Start 1861: I Just Inherited the Dutch Throne

At the joint meeting of the Senate and the House of Representatives on April 13, 1868, President Lincoln and his cabinet members were present.

On the podium, Vice President Andrew and Speaker of the Senate were making a routine speech.

Today’s topic is: the difference between Prussians and Germans!

"When the Confederate States of America criticizes Prussia, we should make distinctions and not generalize. Just like Europe, when we treat Europe, we cannot all think that Europe is a whole and have the same greed for America.

There are more than 4 million Germans in the Commonwealth of America. This is a very huge figure. The population of the United States exceeds 17%. However, just like Irish people, Irish people are divided into Irish people from the Island of Ireland and Scottish Irish people. We cannot Click on the cover. "

President Lincoln and Secretary Seward in the audience moved their mouths and looked at the approval and nodding of many people around them. They looked at each other and saw their helplessness.

Lincoln: "Obviously any opposition at this time seems to have the opposite effect. The best thing is to just attract attention. Just listen quietly and watch the performance of our vice president."

Siward took a few breaths, tried to calm himself down, and nodded heavily.

They are all smart people, and the content revealed in the speech that Andrew Johnson just started clearly reminded them of something.

Not only these two, but everyone else who was doing it was already aware of Andrew's intentions.

But no one stood up, because what do they mean by the general trend? Now, Andrew and the people behind him who support him are the general trend of the American Federation.

"Not long after the present Kingdom of Prussia annexed the entire German Confederation, the membership of the German Confederation dropped sharply from more than 200 during the Holy Roman Empire to 36 in 1815 after the Napoleonic Wars.

After Prussia occupied Schleswig and Holstein in Denmark, which triggered the Prussian-Danish War, and soon after the Prussian-Austrian War with the Austrian Empire, it even annexed most of the German Confederation. In the end, only the Netherlands survived. Limburg Province, the Dutch Principality of Luxembourg, the Dutch Principality of Nassau, the Austro-Hungarian Empire formed after Austria was kicked out, and Liechtenstein supported by the French Empire.

All the other 36 members of the German Confederation were annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia, which was the main member.

I don't think there's anything wrong with Prussia, it's honorable to grow your country. Just as those great men who expanded the territory of the United States after we were founded as only thirteen states were equally admirable, we should not hold double standards.

But this is an opinion. If the United States becomes the target of expansion by Prussia, I don’t think anyone here will agree, including the Germans.

This is what we believe in protecting our country.

Here, whether it is Prussians or other Germans before being annexed by Prussia, I think we should distinguish the attitudes that have different impacts on the United States, so that we can show the inclusive immigration policy of the American Commonwealth. ,Thanks! "

"Pah, pah, pah, pah"

As Andrew finished his words, the entire Senate burst into applause from members of the Senate.

Among them, Dutch-born Treasury Secretary James Speed, American Central Theater General Ambrose Burnside, Attorney General Marty Grice, and Senate Minority Democratic Leader Stephen Douglas appeared in the newspaper. Be the first to applaud.

He was followed closely by Danish Transportation Minister Dudler, Swedish Commerce Minister Rice and Speaker of the House of Representatives Skyler Colfax.

Seemingly affected, other Latino interim Senate President Benjamin Wade and Italian Energy Minister Granholm also joined in the applause.

Following the lead of these cabinet members or key members of the parliament, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Italian and Latino senators in the Senate have joined the ranks.

The 70 senators suddenly exceeded 40 and entered this ranks.

Afterwards, many Irish senators looked at Lincoln's position in the front section, and Secretary of the Interior Washburn, who was next to Lincoln, was affected by this and nodded towards them as if he had already gotten the hint.

Then suddenly more people applauded.

There were 70 senators, and suddenly 60 people applauded, leaving only 10 German senators waiting for something.

Although Siward wanted to stop it, he was unable to do so this time.

Prussia should never have chosen to intervene in the situation in Mexico at a time when the Commonwealth of America was seriously wary of Prussia.

This made many European immigrants think of the idea of ​​Prussia annexing Germany, especially when Andrew mentioned it just now, he already understood Andrew's intention.

Split the Germans, distinguish between Prussians and other Prussian rulers over other ethnic groups.

Sure enough, another round of applause broke out, and Siward was shocked.

He didn't look back, having already guessed where the new round of applause came from.

The Hanoverian immigrants, Bavarian immigrants, and Saxon immigrants who followed him in the past, such as the senators, applauded without waiting for his instructions. Obviously, Seward now understood that there was nothing he could do.

In the end, the Senate Speaker's speech against Prussia ended with only four Prussian senators left without any problems.

On April 14, 1868, Senate President and Vice President Andrew's speech in the Senate was reported, and it immediately attracted praise throughout the United States. Compared with Seward's previous provocation, Vice President Andrew's words were like a national speech. -What a leader should say.

Because of Lincoln's preference for Prussia, people felt that he had led the United States's diplomatic direction astray. Which diplomatic expert is the most IN? Newspapers that favored Dutch descent frequently used this to attack the month, and seemed to be led to believe that Lincoln was the ignition of the Civil War. Because of this, many people in the American Confederate States were disgusted with Lincoln. After all, it was because when Lincoln became president, the thirteen southern states broke away from the rule of the north. Only then can we become a country on our own.

As a result, America, which had always been focused on expansion, was split into two. Many people alluded to Lincoln as America's "historical sinner."

"European Times" conducted an interview with Prussia on America's foreign relations. In it, a businessman who runs a store in New York said that the recent deterioration of relations between the United States and Prussia has caused trade damage and rising commodity prices. In addition, the previous offending of the Netherlands has caused conflicts with the United States. The deterioration of relations between the Federal States will further damage Prussia's economy, so he hopes that no matter which party wins the election in the future, it can find a way to improve relations with the Netherlands.

In addition, he also called for careful separation of the relationship between the Commonwealth of the United States, the Kingdom of Prussia and Prussian immigrants in the United States in the political field, to avoid racist attacks against native American groups.

Even many senators of Hanoverian, Saxon and Bavarian origin who were occupied by Prussia and perished. For this reason, they even established an anti-Prussian alliance group to monitor what Prussia did in their hometown. They believed that the Confederate States of America The two parties should publicize their dissatisfaction with Prussia's position on the issue of human rights and Prussia's illegal annexation of members of the German Confederation.

A poll commissioned by the U.S. Senate and jointly conducted by the New York Times, New York Post, Washington Post, San Francisco Daily News, Washington Times and other newspapers found that 58% of the people who participated in the survey believed that The Commonwealth of the United States should take a tougher stance when dealing with Prussia. Only 12% of the interviewees held opposing views on this issue. Even more than 70% of Democratic Party supporters said that relations with the Netherlands should be improved. 75% of the people believe that Prussia should continue to be tough.

However, many interviewers said in the survey that the U.S.-Prussia relationship has become the most important bilateral relationship that respondents are most concerned about, after the U.S.-British relationship, the U.S.-Dutch relationship and the U.S.-France relationship. 40% of people also believe that the future The relationship between the United States and Prussia can improve.

At the same time, this survey also believes that it is very important to handle the relationship with the Netherlands, and the economic relationship with Prussia is also important. Politicians from the Democratic Party and the Republican Party once again interpreted the consistent political arguments of the two parties: Prussia is threats, but bilateral relations need to be better managed.

The United States is now the most powerful economic and military country in the Americas. Therefore, the deterioration of the United States and Prussia has obviously given the Netherlands the upper hand in the Dutch-Prussian struggle, and it is also the kind that Prussia will be difficult to reverse in the near future. It makes people sigh.

How long has it passed? The international political arena has been in a state of flux. Prussia overturned and the Netherlands overtook it.

For this reason, the presidential election of the United States at the end of the year has become the focus of European countries. Perhaps, many people feel that this election is the performance that will truly establish the results of the Dutch defeating Prussia.

Vice President Andrew’s final statement at the speech is still impressive to this day, that is, the Commonwealth of the United States needs to defend its own values ​​and develop the diplomatic relations it needs, which can improve the relationship between the United States and Prussia. However, under the current conditions, it has not been able to provide any specific measures.

When the internal and external relations of the American Commonwealth became an issue in this election, William IV, who was far away in the Netherlands in Europe, had not shown his face for a long time, but he chose to visit the British Empire at this time.

And the news was only announced after arriving at Buckingham Palace and before receiving a joint press conference with Queen Victoria.

For so many years, William IV had not visited any foreign countries except Denmark and Sweden.

Does the representative who concealed the itinerary have any special secrets?

What was the reason for the secret meeting between William IV and Queen Victoria of England?

Could it be that the UK has loosened its position and chosen to side with the Netherlands in the struggle between the Netherlands and Prussia? Supporting the weak and resisting the strong seems to be the British style?

It is said that Princess Victoria, the Crown Princess of Prussia, personally sent a telegram to London yesterday asking for specific information about her belief. Apparently Berlin cannot sit still?

However, as the parties involved, both William IV and Queen Victoria have remained silent, as if they will not solve the mystery until that moment. It is this kind of appetite-sucking that made the newspaper reporters at the Buckingham Palace press conference so densely packed that they almost gathered. Influential newspapers around the world participated. This has to make William IV sigh, it is indeed the most international city in the world, and there are really many journalists.

William gave a weird and mysterious smile: However, this just suits the purpose of my attending the press conference today.