"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎١‎٣‎٥‎٥] (١٧٨٢/١٥١٠)

1355
The general result of the operations was that the town of Karbala
was brought thoroughly under Turkish control. The Yaramaz chiefs
Mirza Salih and Muhammad 'Aii Khan were captured^ and the
Yaramaz leader Saiyid Ibrahim, Za J frani, gave himself up, as did also
the titular Governor Saiyid Wahhab : all of these were pardoned.* A few
tlays after the capture of the place Najib Pasha was able to enter Karbala,
where, in true Turkish fashion, he took from the inhabitants a sealed
declaration to the effect that the loss of life had been trifling. From
Karbala he moved on to Najaf, another religious, recalcitrant, and
largely Persian town ; but there, naturally, no resistance was offered to
him and his authority was established without any sort of difficulty.
V ery exaggerated reports of the Karbala affair were c urrent at first. ReBponslbi-
It seems even to have been stated that 30,000 persons, most of them Turkish 116
Persians, had perished, and that the whole town had been sacked and authorities
destroyed. In parts of Persia the population were excited to frenzy by nationa? 1 ^
these and similar rumours ; and a rupture of Turko-Persian frontier negotia-
tions then going on at Erzeroum, or even a war between Turkey and
Persia, appeared not impossible. in these circumstances the i3ritish
Ambassador at Constantinople deputed Lieutenant-Colonel F. Farrant,
attached to the British Mission in Persia, whose services had been placed
at his disposal by the British Minister at Tehran and whom it had pre
viously been intended to employ at Erzeroum, to investigate the facts upon
the spot. Colonel Taylor, the British Political Agent at Baghdad, had
taken the extraordinary step of writing to congratulate the Pasha on the
success of his operations against Karbala and had omitted to inform the
Ambassador of his having done so. Apparently for this reason Sir Strat
ford Canning considered the appointment of a Special Commissioner
necessary; and he directed Colonel Farrant "to remain at Baghdad
" during the progress of the negotiations at Erzeroum and to retain in his
C( own hands the management of affairs relating to the frontier disputes
" between the Governments of Persia and Turkey." The Russian Envoy
at Constantinople^ M. de Bouteneff, officially requested that Colonel
Farrant should act on his behalf also; and that officer consequently repre
sented, in his proceedings, the Russian as well as the British Government.
The Porte consented, somewhat reluctantly, to send an Ottoman Commis
sioner to hold an enquiry on the spot ; and their choice, which in the
opinion of the British Ambassador could hardly have been more judicious
fell on tNamiq Pasha.
* Some of them were pardoned at the intercession of Colonel Farrant, the British
Special Commissioner, mentioned in the next paragraph.
t Probably the Namiq Pasha mentioned by Layard in his Early Adventures.
vol. II, pages 385— 38 6. '