Chapter 265: Colony Exchange (Part 2)

From 1878 to 1880, these two years, the British Empire was absolutely the busiest country in the world.

Britain first interfered in the Russo-Turkish War with a strong posture, ensuring the safety of Constantinople and the stability of the straits.

Subsequently, Britain successively launched the Anglo-Afghan War and the Zulu War, constantly expanding Britain's colonial scope, which could be considered a not-small harvest.

But it was precisely the successive wars that made Britain's finances somewhat tight, forcing it to increase the income tax on the bourgeoisie.

This made the British government instantly lose the support of the bourgeoisie; the once-popular Prime Minister Disraeli was also condemned for his aggressive foreign policy and ultimately lost the new round of cabinet general election.

In mid-1880, Gladstone, the former Prime Minister who packaged himself as a warm-hearted protector of weak nations and used every opportunity to accuse and oppose Prime Minister Disraeli, finally seized the opportunity, won a complete victory in the general election, and ascended to the Prime Minister's throne again.

During the general election, Gladstone seductively proposed, "Do you agree with or condemn Disraeli's aggressive policy?", allowing the Liberal Party he belonged to to obtain a large number of votes.

And Gladstone, who opposed the aggressive policy, was also regarded by the British public as a hero who opposed Disraeli's conservative aggressive government, and also obtained the reputation of a friend of the Balkan Slavs.

After taking office as British Prime Minister, Gladstone also knew that he could no longer continue the wars launched by the Disraeli government.

These wars not only made the British government fall into the predicament of fiscal deficit but also aroused the anti-war sentiment of the British public.

Ending the war in time was the slogan Gladstone proposed during the general election; he could not go back on his word just because he successfully took office as Prime Minister.

Under the order of the new Prime Minister Gladstone, Britain soon ended the Anglo-Afghan War and announced that the British Empire would usher in a long-lost period of peace.

Peace is peace, but Gladstone's ambition was not smaller than Disraeli's. Since they could not expand colonies by war, then the British Empire's goal could only change from aggression to colonization; anyway, the results obtained in the end were not different.

In mid-August 1880, with the fermentation of the news about the Cuba colony, the British government also paid attention to the news about Spain's colonies.

Speaking of which, Britain had always been in a state of high attention towards Spain; even during the period when Spain was at its weakest, the British government still did not reduce its attention to Spain.

The reason was naturally that Spain's geographical location was too important; it was the only exit to the sea in the western Mediterranean and also a traffic artery connecting Europe and Africa.

Spain's geographical location was similar to that of the Ottoman Empire; both were connection points between Europe and Africa, and both possessed exits to the sea on both sides of the Mediterranean.

Britain obtained the majority of shares in the Suyishiyunhe through operation, which also allowed Britain to actually control the Suyishiyunhe, this quite important traffic artery.

But Britain was not without opponents. Many European countries, including France, needed to pass through the Suyishiyunhe to go to their colonies everywhere.

It was just that France was still in a state of being isolated; otherwise, France would have long ago put forward objections regarding the Suyishiyunhe.

This was also the reason why France was isolated by the German-Austrian-Russian Three Emperors' Alliance, and Britain still did not have any action. The Anglo-French contradiction was still a relatively intense contradiction; the hatred between Britain and France was not a bit less than the hatred between Germany and France.

If it was just a simple colonial rebellion, the British government would not be overly concerned. But along with the news of the rebellion in the Cuba colony, there were also rumors that the Spanish government might be forced to give up the Cuba colony.

Although it was just a rumor, thinking carefully, it also had a little bit of reason.

Even the British Empire would have a day when it was dragged down by war; although the Anglo-Afghan War and the Zulu War were small-scale wars, they also made the British Empire face serious fiscal losses, ultimately forcing it to increase the income tax on enterprises, which also made Prime Minister Disraeli completely offend the capitalist class.

The difficulty of Spain suppressing the rebellion in Cuba was lower, but the bad thing was that Cuba was separated from Spain itself by ten thousand miles.

Perhaps the military expenditure required for Spain to suppress the rebellion in the Cuba colony was much less than the military expenditure required for Britain to launch a war, but don't forget, the comprehensive national strength and economic volume between Spain and Britain were also not proportional.

The military expenditure that could drag down Spain might not be anything to the British Empire. The military expenditure that could drag down the British Empire might prompt the country to go bankrupt directly, or trigger a relatively serious economic crisis for Spain.

"Gentlemen, let's talk about it. It is possible for the Spanish to give up the Cuba colony; what attitude should we maintain in this event?" The new Prime Minister Gladstone looked at the cabinet ministers with a pair of sharp eyes and put forward the first question of this cabinet meeting.

Gladstone was the leader of the Liberal Party, and the Liberal Party government he formed was a government that completely leaned towards the bourgeoisie.

In order to obtain the support of the bourgeoisie, Gladstone announced the abolition of the decree of former Prime Minister Disraeli on the first day he took office as Prime Minister, canceling the additional income tax levied on capitalists.

Although doing so made the British government have less income, it did indeed please the bourgeoisie. The bourgeoisie returned the favor by launching a public opinion offensive, soon letting Gladstone obtain the support of a large number of the public and workers.

Since it was a government formed by the Liberal Party, what the government cared about most was naturally the interests related to capital.

Spain's colonies were nothing special, but as the world's largest sugar producer, Cuba's economic value was relatively high among all colonies in the world.

Just the income brought by the sugar industry was a considerable figure, not to mention that Cuba's geographical location was also very important; going north could contain the United States, going south could clamp down on South America, which could be called a place that must be contested by all in the era of colonizing the Americas.

"Prime Minister, this might be an opportunity for us." As the confidant of Prime Minister Gladstone, the British Foreign Secretary stood up first and put forward his own point of view: "

If Spain is unwilling to give up Cuba, that's fine; if they are willing to give up Cuba, I think it is very necessary for us to get this colony.

Cuba is the world's largest sugar producer; the sugar produced is not only popular in the Americas but also transported to Europe in large quantities for sale every year.

If we can control the Cuba colony, we can control the sugar trade in the Americas, earning a large amount of income through the sugar trade to make up for the fiscal revenue lost after we abolished the additional income tax bill.

Besides this, Cuba's strategic location is also very important. Cuba can connect with our Bahamas colony and Jamaica colony, and if necessary, it can blockade the Gulf of Mexico to achieve the goal of containing the United States' expansion.

If we let the United States obtain this piece of land, we will find it difficult to stop the United States' expansion to the south. Although the United States currently has not shown too much threat, on this piece of land in the Americas, there is no country of the same level that can threaten the safety of the United States.

If we do not contain the United States' expansion, in the next few decades or even a hundred years, the American continent might give birth to a superpower that we cannot imagine."

Gladstone nodded, but did not express his own point of view, but looked at the other cabinet ministers.

A few seconds later, another cabinet minister stood up and said his completely opposite point of view: "Foreign Minister, I hold a completely opposite attitude towards your point of view.

First of all, whether the Spanish will give up the Cuba colony is a question worth considering.

Judging from the income and importance produced by the Cuba colony, I think the Spanish will probably not give up this piece of land.

Even if they are willing to give up the Cuba colony, what price should we use to obtain this piece of land?

Besides India, Canada, Australia, and South Africa, we have no colonies that can match the economic value of the Cuba colony.

The importance of the Straits Settlements can be comparable to the Cuba colony, but are we really willing to give up the entire Straits Settlements for a Cuba?

To make the Spanish agree to give up the Cuba colony, we must pay an equal price. Such exchange conditions are not necessarily beneficial to us; it is better to wait for the attitude of other countries for the time being; anyway, the Spanish government side also has no relevant statement."

Although the British Empire was the most powerful colonial empire in the world, the British Empire did not have many large colonies.

Of course, the main reason for this was that the British Empire's colonies were too vast. Canada, India, and Australia were all lands with an area of millions or even tens of millions of square kilometers, and the India colony even possessed a population of hundreds of millions.

These colonies certainly could not be exchanged with Spain; let alone a small Cuba, even Spain itself, for the British Empire, its value was absolutely not comparable to the harvest brought by an India.

Besides these three large colonies of Canada, India, and Australia, the colonies that Britain could take out were only the Cape Colony and the Straits Settlements.

The Cape Colony was located at the southernmost tip of Africa, which was the South Africa of later generations. Britain could not possibly give up the Cape Colony; this not only concerned Britain's plan for the connection of African colonies but also concerned Britain's deployment in the South Africa region.

The Straits Settlements were not as important as South Africa, but because of the important geographical location of the Straits Settlements, it also had a quite important role at the strategic level.

These colonies were not easily abandoned for the British Empire; even if they were used to exchange for the Cuba colony, the British were also not very willing.

Besides these large colonies and colonies with high strategic value, the remaining colonies of Britain were all relatively small, and their value was also not very high.

The representatives of these small colonies included the Bahamas near Cuba, Jamaica, Honduras, Guyana, and the Gold Coast, Gambia, Sierra Leone, etc., in Africa.

The number of these small colonies was countless; some colonies at least possessed a population of tens of thousands to over a hundred thousand, some colonies were directly composed of one or several small islands, the population was at most only a few thousand, and some even only had a few hundred people.

Wanting to exchange Spain's Cuba colony with such small colonies was obviously somewhat daydreaming.

The British government itself felt it was impossible after thinking about it; how could the Spanish agree to such conditions?

Hearing the completely different rebuttal, British Prime Minister Gladstone also nodded, and the enthusiasm in his heart was also extinguished a little.

Wanting to get the Cuba colony, one must pay an equal interest, at least not too different.

Spain was after all a power country; Britain's set of strong-arm tactics would not be fulfilled on Spain.

It would be fine if it was during Spain's weak period; at worst, they would offend the Spanish. But the current Spain was one that Britain did not want to offend; Spain had good diplomatic relations with the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Italy, and France also had to rely on Spain to break through Germany's blockade.

In such a situation, Spain was not very afraid of Britain's threat. Britain's behavior of gradually controlling the exits to the sea on both sides of the Mediterranean had already aroused the dissatisfaction of European countries; if the situation was unscrupulous again, there would sooner or later be a day of being liquidated.

Although Britain was the world's number one power, Britain's strength was obviously not strong enough to resist all European countries.

Especially in the situation where the British public was already tired of war, how to obtain the Cuba colony in a peaceful environment was the problem the British government needed to consider.

Although the rebuttal side's point of view was also very reasonable, the Foreign Minister side also put forward new opinions: "

We indeed do not know Spain's attitude, but Spain's attitude can be manipulated by us.

If we add another fire to the Cuba colony, no matter how much Spain does not want to give up Cuba, it must consider the harm brought by continuing to control Cuba.

Gentlemen, in the final analysis, Spain's industry and economy are still at the bottom of the powers. A Cuba that frequently rebels is a quagmire that Spain can never walk out of; they also have to consider the country's normal development, right?

Ma Deli's city that never sleeps and trams look glorious, but this was born under the condition that the Spanish Royal Family invested heavily in scientific research.

Our government needs a large amount of funds to build London's city that never sleeps, and the funds Spain invests in Ma Deli's city that never sleeps and trams will only be more.

In such a situation, the Spanish certainly do not want to invest too much funds in military expenditure, and they certainly do not have too much funds that can be used as military expenditure.

If the Spanish are unwilling to give up the Cuba colony, we can make the Cuba colony become more chaotic, making the Spanish have to give up the Cuba colony.

A Cuba colony that has already broken away from control will certainly have its value drop a lot. When the day comes when Spain cannot suppress the rebellion in Cuba, we will discuss the matter of colony exchange with Spain again, and the price that needs to be paid will be much less.

For us, this is a good opportunity that absolutely cannot be given up. If we can obtain a colony of a relatively large scale in a peaceful way, not only can we avoid the dissatisfaction of the public, but we can also improve our achievements, right?"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 266 =====