The Shadow of Great Britain

Chapter 928: Chapter 30: The Secret Voyeur

Every corner, every moment, whether the homeland or overseas territories, whether Britain or France, is under our surveillance to ensure your safety and order. No matter where you are, please don’t forget, Sir Arthur Hastings, our Big Brother, is watching you.

——”The Man Behind the Secret Intelligence Service: Arthur Hastings”

After 25 years of war and peace, I still believe this is the best intelligence agency in the world. The only mistake is the politicians playing with intelligence. They misuse intelligence personnel to smear their domestic political opponents. The intelligence personnel under the current government seem uninterested in safeguarding the Empire’s military and territorial security but are eager to dig up the Prime Minister’s political opponents’ gossip, to see who is sleeping with whose sister-in-law, and do everything possible to leak this information to “The Times” or the “British” press.

Since Sir Arthur Hastings consolidated and established the intelligence system, British intelligence work has never sunk to such a degenerate level as today! We knew nothing about the conspiracy in Munich, we were unaware of Italy’s decision to invade Albania, yet the intelligence officers clearly knew I drank two bottles of whiskey last night! Britain’s counterintelligence efforts have succeeded greatly on me, but achieved nothing elsewhere, and all thanks to Chamberlain and his group.

——Winston Churchill questioned Prime Minister Arthur Chamberlain publicly in the Lower House in April 1939.

I have always believed Churchill’s criticism of Chamberlain’s government regarding intelligence is unfair because, according to records, the British intelligence system’s penchant for collecting gossip actually developed in the 19th century. This tradition seems to have an ambiguous relationship with a certain personal quirk of its founder and first chief, Sir Arthur Hastings.

In the autobiography of Hastings’ friend, the Parisian Sleuth Francois Vidocq, there is an amusing little story. During Sir Arthur Hastings’ visit to Paris, he briefly joined the detective agency founded by Vidocq, and the only task he executed there was to dig up a small piece of gossip with Vidocq.

Perhaps breaking up a Frenchman’s good time doesn’t really count as news. But at least Sir Arthur Hastings, through his actions, proved that while digging up gossip, one can also do a good job of spying on foreign intelligence. In this regard, it can truly be said that the British intelligence system under Arthur Hastings was stronger than in the 20th century.

——”The Rise of British Intelligence Agencies”

“Cultural Counsellor in Russia?”

Faced with the invitation from the Earl of Dalmo, Arthur found it hard to deny that he was tempted.

Although his current position as Second-class Secretary at the Embassy of the Kingdom of Hanover could not be equated with the ordinary Second-class Secretary, because this Second-class Secretary was personally appointed by the King and took on the role of assisting in revising the Kingdom of Hanover’s constitution.

However, at least from an administrative level, a Second-class Secretary is just a Second-class Secretary, and there is no difference between the two.

In the British Foreign Office’s diplomatic system abroad, embassy personnel are mainly divided into Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Envoy, Counsellor, First-class Secretary, Second-class Secretary, Third-class Secretary, and Attaché, totaling seven levels.

As the deputy to the Envoy, according to Britain’s long-standing custom, if directly transferred from the Royal Navy or Army, the position generally corresponds to the rank of Colonel, the same rank as that of Scotland Yard’s highest administrative officer Charles Rowan when he retired from the Army.

For Arthur, this was equivalent to offsetting the decrease in administrative rank caused by being posted to Hanover, and even slightly raising it. After his term in Russia ended, even if transferring back home laterally, he could rightfully stand on equal footing with Rowan.

The situation that had been difficult to resolve suddenly cleared up because of a single sentence from the Earl of Dalmo. Even Arthur couldn’t help but sigh that just having knowledge may not necessarily change fate, but the knowledge obtained from studying at the University of London can indeed change it.

If he had attended Oxford or Cambridge back then, he might have only barely managed to earn a second-class degree as a work-study student. After all, even someone as strong as Sir Isaac Newton did not get a first-class degree from Cambridge. Although Sir Isaac could overshadow the field of human science, this did not prevent him from being ranked 23rd in his Master’s degree exam at Cambridge University.

In contrast, Arthur, who studied at the University of London, was very different from Newton. During his school years, he won the academic gold award for every academic year and, with an undisputed overwhelming advantage, proudly secured a first-class degree among London’s country-bred students and graduated smoothly.

Even more commendable is that although the University of London experienced many hardships in its early years, it finally achieved success a few years later. Moreover, the sponsors who initially founded the University of London were eager to push this educational hub to the forefront.

Whether it’s Lord Brougham or the Earl of Dalmo, both were very happy to see students spread across all sectors of Britain and were not at all reluctant to give them a push at critical moments.