The Shadow of Great Britain

702: Chapter 339 The Furious Disraeli_2 702: Chapter 339 The Furious Disraeli_2 Heine glanced at Arthur, then at the teapot in front of him and the ropes on his own body, shrugged his shoulders, and replied, “Isn’t that what I’m doing?”

Arthur took the manuscript from Great Dumas, casually flipped to the marked page, “Of course, if that’s all you said,” “British” could still dodge the summons to court with the excuse you just mentioned.

But this part could be rather serious.”

Arthur presented the manuscript to Heine, where it clearly read:

In Hanover, one sees nothing but family trees, with horses tied to the trees, and woods everywhere, rendering the whole country dim and hazy.

Despite the abundance of horses, the country makes no progress.

The nobility in these regions are exceedingly haughty, but I don’t blame them, since they’ve never received a proper education.

If the young nobles of Hanover were better educated, much resentment could be avoided.

Fathers pass on their traits to sons, and grandfathers to grandsons, while the old and young foolishly imagine themselves as flowers of the world, with everyone else being mere wild grass.

Both old and young commit the same follies, trying to cover up their insignificance with the grand deeds of their ancestors.

As for the kings who are foolish rulers, once their deceiving masks are removed, one finds they are not much wiser than their subjects.

The benefit of the French Great Revolution is that it ended the despotic rule of many petty German princes, an act of immense virtue to the fragmented Germany.

The mere thought of our Germans once having to support so many useless and even harmful parasites, makes me shudder on what might be the hottest day of the year.

I apologize, my dear readers, but allow me to pause here, for I must sneeze…

Achoo!

Arthur put down the paper and asked seriously, “Heinrich, don’t you realize that the King of Hanover is the same person as the King of Britain?”

“I do!”

“Then how could you tell the truth like that?”

Heine frowned, first glancing at a discomfited Great Dumas, then at a fidgety Tennyson, and finally fixing his gaze on Arthur, responding uncertainly, “I thought the truth could be told in Britain.”

Arthur nodded, “The truth can indeed be told in Britain.”

Great Dumas quickly added, “But only a little at a time, you have to leave us some room.”

“Alexandre, although you are right, don’t interrupt.”

Arthur turned his head back to Heine and stressed, “Truth can be told in Britain, but our current problem is, there are a bit too many ‘British’ authors who want to tell the truth recently!”

Scratching the side of his face, Great Dumas said, “That’s about the size of it.

Heinrich, we are a bit short on slots lately.

If you don’t mind waiting, we can publish you in the main journal.

Of course, to avoid unnecessary trouble, I will make certain edits to the part about the King.”

Upon hearing this, Disraeli, startled, quickly interrupted their conversation, “What?

You want to publish this stuff!

Are you fellows eager to provide Palmerston with reasons to counteract me?”

Hearing Disraeli mention Palmerston, Arthur turned and asked, “That file about his involvement in the Polish issue, you didn’t submit it, did you?

How did you offend him?”

Disraeli rolled his eyes, “Although the Polish issue is a foregone conclusion and I can’t directly speak out, I’m not ready to abandon the plan to attack Viscount Palmerston that was previously set.

As a new member of Parliament like me, who wants to make a name for himself in Parliament, I must pick a few big figures to tackle.

And the biggest figures in the Cabinet are the Prime Minister, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Home Secretary, Foreign Secretary, and High Chancellor.

But attacking the Prime Minister, I don’t have that kind of weight yet.

Attacking the High Chancellor would obviously make things difficult for you.

Attacking the Chancellor of the Exchequer, I’m planning to join the Finance Committee.

And attacking the Home Secretary would essentially involve bringing up various issues with Scotland Yard.

So after careful selection, I think it’s most suitable to take a stab at Palmerston, the Foreign Secretary.”

Curious, Great Dumas asked, “But isn’t the Polish issue off the table now?

What do you have to attack him with now?”

Disraeli proudly proclaimed, “It doesn’t matter that I can’t bring up Poland, I can bring up Ottoman and Egypt!

Palmerston has always prided himself on being tough, right?

So I will urge him in the House of Commons to send troops as soon as possible, on the one hand to protect our commercial interests in the Ottoman Empire, and on the other hand to avenge the defeat of our intervention forces by Ali at the Port of Alexandria in 1807.”

“Did Palmerston agree?”

“Agree?

Of course he didn’t.

Who knows why he’s so hesitant about the war between Ottoman and Egypt.

If his reluctance to intervene in the Polish issue is due to concerns of worsening diplomacy with Russia, I might understand.

But being this hesitant about Egypt too, is he worried about spoiling relations with Ali?

You should know, there’s a dedicated French officer corps within Ali’s army, and his troops adopt a full set of French training standards.

Is he not afraid that if Egypt defeats the Ottoman, French influence in North Africa will grow?”