shadow of britain

Chapter 656: The bizarre plot caused by the special national conditions

Dim winter light seeps into the room through heavy curtains, and exquisite London-style furniture complements the Russian-style carpets.

The birch wood burning in the stove emitted a gentle crackling sound, which contrasted with the howling of the cold wind outside.

Arthur placed his hands on the map spread out on the carved wooden desk. The various reports scattered around the desk showed that he was busy dealing with urgent intelligence.

For the British Embassy in Russia, Sir Arthur Hastings was not only a cultural counselor, he also served as a cipher officer.

The document, which bears the red wax seal of the British Consulate in Tehran, has few words but is filled with code words.

Arthur used a pen dipped in ink to lightly outline the key words for decryption, and checked the intelligence content word by word.

Between the lines, the turbulent situation in the Caucasus almost emerged before one’s eyes: the avalanche in the Darial Gorge blocked the Russian army’s supply line, and the Russian army’s baggage train was forced to stop. The Circassian mountain cavalry raided under the cover of night, cut off the Russian army’s forward outposts, and seized many boxes of gunpowder and ammunition...

However, Arthur was not interested in these military developments. What puzzled him most was a high-frequency word that frequently appeared in recent intelligence.

Both the intelligence sent from the Persian Consulate in Tehran and the news sent back by Captain Huette from the Caucasus mentioned the new leader who had emerged among the Circassian mountain people in recent times - Daoud Bey.

Although the intelligence about Daoud Bey was very vague, there was a considerable amount of evidence showing that the fragmented Caucasian mountain tribes were moving towards unification with the help of Daoud Bey. Although the new Circassian leader was not good at fighting, he was a good at unifying the regime and coordinating the resistance movement. The Russian army even seized a "Declaration of Independence" drafted by Daoud Bey and written in English, French and German from the Circassians.

Unless Arthur was crazy, how could he believe that a Caucasian mountaineer who had never left the mountains in his life could write such a colorful trilingual article.

If Daoud Bey was not Sir David Urquhart, then he must have been traveling with him, The Times reporter James Longworth.

In other words, Sir David and his team not only successfully broke through the Russian Black Sea blockade and entered the Caucasus, but also successfully established contact with the Circassian mountain people and even became leaders of the resistance.

What kind of spirit is this for an Englishman who traveled thousands of miles, endured many hardships, overcame numerous difficulties, and finally came to the Caucasus without any selfish motives, and regarded the liberation of the Caucasian mountain people as his own cause?
This is Saint-Simonism straight out of the box!

If Garibaldi and Herzen had been told of Sir David's deeds, they would have praised him highly.

But from the perspective of the British Foreign Office, which emphasizes discipline and is not known for its tolerance...

Ah!
David Urquhart, as soon as he came of age, joined the British Volunteer Army in Greece with Lord Byron, violating the then Foreign Office's principle of non-interference in Greece. Now, the first secretary of the mission to the Ottoman Empire has sneaked into the Caucasus without regard to Foreign Office policy...

If we ignore the fact that he and King William IV were close friends regardless of age difference, and that the Ottoman ambassador Lord Ponsonby was also his good friend, according to the Foreign Office regulations, charging this guy with treason would be the lightest punishment!

Compared with what Sir David Urquhart had done, another troublemaker, Sir Arthur Hastings, seemed to have become an excellent representative of gentleness, courtesy, frugality and modesty.

Mencius said: Heilongjiang's self-interest (utilitarianism) is without a king. Ernst & Young's universal love (Saint-Simonianism) is without a father. Without a father and a king, one is a beast.

The tiny Foreign Office of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland actually produced two beasts. The Foreign Secretary, Viscount Palmerston, had the Azure Dragon on his left and the White Tiger on his right. Even veteran European diplomats like Metternich and Talleyrand had never enjoyed such a blessing.

Ever since Arthur reported the intelligence about Daoud Bey to the Ambassador to Russia, Earl Daramo, Earl Daramo felt deeply the difficulty of the student being ordered to support the diplomatic mission to Russia in a time of crisis, so he agreed to Arthur's request to go to Moscow to carry out a one-month Anglo-Russian cultural exchange activity, so that he could take charge of the intelligence activities in the Caucasus region.

Of course, if possible, the place Arthur would like to go is Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, but the activities of foreign diplomats are strictly restricted, and it is impossible for him to obtain a pass to the Caucasus region no matter what.

However, during his time in Moscow, besides waiting for intelligence, Arthur actually had a lot of things to do.

After his repeated recommendations, the Governor-General of Moscow, Prince Dmitry Golitsyn, reluctantly read Gogol's masterpiece "History of Little Russia" and was greatly surprised by the talent of the teacher of the women's college.

So, it was natural for him to recommend this new star in the Russian historical academic circle to his cousin, Prince Sergei Golitsyn, the academic dean of Moscow University, and recommended him to be an associate professor of world history at Moscow University.

However, Gogol seemed dissatisfied with this position. Although the reputation of Moscow University was far greater than that of Kiev University, as he said, he did not care which school he taught at. He just wanted to find a warm place to treat his hemorrhoids.

He couldn't stand the climate in St. Petersburg, and the weather in Moscow was obviously worse than that in St. Petersburg.

As for the case of Ogarev and others, perhaps because Herzen heard the conversation between Arthur and Shubinsky that day, Herzen used his personal connections to pass a message to Ogarev in the police station cell, telling him not to believe the deception of the police and gendarmes and not to give in under any circumstances.

Of course, in reality Ogarev had nothing to say, because according to the current investigation results of the police and gendarmes, they were not invited to the banquet where songs insulting Tsar Nicholas I were sung loudly.

Those young people who actually attended the banquet had already been convicted of their crimes and were escorted by Captain Huette to serve in the Caucasus Corps.

If the case had been handled according to Scotland Yard's procedures, the case should have come to an end.

However, as Colonel Shubinsky had expected, Moscow gendarmerie commander Volkov was determined to turn this case into a large-scale group incident in order to gain promotion and wealth by stepping on the backs of this group of young people.

Since there was no need to find someone to go to the Caucasus, Arthur, out of his little conscience, borrowed the Russian "Police Regulations" from Colonel Shubinsky through his connections. It clearly stipulated that all arrested persons have the right to be informed of the reasons for their arrest within three days of their arrest, otherwise they should be released immediately.

As for Ogarev, according to Herzen, "he had been in jail for several weeks for this case, but when he asked what he was charged with, the chief of police would only respond viciously: 'Don't you know what you have done? Why do you have to come to me?'"

If this happened in London, this matter would be very easy to resolve. Lawyers love to take on cases that they can win at a glance.

The case is clear and the evidence is sufficient.

Therefore, they didn't even need to spend a lot of money to hire a famous lawyer. They just needed to invite Mr. Disraeli to dinner and ask him to return to his old practice as a lawyer for a day.

However, this is not Britain but Russia.

Regardless of the fact that the two countries belong to different legal systems, Russia does not even have the profession of lawyer. The lawyers are nobles and scholars called "prosecution representatives", or simply prosecutors bring prosecutions on behalf of the people. Regardless of whether they are prosecutors or prosecution representatives, these people are basically fed by the Tsar.

Therefore, there is basically no need to imagine that they will represent Ogarev's case of excessive detention.

If we look at it from a general perspective, Ogarev can only blame himself for his bad luck this time, because the gendarmerie commander is determined to turn him into a stepping stone for promotion.

But the clever part of the matter is that Colonel Shubinsky, deputy to the gendarmerie commander Volkov, had recently received some very unfortunate news from a secret channel - in a letter to Count Benckendorff, director of the Third Bureau, Volkov severely disparaged Shubinsky's work ability and criticized his personal ambitions.

What Shubinsky could not tolerate the most was that once Volkov left office, he did not intend to recommend Shubinsky to take over as the commander of the Moscow gendarmerie, but instead suggested that a gendarmerie commander be parachuted in from the First District.

According to gossip, the new gendarmerie commander is either another duke of the Golitsyn family, Duke Alexander Fedorovich Golitsyn, or Mikhail Nikiforovich Muravyov.

If the military police commander was the former, well, Shubinsky would have nothing to complain about.

After all, everyone knows the power of the Golitsyn family, and everyone knows that in Moscow, the Golitsyn family name is even more prominent than the Romanov family name.

Shubinsky was not arrogant enough to confront the Golitsyn family head-on.

But Muravyov?

Ah!
The people Shubinsky despised most were people like Muravyov.

When he was young, he joined the National Salvation League organized by the Decembrists. As a result, he temporarily rebelled on the day of the uprising in 1825 and turned to the Tsarist government. In order to prove his loyalty, he later actively suppressed the Polish uprising and the Novgorod Military Settlement Uprising.

Many of Muravyov's brothers either died on the day of the uprising or were exiled, but he himself had the audacity to say: "I don't belong to the group of Muravyovs who were hanged, but to the Muravyovs who hanged others."

Although they both served the Tsar, this did not prevent Shubinsky from disliking him. Perhaps in his eyes, liberals were more likable than Muravyov.

The military policeman in charge of Moscow University has always believed that most of the students who believed in liberalism were just stupid due to lack of experience.

And what about people like Muravyov?

He is a bad guy who pretends to be ignorant while knowing the truth and makes money by selling the lives of fools to get to the top.

If Muravyov were Shubinsky's boss, he would vomit up his overnight meal.

Therefore, when Arthur told Shubinsky that Herzen, a silly boy who graduated from Moscow University, was running around for his good friend Ogarev, the gendarme who thought he was quite humane privately pointed out a clear way for them - it was useless to find the gendarmes or the police, and they had better start directly from the court.

Finally, he accidentally left the business card of the vice president of the Moscow Court at Arthur's house.

Arthur filed away the intelligence on the Caucasus that he had compiled with great difficulty, looked at the sun in the sky, and thought that Herzen would be arriving soon.

Sure enough, he had just poured a cup of tea when he heard the sound of wheels rolling and horse hooves hitting pebbles downstairs.

Secretary Blackwell opened the door and informed him that Herzen's carriage had arrived.

Arthur hurried downstairs and saw Herzen getting off the carriage. He was wearing the same old long coat as always, and his hair was a little messy due to the cold wind. Herzen's face was a little tired, but he couldn't hide the eagerness in his eyes.

His steps were a little hurried, and he didn't even respond to the doorman's greeting, but walked straight towards Arthur.

After a brief greeting, Arthur followed him into the carriage without wasting time.

The atmosphere in the Moscow court was as dull and serious as ever, and the gray exterior of the building was stained with stains left by the melting winter snow.

Arthur pointed at the gray building and said, "The vice president's office is on the west side of the second floor. I sent him a call yesterday."

Herzen was feeling somewhat anxious. He had traveled almost all over Moscow these days, but he had not found a single Russian who was willing to help.

The only person who was willing to lend him a helping hand was Sir Arthur Hastings, and I heard that he had even taken leave to come to Moscow for Ogarev's case. This was really...

Herzen sighed and said, "Do you know what the vice-president looks like?"

Arthur recalled what Shubinsky had told him: "It was just that, a kind-looking old man with blue glasses, sitting alone looking at a terribly thick file. My friend said that this was a rare upright person in the Russian judicial system."

"I hope so."

Inside the hall of the Moscow court, the gray-white marble floor was slightly shimmering from the footsteps of the people coming and going. Arthur and Herzen walked hurriedly, passing by the cold-eyed clerks on both sides, seemingly not hearing the faint whispers and footsteps. The two climbed the wide staircase leading to the second floor and finally stopped in front of a heavy oak door.

Arthur knocked three times gently, the sound sounding steady and powerful in the corridor.

"Please come in." A slightly old voice came from inside, not loud, but clear enough.

Arthur pushed open the door, which creaked softly, revealing a simple but dignified office. The bookshelves were filled with heavy legal books and files, and several piles of opened documents were stacked in the middle of the desk.

The deputy dean raised his head and observed the two through the lens. His eyes passed over Arthur and stopped at Herzen for a moment, then nodded and slowly stood up: "Sir Arthur Hastings? Are you here for Ogarev's case?"

(End of this chapter)