Chapter 246

February 10, 1866, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands announced that Queen Alexandra, who had just become Prince Albert, the eldest son of William IV of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, would hold the world's first International Women's Union Congress in Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands. February 25, 1866.

As soon as the news came out, there was a lot of discussion all over the world.

For this alliance, after knowing the purpose, many people looked at the Netherlands with suspicion.

Because at present, the phenomenon of preference for boys over girls is very common all over the world, and everyone is used to the low status of women.

Now the sudden arrival of the Netherlands has made them, including Dutch women, full of suspicion.

Is the new queen of the Netherlands doing a show? Just to attract attention?

Therefore, the various royal families and governments have stopped and chose to wait and see.

President Lincoln was hesitating whether to send someone to participate. After all, more than ten years ago in 1848, they called the world's largest women's rights parade in 1848.

At the time, it shocked the world.

As the vanguards of women's freedom in the past, if they don't participate, they seem to be sorry for this title.

Secretary of State Seward, who has always opposed being close to the Netherlands, said: "President, I don't think it is necessary to participate. After all, it is just as everyone worries. If the Netherlands really does not play a role in this conference as everyone guesses, Those who participate will be the laughing stock of various countries, so I do not agree that the Commonwealth of Millikin should send personnel to participate."

As his words fell, several cabinet members who had close contacts with him also expressed their solidarity with Seward.

However, Home Secretary Washburn and Chancellor of the Exchequer James Speed ​​blocked Secretary of State Seward's claims.

"This time, the Queen of the Netherlands actually hosted such a female-dominated International Women's Union Conference. The Netherlands is now a close partner of our Northern Commonwealth. Your Excellency President, I and the Secretary of State have the exact opposite views, because no country has yet expressed its position. Next, when the relationship between us and the Netherlands is going to go further, after all, it's better to give a helping hand than a icing on the cake."

In this regard, Vice President Andrew Johnson sided with Washburn.

This is the recent evolution of the situation within the government of the United States of America, and President Lincoln has taken it for granted, and is even secretly happy.

Because Seward was once relatively strong and belonged to the first faction in the cabinet, Lincoln couldn't hold back the opponent.

This time, Vice-President Andrew Johnson, the second-largest faction leader in his cabinet government, joined forces with the new third faction, Washburn. Rather, it maintains the balance of his cabinet government. Help him take control.

Seeing that Lincoln's face changed with Andrew Johnson's words, Seward knew the answer.

Sure enough, Lincoln finally thought of sending someone to attend the meeting held by the Queen of Holland. However, disputes arose over the selection.

They don't pay enough attention to the fact that they don't pay enough attention, but if you want to send enough people, where do you find them?

After all, if you want to talk to Queen Alexandra and win over the other party to continue to support the Lincoln government, you need people who are not too different from the other party in status.

In the end, Washburn believed that only the equivalent of a head of state could represent the United States of America, and Lincoln's wife, Mary Todd, was the best candidate.

"I think that lady diplomacy is also a kind of national diplomacy. Sometimes, they are more effective than formal diplomacy. Therefore, I think the president's wife participates on behalf of all women in the United States of America, but it is the highest participation scale."

Lincoln heard the words, nodded, and agreed with this statement.

On February 11, 1866, the United States of America in the north declared, "We believe that the International Women's Union is a good idea, which can effectively improve the status of our fellow women. For this reason, our Mr. President has decided to entrust his His wife, Mary Todd, represented the Commonwealth at the conference and also stopped by the Netherlands for a private interview with Queen Alexandra."

The Commonwealth of the North actually participated?

And Lincoln also sent his wife to participate?

The news swept the North and South America, and European countries were also sensational.

When President Davis of the Confederate States saw this, they held their cabinet government meeting on the same day, and finally decided to send his wife, President Davis, Valina Howell to participate, not willing to be the North's only beauty.

Even the North and South America, which was at war, sent women representatives with the highest status in the country to participate, and the hesitations of other countries began to fade.

Argentina in South America, which is friendly with the Kingdom of the Netherlands, also sent its own delegation, obviously wanting to go a step further. Seeing this, other countries have followed suit.

Even the Brazilian Emperor Pedro II, who had had a discord with the Netherlands because of helping Portugal, also sent his queen Teresa Christina to participate in the meeting to ease the relationship with the Netherlands.

However, because the queen is a princess from the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies in Italy, the effect is still unknown.

The Americas were dispatched, and Europe naturally followed suit at this time.

Participating in the meeting, the female members of the European royal family sent members to participate, and even the warring North and South Americas sent female representatives.

For example, the British royal family sent two princesses, Princess Alice and Princess Louise, to participate on behalf of Queen Victoria.

King Carl XV of Sweden was also very generous. He sent his wife Queen Louisa from the Kingdom of the Netherlands to return to her parents' home Holland to participate on behalf of Swedish women.

Queen Maria Alexandrovna of Tsarist Russia Alexander II also walked out of St. Petersburg. Participated on behalf of the Russian Empire.

Franz Joseph I also sent his wife to attend the newly established Queen Elizabeth Eugenia of Austria-Hungary.

Other countries also sent delegations not far behind.

Everyone was stunned as European countries began to announce that their countries had sent female representatives to the Amsterdam conference.

In particular, even in the Far East Kingdom of Siam, King Rama IV sent a princess of his own to attend the meeting on his behalf, which caused a sensation in Europe.

Some people even counted that this conference almost wiped out all the countries in Europe and the United States. Out of curiosity or other, everyone who participated in the conference participated with their own thoughts.

Even later, many people discovered that this meeting was also the one with the most powerful women in the previous sessions of the International Women's Union.

On February 25, 1866, under the attention of the world, the young and beautiful Queen Alexandra was recognized by female representatives from all over the world with her dignified and friendly speech at the conference.

After that, Queen Alexandra held a separate meeting with the female representatives of each country. At the meeting, she was gentle and elegant, but without losing the royal majesty, and under the strategy of good conversation, she became these women. Represents the object of wear.

So the Dutch queen deserves the respect of all.

The International Women's Union also fired the most important first shot, which was recognized by the international community.

...

The International Women's League meeting is over, but the world's discussion of it has just begun.

The queen even surpassed her husband William IV in fame.

Become the most famous person in the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

This made William IV smile bitterly.

However, in terms of soft power, the Netherlands finally got off to a good start with the queen, which set a benchmark for the Netherlands to capture more of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in other areas in the future.

"What will the future Netherlands rely on to attract talents? Not only can it make money, it is not just the distance from the war, but it should also add something else. The Netherlands needs to gain the favor of talents from other countries, and it must get them to recognize the Dutch culture. The female culture pushed by the Dutch Alexandra is enough to attract women from all over the world to think that the Netherlands is a paradise for women. We need to use this to establish more laws to protect women to protect women's rights, with the International Women's Union as the vanguard , the Netherlands gradually perfected it,"

William IV said to the members of the Privy Council: "If the Netherlands reaches the level of equality between men and women in the future, I believe that all women in the world are willing to come and live here, and their partners will naturally be persuaded by their blowing pillows. At that time, we will be able to selectively select immigrants, rather than hunting for talent as we are now."

The words of William IV made everyone silent.

"All couples in the world are two people and half are women, and if we can impress half of them, it's a 50 per cent chance that we've won.

Women are the beginning of us pushing this conference and taking their peace of mind. Therefore, the Netherlands must introduce more policies and laws that benefit women.

Dutch women also benefit from this, and that is what we will focus on in the future."

William IV said to Prime Minister Tolbeck: "The government formulates policies, for example, to promote women's participation in politics, starting from local government."

See the latter nod.

William IV added: "In further education, we can promote the same opportunities for women as male students, which can help both men and women know about women's equal rights from an early age and help reduce discrimination."

Tolbeck and others were quick to take notes.

William IV said: "We can make up for the weakness of the population of the Netherlands relative to the major countries. The Ministry of the Interior must effectively deal with the issue of immigration, so that when they come, they don't want to leave. UU Reading www.uukanshu.com Rooted to be Dutch"

Home Secretary Jonrell nodded.

"There will be more immigration in Europe as the war continues, and the Netherlands should and must seize this opportunity to strengthen itself."

William IV said: "Think in troubled times."

"After these wars, war-weary countries will promote peaceful development after ending these wars. I estimate that the world may usher in decades of peaceful and stable development. At that time, countries will seek stability and will not leave easily. hometown.

Therefore, now the time exposure for the Netherlands to take these immigrants will be shorter and shorter. I hope it can be said to seize the opportunity and make us grow faster.

Just as William IV was about to continue speaking, there was a knock on the door of the Privy Council meeting room.

After the captain of the guard got the permission of William IV, he hurried in with a telegram in his hand.

William IV's face changed greatly after seeing it, and he sighed: "I just said, our time is shorter, the internal changes in the Russian Empire, the Balkan Peninsula war, may be over soon."