shadow of britain

Chapter 148
In the office of the prime minister's mansion, Arthur looked up at the portrait hanging above the Duke of Wellington's head. The person in the portrait was [-]% similar to the old Duke. The man with the small stubble in the dress is much younger than the man.

The Duke of Wellington noticed Arthur's eyes, and he joked: "Do you like art too? Young man? This is the work of Sir Thomas Lawrence. You should have heard of him, right? The dean of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. But If you want to ask him to paint a portrait, it may be a bit of a coincidence, because Sir Lawrence passed away in January this year, and his paintings will naturally become masterpieces."

Arthur took off his hat and put his right hand on his chest. He said apologetically, "I only know a little bit about art, but I really wanted to find a few apprentices from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts to assist in police work. But those things can be discussed later. Besides, the most urgent thing at present is that I have to report directly to you about the parade in Hyde Park this morning."

"Parade again? Oh, they are only so active when they are parading. During the Napoleonic Wars, they were not so active in recruiting soldiers from the War Department. These people are really worry-free!"

The Duke of Wellington rubbed his face helplessly: "Okay, who are they this time? The Fox faction? The Huskisson faction? Or the Canning faction? Or is it the Earl Grey's new group?"

When Sir Peel heard this, he couldn't help joking: "Your Excellency, the factions you mentioned are all sitting in the parliament, and they will not parade on the street."

The Duke of Wellington leaned on the table with one hand and grumbled: "Oh! Yes! This group of people are all sitting in the parliament. They can send us soldiers to the front line to die with their words. Good job Just flatter you, and if you don't fight well, you will be sent to a military court. Anyway, they have a mouth and two skins, no matter what they say, they are justified."

When Sir Peel heard this, he couldn't help reminding Arthur: "Arthur, everyone has complaints and troubles, just listen to them, but don't tell the news media."

When Arthur heard this, he pursed his lips in embarrassment, but his movement was caught by the sensitive and cautious Duke of Wellington.

Wellington frowned: "Wait, did the newspaper say something bad about me again?"

Before Arthur could speak, he stood up and walked directly to the bookshelf in the office, and took out a newspaper from it.

Seeing his appearance, Sir Peel could only smile at Arthur and said, "Forget it, you should report directly to me. Those who are willing to parade on the street are nothing more than those people, Luddite workers, digging Peasants who were sent out, or Anglican priests hopping around for the Emancipation Act."

Arthur shook his head lightly and said: "Sir Peel, I regret to report to you that it is not this time. They are a group of supporters of Robert Owen. Mr. Owen gave a speech in Hyde Park today, and the audience was obviously a little excited , so before the speech was over, they had already targeted the Duke of Wellington and started a spontaneous parade."

"Robert Irving?"

When Sir Peel heard the name, he couldn't help frowning slightly.

Because even in his opinion as the leader of the liberal wing of the Tory Party, Robert Owen's proposition is still too unconventional.

Coincidentally, the Whig Party basically saw it that way.

Sir Peel pondered: "I know that the Whig Party has been uniting various trade union groups in order to get to power. But Owen... are they sure?"

When Arthur heard this, he roughly confirmed Sir Peel's attitude. He said, "There is no indication that the parade workers in Hyde Park have anything to do with the Whig Party. I prefer to believe that this may be an accident. After all As you know, the air in London smells terribly tight right now because of parliamentary reform."

"Which associations are the parades belonging to, have they been confirmed?"

Arthur immediately took out the documents in the bag and handed them over. Sir Peel glanced at them, and immediately got up and said, "So these are the few. Okay, I understand. It just so happens that the Ministry of Internal Affairs has some informants over there. I will immediately Ask someone to go to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and get the report they submitted during this time."

Upon hearing this, Arthur also stood up and said, "Sir, I wonder if I can ask you a question about the informant from the Ministry of Internal Affairs?"

Sir Peel was stunned for a while, but he quickly reacted, and said with a smile: "I almost forgot, your temporary agency is also doing this kind of thing recently, right? But Arthur, don't worry, the Ministry of Internal Affairs Having other informants does not mean that I have doubts about your ability to work. Because the Ministry of Internal Affairs informants existed long before you took the lead in getting LPS."

"LPS?" Arthur heard the abbreviation, and it took him a while to realize that Sir Peel was referring to the LPS.

He smiled and replied: "Actually, I wanted to submit the first work report of LPS to you early in the morning, which happened to include some of my insights and reform suggestions for police intelligence work. But due to time constraints, it is better for me to be here How about dictating it directly to you?"

Seeing his calm and composed appearance, Sir Peel naturally lowered his psychological expectations for the serious nature of the parade.

He put down the document in his hand, nodded and said, "Arthur, you always surprise me. I thought you wouldn't be able to achieve anything in such a short period of time."

Arthur shook his head with a smile and said: "It's not a result, it can only be regarded as some experience. As we all know, France is the first country in the world to propose the concept of police, so during this period of time, I focused on reading Combined with the intelligence and operation records of the French police obtained by Scotland Yard, combined with the police information accumulated by Scotland Yard, I finally discovered several problems."

"Oh?" Sir Peel asked with interest, "What's the question?"

"First, don't trust the temporarily hired informants too much. They are far less reliable than the real undercover agents. Because they have to submit reports every day in exchange for payment and affirmation. If there is nothing to write, he will make it up. If he finds out, he will It will exaggerate and use this to prove the importance of its own existence.

Second, the dangers fabricated by the government are beneficial to the government, and maintaining a conspiracy that does not pose a great threat can actually allow the government to gain more strength and power. "

Upon hearing this rather novel conclusion, Sir Peel couldn't help asking: "Then where did you get this information from?"

Arthur said: "After the Napoleonic Wars, Louis XVIII successfully restored France, and he used the things I said very successfully.

At that time, the humiliated French army wanted revenge, the Bonapartists wanted to bring back Napoleon, the republicans of 1789 wanted to limit the kingship, the Jacobins thought about extreme measures, and the dreams of ordinary citizens who were devastated by war The republic of 1792 was restored, while the returning exiles, dispossessed of their estates and wealth, sought to restore the old system.

In this case, the Paris Police Department under Louis XVIII created conspiracies and riots that divided public opinion.Ultra-royalists took it as evidence of a lax police force, arguing that the government was encouraging revolutionary activity and overthrowing the royal family.Liberals, on the other hand, accused the ultra-royalists of using provocateurs to create crises in order to legitimize their autocratic rule.

And Louis XVIII himself, under the mutual restraint of the two factions, died peacefully and steadily.And his successor, Charles X, obviously failed to grasp the essence of this balance.

That guy didn't make good use of the intelligence advantages of the Paris Police Department. The Paris Police Department's greatest contribution to him may be to help him follow the informant's information and successfully capture his wife's wife in an operation to round up the rebels. evil. "

When Sir Peel heard this, he almost couldn't hold back his laughter. He raised his hand to cover his mouth and apologized: "I'm sorry, Arthur, you continue."

Seeing him smile, Arthur understood that things were stable today.

After Sir Peel is settled, the Duke of Wellington has a stabilizer on his side. As long as he can make sense, then the only thing left to consider is how to get those passionate workers home.

He smiled and said: "Just now I was talking about France, but the situation in Britain is different from France. We have a fine tradition of parliamentary system, and the people are willing to pursue rights under the existing framework.

So, I think General John Byrne's evaluation of similar events in Britain in the last century is very apt: most radicals in Britain regard revolution as a kind of mass movement, which may cause small bloodshed, But the main purpose is to force concessions from the government, not to overthrow the political system.

We now have the most remarkable political system in the world, and there is no strong public desire to overthrow it.Just like the riot in Hyde Park this time, although the group of workers shouted 'Down with Wellington, overthrow the Tory Party', in the final analysis, what they wanted was nothing more than the right to vote.

I have always believed that a large part of the blame for the large-scale labor riots and bloody repressions that occurred during the nine years 1812-1821 must be attributed to Henry Addington, then Viscount Sidmers and the immature Home Secretary. Ministry informant system.

I don't know whether it is due to the wrong intelligence of the Viscount or his subjective motives. He exaggerated many normal demonstrations into violent riots with sedition intentions. It is a treasonous act that makes people feel fearful and will shake the foundation of the government.

This also resulted in a series of bloodshed and created a sense of distrust and alienation from the public towards the Tory cabinet.

For example, the Taylor uprising in 1816 is a fairly typical example. At that time, the miners in the Taylor area of ​​​​Manchester initially protested peacefully, demanding higher wages and better working conditions.

However, the Manchester authorities did not deal with this unexpected situation in a timely manner, neither coordinating the negotiations between the mine owner and the workers, nor appeasing the workers' emotions.Instead, they waited until the situation intensified and the workers began to burn factories and smash machines, and then hurriedly reported to the Ministry of the Interior and the cabinet, demanding that the army be dispatched to suppress the action.

As for the Peterloo Incident in 1819, it was another manifestation of the incompetence and inefficiency of the Manchester City Government.And the Peterloo incident directly led to the Cato Street Conspiracy in 1820. If it hadn't been discovered in time, all the cabinet members at that time might have died in the hands of the Spenceball Fraternity Association.

Therefore, I think the main task of LPS should be set as 'early detection, early governance', to cultivate professional latent undercover talents, and the early employment system of informants must be reformed and gradually eliminated.

Finally, the purpose of establishing a one-way intelligence channel between social unrest and the Ministry of Internal Affairs was achieved.Of course, despite this 'communication channel', unions may not be willing to let it go. "

When Arthur said this, he suddenly felt that someone behind him seemed to be staring at him.

He suddenly felt his shoulders being weighed down, and he turned his head to look, it was the Duke of Wellington who raised his eyebrows.

Wellington asked with a smile: "Young man, do you really not consider electing a MP to serve the Tory Party? Maybe I can consider setting aside a spare MP seat for you in my territory."

When Arthur heard this, he was taken aback for a moment, and then replied with a smile: "Your Excellency, I don't have that kind of talent. Besides, I'm still a policeman. According to Scotland Yard's internal regulations, I don't presuppose political positions for myself." .As you and Sir Peel would expect, I, like the rest of the Scotland Yard police, are a mere social tool."

(End of this chapter)