Some years ago Will got a book entitled ” When London was the Capital of America” by Julie Flavell. The book is the story of colonial America and though we forget it prior to 1776 London was the Imperial Capital of all British North America, it included the 13 original colonies and the territories south, after 1763 it also included all of Canada which had passed from French domination to British after the end of the Seven Year War and the Treaty of Paris.
Flavell debunks a lot of myths about America before 1776 and its white colonists. It was the practice for American colonists especially those with money to send their sons and daughters to London or Geneva for a proper education and to learn manners and etiquette and to become proper gentleman and ladies. This was very important for social status in the American colonies, you could not be considered educated if you did not have a British education. Geneva on the other hand provided a good Calvinist upbringing and had no vice like London.
American colonists in London lived in fashionable neighbourhoods in and around Temple Bar and Westminster and St-James Palace. Most of them were prosperous merchants and Plantation owners, arriving in London with their African slaves from Virginia and the Carolinas.
Those slaves who only knew of life on a plantation suddenly discovered that in London they had a great deal of liberty and that many white people were in fact living in horrible poverty and neglect. The only whites they had encountered in America had better lives than they did, in London these African slaves lived and worked in genteel surroundings in great houses, they also saw that in England there was lots of white servants and they were equal to them. The African slaves invented the expression ” White trash” to speak of all those poor whites living on the streets of London. This is how their white masters saw all the poor below them socially.
African slaves who arrived regularly and in large numbers from America with their masters were dressed in elegant livery and since no slavery laws existed in England could go about society since their masters had little leverage over them in this foreign environment. London ladies found those Africans handsome and took them as lovers and even married them, which cause no end of distress and disgust among plantation owners visiting London with their families, in America the strict segregation of races was in force but not so in England. Some Slaves being enterprising would set themselves up in business after leaving their American masters who were powerless to enforce rights they had in America. In fact the Londoners would look down on those American colonists for their treatment of slaves, it cause quite a lot of social friction.
The book also shows that there was no American archetype prior to 1776, the so called mythological American hero challenging England. American colonists were in manners and speech just like the British in London, even Benjamin Franklin was very much trying to emulate Londoners and the English gentlemen. The American in London telling off the Londoners with speeches about democracy and freedom is nothing more than an elaborate myth.
The entire period from 1720 onward was also one of reform in England socially and politically, the issues were the same, the Westminster Parliament was controlled by the Aristocracy and the Court around the King. The British were no happier with this situation than the American colonists. In England the Government of Lord North was very unpopular and in America the ham fisted response to events like the Boston Tea Party was seen as a provocation by the colonists. However when the revolution started in 1776 many American colonists simply packed their bags and left for England or Canada, thousands did so. Selling their property and moving, the revolution was not embraced by all and it had little to do with Freedom and more with political reform which was coming in England. In America it was more a question of poor handling of a political situation and the arrogance of the Aristocracy thinking it could use the British army against colonists at will.
The book follows real people like the Henry Laurens family of South Carolina, wealthy plantation owners who spend a lot of time in England and in Geneva educating their children. This family will play a prominent role in the revolution and in the new republic. The author gives us through her research in family letters and journals a very clear picture of who they were and is also able to give us a portrait of the family slave Robert Scipio Laurens who will leave his master and make a new life for himself in England. She also devotes chapters to others like John Laurens son of Henry who after brilliant education in London will die in one of the last battles of the American revolution in 1783. John Allen from Pennsylvania, Ralph Izard and many others also get their stories told, they all lived in the same area in London and knew each other well.
The book is a fascinating look at America and London as its capital and how society functioned something that is too often overlooked. I highly recommend this easy to read and well researched book.
From time to time I do a posting on books I am reading, I did my last one some months ago. In the meantime I have been reading several books, the one I just finished today was the Diary of Samuel Pepys for the year 1660. There are lots of editions of Pepys diaries which stretch from 1660-1669. The one I chose to read was edited by Robert Latham and William Matthews and published by Harper Collins 1995 edition. Though their work was first published in 1979, Matthews died in 1983.
This is a complete diary of Samuel Pepys and not a selection, the diaries chronicle daily his life in London and starts in 1660 the year King Charles II returned to the throne of England and the Puritans were chased from power. This is very much a history of the Restoration in England and life in London at the time. London was then a small town, nothing like today and still very much a medieval town, the great fire of 1666 will give us the London we know today. All I can say is beware of Presbyterians and Calvinists.
I was prompted to read this first book of the diaries by a friend who visited this past Summer, Dr.Spo from Arizona. He bought a second hand copy here in Charlottetown on Queen Street so I was curious as to what it could be about. In September we went to Ireland and then to London and Will and I visited The Globe Theatre, I was fascinated by the life in London at the time of William Shakespeare and read books on what it was like then in 1584, am not sure I would want to visit the London of that period and it has nothing to do with the movie Shakespeare in Love which was pure fabrication and fantasy.
When Pepys writes in 1660 it is still more or less the same town from an architectural urban point of view, though much has happened politically since the death of Shakespeare in 1616, Charles I is arrested and executed by the Puritans under Oliver Cromwell in 1649, Pepys saw the public execution outside the banqueting hall of Whitehall Palace.
Samuel Pepys (pronounced Peeps) 1633-1703, Diary was first published in abbreviated form in 1825. A succession of new versions brought out in the Victorian era made the Diary one of the best-known books and Pepys one of the best-known figures of English history. However, not until the publication of the Latham and Matthews edition was the Diary presented in its complete form, with a newly transcribed text and the benefit of a systematic commentary.
The primary aim of the editors Latham and Matthews was to see that the Diary was presented in a manner suitable to the historical and literary importance of its contents. At the same time they had in mind the interests of the wide public. Each of the first eight volumes contains one whole calendar year of the diary, from January to December. The ninth volume runs from January 1668 to May 1669. Pepys was highly esteemed for his achievements as a public servant in the Admiralty, while in his private life he was known in intellectual circles as an accomplished musician and scholar.
So on we go with year 1661 and 1662, it is fascinating to read how people then lived and how so different it is from our lives today. Though I discovered that on the matter of Government functions, budget, taxes and management it is the same as today, some things never change.
Another book I read in 3 hours was written in 44BC by Marcus Tullius Cicero, the father of all lawyers and famous Roman Orator at the end of the Roman Republic under Julius Cesar. This little book was written when he was 62 years old and the year before his assassination by men sent by Marc-Anthony to silence him.
The book is entitled, How to grow old or Ancient wisdom for the second half of life. It is written in Latin and in English so you can read it in either language. Published by Princeton Press. The book is described this way; Worried that old age will inevitably mean losing your libido, your health, and possibly your marbles too? Well, Cicero has some good news for you. In How to Grow Old, the great Roman orator and statesman eloquently describes how you can make the second half of life the best part of all–and why you might discover that reading and gardening are actually far more pleasurable than sex ever was.
It was a fun and easy read, with a point of view I agreed with. Montaigne said Cicero’s book “gives one an appetite for growing old.”
Speaking of Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (1533-1593) one of the most significant philosophers of the French Renaissance, I am about to start reading his biography by Sarah Bakewell entitled How to live.
Montaigne lived through France’s religious wars when Protestants and Catholics tore the country apart. Montaigne was a Catholic with many Protestant friends and he did what he could to promote moderation. Being an aristocrat he knew and counselled leaders on both sides without seeking political power for himself. He was happiest on his rural estate writing introspective essays in his famous tower.
Because of his essays, one of the glories of French literature, Montaigne spent a large part of his life writing about himself. Bakewell imitates Montaigne’s own methods by trying to illuminate the man through 20 essays that address how Montaigne chose to live. Given the troubled times we are now entering and the great uncertainty, it may be a good thing to read about someone who lived in a troubled period of history.
Michel Eyquem de Montaigne early education was entirely in Latin leaving him with little way to communicate with his family except through the shaky Latin of his father and conversational Latin of his servants. He lived in a tower overlooking his estate, was a magistrate and sometime mayor of Bordeaux. It is hard to see how lessons on life from this 16th century French philosopher can be relevant to a modern audience and yet throughout the centuries many people have read the Essays and seem themselves in their pages for the simple reason that he is so brutally honest and open about his life that one begins to look on Montaigne as a friend.
Montaigne was a man of the Renaissance. His philosophy melded the Hellenic schools of Scepticism, Epicurianism and Stoicism holding key the two key principles that unite them all, eudaimonia, the pursuit of a good life and that of ataraxia, having a tranquillity of the mind. This means not being overcome by extreme emotions, and preparing oneself mentally for all the pitfalls life can offer, meeting them with a level head. This is why I want to read about him, our lives today and our world is so full of extremism either on an emotional level or in every day life, something to be learned here.
One thing we both noticed during our trip through Ireland and then the UK is how foreign workers most of whom are EU Citizens work in the service industry. Gone are the days when Irish or British worked in that sector. It got us thinking that in the event of Brexit, Britain will find itself in a very difficult position, all those EU workers in the service industry would go home or move to other EU countries. What will Britain do to replace them? The Brits are not going to take those jobs there has been in the last 30 years a culture change and you will find Brits working abroad but not at home and not necessarily in the service sector. In Hotels, restaurants, etc. staff is from a variety of European countries, not a Brit in site. It will be interesting to see how this situation evolves.
While in London we also stopped at the Victoria and Albert Museum. The V&A covers 12.5 acres (5.1 ha)[3] and 145 galleries. Its collection spans 5,000 years of art, from ancient times to the present day, from the cultures of Europe, North America, Asia and North Africa. The holdings of ceramics, glass, textiles, costumes, silver, ironwork, jewellery, furniture, medieval objects, sculpture, prints and printmaking, drawings and photographs are among the largest and most comprehensive in the world. The museum owns the world’s largest collection of post-classical sculpture, with the holdings of Italian Renaissance items being the largest outside Italy. The departments of Asia include art from South Asia, China, Japan, Korea and the Islamic world. The East Asian collections are among the best in Europe, with particular strengths in ceramics and metalwork, while the Islamic collection is amongst the largest in the Western world.
The V&A has its origins in the Great Exhibition of 1851, with which Henry Cole, the museum’s first director, was involved in planning; initially it was known as the Museum of Manufactures, first opening in May 1852 at Marlborough House, but by September had been transferred to Somerset House. At this stage the collections covered both applied art and science. Several of the exhibits from the Exhibition were purchased to form the nucleus of the collection. By February 1854 discussions were underway to transfer the museum to the current site and it was renamed South Kensington Museum.
The official opening by Queen Victoria was on 22 June 1857. In the following year, late night openings were introduced, made possible by the use of gas lighting. This was to enable in the words of Cole “to ascertain practically what hours are most convenient to the working classes”.
It is an immense museum and you have to choose what you want to see in the various galleries, one can become overwhelmed by the wealth of the collections. We picked to visit the Asian galleries on our visit and looked into Islamic Art. What is on display is of very high quality and is beautifully curated. It is also very well explained and the collections are part of established British policy to bring back to London treasures of conquered lands which at the time came under British rule. You can say the same thing about the French, German, Spaniards, etc who also had colonial empires. This is why museums in Europe have such extensive collections of Art from abroad.
Ceremonial dagger encrusted with semi precious stones, carved ivory, enamel, a gift from Fath Ali Shah of Persia (Iran) to Captain John Malcolm of the East India Company in 1810.
Gold and pink sapphires bracelet, Madras, India.
Chintz costume, a man’s morning gown made from Indian painted cotton, very popular in England, France and Holland around 1660. It is recorded in Samuel Peppys journal that he bought himself one around 1661. Much later chintz will become popular with ladies.
Fine stone carved window panels, exquisite design, Iran. This fashion of carving appears also in India, Syria, Egypt.
Men’s Mughal Costume, was based on the Jama a tailored gown tied at the side and the Paijama trousers loose at the top but tapered at the lower leg. An elaborate turban (Pagri) was also worn at Court and a long decorative waist sash (Patka). Fine kashmir wool shawl were often draped over the shoulder, a fashion started by Emperor Akbar (1542-1605).
There were many other objects to see, making the visit most interesting. All this in only one part of the V&A museum.
We then went to lunch or Brunch this being Sunday with our friends J. and David Nice.
The House of Pre-Raphaelite painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1828-1882 in Chelsea
The Thames at low tide.
On the Thames this sculpture by Korean artist Ik Joong Kan, entitled Floating dreams. It is in front of the New Tate Modern Museum.
A small front garden of a house in Chelsea.
A street by our hotel in London
Now comes the time for our last leg of our trip, going home from Southampton on the Queen Mary 2. A 7 day crossing of the North Atlantic our destination New York.
I was going to visit JP and Guido in Bermondsey which is in Southwark (Suthick), an old acquaintance of mine Marcus Gheeraerts painted this scene of their restaurant in 1570 in Bermondsey. I think the Spanish Armada had arrived in town at that point. The famous JP can be read at https://itsmyhusbandandme.wordpress.com I would rename his blog Adventures in Bermondsey.
You can see the Tower of London on the other side of the Thames. This is more or less the period of Elizabeth I and William Shakespeare. Unfortunately JP was not in London the day we came by. So we went to visit the reconstruction of the Globe Theatre, the project championed by actor Sam Wanamaker.
A modern reconstruction of the Globe, named “Shakespeare’s Globe”, opened in 1997 approximately 750 feet (230 m) from the site of the original theatre. The exact location of the original Globe Theatre is not known.
I would not have visited this site if it had not been for Will, he wanted to see it and this was our chance. Since English is not my mother tongue, I have great difficulty understanding Shakespeare and grasping the meaning of his plays, I think Corneille use to say It’s Greek to me. I always say why can’t they make it into modern English for all to grasp. Nonetheless, it was a fascinating visit and I learned a great deal about the period and life in London at the time. Tours are given and the guide gave us a very good description of how plays were performed and who came to the theatre then. It was a theatre for the masses and people were packed like sardines inside. The whole business was to present a play and make as much money as possible by selling as many tickets, it was rough and ready entertainment for the age, in a brutal world.
The South side of the Thames was a suburb of London and fell outside of the Lord Mayor’s purview, so you could present plays and other spectacle like bear baiting and dog fights and have all manner of immoral and illicit entertainment which would not have been tolerated in London proper. London then was a very small town starting at the Tower of London and ending at Westminster, a small area easily walkable. The only bridge across the Thames was London Bridge which was always congested with traffic. It was easier to hire a barge and row across.
This maquette of London shows the Thames frozen solid which would happen some Winters, with all kinds of activities taking place on the frozen river. The South bank or Southwark.
It was a difficult time politically, Queen Elizabeth I was very suspicious of all around her to the point of paranoia, she saw plots everywhere. Wars of religion was still a fact of life between Catholics and Protestants and Puritans and Presbyterians were constantly agitating for a narrow minded social agenda either in Parliament or at City Hall. Actors and theatres were a favourite target and the threat of closure was always present. Under Oliver Cromwell in 1647 all theatres will be closed and some demolished, bigotry and fanaticism in London led to such extreme measures.
Writing plays as Shakespeare did could also be very dangerous, at any time you could be accuse of fomenting sedition which meant arrest and death for the author. Shakespeare was careful to always tow a prudent political line and flatter the Monarch so as not to become a target. He also sought the protection of powerful patrons and financiers. Complete original manuscripts in the hand of William Shakespeare do not exist, there are no substantial surviving manuscripts, so his plays are known from printed editions done during or just after his death. Seven years after his death, two of his friends and fellow actors, John Heminges and Henry Condell produced a collection of 36 of his plays, this became known as the First Folio.
In other words London and England at the time was a nasty brutish place. Contrary to what was shown in the movie Shakespeare in love, Queen Elizabeth I never came to the Globe. The theatre was brought to her in her Palace at Whitehall, this for reasons of security but mostly because the prestige of the Sovereign did not permit that she would stoop to the level of actors who were in the same class as prostitutes, criminals and other miscreants. The first English monarch to come to the Globe will be HM Elizabeth II in 1997 at the opening of the reconstructed theatre.
The highly symbolic painted decorations of the stage would have been easily recognized by people at the time of Shakespeare, above the heavens with the gods, the spheres and the constellations, below the stage was Hell with its malign influences. In between was the resultant disarray of earthly existence, its trials and follies, tragedies and comedies played out on stage.
The exhibits at the Globe are very interesting from explanations on costumes and how they were made, to the make-up worn by actors, most of it made from highly toxic and poisonous ingredients, lead mercury, arsenic.
Also describe the crowds attending, there were various prices for seats and high prices for those special boxes by the stage reserved for wealthy nobles. Then there was the pit the area directly in front of the stage. People packed in so tightly you could not move. Our guide described for us what you could experience. People did not wash and were covered in lice, bad breath and strong body odour, because you could not move or leave during the show, you simply relieved yourself where you stood. People brought food and drink and spoke loudly during plays. In the upper balcony of the theatre all manner of immoral encounters occurred, the guide being a sensible fellow left it to our imagination to fathom what might have happened up there.
Here is a view of the more expensive boxes for Nobles with painted interiors. The Globe is not a big theatre but in Shakespeare’s time 3000 people could be packed inside for one performance. Today only about 1600 people can attend due to fire regulations.
Stage is being set-up for the 1927 silent movie, Passion of Joan of Arc by Carl Theodor Dreyer with accompanying orchestra.
While at the Globe book shop, I picked up Catharine Arnold, Globe, Life in Shakespeare London and The time traveller’s guide to Elizabethan England, by Ian Mortimer. I enjoyed them both.
A wood model of what the final reconstruction of the Globe and adjacent buildings would look like, most of it has been re-built, I am not sure if the rest will be completed.
The area today with the famous Shard building in the background. All in all a fantastic visit and most interesting.
Will and I on the footbridge crossing back the Thames at St-Paul’s Cathedral.
I always love to travel to London at any time of the year. In the last 47 years I have been to London numerous times in all Seasons. There is no end of things to do and see, be it the opera, the theatre and yes we have seen extremely good theatre in London, museums and collections or just the pleasure of discovering a corner of the city not seen by tourists. Seeing friends and having a nice visit with them as we did again this time with J. and D.N., how Enigma Variations of me to just give out initials.
We stayed at the Bailey’s Hotel, 140 Gloucester Road in South Kensington, an hotel Will remembered well. It is very central and close to so many things, the underground is just across the street, lots of shops, restaurants, etc.
We visited the Globe theatre, it was my first visit to the site on the South side of the Thames just across from St-Paul’s Cathedral. Southwark (pronounced Suthick) is an interesting neighbourhood. The Globe is next door to Tate Modern Museum which is located in a former power plant. The whole area has been revitalized and is nothing like it was some 30 years ago, very vibrant.
We also discovered with our friend D.N. who has a most interesting blog and who recommends great books to read, he has the nose for books, his suggestions never fail to interest. http://davidnice.blogspot.ca A garden which has been a fixture of London for centuries, I had never heard of it and it is a fascinating place, Chelsea Physic Garden founded in 1673, located at 66 Royal Hospital Road in Chelsea and across the Thames from Battersea Park.
Tucked away beside the Thames, Chelsea Physic Garden is a celebration of the beauty and importance of plants. Founded in 1673 it is one of London’s oldest botanic gardens and contains a unique living collection of around 5,000 different edible, useful, medicinal and historical plants within its sheltering walls.
Omnia mirari etiam tritissima ( wonder at everything, even the most everyday things), motto of botanist Carl Linnaeus 1707-1778.
Linnaeus was a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, who formalized the modern system of naming organisms called binomial nomenclature. He is known by the epithet “father of modern taxonomy”.
Sir Hans Sloane, 1660-1753, eminent physician is another person who was involved with the creation of this garden. To this day the Chelsea Physic Garden remains a wonder to visit.
We also walked some 22 km in London, it is a good city for walking. We also visited the Victoria and Albert Museum, there is always something fascinating to see and it is so well curated.
We only had 2 days this time in London and it was a busy time but so delightful.
As you can tell from my new header photo, you are looking at Ireland and its dramatic scenery. In a few days we will fly from PEI to Dublin, the ancestral home of the O’Beaulieu clan of Limerick no less, but I won’t mention them again, they were all under four foot tall and called Leperchaun’s, spendthrift who wasted their pot of gold, the shame! However it is the home of Will’s family, they are not Leperchaun’s and well over four feet tall from Belfast.
We planned this Anniversary trip more than one year ago, well before we thought of moving to PEI, Will’s 70th and my 60th and our 40th with not a cross word in between, Ok maybe one to two cross words.
EIRE
We will be in Dublin for a few days, I have not been in that city since 1969. I am looking forward to visiting the city again and see if I can remember anything of what I saw as a lad.
We will then proceed to travel around the Republic on train with Belmond see website belmond.com for all the details.
Train and crew
Bar on board
room cabin on the train
restaurant car one of two on the train
We will visit several cities and take part in excursions, it is described as a touring vacation, good walking shoes required and some rain gear, just in case.
The Key stops on this trip, but we are not going to Dundalk or Portrush
Then we fly to London to see friends and proceed to Southhampton to board the Queen Mary 2 for our return journey, which is 7 days at sea.
the Cunard line, Queen Mary 2
So this is our little excursion for the month of September. I am not planning to take my laptop with me on this trip, one less thing to carry. I will bring two books to read on the trip back by sea. So you will have to wait our return on the 28th September to read about our adventures.
Recently the King of Saudi Arabia died and he was replaced within a few hours by Prince Salman. In the wake of his death, commentators wrote about the relationship of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Western World. On the chat lines many people questioned why we had relations with thatcountry and presenting their views, mostly and largely uninformed. I do not know why politicians love to use the term our good friends in country X or the expression we are shoulder to shoulder with this country, blah blah. It is simply a false statement, a delusion, it is true that Statesman can see eye to eye on a specific point of mutual benefit and interest but that is usually limited in time and focused on a specific topic.
What most people do not seem to know or take into consideration is the fact that all relations between nations is dominated by self-interest, fierce competition, one upmanship and little else. It is true that in the last 70 years countries like Canada have enjoyed peaceful political relations with many other countries, some relations are old and well established, there are many common interest but at the same time elements that devise and irritate the other party. This is true of our relations with the USA, the UK, France, which historically have been mixed at many levels. Our first Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald knew this and he always kept a weary eye on both London and Washington.
Somerset House Conference 1604, Peace between Britain and Spain.
To return to the events of last week, in the case of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia we have to think of the geopolitics of the region and its long and old history. How the Arab Monarchies of the Arab Peninsula dislike Iran and fear its influence. Currently Iran is negotiating with the USA on nuclear matters and preventing Iran from developing Nuclear weapons. Saudi Arabia is fearful of a deal or arrangement which would leave them out. Iran is a regional power and has been influential in the region for a very long time, centuries in fact. Iran supports military groups in Lebanon and Syria. It enjoyed good relations with the Assad regime, father and son. It plays a role in Iraqi politics and supports Shia politicians and their armed groups. This to the great displeasure of Saudi Arabia who is a new regional power, new in the sense of since 1973 when the oil prices jumped and created new wealth for the Saudis.
Canada has relations with Saudi Arabia, again relatively new relations, we are newcomers to this region compared to Britain. Our relationship is also very different in historical terms. We have more than 500 post-graduate students in Canada and this alone brings in millions of dollars to our Universities, cities and in taxes not counting also consumer goods they buy. This is a wealthy group of students who often drive luxury cars and live in tony neighbourhoods. Many Canadian companies do very profitable business with the Kingdom, Canadians profit economically in many various ways. Our politicians need to consider this carefully when making decisions on Foreign Policy matters.
It seems that for the average person issues like women having to wear a veil or not being able to drive or having their civic rights curtailed by tradition and culture. Every one has a horror story they read in the newspapers about Saudi Arabia. A country were the death penalty is still applied with a high number of executions per year. Such items in the news always disturbs Canadian sensibilities and that would be enough reasons to cut off diplomatic relations for most people. Luckily such decisions are not in the hands of public opinion. Breaking diplomatic relations would be very shortsighted, it would go against our self-interests.
The same reasons could apply to many countries, according to that train of thought we should simply walk away from such countries, because they are corrupt or have a justice system different from ours or their culture and history is offensive to us. Public opinion says shame them for behaving contrary to our norms and beliefs. Such reactions are emotional or based on ignorance. Diplomatic relations are far more complicated than that, because you must never forget that if you break relations with one country, it will be very difficult to re-establish them later and many years may pass before being able to negotiate a new understanding on mutual relations, concessions may be asked which may not be to our liking and then what about Consular relations and the protection of your own citizens who visit countries with whom you have no relations. Currently Canada has broken off relations with Iran and Syria. Other countries may seek to exploit the vacuum for political and commercial reasons. They will step in to take your place economically and politically, those same countries may be a NATO ally or a country with whom you have long peaceful relations. They will profit at your expense and you will lose because you want to stand on principle. Principles are fine but in the end such a narrow position would not be sustainable economically nor politically. Careful analysis must be made of every situation and disagreement before taking action you may later regret.
The ambassador of Siam at the Court of the Sun King presenting gifts.
Diplomacy and Foreign Relations is not about morals or ethics, Diplomacy is an amoral business. You have to be a hard nose realist and pragmatic in any relations you conduct, emotions and feelings have no place in Foreign Relations. Our Prime Minister likes to say that we conduct a moral or ethical Foreign Policy, that for domestic consumption is great speechifying and the common person may rejoice that our PM will tell those people what is what. Think again, it does not work that way at all and Harper found out the hard way with China. He snubbed China for three years and made hostile and intemperate statements at home to please his local base of right wingers. When he finally went to China, the Chinese made him apologise and publicly rebuked him. Harper understood that commercially the Chinese were far more important than he had ever imagined or understood.
China is pursuing an aggressive Foreign Policy, they have the population and economic might to regain the old glory of Imperial days and despite the fact that they may say that they are bridging the gap, resolving differences through mutual understanding, all that is again words for the naive. In any negotiations the Chinese are very tough and unyielding, they know their weight and know that Western consumers want cheap products, Western governments cannot refuse to satisfy the demands of shoppers back home. At the same time the Chinese understand the limits of aggressive behaviour in Asia against neighbours with whom they have irritants with Vietnam, Japan, India to name a few countries. The Chinese are also careful not to get involved in International crisis by taking sides, Crimea, Syria, North Korea, ISIS or ISIL terrorism etc.. they always say that they do not want to get involved in what they consider internal crisis. Their interest is to protect their markets and economic development. At home the Chinese Communist government can only survive if they give the population more wealth and if the country prosper.
China has routinely blocked with its Veto any economic sanction measures at the UN all the while negotiating that Veto vote with the countries most concerned by proposed sanctions. China is only doing what is good for China and its people. Though some have suggested that with its increased International profile China will have to get more involved in crisis around the world that is unlikely to happen.
European Embassy being presented to the Ottoman Sultan, La Sublime Porte
Relations between Canada and China are interesting, China sees us as a supplier of raw resources and nothing else. We do not matter much to Chinese geopolitical way of thinking. On the other hand our politicians believe that because we have a large Chinese population made up mostly by Cantonese speaking Southern Chinese (AKA Hong Kong and Guandong Province) we must matter to China, you know we had this Canadian Norman Bethune who helped Mao in the late 1930’s and we supplied wheat to China during the great famine of the late 1950’s that must mean something. Wrong, it means little though the Chinese are very clever at playing this up knowing we think it is important. When Canadian politicians travel to China be it a Provincial Premier or a Mayor of some metropolitan area, said Canadian politicians fully expect to be received at the highest level of the Chinese Government, i.e. the President or the Prime Minister of China. Wrong again, usually Provincial premiers will be lucky to meet with a member of the Politburo the Chinese judge to be of an equal level as the Canadian provincial premier. As for Canadian Mayors usually the calculation is based on the population size of the City in Canada compared to a neighbourhood in Beijing. A deputy Mayor for that area of the Chinese Capital will meet with the Canadian Mayor. Many Canadian politicians have been dismayed at the polite, courteous but junior level reception they got. So our Canadian politician must make a big deal of any trip to China and show results at home but it is usually pocket change investments for the Chinese.
The Chinese are experts at assessing the opposite side and responding at the level they judge proper in relation to their own view of the world and their place in it. Can we call China our great friend? No not at all, we have correct business like relations which are often difficult and that is it.
Another area where interest matter is commercial contracts. Trade as always been since time immemorial the driver of much of the diplomatic ties between Kings and Princes and today between States. The power and wealth of Nations depends on trade, not just military strength. Venice is a prime example as a City State, the Hansa of Northern European Cities is another, Spain and Seville after 1492 and under Charles V was the wealthiest of Empire due to the riches from the Americas and the trade in goods that were then sold to other European States, Britain and its Empire, German industrial might and its merchant navy, etc.
Trade disputes often lead to war with devastating effect. Then you have the case of France, it had many African colonies and it decolonized in the late 1950’s early 1960’s but to this day France keeps a tight watch on so many of its former colonies for commercial reasons which favour French Companies. The diplomatic relationship in this case is incestuous, patronizing and the success or downfall of any French speaking ex colony depends very much on how much the President for Life of country X is willing to play ball with the Elysée Palace in Paris. France will not hesitate to send troops to any of its ex-colonies to protect commercial interests disregarding National Sovereignty of those countries, i.e. Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, etc.
Interestingly the Middle-East is another region where France played a role prior to the Second World War, a secret Treaty Sykes-Picot of 1916 created Lebanon to protect the Arab Christian population with allegiance to France. Was the population consulted, of course not, one could argue cynically this was done for their own good. Same for much of the Middle-East, Syria, Iraq, Jordan created by Britain out of a promise made to Sheik Hussain of Mecca with the help of T.E.Lawrence who was the British Liaison Officer in the great Arab Revolt against Ottoman rule.
France today would like to play a greater role in the Middle-East but would have to be let in by the USA. France did not participate in the Wars involving Iraq and various coalitions since the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq in 1990-1991. France was suspicious and angry that US oil companies in the event of victory and an overthrow of the Saddam Hussein Regime would lose oil contracts it had negotiated for TOTAL the French oil company. TOTAL did lose its contracts in Iraq.
Here in Canada the Harper Government has badly played its hand in its diplomatic relations with the White House and the Obama Administration. It is obvious that our Prime Minister is much more philosophically in tune with the GOP and the Tea Party in Congress and in the Senate. He does not hide his preference and that is bad politics and diplomacy. President Obama does not like him much and is tired of being hectored by the likes of the now ex-Foreign Minister John Baird, who according to former Canadian diplomats, the worst Foreign Minister we’ve ever had in Canada. However Baird was a faithful servant of his master Stephen Harper. This in itself is the job of any diplomat to carry the message of your master no matter how distasteful it may be to you personally, you must defend the message and endorse it that is what a diplomat does. So no Canada does not have friendly relations with the USA and the USA is not our friend. We have a complex relationship based on commercial interests, supply of energy products and military dependency for our National Defence. People can be friendly towards each other and this is very often the case but not Governments, simply because they have other objectives and interests.
King Louis XV
In closing a bit of music by Jean-Philippe Rameau composed to celebrate a diplomatic & military victory of France with the successful conclusion to the War of the Austrian Succession during the reign of Louis XV.
Tutto iniziò con Memorie di Adriano ..sulle strade dell'Impero Romano, tra foto, storia e racconti! It all began with Memoirs of Hadrian .. on the roads of the Roman Empire among photos, history and stories!
Telling the stories of the history of the port of Charlottetown and the marine heritage of Northumberland Strait on Canada's East Coast. Winner of the Heritage Award from the PEI Museum and Heritage Foundation and a Heritage Preservation Award from the City of Charlottetown
EIRE
