8/2/2019 Benjamin Franklin and Wikileaks
2/2
Having been severely embarrassed and its interests in the
American colonies compromised, theBritish government set out to
discover the source of the leaks. Three men were arrested, each of
whom had informed on the others. As a result, in December 1773, two
fought a duel over the matterand, as neither suffered a mortal
wound, they were preparing to do so again. As it turned out,
theyhad nothing to do with the Hutchinson letters, and in a letter
to the London Chronicle, Franklin
confessed: "Finding that two gentlemen have been unfortunately
engaged in a duel, about atransaction and its circumstance of which
both are totally ignorant and innocent, I think itincumbent on me
to declare (for the prevention of farther mischief, as far as such
a declaration maycontribute to prevent it) that I alone am the
person who obtained and transmitted to Boston theletters in
question." However, he refused to say who gave him the letters.
Obviously more benign than the US government of the twenty-first
century, Benjamin Franklin wasnot locked up and held in solitary
confinement, as was the case with Manning Bradley, or
threatenedwith charges of espionage, like Assange.
On January 29, 1774, Franklin was hauled before the Privy
Council to explain why he had leaked theletters in the Hutchinson
Affair . Accused of thievery and dishonor, he was called the
"primemover" of Boston's insurgents and charged with being a "true
incendiary." Throughout the hearing,Franklin maintained a dignified
silence. For his disloyalty to the Crown, the Privy Council held
off sending Franklin to the gallows or even sentencing him to an
afternoon in the stocks. Instead,Solicitor General Alexander
Wedderburn felt satisfied with the tongue-lashing he meted out
toFranklin, and the next day the Board of Trade dismissed Franklin
from his post as Deputy PostmasterGeneral of the North America
colonies.
Had the Espionage Act been in place in Great Britain in 1774,
Franklin would not have been aroundto lead the War of Independence
nor would he have been around to raise vital funds to support
therebellion. And, if that had been the case, we would never have
his signature on the Declaration of Independence or the United
States Constitution.
