shadow of britain

Chapter 691 Mr. Disraeli doesn't want to work hard anymore

Although Arthur said some good things about William IV, this did not prevent Dickens from hating the sailor king.

In his early years, he worked as a parliamentary reporter for the British News Agency. Dickens clearly remembered that William IV, then Duke of Clarence, had severely refuted the views of William Wilberforce, the leader of the abolitionist movement, in a speech in the House of Lords.

As Arthur said, when William IV was young, he had served in the Caribbean naval station in North America for a long time. However, years of practice made William IV come to a rather politically incorrect view on the issue of slavery: "Freedom is of no benefit to slaves, because I have seen with my own eyes that the living standards of free people in the Scottish Highlands and Islands are even worse than those of slaves in the West Indies."

What made Dickens even more unbearable was that the young William IV also claimed in his speech: "Fanatics or hypocrites, Mr. Wilberforce, the leader of the abolition movement, and his supporters, I classify them as one of them."

As for why Dickens was unbearable, it was naturally because he himself was a person classified as a "fanatic or hypocrite" by William IV.

Of course, Dickens did not completely deny the king, because apart from slavery, William IV maintained quite enlightened views on many social issues, such as supporting the abolition of penalties against dissenting Christians and opposing laws prohibiting adulterers from remarrying.

Moreover, this sailor king enjoyed a very high reputation within the Royal Navy. This was because when William IV became the First Lord of the Admiralty in 1828, he led the army to abolish most of the punishments that required the use of the "nine-tailed scourge", and he also promoted the construction of the Royal Navy's first steamship.

All in all, William IV was still a huge improvement over his brother George IV, who died unhappy in Windsor Castle.

When William IV first ascended the throne, the Duke of Wellington once privately lamented at a dance at the Allmark Club: "King William and I have dealt with more affairs in ten minutes than George IV has dealt with in ten days."

Even Arthur's mentor, Lord Chief Justice Brougham, rarely put aside his perverse temper and praised the new king sincerely: "He is an excellent king. He asks enough questions to make sure he understands things. George IV was afraid to ask questions so as not to expose his ignorance. Their father, George III, was the opposite. He asked too many questions but would not wait patiently for answers."

However, what surprised Arthur the most was that when he resigned from Scotland Yard and went to Brighton Seaside Resort for recuperation, he was summoned by William IV who was on vacation at the local royal palace.

When Arthur arrived at the royal palace suspiciously, mistakenly thinking that his whereabouts were probably under government surveillance, the royal attendant who led him to the palace for dinner solved his doubts with a rather nonsensical fact: "Every time His Majesty comes to Brighton for vacation, he often sends people to ask for a list of passengers from the local hotel, and invites familiar names to dinner."

After the meal, William IV, who was drunk and had a red face, even asked everyone not to be too strict about etiquette and called on everyone to have fun together: "Don't worry about wearing formal clothes. The queen will only embroider some flowers after dinner. Let's start playing cards now."

This style of behavior can no longer be described as simply casual, it is even close to being casual.

If Arthur blinded himself and ignored the gorgeous clothes of William IV and the crowned portrait on the wall of the palace, he would probably have thought that he was a warm-hearted and familiar old man that could be seen everywhere in the country pub.

However, when we think about the behavior of this sailor king when the House of Lords was arguing over parliamentary reform, everything seems not so difficult to understand.

At that time, due to the emergency situation and the fact that the royal carriage was not yet ready, William IV once said anxiously: "Then I will take a taxi!"

Fortunately, before His Majesty the King stopped the carriage himself, the Lord Chamberlain and the Royal Aide-de-camp urgently completed the deployment of the royal carriage. Otherwise, if the nobles who were planning to have a fight in the House of Lords saw this scene, who knows what kind of trouble would be caused.

Arthur still remembers the report in The Times that day: the chaos in the House of Lords was indescribable, the nobles waved their fists in anger, and many ladies who were watching the parliamentary debate were frightened. The Marquis of Londonderry even waved a horse whip and threatened to whip the MPs who supported the reform, but fortunately he was stopped in time by four strong colleagues.

In Britain, when talking about the royal family, everyone can come up with several boxes of personal gossip.

After a few royal secrets were shared and accompanied by a few glasses of fine wine, the atmosphere at the table quickly became lively.

As the most eye-catching person in the audience and the most flamboyant person in London as described by Blackwood, Mr. Disraeli quickly attracted all the attention.

Arthur swirled his glass and sipped the flavor of the 1826 Bordeaux Valley. "Benjamin, I heard you sold your house in Hyde Park and moved to Mayfair?"

Disraeli puffed out smoke and said, "Yes, I rented an apartment in Duke Street. You know that Mayfair is the center of London politics. Living there will help me develop in both the political and social circles. I have to say that there are too many bastards these days. When I was unknown in the literary world and had not been elected as a member of parliament, no one ever invited me to salon dinners. I shamelessly applied to join the Travelers Club and the Athena Club, but they rejected me three times. But what about now? My schedule is packed. If you want to invite me to come and honor you, I'm sorry, your appointment will have to be scheduled for a month later."

Dickens couldn't help but tease him, "Really? Benjamin, you moved to Duke Street just to seek a better future? I don't remember you told me that before. Didn't you move there to resolve your foreign debt of nearly 2 pounds?"

"Twenty thousand pounds?" Tennyson was surprised and asked, "Benjamin, where do you usually spend your money? Your income is not low, why do you owe such a large sum of money?"

Disraeli defended himself, "Part of it is the foreign debt I owed when I ran a newspaper and invested in American bonds in my early years. As for the other part... Do you think the cost of being in politics is low? The cost of preparing for election campaigns cannot be avoided first. In addition, there are relationships to maintain everywhere. Although ladies, nobles and lords are rarely willing to be directly involved in money, if you want to make them happy, you definitely need to spend money! Do you know how much I spent on the several works of art I bought for Earl Lyndhurst? A full two thousand five hundred pounds!"

Arthur scratched his cheek. He didn't quite understand what Disraeli meant. "Benjamin, forgive me for being blunt, but if you want to resolve your debts, it's a good idea to make further political progress. However, political advancement is not something that can be achieved overnight. Before that, you might as well move back and be my neighbor. Or, if you like, you can live directly with me. As for the social circle, you are already a member of the Carlton Club. Are you still worried about not being able to meet big people there? Of course, if your ambition is to enter the core circle of the White Club..."

"I know, I know, Arthur. Members of the House of Commons and colonels of the Army and Navy are just the thresholds for the White Club. It will take me at least another 10 to 20 years to get into the core circle there, but..."

Disraeli coughed and said, "We are discussing the issue of debt settlement now. It has nothing to do with whether I am involved with White or not. Although "The Englishman" has brought me a lot of income, my financial situation is really bad. Moreover, I am different from you. I, Benjamin Disraeli, will never marry for love. I want to sell myself at a high price. My target is only those who earn 2.5 pounds a year." Arthur suddenly realized and said, "Has your relationship with Lady Henrietta Sykes made any progress?"

Arthur revealed the truth in one sentence. In Britain, there were not many wealthy women who could meet the requirement of an annual income of 2.5 pounds, and Mrs. Sykes, who had an unclear relationship with Disraeli before, happened to be one of them.

Lady Sykes' husband, Sir Francis Sykes, had many properties under his name, and Lady Sykes herself came from a wealthy wine-making family, so the two were a powerful combination.

Unfortunately, Sir Francis Sykes was frail and sickly and needed to go abroad for recuperation all year round, which gave Disraeli the opportunity to meet Mrs. Sykes through the opera.

Arthur still remembered the moment when Disraeli first met Mrs. Sykes and he burst into poetry in front of his friends.

The great poet Benjamin once said in a poem: "I was not born lucky, I have terrible talents, ambition and blazing passion, I struggle all year round, and occasionally I get ecstasy."

Disraeli flatly denied Arthur's speculation: "Mrs. Sykes is a married woman. Although my relationship with her is more than friendship, but..."

Before Disraeli could finish, Arthur immediately asked Dickens and Tennyson: "When did Sir Francis Sykes leave?"

After coming to their senses, the two of them said in unison, "January or February of the new year."

Arthur pinched his chin and nodded slightly: "Where are you going?"

Dickens said, "Venice."

Tennyson said: "I'm afraid he won't be back for a year or so. He's very ill this time."

Arthur glanced significantly at Disraeli.

This guy, what did he mean by moving into a new apartment on Duke Street? I guess he moved directly into Mrs. Sykes's mansion?

Disraeli hastily changed the subject: "By the way, Arthur, have you decided not to return to Russia this time?"

Arthur did not expose Disraeli's thoughts, but cooperated and talked about work: "Why go back? Wait until the truth comes out and let Palmerston remove me from my position? Instead of letting him dismiss me, I might as well resign first. Besides, the political situation in Britain is so chaotic now, it may not be a bad thing for me to return to London one step ahead of time."

Disraeli rolled his eyes and asked in a low voice, "Didn't Lord Daramore come back with you?"

"No." Arthur wiped his mouth with a napkin. "But I don't rule out the possibility that the Earl will resign as ambassador to Russia in the next two or three months. After all, I can see that there are opportunities in London, and he may have some thoughts in this regard. He has always believed that half of the credit for the parliamentary reform should be attributed to him, but after the reform was passed, he only got the idle position of Lord Chancellor. So he got a headache out of anger and ran abroad to avoid bad luck. But now the situation is different, and the cabinet may be reorganized at any time. He may want to come back and try his luck."

Disraeli had some thoughts in mind after hearing this: "Arthur, if Earl Daramore returns to his country, do you think you can..."

"Let me introduce you to the Party?" Arthur raised his eyebrows in surprise and asked, "You want to jump to the Whig Party?"

"No, no, no." Disraeli waved his hands repeatedly: "I just want you to help me resolve a grudge in private. As you know, before I ran for parliament, I once..."

Disraeli did not finish his sentence, but Arthur knew which one he was referring to.

In fact, Disraeli did not intend to join the arms of the Tory Party from the beginning. Before officially running for election, this guy met with the radical Whig leader Earl Daramore and the Irish agitator O'Connell in the summer, and had dinner with the Earl of Lyndhurst in the autumn. He shamelessly claimed to be a "firm ally" who could arrange a dialogue between the Earl of Lyndhurst and the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos.

This action directly angered the Tory Party's chief minister, Sir Charles Granville, who directly denounced Disraeli as "the ultimate fence-sitter, wavering between Lyndhurst and Durham."

Although Disraeli was good at jumping around, this did not prevent Arthur from asking, "Are you under pressure within the party?"

"Yes, a little bit." Disraeli hinted, "It mainly comes from my rival, you know, Gladstone, the woodcutter. Granville and Peel both prefer him to me. Although I have the support of Earl Lyndhurst, it's two to one after all. I'm worried that in the next general election, the Carlton Club may not provide me with enough financial support..."

Arthur shook his head slightly after hearing this. "You came at the wrong time. Even if you join the Whig Party now, the resources they can give you are far less than those of the Tories. Besides, I can't guarantee that Earl Darramore will support you after you switch to the Whig Party. Although switching camps is not uncommon in Britain, not everyone is Viscount Palmerston. Palmerston was accepted by the Whig Party so smoothly because he was one of the leaders of the Canning Party. The Whig Party's acceptance of him was equivalent to accepting more than a dozen seats out of thin air. Moreover, Palmerston switched from a strong party to a weak party at that time, which was a timely help. And you, Benjamin, if you jump from the Tories to the Whigs now, that means you are jumping from a weak party to a strong party. Even if you succeed, you will probably be regarded as a typical example of surrendering to the enemy."

(End of this chapter)