Make France Great Again-Chapter 919 - 910: The Chaotic Stock Exchange
"Your Excellency Palmerston, we must dispatch troops to India as soon as possible!"
After reading the contents of the telegram, the Minister of Internal Affairs raised his head and solemnly suggested to Prime Minister Palmerston.
"I certainly understand the urgency of dispatching troops, but before sending them, we must follow the necessary procedures!" Palmerston responded to the Minister of Internal Affairs with a slightly irritated tone.
In the system of Britain, everything is subject to negotiation.
Especially when it comes to deploying the military, negotiation is indispensable, and only when the King, Cabinet, and both Houses of Parliament reach a consensus can the Kingdom of Britain truly deploy its troops.
Even in times of life and death for Britain, the British Prime Minister must complete the above steps.
Of course, there is a shortcut: the Cabinet Prime Minister can declare the Cabinet dissolved.
Then both Houses can directly vote on whether to deploy the military and subsequently elect a wartime Cabinet.
With agreement from both Houses, the King likewise has no reason to oppose.
However, Palmerston evidently dared not dissolve the Cabinet.
Because if the Cabinet were dissolved, Palmerston might be directly ousted.
Even though Palmerston knew this method was essentially delaying the troop dispatch, he did not dare announce the dissolution of the Cabinet for the sake of his own power.
Subsequently, Palmerston summoned the Cabinet Secretary and the Prime Minister’s Secretary, issuing them notice of a temporary Cabinet meeting.
Listening to this, both the Cabinet Secretary and the Prime Minister’s Secretary displayed a hint of astonishment on their faces.
Apparently, what the Earl of Clarion reported is more serious than I imagined.
The Cabinet Secretary couldn’t help but think to himself.
"Prime Minister, under what pretext should we invite the ministers over?" The Cabinet Secretary subtly inquired from Prime Minister Palmerston about what exactly had transpired.
"You should immediately inform the ministers of each department that there has been an incident in India!" Palmerston sighed and replied in a low voice.
The Cabinet Secretary and the Prime Minister’s Secretary widened their eyes; at this moment, they couldn’t believe their ears.
India is considered one of the lifelines of the entire Kingdom of Britain. Just on the Britain Stock Exchange, there are hundreds or thousands of stocks listed, with the largest one being the East India Company.
Its market value is close to ten million British Pounds, making it a true giant.
If something goes wrong in India, the stocks and bonds of the East India Company are bound to plummet.
The worst-case scenario would lead to another economic crisis for the entire Britain due to the Indian issue.
Of course, these matters aren’t of utmost importance; what is crucial is that the Cabinet Secretary himself has purchased a significant portion of the East India Company stocks.
If these aren’t sold quickly, his assets will shrink by at least one-third.
"Is the situation severe or not?" Considering that his assets might suffer depreciation, the Cabinet Secretary rashly asked a question.
After uttering the question, he immediately felt a sense of regret.
As the Cabinet Secretary, he was simply too incredulous, asking such a low-level question.
Whether the situation is severe is an issue for the Cabinet to consider, and their job is merely to ’assist’ the Cabinet.
The Cabinet Secretary could simply ask the Secretary of the Minister of Foreign Affairs to know whether the situation is urgent.
The Earl of Clarion couldn’t possibly have obtained the telegram himself!
Although the Cabinet Secretary inquired about something he technically shouldn’t have, Palmerston did not chastise him for overstepping; instead, he shared the telegram’s content with the Cabinet Secretary.
"Nearly one-third of the army we hired in India has mutinied (in reality, only the Bengal corps has mutinied), and among the remaining two-thirds, some are still observing.
Currently, in India, the only troops loyal to us are the armed Sikhs.
Our military presence in the Indian Region is currently only around 20,000!" Prime Minister Palmerston clenched his teeth and cursed: "Those ungrateful bastards must have figured out that our army cannot quickly support them, which is why they chose this time to rebel!
They must have calculated this well!"
"Your Excellency, I will immediately notify them!" The Cabinet Secretary quickly sprang into action.
However, upon leaving the Prime Minister’s office, the Cabinet Secretary did not immediately send someone to inform the ministers of each department. Instead, he took a carriage to his residence and swiftly found the bearer bonds of the East India Company and surrounding companies in India that he had purchased earlier.
The Cabinet Secretary handed these bonds to a trusted butler, instructing him to promptly go to the Paris Stock Exchange to sell all these bonds.
Looking at these bonds issued by the East India Company, the butler suggested to the Cabinet Secretary: "Sir, right now the bonds of the East India Company are on a bullish trend; perhaps we should wait a bit before selling?"
The Cabinet Secretary shook his head and responded to the butler, "We can’t wait any longer! If we continue to delay, the East India Company is likely to face bankruptcy!"
The butler was startled by the Cabinet Secretary’s response and cautiously inquired, "Master, is the Cabinet planning to fully nationalize the East India Company?"
"Something even worse!" the Cabinet Secretary said to the butler, "There is a long-planned rebellion happening in India now, with the rebellious troops occupying one-third of the entire Indian military.
You must sell all the bonds by today, do you understand?"
After hearing the Cabinet Secretary’s reply, the butler’s expression was equally anxious.
He doubted whether the British Army could suppress the rebellion.
After all, nearly a third of the troops were involved in the rebellion, and even if Britain wanted to suppress it completely, it would take at least two or three years.
During this period, the East India Company would have gone bankrupt countless times. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢
"I’ll do it right away!" the butler hurriedly responded to the Cabinet Secretary.
"Remember, don’t tell anyone about this!" Before leaving, the Cabinet Secretary specifically reminded him.
The butler agreed to the Cabinet Secretary’s words wholeheartedly, and after the Secretary left, the butler disguised himself and took the bonds and stocks to the securities exchange, where he found a "professional manager," requesting to exchange all East India Company bonds for British Pounds.
The "professional manager" responsible for the exchange tried to dissuade the butler from exchanging only half because the East India Company’s bonds were still in an upward trend.
Exchanging now is simply "losing money."
However, knowing the insider information, the butler would not heed the "professional manager’s" advice and insisted on exchanging everything.
The "professional manager" reluctantly agreed to repurchase all the East India Company bonds.
Next, the butler left the securities exchange with the converted British Pounds.
Shortly after the butler’s departure, a flustered nobleman entered the securities exchange, also holding East India Company bonds.
This anxious nobleman found the "professional manager" and demanded to exchange his East India Company bonds for British Pounds, to which the "professional manager" obliged.
After the "professional manager" handed the British Pound check to the nobleman, he curiously asked why the nobleman was in such a hurry to exchange.
Exhaling deeply upon receiving the Bank of England note, the nobleman decided to tell the "professional manager" the truth: "According to the latest intelligence, a large-scale rebellion was launched by Indian sepoys a month ago!
Now, half of the sepoys in India are involved in the rebellion!"
Upon hearing this, the "professional manager’s" expression became frozen in shock; he understood that the East India Company’s bonds and stocks were doomed.
Sure enough, once the nobleman exposed this shocking news, every investor who held East India Company bonds and stocks seemed enchanted, swarming around the trading desk and the "professional manager."
The entire hall was filled with a manic and desperate atmosphere, and the East India Company prices on the blackboard behind the exchange counter kept dropping.
In just ten minutes, the East India Company’s market value evaporated nearly a quarter.
Bonds and stocks related to India also continued to plummet.
...
Let us turn our eyes to 10 Downing Street, where an emergency Cabinet meeting is being held, and the topic of discussion is the Indian uprising.
The Duke of Newcastle, as Minister of War, expressed his firm stance that Britain should quickly dispatch troops to India to suppress the military.
Ministers from other departments also expressed support for the Duke of Newcastle’s proposal, but they believed military deployment should wait until consensus was reached in both the Lower and Upper Houses before taking action.
They warned against taking premature action to avoid unnecessary troubles.
Hearing the unanimous support for military deployment against the rebels, Prime Minister Palmerston smiled and nodded to those present: "Ladies and gentlemen! Since we have reached a consensus, let’s take the next steps!"
After the emergency Cabinet meeting ended, Palmerston took a carriage from 10 Downing Street to Windsor Castle.
The carriage traveled for hours before finally arriving at Windsor Castle.
Entering the guest room at Windsor Castle, Palmerston once again met Prince Albert.
Before Palmerston could speak, Prince Albert directly addressed him: "I am already aware of the specifics!
Victoria has asked me to tell you that she supports your actions on behalf of the King of the Kingdom of Britain!
Now, you only have one task, which is to win support in both houses of Parliament.
This should not be a problem for you, right!"
