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Kingdom of Great Britain Quest

Turn 1 1763

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With the signing of the treaties of Paris and Hubertusburg, the global war which had been fought on five continents has been brought to an end after nearly seven years of bloody warfare. The winning side of the recently concluded war being Prussia, Portugal, Great Britain and their various allies. Prussia once considered a third-rate power has managed to defeat numerous Austrian, French, Russian, Saxon and Swedish armies. Of course, sizeable British subsidies helped to sustain the Prussian war effort. While Prussia has not gained any territory it has managed to retain all its territory including the valuable Silesia region and is now recognized as a great European power. Portugal due to it's late entry into the war in 1762 and it's only successes being the repelling of three Spanish invasions of its home territory while stalemate being the outcome of fighting in South America resulted in status quo ante bellum between Portugal and Spain.

Finally but not least is Great Britain, the major winner of the war. In India, France has ceded the Northern Circars to Britain and as part of treaty restrictions French trading ports are required to have their fortifications be destroyed and never rebuilt, while only minimal garrisons could be maintained there, thus rendering them worthless as military bases. Combined with the loss of France's ally in Bengal and the defection of Hyderabad to the British as a result of the war, Britain in the form of the British East India Company is now the dominant foreign power in the Indian subcontinent. In the America's Britain gained a few islands in the Caribbean's though it's major gains being Canada, Acadia and all French territory east of the Mississippi while Spain ceded the backwaters territory of Florida to the British. Though these gains have come at the cost of roughly 160,000 dead British subjects and racking up an eye watering debt of more than 122 million pounds with interest payments on the debt being 4.4 million pounds a year. British finances must be returned to the black to avoid bankruptcy and insure that you have the necessary funds to fight the next inevitable war. Not to mention keeping the peace in the now former French North American territories among other issues. Therefore Parliament must now decide upon policies to shrink the debt and among other issues which require resolving.

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Currently, the East India Company does not pay taxes to the government due to a long ago agreement with a previous goverment. This fact rather annoys many members of parliament especially consider how rich the directors of the company have become. Though these same members of Parliament are ignoring the fact that since 1641 the Company has provided loans to past governments and providing what are basically bribes to keep it's trade monopoly on top of dividends paid to the government. So should the East India Company be required to pay all applicable taxes that those in the British Isles pay?

[]Yes

[]No


In North America we have gained sizeable territories from the French. However a not insignificant number of Indians live in these lands. Some have suggested leaving a large portion of these lands to the tribes in order to prevent hostiles between them and the colonials. Though this would require invalidating many grants made during the recently concluded war and without a doubt would not go over well with the colonials. So should the lands west of the Appalachian Mountains be open to colonization or left to its current inhabitants?

[]The Colonials should be banned from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains

[]The lands should be open to settlement by the colonials


In recent years there has been a debate about whether or not to grant the North American colonials seats in Parliament. Many have argued that the Colonials have virtual representation and therefore do not need seats in Parliament. Others including major figures such as William Pitt the Elder and George Grenville however have found such argument's centered around the idea of virtual representation to be very lacking and not standing up to scrutiny. Instead they argue representation is just and due after colonial bloodshed in North America and the longer it would be denied the increased likeliness of the colonials demanding home rule or worse. As well they point out it would only be a few seats. So should the colonials be granted a few seats in Parliament?
Note: If yes a vote for creation of seats and peerages will be held after this turn.

[]Yes

[]No

...............................................

So this is a quest idea I came up with during the weekend. So this is a quest where you control Parliament, the King and military officers in 1763 forward and see how well or badly you can manage Great Britain. Also this is an alternate history quest in the sense that there's been a number of small changes in the past that has resulted in the above votes being possible in 1763. Though what those are exactly I'm just going shrug and say just well they are whatever was needed to change to make the above possible. Still as you make choices you can alter the course of both British history and that of wider world history.
 
[X] No, let the Company grow richer.
[X] The Colonials should be banned from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains. Let's respect the locals.
[X] No. Representation is too much. They should be content of paying taxes to the Crown of the world's greatest Empire!
 
[x] Yes. All belongs to Britain owe her tax
[x] The Colonials should be banned from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains
[x] Yes. Let them have their MP, as long they pax and fullfill their other obligations to His Majesty.
 
[x] Definitely. The East India Company is the definition of the corruption of capitalism, I'd go for full scale nationalization if I could, but I'm happy with them just paying taxes.
[x] Yes they should be barred. We don't want another genocide on our hands.
[x] Nope
 
Interesting. Our first goals are obviously to prevent both the American Revolution and bankruptcy.

I am not veryvery knowledgeable in history or this period at all, so everything I write here will be super quickly acquired half-knowledge from Wikipedia :)
Though these same members of Parliament are ignoring the fact that since 1641 the Company has provided loans to past governments and providing what are basically bribes to keep it's trade monopoly on top of dividends paid to the government
So the wiki tells me the company was in financial troubles only a short time later. Ramping up the taxes will probably not lead to more money for us, only more debt and trouble for the company (you can argue this to be a good thing).
I want to nationalise this shit as soon as possible.

[X] No, let the Company grow richer.

Minimal and insufficient research lead me to believe the settling ban happened in reality, was ignored by the locals and played a major part in worsening the relationship with the colonies.

[X] The lands should be open to settlement by the colonials

this is a quest where you control Parliament, the King and military officers
I guess this means changing representation in parliament does not change how parliament acts? This is an easy choice. It's basically free goodwill (I am sure the people on the isles will not be very happy, but I am also sure they won't revolt. The American colonies are British in culture and still smaller than GB in population, so it hopefully is not a unacceptable deal-breaker for them.)

[X] Yes. The Thirteen Colonies should have seats in Parliament.

Hopefully this will help stopping the local chambers from advancing their powers over the central government.

Now where can we get some cash from?
 
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Let go for

[X]Yes, tax the heck out of the Company.
[X]Yes, ban and settlements west of the Mountains.
[X]Yes, give the colonies their seats in parliament. Its not like they would actually be able to move anything...
 
[X]Yes, tax the heck out of the Company.
[X]The lands should be open to settlement by the colonials
[X]Yes, give the colonies their seats in parliament. Its not like they would actually be able to move anything...
 
[X]Yes, tax the heck out of the Company.
[X]The lands should be open to settlement by the colonials
[X]Yes, give the colonies their seats in parliament. Its not like they would actually be able to move anything...
 
Voting is closed. Jeremy's votes will not be counted due to him being a banned sockpuppet.

Yes wins for tax EIC. Four yes. Two no.

As for the land vote, 3 votes for open. 3 votes for ban. I will flip a quarter to break the tie. Heads for open, tails for banning. *Flips quarter* It landed on heads. The land will be open to colonial settlement.

Yes wins for colonial seats. Five yes. One no.
 
Now this is going to be interesting... I intend to keep a close eye on this quest.
 
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