'File 53/33 II (D 15) Koweit Baghdad Railway' [‎14v] (41/210)

22
terminus at any one of thcs 0 poin^ 8 con trol the railways, not
from Bombay. The l! a P lla " i )ut a i B o of Svria and Northern Arabia,
only of Asia Minor and Mcsopotaraia. bu a Aleppo, will no doubt
and the Syrian rail .ay system^now oompleted nB f W ith
and that these, enooura^t d by p nrmppfion Clause 29 of the Conces-
iS^tbe opening of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
sum has a f nl *" p r J' , line from Konia to Bagdad is oien and working.
The^rigMs conferred on the Company by other Articles of the Concession are
of a nalure to assure it a monopoly of the economic g jti h interest!
through -Which the line passes, and it is not improbable that Bntish interests
will be excluded from participating in the profits of any sucb development.
As regards the export trade of the districts under consideration which
consists nrincipaliy of cereals, dates, horses, liquorice, wool, hides, oiium,
eall-nuts etc., I do not see tint our interests are likely to be seriously a'h'cted
bv the railway. Grain cnUivattd in regions adjacent to toe ligns and
Ennhrates. which are situated at a considerable distance Irom the pioposed
alignment'of the railway, will continue to find its way dowo the river to
Bussorab where it is shipped in hulk with comparatively little trouble. Dates
grown in gardens on tlie river banks are packed on the spof, and placed on
hoard steamers moored opposite the gardens which entails a nummum of time
and labour, these require no railway to f ; ,clll ^ a \ ,he1 ';,
tiade of Bagdad and the surrounding country will benefit by the facih.ies of
th7railway transport, and will no doubt travel direct o the Gulf terminus for
shipment to India at less cost than hitherto. Wool, which is now sent from
Amara and Suk-es-Sbiyukh to Bagdad for pressing previous to being exported
to Europe will be transported by rail. Now areas of cultivation, opened
under the auspices of the railway, will naturally benefit by it, and the price
of cereals may fall in consequence, which will be to the general advantage.
But, commercial considerations apart, the Bagdad Eailway has a purely
political bearing which deserves examination. British interests in the sc'neme
centre in the Mesopotamian delta, and tbose interests, political as well as
commercial, date back as far as 1689, when an English factory An East India Company trading post. was first
established at Bussorah. If the line is built entirely without British
participation our political standing and ascendency, which have been undisputed
and predominant over those of every other foreign nation for more than two and
a-half centuries, will be eclipsed and must disappear, and a legitimate field of
political and commercial development will be definitely closed against us f
Commercial interests gradually assume political importance in weak States,
and the Power which controls the railway will also control the country by
reason of the very nature of the enterprise which will require adequate
protection if the line of communication is to be kept open. German military
police will be as indispensable for the protection of the line in Mesopotamia
as Cossacks were for the Mauchurian Hailuay. The country is now without
a Government in any reasonable sense of the term. The authority of the
Turk is limited to a few towns and their immediate neighbourhood, and the
Arab tribes are in a chrpnic state of revolt. The Kurds and Hamidieh
cavalry regiments harry the population, Christian and Mussulman alike,
with impunity in Northern Mesopotamia, and Mustapha Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. is said to have
established a reign of terror from Diarbekr to Mosul. On the Bagdad-Nedjef
Zobeir sections of the railway the Montifik Arabs hold the key of the situation
and will have to be considered. The civilizing influence of the railway must
help to restore some measure of order and security in these places, where
Turkish misgovernment does nothing but exasperate a semi-barbarous people,
and encourages lawlessness by breaking faith with Arab tribesmen and
subjecting them to the caprice and exactions of irresponsible and corrupt
officials. German influence will permeate these regions, and, stimulated by