"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الجزء II. ج. ج. لوريمر. ١٩١٥" [‎١‎٨‎٠‎٣] (١٢٦٢/٣٢٠)

1803
as a m
i let
embarked, the removal was successfully accomplislied. The Vakil
n ot having been able to prevent this movement, politely sent after the
Resident some of his effects and of the East India Company's horses
which had been left behind.
The conduct of both the Agent and Council and of the Resident
in connection with these affairs, was highly disapproved by the Govern-
mentof Bombay, who in April 1769 directed the Agent 8.nd Council
at Basrah to assist Zaki Khan, if it were not too late, on the best terms
that they could obtain from him, to take possession of Kharag. In case
this should not be feasible, they must endeavour to come to a settlement
with the islanders; but, at all events, they should do their utmost to prevent
the restoration of Mir Mahanna. It does not appear whether these
instructions were obeyed. The Court of Directors in London, whose ear
the Agent and Council at Basrah had gained by garbling — so at least
the Government of Bombay believed — part of the official correspondence,
held that the troubles in the Gulf were entirely due to the Presidency
"having been deceived by Mr. Skipp into a confidence in Carem
Caum"", and themselves urged, in ignorance of what had already been
done at Bushehr, the expediency of abandoning that station.
The remarks of the Court on this occasion and their policy of with
drawal from Persia were highly distasteful to the authorities at Bombay;
and the Government of that Presidency were not slow to find, in a
request of the Directors themselves that Gilan raw silk should be pro-
enred, which could be done most conveniently at Bushehr^ an excuse for
-opening the question of the Bushehr Residency. They were also
re'
Orders of
the Bombay
Government
and Court of
Directors,
1769.
Efforts of
the Bombay
Government
to re-estab
lish the
Bnshehr
Residency,
1769-1770.
annoyed, it would appear, by the persistent efforts of the Agent and
Council to concentrate the whole of the Company^s trade in the Gulf
at Basrah j and their first step was to appoint a Committee consisting
of Messrs. Wrench, Jervis and Martin, of whom the two first had
served in the Gulf, to report whether the Basrah Agency should not
be transferred to Bushehr and the establishment at Basrah reduced to
the rank of a Residency. The Committee, after consulting Messrs.
Morley and Skipp, who had apparently returned to Bombay, reported on
the 3rd of November 1769 in favour of a fortified Factory at Bushehr,
which, in their opinion, would be as secure as the existing settlement at
Basrah and a great deal more advantageously placed for trade j for they
believed the demand for woollens in Persia to be much larger than that
in the countries served by Basrah, and they thought it not unreasonable
to estimate that Karim Khan would take two or three lakhs of rupees
worth of woollen goods from the Company every year, provided that