Start 1861: I Just Inherited the Dutch Throne

Huntington, Speaker of the Dutch House of Representatives, said on February 13, 1869 that due to security reasons, he would not comment on any trips to the House of Representatives.

According to the Dutch "Australian Times", Huntington was asked at a regular press conference in the House of Representatives about his visit to Gibraltar, Spain, which caused a strong backlash from the UK. He said, "I will not discuss my travel plans. This is a topic for the Dutch National Security Conference."

Huntington also stressed that he never announced any trip itinerary in advance.

The Kingdom of Spain's authoritative newspaper "El Vanguardia" reported this week that Huntington, the fourth most important political figure in the Kingdom of the Netherlands and Speaker of the House of Representatives, is planning a trip to the Iberian Peninsula in mid-July that will include the border of Gibraltar, which is actually ruled by Spain. Later, it triggered protests in the British Empire and brought great shock to Europe.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Defense of the British Empire have successively warned that if Huntington visits the British-controlled Gibraltar border and declares support for Spain's power to rule the place as reported, London "will definitely take resolute and forceful measures" and "the consequences will be consequences." The Netherlands and Spain are solely responsible”

When asked at a House of Representatives press conference on Thursday how the Netherlands should respond to British dissatisfaction and Britain's containment of the Netherlands, Huntington responded that this was a very important issue.

Huntington said: "I think it's important that in addition to showing support for Spain, an important ally of the Netherlands, I also think that none of us have any doubts about Spain's historical control over Spain. Of course, the Netherlands has not said so yet. We support Spain’s right to govern there now. Spain is a big country and we respect it, so the Dutch position is rational and it depends on Spain’s own decision.”

Huntington also said that Dutch Prime Minister Tolbeck did not tell him not to go to Spain, let alone ask him to do something but not do anything: "I have never heard from our greatest Majesty William IV. I’ve heard this talk over there.”

The statement of the Speaker of the Dutch House of Representatives immediately aroused everyone's attention after it was published by various countries on February 15, 1869. Obviously, his statement did not make people feel the slightest relaxation. It was just a vague official position. He did not say whether he would continue this "anti-British trip", which made European newspapers very excited. Obviously, in order to win more subscriptions from newspaper readers, the sustainable reporting of this news will further increase newspaper sales.

Perhaps even the British newspapers thanked the Dutch speaker from the bottom of their hearts for being the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

British Empire, London.

Queen Victoria, Prime Minister Disraeli, and Foreign Secretary Russell sat opposite each other.

“In response to the fact that Huntington of the Dutch House of Representatives may visit Spain in the next seven days and announce his support for Spain’s sovereignty over Gibraltar, Dutch Prime Minister Tolbeck has reservations about this and has issued a message to communicate with Prime Minister Disraeli within 10 days.

News of Huntington's trip to Spain has not yet been confirmed by Dutch officials, and even Huntington has not said whether he will visit there. Tolbeck's serious intervention at this time cannot be ruled out as a diplomatic incident that his government wrote, directed and acted in the current poor relationship with the French Empire, creating a tense situation between Spain and the United Kingdom when he intervened. Cool down the temperature, create diplomatic results for the Dutch cabinet government, and save face.”

Foreign Secretary Russell pointed out analytically: "The British Empire must stick to the bottom line, maintain its composure, and not be led by the other side due to the Dutch provocation."

Disraeli remained silent, unable to tell whether he would deny or agree.

"Military Intelligence-6 intelligence showed that when Dutch Prime Minister Tolbeck returned to Amsterdam from Rotterdam the day before yesterday, there was a newspaper report that Huntington would lead the House of Representatives team to visit Spain in the next few days. In response, Tolbeck even mentioned that the Dutch Ministry of Defense's military The representative believed that it was not a good time or a good idea to visit Spain at this time and revealed that he expected to communicate with me within 10 days, but he avoided talking about the issues he and I would discuss."

Disraeli said with a solemn look in his eyes: "His words conveyed that he seemed to disagree with Huntington's visit to Spain and was striving to have a dialogue with me as soon as possible. This made me a little confused. Obviously they seemed to have differences. But it also has a co-production approach that makes people confused about what’s going on inside.”

When Queen Victoria saw that the judgments of the two people were different, and that their respective opinions were reasonable, it immediately gave her a headache, and she couldn't help but complain that William IV had created some problems for her.

Suddenly, her eyes lit up, and she said: "Since you can't figure out what they think, you can start from others."

"Who?" Disraeli and Russell asked in unison.

Queen Victoria laughed and said: "Who is above them?"

Both of them were smart people and immediately understood what the Queen was referring to.

Queen Victoria: "Just look at him and you will understand the attitude of the Netherlands"

French Empire, Paris, Palace of Versailles.

Napoleon III was also paying attention to the development of this matter with his French Prime Minister Olivier and Foreign Minister Edmond Drouin de Lu.

"This may be a sausage-slicing tactic led by the Netherlands, intended to test the red line of the British Empire."

French Empire Foreign Minister Edmond Drouin de Luu said something shocking that shocked Napoleon III and Prime Minister Olivier and looked at him involuntarily.

I want to hear this novel statement of his.

In fact, there is a certain reason why the French Empire can stand in Europe and endure as a great power for a long time. No one will deny that Napoleon III himself had relatively few diplomatic skills. Therefore, he was so strong that he led France towards increasingly lonely diplomatic results. , but no one would think that the French Empire has no diplomatic experts, just to see if there are Bole.

Even William IV, a time traveler, never dared to underestimate the French Empire. After all, this country still maintained its status as a European power until more than 100 years later. Although it was almost a regional power at that time, it had the foundation of a global power. Still maintained.

Who dares to ignore such a country, so existence is the law, and the existence of the French Empire naturally has its advantages.

The foreign minister in front of him, Edmond Drouin de Lu, is an expert in European diplomacy.

Edmond Drouin de Luijian attracted the attention of Napoleon III and Olivier, so he said: "In fact, the news of Huntington's visit to Spain was first reported by Spanish newspapers. The Office of the Prime Minister of the Netherlands and the Speaker of the House of Representatives There has been no official confirmation from Huntington’s office or Spain for several days.”