19: Chapter 19: Washington
_oOo_
Arrival
_oOo_
"Funny design" said Fitzwilliam while overflying Washington shining in the evening sun.
"It is said that the city map has been created by the freemasons with esoteric knowledge in mind" said d'Arcy. "There's a rumor about a secret society who's behind the design and, on a much larger scale, behind the official government."
"Behind the official government? What do you mean with these words?"
"That there is a group of people who doesn't show itself in bright light that manipulates the official government."
"You said there's a rumor… Is there a rumor or is there a reality?"
"Both, your majesty. There is the rumor and there is a group of people who plays the puppet master in the background. I knew a few of the people involved but that was ten years ago. I had to convince a few of them to stop playing God. Some of them died of lack of understanding, which pushed the survivors to choose to get out of France. They disappeared from England the month following my entrance in London. I no longer have accurate information about the whole business." He smiled in his insufferable usual manner. "But if you want me to get more information, I have a few sleeper cells I could awake."
Fitzwilliam shook his head.
"Not yet, not yet… It depends greatly on what will happen while I'm in Washington." He looked his brother in the eyes. "But be ready it could be that we have to move quickly."
"Move? Move to do what? Show a clean pair of heels?"
"No" answered Fitzwilliam. "Move like in strike fast and deadly!"
D'Arcy did nod without batting an eyelid.
"I'll do what I can to get everybody on a war footing. But it could take some time to get the names we need."
"You're right" agreed Fitzwilliam. "Let the search begin, I need to be able to know who's making the decisions."
"Will do" said d'Arcy while exciting the forward lounge. "I will begin with looking for those people who left Europe ten years ago. They should know a thing or two. I'll keep you posted."
_oOo_
"Where's papa?" asked William while looking around them.
"He said goodbye last night, and I haven't seen him since" answered Jane. "I suppose he is no longer aboard."
"Not aboard, we are on an airship and we have been at five thousand feet altitude till…" he stopped and made a face.
Jane smiled and shrugged.
"Welcome to the life of master spy's family" whispered she. "Last night he had a long conversation with Fitzwilliam. I suppose we could ask your Uncle about the subject they talked about but I'm not sure we would get a straight answer."
"You are probably right mamma. We'll have to ask papa when he's back. He won't lie to you, will he?"
"Probably not but he is not beyond a non-committal answer. Need to know and so on…"
"I'm the Heir, I could insist!"
Jane smiled, tousled his hair and stooped to kiss the top of his head.
"You could but he has a lot of experience in dodging honest questions."
"I'll try nevertheless!"
"Do that, sweetheart, but be aware that he can be very uncooperative when he believes that too much knowledge could put someone he loves at risk."
William finally turned to look at her. And it wasn't the heir who was looking at her but an alarmed little boy.
"I hope nothing happens to him and that he will come back, mamma… He's no longer a young man."
Jane couldn't help but smile at her son's comment.
Indeed, her husband was no longer a young man. But he was still a very fit and trained fighter and even if he no longer made his two hours long fighting training with his men –the man who did that was dead after all- he had other means to stay in good shape. A little blush came to her cheek because some of them were at night and involved her and Maureen.
"He knows that as well as you, William, and he has plenty reasons to come back. So, he'll be careful and cautious while dealing with your Uncle's business."
_oOo_
God, this shit is no longer for old men like me…
With fifty-one he was beginning to feel his age. Even if he rather liked parachuting while he was gliding toward the earth he didn't like it at all in its last phase. Earthing did not agree with his knees.
Luckily for tonight he hadn't earthed but watered. He was perhaps wet but his joints had shown him more than once that they liked a dive in cool water a lot more than a hard meeting with even harder earth.
He slowly folded his chute, opened his waterproofed bag and began to change. The wet wool flying-suit would have to disappear in the Potomac with rocks to lest it. The boots he would keep. Wet shoes were a nuisance but not really suspicious and he needed to be inconspicuous until he could make it to his main agent. A sleeper who had, if what he knew about him five years ago was still accurate, succeeded in business and was managing a prosperous weapon retailer shop in Georgetown.
He put the chute in the bag and shouldered it as if it was his luggage. He looked at the map and decided to follow the Potomac toward the North. The first encountered bridge would bring him over into Georgetown. He walked toward the street and began to survey his surroundings. It wouldn't do to be noticed at less than an hour before making contact.
_oOo_
"By God, I was hoping to never again hear this signal…"
Coxney Wilson –born Corentin Wallaert in Calais- was his age and more than a little wobbly around his waist.
"It would have been a good thing, but I fear that France will need you and your crew very soon now."
He heard his man sigh.
"So, the rumors are right, there will be an invasion?"
"It is not yet unstoppable but New Orleans is already in French hands. And the troops are still landing. If it comes to a confrontation, the United States are doomed."
"How long do we have?"
D'Arcy couldn't help but notice the 'we' in his agent's sentence. He had no doubt that he was now on America's side.
He chose not to point at it. After all wasn't he too now nearer to their old enemies than to France?
"Tomorrow the Regent of Great Britain will land at the white house and present a certain number of propositions to nip this war in the bud. But we need to be sure that nobody behind the scenes will work against what could very well be this country's last chance to survive."
"What do you mean behind the scenes?"
D'Arcy looked his agent in the eyes.
"Remember the Bauers, Rockefellers and consorts… They are still playing King Maker, aren't they?"
Coxney grunted.
"They are not only making the Kings but every other politician in the Congress. They are behind at least half of the Congress' bills."
D'Arcy nodded.
"I need an exhaustive list of all the players, Coxney, and everything you can tell me about the political situation here in Washington. It is important; if we can 'convince' the main players to support the British propositions the war could stop at what had already happened." He looked at his agent. "I know that you're no longer an outsider here and that your heart beats with your new homeland, by helping me you help both France to avoid a slaughter of his soldiers and the United States to avoid ceasing existence. It could matter, don't you think?"
_oOo_
The formalities had taken the whole day and when the middle of the afternoon was finally reached Jane decided that the kids had had enough and that they needed to go get some rest. She gave the signal to Lizzie who nodded just before speaking with Fitzwilliam who looked at Jane and gave his consent with a smile.
Five minutes later the Bennet sisters and the little gang of their kids who had been drafted to play the perfectly educated young heirs had vanished from the late afternoon garden party hosted by the Legacy of Great Britain.
Fitzwilliam joined Charles who was, as usual, speaking techno babble with some of his American fans and gave him the little wink they had prepared in advance to signal that the time to go to work has arrived.
Charles excused himself from his enthusiastic fans and followed Fitzwilliam to join the little group where the President of the United States was conversing with a few other guests –Vice President Clinton, the Secretary of State Smith and members or the Congress with wives if Fitzwilliam exhaustive knowledge about the political situation in the USA was right- to exchange another little round of uninteresting platitudes.
"I saw your wives retreat into the house with the little ones" said one of the women. "I suppose the kids could no longer cope with the boring party."
"They were showing signs of tiredness, indeed, but it was their intense boredom which triggered the retreat decision" agreed Fitzwilliam. "We were slowly reaching the point where even the best-behaved kids would begin to look after something –anything in fact- to make the tediousness disappear. Jane has a very keen eye when it comes to surveying the kids' mood and she just signaled me that the times were ripping steadily."
"They will be back for the State Dinner, I hope?" asked President Madison.
"Not all of them" replied Charles. "Elizabeth and Catherine will be back as soon as the kids are at bed, but I suppose that Jane and Maureen will stay till they sleep. And after that only Jane will join us. It is a family consensus that they kids are never let alone in a foreign environment where we don't manage security ourselves."
One of the women, probably the local gossipmonger shared a knowing smile.
"Maureen being the pretty redhead, if I don't err. She was Jane d'Arcy's bodyguard before marrying into the family, wasn't she? So, the choice is indeed evident." The whole commentary letting no doubt to their listeners why it was evident that it would be Maureen who would not come back.
Fitzwilliam, who had always been very tickly when it came to protect his family, made a mental note to remember the little overweight lady facing him. Nobody could slander a member of his family without feeling the consequences. She didn't know it, but she just crashed her husband's political career. And knowing d'Arcy's susceptibility he really hoped that said politician was clean as a white bed sheet, because if he was not, he would pay the bill in a lot of different manners.
Charles' somber glance confirmed him to the family's agreement on that matter.
"She was d'Arcy's former paramour" said Fitzwilliam in his best icy tone, "and it was Jane who intervened with her husband to give the woman who saved her life while being in love with her husband what she coveted most." He smiled at the little lady who had clearly gotten his message since she was beginning to perspire lightly. "Thus are the Bennet women! Always at the service of true friendship and love."
"But even if Jane is a saint" added Charles with a shark's smile of his own, "that's not the case for all of them and I know at least of two of the sisters who are able to hold a grudge when one of theirs is slandered publicly."
Fitzwilliam couldn't help but smile at Charles' unusual unkindness in this matter. He decided to take the floor before Charles' perfectly credible image of kind, but fuzzy techno freak was totally destroyed.
"And since their marriage" said Fitzwilliam, "they have been the best of friends and very close. And you are right; Maureen is one of the best close-range fighters I've ever encountered. Last time a few fanatics tried to attack one of our kids in Spalatro she killed the four of them before they could even enter the close-range perimeter. If there's a woman who's able to deal with her enemies; she's the one. Under her surveillance I'm sure that nobody will ever reach one of the kids alive."
The Congressman, probably aware that his wife just put her foot down in a very unwisely manner, decided that it was time to make themselves scarce. They disappeared within seconds under the not very friendly gazes of Charles and Fitzwilliam.
"That was a neat execution if I ever saw one" guffawed Robert Smith visibly very satisfied with what had just happened. "You're quite the conservationist, your majesty…"
Fitzwilliam shot him his most nefarious glance.
"You should perhaps wait on the return of my wife, Mister Smith…"
Robert Smith couldn't help but look amazed.
"Why should I wait on the return of your wife?"
Fitzwilliam's teeth appeared very slowly in what could, in certain circumstances, have some semblance with a smile.
"Because within the last thirty months, at twenty-three different occasions you've publicly stated that I am only my wife's puppet. Your discourse these last two years has always been that Elizabeth was the real power behind the throne. You should wait till she's here to speak with the person who makes the decisions. It would save everybody here a lot of time…"
Fitzwilliam's declaration was greeted with an awkward silence.
Smith visibly unable to decide what to do looked at Madison who chose to beard the lion in his den.
"I warned you, Robert that your declarations would arrive to his Majesty's ears. You wouldn't listen…"
Smith frown deepened and he looked at Madison as if betrayed.
"And my Majesty is very angered at being shown like a jester by a drug addict and rapist" added Fitzwilliam who had quite a complete file on said Secretary of State. "I would, if I were you, avoid putting a foot in any British dominion while I'm Regent. Because even if I'm not a mystic I can predict that would you ever been caught on British soil you'd be hanged for lèse-majesté." Fitzwilliam's smile took an even eviler glint. "And be sure that, should you survive the French takeover of your country I would ask Napoleon, as a personal favor, to have you handed over to me!"
Smith was a politician and he knew that remaining silent to Fitzwilliam's threat would be the end of his political career. If there was anything to salvage, it had to be done now. He was just opening his mouth to shriek his outrage when Fitzwilliam's hand caught him by the shoulder and his fingers exerted pressure on a very peculiar spot d'Arcy had shown him. Overwhelmed by an unbearable pain Smith was literally paralyzed.
"You're a despicable man who believes that slandering people while they are not able to defend themselves is fair sport. Since you decided which rules we follow, I'll not hesitate to go in the direction you yourself chose. So, let it be known that I do know how to play the slandering game. With the difference that I can back-up my accusations. Tomorrow morning the file my very efficient spies have gathered about you and your little vicious faults will be handed over to all major American Newspapers. I really hope you have real friends somewhere out there because tomorrow you'll see the false ones melt like snow in the sun." He pinched a last time and Smith couldn't help but go to his knees.
"I appreciated your efforts, Mr. Smith," Fitzwilliam said in a loud and stentorian voice that draw the attention of half the present people at the garden party. "But really, even with you on your knees I can't accept your apologies and I will go on with the publication of your loathsome life story. I'm sorry but you've slandered me once too much. I'll show you that I can fight as dirty as you do."
Fitzwilliam finally let go and looked at Madison while Smith tried to overcome his befuddlement.
"Sorry for having lost my temper, Mr. President, but I fear that some of my late brother in law's bad temper has rubbed over on me." He bowed. "We'll retire now in order to let you decide how you want to react to my little faux-pas."
Madison was prompt to reassure him.
"I saw no faux-pas at all, your Majesty. Mister Smith has these last months repeatedly slandered your name and I know no man who would have accepted to let such acts go without reacting. You've chosen to react in a personal way to his wrongdoings and I can only assure you that I appreciate your willingness not to consider that his words were spoken on behalf of the Government of the United States."
With those words Smith snapped out of his bewilderment. He jumped up and his fist went straight to Fitzwilliam's chin! Where he never arrived!
Fitzwilliam who the last ten years had been trained first by his wife and then by d'Arcy just let his reflexes speak for him and in less than a second Smith was again kneeling on the lawn. This time with his cheek scrubbing the lawn and Fitzwilliam's foot strangling him at the neck.
Within two minutes three gendarmes of the legacy's crew were there and were taking Smith into custody.
"Let me go" shouted Smith. "I'm a member of the American Cabinet your monkeys have no right to lay hands on me."
Fitzwilliam smiled at him.
"Must I remind you, Mr. Smith that you are here in the gardens of the British legacy, which means on British soil!" Smith's face became white as a sheet. "I was ready to forget that little detail while we were only speaking of a few slanderous words. But for what could clearly be looked at as an attempt at my life, I can't really show leniency without looking as if I'm weak. So, since your attempt was conducted under British sovereignty and in conformity to our laws, I do fear that you'll soon face the executioner… It was a pleasure to crush you, Mr. Smith and it will be an even greater pleasure to see you whimper while being dragged toward the scaffold."
Mr. Smith was a lot more demure while being pulled toward the building under the shocked eyes and searing comments of his fellow politicians.
Fitzwilliam sighed and looked at the President.
"Don't be afraid I'll have him handed over to your police forces tomorrow morning. I won't risk a diplomatic incident because of a man like him. Scaring him for a few hours should be revenge enough." He stopped smiling. "But everything else I said earlier is still accurate. Don't let him go where I am the sovereign while I am the sovereign, he won't come back. And that's a promise."
He bowed a last time toward the little group.
"I'll excuse myself now. I have to speak with my counselors in prevision of tonight's State Dinner and tomorrow's speech before the Congress."
Madison bowed back.
"See you later your Majesty."
"We'll be on schedule at eight o'clock at the White House…"
_oOo_
"That went well" said Charles with a smug smile on his lips. "Nobody has been able to see anything. You should have convinced them that you are not a man to take lightly."
"I hope so; it was the goal of the whole scheme, after all."
They soon were joined by their wives and Maureen.
"We saw you from the window, dear" said Lizzie. "I'm very proud of you, Fitzwilliam, you were perfect."
"Your movement was even more perfect" commented Maureen. "He never saw you coming. Very impressing, your Majesty. I'm quite sure they'll take you a lot more seriously now that they have seen you at work."
"Do they sleep?"
"Not yet" answered Lizzie. "It was boring like hell for them,and they needed a little exercise to let the steam out. Jane is directing a little self-defense exercise in the winter garden. After that and a bath they should spend a good and restful night."
"I hope so" said Fitzwilliam. "A lot depends on William's speech tomorrow."
"Don't be worried, I'll rehearse it with him and the kids tomorrow morning" said Maureen. "They'll be as ready as possible, if we had spoken with them about it this evening, they would have lost their sleep. So now they sleep, and we have the whole morning to let them get the gist or what we propose. I'm quite sure they will like it…"
Fitzwilliam made a face.
"William is very young to be handed such a difficult task, don't we make a mistake?"
"No" said Kitty. "He'll be up to the occasion, you'll see. And coming from him it will have a lot more weight than coming from you. You'll see he will do great!"
Lizzie came to his side and forced him to look in her eyes.
"You cannot bear all the world's weight. He'll make your proposition and they'll have to decide if they are interested. Whatever they decide it is their decision, you, you will have done everything in your power to save them."
He embraced her.
"You're right but I can't help being anxious."
She shook her head.
"They are an arrogant bunch; you knew it before coming here! It seems that it is their turn to learn humility. They can learn it the soft or the hard way." She smiled at him. "If I remember well you learned the hard way and I love what came out with all my heart."
"What would I have become without you?"
"You'll never know, and I'm quite satisfied with it…"
_oOo_
"Here's the list," said d'Arcy while sitting in front of Fitzwilliam.
"How was the little side trip?" asked Mr. Bennet.
"Revealing about my age" sighed d'Arcy. "I'm really too old for this kind of business. Thank God we are in August and I could water and not land. My knees hate parachute landings. I prefer a thousand-time moist socks to shattered knees."
"Well" smiled Fitzwilliam, "if it helps you don't look your age."
"You mean while I dye my white hairs?"
"Indeed" confessed Fitzwilliam. "And it helps your disguise. With your black beard covering your face the only thing you have in common with your first incarnation are the eyes. Your grey green eyes are very revealing…"
"My glasses help there a lot" smiled d'Arcy.
"And it gives you a scholarly air that is not at all d'Arcy-like," added Charles.
"You'll get your white hair soon enough, youngster! You'll see…"
"I don't doubt it a second, old man" smiled Charles. "But my knees are still able to resist a little parachute jump and you still have a twenty years advance!"
"Boys" interrupted Mr. Bennet. "We have serious business pending; must I remind it to you?"
"No, you don't" answered Fitzwilliam. "But it all depends on William this afternoon. If they react badly, we won't get anything."
"We have the list" said d'Arcy. "It will help to get a message. I propose the double State Dinner as initially thought of."
"It could be a solution, but I cannot not be at the official State Dinner where the members of the Congress and the Cabinet will be" said Fitzwilliam. "And we need somebody with an official role to make the necessary threats at the secondary Dinner."
"I could…" whispered d'Arcy.
"No, it would blow your cover and you know better than me what that would mean for Jane and your Children."
"That leaves me" said Mr. Bennet.
"Indeed, that leaves you, father" agreed Fitzwilliam. "Do you feel capable?"
"To threaten a few bankers and money lenders with illusions of Grandeur? Without a doubt but I'll need Charles at my side to have the financial back-up. They will respect my word even more if I can show them that we have the financial means to bankrupt them if they play dirty."
"Hey, the Company doesn't have unlimited funds…" protested Charles.
Three pairs of amazed eyes turned to look at him.
Charles couldn't help but sighed.
"Well, we probably have the means to bankrupt every banker in the world, but I thought we agreed on not using too much of our hoarded gold."
"You said that your wealth wasn't placed in gold, Charles" said Fitzwilliam. "If we need to drop drastically the gold's worth to take these people out of the game, we will do it! And we will do it without a hesitation, Charles!"
"Not to mention the half ton of diamonds you hoard under your mattress…" mocked d'Arcy.
"I have only fifty pounds not half a ton" grumbled Charles who in fact had them stored in a storage locker under his mattress.
"Which probably means more than ten thousand diamonds hidden under you bed" insisted d'Arcy. "I would say we have the means to beggar those people rather easily! And for all we know, Napoleon's airships could already be flying toward Eldorado to plunder what we left."
"Even more reason to strike immediately" said Fitzwilliam. "We launch everything tonight?"
"We have nothing to lose but a few thousand pounds sterling" agreed d'Arcy. "Let's do it!"
_oOo_
"Well" said Madison, "yesterday was not a good day…"
"The dinner went quite well," said Gallatin. "No catastrophe there…"
"We can probably admit that the afternoon's catastrophe was enough for one State visit. A Secretary of State trying to hit the visiting Head of State is a thing of nightmarish proportions" pointed out the Vice President. "It could have ended with a declaration of war. What did Smith think?"
"As usual, he didn't think" said Eustis. "He reacts and talks without ever thinking of the costs we'll have to pay afterwards."
"That's the problem with idiots who believe that God is on their side!" said Madison. "They always believe that nothing will ever happen to them. Thank God he did not push us in an open war against Great Britain."
"It wouldn't have changed a lot if we compare what would have been with what we are already facing" grumbled Hamilton. "The nearest British army is in Great Britain."
"Yes, but their Navy is just between us and the rest of the world and for now nobody's sinking our merchant fleet," pointed out Gallatin. "It could make a difference."
"Not with Napoleon's hundred thousand men stationed around New Orleans" said Rodney. "We won't resist more than a season. If Napoleon attacks, he'll be in New York by Christmas."
"How could New Orleans defect us thus?" wondered Clinton. "We had a thousand men garrison there. They should have resisted for at least a few days."
"The French came with seven Aquilas" said Eustis. "They would have bombed the garrison to ash and rumble. The insurrection probably saved most of our men. The population was determined but not bloodthirsty."
"That won't last" pointed out Hamilton. "It seems that Napoleon has made a little hop on Haïti and has taken Toussaint Louverture's Volunteers with him. And those nigger soldiers will have an impact on our own niggers. They have an aura of success and heroism that will cost us… There will be insurrections all over the country as soon as they approach. And we will have massacres on both sides. It will be nasty, believe me. There will be thousands of dead people. But the worst will be the impact it will have on our Nation. We will never overcome what is going to happen in the South. We are facing generations of inter-racial hatred."
"By God" sighed Clinton, "what was Hull thinking when he ordered his men to slaughter these Natchez Indians. They were leaving to join their French brethren! We were going to get rid of them! Why take them out?"
"He considered them a traitorous pack" explained Eustis who had been Chairman of the Board of Inquiry. "His official declaration was that he feared that the other tribes would all follow suit! He couldn't admit that American citizens were considering mass demotion."
"That's his official reason which granted him to not be shot" grumbled Hamilton. "The real reason lays in his hatred for the redskins. He's a great fan of the George Washington method of dealing with Indians."
"Where is he now?"
"I've sent him to command the Detroit garrison" explained Eustis. "He'll have the opportunity to clean his name by fighting a real foe, for once."
"Is there a way to avoid a full-scale war?"
"After the French's invasion of New Orleans?" asked Hamilton. "We have no choice but to react."
"Since the French disembarked only after the city's insurrection, one can always argue that they didn't invade American territory but landed on an area we no longer had sovereignty over."
"If those are not legal quibbles, I don't see what they are…" smiled Gallatin.
"To save our country an all-out war, I will use every quibble I can find," protested Hamilton.
"I'm not sure that any quibble will help us against Napoleon" said Madison. "And I must admit that had I one hundred thousand men I wouldn't search for quibbles to justify anything."
"It seems the Regent has something to propose," said Gallatin. "I spoke with him last night and he hinted at a possible solution. But I can't imagine what could stop Napoleon."
"I don't care" said Madison. "If he has one to propose, I'll listen carefully, and I'll look at it with an open mind."
"We'll know this afternoon" said Eustis with a frown. "Let's hope it is a feasible solution."
"Indeed, let's hope…"
_oOo_
"Gentlemen, Ladies of the Audience," said Fitzwilliam while bowing toward the part of the room where his wife and the rest of the family was seated.
William was sitting at his side and under the watchful eyes of his father was holding his place with a great calm.
"I greet you all in the name of the Kingdom of Great Britain and I thank your Congress to have been allowed to speak before you. As you know the world's situation has changed radically these last years. A new power has emerged in Europe and under the guidance of its charismatic new ruler, has conquered quite a great number of countries. Today France rules over more than seventy percent of what had, a long time ago, been the Roman Empire. And it is my conviction that France won't stop at what it holds nowadays. Its troops are making headway toward the South in Africa and I doubt that they will stop at midway. Africa, as the Berber wars have shown, will be pacified, conquered and annexed."
He made a little gesture and a bunch of attendants unrolled the big world map he had brought with him and offered to the Congress.
"But I'm not here to speak about France, not directly at least. I'm here to explain what Great Britain's goals are. As you can see on the map the Royal Aerial Land Surveyor Institute has designed at my demand, there are now four major world spanning Nations present on our planet. And from those four two: France and Great Britain have visibly progressed these last ten years. I'm very proud to have been able to steer Great Britain out of what could have been its demise to what can only be called a resurrection. Great Britain, if you study the map, even if it has lost French Canada, has largely compensated its losses by colonizing Australia and North West America. I was able, thanks to God and to my late brother in law's efforts, may he rest in peace, to regain my country's freedom and then to maintain it in the race for world domination. And the results speak for themselves. We have the greatest Navy –be it the military or the merchant fleet- and thanks to my brother Charles' insight and sponsoring, Great Britain is the first air power of the world with most of our airships being civilian vessels. Which is at the center of Great Britain's new worldview. I'd like to convince you that there is another way to build a Great world spanning Nation. Not with force and conquest but with wisdom and conviction. Ten years ago, Great Britain was only surviving in India because our troops were there to conquer Kingdom after Kingdom. We are still present in India and we have even extended our influence to a major part of the sub-continent. We did not achieve this feat by conquering –and that's what makes me the proudest- but by persuading India's rulers that they could achieve greatness by joining us as equals not as subjects. And so, it happens that our presence in India can no longer be considered as colonization. It is a bonding of two civilizations, one old and wise and the other young and boisterous, to build another world where wisdom would temper exuberance and youth would boost experience. I found in your very Constitution the rules which were able to convince India's kings and Princes to join us in truthfulness and fairness and I have to thank you for your experience in putting federalism in action. Thanks to India's joining us, Great Britain is now master of more than one hundred millions men and women. We will, have no doubt of it; use this manpower to develop those parts of the world where Great Britain's flag is flying. And we will do it without taking into account anyone's sex, skin color or religious faith."
He stopped to look at his audience.
"Building a Nation through conquest and subjugation is an old and overstated answer. I believe that the only way to build a Nation that will have the inner strength to last for more than a few decades is to build on those Christian values which were so often forgotten and forsaken by our rulers. I want to build a world where all human beings –males or females- will be treated decently, will earn with their work enough to feed and shelter their families and will have a say over their fate by giving them, under certain realistic conditions, the right to vote and elect their rulers. This is the Great Britain I'm building. This is the Great Britain I intend to hand down to my nephew, who, by decision of the English and Welsh Constituents, will be at his coming of age the next King of Great Britain under the name of William the Fourth."
Fitzwilliam looked at his nephew and invited him to take his place.
"Gentlemen, my Ladies, I give you William d'Arcy future King of Great Britain and Protector of the Indian Federation."
_oOo_
William was, of course, nervous and would have preferred being somewhere else but he understood why he had to speak and why he had to give himself the message his papa and Uncle wanted him to spread. He took a long breath stood up and went to the pulpit where a stepladder had discreetly been placed.
He took his place and looked at the assembled crowd. His dad had been right: from where he stood they looked all the same and it helped to try to forget that they were numerous. He chose one of them, a man who looked like a kind grandpa, looked him in the eyes and began.
"Good afternoon, Ladies and Gentlemen. It's probably not often that you'll have to listen to a little boy's speech. Well it seems that being a future King does change things and that because of it you won't walk out on me…"
As promised by his father that made them all laugh!
"I'll try to be short and to be precise in my words –that's why I rehearsed the whole morning- but I agree with Uncle Fitzwilliam that what I have to propose you is important and it is even more important that you hear it from me because of what I am."
He looked at his dad and was sure he saw him wink at him. That made him smile and gave him renewed courage.
"Three days ago, we arrived in New Orleans. And what I saw was very exciting, there were thousands of tents, horses and marching soldiers in blue and red in numbers I couldn't even guess. The most impressing thing I saw were the hundred huge canon carts with their impressing breech loaders lined up in what looked like never-ending rows. I couldn't look up so fascinated was I by the sheer number of canons. Never would I have believed it without seeing it."
He turned his head and smiled at Grandpa Bennet.
"Of course, I was there with Uncle Fitzwilliam and the other men in the family –it seems that women and girls do not like tidiness when it comes in association with war gear- and I was quite excited. That was when Grandpa Bennet said: 'I don't understand Mankind. What's this ugly fascination to always invent new ways to kill each other in greater numbers?'"
William stopped for a second and pointed his chin toward the chairs where his family was sitting.
"You must know that Grandpa Bennet is my only surviving grandpa and that he knows your Country. He was here in Washington when this town did not yet exist but as a great field in the vicinity of Georgetown where he was stationed with his men. He fought against the insurgents and, as he often adds, he lost that f…" He stopped, frowned while thinking and went on with not more than a second delay. "Ugly war!" He could hear the hubbub his little mistake provoked but it was marked with a few laughs, so he decided that it wasn't important. "He doesn't like to speak about it. He says that war is at his ugliest when brother fights against brother and that a man's soul is forever damaged when it happens to him."
He could see most of the eldest of the men present nod. Clearly they shared Grandpa's opinion.
"We, the young ones, we have asked Grandpa a lot of questions about his war…" He smiled and shot a quick glance toward said Grandpa. "He never calls it a war he says the 'police action' because he didn't go to war against his brother, he fought rebels who tried to rip apart his beloved country."
William looked at the old man and smiled.
"He loved this country and fought against you or your fathers because he couldn't accept that it would no longer be his to protect." His smile disappeared. "And because of that he killed some of your friends and parents while your friends and parents killed his friends and soldiers. And soon this is going to happen again. In a few months' time thousands of the best soldiers this world has seen since the last Roman Legion, forged through dozens of successful campaigns will walk against you and, if I am to judge by their firepower, destroy half the towns and cities you built with so much love. I know that all your men, and probably quite of few of your women will rise to defend your land to stand against the juggernaut that will come crawling over your fields." He shook his head. "But the men who are coming are the same who overwhelmed England in less than a month and who crushed the Ottoman Empire in less than three years." He shook his head. "They will probably pay their victory with a lot of blood but, I'm sure you can agree with me, if they attack they will win."
There he stopped as Maureen has asked him to.
"Let them think about it," had she said. "Let them see the truth in their minds, let them be aware that, this time, it won't be only their neighbors' sons that will die but that this war will crawl to their doorsteps, destroy their homes and kill their own kids. Give them the time to grasp the extend of what is coming at them."
He decided that he had waited enough. It was time to make his proposition.
"But I have a way to stop this madness, I have a way to avoid that it ever happens. We were brothers thirty-five years ago and a lot of you do remember that time. We, the British from both sides of the Ocean, made mistakes then and those mistakes ripped us apart. But we learned from these mistakes and we tried to build new ways to take our citizens' needs into account. We could be brothers again, united under the same flag and working to build a better Earth together. I would grant my American brothers the same rights I granted my Indian ones. For a lot of your citizens and all of your women it will be a lot more than what they have already! Great Britain is, as you know, a loyal and faithful ally of France, never will Napoleon invade a territory which stands under our protection. That's why I address this proposition first and foremost to the States which have joined to create the United States. Look at what Uncle Fitzwilliam has built to get the Indian countries to join us in parity and truthfulness. I offer you the same and even if it will, of course; come with a price, I ask you to compare what I propose to what a war against France would cost you."
He stopped his speech and looked at the mute surprise that had gripped his audience. And then the shouting began.
_oOo_
"It is a viable solution…" sighed Clinton. "We would save thousands of lives and billions of destroyed infrastructures."
"It wouldn't be us who would rebuild it, we could consider it worthwhile" said Gallatin.
"What about the lives? Would we consider these deaths also as useful?" shouted Eustis before shaking his head. "I would never have guessed that they would have the cheek to simply propose to return under the British yoke!"
"The term 'yoke' is perhaps a little exaggerated," commented Madison. "All in all, British citizens are, nowadays, better treated by their rulers than our citizens by us… And if you speak about women, there is no comparison."
"You won't dare accept, will you?" asked Grainger who had just come back from a journey to the North of Michigan to witness the British offer.
"The proposition was directed toward the States, remember? The federal government has clearly been left on the side. It's not my decision anymore!"
"The States are bound by the Constitution, they can't secede."
"That problem has never been legally resolved" said Grainger who was the best lawyer. "There are a few loops in the texts which could be considered as allowing secession."
"And I don't see what we could do to stop them from doing it if that's what they want" pointed out Clinton. "We will attack them?"
"Of course not, but we can't accept that our country is thus torn into its components."
"It is a shrewd move" said Gallatin while nodding. "Wrapped as a gaudy gift, it could motivate some of the Northern States to accept the boy King's conditions. They haven't known slavery and resent the way the Southerners use their ex slaves to lower their costs and get market shares. And they have for quite a long time now felt very close to the way Gardiner and Bingley manage their business."
"I'm quite sure Pennsylvania is already considering secession," said Hamilton. "Penn and his direct followers would have loved that new Great Britain".
"Let's speak about what we can do to nip that plan in the bud, before looking for scapegoats" said Madison. "It is not yet too late, what are our options?"
"No" interrupted Eustis. "That's not our priority, Mr. President. Our priority is to decide if we want to see our country destroyed or if we prefer to see said country return to the British fold. And, I, as the man who knows the state of our Army I say: let's choose survival and prepare to fight another day. After all we've already shaken the British yoke once; we could do it again…"
_oOo_
"They will accept…" whispered Jane to her husband while they were greeting the guests arriving for the Official State Dinner they have organized at the British Legacy. As usual at an official meeting her Geoffrey was attired as the gaudiest Oriental Potentate conceivable. Double layered turban with Ostrich feathers, huge gemstones everywhere and golden and purple fabric whenever possible made him the most visible person in the whole room.
"Of course, they will accept but they'll do it with a lot of afterthoughts. They will grit their teeth, bid their time and prepare everything to break lose anew as soon as possible."
"They won't be destroyed meanwhile" said she with a smile. "And that will be a great victory, all in all."
"They will have cheated us" said d'Arcy while gritting his teeth.
"No, we will have cheated the Reaper and Napoleon, love. That's worth a pinch of injured feelings."
"We proposed it for their safety, and they will thank us with duplicity."
"We'll see, love, they are not yet back, and it could be that what we provide them gives the American people more satisfaction than frustration. And whatever happens I must remind you that the right to secede has been expressly incorporated in the Federal Treaty with India. They'll get the same option, won't they?"
"You're too kind for your own good" grumbled he.
"Better too kind than too harsh," answered she while smiling back at a concerned Congressman. "Nothing good ever came out of an injustice."
"You're right, love" he said finally. "Let's see what happens."
_oOo_
"How was it, father?"
Fitzwilliam was visibly tired, but the hint of a smile denounced his satisfaction.
"We delivered the message and the threat… I really don't know how they are going to react."
"I have my net ready and working" said d'Arcy. "If they move against us, we will know it the second they launch the attack."
"I would really prefer they didn't attack while we are airing when we go. It is the most dangerous moment for us. Hydrogen is a real pain in the ass when it comes in contact with a means to detonate. We would all die in one giant fireball."
"I doubt they will try anything so drastic," said Mr. Bennet. "Manipulations and blackmail seem to be more like them."
"Let's not grant them the time to change their methods" added Charles. "We have done what we came for, did we not?"
"Indeed" said Fitzwilliam. "The message has been delivered and now we need to stop Napoleon before he launches his attack."
"We could even depart immediately" insisted d'Arcy. "A night airing is not more dangerous than by day light. And we could come back without the women and the kids to gather the answers."
"It would be rude to depart without informing the Cabinet."
"Send them a courier and inform them that we need to join Napoleon before his troops are on their way. It should be polite enough," insisted d'Arcy. "We have done our very best to protect them now let's protect the family."
_oOo_