Chapter 397 The Duality of Britain and France

Although he was in London, Arthur knew more about the situation in Paris than Stendhal, who had just arrived in the UK from Paris.

The head of police intelligence in Scotland Yard had long maintained correspondence with Vidocq, the head of the Greater Paris Police Department. Moreover, after Heine and Chopin went to Paris, they often wrote to Arthur to share some of their experiences in Paris.

Of course, even if these people were willing to exchange information with Arthur, it would be useless if the information was not transmitted fast enough.

Fortunately, Arthur had a friend named Rothschild, so he naturally enjoyed the most timely postman courier service in Europe at present - Rothschild Express.

On the European continent, a large number of letters were sent every day from London, Paris, Vienna, Frankfurt and Naples, the five major branches of the Rothschild family, and the most important part of the information that could affect the rise and fall of the European bond and stock markets was delivered to the heads of the Rothschild family in various places by expedited delivery, trying to deliver it to the hands of the Rothschild family in three days.

Due to the long-term good reputation of the Rothschild family's courier business, not only those businessmen who are extremely sensitive to news will choose to use Rothschild's couriers, but even the royal families and political bigwigs in various European countries also like to use Rothschild to send letters.

Even taking Britain as an example, the long-term customers of Rothschild's courier business include King William IV, the Duke of Wellington, Sir Peel and others.

After the outbreak of cholera in Britain, Arthur told Vidocq about a series of bizarre phenomena that occurred during the British cholera period, and also made many kind reminders to this colleague.

But the facts have proved that reminders are reminders, and Paris will still be the same in the end.

Most of the phenomena that occurred in Britain have almost been reproduced in France.

However, due to the different national conditions of the two countries, there are still some differences in the details.

The citizens of Paris also denied the existence of cholera, and because most of them lacked trust in the government, many citizens even believed that the so-called cholera was actually caused by government poisoning under the instigation of the Republicans and the Bonapartists.

The reason why they think so is, in the final analysis, a small suggestion that Arthur gave to Victor.

In the letter, Arthur told Victor about the news that he had reversed the epidemic in Liverpool after closing the dirty well in Liverpool, and suggested that he could follow his example if necessary.

After receiving the news, Victor immediately reported the suggestion to Henri Rissocquet, the director of the Greater Paris Police Department.

Rissocquet went to visit the new Prime Minister Casimir Perrier that night.

After Perrier convened the members of the French Central Health Committee for a whole night of discussion, the French showed their usual high efficiency and applied the Liverpool experience, which had not been fully implemented in the UK, to the prevention and control of cholera in Paris.

If such a control plan could be implemented smoothly, it would have been a good thing.

But as soon as the order of the Greater Paris Police Department to close the well was announced, rumors that the police closed the well to facilitate poisoning began to spread in the streets and alleys of Paris.

The Parisian newspaper "Constitution" even said bluntly: "At this moment, there is no neighborhood that is not terrified by the poisoning story."

As the rumors of poisoning spread, the subsequent development of Paris gradually converged with the situation in the UK in the past few months. In some ways, the reaction of Parisians was even more enthusiastic.

Some people began to point the finger at the government and vent their anger on doctors, believing that cholera was just an invention of the government and doctors, with the purpose of eliminating the poor.

And a few days later, calls for a popular uprising appeared on the streets of Paris.

Faced with the increasingly fierce rumors and turbulent situation, even the Grand Paris Police Department, which is countless times tougher than Scotland Yard, could not withstand the pressure.

Director Risoke had to come forward to refute the rumors many times and issued internal orders to the chiefs of police in various police districts in Paris:

The permanent enemies of social order are trying to find a shameful excuse for the disaster that is tormenting our people at this moment to realize their long-planned conspiracy. They are trying to use our misfortune and the pain of the family to deceive the people.

They spread the news that the unfortunate victimization of the patients was the result of poisoning. They are trying to convince the least enlightened classes of the population that cholera does not exist. They are trying to disrupt the government and doctors' assistance to the sick. Fortunately, these despicable plots have not achieved much success so far.

The sporadic street violence and brutality that have occurred so far are the result of their misleading a part of the population. I order you to monitor this situation closely. You have the obligation to explain the situation to citizens who may be misled and give them wise advice.

All police officers should remind citizens that for their own interests and for the public interest, they should not blindly believe in the slander and shameless rumors of bad people. Because bad people only want to intimidate the public, which prevents us from quickly getting rid of the disaster that is ravaging the capital.

However, although Rissoquet tried his best to refute the rumor, in the eyes of Parisians, it would be better if Rissoquet did not refute the rumor. Once he refuted the rumor, it meant that the rumor was probably true.

However, the distrust of the government and the police cannot be blamed on the ignorance of these citizens, but should be "credited" to the "good reputation" accumulated by the Paris police over the past half century.

After all, from a normal person's perspective, it is really hard to believe a group of people who have fired guns, cannons, and knives at you, and who come to you every now and then to extort money.

In this way, the Paris police continued to refute rumors, and the suspicious Parisians became more and more convinced that there was a poisoning incident.

People took action to monitor and interrogate anyone suspected of poisoning in taverns, pools, markets, and crossroads. Such behavior also led to many bloody scenes of innocent people being suspected, beaten, and even killed on the streets of Paris.

In the letter Heine sent to Arthur, such a phenomenon was described.

At the street corner where the red-painted tavern was located, people gathered voluntarily. People always look for suspects in these places. If they have suspicious items in their pockets, they are in trouble. People will pounce on them like a beast and an angry army.

Many people escaped because of their own wit, and many people survived because of the help of the patrol police on the day. Six people were ruthlessly slaughtered. There is no scene more terrible than the fury of the people, especially when it becomes bloodthirsty and strangles defenseless victims.

In the streets, the crowd surged, the workers in shirtsleeves roared and shouted mercilessly like the damned, like demons, like white waves crashing against each other. I heard someone shouting in the Rue Saint-Denis: "Let's hang him on the lamppost!"

From the window I saw one of the unfortunates dying, and the old women took off their shoes and hit him on the head with the heels until he died. He was naked, covered with blood and wounds. They not only stripped him of his clothes, but also pulled out his eyebrows, hair and nose.

Then came a fierce man, tied the corpse's feet with a rope, and dragged it through the street, shouting: "This is the cholera virus!"

And even a noble and beautiful woman on the side of the road, her body and hands covered with blood, gave a heavy blow to the passing corpse.

In order to clarify the facts, Vidocq, under the order of the director, had to go to various shops and wells in Paris and send suspicious items such as wine, liquor, juice, water, bread, meat, candy and water samples obtained from there to the French Academy of Sciences for testing.

The test results were announced on the pages of major newspapers in Paris the next day, showing that the items sent for inspection did not contain any poison, and the internists and surgeons of the Hôtel-Dieu also collectively issued a statement, announcing that they had conducted a comprehensive examination of the patients sent to the hospital and found no signs of poisoning.

However, these scientific evidences were not the main reason for dispelling the rumors.

What really made Parisians believe that cholera was not poisoned was the number of people infected that gradually increased with riots.

When cholera cases were first discovered in Paris on March 26, only 16 people were infected in 4 days and 7 died.

After the scavengers' riot, the Saint-Pérager prison riot and the violence caused by the poisoning rumor, on April 6, there were 1,851 new cases of cholera in just one day, of which 670 died that day.

Recently, according to Victor, even a conservative estimate is that the death toll in Paris is about 800 per day.

If you add those patients who were not sent to the hospital in time, Paris may have at least 1,200 people dying from cholera every day.

Although it is very impolite to say this, compared with Paris, even London, which was in chaos due to cholera, can be considered orderly.

According to statistics from the British Central Health Committee, last month, the whole of Britain just ushered in a new peak in the number of deaths from cholera. In the 431 towns and villages in Britain that can be counted, a total of 1,519 people died of cholera.

Under the surging offensive of cholera, the British Cabinet and the Central Health Committee finally had the courage to try desperately and treat a dying horse as a living horse.

At this time, they didn't care about whether it was autocratic or not.

14 newly appointed health inspectors were stationed in major industrial cities across the country, requiring all parishes to enforce the control of unclean drinking water.

And Lord Chief Justice Brougham directly issued an open letter that was almost threatening to the priests of each parish.

In that open letter, Lord Brougham claimed:

At this critical moment, priests should be firm in their faith and put the health of the believers above all else. If priests insist on resisting like the parish of Crestage and insist on not investing the poor tax in public health, then he will have to consider using the legal power of the chief justice to suspend the payment of priests' benefice.

And after the suspension of the benefice, if their behavior still does not improve, Brougham will not rule out submitting this list to the Archbishop of Canterbury, the chief bishop of England, who is responsible for the church in southern England, and the Archbishop of York, the second-in-command of England, who is responsible for the church in northern England.

Compared to Lord Brougham's rhetoric, Viscount Goderich, the Minister of War and Colonial Affairs, was much more direct.

In view of the riots in many parts of Britain caused by parliamentary reform and cholera, Viscount Goderich ordered the army troops stationed in the country to assist the local government in temporary control within a reasonable scope.

Viscount Melbourne, the Home Secretary, took the opportunity to promote his "Municipal Police Bill". Compared with the resistance he encountered last year, this year's "Municipal Police Bill" was obviously much smoother.

If Arthur had to guess why, it would be that municipalities across Britain have finally discovered that having police forces to manage security is decidedly more reassuring than the army.

What's more, the Viscount of Melbourne no longer insists that the Ministry of Home Affairs must have complete leadership of the national police force, but is willing to jointly manage it with municipal authorities.

As for another reason why the municipal authorities are willing to make concessions, it is the recently passed British Town Renovation Plan. If obeying the central government's control of cholera can bring about such a good thing, then they don't mind considering it.

Just a few days ago, Mr. Disraeli, a rookie member of the Tory Party, won more than two-thirds of the votes in the House of Commons with a stunning speech, successfully persuading Parliament to pass a long-planned urban renewal project.

Disraeli was able to succeed mainly for two reasons.

The first is the current raging cholera epidemic, which has made lawmakers feel that they cannot ignore urban health.

Because even the Palace of Westminster, where MPs gather, can smell the stench coming from the Thames River next door every summer, so much so that the upper and lower houses have to close the windows when they are in session.

But in the past, because this kind of plan was too expensive, councilors were still hesitant about urban renewal. But the arrival of various epidemics, such as cholera, gave urban renewal a good reason. On this point, both Whigs and Tories could easily agree.

The second was some sort of secret instrument furnished to Mr. Disraeli by one of his zealous friends.

In other words, it was the propaganda document called the "Message to the People" by the Paris Republicans and Bonapartists during the cholera period calling for a people's uprising.

Poor people don't die from cholera, they die from hunger! Rich people rarely face threats because they run away. The unfortunate had less labor and bread, and relatives and friends of the deceased were prohibited from entering hospitals.

Why are cowards and egoists allowed to flee the border with their survival materials, while people are allowed to live in Paris? Disease ravages densely populated neighborhoods because they are dirty and overcrowded.

Clean, spacious houses where disease cannot invade have been abandoned, leaving them empty while hospitals are overcrowded. The misery and cramped quarters of the poor devour the dying.

ah! Let these useless mansions receive the unfortunates who have nowhere to live except in the fetid streets. ah! Since the wealthy owners have abandoned them, let the people live in them!

When Disraeli read this document in the House of Commons, there was a dead silence in the House of Commons for half a minute. Everyone can smell the breath of the French Revolution in their nostrils, and everyone's eyes can see a bit of solemnity and doubt.

And when Mr. Disraeli raised his arms and said the famous saying that he thought would be immortalized, the House of Commons burst into applause.

"A divided kingdom cannot last long. When the bottom of society is in turmoil, the superstructure cannot be immune. When the thatched house collapses, the marble columns of St. James's Palace will tremble. The external environment is often beyond our control. , but our own actions are always under our control, and we will use our actions to prove the superiority of the British political system!"

I have to say, this sentence sounds very impressive.

But why Arthur was so aware of Disraeli's highlight moments in the House of Commons was naturally because this was the eighth time he had heard Disraeli mention his glorious deeds today.

Disraeli put one hand on the back of the sofa in the editorial office and held a wine glass in the other as he talked.

"Really, I really wished that you were all there. And not only did I wish that you were all there, I also wished that my father and my sister were all there. Tell my father to see if his son is who he thinks he is. So grandiose, I can also be a dignified big man, but I don't like to do that. I was like Caesar, Augustus, or Suleiman in the House of Commons that day. I am a natural leader, everyone. They will all listen to me involuntarily.”

Alexandre Dumas glanced at Arthur strangely, and then turned his gaze back to Disraeli: "But I remember when you first appeared in the House of Commons, didn't you say that your ancestor was a rabbi in the Jewish Temple? Did you change your role so quickly?"

"No, Alexander, you don't understand. Of course it is an honor to be a rabbi, but it is an even greater honor to be a Caesar or an Augustus."

Disraeli smiled from ear to ear: "As you can see, I have evolved again."

He stood up, grabbed the hem of his tuxedo and paced as if dancing: "Look, what I have done for the poor people, as long as things go well, they will soon have a spacious and clean new house. The world Is there any country in the world that considers the poor like this? Only Britain does this because of me, Benjamin Disraeli, the conscience of Britain. I am the only country in the world that considers the people wholeheartedly. "

Dumas crossed his legs and sighed. He turned to Arthur and asked, "Where did you pick up this drama queen from today?"

"I didn't pick it up, he came to the door himself." Arthur took a sip of tea: "Louis and I were walking to the editorial office in the car, when Benjamin suddenly jumped out of the crowd on the street and blocked him in the middle of the road. At that time, I thought someone was trying to kill me again, so I was so frightened that I almost pulled out my gun and shot him.”

Louis smiled and said, "Mr. Disraeli should be proud of such a great achievement. If France could have a parliamentarian like Mr. Disraeli, the situation in Paris would not be so bad."

At this point, Louis turned his head and asked Dumas, "Speaking of which, Alexander, you haven't introduced us to these new guests yet?"

Dumas suddenly laughed and said, "No, honorable sir, I am not introducing you to the new guests, but introducing these guests to you."

After speaking, he put his arm around Stendhal's shoulder and asked, "I remember you are a Bonapartist, right?"

Stendhal nodded slightly and said, "Why, is the gentleman next to you also one?"

Dumas laughed and said, "Well...you are not wrong to say that, but you are only half right."

"What do you mean?"

Dumas put his arm around Louis' shoulder and said to Stendhal, "Come, meet me, this is my friend, Mr. Charles-Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte."