The Shadow of Great Britain-Chapter 1760 - 84: Navy Department "Bigwig" Eld Carter
Just as Eld and the Great Dumas were chatting and bantering, measuring each other openly and secretly, Arthur suddenly spoke up.
"So, Eld." Arthur gently knocked his glass on the wooden table: "What are your plans next? Do you want to keep running around the world? Or are you finally planning to put on a clean shirt and count the fleet schedules behind the glass windows of the Navy Department?"
The moment the topic came up, a mysterious smile appeared on Eld’s face.
He cleared his throat, leaned forward, and whispered, "Arthur, what do you think? This global voyage of mine wasn’t for nothing. To be honest, I heard from my aunt that my uncle has already started pulling some strings."
Eld thought this news would surprise Arthur, but instead, his old friend was unfazed and savored the aftertaste of his Guinness beer, slowly saying, "Navy Transport Bureau? Hydrographic Office? Or the Navy Supply Bureau under your uncle?"
When Eld heard this, his previously smug expression froze for half a second: "Damn! Arthur, how did you know? Didn’t that old man say he was very careful? How is his mouth even looser than mine?"
"Come on." The Great Dumas curled his lips: "With those little tricks, Benjamin can find out as easily as snapping fingers."
"Benjamin? You mean Mr. Disraeli?" Eld pondered for a moment, frowning: "What? Could it be he finally gave up on his dream of being a writer, picked up his old business as a lawyer, and went to the Navy Department to be a legal advisor?"
"No, Benjamin isn’t interested in the Royal Navy and he despises being a lawyer even more." Dickens explained with a smile: "So he didn’t go to the Navy Department, but the Foreign Office instead."
"The Foreign Office?" At this point, Eld immediately thought of the image of Disraeli in his memory: "Are you saying the Foreign Office would hire a guy who likes to wear red jackets and green shorts? Don’t make me laugh, you guys have been teasing me since I got off the ship. We’ve been chatting till now, and there’s not a word of truth in your mouths. Do you still think I’m the Eld from back then? Five years, a global voyage, I’ve seen every kind of woman, experienced every type of deceit, you guys can’t fool me."
Not only Eld but even Darwin didn’t quite believe their words. He still thought the stocks Arthur handed out might have been a prank among friends. Although he always believed all things are in a state of evolution, the speed at which these friends evolved was too fast.
But before he could speak, Arthur settled the matter definitively.
"To be precise, Benjamin not only got a job at the Foreign Office but was appointed by His Majesty’s Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland as Under-Secretary of State for the Foreign Department in Robert Peel’s Cabinet. Considering his decent relationship with the current Naval Minister Earl De Grey, getting some information about you from him shouldn’t be too difficult. Besides, even if we can’t get information from Benjamin, we have other channels like Sir Alexander Baring, Chairman of the Trade Commission and Director of the Royal Mint."
When Eld heard this, he felt a bit dumbfounded. The last time he received a letter from Arthur and the others was five months ago. At that time, he had learned from the letter that Sir Pier was about to come to power and form a cabinet, but he never expected Disraeli could seize such a high position through this opportunity.
As you know, when they left Britain back then, Disraeli was just a Jewish youth prone to daydreaming, fantasizing about getting elected as an MP, but the people who voted for him could be counted on one hand.
Later, Eld, although he heard that Disraeli successfully secured a Tory seat after the 1832 parliamentary reform, he thought Disraeli’s election was merely the Tory Party’s token gesture to woo minority support.
Who would have thought...
Could it be the Tories really planned to put this Jewish lad to heavy use?
However, if that’s the case...
Eld’s eyes twinkled, and a cunning plan dawned upon his mind: "If... I’m saying if... you guys really aren’t joking, Arthur, do you think I have a chance to go to the Foreign Office?"
As soon as Eld finished speaking, he began calculating to himself: "Well, if that’s true, I might just have to visit his house tomorrow. Although my relationship with Benjamin was still passable back then, five years have passed, I don’t know if he remembers he still has a friend in the Royal Navy."
The Great Dumas, upon hearing Eld’s calculations, immediately doused him with a cold bucket of reality: "If you had returned a few months earlier, you might have had a chance. Back then, Benjamin had just taken office and was extremely pleased with himself. But now, since the Peel Cabinet took office, they haven’t managed to pass any bill in the Lower House. Although I feel sorry for Benjamin, I think his good days at the Foreign Office are numbered."
Dickens chimed in as well: "Not to mention, the current Foreign Secretary is still the Duke of Wellington. I doubt he’ll make trouble for himself just to open a back door for a Royal Navy cartographer at a time like this."
Eld’s enthusiasm, which had just been ignited, was thoroughly doused by their words.
He rolled his eyes and said: "Forget it, I knew there wasn’t much hope before anyway. But even if I can’t go to the Foreign Office, getting an office job at the Navy Department is still better than drifting at sea. Whether it’s the Navy Transport Bureau or the Hydrographic Office, I can grudgingly accept."
