Note 12 — Chapter IV · THE SULTAN MORTGAGES HIS EMPIRE

The single exception was Mr. Rechnitzer’s plan, which provided that within five years of the award of the concession, the Sultan might require the construction of a spur from Alexandretta to Konia, on terms to be agreed upon between the Government and the concessionaire. The chief feature of Mr. Rechnitzer’s plan, however, unquestionably was the railway from Alexandretta to the Persian Gulf—i.e., the Syrian and Mesopotamian, not the Anatolian and Cilician, sections. Furthermore, there were political objectives connected with the Rechnitzer proposal which, however attractive to British imperialists, could not have been regarded with equanimity by the Sultan. The following are typical quotations from Mr. Rechnitzer’s prospectus: “It has long been the object of English statesmen to consolidate the position of England in the Persian Gulf, where British interests (both political and commercial) are now paramount. With a railway in this region controlled by British interests ... a very strong foothold would accrue to British influence” (p. 12). Among the advantages of the proposed railway are listed the following (pp. 17–18): “It will place under British control two important ports, one on the Mediterranean and the other on the Persian Gulf; it will strengthen British influence in Turkey and in the Persian Gulf, and indirectly, in Persia and Afghanistan; it will afford England powerful means of exercising her influence over the territory of Central Persia, and of establishing new commercial enterprises over an enormous area of unexploited country of exceptional wealth.”