Start 1861: I Just Inherited the Dutch Throne

Chapter 854 Culture and civilization revitalize the country

On January 3, 1880, the last Privy Council meeting of the year was being held at the Royal Palace of the Netherlands.

Prime Minister of the Netherlands Theo von Linden, Chief Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Jules Danetang, Foreign Minister Joseph Beit, Interior Minister David Blank, Defense Minister Fox, Industry Minister Joseph Lanka, Transportation Secretary Byers, Education and Culture Secretary Mari Philip, Energy Secretary Hester and other cabinet members will participate.

Justice Robert Cook, Speaker of the Privy Council and Speaker of the House of Commons, Baron Caslen, Lord Chancellor of the Seal and Speaker of the House of Lords, Marquis Andrew Smith, Director of the Dutch National Security Council and Coordinator of Atlantic Affairs Cantur, Director of the Dutch National Financial Council Sa Kim will be there.

William IV sat at the top, and next to him sat William IV's eldest son, Prince of Australia and Crown Prince of the Netherlands, Prince Albert.

This is the first time that William IV has allowed Prince Albert to attend a Privy Council meeting, and it also represents the recognition of his status as Crown Prince and his formal participation in the national governance of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

The dialogue between king and minister is ongoing.

I saw William IV sitting at the top, listening majestically to everyone who was waiting for his questions.

William IV is full of pride. In the 23 years since 1857, he has transformed the Kingdom of the Netherlands, a second-rate country that was half-lived, into a powerful country that is now on par with the United Kingdom.

It can be said that compared to when Queen Victoria came to power in 1837 and then dominated the world in the following decades, it was not much better. Of course, if it weren't for the rise of the Dutch sea, Britain would have remained strong until the beginning of the 20th century before being dragged into World War I by Germany. and World War II, due to the consumption of comprehensive strength, the rise of the United States and Japan, and the colonies breaking away from their rule, it left its status as the world's most powerful country.

However, due to his own arrival, Queen Victoria's Britain only maintained its dominance for 40 years. Coupled with the British power before Queen Victoria, it can be said that the Netherlands ended the British future and continued to rely on the colonies and the world to open up the door to allow British industrial products to return. The road to shaping the world pattern.

The arrival of the Netherlands put Britain into the predicament it had been in before World War I more than thirty years ahead of schedule.

But that was Germany, and now it is the Netherlands, which is even more powerful than the United Kingdom. After all, the Netherlands has an army that is not weaker than Germany. It also has surface combat capabilities that are almost on par with the United Kingdom. At the same time, it has underwater submarine combat capabilities. It is even more capable of defeating the United Kingdom.

Coupled with the fact that the Netherlands continues to innovate and lead the world's advanced industrial technologies, the Netherlands' total economic GDP has surpassed the United Kingdom two years ago (1878), becoming the world's largest economy.

And unlike the United Kingdom, the Netherlands also turned waste into treasure and vigorously developed the indigenous labor force of African blacks and Far Eastern Australia and the Dutch East Indies (later Indonesia). These indigenous and black populations of nearly 40 million made The Netherlands has an abundant labor force and its industrial strength is even more promising than that of the UK, which economic experts from various countries are optimistic about.

After all, the British just treated the colonial population as pigs and sold them at will, while the Netherlands is said to have begun to provide these black people and indigenous people with the primary education (primary education) that everyone needs, and the best can consider secondary education. (secondary education) and higher education (college education).

Therefore, the black and indigenous labor force in the Netherlands are actually highly qualified, and they are a very powerful boost to the heavy industry and manufacturing industry in the Netherlands.

Including the 24.5 million white people in the Netherlands and other ethnic populations around the world, the total population of the Netherlands under his rule is about 70 million.

This is a population second only to the Qing Dynasty and the United Kingdom, and is still above the German Empire, which can only be matched by the Tsarist Russian Empire. Moreover, William IV has not implemented a colonial system in the Netherlands for a long time, and it is even more powerful than France's overseas territorial system. Furthermore, a localized assimilation system was directly implemented, and all overseas territories were Dutch territory. After more than ten or twenty years of development, the assimilation system implemented has gained great recognition in the local area. Now Dutch has become the official language in the areas governed by the Netherlands. Even in more remote places, Dutch has become the second language. Second language, and very universal.

This was mentioned in the report just delivered by David Blank, Minister of the Interior and Home Affairs.

Thinking of this, William IV's eyes fell on the Minister of Education and Culture, Mari Philippe. The latter also noticed that William IV's eyes fell on him. He straightened his body and saw His Majesty asking: "I don't know about the recent education and culture." How is the ministry’s cultural promotion going?”

Marie-Philippe, as the former king of the Kingdom of Belgium, has had three Belgian Prime Ministers under him, the last of whom is Jules Danetant, Deputy Prime Minister of the Cabinet and President of the Senate and leader of the Socialist Party, who is currently attending the Privy Council meeting. .

No one will underestimate a person who can help three candidates to be successfully elected as Prime Minister. This is more difficult than successfully running for Prime Minister himself.

Therefore, Mari Philippe's status in the Netherlands is very special. In the Dutch political arena, many people are in awe of him and are also eager to try.

The reason why the Socialist Party is what it is today is not only because of the ability and appeal of Jules Danetant and Joseph Beit, the two former Prime Ministers and Speakers of Belgium, but also the attraction of Mari Philippe to ambitious people. One of the major motivations is that becoming a socialist can bring you the greatest distance. Even being selected by Mari Philip to be the next person to push for the top position? No one can say that they will be the lucky one next moment.

So when I saw William IV setting his sights on Philippe Marie, even Prime Minister Lyndon of the cabinet government, Deputy Prime Minister and President of the Senate Jules Danetang, Justice Robert Cook of the Bulgarian-King faction, and the Privy Council Baron Caslen, Speaker and Speaker of the House of Commons, Marquis Andrew Smith, Lord Chancellor and Speaker of the House of Lords, Cantur, Director of the Dutch National Security Council and Atlantic Affairs Coordinator, Sackem, Director of the Dutch National Financial Council, etc., all calmed down. .

Obviously, Mari Philippe meant that they paid enough attention to it.

When William IV saw this, he smiled slightly in his heart and secretly said that the other party was powerful.

Mari Philip seemed to have already made a record in his mind. He paused for a moment, and then replied calmly and respectfully: "Your Majesty, our Ministry of Education is currently promoting a large number of various measures to protect the Netherlands and protect the dignity of the Netherlands in education at all levels. The goal of education is to engrave the love for the Netherlands deep in the hearts of students at all levels.”

"At the same time, we are promoting a large number of cultural talents in the Ministry of Culture,"

William IV asked curiously: "What specific measures are there?"

Mari Philippe: "Music, philosophy, law, medicine, literature, politics, etc., we have been interconnected at the Ministry of Education and Culture, not only in schools, but also in society, at home and abroad, to create our prosperous pattern and structure "