Chapter 176 Suitcase and Edward VII

If some newspapers' economic forecasts for New Zealand in the next few years make New Zealanders feel uneasy and fearful, then Arthur and Australia behind Arthur are the last straw in the hearts of New Zealanders.

The official who gave the speech also grasped this point and boldly compared the British Empire and Australia, and finally came to a disturbing conclusion, that is, New Zealand joining Australia is more promising or more appropriate than staying under the rule of the British Empire.

What makes people feel uneasy is not this conclusion, but the impact of this conclusion on the situation in New Zealand.

After all, New Zealand is still under the rule of the British Empire. Although the governor is Arthur, the Duke of Australia, this only brings unlimited imagination to New Zealanders.

If we have to say that getting rid of the rule of the British Empire and joining the arms of Australia is something that many more rational New Zealanders have not seriously thought about.

It's not that they don't have expectations for Australia, but the reputation of the British Empire as the first great power is still there, and New Zealand is still an autonomous colony of the British Empire.

Isn't this equivalent to New Zealand, as the concubine of the British Empire, stealing Australia, the son of the British Empire?

Of course, there is also the background that New Zealand is independent of Australia and is considered to be the child of Australia. . .

Hmm? Why is it a bit confusing?

In any case, the current situation is indeed like this. If New Zealand wants to join Australia again, it must first pass the British Empire.

But it happens that there must be extremists as well as rationalists, or people with more extreme ideas and not so rational people.

This speech caused a great sensation in the hometown of the member of the Alliance Party. In addition, this member has a considerable influence in his hometown, which led to many people supporting such a speech, and the number of people supporting this conclusion has also increased.

Like a prairie fire, in just less than a week, this conclusion has been widely spread in the North Island of New Zealand, and even its influence has radiated to the northern part of the South Island, and it is still spreading wildly.

Rationalists are still a minority, especially in this ignorant era where people are easily influenced.

Starting from December 25, demonstrations broke out in major cities in New Zealand, demanding that New Zealand hold a referendum and let all New Zealanders decide the fate of New Zealand.

The fire of the demonstration spread from Auckland, the northernmost major city in New Zealand, to Christchurch on the South Island, which is also the most developed and most elite area in New Zealand, including the North Island.

More and more people are marching, and even some workers who are doing reconstruction work on the west coast of New Zealand have gradually begun to rebuild New Zealand during the day and join the demonstration at night.

The attitude of the New Zealand colonial government and the House of Commons and the House of Commons towards this large-scale demonstration across New Zealand is very ambiguous. There is no intention to agree, but there is no intention to oppose it accordingly.

In fact, this is not the fault of the New Zealand colonial government. As the governor, Arthur did not speak, so what right did these ordinary officials have to stop this demonstration?

So will Arthur stop it?

The answer is no. Although this march was earlier than Arthur expected, it does not mean that Arthur will miss such a good opportunity to merge with New Zealand.

However, in order to keep a low profile and also to prevent the British from thinking that he was related to the demonstration, Arthur announced that he would not participate in the turmoil in New Zealand and let the House of Commons and the New Zealand colonial government elected by all New Zealanders solve the crisis.

On December 29, 1903, just as 1903 was about to end, the incident in New Zealand also caused quite a stir in Europe.

After all, one of the protagonists of this incident was the British Empire, the most powerful country in the world today. The whole incident seemed to be a civil strife in the British Empire. All European countries were watching the British Empire laugh and were also waiting for the British Empire's response to this incident.

At the same time, David Martins Simang, the Australian Royal Family's European Affairs Director, went to the German Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Russian Empire successively. Although the purpose of David's visit to these three countries was unknown, judging from David's performance when he left these three countries, it seemed that his purpose had been achieved.

On January 1, 1904, Steward David went to the British Empire and met with Edward VII, the current monarch of the British Empire, who was one of the protagonists of the New Zealand incident.

Edward VII's face was not very good at first. After all, the British Empire was the criticized party in this incident. Even though Edward VII had already expected New Zealand to leave the British Empire, it was not very decent to leave in this way.

Steward David had also expected it. He very respectfully presented three handwritten letters and a new suitcase that looked very tight.

Steward David's itinerary in Europe was no secret. Edward VII naturally understood where these three handwritten letters came from and what they said.

Therefore, Edward was actually curious about this suitcase only, but when he opened the suitcase, or saw what was inside the suitcase, he regretted it a little.

"How did you get this thing?" Edward VII's face kept changing, sometimes gloomy, sometimes shocked, and mixed with suspected fear and regret.

"This is what His Highness gave me, Your Majesty. His Highness told me that when Your Majesty sees the contents of the suitcase with your own eyes, you will understand how important it is to maintain friendship with Australia." Butler David said calmly.

Edward VII's reaction proves how important the contents of the suitcase are, but as a loyal servant and subordinate, Butler David also knows very well that curiosity can really kill a person.

Don't ask what you shouldn't ask, and don't do what you shouldn't do. This is the truth that Butler David has summed up after decades of dealing with people, and he has been practicing it all his life.

"Humph! Very good! What else did Arthur ask you to bring?" Edward VII nodded vigorously, his face livid.

"Your Highness said that the current situation in New Zealand is actually inevitable, but the typhoon made it happen more than ten years earlier. Your Highness hopes that the British Empire can support New Zealand's referendum. No matter what the result is, this is a result that satisfies the people of New Zealand." Butler David said.

Edward VII stared at Butler David for a long time, but Butler David still looked calm, as if there was nothing in front of him.

In the end, Edward VII was defeated, slammed the document in his hand heavily on the table, and said: "Tell Arthur that he won. The British Empire will support the decision of the New Zealand people. But also tell me that I hope this document is the only one in the world. He is also a member of the British royal family, and he should know the importance of royal reputation."

This document is the last trump card left by Queen Victoria to Arthur, and it is also the biggest evidence of Edward VII's crime.

If this document is made public, the damage to Edward VII and the British royal family will be irreparable, and it is even likely to cause the weakening of the British royal power.

This is something that neither Edward VII nor Arthur want to see, and it is also one of the reasons why Arthur did not make this document public.

Now this document has finally come in handy, which is worthy of Queen Victoria's good intentions to collect and hand these documents to Arthur.

After receiving Edward VII's promise, Butler David very tactfully left the British Empire.

Although people don't know exactly what Edward VII and Butler David talked about, judging from Butler David's relaxed look when he left and the large amount of ornaments discarded by Buckingham Palace, some demolition occurred in Edward VII's office after Butler David left.

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