Chapter 25
The British Empire (1)
"Your Highness, may I ask why you are going to England yourself?"
Diego, who came aboard the ship with me as my assistant, asked curiously.
"Didn't I say we were going to promote friendship with England and sign a non-aggression pact?"
England. The country that solidified its position as the strongest in Europe after the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 and would soon be called the British Empire.
"If that's all, we can just send a diplomat. Judging by your actions so far, Your Highness, you only move when there are at least two benefits."
Diego looked at me with curious eyes.
'It's good that he's affectionate, but it's a little creepy.'
I didn't realize it when he asked to be my assistant, but Diego seems to be a little too interested in me.
"Okay. I'll tell you the truth. Diplomacy is just a superficial reason. The real reason is different."
"Of course! What is that other reason?"
"It's a secret."
"Oh."
"Just kidding. I'm actually going to set up an immigration company in London."
"An immigration company?"
Immigration is an important enough reason for me to go to England myself.
"Diego, who do you think is going to be the main enemy of our Mexican Empire in the future?"
"Without a doubt, it's the United States. Spain is no longer a real threat to our Mexican Empire, and England and France have little direct interest."
"That's right."
The reason immigration is important is because of the United States.
Attracting immigrants is not simply about increasing the population, which is the most direct indicator of national power.
It's important to take away people who would go to the United States, our enemy.
'If we attract one immigrant, we get the effect of taking away one immigrant who would have gone to the United States, so we can actually enjoy double the efficiency.'
People who are content with their reality don't leave their homeland and cross the Atlantic to go to a distant foreign country.
If we attract immigrants to the Mexican Empire, they were probably going to go to the United States in the original history.
'In 1820, the population difference between Mexico and the United States was about 3 million. But by the 1840s, the population gap had widened to over 10 million. This is largely due to immigration.'
The growth of large-scale self-sufficient farmers as the vast land of the United States was developed also contributed greatly to population growth. But immigration was the most direct cause of the population explosion in the United States.
'I can't give up on the Irish and Germans, especially.'
The second largest group of Americans after British Americans in modern America are German Americans and Irish Americans.
British American population statistics include England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, and Cornwall.
You can imagine how many German Americans and Irish Americans there are, compared to the British Americans.
Irish immigration surged during the Irish Potato Famine of 1845, but even before that, a huge number of Irish people were leaving for America.
This is because they are still suffering from severe oppression and discrimination by the British, religious persecution, and poverty.
Most of them are Catholic, so they are a good match for Mexico.
German Americans have various religions depending on their region of origin, but many of them are Catholic.
Many Germans who suffered from political turmoil and poverty chose to immigrate to the United States.
'If we can bring even half of them, no, even 30%, to the Mexican Empire…'
We can catch up to the United States in terms of population size.
To implement this plan, I created an immigration company and signed a contract between the company and the Mexican Empire government.
It's a similar contract to the one Stephen Austin, the father of Texas, signed with the imperial government.
My company will be paid cash as an incentive for every 100 families it attracts.
The immigrants must cultivate wasteland. In that case, a certain amount of land will be given to the immigrant family for free, and they will be exempt from taxes for five years.
This was a contract that could only be established with Agustín I's help, as there was already a precedent with Stephen Austin, and the conservatives didn't strongly oppose the influx of people from outside.
This contract could require the government to spend a huge amount of money depending on the number of immigrants, so I couldn't just ask for it without any compensation.
'This one contract will offset the credit for defeating Spain and handling diplomacy well, so it has to succeed.'
Actually, Agustín I is being very lenient because it's his son.
Strictly speaking, it can be said that it's natural for the crown prince to contribute to the empire, but he helped to make this contract possible as a kind of reward for that.
"Diego, you said you studied English a little?"
"Yes, Your Highness. The university mainly taught Latin and French, but I thought English, the language of one of the strongest countries, would be useful, so I studied hard."
"Good job. Teach me too."
"Yes, Your Highness!"
I can already speak English to some extent, but the English of this era is different.
I studied the English of this era diligently while on the ship.
***
"···Then, I hope you have a pleasant stay in England."
"Yes, Your Majesty. Thank you."
King George IV of England showed his face when he heard that I had arrived, but he showed the utmost arrogance, as befitting the king of a superpower.
He invested only 5 minutes in me.
He just made a few polite remarks and left.
'Well… It's fortunate that he showed his face, even though he doesn't have much time left to live.'
George IV is 66 years old and will die next year.
Unlike the king, the British government didn't completely ignore the Mexican Empire.
I was able to have a proper conversation with the prime minister.
"···The king is old and frail, so please understand, Your Highness."
"Yes, I understand."
"That aside, I heard the news about how you brilliantly defeated Spain. You seem to have handled the diplomatic issues very well afterwards."
"Thank you, Prime Minister."
Arthur Wellesley.
The man who defeated Napoleon Bonaparte and the 25th and 28th Prime Minister of England.
"I found it quite interesting how Your Highness subdued the Spanish army in a single battle."
He must have heard about how I defeated the Spanish army.
"Various situations coincided well."
"Hahaha, you're so humble. I know that it wasn't that simple. I know a thing or two about tactics."
"Haha, you're too humble, Prime Minister. Aren't you the greatest strategist who defeated Napoleon?"
"That was just a matter of various situations coinciding well. Napoleon Bonaparte was the greatest strategist."
He seemed to reminisce about his former rival for a moment, and then he spoke again.
"We should get to the point, since we're short on time. Is there a reason why you came to England?"
The prime minister naturally got to the point.
"Our Mexican Empire wants to sign a 'non-aggression pact' (pacto no agresivo) with England."
"Hmm… Is a non-aggression pact really necessary? I understand that relations between our two countries are quite good."
"After Napoleon sold Louisiana to the United States, the United States has been expanding endlessly. I understand that they have territorial disputes with England's North American colonies. Don't you need a force to check them?"
England and the United States aren't on good terms, as they recently fought a war. But England doesn't see the United States as a serious enemy, just as 'uppity bastards'.
England will only become seriously wary of the United States after seeing it seize Mexican territory, expand its dominion to the Pacific, and fight a huge battle in the Civil War.
'It's too much to ask for a joint response to the United States right away, but it's a proposal that they can easily accept, as a non-aggression pact would be enough to throw a warning at the United States.'
Our Mexican Empire is a good customer (sucker) who pays the interest that England overcharges.
We've also been cooperative with England recently, handling the Spanish incident, so we figured they would do this much.
"The United States is not a threat to our England, but as Your Highness said, having a force to check them wouldn't be bad. Okay."
"Thank you, Prime Minister. I hope our two countries will continue to maintain good relations."
"Hahaha, don't worry, Your Highness, England and the Mexican Empire will be good partners."
***
The surface reason for my visit to England, signing a non-aggression pact, went well.
"Now, let's start the real work."
In fact, the non-aggression pact was just a pretext to come to England.
In this era, it was almost unheard of for royalty, especially heirs, to make unofficial visits to other countries, so I, the crown prince, needed a pretext to come to England.
'There are people who, like Peter the Great, go to other countries incognito, do carpentry cosplay, and learn shipbuilding techniques, but that's a very special case.'
That's a really special case.
Actually, Peter the Great was already known by the other side. He was a giant, over 2 meters tall, so he stood out.
'Anyway, I need to do the immigration business, but I can't recruit immigrants myself. That means I have to find an agent again.'
Unlike the Mexican Empire, where I've made quite a few connections over the past few years, I don't know anyone in England.
I thought about bringing someone from Mexico to do business for me, but I think a local would be better at sales, so I'm going to find someone locally.
I found someone who could introduce the right person.
"Ambassador, it's a pleasure to meet you."
"Your Highness, it's an honor to see your face in England. I also heard about the recent battle. It made my heart burn."
"Hahaha. Thank you. As you've heard, our Mexican Empire and England have signed a non-aggression pact."
"Yes, I heard about that too. You're amazing, Your Highness."
"Ambassador, I'm going to do something before I leave England, and I wonder if you could introduce me to someone."
"Yes, Your Highness. The only thing I do in England is meet people. What are you trying to do?"
Dr. José María Luis Mora is a Mexican diplomat stationed in England.
"I'm going to create an immigration company. I'd like someone with a diverse network of contacts."
"Hmm… An immigration company? Can I ask what kind of business it is exactly?"
"It's a company to attract immigrants to our Mexico, as the name suggests. We'll offer land and tax breaks to immigrants, and we'll pay those who attract immigrants a certain amount for each one."
"Ah, it's similar to the empresario contract. Now I understand what an immigration company is."
"Yes. Think of it as the business Stephen Austin is doing in Texas. It's just that it's targeting Europeans instead of Americans."
"Hmm… I do have someone in mind, but he's not a noble."
"It's fine if he's good at his job. What kind of work does he do?"
"He… He's a detective, but what that is…"
"A detective? I know what that is."
'A detective in this era?'
When you say detective, you think of someone like Sherlock Holmes, but in reality, most detectives do work that's not much different from a private investigator.
"You'll find a good one."
"Yes, I understand that he has a wide network of contacts."
"How do you know him?"
"W..Well…"
"Just kidding. Then, introduce him to me."
"Yes, Your Highness."
It wasn't long before Ambassador José brought him.
Reginald Greenfield.
Immigration, one of the key factors in competing with the United States in terms of size.
It's time to meet the man who will be at the top of that immigration business.
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