Shadow of great britain

On the second floor of the Allmark Club, there are several independent small rooms. The small rooms are facing the spiral staircase. Through the rose-red curtains and window glass, you can have a panoramic view of the first floor.

In the room, Viscount Palmerston and Viscount Melbourne each held a goblet filled with a quarter of light red wine.

Judging from the label of the wine bottle placed on the counter beside him, they should be drinking a bottle of Romanée-Conti produced in the Burgundy region of France in 1820.

Viscount Melbourne shook the wine glass gently and took a sip absentmindedly.

Seeing his appearance, Viscount Palmerston just smiled and put his arm around his shoulders, and invited him to sit on the sofa: "William, there is no need to worry so much. Although the job of a judge is difficult to solve, there will always be a solution." There’s a way.”

Melbourne raised his head and asked: "Do you have any news about the candidate for the new justice?"

Palmerston pondered for a while: "No one in the party is clear about the choice of justice now. Perhaps only our new Prime Minister Earl Gray himself knows who to appoint.

William, you also know that Britain has a history of having Lord Chancellors even longer than Prime Ministers. This is a high-ranking position.

The Lord Chancellor serves as His Majesty’s Privy Council Legal Adviser and has the power to appoint His Majesty’s Legal Agents, Queen’s Counsel, and Attorney General of the United Kingdom. He also presides over the Chancery Court, which represents the highest authority of British law, and leads the Chancery of the British Judiciary. He holds the power to appoint the presidents of all High Courts and Courts of Appeal in Britain, and by convention the Lord Chancellor also enjoys the honor of Speaker of the House of Lords.

Oh, yes, of course, as the most just, honest, selfless and knowledgeable representative in the whole of Britain, the Lord Chancellor has to take great pains to supervise the church property of the Anglican Church.

In addition, he also has to inspect education, charity, medical care, etc. on behalf of His Majesty the King. He also serves as the inspector of the Royal British Public Hospital and is responsible for supervising all universities in England in order to ensure that all two universities that represent our beautiful England Reach the highest educational level in the world. "

When Viscount Melbourne heard this, he couldn't help but loosen his frown and asked: "Two? Are you kicking out the University of London and King's College, which are also in England?"

Palmerston put down his glass and said: "William, the first priority of a university is to cultivate talents. Have the University of London and King's College trained any talents? The name of a university cannot be applied to any school. Even if I put it on The search was broadened to include the whole of Britain, and the best I could do was include the University of Edinburgh and the University of Glasgow in Scotland. Yes, I think there are only four decent universities in Britain at the moment."

When the Viscount of Melbourne heard this, he just joked: "This selection method is too unfair to start-up schools such as the University of London, King's College and Hull Watt University. After all, in terms of the school's running time, Hull's is longer. Watt University is only nine years old, London University is four years old, and King’s College only started recruiting students last year.”

Seeing Melbourne finally relaxed, Palmerston couldn't help but smile and put his hand on his shoulder: "That's right, William. Although I don't know who the next royal justice of the kingdom is, I know our new one." The Prime Minister has already made up his mind as to the latest candidate for the Minister of the Great Seal."

"Minister of the Imperial Seal?"

When Viscount Melbourne heard this word, he immediately became energetic.

People who don't understand British politics may not know what Lord Seal means, but Viscount Melbourne knows it very well.

The Minister of the Great Seal, as the name suggests, has a very simple duty, which is to keep the traditional national seals of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales for the king.

On the surface, this is just a mascot-like character.

Therefore, not every cabinet will appoint a Minister of the Great Seal. If a Minister of the Great Seal is not appointed, the chief justice will usually take charge of the duties of the Minister of the Great Seal.

If a certain cabinet announces the appointment of the Lord Seal, this usually sends a signal to the outside world that the new Lord Seal will soon serve as the Lord Chancellor of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

This operation usually only occurs when the Prime Minister wants to appoint a civilian justice.

Because according to regulations, the Royal Justice must also be the Speaker of the House of Lords, so he must be a noble, that is, he must be a baron or above.

The minister of the great seal is usually held by civilians. However, due to the official position, the official position of the minister of the great seal left over from the Middle Ages is actually the chamberlain of the British king, which is also commonly known as the chamberlain. It is closely related to the ministers of various ministries. Foreign ministers in this traditional sense are different.

Because they are close to the king, most chamberlains, even if they are not nobles, will soon be made nobles and join the House of Lords.

Therefore, after years of groping, Britain's appointment process for civilian justices evolved into a three-step process.

1. The Prime Minister appoints him as the Minister of the Imperial Seal

2. The king understood and conferred the title of lord. As for whether the lord is a baron or a higher title, it all depends on the king's mood and close relationship.

3. The Prime Minister announced a cabinet reshuffle, and the Minister of the Great Seal also served as the Royal Justice.

Although Viscount Melbourne usually likes to sleep in Parliament, he had sat in the House of Commons for 25 years before inheriting his father's title and entering the House of Lords. Naturally, he knew all about it through his ears and eyes.

As the saying goes, even if you haven't defeated the French in person, haven't you read about the French escaping in the newspapers?

Viscount Melbourne sat on the sofa and leaned out half his body: "Who is the new Minister of the Great Seal?"

Viscount Palmerston picked up the wine bottle and gave himself another glass: "The founder of the Edinburgh Review."

Viscount Melbourne frowned: "There is more than one founder of the Edinburgh Review."

Viscount Palmerston put down the bottle of wine and patted his lover's brother on the shoulder with a smile: "But there is only one person who is qualified to be a justice. You should still remember that you helped Queen Caroline win the divorce lawsuit with the late King George IV. Who is your lawyer?"

When Viscount Melbourne heard this, he stood up immediately in shock, his face full of surprise: "Henry?"

"That's right." Viscount Palmerston grinned: "It's not my Henry, but another Henry, Mr. Henry Peter Brougham. Maybe it won't be long before we have to call him Brewer." Lord Mu."

Viscount Melbourne couldn't help but smile and clapped his hands: "Great! He became famous through the royal divorce case back then. If I tell him clearly about Mrs. Norton's situation, I believe he will be willing to help me. of."

Viscount Palmerston joked: "You have to thank our late king George IV for passing away in time. Well... maybe it's not a good thing for me to say this. But if the late king is still alive at this time, Mr. Brougham will probably live for the rest of his life." Don't even think about getting a knighthood from under him, let alone serving as a justice.

After all, the bad blood between the late king and Queen Caroline was not ordinary. When the queen passed away, he was not even willing to let her coffin pass through London. Sir Robert Baker, who was in charge of arranging the route at that time, could not withstand public opinion and finally allowed the queen's coffin to pass through the city of London. As a result, Sir Robert Baker was dismissed by the furious His Majesty the King just after the funeral. Looking back now, Sir Baker was quite unjust. "

People are in high spirits during happy events, and the bright smile on Viscount Melbourne's face did not show the gloom and gloom just now.

He asked: "By the way, which constituency is Mr. Brougham running for election this year?"

Viscount Palmerston closed his eyes and rubbed his temples: "Hmm... let me think about it, I remember he was in... York? Yes, he seemed to be running for election in York!"

"York?" Viscount Melbourne slapped his forehead: "Oh God! So it was Mr. Brougham who defeated George Norton in York? Isn't this really God's arrangement? Everything is too coincidental. There is obviously so much corruption. They had a constituency to choose from, so why did they just bump into each other?"

Viscount Palmerston smiled and shrugged: "Who knows, maybe this is God's guidance as you said. God is showing you the way, and you will eventually be with Mrs. Norton. William , although Baroness Ponsonby made you sad, it has been so long since that incident, maybe you should find a good girl to be by your side. God let you be tortured by her for 20 years, let You had an unhappy marriage, so now He's going to send a real angel to make it up to you."

When Viscount Melbourne heard this, he just smiled helplessly. He shook his head and said: "William, you are overthinking. I really just want to help her. If someone had helped me like this when I had problems in my marriage, , my late wife and I might just get through it."

Seeing that his future brother-in-law refused to listen, Palmerston could only shake his head and sigh: "You! Why do you always live so tiredly? You can learn from me and live a relaxed and comfortable life. Life is a drama, don't take it too seriously.

But Byron is such a damn thing. He ruined the first half of your life. He is a representative of the Satanic poets. This title really suits him. When he came to this world, apart from getting involved with the Greek independence and the Italian Carbonari Party, his biggest task was to destroy you! "

As soon as he finished speaking, a burst of rapid, intense and gorgeous piano sound suddenly came through the window glass.

Viscount Palmerston and Viscount Melbourne both frowned slightly.

"What's the noise?"

The two stood in front of the window and glanced down. In the center of the stage on the first floor, a young man in a tuxedo was waving his arms that were flying up and down like butterflies. His fingertips were dancing between the keys, and a series of notes were transmitted. The entire hall immediately aroused exclamations from several ladies and applause from the gentlemen playing cards at the gaming table.

Viscount Melbourne asked in confusion: "It's not Moscheles, the Philharmonic Association has a new pianist?"

Viscount Palmerston saw Mrs. Cowper sitting in front of the stage with a smile on her face. He couldn't help but think of some things that were not easy to talk to outsiders last night. He smiled playfully and winked at Viscount Melbourne.

"Would you like to know if you go down and take a look? Our nerves have been tense recently due to the general election and the no-confidence motion. It's time to relax. The pianist happens to be here. Why don't you go dance with Mrs. Norton?"

Viscount Melbourne was hesitating, but Palmerston didn't give him any time to think anymore. He put his arm around Melbourne's shoulders and walked out: "William, listen to me, be bold, it's not a big deal. Even if you really have an affair with Mrs. Norton So what does it matter? My wife can change her position as a judge in just one sleep. Where can I find such a good deal? George Norton is really making a lot of money this time, and you have nothing to apologize to him for."

The two of them pushed and shoved out of the room, but out of sight, the red devil was lying on the windowsill. He was holding a red apple with a painful face in his hand, and his mouth was full of blood as he ate it. The long, powerful black tail whipped the rose-red curtains, causing ripples.

The Red Devil casually threw the apple core out, hitting Mrs. Norton who was watching Arthur's gorgeous performance in the ballroom.

The apple core gradually slid down her hair, and finally stopped at her heart. A faint red light flickered, and the apple core gradually merged into her chest until it was submerged in her chest.

The Red Devil let out a long and loud burp. The sudden noise shocked Arthur, who was playing, to pause.

He narrowed his eyes slightly and looked up at the second floor window, but the only thing that met his gaze was the red devil's malicious smile.

Agares clasped his hands together and muttered in a low voice: "Coincidences? Where are there so many coincidences? The direction of fate, God's arrangement, whatever you say, anyway, Professor Agares only requires that things must be according to my instructions." direction."

He took out the parchment roll stuck in his waist, glanced at Arthur who was playing, nodded slightly, then took out his quill, and casually drew a few strokes on the yellowed page.

With the movement of the flaming pen tip, a lifelike painting appeared on the scroll in an instant.

In front of the piano is Arthur in a tuxedo, and above his head is a magnet wrapped with lightning and a bleeding scepter, and above the magnet and scepter is a swinging pendulum clock.

The pendulum swayed, and in the silent room, ding dong ding dong, the second hand of fate was already moving...