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Globe and Mail

Second Lieutenant
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Dec 22, 2003
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England1836.gif

January 1st, 1836

Cabinet Meeting Room, Whitehall

The Prime Minster, Viscount Melbourne strode into the meeting room of the Cabinet of the British Empire. Around the table set the members of his cabinet. The room was richly appointed in the style of the time with everyone sitting in comfortable plush leather chairs. A fire was roaring in the background to keep the cold air of an London winter away.

Prime Minster Viscount Melbourne’s Cabinet:

Lord Melbourne - First Lord of the Treasury
Lord Lansdowne - Lord President of the Council
Lord Duncannon - Lord Privy Seal and First Commissioner of Woods and Forests
Lord John Russell - Secretary of State for the Home Department
Lord Palmerston - Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
Lord Glenelg - Secretary of State for War and the Colonies
Lord Auckland - First Lord of the Admiralty
Thomas Spring-Rice - Chancellor of the Exchequer
Charles Poulett Thomson - President of the Board of Trade
Sir John Cam Hobhouse - President of the Board of Control
Lord Holland - Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
Lord Howick - Secretary at War

This body contained several ceremonial and unimportant positions so frequently it was rare for it to meet as a whole. The Prime Minster would hold weekly meeting with what was known as the Inner Cabinet of the more important positions.

The Inner Cabinet that met more often:
Lord Melbourne
Lord John Russell - Secretary of State for the Home Department
Lord Palmerston - Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
Lord Glenelg - Secretary of State for War and the Colonies
Lord Auckland - First Lord of the Admiralty
Thomas Spring-Rice - Chancellor of the Exchequer
Lord Howick - Secretary at War
Sir John Cam Hobhouse - President of the Board of Control

It was the Inner Cabinet that was meeting on January 1st to discuss the course of the Empire.

“Lords and Gentlemen we are gathered here today to hear your reports on you area of responsibilities. At the end of the formal reports from each department we will have a more fluid debate about the policy of the government. We will then draw up the various bills and the Budget to be submitted to the House of Commons to further our aims. Lord John Russell please give your report for the Home Department.” Began Melbourne

“ Thank you Prime Minister. My report will consist of the state of industry and transportation in the home islands. We have numerous factories scattered across England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. These factories are the future of our economy and we must expand them and build new ones. As soon as my ministry receives and figures out what the most profitable items are and what other sectors of the government, primarily the Army and Navy need we will return with plans for the expansion of the sector. Factories producing steel, lumber, furniture, clothes and other basic nesscities will be among our first built and or expanded.

We must also increase our infrastructure to help our factories grow. Doing so will give us benefits twofold. One the amount of goods a factory can produce and then send to distant markets will increase and the factories will increase in profits. Second railways will allow our men to move around the country faster. At our next meeting I will return with in depth reports on these two vital sectors of the economy. I thank you gentle men for your time” Lord Russell sat down and nodded at the Prime Minster.

Blue indicates planned railroads/
TranspotationinEnglandin1836.png


“ Thank you Lord Russell, will the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Lord Palmerston please give a report on the state of our foreign affairs and the conditions of Europe right now?” asked Melbourne.

“ Prime Minster, members of the cabinet. Let us begin with the state of Hanover, they are tied to our crown as long as a male rules. With the likelihood that Victoria will succeed to our throne the union will be broken. However that is not important and I believe good relations will continue.

Moving onto Europe, a civil war rages in Spain, this has little importance to us and we should not consider it our problem. France is stable for the time being and we will likely face competition from them in colonizing various regions around the world. I advise that we try and maintain good relations with them. Germany is hodgepodge of statelets and minor Kingdoms. The two most powerful are Bavaria and Prussia. Things may come to blow as Prussia seeks to unite Germany. This could cause issues with Austria. The Ottoman Empire may go to war over the Egyptians holding provinces they consider theirs. I advise the HM government support the Ottomans as a defeat may weaken them and make Russia attack. We must contain Russia form expanding into the Ottoman Empire and into Central Asia as they could threaten India. The United States is neutral towards us but we could improve relations with them, the disputed lands of Oregon may prove a problem in the future. South America is of little importance. That is all Prime Minister” Lord Palmerston sat down and waited for the PM to speak.

“ Thank you, and now Lord Glenelg, Secretary of State for War and the Colonies on our colonies” Said Melbourne

“ Thank you Prime Minster, members of the cabinet. I will speak primarily about our colonies. Since we are not engaged in warfare I have little to speak of there. It is my belief that we need colonies. For the following reasons, they give us bases to station the RN and Army, they are a source of raw materials for our factories which the Home Secretary remarked were so vital to us. Africa is virtually unconquered or uncolonized so opportunities abound. I have prepared a map to illustrate where my ministry believes we should concerate. These areas contain vital raw materials and will act as good ports for our Royal Navy.” Lord Glenelg sat down and waited for the next speaker.

Yellow is existing claims, blue is first prioirity, red second.
Africa1836.jpg


“ With your permission Prime Minster, I would like to report on the status of the Royal Navy” Asked Lord Auckland.

“ Go on” replied Melbourne.

“ The Royal Navy is currently the largest in the world and bigger then the next by a large margin. I would not advocate building any more ships. Instead we must concerate on increasing our naval technology to increase the skill of these ships. Our new steam powered Raiders show promise and it is my belief that we should try and develop new and better steam ships. The Royal Navy can blockade any country and is ready for war if you need it Prime Minister.” Lord Auckland sat back down.

RN1836.png


“ Next Thomas Spring-Rice Chancellor of the Exchequer on the state of our budget and where we should spend money” read Melbourne off the agenda.

“ Thank you, the Exchequer has heard all of your statements and sadly must report we cannot fully fund a massive naval improvement program, colonizing and improving factories and railroads. I will try and give you as much pounds to work with as possible. We will institute small tariffs and increase our tax levels. This should increase our money supply. I also submit a suggestion that we cut Royal Navy funding by 20% to save money, it a time of war we can reincrease it and return the ships to full effectiveness, total defence spending will have to low as well. Thank you for listening”

Budget.png



Sir John Cam Hobhouse, President of the Board of Control rose to speak. He was the last to. “ Thank you members of the cabinet, my post is to oversea the British East India company and therefore the jewel in our crown, India. Matters are stable but on the North Western Frontier, the states not influnced by us or controlled by us pose a risk. The state of Panjab being the most risky. We advocate moving the Bombay and Dehli army to our border with Panjab and bringing it under our control.” Thank You.

India.png


“ Alright Gentlemen it has been a long day and we will retire and discuss what new policys and new bills tomorrow” and with that Melbourne rose and left to his residence and the rest of the cabinet did the same.
 
Feel free to comment, its my first AAR.

My goals are:

Grab the good chunks of Africa
Play the Great Game with Russia
Maintain Naval Dominace
Release the White Dominions
Basically ensure GB is #1
 
You aren't going to conquer the world? ;)
 
Hey, nice start, really nice start. Good to see the Empire looking so good.
 
A nicely detailed start.

Some comments:
- If you use .gif files for simple images, and .jpg files for maps, you'll make life a lot easier for those of us with dial-up connections. I see that you are already doing a little graphics editing. With a bit of experimentation in a decent graphics program, you can produce very small .gif files for virtually anything other than a map.

- Great Britain is awfully powerful. Your goals should be almost trivial to accomplish. What I personally would like to see is an Anglized Australia and New Zealand. Perfectly possible, but not easy!
 
The Prime Minister strode into the cabinet meeting room. Thus where the great decisions affecting millions of people were made, the Inner Cabinet and the Prime Minister were the most powerful men in the world. This where it all happened. He proceeded to sit down at the head of the table and began the discussion. “ Gentlemen, in this session we will begin to discuss the years policies and bills to be put forward for my government. What I believe our priorities must be is economic development. The Royal Navy is enough to safeguard our nation and our trade and our standing army while small is elite by any standards. The continent is at peace and a balance of power is in place, I believe we shall only intervene if one nation looks to break that balance. But I digress, I agree with the Home Sectary that industry will make England prosper and infrastructure is key to that. I believe and I shall direct the Exchequer to fund the expansion of our railways. I’ll now turn the discussion over to all of you.

“ Prime Minister, the Admiralty would like to propose a change in our force structure. Currently the vast majority of our ships are deeployed around England. We havw four reserve squadrons based around the coast. The Admiralty would like to break up three of the four and reshuffle the ships into squadrons to be forward deployed at bases around the globe. We will create five new stations, Calcutta Station, Captetown Station, Hailfax station, Singapore station and Darwin Station. This will allow us to be more flexible in deploying naval power aboard and it will increase the protection of our convoys.” Lord Auckland turned to read some briefing papers as Lord Glenelg, Sectartry of War and Colonies rose to speak.

“ Gentlemen as you know our colonies and the army come under my purview. India is also under my purview. This as you know is the crown jewel in our empire. We must not let anything happen to it. It is bordered by several countries. Most small states are indirectly controlled by us and this arrangement is prefect for the time being. But to the Northwest in the Punjab and Hindu Kush lie the greatest threat. The Russian Empire is moving ever southwards and towards our borders in India. We must not allow this to happen. I have sent a dispatch to the governor general of India authorizing him to use any measures necessary in dealing with the states of Punjab and Afghanistan. We at the Ministry believe Punjab should come under direct control of the Governor General while Afghanistan becomes indirectly controlled. By doing this we will secure India against Russian Encroachment.”

“ And what will these adventures cost the Exchequer?” asked Thomas Spring-Rice. “ We need all funds avabilve to modernize our country and increase our industrial base”

“Prime Minster” begin Sir John Cam Hobhouse - President of the Board of Control. “ I must argee with the assement of the Ministry for War and the colonies. If we secure those two states India will be under firm control and we can focus our efforts elsewere.

“ And speaking of those efforts elsewhere we at the Ministry of colonies believe that we should consolidate our hold on British North America(Canada), Australia and New Zealand with these secured new markets and new factories can be built and we have the greatest Empire on Earth.” Stated Lord Glenelg.

“ Gentlemen I thank you for your discussions and inputs.” Began the Prime Minster. “ Now it is time to formalize these and present a clear agenda for the Throne Speech and the opening of Parliament..

Priorities of the year of 1836 in Great Britain :

The deveploment of native industry
Increasing research grants to universities and other schools of thought
Re deployment of the Royal Navy
Increasing infrastructure in the homeland
Securing India from foreign threat
Colonizing the rest of British North America, Australia and New Zealand
 
Thanks,

I'm a great fan of your USA AAR. Its one of the AARs that inspired the style I'm using in my AAR.

Expect more actual gameplay details next update. Lord Glenelg and Melbourne are laying the ground work for intervention in the NW Indian states.
 
Very nice update. Hope to see the Empire expand beyound the wildest dreams. :)
 
Home Office Report to Cabinet, PM.
July 1st 1836

Since the cabinet discussions occurring at the beginning of the year we have undertaken some reforms in our industrial and transport sector. Many high end factories such as artillery, explosives and clipper shipyards have been closed in favour of more basic factories. Clothing, Steel, Fabric and Glass factories have all been put under construction with completion expected sometime around January 1837 to March 1837. we can always later reopen the Factories that produce high end goods.

In the transport sector, progress has not been as fast as our estimates allowed. Only a few provinces received updates to their infrastructure. This was due to several factors. One many resources both material and monetary were put into re ordering our industrial sector by building new factories. This put a drain on our cash flow especially. The biggest factor limiting expansion was steel we are barely producing enough to fulfill our own factory needs so very little was handy for railway building. But as mentioned above we have sought to correct this imbalance and have built and expanded several new factories including one in Nova Scotia, part of British North America. We hope when these new factories open next year that we will have extra steel needed to open new railways.

Crime funding is below acceptable levels but the Police Forces and judicial system have coped well and corruption is not a major issue. We do however ask the Exchequer that this area where possible receive a funding increase if possible.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs Report Concerning Dutch Civil War:
July 1st 1836

The Kingdom of Netherlands has been since the beginning of 1836 fighting a civil war. On one side is the Belgian rebels and the other the Dutch. This polyglot country was created at the Congress of Vienna by awarding the formerly French province of Belgium to the Kingdom of the Netherlands as a reward for fighting Napoleon. The province is pre dominantly French in culture and has many ties to the French state. The Dutch forces have been unable to beat the Belgian rebels suffering defeats and losing land to the rebels. These are the facts of the matter. The following is the recommended policy England takes:

The rebellious provinces of the Dutch Kingdom should be made into a neutral state. Belgium as mentioned before was formerly a French province and as such liable to attempt to re join France. While this would not matter that much in the grand scale. Belgium does contain several million people and many coal and iron deposits. These are the vital materials to any economy. They would help France enormously in catching us in industrializing and give them a better economy in which to support war. As such we feel that British support for a separate Belgian state is the best option. To further this end Britain should either sign a Defensive Alliance with Belgium or Guarantee its neutrality.

Admiralty Report to Cabinet, PM
July 1st

As agreed on in the cabinet meetings on Jan 1st and 2nd of this year. 1st, 3rd 4th reserve squadrons were broken up and forward deployed to various British ports around the world. This will enable RN to react better to foreign wars guaranteeing a blockade strength squadron is always ready for orders from the First Lord. We have deployed two new Steamer ships, a class called commerce raiders, they are currently undergoing sea trials in the North Sea. The Admiralty requests that some research funding be put into place for the development of naval doctrines and designs that incorporate steam engines.

Dispatch from Governor General, India, Lord Auckland
July 1st

Pursuant to the dispatch I received from Sectatry of State for the Colonies and War , President of the Board of Control the two main armies under my command. The Dehli Army and the Bombay Army have moved NorthWest to the border of the Panjab. I am writing your lordships now as to request the authorization of your humble servant my self, the authority to attack and punish the Punjab State. I await your reply.


London, August 8th

Prime Minster, Melbourne brought the meeting to order. The inner cabinet had been assembled to deal with two issues. India and Belgium. “ Right, well Since the appointment of Lord Auckland to the post of Governor General of India, I would like to formally welcome the Admiratly’s new First Lord, Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, Earl Minto.” Everyone gave a little clap to the new man in the Cabinet. The Prime Minster came to the point of the meeting.” Well you have all read the dispatch from Inida?” everyone nodded their heads. “ Well I tend to agree with Auckland on this and believe we should give him authority to do so. Is there anyone who disagrees?”

“ We do” chorused Lord John Russell and Thomas Spring-Rice.

“ May ask why Gentlemen?” enquired Melbourne.

“ Well Prime Minster we at the Exchequer believe this war will bring little to us except more expenditures on the armed forces when we need to be concerned with economic development.” Answered Spring Rice.

“ I must concur with my collegue from the Exchequer” chimed in Lord Russel.

“ India is far more important then some steam engines or fabric factories. We must protect it from Russian expansion. This the only way” Lord Glenelg remarked.

“ Gentlemen I thank you for your views now we will vote on this measure. All agreed to giving Auckland a free hand say aye. All opposed say Nay.” Said Melbourne

Lord Melbourne “ Aye”
Lord John Russell - Secretary of State for the Home Department “Nay”
Lord Palmerston - Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs “Nay “
Lord Glenelg - Secretary of State for War and the Colonies”Aye”
Earl Minto - First Lord of the Admiralty”Aye”
Thomas Spring-Rice - Chancellor of the Exchequer” Nay”
Lord Howick - Secretary at War “Aue”
Sir John Cam Hobhouse - President of the Board of Control “Aye”

In a narrow vote in which the more dovish members of the cabinet were shown, the motion carried narrowly by 5-3. “ Earl Minto, please dispatch your fastest ship to Calcutta with a message to be prepared by my staff authorizing Auckland to invade the Punjab at his discretion.
Now gentlemen on to the other matter. Belgium. Diplomats from Austria, Prussia, France and Lord Palmerston have met here in London to discuss this matter. They have come up with the London Treaty which creates and independent Belgian state. Those who sign the treaty will argee to protect the Kingdom of Belgian independence from invasion. We have understood that the governments of Prussia and Austria are going to reject the Treaty. If we do we accept it then our relations with Netherlands will decrease and war may be on the Horizon on whether they accept this settlement. Now let us discuss this. Lord Palmerston could you begin?” asked Melbourne.

“ Of course Prime Minster” began Palmerston. “ it is my opinion that supporting the freedom of oppressed peoples anywhere in the continent of Europe is good. Democracy such as ours is good and all white men have a right to it. With this is mind, relations with the Netherlands are already strained on the island of Borneo. We may yet fight a war over it. In that case Belgium would be a useful ally to have.” Palmerston sat down and waited for the next speaker.

“ Prime Minster” began Lord Glenelg. “ the Dutch army and navy are no match for ours. IF they were to reject the treaty then we could smash their fleets, blockade their ports and seize their South East Asian colonies at leisure. I support the treaty.” Lord Glenelg nodded and waited for the next speaker.

“ Well then does anyone have a dissenting voice on the Treaty of London?” when no spoke, Melbourne put it to a vote.

Lord Melbourne “ Aye”
Lord John Russell - Secretary of State for the Home Department ““ Aye”
Lord Palmerston - Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs ““ Aye”
Lord Glenelg - Secretary of State for War and the Colonies”Aye”
Earl Minto - First Lord of the Admiralty”Aye”
Thomas Spring-Rice - Chancellor of the Exchequer“ Aye”
Lord Howick - Secretary at War “Aue”
Sir John Cam Hobhouse - President of the Board of Control “Aye”


“ Very well the motion to sign the Treaty of London passed by 8 to none. We will meet again after the summer recess in October. I await your discussions then. And please have your staffs begin to assemble the papers for our yearly cabinet meeting on Janaury 1st 1837 to discuss future policies.
 
When will we see the various Secretaries break out the wiffle canes? :D

So, are you going to be playing semi-historically, or will we see most of Eurasia a nice pink before 1900?
 
anonymous4401 You've noticed, there are some hardliners and some more dovish members :rolleyes: a duel could be interseting.

And I intend to play Semi Histroically, No WC but hopefully a bigger Empire then in real life :D
 
this AAR looks interesting, I like the detailed cabinet meetings. Ill be following this one. Keep it up, and watch out for America they are Britain's great rival in late game, since Germany has a habit of forming late, or never.

Love to see two cabinet members in a mexican stand-off

Clint Eastwood is Thomas Spring-Rice! in 'High noon at the House'

Not quite wiffle canes but could be interesting :D
 
Gentlemen who have been reading and commenting:

I apologize for the lack of updates as more "important" matters(read school) came up over the last few days. However I will have lots of free time over the weekend so expect at least two updates.

God Save the Queen.
 
This looks like it could be an interesting AAR. Good set-up.