Chapter 378

The actions of the Hungarian independence organization could only be considered small, while the movements of the French Revolutionary Party were big.

In January 1865, demonstrations took place in more than 30 cities across France, from Paris to Montauban. It was as if France had returned to the era of the Revolution.

Many people joined the demonstrations in a daze, shouting all kinds of slogans, such as:

Some asked the government to support the Polish independence movement, some opposed a certain government policy, some advocated supporting the Spanish Revolutionary Party, and some opposed the colonial movement …

There were only things that could not be shouted out.

Obviously, the French Revolutionary Party had also learned to be smart. In recent years, the domestic economy had developed well, and everyone had a good life. Rebellion at this time was simply not feasible.

Those who were strongly dissatisfied with the government were the losers in the struggle for power, and a group of idealists.

The only way to overthrow the rule of Napoleon Iii was to first throw France into chaos. Only when there was chaos in the country would there be a chance.

The French people were full of the spirit of internationalism. Many times, they were very emotional. If they thought that something was unreasonable, they would want to control it. This gave them an opportunity.

The chaotic demonstrations at the Palace of Versailles aroused the vigilance of Napoleon Iii. On the surface, it seemed to be just an ordinary demonstration. It happened countless times every year in France, but it had happened too frequently recently.

But of late it had been happening so frequently that Napoleon III, who was so experienced in struggle, could tell at a glance that there was an organization behind it.

Napoleon Iii ordered, "Adair, find out the rat behind the scenes. I want to see who is causing trouble."

Demonstrations were legal in France, and the government had no right to interfere. But the situation was different with daily demonstrations. This not only affected the economy, but also the people's hearts.

It was not yet the beautiful era of "work in the spring, vacation in the summer, strike in the autumn, and Christmas in the winter."

This era was the time to fight for the country. As early as after the war against France, the colonial empire of France collapsed, and now Napoleon Iii was working hard to build a second colonial empire.

Naturally, he could not tolerate the continuation of the demonstrations that affected the country's economy. After all, there were many competitors these days, and he could fall behind if he was not careful.

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Adair, the Minister of Police, replied nervously.

This was not a good job. In recent years, because of the deterioration of public security caused by the demonstrations, 15 police ministers had been forced to step down, with an average term of only 10.5 months.

Just because Napoleon III had a good economy and social stability at home, one should not think that their life was better. In fact, they were still being criticized as if they were the worst government in history.

There was no need for a reason. What reason was needed to smear the enemy? The government could not control public opinion. If the opposition wanted to criticize, the most Napoleon III could do was find someone to criticize.

Perhaps the position had changed. Napoleon III had become the defender of the rules. They did not take extreme measures against these enemies, which left room for the revolutionary party to operate.

Foreign Minister Abraham said, "Your Majesty, it might be due to the influence of the Polish independence movement, but the European revolutionary movement has been on the rise again recently.

First came the insurrection in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, and now the rebels controlled a third of the island of Sicily; then came the revolts in Spain and Portugal.

The atmosphere in other European countries has also become tense. A new wave of revolution is likely to break out again. We must be vigilant. "

Although the Americans only encouraged the revolutionary groups of these countries to return to Europe to stir up trouble, the revolutionary groups of other countries were also influenced.

Seeing the Polish independence movement, many people took it for granted that a new revolutionary wave was coming and came out to cause trouble.

For other countries, the problem might not be too serious. For France, it was a big problem.

For some reason, every time there was a wave of revolution, the French were always present, and Paris was known as the Holy Land of Revolution.

Napoleon Iii was not interested in this kind of reputation at all. If possible, he would rather put the capital in a poor and backward city than in the "Holy Land of Revolution."

Any monarch living in the Holy Land of Revolution would feel pressured, for fear that he would be overthrown by the revolution.

Before he succeeded the throne, Napoleon Iii was proud of Paris; after he succeeded the throne, this feeling was gone forever.

Not to mention, the number of strikes and demonstrations in Paris each year was directly more than the total number of Austria.

The number of demonstrations and strikes in France each year was more than the total number of other European countries. It was not easy for Napoleon Iii to sit on the throne.

If Franz had to choose, he would rather be a colonial overlord than the Emperor of France.

This had nothing to do with the monarch. Just open the history book and look at the history of the French Revolution.

As a bystander, he could laugh it off, but as a person involved, he could only cry. Sitting on a barrel of gunpowder every day, a policy that dissatisfied some people could trigger a revolution.

The monarchy was not suitable for the romantic and energetic French people. The people of Paris had proved with their actions that only a republic was suitable for them.

Napoleon Iii thought for a moment and said, "This is indeed a problem. Order the police everywhere to increase their vigilance. Let the city guards in Paris and the seventh division in the Nantes area change defenses."

Changing defenses was the most common method used by Napoleon Iii. In order to prevent the revolutionaries from colluding with the military, the garrison in Paris was never permanently stationed.

The lesson of the fall of the Orleans Dynasty had taught him that without a reliable army, the throne would not be stable.

…

Attisa was an Italian businessman, and he was also a nationalist. This order could not be reversed.

Therefore, in the Great Revolution of 1848, he decisively stood on the side of the victors and escaped the disaster.

However, this did not change the fact that he was a nationalist. Over the years, he and a group of like-minded friends had put in a lot of effort to promote Italian nationalism.

In the context of the Government of Vienna's promotion of ethnic integration, Attisa naturally did not dare to go against the trend. However, in secret, they established the Venice Center for Cultural and Artistic Exchange.

This was a pure academic exchange, but the exchange was about Italian culture and art. If it was just a personal hobby, it would not have attracted the attention of the Austrian intelligence organization.

The key was that they had held art and cultural training classes for young people, secretly promoting nationalism, and even revealed their desire for Venetia's independence from time to time.

Austria had freedom of speech. As long as these ideas were not preached in public, the law could not convict them.

From beginning to end, they only talked about it and never put it into practice. Even when instilling these ideas into young people, there was no evidence left.

During the German War of Unification, the local government also deliberately left loopholes in the hope that they would take action and catch these people in one fell swoop.

Unfortunately, Attisa and the others were old foxes. In the face of interests, ideals had to stand aside.

The Regions of Italy were not unified. If a Venetia region became independent from Austria, they would lose most of the current market, which was not in their interest.

Therefore, not only did they not take the opportunity to become independent, but they also persuaded radical nationalists not to act rashly.

This kind of lurker was the most terrifying. They would not rashly rebel, but they worked hard to create a rebellion.

Attisa had been a little uneasy recently. He always felt that something bad was going to happen. As soon as he returned home, the old butler handed him a letter.

"Mr. Attisa, this is a letter from Mr. Stephen."

He met Stephen by chance at a banquet, and the two chatted happily. Stephen also invited him to join the colonial company and go to the African continent to open a colony.

Attisa did not doubt Stephen's identity when he met a professional swindler and had a large number of mercenaries as evidence.

There were too many people with the same name in Europe. There were at least seventy to eighty thousand people with a popular name like Stephen in Austria. No one would associate a colonial businessman with a Hungarian independence organization.

After opening the letter and reading it briefly, Attisa's face changed drastically.

"Nile, when you received this letter, did anyone else see it?"

The butler, Nile, replied with a gloomy face, "The messenger handed it to me at the gate. There were no suspicious people except a few street vendors."

He was very puzzled and could not understand Attisa's nervousness at all. It was just a letter. Even if someone saw it, they would not know the contents of it!

Hearing this answer, Attisa confirmed again, "Are there any new peddlers?"

Nile replied with certainty, "No, they are the same people as usual. They are here almost every day."

Attisa breathed a sigh of relief, but then he had a headache again. Wasn't a revolution in this day and age courting death?

He could not understand what Stephen was thinking at all. As the leader of the Hungarian independence organization, he could still live freely for more than ten years under the pursuit of the Government of Vienna. Why would he come back to die now?

That's right, in Attisa's opinion, Stephen was now courting death. The situation in Hungary was not clear to others, but how could well-informed businessmen like them not know about it?

Not to mention independence, it was estimated that before the Government of Vienna could do anything, the local people would suppress them.

The same thing could happen in the Venetian region. The Government of Vienna's national integration movement was still effective.

No matter how hard they tried, the local Germanization was becoming more and more obvious. Especially the younger generation, all of them were learning German, and the Italian language had disappeared from compulsory education.

Even if there were still people who insisted on indoctrinating the next generation, Austria's compulsory education was very heavy, and students were very busy every day. How many people would take the initiative to learn things that were not tested in school?

A few years ago, private schools were still teaching Italian. As a result, the Ministry of Education stopped funding them and included them in the profiteering industry. They had to pay high taxes to the government like the luxury industry.

If the government did not fund them, they could still continue to operate the school. Being included in the luxury industry was completely out of the question. The tax rate was as high as 95%. They could not possibly increase the tuition by 20 times, could they?

No matter how rich they were, no one would be able to hold on. Now in the entire Austrian Empire, there were no schools outside the supervision of the Ministry of Education.

The schools that were legally recognized were all schools that received government funding, and the rest were corporate training institutions.

These institutions all had to pay taxes, and the tax rate was based on the profit standards of the industry. Unfortunately, the reference for the schools was compulsory education. Compared to zero fees, no matter how much they charged, it was considered a profiteering industry.

The training centers that Atsa and others established relied on donations and did not charge any fees. Otherwise, they would have been labeled as profiteering industries.

It was not that there were no troublemakers, but unfortunately, the Government of Vienna was very tough. If one thousand people caused trouble, they would arrest one thousand. If ten thousand people caused trouble, they would arrest ten thousand. The main criminals joined the road construction army, and the accomplices, along with their families, were all exiled to the colonies.

After hundreds of thousands of people were exiled, the rest settled down. Even if they did not consider themselves, they could not ignore their families!

The treatment of exiled criminals was not comparable to that of immigrants. They were usually assigned to the worst areas and took on the most dangerous jobs.

Now that he received Stephen's invitation to join the revolutionary team, Atsa immediately decided to draw a line with them. He did not want to lose his life.

Without hesitation, Attisa lit a match and lit the letter in her hand.

He did not report it to the government, which was a good thing for his friends. Attisa chose to ignore the meeting place in the letter.

It was also risky to contact the revolutionary party in Austria. The Government of Vienna had always had zero tolerance for such things, and Atsa was not willing to take the risk.

After burning the letter, Attisha once again instructed, "Nair, don't tell anyone about this letter. Stephen and I only met at a banquet, and we are not friends. Do you understand? "

Butler Nile replied, "Yes, Mr. Atsa."

The cautious Atsa did not know that from the moment he preached nationalism, he had already set one foot in hell.

Now that he burned the letter and did not report it to the government, he could also put his other foot in.

There was no doubt that this was a fishing operation. If he had taken the letter and reported it to the local police station, he would not have been implicated.

If he did not seize the opportunity, then there was no other way. Even if he did not participate in the rebellion, it was a crime not to report it.