[9] In a letter dated September 30, 1922, to the author Mr. Rechnitzer outlines the situation as follows: “My offer being much more favorable than that of the Germans, it seemed likely in August, 1899, that it would be accepted. Unfortunately the Transvaal War broke out in the autumn of that year, and the German Emperor, a few days after the declaration of war, specially came to London to ask our Government to give him a free hand in Turkey. It appears that there was an interview between the Emperor and Mr. Joseph Chamberlain, who was more interested in Cecil Rhodes’ scheme in Africa than in my scheme in Turkey. As a consequence Sir Nicholas O’Connor was instructed to inform the Turkish Government that the British Government’s support was withdrawn from my offers.” It is only fair to add, however, that there may have been other factors in the situation. _The Financial News_ (London), of August 17, 1899, intimated that Mr. Rechnitzer’s proposal did not have sufficiently strong financial backing; that it was more Austrian than British; that the support of the British Government was more formal than whole-hearted. [10] _Report of the Anatolian Railway Company_, 1899, pp. 9–10; _The Annual Register_, 1899, p. 292. Simultaneously the Sultan granted the _Deutsche Bank_ group a concession for the construction of port and terminal facilities at Haidar Pasha, across the Straits from Constantinople. Sweeping privileges were granted for the building of docks, stations, sidings, and quays to a subsidiary of the Anatolian Railway, the Haidar Pasha Port Company. The latter company completed a handsome station and terminal at Haidar Pasha in 1902, the year before the definitive Bagdad Railway concession. Furthermore, it entered into close coöperation with the Mahsoussie Steamship Company, a Government-owned company operating a ferry service between Constantinople and the Asiatic side of the Straits; in this manner adequate service was assured passengers and freight from European to Asiatic points. The text of the concession is to be found in _Corps de droit ottoman_, Volume III, pp. 342–351. _Cf._, also, _Report of the Anatolian Railway Company_, 1902, p. 8. [11] _Supra_, pp. 31–34.