The scenery outside the window kept changing as the carriage moved forward. The air inside the carriage was a little stuffy, with only the dull sound of the carriage wheels on the muddy road.
The cold wind in the snow cut through the windows of the carriage, making a crisp sound.
The carriage stopped on a snowy hill, giving people a cold and oppressive feeling. The snow on the window had eliminated the afterglow of the sun, leaving only sporadic snowflakes flashing on the glass, making a harsh sound.
Arthur was still talking about personnel appointments in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but Blackwell reached into the pocket of his briefcase and took out a yellowed envelope.
The private secretary asked cautiously, with a hint of undisguised worry in his tone: "Sir, have you read the letter?"
Arthur's voice was very cold. He was still thinking about how to deal with the Caucasus issue and Herzen's case. "What is it about? The new policy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs?"
“It has nothing to do with the Foreign Ministry’s policy.”
"Then put it aside for now. I will look at it when I get back in the evening. The current focus of my work should still be on Sir David Urquhart."
"Although this letter has nothing to do with Foreign Office policy, Sir, I feel that it is very likely to lead to a cabinet reshuffle or the resignation of the Prime Minister, and then to the replacement of the Foreign Secretary."
Arthur's fingers suddenly tightened around the edge of the document, and the parchment groaned softly in his gloves. He slowly raised his eyelids, and the ice crystals on his eyelashes reflected the cold light of silver needles: "Mr. Henry Blackwell!"
Blackwell's hair stood up. "Sir, I'm here."
Arthur's pocket watch suddenly made a sharp sound of metal rubbing against leather. "Forgive me for not graduating in classical literature. Can I understand that what you just said is intended to tell me that this letter has been sent from London until now..."
The carriage suddenly skidded on the snowy slope. The moment the carriage tilted, Arthur's silver cane hit the floor heavily. "It's been two weeks?"
Blackwell certainly understood what his immediate superior meant.
These days, it takes about 10-15 days to send a letter from London to Russia, whether by land or sea.
On average, the transmission speed of letterhead is exactly two weeks.
Blackwell was also very upset about this.
Because in the Russian Embassy in St. Petersburg, this letter was not actually urgent intelligence, but just a brief report on the recent situation in London.
Therefore, the office attaché did not specifically emphasize the existence of the letter to Blackwell.
But the problem is that Arthur's definition of the importance of intelligence is obviously different from that of the embassy attaché.
Although this briefing on the situation in London may not necessarily affect the diplomatic relations between Britain and Russia, it is likely to affect Sir Arthur Hastings's grand plans in life.
"Your Excellency, you were on vacation in Moscow at the time, and you were attacked by thugs and are currently recovering from illness..."
Blackwell saw the mink rustling at the collar of Arthur's coat.
"Then it should appear next to my operating table! Even if I have to die, I hope to die knowingly!" Arthur stopped talking here. He did not choose to continue to be furious, but snatched the letter from the secretary very ungracefully.
The cultural counselor to Russia's concern for his political life clearly outweighed his anger at his private secretary's dereliction of duty. Although the threat posed to him by the fall of the cabinet was obviously not as direct as the bullets under the Tower of London, it was certainly more severe.
Under normal circumstances, Blackwell would have probably added a witty remark to tease the Yorkshire King, but today he obviously didn't dare to do so.
Because he understood that after Arthur read the letter, he would most likely face a violent storm of attacks, so there was no need for him to deliberately insert a lightning-attracting antenna on his forehead.
The letter was not long and the content was simple.
Since Prime Minister Earl Grey led the Whig Party to complete parliamentary reform in 1832, he has been building on his success and continuing to promote reforms at all levels of society.
These include:
The Factory Act of 1832 stipulated that workers' daily working hours should not exceed 12 hours, required that child workers should be given daily education time, and established factory health and safety standards.
The Slavery Abolition Act 1833 completely abolished slavery in Britain and its overseas colonies.
The Trade Union Act 1833 legalized trade unions.
The New Poor Law of 1833 strengthened the management and restrictions on the poor and emphasized the control of relief for the poor through the establishment of workhouses.
Although the above four reform bills encountered varying degrees of resistance during the promulgation process, the legislative process was generally smooth because the Tory Party no longer had a strong presence in the House of Commons after the parliamentary reform.
But Earl Grey should never have chosen to set his next reform target in the area that British politicians were doomed to fail: Ireland.
Going back a century and going back another century, in British history, Ireland has always been a topic that every British politician who aspires to leave his name in history cannot avoid.
However, there was only one person who was able to get away with the Irish issue unscathed.
That is William Pitt the Younger, a strong contender for the greatest British Prime Minister, the founder of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, who signed the Act of Union and laid the foundation for Britain's victory in all the anti-French wars through various fiscal and tax reforms and diplomatic means.
However, although William Pitt the Younger successfully incorporated Ireland into the territory of the Kingdom of Great Britain, his envisioned Catholic emancipation was not successfully implemented during his tenure due to too much resistance.
The guy who ultimately pushed for the Catholic Emancipation Act was the Duke of Wellington, who got into trouble because of this.
Although the Duke of Wellington himself may not have agreed with this bill, he was more of a commander-in-chief. Based on realism, he believed that the issue of Catholic emancipation had posed a serious threat to Britain's stability and prosperity. That's why he risked the world's disapproval and ruined his reputation to force this resolution against the heads of Parliament and the King.
But he was very clever in putting the toughest bone, the Irish and Catholic issues, at the very end of the timetable. First, the parliamentary reform, then the factory law and the complete abolition of slavery, etc. After doing all this, he finally started to take action against Ireland.
The introduction of the Irish Contributions Bill was tantamount to detonating a bombshell in British politics.
The bill focuses on three main areas:
First, the British government will reduce its financial support to the Church of Ireland and reduce the number of bishops in Ireland from 24 to 12.
Secondly, Catholics, who make up 80% of Ireland's population, will no longer have to pay taxes to the Church of Ireland.
Finally, land occupied by the Church of Ireland will be redistributed and managed to ensure that its resources are used more rationally.
Just by looking at these few clauses, one can tell the extent of the stress response that the clergy of the state religion will have.
Financial support was drastically cut, the number of bishops' seats in Ireland was cut in half, taxes were reduced by 80%, and even the land rent had to be returned.
According to the priests, an ungodly man like Earl Grey will definitely go to hell in the future.
The conservative Tory Party members naturally expressed strong opposition to this. They believed that this reform weakened the traditional status of the Church of England and brought instability to the country. As the saying goes, people will die if they compare themselves with people, and goods will be thrown away if they are compared with others. Compared with Earl Grey, the Catholic Emancipation Act of the old Prime Minister, the Duke of Wellington, did not seem so unacceptable.
Even more than the Tories, many people in the Whig Party, which represents the liberals, have come forward to criticize that the Prime Minister's new bill seems a bit too liberal. Although they are Whigs, they are also devout Anglicans. For any supporter of the Anglican Church, this form of concession is seen as a challenge to the authority of the church.
The latest novel is published first on Liu9shuba!
As for King William IV, there is no need to mention him.
As the religious leader of the Anglican Church, he could not accept that the church he led suffered such a severe blow.
William IV is now speaking out to the outside world all day long. Although the king has made many remarks, they can be summed up to mean only one thing: Parliamentary reform is one thing, but now you are carrying out the "Irish Tax Bill". Do you guys want to rebel?
The king became suspicious, and Lord Grey's cabinet was divided over the bill.
After the Prime Minister once again reiterated to the cabinet members his unwavering determination to promote reform, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Earl of Derby, the First Lord of the Admiralty, Sir James Graham, the Secretary of State for War and the Colonies, the Duke of Richmond, and the Lord Privy Seal, the Earl of Ripon, all expressed strong objections to the Prime Minister and collectively resigned to the Prime Minister.
The Lord Chancellor, the Earl of Ripon, even publicly threatened that if Earl Grey insisted on doing so, he would have no choice but to quit the party to express his protest.
Because of this bill, the Whig Party suddenly fell into the same divided situation as the Tory Party a few years ago, and Earl Grey also tasted the feeling of the Duke of Wellington being collectively surrounded in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords.
Although after several ministers resigned, he immediately began looking for candidates willing to fill their vacancies.
However, just as the Duke of Wellington repeatedly encountered obstacles in forming a cabinet on the eve of parliamentary reform, all the prominent figures in the Whig Party understood that being a cabinet minister was not a good job at this time. Therefore, those who were qualified to be ministers declined, and the young people who were willing to take a chance were unable to convince the public.
If things continue to develop along this trajectory, it can only mean one thing - the fall of the Grey Cabinet has entered the countdown.
Once the cabinet falls, even if the Whigs are still in power, the new prime minister will inevitably be a moderate Whig who opposes the Irish Tax Act.
Perhaps this will be good news for most people.
But for Arthur, the news couldn't be worse.
Because being a moderate Whig meant that when he selected cabinet members and made personnel appointment decisions, he would certainly not consider radicals like Lord Brougham and Earl Daramore.
Although Arthur also dislikes radicals, from a political perspective, he can even be considered a moderate conservative.
But unfortunately, his job was given to him by those Whig radicals.
If the cabinet is reshuffled and there is trouble in Russia again, Earl Daramore, who made mistakes in his work, will inevitably be put in the dark. And what attitude will the new Foreign Secretary have towards him, the favorite student of Lord Brougham and Earl Daramore?
Or, to put it in a less dire scenario, even if there was no trouble in Russia, with the Irish Tax Act as a precedent, would the new prime minister be so bold as to transfer a radical student back to London? Or perhaps they would do the opposite and simply let Arthur and Earl Daramore rot in Russia.
From Arthur's point of view, instead of letting the moderate Whigs be elected, it would be better to invite a pure Tory like the Duke of Wellington to come back!
After all, the Duke of Wellington saw Arthur's blood.
At this moment, Arthur just felt that the position of Indian Commissioner of Madras seemed to be beckoning to him.
The cold wind made Arthur shiver violently, however, the British gentleman who was used to the bloody storms knew that the more it was a life-and-death moment, the cooler the head had to be.
But inevitably, he still had some thoughts of "anger rising from the heart and evil coming to his mind".
He had intended to handle the Caucasus mission properly, to show off his skills in front of Whitehall and to leave a significant mark on his brilliant resume.
But if the price of showing off his skills is to continue staying in Russia, or be sent to India or Australia, then in order to reduce variables and pave the way back to London, he could consider unconventional means such as retreating to advance, demoting, etc.
Sir David Urquhart was willing to give up his position as consul in Constantinople in order to disgust the Russians, so he had no particular attachment to his position as cultural counselor in Russia.
However, before being dismissed or resigning, Arthur must make the most of the resources and power at hand and squeeze out the value of this position as much as possible to leave some legacy for his future comeback.
Just like Sir David, although he lost the trust of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs because of his deep involvement in the Caucasus, with the reputation he gained from this action, he will gain the favor of anti-Russian and liberal figures in the country, so he will definitely have great hope of returning to the country to run for parliament in the future.
As for Arthur, he certainly did not have the strong family background and upper-class connections like Sir David. Although he had some financial resources, he was not very interested in such a highly involved and unstable job as a member of parliament.
Therefore, he couldn't go to extremes like Sir David did and let the system label him as "unreliable".
The temporary departure was only for a better return, and at the same time to disgust the Foreign Secretary, Viscount Palmerston, who was implicated in the Liverpool bombing.
When Arthur thought of this, the roadmap in his mind gradually became clear.
He suddenly asked Blackwell, "You just said that merchants doing business in the Ottoman Empire are bribing newspapers and magazines such as Blackwood to exaggerate the Russian threat?"
The cold wind in the snow cut through the windows of the carriage, making a crisp sound.
The carriage stopped on a snowy hill, giving people a cold and oppressive feeling. The snow on the window had eliminated the afterglow of the sun, leaving only sporadic snowflakes flashing on the glass, making a harsh sound.
Arthur was still talking about personnel appointments in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but Blackwell reached into the pocket of his briefcase and took out a yellowed envelope.
The private secretary asked cautiously, with a hint of undisguised worry in his tone: "Sir, have you read the letter?"
Arthur's voice was very cold. He was still thinking about how to deal with the Caucasus issue and Herzen's case. "What is it about? The new policy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs?"
“It has nothing to do with the Foreign Ministry’s policy.”
"Then put it aside for now. I will look at it when I get back in the evening. The current focus of my work should still be on Sir David Urquhart."
"Although this letter has nothing to do with Foreign Office policy, Sir, I feel that it is very likely to lead to a cabinet reshuffle or the resignation of the Prime Minister, and then to the replacement of the Foreign Secretary."
Arthur's fingers suddenly tightened around the edge of the document, and the parchment groaned softly in his gloves. He slowly raised his eyelids, and the ice crystals on his eyelashes reflected the cold light of silver needles: "Mr. Henry Blackwell!"
Blackwell's hair stood up. "Sir, I'm here."
Arthur's pocket watch suddenly made a sharp sound of metal rubbing against leather. "Forgive me for not graduating in classical literature. Can I understand that what you just said is intended to tell me that this letter has been sent from London until now..."
The carriage suddenly skidded on the snowy slope. The moment the carriage tilted, Arthur's silver cane hit the floor heavily. "It's been two weeks?"
Blackwell certainly understood what his immediate superior meant.
These days, it takes about 10-15 days to send a letter from London to Russia, whether by land or sea.
On average, the transmission speed of letterhead is exactly two weeks.
Blackwell was also very upset about this.
Because in the Russian Embassy in St. Petersburg, this letter was not actually urgent intelligence, but just a brief report on the recent situation in London.
Therefore, the office attaché did not specifically emphasize the existence of the letter to Blackwell.
But the problem is that Arthur's definition of the importance of intelligence is obviously different from that of the embassy attaché.
Although this briefing on the situation in London may not necessarily affect the diplomatic relations between Britain and Russia, it is likely to affect Sir Arthur Hastings's grand plans in life.
"Your Excellency, you were on vacation in Moscow at the time, and you were attacked by thugs and are currently recovering from illness..."
Blackwell saw the mink rustling at the collar of Arthur's coat.
"Then it should appear next to my operating table! Even if I have to die, I hope to die knowingly!" Arthur stopped talking here. He did not choose to continue to be furious, but snatched the letter from the secretary very ungracefully.
The cultural counselor to Russia's concern for his political life clearly outweighed his anger at his private secretary's dereliction of duty. Although the threat posed to him by the fall of the cabinet was obviously not as direct as the bullets under the Tower of London, it was certainly more severe.
Under normal circumstances, Blackwell would have probably added a witty remark to tease the Yorkshire King, but today he obviously didn't dare to do so.
Because he understood that after Arthur read the letter, he would most likely face a violent storm of attacks, so there was no need for him to deliberately insert a lightning-attracting antenna on his forehead.
The letter was not long and the content was simple.
Since Prime Minister Earl Grey led the Whig Party to complete parliamentary reform in 1832, he has been building on his success and continuing to promote reforms at all levels of society.
These include:
The Factory Act of 1832 stipulated that workers' daily working hours should not exceed 12 hours, required that child workers should be given daily education time, and established factory health and safety standards.
The Slavery Abolition Act 1833 completely abolished slavery in Britain and its overseas colonies.
The Trade Union Act 1833 legalized trade unions.
The New Poor Law of 1833 strengthened the management and restrictions on the poor and emphasized the control of relief for the poor through the establishment of workhouses.
Although the above four reform bills encountered varying degrees of resistance during the promulgation process, the legislative process was generally smooth because the Tory Party no longer had a strong presence in the House of Commons after the parliamentary reform.
But Earl Grey should never have chosen to set his next reform target in the area that British politicians were doomed to fail: Ireland.
Going back a century and going back another century, in British history, Ireland has always been a topic that every British politician who aspires to leave his name in history cannot avoid.
However, there was only one person who was able to get away with the Irish issue unscathed.
That is William Pitt the Younger, a strong contender for the greatest British Prime Minister, the founder of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, who signed the Act of Union and laid the foundation for Britain's victory in all the anti-French wars through various fiscal and tax reforms and diplomatic means.
However, although William Pitt the Younger successfully incorporated Ireland into the territory of the Kingdom of Great Britain, his envisioned Catholic emancipation was not successfully implemented during his tenure due to too much resistance.
The guy who ultimately pushed for the Catholic Emancipation Act was the Duke of Wellington, who got into trouble because of this.
Although the Duke of Wellington himself may not have agreed with this bill, he was more of a commander-in-chief. Based on realism, he believed that the issue of Catholic emancipation had posed a serious threat to Britain's stability and prosperity. That's why he risked the world's disapproval and ruined his reputation to force this resolution against the heads of Parliament and the King.
But he was very clever in putting the toughest bone, the Irish and Catholic issues, at the very end of the timetable. First, the parliamentary reform, then the factory law and the complete abolition of slavery, etc. After doing all this, he finally started to take action against Ireland.
The introduction of the Irish Contributions Bill was tantamount to detonating a bombshell in British politics.
The bill focuses on three main areas:
First, the British government will reduce its financial support to the Church of Ireland and reduce the number of bishops in Ireland from 24 to 12.
Secondly, Catholics, who make up 80% of Ireland's population, will no longer have to pay taxes to the Church of Ireland.
Finally, land occupied by the Church of Ireland will be redistributed and managed to ensure that its resources are used more rationally.
Just by looking at these few clauses, one can tell the extent of the stress response that the clergy of the state religion will have.
Financial support was drastically cut, the number of bishops' seats in Ireland was cut in half, taxes were reduced by 80%, and even the land rent had to be returned.
According to the priests, an ungodly man like Earl Grey will definitely go to hell in the future.
The conservative Tory Party members naturally expressed strong opposition to this. They believed that this reform weakened the traditional status of the Church of England and brought instability to the country. As the saying goes, people will die if they compare themselves with people, and goods will be thrown away if they are compared with others. Compared with Earl Grey, the Catholic Emancipation Act of the old Prime Minister, the Duke of Wellington, did not seem so unacceptable.
Even more than the Tories, many people in the Whig Party, which represents the liberals, have come forward to criticize that the Prime Minister's new bill seems a bit too liberal. Although they are Whigs, they are also devout Anglicans. For any supporter of the Anglican Church, this form of concession is seen as a challenge to the authority of the church.
The latest novel is published first on Liu9shuba!
As for King William IV, there is no need to mention him.
As the religious leader of the Anglican Church, he could not accept that the church he led suffered such a severe blow.
William IV is now speaking out to the outside world all day long. Although the king has made many remarks, they can be summed up to mean only one thing: Parliamentary reform is one thing, but now you are carrying out the "Irish Tax Bill". Do you guys want to rebel?
The king became suspicious, and Lord Grey's cabinet was divided over the bill.
After the Prime Minister once again reiterated to the cabinet members his unwavering determination to promote reform, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Earl of Derby, the First Lord of the Admiralty, Sir James Graham, the Secretary of State for War and the Colonies, the Duke of Richmond, and the Lord Privy Seal, the Earl of Ripon, all expressed strong objections to the Prime Minister and collectively resigned to the Prime Minister.
The Lord Chancellor, the Earl of Ripon, even publicly threatened that if Earl Grey insisted on doing so, he would have no choice but to quit the party to express his protest.
Because of this bill, the Whig Party suddenly fell into the same divided situation as the Tory Party a few years ago, and Earl Grey also tasted the feeling of the Duke of Wellington being collectively surrounded in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords.
Although after several ministers resigned, he immediately began looking for candidates willing to fill their vacancies.
However, just as the Duke of Wellington repeatedly encountered obstacles in forming a cabinet on the eve of parliamentary reform, all the prominent figures in the Whig Party understood that being a cabinet minister was not a good job at this time. Therefore, those who were qualified to be ministers declined, and the young people who were willing to take a chance were unable to convince the public.
If things continue to develop along this trajectory, it can only mean one thing - the fall of the Grey Cabinet has entered the countdown.
Once the cabinet falls, even if the Whigs are still in power, the new prime minister will inevitably be a moderate Whig who opposes the Irish Tax Act.
Perhaps this will be good news for most people.
But for Arthur, the news couldn't be worse.
Because being a moderate Whig meant that when he selected cabinet members and made personnel appointment decisions, he would certainly not consider radicals like Lord Brougham and Earl Daramore.
Although Arthur also dislikes radicals, from a political perspective, he can even be considered a moderate conservative.
But unfortunately, his job was given to him by those Whig radicals.
If the cabinet is reshuffled and there is trouble in Russia again, Earl Daramore, who made mistakes in his work, will inevitably be put in the dark. And what attitude will the new Foreign Secretary have towards him, the favorite student of Lord Brougham and Earl Daramore?
Or, to put it in a less dire scenario, even if there was no trouble in Russia, with the Irish Tax Act as a precedent, would the new prime minister be so bold as to transfer a radical student back to London? Or perhaps they would do the opposite and simply let Arthur and Earl Daramore rot in Russia.
From Arthur's point of view, instead of letting the moderate Whigs be elected, it would be better to invite a pure Tory like the Duke of Wellington to come back!
After all, the Duke of Wellington saw Arthur's blood.
At this moment, Arthur just felt that the position of Indian Commissioner of Madras seemed to be beckoning to him.
The cold wind made Arthur shiver violently, however, the British gentleman who was used to the bloody storms knew that the more it was a life-and-death moment, the cooler the head had to be.
But inevitably, he still had some thoughts of "anger rising from the heart and evil coming to his mind".
He had intended to handle the Caucasus mission properly, to show off his skills in front of Whitehall and to leave a significant mark on his brilliant resume.
But if the price of showing off his skills is to continue staying in Russia, or be sent to India or Australia, then in order to reduce variables and pave the way back to London, he could consider unconventional means such as retreating to advance, demoting, etc.
Sir David Urquhart was willing to give up his position as consul in Constantinople in order to disgust the Russians, so he had no particular attachment to his position as cultural counselor in Russia.
However, before being dismissed or resigning, Arthur must make the most of the resources and power at hand and squeeze out the value of this position as much as possible to leave some legacy for his future comeback.
Just like Sir David, although he lost the trust of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs because of his deep involvement in the Caucasus, with the reputation he gained from this action, he will gain the favor of anti-Russian and liberal figures in the country, so he will definitely have great hope of returning to the country to run for parliament in the future.
As for Arthur, he certainly did not have the strong family background and upper-class connections like Sir David. Although he had some financial resources, he was not very interested in such a highly involved and unstable job as a member of parliament.
Therefore, he couldn't go to extremes like Sir David did and let the system label him as "unreliable".
The temporary departure was only for a better return, and at the same time to disgust the Foreign Secretary, Viscount Palmerston, who was implicated in the Liverpool bombing.
When Arthur thought of this, the roadmap in his mind gradually became clear.
He suddenly asked Blackwell, "You just said that merchants doing business in the Ottoman Empire are bribing newspapers and magazines such as Blackwood to exaggerate the Russian threat?"
