Revolutionary War Kidnap Plot

[Gwendolyn Ingolfsson]

(I posted this once before several months ago, but no one bit. I've decided to give it one more go before writing it off for good and all.)

In 1782 there was a plan afoot by those dastardly colonials to kidnap Prince William Henry (the future King William IV) & Admiral Digby, Admiral of the Red, during the Revolutionary War. Colonel Matthias Ogden of the 1st Jersey Regiment conceived the idea, which had the approval of George Washington himself. It was to be carried out in March of 1782 but had to be abandoned once the British got wind of it.

Well, let's suppose that they hadn't and things had gone off as planned; the pair are snatched away and conveyed before Congress. I don't imagine that Washington and co. were planning to hold them for ransom or anything like that but what effect - if any - would this have had on British strategy, morale, etc.?

 

[Umbric Man]

A hell of a lot more effort suddenly put in by the British, that is for sure. Directly taking on the Royal Family will not make the Rebels popular.

 

[EdM]

A hell of a lot more effort suddenly put in by the British, that is for sure. Directly taking on the Royal Family will not make the Rebels popular.

You are right. Every Englishman will find the American Rebels enormously unpoular. And this will have an effect on the French Royals, as well.

 

[mrmandias]

It depends on how William is treated. If he's treated civilly and with honors, as I imagine he would be, given Washington's involvement, then there's no particular reason to imagine any French resentment or popular English hatred for the Americans. Popular English outcry is likely to be directed against the ministry that "allowed this to happen."

 

[Thande]

By 1782 the war was pretty much lost in the Americas already and the rebels had already blackened their image in British eyes by siding with the French and Spanish tyrannies. This would certainly make matters even worse, but I don't realistically see how anything would change beyond it taking even longer for Anglo-American relations to reach any semblance of normality.

Ignoring butterflies, if William still becomes King it might have some repercussions for British foreign policy in his reign if he still holds a grudge against the Jonathons, but in the post-1780s OTL the monarchy had lost most of its political influence for a few decades anyway.

 

[fhaessig]

I'm still wonderng what would be the effect on french royals and progressive noble opinions. WOuld it be enough to get France to wash it's hands of the insurgent's case?

 

[Super_Cool]

Maybe we could have traded the prince for Canada.

 

[fhaessig]

Maybe we could have traded the prince for Canada.

Quelques arpents de neiges?

 

[stevep]

I think as mrmandias says a lot depends on how they were treated but it would anger a lot of people I suspect. Especially given that many had been looking towards a settlement.

This could come at a very bad time for the rebels. Presuming no butterflies affect the battle on 13-4-82 Rodney & Hood defeats the main French fleet at the Battle of the Saints. Along with a couple of earlier, smaller victories in Europe Britain is starting to regain domination of the seas. This exposes the French colonies and trade to more attack and their already deep in debt over the conflict for no clear gain. They could decide to make peace now or say after the defeat of their last attack on Gibraltar in Sept 82.

If the kidnapping of the Prince hardens opinion enough Britain might decide to fight on . As a number of people have mentioned in previous threads the American rebel forces were declining in number and in dire economic straits. A little longer and they might get a far less generous peace. Still almost certainly going to be an independent rebel state but might have significantly lesser borders. Also you could see deeper hostility and bitter feeling on both sides.

This would be especially the case if something happened to the prince. Being killed in the kidnapping attempt or possibly later in captivity, or even some rumours of this.

Interestingly the CIA web-site a few years back had a section on the history of intelligence work in American and mentioned there were numerous plans to kidnap or more frequently assasinate prominant British & loyalist figures. Think it also said that none of those bids actually came off which hints that the British counter-intelligence was probably at least as good as that of the rebels so a marginally different route might have seen something either come off or partially so. Could have got very messy.

Steve

 

[Gwendolyn Ingolfsson]

It depends on how William is treated. If he's treated civilly and with honors, as I imagine he would be, given Washington's involvement, then there's no particular reason to imagine any French resentment or popular English hatred for the Americans. Popular English outcry is likely to be directed against the ministry that "allowed this to happen."

The above is the more likely in my opinion, especially since in approving the plan, General Washington himself wrote: "I am fully persuaded, that it is unnecessary to caution you against offering insult or indignity to the persons of the Prince or Admiral…" Since at that point the momentum was with Franco-Americans anyway, the whole event would really be more of a propaganda coup on their part than anything else. Certainly, it would make General Sir Clinton and crew - if not the sitting government in London - look really incompetent.