THE BAGHDAD RAILWAY.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."]
venture to think that it is absolutely fatuous to
believe that the Germans are anxious to promote the Baghdad Railway solely for trade purposes. May I quote a German officer on the subject ? In his pamphlet " Der Kommende Krieg," published at Berlin last January, Major K. von Bruchhausen, after dismissing the possibility of an invasion of this country as Trdume, goes on to say :— "But there are some other, though more distant, possibilities. Only in the single British Colony which we can reach without going by ship—i e., the Indian Empire—could England in any circumstances be struck. There it is also extremely vulner- able. One's first thought is to look on it as a mere adventure ; but this disappears on closer consideration. One must naturally think of Germany, years perhaps after the blow inflicted on it, as the ally of Russia, and then that, as the crow flies, it is only half the distance from Berlin to the Northern frontier of Afghanistan that it is from St. Petersburg to Vladivostok; moreover, by the employment of waterways not open to the English ships, two lines of railway would be available instead of only one as to Manchuria. There would also be a third way, provided that Austria, Turkey, and Persia could be gained over to arrange the carrying out of the Baghdad Railway. In any case a Russo-German army could reach the Northern frontier of Afghanistan more quickly by land than England could by sea if the Suez Canal were closed. Shall a Germany rendered defenceless and humiliated by the annihilation of its fleet at sea not make such an attempt to retaliate for the new Anglo-Japanese Alliance by 'going one better ' ? This would be the more possible if, in the event of an outbreak of hostilities with England, Islam could be made serviceable to the German cause. Think of our Kaiser as the friend of the Sultan at the Golden Horn ! Our Kaiser—in consequence of the visit to Tangier—acclaimed as the Protector of Islam ! By some exercise of thought very dangerous consequences may be made to result to England both in Northern Africa and in India. One thinks of Egypt and the Suez Canal. What if some day German and
Turkish battalions should march there together
Thus far on the subject of the Baghdad Railway. A short study of Bradshaw's " Overland Guide," Routes 10 and 12, will show that, even with the existing facilities, it is possible to reach Khushk, six miles from the Afghan frontier, and ninety-four miles from Herat, on the tenth or eleventh day from Berlin, and Andijan, the present Eastern terminus of the Central Asia Railway, in a not much longer time. Troops can, therefore, be poured on to our North-West Indian Frontier by routes with which it is not possible for us to interfere. Why, then, consent to, and assist in, the increase of such facilities for attacking ourselves P—I am, Sir, &c., C. S. H.
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