Talk:Gregor MacGregor

message: How come this article failed the B-class Assessment? Adamdaley (talk) 00:24, 4 November 2015 (UTC)
replies: text: When? It just passed GA. —  Cliftonian (talk)  06:31, 4 November 2015 (UTC)
replies: text: Have a look in the WikiProject Military History. It fails at B1. Adamdaley (talk) 22:45, 4 November 2015 (UTC)
replies: text: Ah yes, I see. That seems to be a holdover from long before the article took its present form. As you can see the article's sourcing was assessed as part of the GA review above and adjudged sound. In view of that do you think you could rectify the anomaly you point out? —  Cliftonian (talk)  05:38, 5 November 2015 (UTC)
replies: text: Done. Adamdaley (talk) 06:40, 5 November 2015 (UTC)
replies: text: Cheers. —  Cliftonian (talk)  08:13, 5 November 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  B-Class Assessment 

message: Am I missing something? The lede says in the third paragraph "On his permanent return to Britain in 1821..." but we know that he returned to Venezuela in 1838, as the next paragraph says: "In 1838 he moved to Venezuela..." Carlstak (talk) 18:25, 5 November 2015 (UTC)
replies: text: Ah, yes, I see the issue. I added the word "permanent" because he had already returned temporarily to Britain to get troops in 1818, but I see exactly what you mean. I've removed the word. —  Cliftonian (talk)  19:09, 5 November 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Return to Britain, return to Venezuela 

message: Shouldn't the Cazique of Poyaise section give some indication that the hereditary "king" of the Miskito Sambu people and his "court" were a ridiculous sham, a fact not mentioned in either Sinclair (who calls him "a king of sorts") or the linked-to article George Frederic Augustus I? Both of these treat the Miskito "dynasty" as a to-be-taken-seriously political power, when in reality the British from the beginnings of their relationship with the chiefs of the tribe had cynically used the reigning "king" as a mere puppet? 
You get some idea of just how farcical the whole charade was from contemporaneous accounts; for example, The Gospel in Central America: Containing a Sketch of the Country pp. 209–211, by Frederick Crowe, has these delectable bits in its text and footnotes:
"The coronation of King Robert took place at Belize on the 23rd of April 1825... On this occasion it was deemed necessary to qualify the Waikna [Misquito] nobility for the part assigned them. Mr. Henry Dunn informs us, upon the testimony of an eye-witness of this iniquitous imposture, that 'they displayed a total ignorance of the meaning of the ceremony; and when asked to give their names, took the titles of Lord Rodney, Lord Nelson, or some other celebrated officer, and seemed grievously disappointed when told they could only be baptized by simple Christian names.' and he adds, that, 'after this solemn mockery had been concluded, the whole assembly adjourned to a large school-room, to eat the coronation dinner, where the usual healths were drunk, and these poor creatures all intoxicated with rum; a suitable conclusion to a farce as blasphemous and wicked as ever disgraced a Christian country.'
"...the King, dressed as a British Major, in the front, the ceremony of anointing was gone through. (Here Mr. Dunn informs us, that the King repeatedly thrust his hand through his thick bushy hair, and, applying his fingers to his nose, in this expressive manner indicated his delight at this part of the service.) After which the crown was placed on his head, and, on a preconcerted signal being given by Major Baldwin, a salute was fired from the fort. Afterwards, Lord Nelson, Lord Rodney, and I know not how many more lords, were received into the visible church by sprinkling—poor creatures!—the minister thanking God that they were by this ordinance regenerated and made part of the body of Christ. It is an awful concern!"
'Skipper Mudge, who arrived at this port from Honduras last week, in his smack Nancy, reports that he had an interview, before sailing, with his Majesty the King of the Mosquitoes. His Majesty wore a splendid cocked-hat and a red sash, and had very large gilt spurs buckled about his ankles; but I regret to say that the remainder was, as the painters say, without drapery. We must make allowance, however, for difference of customs and climate. His Majesty, who cannot be more than twenty years old, was slightly intoxicated. His suite consisted of a one-eyed drummer-boy, and two gentlemen with fifes, one of whom acted as an interpreter. The King of the Mosquitoes received Skipper Mudge seated on an empty whisky-cask. He motioned to the skipper to take a seat on the ground or wherever he chose.' The writer then goes on to describe the further proceedings of the interview, in the course of which his Majesty's laughter having been excited, the cask rolled from under him, and he fell to the ground." Carlstak (talk) 19:19, 6 November 2015 (UTC)
replies: text: Thanks for this Carlstak. We do say in our article here that "the British authorities in the region had crowned their most powerful chieftains as 'kings' since the 17th century", and I think the fact that we say George Frederic Augustus handed over his massive swathe of land "in exchange for rum and jewellery" rather speaks volumes. I will add a sentence clarifying further that these "kings" were effectively British puppets. —  Cliftonian (talk)  19:54, 6 November 2015 (UTC)
replies: text: Thank you, Cliftonian. Your last edit on the article is helpful to the article itself and the reader, I believe. Carlstak (talk) 21:06, 6 November 2015 (UTC)
replies: text: I think so too. Thanks Carlstak. —  Cliftonian (talk)  21:14, 6 November 2015 (UTC)

text: FWIW, the summary of my last edit to the section should have said, "According to Sinclair p. 39, the letter of credence, not the person of Major Richardson, was presented to George IV." Carlstak (talk) 00:58, 7 November 2015 (UTC)
replies: text: Well spotted—I'd clearly misread that sentence (I just looked it up again and you're right). Thanks for this, and the other edit correcting my grammatical mistake. —  Cliftonian (talk)  09:10, 7 November 2015 (UTC)
replies: text: My pleasure. Carlstak (talk) 14:38, 7 November 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  "King" George Frederic Augustus 

message: I've taken another look and found these:  
*British Army
**Link 57th Foot to the "57th (West Middlesex) Regiment of Foot" article.
***That article is already linked to at the first mention, at the top of the section. isn't it? —  Cliftonian (talk)  17:17, 22 November 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Some further points 

message: Hello! This is a note to let the editors of this article know that :File:Bank of Poyais-1 Hard Dollar (1820s) SCAM.jpg will be appearing as picture of the day on November 7, 2016. You can view and edit the POTD blurb at Template:POTD/2016-11-07. If this article needs any attention or maintenance, it would be preferable if that could be done before its appearance on the Main Page. — Chris Woodrich (talk) 01:31, 24 October 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  [[:File:Bank of Poyais-1 Hard Dollar (1820s) SCAM.jpg]] to appear as POTD soon 

message: You guys left out his allegiance from 1821-37, which was to Poyais. It even had its own flag: https://fotw.info/flags/bz_poy.html 2606:A000:89C6:9300:F2B0:645D:8905:F3E8 (talk) 08:08, 21 January 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  Allegiance