THE POSITION OF GREAT BRITAIN. 101 



I have said that Great Britain is in a position 

 to dictate, because I believe that, in spite of the 

 emphatic declaration of Mr Balfour in the House of 

 Commons on April 8, 1903, that "the project will 

 ultimately be carried out, with or without our having 

 a share in it," it will not see realisation in the face 

 of the uncompromising opposition of this country. 

 Great Britain holds two trump-cards : firstly, in the 

 opposition she can raise to any revision of the customs 

 — and the Deutsche Bank must eventually realise 

 that the favourable attitude of Great Britain is a 

 necessity ; and, secondly, in our position of ascend- 

 ancy at Koweit. When the extension is built from 

 Baghdad to the Persian Gulf, it will most assuredly 

 be of England's grace and not of England's necessity. 

 We can afford, then, to content ourselves, as our 

 Russian friends would say, "with quietly awaiting 

 the further development of events," and we may rest 

 assured that such further development of events, how- 

 ever long deferred, will take the form of renewed 

 advances to Great Britain. When an offer is made 

 which recognises the principle of equal powers of 

 construction, management, and control, then will 

 come the time for Great Britain to take up that 

 share in the promotion of the Baghdad railway 

 which, I have not the slightest doubt, is destined 

 to be hers. 



It may be well before concluding this chapter to 

 explain the position at the present moment. Affairs 

 have advanced to the extent that a new company has 

 been created, with the title of the " Imperial Ottoman 

 Baghdad Bailway Company," and an amended form 

 of the convention of January 1902 concluded (March 

 5, 1903). An arrangement, which may be regarded 

 as temporary, has been arrived at by which France 



