In the early morning of December 26, 1879, the media throughout Europe were quite bored, and the expected war of words between the European powers did not take place as scheduled.

At six o'clock in the morning, I sat at the telegraph of the news agency and waited for the reporters of the Great Powers to make a statement, and after sitting for more than four hours, they finally got a belated statement from the British Foreign Office.

The Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland has taken note of the diplomatic statement made by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Government of the French Third Republic on the 25th of this month, and in response to the attitude of the Government of the French Third Republic, the Government of the United Kingdom, which has authorized the Foreign Office of the United Kingdom, hereby declares as follows:

1. The Government of the United Kingdom supports the right of any country to freedom of navigation in international waters, and has a positive understanding of the ocean-going voyage of the fleet of the Russian Imperial Navy and its visit to the military port of Brest in France.

2. At the same time, the Government of the United Kingdom notes that the size of the fleet of the Russian Imperial Navy visiting the military port of Brest, France, conflicts with the size of the fleet permitted under the provisions of the Treaty of Copenhagen. In this regard, the Government of the United Kingdom will send personnel to conduct specific investigations, and the Government of the United Kingdom will reserve the power to impose sanctions in the future against any possible actors who undermine the content of the Copenhagen Treaty.

3. The Government of the United Kingdom once again reaffirms and pledges to do its utmost to uphold the Copenhagen Treaty and will not allow any country to challenge the authority and integrity of the Copenhagen Treaty.

4. The United Kingdom appreciates the view of the Imperial Government of Germany that any military alliance on the European continent would be a disruption of the existing balance of power among European nations, and that the Government of the United Kingdom will pursue a non-aligned foreign policy while continuing to closely follow the changes on the European continent.

Glory to Britannia, glory to my Emperor, may God bless Queen Victoria.

I have to say that the statement of the British Foreign Office is really gentle and euphemistic, and it is very moving....

The British media, which is the representative of the conservative forces in Britain and the right-wing newspaper with the closest ties to the British government, opened a special column to speak out for the Disraeli government.

"Our core interests lie in the oceans, so defending the right to freedom of navigation is actually safeguarding our own maritime interests, and the government's position on this is completely correct."

"Are the Russians challenging our sea power?"

"The size of the Imperial Russian Navy, with only four warships, plus the weak French Navy, both in terms of quantity and quality, I can assure you gentlemen that the Royal Navy's Channel Fleet will not be able to completely destroy them in more than six hours."

"A navy like a tub, a navy like a baby, the French dare to declare that they want to challenge our sea power, gentlemen, this seems to me to be the greatest joke of the century, and the French on the Champs-Élysées have probably not yet woken up from their Christmas hangover."

"Gentlemen, but we also need to honestly admit that the secret act of the Imperial Russian Navy this time is an incomparably serious insult to us and to our Empire, so we must thoroughly investigate the entire process of the Imperial Russian Navy's operations, and we need to confirm what role the Royal Danish Government played in this incident, and more importantly, how the Imperial Russian Navy secretly crossed the English Channel under the eyes of the Royal Navy."

"The Disraeli government is absolutely right in announcing that it will send someone to investigate this matter, but I still urge the government to do as much as possible and independently investigate this mission."

"In response to the French government's verbal provocation, the Disraeli government only responded by praising the German Foreign Office and Germany's opposition to changing the statement of the balance of power in Europe, which is a euphemistic warning to the French government that the current military adventure is not conducive to the relationship between Britain and France, and that in the future German-French conflict, Britain may change its current position of self-isolation."

It should be said that the Times accurately expressed the intention of the Disraeli government to downplay the matter, as a world hegemon has to face all kinds of challenges every day, but not every so-called challenge is worthy of being taken seriously, and it is not a gentleman's style to be danced with by the madmen of the world.

The world hegemon has the dignity and self-confidence of the world hegemon, and if the weak can defeat the world hegemon with bluff intimidation, will not the world be reduced to a world of lies, empty words, and lies?

If human society is not comparing who is more civilized and just, who is richer and more powerful, who is more cultured and more polite, then what is the difference between it and those animals that crawl on the ground?

Don't always believe that the most powerful animals are the strongest in the jungle, in fact, a person with a civilized background in human society can easily shoot all the so-called jungle powerhouses.

A jungle is a jungle, and the laws of the jungle only apply to animals, not people, especially civilized people.

Therefore, it is ridiculous to intimidate people who do not have the real strength of human civilization, but what is even more ridiculous is the kind of people who obviously have no strength, but dare to pretend that they have the strength to intimidate others.

Brother Long or something, you are ugly, but you are stupid.

Before the French and Russian governments made a substantial threat, the Disraeli government behaved like a typical British gentleman, well-dressed and smiling at arm's length.

Perhaps Prime Minister Disraeli, who has been suffering from illness, has finally begun to deteriorate in his ability to manage all kinds of emergencies, or in the mind of Foreign Minister Cecil, he is accustomed to seeing such stupid and meaningless threats, or he does not want to miss the annual Christmas reunion, and after making a diplomatic statement, Cecil decided to let the diplomats in Whitehall go home and continue to enjoy this Christmas holiday.

In the heart of Foreign Minister Cecil, he hopes that this bad thing will end here, but bad things will always be bad things, and bad things will always exist longer than you expect.

1880 was an election year for the British Parliament, and it was inconceivable that at such a critical juncture, there would have been no left-wing newspapers engaged in a pen battle with the right-wing representative The Times, to attack the policies of the Disraeli government.

The Manchester Guardian, which represents the left-wing position of Britain, that is, the famous "Guardian" in Joey's previous life, as the most important public opinion position of Mr. Gladstone, certainly cannot agree with the weak political position of the "Times".

The Guardian's editorial headline was straightforward, "The weakness of the Disraeli government today is your pain tomorrow".

"The Disraeli government always likes to boast that it is upholding the rules, and in upholding the right to freedom of navigation, putting on the face of a so-called rule defender, dear readers and gentlemen, do you really think that the rules in the mouth of the Disraeli government really protect the empire and your security in the face of this Russian attack?"

"There is conclusive evidence that the Disraeli government did not receive any prior information about this attack by the Russian Navy, nor did the Royal Navy receive any prior warning, and that every Imperial soldier on the island of Britain was enjoying the Christmas holidays as the Russians swaggered through the English Channel."

"As we all know, the Thames estuary of the British Empire has no naval or army defense forces, and as for the disraeli government's claim that the Chatham Naval Base at the Thames Estuary can protect London's security, this is an outright lie, and every Londoner knows very well that the Medway and the Thames are two completely different rivers, and the Chatham Naval Base is located on the Medway River."

"What will happen if a Russian who fights with us in the Near East for control of the Black Sea and threatens the Suez Canal, who competes with us in the Middle East for spheres of influence in Transcaucasia and Persia, who ignited a war in Afghanistan and seeks India, the most beautiful jewel in the crown of the empire, and a Russia that opposes the empire at every turn in Eurasia, are ready to go to war against us without declaring war?"

"Imagine the scene that just this past Christmas Eve, these Russian warships did not cross the English Channel, but drove into the mouth of the Thames under the cover of darkness when the Christmas Eve bell rang, and drove straight to the shore of the London docks under the eyes of the British Empire soldiers enjoying the Christmas turkey feast."

"Dear readers and gentlemen, close your eyes and seriously imagine that in the heart of the British Empire, our London, from the Tower of London to Westminster, from Parliament Street to Buckingham Palace, not to mention the rich men who live in Kensington-Chelsea, even as far away as Fulham and Notting Hill, all the people tremble under the roar of 6-inch, 8-inch, and even 12-inch cannons!"

"Mr. Joe Smith, an expert in the Royal Navy, told this newspaper in all seriousness that at such a close distance from the London docks, one 12-inch shell is enough to destroy the Tower of London, two 8-inch shells are enough to blow up the Houses of Parliament, and to destroy the entire Whitehall, it only takes 10 6-inch naval guns to fire a salvo."

"As for Buckingham Palace, I can only be here and beg God to bless my king."

"Under the continuous fire of 26 guns over 6 inches, it will never take more than four hours to destroy Notting Hill, Fulham, Battersea, Brixton, Camberwell, Peckham, Popler, Stoke Newmington, Holloway."

To illustrate, Fulham and Notting Hill represent the wealthy bourgeois quarters of Britain, while Battersea, Brixton, Camberwell and Peckham are the preferred neighbourhoods of the middle class, while the remaining areas are home to large numbers of British workers' families.

"And the Royal Navy's ironclad battleship takes at least six hours from the boiler to the time it can sail at full speed, not to mention whether the officers of the Royal Navy can catch a sober sailor on the debauched and chaotic night of Christmas!"

"The Russians only need to use all their shells in just four hours, then turn the bow of the ship and swagger out of the Thames again, disappearing into the dark North Sea."

"What will the Russians leave us? Mutilated corpses, burning houses, ruined cities, orphans who have lost their parents, the pain of losing their loved ones forever! ”

"Any retaliation after the fact is as important as not taking precautions in advance, especially when the Russians have proven that they have the strength and the ability to sneak attack on the British Isles, sneak attack on London, so our top priority is how to strengthen the Royal Navy's early warning force, strike force and defense force."

"Mr. Gladstone made it clear in his interview with this newspaper that if the Liberals win next year's parliamentary elections, then he will carry out a new naval policy for the Royal Navy, a standard that has never existed before, that is, to ensure that the Royal Navy has the ability to destroy both the French and Russian navies simultaneously on all surfaces from the Atlantic to the Pacific."

"Domination of the world's seas will only ensure the security of Britain itself, we also need to attack, we need to have an army force that can hit Paris, hit Moscow, and deter France and Russia."

"Perhaps, it is time for us to let go of our isolation policy and find an army force on the European continent to deter those who dare to challenge the sea power of the British Empire!"

"Dear readers and gentlemen, it is proved by countless facts that the tough Earl of Beaconsfield has become the weak Mr. Disraeli who and his Conservative government have no ability, let alone a means, to protect the people of the British Empire!"

"Gentlemen readers, it's time for a change! The British Empire now needs a new Navigator! ”

"Today, you believe the big words of the Disraeli government, then tomorrow, who are you collecting the body for, or, who is collecting the body for you?!"

While Disraeli's Conservative government has achieved many great things over the past six years, it has grown at less than 2 per cent of its industrial growth rate over the past nine years compared to Britain before 1870, and 3.2 per cent in the two decades before 1870.

Britain, at the top of the world, has begun to slow down, and once it slows down, the problems that used to be masked by economic growth become more and more acute and prominent, and it is the working class at the bottom who will feel the adverse effects directly.

The education and experience they have received will inevitably make the people at the bottom have no ability to think rationally as they are called in the upper class, and more often rely on their passionate emotions and in the hearts of the people who do not have fancy intestines, they like direct, exciting, inflammatory, and combative articles, so as to find an outlet for them to vent their unsatisfactory lives, and the target of the Russians set by the Manchester Guardian for the British people is really opportune.

Other newspapers belonging to the left-wing camp, such as The Observer and the Morning Star, while attacking the Cowardice of the Disraeli government, began to promise and build momentum for the vast majority of British industrial workers, demanding that a new government that could purchase more steel and coal and build more warships come to power.

On the evening of December 26, Foreign Minister Cecil was about to attend the Christmas Ball at Kensington Palace, and was blocked at the door of Kensington Palace by a large group of reporters who had received the news in advance.

When asked by a reporter what the Foreign Minister thought of the views of the Manchester Guardian this morning, Foreign Minister Cecil, who was originally going to put forward a proposal to expand the long-term budget of the Royal Navy after Christmas and New Year, could not help but be angry.

Foreign Minister Cecil, with a gloomy face, spoke of the second of the three follies that would hurt him every time he recalled Christmas 1879 in the future, this Christmas speech for the sake of justification.

"Mr. Gladstone and his allies on the left are trying to exaggerate the threat facing Britain for themselves and for the Liberal elections for the unjustified benefit of the Liberal Party, in a vain attempt to smear the Conservative government and deceive your votes with the most despicable lies."

"I can say responsibly for the Conservative Government that the British Empire is now safe, and that not a single British citizen has been injured or lost any life or property in the incident with the Russian Navy, so please do not trust Mr. Gladstone, and the newspapers full of speculation and lies, which are not worth reading at all!"

"We have all the details of this fleet of the Russian Navy, and nothing is out of control."

"Everything is under the control of the government."