Chapter 365: The Mountain Rain Is Coming

Chapter 362: Mountain Rain
London, Palace of Westminster.

Passing through the long walkway in the palace and pushing open the heavy door, the more than four hundred green leather seats in the Council Chamber of the House of Commons were immediately imprinted on the eyes.

Although the size of the chamber was not small, after the influx of more than six hundred members of the House of Commons along with the journalists, citizens, and petition groups that had come to observe, it still made the place look crowded.

In the crowded environment, no one would notice that a Scotland Yard superintendent was standing on the second floor of the council chamber at the moment.

Although Arthur’s status has long been different nowadays, and has even touched the edge of the real upper class.

However, compared to the gentlemen who were present here, his title seemed so mediocre.

A number of the gentlemen here had business cards bearing the suffixes of Sir, from Baronet to Lord.

As to why there were no barons, viscounts, earls, or other more honorable titles in the House of Commons, it was naturally because these distinguished gentlemen were all seated next door in the House of Lords.

Although the House of Commons was also known as the House of Commoners, it would have been a mistake in 19th century England to think of the gentlemen of the House of Commons as actual commoners just because they did not hold titles of nobility.

Taking the title of Lord of the House of Commons as an example, there are only two possibilities to be able to hold the title of Lord of the House.

One possibility is that the holder of this title is a genuine baron and above, no matter if it is a baron, viscount, earl, marquis or even a duke, all of them can be collectively referred to as Lord.

But despite saying so, in practice, people would usually only call a baron a Lord. And when facing higher level nobles, they are generously addressed as Duke, Marquis and so on.

As for the reason for doing so, it is also very simple.

Of course is to avoid embarrassment.

This is just like the way people will automatically remove the word “deputy” when they are confronted with a deputy director or a deputy manager and address him directly as the director and the manager.

Of course, the lords who were able to appear in the House of Commons were not even barons, and they belonged to another special case.

That is, their fathers were noblemen, and their fathers are still alive at the moment.

For these second-generation nobles, the Britons would also politely address them as Lords according to traditional custom.

For example, the current Home Secretary, Viscount Melbourne, had been addressed as Lord when his father had not passed away, and had stayed in the House of Commons for close to thirty years due to his status as a commoner.

And after his father’s death, His Excellency the Viscount, who had succeeded to his father’s title, had of course to leave the House of Commons for the new world of the House of Lords.

Of course, not everyone has the luck of Viscount Melbourne, who happens to be the eldest son of the family, and can be promoted to the Upper House just by surviving the death of his old man.

For those younger sons in the family, they would lose the honorary title of Lord upon the death of their father.

But most of the father’s usually understand the situation of the sons, so most of the younger sons will be sent into the army during their lifetime to simmer a seniority, until the time and curriculum vitae are almost padded, and then trust some relations to the younger sons to seek a knight or from the baron’s title.

Although knights and barons from the social system in Britain still belong to the status of commoners, but at least in the business card on the fall of a Sir’s title is not it?
And go this way to go the most successful, when the Duke of Wellington Arthur Wellesley.

Duke of Wellington as no inheritance of the youngest son, as a child did not show particularly outstanding talent, so after graduating from Eton, it was sent to the family is located in Angers, France, Pinelore military academy to study.

And after graduating from the military academy, his second brother, Edward Wellesley, donated him a commission as an army lieutenant in the 73rd Highland Infantry Regiment in Scotland.

After a few years in the army, the Duke of Wellington himself put together another donation to himself all the way to the position of Lieutenant Colonel of the Army.

After that, the French Revolution broke out, the young Duke of Wellington was sent to the Netherlands to participate in the war against France. As a result, he suffered his first and only defeat in his life.

Perhaps he had learned a valuable lesson from this defeat, and the Duke of Wellington, who had been baptized by fire, never recovered from it.

After recovering from his wounds, he followed his elder brother Richard Wellesley to India and was promoted to colonel, in charge of commanding the 33rd Infantry Regiment in the battle against the Kingdom of Mysore in India.

During the five years he spent in India, Wellington made repeated successes and almost single-handedly helped Britain win the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War.

He also saved his father a large sum of money for the knighthood by his own hard work.

With his achievements in India, the Duke of Wellington was knighted as a Knight of the Bath the first time he returned home and was promoted to Major General, and at the same time, he also led the Cabinet of Ministers of Irish Affairs.

In the Peninsular War, the Duke of Wellington stepped on the heads of several French marshals and rose through the ranks.

In 1808, after defeating French Marshal Jean Andochet Junot at the Battle of Vermeiro, the Duke of Wellington was promoted to Lieutenant General and created Baron Durrow of Wellesley in Somerset.

In 1809, after a surprise attack on French Marshal Jean de Dieu-Soult at the Battle of Talavera and the capture of the Portuguese town of Porto, he was created Viscount Wellington of Talavera and Somerset.

In 1810, after defeating Marshal André Massena at the Battle of Bussaco, he was created Earl of Wellington.

In July of the same year, after defeating French Marshal Auguste Marmont by a small margin at the Battle of Salamanca and capturing the Spanish capital Madrid, he was promoted to General of the Army and created Marquis of Wellington.

In 1813, he ran for thousands of miles and wiped out the 50,000 French troops led by Louis his uncle, King Joseph Bonaparte of Spain, in the Battle of Victoria, driving the French completely out of the Iberian Peninsula and attacking the French mainland. And for such a sparkling performance, the King and Parliament naturally awarded him the highest level of commendation – promoted Field Marshal, crowned Duke of Wellington, and awarded the highest honor of Britain ‘Knight of the Order of the Knight of the Guardian’.

Of course, this was far from all the Duke of Wellington’s honors.

As a veteran medal collector, the medals Arthur has seen in the cabinet of honors at his residence, 1 Apsley House, London, include but are not limited to:

Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Tower and Sword, the highest honor of the Kingdom of Portugal.

Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece, the highest honor of the Kingdom of Spain. The highest honor of the Kingdom of Sweden – Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Holy Sword, First Class.

Highest honor of the Austrian Empire – Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Maria Theresa.

The highest honor of the Russian Empire – Order of St. Andre.

Highest honor of the Kingdom of Prussia – Order of the Black Eagle.

The highest honor of the Kingdom of Sardinia – the Order of the Annunciation.

The highest honor of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies – the Order of St. Ferdinand and Merit.

On top of that, there were many of the highest medals of the smaller German states, as well as medals that Arthur couldn’t even recognize exactly what they were.

Of course, the main event was His Excellency the Duke’s eight marshal’s staffs.

It could be said that the Duke of Wellington was just one French Legion of Honor away from a full collection of European medals.

But he didn’t get this medal in the end can only blame himself, who let him in Waterloo to Napoleon abdicated?
Because of Napoleon’s abdication, the medal was temporarily out of print, leaving everyone without one. If Arthur wanted to see what the medal looked like, he had to go to Talleyrand to apply for it, which was a great offense.

But although the Duke of Wellington’s splendor was incomparable, it didn’t mean that every nobleman’s youngest sons could be as successful as he was.

Quite a few people in the House of Commons only have a title bought with money from a baronet, or a lower order of Lordship of the Order of Sirs that they got through the back door by making connections.

Of course, there were those who didn’t even have a baronetcy or a lower Order of Merit, such as Mr. Benjamin Disraeli, who was being mobbed by a group of Whig MPs in the center of the stage.

Mr. Hunt of the Westminster Federation couldn’t stop himself from slapping the tabletop and blushing as he snapped at Disraeli.

“Of the twenty-two Prime Ministers from 1721 to 1832, thirteen were Peers of the House of Lords, six were sons of Peers, and one was a grandson of a Peer. Some important posts such as the Lord Chancellor, for example, the Privy Councillor and the Lords of the Guard were also held by peers, and important British diplomatic officials were for the most part held by the great nobility!
From 1734-1832, 3/4 of the members were landowners or their close relatives, and the rest of the MPs were either their friends or wealthy merchants and freelancers nominated by them. As for the army, it was more of an aristocracy. Our parliament even used to state explicitly that officers should come from the families of proletarians! So it was mostly landed aristocrats and landed people who joined the army.

In the Parliament, I have conducted a background check on 558 Members of Parliament who have served in the House of Commons for a long time. The results showed that 107 of them were sons of noblemen, 68 were brothers and nephews of noblemen, and 129 were barons and their next of kin, meaning that 55% of the members of the House of Commons had elements of the aristocracy in one way or another.

Parliament and the army were in the hands of the nobility, local judicial and administrative power was controlled by reputable burghers, and the greatest number of workers, peasants and small craftsmen in Britain were excluded from state power. The present-day government of Britain does not represent the merchants or the peasants; it represents the nobility, which constitutes less than even one-tenth of one percent of the nation’s population!

It is a typical aristocratic oligarchy, where power is concentrated in a few. If Parliament does not represent all the people of Britain, how can you, Disraeli, have the audacity to claim to be the representative of the people? How are you able to shamelessly claim that parliamentary reform is unnecessary!”

When Disraeli heard Hant’s questioning, he just wrinkled his nose and hummed softly, “Mr. Hant, I have never said that I am firmly against parliamentary reform. But I believe that parliamentary reforms should be gradual and gentle changes. If you have to say that we need to implement universal suffrage immediately, well, then the first people you should convince should be your fellow Whigs who are standing in the same sewer as you. This is a parliament, not a bargaining market square, and if you yourselves don’t unify your steps beforehand, then any discussion we have here will be superfluous ……”

Arthur leaned over the fence on the second floor, listening to Disraeli’s high-flown speech from the speakers’ gallery in the center of the council, and couldn’t help but comment, “It seems that Benjamin is quickly familiarizing himself with his new duties.”

Dumas, who was on the side, couldn’t help but shake his head straight when he heard Disraeli’s remarks: “Benjamin, this kid is hiding really deep. But I really can’t figure out how a Jewish kid can become a Conservative. Wouldn’t parliamentary reform be bad for the Jews? How on earth did he get his ass to the Tory end of the table?”

Arthur leaned over the railing and spoke, “Alexander, it’s not an ass thing, it’s a political thing. He is now a Tory MP under the patronage of the Earl of Lyndhurst first and a Jew second. At this stage of the game, he’s not in a position to put forward much of his own views.”

Dumas snorted, “Perhaps the Earl of Lyndhurst saw fit to elect him out? How can anyone else bring up further reform ideas when the Jews, who have suffered so much discrimination, are on their side?”

Arthur shook his head as he sniffed, “In my opinion, getting the support of the Earl of Lyndhurst is still clearly much better than getting the support of the Duke of Newcastle. The Earl of Lyndhurst is at the very least considered to be a liberal in the Tory party that is on the same side as Sir Peel, while the Duke of Newcastle and Earl of Eldon’s faction are the hardest to deal with. Half of the seventy-six votes against the Reform Bill in the House of Commons in the second vote on the last Parliamentary Reform Bill came from them.”

“Only half?” Dumas asked, “And who voted for the other half?”

Arthur, playing with the gold-plated snuff bottle that had been a gift from Inspector Jones, spoke, “That goes without saying? The Duke of Wellington’s conservatives, of course.”

Dumas frowned, “Didn’t the Tory extremists break with the Duke of Wellington over the Catholic Emancipation Act? How is it that when it comes to the question of parliamentary reform, they are standing in a pit again?”

“It’s one thing and another.”

Arthur looked at the noisy parliamentarians downstairs and spoke, “The Catholic Emancipation Act offended all the clergy, but there are also less pious ones in the extremist wing of the Tory party. In fact, the Tory party is now split not only among the liberals, but also among the extremists. If the Tories hadn’t still held the absolute majority in the House of Lords, the Parliamentary Reform Bill would have been passed by this time.”

Dumas asked, “That’s why I say the House of Commons of Britain is a complete sham. As long as it controls the Upper House, it can force a veto on a bill passed in the Lower House. If that’s the case, what’s the purpose of Britain forcing an upper and lower house? Just to appear democratic?”

Arthur just shook his head at that, “Alexander, you don’t understand. Although it is true that the Upper House can veto motions from the Lower House, but too much of this power will lead to trouble. The current outbreak of protests and marches on parliamentary reforms across Britain already speaks volumes.”

Dumas shrugged his shoulders, “Really? But so what? Doesn’t the Ministry of the Interior intend to establish a permanent police force throughout the country? And you are afraid of protests and marches?”

Arthur just glanced at him, “Yes, the Ministry of the Interior intends to do that. But are you presupposing a political stance for the police agency? Let me remind you that it’s the Whig Party that’s currently in power, they’re the ones who proposed the parliamentary reform bill, and then they’re planning to create additional local police agencies. While it’s true that the original intent of this approach was to maintain local security and order, do you think it’s just that simple?”

“Or else?” Dumas asked with a raised eyebrow, “Could it be that they are wary of something else besides marches and riots?”

Arthur just let out a laugh at that, “Alexander, I thought the French were extra sensitive about that. But you, a guy who was involved in the July Revolution, are extraordinarily obtuse.”

Dumas pondered for a moment, he was about to get to the bottom of it.

Suddenly, someone reached out and tapped him on the shoulder.

“Arthur, Alexander, while I don’t want to spoil your excitement of watching the debate in the House of Commons, we need to get down to business at this time. Mr. Harrison has arrived, and he’s right in front of the Council Chamber.”

Dumas turned his head to see that it was Louis who had spoken: “But I must ask! These Englishmen, they always say one thing and hide another.”

Arthur gathered his blouse and laughed softly, “I don’t know even if you ask me, about this matter, you’d better ask Louis, he’s an expert in this field.”

(End of chapter)