shadow of britain

Chapter 330 Corruption

"Hahaha, Mr. Hastings, before I met you, I thought you were a traditional gentleman who was difficult to get along with. But after actually chatting with you today, I realized that you are really humorous."

"Both young and old can chat with you. Even an old man like me who has not kept up with the times can find common topics with you. Anyone who says that you are not easy to get along with is slandering you. reputation."

In the smoking room, old Gladstone and Hester chatted animatedly with Arthur. They talked from the Far East to the Near East, and from the Near East to America.

Thanks to their thorough understanding of international trade, Arthur also gained a lot of knowledge.

"If you are doing business in the Levant, a promise from the Egyptian Pasha Muhammad Ali is more effective than the Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II."

"I heard that Ali didn't have a quarrel with the Sudan over the past two years over the right to rule Crete and Syria?"

"Yes, it was Mahmoud II who tricked him in this matter. He originally promised Ali that if Ali was willing to go to Greece to quell the rebellion, he would make him the governor of Crete, Damascus, Tripoli and Syria after the incident. ruler.

Ali was very moved by this condition, so he accepted the transaction. In 1825, he sent his son Ibrahim to lead an Egyptian army of more than 4 people to land on the Peloponnese Peninsula. Although the battle was difficult in the first year, it was conquered in April of the following year. The Greek town of Messolongion is where Lord Byron died. In August, Athens also failed under the fierce attack of the Egyptians. The Greek rebels were completely unable to compete and were beaten back. The entire Greek land north of the Collins Gulf fell into the hands of the Ottomans again. "

When Arthur heard this, he casually asked: "Will it be Britain, France and Russia's turn to intervene in the Greek War of Independence from now on?"

Old Gladstone smiled and said: "Yes, when Athens was besieged, negotiations had already begun. Britain, France and Russia demanded that the Ottomans cease fire with Greece immediately. Ali also took the lead in expressing his willingness to accept it, but the Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II was firmly opposed to signing the peace treaty, and he asked Ali to continue fighting.”

Hearst said with a smile: "The Sudan will not cease fire, but Britain is not very willing to send troops. After all, we do not want to defeat the Ottomans. Therefore, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs resorted to the old trick and proposed to send a three-nation coalition at the London Conference. The fleet cut off the supply lines between the Egyptian army and the Ottoman Empire.”

Old Gladstone nodded and said: "Then the Ottomans made a mistake and angered General Codrington. As a result, he used his might to completely annihilate the Ottoman navy at the Battle of Navarino."

Little Gladstone's face became strange when he heard this: "I heard from some old members of the party that when the news of General Codrington's victory over the Ottoman navy came back to London, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was quiet. It's like the palace of the Ottoman Empire.

Immediately afterwards, the Foreign Secretary, Earl Dudley, punched his desk angrily and shouted: 'Codrington is an idiot with an underdeveloped brain! Who gave him the authority to fire on the Ottoman navy? I swear to God! If circumstances permit, I will definitely transfer him to Westminster to guard the imperial mausoleum! ’”

Arthur couldn't help but frown when he heard this. He swung his wine glass and said, "Oh, it seems that it is a pity that General Codrington did not study in a seminary. He missed a man who could become Weiss." Great opportunity for the Bishop of Minster.”

Hester laughed and said: "It's not bad now. Didn't he take the position of Commander of the Portsmouth Base after resigning as Commander of the Channel Fleet this year? From the Mediterranean Fleet to the Channel Fleet, and from the Channel Fleet to Portsmouth Portsmouth base, he is getting closer to Westminster."

Having said this, Old Gladstone suddenly patted the suitcase he was carrying.

Seeing this, Hester quickly stood up and said calmly: "Mr. Hastings, Mr. Gladstone, you two chat slowly, my dance partner is probably waiting outside in a hurry. I can't let the lady be too busy." Anxious, that is not in line with the basic social etiquette of a gentleman."

Old Gladstone smiled and replied: "Of course, have a nice evening."

Hester pushed the door open and went out. Old Gladstone turned his attention to his son again: "William, you are going out too."

Little Gladstone hesitated for a moment after hearing this. He leaned down and begged in his father's ear: "Father, I don't think you need to do this in private. Just go through the normal process."

When Old Gladstone heard this, he just patted his son's face lovingly: "William, that's not okay, this is the rule. Everything is done on the table, and everything is done openly, then it is not called politics. Aren't you in love with Catherine in the old pocket watch family? Go out and dance with her, talk about what you saw in Oxford, or if you are happy, just talk about the Bank of England interest rate hike that interests you. .As long as you don’t ask her to get married, as a father, I am quite open-minded in terms of my children’s love affairs.”

Little Gladstone felt the weight from his father's palm. He was silent for a while, and finally just looked up at Arthur, and then exited the smoking room without saying a word.

Old Gladstone looked helplessly at his son's back and curled his lips, then raised his eyebrows at Arthur, indicating whether he wanted Alexandre Dumas and others to follow him and leave the stage.

Arthur just waved his hand at him: "Mr. Gladstone, there is no need to go to so much trouble. These are all part-time workers. They all have their own professions. I came to Liverpool just to see something new and meet others." See the world.”

Seeing what Arthur said, Gladstone had no choice but to turn the conversation to another side. He asked, "What do you think of my child, William?"

Arthur took a sip of wine and replied: "Sir, it is not appropriate for you to ask me this, because I am actually not much older than Mr. Gladstone."

Old Gladstone asked: "In what year were you born?"

"1810."

Old Gladstone was stunned for a moment when he heard this, and then laughed and said: "That's not older than William, but younger than him. He was born in 1809. But I never judge people by their age. Some people live to be thirty years old, but their knowledge is better than others who live to be eighty years old. Although you are younger than William, in my opinion you should be more mature than him. Therefore, it is completely enough for you to evaluate him. Qualified, as a father, I really want to hear your opinion on my child."

Arthur saw that he insisted on requesting, and was not very good at refusing. So he had to think about it for a moment and responded: "In my opinion, Mr. Gladstone has a good educational background and a profound family heritage. He is knowledgeable and knowledgeable." At the same time, he has expertise in financial affairs. As long as time is given, he will definitely become a very good Ministry of Finance official. What is even more valuable is that he is also very upright."

When Old Gladstone heard this, he just shook his head and said, "Mr. Hastings, your last derogatory sentence almost overshadowed all the compliments in the previous sentence."

"No, that's not derogatory." Arthur smiled: "Integrity is not derogatory, at least not to me. In my opinion, it is a precious quality worth cherishing."

Old Gladstone savored these words and suddenly asked: "Then do you possess this quality?"

Arthur just touched his chin and replied: "Sir, you have to know that only things you don't have are valuable, and only things you have lost can be cherished. I still had this kind of thing a year or two ago, but I am moving up. During the climb, I accidentally lost it. Are your eyesight good? If so, please help me find where I lost it."

Old Gladstone smiled brightly and placed the suitcase next to the sofa on the coffee table: "You must know that I am a businessman. A businessman must be able to predict the needs of his customers in advance. I have found your integrity. , it's locked in this box.

Of course, I can't figure out which pile is your integrity and which pile is the undeclared tariffs. It's possible that every pile is yours, or it's possible that every pile is customs duty. After all, I haven't seen what your integrity looks like, so I'll just leave it to you to judge. "Having said this, Old Gladstone stood up and said goodbye to Arthur, turned around and walked out of the smoking room.

Louis followed and walked to the door of the smoking room. He pressed his back against the door panel, took off his hat to fan the air and said, "He has gone far. Do you want to open it first?"

"Of course you have to see it!" Dumas didn't care about security and confidentiality. Just like Arthur said, he came to Liverpool purely to see the world and have fun. Even if Arthur pointed a gun at him, he had to take a look. How many dirty gold coins are there?

He opened the edge of the box inch by inch, and before he could fully open it, the bright golden light almost blinded the fat Frenchman.

He covered his eyes and plopped down on the ground: "Gold coins, there are all gold coins in here!"

"Let me take a look." Heine also squatted down and opened a gap to take a look: "One, two, three, four... my God! There are ten in each pile, a total of one hundred piles, and there are enough here. One thousand guineas! Wait, no, there are ten bills lying on the guineas, each one is a money order for a thousand pounds, and it's bearer! Let me do the math, one guinea is 21 shillings, That is 1 pound 1 shilling, plus these ten notes, the total is... 11050 pounds?"

Seeing this, Arthur just put his hand on the lid of the box expressionlessly: "What are you doing? What's inside is Liverpool's undeclared tariffs. Are you coveting Britain's government property? As Liverpool The special anti-smuggling inspector, I will never allow you to put this 8000 pounds of customs duties into your personal pockets."

"8000 pounds?" Heine raised his eyebrows and said, "Arthur, did you make a mistake in your calculation? I calculated 11050 pounds!"

Louis, who was leaning on the door panel, took a puff of smoke and said: "Arthur's calculation is not wrong, and you are not wrong either, but the algorithms you use are different. You use the algorithm of the German poet, and Arthur uses the algorithm of the Scotland Yard police." algorithm. The final result is different because you did not multiply the exchange rate difference between you."

Alexandre Dumas asked with a strange expression: "Really? Can I take the liberty of asking, what is the exchange rate in France?"

Louis was silent for a moment, and then said: "The exchange rate in France is complicated, even the exchange rate used by everyone is different. Do you know Talleyrand? I happen to know a little about his conversion method. "

"Talleyrand? Of course I know." Alexandre Dumas said, "He was the one who lifted my wanted order."

"He lifted your wanted order?" Louis asked: "How much confession did you give him?"

"I didn't pay." Alexandre Dumas replied, putting his arm on Arthur's shoulder: "But I don't know if my friend helped me with the exchange rate conversion."

Arthur replied: "Neither did I. Not only that, he also lost me dozens of pounds playing cards."

When Louis heard this, he just sneered: "Oh, it can only be said that he does have Talleyrand's style. He has never valued small money. If he wants to play, he will play big. If he is responsible for handling Liverpool, then I'm afraid Not a penny will be left to the government.”

Heine was shocked and confused when he heard this: "Is he playing this big?"

Louis recalled what his uncle had said to him before, and couldn't help but said angrily: "Even if it is ten thousand pounds, it is only more than 20 francs. Talleyrand's game is much bigger than this.

I heard from my uncle that during the Revolution, Talleyrand was just an ordinary bishop at first. He was disgusted with the Revolution from the beginning, and even went to the palace overnight to demand the assembly of troops to suppress the revolution. But later he saw that something was wrong, so he hurriedly abandoned Louis XVI, changed his focus overnight, and proposed at the Constituent Assembly that church property should be returned to the government. He relied on this act of generosity to others to win a good reputation as the people's bishop.

During the Directory period, Talleyrand became Minister of Foreign Affairs and received 1200 million francs in benefits in two years. At that time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had a famous saying that before negotiating with the French government, one must first talk to Talleyrand. If Talleyrand did not nod, diplomatic documents from other countries would not be sent.

At that time, the Americans passed a bill in Congress to cancel all their international debts. The Americans claim that these debts were owed by the previous government, which was a British colonial government. Therefore, the debts belong to the United Kingdom and have nothing to do with the current U.S. government.

But as you know, in order to help the Americans fight the War of Independence, France provided huge loans to the United States. However, these country bumpkins saw that France was undergoing a great revolution and had no spare power to deal with them, so they wanted to fish in troubled waters and miss out on this deal, which the Directory would definitely not agree to.

So in order to retaliate against the Americans for forcing them to repay their debts, the Directory ordered the French navy to seize more than 300 American merchant ships in the Caribbean and hired pirates to attack their trade lines in the Mediterranean. The Americans were afraid, so they planned to send a mission to sue for peace and repair the relationship between the two sides.

As a result, Talleyrand concealed the matter of the American mission from the country. He privately sent his own agent to negotiate with the United States, demanding that the United States pay Talleyrand 5 pounds in benefits, and in addition to provide France with A loan of 3200 million guilders to help France deal with the anti-French alliance.

But this group of hillbillies in the United States did not understand this European way, and they would not agree to bribe Talleyrand no matter what they said. As a result, Talleyrand was so angry that he delayed the American mission for half a year. Seeing that there was no hope, the Americans had no choice but to return home and declare that the negotiations had failed. They began to purchase armed merchant ships and prepare for an undeclared war with France.

In this way, France and the United States were confused and fighting at sea for two years before the Talleyrand incident broke out. It's just that my uncle came to power at that time, and Talleyrand played a major role in helping him come to power, so the two countries signed a peace treaty, and the matter was hastily settled. "

Heine was greatly shocked when he heard this: "I have heard a lot about corruption, but this is the first time I understand about the war between the two countries because of corruption."

Louis rolled his eyes and said: "Where did this come from? The Americans have learned to be smart since then. At that time, the United States and France were negotiating a trade treaty, but the negotiations had not made any progress. Seeing that the situation was not good, the Americans slapped their heads and hurriedly gave Talleyrand sent 300 million francs, and the treaty was signed the next day.

The armistice between France and Austria was even more classic. In order to ensure the smooth signing of the treaty, Austria first sent hundreds of thousands of francs to Talleyrand, but Talleyrand directly asked Austria for 1500 million.

Austria did not agree, so Talleyrand simply included the 1500 million in war reparations. After the signing of the Treaty of Luneville, in addition to paying reparations to France, Austria had to pay separate reparations to Talleyrand. It is really difficult to find such a person in history, whether in the East or the West, looking at thousands of years of corruption and bribery. "

Alexandre Dumas took a deep breath and asked: "Can Napoleon tolerate being so greedy?"

"What can I do if I can't bear it?"

Louis said helplessly: "After all, we still have to count on Talleyrand to negotiate. He is indeed greedy, but everyone is willing to negotiate with him. For a treaty, others will not take a penny for it, but the negotiation cannot be completed. Talleyrand went there , Great greed, the treaty can be established. What do you want my uncle to do? Moreover, although I don’t like Talleyrand, the Bonaparte family can still exist to this day, and he does have a share of credit. The restoration of Bonaparte The Next Dynasty originally wanted to liquidate us, but Talleyrand has always been opposed to them, and was even marginalized because of it. In short, there are good and bad things. "

When Alexandre Dumas heard this, he finally relaxed. He said to Arthur: "That's all, it's such a small amount of money. Just take it. Arthur, compared with Talleyrand, I only smoked so much. I They all think that you are too honest in handling things. In my opinion... why don't we take more? I'm afraid they won't be relieved if we take less!"

(End of this chapter)