'Selections from State Papers, Bombay, regarding the East India Company's Connection with the Persian Gulf, with a Summary of Events, 1600-1800' [‎254r] (507/540)

429
Resident at Bussora, received in the Month of June last, contains a passage sufficiently strik
ing to justify its Insertion in this report.
" And in as much as our late " Royal Father of happy Memory, whose Habitation is now in
" Paradise, formerly made known to you his fabourable Intentions in Regard to such of your
" Nation, as might enter his Dominions on a design of comroeree we also think it necessary to
u mention, that our good will and Regard for your Nation, exceeds that of our late Royal
" Father; and that we earnestly desire, to see the curious Merchandizes of Europe, brought to
" Scherauze for sale, and we faithfully promise to behave in all respects to your People, accord
ing to former usuages and customs, and to grant and secure to them every Priviledge and
^Indulgence, which they enjoy at Bussora."
As the Importation to England of raw silk from Persia, bas long since, it is presumed,
ceased to be an object of Attention to the Hon'ble Company, the framers of this Report,
will therefore confine what further they have to observe on the subject before them, to stating
the different Articles, of the produce and Manufactures of Great Britain, which in their opi
nion may be vended in Persia; and to the Expression of such sentiments, as they have formed
relative to the prosecution of a commerce with the Eastern and Northern Provinces of Persia,
with advantage to the Hon'ble Company.
It is necessary however to promise, and to acquaint the British Government in India,
that Persia at present is an exhausted Kingdom, that the great Influx of Wealth which it
received by the Expedition of Nadir Shah against Delhi, has nearly reverted to India, and that
the following circumstances will more or less, always tend, to encrease the scarcity of specie,
in that Kingdom. Nine Tenths of the Imports from India into Persia, are at present purchased
with specie, of which not the smallest part ever returns into the country not less, than Ten-
thousand Persians annually leave the different parts of Persia, to make Pilgrimages to Ker-
balloy and Mecca ; if it is computed therefore that each of these Pilgrims at the time of his
entering the Turkish Dominions, is furnished with the moderate sum of Piastres Twenty, for
the necessary Expence of his Journey, it will be found, that this single circumstance alone drains
the Kingdom annually of Two hundred thousand Piastres. The Princes of the house of Seffi,
were sinsible, how detrimental these Pilgrimages were to the Interests of Persia and succes
sively endeavored, as much as possible, to lessen their repute. If at that time they were found
to be detrimental, it may be reasonably supposed that at the present Period, they must be much
more so. The Kingdom then enjoyed the Blessings of internal Peace and a well established
Government; and the Pilgrim often to the advantage of the state carried with him, instead the
of specie, such of the Manufactures or Produce of his Country, as were in demand, in the coun
tries through which he had to pass. The arrival in those days at Bagdad, of the great Caravan
of Persian Pilgrims,- produced in that City, for some Days, all the hurry and Business of a
fair. The Turkish Merchants at Bagdad were ready to purchase the raw silk, the Drugs, the
Carpets, the Shauls and ever other species of Merchandize which the Pilgrims might have
brought with them, and the different European firms established at Aleppo, Smyrna & Co of
the arrival of these articles at those places, purchased them for the different Markets of Europe.
In the present Times from the intestine Wars which have so long desolated Persia as well as from
the change, which has taken place in the Commerce of the Levant A geographical area corresponding to the region around the eastern Mediterranean Sea. , the Persian Pilgrim has no
, other mode of defraying the Expences of his Pilgrimage, than that of bringing along with
him, a sufficient quantity of specie.
The framers of this report, in speaking of the Articles of the Manufactures and Produce of
Great Britain which in their opinion are suited to the demand of the Markets of Persia, flatter
themselves that such part of their sentiments thereon, as are founded on speculation, will meet
with an indulgent and lenient reception; since notw.thstanding they may have arisen from cir
cumstances and information, apparently the most undeniable and correct, many accidents, which
no human foresight can preconceive, may in a country situated like Persia in case the British
Government in India should be decline to carry any of them into Execution, tend to a failure
of success. ^ , _ .
It is presumed, in regard to promoting the demand for Woollens in Persia, that two points
are essentially necessary to be observed ; the first of which is that as the assortments for the
Gnlph Markets are made up in England the strictest care be taken, that no other colours are
admitted therein, than those which may be mentioned in the Indents framed by the Servant