Essays 173
month of August, one thousand seven hundred
and seventy-three, and in the thirty-third year of
our reign.
“By the King in his Council.
“ RECHTMAESSIG, Sec.”
Some take this edict to be merely one of the king's
jeux d’esprit; others suppose it serious, and that
he means a quarrel with England; but all here think
the assertion it concludes with, “that these regulations
 are copied from acts of the English Parliament
respecting their colonies,” a very injurious one; it
being impossible to believe that a people distinguished
 for their love of liberty, a nation so wise,
so liberal in its sentiments, so just and equitable
towards its neighbors, should, from mean and injudicious
 views of petty immediate profit, treat its own
children in a manner so arbitrary and tyrannical!

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