"I'd like to hear what you think!"

Chancellor Russell smiled at Canning in a calm but dignified tone.

Canning instantly realized that the former Prime Minister and current Foreign Secretary in front of him had already had his own ideas, and the reason why he politely asked his opinion was probably to add some persuasion when reporting to Lord Aberdeen.

So Prime Minister Russell...... No, it should be Minister Russell's attitude towards the French Empire that is the most important link!

Grasping the essence of the problem, Canning pondered Russell's attitude towards the French Empire during his tenure as prime minister, and he firmly believed that a good politician would not change his governing philosophy because of his position.

The guys who can become prime ministers are often the most old-fashioned people!

Canning suddenly thought of a "grapevine" he had heard from a public official.

During Russell's presidency as prime minister, Palmerston, then foreign secretary, met with the French envoy, and after that meeting the two sides seemed to agree on some points.

Maybe the rumors are true? What did Minister Russell really have with France?

Canning had a vague judgment in his mind, and he had the mentality of giving it a try.

"Your Excellency, I personally think that the reason why the Ottoman High Gate issued such an order was based on the consideration of the French fleet!" Canning cautiously probed.

"Huh?" Chancellor Russell spat out an "um" with interest, then continued: "You go on. ”

"As far as the power of the whole Mediterranean is concerned, the United Kingdom is the number one!" Canning began with a wave of boasting, and then continued: "The French fleet anchored in the port of Marseille is much weaker than ours, but it is still a force to be reckoned with. I think that with the strength of France's own fleet, it will be enough to annihilate the fleet of the Russian Empire in the Black Sea region, as well as the fleet of the Ottoman Empire! ”

The size of the French Empire's fleet in the Mediterranean did cause concern among some of Britain's legalophobes, but in general it was not yet a threat to Britain's maritime supremacy.

Canning was more wary than hostile to the French Empire's maritime power.

When the French fleet is seventy percent of the United Kingdom's fleet and has qualified naval candidates, the United Kingdom will look squarely at the French navy.

The United Kingdom is now fully capable of winning the combined forces of the world's second (France) and third (Russia) forces at sea.

"What do you think Britain should do in this ruling?" Russell posed a tricky question to Canning, which should have been something that Russell should have pondered.

"I think the best thing for the Kingdom of Britain to do is to keep things the same!" Canning replied to Prime Minister Russell.

Translated, Britain didn't have to do anything in the midst of this change.

The corners of Russell's mouth rose slightly, and Canning's answer was exactly what Russell was thinking.

Even so, Chancellor Russell wanted to ask why Cunning had such thoughts.

"Your Excellency!" Canning shrugged his shoulders, he stretched out his index finger and pointed to the map of Europe hanging behind Russell and said: "The Russian Empire will never acquiesce to this kind of thing, they will definitely do something!" Both militarily and diplomatically! As soon as they start moving, the whole of Europe will move! By that time, the United Kingdom would not be too late to consider admission! ”

"Good!" Minister Russell applauded Canning's answer: "Mr. Canning, you are a qualified diplomatic ambassador!" Britain is proud to have an ambassador like you! ”

"You're overrated!" Canning still had a modest smile on his face.

"Could you please write a report on what you just talked about and give it to me?" Chancellor Russell asked Canning in a seemingly consultative, but actually commanding tone.

"Absolutely!" Naturally, Canning did not have any right to choose to refuse Russell's assignment.

"That's it! Mr. Canning, you must have been tired from taking the ship from Constantinople back to London! I won't force you to stay here! "Minister Russell tactfully issued an eviction order to Canning.

"Your Excellency, take care!"

Canning got up and left the minister's office, leaving Russell alone to think.

After a while, the chief permanent secretary himself full-time secretaries entered the room, and they sat in their respective places to help Foreign Minister Russell with diplomatic-related documents.

The only sound left in the minister's office was the sound of flipping through the papers, and I don't know how long it was, the contemplative Minister Russell asked again: "When is the Home Secretary coming!" ”

The Permanent Secretary and the Full-time Secretary stopped what they were doing at the same time, and the two of them exchanged "exchanges" through their eyes, and finally the full-time Secretary stood up from his workstation and reported to Minister Russell: "Your Excellency, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs does not have a meeting with the Secretary of Home on its agenda!" ”

"Then add it!" Minister Russell said to the full-time secretary in a tough manner.

"Yes!" The full-time secretary cautiously asked: "I don't know, when do you want to meet with the Minister of the Interior!" ”

"Now! Right away! Chancellor Russell emphasized in an unkind tone.

"I'll arrange it for you!" Seeing this, the full-time secretary dared not have the slightest delay, and he quickly left the foreign minister's office.

The Principal Permanent Secretary was anxious to put the document as a whole, for fear that one of them would be angered by Minister Russell.

This period still belonged to the era of the aristocracy, and the power of civil servants was not at its peak, so they had to carefully prostrate at the feet of the noble ministers and obey their orders.

After another half hour or so, the full-time secretary returned to the Foreign Minister's office and reported to Russell: "Your Excellency, Lord Palmerston, Home Secretary, will be here soon!" ”

Chancellor Russell nodded slightly, waiting for Palmerston's arrival.

Ten minutes later, the door of the minister's office rang again, and the full-time secretary near the door quickly got up and opened the door.

Lord Palmerston, the Home Secretary, stood outside the door.

"Your Excellency!" The full-time secretary respectfully saluted Palmerston.

Faced with a full-time secretary without a knighthood, Palmerston only bowed slightly.

Russell, who was sitting in the minister's chair, also got up to greet Palmerston when he saw him.

Palmerston and Russell, once "enemies", are now in harmony in the cabinet of a third party.

"Let's go! Let's talk in the back room! Russell invited Palmerston to the back room to talk.

Before the two entered the back room, Russell ordered the chief permanent secretary and the full-time secretary to leave the minister's office.

After watching the permanent secretary and the full-time secretary switch the door to the office, Russell and Palmerston entered the back room and closed the door.

Russell, who sat on the sofa with black woolen cushions, opened the humidor on the table, took out a cigar and handed it to Palmerston, who lit it for him.

Then he took out another cigar and lit it for himself. After a few moments, the whole room was as hazy as a "fairyland".

Palmerston and Russell begin to talk about the Ottoman Empire.

"The affairs of the Ottoman Empire, I think you should know very well! I'm not going to go into too much detail! Minister Russell said to Palmerston.

"Roughly what it is, I almost get it! His Majesty Napoleon III of the French Empire was not at all restless! There was a hint of sarcasm in Palmerston's words, as he was in favor of uniting France, he was in favor of Jérôme. Bonaparte had no good feelings, and certainly no malice.

It's just that France's action did make Palmerston a little unhappy.

"That's right!" Russell nodded sympathetically and said, "His Majesty the Emperor has always advocated peace in Europe, and now it seems that he is precisely the most unpeaceful person!" ”

Palmerston took a puff of his cigar, then puffed out a puff of smoke and said, "Now that the situation is very clear, the Russian Empire will never let this matter go unchecked!" They are bound to take action! ”

"That's what I thought too!" Minister Russell nodded again in agreement with Palmerston: "It's just that the Russian Empire will use the military aspect, or will it make a diplomatic fuss!" ”

"I guess there's a good chance he'll do both! Both to make a fuss militarily, and to coerce the Ottoman Emperor diplomatically, by the way, to win over the United Kingdom! Palmerston replied to Chancellor Russell.

Then, the corners of Palmerston's mouth revealed a hint of disdain: "Our Mr. Prime Minister is a guy close to the Russian Empire!" I can't guarantee what agreement the Kingdom of Britain will come to with the Russian Empire! ”

"That's right!" Minister Russell sighed: "Now the entire cabinet, except for a small number of ministers, the vast majority of them are close to the ministers of the Russian Empire!" Don't say it's them, even those guys outside Downing Street, aren't they like that! ”

Russell's reference to those guys outside Downing Street was referring to London's public opinion circles.

After the establishment of the French Empire, British public opinion always had a certain hostility towards the French Empire. In order to contain the French Empire, they were even willing to compromise with the Russian Empire.

Palmerston and Russell saw clearly the threat of the Russian Empire to British interests in the Near East before they chose to join forces with the French Empire against the Russian Empire.

"At the end of the day, our prime minister is not a qualified politician at all! He will only sway by following the swaying of public opinion! Palmerston continued to taunt Lord Aberdeen without reservation.

"Now one of us is the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and the other is the Secretary of State for Home Affairs, and we have no decision-making power over the country's policy, and all power is concentrated around Aberdeen and his allies!" Russell tried to seek another alliance with Palmerston.

"Yes! For the sake of Britain, we must do something! ”

Palmerston also left no trace on the desire of the Alliance.

Please know that the website of this book: 123 Reading Pen Mobile Version Reading:

『Click here to report error』『Add to bookmark』