shadow of britain

Chapter 610 Drama Addiction
Laws are made for subordinates, not for superiors!

— Alexander Khristoforovich Benckendorff, first director of the Third Department of the Tsar’s Office

When the mayor saw Arthur asking the judge's name, he thought, "Ha! You unlucky fellow, you just agree with whatever the imperial envoy says, and you bite whatever bait he sets. No wonder the superior sent you from Slonin to Druisk. The donkey pulling the mill knows to run harder after being whipped, but many people still refuse to do their job after being whipped."

The judge was obviously frightened by Arthur's sudden question. He hesitated for a long time before answering, "Nikolai Ivanovich Liudnikov."

"Very good, Mr. Liudnikov." Arthur nodded slightly and took a sip from the teacup beside him. "Your opinion is almost close to Pushkin's."

The judge's face turned purple when he heard this, but before he could explain, he heard Arthur continue.

“You should not think that having ideas close to Pushkin’s is bad, disloyal, or detrimental to national interests. Of course, I am not saying how good Pushkin’s works were before 1829, but you have to pay attention to his works after 1830.”

Arthur swung his teacup and told the local officials who regarded Pushkin as a scourge the anecdotes he had heard from Herzen and others: "After all, since Pushkin was ordered by the emperor to move back to St. Petersburg, all his published works have been personally reviewed by His Majesty. It is such a supreme honor for His Majesty the Tsar to serve as a reviewer in person. If Pushkin had not mixed up with the Decembrists, with his fame, he might have become a court poet or something."

Of course, the reason why Arthur dared to tell anecdotes as true stories was not just to satisfy his personal bad taste.

Instead, before he went to Russia to take office, in order to better integrate into the social circles of St. Petersburg, he specially collected classic works of Tsarist Russian literature in recent years, including several of Pushkin's notes.

These notebooks are as wonderful as ever, but they also reveal a strange and weird feeling everywhere.

If I have to describe what this smell is like, it's like some of the passages that Heine had to write with his nose held in order to pass the publishing review.

For example, when Pushkin complained that the treatment of Russian peasants had not improved much compared to 200 years ago, he had to mention that the treatment of French peasants had not changed much since Louis XV, and that the streets of Paris were full of idle people.

Of course, as a well-known tragic story in Europe, the treatment of British workers was naturally singled out for discussion.

Although "The Limey" was not published in Russia, Pushkin had seen the works of Dickens, Disraeli and others from somewhere. He even quoted several passages from "The Mysteries of Hastings" describing life in the East End of London in his article.

--Read the complaint of the English factory workers, it will make your hair stand on end. What a disgusting cruelty and inexplicable suffering! What barbarity on the one hand, what terrible poverty on the other! Do you think we are talking about the Pharaohs building the pyramids, or the Jews working under the whip of the Egyptians? Not at all! We are talking about Mr. Smith's woolen cloth or Mr. Jackson's knitting needles! If you don't work, Mr. Hastings's baton is waiting for you.

--Please note that all this is not fraud, not illegal, but takes place within the strict legal framework. If we only look at British law, it seems that there is no misfortune for British workers in the world, but please see what will happen after the invention of a new machine that suddenly frees five or six thousand people from hard labor, but at the same time deprives them of their last means of livelihood?

—There is nothing like this in our country. Generally speaking, taxes and labor service are not onerous, the poll tax is fair, corvée service is legal, and the corvée rent does not cause the peasants to suffer much loss. After the landlords impose the corvée rent, they let their peasants get what they want at will and wherever they want. The peasants do whatever they want and often go to places two thousand versts away to earn money...

Arthur seriously suspected that Pushkin, who was under the Tsar's surveillance, enjoyed a few privileges, at least he could read some English and French literary works with the Tsar's permission. In order to pass the Tsar's review and allow the new works to be published as usual, Pushkin could only play the same trick as Heine.

As for where Pushkin got "The Limey" from, Arthur reasonably speculated that these books were most likely brought back by some officials of the Tsarist Russian Embassy in the UK, such as his friend, Colonel Shubinsky, the former assistant military attaché of the Tsarist Russia in the UK.

Of course, Arthur did not deny Britain's problems. He even felt that Britain had even more problems than Pushkin wrote about, because British farmers' lives were not much better than British workers', and were even worse in bad years.

However, seeing his name appear in Pushkin's article and being set up as a negative example was something the knight could not tolerate.

He enjoyed an excellent reputation among the French Republicans, Royalists and even Orleanists, Italian nationalists and German liberals. Why did he become a target of criticism in Russia?

If you, the Western faction of Russia, don't know what's good for you, don't blame me for standing on the side of the Slav faction.

But Arthur thought again, these articles might not be written by Pushkin himself, but the result of Shubinsky and other third-party scumbags who took the initiative to help "polish" them.

The Third Bureau of the Tsar's Privy Council and the Secret Service of the Royal Metropolitan Police are both from the same family. They even appear in blue uniforms and white gloves, but they still stab each other in the back to see who is stinkier and who is tougher. It's outrageous!
As Arthur is the stinkiest and hardest stone in Britain, and a stone that rolled out of a pigsty, he naturally has reason to be angry.

But no matter how angry you are, as the saying goes, when you live under someone's roof, you have to bow your head.

Now that he was besieged in Druisk and had lost his identity documents, he still had to write a letter to St. Petersburg and ask Shubinsky to deal seriously with this Anglo-Russian diplomatic crisis for him.

The officials of Druisk originally wanted to echo Arthur in criticizing Pushkin, but when they heard that Pushkin's works were reviewed by the Tsar himself, they all stopped and gave up.

It is common for officials to complain about their superiors in private, and it is not surprising.

But anyone who dares to say a word against the emperor must be complaining that the place he lives in is too warm or the position he sits on is too secure.

Especially since the man in front of him, Hastingoff, was a military policeman.

Everyone knows that the gendarmes' reports can be directly sent to the emperor's desk.

Moreover, many of them do think that they are good officials and that Russia is better than France and Britain.

If Russia was not as powerful as France, why did France fail to capture St. Petersburg during the Napoleonic Wars while Russia captured Paris?

If Russia was not as powerful as Britain, why did the British insist on having Russia as an ally in the war against France?
The inspector nodded and said, "In Russia, no one does not have his own private house. Beggars who wander around also have their own wooden houses at home. This situation does not exist in other countries. In Europe, cows are a sign of wealth everywhere, but in Russia, the absence of cows is a sign of terrible poverty. Moreover, our peasants have the habit and discipline of loving cleanliness. They take a bath every Saturday and wash their faces several times a day. Even the poorest peasants in Druisk are much cleaner than the workers in London and Paris. And with the popularization of education, this situation will continue to improve."

Arthur took a sip of tea and said, "It seems that Alexey Portonovich is very confident in the work of the school. Let's start the inspection by inspecting the school."

As soon as Arthur said this, the inspector immediately shut up. Although Druisk's school had been inspected by the provincial inspector before, that was a few years ago.

Not long ago, the Ministry of Education just completed the education reform, which interrupted the continuity between primary school textbooks and middle school and university textbooks.

There are a few hot-tempered old teachers in the school who complain about this matter every day, saying that this was planned for a long time. If the teaching materials are not coherent, then from now on, children from ordinary families will no longer have to think about going to middle school and university.

Although this logic is not wrong, if this falls into the ears of the imperial envoy, it will be a big problem.

He hurriedly wanted to drag the judge beside him into the water, asking him to help block the knife and give him some time to make arrangements: "Alexey Portonovich, how is the arrangement going in your court?"

The judge saw through his thoughts at a glance: "Our place? Of course there is no problem. If Mr. Colonel is interested in trivial cases such as women quarreling, brothers dividing the family property, or father-in-law and daughter-in-law being too intimate and causing their sons to be unhappy, the Municipal Court can be inspected at any time." Arthur knocked on the table with his pipe: "Everyone, I have made it very clear. If you go to the local level and conduct a thorough investigation, who can guarantee that they have never made any mistakes in their work? If there are really no mistakes, it only means that you have not done your work, not how honest you are. Everyone can say nice words, but someone has to do the hard work. You dare not offend people in the local area, and you insist on pretending to be a good person, which only means that the emperor has hired the wrong person."

Arthur took out a piece of paper from the bag beside him and said, "Come on, gentlemen, don't make it hard for me. If I can't find any fault when I get to the local area, wouldn't it be like patting my chest in front of the emperor and Count Benkendorf and saying, 'I, Hastingoff, am a good-for-nothing!' Gentlemen, I won't make it hard for you, and you don't make it hard for me either. I also have to take something back to report."

Arthur pointed out the mayor and said, "Come on, Mr. Mayor. You play cards well, so I think your character should be acceptable as well. Give me some examples that can be written on paper, don't fool me too much."

"Me?" Bakalkin hesitated, then said with a sneer, "Although I cannot be called a virtuous person, if you think we deal with this mud all day long, you are totally wrong. We are all very educated, we have learned all kinds of knowledge, we always dream that our country will become a pure land one day, and we hold the most orthodox views on the administrative authorities..."

"Hmm?" Arthur bit the tip of his quill. He was obviously not satisfied with the answer.

However, before Arthur could stop snorting, Bakalkyn immediately changed the subject and said, "But you say that Druisk is really a pure land? That's not necessarily true! As for clerks, there are a lot of them! Because this is their job, they are born to do this. For people like us who hope to go further, who doesn't want to keep his resume clean and his reputation untarnished? I still want to serve Russia for 35 years in peace and then get a fourth-class Vladimir medal!

If you think I would call a peasant to squeeze the oil out of him, it's impossible. Have you forgotten that he smells like God knows what? I absolutely don't want to bother myself with this. At most, I will call the clerk or someone else. Then, that's it! As for how he did it? It's none of my business.

I hate corruption and bribery. Although the city government of Druisk is small, it is not a place where corruption is rampant. It is an administrative authority! I only want my share. As for how it comes, that is not something I can control. As the mayor, I am mainly responsible for finance. As for postal transportation, road construction, recruitment of new soldiers, etc., these have brought income, but I am not responsible for the specific work. If you want to know the details, it is easy, the responsible persons are all here today. "

As soon as the mayor finished speaking, all the officials present cursed in their hearts.

Although what Bakaldin said was correct, he must have a share when the money was collected, but when it came to taking responsibility, he tried to clear himself of it and spoke so righteously, which was really contemptible.

But they couldn't refute the mayor. After all, all of Druidsk's work ultimately resulted in his submission. If you exposed his shortcomings, he would have plenty of ways to fight back.

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Just when the air in the study became stagnant, there was a knock on the door.

Arthur put down his pen and paper and instructed the garrison commander, Captain Potemkin, to open the door: "Go and see who's here."

Captain Potemkin, wearing a dark green military uniform, walked hard to open the door. Before he could ask, he heard a gentle female voice outside the door: "Captain, our boss is unreasonable. Why don't you help persuade him? Although men like to play cards, they can't even skip meals, right? Besides, the minister is a wealthy man. In such cold weather, if he gets hungry and frozen, how can a small family like us afford to offend him?"

Needless to say, here comes the mayor’s wife to the rescue.

She was wearing an indigo silk dress with a heavy dark blue mink cape draped over her shoulders, and the maid following behind her was holding a tray of steaming snacks and a pot of hot tea.

The lady's face was slightly anxious, but she still pretended to be calm. It was obvious that she had been standing outside the door and listening for a long time.

For the first time this year, Bakalkin felt how happy it was to see his wife's face, but the corners of his mouth just raised and then immediately fell.

Bakalkin acted like the head of the family, and scolded: "The men are talking about something, why are you meddling in it? Can eating be more important than working for the emperor?"

The mayor's wife's face turned pale in an instant, and the anxiety and helplessness in her eyes disappeared in an instant, replaced by a hint of grievance and anger.

She took a deep breath, suppressed the anger in her chest, lowered her head slightly, and gently brushed the mink on her shawl, as if trying to stay calm.

However, there was a subtle tremor in her voice.

"You are such a troublemaker, can't you say less?" The mayor's wife's voice was crisp, but with a hint of resentment: "Do you think I only care about household affairs? I am the mayor's wife of Druisk. No matter what, I have my position and responsibilities here!"

She paused, and seeing that Bakaldin was stunned, she sighed softly, lowered her head, and pretended to sob casually.

"You are so disturbing, are you really not going to do anything about it?" Her voice became softer and softer, with a hint of tears in her voice. "Although I don't understand these official affairs, I also know that if you keep dragging things out, things will get more and more chaotic sooner or later. Do you really want to make a fool of yourself? Besides, the ministers are hungry, they have to eat something and rest for a while."

As she spoke, she gently wiped the corners of her eyes, as if she was holding back tears, but this made people feel even more pitiful.

Arthur looked at the mayor's wife's reaction and raised his eyebrows slightly.

He was no stranger to these ladies' tricks, as similar situations occasionally occurred at London society parties.

The scene before us is nothing more than a typical example of the “crying and sobbing” technique: the wife pretends to be angry, while the husband quietly bows his head under pressure, and finally it turns into a situation where he “does what his wife says.”

However, even though he saw through it, Arthur did not react immediately. Instead, he seemed to be watching a show. He gently put down the pipe in his hand, fiddled with the teacup on the table with his fingers, and watched the scene quietly.

Seeing that her emotional offensive did not seem to work immediately, the mayor's wife's tears stagnated in her eyes. She turned to Arthur casually, trying to shake him with a more weak attitude.

She lowered her head, gently wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, then raised her head and looked at Arthur with tearful eyes, as if silently asking him to understand her helplessness.

Although this scene is contrived, it is quite effective.

As expected, everyone's eyes were focused on Arthur.

Arthur could only sigh when he saw this. The old stage actor from Scotland Yard glanced at the mayor's wife, stood up and said, "Madam, you really make it difficult for me."

His tone was gentle, but it was vaguely apologetic. "I didn't mean to make things difficult for you. I just really wanted to get this done as soon as possible to avoid further trouble. But I only took care of the business and forgot to consider the feelings of the ladies. Now it's time for dinner. Let's have a meal first, take a break, and then continue to discuss business, how about it?"

"You're right." The mayor's wife forced a smile and raised her head. The grievance in her eyes had been calmed down. "Since Colonel Hastings understands us, I won't say anything more. It's just that tonight's dinner is really a burden for everyone. Since you agreed to eat first, please don't postpone it any longer."

She nodded slightly to the maid beside her, indicating her to start setting up dinner.

Seeing this, Bakalkin said nothing more. He knew that if he continued to argue at this point, it would only make the situation more awkward.

"Since Colonel Hastings has agreed, then let's do as you wish."

(End of this chapter)