The forgotten commissioner : Sir William Mildmay and the Anglo-French Commission of 1750-1755 / Enid Robbie.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Robbie, Enid.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Mildmay, William, Sir, 1705-1771.

Mildmay, William.

Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748).

Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle.

Diplomats--Great Britain--Biography.

Diplomats.

History.

Great Britain.

Anglo-French War, 1755-1763.

Great Britain--History--George II, 1727-1760--Biography.

Great Britain--Foreign relations--1727-1760.

International relations.

Great Britain--Foreign relations--France.

France.

France--Foreign relations--Great Britain.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

x, 307 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

East Lansing : Michigan State University Press, [2003]

Summary:

As a middle-aged London lawyer, Sir William Mildmay had a reputation for prudence and frugality that landed him a position on the Anglo-French Commission in Paris. The Commission's ongoing negotiations and failure to ratify the 1748 Treaty of Aix-la-Chappelle and resolve long-standing differences were to have far-reaching consequences for the futures of Britain, France, Canada, the American colonies, and India. The contents of William Mildmay's letters, his private commission journal, and his official commission reports provide remarkable first-hand insight into the tortuous process of eighteenth-century diplomacy. Mildmay's notes also raise the fascinating possibility that in the early summer of 1752 a successful end of the treaty negotiations might have been possible, thus preventing or delaying the Seven Years' War. Given the importance of the resulting conflagration for Britain and its Empire, Mildmay's detailed descriptions of the commission's work is a remarkable and unique chronicle of a crucial episode in British and French diplomacy. Enid Robbie's Forgotten Commissioner resurrects the uncertainties, personalities, infighting, and political double-dealing behind the Anglo-French Commission through an examination of one of its quietest but most dedicated participants. As Robbie weaves Mildmay's personal fortunes through the larger diplomatic negotiations, the reader understands that politics and diplomacy were life and death professions, not just for nations, but for individual careers.

Contents:

1 Who Was William Mildmay? 9

2 The Anglo-French Commission: Setting the Stage 19

3 Military, Trade, and Political Intelligence 29

4 The Opening Year: April 1750 to December 1750 55

5 The Time of Possibility: January 1751 to May 1752 95

6 The Missed Opportunity: May 1752 to December 1753 129

7 The Last Chance Lost, and Winding Down: 1754-1755 175.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [285]-294) and index.

ISBN:

0870136380

0870136518

OCLC:

50560662