The Shadow of Great Britain

Chapter 1670: Chapter 50: When the Weasel Pays New Year’s Greetings to the Chicken

The cold wind after the rain swept back and forth along Whitehall, as Minister Rowan tightened his military cloak and descended the steps of the Home Office, his stiff steps still carrying the rhythm of an officer formed during the Peninsular War.

Today’s Home Office meeting was as long and tedious as usual. Viscount Duncannon, the Home Secretary, evidently had less interest in police affairs than his predecessor, Viscount Melbourne, and even less so than Sir Robert Peel, the founder of Scotland Yard.

Although Viscount Duncannon tried to feign concern, his words often inadvertently revealed his impatience with ”Scotland Yard’s overreach,” as if the department’s very existence was an infringement on free rights.

Especially after His Majesty the King dissolved Parliament the day before yesterday, as a member of the ”caretaker cabinet,” Viscount Duncannon had long been distracted. Even before the security report was finished, he was frequently fiddling with his pocket watch and turning to look at the street outside the window, eager to leave work early.

For Minister Rowan’s suggestions on winter security patrols, the risk of vagrants gathering on the south bank of the Thames River, and the latest clues about illegal publication distribution in the East District, he dismissed them all with ”we’ll discuss it later” or ”decide after the election.”

And this perfunctory attitude was nothing new.

Perhaps the Whig Party members had never truly trusted Scotland Yard’s officers, who had complex backgrounds, were not purely disciplined, and were still not fully tamed.

Perhaps it was because they never forgot that just two years ago, it was this police force that suppressed one Parliament reform riot after another.

In fact, whether Melbourne or Duncannon, both Whig Home Secretaries held deep prejudices and hostility towards the Scotland Yard created by Peel.

Out of an incomprehensible ”divide and rule” tactic, they deliberately provoked conflict between the Magistrates and Scotland Yard.

When Arthur was still around, as a protégé of Lord Brougham, he could fly the flag of the Lord Chancellor’s office to interact with the magistrates, using his position as Deputy Prosecutor of the London Regional Prosecutor’s Office to cover for Scotland Yard’s ”overreaching” actions.

But after Arthur’s departure...

This relationship chain, tied to one person, abruptly collapsed.

The magistrates swarmed in, and the Home Secretary’s encouragement led to the Home Office’s silence, further exacerbating the situation.

The Magistrates’ Court repeatedly brought up old grievances about Scotland Yard’s overreach in investigations, unauthorized arrests, interference with judicial independence, demanding that the Home Office redefine the boundaries of police authority.

At the same time, after Arthur’s departure, the London Regional Prosecutor’s Office seized the opportunity to reclaim several investigation guidance authorities and no longer set up a London Prosecution Office police representative post, which naturally led to deliberate delays and procrastination in the approval of necessary standard documents for police interrogations.

These changes came swiftly and ruthlessly, like a long-prepared counterattack.

As soon as the former Scotland Yard number three, who once spanned the centers of power, left office, the ”enemies” all revealed their daggers hidden up their sleeves.

They didn’t even test the waters; every strike was concise and directly hit Scotland Yard’s vital parts.

Rowan knew this could not possibly be a mere coincidence, nor the strategy of a single magistrate or prosecutor.

Without the Cabinet’s indication or acquiescence, they wouldn’t dare to make such big moves.

Rowan certainly understood the situation clearly.

He was a battlefield veteran, having fought with the Duke of Wellington from the Iberian Peninsula to Waterloo, suffering several severe injuries along the way, once nearly losing his life. The most important lesson Rowan learned from the Duke of Wellington was the importance of strategic retreat.

During his two and a half years of cooperation with Arthur, Scotland Yard expanded rapidly, and the department’s status in London was at its peak.

However, Arthur’s strong-handed methods and rapid expansion also left too much evidence to seize on during his tenure.

Officers personally promoted by Arthur filled almost all the key departments of Scotland Yard.

The crime information archiving mechanism led by Arthur never formed any official records with the Home Office.

The intelligence network Arthur left behind was never constrained by paperwork procedures. The reason it could operate relied heavily on mutual trust, understanding, and interest relations among people.

To the Home Secretary and the Magistrates, all these were overreaches.

After Arthur left Scotland Yard, Rowan spent a full year and a half taking over, reorganizing, and archiving, with every personnel adjustment and structural reconstruction like a smoke-free internal war within Scotland Yard.

Among the batch of people Arthur personally promoted back then, there were loyal ones, smart ones, and unruly, non-conforming ones. It was precisely the latter who, under Arthur’s training, became the core of the ”Scotland Yard style.” And it was these non-conforming guys who were most adored by the frontline officers.

They did not stick to procedures, yet they always solved cases.

They weren’t good at writing reports, but they always charged at the forefront during street fights.

They had fiery tempers, used coarse language, and were reckless, but they won the trust of those toughest union informants at the East District Pier, North District Market, and South Shore Workshop.

Rowan knew how to appreciate Arthur’s brilliant creations.

On the contrary, he greatly admired Arthur’s system: swift actions, smooth intelligence, decisive judgments; they remained silent until they struck with overwhelming force.