'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' [106v] (216/226)
The record is made up of 1 volume (111 folios). It was created in 1874. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
[ xliv ]
doubtless an enormous exaggeration^ but it proves the eountry to be
populous, a fact corroborated by the testimony of Dr. Ross, who went
through a part of it and found it studded thickly with villages. There
will be no want of consumers when the country becomes tranquil and
secure.
It were superfluous to expatiate on the field which such a change of
system would open to industry and skill and capital in Mesopotamia, a
region assuredly the most favorable in all respects, in climate, in soil, and in
comparative proximity to all the seats of civilization and improvement
in the old world, for the employment of these to advantage, even the
rapid advance of Egypt in apparent prosperity, affords no fair scale to
calculate the extent of improvement that might be expected here for
Mohmed Alice Pacha, though to a certain extent liberal and enlightened
in his views, looks ultimately to self. His country is exhausted, his
people impoverished, and his power and course of improvement will
probably terminate with himself, deepening the gloom of confusion that
must follow like a bright light suddenly extinguished, and such has been,
and such will be, the fate of the country if left to Native Government alone.
Gleams of improvement there doubtless may be, but they will be
imperfect and transitory like those which have preceded them. If, there
fore, the prominent improvement and tranquillity of this province be an
object of importance to Great Britain, let what will be the form of
Government to be established, let the nature and extent of its future
connection with the Court of Constantinople be what it may, she must
and will find herself forced to maintain in that Government a permanent
influence ; in fact, she must herself have the managing and directing of
all measures of policy and improvement, let whoever or whatsoever be
the organ for carrying them into effect.
B vgdad,
The Vlth November
(Sd.) James B. Fraser.
About this item
- Content
The volume is Precis Containing Information in regard to the First Connection of the Hon'ble East India Company 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. , 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 (Calcutta: Foreign Department Press, 1874).
The volume includes a five paragraph introduction stating that the record had been compiled following a request to 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. from the Government of India (folio 15). The information is a mixture of précis and direct quotation, with comments. The sources are correspondence; minutes; extracts from proceedings; treaties; lists; the diary of the Bombay Government; the diaries of Surat and Gombroon [Bandar Abbas]; reports; committee reports; dispatches to the Court of Directors The London-based directors of the East India Company who dealt with the daily conduct of the Company's affairs. ; statements from the Military Auditor-General; and firmans.
The record includes selected information on appointments; personnel; treaties; trade; relations with the Ottoman authorities; diplomatic contacts; political developments; climate and health; administration; and naval and martime affairs.
Five appendices at the rear of the volume (folios 85-109) give transcripts of treaties between England/the United Kingdom and the Government of the Ottoman Empire (the Sublime Porte), signed 1661-1809; and a 'Memorandum on the present condition of the Pachalic [Pachalik] of Bagdad and the means it possesses of renovation and improvement' dated 12 November 1834.
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (111 folios)
- Arrangement
There is an index on ff 2-15. The index gives the following information in parallel columns: year; miscellaneous information regarding 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. (ff 2-11); appointments etc. 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. commencing with the year 1728 (ff 12-14); Euphrates expedition and flotilla (f 15); paragraph of summary; and page. Entries in the index refer to the numbered paragraphs that compose the main body of the text (headed 'Summary').
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at 1 on the first folio bearing text and terminates at 109, on the last folio bearing text. The numbers are written in pencil and enclosed in a circle and appear in the top right hand corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. page of each folio. There is also an original printed pagination, numbered i-xxviii (index); [1]-137 (main body of text); [i]-xlix (appendices).
Condition: the volume is disbound and has lost its front cover.
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- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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'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' [106v] (216/226), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/20/C30, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100023252872.0x000011> [accessed 31 March 2025]
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- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/20/C30
- Title
- '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'
- Pages
- front, front-i, 1r:84v, 84ar:84av, 85r:110v, back-i, back
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence