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Quote of the Day: George III on Rebellion
A Proclamation, by The King, for Suppressing Rebellion and Sedition
King George III
August 23, 1775Whereas many of our subjects in divers parts of our Colonies and Plantations in North America, misled by dangerous and ill designing men, and forgetting the allegiance which they owe to the power that has protected and supported them; after various disorderly acts committed in disturbance of the publick peace, to the obstruction of lawful commerce, and to the oppression of our loyal subjects carrying on the same; have at length proceeded to open and avowed rebellion, by arraying themselves in a hostile manner, to withstand the execution of the law, and traitorously preparing, ordering and levying war against us: And whereas, there is reason to apprehend that such rebellion hath been much promoted and encouraged by the traitorous correspondence, counsels and comfort of divers wicked and desperate persons within this Realm: To the end therefore, that none of our subjects may neglect or violate their duty through ignorance thereof, or through any doubt of the protection which the law will afford to their loyalty and zeal, we have thought fit, by and with the advice of our Privy Council, to issue our Royal Proclamation, hereby declaring, that not only all our Officers, civil and military, are obliged to exert their utmost endeavours to suppress such rebellion, and to bring the traitors to justice, but that all our subjects of this Realm, and the dominions thereunto belonging, are bound by law to be aiding and assisting in the suppression of such rebellion, and to disclose and make known all traitorous conspiracies and attempts against us, our crown and dignity; and we do accordingly strictly charge and command all our Officers, as well civil as military, and all others our obedient and loyal subjects, to use their utmost endeavours to withstand and suppress such rebellion, and to disclose and make known all treasons and traitorous conspiracies which they shall know to be against us, our crown and dignity; and for that purpose, that they transmit to one of our principal Secretaries of State, or other proper officer, due and full information of all persons who shall be found carrying on correspondence with, or in any manner or degree aiding or abetting the persons now in open arms and rebellion against our Government, within any of our Colonies and Plantations in North America, in order to bring to condign punishment the authors, perpetrators, and abetters of such traitorous designs.
Given at our Court at St. James’s the twenty-third day of August, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five, in the fifteenth year of our reign.
GOD save the KING.
It was on this day in 1775 that King George III made his proclamation against sedition and rebellion in his colonies and authorized the use of force. What are you doing to celebrate?
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Apparently, if George III ever heard of a run-on sentence, he liked the idea. That big ol’ paragraph up there is a single sentence.
Someday we all will be remembered in the style of the words that end Barry Lyndon:
“The personages of this story lived, loved and quarreled during the time of Donald I. Rich or poor, good or bad, handsome or ugly, they are all equal now”.
“I’m agin’ it.” – George III
An efficient summary.
Feh. Butt-covering for William Howe and Thomas Gage. They had already “won” the Battle of Bunker Hill in June, 1775.
George III is a figure I appreciate, but not for the reasons one would expect. Unlike the preceding Georgian kings, who had largely stayed out of British politics either because of a language barrier or for personal reasons, he wanted and tried to take an active role. He did this particularly by working through his favorite in Parliament, Lord Bute, and they even managed to maneuver him into the role of Prime Minister. However, such a departure from recent tradition angered the Whigs, especially leading lights of the party like John Cavendish, Robert Henley, and Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham (as well as his secretary, a Mr. Edmund Burke).
Although George III liked the American colonies, and wished to hold onto them, he had also supported George Grenville and other Prime Ministers (including Bute) in levying heavy taxes, restricting their free trade (typical 18th century mercantilist policy), and sometimes meddling in their internal affairs. Rockingham became Prime Minister in 1765, and tried, in his short lived ministry, to repeal the Stamp Act and reconcile the American colonies to Great Britain, using the promise of freer trade in particular as incentive. When internal strife felled his government, Tories came back into power and pursued the much harsher policies that eventually helped lead to war.
Throughout the 16 years which Rockingham lead the opposition (through the lead up to, fighting of, and treaty ending of the American War of Independence), he remained a staunch supporter of the American cause. Though he wished even in 1776 for the two to be reconciled, he ultimately chose to advocate American independence, keen to see the two countries to allies, and Edmund Burke (partly under Rockingham’s direction) penned some of his most brilliant essays and speeches on this topic. He and his young friend, Charles James Fox, even wore the colors of George Washington’s army into Parliament.
In the same period, Rockingham also advocated for greater Parliamentary independence, because of the meddling of the king, and helped, with others, to create the modern party system (which at the time was essential in stemming the power of an over reaching monarch). Uncommonly unprejudiced, the 2nd Marquess spent much of his time in the House lobbying for bills on Catholic emancipation, fewer international trade restrictions, and limiting slavery/slave trade. In his personal life he was the same, using his wife Mary as his most trusted councilor and helper on matters of policy and governance.
While Rockingham’s second ministry was tragically cut short by his death from influenza in mid-1782, his political career, so affected by the designs of George III, remains under appreciated in its significance. Because of George III’s political ambitions, many of the foundational texts and ideas of early Anglo-American conservatism came into being, and the fledgling United States of America (quite ironically) found firm friends in Britain with the Whigs. In a strange way, George III is unintentionally responsible for two things we hold dear today.
I love the rock’n’roll version of Ben Franklin.
I’m still waiting for anyone to answer the question. 😈
If any Founding Father would fit into a modern rock band, it would be Ben Franklin. He liked wine, women, and song probably more than the rest. And he’s been singing since the ’60s on Broadway:
This is a bit off topic, but I’ve been engaged for far too long on a research article that’s in part about using a special method of analysis on the Dreyfus case, and the personal life section of Wikipedia page for Armand du Paty de Clam (one of the key figures) is magical:
“Du Paty is described by a contemporary as having a pretentious manner, being abrupt in speech and given to mechanical gestures. He was fluent in German and a cultivated lover of German music. He was a social acquaintance of the German military attaché Maximilian von Schwartzkoppen who referred to him as “having a touch of the blundering and erratic” which made him unsuited to the role required of him as a senior officer of the General Staff. A polyglot and devout Catholic, he also privately enjoyed transvestism, among other hobbies.”
I love that musical, but that has to be the best clip.
Nothing compared to the Chevalier d’Éon, I’m sure.
Drinkin’
So, how’s that different from every other day?
Beer in either hand?
Helga is going to help me work out. Gotta get in shape.
Well, the “Hanoverian” kings were of mostly German bloodlines and the Guelphs under Henry the Lion once ruled Bavaria.
Hanoverians? Bah. The Bavarians would have called them “flatlanders.” (The Swiss called the Bavarians flatlanders, too.) The Prussians were plotting German unification, except for the branch that raised first hell then families in the Baltic states.
They simply thought they were more natural hegemons of the Empire than the Austrians were.
It was all that waltzing. Made them look foppish.
(If anyone hasn’t learned yet, I have a song for nearly anything. It says way more about how I spend my free time than any special abilities).
Eh, could just be bad head wiring. I do that, too. 😁
Of course, one thing they got wrong in the song was George II was George III’s grandfather. George II did have a feud with his son, but it was Frederick, Prince of Wales.
“Yo, Kraut fat boy, I got your allegiance right here, heyah.” — Anonymous Patriot, NYC circa 1775.
I wonder if Biden’s handlers have been studying George III whose staff shared their current problem —- managing a public figure prone to say utterly batshit crazy things in public and even in official settings.
You do His Majesty an extreme disservice, sir. While he did have his episodes (1765, 1788, 1810), much of his reign, he was fine. He was an intelligent and learned man. He was up on all manner of science and wanted the best for his people. Admittedly, he did have dementia in his last years, but by then, the Regency Act had been passed and his son was acting in his stead. Joe Biden was never half the man or half the leader King George was.
That’s probably, translated into modern parlance, quite accurate (though George IV was the portly one, not III). It’s a popular misconception, at least in films, that he was mad at the time of the American Revolution. He didn’t have his first bout of serious mental illness until 1788, and went permanently insane in 1810.
Pssst, there was a short one in 1765, too, but it didn’t come as close as 1788 in provoking a regency crisis.
George was an intelligent man, but I think in quite a few ways he was a deeply flawed (and not very good) leader. He overestimated his knowledge of the machinations of British parliamentary politics (which is how he spent most of his early reign being manipulated by Lord Bute), which actually led to the monarchy losing even more practical power, supported the slave trade and mercantilist policies which helped to alienate the American colonies, and made a bigger mess of the East India Company than it already was and would become over a petty dislike of Charles James Fox.