Shadow of great britain

In the office of the Prime Minister's residence, Arthur looked up at the portrait hanging above the head of the Duke of Wellington. The man in the portrait was eighty-nine times similar to the old Duke. The only difference between the two was that the man in the portrait was wearing a black stand-up collar and a crimson soldier. Men with pretense and stubble are much younger.

The Duke of Wellington noticed Arthur's eyes, and he joked: "Do you also like art? Young man? This is the work of Sir Thomas Lawrence. You should have heard of him, right? President of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. But If you want to ask him to paint a portrait, it may be a bit unlucky, because Sir Lawrence unfortunately passed away in January this year, so his paintings are naturally excellent."

Arthur took off his hat and put his right hand on his chest, and said apologetically: "I only have a superficial understanding of art, but I did want to find a few apprentices from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts to assist in police work. But those things can be discussed later. Besides, the most important thing at the moment is that I must report directly to you about the demonstration that took place in Hyde Park this morning."

"Modern again? Haha, they are only so enthusiastic when they are marching. During the Napoleonic Wars, the War Department did not see them so active in recruiting troops. These people are really annoying!"

The Duke of Wellington rubbed his face helplessly: "Okay, who are they this time? The Fox Faction? The Huskisson Faction? Or the Canning Faction? Or is it Earl Grey's Silla's small group?"

When Sir Peel heard this, he couldn't help but joked: "Your Excellency, the factions you mentioned are all sitting in the Parliament. They will not march on the street."

The Duke of Wellington leaned his face on the table with one hand and complained: "Oh! Yes! These people are all sitting in the Parliament. They can make us soldiers go to the front line and die with just their words. Well done. Just flatter you a little, and if you don't fight well, I'll send you to a military court. Anyway, one mouth and two skins, no matter what they say, they are justified."

When Sir Peel heard this, he couldn't help but remind Arthur: "Arthur, everyone has complaints and worries. Just listen to them, but don't tell the news media."

When Arthur heard this, he pursed his lips in embarrassment, but his action was still caught by the sensitive and cautious Duke of Wellington.

Wellington frowned: "Wait a minute, did the newspaper say something bad about me again?"

Before Arthur could speak, he stood up and walked directly to the bookshelf in the office, casually pulling out a newspaper from it.

Seeing him like this, Sir Peel could only smile and said to Arthur: "Forget it, you should report directly to me. Those who are willing to march on the street are just those people, Luddite workers, digging the ground The peasants who sent them, or the Anglican ministers who were jumping around for the Emancipation Act.”

Arthur shook his head slightly and said: "Sir Peel, I regret to report to you that it is not the case this time. They are a group of supporters of Robert Owen. Mr. Owen gave a speech in Hyde Park today, and the audience was obviously a little excited. , so before the speech was over, they had already targeted the Duke of Wellington and started a spontaneous march."

"Robert Owen?"

When Sir Peel heard the name, he couldn't help but frown slightly.

Because even in his opinion, as the leader of the liberal Tory party, Robert Owen's ideas were still too unconventional.

Coincidentally, the Whigs basically saw it that way too.

Sir Peel pondered: "I know that the Whigs have been uniting various trade union groups in order to come to power. But Owen...are they sure?"

When Arthur heard this, he roughly confirmed Sir Peel's attitude. He said: "There is currently no indication that the marching workers in Hyde Park are related to the Whigs. I am more willing to believe that this may be an accidental incident. After all, You know, the air in London is smelling tight right now because of parliamentary reform."

"Which associations do the parades belong to? Have they been confirmed so far?"

Arthur immediately took out the documents from his bag and handed them over. Sir Peel glanced at them a few times, then stood up immediately and said: "It turns out these are the ones. Okay, I understand. It happens that the Ministry of Internal Affairs has a few informants over there. I will immediately Ask someone to go to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and get the reports they submitted during this period."

When Arthur heard this, he also stood up and said: "Sir, regarding the informant of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, I wonder if I can ask you a question?"

Sir Peel was stunned for a while, but he quickly reacted. He smiled and said: "I almost forgot, your temporary agency has also been doing this recently, right? But Arthur, don't worry, the Ministry of Internal Affairs Having other informants does not mean that I doubt your ability to work. Because the Ministry of Internal Affairs informants existed long before you took the lead in the LPS."

"LPS?" Arthur heard the abbreviation, and it took him a while to realize that Sir Peel was talking about the Bureau of Statistics.

He smiled and replied: "Actually, I wanted to submit the first work report of the LPS to you early on. It happened to include some of my insights and reform suggestions on police intelligence work. But due to time constraints, it is better for me to do it here. How do you feel about it being dictated directly to you?”

Seeing his calm and calm appearance, Sir Peel naturally lowered his psychological expectations for the serious nature of the parade.

He put down the document in his hand, nodded and said: "Arthur, you really always surprise me. I thought you couldn't accomplish anything in such a short time."

Arthur smiled and shook his head and said: "It's not really a result, it can only be considered as some experience. As we all know, France is the first country in the world to propose the concept of police, so during this period, I focused on reading what I can collect so far. The intelligence operation records of the French police, combined with the police information accumulated by Scotland Yard, finally led me to discover several problems."

"Oh?" Sir Pierre asked with interest, "What's the problem?"

"First, don't put too much trust in temporarily hired informants. They are far less reliable than real undercover agents. Because they have to submit reports every day in exchange for payment and recognition. If there is nothing to write, he will make it up. If he finds anything, he will They will exaggerate to prove the importance of their existence.

Second, dangers fabricated by the government are beneficial to the government. Maintaining a conspiracy that does not pose much of a threat can actually allow the government to gain more strength and power. "

When Sir Peel heard this rather novel conclusion, he couldn't help but ask: "Then where did you get this information?"

Arthur said: "After the Napoleonic War, Louis XVIII successfully restored himself in France, and he very successfully used what I mentioned.

At that time, the humiliated French army wanted revenge, the Bonapartists hoped to welcome back Napoleon, the Republicans in 1789 wanted to restrict the royal power, the Jacobins were thinking about extreme means, and the ordinary citizens who had been devastated by the war dreamed of The republic of 1792 was restored, while the exiles who returned home and were stripped of their estates and wealth attempted to restore the old system.

Under this situation, the Paris Police Department under Louis XVIII fabricated conspiracies, instigated riots, and polarized public opinion. Ultra-royalists saw it as evidence of lax police force and believed the government was encouraging revolutionary activities to overthrow the royal family. Liberals accuse ultra-royalists of using provocateurs to create crises and legitimize their autocratic rule.

Louis XVIII himself, under the mutual restraint of the two factions, died peacefully. His successor, Charles X, obviously failed to grasp the essence of this balance.

That guy did not make good use of the intelligence advantage of the Paris Police Department. The greatest contribution of the Paris Police Department in his hands may be that it helped him follow the informant's information and successfully arrested his wife during an operation to round up the rebels. evil. "

When Sir Peel heard this, he almost couldn't help laughing. He raised his hand to cover his mouth and apologized: "Sorry, Arthur, you continue."

Seeing him smile, Arthur understood that today's matter was settled.

After taking care of Sir Peel, the Duke of Wellington has a stabilizer. As long as he can tell the truth, the only thing left to consider is how to get those enthusiastic workers home.

He smiled and said: "I just talked about France, but the situation in Britain is different from France. We have an excellent tradition of parliamentary system, and the people are willing to pursue their rights within the existing framework.

Therefore, I think General John Byrne’s evaluation of similar events that occurred in Britain in the last century is very appropriate: Most radicals in Britain regard revolution as a mass movement that may cause small-scale bloodshed. But the main purpose is to force concessions from the government, not to overthrow the political system.

We already have the most remarkable political system in the world, and there is no strong public desire to overthrow it. Just like the riots in Hyde Park this time, although the workers shouted 'Down with Wellington and overthrow the Tories', in the final analysis, what they wanted was nothing more than the right to vote.

I have always believed that a large part of the responsibility for the large-scale workers' riots and bloody suppressions in the nine years from 1812 to 1821 must be attributed to the then Home Secretary Henry Addington, Viscount Sidmouth and the immature internal affairs. Ministry of informants system.

I don’t know whether His Excellency the Viscount exaggerated many normal demonstrations into violent riots with seditious intentions due to intelligence errors or subjective motives. They are frightening treasonous acts that will shake the foundation of the government.

This also resulted in a series of bloody incidents and created a sense of public distrust and alienation from the Tory cabinet.

For example, the Taylor Rebellion of 1816 is a typical example. At that time, miners in the Taylor area of ​​Manchester initially protested peacefully, demanding higher wages and better working conditions.

However, the Manchester authorities did not deal with this emergency in a timely manner. They neither coordinated the negotiations between the mine owners and the workers, nor calmed the workers' emotions. Instead, they waited until the situation intensified and workers began burning factories and smashing machines before they hurriedly reported to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Cabinet, requesting the dispatch of the military to suppress the situation.

As for the Peterloo incident in 1819, it was another manifestation of the incompetence and inefficiency of the Manchester city government. The Peterloo incident directly led to the Cato Street Conspiracy in 1820. If it had not been discovered in time, all members of the cabinet at the time might have died at the hands of the Spence Wave Philanthropy Society.

Therefore, I believe that the main task of LPS should be set to ‘early detection, early treatment’ and to cultivate professional undercover talents. The early employment-based informant mechanism must be reformed and gradually eliminated.

The ultimate goal was to establish a one-way intelligence channel between social unrest and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Of course, although this kind of "communication channel" is not necessarily acceptable to the trade union, it is just that. "

As Arthur said this, he suddenly felt as if someone behind him was staring at him.

He suddenly felt his shoulders being weighed down. He turned around and saw the Duke of Wellington with raised eyebrows.

Wellington smiled and asked: "Young man, are you really not considering electing a member of Parliament to serve the Tory Party? Maybe I can consider setting aside an extra parliamentary seat for you in my territory."

When Arthur heard this, he was stunned for a moment, and then replied with a smile: "Your Excellency, I don't have that talent. Besides, I am still a policeman. According to Scotland Yard's internal regulations, I do not prescribe a political position for myself. . As you and Sir Peel would expect, I, like the other Scotland Yard police officers, are nothing more than insignificant public servants."