'File 73/7 I (D 19) Status of Kuwait & Baghdad Railway, and Anglo-Turkish negotiations 1911' [‎239r] (511/631)

U^Docment is the Prope rty of His B ritannic Majesty's Government.!
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EASTERN DEPARTMENT. £ May 15 j
SECRET SERIES. S ection 2.
[18299] No. 1.
Sir G. Buchanan to Sir Edward Grey.—{Received May 15.)
(No. 127. Secret.)
Sir, St. Petersburgh, May 11, 1911.
IN the course of a conversation which I had with the Acting Minister for Foreign
Affairs yesterday, T enquired whether the German Ambassador had, since his return
from leave of absence, made any communication to the Russian Government on the
subject of the Russo-German negotiations.
M. Neratof replied that Count Pourtales had communicated to him certain
observations which the German Government desired to make with regard to the revised
text of the agreement, of which I had the honour to forward you a summary in my
despatch No. 44, Secret, of the 21st February last. On my enquiring whether these
observations were satisfactory, M. Neratof said that some of them were acceptable, but
that others were not so ; and he then proceeded to say that the chief objection raised
by the German Government concerned the substitution in article 2 of the term
" Konieh-Bagdad Railway 55 for that of " Bagdad Railway," which had been used in the
original draft. Count Pourtales had contended that as arrangements had now been
made for the construction and completion of the Konieh-Bagdad line within the next
four or five years, it would not be of the least advantage to Germany were Russia to
engage not to oppose the realisation of that line. Such an engagement must, if it was
to carry any weight with the German Government, extend to the whole Bagdad
Railway system, so as to include the Gulf section, whose construction had still to be
provided for. M. Neratof had, on the other hand, argued that the Russian Government
had always understood that the engagement in question merely concerned the railway
as far as Bagdad, as the question in discussion between the two Governments was the
linking up of the Bagdad and North Persian Railway systems by a line running from
Sadijeh to Tehran via Khanikin. The Bagdad-Gulf section, he had asserted, had
nothing whatever to do with this question, and had not entered into the purview of the
negotiations. . J .
M. Neratof informed me that he had not yet submitted the matter to the Council
of Ministers, and that before coming to a final decision he would consult you through
the Russian Ambassador in London. He was, in fact, only waiting for a safe opportunity
to write to Count Benckendorff, as he was so anxious that the Germans should not
suspect him of discussing the question with you that he preferred not to trust such a
communication to a cypher telegram. He was afraid, 1 ;? wev ®y' ^
Government would insist on the retention of the original wording ag a a - }
aid that if the Russian Government refused to yield on this point the whole
negotiations would break down. This would mean that Germany would regain he.
liberty of action in North Persia, and the first use which she would make ot
be to obtain a concession for the Khanikin -Tehran line. ,. . - iii j
I said that I knew that you were anxious that the present negotiation should be
brought to a satisfactory conclusion, but that at the same time ^ ^
prefer to see the words "Konieh-Bagdad .Railway reman G^venment
always understood from what M. Sazonow had told me na . restricted to
perfectly understood that the engagement which Enssia wa ' ' ' trusted
the railway as far as Bagdad ; but this did not now appear to be the case 1 tiusted,
however that if the Russian Government should find itself oblige , m <- ■
a Wkdown of the negotiations, to give way to Germany on
would do so only on thl understanding that no other concessions were to be expected
''"""l was unable to get M. Neratof to say what were th"
the German Government which he reprde(l_ as uiaewp a ^ hanikin _ Tehr - ai ; Railway,
that Germany had offered her financial participa 10 understand that some other
should the Russian Government desire it. ari'l gavt- taken by Germany in the
formula would have to be found to record the e^m^ts ^ J
third article respecting the railways to the north ot Khamkm, but
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