6/11/2023 0 Comments Jedict lite![]() ![]() The Peace now enjoyed throughout our Dominions, having afforded us Leisure to apply ourselves to the Regulation of Commerce, the Improvement of our Finances, and at the same Time the easing our Domestic Subjects in their Taxes: For these Causes, and other good Considerations us thereunto moving, We hereby make known, that after having deliberated these Affairs in our Council, present our dear Brothers, and other great Officers of the State, Members of the same, We, of our certain Knowledge, full Power and Authority Royal, have made and issued this present Edict, viz. “ Frederick, by the Grace of God, King of Prussia, &c. The following Edict, just made public, may, if serious, throw some Light upon this Matter. 3 We did not till lately know the Claims, antient and modern, that hang over that Nation, and therefore could not suspect that it might submit to those Impositions from a Sense of Duty, or from Principles of Equity. We have long wondered here at the Supineness of the English Nation, under the Prussian Impositions upon its Trade entering our Port. ![]() The Subject of the following Article of Foreign Intelligence being exceeding EXTRAORDINARY, is the Reason of its being separated from the usual Articles of Foreign News. Under the surface the “Edict” was a summary of colonial grievances that went back for almost a century King Frederick’s foisting them upon Britain was what Franklin called an “out-of-the-way form” to highlight them. 9 He intended the “Edict” and its companion, the “Rules by Which a Great Empire May be Reduced to a Small One,” as anything but persiflage. It consists of various Parliamentary statutes, beginning with the Restoration, which are partly quoted, partly paraphrased, and partly embellished with Franklin’s inventions. The document, after the preamble, is built of British materials. 8 His reputation with the British public, in short, was calculated to give his edict the ring of authenticity. 7 His conduct towards his Continental neighbors, as reported in London, was equally unsavory and far more relevant to Franklin’s purposes: the King sent troops to keep order in his newly acquired Polish provinces and bullied the Polish Diet, issued an edict laying claim to part of the Dutch Netherlands, and then to cap the climax justified his acquisitions in Poland by asserting that they had rightfully been Prussian since the days of the Teutonic Knights. He had recently suggested, according to an English officer at his court, sending over several regiments to protect the monarchy against radicals, and even coming himself to be king. ![]() Frederick II of Prussia had been estranged from Britain by the Peace of Paris, and made no secret of his contempt for the country. 6 Part of the reason, no doubt, was his shrewdness in choosing the fictional author. When this famous hoax first appeared, Franklin had the pleasure of seeing it taken at face value.
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