[DIPLOMACY] Debating Law with a Brigand

[u/771058]

[Published May 15th]

A missive, scribed in plain text is posted in the central squares of Hanseaic Kontors througout Germany, and delivered to the residences of the most prominent Lords, Bishops of the Realm. It carries the ink seal of the Rathus of Hamburg.

What does the Imperial Peace mean, if it is to be broken by any man of sufficient Strength?

Just this month, the Duke Henry of Welf has raised an army to conquer the City of Braunschweig. Just last year, the Lord-Elector Joachi Nestor of Hohenzollern declared war upon the City of Lubeck; and, to this day, holds it under merciless siege, on the behalf of a foriegn King.

Is this what the Empire is to its people, its rulers? A playground for ambition and violence?

No. We are a country of laws. A society where the ambitions of man are contained by those rules God has ordained for us, and those which we write for ourselves, and our grandchildren. Principly among these rules, is the Ewiger Landfried. That no state of the Empire, no matter how powerful, may by force of arms assert itself over a neighbor. All of our estates, no matter how big, or how small, fall under the protection of this principle. However, its validity depends on our commitment to not only observing it, but by ostricizing those who violate it.

The Free-City of Braunschweig is a lawfully established, immediate Prince of the Empire, possessing the right to vote in the Diet, and to petition the Crown directly for the redress of Greivences. If their very real freedom is subject to being superceded by dynastic land claim, then who is the Empire is truly safe from their neighbors?

If we fail to act upon our obligation to protect the Ewiger Landfried, then its protections will erode away like sand on the seaside. The Free City of Hamburg, despite its own challenges and adversities intends to follow this commitment.

We would call on all the citizens, Lords, and clergy of the Empire to Join with us in the rejection of the Illegal, and ungodly actions of the Duke Henry of Welf; to recognize the Autonomy and Rights due to Braunschweig as a legally acknowledged immediate Prince of the Empire; to Petition with us to the Reichsofrat for the lawful resolution of this breach of the Rights of an immediate estate of the Empire; and to refuse to be complicit in these actions against the foundations of the Empire.

We would further call for the Boycott of all goods produced within the territories of those lords who are taking part in this senseless aggression, to refrain from the transit of any taxable item through the juristiction of the same, nor to permit armed men of the offending party transit through your lands; until such a time, that the legality of the Welfs claims can be appropriately examined and ruled upon in the Court of Law.

Together, we can uphold the rule of Law. In solidarity, we must uphold the rule of law.