Before revision: Ignatyev was trying to dispel British misgivings about Russia's assumed role of a protector of the Orthodox Slavs being but a disguise of its drive to take over the Black Sea Straits and Constantinople itself and thus – as Prime Minister Disraeli feared – potentially threaten the vital Mediterranean routes to British India via the Suez Canal, completed in 1869.Buckle G.E., W.F.
After revision: EasternIgnatyev was trying to dispel British misgivings about Russia's assumed role of a protector of the Orthodox Slavs being but a disguise of its drive to take over the Black Sea Straits and Constantinople itself and thus – as Prime Minister Disraeli feared – potentially threaten the vital Mediterranean routes to British India via the Suez Canal, completed in 1869.Buckle G.E., W.F.