Since arriving in London, Downing has been too busy to travel, and in England he has been as far as Birmingham, an industrial city known as the "Coal Capital", and perhaps the most pleasant trip he has had was to the Royal Botanic Gardens. Taking advantage of the low mood, he decided to travel to Europe, and published an article in the Telegraph inviting strange friends from Europe to receive them, preferably from academia, industry, art, and literature, but not limited to these four worlds.

Downing himself was one of the most brilliant inventors, scientists, and industrialists of our time, and a world-changing master, and he was indeed on the front page of a trip to Europe, and the Telegraph article was not at all out of place.

Obviously, Downing went to Europe this time to invest in industry, and people in industry were quite active. In particular, in the month of Downing's announcement, British Steel began to produce steel efficiently, and the Midland Railway, which owns London to Birmingham, became BS's first major customer. The compressive strength of the rail is much stronger than that of the rail, and for those busy lines, some rails have to be changed in half a month, and the rail is urgently needed.

The trend of replacing rails with rails is too obvious, the orders of British steel companies are flying like goose feathers, the annual output of 100,000 tons cannot be sold at all, the expensive price of 30 pounds a ton is still in short supply, BS's annual income is more than 3 million pounds, and all shareholders are smiling, and it is really a ruthless character who makes money.

Although no one knows the 3 million pounds, the whole of Birmingham knows that the absolute hegemon of the steel industry is none other than British Steel, and in this case, Downing announced the first stop of his European tour: Belgium.

Belgium is a small country, about the size of the Netherlands, with a similar population of more than 4 million. About 60% of the population speaks Dutch, and it has often merged with the Kingdom of the Netherlands in history, the last of which was between 1815 and 1830.

Before 1815, Belgium was under the rule of the First Empire of Fasiland, the empire founded by Napoleon, the European god of war. As a result, French is the second most spoken language in Belgium and has long been the only official language of Belgium, especially in the capital Brussels, where French is the dominant language.

There are also many German speakers in Belgium, such a multilingual and multi-ethnic country, and unlike Switzerland, which has mountain protection, many European wars have taken place in Belgium, making this small country known as the "European battlefield".

This European battlefield is not as tragic as the Congo in Africa, in fact, it was the first country on the European continent to carry out the industrial revolution, and the economy was quite developed, and in 1836 there was a railway network. What makes Downing even more admired is that Belgium has an efficient and clean constitutional monarchy.

This is the colonial era, but also the era of imperialism, the sense of achievement of the conquest of the country and the nation may be more important than freedom and wealth, so France, the most representative country in the European continent, their elected president is actually Napoleon's nephew Louis? Napoleon. It is clear that in Greater France, where democracy is not mature, the people still think that restoring the glory of the Napoleonic era and becoming the hegemon of the European continent is the most important thing for France to do.

Careerist Louie? Napoleon lobbied the Parliament to amend the constitution to allow him to be re-elected president, claiming that four years was not enough time for him to complete political and economic reforms. The parliament, controlled by a constitutionalist monarchy, rejected the request. In 1850, the parliament passed a new electoral law, which limited the power of **** and shortened the presidential term from four years to three years. As a result, many of the lower classes were disqualified from voting. Louis-Napoleon seized the opportunity to take advantage of the lower classes in order to eliminate his political opponents. He wooed his cronies, enlisted the support of the army, toured the country to make speeches condemning parliament, and claimed to be the protector of **** power.

After a month of preparation, he used his mistress Harriet? Howard Funds, on December 2, 1851, the 47th anniversary of Napoleon I's accession to the throne, staged a coup d'état.

After the coup d'état, a new constitution was introduced, which ostensibly retained the elected parliament and re-established the **** power. At the same time, the parliament expanded the powers of the president and extended the term of office of the president. Between the 20th and 21st of the same month, a national referendum was held, which showed that 92 per cent of voters supported the new constitution. The parliament soon became a rubber stamp, with real power in the hands of Louis-Napoleon.

Louis? Victor, a supporter before Napoleon? Hugo was so disappointed with him that he decided to go into exile, constantly making critical remarks about him. Hugo was typical of the mentality of the French elite, who, in the early days of democracy, was prone to limit their numbers with property due to the naïve behaviour of the newly powerful underclass, and careerists could take advantage of this opportunity.

At the beginning of Hugo's exile, he lived briefly in Brussels, and the Belgian government was under great political pressure from France, demanding that Hugo leave within three months. Napoleon's exiles.

The Telegraph was also published in Brussels, so the news of Downing's invitation to the Four Realms to receive them also spread throughout Brussels, which was the first stop on Baron Buckingham's European tour. It is said that this uneducated baron has not even read "The Orphan of the Fog", I don't know why, the literary world is also interested in him, pretending to be it, right? Either way, Hugo decided to meet the legendary No. 1 philanthropist of all time before going into exile to see if he was the legendary man.

Downing's first stop in Brussels was to go to Hugo's residence, not that he valued this great writer the most, he couldn't speak a few words of French, and he couldn't attach importance to a French writer. It's just that Hugo said that he was too miserable, and he was going to the next stop of exile soon, and he might not be able to see him if he didn't come sooner.

The translator brought by Downing was very excited as he went to Hugo's quarters, and he also remembered Hugo's sentence from "Porte Vieille": Do you have enemies? Why? Because this is the story of all those who have done great things, all those who have created new ideas. Dark clouds will thunder and lightning at everything that shines. Fame has its enemies, just as light attracts mosquitoes. Don't it, despise it. Clear your mind and keep your life clean.

Downing smiled, this translation level is good, such a timely sentence, just to encourage him, the hero who exposed opium with truth and virtue, the hero who was surrounded by the dark clouds of the East India Company and roared and flashed.

Downing and the translator went to Hugo's house, a house on the Grand Place in Brussels, where Hugo rented a room because he thought the Grand Place was the most beautiful square in the world.

The main thing is that the Gothic town hall is very beautiful, Hugo's room is opposite the town hall, the pigeon hotel, and the small figurines of various shapes are also quite interesting.

Hugo was accompanied by his wife, his friend Alexander? Dumas, that is, Alexandre Dumas.

It is said that literati are light, but Hugo and Alexandre Dumas are quite good, not bad, and their morals are quite noble. They are all representatives of French Romantic literature. The so-called romantics are unrealistic, and Hugo's most outstanding expression is that he wants the European continent to become a unified country, and he also borrowed the name of the United States of America to name his ideal country "United States of Europe".

On August 21, 1849, in his capacity as President, Hugo delivered a speech at the Congress of Philosophical Papers of the Delegates' Representatives of Peace in Paris:

"There will come a time when you France, you Russia, you Italy, you England, you Germany, every country on your continent, you will not lose your different qualities, you will not lose your glorious individuality, but you will form a unity of a higher level, and you will form brothers and sisters in Europe...... One day, we will see these two great groups, the United States of America and the United States of Europe, face to face, across the sea, reaching out to each other to exchange their products, trade, industry, art, genius, to reclaim the earth, to colonize the deserts, to improve all things under the gaze of the Creator, and to unite these two infinite forces, the brotherhood between men and the power of God, for the happiness of all. ”

On July 17, 1851, Hugo delivered a speech entitled "On the Amendment of the Constitution in the Legislative Council". This was an important moment when Hugo and the **** headed by President Bonaparte broke with each other: "This revolution gave birth to a republic in France...... The French people, in the middle of the monarchy's Old Continent, laid the first cornerstone of the future edifice, which would one day be called the United States of Europe, through the indestructible granite! At a time when the president was reneging on his oath and plotting to become emperor, Hugo spoke of the ideal of the "United States of Europe", which caused a long laugh in the conference hall. This is the wishful thinking of the romantic Hugo.

In a laborious conversation with the great tycoon Downing, Hugo was also promoting his ideal of the United States of Europe.

After listening to Hugo's romantic remarks, Downing organized his thoughts and said: "I think it is too ideal to talk about the United States of Europa at a time when the two major European subjects, France and the German-speaking Commonwealth, where the system has not yet stabilized, and the German Confederation, have not clarified their internal affairs, but I am also a great Europeanist. What I have always pursued is the principle of using realism to achieve the ideal way of life, which is probably the only reliable methodology.

I think it is more feasible to let the countries with more stable regimes unite first, such as Britain, Belgium and the Netherlands, but Britain is too powerful and has countless colonies, and it is certainly unwilling to unite with others, so it is possible to leave Belgium and the Netherlands. It is more likely that the two countries will first establish a zero-tariff free trade zone, and then a duty-free free trade zone for coal and steel. If the coal and steel duty-free free trade zone cannot be built, then it will be even more difficult. ”

Hugo has always had a lot of fans since he became famous, so he is overly optimistic about European unity, and he can't listen to Downing's businessmanlike realism, but the atmosphere between the two is not too stiff, after all, Downing is also a big European, and the two share great ideals.

If Hugo did not have the passion of romanticism, he would not be Hugo, and Downing did not want his "philistine spirit" to be tainted with too many literary masters, so he stopped in moderation and only said that he would support Hugo's ideal of the United States of Europe and want to publish a book? No problem, I'll help you regardless of profit or loss. Want to start a newspaper? No problem, I'll pay for you too. Downing also went through his own plan for a simple English textbook, hoping that Hugo and Alexandre Dumas would come forward or find someone to organize the compilation of a simple French textbook, and maybe Downing himself would be the first batch of students for this textbook.

Dumas, nicknamed "The Great Stallion", lived a lavish life, and even his famous son, Alexandre Dumas, was born out of wedlock to a seamstress, and it wasn't until he was seven years old that his father had the conscience to pay for his mother and son. In order to make ends meet, Alexandre Dumas often found someone to ghostwrite new works, and was known as the "director of the novel factory", and he was very enthusiastic about this simple French textbook, because he had money to make. The French Revolution of 1848 left Alexandre Dumas' most important source of income, the theater, empty, and he was in debt, selling the castle of Monte Cristo, which he had worked so hard to build, and still not paying off his debts, and even if he did not go into exile in Brussels, he had a large number of creditors waiting for him in Paris.

Downing's money is not easy to make, he originally wanted to follow the set of English textbooks, find five linguists to publish books together, and the best textbooks can get a high salary, but seeing that Alexandre Dumas is so enthusiastic, it is really difficult to speak, forget it, anyway, I have not made up my mind to learn French well, you can make a price.

Alexandre Dumas finally offered 100,000 francs. In the era of the gold standard, the exchange rate in Europe was fixed, 26. 28 francs for £1 and the price was ok. The era of Napoleon the Great's domination of Europe was not far away, and the influence of France was enormous, with Belgium, Luxembourg and Switzerland all having their own currencies, but they were all called francs and valued the same as French francs.