"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎١‎٤‎٧‎١] (١٧٨٢/١٦٢٦)

1471
A list of the Political Agents and Residents at Baghdad during- the
period will be found in the Appendix on Diplomatic and Consular
Representation.
In the same year a demand by the V\ T ali for a list of the employes of Status of the
the British Consulate-General at Baghdad brought on a discussion offidaJ 1
regard in the status of the local British representative himself. The I'epresentative
mi- # i i * j i ^ Baghaad,
Wali's demand was connected with a Turkish regulation whereby, m the 1874.
absence of exceptional arrangements, the number of privileged * Dra
gomans and Qawwases to be employed by foreign Consulates-General in
the Ottoman Empire is limited to four of each. Colonel Herbert, who
had perhaps been accustomed to regard all the members of his staff
as under his protection, whether Turkish subjects or not, twice declined
to furnish the Wali with the desired statement, assigning as a reason
that the employes in question were not consular subordinates but
belonged to the establishment of a " Political Agent under Her Majesty's
Government of India/' He then reported the dispute to higher authority.
In addressing His Britannic Majesty's Ambassador at Constantinople he
contended "that the office of the Resident preceded that of Consul at
" Baghdad, and that, the post being recognised by the Foreign Office and
"consequently at Constantinople only in its consular capacity, loses, in the
"eyes of those with whom it is of much importance the Political Agent
,e should possess much influence, its diplomatic and political charactei ; he
quoted the instructions given to Major Rawlinson in 1S44 with reference
to the dual character of his appointment; and finally he suggested that the
nature of his post under the Indian authorities might be expressly
recognised by the London Foreign Office, the British Embassy at
Constantinople, and the Sublime Porte.
The Government of India expressed themselves on the subject as
follows :
With reference to this question, we would remark that since the year 1798 the
Grovernment of India has been represented by a Diplomatic Agent at Baghdad, whose
denomination has been sometimes Resident and sometimes Political Agent, and that
although the Sublime Porte has never formally recognised any other officer than a Consul
or Consul-General, and although the treaties between Great Britain and Turkey contain
no stipulations on this subject, the position of the Political Agent of the Government of
India has been formally and officially recognised by the Local Government at Baghdad.
From this fact, and from the continuance of the office for three-quarters of a century
without any objection on the part of the Turkish Gove rnment, we consider that the
* They are " privileged " in the sense of being, though Turkish subjects, entitled
to the protection, within certain limits, of the power to which the Consulate employing
them belongs. There is no limit to the number of " unprivileged " employ^.