The Rise Of Australasia - Chapter 315

Chapter 315: Chapter 277: Unexpected Harvest

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Although the chance of war breaking out in Europe was slim at the time, neither the cabinet government nor Arthur dared to gamble on that one small possibility.

Judging the current situation and preparing in advance was the first thing Australasia had to do.

However, from the standpoint of national interests, Arthur did not wish for World War I to commence just yet.

After all, if World War I were to break out, countries would naturally impose certain restrictions on emigrating populations. At that point, it would not be an easy task for Australasia to attract more immigrants.

In other words, during the imminent outbreak and the actual onset of a war, the number of immigrants to Australasia would certainly decrease drastically.

This was an unavoidable circumstance, as many common people dreaded war. If there were a war, many would certainly choose to migrate abroad.

However, if these migratory masses were allowed to leave their home countries unchecked, it could lead to a significant population drain. This would be detrimental to a country engaged in war, hence the need to curb the issue at its roots.

As the king of the world’s most powerful country, Edward VII’s funeral was bound to be grand beyond imagination.

Indeed, if Arthur remembered correctly from history, Edward VII’s funeral was attended by nine European monarchs, five crown princes, more than forty royal nobles, seven queens, and numerous members of the nobility. It was the largest royal gathering in history.

This was quite possibly the pinnacle of aristocratic gatherings. After World War I, monarchism was significantly weakened, and the power and status of the nobility in various countries were successively reduced. Monarchism and the nobility slowly withdrew from the political stage in most countries.

Arthur definitely had to attend such a grand gathering of the aristocracy. Of course, as a member of the British royal family, Arthur had to attend Edward VII’s funeral.

After all, based on blood relations, Arthur was Edward VII’s nephew and Queen Victoria’s direct grandson.

Having arranged matters pertaining to the royal family, and given further instructions to the government, Arthur, along with Prime Minister Walter and Foreign Secretary Andrew, as well as a diplomatic visiting group, set out for London aboard the Australasian battleship.

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Of course, the warships accompanying him were not just these. Another two battleships also followed, along with more than ten escort ships and a large supply fleet.

Although this arrangement risked leaving the Australian coast vulnerable, Arthur believed that no country would dare to land on the Australian coast at this time.

The Island Nation and the United States were perhaps the only ones with the ability to do so, but both were quite far away and lacked the audacity to provoke the major powers of Europe.

This time, taking three battleships along served to demonstrate Australasia’s naval power to the outside world, and to showcase its shipbuilding capabilities, in the hope of getting orders for battleships from the major powers of Europe and monarchist countries.

It should be noted that one battleship could bring Arthur nearly 1.4 million Australian dollars worth of pure profit, and orders for two foreign battleships would be enough for Arthur to build another one.

Even Arthur, who did not currently lack funds, thought of such a bargain as something worth striving for.

At present, the competition in shipbuilding among European countries was intense. Many countries wanted to have dreadnoughts, but did not possess the capacity to build them.

The European countries capable of building dreadnoughts were in fact mostly busy building their own.

This resulted in Australasia having prospects to obtain orders for dreadnoughts from Europe, which was also why Arthur brought along the Foreign Secretary on this trip.

Foreign ministers were notably articulate and might be able to secure some orders for dreadnoughts, which would benefit both the royal family and the government.

It should be known that currently, the countries that truly possessed dreadnoughts were only the British Empire, the German Empire, the Tsardom of Russia, and the Kingdom of Australasia.

Italy and the United States are still constructing their battleships or have plans to do so.

At present, the only countries really able to export dreadnoughts were the British Empire, the German Empire, and Australasia.

However, the naval competition between the British Empire and the German Empire was intense. Both were too busy constructing dreadnoughts for themselves to spare the effort to build them for other countries.

Although a single dreadnought could earn them several hundred thousand, or even over a million pounds in profit, these profits seemed somewhat insignificant in the face of national competition.

On Arthur’s journey to London, the British government had already formally notified countries worldwide, so presumably, political affairs had initially stabilized.

Of course, while Edward VII died on May 6th, the funeral was scheduled in mid-June, so as to give enough time for all the major countries to travel to London for the funeral.

Especially for distant countries like Australasia, Arthur’s status meant that he had to attend, so the funeral had to be postponed for a few days.

Fortunately, they were traveling on the fastest dreadnought available, so it only took a little over twenty days to get from Australasia to London.

1

If it had been the earlier old battleships or warships, reaching London within a month would have been impossible.

Of course, if they were aboard the under-construction battlecruisers, they might have arrived a few days earlier.

Unfortunately, the construction of the battlecruisers was going to take a long time, and it would not be until the end of the following year before they were really put into naval service.

In early June, the fleet of Australasia officially arrived at the Port of London.

At this point, the atmosphere in London had turned very solemn. Laughter on the streets of Britain had considerably diminished, indicating Edward VII’s popularity among the British.

Arthur, being quite far away, was among the last to arrive.

Closer countries such as Portugal, Norway, Denmark, Spain, and Belgium, had basically arrived by May.

However, the look in the eyes of King Carlos I of Portugal towards Arthur was not so friendly. After all, not long ago, Australasia had seized Portuguese Timor from Portugal and turned it into its newest colony.

Of course, national interests were not the real reason for Carlos’ hostility towards Arthur. The main reason was that Arthur had controlled the public opinion in all of Europe at the time, turning Carlos into a laughing stock among European nobility.

The stern of a monarch was seriously shaken, no wonder Carlos showed such animosity towards Arthur.

Arthur found it somewhat amusing. As far as Arthur was concerned, he didn’t mind King Carlos I’s hostility towards him. After all, Portugal was ultimately a third-tier European country. Its influence couldn’t even match that of Australasia at this point.

Moreover, if it weren’t for Arthur’s influence over the situation in Portugal, perhaps Carlos I would have been assassinated along with his heir, just like in history. By now, Portugal’s king might have been Manuel II, and the Portuguese royal family might be close to extinction.

Queen Victoria was known as the grandmother of the European royal families, and as her eldest son, Edward naturally became the great uncle of the European royals.

Of course, this was not just lip service. Edward VII held a high prestige among the European royals, and his funeral was attended by the vast majority of the European monarchies and royal families.

While King Carlos I held some animosity towards Arthur, on British soil, Manuel could only play by their rules.

What’s more, at Arthur’s side, William II was sharing laughs with him, which showed the close relationship between William II and Arthur.

With so many European royals present, William II’s choice to stand by Arthur’s side showed that his relationship with Arthur was the best among them.

If Carlos I were to pick a fight at such a time, it would surely be a sign of madness.

It’s worth mentioning that Nicholas II did not attend the funeral. It’s not that Nicholas II had any objections to Edward VII; Russia and Britain had already reached a compromise and, together with France, formed the triple alliance. Naturally, they couldn’t afford to slight Britain at such a juncture.

The reason Nicholas didn’t attend was that his son and heir, Prince Aleksei, suffered from hemophilia, which had taken a severe turn recently. This left Nicholas II no choice but to stay at his son’s side.

Hemophilia, to the European royal families, was something akin to a damning taboo. Many European people even called it the “royal disease” as many members of European royal families suffered from it.

Theoretically, the emergence of hemophilia should be attributed to the tradition of close kinship within the European royal families.

The current hemophilia found in the European royal families originated from Queen Victoria.

A significant portion of Queen Victoria’s offspring suffered from hemophilia and, through marriage alliances, it spread into other national royal families.

However, the good news was that neither Arthur nor Duke Old Arthur were hemophiliacs; hence why Duke Old Arthur lived such a long life historically.

It seems that the hemophilia of Alexei, the Russian heir, was somehow cured by a pseudomysticist.

Arthur didn’t know the details. After all, there was nothing he could do for the moment, so he focused on his immediate interests and matters at hand.

By mid-June, the farewell ceremony for Edward VII officially began.

The scale, standing, and number of participants in the farewell ceremony set a new world record.

Of course, there was no such thing as world records at this time, but each piece of news and all sorts of records were engraved with this event.

A total of ten kings rode horses, following the hearse, accompanied by hundreds of thousands of British citizens bidding farewell to Edward VII.

Arthur was among these ten people, and even in a rather forward position.

Although the power of Australasia was not sufficient to allow him to be among the top ten emperors, Arthur was of British royal family’s origin and therefore had a closer relationship. This allowed him to have the right to be in the front row.

On the surface, Arthur appeared to be very saddened by the death of Edward VII. After all, he needed to maintain his relationship with the British government and the British public. As a qualified monarch, necessary pretenses are essential.

Judging from the reaction of the British public, Arthur’s pretense was quite successful. Many British people remembered Queen Victoria’s instructions to Arthur upon her death, and numerous British media praised Arthur as a great monarch who values blood ties, loves his family and cherishes his subjects.

All sorts of praise from these British media were used in the news about Arthur, which was then printed and dispersed throughout the British Empire.

There was no way around it, praising Arthur had become a political correctness. Since the British public appreciated Arthur, if the newspapers and media sang another tune, could they still be viable in terms of market and sales?

The exaggerated compliments from more media and newspapers towards Arthur made the unaware British public even fonder of him.

This inadvertently increased Arthur’s popularity and favorability in Britain and allowed Arthur to once again make an appearance before the British public.

Originally, Arthur was worried that with the end of the Victorian era, the British people might gradually forget him.

Unexpectedly, with this accident, the British public liked him even more. Many British citizens even spontaneously visited the grave of Duke Old Arthur and his assassination site to remember this loving son of Queen Victoria and the benevolent duke of the British Empire.

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