Chapter 786 O’Connell’s decision
The secrecy work of the British colonial department at that time cannot be said to be very bad, it can only be said to be almost non-existent. So it is not difficult for Franz to let O'Connell break the British conspiracy.
Of course, the officials of the British Colonial Office did not think this was a conspiracy, but a job that could benefit many parties, but it was just a little unethical.
However, looking at things from different angles, the conclusions drawn cannot be the same.
The most terrible thing is that the girls who were rescued by O'Connell did not thank him. On the contrary, they felt that he ruined their happiness for his own reputation.
O'Connell was not angry, but he knew very well that although he had prevented this conspiracy, as long as those refugees who were unable to support themselves continued to stay in the UK, they would be calculated to become the fuel of the British's wealthy life sooner or later. thing.
He began to reconsider the Austrians' proposal, a land where work could fill their stomachs, a land without religious discrimination, a new land where freedom to go and stay was possible.
The Irish were discriminated against because of their Catholic identity, so they took this very seriously at the time.
So Daniel O'Connell began to contact everyone he could. Immigration may not be the best choice, but it was the only choice he could think of at this time.
At this time, the United States was still in a state of vast land and sparsely populated areas, and it urgently needed more people to enrich its land.
In fact, this has become a major obstacle restricting the development of the United States. For this reason, it does not hesitate to poach people from the North German region at high prices.
The United States promised not only high wages, but also land, freedom and equality (at that time, the German region was mainly a monarchy), but its immigration policy for the Irish was not so good. The latter had to find work and food on their own. Not even willing to pay for a boat ticket.
There are two main reasons behind this. Firstly, German immigrants usually have skills at their disposal and have higher overall quality, which naturally leads to higher goals and expectations; while Irish immigrants are usually really poor and have no education, except for Farming does nothing.
Second, the Americans mainly poached North German Protestants, while Irish immigrants were basically Catholics. The Western world had experienced several religious wars, and the Americans naturally did not want the tragedy to happen again.
Moreover, in the land of the United States, so-called religious freedom has never existed. At first, the reason Americans used to expel Indians was to expel pagans, but it was later beautified and became a necessity for the civilization and progress of all mankind. evil.
The Irish also suffered discrimination in the United States. They were synonymous with poverty, laziness, filth, violence, sin, alcoholism, and superstition (referring to Catholicism).
Before the resurgence of the Middle Eastern nations, the world's number one terrorist in the eyes of Americans had always been the Irish from the Emerald Island.
Many celebrities have claimed that "Irish people are white on the skin but dark on the inside."
At that time, Irish people were treated the same as black and yellow people in the United States. Many Irish people even envied the pastoral life of black slaves.
American factories follow the British system, with 16-18 hours a day, depending entirely on the price of the goods. If the profit can exceed the money of gas lamps, then overtime will be worked.
However, due to the sluggish American industry at this time, most factories still operated on a 16-hour clock.
Irish people had actually been immigrating to the United States since before the famine, but O'Connell wouldn't recommend people go there.
First, because he still had hope in the British government at that time, and second, because he knew what the Irish had experienced in America.
It wasn't until he died that he shouted to the sky, "Cross the sea! Cross the sea! Cross the sea!"
Now Franz gave him a new choice. Although most Irish people did not understand German, there were many people in the Austrian Empire who did not speak German, and this country had existed for nearly a thousand years, so it was not a big problem. .
The second is the Habsburg family's reputation for kindness, which was very important to the Irish at this time. After all, it ensured that they would not be mistreated or directly enslaved.
Third, Franz personally came forward and offered a relatively favorable condition. The land in the Austrian colonies was allowed to be cultivated. During the period, they would be provided with necessary agricultural tools, seeds, food, livestock (if any), accommodation, medical care, education and security. Assure.
Based on the calculation of each adult male in the family who has labor force, if he can cultivate an average of 50 acres of land, he will not have to pay taxes for one year, if he can cultivate an average of 100 acres, he will not have to pay taxes for three years, and if he can cultivate an average of 150 acres, he will not have to pay taxes for five years.
Considering that Irish people in this era usually had large families, it was normal for a family to have more than a dozen people, and four or five adult male laborers would occupy 600-700 acres of farmland. If you were in the East, you would be considered a landlord.
You are free to stay and go at the same time, as long as you pay the toll. Going to Austria requires some special skills, assessments, and reviews.
The most important one is to be able to speak German. In short, the requirements are definitely higher than those in the colonies. After all, Franz also has to consider domestic pressure. Although there is a church as a shield, if he really gets a bunch of old, weak, sick and disabled, he will probably be Criticize abuse of favor.
If a bunch of gangsters and hooligans are brought over, it will directly become the trigger of civil war.
Finally, word of the contribution and sincerity of the Austrian Church and Archbishop Rauscher's trip to Ireland had spread throughout England.
This is simply a provocation to the Anglican Church, but unfortunately they actually don't have much influence. John Russell is in no mood to continue to spend time with Austria because of this group of magicians.
Moreover, Archbishop Rauscher only carried out some charity activities on the island of Ireland, and the British government really had no good reason to question Austria.
In addition, John Russell knows better than anyone what kind of morality is present on the island of Ireland, and he does not want other European countries to continue to criticize it.
As a result, the whole matter ended like this, but in O'Connell's view, this was a very sincere sign. He had regarded the Austrian Church as a life-saving straw for the Irish.
In fact, every time the Austrian Empire's grain ships returned, they could take some Irish people away. This was also the so-called free ticket.
But the reality is that the Irish would rather go bankrupt, go to the United States as slaves, or even ride on the cult’s doomsday ark than board the Austrian ship.
This was mainly due to people's fear of the unknown. At this time, the level of education of the Irish people was very low. More than 85% of them had never left the county-level area where they were born, and the information was very limited.
Fewer people know about the Austrian Empire than those who know about the Holy Roman Empire. In terms of popularity, it is even less famous than France's Toulon Port and its own Venetian Port.
What O'Connell has to do is to trick his compatriots onto the ship, because according to Austrian calculations, if the total population of the island of Ireland has not changed this year, at least 50 to 1 million people will starve to death.
This was hard to imagine when only 100,000 people starved to death in the first year, but Austria provided a confidential document.
That is, before the famine occurred, the Austrian Church had placed hundreds of thousands of tons of grain across the island of Ireland, which had been eaten up in the past year.