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The Fox of France - Chapter 443
🕑 Added 2024-03-30 23:58:40 +0000 UTCChapter 443: Intervention
The atrocity that Louis mentioned refers to the British burning of Detroit. Although it was the French who invented the use of incendiary bombs to burn cities, they did so against cities of heathen pirates and barbarians, to liberate countless oppressed and enslaved Christians. This act, supported by the Pope and all of Europe, even the world, was a just action. The fires set by the French were divine justice, as if God Himself was destroying Sodom and Gomorrah through the hands of the French, fully embodying the righteousness of the Lord.
However, the actions of the British in Detroit were utter atrocities! They attacked cities built by fellow Christians, noble Caucasians; they burned to death devout Christians who called upon the name of Jesus Christ until their last moments. Such brutality shows that the British no longer deserve to be considered civilized; they should be seen as barbarians as terrible and evil as Attila the Hun and Genghis Khan!
The delay in spreading this news back to the European mainland was due to the lack of a transatlantic telegraph. Although the military-industrial complex had the technology for wireless telegraphy, it prioritized more profitable wired telegraphy due to its infrastructure and business generated from relay stations. This technology was kept secret and only installed on some navy ships, with its existence highly confidential, unknown to anyone beyond the captain and the communications officer. Thus, news couldn't quickly reach Europe, and the European edition of "The Scientific Truth Gazette" hadn't yet published editorials condemning the British. However, in Louisiana, "The Scientific Truth Gazette" had already begun to lead the charge in denouncing the British.
As Louisiana developed, plans for transatlantic wireless communication were gradually being arranged. Talleyrand was negotiating with the Portuguese to purchase the easternmost Flores Island of the Azores. They planned to build a wireless relay station there and another one on the French-owned Saint Pierre Island, thus connecting the old and new worlds with wireless telegraphy.
However, this plan was still just that—a plan, with some time before it could be implemented and even longer before it could be operational.
With "The Scientific Truth Gazette" in Louisiana leading the charge, the Francophones in Louisiana who often spoke German also quickly organized. The Louisiana National Guard began to mobilize along the Mississippi River northward to guard against threats the "new age barbarians" might pose to Louisiana.
During this, "The Scientific Truth Gazette" in Louisiana found a girl named Hannah, who was said to be a survivor of the Detroit fire. Tragically, she was French, although her French was not very fluent. She explained that before the war broke out, her family had gone to Detroit for fur trading. Due to a financial dispute, they didn't immediately leave Detroit when the war started, which seemed reasonable as no one expected the British to commit such heinous acts.
Even as British forces approached Detroit, Hannah's family did not panic because this wasn't their war. Being French, they held passports from France, which stated, "Wherever you are in the world, the mighty French army is your strong backing." Surely, the British wouldn't dare harm a family holding French passports?
Yet, defying all expectations, the British used incendiary bombs to set the city ablaze. Hannah's father managed to escape the inferno with her in his arms, but her mother, brother, and several uncles perished in the flames. Even her father, severely burned, died from severe infections shortly after escaping Detroit.
The French consulate in Ottawa protested to the British, demanding they hand over the murderers of French citizens for trial and compensate the French for their losses.
The British Governor-General in Canada expressed condolences for the French citizens who tragically died, willing to provide humanitarian compensation to the victims' families. However, he stated the tragedy wasn't the fault of the British but an unavoidable accident of war. Additionally, any misconduct by British forces should be investigated and tried by British courts, so handing over the culprits to France was an unreasonable demand that the United Kingdom would absolutely not agree to.
Following this response, the Governor's Office in Louisiana immediately announced the lifting of the previous trade dispute-based embargo on commercial loans and arms to the United States.
Upon hearing this, the retreating Americans eagerly sought French support. President Thomas Jefferson sent special envoys to negotiate with Governor Marcel in Louisiana, hoping for French assistance with weapons and technical guidance, and even direct military support against the "evil British," as King Louis XVI had once provided.
However, Governor Marcel, citing limited authority, stated that as a governor, he didn't have the power to declare war on another nation unless they directly attacked French cities. Though sympathetic towards the American plight, he could only allow unrestricted American purchase of "civilian weapons" and engage in most business not threatening to French security and interests.
The Americans also proposed leasing two modern cruisers from the French Louisiana squadron. Governor Marcel didn't immediately reject the
idea but noted it was beyond his authority alone.
Jefferson's envoy quickly understood Marcel's implication: to proceed, they needed the endorsement of a truly influential figure. In Louisiana, there were unofficially two governors: Marcel in the Governor's Mansion and the "Chairman of the Louisiana Development Bank" in the "White Castle," part of the bank—a figure of immense power, none other than Napoleon Bonaparte's brother, Louis Bonaparte, First Consul of the French Republic, Emperor of the Roman Empire, and protector of Corsica and North Africa.
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