Please click the icon to follow us on Facebook.on this day the Friendly Society of Agricultural Laborers (FSAL), a non-violent union formed merely to encourage English farm workers to hold out for a living wage, is charged with violating a law against naval mutiny, and six of its leaders are rounded up for deportation to an Australian penal colony.

The other FSAL members, outraged at the absurdity of the charge, gather at the courthouse where the men are held and smash the building to pieces. The magistrate in charge of carrying out the order is beaten severely by the mob and then burned alive. When the military is called out to restore order, the majority of them switch sides and join the FSAL.

Before the summer, all of the English southern coast is in rebellion, and overtures of assistance to the crown are made by France and Prussia. King William refuses foreign aid, declaring, "England shall not cry for aid merely because some rabble threaten a village or two".

By the fall, though, the FSAL sacks London, capturing King William and several of his cousins and putting them to death. A frightened Parliament strikes a deal with the FSAL - they will abolish the nobility, in exchange for the retention of power. They also agree to full elections the following year, with a regular election schedule to follow.

George Loveless, leader of the FSAL, is voted Prime Minister by the cowed MPs, and the nervous former farmer begins the work of reorganizing one of the most powerful empires in Europe along more democratic lines. He battles rebellious former nobles and the machinations of royalists and foreign powers for 10 years as the leader of England and hands off a thriving, growing democracy to his successor. "I merely wanted the ability to make a living as a farmer," he says as he exits public life. "But when the great powers of the world are aligned against you, you must either stand as a free man, or bow as a slave. I believe that the world is better for our choice to stand".