Start 1861: I Just Inherited the Dutch Throne

February 25, 1869.

While the outside world is paying attention to the outcome of the negotiations between Dutch and British diplomats in London, England, there are large-scale demonstrations by Dutch people in various parts of Belgium against the rule of Leopold II in Brussels. They took to the streets to demand that Britain and Belgium The royal family supported Belgium's return to the Kingdom of the Netherlands and requested the Dutch government to send troops to Belgium.

State by state, town by town. Banners were even displayed on many streets, almost unanimously condemning Britain's interference in Belgium's internal affairs, and at the same time demanding that the Leopold family voluntarily withdraw from the Belgian royal family.

According to Dutch newspaper reports, the number of people participating in the demonstrations throughout Belgium exceeded 60% of Belgium's total population of 2 million, or reached 1.2 million, covering all parts of Belgium.

At the same time, according to data from the "European Times", in Belgium, more than 70% of people currently express their willingness to return to the Kingdom of the Netherlands, while another 20% express their willingness to maintain the status quo, and nearly 10% express their support for the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Reign of Opold II.

Among them, the southern province of Wallonia-Brabant most wanted to maintain the status quo, while Brussels was the largest source of support for Leopold II.

Other northern Dutch-speaking areas wanted to return to the Netherlands.

It was the appearance of this investigative report by "European Times" that completely helped Nicholas Pearson who was negotiating in London. With the demonstrations in various parts of Belgium, it also crushed the wishes of Queen Victoria and Disraeli's cabinet government. Continued support for Leopold II's idea of ​​ruling all of Belgium.

On March 2, 1869, Dutch Deputy Foreign Minister Nicholas Pierson and British Foreign Secretary Russell reached an agreement in London. Britain supported the "proposal" proposed by the Netherlands and the United Kingdom agreed to the Dutch "recovery" of East Flanders and West Flanders. The Netherlands agrees to the existence of the Kingdom of Belgium and is willing to support the transfer of Brussels and the provinces of Walloon and Brabant and the territory between them to Belgium, so that the two places border.

This news was reported by the pro-Whig "Financial Times" and "The Times" and the pro-Tory "London Times" and the "Guardian" in the UK. Newspapers around the world reprinted it, which suddenly shocked the world.

All forces in the Kingdom of Belgium were immediately shocked.

"The UK actually reached an agreement with the Netherlands"

"No one expected that Britain would support the Dutch move. This makes people wonder what the British Foreign Office wants to do. Doesn't the British know that this will gradually lose the majesty of Britain's maritime supremacy? I don't understand, really I don’t understand”

"I also have more and more admiration for the Netherlands. They have used their small gains to gain more. The UK has chosen to compromise every time. The Netherlands' diplomacy is so bullish."

"I'm curious. The French Empire, which had strongly opposed it time and time again, actually chose to remain silent after the British announced the news. Doesn't Napoleon III know that this is also a slap in the face to him?"

"Yes, the current movements in France are actually silent compared to before."

As the international community reached an agreement with Britain and the Netherlands, while it was puzzling, many people began to ridicule France under the rule of Napoleon III in a sarcastic tone. This made many French people feel very aggrieved, but Napoleon The strong rule of the Third Dynasty made the French dare not speak out when they were angry, which became a beautiful scenery in Paris.

Just as people's focus shifted to ridiculing France, Huntington, the seemingly unrelated speaker of the Dutch House of Representatives who was visiting Spain, announced his support for the agreement reached by the UK and the Netherlands.

He even stated that he was not a strong anti-British conservative.

"I have to say that although many people think that I am anti-British, I am actually very dissatisfied with being labeled like this. What I want to say is that I am just one of the people who are most serious about safeguarding the interests of the Netherlands."

When Huntington was asked in Spain whether he would visit the area close to British-ruled Gibraltar to show his support for Spain's sovereignty policy, as previously stated in the newspaper "La Vanguardia", Huntington smiled and said: "We support it." Spain and Britain should have a peaceful negotiation to resolve the territorial dispute between the two countries. I don’t think a war between Britain and Spain is in the interests of Britain, the Netherlands and Spain. I think neither the British government nor the Spanish government has the idea of ​​​​such a war, so This trip, in order to avoid becoming the trigger of the Anglo-Spanish War, I am willing to contribute to peace."

What effort? You don't need to guess to know that this is to prevent the British from provoking a war in Gibraltar, and Spain will be devastated.

However, Huntington does not have his own position, which makes people feel that Huntington's approach is a good one.

After all, in this way, he did not directly resist the British warning, avoid further disturbances in the relationship between the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, and at the same time keep the Spaniards favoring him. This operation was very simple and appropriate, worthy of being in the Dutch House of Representatives. A veteran congressman with more than 30 years of experience, he is very clever.

It seems that in this way, the sky that was originally covered with stormy clouds over Madrid suddenly became clear.

But this is just what ordinary people think. Only high-level officials from various countries and current affairs experts from various countries understand that the actions of the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands, combined with the current gains of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, everything seems to be premeditated. Many people speculate that Huntington may have started from From the beginning to now, it has been carried out according to the script of going to Amsterdam, and it has contributed a wonderful performance to the expansion of the Dutch national territory.

Even Britain was forced to become a supporting role, Spain took the initiative to contribute its acting skills, and Huntington became one of the protagonists launched by the Netherlands.

Many countries are very enthusiastic about this, especially Italy, Portugal, Sweden, etc. whose status is similar to that of the Netherlands. They seem to be a little tempted.

“This time the Dutch textbook-like political operation allowed the world to experience for the first time that disputes between countries can be played like this.

The Netherlands sent a Speaker of the House of Representatives to Spain to provoke disputes between Britain and Spain, which worsened the conflict between Britain and Spain. The rigid public opinion in the two countries made it difficult for the two governments to retreat. The Netherlands relied on Speaker of the House of Representatives Huntington to control the diplomatic crisis and war crisis between Britain and Spain. The initiative has become the biggest variable, which has put both Britain and Spain into a passive acceptance situation.

The structure of Dutch people in Belgium made the Dutch people's protest instantly reduce the cost of the Netherlands to recover there, and made the international community understand that the return of most of Belgium's territory to the Netherlands was the general trend. As a result, the international community had a great sense of recognition, and the United Kingdom also felt it. His own opposition seemed to be of no avail, so after the Netherlands used the situation in Belgium to benefit the Kingdom of the Netherlands and used Spain to put pressure on the UK, the UK finally compromised.

In one fell swoop, the Netherlands won back most of Belgium. These three provinces, plus the provinces of Antwerp and Limburg that were recovered during the last Belgian crisis, the return of the five provinces increased the Netherlands' mainland territory by one-third, and its area reached It covers about 55,000 square kilometers. "

At this time, Bismarck in Berlin looked calm on the outside, but he was no longer calm on the inside.

He raised his head and said respectfully to William I: "Your Majesty, it seems that we cannot let the Netherlands be more beautiful than before. We have to start making preparations."

William I's eyes were hot and he nodded and said: "Yes, it's time to start preparing." No one knew what preparation they were talking about, but it was obvious that it must be a big event that would shock Europe.