The Fox of France - Chapter 357: Debate

“The bunch of wretches from the Textile Guild are utterly hopeless!” Bill Langley, Britain’s largest steel manufacturer, couldn’t contain his fury upon learning about the concessions made by the Textile Guild to the French. He turned to his friend, the Tory Member of Parliament Henry Bolton, and exclaimed, “Look at this, in all our trade with Europe, these scoundrels profit the most! And now, amidst the trade tensions with France, it’s mostly their greed causing it. While we all struggle against the French to uphold England’s interests, they lead the surrender for their immediate gains… It’s utterly shameless!”

However, his friend didn’t seem entirely in agreement with Langley’s outburst.

“Bill, while that might be the talk for public discourse, especially on the foreign front,” Henry Bolton said as he gently stirred a silver spoon in a Far Eastern porcelain cup filled with red tea, “truth be told… If it were me, I’d likely surrender as well. Even you, my friend, if you were a textile owner rather than the proprietor of mines and ironworks, you’d probably make a similar choice. After all, profit speaks volumes. And by the way, I heard you recently secured some new contracts with the French?”

“Heh…” Langley sneered, “Henry, you always have a knack for blunt honesty. Those cursed French make so much money, leaving us little room for profit. Now, with my steel products unable to sell and being cornered by their dominance, my iron mining capacity surpasses what I can sell. Hence, I’m forced to export iron ore to the French… It’s a collapse of the entire British steel industry, Henry. The French have been suppressing us, not allowing any significant advancements—it’s almost akin to colonialization. So, Henry, we in England must take action—let this situation not persist.”

“I know what you’re aiming for, raising tariffs on French steel products to protect our own steel industry, but you know…” Henry Bolton replied, “Our steel industry can’t possibly provide sufficient, quality steel at such low prices. Take railways, for instance. If we use domestically produced pig iron rails, our locomotives’ speed and load capacity would significantly decrease, reducing our rail transport to a quarter or even less of what the French have. And the cost difference isn’t substantial. Moreover, many things are nearly impossible without steel.”

“You make a valid point, but even so, such railways aren’t entirely unusable. Plus, our scientists aren’t idle; after all, we’ve produced Sir Isaac Newton. Over the years, the Steel Industry Guild has invested heavily in steelmaking techniques. Now, we’ve made significant progress, soon producing qualified steel at lower costs.”

“Soon? You said that last year.”

“This time it’s real; experimental steel furnaces have successfully undergone initial trials. However, our technology still lacks maturity, resulting in waste, and our costs remain significantly higher than imported French steel. But without protection, our industry won’t develop, and I believe you understand the importance of our industry.”

“Your steel production’s output? Can it enter commercial operations?”

“Estimated at around three thousand tons annually—under normal circumstances. Additionally, we can produce some specialized steel that the French refuse to export to us…” Langley remarked.

“Wait, this specialized steel you mentioned…”

“Artillery steel. We can produce it without crucibles.”

“How much cheaper can it be compared to crucible steel?”

“To sustain our development, it can’t be too cheap. Still, it’s considerably lower than crucible steel. In the short term, about two-thirds of the price, in the long term, even lower.”

But even at this price, it’s significantly higher than in France. Reportedly, when selling artillery steel to Bonaparte’s military, the French charge only slightly more than double the price of regular track steel, which in Britain, is not much higher than the price of iron produced by British steel enterprises.

“The price of regular steel? How much lower can it go compared to French goods?”

“That depends on whom they’re selling to,” Langley explained. “Their prices for general structural steel and track steel in Britain are considerably higher than on the European continent. Despite this, our current prices won’t undercut theirs. In comparison to local European or even French prices, our cost price may even surpass their selling price.”

“Do we have such a significant technological gap with them?” Henry Bolton queried.

“It’s not just technology; it encompasses various aspects. For instance, Lorraine’s iron mines employ cutting-edge extraction methods, lowering their mining costs compared to ours. They utilize railways for transport, reducing their transportation costs. Then, their blast furnaces are much larger—scale reduces unit costs, so their ironmaking costs are lower. Furthermore, their steelmaking technology surpasses ours, and their demand allows for more substantial scales, resulting in further cost reductions. Thus… the disparity between us and the French in metallurgy is comprehensive. Without national barriers, faced with France’s lead, we’re virtually defenseless,” Langley explained.

“So…”

“So, the Navigation Acts must be upheld, perhaps strengthened. Britain can’t rely on French steel; the British market must be reserved for British steel enterprises. Otherwise, Britain has no future.”

Two weeks later, during a meeting in the House of Commons, the Whigs proposed amending the Navigation Acts for greater access to European markets.

The Tories advocated further bolstering the Navigation Acts, particularly increasing tariffs on European goods, especially steel products. On top of existing measures, proposing a three hundred percent tariff hike on European steel aimed at countering European sanctions on British exports.

Naturally, this led to the traditional clash between the Whigs and Tories, with the pivotal question being where the New Tories would stand in this debate.

Like the Whigs, many in the New Tories had substantial investments in the textile industry, a shining star in Britain’s foreign trade in recent years. From this perspective, they should side with the Whigs. Yet, they also held investments in mining, metallurgy, and military industries.

This put the New Tories in a precarious position. On one hand, they sought to preserve Europe’s textile market, emphasizing to Tory counterparts that without the wealth brought by textiles, severe fiscal issues would plague Britain. This would subsequently shrink other domestic markets, making a three hundred percent tariff hike a suicidal move.

On the other hand, they had to persuade the Whigs not to completely follow the French. Presently, for instance, for every shipment of cotton or wool to France, only a handful of mechanical goods were returned. The French were evidently suppressing Britain’s industrial advancement, allowing only low-level transactions. Any attempt by Britain to advance in the industry chain faced immediate economic repercussions from the French.

And because Britain couldn’t control the higher rungs of the industry chain, its substitutability was high, making it exceedingly vulnerable to French economic sanctions. Thus, for long-term profit, to earn more, protecting Britain’s high-tech industry was imperative. And to do so, sufficient protective barriers were necessary—England couldn’t wholly align with the French “free trade principle,” lest it become a vassal to France.

Then the Whigs and Tories jointly asked, “What do you propose?”

The New Tories presented a conciliatory plan: while the textile industry must consider long-term needs and endure short-term losses, the metallurgical and military industries couldn’t rush either. Essentially, it was about compromise—everyone yielding a bit and understanding each other…

Yet, anything entwined with interests became exceedingly challenging. Both the Whigs and Tories found the New Tories’ conciliatory stance hard to accept, leading to heated debates in the British House of Commons, mirrored in the papers controlled by the three factions.

Amidst the debate, some information surfaced in the papers. For instance, news about a possible breakthrough in steelmaking technology in Britain was intentionally or unintentionally leaked.

This news naturally reached France through telegrams. Upon receiving the information, Napoleon immediately called Joseph and Lucien for a discussion on countermeasures.