Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎843r] (1702/1814)

COMMERCE AND TRADE 547
may bee gained from Ormns to Hispaan, and that in eightie dayes
travell ; whereof I was thoroughly informed by diverse prisoners and
merchants of the Great Towne of Julpha. 1
Chardin says that c the English went for the first time into Persia
(he is speaking of the trade from the south) about 1613. 5 The
first record of a grant that I have been able to find is a firman A Persian word meaning a royal order or decree issued by a sovereign, used notably in the Ottoman Empire (sometimes written ‘phirmaund’).
granted on September 1, 1615, by Shah Abbas, 2 at the instance of
Sir R. Sheriey, to John Crowther and Richard Steele, who had
also journeyed overland to Isfahan from India. Its terms provided
‘ that all governors of seaports in Persia shall kindly entertain the
English shipping.’ In 1617 we hear of British factors as per
manently settled at Isfahan. 3 In the same year a further commer
cial treaty was concluded by Shah Abbas with Mr. Connock, the
Company’s agent. 4 In 1619 a factory An East India Company trading post. was established at Jask,
association entitled ‘ The English Company trading to the East Indies,’ but com
monly called ‘ The English, or New Company ’ with a charter running to 1714.
Tho greatest jealousy and friction prevailed between the rival corporations, until,
in 1708-9, the two were finally amalgamated under the title ‘The United Com
pany of Merchants of England trading to the East Indies,’ officially known as
‘ The Honourable East India Company,’ whose charter was renewed in 1793, under
whose administration was acquired the Indian Empire of Great Britain, and which
finally expired in 1858.
1 Purchas’ Pilgrims, lib. iii. 2 Quoted in ibid. lib. iv. cap. xi. xiii.
3 An interesting account of the interior economy of the newly-established
British factory An East India Company trading post. in Isfahan in the years 1619-20 is to be found in an article by the
late Sir H. Yule, ‘ Concerning some Little Known Travellers in the East ’ (on George
Strachan) in the Asiatic Quarterly Review, April 1888. Vide also Calendar of
State Papers (E. Indies), vols. passim.
4 E. Connock, who, when he was sent out by the Directors to Persia as Ghief
Factor, was described by them as ‘ a man above any other factor in the kingdom/
appears to have offended them, and still more Sir T. Roe, by posing as Ambassador
from James I., with a letter from whom he had been entrusted to Shah Abbas.
His interview with the latter took place in April 1617. ‘The King called for
wine, and in a large bowl drank His Majesty’s health upon his knee, saying that
Connok was welcome, that the King of England should be his elder brother, that
his friendship he did dearly esteem and tender, that he would grant us Jask or
any other port wm would require, and every freedom in every respect as his honour
might grant.’ The Shah then promised to deliver from 1,000 to 3,000 bales of
silk annually, to be shipped at Jask, free of customs, at the price of 65 . to 65 . 6 ^.
a pound. State Papers (E. Indies), vol. ii. No. 122 . Cf. also Nos. 60, 155,156, 339 .
Connock died at Isfahan in December 1617 {ibid. vol. i. No. 263). His successors,
acting under instructions from Roe, proposed a new treaty to the Shah, which the
latter refused to sign, although confirming the treaty made with Connock {ibid.
No. 369). In 1619, however, he granted to the East India Company the monopoly
of the silk trade by the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , and ‘ syned the same with his royal and
imperial seal ’ (ibid. No. 753). The English were bound to pay the king one-
third in money and two-thirds in commodities (ibid. No. 475).
N N 2