Start 1861: I Just Inherited the Dutch Throne

Queen Victoria turned her eyes and stared at her son, Prince Edward.

Crown Prince Edward explained: "But at that time, I heard that the Provincial Assembly of Madagascar completely turned a deaf ear to the decision of the Dutch Parliament. It is said that not only did the Provincial Assembly of Madagascar not revoke the resolution, but instead rejected Article 2 of the Constitution of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands in the second month. 11th Amendment. But”

Queen Victoria sneered: "But what, why don't you go on? Let me finish it for you." The Dutch Parliament faced the confrontation of the provincial parliament of Madagascar, and the Dutch Parliament had to expel the province from the United Kingdom Parliament. Martial law was reinstated, and it was decided that the province would not be allowed to return to the Parliament of the United Kingdom until it ratified the 11th Amendment to the United Kingdom.

Even after martial law began, the commander of the military region revoked the qualifications of 20 members of the Malagasy Christian denomination, and the parliament was reorganized. Reorganized the province to support the Reconstruction Act, agreed to restore the legal political status of indigenous people, approved the 11th Amendment, and passed laws such as the Women's Suffrage Law and the Prison Reform Law to promote the democratization process. Madagascar's senators and representatives finally In September 1868 it returned to the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

Under such circumstances, I don't know why you would think this is a way to open up the conflict between the indigenous people and the white Dutch. Or do you think you can use this to make Holland more troubled? If that's the case, I think you, the Crown Prince of the British Empire, are wasting taxpayers' money? "

Disraeli's eyes immediately widened, and he immediately looked away.

Queen, what does this mean? There was something wrong with his previous tone. Now he said directly in front of him that Crown Prince Edward was wasting taxpayers' money. Next, he would not directly state that he believed that Crown Prince Edward was not suitable to be crown prince anymore, right?

If that's the case, this would definitely shock the world.

Queen Victoria has always been dissatisfied with Prince Edward, especially after the death of her husband, Prince Albert. In 1861, Prince Albert went to Cambridge to care about his situation, but two weeks after his return, Prince Albert Later, she died of an injury. Therefore, the middle-aged widowed Queen Victoria blamed Prince Edward's absurdity for her late husband's death. From then on, she was not allowed to interfere in political and royal affairs, and her favorability dropped to a low point.

Disraeli thought to himself: "Now that Prince Edward is given so many opportunities, it seems that the family relationship is still there, but is it actually the last chance? A storm before dawn? If so, what should we conservative Tories do?"

Thinking of this, he suddenly had a headache.

At this time, Prince Edward's look for help also came over.

Disraeli was even more troubled.

In order to minimize the loss of Crown Prince Edward in front of Queen Victoria, he knew that if he did not stand up at this time and express the Tory support for Crown Prince Edward, the Queen might choose to move forward with the abolition of Crown Prince Edward. This will make the Tories even more passive.

Disraeli: "Your Majesty the Queen, I think Her Royal Highness the Crown Prince actually has a point."

He looked at Queen Victoria cautiously, but the latter remained expressionless as ever.

He explains: “Among the Far Eastern and African provinces of the Netherlands, Uganda is the only province in which there are more black indigenous members of parliament than white members of the total number of members of parliament.

It is also the province with the largest proportion of black indigenous people participating in politics, so the black indigenous people have played the most prominent role in the democratization of the Netherlands in Uganda, Rwanda and other regions. If the democratization promoted by William IV here successfully breaks through and becomes a model, then the Kingdom of the Netherlands will truly become the most successful country in the world in integrating various ethnic groups, even better than the United States of America. Therefore, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince’s provocation actually hits the mark.”

Disraeli quickly glanced at Prince Edward.

Crown Prince Edward received Disraeli's look and immediately understood: "Yes, it was because I was worried about this that I chose to start in Uganda, Congo and Kenya in Africa. What's more, setting up a battlefield in the Netherlands, It’s better than having a battlefield between Britain and the Netherlands in reality, right?”

Secretly applauding Edward's excuse, he saw Queen Victoria's face softening slightly and immediately said: "At this time in Uganda, Kenya and Congo, some white politicians who discriminate against black indigenous people have made some ridiculous remarks, thinking that they are ignorant and ignorant. culture, and are not worthy of participating in the agenda of constitution-making meetings in Uganda and other provinces. Faced with such unreasonable remarks and because of the dissatisfaction of the indigenous people, many indigenous people have already developed a sense of distrust towards the native Dutch and white people. At this time, we can To rub some salt in Holland’s wounds and make them bigger and more severe is actually quite appropriate.”

Queen Victoria said at this time: "Anyway, William IV has helped the wound stop bleeding and even scarred, and there is no pus. This proves that your approach is not in place, or it is difficult to achieve the expected effect, so this Please suspend the plan.”

Crown Prince Edward asked hurriedly: "Why?"

He knew that if he agreed to a pause, it would mean that he would not be able to attack the Netherlands where William IV was located for a long time in the future. This would definitely be very uncomfortable for him who was still holding back his resentment.

Disraeli was silent.

"Because your sister Louise is getting married in early October this year, and the person she is getting married to is William IV's biological brother and the Crown Prince of Greece. Do you think it would be an obvious attack on the Netherlands at this time? Would you be a 'good gift' to Louise?"

Crown Prince Edward: "I have always wanted Louise to marry Prince Frederick, William IV's younger brother, but you still insist on doing so. This is definitely not good for us to suppress the Netherlands. We haven't gotten married yet, Not as good as"

Disraeli screamed secretly when he heard this, because he saw Queen Victoria's face turned cloudy again.

"Shut up." Queen Victoria stared at Crown Prince Edward with a sharp expression and sneered: "My daughter cannot let you arrange her marriage. If you want to arrange it, you can arrange it by having more children. And, from this moment on, You don’t need to interfere in the external affairs of the UK. Leave Buckingham Palace immediately and go to Edinburgh where it will be closed.”

Crown Prince Edward's face changed drastically when he heard this, and Disraeli hurriedly cast a look at Crown Prince Edward not to make the Queen angry.

The latter finally gave up his idea of ​​continuing to argue, opened his mouth, and finally left weakly.

After the door closed, Disraeli persuaded him: "Your Majesty, is this a bit harsh on the Crown Prince?"

Queen Victoria sighed: "Look at William IV, who is only one year older than him, but is now causing turmoil in the world. Look at his appearance, and then think about whether I am still harsh in doing this now?"

How can there be such a comparison?

However, Disraeli did not dare to say that. He could only smile bitterly and said: "Even if there is still a gap, we should still give the Crown Prince more opportunities to exercise."

"Okay," Queen Victoria said: "Hurry up and deal with the tail that Edward created. I don't want the Anglo-Dutch relationship to still be spinning in the role of deadly rivals when Princess Louise gets married in October."

Disraeli's eyes suddenly lit up. The Queen did not say reconciliation, but she was not a mortal enemy. It seemed that the Queen was also dissatisfied with the Netherlands.

That's right, no one would be happy if he robbed his daughter-in-law and beat his son until he couldn't lift his head all day long.

Seeing this, after he knew the queen's thoughts, he immediately said: "Yes"

Queen Victoria asked: "According to our information in the Royal Intelligence Service, the Netherlands is now directly matching the tonnage of the British Empire in terms of naval tonnage?"

The tonnage of the Dutch navy has now become the focus of various countries in the world. Since William IV stated that the size of the navy in the Far East is not inferior to that of the mainland, and stated in 1865 that it has surpassed Spain to reach 180,000 tons, second only to the 230,000 tons disclosed by the United Kingdom. tons and the French Empire’s 190,000 tons, the world was stunned.

You must know that the Netherlands previously ranked sixth in terms of tonnage, not only behind the top three naval powers of Britain, France, and Spain, but also ranked sixth behind the Russian Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Behind them were Portugal, Italy, and the Netherlands. United States, Denmark.

At that time, it quietly surpassed Spain's 160,000 tons from 130,000 tons to 180,000 tons, which shocked the whole world.

Queen Victoria even had an in-depth understanding with Viscount Palmerston at the time, and finally confirmed that the Dutch tonnage information was indeed reliable.

"Nearly four years have passed since the Netherlands announced its tonnage of 180,000 tons in 1865. Who knows how much progress the Netherlands has made?"

Queen Victoria sighed and said: "The current situation in the UK is very unfavorable. No country, such as France and Tsarist Russia, believes in the UK. Moreover, former allies of the UK such as Italy and the Ottoman Empire have also begun to slowly alienate their relations with the UK, and they all want to stand on their own. Be the king.

The navies of these countries are all developing vigorously. As far as I know, the orders for shipbuilding from British shipyards to various countries alone exceed 100,000 tons. This does not include orders from other major shipbuilding countries such as France and the Netherlands. If all of them were invested in the global sea, the naval power of the British Empire would be severely squeezed. The final result may be that Britain's maritime hegemony is disintegrated. At this time, Edward is still focused on his personal grudges with William IV. This will definitely not be a good thing for Britain."

Disraeli admitted that this was a good idea.

"The situation of Crown Prince Edward is indeed small, but William IV of the Netherlands is not an innocent person."

Disraeli said: "The Netherlands is actually one of the driving forces behind all the difficulties that Britain is currently experiencing. Therefore, the personal grudges of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince are not actually a kind of revenge by Britain?

I think that when the UK faces the Netherlands, it cannot just focus on wooing it, but should also support it with suppression. For this reason, I agree with Her Majesty the Queen in easing relations with the Netherlands, but precautions and warnings are still needed. Your Majesty can Don’t forget that the Netherlands’ mainland territory is too small, so Europe is not a place for hegemony, but in the Indian Ocean, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom are the real rivalry, and India is also known as the crown worn by the queen. Currently, the Netherlands is in The deployment is tight around the Indian Ocean, including Madagascar, northern Mozambique, Tanzania, and Kenya in the west. The Australian continent in the south and the Dutch East Indies in the east. The Netherlands occupies all three sides, and only the north and central sides are in British hands. This is definitely a bold challenge to Britain's global hegemony plan."