The proposal sounded somewhat absurd, but Viscount Stratford was brimming with confidence. His instincts told him that the Austrians did not want another war either; otherwise, they had had plenty of chances to pull some little tricks.
And from the larger perspective, no one in the entire British political establishment believed that Austria and Russia could coexist peacefully in the Balkans.
For Britain, the best way to deal with the Austrian Empire was not to stage a grand and thunderous naval battle.
The Austrian Empire was traditionally a land power. Even if its navy were wiped out to the last ship, it would be difficult to crush its will to fight.
Britain should exploit its own advantages and strike at the Austrian Empire's overseas colonies. That would maximize the British Navy's numerical and scale advantages—after all, British ports were scattered across the globe.
This would both sap the Austrian Empire's morale and secure economic compensation through plunder.
The Austrian Empire's heavily militarized colonies were indeed difficult targets. If the British Navy truly went ashore to fight the Austrian Imperial Army, it would have a very unpleasant time of it.
But the colonies' production systems were, after all, underdeveloped. So long as a blockade was maintained long enough, their surrender would only be a matter of time.
However, by Viscount Stratford's reckoning, the British government at this point had no desire to fight another naval war with the Austrian Empire either.
The main reason was that the risks and returns were wildly out of proportion. Austria was not a traditional naval power, and so it often tried to break deadlocks through unconventional means.
And in the previous war, the Royal Navy had already proved that it was not adept at dealing with such an opponent. To prevent the Royal Navy from