John Simpson

Arresting a Diplomat, 1717

Recent events have provoked disquiet about the concept of diplomatic immunity: in the early eighteenth century, the British government was considerably less fastidious in its definition.

Published January 1 1985

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Lords of the Northern Forest

The Hudson's Bay Company was one of the central forces moulding the development of the vast tracts of land that today are Canada - but as Barry Gough explains here, the circumstances of its launch in 1670 also reveal much about the commercial forces, personalities and rivalries of Restoration England.