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'File 73/7 I (D 19) Status of Kuwait & Baghdad Railway, and Anglo-Turkish negotiations 1911' [227v] (488/631)
The record is made up of 2 volumes (334 folios). It was created in 28 Jan 1911-19 Jan 1912. It was written in English and French. 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.
47
possible to prevent the imposition of the
op^e)3i r ley n^toscc^y
the Mohanmerah-
Khorremahad line, if we can secure it, tor the extenaon o. our tj^em ^
Persia-the more so as trade by the Baghdad route will, if the nu rtabed Uist >m*
duties are to be the price of British participation, in future be penalised to the
extent of approximately.48,000/ a year.
5 It would appear, therefore, that no commercial advantage is to be antici-
pated' from participation, and Lord Morley is of opinion that, when it is realised
that it is no longer possible for the scctioD to be a predominantly Biitish under
taking, that the British share in it is not likely to exceed at the outside l,000,000i
and that for the privilege of lending this sum to an international company British
trade is to be taxed between 30,000/ and 400,000/ a year, no desire to parti
cipate in it will be found to exist in financial circles m this country. The conclu
sion to which he is driven is that for the present it is desirable on commercial
grounds to stand aloof.
6. Political considerations appear to point in the same direction. His Lord
ship does not overlook the arguments stated in paragraph 10 ot your letter
under reply. But these arguments centre round Kuwait, and it is precisely
Kuwait which—if it is to be the terminus—Turkey cannot afford to give up on the
only terms which we can afford to accept; for alike in the official Turkish proposals,
and in the remarks of Djevad Bey reported in Sir E. Grey's Despatch to^
Sir F. Bertie, No. 20, of 14th instant, it is laid down that the terminus must be
at a place under Turkish administration. While, therefore, Lord Morley, regards
a solution of the Kuwait difficulty as worth the price of considerable concessions,
provided that the conditions stated in my letter of 3rd March are secured, he
is inclined to think that from the Turkish point of view such a solution is neces
sarily inconsistent with the location of the terminus at that place. And if the
terminus is to be elsewhere, Kuwait loses much of its importance, and the price
proposed is far too great to pay.
7. Judging the question, therefore, as Sir E. Grey invites him to do " on
its merits, and apart from the general effect of non-participation on the inter
national situation. Lord Morley holds that the balance inclines markedly to non-
participation, and he concurs in the conclusions indicated in the last two sentences
of Lord Hardinge's telegram.
8. It therefore appears to him that every effort should now be made to
obtain the Mohammerah-Khorremabad concession, and that in the meantime
the Turks should be informed in the friendliest terms that His Majesty's Govern
ment are unable to accept their proposals regarding the railway, and that after
careful examination of the situation (profoundly modified as it has been by the
recent Convention), they have come to the conclusion that the extension of the
line to the Gulf is not worth to them the price which they are asked to mv
and as they do not require the extension in the interests of their own trade'
they do not think it necessary to put forward counter proposals. The fact
that the Company have relinquished their claim to the increased Customs duties
makes it the more easy to adopt this attitude, since the refusal of His Maiesty's
Government to consent to them will nn IfmoAr fi ^ s
to the railway. Lord Morley would propose That Pi. M PI f h0Stility
should then wait and see the efiect of tff commu ^aLf J h
now, as he urged in October last, that the further advance of Turk sh pretensions
at Kuwait and m the Gulf must be resistpd all rv.™ * XUJK ^u. pretensions
it should be given to the Turks to ♦wT'" ^ ^ Wer '. and that
relaxed when British interests are adeauatelv rpcr 'i 1S t ^ on ty be
action in respect of Bahrain reported in Sir G , v ? ew 0 * t* 16 Turkish
25th instant, it seems highly desirable tha^ thi, ^ uV tele g ram ' No - 66 of
earliest possible date, 8 " tbat thls sli0ul(l be ^ clear at the
About this item
- Content
The volume contains correspondence, memorandums, and newspaper cuttings relating to a proposed Baghdad to Basra railway, an extension of the German Berlin to Baghdad Railway. Much of the correspondence has been forwarded to the Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. by the Foreign Department of the Government of India and is between Edward Grey, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Francis Bertie, British Ambassador to France, Louis Mallet, Assistant Under-secretary of State for Near and Middle Eastern Affairs, Charles Marling, British Ambassador to Persia, Arthur Nicolson, Permanent Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Henry Babington Smith, President of the National Bank of Turkey, Gerard Lowther, British Ambassador to Constantinople, Rifaat Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , Turkish Minister for Foreign Affairs, Edgar Speyer, railway financier, George Buchanan, British Ambassador to Russia, Edward Goschen, British Ambassador to Berlin, Henry Cumberbatch, British Consul General in Turkey, George Barclay, British Minister to Persia, the Board of Trade, and William Graham Greene, Permanent Secretary to the Board of Admiralty. There is also correspondence between 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, Rear-Admiral Edmond Slade, Stuart Knox, 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 Bahrain, and 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.
The volume covers the discussions prior to formal negotiations between Britain and the Ottoman Turks brought about by the Baghdad Railway and its proposed extension to the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. . The issues and subjects involved are:
- the proposed route of the railway;
- control and ownership of the section between Baghdad and Basra;
- location of the terminus, and who will control it, including Slade's report (ff. 64-74) on the suitability of Basra;
- a proposed increase to customs duty in the region;
- irrigation of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers;
- the contract to transport rail materials by the rivers;
- the status of Kuwait, particularly regarding Turkish and British suzerainty and influence.
Throughout the volume there are newspaper cuttings from English periodicals that relate to the Baghdad Railway and negotiations around it.
Folio 47 is a rough sketch map of the peninsula Ras Tanurah. Folio 230 is a fold-out map of the proposed route of the railway and irrigation of the rivers.
- Extent and format
- 2 volumes (334 folios)
- Arrangement
The volume is arranged chronologically. At the beginning (folios 2-5) is a subject index. It is in no particular order and organised under a few broad headings. The numbers refer to folio numbers of the secondary, earlier sequence.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: The file consists of two volumes (parts one and two) and the foliation runs through both. The main foliation sequence commences at the title page of part one and terminates at the fifth folio from the back of part two; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and can be predominantly found in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. A second foliation sequence runs between ff. 8-291A; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled, and can be found in the same position as the main sequence. There are the following irregularities: 7 and 7A; 13 and 13A; 15 and 15A; 16, 16A and 16B; 17 and 17A; 18, 18A and 18B; 20, 20A and 20B; 21, 21A and 21B; 52, 52A, 52B, 52C; 53, 53A, 53B and 53C; 54, 54A, 54B and 54C; 55, 55A and 55B; 56, 56A and 56B; 57 and 57A; 290 and 290A.
- Written in
- English and French in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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'File 73/7 I (D 19) Status of Kuwait & Baghdad Railway, and Anglo-Turkish negotiations 1911' [227v] (488/631), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/R/15/1/610, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100023839676.0x000052> [accessed 27 January 2025]
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/R/15/1/610
- Title
- 'File 73/7 I (D 19) Status of Kuwait & Baghdad Railway, and Anglo-Turkish negotiations 1911'
- Pages
- front, back, spine, edge, head, tail, front-i, i-r:iii-v, 1r:6v, 7ar:7av, 7r:12v, 13av, 14v, 15v, 17av, 17r, 19r:19v, 22r:37r, 38r:46v, 48r:50v, 58r:74v, 75v:84v, 87v:93v, 94v:96r, 97r:147v, iv-r:vi-v, back-i, front-a, back-a, spine-a, edge-a, head-a, tail-a, front-a-i, vii-r:ix-v, 148r:229v, 231r:289v, 291v:294v, x-r:xiii-v, back-a-i
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence