Diplomacy Ch. 4

Anna was disappointed, but not entirely surprised that her sister the queen had declined to accept the treaty. She had been hopeful, though, as Anna had included a lengthy letter detailing her arguments for completing the purchase of the Louisiana Territory. In the rebuttal letter Elsa laid out her own concerns, the largest part of it surrounded the disposition of the thirty thousand or so slaves who lived there and how the slave revolt of Saint-Domingue might impact relations between the Arendelle colonists, peace keeping guards and the former slaves.

While communications moved slowly by ship, Princess Anna had spent her time in Paris wisely. When at her Parisian apartment she worked out a structured emancipation in her head. Her proposal was that slavery be lifted slowly and in stages. The young would need education, so step one was to build schools and educate the children of the slaves how to read, write and perform arithmetic. Then they would be taught a set of skills necessary to sustain themselves in the territory. Farming, fishing, skinning, tanning, carpentry, blacksmithing or any of many other necessary trades would be apprenticed.

Once educated the youngest would receive their freedom, followed by the young adults who would also need educating. Slowly but surely more and more of the slaves would be emancipated until all were freed and the institution of slavery banished from the Louisiana Territory forever. Additionally, every slave or slave family would receive a homestead of their own to farm or ranch or establish their preferred trade. Any African who wished to leave the territory would be provided transportation to a friendly port with funds to continue on to their destination.

To facilitate help from the one time owners, each would be paid a fair price as compensation for each slave they would lose. The tiered method of ending slavery would also allow the Spanish landowners the time they needed to adjust to life without forced labor, either by hiring employees or choosing a new trade or other occupation (or if they refused to live without slavery, they could leave the territory altogether).

It was, in Anna's mind, the best compromise for dealing with the horrid practice in a manner that was the least painful for all sides concerned. To eradicate the barbaric practice of owning another human being instantly risked plunging the region into economic collapse. The landowners, unable to practice their farming, would starve and perish. The slaves, without any learned skills, would be unable to secure work or find shelter would suffer just as badly.

When Anna's counterargument arrived in Arendelle Elsa agreed with her sister's conclusion that abolishing the institution of slavery would not be easy. However, she did not agree that the process could be executed so easily and returned a letter in detail why it could not work without a sufficiently colonized region.

We would be dangling freedom tantalizingly close to those in their middle years and older, yet none would have the practical expectation that such freedom would ever arrive at their doorstep in their own lifetimes, Elsa wrote in her response. Such an empty offer could very easily incite revolt against the Arendelle citizenry thus sparking an armed conflict. Those whom we had intended to free and lift up may find themselves instead laid low by the very weapons meant to protect them and maintain order. I cannot have the stain of so much innocent blood on my hands.

Then she added a firm postmark telling Anna that the subject was closed and wrote firm orders to decline the offer of the territory from the French.

Elsa also put an end to the diplomatic mission to France entirely, instead recalling the envoy and redirecting it to the Kingdom of Avalor. Their purpose was to negotiate for right of deposit at that nation's busy main port. Queen Elsa had decided to give up on the Port of New Orleans as the central nexus of distribution in the Western Hemisphere. As negotiations continued between France and United States over the territory, communications between Paris and Washington, D.C. took weeks and Elsa preferred not to wait any longer to determine the outcome. Instead she intended to pursue her second choice. The Port of Avalor was not as centrally located, but would be more than sufficient for their needs since every nation which was to begin trade with Arendelle also traded with Avalor.

To facilitate this new, trans-Atlantic trade route Hans and Anna's vessel the RAS (Royal Arendelle Ship) Diplomat was to proceed first to Charleston Bay and negotiate with the local authorities for Arendelle ships to dock on a regular basis and resupply. This was necessary as the first leg of the route, which was from Arendelle to the South Carolina port was going to take several weeks to complete. The second leg, from Charleston to Avalor, was another several weeks' journey.

Saddened that Elsa didn't see clear to complete the purchase of Louisiana, Anna was more than excited to visit Avalor. "I want to ride one of those flying jaguar cats," she squealed more than once before their vessel even left the harbor.

Hans seemed more than exhausted of the talk of flying jaguars. "How can you insist such things actually exist?" he asked.

"Hey, you've seen a giant snowman…," she began before being cutoff.

"Which was created by your sister's considerable magical powers," Hans reminded her. "Who created these mythical cat creatures that can supposedly fly?"

"Are you calling Elsa a liar?" Anna posed to him.

Hans narrowed his eyes. "No, though it is possible she may have been… exaggerating. Perhaps from the excitement of such a successful tour, or from spending so much time at sea. It has been known to happen."

"Humph! Well see when we get there," Anna rebuked.

~O~

The RAS Diplomat arrived at Charleston, South Carolina after several weeks at sea. As the Ambassador most prepared for dealing with the United States, Hans took the lead while the ship's captain resupplied for the rest of the journey.

While Hans was concerning himself with business, Anna took the time to visit the city to soak up the culture. The clothing, rituals, food and even language were very different. She was at first confused by the local dialect but quickly adapted to it, penetrating the drawl spoken by the common citizens on the streets. She did notice that a few people did have an aristocratic air to them, which was at odds with the American governmental structure of a republican democracy, a democratic society governed by an overriding set of laws which this country labeled The Constitution.

Princess Anna meandered about the city, sampling the local cuisine and purchasing a few goods for herself such as garments, shoes, and a peculiar pocket watch which, according to the shopkeeper, was devised by Englishman John Harrison and was meant for computing longitude quickly and easily while at sea. Previously longitude was computed via an astrolabe which measured the location of several heavenly bodies and the application of complex mathematics which took so long to complete that the resulting information was typically useless because the ship had long since sailed from the location where the measurements were taken.

The pocket watch, which was designed to remain accurate even at sea, meant that the ship's navigator merely had to determine local time with the astrolabe then compare it with the time in Greenwich kept on a second timepiece and using the difference to locate a ship's longitude. This method only took minutes and did not require knowledge of advanced mathematics. Timepieces had not been used for this purpose before because most clocks and watches were notoriously inaccurate, losing several minutes each day. This would throw off the calculations badly. Harrison's more accurate watch kept time quite a bit better and was not affected by changes in weather or climate nor was it affected by the rocking of a ship in the same way as a pendulum clock.

Accurately and easily calculating longitude at sea had been the greatest scientific challenge the world had faced. Throughout the millennia many ships were lost due to inaccurate calculations and thousands of sailors lost their lives when vessels crashed upon reefs far from their destinations. For centuries some of the brightest minds the earth had to offer tried to concoct an answer to this most important quest.

Amerigo Vespucci was the first to devise a rudimentary means of calculating longitude by comparing the angles of the Moon and Mars in the sky. However, this method was riddled with limitations including necessitating that the Moon and Mars appear in the sky at the same time, the ability to anticipate such an occurrence with an astronomical almanac and knowing the current local time which could be difficult if not impossible in foreign lands. It also required a stable viewing platform, an impossibility at sea. Galileo deduced that the moons of Jupiter could be used to determine longitude but was impractical for use by mariners at sea.

So dire was the need to quickly and easily determine longitude that in 1714, following an incident that caused the deaths of dozens of English sailors whose vessels were off course, Queen Anne offered a large sum as a reward for discovering such a method. The Board of Longitude was established and peopled with England's most esteemed scientists to tackle the problem. Ironically, it was a common clock maker, John Harrison from England, who eventually solved the greatest riddle of the ages near the end of the eighteenth century.

"The captain will love this," Princess Anna chirped. If the watch worked as predicted, it would make navigation that much safer. "This is going to do wonders for all ships at sea."

On her way back to the docks Anna noticed several people gathering at a large house. To her horror she learned that inside recently acquired African people were being sold off to be slaves. It provided stark reminders that even a city as civil and genteel as this had its dark side.

She walked away, but something nagged at her. Anna turned around and went inside. She found several very dark skinned African men, women and children standing naked in a room as a man spoke about their attributes as if they were cattle being sold at auction.

That, in fact, was what was happening. Although she understood that slavery had been in existence for thousands of years she could never understand how any person could justify owning another person like property and treat them like animals. Yet somehow these people, buyers and sellers alike, were doing just that.

The nagging conscience which had brought her here suddenly spoke louder. Now Anna understood why she felt so compelled to turn around rather than just leave and ignore the sale. The princess calculated what she could spend from the ship's treasury and then offered it for the purchase of several African slaves. She picked out four families and several individuals as part of her acquisition and had them brought to the ship where payment was completed, consummating the sale.

When Hans returned he was not only perplexed, but furious. "What were you thinking?" he bellowed.

"I'm not going to keep them," she explained. Anna's intention was to grant them their freedom and offer them citizenship in Arendelle if they wanted it.

Hans, though, was less concerned with what her reasons were and more about the money she spent. "Thanks to you we now have barely enough in our funds to complete this mission providing there are no complications."

"We'll figure something out," she told him with a silly grin. Her conscience was clear; she had rescued a small group of people who didn't deserve to be held in bonds. Unfortunately, Hans was correct. One complication immediately arose from Anna's purchase. The ship's captain now had to acquire more food and water to account for the addition of passengers. This would drain the ship's funds even more. To make up for the shortfall Anna raided her personal items taking several pieces of jewelry, selling them on land and using the money to pay for the extra food and water. A side benefit of her transaction was that she was also able to bring aboard a change of clothes for each of the new passengers she had acquired.

Before the ship set sail the next high tide Anna give each former slave a chance to bathe and put on clean clothing. She brought each of them on deck and announced, "I am Princess Anna of Arendelle. My country does not believe in the keeping of slaves. Since this ship is sovereign Arendelle territory you are hereby declared free men and women."

The Africans whom she had purchased just blinked in amazement. The families looked at each other while the three individuals, two men and one woman were at something of a loss. Finally, one man stood forward and asked, "What is to become of us?"

Anna smiled and answered. "This ship will return to Arendelle after it completes its diplomatic mission. My home is a European country located in the far north. You are welcome to become citizens and live your lives as you see fit."

One of the men, an individual with no family, responded, "And if we chose not to return to your nation?"

Anna's response was quick and definitive. "We can leave you at a port where you can purchase transport to wherever you wish to go. We will provide the funds to help you to reach your destination."

At this the Africans who were destined to be slaves beamed with joy. "Then we are truly free." The families hugged one another, the children and women wept and even some of the men joined them. The ship's cabin boy took them to assigned rooms where they would berth during the remainder of the trip. While the RAS Diplomat sailed on to Avalor, Anna took it upon herself to convene a school for the children, teaching them to read, write, count and perform basic math. Some of the adults soon joined in.

Astonishingly, many of the former slaves willingly pitched in to do some of the shipboard labor, preferring to work for their passage even though they were declared official guests of Princess Anna and the Kingdom of Arendelle. When they were not in school the adults swabbed decks, cooked, cleaned and performed other tasks alongside the ship's crew.

Anna's impromptu school was well received and the children enjoyed their time with her. During class they often asked questions about Arendelle, what it was like and who the queen was. Anna showed them paintings and pictures in books of her home country. Few could believe their eyes when they saw so much ice and snow.

"Does it snow there often?" one child asked.

"All the time," Anna replied. "Well, in some places, like the North Mountain."

"Does it ever get warm there?" Another child asked.

Anna laughed. "Yes it does. During the summer the days are quite pleasant."

"Do you have any people like us?" someone asked. It was one of the adults.

Anna grinned. "As a matter of fact, we do," she answered the woman.

"Are they servants?"

"No. They are free citizens. They work, sell their wares, conduct business and live on their own land in their own houses."

"I like that."

Anna then decided to ask them some questions. "How did you come to be in Charleston? You don't have to answer if you don't want to."

The woman looked at her husband who answered for the family. Their village in Africa was attacked by a neighboring tribe. Several of the villagers were killed in the fight. Those who survived were taken as prisoners and made slaves, Africans owning other Africans. The conquering tribe was also more than eager to sell their captives to the highest bidders, in this case ships from the New World.

Anna was overwhelmed by his tale. "Does this happen often?" she asked.

"It is a common occurrence," the husband told her.

"We had a home there," the wife injected. "A home and a place where we could grow food that we shared with the village. Then the tribal war began and so many of us were captured and put on ships to foreign lands. At least we were able to stay together."

"Well, you are welcome to come back to Arendelle and make a new home there," Anna invited. "And no one will conquer your village or sell you off to another nation. You'll be safe there. My sister and I will make sure of it."

Anna decided it was best to end class that day after such a somber conversation. The next day she reconvened her school, continuing to teach and answer questions. Yet that conversation was never far from her thoughts. It made her realize just how wonderful a place Arendelle really was.

A week and a half later class was interrupted when a lookout shouted that he saw land. Not long after the ship sailed into a busy port filled with a great many ships flying colors from a great many different lands. When the Diplomat was properly docked a small contingent of people come aboard to greet them. One, a young woman with a somewhat woody brown complexion and a long black pony tail who was a bit younger than Anna stood forward and addressed them. "I am Crown Princess Elena Castillo Flores. Welcome to the Kingdom of Avalor."

John Harrison, a self educated clock maker, did indeed invent the first practical marine timepiece which allowed mariners to quickly determine longitude at sea, solving what was the single greatest scientific riddle of his time.