Chapter 633 Robert Peel's Helplessness

The helplessness of Robert Peel

The Times:

"We have to regretfully declare that we have learned from several well-informed journalists that a strange disease has appeared in the cursed land of Ireland.

Those potatoes are neither suitable for human consumption nor for livestock. It is a pity, but it has already happened and our government can do nothing about it. Let us pray for those unfortunate people."

In fact, Robert Peel did not want to intervene in Irish affairs now, but it happened that Prince Albert planned to go to Dublin next year, and maybe go to other places.

This is not good news for the cabinet. At this time, Britain was in internal and external troubles and was surrounded by enemies. If the royal family attacked again at this time, the whole country might fall into greater chaos.

In fact, cholera was rampant in London at this time. A large number of people died every day, and the bodies were randomly dumped in the Thames, which triggered a new round of cholera epidemic.

For what happened in Ireland at this time, Robert Peel's opinion was to repeal the Corn Law and let the market law save it.

The purpose of repealing the Corn Laws was to allow cheap wheat and corn from America to enter Ireland, but this was strongly opposed by cabinet members and Irish landlords.

Because the most direct result of repealing the Corn Laws was a drop in grain prices, which was obviously not in the interests of merchants and landlords.

Of course, this also offended the "free trade" principle that the British have always followed.

But in fact, even if the Corn Laws were repealed, it would not help much for the Irish region. After all, you can't expect a group of people with an annual income of only two pounds to be able to afford those expensive grains.

O'Connell was protesting to the British government with the Whig Party. He planned dozens of large-scale demonstrations for this purpose, hoping that the government would come up with a solution to the problem on the island of Ireland as soon as possible.

At the same time, O'Connell was also doing his best to prevent those Irish landlords from shipping grain out of the island of Ireland.

But this approach had little effect. After all, the grain trading price in London at this time hit a record high, and even selling it to France and the Netherlands could make a lot of money.

Louis Philippe had one very good point, that is, he never obsessed with the past. Faced with the problem of food shortage, France immediately opened up tariffs and dealt a heavy blow to its own farmers.

On the other hand, O'Connell repeatedly emphasized to Irish farmers not to seek pleasure and not to use grain to make whiskey. It was not only illegal, but also immoral in the famine at that time.

Food is for eating, not for enjoyment. But in fact, how can a group of people who can't even eat enough have the mood to make wine?

At the same time, rumors about the prophecy of Austrian missionaries also spread to London. Robert Peel's first reaction was that maybe the Austrians knew something?

But soon he thought of a better way. Maybe this was a conspiracy between the Austrians and the Catholics.

After all, the French and the Spanish had done this before, and Ireland was just a pawn.

It's just that Britain couldn't choose to go to war with the Austrian Empire at this time, because Britain had enough troubles of its own.

In the rainforest in southern Brazil, the Redwood Army and its vassal army made no progress. Someone proposed to attack from the sea, but it was immediately rejected.

Because Brazil has close trade relations with Europe, and is also the main source of quinine for Britain.

Without quinine, the British cannot gain a foothold in Africa. The Ashanti War in West Africa, the nomads and Boers in South Africa are all threats.

In fact, the Ashanti people's will to resist lasted until the early twentieth century before it was completely defeated. At this time, the Ashanti people happened to border the Austrian colony of Togo.

It is normal for the two sides to exchange what they have in private, after all, one side wants gold and the other side wants weapons.

In fact, the Austrians are very generous. They can work without gold, and Austria will not directly enslave the Ashanti people, but will only settle according to the employment relationship.

In terms of credit, the Austrians are much better than the previous colonists. At least they will not force buying and selling, and will not exhaust the weak party.

The only flaw is that the Austrians do not accept slave trade, but this does not bother the smart chiefs. They can send some trusted people to act as supervisors.

In this way, the problem of the source of weapons was perfectly solved. The British quinine ration was very limited and could only guarantee the use of those senior officers, so it was impossible to pursue the natives in depth.

The result was that the British became more and more passive, and the power of the Ashanti natives became stronger and stronger.

Otalo Akua Addo was the ruler of Ashanti at this time and the most powerful pole in the tribal alliance.

Otalo Akua Addo's ambition was not just to drive away the British, he also wanted to annex Dahomey, the Danish Gold Coast, and even the Austrian Togo region.

Franz knew this kind of person very well, but he was not worried because the British were not so easy to deal with.

After all, the Ghana region was a good colony with rich products and sufficient population. It had everything it needed to become a powerful colony.

It was not without reason that this land was called the Gold Coast. In 1840, the income that Britain seized from the local area was close to 400,000 pounds.

Of course, this is only superficial income. In fact, the local governor married several famous ladies in succession, including the famous London actress Letitia Elizabeth Landler.

However, most of these people would not survive a year on the Gold Coast, but Governor George Maclean's marriage announcement was still a hot topic in London social circles.

Some people say that George McClane secretly bought and sold slaves and did illegal things, but several investigations have failed.

It's just that George MacLean did not have a comfortable life at this time. After all, the indigenous people no longer used the Dutch guns and cannons, but the same weapons as the British soldiers.

This directly increased the intensity of the war by several levels, and the casualty figures every month made him feel uneasy.

Closer to home, the British cannot pass on the contradictions, so they can only solve those who raised the issues. This has resulted in some mainstream media smearing them, and by the way, they bombarded the Catholic Church.

At the same time, associational organizations on the island of Ireland exploded, as more and more people believed that only the Irish cared about the lives of Irish people.

Men are often seen gathering in twos and threes in the village, and they are not as peaceful as those "drinking parties" held by Young Ireland.

They would resort to violence, using farm tools such as hoes and sickles to attack wealthy businessmen and landowners on remote country roads.

As for the method of dealing with the Brazilians, in 1845, the British Parliament passed a bill authorizing the Royal Navy to intercept, search, seize, and investigate suspected slave ships in the South Atlantic, and deliver them to the Admiralty Court for trial.

This was undoubtedly a heavy blow to the Brazilian Empire, which relied heavily on the plantation economy.