File 3846/1910 'Mesopotamia: Baghdad affairs. Miscellaneous.' [‎146r] (300/536)

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ASIATIC TURKEY AND ARABIA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
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[September 26.]
[34736]
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[Amended Copy.]
No. 1.
Secttion 2.
Sir G. Lowtherto Sir Edward Grey.—(Received September 26.)
(No. 671.) U F
Constantinople, September 21, 1910.
WITH reference to my telegram No. 168 of the 23rcl August, I have the honour
to forward herewith a despatch from His Majesty’s consul-general at Bagdad, submitting
copy of a letter addressed to the Government of India respecting the threatened
aggression by Turkish authorities on 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. premises at Bagdad.
The annexures referred to in Mr. Lorimer’s despatch are not forwarded herewith,^
being only correspondence of which I have already had the honour to communicate to
you the purport.
I have, &c.
GERARD LOWTHER.
I
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Enclosure in No. 1 .
Consul-General Lorimer to Sir G. Lowther.
(Secret.)
Si r > Bagdad, August 22, 1910.
IN continuation of my letter No. 711 of the 13th August, 1910, I have the honour
to submit copies of further telegraphic correspondence (purports only) on the subject
of an apprehended aggression by the Turkish local Government on the British political
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 Bagdad. I also enclose a copy of a letter which I have received from
the vali, showing that the danger has now been removed. hies' r
2. A fact not mentioned in any of the telegrams, because it did not immediately
come to my knowledge, is that Eram Bey, the vali’s political secretary, himself enquired
of a member of my staff during the period of suspense whether there would be any
objection to the new street being carried across 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. grounds, and what the
results of such an arrangement would be. To this question the officer interrogated
not inaptly replied that the amenity of 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. would be destroyed, and that an
increase of 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. guard would be necessitated, as two compounds would require
more sentries to watch them than one.
3. The point chiefly urged by the political secretary in his conversation with me,
referred to in my telegram of the 22nd August, was that I should have addressed
myself to him if I thought that 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. was in danger, and not to the Turkish
engineer of works. This seems at first sight a plausible objection ; but, as explained
in my last letter, the object of the local Government was probably to force me to
begin on humiliating terms a discussion with them of the immunities and privileges of
this residency—a discussion which might have acquired a wider scope as it proceeded.
For this reason, instead of referring to the political secretary, I gave the engineer of
works, with whom I am personally acquainted, a sufficient opportunity of contradicting,
either directly or through the vali’s political office, the sinister rumours, which, if he
did not himself set them afloat, he at least knew to be current and to be generally
believed. It will be seen that my note to the engineer was worded in such a way as
neither to give offence to Turkish susceptibilities nor to admit any anxiety on my part
on account of 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. .
3. I trust that my action throughout this matter, which now appears closed, mav
be approved by the Government of India and by His Majesty’s Government.
I have, &c.
J. G. LORIMER,
[2901 cc—2]
/
* Annexures received from 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. , October 17, 1910