Chapter 372: To British-Russian friendship

Chapter 369 To British-Russian Friendship

In the parlor of the Foreign Office, the long-bearded Earl of Levene held a glass of wine with Palmerston.

Although both of them appeared here in their official capacity, they preferred to regard this meeting as a simple chat between friends compared to a formal public meeting.

“So what do you think about what’s happening in Syria? Muhammad Ali’s 30,000-strong Egyptian army has been nothing short of unstoppable since it trooped out of the Sinai Peninsula, and now that Palestine is all but in his hands, and he’s obviously not satisfied, he’s now moving on to Syria.

News has trickled out of the Ottoman court that Sultan Mahmud II intends to intervene to mediate the conflict between Ali and Abdullah, the governor of Acre, so that he can keep the Egyptians in peace. Henry, what do you think of this matter?”

Palmerston only laughed softly when he heard this.

“Would you believe Ali’s nonsense, my friend? This Ottoman Pasha of Egypt is just using that conflict as an excuse for his rising. He is a desert ambitious man with grandiose goals, and such ambitious men are unlikely to make a big deal out of a spat.

According to the feedback from our Egyptian diplomatic attaché, his real plan is to create an Arab empire outside the Ottoman provinces south of Asia Minor, stretching from Syria in the east to Libya in the west, from the Mediterranean Sea and the Toros Mountains in the north, and from the Arabian Sea and the southern Sudan in the south, an Arab empire spanning Asia and Africa and encompassing all the Arabic-speaking regions.”

Earl Levine heard this and took a sip of his wine.

“He does have a big appetite, but the civilized world won’t make it easy for him, will it? For the sake of my friends, I can break the news to you that the honorable Majesty who resides in the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg is worried about Ali’s rapid progress in Palestine.

Palmerston did not deny the Earl of Levene’s words.

But it was evidently too early for Palmerston to speak of them.

But what made him want to laugh a little was that of the three people Earl Levine had just mentioned, two of them were having affairs with his wife. As for whether the remaining one, the old cripple, had or hadn’t, then God only knew.

However, for the nobles, fidelity between couples was limited to before the birth of a legal heir.

But based on Madame Levine’s fondness for hunting European men of style, if Talleyrand was good for it, then he was more than likely to be in a bad way.

Besides, I think your country’s priority should be to do all it can to clear out the Polish insurgents who have defied the King, just as our country’s priority at the moment is to settle the trial after the Swain riots. Unrest at home can be far more dangerous than abroad.”

At the moment the Foreign Office was concentrating on the civil war in the allied country of Portugal, and it had become more and more cautious about the Eastern Question after Admiral Codrington’s complete annihilation of the Ottoman sea power at the Battle of Navarino.

Thus, unless the necessary circumstances arose, the Foreign Office really did not have sufficient reason or incentive to change the status quo, and Palmerston was unable to persuade the Cabinet and Parliament to intervene in the war in Palestine.

But Britain was obviously farther away from the Ottomans than France or Russia, so that when the great powers all intervened it was impossible to say who had the better of the situation.

Also, he had deep misgivings about whether the Ottomans would be able to defeat Ali from the front; after all, our powerful Russian Army had fought the Egyptian forces in Greece, and they did claim to be the strongest of the Ottoman forces.”

Hearing this, Palmerston also understood the purpose of his opponent’s visit today.

If not for the unfortunate assassination this year of Mr. Kapodistias, President of Greece, leader of the pro-Russian faction, and former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Tsarist Russia, it would be hard to say whether the Royal Navy could still retain absolute superiority in the Mediterranean Sea.

Palmerston said, “With regard to the Ottoman Empire, I am inclined to watch for a while before passing judgment. Ali is indeed an ambitious man, but I don’t think he is capable of defeating his Ottoman suzerain. However, I understand His Majesty the Tsar’s concern, and I would ask you to tell him to take it easy, that things are not that bad now.

Earl Levine, seeing that Palmerston would not relent, did not continue to inquire.

From the Foreign Office’s point of view, Britain wants to see neither the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire nor the Ottoman Empire to take out Ali Unity, a weak but not collapsed, big but not strong Ottoman Empire is the most in line with Britain’s interests.

As for Ali, the ambitious man from Egypt has both ambition and strength, watching him grow bigger is not a good thing. But at least for the time being, in the area under Ali’s supervision, he very much respected the right of British merchants to do business, so Britain did not intend to easily offend this Arab warlord who ruled North Africa and Crete.

The previous Greek independence was a lesson from the past, when Britain, France and Russia helped Greece to become independent from the Ottoman Empire, the end result was that the pro-Russian faction in Greece had the upper hand.

It is mostly difficult to understand such a marvelous husband and wife relationship as the Levins if it is measured in the common sense of ethics and morality.

He just joked, “Henry, it’s really unexpected that you are already so skillful in the use of diplomatic rhetoric after just one year of diplomatic work. It seems that Dorothea was really right about you, you are a born diplomat. She’s right, guys who can spring into action in love affairs can usually play well at the diplomatic negotiation table as well. That’s true of Talleyrand, and that’s true of Metternich. And you, even more so.”

In the end, Earl Levine had come over today to probe Britain to see if it was interested in stepping in to mediate.

And according to the usual principles of European diplomacy, if Britain intervened in the Ottoman question, then France and Russia and other European powers would have a legitimate reason to intervene.

A lot of arranged marriages to form a partner, there is not a lot of emotional foundation of the couple after this is basically play each other, both sides of the husband and wife for each other’s derailment behavior is basically turn a blind eye, as long as do not make too much out of the ordinary so that there is a loss of dignity of the aristocrats, then this matter as do not know to deal with it.

Two people are warmly exchanging it, suddenly the parlor door was pushed open, Mrs. Levine dismissed the entourage behind her, walked to the front of her husband and lover.

She gently pulled the curls at her temples behind her ear and gently raised her hand to Parmesan’s, winking playfully at him.

Parmeston gave a knowing kiss of the hand, “Madame, it seems that the cold winds of Petersburg not only preserve food, but you look young again after returning from your vacation there.”

Mrs. Levine smiled out of the corner of her eye, “Henry, if you applied this knack for pleasing ladies to diplomacy, I don’t know who could stop your unstoppable charm.”

Earl Levine leaned against the sofa with a cigar in his mouth, “I do know one.”

Mrs. Levine lifted the hem of her skirt and leaned against her husband’s side and asked softly, “Who?”

Earl Levine let out a laugh and answered straight away, “Muhammad Ali. Your omnipotent Henry just said he couldn’t solve the problem.”

Viscount Palmerston coughed softly, “Your Excellency, may I take the liberty of reminding you that I am saying that Ali does not pose a problem for the time being.”

Mrs. Levine also chided her husband angrily, “My dear, how can a pagan know the charms of a Christian gentleman? That fellow only knows how to play in the sand in Syria. That’s not Henry’s problem.”

Earl Levine sniffed and just raised his eyebrows and shrugged, “Well, my considerate wife, you are right about everything, who made you born so beautiful?”

Speaking here, Earl Levine took out the pocket watch in his pocket and took a look at it, and suddenly got up and said, “It’s getting late, I should also depart for the banquet. Before, because of the cholera, the various clubs and salons were closed for several weeks in a row, and now that it’s hard to restart them, I have to make up for all the shares I owe from the previous weeks.”

Viscount Palmerston rose at this word to see him off, but no sooner had he risen than Earl Levine pressed him back by the shoulders. The Earl leaned down and whispered in his ear, “No need to send off, take care of Dorothea for me. When she’s in a good mood, by the way, just tell her for me that I’m not returning to the embassy tonight.”

Viscount Palmerston smiled politely when he heard this, “Then I wish you a good night.”

Earl Levine took off his hat and rushed to say goodbye to his wife and Palmerston, “Have a good evening as well.”

With that, he paced away with a smile on his face as he placed a gentle kiss on Her Ladyship’s forehead.

Viscount Palmerston looked at the other party walking out of the parlor, leaned on the arm of the sofa, and spoke with one hand pinned to his head, “Why do I feel that His Excellency the Earl didn’t come over here today to talk about Egyptian matters with me, but rather to dump you on me.”

Mrs. Levine’s face instantly pulled down when she heard this.

She shook her lace feather fan, her face full of displeasure: “What? Are you not happy?”

“Of course not.” Palmerston realized that things were not going well, and quickly changed his tone to compliment, “Dorothea, you simply don’t know, the time you are not in London is driving me crazy. Every day when I close my eyes, your smiling face appears in front of my eyes, and your voice rings in my ears. I miss your hugs and your cherry-sweet lips all the time.”

Hearing this, Mrs. Levine made no secret of her suspicion, and she asked, turning sideways, “Is it so? Doesn’t my absence from London just give you and Emily a great deal of time to be alone?”

“Wow!” Palmerston held his head in his hands, “Dorothea, it seems you don’t realize that Emily is not in London at this time. She’s having a falling out with her brother, so she’s gone back to live in the country in a huff.”

“Huh?” Mrs. Levine was full of surprise, “What’s going on here?”

Palmerston recapitulated the causes and consequences of Viscount Melbourne’s affair lawsuit to his old lover as he had done, and Mrs. Levine, after hearing the narrative, just felt a little weepy.

Mrs. Levine asked: “Why Viscount Melbourne always get into these things, before it is his wife with Lord Byron those troubles, and now it is the extramarital affair lawsuit. I remember him as a decent man! Why does God always like to play such a trick on him?”

Palmerston gathered his collar and said with a mysterious look, “Is that so? I don’t think William was all that decent, except that he was more demanding of his partner.”

“Higher?” Mrs. Levine became interested at that, “What kind of women does he like?”

Palmerston said, “Well …… he’s a man who likes to read, and since all that happened to his wife, he’s put almost all his spare time into reading, as if he wants to use it to escape reality. And don’t look at him like he’s lazy, but he’s actually a rather picky person, and he’s only interested in ladies who keep up with his learning. But unfortunately, his learning is too extensive, so at the end of the day, there will always be a handful of ladies who can talk to him.”

At this point, Palmerston stood up and sat down next to Mrs. Levine, “But …… Dorothea, what are you inquiring about this for? Is it hard to believe that you have taken an interest in our great scholar, William?”

Lady Levine wrinkled her nose in dissatisfaction, “I mean no offense, but I am not interested in His Excellency the Viscount. I have never lacked suitors, and most of my suitors have been erudite, but I have no interest in netting a lineup as formidable as the Royal Society.”

When Viscount Palmerston heard this, he just pretended to be pitiful and said, “Wow, Dorothea, hearing you say that, I’m suddenly a little worried that I might lose you at any moment.”

Mrs. Levine was amused by his remark, and the lace glove she raised rubbed her lover’s cheeks fiercely, “I still prefer to cultivate those who start out mediocre but talented than those who start out erudite. Though he does seem shallow at times, I’m sure with his talent and hard work, he’ll be able to become a Foreign Minister one day.”

“My dear, this is all thanks to your support. At least half of this foreign minister position of mine belongs to you.”

Palmerston said this and swept Mrs. Levine into his arms, “However, since you have helped me to this extent, why don’t you help me again?”

Mrs. Levine lazily snuggled into Palmerston’s embrace, wrapping her fingers around her long hair, “Henry, you are so greedy. I’m only a woman, what can I do?”

“No, my dear, you mustn’t say that.” Palmerston smiled and spoke up, “You see, it’s almost the end of the year, and I want to add another colorful report on the work of the Foreign Office. I want to be able to proudly announce to all of you, in front of your fellow cabinet members, that thanks to my tireless efforts, Britain is now deep in the heart of the Russians!”

Mrs. Levine blushed at this, and she gave Palmerston a blank look and said, “Henry! You unashamed fellow, is this something that can be said at a Cabinet meeting?”

Palmerston laughed evilly and put his hand on Mrs. Levine’s shoulder, “Dorothea, are you this shy? This is not like you!”

Seeing his appearance, Mrs. Levine couldn’t help but think of striking at his excessive self-confidence, “It’s not that I’m shy, but I feel that there’s really nothing to brag about what previous generations have already done. The Duke of Wellington has already arrived there before you.”

But Palmerston couldn’t care less about that, he pressed on, “My dear, it’s not the same, although the result is the same, the Duke of Wellington and I have different means.”

“How so?”

Palmerston raised his eyebrows and laughed, “As we all know, I am good at stormy attacks, while His Excellency the Duke is good at solid defense. But his defense was breached by you, and I breached your defense, so the end result is still a win for me.”

Mrs. Levine pursed her lips, and finally obeyed Palmerston, “Well, for the sake of Poland, I will ……”

Who knows that when Viscount Parmesan heard the word Poland, he instantly opened his mouth in a reflexive manner, “Poland? What Poland?”

Mrs. Levine also reacted with a sniff, “Oh, I’m sorry, my dear, it was a slip of the tongue. I almost forgot that you don’t know anything about Poland. But coming back to it, I still have to thank you for knowing nothing, so I suppose you’ve got a nice evening planned for me tonight?”

Viscount Palmerston smiled at that and nodded, “Of course, ma’am.”

He stood up and walked over to the phonograph placed in the hall, lifting the needle to rest on the record.

Within a short time, a soothing and melodious music resounded in the parlor.

All the gentlemen and ladies who frequented concerts could hear that the music playing was the work of Chopin, the hottest pianist in London at the moment – “To Hastings”.

Viscount Palmerston owed a slight curtsy and smiled towards Mrs. Levine to extend an invitation, “Madam, may I have the honor of inviting you to dance a waltz?”

“Of course.”

Lady Levine stretched out her slender arm, her palm gently resting on Parmesan’s palm, “This song, to English-Russian friendship.”

(End of chapter)