I Became A Hidden Powerhouse Of The British Empire [EN]: Chapter 42

Became a Hidden Power in the British Empire 42

The Eye of the Storm

After making a secret pact with William IV, my daily life didn’t change much.

I enjoyed school life and managed my business on weekdays, and went to the palace to chat with Victoria on weekends.

The only addition was sending regular letters as requested by the King.

Of course, there were many minor changes.

First of all, as I had told William IV, I hinted at his intentions to the Duchess, and her reaction was quite a sight to behold.

“What? He told you to monitor me so that I wouldn’t negatively influence Victoria?”

“Yes. So, I agreed for the time being. But I have received so much grace from you, Madam, how could I have two minds? That’s why I’m telling you this.”

The Duchess fanned her face repeatedly to suppress her anger, and I poured her a cup of tea.

She was trying to maintain her composure, but I could easily guess how angry she was just by the trembling of her hands.

“That old man is just waiting for his day to come… Trying to do something he can’t. Killian, what do you think is the King’s purpose?”

He’s still the King of this country, but look at the level of his abuse.

“Perhaps he is trying to collect evidence that you are mistreating the Princess? If he uses that to challenge you legally, it wouldn’t be impossible to neutralize the Kensington System [a system of strict control and education for young Victoria].”

“I suppose so? He should grow old gracefully, but instead, he’s plotting insidious schemes…”

“Don’t worry. There’s nothing His Majesty can do anyway. You haven’t done anything illegal to Victoria, and the letters I send to His Majesty will only contain perfectly normal things. Just in case, I’ll get your approval before sending the letters.”

Even if he tried to find illegal evidence, the Duchess’s actions towards Victoria were not illegal in the first place.

In modern times, treating a child like that would undoubtedly constitute child abuse, but this is the romantic 19th century.

It was an era full of leniency, where people would just brush it off, saying, ‘What’s wrong with parents nagging their kids a bit?’

“Hmph, yes. You’re right, Killian. No matter what the King does, nothing will change, right? Still, I feel much more at ease knowing that you told me in advance.”

“Yes, at least this issue is not something you need to worry about. His Majesty will receive a few reports and give up when he sees that there is no room for further investigation.”

“That’s right. This isn’t hundreds of years ago, and even if he is the King, he can’t do what he can’t do. In times like these, I need to show that I don’t care about him at all.”

“On the contrary, this is also proof that His Majesty really has no other means to interfere with you. If you continue to act confidently as you are now, I will do my best to help you from the side.”

After repeatedly reassuring her, the Duchess of Kent’s complexion visibly brightened.

She took a deep breath and leisurely folded her fan, placing it down as she spoke.

“Come to think of it, Sir Conroy also praised you so much, saying that you are very reliable and clever. Looking back, I don’t know how fortunate we were to find you at Eton [a prestigious British boarding school].”

“You flatter me. I believe that your visit to Eton that day was the most fortunate thing that could have happened to me.”

Whatever else, this alone is a 100% genuine sentiment without any exaggeration.

Perhaps the Duchess recognized my sincerity, as she looked at me with eyes full of trust and smiled.

With this, it seems safe to say that the Duchess’s trust in me will not be shaken by any ordinary event in the future.

William IV may not have intended it, but I received a good gift thanks to him.

The reward would be to help Victoria receive a thorough education as his successor, as the King wished.

If she becomes an even more capable queen than in the original history, it wouldn’t be bad for me at all.

* * *

1833, the year of unforgettable events, was coming to an end, and a new year dawned.

As I knew from history, not only the Factory Act [an act to improve working conditions] but also the bill to immediately abolish slavery was successfully passed, causing many social repercussions.

Originally, the idea of gradual abolition with a grace period was dominant, but after repeated discussions, public opinion ultimately favored immediate abolition.

A law was enacted to free all slaves within the British Empire within a year, and articles and literary works commemorating this began to pour out.

-Farewell to the barbaric era.

-The British Empire’s decision to always be one step ahead of the times.

-There are still some countries that accumulate wealth by exploiting the sweat and tears of black people, but the British Empire has chosen human dignity over blood money.

Wow, look at their ability to sugarcoat things.

It’s hard to believe that just a century ago, they were the world’s largest slave-trading nation, with 5% of their economy relying on the slave trade.

Still, I made a decent amount of money thanks to this generous decision, so I had no complaints.

In fact, I honestly felt like shouting, “Long live the British Empire for passing the abolition of slavery!”

“This is amazing. So many plantation owners are panic selling?”

“Yes. It seems they didn’t expect the bill to abolish all slaves within a year to actually pass.”

“They must have only seen what they wanted to see and believed what they wanted to believe. Even if it was the beginning of the year, they should have been able to predict the outcome months ago.”

“Thanks to that, we were able to make a good amount of money.”

As I had told James in advance, even a large-scale slave-operated plantation wouldn’t necessarily go bankrupt without slaves.

Of course, it depends on the region and soil, but there were many places where they could switch to other cash crops.

In fact, plantation owners with a sense of business would have prepared plans B and C in case slavery was abolished.

But what I focused on were not those people, but those who were just making money using slaves out of habit.

“Where should we look? Even just the farms and land we picked up for almost half price are worth more than 200,000 pounds? Even if we just resell them, we’ll get at least as much profit as the initial investment, so it’s a great success.”

“We could run the profitable ones for a few years and then sell them.”

“We could, but… no. If we’ve made the target amount of profit, let’s just be satisfied and sell them off. This isn’t the last chance, so there’s no need to take on more risk. Anyway, I was thinking of gradually recovering the money tied up in America, so let’s settle it together then.”

James nodded without any particular objection, but Wellesley, who was almost lying on the sofa next to him, jumped up.

“What? Are you really going to sell all the land you bought in Chicago?”

“I’m not selling it right away, but we need to prepare since we’ll have to start clearing it out from next year at least. I’ll convert all the land you bought into cash as well.”

“Ah… Still, it’s a bit of a waste since it’s still going up, isn’t it?”

“We’re getting back almost 10 times the money we invested. Don’t be obsessed with small amounts. Especially with real estate, if you miss the timing, you might not be able to get out and have to be tied up for several more years.”

No matter what, I had to get all the money out of the American market before 1837, so it was right to start working on it now, even if it meant taking a slight loss.

Because I had invested so much money, I couldn’t sell all the land at once.

Still, land prices are still rising slightly, so if I start clearing it out from next year, I should be able to liquidate all the real estate by 1836.

If I combine this with all the money I’ve saved up so far, I’ll have the leeway to put anything I want in my pocket when the time comes.

That’s why I’ve been frantically growing my wealth like this in the first place, so I can’t afford to make even the slightest mistake from now on.

“Wellesley, I won’t force you if you really don’t want to sell. But you know, by listening to me so far…”

“Yeah, yeah. I haven’t lost any money. Okay. I’ll trust you and leave it to you this time. Actually, I don’t have the leeway to pay attention to anything else right now with the National Assembly issues.”

“Why? Is there another problem?”

“That’s why I bothered to come to you in the midst of all this. I was watching until your work was done because you looked so busy, but can I tell you now?”

“Of course.”

No matter how much I know about the future, I’m not a perfect expert, so I don’t know every political issue in detail.

In short, I know that the Conservative Party led by Robert Peel will regain power once, but I don’t know exactly when.

So, every little movement in the National Assembly that comes through Wellesley or Disraeli is very valuable information to me.

That’s why I had those two advance into the House of Commons and gain attention in the first place, to ask them about such things.

“So, where should I start explaining this? It seems appropriate to say that the accumulated resentment has exploded all at once.”

“You can explain it in a difficult way, and I’ll understand it well enough, so just tell me what comes to mind.”

“Ah, okay, I understand. So, to put it simply, the center of the problem that is now erupting is…”

Wellesley looked at me with meaningful eyes and told me the location of the epicenter that would soon bring a major earthquake to the British political world.

“It’s Ireland.”

“…?”

What is this nonsense? Why is that name popping up there?

* * *

Almost all British politicians unanimously agreed that the Irish problem had to be resolved somehow.

The problem is that this Irish problem is not simple enough to be summarized in just one thing.

Even the people of Scotland, who were included in England a little later, had quite a few complaints, but Ireland was on a different level.

The discrimination and unfair treatment they received were incomparable to other regions.

So much so that Irish politicians openly said that England was treating them like a colony.

One of the reasons why Ireland is so isolated is that most Irish people believe in Catholicism.

Although the Catholic Emancipation Act [an act allowing Catholics to hold public office] was announced during the Duke of Wellington’s regime, allowing Catholics to take office, this only resolved the conflict to the extent of pissing on a fire.

Even with just this much concession, criticism of the Tory Party [the Conservative Party] poured out all over England, so it was a very troublesome problem for politicians.

If Ireland is treated well, the Church of England, the national religion, will freak out, and if the opposite is true, the Irish will rise up.

British politicians have mainly avoided making decisions in this dilemma by siding with the Church of England.

After all, blood is thicker than water.

However, accumulated dissatisfaction eventually leads to catastrophe.

In particular, in 1834, the controversy was even more intense because Irish leader Daniel O’Connell won 42 seats in the general election and entered the National Assembly [the British Parliament].

The ruling Whig Party [a British political party, forerunner to the Liberal Party], which was showing a series of reformist moves, decided that it was time to solve this Irish problem.

Prime Minister Charles Grey had some confidence because he had successively passed the Constituency Reform Act [an act reforming the electoral system], the Factory Act, and the Slavery Abolition Act.

If he solves the Irish problem here and draws Ireland into his support base, it is not a dream to rule for the next 20 years.

However, an unexpected division arose within the party.

“Prime Minister, I can’t agree to touch the Irish Church, no matter what.”

“That’s right. The Church of England, of course, and the Tory Party will vehemently oppose and incite.”

“His Majesty has been openly showing his intention to check us these days, and this is an act of giving him a good excuse.”

“I agree with the Prime Minister’s opinion. Frankly, we have recently passed a series of reform laws, but haven’t the young politicians of the Tory Party been getting more attention for some reason? So, we need to show an even more reformist move to firmly establish our presence.”

The Irish Church Reform Act that Charles Grey was trying to pass caused even more controversy than he had expected.

In fact, the content of the bill itself was very common sense.

Most people in Ireland were Catholic, but the Irish Church was Anglican, so not many Irish people liked it.

However, according to the law, Irish Catholics had to pay tithes [a mandatory tax] to support the Anglican Church.

Charles Grey sought to resolve this issue by reducing the number of bishops in the Irish Anglican Church and refining the bill to distribute surplus funds regardless of denomination.

The problem was that even within the ruling party, opinions were not properly unified, not just the opposition party.

“Gentlemen, why can’t you see two things when you only see one? This is not a bill that is being drafted simply for the purpose of extending kindness to the Irish people. If we consider the future political structure, don’t you know that we must unconditionally embrace Ireland to be able to definitively suppress the Tory Party?”

“But if we abandon the domestic Anglicans to embrace all the Irish people, the disadvantages outweigh the advantages.”

“Huh… That’s not it. The only votes we definitely lose are the Anglicans in Ireland. The Anglicans in the mainland will feel unpleasant about this bill, but it won’t have any impact on their real lives, so they’ll quickly forget about it in a few years.”

On the other hand, the Irish people will feel a tremendous sense of relief as the unfairly paid tithes disappear.

If all goes well, the Whig Party could take absolute dominance in Ireland, where three parties are fighting a mixed battle.

This means that they could take over the ultra-large constituency that occupies 105 of the 658 seats.

They can’t miss this opportunity, but even the opinions within the party are not unified, so it’s just frustrating.

“Prime Minister, I think you’re proceeding too hastily, no matter what. We should watch the situation for a few more years…”

“That’s why I’m doing this because it might be too late if we do that.”

“No matter what, the opposition seems too great, so these concerns are coming out.”

Charles Grey, who met an Irish student named Killian Gore at the last memorial service, immediately saw through the Tory Party’s intentions.

Why would a powerful man like a Duke care so much about an ordinary Irish student?

They must have realized that the Irish region could become the casting vote that determines which party will be the ruling party in the House of Commons in the future.

So, they are trying to raise a smart Irish student and use him as a propaganda tool.

Perhaps the target is not just Killian Gore alone.

If it were him, he would have educated at least ten students, given them a pretty good position, and had them play the role of a promoter.

“We must not be complacent because we are the absolute majority in the House of Commons right now. No, it’s no use arguing here. I have a meeting appointment later, so I’ll go out, so you guys should have a little sense of crisis and share your opinions.”

“Yes? Who are you meeting with… Is it a meeting related to this bill?”

“Of course. Do you see me as someone who would waste time meeting with irrelevant people at times like these?”

If the opinions within the party are divided and there are not enough votes, then they can just attract votes from the other side.

If the Tory Party saw the future and started investing one step faster, then they can just buy the present with the weapon of the number of seats, right?

“I’m going to meet Daniel O’Connell [an Irish political leader] and discuss it, so please wait knowing that.”

Charles Grey, who got up from his seat without waiting for an answer, left the conference room as it was.

‘Come to think of it, does Daniel O’Connell know about the Tory Party’s scheme? If he doesn’t know, I should tell him.’

Will the political leader of Ireland be aware of the student who may grow into his competitor in the future?

Even if he is treated as an outsider in England, he is from a well-established traditional Count family in Ireland, and with the full support of the Tory Party.

At least, if limited to Ireland, it was a foregone conclusion that Killian Gore would grow into a politician with considerable influence.

‘Then, the strategy that this side should aim for is…’

Charles Grey’s steps towards the carriage became even faster.