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

Chapter 1646 "The American Party"

However, prior to this, the actions of the "I Know Nothing Party" were essentially no different from those of countless anti-immigrant organizations in the United States; they simply resorted to violence, beatings, robberies, and trampling.
However, at this time, the party suddenly decided to enter politics, and the "Nothing Knows Party" officially changed its name to the "American Party." At first, politicians thought it was just a joke made by a group of rednecks.

However, their smiles soon faded, especially among Whig Party members, as the American candidates quickly won numerous governorships, state legislators, mayors, and even congressional seats in multiple states.

The party most severely impacted was the Whig Party in the North, whose base was shattered by the American Party. In the foreseeable future, the American Party will surpass the Whig Party to become the second largest party in Congress, or even the largest party.

Historically, the Whig Party was dismantled by the American Party, which directly gave rise to the Republican Party.

In fact, the Whigs did try to save themselves; they wanted to replicate Zachary Taylor's previous success, but Winfield Scott's military prestige was not enough to make up for it.

The deaths of two party leaders, Henry Clay and Daniel Webster, in 1852 left the Whig Party leaderless.

Coupled with the major outbreak of immigration issues at this time, the emergence of the "American Party" can be said to have taken full advantage of the right time, place, and popular support.

Franz was quite interested in this, as he recalled that the history books he had read often only mentioned it briefly.

However, Franz sensed a turning point in history. He believed that the "American Party" was not incapable of rising to power; it was just that its organizational structure, platform, and slogans were still very crude. With a little polishing, he believed that the United States would surely descend into chaos.
Because there are more Cubans than in history, the immigration issue is no less acute than slavery itself. After all, for most northerners, black slaves are far removed from their lives, while Cubans and Irish are right beside them.

If Franz had handled things properly, the Republican Party wouldn't have been able to make a comeback, and there might not have been a President Lincoln.

However, Franz's principle was that regardless of whether there was a Republican Party, whether there was Lincoln, or whether there was the issue of slavery, the United States had to have a civil war.

There's no way around it; the United States is just too big. Given its population, resources, and size, it would be virtually impossible for it not to rise to prominence over time.

No one likes to create more competitors, and the Austrian Empire could not gain absolute dominance on the European continent in the short term. Franz did not want to fight to the death with others and end up having to bow down to the United States.

A key reason why the "American Party" in history disappeared so quickly was that it lacked strong leadership and, more importantly, a network of shared interests, which led to its sudden collapse.

The American Party's desire to make Whig Millard Fillmore its leader reminded Franz of the Lebanese president in his previous life, who was dragged out from under his concubine's bed.

Franz's first step was to prepare to assign them a "steadfast" leader, and fortunately, he did have some "die-hard" followers.

William Hill, an unknown young man, quickly rose to become the leader of the "American Party" thanks to his outstanding "acting skills" and immense wealth.
While Franz was causing trouble for the Americans, the British were not idle either. They began to frantically seize colonies, and at this time, no country in the world could rival Britain in this regard.

Franz couldn't fight them head-on, but the British soon discovered that things weren't as rosy as they'd imagined. The African natives were indeed powerless to resist, but the British didn't gain any substantial benefits either.

Aside from its extremely long coastline and exorbitant maintenance costs, Britain was also facing extremely high manpower losses. At this time, Britain was clearly not prepared to develop the African continent.

Combat and non-combat casualties drastically slowed down the colonization process, and in some colonies, colonists even broke down as a result. After all, no one can bear the feeling of watching people they know die one by one before their eyes while they are powerless to stop it. The most terrifying thing is that they themselves are under the same threat and may suddenly die at some point.

After failing to replicate the miracle of the Austrian Empire, the British resorted to their old trick: the omnipotence of commerce.

As a result, a large number of chartered companies were established, and many business tycoons and bankers were attracted by the promises of the British government and invested in them.

Palace of Westminster.

George Hamilton Gordon walked slowly to the podium, his gaze sweeping over the assembled national elites, and he took a deep breath before speaking.

"Gentlemen! Our country's machinery roars non-stop all day long. They need a constant supply of fuel and raw materials, and even more so, a vast market."

We have neglected this vast continent of Africa for far too long!
Now it is opening its arms to you!

A long and enthusiastic applause erupted in Parliament. In fact, the British were also provoked by Franz. They believed that the Austrian Empire's rise must have been due to the massive wealth it had acquired from its colonies, and the British themselves had experience with this, with India as an example.

Although the East India Company was consistently losing money, the merchants in India and the officials of the East India Company were making a fortune.

No one would turn down money, so they naturally wanted to seize this business opportunity.

"Imagine the endless wealth hidden in that vibrant and opportunity-filled black soil! Gold, silver, diamonds, all kinds of expensive gems, as well as copper, iron, and coal—we can build factories that stretch as far as the eye can see."

There is also fertile land there, which can provide us with an inexhaustible supply of cotton, coffee, and tea. Don't doubt it, what the Austrians can do, we British can do too!
But unlike the barbaric and backward Austrian Empire, we do not need state spending or government intervention because we have the world’s richest, greatest, and most visionary businessmen!

We are not simply plundering and slaughtering like the Austrians. You will carry the British flag deep into Africa, and you will spread the civilization and order of the British Empire!

We will civilize those savage blacks, just as we civilized the Native Americans of North America!

Although George Hamilton Gordon spoke eloquently, some people were even more excited by his vision of a century-long British empire.

However, some shrewd businessmen who were adept at wordplay began to have doubts. The British government made it sound very nice, but apart from those meaningless missions of civilization and enlightenment, Britain only granted them so-called colonial privileges.

However, the prerequisite for those privileges is that they must explore the mines themselves, develop the land themselves, establish their own army and police force, and bear all the risks themselves.

The British government can collect franchise fees and company dividends without doing anything, and may even take back the franchised company at certain times.

If something goes wrong, they can just walk away; frankly, the British government is just shifting the risk.