Chapter 1034 Pay the bill
Back at the negotiating table of the British-Austrian peace talks, before Prince Albert could ask questions, Baron Brooke handed another report to the British mission.
"This is our country's fiscal and tax structure, as well as a detailed financial analysis."
In this era, the financial status of a country's government is usually relatively cryptic information, so Baron Brooke's behavior once again surprised the entire British mission.
At this time, only the United Kingdom, the United States, and France occasionally released financial information. Traditional monarchies, especially Austria and Russia, never disclosed such information.
The strategic value of this information is actually not as important as imagined, but some of the numbers are enough to reflect the economic strength of the Austrian Empire.
758 million florins, not counting proceeds from seizures and seizures.
The total value of property seized in Vienna alone is a dizzying astronomical figure, and many of them also hold bonds from the Austrian Empire.
These bonds have been held by many families for decades or hundreds of years, and the interest paid back by the Austrian Empire is several times their value.
Originally, as long as there was no family rebellion, even if they failed, they could transfer those bonds to the names of family members who did not participate in the rebellion.
In this way, they can always keep the capital of rebellion, even if the whole family of rebels dies, they can leave the "fire" to like-minded friends.
However, with the promulgation of the "Wartime Disposal Measures" and the "Wartime Compensation Law", these bonds are either permanently invalidated or frozen for a long time.
According to incomplete statistics, 93,261 of the 1,651,220,000 debts owned by the Austrian Empire have been confirmed to be forgiven, and more than half of the remaining 718,610,000 are frozen.
Of course, the reasons for these debt problems will not be clearly stated. What the British mainly see is Austria's strong economic strength.
To be honest, Franz himself didn't expect that the war would turn into such a horrible state, and that half of the country would be lost, but the fiscal revenue would actually increase.
In fact, the amount paid by the Hungarian government has almost remained unchanged from 1830 to 1840, and now in 1847, but it has changed from 21 million florins per year to 23 million florins in 1847.
However, the fiscal revenue of the Austrian Empire increased from 120 million florins in 1830, to 230 million florins in 1840, and to 758 million florins at this time.
The taxes paid by the Hungarian government now only account for 3% of the fiscal revenue of the Austrian Empire, not even as much as the city of Venice.
On the other hand, Franz's policy of moving south first and then north basically ensured the stability of the two major tax sources.
Neither the Italian War nor the Prague Rebellion lasted long, and Windischgrätz had no chance to raze Prague to the ground. After all, hundreds of thousands of troops really wanted to defeat thousands of militiamen who didn't even have firearms. .
The chaos in the German region in 1848 actually increased the export volume and market share of the Austrian Empire. After all, when other competitors were paralyzed, it was difficult for Austrian products to sell well.
Franz personally led the troops and recaptured Venice immediately. In other words, the city had not completely fallen. After all, Manin had just forced Fernando Lizi to hand over the city. Franz's army arrived.
The two Mediterranean naval battles did not last long, so their impact on the Austrian Empire's overseas trade was limited.
In addition, there is the development of the colonies. Although the European continent is in a mess, the colonies are in good weather, especially in North America, which has ushered in a bumper harvest that has not been seen in decades.
Although the United States also had a bumper harvest, European countries have set up fairly high tariff barriers to prevent precious metals from flowing out.
So the Americans couldn't sell it even if they wanted to, but Franz was left-handed and right-handed and didn't care about this problem at all.
The most important thing is that Austria's fundamentals are not deeply tied to London, the world's financial center, and are not fundamentally affected by it.
Therefore, Austrians can proudly say, "Looking at the world, the scenery here is unique!"
However, this was a letter of challenge to the British, but at this time the British had neither the strength nor the basis to refute.
When Prince Albert looked next to him, Charles Wood, the then British Chancellor of the Exchequer, could only lower his head in shame.
He was a little helpless, but still said calmly.
"The economic achievements of your country are gratifying, but I think today we are here for peace, aren't we?"
"Yes. It's just that when we came last time, your foreign minister, Lord Palmerston, didn't seem to want to talk to us about peace.
I think you should know that there are many successful businessmen and professional economic analysts in our mission.
We can also think of this negotiation as a business. "
"Business? Interesting statement."
Although Prince Albert was a little disdainful, he had to admit that Palmerston would like this statement. It seemed that the Austrians had indeed done a lot of work.
"Yes, this metaphor does not seem so appropriate. But I hope this way you understand that this war does neither of us any good.
And if we can't find a suitable solution, this catastrophe will last for a long time, which I think neither of us wants to see. "
Even Franz could not have predicted that this would happen during the negotiation. After all, the Victoria couple had been relatively low-key in history, and theoretically they would not give others the chance to make excuses.
Franz's imaginary enemy was Palmerston, not Prince Albert, but Baron Brooke didn't know that he was just a loyal executor.
“Indeed, this war is indeed not beneficial to both of us, but some of our islands, merchant ships and their goods are still in your hands.
Our country seeks peace, but it does not mean that our country has no ability to fight again.
Even the Sun King and Napoleon were short-lived, only I, the British Empire, stood. "
Prince Albert's words did not surprise Baron Brooke. After all, Franz knew very well that it was impossible for Britain to abandon the Mediterranean.
Those islands and merchant ships were just bargaining chips to facilitate this negotiation. Franz had never thought of occupying these British overseas territories.
After all, these are battlegrounds for military strategists. The main task of the Austrian Empire's navy is still to protect its own territory, and it does not want to become a public enemy at sea by dominating the Mediterranean.
Of course, Baron Brooke didn't know this. He only knew that these were just exchangeable chips.
"I understand what Your Excellency the Prince means. The Austrian Empire has no intention of invading other countries' territories, and everything it does is to defend the dignity of our country.
We could immediately cease the siege of Gibraltar and return all the colonies except Crete.
At the same time, our country will also return the captured personnel of your country, including soldiers, spies, businessmen, and Commander Seymour.
(Edward Hobart Seymour Sr., one of the protagonists of the Second Mediterranean Battle and commander of the British Mediterranean Fleet.)
However, our country hopes to lease the port of Durrës in southern Albania, for which we are willing to pay a rent of 10,000 pounds per year.
As for the merchant ships and the cargo they carry, our country still needs to conduct further investigation. "
Prince Albert was overjoyed by the Austrian Empire's willingness to return all British colonies except Crete.
He was really afraid that the Austrians were unwilling to give up those islands. After all, their strategic value was really important, so the two sides would fall into a long-term stalemate.
In fact, after the first Mediterranean naval battle in Crete, Britain was forced to transfer its rights and interests to the Austrian Empire.
As for leasing the port of Durrës and refusing to return the island of Crete, the Austrians obviously don't like to be blocked at home.
And judging from the results of the two Mediterranean naval battles, the troops in Durrës Port were unable to restrict the actions of the Austrian Imperial Navy at all, and could not even provide early warning.
At the same time, the British occupation of southeastern Albania consumes a huge amount of money, requiring large sums of money to be invested every year for stability maintenance.
In the opinion of Prince Albert and the British government at this time, it would not be a bad idea to sublease Durrës and even the entire southeastern coast of Albania to the Austrian Empire.
After all, as long as this thorn exists, the Austrian Empire will study it intensively, and Britain will have to shed its blood here.
However, Austria's hesitation regarding merchant ships and cargo was unacceptable to the British mission.
"We demand that your country return our merchant ships and goods immediately!"
Before Prince Albert could make a move, the two taciturn heads of government couldn't help but burst into action, Edward Smith-Stanley and George Hamilton Gordon said in unison.
Obviously these merchant ships and goods are very important to them, but Baron Brooke is not in a hurry.
“This time your country’s blockade of the Mediterranean Sea caused heavy losses to our merchant ships and cargo, and your navy actually burned the captured Chinese ships and cargo when leaving the island of Malta.
Therefore, the losses of our businessmen should be borne by your country.”
At this time, Edward Smith-Stanley suddenly said anxiously.
"War is a state act! It should not be borne by individuals! Private property is sacred and inviolable! Don't you know?"
But halfway through the words, members of the British mission remembered that the other party was from the Austrian Empire. There seemed to be some deviations in the understanding between the two parties in this regard.
Whether private property is sacrosanct under an absolute monarchy depends entirely on the monarch's attitude towards private ownership.
During the time of Joseph II, private property was absolutely sacrosanct, and he had to defend this even if he ended up in personal death.
However, private property was not so sacred during the period of Queen Theresa. If I want to fight with the French, lend me money, I will do it for the officials, and I will write you an IOU. If you don't lend me money, I will kill you first.
As for the series of temporary measures proposed by Franz at the moment, it shows that in the Austrian Empire at this time, only legal private property can be inviolable.
Just as the members of the British mission looked at each other, Baron Brooke spoke again.
"That's no problem. The losses of our businessmen are approximately 139,910,424 florins, which is equivalent to approximately 1,399,1042 pounds.
As for those businessmen who committed war crimes, does your country also have to pay for them? "