Justice Secretary Truss was the first to stand up and said directly: "Although I don't completely agree with Prime Minister Russell's proposal, I am in favor of increasing the number of soldiers and sending troops to recover Ireland." The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland is now indeed at a life-and-death point, and Ireland has been completely occupied by the rebels. By tomorrow at the latest, the rebels in Ireland will declare their independence from the kingdom and establish a new state. If we don't expand our troops, I'm afraid that the name of the United Kingdom will be removed from Ireland and directly changed to the Kingdom of Great Britain.

Even the island of Ireland, which is close at hand, can't be pacified, how can it still be called the British Empire, where the sun never sets?

But I am firmly opposed to Prime Minister Russell's other proposal, a declaration of war on the Chinese Empire. It's not that I'm going to the East, I'm a native of Northamptonshire, England, and I love this great country dearly. I am also worried about the strength of the Chinese Empire, and I always want to defeat this country that threatens my British Empire, but not now! It wasn't at this time that the rebellion in Great Britain had just been put down, the Indian rebellion had not yet been quelled, and Ireland was completely occupied by the rebellious Irish! ”

Chancellor of the Exchequer Gladstone also immediately expressed his support: "Ladies and gentlemen, I am firmly opposed to Prime Minister Russell's proposal, and I feel that even his decision to recover Ireland has some doubts and needs to be reconsidered, and the decision to declare war on the Chinese Empire and cut off and sanction trade in the East is too reckless and stupid!"

Didn't the failure of the last expedition to China hurt Sir Russell? Last time in that situation, it was still defeated, and now the army is seriously insufficient, the financial situation has deteriorated further, and even when there is a rebellion in the country, it is necessary to forcibly declare war on China, not for the sake of the Kingdom of Great Britain, but to drag the kingdom into the abyss! ”

His remarks immediately caused the parliamentarians to discuss. Everyone knows that Ireland has been completely occupied by the rebels and is preparing to establish a state, and if it does not send troops to recover it at this time, I am afraid that it will be independent like the United States more than 80 years ago.

When everyone questioned, Justice Secretary Truss advised: "Gladstone, my friend, I know that you are against Russell's feelings, and it is very stupid to declare war and launch a trade blockade against China. But the decision to regain Ireland is the right one, and we still have to support it! ”

Gladstone said, "Let me tell you why it's wrong to even send troops to regain Ireland!"

Everyone knows that the Irish are descendants of the Celts and believe in Catholicism. And we in Great Britain are mainly Protestant. From the time of Henry II, we began our cross-sea conquest of Ireland, and by more than a hundred years ago, we had conquered the entire island of Ireland. Sixty years ago, Parliament passed the Anglo-Irish Annexation Act, which formally incorporated Ireland into Great Britain, but the nightmare began. In the past 60 years, the 'Catholic Liberation Movement', the 'Unification Movement', the 'Young Ireland Movement' and now the 'Fenian Uprising', these Irish people have always wanted to drive us out and establish an independent state. To do this, we not only need tens of thousands of troops stationed on the island of Ireland all year round, but also more than 10,000 English police officers to maintain law and order on the island. What do you get in exchange? ”

Gladstone's rhetorical question couldn't help but cause everyone to think deeply.

Naturally, it was Gladstone, who was the chancellor of the exchequer, who was the chancellor of the exchequer, who said: "In exchange for some linen, wine, and large quantities of cereals and potatoes." The annual output of grain and other agricultural products from the island of Ireland is worth 36 million pounds, but 27 million pounds of it is used by the land rent of the major farmers or aristocrats or the profits of the grain merchants. The remaining 9 million pounds were also consumed by the Irish peasants themselves, which was not enough, and it would cost the kingdom nearly 10 million pounds a year to maintain the rule of Ireland and pay the salaries of the soldiers, policemen, and officials stationed there.

In other words, spending millions of pounds to buy grain and flax, wine, and other agricultural and sideline products of equal price would not benefit the Kingdom of Great Britain in the slightest, but would have to run a deficit of tens of millions of pounds a year. According to my statistics, since the annexation of the island of Ireland to the British Empire, the Kingdom of Great Britain has lost £230,000,000 in debt if the island of Ireland were to be financially accounted for separately.

What good is such an Ireland for, apart from providing us with some food for the Kingdom of Great Britain and the like? Cheaper workers? Beggars and unemployed vagrants on the streets of London? The scoundrels who loot their belongings at night and the horrible assassins who want to fight for Irish independence all day long and want to deal with us? ”

Russell had some embarrassment on his face! As the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Great Britain, it is already a little less glamorous to need the Queen's statement platform, and now he is holding the Queen's statement but is still questioned by the cabinet members, which is undoubtedly saying that he is incompetent!

He said with some annoyance, "Gladstone, what do you mean by that?" Is the glory of the British Empire measured only by a few pounds? Without the grain in Ireland, the people of Great Britain would starve! ”

Gladstone said with some contempt, "Really? It's your Russell family, who have hundreds of thousands of acres of farms in Ireland, right? The Irish grain was no better than the grain from Russia, North America, and Turkey, but it was much more expensive. Perhaps without Ireland, the people of Great Britain would have been able to buy better and more food for less.

As for the glory of the British Empire, no one does not care. But is it the glory of the British Empire to barely maintain the rule of Ireland with tens of millions of pounds of loss? If the island of Ireland had not been occupied in the first place, not to mention how much wealth my Kingdom of Great Britain had made from trade with Ireland, the accumulated deficit alone would have amounted to £230,000,000! Think about it, such a huge wealth is enough for every British citizen to have an extra income of 7 pounds, or enough to build several full Mediterranean fleets and start 2 new Crimean Wars!

Gentlemen, in my opinion, it would be better to negotiate with the Irish on this, and give them a little political status, the right of self-government, and a dependent self-government under the rule of the Kingdom of Great Britain, and even a self-governing subject, with an annual tax of £10,000,000 and 100,000 soldiers and fifty per cent of the food required by the Kingdom of Great Britain. Come to think of it, isn't it actually more advantageous to let such conditions be autonomous than to spend tens of millions of pounds in exchange for a false name? ”

As soon as Gladstone's words came out, the members of the House of Commons exploded!

I have to admit that Gladstone's proposal is very tempting! It is also very practical, and solves the current dilemma of the shortage of soldiers in Great Britain and the fight on several fronts. The key thing is that I also found a good step down and got very big practical benefits. The point is, will the Irish agree to such conditions? And could the nobles and common people of Great Britain accept such a somewhat humiliating decision?

Justice Chancellor Truss was surprised: "If that's the case, then it's really better to give up the island of Ireland!" As for face, does it matter if there are tens of millions of pounds? If you want territory, the British Empire can't occupy territory overseas? ”

With the support of the Minister of Justice, other MPs began to speak out.

Hugh Pilkington, Lord Keeper of the Seals and head of the Parliament, directly agreed: "Not bad! The Irish and we have a feud and have different religious beliefs. Even though sixty years have passed, and half of the Irish have been forcibly changed to speak English instead of Irish, the stubborn and stupid Irish still consider themselves Irish, and we English people as enemies! Therefore, even if you send troops again and occupy Ireland, you will still not be able to completely succumb to these stupid donkeys, and as soon as the suppressed army withdraws, they will rebel again! Unless all these Irish are killed or driven away. But it's impossible! None of us are crazy, and the people of Great Britain will not allow us to do so! And, without the Irish, what good is it for us in the Kingdom of Great Britain? We still need these cheap Irish servants and hired hands.

If the Irish rebels could really agree to Mr. Gladstone's terms, I don't think they would be able to sit down and talk. After all, even if we conquered Ireland by force and killed all the rebellious Irish, what would we gain? We ourselves have to sacrifice many of our soldiers' lives in exchange for some food that still costs money. ”

The statement of the head of the parliament, Hugh Pilkington, immediately led the situation in the other direction, and the parliamentarians who originally supported Prime Minister Russell immediately fell silent, and more parliamentarians began to agree with the reconciliation with Ireland, of course, on the premise that Ireland could not completely betray the Kingdom of Great Britain, nor could it be independent, but at least nominally a territory of the kingdom, and that it was subject to the payment of a lot of taxes every year, the service of a large number of soldiers, the provision of cheap food supplies and raw materials, and even the freedom of navigation and jurisdiction of the seaport.

War Secretary Panmmel Ramsay firmly objected. He thought it necessary to teach the Irish a profound lesson, and that it was time to relocate another group of English residents to settle in Ireland. Once Ireland is given a little autonomy, it will only become more and more fierce in the future, and it will cause other overseas colonies to follow suit, and when the time comes, I am afraid that the entire overseas territory system of the British Empire will collapse.

The Earl of Derby, the Foreign Secretary, also expressed opposition to rapprochement with Ireland. Although he did not agree with Prime Minister Russell's declaration of war on China, he believed that Ireland must quickly put down the rebellion. Otherwise, it will be out of control, affecting India, as well as Australia and even the North American colonies, etc.

Other members of parliament from noble backgrounds also expressed their opposition to Gladstone's proposal.

The head of the parliament, Hugh Pilkington, naturally knows the thoughts of these noble-born parliamentarians. It is nothing more than that these noble-born parliamentarians, like the nobles in the House of Lords, occupy a large amount of land in Ireland, enjoy the benefits of the subsidy deficit of the Kingdom of Great Britain every year, and exploit the Irish but the British government bears the contradictions, and naturally does not want Ireland to break away from Great Britain, even if it is a small autonomy. All they want is to forcibly suppress the rebels and take back their territory on the island of Ireland!

But unfortunately, this is the House of Commons of the Kingdom of Great Britain, which is a plebeian house with a majority of ordinary people, and is a parliamentary body democratically elected by the lower classes, especially after the passage of the "Reform Bill" thirty years ago, the House of Commons is the most influential, and the new merchants and factory owners have become the backing force behind the House of Commons. They don't care about land or anything like that, they care about actual benefits.

Clearly, Gladstone's advice would have made a real difference for the majority of people. As for face, just give a little bit, and the rest is something that Queen Victoria and Prime Minister Russell think about.