Chapter 786 O'Connell's Choice

At that time, the confidentiality of the British colonial department could not be said to be very poor, but it could be said to be almost non-existent. So it was not difficult for Franz to let O'Connell discover the British conspiracy.

Of course, the officials of the British Colonial Department did not think that this was a conspiracy, but a work that could benefit many parties, but it was just a little immoral.

However, the conclusions drawn from different perspectives could not be the same.

The most terrible thing was that the girls rescued by O'Connell did not thank him, but instead felt that he had ruined their happiness for his own reputation.

O'Connell was not angry, but he knew very well that although he had prevented this time and this kind of conspiracy, as long as those refugees who could not support themselves continued to stay in the UK, it would be a matter of time before they were calculated to become the fuel for the wealthy life of the British.

He began to reconsider the Austrians' suggestion, a land where work could fill their stomachs, a land without religious discrimination, and a new land where they could stay or leave freely.

The Irish were discriminated against because of their Catholic identity, so they took this very seriously at that time.

So Daniel O'Connell began to contact everyone he could. Immigration might not be the best choice, but it was the only choice he could think of at that time.

At this time, the United States was still in a state of vast land and sparse population, and it urgently needed more people to enrich its land.

In fact, this has become a major obstacle to the development of the United States, and for this reason it did not hesitate to dig people from the North German region at a high price.

The United States promised not only high salaries, but also land, freedom and equality (at that time, the German region was mainly a monarchy), but the immigration policy for the Irish was not so good. The latter had to find a job and food on their own, and they were not even willing to pay for a boat ticket.

There are two main reasons behind this. First, German immigrants usually have skills, and their overall quality is higher, so their goals and expectations are naturally higher; while Irish immigrants are usually really poor, have never been to school, and can do nothing except farming.

Second, the Americans mainly dig Protestants in North Germany, while Irish immigrants are basically Catholics. The Western world has experienced several religious wars, and Americans naturally do not want the tragedy to happen again.

Moreover, in the land of America, the so-called religious freedom has never existed. At first, the reason Americans used to expel Indians was to expel pagans, but later it was beautified and became a necessary evil for the civilization and progress of all mankind.

The Irish also suffered discrimination in the United States. They were synonymous with poverty, laziness, dirtiness, violence, sin, alcoholism, and superstition (referring to Catholicism).

Before the rise of the Middle Eastern nations again, the world's number one terrorist in the eyes of Americans has always been the Irish from the Emerald Island.

Many celebrities claim that "the Irish have white skin, but they are black inside."

At that time, the Irish were treated the same as the black and yellow in the United States, and many Irish even envied the pastoral life of the black slaves.

The factories in the United States followed the British system, 16-18 hours a day, depending entirely on the price of the goods. If the profit can exceed the money of the gas lamp, then overtime will be worked.

However, due to the recession in the American industry at this time, most factories still operated on a 16-hour system.

In fact, the Irish began to immigrate to the United States before the famine broke out, but O'Connell would not recommend people to go there.

First, he still had hope for the British government at that time, and second, he knew what the Irish had experienced in the United States.

It was not until his death that he shouted to the sky, "Cross the sea! Cross the sea! Cross the sea!"

Now Franz gave him a new choice. Although most Irish people did not understand German, there were many people in the Austrian Empire who did not speak German, and the country had existed for nearly a thousand years, so it was not a big problem.

Secondly, the reputation of the Habsburg family for kindness was very important to the Irish at this time. After all, this could ensure that they would not be abused or directly become slaves.

Third, Franz personally came forward to offer a more generous condition. The land of the Austrian colony was allowed to be reclaimed, and they would be provided with necessary agricultural tools, seeds, food, livestock (if any), accommodation, medical care, education and security during the period.

According to the calculation of adult and labor-capable males in each family, if an average of 50 acres of land can be reclaimed, there will be no tax for one year, an average of 100 acres will be free of tax for three years, and an average of 150 acres will be free of tax for five years.

Considering that the Irish at that time were usually large families, it was normal for a family to have more than a dozen people. If there were four or five adult male workers, it would be 600-700 acres of farmland. If they were in the East, they would be considered landlords.

At the same time, they were free to go or stay, as long as they paid the toll. Going to Austria required some special skills, assessments, and examinations.

The most important thing was to speak German. In short, the requirements were definitely higher than those in the colonies. After all, Franz had to consider the pressure at home. Although he had the church as a shield, he would probably be criticized for abusing his favor if he really brought a bunch of old, weak, and disabled people.

If he brought a bunch of gangsters and hooligans, it would directly become the fuse of the civil war.

Finally, the contribution and sincerity of the Austrian Church, Archbishop Rauscher's trip to Ireland had spread throughout the UK.

This was simply a provocation to the Church of England, but unfortunately they did not actually have much influence. John Russell was in no mood to continue to waste time with Austria because of these charlatans.

And Archbishop Rauscher only carried out some charity activities on the island of Ireland, and the British government really had no good reason to question Austria.

In addition, John Russell knew better than anyone what was happening on the island of Ireland, and he didn't want other European countries to continue to criticize him.

So the whole thing was left unresolved, but this was a great sincerity in O'Connell's view, and he had regarded the Austrian Church as a lifeline for the Irish.

In fact, the Austrian Empire's grain transport ships could take some Irish people away every time they returned, which was the so-called free ticket.

But the reality is that the Irish would rather go bankrupt, become slaves and servants to the United States, or even take the cult's doomsday ark, than board the Austrian ship.

This was mainly due to people's fear of the unknown. At this time, the Irish had a very low level of education, and more than 85% of them had never left the county-level area where they were born, and the news was very closed.

Fewer people knew about the Austrian Empire than the Holy Roman Empire, and in terms of popularity, it was even less well-known than the French Port of Toulon and its own Port of Venice.

All O'Connell had to do was to trick his compatriots onto the ship, because according to Austrian calculations, if the total population on the island of Ireland remained the same this year, at least 500,000 to 1 million people would starve to death.

This was hard to imagine when only 100,000 people starved to death in the first year, but Austria provided a confidential document.

That was that before the famine occurred, the Austrian Church had already placed hundreds of thousands of tons of food on the island of Ireland, and these grains had been eaten up in the past year.