'File 73/7 II (D 22) Status of Koweit [Kuwait] - Baghdad railway, Anglo Turkish negotiations' [‎181r] (367/540)

[This Docmaeiit is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government]
ASIATIC TURKEY AND ARABIA. [j u l y 13.]
r
CONFIDENTIAL . Seoiion 1.
[29769] No. 1.
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. to Foreign Office.—{Received July 13.)
Sir- 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. , July 12, 1912.
IN reply to your letter of the 6th instant on the subject of the Bagdad Railway
negotiations, I am directed by the Secretary of State for India to forward, for the
information of the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, copy of a telegram from the
Government of India regarding the "cahier des charges" attached to the Bagdad
Railway Convention.
The Marquess of Crewe is advised that, inasmuch as it is no longer proposed by
His Majesty's Government to participate in the Bagdad-Bussorah section, if con
structed, it is not necessary to insist on the amendments suggested by the Government
of India. While, therefore, he is inclined to agree with the Government of India that
the amendments are desirable in themselves, he will not press them if Sir E. Grey
prefers not to take them up at this late stage.
I am to add that he concurs in the draft articles for a convention in respect of
railways in Asiatic Turkey prepared by the Board of Trade.
With reference to the draft annex on the subject of cotton goods, I am to call
attention to paragraph 5 of my letter of the 8th instant, and to say that Lord Crewe
regards the proposed addition with grave misgiving, not only as tending to overcharge
negotiations which he understands Sir E. Grey to think sufficiently charged already,
but also as likely to bring other Powers into the field with claims for tariff concessions
in favour of their own special interests. In this way the scope of the negotiations
may, he fears, be dangerously enlarged, with serious risks to the prospects of securing
the objects for which alone they were initiated. While, therefore, he is unable to
object to the inclusion of a proposal regarding cotton in the indeterminate form now
suggested, he desires to state at once in unequivocal terms his view that it will be
impossible to place it on the same level as the political conditions, or to sacrifice any
of them to it. Those conditions have been advanced, and can, in his opinion, be fully
justified on grounds of Imperial no less than of Indian interests. The broad answer to the
criticism that the tangible commercial advantage secured is disproportionate to the cash
price paid (so far as that criticism is well-founded) is to be found in the very considera
tion which it is proposed to urge upon the Turkish Government, viz., that the agree
ment " to be justly appreciated should be viewed not only in the measure of sacrifice or
advantage which each individual clause may imply, but also in its cumulative and
future effects upon Anglo-Turkish relations in general." The general result of the
agreement (above and beyond particular commercial advantages) will be the secure
establishment in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. of the political position of Great Britain under the
shadow of which alone British commerce can flourish; while the loss of that position
cannot fail to react seriously upon the prestige and, pro tanto, the commercial interests
of this country not only in those regions, but throughout the East.
A copy of this letter is being sent to the Board of Trade.
I am, &c.
R. RITCHIE
Enclosure in No. 1.
Government of India to the Marquess of Crewe.
(Telegraphic.) P. July 5, 1912.
EXAMINATION of specification attached to Bagdad Railway Convention. Please
see your telegram dated the I5th May and my telegram dated the 21st ultimo.
Subject to the conditions set forth below, we consider that Indian trade will not
be prejudiced by the proposed tariff rate :—
Condition JSIo. 1.—That total charges, not less than those levied for same articles
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