Chapter 2

William Hendrick proudly recalled the public opinion during this period, and was extremely satisfied with the results of his operation.

"From the late 16th century to the second half of the 17th century, with the rapid rise of the Dutch naval power, the Netherlands established a global trade market, accompanied by cultural exports.

This period is known as the golden age of the Netherlands, but after the victory and defeat in the four European naval hegemony wars against the British, and after the French Empire Fisherman Deli defeated the Netherlands on land, the Dutch overseas colonies began to shrink and the remaining The Dutch East Indies and Aruba and the Netherlands Antilles in the Caribbean and Suriname in South America.

Especially with the independence of the Kingdom of Belgium in 1830 with the support of the British Empire, the influence and strength of the Kingdom in Europe have declined sharply. Your Majesty, I wonder how you will lead us to the Netherlands in the face of such a predicament in the Netherlands? "

The Netherlands, Amsterdam, inside the Royal Palace.

January 6, 1862.

The 21-year-old new King William Hendrick and the Prime Minister Johann Rudolf Tolbeck, who is also starting his new term, have the first monarch-minister dialogue.

Tolbek is very curious about Hendrik, the eldest son of the former King William III, who was also the crown prince last month. He used to be famous in Europe for his literary masterpieces, and the Prince of Orange, who made the whole Netherlands feel proud, is not. Know what it will be like to appear in front of everyone as a king now, and where will he lead the Netherlands?

However, Prime Minister Tolbek's problem was to let Hendrick give him a meal.

I saw him saying: "If we want to solve the dilemma that the Netherlands is facing now, we must first understand the influence of the Vienna system established by the Vienna Agreement after it was established in 1815."

Hearing the words, Tolbeck nodded secretly, yes, this is the most basic source of the current European pattern, and it is also the most recognized contracting system in each country's territory.

Hendrick continued: "Because it has officially confirmed the position of Europe's new balance of power system by defeating Napoleon I and leading the Allies to defeat Britain, Russia, Prussia, and Austria, but our southern France, with the subsequent clever use of a series of small moves The integration of the Netherlands into the system in 1818, to prevent isolation by various countries, and become the fifth party of the de facto Continental Consolidation. This meeting also officially announced that the Netherlands has completely become a de facto second-class country in Europe. There is no place at the negotiating table, how can one be recognized as a status?"

"The Congress of Vienna confirmed the restoration of the Bourbons over the French Empire and Spain and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, the Braganza over Portugal, and our Nassau over the Netherlands."

"Austria conquered Tyrol in Galicia and Istria, etc. It turned out that the Austrian Netherlands was allocated to the Netherlands, and the first Venice of Lombard in Italy was used as compensation to Austria as compensation.

Most of the Principality of Warsaw was established as the Kingdom of Poland, but the Tsar of the Russian Empire was also the king, and Krakow and its adjacent areas established the Krakow Free City. The principality of the Tsarist Russian Empire, Bessarabia, is also owned by Tsarist Russia.

Prussia occupied Danzig and Posen, the principalities of Poland, and acquired two-thirds of the territory of the Kingdom of Saxony, Rhine Westphalia, and Pomerania, which was originally part of Sweden, as compensation for the loss of Poland.

The British Empire occupied the Mediterranean island of Malta and the Ionian Islands, and from Denmark, the Great and Helgoland, the Dutch Ceylon, the Cape of Good Hope and Guyana, the French Saint Lucia, Tobago, Seychelles and Mauritius.

This system formally established the split between the German Confederation and Italy. In the German Confederation, 34 monarchies including Prussia, Austria, and 4 free cities were established to form the German Confederation. The principalities of Modena/Parma were assigned to the Austrian Habsburg dynasty, and Genoa, Savoie and Nice were incorporated into the Sardinian dynasty.

The Austrian Netherlands was merged into the Netherlands, known as the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Norway was merged into Sweden, and the Swedish-Norwegian alliance was formed. Denmark acquired Schleswig, Holstein, and Lauenburg in Prussia.

And according to the "First Paris Peace Treaty" and the "Second Paris Peace Treaty" in 1815, France maintained the borders of 1790 and paid 700 million francs of war compensation to the Anti-French Alliance, and the Allies stationed troops for three to five years.

However, the French are extremely cunning, and they have quickly become one with other countries from the defeated country, especially the use of the British to prevent the emergence of a hegemony-level country in the European continent and threaten the British offshore balancer mentality, and quickly recovered. "

Hendrick sighed: "Unfortunately, the British are too cunning, and they will dig holes for people. They gave us the Netherlands at the beginning, and 20 years later, they took it away in other ways and became what is now Belgium. However, the United Kingdom has actually obtained overseas territories from our countries. It is a pity that our island of Ceylon (Sri Lanka), the Cape of Good Hope and Guyana, what a fertile land, it is gone like this, especially the tin Orchid Island, that is the largest bridgehead to enter the Indian subcontinent, and the largest island in the northern part of the entire Indian Ocean, guarding the east-west direction of the Indian subcontinent, but now it has become a colony of the British Empire that wants to dominate India."

Tolbeck secretly agreed with Hendrick's analysis and said, "Your Majesty, what do you think about the interior of the Netherlands? Or, how do we need to cooperate with you in governing?"

Hendrick knew there was something in Tolbeck's words.

Tolbeck: In 1825, he taught at Ghent University in the Netherlands. He was elected to parliament in 1840, and was recognized as the chairman of the Dutch Liberal Party that year.

In 1844, he and 8 other liberal parliamentarians jointly proposed to amend the draft of the Dutch constitution, but was blocked by conservative parliamentarians and failed to pass. In 1849, he was elected as the Speaker of the House of Representatives (the Netherlands is the Speaker of the House of Representatives as the Prime Minister of the Cabinet) and the Prime Minister of the Interior. Unfortunately, he was forced to resign soon after because of religious issues. He was elected for the second time on behalf of the liberals last year. Free trade, abolition of slavery in the colonies, but still retaining the forced planting system. During the first cabinet period, someone else took the prime minister's seat, but the third term began in 1872, and he died of illness that year.....

And his father William III originally wanted to make a big deal, but it was because the other party was arguing all day long to limit the king's power, so there was a lot of trouble, even Hendrick, no, now it should be said that it was William IV. , William IV even suspected that when Tolbek stepped down for the first time to form a cabinet, it was possible that William III participated in it, but this time Tolbek's return is to exchange the former monarchs and ministers. minister's situation.

William IV looked at Tolbek with deep eyes: "Although our operation this time is secret, my Prime Minister should know that even if it is wrapped, the paper still can't wrap the fire, and sooner or later it will leak, so we It is necessary to quickly consolidate my position and your position in order to face all the changes in the future."

"I'm about to complete the cabinet formation, but Your Majesty, if I sing against Your Majesty, will it be against your reputation..."

"No, don't forget, after several years, the newspapers in the Netherlands are now under my control. I have already controlled the public opinion in the Netherlands. The change of wind direction is something I do as I wish, but the main need is What I am facing is the problem of my father William III, therefore, your existence needs to continue, so that my father can continue to stay in Luxembourg and not come back, and let him calm down."

Tolbek lowered his head and sighed: although the new king in front of him was young, he was decisive in killing him. He approached him five years ago, and with a talkative mouth and promised many benefits, he finally persuaded him to join him. He shadowed the team, and since then, the first instruction was to lead the liberals to attack William III, the father of Crown Prince Hendrick, in the wild. It looks like, for more than 5 years, although conservatives have tried their best to defend William III, but as parliamentary power has grown in Europe, the Netherlands cannot stop this trend, so conservatives can only slowly for their own interests. Changed positions, and finally formed the current Dutch management pattern.

With the extensive revision of the Dutch law in 1848, the constitution stipulates that the Netherlands is a hereditary monarchy and establishes a kingdom, the legislative power belongs to the king and the parliament, the executive power belongs to the king and the cabinet, the Privy Council is the highest state consultative body, and the chairman is the king. myself, the other members are appointed by the king.

The Prime Minister of the Netherlands is the head of government of the country, and the leader of the majority party in the Dutch House of Representatives is the leader of the Dutch House of Representatives.

Last year, the leader of the liberals was Tolbeck, so the current Dutch military and political parliament is in the hands of King William IV himself and Tolbeck in this room, and many people in the outside world do not know, even because the two will continue William III. During this period, the monarch and his ministers continued to struggle for power and gain.

But they don't know that their young William IV and the newly appointed Prime Minister Tolbek have been reshaping the development of the Netherlands for the next few decades five years ago. Brilliant on.

"Has the cabinet formulated a diplomatic development plan?"

"We are going to make good relations with Prussia diplomatically, and at the same time cooperate with Belgium to maintain a mutual offensive and defensive alliance, but with France, we will deepen our cooperation again."

William IV suddenly said: "As William III entered Luxembourg, Napoleon III repeatedly asked us from the Netherlands to sell Luxembourg to him. My father William III was a little moved, but every time he failed to sell because of Prussia's obstruction. Wouldn't that make Napoleon III angry?