On the Indian Ocean, on the pier in Colombo, the capital of Ceylon (Sri Lanka) in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent, under the strict protection of a group of British soldiers, two British nobles started a conversation as they watched the Dutch fleet carrying the Dutch king go away.

"This trip to the Far East by His Majesty William IV of the Netherlands seems to have yielded a lot."

"Lord Elgin looks very upset."

"Isn't Earl Canning envious?"

The new British Governor of India, James Bruce, and Charles Canning, Earl of Canning in front of him, looked at each other, a little afraid of each other.

"You are very humble, Earl Canning. You were elected to the House of Commons in 1836. In 1837, you inherited the title of Viscount Canning from your deceased mother. In 1841, you joined Robert Peel's cabinet as First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. and Forest Secretary, postmaster in the Earl of Aberdeen's cabinet from 1853 to 1855, and was unexpectedly appointed Governor of India in the Whig government of Lord Palmerston in 1856, succeeding Dalhow Earl of West, and all your actions in India have become the object of the people of London, claiming that you have made the greatest contribution to the establishment of British hegemony in the Indian Ocean in the Far East, just like your father, Prime Minister Canning, One of the greatest father-son relationships in British politics"

Talking, James Bruce, Earl of Elgin, was a little envious of the other party.

In 1856, the other party had just been appointed as the Governor of India, and after taking over, he immediately sent an expeditionary force to the Persian Gulf to oppose the King of the Persian Gulf occupying the British protectorate of Herat in Afghanistan.

The expeditionary force won the friendship of the Afghan rulers after driving the Persian army away.

And in 1857 a treaty was concluded to consolidate the relationship.

In the same year, the Indian mutiny, Bangladeshi soldiers dissatisfied with the righteousness of British rule, developed into a large-scale rebellion against British rule in northern India. Canning then quickly adjusted his troops, including intercepting the army sent to the great country in the Far East for the Second Raven War. Recaptured the stronghold occupied by the insurgents.

After the mutiny was quelled, Canning insisted on treating the insurgents with prudence, fairness, calm and patience, persuading the Indians to believe in his mother's quadrangle rather than revenge, and a crisis was quickly resolved peacefully.

After London received this lesson, India began to change its management strategy, from the Eastern India Company to the direct rule of the Queen of England. Canning presided over the management reorganization of India. After the reorganization was successful, he was promoted by the Queen in 1859. Viscount as earl.

It can be said that Earl Elgin is afraid of the other party for two reasons, one is his qualifications and ability, and the other is the other party's many years of business in India. He got it, and the third one was his father, former Prime Minister Canning, who was one of the greatest Prime Ministers in the history of the British Foreign Secretary.

Let me put it this way, Earl Canning is a Conservative Tory, but he's an oddball, he's a Tory doing Whig things like the Earl of Aberdeen, so he gets a Whig The party's current Prime Minister, Viscount Palmerston, was appointed Governor-General of India.

The other's life trajectory is also the reason why he is very afraid.

Since becoming an earl in 1859, she has acted more daringly, accepting Indians as unofficial members, reorganizing 20 Indian troops, changing the British ratio from 20% to 30%, and encouraging roads to help famine relief, and founded Calcutta. University, University of Madras and University of Mumbai.

In this way, a platform was built for the British government to control the Indian elite.

James Bruce, Earl of Elgin, was higher than the latter three years ago in the title, but as the former governor helped the United Kingdom gain huge benefits in India, he was generously rewarded by the Queen in 1859 and was promoted from Viscount to Earl.

And he is also the former Governor of India. Maybe he can go further when he returns to London this time?

And Earl Canning was equally jealous of Earl Elgin.

"Earl Elgin isn't bad either."

If Canning made his fortune in India, then Earl Elgin rose in Qing affairs in the Far East.

Earl Elgin graduated from Oxford University and became Governor-General of Jamaica in 1842. High starting point.

In 1846, he was appointed Governor-General of the United Kingdom in North America (Canada), responsible for the implementation of the policy of Lord Dalamo's signature and the arrangement of cabinet members.

However, he himself did not deal with the Tories very much, especially in favor of compensation for the losses of the British in the riots in Lower Canada in 1837, which made the Tories strongly opposed, but because of this, he gained huge support in Canada. Domination was secured.

Many people later suspected it was the British government and he was doing double reed.

In 1854 he negotiated a treaty of reciprocity between the Canadian colonies and the United States as British-authorized Canadian leader.

In 1857, he served as the plenipotentiary representative of the United Kingdom in the Qing Dynasty and led a naval and army to the Far East. In December, he commanded the British and French forces to attack the southern part of Qing Dynasty. unequal treaties.

He then visited Riben as a representative of the United Kingdom, and served as postmaster general from 1859 to 1860, a post three years later than him.

However, in order to further pay the Qing court, in February 1860, Grandma sent Elgin Earl to return to the Qing Dynasty as a minister. He led the British army, together with France, and took all the Qing national treasures in the Yuanming Garden. Divide the spoils with France.

In the end, some wanted to give to the Queen, some auctioned off, and some circulated to museums across Europe.

Not even forgetting that the largest "museum" in the Qing Dynasty was burned to ashes for three days.

Finally, the Qing Dynasty was forced to sign the unequal treaty "Capital Treaty".

As a result, Earl Elgin caused great hatred in the Qing Dynasty. In order to protect him, the cabinets of Queen Victoria of London and Viscount Palmerston of the Whig Party were in the competition for the governor of India after Earl Canning was transferred back to London. , the Queen and the Viscount Palmerston have chosen the Earl of Elgin as their new Governor-General of India.

The two can be Mesozoic in British politics. They were both born after 1810. In their early 50s this year, they became partners with Disraeli and Creston. Therefore, in India and the Far East in the direction of the Qing Dynasty, both parties are working hard to add points to the efforts of the two parties in the London political arena. Of course, personal interests also take the lead.

"The Netherlands has developed too much recently. I thought the Queen would put me in Australia to be the Governor, but now I have become the Governor of India."

Earl Elgin said with a wry smile: "Earl Canning knows the situation here better than I do. The Netherlands took Australia away, which makes our overseas colony governors have fewer choices."

"It's not bad. In terms of gold content, the overseas colonies are the Governor of Canada, the Governor of South Africa in the Cape of Good Hope, the Governor of Australia, the Governor of India, and the Governor of Egypt. Are these five governors with the highest gold content, followed by the Governor of New Zealand and the Governor of Jamaica. Now that Australia is missing, it has made the way for us overseas colonial officials even narrower," sighed Earl Canning.

Earl Elgin: "Earl Canning returned to London and heard that he is about to be promoted. Please support the development of India in the future."

Earl Canning: "Of course, let's go, I'll give you the attitude of the British affiliated alliance in India towards London"

......

On the Rotterdam, William IV was gloomy.

Canning didn't know much about him in his previous life, but he was very familiar with James Bruce, Earl of Elgin, because in later life, he was also called Elgin and the leader of the two robbers.

"This person's reputation in Europe is not good, and even their family is called a robber family. The seventh Earl of Elgin obtained the Greek Parthenon from the Greek Ottoman Turkey in 1801 and shipped it back to England. caused dissatisfaction in Greece.

However, the current eighth-generation Earl Elgin carried out a powerless robbery in Yuanming Garden, and set fire to it after removing the national treasure of the garden.

This is very rare in the history of world civilization. Hugo, the great French writer, even wrote angrily for this: 'We are called civilized people and think that the Chinese are barbarians. This involves the good things that civilized people have done to barbarians. '

Even many British people ridiculed the title of Earl Elgin as a symbol of robber equivalence.

And the blue is better than the blue. I think that this sanctimonious earl family is too barbaric. If the first generation of Elgin Uncle Byron is alive, maybe they will make a more severe moral criticism of them, and even directly expel the father and son from the family. possible. ’”

"Your Majesty, I heard that Earl Elgin expressed his dissatisfaction with our takeover of Australia just now on the Colombo Pier. Obviously, this person will carry out an unfavorable policy towards the Netherlands. The impact of the future may gradually become larger, and we have to guard against it.”

McKay Jon followed up:

"Earl Canning is a lot more pragmatic, but he belongs to the Tory Party. The new leader of the Tory Party, Disraeli, is dissatisfied with the current policy of Viscount Palmerston to ease the load. If the Tory Party comes to power, the United Kingdom will Now there may be a subversive reversal of the Dutch policy market, which is also a very serious matter for the Netherlands.”

William IV agreed with Mackay Sean's concern, "This is also the reason why I have to take Australia in a hurry. The Dutch mainland has a small territory and is too shallow, and its ability to withstand the attacks of other powerful countries is too weak. It won't last long. will fall back.

Australia is different. The first rule here is that the country is large enough, deep enough, and there are no powerful countries around. UU read www. Even if uukanshu.com wants to develop, it is extremely easy to expand outwards.

This is the opposite of that in mainland Europe, where there is no longer the expansion direction of the Netherlands, the population is not good, and the economy is no worse than ours. Moreover, the mainland of the Netherlands, where there are four wars, is extremely vulnerable, and the economic impact is also greater. "

"After my grandfather ceded Ceylon and the Cape of Good Hope to the United Kingdom, he was able to get the support of the United Kingdom to restore the country.

The Netherlands can no longer lose Australia, so there must be defenses in place, lest it become her people's wedding dress again. "

After William IV sighed, he said to Mackay Sean:

"Tell me about the situation in Greece"

"Your Majesty, we have basically completed the plan on the Greek side. The business community has asked King Otto to step down because of the people's emotions. Should we continue to push for the next step?"

"Since the Greek side has started the opening, then" William IV said sharply: "No one can stop the progress of the Netherlands, Greece, we are determined to win, let's do it."

......