The
revolt of certain Christian states of Turkey in Europe had
revived the animosities which had smouldered since the Crimean
War, and while Russia prepared to support the claims of the
Christians, Disraeli again ranged England on the side of the
Turk. The Queen-Empress, as if to give personal support to the
policy of her Prime Minister, raised him to the peerage with the
title of Earl of Beaconsfield (1876).
The hatreds and intrigues in the Balkan peninsula led to a bloody
war between Russia and Turkey. It soon became evident that unless
saved by English intervention, Constantinople must fall into the
hands of the Czar. Beaconsfield's spirited language at this
crisis was paraphrased in the London music-halls in the famous
couplet:
"We don't want to fight, but, by Jingo, if we do,
We've got the ships, we've got the men, we've got the money,
too,"
a song which gave the name of "Jingo" to the war policy of the
Conservatives. An English fleet was sent to Constantinople, and
England refused to recognize the terms of the treaty of San
Stephano, which Russia had extorted from her conquered foe, and
demanded that the Eastern Question should be submitted to a
congress of the powers. That congress was held at Berlin in the
summer of 1878. Prince Bismarck presided, and Lord Beaconsfield
attended in person, accompanied by the Foreign Secretary, Lord
Salisbury (since premier).
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