London, Palace of Westminster.

Through the long walkway in the palace and pushing open the heavy gate, more than 400 green leather seats in the chamber of the lower house were immediately imprinted.

Although the size of the chamber is not small, it still looks crowded after the influx of more than 600 members of the House of Commons, as well as journalists, citizens and petition groups.

In the bustling environment, no one would have noticed that a Scotlandfield superintendent was standing on the second floor of the chamber.

Although Arthur's identity has long been different from the past, he has even touched the edge of real high society.

However, compared to the gentlemen present here, his title seems so unremarkable.

Many of the gentlemen's business cards here bear the suffix of knight, baron, and even lord.

As for why there are no more honorable titles such as baron, viscount, earl, etc., in the House of Commons, it is naturally because these noble lords all sit in the next house of the Lords.

Although the House of Commons is also known as the House of Commons, in 19th-century England, it would be a mistake to treat gentlemen of the House of Commons as genuine commoners because they did not have the title of nobility.

For example, there are only two possibilities for being able to hold the title of Lord in the Rotten Street.

One possibility is that the holder of the title is a bona fide baron or above holder, whether baron, viscount, earl, marquis, or even duke, all of whom can be collectively referred to as a lord.

That being said, in reality, people usually just refer to barons as lords. When facing higher-level nobles, they are generously called dukes, marquises, and so on.

As for the reason for this, it's very simple.

To avoid embarrassment, of course.

This is just like when everyone faces the deputy director and deputy manager, they will automatically remove the deputy word and directly call him the director and manager.

Of course, the lords who can appear in the House of Commons are not even barons, they belong to another special case.

That is, their father was a nobleman, and their father is still alive.

For these noble second generations, the Britons will also politely call them lords according to tradition.

For example, the present Home Secretary, the Viscount of Melbourne, was called Lord before his father died, and spent nearly thirty years in the House of Commons because of his civilian status.

And after the death of his father, His Excellency the Viscount, who inherited his father's title, of course, will leave the House of Commons and go to the new world of the House of Lords.

Of course, not everyone has the luck of the Viscount of Melbourne, who happens to be the eldest son in the family, as long as he survives his father, he can be promoted to the upper house.

For the younger sons of the family, they lose their lordship after the death of their father.

But most fathers usually understand the situation of their sons, so most of them will send their younger sons to the army to get a seniority before their deaths, and when the time and resume are almost paved, they will give their younger sons a knight or a title from baron.

Although knights and barons are still commoners in the British social system, they can finally put a knighthood on the business card, right?

And the most successful one in this path was Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington.

As the youngest son of the Duke of Wellington, who had no inheritance rights, he did not show any special talent when he was a child, so after graduating from Eton College, he was sent by his family to study at the Pinheirol Military Academy in Angers, France.

After graduating from military school, his second brother Edward Wellesley offered him a lieutenant in the 73rd Highland Infantry Regiment in Scotland.

After a few years in the army, the Duke of Wellington himself pieced together a donation all the way to the position of lieutenant colonel.

Later, the French Revolution broke out, and the young Duke of Wellington was sent to the Netherlands to fight against France. As a result, this first battle suffered the first and only defeat in his life.

Perhaps it was from this defeat that he learned valuable combat experience, and the Duke of Wellington, who had experienced the baptism of fire, was out of control from then on.

After recovering from his wounds, he followed his eldest brother, Richard Wellesley, to India, where he rose to the rank of colonel, commanding the 33rd Infantry Regiment in operations against the Kingdom of Mysore.

During his five years in India, Wellington performed many miracles, almost single-handedly helping Britain to victory in the Fourth Anglo-Maiden War.

And he also relied on his excellent military exploits to save a lot of money for his father to trust Sir Feng.

For his exploits in India, the Duke of Wellington was knighted as a Knight of Bath and promoted to major general in the army, while also holding the post of Minister of Irish Affairs in the Cabinet.

In the subsequent Peninsular War, the Duke of Wellington stepped on the heads of several French marshals and became knights all the way.

In 1808, after defeating French Field Marshal Jean-Andoche Juno at the Battle of Vimero, the Duke of Wellington was promoted to lieutenant general and was knighted Baron Douro of Wellesley, Somerset.

In 1809, after a surprise attack on the French Marshal Jean-de-Dieu Sirte at the Battle of Talavera and the capture of Porto, the Portuguese town of Porto, he was crowned Viscount of Willington in Talavera and Somerset.

In 1810, he defeated Marshal André Masséna at the Battle of Busaco and was crowned Earl of Wellington.

In July of the same year, after defeating the French Marshal Auguste Marmont at the Battle of Salamanca and capturing Madrid, the capital of Spain, he was promoted to general and crowned Marquis of Wellington.

In 1813, he ran thousands of miles and annihilated the 50,000 French troops led by Louis' uncle, King Joseph Bonaparte of Spain, in the Battle of Victoria, completely driving the French out of the Iberian Peninsula and into the French mainland. For such a brilliant achievement, the king and parliament naturally awarded him the highest level of praise - promotion to field marshal, the title of Duke of Wellington, and the award of the 'Knight of the Garter', Britain's highest honor.

Of course, this is far from the full honor of the Duke of Wellington.

As a veteran collector, Arthur saw medals in the cabinet of honour at his residence, 1 Apsley House, London, including but not limited to:

The highest honour of the Kingdom of Portugal – Knight of the Grand Cross of the Order of the Tower and the Sword.

The highest honor in the Kingdom of Spain, the Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece.

The highest honour of the Kingdom of Sweden - Knight of the Grand Cross of the Order of the Holy Sword of the First Class.

The highest honour of the Austrian Empire – the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of Maria Theresa.

The highest honor of the Russian Empire - the Order of St. Andrew.

The highest honor of the Kingdom of Prussia - the Order of the Black Eagle.

The highest honor of the Kingdom of Sardinia, the Order of the Annunciation.

The highest honor of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies - St. Ferdinand and the Order of Merit.

In addition to this, there were many of the highest orders of the small German states, as well as medals that Arthur did not recognize.

Of course, the highlight is the Duke's eight marshal's staffs.

It can be said that the Duke of Wellington is only one French Legion of Honor away from the full collection of European medals.

But he didn't get this medal, in the end, he can only blame himself, who let him abdicate Napoleon at Waterloo?

Because of Napoleon's abdication, this medal was temporarily out of print, and everyone didn't receive it. Arthur wanted to see what the medal looked like, and he had to go to Talleyrand to apply for it, which was a great crime.

However, although the Duke of Wellington's brilliance is incomparable, this does not mean that every nobleman's youngest son can be as successful as him.

Many people in the House of Commons only have a baron title that they have bought for money, or a knighthood of the lower rank that they have obtained through the back door.

Of course, there were those who did not even have knights from the barons and lower ranks, such as Mr. Benjamin Disraeli, who was besieged by a crowd of Whig MPs in the center of the stage.

Mr. Hunter of Westminster Commonwealth kept banging on the table and fired at Disraeli with a red face.

"Of the 22 prime ministers from 1721 to 1832, 13 were nobles of the House of Lords, six were sons of nobles, and one was the grandson of nobles. Some important positions such as the Lord Chancellor, such as the Privy Council and the Minister of the Guard, were also held by the nobles, and the most important diplomatic officials in Britain were also held by the nobles in most cases!

From 1734 to 1832, three-quarters of the members were landlords or their close relatives, and the rest of the councillors were either their friends or wealthy merchants and freelancers nominated by them. As for the army, it was the world of the aristocracy. Our parliament even once made it clear that officers should come from propertied families! Therefore, most of the people who joined the army were landed aristocrats and landowners.

In Parliament, I conducted background checks on 558 long-serving members of the House of Commons. According to the results of the survey, 107 of them were sons of nobles, 68 were brothers and nephews of nobles, and 129 were barons and their closest relatives, which means that 55% of the members of the House of Commons had elements of the aristocratic class to a greater or lesser extent.

The parliament and army were held by the aristocracy, the local judiciary and executive power were controlled by the prominent gentry, and the greatest number of workers, peasants, and small craftsmen in Britain were excluded from state power. The present British government does not represent merchants or peasants, it represents the aristocracy, which accounts for less than one-ten-thousandth of the people of the country!

This is a typical aristocratic oligarchy, where power is concentrated in a few. If Parliament is not representative of the people of Britain, Disraeli, how can you keep the audacity to claim that you are the representative of the people? How can you brazenly declare that parliamentary reform is unnecessary! ”

When Disraeli heard Hunter's questioning, he only wrinkled his nose and snorted softly: "Mr. Hunter, I have never said that I am firmly opposed to parliamentary reform. But I believe that parliamentary reform should be gradual, gradual change. If you have to say that we want universal suffrage right away, well, the first thing you have to convince is your Whig colleagues who are standing in the same sewer as you. This is the council, not a market square for bargaining, and any discussion we have here will be superfluous if you don't align your own pace beforehand......"

Arthur leaned on the fence on the second floor, listening to Disraeli's high-minded talk from the central leather's podium, and couldn't help but comment: "It seems that Benjamin is quickly getting acquainted with his new responsibilities." ”

Dumas on the side couldn't help but shake his head when he heard Disraeli's remarks: "Benjamin, this kid is really hiding deep enough." But I really can't figure out how a Jewish kid can be a conservative. Is parliamentary reform any harm to the Jews? How the hell did his ass get to the Tories? ”

Arthur leaned against the railing and said, "Alexander, this is not an ass thing, this is a political thing. He was now first a Tory MP under the patronage of Earl Lindhurst, and then a Jew. At this stage, he can't make much of his own point. ”

Alexandre Dumas sneered and said, "Maybe Earl Lindhurst chose him because of this, right?" The Jews who had suffered discrimination were on their side, and how could others put forward further reforms? ”

Arthur shook his head when he heard this, and said, "In my opinion, it is obviously much better to have the support of the Earl of Lindhurst than the support of the Duke of Newcastle. The Earl of Lindhurst was at least a liberal on the side of Sir Peel in the Tory Party, while the Duke of Newcastle and the Earl of Elden were the most difficult to deal with. In the second vote on the last parliamentary reform bill, half of the 76 negative votes in the lower house came from them. ”

"Only half?" Alexandre Dumas asked, "Who voted for the other half?" ”

Arthur played with the gilded snuffbox given by Inspector Jones and said, "What else do you need to say?" The Duke of Wellington's conservatives, of course. ”

Alexandre Dumas frowned, "Didn't the extremist wing of the Tory Party break with the Duke of Wellington because of the Catholic Liberation Act?" How is it that when it comes to parliamentary reform, they are standing in a pit again? ”

"It's a time and a moment."

Arthur looked at the noisy councillors downstairs and said, "The Catholic Liberation Act offended the clergy, but there are also extremists in the Tory Party who are not so religious. In fact, the Tories are now split not only by the liberals, but also by the extremists. Had it not been for the fact that the Tories still held the absolute majority in the upper house, the Parliamentary Reform Bill would have been passed by this time. ”

Alexandre Dumas asked, "That's why I said that the House of Commons is nothing more than an ornament." As long as the upper house is controlled, it can forcibly veto bills passed in the lower house. In that case, what is the use of Britain forcibly getting the upper and lower houses? Just to appear to be democratic? ”

Arthur just shook his head when he heard this: "Alexander, you don't understand. Although it is true that the upper house can veto bills in the lower house, if this power is used too much, there will be trouble. The current outbreak of protests and demonstrations across Britain over parliamentary reform is telling. ”

Alexandre Dumas shrugged, "Really? But so what? Isn't the Ministry of Internal Affairs intending to create permanent police structures throughout the country? Are you still afraid of protests and marches? ”

Arthur just glanced at him: "That's right, that's what the Ministry of Internal Affairs is going to do." But are you presupposing a political stance for the police force? I would like to remind you that it is the Whigs who are currently in power, and they are the ones who have proposed the parliamentary reform bill, and then they are going to add local police agencies. Although the original intention of this practice is indeed to maintain local law and order, do you think it is only that simple? ”

"Or else?" Dumas raised an eyebrow and asked, "Are they on guard against anything other than marches and riots?" ”

Arthur only laughed when he heard this: "Alexander, I thought the French were particularly sensitive in this regard. But you, the guy who participated in the July Revolution, are particularly dull. ”

Dumas thought for a moment, and he was about to get to the bottom of it.

Suddenly, someone reached out and patted him on the shoulder.

"Arthur, Alexander, I don't want to disturb you from watching the debate in the House of Commons, but now we have to get down to business. When Mr. Harrison arrived, he was at the door of the council chamber. ”

Alexandre Dumas turned his head to see that it was Louis who spoke: "But I have to ask clearly!" These Brits, who always say one thing and hide one thing when they talk and do things. ”

Arthur tuckled his shirt and laughed softly: "I don't know if you ask me, but you should consult Louis about this, he is an expert in this area." ”

(End of chapter)