"Your Excellency Palmerston, we must send troops to India as soon as possible!"
After reading the contents of the telegram, the Home Secretary raised his head and made a serious suggestion to Prime Minister Palmerston.
"Of course I know that we need to send troops as soon as possible, but before sending troops, we must go through the procedures that need to be done!" Palmerston responded to the Home Secretary with a slightly irritated tone.
In the British system, everything is subject to negotiation.
Especially when the use of the army is required, consultation is indispensable. Only after the king, the cabinet and the upper and lower houses of parliament all reach an agreement, can the British Kingdom truly use the army.
Even when Britain's survival is at stake, the British Prime Minister must complete the above steps.
Of course, there is a shortcut that can be taken, that is, the prime minister announces the dissolution of the cabinet.
Then the upper and lower houses can vote directly on the proposal of whether to use the army, and then elect a war cabinet again.
When both houses of parliament agreed, the king also had no reason to object.
However, Palmerston obviously did not dare to dissolve the cabinet.
Because once the cabinet is dissolved, Palmerston is likely to be kicked out directly.
Even though Palmerston knew that this method was a disguised way of delaying the dispatch of troops, for the sake of his own rights, he did not dare to directly announce the dissolution of the cabinet.
Immediately afterwards, Palmerston called the Cabinet Secretary and the Prime Minister's Secretary and gave them notice of the temporary cabinet meeting.
After listening to this, the cabinet secretary and chief secretary also had a look of surprise on their faces.
It seems that what the Earl of Clarendon reported is more serious than I thought.
The Cabinet Secretary couldn't help but secretly say something.
"Your Excellency, Prime Minister, under what name should we invite the ministers to come over!" the Cabinet Secretary asked Prime Minister Palmerston insinuatingly what happened.
"Tell the ministers immediately that something happened in India!" Palmerston sighed and responded in a low tone.
The Cabinet Secretary and the Prime Minister's Secretary stared wide-eyed. At this moment, they could not believe their ears.
India can be said to be one of the lifebloods of the entire British Kingdom. There are hundreds of stocks listed on the British Stock Exchange alone, the largest of which is called the East India Company.
Its value in the entire market is almost ten million pounds, which can be said to be a veritable giant.
Once something happens in India, the East India Company's stocks and bonds are bound to plummet.
If things go wrong, the whole of Britain will face another economic crisis because of the Indian problem.
Of course, these are not very important. What is important is that the Cabinet Secretary himself purchased a large part of the East India Company's shares.
If these are not sold off quickly, his assets will shrink by at least one-third.
"Is the situation serious?" After thinking that his assets were likely to shrink, the Cabinet Secretary asked in a panic.
When the Cabinet Secretary said this, he immediately felt a sense of regret.
As the Secretary-General of the Cabinet, he really didn't believe it. How could he ask such a low-level question?
Whether the situation is serious or not is a question that the cabinet should consider, and all they have to do is "assist the left" cabinet.
If the Cabinet Secretary wants to know whether the situation is urgent, he only needs to ask the Secretary to the Foreign Secretary.
It is impossible for the Earl of Clarendon to get the message by himself!
Although the Cabinet Secretary asked a question that he should not have asked, Palmerston did not accuse him of overstepping his authority. Instead, he told the Cabinet Secretary the contents of the telegram.
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“Nearly one-third of the Indian troops hired by us have defected (actually only the Bengal Army has defected), and of the remaining two-thirds, some troops are waiting and watching!
Today in India, only the Sikh armed forces are still loyal to our army!
And our army in India now only has about 20,000 people!" Prime Minister Palmerston gritted his teeth and cursed angrily: "Those immature bastards must have expected that our army would not be able to support them quickly, so
Only then would they choose to rebel during this time!
They must have settled it long ago!"
"Your Excellency, I will inform them immediately!" the Cabinet Secretary acted quickly.
The Cabinet Secretary who left the Prime Minister's Office did not immediately send someone to notify the ministers of various departments. Instead, he immediately took a carriage and ran back to his residence, and then quickly found the names of the East India Company and the Indian Peripheral Company that he had originally purchased.
Bearer bonds.
The Cabinet Secretary handed the bonds to his trusted steward and ordered him to go to the Paris Stock Exchange immediately to sell all the bonds.
Looking at these bonds issued by the East India Company, the steward made a suggestion to the Cabinet Secretary: "Master, the bonds of the East India Company are rising rapidly now, we should wait and sell them!"
The cabinet secretary shook his head and responded to the steward, "We can't wait any longer! If we wait any longer, the East India Company may be on the verge of bankruptcy!"
The butler was immediately startled when he heard the response from the Cabinet Secretary. He cautiously asked: "Master, does the Cabinet want to completely turn the East India Company into national ownership?"
"It's even worse than that!" the Cabinet Secretary said to the butler: "A long-planned rebellion is currently taking place in India, and the troops who launched the rebellion account for one-third of the entire Indian army.
You must sell all your bonds within today, do you understand?"
After hearing the response from the Cabinet Secretary, the housekeeper also looked a little panicked.
He had doubts about the ability of the British army to put down the rebellion.
After all, nearly one-third of the army participated in the rebellion, and even if Britain wanted to completely suppress it, it would take at least two or three years.
During this period, the East India Company went bankrupt countless times.
"I'll go right away!" the butler hurriedly responded to the Cabinet Secretary-General.
"Remember, don't say these words to anyone else!" Before leaving, the Cabinet Secretary-General specifically asked.
The butler fully agreed to what the Cabinet Secretary-General said. After the Cabinet Secretary-General left, the butler disguised himself and took the bonds and stocks to the stock exchange. He found the "professional manager" in the exchange.
Demand that all East India Company bonds be exchanged for British pounds.
The "professional manager" who was responsible for exchanging money for the butler saw that the amount of money exchanged by the butler was so huge, he tried his best to dissuade the butler from only exchanging half of it, because the bonds of the East India Company were still in the rising stage.
Exchanging now is simply "losing money".
However, the butler who already knew the inside story would not listen to the "professional manager"'s advice. He still chose to exchange all the money.
The "professional managers" had no choice but to "reluctantly" buy back all the bonds of the East India Company.
Afterwards, the butler took the converted pounds and left the stock exchange.
Shortly after the steward left, a panic-stricken nobleman entered the interior of the stock exchange, also holding East India Company bonds in his hand.
The panic-stricken nobleman approached the "professional manager" and asked him to exchange all the East India Company bonds in his hands for British pounds. The "professional manager" obeyed the nobleman's order and went to exchange the bonds.
After the "professional manager" handed the pound check to the noble, he curiously asked the noble why he wanted to exchange it in a hurry.
The nobleman who received the Bank of England note breathed a long sigh of relief and decided to tell the "professional manager" the truth: "According to the intelligence just received, Indian soldiers launched a large-scale rebellion a month ago!
Nowadays, the number of rebel soldiers in India is already half of the total number of soldiers in India!"
As soon as this statement came out, the expression of the "professional manager" immediately became dull. He understood that the bonds and stocks of the East India Company were finished.
Sure enough, after the nobles broke this shocking news, all the retail investors who had purchased East India Company bonds and stocks gathered around the trading desk and "professional managers" of the exchange as if they were possessed.
The whole hall was filled with an atmosphere of madness and despair. On the blackboard behind the counter of the stock exchange, the price of the East India Company was also falling again and again.
In just ten minutes, nearly a quarter of the East India Company's market value evaporated out of thin air.
Bonds and stocks related to India have also continued to fall.
…
Let us turn our attention to No. 10 Downing Street. An interim cabinet meeting is being held at No. 10 Downing Street, and what they want to discuss is the issue of the Indian uprising.
As the Minister of War, the Duke of Newcastle stated clearly that Britain should send troops to India as soon as possible to suppress the Indian army.
Ministers from other departments also expressed support for the Duke of Newcastle's proposal, but they believed that sending troops should wait until the House of Lords and the Commons unanimously agreed before taking action.
Never act in advance, otherwise it will cause unnecessary trouble.
Hearing that all departments expressed support for sending troops to punish the rebels, Palmerston showed a smile on his face. He nodded and said to everyone present: "Everyone! Now that we have reached an agreement, let's proceed.
Take one step!"
After the interim cabinet meeting, Palmerston left No. 10 Downing Street in a carriage and headed for Windsor Castle.
After several hours of long journey, the carriage finally arrived at Windsor Castle.
Entering the guest room at Windsor Castle, Palmerston met Prince Albert again.
Before Palmerston could speak, Prince Albert said directly to Palmerston: "I already know the specific things!
Victoria asked me to tell you that she supports your actions on behalf of the King of Britain!
There is only one thing you have to do now, and that is to win support in both houses of Congress.