Interlude I
Cartier thought a moment before he replied, not in the least because his seat was jostled by a sudden bump as the carriage struck a rut in the cobblestone streets. He was never so sure about the overconfidence some Englishmen had about a fight with the Americans. The same type of overconfidence had carried him into the disastrous rebellion in 1839, and he remembered well how much that overconfidence had cost. He folded his gloved hands on top of one another before speaking again.
“How can we be sure though that the Americans will not come to their senses and simply fight Great Britain? She is their natural enemy, and a war could well reconcile the two. It almost did in 1859.”
“Well two great nations don’t go to war over a pig is how I heard it.” John A. chuckled.
“And what about the blood of an Englishman?” Cartier replied raising an eyebrow. MacDonald leaned over and spat out the window.
“There’s what I think of that! They killed a British subject as good as if they’d just murdered him. They had no right to seize that vessel, not a one. Yet they did it anyways. Britain must defend her honor, no one pushes the Empire without getting a shove back.”
“Speaking of such, what did you think of Dorion today?”
“Dorion and his pack of monkeys were doing what they always do, screeching for Reform while threatening to topple the government. I can expect nothing less from that radical. He detests me for the fact that I’m English, and he wants to bring you down since you betrayed the ideas of his precious revolution.”
If he has a Glasgow accent how is he English? He spent his childhood in Scotland...
It's no fun when the text spoils the future. Like saying the usa Pacific fleet would wreck havoc in the 1900s, well now I know they remain strong and still keep the Pacific Coast. Plus other spoilers
The way I've written this TTL does lend itself to mild spoilers of the future, but none so great as to seriously inform you as to future events I think
Who will this future Pacific War be with, Japan?, China?, both?
This may help in determining the size of Canadian forces (counting Maritimes) if you've lost that portion of your notes.
http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1862/mar/04/resolution#column_1038
Hansard debates - by March 1862 there were 80,000 to 90,000 Volunteers "trained or in course of training" irrespective of British garrison.
Which is a tidy little army, really.
This may help in determining the size of Canadian forces (counting Maritimes) if you've lost that portion of your notes.
http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1862/mar/04/resolution#column_1038
Hansard debates - by March 1862 there were 80,000 to 90,000 Volunteers "trained or in course of training" irrespective of British garrison.
Which is a tidy little army, really.
Ah but don't forget if a war with the US did break out most of them wouldn't want to fight/or would want to be Americans so that number would fall significantly
John A had a distinctly British identity when he was in Canada. He had a Scottish heritage yes, but growing up he would have been surrounded by people who were working to distinguish themselves from both the French identity of Canada East, and the American identity of the United States to the south. Hence a feeling of being 'English' or 'British'. It is a linguistic identity as much as anything else.
British and English, and may I emphasise here, might be used equivalently for people born inside of England but for a Scotsman? This would never happen. You do not call a Scotsmen English. Pretty standard stuff here. You don't call Obama a Texan or a New Yorker.
Interesting timeline. I get a little lost in some of the battles though.
(Also I'm remind why I don't touch the Civil War era or WWII era as PoDs...)
This may help in determining the size of Canadian forces (counting Maritimes) if you've lost that portion of your notes.
http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1862/mar/04/resolution#column_1038
Hansard debates - by March 1862 there were 80,000 to 90,000 Volunteers "trained or in course of training" irrespective of British garrison.
Which is a tidy little army, really.