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CHURCHILL, Winston S. Autograph letter signed to Sir Algernon West, Bangalore (India), 25 October [1896], 5 pages, folio . Provenance : L.C.R. West collection; Sotheby's, 24 July 1987, lot 300.
CHURCHILL, Winston S. Autograph letter signed to Sir Algernon West, Bangalore (India), 25 October [1896], 5 pages, folio . Provenance : L.C.R. West collection; Sotheby's, 24 July 1987, lot 300. 'WE CANNOT CONTINUE TO ALLOW HORRIBLE OUTRAGES TO BE PERPETUATED UNDER OUR NOSES'. Newly arrived in India with his regiment and frustrated at being behind with the news, Churchill urges a role for Russia in protecting the Armenians against Turkish atrocities: 'We cannot continue to allow horrible outrages to be perpetrated under our noses ... the only course open is to allow someone else to put a stop to an impossible state of things. And after all what country has a better right to Constantinople than Russia. The possession of an unfrozen port is the legitimate aspiration of a great people. Few nations, indeed, are so moderate'. The controversy over the Armenian massacres was sufficiently strong in England to have caused Lord Rosebery's resignation as leader of the Liberal party on 6 October. Churchill's suggestion that Russia has a 'right to Constantinople' is a splendid early example of his willingness to propose unconventional solutions to political or strategic problems. Writings of Sir Winston Churchill © Estate of Winston S. Churchill