The Impeachment of the House of BrunswickBradlaugh, Charles
History
The Impeachment of the House of Brunswick
Bradlaugh, Charles
Great Britain -- History -- 1714-1837; Hanover, House of
That the terrible French war--of which it is impossible to give any
account in the limits of this essay, a war which cost Great Britain at
least £1,000,000,000 in hard cash, without reckoning the hundreds of
thousands of killed, wounded, and pauperized, and which Buckle calls
"the most hateful, the most unjust, and the most atrocious war England
has ever waged against any country"--directly resulted from our
government under the Brunswick family is a point on which it is
impossible for any one who has examined the facts to have a serious
doubt. Sir Archibald Alison tells us that, early in 1791, "The King of
England took a vivid interest in the misfortunes of the Royal Family of
France, promising, as Elector of Hanover, to concur in any measure which
might be deemed necessary to extricate them from their embarrassments;
and he sent Lord Elgin to Leopold, who was then travelling in Italy, to
concert measures for the common object." It was as Elector of Hanover
also that his grandfather, George IT., had sacrificed English honor and
welfare to the personal interest and family connections of these
wretched Brunswicks.
It is certain too, that, after years of terrible war, on one of the
occasions of negotiation for peace, hindrances arose because our
Government insisted on describing George III, in the preliminaries, as
"King of France." The French naturally said, first, your King George
never has been King of any part of France at any time; and next, we,
having just declared France a Republic, cannot in a solemn treaty
recognize the continued existence of a claim to Monarchy over us.
The following table, which we insert at this stage to save the need
for further reference, shows how the labor of the British nation was
burdened for generations to come, by the insane affection of the House
of Brunswick for the House of Bourbon:--
Years.
Taxes.
1793
£17,656,418
1794
17,170,400
1795
17,308,411
1796
17,858,454
1797
18,737,760
1798
20,654,650
1799
80,202,915
1800
85,229,968
1801
33,896,464
1802
85,415,296
1803
87,240,213
1804
87,677,063
1805
45,859,442
1806
49,659,281
1807
53,304,254
1808
58,390,255
1809
61,538,207
1810
63,405,294
1811
66,681,366
29,244,711
1812
64,763,870
40,743,031
1818
63,160,845
54,780,324
1814
66,925,835
63,645,930
1815
69,684,192
70,888,402
Total
£981,929,853
£768,858,934
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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