Populating the new lands
Populating the new lands
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]OTL in the aftermath of the victory in Europe, many soldiers were separated from their wives and families, with the soldiers being returned to England and the families left to fend for themselves in a war-torn, hostile Europe. Certainly, most of those marriages were … 'informal', but what mattered was NOT whether the marriage was properly conducted by ordained clergy, say, but whether the men had their Colonel's permission. Only men who had documentation that they had their Colonel's permission to marry were allowed to take their wives and families home. Most of the 'wives' were camp followers who had been picked in the course of the campaigns across Portugal and Spain, some were 'married' to their men in ceremonies official or otherwise, but few had a Colonel's blessing. OTL, one of the great shames was that these women and their children were left to starve or wend their way through hostile France back home, and somehow attempt to survive. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]From the Government's point of view, it made all the sense in the world. Almost all of these women were Roman Catholic, most were Spanish and Portuguese, and it would have been a terrible social shock to settle these women in England. ITTL, however, we have other choices. Britain has a crying need to settle the new land she's just taken. These new lands (Canada and Louisiana) are largely Roman Catholic, and have many non-English speakers already, so the Spanish and Portuguese wives won't be nearly as much of a shock. And taking care of them is the right and proper and moral thing to do. (NB: it is SO much easier to do the ethical thing if it helps you instead of hurting....) [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]One bishop rises up in the House of Lords and harangues the government on their moral responsibilities:[/FONT]
“[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]I have a letter in my hand from a Major in my diocese who tells me that the British government is planning on abandoning to starvation the wives and families of all his men. Men who have fought hard, and in some cases given their lives, for their King and Country. Would the Government care to explain the situation, please? I, and the other members of this Chamber, would be MOST interested to hear how a respected officer could be given the impression that the Government could be planning such an Unchristian and Uncharitable Act.” [/FONT]
“[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]So, what you are saying is that His Majesty's Government has decided that some pen-pusher's rule supercedes the Word of God and the commandments of Jesus Christ? Is this the position of His Majesty's Government? That convenience trumps morality?” “What do you mean 'that is not precisely the Government's position'. It sounds to me to be precisely the Government's position. I would be most pleased if you could show me where I am in error.” “His Majesty's Government may try to maintain this position before this august body, but I assure you that on the Judgement Day, they will have a much more unforgiving Judge.” and finally, after others have quietly pointed out the solution of sending them to fill the empty lands in North America and the government changes tack, “I am most glad to hear that His Majesty's Government has seen fit to listen, not to me, but to Him whom we all serve, and change its most uncharitable and misguided policy. Might the Government also consider providing a core of missionary clergy to send with them to care for their souls and rescue those that have fallen into papist error?” [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]The first result of the change is policy is that when men are pulled out for the New Orleans attack, their families are allowed to stay in the British camps and are continued to be fed. Then as things settle down, and an armistice (and then peace) with the US are reached, the British army is sorted through. Unmarried men, or men who have wives back in Britain (possibly in addition to their informal 'wife' in camp), [/FONT] [FONT=Arial, sans-serif]are allowed to [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]return home to Britain. Men with Spanish and Portuguese wives are sent to the New World, and given free land. Some 200,000 settlers (probably some 60,000 veterans with wives and children) are sent to Canada, some settling in Indiana (i.e. OTL's Illinois and Indiana) up against the US border, some in Missouri, with scatterings in (what would be in OTL) Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin. (There is also a significant population movement, as many Canadien soldiers from Lower Canada take advantage of the free land (for vets) out west, and other younger sons with little to no land in Lower Canada move out west, too, usually to areas where French speaking soldiers settled or where there was some significant French presence before – like St. Louis, for instance.)[/FONT] [FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Note only 1/3 or so of this population movement happens in 1815 – most of the men in Wellington's army are retained as the British contingent of the Army of Occupation for a couple of years, and then many emigrate to Canada. Note, too, that the 60k veterans that end up settling Canada don't all come from Wellington's force in France. Some come from Gibraltar and Malta, as those garrisons are wound down, and some are white regiments from the Caribbean, others are from regiments that have already been sent to Canada. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]The 10,000 men that attacked New Orleans are given options, and some 7000 stay and have their families sent over, while 3000 are sent 'home'. Of these, most stay in 'Louisiana' (including OTL's Arkansas) but about 1000, almost all of whom had Spanish wives, move to West Florida, which stays under the Spanish crown, to help defend and maintain it. This means that the population of Louisiana (probably some 20k+ white and 25k+ slaves) are increased by about 20k loyal British subjects. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]There are also 10k veterans (about 33k with families) who are settled in the Maritimes. The Maritimes didn't have nearly the need for settlers, or land available, but it was closer, and more friendly to e.g. the German soldiers in British service, and, to some extent, to the Scots.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]In addition to this, the RN helps the Spanish government move about 2000 of their veterans to Florida (East and West) with THEIR wives and families, to settle that land. (The Spanish find it a bit harder to find volunteers. While free land is nice, they are already 'home' (at least in their own country), and being uprooted and shipped across the sea to a foreign land is upsetting. Most of the British soldiers, OTOH, have ALREADY been shipped across the sea to a foreign land, and it is fairly obvious that keeping their wives and families depends on many/most of them taking up the New World offers.)[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]The British helps all her new settlers with a few simple tools and some seed grain (and potatoes) to get started. Most of the new settlers manage to get enough land planted to feed themselves for the next year with some left over. The fact that they had to start out without much livestock (beyond a horse or ox or mule) means that more grain is left than if they were feeding animals all winter. [/FONT]