shadow of britain

Chapter 177 Utopia (4K4)

"Alan Pinkerton?"

Arthur stared at the stubborn brat in front of him, and seemed to think of something, he asked half-jokingly: "Not bad name, but I thought that people with the surname Pinkerton might prefer to arrest criminals rather than become criminals. "

Unexpectedly, when Pinkerton heard this, his eyes widened in surprise, perhaps because he had been blown by the cold wind for too long at night, his lips were a little pale: "Do you know my dad?"

"Your father?" Arthur thought about this sentence for a while, and asked, "Is your father a policeman, or a robber?"

Pinkerton nodded: "He's a Glasgow policeman."

When Arthur heard this, he breathed a sigh of relief: "That's easy. I was still thinking about how to deal with you in the future. After all, you are a helpless outsider. If you deal with it according to the regulations, even if I don't You go to the magistrate's court, and you have to be transferred to the workhouse.

But even if it is a workhouse, in this state, you will probably have to send you out of the country.After all, the workhouses in various dioceses in London are already overloaded, and the local residents are unwilling to pay even a new amount of money for the poor tax.

Now that you know that your father is a police officer with a serious job, things will be easier after that.Constable Pinkerton in Glasgow, huh?I'll try to find someone to connect with. "

When Pinkerton heard that Arthur was going to send him back, he was about to make a point.

But before he could speak, the door of the tavern was pushed open again.

There was only a ringing of jingle bells, and two familiar faces walked in.

It was Dickens, the reporter who had applied to Scotland Yard for a half-day investigative interview in Tower Hamlets, and Officer Tom, who was in charge of escorting and protecting them.

Arthur saw them, smiled and raised his hand to say hello: "Charles, Tom, how are you doing today?"

Seeing Arthur, Tom asked in surprise, "Arthur, what are you doing here so late?"

Arthur just leaned on the counter and tilted his head at Pinkerton: "For a kid who touched London from Scotland on his own. Let's meet, the son of Police Officer Pinkerton in Glasgow. He took Elder's wallet under his nose."

Hearing this, Tom showed a trace of exhaustion on his face: "So, are you going to throw him into prison?"

Arthur took a sip of his coffee: "You know, I'm a graduate of the University of London. From the perspective of utilitarian law enforcement, the reason why we throw people into prison is not out of personal preference or anything, but So that they will not make the same mistakes again in the future.

The lad's situation is peculiar, and I think the best way to get him out of London is to send him back to his father.Tom, you're on a business trip tomorrow, and it just so happens that you haven't had a vacation for a long time.Take your wife and Adam, and take the brat to Glasgow, and hand it over to Sergeant Pinkerton himself.When you come back, remember to go to the bureau to reimburse the travel expenses. "

Hearing this, Tom couldn't help but heaved a sigh of relief. He smiled and replied, "Okay, then I'll take him back first, and I'll take him out tomorrow morning."

Arthur nodded and said, "I knew it, it's right to leave it to you to deal with this kind of thing."

After finishing speaking, I saw police officer Tom coming forward and Pinkerton said something. At first Pinkerton was reluctant to leave, but under Tom's soft and hard thinking, he finally had no choice but to reluctantly leave. Wishing to leave the tavern with Officer Tom.

Dickens watched the two leave the tavern, and then sat down beside Arthur.

Holding the cup with his head down, he hesitated for a long time, finally mustered up the courage, and asked: "Arthur, I... I actually have some questions I want to ask you, of course, if you feel inconvenient, you can Choose not to answer."

Seeing his appearance, Arthur just smiled: "What you want to ask is probably about Hyde Park?"

When Dickens heard the place name, he couldn't help turning his head to look at him: "You... how do you know?"

Arthur just pinched his chin: "Because what happened to me is probably the only thing that makes you feel so hard to speak."

Dickens nodded with a wry smile: "I thought you would be very taboo about such things."

"It's really taboo, but if you do it, you just do it. If you blindfolded and pretended nothing happened, wouldn't that be worse? After all, the former still has a chance to explain, and I can't think of a second option for the latter, except for a guilty conscience." The reason. But it’s you, Charles, and you’re willing to hear me explain the reason because we know each other well. Generally speaking, other people don’t bother to listen to my explanation, so I don’t bother to explain.”

When Dickens heard this, he felt that the heavy air became much lighter.

He let out a breath, and there was a smile on his face: "That's right. It's because we know each other, and I know who you are, so I know there must be some reason for this. At least you definitely didn't take the initiative. I Guess right?"

When Arthur heard this, he just shook his head: "You really guessed wrong about this. I took the initiative to ask my superiors to mention it. I am worried that things will continue to evolve, and I am afraid that the guard cavalry will be dispatched in the end. Compared with eating the cavalry's saber , I think it’s more cost-effective to let them suffer two sticks, or sit in prison for a few days.”

"This..." Dickens hesitated, "but what do you think of parliamentary reform? Don't you support it?"

"Parliamentary reform?" Arthur raised his eyebrows. "Are you referring to the parliamentary reform that gave the middle class the right to vote but killed the workers?"

"The middle class has the right to vote?" Dickens said in amazement, "No! Isn't the purpose of parliamentary reform universal suffrage?"

Arthur just smiled: "Do you think it's possible? Universal suffrage? If the Communists are elected, neither the Tories nor the Whigs will be elected, and Thomas A. The Birmingham Political Alliance led by Tedwood or the Capital Political Alliance in London.

So, the Whig party spent so much effort to promote parliamentary reform, but the ultimate purpose was to lose itself?Do you think that's possible, Charles?If you're a true Briton and have been doing parliamentary interviews for a while now, you know that compromise is a big part of British politics.

In order to pass the bill A, we usually propose a bill B that is even more unacceptable to the parliament, but the bill B was not considered at the beginning. It exists only to make the opposition party pinch their noses and agree to let A pass. "

Dickens frowned slightly, he didn't seem to agree with Arthur's opinion: "This..."

Arthur just held the coffee cup, he felt the temperature coming from the cup, and said: "Perhaps there are some people in the Whig Party who really want to achieve universal suffrage, but as long as it expands to the entire Whig Party, then that A handful is negligible. Do you know why I think the Duke of Wellington and Sir Peel are all right?"

Dickens asked: "Why?"

Arthur took a sip of coffee: "Because they are the few politicians who dare to go against the mainstream opinions in the party. I still can't believe the "Catholic Emancipation Act". The Duke of Wellington, a so-called diehard A Tory politician can actually make such a bold decision.

From the moment he signed the bill, his political career was almost declared over, but he still chose to sign that thing, which is not something ordinary people have the guts to do.

I admire him a lot, and I do benefit from the bill, so in order to reciprocate, I at least can't let others continue to smash the windows of his house.It doesn't do any good to the one who smashes the glass or the one who gets smashed.

You know, Charles, the ingratitude to the first benefactor of early life, the maker of life's fortunes, deserves its reward.For me, Sir Peel and the Duke of Wellington are lucky creators. "

When Dickens heard this, he couldn't help but his eyes lit up: "To the first benefactor in the early years, the creator of life's luck, should be rewarded for being ungrateful... This sentence sounds pretty good, and this is Marco O. Is it Leliu's famous saying?"

Arthur just smiled and said, "No, it's yours."

"Mine?" Dickens said in a daze, "Do you mean I can put this in a book?"

"Of course, anytime, anywhere." Arthur raised his coffee cup and touched him: "Charles, I wish you a great future."

Arthur asked: "By the way, have you finished reading Marcus Aurelius's Meditations?"

Dickens smiled embarrassedly and said, "I've read half of it, but I've recently become obsessed with other books."

"Oh? What book?"

Dickens smiled and took out a turned and wrinkled book from his bag: "This is it, Sir Thomas More's Utopia. Have you read this book? It is a very interesting work."

Arthur nodded: "It's not just the book that's interesting, Sir More is also very interesting. When our King Henry VIII wanted a divorce, he asked nobles from all over the country to write a letter to the Pope, but the justice Sir More But he was reluctant to sign the joint letter.

Later, Henry VIII passed the "Supreme Act" and made himself the supreme head of the state religion. Sir More was unwilling to swear an oath of faith to the king.

As a result, the king, who was furious, threw him into the Tower of London, and sent a bunch of people to testify against him, convicting him of treason.In order to show mercy, Henry VIII hypocritically changed the method of execution from dismemberment to beheading.

But Sir Moore's first reaction when he heard about this was to jokingly say, "May God bless my relatives and friends from such mercy."And when he was on the guillotine, he was still in the mood to joke to the executioner, saying, "Please help me up, as for how to get down, I have already arranged it myself." "

Dickens couldn't help laughing: "Sir More is indeed a very interesting person, but what does this have to do with the book "Utopia"?"

Arthur pointed to the title of the book and said, "Didn't you realize that the title of "Utopia" was also a joke made by Sir More?"

"What...how do you say this?"

Arthur said: "Charles, as a future literary giant, maybe you should fill up the Greek. Utopia is actually a compound word composed of two Greek words, which are 'ou' representing 'nothing' and 'topos' which represent 'places', so utopia actually means 'there is no such place'.

This book is not the same as Plato's "Utopia".If you read this book seriously, you will not only fail to see its essence, but you will be fooled by Sir More.But it's not a big deal, and perhaps Sir More intended to make fun of us readers when he wrote the book. "

"Is...is it?" Dickens frowned and stroked the cover of the book: "But...but I think the utopia in this book is pretty good. Isn't it the world in the book that everyone hopes for?"

Unexpectedly, when Arthur heard this, he just raised his eyebrows: "I thought so too at first, but after experiencing so many things happening around me, as well as those people I came into contact with, as well as being with an old friend of mine... After talking with friends, my opinion has changed a little bit now."

Dickens couldn't help asking: "Isn't what people are after Utopia?"

"of course not."

Arthur leaned back on the chair: "Well, how can I tell you? For most people, what they want is very complicated. They want anarchist personal freedom, utopian social welfare, Chauvin The ethnic policy of nationalism, the international communication of militarism, the commodity economy of capitalism, the work attitude of nihilism, the concept of marriage and love of feudalism. Oh, yes, the most important thing is that there must be the sexual openness of primitive society.”

As soon as Arthur finished speaking, the red devil sitting on the counter couldn't stop slapping his thighs and laughing wildly, his tongue was about to come out: "Arthur! You finally figured out something!"

When Dickens heard this, his face suddenly became strange: "Then if all these are realized, what kind of thing will it be?"

"I don't know." Arthur shrugged. "Anyway, I think this thing, I'm afraid even God can't satisfy them. But if they can become the king of Great Britain, and they can promise to the Parliament that they will give up interfering in domestic and foreign policies, then the cabinet will Maybe we can reluctantly agree to their request. But Charles, you know, there are 2000 million people in Great Britain, but only one king, so our biggest problem now is how to find forty trillion subjects for our 2000 million kings."

After hearing this, Dickens was puzzled and said, "Then if they can't become kings, shouldn't these things be changed?"

"Change, of course they have to be changed." Arthur said: "But if they don't give up some of their demands, all the demands mentioned above will not be realized. You also know that Britain is a cesspit. Now someone is telling them in the cesspit that as long as they take As far as the right to vote, all their requirements can be met, but in fact they don't intend to really give them the right to vote.

It's not a good sign that workers have been being scammed and enjoying it.I think they should have been fighting for factory legislation or something by now, since now is when they are most valuable in the eyes of the Whigs.There are some things that I don’t ask for right now, but they are overdue. "

When Dickens heard this, he lowered his head and remained silent for a while, then suddenly sighed.

He took out a notebook from the canvas bag he was carrying, and said, "Forget it, let's not talk about these frustrating things. Arthur, you also know that I have been doing parliamentary interviews recently, about the list of cabinet members prepared by the Whig Party, I have some news from congressmen here, are you interested in this?"

Arthur blinked when he heard this: "If you don't mind telling me something, of course I would like to listen."

Dickens opened the book, rubbed his temples, and said, "If nothing else, once the Tory Party steps down and the Whig Party comes to power. Then, as one of the three cabinet thrones, the Home Secretary may come from Out of the Viscount Palmerston, the Viscount Melbourne, the Duke of Bedford, and his brother Lord John Russell..."

(End of this chapter)