Start 1861: I Just Inherited the Dutch Throne

On July 1, 1866, William IV was interviewed by James, the editor-in-chief of "Echo". Anyone who bought this newspaper was attracted by the man wearing the costume of the Dutch royal family on the front page.

Many people recognized the young face - King William IV of the Netherlands.

They couldn't wait to see the conversation between William IV and the Black James in the newspaper's "Focus - People - Things".

James: "As the King of the Netherlands, do you feel any pressure in your life?"

William IV: "When I first inherited the throne in December 1861, I was really stressed. However, since my life focuses on a regular schedule, especially sleeping and eating, it has almost remained unchanged."

James: "Since Your Majesty talked about daily life, may I ask Your Majesty, what is your biggest hobby in life? This is what many Dutch citizens want to know and are most curious about."

William IV: "Swimming, the Netherlands in mainland Europe is close to the Atlantic Ocean, and more than half of its territory is lowland below sea level. The Netherlands is a country full of crisis, so like everyone in the Kingdom of the Netherlands, including ordinary people, I have been growing up since I was a child. You must learn to swim. This is because everyone consciously understands that to take precautions, the lowland dams will collapse at any time and sea water will pour in. Therefore, everyone subconsciously works hard to learn these skills in order to give themselves a chance to survive.

Therefore, it is not without reason that all of us in the Netherlands have had close contact with the sea and have practiced sea survival skills. From the 16th century onwards, the title of coachman in the Netherlands became a naval power.

Therefore, I started swimming training at the age of 3 and I still maintain this hobby today.”

James: "Wow, it takes a lot of perseverance to do it for more than 20 years. Your Majesty, it can be understood from this that you will be very devoted to what you do, and it will last forever. So, for the Netherlands in the distant place For the development of the Far East, many people seem to criticize you for continuing to invest local resources in the Netherlands. I wonder what you think about this?"

William IV: "Many things may come to fruition in a short period of time, but in the country's long-term plan, this is difficult to achieve. In my plan with the Dutch Privy Council, the Netherlands' development plan in the Far East is a long-term plan, and It is a plan that lasts for five years, ten years, or even twenty years for more than one generation. Many plans will not be completed overnight. It will take time for her to show her power.

Just like the current population immigration in the Netherlands, everyone used to resist it, but now over the past few years, more than 2 million people from the mainland have immigrated there before the end of last year, and this year it will even exceed one million."

James: "Since His Majesty mentioned this immigration issue, many people were not optimistic about these immigration policies at that time. Many people doubted how the Netherlands could achieve it, but His Majesty surprised the world. How did His Majesty solve the problem of insufficient shipping ships? ?”

William IV: “To be able to complete this achievement in a short period of time, many people at the time were not optimistic about it, and even thought that the Netherlands was fanciful.

You must know that at that time, in addition to the need to use ships to sell industrial products to overseas markets, the Netherlands also needed to bring raw materials back to the mainland. At this time, ships had to be built on a large scale to achieve the annual immigration policy of one million people.

To be honest, many government officials at the time did not believe it could be done, but everyone had forgotten the credibility issue of the Dutch Privy Council.

Since we dare to issue such a decree, we have already put the issues affecting credibility on the table for consideration. "

James: "That means you had already thought of a way to complete the plan?"

William IV: "Naturally, I and the entire Privy Council, including Prime Minister Tolbeck, perfected the entire plan, so everyone saw that the Netherlands accomplished the feat it has today."

James: "Your Majesty, can you give me more details on how to implement the plan?"

William IV: "Of course you can. In fact, it is very simple to say. At that time, the annual transport rate of Dutch immigrant ships was only about 200,000 while maintaining normal trade. This was too far behind ours.

what to do? It’s impossible not to transport resources and industrial products, right? If that happens, it will be devastating for the Dutch economy. Why are we promoting immigration? It is to make the life of the Dutch people better.

If immigration actually leads to a decline in the quality of life of the people, then there is no point in doing that.

Therefore, we took this as the center point and held meetings for more than a week. What impressed me most was that Minister of the Interior Jonlal almost squinted during the meeting. Everyone was exhausted, and eventually everyone agreed to a more radical policy."

James: "What policy? I think everyone must be very interested. After all, the results of a week's work of the Privy Council."

William IV: "Since there are not enough ships and resources have to be used to maintain industrial development and national life, then now that citizens have immigrated to the Far East, there are workers, and there are sites, then why can't we transport some needs from the Far East back to Europe? Factories in the Netherlands have moved to the Far East, and Suriname is not bad either. Following this idea, everyone will suddenly become more open-minded."

James: "It's really a sudden enlightenment. It's really a blow to the soul that makes people regret. In this way, the ships can collect materials nearby, and as His Majesty said, the radical strategy will immediately increase the enthusiasm of immigrants. I have been mobilized. I think immigrants from the Far East will be more cooperative and willing to combine with the relocation of the factory."

William IV: "Yes, the living environment in the Far East is actually not as good as in the Netherlands at first, but the prospects there are an opportunity for many Dutch people at the bottom of society to make a comeback. This is what we have always emphasized. The Netherlands is a place where miracles are created, and our policy in the Far East is to provide this group of people with such opportunities.

Of course, the local upper-class Dutch can also make great achievements in the Far East. After all, the market there is also vast, and the vast territory there is more than a hundred times that of the Netherlands. Such a hundred-fold opportunity is a math that even elementary school students can plan. question. "

James: "But some Dutch people think that after immigration, they will be cut off from Europe and they will not be able to keep up with the pace of other European countries in industrial technology innovation. Is this true?"

William IV: "I don't think this is a problem. First of all, it is undeniable that Britain and France are absolutely dominant in the world's industrial status, but when it comes to leading, they are not too much. After the past ten years, the Netherlands has The great development has steadily entered the small circle of recently advanced countries in all walks of life. For example, the most advanced navy of the United Kingdom and the current shipbuilding of the Netherlands will never be compared."

James: "Britain and France have steam battleships."

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