In the café, Arthur looked at the perfume merchant he had heard of many times, but had only met him for the second time.

It's just that his appearance and dress are obviously different from what Arthur expected.

I don't know if it's to be unobtrusive, or if he usually dresses like this, Bernie Harrison is black and white from head to toe, a black tuxedo with a white shirt, a mane and a top hat, although there is a faint cologne fragrance all over his body, but it is not so strong that it is pungent.

If Arthur hadn't met him before and knew that he was a wealthy perfumer, Arthur might have thought he was a well-paid company employee or someone of lower status.

After all, in these days, even an ordinary citizen whose standard of living has just reached an average level will buy himself a decent outfit.

In order to be able to travel decently on their rest days without affecting their living standards, some workers will choose to pawn their clothes on Mondays and redeem them when their wages are paid on weekends.

Bernie Harrison looked a little haggard, not at all as calm and calm as Arthur had when he captured him.

Although Arthur did not know what Sir Peel and several bigwigs in the Tory Party had talked to him, it could be seen from his expression that Harrison's political career had probably come to the edge of a cliff.

"Mr. Harrison." Arthur joked, "I thought you should be in the House of Commons at this time debating the parliamentary reform bill with a lot of your Excellency, why did you bother to sit on Whitehall Street today?" Or do you have any new discoveries in that murder that you intend to provide a strong clue to Scotland Yard? ”

Harrison's heart grew heavier when he heard Arthur say this.

He had no idea what evidence Scotland Yard had, but judging by the tone of Sir Peel and the Tories of the Tories, he was now an outcast of the Tories.

In order to retain a valuable seat in the House of Commons, Sir Peel was willing to give him a little back, and did not propose to let him resign or anything.

But since the Whigs had reported a few days ago that Earl Charles Grey was planning to ask the King to dissolve Parliament and hold a new election in order to force the passage of the Parliamentary Reform Bill in the House of Commons, his position in the Tory Party had shown signs of a drastic dip.

Almost everyone thought his seat in parliament would be replaced by a new man named Benjamin Disraeli, and he had little to resist it.

There is no other reason than that he was elected to the Legislature, not at all because of how popular he was, but because the constituency he won was a pocket constituency under Tory control. Who wins in that district depends entirely on who the Tory bigwigs prefer.

And now, let alone winning the election, it is questionable whether he can even be appointed as a candidate for parliament through the party election.

As the saying goes, plans don't keep up with change, and if Harrison had just finished the election, the maximum term of a parliament could reach seven years under the Seven Years Act of 1716, and now that it was only half a year since the last election, he had plenty of time to maneuver around the party.

But what Harrison never expected was that the Prime Minister, Earl Gray, would play so big. He had expected that as soon as the Whigs came to power, the parliamentary reform movement would cease to exist. But now it seems that the Earl of Grey actually put on a posture of charging without stopping at the goal, and all the members of the Whig Party who did not follow the vote were reprimanded by the Whig Caucus.

And after he found that this could not be reversed, he directly decided to turn the table and persuade His Majesty to reconvene the general election, so that the reformers in the House of Commons would have an absolute majority. What made Harrison even more puzzling was that the king, who was opposed to reform, agreed to Earl Gray's proposal after weighing it up repeatedly.

Such a change of situation would be a heavy blow to the Tories, of course, but it would be even more fatal for Bernie Harrison.

For now, he has lost the support of the caucus, and even if he wants to run as an independent candidate in other constituencies, he will have other problems.

If he were running in a corrupt constituency, he would not be able to compete with the two parties, which were already fighting for money. Moreover, judging from the rumors coming from within, both parties are keeping a very close eye on corrupt constituencies in this election. As a veteran fritter who has been involved in politics for many years, Harrison also knows what this means, which means that in order to win in a corrupt constituency, you must not only have deep financial resources, but also have a deep background.

If an independent candidate wins in a corrupt constituency, he will certainly be subject to a bipartisan investigation into electoral corruption in the House of Commons. All in all, it's okay to highlight a bipartisan bribery, but you can't.

And if he chooses an urban constituency with a relatively fair electoral environment and a large number of voters, Harrison is also very self-aware and knows that he will definitely not be popular in the urban constituency.

For no other reason, as a member of the House of Commons who had followed the Earl of Elden and former Secretary of the Admiralty, Mr. Crocker, his rival could casually turn over a basket of Harrison's explosive remarks in the past.

For example, in the early days, "The Petru Incident Is the Crime of the Thugs Deserved", "The Promulgation of the Six Special Laws is a Necessary Evil to Maintain Social Order", "The Execution of the Culprit of the Plot on Kathu Street: All Evils Will Be Brought to Justice" and so on.

There are also mid-term "The Peterloo Incident Reflects the Incompetence of Local Governance in Manchester", "The Six Special Bills Are Not Undermining Freedom of Expression, Censorship of Publications and the Ban on Association Still Have Their Special Historical Significance", "I Deeply Regret the Murder of the Cabinet Conspiracy on Kathu Street, the Assassination of Cabinet Members Is Unacceptable, They Could Have Expressed It Better, for example, by publishing a book or something".

and the late "Petrë 10th Anniversary Walk Through St. Peter's Square: We May Have Made Some Minor Mistakes", "Freedom of Speech is Priceless: On the Repeal of Six Special Laws", "Freedom or Death, Standing on the High Ground of Newgate Prison: Perhaps the Execution of Mr. Ince Was a Last Resort, But Beheading Was Too Much".

All in all, Congressman Harrison's rhetoric has always been golden.

At a glance, there are no brains, all of them are unwavering positions.

With such a guy with all kinds of 'ex-convicts', Arthur simply doesn't know how this guy can survive in British politics without the support of the Tories.

Although the Tory and Whig parties were far less disciplined than they are in recent years, the legislators often switched sides.

There were a number of successful ones, such as Viscount Palmerston, who was used in both Tories and Whigs, but Palmerston was clearly several ranks above Harrison.

Although he often made some sharp views, he was able to skillfully use democratic phrases and oligarchy views, and use the arrogant language of the old aristocracy to cover up the speculative policies of the bourgeoisie. Pretend to be an attacker when you indulge others and a protector when you betray others. He knows how to curry favor with superficial enemies and make false allies suffer. He also knows how to stand on the side of the strong at the right time in a dispute to bully the weak, and when the situation is unfavorable, he will flexibly use his braggart skills while slipping away.

And after Viscount Palmerston became a reformer a while ago, his ability was brought into full play.

In the face of his old supporters, Palmerston chose to make the following remarks.

"I support reform not because I support it in principle, but because I am firmly opposed to it"

Certain Timely Concessions to Booming Industrial Capital Can Be the Surest Means of Preventing General Reform

"Once the reform bill is passed, the bourgeoisie will change its attitude, and they will change from being dissatisfied with the constitution to supporting it, so that the constitution will be greatly strengthened and consolidated"

In the face of the landed aristocracy, Palmerston also stressed that "the reform bill will not weaken the power of the aristocracy in the House of Lords, and we still have the right to veto all bills" and "the land tenure system will not be shaken by this, it is the foundation of the British state and the foundation of society".

And Viscount Palmerston's remarks that were neither Whig nor Tory, but Sir Peel couldn't help but scold directly at a public meeting in the House of Commons: "I would like to ask Mr. Speaker to ask on my behalf, who does Viscount Palmerston represent?" ”

In the recent Polish issue, Viscount Palmerston, who had just assumed the post of foreign secretary, showed his unique personality.

Mr. Hunter, a member of the House of Commons, on behalf of the Westminster Union, made an appeal for Poland and demanded the immediate removal of Lord Palmerston, who had been deaf and dumb on the Polish question for several months, from all his official posts in the Cabinet.

Joseph Hume, a reformist member of the Whig Party, went straight to the front, publicly denouncing Palmerston in the House of Commons: "Judging by the conduct of His Excellency the Viscount, it seems that the government does not want to do anything for the Poles at all, but only wants to leave the fate of the Poles to Russia." Under the Vienna Treaty, Russia was supposed to guarantee Poland's territorial integrity and independence, and when it breached, the Foreign Ministry was reluctant to issue even a statement of condemnation. ”

Viscount Palmerston's response to this is quite classic: "The fact that Britain did sign the Treaty of Vienna cannot be ignored, but this does not mean that we must guarantee that Russia will not violate it." ”

And when the House of Commons was arguing about this matter, in desperation, Viscount Palmerston could only sacrifice a three-step strategy.

First, he declared: "It is morally and politically impossible to destroy Poland, so I consider such fears of trying to exaggerate the truth to be superfluous." ”

After the fall of Warsaw, Viscount Palmerston again expressed his opinion: "Long before the occupation of Warsaw and the results of the military operations became clear, I sent a note to the Russian Government in advance of the opinion of the States parties to the Treaty of Vienna on the right to demand the inviolability of the Polish Constitution. And after the fall of Warsaw, I gave another notice. But the Russian government still holds a different view in this regard. ”

After the fall of Warsaw, even Austrian Chancellor Metternich was dissatisfied with Tsarist Russia's violation of the Vienna Treaty, and sent Polish agent Valevsky to Paris and London to negotiate the revival of the Kingdom of Poland.

The news from the Tuileries Palace in Paris seems to be very positive, and the King of France, Louis Philippe, who ascended the throne after the July Revolution, continues to maintain his progressive image as a revolutionary fighter, openly declaring: "If Britain agrees to this plan, France is ready to act with Britain and help it." ”

Obviously sitting in the café, Arthur didn't care about Harrison's little shrimp at all.

In his view, Harrison's political life is over, and if he loses the election in the near future, his biological life may also come to an end.

The fate of a dead man is clearly not as valuable as the fiery Polish question that stirred up.

Ever since he received a copy from the Association of Friends of Poland, Arthur has been speculating about the true attitude of the Cabinet and Parliament towards Poland.

In this case, the position of the parliamentarians was not at all as clear as that of the parliamentary reform, and the Tories and Whigs were both in favor of aiding Poland and in favor of remaining silent.

It is now clear that Lord Broughham was biased in favor of Poland in this matter, and if he had not, he would not have allowed Thomas Campbell to bring the Literary Society of the Friends of Poland to the British.

Arthur thought about this without saying a word, and a cold sweat broke out on Harrison's forehead when he saw his indifferent attitude.

Arthur, who he regarded as a pawn a month or two ago, has now become a mountain that he cannot surmount no matter what.

The Tories leader, Sir Peel, and Lord Bruham, the Lord Chancellor, could have killed him even if he didn't go through the legal process, not to mention that he was still in the hands of Scotland Yard at this time.

Harrison was silent for a moment, then suddenly pulled out a document from his coat and placed it in front of his desk.

"You should know that, Mr. Hastings, I was a member of Parliament at the same time as I was also serving on the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Commons, right?"

"Huh?" Arthur raised his eyebrows: "This is ......"

Harrison smiled reluctantly, "I have some friends at the London Stock Exchange, and I know something from their mouths, such as the sponsors of major London magazines or something. The Brit is a very interesting magazine, and I buy a copy when I'm fine. In particular, the content of the last supplement, The Economist, was really eye-catching, and the discussion about Poland in it was particularly noteworthy. I think there must be a lot of people who are concerned about the progress of Poland right now, right? ”

When Arthur heard this, he couldn't help but smile a little: "I have to admit, Mr. Harrison, my interest in you has increased. Poland is indeed a topic worth talking about, not only for me, but also for many of the Cabinet Ministers, and even for those in the opposition. You know, because Viscount Palmerston has made the Foreign Office his private castle, and has always opposed the disclosure of the details of diplomatic activity, not even Parliament can get the full picture, which is almost like a murder in Scotland Yard. ”

When Harrison heard this, the stone in his heart lowered slightly: "Mr. Hastings, I must emphasize to you that I am definitely not a murderer, and that I can swear to God by my conscience. ”

Arthur nodded slightly, "Of course I would like to believe your words. But Mr. Harrison, you know, Scotland Yard is about evidence, and the basis for sentencing in court cases is also based on evidence. And now, all the evidence points to you, unless you are willing to show me the full picture of the case without reservation. Otherwise, as the one closest to the murderer, you won't be able to escape. ”

When Harrison heard this, he first took a deep breath, then picked up the document in front of him and shook it gently: "Even if you add these, can't you?" ”

Arthur leaned back in his chair and took a sip of tea: "These things can prove that you are not useless and help you regain your trust." But for Scotland Yard, the unpleasant memories are still there. ”

Harrison rubbed his head vigorously, and after a long time he couldn't help but speak: "Mr. Hastings, I am really sincere in coming this time. It wasn't an easy document, and it took me a lot of effort to get it out of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Alas...... All right! All right! I confessed to you!

The murderer in that case was really not me, the woman who was in a daze was purely self-inflicted. I can help you recover the case, and this internal document of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs can also belong to you. But in exchange, I have one more insignificant request here. ”

With his chin crossed between his fingers, Arthur smiled and said, "Then Mr. Harrison, I'm willing to hear your request now." ”

Harrison slapped his forehead and sighed, "Damn! Blame me for being dizzy! Mr. Hastings, I know that you have a close relationship with Mr. Disraeli. He is a very talented rising star, everyone likes him very much, and his behavior and clothing are at the forefront of the times. But if it were a member of the House of Commons, I think he might still lack some of the necessary experience to let a young man in his early twenties into the big dye vat of the House of Commons, and from my personal point of view, there may be some suspicion of pulling out the seedlings. What do you think? ”

(End of chapter)