An interviewer in the service of the Parisian journal La
Paris has extracted from M. de Witte, Finance Minister of Russia, a somewhat important statement. Russia, it is clear, regards the proposed Baghdad Railway with great distrust, and would like to see Europe thwart the project. It will, says M. de Witte, be dangerous to England, who will in war-time lose much of the advantage she obtains from the possession of Egypt. The money, he continues, must come from French and English capitalists, who will require guarantees, and Turkish Customs, which will be the security, must be increased. That cannot be done without the consent of Europe. The Triple Alliance will consent; but will France, Great Britain, and Russia ? Russia certainly will not, and the final result will be that the railroad will be left half built and the capitalists will lose their money. M. de Witte advised his interviewer to inform his people of those facts, and warn them not to invest their savings in such a scheme ; and it is noteworthy that the French Government has already put a fresh spoke in its wheel. It has demanded, if the project goes forward, that France shall be placed on full equality with any other Power,—a condition which Germany will not grant. The total result of all that has occurred is that the project will ne suspended, at all events for the present.
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