THE PROPOSED RAILWAY ROUTE. 87 



of affairs, to whatever it may have been due, — and 

 it was due to various causes which I need not enter 

 into here, — has undoubtedly been detrimental to British 

 influence and trade ; but what is perhaps of even 

 greater moment at the present time is the fact that 

 the words of the deputation which waited upon Lord 

 Palmerston in 1857, to the effect that the Euphrates 

 Valley Railway would pass into other hands if Great 

 Britain declined the task, have at length been fulfilled. 

 Little good, however, is now to be gained by indulg- 

 ing in lamentation over neglected opportunities of the 

 past ; rather is it of more profit to make some attempt 

 to inquire into the probabilities of the future, and to 

 consider in what way and to what extent the interests 

 of our own country are likely to be affected by the pro- 

 ject known as the " Baghdad Railway Scheme." 



As a result, then, of the preliminary concession of 

 1899, a committee was appointed with a view to 

 surveying and reporting upon the country through 

 which the line would pass, and was occupied from 

 the middle of September 1899 to the beginning of 

 April 1900 in conducting a practical examination on 

 the spot. As evidence of the success of their labours 

 came the news of the concession of January 1902 for 

 the extension of the existing line between Haida-Pasha 

 and Konia to Baghdad and the Persian Gulf. Now, 

 in treating of the route to be followed by the future 

 line, I would qualify any statement that I may make 

 by the remark that I consider that he would be a 

 bold seer who ventured to prophesy with any degree 

 of confidence regarding it; but for the purposes of 

 the agreement a line was sketched out which will 

 pass through the country as follows : from Konia it 

 will pass by Karaman to Eregli, from which point it 

 will enter the Bulgar Dagh, and by many loops and 



