The Dominion's Dilemma: The United States of British America by James F. Devine Page A

well-aimed pistol shots and another with an overmatched Polish noble with the saber. All three, of course, had been over women; two wives and one sister. How many others he had terminated in the line of duty was debated within the Russian secret services; most observers credited him with seven-to-eight ‘official’ killings over the past decade.
    The intelligence coming from London had Ignatieff concerned…as well as fascinated. For that reason, he was only half listening as the Czar and his advisors agreed to land 10,000 troops---sent through the Bosporus, for the first time ever to be opened to the Russian Navy---on the Syrian coast. The force would move inland to confront the Egyptian army under Ibrahim Pasha and force him, preferably without a battle, to retreat to Egypt.
     That the Turks were so weak that they needed assistance to put down the revolt did not surprise Ignatieff. The Count was well aware of Constantinople’s helplessness. He and the Czar had thoroughly discussed the possibility of an invasion, but had reluctantly discarded the idea. The other Powers would simply not sit still while Russia got its paws on Constantinople and the Straits . But that the Sultan would actually request us to intervene militarily is almost too amazing. Meanwhile, I already have my Ottoman operation in motion.
   He was still turning the news from London, both Princess Dorothea’s letter and his own intelligence reports, over in his head. The long-range goal of Romanov foreign policy had always been to supersede the British in India.  A later Russian autocrat, Lenin, would call India the ‘depot of the world.’ It was one of the few times the two Nicholases, Czar and Count, would have agreed with him.  The British had pushed aside the Portuguese and Dutch and were merrily looting the subcontinent. With the riches of India flowing to St. Petersburg instead of London, Russia would supplant Great Britain as the world’s foremost Power.
   But how to accomplish such a gigantic feat?
   Even by the most optimistic estimates, it will take our forces another 10-to-15 years to arrive at India’s borders utilizing the overland route through Central Asia. Waging the successful Persian War in 1827 and annexing those two provinces was a start, but all those khanates in the wild Central Asian plain still block the way, even before the specter of Afghanistan can be confronted.  But what if the British were to be distracted elsewhere? Perhaps by a rebellion in North America? A rebellion that Lord Grey’s government in London apparently considers more than a remote possibility?
    If the British were tied up in a long-term war in North America, would they have the strength to resist a Russian Army sent through Persia, bypassing the khanates and Afghanistan? Surely the Persian War has shown that Teheran can not stop such an Army. Perhaps the Shah could be bribed into allowing our forces free transit, especially if we agreed to look the other way while he moved into the Valley of the Euphrates toward Baghdad. The dream in Teheran, after all, is to reassemble the ancient Persian Empire. Why not allow them mastery of all that sand and dust?
    This must be brought to His Majesty’s attention immediately…
    The Count’s musings were suddenly interrupted by a savage pounding that literally rocked the conference table. The red-faced Czar had risen from his seat and was barely able to choke back his anger as he glared at Prince Alexander Chernyshyov.
        “Don’t ever again suggest, even in jest, that I consider selling or trading off so much as a square inch of the realm,” he said, slowly and icily.
        “My Alaska province is our foothold in North America. We have already begun to expand down the eastern Pacific Coast. Our settlement of Fort Ross has put both the British and Mexicans on notice:  I will not acknowledge any God-given right of the British to hold North America. And the