I think things were a bit simpler back in the days of "Pax Brittanica",it would have gone something like:
"Gad your Lordship, it's an outrage! If we just finish the chukah, we'll have time for a quick snifter in the mess whilst Carstairs warms up the gunboat. Then we'll crack-on up the coast, give the bally Siams a bloody nose, and if we get a shift on, we'll be back in time for the ball at the Frog embassy!"
