Chapter 201: London Conference?
Chapter 200 London Conference?
Arthur invited Sheriff Field inside, but before he could sit down on his ass, he suddenly heard Dumas, who was eating a candy bar and reading the newspaper, exclaim with a slap on the table, “What a hell of a thing to say! You Brits must not be up to any good again.”
“What’s the matter?”
Arthur took the newspaper from Dumas’s hands, he just raised his eyes to read the newspaper headline, his face suddenly more than a wipe of intriguing expression.
“New Prime Minister, Earl Charles Grey, Adjusts Foreign Policy in a Speech in the House of Commons and Officially Announces a New Cabinet.
-Earl Grey: The July Revolution in France was another major victory for the forces of progress in Europe, and Britain will stand by our old friend France as a staunch ally.
Viscount Palmerston, the new Foreign Secretary, makes an impassioned speech on his new day.
–Viscount Palmerston: In a time of crisis, the people of Paris have once again defended a free and democratic France, and I wish them every success in their endeavors.
The Belgian War of Independence enters its third month with heavy fighting between Dutch troops and Belgian independence forces in the Antwerp region.
The Kingdom of Prussia plans to send additional troops to the sister nation of Holland to help it crush the Belgian rebellion as soon as possible.
Tsar Nicholas I of Russia intended to intervene in the civil war between Holland and Belgium, and Russia would help Prussia if it attacked Belgium.
Declaration of the Kingdom of the Netherlands that the Netherlands will not tolerate the Belgian Separatists.
“France has made a solemn declaration that if Prussian troops attack Belgium from the east, France will advance from the west.
King Louis-Philippe of France: We do not intend to interfere with Belgian independence, but France will not allow others to interfere in Belgium’s internal affairs”.
King William I of Holland: Holland is willing to accept British mediation under certain conditions, and strongly urges to convene a conference as soon as possible to solve the Belgian problem.
The Belgian Parliament voted to establish a monarchy in independent Belgium and to invite Prince Nemours, son of King Louis Philippe of France, to be the King of the Kingdom of Belgium”.
Foreign Secretary Viscount Palmerston’s emergency speech in the House of Commons: Prince Nemours’ acceptance of the Belgian throne may lead to war in Europe.
“Prince Nemours of France declines the Belgian throne after much deliberation. Prince Nemours: I thank the Belgian people for their love, but my heart belongs to France”.
The new Continental Coordination Conference will be held in London next week, where the Belgian question will be openly discussed by the representatives of Britain, Russia, Prussia, Austria, the Netherlands and France.
“Aspirations! French Ambassador to Britain Announced; Sixtysomething Talleyrand Returns
— Talleyrand Périgord, former President of the French Council of Ministers and Minister for Foreign Affairs, and a distinguished French diplomat and statesman, has recently arrived in London, and it is believed that Mr. Talleyrand will be the Ambassador of the Kingdom of France to Great Britain.
–Once commissioned to draft the infamous Continental Blockade imposed on Britain by the Napoleonic government, Mr. Talleyrand will now bring peace to both sides of the English Channel.
Suddenly! His Excellency the Duke of Wellington Meets French Ambassador Talleyrand in Private House, Former Prime Minister Re-Employed in Flames?
–Mr. Talleyrand, the French Ambassador to the United Kingdom, and the disillusioned Duke of Wellington met at Apsley House, where their Excellencies exchanged views on the question of Belgian Independence.
–According to reliable sources, the meeting was on the whole relaxed, positive, constructive and gratifying. Their Excellencies were of the opinion that the Belgian question would be properly resolved, but that before that could be done the English and French sides would have to settle a few minor and insignificant differences.
Arthur, after reading this report after report, just shook his head slightly and sarcastically bristled, “Why should the two groups of people that God has deemed necessary to be separated by the English Channel be forced together.”
Dumas stretched as he leaned back in his chair and said, “Right? I told you, usually when the Brits come together of their own accord, it’s not for anything good, the most hypocritical people under the sky are you people.”
Unexpectedly, Elder on the side heard this and said disdainfully, “Alexander, you have to know that hypocrisy is the most important reason why Britain was able to build the Sunless Empire.”
“Huh?” Dumas wrapped his arms around himself, ready to listen to this kid’s tall tale, “What does that say?”
Elder tilted his head back and snorted, “The reason Britain is called the Sunless Empire is because God is not comfortable with any Englishman in the dark.” When this statement came out, all the Englishmen in the room were amused by Elder, even Wheatstone, who was always reluctant to speak, and Sergeant Field, who was made nervous by the transfer order, also relaxed.
Arthur, on the other hand, raised his eyebrows and patted Elder on the shoulder and said, “It’s not all God’s fault that it became the Empire of the Sunset, but Alfred the Great of Britain also deserves the credit.”
“Wow!” As soon as Elder heard Arthur mention Alfred, he immediately understood what he was trying to say, “Are you talking about his famous saying? The ancestral legacy law should be recorded and enforced? This quote can indeed be considered the beginning of the rule of law in Britain.”
Arthur shrugged his shoulders, “No, Elder, what you said was only the first half of the sentence. But I forgive you, after all, you didn’t study history, you were in the classics department.”
Dumas asked, “And what is the second half of the sentence?”
Arthur pointed to Viscount Palmerston’s statement in the newspaper and spoke, “I thought you would have guessed it, it’s plain as day in the paper.”
Dumas sniffed and turned the newspaper over and over again, but he froze and couldn’t find half a word about Alfred the Great.
Seeing how unintelligent he was, Arthur could only speak, “Alfred the Great’s original words were something like this: the legacy laws of the ancestors should be recorded and enforced, I mean the ones I like.”
Dumas sniffed and glared, “What about the ones you don’t like?”
Elder flicked a coin between his fingertips as the once aspiring, now disillusioned young man from the University of London spoke.
“We don’t have any that we don’t like, disliking is a term used during the time of Alfred the Great. Nowadays, we only have unimportant documents that have been lost due to age or poor preservation. I’m not talking about all of them, of course, but that’s usually how the Admiralty interprets them. Alexander, as Arthur used to say, the times they are a-changin’, so at least other things have to look like they’re a-changin’ on the bright side.”
No sooner had Elder’s words left his mouth than Disraeli, sitting behind him, suddenly shot up.
“Right on! For fuck’s sake, the reason we have magazines and newspapers is so that these things should never be thrown away so easily. The editor of Blackwood’s is so blind that a couple of manuscripts this good can be turned back!
Both The Count of Monte Cristo and The Pickwick Gaiden are on the level of masterpieces in my opinion! If you put these two books together with The Young Duke, which I’m working on, these three books would form a triumvirate like the Roman Empire back in the day, and we’d be the Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus of the fashion fiction world!”
At the end of his words, he also couldn’t help but excitedly shout at Arthur, “Arthur, you’ve really found the right person to hire me to run the magazine. I assure you, this magazine will be a hit! Now that I have the manuscripts, and I have the equipment in stock, all we need to do next is to get the magazine’s distribution license from the English Literary Association, and then find someone to pull in a wave of financing, and we’ll be on our way in no time.”
Arthur leaned on the edge of the table, “I can think of a way to do that, and as for financing, I still have a thousand pounds worth of stock on hand, so if I pledge them to the Rothschild Bank, I won’t have any problem at all in getting a few hundred pounds. Besides, Mr. Rothschild might be interested in investing in our business as well.”
Disraeli excitedly said, “Wouldn’t that be fine? You can pay a few hundred pounds, although I lost seven thousand pounds last time, but I also have a little money in my hand to invest in it, and if we can pull in Rothschild’s financing, then it’s not a problem for our magazine to last for three to five years. In three or five years’ time, what we want to do should have been done long ago.”
Arthur turned to speak, “Whether it will be done or not is not to be mentioned first, but there is one thing I must make clear. According to Scotland Yard’s house rules, it’s fine for me to hold shares, but I can’t directly engage in business.”
“What’s the big deal?” Dumas raised an eyebrow, “Didn’t you just say: what you don’t like isn’t law?”
Arthur bent his head and smiled at him, “Alexander, I am not Alfred the Great, I am merely a Superintendent of Scotland Yard, it is not for me to dictate the laws and internal regulations, the most I can do is make suggestions.”
At the end of his sentence, Arthur turned his head again and spoke to Field, “Has the person in charge of security for the Six Nations London Conference been finalized?”
Fields was stunned by his question, then shook his head and said, “You …… you know, in the past this kind of work, everyone will definitely rush to do it. But since Mr. Huskisson was hit by a train and killed that file after the incident, everyone began to realize that this is a piece of hot potato.
Besides, I hear we’re sending the Duke of Wellington as our negotiator to the London conference, and while he was Prime Minister, keeping him safe would have been an honorary job, now it’s a bit of a crapshoot. ……
You know, after the Whigs came up, none of the Superintendents in the Hall wanted to appear to be too close to the Tory dignitaries ……”
Hearing this, Arthur reached down and removed his hat from the coat rack, pulled the door open and waved at Field, “Come on.”
Field froze, “Where are you going this late?”
Arthur smiled and said, “Didn’t you analyze it quite well? Since it’s a drudgery, the superintendents most likely have various reasons why they can’t get away, and in the end, such a ‘heavy burden’ can only fall on my shoulders. So, since it’s definitely me, why don’t you go check out the meeting venue first to familiarize yourself with it?”
(End of chapter)