The Imperial Age with the Resurgence of Han Style

Chapter 357: The “Rebellious” North American Colonies
On July 1735, 7, the Chen government suppressed an attempted rebellion in Huayang County and arrested 10 Acadians who intended to start a riot, including four priests from the Catholic Acadian Diocese.

After a fair trial, the five leaders were sentenced to death by hanging for inciting riots and subverting the government, and the remaining fourteen were sentenced to hard labor ranging from eight to twenty years.

At the same time, the Chen government dispatched more than 500 armed militiamen, who, under the leadership of "guides", raided two pro-French Mi'kmaq tribes and killed more than 260 indigenous people, including a large number of women and children. This was the "July Massacre" that shocked China and the world.

However, surprisingly, the neighboring French colonial territories showed rare restraint. Although the French authorities issued harsh criticism and warnings to the Qi people on this matter, they did not retaliate with force.

Apart from continuing to build Fort Beausejour, the French on the north bank of the Little Ning River (now the Missigash River) did not launch any military offensive, but simply confronted the armed personnel of Qi across the river.

It is reported that the Qi people dispatched two warships from the North Atlantic to Acadia, and once sailed in the waters near Louisbourg on Isle Royale (now Cape Breton Island) and Port Lajoie (now Charlottetown) on St. John's Island (now Prince Edward Island, Canada). Perhaps they felt a certain maritime threat, so they temporarily gave up the French's subsequent revenge.

Putting aside the military confrontation between Qi and France in Qingchuan Prefecture, Xiong Bojun, the plenipotentiary envoy appointed by King Chen and head of the Military Affairs Department of King Chen's Palace, quietly came to Boston with several subordinates on a motor sailboat affiliated with the Chenzhou Trading Company, ready to meet with the Speaker of the Massachusetts Assembly, Gano Wenger, to negotiate the establishment of a closer "friendly alliance relationship" between the two places.

The reason why Xiong Bojun did not go to the Governor of Massachusetts was that the actual military and political power of this British colonial territory was in the hands of Parliament, not the governor who was the representative of the King of England.

During the several years in Chenzhou, in addition to gaining an in-depth understanding of the French New France territory in the north, Prince Chen also conducted a detailed study of the thirteen most powerful British colonial territories in the entire North American continent.

The colonies that England established on the east coast of North America have always seemed odd, a loose and bloated system, just like many of the English themselves.

Since the days of Jamestown and the Mayflower, the formation of almost every colonial territory has relied on private trading companies, which is completely different from the government-led colonial development in Qi and France.

They were small-time entrepreneurs, solitary adventurers seeking profit or God's sake. Each colony was a painful experiment with many mistakes, but rarely was there any strong guidance from the crown or government, let alone financial support.

It is said that in the early days of the development of America, the English royal family had no money at all and could not afford to take the risk of establishing one colonial territory after another on the other side of the ocean.

So the crown issued charter after charter, asking the people of England to take the risk of immigration and colonization, because without investment, the crown could never rule Massachusetts or the Chesapeake by royal decree alone.

Some Puritans immigrated to North America in search of salvation, others to land or beaver skins. All immigrants had mixed motives, and many came unwillingly, perhaps as criminals or indentured servants, put on board by local judges or relatives eager to get rid of them.

But in any case, these successively established colonial territories became increasingly prosperous after being fully developed, and the people of the colonies also expressed their loyalty to the royal family. Merchants and investors, stimulated by interests, would also spontaneously invest in expanding the territory. With the above three points, the English royal family and government were happy to maintain the status quo of this system.

However, the English royal family has also thought about turning British colonial territories into fiefdoms of the king like the French, so that they can control them as they please.

During his brief reign, Catholic King James II attempted to impose a strict system of government, appointing a governor and placing New York and New England under the royal dictatorship.

Under the direct rule of the royal family, the subjects of the British colonial territories, who were used to freedom, felt immense pain and suffering. Their freedom was deprived, their rights were violated, and their trade was suppressed. Especially in the wealthy Massachusetts territory, they experienced a period of "difficult and hard" times.

Fortunately, this period of rule soon came to an end. The great Glorious Revolution overthrew James II from the throne, restored the Protestant succession to the throne, and the original colonial system was restored, improved and strengthened, but there was by no means anything approaching despotism.

After that, the Stuart royal family had no choice but to go into exile abroad, the domestic environment in England became more stable, religious fanaticism decreased throughout the country, and effective top-down management increased.

When the Hanoverian royal family became king of England, the country already had the rudiments of a modern government like Qi - a standing army, reliable taxation and a central bank, and various forms of financing. For most of the next twenty years, England was at peace.

But even so, when the royal family and the government could have used this rare period of peace to change the model of operating colonial territories, they still maintained the private management system.

Because this model seems to have been working very well.

The English government took it for granted that the greatest benefit of the colonies was to supply timber, sugar, tar, tobacco, and grain to the homeland, or as a strategic means to prevent Spain and France from controlling the Atlantic.

Why waste the kingdom's finances to send a large number of royal officials to the colonies when the people were Protestants, loyal to their country, and able to manage their own affairs?
Of course, each colony should have several royal officials and rules to follow. Every new plantation must be approved by the royal family and signed by Whitehall of the royal government, and a charter or license must be issued to clearly define the scope of the territory and what is permitted.

Although these documents are long and filled with legalese, they actually leave applicants considerable leeway.

Each colony had a legislature to make laws, collect local taxes, and had its own militia. In addition to not going to war with each other, the English government completely prohibited only two things from these colonies: the laws passed by the colonies could not conflict with the laws of England, and the colonies could not harm the economic interests of England.

Otherwise, the colonial territory would be of no use.

Each colony was subject to the Navigation Acts of England, which required that all trade must be carried out using ships from England or its colonies and pass through ports in England.

Apart from this, these colonial territories could do whatever they wanted and enjoy their unlimited freedom.

Most colonies, including Virginia and Massachusetts, had a royal governor sent by England to oversee their legislatures.

Local governors in other regions are elected by themselves.

Oh, there are exceptions. The two colonial territories of Maryland and Pennsylvania were inherited by the Calfitt family and the Burns family from England, but they also established parliaments and corresponding legislative bodies.

For more than a hundred years, these colonies managed by North Americans themselves have achieved good development momentum and easily realized the long-cherished wish of the Kingdom of England: to add a new and abundant source of overseas wealth.

Anyone could see how rapidly the thirteen British colonial territories grew, not only in population but also in the enormous economic value they brought to both sides of the Atlantic.

Tobacco, rice, wheat, indigo dye, timber, and sugar came across the ocean in an endless stream, while England exported handicrafts to these colonies.

Woolen clothing, clocks and watches, guns and ammunition, steel from Sheffield, furniture and musical instruments from London, as well as precision hardware, books, tea and silk re-exported to Qi. The growing tide of trade over the past few decades has brought dividends and employment to the colonial power, and has also indirectly contributed to finance and tax revenue.

When it comes to taxation, we have to mention that this is definitely the biggest shortcoming of the Kingdom of England, or an unspeakable heartache.

For example, the king and parliament obtained considerable fiscal revenue by imposing tariffs and excise taxes on tobacco shipped back from Maryland and Virginia, but the residents of the colonies only paid very small taxes to the government, which could even be negligible.

You know, the Royal Navy of England spends hundreds of thousands to millions of pounds every year to protect important shipping lanes across the Atlantic and provide military protection for the entire North American colonial territories, but most of the time, this issue is regarded as hidden and technical and is automatically ignored by the people in the colonies.

In their eyes, as long as trade between England and the colonies continued to expand and ships continued to travel back and forth, the colonies were playing their due role.

Furthermore, the wealth created by the colonial territories also indirectly enriched the pockets of the royal government, because the increasingly frequent cross-strait trade made England's domestic economy more prosperous, which in turn increased domestic tax revenue and enriched the treasury.

This is the greatest contribution of our colonial territories!

As for the King and Parliament wanting to collect taxes in our colonies, that is strictly prohibited.

Don’t even think about it!

However, from 1725 to 1728, a terrible war broke out between the Kingdom of England and the State of Qi. Unfortunately, England was defeated by the State of Qi, lost nearly half of its navy, Ireland became independent, and many overseas territories such as Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Belize, and the Bahamas were ceded to the State of Qi.

What was even more unbearable for the English government was that the defeat in this war not only made the government bear a war reparations of 7 million pounds, but also a heavy debt of more than 32 million pounds. The interest alone was 1.5 million pounds a year, which put great pressure on the cabinet's finances and almost brought it to the brink of bankruptcy.

So, as citizens of the kingdom, shouldn't Great Britain's overseas colonies, including all of North America, including New England, contribute to the best of their ability to the motherland at this time?
Five years ago, Raphael Warnock, Earl of Cornell and vice chairman of the English Cabinet's Finance Committee, was ordered to visit several colonial territories in North America. After fully investigating and studying the actual local conditions, he provided the cabinet and parliament with a relatively detailed economic survey report.

The Poverty Government at the time made a resolution based on this, and received the support of most members of Congress, which was to impose taxes on the thirteen colonial territories in North America.

During the Anglo-English War, taxes in England rose sharply, reaching a peak of around 8% of national revenue.

Measured by the economic standards of later generations, this number was actually not large and was controllable, but during this period, the working people lived in near poverty, and no one believed in the big government model of Qi, so naturally they were unwilling to pay taxes endlessly.

Therefore, the tax cannot be any higher, otherwise it may cause unrest in Parliament and on the streets.

During the war, excise duties on beer, wine and gin rose to new highs, sparking protest rallies by Londoners.

Therefore, with a bill submitted by the Finance Committee and led by Prime Minister Pover, the royal government attempted to reform their overseas colonial territories - the thirteen North American states that were still in a state of independent development.

England must rebuild its borrowing capacity so it can better resolve its growing financial problems.

In the task of financial reconstruction, the thirteen colonies in North America bore the brunt of the task. The reason was simple: the local financial resources had been squeezed to the limit, and if they continued to exhaust the resources and increase the tax rate, they might force the people of the kingdom to rebel.

The North American colonial territories have been "nurtured" for so many years, the people are prosperous, trade is prosperous, and the average living standard is slightly better than that of the mainland. Naturally, they have to make due contributions at this time.

Back in the days, when Ireland was a colonial territory of the kingdom, although they were extremely poor, they still had to pay all expenses for the English troops stationed among them.

As the legitimate sons of the Kingdom of England, shouldn't your North American colonies make the necessary sacrifices for your mother country?

Beginning in 1733, with the full support of Parliament, the Poverty Cabinet government appointed new supervisory officials, judges, and a board of import and export tariffs headquartered in Boston.

In order not to overly stimulate the sensitive and fragile psychology of the colonies, the London authorities only imposed import and export tariffs on sugar and its accessories, and then expanded the scope of collection after these guys who were used to freedom adapted to the tax policy of the royal government.

However, they did not expect that the North American colonial territories would become so angry over such a small taxation issue.

Although no fierce violent conflicts broke out in many colonial territories, the parliaments of various colonial territories more effectively created endless troubles for the London authorities.

With the ubiquitous lawyers and the newspaper media fanning the flames, as well as local customs and knowledge of the area, the immigrants played all kinds of tricks with any royal officials and tax collectors who wanted them to follow the rules and pay taxes.

They tried their best to prevent the royal government from collecting taxes by various tax evasion and smuggling activities, abusive language, slander, and various obstructive means.

Some radical local groups and political leaders, after complaining loudly, even clamored to secede from the Kingdom of England, establish an independent country, and cut off all ties with the colonial master across the ocean.

When Xiong Bojun and his delegation arrived in Boston, they saw a large rally in the City Hall Square. A party leader named Elisha Cook openly criticized the British government's brutal interference in Massachusetts local affairs on the podium, believing that this move was no different from the Stuart dynasty's persecution of Protestants.

Finally, he called on the people of Massachusetts to take action and unite to oppose the taxation actions of the king and Parliament.

If no changes are made, the king will lose the trust of the people and the loyalty of the colonies.

"Are these English people crazy? They actually dare to confront their motherland. They clearly want to rebel!" Xiong Bojun muttered to himself as he sat in the carriage, looking through the window at the noisy scene in the square.

(End of this chapter)