Turkish Arabia Affairs [‎265v] (18/40)

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This item comprises copies of enclosures to a despatch from the Government of Bombay From c. 1668-1858, the East India Company’s administration in the city of Bombay [Mumbai] and western India. From 1858-1947, a subdivision of the British Raj. It was responsible for British relations with the Gulf and Red Sea regions. Secret Department to the Secret Committee Pre-1784, the Committee responsible for protecting East India Company shipping. Post-1784, its main role was to transmit communications between the Board of Control and the Company's Indian governments on matters requiring secrecy. , Number 87 of 1847, dated 13 October 1847. The enclosure is dated 26 August 1847.

The primary document is a despatch from Lieutenant Arnold Burrowes Kemball, Acting Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. in Turkish Arabia A term used by the British officials to describe the territory roughly corresponding to, but not coextensive with, modern-day Iraq under the control of the Ottoman Empire. [Ottoman Iraq] (acting for Henry Creswicke Rawlinson who had taken a leave of absence), forwarding for the information of the Secretary to the Government of India and the Secretary to the Government, Bombay, copies of his despatches to Lord Cowley, HM Minister Plenipotentiary at Constantinople [Istanbul], with relevant enclosures, on the ‘affairs of the Baghdad Pachalic [Pashalik]’.

The documents notably cover the following matters:

• British attempts to verify the authenticity of the communication from the Mootsellim [ Mutasallim During the eighteenth century this was the third most powerful official in Ottoman Iraq (after the Pasha and the Kiya). The title was given specifically to the Governor of Basra. ] of Bussorah [Governor of Basra] to Sheikh Mahomed ben Khaleefa [Shaikh Muḥammad bin Khalīfah Āl Khalīfah, Shaikh of Bahrain] inviting him to place himself under the protection of the Turkish [Ottoman] flag, including a corroborative document forwarded to Rawlinson by Major Samuel Hennell, Resident in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
• Reactions of the independent Arab rulers of the Gulf regarding the appearance of an Ottoman brig of war [in the Gulf] and the alleged the claims by the Turkish officers on board of the intention to replace British influence in the Gulf with Turkish influence. Included are reports by John Croft Hawkins, Commodore Commandant Indian Navy, Squadron in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , on the HC [Honourable Company] steam frigate Queen , and the Agent at Shargah [Sharjah], regarding: the brig’s movements; the concerns expressed by Shaikh Mucktoom [Maktūm I bin Buṭṭī Āl Bū Falāsah of Dubai]; and the alleged ‘exultation’ of Sultan Ben Suggur [Shaikh Sulṭān I bin Ṣaqr al-Qāsimī One of the ruling families of the United Arab Emirates; also used to refer to a confederation of seafaring Arabs led by the Qāsimī tribe from Ras al Khaima. , Ruler of Sharjah and Ra’s al-Khaymah, Al Jazirah Al Hamra and Ar Rams, variously] at the potential loss of British influence (ff 263-268)
• Reports that Nejib Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. [Muḥammad Najīb Pāshā, Governor of Baghdad] plans to survey ‘the old and ruined canals’ of Abooghraib [Abu Ghraib], Scindreeah [Sindria?] and Mahmoodiah [Mahmudiyah?], in order to repair them and bring the adjoining land back into cultivation and improve irrigation
• The disturbed state of the country in Moosul [Mosul] due ‘principally to the internal dissensions in the large tribe of the Shammar [Šammar] Arabs’ (f 269)
• The question of whether British and Russian subjects travelling in the Turkish [Ottoman] dominions will be subject to new passport regulation fees, and Kemball’s scepticism, in communications with Colonel Justin Sheil, HM Minister at Tehran, regarding Nejib Pasha’s intention to exempt ‘native Englishmen’, taking into consideration the passport fees recently levied on Rawlinson and his party for the latter’s leave of absence
• Kemball’s scepticism, communicated to Sheil, regarding Nejib Pasha’s intentions of fulfilling instructions from the Turkish Government for the removal of a Turkish guard vessel from her anchorage off the mouth of the Haffer [Haffar] Canal to a station higher up the stream, and intention to escalate his dissatisfaction to the Porte via HM Minister at Constantinople (ff 272-273).

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1 item (20 folios)

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English in Latin script

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