Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 265: Secret Agreement between West and England
After agreeing on the specific time of the diplomatic visit with the British government, preparing for negotiations with the British government became the top priority of the Spanish government.

Although the current direction of events is as expected by the Spanish government, this does not mean that the final outcome of the negotiations will be as expected by the Spanish government.

As a European country, Spain was certainly aware of the greed of the British government. For the British Empire, if it could not gain more benefits, the British government would not agree to the terms of the colony replacement.

Spain hoped to acquire all of Britain's colonies in West Africa in the process of colonial replacement, but this was not an easy task to achieve.

But the good news is that if Britain withdraws from the colonial competition in West Africa, the only two countries left to colonize West Africa will be Spain and France.

Although the relationship between Spain and France was good, the possibility of cooperation between the two in the colonization and development of West Africa was almost zero.

Considering the British's bad nature of stirring up trouble, even if the British government agreed to give up all its colonies in West Africa, it would definitely dig a big hole in the diplomatic relations between Spain and France.

Considering France's embarrassing situation in Europe, the deterioration of diplomatic relations between France and Spain is likely to cause a series of changes.

Even Carlo was seriously considering Spain's diplomatic situation. Once the Triple Alliance broke down, the classic German-Austrian alliance against the Franco-Russian alliance would instantly appear.

What should Spain do in the confrontation between these two major military alliances? According to the marriage relationship, Spain should be closer to the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

If Spain acquired all of Britain's colonies in West Africa, it would also deepen the conflict with France. If Spain wanted to fully annex Morocco and control its West African colonies, it would have to stand against France and even Britain.

But the problem is that the German-Austrian military group plus Spain is clearly no match for the five major powers of Britain, France, Russia, Italy and the United States.

Unless a revolution can break out in Russia sooner rather than later and Italy can be prevented from defecting, perhaps a situation of Britain and France versus Germany, Italy, Spain and Austria can be achieved.

If such a situation can be achieved, Americans will certainly remain neutral and will not easily join the war.

While Carlo was still thinking about how to break the impasse, time had quickly come to September.

The British government formed a grand diplomatic visit team and went to Spain for a diplomatic visit in broad daylight.

Such a diplomatic visit is quite rare for Britain and Spain, two countries with poor diplomatic relations. The diplomatic meeting between the two countries has also attracted the attention of many European countries.

Neither country will disclose the content of the meeting before reaching a practical agreement, which has led to media in European countries speculating about what the two governments are going to discuss during the British government's visit to Spain.

In the Royal Palace of Madrid, Spain, Carlo received the diplomatic delegation of the British government. Facts have proved that the British still attach great importance to the proposal of colonial exchange.

The new Prime Minister Gladstone came in person, and several cabinet ministers were also present. The scale of the delegation was quite exaggerated.

Although Carlo personally met with the British diplomatic mission, he would not appear in the subsequent negotiations with the British government. The purpose was also to remove Carlo directly.

Regardless of the outcome of the negotiations between the Spanish and British governments, the land that Spain ultimately acquires through colonial exchange will certainly not be as valuable as Cuba's.

This also means that the officials who facilitated this clause are likely to be criticized or even abused by the public. As the King of Spain, Carlo still needs to avoid such a situation.

As long as Carlo does not participate in the negotiations between the two governments, he will not have to take the blame for this matter.

In this era when monarchy is rampant in Europe, it is quite common for cabinet governments of various countries to take the blame for the monarch. Especially when the Conservative Party is in power, the interests of the party, cabinet government and monarch are consistent, and it is necessary to take the blame for the monarch.

If the monarch's reputation is damaged or even causes public outrage, the monarchical system will be impacted, which will not be a good thing for the Conservative Party.

The Conservative Party is mostly composed of landowners and aristocrats, who are natural royalists. If the monarchy system disappears, the special treatment they enjoy will disappear in an instant.

This also formed a tacit understanding among European countries that in such risky situations, the cabinet government must take the blame for the king.

Anyway, the cabinet government relies on elections. The worst that can happen is that the prime minister is removed from office and then new elections will be held.

Taking the blame for the king is not a political stain. With the propaganda and whitewashing of public opinion, officials can even participate in the next cabinet election and soon return to the government stage.

Prime Minister Gladstone obviously understood the situation and he showed great respect to Carlo. After all, both Spain's overall strength and the status of the Spanish royal family in Europe were enough to make the British government take it seriously.

If Spain's overall strength was not strong, even Britain would not need such diplomatic negotiations and could acquire colonies by threatening with force.

After all, this is an era where the strong prey on the weak. There is only one reason why the two countries conduct diplomatic negotiations, that is, they are wary of each other's comprehensive strength and are unwilling to offend each other unless necessary.

Although Carlo did not openly participate in the negotiations between the two governments, Prime Minister Canovas still had to report the progress of the negotiations to Carlo every day in secret.

In the first few days of the negotiations, progress between the two sides was quite slow, even stagnant.

The British government is not stupid, they will never do a business that loses money. In fact, for the British government, as long as they make little money in the exchange of colonies, it is no different from a loss.

The Spanish government proposed a proposal to divide Australia into two. Spain would exchange its Cuban colony for the Western Australian colony plus the British Straits Settlements. Spain and Britain would establish a buffer zone nearly 50 kilometers wide between the Western Australian and South Australian colonies.

Such a proposal was flatly rejected by the British government. Although the Western Australian colony did not have a large population, it had little value except for its mineral resources.

But the area of ​​this land is still very large, and the mineral resources are innumerable. There is no need for Britain to give up Western Australia for the tiny Cuba.

Needless to say, there was only one way for East Asian countries to go to Europe, which was to go south through the Strait of Malacca, cross the Indian Ocean along the coast of India, and then reach the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal.

It is not impossible to bypass the Strait of Malacca, but this will at least add thousands of kilometers to the journey, and the round trip will take at least one or two weeks.

The geographical location of the Strait of Malacca meant that it was impossible for the British to give up this land. Never mind whether it was Cuba or not, this was not something that could be determined by economic value.

After rejecting the proposal put forward by the Spanish government, British Prime Minister Gladstone put forward his own proposal, which was to use the Gold Coast and Spain's colonial rights to the Brunei Empire, plus 500 million pounds of funds to purchase Spain's Cuban colony.

If the Spanish government's proposal still considers the value of the colony, then the British government's proposal does not consider the value of the colony at all, and the conditions are quite harsh. The British Gold Coast has a large number of gold mines, which is also the origin of the name of the Gold Coast. But the problem is that this land was discovered by the Portuguese as early as 1471, and the earliest European colonial settlement, Elmina Castle, was established in 1482, which has a history of nearly 400 years.

During these 400 years, the Portuguese, British, Dutch, Danes, Prussians and Swedes all came here to trade slaves, gold, ironware, necklaces, glass mirrors, rum and guns, plundering a large amount of wealth and occupying many gold mines of all sizes.

There are two most famous products of the Gold Coast. One is the gold produced by the grand gold mine, which is the origin of the name of the coast. The other is the local specialty, the African natives, that is, the black people.

For a long period of time, the Gold Coast was not controlled by any one country, but was colonized and managed by many European countries.

However, with the growing strength of the British Empire, after the establishment of the British Gold Coast, it gradually annexed the nearby Danish Gold Coast and the Dutch Gold Coast, and the Gold Coast also evolved into one of the large colonies under British control.

Because of its many gold mines, the Gold Coast is Britain's largest colony in West Africa and has the largest population.

It’s just that these people come from various European countries, and the proportion of British people in the Gold Coast is not high. The largest populations are the Portuguese and the Dutch.

Although the Gold Coast is rich in gold mines, its value has been greatly reduced because European countries have been mining for 400 years.

The wealth that each country could exploit and squeeze had long been shipped back to their own homelands, leaving only a few larger gold mines still standing.

However, the output of these gold mines was not as large as imagined, and the relationship between the British colonies and the Ashanti Empire in the north was not good, and even several wars broke out.

The main conditions proposed by the British were the Gold Coast, plus the possibility for Spain to colonize Brunei. Although 500 million pounds was not a small amount, it was nothing compared to the Cuban colony.

Such conditions are somewhat shabby compared to the Cuban colony. This also shows the greed of the British. They are really unwilling to pay too much price and would rather get Cuba for nothing with very little benefit.

Fortunately, Spain had enough strength at this time, and Britain did not dare to turn against Spain directly. The two sides could only sit at the negotiation table to negotiate, which was also good for Spain.

Because Spain has many options. Since it is selling at a loss, why not sell it to countries with better attitudes?

Carlo is also confident in this regard. If the British government is really unwilling to reach a cooperation, Spain is not without backup options.

Either sell the Cuban colony to France and let France acquiesce to Spain's annexation of Morocco. Or sell Cuba to Germany or the United States. Germany can provide the industrial technology and some technical personnel needed by Spain, and the Americans can provide sufficient funds, which are also what Spain needs.

When the negotiations between the two sides reached a stalemate, before the British government took any action, news broke out in Spain that made the British government change its face. That is, the Spanish government had plans to make a diplomatic visit to Berlin and was considering it.

The British government certainly understood that this news was actually released by the Spanish government, and the purpose of releasing this news was naturally to warn and threaten the British.

The Spanish government is openly telling the British government that Britain is not the only country that Spain can cooperate with. All European powers are within the scope of Spain's cooperation.

It doesn’t matter who the Cuban colony belongs to. What is important is that if this incident pushes Spain completely towards Germany, won’t France be completely diplomatically isolated by Germany?
The threat from Germany itself is already very great, and the British government is considering helping France to win over Russia and form a Franco-Russian alliance to resist the threat from Germany.

If Spain went to Germany, what would happen to the Franco-Russian alliance? France would be directly attacked from both sides by Spain and Germany, and the Austro-Hungarian army might also bypass Switzerland and attack the French border.

Don't forget Italy, a country at the level of a great power. Although its army is not strong, it can still tie down 30 to 50 French troops.

If Spain really sided with Germany, the situation in Europe would be hopeless, unless the British were willing to personally help France, but the problem was that the British army was not strong.

For the British government, it must prevent Spain from moving closer to Germany at all costs. Spain can either maintain diplomatic neutrality or temporarily move closer to France.

Unless the Triple Alliance broke down, the British did not want France to be in too disadvantageous a position.

What worries the British even more is that if Spain sides with Germany, Germany will win over four of the seven major powers on the European continent, namely Britain, France, Germany, Austria, Russia, Italy and Spain, forming an alliance of the five major powers of Germany, Austria, Russia, Italy and Spain.

Under such circumstances, what role does the British have in the European situation? No matter how powerful Britain is, it is impossible for it to fight five countries alone, and it is even more impossible to expect France to resist the combination of the five major powers alone.

This also means that the British government must make some concessions, or at least the conditions cannot be too harsh, to prevent Spain from turning to the Triple Alliance when it is extremely dissatisfied with Britain.

After this little incident, the conditions proposed by the British government the next day became much more generous.

The British added the British Gambia colony to the British Gold Coast, and also increased the financial compensation from 500 million pounds to 1000 million pounds.

Considering that the construction cost of an ironclad ship was 50 pounds in that era, 1000 million pounds was enough for Spain to build 20 of the latest ironclad ships, which was definitely not a small sum.

If converted into pesetas, 1000 million pounds is worth 2.6 million pesetas, which is more than a quarter of Spain's annual fiscal revenue.

Although the British government raised its conditions, such conditions obviously could not satisfy Spain's appetite.

Prime Minister Canovas made more demands, such as the colony of Sierra Leone sandwiched between two British colonies, and more land requests.

Spain could give up its colonization of Brunei, but it should obtain a larger area of ​​land to avoid public outrage caused by the loss of its colony.

The negotiations continued for several days and finally turned the topic to the land in the Middle East.

For the British, the land in the Middle East is not only large, but also of little value. More importantly, this land is not in their own hands, and it is not a loss for the British to promise the land in the Middle East to the Spaniards.

It was also because of this that Britain and Spain quickly reached an agreement.

Spain exchanged its Cuban colony for Britain's Gambia colony, Sierra Leone colony and Gold Coast. At the same time, the British government also allowed Spain to launch a colonial operation against Oman in the Middle East.

The British government will also pay 500 million pounds in financial compensation to the Spanish government. The colonial exchange between the two sides will be completed within the next three months. Only after all the delivery work is completed will the two governments consider making the news of the colonial exchange public.

(End of this chapter)