Nineteenth Century Medical Guide

Chapter 418 414. No. 24, Qusair Street

Kavi said he was in a hurry because he had to attend an art salon exhibition tonight.

Since Gustav and Shanwang helped him collect art, Kawi seemed to have lost interest in art and socializing. Many invitations received by the hotel became waste paper, and the limited invitations from a few heavyweights were also declined.

But tonight's salon was different.

A few days ago, he helped Dunan solve the water rights certification for the Ferrara quarry, and the other party quickly brought him into the Public Welfare Association.

Kavi is a top surgeon recognized by both France and Austria. He has developed several new surgical procedures, has extensive experience in military medicine and hospital management, a title of count and a large amount of savings. In the face of such a resume, any so-called membership assessment becomes a joke.

After listening to Dunant's verbal description, Moynier, who was the president of the Welfare Association, immediately confirmed Kavi's identity.

With a new identity, you need to participate in some new activities and meet some new friends.

Originally, Kawi refused because it didn't matter whether he made new friends or not. His work didn't require such a wide network of contacts. Even if he joined the welfare club, it was just to better promote the results of his work. So when Kawi received the invitation letter from Dunan, he replied: "I don't have time recently. Let's meet next time."

However, when Dunan's second invitation appeared in his hands, Kavi changed his mind.

Because the signature column of the invitation letter was replaced with the name of the salon owner, Mathilde Bonaparte, the cousin of Emperor Napoleon III. The two almost got married in the church when they were young, and now they have a very good relationship. She is the person Napoleon III trusts most besides Eugenie.

There was no way Kavi could refuse such an important invitation.

The salon was held at Mathilde's private residence, 24 Rue de Coursaire.

The space here is not big, and the booths on the wall are very limited, far less than Melanie's salon. But those who can be invited in are all celebrities from all walks of life, and their most proud works. It is a real artistic exchange, not a platform for the upper social circle.

As a rule, every Wednesday is a gathering of writers, where writers, critics, and scholars of all kinds are her guests. Friday is an artist dinner, where painters, sculptors, and musicians explore the beauty of art together.

But this time, Mathilde combined the two salons into one, opening a special one for the Public Welfare Association on the weekend. The theme was a charity sale of artworks and works, and all the proceeds were allocated to the Public Welfare Association for welfare projects.

As the president of the Welfare Association, Moynier was naturally among those invited.

He admired the artworks on the wall, as if he had jumped into an ocean filled with artistic atmosphere, wandering in it, and felt happy for the welfare cause that was about to develop rapidly. With hundreds of works, each of which was sold for a symbolic 1000 francs, he could raise 10 francs for the Public Welfare Association.

This is much more efficient than Dunant giving speeches everywhere for half a year.

The only thing that made him uneasy now was that Dunant seemed to be connected to Mathilde. The support of the French princess would naturally bring him a lot of benefits, but it would also help Dunant take away some of his prestige and status in the welfare association.

Moynier was very conflicted: "Dunant, how did you know Princess Mathilde?"

"Me?" Du Nan was in a good mood recently. He had already drunk half a bottle of red wine before the salon started. "Don't be ridiculous. How could I know Her Royal Highness the Princess?"

"Ah? You don't know him? Then what's this charity salon about?"

"What's going on? Didn't you go to the palace to look for her a few days ago? Why are you saying now that I know her?"

  Royal Palace

Dunant had no idea why this salon took place, and Moynier had even less idea. The only thing he knew was that he was standing outside the palace with a letter of introduction from the Public Welfare Society in his hand, but he was driven back before he could even finish introducing himself.

But now he was indeed standing on the carpet in the main hall of 24 Qusayr Street.

what happened?

  What happened in just a few days?

Before he could figure it out, the salon manager Gautier opened his voice: "Her Royal Highness Princess Mathilde Bonaparte has arrived!"

Everyone stopped talking and eating, and stood quietly, waiting for Mathilde to arrive.

Soon the door opened, and the princess walked slowly into the main hall holding a black cat in her arms. "Thank you all for coming to this charity sale. The starting price for each exhibit is 100 francs. If there are bidders, please write down your price on the card below the work. After the charity sale is over, the highest bidder will win."

There were no excessive pleasantries, nor any opening remarks like Gautier's. Mathilde took the straightforward approach to the extreme.

Moynier naturally would not miss this opportunity to make friends. He quickly let Dunant pass and stood beside Mathilde before the other two. "Your Highness, I am the current president of the Public Welfare Association. Thank you for your contribution to public welfare."

"You are the president." Mathilde looked him over briefly and nodded, "Nice to meet you."

Moynier didn't understand art, politics, or the gossips among women. Apart from his job as a lawyer, he only knew about welfare associations.

However, Mathilde had no interest in this: "Mr. Moynier, why don't we talk about something else? Or you can walk around and have a look. The artworks here are rare masterpieces. You will like them."

Mathilde, who was always outspoken, was very considerate of him. Even so, the implication of this sentence was very obvious, and Moynier was very embarrassed: "Well, then."

He thought that after he left, Du Nan would go up to him and talk to him, but he never expected that this old friend had no idea at all and just stayed by the table drinking and eating.

It was not until two hours later, after thoroughly questioning several talkative celebrities around him, that Moynier realized that the entire salon was just held under the banner of a public welfare association and had nothing to do with them. The princess really wanted to see someone else.

At this time, on the third floor of the St. Regis Hotel, Geiser was shouting at the door of the room: "Dr. Kavi, are you okay? Time is almost too late!"

"Soon."

"Oh, the princess' salon has already started, and you just came back from the laboratory." Geizer was anxiously spinning around with his pocket watch in his hand. "If it weren't for you, I might have been with the princess, drinking top-quality red wine while listening to her talk about my new painting "Horse Painting"!"

"Come on." Kavi walked out of the room in a newly ordered evening gown, took the cane and hat he handed over, and said jokingly, "How can your paintings catch her eye?"

"But Mr. Hans said that my painting is good and I have made progress."

"Okay." The two went downstairs and boarded the open carriage. Hans sat inside with his hat covering his face and took a nap. Seeing that it was Kavi, he immediately rubbed his eyes and said, "Dr. Kavi, long time no see."

"It's been a while since we last met." Kavi said with a smile, "I didn't expect to receive such a big gift from you right after we met."

"It's just an evening dress, nothing serious." Hans yawned, knocked on the door to signal the driver to drive, and then continued, "You are an important person tonight. If you are still as unkempt as before, not only me, but also Her Royal Highness the Princess will be embarrassed."

"Me? I'm an important person?"

“You’ll know when you get there.”

The carriage rumbled forward, bypassing the cobblestone square and entering the night-lit La Rivière Street. Along the way, we could occasionally hear compliments on Hans's appearance, and out of nowhere, girls would throw bouquets into the carriage with silly smiles. This situation became rare until we entered the quiet aristocratic district.

Gradually, a half-timbered limestone building with a plain white painted exterior came into their sight.

There are no huge private gardens, no on-site stables, no magnificent mansions, and it is far from being magnificent. But if fame can be expressed in colors, this place is the most gorgeous red in the night.

"Gentlemen, we are at 24 Qusair Street."

In sharp contrast to the luxurious night in Paris is Budapest, far east of Vienna, which is still on the brink of turmoil.

As early as this spring, two months after Elizabeth arrived in Budapest, the situation in Budapest had eased somewhat, and both Franz and the Hungarian side were willing to compromise. However, whether it could eventually merge into a dual Austro-Hungarian Empire still required a lot of negotiations to finalize the subsequent details.

For example, which parts can be decided by Hungary independently and which parts must be managed centrally, whether the parliament will be held in Vienna after the merger or in the capitals of the two countries in turn. There are also national debt burden ratios, taxation, domestic and foreign tariffs, diplomacy, military affairs, etc., which all need to be discussed slowly.

In Franz's view, swallowing Hungary was imperative, and Budapest was willing to sign as long as it offered enough benefits. But in Hungary, even in June, the parliament was still divided into three forces represented by Deak, Andrassy and Kossuth in exile.

Deac, the court counselor of both countries, firmly stood on the side of the aristocratic landlord class and hoped that the two countries would merge.

Andrassy was influenced by Elizabeth and withdrew from the negotiations in the later stages, becoming a neutral party. No matter whether the land under his feet belonged to Austria, Hungary or the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the end, he would do his best to manage it.

The liberals scattered among the vast majority of the Hungarian people seemed to have become the last stumbling block to the Austro-Hungarian merger.

They insisted on autonomy and independence, especially after their leader Kossuth published an open letter to Deac in his exile in Naples, Italy in 48, the long-dormant voices for independence became increasingly louder.

Deak and the aristocratic landowner class naturally would not agree with the views of Kossuth's liberal faction. After more than two months of long and fierce debate, the vast majority of the Hungarian Parliament voted in favor of the compromise terms and agreed to the merger of Austria-Hungary.

  Deac held up Kossuth's open letter in the Reichstag and explained it this way:

"Even if Kossuth's approach has a chance of success, it is only a last resort. It would be too superficial to choose to use force and rebellion to solve any problem.

Austria had just fought a not-so-ugly comeback and was a tougher opponent than they were 20 years ago, while we had only a bunch of unmotivated guerrillas who had never seen a proper battlefield.

Comparing the two, the result couldn't be more obvious.

We are living in an era of uncertainty but full of opportunities, the apex of conflicts in national interests. I don’t want my nation to stand at the corner of history, quietly waiting for the doubtful future to suddenly hit me on the head one day.

I don't want this!

There are too many things in the world that cannot be obtained by waiting.

Maybe it is waiting for us just ahead, and we just need to take a few steps forward to reach it. Maybe it will come to us someday, but by then it will be too late. Our national strength, happiness, trust and hope are fading day by day, and we can no longer wait any longer.

So there is nothing we can do except try to move forward a few steps.”

On June 1867, 6, the Hungarian Parliament issued the Austrian Royal Proclamation.

Franz Joseph will be crowned King of Hungary, Elizabeth will become Queen of Hungary, Count Andrassy will be appointed Prime Minister of Hungary, and Deak, the counselor of both countries who had been leading the merger of Austria and Hungary, will resign from all official positions.

The only thing that is inconsistent with history is that the time is delayed by four months, and the fiscal expenditure ratio is 60% for Austria and 40% for Hungary (originally 7:3), which will be restored to 50% in ten years. Hungary also needs to pay taxes to the empire, the proportion will be lower than other provinces, but not zero.

Secondly, although the Austro-Hungarian Empire had two capitals, it only had one parliament and one cabinet. Laws could have additional local clauses, but they basically followed the Austrian constitution. Most importantly, Hungary could not have its own regular army.

Apart from this, the Hungarian nobles still had other autonomy.

Compared to the embarrassment of Austria during the Austro-Hungarian merger, Franz was in a good mood at this time. Perhaps it was the confidence brought by the lucky draw in the Austro-Prussian War last year that made him not give up his ambitions. At least in his heart, he still had the idea of ​​making Hungary a province under Austrian rule.

The concrete manifestation of this idea was to place Maximilian and a whole army back from Mexico in Budapest. They were affiliated with Vienna, Austria, and would not participate in local police affairs. They were just "ordinary" regular garrison troops.

At the same time, Croatia, which applied to join the empire, was not handed over to Hungarian jurisdiction, but was directly incorporated into Austria, with taxation and management entirely under the responsibility of Vienna.

The idea successfully retained Prime Minister Richard Earl Belkready.

As the former governor of Bohemia, Belkred was unwilling to see Hungary reap the fruits of the war that Bohemia had gained through bloodshed and sacrifice.

As early as April this year, when he saw that the Austro-Hungarian merger was almost a reality, he thought about submitting his resignation. But unlike Deac, he was willing to wait. This wait lasted from April to June, and a more favorable merger agreement was achieved for Austria, and also Franz's political ambitions were fulfilled.

The coronation ceremony of Franz and Elizabeth was scheduled for October, and all parties seemed to have put aside their differences and prepared together for the ancient and cumbersome coronation ceremony.

The situation in Hungary seemed to be easing. The clamoring liberals did not cause much trouble. The Hungarian people were celebrating the peaceful coexistence of the two countries. On June 6, Franz and his wife also announced that they would board the French train to the World Expo and visit Paris.

However, at this rare moment of peace in Europe, some people hiding in the dark could no longer hold back their calm and took action quietly.

Don't delve into the details of the Austro-Hungarian merger. This book is about doctors after all, and politics is just the background.