Chapter 689: International Diplomatic Pressure
French merchants were immediately overjoyed, waving Franc banknotes and pushing their foreign competitors aside.
Many British, Dutch, and Italian merchants mournfully gazed at the contract board. One-month sugar futures were already listed at 2 Francs 1 Sou, and the three-month quote had reached an astonishing 2 Francs 3 Sous!
Weigel's eyes were like those of a man who had been stranded in the desert for half a month and suddenly spotted water.
However, the Dutch Guilders in his hand couldn't be used to buy water...
Someone suddenly grabbed his arm and whispered in his ear:
"Why are you still standing here, dazed?"
Weigel turned his head. It was Van Scheik.
"But I don't have any..."
The latter said in his ear, "Have you forgotten? The Bank of France is downstairs!"
"France is on the Gold Standard."
'My cobblestone brain!' Weigel was suddenly enlightened. He spun around and ran downstairs. "Thank you so much!"
The Gold Standard meant that anyone could exchange Franc paper money for gold at the Bank of France at any time, and conversely, gold could be exchanged for Francs at any time!
The Bank of France's counters were still relatively empty, as most people hadn't realized yet.
Weigel immediately exchanged all his more than 10,000 Dutch Guilders for Francs.
Although the Dutch Guilder, as currency, wasn't perfectly full-value—officially, one Dutch Guilder was supposed to contain 3.75 grams of gold, but in reality, it was less than 3.7 grams—Weigel had no choice but to exchange it for Francs as if it were raw gold, rather than its denominated currency value.
Fortunately, exchanging physical gold for paper money came with a 2% subsidy, which reduced his losses somewhat.
Afterwards, Weigel returned to the futures trading floor with a flourish, bypassed a crowd of foreign merchants, and bought four contracts in one go.
Others quickly noticed the Dutchman, then, realization dawned on them, and they surged downstairs like a tide.
The Bank of France's counters also experienced a repeat of what happened yesterday at the futures exchange—the counters were pushed over. Fortunately, there were many police officers maintaining order today, so no casualties occurred.
By 5 PM that day, when the futures exchange closed, the Bank of France had received over 8,000 ounces of gold, approximately equivalent to 900,000 Francs.
This was even with the Bank of France suspending operations for three hours to repair its counters; otherwise, surpassing a million would have been easy.
Just half a month after the Paris Agricultural Products Futures Exchange opened for business, European nations all began to feel the severe market turmoil caused by the skyrocketing sugar prices.
Thus, at the summons of Britain, various countries sent representatives, who gathered in Frankfurt to attend the "Special European Sugar Conference."
Without much preamble, Lord Marquis, the British representative, stood up, proudly surveyed the assembled delegates, and declared loudly:
"It is quite clear that France bears the primary responsibility for this sugar crisis!"
The conference hall immediately fell silent. Some delegates looked towards Bailly, the French representative, while others lowered their heads, saying nothing.
Marquis continued:
"As everyone knows, the core reason for the sugar shortage is the outbreak of black slave revolts in the Caribbean Sea, which has caused many plantations to reduce production or even suffer complete crop failures.
"And the earliest region where revolts appeared was the French colony of Saint-Domingue.
"I have ample evidence to prove that the unrest in other parts of the Caribbean Sea is connected to the abolitionist organizations in Saint-Domingue."
As he spoke, he fiercely tossed several documents onto the conference table:
"These are records of the Frenchman Jacques Pierre Brissot's activities in Saint-Domingue. We have reason to believe that it was he who spearheaded the Abolition Movement there.
"That damned Vincent Ogé has consistently been under Brissot's command!"
It wasn't that the British intelligence agency was particularly remarkable, but mainly because the Saint-Domingue abolitionist organization had grown so large that it became difficult to prevent classified information from leaking out in the later stages.
"Furthermore, the weapons used by the black slaves in the Caribbean Sea were mostly supplied by France.
"I believe the French government must account for the situation in the Caribbean Sea and the current severe sugar shortage to all nations!"
The British had clearly come well-prepared; their goal was to leverage international diplomatic pressure to compel France, currently Europe's largest source of sugar, to commit to actively stabilizing sugar prices.
Britain was the world's largest consumer of sugar. Currently, sugar prices had risen by 67% compared to the same period last year, and futures contracts for six months later had surged by as much as 160%!
Even though the British government had begun implementing measures like tax exemptions for sugar merchants, sugar prices continued to skyrocket.
It was foreseeable that the British people, especially the lower classes, would soon be unable to afford sugar.
Sugar was Britain's biggest daily indulgence, even a spiritual sustenance—tea and coffee without sugar were simply undrinkable for most, dark bread was eaten with syrup, porridge required sugar, and fried fish was dusted with icing sugar.
It could be said that without sugar, British housewives wouldn't even know how to cook.
Given the current trend of rising sugar prices, the British populace was on the verge of revolt!
Britain's "old friends"—Prussia, Denmark, Portugal, and others—immediately joined in the uproar, condemning France for "disrupting the international environment and trade structure."
Bailly waited for these fellows to finish their performance, then unhurriedly produced a stack of pamphlets and gestured for his assistant to distribute them to the seated representatives:
"Perhaps you have already learned from other sources that the British Duke of Leeds was the true instigator of the Saint-Domingue black slave revolts.
"You can examine these documents, which clearly show how he contacted Ogé and others and provided them with a massive sum of 300,000 Pounds Sterling. Afterwards, the Duke of Leeds also orchestrated the transfer of that mob of ruffians, led by Boukman, to America."
He gestured around the conference table:
"If America had also sent a representative, he would have elaborated on this matter for you all."
The representatives from various countries flipped open the evidence provided by the French, and after casually glancing through a few pages, they all looked at Marquis with strange expressions.
'This evidence is too detailed!'
'No joke,' as a direct participant in the Duke of Leeds's plot, Ogé's evidence was naturally irrefutable. Even the remittance channels for the 300,000 in funds were clearly detailed.
Bailly continued:
"As for Brissot, everyone knows he's a fanatical abolitionist zealot.
"It was only after the Duke of Leeds incited the black slave revolt in Saint-Domingue that Brissot was drawn to it and traveled to the Caribbean Sea. Oh, the date of his departure from Europe can be easily verified by all of you.
"My country also finds this man a great headache. You must understand, his actions in Saint-Domingue have caused my country losses exceeding 50 million Francs annually!
"Regarding this, I expect the British government to provide my country with an explanation!"
Lord Marquis saw all nations glaring at him, especially Spain, and his heart immediately tightened.
'He hadn't expected the French to be even better prepared than he was, and even knowing the French were deliberately muddling the facts, he found himself utterly unable to refute them.'
He suddenly thought of something and exclaimed loudly:
"No, France has suffered no losses at all! On the contrary, you have gained immense profits from the situation in the Caribbean Sea."
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