The Shadow of Great Britain

Capítulo 1281: Chapter 163: Secret Service Fund (Part 3)

Therefore, if you want to regulate casinos and brothels, you must first legalize them.

But this issue is like a monstrous threat to the members of Parliament.

Can anyone standing in Westminster Palace not know that the largest voter group today, those middle-class folks who are neither poor nor adequately wealthy, love to find a sense of achievement on moral issues?

Although the members of Parliament are not moral gentlemen, they are a bunch of hypocrites.

But perhaps because they are hypocrites, they often have to act more morally upright than gentlemen in order to win votes and support.

In Parliament, as soon as the topic of gambling and prostitution comes up, all the things they do every day, the members of Parliament appear to be righteously indignant, criticizing the social problems they cause and eager to declare themselves opposed to such vices.

Then it’s all thunder and no rain, satisfied with snatching a newspaper headline, they toast with champagne and, embracing their lovers, head to the casino to create more social issues.

The honorable gentlemen on Whitehall clearly understand the nature of most of their party’s members in private, so when the Treasury put the issue out in the open, even Viscount Palmerston, who was a staunch supporter of Arthur, cast his eyes towards His Majesty the King.

Seeing that he seemed to have stirred up a big mess, King William IV hurriedly pushed all the credit of this perfect plan onto Arthur.

Thus, we have the Duke of Sussex appearing today in the box, seemingly questioning but in reality, filled with sympathetically inquiring.

If standing from a personal perspective, a liberal like the Duke of Sussex couldn’t possibly like Arthur’s plan; if he hadn’t known Arthur, he might even despise this guy, considering him similar to his brother, the extreme Royalist Duke of Cumberland.

But people are such strange creatures; although the Duke of Sussex and Arthur don’t quite call each other friends, from the reform of the “Bloody Act” to the investigation of the St Giles Church disappearance case, and to the proper handling of the Tower of London riot.

The Duke of Sussex has consistently regarded him as a young man of good character and ability.

Even without mentioning prior events, Arthur had just recently helped the Duke of Sussex gain a reputation for being willing to learn from others, thanks to the Ohm affair, thus temporarily quelling the dissatisfaction of Royal Society scientists with him.

He even willingly offered to fill in for the Duke of Sussex’s most criticized shortcoming—that he had never published a philosophical paper nor a paper on Natural Philosophy.

Arthur sincerely invited the Duke of Sussex to publish an article in the first issue of the “Nature” magazine currently being organized, as the President of the Royal Society.

Of course, if the Duke of Sussex found it inappropriate, Arthur suggested that besides “Nature,” the “British” magazine also had “Economist.”

For someone like the Duke of Sussex, while financial backers like Rothschild were certainly valuable, the Duke of Sussex, who was not as materialistic as his other brothers, cared more about reputation. If not, why would he jump into the pit of the Presidency of the Royal Society, knowing full well it was a trap?

What Brit can resist the allure of sitting in the chair that Sir Isaac Newton once occupied?

The Duke of Sussex unreservedly recounted the whole sequence of events to Arthur, and not without apology, said: “Arthur, I know you are not like Fouche, but your plan has too many French elements. Although I have no ill feelings towards France, just as I admire ‘Liberty Leading the People.’ However, you understand, there are too many anti-French elements in the Cabinet and Parliament.”

Disraeli, standing by, feigned ignorance yet knowingly carried on with the Duke of Sussex’s words, putting all the blame on the French.

He patted his chest and said: “Absolutely right, there is an anti-French element right here. Arthur, your plan isn’t all that bad, but I think if you want it passed in Parliament, you need to add more British characteristics. Britain has a long-standing tradition, why do we need to learn from the French, as if they’ve managed their country so well.”

Even though the Duke of Sussex and Disraeli had said as much, Arthur, who was keen to make a name, still wasn’t discouraged; he wanted to put up a last stand.

In fact, deep down, Arthur had little real desire to push for this damn reform.

He didn’t even think His Majesty the King would actually take the time to read his lengthy police reform report.

But since this matter had already caused such a stir in London, he still wanted to strive for it.

As for why exactly?

Of course, it was because Arthur wanted to carry out police intelligence reform, which was his area of expertise. If this plan could be passed, then the most suitable person in all of Britain to lead this task would be none other than Sir Arthur Hastings.

Arthur thought it over and asked: “Your Highness, are you aware of the secret service fund?”