The Germans are greatly delighted at the concession of the
railway from Smyrna to Bagdad to their syndicate, and congratulate both their own Emperor and the Sultan upon their acumen. The concessionaires have already obtained large promises of help from French financiers, and expect also English assistance, though they would, it is reported, gladly do without the latter. There is no hurry. When the railway is built the shares will pass, like those of the Suez Canal, into British hands, and as most of the traffic will be British also, British interests are sure to be considered. We should not be much concerned if they were not. The intervention of Germany in Turkey will keep out Russia, where they are already saying that forty thousand men must be added to the army always encamped upon the frontiers of Armenia, just as a hint to the Sultan that he has friends other than William IL With Britain and Germany both in the Gulf of Persia the Russian Fleet, if it ever gets there, will be a much less formidable apparition. The worst point for British trade is that the German syndicate in its eagerness for dividends may put on prohibitory charges both for goods and passengers. The sea competes for the former, but time is so important an element in long journeys that passenger steamers are heavily handicapped by any railway.
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