Fox of France

The basic peace conditions with the French have been negotiated, and the rest is to negotiate with the French allies. The main allies who followed France to declare war on Britain are as follows.

The first is a group of countries that have territorial disputes with the United Kingdom, such as Spain, the Netherlands, and the United States. First of all, Spain insists that the fortress of Gibraltar is an inalienable territory of Spain since ancient times. The Netherlands demanded that the British recognize the Netherlands' sovereignty over Cape Town.

Of course, Britain must make concessions on these two issues. Gibraltar cannot be controlled by the British. This is not only the meaning of Spain, but also the will of France. The French could not tolerate having a British military base controlling the outlets of the Mediterranean, thus dividing the French coastline into two parts that could not support each other.

As for the Netherlands, not long ago, Cape Town was successfully conquered by the coalition forces of France and the Netherlands. In this offensive operation, the coalition forces relied on swift and violent movements to capture the fort with zero casualties, captured nearly a hundred cannons, and liberated the people of Cape Town. Of course, there were no casualties in the British army in Cape Town. The last batch of British troops left on French and Dutch ships before the French and Dutch coalition forces launched a general offensive. The French and the Dutch are very professional, and after receiving the money, they were sent to the Portuguese Maputo quickly and safely.

Now that Cape Town has fallen, of course the British have no choice but to admit it.

If there were only these two issues, then the negotiation between them would be easy to talk about, but as the saying goes, the king of hell is easy to see, but the little devil is hard to deal with. These two countries actually asked Britain for more war reparations and colonies-the French did not make such demands.

Naturally, the French would not make such a request. The French are not short of money now, and after the British market is fully opened to France, the French can get more from it than compensation. Moreover, France voluntarily waived its demand for war reparations, which also facilitated the reduction of the British people's resentment towards France. In short, the French do not intend to squeeze the British people themselves, they prefer to let the British government do this, just like Austria. Although doing so will make the middlemen earn the difference, it will also allow the French to advance and retreat freely in various political conflicts.

But it is different for countries like Spain and the Netherlands. Although the British market is also fully open to them according to the principle of non-discrimination, they do not have the industrial power of the French, so the terms of comprehensive market opening do not benefit them much. So they insisted that they get a war reparation, or a British colony.

Therefore, on this issue, the negotiations were at a deadlock for a while. In the end, after the French agreed to provide a low-interest loan to the British government, the British finally agreed to provide a war reparation to these two countries. Of course, the number is quite limited, because although these two countries have joined the war, their contribution to the war is also very limited.

But negotiations with the United States are another matter. The place already occupied by the Americans, of course, undoubtedly belongs to the United States. To admit this, there is no pressure on the British government. But as soon as the Americans opened their mouths, they demanded more war reparations than the Irish.

To be honest, the Irish asked for a large amount of compensation. Although the British did not agree to pay so much, at least the British themselves thought it was understandable. After all, the British plundered Ireland for so many years and did so many good things in Ireland. After losing the war, it is normal for the lion to open his mouth a little more when people want compensation. But those North American rebels, why do they want so much money? Of course, we British burned their cities, but that was because they first launched a war of aggression against us. Therefore, we lost the land they occupied, so we can accept it, but reparations? Why? Is it because you didn't sign an alliance treaty with the French?

Yes, there is no alliance between the United States and France, because the United States does not agree to open their markets to each other unconditionally. Therefore, although the United States is also a participant in this war, or even an important participant, they are not an ally of France, so the French said that although they hope that Britain can reach a final peace agreement with the United States, the United States is not an ally of France. So they don't intend to intervene in this issue, thus rudely interfering in the internal affairs of the United Nations.

Regarding this attitude of France, Foreign Minister Simeone analyzed the prime minister and the crown prince in this way: "I think the French don't want us to make any concessions to the Americans, and even they may not be willing to see us make peace with the United States." Agreement. Because the existence of the United States that is not fully integrated into the French system is always a threat to Louisiana. So I don't think we need to make any concessions to the Americans at all, and even, maybe we should make more concessions to the Americans. Many demands."

"You mean?" asked the Earl of Liverpool.

"Not only should we not pay war reparations to the Americans, we should even ask the United States to pay for the territories they occupy. Anyway, they are not allies of France. The attitude of the French is very clear. They will not support these rebels. So Even if the negotiations with them fail, what can they do? Can they still cross the Atlantic Ocean and make an expedition to Britain?" Foreign Minister Simeone replied.

"Then will their navy destroy our routes with the Americas? After all, our navy has suffered too much." The crown prince asked.

"If they dare, they can give it a try." Simeone said disdainfully, "Our colony is also completely open to France, so if they attack this route, it will not only harm our interests, but also harm our interests. It directly harms the interests of the French. So if they are brave enough, they can try it. This is not a bad thing for us. So, Your Highness, we don’t need to make peace with the Americans at all, if we can get the understanding of the French , We can completely ruin the negotiations with them with a big asking price, and even shift the responsibility for the breakdown of the negotiations to the Americans."

"Have you spoken to Minister Talleyrand about this, my friend?" asked the Earl of Liverpool.

"Of course, Foreign Minister Talleyrand said that France will not interfere in this matter - that is tacit consent. But if we want to put the blame on the Americans, it is not his responsibility. But he is willing to lead me to Meet with Mr. Jerome Bonaparte, the supervisor of the Bank of Rome, maybe he can do something." Simeone replied.

"Jerome Bonaparte? The younger brother of Napoleon in power? Very good! Very good! You have done a good job! We need to get in touch with the Bonaparte family now, even if it is not for this matter. In We need to connect with them on a lot of things," said the Earl of Liverpool.

"Our previous goodwill to Minister Talleyrand has been rewarded." Simeone replied, "I think we should continue to express some kindness to Minister Talleyrand."

"You're right, it's not a problem. He's done us a favor and deserves more of our kindness."

So the peace negotiations between the British and the Americans naturally fell through. The British are not even willing to send officials at the level of deputy ministers to negotiate with the Americans, but just let some low-level civil servants who have just entered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs deal with the Americans, and train them some basic skills as diplomats by the way. For example, nonsense that ignores the facts, such as talking nonsense for hours without saying anything. Anyway, people in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs say they can’t see it, but they can’t see it.

So until France and its allies reached a peace agreement with the British, the United States and the United Kingdom were still in a state of war in theory, but the British "magnanimously" announced that they could, before being attacked by the United States, Actively maintain a "unilateral ceasefire". And their statement has also been praised by the French and the whole of Europe. They all said that this showed the sincerity of the British people for peace.

Of course, the French’s statement was not without reasons. One of the reasons is that Britain borrowed a commercial loan from the Bank of Rome with the tariff as collateral.

In addition, in the French League, the countries that declared war on Britain included the Rhineland League, the Northern Italian Republic, the Austrian Empire, and the Papal States. Negotiations with them are relatively simple, because although they have declared war on Britain, most of the time they only declare war and do not really fight any war.

Of course, these countries will not refuse the opportunity to make a fortune, so they also demand land cession and compensation. But they also know that their leader, France, does not want to delay the peace talks too much. So although their yelling was not small, in the end, they only got a little money, and they were quite satisfied. Anyway, they didn't do anything.

Only the Papal States are in trouble, because they have the requirement to spread orthodox Catholicism in Britain. The Anglican Church in England is very resistant to this. All Protestants hate Catholicism. After all, the foundation of Protestantism is the denial of Catholicism. Among all Protestants, the Anglican Church is the one that is most opposed to Catholicism. As for the reason, it is not because of the hatred between Henry VIII and Bloody Mary who killed each other in the past. It's because the Anglican Church is so much like Catholicism. Compared with authentic Protestants such as Lutheranism and Calvinism, they are significantly different from Catholicism, so the flocks attracted by them are generally not attracted by Catholicism. But the Anglican Church and the Catholic Church are too similar, and the difference between them is basically not clear to scholars who are not professional in the study of religion. These two religions are the most hostile.

But the arm cannot twist the thigh. As the filial son of God, the French, in the peace agreement reached with the United Kingdom, an important requirement is that the United Kingdom must abolish the state religion, adopt a policy of religious freedom, allow other sects to preach freely in the United Kingdom, and freely build churches, etc. facility. Fortunately, according to the previous agreement between France and the Papal State, the Catholic French Church will not preach abroad, so what they need to face is the authentic Catholicism. Just considering that the UK has no money now, the Anglican Church will naturally receive less funding. More importantly, in order to keep their status, those rich benefactors in the UK don’t want to have a relationship with the French. The Pope Although the Catholic Church in China seems to be a little different from the Catholic Church in France, their relationship with France is obviously closer than that between the Anglican Church and France. Therefore, it is really hard to say which side the benefactors who used to donate to the Anglican Church will be on now.

So now that the conditions of France have been agreed, the return of Catholicism to England is a foregone conclusion, but on one issue, the two sides have reached a deadlock, that is, when the new British king is crowned in the future, who will crown the king?

If it is still the Anglican Church, it will violate the promise of "not establishing a state religion", but if it is changed to Catholicism, it does not seem to meet the requirements of this creed. Therefore, the future coronation of the British king can only take other forms. As for what the other forms are, everyone agrees that we will discuss them slowly in the future.

The last formidable peace talks was Ireland. Britain's recognition of Ireland's independence is naturally nothing to talk about. In addition, Ireland also made a large demand for war reparations to Britain. On this issue, the attitude of the French is completely different from their attitude in the peace talks between the United States and Britain. In the eyes of the French, Ireland is almost the most exemplary ally - its own development potential is limited, there is no threat, but it is very capable of fighting, and can be used as a knife or block the knife for the French.

So the French are very supportive of the Irish's request. Under such circumstances, the United Kingdom can only compromise with Ireland and agree to pay Ireland as much as 500 million francs in compensation. Of course, it is hard for the British to come up with so much money at this time. But as the saying goes, if there are too many lice, it will not itch, and if there are too many debts, you will not worry. Anyway, it was payment in installments and a loan from the Bank of Rome.

Of course, relying on these sums of borrowing, the entire British fiscal expenditure is basically controlled by the French. In this sense, the current United Kingdom government is no longer an independent government. , but completely reduced to the agent of the French in England.

After resolving the issue with the Irish, various obstacles were swept away in the negotiations. Finally, Foreign Minister Simeone signed the peace treaty with France and its allies on behalf of the British government. And so peace once again returned to Europe. Of course, peace has not yet been fully realized, and the war has left a little tail - the British and the Americans are still at war, but who cares about them?