The Shadow of Great Britain

Chapter 897: Chapter 18: The Two-Faced

”Is the situation really that serious?”

”It’s more than serious, it’s life-threatening.”

Victor pulled Arthur into a small alley by the road, lighting a cigarette with a match: ”Brother, the state of Paris is far more complicated than you imagine. Although on the surface there are only the Royalists and the republicans, within the Royalists, there are those who support the current government, the Orleans Party, those who support the Old Royal Family, the Legitimate Dynasty, and those who support Napoleon’s family, the Bonaparte Party. Meanwhile, within the republicans, there are the Feuillants composed of Nobility and large factory owners, the Girondins mainly consisting of intellectuals and small bankers, and the Jacobin Party mainly made up of artisans, workers, and peasants. Even within the Jacobin Party, you can identify smaller factions like the Sans-culottes and the Beggars’ faction.”

Arthur borrowed a light from Victor and asked in a mock-ignorant way: ”So, Mr. Thiers is the leader of the Orleans Party? And just because he’s the leader, he can’t even have a meal with the Bonaparte Party guys.”

”Oh, brother, for a diplomat, you’re surprisingly lacking in political sensitivity.”

Victor took a drag on his cigarette: ”Do you remember what Samson said before? When he was young, he was suspected of supporting Robespierre and nearly ended up on the Guillotine. If you were in France during the Great Revolution period, I guarantee the authorities would have had you killed within three days.”

Arthur shrugged and said with a smile: ”Mr. Victor, you know I’m an honest man, I just say what I see.”

”Honest people couldn’t survive the Great Revolution period.”

Victor exhaled smoke rings and said: ”Everyone who lived through that era and survived to tell the tale is a cunning and scheming fox. While this might be a generalization, everyone who went through the Great Revolution and is still alive must have either betrayed friends or family, or at the very least, frequently switched alliances.”

Arthur asked, ”Like Mr. Talleyrand?”

Victor laughed and said: ”His Excellency Prince of Benevento is probably the best among us. He’s like a sunflower that always faces the sun, selling crowns and buying crowns, sometimes crafting constitutions, charters, and restorations, owning a pile of various cap badges, flags, and ribbons. When things are tough, he’ll even agree to go abroad. No matter how situations change, he seems to have never suffered a loss. Brother, if you want to make your way in politics, you should learn from him more.”

Arthur asked: ”Really? Although I get along well with Mr. Talleyrand and like his character, if he’s really doing so well, why isn’t he the Foreign Secretary rather than the Ambassador to the United Kingdom?”

Victor waved it off: ”You can’t see it that way. His Excellency did not become the Foreign Secretary not because he was unqualified, but because after the July Revolution, he thought that maintaining a good relationship with Britain was France’s most important diplomatic policy at the time, so he volunteered to go to Britain. Furthermore, although he’s just an ambassador, he never respects our Foreign Secretary Molay, but instead, chooses to contact His Majesty the King or His Majesty’s sister, Princess Adelaida directly. Of course, he sometimes instructs his niece-in-law, Madame Dino, to send orders to Thiers. Although the Foreign Secretary’s residence is in Paris, in reality, all of France’s diplomatic policies are decided at the London embassy.”

If someone else had said this, Arthur might have doubted its authenticity. But since Victor said it, the reliability was entirely different.

Even though this detective was a layperson when it came to diplomacy, he had accompanied Talleyrand as security while negotiating the Belgian issues in the London Conference. Even if he casually listened every day in the Embassy, the information he received was closer to the truth than some professional diplomats’ analyses.

As a diplomatic agent, Arthur had already started to familiarize himself with his work ahead of time.

Although he wanted to ask Victor straightforwardly about some sensitive French topics, to avoid offending this exceptionally intelligent detective, Arthur had to find a clever entry point that was most acceptable to the French.

”You just mentioned... Mr. Talleyrand occasionally has his niece-in-law Madame Dino send messages to Thiers? This... isn’t Madame Dino Mr. Talleyrand’s wife? When I used to visit the embassy to play cards with Mr. Talleyrand or to attend parties, this lady always came out as the hostess to greet guests!”

Victor couldn’t help but chuckle at these words.

It was clear that he enjoyed this topic very much.

In fact, Arthur also enjoyed it.

Victor looked at Arthur with an expression that said ’those who know, know’: ”In reality, His Excellency the Prince and his wife have been separated for a long time. I heard it was since the Vienna Conference in 1815. You should know that His Excellency places great importance on ’diplomacy through ladies,’ as many significant matters were indeed concluded at banquets and balls. And this means he needed a woman who was noble by birth, graceful, intelligent, capable, and young and beautiful to host salon parties for him.

Although his wife, Madame Grand, was very beautiful when she was young, she was never very skilled in socializing and hadn’t improved much over the years. Just then, His Excellency’s niece-in-law, Madame Dino, was filing for divorce from her husband. I heard her husband was an incorrigible gambler, who once gambled away everything he had except the shorts he was wearing, and still came to His Excellency for money. His Excellency, as an uncle, never scolded him but always generously gave him money.