The Eden Treaty

Regarding the first task, Hartley had already begun working on it. The current instructions from London were simply to send more people to gather intelligence on the Crown Prince of France's political leanings. ♖👤 ♔😾

Hartley deduced from the fact that the Crown Prince of France opposed the development of the navy that Hartley was at least not United Kingdom, so the matter of establishing relations with him could be arranged as soon as possible.

It is said that the Crown Prince of France is also a very capable Mathematics. Hartley quickly decided to send a scholar to make contact with him.

As for the second item, he had a bit of a headache.

After Prussia withdrew its troops from the Netherlands, it had very little interaction with France.

He thought for a long time but couldn't find a leverage point; the most he could come up with was spreading rumors and slander. It seemed he could only wait for a better opportunity to arise.

Hartley carefully put away the secret letter, immediately convened a meeting with his men, and gave them all the instructions in the letter.

Early in the morning, Joseph was greeted by a distinguished guest.

His teacher for a day was Mr. Lagrange, the Prince of Mathematics".

In fact, Lagrange would come to the Versailles Palace to give lectures every two days. But Joseph had been busy lately, and the two hadn't met at all.

After exchanging pleasantries, the Old Mathematician presented Joseph with an exquisite invitation and earnestly persuaded him to attend an academic conference two days later.

In fact, Joseph had received two invitations from the French Mathematical Society, but he was too busy to go and declined both.

Two weeks ago, Joseph's extended Rolle's Theorem was compiled and published by Lagrange in a journal. He is now quite well-known in the France Mathematics community.

At the same time, the Mathematical Society also wanted to expand its influence by using the Crown Prince, so it brought out a heavyweight master like Lagrange to invite him.

Since it was the teacher himself who had come forward, Joseph couldn't refuse any longer, so he promised to be there.

The following day, in the luxurious Villa of Madame Josna, Nobility widow in the Saint-Germain District of Paris, dozens of scholars from the fields of Mathematics and Physics rose to pay their respects to His Crown Prince.

In this era, the boundaries between Physics and Mathematics are not so clear. Physics and Mathematics often mingle together.

An official from the Mathematical Society gave a warm speech and a grand introduction of the Crown Prince before announcing the official start of the meeting.

One after another, people took to the stage to give speeches, most of which focused on cutting-edge Mathematics topics of our time, creating a rather serious atmosphere.

More than an hour later, the meeting entered the free discussion phase, and Servant began to bring out various delicacies, filling the room with the aroma of drinks and snacks.

The crowd laughed and chatted, engaging in lively discussions. The meeting room had transformed into a Mathematics salon.

Joseph intended to leave, but his hostess Madame Josna, courteously served him fine Black Tea and then warmly ushered him to the seat in the center. Clearly, the presence of the Crown Prince was a great honor for her.

Joseph sat down next to Lagrange with a sense of helplessness, smelling the aroma of hot tea, and listened to an elderly man with white hair on his left describe a method he had devised for deriving discrete probability distributions in probability theory.

As soon as the old man finished speaking, it immediately sparked a murmur of discussion. Joseph could vaguely discern that what the old scholar was saying had some connection to the Poisson Distribution, but it was still quite a distance from a finished product. Hmm... I wonder if Poisson has even been born yet.

Immediately afterwards, Lagrange stood up with his manuscript in hand and began to expound on some of his corollaries and ideas regarding the connection between functions and their derivatives. Since his in-depth discussion with Joseph about Rolle's Theorem, he had been diligently studying this subject and had recently made significant breakthroughs.

He received high praise from everyone and they discussed it enthusiastically for a while.

Subsequently, several other scholars spoke. Although they did not have the same depth as the first two masters, most of their ideas were ingenious and their perspectives were novel, possessing considerable academic value.

Just then, a young scholar in a dark gray short jacket coughed lightly, attracting everyone's attention, and then began to talk at length about the negative impact of Protestantism on science.

Joseph was quite surprised and asked Lagrange in a low voice, only to confirm that the man was not a clergyman, but an Assistant professor of Physics at the University of Paris.

After the young professor finished speaking, he unexpectedly won rounds of applause. Apart from a few people like Lagrange, everyone present praised him loudly or expressed their agreement.

From this point on, the discussion started to go a bit off track.

A short, stout middle-aged man spoke with great indignation about the rampant theft of France science and technology by the United Kingdom industrial Spy, claiming that this behavior cost France tens of Livre every year.

Joseph frowned slightly. There were no Patent Law in this era, and it was common for Britain and France to steal each other's technological achievements. However, this differed somewhat from what the portly gentleman had said—that France stole more technology from the United Kingdom. But discussing this at an academic conference seemed rather inappropriate.

But others clearly didn't see it that way, and immediately launched into a barrage of attacks on the Englishman, with a constant stream of sarcasm and insults.

The brown-haired young man sitting to Joseph's right and behind him loudly recounted France's leading history in academia, denouncing the United Kingdom for plagiarizing France achievements point by point, and finally expressing his contempt for the United Kingdom academic community through gritted teeth.

Someone shouted excitedly:

Therefore, the United Kingdom will Lyon French Super League the France in the world of science!

"Exactly! Look at their ridiculous paper, claiming light is a wave! Haha!"

"They always come up with these laughable things, and they're always so smug about it."

"Only France can lead the way in scientific progress; this is the will of God!"

France academia is still quite proud, and given the historical animosity between Britain and France, criticizing United Kingdom has become politically correct.

"Has United Kingdom ever had any great scholars? No!" the brown-haired young man exclaimed excitedly, waving his hand.

Then, he looked at Joseph, as if seeking support, and bowed, saying, "Your Highness, wouldn't you agree?"

Joseph sighed, shook his head slightly, and whispered, "They have Newton."

A moment of silence fell, and dozens of eyes turned to Joseph, as if they hadn't expected the Crown Prince to speak up for the United Kingdom.

Joseph thought for a moment, then stood up. The atmosphere and those arguments just now made him feel he had to speak his mind, "Actually, United Kingdom also has many merits in science."

"Besides Newton, I think everyone is familiar with Mr. Taylor, whose Taylor Series is often used when calculating the trajectory of motion."

"And there's Maclaurin's ' Geometria Organica '."

"In fact, more often than not, the Steam Engine of the Craftsman Mr. Watt might have had a more astonishing impact, and in the Textile industry, the whole of France had already felt that threat."

"Speaking of Textile, a United Kingdom recently invented an Power Loom..."

A middle-aged man with piercing eyes and a large nose whispered, "It's Cartwright."

"Oh, yes, Cartwright." Joseph nodded. "If this loom were combined with Steam Engine, it would crush the entire Textile worldwide."

"France certainly has many outstanding scholars and has achieved remarkable academic accomplishments, but we must also recognize that in many aspects, the United Kingdom have actually taken the lead..."

He said all this to remind the France scholars present that the battle for the Industrial Revolution was imminent, and the next technological explosion was on the horizon.

Steam Engine and Textile technology were absolutely crucial areas to focus on, as they were the core pillars that would shape the Industrial Revolution.

Being unable to extricate oneself from France's past academic glory, or being envious of the United Kingdom progress, will only lead to the complete defeat of the Industrial Revolution.

After he finished speaking, the atmosphere immediately turned cold, and for a moment no one stood up to speak, as if they were all caught in the struggle between arrogance and reality.

The middle-aged man with the large nose leaned closer to Joseph and whispered, "Your Highness, you are absolutely right! I never knew you knew so much about the United Kingdom."

Joseph smiled and nodded at him.

The middle-aged man continued, "A few years ago, for the sake of Anglo-French Trade Negotiations, I conducted in-depth research into the United Kingdom's industries and technology. As you said, United Kingdom has already gained a leading edge over France in many technologies. It's a pity that there are too few people with your insight; most of them are still immersed in their own arrogance..."

"Trade negotiations?" Joseph looked at the middle-aged man. "May I ask who you are?"

"Oh, look, I was so excited that I forgot basic manners. I'm so sorry. My name is DuPont, Pierre DuPont."

The name sounded so familiar. Joseph immediately asked, "Did you participate in the United States independence negotiations and also run a company in the Chemical industry?"

"Oh, yes, Your Highness," DuPont said in surprise, "You know me?"

Joseph nodded to himself. It was indeed the famous industrialist DuPont. He hadn't expected to run into him here.

I've heard of you.

The two then began discussing the state of the United Kingdom industry and technology, and the conversation quickly turned to the Anglo-French Trade Negotiations.

"Your Highness, our negotiations with the United Kingdom have stalled since the death of the Count of Vergennes... and the Single Tax Plan has failed to be implemented," DuPont said worriedly. "You know, the negotiations are not actually finished, and the Eden Treaty that has now been signed is very unfavorable to France."

The Eden Treaty he referred to is the Anglo-French Trade treaty signed just last year, which imposed a series of restrictions on Tariff — France comprehensively reduced Tariff on the United Kingdom industrial goods, while United Kingdom reduced Tariff on France Wine and some agricultural products.

As a result, France industry lost Tariff protection and was utterly defeated by the technologically superior United Kingdom. The increased sales of France Wine and agricultural products were far from enough to compensate for the enormous losses in industry.

Joseph nodded. "This treaty was poorly signed and has had a disastrous impact on France industry."

(End of this chapter)