The Shadow of Great Britain

As a senior bureaucrat in the Home Office, political assignments like receiving foreign emissaries would typically not be assigned to Arthur.

The main reasons involve two factors: firstly, the Foreign Office is unwilling for its responsibilities to be meddled with by other departments. More importantly, Viscount Palmerston, the Foreign Secretary, does not trust this reckless man who caused a lot of troubles in the Caucasus.

However, Sir Arthur Hastings is not only the Executive Deputy Secretary of the Home Office but also the Queen’s appointed non-resident Royal Steward.

And receiving foreign emissaries who are visiting London for the coronation ceremony, although nominally belonging to diplomatic activities, in essence, if viewed from the old perspective, is more of a royal protocol event within the jurisdiction of the Palace Minister’s Office.

After all, foreign affairs between nations, in essence, are actually derived and refined from royal activities.

Before the Foreign Office was formally divided into an independent department, these matters were fully handled by the Lord Chamberlain.

Everything has its precedence; it’s fortunate enough that the Palace Minister’s Office didn’t complain about the Foreign Office usurping their authority. Arranging for a Royal Steward, highly valued by Her Majesty the Queen, to go to Dover to welcome Marshal Soult was a natural gesture to show respect for Anglo-French diplomatic relations.

However, to prevent Arthur Hastings from causing chaos, the Foreign Office also sent their representative to accompany the mission to Dover.

Colonel William Napier, coming from the prestigious Napier family in Ireland known for military nobility, with his uncle being Army Marshal, the third Duke of Richmond, Charles Lennox, and his elder brothers Major General Charles Napier and Major General George Napier, all being war heroes who participated in the Peninsular War. As for his fourth brother, Henry Napier, he participated in the Copenhagen campaign as a Royal Navy Colonel.

Nevertheless, Arthur is most familiar with two Napier individuals, who are not William Napier’s direct brothers but his cousins.

One of them secretly departed from Liverpool for Portugal six years ago, eventually aiding the constitutional faction in defeating the autocratic faction as the Portuguese Naval Commander, and thus being titled as Portuguese Admiral and Count of Cape St. Vincent, General Charles John Napier.

Speaking of this naval commander, Arthur even met him last year. After helping the little Queen of Portugal regain the throne, General Napier initially wished to stay in Portugal to implement naval reform, but reform encountered obstacles repeatedly. Subsequently, Napier resigned from all his positions in Portugal and returned to Britain in frustration.

Upon returning to Britain, Napier published his memoir of the Portuguese Civil War, ”Portugal War Chronicles,” naturally under the full agency of Imperial Publishing. During last year’s election, Napier ran as the Whig Party candidate in Greenwich, but unfortunately, perhaps due to choosing the wrong party, this naval commander faced his only defeat in life in Greenwich.

Fortunately, the Whig Party did not abandon him for this. Earlier this year, he was not only reinstated to active duty by the Navy Department but was immediately entrusted with a significant role, appointed to command the 84-gun battleship ”Powerful,” and became the commander of the Gibraltar—Western Mediterranean squadron of the Mediterranean Fleet.

As for the other Napier Arthur is acquainted with, it was Lord William John Napier, whom he met in Paris, who was then ordered by the Foreign Office to board the ”Andromache” for Guangzhou as the first British Chief Superintendent of Trade in China. But it seems that his progress in China didn’t go smoothly, not only unable to enter Guangzhou city but also had a significant conflict with Lu Kun, the Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi. The tension escalated to a skirmish off the coast of Humen, with neither side gaining the upper hand, resulting in both taking steps back.

And both Napier and Lu Kun, the key figures, passed away separately in 1834 and 1836, and this incident even stirred considerable controversy in Parliament at the time (for related details, please refer to the ”British Parliament Minutes” on the public platform; due to its length, it won’t be detailed here).

Of course, Arthur being familiar with Colonel William Napier’s two cousins does not mean he’s unfamiliar with him personally.

It is well-known that Sir Arthur, as a prominent figure in the University of London’s history department, has always been keen on investing in various historical writers since his rise to fame, both as a personal interest and to leave a good impression on the writers.

After all, with his status and rank, his low-level pleasures long surpassed the trivial profits from book publishing; if he could improve his reputation in the evaluation of historical works a bit, even if these books don’t profit, they are worth publishing.

Of course, Sir Arthur is always particular about manner and method in doing things, putting his desires on display would be too ungraceful.

Not to mention, even Napoleon needed a series of refusals before declaring himself Emperor, why should Arthur Hastings shamelessly proclaim his intention here?

In this self-deceptive contradiction, Sir Arthur quickly became the favorite patron of the British publishing world for sponsoring losing ventures.

And Colonel William Napier happens to be a history writer highly regarded by Arthur, despite his 1828 publication ”Peninsula War History” receiving dismal sales in the market, this monograph has been praised by practically every Peninsular War officer. Therefore, even though this book receives acclaim without broad sales, Arthur predicts this work is bound to become an important reference for many future scholars studying the Peninsular War.