Should say something about this, as it‘s relevant to source trustworthiness and the like. He‘s Andrew Bisset, Scots lawyer and historian (his specialty is British Parliament history, though), grandson of a friend and distant relation of Mitchell‘s. When Mitchell died, there had been an early attempt to create a memoir based on his papers by Lord Glenverbie, but George III nixed that and instead said he didn‘t want Mitchell‘s papers to go into print within his, G3‘s, life time. G3 was young then. By the time old, mad and blind G3 kicked it and Prinny became G4, Mitchell‘s friends in GB were dead as well, and he remained forgotten until Andrew Bisset looked up some family papers and got interested in him, concluding he was the best and most worthy ambassador ever and here‘s a selection of letters and journals to prove it, dammit.
If Bisset is determined to do belated honor to Mitchell, he‘s downright fannish about James Keith. After reaching Mitchell‘s death, he adds a chapter ostensibly about both Keith brothers but really about James. Which starts with a long eloge to the Keith family seat in Scotland, throws in lots of poetry from Burns and Sir Walter Scott, and regrets that Sir Walter never wrote about the Keith brothers because they‘d have been the perfect heroes for him. Now, Bisset is an opinionated Scot himself, and he has absolutely zero Jacobite tendencies ; there‘s a hilarious snarky passage about the Stuarts, ALL the Stuarts, mind, not just the Catholic ones of the most recent generations, saying that they were a worthless bunch and the only reason he could see why people fought for them for centuries was that they were tracing themselves back to Robert the Bruce, because they had no other quality worth fighting for, none of them.
Given that the Keith brothers were Jacobites themselves, this, you‘d think, causes a problem to our editor. But no! He tells us there‘s an oral tradition of a story where the Keiths totally intended to fight for Team Hanover, but their mother when they were just about to leave made them promise they‘d fight for Team Stuart instead, and filial piety forced them to obey.
Not that Bisset otherwise is exactly a fan of the Hannover Cousins. He has no time for monarchs in general and snarks a lot about them, including pithy observations that the Prussians, Austrians and French monarchs had the French Revolution and then Napoleon coming, and that they were a bunch of corrupt robbers with fancy titles squeezing their unfortunate population dry who were stunned to find themselves faced by a former artillery lieutenant doing it grand style and so much better. (This particular editorial passage comes between quoting some of Mitchell‘s letters on the terrible state of the Prussian post war economy and the general devastation of the civilian population.) (Bisset: would absolutely support a Mafia AU.)
Being a 1850 Brit, Bisset is still a nationalist, though, see also claiming the Hohenzollern siblings with qualities he admires for team Hannover and Britain. Or observations like when after fanboy Peter III ascends to the throne, this happens:
Lord Bute, new pm courtesy of G3 also recently ascending and firing former PM Lord Newcastle, the last time, btw, a British monarch dismissed a PM based on personal preference: Guess that means we don‘t have to finance the King of Prussia anymore.
Fritz: WTF? The war is still going on!
Lord Bute: Ask your Russian buddy if you need more cash. Seriously, we‘re not going to finance you waging your wars endlessly. Mitchell, put that as diplomatically as you can, of course.
Fritz: somehow gets a hold of the less diplomatic version.
Mitchell: has to deny the less diplomatic version.
Fritz: Still likes Mitchell for socializing, but stops confiding in him as much as earlier politically, and remains ticked off at GB, especially since
Coup in Russia: *happens*
Lord Bute: Nope, still not resuming the old subsidies.
Bisset the Editor: My sympathies are with Lord Bute. I‘m sure my English readers will think alike. Gotta save money for the Empire, not spend it on warring Germans!
Anyway, back to the James Keith fanboying: Bisset describes his entire life and regrets James K left Russia for Prussia since he totally could have become Supreme General in Russia intead of just one of several generals for Fritz. And of course would not have died at Hochkirch. Bisset first describes his death in detail based on the letter James Keith‘s surviving sidekick wrote to Mitchell and then quotes the entire letter of the sidekick for good measure, then sighs some more what a great guy James Keith was, what a loss to the world. George K Lord Marischal was also nice, but really, James is where it‘s at, and if only he‘d remained in Russia, he could have lived longer and maybe gone mano a mano with Fritz on the field, wouldn‘t that have been something!
Bisset‘s general attitude to Fritz: Military genius of his age, light and dark mixed, best monarch of his time but see above re: continental (and Stuart) monarchs in general. All highway robbers.
Bisset: contemporary of Karl Marx. Maybe they‘ll meet in the British Library when Marx will write Das Kapital there?
This is an excellent write-up, and I love the context you provide on later Fritz reception, especially where our sources have passed through some intermediary that makes it directly relevant.
Also, this made me laugh:
Fritz: somehow gets a hold of the less diplomatic version.
Mitchell: has to deny the less diplomatic version.
It reminds me of "An ambassador is an honest gentleman sent to lie abroad for the good of his country." I knew about Bute withdrawing funds, but didn't know all the gossipy details. Thanks!
Fritz vs. James Keith historical AU: lol!
best monarch of his time
You mean, *only* monarch of his time! Or so I keep getting told by his fanboys. :P
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Re: Andrew Mitchell: The Editor‘s Tale
If Bisset is determined to do belated honor to Mitchell, he‘s downright fannish about James Keith. After reaching Mitchell‘s death, he adds a chapter ostensibly about both Keith brothers but really about James. Which starts with a long eloge to the Keith family seat in Scotland, throws in lots of poetry from Burns and Sir Walter Scott, and regrets that Sir Walter never wrote about the Keith brothers because they‘d have been the perfect heroes for him. Now, Bisset is an opinionated Scot himself, and he has absolutely zero Jacobite tendencies ; there‘s a hilarious snarky passage about the Stuarts, ALL the Stuarts, mind, not just the Catholic ones of the most recent generations, saying that they were a worthless bunch and the only reason he could see why people fought for them for centuries was that they were tracing themselves back to Robert the Bruce, because they had no other quality worth fighting for, none of them.
Given that the Keith brothers were Jacobites themselves, this, you‘d think, causes a problem to our editor. But no! He tells us there‘s an oral tradition of a story where the Keiths totally intended to fight for Team Hanover, but their mother when they were just about to leave made them promise they‘d fight for Team Stuart instead, and filial piety forced them to obey.
Not that Bisset otherwise is exactly a fan of the Hannover Cousins. He has no time for monarchs in general and snarks a lot about them, including pithy observations that the Prussians, Austrians and French monarchs had the French Revolution and then Napoleon coming, and that they were a bunch of corrupt robbers with fancy titles squeezing their unfortunate population dry who were stunned to find themselves faced by a former artillery lieutenant doing it grand style and so much better. (This particular editorial passage comes between quoting some of Mitchell‘s letters on the terrible state of the Prussian post war economy and the general devastation of the civilian population.) (Bisset: would absolutely support a Mafia AU.)
Being a 1850 Brit, Bisset is still a nationalist, though, see also claiming the Hohenzollern siblings with qualities he admires for team Hannover and Britain. Or observations like when after fanboy Peter III ascends to the throne, this happens:
Lord Bute, new pm courtesy of G3 also recently ascending and firing former PM Lord Newcastle, the last time, btw, a British monarch dismissed a PM based on personal preference: Guess that means we don‘t have to finance the King of Prussia anymore.
Fritz: WTF? The war is still going on!
Lord Bute: Ask your Russian buddy if you need more cash. Seriously, we‘re not going to finance you waging your wars endlessly. Mitchell, put that as diplomatically as you can, of course.
Fritz: somehow gets a hold of the less diplomatic version.
Mitchell: has to deny the less diplomatic version.
Fritz: Still likes Mitchell for socializing, but stops confiding in him as much as earlier politically, and remains ticked off at GB, especially since
Coup in Russia: *happens*
Lord Bute: Nope, still not resuming the old subsidies.
Bisset the Editor: My sympathies are with Lord Bute. I‘m sure my English readers will think alike. Gotta save money for the Empire, not spend it on warring Germans!
Anyway, back to the James Keith fanboying: Bisset describes his entire life and regrets James K left Russia for Prussia since he totally could have become Supreme General in Russia intead of just one of several generals for Fritz. And of course would not have died at Hochkirch. Bisset first describes his death in detail based on the letter James Keith‘s surviving sidekick wrote to Mitchell and then quotes the entire letter of the sidekick for good measure, then sighs some more what a great guy James Keith was, what a loss to the world. George K Lord Marischal was also nice, but really, James is where it‘s at, and if only he‘d remained in Russia, he could have lived longer and maybe gone mano a mano with Fritz on the field, wouldn‘t that have been something!
Bisset‘s general attitude to Fritz: Military genius of his age, light and dark mixed, best monarch of his time but see above re: continental (and Stuart) monarchs in general. All highway robbers.
Bisset: contemporary of Karl Marx. Maybe they‘ll meet in the British Library when Marx will write Das Kapital there?
Re: Andrew Mitchell: The Editor‘s Tale
Also, this made me laugh:
Fritz: somehow gets a hold of the less diplomatic version.
Mitchell: has to deny the less diplomatic version.
It reminds me of "An ambassador is an honest gentleman sent to lie abroad for the good of his country." I knew about Bute withdrawing funds, but didn't know all the gossipy details. Thanks!
Fritz vs. James Keith historical AU: lol!
best monarch of his time
You mean, *only* monarch of his time! Or so I keep getting told by his fanboys. :P
Re: Andrew Mitchell: The Editor‘s Tale
Mitchell: has to deny the less diplomatic version.
Like mildred, I have to say this is hilarious :D