Make France Great Again

While Jérôme Bonaparte was working hard to clean up the British spies in Paris, the British Ambassador to France, Coutts, also sent a telegram to London after being confirmed by many parties.

The telegraph operator sitting next to the telegraph machine copied the message immediately and then handed it over to the Earl of Clarendon, the Foreign Secretary.

After reading the telegram, the Earl of Clarendon quickly folded it and put it in his pocket, and then called his secretary.

"Your Excellency!" the secretary said respectfully to the Earl of Clarendon.

"I am about to go to No. 10 Downing Street. All subsequent agendas will be postponed for a period of time! If you really can't postpone it, just cancel it!" The Earl of Clarendon gave the order to his secretary resolutely.

"Yes! Your Excellency!" the secretary quickly replied to the Earl of Clarendon.

Then the Earl of Clarendon stood up and strode away from the British Foreign Office.

As the Foreign Office is not too far from the Prime Minister's Office (both are in Downing Street), the Earl of Clarendon did not choose to take a car, but walked there.

After walking for about 10 minutes, the Earl of Clarendon arrived at the Prime Minister's residence and saw the Cabinet Secretary and Prime Minister's Secretary guarding the door of the Prime Minister's Office.

"Hello, Your Excellency, Minister!" After seeing the Earl of Clarendon, the Secretary-General of the Cabinet quickly stood up and bowed to the Earl of Clarendon.

The Prime Minister's Secretary also stood up and saluted the Earl of Clarendon.

"Is the Prime Minister here? Does he have time?" The Earl of Clarendon did not make too many pleasantries, but went straight to the point and asked the Cabinet Secretary.

"Let me take a look!" The Secretary-General of the Cabinet opened the itinerary memorandum on the table, took a look at it and said to the Earl of Clarendon: "Your Excellency, the Prime Minister still has one hour to go to the House of Representatives to receive the members. question!

If you have something urgent and you want to talk to the Prime Minister, it's best to do it quickly!

The Prime Minister is resting inside now! "

"I will do it as soon as possible!" the Earl of Clarendon nodded in response to the Cabinet Secretary.

The Cabinet Secretary opened the door and entered the office.

At this time, Palmerston was resting on the table. The entry of the Cabinet Secretary did not wake up the Prime Minister who had stayed up for several nights.

The Secretary-General of the Cabinet slowly came to Prime Minister Palmerston, gently pushed him a few times with his hand and said: "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, Your Majesty! Wake up!"

Palmerston, who was pushed back and forth by the Cabinet Secretary, slowly woke up from his dream. He opened his hazy sleep and said lazily: "Is it time yet?"

"No! Prime Minister!" the Cabinet Secretary hurriedly explained to Palmerston: "It's the Foreign Secretary!"

"Ha!" Palmerston yawned again, then rubbed his sleepy eyes and said to the Cabinet Secretary: "Ask him to stand at the door and wait for me for five minutes!"

"Yes! Prime Minister!" The Cabinet Secretary left Palmerston's office and closed the door for him.

"The Prime Minister hopes you can wait for him for five minutes!" The cabinet secretary who walked out of the room told Palmerston's words to the Earl of Clarendon.

"I know!" Earl Clarendon nodded and replied to the Cabinet Secretary, then stood quietly at the door and waited.

Five minutes later, the Cabinet Secretary entered the Prime Minister's Office.

After a while, the cabinet secretary came out again, smiled and said to the Earl of Clarendon: "Your Excellency, you can go in!

"

"Yes!" Earl Clarendon nodded and entered with steady steps.

As soon as he stepped into the office, the Earl of Clarendon immediately turned his attention to Palmerston, who was sitting in the armchair. At this moment, he was no longer as lazy as before. Like a sharp blade hiding its edge.

"Willis, you're here!" Palmerston said to the Earl of Clarendon with a smile, and then extended his hand to invite the Earl of Clarendon: "Please sit down!"

The Earl of Clarendon sat opposite Palmerston. Palmerston then asked: "Have your Ministry of Foreign Affairs already investigated the matter I asked you to investigate last time?"

"Yes!" The Earl of Clarendon handed the telegram in his pocket into Palmerston's hands.

After Palmerston took a look at the contents of the telegram, a look of surprise appeared on his face. Then he raised his head again and said seriously to the Earl of Clarendon: "Villiers, what do you think of the authenticity of Ambassador Coutts' telegram? France Are you deceiving us?"

The Earl of Clarendon shook his head and analyzed Palmerston seriously: "I don't think there should be any doubt about the authenticity of this telegram. Ambassador Coutts' loyalty to the Kingdom of Britain should be very clear to you!"

"Of course I know Mr. Coutts' love for Britain!" Palmerston said to the Earl of Clarendon: "But this does not rule out the possibility that Ambassador Coutts was unilaterally deceived by France!

Don’t you think France’s dispatch of warships to escort 5,000 people to Gabon is too much of a fanfare?

And why do they do it! "

"I don't know about that!" Earl Clarendon paused and tentatively put forward his own idea, "Maybe they want to expand their territory!"

"Expanding territory? In West Africa?" Palmerston obviously did not want to believe that Jerome Bonaparte was eyeing West Africa, because in his opinion, the value of occupying the land in West Africa was not very good.

If the land in West Africa was good, the British Kingdom would not leave it alone.

So far, the countries involved with Britain in West Africa have no other territory except the protectorate of Nigeria.

"Your Excellency Prime Minister, apart from this, we really have no other suitable reasons!" the Earl of Clarendon responded to Palmerston.

"By the way, how did Kautzda obtain this information?" Palmerston asked again.

The Earl of Clarendon shook his head and said to Palmerston: "Ambassador Kautz did not tell me the specific situation! However, I think he probably used the hidden line we buried in Paris!"

"You mean those guys?" Palmerston remembered a document submitted to him by the War Department.

The document stated: In order to prevent the French Empire from launching an attack on the Kingdom of Britain one day in the future, the Ministry of War hopes to form a department for monitoring Paris. This department is responsible for recruiting members to lurk in Paris to secretly monitor every move in Paris... All members will be under the direct command of the War Department.

After reading the document at that time, Palmerston felt that the idea of ​​the document was very good and was conducive to the conduct of diplomatic work.

As a result, Palmerston immediately approved the War Department's plan.

However, when establishing this department, Palmerston also specifically emphasized that ambassadors abroad also have the right to "guide" members of the department.

"That's right! Those guys from the Ministry of War!" Earl Clarendon confirmed Palmerston's response.

After Palmerston thought silently for a moment, he said to the Earl of Clarendon: "Villiers, your department has done a very good job this time!"

"Thank you for your compliment!" Earl Clarendon replied humbly.

Immediately afterwards, Palmerston and Clarendon once again exchanged views on the Qajar dynasty's intention to capture Herat. Both of them believed that the Qajar dynasty was destroying the hard-fought establishment of the Central Asian region. peace, and once this operation of the Qajar Dynasty succeeds, it will inevitably breed more ambitions.

One Herat will not be able to satisfy the desires of the Qajar dynasty. They will set their sights on Afghanistan and strive to regain Afghanistan.

By that time, India will be threatened by the Qajar dynasty.

In order to maintain the security around India, the British Kingdom must fight against the Qajar Dynasty.

“I am going to the House of Representatives right away to convince the members of the House of Representatives to agree to launch an attack on the Qajar Dynasty!

Only in this way can the ambition of the Qajar dynasty to annex Herat be completely shattered! "Palmerston responded to the Earl of Clarendon with fighting spirit, like a fighter about to enter the arena.

"Your Excellency, Prime Minister, I wish you success in advance!" The Earl of Clarendon congratulated Prime Minister Palmerston against his will.

He knew that Palmerston's trip to the House of Lords would be recognized by the noble members of the House of Lords, because most of the members of the House of Lords had invested their money in India.

The prosperity of India is directly related to the dividends they can obtain, so they dare not let the Qajar dynasty shake India's security.

Palmerston's visit to the House of Lords this time was just a formality.

"I hope so!" Palmerston showed a smile on his face, and then left the Prime Minister's Office with the Earl of Clarendon.

…

Palmerston, who was questioned by the House of Lords in the House of Lords, was asked by the noble members of the House of Lords whether he intended to instigate a war between the Kingdom of Britain and the Qajar Dynasty, thereby raising the issue of his continuing to remain as Prime Minister. He stated righteously to the House of Lords: He himself had never thought of using war to consolidate his position. The reason why he proposed a war with the Qajar dynasty here was entirely to safeguard the interests of the British Kingdom in India.

“If the Qajar dynasty is still unwilling to stop after annexing Herat, then their next target must be Afghanistan, and then the whole of India!

Like their ancestors, they invaded India and destroyed the system we had managed to establish there!

Once the British Kingdom loses the Indian market, our factories will probably go bankrupt in batches, and our bonds will become worthless! "Palmerston did his best to advocate the threat of the Kingdom of Qajar to India and the importance of India to the Kingdom of Britain.

The Houses of Representatives, who were originally afraid of the Qajar dynasty's attack on Herat, became more inclined to Palmerston after hearing what Palmerston said.

When Palmerston finished his speech, members of the House of Lords applauded him.

Subsequently, the Speaker of the House of Lords announced the official start of the vote on "whether to take countermeasures against the upcoming military operations of the Qajar Dynasty."

Members of the House of Lords raised their votes in favor, and only a small number of left-leaning aristocratic members chose to oppose.

After the vote, the members who agreed with the countermeasures won with an absolute advantage. After the House of Commons went through a process, the British Kingdom could declare a war with the Qajar Dynasty at any time.

A few days later, a similarly heated vote began in the House of Commons.

The vote this time was obviously more intense than in the House of Lords, with those who agreed to take countermeasures and those who did not agree to take countermeasures almost tied.

In the end, those who approved of countermeasures still had slightly more votes than those who disapproved.

The House of Commons won a narrow victory, and the House of Commons officially granted Palmerston the right to declare war against the Qajar dynasty. Palmerston then handed this right to the Duke of Cambridge, who was about to go to Central Asia, and told him to use it carefully. rights.