Chapter 2381 - 309: Spreading Scandalous Rumors About Hastings? He Did It Himself!

"William, you must understand, our party is currently standing at the edge of a cliff, just a slight move and we could fall into the abyss at any moment."

Palmerston was persuading with reason and emotion: "If Peel hadn’t failed to make concessions to O’Connell on the issue of the Ireland Church, we would have lost the majority of seats in the Lower House by now!"

Viscount Melbourne sighed at these words.

Of course, he knew Palmerston was not being alarmist; the House of Lords had always been a traditional Tory stronghold, and the Whig Party’s current lead in the Lower House was practically negligible.

If it weren’t for the long-standing grievances between Irish leader O’Connell and Peel on issues like Catholic emancipation and Irish autonomy, the Conservative Party might have already moved a vote of no confidence against the Melbourne Cabinet in the Lower House.

It’s laughable that the ruling party of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland actually relies on the support of the Irish to continue governing.

And if events unfold as Palmerston predicted, should Arthur Hastings lean towards the Conservative Party in the next election, with his control over the British police system as Deputy Secretary, he has the ability to influence the ownership of seats in dozens of battleground districts, thus determining the choice of ruling party.

Many may not yet realize the potential of this Home Office bureaucrat in manipulating elections, but as Arthur’s longtime adversary, Palmerston had thoroughly observed Arthur’s efforts in assisting Disraeli during the last two elections.

Although the 1832 Parliamentary Reform Act extended suffrage to a degree and eliminated a substantial number of corrupt boroughs, it still failed to fully resolve the inequality in elections.

In many boroughs, especially rural areas, election results remain controlled by local elites. Therefore, if a candidate wishes to penetrate an unfamiliar district, they must rely on recommendations and support from local forces.

Though urban districts are far more open than rural ones and have a larger voter base than countryside areas, the influence of local political elites remains significant.

In some cities, while local elites may not directly influence voters’ actions, they can sway voting tendencies through charity, banquets, campaigning, and other social events, and voters’ choices are often affected by historical party affiliations.

For this reason, the support for the Whig Party and the Conservative Party in some urban areas is actually unusually stable.

Yet Arthur’s two campaigning efforts in Tower Hamlets for Disraeli in both instances broke this political tradition that had persisted for centuries.

Despite the backing of Conservative heavyweight Lord Lindhurst behind Disraeli, Lindhurst’s influence did not extend to London.

In such unfavorable circumstances, not only did Disraeli actively choose to contest in the battle district of Tower Hamlets where he had no foundation, he also achieved victory twice against Whig Party candidates, raising Palmerston’s concern.

With the development of the press and the annual rise in British newspaper sales, the influence of upper-class elites in urban districts is increasingly challenged by Fleet Street.

Thomas Barnes of The Times, George Stewart of Chronicle Morning Paper, Charles White of Le National, George Finley of Fearless Newspaper, these Fleet Street journalists’ social influence is growing daily, even unabashedly claiming themselves as the "Fourth Estate."

While these Fleet Street journalists’ names spread through every street, the seemingly unremarkable role played by Arthur Hastings is underestimated by most British politicians.

This chairman of the board at Imperial Publishing, despite not holding any morning or evening papers, commands respect from every Fleet Street news agency for his control over the England Electromagnetic Telegraph Company.

So far, he hasn’t played the card of banning telegrams, but every newspaper’s senior editor knows that if Sir Arthur ever stooped to ban their use of the England Electromagnetic Telegraph Company’s lines, their timely news would lag one to two days behind competitors!

In order to prevent such a scenario, several discerning mainstream news agencies have toyed with the idea of jointly founding a new telegraph company, but ideas remained mere ideas. When faced with the astronomical pre-startup investment of a new telegraph company, even the most determined individuals would undoubtedly retreat.

Worse, even if they were willing to invest a huge sum, they would still need to purchase telegraph equipment and maintenance services from the England Electromagnetic Telegraph Company.

If they wished to start anew and develop independently, unfortunately, at present, almost all of the most mature electromagnetism engineers in the nation, even Europe and the world, are cultivated by the University of London. Although the University of Gottingen began earlier in electromagnetism, since the Duke of Cumberland inherited the Hanover throne, the regrettable G?ttingen Seven incident broke out there.

And the faculty and excellent student source lost by the University of Gottingen in the G?ttingen Seven incident largely transferred to the University of London under the influence of the former Academic Director, Sir Arthur Hastings.

For this reason, despite every newspaper denying they are influenced by Sir Arthur, some even willing to publish financial statements to prove they have never taken even one penny from Imperial Publishing.