IOR/L/PS/5/129, ff 4-27

This item comprises copies of enclosures to a despatch from the Government of India Secret Department to the East India Company Secret Committee, Number 2 of 1838, dated 7 February 1838. The enclosures are dated 17 July-29 November 1837.

The item relates to Turkish Arabia [Ottoman Iraq] and covers the following matters:

• The arrival of Lieutenant Henry Blosse Lynch at Bagdad [Baghdad; this spelling is also used in the item] to take command of the steam vessels in the rivers of the Pachalic [Pashalik] (the Euphrates and Tigris) and to put them in condition for effective service. The correspondence chiefly discusses the officers, men and stores considered necessary to equip the Euphrates steamer for service, including the indent (request) submitted by Lynch to the Superintendent of the Indian Navy (ff 15-18), and which Presidency (Bombay or Bengal) will be liable for the expenses incurred and the personnel required
• The arrival of ‘Indian Agents’ deputed to supervise the restoration of the canal of Kerbela [Karbala], including a meeting of the Political Agent in Bagdad with the Pacha [Pāshā], and his expectation that complications will arise due to the involvement of various interested parties (f 8)
• The proposal of the Governor-General of India to send a Mr Eliot to provide assistance to Colonel Robert Taylor, the Political Agent at Bagdad, and the suggestion that since there is no actual need for an assistant, Eliot could be employed ‘collecting information on the political and commercial condition of the countries in the neighbourhood’ (f 26).

The correspondents are: Lynch; the Government of Bombay; Government of India; the Controller of the Government Steam Vessels, Calcutta [Kolkata]; and Taylor.