‘Bagdad Ry’ [‎13v] (26/129)

Memorandum on the Bagdad Railway, and possible British participation therein.
1. This Memorandum deals with the question of possible British co-operation in
the construction of the Bagdad Railway.
2. The following official papers, &c., have been consulted, among others, and
when cited in the text are referred to by the letters shown opposite their names
below :—
(A) . Foreign Office Print. Correspondence respecting the Bagdad Railway,
1903-1905. :
(B) . Foreign Office Print. Other despatches of Sir N. R. O’Conor, 1902-1905.
(C) . Committee of Imperial Defence. SirG. Clarke’s Memorandum (section 47 b),
January 1905.
(D) . Committee of Imperial Defence. A paper relating to the German Ambassador
in Constantinople, April 1905.
(E) . General Staff Papers. Military Report on Arabia, 1904.
(F) . General Spiff Papers. Captain Smyth’s Reconnaissance, 1903.
(G) . Board of Trade publications. Mr. MacLean’s Commercial Mission to Persia
1904 (Cd. 2140).
In addition, the publications of Dr. Rohrbach (“Die Bagdadbahn,” 1902),
A. Cheradame (“ Le Chemin de Per de Bagdad,” 1903), and Sir W. YVillcocks (“ The
Restoration of the Ancient Irrigation Works on the Tigris,” 1903), and the Reports
of the Anatolian Railway Company have been referred to, as has a personal knowledge
ot different parts of the route and of the country concerned.
3. It has appeared unnecessary to recapitulate the history of the Bagdad Railway
Scheme Irom its inception in its present phase in 1899 up to the present date. A
rdsume of it is given in the Appendix to (C) (Sir G. Clarke’s Memorandum), and its
more detailed progress is to be found in (A) and (B) (Foreign Office correspondence
and Sir N. R. O’Conor’s despatches).
The actual position of affairs at the time of writing is that the German Company
which holds the Concession lias managed, notwithstanding our refusal in 1903, to
participate in the undertaking—
{a.) To build the first section of the line (125 miles) from Konia to Eregli;
* 6.) To save about 1,000,000/. from the capital which they had raised^from the
Turkish Government’s guarantee for the construction of this*section—a sum which
they now have in hand for future expenses; and
(<■•) Jo induce the Porte to agree to hypothecate further revenues, z'.e., to
give a fresh guarantee for the construction of the second section from Ere Mi to
Adana. °
(C.), p. 9.
(ff), P. 1.
Rohrbach.
4. I he Germans, however, are not satisfied with a guarantee for only one section,
they require it for two : for the section to Adana and for the next beyond, which
would tiling the railhead to a point slightly north ol Aleppo. Their reason is that the
Eregli-Adana section, which has to pierce the Taurus Mountains, will involve heavy
work, and they wish “ to recoup themselves on the level for the great expense that
must be incurred.” For the moment tilings are at a standstill, but “it is thouMit that
they will in reasonable time come to terms with the Porte, and that the security
will be found.’ \V hen the present Sultan’s Germanophile tendencies are considered
and his strong desire to see his favourite Mecca Railway connected with Constanti
nople is remembered, this forecast does not seem to be improbable.
5. If the Germans do succeed in
getting a
satisfactory guarantee for the two
sections, there is not likely to be much difficulty in raising the necessary capital in
Germany, and with that capital and with the 1,000,000/. they already have in hand
there is no reason to doubt that the most costly portion of the line will be built ^
probably without our participation.
Without entering into the various motives that have incited and sustained the
Germans in the promotion of this railway, it seems evident that thev have a verv
strong desire to complete it. Their general tactics of recent years with regard to
Turkey have been to strengthen her—the antithesis of the immemorial policy of
Russia—and the stronger Turkey grows the more Germany’s willing to invest in he-
The weakening of Russia and the increase of the internal communications of Anatolia Peninsula that forms most of modern-day Turkey.
two events which are at present in progress, may both be said to lend strength to