File 2764/1904 Pt 3 'Baghdad Railway: general negotiations 1910-1912.' [‎170r] (350/544)

[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty’s Government]
BAGDAD RAILWAY.
Section 2.
SECRET.
[44999]
Sir G. Buchanan to Sir Edward Grey.—[Received December 13.)
St. Petersburgh, December 9, 1910.
(No. 482.)
Sir,
I PAID my first official visit to the Minister for Foreign Affairs this afternoon,j
and endeavoured to impress upon his Excellency how much His Majesty’s Government
had at heart the maintenance of the closest possible understanding with the Russian
Government. I had, I said, been charged by yon to deliver many friendly messages
to his Excellency, and to assure him of the pleasure which it afforded you to work with
him for the furtherance of our respective interests, which were now happily almost
identic. M. Sazonow begged me to convey to you his sincere thanks, and to say that
he warmly reciprocated your desire for a frank and cordial collaboration on the part of
the two Governments.
I then proceeded to say that His Majesty’s Government had greatly appreciated
the mark of confidence which he had given them in communicating to them the
substance of his conversations with the German Chancellor and Secretary of State for
Foreign Affairs. They had been somewhat surprised, however, to learn that the
German Government was on the point of concluding an agreement with them with
regard to the Gulf section of the Bagdad Railway. Nothing that had passed in the
conversations which had from time to time taken place between Berlin and London led
them to expect any such consummation; but should an understanding of this nature
ever seem imminent, His Majesty’s Government would not fail to give the French and
Russian Governments timely notice, so that they might negotiate simultaneously
and on parallel lines whatever arrangement they might consider most consonant to
their interests. His Excellency, they believed, was now about to conduct negotiations
with the German Ambassador for an agreement, of which one of the principal points
would have reference to the linking up of the Bagdad Railway, with an eventual North
Persian railway system. They trusted, however, that no definite engagement would
be entered into as regards this question until His Majesty’s Government were in a
position to come to some understanding with Germany respecting the Gulf section of
the Bagdad Railway.
M. Sazonow replied that he feared that this would be impossible. Before going to
Berlin he had explained his position to Mr. O’Beirne ; and the assurances which he
had since given to the German Government respecting the future linking up of the
two railways had been forced on him by the fact that the privileged position which
Russia had hitherto enjoyed with regard to railway construction in North Persia had
terminated in March of the present year. By agreeing to meet Germany’s wishes on
this point, he had secured her renunciation, of all claims to territorial concessions in
North Persia, and had thus averted the danger of the concession for the construction
of the Tehran-Khanikin branch ever falling into her hands. He had only put forward
his demand for the right to construct the Sadijeh-Khanikin line on learning at the
Russian Embassy in Berlin that it was commonly reported that the British and
German Governments were on the point of coming to terms with regard to the Gulf
section of the Bagdad Railway. His object in doing so had been to see what the
Imperial Chancellor would say respecting such an understanding, as well as to obtain
some equivalent concession for Russia in the event of Germany being prepared to give
satisfaction to the claims of Great Britain and of France. I observed that, were
Germany once to obtain a formal and unconditional promise from Russia concerning
the linking up of the two railway systems, she would, I feared, be less disposed than
ever to come to an understanding with us, more especially as such an understanding
would apparently entail her ceding to Russia the construction of the Sadijeh-Khanikin
line. I understood, however, that his Excellency had not agreed to any specified term
within which the Tehran-Khanikin Railway was to be built, so that he would still be
free to withhold the execution of this promise until such time as we also had arranged
matters with Germany. M. Sazonow replied that many years must elapse before the
latter railway could be constructed, so that we should have ample time to negotiate,
and that if we desired it he would welcome British co-operation in the undertaking.
[1821 n—2]