shadow of britain

Chapter 232 Parliamentary Immunity (4K)

Greater Scotland Yard, 4 Whitehall Street, Westminster, London.

Compared to half a year ago, Arthur's office has undergone many changes.

The most obvious thing is that there are several more nameplates outside the office door to demonstrate function and authority.

In addition to the daunting-looking Criminal Investigation Department of the Metropolitan Police at first glance, there is also a brand that does not seem to have much effect - the External Liaison Office of the Metropolitan Police.

Of course, the External Liaison Office is only a public statement to the outside world. Under the system of the Ministry of Home Affairs, most people will call it the London Police Intelligence Bureau.

After this year's public sector budget passed the parliamentary vote, Arthur, who had just made a great contribution to Great Britain at the London Conference, received a generous grant from the Home Office.

Although the funds he can mobilize at the moment are far from being comparable to the growing scale of Scotland Yard, as an independent secondary agency with only five people at the beginning, it can extract a financial allocation of 5 pounds from the Ministry of Home Affairs. This was enough to satisfy him.

What does this financial allocation of [-] pounds mean?

According to the "London Police Intelligence Bureau Management Regulations" drafted by Arthur and approved by the Ministry of Home Affairs, the London Police Intelligence Bureau temporarily divides its intelligence officers into two categories: formal and temporary.

Among them, formal employees are divided into three levels, from level one to level three, and can receive intelligence allowances of one hundred pounds, eighty pounds and fifty pounds from the bureau each year.

Therefore, even if everyone in the current bureau is counted as a first-level intelligence officer, the annual expenditure is only five hundred pounds.

In what way should the remaining nine thousand five hundred pounds be spent? This question made Arthur worried.

Based on the experience Arthur learned in the history department, expanding the establishment is of course the best and most practical solution, because whether it is at home or abroad throughout the ages, the more people under his command, the greater the power of the department.

However, as an organization with relatively sensitive work functions, even if the Police Intelligence Bureau wants to recruit people, it cannot just do random things.

Otherwise, if we recruit a few unreliable people and cause some trouble, a small organization like the London Police Intelligence Bureau, which has just been established, will not be able to withstand the challenges of the cabinet and parliament.

Therefore, for the sake of safety and to spend money for a surprise attack, Arthur could only first recruit several of his old friends into the establishment of the Police Intelligence Bureau.

Darwin and Elder, who were far away in South America, had been coaxed into signing a work contract by him in a small hotel in Plymouth Harbor before their departure.

He also forced Mr. Wheatstone, a rich man who had just made his fortune, to put his fingerprints on the contract and sign a deed of sale. Now Mr. Wheatstone has turned into a scientific consultant for the London Police Intelligence Bureau, of course. , on the surface his identity is still in the name of Scotland Yard.

Even Alexandre Dumas, a fat French curly-haired man with thick eyebrows and big eyes, has now betrayed republicanism and joined Britain.

As for Miss Fiona Ivan, who had just been promoted to deputy head maid at the Russian Embassy, ​​Arthur also generously settled all the arrears so far in one lump sum.But because she was so preoccupied, Arthur felt that her official identity might have to be reconsidered.

After all, compared to an experienced person like Fiona who has already formed a fixed concept, Arthur thinks that maybe the eyes of a college student who has just stepped out of campus are clearer.

And there is an obvious benefit of developing personnel from universities. I wonder if it is because the family conditions of the guys who can afford to go to university in this era are generally good, and they can even choose not to pay.

And this phenomenon is not limited to college students, but is also particularly evident among middle-class groups such as poets, painters, and writers who have a lot of free time.

I don’t know if they were influenced by the increasing sales of "British" magazine. These middle-class readers who read "The Hastings Detective Collection" written by the fashionable novelist whose pen name is Arthur Sigmar have a strong interest in detectives. There was great interest in this emerging profession.

Although the reputation of Scotland Yard police officers is still relatively poor today, the mention of police detectives will make them awe.

If you tell everyone that we are recruiting police informants, most of them will not be happy. Not only are they not happy, they will also scold Scotland Yard, saying that this is police rule and high-pressure centralization.

But if you tell them that London is in decline and the crime rate is soaring, so we are currently short of manpower and need good citizens to volunteer as detective assistants, then these educated gentlemen and ladies will be happy to lend a helping hand.

However, although the liaison staff of the London Police Intelligence Bureau has grown slowly, the Criminal Investigation Department of the Greater London Police Department led by Arthur has grown rapidly in the past six months.

Today, the Criminal Investigation Department already has 25 professional police detectives responsible for investigating various vicious cases.

Perhaps he understood that Arthur's rise within Scotland Yard was unstoppable. In the face of the trend of history, Director Rowan chose to work intermittently on [-], [-], [-], and continuously find someone to take charge of [-], [-], and rest on Sundays. Way.

After Director Luo Wan's Shenlong disappeared, the Criminal Investigation Department finally began to receive applications for assistance in investigations from various police districts.

As for why so many cases have been received, this cannot be blamed on the poor capabilities of each police district, but on the rapid progress of the times.

Nowadays, murders are no longer as obvious as they were in medieval times, and the use of chemicals to commit crimes is gradually spreading in dark corners invisible to most citizens.

For front-line patrol officers who lack relevant knowledge, it is really difficult for them to solve such a case.

Under the morning sun, with a shiny back and a thin layer of moisture covering his head, Arthur leaned on the chair in the office, holding a copy of The Times that had just been released this morning in his hand, while drinking black tea and eating biscuits. While constantly absorbing useful information for yourself from the news.

For him, there was nothing more enjoyable than lying in his office fishing after just catching a suspect.

Today's news headlines may seem exciting, but to Arthur, they seem ordinary.

"Prime Minister Earl Charles Grey's parliamentary reform bill was voted down by the House of Commons"

"After the Whig Party won the general election, some party members quickly turned to the right"

"Whig General Thomas Cochrane: This rudder turns faster than our Royal Navy ships"

"Lord Russell: There is a liar in the party!"I firmly oppose anyone engaging in political speculation in the Whig Party!The reason why we came to power is to reform corruption, but some people regard this as an opportunity to rise to power."

"Viscount Palmerston: It is normal for political parties to have different voices. We need to consider the voices of all party members, but I also firmly believe that under the leadership of Prime Minister Earl Gray, we will solve this problem" " Earl Gray held a temporary meeting within the party and asked all Whig party members to strengthen cohesion and look towards the goal of reform.

"Tory Party leader Sir Robert Peel and former Prime Minister Duke of Wellington have no comment on reform bill being blocked"

"Viscount Palmerston: Peel feels guilty, the Tories are the biggest obstacle to the failure of the reform bill to pass"

"Sir Peel responded: As far as I saw with my own eyes, Viscount Palmerston went to the door on the left during the reform vote. As we all know, that door represents opposition"

"Viscount Palmerston solemnly declares: This is nonsense. I am just old and have lost my way."

The Red Devil stood behind Arthur, glanced at the title of the newspaper, and smiled from ear to ear: "These people are really interesting, throwing dirty water, playing tricks on each other, and being shady with each other. Thousands of years have passed. Why?" Or is this the same thing?"

"What's all the fuss about?"

Arthur shrugged: "Even if thousands of years pass, I guarantee you will still see the same scene. In this regard, those in the Parliament are really not much better than Elder. But And thanks to parliamentary politics, without which we would never have known how funny these people were, they could have gone to the theater to be comedians.”

"Oh haha..." the red devil said with a bad smile: "However, just such a group of people can decide the fate of Belgium with just a few words. Look at the newspaper in your hand, your old husband-in-law Prince Leopold of Britain seems to be Already officially accepted as King of Belgium.”

"Belgians can be happy as they please. Regardless of whether they are happy or not, they have to accept this reality. I hope Prince Leopold can treat them better."

After Arthur finished speaking, he picked up another document at hand.

The red devil just glanced at it, then smiled and narrowed his eyes: "Ah, Arthur, you are really unlucky! After working as a dog for the cabinet, you will always encounter this kind of thing. What are you going to do this time? ?Your friend is planning to rebel again."

Arthur looked at the document and couldn't help but put a hand on his forehead, feeling like he couldn't breathe in his chest.

It was a report document sent to him by the liaison officer in the Oxford area. Regardless of the long speech, there was only one core theme in it - the clergy in Oxford seemed to be preparing to make big news.

For Arthur, being an Oxford priest was certainly not a likable status, but he couldn't help but owe a favor to John Newman, one of the leaders of the Oxford priests.

Arthur thought about it for a long time, and finally put down the documents before the case and put them on the unimportant side.

The red devil raised his eyebrows: "What? Are you going to let them go so easily? I can't tell, you are quite emotional."

Arthur just glanced at Agares: "Agares, do you really don't understand or are you pretending not to understand? This has nothing to do with feelings, but from the perspective of the Whig party, now they cannot communicate with the priests I don't know what Earl Gray is thinking in his heart, but I know that if he doesn't push for parliamentary reform, he won't be able to stay in that position for a day. Those who support parliamentary reform are now a minority in the parliament. Come on, if I arrest the clergy who turned to the Whig Party due to the Catholic Emancipation Act, do you think I will get any good results?"

When the red devil heard this, he just raised his eyebrows. He licked his red lips and said, "Oh, my dear Arthur, you know how to live. In that case, why did you go to Dongbo this morning? Where’s Nee Harrison?”

"Bernie Harrison?" Arthur said: "He is not a priest, and he is also a murderer. He has a legally issued arrest warrant. Is there any problem if I arrest him?"

"Heh..." Agares rubbed his hands and smiled evilly: "I hope so, Arthur, I wish you good luck."

When Arthur heard this, he suddenly felt that something was wrong.

He frowned slightly, and before he could figure out the reason, there was a sudden knock on the door.

Tom rushed into the office with a document in his arms. He was sweating profusely and said, "Arthur, something bad is going to happen!"

"what happened?"

"Look at this quickly."

Tom handed the document in his hand to Arthur's hand.

Arthur just glanced lightly, and his expression immediately darkened.

The document was not heavy in weight, but the power hidden behind a few paragraphs forced Arthur to weigh it carefully.

Tom said angrily: "I don't know what those people in the police district do for a living. Why didn't they even do a basic background check on the suspect? The Magistrate's Court is also ridiculous. It actually issued a case against a suspect without clear review." Member’s arrest warrant. Right now, while Parliament is in session, the House of Commons requires us to immediately release Mr. Bernie Harrison. Do you think we should release him or not?”

Arthur looked at the document in front of him and felt that one was as big as the other.

According to legal provisions, during the session of Parliament, members of Congress enjoy immunity from speech and the right not to be arrested. Even if members are involved in treasonous crimes, they must be notified to the Speaker and approved before they can be arrested.

However, now Arthur has directly arrested a member of the Parliament and sent him to Scotland Yard without seeking approval from the Parliament. In the eyes of the Parliament, this is tantamount to provocation in person and does not take their authority into consideration at all. inside.

When Arthur thought about the causes and consequences of this incident, a possibility suddenly emerged in his mind.

"Luo Wan, damn you, how dare you try to punish me for such a thing?"

As soon as he finished speaking, there was another knock on the door.

A young police officer timidly stretched his head in. He swallowed and reluctantly smiled stiffly: "That...Superintendent Hastings...Director Rowan asked you to come over."

Tom asked hurriedly: "Did the director tell you what happened?"

"Uh..." When the young police officer heard this, he immediately laughed harder than crying: "Tom, don't make it difficult for me. How can I dare to ask him such a thing? But I guess... probably... just for this morning That thing, right?”

(End of this chapter)