High life
Favourite fops
Taki
even turns patriotic. 110.
Last week it ran a programme on the War of Independence. As I am in the mid- dle of reading Paul Johnson's unputdown- able A History of the American People, I watched it like a nit-picking pedant. As some of you may have heard, the English came out second best.
Back then, war was wonderful: the fifes and drums, beautiful uniforms, heroic gen- erals and — if one was well-connected wine and women. My favourite fop is Gen- tleman Johnnie Burgoyne, who went to battle encumbered with 40 trunks and his mistress. She kept him occupied while Washington took Saratoga, one of George's three victories in six years of war.
Another favourite is Nathanael Greene, a rebel general who led Cornwallis on a merry chase from Georgia to Virginia and then back down again. Greene must he the unsung hero of the war. Cornwallis's army became so exhausted after six months of chasing Greene through swamps and woods, that he retired to Yorktown in order to be resupplied by sea and for some badly needed R&R.
What he got was the Frenchie Admiral de Grasse and a non-stop bombardment as well as a blockade. Old George W left the siege of what is now the Big Bagel and in six weeks surrounded the redcoats. End of taxation without representation.
As in all wars, there were heroes galore. In the case of Rochambeau, I have an interest to declare. In 1963, I went to the best ball ever, one given by Sheila Rocharn- beau, born Macintosh in the good old US of A. Sheila married one of his descen- dants, who was related to one of mine by marriage, that is — and the masked blast she threw in Paris that spring is still talked about.
Even poor old Louis XVI emerges some- what of a hero. The Yanks couldn't have made it without the moolah he gave them, moolah that could have possibly saved his skin later on if it had been spent on urban Frenchies. I even learned a thing or two about women from watching. It seems that Lafayette's beautiful young wife developed a crush on George Washington after the way he was described in her hubby's letters to her. Old George would have none of it. `No beautiful young woman can ever love an old man unless there is profit involved,' or words to that effect. Alas, the poor little Greek boy is no George Washington.
And speaking of women, Benedict Arnold got into trouble because his wife spent too much money. At least this is what the Americans say. Although I'm on a sticky wicket, I ain't so sure. Arnold was a heroic general, winning in Quebec and Tin- canteroga by leading from the front. lie switched sides once he became convinced that the rebels could not win. After all, he was the King's subject, and was not rebelling against the Crown, just parlia- ment which imposed taxes. His name may be synonymous with treason, but Benedict was not the run-of-the-mill traitor.
He was badly treated by perfidious Albion and died poor and unlamented. see him as a Petain: misguided but honest and brave. Once the battle was lost in May 1940, someone had to take charge and lead the nation, People seem to forget that the United States granted Vichy full diplomatic recognition, sending Admiral Leahy to its capital as American ambassador, If that doesn't acknowledge legitimacy, I don't know what does. Benedict Arnold did a Petain 160 years earlier. C'est tout.
The outrage of it all is, of course, the fact that last month the George Washington elementary school in. New Orleans renamed itself after a black surgeon. Punk historians are pressuring the National Park Service to rewrite material explaining the historical sites. Some low-life race hustlers are demanding that George's image is replaced on the dollar bill. (Replaced by Jesse Jackson, perhaps.) Washington fought a war in which many Americans opposed him, while many English supported him. America owes him everything, yet allows unscrupulous and unprincipled hustlers to defame him as only a slave-owner. It almost makes one wish Benedict Arnold's side had won. At least no one has as yet dared to rename Nelson's Column Nelson Mandela.
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