The War Court and Lap Pillow, Austria's Mandate of Heaven

Chapter 1578 Playing with Fire and Getting Burned (Part 2)

Since Queen Victoria ascended the throne, the royal allowance has been decreasing, and any proposal to cut the royal allowance in Parliament is immediately met with praise.

This has led many young members of parliament to consider it as a foundation for their political careers. What's even more outrageous is that the British Parliament discusses this matter openly every time, and even directly negotiates with the Royal Family.

On the one hand, those members of parliament cut royal annuities under the pretext of "setting an example of thrift and frugality," while on the other hand, they demanded an increase in the salaries of officials.

This infuriated Victoria and Albert, but what was even more outrageous was that even Prince Albert's spending on science and technology was criticized.

The same event was praised as generous before the World's Fair, but was later criticized as extravagant and wasteful.

In addition, unnamed officials often reveal the extravagant spending of the British royal family, and even Victoria's recent purchase of purple snail dye has been exposed.

The price of purple snail dye was extremely high, and given the annual reductions in the royal annuity, Queen Victoria's purchase of purple snail dye seemed highly unreasonable.

So some people suggested investigating the source of the royal family's funds. At this time, John Russell agreed to the congressman's request and informed Her Majesty the Queen about the matter.

However, John Russell's actions did not ease the relationship between the British government and the royal family; instead, they humiliated Victoria and her husband.

Emotional reasons were one factor, but the main issue was that they did indeed have some unusual business dealings. That's why they consistently obstructed the investigation.

The British government's previous praise of Kossuth had gone too far and had already alienated the British royal family. As beneficiaries of the monarchy, the royal family would not like Kossuth, a traitor.

At this time, some rumors touched a nerve with the British royal family, involving the Irish and Chartists, and even publicly criticizing the British system.

What are they trying to do? Are they trying to overthrow me?
“My dear, how can we tolerate that Hungarian running rampant in our country?”

Queen Victoria spoke with a rare hint of anger.

"It's all the work of those guys in Congress. They even kept it a secret from us. They really don't respect us at all."

Prince Albert was furious. He had thought the World's Fair was his achievement, but it was being used as evidence of his extravagance.

The fact that key government officials turned a blind eye to this made Prince Albert feel betrayed.

In particular, he initially intended to donate the proceeds from the World's Fair to charitable causes, as he had done historically.

However, at this point, Prince Albert was forced by several members of parliament to hand over this portion of the profits.

Although the money was ultimately used for public welfare, public opinion was completely different. People did not thank the royal family for their generosity, but instead sang praises to those members of parliament. Even with Prince Albert's good manners, it was difficult for him to suppress his anger.

“Darling, we can’t let them run rampant any longer.”

Prince Albert nodded in agreement with Victoria's statement, and then said...

“We should definitely do something, but public opinion is very unfavorable to us right now, so we need to seek allies.”

"Allies?" Victoria was a little confused about what Prince Albert meant by allies.

"That's right, we can't fight alone. We must unite all forces that can be united."

Soon, some nobles came forward to publicly condemn Kossuth for damaging Anglo-Austrian relations and interfering in British domestic politics.

The claim that the UK is damaging relations with Austria is simply not a concern in Britain. After all, the British employ an offshore balancing strategy, which involves protecting opposition groups of continental European powers, creating domestic political chaos, and preventing the emergence of regional hegemony – all of which are part of their basic strategies.

At this time, Britain was sheltering Polish exiles and even allowing Italian nationalists to plan anti-Austrian actions in Britain.

This is legally permissible in the UK, according to the Habeas Corpus Act of 1679:
The UK prohibits the government from detaining citizens for extended periods without trial and provides legal remedies for political dissidents. Even foreign exiles are protected by common law once they set foot on British soil.

However, the British government held the power to interpret this law. At that time, the British government insisted on distinguishing between "criminal offenses" and "political acts." Some people may have killed someone, but that might only be a political act, so they should be exempted.

However, even the Habeas Corpus Act has its red lines, namely, there can be no political acts or rebellion against the United Kingdom.

At this point, the nobles insisted that Cossuth's contact with the Irish was an act that could be detrimental to England. As for who the Irish were...

This definition is quite broad; it can refer to a specific ethnic group, a specific bloodline, or even people from the island of Ireland.

If the scope were broad enough, the British Isles would be teeming with Irish people. Kossuth couldn't escape the fact that he had contact with the Irish.

At the same time, while there is no evidence that Kossuth wanted to help or sympathize with the Irish, there is also no evidence that he did not want to help or sympathize with them.

Kossuth could not publicly give a speech condemning the Irish, since what the Irish were doing at that time was almost the same as the Magyars' cause, and he could not deny himself.

Furthermore, the fake Kossuth found by the British, after a long period of imitating Kossuth and reading his philosophical works, had by this time awakened the soul of the Magyars.

Some of his seemingly impassioned speeches were riddled with flaws and easily exposed. The British government leadership was well aware that this was a poor imitation of Kossuth, but the public remained oblivious.

The public only knew that this man seemed to have some intention of overthrowing Britain, which naturally aroused the hatred of some British people, while also attracting the worship of others.

This new Kossuth truly experienced the feeling of being the center of attention. He didn't know if he was right or wrong, but one thing he was sure of was that he had become a big figure who could influence the situation.

However, the British government was not feeling well at all; they never expected that the British government would be thrown into chaos because of the ghost of Kossuth.

John Russell never dreamed that he would be suspected by the royal family; he really just wanted to be a good prime minister.

"Damn it, can't you guys just let that imposter behave himself? The situation is so chaotic right now, and he's still giving speeches everywhere. Do you know how stupid his words are?"

Interior Minister Spencer Walpols could no longer contain himself. The name Kossuth was now like dry tinder, ready to ignite at any moment, and the source of that fire was still spreading everywhere.

"That's right, can't your Ministry of Foreign Affairs write a proper article for that guy? Look at the nonsense he's spouting!"
"Give me liberty or give me death? Where there is oppression, there is resistance."