Quote:
Originally Posted by issybird
When we think of the League as noble, brave and disinterested, I think we overlook the extent to which the motives of the members of the League were self-serving, even if they weren't thieving and wenching. Orczy pays perfunctory attention to the causes of the revolution, but it's obvious her sympathies as with the League were with the dispossessed aristocrats. Sure you can argue to save the lives first, redistribute the wealth next, but it's also unarguable that the League in trying to prop up the Ancien Régime was also serving its own interest as the moneyed and powerful class in England. If they wanted to right wrongs, there surely was sufficient scope in late 18th century England, where even children could be hanged for theft.
Yeah, I know, no buckles to swash that way, but I felt like arguing that the nobility of the League was a pretty hollow construct.  |
They could have helped William Wilberforce abolish the slave trade too. Oh, but possibly much of their wealth came from involvement in that trade, one way or another, so perhaps not.