shadow of britain

Chapter 649 A Different December

In order not to disappoint these curious guests, Arthur had to bite the bullet and talk to them about the court ball held in the Winter Palace after the investiture ceremony that day.

I have to say, although more than half a month has passed, Arthur still remembers what he saw and heard that day vividly.

The entrance of Nicholas I was particularly impressive.

When the ruler of the world's largest country entered the hall accompanied by the Queen, followed by their family members and court officials, all the guests stood up in unison.

That day Nicholas I wore a particularly gorgeous red military uniform.

Although Cossack uniforms were usually only suitable for young people: the one the emperor wore was more suitable for his age and better highlighted his facial features and upright figure.

Before taking his seat, he greeted the entire audience with his characteristic politeness and solemnity, and the queen who was accompanying him did the same.

Although this would most likely be seen as an act of disrespect to the public in Western European countries, in fact, at the ball that day, even the emperor and empress's entourage followed suit.

The guests throughout the banquet hall responded to the royal family with bows and further welcomed them with warm applause and cheers.

If these actions were sincere, they would undoubtedly illustrate the high status of the Romanov dynasty in the eyes of the Russian people, but the official nature of these performances greatly reduced their value.

This also triggered a whisper of complaint from Count Feckelmont, the Austrian ambassador beside Arthur - it was amazing that an emperor would be cheered by a dance floor full of nobles!

Although Austria also had an emperor, the Austrian emperor could not be as prestigious as the Tsar, who could not receive flattery from the nobles wherever he went.

After all, according to historical origins, before the Napoleonic Wars, the Austrian Emperor was actually the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. How low the "gold content" of the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire is is indeed a question worth discussing.

As for Arthur, the Englishman, he could completely empathize with what Count Fickelmont said.

Because the relationship between the British nobility and the king was not very harmonious, the tradition of the nobility opposing the king was long-standing in Britain, so much so that the nobility even formed a party in all seriousness, called the Whig Party.

Even if one excludes the Whigs and looks only at the Tories, the British royalist party, Arthur has never seen anything like the Russian nobility in Wellington or Sir Robert Peel.

In Britain, the Tories' way of currying favor with the king was usually indirect and implicit, not as uniform as in Russia.

Witnessing such a scene made Arthur even more curious about what happened on the day of the Decembrist Uprising. This was a person who could make people stand up, sit down, and applaud with just a wave of his hand, and whose every gesture showed the majesty of an emperor, yet he was called a coward by Herzen, a Moscow university student.

Arthur could not imagine the Tsar being so frightened that his face turned pale.

But Arthur felt that Herzen was not the kind of person who would lie.

Herzen had assured Arthur that he had heard from General Chechinsky that the Emperor had been extremely pale and frightened from the beginning to the end of December 12. When the Haymarket rebellion broke out, the Emperor had stayed in Peterhof, standing on the hill in the garden, listening for the sound of artillery fire from Petersburg. It was not until the next day, when everything had calmed down, that the Emperor drove into the crowded square in his carriage and shouted to everyone: "Kneel down!" People quickly knelt down in obedience. At this time, he saw a few people in civilian clothes (who had followed his carriage to the square) and thought they were suspicious. He immediately ordered the arrest of these unfortunate people, and then shouted to the crowd: "These are all despicable Poles, and you have been incited by them!"

These inappropriate and absurd behaviors have naturally caused very bad effects.

Because Arthur had heard many complaints from officers who had experienced the Decembrist Uprising at some private gatherings in St. Petersburg.

This group of Russian generals unanimously agreed that the emperor should not listen to the cannon fire in the garden anxiously, nor send messengers to Petersburg to inquire about the news, but go there in person. This is the most basic requirement for the supreme ruler, and every man with a little courage should do this!

If all this is true, then Arthur feels that Nicholas I's performance as emperor is even worse than that of the current King Louis Philippe of France.

Although the French people loved to mock their "pressured king", when the uprising broke out in Paris on June 1832, 6, Louis Philippe was also frightened. However, this French pressure not only did not choose to flee, but instead bid farewell to King Leopold I of Belgium who was on a state visit to France, and led the accompanying light cavalry troops back to Paris in an emergency.

Although Louis Philippe did not help much in suppressing the uprising, the news that the king rushed back to Paris overnight and personally took command of the situation at the Tuileries Palace obviously boosted the morale of the Orleanists.

Louis Philippe's subsequent act of openly reviewing the troops in the square at great risk not only earned him the respect of thunderous cheers of "Long live the King" from the soldiers, but also quickly stabilized the morale of the Greater Paris Police, the National Guard and the French Army, and ultimately became the last straw that broke the camel's back for the republican rebels.

As the saying goes, if you compare yourself with others, you will die, but if you compare goods, you will throw them away.

Although they were both royalists, at least the King of France stood firm with his throne, proving to the Orleanists in France that they had not followed the wrong person.

But the Tsar...

The contrast between Nicholas I and Louis Philippe was so stark that Arthur felt that even if Alexandre Dumas, a guy who had personal grudges and serious political differences with Louis Philippe, were asked to make an evaluation, the fat French man who always valued chivalry would not be able to say that Nicholas I was better than Louis Philippe.

After all, the biggest reason why Dumas and Arthur were able to reconcile was that Arthur insisted on standing at the forefront of the chaos on the night of the London riots, and did not abandon his junior officers in Scotland Yard, and even took a bullet for this.

Although this is not a very glorious behavior, it at least shows that Arthur Hastings is an excellent police officer who is dedicated to his duties. He even looks very decent most of the time, and he is not lacking in calmness, courage and determination.

What Dumas questioned was never Arthur's personality, but his stance.

If Arthur had been willing to stand on the republican side, Dumas had no doubt that his friend would have become a legendary hero.

After all, the fat black man is a romantic. He admires heroes and is obsessed with epic scenes.

Even if he didn't say it, he always felt that Arthur Hastings deserved the title of knight. In Dumas' evaluation system, a hero among the reactionaries is at least a hero, which is always better than a coward among the republicans.

As for Nicholas I, he was a coward among the reactionaries, so naturally he could not be compared with "Wellington of Scotland Yard".

As for whether the stories about Nicholas I's performance in the Decembrist Uprising were true, Arthur tended to believe that they were most likely true.

Because on the day of the awarding ceremony, the Tsar, for some reason, actually took the initiative to talk to him.

Nicholas I first criticized Arthur in a slightly reproachful tone: "You have to know that as a young man, especially a young man of low status, what you said today was a bit aggressive."

Arthur, who had just received the Order of Saint Anna, naturally did not choose to confront the Tsar, and he had no reason to do so.

Arthur sounded sincere, "I can sincerely say, Your Majesty, that one of the main motives for visiting Russia was the desire to be close to a prince like yourself who can exercise such power over people."

The Tsar was very pleased with Arthur's compliments. After a glass of red wine, his serious face was even more smiling: "The Russians are good, but to govern such a nation, you must make yourself worthy of it."

Arthur naturally took advantage of the opportunity: "Your Majesty understands the needs and current situation of this country better than any of your predecessors."

“Despotism still exists in Russia: it is the essence of my rule, but it corresponds to the genius of the nation.”

"I know that you are trying to restore Russia to her own self by stopping her imitation of other cultures."

Perhaps thinking of the problems of the Ottoman Empire, the Tsar did not forget to comfort the young diplomat who had contradicted him: "I love my country, and I believe I understand it. I assure you that when I am really tired of all the sufferings of this era, I will try to forget Europe by retreating into Russia. This will be reflected not only in diplomacy, but also in culture."

“Is this to get freshness from the source of Russian culture?”

"That's right. No one is more Russian at heart than I am. I'm going to say something to you that I wouldn't say to anyone else, but I think you'll understand me."

Here the Tsar paused and looked at Arthur intently: "I can understand a republic: it is a simple and direct form of government, or at least it should be. I can understand an absolute monarchy, because I am the head of such a system myself. But I cannot understand a representative monarchy, I must say, it is a rule of lies, fraud and corruption. I would rather go to a barbaric land and live a life of eating raw meat and drinking blood than accept it."

Arthur didn't understand why the Tsar suddenly wanted to criticize the British political system, but he didn't really care. However, in order to maintain the dignity of the British delegation, he put up a little fight here: "Your Majesty, I have always believed that representative government is an inevitable transaction for certain communities at certain times. But like all other transactions, it does not solve the problem, it only postpones it."

The emperor held up the wine glass, and his posture seemed to say - continue.

Arthur continued: "It is a system halfway between democracy and monarchy, an armistice signed under the aegis of 'fear and interest' of two vile tyrants. And it is perpetuated by the intellectual pride which delights in words, and by the popular vanity which gratifies itself in words. In short, it is the substitution of an aristocracy of words for an aristocracy of birth; in short, it is the rule of lawyers."

"Sir Arthur, you are right."

Nicholas I shook Arthur's hand and said: "I was a representative monarch in Poland, and the world knows how much I paid for not succumbing to the demands of this shameful government. Bribing votes, corrupting consciences, and deceiving some to deceive others. I despise these means because they not only degrade the obeyed, but also the commanders. I paid a heavy price for my straightforwardness. But, thank God, now I have been rid of this hateful political machine forever, and I will never be a constitutional king again. I need to express everything I think too much, and I will never agree to rule any people through tricks and conspiracies, whether it is Poland, Russia, Finland, Lithuania or anywhere else."

At this point, Nicholas I also mentioned the Decembrist uprising: "A few years ago, when I had just inherited the throne, a group of conspirators used absurd lies as a tool to incite the army to revolt. They spread rumors that I had seized the crown of my brother Constantine, who was heading to Petersburg to defend his rights with force. The scum induced the ignorant soldiers to shout in support of the constitution outside the palace windows because they deceived the soldiers and told them that the word "constitution" was the name of Constantine's wife, my sister-in-law. As you said, this group of scum tried to make me a lie. I wanted to be a constitutional tsar and make Russia a representative monarchy. What inspired the soldiers to attack me was not that they supported the constitution, but on the contrary, they thought they were showing their loyalty to the legitimate emperor. In fact, I did not usurp the throne. I succeeded to the throne because my brother Konstantin Pavlovich was not strong enough. He was afraid of becoming the ruler of Russia and was afraid that he would be poisoned as soon as he succeeded to the throne. Not everyone can bear the pressure of becoming a tsar. I heard that you know a lot about Russian history, so I believe you can definitely find clues from history. "

Regarding the above two paragraphs, Arthur believed that the Tsar should have spoken from the bottom of his heart.

Although he didn't understand why the Tsar was so close to him and even willing to talk to him about his inner thoughts.

However, being a tsar in Russia is indeed a high-risk job. Looking back at the history of the Romanov dynasty, a considerable proportion of the tsars' rise to power and deaths do not seem normal.

The nobles' unlimited loyalty to the Tsar came at a price. Therefore, whenever a major problem arose and someone needed to take overall responsibility, the Tsar had to bear all the blame for major decision-making mistakes.

Therefore, if we only talk about chopping off the emperor's head, the Russians did it much earlier and much more than the British and French.

But the Russians' purpose of chopping off heads was just to change the Tsar, and apart from that, they had no other demands.

When Arthur talked to the guests about the details of the Decembrists that the Tsar had told him, he clearly saw a hint of subtle disdain on the faces of several guests.

"His Majesty the Tsar was very modest. He told me that he did not do anything special at the time. He just said to the soldiers: 'Return to your troops!' When he came to the square to review the Guards Cavalry that suppressed the rebellion, he shouted loudly: 'Kneel!' Then the soldiers obeyed together. His Majesty said that he had made up his mind at the time - either death or victory. However, although he was grateful for his success, he was not proud because it was not his own credit. The main credit for suppressing the rebellion should be attributed to the repeated persistence of Count Benckendorff, Count Alexei Orlov and others."

As soon as Arthur finished speaking, he saw that everyone's eyes turned to a middle-aged man who was drinking alone in the corner of the hall.

Arthur asked in surprise, "What's wrong?"

The kind-hearted Princess Helena raised her fan to her lips and reminded him, "You just read the name of that gentleman's brother. By the way, that gentleman was at the scene on the day of the Decembrist uprising, but he was on the side of the rebels..."

Arthur thought about it and immediately guessed the man's identity: "You mean, Count Alexei Orlov's brother? Is he General Mikhail Orlov of the Orlov family?"

Miss Helena was surprised and asked, "Why do you know him?"

Arthur chuckled. "Unfortunately, Mr. Zubkov just mentioned this gentleman to me this morning."

(End of this chapter)