The Shadow of Great Britain

Chapter 1233: Chapter 147: The Munich Conspiracy

After Auschwitz, even writing a poem is barbaric.

——Theodor Adorno

“August, you look good, so does that mean your mission in Munich was successful? Did you gather the information you wanted?”

In the small private room of the Gottingen Town Hall’s underground cellar, Arthur raised his beer glass and gently clinked it with Schneider’s.

Schneider took a gulp of beer, then meticulously cut into the pork knuckle on his plate with a knife and fork, lifting a thick, fatty piece into his mouth.

You could tell just by watching him eat that this capable officer from the Foreign Office was quite hungry.

Schneider ate several chunks of pork knuckle in a row, then wiped his greasy lips with a napkin before speaking: “I did gather quite a bit of information, but it’s not necessarily what Viscount Palmerston wants.”

Hearing this news, Arthur couldn’t help but make a joke using Viscount Palmerston’s nickname in the Foreign Office: “Then you’re probably done for. How many lashes do you plan to take from the overseer?”

“Doesn’t sound too bad; getting whipped by the minister is better than staying among a bunch of Bavarians.”

“Alright, enough joking,” Arthur said, putting on a serious face. “Even though it’s impolite to inquire so directly, please understand that as the National Special Representative for the University of Gottingen, I’m genuinely interested in knowing if the Confederation has passed any new resolutions that would affect my duties.”

Schneider sipped his wine, draping one arm over the chair back as he exhaled deeply, “I certainly wouldn’t forget my old friend. I did dig up some interesting intelligence in Munich, quite a bit of it concerning Gottingen.”

“Such as?”

“For instance…” Schneider raised his eyebrows, squinting as he said, “My dear Arthur, you’d best keep an eye on those two University Stewards under your command.”

“University Stewards? Do you mean Mr. Dorles and Mr. Schaefer?”

University Steward is a unique position at the Deutsch University, and it’s not been around for very long. As it happens, they’re somewhat related to Arthur’s current role as National Special Representative.

Because the position of University Steward was established during the 1819 German Confederation meeting through the “Carlsbad Decrees,” and the National Special Representative was instituted by the recent “Carlsbad Decrees Amendment” passed by the Confederal Parliament.

Analyzing the university’s governance structure, the university president manages professors, lecturers, and students by leading the academic committee and is responsible for creating daily work plans for teaching and research. Once a plan is created, the office responsible for implementing it and reporting back to the president is known as the administration office.

Different from the president, who focuses on teaching tasks, the National Special Representative concentrates on political work. Therefore, all departments involving ideology and discipline must report to the National Special Representative. This means that the student disciplinary committee, university court, and university press fall under his jurisdiction.

However, since these departments each have their own regular duties to handle, the National Special Representative, as important as the president, also has his own set of administrative personnel directly under him—these are the University Stewards.

The University Stewards have straightforward duties: first, they must closely monitor students to prevent them from dueling at Boewedon Square. Second, they must remain constantly vigilant, ensuring the quarantine station in Gottingen, which has kept out new ideas for decades, isn’t breached by a privately-inclined lecturer skilled in dialectic sneaking in from elsewhere.

Unfortunately, the good results that Gottingen University Stewards Schaefer and Dorles managed to achieve after years of work were completely undone by their superior in just a month.

Firstly, Director Hastings led a duel in Boewedon Square, and although he didn’t smuggle in privately-inclined lecturers with new ideas from elsewhere, it appears that he’s the one with the new ideas himself and even bypassed the two stewards to directly approve a new private lecturer’s employment.

Judging from ideology alone, both stewards believe that Director Hastings is undoubtedly a liberal. But judging by his means, the way he bypassed decrees appeared extremely authoritarian.

Schneider, chewing on his meal, mumbled, “Don’t say I didn’t warn you; there are a few secret reports about you within the German Confederation’s intelligence department. Someone claimed that the new School Director at Gottingen University is an authoritarian liberal.”

Arthur took a sip of red wine, savoring the slightly sweet rural flavor lingering in his mouth: “It doesn’t sound too bad; that title is still better than being a liberal authoritarian.”

“Is it?” Schneider asked seriously, “Is there any difference between the two?”

“There is a significant difference.”

Arthur explained, “An authoritarian liberal might believe in the value of personal freedom, democratic principles, and market mechanisms, but they think that strong measures—even authoritarian ones—are necessary to achieve these goals under specific historical circumstances. As for liberal authoritarians, they refer to those who recognize the importance of some degree of openness and freedom for social stability and economic development. Thus, they might allow limited freedom of speech, religious freedom, or other forms of personal freedom as part of their ruling strategy. The former emphasizes freedom and equality in the ultimate outcome, while the latter might focus more on the stability and efficiency of the process.”

“Hmm…” Schneider thought while chewing his pork knuckle and slowly swallowed the food: “Which one do you think you are?”