In the office of the Prime Minister's residence, Arthur looked up at the portrait hanging above the Duke of Wellington's head, the portrait of the man was eight points similar to the old duke, the only difference was that the man in the portrait wearing a black stand-up collar and a small stubble was much younger.

The Duke of Wellington spotted Arthur's eyes, and he joked, "Do you like art too?" Youngster? This is the work of Sir Thomas Lawrence, you should have heard of him, right? Dean of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. However, if you want to ask him for a portrait, it may be a bit of a coincidence, because Sir Lawrence has unfortunately passed away in January this year, and his painting is naturally a masterpiece. ”

Arthur took off his hat and put his right hand on his chest, and said apologetically, "I only know a little about art, but I did want to find a few apprentices from the Royal Academy of Art to assist with police work. But that will come later, and the most important thing for now is that I must report directly to you about the march that took place in Hyde Park this morning. ”

"Another parade? Oh, they are only so energetic when they march, and during the Napoleonic Wars, the War Office did not see them so active in recruitment. These people are really not worrying! ”

The Duke of Wellington rubbed his face helplessly: "Okay, who is it this time?" Foxpie? Huskisons? Or the Canningists? Or is it a small group of Earl Grey Shinrah? ”

When Sir Peel heard this, he couldn't help but quip: "Your Excellency, the factions you are talking about are all sitting in the Parliament, and they will not march in the streets. ”

The Duke of Wellington leaned on the table with one hand and grumbled: "Heh! Oh, yes! The gang was all sitting in the council. They can let us soldiers go to the front line to die, if they fight well, they will praise you, and if they don't fight well, they will send you to a military court. Anyway, one mouth and two skins, no matter what they say, they are reasonable. ”

When Sir Peel heard this, he couldn't help reminding Arthur: "Arthur, everyone has complaints and troubles, just listen to them, but don't tell the news media." ”

When Arthur heard this, he pursed his lips in embarrassment, but his action was still captured by the sensitive and cautious Duke of Wellington.

Wellington frowned, "Wait, did the newspaper say anything bad about me again?" ”

Without waiting for Arthur to speak, he stood up and walked directly to the bookshelf in his office, pulling out a newspaper from it.

When Sir Peel saw him like this, he had to smile and say to Arthur, "Forget it, you better report to me directly." The only people willing to march through the streets were the Luddite workers, the digger peasants, or the Anglican ministers who were jumping around for the Emancipation Act. ”

Arthur shook his head lightly and said, "Sir Peel, I regret to report to you, this time it is not the case, they are a group of supporters of Robert Owen. Mr. Owen had a speech in Hyde Park today, and the audience was obviously a little emotional, so before the speech was over, they had already pointed the finger at the Duke of Wellington and began to march spontaneously. ”

"Robert Owen?"

As soon as Sir Peel heard the name, he couldn't help frowning slightly.

Because even as the leader of the liberal wing of the Tory, Robert Irving's ideas were too unconventional.

Coincidentally, the Whigs basically saw it that way.

Sir Peel pondered: "I know that the Whigs have been uniting the various trade union groups in order to come to power. But Owen ...... Are they sure? ”

When Arthur heard this, he was more or less sure of Sir Peel's attitude, and he said, "There is no indication that the marchers in Hyde Park have anything to do with the Whigs. I'd rather believe that maybe it was a coincidence. After all, as you know, for the sake of parliamentary reform, the air in London now smells tense. ”

"Which associations are the marchers, has it been confirmed?"

Arthur immediately took out the documents in his bag and handed them over, Sir Peel glanced at them a few times, and immediately got up and said, "It turned out to be these few." Okay, I see, it just so happens that the Ministry of Internal Affairs has a few informants over there, and I immediately asked someone to go to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and bring over the report they submitted during this time. ”

When Arthur heard this, he also stood up and said, "Sir, I wonder if I can ask you a question about the informant of the Ministry of Internal Affairs?" ”

Sir Peel was stunned for a moment, but then reacted quickly, and said with a smile: "I almost forgot that your temporary institution has been doing this recently, right?" But don't worry, Arthur, the fact that there are other informants in the Home Office does not mean that I have doubts about your ability to do the job. Because the Ministry of Internal Affairs informant thing existed long before you took the lead in the LPS. ”

“LPS？” When Arthur heard this, it took him a while to realize that Sir Peel was talking about the Lendons.

He smiled and replied: "Actually, I wanted to submit to you the first work report of the LPS early on, which happened to have some of my insights and reform suggestions for police intelligence work. But because of the time constraints, why don't I dictate it to you directly here, what do you think? ”

Sir Peel saw his calm and calm appearance, and quite naturally lowered his mental expectation of the serious nature of the procession.

He put down the papers in his hand and nodded, "Arthur, you really always surprise me. I thought you wouldn't be able to achieve anything in such a short period of time. ”

Arthur shook his head with a smile and said, "It's not an achievement, at most it's just some experience." As we all know, France was the first country in the world to put forward the concept of police, so during this time, I focused on looking at the intelligence records of the French police that I could collect so far, combined with the police information accumulated in Scotland Yard, and finally I found a few problems. ”

"Oh?" Sir Peel asked with interest, "What is the problem?" ”

"First, don't put too much faith in temporary informants, who are nowhere near as reliable as real undercover agents. Because they have to submit reports every day in exchange for remuneration and affirmation, if there is nothing to write about, he makes it up, and if he finds it, he exaggerates it and in this way proves the importance of his existence.

Second, it is good for the government to create a danger that is not too much of a threat, and to keep a conspiracy that does not pose much of a threat will allow the government to gain more power and power. ”

When Sir Peel heard this rather novel conclusion, he could not help asking, "Then what did you get this information from?" ”

Arthur spoke: "After the Napoleonic Wars, Louis XVIII was successfully restored in France, and he used these things very successfully.

At that time, the humiliated French army wanted revenge, the Bonapartists wanted to welcome back Napoleon, the republicans of 1789 wanted to limit the power of the crown, the Jacobins thought of extreme measures, the war-torn ordinary citizens dreamed of restoring the republic of 1792, and the exiles who had returned home, deprived of their property and wealth, tried to restore the old system.

Under these circumstances, the Paris Police Department under Louis XVIII concocted conspiracies and instigated commotion, causing public opinion to be divided. Ultra-royalists took it as evidence of lax policing and that the government was encouraging revolutionary activity to overthrow the royal family. Liberals, on the other hand, accuse ultra-royalists of using instigators to create crises in order to legitimize their authoritarian rule.

Louis XVIII himself, under the mutual restraint of the two factions, got a good death peacefully. His successor, Charles X, clearly failed to grasp the essence of this balance.

That guy didn't give full play to the intelligence advantage of the Paris Police Department, and the biggest credit of the Paris Police Department in his hands may be to help him follow the intelligence of the informant, and successfully caught his wife's rape in an operation to round up the rebels. ”

Sir Peel almost couldn't help laughing when he heard this, he raised his hand to his lips and apologized, "Sorry, Arthur, you go on." ”

Arthur saw him smile, and he understood that today's affairs were stable.

With Sir Peel out of the way, the Duke of Wellington has the stabilizer, and as long as he can make sense, all that remains to think about is how to get the enthusiastic workers home.

He smiled and said, "I just said France, but the situation in Britain is different from France, we have a fine parliamentary tradition, and the people are willing to pursue rights within the existing framework.

So, I think General John Byrne's assessment of similar events in Britain in the last century is very apt: most radicals in Britain saw the revolution as a mass movement that might cause small-scale bloodshed, but whose main purpose was to force the government to make concessions, not to overthrow the political system.

We now have the best political system in the world, and the public has no strong desire to overthrow him. Like the Hyde Park riot this time, the workers shouted 'Down with Wellington, down with the Tories', but in the end, all they wanted was suffrage.

I have always believed that a large part of the responsibility for the massive workers' revolts and bloody repressions of the nine years between 1812 and 1821 must be attributed to Henry Addington, then Viscount Sidmers, and to the immature system of Home Office informants.

I do not know whether His Excellency the Viscount, due to intelligence errors or subjective motives, exaggerated many of the normal processions as violent riots with seditious intent, fearful acts of treason, which would shake the foundations of the Government.

This led to a series of bloodshed and public distrust and alienation from the Tory Cabinet.

The Taylor Uprising of 1816, for example, was a prime example, when miners in Manchester's Taylor area initially protested peacefully to demand higher wages and better working conditions.

However, the Manchester authorities did not deal with the situation in a timely manner, neither coordinating negotiations between the mine owners and the workers, nor reassuring the workers. Instead, it was only after the situation escalated and the workers began to burn down the factories and smash the machines that they hurriedly reported to the Ministry of the Interior and the Cabinet for the military to suppress the operation.

The Peterloo Affair of 1819 was another example of the incompetence and inefficiency of the Manchester City Council. The Petru affair led directly to the 1820 Carthu Street conspiracy, and if it had not been discovered in time, all the members of the cabinet at that time would have died at the hands of the Spence Bofthonist Society.

Therefore, I believe that the main task of LPS should be set as 'early detection, early treatment', to cultivate professional undercover talents, and the early employment system of informants must be reformed and gradually abolished.

Eventually, the goal was to establish a one-way intelligence channel between the elements of social instability and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Of course, although this kind of 'communication channel', the union may not be willing to do it. ”

As Arthur said this, he suddenly felt as if someone behind him was staring at him.

He felt his shoulders pound, and he turned his head to see that it was the Duke of Wellington with an eyebrow raised.

Wellington smiled and asked, "Young man, are you really not thinking about electing a councillor to serve the Tories?" Perhaps I can consider setting aside a spare seat for you in my territory. ”

When Arthur heard this, he was stunned for a moment, and then replied with a smile: "Your Excellency, I don't have that talent. Besides, I'm still a police officer, and I don't presuppose political positions for myself in accordance with the House Regulations of Scotland Yard. As you and Sir Peel would expect, I, like the rest of the Scotland Yard police, are just a trivial social instrument. ”

(End of chapter)