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'File 73/7 II (D 22) Status of Koweit [Kuwait] - Baghdad railway, Anglo Turkish negotiations' [135r] (275/540)
The record is made up of 1 volume (268 folios). It was created in 24 Oct 1911-26 Dec 1912. It was written in English, French and Arabic. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
ASIATIC TURKEY AND ARABIA.
[June 22.]
CONFIDENTIAL. S ection 4.
[26563] No. 1.
Mr. Lynch to Mr. Maxwell.—{Received June 22.)
Dear Mr. Maxwell, 33, Pont Street, London, June 21, 1912.
REVERTING to our conversation of yesterday, I enclose a paper which I read
last year before the Central Asian Society,and would beg to refer you to pp. 9 and 10,
which have reference to the branch line between Bagdad (Sadijeh) and Khanakin.
The Bagdad-Khanakin trade route into Persia has been developed exclusively by
Englishmen, practically by members of my own family, and the value of British goods
conveyed by this route amounts to over 1,000,0001. a-year—a figure which compares
with under 100,000/. for the trade of all other European countries, including Germany.
I think you will admit that I have a hereditary claim to put in a word for the
future of this British trade. I do hope that our Government will do their very utmost
to safeguard this trade and also the trade between Trebizond and Tatreez.
It is true that the Bagdad Railway Company, having secured the surplus of the
Ottoman Public Debt, are probably in a position to complete the railway to Bagdad and
the Persian frontier. But I understand that the greater part of the railway bonds are
still in the safes of the Deutsche Bank, and naturally the German promoters are most
anxious to get these bonds taken up in France and England, I am certain, therefore,
that they would stretch a good many points in order to secure the goodwill of England
and France.
Now, for us it is vital to obtain an effective voice in the management of the line
between Bagdad and the Persian frontier. Bagdad is already the terminus of our
river-borne trade; it will soon be connected with the Mediterranean by the Bagdad-
Mosul line, and later probably by a line along the Euphrates. Bagdad is therefore
destined to be the reservoir into which several main streams of commerce will pour.
The bulk of the goods will be goods in transit for Persia, and it is of the utmost
importance that perfectly equal treatment should be secured for British goods as
compared with goods from Germany or other countries. This can only be secured by
financial participation in the branch from Bagdad to the Persian frontier. Nor can I
see why the Germans should refuse such participation. It would greatly help them to
have Great Britain on their side in the efforts which they will have to make sooner or
later to keep the door open in Persia by this route.
I do, therefore, trust that this proposal may ba pressed in any negotiations with
Germany over the Bagdad Railway question.
As regards the proposed railway from Bagdad down the Tigris, I am still at a loss
to discover what objects this railway is to serve, unless it be purely strategical objects
in relation to the British position on the
Persian Gulf
The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
. It is surely obvious that all the
military requirements of Turkey in policing the Arab tribes between Bagdad and
Bussorah and in those regions would be met by steamer transport. The fact that I am
engaged in promoting a railway up the valley of the Karun goes to show, I hope, that
the opinion I have formed of a railway between Bussorah and Bagdad is not influenced
by private considerations. River transport can look after itself alongside of a railway.
But if our Government is to be asked to support a railway it ought surely to be made
clear that there will be some commercial gain. If the railway is to be built as the
result of a further 3 per cent, increase of the customs duties, the result, so far as
Manchester goods are concerned, will be that they will have to submit to an additional
tax of 60s. a-ton in order to have the luxury of an alternative route up to Bagdad.
Under these circumstances, it would surely be better to go slow as regards this railway
and to await the developments of irrigation. Any other course would result in the
squandering of vast sums of money raised at the expense of the Turkish tax-payer
without conferring any benefits upon British trade—rather the contrary.
Yours sincerely,
H. F. B. LYNCH.
[2511 2/-4]
* Not printed.
About this item
- Content
The volume contains letters, telegrams, and memorandums pertaining to Anglo-Turkish negotiations brought on by the Baghdad Railway and particularly the extension to Basra. Correspondents include: Percy Cox, Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. at Bushire, William Shakespear, Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. at Kuwait, Edward Grey, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Louis Mallet, Assistant Under-secretary of State for Near and Middle Eastern Affairs, Charles Marling, British Ambassador to Persia, Gerard Lowther, British Ambassador to Constantinople, George Buchanan, British Ambassador to Russia, Admiral Edmond Slade, the Board of Trade, the Government of India, the India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. , and several private companies, including Trans-Atlantic Trust Company, Anglo-Persian Oil Company, Imperial Ottoman Bank, and Imperial Persian Bank.
The form of the negotiations was a series of memorandums containing proposals and counter-proposals. The issues and subjects discussed are:
- ownership and control of the line;
- custom duty increases in the region;
- navigation of the Shatt al-Arab, including the establishment of a commission to oversee this;
- transport of railway materials by the Tigris and Euphrates rivers;
- delimitation of the Turkish-Persian border;
- status and territorial limit of Kuwait;
- other Gulf matters, including the statuses of Bahrain and Qatar, the suppression of arms traffic, piracy, and slavery, and the protection of pearl fisheries.
Folios 261-262 are a map showing the proposed territorial limits of Kuwait.
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (268 folios)
- Arrangement
The volume is arranged chronologically. At the beginning (ff. 3-4) is a subject index, in no particular order but grouped under several broad headings. The numbers refer to folio numbers from the secondary, earlier sequence.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: The volume is foliated from the front cover to the inside back cover, using circled pencil numbers positioned in the top-right corner of each recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. . There are two earlier foliation systems running through parts of the volume. The first uses uncircled pencil numbers in the top-right corner of recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. pages, and the top-left corner of verso The back of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'v'. pages. This foliation system numbers pages if they have content on them, which is the case for all rectos and some versos. This foliation system appears intermittently through most of the volume. The other foliation system uses circled blue pencil numbers in the top-right corner of recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. pages, and appears from folios 5 to 42. Numerous printed materials contained in the volume have their own internal pagination systems. The following foliation irregularities occur: 1a, 34a, 51B, 219B, 250B.
- Written in
- English, French and Arabic in Latin and Arabic script View the complete information for this record
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'File 73/7 II (D 22) Status of Koweit [Kuwait] - Baghdad railway, Anglo Turkish negotiations' [135r] (275/540), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/R/15/1/611, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100023826001.0x00004c> [accessed 23 June 2026]
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/R/15/1/611
- Title
- 'File 73/7 II (D 22) Status of Koweit [Kuwait] - Baghdad railway, Anglo Turkish negotiations'
- Pages
- 135r:135v, 204v:205r
- Author
- Lynch, Henry Finnis Blosse
- Usage terms
- The copyright status is unknown. Please contact [email protected] with any information you have regarding this item.