The Shadow of Great Britain

Chapter 956: Chapter 41 The Circulation of Upper-Class Society

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While the ladies in the lounge were fervently discussing the wealthy Earl of Dalmo and his dedicated students at the University of London, Arthur, finally finding himself with a rare moment of leisure, was eager to indulge in his own interests.

Although his official position within the diplomatic system was not high, due to the unique nature of his work, which was highly valued by His Majesty the King and the Duke of Wellington, the Foreign Office had granted Arthur intelligence access surpassing his official level.

This meant he could freely select historical documents from the archives of the British Embassy in France that suited his interests. To aid Arthur in his research on police reform for the new constitution of the Hanover Kingdom, documents concerning policing were unreservedly accessible to him.

Today, Arthur chose as his reading material a memorandum written by Joseph Fouche, the French Minister of Police during the later years of Napoleon’s Empire and the early Bourbon Restoration, addressed to the Duke of Wellington after the Battle of Waterloo.

——If someone can indeed protect the public interest without undermining their confidence, challenging their ingrained prejudices, or leading them to lose their ability to think and act, or if they can manipulate their ignorance and credulity, then the populace can remain calm and compliant. Currently, our civilization has undergone monumental changes, bringing many progressive elements, yet also giving rise to new evils. By now, the old traditions of compliance are outdated, and conventional methods can no longer subdue people.

——Napoleon Bonaparte’s ease in seizing power was inextricably linked to the Bourbon Royal Family’s own mistakes. These individuals stubbornly believed that the overthrow of royal power was due to a grand conspiracy, a fatal prejudice of utter foolishness. They indiscriminately utilized informants and failed to discern or be cautious in handling intelligence.

——From my professional experience, police informants submit reports daily to earn compensation and recognition for their devotion. When they have nothing to report, they fabricate information. If they unexpectedly discover something, they exaggerate it to highlight their significance. Such erroneous intelligence often leads to government misjudgment, elevating trivial matters to the level of coups and uprisings.

——As fears of coups and uprisings spread, increased deployment of troops and police agitated the social atmosphere, disrupting normal life and breeding dissatisfaction across social strata. This scent of unrest is unmistakable to dissenters, who begin to connive and organize, eventually causing coups and uprisings that shouldn’t exist to truly emerge in such an environment.

——Of course, these non-existent conspiracies are not always worthless. If the government can seize the opportunity created by fictitious dangers, nurturing a conspiracy may allow the government to gain strength and power. But the prerequisite is that the government itself must remain clear-minded, aware that the conspiracy is false or within control, not also being swayed by fear of conspiracy theories.

Below the memorandum, there remained annotations left by former British Ambassadors to France.

As diplomatic intelligence officers, they offered various opinions on Fouche’s insights. However, in Arthur’s view, these were nothing more than outsider-like, superficial comments.

Perhaps in natural philosophy, his opinions lacked authority, but Arthur had gained modest expertise in policing and intelligence management.

He took out the pen from his pocket and, mimicking the style of previous Ambassadors to France, offered his own opinion at the bottom of the document.

——In fact, the Bourbon Dynasty’s greatest mistake during the Restoration was ignoring Fouche’s advice and dismissing him from his post, appointing Elie Decazes as the new Minister of Police. According to historical records, in the early years of the Bourbon Restoration, there were no substantial, organized subversion activities within France, yet Decazes’ police had a penchant for making arrests.

——Some were arrested for shouting ”Long live the Emperor!” or ”Down with the Bourbon Royal Family!” Others were detained for drunken outbursts after losing their jobs, or for venting anger at their wives, expressing anger at tax rates or bread prices, or even just feeling dejected and dissatisfied.

——Those arrested were forced to admit that their drunken outbursts at taverns were, in fact, insults to the Royal Family, the royalists, and acts of hooliganism, while they themselves were extreme republicans or Bonapartist followers. The taverns they frequented were labeled by police as strongholds of dissent, and these ordinary laborers, who usually toiled on docks or in factories, inexplicably ended up with tales of traveling to Berlin, London, or New York.

——During this period, even the sartorial choices of the French demanded careful attention. Mr. Francois Vidocq, a renowned Parisian detective, informed me that during Decazes’ police administration, some were scrutinized for wearing buttons with the ’imperial eagle’, and a jewelry store apprentice was arrested for wearing clothes of pink, white, and purple hues, suspected by the police of demonstrating allegiance to the tricolor flag (red, white, and blue).