shadow of britain

Chapter 207 The Old Gentleman from Austria (4K)

Just by sharing a box of tobacco, Arthur quickly warmed up with the two military officers.

The three of them chatted, spanked and chatted, from the customs of England to the snowy land of Russia, and in the end, because of the same professional resonance, the three of them couldn't help scolding the ignorant superiors and themselves who were secretly cast by the pearl. .

In the trivial words, Arthur finally vaguely constructed a basic impression of this European oriental country.

In the past, Arthur's understanding of Russia in the 19th century was nothing more than a few outstanding writers, serfdom and a vague administrative system that were criticized by the writers.

As for the understanding of the mysterious organization of the Russian Imperial Office, it is limited to a few sporadic and simple information.

But now, the concept is finally a little clearer.

The Imperial Administration of Russia was formerly the Office of His Majesty the Tsar established during the reign of Peter the Great. It was changed to the Imperial Secretariat during the reign of Catherine the Great. Its status continued to improve during the reign of Paul I, and it was officially renamed the Imperial Administration.

However, throughout the 18th century, the imperial office was a secret and undisclosed organization, and the scope of the office's powers did not have a fixed number or legal basis, and it was purely based on the mood of the tsar.

After 1812, in response to Napoleon's attack on Russia, the Imperial Office was officially declared public, and its functions and superior-subordinate relationship began to be close to those of the Qing Dynasty's Military Aircraft Department. The General Office was not responsible to any department, but directly to the Tsar. Reporting work, they are responsible for collecting and conveying all matters and wills that are of interest to Alexander I.

For example: communicating with commanders, placing prisoners of war, arranging for army supplies and camping, etc.

Fortunately, there were no machine guns at this time, and there was no telegraph, which could quickly transmit orders. Otherwise, Alexander I, who was sitting in St. Petersburg giving advice, could have asked the front line to move the machine gun position to the left by five meters through the Imperial Office.

After the Napoleonic Wars, the power of the Imperial Office began to expand continuously, and successfully stipulated this uncontrolled power in the form of provisions.

The "Regulations on the Office of His Majesty the Tsar" directly stipulates that the Office of His Majesty the Tsar exists to deal with matters directly researched and decided by the Tsar himself, and all affairs here are handled directly by the Tsar or authorized by the Chief of the Office.The scope of the tsar's will cannot be determined, and therefore the authority and system of the office of His Majesty the tsar cannot be determined.

To sum up this passage, it is almost equivalent to the fact that the power of the Imperial Office is unlimited.

And not long after, the power to assess and promote senior Russian officials and evaluate the governance of local administration and police agencies was firmly held by the Imperial Office.

In front of it, other departments in Russia are all afraid. If anyone offends the Imperial Office, his political career will end prematurely.

The expansion of power naturally brought about a substantial expansion of the scale of the organization. The Imperial Office quickly expanded from one office to four in just a few years.

Among them, the First Office is responsible for supervising the work of all departments. Except for the Ministry of the Navy and the Ministry of War, the heads of all departments and even the Attorney General of the Orthodox Church must report to the First Office every morning.

The second hall held the legislative power in its hands, and the Russian Ministry of Justice was only responsible for implementing the resolutions of the second hall.

As for the third hall, it is even more heavyweight.

To be precise, the third hall contained almost all the powers that Arthur, the superintendent of Scotland Yard, could not imagine.

There are five divisions under the third department. The first division is responsible for political investigation, secretly monitoring domestic revolutionary organizations and social activists, and handling political cases.

The second division is responsible for combating separatism and religious radicals.

The third office is dedicated to foreign intelligence, not only to monitor foreigners in the country, but also to spy on the outside world.

The fourth branch is mobile. They are responsible for handling domestic public opinion emergencies and major events, and collecting important information.

As for the fifth department, their job responsibilities are mediocre compared with those of several brother departments.It is specifically responsible for the review of cultural publishing fields such as books, newspapers, and dramas.

In order to ensure the smooth completion of the work of the third office, of course they also have their own executive agency, which is the well-trained Russian military police all over the country.

It is directly responsible to the tsar, its power is not restricted by law, and the military police can be dispatched anytime and anywhere to make peace. All these factors make the third department the most difficult department in the imperial office and even in the whole of Russia.

Being a policeman can reach the level of the third department, which can be regarded as the pinnacle.At least in Britain, Arthur couldn't even think about it.

On this small island, not to mention the establishment of an organization like the Third Hall, even an ordinary security organization like Scotland Yard, there are a lot of people who are reluctant.

Not long ago, various dioceses in London complained in the parliament, saying: "I thought that the establishment of Scotland Yard would reduce the diocese's security expenses a lot, but at the end of the year, I found out that the diocese of London only needed to hire a magistrate for £17 in previous years. Scotland Yard’s expenses this year have already exceeded 25 pounds. Why don’t you disband such an expensive thing?”

However, although the clergy of various dioceses have mentioned this, the Ministry of Internal Affairs has been extremely tough on this issue, and there is no talk of disbanding Scotland Yard.

As the saying goes, it is easy to establish a department but difficult to dissolve it.

Maybe the clergy are really thinking about the parishioners and need to lower the security tax, but from the perspective of the Ministry of the Interior, this is taking my power away!

You can evacuate Scotland Yard today, but are you planning to evacuate our Ministry of Internal Affairs tomorrow?

Want to lower taxes?sure!You go and apply to Parliament to disband the Royal Navy. What is the use of burning so much military expenditure every year?

You let them build two fewer ships, and use the money for building battleships to subsidize the parishioners.

When Arthur mentioned this place, the two bearded military officers were also amused by him and laughed.

The more they looked at this British guy, the more they liked their eyes. They were thinking about where to invite him to have a big drink in the evening. Suddenly, a man with wavy hair, walking with a cane, wearing a black trench coat, and wearing a coat came out of the embassy. elderly man in a brim hat.

When the two military officers saw the old gentleman, they hurriedly smiled and extended their hands to say hello: "Guten tag! Herr Meternich."

Hearing this, the old gentleman raised his hand and lightly touched the brim of his hat, then walked down the steps with heavy and vigorous steps, and walked out of the embassy gate not long after.

Arthur frowned slightly, the other party seemed to speak German.

Although in the teaching process of the University of London, in order to allow students to read the official documents of various European countries in the Middle Ages, the Department of History will offer courses in Latin and Greek, but German is obviously not within the scope of teaching.

However, although Arthur has never learned German, he has seen some German videos in his previous life, but unfortunately, he only knows one reactionary slogan - Heil Hitler, but it is obvious that what the other party said today is definitely not this sentence, It was at least half a century before the birth of the moustache.

When he was about to ask the military officer who the old gentleman who just passed by was, before he could speak, he suddenly heard a burst of laughter.

"You must be Mr. Hastings?"

Arthur turned his head and looked around. The person speaking was a beautiful lady wearing a beige brocade dress, two emerald earrings, a diamond necklace hanging on her white neck, and a pigeon blood red ring on her lace white gloves. .

In London, there are many rich wives, and even more beautiful wives, but there should be only one who is rich and beautiful, and can still live in the Russian embassy.

Arthur took off his hat and saluted, "Ma'am, it's a pleasure to meet you."

Mrs. Levin looked at Arthur with a smile: "It is exactly as described by Emily. He is indeed a typical British gentleman. Just by looking at the appearance, no one would have thought that you would be a person who has been dealing with criminals all year round. Scotland Yard Constable."

When Arthur heard his wife's compliment, he didn't dare to take it lightly. After all, he knew very well that the beautiful lady in front of him could set off waves in Europe just by gently flapping her pleated skirt.

Arthur smiled and handed the phonograph in his hand to the servant beside him, then took out his wallet from his pocket, took out four concert tickets and handed them over.

"Madame, I am very glad to be able to help you in some trivial matters. Thanks to the enthusiastic support of you and Mrs. Cowper, I have successfully joined the London Philharmonic Society. After discussing with Mr. Mochelles, we intend to The Philharmonic Society's Third Symphony Orchestra will be performing for the first time this weekend at the Coburg Playhouse. If you can bring your family or friends to the concert in your busy schedule, the London Philharmonic Society will be honored .”

Mrs. Levin took the ticket and the program list attached to the ticket, and just glanced at it lightly, and she said with a bright eye: "Oh! God! Are you sure you didn't make a mistake? This concert is apart from you, Mr. Mocheles, Mr. Mendelssohn will also be on stage?"

Arthur nodded with a smile and said: "That's right, the Association attaches great importance to the debut of the Third Symphony Orchestra. As the head of the association, Mr. Mochelles always holds his breath and wants to make the Third Symphony Orchestra famous. Therefore, He specially summoned Mr. Mendelssohn who was traveling in Italy.

In addition, I can privately tell you that Mr. Moscheles is trying his best to get Mr. Cipriani Porter, who teaches at the Royal Academy of Music in London, to join this concert.Judging from the information I have received from Mr. Mocheles so far, the situation of Mr. Porter's joining is very optimistic. "

Even a lady like Mrs. Levin still couldn't hold back her excitement when she heard the unprecedentedly strong lineup for this concert.

Ignaz Moscheles, chief conductor of the prestigious London Philharmonic Society and academic member of the Royal Academy of Music,
Felix Mendelssohn, the talented pianist who became famous in Europe at the age of 21 and the author of "A Midsummer Night's Dream Overture",
There is also Cipriani Porter, the best piano player of Mozart and Beethoven in England.

Plus a Paganini of Scotland Yard who is not well-known now, but will definitely become popular in the future-Arthur Hastings.

Such a luxurious lineup is enough to support a large-scale performance such as the Christmas party, and it is only used for a routine Sunday concert. In Mrs. Levin's opinion, it is really overkill.

Arthur saw that Mrs. Levin was moving, but it didn't rise to a decisive level, so he continued to add: "Of course, although Mochelles, Mendelssohn and Porter are all absolutely capable pianists, But they pale in comparison to the special guests at the concert."

When Mrs. Levin heard this, she couldn't help covering her mouth with white gloves: "You mean, there are still experts?"

Arthur smiled and nodded, "I heard from Mr. Moselles that his teacher, the mentor of pianists all over Great Britain - Mr. Muzio Clementi will attend this concert."

"Muzio Clementi?" Mrs. Levin couldn't help but widen her eyes when she heard the name, and said in surprise: "Hasn't he held a concert for more than ten years?"

Arthur smiled and said: "As you said, Mr. Clementi began to engage in music education more than ten years ago and no longer attends concerts. But this time is an exception. He is old, so He intends to announce his retirement soon. This time, it should be his curtain call.

It is precisely because of this that, on behalf of Mr. Mochelles, I will try my best to ask you to attend this concert. He wants to present a decent farewell concert for his teacher.Mr. Mochelles would be very grateful if a celebrity like you would be willing to attend. "

After hearing this, Mrs. Levin finally stopped hesitating.

Although the name of Muzio Clementi is not as prominent as that of Mozart and Beethoven in later generations, in Europe in the 19th century, the master who composed more than 110 piano pieces in his life was on par with Mozart and Beethoven legendary pianist.

Even in the UK, his fame and respect surpassed that of Mozart and Beethoven. This romantic pianist from the Apennine Peninsula is definitely a well-deserved leader in the British music industry.

Mrs. Levin immediately said: "Please rest assured, it is a great honor to be able to attend Mr. Clementi's farewell performance. Even if you don't take the initiative to ask me today, I will definitely help you in the club." Mr. Clementi advertised the concert.

Traveling to Vienna without hearing Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven is nothing, and coming to London without hearing Mr. Clementi is a lifetime.Just recently, I have a friend who came from Austria, and I can take him to taste the performance style of Clementi and the pianists in Vienna. "

"A friend from Austria?" Arthur was taken aback when he heard this, and suddenly remembered the German phrase that the two Tsarist Russian military officers had said just now—Herr Metternich.

Metternich?

Metternich?
He looked back abruptly, but the old gentleman had long since disappeared behind him.

Heck!

The one just now is the Prime Minister of the Austrian Empire - Clemens Metternich?

What is he doing at the Russian embassy?
(End of this chapter)