"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎١‎٦‎٠‎٤] (١٧٨٢/١٧٥٩)

1604
Change of
system re
commended
by Colonel
T weedie,
March 1890.
among' the recipients of relief at Kadhimain, and to the undue proportion
of the Fund swallowed up by the Agencies at Kadhimain and Karbala
and their hangers-on. The monthly cost of the Kadhimain Agency
alone, which had an establishment of eleven persons besides the Indian*
Distributor, was Rs. 488|.
In March 1S90 Colonel Tweedie addressed the Government of India
and advocated an entire change of system in the Bequest. He repre
sented that the existing arrangements, to some extent workable in the
lifetime of the Iqbal-ud-Daulah, had now ceased to be so, remarking ;
Two facts of themselves here go far towards furnishiDg the explanation. One, the
perplexity which must necessarily he felt by a British officer when circumstances
require him to single out a Mujtahid for a money trust. The other, the even greater
difficulty, or rather impossibility, of his controlling from Baghdad two such nominees
(the subjects of other Governments) in a matter of money. Every Mujtahid has his
own circle. One who is on the rise to-day may he on the wane to-morrow ; perhaps
from a suspicion of heresy; perhaps through showing signs of worldliness. A
jVIujtahid whose reputation for rectitude and benevolence is unquestioned may, after
a large monthly sura shall have been entrusted to him, become an altered character.
Colonel Tweedie's representations were, in effect, that the separate
distributions to India at Kadhimain, Karbala, and Najaf should he
discontinued, the Indian paupers at Kadhimain being left to emigrate
to Karbala and Najaf, where all resident Indians could take their
proper place among persons entitled to benefit by the Bequest; that the
Indian Distributorships at Kadhimain and Karbala should be abolished;
and that the proceeds of the Bequest should be allotted among the
Mujtahids and Mujavirs of Karbala and Najaf by the British Resident,
who would prepare and revise lists of them with the help of an Assistant
Political Agent (to be added to the staff of the Residency), of un
official local committees (which might be expected to grow up), and of
the Persian Consul-General at Baghdad.
It should be mentioned that these proposals, besides to some extent
anticipating others which were adopted in 1903, were strictly in accord
ance with the terms of the Agreement of 1825 as known to the Baghdad
Residency at the time. The copy of the Agreement preserved in the
Residency archives not only followed the incorrect bilingual version,
but contained an interpolated " va " between the words " Mujtahidan "
*It was remarked that the sum overtly passing into the pockets of the family of
Agha Muhammad, Agent at Kadhimain, whose uncle, Muhammad Taqi Khan, was
Agent at Karbala, was Rs. 678 a month in salaries and allowances ; and it was suspect
ed that this did not fully measure the degree in which they benefited by the Bequest,