I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 834 A peaceful future

Campbell swallowed nervously again and picked up the document with trepidation.

As he read through them one by one, a hint of surprise flashed across his panicked eyes, but it quickly turned into solemnity.

He handed the pages of paper in his hand to Speaker Dandels next to him, who also showed an expression of disbelief on his face.

There are only four conditions for the armistice:
First, the Netherlands tried all war criminals involved in the invasion of Wallonia. The trial process needed to be supervised by French judges.

Second, the Netherlands had to pay compensation for the damage caused by the invasion of Wallonia, a rough estimate of 70 Dutch guilders.

Third, the Netherlands declared permanent neutrality. The High Court will legislate to monitor the country's neutrality and sentence any politician who dares to violate neutrality.

Fourth, the Dutch Parliament's management of the Netherlands is clearly a failure, which proves that the nobility is indispensable in the management of the country. The Dutch Parliament will increase the number of "noble seats" by 35%, and seats can only be obtained by hereditary nobility who have been passed down for more than six generations.

Dandels looked at Joseph carefully and asked tentatively: "Your Highness, are these all the terms?"

"Yes, that's all."

Danders looked at several Dutch politicians and their expressions relaxed a lot.

To be honest, the conditions are so loose that they don’t even resemble a “surrender agreement” but more like an ordinary diplomatic negotiation.

For example, war reparations.

Before coming here, the Dutch Parliament was prepared to take out 600 million Dutch guilders, or 7500 million francs, to appease the French. In extreme cases, it could even be increased to 800 million Dutch guilders, or 1 million francs.

The Netherlands has a developed financial industry, many colonies in the Far East and North America, and controls the estuary of the Rhine trade. Although the country is small, it is very rich and can come up with 1 million francs with some effort.

But the French only asked for 870 million francs!
This is probably the real military expenditure of the French army. It is too "generous".

Let’s look at the “permanent neutrality” clause below.

After this disastrous defeat, the Netherlands was eager to stay away from the war as soon as possible.

Originally, Campbellen and others were worried that France would force the Netherlands to declare war on Britain, Prussia, Austria and other countries, but they did not expect that France would only ask for neutrality.

Just for this reason, they all wanted to pray sincerely for the French Prince.

However, when it came to adding "noble seats" to the parliament, both Campbell and Dandels showed bitterness on their faces.

They all came from the Patriot Party. They launched an uprising and drove out William V, and then seized power. Naturally, they are unwilling to let the nobles come back now.

Seeing this, Dutch Foreign Minister Branzen, who was sitting on the left, came over and whispered, "Mr. Prime Minister, in fact, under the current situation, it is not a bad thing to allow nobles to participate in politics."

"Oh? Tell me your reasons."

"First, the nobles have been secretly organizing a rebellion in The Hague. Now that our country has been defeated, they are likely to take advantage of the people's dissatisfaction to launch a coup. It would be better to directly invite them to join the parliament. This will prevent the country from falling into turmoil."

Blanzen lowered his voice when he said this:

"Secondly, in the next few years or even decades, both the country and the parliament will go through a difficult period..."

Campbell nodded slightly. After this defeat, the Patriot Party will certainly face a lot of criticism. At the same time, major powers such as Britain, France, Prussia and Austria will also squeeze the weak Netherlands back and forth.

He pondered, "You mean, let the nobles share the pressure of Parliament?"

"Yes." Blanzen nodded and whispered, "I even think that this request from the French will do us no harm. Anyway, we control 65% of the seats, and the nobles can't cause any trouble." If Joseph heard what he said, he would probably laugh out loud.

Why do these Patriot Party MPs, who are lawyers and journalists by profession, think they can suppress the extremely wealthy aristocratic families who have run their business in the Netherlands for hundreds of years?

The reason why Joseph included this clause was to cause internal strife in the Dutch Parliament.

The hereditary nobles had previously been driven out of the center of national power by the Patriot Party, and they hated these liberals to the core. After regaining power, they would inevitably do everything they could to oppose them.

The Patriot Party has the advantage of popular support, while the nobles have the advantages of money and influence. If these two sides start fighting, the Netherlands will never be able to accomplish anything in the future.

Campbellen and the others discussed the matter for a while, and all felt that it was not unacceptable to allow the nobles to enter the parliament.

After reaching a consensus, Campbellon looked at Joseph tentatively and said:

"Your Highness, if my country accepts these conditions, will your country withdraw its troops immediately?"

Joseph nodded calmly: "All troops will withdraw from the Netherlands within one month.

"Oh, by the way, the armistice will be signed publicly in Amsterdam, and anyone can go and watch."

Campbell said without hesitation: "Of course, of course it is possible."

Just half an hour later, the talks that would determine the future of the Netherlands came to an end.

When Campbell came, he had prepared a lot of negotiation language, but he hardly used a single word of it. He just followed the French Crown Prince's lead the whole time.

Joseph looked at the backs of several Dutch politicians leaving, with a sneer on his face.

He did not forget that he had helped the Dutch Patriots to overthrow William V, but was stabbed in the back by the Dutch.

He would never be a saint who repays evil with kindness.

On the contrary, his principle is to pay back double the amount!
The surrender conditions he offered to Campbell were just for show. After all, after the war, the integration of regions such as the Rhineland and Northern Italy would begin, and France needed to establish a good international image.

Napoleon ignored this point and formed a stereotype of France as a vicious country. When the small countries saw the strong military power of France, they could only bow their heads helplessly. When the national power of France declined slightly, they immediately jumped out to oppose France.

To engage in international politics, France not only needs military deterrence, but also needs to create a circle of interests and a sense of political and economic security for other countries, so that others will follow France with confidence.

As for the price the Dutch have to pay, it will naturally be collected by the Flemish Republic.

France will draw a clear line with the Flemish Republic as soon as possible. After all, the hatred between Flemish and Wallonia is well known to the world, and now Wallonia has been incorporated into France.

If the Flemish people want to gain the capital to establish a country, they must step forward and become the bad guy.

The Dutch Parliament seemed to be afraid that France would go back on its word, and passed the armistice terms proposed by Joseph with great efficiency, and even prepared a compensation of 870 million francs.

A week later, the Franco-Dutch Armistice Agreement was officially signed at Dam Square in front of Amsterdam City Hall.

Joseph did not attend the ceremony, which was performed for the public, but left it to Ségur and Lefebvre.

In the center of Dam Square, Segur first gave an impassioned "peace speech" in front of three or four thousand Dutch citizens.

He lamented that some Dutch conspirators had attempted to undermine Franco-Dutch friendship, but the benevolent French king decided to let bygones be bygones and lead the two countries towards a peaceful future.

(End of this chapter)