PART I.

TREATIES AND ENGAGEMENTS

RELATING TO

TURKISH ARABIA AND THE PERSIAN GULF.

TURKISH ARABIA.

THE relations of the British Government with the Pashas or temporary Governors of Bagdad are regulated more by the requirements of European than of Indian diplomacy, and by the obligations recorded in the Treaties between Great Britain and Turkey, which are beyond the scope of this collection. But in connection with the early trade in the Persian Gulf, direct intercourse was for many years maintained with the Governors of Turkish Arabia without much consideration of their relation to Constantinople. In the year 1639 there seems to have been an English factory at Basrah subordinate to the factory at Gombroon and protected by firmans. In 1728 Mr. French, the Agent at Basrah, obtained a firman conferring on the Agent power to try the servants of the factory who were guilty of crime, and providing for the adjustment of claims on the people of the country; and in 1731 he obtained another firman, fixing three per cent. as the duty to be taken on English goods at the port of Basrah. But the first firman on record is one granted in 1759 (No. I.) by the Pasha. The factory at Basrah was never recognized by the Sublime Porte till 1764, in which year the ambassador at Constantinople, with much difficulty, obtained a consulary Barat (No. II.) as the only efficacious means of protecting English commerce and the property of English subjects at Basrah.

In 1765 it was proposed permanently to appoint an Agent at Bagdad, but the proposal was disapproved by the Court of Directors. In 1783, however, a native Agent was appointed, and in 1798 a Resident, whose chief

For facility of reference however the Capitulations have been extracted from Hertslet's Treaties Vol. II. and included in the Appendices to the present edition. See Appendix No. I.

duty was to transmit intelligence overland Between India and England, and to watch and report on the proceedings of the French emissaries in connection with Napoleon's projected invasion of India by way of Egypt and the Red Sea. In 1802, on the death of Suleiman Pasha, who had governed Bagdad for twenty years, and the appointment of his son-in-law Ali Pasha to succeed him, Lord Elgin, Her Majesty's ambassador at Constantinople, took the opportunity to procure a consulary Barat (No. III.) for the Resident at Bagdad, whose appointment had till then never been sanctioned by the Sultan.

On the rupture between England and Turkey in 1807, Suleiman Pasha, who had succeeded to the government of Bagdad on the murder of his uncle Ali Pasha, took the Residents at Basrah and Bagdad under his protection and persuaded them not to withdraw from the country. But after the conclusion of peace in 1809, he, for some reasons unknown, committed himself to a series of indignities and insults towards the Resident at Bagdad, which compelled the latter to withdraw. Friendly intercourse was not renewed till, on the remonstrance of the Bombay Government, the Pasha, on 25th January 1810, subscribed certain conditions (No. IV.) binding himself never to interfere in the affairs of the Residency and to restore the former privileges of the Resident.

The Bagdad and Basrah Residencies were amalgamated in 1810; and in 1812 the designation of Resident was changed to that of Political Agent in Turkish Arabia. Two decrees were obtained from the Pasha in 1812, one (No. V.) for preventing the desertion of sailors and workmen from British ships at Basrah, and the other (No. VI.) for the restoration of natives of India carried off to Basrah as slaves.

Suleiman Pasha was deposed from office by order from Constantinople. Refusing to obey, he was defeated in battle and slain on 5th October 1810. His successor Abdoollah Pasha was put to death by the Montafik Arabs in 1813, and Syud Beg was proclaimed Pasha. On receiving an order from Constantinople deposing him from office, he rebelled, but was defeated and put to death, and succeeded in the government by Daood Effendi. The conduct of this Pasha towards the Political Agent was so insulting and overbearing, that it was impossible to land goods at Basrah, or to recover debts from native dealers, without an unseemly quarrel. In 1821 he besieged the Residency. He afterwards removed

the restrictions on the movements of the Political Agent and permitted him to withdraw from the country. The establishments at Basrah were withdrawn. Friendly relations with the Pasha were broken off, and not renewed till the Pasha agreed (No. VII.) to restore the former tariff, to repay all he had levied in excess of it, and the value of all goods injured or destroyed, and to treat future Agents of the British Government and all travellers with respect.

On 12th June 1831 Daood Pasha was removed from office and Hajee Reza Pasha was appointed in his stead. On his accession he issued a Booyooroldi or order (No. VIII.) confirming the privileges enjoyed by British subjects. In 1834 a scheme was formed for overland communication between India and England by the Persian Gulf and Turkish Arabia. Two steamers were sent out from England to open the route and navigate the Euphrates. A Firman (No. IX.) was granted by the Sultan of Turkey for the protection of the steamers. In addition to these two vessels an armed despatch boat, the Comet, was for many years attached to the Residency for service in the waters of Turkish Arabia. In 1864 the Porte sanctioned provisionally the continued stay of the Comet and in 1869 consented (No. X.) to a new vessel of war being sent to replace her.

In 1835 the Political Agent in Turkish Arabia, who had hitherto been under the Bombay Government, was put directly under the control of the Supreme Government. In 1841 Consular powers were conferred on the Agent by Her Majesty's Government. The exercise of those powers is now regulated by the Order in Council of 12th December 1873.*

The measures which the British Government adopted for the suppression of the slave trade in the Persian Gulf could not be made effectual so long as the Turkish ports remained open to vessels engaged in the traffic. In 1847, therefore, Her Majesty's Minister at Constantinople obtained from the Sultan a Firman (No. XI.) which was supplemented by vizierial instructions to Nujeeb Pasha, then Governor of Bagdad. These documents authorized the confiscation of Turkish vessels engaged in slave traffic, the exclusion of Arab and Persian slavers from Turkish ports in the Persian Gulf, and the delivery of liberated slaves to British vessels to be carried back to their native country.

* See Appendix No. II.

In October 1863 an Engagement (No. XII.) was made with the Sublime Porte for the continuation of lines of telegraph from Bagdad to Basrah and from Bagdad to Khanakeen, in order to meet the Indian telegraph by way of the Persian Gulf and the line through Persia to the Turkish frontier: and in 1864 a Treaty (No. XIII.) was concluded between Great Britain and Turkey for establishing a telegraphic communication between India and the Ottoman territory.