Chapter 864: The Anglo-French Entente
Chapter 847 The Anglo-French Entente
In the British Embassy in Paris, British Foreign Secretary George and Minister Roberto Fernandez sat looking at each other, and the atmosphere in the room was very depressing.
It was evident from their faces that the welcome banquet, which had just ended, had not been so pleasant.
Napoleon IV was not only absent himself, but also called a government government meeting at short notice while the banquet was in progress, and the French top brass left the room en masse.
The real power figures had all left, and in the end the only ones left to receive Sir George were a few foreign ministry staff, and a bunch of nobles with empty titles.
The most basic principle of reciprocal reception have given up, this is not only the problem of the horse, completely on George’s disregard, not the slightest give face to the British Empire.
Diplomatically being cold-shouldered, this kind of thing is not strange in diplomacy. Britain and France were already on bad terms, and anything more disrespectful than this had happened, and what made George fret was the mission.
“Your Excellency the Minister, you have been in Paris for a long time and know the French government better. What do you think it will take to convince the French to support us?”
George had left in a hurry on this visit to Paris, and until he was sure what France wanted, he could only improvise according to the actual situation.
After a little thought, Roberto Fernandez: “Sir, the French have a big appetite, and I’m afraid that some benefits won’t satisfy them.
If the situation is not particularly critical, I suggest stabilizing the French government will be enough, the price to be paid to bring them in is too high.
As a matter of fact, right now the French government is busy sorting out its internal affairs, and in a short period of time the French government will not be able to intervene in international matters.”
Taking advantage of a fire is a common sense of the country, and now that Britain needs France, the French government will naturally not be polite.
George was unmoved and said, “What do the French want most right now?”
In diplomacy, even if one is eloquent, one cannot resist interests.
George does not think that the French can be persuaded by fooling around, and now to pull the French government together, it is necessary to come up with tangible benefits.
Minister Roberto Fernandez replied, “The strategic goals of the French have hardly changed. It has always aimed at continental hegemony, and after the Revolution it tightened up a few points, but now there is a tendency to resurgence.
French radical groups want to expand into Central Europe and seize continental hegemony; capitalists want to seize Belgium and the Rhineland and solve the problem of the cost of raw materials for industry.
These interests were opposed by the conservative faction of the domestic aristocracy, who feared that an advance into Central Europe would trigger a new war against France.
It was these conservatives who were currently in power, opposing expansion in Europe and advocating the easing of relations with the continental countries and the development of colonies to solve the problem of the lack of raw materials for domestic industry.
In recent times, the French government has been very lively. Napoleon IV, after finishing his trip to Algeria, ordered the removal of a group of local bureaucrats as soon as he returned to Paris.
In order to empty the official hat, the French government within the major factions fight is you and me, and there are even senior officials directly fight.
Now Napoleon IV is busy balancing the forces of all parties, unless we are able to come up with conditions that the various interest groups in France can’t refuse, or else we won’t be able to pull the French together at all in the short term.”
Around the fact that he knew in advance that the internal situation in France was complicated, George could not imagine that the French government was in chaos to this point.
When the political struggle was intense, there was no need to ask for the cause. “If you are for it, I am against it” and vice versa.
Everyone is opposing for the sake of opposing, maybe it won’t make things happen, but it’s still enough to spoil the other side’s business.
People can argue endlessly over any trivial matter, let alone an international stand that involves a major issue.
Really if one by one to do ideological work, George has no doubt that, not waiting for him to convince this group of people, he will have to retire first.
“Belgium and the German Confederation are both potential allies of ours, and supporting the French in their expansion into Central Europe means abandoning those allies.
Besides, with the French’s current strength, expanding into Central Europe at this time may not be a success.
With Austria’s appeal, it was entirely possible to form a new anti-French alliance. Other countries could not be sure, Belgium, the German Confederation, the direct victims, would certainly be the first to lean over.
Regardless of who wins in the end, there will be a dominant situation in Europe, and we will be passive.”
There was no way around it, supporting the French in their expansion into Central Europe would not only cost Britannia’s international reputation, it would also mean that they would have to give up their pivot in Central Europe, and it would be difficult to meddle in continental affairs in the future.
If that was all, it wasn’t non-negotiable. The Brits don’t have a great international reputation anyway, and any further fall won’t be able to go anywhere.
The key is that after losing the backstage, Belgium and the German Confederation will definitely drag Austria down, and in the end it becomes France vs. an anti-French alliance led by Austria.
With Britain and Russia holding each other back, the victory or defeat of the Franco-Austrian war becomes uncontrollable.
Unless it was a lose-lose situation, the winner would be the European hegemon, and one that was still hostile to Britain.
Minister Roberto Fernandez nodded, ”Of course, it is our state policy to maintain an even balance of power in Europe.
If we can’t do it strategically, then we have to do it economically, but the aftermath will be more serious.
For example: unilaterally abolishing the high tariffs against the French.”
Hearing this proposal, George’s face fell at once. It was not just that the aftermath would be more serious, it was clearly that it would kill people.
The high tariffs against the French, that was a retaliatory action against the French for withdrawing from the free trade system.
Moreover, Britain and France now had almost equal tariffs with each other. Britain unilaterally abolished, that means that French goods can freely enter and exit the British market; while British goods to enter the French market, but have to pay high tariffs.
If George dared to agree to such conditions, the domestic capitalists would tear him apart.
“Your Excellency the Minister, this joke is not funny at all. If you unilaterally give up the tariff, do you know what that means?”
Minister Roberto Fernandez nodded, “Of course, it means that Britain becomes an economic colony of the French.
That’s why, from the very beginning, I was against pulling the French in at this time. Right now we have too few chips in our hands and the French have too big an appetite to negotiate in itself.
As a matter of fact, we all know that the possibility of Austria’s direct intervention in Central Asia is almost nil, with the Persian Empire in between.
It doesn’t matter if the French are in the way or not. As long as the French do not have problems, even if nothing to do, the Austrian government must be on the defensive.
It is more urgent to find a way to end the arms race than to waste time for an impossible goal.”
Risk and reward are directly proportional to each other, and by letting the French step in to hold Austria in check, no one can guarantee that midway through the process, they will not wipe the slate clean and ignite a war between the two countries.
If they don’t even give enough money for their appearance, how can they make the French government willingly take the risk?
After a moment’s pause, George slowly said: “If we and the French alliance?
We can’t support the French expansion into Central Europe, but that doesn’t mean we can’t acquiesce to the French expansion into Central Europe.
In any case, Austria will have to take the lead, and the French will not venture out without complete certainty.
Britain needs time, as long as it is delayed until we have solved the problems in Central Asia, the initiative is still in our hands if this pact is to be honored in the end or not.”
After contemplating the effort for a while, Roberto Fernandez said cautiously, “Sir, is this the final decision of the country?
You have to know that after doing so, all the achievements we have made in France for so many years will be destroyed.”
Pro-British is not the same as unconditional pro-British, the vast majority of pro-British people will still take their own national interests into account.
Originally, the shorting of the franc a few years ago, which offended the French fiercely, led to a sharp decrease in the number of pro-British elements in the French government.
Now another wave, it is estimated that even the pro-British group in the future French government will disappear, leaving only naked hatred.
In the eyes of most people, a traitor is more detestable than an enemy. There is only a thin line between pro-British and anti-British.
George was unmoved, “This is the price that must be paid. I wouldn’t want to go to such extremes if possible, but there’s no way around it for the good of Britain.
Hasn’t all our hard work been for this day?
From now on, the embassy is going to mobilize all of our connections to facilitate this alliance.”
……
(End of chapter)