IOR/L/PS/5/448, ff 438-468

Enclosures to a despatch from the Government of Bombay Secret Department to the Secret Committee, Number 47 of 1847, dated 11 May 1847. The enclosures are dated 27 March 1847 and contain correspondence relating to affairs in the Bagdad Pachalic [Baghdad Pashalik], Ottoman Empire.

Papers comprise correspondence from Her Majesty’s Consul at Constantinople [Istanbul], addressed to the Political Agent in Turkish Arabia, and copied under flying seal for the Secret Committee. The correspondence focus mainly on the following: the consent of the Ottoman Sultan [Sulṭān] to suppress the trade of enslaved people from Africa in the Persian Gulf; interpretations of a secretly obtained copy of the Imperial Firman and Vizierial letter (a letter issued by the Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire) addressed to the Governor of Bagdad; timescales for the implementation of the Imperial Firman; observations of the reliance on slavery at every level of Turkish [Ottoman] society and expectations of discontent at the sudden cessation of the trade; conditions for the British interception of Turkish vessels sailing under Turkish colours to prevent the exportation of ‘black slaves’ to American ports; the obligation to return the ‘kidnapped’ enslaved people to their places of origin; observations of the likely impact of the Imperial Firman on coastal ‘Arab’ traders of enslaved people, especially those from Soor [Suhar?] and Ras Elkhyma [Raʾs al-Khaymah]; an assessment of limitations to the writ of Turkish authority, and thus the applicability of the Imperial Firman over Gulf Arabs; and a desire expressed by East India Company officials to equate the suppression of slavery with the suppression of piracy, as enforced in treaties.

Correspondents include the following: Secretary to the Governor-General of India; HM Minister Plenipotentiary at Constantinople; HM Consul at Constantinople; Political Agent in Turkish Arabia; and the East India Company Resident at Bushire.