From Mr Bendor Grosvenor Sir: Had Britain partitioned Turkey in
1876-8, as Mark Steyn suggests, and administered Palestine, Syria, Iraq and Arabia, she would have found herself very quickly at war with Russia — a war which would inevitably have led to a general European conflict The prime minister at the time, Benjamin Disraeli, would have found Steyn's suggestion most appealing, but fortunately his romantic fantasies were frustrated by the foreign secretary, Lord Derby.
Contrary to the 'Jingo' song that Steyn quotes, Britain may have had the ships but she certainly did not have the men or the money. A serious economic depression was imminent, and the army showed no signs of being less incapable than it was in the Crimean or Boer wars. The Punch version of the song is more accurate:
We don't want to fight, but by Jingo if we do, We'll stay at home, and save our money, and send the mild Hindoo....
Bendor Grosvenor London SW4
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