Congress Opening by a Monarch
"I am honoured to be representative of the Colombian Empire; I stand before you today with a heart filled with gratitude and humility. The USA has been the cradle of my nation; my Business here fueled the war against the Spaniards, and for that, the house of Aragon will always be in debt with the Republic of the United States." Felipe took a tie to personally bow his head to everyone in the room, surprised everyone; after all, the norm was to expect arrogance.
"In 1822, General Lafayette, a figure whose name is etched in the annals of history, graced this very Congress with his words of gratefulness. He was the first non-American to address the USA Congress; I am humbled and grateful to be given the same type of honour.
"Our Empire's path has been tumultuous, and the road to freedom is fraught with challenges, yet, we have been able not only to survive but emancipate ourselves from Europe, all thanks to this great nation.
"As we look back upon our short history, we cannot forget the sacrifices of those who have come before us—the heroes who fought with unyielding courage to break the chains of oppression.
"While we celebrate our progress, we must also be mindful of the responsibilities that come with sovereignty. Our nation's strength lies not solely in the grandeur of our palaces or the wealth of our lands but in the guaranteed freedom both of our countries offer.
"Our lands are blessed with abundant natural resources that we have in common. Our nations lie in land masses bigger than Europe itself! More fertile lands and more living space than any peasant of Europe could imagine. There is no reason why our nations can not rise to the same rank as those powerful nations whose entire world seems to revolve around them." Felipe looked around and quickly fixed his hair as he was passionate, to the point where it went into his face.
"I stand before you as a crown prince, the future leader of my people and a visitor who dares to dream of an America that stands tall among the world's nations, and I thank you for your indirect help and support for our independence that this great nation has given us." Felipe had already bowed his head, so he stepped away, and everyone got up and began clapping.
He has created a sense of nationalism and unity. He has been the ghostwriter for his father's speeches for a while. Being good enough to develop an understanding of unity among the politicians and the people who saw his speeches and read his declarations.
His speech made the congressmen who opposed Felipe having anything to do with the USA feel empathetic to the great side of things; they were liberating America from Europe!
Many people were outraged at how fucking pricy the matches were, yet they were too valuable, and people would buy them anyways. After the price drop following the entering of competence with White Matches, people began to ask for punishment to the Matches cartel created by a crown prince.
In other words, eat the rich.
There has been public outcry due to the markup of the traditional matches to even boycotting them, but the moment USA Congress decides to stop letting him do it. He would have lost Business in the USA; he knows that his matches will continue to make a small but still profit in the long run.
But people in the know understood that the war in the Colombian Empire was fought through the money collected by selling matches. And the primary purpose of being humble and grateful to the American government is to appease the ire and indignation they had against Felipe and his enterprises.
With few tariffs on matches, Felipe could fund one of the largest wars at the time while maintaining a vast empire still running without going into starvation or missing payments of debts.
The UK was also a big helper, though the main creditors of the loans were themselves, so it was in their best interest that he would be able to pay his debts, so they gave him incentives such as similar lower taxes like in the USA.
The moment the very narrative of his existence changed, the old men in the Congress looked at him with a smile.
After the speech, almost everyone came down and shook his hand; no matter what, he was a crown prince stroking their egos directly to them!
Felipe did his best to remember all the senators' names and their faces. He could have been better in specific USA history; for instance, he did not know who would be the next president; he just knew that the civil war would happen in a few decades.
"Good grief."
After some handshaking, Felipe was freed from the constant handshaking. Many wanted to meet him personally; thankfully, the president stepped in and somewhat scolded all the senators with some words of putting themselves in Felipe's shoes.
"Indians… or rather indigenous people of these land lack the very thing that makes us great, they lack ambition and resolution to use all their resources to thrive… they put nature above anyone and/or anything." Felipe said as he finished answering his opinions on some matters."
"Indeed."
"Gentlemen… the day in which personal property stops being a human right is when we become like the tree huggers who can only cry against the might of progress." Felipe might not have known it then, but a few years later, his quote would be used to justify slavery on the same floor.
Everyone laughed at the notion of the world of Tree huggers.
"Indeed, they are tree huggers." One of the senators laughed harder as he turned red on his face, making it contagious. Felipe only laughed inside his head as he accidentally created a term which only appeared in the next century.
"Please…" Felipe said as if he wanted them to stop, but he just made a smile and an effort to contain laughter.
Everything in the new nation was so unprofessional; the gunpowder smell had yet to settle since the last war with the British, and connections were more important than any formality. Even in the later part of the century, ambassadors of countries would prevent wars and create magnificent pieces of compromise among different countries.
In other words, the relationships between people are essential to succeed. Felipe himself knew this and made sure to invest heavily in educating his ambassadors to the critical countries. How to address, how to act and what would be the main idea they would be projecting as representatives of the Empire.
Usually, people with influence would take the position of ambassador; after all, who wouldn't like a job overseas in the commodity of a safe city of a superpower with high pay and resources within their reach? But he made sure to create a university to form them.
It would start with a simple test to find their attitudes to learning and represent the country, then they would be put through the harsh education of the language where they will be going. It was easier to bring teachers from across the world if you had enough money and enough benefits for them to work in a new world country. Case in point, Haiti, a nation mainly populated by black people, had European teachers.
His ambassador to the USA was currently under the weather, and the news if he was going to be replaced or not had not yet arrived in Felipe's ear; the doctors had yet given him any answer… or the news had already come in the Colombian Empire, and he didn't know.
Felipe got an embassy representative telling him that the ambassador was recovering at lightning speed—he didn't believe that even the messenger didn't consider himself. He didn't press it, as he didn't have much say in government nowadays; he has relieved his responsibilities of war dictator back to the Imperial Senate, which would be responsible for putting the next ambassador or keeping him while following the rules implemented by him.
The sky turned dark blue before they finally returned to the white house for dinner. Again, it was like any other palace dinner in European Castles; a long table with many high-end people sitting along the table and many servants ensuring the people had enough on their plates.
"Well, my nation has the most peculiar animals… you know there is a certain type of ant deep in the jungle of the Amazons whose sting is so bad, people that have felt it says that they are as painful as a bullet." Felipe said as he was talking to the whole table.
"Then I learned natives living in the jungle tribes use it for adulthood passage; they put gloves of bullet ants made out of hay and just endure it. Being able to endure it… that is how they proved themselves."
"What savages." The first lady said, very impressed.
"Indeed… but… for all the time that the Spaniards occupied my nation's land, they did not even bother to think how to use it for their advantage. I just sent the best people we had in botanica and biology and told them to bring a colony to keep alive out of the jungle. Then we took the information of captured Spanish soldiers one by one by one by covering their whole bodies in bullet ants; by the end, they were asking to get killed." Felipe said as he chuckled at the end, making everyone laugh.
"A horsefly probably has the same effect. But I guess it would be harder to keep them contained… still, I always wonder about their fragility and size, and yet they can cause so much pain. Goliath and the Giant, USA and The UK, Colombia and Spain."
"To the small ones." The president humbled brag, very well knowing the size of the USA, especially now that they have taken Louisiana… the entire of it.
"To the deadly ones," Felipe answered his toast with an elevated drink, and so did everyone at the table.
"We might need some of those ants; they sound handy." The president said as he laughed.
"It is done. Those things multiply like bunnies."