The Shadow of Great Britain

Chapter 996: Chapter 57 Carter Route

At this point in time, Garibaldi was not yet as famous as he would be in the decades to come, but Mazzini’s name had already been registered on the intelligence lists of various European countries.

In the intelligence archives of the British Foreign Office, Mazzini was portrayed as akin to the Irish nationalist leader and Catholic Emancipation movement leader Daniel O’Connell. Arthur’s old friend, Deputy Undersecretary of the Foreign Office, Mr. Schneider, when explaining the major events on the European Continent to him, even referred to Mazzini as a ”little O’Connell of Italy.”

However, the difference between Mazzini and O’Connell lay in the fact that O’Connell united Irish farmers around him by establishing Catholic associations, and through the support of the association’s members, he defeated many government-backed candidates, winning repeatedly in County Clare, Ireland. Even though the law at the time did not allow a Catholic to enter Parliament, and the British Parliament repeatedly declared O’Connell’s election invalid, the Tory Party was never able to find a person who could defeat O’Connell in Ireland.

And the repeated declaration of the election results as invalid also angered the Irish Catholic farmers, who began to connect with each other, while the Catholic association led by O’Connell issued harsh statements, claiming that if the Duke of Wellington continued to deny the election results, Ireland was not afraid to face a war.

In the face of this situation, the then Secretary for Ireland, Marquis Anglesey, urgently wrote to Prime Minister Duke of Wellington and Home Secretary Sir Robert Peel, explaining the local Irish nationalist grievances, and after much consideration, Wellington and Peel finally decided to push forward the Catholic Emancipation Act, which nearly cost them their reputations.

And to better allow England’s National Church members to accept such an act, Sir Peel cunningly selected a small piece of Catholic stone among the frontline officers at Scotland Yard to explore the path. But unexpectedly, this measure was only a small step for the Irish National Liberation movement, yet it turned out to be a significant step in the life of Sir Arthur Hastings.

Perhaps because Arthur benefitted from it, his impression of the Irish and Catholics was not as terrible as that of most English people. Moreover, to promote the positive impact of the Catholic Emancipation Act, Sir Peel arranged for Arthur to meet with Mr. O’Connell, who had successfully been elected as a Lower House Member. At that time, Arthur’s reputation in London was not as bad as it is now, but that report was still heavily criticized by many London citizens.

The citizens blatantly expressed their lack of understanding as to why England’s heroic officer was arranged to meet an Irish muck.

However, Arthur always believed that describing Mr. O’Connell as an Irish muck was excessively unfair. Because Mr. O’Connell was a practicing lawyer who graduated from a reputable Lawyers’ Association, and according to British tradition, lawyers are highly respected intellectuals of high status, akin to priests, and their income was quite substantial.

If they were attempting to attack O’Connell for being born in Ireland, it was even more unfortunate, because as Arthur knew, the Duke of Wellington and Viscount Palmeston were also born in Ireland, and their families were undeniably traditional Irish nobility.

Furthermore, the first wife of the Duke of Wellington’s brother, Marquis Wellesley, was a legitimate Irish actress, who could not even speak a word of English, only knowing the traditional Irish language, Gaelic. Although this lady passed away by the time Arthur entered the London high society circle, he had still heard many stories about her. Due to her language issues, this lady always found it difficult to integrate into London’s social circles, but her relationship with Marquis Wellesley was nevertheless very strong, even though outsiders were spreading rumors, Marquis Wellesley never considered divorce due to her lack of English.

As for former British Prime Minister Sir George Canning, his mother was also an Irish actress, and during his youth, he had mingled with the Irish United Association, yet this did not hinder him from becoming Prime Minister.

Perhaps nationalist narratives were popular on the European Continent, but this ideology could not really succeed in Britain. Arthur had always believed that, rather than saying the English hated the Irish, it was more accurate to say that they actually despised Ireland’s poverty. Communication between England and Ireland’s upper classes had always been smooth, and relations between the middle classes were harmonious, with the conflict between the two sides stemming from the lower classes’ disdain for the influx of numerous Irish people into English industrial cities to snatch their jobs and depress wage levels.

In the past, while patrolling the streets, Arthur had heard dock workers complain more than once, saying these Irish muck could survive on just three potatoes a day, and they didn’t need any elaborate spices, just the cheapest salt would do. They also didn’t seek quality housing; a simple shack that could block the wind was a satisfactory residence for them.

Ever since the Anglo-Irish Merger Bill was passed by Parliament in 1801, allowing Irish people to come to London unhindered, the wages at the West Indies Pier had declined by a staggering 40% over thirty years. London workers had tried to encourage Irish people to strike with them, and while the Irish occasionally responded, the vast majority took advantage of the London workers’ strikes to steal their jobs.