Page:Turkey, the great powers, and the Bagdad Railway.djvu/248

 attitude of Germany met with great approval on the part of the Turkish Government, which was then in a very difficult position. The result was the greatest diplomatic victory in the history of the Ottoman Empire between the revolution of 1908 and the outbreak of the Great War."[10]

The purchase of the loan of 1910 by the Deutsche Bank, however, did not solve the financial problems of the Young Turk Government. It was essential that measures be taken to increase the revenues of the Ottoman Empire. Accordingly, negotiations had been conducted during 1910, and were continued until midsummer of 1911, to secure the consent of the Powers to an increase of 4% in the customs duties. It was apparent from the outset that the British Government would block any project for an increase in Turkish taxes, unless it were granted important compensations of a political and economic character and unless it could determine, in large measure, the purposes for which the additional revenues would be expended. In this respect, also, it appeared that Entente policy was standing in the way of the success of the Revolution in Turkey!

British objections to the proposed increase in the Ottoman customs duties were founded in large part upon British opposition to the Bagdad Railway and, more particularly, to the sections of the Railway between Bagdad and the Persian Gulf. In the spring of 1910, the British Government proposed that a concession for a railway from Bagdad to Basra via Kut-el-Amara should be awarded to British financiers, in order that British economic interests in Mesopotamia might be adequately safeguarded. In May of that year Sir Edward Grey wrote the British ambassador at Constantinople, "Please explain quite clearly to the Turkish Government that the British Government will not agree to any addition to the taxes until this claim