The Shadow of Great Britain

84: Chapter 44: Europa in Utter Chaos (Subscribe Please!) 84: Chapter 44: Europa in Utter Chaos (Subscribe Please!) Across from the Greenwich police station, in a cafe, Arthur was enjoying the rare peace and tranquility.

At the next table, Tony and Tom were seriously studying the basics of natural history and medicine with Darwin.

The case involving Robin had greatly stimulated the two of them, and for the first time in their lives, they felt that learning was such an important matter, not only for the three shillings Arthur had offered them as a subsidy but also for the protection of the lives of London’s citizens.

Sitting opposite Arthur, however, was Eld, who looked as if he were about to die.

Although today’s lunch was on Arthur, Young Master Eld had unusually little appetite.

Arthur glanced at his lifeless expression and asked indifferently, “What’s wrong with you?

Didn’t you say that Sir Isaac Newton is the only sun in your heart?

If you have time now, why not go to Gresham College for a science lecture?”

“A science lecture?

How could I be in the mood for that now?”

Eld, holding his head in agony, said, “Arthur, you don’t understand, the refitting of the Beagle is about to be completed.

If things continue at this pace, it won’t be long before Charles and I have to board the ship for maritime training.”

Arthur raised an eyebrow and said, “You are a cartographer in the Royal Navy; isn’t it normal for you to undergo sea training?

This could be a preparation for your future circumnavigation, and besides, when you are at sea, don’t you get double the salary you would on land?”

“Arthur!” Eld sighed, “If I had a choice, I wouldn’t want that money.

At sea, having money is useless since there’s nowhere to spend it, and the Navy Department actually doesn’t pay us much extra.

I am neither the Captain nor the Navigating Officer; I don’t have such high wages.”

Arthur turned to the next page of the newspaper and said, “Eld, think of the brighter side.

Didn’t your uncle accumulate over a hundred thousand after being at sea for over twenty years?

Work hard, and maybe you could do the same.”

Eld covered his face and lamented, “He just caught a good time, catching the last train of the Napoleonic Wars.

Otherwise, where would he have gotten so much money from?

Back then, to fight against Napoleon and his allies, every shipyard in the country was working full capacity to build warships, and the Royal Navy was continuously capturing ships.

So as soon as my uncle was promoted to Colonel, he immediately got a ship to command as Captain.

But now?

The Royal Navy has over a thousand ships, and there are nearly as many as two thousand captains.

The young ones all have to wait ashore in line to get on a ship.

Some might never get a chance to be Captain, and it’s not uncommon for some to take the Navy Department’s shore allowance all the way to retirement.

If it weren’t for the shortage of ships compared to men, why do you think the Navy Department is so comfortable letting young Lieutenants serve as Navigating Officers, responsible for writing navigational logs to supervise the Captain?

For the Lieutenants, getting rid of a Captain means an empty spot on a ship.

If they catch just a small mistake from the Captain, they never show mercy to their former superiors in a military court.”

Upon hearing this, Arthur was stunned for a moment, “The Navy Department does this without fearing the Lieutenants would falsely accuse the Captains?”

“False accusation?

Unless the Lieutenant is out of his mind, that rarely happens.”

Eld swung one leg onto the table, leaned his head back on the chair, and said, “Because a promotion for a Lieutenant requires a recommendation letter from the Captain.

If he dares to forge evidence and fails to bring down the Captain, then he’ll suffer the consequences.

Besides, there’s more than one Lieutenant on a ship.

Unless they collude together, it would not be easy to successfully make a false accusation.

In the end, even if they collude, there’s still the Sergeant Major on the ship.

Sergeant Majors are usually occupied by skilled, experienced sailors because there’s no hope of promotion for them, and their appointment or dismissal is not controlled by the Captain but decided directly by the Navy Department, so Sergeant Majors generally don’t bother with falsehoods.”

“If a captain manages to offend several lieutenants and sergeants major on his ship, he probably wouldn’t win a battle if he were sent to one, and he’d deserve to be discharged,”

Arthur, stroking his chin, replied, “That sounds rather good, doesn’t it?

So why are you so reluctant to do the sea training?

I thought from the way you looked that as soon as you went to sea, Colonel Fitzroy would tie you to the ram.”

“He wouldn’t dare!” Eld glared and said, “The suggestion for sea training came from him in the first place, and nobody was willing to do it.

If he ties me to the ram, I assure you that once the Beagle returns, he’ll be out of a job on the spot.”

“Who knows what’s wrong with his brain, conducting six sea trainings within three months, each lasting more than a week.

My uncle’s fleet in the Mediterranean doesn’t even train that frequently!”

“How does the Mediterranean fleet train?”

Upon hearing this, Eld glanced around mysteriously and then covered his mouth, whispering,

“I’ll tell you, but you mustn’t repeat it!

Actually, my uncle told me that more than half the year, their fleet in the Mediterranean just hangs out at the port.”

And this is common among all the fleets stationed abroad; the more pleasant the climate and living conditions of the location, the longer the fleets just sit tight.

The Mediterranean fleet spends the longest time just sitting in port, up to sixty percent of the year during severe times.

The Baltic fleet is much more diligent—they only spend about thirty to forty percent of their time on land.

After all, it’s not wartime, so why train so rigorously?

The brothers in the Royal Navy find part-time jobs on land, which pay higher than what they earn staying on the ship.”

“It’s not wartime?” Arthur said and laughed as he pushed the newspaper on the table toward Eld, “Take a look at this, who knows, we might really be going to war soon.”

Eld waved his hand dismissively, “Isn’t it just the King’s death?

What’s so big about that?

I’m well aware.

The newspapers are full of criticisms of him, even the tabloids I read devoted two pages to berate him.

I still remember that tabloid quoting a comment from The Times, saying that never in history had a king died with so little regret from his people.

Who wept for him?

Whose heart stirred with genuine sorrow or evoked sincere grief for him?

From the nobility to the priests, down to the common citizens, everyone was cursing him.

And it’s not only that he died, he even delayed my reading the tabloid stories, which really makes him deserve the criticisms!”

“Really?”

Arthur, raising an eyebrow, said, “You might not know this, but I heard from a journalist friend of mine who covers Parliament, that court reporter Charles Dickens, that the Duke of Wellington praised the departed king as ‘the most cultured gentleman of our times’ in the eulogy he read in the House of Lords.”

Eld was stunned, “The Duke of Wellington said that?

I remember when the King was blocking the Catholic Emancipation Act, he privately called the King the worst, most selfish, most unfaithful, and most malevolent man he had ever met, and what’s worse, the King completely lacked any virtues to compensate for his defects.”

Arthur pursed his lips and smiled, “Eld, you don’t understand, being prime minister requires showing two faces.

Do you know what was Wellington’s reaction when he heard about the King’s illness and death?

He exclaimed, ‘In the past, I swore to His Majesty the King that he might never do a single good thing in his lifetime, now it seems I might have been wrong.’”

Eld laughed heartily, “No wonder he called His Majesty the King ‘the most cultured gentleman of our times.’ But what does this have to do with a possible outbreak of war?”

Arthur pointed at today’s headline and said, “Because what I’m talking about has nothing to do with Great Britain at all, shall you see what the headline is today?”

Eld flipped the newspaper over to face him.

The headline was simple yet conveyed profound implications—”Revolution Breaks Out in France, National Guard Occupies Paris.”