The Shadow of Great Britain

As for the Assistant Director, Professor John Herbart of the Philosophy College, he was evidently easier to handle than Professor Dalman.

During these days, aside from requesting Arthur to follow the usual custom: to write a motivational article for the students before the official start of the new semester, Dalman made no other demands.

Moreover, this typically stern and somewhat old-fashioned German professor even privately offered rare high praise for Arthur's piece "Sending Stendal's Bismarck."

Herbart believed that although the article's language was plain, it expressed genuine feelings, deeply moving, and highlighted the main theme of motivating students, without entangling the pure campus in current fierce political disputes.

If it weren't for seeing it with his own eyes, Herbart would find it very hard to believe that such an article could be penned by a 24-year-old young man.

Even someone like him, a professor who has been in education for years, might not be able to write such a heartfelt soliloquy.

Thus, in just a month after arriving at the University of Gottingen, Arthur inexplicably settled matters with Gauss, earned high praises from Dalman and Herbart, secured quite a bit of budget for equipment updates, and quickly stabilized the school's circle of professors.

Regarding the students, by relaxing control over student clubs and inadvertently leaking the news that the Kingdom of Hanover was preparing to pass a liberal constitution, the originally agitated student mood not only calmed considerably but even saw some students actively support this new academic director who was close to their age.

Of course, in the process of the students changing their mindset, Mr. Heinrich Heine, the esteemed senior of the University of Gottingen, also made a significant contribution. After Arthur took office at the University of Gottingen, Heine immediately published an editorial about the freedom movements among the German States in the Paris "Constitutional Newspaper."

In that editorial titled "Liberalism in Germany: The Heroic Act of the Kingdom of Hanover," Heine not only highly praised the actions of Britain and King William IV of Hanover to pass a liberal constitution in Hanover but also elaborated on the significant meaning of the esteemed Sir Arthur Hastings being appointed as the academic director of the University of Gottingen.

This greatly boosted the morale of Gottingen students who have always viewed Heine as a spiritual leader, naturally considering the new academic director as one of their own.

The rapid stabilization of the situation at the University of Gottingen surprised not just others but Arthur himself.

In the recent Privy Council meeting, King William IV not only highly affirmed the work of this young man from York in Hanover but also felt proud for his own discerning judgment in selecting people.

To express approval of Arthur's work, he specially sent a letter to the Duke of Cambridge, Governor of Hanover, requesting the Hanover Cabinet should provide the maximum support within their capacity.

Because in the king's view, stabilizing the University of Gottingen equated to stabilizing all intellectuals in the Kingdom of Hanover, thus achieving the goal of stabilizing the middle class.

After all, in Hanover, this middle class has always regarded the poets, philosophers, and scientists graduated from Gottingen as leaders.

In that letter, William IV proudly praised: "If compared to the Royal Navy, Sir Arthur Hastings is the Victory, Horatio Nelson's flagship. In terms of maintaining order, he alone is a Scotland Yard."

Of course, the king's commendation is worth celebrating.

However, Arthur clearly knows that even if he alone is Scotland Yard, Scotland Yard still needs to rely on the Gestapo in Gottingen.

But having the king's support does bring many advantages, especially in a German State like Hanover.

For example, the recent budget application he submitted on behalf of the University of Gottingen to the Ministry of Culture and Education was approved almost instantly by those bureaucrats.

Because, although the king's status in Britain isn't always effective, and every time he wants to do something, he faces Parliament's constraints.

Yet, in the Kingdom of Hanover, His Majesty the King, before the adoption of the liberal constitution, remains the undisputed absolute monarch.

Still, this is not what pleases Arthur the most; he is happiest that: originally he thought to gain recognition in the field of Natural Philosophy from the professors would require some lengthy planning, but Gauss unexpectedly saw him in a more favorable light due to the star-earth distance hypothesis, causing those Natural Philosophy professors who greatly respect Gauss to also start questioning whether this young academic director is indeed an unassuming genius?

Michael Faraday of the Royal Society recognized him, and the inventor of the phonograph agreed to come to Gottingen to assist with the telegraph line installation merely because of a letter from him, Navier and Coriolis from the Paris Academy of Sciences specifically wrote to the university hoping to lead a delegation to visit Gottingen, now even the esteemed Mr. Gauss feels there is something remarkable about him...

Moreover, he secured so much budget...

This...

If we insist on nitpicking at this point, saying there's something wrong with him somewhere, wouldn't we look like clowns?

So, those professors at Gottingen who originally intended to criticize Arthur for attaining professorship through unreasonable methods gulped back their objections, even though occasionally someone might complain in private, at most they would say such practices are unconventional, rather than Arthur Hastings lacking ability but relying on strong relationships.