Chapter 64: Chapter 64: The Eden Covenant
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For the first task, Hartley had already set things in motion and now, having received instructions from London, it was merely a matter of sending more people to probe into the Crown Prince of France’s political inclinations.
From the Crown Prince’s opposition to the expansion of the navy, Hartley deduced that he was, at the very least, not anti-British, so it was possible to arrange relations with him as soon as possible.
It was said that the Crown Prince was also a mathematician of considerable ability. Hartley quickly decided to send a scholar to make contact with him.
As for the second item, it was a bit of a headache.
After Prussia retracted its troops from the Netherlands, its interactions with France were not that frequent.
After much thought, he found no good angle to exploit; at most, he could spread rumors or smear. It seemed that he could only wait for a better opportunity to arise.
Hartley carefully put away the secret letter and immediately convened a meeting with his subordinates to instruct them on all the matters mentioned in the letter.
…
Bright and early, Joseph welcomed a distinguished guest.
His mentor for a day—the “Prince of Mathematics,” Mr. Lagrange.
In fact, Lagrange would visit the Palace of Versailles to teach every other day. But lately, Joseph had been busy all over the place, and the two hadn’t seen each other at all.
After exchanging polite greetings, the old mathematician slid an exquisitely crafted invitation across to Joseph, earnestly persuading him for quite some time. The gist was that he wanted him to attend an academic conference two days later.
Actually, Joseph had already received two invitations from the French Mathematical Society, but he’d been too busy to attend and had declined both.
Half a month prior, Lagrange had formalized and published Joseph’s extension of Rolle’s theorem. By now, he had gained some fame in the French mathematical community.
At the same time, the Mathematical Society wanted to leverage the Crown Prince to expand its influence, so they brought out a master like Lagrange to extend the invitation.
Since his teacher had personally requested it, it was difficult for Joseph to refuse again, so he promised he would certainly attend.
The next day, in the Saint-Germain District of Paris, within the luxurious villa of the noble widow Madame Joison, dozens of scholars from the fields of mathematics and physics stood up to pay their respects to the Crown Prince.
In that era, the lines between physics and mathematics were not so clear. Physicists often mingled with mathematicians.
An official from the mathematical society delivered an enthusiastic speech and introduced the Crown Prince at great length before officially opening the conference.
One after another, people took the stage to present, with most of the content focusing on cutting-edge mathematical topics of the time, and the atmosphere was quite serious.
More than an hour later, the conference moved into a free discussion phase, and servants began to continuously bring out various delicacies, spreading the aroma of beverages and snacks throughout the room.
Laughter and lively conversations filled the air as the meeting scene turned into something similar to a mathematical salon.
Joseph had intended to leave, but Madame Joison, the hostess, kindly brought him a cup of fine red tea and enthusiastically pushed him to the centermost seat. Clearly, the attendance of the Crown Prince greatly honored her.
Sitting beside Lagrange somewhat reluctantly, Joseph sipped the fragrant hot tea and listened to an elder with white hair to his left describe his ideas on the derivation of a discrete probability distribution within probability theory.
After the elder had spoken, a buzz of discussion erupted. Joseph could vaguely make out that the elder’s statements hinted at something similar to the Poisson distribution, though it was still a good distance from a finished product. Hmm… he wondered if Poisson had even been born yet.
Soon after, Lagrange stood with his manuscript and began to expound his theorems and ideas linking functions to their derivatives. Since his in-depth discussion with Joseph about Rolle’s theorem, he had deeply studied the subject and recently made significant breakthroughs.
The audience likewise gave him high praise and engaged enthusiastically in the discussion.
Subsequently, several other scholars spoke. While they did not have the depth of the previous two masters, most had clever approaches and novel perspectives, offering substantial academic value.
Just then, a young scholar wearing a dark grey short coat cleared his throat, drawing everyone’s attention before starting a speech on the negative influences of Protestantism on science.
Joseph, quite surprised, whispered to Lagrange for confirmation that this man was not a member of the clergy but an assistant professor of physics from the University of Paris.
Having finished his speech, the young professor unexpectedly won bursts of applause. Everyone present, except for a few including Lagrange, praised and expressed their agreement with his views loudly.
From there, the discussion took a somewhat skewed turn.
A short, plump middle-aged man talked vehemently about the industrial espionage perpetrated by the British against French science and technology, claiming that such actions cost France tens of millions of livres annually.
Joseph frowned slightly. In this age, the absence of patent laws meant that it was common for England and France to steal each other’s technological achievements. However, France tended to steal more from England, contrary to what the round man suggested. Plus, such talk seemed somewhat inappropriate for an academic conference.
But the others apparently didn’t think so, as they quickly started a barrage of criticisms against the Brits, with sneers and insults filling the air.
The brown-haired young man sitting behind and to the right of Joseph loudly recounted the leading history of France in academic matters, item by item, denouncing the British for plagiarizing French achievements, and finally expressed his scorn for the British academic community through gritted teeth.
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Someone cried out excitedly:
“Therefore, the British will never surpass France in the world of science!”
“Indeed, look at their foolish papers, claiming that light is a wave, ha ha!”
“They always come up with such laughable stuff, and are so pleased with themselves.”
“Only France can lead the progress of science; it is the will of the Lord!”
The French academic community was still very arrogant at the time, and coupled with the age-old enmity between England and France, denouncing England had become politically correct.
“Has Britain ever had a great scholar? No!” The brown-haired young man exclaimed excitedly, waving his hands.
Then, he looked at Joseph, seeking support and bending forward, said, “Your Highness, you agree, don’t you?”
Joseph sighed, shook his head slightly, and whispered, “They have Newton.”
The room grew quiet, and dozens of eyes turned to Joseph as if they didn’t expect the Crown Prince to speak for the British.
Joseph thought for a moment, then stood up, as the atmosphere and those arguments just now had made him uncomfortable: “Actually, Britain also has many commendable aspects in science.
“Besides Newton, I think everyone is familiar with Mr. Taylor, whose Taylor series is often used in calculating trajectories.
“And Maclaurin’s ‘Structural Geometry.’
“In fact, more often than not, Mr. Watt’s steam engine might bring even more astonishing impact; in the textile field, all of France has already felt that threat.
“Speaking of textiles, an Englishman not long ago invented an automatic loom…”
A middle-aged man with spirited eyes and a large nose said softly, “Cartwright.”
“Oh, yes, Cartwright.” Joseph nodded, “If this loom is combined with the steam engine, it will be a crushing blow to the entire world’s textile industry.
“France indeed has many very excellent scholars and has made astonishing academic achievements, but we must also see that, in many ways, the British have actually moved to the forefront…”
His reason for saying this was to remind the French scholars present that the battle for the Industrial Revolution was imminent, and the next technological explosion was coming.
Steam engines and textile technology are areas that must be focused on; they will be the core pillars that determine the Industrial Revolution.
Being caught up in France’s past academic glories or envying the progress of the British will only lead to a complete loss in the Industrial Revolution.
After he finished speaking, the room suddenly grew cold, and for a time, no one stood up to speak, as if caught in the struggle between arrogance and reality.
The middle-aged man with a big nose approached Joseph’s side and whispered, “Your Highness, what you said was excellent! I didn’t expect you to be so knowledgeable about England.”
Joseph nodded and smiled at him.
The middle-aged man continued, “Some years ago, I thoroughly investigated British industry and technology for the Anglo-French trade negotiations. Just as you mentioned, Britain has gained a lead over France in many technologies. It’s a pity that insightful people like you are too few; most are still indulging in arrogance…”
“Trade negotiations?” Joseph looked at the middle-aged man, “May I ask who you are?”
“Oh, my excitement has made me forget basic courtesies; I’m really sorry. My name is Dupont, Pierre Dupont.”
That name was too familiar. Joseph immediately asked, “Aren’t you the one who participated in the American Independence negotiations and run a company in the chemical industry?”
“Oh, yes, Your Highness,” Dupont said, surprised, “You know me?”
Joseph internally nodded to himself, realizing this was indeed the well-known industrialist Dupont he had encountered here.
“I have heard of you.”
So, the two began to talk about British industrial technology, and soon the topic shifted to Anglo-French trade negotiations.
“Your Highness, ever since the death of Count Vergena, our negotiations with the British have stalled… The Single Tax Plan has also failed to be implemented,” Dupont said with concern, “You are aware that the negotiations are actually incomplete, and the ‘Eden Treaty’ that has been signed is very disadvantageous for France.”
What he referred to as the ‘Eden Treaty’ was the Anglo-French trade treaty that was just signed last year, in which both sides made a series of restrictions on tariffs—France significantly reduced tariffs on British industrial goods, while Britain reduced tariffs on French wine and some agricultural products.
As a result, French industry lost tariff protection and was battered by the technologically superior British. The increased sales of French wine and agricultural products could not make up for the huge losses in industry.
Joseph nodded, “This treaty was signed under very inappropriate conditions, causing disastrous effects on French industry.”