shadow of britain

Chapter 566 Hastings's Double Life

In the Town Hall Hotel in Göttingen, Garibaldi and several young Italian exiles were smoking pipes and holding several slightly wrinkled English newspapers in their hands.

Not many of them knew English, but fortunately the newspapers had been translated into Italian in advance with a fountain pen.

As the workload of translating the entire article is too heavy, the translator only selected some passages from it, but even just reading the title can make people feel the shocking scenes.

Final verdict on Swain riots

Arthur Hastings, Deputy Attorney General and Special Representative of the Police at the London District Attorney Office: "34 rioters from 1976 counties were sentenced to exile, imprisonment, fines or vows not to disturb the peace again, depending on the severity of their crimes."

"Avoiding the main issue! As far as our newspaper knows, 252 rioters were sentenced to death by hanging!"

"A prelude to a police state! Against the backdrop of a massive army reduction, Scotland Yard openly demands an expansion of the military!"

According to well-informed sources, a senior London police official privately suggested to Home Secretary Viscount Melbourne that the police department should be allowed to quickly recruit a large special police force because the recruitment of these "special" police officers could enable reform protesters to cancel at least one rally.

Home Secretary takes ridiculous advice and introduces 'Special Police Bill' to Parliament

According to news this morning, the Special Police Bill passed the third reading in the Whig-controlled House of Commons, but was rejected by a majority vote in the Tory-controlled House of Lords. Sir Robert Peel teamed up with Home Secretary Viscount Melbourne on the Special Police Bill to try to persuade Tory members to approve the bill, but was strongly opposed by the party.

The Duke of Newcastle: "We cannot endanger Britain's liberal traditions. Expanding police powers undermines our tradition of home rule."

"The Whig Liberal Banner Wavering? Lord Palmerston Opposes a Different View"

Viscount Palmerston: "The original intention of the Tories not to expand the police force was not to maintain freedom or to protect the tradition of local autonomy. It was because they wanted to send out the army directly to suppress riots. The expansion of the police force would prevent the army from intervening in public security issues."

"Gravity is not only a major discovery in physics, it is also a political discovery"

"How many steps does it take to go from being England's best police officer to being the Tower of London's executioner?"

"Liberty or Death? Britons! Honest People, Stand Up!"

The time has finally come!

All Londoners gather on Tuesday.

We assure you that our frontline reporters witnessed Scotland Yard police moving 6000 machetes from the Tower of London in preparation for a bloody crackdown.

Remember the King's hateful speech! Remember Wellington's haughty face on horseback! Remember Peterloo, remember the six special bills, remember the trial of Swain's riot!
Those damn police, cops, and devilish blue lobsters are now all armed. They flutter the backs of their tuxedos and tightly surround the new Satan Arthur Hastings, ready to bring down the disaster of destruction on beautiful Britain and its good citizens at any time.

British people, can you still bear it!
……

In the bedroom, the only sound could be heard: the dull sound of smoke being puffed out, and the air in the hotel seemed to have frozen.

These young Italian members felt like they had nothing in their chests except anger.

Some people held the edge of the newspaper tightly until it was torn, while others put down the newspaper, stood up and paced around the room, lowering their heads as if thinking about something.

As for Garibaldi, he put down his newspaper and sat motionless in his chair.

He stared at Alexandre Dumas, who was sitting across the table scratching his head in embarrassment, with his innocent and fiery eyes, and asked seriously, "Mr. Dumas, as long as you tell me that these news reports are all mistranslated, then I will believe you."

Dumas looked at Garibaldi, not knowing what to say.

For a straight-talking French republican, nothing could be more unacceptable than to admit that his good friend was a reactionary.

On these issues, Dumas was far less flexible than Heine.

Heine's criteria for making friends did not include the same political views. What he valued most was personal character and cooperation between the two parties.

In addition, Heine was not a tolerant person, so most of his enemies were not conservatives, but radical liberals like him who spoke harshly and had excessive self-awareness.

But Dumas was different. He was quite tolerant towards republicans like himself, but he hated conservatives.

It's very easy to get a lunch from Mr. Dumas. All you have to do is praise the French Revolution and you will win the fat man's favor.

This way of doing things also meant that Dumas was very sensitive about people saying that he was associating with reactionary conservatives. He didn't care about exposing his improper relationship with actresses, nor did he care about revealing that he had several illegitimate children, but he was ashamed to talk about his friendship with Sir Arthur Hastings.

When Garibaldi saw Dumas lower his head in shame, he immediately understood what was going on.

He looked at the newspapers spread all over the table and muttered to himself, "It seems that all the things Mazzini sent from London are true? Is he really such a person? This... This is really unbelievable... A person who supports the Italian revolution and Polish independence can actually do such a thing in London?"

Dumas felt a mess. He struck a match and lit a cigar. "I was also very surprised at first, because if we put aside the series of events that happened in London last May and June, Arthur was actually a pretty good person. But I can only say that he lacks something that you and I have - ideals. In order to fill this gap, he chose an extremely bad route, and his ideals were replaced by his nature as a policeman."

Garibaldi pinched his chin and pondered: "I think this may be because he is a peasant? The biggest lesson I learned from the failure of this uprising is that we must not let peasants join our rebel army. Not only do they lack fighting spirit and discipline, but their loyalty is also questionable. When Mazzini made the plan, he did not expect that the Italian peasants would be so indifferent to our revolutionary activities.

Not only did they not follow us, some even reported our whereabouts to the government. The same thing happened during the Carbonari uprising. As soon as the Pope's will came from Rome, these peasants immediately stood against the Carbonari. They were too deeply influenced by local interests and religious traditions.

When Dumas heard this, he immediately thought of Arthur's unreliable religious beliefs and his repeated jumping between the two parties.

Perhaps this York farmer was indeed influenced by traditional ideas, but Dumas was sure that he was generally a trendy farmer, and the words "We are here for Britain" under the Tower of London also showed that he had a strong "fighting spirit" and "discipline".

But Dumas was reluctant to reveal this, because if Arthur was really a trendy peasant, then wouldn't he, Alexandre Dumas, have made friends with a natural reactionary? This statement is even more vicious than saying that he had affairs with all the actresses in Paris.

Dumas said tactfully, "But you can rest assured. I can guarantee that he has no hostility towards you. Because based on my understanding of him, if he was really interested in you, you would not be in a hotel in Göttingen now, but in a prison in Mainz or Frankfurt."

"This is exactly what I find strange." Garibaldi stood up and said, "We, the wanted criminals of Italy, have been in Göttingen for a week, but he has no intention of arresting us. He even sponsored 10,000 francs of our uprising funds. What on earth is going on in his mind?"

Hearing this, Dumas could not help but complain, "That's what I wanted to ask as well. Reactionary, but not completely reactionary. Progressive, but only slightly progressive. On the one hand, he suppressed the demonstrators under the Tower of London, and on the other hand, he supported the publication of articles against the New Poor Law in The Liberty. If it were during the French Revolution, a guy like him would be caught between a rock and a hard place, and would have been guillotined no matter who was in power, but he happened to be thriving in London."

Nouri, who was leaning against the wall, shook his head slightly and said, "Alexander, have you forgotten our dear ambassador to England, Talleyrand? In my opinion, people like Mr. Hastings are more likely to survive in that era."

Dumas curled his lips and said, "Adolf, he and Talleyrand only look alike on the surface. Their methods are equally dirty, but at least in Talleyrand's words, his bottom line is quite clear and will not be shaken no matter who is in power. He likes the France before the Great Revolution and firmly believes that France is better.

As for my friend, God knows where his bottom line is, and it always fluctuates with the government line. If there is anything he feels is unchangeable, it is that he realizes that he is a policeman, but his definition of police duties seems to be different from what is clearly stipulated in the law. In this respect, he is closer to Fouché.

But maybe you are right, maybe guys like him can shine more in the era of great revolution, and they can't exert their energy in peaceful days. As the proverb says: the most despicable and evil deeds also require the most courage and talent. These people who do underground work have an unruly power. If it is not a last resort and an extreme need, no one wants to use them.

As long as the situation was manageable, Napoleon would have refused to re-employ Fouché and rebuild his police department. As long as he could be strong and make no mistakes, the emperor did not need such a worrying, overly clever servant. But it was obvious that he could not make no mistakes and could not do everything himself.

He needed an agile and reckless assistant to help him rise to the top and become the first consul. And when he no longer wanted to be the first citizen among French citizens and wanted to be Caesar above all his servants, he needed Antony to support him.

Hearing this, Nouri walked to the table, picked up the newspaper and took another look at it.

He just smiled and said, "Indeed, it is Fouché's style to order the police to open fire without receiving orders from the superiors. This reminds me of the incident in 1809 when Napoleon sent troops to Austria and the British took the opportunity to land on Walcheren Island and planned to attack Paris directly. At that time, everyone in the cabinet insisted on waiting for the emperor's will, but Fouché acted decisively, bypassing the Prime Minister and the Minister of Defense, and directly recruited the National Guard in various provinces in the name of the emperor to put out the British attack.

Complaints came one after another from the Prime Minister and the Minister of Defense, accusing Fouché of doing something audacious and presumptuous: he recruited the National Guard, declared a state of war, and issued orders in the name of the Emperor! Everyone thought that Napoleon would punish such disrespect and remove Fouché from his post. But surprisingly, the Emperor went against the crowd and thought that Fouché was right to act decisively and quickly. Instead, the Prime Minister and the Minister of Defense were rebuked by the Emperor. "

Garibaldi couldn't help but ask when he heard this: "If he is really Fouché, then wouldn't we be..."

Dumas sighed and said, "Giuseppe, his style of doing things is completely Fouché-like, but don't forget what I said before, this guy has a Talleyrand-like temper, so you and the citizens of London are very lucky in a sense. And because he was born in England, he has never held such tremendous power. Although his actions in the Tower of London were recognized, he would never be highly praised by the King of England like Napoleon. If the king said that, Fleet Street would definitely not let him go. And this is the biggest reason why he is now pretending to run to Göttingen to be a university professor."

Boom boom boom!
There was a knock on the door outside the hotel. When everyone heard someone coming outside, they hurriedly put away the newspapers on the table.

Dumas watched them finish packing, then slowly opened the door.

Standing outside the door was the focus of everyone's discussion - Sir Arthur Hastings.

When Arthur walked in, the old policeman immediately noticed that the atmosphere in the room was not right.

Everyone's eyes were on him, a sign of nervousness and guilt.

"What's wrong?" Arthur took off his hat and put it on the table. "I was a policeman in London, not in Vienna. Is it worth your attention?"

"Aren't we expecting you to bring us good news?"

"Has the house matter been settled, sir?"

Dumas and Nouri were busy changing the subject, but Garibaldi was as frank as ever. He glanced at the newspaper in his hand, thought for a long time, and decided to find Arthur to find out the truth.

"Sir, did you really hang more than 200 rioters?"

"Hanging more than 200 people?"

Garibaldi's question stunned Arthur. He said with a smile: "England didn't hang so many people last year, and I have only worked in Scotland Yard for two and a half years. Giuseppe, how did you come to this conclusion?"

Seeing Arthur deny it, Garibaldi immediately took out the newspaper and said, "But look at the title of this newspaper."

"Giuseppe, are you crazy?"

Some people tried to stop him, but Garibaldi held them back with his hands: "I'm not crazy. We are already death row prisoners in Italy. One more death penalty charge won't be a big deal. Besides, if he wants to hang us, it doesn't seem like it would take much effort."

Arthur took the newspaper and took a look at it. It said: "252 of the Swain rioters were sentenced to death by hanging."

He was extremely familiar with this title because it was with this title that his good reputation in London began to deteriorate.

In order to protect the Home Office, he led the prosecution of the Swain Riots at the behest of Viscount Melbourne and Lord Brougham.

According to their request, the prosecution procedure must be carried out normally, but in order not to execute too many people and trigger social confrontation. Not long after the verdict came out, the king ordered the pardon of most of them. Among the 252 rioters, 19 were actually hanged, mainly the leaders of the riot and those who clearly committed murder, and the rest were commuted to exile.

But Fleet Street didn't care about that. On the one hand, the headline of "252 people hanged" was obviously more eye-catching. On the other hand, British society was in the midst of parliamentary reform at the time, so amplifying negative news would obviously cater to readers more.

On the other hand, these newspapers also wrote this in order to provoke the public to firmly support the reform. After all, many of these journalists obtained the right to vote after the parliamentary reform, and this was a matter of vital interest to them, so it was not too much to write in an exaggerated manner.

As for the news about the Special Police Bill, that bill was indeed proposed by Arthur to Viscount Melbourne in person.

The reason why he came up with this idea was because he knew that the Whigs intended to weaken the Tory-led army through disarmament and other means. In addition, the situation at the time was indeed urgent and the police force was seriously insufficient, so Arthur guessed that Parliament might agree to pass this bill.

But unfortunately, the Tories obviously saw through the Whigs' intentions. Even though large-scale riots broke out in London, Manchester, Nottingham and other places, the Duke of Newcastle's castle was burned down, the bishops were pelted with mud and stones all day long, and Tory MPs were often attacked and abused on the streets, they still did not agree to pass the bill.

As for the claim that the police took out 7000 machetes from the Tower of London, it is obviously a typical London rumor, because there is not so much stock in the Tower of London, and the Home Office does not allow the police from Scotland Yard to use knives.

Before the night of riots in London, Scotland Yard police forces were batoned in the Strand, Covent Garden Market and Piccadilly Circus.

When it comes to using knives and guns, with the exception of Arthur, the other police commanders at Scotland Yard are quite well behaved.

This is also why, although he was also suppressed, most of the saliva fell on his head.

Arthur put down the newspaper in his hand and looked up to find that everyone was holding their breath, as if they were waiting to hear how he, a reactionary policeman, wanted to defend himself. After all, in a sense, there was not much difference between the Young Italy and the rioters in London. If we look at the actual results, the commotion they made was not even as big as that in London.

(End of this chapter)