"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎١‎٥‎٨‎٩] (١٧٨٢/١٧٤٤)

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a o-ives Mr. Robertson no claims upon Her Majesty's Government for his
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"services as His Majesty's Consul, and he will remain as heretofore
i< under the jurisdiction of His Majesty's Consul-General at Baghdad,"
In 1884 a question arose as to the necessity of obtaining a Turkish
exequatur as Consul in the name of every Assistant Political Agent
appointed to take charge, temporarily or permanently, at Basrah. The
occasion was the absence on leave of Mr. Robertson, the substantive
Consul, during which application had been made for a fresh exequatur
in the name of Lieutenant H. Ramsay, one of the officers nominated to
officiate in his place. The Government of India were informed, on the
authority of Her Majesty's Foreign Office, that, when a permanent
Consul holding an exequatur for the post existed, it was within the
competence of Her Britannic Majesty's Secretary of State for foreign
Affairs to make an acting appointment without reference to the Porte.
In 1885 Colonel Mockler, Assistant Political Agent at Basrah, having
entered into direct correspondence, in his capacity as Consul, with
Her Majesty's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Colonel Tweedie, the
Political Resident at Baghdad, protested against the innovation; and it
was ordered by the Government of India that the Assistant Political
Agent at Basrah should transmit his consular correspondence to the
Foreign Office through Her Britannic Majesty's Consulate-General at
Baghdad. In 1888 Colonel Tweedie remarked that orders were being
sent direct by the Foreign Office to the Assistant Political Agent at
Basrah, and the Government of India informed both the officers con
cerned that all correspondence between the Foreign Office and the
Basrah Consulate should take place, under flying seal, through Her
Britannic Majesty's Consul-General at Baghdad.
At the end of 1897 Mr. G. S. Mackenzie, London, a partner in the
firm of Messrs. Gray, Mackenzie & Co., at Basrah, approached Her
Majesty's Foreign Office with reference to the frequency of changes in
the personnel of Her Britannic Majesty's Consulate at Basrah. A table
attached to his letter showed that charge of the Consulate had
changed hands 19 times in 16 years. He contended that under such a
system the officers appointed had no time to acquire the requisite influence
over local Turkish officials and the native community, and that the
result was disadvantageous to British tiade.
The Government of India, on the matter being referred to them, consi
dered that changes must inevitably be frequent so long as the appointment
was filled by officers on the graded list of their Political Department as
that Department was then organised ; and they therefore suggestec e
Transfers of
the Basrali
appointment
from the
Government
of India to
Her
Majesty's
Government,
1897-98.
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