Chapter 408: Stop the Duke and Take the Gold!

Stop the Duke, take the gold!

If you were to vote for the most popular phrase in Britain in 1832, the above passage would definitely be the most popular one.

When the Duke of Wellington announced that he would be ordered to form a cabinet, almost overnight, the streets and alleys of London were covered with such slogans.

The small City of London is crowded with people from all corners of the city. They are engaged in different professions, have different educational backgrounds and growth experiences.

The only thing these people have in common is that everyone is waving their life savings in their hands, one pound or other acceptance bill after another.

Speaking of Britain's monetary system, the first thing that comes to mind is Sir Isaac Newton's famous report "Statement to the Lords of the House of Lords' Finance and Taxation Committee" submitted to Parliament during his tenure as director of the Mint, which established the prototype of the gold standard system for Britain.

However, during the tenure of Director Niu, the gold standard had not yet been implemented at the legal level, and it had always been implemented in the form of temporary regulations. The real establishment of the gold standard system at the legal level had to wait until the "Gold Standard Act" passed by Parliament in 1816.

At that time, in order to boost the domestic economy that was in ruins after the Napoleonic War and save the monetary credit of the pound, the British government passed the Gold Standard Act, promulgated the Gold Standard Currency Act, and ordered the cessation of the minting of guinea gold coins that had been in circulation for 150 years and the recasting of domestic metal currency. The newly minted gold coin was named Sovereign. Sovereign was minted with standard gold with a purity of 91.67%, and 1 Sovereign was worth 1 pound.

In 1819, at the urging of Sir Peel, the supplementary regulations of the Gold Standard Act, the Peel Regulations, were approved by both houses of Parliament. The new regulations further stipulated that each ounce of gold was worth 3 pounds 17 shillings and 10 pence, that is, 1 pound of paper money could be exchanged for 7.32238 gold.

With gold as the basis for currency issuance, the credit of the pound naturally became stronger, and British government bonds became a high-quality investment project widely praised by the world.

But if you enjoy the benefits of the gold standard, you must also bear its constraints.

Anyone with a discerning eye knows that even if all the gold mining in the world is supplied to Britain, it may not be able to keep up with Britain's current train-driven economic development speed.

In order to meet the surging demand for currency in Britain during economic development, major banks in Britain will certainly not be able to honestly comply with the requirements of the Ministry of Finance and print as many pounds as the gold reserves.

However, over-issuance of currency does not mean that the British gold standard will collapse. As long as everyone closes their eyes, deceives themselves, and does not go to the bank to ask for gold exchange, Britain can still live happily.

But if most people intend to be sensible, then this matter will be difficult to handle. In other words, the outbreak of the British banking crisis in 1827 and the British economic recession caused by the banking crisis were caused by too many honest and sensible people.

Since the outbreak of that banking crisis, the British finally realized that when it comes to currency, it is best not to do things that everyone is drunk and I am the only one awake. Gold can be exchanged, but don't exchange it together. If everyone exchanges it together, the final result will be that no one can exchange it.

Among the smart people in Britain, some talented people learned the reverse expansion of the gold standard from some malicious reactionaries.

If I can't exchange, then I will make sure that nobles, bankers and big businessmen can't exchange. My life savings are only a few dozen pounds. Although I may not be able to afford food in the next few months without this money, those with hundreds of thousands of pounds in their pockets can't afford it either. What do I have to fear?

Seeing that the threshold of their own bank was almost trampled by bankers, even Rothschild and Barings, the leaders of the British banking industry, had to announce the temporary suspension of foreign exchange business after 5 days.

As for those small and medium-sized banks, most of them surrendered on the third day.

Seeing that the situation was not good, these bankers directly closed the company and announced that they firmly opposed the Duke of Wellington's cabinet. And because the bank's employees went on strike to participate in protest demonstrations, they would suspend business before the reform bill was passed.

At this critical moment, regardless of whether they really support parliamentary reform or not, these bankers would block the door of Parliament early in the morning every day, holding signs and shouting slogans such as "Stop the Duke, Take the Gold", trying to fish in troubled waters and run over those colleagues who were slow to react.

Arthur was naturally well aware of the various strange phenomena that had occurred in London during this period, because the most important task of Scotland Yard during this period was to send people to stand guard at the doors of major banks.

Although he had mentioned the matter of taking gold to Price of the Capital Political Alliance before, the current bank run in London attracted not only those protest supporters who wanted to put pressure on the government through bank runs.

Many "high-end technical talents" who had already registered at the Scotland Yard Crime Record Center also stepped on this new trend at the moment, intending to leave the existing market and open up a new track in this blue ocean.

According to the report by the lovely Miss Fiona, many well-known criminal groups in London are also sensitive to the future development direction of the industry. After a collective vote at the "board of directors" meeting, they set new strategic goals for the development of the group, adjusted the layout direction for this year, and determined that "parliamentary reform" and "bank runs" are the main tasks and top priorities of this year's work.

Therefore, the group decided to send a large number of experienced, skilled and courageous veterans to the financial city and protest rally sites where there was a serious shortage of "labor".

These top talents in the industry showed their magical powers like Moses crossing the sea. In just a few days, the major banks in London were ravaged by bank runs while experiencing a dimensionality reduction attack from the top areas of London's criminal industry.

Many protesters who came to run on banks also suffered heavy losses. Not only did they fail to withdraw gold, but they even lost the paper bills in their pockets.

Although it was not the same time, it was the same place. In just five days, the private room of Scotland Yard was filled with heroes from all over the world.

The police officers of Scotland Yard worked intensively for a week. Director Rowan, Deputy Director Maine and Arthur could not even guarantee five hours of sleep a day for several days.

In such a difficult time, only the letter sent by Victor from Paris could bring some comfort to Arthur's heart.

In the tide of the times, London and Scotland Yard took the second-to-last place, which is certainly not glorious.

But Paris and the Greater Paris Police Department took the last place, which shows that Britain still has the help of the country across the sea, right?

According to Vidocq, the situation in Paris has been falling from the bottom to the abyss of hell in recent times.

Due to the poor epidemic prevention of the French government and frequent violent incidents.

On May 22, 39 Republicans in the French Parliament and some members who were disappointed with the July Monarchy met with former Prime Minister Jacques Lafitte and issued a complaint to voters against French Prime Minister Casimir Pierre Perrier.

What worries Vidocq even more is that although this report did not directly condemn the monarchy, it mentioned that the current social environment in France is consistent with the environment on the eve of the French Revolution in 1789, and severely accused the government of violating the freedom and democratic rights of citizens and inciting social unrest.

As a pure Frenchman, Vidocq was sensitive to the fact that although the report did not mention a word, it was actually implicitly inciting the people to overthrow the monarchy and move towards a republic.

Under pressure from domestic public opinion, the July Monarchy government had to release some Republicans and Bonapartists imprisoned in Saint-Pérager Prison in order to show its sincerity to the opposition.

But the bad thing was that Mr. Evariste Galois, a young mathematician who was quite influential among the Republicans, died in a duel not long after he was released from prison.

The Republicans were aroused by this, and they accused the government, saying that Galois' death was a conspiracy that the government had been planning for a long time.

Although Galois chose to duel with someone because of love, his love affair developed in prison, where he fell in love with a doctor's daughter, and the guy who duelled with him after he was released from prison was none other than the most famous sharpshooter in Paris.

The Republicans did not believe that Galois would engage in such a duel that was close to suicide and had no chance of winning, so his death was not due to any romance, but an outright political murder.

In response to the Republicans' accusations, the head of the Greater Paris Police Department, Rissauquet, learned the lesson of the "poisoning rumor" this time and did not choose to come forward to refute the rumor. But in the eyes of the Republicans, such behavior was almost equivalent to tacit approval.

And the next day, another bad news came.

A leader who enjoyed a high reputation among both the Bonapartists and the Republicans, a famous general in the French Republic and the First Empire, and was called the Protector of the People because of his people-friendly and people-loving attitude, General Jean-Maximian Lamarque, who had served as the chief of staff of Napoleon's brother Joseph Bonaparte and Napoleon's brother-in-law Murat, unfortunately contracted cholera when he went to the hospital to visit patients and died that night.

According to people familiar with the matter, Lamarque held a sword given to him by officers during the Hundred Days of Empire tightly to his chest at the last moment of his death. Napoleon said "army" when he was dying, but Lamarck said "motherland" when he was dying.

After such news came out, the current tension in Paris was directly raised to another level. If the current Paris is a powder keg, then Lamarck's death is tantamount to the spark that ignites this powder keg.

Not only Paris, but even Dumas, who was far away in London, was so angry when he got the news that he slammed the table and prepared to return to Paris to prepare for an uprising.

Of course, it is impossible for this heroic French literary giant to realize his idea. If he wants to return to Paris, he must first deal with the British reactionary who is standing in front of him.

Unfortunately, the reactionary's actions are much faster than Mr. Dumas imagined.

Before Dumas was about to board the ship leaving London, his carriage was urgently stopped at the Thames Pier, and with him, a member of the Bonaparte family who tried to take advantage of the convenience of public office to leave London in chaos was also urgently stopped at the pier.

Dumas, who was tied up, sat in the swaying carriage and glanced at Louis who was also tied up like a dumpling beside him. He felt angry and amused.

"Louis, I have to say that I must apologize to you. I used to doubt your revolutionary enthusiasm because your republican emperor's statement was so confusing that I thought you were a thief who tried to manipulate the revolution and steal the fruits of the republic like your uncle. But today I have to say, I'm sorry, you are a great, true, and pure revolutionary like me."

Louis was lying on the floor of the carriage. His face was ashen, but his tone was slightly unconvinced.

"Damn it! Alexander, I didn't expect you to miss me that much. You shouldn't be wary of me. I have always regarded you as a friend. The person you should really be wary of is obviously sitting opposite you."

Crack!

A flash of fire flashed across the carriage, and then, along with a long breath, misty smoke slowly rose.

Arthur put one foot on Louis' back, trying to help him stabilize his body and prevent him from rolling around in the carriage: "What? The French Revolution is united and starting to unite to the outside world? Louis, Alexander, I told you earlier Please don’t try to return to Paris, because it is dangerous. You are all smart people, so you should have realized that the danger I mentioned does not start when you arrive in Paris.”

When Alexandre Dumas heard this, his face turned red with anger, and his shaggy hair exploded: "Arthur, you damn British guy, I really misjudged you! I thought you were the one who could win over , but you let me down, look what you are doing now. Just helping Wellington suppress the demonstrators, and now you are actually involved with the July Monarchy. You have never even met Louis Philippe! , What benefits did he give you to make you work for him like this? "

"benefit?"

Arthur put one hand on the car window and looked out at the scenery: "Alexander, whether you believe it or not, I did not receive any benefits from the French. I just don't want to watch you two go back to Paris and die in vain. Besides, if you want to participate in the revolution, why bother going all the way back to France? Doesn’t the current situation in London give you some sense of participation in joining the revolution?

Yes, I admit that these things in Britain are all learned from France. They are second-hand and fan works, so they are not as authentic as those in Paris. However, I feel that not everything in the world must be tasted authentically. Besides, you have already tasted the most authentic revolution in Paris, so I suggest that you consider exotic flavors occasionally.

Of course, the most important thing is that if you are making a revolution in London, I can tell you what can and cannot be done. Not only can you express your feelings, but your safety can also be fully guaranteed. Why do you have to go to Paris to seek excitement? Do you think this is true? "