Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-01-27

/ construct q railway singlehanded on con-
dition she receives q kilometric guarantee
| from Turkey. Those newspapers do not
! reckon with the fact that the porte is not
in position to give that guarantee for the
whole length Of the line"
| Germany. for a fact. has taken a promi-
| tic-Turkish railways. The convention
ceding the concession. according to the
London Times Of January o. was signed by
the turkish minister of public works and
MeSSrs. Gurnner. Sanders and Huguenin
| on behalf of the Anatolian Railway Com
| pany, March 5. 1903. BY this final agree
ment the concession of the proposed rail-
way from Konia to the Persian gulf, over
1000 kiiometers In length 0o be built In
| sections OF 200 kilometers) was given to the
Anatoiian Railway Company for a period
OF ninety-nine years. 1t was agreed how
| ever. that this society should be replaced.
! in all that relates to the new line by the
| Bagdad Railway Company. which it I'M
| dertook to form, and was to be of Otto
man man nationality. Plans besides were pro-
| Jected for a road across Persia and Be
luchistan to connect with the Indian lines
When the third and fourth sections are
constructed and linked up with the Syrian
railways by branch
Constantinople from Tel ell Habeesh to
Connected. Aleppo. Constantinople
will be In direct railway
SoHHcCliOH Will DdIIldSCuS anu WITH the
| Hedjas railway, which Is already open to
| traffic as far as Tebuk a point 692 kilo-
| meters from Damascus, or half way to
! Medina.
| Gen. Auler Pasha. a distinguished en-
| cheering officer lent by the German gov
| eminent to Turkey. in detailed study of
| the Hedjas line calculates that when the
Bagdad railway Is open as far Aleppo
and the Hedjas line is completed Con-
stantinopie will be within five days Of
| Mecca.
The English project consists in uniting
Syria. Palestine and Egypt. If necessary.
with the Persian gulf route 700 kilo-
\ meters long In place Of 5000
The German plan Is the more serious and
| constitutes menace to England in Egypt
| and India, and to Russia and Persia in the
| north. NO great nation. indeed. may be
| Indifferent to Germany's action in Asiatic
| turkey. Austrfa-Hungary Is threatened
| In the Balkans, Italy is interested in Syria
! and Palestine. and the United States, too.
because OF its commercial interests in all
\ OF the countries. Is menaced by the famous
drang-or German push-which now tends
| to extend itself to the Persian gulf
The Novoie Vremia recently declared that
drang. and said: lit seeks to create con-
| currence to Russian wheat and Russian
petroleum. Ezeroum is destined to be a
point Of attack Erivan place of defense"
Germany, In fact, proposes to take posi-
ton along routes where heretofore Der
! name has been unknown and which Russia
| by time and tradition had come to consider
| were her special reservations. From Ar
menia, Russia had but to descend in
| straight line to Alexandretta to attain the
Mediterranean and a free port. May not
Jerusalem. too, be closed to her numerous
orthodox pilgrims which assemble there
each year? The Bagdad railway finally is
| a rival to the TransSiberian and to the
future Russian roads toward India and
| the Indian ocean.
ASIA Minor" says M. Berard, has be-
| come snpur31p ic
| discourse Of William II at Tangier was
| doubtless inspired because M. Constans had
| interfered with the German drang in Con-
| Stantinople and in Asia
| Muzaffar Ed Din. Shah Of Persia, died on
| the 9th instant and was succeeded by his
| eldest son, Mohammed Ali
Persta's Mira. Mohammed Ali Shah
Ruler. is the 9th sovereign of the
dynasty of the Radius. He
| was born June 81, 1872 He is highly edu-
| Gated, speaking both French and English
| fuensly, and, unlike his father he is eco.
nOmical by nature, and If reports are true
| he will exercise rigid control over the ex-
penses of government. -
The lesson of the Russo-Japanese war has
not been lost upon Persia. and she will be
| the first to contest, perhaps, the odious
| principle that weak nations are the legiti
mate prey of the strong-that might makes
right.
The mollahs, or priests have medttated
upon Japan's victory, and concluded that
there is necessity for a profound change In
government. I'VE should be blind" said
Persian mollah. Ito misunderstood that
| 1t was due to European science that Japan
conquered. 1t Is with that science only that
we may defend our nationality and our IN
dependence. Let us then to work" Muzaf-
| far Ed Din promptly accorded his people a
national assembly, composed of princes,
mollahs, merchants and the better classes.
The foreign policy of Muzaffar Ed Din
was similar to that Of the Emir of Afghanis-
tan. being between two fires. When he
came to the throne he sent two kilograms,
one to the car, the other to Queen Victoria.
To the car he declared that "he would
consider it his first duty to favor the de-
velopment of the friendly relations which
attached his well-beloved father to the i'm
perial family of Russia" To Queen Vic
toria he said: my constant care will be to
follow the footsteps of my august father.
above all, in what concerns the friendly
relations which he maintained so constantly
with England" This dualism in the shah's
diplomacy was a situation, not theory.
Muzaffar was prodigal of money. He es-
tabhshed no budget and in seven years he
amassed a debt Of 150O00O0O.
In October, 1906 England and Russia con-
Jointly agreed to advance the shah s4OO, 900
in order to meet his most
Russo-English pressing wants. And this
Advances, fact 4: cited to show that
there Is som e h mi
changed in the selfish policy of Encland
and Russia toward Persia A policy of
collaboration has superseded that of pin
pricks inspired by jealousy.
NJ. Jules Claretie mentions the death of
Muzaffar Ed Din in his 'chronique
Parisienne' in LIE Temps:
II am not that traveller who said to the
pope at the close of an audience: Rome Is
superb. but 1t lacks life; would like to see
a conclave / wou like to be at Teheran
to see the funeral of the Shah of Persia. In
the decorations dear to the painter Pasini,
the funeral pomp will be picturesque. and
the orgy Of color on the popular mourning
may excite the fancy of the orientalist.
Teheran Is too and Paris restraints me:
Paris, that Muzaffar loved, and desired to
revisit. besi.es, there was reciprocal SYM