A New Official Takes Office, but Struggles to Make a Start

As one of the leaders of the Irish at the time, Daniel O'Connell had indeed earned the British Government's attention, along with many personal honors and financial rewards.

But after O'Connell's allies, the Whig Party, brought down Robert Peel's Tory Party, they failed to keep their promise to solve the famine.

In fact, the new Prime Minister, John Russell, was facing a mess far more difficult to handle than he had imagined.

Robert Peel represented the conservatives, yet he had embraced Free Trade. Naturally, he couldn't hold on to the office of Prime Minister for long.

The Tory Party split as a result, and Robert Peel had no choice but to submit his resignation to Parliament. After the Whig Party took power, it found chaos everywhere. Military defeats and threats that could not be fully resolved were diverting the nation's forces.

The global struggle for supremacy with the French was a bottomless pit. Worse still, the Russians had actually sold Alaska to Louis Philippe, allowing the French to threaten Britain's Canadian colonies directly.

To make matters worse, the Russians were stirring. Even in the midst of a civil war, they had not forgotten to cast covetous eyes on the lands around the Black Sea.

The plan to establish a Jewish State had failed completely. It had not only damaged Britain's reputation, but also changed the Ottoman Empire's attitude toward Britain.

After the new American president realized he could not keep expanding southward, he turned his sights on Canada, demanded sole possession of Oregon, and sought to redraw the northern border with Britain.

Of course, James Polk, one of the most hardline presidents in American history, was no reckless fool. That was why he had chosen this moment of transition in the British Government to kick Britain while it was down.