There were some ardent British imperialists who were out of sympathy with the popular opposition to the Bagdad Railway and with the policy of the _Entente_ in obstructing the building of the line. Few Englishmen were more thoroughly acquainted with the Near East than Sir William Willcocks.[41] Basing his opinions upon an intimate, scientific study of conditions in Mesopotamia, he advocated full British coöperation with the _Deutsche Bank_ in the construction of the Bagdad Railway, which he considered was the best means of transportation for Irak. He criticized the British Government for its short-sighted policy in the protection of the Lynch Brothers and their antiquated river service; “rivers,” he said, “are for irrigation, railways for communications.” Furthermore, “You cannot leave the waters of the rivers in their channels and irrigate the country with them. For navigation you may substitute railway transport; for the purpose of irrigation nothing can take the place of water.”[42] He believed that adequate irrigation of the Mesopotamian Valley would result in such a wave of prosperity for the country that it would induce immigration, particularly from Egypt and British India. It was not inconceivable, under such conditions, that Britain would fall heir to ancient Mesopotamia when the Ottoman Empire should disintegrate.[43] Sir William Willcocks was neither pacifist nor visionary; he, himself, was an empire-builder. Another British imperialist who believed that Great Britain was pursuing entirely the wrong course in obstructing German economic penetration in Turkey was Sir Harry Johnston, novelist, explorer, lecturer, former member of the consular service. He believed in “The White Man’s Burden,” in the inevitable overrunning of the habitable globe by the Caucasian race. But he believed that the task of spreading white civilization to the four corners of the earth was such an herculean task, that “what we white peoples ought to strive for, with speech and pen, is unity of purpose; an alliance throughout all the world in this final struggle for mastery over Nature. We ought to adjust our ambitions and eliminate causes of conflict.” His program for the settlement of the Near Eastern question was: “the promotion of peace and goodwill among white nations, to start with; and when the ambitions and the allotment of spheres of influence have been nicely adjusted, then to see that the educational task of the Caucasian is carried out in a right, a Christian, a practical, and sympathetic fashion towards the other races and sub-species of humanity.” Sir Harry believed that Great Britain was the last country in the world which ought to oppose the legitimate colonial aspirations of any other nation. There was every reason for the recognition of the economic and moral bases of German expansion, and any dog-in-the-manger attitude on the part of British statesmen, he was sure, would defeat the highest interests of the Empire.[44]