Page:Turkey, the great powers, and the Bagdad Railway.djvu/91

 social improvement and material welfare of native races; and in the struggle between the Slavonic policy of compelling stagnation and the Teutonic policy of spreading the blessings and enlightenment of civilization, the victory will lie with those nations which are striving, selfishly or unselfishly, consciously or unconsciously, to fulfil the high aims which Providence has entrusted to the imperial races of Christendom." Lord Cranborne, Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, announced that, although the Government had every intention of maintaining the status quo in the Persian Gulf, it would not otherwise interfere in the project for a German-owned trans-Mesopotamian railway. Lord Lansdowne, Secretary for Foreign Affairs, informed the French and German ambassadors at London that His Britannic Majesty's Government would not oppose the Bagdad enterprise, particularly if British capital were invited to participate in its consummation.[27] This was taken as a definite promise, for English financiers already had been asked to take a share in the Bagdad Railway Company by purchase, pro rata, of portions of the holdings of the German and French interests.[28]

Although there was a noticeable lack of unanimity in European diplomatic circles, little or no reason existed in 1902 to believe that any determined resistance would be made to the consummation of the plans for the construction of the Bagdad Railway. The chief difficulties of the concessionaires seemed to be not political, but financial and administrative. The year 1902 was one of economic depression; in Germany, in particular, industrial and financial conditions were distinctly unfavorable for the flotation of a large bond issue such as would be required to raise funds for the construction of the Bagdad Railway. Certain of the minor provisions of the convention of 1902, furthermore, were unsatisfactory to the financiers of the project. The concession for the lines beyond Konia