shadow of britain

Chapter 479 Danish Controversy
In the 19s, the unification of the Apennine Peninsula was still a long way off.

Like Germany, the name Italy is more of a geographical concept than the name of a country.

Just like there were many small states in Germany, Italy at this time, after experiencing the baptism of the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and the Napoleonic Wars, still had a total of six countries: the Papal States, the Kingdom of Sardinia, the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, the Duchy of Modena, the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetian and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

Among these six countries, except for the theocratic Papal States and the Kingdom of Sardinia ruled by the House of Savoy, the other four countries were basically directly or indirectly controlled by the Austrian Empire.

For example, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies mentioned by Heine. Although their king came from the Bourbon family, after the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies was restored after the Napoleonic Wars, two consecutive generations of queens came from the Austrian royal family of Habsburg.

As for the rulers of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany and the Duchy of Modena, they both came from branches of the Austrian Habsburg family.

The Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetian was directly under the Austrian royal family.

Half of Italy was occupied by the Austrians, and the Young Italy led by Mazzini and others regarded the unification of the entire Apennine Peninsula as their ultimate goal, so they were bound to come into conflict with the Austrians.

This was also the fundamental reason why Austrian Prime Minister Metternich was very dissatisfied with the French government's tolerance of this group of Italian nationalists.

However, for French King Louis Philippe, he was able to ascend to the throne by virtue of the title of "People's King" and the tricolor flag symbolizing freedom, equality and fraternity.

Therefore, he did not allow the Young Italians to stay just to target Austria. Hadn’t the Poles, the thorn in the Tsar’s side, also taken root in Paris?

Moreover, even if we put aside Louis Philippe's need for survival, France has a long tradition of accommodating political prisoners from various countries.

This even included the Jacobites, who had always longed to regain the British throne and restore the Stuart dynasty and the Catholic faith.

In order to prevent the Catholics from inheriting the British throne, Britain launched the Glorious Revolution. Parliament announced the abdication of King James II and supported James II's eldest daughter Mary II, who believed in the Anglican Church, and her husband William III, the Dutch ruler, to jointly govern the country.

With the cooperation of Parliament and William III, the 1.5 Dutch troops led by William III landed smoothly in Tor Bay without any resistance. When King James II of England heard the news, he had to give up the throne and flee to France overnight.

But the fact that most English people opposed James II did not mean that the Scots and Irish thought the same.

After the king fled, the Scottish Highland nobles refused to swear allegiance to the new king. Ireland, as the traditional sphere of influence of Catholicism, even passed a bill directly declaring that the English Parliament's dethronement of James II was unconstitutional, and James II remained the King of Ireland.

James II also landed in Ireland with the funding from France and was greeted with cheers of "Long live the king".

Under the banner of James II, the Scottish Highland nobles and the Irish soon formed an alliance, calling themselves "Jacobs", and began a large-scale siege of Londonderry, the stronghold of the Anglican Church in Ireland.

However, they were eventually defeated by William III's army and had to retreat to France. The French army then reorganized this unit and included it in the French battle sequence, calling it the 'Irish Brigade'.

This Irish Brigade has gone through hundreds of years of historical changes, and was later expanded by Napoleon into an Irish regiment with five battalions and a total of 2000 people, and made great achievements in the Peninsular War. Due to its outstanding military achievements, the Irish regiment also became the only foreign unit awarded the Imperial Eagle Flag by the emperor.

Of course, after the restoration of the Bourbon dynasty, in view of the excessive enthusiasm of the Irish Regiment soldiers for Napoleon's family, although these guys never fired a shot at the orthodox, they were still ordered to disband.

However, compared with the experience of the Irish Brigade, the Jacobite succession issue was obviously more troublesome, because after they had fought for 150 years, the old problem of European aristocrats emerged: the Stuart dynasty, which they considered to be the orthodox British dynasty, had become extinct.

In order to solve this problem, the Jacobite heraldry experts carefully reviewed the inheritance law and the king's family tree and concluded that the right to the British throne should belong to Carlo Alberto, King of the Kingdom of Sardinia in Italy.

King Carlo Alberto of Sardinia?

As soon as Arthur thought of the name, he immediately thought of a document he had read at the embassy before.

Last year, the royalist leader, the Duchess of Berry, apparently stayed in the Kingdom of Sardinia for quite some time before launching the Vendée rebellion.

According to information ascertained by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the passport held by the Duchess of Berry when she landed in Marseille was also from the Kingdom of Sardinia, and the ship she boarded was the 'Carlo Alberto', named after the King of Sardinia, Carlo Alberto.

The sponsor of the royalists was the Kingdom of Sardinia, not the Bourbon Kingdom of the Two Sicilies?
If Arthur remembered correctly, at the beginning of this year, Young Italy, led by Mazzini, had just launched an uprising in Genoa, Sardinia. However, due to poor planning, the uprising was extinguished as soon as it had just started.

In connection with the Kingdom of Sardinia's sponsorship of the royalists to launch the Vendée Rebellion and Louis Philippe's sheltering of the exiled young Italian party members, Arthur suddenly had a subtle feeling in his heart.

If we take these things apart, they seem to be independent events, but if we look at them separately, we always feel that there are inextricable connections between them.

The Kingdom of Sardinia wanted to overthrow the July Monarchy's rule in France, and the July Monarchy used Young Italy to deceive the Kingdom of Sardinia. If this is true, then the statement made by the Paris Police Chief, Grisauquet, that he would investigate Young Italy strictly was actually a cover-up. The French were just taking this opportunity to clear themselves of doubts and lull the Kingdom of Sardinia and the Austrian Empire into a state of carelessness.

When Arthur thought of this, he subconsciously took out the pen in his chest pocket and prepared to write a diplomatic report to the secretaries of the embassy to take back to London. Although this intelligence was of little value to Britain, if the Ministry of Foreign Affairs used it properly, it could make Austria, France and Italy fight for a while, so that they would not have time to distract from Britain's growing influence in the Mediterranean.

Dumas saw Arthur's move and joked, "Arthur, are you inspired? I understand how you feel. If you have an idea, you must write something. However, at this time, let's enjoy the fine wine and food first. The chefs at the Waele Hotel are first-class, and they are completely different from those chefs you met in London."

Arthur smiled and raised his glass to clink with him, saying, "Alexander, you are right. When an Englishman gets inspired, it is usually not a good thing."

At this point, he turned the conversation to the reserved Andersen: "Hans, maybe we should talk about publishing."

"publishing?"

Andersen was caught off guard by this sudden development.

He had tossed and turned all night, counting the stars outside the window and thinking carefully about how to behave more appropriately in front of this big publisher from England, and what kind of words could arouse his interest in his work.

But what he never expected was that Arthur didn't even ask him a single literary question, nor did he talk to him about music and painting. Instead, he went straight to the point and expressed his willingness to publish his works.

Andersen didn’t know if it was the effect of the alcohol, but he just felt dizzy.

"I... thank God, I am so lucky in life. Although I was born in a poor family and encountered many difficult things, whenever I needed help, there would always be noble people by my side. In Copenhagen, I met Mrs. Lesso and Mr. Colin, and in Paris, I met Mr. Heine, Mr. Dumas and you, Sir."

Arthur smiled and asked, "Who are Mrs. Lesor and Mr. Colin?"

Andersen replied: "Do you know Abrahamson, a great poet in our country? Mrs. Lesso is his daughter and my landlord.

At that time, I had just gained a little fame in Denmark, so the composer Mr. Weiss found me and hoped that I could collaborate with him to adapt "Kenilworth" by Sir Walter Scott, a famous British historical novelist, into an opera. I felt very honored at the time, and I also needed money very much, so I agreed to his request for cooperation.

But what I didn't expect was that just when I had written half of the script, the news spread all over the city, and there were sarcastic and ruthless voices mocking me everywhere. Several newspapers in Copenhagen published articles saying that it was an insult to Sir Walter Scott for a guy like me to adapt his works. I was not writing a script but dismembering a famous book.

Many people, who I don't know, wrote anonymous letters to me, attacking and abusing me in the most rude and stupid way, all of which became part of my life at that time. If it weren't for Mrs. Leso and Mr. Weiss who kept encouraging me, I would not have been able to survive those years of sarcasm and ridicule.

In the same year, in order to repay their trust in me, I also boldly published a new collection of poems, "One Year and Twelve Months". Although the critics in Copenhagen continued to sneer at my poetry collection and rejected me as usual, wishing to trample me into the mud. "Literary Monthly Review" took my poems apart one by one and nitpicked about the spelling and sentence usage in my text, but I still think that this is my best work so far. Fortunately, you are different from those annoying people in Copenhagen, because you know how to appreciate it. "

Arthur couldn't help laughing when he heard Andersen's complaints. "I thought that only a rainy place like London could produce a literary magazine with a bad character like Blackwood, but I didn't expect that Copenhagen is the same. So, just because you adapted Sir Walter Scott's novel, they took you as a target and attacked you?"

Dumas raised his eyebrows and said, "It's probably because other people in the Copenhagen literary world have also set their sights on this adaptation business. You have taken their work away, so they are angry and regard you as a thorn in their side. Hans, don't pay attention to those jumping clowns. There are many such cases in Paris. I was even accused of plagiarism by them back then."

When Andersen heard this, his eyes widened. He looked a little unbelievable. "Mr. Dumas, are you saying that someone has attacked you like this before? How did you usually deal with it?"

"It's very simple."

Dumas opened his coat and patted the holster on his waist: "If I find out who is attacking me, the duel letter I sent to him will appear on the headlines of the newspapers the next day. If you want to criticize my works, the first thing you need is not how good your appreciation is, but how good your marksmanship is. Of course, if those literary critics are like Arthur, who can survive a bullet, I can accept that. You see, when Arthur says that my writing is not good, I never refute it."

After listening to Andersen's experience, Heine also sneered at those parasites in the Copenhagen literary world: "You made them so angry by revising a novel by Walter Scott. If you were to revisit Shakespeare, wouldn't they be in the grave immediately?"

Arthur thought of this, blinked his eyes, and suddenly suggested: "It's a pity that the copyright of Sir Walter Scott is not in the hands of our "British", and he himself unfortunately passed away two years ago. However, among our popular authors of "British", there happens to be a successor to Sir Walter Scott. Hans, have you heard of Elder Carter?"

"Elder Carter?" Andersen thought about it carefully, but there was really no place for this name in his mind: "I'm sorry, Mr. Carter should not have published any works in Danish or German, right?"

"Not yet, but it will be soon."

Dumas had originally not intended to help Elder brag, but when the fat man thought about the possibility that those sour maggots in Copenhagen might be scratching their heads over the adaptation rights of Elder's works, he couldn't help but want to contribute to this prank.

Dumas said, "Hans, you may not know that Mr. Carter's Robin Hood was praised by Sir Walter Scott himself. In addition, there is another book, The Flag of St. George Still Flies, which is also based on his own experience. If you are interested, I think Arthur can represent The Englishman and give you the Danish adaptation rights of these two books."

Arthur smiled and nodded, "Of course, but this is only part of our agreement. Hans, I am not only interested in your poetry collection, but your "The Emperor's New Clothes" also made me see other shining points in you, so I plan to let "The Brit" fully represent the publication and distribution of your works in Britain. We can sign a five-year long-term agreement. What do you think?"

(End of this chapter)