'Precis Containing Information in regard to the First Connection of the Hon'ble East India Company with Turkish Arabia, as far as the Same Can Be Traced from the Records of the Bombay Government, together with the Names of the Several British Residents and Political Agents Who Have Been Stationed at Bagdad [Baghdad] and Bussorah [Basra] between A.D. 1646 and 1846, accompanied by Other Information' [‎70r] (141/226)

WITH 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. —1646 TO 1846.
109
of private and sincere friendship have always subsisted. I take the opportunity of
sending this letter of friendship and congratulation by Your Highness' servant and
well-wisher, Dervish Aga, who is sincerely attached to Your Highness. I have lately
endeavoured to show him some friendly attention, at which I hope Your Highness will
be satisfied, and should Your Highness enquire after me and my proceedings, I have
requested Dervish Aga to give you a full account."
241. On the 9th March 1817 Daood Pacha addressed a letter to
the Right Hon'ble Sir Evan Nepean, then Governor of Bombay, inti
mating his having been raised by the Sublime Porte to the dignity of
" Pacha of Bagdad, Bussorah, and Conrdistan," and giving an account of
the opposition he had encountered, on his approaching Bagdad, from the
army of the deceased, Saeed Pacha. This letter concluded with assurances
of friendship towards the British Government, and an expression of the
writer The lowest of the four classes into which East India Company civil servants were divided. A Writer’s duties originally consisted mostly of copying documents and book-keeping. 's hope that the perfect good understanding then subsisting
between Great Britian and the Ottoman Porte would ever remain unim
paired. In reply, Sir Evan Nepean addressed a letter to Daood Pacha,
offering his cordial congratulations to His Highness on his being raised
to the high and dignified situation of Pacha, and expressing the sincere
desire of the British Government to improve the friendly relations so
happily existing between the two Governments.
242. On the 17th September 1818 Captain (now Brevet Colonel
Taylor) R. Taylor, of the 3rd Regiment, Bombay Native Infantry, was
appointed by this Government Assistant to the 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. in succession to Mr. Colquhoun, who had applied for
permission to proceed to England for the benefit of his health. Captain
Taylor arrived at Bussorah on the 15th March 1819, and on the same
day, as Assistant to the 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. , received
charge from Mr. Colquhoun of the subordinate Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. at Bussorah.
243. In a letter dated the 28th January 1819 Mr. Rich reported
that " Mons. De Pigouroux," the French Consul at Bagdad, who had
never previously visited the Pacha, had lately applied to be admitted
to an audience to His Highness, and at the same time had intimated to
the Pacha that in receiving his visit His Highness ought to bear in
mind that—
" throughout the Ottoman Empire it was ordained by existing treaties that any French
Agent was to be ranked above all British representatives whatever."
With reference to this intimation the Pacha remarked to his Minis
ters that—
" there must be some gross misrepresentations in this statement, that it was impossible
that a nation like the British should consent to acknowledge the superiority of a rival
power; but that even allowing so Improbable a supposition, it could only hold good in
the case of two representatives of equal rank, and that Mr. Kich being a Resident Minis
ter and Mons. De Pigouroux only a Consul there could not, under any circumstances,
be a competition between them."
The Pacha then added—
" Whatever may be the rule elsewhere, the ceremonial of my Court gives the precedence
to the British Resident. Mr. Rich has not chosen to insist on his own rank, but it is
my duty to preserve it for him ; and since the French Consul has been pleased to
agitate the question and create disturbance about his precedence, if he chooses to come
to the palace, he shall be assigned the place formerly occupied by French Consuls
before the establishment of the British Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. . From Mr. Rich's moderation I
should not have felt inclined to investigate narrowly into such minutice, but hence
forward the Consul shall only be allowed what he is strictly entitled to. So much I