Lord Clarendon, who had been pierced by Palmerston's words, did not show any annoyance on his face, and he sat in his chair and asked Palmerston as usual: "Mr. Palmerston, if I stand on your side, what can I gain!" ”

"What do you get?" Palmerston glanced at Lord Clarendon, rubbed his chin lightly and thoughtfully for a moment, then replied: "I can assure you that you can remain in the Cabinet as Foreign Secretary after I become Prime Minister!" ”

Lord Clarendon, who heard Palmerston's promise, was slightly stunned, he really didn't expect that Palmerston's conditions would be so rich.

"What? Are you not satisfied with the post of Foreign Secretary? Palmerston asked Lord Clarendon.

"No, no, no!" Lord Clarendon waved his hand and replied with a smirk, "I am very satisfied with your offer!" For someone on the verge of failure, it's nice to be able to keep this position after the re-formation of the cabinet! ”

"As long as you are satisfied, then our deal is preliminarily concluded!" Palmerston smiled slightly, nodded at Lord Clarendon.

"So, Mr. Palmerston! Can I ask you a question that may be somewhat offensive to you! Lord Clarendon asked Palmerston tentatively.

"Then I can refuse to answer this question!" Palmerston half-jokingly said to Lord Clarendon.

"Absolutely!" Lord Clarendon replied immediately, "If the following question bothers you, you don't need to answer it. ”

"Then you ask!" Palmerston made an inviting gesture in response to Lord Clarendon.

"That's right!" Lord Clarendon cleared his throat, reorganized his words, and asked cautiously, "I thought that after you reconstituted the Cabinet, Minister Russell would get my place!" Now it seems that you are not thinking about Mr. Russell. ”

Upon hearing Lord Clarendon's words, Palmerston immediately stopped smiling and said to Lord Clarendon in a serious tone, "If it were you, would you be willing to work with a fellow who disagrees with you?" ”

"I'm going to kick him out!" Lord Clarendon replied to Palmerston without hesitation.

"Yay! I think the same as you! Palmerston immediately replied to Lord Clarendon.

"But, Mr. Palmerston!" Lord Clarendon asked again, "Without the help of Mr. Russell, it would have been difficult for you and me to bring down the Prime Minister of Aberdeen!" ”

"Who said it was just the two of us?" Palmerston asked, then pointed to the dark night sky outside the window and said, "Not all of them are our people!" ”

"What do you mean?" Lord Clarendon seemed to understand what Palmerston meant, but he always felt as if he had been cut off from his mind by something intangible.

"Those voters are not our strength!" Palmerston said to Lord Clarendon: "If they are willing to support us, then the Aberdeen Cabinet will surely fall!" ”

Palmerston's words caused Lord Clarendon, who had been in a state of curiosity, to fall into a state of depression, and he had thought that Palmerston would come up with some good way to make a fuss for a long time exactly like what he said in front of Aberdeen.

"Mr. Palmerston, in this respect we are probably no match for the Prime Minister of Aberdeen! He has so much more power than we do! Lord Clarendon whispered in frustration.

"At the level of traditional government, Aberdeen is indeed much better than us!" Palmerston first agreed with Lord Clarendon's words, and then turned to Lord Clarendon: "Fortunately, Aberdeen did not notice that another force was quietly rising! This power, when used properly, is enough to change a government's policy direction from the outside! ”

"What power?" Lord Clarendon couldn't wait to ask Palmerston Road.

"The power of London, and of the whole of Britannia!" Palmerston said to Lord Clarendon: "Journalism in Britain is not a mouthpiece for the different factions within the ruling class, but a collection of the wisdom of the whole country, an instrument of criticism and control over the ruling class. It is indeed the 'fourth force', not the embodiment of the third force in words and sounds. ”

"You mean to use newspapers to put pressure on the government?" Lord Clarendon immediately understood Palmerston's intentions, and he hastened to Palmerston.

Palmerston shook his head and said to Lord Clarendon, "No, no, no, we are not using the power of the newspaper, but directing the news in our favor!" Make people think that we can represent their interests! Speaking of which, I have a question for you! ”

"Speak!" Lord Clarendon was slightly stunned, and then replied to Palmerston.

"What do you think is the national character of Britain? Or what is the ideal of the Britons? Palmerston asked Lord Clarendon.

"Continental Europe in equilibrium? Britain is always strong? Lord Clarendon responded tentatively to Palmerston.

"No, no, no! What you say is just what politicians think! Palmerston shook his head, then spread his hands to Lord Clarendon, "From what I know of them, the ideal image of the Britons should be: Protestant, freedom-loving, energetic, adventurous, self-confident and bold, fighting for the protection of the weak, proud of being British, and despising foreigners, especially Catholics and Orthodox Christians."

They believed that the task of the government was to bring the British way of life to the unfortunate foreigners, and this was the peculiar Anglo-Saxon thinking. As long as we aim at this idea, there will be a war on Sinop and a hateful Orthodox invasion of the unfortunate Turks. Those righteous voters of Britain will definitely support us! ”

"But the newspaper publishes the news that we have spread?" Lord Clarendon asked Palmerston Road again.

"Why not?" Palmerston asked rhetorically, and then said with a happy smile: "I know them too well, those guys who are afraid that the world will not be chaotic, they will not let go of every hot news!" They would never heed the British government's warnings, even if the government shut down their newspapers! ”

Then Palmerston glanced at Lord Clarendon and said, "But, Minister Villiers, the first shot must be fired by you!" ”

Gu Feng/span "I know! Lord Clarendon nodded to Palmerston, knowing that Palmerston was going to make him surrender.

After all, how could Clarendon win Palmerston's trust if he didn't take some shares.

Subsequently, Lord Clarendon and Palmerston exchanged views on some diplomatic issues and got to know each other better.

The time gradually came to one o'clock in the morning during their conversation, and when Palmerston's wife appeared in the study, Palmerston had to stop the conversation, "All right! Minister Velis, it's not too early, you and I should rest! ”

"I'm sorry for your trouble!" Lord Clarendon bowed to Palmerston once more.

Accompanied by Palmerston, Lord Clarendon walked out of the mansion.

The carriage parked on the street opposite Palmerston Mansion drove quickly to Lord Clarendon after seeing Lord Clarendon.

Lord Clarendon slowly entered the carriage, and Lord Clarendon, who was sitting in the carriage, waved goodbye to Palmerston.

Under Palmerston's watchful eye, Lord Clarendon faded away until he disappeared at the end of the street.

"We're going to have a good show!" Palmerston said to himself with a playful look on his face.

With that, Palmerston turned and entered the mansion.

……

Early the next morning, a drizzle began to fall from the dark sky, and the whole of London was enveloped in a curtain of rain.

In such a bad weather, Aberdeen, as the prime minister, will also have a message in his office that will shake his cabinet.

"Knock knock!"

With a quick knock on the door from outside the Prime Minister's office, Prime Minister Aberdeen slowly raised his head and said to the door: "Please come in!" ”

The door opened, and standing outside it was his Principal Permanent Secretary, the head of the entire British civil service.

"Your Excellency, Prime Minister, please allow me to report bad news to you in such bad weather!" The chief secretary closed the door of the prime minister's office with a solemn face, and then walked quickly to Aberdeen and said solemnly.

"Sit down!" Aberdeen said to the chief secretary in front of him.

The chief secretary sat across from Aberdeen, and then, under Aberdeen's gaze, pushed the Times, which was placed on his chest to prevent it from getting wet in the rain, in front of Aberdeen.

"Please take a look at this!" The Chief Secretary nodded lightly with his hand and said to Aberdeen.

Aberdeen was stunned for a moment, then took the still warm Times in his hand.

"The first news of the second edition!" The chief secretary reminded Aberdeen.

Aberdeen turned the pages of the Times and read the second edition of The Times.

When Prime Minister Aberdeen finished reading all the contents of the second edition, his face immediately turned blue and his lips trembled with anger.

"Who is it?" Prime Minister Aberdeen looked at the Chief Secretary-General in an angry tone and said: "Who told the Times the news?" ”

"Your Excellency, it's not just The Times! Almost all newspapers reported the same thing! The Chief Secretary-General went on to speak to the Prime Minister of Aberdeen.

"Go! Call Minister Willis over, and I'm going to ask him face to face how the Foreign Secretary did it, to let such important information as Chiang be stabbed to those villains who can only use the pen! Prime Minister Aberdeen's face was full of disgust for the newspaper reporters, perhaps because of his hatred of the house, and he gave orders with a roar at the chief secretary who reported the matter to him.

"Yes, Prime Minister!" The Chief Secretary-General, who received the order, frowned slightly and bowed to Prime Minister Aberdeen and left his office.

After the chief secretary left, Aberdeen was left alone in the prime minister's office, who looked at the Times in disgust and threw it into the trash as if he were a murderer.

Through the crumpled "Times", you can vaguely see a headline, the title of which is "Save the Ottomans!" 》

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