Britain held Turkey to be the buffer protecting India from Russia.

Evidence

As far as Britain was concerned this treaty highlighted the failure of the Sultan to fulfill the duties that his empire as a European and an Asiatic one was supposed to perform: the European duty of defending the Straits, and the Asiatic one of checking Russian designs on areas bordering India. By prompting the Russian fleet to dock in Istanbul and by increasing Russian political influence there Mehmed Ali was seen in London and Bombay as giving the Russians the opportunity to undermine the stability of the Ottoman Empire, and so Palmerston believed that Mehmed Ali “might not himself destroy Turkey; [but] he might give Russia the chance to do so later.” — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 1575

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s stated interest in British policy rationale toward Egypt’s military expansion.