With the intervention of the security officer, the two agitated councillors were quickly pushed to the ground.

After the two of them were pressed out of the council chamber, the boiling hall finally returned to a certain degree of calm.

The Duke of Wellington watched as the two councillors who had clamored for a duel to be fought another day were escorted out of the council chamber, and then took his cronies to the front row of seats reserved for him.

However, before he could warm up his chair, he saw the Whig camp on the opposite side hula raise their hands.

While the Speaker of the House of Commons was reiterating his discipline, the Duke of Wellington turned to Sir Peel, who was beside him, and asked, "Robert, what about the King's Annuity Act?" ”

Sir Peel held his forehead with some headache and said, "The situation is not very optimistic, the Whigs are holding on to the affairs of the Ministers and corruption. Judging by their posture, this time it may be necessary to pass the amendment to the King's Annuity Act anyway. ”

If Sir Peel's words were to the average Londoner, most of them would not understand what he meant.

But when the same words fell on the ears of the Duke of Wellington, it had a different meaning.

The so-called "King's Annuity Act" refers to a bill passed by the English Parliament in 1697.

It stipulates that the Parliament will grant the King's Annuity every year according to the actual situation, and the main purpose of the King's Pension is to pay the salaries of government civil servants in addition to paying the living expenses of the royal family.

Cabinet members, such as the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and the Secretary of State for Home Affairs, are generally referred to as political officials.

Positions such as permanent undersecretary of the Ministry of the Interior are called affairs officers.

The main difference between an administrative officer and an administrative officer is that an administrative officer is an elected non-professional government official who is responsible for leading departments and making decisions in the actual governance process, but is not responsible for implementation.

On the other hand, the Ministers are appointed rather than elected and are responsible for execution rather than decision-making in the governance process.

Because of the unique nature of the work of the Clerk and the fact that his salary is paid by the King's Annuity, the appointment of the Clerk in Britain is now known as the King's Gift System. The allegiance of all the ministers was actually to the king, not to the cabinet.

Therefore, although the king and the ruling party have no influence on the election process of the administrative officer, one of them has the power to pay the salary of the minister, and the other has the power to appoint and dismiss personnel. And to hold these two powers is to control all the officials.

The reason why the Whigs proposed an amendment to the King's Annuity Act was to completely separate the living expenses of the royal family from the salaries of government officials, so that the salaries of the ministers from now on would be paid from the treasury and not from the king's annuity.

In this way, the influence of the Tory king in a pair of pants on the ministers could be limited to the greatest extent, and the future Whigs would be able to stumble upon them.

More importantly, of course, this will make it clearer that many of the idle posts that the Tories have secretly used to bribe neutral legislators will also be exposed.

After all, it is easier to check the accounts of the treasury than it is to check the bills of the king.

As the speaker's gavel fell, the council chamber finally returned to calm.

I heard the Speaker shout: "Lord John Russell! ”

As soon as the voice fell, I saw a young and middle-aged man in a tuxedo and combing his hair with parted hair walking up to the speaking box with the materials prepared in advance.

"What I want to say here, Mr. Speaker, is that this corrupt and incompetent chaotic government has thrown our country into a mess. Everybody knows how serious the problem is, protests erupted in London, Birmingham, Manchester and elsewhere last month, rural hunger is getting worse, the Swain movement is growing in the south of England, and all the people of all walks of life in the country, whether businessmen, workers or peasants, are calling for parliamentary reform.

Yet, our Prime Minister, the wise Duke of Wellington, is confronted with an emotional public, and all he knows is cowering in his 'London One' Apsley House. I do not see any effective measures taken by the government to deal with the greatest crisis since the end of the Napoleonic Wars, other than replacing their windows with iron.

I have no doubt that His Excellency the Duke has the best commander-in-chief in the world, but I doubt that an army commander who knows only how to exercise military discipline can run the greatest country in the world in the same way. My question is, does the Prime Minister really understand what he's doing right now? Did he know that to continue to resist reform was to destroy the democratic traditions that Britain had gradually established since the Glorious Revolution?

Britain was a great democracy rather than a horse whipped by the Duke, who was gradually transforming Britain into his own military autocracy. If he doesn't admit it, then he must at least be able to give a reasonable explanation for his sluggish reaction and negative behavior! ”

As soon as Lord Russell finished speaking, a large crowd of Whig backbenchers stood up, cheering and cheering for the questioning of the spokesman, Lord Russell.

The Speaker's gaze turned to the right, and he shouted, "Your Excellency, Prime Minister! ”

The Duke of Wellington stood up with his cane like a sword, but before he could take a step, he heard Sir Peel, who was sitting beside him, pleading in a low voice: "Your Excellency, if you have a problem that you cannot handle, leave it to us." ”

When the Duke of Wellington heard this, he just raised his hat, and he said, "Robert, have you forgotten what I told you before?" It's true that I'm not good at debating, but I'm not here to debate today, I'm here to scold. ”

After speaking, he saw the old duke walk up to the speaker box in three steps and two steps, and according to parliamentary tradition, he did not reply directly to Lord Russell, but to the speaker who was the intermediary.

"Dear Mr. Speaker, I believe that a true patriot must abandon religion, identity, and his opposition in Parliament must be directed against bills and not against individuals. Lord Russell thought that a soldier could not rule the country well, which was a funny view.

I would like to ask Lord Russell, who retained the democratic power of Parliament for us when the King dissolved Parliament? It's a soldier, it's Cromwell!

And who resolutely and boldly opposed Charles II's intervention in parliament and led the parliamentary movement? It's a soldier, it's William Cavendis!

Or who, after monopolizing power, resolutely welcomed back to the king and restored the constitutional tradition of Britain? The same soldier, it's George Munch!

It is because of these soldiers that we have the present parliamentary tradition of having people like Lord Russell in Parliament. However, people like Lord Russell were already so bad and uninsightful, and now he was going to put another group of people who were not as good as him into Parliament.

I think that if we make a decision to put sand in Parliament like the Parliamentary Reform Bill, we will probably only benefit from people like Lord Russell. Because when the level of political decision-making in parliament is lowered, I am afraid that in the future, even his laugh-inducing remarks will be set off from a high position. This is the worst thing I've ever seen since I was born! ”

As soon as the Duke of Wellington finished speaking, the Tory camp suddenly burst into applause.

And General Sidney Smith, who was standing on the second floor of the parliament to watch the questioning, laughed and sneered: "Your Excellency, I don't agree with you, you think that the Parliamentary Reform Act is the worst thing in the world, and that is because you have not seen Lord Russell's new five-act play, Don Carlos. Compared to that scene, I think even the Parliamentary Reform Bill has become acceptable. ”

Lord Russell, who was originally sitting in the audience, was already gloomy because of the Duke of Wellington's mockery, but when he heard General Sidney Smith's taunt, he couldn't help but bounce up from his seat, pointed at him and scolded: "Smith! What did you say? ”

General Codrington, who had been with General Sidney Smith, also changed his face, and he pulled General Smith's trousers at the same time, and pleaded in a low voice: "The atmosphere in the council is tense enough at this time, so don't add to the chaos." ”

General Smith nodded, as if he had agreed to General Codrington's plea, but he turned his head and spoke again, "Lord Russell, I have no intention of offending. Actually, apart from that play, you're not always that bad. Gentlemen, I have always thought that Lord Russell was so talented that he could cut stones from the sick, build St. Paul's Church, or replace my friend Admiral Codrington in command of our Great Britain Channel Fleet......"

At this, Lord Russell's ugly face softened slightly, but soon, General Smith's voice was heard again.

Admiral Smith laughed and said, "But you can tell from his demeanor that the patients he treats have died, the church he built has collapsed, and the Channel Fleet under his command has been shattered. ”

General Smith's remarks sparked laughter in the Tory camp, and the Whig MPs all stood up indignantly and shouted accusations.

Seeing that the situation was about to get out of control again, the speaker who had green tendons on his neck had to pick up the gavel again and demand discipline: "Silence! Quiet! Guards, get me out of the council chamber! ”

But General Smith, who was on the second floor, was obviously more interested than the two councillors who had just been thrown out, and he spoke: "Don't bother with Mr. Speaker, I'm fed up with sharing a room with Lord Russell, I'll go out by myself." ”

After that, he went out with his cane in the eyes of everyone.

Lord Russell's eyes widened, pointing at his back and scolding, "Smith, when the questioning is over, I must ask you for an explanation!" The reason why we want to push for parliamentary reform is to eradicate an ignorant moth like you in Britain. ”

The speaker saw that today's agenda was about to deviate, so he hurriedly asked, "Next!" Duke of Bedford! ”

The Duke of Bedford first pressed his agitated brother back to his seat, and then walked briskly to the speakerbox and asked: "No matter what the Prime Minister may say, we still hope that you can see that His Highness the Dictator standing before us is defying the will of the people and trying to concentrate all the power of the country in his own hands. Although I have always been against anarchism, if I had to choose between anarchism and authoritarianism, then I would rather choose anarchism! ”

When the Duke of Wellington heard this, he almost didn't think about it, and shot back: "If anyone wants to see anarchism, they don't need to leave Britain, you just need to go to the Duke of Bedford's territory to see what anarchism is really like." As far as I know, the Swain movement of the peasants has always been well carried out in the territory of His Excellency the Duke, and Bedford has also been the hardest hit by the Luddite movement, which destroyed the machinery of the textile factory. ”

As soon as the Duke of Wellington said this, the two brothers, the Duke of Bedford and Lord Russell, were immediately blushing and thick.

The supporters of the Tories Party were also amazed by the Prime Minister's performance today, and no one expected that the Duke of Wellington, who had never been willing to debate, would be on fire today, even in the face of the well-known Whig debaters, the Russo brothers.

Amid the applause of the Tories, the Whig leader, Earl Grey, finally sat still.

"Earl Charles Grey!"

With the Speaker's roll call, Earl Grey catapulted like a cannonball into the speakerbox, and he held up the thick stack of materials in his hand and announced loudly.

"I'm not here today to make fun of the Prime Minister! We hope to be able to show you this material that I have in my possession, many of whom are not aware of the urgency of passing the King's Annuity Act and carrying out parliamentary reform in Britain!

According to the 'Friends of the People' association, Parliament today is not at all representative of the will of the British people, and only 20 of our 203 constituencies in England have more than 1,000 voters, and less than 4% of the population in England have votes.

The situation is even worse in Scotland, where there are fewer than 3,000 valid voters in the 33 counties, and an average of less than 100 people elect a councillor.

If we look at the whole country, only 400,000 of the 24 million people in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland have the right to vote, accounting for less than 3% of the adult population.

In addition, nepotism was intricate in the various small electoral towns, and the seats of the councillors were almost tied to the land, becoming part of the ancestral heritage of some local nobles. Lancashire councillors have been surnamed Danby since the 17th century, while Cumberland councillors have always been named Lancest.

If there are two wealthy families in the local area, then they will send two candidates according to the custom, and this kind of two-choice election is meaningless for parliamentary politics!

Moreover, in the canvassing activities, all kinds of fraud and corruption are not uncommon! In this case, the behavior of carriage pick-up, banquet for voters, and giving money and gifts can be regarded as relatively civilized!

What is even more shameful is that some large landowners even threaten their tenants that if they do not vote for someone, they will raise the rent in the following year, or even directly deprive him of his right to rent.

There are even families who take their families to fight with competitors for the seat of parliament, resulting in injuries! Yet our government has turned a deaf ear and pretended to be deaf and dumb to similar situations! Is this what a responsible cabinet can do? ”

When the Duke of Wellington heard this, even though he was as calm as him, he couldn't help frowning violently.

But fortunately, he knew early on that the Whigs would definitely take advantage of the opportunity, so he also had a plan for how to deal with this situation.

The Duke of Wellington flipped through the materials in front of him, and as he flipped through the information provided by the permanent undersecretary, he responded.

"Violence and bribery in the electoral process are certainly shameful, but I don't know where the Earl of Grey got the information he had. As far as I know, violent campaigning and bribery in Britain are much better than they were more than a decade ago, and the process of democratisation of parliament has steadily increased.

Today's candidates prefer to lobby voters and go door-to-door months before the election, and those with more wealth prefer to hire lawyers and writers to promote their policies and campaign ideas in newspapers, and many candidates have taken to the streets to support their husbands' careers at campaign rallies with their rude predecessors.

Within the Tory, we also encourage all candidates who are interested in running for parliament to contact the local parish pastor and combine the pastor's evangelism with the councilor's campaign, so that voters can listen to the gospel and participate more in the future decision-making of the country.

Earl Grey mentions that his information comes from the 'Friends of the People' Association, which, according to the Cabinet's knowledge, is supposed to be sponsored by Earl Grey himself. As for the reliability of their data sources, I don't think I can jump to conclusions here.

Perhaps what they say is still the case, but our Tory MPs have always been law-abiding and elected in accordance with the spirit that has been passed down since the Glorious Revolution. Therefore, I implore the Earl of Grey not to apply what happened in the Whig constituency to every district of the country. ”

The Duke of Wellington's tone sounded calm, but in fact every word was a pistol and a rod in a vain attempt to provoke Earl Grey.

But an old fritter like Earl Gray, who had been beaten by generations of Tory leaders, was clearly not as easily irritated as Lord Russell.

Earl Grey spoke, "Really? Do you think that the Tory does not exist in the above cases that I have enumerated? ”

The Duke of Wellington replied: "The situation has improved considerably. ”

When Earl Grey heard this, he just turned over the materials and stated, "Then let's slowly distinguish from far and near." As far as I know, in the 1784 general election, Lord Falmers of your party spent £9,000 for three seats, Lord Monte £13,000 for six, and Lord Montague was more shrewd, having won two seats for only £4,000. Does the Prime Minister admit that such a situation exists? ”

The Duke of Wellington said to the Speaker, "Mr. Speaker, I think you must remind Your Excellency the Earl that it is now 1830, and if he really wants to say so, it can be mentioned to the time of William the Conqueror." And as I just said, all kinds of corruption do still exist.

But in addition to corrupt constituencies, we have many exemplary constituencies. The most typical of these are the two constituencies of the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford, where students who study in Oxbridge automatically have the right to vote in the constituencies. Is there a more lenient parliamentary voting system in the world? ”

When Earl Grey heard the Duke of Wellington mention the two university constituencies, he instantly seemed to have grasped the magic weapon of victory, and he immediately opened fire: "Good! Now that the Prime Minister is willing to initiate the mention of university constituencies, I have two more questions that you would like to clarify with me. Oxford and Cambridge are indeed the model for elections in Britain as a whole, but I don't know if the Prime Minister knew that such a situation existed.

That is, Oxford and Cambridge students can not only vote at university, but also return to their hometowns to vote at the same time. The same is true elsewhere, as long as a person owns enough real estate in several places, he automatically acquires the right to vote in multiple places. Is there a loophole in the Prime Minister's view that there is a loophole in this electoral system, which is not based on the number of people but only on the basis of property? ”

When the Duke of Wellington heard this, his palms couldn't help sweating, although he knew that Earl Grey was difficult to entangle, but he didn't expect it to be so difficult today.

He flipped through the materials at hand irritably: "I hope that Your Excellency the Earl will first learn about Britain's system of reporting election appeals before asking questions. For these unfair phenomena, such as multiple votes, inaccurate vote counting, bribery of voters, violence and intimidation, unsuccessful candidates and their supporters can submit a denunciation report to the parliament anytime and anywhere.

As long as the Election Committee of the House of Commons finds out that the situation is true, it will naturally impose sanctions on members who have committed fraud, and there have been many cases of disqualification of members in the past, which is well documented. ”

When Earl Grey heard this, he couldn't help but show a smile, for today's battle, he had been preparing for too long, how could he let the Duke of Wellington fight here Haha and mud?

He faced the Speaker and said, "Mr. Speaker, could you please ask the Prime Minister for me, what is the success rate of the Election Committee in handling the report?" If the Prime Minister doesn't know, I can give the answer directly here. According to the records of the House of Commons, the success rate of such reports is less than 1 per cent.

But according to the 1787 election report, at least 370 of the 513 members of parliament were suspected of using improper means.

And in 1827, the political commentator of your party, John Croch, based on a survey of the social relations of all 658 members of the House of Commons, found that 270 members were suspected of being controlled by the patrons of large landowners.

How does the Prime Minister plan to respond to the fact that 203 members of parliament are members of the Tories Party, and that the eight nobles of Britain control 57 of the seats? ”

When the Duke of Wellington heard this, he was silent, but the Earl of Grey did not intend to let him go, but took advantage of the victory to pursue.

"The Prime Minister has just made the Election Commission the most impartial and powerful election watchdog in Britain, has he forgotten the two serious cases of electoral fraud that broke out when he first came to power in 1827?

Lord John Russell, our spokesman at the time, called for the permanent banning of the two corrupt electoral districts, while many members of your party called for the two seats to be given to the ruling party-controlled areas, and Mr. Huskison, who had recently passed away, advocated that at least one of the seats be transferred to Birmingham, a growing population.

In the end, your decision is to divide the two seats between the two parties without being elected. However, I am of the opinion that this direct division without elections is contrary to parliamentary tradition, and I have taken this opportunity to revisit the Parliamentary Reform Bill, which was considered decades ago.

At that time, your reply was: As long as I am in the government, I will always resist such a bill.

So, my question today is, even though a few years have passed, even if the situation has changed, even if the clergy, merchants, workers, and peasants all over the country are calling for reform, are you still so firmly opposed to parliamentary reform?

Prime Minister, please answer my question head-on! This is not Waterloo, and you don't have to play all the battlefield intrigues against the public of Great Britain! ”

As soon as Earl Grey finished speaking, there was a dead silence in the noisy council chamber.

Both the Tories and the Whigs held their breath, their eyes on the Prime Minister, the Duke of Wellington.

I saw that the Duke of Wellington, who was still turning over the materials just now, suddenly stopped moving, his body trembled suddenly, and the old duke's laughter sounded in the silent hall.

only heard a snap, and the Duke of Wellington slapped it in front of the case, startling everyone present in shock.

The Duke of Wellington turned his head to Earl Grey, and did not pass through the Speaker, but raised his right arm and pointed at Earl Grey.

"I never play any tricks, I only defeat the enemy in the frontal battle.

Gray, I've said a long time ago, I'm a very simple person, I hate being prime minister, because it's not for me, I'm just a decent man, so I'm not good at and I don't bother to hide my intentions. ”

When Sir Peel heard this, he hurriedly got up and said, "Your Excellency, the Duke. ”

But before he could speak, he saw the Duke of Wellington stretch out his hand to interrupt him: "Robert, be nosy! This has nothing to do with you, and it has nothing to do with the party members you lead, this is a private matter between me and Gray. ”

After that, the Duke of Wellington pointed to the nose of the Earl of Grey and said: "You are right, Gray, my attitude has always been the same, I have been, am and will always be unswervingly opposed to parliamentary reform!"

British politics is not nonsense, and if you want to let the idle people come in, I respect your ideas, but you don't want me to be on your side!

Did you hear me clearly? As long as Arthur Wellesley is alive, as long as my legs can move, as long as I can stand in the Houses of Parliament at the Palace of Westminster, you will not want to pass the Parliamentary Reform Bill! ”

When Earl Grey heard this, he trembled with anger.

Behind him, the angry and red-faced Whigs threw the materials in front of them into the sky.

The council chamber was littered with papers, and Lord Russell and others were on the move.

"It just doesn't make sense!"

"Wellington, we demand that you resign immediately!"

When the cronies who followed the Duke of Wellington heard this, they were all dumbfounded, and they subconsciously wanted to draw their knives, but when their palms touched their waists, they found that they had nothing with them.

But this did not affect the generals who had been away from the battlefield for many years to roll up their sleeves and help the old commander.

But before they could rush forward, several generals were pressed down by Sir Peel and others.

Sir Peel gritted his teeth and comforted the Marquis of Anglesey, who held down one leg, "Don't be impulsive, this is all arranged by His Excellency the Duke, if you go up and swing your fist, it will be equivalent to wasting all his efforts today." ”

Viscount Palmerston, who was sitting directly across from Sir Peel, only smiled when he saw this.

He then quickly gathered his countenance, stood up and raised his arms at the Speaker, shouting, "Henry Temple, Palmerston, hereby ask the Speaker that the Whigs demand that a motion of no confidence in Wellington's cabinet be formally launched when next week's parliament convenes!" ”

(End of chapter)