'Précis of correspondence regarding the affairs of the Persian Gulf, 1801-1853' [‎163r] (325/344)

Part VIII—Chap. LXXII.
305
CHAPTER 1XXII.
CHANGES PROPOSED m THE BUS1IIRE AXD BASRAH
RESIDENCIES. PROPOSED MOVE TO KARRAR, 1829-34.
601. The following despatch of the Court of Directors The London-based directors of the East India Company who dealt with the daily conduct of the Company's affairs. to the Bombay
Govemment (dated 26tli February 1834) summarises the discussions between
the Bombay Government, the Government of India and the Court of Directors The London-based directors of the East India Company who dealt with the daily conduct of the Company's affairs.
on the various alterations proposed in the Bushire and Basrah Residencies : —
POLITICAL DEPARTMENT.
i
No. 4 of 1834.
Our Governor in Council at Bombay.
"We now reply to the letters and paragraphs noted in the margin, relating to the subjpet
qc 0 f ^ ie agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. maintained by your Government in
and 3^7^ ^ 10m ^ enga,1 ' ltl1 101 18 ' P ages 1 the Persian Gulph, and bringing before us the im-
^Letter from Bombay, 30th December 1831, p«>rtant questions of the extent o£ agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. required
page 21. in that quarter and the location by which it would
Letter from Bombay, 4th July 1832. be best adapted to the ends which it has to
Letter from Bombay, 25th September 1832, attain
pages 1 and 2.
Letter Secret, 17th October 1832.
2. "We find that as early as the 11th o£ June 1827, the Efon'ble M. Elphinstone then
Governor in a Minute of that date, subscribed to by the Members of his Council, recorded his
opinion of the propriety of abolishing the 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 in the following words ;
u The Bussorah 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. might, I think, be easily spared; but I would not abolish it at
present because Sir John Malcolm is so much fitter to decide on the necessity of the situation.
"We may take it as a prospective reduction/'
8. With reference to this opinion, Sir John Malcolm in a minute under date 12th March
1828, said—*' Though I still keep in view the prospect of reducing the expense of our Agencies .
in Persia and Turkey by another arrangement for their duties, I do not think, at the present
moment, when Russia may be said to be at war with the Porte, and when the Imperial forces
occupy Aderbijan that we can recall Major Taylor from Bussorah without creating impres-
sions very unfavorable to our interests in that part of Asia/'
4. Russia ceased to be at war with the Porte and the Imperial forces to occupy Aderbijan,
but her proceedings subsequently in respect to Turkey may have required the continued deten
tion of an Agent at Bussorah.
5. In our letter dated 28th July 1830, noticing the postponement we said, that as it " was
solely grounded on the war between Russia and the Porte, we shall be happy to learn that you
consider the present position of affairs such as to permit you to resume your original intention/ ,
6. The Committee appointed to enquire into the state of the finances of British India in
1830 said—" In the course of our investigation into
Eeport dated 26th April 1830, paragraph 43. the rise and progress of these establishments in the
Persian Gulph we have been led to compare the charges at Bushire and Bussorah, with which
the British Government is now burthened with those that sufficed for the same establishments
at periods when our trade and intercourse in that quarter were more active and flourishing than
at present, and the result on our minds is that there is no reasonable ground^whatever for con
tinuing such costly agencies in the Gulph of Persia as are now maintained/'
7. The Committee recommended that one Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. alone should be maintained in the Gulph
and that Bushire should be its station. And with a view to form a correct estimate of the
expense which it would require, they remarked as follows:—
<< regard to the salary and establishments to be assigned under the proposed modification
0 w 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 the Gulph we have advert-
Ib., paragraph 47. e( j ^ na t ure of the duties of the Resident and
the grounds on which the salary and establishment were fixed by the Supreme Government in
1806 so as to be enabled to form a correct judgment of the comparative business at the former
and the present period. And we find by the instructions conveyed by the Supreme Govern
ment to the Resident Mr. Smith, that this gentleman was appointed Commercial Resident at
Bushire, and vested on the part of the Supreme Government with the political intercourse
between the King of Persia and the British Government. We need here only notice the fact
that there are now no commercial transactions to be performed by the Resident, and that th«
Charge d'Affaires at Tehran is the channel of communication between the British Government
and Persia, to convince Your Lordship in Council that so far as these two^ duties aic concerned>
the appointment of Resident at Bushire has become altogether nugatory."