MDDM Ch. 5: Paranoia: Would history have been different?

[Terrance]

jbor wrote:
> The upshot of Ch. 5 is that neither M nor D wanted to go anywhere any more,
> but are forced to. No M & D would in all likelihood have meant no
> observation at the Cape: and perhaps, it might be inferred, it would have
> meant no Line either.
> 
> At the beginning of Ch. 6 Wicks, still ardent in his faith, asserts flatly
> that the attack on the *l'Grand* was a "warning from Beyond". However, I
> think that the suspicions that M & D have about those "more Earthly
> Certainties" are being presented to us as much more plausible. 'Brae, too,
> takes the opportunity to gently encourage the Rev.d's narrative towards
> secular exposition. (47.11)
> 

Does she? 

Earlier, she objects, on behalf of the children it seems,  to the Gothic
and
Ghostly Tower MD.10 

And, she objects, it seems for the children's sake, to what might get
the blood racing. This after  Esthelmer, home from college, says he too,
would have prayed (Wick's has assured the children that Prayer or
perhaps a Guardian Angle got the back to port) , but then complains that
he is surrounded by the pious (certainly Wicks and not so certainly Le
Spark) and their well-known wishes never to hear anything that sets the
blood a-racing.MD.30

Here, the Rev.d begins with the Interdiction (a religious/legal term for
sure) at sea. 
It seems to him, at least, that there was clearly a warning from Beyond.
The men of science are concerned now with their earthly matters, sea
matters, sky matters, nothing so much Beyond the contract to which they
are bound and where it is they are bound. 

Brae objects here, I think, to the notion that the RS is so inflexible. 



And of course they were/are. 

In any event, it doesn't tale Wicks very long to introduce more
secular/religious conflicts. 


But why couldn't London be more Flexible? 
How inflexible were they and why? 
If we turn to the historical documents and if we know a bit about the
mail system of the day and the Command a RS letters carried (recall
that these letters often involved contractual and business agreements,
even agreements between and among Nations at war, we discover that they
were 
not flexible at all. 


 

Powerful letters. Very powerful  letters. 

A faceless committee of certain well-known gentlemen are not quite
Pamphlets anonymously posted. 

And print aboard a ship? The Bible? Rebellion and Mutiny? 

Back to the money and the faces on the committee. The RS is not broke,
but they certainly can't afford to pay for all these instruments and
projects and adventures and the like. 


Though the navy was chronically underfunded during the early 1750's, it
was largely because of Anson's management that it was in sound shape
when the Seven
Years' War broke out in 1756. 

Recall that Dixon & Mason's dialogue is  dropped into the tale at mid
stream of consciousness (seems to be the Nephew  Ethelmer and the
"omniscient" narrator at large)  not to mention in the middle of the
conversation. MD.31

They are talking about provisions (drink of course, and soap, and the
like) and who is going to pay for them.  

When this dialogue is dropped in on us the omniscient narrator was
telling
us a little bit about the nasty little arms business of Uncle Le Spark.
He talks about  lives, casualties, and double book entry accounting. It
seems Uncle Le Spark has made a very small fortune trading poor
casualties for second hand Chippendale and a cozy cabin. Or maybe he
made
more than a  very small fortune but has since lost most of it investing
in arabian horses or something or other. 

To the War, 

The war began badly for Great Britain, and the navy was
especially embarrassed by the fall of Minorca in May, 1756.
Anson (who made a very great fortune as a Captain) 
had dispatched an expedition under Admiral John Byng to relieve the
British garrison of the beleaguered island, but it failed to achieve its
mission. Byng was subsequently executed for dereliction of duty. 

A Big trial. That French Captain sailed away when he
could have sunk the Seahorse. He could have been executed too I suppose. 


The loss of Minorca also contributed to the political confusion that led
to the the fall of the Duke of Newcastle's ministry to which Anson
belonged. 

But, as First Lord, Anson played a major role in turning the
direction of the war around. His contributions were many. 

One was a stepped-up building program that steadily
increased the size of the fleet until in 1760, for the first time in
British history, there were more than three hundred ships in commission. 

As part of this, Anson introduced a number of seventy-four-gun
ships-of-the-line, smaller but more maneuverable than older
models. He also increased substantially the number of frigates.