colonial history

In 1826, a 30-year-old diplomat abducted a 15-year-old heiress with forged letters and a manufactured family crisis, married her at Gretna Green, and nearly got away with it. He served three years in prison. Then helped found New Zealand.

On 10 February 1763, the Treaty of Paris ended the Seven Years' War. France traded a continent for a sugar island, Britain collected an empire, and the bills came due within a generation.