Naturally, the bigwigs would never say such things themselves. They would only leave it to some young hotheads eager to make a name for themselves.
The risks of doing this were enormous. One careless misstep, and they would stink for ten thousand years—but the rewards were equally immense. If they succeeded, they could amass tremendous political capital for themselves.
Those words were indeed brutally realistic. A land reduced to ruins held little value for the United States, and considering the price that had to be paid, this was clearly a losing deal.
Not to mention the even thornier issue of refugees. So far, no one had produced a practical solution beyond the two options of providing relief or driving them away.
If The British truly continued their scorched-earth policy, those northern congressmen would have little they could do. They genuinely found it difficult to accept reclaiming their homeland at the cost of letting the rear fall into decay.
Moreover, there had long ceased to be any lobbyists for New York or the four northern states within the United States government. Those northern congressmen would certainly have to think of their own states.
"Then it seems peace is our only path."
Franklin Pierce looked utterly helpless, but many had heard that this president had always maintained some murky, unclear ties with The British. Now, it seemed those rumors were not unfounded.
Still, the United States truly had no good options at present. If they refused peace, this tug-of-war would likely drag on.
And in the eyes of the real bigwigs, the refugees were far more frightening than The British at this moment. If they continued to let them run wild, who knew what they might do?
Yet there were still some newcomers in the United States government, especially in such turbulent