innovate-issue-005

1st January 1844New Year and still the news from Europe trickles in. A Flemish warship attempted to break thePrussian blockade and was sunk with all hands. T he king and court mourn the men, but celebrate theloss. It came as something of a surprise to learn how relatively recent the event had been the turn ofDecember from November. The Venetian merchantman out of Bremen most certainly made goodspeed. Not to mention the excellent quality beer they brought with them out of Northern Germany.Beck s all round, was the cry in the dockyard tavern, though at that rate it will not be lasting long.8th February 1844We hear news that Flanders is about to fold, maybe indeed they have done so already. The court waitswith baited breath, though I fear they are waiting for a pipe dream. If Brussels is able to negotiate apeace, then Flanders has not fallen so badly as these Belgians need. It would be odd indeed if it everdid, for I find it hard to imagine most of these dilapidated aristocrats ever properly transferring back toa Europe that has moved far on from them.Mother's present, I thought long about this, and sent her something that she will never see. MathiasRyland is no charlatan or liar, but the rubber plantations he sells shares in are not for Europeans to see.The tales he brings are at once fascinating and grotesque. Maybe it is true, for certainly the rubbercomes in greater quantities these days. I do not doubt there is land there that my certificate refers to,and Mother now owns for I passed it into her name with Messrs Hart, Louvain & Dartman.23rd April 1844Father will be at the church today, the anniversary of Grandfather's death. The fact that it elevatedFather to a dukedom was never any compensation for the loss of his beloved father. Sometimes I chidemyself for not remembering enough.Switzerland have beaten Milan and annexed an obscure mountainous province. A Venetianmerchantmen out of Venice herself brought us that news, and also that that Venice still remains in thefight, its own aims against the Milanese not yet fulfilled, if ever they will be. The Captain wassomewhat withdrawn about that, but I got the impression he thought Venice's war a fool's errand, andone best cast aside and forgotten, though perhaps he thinks the Senate do not share his common sense.That would be no surprise, considering the vagaries of our own House of Commons! Thank God, wealways say, for the Lords!4th July 1844Americans are brash, obnoxious and republicans to boot! They celebrate their Independence Daywithout regard for the large British community here, and their damned singing grates mostannoyingly! Poor coincidence for us that two American merchantmen heading South meet up here, onthis day, with one that has rounded the Cape and plied its trade with British Lengeh. The three crewsfill the dockside taverns and swagger with their ill-formed pride.Despite this, I managed a while to converse with the mate of the trader Punxatawnee, a ship named forthe language of one of the many Indian peoples they have massacred on their way to self-proclaimedgreatness. He had some news sheets, a few weeks old, but telling a definite tale of victory upon victoryin America's war with Mexico. I could not tell you where Nevada is, somewhere way out West, farbeyond where us British ever got, but it seems that American forces are on the verge of taking it fromMexican hands.