Peace Talks (2)

On a hill overlooking the mouth of the Seine River on the Le Havre coast, there stands a small manor. It is said that this manor originally belonged to a nobleman who, when bored, would often come here to watch the various sailboats coming and going on the Seine River. Thus, he named the manor "Sailwatch Manor".

During the French Revolution, the wealthy nobles naturally fled abroad, and their estates were confiscated by the revolutionary government. These estates were not productive; they were merely places for the nobility to relax. However, their excellent location allowed them to serve as observation posts, monitoring the Seine River area, and thus they became a French Army outpost. Later, once the situation stabilized, they became the country villa of the Republic's new elite— Foreign Minister Talleyrand.

Early this morning, several four-wheeled carriages arrived at the manor and stopped at the entrance of the main building. An elderly man in his sixties and a group of young people got off the carriages and saw that the manor's owner, Minister Talleyrand, had already come out to greet them from the gate.

"Simonie, welcome to my villa." Talleyrand, whose temples were also gray, walked over with a smile and limped over, extending a hand to the old man in a friendly manner.

Their hands were clasped together, and both of them had smiles on their faces, as if they were really good friends.

The two of them walked in hand in hand, like a young couple, chatting and laughing.

Talleyrand personally led them into the small living room, where they sat down on the sofa, and a waiter brought in tea.

Generally speaking, the France of this era served coffee more often when entertaining guests, but this time the waiter served black tea instead.

Tea drinking was once popular in France, but after the Seven Years' War, when France lost its colonies in the Far East, the tea trade was essentially monopolized by the Britain. Meanwhile, France's colonies in Africa and Haiti were major coffee producers, so France consumption habits shifted towards coffee. Talleyrand had previously entertained them with coffee, but this time, the sudden offer of black tea could certainly be seen as the France demonstrating their hospitality. But could there be other, deeper meanings behind this?

Britain representative Simonie picked up his teacup and took a small sip. It was Darjeeling tea from India, with a unique grape aroma. Since Britain was placed under blockade, even Britain nobles had found it difficult to enjoy such authentic Darjeeling tea.

"Alas, the war has gone on for so long that I haven't had such fine Darjeeling tea in a while," Simonie sighed, setting down his cup. "My friend, I think it's time to end this pointless war."

"I agree," Talleyrand said, frowning. "War is not a pleasant thing for either side; it has affected many businesses. And war is too expensive. Look, we have already commissioned the Roman Bank to issue war bonds for the third time. If this continues, our government spending will inevitably run into a deficit sooner or later. Perhaps we will have to suspend the annual increase in Talleyrand's allowances. Also, plans for cultural palaces, art galleries, and the like have been affected, which directly impacts people's satisfaction with life and reduces their smiles. This is really terrible."

To Simonie, Talleyrand's words were blatant boasting—the issuance of third war bonds, something Britain had done countless times. And his statement, "Our government spending will inevitably run a deficit sooner or later," was even more of a boast, implying that the France government hadn't yet incurred a fiscal deficit! This financial advantage was tantamount to a naked demonstration of power against the Britain.

And then there's the "annual increase in veterans' allowances," and the "cultural palace" and "art gallery"—aren't these all just showing off? For the Britain, the war exhausted their national strength, but for the France, it had a limited impact, even on their lives.

However, no matter how much the France boast, this is the right of the victors; at least they agreed to this crucial point—everyone needs peace.

"I wonder what your country's views are on peace?" Simonie asked.

"When we last met, I presented your country with a memorandum on behalf of my nation. However, at the time, you had some opinions, or rather, some misunderstandings, about this memorandum," Talleyrand said with a sincere smile. "This led to some conflicts that none of us wanted to see later. Therefore, we have carefully reviewed the memorandum we gave you last time, and we found that there were indeed many inappropriate aspects, which explains why it caused your misunderstandings. So, we have revised the memorandum. You can take a look at it first, and then see if we can use this new memorandum as a basis to bring peace to our era."

Meanwhile, one of Talleyrand's young assistants handed a document to Simonie.

Simonie's expression was grim. In his view, Talleyrand's "modifications" undoubtedly included more and more demanding terms. Before his arrival, both the Crown Prince, acting as regent, Yes, Prime Minister had instructed him to exercise restraint, to strive for peace as much as possible, and to "use the resources of Great Britain to win the favor of France." Furthermore, the Prime Minister had stated that the France were always greedy, and their current demands might be even more unacceptable. However, whatever their demands, he should not immediately refuse; he must remain patient. He knew the kingdom was on the verge of collapse and could not afford to continue the war.

So he reached out and took the memo.

"The content is a bit extensive and complex," Talleyrand chuckled. "You can take your time reading it, discuss it with others, or even send someone back home to discuss it. However, His Excellency the First Consul hopes that we can complete the negotiations within a week."

"So hasty?" Simonie's expression grew increasingly grim. "Both our countries have shown sincerity for peace; peace is inevitable. Why the rush?"

"Because peace has not yet arrived, and the benefits of peace have not yet arrived—how can we not be anxious?" Talleyrand said. "Moreover, based on some intelligence we have gathered, if we cannot reach a peace agreement as soon as possible, your country may experience some turmoil. And we are worried that such turmoil will cause trouble for peace."

Simonie flipped through the thick memo and said, "We need to take a close look at this document. Could you please provide us with a private room?"

"That's easy, ah, Bauséant, take my friends to my little study." Talleyrand turned to his assistant and said.

Simonie and the others then followed Bauséant to the small study, where they gathered to study the new memorandum proposed by the France. To save as much time as possible, each of them was responsible for a chapter. Moreover, this memorandum was very similar in structure to the previous one, making it easy for everyone to read and compare.

Soon, each person finished reading their assigned section.

"Your Excellency, what I see is not much different from the previous memorandum," a young man said first.

These words immediately made Simonie feel much more at ease.

"It's just a difference in wording. Well, the current memorandum emphasizes the equality of responsibilities and obligations between the two parties more, which seems to make it more... more equal than before, but in substance, there's not much change," the young man added.

"Let me see it?" Simonie said quickly.

Everyone knows that aside from negotiations, what's to be signed this time is a humiliating and traitorous treaty that would cede national sovereignty. Anyone who signs this treaty will be nailed to the pillar of historical shame. Therefore, the original Foreign Minister suddenly resigned due to health reasons, and Simonie, who was originally just an envoy conducting some secret contacts, was suddenly promoted to Foreign Minister, which was really just to make him take the blame.

Although Simonie was forced to sign a treaty that betrayed the country, if the treaty actually looked much better on paper, that would be fine too.

"Bring it over here so I can see it!" Simonie said quickly.

So the young man handed over the chapter he was reading, as well as the corresponding chapter from the previous memo.

Simonie quickly took a look.

Indeed, the current wording is much more "equal." For example, this clause concerns the issue of Britain fully opening its domestic market to France. In the previous memorandum, it was described as follows. "Britain must unconditionally open its domestic market to France and its allies. Individuals, businesses, and products of France and its allies must obtain a completely equal and non-discriminatory status with the Britain people and Britain businesses in economic activities within Britain. France and its allies will form a committee to monitor the implementation of this clause and submit relevant assessment reports to the France and allied governments."

You see, this is a clause that demands Britain unilaterally open its markets, thereby turning Britain into France colony and destroying Britain.

But now, this clause has changed to this:

"Both the French Republic and the United Kingdom recognize that equal economic exchange is the most reliable guarantee of world peace. In order to safeguard world peace and promote the well-being of the people of both countries, the two governments make the following commitments regarding trade: The two governments, as well as the governments of all countries that will join the peace agreement in the future, mutually commit to fully opening their markets to each other, neither side will restrict the sale of the other's goods in its domestic market by discriminatory means, including tariffs and quotas, and both sides commit to granting each other's citizens and enterprises full non-discriminatory national treatment."

To ensure the implementation of this clause, both parties will form a Free Trade Joint Commission on an equal footing to mediate and arbitrate any disputes arising during its implementation. Both governments pledge to respect the committee's mediation and arbitration efforts. In the future, other countries joining the committee will also join, fulfilling their own obligations and enjoying their own rights.

Look at the second statement. Compared to the first, isn't it much more equal? It has much less of that humiliating, subjugating feel. However, in many cases, equality in the wording itself is the greatest inequality.

Just as Joseph said after the Napoleonic Code was published, "The law, with its solemn equality, forbids the poor from sleeping under bridges, begging in the streets, and stealing bread as it does the rich." If the power and status of the signing parties are not taken into account, the so-called "equal" clauses are nothing more than a fig leaf for the winner-takes-all mentality.

Imagine this: the Britain economy has collapsed, with numerous businesses already bankrupt or on the verge of collapse due to losses. How can they possibly compete on a so-called "equal footing" with France companies? To expect them to "compete on an equal footing" is as absurd as asking a male heavyweight boxing champion and a female featherweight boxer to "fight fairly." "Fair competition" will only lead to the consequence of "to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away."

Therefore, such equal and mutually open markets are actually no different from the Britain unilaterally opening its market.

For Britain, this clause is no different from the one in the previous memorandum. However, for Simonie, this clause is now almost a lifeline.