Life of Being a Crown Prince in France

Chapter 699: Chapter 608: Handling the Aftermath

Southeast London.

A black carriage stopped outside Windsor Castle, the private residence of the King. William Pitt Junior alighted with a severe expression, looked up at the grey facade of the ancient castle, and involuntarily took a deep breath.

At this moment, he must secure the support of His Majesty the King, otherwise, it would be difficult to weather this crisis.

Indeed, the matter of London’s gas streetlights had evolved into a serious political crisis.

William initially thought it was just a loss of a few hundred thousand British Pounds. However, he soon learned that a large number of companies in London had gone bankrupt, thousands of workers were unemployed, and violent clashes had occurred at the city hall.

Yet, even at this point, he had not realized the severity of the situation.

Last Thursday, a bank run occurred at Mano Investment Bank and Lloyds Bank—both banks had provided substantial loans to subcontractors of the gas streetlight project, and it seemed very likely that this money would never be recovered.

Upon hearing the news, Londoners, fearing that these banks would go bankrupt like the numerous companies that had recently collapsed, rushed to withdraw their money in panic.

Mano Investment Bank could not withstand the pressure and announced the suspension of withdrawals only two days later. This action triggered even greater panic among the depositors—it seemed that the bank really had no money! The number of people coming to withdraw their money suddenly increased several times.

This was the leverage effect of finance. A bank with capital of several million British Pounds could go bankrupt due to less than a hundred thousand pounds of bad debt, leading to the entire collapse of its financial chain.

Soon, the bank run showed a trend of spreading to other banks—all banks that had financial dealings with the gas streetlight project became targets of public suspicion—William could no longer sit idle.

Although the Whig Party had not yet taken advantage of this situation, William was well aware that they were looking for an opportunity to deliver a fatal blow to him.

In fact, given the current situation, banks would soon face widespread issues, and even if the opposition did nothing, he would have to be kicked out of Ten Downing Street.

Sir Stuart, dressed in black, came out from the castle to greet him. When William saw his handsome face, he felt considerably more reassured.

“His Majesty the King is waiting for you,” Sir Stuart bowed slightly and gestured to the side, “Please follow me.”

Entering the grand gateway of the ancient castle, they walked along the corridor for a while. As their followers were not paying attention, Sir Stuart took William’s hand and gently squeezed it twice, whispering, “Don’t be nervous. I have already discussed this matter with His Majesty, and he seemed fairly calm. He is recently very concerned about North America, but don’t mention Ireland…

“Oh, His Majesty’s illness has been stable lately; you can talk to him for a while.”

William clasped his hand in return, rubbing it against his brow—it intensified his sense of relief.

He looked up at Sir Stuart, his eyes filled with dependence and gratitude. The latter nodded slightly at him.

Neither of them said anything more, yet they both understood each other’s intentions.

Yes, they were secret lovers.

William’s ability to gain the favor of George III was inseparable from Sir Stuart’s strong support as the King’s secretary.

Soon, Sir Stuart pushed open the door of the King’s office and said, “Your Majesty, Mr. Pitt is here.”

“Oh, come in,” a somewhat hoarse voice came from behind the desk.

William looked up to see George III leaning back in his chair, wearing a white thick linen “sick dress,” his face and beard scruffy with marks around his neck, looking quite fatigued, obviously having just undergone treatment.

He hurried forward and bowed, “Your Majesty.”

George III waved his hand and gestured to a chair to his left, “Sit down. You’re here about the London gas streetlights, aren’t you?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“So, what are your plans?”

“Some banks have been affected now, which makes things a bit tricky…” William then explained the situation with the banks being run on.

George III sighed, “So, we must have funds to handle the depositors, and we absolutely must not have the first bank go bankrupt.”

As long as the banks could hold on, within a month or two, people would gradually rebuild their confidence in the banks, thus stopping the run.

But if any bank went bankrupt, panic would spread quickly, increasing the number of bank runs, and it was uncertain how many more banks would fail.

“Yes, Your Majesty.” William nodded, “At least 700,000 British Pounds.”

“Have you figured out a solution?” The King knew the Prime Minister was not asking him for money, for he himself had little.

William hesitated for a moment and said, “Mr. Henry Hope, the Dutch banker whom Vienna has issued an arrest warrant for, is currently still in London.

“If we hand him over to Emperor Leopold II, it would greatly bolster relations between the two countries.”

George III stroked his beard calmly, “Go ahead with the diplomatic matter. But I remember he had previously withdrawn some money to carry out his plan; does he have enough assets left to cover 700,000 Pounds?”

“It probably isn’t enough. However, the Dutch investor who came with him, Fankevich, was also involved in that trade plan. We can treat him as a co-offender.”

George III nodded slightly, “After obtaining the funds, how do you plan to address the other issues?”

“Last week, we found the body of the owner of Commerce Credit Bank,” William continued, “It was suicide, and he left a suicide note saying that he had wanted to expand his banking business through the gas streetlight project, but encountered technical problems that made it impossible to deliver the project.

“He chose suicide after running out of funding needed to sustain the project.”

George III scoffed, “Ha, do you believe that?”

“I…” William pondered for a moment, looked at the King, and said, “We should choose to believe.”

If the British Government recognized the statement in the suicide note, then the mastermind behind the whole affair would first be ‘caught,’ albeit dead, but it would provide at least some outlet for public outrage. This was far better than letting the criminal roam free, which would mean that even after a decade or more, people would still bring up this case.

Secondly, the defrauded funds had an explanation—they had all been spent on the streetlight project, even though the expenses were mysteriously high, but at least that gap did not need to be filled anymore.

Seeing the King nod, William breathed a sigh of relief and continued, “On the government side, we plan to prosecute London Mayor Herbert and other officials involved in the gas streetlight affair…”

George III interrupted him, “No need for that. Herbert was just deceived by the swindlers, just as anyone might make mistakes. Just dismiss him from his position.”

It was clear to William what the King intended.

The project was handed over to the Lightning Company, and it was almost certain that Herbert had taken bribes. If corrupt dealings were discovered later, public outrage over the gas streetlight project would only intensify.