Eagle’s Glory

"Then do you have any new advice for me or for Your Majesty, Your Highness?"

With this inquiry from the Marquis of Noirtier, the testing between the two parties ended and the bargaining stage entered.

Just now, Prince Talleyrand has been showing off his seniority, hinting that he can be of great help to the Bonaparte family, and therefore asking for courtesy, but the Marquis is unmoved and insists that only after showing sufficient value Only then are you qualified to "reward based on merit".

This round of confrontation is nothing more than determining which side is more proactive, and judging from the results, neither side can gain an advantage.

However, this was not beyond Prince Talleyrand's expectation. He knew that the Marquis of Noirtier was definitely not a character that could be easily shaken. If he could be easily persuaded, Talleyrand would not dare to attack Bonaparte. The Ba family has high expectations.

"You have been in Paris during my retirement, and I believe you are quite well-informed, perhaps even better than I am - and this may give you some confidence that you are always on the right track. On the heart of France, listen to every beat of it." Prince Talleyrand looked at the Marquis and said calmly, "This idea is correct to a large extent, but you are also as easy as in the past. Too much confidence..."

"I think you are right, I do have such a problem." Although he was belittled by the prince, the Marquis did not show any anger, "But it is precisely because of this problem that I have achieved success. If I don't always I am confident that I have already died without a burial place, and I have no chance to come to you today to talk about it."

"Wonderful! This is indeed something that can only be said by someone who has seen the world!" A somewhat ugly smile appeared on Talleyrand's withered face, "Then I won't beat around the bush with you, let me tell you straight - —Now I think the Orleans family is more in the upper hand, and they are more likely to take the throne and realize the long-cherished wish of generations."

"If you think so, I disagree." The Marquis shook his head without giving in. "The Orleans family does not have the prestige to rule the country. People will always remember their capriciousness in the past. They were both revolutionary and counter-revolutionary. In France, capriciousness may gain a lot, but never respect, and this is a fatal flaw for a king - for a man who just wants to be a minister, the respect of the people does not matter, he only needs to think All you have to do is seek the king's favor; and for a king, not being respected means that they will be abandoned at any time!"

Talleyrand certainly knew that the Marquis responded to his previous ridicule with the insinuation that "capriciousness may gain a lot, but it will never gain respect", but of course he did not take it seriously.

"Although you are right, nowadays, not being respected by the people is not a fatal flaw - on the contrary, it is not without its advantages.

Talleyrand still smiled and said, "The big shots in Paris are tired of the strong emperor and the stubborn king. They no longer want a strong monarch above their heads. They prefer to have a British-style monarch." A political system, an amiable monarch who respects the constitution and is willing to share power with them, rather than a master who may rain down thunder at any time!

If you consider it from this point of view, it is ideal that the Duke of Orleans is not respected by the people. He can only cooperate with them! A weak king is what a spoils-dividing regime requires - and with all due respect, old friend, the truth is that if someone else had to sit on the throne, Paris would prefer Orléans to Bonaparte. "

The Marquis of Noirtier was startled for a moment.

Although Prince Talleyrand was sarcastic, from another perspective, his words seemed to make sense—especially the so-called "spoils-sharing regime" that hit the mark.

If the Orleans family can bring anything to the country after taking office, it must be this.

"So who do you mean by 'them'?" After a moment, he asked cautiously.

"Is there any need to ask?" Talleyrand shrugged. "Financiers, intellectuals, frustrated politicians, businessmen, and cowards who were frightened by past revolutions but want to make some reforms. They want change, but do not want drastic changes, so they support the Orleans family - precisely because this family has the ambition to change, but does not have the courage and strength to make drastic changes, it is the most popular with them, and they walk appropriately in the middle. route and feel smug about it.”

As Talleyrand commented, the majority of the supporters of the Orleans family do not come from the top nobles (the orthodox royalists) nor from the people, but from a group of established elites among the middle and upper classes. Conservatives who were dissatisfied with the Bourbons but tended not to shake the status quo—or, in other words, monarchist liberals.

They knew that they would never succeed in the hands of the Bourbon dynasty, but they were already frightened by the bloody revolution of the common people, so they extremely appreciated the British-style constitutional monarchy (the British king in this era was by no means a virtual king, but a possessor). (great power, basically equivalent to co-governing with the aristocratic group), hoping to use a "moderate constitutional monarchy" to alleviate domestic and foreign conflicts and safeguard its own interests.

In the original historical line, they jointly led the 1830 Revolution, expelled the King of Bourbon and the Dauphin, and peacefully handed over the power to the Duke of Orleans, who had coveted the throne for a long time. The Duke of Orleans reciprocated the favor after ascending to the throne. , ruled the country by co-ruling with them - also known as the July Dynasty.

After 1830, most of the orthodox nobles either voluntarily withdrew from politics and the court because of their dislike of the Orleans family; or they were squeezed out. The July Dynasty purged the House of Lords (that is, the House of Nobles), and all were unwilling to take the oath. The nobles loyal to the new king were forced to withdraw from the House of Lords. At the same time, the king also abolished the hereditary system of the House of Lords in order to install his cronies into it.

The new ruling group ruled France until the fall of the July Monarchy in the Revolution of 1848.

To put it more vividly, after 1815, the Bourbon dynasty promulgated a constitution that stipulated that only those whose annual tax payment exceeds 300 francs have the right to vote, and those whose annual tax payment exceeds 1,000 francs have the right to stand for election. This means that only the middle class and above Only those who are eligible to vote for public offices such as parliamentarians, and the annual tax limit of 1,000 francs, mean that politics is extremely restricted to a small group of people.

[The annual tax amount does not represent the annual income. According to the tax rate at that time, an annual tax of 1,000 francs meant an annual income of more than tens of thousands of francs. There were less than 100,000 people in France with an income exceeding this, which was equivalent to 0.3 of the total population of the country. %]

During the July Monarchy, according to the Election Law promulgated in 1831, the qualifications for voters were reduced from 300 francs to 200 francs per year; the qualifications for being elected were reduced from 1,000 francs to 500 francs.

It can be seen from the numbers that under the rule of the July Dynasty, the degree of "decentralization" of electoral rights was very small, which meant that the class of groups participating in national affairs did not change much. Only the middle and upper classes of society were still eligible to participate in elections; and those who were elected The "threshold" for qualifications has been dropped by half, which is a huge increase, which means that the political stage of the middle and upper classes has expanded, and the ruling class has attracted a group of bourgeois to join, excluding the original old aristocracy.

Just from the change in this number, we can see the essence of the July Dynasty - it only changed from a country ruled by a small group of people to a country ruled by a slightly larger group of people. Although the dynasty was changed, it had no effect on the country. For the vast majority of the people, the situation has not changed at all. They do not have political rights and cannot participate in the national political arena.

At this time, for Talleyrand, nothing had happened yet, but through his keen sense of smell and the experience accumulated over the years, he had already seen the source of the Orleans family's power, and then judged the steps it was going to take. governance strategy.

Of course, the other two people present had no way of predicting the future, but they could also feel the persuasiveness of Prince Talleyrand's narrative.

However, as a veteran politician who has been active in the political arena, the Marquis of Noirtier responded to Prince Talleyrand with a roar.

"It doesn't matter what they think. They can't fight the people! Only all citizens are qualified to decide who can lead the country forward."

"If the people's will is enough to decide everything, then why are you and I talking here? Can't we wait patiently for the people to make their own choices?" Talleyrand sneered and sneered at the other party, "People, we were here forty years ago. In its name, we gathered in Paris, overthrew the kingdom in its name, chopped off the king's head, and fought with the whole of Europe for twenty years... What did we give the people? An emperor and his A hereditary dynasty, is this decided by the people? If this is what the people want, then what were we doing before?"

Prince Talleyrand was both sarcastic and cynical, but he left the Marquis of Noirtier speechless.

Because as an eyewitness of that era, like Talleyrand, he participated in the Estates-General and the subsequent Constituent Assembly and National Assembly as a nobleman. He witnessed everything with his own eyes, those disputes and killings, the constant flow from the guillotine. He had seen the most beautiful and the ugliest heads, and everything happened in the name of the people. In the end, like Talleyrand, he was invested in the Bonaparte family's account. and gave the French people an empire.

Now that he has experienced all this, how could he really believe what he said?

But knowing is one thing, saying is another.

In the name of the people, it is the "political correctness" of the Bonaparte family and the legitimacy they have created for themselves. The Bonaparte family has no history and no noble bloodline to trace, so they can only use the people to do it. Anoint yourself with a divine aura.

His Majesty Napoleon I proclaimed himself emperor with the consent of the whole people, and His Majesty Napoleon II will naturally do the same in the future - and before that, Aigron had already issued a declaration, emphasizing that he would abide by the people's choice and take away what was stolen from the people. Returning power to the people, they even declared their support for a republic.

Acting or not, the play has to stick because that's where "legitimacy" lies.

The legitimacy of the Bourbon family lies in its ancient history and the equally ancient aristocratic group surrounding it; the base chosen by the Orleans family for itself is the middle and upper classes of society and other elites.

What about the Empire?

In the era of Emperor Napoleon, his sword was the empire. As long as he was victorious in every battle and continued to plunder the spoils, he would be cheered by the people. However, he was busy fighting wars and only established a wartime system of constant mobilization. He did not even have time to consider that "the empire was built on What kind of foundation is the question?

After the collapse of the empire, this issue had to become a focus. The ruling machine was also a profit distribution machine. A monarch could not please everyone. It must rely on a certain group to achieve rule.

In the original history, Napoleon III learned the hard way during his exile, and as a half-hearted theorist, he came up with a political strategy for the Bonaparte family, which was to position his ecological niche as the "Emperor of the People" and use universal suffrage. To win the basis of rule by controlling the system + benefiting the rural population.

All the differences in the ruling methods and policies of the three monarchical families are precisely because they have chosen different ecological niches. What they reflect is also the reaction of different social classes under the impact of the changes of the times.

Faced with Talleyrand's questioning, the Marquis of Noirtier certainly did not have such a well-formed theory to refute him at this time, and he did not need to refute them one by one. After all, as an old man who has been immersed in politics for many years, he also has his own profound insights - —It was he who secretly suggested to Aiglon to use the slogan "Bonaparte is universal suffrage" before. He had already seen through the thick fog and saw the looming truth.

"Sir, I think a British-style regime is definitely not suitable for our country. If the Orleans family succeeds, then its rule will end in tragedy." The Marquis replied coldly, "If it is just their tragedy, that's it. , then who should pay for the time our country has wasted and the losses it has suffered during this period? I believe that God will not ask us to take such a detour again - "

"Maybe you are right, but unfortunately, the people on the other side will see you the same way." Prince Talleyrand smiled lightly, and then pretended to retort casually, "To tell you the truth, Lafayette not long ago He visited me and urged me to cooperate with the Orleans family, which he thought would be the best opportunity for the country.”

"Lafayette! Ha..." Upon hearing this name, the Marquis of Noirtier twitched the corners of his mouth and showed a disdainful sneer. "He is only worthy of saying such beautiful words. The person who has contributed the least to France will always be the most admired, because he will always only say beautiful words but cannot put them into action. He will never be wrong, because he does not even have the ability to make mistakes! If he sides with the Orleans family, then Your Highness, I must admit to you, that is our luck!"

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