'File 53/6 (D 2) Koweit [Kuwait] Affairs, 1898-1899' [‎80r] (159/554)

[This Document is the Property of Her Britannic Majesty's Government.] 0006
ASIA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[October 27.]
Section I.
No. 1.
Messrs. Williams, Meyer, and Co. to Foreign Office.— {Received October 27.)
Sir 5 6, Tokenhouse Yard. London, October 25, 1898.
"WITH reference to the interview which, you were good enough to accord on
Saturday last to our senior partner, Mr. Gerald Walton Williams, and to your request
to be furnished with a summary of our position and intentions in connection with the
projected railway from Tripoli' on the Mediterranean to Koneit on the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ,
we have the honour to inform you that the scheme, as detailed in the inclosed copy of
Count Wladimir Ivanovitch Kapnist's application for the Concession to His Imperial
Majesty the Sultan, was placed before us some time since by some mutual friends of
the Count and ourselves, they being interested with the Count by private agreement in
the realization of the project, with the view that our firm should consent to give them
its financial support through the instrumentality of its influential connection, in the
event of their obtaining the Concession. The scheme being one of international
importance, and the Concession being applied for in the name of a Hussian subject,
our first stipulation before entertaining the suggestion was that Her Majesty's
Government should not be opposed to the realization of the project. On this head, we
were informed that the scheme had been unofficially communicated to the Foreign
Office both by a printed Memorandum in English giving particulars thereof, and by
letters of Mr. Edward Easton to the Right Honourable the Marquess of Salisbury,
which his Lordship had graciously acknowledged. We were further given to under
stand that these communications had so far elicited no expression of disapproval on
the part of the Government as to the proposed scheme, and that our informants had
no reason to anticipate the raising of any official objections thereto in principle.
We thereupon satisfied ourselves that Count Kapnist and his friends stood a
reasonable chance of obtaining the Concession, and, having done so, we consented to
give them the desired support, at the same time obtaining from Mr. Leopold
de Rothschild (whose firm we must, however, state will not, at all events in the
present stage, take any financial interest in the venture) a letter of introduction to
Mr. Henry St. George Eoley at the Eoreign Office, in order that the Government
^should be apprised of our position in regard to the matter and satisfied in respect to
-our financial reputation and standing. We were subsequently informed by Mr. Easton
that the Eoreign Office had acquainted their Excellencies the British Ambassadors at
Constantinople and at St. Petersburgh that the Government had cognizance of the
scheme, and that it appeared to be backed by responsible persons.
Our Mr. Williams had been favoured, on the 27th September, with an interview
by his Excellency the Turkish Ambassador in London, at which his Excellency
expressed himself pleased at the prospect of English interests being adequately
represented in a scheme of such importance to his own country.
Last week we received advices from Constantinople that the application for the
Concession had been officially put forward, and that there was every prospect of an
Irade being granted in its favour within a very short period provided certain moneys
were lodged in trust for the eventual benefit of sundry persons who had been
instrumental in furthering the applicant's interests. The time for action having
arrived, we cabled in reply that one of the partners of. our firm would proceed to
Constantinople this week or next, with full powers to negotiate on behalf of our firm.
But before committing ourselves further, we were desirous of assuring ourselves
personally that Her Majesty's Government were not opposed to the project in principle,
even if they did not see their way at the present juncture to lend us their active moral
assistance, and to that end our Mr. Gerald Walton Williams sought the honour of the
interview, which you were so kind as to grant him.
As you will have gathered from the printed Memorandum already alluded to, it
has been estimated that the total cost of the undertaking would amount to somewhat
over 10,000,000/., allowing for the construction and equipment of a railway of standard
guage, capable of maintaining a mean speed of 40 miles per hour throughout, as well
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