When Lord Clarendon once again arrived in front of Aberdeen, he was t with a pair of hostile eyes and an angry face.
"Good morning, Pri Minister!" Facing Pri Minister Aberdeen’s hatred, Lord Clarendon imdiately chose to smile and greeted Aberdeen.
After all, who would want to be serious with a politician with less than a few months to live?
"Lord Clarendon, tell ! What is your purpose in doing this?" Aberdeen lowered his voice and yelled at the Minister of Foreign Affairs, whom he had personally promoted: "What have Palrston and Russell promised you?"
"I don’t understand what you’re saying, Pri Minister?" Lord Clarendon looked at Aberdeen with a puzzled expression, feigning innocence.
"Stop performing!" Aberdeen lowered his voice again to Lord Clarendon: "Only you, , and Canning know about this! Besides you, I can’t think of anyone else!"
"Perhaps the secret was leaked midway!" Lord Clarendon still refused to admit he leaked the secret: "It could also be that the telegraph personnel at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs sold governntal intelligence, who knows!"
"I don’t care who leaked the order; this matter can’t be unrelated to your Ministry of Foreign Affairs!" Aberdeen pointed at Lord Clarendon.
Although Aberdeen was sure that Lord Clarendon leaked the secret, he now had no substantial evidence, and even if there was, he couldn’t take any action.
Because Aberdeen understood that once the intelligence of the Battle of Sinop was leaked, the carefully crafted pro-Russian and anti-French signboard would be imdiately shattered.
Imagine a country that could annihilate a navy created by Britain’s own hands, how could that not instill fear in Britain?
Originally, Britain already had a certain fear of Russian infantry, and now Russia’s navy had annihilated another country’s entire navy at very little cost.
This is blatantly provoking the nerves of the Britons; it would indeed be strange if the British people didn’t respond at all.
Aberdeen suppressed the information about the Battle of Sinop for this reason.
Who would have thought that Lord Clarendon would "betray" him at this ti?
Now, it would be impossible for the British electorate not to focus their attention on the Near East.
"Pri Minister, I admit it was my lax supervision that led to the current situation!" Lord Clarendon imdiately admitted his mistake to Aberdeen and firmly promised: "I can assure you, I will find out the main culprit of this incident and bring him to justice!"
Aberdeen looked suspiciously at Lord Clarendon in front of him; from his expression, it seed that this matter had nothing to do with him, but Aberdeen’s instinctive sixth sense told him that this matter was definitely related to him.
However, now was not the ti to dwell on these things; the most critical issue was those newspapers.
Thinking of this, seated in the Pri Minister’s chair, Aberdeen bent down, took the crumpled newspaper from the trash can in his hand, and then spread it out in front of Lord Clarendon: "Tell ! What should be done now?"
Lord Clarendon glanced at the headline and imdiately understood its specific content, feeling a sense of schadenfreude inside.
"Why not order The Tis to apologize in the next edition, saying there was an error in their reporting? This way, we might be able to muddle through!" Lord Clarendon leaned forward, displaying a posture of serious analysis, and then proposed an unreliable suggestion to Aberdeen.
"Are you joking? If that’s the case, The Tis is likely to report even more fiercely!" Pri Minister Aberdeen shook his head and imdiately dismissed Lord Clarendon’s suggestion: "You, of all people, should know, newspapers always shout and interfere. They are good at bullying others, turning the governnt into a tyrant as well."
"Then we’ll have to let the situation continue to develop!" Lord Clarendon shrugged, showing an expression of helplessness, responding to Aberdeen: "It’s possible that after a few days, the newspapern may not report on this matter anymore!"
"That’s all we can do then!" Pri Minister Aberdeen sighed and replied to Lord Clarendon.
Having no asures to counter the press and not daring to use any radical ans, Aberdeen simply couldn’t control the newspapers.
This situation can only occur in Britain. If it were in France or any other monarchies in Europe, the press outside the system could not publish content unfavorable to the governnt, and even if it were published, it would be silenced by official force in no ti.
"By the way, Pri Minister! Regarding the Cabinet eting to discuss whether to assist the Ottoman Empire, when do you plan to start?" Lord Clarendon once again tugged at Aberdeen’s nerves.
No one knows better than him that it was already impossible for Aberdeen to quell public opinion.
The Battle of Sinop would definitely be elevated by Palrston and other war faction figures, and then this popular opinion would be used to beco the Cabinet Pri Minister.
"For now, don’t bring it to the Cabinet eting for discussion!" Aberdeen gloomily looked at Lord Clarendon.
If the cabinet wasn’t in a turbulent state, he would definitely remove Lord Clarendon.
"If there’s nothing else, I’ll take my leave now!" Lord Clarendon bid farewell to Aberdeen.
"By the way!" Aberdeen suddenly thought of sothing and asked Lord Clarendon again, "How is the situation with Ambassador Canning?"
Lord Clarendon shook his head, indicating that he hadn’t received Canning’s next request yet.
"That’s good! That’s good!" Pri Minister Aberdeen breathed a sigh of relief. In his view, as long as Canning didn’t exacerbate tensions, there was still room for maneuver.
But Aberdeen forgot that Canning, as Britain’s envoy in Constantinople, had the right to dispatch the diterranean Fleet without cabinet approval.
Aberdeen’s desire to avoid escalation was rely wishful thinking.
Subsequently, Lord Clarendon left Aberdeen’s office.
Sitting once more in the empty Pri Minister’s office, Aberdeen had no desire to continue working. He stood by the window, gazing at the sky outside, and couldn’t help but sigh once more.
In the following days, the situation at the British Newspaper did not gradually calm as Aberdeen had envisioned but instead advanced in a more intense direction.
When The Tis, Pioneer Morning News, and Advertising Morning News fired the first shots, the remaining minor newspapers also began attacking the cabinet under the support of so "philanthropists."
These newspapers labeled the cabinet led by Aberdeen as the "Anti-British Cabinet" and described Aberdeen himself as a puppet controlled by the Tsar.
So newspapers claid that the Tsar used his money to corrupt the majority of Aberdeen’s cabinet mbers, forcing Aberdeen to obey the Tsar’s manipulations. Other newspapers solemnly stated that the Battle of Sinop was caused by Aberdeen selling Ossman Empire’s information to the Russian Empire, leading to the total annihilation of the fleet.
In this increasingly fierce public opinion storm, not only was Aberdeen himself affected, but even Prince Albert and Queen Victoria at Buckingham Palace were labeled as "Russians" by so unscrupulous tabloids. Their reasoning was even more bizarre: since the vast majority of Russian Empire nobles were of German descent, and as Prince Albert and Queen Victoria were also of German descent, they must be spies sent by the Russians.
To satisfy the English curiosity for office conspiracies and court conspiracies, Advertising Morning News even fabricated a rumor that Palrston was dismissed because his anti-Russian ideology won Queen Victoria’s favor, dragging him into a royal scandal.
Moreover, many sensational newspapers reported that Prince Albert, for betraying Britain, was imprisoned in the Tower of London, awaiting execution.
Once this news spread, countless curious onlookers flocked to the Tower of London.
So who enjoyed the spectacle without fearing the consequences even displayed slogans like "Long live Ottoman, Albert should die."
Of course, such slogans only lasted less than 10 minutes before London police, loyal to the Queen, removed them for "disturbing public order."
Faced with the expanding public opinion, Queen Victoria, residing in Buckingham Palace, was particularly furious.
"Look at the foolish things Palrston has done! Does he want to send us to the gallows so he can beco the Protector of the Realm himself?" Queen Victoria said to Albert, frowning.
"I don’t think it’s a foolish thing!" Albert smiled as he spoke to Victoria.
"Albert, do you know how the papers in London are comnting on us now? They say we’re thieves, stealing all of Britain! They even say we belong on the gallows!" Victoria said angrily to Albert.
"Gallows? We’re not tyrants!" Albert quipped and then added, "The one across the ocean is the real tyrant!"
The "tyrant" Albert referred to was Jero Bonaparte.
"Now is not the ti for jokes; we have to do sothing!!" Queen Victoria said to Albert.
"I don’t think those British newspapers are easily frightened by a few words!" Albert replied calmly.
"Then what do you suggest we do? Let them continue to defa the royal family?" Queen Victoria retorted angrily.
"Of course not!" Prince Albert shook his head and then smiled, "Since they believe Britain is indulging the Russian Empire, why don’t we take this opportunity to show the British people our stance!"
"You an declare war?!"
"That’s right! It’s ti to declare war on the Russian Empire!"
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