Shadow of great britain

People can always be driven by their leaders, it's easy. Just tell them they are being attacked and accuse pacifists of being unpatriotic and exposing the country to danger.

——Hermann Goering

In the garden of the Tuileries Palace, the afterglow of the setting sun shines on the tree-lined paths. The light of dusk gradually becomes softer, and the birds in the garden also flap their wings and begin to return to their nests. The fragrant roses in the flower beds are surrounded by carefully trimmed hedges and blooming flowers, making these blooming roses even more precious.

Louis-Philippe wore a well-tailored red dress and walked slowly in the garden holding an exquisite cane.

He was accompanied by two attendants and a brown British shorthaired pointer.

The hound sometimes ran forward to sniff the flowers, and sometimes ran around the butterflies flying around the flower bed. Judging from its violently wagging tail, it seemed to enjoy this leisure time strolling with its owner.

When Louis-Philippe saw this scene, he knelt down, clapped his hands at the hound, and shouted with a smile: "Okay, Bella, good boy, come to me."

Bella happily ran to her master's side, nuzzled the king's hand with her nose, and then turned back to join the chase with the butterfly.

When Louis Philippe saw this, he just curled his lips helplessly, while the attendant following him smiled and commented.

"You call it and it comes. But after finding out there was no food, it ran away without looking back, just like a republican."

Louis Philippe was amused by the attendant's comment. He shook his head slightly and said, "You can't say that. There is nothing wrong with letting these pretentious gentlemen feel that they need the king's help from time to time."

The attendant asked: "Just like when Mr. Perrier, the prime minister, passed away last year? Only when they are leaderless will they remember how important you can be."

Louis-Philippe looked a little troubled, holding his forehead with one hand: "Excluding his occasional contemptuous attitude toward me, Mr. Perrier is indeed an outstanding person, whether as a banker or a leader of the country. , he was able to handle all affairs in an orderly manner, so was his death a good thing or a bad thing? However, at least during the period of his death and the few months before the new prime minister was born, this The country is ruled by me, alone.”

The attendants understood the king's words tacitly.

Because only the aristocratic children who are most trusted by the king can serve as attendants from the age of 15 to adulthood, there is no doubt that they are the most die-hard Orleanists.

Just as there are many different factions among the Orthodox, Bonapartists and Republicans, there are also differences between the Orleanists who are close and distant.

The left wing among the Orleans faction is called the "movement faction". Its representatives are Jacques Lafitte, Augustin Barrot and others, the first prime ministers of the July Dynasty. The political tendencies of these people among the Orleans faction are just like Robert ·Peel's view of the Tories is that although they nominally belong to the Orleanists and support Louis Philippe as king, they are actually very close to the Republicans.

These people hoped to achieve freedom of the press, actively strive for the popularization of secular education, advocated the abolition of the Treaty of Vienna signed in 1815, and changed the foreign policy of submission to the Holy Alliance pursued by France after the collapse of the Napoleonic Empire.

In addition, we should also actively support the democratic movements in Italy, Poland, Switzerland and other countries and participate in solving the "Eastern Question" of the Ottoman Empire in order to restore France's status as a powerful country.

Of course, the most important thing is to continue to strengthen the role of the representative system and gradually establish a British-style constitutional monarchy where the king rules without rule.

The right wing of the Orleans faction is called the 'resistance faction'. The second prime minister Perrier, the ambassador to the United Kingdom Talleyrand, the current foreign minister Molay, and the current education minister Guizot all belong to this faction.

The resistance faction's views are almost completely opposite to those of the movement faction. They believe that "the throne is not an empty chair" and that France's ancient monarchy tradition and the king's power confirmed by the 1830 Charter should be respected and maintained.

Although the resistance faction also agreed with the goals of reform, they believed that the movement's vision was too ambitious. The signing of the Charter in 1830, to a certain extent, represented the end of the political reform task at this stage. Therefore, the resistance faction puts socioeconomic prosperity and political stability first.

In order to win an environment suitable for development, they advocated that diplomatic conflicts with European powers must be avoided, especially to avoid unpleasantness with the British, who have dual identities of maritime hegemon and economic giant.

Apart from the resistance and movement factions, the remaining handful are Louis Philippe's die-hard supporters.

In a sense, the views of these people are no different from those of the orthodox royalists, except that their allegiance is not to the Bourbon royal family, but to Louis Philippe, the Duke of Orleans, as the orthodox heir to the French throne. Therefore, some people privately call this group of people actually a group of royalists flying the Orleans flag. The resistance faction is regarded as the Bonapartist faction among the Orleans faction, and the movement faction is the republican faction among the Orleans faction.

If we put aside the fact that they all acknowledged Louis Philippe as the supreme ruler of France, it is indeed difficult to consider these three factions as belonging to the same group. So, to a certain extent, the July Monarchy government is more like a grocery stall than a government. The goods on the grocery stall are dazzling and varied, and it is not surprising to find any kind of opinions in it.

And if you want to sit safely in such a grocery stall, it is particularly important to use what kind of books to pad the legs of the chair.

This is like the balance trick of stacking chairs in the circus. You must find the center of gravity accurately. No party can be so strong that the center of gravity will shift. Only in this way can you stack them for a long time.

After two and a half years of training, Mr. Louis Philippe, the head of the circus and the King of France, finally figured out some tricks of stacking chairs last year, and enjoyed it in the months when the former Prime Minister Perrier died.

The power of the country is a constant. The more power the minister has, the less power the king will have.

In order to prevent the ministers from firmly grasping their power, they must first make themselves seem to be above party disputes and be impartial.

Secondly, the control of a minister over a department is usually proportional to the length of time he has served. The longer he serves, the more firmly he can hold the department in his hands.

Therefore, in order to prevent them from doing this, it is particularly important to frequently replace cabinet members and change the positions of ministers.

It has only been three years since the establishment of the July Monarchy, but Louis Philippe has already replaced three cabinet prime ministers.

Of course, although he has this power as a king, he cannot dismiss the prime minister for no reason, but perhaps because God is blessing him, France has seen major events such as the cholera epidemic, the Lyon workers' uprising, the republican uprising, etc. in the past three years, so every time he dismissed and transferred cabinet members, it seemed reasonable.

And now, another opportunity has been presented to him.

In the bustling central area of ​​Paris, at the Kedau Sais Mansion, where the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is located, someone dared to assassinate the king.

No one can say that it is tyranny to issue decrees and replace some officials for such reasons.

When someone is removed from his position, someone needs to take up the vacant position. In this way, he can use official positions to bribe some people who are willing to be loyal to him, and further manipulate these powerful officials to work for the king with peace of mind.

Thinking of this, Louis Philippe's mood improved a lot. He took a deep breath, and the rose fragrance lingering on his nose made the "first citizen of France" feel intoxicated.

At this moment, footsteps sounded on the tree-lined path.

"Your Majesty, Mr. Thiers is here."

Louis Philippe did not turn around, he just leaned down and fiddled with the roses in the flowerbed: "Thiers, does the immortal uniform of the Academy fit you well?"

Dressed in a dark suit, the 'Paris Giant' Thiers looked focused, and he replied politely: "Your Majesty, although I think I have made some achievements in historical research, it is still an exaggeration to include me in the list of additional members of the Academy this year."

Louis Philippe stood up, took the towel from the hand of the attendant and wiped his hands: "There is no such thing as exaggeration or not. You and Guizot are the best historians in France at present. Your academic achievements are obvious to all Paris. Although you are younger than other members of the Academy, A little younger, but youth is not an excuse to prevent you from achieving greatness, but an advantage. It is precisely because of this that I put you in the position of Minister of the Interior in the new cabinet. Thiers, I have always been optimistic about you, and I know you will not let me down. "

Thiers bowed his head slightly and said: "I sincerely thank you for your trust, and I really feel the burden on my shoulders."

Louis Philippe suddenly changed the subject: "I heard that there is a comic magazine called "Noise" in Paris that sells very well? This magazine was only founded in December last year, and this year it has become the best-selling comic daily in Paris. "

Although Louis Philippe did not say it out loud, Thiers knew the king's subtext.

As the hottest comic magazine at the moment, "Noise" is not difficult to buy in Paris, and the current trend of the entire Paris comic circle focusing on drawing "duck pears" is brought up by them.

Originally, Thiers thought that Parisians would only have a three-minute enthusiasm at most, but the development of the situation far exceeded his expectations.

As Heine said to Arthur: "Such caricatures increase day by day. Every time I open the window, the wall outside the window is full of strange pears."

Cartoon "Damn Pear, Why Are You Not a Truth"

Cartoon "Gao Kangda"

Cartoon "Warsaw is in Order"

Cartoon "Paris is also in Order"

Thiers had to admit that although these cartoons were quite humorous, they were not the case at all in the eyes of Louis Philippe, the person involved.

Louis Philippe has always been very strict about the control of the cultural field. Every new play in the Paris theater must be submitted to the government for approval before it can be released. The playwrights who fell into this trap include not only famous ones like Hugo and Dumas, but also a bunch of small flies whose names cannot be called.

After the Republican uprising in Paris last year, censorship of newspapers and magazines began to become more stringent. Several well-known newspapers were 'ransacked' by the Paris police, and the editor-in-chief who was deemed to have committed serious crimes was sentenced to prison. .

However, it is easy to find fault with playwrights and newspaper editors, because the forms of expression in plays and articles are too straightforward. Even if they try their best to quibble and cover up, after many times, there will always be one or two accidents.

But if you want to cause trouble for cartoonists, it’s not that easy to start with their works.

Moreover, the Paris police have suffered a loss in this regard before. They had previously prosecuted a cartoonist named Philippon, accusing his cartoon "Mason" of violating press laws.

In court, in order to prove that the characters he painted simply resembled the king and did not do so deliberately, Philippon took out paper and pen in court and drew four sketches.

The first one is a simple outline of a pear, the second one is slightly more complex than the first one, the third one evolves on this basis, and the fourth one is still processed on the basis of the previous one, but has been compared with Louis · Philip is very similar.

"Sketch for the audience in court on November 14"

Due to insufficient evidence, the Paris Police Department was ultimately declared defeated. But that's not all. The cartoonist named Felipon also published his draft and attracted a group of imitators. It was he who brought the pear trend.

The magazine "Hustle" mentioned by Louis Philipbon was also founded by Philipbon and his friend Daumier.

How to describe the content of "Hustle" magazine?

It was simply a 19th century orchard.

Although Philippon and Daumier did not write a single word, each issue of "The Hustle" could properly express the main idea of ​​"Save us from the unsaleable pears".

In this regard, the Paris police can only be selectively blind. After all, it is difficult for this group of public servants to take the initiative to admit that a fruit is a king.

If they really sue like this, it is difficult to say whether the court should sentence the cartoonist for insulting the king or the police for insulting the king.

If Louis-Philippe did not take the initiative to mention this matter, Thiers, the new Minister of the Interior, could only pretend to be blind. But since the king mentioned it, Thiers could only use the art of language to report to him the recent breakthroughs. Progress has been made.

Thiers thought about it again and again, and then said: "The Noise did sell well in Paris, but part of their content also vaguely revealed some anti-government tendencies that are not easy to detect. Although Philipbon and Daumier have always They claim to be freelance cartoonists, but in fact they have been trying to find favor between the Republicans and the Orthodox for the sake of magazine sales. However, if the police are dispatched for such a trivial matter, it seems that our government has no tolerance for comics. In the end, it is up to the cartoonists to expose the despicable deeds of the family.”

"Huh?" Louis Philippe became interested when he heard this: "You mean, there are people who are not satisfied with such a good comic magazine?"

Thiers smiled and replied: "A comic magazine that has just been founded less than half a year ago, and the drawings are not very good, has attracted more than 5,000 annual subscribers with some dirty tricks. It’s normal for some dedicated cartoonists to be disappointed. I have a painter friend who has been complaining about the vacillation of “Hustle” for a long time.

As so many things have happened recently, I think it is time for him to publish a statement in the newspaper, calling on his colleagues in the comics industry to denounce double-dealing magazines like "The Hustle". France is a politically free country, but this does not mean that we should not accuse hypocrites who want to please everyone and have no position to speak of. "

Louis-Philippe received a satisfactory answer and dropped the question.

He turned and said: "I don't care about the cartoonist's affairs. Thiers, I have been thinking about our current situation. The domestic political situation is still unstable, and the people's emotions show no signs of calming down. Just like As Guizot said at the last cabinet meeting, the July Revolution was only a political issue and society was not threatened. What changes have occurred since then that have made social problems more prominent? Thiers, you are France. Best historian, do you have an answer to this question?”

Thiers walked in step with the king.

"Ultimately, I think this is a question of economic development. The prosperity of the country depends on economic freedom and industrialization. We must encourage business innovation and build modern infrastructure to enhance the country's competitiveness, and then the problem will be solved naturally. But Without a stable social order, any economic construction and reform is empty talk on paper. On this point, I agree with Guizot, and the British have set a good example for us.

Therefore, the government has the responsibility to take all necessary measures to maintain national stability and legal dignity. This is why I suggest that assassinations must be strictly investigated. We must be wary of those who advocate violent revolution. They will only bring chaos and destruction. Real reform should be achieved through law and order, not violence. Whether it is riots or assassinations, this is not allowed.

Now, only a few assassins have been arrested, and only some police officers have been dispatched. But if we don't catch them, what will come tomorrow will be revolution, and what will be dispatched will be the army and the dragoons. We will have to launch dozens of cannons like Napoleon to blast them back. The republican uprising last June and the workers' riot in Lyon the year before last have left us with enough lessons.

It is true that no one is willing to confront workers and the poor, and I am not willing to make such a decision. At the same time, liberals like me also sympathize with the plight of the Poles. I think the Russians' approach to dealing with Poland was too violent. No matter in the past, present or future, I will always be determined to speak out for workers and Poland, and I support them.

But as a minister, personal emotions cannot overwhelm reason, and I will not change the policy decision that is obviously the most beneficial to the overall development of France. To paraphrase Jeremy Bentham: The greatest happiness for the greatest number is the basis of morality and legislation. This is utilitarianism and pragmatism. "

Louis-Philippe stopped. He nodded appreciatively to Thiers and said: "This is why I think you are the best candidate for Minister of the Interior. Thiers, you also said that you are not qualified to be elected as an academician of the Academy. ? In my opinion, there is simply no more suitable candidate than you. You understand political economy and utilitarianism very well. "

Upon hearing this, Thiers joked: "Actually, there is another person in Paris who understands utilitarianism better than me. After all, he is Mr. Bentham's direct disciple. I heard that when Mr. Bentham passed away, he originally thought about it. He will accompany you on your final journey.”

"Huh? That's what you said?"

Thiers bowed slightly and said: "Sir Arthur Hastings, you should have seen him at the Chateausay Mansion. He has a very good relationship with Mr. Talleyrand, and I heard from Zissequet that you seem to have the same relationship." Do you admire him?"

"Ah..." Arthur's blurry face appeared in Louis Philippe's mind: "That young man? I was chatting with him when the carriage rushed into the Cai Daosai Mansion. Oh, by the way, that Dumas guy The time is there too.”

Thiers smiled and explained: "Yes, he is a good friend with Mr. Dumas, and has an equally good relationship with Mr. Faraday. But you may not guess that Mr. Chopin's "To Hastings" is To Sir Arthur Hastings."

Louis Philippe laughed dumbly and said: "Chopin, Faraday, Dumas and Louis Bonaparte, plus policemen and pianists, he is quite mixed! I thought that the various political opinions in the government were enough to make people angry. I was upset, but I didn’t expect this young man to handle it all by himself.”

Thiers did not comment after hearing this, but waved to the secretary behind him and took the document report that had been prepared long ago.

"Your Majesty, in fact, what we currently know about the assassination case is as complicated as Sir Arthur Hastings's interests and hobbies. Here is the investigation progress compiled by Risoko today and my condensed summary. Although in These will be announced at the cabinet meeting tomorrow, but before announcing them, I think it’s best to show them to you first.”