Chapter 118: Pie in the Sky
Chapter 118 – Pie in the Sky
In the lobby of the Greenwich Police Station, Arthur and Dumas were seated left to right on a speaker’s podium improvised from two desks, while at the foot of the podium sat a group of carefully screened journalists left behind.
As to how to define the formal and informal, Arthur adopted the standard of the Ministry of the Interior and Scotland Yard, all the law in accordance with the rules and regulations to pay the stamp duty, and has a fixed office address of the newspaper, can be regarded as a regular newspaper.
And for the selection of which newspaper journalists to ask questions, Arthur has another set of criteria, where the newspaper headquarters in Scotland Yard jurisdiction, or more detailed, only the newspaper headquarters set in London Fleet Street news media can be interviewed.
It is not that Arthur discriminates against the various tabloid newspapers on the streets of London, he believes from the bottom of his heart that the various tabloids are the soul of the London newspaper industry, but he is also aware of the tabloid journalists in order to gain circulation will put forward what is embarrassing questions.
In this kind of diplomatic event, only invite those newspapers with a huge circulation and have a more permanent business objectives for interviews, so as not to make Scotland Yard and the Ministry of the Interior do not want to see the trouble.
Seeing that everything was in place, Arthur smiled and spoke, “It seems that you gentlemen journalists can’t wait. I know that for journalism, time is life. So let’s get started next.”
His eyes swept across the stage, his sight skimming over every journalist present.
Eventually, his eyes stopped along with Officer Tom’s as he smiled and pointed to the reporter who was next to that Tom and said, “Will the gentleman please ask his question.”
The reporter was called by name and couldn’t wait to stand up as he spoke, “Good morning, Inspector Hastings, Mr. Jonesy, I’m a special reporter from The Times.
As we all know, the case of Mr. Zhongma’s abduction in London has aroused widespread concern from all walks of life in Britain. The public is shocked and outraged by the French government’s disregard for the sovereignty of other countries and its unauthorized hiring of criminals on their soil to violate the lives of others.
I would like to know what Mr. Dumas thinks about the difference in government between Britain and France. Is the new King of France, Louis-Philippe, really a constitutional monarch who represents the interests of the French people, as he boasts?”
When Arthur heard this, he just tapped the table twice seemingly without thinking.
Dumas also read his meaning by heart, which was the code word he had previously arranged with Arthur.
The two knocks on the table meant that he should say a few good things about the English, and if he didn’t mind, preferably brag a little about the Tory Cabinet.
Of course, ask Dumas to praise the Duke of Wellington, who defeated Napoleon, and I’m afraid he’d have a hard time doing it.
But if it was just a compliment about Scotland Yard, then he could barely tolerate it.
Dumas almost pinched his nose as he spoke against his will: “First of all, I would like to thank the English police for their efforts and the English public for their concern for me. It is the justice that endures in the hearts of the public at large that inspires my determination to confront the French tyrant Louis Philippe.
Whether we are the people of France or the people of England, we are all fighting for our rights, even if for that right we have to pay a great price ……”
Arthur heard this and tasted wrong in a couple of moments.
Not that there was anything wrong with Dumas’s impassioned speech, but such words could not be mentioned now, and the reason why Sir Peel had agreed to his rescue of Dumas was to divert the attention of the British public from the ‘Parliamentary Reform Movement’ with this ‘diplomatic victory over France’.
If Dumas was allowed to speak with such a big grin, it would not only fail to achieve the purpose of diverting attention, but would also cause the British public to empathize with the July Revolution in France.
In that case, wouldn’t the attention be diverted in vain?
Arthur hurriedly coughed, he spoke, “Mr. Dumas, time is limited, let’s hurry into the next topic.”
As he spoke, his eyes fell on Officer Tony again. Only to see Tony pacing up and down to a reporter’s side, he glanced at the reporter’s notebook quietly twice before nodding his head slightly.
Arthur obediently named the man, “Will the gentleman please take the floor to ask a question.”
“Hello, I’m a reporter from the Observer, and my question is ……”
The time of the press conference passed little by little, and under the cover of Arthur with Tom, Tony and others, Dumas finally survived the trial without any danger.
Arthur looked down at the transcripts of the speeches he had jotted down, a bit of puffery to ingratiate himself with the British public, a bit of affirmation to boost Tory support, and a bit of flip-flopping, meaningless, empty rhetoric about the differences in democracy between France and England.
Arthur closed his notebook with satisfaction, for him it had been a rather perfect press conference.
But Dumas beside him was clearly not satisfied.
After sending away the rewarding reporters, this French fat man spoke unhappily, “I really can’t understand the thinking of you Englishmen, you boast of having the most advanced, democratic and free system in the world, but in the end, when you lift up your head, you actually have a king on your head, don’t you think this is very ironic?”
Arthur spoke while organizing the documents on his desktop, “Mr. Dumas, I’ve told you many times. A constitutional monarchy and a monarchy are two different things.”
“But if there was no monarch, wouldn’t it be possible to build a more perfect constitutional state?”
Hearing this, Arthur put down the paper in his hand and shook his finger at Dumas, “Sir, if England had no king, what would be built would not be one constitutional state, but four! They are England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales.
I know the French have been thinking of splitting up Great Britain, but you could have just said something like that without all the beating around the bush. Anyway, we won’t arrest you for that, because your ideas would be nothing more than mediocre even among the English.
Many of the English, and even the Scots, want to kick Ireland out, and the Irish themselves are not happy to be under the system of Great Britain. If it hadn’t been for the Duke of Wellington and other great men who have been struggling to keep it together, I expect we would have split up long ago.”
Dumas also took a deep breath at his words, he shook his head and said, “To be honest, I sometimes really can’t understand you this bunch of Englishmen. If you are more serious, you are the first place in Europe to realize religious tolerance, but also the first place to abolish the slave trade, some times indeed called the Star of Europe. But you always seem petty in some inexplicable places, such as your attitude towards Ireland, which is very typical.”
Arthur sniffed and raised his eyebrows, “As I said before, this is the difference between England and France. England has always prized individualism, and even if you put a father and son together, they will divide their respective properties quite clearly. You may not know that the most complete and oldest law in England is the system of Property Laws regarding the division of property between fathers and sons and brothers, and there are so many entries in there that it can drive you crazy.
If the English treat their children and brothers like this, how can you expect them to accept the Irish so quickly? After all, Scotland and England have been united for so many years now, and so far the animosity between the two sides has only been slightly reduced. So even if some brilliant politicians could see the value of Ireland, it would never be possible to reverse the public’s inherited perceptions overnight.”
At this point, Arthur’s words suddenly lurched.
He saw that Elder was standing outside the police station with a grin on his face, waving a check at him with two fingers.
Arthur frowned and was about to go out and ask him about it, but unexpectedly, before he could go out, Elder had actually come in first.
Elder glanced around and found that no one was paying attention to the two of them before quickly shoving the check into Arthur’s pocket.
“Take this, a small token of appreciation from Colonel Fitzroy.”
(End of chapter)