Description
Patrick Griffin chronicles the attempts of brothers Charles and George Townshend to keep an eye on the forces of history within the heady days after Britain’s mythic victory over France within the mid-eighteenth century, and the historic and unintended consequences in their efforts. As British chancellor of the exchequer in 1767, Charles Townshend instituted fiscal policy that served as a catalyst for American rebel against the Crown, even as his brother George’s actions on the same moment as lord lieutenant of Ireland politicized the kingdom, leading to Irish legislative independence. This fascinating study is the first to believe as a linked history the influence of two all-but-forgotten brothers, either one of whom rose to national prominence in the similar year. Griffin vividly reconstructs the many worlds the Townshends moved through and explores how their shared conception of an empire that could harness the wealth of The united states to the manpower of Ireland initiated an age of revolution.