The Shadow of Great Britain

Eld noticed Arthur’s face drop and quickly backtracked, ”Of course...even if I’m not concerned, I’ve indeed read those newspapers. I quite agree with some of Earl of Dalmo’s ideas, especially his views on establishing responsible government in the colonies, eradicating electoral fraud, and reforming the bureaucratic system. But the problem is, it’s completely useless! From the public’s reaction, people have almost no interest in what’s happening in Canada. The issues in Canada are not as popular as that bit of gossip about Viscount Melbourne and Her Majesty the Queen.”

”Not as popular as gossip...”

Arthur had been contemplating the issue of Earl of Dalmo forming a party, but Eld’s words suddenly enlightened him.

He turned around abruptly, only to realize that he might have accidentally overlooked something during this period.

Arthur, of course, knew that Eld was stating facts; compared to distant colonies, people preferred to care about matters right before their eyes. Even when they did show interest in foreign news, at most, it was about the European Continent across the sea, or more specifically, their pesky neighbor just across the English Channel.

Of course, the lack of interest in Canada among the public was not the main reason; most importantly, the voices from Fleet Street were notably off this time.

Generally speaking, Fleet Street’s view on any issue would have both supporters and opponents.

Based on their attitudes, Fleet Street’s newspapers could be broadly divided into two camps: ”pro-Whig Party” and ”pro-Conservative Party.”

But on the issue concerning Canada, these two media factions unexpectedly reached a consensus, with Fleet Street almost unanimously criticizing Earl of Dalmo.

The pro-Whig media criticized Earl of Dalmo’s reforms as being too hasty and overly enthusiastic, while the pro-Conservative media claimed Dalmo was defiant and completely ignorant about the colonies.

Although coincidental events happen in this world, such a coincidence could never occur in news media.

Even though Arthur had not yet delved into the backstage situation, according to normal logical deduction, there was only one possibility...

The reason why Fleet Street could ”stand united” this time is entirely due to an understanding between the Whig Party and the Conservative Party on the Canada issue!

Since the financial backers have no disagreement, naturally, Fleet Street has no dispute either.

Perhaps it isn’t just the issue of Canada...

And also...

Arthur recalled Fleet Street’s recent reports and quickly noticed many irregularities.

As the Secretary-General of the Police Commissioner Committee, Arthur recently received reports from various police stations concerning radical assemblies, particularly in the industrial cities of Liverpool, Glasgow, Manchester, and Birmingham, where the scale of gatherings was most significant.

Although some of these gatherings supported secret ballots, some expressed support for Canada, and others demanded further expansion of suffrage, no matter what their appeals were, the pro-Whig and pro-Conservative newspapers systematically suppressed the dissemination of this information in unprecedented ways.

Initially, Arthur quite agreed with Fleet Street’s operations.

As he understood deeply, being in charge of the police system, most citizens lacked judgment capability. If the papers were flooded with articles on radical liberal gatherings, it would trigger their herd mentality, leading the vast majority of unsteady liberal supporters to take to the streets and join protests.

Therefore, from the police department’s standpoint, Arthur certainly hoped such reports would be minimal.

However, when Arthur turned back to examine the changes occurring in Fleet Street, he was suddenly aware that if such a situation continued without intervention, it would endanger the long-term interests of the country and himself personally.

Although the numbers represented by Lord Brougham and Earl of Dalmo’s radical liberals were not small, their political power was too weak, and their channels to voice were few and far between.

Even for Imperial Publishing under Arthur’s management, they had to think twice before publishing their articles.

This is because they needed to consider the future political prospects of one of their shareholders, Conservative Party MP Mr. Benjamin Disraeli.

Secondly, because Imperial Publishing holds some leverage when dealing with the Whig Party or the Conservative Party individually. But to pit both parties against them at the same time, even a skilled negotiator like Sir Arthur Hastings, as the chairman of the board, couldn’t shirk the responsibility.

Since Viscount Melbourne replaced Count Grey as head of government, the Whig Party has gradually turned conservative under his leadership.

Meanwhile, after Sir Robert Peel assumed leadership of the Tory Party and issued the ’Tamworth Manifesto’ to transform into the Conservative Party, he rapidly distanced from extreme Tory elements. To this end, they abandoned the Duke of Cumberland and Orange Party members and frequently signaled concessions on trivial issues exaggerated by the Whig Party.

If considering from the perspective of maintaining national stability, the merging of the two parties might not be a bad thing.

However, if viewed from the angle of promoting social progress, it couldn’t be worse.

Because if the current situation continues, within a few elections, Arthur will personally witness Peel and Melbourne’s followers sitting together in fervent support of a Whig-Conservative coalition Cabinet, whereas the opposition seats will be occupied by the radical liberals, including the London University System contingents, along with dozens resembling Middle Ages’ relic extremist Tory members.