Chapter 347: The East India Company’s Big Shot

Chapter 344 – The East India Company’s Big Shot

After Arthur promised to solve the problem, General Napier left humming a little tune to himself.

But the secretary of the Foreign Office stayed behind to chat with Arthur about the changes that had taken place in London in recent times.

In addition to the workers’ riots caused by the port segregation policy, there were also various instances of family members of patients storming quarantine hospitals due to the strong isolation of patients.

All in all, it sounds like Viscount Melbourne, the Home Secretary, must have been very upset recently.

On the official side, he has to deal with the health and safety issues arising from the Swain riots and cholera amongst the farmers in the south, and on the personal side, he has to deal with Judge George Norton’s allegations of illicit relationships.

Although the position of Home Secretary had always been considered one of the three thrones of the Cabinet, alongside the Foreign Secretary and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, it was now a hot potato.

Even with Viscount Melbourne’s naturally lethargic personality, he was forced to work overtime to attend all kinds of multi-departmental joint meetings, to study what methods can be used in the end to suppress these things.

It is said that his sister Mrs. Cowper once privately persuaded Viscount Melbourne: “Now all kinds of things on the body, not as good as and George Norton out-of-court settlement, that insolent man is not just want to extort 1400 pounds? We Lamb’s family are not so bad off.”

But Viscount Melbourne for his sister’s persuasion is extremely resistant, he words rejected his sister’s advice, and asked her not to continue to ask about this matter.

Seeing that her brother would not listen, Mrs. Cowper went to Viscount Palmerston to borrow money, intending to go secretly herself to help her brother reach a settlement with George Norton.

As a result, when Viscount Melbourne learned of this from Viscount Palmerston, His Excellency the Viscount, who hadn’t been red-faced with anyone else for decades, was rarely moved to anger, and he immediately sent someone to stop his sister and affirm to her again and again that he and Mrs. Norton were innocent, and that he wasn’t going to bow down to such a villain as Norton, much less take the initiative to tarnish his own reputation.

And was brother stink scolded Mrs. Cowper only feel the heart aggrieved, obviously want to do something for the mother’s family, the result is that the brother still do not read their own feelings.

Mrs. Cowper for this for two weeks have not attended any social occasions of the party, the whole of London can not find her shadow.

The ladies of the Ormac Club said that she seemed to have gambled her way back to the Earl of Cowper’s domain, and might have to wait until next spring when the social season came again before returning to London.

And George Norton, seeing that Viscount Melbourne was actually so forceful, also became furious and formally filed an adultery suit against Viscount Melbourne and his own wife in court.

But because Norton in addition to Mrs. Norton often travel to the Home Office, and he provided the man and woman in the letter can not find decisive evidence.

So, after a trial, Viscount Melbourne and Mrs. Norton were found innocent.

But just because the trial was over didn’t mean the matter was over. Not satisfied with the outcome of the trial, Judge Norton, after losing the case, directly kicked his wife out of the house, and sent their three sons, then aged 2, 4 and 6, to relatives to raise them, and also strictly forbade the mother and children to meet each other.

Because of the gossipy nature of such an incident naturally also caused a furor in London.

Various London tabloids began to scramble to report on the details of the affair lawsuit.

Opponents argued that Viscount Melbourne’s victory was due to the dirty political influence he exerted on the court. Could a woman who was always running to the Home Office for nothing be doing anything other than lovers’ private meetings?
Supporters, on the other hand, argued that Viscount Melbourne’s reputation was tried and tested. When Viscount Melbourne’s wife, Duchess Ponsonby, stirred up trouble for ten or twenty years, His Excellency the Viscount did not criticize his wife and Lord Byron too harshly. He even took the initiative to come out and speak for his wife when she was at the center of the storm, hoping to calm things down. How could such a loyal and kind gentleman do such immoral things as destroying other people’s families?

There are other analysts who try to explain the problem in terms of human nature by first assuming that Viscount Melbourne was having an affair with Lady Norton.

And that is because Viscount Melbourne was green by Lord Byron, coupled with his wife, the Duchess of Ponsonby and a completely crazy woman, and even in the Lord Byron casket back to the country in the face of a street full of onlookers pounced on the coffin and rolled in the air.

It is because of the experience of these ordinary people can not bear the weight, so it makes the cultured Viscount Melbourne produced a certain degree of psychopathy.

And it is likely that his relationship with Lady Norton was an attempt to find a way to make up for his own shortcomings.

As the saying goes, despise the minotaur, understand the minotaur, become the minotaur, and surpass the minotaur.

Analysts tend to summarize the above quote as the psychological development of Viscount Melbourne.

Whereas the ladies of London generally despise the so-called ‘minotaur theory’, the complex relationship between Viscount Melbourne and his wife is well known in the streets of London.

And the Ponsonby Duchess dying before the servants commanded that ‘please call William over, in this world, only he is the only one who has never failed me’ is even more ruthless in the hearts of thousands of young girls.

Viscount William Lamb of Melbourne, whether from the knowledge of culture, status and even looks, are first-class characters, and he also in the death of his wife so far did not remarry. Therefore, after having such a bleak and sad marriage story, he was again labeled as infatuation by the ladies.

Because of this, Viscount Melbourne has always been well liked by women, and naturally, this group of Viscount Melbourne’s female supporters cannot tolerate other people’s attacks on him. So when the extramarital affair lawsuit first came out, a number of upper-class ladies and middle-class female novelists came out in solidarity with him.

On the one hand there was a tidal wave of voices calling for the removal of morally impure people from ministerial office, and on the other hand there was a barrage of accusations against brutal husbands for humiliating their wives.

In contrast to the port throughput, which fell off a cliff during the cholera, the London paper press exploded like a rocket into the air.

As soon as Arthur heard this, he suddenly rushed to Dumas, who was listening with great interest beside him, and spoke, “Alexander, the grand finale portion of Charles’s Pickwickian Gaiden hasn’t been sent out yet, has it?”

Dumas pulled out his ears, “No, haven’t you been holding it back from being sent out? Charles thought that the manuscript was being held back because there was something wrong with his writing, and for this reason, he privately changed the manuscript a few times, and even went to the editorial office to ask me about it.

Arthur, it’s not that I’m talking about you, you can’t treat a talented young writer like Charles like that, but the pressure on the manuscript can be a blow to creative confidence. And the readers are very unhappy, more than half of the letters of complaint in the editorial office of The Cockney came to question why the Pickwick Gaiden suddenly stopped working for so long.”

Hearing this, Arthur simply spoke, “I didn’t intentionally try to suppress his manuscript either, and the suppression wasn’t due to the fact that his writing wasn’t good. Contrary to that, I think he writes really well, and in order to help Charles write the courtroom part, I also opened part of the courtroom volume to him.

It’s because this is a perfect ending that we have to pick the perfect time to put this ending out in order to live up to Charles’ efforts. Alexander, on my word, in the next issue of Britannica, put out the entire climactic part of the grand finale of Pickwick Gaiden all at once.”

“Put it out all at once?” Dumas glared, “That’s a volume of three or four issues, do you want us to print extra copies on the page?”

Arthur spoke unconcernedly, “It’s just a matter of paying more for printing, trust me, Alexander, the sales of the next issue will definitely surprise you.” Hearing this, the Foreign Office secretary couldn’t help but ask curiously, “To tell you the truth, I’m actually a big fan of The Briton. Mr. Hastings, for the sake of our friendship, can you reveal a little bit about what’s so special about the grand finale of Pickwick Gaiden?”

Arthur rubbed his temples, “It …… is a bit hard for me to remember, after all, it’s been a while since the grand finale was written. Why don’t you let Mr. Chung Ma, the Chief Editor of Fashion Literature of The Cockney beside me, introduce you to it.”

Dumas also didn’t understand exactly where Arthur got his confidence, although he shared the view that the grand finale of Pickwick Gaiden was quite good, it was not an easy thing to drive up the sales of the entire magazine.

Dumas spoke, “In the previous serial, didn’t Mr. Pickwick receive a court summons? That court summons was actually about a marriage destruction lawsuit.

The lawsuit started when two greedy lawyers, Dawson and Fogg, intervened on behalf of the landlady, Mrs. Bardell, and said that Mr. Pickwick had promised to marry her, but that Mr. Pickwick hadn’t carried out the marriage contract, so the two lawyers filed a claim for £750.

But Mr. Pickwick was so disgusted with this kind of litigant, who fed exclusively on the law, that although he could afford to pay the damages, he would not yield to the trumped-up charge, and so in the end he had the misfortune to end up in the debtor’s prison.

And unexpectedly, the two lawyers, seeing that Mr. Pickwick was slow to pay the fine and Mrs. Bardell could not pay the legal fees, threw her into debtor’s prison along with them …… hmmm ……”

As Dumas introduces the story, he suddenly senses a hint of something amiss.

He recalled the plot for a moment, and suddenly suggested to Arthur: “I think the lawyer’s claim of 750 pounds from Mr. Pickwick is still too little, how about changing it to 1,400 pounds, and wouldn’t that make it all right?”

Arthur shook his head, “Alexander, what are you trying to insinuate? You have to remember that The Briton is an objective and unbiased literary magazine, we don’t export any tendency of opinion to our readers, be it political or opinionated.”

Dumas nodded repeatedly with both arms wrapped around his head, “Right, right, right, we don’t export politics or public opinion, we mainly export political opinion, such as our supplement, The Economist. Okay, no more bullshit. Shit! Arthur, how did you foresee this? Did you know early on that Norton would sue?”

Arthur just shrugged his shoulders and said, “Alexander, I’ve told you before, I know Pickwick Gaiden like the back of my hand, not just in terms of plot, but in terms of context, which is a basic quality for a lover of literature.”

“Huh? And you mention the background. Didn’t you lay out this background?”

The secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs looked at the two of them as you spoke, and just said with a smile, “Although I don’t know what the hell is going on here. But being able to lay the background is an enviable ability in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, we don’t have such talents there, so Britain’s foreign policy has always been to take one step at a time.”

When Dumas heard this, his face was full of disbelief, “Sir, your words are too demeaning to your diplomatic work. In my opinion, Britain’s diplomatic work is perhaps the best in all of Europe, but you have organized so many anti-French alliances.”

“No, no, no, Monsieur Dumas, the organization of the Anti-French League was certainly a feat, but the main credit for making it possible does not lie with the Foreign Office, but with France.”

“How is that?”

The secretary took a sip of tea and said, “You must realize that the good and the bad are usually set off, and France has always done a good job of setting the background.”

As soon as Dumas heard this, he couldn’t help but sneer back, “But sir, when France was laying down the background, you would have still been a citizen of the German Duchy of Hesse, wouldn’t you?”

The secretary shrugged his shoulders, “To be precise, at that time my father was a Hessian mercenary working for the Commonwealth of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the Hanoverian Kingdom. If you must accuse me of German blood, well, I do have it, but so what? I would have been an honorable British gentleman by now.”

There was nothing Dumas could do with such a man, and he said through clenched teeth, “Perhaps I should have Heinrich come over and hear you say that …… Wow, no …… that boy might get envious of you. ”

The secretary asked, “Hmm? From what you’re saying, there’s a German here?”

Arthur nodded, “Indeed there is, but rest assured it is not a Bavarian.”

“Hurray.” The Secretary General breathed a sigh of relief, “But dealing with the Bavarians was actually okay, at least it wasn’t as much work as dealing with the Austrians. It’s a rare occasion when I can agree with Viscount Palmerston on that point.”

Arthur asked, “Hmm? Does Viscount Palmerston hate Austria? That’s rare, isn’t he usually close to the Russians? The two are so close that I thought he was a pro-Tsarist absolutist.”

The secretary nodded, “No, Mr. Hastings, you are mistaken. His Excellency the Viscount’s preferences are not divided by doctrine, but by personal feelings. It is the same with the absolutists; he likes the Russians because Mrs. Levine has given him a lot of help, while he hates Austria because of Metternich.

Of course, his dislike of France was also high, and in this respect, in addition to deep-rooted national feelings, the French ambassador, Mr. Talleyrand, played an important role. Parliamentarians, as you know, are creatures of the press and of public opinion, and so Viscount Palmerston has a natural aversion to characters who steal his thunder.

And in the field of diplomacy it is naturally Metternich and Talleyrand, the twin stars of Europa’s diplomacy, who can eat, drink, and call the shots over the head of the British Foreign Secretary.”

Arthur cupped his chin and pondered, “There are always interesting tidbits to hear from you. I’ve heard that Viscount Palmerston has made the Foreign Ministry like an airtight fortress, and all those who dare to leak information about the Foreign Ministry to the outside world are severely punished. So, out of concern for the preservation of my friends, I won’t continue to pry further.”

The secretary just smiled at his words, “Mr. Hastings, you shouldn’t take that kind of rumor too seriously. If there really is a massive leak in the Foreign Ministry, the one who leaked the information can only be His Excellency the Viscount himself. You have to realize that the government and the Royal Navy are not the same, the ship that is the government usually leaks from the top. So, fuck him. I value you as a friend far more than I do this job in hand. It’s just an assistant undersecretary position at the Foreign Office, it’s not like I’m going to get promoted anyway, and as you know, the topmost undersecretary positions are usually reserved for MPs.”

Hearing this, Arthur smiled and extended his hand, “Forgive my forgetfulness, my friend, but what is your name?”

The secretary was unconcerned by this small oversight on Arthur’s part, he shook Arthur’s hand and smiled back, “August Schneider, it’s been a pleasure talking to you, Arthur. As much as I’d like to continue, I have to go and make arrangements for Mr. Napier’s next trip. But before I go, I’ll send you one more little message.”

Arthur asked, “Still from the Foreign Office?”

“Well …… not ……” Schneider spoke up, “To be precise, it was the East India Company that took the initiative and the Ministry of the Interior and the Customs Department gave their nods of approval . They want to send additional manpower to assist you in continuing to clear up the tariff problems in Liverpool.”

“Whoa?” Arthur asked, “What kind of people? Do you know?”

Schneider smiled, “The Chief Professor of Political Economy at Haileybury College of the East India Company and the team of students under him. By the way, the professor has an interesting nickname that you must have heard of.”

“What nickname?”

Schneider stood up and gathered his coat, “‘Population’ Malthus.”

(End of chapter)