'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' [‎83r] (167/226)

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. —1616 TO 1846.
135
Bombay on the 31st October following- in tow of the steamer Semiramis,
and after being- repaired were, by order of the Government of India,
despatched for service on the River Indus.
299. The remaining-, steamer the Nitocris, continued on the
Euphrates and Tigris rivers, under the command of Lieutenant Jones, of
the Indian Navy, until the 4th May 1846, when, by order of the Right
Hon'ble the Governor-General of India, she was brought to Bombav
for the purpose of being repaired, and arrived in this port on the 16th
of the same month. His Lordship has lately referred for the instructions
of the Hon'ble 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. whether, when the repairs to this
vessel have been completed, she is to be sent back to the River Euphrates.
300. The total cost of the maintenance of the Euphrates Flotilla
from January 1837, when the Euphrates steamer was transfernnl from
Her Majesty's to the Hon'ble Company's service up to the 30th April
1843, independently of the original cost of the four vessels above alluded
to, up to the period of the withdrawal of the three vessels abovemen-
tioned, amounted to Rupees Indian silver coin also widely used in the Persian Gulf. 3,42,348-1-4, independently of Rupees Indian silver coin also widely used in the Persian Gulf.
89,547-10-9, disbursed between February 1838 and April 1843 in the
maintenance of a dromedary post establishment between Bussorah,
Damascus, and Beiront, formerly established in connection with the
Euphrates Flotilla. According to a statement lately furnished to this
Government by the Military Auditor-General, the average total annual
expense incurred in the past maintenance of the steamer Nilocris on the
Euphrates has been Rupees Indian silver coin also widely used in the Persian Gulf. 55,098-5 per annum, being at the monthly
rate of Rupees Indian silver coin also widely used in the Persian Gulf. 4,591-8-5.
• 301. On the 10th August 1841, Lieutenant-Colonel Taylor, 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. , was appointed by Her Majesty's
Government British Consul at Bagdad. The following is an extract
from the Right Hon'ble Viscount Palmerston's letter to Lieutenant-
Colonel Taylor, informing him of this appointment and communicating
instructions for his guidance in the conduct of his duties in that capa^
city:—
" Her Majesty's Government has judged that it will be advantageous to the public service
that Consular power and rank should be conferred upon you ; 1 have to acquaint you
that the Queen has been graciously pleased to sign a commission appointing you Her
Majesty's Consul at Bagdad. This commission will be forwarded to Her Majesty's
Consul-General at Constantinople, in order that the necessary exequater may be ob
tained from the Sublime Porte, recognizing you as Her Majesty's Consul and Mr.
Cartwright will transmit those documents to you ; I have, however, to acquaint you
that it is not intended by this commission to interfere with your present position as
the last India Company's Resident at Bagdad, further than to place under your super
intendence the British Vice-Consul, who has lately been appointed to reside at Mussoul,
and Mr. Hassan will be instructed to consider himself under your superintendence, and
to attend to the instructions which you may from time to time give him for the guid
ance of his official conduct."
302. On the 7th March 1843, Lieutenant-Colonel Taylor, the
late 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. , submitted to this Government,
with his favourable recommendation, an application from the Pacha
of Bagdad, soliciting that he might be furnished from Bombay on his
defraying their cost with 20,000 cannon shot of different sizes, and
with an iron steamer similar in all respects to those (lately) employed on
the Euphrates. This steamer, the Pacha stated, be intended as the
foundation " of a small fleet" he proposed to establish on the rivers of