Happy birthday to the forgotten Richard Cromwell, second Lord Protector of the English Commonwealth, who spoke what should be his epitaph while living in exile in Europe, where he went by a variety of pseudonyms. As a visiting Englishman, he was once invited to dine with the prince of Conti, who was unaware of who he was. At dinner, the prince questioned Cromwell about affairs in England and observed, Well that Oliver, tho he was a traitor and a villain, was a brave man, had great parts, great courage, and was worthy to command; but that Richard, that coxcomb and poltroon, was surely the basest fellow alive; what is become of that fool? Cromwell replied, He was betrayed by those he most trusted, and who had been most obliged by his father. Richard was apparently the least of Olivers sons, in his fathers estimation, and was only reluctantly made successor. His first, greatest, and possibly only mistake was to allow Parliament to be called under the old rules, including rotten boroughs. On the other hand, I see nothing but civil war if he had stayed. Best possible outcome, after the usual multiple betrayals and triple crossing alliances, by 1676, James II is King of Ireland, and a Catholic, while Scotland, where Charles the II had managed a restoration, established freedom of religion, and finally was assassinated in 1676, was followed by Mary II, then, by election, by her husband William, then Anne, and finally by a Republic when Anne died, In England the same yearm, Richard Cromwell lost a vote of confidence and was replaced by John Locke as the Third Lord Protector, after the death of his general, his brother Henry, lot him crucial support. He was returned to office, which he held for thirteen years, in 1688, being succeeded by William Penn. Meanwhile, in North America, Virginia and the West Indies had sided with the Stuarts, and then the Dutch-Scottish alliance that successfully settled the forested valley between the Dominion of Virginia and New Amsterdam, which became known as Scottslyvania, which stretched from the mouth of the Potomac to Niagara Falls. New England remained with the Commonwealth. Rupertsland, oddly enough, was Scottish. Cant even begin to guess what happened next, after 1688, between the disunited colonies of Louis Quatorze, but since Ive disunited Britain, Ill wreck France, and assume by this time Carlos is King of Aragon and Sicily, Grand Duke of Belgium and Tuscany, and has the Argentine grant, while a previously unborn nephew takes the Empire and the East. The next act would presumably NOT be the Comedy of Marriage, because the Salic law did not apply to any of the territories Queen Maria Theresa would inherit. I am going to keep the North America out of the theatre of war beyond the literal French and Indian War, where the allied Iroquois and Cherokee nations successfully expelled France From the Mississippi valley. So the conflict goes to India. Sorry, guys, but a nation of shopkeepers has to shop. But, without Celts to fight and die for John Company, they could not even chase out the French. India gets Balkanized. Meanwhile, a last butterfly flutters by. From 1676 on Scotland enjoyed trading privileges with Japan thru its connection with the Dutch, a connection that was fostered by several highlanders becoming Samurai enthusiasts, and Zen Buddhists. There influence on Scottish culture was profound, and later, they became the vehicle by which the European knowledge and the Scottish enlightenment where transmitted to Japan. For end result, see Aldous Huxleys Island. I have gotten a glimpse of her in 70 After Ford. I am done. youtube/watch?v=Ceuhz6TZPO0
Posted on: Sun, 05 Oct 2014 00:37:50 +0000
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