540: Chapter 281: The Story of Sir Isaac Newton Revisited 540: Chapter 281: The Story of Sir Isaac Newton Revisited London Bloomsbury, Chancery Lane, Court of Equity.
Arthur and Rowan, the head of the hall, walked down the steps of the courthouse, side by side.
Compared to when they had arrived, they now held several more docunts in their hands.
These were the newly drafted resolutions from the joint eting that had just been held by the Lord Chancellor’s office, the Navy Departnt, the Ho Office, the General Post Office, and the Customs Departnt.
Following the consultation results of this morning’s eting before the King, the Privy Council, and the Cabinet, King William IV, in agreent with all mbers of the Privy Council, formally signed the Royal Seal warrant authorizing Lord Brougham, the High Chancellor of Britain, to supervise the nation’s cholera epidemic prevention and control as the highest overseer of national health.
All other governnt departnts and committees of the Privy Council, the House of Commons, and the House of Lords, including Downing Street No.
10, the Pri Minister’s Office, will act in accordance with the recomndations of the Lord Chancellor’s office.
Although Arthur had always known that the power of the 19th-century High Chancellor was much greater than that of a 21st-century Minister of Justice, he was still unavoidably shocked by the formidable power held in his ‘ntor’s’ hands when he heard this decision in the eting.
In administration, the High Chancellor originally had control over the promotion channels of judges in Britain’s peace, criminal, civil, and equity courts, with the power to decide which lawyers could be promoted to King’s Counsel.
In royal affairs, he also served concurrently as the Keeper of the Great Seal and the Royal Legal Advisor.
And in politics, the High Chancellor was inherently the fixed first Privy Counselor of the House of Lords and the Lord Speaker.
In the judicial realm, he was a mber and the final judge of the Privy Council and the judicial committee of the House of Lords, and was also the only person in the country with the authority to declare the conviction of treason among the nobility.
As for religious affairs, since the High Chancellor was historically appointed as a cardinal by the Archbishop and even the Pope before Henry VIII’s Act of Supremacy in the 16th century, to this day the High Chancellor essentially retained the religious functions of that era.
Not only was he responsible for overseeing all properties of Britain’s National Church, but also by tradition, even the appointnt of religious court judges on the territories of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York had to first consult the High Chancellor.
As for the so-called supervisor of the dical and health sector, Arthur had previously regarded this power as nothing more than an insignificant cherry on top of the cake that was the High Chancellor’s range of competencies.
Because in day-to-day operations, since Britain did not have a unified public health departnt, this power was always distributed among various governnt departnts and local parish committees.
And in ordinary tis, no one paid too much attention to this matter.
The High Chancellor had too much authority, and public health could never be his top priority, no matter what.
As far as the local parishes were concerned, so-called public health was just about deciding which sanitation company they would hire to clean and dispose of the trash.
For Scotland Yard, public health was about catching those who sold fake dicine.
Besides this, Arthur and his team also had to ensure that drunkards couldn’t urinate or defecate in public, as this was an exclusive right of pregnant won.
Scotland Yard always thought about expanding its power, but the drunkards certainly could not.
However, despite saying this, it was ultimately only a wishful thinking of the police.
It was clearly evident that their efforts in this area had never been effective.
Just like Mr.
Dick Whittington, who in the legends of Britain rose from a poor orphan to beco the Mayor of London, said on his first visit to London: “I thought the streets of London were paved with gold, but it turned out to be human excrent.”
If Mr.
Whittington had the fortune of living in the 19th century, he would have found that London remained authentically as it was in the 14th century.
The streets of London had not only ‘human gold’ but also ‘human rcury.’
If one must point out any progress with these ‘gold’ and ‘rcury’ compared to the past, it would be that the heavy tal content in this excrent indeed far exceeded that of the 14th century.
In this regard, the outstanding inventions of unscrupulous businessn, such as arsenic-laden costics or copper-containing fake tea leaves, have made significant contributions.
Rowan continued down the steps, and seeing that Arthur was silent, took the initiative to start the conversation, “With a face as still as dead water and a grave expression, but I understand, the job that the Lord Chancellor’s office has given us is indeed a tough one.
rely quarantining the affected areas is already dangerous and offensive enough, now we also have to cooperate with the Customs Departnt and the Navy Departnt to crack down on smuggling, to prevent the continuous import of cases from other regions.
Arthur, the first task could be managed by soone else, but the latter relies solely on you.”
After saying this, Rowan stopped in front of a restaurant, leaned against the wall to light his pipe, and then threw the tin box of tobacco to Arthur.
Arthur did not stand on ceremony; he took so tobacco, lit it, and said, “It’s a necessity.
However, I’m still surprised by the decision of the Lord Chancellor’s office and the Navy Departnt; how on earth did they think of transferring soone from Scotland Yard to Liverpool to investigate smuggling?”
Rowan took a puff of his pipe, brushed the dust off Arthur’s shoulder strap, and said, “They probably think there are moles within the local Liverpool customs officers.
But they have a point; after all, smuggling is sothing that could never succeed without soone backing it from behind.
Moreover, the outbreak in Liverpool is not as clear as in Sunderland; they can’t even find a source.
If we go by the miasma theory, that could be explained, but if we consider it from the contagion perspective, it makes no sense whatsoever.
Anyway, do your best to investigate.
If it’s resolved well and good, but if it’s unclear or too challenging, just bla it on the miasma.”
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