Chapter 461: , Chain reaction (6)

Cobbler Philip Treville has a berth in the third class cabin of this ship. The conditions of the third-class cabin of this era are better than those of the fourth-class cabin, which is entirely Chase shop. Everyone still has at least one temporarily his own bed and a narrow one separated by canvas. There are no small compartments with sound insulation and anti-theft effects. This cubicle is very similar in size to a cage house in a pearl city in later generations.
In addition to being narrow, the third-class cabin is already close to the waterline of the ship in its arrangement, so the entire third-class cabin has no windows. It was stuffy and hot inside. Of course the fourth-class cabin is completely below the water, not to mention.
Passenger ships do not restrict third-class and fourth-class people on deck. To be honest, the deck is much more comfortable than inside the cabin. However, not many people actually go to the deck. The reason is very simple.
First of all, most of these third-class people have been used to suffering, and they are quite used to such an environment. The second thing is that they are all carrying luggage, and the third-class compartment is not anti-theft at all. Unless you carry all your luggage on your back, you will be comfortable on the deck for a while. When you come back, you will find that the luggage has been distributed by the second senior.
But Philip and Trewell are different. He has very little luggage, and just put down a small bag, so he can carry this bag on his back and get comfortable on the deck.
But Philip did not want to behave too differently from others. He has a special task on his back, so he can be as unobtrusive as possible. As for the discomfort in the cabin, well, after experiencing the exile and struggle in the era of the Great Revolution, Philip no longer cares about this so-called discomfort.
As in history, when steam-powered ships were transferred to civilian use, they were first widely used on passenger ships. As for the reason, of course, it is because passengers generally have higher requirements for sailing time, and cargo does not have too high requirements for this. Moreover, ocean freight can use the same high-speed flying shears, but the comfort of flying shears is completely unsuitable for passenger transportation.
Today, the ship Philip is riding is also a steam-powered passenger ship. This ship is much faster than the previous sail-powered passenger ship, but it still takes a lot of time to reach Cape Town.
During this period of time, what the French had to do was to continue to think of ways to keep the British exhausted. In order to cover their planned operations in Cape Town.
To achieve this is actually not difficult. First of all, on the Gibraltar side, the struggle between mine-laying and mine-clearing continues. It has to be said that mine-laying is a much simpler and more efficient activity than mine-clearing. In a month or so, the U.S. Navy's good news frequently changed. They used sea mines to sink 17 British ships, including two minesweepers.
Of course, there have been accidents in this. For example, one night, the "Americans" who went out to re-mine the area that was swept by the British during the day also hit the mine. The mine-laying warship sank, and many personnel were sacrificed. After the "Americans" who survived by chance swam back to their side, they scolded the British for being irresponsible at the Spaniards, and the mines were not cleaned up.
There were also two "Americans" who were unfortunately captured by the British. When the British interrogated them, they found that they could not even speak English. Then they honestly confessed to the British: "We are French. We are employed by the US government."
The British were very angry and first held a press conference, accusing the French of violating the principle of neutrality. He also threatened to hang these "mercenaries" as pirates.
Regarding this matter, the French certainly wouldn't say a word. However, the first press conference was not the French government, but the US Embassy in France.
The Americans admitted at the press conference: "Some French warriors with a sense of justice who are willing to fight for democracy and freedom joined our army voluntarily. Although they are not American citizens, they are indeed members of the American team. In addition, We have also consulted with relevant legal professionals. French law does not prohibit French citizens from joining the army of friendly countries. Just as French law does not prohibit citizens of friendly countries from joining the legal team-as long as they do voluntarily."
After acknowledging that the French were helping the U.S. military fight, the Americans began to talk about the unbreakable friendship formed by the blood of France and the United States. The United States and France share similar republics, share the same ideology, and are truly reliable allies. Finally, they even directly and publicly issued a call to the French people, hoping that the French people would use it to join the US military to protect the democracy and freedom that France and the United States cherish.
In fact, the French do not feel much about the friendship between the two countries that Americans talk about. Because in the eyes of many proud French male-chickens, Americans are also barbarians. However, the American call for the French to join the US team is quite interesting, because the price offered by the Americans, ah, no, should be quite high. Of course, the requirements of the Americans are not low, they need people with military experience.
After the Americans held a press conference, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs also held a press conference. At the press conference, Foreign Minister Talleyrand stated that the participation of the French in the US military does not violate the existing laws of France at present. This is completely personal freedom. Since they have joined the US military, the French government can only express condolences if they died on the battlefield. But even though they joined the US military, they are still French citizens. Their human rights as captured persons should be guaranteed. If the British indiscriminately kill French prisoners of war, the French government will never sit back and watch.
Then the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs made a request to the British to send diplomats to visit the captured French citizens. Ensure that their basic human rights will not be violated.
This request was of course angrily rejected by the British. Then, of course, the various French newspapers are doing their best to accuse the British of not respecting the most basic human rights. Then the French Ministry of Truth added fuel to the fire and published a document entitled "White Paper on the Human Rights Situation in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland".
In this white paper, the French listed various violations of human rights by the British, such as man-made famine in the colonies, shooting at home to suppress the labor movement, and killing peaceful residents in the war... In short, through With such a series of propaganda, the image of the British has changed from a civilized person to a barbarian in an all-round way, just a barbarian who understands science.
When the British refused the visit request made by the French, they certainly expected the French to start a new round of public opinion offensive. They felt that if they agreed to the French's request, the French would definitely do a lot of things in the follow-up, and then the British would still be barbarians. On the other hand, some people in China also feel that the government is too weak to protect national interests.
Now that they have the determination to fight the war of public opinion, the British naturally sneered against the French, blaming the French for being war mongers, Napoleon was the warlord leader, and a warlord leader who had no faith about lying. When he signed peace agreements with other countries, he declared that France only wanted to live his life freely, and did not intend to export revolution to other countries. He told the world that France is willing to respect the sovereignty of all countries and will not interfere in the internal affairs of a country. But today, he is not interfering in Britain's internal affairs, but what is he doing?
In response to this accusation, Napoleon Bonaparte, the first governor of France, personally responded. He said that he certainly respects the sovereignty of Britain. It is not the French government that really does not respect the sovereignty of Britain, not his Napoleon, but the British government itself.
"The reason why sovereignty is worthy of respect lies in the sovereignty of all countries. At its root, it is the concentrated expression of the human rights of the people of all countries. This is just as Jean-Jacques Rousseau mentioned in his "Social Contract Theory", the sovereignty of a country , Is the exercise of the general will of the people. And my country’s "Declaration of Human Rights" also clearly states that'the origin of the entire sovereignty basically exists in the people.' Therefore, anyone who respects the people of other countries will certainly respect Sovereignty of other countries.
However, if the government of a country does not represent the general will, on the contrary, it continues to violate the general will. It tramples on the people indiscriminately, shoots at the people who are demonstrating peacefully, and throws those representatives of genuine public will into prison. How can such a government say that it represents the sovereignty of a country? You know, human rights are above sovereignty, because human rights are the mother of sovereignty..."
Napoleon was scattered about his views, from society, from law, from history, and from many angles. As for his speech, it is very appropriate for later generations to have such a comment:
"Napoleon’s views and arguments are quite successful in argumentation, logic, and argumentation. Even if they cannot be called perfect, they should be called close to perfection. But in the real implementation, they appear A huge question is who has the power to judge whether a country’s government can represent the sovereignty of the country. Napoleon set a very dangerous precedent, that is, as a foreign government, overstepping the government of the country concerned, doing whatever it wants. To determine whether the government of the country concerned can represent the sovereignty of the country. This makes the question of the judgment of'sovereignty' finally turned into Napoleon relying on military superiority, saying that whose government has sovereignty, that government owns it. Sovereignty without interference. So the principle of
respect for sovereignty and non-interference in internal affairs
was arbitrarily stepped into the quagmire by Napoleon..."
In fact, even when Napoleon delivered this speech, some people saw the cannon hidden behind Napoleon's beautiful words. In fact, the British almost immediately saw the sinister intention behind Napoleon's argument. And immediately refuted it.
But they immediately found that they were in a huge dilemma on the battlefield of public opinion, that is, their voices were too small, at least too small on the European continent, so that on the European continent, their voices could be As long as the channel everyone heard was through the French scientific Pravda. And in the French Pravda Science, people naturally can't read their entire article. They can only see some fragmentary words of the British in the article criticizing the British from the Pravda Science.
As the saying goes,
open your mouth while dispelling rumors and run off your legs.
Many times, the reason for this phenomenon is not necessarily because the people are born stupid and like to listen to unfounded rumors. The more decisive factor is probably the voice of the person who spreads the rumors and the voice of the person who refutes the rumors. In terms of power, they are not of the same level. When someone shouts, people all over the city can hear it; if you shout, people within more than ten steps around can hear you. If you want to refute the rumor, how can you not break your leg?
Therefore, at that time, the whole of Europe was cheering for Napoleon's "human rights above sovereignty" theory, especially the European academic circles. Even in many universities in the UK, some scholars sincerely sided with France, thinking that Napoleon’s views are more reasonable.
The French are more than just talking. After the British refused the French visitation request, another fleet sailed into Port Carroll, escorted by the French fleet. According to the news obtained by the British through spies, the French sent a large number of new weapons to the Irish in one go, as well as a large number of military advisers.
Just two days after this "free voyage", a British patrol ship struck and sank outside Galway Port. The Americans quickly stepped up again and claimed responsibility. Then the US special envoy Spear appeared in Ireland, and together with Russell, the president of the United Irish Federation, issued a joint statement ~ EbookFREE.me ~ In this joint statement, they announced that they would fight against the British colonists. , They formed an alliance to fight against Britain together.
In retaliation, the British began to conduct offensive mines outside Carroll Port. But they soon discovered that it was very difficult to mine the offensive at Carroll Port. Because the Irish themselves have been the first to be covered with various mines near Carroll Port.
Yes, the Irish themselves are full of mines near Carroll Port. The Irish certainly wouldn't block themselves, so they left a safe passage in the middle of the minefield. But the British do not know what this safe passage is like. Therefore, the British minecraft slammed into the minefield prepared by the Irish, and then, before it had time to mine the Irish port, it was sunk by the mine.
However, this idea of ​​the Irish has also given the British a lot of inspiration. The British are now worried about how to deal with the endless French-speaking American soldiers who ran to the British port to release mines in the dark. So They immediately copied the ideas of the Irish and began to mine near some of their ports that might be attacked.
This can indeed hinder the actions of the "U.S. Navy", but it is not without cost. One of the costs is that the artificially set curved passages have greatly reduced the efficiency of these ports.