"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎١‎٤‎٦‎٢] (١٧٨٢/١٦١٧)

1462
Part played
in the enter
?rise, in
'urkigh
'Iraq, by
British
officials.
the Persian frontier in October J 864, and between Baghdad and fe
below Basrah, the point of union with the Persian Gulf telegraph system
in January 1865.
British officials with local experience of Turkish Iraq played, from
the first, an important part in the arrangements for the Mesopotamiau
sections of the work. Sir H. Kawlinson, formerly British Political
Agent at Baghdad and at this time Envoy to the Court of Persia, partici
pated in the preliminary discussions at Constantinople in 1859,' contri
buting an unrivalled store of knowledge and information. On the 15tli
December 1860 Colonel Kemball, British Political Agent at Baghdad,
arrived at Constantinople, having been deputed hy Her Majesty's
Government, with the assent of the Porte, to examine and report on the
partially completed line from Constantinople to Baghdad, a duty which
he performed most thoroughly, making a tour along the whole line from
Scutari to Baghdad between the 9th January and the end of April 1861.
From 1863 to 1865 Colonel Kemball was associated in the further
measures for extending the telegraph from Baghdad to the Persian Gulf;
and in March-April 1863, accompanied by Mr. Greener, a professional
e ectncal engineer, he made a reconnaissance lasting a month alono- the
approximate line to be followed as far as Basrah and supplied a sketch
map and itinerary, m consequence of which a route via Hillah
Diwaniyah, Hammar and Qurnah was adopted. A further more minute
survey of the country between Diwaniyah and Hammar was made a
httle later by Lieutenant Bewsher, I.N.,* and Mr. Johnston, British
Basra! 0USUl ^ ' BaSlah ' 0n a dowilward journey from Baghdad to
lu the subsequent actual construction of the line Colonel Kemball
was necessanly dependent on the co-operation of Namiq Pasha, the Turkish
lovemoi o Baghdad ; and, in carrying it through the territory of the
hen semwndependent Muntafik tribe, he often chafed considerably at
e i cu ties and delays occasioned by the policy of his Turkish
co eague. Sii K J. Goldsmid observes:!" the Political
^ Agent, in undertaking to look after the work, so far as British "
were concerned, had heaped upon himself a not inconsiderable amount of
officers'are now ^ 8mi ^ remarks ; " These two zealous and intelligent
woru out in ^ ^
when ■ibouf fn • i' I 1 ' Johu8ton leave in failing health in 1868, and
in September Hi| Uln h 10 tbe ^ ollow5n 8 J rear ' Wits wrecked in the CamaUc
September. He reached Basrah to die there in Xovember."
T lelegruph and Travel, pages 103-4.