Chapter 309: Politics and Science (K4)

Chapter 307 Politics and Science (4K4)

Arthur and the others chatted idly all the way through the gates of Graysham Academy.

The three of them had not gone far before Arthur saw two familiar faces standing under the birch tree by the college’s aisle.

It was none other than Alexandre Dumas and the great German poet Heine, who was notorious with him.

Originally, after finalizing the English edition of Traveling Sketches to be distributed by The Englishman, Heine decided to leave for Paris.

But Dumas warmly invited this new friend to stay in London for a few more days, so that he could fulfill the hospitality of the host.

For the last week, Dumas had led Heine around London during the day, and at night they had stayed at Arthur’s house to engage in some dangerous talk.

Most of the speeches centered on the political differences between France and Germany. Although the two great writers rhetoric, sharp words, but for their dialogue fell on the sofa sitting on the newspaper reading Arthur’s ears is summarized into those few core.

Alexandre Dumas generally highly affirms Germany’s philosophical and cultural progress in recent years, occasionally dragging in a few quotes from Kant and Goethe to express his admiration for the German region. He even quotes the German historian Von Ranke to prove his point – that the Germans were ordered by God to develop a completely different culture and political system from the French.

Unexpectedly, these words, which were meant to be a gesture of goodwill, fell on Heine’s ears and made him feel the irony of the situation.

For this reason, the gentle appearance of Heine even at the expense of his own image on the spot, he bluntly said: “I do not think that God has prepared for mankind two paths of development, unless God thinks that the French and the Germans are two very different species. Von Ranke is a historian, and I don’t know why he wants to cross over into biology. It seems to me that if he’s not mentally deranged, there’s something physically wrong with him, otherwise how could this thing that likes to lick people’s hemorrhoids use his mouth to fart so skillfully?”

Perhaps it was this assertion of von Ranke’s that enraged Heine, who opened von Ranke’s black history lecture on time almost every night for a week, and the most remarkable thing was that the stories Heine brought every day were never the same.

The first thing he attacked was von Ranke’s famous History of the Latin and Teutonic Peoples, saying that von Ranke claimed to be a straight writer, but at the same time he did not believe that the development of history was a process from the lower to the higher level, and believed that the factional struggles of human society, as well as every critical moment, depended on the will of God. Von Ranke did this for the sole purpose of justifying the status quo in Prussia and Austria.

Heine, incidentally, also told the whole story of von Ranke’s being financed by Austrian Chancellor Metternich in Vienna and by the Prussian Foreign Office in Berlin to found the Historical-Political Review in order to counteract the trend of democratic ideas in Germany after the July Revolution in France.

Dumas was naturally shocked to learn of this, but he still could not see Heinrich Heine’s complimentary behavior to the current French July dynasty. He did everything possible to make Heine realize that France was not so good, but whenever he compared it with the German states, Heine always won easily.

And so it was that one of them labeled himself a political prisoner persecuted by the French government, while the other claimed that he was under daily surveillance by the Prussian secret police while in Germany. While the two of them were arguing, the British secret police, who were responsible for persecuting and monitoring political prisoners, were so sleepy that they wanted to go upstairs to bed.

But even though Dumas and Heine often quarreled over matters of opinion, this did not affect their friendship, and most of the time these two gentlemen were still heroes who appreciated heroes.

Arthur had just walked over and heard them chatting happily, and the object of their discussion was naturally the Prussian and Austrian royal historian, Mr. von Ranke.

Heine hand dancing cursed: “Von Ranke is a complete villain, he relied on the “History of the Latin and Teutonic peoples” managed to win the favor of the Prussian authorities, at a young age tasted the sweetness of licking hemorrhoids, and got the University of Berlin, associate professor of history of the teaching position. From then on he went from strength to strength, and with a book on the politics of the Ottoman and Spanish monarchs in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries he was again invited by Metternich to do a study tour in Austria. He was able to be highly regarded not because he held the truth, but because he was held by the man who defined what ‘truth’ was.”

Arthur walked up to the pair without a word and opened his mouth to greet them, “Criticizing von Ranke again? Heinrich, there’s no need to be so angry, it’s not like he caused your work to be banned in Austria.”

Heine turned around and saw Arthur, and laughed as if mocking himself, “Yes! My work can’t be published in Austria, yet his assertions not only flow freely in all parts of Germany, but even receive official funding, so there is indeed a difference of several grades between us.”

When Dumas saw Arthur, he raised one eyebrow and spoke, “Hm? Why are you interested in joining our discussion today? For several nights in a row, haven’t you been passed out on the couch by the fireplace?”

Arthur just smiled, “Because I think you’ve been discussing this for so long, it’s time to end this topic and talk about something else.”

Louis, who was following Arthur, asked, “So? What is your conclusion?”

Arthur just shrugged his shoulders and said, “Every country can find some kind of pleasant compensation for its depressing deficiencies: the ruthless North has its iron rigidity, the sickly South its golden sunshine, gloomy Spain its faith, the humor bestowed on others refreshes impoverished France, and the fog in England glorifies the power of freedom. ”

Heine could not help frowning and asking, “And Germany?”

Arthur laughed, “Germany? Germany is nothing.”

Heine shook her head slightly at this and said, “I knew it.”

“No, Heinrich, don’t misunderstand my words.”

Arthur spoke, “As you are familiar with German literature, the tradition of German literature is that there is no tradition, and before the 18th century Germany couldn’t even come up with a single work that could be mobbed by literary critics. But after 1750, the soil of German literature seemed to become fertile all of a sudden, and all kinds of masters and philosophers appeared in abundance. The fact that there was nothing was not in all cases a bad thing, for it also meant that there was no need to be bound by tradition. Whether this state of unboundness is good or bad depends on the Germans themselves.”

Hearing this, Dumas also smiled broadly and reassured Heine, “That’s true, and it’s not true that Germany has nothing, at least you have beautiful German girls.”

When Heine heard this, she frowned even more tightly, “Alexander, as soon as you said that I knew for sure you had never been to our place. The word pretty is not associated with most German girls. Have you ever seen dragoons marching? German girls, especially the peasant girls from our part of the world, they walk just like dragoons.”

Dumas laughed at this and said, “No wonder the cavalry of the King’s German Legion in Britain is far more capable of fighting than the native cavalry of Britain, so they already had their mothers with them to train them when they were in their mother’s womb?”

As soon as Dumas’ words came out of his mouth, Mr. Cook, the retired second lieutenant of the Army who was following Arthur, became a bit upset.

He followed up with a sarcastic remark, “If we talk about women’s fighting ability, I think the girls of France are number one. If it wasn’t for Jeanne d’Arc, maybe we’d have the same king as the French by now.” When Dumas heard this, he immediately sneered back, “Sir, what kind of good wishes are you making?”

Cook said defiantly, “Would you like a fight, sir? Although I have retired from the army, I have to politely remind you that although we can’t beat the French girl. But since the Hundred Years War, Britain and France have always won more than they’ve lost when they’ve fought.”

Seeing that the two men had pressed their hands to the pistols on their belts, Arthur hurriedly spoke out to ease the atmosphere, “Alexander, you’ve already dueled with others three times this month, doesn’t your pistol need maintenance? As for you, Mr. Cook, you know that you are retired from the military and it’s still peacetime, so even if you win a duel, the Ministry of War and Colonial Affairs won’t give you a promotion commendation. More than that, I’m going to have to ask you to make a trip to Scotland Yard.”

As soon as Arthur gave the word, Cook just had to hold back his desire to duel, and he took off his hat and apologized, “I’m sorry, Mr. Hastings, I didn’t mean to cause you any trouble.”

Dumas’ hand left his holster as well, “Count yourself lucky, I’ve never lost a pistol duel since I came to Britain.”

Arthur changed the subject, “By the way, what brings you and Heinrich to the Royal Society today?”

Dumas skimmed his lips and said, “We have basically finished shopping everywhere in London, and today I was thinking of coming to the Royal Society to listen to a scientific lecture for a change, but I didn’t expect to actually bump into Mr. Faraday’s main lecture. You also know, Faraday’s lectures always have to book tickets in advance, we did not grab a ticket, naturally can only wander outside the lecture hall and wait for the next one.”

Hearing this, Arthur opened his mouth and inquired, “Didn’t you guys go to find Charles? Even if you don’t have tickets, let him go and talk to the people of the Royal Society, and most likely he will be able to put you guys in.”

“Mr. Wheatstone might as well forget it.”

Dumas shook his head, “You know how he is, and trusting someone to do a job is never on his mind. Moreover, in order to keep other people away from him, that guy even took the example of Mr. Faraday and locked himself up in the Faraday Cage to do his research at ease. That room is full of high voltage electricity, I don’t want to go in there and get electrocuted. By the way, why did you come to the Royal Society today?”

“Me?” Arthur fished out a manuscript from his pocket and raised it at Dumas, “The thesis I promised Mr. Faraday before is finally finished, so while there’s nothing else to do today, I’ll take the time to bring it to him.”

As soon as Dumas heard this, he instantly remembered what happened before, and he suddenly realized, “Is this thesis the reason why you plucked so many potatoes from me? But I still can’t figure out what the hell potatoes have to do with the study of electromagnetism.”

Louis had seen Arthur’s invention before, so he smiled and helped explain, “Although it’s hard to believe, I did see with my own eyes how Arthur took a few potatoes to generate electricity.”

Just as Louis finished his words, it was Cook’s turn to be filled with puzzlement.

This medical undergraduate of the University of Heidelberg rubbed the back of his head and said, “Potatoes? Power generation? How are these two things connected?”

Arthur just smiled, “The exact principle is still to be studied, it’s like the phenomenon of electromagnetic induction, maybe someone will get some inspiration from this phenomenon and burst out with ideas like the telegraph.”

Cook shook his head repeatedly, “Although I hate to admit it, but this line of scientific research, sometimes it does require a bit of talent. What a genius like you and Mr. Faraday spent an afternoon discovering, a mediocrity like me would have to spend months or even years to understand the mysteries. This morning the Royal Society has just announced Faraday Wave’s discovery, and in the afternoon you bring me the potato battery, which is really ……”

Arthur looked at Cook, who was in distress, and just smiled and waved his hand at him, “Mr. Cook, you mustn’t be presumptuous, that telegraph you mentioned to me before has me exceptionally interested. I assure you that if you can get it developed, I can immediately place an order with you on behalf of Scotland Yard. Not only that, I can guarantee that the Financial City side will also be very interested in this thing. After all, for those stockbrokers, learning about it a day earlier might enable them to earn tons of gold.”

As soon as Arthur’s words left his mouth, Cook, who was still a bit disheartened, immediately swept away his depression, and this young man, who already had one foot on the edge of the bankruptcy cliff, patted his chest and assured, “Mr. Hastings, you can rest assured on the matter of the telegraph. I can assure you that it is perfectly feasible in theory, and it is only a matter of time before it is built.”

“If that’s …… the case,” Arthur smiled slightly, “maybe I can even take care of the patent issue for you and Charles, take the fast track, and it’ll be down in a week. It’s just that …… Mr. Cook, as you know, just like you did in the Army back in the day, it must take a little bit of a minuscule amount of work to go that route on a patent application.”

Cook sniffed and nodded deeply, “Of course …… that’s the way things are done in Britain, I understand what you mean. Those bastards are all about recognizing money and not people, and they have the audacity to call it a commodity economy and free trade, it’s shameless.”

Arthur laughed and shook his head, “No, Mr. Cook, you misunderstand. Money has never been a problem, the rich Mr. Wheatstone will naturally solve it. And on my side, as you know, Scotland Yard is a police department, so we just need a clear piece of paper with a non-disclosure agreement.”

“A non-disclosure agreement?”

Before Cook could react to what was going on, he saw a dispersing crowd appear outside the lecture hall.

In the midst of this crowd, Faraday, wearing a frilly white shirt and an old tuxedo, was still standing out.

Only today’s Faraday’s face did not hang his trademark gentle smile.

On the contrary, Faraday’s expression was a bit ugly, and even a hint of anger could be detected between his eyebrows.

A few well-dressed men panickedly chased after Faraday as they walked behind him: ”Mr. Faraday, Mr. Faraday, please listen to our explanation, the minister absolutely did not mean to offend you at that time. He is usually so casual, whether in front of the Prime Minister or in front of the other members of the cabinet, he is that way. We assure you that the minister definitely did not do that against you alone.”

Arthur didn’t care about the men at first, but when he looked closer, he realized that the gentlemen running after Faraday were all familiar faces, and they were all, without exception, officers of the Ministry of the Interior.

“Has Viscount Melbourne offended Faraday?”

Arthur pondered for a moment, but finally followed closely.

(End of chapter)