SGB Chapter 351

## Chapter 351: Separate Journeys

The Golden Lion Inn’s guest room was filled with chatter and laughter.

“Mr. Owen,” Arthur asked, “Were you serving in the American army during the War of 1812?”

Owen swirled his wine glass. “Well, though I always believed war was a foolish endeavor, considering the Royal Navy was already off the coast of New York, I, as a New Yorker, had to take up arms to defend my homeland. However, my service was short-lived. I retired as soon as the siege on New York was lifted.”

General Napier, seated on the sofa, chuckled. “So, it seems the shortest distance between us during the War of 1812 was perhaps only a few miles.”

Owen furrowed his brow. “Were you an officer in the Royal Navy?”

Napier just shook his head with a smile. “Not anymore, at least not now. Like you, I retired from active service in the Royal Navy after that war. You see, since the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, the Royal Navy hasn’t had any worthy opponents. No battles meant no profit. It’s better to go out and do some business than stay there.”

Arthur quipped, “Really, sir? That’s not what I heard from General Codrington. He said you were forcibly retired by the Admiralty for disobeying orders on the battlefield.”

Napier raised an eyebrow. “You seem to be quite well-informed about my past. But did Codrington tell you that the one who gave me the order was that rusted brain, Gambier? Gambier’s principle in commanding the fleet was simply to avoid making mistakes. As for whether there was a chance to expand the war results, or at what point to strike to gain the greatest benefit, he wouldn’t even consider it. If I had followed his orders, that’s when I would have been the one with a problem.”

Owen, also interested in the Royal Navy’s internal gossip, couldn’t help but ask, “May I ask, the Gambier you mentioned is Admiral Gambier of the Royal Navy?”

Napier snorted with disdain. “Who else could it be? The office admiral of the Royal Navy. If not for the fact that His Majesty served under him in his early years, how could he have risen to the position of admiral with his track record? But having Gambier as admiral isn’t entirely without merit. At least everyone can rest assured that he won’t be sent out to command a large fleet again. He’s far less harmful sitting in his office than being let loose.”

Arthur replied with a smile, “It seems Admiral Gambier’s reputation within the Royal Navy isn’t very good. This isn’t the first time I’ve heard senior Royal Navy officers complain about his leadership.”

“Hmm?” Napier asked, “Who else did you hear badmouthing him? It wouldn’t be General Codrington, would it? Ever since he was lectured by the Foreign Office, he’s been much more cautious in his words and actions.”

Arthur answered, “Admiral Sidney Smith and Admiral Thomas Cochrane.”

“Those two? They can definitely curse Gambier.”

Napier burst into laughter at the mention of these two names. “When Admiral Smith was a midshipman serving on the Sandwich, he was under the command of Admiral Rodney. And after he was officially commissioned, he became an officer under Admiral Hood. Even based on seniority alone, Admiral Smith could point a finger at Gambier and scold him, and Gambier wouldn’t dare argue with him.

Moreover, Admiral Smith’s war record is equally brilliant. Back then, he was unhappy with the internal management of the Royal Navy, so he simply resigned and went to Sweden to become a naval advisor to Gustav III. He commanded the Swedish navy, pressing the Russian Baltic fleet to their heads, engaging in three naval battles that completely wiped out the Russian naval forces in the Baltic.

After the war, he returned home with the title bestowed upon him by Sweden, and the Admiralty people were still jealous of him, privately giving him the nickname ‘Swedish Knight.'”

Arthur chuckled, “Admiral Smith sounds like quite a character.”

Napier laughed heartily, “That’s not all. When the French Revolution broke out, Admiral Smith’s actions were even more astounding. He was in the Levant trading at the time, and when news of the war reached him, he turned around and boarded a ship back to England.

He hadn’t even reached London when he encountered his old boss, Admiral Hood, off the coast of Toulon, France. At that time, Toulon was refusing to submit to the leadership of the French Revolutionary government, so they were rebelling. And outside of Toulon City was the revolutionary government’s suppression force, led by someone you should recognize, Napoleon.

Admiral Hood was worried that if Toulon fell, the ships in the port would be used by the French to attack Britain. So Admiral Smith volunteered to take a small boat into Toulon harbor, and with just those few people, he set fire to ships in Toulon harbor, burning half of the Toulon fleet.

Because of this, the French have always held a grudge against him. When Admiral Smith was captured in Egypt, no matter what prisoners we offered, they refused to release him back to Britain. The French, under the guise of ‘arson in Toulon,’ sentenced him to life imprisonment.”

As a historical novelist, Owen was always interested in such secret history. “How did he eventually return to Britain?”

Napier replied, “That’s thanks to our allies, the French Royalists. They forged administrative documents and rescued Admiral Smith under the guise of transferring him to a different prison.”

“What an incredible story,” Arthur said with a smile, “Royal Navy generals always have legendary experiences.”

Napier shook his head sarcastically, “No, no, no, Gambier doesn’t have such a legendary story. Well, you can’t say that either, his story is pretty legendary in a way. As a Royal Navy officer, he spent over a decade sitting in an office and still rose to the rank of admiral. What could be more legendary than that?”

Napier sighed, “When I joined the Royal Navy, I heard that the environment there was better than the army. If I had known that both were equally rotten, I might as well have joined my cousins over there.”

“Cousins?” Arthur thought back to the active generals in the army, “Are you talking about Major General James Napier of the army?”

“Yes, the three male members of our Napier family in this generation were all interested in the military. I went to the Royal Navy, my two cousins went to the army, one is James Napier, the other is William Napier. He also wrote a history of war, ‘History of the War in the Peninsula and in the South of France.’ Have you read it?”

Arthur heard the name, and his expression suddenly became strange. “That book… I read it in university, and I remember when it was published, didn’t it cause some controversy in Parliament and the academic world?”

Owen also remembered, “If I’m not mistaken, the literary critics at the time seemed to agree that the book was ‘the best French report on the war that has never been written.'”

Arthur chuckled, “If I recall correctly, Blackwood’s Magazine published an article saying that it was fortunate that the commander of the Peninsular War was the Duke of Wellington. If William Napier had led that army, he might have surrendered to Napoleon directly.”

Napier took a sip of tea, “Let them scold if they want, the Napier men are not to be scolded by their words. Besides, they should be grateful for our good manners and patience. If it had been Cochrane handling this matter, he would definitely have brought his men to teach those guys a lesson.”

Arthur asked, “Are you talking about the time when General Cochrane was suspected of manipulating the stock market, and he refused to cooperate with the parliamentary investigation, even bringing his officers to beat up the members of the investigation committee?”

“Not only that,” Napier put down his teacup, “Didn’t the Admiralty send people to beat him up as well? Those idiots at the Admiralty didn’t think about it. Cochrane was the one who, standing in the military court, still refused to change his ways, publicly cursing his superior, Gambier, as ‘a coward, a rat in the cabin.'”

Arthur asked, “But this year, General Cochrane inherited his father’s Earl title. His violent temper should have calmed down a bit, right?”

“Calm down? You’re really thinking too much.”

Napier said, “He’s clearly worse than before, now that he has a seat in the House of Lords, he naturally speaks even more forcefully to the Admiralty. If they couldn’t control him, why would the Admiralty carefully select me?

Alas, they can’t control Cochrane, but they can control me! Damn it! If I hadn’t gotten involved in that steam ship company back then, I wouldn’t have gone bankrupt and ended up being kneaded by the Admiralty at their will.”

“Steam ship company?”

Arthur was about to ask what happened, but Owen on the side suddenly realized.

Owen said, “So the steam ship passenger company that crossed the English Channel back then was your investment?”

Napier was surprised, “You know about this?”

Owen commented, “Not only do I know about it, I’ve even been on one. But frankly, the speed of the steam ship doesn’t seem to be much faster than a sailing ship. It’s novel the first time you ride it, but for long-distance trips, the ticket price is significantly higher than the regular sailing ferries.”

Napier slapped his forehead, “Sure enough, even you, an outsider, can see the problem. Alas… I was impulsive back then. Ever since I saw that steamboat built by Robert Fulton in New York, I couldn’t forget it.

At the time, there were no steamboat companies in Britain. I thought to myself, these people are stupid, such a good business opportunity, they actually missed it. It wasn’t until I got involved myself that I realized there was a reason why there were no steamboat companies in Britain. The speed wasn’t much faster than a sailing ship, and in most cases, it still relied on sails as auxiliary power. Plus, this thing is a coal guzzler, it’s not cost-effective from any perspective.”

Arthur heard the name Fulton and couldn’t help but laugh, “Why are the Royal Navy generals all fans of him? Admiral Sidney Smith kept recommending Fulton’s invention of the naval mine to the Admiralty, Admiral Thomas Cochrane loved his submarine, and you…”

Before Arthur could finish his sentence, Napier’s eyes lit up and he asked, “Submarine? Yes! How could I almost forget about that thing? Maybe after I finish this job, I can consider starting a submarine company?”

Arthur hurriedly advised, “You should hold off on making a decision for now. Before starting a company, you should probably go to Paris for a look. If the French haven’t dismantled Fulton’s inventions, the submarine he made should be parked near the Seine River.”

“Really?” Napier took out a notebook from his pocket and diligently recorded it, “What’s the name of that submarine? I’ll go take a look when I have time in Paris.”

Arthur smiled, “Fulton’s submarine is called the Nautilus. But I think, instead of using it to start a company, you’d be better off writing a novel about it.”

Owen chimed in with a playful tone, “Novel? Then I need to go on this inspection trip too. Maybe I can also be inspired and leave behind an immortal masterpiece.”

Arthur shook his head with a smile, “Mr. Owen, your fame is already great. Leave the Nautilus to someone else. Maybe we should talk about why you gave New York that nickname in ‘The Medley’?”

“Nickname?” Owen was taken aback for a moment, then laughed, “Oh, you mean Gotham? I just filled it in casually, there’s no special meaning. If you insist on finding a meaning, well, Gotham is a village of fools. But apart from that, I didn’t expect you to have read ‘The Medley’. That magazine should be over twenty years old.”

As the three were chatting, Louis suddenly pushed the door open and entered the guest room.

He smiled, “Mr. Owen, Mr. Napier, your outbound ships are ready. The ships of the Schweyer & Sons company, one is in the Azores, the other is transiting in the West Indies.”

Owen and Napier, upon hearing this, picked up their wooden suitcases and stood up to say goodbye, “Thank you, Mr. Hastings.”

Arthur also stood up with a smile, “I look forward to seeing you both again. Have a safe journey.”

He watched as they left the guest room under the guidance of the servants, then turned to Louis and asked, “Is my carriage ready to leave as well?”

Louis nodded slightly, “This afternoon at 1 o’clock. There will be others accompanying you, including the officials from the Liverpool City Council who are going to London for a report, and the lobbyists from the Liverpool Association. Of course, the diplomat from the Foreign Office is also on the list.”

Arthur heard this, adjusted his collar and nodded, “It seems everyone is in a hurry. Let’s go out now. Remember to call Alexander and Heinrich along. Louis, I’ll be away from Liverpool for a while, I’m leaving this place in your hands.”

“Don’t worry. But… Arthur, there’s something, I don’t know if it’s convenient…”

Arthur put on his overcoat and gloves, and without looking up, said, “About your cousin, Walewski?”

“Yes… If you find out where he is, or better yet, if you find him directly, could you…”

“You want to see him?”

“Yes, but don’t worry, our meeting will definitely not harm British interests.”

Arthur smoothed his gloves, looked up at Louis, and suddenly smiled, “Louis, you don’t need to emphasize that to me. Who can harm British interests more than the British themselves? Every country’s greatest enemy is itself. Even if you want to harm, it’s the interests of France you’ll be harming, oh, right, and Poland.”

“So…”

Arthur pushed open the door of the guest room, “You want to meet, no problem. But the condition is… I have to make sure he’s not the one firing the shots behind the scenes.”

(End of Chapter)