Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796

Chapter 172 029 The thorny relationship between Russia and Britain

If you conduct an investigation, you can always find a lot of things.

After Count Rostopchin was dismissed and returned to his estate, von Palen actually killed the king, which forced Alexander to frequently change the supervisors in the Diplomatic Academy, and the first departmental reform was to be targeted here, to be reorganized into the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

For this reason, Alexander recalled Count Panin and Prince Alexander Kurakin, who was dismissed by Paul, to return to his post as Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Today in the Tsar's office in the Winter Palace, Alexander saw how von Palen and Platon Zubov contacted the British. Let's not talk about the situation of the letter to the British. Lord Whitworth's reply and some other evidence are all here.

"The British are indeed suspicious, but without clear evidence, we accuse the British government of this. They can just push it to Lord Whitworth himself, saying that this is not a government action, but a personal grudge."

"Why do you say that? Alexander Borisovich, I want to hear your opinion."

"Your Majesty, I think the British like to use this method, which is to confuse the public. The son of the tutor knows this very well. He has studied how to deal with the British."

However, Alexander was not very happy when he mentioned "Humphreysky". Although they both advocated enlightened politics, they were always tit-for-tat and not harmonious.

"Your Majesty, when you need someone, he is actually still useful. Moreover, this is a period of change in our country's foreign policy. Reconciliation or neutrality with the British may bring public resentment. At least this is not Constantinople or Isfahan, where the pagans will lose their minds. Russia is always a civilized country, and we have to find a way to deal with the British."

"Well, when necessary, you can let him come over, don't manage the files and archives, that department is really not suitable for him. At this time, he still needs to be put in a suitable position."

It will take time to let Prince Alexander Nikolayevich of Saltykov come back. The decision on Britain is now moving towards an unknown dangerous situation among the people of St. Petersburg because of these letters from Lord Whitworth.

There are still many issues to be discussed at the Standing State Council, but there are no three people in the historical documents. The regicide was successful but the political intention was crushed, which led to changes in the members of the 12-member committee.

In addition, when some rumors were spread that the British ambassador to Petersburg, Lord Whitworth, had a personal grudge with Tsar Paul, and that Britain might be involved in the regicide, there was still a strong anti-British sentiment in Petersburg.

The British diplomacy in the 1800s was not necessarily brilliant, and sometimes there was a kind of clear stupidity, especially these diplomats and the East India Company in the host country, who often distorted the cabinet's decision-making.

In other words, Lord Whitworth's own actions have led to the current British diplomatic situation not being so optimistic.

After all, the First Consul was bombed in Paris some time ago, and General Bonaparte was very dissatisfied, saying that the British were a group of despicable villains.

This is good, forcing Paris and Petersburg to reconcile. Alexander's not directly turning against London is already a very calm move.

The countermeasure is to impose tariffs on British imports. What the British can't stand the most is the rising costs, and of course their smuggling is also very rampant.

Under this premise, what will the British cabinet do? If they send gunboats, they must also consider the low salinity of the Baltic Sea and the navigation conditions after thawing.

In short, there are ways to deal with the British. If the British really want to go to war, they will do it too much.

For Britain, it is a very stupid act to turn a powerful ally into an opponent.

Therefore, Alexander Kurakin advocated sending a diplomatic note to London, strongly condemning and expressing sympathy for the Irish and the colonial people.

This routine will definitely annoy the British, but Paul's adjustment of the relationship between the two countries during his tenure has also led to the current British Prime Minister having no way to deal with it.

Especially at this time, the last wish from the Appleby constituency where Cambridge is located, the former Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger, finally breathed a sigh of relief after leaving office.

He almost couldn't come down, after all, King George III, his madness suddenly broke out in February, and the new cabinet was unable to meet the king. The previous cabinet guarded the king until his illness improved, and then officially handed over.

As for what Lord Whitworth did in Petersburg, Denmark is at the gate of the Baltic Sea. Now the message has to pass through the Hanoverian territory, which will cause quite a lot of shocking stories.

"The news from Petersburg is not only known to us now, but also to Berlin, Vienna and Paris."

"I think it also includes Madrid and Lisbon, uncle."

"Thank you, Lucy, they should know too."

"So what will the Russians do?"

"I think. At this time, the Russians should issue a condemnation notice. They may first send a note to the embassy in Petersburg, that is, Lord Whitworth. There is still some time delay in between."

"If the Russians really find out something, it may be a big trouble."

William Pitt the Younger sat on the sofa, his niece actually serving as his personal office secretary, as he often did after leaving office to entertain others in his office.

If anything is really found out, he still has an idea of ​​how bad the relationship between Russia and Britain will be.

If you just condemn, it will be meaningless and easy to be ignored; if you ignore the condemnation, no one knows what Petersburg will do next; and with the trade interrupted, there is nothing left in the trade with Russia; finally To start a war would be excessive.

As for assistance, after Paul actually withdrew from the anti-French alliance, there was no such option.

"We should talk to the Russians. I think the new Russian tsar has any plans to reinstate Count Vorontsov as prime minister?"

"I think not for the time being, the Russian government is reforming their foreign service."

"Reform? The Russians have struggled hard enough in the past five years. What are they going to do now? I hope the Prime Minister can handle it well. You must know that our King will at least not let a ship rock back and forth in the strong wind."

But George III may enter a state of illness anytime and anywhere, which may be more dangerous than swinging back and forth.

What a pity, there is only Appleby here, not Huck, Humphrey and Bernard.

The attitude of the British actually determines whether the British can sell Scottish steam engines to Petersburg.

If Solovyov in Petersburg knew about it, he might lament that even if the world were 200 years ahead of schedule, many things would not change.

It’s just that this time the Russians have become too strong. In terms of industrial planning, Alexander actually intends to continue the rail transit plan and bring rail carriages out of the mines and use them for transportation in Russia’s vast areas. This can also improve the city’s and transportation efficiency between villages and towns, and make plans for future transportation networks.

Alexander's great success was much more serious than that of his parents, especially from Moscow to Petersburg, and from Moscow to many places, these road plans have been put on the agenda.

Even he himself had only seen steamships, and there were no mature steam locomotives in Russia.

Then Solovyov had to burn the boiler while watching the Tsar and Maria Naryshkina pull each other on the boat and kiss.

"Solovyov, can this ship be made bigger?"

"Your Majesty, I think this requires a more powerful boiler. The current speed of this ship is too slow. It is not even as fast as a canal transport ship close to the size. If we want to occupy a certain shipping speed advantage at sea, I think... here At this time, the fast clipper bow should be used, but the completion of the first ship in the Admiralty Shipyard will be delayed. "

"Ah, I know that. How fast do you expect it to be?"

"The voyage that used to take six months to complete can be completed one to two months ahead of schedule. This is a technical advantage. After all, we have to follow the laws of nature more and take into account the resistance of the air, especially when running into the wind. , it feels different from running with the wind.”

Alexander has dabbled in a lot, but he may not know that much about the specific content, but he may be more familiar with the structure of the human body.

"That's good. We also need some ways to deal with the British. At least when we are hostile to them, they can't catch up with some clippers."

Then he went to kiss Naryshkina on the cheek, and his hands were not too restless. This strong Polish woman was probably a little stronger than Solovyov, although the comparison was not appropriate.

As for this kind of boating in the Tafrid Palace, it is not done often. Louisa loves to be clean. She is taking a bath at the moment. She takes a long bath. In addition to cleaning herself, she also needs to keep her body warm. environment, the doctor thinks this is very good for her health.

Except for the sore ankles that always come from walking, Luisa's body is much better than that poor little thing in the winter who would get very weak if she spoke more than a few words.

After sending Naryshkina away, Alexander arrived at the Tafrid Palace again. Louisa pretended not to know, and at this time, she was quite catering to her husband.

"Here you go again, Alexander."

"You're getting fat again, especially in your belly, Lisa, I think."

"It could be the kids this time, my waist is a little bigger than the last two times, I've told you many times."

"You have worked so hard. I want to give you a queen's fee of 1 million rubles a year. You should accept it. Your auction site is already simple enough."

"No, Your Majesty, I don't think that much is needed. You can reduce my fee to 200,000. I don't need that much."

"Yes, you don't eat much, and you don't like jewelry. Your body is so light and slender. You save a lot of fabric, including your feet. These feet are also very small. You even save a lot of material for making shoes. ”

"Your Majesty, you can use the remaining money. You can do a lot of things with these 800,000 rubles."

"You're so kind. Lisa, do you want a kiss?"

Although the relationship between Louisa and Alexander has faded, the couple still show intimacy when they interact together. Alexander has to play his role well, while Louisa has to protect herself, especially when someone is always threatening. her status.

As for the 200,000 rubles that Louisa kept, in fact, her expenses never exceeded 15,000, and most of them were used to support girls' schools.

In the Tavrid Palace, she did not need to be ostentatious, as long as there were a few close maids and attendants.

Solovyov felt that Louisa was worthy of the status and reputation of the Russian queen, and in the past few months, her reputation in Petersburg had always been very good, and there were more people sympathizing with her than before.

After all, a queen who could handle the relationship between her monarch husband and his mistresses, lived a simple and low-key life, took the initiative to save a large amount of royal expenses to save expenses, and even used the money she used to support two girls' schools and charity, could be called a virtuous queen.

Especially compared with the empress dowager, the pomp and expense were far apart, not to mention the exaggerated wardrobes of the two queens.

It can be seen in the Tavrid Palace that Solovyov often saw Louisa wearing white clothes, and the black clothes she wore at Paul's funeral some time ago. However, she was rarely seen wearing the red dress that matched her figure.

"Louisa, His Majesty is leaving again now, do you want to take a breath?"

"No, it's good to lie like this, Mishka, come and chat with me."

"If you want me to tell you a story again, I don't have time to create or translate new content recently, or..."

Krylov was not famous at the time, and he followed Prince Sergei Golitsyn to Riga. It was not easy to find a capable fable writer, and even Krylov himself had not published his satirical works.

"No need for other stories. You are familiar with the story of Iphigenia. Although it is a sad story, she is reunited with her brother in the end."

It can be heard that Louisa misses home very much. Although she has a daughter here, she is being raised by a nanny and a tutor. She is in poor health and is pregnant. Obviously, she is not like the young Empress Dowager who can take care of the child by herself. This makes her feel lonely all the time.

The only things that can relieve her boredom are the elder Natalia singing with her at night, the little Natalia who is confused like a cat, and the stories that Solovyov tells her during his duty.