Heroes of the Empire

“A hero cannot be a hero, unless in a heroic world.”
Nathaniel Hawthorne

Ya know, thanks to the wonders of an endless and overlapping sequence of time in this universe, every day of the week has some profound historical importance for this world of humans. There are plenty of good things to recall, upgrades in scientific thinking, advances in medicine and so on. But for some reason our society tends to bang the drum most forcefully when commemorating our heroes and historical dates of tragedy.

As far as the week of 9/11 goes, there is an abundance of recent human tragedy to consider.

If you knew me, you would know that I am constantly intrigued by the memorials society builds for its fallen heroes. Because of past experiences, I am one of those crazy people who can’t just drive by a roadside historical marker and I’m easily lured by the ancient stories buried in our old cemeteries.

Yet, count me among those who also don’t tolerate ceremonies too well, especially modern ones. Unfortunately, when it comes to 9/11 we still have nothing but ceremony. We have no proper roadside marker yet.

Owing to that situation, during this past week we were left to gather together, close our eyes and recall a horrible sight. It is a terrifying recollection that many of us have tried desperately to forget the last few years. It is a vision that many will never really get over.

But emerging from the choking dust of our collective memory, we may learn we have little choice in this life but to carry on, face the reality of our own making and correct any errors or misjudgments we may have blindly made about all of that.

Call me crazy, again, but for some reason during this week, perhaps while my eyes were closed and my mind recalled such tragic events, I was reminded how pure sarcasm can rudely shake us awake and often chase away the bad dreams.

In particular, I was reminded of a sarcastic letter published in a journal named The Public Advertiser on September 11, 1773. This letter was written by a man named Benjamin Franklin and it was titled “Rules By Which a Great Empire May Be Reduced to a Small One”.

If you go searching for that letter you will find it. Since Mr. Franklin died so long ago, it is now a matter of public domain and many people have read it.

The letter was written on North American soil a few years prior to the official existence of the USA. It was penned by a man who some considered brilliant, cantankerous and even rebellious. For these reasons among others, perhaps in many more ways than one, it is written in a language that now sounds foreign to our ears.

In his letter, Franklin mockingly describes the 20 preferred methods for the King’s bureaucracy to more easily control the colonies and enhance the power of the British Empire.

Because of the way these old words were fashioned, I admit I tend to speed through his first few rules. As I become more accustomed to the cadence, I find myself returning over and over to certain parts, desperately trying to understand what he was saying. In them, I begin to discover a description of a painful history, an uncomfortable present, and an ominously corrupt future.

It is very difficult to excerpt any small slice from this letter but Franklin’s acerbic Rule #10 contains words which shake me to the core:

“ … Then let there be a formal Declaration of both Houses, that Opposition to your Edicts is Treason, and that Persons suspected of Treason in the Provinces may, according to some obsolete Law, be seized and sent to the Metropolis of the Empire for Trial; and pass an Act that those there charged with certain other Offences shall be sent away in Chains from their Friends and Country to be tried in the same Manner for Felony. Then erect a new Court of Inquisition among them, accompanied by an armed Force, with Instructions to transport all such suspected Persons, to be ruined by the Expence if they bring over Evidences to prove their Innocence, or be found guilty and hanged if they can't afford it. And lest the People should think you cannot possibly go any farther, pass another solemn declaratory Act, that `King, Lords, and Commons had, hath, and of Right ought to have, full Power and Authority to make Statutes of sufficient Force and Validity to bind the unrepresented Provinces IN ALL CASES WHATSOEVER.' This will include spiritual with temporal; and taken together, must operate wonderfully to your Purpose, by convincing them, that they are at present under a Power something like that spoken of in the Scriptures, which can not only kill their Bodies, but damn their Souls to all Eternity, by compelling them, if it pleases, to worship the Devil.”

It is often at this point in the reading that I realize, as to Franklin’s gift for endless exaggeration, my own seems rather shallow and inefficient. But I also realize he is elegantly describing an ancient error in judgment which many brave souls eventually gave their lives to correct.

Franklin’s nature was that of a diplomat. He tended, as great diplomats often do, to make his point with great subtlety. But the underlying power and truth hidden in his words is no less significant today than it was over 200 years ago.

Hidden in Franklin’s flowery verbosity is a not so subtle warning. A warning to the King’s bureaucracy that the more it does to heavily control life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness among its citizens, the more it will fail in its mission. The more the King makes claim to “full Power and Authority”, the more likely the cake will begin to crumble along the edges like that of an inept baker who cooks the cake in an oven too hot for its purpose.

Like any good ceremony, this letter is a long-winded, finger-waving oration. But if there is true beauty in Franklin’s style, I find it in his ability to always save the best for last. In his final Rule #20, he gives the following advice:

“Lastly, Invest the General of your Army in the Provinces with great and unconstitutional Powers, and free him from the Controul of even your own Civil Governors. Let him have Troops enow under his Command, with all the Fortresses in his Possession; and who knows but (like some provincial Generals in the Roman Empire, and encouraged by the universal Discontent you have produced) he may take it into his Head to set up for himself. If he should, and you have carefully practised these few excellent Rules of mine, take my Word for it, all the Provinces will immediately join him, and you will that Day (if you have not done it sooner) get rid of the Trouble of governing them, and all the Plagues attending their Commerce and Connection from thenceforth and for ever.”

And there Franklin spells out his ironic warning in words that may sound truer and more appropriate today than the antique circumstances under which they were once written.

They are just words, words that may or may not have any noticeable effect on the modern American. They may be too archaic, too hard to understand, not applicable to the complexities of modern existence. And words, no matter how bold or fearless their author, are not real-live fallen heroes who sacrificed their own blood. They may not be worth memorizing, not worth memorializing and not worthy of ceremony.

But to me Franklin’s old words explain an angered cause and a rebellious fellowship of oppressed people who once chose to resist the shackles of an extended Empire. Under the currently evolving sequence of time and the present production of “universal Discontent”, I believe that Mr. Franklin’s words are both worth remembering and commemorating now more than ever.

Cheers,

Mb