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

Chapter 1623 No If
The fate of New Zealanders remains to be seen. Although their struggle has a natural sense of justice and has indeed been successful in history, Franz does not believe they can create another miracle.

The 19th century was ultimately an era where strength prevailed, and the Maori were far less powerful than the British.

The Maori people's success in history was partly due to the weakness of the British and New Zealand authorities, but the main reason was that the Maori people proved their strength to the British, making the British feel that the gains were not worth the losses and thus choosing peaceful negotiations.

However, the Maori were now facing Palmerston, a man known for his tough stance and eager to return to London. He was unlikely to concede to the Maori, and would not care about any meager losses.

First of all, Palmerston doesn't think he'll be staying in New Zealand permanently, so all he needs to do is motivate these people and make them fight against the indigenous people as his own achievement.

As for the fate of New Zealanders, that will be resolved by the wisdom of future generations.

Secondly, Palmerston was a typical hawk; in his view, expanding territory, eliminating threats, and consolidating rule were more important than anything else.

Palmerston will not fall into self-doubt; on the contrary, he will become even more ruthless and spare no effort to accomplish all of this.

You can morally criticize Palmerston as a person, but you cannot deny his abilities, much less deny that the saying "There are no permanent friends, only permanent interests" reveals the essence of modern diplomacy and continues to influence the world to this day.

Therefore, the Maori people may have faced several times the pressure of the same period in history from the very beginning. This crushing pressure was all-encompassing, whether in military, political, or diplomatic terms.

Humanitarian organizations and public petitions within the UK have little impact on someone like Palmerston; he won't back down, and on the contrary, he'll intensify his efforts to get things done quickly.

As for the loss of British immigrants in New Zealand, Palmerston believed it was entirely within acceptable limits, and without long-term accumulation, the Maori would hardly have been as resolute as they had been in history.

Franz wasn't incapable of dealing with Palmerston, but he was unaware of what was happening in New Zealand. By the time he found out, at least four months would have passed, and by then it might be too late to take action.

This cannot be blamed on Franz's carelessness. After all, Palmerston was already 69 years old at this time, and he had been repeatedly demoted in this life, his plans had been thwarted many times, and his political resources had been almost completely depleted.

If it were someone with a strong sense of self-esteem or poor psychological resilience, they probably would have committed suicide long ago. Even if they hadn't, Franz didn't think he, living in New Zealand, would ever have a chance to make a comeback.

Even if he makes a comeback, he might not be able to return to London alive, and Palmerston probably won't have many years left to live.

should
Palmerston actually lived until 1865, and was still active during the Polish uprising in 1863.

If everything had gone according to the course of history, Palmerston would undoubtedly have led to the complete conquest of New Zealand by the British, and the Maori would have faded into obscurity like the Native Americans of North America.

Palmerston will also return to London as he wishes, having accomplished great deeds, and continue to stir up trouble in Europe.

However, while the British Prime Minister at the time did not particularly dislike John Russell, the new Prime Minister George Hamilton Gordon also did not like this overly assertive diplomat.

George Hamilton Gordon, one of the weakest prime ministers in British history, couldn't even manage his own cabinet, so he certainly didn't want a ticking time bomb back in his life. But that's another story. After receiving two letters from the New Zealand colony, George Hamilton Gordon's heart skipped a beat.

"What a terrible disaster! What are they doing? Why are they fighting with the natives? Do they just enjoy wasting money?"
How absurd!

It was clear that George Hamilton Gordon was completely unsupportive of the hardline policies of Palmerston and Governor George Gray. The British government was in dire financial straits, and Britain's debt was also alarming.

Due to the enormous costs of the 18th and 19th centuries, especially the war against France, Britain's debt once exceeded £900 million.

People may not have a good grasp of the 900 million pounds sterling at the time. Britain's annual fiscal revenue was only around 50 million pounds sterling. This means that even without any expenditures, it would take Britain at least 18 years to pay off the debt.

当然这种数据只存在于理论上，拿用实际的例子吧。在1815年反法战争结束之后到1851年英国的债务才从九亿英镑下降到7.5亿英镑，也就是说英国用26年时间才偿还了1.5亿英镑。

At this time, due to a number of Near Eastern wars, Mediterranean naval battles, forced colonization of Africa, economic crisis and other factors, Britain's debt had exceeded £12 billion.

At the same time, Britain's fiscal revenue is declining.
Indeed, Britain's fiscal revenue was declining during this period, except for some natural disasters and man-made calamities.

At that time, Britain was completely different from traditional countries such as Austria, France, and Russia. The British pursued a small government rather than a large government or a large empire, and did not seek to increase fiscal revenue or strengthen government control.

To put it bluntly, it's simply that the power of local nobles and capitalists has increased, leading them to demand national policies that are more favorable to them.

Other measures, such as free trade policies that reduce import and export tariffs and lower tax rates, also create a vicious cycle:
The weaker the British government, the stronger the power of the aristocracy and capitalists. They further demand more power, leading to a continued decline in the British government's revenue and control, ultimately weakening the government's overall strength.
Britain has to keep winning big to survive, but unfortunately, Britain has lost in this life, and many times at that.

Therefore, the numerous reforms proposed by John Russell, Prince Albert, and others turned into numerous messes, and by the time George Hamilton Gordon took over, everything had become precarious.

Government spending, royal stipends, public service projects and social welfare expenditures, and even military spending.

George Hamilton Gordon was already doing everything he could to save money in order to meet the demands of the congressmen, but now Palmerston and George Gray were not only demanding increased military spending in the colonies, but also the deployment of regular troops.

This was a huge expense, completely contrary to the British government's philosophy at the time, which is why he felt it was absurd.

Chancellor of the Exchequer William Gladstone also strongly agreed with this.

"Those country bumpkins in the colonies have no idea about human suffering. Let's just send a few officials to let them solve it themselves!"

In order to save money, the British government at that time hired a large number of administrative staff and outsourced many government tasks to them.

Such practices naturally resulted in inefficiency and rampant corruption. However, overall, government efficiency and spending did decrease, only because the British government before this was already beyond redemption.