Uncharted Territory (Look to the West Book 2)

by Tom Anderson

  ######uncertain whether Sanchez was influenced by the issues plaguing Porto dos Casais, but Montevideo was certainly a turning point in his life. The Centauro was stuck there for a full month while Sintra attempted hopefully to get something approaching the original price for his cargo, and while Sanchez was naturally involved in these talks with local merchants, he had plenty of time to himself to explore the city.

  Montevideo ######### turning point. Contested between Spain and Portugal in the years before the Second Platinean War, the Meridians had been content to leave it in Portuguese hands. At the same time the realities of geography and trade meant that Montevideo was tied culturally and economically much closer to Buenos Aires across the River Plate than it was to Bahia, or even to Porto dos Casais. It was here that Sanchez meant a living example of those ties, the Meridian businessman Luís Carlos Cruz.

  ########## still at an early point in his career, but nonetheless far outclassed the penniless clerk Sanchez, and thus one can only speculate on ################################################## ################################################## ################# but in fact Cruz was there as an agent for the Priestley Aereated Water Company, now run by the son of José Priestley, Juan Miguel Priestley. null The phlogisticated water had found such a market in Brazil that it remained a valuable product even when the Jacobin Wars had torn up the trade to rich Europeans that had previously dominated Priestley’s business. However ################################################# that Cruz expressed his distaste for the institution of slavery and explained that it was illegal (though not always enforced) in the United Provinces. While Montevideo cleaved to Meridian practices in many ways and there was widespread debate within the city’s intellectual community (which had ultimately been sparked by Carvalho’s brief residency there years before null) it was still a part of Brazil, and slave ownership on the part of many locals was open############################################## #########################despite Cruz’s admonitions, Sanchez indeed inquired of one slaveholder of his opinion of the institution and, perhaps by chance, got not an unthinking individual who took the system for granted but an intellectual who proceeded to lecture him on Linnaean Racialist and proto-Burdenist theory.

  The man (whose nam######rded) opined on the subject that while the Jacobins had obviously got many things wrong (such as seeking to overthrow a king), he feared that they might discredit by association the obvious truth of the Linnaean theory. He went on to list evidence for the innate superiority of the white European race, and the superiority of the Latin group within it. It was at this point that Cruz (a mestizo) punched the man out and a bar brawl erupted########################################### ##############################################reeing the man, Sanchez discovered what he would later write in Unity: “Education obviously makes a difference, but in raw fundamentals there was little to separate#########################uimbo who lectured me on this vile practice months earlier. Many of the slaves were dull-witted, of course, just as there are many dull-witted white men on any street who deserve their low station, or an even lower one… but many more were###########hold their own with any European philosopher.”

  For now Sanchez did not openly share these thoughts. Perhaps it was the shared shedding of blood that meant that he and Cruz became lifelong friends, and wrote to each other even when Sanchez was far away (sadly, all of Sanchez’s letters and nearly all of Cruz’s are lost). The Centauro departed and Sanchez got a brief glimpse of the ‘vile practice’ once more in Portuguese Mozambique. He later remarked on the paradox that the local colonial governors would sometimes commit to the same kind of arguments############n Montevideo, yet would at the same time trade quite happily with the native Matetwa Empire and recognised its notables as men of rank. “It seems the humanity or lack thereof of the black African is variable dependent on ################### wryly remarked.

  Then, finally, the Centauro proceeded to Goa and Sanchez spent eight largely uneventful years working for the Company in the city, slowly rising through the ranks. Twice he was brought out by senior Company men who wanted his ready command of figures to help them negotiate with Maratha notables, and Sanchez ########################## curse the brown man in private, yet recognise him as the equal of a prince in public.” It was the time of the foundation of the Indian Board and this example of co-operation between the rival European Companies also had an influ##############################such meeting he occasioned to meet Matthew Castleton, a British Company factor and amateur linguist who explained Sir William Jones’ theory that there was an ancestral link between Sanskrit and the ancient European languages such as Greek and Latin. Again##############cannot be discounted.

  These events are studied in more detail in Chapter##################omplete our brief study of Sanchez’s early life and travels, we must finally turn to his next posting with the Company – Portuguese North Formosa. It was here, and more specifically in China proper, that Sanchez would finally reach the conclusions that would one day set the world aligh

  [GARBLED SOUND]

  [END TRANSMISSION]

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  *

  REPORT CLASSIFIED THANDE MOST SECRET

  INSTITUTE DIRECTOR’S EYES ONLY

  Recorded 07/08/2019, Thande Institute, Cambridge

  Dr Rogers—

  The above transmission was the last recorded from Captain Nuttall’s team prior to the link going dead. As you are well aware, under Institute lockdown protocols, the relevant Portal was then immediately closed until an assessment could be made of the potential problem.

  I fear that it may be greater even than we had anticipated. My colleague Dr Cassimaty and I have attempted to recover as much of the corrupted datafile as we could; through reconstruction we believe that it was transmitted imperfectly with limited encryption, as though in an emergency. Where we were unable to make any satisfactory reconstruction, the symbols ############ are used to represent static.

  The recording contains no specific commentary from Captain Nuttall, Dr Pylos, Dr Lombardi or the other four members of his team (who, it is worth noting, generally remained silent for previous recordings in any case). There is no footnote log unlike the other recordings; although null footnote placeholders were entered, they link to nothing.

  Based on the recent transmissions, Dr Cassimaty speculates that the team may have aroused suspicion amid the locals through their acquisition of books considered subversive in their locality in TimeLine L, such as the one whose extract forms the basis for this very transmission. I have no opinion on such speculation. However, Dr Cassimaty also pointed out that due to the design of the Institute recording devices (reverse-engineered from TimeLine C technology as you will recall, sir) the garbled sound at the end may contain some of the ambient noise surrounding the recorder before the transmission was dumped, which might hold a clue to events on the other side.

  Bearing in mind that our attempted reconstruction in this case is far more hypothetical and speculative, I transcribe it below.

  ##################################ere! They’re he########

  #############ecautions! Couldn’t possib#############you########hideout#######ibrary #####

  #######police#################Oxford#######evacuat e####datadump###################distress call########

  No##############no time############send send######door####bar######

  [SOUND OF GUNSHOT]

  [TRANSMISSION ABRUPTLY ENDS]

  I consulted with Captain MacCaulay and, though I cannot speak for the captain’s expertise with firearms, he claimed that the shot does not match any of the weapons or calibres that were supplied as standard to Captain Nuttall’s team. With less certainty he suggests that it may be a calibre not even found in our own world, with obvious implications.

  I await your response, sir.

  DR DAVID WOSTYN

  THANDE INSTITUTE, COMPARATIVE INTERPRETATION DIVISION

>   (CONTRIBUTION FROM UNIVERSITY OF PARIS, FRANCE, EUROPEAN UNION)

  TO BE CONTINUED

  in

  LOOK TO THE WEST

  VOLUME III

  “THE WORLD TURNED UPSIDE DOWN”

  APPENDIX A: LISTS OF RULERS

  List of monarchs of the Kingdom of Great Britain (House of Hanover)

  1714-1727: George I

  1727-1743: George II

  1743-1749: William IV

  1749-1760: Frederick I

  1760-1799: George III

  1799-1807: Henry IX

  1807-????: Frederick II

  List of Prime Ministers of the Kingdom of Great Britain

  1721-1742: Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford (Whig)

  1742-1743: Spencer Compton, 1st Earl of Wilmington (Whig) – real power rested in John Cartetet, Secretary of State for the Northern Department

  1743-1751: Henry Pelham (Whig) – shared power with his brother, Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne

  1751-1758: William Pulteney, 1st Earl of Bath (Patriot Whig)

  1758-1766: William Pitt (Patriot Whig)

  1766-1782: Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham (Patriot Whig/Liberal Whig) – First term

  1782-1796: William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland (Liberal Whig) – real power rested in Edmund Burke, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs

  1796-1799: Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham (Liberal Whig) – Second term

  December 1799 there was no Prime Minister due to the constitutional crisis at the time.

  1800-1807: Charles James Fox (Radical/Reform)

  1807-1812: Richard Burke (at first only de facto PM) (Liberal Whig/Rebirth Coalition)

  1812-1813: Frederick Dundas (Liberal Whig/Rebirth Coalition)

  1813-????: John Churchill, 5th Duke of Marlborough (Rebirth Coalition)

  List of Lords Deputy of the Empire of North America

  1728-1751: Prince Frederick, Duke of Cornwall (the future Emperor Frederick; retroactively backdated from the sinecure office of ‘Lord Deputy for the Colonies’)

  1751-1764: Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron

  1764-1790: William North, 2nd Earl of Guilford

  1790-1804: Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton

  1804-1817: Michael Burgoyne, 1st Earl of Exmouth

  1817-????: James Arthur Plunkett, 8th Earl of Fingall

  List of Lords President of the Empire of North America

  1788-1795: George Augustine Washington, 1st Viscount Washington (crossbencher)

  1795-1799: Alexander Hamilton, 1st Baron Hamilton (Patriot) (first term)

  1799-1805: James Monroe (Constitutionalist)

  1805-1811: Alexander Hamilton, 1st Baron Hamilton (Patriot) (second term)

  1811-1814: Augustus Seymour (Patriot)

  1814-1819: Matthew Quincy (Constitutionalist)

  1819-????: Artemas Ward Jr. (Patriot)

  List of Kings of France

  1715-1776: Louis XV

  1776-1795: Louis XVI† (OTL's Dauphin Louis-Ferdinand; executed)

  1795-1814: Louis XVII (approximately OTL's Louis XVI)

  1814-????: Charles X

  List of Kings of Spain

  1724 (restoration) – 1746: Philip V

  1746-1761: Ferdinand VI

  1761-1788: Charles III

  1788-1801: Philip VI

  1801-1807 Civil War – claimants Philip VII, Charles IV (the Prince of Asturias) and Charles IV (Charles VIII and VI of Naples and Sicily)

  1807: Division into Castile and Aragon – Castile under Alfonso XII [1807-????], Aragon under Charles IV (Charles VIII and VI of Naples and Sicily) [1807-????]; Charles IV (Prince of Asturias) establishes the Empire of New Spain in the New World and continues the claim the throne of a united Spain in exile

  List of Kings of Portugal

  1706-1750: John V

  1750-1769: Joseph I

  1769-1786: Maria I and Peter III (co-monarchs)

  1787-1787: Maria I (ruling alone in name only due to insanity for most of the year)

  1787-1821: Peter IV

  1821-????: John VI

  List of Holy Roman Emperors

  House of Hapsburg

  1711-1740: Charles VI

  House of Wittelsbach

  1742-1745: Charles VII Albert (with Maria Theresa as Archduchess of Austria)

  House of Hapsburg-Lorraine

  1745-1773: Francis I (with Maria Theresa as Archduchess of Austria)

  1773-1798: Ferdinand IV

  1798-????: Francis II (Archduke of Austria, unelected claimant Holy Roman Emperor)

  List of Electors of Brandenburg and Kings in Prussia

  1713-1740: Frederick William I

  1740-1759: Frederick II† (not called ‘the Great’; died in battle)

  1759-1797: Frederick William II

  1797-1804: Frederick III

  1804-????: Frederick William III

  List of Electors of Saxony

  1694-1733: Frederick Augustus I (also King Augustus II of Poland, called Augustus the Strong; Protestant)

  1733-1765: Frederick Augustus II (also King Augustus III of Poland, called Augustus the Fat; converted to Catholicism)

  1765-1776: Frederick Christian I

  1776-1797: Frederick Christian II

  1797-18??: John George V

  List of Presidents-General of the United Provinces of South America

  1785-1794: Simón Riquelme de la Barrera Goycochea (non-partisan; initially provisional, first formally elected in 1790)

  1794-1802: Miguel de Azcuénaga (non-partisan conservative; assassinated)

  1802-1807: Juan José Castelli (Partido Solidaridad; killed by an angry mob)

  1807-1810: Miguel Baquedano y Zebreros (Reagrupamiento por la Unión; seized power in a coup)

  1810-1813: Roberto Enrique Mateováron Domínguez (Amarillo Party)

  1813-1816: José Jaime Carriego López (Amarillo Party)

  1816-1819: Pablo Portillo de Insaurralde (Colorado Party)

  1819-????: Alfredo Maria Vallejo y Rodriguez (Amarillo Party)

  List of Chinese Emperors

  1722-1754: Yongzheng Emperor (formerly Yinzhen)

  1754-1787: Daguo Emperor (formerly Hongshi)

  1787-1806: Guangzhong Emperor (formerly Yongli; assassinated)

  1806-: Civil war, the War of the Three Emperors. The claimants are:

  1806-1813: Yenzhang Emperor (formerly Baoli; Qing Dynasty)

  1806-: Chongqian Emperor (formerly Baoyi; Qing Dynasty)

  1812-: Dansheng Emperor (formerly Zheng Kejing; Feng Dynasty)

  APPENDIX B: CHRONOLOGY OF “LOOK TO THE WEST”, 1688-1814

  This simplified date-event format Chronology serves to provide a convenient reference for readers wishing to recall the precise date of an event. In order to contextualise the broader history of this timeline, it begins before the Point of Divergence in 1727 with the convenient date of 1688, which (at least from a British perspective) set the upheavals of the ‘Long Eighteenth Century’ (1688-1815) into motion.

  Please note that as it is impossible to write about events across the world simultaneously in a narrative format, the Chronology below includes some events which are not discussed in the main narrative of Volume I or II. You have been warned…

  Part 1: Before the Point of Divergence (1688-1726)

  1688-1697: The War of the Grand Alliance, aka the ‘Zeroth War of Supremacy’ or King William’s War, in which a coalition of powers fight France to a standstill and forms the framing for the Glorious Revolution.

  1688:

  The First Glorious Revolution, in which the unpopular Catholic King James II of England and VII of Scotland is ejected from the country and replaced with William of Orange and his wife Mary, James’ daughter.

  On the other side of the world, much the same thing happens in the Kingdom of Ayutthaya, as King Narai (seen as a French puppet) is overthrown and trade with Europeans – except the Du
tch through the port of Mergui – is banned.

  1689:

  William and Mary crowned as co-monarchs with the assent of Parliament. Parliament passes “An Act Declaring the Rights and Liberties of the Subject and Settling the Succession of the Crown”, which sets down the British Bill of Rights and forms the basis of the British Constitution. Among other things, the Constitution severely limits the rights of Catholics, forbidding them the throne, the vote and public office.

  1689-91:

  The Williamite War in Ireland, which results in the French and James II being ejected from Ireland and the country brought under effective British control. The siege of Limerick ends the war, with the ‘Flight of the Wild Geese’ as many Irish nobles flee to Spain or France. The Treaty of Limerick guarantees Catholic rights, but is rejected by the Protestant-dominated Irish Parliament and Anti-Catholic laws are implemented, to much resentment among the Irish populace.

  1694:

  Death of Queen Mary. All English judges wear black in mourning, beginning a tradition of judicial garb. William rules as sole monarch.

  1701-1714: The First War of Supremacy, also known as the War of the Spanish Succession or Queen Anne’s War. England/Great Britain, the Netherlands, Austria, Denmark, Portugal, Savoy, Portugal and the Aragonese vs. France, Bavaria, Hungarian rebels and the Castilians. The war is indecisive, with post-Hapsburg Spain receiving a Bourbon monarch but not entering personal union with France as Louis XIV had hoped. Territorial changes include: Britain receives Gibraltar and Minorca from Spain; Austria receives Naples, Sardinia, Milan and the Spanish Netherlands (the future Flanders); Savoy receives Sicily; British colonies in North America receive French Acadia and France gives up claim to Newfoundland and Rupert’s Land.