“The British Navy is the largest and best-equipped in the world,” the Foreign Secretary replied, “and I am quite certain that, if the Russians really try to take Constantinople, Britain will intervene.”
The King had to admit this this was indeed likely.
He was therefore silent while the Lord Chancellor said, speaking for the first time,
“I understand, Sire, that this has all come as something of a shock, but we all of us agree, and I know Parliament will too, that it is the only solution and the only safeguard that we could have against a Russian invasion.”
The King could not answer this. He knew that with the very small Army they had a large power like Russia could defeat it at the first encounter.
Too late he wished that at the very beginning of his reign he had insisted on strength
