"I think what Poland needs more is to end the disaster as soon as possible and reduce sacrifices, rather than investing more artillery fire and shedding more blood!"
Under the spotlight, Aigron expressed his love for peace in an impassioned tone.
In fact, this is a disguised declaration to the world that he has absolutely no intention of leading France to a forcible end and using force to intervene in the unrest in Poland, so no one needs to worry about a new war suddenly breaking out.
"No armed intervention" is his basic position, and it is also his position that must be clear and does not allow any ambiguity.
The congressmen present are all smart people. Of course, they can easily hear the true meaning of His Majesty the Emperor from his high-sounding declaration.
For a moment, the entire meeting hall suddenly fell into a strange silence, as if everyone was thinking about how they should react after the situation became clearer.
Naturally, Aigron could not tolerate silence at this time. At this moment, a group of imperial congressmen who had already received the instruction immediately applauded enthusiastically, suppressed all other noises with noisy cheers, and brought excitement in the venue. Everyone’s emotions.
In this thunderous applause, although a small group of people were deliberately booing, they were like small waves in the frenzy and did not attract any attention.
Seeing that he had suppressed the entire audience, Aigron felt more at ease.
At the moment, although there is a small group of imperial opponents who are deliberately making noises and creating public opinion that "we want to defend Poland", they are, after all, isolated and helpless, and although they occupy a certain "political correctness", they are also very weak. It is difficult to convince the French people, who have just emerged from the war, to bleed for distant Poland.
People who like Poland, hate Russia but don’t want war are the real mainstream public opinion, and now I am walking a tightrope on top of this mainstream public opinion.
Now that he has categorically stated that he will not interfere with force, the next step is the frontal output that Aigron has already prepared.
"Everyone, let us put aside all the clichés and look at the root of everything. Is this bloody battle what the Polish people want to see? Don't the Polish people know what kind of power they are facing and what they will get? What kind of terrible blow? No, as long as they have normal sense, they all know it.
But even though they knew what kind of behemoth they were facing, the Polish people still stood up tenaciously, fought heroically, and shed their blood. What is the purpose of this? Anyone without prejudice can know the answer! That is for human dignity and freedom, for what our ancestors once sacrificed their lives and blood to obtain! Regardless of whether this kind of resistance conforms to the so-called "legal principles", the Polish people's heroic feat of refusing to be enslaved and fighting for freedom is still worthy of sympathy.
Let me ask, in our era, is one nation really willing to suffer the suffocating oppression and enslavement of another nation? No! This is completely unreasonable! It is neither in line with Christian charity nor in line with the fraternity recognized by France. In order to change this absurd phenomenon, I once fought for the Greek nation single-handedly! Today, for the sake of peace in Europe, I can no longer abuse force. I hope for peace. But even so, in my heart, I still sympathize with the Polish people and admire their brave struggle.
I don’t know how this dispute will end or how it will end, but I call on the legitimate rulers of the Kingdom of Poland to be able to see the suffering of the Polish people in the future and to comfort them with the compassion that Christians should have. , so that this terrible turmoil will never happen again; similarly, I am also willing to do my best to help the Polish people who are suffering in this turmoil! Therefore, I hereby solemnly declare that during this turmoil, every Polish person who was displaced to escape the war and eventually ran to France will be able to stay here safely and receive their due rights to personal freedom. Property will also be respected, they are not refugees but our friends and brothers in misfortune!
I firmly believe that only when the flower of freedom blooms all over Europe, the freedom of the French people will be truly guaranteed. France will, as always, open its arms to accept all those who love freedom and fight for it! "
After finishing speaking, Aigron bowed slightly to the MPs sitting opposite and ended his speech in a humble manner.
And these words, just as he expected, immediately set off the whole discussion hall. Not only the members applauded, but also the people who were listening loudly echoed and made noises.
"Long live freedom!" "Long live the Empire!" Similar cheers resounded throughout the entire meeting hall. The normally noisy meeting hall seemed unprecedentedly united and impassioned at this moment -
No matter how you look at it, Eglund's words are like a bombshell, because at this moment Poland is not only ruled by the Russian family, Prussia and Austria also have a small share, and they naturally belong to the "enslaved nation" in Eglund's mouth ".
In addition, he was preaching about freedom here. Not only was he "tough" with the Czar, but he even attacked autocratic monarchies such as Prussia, Austria and Spain.
However, it was not that he was mad at everyone, but he accurately grasped the scale.
He first made it clear that he would "never end by force" so that no one would have to worry about the worst-case scenario. Then he expressed his sympathy for the Polish people and respect for freedom sentence by sentence. No matter how ugly these words are, others cannot use them to attack them. After all, this is one of the "political correctness" of this era.
Therefore, when faced with his declaration, all countries will probably treat him coldly without making any comments. At most, the Russians will publicly protest against his interference in internal affairs. But that doesn't matter. Eggron has never been afraid of verbal and written arguments with others, and now he is He was even less afraid of the Tsar being wronged.
As for the "unconditional acceptance of Polish refugees", although Aigron said it very beautifully, full of kindness and fraternity, anyone with a little analytical ability can easily find that the French Emperor's seemingly "noble" statement The promise made is actually a blank check.
First of all, Poland is now a landlocked area with no outlet to the sea at all (East Prussia and Danzig Port are both in the hands of the Kingdom of Prussia). It is not easy for its citizens to leave Poland on a large scale. France and Poland are not bordering each other, but are separated by a large area of German states. These German states are too late to escape the "revolution" at the moment, so how can they allow a large number of Polish "rebels" to swagger through?
Secondly, the current era is not an industrialized era with high trade freedom and booming commerce, but an agricultural era. Especially in poor Eastern Europe, the vast majority of people are farmers, and their only property is their land. Some people don't even own land and can only farm it on lease from landlords, and many more are serfs without freedom.
Based on the level of education of these people, they may not know the declaration of the French Emperor at all; even if they knew it, they would not dare to abandon the land that their ancestors had cultivated for generations and go to a foreign country where they were unfamiliar with to seek life.
In the agricultural era, "it is hard to leave one's homeland" is the norm for most people. People rely on the land for survival and are naturally bound to the land.
Therefore, those who can respond to this call and have the ability to leave Poland and take refuge in France are either nobles and businessmen with families and businesses, or people with special skills. Firstly, these people are not large in number, and secondly, economically They are also "beneficial". France opening its arms to them will not cause any harm to the country, but will help enhance its economic strength and international prestige.
It seems to be unconditional, but in fact this blank check is a guaranteed profit, so Aigron can naturally speak big words at will.
All in all, after this carefully crafted declaration, Aigron changed his previous indifferent attitude, turned from passive to active, and took the initiative to seize the commanding heights of domestic and international public opinion.
On the one hand, he catered to the mainstream public opinion, openly expressed his sympathy and support for Poland, and was even willing to open the country to accept refugees. Now the opposition was blocked and had nothing to say. They could not continue to openly clamor for war with Russia; on the other hand, he catered to the mainstream public opinion. , he also openly challenged Russia on the international stage, exaggerating his hostility towards Russia to the entire Europe.
Although this hostility may not have any effect now, as time goes by, the Tsar's bloody suppression will inevitably arouse disgust and fear in other parts of Europe. The "French-phobia" sentiment throughout Europe will naturally be replaced by "Russia-phobia" "Replaced by emotions - after all, although the French will burn, kill and loot, they will at least implement relatively progressive civil laws and reduce the oppression of feudal lords; when the Russians come, it will be the destruction of civilization. It is clear which one is more terrifying in comparison. .
Amid continuous applause and cheers, Aigron ended his speech and clearly demonstrated France's overall position to the entire Europe.
No one has to worry about the outcome of France causing a war. Poland's fate has been doomed: Poland's heroic struggle will last for several months, and then it will be crushed under the iron heel of the mobilized Russian army and fall again. The Polish people will They will return to the previous state, and even the little autonomy they originally had will be deprived of them. They will pay a heavy price for their struggle, and the light of freedom will be extinguished.
However, this is not the end, because even if the Poles are conquered again, they will not agree with the Tsar's rule. They will keep this disgust deep in their hearts and use every opportunity to continue to fight for freedom in the next time.
In the next period of time, a large number of Polish exiles will flock to Paris. Their talents can be used by him, and they will also become a major boost for France to rebuild its influence in Eastern Europe.
After finishing his speech, Aigron did not immediately leave the Bourbon Palace with his entourage. Instead, he met his Prime Minister Prince Talleyrand in the lounge next to him - although Prince Talleyrand was unable to do so due to his old age. He usually lives in seclusion, but when His Majesty the Emperor makes important declarations, as Prime Minister, he should naturally be present.
"Your Excellency, Prime Minister, how do you think I performed today?" Aigron asked with a smile.
"Very good, Your Majesty. If there is any shortcoming, it is that the tone is too exciting and stimulating." Prince Talleyrand replied bluntly, "But this does not have much impact. After all, you are so young. It’s normal to be a little angry, and no one will think there’s anything wrong.”
"That's good." Aigron smiled. "Then I'll bother you next."
Yes, Aigron sang all his high notes on the stage, pretending to be the guardian of freedom; off the stage, someone was naturally needed to communicate with various countries and quell any possible international disputes, and this was naturally Talleyrand. The Prince's area of expertise.
"Your words are bound to make you attacked by neighboring countries, but it doesn't matter, because they are not worth mentioning now. The only thing that worries you is that you have also offended Britain..." Prince Talleyrand explained to Aigron in a low voice, " They are also a slave nation now——"
Today's Britain is of course not the so-called "beacon of freedom". On the contrary, even if there is a difference between it and other monarchies, the difference is not big.
Although the UK is a parliamentary country, the right to vote in parliament is only limited to a very small number of people, and ordinary people cannot participate in national politics at all; moreover, it also enslaves millions of foreign nationalities - overseas colonies do not matter, no one cares about overseas Colonies, not many people care about their freedom and human rights, but those millions of people in Ireland are right on the map of Europe... At this time, the Irish were being brutally squeezed, and hundreds of British Protestant landowners were It occupies most of its cultivated land.
Therefore, when Aigron's words spread across the ocean, the British would probably feel like a "slap in the face."
However, this is not a big problem, because at this point in time in 1831, "freedom" and "human rights" were also the mainstream public opinion trends in the UK.
In 1829, the United Kingdom promulgated the Catholic Emancipation Act, which lifted the restrictions on Catholics holding public offices for more than two hundred years. Therefore, the Irish, who were mostly Catholics, gradually gave in.
Not long after, in 1833, the British also enacted a law permanently banning any form of slavery within the British Empire, and even authorized the Royal Navy to combat the international slave trade on all oceans.
Of course, these so-called concessions are more superficial, and the oppression is still extremely intense, and will create more and larger humanitarian disasters in the future. But at least in terms of public opinion, the British are now biased toward liberalism of.
Although Agron's high profile of political correctness is offensive to the British, it at least caters to the current mainstream public opinion in the UK. They will not be disgusted by it, let alone come out to protest against him.
As for private communication, Prince Talleyrand naturally has a way to handle it, so there is no need for Aiglon to worry.
Therefore, in this international crisis, Aigron has turned the crisis into an opportunity, occupying a dominant position in the public opinion field at home and abroad. As for the sacrifice of the Polish people... I can only express deep regret.
