The Shadow of Great Britain

Chapter 1503: Chapter 248: Friends and Brothers, Kindred and Comrades (Part 3)

”Let me put it this way, you remember that young man Herzen, right? I really didn’t expect Saint-Simonism to poison his thoughts to such an extent.”

”Have you discovered any new clues?”

”We have seized a large amount of documents and letters from his and his young friends’ homes, filled with thoughts that don’t align with the spirit of the government, revolutionary rhetoric that embodies the dangerous doctrines of Saint-Simon.”

Shubinsky exemplified gravely: ”One of the letters said: All charters are useless, contracts between masters and slaves. The problem isn’t improving the slaves’ condition, but there shouldn’t be slaves at all.”

Arthur, originally in the mindset of watching a drama, thought he would hear some radical rhetoric condemning the current situation in Russia. But as soon as Shubinsky finished speaking, he saw the British diplomat frowning: ”Are you sure this is criticizing Russia? How do I feel that he is criticizing our constitutional monarchy and the Great Charter instead? Or maybe my Russian isn’t good enough to catch the nuances? Would you mind repeating it to me in German, French, or English?”

Shubinsky naturally refused to translate this passage into other languages, especially ones familiar to Arthur, because he himself felt there was not much wrong with the statement.

But from the interrogation committee’s stance, the sentence must be problematic, as it belonged to those with very aggressive wording among the letters they seized.

Not having attended university and only having studied at the Military Academy, Shubinsky struggled to recall his rhetoric lessons from middle school, trying his best to score full points as if a middle school student doing reading comprehension: ”You see! This is where their insidiousness lies. Foreigners like you, who aren’t familiar with Russian culture, naturally wouldn’t see the subtext of this passage. And those idle fops wouldn’t possibly understand the obscure wording used by these Moscow University students. Let me tell you where the biggest issue with this passage is! Just like Duke Golitsyn said, the biggest problem with this passage is: he’s not criticizing the constitutional monarchy from the monarchy’s perspective; otherwise, he wouldn’t have mentioned slaves.”

Arthur was evidently dissatisfied with this forced interpretation and even more displeased with Shubinsky’s criticism of his lack of understanding of Russia, since among Arthur’s many titles, the Bachelor of History from the University of London was one of the few he had earned through his own effort.

Arthur replied lightly: ”If that’s the case, then at most these students made the same mistake as Catherine II the Great; she also forbade her subjects from being called slaves.”

Arthur’s question clearly went beyond the scope of Shubinsky’s answer, but he had his own solution.

”You see, this is the downside of reading too much,” Shubinsky replied: ”Herzen responded to the interrogation committee in the same way. We went there to investigate the case, yet he thought it was a thesis defense for an academic degree.”

However, Arthur’s next words left Shubinsky dumbfounded: ”My friend, you’re now standing in the same trench as young Golitsyn. You always tell me how irritating Volkov is, how bad a superior he is. Perhaps Volkov can’t hold his position now, but along comes young Golitsyn. Once he claims all the credit for capturing political prisoners and then kicks Volkov out, taking his position to become your new superior, I’m afraid your days will be full of suffering.”

”You...” Shubinsky’s mind didn’t quite bend to it.

”Don’t hide it from me, old chap,” Arthur winked: ”I’ve heard all about General Star’s uproar in the committee.”