Chapter 305: Dividing the Spoils
"Why not? Archbishop, lost lambs need correct guidance, this is the duty of shepherds."
The two spoke relatively obscurely, but Archbishop Rauscher understood what Franz meant. These two countries still needed the church to do a good job of post-processing.
It was a bit disappointing that he did not get the relatively wealthy Guatemala and Honduras, but Archbishop Rauscher decided to try his best to implement Franz's plan.
After all, in Southeast Asia before, no one could think of why Franz would choose Zhenla, a land without any foundation, instead of Vietnam, where the church was stronger, and Siam (Thailand), where the economy was developed.
But the final result proved that Archduke Franz's judgment was correct. At this time, Zhenla became the only country in the world controlled by the church except the Papal States.
Sure enough, the proposal was immediately approved by the French after it was revealed through secret channels. Of course, the Tuileries Palace had no reason to reject this proposal. After all, this would directly reduce the number of enemies by one third.
The Paris authorities immediately ignored La Mosan's opposition, unilaterally made peace with the two countries, and recognized their independence.
But the price of peace is high. The two governments had to accept the harsh conditions of paying 5 million francs in war reparations, which was undoubtedly a double blow to the two weak countries whose annual government income was less than 1 million francs.
And Guizot, the man behind the scenes, also had his own considerations. As Marshal Magnon de Rochefort described, it was a very good idea to support a puppet government after a direct unconditional peace, but France paid too much in the Central American Federation.
Unless the domestic bureaucrats and financial capitalists were impressed by tangible benefits, these stingy and greedy guys would never agree to continue to add money for a bunch of money-eating beasts that require a lot of investment.
(In fact, in the early stages of colonial development, the cost was often very high, so it was called a money-eating beast)
On July 15, 1841, as soon as the armistice agreement was announced, the local wealthy businessmen and mine owners in Honduras immediately united and took the initiative to extend an olive branch to the French expeditionary force:
First, they would not have any unfriendly actions towards the French army.
Second, they were willing to pay the 5 million war reparations in one lump sum.
This little trick certainly wouldn't make France, which had experienced many battles and had long been chatting and laughing with other colonial powers, fall for it.
Like other colonists, the French soldiers and adventurers came from afar for the land and gold of Central America. How could a mere 8 million francs fill their hungry hearts?
As expected, after rejecting the proposals of local capitalists, the French threw out a list of 100 million francs of war reparations, with the requirement to cede the port of La Ceiba, and grant France most-favored-nation treatment and the right to build and operate railways.
At this point, France's ambitions were obvious, but the merchants and mine owners in Honduras had no bargaining power. After all, the other party held guns in their hands, and it was no problem to find an excuse to launch an armed action to collect debts.
It happened that the world's number one troublemaker with an extremely sensitive sense of smell took the initiative to mediate with his old rival after learning the news of Honduras' independence.
The reason why Britain's sense of smell was so sharp was that, in addition to Franz's obstruction, La Mossan was also dissatisfied with the French's practice of damaging his property.
So he thought of a good way, that is, "using barbarians to control barbarians" and let the British deal with the French, so that he could continue to have the best of both worlds.
But what surprised La Mossan was that the British and French actually started to divide the spoils directly, ignoring him as the victim. In fact, there was a lot of opposition within the French government to Britain's request to monopolize Honduras.
This time, not only the Bonapartists clamored to go to war with the British, but even the financial capitalists who had always been most opposed to war also advocated war, because France had paid too much in the Central American Federation, and the gold and silver mines in Honduras were too important.
In the end, it was Guizot who overcame all the opposition and decided to make concessions to Britain for his so-called "British-French friendship" and agreed to cede Honduras to Britain, but Britain must also bear Honduras' 30 million francs of war reparations and support France's occupation of Guatemala and El Salvador under the pretext of "debt disputes".
At this time, La Mosan, who was enjoying the joy of victory in Guatemala City, did not know that he had actually become a fish on the chopping board, and even the plate had been divided.
After receiving a positive response from Paris, Marshal Magnon de Rochefort, the commander of the French expeditionary force, immediately ordered the arrest of La Mosan and asked him to pay a debt of 1 billion francs immediately.
La Mosan naturally disagreed. Even if he agreed, he did not have so much money. At the same time, he refused to sign the colonial agreement.
But there were many people in the Central American Federation who wanted to end the war. After so many years of war, all factions in the Central American Federation were exhausted.
In the past, the motivation that supported them not to surrender was that they were afraid that La Mosan would settle accounts later. Now that the scourge is gone, they are very willing to be French subjects.
The civil war in the Central American Federation ended here. Guatemala and El Salvador became French colonies. Honduras was nominally an independent country under British protection, but in fact the government and main economic lifeline were controlled by the British.
Nicaragua and Costa Rica in the southeast declared independence, but were actually controlled by the Austrian Church. The US government reiterated the Monroe Doctrine, demanding that the French government return power to the legitimate government of the Central American Federation.
In fact, as the Texas region prospered, the contradiction between France and the United States was also deepening. At this time, the United States was not the beacon country of later generations, but France was.
Moreover, France has always been very generous in the development of colonies. Texas has developed rapidly in the hands of France, and the length of the railway is even longer than that of France.
At the same time, the law also favors Texans very much. They can almost enjoy the same treatment as the French, and the order, security and fairness brought by the French law are what they have never enjoyed.
After the French gendarmes came, even the most powerful family in Texas, with hundreds of cowboys, did not dare to act as sheriffs or confront the French government.
In fact, the early West was not as beautiful as described in the movies. Bandits regarded themselves as sheriffs, big families controlled local militias, and organized gangs to rob innocent people on the Great Plains.
Those gangs massacred Indians and dealt with the mercenaries of the US government without any problem, but they looked embarrassed when facing the real French army.
Those tactics that seemed very stupid made these proud cowboys scared to death. The French were even more unethical, frequently using artillery to attack the gang's stronghold.
Due to the influence of Napoleon, artillery played a very important role in the French army at that time. If you didn't fire a few shots during the war, it was as if you were not a Frenchman.
Back to the point, although Guizot's actions maintained peace with Britain, it was at the expense of French interests and French national sentiments, which laid hidden dangers for the future.
If I have time today, I should add another chapter in the evening.