Chapter 2411

"I want prison inmates," Bowens said over a beer. "I can't use orphans as weavers."

Bonaparte carefully observed the position of the ball on the table and ignored him.

Brussels MP Henri Joseph Langenhofen looked at Georgiana as if to observe her reaction.

In addition to being a member of Parliament, a lawyer and a chemist, this gentleman was also a member of the Freemasonry "Number 9" in Brussels. During the most prosperous period of Freemasonry, there were 15 "clubhouses" in Brussels, including the French Minister in Brussels, all of whom were members of Freemasonry.

The biggest problem with this group is not some pagan worship they do, the "apprentice" is to obey the orders of the "master", sometimes this "obedience" is against the regime, but most of the time it becomes an inside message According to the Internet, Freemasons in Brussels have spread to almost the entire elite class, and it is really not possible to ban their activities by banning them.

In fact, the Danes were not very willing because the silver coins were hijacked by the British to go to the West Indies for trade. The King of Denmark borrowed 4 million Dutch guilders from William IX of Saxony with national reputation as a guarantee. Saxony was accepting the textile machine technology provided by Britain at this time, at least it could not lend money to the Danish king, so William IX and the chief financial officer found a court Jew and lent the money to the king in the form of private loans. go out. This court Jew was Meyer Rothschild. He was connected through the butler of William IX, and he presented a set of cherished ancient silver coins as a gift.

Meyer's main business is still in Frankfurt, which is another natural place suitable for currency exchange transactions besides Antwerp, where several major German trade routes converge.

On the surface, Hope Bank was providing loans for the Louisiana Acquisition, but the money was not actually owned by Hope Bank itself, and the Hope House was indeed just earning a commission.

When the British government tried to recruit soldiers from textile factories, it found that only 16% of them were "healthy and qualified", and they could not even meet the standard of "lean and strong". It is precisely because of the poor working conditions in the factory that slave owners will send The working conditions of slaves compared to those of free workers.

Given the circumstances, it is not surprising that peasants and artisans were reluctant to become factory workers. Workers were difficult to recruit, so "apprentices" were used to replace them. Bowens could use neither slaves nor orphans. He wanted Prisoners were used as weavers.

"What do you think?" Bonaparte asked Georgiana suddenly.

"There will be other problems." Georgiana said, "If the prison adopts this profit model, then the police will arrest people for a trivial matter, and then put them in prison. It will be more difficult for these people to have a criminal record. Finding a job, it's a vicious circle."

"Then what good advice do you have?" Bowens asked.

"If you think about it, if those criminals were working with girls, how would their safety be guaranteed?" Georgiana said.

“I heard that the British are planning to export cotton yarn instead of cotton cloth,” Langhenhofen said. “Water looms are not that popular there.”

"It's not just England, the workers in Normandy don't like it either." Said Simonville, a member of the Paris Parliament. Intensive, fear of popular uprising deterred factory owners from new machinery."

Georgiana tilted her head.

"What's the matter?" asked Bonaparte.

"I said to the people of Lyon during the meeting that day, 'everyone has experienced the Great Revolution'. When I said this, the conversation was changed." Georgiana said.

"The British did this to serve them the textile industry of other countries, making Germany a production hinterland and Ghent a printing and dyeing center, but we couldn't let them do what they wanted," Bowens said.

"The increase in the price of cotton, the increase in the price of slaves, had a great effect on the slave states in the South," Langenhofen said. "Hamilton set up tariffs that were good for the industrial North and bad for the South."

"But I heard that Massachusetts went first," said Georgiana.

"I also heard that New York City is going to be independent from New York State." Bowens said teasingly, put down his beer glass, and hit the cue ball with his cue.

"If North America replaces India as Britain's main cotton producer, will the route between West Africa and India be affected?" Langenhoven looked at Bonaparte and said, "You know, once the Suez Canal is built..."

Bonaparte looked at the table and said nothing.

Georgiana suddenly realized.

If the Suez Canal is completed, then the route bypassing the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa will be "diverted", so that West Africa and North Africa, which the United Kingdom has painstakingly managed for many years, will suffer a devastating blow. However, everyone has always only focused on Napoleon and the Suez Canal, forgetting In addition to North America, after all, West Africa is also a supplier of slaves in the triangular trade.

South Africa is too far away from Europe, and the Cape of Good Hope is mainly merchant ships from the East India. When the American Civil War broke out, the Suez Canal had not yet been repaired, so the Cape of Good Hope trade flourished again.

"India's cotton business is in the hands of Indian merchants, and they don't want European merchants to advance inland." Simonville looked at Bonaparte and said, "The United States is different. The most important thing is the relationship between the United States and Britain."

"What do you think?" Bonaparte asked Georgiana.

"I heard Miss Elizabeth Lamont say that a women's association was set up in London, and they only used cotton made from free labor." Georgiana smiled and said, "It's like I boycotted cloth produced by child labor."

The men all laughed.

"Speaking of luxury goods, I heard that the Irish are very worried about losing customers for their luxury goods, because all the rich people in Ireland have gone to England." Bowens said, "Because of the war, Caribbean sugar could not be sold to Europe, they turned And the dumping in Ireland has led to the closure of local sugar factories in Ireland."

"The British Parliament has canceled the Irish tariff." Simonville said, looking at Georgiana. "I don't think this industry will ever recover in Ireland."

Georgiana said nothing.

If Ireland could plant sugar beets while potatoes were planted, it might be possible to avoid potato late blight caused by heavy cropping, but the use of beets for sugar production requires the construction of sugar factories, which is impossible in the current situation.

"It took less than 50,000 people to build the port of Antwerp," Langenhofen said. "The truth is Belgium can't afford that many Irishmen."

"How much can you absorb?" asked Bonaparte.

"5 thousand."

"The road crew can absorb 2,000 men," Simonville said.

"Is Edgeworth going to have the Irish come to Europe?" Bowens grumbled.

"Do you think it is possible for them to build the Suez Canal?" Langenhofen asked.

"No," said Georgiana.

"Why?" Langenhofen asked.

"If the living environment over there is too harsh, I won't allow it." Georgiana said, "How about offering a reward for the invention of a steam excavator first?"

"If anyone finds out that this excavator is used to dig the Suez Canal..."

"What's the matter?" Bowens asked Langenhofen who suddenly fell silent in the middle of the speech.

"Someone told me to build a canal to connect Brussels and Charleroi." Langenhofen looked at Georgiana. "If the railway is built, is it necessary to build the canal?"

Bonaparte picked up the cue, aimed at the white cue ball on the table, and dropped a red marble into the corner pocket.

"The focus now is to unify weights and measures. Without standard weights and measures, there will be hidden price differences." Georgiana raised her fist at the others, showing her arms and said, "Ancient Egypt used the elbow as a unit, but people and The length of an elbow varies from person to person."

"How do they determine the standard length?" Bonaparte asked pretendingly.

"I don't know. This length is used in the Bible. The length of one cubit is determined by the angel's hand." Georgiana smiled ambiguously. "Do you believe that there are angels in this world?"

"Isn't there one before us?" said Simonville.

"Charlemagne promoted unified weights and measures, and Alexander the Great, Louis XIV, and Moses. In the East, there was an emperor named Qin Shihuang who established a unified empire."

Bonaparte smiled now.

She still has nothing to say, whether it was Charlemagne, Alexander or Louis XIV who failed to implement unified weights and measures, even the French who proposed the metric system hated the new day counting method and did not stick to the metric time .

If it is impossible to unify the language, then unify the weights and measures first. The drawing language does not need to know too many foreign languages.

Seeing that no one answered her words, Georgiana took Bonaparte and asked him to teach her how to play billiards. They watched helplessly as she, a layman who knew nothing, messed up a good billiards game. No one stopped her. After all, she Someone behind him was teaching her how to play the game.