On March 27, 1848, Britain officially declared war on Austria.

Vice Admiral Edward Clinston, commander of the British Mediterranean Navy, felt that London's proposal was stupid, knowing that the French Great Eastern Fleet was not weak.

The Great Eastern Fleet in the French port of Toulon has a total of 38 capital warships, of which 13 have been launched in the last three years, and all of them are equipped with the most advanced artillery.

What's worse is that London didn't know that the French still had a large number of auxiliary ships and inferior gunboats, which would be an important factor in determining the outcome of a naval battle.

The British Mediterranean Fleet was replenished at this time, with fifty main battleships and the most advanced paddle ships in the world, which seemed to have an absolute advantage over the French.

But the problem was that the British Mediterranean Fleet was seriously understaffed by less than one-twentieth of the French, and that the French could temporarily requisition more ships if they wanted to.

In addition, although the paddle ships were advanced, the Mediterranean Navy had no refueling points, so they could only go to the Greek port of Piraeus to refuel.

However, not long ago, the British Foreign Secretary's Office did another immoral thing, that is, the famous "Don Pacifico Affair".

The beginning and end of this incident have been changed many times in history, and the truth has long been changed beyond recognition, and later generations do not care about the truth, and some people ridicule and criticize him as the evil behavior of gunboat diplomacy.

Some people think that this is a model of the Western humanistic spirit.

"Wherever you go, you have a strong Motherland and its army behind you."

However, after hundreds of years of fabrication and interpretation, some people put it on the head of the United States.

“Whatever you go to where， the United States government and military would support you for ever.”

This kind of thing is basically no different from a wolf slaughtering all over Africa.

However, this was a good opportunity for Franz, who was actually one of his cousins.

Unlike his father, Ludwig I, Otto I was a very responsible king, at least subjectively he wanted to be a good king.

However, Otto I's abilities were very limited, too idealistic, and his luck was even worse.

He gave the Greeks a big Greek dream, but was unable to realize it, and eventually fell from power in a seemingly modest crisis.

The British only said that a British Jewish businessman, Don Pacifico, had lost his home and goods in Greece due to the persecution of anti-Semites, and the Greek government turned a blind eye.

In order to protect its citizens overseas, the British government resolutely decided to send troops to Greece to seek justice for them. In the end, the Greek government had to shame itself in the face of strong British justice and compensated Don Pacifico with 1.5 million pounds.

This was equivalent to two years of revenue for the Greek government at the time, and the prime minister had to resign in disgrace.

But at this time, Otto I said that the Jewish merchant named Don Pacifico was peddling the so-called "magic cure" in Athens, which led to the death of a large number of children, so the angry populace attacked his mansion.

The Greek government refused to give any compensation to this evil spirit, and would have sanctioned him if it had not been for the fact that he was British.

Otto I even sent Franz samples of several bottles of the elixir, and after examination, as expected by Franz, it was indeed opium, and it was adulterated with fake opium.

However, this kind of thing is a matter of opinion, and Franz will not listen to and believe partially, but he will also choose what is beneficial to himself.

Don Pacifico approached the British government after being rejected by the Greek government, but at first no one cared about the little man, after all, Greece was one of Britain's most important allies in the Mediterranean.

So Don Pacifico thought of Lord Palmerston, who had come to the aid of the Sassoons, and since the latter could wage a war against the most powerful empire in the Far East, it should not be a problem to get his goods back in Greece.

Palmerston was a very talented man, because the British elite, especially the traditional aristocracy, felt that maintaining relations with Greece was far more important than a Jewish merchant's goods.

But it was in this extremely unfavorable situation that Palmerston persuaded the British Parliament with a speech that would go down in history.

"There is no doubt that the government of a great country like ours is the ultimate ideal of all people of different opinions.

It is a noble and honorable thing to be able to lead the policy of such a country and influence its destiny.

We have witnessed upheaval across Europe, we have seen thrones shaken, shattered, razed to the ground, institutions subverted and destroyed.

The Europeans flooded the earth with their blood, from the Atlantic to the Black Sea, from the Baltic to the Mediterranean.

It is a sight to be enjoyed by all mankind.

We alone prove to the world that freedom and order can coexist, and that individual freedom and law-abiding are not irreconcilable.

We are an example to our country, in which every stratum and everyone embraces the destiny given by Providence.

At the same time, every individual in our country is constantly striving to improve his or her social status.

Not through injustice and wrongdoing, not through violence and illegal means, but by insisting on good deeds, thus bringing into play the gifts that the Creator has given to humanity, namely morality and intellect.

But at this time, an upright, courageous, and industrious merchant who represented the spirit of England was treated unfairly by an evil autocracy, and I was saddened.

Out of love for this great constitutional state, I believe that we have an obligation to provide protection for our compatriots abroad.

I feel it is our duty to make it incumbent upon any British citizen, on the soil of any country, to be confident that the concerned gaze and firm arm of the Fatherland will protect him from injustice and wrong.

Just as the Romans were once immune from insults if they said, 'I am a Roman citizen'. ”

Britain put pressure on the Greek government, but Otto I and his prime minister were very tough, and they were unwilling to pay for what they had done wrong.

In the eyes of the Greeks, this was an insult to them by the British, so it became extremely difficult for the Mediterranean fleet to go to Greece for supplies.

The Greeks were always desperately looking for the most broken coal to supply to the British, to manipulate the food and drinking water of the British.

This annoyed Edward Clinston, the commander of the Mediterranean Navy, but he was really not easy to have at this time, after all, he had to spend a long time with the Greeks.

As time went on, the resentment of the Greeks towards the British did not disappear, the bad effects of the Don Pacifico affair of 1847 were expanding, and a sentiment called nationalism was spreading among the Greeks.

For safety, Edward Clinston had to procure supplies from other countries and hoard them on the island of Crete.

However, he overlooked one thing, and that was that the inhabitants of Crete were also Greeks.

With the help of the Greek government and Friedrich's intense deliberation, the Austrians knew better than Edward Clinston about the arrangement of Crete and their every move.

(End of chapter)