The Shadow of Great Britain

”Alright, at least you won the hand-to-hand combat.” Arthur joked, ”You should think about your opponent; he was just as busy all summer, spent just as much on the election, but in the end, he couldn’t steal the seat in the Lower House from under your behind.”

”Humph, of course he couldn’t.” Disraeli took a puff from his cigar and pulled his feet back from the table, ”Because what I’m sitting on isn’t just a chair. Thanks to you guys with some conscience, who managed to write all sorts of editorial articles speaking favorably for me before you went on vacation. Next, I just need to follow the steps: advertise, spread rumors, and give speeches, then everything will fall into place.”

Arthur picked up a newspaper from the table, and the first thing he saw was a cartoon portrait of Disraeli, ”The frequency of your name appearing in our magazine over the past month is almost more than everyone else combined. I don’t want readers to think we’re publishing a religious journal.”

”Sorry, Arthur, I don’t quite agree.” Disraeli raised an eyebrow, ”Besides, in the past month, the most talked-about name in London isn’t mine, Benjamin Disraeli, but Lady Melbourne.”

”Lady Melbourne?” Arthur was puzzled for a moment, ”Are you talking about the mother of Viscount Melbourne, old Lady Melbourne? Or is it that the London journalists recently have no news to publish and are recycling the gossip about Viscount Melbourne and his late wife?”

”No, no, no...” Disraeli pushed the newspaper forward, pointed at the italicized headline on the front page, and read aloud, ”According to sources, Her Majesty the Queen has found a husband in all but name—who sits not by her bedside, but in her Privy Council. Take a look, ’The Satirist’ just published this day before yesterday.”

”Bloody hell.” Arthur pressed a hand to his forehead, ”How did such a report get published? Is ’The Satirist’s Barnard Gregory eager to land back in jail?”

”You speak as if it wasn’t one of your acquaintances at White Hall letting it slip.” Disraeli raised an eyebrow, ”What, wasn’t this article published under your instruction to ’The Satirist’?”

”Me?” Arthur said regretfully, ”Benjamin, all this time, I’ve thought you saw me as a smart person in your mind, and now you think I’m so foolish? A single article offending both the Queen and the Prime Minister? That’s something I cannot manage.”

”That’s true, actually I also think you wouldn’t do such a thing... But, as the Secretary General of the Police Commissioner Committee, if Buckingham Palace comes down hard, you’ll have to explain how this sentence slipped into the printing press.” Although Disraeli had never been a policeman, he was quite familiar with his old friend Arthur’s work, ”After all, Scotland Yard does have enforcement rights over publications, don’t they?”

”Scotland Yard has enforcement rights over book publishing, especially those political, obscene, incendiary books listed on the banned list. But ’The Satirist’ is registered as a news publication, so not only can’t a ban be issued, even writing them a formal inquiry requires filing with the Home Office first.”

Arthur stared at the newspaper, tapping the table lightly with his fingertips, ”Unless they blatantly defame, using Her Majesty the Queen’s full name and alleging inappropriate relations with the Prime Minister, or using legally recognized terms as disrespectful to the Monarch, Scotland Yard can legitimately summon them. I bet even if I were to arrest this group now, they’d surely argue that this statement merely describes the Queen and Prime Minister working closely together.”

Disraeli pondered, rubbing his chin, ”So this news truly wasn’t released by you?”

Hearing Disraeli’s suspicion, Arthur couldn’t help but sneer, ”Benjamin, even if I wanted to release news, ’The Satirist’ would never cooperate with me.”

”Why?”

”Isn’t it obvious?” Arthur crossed his legs and tossed the newspaper on the table, ”Because the founder and editor-in-chief of ’The Satirist’, Mr. Barnard Gregory, was arrested on my orders last time.”

”What was he in for last time?”

Arthur removed his gloves, ”What else? You know what business Gregory is in.”

”Of course I know.” Disraeli laughed heartily, ”But I heard he went in because he exposed some noble lady’s secret?”

”Benjamin, you’re speaking too politely, and looking only at the surface,” Arthur casually unbuttoned his cufflinks, ”Though the cause was Gregory exposing a noble lady’s secret, defaming that beautiful lady’s private life. In reality, his quick conviction was primarily because ’The Satirist’ since its inception had long been attacking Tory Party politics, ridiculing the Duke of Cumberland and Queen Adelaide to the utmost. Just as he got caught, the court couldn’t be too lenient.”

Disraeli snorted, ”Gregory probably thought his tactic of sending scandal copies to subjects, threatening to expose if they didn’t pay up, was universally applicable. In this aspect, he wasn’t even as clever as Heinrich Heine, who at least knew not to blatantly discuss money in letters to victims, merely inserting a couple of bills as a hint. But...”

Disraeli stared at the newspaper, frowning, ”Now it seems Gregory hasn’t learned from history. How long did he serve in jail before?”

”Three months,” Arthur lit a match, ”Actually, we contacted other victims too. If all witnesses had been willing to come forward, Gregory wouldn’t have served less than three to five years. But... you understand, many victims had already privately settled, and some of their scandals weren’t purely fabricated. In the end, not many were willing to testify.”

”No wonder then...” Disraeli extinguished his cigar in the ashtray, ”No wonder ’The Satirist’ constantly features caricatures mocking the police with faces quite like yours; it’s Gregory finding old grudge with you. However, if this news wasn’t released by you, who then? John Conroy? The Duchess of Kent? Or some others dissatisfied with Her Majesty’s relationship with Viscount Melbourne?”

Disraeli’s guess wasn’t too far off, given that in current London, there’s quite a number of those displeased with Viscount Melbourne.

The Kensington Palace duo certainly makes the shortlist, and they indeed have the audacity to act.

Besides, we can’t rule out forces from the Conservative Party, as their Party Leader Sir Robert Peel previously expressed dissatisfaction with the selection of Court Ladies, privately criticized the Queen’s political immaturity, and considered Viscount Melbourne’s methods as sordid.

Though, with Peel’s character, he’s unlikely to resort to spreading rumors, but that doesn’t mean others in the Conservative Party wouldn’t.

If someone did so, it’s possible Peel might turn a blind eye.

After all, this new Conservative leader isn’t like past Tory leaders, traditional royalist nobility, but rather from a family of factory owners, since Sir Robert Peel’s generation they were notable textile giants in Lancashire County.

Thus, as an industrial bourgeois, Peel has always been indifferent to royal power, and privately, when discussing most of the Hanover Family princes, he often showed disdain, bluntly calling them national parasites.

Were it not for party conservatives’ attitudes, Peel might not even bother to deal with Buckingham Palace.

Arthur flicked his fingertip with the match head, suddenly looking up at Disraeli, ”Benjamin, from your Conservative Party side, is there anyone likely to have spread this rumor?”

”Us?” Disraeli raised his eyebrows as if deeply insulted, ”Arthur, have you spent too long in Paris and filled your head with French republican poison? We noble conservatives could never sink so low as to collude with scoundrels like Gregory who create gossip and stir trouble.”

”I never said the rumormonger was you personally.” Arthur spoke from his chair, ”But you should also understand, Peel may not always control his men, especially those new representatives who have entirely abandoned the political logic of the George III era.”