"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎١‎٥‎١‎٩] (١٧٨٢/١٦٧٤)

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landed the' 6 -" The Wali of Basrah was then addressed, but he merely
echoed th' assertions of the Mudir ; and the effect of a fommtnication
made b-' bim to the Persian Consul at Basrah was similar. The Turkish
claims should not have come entirely as a surprise, for as early as 1891
there had been whispers at Basrah of renewed Turkish pretensions to
Muhammareh, and so far back as that year tonnage and quarantine dues
had been claimed, and blackmail extorted, at Fao from native vessels
bound for Muhammareh,
Turkish customs were paid at Fao, under protest, by two British
Indian sailing vessels of which the destination was Muhammareh, one
of them being probably that of which the case has been described
above.
At the instance of the Shah of Persia an energetic protest was at
once made by Her Britannic Majesty's Ambassador at Constantinople,
apparently in consultation with the Russian Embassy there, on the
subject of the Turkish claim to Muhammareh. Meanwhile a curious
statement was made by M. de Butzow, the Russian Minister at Tehran,
to the effect that shortly after the conclusion of the treaty of Erzeroum
an explanatory note had been extorted by the British and Russian Charges
d'Affaires at Constantinople from a Persian Commissioner, in which it
was admitted that the treaty did not confer possession of Muhammareh
upon Persia. The Turkish Ambassador at Tehran affirmed that such
a document existed and had never been rejected by Turkey, while the
Shah's Government asserted that it must in any case be disallowed
as not authorised by proper Persian authority. The Porte, however,
promptly admitted that they had no claim to Muhammareh, and the
fact or fiction of the Persian Commissioner's admission was thus
rendered of no importance. In explanation of the conduct of theii
local officials on the Shatt-el-'Arab, the Turkish Government seem to
have given prominence to a distinction between duty on caigoes con
signed directly to Muhammareh and others imported there from a Turkish
port or througt Turkish territory , but the question was not further
pursued. The Turkish demands on vessels bound to or from Muhammareh
ceased ; and it was found unnecessary to send a British gunboat to Fao
for the protection of British Indian shipping there, as had been proposed.
The personal extravagance of Muzaffar -ud-Din Shah, ruler of Persia, o |
the acceptance of large loans by Persia from the Russian Government, T „ rk i s h
the re-organisation of the Persian customs on a European basis by means 'Iraq ana
of European agents, and the levying of duties on wines and spirits in
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