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After the Glorious Revolution, Parliament became the center of power in Britain. Only by being elected as a member of parliament and entering Parliament can one have the opportunity to exercise one's power.

After the Industrial Revolution, land vitality decreased and industry became the pillar of the national economy, but the seats in parliamentary elections were firmly in the hands of the old land aristocracy, and the rights of workers and big businessmen could not be met.

Not only that, in order to protect the interests of these old land aristocrats, the British government also restricted the import of foreign grain in order to keep domestic grain prices high, which angered ordinary people.

The angry people joined together with the workers and big businessmen. It happened that the July Revolution broke out in France at this time. The story of Joan of Arc spread to Britain, and the slogans of freedom and democracy also spread to Britain. The factories congratulated the businessmen and took the opportunity to raise the flag of freedom. It seemed that another Cromwell coup was imminent.

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Fortunately, the parliamentary reform in 1832 allocated some constituencies and seats to factory owners and businessmen, which gradually subsided the brewing revolution.

However, the British people who felt oppressed still had a sense of resentment in their hearts. Dickens published Oliver Twist at this time, which deeply portrayed the miserable child laborers and the lower-class people of this era, shocking the entire British intellectual community.

It was against this backdrop that Queen Victoria ascended the throne at the age of 17.

Now, 60 years later, what has Britain become?

Britain first established colonies across Africa in 1.

When the Queen ascended the throne, she faced a precarious Britain, but after 60 years of reign, a magnificent British Empire stood tall on the earth.

It may be an exaggeration to say that the rise of Britain is entirely attributed to the Queen, but who can say that the Queen did not play a key role in it?

Therefore, London has now become a sea of ​​cheers. The Queen's oil portrait is hard to come by, and even the worst painter in London has to wait until next year to get a commission.

All of London, from officials to ordinary people, are looking forward to the upcoming celebration.

...

It was in such an atmosphere that Joseph Chamberlain, British Cabinet Secretary of State for the Colonies, came to Buckingham Palace.

If we talk about the most famous Chamberlain in British history, it is probably the one in middle school history textbooks, Neville Chamberlain, who shouted after getting off the plane that he brought 20 years of peace from the Nazis.

However, history is always so coincidental. The current Secretary of State for the Colonies, Joseph Chamberlain, is the father of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain during World War II.

Old Chamberlain walked through the magnificent corridor of Buckingham Palace, passed by walls inlaid with gems and precious metals, and came to a gate with the British flag hanging above it.

This is the British Prime Minister's private office in Buckingham Palace.

With the arrival of the 60th anniversary celebrations, colonial officials and representatives from all over the world rushed to London, both to pay a visit to Her Majesty the Queen and to discuss important matters with the Prime Minister.

Therefore, in order to save the colonial ministers from having to travel back and forth between the Prime Minister's residence and the Queen's residence, the original official residence at 10 Downing Street was temporarily closed.

Prime Minister, moved to Buckingham Palace for temporary office.

4 The door opened. Prime Minister Robert had been waiting there for a long time. When he saw Colonial Secretary Chamberlain come in, he took the initiative to pour him a cup of Assam black tea and asked in the soothing tone unique to the British:

"Joseph, how did the colonial governors and representatives respond to the plan?"

Prime Minister Robert, or the Marquess of Salisbury, was serving as Prime Minister for the third time in 1897.

He was a Conservative leader and a tough prime minister who always wanted to build a stronger and more united Britain.

60. Therefore, taking advantage of the opportunity of the th anniversary of Queen Victoria's accession to the throne, Robert contacted all the colonial officials from various places who came to London and took the opportunity to convene the Second Colonial Conference of the British Empire.

"The situation is not optimistic." Old Chamberlain shook his head, took the black tea and sipped it slowly. After relaxing for a moment, he replied:

"They...are not willing to establish an Imperial Diet. They prefer to govern the regions as governors or commissioners rather than have a Diet as a yoke over their heads."

Old Chamberlain can be said to be an outlier among British politicians in the late 19th century. He was not a liberal who advocated small government, but a centralist who strongly supported the establishment of a big government.

At the end of the 19th century, Britain's territory spanned seven continents, and Chamberlain realized that a country's strength ultimately depended on its population and land area, rather than some superficial trade data.

Chamberlain believed that if "Britain" as a political entity always limited its borders to the British Isles, then one day, Britain's international status would continue to decline to these three small islands.

If Britain wanted to maintain its great power status, it had to establish a closely connected, strong and powerful British Empire entity, the so-called "Imperial Federation".

This idea can be said to be the prototype of the later Commonwealth, but in terms of the degree of organizational strictness and concentration of power, it is much higher than the Commonwealth.

In Chamberlain's vision, the British Commonwealth must have a unified parliament.

It is the Commonwealth Parliaments of the British Empire spread across the world, not a single British Parliament.

Whether British subjects or citizens of Canada, Newfoundland, Australia, South Africa, or New Zealand, all have seats and voting rights in the Imperial Federal Parliament.

It has to be said that this idea was really bold at the end of the 19th century. If it had come true, Britain's colonial empire might have been able to survive until after World War II, and the United States would not have become the world hegemon so quickly.

Therefore, after Prime Minister Robert, who had always advocated strengthening Britain's strength, took office as Prime Minister for the third time, he invited Chamberlain to join the cabinet as Secretary of State for the Colonies to promote this matter.

Chamberlain was well aware of how cautious and skeptical the British were about change, so he did not put forward the idea of ​​an Imperial Parliament right away. At the Second Colonial Conference of the British Empire, Chamberlain proposed three plans.

The first is to have each colony send a group of high-ranking people to organize an Imperial Affairs Committee to coordinate.

Second, each colony should send representatives to the British Parliament so that the British Parliament can represent the interests of the imperial colonies.

The third is to follow the example of the United States and establish a federal government that transcends Britain and its colonies.

From shallow to deep, the third option is the one in Chamberlain's mind.

However, what he did not expect was that no matter which plan he adopted, it was opposed by the colonial officials and representatives present.

"The colonial officials are too comfortable. They are unwilling to change the status quo!" Old Chamberlain said with some regret, savoring the flavor of Assam black tea on his lips.

"All three plans are caught in endless arguments!"

Chapter 406: Empire Turning Point : Win-Win

"Of course, this colonial conference is not without surprises." Old Chamberlain put down his teacup, stroked the kangaroo leather on the chair and said:

"At least the Australian colonial representatives fully supported my views at the conference, even going so far as to argue with the Canadian and Newfoundland representatives over this."

Having said that, old Chamberlain shook his head and laughed helplessly.

If we were to ask who supports the Imperial Federation Plan the most, it would probably be Australia, apart from the UK.

It can even be said that the British only want the interests of the colonies but do not want to assume the responsibility of defending the colonies.

But Australians are different. Even when faced with other colonies thousands of miles away and whom they have never met, they can take up guns to defend the interests of the British Empire in these places.

Faced with the increasingly restless Boer Republic in South Africa, Australian colonial representatives privately promised Chamberlain that as long as London could afford the military and weapons expenses, he could recruit at least 5000 Australian troops in Melbourne and Sydney to join the war.

Board a ship from the southeast of Australia, follow the westerly drift all the way eastward, and with the help of ocean currents, you can reach South Africa in less than a month.

However, the Australians' support did not ease Prime Minister Robert's frown.

Robert was once a staunch supporter of the "Imperial Federation" and 10 years ago he delivered the opening speech for the first colonial conference.

But after encountering setbacks in his first two attempts to form a government, he temporarily shelved the idea and focused all his attention on the issue of votes in the UK.

However, even so, he never gave up this view.

It was not until his third term as prime minister, when his power was consolidated, that Robert again entertained the idea.

Moreover, this time he did not choose to lead the charge himself, but instead invited another heavyweight advocate of the Imperial Federation Initiative, Chamberlain Sr., to join his cabinet.

Unfortunately, what Robert did not expect was that after 10 years, the connection between the colonies and the British mainland not only did not become closer, but became more distant.

They are even more opposed to the Imperial Federation than before

"I didn't expect that the descendants of criminals would love the British Empire even more, while the people of Canada and Newfoundland, who claim to be gentlemen and descendants of Puritans, only care about their immediate interests."

Prime Minister Robert was somewhat relieved, but no matter how relieved he was, he knew that it would not be enough to have only Australia.

Theoretically, as Prime Minister, he could control all the colonies of the British Empire, but in reality, those places only recognized the Queen, not the Prime Minister.

Although the representatives of local colonies spoke English and their ancestors were British, most of them were born in the colonies themselves and had only a vague concept of Britain and did not have much sense of belonging.

They may consider themselves Canadians, Newfoundlanders, or people of the British Empire, but they do not consider themselves British.

Even within the UK, there are many people who oppose the Imperial Federation plan.

Some British people believed that the colonies needed Britain's protection more than Britain needed the colonies' resources, and that the colonies were a burden.

Moreover, due to the British tradition of gentry autonomy and local self-government, conservative British politicians find it difficult to imagine a constitutional structure with unified sovereignty and unity from top to bottom.

You know, even in the 21st century, Britain has never had a written constitution.

Today's British people believe that building an imperial constitution and forcibly unifying the loose British Empire into an "Imperial Federation" will only backfire.

Thinking of this, Prime Minister Robert put down the exquisite enamel teacup in his hand, looked at Old Chamberlain and sighed:

"To completely unify the empire under one parliament, the resistance is still enormous.

Joseph, perhaps the idea of ​​the Imperial Parliament will ultimately remain just an idea.

Old man;607384:er

The MPs in London are just getting up when the MPs in Canada are going to bed.

Some of the ideas I expressed at the First Colonial Conference in 1887, which aimed at establishing an imperial federation directly on a constitutional level, were overly optimistic.

Seeing Prime Minister Robert's somewhat lonely expression, old Chamberlain also felt a little lonely.

It has to be said that British officials in the late 19th century still had a heart for the country. They were not the politicians of later generations who only cared about votes, or civil servants who only sought treatment.

"Forget it, let's talk about some practical issues." Old Chamberlain knew that the Imperial Federation could not be accomplished overnight in terms of law, so he decided to change direction and take it slowly:

"I'm wondering, Your Excellency, is it possible to advance the Imperial Federation plan in disguise from other places? For example, by learning from Prussia?"

"Prussia?"

Prime Minister Robert recalled the history of Prussia's unification of North Germany and asked in surprise, "Are we going to let the Royal Navy conquer these colonies?"

"No, no," Old Chamberlain quickly shook his head and explained:

"What I mean is that we can learn from Prussia's economic methods and carry out tariff reforms within the British Empire, such as establishing a unified customs union similar to that of North Germany.

The same tariffs were imposed on foreign products, while products within the empire circulated freely, with only a symbolic 10% ad valorem tax being charged."

A 10% tariff seems to be low enough compared to the 25% tariff commonly used in countries around the world.

But Britain is the most special country in the world, and it advocates a free trade policy.

The so-called free trade policy can be simply understood as zero tariff in terms of tariffs.

It was a plan implemented by Britain to seek greater profits after it became the world's factory after the Industrial Revolution.

It abolished the protective tariffs commonly used by European countries and implemented a tariff-free policy for most imported goods.

In other words, even when the Qing Dynasty's products were sold to Britain, there were no tariffs, including tea and porcelain.

On the other hand, due to Britain's strong industrial strength, coupled with cheap and tariff-free raw materials, British industrial products can be sold to the whole world at a "high quality and low price".

However, if a customs union is to be established, the cost of living and production in the UK will inevitably rise, weakening its competitiveness with other industrial countries, after all, taxes will be levied on imported raw materials.

Even 10% is an extremely high tax rate for the British who are accustomed to tax exemption.

On the other hand, although the cost of British industrial products has increased, which will increase the share of colonial industrial products in the mother country market, the emerging industries in the colonies will also be under strong competition from Britain.