Concert of Europe: Gameplay Thread

[At-Large Senator LouisvilleThunder]

You must be logged in to read this quote.

X Joseph II Hapsburg

X King Charles III of Spain

[At-Large Senator LouisvilleThunder]

State of the Empire Address--January 1760

Greetings My Fellow Spaniards,

I am proud of my accomplishments over the past year since I have taken over from my brother. I shall be a different kind of king who will stay in touch with the main issues we face as a country, a people, and an empire. I plan on focusing on reviving the old glory of the Spanish Empire by focusing on increasing our prestige at home and abroad while bringing wealth to the forgotten common men who have been left behind in our centuries of efforts to expand the greatness and power of our empire, and they shall begin to reap some of the fruits of their contributions.

I have made an arrangement in Italy that aims to secure a lasting peace on the peninsula as well as agreeing to the formation of a Catholic League because we don't need to have us Catholics fight each other for dumb reasons. I have strengthened our bonds with France, Sardinia-Piedmont, and Austria in the name of reviving the greatness of Christendom, and we aim to spread the faith to heathen lands in a just effort to bring salvation to the hungry masses who deserve it, and we shall continue our efforts in the fight to liberate them them even if that means fighting for it in places outside of Europe. We are also working on finding cures for the plague which is wreaking havoc across Europe, I shall announce that I will give some funding to scientists to work on it. Anyone who is successful in finding a cure, shall be handsomely rewarded with a large grant of land Spanish America. I also order all incoming foreign ships into our harbors to be inspected and have their crews quarantined as a measure of safety to protect our people.

My son, Prince Ferdinand, shall spend most of the year living at my royal court in Madrid with his mother and siblings, but he shall travel with me to live in the royal palace at Naples during each summer. This is going to be the arrangement until he reaches 18 years of age in January 1769, and I believe that this is a prudent plan since he is only a child and thus unfit to rule until then. I wish for the people of my Italian realm to accept this arrangement as just.

I shall encourage my Spanish subjects to settle and further develop the Louisiana territory, especially in the city of New Orleans. I wish to send a message of reconciliation to those of French origin who already live there that I'm open to reasonable suggestions of improvement of the living situation there, and I hope to win their trust in my leadership.

I demand that the King of Portugal return the Jesuits' property and allow them free movement across Portugal as the presence of the Jesuits is vital for social and spiritual development of Christendom. I recognize the grievances that Portugal and other Catholic countries may have about the Jesuits straying from their responsibilities of providing education for the masses and spreading the word of God to the heathens around the world who deserve a chance to receive salvation. I suggesting working with the Pope and other Catholic kings to increase oversight of the Jesuits' actions to make sure they fulfill those responsibilities. We also need to instill a sense of responsibility to the betterment of the Kingdom by instead of hoarding their wealth, they can spend their gold on investments into the betterment of our nation through the construction of schools all across the empire, so we can have a faithful populace which can also be knowledgeable enough to discover and innovate more. That will lead to a stronger and more prosperous empire in the future which is what I want to achieve most for our people.

Thank you and may God bless the Spanish Empire

[At-Large Senator LouisvilleThunder]

State of the Empire Address at the Royal Court of Madrid--January 1761
Greetings my fellow Spaniards!
After serving my first full year as King of Spain, I can wholeheartedly announce that the state of our empire is strong. Our economy continues to grow and our people are prospering at home while we continue to strengthen our ties with our fellow allies and work to spread the faith to the people around the world. However, we still have more work to do in allowing our empire and its great people to live to their fullest potential while working for the common good to bring back the glory of old Spain. This involves taking decisive actions for the common good of all of our subjects in order to improve the quality of life, project imperial power around the world, and spread the Catholic faith to as many souls as possible. I shall send some of the Portuguese Jesuits to my colonies in order to establish Spanish missions in South America and convert the natives. I call for Portugal to seriously reconsider taking back the Jesuits since it is to our mutual benefit to keep the Jesuits, and the services they provide are useful as long as they are held accountable to their societal responsibilities. I also want to undertake policies aimed at improving the lives of all loyal subjects by modernizing governance and making the bureaucracy far more efficient by requiring all potential job applicants for the royal government to take a rigorous test which will make sure that all bureaucrats are qualified to do their jobs. I will also reform our tax system by implementing a 2% sales tax on all non-food monetary transactions since I wish to lower our reliance on tariffs which only limit trade which in turn hinder our economic growth and cause foreign crises. I shall also coordinate with the Jesuits to start building free public schools for the poor since I believe we need an educated populace if we want future generations of Spaniards to succeed. I will also commission a national science, engineering, and discovery program which will be funded and managed by the Jesuits to train bright young minds. I also want our country to have cleaner roads in a similar way as the French did in order to help prevent the spread of disease as well as promoting the production and availability of soap for the masses. I will also order civil engineers to reexamine the ancient Roman aqueducts so they can learn about the technology used to reconstruct them, and hopefully we can recreate them because the idea of our ancestors having running water inside buildings seems incredible. In our overseas affairs, I have been diligent and prudent. I am offering free land to settle for any veteran and his family who serves honorably for the crown in these wars in the New World, especially in far flung reaches such as California, Louisiana, and Argentina. I have also sent our army to bring order in the Philippines and stop the raidings by heathens from the Minandao island. I will enforce a strict naval patrol around the Spanish, Sicilian, and Italian coastlines in order to prevent the Barbary Pirates from launching any more raids of our land and enslaving anymore of our subjects. I demand that the pirates return any captured Spanish subjects or they will pay a large price. I shall also grant recently conquered Iceland independence under the rule of one of their own local nobles in exchange for a pledge of mutual respect and defense as well as agreeing to join a tariff-free common trading market with the Spanish crown and providing freedom of worship in Iceland itself. I believe this is fair, prudent, and just for the Icelandic people who have suffered centuries of tyranny under the Danish crown. I also ask for all subjects to continue supporting our valiant fight in India, as I promise that our nation will greatly benefit once we win a clear and decisive victory against these heathen hoardes. Thank you all very much, and let's have many more years of prosperity and triumphs!
May God bless our empire.
King Charles III of Spain

[At-Large Senator LouisvilleThunder]

Statement from the Royal Court of Madrid:

My fellow Spaniards and subjects,

I come today with news that, in all likelihood, will not only shock all of you but the entire continent on account of their magnitude and importance.

The Spanish Empire was pursuing a determined policy of neutrality regarding the main conflicts in Europe, a policy recent changed on account of the recent struggles against Great Britain and Prussia. The reason for this was what we saw as a clear danger to the security of our Empire and subjects, as we were approached by a foreign court with news of an imminent attack organized by both Great Britain and Prussia. Our outrage at these news was clear, and we could not find a better way to protect our subjects than to respond to the imminent use of force with force.

Yet in the past few weeks a truth, a terrible truth has emerged, one that has shocked and outraged us to the very core. Far from planning an act, no hostile moves whatsoever were being enacted or planned by the kingdoms of Great Britain and Prussia. We were lied to by a foreign court in the most dishonorable of manners, in a betrayal of everything that is sacred and with an unbelievable display of treachery, a monarch dared to lie to us to get Spain to enter this war on his side. This traitor, barely deserving of the title of King, has brought shame to Spain and its mighty Empire, and we are determined to see that he pays for what he has done.

After extensive talks, a peace deal has been negotiated with Great Britain and the Kingdom of Prussia, ending any conflict between our nations as the latest battles have only been a product of us being misled by treachery. The Kingdom of Spain will conserve several of its gains against Denmark, but return Iceland and Greenland back to Regent Moltke. We shall withdraw from Corsica and New Prussia, and to restore our honor and prove that Spain will not stand for being treated in such manner we will declare war against the monarch who has instigated this whole affair.

This monarch is no other than Adolf Frederick of Sweden, known scoundrel and traitor who has not only changed his choice of allies at least three times, but broken every oath to his peoples and his allies. We consider him unfit to rule a nation and unfit of trust, and we warn every Court of Europe not to listen to the poisonous lies that come out of his letters and the words of his ambassadors. By trying to entangle Spain in a conflict under false pretenses, by putting our Empire in risk, by forcing us to be hostile to a nation with which we have blood ties, by endangering the stability of Europe and putting our honor in disrepute, we hereby declare war on the King of Sweden.

May God bless our empire.

King Charles III of Spain

[At-Large Senator LouisvilleThunder]

Treaty of Madrid
-The Kingdom of Spain and the Russian Empire, Kingdom of Sweden and Archduchy of Austria hereby agree to a status quo antebellum.
-The Spanish forces in Norway will be allowed to leave Norway without interference or harm.

xAdolf Fredrick, King of Sweden
(Pending approval from the National Assembly)

xCatherine, Empress of Russia

XCharles III, King of Spain