I Became A Hidden Powerhouse Of The British Empire [EN]: Chapter 184

The Hidden Giant of the British Empire 184

Pioneers and Visionaries (2)

The hardest part about living in the modern era with the knowledge of a modern person is when the perceptions you were taught as absolute truths mean nothing here.

Take elections, for example.

Virtually everyone who grew up in a democratic country has the four principles of universal, equal, secret, and direct suffrage ingrained in them.

However, in this era, advocating for these principles is a surefire way to be treated as a reactionary who wants to upend the very foundations of society.

The Chartist movement is a prime example.

In fact, if you were to present their demands to modern people, the reaction would be universally similar:

– Guarantee of universal and secret suffrage

– Abolition of property qualifications for candidacy

– Equalization of electoral districts

These are just common sense to us now, but in this era, they are seen as nothing more than the agitation of radicals trying to destroy society.

Moreover, I am well aware that the Chartist movement will fail because it is being carried out in a radical way that frightens the current ruling class.

But conversely, I also know that the election law will be revised not long after this movement is completely crushed.

If more time passes and we reach the 20th century, most of what they are advocating for will be naturally accepted.

In this situation, giving a speech about the Chartist movement was more difficult than I thought.

The ideal solution I have in mind is to accept the parts that can be compromised and apply the rest slowly, but even this is not easy.

Even our own Queen Victoria…

“If we are going to discuss state affairs, shouldn’t we have at least a minimum of knowledge? Do these Chartists want to drag this country into ochlocracy [mob rule]?”

“Well… the workers are frustrated because they have no way to influence politics at all.”

“That may be so, but isn’t it unrealistic? Is there any country on this earth that guarantees voting rights to all adult men, regardless of property, race, or class?”

“No, there isn’t.”

That’s right. Victoria’s opinion was the general consensus among the leaders of this world, and it was as firm a truth as the sun rising in the east.

It’s not that Victoria is narrow-minded; it’s just that this is the norm right now.

What the Parliament expects is for me to crush the Chartists with a great speech, not to accept their demands.

No, the Parliament clearly believes that I will regard their claims as nonsense not worth considering in the first place.

Of course, Victoria will think so too.

“The Parliament is like this, so there’s really no answer. They don’t want to completely turn the workers into enemies because they were hit so hard before, so they’re asking you to take the blame instead, aren’t they?”

“That’s exactly what they’re doing.”

“No… sigh, never mind. But this is clearly a political issue for the British Empire itself, couldn’t you have refused?”

“I could have gotten away with saying that the law says so, but that’s just avoidance. A lot of intellectuals will think, ‘So the Prince Consort was just another common member of the upper class, using the law as an excuse to get out of it.’”

“No, the law stipulates that you shouldn’t interfere in domestic politics…”

Whether the law says so or not, people’s feelings always come first.

Especially when dealing with sensitive social issues like now.

No matter what reason I give, the moment Killean Gore’s name is mentioned, people can’t help but have expectations.

The Prince Consort will come up with a good solution here again, as he has done before.

In a way, I might have brought it on myself.

I’ve handled things that way a lot so far.

“The Parliament is already promoting that I will comment on this issue directly, so there’s no way out now. I have to handle it well somehow.”

“If you do it wrong, you might end up getting caught between the Parliament and the workers and only suffer.”

“Conversely, if I handle this well, I can even gain the support of the workers. Actually, now is not a bad time. The hospital and school named after the royal family will be opening soon, right?”

The people who will benefit the most from the hospital named after Victoria and the school named after me are naturally the middle class and below.

In this era, wealthy people invite medical staff to their homes for treatment, so they don’t go to the hospital that often.

Thanks to this, the perception that the royal family are wonderful people who care about the citizens is widespread.

The same words can be different depending on who says them.

Whether I become a wishy-washy fence-sitter or a truly magnanimous person who embraces both sides is, in fact, a matter of a hair’s breadth.

Even though it’s a precarious tightrope walk, I was somewhat confident.

If it’s a battle of words, there are only a handful of people in the British Empire who can compete with me.

If I use my knowledge of the future to embellish my words, I am confident that I will not lose to anyone, at least in terms of support.

The same goes for speeches.

Unless it’s a master who has completely built his own world academically, I should be able to drive the other person into a state of mental derangement with just this silver tongue.

Seeing my confident appearance, Victoria nodded, putting her worries aside.

“I’m sure you’ll take care of it since it’s your job, but if you need any help, let me know anytime. I’ll do whatever I can.”

“Thank you, but it’s better if you don’t say anything about this matter. Right now, there’s also the issue of the hospital opening soon, so just silently focus on that.”

It’s best not to get too deeply involved in these kinds of issues, so it wouldn’t look good for the Queen to be dragged down as well.

Of course, my involvement was also clearly a foreign element, but the Parliament knows that, so they must have readily accepted my demands.

The price I was going to take was by no means small, so it wasn’t really a loss for me either.

But no fool would show it, so this speech should be recorded as Killean Gore’s generosity in cleaning up the Parliament’s mess. Yes, that’s right.

* * *

As Killean Gore’s speech on the Chartists approached, intellectuals throughout London and the British Empire were buzzing with excitement.

George Harney, who leads the Chartist movement, vehemently criticized the Parliament for trying to dilute responsibility by involving the royal family.

“For a legislative body to be unable to reach its own conclusions and to call in the Prince Consort, who is in charge of foreign affairs, is tantamount to the Parliament admitting its own incompetence! This is a despicable trick!”

“That’s right! That’s right!”

“But George, aren’t you going to see His Royal Highness’s speech? Then the seat I reserved for you…”

“No, no, no! Regardless of the Parliament’s petty tricks, we all have to listen to and discuss what the Prince Consort has to say! I will definitely attend, so don’t even dream of taking my seat!”

What opinion will the husband of the Queen, the pinnacle of this country, have on the expansion of voting rights?

Those directly involved in the Chartist movement, as well as those watching from a distance, engaged in heated debates to deduce Killean’s thoughts.

“After all, His Royal Highness is one of the royal family of this country. If you have too much expectation, you will surely be betrayed, so don’t have too high expectations.”

“But isn’t His Royal Highness the one who understands the hearts of the oppressed Irish people better than anyone else and comes up with solutions? Moreover, he treats even the blacks who were living a miserable slave life in Canada equally, so how much more so would he treat the citizens of his own country? I believe in him.”

“Hmm… I’m worried that you’ll just be shocked and disappointed.”

Marx, who associates with the Chartists, was also looking forward to this speech with his friend Engels.

As a result of observing, public opinion was divided, but the opinion that Killean would not be different from the upper class seemed to be slightly more dominant.

But in other words, even though he is a member of the upper class of this era, there are at least 30 to 40 percent of people who expect him to be different.

Marx was surprised by this.

“Engels, the people of this country seem to have an unusually high expectation of the Prince Consort. I’ve never seen a country where the spouse of the king receives this much attention, even if the king doesn’t.”

“It can’t be helped. He is the war hero who led the war with Qing China to victory and the Duke of Canada who doubled the territory of Canada. Even though he is so successful, he even showed his support for the parliamentary bill to check him from getting involved in domestic politics, so it’s no wonder that the citizens admire him.”

“He’s just one of the vanguards of capitalism after all. I heard that he is also focusing on industrialization in Canada and fostering several capitalists.”

“Well, that’s the natural course of action for the ruling class of this era. In fact, I don’t think the Prince Consort of this country is any different. The people of this country may think that our Prince Consort is different, but from a third-party perspective, they are all the same.”

Even though it was a cynical opinion, it was an objective analysis typical of Engels.

Marx sat in the front seat that the Chartists had preemptively reserved and waited calmly for the time to come when he could confirm the current level of consciousness of the British Empire.

And after waiting for almost half a day, the royal guards finally entered the speech hall first.

After the procedure of clearly dividing the lines and securing safety to prevent people from approaching rashly, Killean Gore slowly ascended the platform under the escort of officers.

As I had heard, he was tall and handsome, with a radiance in his features, just like a prince in a fairy tale who had appeared in reality.

Is that why? I don’t know why, but I don’t like it.

The world is unfair after all.

Then, as Prime Minister Wellesley, Disraeli, Gladstone, and Palmerston, representatives of the Parliament, sat in the chairs prepared behind the platform, the noisy atmosphere in the room quickly subsided.

Was it because they knew that the speech was about to begin without anyone saying anything?

In fact, Killean raised his voice without even giving a trivial greeting.

“First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to the citizens who have gathered from all over, even though the preparation period was not long. I am also aware that there has been a lot of social controversy surrounding the People’s Charter, which contains the demands of the workers. However, the truth is that I have had too many responsibilities, and it has been difficult to speak out because there are legal restrictions on interfering in domestic political affairs. Many of you may believe that the royal family should express their opinions on such sensitive issues. That’s actually right.”

To bring up such a sensitive story right from the start?

I thought he would spend the first part talking about trivial things and subtly skip over the important parts, but I never expected my expectations to be wrong from the start.

When I turned to the side, Engels was also unable to take his eyes off Killean’s speech, which was continuing in front of him, with his mouth slightly open as if he was surprised.

“The reason why I readily accepted the Parliament’s request to give my opinion on this controversy is precisely because of that reason. In fact, when you think about it, every part of life is politics, so how can I remain silent on all domestic political issues? However, I would like to say in advance that it is impossible for me to directly intervene in policy because of the bill.

However, I have already confirmed with the judges that commenting on such matters does not violate the law, so I would like to talk to you without any burden. First of all, let’s get straight to the point. Expanding voting rights. We have to do it. It’s something we have to do.”

“······?”

“······?”

As if they had never expected such a huge bomb to be dropped from the start.

The Chartists and intellectuals watching the speech, and the representatives of the Parliament watching Killean from behind, all widened their eyes.

At the same time, Marx’s instinctive sense, which had met countless politicians, thinkers, and revolutionaries, sent a near-certain premonition.

-That man is different from the ordinary people I have seen so far.

I want to talk to him directly, no matter how this speech ends.

Marx clenched his fist without realizing it and was drawn into the Prince Consort’s speech that was continuing in front of him.