§ MR. ARTHUR ARNOLDasked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, What steps Her Majesty's Government has taken to protect the interests of the British and Asiatic commerce, in consequence of the hindrance which the Turkish Government has placed upon legitimate exercise of the rights of the Euphrates and Tigris Steam Navigation Company at Bagdad; and, whether Her Majesty's Government will maintain the rights of navigation on the Tigris and Euphrates granted by Firman in 1838, and exercised since that period?
§ LORD EDMOND FITZMAURICEHer Majesty's Government have protested to the Turkish Ambassador in London, and through Her Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires at Constantinople, against the action of the Vali of Bagdad in forcibly stopping the traffic of the Company's steamers on the Tigris, and have reserved all rights against the 1219 Porte for the consequences. They must await the answer of the Porte before anything can be decided as to what further steps it may be necessary to take. The right to navigate the Tigris was not granted by any Firman, but has been exercised under an arrangement obtained by Sir Stratford Canning in 1846, and confirmed by Vizerial letters addressed to the Vali of Bagdad in 1846, 1861, and 1862.