The Shadow of Great Britain

85: Chapter 45 Investigator Eld (Subscribe Please!) 85: Chapter 45 Investigator Eld (Subscribe Please!) Eld held the newspaper in his hand, scratching his head as he leaned against the window.

“What the devil are these French up to?

One minute it’s a kingdom, the next an empire, and then a republic, have they actually decided what kind of country they want to build?

These French were causing a revolution before I was born, they were still at it after I was born, and now I’ve joined the Royal Navy, and the revolution still isn’t over?

Arthur, what year is it?

1789?

The storming of the Bastille?”

Arthur dropped a sugar cube into his teacup, “Eld, I thought you only struggled with physics, but now it seems your memory is failing as well.

Let me straighten it out for you.

First, the 1789 event you mentioned was the Great Revolution, symbolized by the storming of the Bastille.

At that time, France, after having participated for years in the Seven Years’ War and the American War of Independence, found itself steeped in debt, with a national debt amounting to 2 billion Francs.

On top of that, natural disasters led to a significant reduction in crops, causing food prices in France to skyrocket.

It was then that King Louis XVI decided to hold the Estates-General at the Palace of Versailles, brilliantly proposing to tax the commoners.

This proposal was, of course, voted down during the voting process, but Louis XVI broke his promise, insisting on imposing the tax and amassing troops to forcibly dissolve the Parliament.

You should remember what happened next: The citizens of Paris took to the streets, shouting ‘To the Bastille!’ After Paris, revolutions broke out across France, leading to Louis XVI eventually capitulating to the Constituent Assembly and establishing a constitutional monarchy.”

Eld frowned, “Wasn’t Louis XVI beheaded?

Was he still alive after that?”

“The beheading came later, and that was really his own doing.

Eld, you know how it is with kings; it’s not so easy to get them to behave.

As long as they’re not in power, they’re always scheming to regain it.

As a Brit, you should understand the great efforts Britain made for constitutional monarchy.

From 1642 to 1646, we fought the First Civil War, Charles I lost, but he was not satisfied.

Parliament paid to have him brought back from Scotland and placed under house arrest, only for him to secretly contact the Royalists and trigger a Second Civil War.

In 1649, after the Second Civil War ended, Cromwell beheaded him and established a parliamentary republic of the nobility.

However, a decade later, his son Charles II was restored to the throne with the support of the Royalists, and his successor, James II, began a series of retaliatory measures.

After weighing their options, the Whig Party and the progressive members of the Tory Party, formerly of the Royalist camp, finally came to an agreement.

They joined forces to oust James II from Britain, succeeded by his daughter Mary II on the throne, establishing the constitutional monarchy with the official promulgation of the Bill of Rights.

Louis XVI’s beheading happened because he, too, was not satisfied and frankly, if he had just contentedly been a constitutional king, there probably wouldn’t have been so much trouble afterward.

But he was restless, plotting to bribe mercenaries to overthrow France’s Constituent Assembly, and then preparing to disguise himself and flee France after his schemes were exposed.

The worst part was that his wife, Mary Antoinette, disclosed French military secrets to her brother Franz I, the Austrian Emperor, and directly caused France’s defeat by the joint forces of Austria and Prussia.

Once this news spread, it enragend the French public.

And these events led to the dissolution of the constitutionalist assembly and the emergence of radical groups like the Jacobins and the sans-culottes.”

“So, Louis XVI getting beheaded was entirely his own fault.

Those moderates were really trying hard to save his life, but he didn’t appreciate it,” Eld stroked his chin and muttered.

“So you’re saying, in 1789 France first had a constitutional monarchy, then Louis XVI was executed and it became a republic, then came the Thermidorian Reaction to overthrow the Jacobins, the execution of Robespierre, and finally the Coup of 18 Brumaire and Napoleon proclaiming himself Emperor?”

Arthur sipped his tea, nodding slightly, “Eld, haven’t you got it all figured out?

You’ve been dying to fight the French and bring back a few of their warships to make a fortune.

Isn’t this exactly what you wanted?”

Eld pondered, “Do you think we’ll go to war with the French?”

Arthur shook his head, “Hard to say, it really depends on what the French decide to do this time.

If they stir up something like the Great Revolution, then the Cabinet ministers might start preparing for the Eighth Coalition against France.

But if it’s just a bit of a skirmish, then Britain might not interfere.

After all, the Duke of Wellington is in a tight spot himself now, and unless it’s necessary, he probably isn’t keen on meddling with French affairs.

Especially since the Duke of Wellington had already made clear his stance towards France at the Congress of Vienna after the Battle of Waterloo.”

He always believed that France was essential to Europe, and the diplomatic policies of the Tory Party were also dedicated to maintaining the balance of power on the continent.

Britain needed a stable and somewhat powerful France to counterbalance the Austrian Empire and the Russian Empire, which had been moving eastward in recent years.”

Eld nodded, somewhat understanding, “It does sound complicated when you put it like that.

But well, the French Revolution was quite good too, at least they managed to change that ridiculous flag.”

After Napoleon fell and Louis XVIII came to power, I don’t know if he got water in his brain or what, but he actually chose a white flag as the national flag.

The first time I was aboard a ship, I saw another ship approaching with a white flag, and I was wondering.

We hadn’t even fired a shot yet, and they were surrendering?

It was only after I asked around that I found out it was a French ship.”

Luckily it wasn’t wartime, or I would have almost fallen for those Frenchmen’s trickery, pretending to surrender like that—they’re too cunning!”

Hearing this, Darwin, who was imparting knowledge on the side, also leaned over anxiously.

He asked, “Do you think this French Revolution could affect our voyage?

The global scientific expedition isn’t going to be postponed because of this, is it?”

“Postponed?” Eld grabbed an apple from the table and bit into it fiercely, “If it really could be postponed, then the French would’ve actually done something useful for once.”

Upon hearing this, Arthur turned and asked, “Let’s not talk about that now.

Eld, did you manage to find out about the merchant ships leaving London that I asked you to investigate?”

Eld grimaced, “Arthur, no offense, but do you have any idea how broad the scope you gave me is?

There are about four million tons of merchant ships registered in Britain, and our shipping capacity makes up forty percent of the world total.

With so many ships, how do you expect me to check?”

Arthur waved his hand dismissively, “I didn’t ask you to check all the ships leaving port, just the ones that are leaving from London and heading to America.

Aren’t you always boasting about being a Royal Navy expert?

This should be something you can handle, right?”

Eld banged the table and cursed, “Arthur, I’m a Royal Navy expert, not a shipping expert.

Even if you asked me to steal navigational intelligence from the Royal Navy, it would be more reliable than checking for merchant ships leaving London for America.

The savages in North America talk about keeping their distance from their British father, but when it comes to business, they’re very honest.

After all, that Embargo Act they came up with against Britain didn’t hurt us much, but it ended up crashing their own economy.”

Since then, trade between the two has always been on the rise.

About seventy to eighty percent of America’s cotton has to be sold to Britain, and we export consumer goods to them like textiles, tea, ceramics, and spices.”

Hearing this, Arthur’s eyebrows suddenly lifted as if he had discovered something.

“Hold on a second, tea and spices are usually part of transhipment trade, right?

These items aren’t grown domestically, they must all come from overseas colonies, don’t they?”

Eld, while chewing on his apple, nodded, “That’s right, tea and spices are mainly transhipped.

The main domestic exports are textiles and ceramics—these are loaded onto ships here.

Mostly high-end clothing, fabrics, teapots, teacups, and such.”

Arthur nodded slightly, “Okay!

Eld, then focus on the ships carrying textiles and ceramics for me.”

Despite hearing this, Eld still seemed unsatisfied, “Arthur, there are still a lot of those.”

Arthur said nothing, but pulled out a bill from his pocket and waved it in front of Eld, “Don’t worry, brother, I won’t let you be at a loss.

If this is connected to a big case, the Greenwich Police District may have a surplus of several hundred pounds in its investigative fund for this year alone.”

Upon hearing this, Eld took a deep breath, snatched the banknote from between Arthur’s fingers, and stuffed it into his coat pocket.

Eld chuckled, “Looks like I really can’t refuse this investigation request.

Don’t worry, Arthur, as long as I’m not out to sea, I’ll spend every day at the dock’s shipping company investigating for you.”

Arthur gave a slight smile, leaned back, and said, “That would be much appreciated.”

Eld patted Arthur’s shoulder with a look of integrity, “What’s there to thank me for?

We’re brothers after all.”

At this point, Arthur suddenly changed the subject, “But, you just mentioned that Britain actually sells teaware to North America, which really surprises me.

I thought they didn’t use that sort of thing over there.”

“What’s so surprising about that?” Eld picked up a piece of bread and took a bite, “If they didn’t have teaware, how would they drink their tea?”

Arthur chuckled and gestured towards the Thames River beside the café, “I’ve heard that Americans don’t like using teaware to drink tea.

If they want tea, they tend to prefer pouring the tea leaves into Boston Harbor.”