Chapter 334: 1889

The development of events disappointed Gao Da. Although the French pointed their finger directly at the British, who controlled the Suez Canal, during these talks, the relationship between Britain and France did not deteriorate rapidly, and there was no possibility of a war breaking out.

This also meant that Gao Da's plan to annex Morocco during an Anglo-French war had fallen through. As long as no conflict or war erupted between Britain and France, it would be impossible for Spain to annex Morocco.

Since nothing happened, Spain could only pretend that it had done nothing and quietly wait for the final outcome of these talks.

After months of negotiations, the participating countries finally reached a relatively clear agreement regarding the free navigation of the Suez Canal and agreed to sign this treaty in Constantinople.

On October 29, 1888, led by France, European countries including Germany, Italy, Spain, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Netherlands, Russia, the Ottoman Empire, and Portugal officially signed the "Constantinople Convention" in Constantinople, declaring the Suez Canal an international waterway open to free navigation by all nations, which should not be controlled by any single country.

The British were quite angry about the "Constantinople Convention" led by France, but they were helpless.

If the British were to express any opposing opinions or attitudes at this moment, it would be equivalent to confirming that Britain's claim to ownership of the Suez Canal stood in opposition to these signatory nations.

One must know that all European powers except Britain had signed the "Constantinople Convention," which meant that as long as the British dared to oppose this treaty, Britain would stand against the entire European continent.

The British government was clever; they did not react at all after the various countries announced the signing of this treaty.

The British government adopted an attitude of ignoring, not responding, and pretending the meeting never happened, so that the signatory countries had no reason to interfere with Britain's control over the canal.

If they wanted to seize control of the canal from the British, they could only do so through war. Don't be fooled by how readily these countries signed the treaty; if it actually came to fighting a war against the British, it is estimated that few countries would be willing to participate.

Unless super-powers like Germany, France, and Russia were willing to step forward, only if they shouldered the pressure would other European countries perhaps consider a war with Britain.

Clearly, because it was the French who led the signing of the treaty, even if someone had to step forward, it would certainly be the French.

There were indeed irreconcilable contradictions between Britain and France, and logically speaking, it was possible for the French to step forward and start a war with Britain to seize control of the canal.

But clearly, the France of this time was not the France of the European hegemony era before the Franco-Prussian War. In that period, because France was a monarchy, Emperor Napoleon III could easily push the entire nation to launch a war and commit the country's entire material and financial resources, as well as its entire military.

But now that it was in the republic stage, it was not so easy for either the president or the prime minister to launch a war.

Moreover, it was a war against the most powerful superpower, Britain; for France in any period, launching such a war required careful deliberation.

After a period of careful deliberation, the French government ultimately decided not to escalate the conflict with the British.

This also led to the "Constantinople Convention," which originally held great benefits for European countries, becoming empty talk to a certain extent, with many of its contents unable to be effectively guaranteed.

Of course, because there were many countries that signed the treaty, Britain also dared not recklessly violate the contents of the "Constantinople Convention."

Because there was no action from Britain or France after the treaty was signed, Gao Da could only disappointedly turn his gaze back to Spain's domestic development.

It is worth mentioning that after the completion of Spain's political reform plan, the work reports submitted annually by the states and municipal governments to the cabinet and parliament had become much thicker.

Because the cabinet and parliament could decide the fate of government officials at all levels, this led to a more proactive work attitude among all levels of government.

The most obvious evidence was that the growth data for Spain's population, industry, and economy had improved significantly; clearly, a considerable number of officials had achieved tangible results.

The most prominent among these was the population growth of Spain's twin cities, Madrid and Barcelona.

As the capital and most populous city of Spain, at the beginning of 1889, Madrid officially announced that its population had exceeded 1 million, becoming the first city in Spain to surpass one million people.

This was a milestone absolutely worthy of being remembered in history, and a great achievement that had never appeared in Spanish history before.

Gao Da even personally summoned the Mayor of Madrid at the beginning of 1889, not only praising his work achievements in recent years but also promising not to treat the country's meritorious officials unfairly.

Although Barcelona's population scale was slightly smaller than Madrid's, it was not inferior to Madrid in terms of population growth rate.

According to the report from the Barcelona municipal government at the end of 1888, the total population of Barcelona had reached 884, 00, infinitely close to the scale of one million.

It could be expected that Barcelona would become the second city in Spain with a population of over one million within the next two years, and the gap in population and industrial economic scale between the twin cities and other Spanish cities would continue to widen.

For Spain, such a problem was inevitable. The population gap between these two cities and other small and medium-sized cities was already large, and coupled with the fact that in the ten or twenty years since Gao Da became the King of Spain, these two cities had developed at an unparalleled speed, it ultimately led to the twin cities having more and more people, while the population growth rate of other cities clearly could not keep up with Madrid and Barcelona.

In the short term, the more people in the twin cities, the better it was for Spain. The Barcelona industrial base had hundreds of thousands of jobs, yet Barcelona only had 880, 00 people; this was clearly quite unreasonable.

Currently, many people worked in Barcelona but were still not permanent residents of the city. Many of these people would eventually choose to join the Barcelona household registry; after all, this was where they worked, and they would likely put down roots here in the future.

As the capital of Spain, it was only natural for Madrid to attract a large number of immigrants. For most countries in the world, the capital was basically the largest city in the country.

Unless there were geographical or other factors hindering it, the development of the capital would definitely be among the best or even absolutely leading among all cities in the country.

Madrid did indeed have certain geographical constraints; it was almost impossible for it to become a city with millions of people like London or Paris.

The cabinet and the Madrid government also had their own plans for the development of the capital; in the future, Madrid's population growth rate would need to be lowered, and the total population of Madrid needed to be controlled at around 1. million; any more would cause traffic congestion.

This also meant that in the next 10 to 20 years, Barcelona would surpass Madrid to become the most populous city in Spain.

Considering Barcelona's industrial base and its geographical advantage of being located by the sea, Barcelona might surpass Madrid not only in population but also comprehensively in industry and economy.

Of course, no matter how developed Barcelona became, only Madrid could be the capital of Spain. Madrid was located in the center of the entire Iberian Peninsula, and its geographical location was quite important.

Even if Portugal or Morocco were annexed in the future, Gao Da would not consider moving the capital. It is worth mentioning that the current Mayor of Barcelona had long since changed. Baron Angelo Orcajo, whom Gao Da had always favored, was finally promoted by Gao Da to be the Mayor of Barcelona after serving as the head of the Barcelona industrial zone for nearly 10 years.

The population explosion in Barcelona also took place during his tenure. In the few years since becoming the Mayor of Barcelona, the population of Barcelona had increased by nearly 200, 00; such political performance was quite excellent.

If it weren't for the fact that the cabinet elections were still some time away, Gao Da would have even wanted to promote Baron Angelo to the position of Minister of Industry or another cabinet minister, allowing him to experience better growth and training in the cabinet government.

For Gao Da, Baron Angelo was a potential candidate for the next Prime Minister.

He was of noble birth, so his loyalty to the royal family could be guaranteed. More importantly, Baron Angelo Orcajo's family had long since fallen into decline, which also meant he was no longer a member of the traditional nobility.

Gao Da was already considering granting him the title of Count, firstly to recognize his political achievements in the industrial zone and Barcelona, and secondly to promote him as a member of the new nobility, allowing him to completely separate himself from the old noble forces.

Because the old nobility owned large tracts of land, their ideas were more conservative, and their loyalty to the royal family was not as high as one might imagine.

After all, Gao Da, the King, was an outsider; it would be a miracle if these local nobles had high loyalty to an outsider king.

But the new nobility was different. Although the problem of an outsider king still existed, because these new nobles were all personally promoted by Gao Da, their loyalty to Gao Da would be higher and more trustworthy.

More importantly, because the new nobility did not have much land or other traditional assets, their ideas and strategies would not be so conservative, making them more suitable for the Spain of Gao Da's reign.

Although the Conservative Party currently occupied half of the Spanish parliament, Gao Da had not completely banned the Liberal Party and the Progressive Party, partly because Gao Da was not very willing to let the Conservative Party hold absolute power.

The Conservative Party was a strengthening factor for royal power, but for an emerging Spain, it was not necessarily a good thing for the Conservative Party to hold absolute power.

Compared to the conservative-leaning Prime Minister Canovas, Baron Angelo might be able to become a more excellent Prime Minister after receiving certain training.

The reason Gao Da was scouting for the next Prime Minister was actually because of Prime Minister Canovas's old age.

As of now, the cooperation between Gao Da and Prime Minister Canovas was quite smooth. Since Count Canovas became Prime Minister in 1872, Gao Da had truly gained the power of the King and continued to deepen the reforms that Prime Minister Primo had not completed.

11 years had passed, and Prime Minister Canovas could be considered a high-ranking and powerful official in Spain.

But no matter how much Gao Da trusted him, the traditions established by the constitution could not be broken.

For Prime Minister Canovas, after the term of this cabinet ended, he would have no chance to wait for the next-next Prime Minister election.

There were still three years left in this Prime Minister's term, plus the 5-year term of the intervening Prime Minister, which made for a full 8 years.

Prime Minister Canovas was born in 1828 and was already 61 years old this year. If he waited another 8 years, he would be 69; even if he could be elected as Prime Minister then, what energy would he have at that age to handle the government's numerous affairs?

When Gao Da carried out government-related reforms, he also constantly emphasized the necessity of rejuvenating government officials at all levels.

For Spain and Gao Da, the future Spain did not need a 69-year-old Prime Minister.

This also meant one thing: after Prime Minister Canovas's term ended, Gao Da had to choose an official he trusted to serve as the Prime Minister of the new cabinet.

In addition to being trusted by Gao Da, this official also needed to have a certain level of ability. Clearly, Baron Angelo Orcajo was a very suitable candidate.

Of course, besides him, Gao Da also had backup candidates.

The current Minister of Industry, Jovellar Soler, was a member of the Conservative Party and the nobility, and Gao Da also trusted his loyalty quite a bit.

However, compared to Baron Angelo and Prime Minister Canovas, Jovellar Soler's ability was weaker.

However, Minister Jovellar Soler had high prestige in the Conservative Party; if Baron Angelo could not successfully serve as Prime Minister, Minister Jovellar Soler was a good backup choice.

Besides Minister Jovellar Soler, the current Minister of Defense, Evan Bradley, was another option.

Evan Bradley was suitable to play the role of Grand Duke Serrano, that is, a nominal Prime Minister, to control the government and stabilize the situation in the short term.

Evan Bradley had served as Minister of Defense for three consecutive cabinets and had extremely high prestige in the military; there was no problem with him controlling the government in the short term.

Moreover, Minister Evan Bradley's loyalty was extremely high; for Gao Da, this was also a trustworthy candidate.

From these backup candidates, one could also see Gao Da's attitude toward choosing a Spanish Prime Minister: loyalty first, ability second.

In any case, Spain's development was controlled by Gao Da, so the Prime Minister's ability was not that important. On the contrary, the Prime Minister's loyalty to Gao Da was key; only by ensuring the Prime Minister's loyalty to Gao Da could the situation in Spain be stabilized.

Gao Da did not want to encounter an ambitious Prime Minister. This would not only threaten Gao Da's royal power but also affect the reforms and development that Gao Da had carefully laid out in Spain for a long time.

For Gao Da, unless he could meet that kind of extremely capable and unique-visioned Prime Minister, Gao Da would not delegate power excessively.

The Spanish Prime Minister would have his own power, but this power could not interfere with royal power. During Gao Da's reign, the division of power between the King and the Prime Minister was always like this.

Only when Gao Da reached his later years would he consider re-dividing power; in order to prevent incompetent descendants from leading the entire country into the abyss, only then would royal power be weakened.

(End of chapter)