Young Lions: A British History

[SirCliveWolfe]

Young Lions: A British History

Table of Contents

Prologue

I - The Second Melbourne Ministry
II - Trade, New Friends and War
III - Orange Peel & Corn
IV - A Tale of Two Eagles
V - Turkish Delight
VI - Marriage, Divorce & Mutiny
VII - The Southern War of Independence
VIII - Mexican Machinations
IX - The webs we weave
X - Titans, diets and War!
XI - The Liberals Strike Back!


​

​

 

[SirCliveWolfe]

​

Prologue

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland stands upon the precipice of a new age, one which harbours many dazzling opportunities. With great thanks to the county's forbears the seemingly insignificant island off the coast of mainland Europe has propelled itself to the summit of world power and is ideally positioned to take the lions share of the coming spoils. With these immense opportunities of aggrandisement have also come great dangers both from within the mainland and colonies and from without, the Whig's have done their duty with many looking back upon the edifice of British Democracy with a satisfied feeling that The Great Reform Act of 1832 has been the final act in the progression of the organic development.

There is a vacuum with may of the traditional reforming Wigs, including the new First Lord of the Treasury, seeing no scope for further progression leaving them closer to their traditional enemies the Tories than some in their own party. With Peel's newly reformed Tories looking to progressively 'reform ills while conserving the good' the Whig's seem to be in danger of either being pushed further to the left or being obliterated by Peel's 'wide church' approach. With the conservative Lord Melbourne in charge there seems to be little scope for anything but obliteration, engendering the twin dangers of unionism and socialism. In Ireland the young agreement of Union is coming under increasing attack by the ever growing Repeal Association, its leaders flushed with success from the Catholic Emancipation.

Further afield their are growing murmuors of autonomy in the 'White Colonies' and escalating clashes between settlers and indigenous populations in the others. Continental Europe is, relatively, peaceful with the French settling down to a period of rebuilding after centuries of over-reaching for hemogony while the Germanic states strive to move forward and the Russian Bear seems content to slumber. Only in the 'low countries' where the Dutch are swiftly coming to the reality that the new nation of Belgium will win its Independence, does open armed conflict exits, along with the ongoing 'Carlist' troubles for Spain. While the 'rebellious' children of America look to cement their 'special relationship' with their erstwhile mother country.

So it is into this new era that we envelop ourselves; new nations, ideas and men will rise and fall and the wonderfully dangerous position of the British Empire will ebb and flow as it has so often in the past. A new age, a new ear with a new pride of Young Lions!

 

[El Pip]

A new Wolfey AAR, most interesting.

 

[unmerged(47582)]

Lets see how this goes...

 

[SirCliveWolfe]

El Pip: Ah my good sir, nice to see a loyal reader

Middelkerke: I only hope that my humble scribings bring you pleasure

 

[SirCliveWolfe]

I - The Second Melbourne Ministry

​

I - The Second Melbourne Ministry

​

Lord Melbourne and his cabinet had regained power in April of the previous year after King William IV's unsuccessful bit to impose his will upon Parliament, and select Peel and his Tories to rule after Earl Gray resigned, instead of the Whig who he unaccountably feared as a radical reformer. The ensuing general election had seen the Whig's returned to power with a decreased, if still large, majority and Melbourne at it's head with the aggressively interventionist Viscount of Palmerston as Foreign Secretary. Not many internal clouds were on the horizon for the new Whig administration in the year of 1836, but things in the wider world were certainly worrisome. While the country's American 'cousins' were settling down to the mammoth task of building their fledgling nation, under the new Republican administration[1], things were not so rosy for their anglophone brothers fighting for an independent Texas, but neither this or any other happenings were of much concern to Melbourne, although Palmerston was watching eagerly.

The first spark of trouble for the new First Lord was the recalling of the Army by his War and Colonial Secretary, Lord Glenelg, from the troublesome occupation of Queen Adelaide province where the Cape Colony's Governor Sir Benjamin D’Urban had been seeking to limit the contact between settlers and native Xhosa by providing a militarised 'buffer'. Fleet street and the populace were, at first, behind such a move with worrisome stories of rape, pillage and murder stemming from the crisis. The tide soon turned against the evacuation, and the government, when the indigenous population started to cross into the Cape and pillage the settlers therein.

​

The validity ofXhosan atrocities is still greatly debated today, and most today see the 'reports' as fabrications to allow a full scale assault upon the country. Such as it turned out when Melbourne reluctantly agreed[2], along with an almost gleeful Lord Palmerston, with the popular press and reversed the policy of Lord Glenelg compelling the man's resignation. William Elphinstone, recently promoted to Major-General[3], was tasked with the defeat of the Xhosa and so on the 13th January 1836 set out with 10,000 foot of The South African Garrison to subdue them. It is of some interest that though the Cape's Boers found this policy to be good, nothing could stem their growing emigration out of the colony that would become known at the 'Great Trek'.

The Third Anglo–Burmese War was also concluded in this year and lead to the Burmese becoming almost a Princely State[4] like those in India under the 'supervision' of the British East India Company in Calcutta. On the 21st February the Kingdom of the Netherlands officially recognised the independence of country of Belgium, which was immediately offered guaranties by both France and Great Britain, and so the bloodshed on the continent had been concluded, at least for the while. This was not to be the case in British North America where a small group of extremist radicals tried through this year and into the next to usurp Imperial rule, although there measures were small-scale and doomed to their eventual failure they did cause the Melbourne ministry some domestic embarrassment and lead to a the Report on the Affairs of British North America, by the reformer Lord Durham, leading to a lasting settlement in the area.

​

On the 20 June 1837, the sad, if not unexpected, news of the demise of the King was reported to a mournful Empire, and with it came the succession of Queen Victoria and fresh elections, which were the norm for the time. The debate of the country was hard and long seeing Peel's Tories whittle yet more of the Whig's majority away after the troubles in the colonies and theXhosan debacle, still to be successfully concluded;

          United Kingdom general election, 1837

          Seats          Votes
Party     won   Gain     Total     Percentage
[COLOR="Yellow"]Whig      344   -41      418,331   51.7[/COLOR]
[COLOR="RoyalBlue"]Tory      314   +41      379,694   48.3[/COLOR]

[5]

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[1] In OTL (Our Time Line) the 'Old Republicans' were a a group that splintered from the Democratic-Republican party to eventually create the Whig party, while Andrew Jackson formed what would become know as the Democrat Party, things have gone slightly different inTTL (This Time Line) and the 'Republicans' have formed the majority while the 'Democrats' have become the small splinter.

[2] These reports are a fabrication that did not exist in OTL allowing me to crush the Xhosa

[3] William Elphinstone was promoted to Major-General in 1837 OTL and fought in the First Anglo-Afghan war, here he is promoted sooner and fights the Anglo-Xhosan war simply because Vicki chose him to be the General I recruited.

[4] This again is slightly different to OTL where Burma was essentially annexed, here is is merely satellited and as such will have its character changed.

[5]This, if you are wondering, is the exact results from OTL

 

[Jalex]

Love AAR's of Britain in Victoria, Rule Britannia!

 

[El Pip]

And the alterations from history begin nice and early, should be some interesting effects in South Africa from an early Xhosa War. Equally I wonder what a Burmese 'Princely State' will look like.

Intriguing start sir, bravo.

 

[SirCliveWolfe]

Jalex: So do I... but I noticed that one has never been completed from 1836-1936 so I am goinf to put this right... I hope

El Pip: Lots and lots of Alternate History... I do love it so Thank you for your kind words

 

[SirCliveWolfe]

II - Trade, New Friends and War

​

II - Trade, New Friends and War

​

One of the first things that the newly enfranchised ministry did was to officially recognise the nation of Texas, by means of having them sign the 1856 Declaration of Paris[1], which pertained to the regulating of Privateers, which left the Mexican government enraged. This policy of carefully cultivating Texan friendship was started by Palmerston as a possible balk-work to stop the America's progress west. This process was ever more successful, when in July of 1840 Palmerston managed to gain the agrement of the Mexican and Texan governments to mediation of the ongoing war, and thus on the 16th of that same month the the Anglo-Texan Convention[2] was signed bringing the young republic's struggle to an end. This along with the eventual subjugation of the Xhosa in May 1838 brought much praise to the government and Palmerston. The praise kept coming for a buoyant government when official recognition and support was given to the Platine Alliance[3], but stopped abruptly when Russia annexed Khiva in August 1840, and when the Zulus annexed Natal[4], in December of the same year

The happy, if unstable, state of affairs in central America was placed in danger when new Texan president Sam Houston, who was in favour of Texas's annexation by the United States started to sponsor a rebellion in the Yucatan in April of 1841. It was only due to the timely intervention of The Empire that a war was not started, with Palmerston threatening a full scale invasion of Mexico, if they attacked, or Texas if they did not stop funding the rebels. The policy worked and Texas was not caught in another war[5], this debacle permanently undermined the Houstonites, who wanted to be part of the USA, with Lamar and his disciples being in the ascendancy for a long period[6].

​

In the 1820's and 1830's there were numerous complaints of British businessmen who were subject to duties levied on good transshipped across the Ottoman Empire, heavy pressure was put upon the Ottomans and eventually the relented and signed The Treaty of Balta Liman, regulating international trade throughout the region including Egypt. Muhammad Ali, Wāli of Egypt, refused to implement the agreement because of the threat this posed to his nascent industrialisation project, Sultan Mahmud II gave him a year's grace period, after which the Egyptians still refused to comply and so in 1840, the Ottomans, attacked to reassert control over Syria.

At the end of February it was clear that the Egyptians were winning the war and it even looked as though Ali could take control of the Sublime Porte and proclaim himself Sultan[7]. This was in no-ones interest and so the 'Great Powers' sent out peace feelers to the Wāli. Things finally came to ahead in July of the same year when the European powers gave Mumhammed Ali an ultimatum, with his refusal Great Britain and France declared war, fully supported by Austria, Russia and Prussia. On the, 13th November 1840, Egypt accepted the inevitable and surrendered, the Levant was lost to the Ottomans and Muhammad Ali had to swear fealty to the Ottoman Sultan again and allow the provisions of the Treaty.

​

Meanwhile tensions between The Empire and China had been steadily growing ever since the Quing Dynasty restricted foreign trade to Imperial monopolies in the province of Guangzhou, this had made the trad in cheap manufactures increasing unprofitable, leaving trade to be dominated by the exchange of Chinese tea, a luxury, for silver, which the British found expensive. They looked for an alternative and found Opium, which was found to grow abundantly in the cotton lands of Bengal and Malwa. It was thus that the 'balance of trade' was equalised from late eighteenth century, the trade grew rapidly leaving some two million Chinese citizens as habitual users and the British merchants as insidious drug dealers.

In 1839, the Qing Emperor appointed Lin Zexu as the governor of Canton with the goal of reducing and eliminating the Opium trade. He did well, confiscating many tonnes of the opiate, and challenging all foreign traders to give an oath that they would no longer deal in the drug on pain of death. The confiscation caused much consternation for the British merchants who demanded that the Melbourne ministry punish the impudent Chinese for what they had done, Lord Palmerston had no intention of doing so, and as a temporary measure advised that merchants that the government would make good their losses. The Prime Minister was furious with his Foreign Sectary and had no intention of, as he put it "paying rouges off with tax payers money!". Palmerston had to act fast, but was at a loss about what to do when some drunken British and American sailors helped him out.

On the, 7th July 1839, a large group of British and American sailors was ashore at Kowloon, a provisioning point, and found a supply of rice liquor. In the ensuing riot the sailors vandalized a temple and killed a man named Lin Weixi, because of what the British merchants saw as a 'backward' Chinese legal system they demanded that the man stand trial only under British law and on British territory. The situation soon got out of hand and British forces made a preemptive strike to secure Hong Kong, a minor outpost as a base of operations, this cause much outrage in both the popular press, including the new satirical publication, Punch, and the international community, but Britain was not to be perturbed.

​

The British Government and British East India Company reached a conclusion that they would attack Guangdong. In June 1840, an expeditionary force of 40000[8] marines, lead by James Bremer, reached the province. Bremer demanded the Qing Government compensate the British merchants and, following the orders of Lord Palmerston the expedition blockaded the Mouth of Pearl River and moved north to take Chusan.

1841 saw the capture of the Bogue forts which guarded the mouth of the Pearl River and later in January of that year, British forces commanded the high ground around Canton and defeated the Chinese at Ningbo and at the military post of Chinghai. By the , 11th February 1841, the British had defeated the Chinese at the mouth of their other great river trade route, the Yangtze, and were occupying Shanghai. The Qing government proved incapable of dealing with Western Powers and he war ended, with the signing of the Treaty of Nanjing. This gave Britain control of Hong Kong, open trade with China, 'favourably priced' hardwood, silk and dyes[9] and reparations that were paid soon after by the Chinese government.

All in all the fortunes of the Government were not looking good for the upcoming election with the Tories, still lead by Peel, looking to gain the ascendancy and be asked to 'kiss hands' with the monarch[10]. It was in this atmosphere that in January 2, 1842 The Chartist Movement, signed a petition for greater freedoms and a larger voting franchise. The pure numbers that marched to London in good order, was what the opportunistic Palmerston seized upon. The Foreign Sectary advised a reluctant Melbourne to put the increased franchise to a vote in Parliament, with thousands of new voters the slide of the Whig government would be halted and a grateful public would re-elect them as they had done after The Great Reform Act[11];

          United Kingdom general election, 1842

          Seats          Votes
Party     won   Gain     Total     Percentage
[COLOR="RoyalBlue"]Tory      400   +86      488,331   54.4[/COLOR]
[COLOR="Yellow"]Whig      258   -86      409,694   45.6[/COLOR]

[1] This, or anything like it, as far as I know, never happened
[2] Mediation was something that was offered by Britain, it was accepted by the Texans, but rejected by the Mexicans
[3] Yes the Piratini Republic survived in TTL, don't ask me how, but it could be fun
[4] I missed this one and I was a bit shocked when the message came up... I wonder how this will effect the Bore War?
[5] In OTL the US helped Texas out, bringing them closer together
[6] Basically this 'butterflies' away any chance of the US annexing Texas
[7] In OTL, and normally in the game, this did not happen, but the Egyptian AI did really well here
[8] It was only 4000 in OTL, but you try that against China's hordes
[9] Basically I snaffled three other provinces so I could produce tropical timber, silk and dye to help my balance of trade
[10] There was a similar swing in OTL
[11] In OTL this never happened, but I wanted a Tory government so I went for suffrage, although I have modified it to look like a limited increase in the franchise

 

[likk9922]

I really like your style. I look forward to more updates.

 

[El Pip]

[4] I missed this one and I was a bit shocked when the message came up... I wonder how this will effect the Bore War?

Should make it more exciting perhaps? *B'dum tish*

Seriously though a most interesting start, the changes continue and bode well for great differences in America and Southern Africa. I look forward to you next update.

 

[Ksim3000]

Same here. Good AAR you have going! Nice and easy to read too.

 

[unmerged(57215)]

Same here. Good AAR you have going! Nice and easy to read too.

I concur. You've got a nicely-put together narration style. Although I love history, I'm studying it at University as a major and I sometimes am reluctant to read very long textbook-like AARs simply because I do so much reading for class already.

 

[Davisx3m]

same here. Good aar you have going! Nice and easy to read too. :d

+1

 

[Jalex]

Jalex: So do I... but I noticed that one has never been completed from 1836-1936 so I am goinf to put this right... I hope

There is a megacampaign with Britain that was completed but your mostly right Hopefully your going to change that eh?

 

[SirCliveWolfe]

likk9922: How very kind sir

El Pip: Excitement is not something an Empire wants Yest the America's get very interesting... afterall we've already got a un-centrified US, a strong-ish and independant-ish texas... and much more to come

Ksim3000: Thank you for your plaudits sir!

Steevo: Thank you as well sire, and yes it can be a pain to wade through something long-winded... but sometimes you find gold like Allenby's 1914-1924 'British interests; British honour; British obligations' which is one of the reasons I'm here writing in the first palce

Davisx3m: Many thanks

Jalex: Oh yes so there was... hopefully this should be the second... I've already played uptil the 1880's, very exciting what!

 

[SirCliveWolfe]

III - Orange Peel & Corn

​

III - Orange Peel & Corn

​

Peel and his Tories had made a major plank in their election effort the vocal, and radical, support for a complete overhaul of the 'Poor Laws'. Many Tory 'radicals' had given long speeches about the idea of everyone enjoying the benefits of a strong Empire and a strong economy. The so called Ultra Tories, lead by the indefatigable Duke of Wellington, had been at first sceptical that such a policy was a good idea as it may alienate the traditional Tory voter, but Peel had won them around with the argument that the party should look to the 'working classes' as naturally 'conservative' and that they should be allied with the traditional aristocratic elite to form a working partnership to keep the radicals and socialists out of power. The fact that he proposed higher tariffs to placate the agrarian magnates of the party had also been of considerable help to his strategy as Peel, an arch 'Free Trader', looked to cement his reforms and make the repeal of them political suicide before he then attacked tariffs.

The Tory party, therefore, looked to the future and shortly after Lord Aberdeen, the new Foreign Sectary, dispatched gunboats to blockade Buenos Aires to cement British influence in the Rio De La Plata, they proposed The Factory and Pay Act 1842[1]. The Act made for provision of a basic state allowance for those not in work, whether through old age or unemployment, as well as implementing a basic safety regulations and a minimum wage for all workers in Great Britain. This caused much consternation within both the major political parties, but was easily passed as the Tory whip joined forces with the more radical Whigs to give the bill a landslide victory in the commons. The act had more trouble in the Lords where, despite Wellington's great work it was blocked by a handful of votes. After the bill passed its second reading the in lower chamber the young Queen Victoria reluctantly agreed that she would fill the Lords with Peelites to have it passed in the upper chamber as the majority in the commons was so large.

​

In the colonies the East India Company spread its influence toward Afghanistan putting pressure upon the independent states of Punjab and Sindh to accept Calcutta's oversight. In January 1843 the Maharajah of Punjab refused to allow the company trading rights within his kingdom and so they send a force to subdue him, by August Sindh, knowing that they may well be next, joined in the anti-company war only for the former state to surrender. As so in just under a year the states were added to the growing list of company administered lands. Peel and his government took much credit from these actions, and further so by their support of Queen Pomare in Tahiti against French machinations in November of 1843 and the signing of The Fante Bond which allowed the British to gain a hold in modern Ghana in March the next year.

Things in the world did not look so rosy for the ministry when Russian and Bukkhara signed a 'treaty of friendship' that amounted to little more that the latter becoming a puppet of the Tsar. There was a little sabre rattling in the press and start warnings of a invasion of India planed by St Petersberg[2], but the talk soon died down with the news that the Cape Colony was pushing its boundaries once again against another small Kingdom. Sotho had seen what had happened to the last African kingdom to annoy the British and so signed a convention that allowed increased settlement of it's lands by the Oranje Boers, and in turn the young Boer republic came under the protection of the Empire.

​

Britain, like many other states were growing increasing worries about the growth of radical ideals like socialism and nationalism. Many in power looked in horror at the death of the United States of Central America which had finally buckled under the intense nationalism of the area at the dawn of 1844. More bad news came closer to home when their was increasing activism against the authoritarian regimes in central and eastern Europe[3] and in Ireland where an exceptionally wet year lead to a reduced harvest[4]. The normally quite state of Switzerland was not to escape the tumult of events when seven cantons fought against the centralisation of power in the country, thanks in great part to the actions of General Guillaume Henri Dufour, who would go on to found the Red Cross, the war was prosecuted with the minimal loss of life. He managed to outmaneuver the mainly Catholic rebels and along with staunch British support, which stopped both the French and Austrians meddling, brought the 'civil war' to a swift and happy conclusion.[5]

There was a gathering storm over the British isles in 1846, First Lord of the Treasury, Robert Peel overstepped his power within his own party and started to form a consensus for the repeal of the Corn Laws. His idea was to re-introduce income tax to pay for the abolition of some twelve hundred tariffs and although he gained popular support among many on the opposition benches, he tore his own party apart[6]. The Ultra Tories and the landed gentry of the traditional Whig's were astonished at the mans ideas and quickly formed an alliance that was guaranteed to stop the passage of any anti-tariff bill in the upper chamber. Lord Bentinck formed the majority of the Lords into this alliance but needed someone to carry forward the opposition in the commons, many thought that this honour would fall to Benjamin Disraeli, but in the smokey back rooms of the Carlton Club a young cabal of 'radical' Tories hatched a plan with the reactionary Bentinck. William Gladstone had been an eager follower of Peel and had been excited by the four years that had proceed the Factory & Pay Act of 1846, he and his group of "Young Engenders" had been amazed at the radical things that had been developed by the union of the reactionary 'Lords' and the liberal 'radicals' when their agendas had been merged[7].

​

The first reading of the bill in the commons caused a seismic split the Tory party, with the radical and reactionary wings of the party forming an alliance and the moderate centre looking to the opposition Whigs for support. Essentially the Whigs and Peelites had formed a new party that was moderately reforming and 'free trade' while the Ultra Tories, Young Engenders and even some of the traditional Whig's had formed a pro-tariff and radical reforming block. The bill was twice vetoed by the House of Lords and on it's third reading the Bill passed through the Commons with a majority of 2[8]. This time Peel went to the Queen and once again asked for her threat to flood the upper chamber with Peelites, but this time the opposition were ready. Lord Bentinck argued that as the bill's majority in the Commons was so low that the Lords would refuse their right to sit on the hallowed burgundy benches.[9] Victoria was unwilling to use the royal prerogative and so when Peel threatened to resign she instead proposed that there should be a general election and if the 'free traders' won this, she would assent to inflating the peerage and so it was to the hustings that the sides went.[10]

The irony of the situation is little lost upon the modern historian, Peel had built the Tory party into a formidable machine for electioneering and now he had to fight against this himself. He also fell to his own rhetoric when Gladstone attacked his idea of raising income tax to pay for his continuing reforms when he quipped "...let to foreigner pay...".[11] Although the idea of abasement of tariffs was incredibly popular with the general public, Gladstone's rhetoric of making foreigners pay for pensions et al and the even more radical ideal of a subsidised health service finally won may prominent radical Whigs to his party. And so on, January 6th, 1846 the British people elected their first Liberal-Conservative[12] government at the expense of Peel and his new Liberal party, and any notion of tariff reform was dead.[13]

          United Kingdom general election, 1846

          Seats          Votes
Party     won   Gain     Total     Percentage
[COLOR="RoyalBlue"]Liberal-Conservative      398  -2      481,331   54.4[/COLOR]
[COLOR="Yellow"]Liberal      260   +2      416,694   45.6[/COLOR]

[14]

[1] Yes I've out trinkets on everything in-game, this is defiantly not from OTL
[2] Whey were us British so worried about Russia invading India, they never even really considered it?
[3] AKA 'The Liberal Revolution'
[4] What on earth happened to the Irish Potato Famine? no event or anything... not that I'm complaining... no Irish militancy at all in my game
[5] Same as OTL... if only every civil war could be, well so civil really
[6] This very much happened in OTL
[7] This never happened in OTL and Gladstone went and joined the Liberal party... and the rest is, as they say, is history
[8] The Repeal Act had a much larger majority in OTL
[9] There is president here, apparently... although Wellington did a good job in making it not necessary in OTL
[10] Again something completely new
[11] Couldn't resist... I did manage to changer it from 'Johnny Foreigner' though
[13] I hate this name, does anyone have a better one?... please!?
[12] Probably the biggest change from OTL to date
[14] Seats won and loss are not accurate as these are two 'new' parties

 

[El Pip]

[2] Whey were us British so worried about Russia invading India, they never even really considered it?

Perhaps they never really considered it because Britain was always so jumpy about it. There were other opportunities for Russian expansion where they might have the element of surprise or be able to intimidate their opponent into giving up, neither of which applied to British India.

Anyway, quite a mixed up political scene there. I suspect this new party will be quiet unstable - Ultra Tories, Young England and a few Whigs, they will disagree on many things, it's inevitable. Let us hope they can combine their problems to domestic squabbles without undermining anything too important.

 

[likk9922]

Which name do you hate? Liberal-conservative?