The Shadow of Great Britain-Chapter 742 - 355 Britain’s Perilous Situation_3

Over the past half-century, the profit margins of these artisans were steadily squeezed by factory products, and sometimes their income was even pushed lower than that of hired farmers. freeweɓnovel.cѳm

This naturally led to their dissatisfaction. The Luddite movement in 1811, which involved smashing factory machinery in locations such as Nottinghamshire, Yorkshire, and Leicestershire, arose from this unrest.

Although Parliament passed a series of related legislation, such as the "Public Safety Act" and the "Machine Breaking Punishment Act," and deployed a large number of police and British Army troops in an attempt to intimidate these rebellious artisans with the death penalty, it didn’t have much effect in reality.

The Luddite movement continued sporadically from 1811 until 1816, and the reason it finally ceased was not due to the sudden effectiveness of government control measures, but because the Napoleonic Wars had ended.

After the war, since France’s continental blockade against Britain was completely lifted and Europe had been thoroughly plowed through by Napoleon, there was a sudden spike in demand for British textile consumer goods from the recovering European nations.

Whether it was factory-made textiles or handcrafted items, both could be sold, everyone made money, and naturally, no one had the inclination to create disturbances any longer.

Although the underlying reasons might sound nonsensical, after all is said and done, it all came down to money.

But this scenario of everyone making money was inevitably not going to last forever, as Britain was the first country to undergo the Industrial Revolution; thus, Britons had the dubious honor of being among the first to experience what an economic cycle feels like.

As the core of the First Industrial Revolution, those involved in the textile industry naturally gained a deeper understanding of economic cycles.

To put it simply, since the end of the Napoleonic Wars, those who made a fortune through the textile industry entertained unrealistic optimistic expectations for the future, and thus reinvested their sales profits into enhancing production capacity.

Some of the large factory owners invested in technology, hoping to develop more efficient textile machines.

Others were more direct, expanding their factories, purchasing production equipment, and hiring more workers, even going so far as to mortgage their entire properties to borrow money from banks for production.

From their determination, it seemed they wished the entire world would use products from their factories.

And the artisans of family workshops were not to be outdone, although they lacked the capital and sufficient knowledge; they always remembered the teachings passed down through generations—have children!

The more children, the more laborers; the more laborers, the higher the output of the family workshop.

With higher output, let the children have more children, perpetuating the cycle generation after generation.

Of course, looking at today’s situation, whether it was the textile factories or the artisans, both were undoubtedly tragic.

When they eagerly took their increasing products to the world, they unfortunately discovered that the combined markets of Europe and America did not require such an abundance of cotton clothes.

Even if the perspective were shifted back to the domestic scene, even if the gentlemen and ladies of Britain were prodigal once more, a moment of passion could only tear a pair of silk stockings.

In such cases, even the textile factory owners couldn’t guarantee stable earnings, and those with products of inferior quality compared to their family workshops were left out in the cold.

However...

These pristine silk stockings were stitched one thread at a time; if they couldn’t be sold, wouldn’t that be a waste?

Therefore, adhering to the principle of recycling waste, this group of artisans resolutely decided to wear the stockings on their heads and transform themselves into high-end technicians, engaging in high-risk, high-reward activities.

Of course, this does not mean sneaking into the London Stock Exchange, though some indeed took a keen interest in the banks next to it.

Under such circumstances, bankers couldn’t help but want to stand up and speak for the workers, crying out that the root cause of this situation was Britain’s system of government; if Parliament were reformed, then everything would improve.

Indeed, Arthur had to admit that among the bankers, there were quite a few advocating for Parliament reform from a fair, objective, and rational perspective, as some of them had been voicing similar slogans for decades.

But as for the rest, Arthur could only treat them the same way he treated "The Times," offering no comment.

Arthur took the investigation file handed over by Louis, briefly flipped through two pages, then spoke, "Same procedure as usual, keep the people we caught today in jail for a couple of days, and once we have enough, proceed with a collective lawsuit through the district prosecutor’s office. With the current situation, a couple of years in hard labor should suffice, and for the severe cases, a trip to Australia would be the maximum penalty."

Just as Arthur finished speaking, the tightly shut iron gate of the Apsley mansion was pulled open from behind with a creaking noise.

The Duke of Wellington’s butler, followed by several servants, first looked outside before he noted the dispersing crowd of demonstrators, and those who hadn’t fled were being pinned down one by one by Scotland Yard police officers in tailcoats. The butler then wiped the sweat from his forehead and approached Arthur with a smile.

"Officer Hastings, thank you once again for your trouble. These rioters are even more arrogant than when the ’Catholic Emancipation Act’ was passed. If you hadn’t arrived in time, I might have thought they were going to set fire to the house."

Arthur chuckled and said, "They wouldn’t have set the house on fire. Doesn’t the Army department have additional guards assigned to the Duke of Wellington? They are elite soldiers from Coldstream; even if we hadn’t come, I’m sure they could have handled it."

The butler grimaced and said, "Mr. Hastings, if it were as you say, things wouldn’t be so difficult. The Army department did assign us additional guards, but only ten men, and the Duke, concerned about escalating the conflict, strictly ordered them not to use firearms to disperse the crowd. Even if the soldiers of Coldstream are capable, they can’t possibly handle hundreds of rioters without medieval knights’ full suits of armor and several squires to assist in combat."

Arthur quipped, "If they need armor, they can borrow a few sets from the Tower of London’s armory. There are plenty of antiques there; I even borrowed a shield from them before. You might not believe it, but that shield was from the seventeenth century."

The butler laughed heartily and offered, "You’re still as witty as ever. It’s still early, why not come in for a cup of tea? The Duke has been rather gloomy lately. Talking to him might just improve his mood."