Everyone likes Walloons: Chapter 10
Previous Episode:
Chapter Nine: Raj d'Belgique
Chapter 10: Locomotion
I had spent most of November and early December travelling around the country speaking to rooms full of voters, encouraging them to vote for the local party candidate, I even gave a couple of speaches to the general, non-voting populace. I've never had a particular way with words, unlike some of my colleagues and predecessors have. Perhaps my more plain and frank speach was appreciated, as with that and my record and Belgium's recent achievements, we had a quite a succesful election really.
The Liberals continue to make small gains in the Senate, but their presence in the Chamber of Representatives has shrunk slightly, giving our Catholic party an even more dominat position. Best of all of course, my 'National' faction's slight edge is now a proper majority within the party, if this continues we will truly be the dominant force. I am honored to see the voters put so much stock by us, and especially honored the King has invited me to carry right on as the head of His Government.
As the celebrations ushering in the year of 1845 and of our election victory fade we begin look forward to spring, and at the turn of the month there is a rush of excitement among the engineering community;
They have hit upon various methods and devices that not only allow us to mine deeper and further than ever before, but more than double the current productivity of such mines! Better still these things hint at more practical applications that will improve these matters even further. I couldn't be more pleased with the geniuses that inhabit Belgium once turned to proper matters of practicality, thanks to them we shall hopefully be safe from any further iron shortages. The King has enquired about the possibility of improving our rail network, stronger and faster engines better fit to lug the glut of mineral wealth pouring from the ground into our factories, works and mills. It is an excellent idea and I am quite happy to add to putting the full weight of His Majesty's government behind it;
In February we also hear of news from across the Atlantic, the Mexican war for Texas has finally ended and it has not gone as Mexico hoped;
Instead of reuniting the American parts of Texas with their own, they've given up their own, reuniting Mexican Texas with American Texas. They've also lost the territory of New Mexico to boot. While I have no investment in the matter and it seems that Mexico have stronger claim to the areas than the USA, I can't help but feel this is somehow... more correct.
It is another month before international matters intrude on us once more, much closer to home this time;
When Spain began their campaign ogainst the Ottomans last year they called in their allies, it seems that the Russians, whose great strength made them the leaders in the war, are determined to take something for themselves out of it.
It is the pleasant May of '45 and I am getting some very exciting news indeed from the Ministry of Industry, our new factories are completed;
New factories will require new workers of course, so we end our previous educational endeavour, and a begin a new one;
In the heady temperatures of summer, June the 2nd sees the British begin a new campaign in the India/Asia area;
Likely they hope to take the territory before the Russians can. Speaking of Russia, we also see the end of the Ottoman campaign in the last week of June;
Typical of the dastardly Tsar, "Imperator" Nicholas. He has had the war drawn to a close and despite it being instigated by the Spaniards it is he and Russia that come away with all the "loot". With Spain achievementless he has left his friends demoralised and destablised at the lost men for no gain.
To more pleasant news now, the first link in the great chain that will one day be our rail network has been completed;
The line connects the city of Brussels to Hasselt and it's coal fields and already sees peoples, goods, resources and commerce flow along this artery, The King travelled especially in the first locomotive open to the public(He couldn't be in any of the engineers test engines lest something have gone wrong, of course) to chug down the tracks. Mere weeks later the rest of the network in Flanders is completed;
Rolling stock and it's precious cargoes can now travel from the principle port of Bruges to the Dutch border in Hasselt and anywhere in between in around a day, in some cases less than that. It is truly a great age to live in. Estimates for the Walloon half of the railway system put it's completion in winter, before the end of the year. The whole nation looks forward to seeing that. In the meantime we progress through the height of summer and into autumn, the very first twinges of colour are beggining to show on the trees in September when we receive word from Natal;
Governor Camille Dethier's new ports, built to Admiral De Leuze's specifications(with a little help from the British) are finally completed, and our tiny section of Africa now possess the best harbour and port facilities on the continent. They will greatly assist in projecting Belgian influence in that great landmass and across the southern oceans.
At last we begin to see winter all around us as the trees are rapidly shedding their foliage and it is time to open the rest of our rail lines;
It is a slight shame that the first vistas at view upon the national network are muddy fields and bare trees, though this point is simply drowned out in the enthusiasm for the great engines and soon the views will be of beautiful pure white when the snows come. Hopefully that beautious precipitation of heaven will not give any trouble to the operations.
The approaching dark days are not met with quiet in wider Europe however, we notified by the embassies present that one again the Germanic nations are having another brawl;
No doubt we will receive a singular offer from the Prussians very soon, my predecessor sent a letter warning me of their... grasp, of geography when the news broke to the wider establishment.
After Christmas, the new year of 1846 sees the bloody liberals at it yet again;
Another small gain over the Catholic party particularly from the national faction. If this keeps up by the next election or so these people will able to muck about with our constitution. Now isn't that a terrible thought. The ominousity of the year does not end there however;
Now I am of course all in favour of the Dutch-ish speaking Flems and celebration of our various heritages, being of both Flemish aswel as Wallonie stock myself, but this growing movement of a particular "Flemish voice" to oppose/counter the smaller though more official french speaking "Walloon voice" is very dangerous. What happened to the great united "Belgian voice" that declared our indepdence from the Netherlands? That broke their armies and sacked Amerstdam itself? Will we be doomed to fragment? If we do what's to stop a rising voice of Bruges or Liege say? Ohwell, hopefully it well never come to that, certainly not while I'm around to do something about it!
The rest of the first half of 1846 is quiet, no new developments at home or in the world at large occur until August, specifically the third, when yet more news of potential trouble comes from America;
Even in the union of states there is talk of fragmentation and regionalism, though I suppose this particular incident is much further down the axis of seccession and civil disruption than mere talk and anything we've seen at home.
August is however, a good month for us, and the first truly good month of 1846. A couple of weeks after the american news, Engineers are presenting new rail and engines designs to His Majesty;
Aswell as new more powerful engines, technicians and engineers have proposed standardising the 'guage', that is to say the width between the rails on which the engines and their trains run, across the country. This would better facilitate construction of the engines and increase efficiency as transfers between lines outside the tolerances are eliminated. A recent act in Britain has officially adopted a standarised guage of four feet and eight and a half inches, we are told that this provides a good compromise between the cost effectiveness and ability to curve of narrower gauges with the speed potential and stabilty of broader ones and most of the lines(not all of them of course, particularly those operated by companies) are already of that guague, our very first engines having been imported from Britain. So His Majesty has asked me to present a similar act before our own Parliament adopting the British guage as our standard also.
With our engineers busy in the meantime I shall be having our academic establishments encouraging a different field, that of the study of medicine. Our presense in Southern Africa and western India has put our people in encouters with new conditions and diseases and enviorons that we have no proper experience of, a great medical understanding will do our people wonders I am sure. It should also alleviate the minor outbreaks of cholera we are encountering in Sindh aswell as a provide a host of other smaller benefits, as I believe I said before, this is surely one of the best times to have ever been alive.
On August 24th, the Parliament of Belgium passes its Standardisation of Railroad Guage Act having achieved substantial backing of just over four fifths of the members in the Chamber, the resistence being exclusively from liberals most of whom thought we should leave it to the discretion of rail companies, in which, coincidently many of them own shares. These people would see the maintenance of little monopoly networks for their own profit rather than consider the profit of Belgium as a whole so I am content to take this "liberty" away from them. And with that teams of engineers are streaming out of Brussels bringing all lines into the standard aswell as taking the oppertunity to expand the networks;
The mood of the year had been given a boost in August, but it was not to last through September. On the 27th of September word reached us that almost entirely destroyed our good news;
The Russians are probing our colonial borders in India, gauging our will to defend the positions and our strengths within them by abducting our own peoples on such a flimsy pretext. There is an immediate call for war and I am inclined to agree, a defeat of Russia would ensure the security of our protectorate as they are clearly interested in taking it. And with the support of our allies, particularly the United Kingdom and it's great empire and navy we would surely not loose the fight. The King is cautious though and refuses to issue the declaration at our current levels of readiness, we need to bolster our forces and guarentee that atleast England joins us before starting out. That should not be too difficult, it is in the best interests of them to see Russia's position in India weakened. Our other allies are a different prospect, Denmark being so small comparitively and Sweden being so close, they cannot be relied upon in this case. So it is to bolster the army that the government now attends;
Several new divisions are to be raised, not only from our own colonial garrisons but we are hiring thousands of willing native volunteers attracted by the prospect of good pay, great equipment and, I hope, the chance to serve their adopted motherland. Twelve thousand men will be raised in Sindh and a further twelve thousand in Natal, to be transported across should the fight still be on.
Possibly in mind of new action on the Indian continent, our comminques on the subject have been most frequent, Britain draws a close to it's Afghan campaign;
And with the war footing taking a hold it is nice to know that some people are still busy enriching life in other ways;
Can't say I'm a fan of the thing myself, sounds like a possessed cat in a printing press, but I'm not surprised it's catching on in Paris. Should fit right up the alley of that
culture. Still, it's always nice to see something Belgian catch on in the international arts etc.
There's nothing special for me to make note of in what remains of the year, 1846 has certainly been a strange one, so it is a slight relief that 1847 decides to start without any particular surprise;
Slight relief in that I'm used to this trend, but the trend itself is still worrying. I'm beginning to think the Russian are involed here, secrelty backing the liberals somehow as they would throw away our tremendous advancement and national growth for the sake of their silly ideals and private profits.
By the first week of March the we have raised three quarters of the new divisions, eighteen thousand men, across two continents, the remaining six thosand will take some time.
On the 25th of March the new docks and shipyards in Karachi are finally ready, moving goods and shipping through these should aid us greatly
With proper naval facilities on three continents and an impending war, it is also a good time for another round of naval expansion, especially since Russia possess a small fleet of "steam" ships.
One of those steam raiders outmatches our greatest warships in terms of withstanding a pounding, and we lack the facilities to produce our own matching vessels but more ships will give us a better chance if our fleets ever meet. Though I would be lieing if I did not say that I am hoping the great British home fleet of warships and steamers does that for us.
Finally however it cannot be postponed any more. Troops raised, shipyards busy, military raring, Britain waiting and April dawning, we have waited long enough. We will attempt to destroy Russia's hopes of establishing a true presence in India and reunite the Free Baluchi of Bela with the rest of their peoples.
(OOC Note: Since the previous episode I've been editting the regions some more. Old Kalat has seen it's northern two most provinces seperated into the state of Peshawar with the rest becomming Baluchistan. The Karachi region has been renamed Sindh and several Indian regions have also been given proper names(Rajputana, Punjab etc.))
It is April the 1st 1847.
The World: April 1847
Next Episode:
Chapter Eleven: The Lion verus the Bear
