"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎١‎٤‎٧‎٠] (١٧٨٢/١٦٢٥)

Visit of
H. M. S.
" Philomel "
to Qurnah
and question
of the
freedom of
the Shatt-al-
'Arab, 1874.
Reconversion
of the
British Poli
tical Agency
in Turkish
'Iraq into a
Kesidency,
1873.
1470
interior of the country, the wishes of the Turkish authorities in the
matter must be respected. On further examination of the question it
was found that the practice of firing salutes from the 44 Comet," which
carried less than 1U guns, was not in accordance with the Admiralty
Regulations ; and the Foreign Office pronounced Colonel Herbert to have
acted injudiciously in reviving it after it had become obsolete,—an
opinion in which the Government of India concurred.
In 1874 the question of the right of foreign warships to navigate
the Shatt-al-'Arab above Basrah arose from a visit paid by H. M. S
" Philomel" to Qurnah at the junction of the Tigris and Euphrates.
To a complaint made by the Wali of Baghdad on the subject the
Hriti>h I olitical Agent replied : f " It has always been supposed that the
" Shat-el-Arab is a free river, and practically it certainly is so, and can
" scarcely be otherwise. Kurna being a chief dep6t for the exportation of
" dates, sea-going craft under foreign flags are in the habit of there taking
" in their cargoes, etc. - "
The W ali rejoined : " It needs no comment that the part from Basrah
" to Kurna is not a free river, but the Turkish side with its dependencies
" to the Point below Basrah on the Shat-el-Arab and, specially, both banks
u above Basrah being the real possession of the Ottoman Government, the
entry of foreign merchant vessels, and specially vessels of war into such
' a river as this, of which the fountain-head and outlet are situated within
" the dominions of the Ottoman Government, unless it be with the
consent and acquiescence of the Government, is according to rules
" inadmissible/"'
It seems that the matter went no further, and that no conclusion was
reached.
Under a notification, dated the 22ncl August 1873, by the Govern
ment of India in the Foreign Department, the British Political Agent
in Turkish 'Iraq regained the rank of Resident of which he had been
deprived in 1812. In the notification it was declared that "the officers
holding the highest political appointments will be graded as Residents
in three classes, and the salaries to be drawn bv them will be local, and
attached to the appointments they hold." Under the new scheme the
1 olitical Agent, lurkish Arabia" was placed at the head of the
second grade of Residents, the other Residencies in that class being Ithe
Persian Gulf, ^Nepal^ and Gwalior; but though the status of Resident
was then conferred on him he still continued to be officially addiessed
as Political Agent.
is ^