shadow of britain

Chapter 525: His Majesty has appointed you to teach at the University of Göttingen

Arthur sighed and said, "I have to say, this is a very strange phenomenon. Mr. von Krommel, as an Austrian, actually sang praises for Italy's national independence. It seems that in the face of checks, the professional ethics of most diplomats are indeed unreliable."

Schneider chuckled and said, "No, Arthur, I'm the opposite of you. This actually shows that Mr. von Krommel is a simple-minded person, and such a person is much easier to deal with than an idealist. The so-called idealist is actually not much different from a Scottish donkey. Many people think this is a good word, but in the field of diplomacy, this description is simply terrible.

To put it bluntly, they just do whatever they want without considering the actual situation or whether the interests of the party they are on have been damaged. They just do whatever they want and have preconceived ideas about everything. Therefore, it is difficult to find a few smart people among this group of guys. If the delicate work of diplomacy is handed over to idealists, it won’t be long before Europe will have to go into full-scale war again. "

Arthur subconsciously wanted to say something for the idealists he knew, but then he thought again and felt that what Schneider said was not wrong.

Whether it was Alexandre Dumas, Garibaldi, or Mazzini, they were all experts in instigating uprisings, and they were present wherever there was political unrest. In this respect, Mazzini and Garibaldi were even better, because Alexandre Dumas was not capable enough and in most cases only participated in the uprisings, while Mazzini and Garibaldi were usually the ones who initiated the uprisings.

As for Heine, this German nationalist Jewish poet also called himself an idealist, but because his books were not as popular as Dumas, he often had to hold his nose and work hard. When he had money, he would write articles to denounce the government's oppression of progressive poets like him.

Based on this inference, it seems that idealists are indeed not suitable for the work of diplomats, but are instead very suitable for being fooled by diplomats.

Because in essence, the purpose of establishing diplomatic relations is not to express friendship, but to gain convenience. The essence of diplomats is a group of people who are sent to foreign countries to tell lies in order to serve their own countries.

The biggest taboo in diplomatic occasions is to lose your temper. Any impulsive behavior must be carefully planned in advance and is always the last option.

For the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the most perfect diplomatic approach is to make others willingly do what you want them to do and make them feel that it is their own idea.

However, although this profession makes a living by cheating people, one cannot cheat too harshly.

Because someone who is unlucky today may be lucky tomorrow, so a smart diplomat must leave room for the future and not do business that will wipe out his family.

This is the basis for not only Arthur's actions, but also those of Schneider and von Krommel.

For all three of them, their interests are not entirely aligned with those of the government.

Even von Krommel, the direct opponent of "Young Italy", hoped that the Italians would continue to make trouble more than Arthur and Schneider.

In Britain, due to the influence of public opinion, things like setting up intelligence agencies can only be done privately and secretly.

However, in the German Confederation, Metternich was able to openly establish two intelligence agencies - the Mainz Central Investigation Committee and the Frankfurt Central Investigation Bureau - through a Confederation resolution.

In addition to these two overt agencies, Metternich also secretly established a secret intelligence agency independent of the German Confederation Parliament - the Mainz Intelligence Office (MIB).

The courts of German states such as Berlin, Wiesbaden, Darmstadt and Vienna all cooperated around these intelligence agencies on political, police and espionage affairs. Their operations covered not only all German states, but also other major European cities such as Paris and Zurich.

These intelligence agencies collected countless pieces of information on suspicious individuals, community gatherings, and travel, and sent them to the Austrian Chancellery. Therefore, even if Metternich stayed in Vienna, he could become the European politician who knew the most about European political movements, public opinion, and radical literary circles.

Even Palmerston of England, Talleyrand of France, and Count Benckendorff of Russia did not dare to say that they were better informed than Metternich.

But being well-informed was not all good, because it meant that the Austrian emperor and Metternich also received more threats and warnings about hanging the princes, assassinating them, or expelling them from their country.

As a politician who experienced the 19s and s, Metternich certainly would not think that these threats were just empty words.

As for the Austrian intelligence personnel, the nourishment that sustains their lives is the fear of the Vienna court. The more worried the emperor and the prime minister are, the more attention their work will receive and the more funding they will receive.

In particular, not long ago, in Frankfurt, the seat of the German Confederation Parliament, a situation almost occurred in which all the Confederation members were arrested.

On the night of April 4, about 3 students and radicals attacked the Frankfurt guardhouse under cover of darkness, intending to seize guns and ammunition to launch an armed uprising. However, because their plan was leaked in advance and the Frankfurt authorities had made full preparations, after a fierce exchange of fire, the insurgents were unable to break through the government army's defenses and occupy the target location.

Under such circumstances, von Kromer had even more reason to believe that the activities of Young Italy could bring him the attention of the Viennese court.

This student uprising not only affected von Krommel's future, but also involved Arthur's job transfer.

Arthur had just received an order from London yesterday, urging him to set off for the Kingdom of Hanover immediately.

This is not only to help Hanover pass the new constitution as soon as possible, but also to cooperate with the latest resolutions of the German Confederation.

Although the Kingdom of Hanover formed a personal union with the United Kingdom, it was also a member state of the German Confederation, so it needed to obey the collective decisions of the Federal Parliament.

After the Frankfurt student armed uprising broke out, the German Confederation passed an amendment to the Carlsbad Resolution, further strengthening its monitoring of university professors and student movements.

All German universities are required to implement the relevant provisions of the University Law. University students and professors will be monitored, teachers with democratic and liberal tendencies will be dismissed, the All-German Student Association will temporarily suspend its activities, and the black, red and gold tricolor flag will not be allowed to be hung in schools.

All printed materials must be inspected by the authorities, and regularly published newspapers and magazines must be submitted for inspection before publication.

If this provision is violated, the publisher's printing license will be revoked without any reason, the newspaper or periodical will be completely banned and closed, and the editor-in-chief of the newspaper will be sentenced to be banned from publishing for 5 years. In order to strengthen the government's management of universities, each university must also establish a "special national representative" position, which can be selected from the university supervisor at the time or other personnel recognized by the government.

The function of the special state representative is to ensure that the university strictly implements the relevant laws and policies of the German Confederation, supervise the mental outlook of teachers and students, and guide students to good public moral behavior. For teachers who exceed their teaching responsibilities and "poison" the minds of young students, the representative has the responsibility and obligation to urge the governments of various states to dismiss them.

As for student clubs and student organizations, they can continue to exist only if they obtain special permission from their representatives.

Having said so much, I believe everyone can guess Sir Arthur Hastings' new identity.

Although he had never been to Germany or worked in education, His Majesty the King, the British government and the Hanoverian government all highly recognized the police qualities he demonstrated during his tenure at Scotland Yard.

So, for some unknown reason, Arthur was quickly dismissed from his post by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs before he even took office in Hanover.

Later, as a researcher of natural philosophy, he was selected by the University of Göttingen, the pearl of higher education in the Kingdom of Hanover, as the first professor of electromagnetism in the history of the school.

Afterwards, Sir Arthur Hastings was elected as a member of the Academic Committee of the University of Göttingen with a high vote as a professor. In absentia, he won the unanimous support of the members of the Academic Committee and was unanimously elected as the Chancellor of the University of Göttingen.

Later, King William IV ordered the Governor-General of Hanover, Prince Adolf Frederick, Duke of Cambridge, to notify the Parliament of the Kingdom of Hanover and entrust him to sign the Great Seal on his behalf as King, appointing Sir Arthur Hastings as the new Special National Representative of the Kingdom of Hanover to the University of Göttingen, and serving as a scholar as an advisor on constitutional reform of the Kingdom of Hanover.

Even with Arthur's personality, when he first learned the news, he was shocked by this series of operations and was speechless for a long time.

It has to be said that although they are countries ruled by the same king, the democratic efficiency of the Germans is much higher than that of the British.

When he was promoted to Assistant Commissioner of Police at Scotland Yard, he waited four or five months before the final confirmation.

But in the Kingdom of Hanover, he completed in just half a month a journey that would take an ordinary natural philosophy researcher a lifetime to complete.

From obtaining a university teaching position to being promoted to professor, from being elected as a member of the academic committee, and from the academic committee to university proctor, he even had the position of special representative of the country.

The most incredible thing is that this whole process is actually completely reasonable and legal.

Because no matter what, he can indeed be regarded as a natural researcher in the field of electromagnetism. In this new field, apart from the pioneer Faraday, there are indeed few people who can match his fame.

Therefore, it does not seem difficult to understand why he was given the position of professor of electromagnetism.

As the Department of Electromagnetism is a new department, he is the only formal professor and there are no students at all, so it is only natural for him to represent the Department of Electromagnetism on the university's academic committee.

As for being elected as the academic supervisor by the academic committee, the whole process was very democratic, with not even a single vote against it.

As the most respected professor in the entire University of Göttingen, it is only natural for Sir Arthur Hastings to serve as the country's special representative. This is not only a reflection of the emphasis on promoting young talents, but also a reflection of not politicizing academia. Of course, having scholars run a school is an enlightened rule.

After all this, Arthur heard the voice before he even arrived at the place. Now, he seemed to finally understand why Heine complained about his alma mater, the University of Göttingen.

Schneider smiled and congratulated Arthur, saying, "Arthur, sometimes you can't stop your luck. I thought you went to Hanover to lie low, but I didn't expect that the gunfire from the Frankfurt students attacking the arsenal would force you out of the embassy. The position of academic supervisor at the University of Göttingen is much more respectable than the second secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs."

But Arthur was not as happy as Schneider imagined. On the contrary, after seeing the grandeur of the French Academy of Sciences, he had been considering staying away from educational institutions as much as possible.

But for some reason, his wishes always went against his will. Not only did he fail to stay away from educational institutions, but he became a professor instead.

Maybe there are not as many great masters in the University of Göttingen as in the French Academy of Sciences, but it should be enough to control him in natural philosophy.

The worst thing was that when the news of Arthur's election as professor at the University of Göttingen came out, several friends he knew at the French Academy of Sciences came to congratulate him, and they also excitedly told the new dean that the French Academy of Sciences might send a delegation to visit Göttingen in the second half of the year.

Arthur took a puff of his cigarette, put his hands on the stone fence, looked at the sparkling Seine River and asked, "August, do you know any hot spring resorts near Göttingen? I plan to take some time to take a vacation in the second half of the year."

"Hot spring resorts? There are quite a few."

Schneider tapped Arthur's chest with the back of his hand. "But we don't need to rush. Have you packed your things? Go and say goodbye to your friends in the morning, and you and I will be in the same car in the afternoon. His Majesty the King is in a hurry, so we have to leave today."

Arthur was waiting for Schneider to bring this up.

Although the royalists had previously included a number of names in the roster of Young Italy, since all the members of Young Italy were male, the female members of the royalists were not included.

But fortunately, there were not many of them, only a few, so Arthur decided to be a good person and send them to the west. He simply took advantage of this trip to Hanover and used Schneider's identity as a diplomat as a cover to take them out of France.

Arthur took out his pocket watch and glanced down: "In that case, we'll meet at the old place at three o'clock in the afternoon."

(End of this chapter)