The United Kingdom's Science and Technology Were Number One in the World

Just as France was experiencing a political earthquake and Napoleon was appointed First Consul, a violent upheaval was also taking place in Britain politics.

The Whig Party launched a fierce attack on Tory Party William Pitt the Younger. They accused him of being responsible for Britain's failures on the Europe continent. At the same time, Prime Minister Pitt was also at odds with King George III over religious policy in Ireland.

The Britain monarch of this period was not yet a purely symbolic figurehead. The monarch still wielded considerable authority and power. The key to Pitt.'s rise to the position of Prime Minister in his early twenties was the support of the King. It was this alliance with the King that enabled Pitt. and the Tory Party to suppress the Whig Party, who had long controlled the political arena, and become Prime Minister and head Britain the ruling party. Of course, Pitt Jr. always identified himself as Whig Party," a claim neither the Whig Party nor the Tory Party acknowledged.

King George III was very supportive of Pitt the Younger, but the two had significant disagreements on religious issues. In an attempt to appease the Ireland, Pitt proposed allowing Catholicism to be legal in Ireland. This might have helped to divide the Ireland, but it touched a nerve with the King.

In Britain, since Cromwell's revolution, the King's staunchest supporter has been the Anglican Church. This church is considered Protestantism, but the Anglican Church Protestantism far more similarities with Catholicism than with mainstream Lutheranism on the Europe continent, such as Calvinism or Protestantism. Aside from not recognizing the Pope in Rome and instead using the King of Britain, they are virtually indistinguishable from Catholicism in doctrine, rituals, and even clothing.

Generally speaking, if two religions differ greatly, conflict will naturally arise. But if the differences are small, it doesn't mean peace; it only means more intense struggle. While heretics are certainly hateful, cultists are even more hateful, and the less divergent a cult is from us, the more hateful it is—because it is more likely to mislead our flock!

For the Anglican Church, recognizing the Catholicism's right to operate legally within the United Kingdom, even if it's only legally operating in Ireland, is a huge threat. And today, the Anglican Church is the political base for the Britain Anglican Church. Although George III suffered from porphyria, and in severe episodes even experienced mental disturbances—for example, in 1788, a symptomatic George III mistook a large oak tree for the King of Prussia and argued with it about important issues for over two hours—he was perfectly lucid when not experiencing an episode.

Although the King had always admired Pitt Jr., he would never allow Pitt Jr. to do such a thing unless he had a mental breakdown. Yes, Prime Minister lost his most important supporter at this most dangerous moment.

Finally, in order to preserve the Tory Party regime, at this critical moment, they naturally had to make Pitt the Younger take the blame. So, after Napoleon captured Hanover, Pitt the Younger resigned in disgrace.

It is said that when Henri Addington, who succeeded him, arrived at Pitt.'s office, Pitt. was directing the servants to pack their belongings to leave. One servant rolled up a large map of Europe hanging on the wall and stuffed it into a suitcase to take with her, which Pitt Jr. happened to see. The former Prime Minister then exclaimed, "That map is for Henri!"

The servants hurriedly prepared to hang the map up again, but little Pitt suddenly smiled wryly and said, "Forget it, it's already been put away, so don't bother hanging it up. Anyway, I reckon the Britain Prime Minister won't need to look at a map of Europe for the next ten years."

In fact, faced with the current situation, the newly appointed Prime Minister Henri Addington is also at a loss. But sometimes, a change of leadership can bring unexpected good fortune.

This is similar to some football clubs in later generations, who, when their performance is terrible, often change coaches without considering the consequences. And indeed, there have been many times when, after changing to a Protestantism, even though the Protestantism has done almost nothing, the team's luck suddenly improves.

In the past, we'd have dozens of shots in a game, a dozen or so on target, but not a single goal. Now, with a new coach, we have five or six shots in a game, one or two on target, and they all go in. Before, if the opponent hit our post, the ball would bounce into the net; if we hit their post, the ball would bounce out. But after the coach changed, the situation immediately reversed. And this isn't an isolated incident.

The Britain change of prime minister seems to have had the same effect. Just two weeks after the new prime minister took office, good news came from the British Navy: their new ship, which they had spent a considerable amount of money developing, had been successfully tested. According to the Navy, using this ship, they would be able to significantly reduce the efficiency of the smuggling route from France to Ireland.

For some time prior, both Britain and France were preoccupied with wars on the Europe continent, so things calmed down in Ireland for a while: the Britain lacked troops, and the Ireland didn't receive many supplies, so everyone could only engage in small-scale skirmishes during this period.

Now, France has achieved an undisputed victory on the Europe continent and received substantial reparations. It's easy to guess what will happen next: they will certainly increase their support for the Ireland rebellion significantly.

This is one reason why the Tory Party, despite losing Pitt the premiership, still retain Yes, Prime Minister position. Tory Party generally believe that the current Whig Party situation shows neither signs of improvement nor is it at its worst, making it not the right time to buy at the bottom. They fear that rushing to buy now could result in buying at the peak and getting trapped.

Upon receiving this news, Prime Minister Addington was overjoyed and immediately went to the Admiralty to find out more.

"Your Excellency, this is a model of our new ship." In the Admiralty, a naval officer began explaining the relevant information to Prime Minister Addington, pointing to several models.

"Hmm, why is this ship so... so strange?" As the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Addington couldn't possibly be unfamiliar with ships. But this kind of ship was really, really ugly, far less attractive than the France clipper ship model displayed to the side.

"Your Excellency, look at the France clipper ship over there. These ships have very low freeboards, are prone to rough seas, and roll violently, making them completely unsuitable for carrying cannons. However, because they are so fast, they don't need to be equipped with cannons at all; in any case, no warship capable of carrying cannons can catch up with them."

As you know, in order to intercept these high-speed smuggling ships, we once copied a batch of such vessels. Then we tried to intercept them using the most traditional naval combat methods. However, the enemy quickly changed their tactics. They developed naval weapons similar to the Byzantium 'Greek Fire,' and we were caught off guard and suffered considerable losses."

Prime Minister Addington listened and nodded. He already knew about these things before he took office.

"But the situation is different now. Now that we have these new ships, we can not only catch up with the enemy in speed, but also be equipped with cannons to solve the battle," the officer continued.

"Is this the ship? It doesn't look like it can go very fast," Addington asked.

In their studies of clipper ships, the Britain also summarized several reasons why clipper ships could run so fast, one of which was their exaggerated length-to-width ratio and smooth lines. However, neither of these can be seen on this ship.

"Your Excellency, we have installed a steam engine on this ship," the officer said. "You see these two paddle wheels over there? They are powered by the steam engine, which propels the ship forward."

"So, can our ships catch up with the France smuggling vessels?" Addington asked.

"Not necessarily." The officer shook his head. "The France clipper boats can reach speeds of around 15 knots at best, while ours can only manage 11 knots at its fastest."

"That won't do," said Prime Minister Addington.

"Your Excellency, our vessel is still an experimental one, and there's room for improvement. Furthermore, clipper ships can't always reach 15 knots; their speed is quite limited in calm weather. Our vessel, however, is largely unaffected by wind. Also, clipper ships must follow zigzag paths to utilize wind power, while our vessel can travel in a straight line. Therefore, although our vessel's official speed is lower, in a real sea chase, we might not be outmatched."

"So, are there any problems with our ship now?"

"Your Excellency, our ships are powered by steam engines, so they need to carry coal. If the coal bunker is too large, it will reduce speed; if it is too small, it will affect the journey. In addition, our ships have very poor sailing performance in high sea states, far inferior to clipper ships."

"What? Its navigation ability in high sea states is even worse than that of a clipper ship? How are the cannons on board used?" Prime Minister Addington was taken aback.

"Your Excellency Prime Minister, in high sea states, the rolling of the ship will cause the paddlewheel to rise above the water, thus drastically reducing propulsion efficiency. It's not for any other reason, so in normal sea states, our ships can still use cannons without any problem. It's just that because of the need to install steam engines and paddlewheels, the number of cannons that can be carried is relatively smaller."

Upon hearing this, Prime Minister Addington nodded and said, "When will the official warships be ready for service? Now is the time to teach those France a lesson and let them know that the technology of our United Kingdom is the best in the world!"