It seems to me to be a favourable time to suggest to Turkey the construction of a railway from Constantinople or some other port on the Mediterranean to Bussorah on the Persian Gulf: why should not England undertake the construction herself? This route would certainly possess four great advantages:
(1) It would be a shorter route to India.
(2) It would be a valuable means of quick transportation of either Turkish or English troops for the defence of Asia Minor.
(3) It would avoid a clashing of English and French interests in Egypt to a certain extent, and a dual control would thereby be strengthened, and would produce two more results, viz:—
(a) A firmer alliance between England and France.
(b) England would be able to reduce her troops in Egypt, and devote them to the defence of Asia Minor, and by this means be more able to withstand Russian attacks in that quarter and in Persia.
(4) Lastly, Turkey would be strengthened financially owing to the prosperity of her commerce, and productions in Asia Minor, which is the usual effect of such a communication.
By this means England can fulfil her public duty to Turkey, which she had undertaken to do by the Anglo-Turkish Convention, and can maintain her national honour pledged when Lord Beaconsfield and Count Andrassy discussed the defence of Turkey from Russian invasion in Asia and Europe.
It is difficult to see why this railway scheme was not brought forward at the Anglo-Turkish Convention, because it appears to me to be of primary importance for the defence of both Asia Minor and India; and also how it escaped the mind of so clever a statesman as Lord Beaconsfield.
It has, however, been informally discussed both at political meetings and by pamphlet only recently: the financial difficulties seemed quite surmountable, but political opinions are decidedly at variance on the subject. But it is my opinion that England would be perfectly right in compelling Turkey to carry out this scheme, and if she was not able to execute it, then England could perform it herself, and she would be only fulfilling one of the duties which she has undertaken to perform with the Sultan at the Anglo-Turkish Convention.