Chapter 2463 Steamer on the Stove

The various atrocities of the "Sons of Liberty" were unbearable even for the "moderate" people in the anti-tax camp. They wrote an article pointing out that the tax collectors are only performing the official duties apportioned by their superiors, and they have no right to formulate tax laws. What does the decision-making of the Parliament have to do with them? relation?

Using violent means to humiliate tax collectors is actually hurting the justice of the anti-tax movement. In the long run, the harm outweighs the benefits.

Such remarks are indeed justified, but they ignore the anti-tax movement launched by the colonies, which was essentially a violent revolution.

The colonial masses represented by the "Sons of Liberty" did not want to reason with the suzerain country at all, nor did they care whether the tax collectors insulted by them were innocent or not. They just wanted to use blood and violence to create an atmosphere of terror to deter tax collectors from giving up taxation.

Everything has "path dependence", and social movements are no exception. When they resisted the "land tax" and "sugar tax", that's what the "Sons of Liberty" and their followers did. Since precedents have proved that violent resistance to taxes is true It works. Is there any reason not to follow the prescription and do it again?

In the short term, the effect of violent tax resistance is immediate. The "Stamp Duty Act" promulgated by the Fijian Parliament is just a dead letter. The tax collectors who were frightened by the mobs did not dare to seriously implement this bill.

However, people of insight dare not be blindly optimistic.

The news from Fiji indicated that the authorities could no longer bear the lawlessness of the colonial mobs. Prime Minister Sir North, the Colonial Secretary and relevant committees of the Parliament are planning to send more troops to the New World, and will authorize the garrison commanders to adopt "Necessary means" to suppress tax-resistant mobs!

At this time, Jotunheim is like a sealed steamer. The boiling water in the pot generates steam and there is no place to discharge it. If it continues to pressurize, it may explode.

Under such circumstances, the most sensible thing to do is to suspend the implementation of the Colonial Stamp Act, so as not to continue to stimulate the sensitive nerves of the people of Jotunheim.

However, the Fizen government on the other side of the ocean is still intoxicated by the vanity of the "Empire on which the sun never sets". Instead of realizing the seriousness of the situation, it adopts a high-pressure policy to deal with the tax resistance movement in the colonies and authorizes Wens Governor Lopu dispatched a thousand-man army from the "Fortress at the Estuary" to station in New Avalon City in a mighty manner, and his intentions are self-evident.

The arrival of Fei Zhen's garrison was like adding a handful of dry wood to the hearth. The sealed steamer on the stove, which was already under heavy pressure, started the countdown to "explosion".

Just after the new year in 1626, two big news spread throughout the world of Vares one after another.

On January 1, 1626, the prince of the Far East, Roland Kolas, was crowned in the capital, Fort Kolas.

This coronation ceremony, which announced the official birth of the "Korath Empire", also marked the arrival of a new era. The young monarch who created a new empire and led the new era was respected by countless admirers at home and abroad His honorific name is "Emperor Roland".

People in the old world were elated or anxious about the strong rise of the "Korath Empire", while across the ocean in the New World, the anti-tax movement in Jotunheim also reached its climax after the year.

In New Avalon, the center of this storm, the struggle between Governor Rawls Winthrop and the Colonial Assembly has intensified to the point of deadlock.

Three generations of the Winthrop family, grandparents and grandchildren, have ruled Jotunheim for half a century. Any Jotunheimer with a good vision for freedom cannot continue to endure the tyrannical "Winthrop Dynasty". ".

Just after the New Year, the Council of New Avalon openly rebelled against the Governor, and publicly submitted a petition to King George III of Fizen, mainly making three demands:

First, the abolition of "stamp duty";

Second, evacuate the garrison in the city;

In the end, Rawls Winthrop was deposed and a more popular governor was appointed instead.

...

Earl Winthrop immediately counterattacked and personally led the guards into the parliament building, publicly announcing the dissolution of the New Avalon Council, and the city entered a state of martial law.

Rawls Winthrop's domineering and domineering behavior undoubtedly confirmed the accusations against him by the Parliament. Lord William North, Prime Minister of the Fizen Cabinet, believed that a vigorous and iron-fisted governor was necessary to maintain order in the colonies. He said a lot of good things for this old friend in front of the king, and tried his best to maintain his authority.

The Fizen Council also ruled that it would be wise for Earl Winthrop to dissolve the council of New Avalon, which was held hostage by mobs, and further authorized Earl Winthrop to use the garrison to suppress the tax-resisting mob as he saw fit.

When the news spread back to the New World, the people of Jotunheim were greatly indignant. Lord North became a "treacherous minister" condemned by everyone, and the Fizen Council also became the "House of Demons" in people's eyes, the source of all evils in the world.

Soon someone published an article in the newspaper, pointing out that the upper and lower houses of the Fizen Parliament did not have any members from the New World who represented the interests of the colonists, and of course they would not care about the life and death of the colonists.

Conversely, since the Fizen Council does not allow the colonies to send representatives to serve as members, the people of Jotunheim have no reason to recognize this unjust parliament, let alone obey the laws enacted by the Fizen Council.

This political article quickly spread throughout Jotunheim, and major newspapers in Midgard and Alfheim also rushed to reprint it. The author's point of view was summed up in one sentence, "No taxation without representation", and became a colony. The most popular manifesto in the anti-tax movement!

Governor Winthrop personally locked the gate of the parliament building in New Avalon, affixed a seal, and deployed a guard to patrol with guns, full of murderous intent.

But the congressmen who were dispersed by him did not give in, and moved to a manor outside the city, continued to hold meetings, and led the anti-tax movement.

Under the auspices of Joseph Adams, the Congress and the people turned their spearheads on the accomplices of tyranny—the military.

Over the next week, Adams and other council leaders wrote many articles, published in leaflets and pamphlets, calling for a concerted effort to drive the Fizen garrison out of New Avalon.

Such articles are like "batons", and the "Sons of Liberty" quickly took the slogans on the leaflets as "action programs", and took those guys in military uniforms in the city as prey, and gradually launched tentative attacks.

From going crazy with drinking at the beginning, spitting and insulting, to throwing snowballs and stones behind their backs, Feizhen officers and soldiers in the city were harassed more and more frequently, and the severity was also escalating.

In order to avoid intensifying the conflict, General Cornwallis, commander of the new Avalon garrison, expressly forbade his officers and soldiers to use violence to control violence.