Georgiana truly had no idea so much had happened yesterday.
Some men kept mistresses purely to have someone to confide in. Nine out of ten corrupt officials brought down had mistresses. The Ancien Régime had been overthrown largely because of official corruption, especially Madame de Pompadour's and Madame du Barry's "mistress politics." If someone wanted to get something done, they did not go through proper channels—they went through the king's mistress.
Napoleon was the kind of person who did not bring outside matters home. Of course, Georgiana did not really count as his "home."
But he had already made himself very clear yesterday. Duty-free imported steel was his bottom line. But that concerned construction—what did it have to do with the textile industry?
Bonaparte was terrifying when he got angry. Those Rouen officials had actually dared to argue with him. Tsk, tsk.
The merchants hoped to restore the 1789 Anglo-French Trade Treaty, one clause of which called for the gradual reduction of tariffs between the two countries.
If tariffs were lowered, Rouen merchants could buy yarn from Britain even more recklessly. Slavery lowered the cost of raw materials, and child labor lowered production costs. Britain's soil had also become extremely suited to the textile industry. That meant the backward domestic textile trade, which was developing in rural areas, would be eliminated for lack of orders. Factory owners could make a fortune, but what would happen to all those unemployed workers?
Tariffs were paid to the king. Henry Petty had also brought up taxation yesterday.
If that bottom line could not be held, then they would go to war. He had said twice that peace would not last long; he was probably already struggling to restrain his temper. Quite a few military men had also attended yesterday's town hall reception, including