el-Arab.
Another question respecting the Comet"
arose nearly three years later (1894), when
the consul-general at Bagdad made an official
journey in the steamer up the Tigris as far as
Samarra. The Porte protested against this
proceeding, and the Turkish Ambassador stated
that—
,
" Le Gouvernement Imperial cousidere que ce voyage,
effectue sans autorisation prealable, dans les eaux
int^rieures de TEmpire a bord d'un batiment de guerre
* Permission for the provisional retention of the Cornet"
on the Tigris until the completion of the line of telegraphs
between Bagdad and Fao was given in 1864 (see page 29).
[163—1] Z