“What?” Struan asked, knowing that it must be the Russian. But he let Longstaff have the pleasure of telling him. Too, he wanted to hear Longstaff’s evaluation, for though Longstaff was out of his depth in Asia and useless as Captain Superintendent of Trade, Struan knew Longstaff’s views on European diplomatic affairs to be incisive and extremely knowledgeable.
Ever since Struan had settled the immediate problem of Aristotle and had seen Robb take him aboard safely, he had puzzled over the reason for the Russian’s arrival. He found it strangely unsettling but did not know why.
“You won’t have heard yet, but we’ve an uninvited guest.”
“Oh, who?”
“An archduke, no less. A Russian archduke, Alexi Zergeyev. He came on the mail packet.”
Struan was suitably impressed. “Why should we be ‘honored’ here in Asia?”
“Why, indeed?” Longstaff rubbed his hands together happily. “He’s joining us for lunch. Clive’s escorting him.”
Clive Monsey was Longstaff’s deputy captain superintendent of trade, a civil servant by profession and, like Longstaff, a Foreign Office appointee. Normally Monsey’s duties kept him at Macao, where Longstaff maintained his permanent headquarters.
“There are some interesting dispatches too,” Longstaff was saying, and Struan’s interest heightened. He knew that none would contain the formal approval of the Treaty of Chuenpi and the appointment of Longstaff as the first governor of the Colony of Hong Kong, because the news of the successful conclusion of the war would just be reaching England.
Struan accepted the sherry. “The Middle East?” he asked and held his breath.
“Yes. The crisis is over, thank God! France accepted the Foreign Secretary’s settlement, and there’s no longer any fear of general war. The Turkish sultan’s so grateful for our support that he’s signed a commercial treaty with us canceling all Turkish trade monopolies, throwing open the whole Ottoman Empire to British trade.”
Struan let out a yell. “By all that’s holy! That’s the best news we’ve had in many a long day!”
“I thought you’d be pleased,” Longstaff said.
The longstanding crisis had to do with the Dardanelles, the strait that was controlled by the Turkish Ottoman Empire. It was the key to Mediterranean Europe and a perpetual
casus belli among the Great Powers—Britain, France, Russia, Austro-Hungary, and Prussia—because the Dardanelles was a shortcut for Russian warships to enter the vital Mediterranean, and also for warships of other nations to enter the Black Sea and threaten the weak underbelly of Russia. Eight years ago Russia had compelled Turkey to sign a treaty which gave Russia joint suzerainty over the Dardanelles, and international tension had been acute ever since. Then, three years ago, Mehemet Ali, the French-supported upstart soldier-pasha of Egypt, had launched an attack on Constantinople, proclaiming himself Caliph of the Ottoman Empire. France openly and delightedly had supported him against the sultan. But a French ally athwart the Dardanelles would imperil the interests of the remaining Great Powers, and the whole of Europe promised to be immediately involved in open conflict again.
The British Foreign Secretary, Lord Cunnington, had persuaded the Great Powers—other than France, and without consulting her—to use their influence on the side of the sultan against. Mehemet Ali. France was furious and had threatened war. The settlement proposed was that Mehemet Ali was to withdraw to Egypt; that he would be given suzerainty over Syria for his lifetime; that he was confirmed as the independent ruler of Egypt; that he should pay only a nominal annual tribute to the Turkish sultan; and that, most important, the ancient rule of the Dardanelles strait was to be guaranteed by all the Powers once and for alclass="underline" that while Turkey was at peace the strait was forbidden to
all warships of
all nations.
That France had accepted the proposed settlement and the withdrawal of her Egyptian ally meant riches to The Noble House. Now the complex financial arrangements on which Robb and Struan had gambled so heavily for two years would be cemented. Their commercial power would extend through financial tentacles into the hearts of all the Great Powers, thus giving them the safety to weather continuous international crisis and to open huge new tea and silk markets. Furthermore, if British interest now dominated the Ottoman Empire, perhaps its opium production would be stopped. Without Turkish opium to balance their outpouring of bullion, the American companies would have to increase trade with Britain, and the closer ties that Struan wanted with America would come to pass. Aye, Struan told himself happily, this is a very good day. He was mystified that Longstaff had received the official news before he had; Struan’s informants in Parliament usually advised him of important disclosures like this well in advance. “That’s excellent,” he said.
“There’ll be peace for a long time now. So long as France doesn’t try any more tricks.”
“Or Austria-Hungary. Or Prussia. Or Russia.”
“Yes. Which brings us to Zergeyev. Why should a very important Russian come to Asia at this time? And how is it we had no official or unofficial warning, eh? When we control all sea-lanes east of Africa?”
“Perhaps he’s just making a state visit to Russian Alaska, and came out via the Cape of Good Hope.”
“I’ll wager a hundred guineas that’s what he says,” Longstaff said. He settled himself comfortably in a chair and put his feet on the table. “Zergeyev is an important name in St. Petersburg. I lived there for five years when I was a boy—my father was a diplomat to the court of the tsars. Tyrants, all of them. The present one, Nicholas I, is typical.”
“Zergeyev is important in what way?” Struan asked, surprised that Longstaff had never mentioned St. Petersburg in all the years he had known him.
“Huge landowners. Related to the tsar. They ‘own’ tens of thousands of serfs and hundreds of villages, so I seem to remember. I recall my father saying that Prince Zergeyev—it must be the same family—was privy to the inner court of the tsar and one of the most powerful men in the Russias. Curious to find one here of all places, what?”
“You think Russia’s going to try to interfere in Asia?”
“I’d say this man’s too convenient to be a coincidence. Now that the status quo is restored in the Middle East, and the Dardanelles settled, up pops an archduke!”
“You think there’s a connection?”
Longstaff laughed gently. “Well, the Middle East settlement neatly stops Russian advances westward, but she can afford to sit back and wait. France is spoiling for a fight and so is Prussia. That Austro-Hungarian devil Metternich is in trouble dominating their Italian possessions, and furious with France and Britain for assisting the Belgians to form their own nation at the expense of the Dutch. There’s going to be big trouble between Britain and France over the Spanish succession—the Spanish queen’s twelve, and soon she’ll be given in marriage. Louis Philippe wants his appointee as her husband, but we can’t afford a joining of the thrones of France and Spain. Prussia wants to extend its domination of Europe, which historically France has always considered her exclusive and divine right. Oh yes,” he added with a smile, “Russia can afford to wait. When the Ottoman Empire breaks up, she’ll calmly take all the Balkans—Romania, Bulgaria, Bessarabia, Serbia— and as much of the Austro-Hungarian Empire as she can gobble up as well. Of course we can’t let her, so there’ll be a general war, unless she accepts a reasonable settlement. So, from Russia’s point of view, Europe is no danger at present. Russia’s been blocked effectively, but that doesn’t matter. Her historical policy has always been to conquer by guile—to bribe the leaders of a country, and the leaders of the opposition, if any. To extend by ‘sphere of influence’ and not by war, then to obliterate the leaders and digest the people. When there’s no threat from the west, I’d think her eyes would turn eastward. For she too believes she has a divine position on earth, that she too—like France and Prussia—has a God-given mission to rule the world. Eastward no Great Power stands between her and the Pacific.”