Chapter 259: The Economist
Chapter 258 The Economist
With the Parliamentary Reform Bill due to be voted on again tomorrow, Prime Minister Charles Earl Grey has issued a warning to members of his party: there is a limit to my patience!
The Whigs are making initial contact with the Tories in an attempt to persuade the opposition parties to change their positions
The Duke of Wellington: I have been consistent in my opposition to any reform of the franchise that might shake Britain to its foundations.
Lord Peel: I hope Viscount Palmerston won’t get lost in the polls this time.
Viscount Palmerston: Don’t worry about it. I’ve got the map ready.
“Reliable sources say that if the Parliamentary Reform Bill is blocked again, Earl Grey may consider asking His Majesty the King to dissolve Parliament and call a new election.
Arthur’s two feet rested on his desk, his whole body sunk into the chair in his office, his face was almost buried in the headlines about parliamentary reform in various newspapers.
He muttered, “Is this for real?”
Agares sipped gently from his steaming cup of black tea with his eyes half-closed, and the Red Devil spoke, “Is the Parliament acting out the long, stinking ‘Don Carlos’ again? I have to say, that act is the worst I’ve seen in London in recent years, it’s stinky and long and not very interesting.”
Arthur peeked out of the pile of newspapers, “Your tastes are not so different from Benjamin’s, who also told me earlier that Don Carlos was the palest and most uninteresting tragedy in the history of the British theater, I just wonder if you share his willingness to wear ladies’ corsets for the sake of a slimmer waist.”
The Red Devil just grunted when he heard that, “No, no, no, Arthur, Disraeli said that mostly to curry favor with the Tory dignitaries, after all, he’s only just joined the Tory party, and he had to pick a Whig star to attack big time. And Lord John Russell, author of Don Carlos, was clearly a more than suitable target.
First of all, Lord Russell’s fame is big enough, but the status in the Whig Party is not ranked in the first echelon, rich in talent, but the character is perverse and withdrawn, older than him, the Whig Party veterans can’t stand his arrogance and pride, and about the same age as him can’t stand his mouth that looks like it contains nails sarcastic everywhere, only those who are more senior than his shallow brainless young people will be because of the influence of the idol’s halo is willing to flock to his side. The only ones who are less experienced than him are the young people who are willing to flock to him because of his idol aura.
It must be said that your Jewish friend had chosen his opponents well, and his attack on Lord Russell would not only satisfy the Tory bigwigs, but would also make some of the Whigs feel good about themselves. Only I’m still surprised that Disraeli followed your advice and chose to join the Tories. I had always thought before that he would choose the Whigs, who are relatively friendly to the Jews; after all, even the Rothschilds have now shown a desire to abandon the Duke of Wellington and switch sides.”
Arthur lit a fire and took a drag on his cigarette, “How could that be, Benjamin is a smart man, he naturally knows what it means to throw high and suck low, and he is not like Alexander who is unable to recognize his own weight. Rothschild can switch support because the Whig Party is very willing to accept a rich family that can cause an earthquake in London’s financial city, while Benjamin is at best a somewhat famous fashion novelist, at most plus the identity of the editor-in-chief of “Cockney”, for the popular Whig Party, such a young man is not much more than one, and not less than one, so how would he be entrusted with a heavy responsibility?
But the Tory side is different, they have just lost the ruling position, the public opinion environment is also terrible, whether it is the Times, the Manchester Guardian, these relatively neutral newspapers, or the Observer such as the radicals, all the Tory members angrily denounced as the source of corruption in Britain’s politics. At this point if we can get a novelist with a good image in the public eye, a political vegetarian without much black history, although it can not be considered a great gain, but it is always some help.
Moreover, Benjamin’s choice of political slogans is also very pleasing to the eye, as he calls for the revival of the old aristocratic spirit that has been forgotten in the corner, celebrates the idyllic pastoral countryside life, and puts the blame for the moral degeneration of the society on the rampant materialism caused by the industrial age. I have heard that the clergy seem to be very receptive to his ideas, and those noble youths also recognize his philosophy.
As for Sir Peel, although Benjamin’s views clashed with his philosophy, he didn’t directly speak out against it out of the need to unite the party. Judging from the current momentum, it seems that everyone in the Tory party agrees that replacing Bernie Harrison’s parliamentary seat with Benjamin is a very appropriate choice.”
Agareth covered his mouth in mock surprise and said, “Wow! Arthur, listen to what you’re saying. Do you think this is the right thing to do?”
Arthur raised an eyebrow, “Right? No, I just think this reference to Benjamin is at least better than Bernie Harrison. Agareth, you’ve all but witnessed the rise and fall of human society for thousands of years, then you should know that for most of that time we were just heading for bad or worse, and now that we’re lucky enough to have avoided the worse, that’s a blessing, so how can I expect him to be right or wrong? Besides, Benjamin, though a little pompous for his own good, knows how to be flexible; he’s even willing to wear a corset for the sake of a slim waist, so what’s there that he can’t do?”
At that, Arthur also pulled out a document from the large stack of documents in front of his case, pointing to the notation in Disraeli’s file and spoke, “According to what I chatted with him two days ago, I’m afraid that as soon as he becomes a councilor, he’ll immediately take a shot at the Whigs on the issue of child labor. I’m satisfied with that for now, and that’s enough. Besides, once Benjamin is elected, Bernie Harrison will be caught at Scotland Yard the next day, and I assure you that he will be in for it then.”
As Arthur spoke, suddenly, there was a loud knock on the door.
“Enter.”
The door to the office room was pushed open, and a Scotland Yard police officer clutching a file and wearing a neat uniform pushed his way in.
Arthur looked him up and down and couldn’t help but let out a long breath of relief.
The world was a crazy place, I had to say, where rats could be bridesmaids for cats.
He previously thought that with Louis Bonaparte’s identity, the Foreign Office should not easily issue him with British citizenship, and even if he took the citizenship, then his uncle and mother should not release him to become a police officer.
After all, even the average Londoner wouldn’t consider the Scotland Yard police to be such a high-end profession, and they still had a clear distinction between the detectives in the Hastings Mysteries and the officers of Scotland Yard.
But even with all the odds against him, Louis Bonaparte showed up.
Arthur looked at Louis Bonaparte, who stood upright like a sword, and spoke, “I have to say, this uniform fits you better than I thought it would.” Louis Bonaparte didn’t seem to care about it, he closed the door and said, “What’s wrong with that, even during the Napoleonic wars, a lot of uniforms of the French army were purchased from the UK, and the fabrics from the UK aren’t rare for me.”
Saying this, he came forward and placed the organized and categorized documents in front of Arthur’s desk, “Sir, as you requested, Bernie Harrison’s whereabouts have been placed under our surveillance. If the Parliamentary Reform Bill is vetoed tomorrow, and Earl Grey really does call for the dissolution of Parliament, as soon as his feet step out of the Parliament building, we will be able to make an arrest of him immediately.”
Hearing this, Arthur just picked up his white porcelain cup and took a sip of tea, “Louis, there’s no need to be in such a hurry, you can do things in Britain without having to be as efficient as you are in France, it’s fine to take it easy.”
Louis Bonaparte raised one eyebrow and asked, “So, what do you mean?”
“At least let Mr. Harrison go home and see his wife and children again. Besides, it’s not a good idea to do it in front of so many legislators. Of course, letting Mr. Harrison go home to say goodbye doesn’t mean letting him set foot in the house. If he did, we’d have to apply for a search warrant from the court, and that would be quite a hassle.”
Hearing this, Louis Bonaparte just frowned and said, “Doing things in England is really a lot of rules and regulations, there is so much evidence against Harrison, just get him here directly, why go through all this trouble?”
Arthur spoke, “It can’t be helped, in Britain, at least on the surface there are still rules to follow. Since there is a rule, then we have to abide by it, as for whether the rule is right or wrong, that’s something the councilors need to discuss, we are just carrying out the great decision of the cabinet and council.”
Louis Bonaparte heard this, and for a moment he could not help but want to discuss something with Arthur again.
He hesitated for half a day, but still fished out a folded manuscript from his coat pocket and laid it in front of Arthur: “After I talked to you the other day, I had some new ideas, and I added them to the new manuscript. If …… I mean if you think it’s still good, would you mind recommending it to The Cockney for me?”
Arthur scanned the manuscript in hand, only to see a few paragraphs sprawled across it.
Governments are established to help societies overcome obstacles that impede their progress ……
Government is not, as a famous economist has said, a necessary evil, but a useful promoter of all social organization ……
What lasts is good. That which lasts longest is best for the group ……
Caesar of Rome must have wished to retain the republican form, while Napoleon of France re-established the monarchy ……
In order to avoid the lack of stability and continuity, which are the greatest defects of a democratic republic, it is necessary to create a hereditary family, which will act as the protector of the general interest, but whose power should be based entirely on the democratic spirit of the people ……
Britain is conservative because they have something worth being conservative about. The British system has been preserved for centuries and is now the dominant power of the world’s oceans and the star of the industrial age. Their success proves that conserving British institutions is fully justified, but French conservatives, do you have anything to be proud of? As a party you have no brilliant precedents, and you are conserving to-day nothing more than what you set out to overthrow yesterday!
Arthur saw this and felt just a little headache.
Although there was no longer any censorship of publication, there would certainly be a great deal of controversy if something like this were to be printed in the Britannica.
Not to mention the fact that Disraeli had only just sent out a special issue of the Cockney a while ago pandering to the Tories, lambasting the Whig Grey Cabinet as being sick with the infantile disease of being obsessed with France.
If we put another Louis Bonaparte article up at this point, won’t it become a left-right fight?
Moreover, the original intention of “The Englishman” was to be an entertainment publication, but now one or two key politicians are planning to show their own position in “The Englishman”, so what is the matter?
Arthur thought here, did not directly reply to Louis Bonaparte, but took out another document from the desk and flipped through it.
“Sir, can’t I write it?”
“No, that’s not it, whether you write well or not doesn’t affect your publication. I merely feel that this kind of writing is not suitable for the Englishman.”
“And what is this in your hand?”
Arthur flipped the manuscript and pointed to the name on it and spoke, “A friend of mine, Mr. John Mill, a researcher in political economy, sent me the manuscript. He had originally intended to send them in the Britannica as well, but I felt that it was just too different from what the Britannica was founded on.”
“That ……” Louis Bonaparte was a little deflated for a moment when he heard this, “Well, I see what you mean.”
Arthur raised his hand to signal him to stop, “No, I’m not rejecting the article, I just think that if you guys must send it out, why don’t you just get together and send out a supplement, get a snappy supplement title like Napoleonic Ideas or The Economist or something.”
Thanks to my book friend Mega_Peccato for the alliance reward, more tomorrow!
(End of chapter)