"ملخّص يحتوي على معلومات بشأن الاتصال الأول لشركة الهند الشرقية مع الجزيرة العربية التركية، طالما أمكن تتبع ذلك من سجلات حكومة بومباي، بالإضافة إلى أسماء العديد من المقيمين البريطانيين والوكلاء السياسيين الذين عُينوا في بغداد والبصرة في الفترة بين ١٦٤٦ و ١٨٤٦ ميلادي، وبمرافقة معلومات أخرى" [ظ‎‎٣‎٢] (٢٢٦/٦٦)

34 PRECIS OF INFORMATION REGARDING CONNECTION OF E. I. COMPY.
87. On the 14th March 1757 the Government of Bombay addressed
a further letter to the Agent for all affairs of the British Nation in
the Gulf of Persia, from which the following is an extract
" You are to enquire of the Resident at Bussorah by what authority he solicited a
phinnan of the Bashaw at Bagdad for taking off the charge of anchorage at that
port, as we find it has obliged him to put the Hon'ble Company to the expense of a
large present, which he is not able to reimburse them without collecting the same
duU- the Government have hitherto done of all English ships trading thither; though,
if the Resident finds the phirman is complied with, we permit of his charging
the duty till the expense he has incurred is defrayed. Copy of the paragraphs which
passed between you and the Resident respecting his representation of Mr. Francis
Woods settling at Bunderick lias been transmitted for the Hon'ble Company's inspec
tion. As Mr. Wood was plundered of the provisions and necessaries he had provided
for his subsistence by the Government driving him from Bunderick, we have thought
it but reasonable to compensate that loss, and being satisfied lie only received Rupees
4,000 notwithstanding the Resident at Bussorah having debted him for Rupees 6,000,
we have discharged the balance of his account with your Agency, and you are to
reprimand the Resident of Bussorah for debting him for the amount of his letter of
credit before he knew it was in any shape complied with as a very indiscreet and
irregular transaction. We have deferred coming to a resolution to resettle a factory
at Bunderick till we are able to send proper vessels into the Gulf to countenance and
support such an undertaking, and which the situation of our affairs at this juncture
will not admit of. Having taken into consideration the Resident at Bussorah's letter and
protest relative to Mr. Abraham Gee's conduct during the late troubles at that place,
with that gentleman's reply, his and Captain Ninian Lowis's protest against Mr.
Shaw* we have not found that Mr. Gee was culpable, but think that his giving a
certificate jointly with Messrs. Scott and Baldrick to the Mussaleem at Bussorah was
receding from a neutrality and tending to prejudice Mr. Shaw with that Government,
and being sensible of the ill-effects of the Bengal gentlemen endeavouring to evade
any dependency on the Hon'ble Company's Resident there, as Mr. Baldrick did in
the year 1754 (though we don't think Mr. Gee has been at all to blame in this particu
lar), we would have you empower the Resident to pievent any application being made
to the Government, but through him for whose notice we forward copy of Mr Gee's
reply, &c., papers delivered us in his justification. The accompanying packet for the
Hon'ble the Court of Directors contains the agreeable account of the English forces
having retaken Calcutta on the 2nd February, which you are therefore to forward in
the most expeditious manner, and advice them of all material occurrences under your
inspection."
88. In a letter to the address of the Hon'ble the Court of Direc
tors, dated the 18th April 1759, the Resident at Bussorah stated that the
French Resident at that place had a short time since proceeded to
Bagdad and had obtained a phirman from Solyman Bashaw directing
that henceforth he (the French Resident) should " be first received on the
ceremonial visits and be respected as first of the European Residents."
In consequence of his having obtained this phirman, the French Resi
dent, after his return to Bussorah, treated Mr. Shaw with indignity,
and issued an order that all the great men of the place and also the
merchants (particularly Christians) should on all public days visit him
previous to their paying their respects to the British Resident. This
order was resisted by the parties to whom it was addressed, who stated
that they felt a preference for the English, and that their inclinations
led them to pay their first visit on these occasions to the British
Resident. Mr. Shaw accordingly represented this circumstance to
Solyman Bashaw, who in consequence sent an order to the Mussaleem at
Bussorah—
" directing him and all his officers to regard the English as first in his esteem. The
Bashaw at the same time addressed a letter to the French Resident at Bussorah repri-
* Formerly Resident at Bussorah.