shadow of britain

Chapter 37 The Ass Problem in the House of Commons

In the coffee shop on the corner of the street, Darwin and Arthur were sitting in the corner talking, and in front of them were several textbooks that Darwin had taught at the University of Edinburgh.

Darwin taught all the knowledge of pharmacology he had learned all his life, while Arthur listened quietly, occasionally picking up a pen to record some knowledge points he thought were more important on the manuscript paper.

Whenever Darwin got to the point, Arthur raised his hand and asked a few questions.

"So the most widely used narcotic drug is laudanum? And it's so easy to buy?"

"Even if you have a fever, a cold, or a headache, the doctor will prescribe this medicine?"

"What? Insomnia also prescribes this?"

"The side effect is addictive? Well, I know that."

"You will treat patients with bloodletting therapy. I have indeed seen this in the clinic."

"So it sounds, I think sucking blood with leeches seems less disgusting, at least the patient will not feel pain."

Time passed by, Darwin glanced at the full page of notes recorded by Arthur, and let out a long sigh of relief.

"Arthur, I think what I said today should be enough for you to digest for a while."

Arthur nodded, put the notes in his bag, and took a sip from his teacup.

"It's been hard work for you today, Charles."

After finishing speaking, Arthur glanced at Elder who was sitting on the side holding a newspaper and was fascinated by it.

He asked: "But... Elder, what are you doing here today? Didn't you tell me that you have been working hard on drawing skills every day recently?"

Unexpectedly, Elder was reading the newspaper enthusiastically. He waved his hand and said, "Wait until I finish reading this paragraph. I really didn't expect that other newspapers are so good-looking. This kind of street tabloid that sells for a penny, the content is forever. Much better content than regular papers at fourpence."

When Arthur heard this, he couldn't help but said, "Even if you like reading this kind of newspaper, can you stop telling me the price?

Everyone knows that there is a stamp duty of threepence on a newspaper, so that anything under threepence is an illegal publication which does not pay the duty.

Elder, I'm still wearing a police uniform, at least wait until I take it off, right? "

But Elder didn't care whether Arthur was wearing a uniform or not, he excitedly pulled Arthur's arm and pulled him over, pointing to a paragraph in the newspaper and said to Arthur.

"Look at this paragraph, the above sprayed the blood of the parliament and said that this group of donkeys finally knew to stop crowing."

Arthur glanced at it. Most of the content in the newspaper was about the recent 'Swain Riots' that broke out in rural areas.

Because the farm laborers could not bear the high basic cost of living brought about by the grain bill, coupled with the agricultural crisis that broke out in recent years, they gathered together, and whenever night fell, they would attack the landlord's manor and burn their granary, and along the way destroyed their threshing machines.

This phenomenon is particularly serious in Hampshire, Wiltshire, and Kent. In the past few days, there have been several news stories about landowners and priests being set on fire by angry farmers in the newspapers.

Such incidents of wreak havoc at night have actually happened many times in the UK, and a standard riot process has even been formed, and it is not limited to the agricultural sector.

The most famous of these was the Luddite Movement that broke out in 1811.

At that time, the hosiery merchants in Nottinghamshire disregarded the industry rules and produced a kind of inferior stockings to drive down the price of socks, which seriously affected the normal income of manual hosiery workers.

So some weavers secretly organized in the name of the fictional "General Luther" to destroy the hosiery machines of the merchants, destroy their wool and hosiery factories, and hang them immediately if they found the factory owners.

The fire of Nottingham quickly spread all over England, and all kinds of riots blossomed everywhere in just one year.

In order to suppress workers' riots, the British authorities even had to recall part of the army troops that were participating in the Napoleonic Wars on the Iberian Peninsula.

At the peak of the 'Luddite Movement', the British Army remained at home to deal with rioting workers even more than Napoleon.

After that, in order to deal with the Luddite movement, the British government urgently passed two bills, namely the "Destruction of Machines Restricted Destruction Act" and the "Malicious Damage Act of 1812".

But it is obvious that the rioting workers who are on the rise don't care so much.

Because the Luddite movement was almost spontaneously initiated by workers from all over the country, there was no unified organization, and the British authorities suppressed it wave after wave, and it continued intermittently until the 19s, and there was still a "General Ludd" 'A riot of banners appeared.

Although the Swain riot did not use the banner of 'General Ludd' this time, they just changed the banner to 'Captain Swain'.

However, for this 'Swain Riot', the Tory cabinet headed by the Duke of Wellington was extremely quiet, although they still sent military police to the place where the riot occurred to restore order.

But at the same time, they also uncharacteristically stated that as long as the situation does not continue to expand, they will not send army troops to suppress it.

In the next few days, the development of the situation became more and more magical.

At about the same time as the Swain riots, Lord Suffield delivered a speech in the House of Lords on the advancement of 'the establishment of a system of entitlements'.

He proposed to set aside 50 acres of land in various dioceses across the country as allotments, and rent them out to farm laborers who lost their land at a low price. Conflict among landed farmers.

It is true that Lord Suffield had made similar proposals many times before, but this one alone won a full house in the House of Lords.

The Speaker of the House of Lords even went so far as to praise Lord Suffield's vision as a brilliant, brilliant and inventive proposal.

He also said that although he has heard Mr. Lord mention this proposal many times, he still remembers it every time.

Only 8 days after Lord Suffield's speech in the House of Lords, Member of the House of Commons Briscoe also expressed his support for Lord Suffield's initiative in the House of Commons, and planned to propose a feasible bill on related issues.

For the first time since Arthur had come to the country, he felt that the House of Commons of Great Britain was such an active institution.

The Tory Party, which has always been known for its conservativeness, suddenly made a 180-degree turn, which caught the Whig Party, which was excited and ready to impeach the cabinet, by surprise.

With the two parties nodding at the same time, the implementation of the land allocation system has almost become an irreversible foregone conclusion.

The specific promulgation time, only the time for legislation remains.

This is the first time since the end of the Napoleonic Wars that there has been such a harmonious scene in the House of Commons.

Elder covered his stomach and clapped his hands and laughed, this matter has almost contracted his jokes for the whole day.

"As the newspapers say, the donkeys have indeed stopped braying."

As for Arthur, he stroked his chin as if he saw something in it.

Suddenly, he figured out something, Arthur smiled slightly, and took the newspaper from Elder.

He murmured: "It seems that sometimes, when the whip is used well, they can still pull the millstone."

(End of this chapter)