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Lord Bute and Dunkirk - The War is Over

Lord Bute is the man who ended the Seven Years War. Maybe that's too bold to say. But, he was hugely instrumental. The peace treaty was ratified 10 Feb 1763.

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How is Lord Bute related to our area of Winchester VA?

He was friends to Frederick and Augusta. Two counties were named for them. Both Frederick and Augusta counties were created out of Orange County in 1738 to honor Frederick, Prince of Wales and his Wife, Augusta of Saxe-Gotha.

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Our Frederick was Camelot.

He had a great life developing. He was next in line to be King. And everyone loved him. Except his Dad, King George II. And then all this promise of a life of a King who will be loved is cut short. Frederick dies in 1751 from health complications. They used to believe those complications came out of his playing in a game of cricket. But nevertheless, Frederick's son is next in line.

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Frederick's son doesn't take control until 1760

when King George II dies. Frederick's son is King George III. Both Frederick and his wife and son were all friends to Lord Bute. After Frederick died, Lord Bute assists in the education of Frederick's son, the future King George III. Lord Bute provides the future King George III, a treatise by Bolingbroke on the Patriot King. This has great impact on this future King George III . He will be the first of the Hanover family not to be born in Hanover (in today's Germany). He is born in England. A true English King.

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But before he becomes King,

he and his mother continue to live in Leicester House, which has gained the tradition as the headquarters for the opposition to the current King. King George I and his son King George II hated each other. King George II was the opposition at Leicester House. Then King George II son, Frederick live in opposition at the Leicester House. King George II and Frederick hated each other. But the generational hate broke its cycle between Frederick and his son, the future King George III.

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Upon taking the throne in 1760

with a world wide war still needing prosecution, King George III delegates Lord Bute to find a diplomatic agreement to end this costly war. This approach doesn't go over well with Lord Pitt, the Elder. He knows he has France on the ropes. He knows he can kill all its worldwide wealth. But King George III is done with this war. Hong long will it keep going? King George III pushes for a peace. Lord Bute gets this peace done by about Sept 1762 and Parliament ratifies it 10 Feb 1763. This peace costs Lord Bute. He is roundly hated and despised. And when one gets despised, it isn't just one thing they throw at you.


So what about Lord Bute and Dunkirk ? And what about more on Lord Bute himself?

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Dunkirk Evacuation 26 May and 4 June 1940

First

Lord Bute's connection

to Frederick County is

looked at again

with sources and links

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Then

the Dunkirk connection.

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Then

about ending the war.

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And then

all the hate and opposition

to Lord Bute,

who is derided as a dumb, oppressive Jack Boot.

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Reviewing

Lord Bute's connection to Frederick

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Next time you see a

Frederick County Virginia sign,

or you think of

Frederick County,

you will remember this story

about Lord Bute's connection

to the name of


This county was a part

of the British Empire for 38 years.


And before that,

this area was Orange County

as part of the British Empire for 42 years.

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Lord Bute has a story to be told.

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He is

friend to a future King whose life is cut short.

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it is interesting we kept this name

of a future King

who never becomes King

through all these years

for our county of Frederick

in Virginia.

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Frederick in Maryland?

By the way, as an aside, Frederick Maryland is a different Frederick. We cite Wikipedia for expediency and because their links don't disappear, and because eventually someone fixes the error, but Wikipedia states: "Sources disagree as to which Frederick the town was named for, but the likeliest candidates are Frederick Calvert, 6th Baron Baltimore (one of the proprietors of Maryland[10]), Frederick Louis, Prince of Wales,[11] and Frederick "The Great" of Prussia." We disagree. But that's another story. We say since that Colony was run in the proprietor mode, then many names of towns, like Baltimore and Frederick were named for the proprietor -- Frederick Calvert, 6th Baron Baltimore. Also the Proprietor must approve incorporations and land divisions and deeds, just like proprietor Lord Fairfax operated as almost a proprietor colony inside the crown colony of Virginia. See the different styles of colonial government, including Company Charter colonies, Proprietorship colonies, Royal Crown colonies.

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Oh where were we after that aside?

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Yes, the Name of Frederick Co VA

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in this day and age of toppling statues and changing names, these names persisted even through the Revolutionary War where most of Virginia was not in a vicious civil war between loyal colonists and rebel colonists.

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Frederick in Virginia?


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to honor King George II’s

and his wife, Augusta of Saxe-Gotha

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Curious this naming of Frederick and Augusta

The honor done

to King George II's son Frederick

and Frederick's wife is still curious.

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Why name a county for a hated son?

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by his father King George II,

as was King George II himself

hated by his father King George I.

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Frederick was next in line to be King.

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Complications in health led to his demise in 1751, leaving his son George III to be next in line to be King. Perhaps a name change could have been reasonable to expect after that?

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Frederick's son won't become King until 1760 when his grandfather, King George II dies.

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Lord Bute continued the friendship with Frederick's son, the future King George III as both tutor to George

and friend to his Mom, Augusta, while son and mom resided in the Leicester House. This friendship with both is widely criticized later.

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The names of Leicester and Martinsburg haunt this area.

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This Leicester House, is the

home of opposition to King George II

as it was when King George II himself was a prince opposing his father King George I.

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Knowing this history, maybe that’s why Lord Fairfax or his nephew Thomas Bryan Martin picked Leicester as one of the London Street names in their proposed 1759 addition to Winchester VA.

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And that Thomas Bryan Martin who managed much of Lord Fairfax's holdings and legal affairs and who ran for House of Burgesses with Colonel George Washington in 1758?

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Martinsburg is named for him.

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Adam Stephen, after being court-martialed out of the Rev War, started Martinsburg in 1777 naming it for Thomas Bryan Martin and authorized by the House of Burgesses in 1778 (scroll down to page 569).

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So when King George II dies in 1760, much like FDR died in a world wide war still needing prosecution, the grandson King George III takes over, with Lord Bute high in his closest of counsels. Lord Bute is tapped to end this war. And one of the agreed points on the Treaty of Paris 10 Feb 1763 "included a clause restricting French rights to fortify Dunkirk, to allay British fears of it being used as an invasion base to cross the English Channel."

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Now, let's look at Dunkirk.

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On 01/13/2018, a group of us went to see the movie, The Darkest Hour, a movie showing how Winston Churchill assumed the Prime Minister position mere days before England was about to witness the destruction of its Army of over 300,000 men cornered at Dunkirk, France.

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The Miraculous Armada,

assembled across the English Channel

to evacuate these troops,

coupled with Hitler stalling

on closing down on this cornered army

is what we know of Dunkirk .


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This is the Dunkirk we know.

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Dunkirk signifies the beginning of WWII, looking bleak.


Dunkirk in the Seven Years War:

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This same Dunkirk

also signifies the end

of another word wide war --

The Seven Years War.

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Churchill famously called that Seven Years War the first real world wide war.

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Dunkirk goes ways back in history

to being a base for Pirates

flying around in their ships

called Corsairs

raiding everyone on the high seas.

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And Dunkirk is a big thing

in the Peace Treaty of Paris, 10 Feb 1763,

ending the Seven Years War,

known here in our theatre of the war

as the French and Indian War.

. This famous town was a

a pirate base operating ships

called corsairs to raid others

for over a 100 years.


King Charles II of England sold it

to France 17 October 1662.

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This is the Same Charles II

who paid off another debt

to create Pennsylvania in 1681

and the 12 mile arc boundary

he gave to his brother James II

who had defeated the Dutch and Swedes in

New Castle Delaware.

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And this brings us back to Lord Bute.

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He was blamed for giving back conquests in the Peace of 1763, the end of the French and Indian War.

3rd Earl of Bute by Sir Joshua Reynolds

But again, one major feature of that peace treaty required France to dismantle any fortifications in Dunkirk, long considered a launching base to invade England.

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See Treaty

. . William Pitt, the Elder, returned to parliament

to deliver a scathing,

three-hour speech attacking

the proposals

of this give away Peace.

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They gave back the hard fought conquest of Cuba.

They gave back Manilla, Philippines.

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They gave back

some of the wealthy islands in the Carribbean.

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They gave back

the slave base at the mouth of Senegal in Africa

and allowed the French to

continue commerce

in the St Lawrence Seaway

and in India.

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At least they did not give back Fortress Louisbourg, like the politicians did in the peace treaty of 1748, the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, ending the previous war with France known as the War of Austrian Succession whose other theatres of war around the world were known here as King George's War, the War of Jenkins' Ear, the First Carnatic War, as well as the First and Second Silesian Wars.

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Why all this give away?

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Doubling the national debt

sure put pressure to find ways to cut costs.


Keeping their conquests might have provided more income.

And keeping all the conquests will require more cost too.

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But continuing the war?

That was really costing a lot.

And continuing this war had no guarantee France would quit soon.

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William Pitt, The Elder denounced this Giveaway

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William Pitt, the Elder,

returned to parliament in ill health

to deliver a scathing,

three-hour speech

attacking the proposed giveaways for peace.

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Sources: .

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Opposing View of Pitt's speech

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In opposition to Pitt’s speech, a contemporary poem, The Rodondo, Dalrymple described the occasion:

. The groundlings cry alas! poor man! How ill he is! how pale! how wan! At length he tries to rise, a hum Of approbation fills the room. He bows and tries again; but no, He finds that standing will not do, And therefore to complete the farce, The House cries, ‘Hear him on his a__e!’ He may break off by grief o’ercome, And grow pathetically dumb! He next may SWOON and shut his eyes; A cordial, else the patriot dies! The cordial comes, he takes it off; He lives, he lives, I hear him cough … .

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Still, Lord Bute is called JACK BOOT

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The term JACK BOOT came before Lord Bute.

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We associate this with the Nazis.

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But this term was used to deride Lord Bute.

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He was already suspect for being too close to the King.

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And accused falsely of relations to his mother, Augusta, who adorns the name of that county in Virginia.


Both the father, Frederick, and the mother, Augusta of King George III were chosen to name two counties split off from Orange Co VA in 1738.


Lord Bute,

was already suspect

for being a traitorous Stuart,

who might have supported the Scottish Jacobites

wanting the Stuarts

to take back the throne

from these Kings from Hanover.

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Hated for the Firings

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He was also hated for getting rid of previous opposing political appointees in the bureaucracy without due process.

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Back then political patronage was far from the civil service reform that came more than a 100 years later.

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Lord Bute being derided as a dumb Jack Boot, symbol of oppression because they did think of him like a Rasputin controlling the ear of the Czar. or a Richelieu controlling a previous King of France especially because did fire a whole slew of opponents much like the Nixon firings in the Saturday Night Massacre prior to the Watergate inquiries.

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Effigies of Lord Bute:

. Riots broke out and there were hangings of effigies of Bute – mainly boots. Politicians were stoned in the streets and the mob smashed the windows in Bute’s house.


See sources:

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Finally, the pressure to find money for the empty treasure caused even more enemies.

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TAXES

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The hemorrhage on the treasury was too big, not to start raising taxes.

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This tax on themselves was the Cider Tax of 1763, instead of the colonies.

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They didn't want to tax the colonies too soon after the colonies were recovering from money the colonies themselves had already spent on this war.

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But this almost started a civil war in their own homeland.

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Stopped Subsidizing the defense of Hanover

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England did find some savings.

A new King no longer tied to Hanover German region

allowed this new King not to subsidize the war on

main European continent.

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His grandfather King George II and his father King George I were both born in Hanover Germany and so both insisted their birthland be protected. King George III was the first English born of these Hanover Kings.

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That saved some money- not subsidizing the war to protect Hanover.

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But it was not enough.

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The Patriot King

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Lord Bute introduced

to the young future King George III

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This influence the future young King greatly.

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Our 2nd President John Adams

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Source:

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Letter John Adams writes to Thomas Jefferson about Bolingbroke on 25 Dec 1813:

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Patriot King text

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French Prime Minister involved

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And a new French Minister who was quick, facile, imaginative

and accomplished, and whose King and nation were

under the same debt pressures sure helped . . .

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Source:

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This is the end of our topic.

Below is more related information.

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More Notes and Link Related

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RECAP OF LORD BUTE AND FREDERICK:

. How is Lord Bute related to our area of Winchester VA?

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Both Frederick and

Augusta counties

were created in 1738

to honor Frederick, Prince of Wales and

his Wife, Augusta of Saxe-Gotha.

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See county creation dates and map in this link:

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And Lord Bute was their friend and trusted advisor.

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And they all resided at Leicester House, home of opposition to King George II.

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Sources:

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Knowing this history, maybe that’s why Lord Fairfax or his nephew Thomas Bryan Martin picked Leicester as one of the London Street names in their proposed 1759 addition to Winchester VA.

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. See the Story on Frederick, next in line

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He had a great future cut short.

Almost Camelot.

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And with that story is also the origins of our Frederick Co VA.


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See Origins of Frederick County and Augusta County: Frederick Louis, Prince of Wales and Frederick Co VA

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Hated by his own Father, King George II

Frederick Louis, Prince of Wales, was hated by his own father, King George II.

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This hate was exacerbated by Frederick going to Parliament to ask for a larger allowance when his father King George II would not agree. Frederick regarded his £50,000 a year (at least £3 million a year in today’s money) as miserably inadequate, especially since Frederick was sponsoring a shadow opposition government, which further cemented his father’s hate.


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Oh yes, the title Griff?

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That was Frederick, Prince of Wales, nickname.

It was a nick. ..

So when you have a moment —

If you want to know about that nick, read an interesting analysis about the bad blood recorded between Frederick and his mom Caroline and his Dad, King George II:

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So why honor towns and counties after this man?

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What were they thinking?

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Answer? Was he a version of Camelot? Young, dynamic, wanting change, aristocratic yet a man of the people?

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From a book, “Britons, Forging the Nation 1707-1837″ by Linda Colley, 1992 Yale University Press, Page 206.

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“…Frederick Lewis [Anglicized] , one of the great might-have-beens of British history. From the 1730s, Frederick — so often dismissed as just another puny princeling — had recognized what was wrong with the Hanoverian Dynasty [King George I, and King George II, his grandfather and father both born in Hanover Germany] practice of monarchy …”

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His gold and graceful state barge, now in the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich, shows how much he wanted to make a visual impact, how much he relished letting the Thames carry him through his capital city in style.”

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“With Frederick, the image of the Hanoverian Dynasty changed, becoming softer and markedly more sympathetic. George I and George II had sought primarily to survive; Frederick, like his successor [his son George III], wanted to appeal and to impress.”

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Ed note: So, . . . Frederick Co VA is named after the Father of the much maligned King George III, the tyrant depicted in the Declaration of the Independence.

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“Frederick had spent money and time associating himself with the making of a patriotic culture, planning the creation of a national academy of art, and commissioning Thomas Arne and James Thomson to write, Rule Britannia.”

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RULE BRITANNIA was first performed at Cliveden, country home of Frederick, Prince of Wales (the eldest son of George II and father of the future George III, as well as the great-grandfather of Queen Victoria), on 1 August 1740

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Frederick arrived in England in 1728 as a grown man, the year after his father had become King George II. … Frederick, himself now Prince of Wales… and Augusta [his wife] appeared in public together, and the couple were popular with the public.

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He also enjoyed sports and was seriously involved in cricket, both as a patron and a player. Frederick looked forward to succeeding to the throne and becoming “a patriot king.” He delighted in opposing the government and lent his support to the opposition.

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After the Jacobite Rising 1745, culminating in the Battle of Culloden 16 April 1746, Frederick opposed the severe treatment of the Jacobites that his father, King George II, and brother, The Duke of Cumberland [known as the Butcher] supported.

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Frederick doted on his 9 children, the opposite of his distant father, King George II. Frederick made news ” helping to put out fires in London.”

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“When he died on 20 March 1750 [old style calendar], cricket suffered a double blow as his death closely followed that of Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond, the game’s greatest financial patron at the time…”

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Dates of Birth and Death of "Griff"

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Frederick Louis, Prince of Wales was born 1 February 1707

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But you will see different dates for his death.

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Because the calendar changed.

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England, not Scotland (despite having parliaments unified 1707 the year Frederick was born) in 1750 implemented a two step change in the calendar that took 2 years to complete.

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In England and Wales, 1751 was a short year of 282 days, starting 25 March, ending 31 December.

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Frederick died on 20 March 1750 old style calendar.

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Wednesday 2 September 1752 was followed by Thursday 14 September 1752, an 11 day change.

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31 March 1751 – new style.

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DATES AND TIMES FOR START AND END OF THIS WAR

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START of the Seven Year War

The actual war spanned a longer period.

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Declaration of War dates:

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28 May 175

The Jummonville incident is the unofficial start date

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9 July 1755

Braddock's Defeat in an undeclared war

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17 May 1756

almost a year after the Braddock Defeat

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9 June 1756

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August 15, 1756

Washington in Winchester VA gets word of declaration

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4 January 1762

Britain declares war on Spain

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18 January 1762

Spain declares war back on Britain

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ENDING of the French and Indian War

Treaties ending the war on these dates:

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22 May 1762Peace of Hamburg between Prussia, Mecklenburg and Sweden.

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10 February 1763 Treaty of Paris signed by Great Britain, France and Spain, with Portugal

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15 February 1763 — The Treaty of Hubertusburg (Frieden von Hubertusburg) signed by Prussia, Austria, Saxony

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The First World Wide War?

There are some arguments that maybe the previous war, The War of Austrian Succession was also a world wide war, but the Seven Years War was more extensive possibly.

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The Sun Never Sets on the British Empire

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George Macartney wrote in 1773,

in the wake of the territorial expansion

that followed Britain’s victory

in the Seven Years’ War,

of “this vast empire on which the sun never sets, and whose bounds nature has not yet ascertained.”.

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Source: Macartney, George (1773).

An Account of Ireland in 1773

by a Late Chief Secretary of that Kingdom. p. 55.;

cited in

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This war was the last war Native American nations had France as an ally.

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More on Lord Bute

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An Appeaser working with the French?

But he ended the war working privately with French diplomat Étienne-François de Stainville, duc de Choiseul because England’s National Debt had doubled.

And could they realistically control all their new conquests? . For being a Jack Boot, many thought he had undue influence on King George III, but many also called Lord Bute an appeaser as Winston Churchill did in his review of history. . Open link below, press Ctrl F, type: Bute sent the Duke of Bedford

https://archive.org/stream/ahistoryoftheenglishspeakingpeoples1/A-History-of-the-English-Speaking-Peoples-03-The-Age-of-Revolution_-_Winston-Churchill_djvu.txt

The French Minister was quick, facile, imaginative

and accomplished, and whose King and nation were

under the same debt pressures of overwhelming debt:

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Sources:

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Good friend of Samuel Johnson

the author of 1755 English Dictionary

Lord Bute was a Good friend to Samuel Johnson, author of the first comprehensive dictionary of English words in 1755.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Johnson#A_Dictionary_of_the_English_Language . Lord Bute and Samuel Johnson often met at Lord Bute’s home, called Lutton Hoo, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luton_Hoo . Boswell, who wrote a book about Samuel Johson. This book book was held by our Captain Mercer’s Dad who built a library in Marlborough VA, a library so vast, that later was given honor by George Mason University naming its college library, the Mercer Library. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/40255/40255-h/40255-h.htm#Page_198 https://library.gmu.edu/locations/mercer .

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The Asses of Great Britain

And before the appeasement in the peace treaty? Lord Bute is in big trouble. Lord Bute holds the reins on the British Lion bitted and bridled is depicted as one of The Asses of Great Britain. http://www.ouramericanrevolution.org/index.cfm/object/view/ob0160 .

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Lord Bute and King George III see Cherokee Chiefs

Another interesting side note in that political cartoon: Three Cherokee Chiefs visited London June 18, 1762 looking for help.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Timberlake#Visits_to_London . Lord Bute was there with King George III to see these Cherokee who was escorted by Timberlake who along with Adam Stephen helped build a fort during the earlier Anglo-Cherokee Wars.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timberlake_Expedition . But that’s another story.

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The Sequence of Events leading to signing the Peace Treaty:

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". . . no agreement had been reached when the peace preliminaries came before the House on 9 Dec. 1762.

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In the middle of the debate Pitt, who had been ill with the gout, made a characteristically flamboyant and theatrical entry.

. The House was alarmed by a shout from without [wrote Horace Walpole29].

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The doors opened, and at the head of a large acclaiming concourse was seen Mr. Pitt borne in the arms of his servants, who, setting him down within the bar, he crawled by the help of a crutch and with the assistance of some few friends to his seat …

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He was dressed in black velvet, his legs and thighs wrapped in flannel, his feet covered with buskins of black cloth, and his hands with thick gloves.

. His speech lasted three and a half hours and was moderate in tone.

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He criticized the articles which related to the Newfoundland fisheries, the return to Spain of Havana and to France of Martinique and Guadeloupe, and hinted that had the war been continued another year France would have been stripped of all her colonial possessions.

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He condemned the abandonment of Prussia, contrasted the Franco-Spanish alliance with Britain’s isolation, and declared ‘we ought to have made a family compact with the King of Prussia’.

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He spoke, wrote Walpole, ‘in so low and faint a voice that it was almost impossible to hear him …

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". . .this was not a day on which his genius thundered’. "

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He never made so long or so bad a speech’, wrote Lord Barrington;30

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and Harris: ‘All people I spoke to of all sides confessed a languor and tediousness in this speech, to which they had not been accustomed.’

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Perhaps its most important sentence was his disavowal of any connexion with Newcastle, and his declaration ‘that he should attend Parliament very little this session’.

. In fact Pitt did not attend the House again until March 1763.

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Meanwhile the Opposition, disjointed and leaderless, floundered on as best they could without him. ‘

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We all agree’, wrote Newcastle, ‘that nothing can be done without Mr. Pitt.’

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Pitt told Devonshire he would attend ‘upon any national or constitutional points, but to enter into direct opposition was what he could not do’.

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Still, on 8 Mar. he dined with the Opposition leaders:

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‘Their countenances are quite cleared up’, wrote Rigby, ‘since they have put themselves under Pitt’s management.’31

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In August 1763 Bute persuaded the King to open negotiations with Pitt, and at his audience of 27 Aug. Pitt advised the King to form a new ministry from the Opposition.

. http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1754-1790/member/pitt-william-1708-78 , February 10, 1763 Although British King George III and his ministers were in favor of the treaty, it was unpopular with the British public. However, the treaty contained enough concessions to war hawks that the British Parliament ratified the Treaty of Paris by a majority of 319 to 64, and the treaty went into effect on February 10, 1763.

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Blog compiled and authored by Jim Moyer, 1/14/2018, 5/31/2018 updated to this website on 2/15/2021

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This blog is authored and compiled by Jim Moyer 2/21/2021

This blog "Sunday Word 1" is a series posted on Facebook in the year of 2021 following the events of 1757.

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The blog "Sunday Word 2" often publishes about the war in the month it occurred.

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Last year 2020 was a series posted on Facebook for the year 1756.

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See where the "Sunday Word" blogs on Facebook are posted:

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