The Fox of France

The basic peace conditions with the French had been settled, and what remained were the negotiations with France's allies who had declared war alongside France against Britain.

First were the countries with territorial disputes with Britain, such as Spain, the Netherlands, and the United States. Spain insisted that the Gibraltar fortress was an inseparable part of Spanish territory from ancient times. Meanwhile, the Netherlands demanded British recognition of Dutch sovereignty over Cape Town.

These were issues that Britain necessarily had to concede. Gibraltar could not remain under British control, which was not only Spain's stance but also France's will. The French could not tolerate a British military base controlling the exit from the Mediterranean, effectively splitting the French coastline into two parts that could hardly support each other.

As for the Netherlands, Cape Town had recently been captured by a joint French and Dutch force. In this offensive, the allied forces relied on swift action to capture the fortress with no casualties, seizing nearly a hundred cannons and liberating the people of Cape Town. Of course, the British forces at Cape Town also suffered no casualties, as the last of them had left aboard French and Dutch ships before the total assault began. The French and Dutch exhibited professional ethics by safely and quickly transporting them to the Portuguese at Maputo.

Since Cape Town had already fallen, Britain naturally had no choice but to acknowledge this.

If these were the only issues, negotiations would have been straightforward. However, as the saying goes, it's easier to deal with the devil than with his minions. These two countries even demanded more war reparations and colonies from Britain—demands that even the French hadn't made.

The French naturally did not make such demands. France was not short of money, and after the British market fully opened to France, the benefits the French could gain from this were far greater than any reparations. Moreover, by voluntarily renouncing demands for reparations, it also helped to reduce the British people's resentment towards France. In short, the French did not intend to directly squeeze the British people; they would rather have the British government do that, much like Austria. Although this meant allowing middlemen to make a profit, it also allowed the French to navigate various political conflicts with more flexibility.

However, for countries like Spain and the Netherlands, it was different. Although the British market was fully open to them too, under non-discriminatory terms, they did not have the industrial power of the French, so these terms did not benefit them much. Therefore, they insisted on receiving war reparations or some British colonies.

Thus, negotiations were stalled on this issue until the French agreed to offer the British government a low-interest loan, after which Britain finally agreed to provide war reparations to these two countries. Of course, the amounts were quite limited, as these countries, although they had joined the war, had contributed little to the conflict.

Frankly, while the British disagreed with paying such high reparations to Ireland, they at least understood the Irish demands, considering Britain's long history of plunder in Ireland. It was somewhat normal for the Irish to open with a high demand when it came time for reparations. But what about those North American rebels? What basis did they have for demanding so much money? Of course, the British had burned their cities, but that was because they had first waged a war of aggression against us. So, we could acknowledge their territorial gains now that we had lost the war, but reparations? On what grounds? Just because they had not signed a treaty of alliance with France?

Yes, there was no alliance between the United States and France, because the U.S. did not agree to unconditional mutual market access. Thus, although the U.S. was also a participant in this war, and even an important one, they were not France's ally. The French stated that although they hoped Britain could reach a final peace agreement with the U.S., the Americans were not their allies, so they did not intend to intervene in this matter, thus rudely interfering in the internal affairs of the allied nations.

Regarding the French's stance, Foreign Minister Simone analyzed it for the Prime Minister and the Prince: "I believe the French do not want us to make concessions to the Americans, and they might not even want to see us reach a peace agreement with them. An America not fully integrated into the French system is always a threat to Louisiana. So, I believe we really do not need to make concessions to the Americans, and perhaps we should even make more demands of them."

"What do you mean?" asked the Earl of Liverpool.

"We should not only refuse to pay war reparations to the Americans, but we should also demand that they pay to purchase the territories they have occupied. After all, they are not France

's allies, and the French have made their position very clear—they will not support these rebels. So, even if negotiations with them fail, what can they do? Can they cross the Atlantic and invade Britain?" replied Minister Simone.

"Could their navy disrupt our shipping lines to the Americas? After all, our navy has suffered great losses," asked the Prince.

"If they dare, they should try," Simone disdainfully said. "Our colonies are also completely open to France, so if they attack this route, they're not just harming our interests but also directly harming the French. So if they have the courage, they might as well try. It would not be a bad thing for us. So, Your Highness, we really do not need to reach peace with the Americans. If we can understand the French, we can completely break down negotiations with a high demand and even shift the blame for the breakdown to the Americans."

"My friend, have you discussed this matter with Minister Talleyrand?" asked the Earl of Liverpool.

"Of course, Minister Talleyrand indicated that France would not intervene in this matter—that's tacit approval. However, if we want to shift the blame to the Americans, that's not his responsibility. But he is willing to lead me to meet with Monsieur Jérôme Bonaparte at the Roman Bank; perhaps he could have some solutions," Simone responded.

"Jérôme Bonaparte? Napoleon's brother? Excellent! You have done very well! We currently need to connect with the Bonaparte family, even if not for this matter. In many cases, we need to establish relations with them," said the Earl of Liverpool.

"Our previous goodwill towards Minister Talleyrand has been reciprocated," Simone replied. "I believe we should continue to show some goodwill towards Minister Talleyrand."

"You're right; that's not a problem. The help he has given us deserves more goodwill from us."

Thus, the peace negotiations between the British and the Americans naturally fell through. The British were even unwilling to send a deputy minister to negotiate with the Americans, instead sending some junior diplomats from the Foreign Office to handle the Americans while also training them in basic diplomatic skills, such as blatantly lying, speaking for hours without saying anything substantial—in short, our diplomats say they see nothing, and that means they see nothing.

Thus, until France and its allies had reached a peace agreement with Britain, America and Britain were still technically at war, although the British "generously" declared that they could maintain a "unilateral ceasefire" before being attacked by the Americans. This stance was also praised by the French and the rest of Europe. They all stated that this showed the British commitment to peace.

Of course, the French's stance was not without reason—one reason being that Britain used tariffs as collateral to borrow a commercial loan from the Roman Bank.

Moreover, among the countries in the French alliance that had declared war on Britain were the Rhine Confederation, the Republic of Northern Italy, the Austrian Empire, and the Papal States. Negotiations with them were relatively simple because although they had declared war, they had mostly just done that and not actually fought much.

Of course, these countries would not refuse a windfall, so they also demanded land and reparations. But they also knew that their leader, France, did not want to overly delay the peace talks. So although they clamored loudly, in the end, they were satisfied with just a little money, since they hadn't really done anything.

Only the Papal States were a bit more troublesome because they had demands to spread orthodox Catholicism in Britain. The Church of England was very resistant to this. All Protestants disliked Catholicism, after all, the foundation of Protestantism was a rejection of Catholicism. Among all Protestants, the Church of England was the most resistant to Catholicism—not because of the mutual killings during the reigns of Henry VIII and Bloody Mary, but because the Church of England was too similar to Catholicism. Compared to authentic Protestant denominations like Lutheranism and Calvinism, which were clearly different from Catholicism, the differences between the Church of England and Catholicism were not clear to those who were not professional scholars of religion. Thus, these two similar denominations were the most hostile to each other.

But you can't twist an arm more powerful than your own, and as pious Catholics, the French had an important demand in the peace agreement reached with Britain: Britain had to abolish its state religion, adopt a policy of religious freedom, and allow other denominations to freely preach and establish churches in Britain. Fortunately, according to a previous agreement between Catholic France and the Papal States, the French Catholic Church would not preach abroad, so what they faced was authentic Catholicism. Considering that Britain was now out of money, the Church of England naturally received less funding, and more importantly, Britain's wealthy patrons, in order to preserve their status, would want to connect with the French. Although the Catholic Church of the Papal States seemed

somewhat different from the French Catholic Church, their relationship with France was obviously closer than that of the Church of England. So, it was really hard to say which side those patrons who had often donated to the Church of England would stand on now.

So, since they had already agreed to France's conditions, the reintroduction of Catholicism to England became a done deal. The only issue that led to a deadlock was who would crown the future kings of England.

If it was still by the Church of England, that would violate the promise of "no state religion," but if it was changed to Catholicism, that seemed to also violate the creed. Thus, the future coronations of British kings had to take another form. As to what that form would be, everyone agreed to discuss it slowly in the future.

The last difficult negotiation partner was Ireland. Britain recognizing Ireland's independence was naturally not much to discuss. Besides, Ireland had also demanded a large sum in war reparations from Britain. However, the French's attitude towards this and their negotiations with the U.S. and Britain were completely different. In the eyes of the French, Ireland was almost the most exemplary ally—having limited development potential and no threat, but very capable of fighting, able to act as a knife or shield for the French.

Thus, the French were very supportive of Ireland's demands. Under such circumstances, Britain could only compromise with Ireland, agreeing to pay up to five hundred million francs in reparations. Of course, the British could not come up with so much money all at once at this time. But as the saying goes, the more lice you have, the less itchy you are; the more debt you have, the less worry you have. In any case, it was just installment payments and borrowing another sum from the Roman Bank.

Of course, with these loans, the entire financial expenditure of Britain was basically controlled by the French. In this sense, the government of the United Kingdom was no longer an independent government but had completely become an agent of the French in Britain.

After resolving the issue with the Irish, various obstacles were cleared in the negotiations, and finally, Minister Simone, representing the British government, signed the peace treaty with France and its allies. Peace once again returned to Europe. Of course, peace had not been fully achieved, and the war still left a tail—Britain and the U.S. were still technically in a state of war. But who cared about them?