'File 73/7 I (D 19) Status of Kuwait & Baghdad Railway, and Anglo-Turkish negotiations 1911' [‎129r] (271/631)

T Ms i^catront is th e Property iif Mteanic Maieatv's Government 1
EASTERN DKPART^fEKT. [Maj . cll c j
SECRET SERIES. SBCn0K 3_
[8185] No. 1.
Sir V. Corbett to Sir Edward Grey.—(Received March 6.)
(No. 17.)
^ Ir > r i . Munich, March 2, 1911.
THE qiiestion of the Bagdad Railway continues in no slight degree to occupy
public attention here. ^ Statements made on the subject in Parliament and the articles
that appear in the British press are closely followed by the German newspapers, which
lose no opportunity of insisting that the question is one that primarily concerns Turkey
and Germany and only very indirectly Great Britain.
The " Frankfurter Zeitung " of to-day's date treats the matter at some length and
with more than the usual frankness. After contrasting the attitude of the British and
(rerman press very much to the advantage of the latter, the writer The lowest of the four classes into which East India Company civil servants were divided. A Writer’s duties originally consisted mostly of copying documents and book-keeping. of the article goes
on to observe that, in spite of all that has been written about it in England, British
journalists have not yet succeeded in acquiring that clearness of thought on the
subject which is so desirable. " England's dominion in India," says the writer The lowest of the four classes into which East India Company civil servants were divided. A Writer’s duties originally consisted mostly of copying documents and book-keeping. , her
supremacy in the waters of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , and her alleged protectorate over the
Turkish town of Koweit are made the ground for claims which have direct reference to
indisputably Turkish territory ; and—most important point of all—the English Govern
ment is to be forced to claim for England the control over the so-called last section of
the railway, that is to say, over a distance of some 600 kilom. from Bagdad southwards
to the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. . The granting of this claim is to be the sine qua non for
reasonable and friendly relations with Turkey and Germany. Some particularly
truculent journalists even talk about an assurance in this sense or a danger to the
peace of the world.
" The question of the railway might be treated with far better hope of a
satisfactory solution for England if our neighbours on the other side of the channel
could get rid of a habit which is clearly deeply ingrained in their nature of confusing
claims and rights. It seems to be an indisputable fact that England does claim an
alleged protectorate over Koweit, and similarly the so-called control over the final
section of the railway. This, however, is not the question : the point simply is, what
rights England has over the terminus and final section of the future line. I he wiser
part of the English press advances no basis at all for such a right, and no one can take
in earnest the grounds alleged by less prudent journals. No one will wish to prevent
England from assuring her dominion in India, but to make the securing of the niastery
in India an excuse for establishing English rights over ports and railways in South
Mesopotamia is as absurd as it would be to claim a suzerainty over Southern Italy.
TCoweit is just about as far from the nearest point on the Indian frontier as Portsmouth
is from Naples. In the question of the alleged English protectorate over Koweit the
Turks are notoriously of a different opinion from the English, and we have no reason
to believe that their conception is the less well grounded oi the two. But whether the
solution of the question ultimately gives England a partial or a complete protectorate
over Koweit, her claims concerning the southern section of the line are not m the east
advanced thereby. To argue from a protectorate over Koweit to a control oi the
railwavs in South Mesopotamia is like claiming control over the whole hpamsh rtulnaj,
system on the strength of the possession of Gibraltar. It is certain, however that
opinion in England on this point is now following a more reasonable line, and this i.
satisfactory. The ' Statist' has recently shown with the utmost Lur y
is absolute mistress on her own territory, with power to Z U ^i s ^Te The
pleases and to treat with those companies which she has c! ^.f ^ 1ll / ^ t Turkey
English newspapers could calm themselves more easilj wit , . m,];,,,, j t | t | 1( .
has g officially expressed her wish to come to ™ e p ",1^^
English Government on the question of Koweit and the other su i - little
it. The English hotspurs will at least U 'at present are the Turkish
"The only parties concerned m the Ba S flai V> J 1 l1 y ^^VVpnn^n manaeement.
Government and the Bagdad Railway C oinpauy win. i 18 " ^ February—
In this reference we have already repeatedly*^ of a mut'ual
that any negotiations of either party «ith a third m !
[1932 /—3]