'Memorandum respecting the Bagdad Railway' [‎156r] (29/52)

29
Sir N. O’Couor
No. 217,
April 28, 1903.
It remains to consider the causes of the violent
outburst in the press, which, in 1903, rendered
the negotiations with Germany abortive, and
which, in the event of a renewal of negotiations
at the present time, would not improbably
occasion much anxiety in regard to their
success.
This popular indignation, as in the case
of the proposed joint action by England and
Germany against Venezuela, was due to the
suspicions with which the public viewed any
co-operation between this country and Germany
—a state of mind which had gradually grown up
owing to the conviction that Germany could no
longer be considered as a friendly Power. This
feeling received its fullest confirmation by the
attitude of Germany during the South African
War. It was also due to misapprehension as to the
conditions under which it was proposed to enlist
British capital, and, indeed, as to the ability of
Germany to utilize the Concession single-handed.
Motives of sentimental aversion constitute no
sufficient reason for refusal to engage in business
which can be shown, on investigation, to be bene
ficial to the parties concerned. On the other
hand, those considerations which led, on practical
grounds, to substantial objections on the part of
the investing public are of practical significance,
and accordingly deserving of the most careful
attention.
Into this subject His Majesty’s Ambassador at
Constantinople entered at considerable length in
a despatch dated the 28th April, 1903:—
“It is to be regretted that misapprehensions have
been caused by incomplete or incorrect publication of
the documents in the case. The Concession for the
Bagdad Railway was obtained in the first instance by
the Anatolian Railway Company. It is therefore
natural that, in the Convention of the 5th March, 1903,
embodying this Concession, that Company appears as
the concessionnaire of all rights and privileges in
question. It does not, however, remain in possession
of these lights. Under Article 5 of the Statutes of
the ‘ SocititS Imperiale Ottomane du Chemin de Fer de
Bagdad’ it is provided that the Anatolian Railway
Company shall transfer to the new Company ‘ the
Concession which has been granted to it by the
Imperial Ottoman Government, with all rights,
privileges, and advantages attached thereto or re
sulting therefrom, and the new Company becomes
owner and proprietor of the said Concession, and
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