Start 1861: I just inherited the Dutch throne

Chapter 1075 Britain’s Second Economic Crisis
England, Buckingham Palace.

Queen Victoria sat on the throne, and Prince Edward sat beside the queen as a temporary assistant.

Prime Minister Gladstone, Chancellor of the Exchequer Childers, and Foreign Secretary Gravell sit on the right side from top to bottom.

On the left are the new leader of the Whig Party, Robert Gascoigne Cecil ([-]rd Marquess of Salisbury), former Chancellor of the Exchequer Sir Michael Beech, and former Foreign Secretary Lord Edward Henry Stanley. .

Queen Victoria directly pointed out the economic crisis facing the United Kingdom. The economic threats to the United Kingdom from the three countries that dominated the development of industry in the electric age, such as the Netherlands, Germany, and the United States, were all in front of her. She asked the ruling cabinet present and the six-member shadow cabinet outside to discuss the situation. This will lead to the announcement of countermeasures.

The six people naturally felt troubled by this.

This time the British economy is coming in a big way.

As Prime Minister, Gladstone had to stand up and speak.

"First, since the rise of the Dutch electrical industry in 1870, it has largely replaced the overseas market of British industrial products. Later, Germany and the United States also followed suit and squeezed British industrial products globally. After ten years of precipitation, The UK has been squeezed so much that it has lost more than half of its overseas trade share. It has dropped from 43% to 17% of global overseas trade now.

Instead, the Netherlands reached 42%, replacing the UK's original share.

Of course, this crisis is an opportunity for the reduction of foreign trade.

Another reason for this crisis is the currency crisis.

Starting in 1879, stock prices fell sharply.

I remember that that was the year when the Netherlands established the Dutch Currency Reserve Bank, so I began to be wary of this, but until now, I still have not discovered the role of the Netherlands in it.

By January 1882, more than three years before the beginning of this year, more than 1 banks in the UK had gone bankrupt.

At the end of last year our gold reserves of the Bank of England fell from £1879 in 7590 to £1881 at the end of 1100.

The industrial crisis reached its climax at the beginning of last year. A large number of goods could not be sold, prices plummeted, and a large number of industrial and commercial enterprises went bankrupt.

According to statistics from our government, from 1876 to 1881, more than 6 industrial and commercial enterprises in the UK went bankrupt in six years.
1870年间-1881年年底额11年时间，我们国家重要的出口产品棉布出口从8亿码降到了1.66亿码，即减少了超过80%。

The machine manufacturing industry, construction industry and almost all other industries have been hit hard by the crisis caused by internal and external factors, and the entire social economy is in extreme panic and chaos.

The overcapacity of the economy is only relative to overcapacity and relative to the ability to pay, but it is more that foreign countries buy from the Netherlands and other countries, not from us.

This has resulted in a large number of unsold goods on the market. On the other hand, a large number of workers have lost their jobs, and the wages of employed workers have also been significantly reduced. Workers have no money to buy goods, and their quality of life has deteriorated.Therefore, comparing the before and after, the workers' emotions began to be mobilized by a small number of people, and nearly 500 million people protested on the streets.

Your Majesty, the final analysis of this crisis is that our overseas sales of industrial products are unsustainable, workers' incomes have dropped or even lost their jobs. Factories have no orders, payment for goods cannot be paid, and there has been a surge in gold exchange, causing the Bank of England's gold storage to drop to historic levels. lows, while other banks collapsed due to the rush of exchanges.

This economic crisis is more severe than the one in 1825.”

Robert Cecil asked gentlemanly: "The Queen means to resolve the problem, and the Prime Minister means to dig into the problem. Now that we have sorted out the chakras, it's time to start thinking of solutions." This was a soft knife, but the gentleman meant to be sarcastic. means.

Compared to Disraeli's directness, Cecil, the new leader of the Tory Party, was more suitable for hiding, and his more gentlemanly behavior easily won the response of Queen Victoria and the nobility.

Sure enough, Gladstone saw the queen's dissatisfied look.

Cecil was even more difficult to deal with than the recently deceased Disraeli.

But Gladstone is not a good person.

Moreover, he is fully prepared to face this sudden ruling torture.

"What I just said is naturally to let everyone understand the origin of the current difficulties we are encountering, and to discover our own shortcomings and the strengths of the other party.

Since the start of the steam age, the British industry has ranked first in the world. However, since William IV came to power in December 1861, the Netherlands has begun to vigorously develop the electrical industry. Later, with the cooperation of Germany and the United States, the global output value exceeded the steam industry in 12. Since then, the electrical industry has grown further every year. "

Seeing that he had successfully attracted everyone's attention, Gladstone secretly breathed a sigh of relief and continued.

"The steam age will obviously become a thing of the past sooner or later, so Britain should not be obsessed with this and let it become a thing of the past. Therefore, I think that with our strong foundation in the steam age and our skilled workers.

There is even a huge financial advantage. Why don't we follow the three countries and vigorously develop our own electric age industry? "

"Even if the UK turns around now, it will be enough to compete in the electric age. The Netherlands, Germany and the United States are just three countries. Moreover, our industrial base advantages in the steam age do not need to change. Especially railways can continue to operate with coal. Countries are still in this aspect Not as good as us”

"If we are weaker than others, we will reform and learn from their strengths. If we are stronger than others, we will continue to carry forward them and even introduce new ones. In short, my idea is that it is time for the UK to move forward with the rapid development of the electrical age. , instead of waiting for others to develop, which will only make them fall further and further behind. By the time we go back to work, the dust has settled and everything will be too late."

Robert Cecil and Michael Beach looked at each other, and both could see the other's worry.

Although Cecil agreed with Gladstone's idea, he had to say that sometimes the position of his butt decided that it was difficult for him to do some things.Even though he knew it was right, he was still helpless to stop it.

“What the Prime Minister said is good, but the Prime Minister also said that a large number of banks have closed down in recent years, and now that banks are facing weak financial conditions, how can we get such a large amount of funds to develop our own electrical industry.

Don’t say it is easy, you must know that even if it reaches the level of the United States, it will be difficult to achieve without 50 billion pounds.

And it has been carried out consistently for more than 10 years.

Not to mention that to catch up with the Netherlands, the leading country in the electric age, 200 billion pounds is not guaranteed, and technology is still needed.After all, the United States can still imitate the Netherlands, but we should worry about how to surpass it after imitating it.

£200m?
Last year, the UK's GDP was only 60 billion pounds, and its fiscal revenue was less than 10 billion pounds. Can the UK do this? "

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(End of this chapter)