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diff --git a/31270-8.txt b/31270-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5f064f8 --- /dev/null +++ b/31270-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,40377 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Writings Of Thomas Paine, Complete, by Thomas Paine + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Writings Of Thomas Paine, Complete + With Index to Volumes I - IV + +Author: Thomas Paine + +Editor: Moncure Daniel Conway + +Release Date: February 13, 2010 [EBook #31270] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE, VOLUME I. + +By Thomas Paine + +Collected And Edited By Moncure Daniel Conway + + +Transcriber's Note:This file posted, on the US President's Day Holiday, +in memory of Thomas Paine, one of our most influential and most +unappreciated patriots. + + + +THE AMERICAN CRISIS + + + Table of Contents + + Editor's Preface + + The Crisis No. I + + The Crisis No. II - To Lord Howe + + The Crisis No. III + + The Crisis No. IV + + The Crisis No. V - To General Sir William Howe + - To The Inhabitants Of America + + The Crisis No. VI - To The Earl Of Carlisle, General Clinton, And + William Eden, ESQ., British Commissioners At New York + + The Crisis No. VII - To The People Of England + + The Crisis No. VIII - Addressed To The People Of England + + The Crisis No. IX - The Crisis Extraordinary - On the Subject + of Taxation + + The Crisis No. X - On The King Of England's Speech + - To The People Of America + + The Crisis No. XI - On The Present State Of News + - A Supernumerary Crisis (To Sir Guy Carleton.) + + The Crisis No. XII - To The Earl Of Shelburne + + The Crisis No. XIII - On The Peace, And The Probable Advantages + Thereof + + A Supernumerary Crisis - (To The People Of America) + + + + +THE AMERICAN CRISIS. + + + + +EDITOR'S PREFACE. + +THOMAS PAINE, in his Will, speaks of this work as The American Crisis, +remembering perhaps that a number of political pamphlets had appeared in +London, 1775-1776, under general title of "The Crisis." By the blunder +of an early English publisher of Paine's writings, one essay in the +London "Crisis" was attributed to Paine, and the error has continued +to cause confusion. This publisher was D. I. Eaton, who printed as +the first number of Paine's "Crisis" an essay taken from the London +publication. But his prefatory note says: "Since the printing of this +book, the publisher is informed that No. 1, or first Crisis in this +publication, is not one of the thirteen which Paine wrote, but a +letter previous to them." Unfortunately this correction is sufficiently +equivocal to leave on some minds the notion that Paine did write the +letter in question, albeit not as a number of his "Crisis "; especially +as Eaton's editor unwarrantably appended the signature "C. S.," +suggesting "Common Sense." There are, however, no such letters in the +London essay, which is signed "Casca." It was published August, 1775, +in the form of a letter to General Gage, in answer to his Proclamation +concerning the affair at Lexington. It was certainly not written by +Paine. It apologizes for the Americans for having, on April 19, at +Lexington, made "an attack upon the King's troops from behind walls and +lurking holes." The writer asks: "Have not the Americans been driven +to this frenzy? Is it not common for an enemy to take every advantage?" +Paine, who was in America when the affair occurred at Lexington, would +have promptly denounced Gage's story as a falsehood, but the facts known +to every one in America were as yet not before the London writer. The +English "Crisis" bears evidence throughout of having been written in +London. It derived nothing from Paine, and he derived nothing from it, +unless its title, and this is too obvious for its origin to require +discussion. I have no doubt, however, that the title was suggested +by the English publication, because Paine has followed its scheme in +introducing a "Crisis Extraordinary." His work consists of thirteen +numbers, and, in addition to these, a "Crisis Extraordinary" and a +"Supernumerary Crisis." In some modern collections all of these have been +serially numbered, and a brief newspaper article added, making sixteen +numbers. But Paine, in his Will, speaks of the number as thirteen, +wishing perhaps, in his characteristic way, to adhere to the number +of the American Colonies, as he did in the thirteen ribs of his iron +bridge. His enumeration is therefore followed in the present volume, and +the numbers printed successively, although other writings intervened. + +The first "Crisis" was printed in the Pennsylvania Journal, December +19, 1776, and opens with the famous sentence, "These are the times that +try men's souls"; the last "Crisis" appeared April 19,1783, (eighth +anniversary of the first gun of the war, at Lexington,) and opens with +the words, "The times that tried men's souls are over." The great +effect produced by Paine's successive publications has been attested by +Washington and Franklin, by every leader of the American Revolution, +by resolutions of Congress, and by every contemporary historian of the +events amid which they were written. The first "Crisis" is of especial +historical interest. It was written during the retreat of Washington +across the Delaware, and by order of the Commander was read to groups of +his dispirited and suffering soldiers. Its opening sentence was adopted +as the watchword of the movement on Trenton, a few days after its +publication, and is believed to have inspired much of the courage which +won that victory, which, though not imposing in extent, was of great +moral effect on Washington's little army. + + + + +THE CRISIS + + + + +THE CRISIS I. (THESE ARE THE TIMES THAT TRY MEN'S SOULS) + +THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the +sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their +country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man +and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this +consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the +triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness +only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper +price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an +article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated. Britain, with an army to +enforce her tyranny, has declared that she has a right (not only to TAX) +but "to BIND us in ALL CASES WHATSOEVER," and if being bound in that +manner, is not slavery, then is there not such a thing as slavery upon +earth. Even the expression is impious; for so unlimited a power can +belong only to God. + +Whether the independence of the continent was declared too soon, or +delayed too long, I will not now enter into as an argument; my own +simple opinion is, that had it been eight months earlier, it would have +been much better. We did not make a proper use of last winter, neither +could we, while we were in a dependent state. However, the fault, if it +were one, was all our own*; we have none to blame but ourselves. But +no great deal is lost yet. All that Howe has been doing for this month +past, is rather a ravage than a conquest, which the spirit of the +Jerseys, a year ago, would have quickly repulsed, and which time and a +little resolution will soon recover. + + + * The present winter is worth an age, if rightly employed; but, if +lost or neglected, the whole continent will partake of the evil; and +there is no punishment that man does not deserve, be he who, or what, or +where he will, that may be the means of sacrificing a season so precious +and useful. + +I have as little superstition in me as any man living, but my secret +opinion has ever been, and still is, that God Almighty will not give up +a people to military destruction, or leave them unsupportedly to perish, +who have so earnestly and so repeatedly sought to avoid the calamities +of war, by every decent method which wisdom could invent. Neither have I +so much of the infidel in me, as to suppose that He has relinquished the +government of the world, and given us up to the care of devils; and as I +do not, I cannot see on what grounds the king of Britain can look up +to heaven for help against us: a common murderer, a highwayman, or a +house-breaker, has as good a pretence as he. + +'Tis surprising to see how rapidly a panic will sometimes run through +a country. All nations and ages have been subject to them. Britain has +trembled like an ague at the report of a French fleet of flat-bottomed +boats; and in the fourteenth [fifteenth] century the whole English army, +after ravaging the kingdom of France, was driven back like men petrified +with fear; and this brave exploit was performed by a few broken forces +collected and headed by a woman, Joan of Arc. Would that heaven might +inspire some Jersey maid to spirit up her countrymen, and save her fair +fellow sufferers from ravage and ravishment! Yet panics, in some cases, +have their uses; they produce as much good as hurt. Their duration is +always short; the mind soon grows through them, and acquires a firmer +habit than before. But their peculiar advantage is, that they are the +touchstones of sincerity and hypocrisy, and bring things and men to +light, which might otherwise have lain forever undiscovered. In fact, +they have the same effect on secret traitors, which an imaginary +apparition would have upon a private murderer. They sift out the +hidden thoughts of man, and hold them up in public to the world. Many +a disguised Tory has lately shown his head, that shall penitentially +solemnize with curses the day on which Howe arrived upon the Delaware. + +As I was with the troops at Fort Lee, and marched with them to the edge +of Pennsylvania, I am well acquainted with many circumstances, which +those who live at a distance know but little or nothing of. Our +situation there was exceedingly cramped, the place being a narrow +neck of land between the North River and the Hackensack. Our force +was inconsiderable, being not one-fourth so great as Howe could bring +against us. We had no army at hand to have relieved the garrison, had +we shut ourselves up and stood on our defence. Our ammunition, light +artillery, and the best part of our stores, had been removed, on the +apprehension that Howe would endeavor to penetrate the Jerseys, in +which case Fort Lee could be of no use to us; for it must occur to every +thinking man, whether in the army or not, that these kind of field forts +are only for temporary purposes, and last in use no longer than the +enemy directs his force against the particular object which such forts +are raised to defend. Such was our situation and condition at Fort Lee +on the morning of the 20th of November, when an officer arrived with +information that the enemy with 200 boats had landed about seven miles +above; Major General [Nathaniel] Green, who commanded the garrison, +immediately ordered them under arms, and sent express to General +Washington at the town of Hackensack, distant by the way of the ferry += six miles. Our first object was to secure the bridge over the +Hackensack, which laid up the river between the enemy and us, about six +miles from us, and three from them. General Washington arrived in about +three-quarters of an hour, and marched at the head of the troops towards +the bridge, which place I expected we should have a brush for; however, +they did not choose to dispute it with us, and the greatest part of our +troops went over the bridge, the rest over the ferry, except some which +passed at a mill on a small creek, between the bridge and the ferry, and +made their way through some marshy grounds up to the town of Hackensack, +and there passed the river. We brought off as much baggage as the wagons +could contain, the rest was lost. The simple object was to bring off +the garrison, and march them on till they could be strengthened by the +Jersey or Pennsylvania militia, so as to be enabled to make a stand. +We staid four days at Newark, collected our out-posts with some of +the Jersey militia, and marched out twice to meet the enemy, on being +informed that they were advancing, though our numbers were greatly +inferior to theirs. Howe, in my little opinion, committed a great error +in generalship in not throwing a body of forces off from Staten Island +through Amboy, by which means he might have seized all our stores +at Brunswick, and intercepted our march into Pennsylvania; but if we +believe the power of hell to be limited, we must likewise believe that +their agents are under some providential control. + +I shall not now attempt to give all the particulars of our retreat to +the Delaware; suffice it for the present to say, that both officers +and men, though greatly harassed and fatigued, frequently without rest, +covering, or provision, the inevitable consequences of a long retreat, +bore it with a manly and martial spirit. All their wishes centred in +one, which was, that the country would turn out and help them to drive +the enemy back. Voltaire has remarked that King William never appeared +to full advantage but in difficulties and in action; the same remark may +be made on General Washington, for the character fits him. There is a +natural firmness in some minds which cannot be unlocked by trifles, but +which, when unlocked, discovers a cabinet of fortitude; and I reckon it +among those kind of public blessings, which we do not immediately see, +that God hath blessed him with uninterrupted health, and given him a +mind that can even flourish upon care. + +I shall conclude this paper with some miscellaneous remarks on the state +of our affairs; and shall begin with asking the following question, Why +is it that the enemy have left the New England provinces, and made these +middle ones the seat of war? The answer is easy: New England is not +infested with Tories, and we are. I have been tender in raising the +cry against these men, and used numberless arguments to show them their +danger, but it will not do to sacrifice a world either to their folly +or their baseness. The period is now arrived, in which either they or +we must change our sentiments, or one or both must fall. And what is a +Tory? Good God! what is he? I should not be afraid to go with a hundred +Whigs against a thousand Tories, were they to attempt to get into arms. +Every Tory is a coward; for servile, slavish, self-interested fear is +the foundation of Toryism; and a man under such influence, though he may +be cruel, never can be brave. + +But, before the line of irrecoverable separation be drawn between us, +let us reason the matter together: Your conduct is an invitation to the +enemy, yet not one in a thousand of you has heart enough to join him. +Howe is as much deceived by you as the American cause is injured by you. +He expects you will all take up arms, and flock to his standard, with +muskets on your shoulders. Your opinions are of no use to him, unless +you support him personally, for 'tis soldiers, and not Tories, that he +wants. + +I once felt all that kind of anger, which a man ought to feel, against +the mean principles that are held by the Tories: a noted one, who kept a +tavern at Amboy, was standing at his door, with as pretty a child in his +hand, about eight or nine years old, as I ever saw, and after speaking +his mind as freely as he thought was prudent, finished with this +unfatherly expression, "Well! give me peace in my day." Not a man lives +on the continent but fully believes that a separation must some time or +other finally take place, and a generous parent should have said, "If +there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have +peace;" and this single reflection, well applied, is sufficient to +awaken every man to duty. Not a place upon earth might be so happy as +America. Her situation is remote from all the wrangling world, and she +has nothing to do but to trade with them. A man can distinguish himself +between temper and principle, and I am as confident, as I am that God +governs the world, that America will never be happy till she gets clear +of foreign dominion. Wars, without ceasing, will break out till that +period arrives, and the continent must in the end be conqueror; for +though the flame of liberty may sometimes cease to shine, the coal can +never expire. + +America did not, nor does not want force; but she wanted a proper +application of that force. Wisdom is not the purchase of a day, and it +is no wonder that we should err at the first setting off. From an excess +of tenderness, we were unwilling to raise an army, and trusted our +cause to the temporary defence of a well-meaning militia. A summer's +experience has now taught us better; yet with those troops, while they +were collected, we were able to set bounds to the progress of the enemy, +and, thank God! they are again assembling. I always considered militia +as the best troops in the world for a sudden exertion, but they will not +do for a long campaign. Howe, it is probable, will make an attempt on +this city [Philadelphia]; should he fail on this side the Delaware, he +is ruined. If he succeeds, our cause is not ruined. He stakes all on his +side against a part on ours; admitting he succeeds, the consequence will +be, that armies from both ends of the continent will march to assist +their suffering friends in the middle states; for he cannot go +everywhere, it is impossible. I consider Howe as the greatest enemy the +Tories have; he is bringing a war into their country, which, had it not +been for him and partly for themselves, they had been clear of. Should +he now be expelled, I wish with all the devotion of a Christian, that +the names of Whig and Tory may never more be mentioned; but should the +Tories give him encouragement to come, or assistance if he come, I +as sincerely wish that our next year's arms may expel them from the +continent, and the Congress appropriate their possessions to the relief +of those who have suffered in well-doing. A single successful battle +next year will settle the whole. America could carry on a two years' war +by the confiscation of the property of disaffected persons, and be made +happy by their expulsion. Say not that this is revenge, call it rather +the soft resentment of a suffering people, who, having no object in view +but the good of all, have staked their own all upon a seemingly doubtful +event. Yet it is folly to argue against determined hardness; eloquence +may strike the ear, and the language of sorrow draw forth the tear +of compassion, but nothing can reach the heart that is steeled with +prejudice. + +Quitting this class of men, I turn with the warm ardor of a friend to +those who have nobly stood, and are yet determined to stand the matter +out: I call not upon a few, but upon all: not on this state or that +state, but on every state: up and help us; lay your shoulders to the +wheel; better have too much force than too little, when so great an +object is at stake. Let it be told to the future world, that in the +depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive, that +the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to +meet and to repulse it. Say not that thousands are gone, turn out your +tens of thousands; throw not the burden of the day upon Providence, but +"show your faith by your works," that God may bless you. It matters not +where you live, or what rank of life you hold, the evil or the blessing +will reach you all. The far and the near, the home counties and the +back, the rich and the poor, will suffer or rejoice alike. The heart +that feels not now is dead; the blood of his children will curse his +cowardice, who shrinks back at a time when a little might have saved the +whole, and made them happy. I love the man that can smile in trouble, +that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. +'Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, +and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles +unto death. My own line of reasoning is to myself as straight and clear +as a ray of light. Not all the treasures of the world, so far as I +believe, could have induced me to support an offensive war, for I think +it murder; but if a thief breaks into my house, burns and destroys my +property, and kills or threatens to kill me, or those that are in it, +and to "bind me in all cases whatsoever" to his absolute will, am I to +suffer it? What signifies it to me, whether he who does it is a king or +a common man; my countryman or not my countryman; whether it be done by +an individual villain, or an army of them? If we reason to the root +of things we shall find no difference; neither can any just cause be +assigned why we should punish in the one case and pardon in the other. +Let them call me rebel and welcome, I feel no concern from it; but I +should suffer the misery of devils, were I to make a whore of my soul by +swearing allegiance to one whose character is that of a sottish, stupid, +stubborn, worthless, brutish man. I conceive likewise a horrid idea in +receiving mercy from a being, who at the last day shall be shrieking to +the rocks and mountains to cover him, and fleeing with terror from the +orphan, the widow, and the slain of America. + +There are cases which cannot be overdone by language, and this is one. +There are persons, too, who see not the full extent of the evil which +threatens them; they solace themselves with hopes that the enemy, if he +succeed, will be merciful. It is the madness of folly, to expect +mercy from those who have refused to do justice; and even mercy, where +conquest is the object, is only a trick of war; the cunning of the +fox is as murderous as the violence of the wolf, and we ought to guard +equally against both. Howe's first object is, partly by threats and +partly by promises, to terrify or seduce the people to deliver up their +arms and receive mercy. The ministry recommended the same plan to Gage, +and this is what the tories call making their peace, "a peace which +passeth all understanding" indeed! A peace which would be the immediate +forerunner of a worse ruin than any we have yet thought of. Ye men of +Pennsylvania, do reason upon these things! Were the back counties to +give up their arms, they would fall an easy prey to the Indians, who are +all armed: this perhaps is what some Tories would not be sorry for. Were +the home counties to deliver up their arms, they would be exposed to the +resentment of the back counties who would then have it in their power to +chastise their defection at pleasure. And were any one state to give up +its arms, that state must be garrisoned by all Howe's army of Britons +and Hessians to preserve it from the anger of the rest. Mutual fear is +the principal link in the chain of mutual love, and woe be to that state +that breaks the compact. Howe is mercifully inviting you to barbarous +destruction, and men must be either rogues or fools that will not see +it. I dwell not upon the vapors of imagination; I bring reason to your +ears, and, in language as plain as A, B, C, hold up truth to your eyes. + +I thank God, that I fear not. I see no real cause for fear. I know +our situation well, and can see the way out of it. While our army was +collected, Howe dared not risk a battle; and it is no credit to him +that he decamped from the White Plains, and waited a mean opportunity to +ravage the defenceless Jerseys; but it is great credit to us, that, with +a handful of men, we sustained an orderly retreat for near an hundred +miles, brought off our ammunition, all our field pieces, the greatest +part of our stores, and had four rivers to pass. None can say that our +retreat was precipitate, for we were near three weeks in performing it, +that the country might have time to come in. Twice we marched back to +meet the enemy, and remained out till dark. The sign of fear was not +seen in our camp, and had not some of the cowardly and disaffected +inhabitants spread false alarms through the country, the Jerseys had +never been ravaged. Once more we are again collected and collecting; our +new army at both ends of the continent is recruiting fast, and we shall +be able to open the next campaign with sixty thousand men, well armed +and clothed. This is our situation, and who will may know it. By +perseverance and fortitude we have the prospect of a glorious issue; +by cowardice and submission, the sad choice of a variety of evils--a +ravaged country--a depopulated city--habitations without safety, and +slavery without hope--our homes turned into barracks and bawdy-houses +for Hessians, and a future race to provide for, whose fathers we shall +doubt of. Look on this picture and weep over it! and if there yet +remains one thoughtless wretch who believes it not, let him suffer it +unlamented. + +COMMON SENSE. + +December 23, 1776. + + + + +THE CRISIS II. TO LORD HOWE. + + "What's in the name of lord, that I should fear + To bring my grievance to the public ear?" + CHURCHILL. + +UNIVERSAL empire is the prerogative of a writer. His concerns are with +all mankind, and though he cannot command their obedience, he can assign +them their duty. The Republic of Letters is more ancient than monarchy, +and of far higher character in the world than the vassal court of +Britain; he that rebels against reason is a real rebel, but he that in +defence of reason rebels against tyranny has a better title to "Defender +of the Faith," than George the Third. + +As a military man your lordship may hold out the sword of war, and call +it the "ultima ratio regum": the last reason of kings; we in return +can show you the sword of justice, and call it "the best scourge of +tyrants." The first of these two may threaten, or even frighten for a +while, and cast a sickly languor over an insulted people, but reason +will soon recover the debauch, and restore them again to tranquil +fortitude. Your lordship, I find, has now commenced author, and +published a proclamation; I have published a Crisis. As they stand, they +are the antipodes of each other; both cannot rise at once, and one of +them must descend; and so quick is the revolution of things, that your +lordship's performance, I see, has already fallen many degrees from +its first place, and is now just visible on the edge of the political +horizon. + +It is surprising to what a pitch of infatuation, blind folly and +obstinacy will carry mankind, and your lordship's drowsy proclamation +is a proof that it does not even quit them in their sleep. Perhaps you +thought America too was taking a nap, and therefore chose, like Satan +to Eve, to whisper the delusion softly, lest you should awaken her. This +continent, sir, is too extensive to sleep all at once, and too watchful, +even in its slumbers, not to startle at the unhallowed foot of an +invader. You may issue your proclamations, and welcome, for we have +learned to "reverence ourselves," and scorn the insulting ruffian that +employs you. America, for your deceased brother's sake, would gladly +have shown you respect and it is a new aggravation to her feelings, +that Howe should be forgetful, and raise his sword against those, who at +their own charge raised a monument to his brother. But your master has +commanded, and you have not enough of nature left to refuse. Surely +there must be something strangely degenerating in the love of monarchy, +that can so completely wear a man down to an ingrate, and make him proud +to lick the dust that kings have trod upon. A few more years, should you +survive them, will bestow on you the title of "an old man": and in some +hour of future reflection you may probably find the fitness of Wolsey's +despairing penitence--"had I served my God as faithful as I have served +my king, he would not thus have forsaken me in my old age." + +The character you appear to us in, is truly ridiculous. Your friends, +the Tories, announced your coming, with high descriptions of your +unlimited powers; but your proclamation has given them the lie, by +showing you to be a commissioner without authority. Had your powers been +ever so great they were nothing to us, further than we pleased; because +we had the same right which other nations had, to do what we thought +was best. "The UNITED STATES of AMERICA," will sound as pompously in the +world or in history, as "the kingdom of Great Britain"; the character of +General Washington will fill a page with as much lustre as that of +Lord Howe: and the Congress have as much right to command the king and +Parliament in London to desist from legislation, as they or you have +to command the Congress. Only suppose how laughable such an edict would +appear from us, and then, in that merry mood, do but turn the tables +upon yourself, and you will see how your proclamation is received here. +Having thus placed you in a proper position in which you may have a full +view of your folly, and learn to despise it, I hold up to you, for +that purpose, the following quotation from your own lunarian +proclamation.--"And we (Lord Howe and General Howe) do command (and in +his majesty's name forsooth) all such persons as are assembled together, +under the name of general or provincial congresses, committees, +conventions or other associations, by whatever name or names known and +distinguished, to desist and cease from all such treasonable actings and +doings." + +You introduce your proclamation by referring to your declarations of +the 14th of July and 19th of September. In the last of these you sunk +yourself below the character of a private gentleman. That I may not +seem to accuse you unjustly, I shall state the circumstance: by a verbal +invitation of yours, communicated to Congress by General Sullivan, then +a prisoner on his parole, you signified your desire of conferring with +some members of that body as private gentlemen. It was beneath the +dignity of the American Congress to pay any regard to a message that +at best was but a genteel affront, and had too much of the ministerial +complexion of tampering with private persons; and which might probably +have been the case, had the gentlemen who were deputed on the business +possessed that kind of easy virtue which an English courtier is so truly +distinguished by. Your request, however, was complied with, for honest +men are naturally more tender of their civil than their political fame. +The interview ended as every sensible man thought it would; for +your lordship knows, as well as the writer of the Crisis, that it is +impossible for the King of England to promise the repeal, or even the +revisal of any acts of parliament; wherefore, on your part, you had +nothing to say, more than to request, in the room of demanding, the +entire surrender of the continent; and then, if that was complied with, +to promise that the inhabitants should escape with their lives. This was +the upshot of the conference. You informed the conferees that you were +two months in soliciting these powers. We ask, what powers? for as +commissioner you have none. If you mean the power of pardoning, it is +an oblique proof that your master was determined to sacrifice all before +him; and that you were two months in dissuading him from his purpose. +Another evidence of his savage obstinacy! From your own account of the +matter we may justly draw these two conclusions: 1st, That you serve +a monster; and 2d, That never was a messenger sent on a more foolish +errand than yourself. This plain language may perhaps sound uncouthly to +an ear vitiated by courtly refinements, but words were made for use, +and the fault lies in deserving them, or the abuse in applying them +unfairly. + +Soon after your return to New York, you published a very illiberal and +unmanly handbill against the Congress; for it was certainly stepping out +of the line of common civility, first to screen your national pride +by soliciting an interview with them as private gentlemen, and in the +conclusion to endeavor to deceive the multitude by making a handbill +attack on the whole body of the Congress; you got them together under +one name, and abused them under another. But the king you serve, and the +cause you support, afford you so few instances of acting the gentleman, +that out of pity to your situation the Congress pardoned the insult by +taking no notice of it. + +You say in that handbill, "that they, the Congress, disavowed every +purpose for reconciliation not consonant with their extravagant and +inadmissible claim of independence." Why, God bless me! what have you to +do with our independence? We ask no leave of yours to set it up; we ask +no money of yours to support it; we can do better without your fleets +and armies than with them; you may soon have enough to do to protect +yourselves without being burdened with us. We are very willing to be at +peace with you, to buy of you and sell to you, and, like young beginners +in the world, to work for our living; therefore, why do you put +yourselves out of cash, when we know you cannot spare it, and we do not +desire you to run into debt? I am willing, sir, that you should see +your folly in every point of view I can place it in, and for that reason +descend sometimes to tell you in jest what I wish you to see in earnest. +But to be more serious with you, why do you say, "their independence?" +To set you right, sir, we tell you, that the independency is ours, not +theirs. The Congress were authorized by every state on the continent to +publish it to all the world, and in so doing are not to be considered as +the inventors, but only as the heralds that proclaimed it, or the office +from which the sense of the people received a legal form; and it was as +much as any or all their heads were worth, to have treated with you on +the subject of submission under any name whatever. But we know the men +in whom we have trusted; can England say the same of her Parliament? + +I come now more particularly to your proclamation of the 30th of +November last. Had you gained an entire conquest over all the armies +of America, and then put forth a proclamation, offering (what you call) +mercy, your conduct would have had some specious show of humanity; but +to creep by surprise into a province, and there endeavor to terrify +and seduce the inhabitants from their just allegiance to the rest by +promises, which you neither meant nor were able to fulfil, is both cruel +and unmanly: cruel in its effects; because, unless you can keep all +the ground you have marched over, how are you, in the words of your +proclamation, to secure to your proselytes "the enjoyment of their +property?" What is to become either of your new adopted subjects, or +your old friends, the Tories, in Burlington, Bordentown, Trenton, Mount +Holly, and many other places, where you proudly lorded it for a few +days, and then fled with the precipitation of a pursued thief? What, I +say, is to become of those wretches? What is to become of those who went +over to you from this city and State? What more can you say to them than +"shift for yourselves?" Or what more can they hope for than to wander +like vagabonds over the face of the earth? You may now tell them to take +their leave of America, and all that once was theirs. Recommend them, +for consolation, to your master's court; there perhaps they may make +a shift to live on the scraps of some dangling parasite, and choose +companions among thousands like themselves. A traitor is the foulest +fiend on earth. + +In a political sense we ought to thank you for thus bequeathing estates +to the continent; we shall soon, at this rate, be able to carry on a war +without expense, and grow rich by the ill policy of Lord Howe, and the +generous defection of the Tories. Had you set your foot into this city, +you would have bestowed estates upon us which we never thought of, by +bringing forth traitors we were unwilling to suspect. But these men, +you'll say, "are his majesty's most faithful subjects;" let that honor, +then, be all their fortune, and let his majesty take them to himself. + +I am now thoroughly disgusted with them; they live in ungrateful ease, +and bend their whole minds to mischief. It seems as if God had +given them over to a spirit of infidelity, and that they are open to +conviction in no other line but that of punishment. It is time to have +done with tarring, feathering, carting, and taking securities for their +future good behavior; every sensible man must feel a conscious shame +at seeing a poor fellow hawked for a show about the streets, when it is +known he is only the tool of some principal villain, biassed into his +offence by the force of false reasoning, or bribed thereto, through sad +necessity. We dishonor ourselves by attacking such trifling characters +while greater ones are suffered to escape; 'tis our duty to find +them out, and their proper punishment would be to exile them from the +continent for ever. The circle of them is not so great as some imagine; +the influence of a few have tainted many who are not naturally corrupt. +A continual circulation of lies among those who are not much in the way +of hearing them contradicted, will in time pass for truth; and the crime +lies not in the believer but the inventor. I am not for declaring +war with every man that appears not so warm as myself: difference of +constitution, temper, habit of speaking, and many other things, will go +a great way in fixing the outward character of a man, yet simple honesty +may remain at bottom. Some men have naturally a military turn, and can +brave hardships and the risk of life with a cheerful face; others have +not; no slavery appears to them so great as the fatigue of arms, and +no terror so powerful as that of personal danger. What can we say? We +cannot alter nature, neither ought we to punish the son because the +father begot him in a cowardly mood. However, I believe most men have +more courage than they know of, and that a little at first is enough +to begin with. I knew the time when I thought that the whistling of a +cannon ball would have frightened me almost to death; but I have since +tried it, and find that I can stand it with as little discomposure, and, +I believe, with a much easier conscience than your lordship. The same +dread would return to me again were I in your situation, for my solemn +belief of your cause is, that it is hellish and damnable, and, under +that conviction, every thinking man's heart must fail him. + +From a concern that a good cause should be dishonored by the least +disunion among us, I said in my former paper, No. I. "That should the +enemy now be expelled, I wish, with all the sincerity of a Christian, +that the names of Whig and Tory might never more be mentioned;" but +there is a knot of men among us of such a venomous cast, that they +will not admit even one's good wishes to act in their favor. Instead +of rejoicing that heaven had, as it were, providentially preserved this +city from plunder and destruction, by delivering so great a part of the +enemy into our hands with so little effusion of blood, they stubbornly +affected to disbelieve it till within an hour, nay, half an hour, of +the prisoners arriving; and the Quakers put forth a testimony, dated the +20th of December, signed "John Pemberton," declaring their attachment to +the British government.* These men are continually harping on the great +sin of our bearing arms, but the king of Britain may lay waste the world +in blood and famine, and they, poor fallen souls, have nothing to say. + + + * I have ever been careful of charging offences upon whole societies +of men, but as the paper referred to is put forth by an unknown set of +men, who claim to themselves the right of representing the whole: +and while the whole Society of Quakers admit its validity by a silent +acknowledgment, it is impossible that any distinction can be made by +the public: and the more so, because the New York paper of the 30th of +December, printed by permission of our enemies, says that "the Quakers +begin to speak openly of their attachment to the British Constitution." +We are certain that we have many friends among them, and wish to know +them. + +In some future paper I intend to distinguish between the different kind +of persons who have been denominated Tories; for this I am clear in, +that all are not so who have been called so, nor all men Whigs who +were once thought so; and as I mean not to conceal the name of any true +friend when there shall be occasion to mention him, neither will I that +of an enemy, who ought to be known, let his rank, station or religion be +what it may. Much pains have been taken by some to set your lordship's +private character in an amiable light, but as it has chiefly been done +by men who know nothing about you, and who are no ways remarkable for +their attachment to us, we have no just authority for believing it. +George the Third has imposed upon us by the same arts, but time, at +length, has done him justice, and the same fate may probably attend your +lordship. You avowed purpose here is to kill, conquer, plunder, pardon, +and enslave: and the ravages of your army through the Jerseys have been +marked with as much barbarism as if you had openly professed yourself +the prince of ruffians; not even the appearance of humanity has been +preserved either on the march or the retreat of your troops; no general +order that I could ever learn, has ever been issued to prevent or +even forbid your troops from robbery, wherever they came, and the only +instance of justice, if it can be called such, which has distinguished +you for impartiality, is, that you treated and plundered all alike; what +could not be carried away has been destroyed, and mahogany furniture has +been deliberately laid on fire for fuel, rather than the men should be +fatigued with cutting wood.* There was a time when the Whigs confided +much in your supposed candor, and the Tories rested themselves in your +favor; the experiments have now been made, and failed; in every town, +nay, every cottage, in the Jerseys, where your arms have been, is +a testimony against you. How you may rest under this sacrifice of +character I know not; but this I know, that you sleep and rise with the +daily curses of thousands upon you; perhaps the misery which the Tories +have suffered by your proffered mercy may give them some claim to their +country's pity, and be in the end the best favor you could show them. + + + * As some people may doubt the truth of such wanton destruction, I +think it necessary to inform them that one of the people called Quakers, +who lives at Trenton, gave me this information at the house of Mr. +Michael Hutchinson, (one of the same profession,) who lives near Trenton +ferry on the Pennsylvania side, Mr. Hutchinson being present. + +In a folio general-order book belonging to Col. Rhal's battalion, taken +at Trenton, and now in the possession of the council of safety for +this state, the following barbarous order is frequently repeated, "His +excellency the Commander-in-Chief orders, that all inhabitants who +shall be found with arms, not having an officer with them, shall be +immediately taken and hung up." How many you may thus have privately +sacrificed, we know not, and the account can only be settled in another +world. Your treatment of prisoners, in order to distress them to enlist +in your infernal service, is not to be equalled by any instance in +Europe. Yet this is the humane Lord Howe and his brother, whom the +Tories and their three-quarter kindred, the Quakers, or some of them at +least, have been holding up for patterns of justice and mercy! + +A bad cause will ever be supported by bad means and bad men; and whoever +will be at the pains of examining strictly into things, will find that +one and the same spirit of oppression and impiety, more or less, +governs through your whole party in both countries: not many days ago, +I accidentally fell in company with a person of this city noted for +espousing your cause, and on my remarking to him, "that it appeared +clear to me, by the late providential turn of affairs, that God Almighty +was visibly on our side," he replied, "We care nothing for that you may +have Him, and welcome; if we have but enough of the devil on our side, +we shall do." However carelessly this might be spoken, matters not, 'tis +still the insensible principle that directs all your conduct and will at +last most assuredly deceive and ruin you. + +If ever a nation was made and foolish, blind to its own interest and +bent on its own destruction, it is Britain. There are such things as +national sins, and though the punishment of individuals may be reserved +to another world, national punishment can only be inflicted in this +world. Britain, as a nation, is, in my inmost belief, the greatest and +most ungrateful offender against God on the face of the whole earth. +Blessed with all the commerce she could wish for, and furnished, by +a vast extension of dominion, with the means of civilizing both the +eastern and western world, she has made no other use of both than +proudly to idolize her own "thunder," and rip up the bowels of whole +countries for what she could get. Like Alexander, she has made war her +sport, and inflicted misery for prodigality's sake. The blood of India +is not yet repaid, nor the wretchedness of Africa yet requited. Of +late she has enlarged her list of national cruelties by her butcherly +destruction of the Caribbs of St. Vincent's, and returning an answer by +the sword to the meek prayer for "Peace, liberty and safety." These +are serious things, and whatever a foolish tyrant, a debauched court, +a trafficking legislature, or a blinded people may think, the national +account with heaven must some day or other be settled: all countries +have sooner or later been called to their reckoning; the proudest +empires have sunk when the balance was struck; and Britain, like an +individual penitent, must undergo her day of sorrow, and the sooner it +happens to her the better. As I wish it over, I wish it to come, but +withal wish that it may be as light as possible. + +Perhaps your lordship has no taste for serious things; by your +connections in England I should suppose not; therefore I shall drop this +part of the subject, and take it up in a line in which you will better +understand me. + +By what means, may I ask, do you expect to conquer America? If you could +not effect it in the summer, when our army was less than yours, nor +in the winter, when we had none, how are you to do it? In point of +generalship you have been outwitted, and in point of fortitude outdone; +your advantages turn out to your loss, and show us that it is in our +power to ruin you by gifts: like a game of drafts, we can move out of +one square to let you come in, in order that we may afterwards take +two or three for one; and as we can always keep a double corner for +ourselves, we can always prevent a total defeat. You cannot be so +insensible as not to see that we have two to one the advantage of you, +because we conquer by a drawn game, and you lose by it. Burgoyne might +have taught your lordship this knowledge; he has been long a student in +the doctrine of chances. + +I have no other idea of conquering countries than by subduing the armies +which defend them: have you done this, or can you do it? If you have +not, it would be civil in you to let your proclamations alone for the +present; otherwise, you will ruin more Tories by your grace and favor, +than you will Whigs by your arms. + +Were you to obtain possession of this city, you would not know what to +do with it more than to plunder it. To hold it in the manner you hold +New York, would be an additional dead weight upon your hands; and if a +general conquest is your object, you had better be without the city than +with it. When you have defeated all our armies, the cities will fall +into your hands of themselves; but to creep into them in the manner you +got into Princeton, Trenton, &c. is like robbing an orchard in the +night before the fruit be ripe, and running away in the morning. Your +experiment in the Jerseys is sufficient to teach you that you have +something more to do than barely to get into other people's houses; and +your new converts, to whom you promised all manner of protection, and +seduced into new guilt by pardoning them from their former virtues, must +begin to have a very contemptible opinion both of your power and your +policy. Your authority in the Jerseys is now reduced to the small circle +which your army occupies, and your proclamation is no where else seen +unless it be to be laughed at. The mighty subduers of the continent have +retreated into a nutshell, and the proud forgivers of our sins are fled +from those they came to pardon; and all this at a time when they were +despatching vessel after vessel to England with the great news of +every day. In short, you have managed your Jersey expedition so very +dexterously, that the dead only are conquerors, because none will +dispute the ground with them. + +In all the wars which you have formerly been concerned in you had only +armies to contend with; in this case you have both an army and a country +to combat with. In former wars, the countries followed the fate of their +capitals; Canada fell with Quebec, and Minorca with Port Mahon or St. +Phillips; by subduing those, the conquerors opened a way into, and +became masters of the country: here it is otherwise; if you get +possession of a city here, you are obliged to shut yourselves up in it, +and can make no other use of it, than to spend your country's money in. +This is all the advantage you have drawn from New York; and you would +draw less from Philadelphia, because it requires more force to keep it, +and is much further from the sea. A pretty figure you and the Tories +would cut in this city, with a river full of ice, and a town full of +fire; for the immediate consequence of your getting here would be, that +you would be cannonaded out again, and the Tories be obliged to make +good the damage; and this sooner or later will be the fate of New York. + +I wish to see the city saved, not so much from military as from natural +motives. 'Tis the hiding place of women and children, and Lord Howe's +proper business is with our armies. When I put all the circumstances +together which ought to be taken, I laugh at your notion of conquering +America. Because you lived in a little country, where an army might run +over the whole in a few days, and where a single company of soldiers +might put a multitude to the rout, you expected to find it the same +here. It is plain that you brought over with you all the narrow notions +you were bred up with, and imagined that a proclamation in the king's +name was to do great things; but Englishmen always travel for knowledge, +and your lordship, I hope, will return, if you return at all, much wiser +than you came. + +We may be surprised by events we did not expect, and in that interval of +recollection you may gain some temporary advantage: such was the case +a few weeks ago, but we soon ripen again into reason, collect our +strength, and while you are preparing for a triumph, we come upon you +with a defeat. Such it has been, and such it would be were you to try +it a hundred times over. Were you to garrison the places you might march +over, in order to secure their subjection, (for remember you can do it +by no other means,) your army would be like a stream of water running to +nothing. By the time you extended from New York to Virginia, you would +be reduced to a string of drops not capable of hanging together; while +we, by retreating from State to State, like a river turning back upon +itself, would acquire strength in the same proportion as you lost it, +and in the end be capable of overwhelming you. The country, in the +meantime, would suffer, but it is a day of suffering, and we ought +to expect it. What we contend for is worthy the affliction we may go +through. If we get but bread to eat, and any kind of raiment to put on, +we ought not only to be contented, but thankful. More than that we ought +not to look for, and less than that heaven has not yet suffered us +to want. He that would sell his birthright for a little salt, is as +worthless as he who sold it for pottage without salt; and he that would +part with it for a gay coat, or a plain coat, ought for ever to be +a slave in buff. What are salt, sugar and finery, to the inestimable +blessings of "Liberty and Safety!" Or what are the inconveniences of +a few months to the tributary bondage of ages? The meanest peasant in +America, blessed with these sentiments, is a happy man compared with a +New York Tory; he can eat his morsel without repining, and when he has +done, can sweeten it with a repast of wholesome air; he can take his +child by the hand and bless it, without feeling the conscious shame of +neglecting a parent's duty. + +In publishing these remarks I have several objects in view. + +On your part they are to expose the folly of your pretended authority +as a commissioner; the wickedness of your cause in general; and the +impossibility of your conquering us at any rate. On the part of the +public, my intention is, to show them their true and sold interest; +to encourage them to their own good, to remove the fears and falsities +which bad men have spread, and weak men have encouraged; and to excite +in all men a love for union, and a cheerfulness for duty. + +I shall submit one more case to you respecting your conquest of this +country, and then proceed to new observations. + +Suppose our armies in every part of this continent were immediately to +disperse, every man to his home, or where else he might be safe, and +engage to reassemble again on a certain future day; it is clear that you +would then have no army to contend with, yet you would be as much at +a loss in that case as you are now; you would be afraid to send your +troops in parties over to the continent, either to disarm or prevent us +from assembling, lest they should not return; and while you kept them +together, having no arms of ours to dispute with, you could not call it +a conquest; you might furnish out a pompous page in the London Gazette +or a New York paper, but when we returned at the appointed time, you +would have the same work to do that you had at first. + +It has been the folly of Britain to suppose herself more powerful than +she really is, and by that means has arrogated to herself a rank in the +world she is not entitled to: for more than this century past she +has not been able to carry on a war without foreign assistance. In +Marlborough's campaigns, and from that day to this, the number of German +troops and officers assisting her have been about equal with her own; +ten thousand Hessians were sent to England last war to protect her +from a French invasion; and she would have cut but a poor figure in her +Canadian and West Indian expeditions, had not America been lavish both +of her money and men to help her along. The only instance in which she +was engaged singly, that I can recollect, was against the rebellion in +Scotland, in the years 1745 and 1746, and in that, out of three battles, +she was twice beaten, till by thus reducing their numbers, (as we +shall yours) and taking a supply ship that was coming to Scotland +with clothes, arms and money, (as we have often done,) she was at last +enabled to defeat them. England was never famous by land; her officers +have generally been suspected of cowardice, have more of the air of a +dancing-master than a soldier, and by the samples which we have taken +prisoners, we give the preference to ourselves. Her strength, of late, +has lain in her extravagance; but as her finances and credit are now +low, her sinews in that line begin to fail fast. As a nation she is the +poorest in Europe; for were the whole kingdom, and all that is in it, to +be put up for sale like the estate of a bankrupt, it would not fetch as +much as she owes; yet this thoughtless wretch must go to war, and with +the avowed design, too, of making us beasts of burden, to support her in +riot and debauchery, and to assist her afterwards in distressing those +nations who are now our best friends. This ingratitude may suit a Tory, +or the unchristian peevishness of a fallen Quaker, but none else. + +'Tis the unhappy temper of the English to be pleased with any war, right +or wrong, be it but successful; but they soon grow discontented with ill +fortune, and it is an even chance that they are as clamorous for peace +next summer, as the king and his ministers were for war last winter. +In this natural view of things, your lordship stands in a very critical +situation: your whole character is now staked upon your laurels; if they +wither, you wither with them; if they flourish, you cannot live long to +look at them; and at any rate, the black account hereafter is not far +off. What lately appeared to us misfortunes, were only blessings in +disguise; and the seeming advantages on your side have turned out to +our profit. Even our loss of this city, as far as we can see, might be a +principal gain to us: the more surface you spread over, the thinner +you will be, and the easier wiped away; and our consolation under that +apparent disaster would be, that the estates of the Tories would become +securities for the repairs. In short, there is no old ground we can fail +upon, but some new foundation rises again to support us. "We have put, +sir, our hands to the plough, and cursed be he that looketh back." + +Your king, in his speech to parliament last spring, declared, "That +he had no doubt but the great force they had enabled him to send to +America, would effectually reduce the rebellious colonies." It has not, +neither can it; but it has done just enough to lay the foundation of +its own next year's ruin. You are sensible that you left England in a +divided, distracted state of politics, and, by the command you had here, +you became a principal prop in the court party; their fortunes rest on +yours; by a single express you can fix their value with the public, and +the degree to which their spirits shall rise or fall; they are in your +hands as stock, and you have the secret of the alley with you. Thus +situated and connected, you become the unintentional mechanical +instrument of your own and their overthrow. The king and his ministers +put conquest out of doubt, and the credit of both depended on the proof. +To support them in the interim, it was necessary that you should make +the most of every thing, and we can tell by Hugh Gaine's New York +paper what the complexion of the London Gazette is. With such a list +of victories the nation cannot expect you will ask new supplies; and +to confess your want of them would give the lie to your triumphs, and +impeach the king and his ministers of treasonable deception. If you make +the necessary demand at home, your party sinks; if you make it not, you +sink yourself; to ask it now is too late, and to ask it before was too +soon, and unless it arrive quickly will be of no use. In short, the part +you have to act, cannot be acted; and I am fully persuaded that all you +have to trust to is, to do the best you can with what force you have +got, or little more. Though we have greatly exceeded you in point of +generalship and bravery of men, yet, as a people, we have not entered +into the full soul of enterprise; for I, who know England and the +disposition of the people well, am confident, that it is easier for us +to effect a revolution there, than you a conquest here; a few thousand +men landed in England with the declared design of deposing the present +king, bringing his ministers to trial, and setting up the Duke of +Gloucester in his stead, would assuredly carry their point, while you +are grovelling here, ignorant of the matter. As I send all my papers to +England, this, like Common Sense, will find its way there; and though +it may put one party on their guard, it will inform the other, and the +nation in general, of our design to help them. + +Thus far, sir, I have endeavored to give you a picture of present +affairs: you may draw from it what conclusions you please. I wish +as well to the true prosperity of England as you can, but I consider +INDEPENDENCE as America's natural right and interest, and never could +see any real disservice it would be to Britain. If an English merchant +receives an order, and is paid for it, it signifies nothing to him who +governs the country. This is my creed of politics. If I have any where +expressed myself over-warmly, 'tis from a fixed, immovable hatred I +have, and ever had, to cruel men and cruel measures. I have likewise an +aversion to monarchy, as being too debasing to the dignity of man; but +I never troubled others with my notions till very lately, nor ever +published a syllable in England in my life. What I write is pure nature, +and my pen and my soul have ever gone together. My writings I have +always given away, reserving only the expense of printing and paper, and +sometimes not even that. I never courted either fame or interest, and my +manner of life, to those who know it, will justify what I say. My study +is to be useful, and if your lordship loves mankind as well as I do, +you would, seeing you cannot conquer us, cast about and lend your hand +towards accomplishing a peace. Our independence with God's blessing +we will maintain against all the world; but as we wish to avoid +evil ourselves, we wish not to inflict it on others. I am never +over-inquisitive into the secrets of the cabinet, but I have some notion +that, if you neglect the present opportunity, it will not be in our +power to make a separate peace with you afterwards; for whatever +treaties or alliances we form, we shall most faithfully abide by; +wherefore you may be deceived if you think you can make it with us at +any time. A lasting independent peace is my wish, end and aim; and to +accomplish that, I pray God the Americans may never be defeated, and I +trust while they have good officers, and are well commanded, and willing +to be commanded, that they NEVER WILL BE. + + COMMON SENSE. + + PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 13, 1777. + + + + +THE CRISIS III. (IN THE PROGRESS OF POLITICS) + + +IN THE progress of politics, as in the common occurrences of life, +we are not only apt to forget the ground we have travelled over, but +frequently neglect to gather up experience as we go. We expend, if I may +so say, the knowledge of every day on the circumstances that produce it, +and journey on in search of new matter and new refinements: but as it is +pleasant and sometimes useful to look back, even to the first periods of +infancy, and trace the turns and windings through which we have passed, +so we may likewise derive many advantages by halting a while in our +political career, and taking a review of the wondrous complicated +labyrinth of little more than yesterday. + +Truly may we say, that never did men grow old in so short a time! We +have crowded the business of an age into the compass of a few months, +and have been driven through such a rapid succession of things, that +for the want of leisure to think, we unavoidably wasted knowledge as we +came, and have left nearly as much behind us as we brought with us: but +the road is yet rich with the fragments, and, before we finally lose +sight of them, will repay us for the trouble of stopping to pick them +up. + +Were a man to be totally deprived of memory, he would be incapable of +forming any just opinion; every thing about him would seem a chaos: +he would have even his own history to ask from every one; and by not +knowing how the world went in his absence, he would be at a loss to +know how it ought to go on when he recovered, or rather, returned to it +again. In like manner, though in a less degree, a too great inattention +to past occurrences retards and bewilders our judgment in everything; +while, on the contrary, by comparing what is past with what is present, +we frequently hit on the true character of both, and become wise with +very little trouble. It is a kind of counter-march, by which we get into +the rear of time, and mark the movements and meaning of things as we +make our return. There are certain circumstances, which, at the time +of their happening, are a kind of riddles, and as every riddle is to be +followed by its answer, so those kind of circumstances will be followed +by their events, and those events are always the true solution. A +considerable space of time may lapse between, and unless we continue our +observations from the one to the other, the harmony of them will pass +away unnoticed: but the misfortune is, that partly from the pressing +necessity of some instant things, and partly from the impatience of our +own tempers, we are frequently in such a hurry to make out the meaning +of everything as fast as it happens, that we thereby never truly +understand it; and not only start new difficulties to ourselves by so +doing, but, as it were, embarrass Providence in her good designs. + +I have been civil in stating this fault on a large scale, for, as it now +stands, it does not appear to be levelled against any particular set of +men; but were it to be refined a little further, it might afterwards +be applied to the Tories with a degree of striking propriety: those men +have been remarkable for drawing sudden conclusions from single facts. +The least apparent mishap on our side, or the least seeming advantage +on the part of the enemy, have determined with them the fate of a whole +campaign. By this hasty judgment they have converted a retreat into +a defeat; mistook generalship for error; while every little advantage +purposely given the enemy, either to weaken their strength by dividing +it, embarrass their councils by multiplying their objects, or to secure +a greater post by the surrender of a less, has been instantly magnified +into a conquest. Thus, by quartering ill policy upon ill principles, +they have frequently promoted the cause they designed to injure, and +injured that which they intended to promote. + +It is probable the campaign may open before this number comes from +the press. The enemy have long lain idle, and amused themselves with +carrying on the war by proclamations only. While they continue their +delay our strength increases, and were they to move to action now, it +is a circumstantial proof that they have no reinforcement coming; +wherefore, in either case, the comparative advantage will be ours. Like +a wounded, disabled whale, they want only time and room to die in; and +though in the agony of their exit, it may be unsafe to live within the +flapping of their tail, yet every hour shortens their date, and lessens +their power of mischief. If any thing happens while this number is in +the press, it will afford me a subject for the last pages of it. At +present I am tired of waiting; and as neither the enemy, nor the state +of politics have yet produced any thing new, I am thereby left in +the field of general matter, undirected by any striking or particular +object. This Crisis, therefore, will be made up rather of variety than +novelty, and consist more of things useful than things wonderful. + +The success of the cause, the union of the people, and the means of +supporting and securing both, are points which cannot be too much +attended to. He who doubts of the former is a desponding coward, and +he who wilfully disturbs the latter is a traitor. Their characters are +easily fixed, and under these short descriptions I leave them for the +present. + +One of the greatest degrees of sentimental union which America ever +knew, was in denying the right of the British parliament "to bind the +colonies in all cases whatsoever." The Declaration is, in its form, an +almighty one, and is the loftiest stretch of arbitrary power that ever +one set of men or one country claimed over another. Taxation was +nothing more than the putting the declared right into practice; and +this failing, recourse was had to arms, as a means to establish both +the right and the practice, or to answer a worse purpose, which will be +mentioned in the course of this number. And in order to repay themselves +the expense of an army, and to profit by their own injustice, the +colonies were, by another law, declared to be in a state of actual +rebellion, and of consequence all property therein would fall to the +conquerors. + +The colonies, on their part, first, denied the right; secondly, they +suspended the use of taxable articles, and petitioned against the +practice of taxation: and these failing, they, thirdly, defended their +property by force, as soon as it was forcibly invaded, and, in answer +to the declaration of rebellion and non-protection, published their +Declaration of Independence and right of self-protection. + +These, in a few words, are the different stages of the quarrel; and the +parts are so intimately and necessarily connected with each other as to +admit of no separation. A person, to use a trite phrase, must be a +Whig or a Tory in a lump. His feelings, as a man, may be wounded; his +charity, as a Christian, may be moved; but his political principles must +go through all the cases on one side or the other. He cannot be a Whig +in this stage, and a Tory in that. If he says he is against the united +independence of the continent, he is to all intents and purposes against +her in all the rest; because this last comprehends the whole. And he may +just as well say, that Britain was right in declaring us rebels; right +in taxing us; and right in declaring her "right to bind the colonies in +all cases whatsoever." It signifies nothing what neutral ground, of his +own creating, he may skulk upon for shelter, for the quarrel in no +stage of it hath afforded any such ground; and either we or Britain are +absolutely right or absolutely wrong through the whole. + +Britain, like a gamester nearly ruined, has now put all her losses into +one bet, and is playing a desperate game for the total. If she wins +it, she wins from me my life; she wins the continent as the forfeited +property of rebels; the right of taxing those that are left as reduced +subjects; and the power of binding them slaves: and the single die +which determines this unparalleled event is, whether we support our +independence or she overturn it. This is coming to the point at once. +Here is the touchstone to try men by. He that is not a supporter of the +independent States of America in the same degree that his religious and +political principles would suffer him to support the government of any +other country, of which he called himself a subject, is, in the American +sense of the word, A TORY; and the instant that he endeavors to bring +his toryism into practice, he becomes A TRAITOR. The first can only be +detected by a general test, and the law hath already provided for the +latter. + +It is unnatural and impolitic to admit men who would root up our +independence to have any share in our legislation, either as electors +or representatives; because the support of our independence rests, in +a great measure, on the vigor and purity of our public bodies. Would +Britain, even in time of peace, much less in war, suffer an election to +be carried by men who professed themselves to be not her subjects, or +allow such to sit in Parliament? Certainly not. + +But there are a certain species of Tories with whom conscience or +principle has nothing to do, and who are so from avarice only. Some +of the first fortunes on the continent, on the part of the Whigs, are +staked on the issue of our present measures. And shall disaffection only +be rewarded with security? Can any thing be a greater inducement to a +miserly man, than the hope of making his Mammon safe? And though the +scheme be fraught with every character of folly, yet, so long as he +supposes, that by doing nothing materially criminal against America +on one part, and by expressing his private disapprobation against +independence, as palliative with the enemy, on the other part, he stands +in a safe line between both; while, I say, this ground be suffered to +remain, craft, and the spirit of avarice, will point it out, and men +will not be wanting to fill up this most contemptible of all characters. + +These men, ashamed to own the sordid cause from whence their +disaffection springs, add thereby meanness to meanness, by endeavoring +to shelter themselves under the mask of hypocrisy; that is, they had +rather be thought to be Tories from some kind of principle, than Tories +by having no principle at all. But till such time as they can show +some real reason, natural, political, or conscientious, on which their +objections to independence are founded, we are not obliged to give them +credit for being Tories of the first stamp, but must set them down as +Tories of the last. + +In the second number of the Crisis, I endeavored to show the +impossibility of the enemy's making any conquest of America, that +nothing was wanting on our part but patience and perseverance, and +that, with these virtues, our success, as far as human speculation could +discern, seemed as certain as fate. But as there are many among us, who, +influenced by others, have regularly gone back from the principles +they once held, in proportion as we have gone forward; and as it is the +unfortunate lot of many a good man to live within the neighborhood of +disaffected ones; I shall, therefore, for the sake of confirming the one +and recovering the other, endeavor, in the space of a page or two, to go +over some of the leading principles in support of independence. It is a +much pleasanter task to prevent vice than to punish it, and, however our +tempers may be gratified by resentment, or our national expenses eased +by forfeited estates, harmony and friendship is, nevertheless, the +happiest condition a country can be blessed with. + +The principal arguments in support of independence may be comprehended +under the four following heads. + + 1st, The natural right of the continent to independence. + 2d, Her interest in being independent. + 3d, The necessity,--and + 4th, The moral advantages arising therefrom. + +I. The natural right of the continent to independence, is a point which +never yet was called in question. It will not even admit of a debate. +To deny such a right, would be a kind of atheism against nature: and the +best answer to such an objection would be, "The fool hath said in his +heart there is no God." + +II. The interest of the continent in being independent is a point as +clearly right as the former. America, by her own internal industry, +and unknown to all the powers of Europe, was, at the beginning of the +dispute, arrived at a pitch of greatness, trade and population, beyond +which it was the interest of Britain not to suffer her to pass, lest she +should grow too powerful to be kept subordinate. She began to view +this country with the same uneasy malicious eye, with which a covetous +guardian would view his ward, whose estate he had been enriching himself +by for twenty years, and saw him just arriving at manhood. And America +owes no more to Britain for her present maturity, than the ward would +to the guardian for being twenty-one years of age. That America hath +flourished at the time she was under the government of Britain, is +true; but there is every natural reason to believe, that had she been an +independent country from the first settlement thereof, uncontrolled by +any foreign power, free to make her own laws, regulate and encourage her +own commerce, she had by this time been of much greater worth than now. +The case is simply this: the first settlers in the different colonies +were left to shift for themselves, unnoticed and unsupported by any +European government; but as the tyranny and persecution of the old world +daily drove numbers to the new, and as, by the favor of heaven on their +industry and perseverance, they grew into importance, so, in a like +degree, they became an object of profit to the greedy eyes of Europe. +It was impossible, in this state of infancy, however thriving and +promising, that they could resist the power of any armed invader that +should seek to bring them under his authority. In this situation, +Britain thought it worth her while to claim them, and the continent +received and acknowledged the claimer. It was, in reality, of no very +great importance who was her master, seeing, that from the force and +ambition of the different powers of Europe, she must, till she acquired +strength enough to assert her own right, acknowledge some one. As well, +perhaps, Britain as another; and it might have been as well to have been +under the states of Holland as any. The same hopes of engrossing and +profiting by her trade, by not oppressing it too much, would have +operated alike with any master, and produced to the colonies the same +effects. The clamor of protection, likewise, was all a farce; because, +in order to make that protection necessary, she must first, by her own +quarrels, create us enemies. Hard terms indeed! + +To know whether it be the interest of the continent to be independent, +we need only ask this easy, simple question: Is it the interest of a man +to be a boy all his life? The answer to one will be the answer to both. +America hath been one continued scene of legislative contention from +the first king's representative to the last; and this was unavoidably +founded in the natural opposition of interest between the old country +and the new. A governor sent from England, or receiving his authority +therefrom, ought never to have been considered in any other light +than that of a genteel commissioned spy, whose private business was +information, and his public business a kind of civilized oppression. In +the first of these characters he was to watch the tempers, sentiments, +and disposition of the people, the growth of trade, and the increase of +private fortunes; and, in the latter, to suppress all such acts of the +assemblies, however beneficial to the people, which did not directly +or indirectly throw some increase of power or profit into the hands of +those that sent him. + +America, till now, could never be called a free country, because her +legislation depended on the will of a man three thousand miles distant, +whose interest was in opposition to ours, and who, by a single "no," +could forbid what law he pleased. + +The freedom of trade, likewise, is, to a trading country, an article of +such importance, that the principal source of wealth depends upon it; +and it is impossible that any country can flourish, as it otherwise +might do, whose commerce is engrossed, cramped and fettered by the +laws and mandates of another--yet these evils, and more than I can here +enumerate, the continent has suffered by being under the government of +England. By an independence we clear the whole at once--put +an end to the business of unanswered petitions and fruitless +remonstrances--exchange Britain for Europe--shake hands with the +world--live at peace with the world--and trade to any market where we +can buy and sell. + +III. The necessity, likewise, of being independent, even before it was +declared, became so evident and important, that the continent ran the +risk of being ruined every day that she delayed it. There was reason to +believe that Britain would endeavor to make an European matter of it, +and, rather than lose the whole, would dismember it, like Poland, and +dispose of her several claims to the highest bidder. Genoa, failing in +her attempts to reduce Corsica, made a sale of it to the French, and +such trafficks have been common in the old world. We had at that time no +ambassador in any part of Europe, to counteract her negotiations, and +by that means she had the range of every foreign court uncontradicted +on our part. We even knew nothing of the treaty for the Hessians till it +was concluded, and the troops ready to embark. Had we been independent +before, we had probably prevented her obtaining them. We had no credit +abroad, because of our rebellious dependency. Our ships could claim no +protection in foreign ports, because we afforded them no justifiable +reason for granting it to us. The calling ourselves subjects, and at +the same time fighting against the power which we acknowledged, was +a dangerous precedent to all Europe. If the grievances justified the +taking up arms, they justified our separation; if they did not justify +our separation, neither could they justify our taking up arms. All +Europe was interested in reducing us as rebels, and all Europe (or the +greatest part at least) is interested in supporting us as independent +States. At home our condition was still worse: our currency had no +foundation, and the fall of it would have ruined Whig and Tory alike. We +had no other law than a kind of moderated passion; no other civil +power than an honest mob; and no other protection than the temporary +attachment of one man to another. Had independence been delayed a few +months longer, this continent would have been plunged into irrecoverable +confusion: some violent for it, some against it, till, in the general +cabal, the rich would have been ruined, and the poor destroyed. It is to +independence that every Tory owes the present safety which he lives +in; for by that, and that only, we emerged from a state of dangerous +suspense, and became a regular people. + +The necessity, likewise, of being independent, had there been no rupture +between Britain and America, would, in a little time, have brought one +on. The increasing importance of commerce, the weight and perplexity of +legislation, and the entangled state of European politics, would daily +have shown to the continent the impossibility of continuing subordinate; +for, after the coolest reflections on the matter, this must be allowed, +that Britain was too jealous of America to govern it justly; too +ignorant of it to govern it well; and too far distant from it to govern +it at all. + +IV. But what weigh most with all men of serious reflection are, the +moral advantages arising from independence: war and desolation have +become the trade of the old world; and America neither could nor can be +under the government of Britain without becoming a sharer of her +guilt, and a partner in all the dismal commerce of death. The spirit +of duelling, extended on a national scale, is a proper character for +European wars. They have seldom any other motive than pride, or any +other object than fame. The conquerors and the conquered are generally +ruined alike, and the chief difference at last is, that the one marches +home with his honors, and the other without them. 'Tis the natural +temper of the English to fight for a feather, if they suppose that +feather to be an affront; and America, without the right of asking why, +must have abetted in every quarrel, and abided by its fate. It is a +shocking situation to live in, that one country must be brought into all +the wars of another, whether the measure be right or wrong, or whether +she will or not; yet this, in the fullest extent, was, and ever would +be, the unavoidable consequence of the connection. Surely the Quakers +forgot their own principles when, in their late Testimony, they called +this connection, with these military and miserable appendages hanging to +it--"the happy constitution." + +Britain, for centuries past, has been nearly fifty years out of every +hundred at war with some power or other. It certainly ought to be a +conscientious as well political consideration with America, not to +dip her hands in the bloody work of Europe. Our situation affords us +a retreat from their cabals, and the present happy union of the states +bids fair for extirpating the future use of arms from one quarter of +the world; yet such have been the irreligious politics of the present +leaders of the Quakers, that, for the sake of they scarce know what, +they would cut off every hope of such a blessing by tying this continent +to Britain, like Hector to the chariot wheel of Achilles, to be dragged +through all the miseries of endless European wars. + +The connection, viewed from this ground, is distressing to every man +who has the feelings of humanity. By having Britain for our master, we +became enemies to the greatest part of Europe, and they to us: and the +consequence was war inevitable. By being our own masters, independent of +any foreign one, we have Europe for our friends, and the prospect of an +endless peace among ourselves. Those who were advocates for the British +government over these colonies, were obliged to limit both their +arguments and their ideas to the period of an European peace only; the +moment Britain became plunged in war, every supposed convenience to us +vanished, and all we could hope for was not to be ruined. Could this be +a desirable condition for a young country to be in? + +Had the French pursued their fortune immediately after the defeat of +Braddock last war, this city and province had then experienced the woful +calamities of being a British subject. A scene of the same kind might +happen again; for America, considered as a subject to the crown +of Britain, would ever have been the seat of war, and the bone of +contention between the two powers. + +On the whole, if the future expulsion of arms from one quarter of the +world would be a desirable object to a peaceable man; if the freedom of +trade to every part of it can engage the attention of a man of business; +if the support or fall of millions of currency can affect our interests; +if the entire possession of estates, by cutting off the lordly claims +of Britain over the soil, deserves the regard of landed property; and if +the right of making our own laws, uncontrolled by royal or ministerial +spies or mandates, be worthy our care as freemen;--then are all men +interested in the support of independence; and may he that supports it +not, be driven from the blessing, and live unpitied beneath the servile +sufferings of scandalous subjection! + +We have been amused with the tales of ancient wonders; we have read, +and wept over the histories of other nations: applauded, censured, or +pitied, as their cases affected us. The fortitude and patience of the +sufferers--the justness of their cause--the weight of their oppressions +and oppressors--the object to be saved or lost--with all the +consequences of a defeat or a conquest--have, in the hour of sympathy, +bewitched our hearts, and chained it to their fate: but where is the +power that ever made war upon petitioners? Or where is the war on which +a world was staked till now? + +We may not, perhaps, be wise enough to make all the advantages we ought +of our independence; but they are, nevertheless, marked and presented +to us with every character of great and good, and worthy the hand of +him who sent them. I look through the present trouble to a time of +tranquillity, when we shall have it in our power to set an example of +peace to all the world. Were the Quakers really impressed and influenced +by the quiet principles they profess to hold, they would, however +they might disapprove the means, be the first of all men to approve of +independence, because, by separating ourselves from the cities of Sodom +and Gomorrah, it affords an opportunity never given to man before of +carrying their favourite principle of peace into general practice, by +establishing governments that shall hereafter exist without wars. O! ye +fallen, cringing, priest-and-Pemberton-ridden people! What more can we +say of ye than that a religious Quaker is a valuable character, and a +political Quaker a real Jesuit. + +Having thus gone over some of the principal points in support of +independence, I must now request the reader to return back with me to +the period when it first began to be a public doctrine, and to examine +the progress it has made among the various classes of men. The area I +mean to begin at, is the breaking out of hostilities, April 19th, 1775. +Until this event happened, the continent seemed to view the dispute as +a kind of law-suit for a matter of right, litigating between the old +country and the new; and she felt the same kind and degree of horror, +as if she had seen an oppressive plaintiff, at the head of a band of +ruffians, enter the court, while the cause was before it, and put the +judge, the jury, the defendant and his counsel, to the sword. Perhaps a +more heart-felt convulsion never reached a country with the same +degree of power and rapidity before, and never may again. Pity for the +sufferers, mixed with indignation at the violence, and heightened with +apprehensions of undergoing the same fate, made the affair of Lexington +the affair of the continent. Every part of it felt the shock, and all +vibrated together. A general promotion of sentiment took place: those +who had drank deeply into Whiggish principles, that is, the right and +necessity not only of opposing, but wholly setting aside the power of +the crown as soon as it became practically dangerous (for in theory +it was always so), stepped into the first stage of independence; while +another class of Whigs, equally sound in principle, but not so sanguine +in enterprise, attached themselves the stronger to the cause, and fell +close in with the rear of the former; their partition was a mere point. +Numbers of the moderate men, whose chief fault, at that time, arose from +entertaining a better opinion of Britain than she deserved, convinced +now of their mistake, gave her up, and publicly declared themselves +good Whigs. While the Tories, seeing it was no longer a laughing matter, +either sank into silent obscurity, or contented themselves with coming +forth and abusing General Gage: not a single advocate appeared to +justify the action of that day; it seemed to appear to every one with +the same magnitude, struck every one with the same force, and created in +every one the same abhorrence. From this period we may date the growth +of independence. + +If the many circumstances which happened at this memorable time, be +taken in one view, and compared with each other, they will justify a +conclusion which seems not to have been attended to, I mean a fixed +design in the king and ministry of driving America into arms, in order +that they might be furnished with a pretence for seizing the whole +continent, as the immediate property of the crown. A noble plunder for +hungry courtiers! + +It ought to be remembered, that the first petition from the Congress +was at this time unanswered on the part of the British king. That the +motion, called Lord North's motion, of the 20th of February, 1775, +arrived in America the latter end of March. This motion was to be laid, +by the several governors then in being, before, the assembly of each +province; and the first assembly before which it was laid, was the +assembly of Pennsylvania, in May following. This being a just state of +the case, I then ask, why were hostilities commenced between the time +of passing the resolve in the House of Commons, of the 20th of February, +and the time of the assemblies meeting to deliberate upon it? Degrading +and famous as that motion was, there is nevertheless reason to believe +that the king and his adherents were afraid the colonies would agree +to it, and lest they should, took effectual care they should not, by +provoking them with hostilities in the interim. They had not the least +doubt at that time of conquering America at one blow; and what they +expected to get by a conquest being infinitely greater than any thing +they could hope to get either by taxation or accommodation, they seemed +determined to prevent even the possibility of hearing each other, lest +America should disappoint their greedy hopes of the whole, by listening +even to their own terms. On the one hand they refused to hear the +petition of the continent, and on the other hand took effectual care the +continent should not hear them. + +That the motion of the 20th February and the orders for commencing +hostilities were both concerted by the same person or persons, and not +the latter by General Gage, as was falsely imagined at first, is evident +from an extract of a letter of his to the administration, read among +other papers in the House of Commons; in which he informs his masters, +"That though their idea of his disarming certain counties was a right +one, yet it required him to be master of the country, in order to enable +him to execute it." This was prior to the commencement of hostilities, +and consequently before the motion of the 20th February could be +deliberated on by the several assemblies. + +Perhaps it may be asked, why was the motion passed, if there was at the +same time a plan to aggravate the Americans not to listen to it? Lord +North assigned one reason himself, which was a hope of dividing them. +This was publicly tempting them to reject it; that if, in case the +injury of arms should fail in provoking them sufficiently, the insult +of such a declaration might fill it up. But by passing the motion and +getting it afterwards rejected in America, it enabled them, in their +wicked idea of politics, among other things, to hold up the colonies to +foreign powers, with every possible mark of disobedience and rebellion. +They had applied to those powers not to supply the continent with arms, +ammunition, etc., and it was necessary they should incense them against +us, by assigning on their own part some seeming reputable reason why. +By dividing, it had a tendency to weaken the States, and likewise to +perplex the adherents of America in England. But the principal scheme, +and that which has marked their character in every part of their +conduct, was a design of precipitating the colonies into a state which +they might afterwards deem rebellion, and, under that pretence, put an +end to all future complaints, petitions and remonstrances, by seizing +the whole at once. They had ravaged one part of the globe, till it could +glut them no longer; their prodigality required new plunder, and through +the East India article tea they hoped to transfer their rapine from that +quarter of the world to this. Every designed quarrel had its pretence; +and the same barbarian avarice accompanied the plant to America, which +ruined the country that produced it. + +That men never turn rogues without turning fools is a maxim, sooner or +later, universally true. The commencement of hostilities, being in the +beginning of April, was, of all times the worst chosen: the Congress +were to meet the tenth of May following, and the distress the continent +felt at this unparalleled outrage gave a stability to that body which +no other circumstance could have done. It suppressed too all inferior +debates, and bound them together by a necessitous affection, without +giving them time to differ upon trifles. The suffering likewise softened +the whole body of the people into a degree of pliability, which laid the +principal foundation-stone of union, order, and government; and which, +at any other time, might only have fretted and then faded away +unnoticed and unimproved. But Providence, who best knows how to time her +misfortunes as well as her immediate favors, chose this to be the time, +and who dare dispute it? + +It did not seem the disposition of the people, at this crisis, to +heap petition upon petition, while the former remained unanswered. The +measure however was carried in Congress, and a second petition was sent; +of which I shall only remark that it was submissive even to a dangerous +fault, because the prayer of it appealed solely to what it called the +prerogative of the crown, while the matter in dispute was confessedly +constitutional. But even this petition, flattering as it was, was +still not so harmonious as the chink of cash, and consequently not +sufficiently grateful to the tyrant and his ministry. From every +circumstance it is evident, that it was the determination of the British +court to have nothing to do with America but to conquer her fully and +absolutely. They were certain of success, and the field of battle was +the only place of treaty. I am confident there are thousands and tens of +thousands in America who wonder now that they should ever have thought +otherwise; but the sin of that day was the sin of civility; yet it +operated against our present good in the same manner that a civil +opinion of the devil would against our future peace. + +Independence was a doctrine scarce and rare, even towards the conclusion +of the year 1775; all our politics had been founded on the hope of +expectation of making the matter up--a hope, which, though general on +the side of America, had never entered the head or heart of the British +court. Their hope was conquest and confiscation. Good heavens! what +volumes of thanks does America owe to Britain? What infinite obligation +to the tool that fills, with paradoxical vacancy, the throne! Nothing +but the sharpest essence of villany, compounded with the strongest +distillation of folly, could have produced a menstruum that would have +effected a separation. The Congress in 1774 administered an abortive +medicine to independence, by prohibiting the importation of goods, +and the succeeding Congress rendered the dose still more dangerous by +continuing it. Had independence been a settled system with America, (as +Britain has advanced,) she ought to have doubled her importation, and +prohibited in some degree her exportation. And this single circumstance +is sufficient to acquit America before any jury of nations, of having +a continental plan of independence in view; a charge which, had it been +true, would have been honorable, but is so grossly false, that either +the amazing ignorance or the wilful dishonesty of the British court is +effectually proved by it. + +The second petition, like the first, produced no answer; it was +scarcely acknowledged to have been received; the British court were too +determined in their villainy even to act it artfully, and in their rage +for conquest neglected the necessary subtleties for obtaining it. They +might have divided, distracted and played a thousand tricks with us, had +they been as cunning as they were cruel. + +This last indignity gave a new spring to independence. Those who knew +the savage obstinacy of the king, and the jobbing, gambling spirit of +the court, predicted the fate of the petition, as soon as it was sent +from America; for the men being known, their measures were easily +foreseen. As politicians we ought not so much to ground our hopes on +the reasonableness of the thing we ask, as on the reasonableness of +the person of whom we ask it: who would expect discretion from a fool, +candor from a tyrant, or justice from a villain? + +As every prospect of accommodation seemed now to fail fast, men began to +think seriously on the matter; and their reason being thus stripped of +the false hope which had long encompassed it, became approachable by +fair debate: yet still the bulk of the people hesitated; they startled +at the novelty of independence, without once considering that our +getting into arms at first was a more extraordinary novelty, and that +all other nations had gone through the work of independence before +us. They doubted likewise the ability of the continent to support +it, without reflecting that it required the same force to obtain an +accommodation by arms as an independence. If the one was acquirable, the +other was the same; because, to accomplish either, it was necessary that +our strength should be too great for Britain to subdue; and it was too +unreasonable to suppose, that with the power of being masters, we should +submit to be servants.* Their caution at this time was exceedingly +misplaced; for if they were able to defend their property and maintain +their rights by arms, they, consequently, were able to defend and +support their independence; and in proportion as these men saw the +necessity and correctness of the measure, they honestly and openly +declared and adopted it, and the part that they had acted since has done +them honor and fully established their characters. Error in opinion has +this peculiar advantage with it, that the foremost point of the contrary +ground may at any time be reached by the sudden exertion of a thought; +and it frequently happens in sentimental differences, that some striking +circumstance, or some forcible reason quickly conceived, will effect in +an instant what neither argument nor example could produce in an age. + + + * In this state of political suspense the pamphlet Common Sense made +its appearance, and the success it met with does not become me to +mention. Dr. Franklin, Mr. Samuel and John Adams, were severally spoken +of as the supposed author. I had not, at that time, the pleasure either +of personally knowing or being known to the two last gentlemen. The +favor of Dr. Franklin's friendship I possessed in England, and my +introduction to this part of the world was through his patronage. I +happened, when a school-boy, to pick up a pleasing natural history of +Virginia, and my inclination from that day of seeing the western side +of the Atlantic never left me. In October, 1775, Dr. Franklin proposed +giving me such materials as were in his hands, towards completing a +history of the present transactions, and seemed desirous of having the +first volume out the next Spring. I had then formed the outlines of +Common Sense, and finished nearly the first part; and as I supposed the +doctor's design in getting out a history was to open the new year with +a new system, I expected to surprise him with a production on that +subject, much earlier than he thought of; and without informing him what +I was doing, got it ready for the press as fast as I conveniently could, +and sent him the first pamphlet that was printed off. + +I find it impossible in the small compass I am limited to, to trace out +the progress which independence has made on the minds of the different +classes of men, and the several reasons by which they were moved. With +some, it was a passionate abhorrence against the king of England and his +ministry, as a set of savages and brutes; and these men, governed by +the agony of a wounded mind, were for trusting every thing to hope and +heaven, and bidding defiance at once. With others, it was a growing +conviction that the scheme of the British court was to create, ferment +and drive on a quarrel, for the sake of confiscated plunder: and men +of this class ripened into independence in proportion as the evidence +increased. While a third class conceived it was the true interest of +America, internally and externally, to be her own master, and gave their +support to independence, step by step, as they saw her abilities to +maintain it enlarge. With many, it was a compound of all these reasons; +while those who were too callous to be reached by either, remained, and +still remain Tories. + +The legal necessity of being independent, with several collateral +reasons, is pointed out in an elegant masterly manner, in a charge to +the grand jury for the district of Charleston, by the Hon. William +Henry Drayton, chief justice of South Carolina, [April 23, 1776]. This +performance, and the address of the convention of New York, are pieces, +in my humble opinion, of the first rank in America. + +The principal causes why independence has not been so universally +supported as it ought, are fear and indolence, and the causes why it +has been opposed, are, avarice, down-right villany, and lust of personal +power. There is not such a being in America as a Tory from conscience; +some secret defect or other is interwoven in the character of all those, +be they men or women, who can look with patience on the brutality, +luxury and debauchery of the British court, and the violations of their +army here. A woman's virtue must sit very lightly on her who can even +hint a favorable sentiment in their behalf. It is remarkable that the +whole race of prostitutes in New York were tories; and the schemes for +supporting the Tory cause in this city, for which several are now +in jail, and one hanged, were concerted and carried on in common +bawdy-houses, assisted by those who kept them. + +The connection between vice and meanness is a fit subject for satire, +but when the satire is a fact, it cuts with the irresistible power of a +diamond. If a Quaker, in defence of his just rights, his property, +and the chastity of his house, takes up a musket, he is expelled the +meeting; but the present king of England, who seduced and took into +keeping a sister of their society, is reverenced and supported by +repeated Testimonies, while, the friendly noodle from whom she was taken +(and who is now in this city) continues a drudge in the service of his +rival, as if proud of being cuckolded by a creature called a king. + +Our support and success depend on such a variety of men and +circumstances, that every one who does but wish well, is of some use: +there are men who have a strange aversion to arms, yet have hearts to +risk every shilling in the cause, or in support of those who have better +talents for defending it. Nature, in the arrangement of mankind, has +fitted some for every service in life: were all soldiers, all would +starve and go naked, and were none soldiers, all would be slaves. As +disaffection to independence is the badge of a Tory, so affection to +it is the mark of a Whig; and the different services of the Whigs, down +from those who nobly contribute every thing, to those who have nothing +to render but their wishes, tend all to the same center, though with +different degrees of merit and ability. The larger we make the circle, +the more we shall harmonize, and the stronger we shall be. All we want +to shut out is disaffection, and, that excluded, we must accept from +each other such duties as we are best fitted to bestow. A narrow system +of politics, like a narrow system of religion, is calculated only to +sour the temper, and be at variance with mankind. + +All we want to know in America is simply this, who is for independence, +and who is not? Those who are for it, will support it, and the remainder +will undoubtedly see the reasonableness of paying the charges; while +those who oppose or seek to betray it, must expect the more rigid fate +of the jail and the gibbet. There is a bastard kind of generosity, which +being extended to all men, is as fatal to society, on one hand, as the +want of true generosity is on the other. A lax manner of administering +justice, falsely termed moderation, has a tendency both to dispirit +public virtue, and promote the growth of public evils. Had the late +committee of safety taken cognizance of the last Testimony of the +Quakers and proceeded against such delinquents as were concerned +therein, they had, probably, prevented the treasonable plans which +have been concerted since. When one villain is suffered to escape, it +encourages another to proceed, either from a hope of escaping likewise, +or an apprehension that we dare not punish. It has been a matter of +general surprise, that no notice was taken of the incendiary publication +of the Quakers, of the 20th of November last; a publication evidently +intended to promote sedition and treason, and encourage the enemy, who +were then within a day's march of this city, to proceed on and possess +it. I here present the reader with a memorial which was laid before the +board of safety a few days after the Testimony appeared. Not a member of +that board, that I conversed with, but expressed the highest detestation +of the perverted principles and conduct of the Quaker junto, and a wish +that the board would take the matter up; notwithstanding which, it was +suffered to pass away unnoticed, to the encouragement of new acts of +treason, the general danger of the cause, and the disgrace of the state. + + + + To the honorable the Council of Safety of the State of + Pennsylvania. + +At a meeting of a reputable number of the inhabitants of the city of +Philadelphia, impressed with a proper sense of the justice of the cause +which this continent is engaged in, and animated with a generous fervor +for supporting the same, it was resolved, that the following be laid +before the board of safety: + +"We profess liberality of sentiment to all men; with this distinction +only, that those who do not deserve it would become wise and seek +to deserve it. We hold the pure doctrines of universal liberty of +conscience, and conceive it our duty to endeavor to secure that sacred +right to others, as well as to defend it for ourselves; for we undertake +not to judge of the religious rectitude of tenets, but leave the whole +matter to Him who made us. + +"We persecute no man, neither will we abet in the persecution of any +man for religion's sake; our common relation to others being that of +fellow-citizens and fellow-subjects of one single community; and in this +line of connection we hold out the right hand of fellowship to all men. +But we should conceive ourselves to be unworthy members of the free and +independent States of America, were we unconcernedly to see or to suffer +any treasonable wound, public or private, directly or indirectly, to be +given against the peace and safety of the same. We inquire not into the +rank of the offenders, nor into their religious persuasion; we have no +business with either, our part being only to find them out and exhibit +them to justice. + +"A printed paper, dated the 20th of November, and signed 'John +Pemberton,' whom we suppose to be an inhabitant of this city, has lately +been dispersed abroad, a copy of which accompanies this. Had the framers +and publishers of that paper conceived it their duty to exhort the youth +and others of their society, to a patient submission under the present +trying visitations, and humbly to wait the event of heaven towards them, +they had therein shown a Christian temper, and we had been silent; but +the anger and political virulence with which their instructions are +given, and the abuse with which they stigmatize all ranks of men not +thinking like themselves, leave no doubt on our minds from what spirit +their publication proceeded: and it is disgraceful to the pure cause of +truth, that men can dally with words of the most sacred import, and play +them off as mechanically as if religion consisted only in contrivance. +We know of no instance in which the Quakers have been compelled to bear +arms, or to do any thing which might strain their conscience; wherefore +their advice, 'to withstand and refuse to submit to the arbitrary +instructions and ordinances of men,' appear to us a false alarm, and +could only be treasonably calculated to gain favor with our enemies, +when they are seemingly on the brink of invading this State, or, what +is still worse, to weaken the hands of our defence, that their entrance +into this city might be made practicable and easy. + +"We disclaim all tumult and disorder in the punishment of offenders; +and wish to be governed, not by temper but by reason, in the manner of +treating them. We are sensible that our cause has suffered by the two +following errors: first, by ill-judged lenity to traitorous persons in +some cases; and, secondly, by only a passionate treatment of them in +others. For the future we disown both, and wish to be steady in our +proceedings, and serious in our punishments. + +"Every State in America has, by the repeated voice of its inhabitants, +directed and authorized the Continental Congress to publish a formal +Declaration of Independence of, and separation from, the oppressive king +and Parliament of Great Britain; and we look on every man as an +enemy, who does not in some line or other, give his assistance towards +supporting the same; at the same time we consider the offence to be +heightened to a degree of unpardonable guilt, when such persons, +under the show of religion, endeavor, either by writing, speaking, or +otherwise, to subvert, overturn, or bring reproach upon the independence +of this continent as declared by Congress. + +"The publishers of the paper signed 'John Pemberton,' have called in a +loud manner to their friends and connections, 'to withstand or refuse' +obedience to whatever 'instructions or ordinances' may be published, not +warranted by (what they call) 'that happy Constitution under which they +and others long enjoyed tranquillity and peace.' If this be not treason, +we know not what may properly be called by that name. + +"To us it is a matter of surprise and astonishment, that men with the +word 'peace, peace,' continually on their lips, should be so fond of +living under and supporting a government, and at the same time calling +it 'happy,' which is never better pleased than when a war--that has +filled India with carnage and famine, Africa with slavery, and tampered +with Indians and negroes to cut the throats of the freemen of America. +We conceive it a disgrace to this State, to harbor or wink at such +palpable hypocrisy. But as we seek not to hurt the hair of any man's +head, when we can make ourselves safe without, we wish such persons to +restore peace to themselves and us, by removing themselves to some part +of the king of Great Britain's dominions, as by that means they may live +unmolested by us and we by them; for our fixed opinion is, that those +who do not deserve a place among us, ought not to have one. + +"We conclude with requesting the Council of Safety to take into +consideration the paper signed 'John Pemberton,' and if it shall appear +to them to be of a dangerous tendency, or of a treasonable nature, that +they would commit the signer, together with such other persons as they +can discover were concerned therein, into custody, until such time as +some mode of trial shall ascertain the full degree of their guilt and +punishment; in the doing of which, we wish their judges, whoever +they may be, to disregard the man, his connections, interest, riches, +poverty, or principles of religion, and to attend to the nature of his +offence only." + + + +The most cavilling sectarian cannot accuse the foregoing with containing +the least ingredient of persecution. The free spirit on which the +American cause is founded, disdains to mix with such an impurity, and +leaves it as rubbish fit only for narrow and suspicious minds to grovel +in. Suspicion and persecution are weeds of the same dunghill, and +flourish together. Had the Quakers minded their religion and their +business, they might have lived through this dispute in enviable ease, +and none would have molested them. The common phrase with these people +is, 'Our principles are peace.' To which may be replied, and your +practices are the reverse; for never did the conduct of men oppose their +own doctrine more notoriously than the present race of the Quakers. They +have artfully changed themselves into a different sort of people to what +they used to be, and yet have the address to persuade each other that +they are not altered; like antiquated virgins, they see not the havoc +deformity has made upon them, but pleasantly mistaking wrinkles for +dimples, conceive themselves yet lovely and wonder at the stupid world +for not admiring them. + +Did no injury arise to the public by this apostacy of the Quakers from +themselves, the public would have nothing to do with it; but as both the +design and consequences are pointed against a cause in which the whole +community are interested, it is therefore no longer a subject confined +to the cognizance of the meeting only, but comes, as a matter of +criminality, before the authority either of the particular State in +which it is acted, or of the continent against which it operates. Every +attempt, now, to support the authority of the king and Parliament of +Great Britain over America, is treason against every State; therefore +it is impossible that any one can pardon or screen from punishment an +offender against all. + +But to proceed: while the infatuated Tories of this and other States +were last spring talking of commissioners, accommodation, making the +matter up, and the Lord knows what stuff and nonsense, their good king +and ministry were glutting themselves with the revenge of reducing +America to unconditional submission, and solacing each other with the +certainty of conquering it in one campaign. The following quotations are +from the parliamentary register of the debate's of the House of Lords, +March 5th, 1776: + +"The Americans," says Lord Talbot,* "have been obstinate, undutiful, and +ungovernable from the very beginning, from their first early and infant +settlements; and I am every day more and more convinced that this people +never will be brought back to their duty, and the subordinate relation +they stand in to this country, till reduced to unconditional, effectual +submission; no concession on our part, no lenity, no endurance, will +have any other effect but that of increasing their insolence." + + + * Steward of the king's household. + +"The struggle," says Lord Townsend,* "is now a struggle for power; the +die is cast, and the only point which now remains to be determined is, +in what manner the war can be most effectually prosecuted and speedily +finished, in order to procure that unconditional submission, which has +been so ably stated by the noble Earl with the white staff" (meaning +Lord Talbot;) "and I have no reason to doubt that the measures now +pursuing will put an end to the war in the course of a single campaign. +Should it linger longer, we shall then have reason to expect that +some foreign power will interfere, and take advantage of our domestic +troubles and civil distractions." + + + * Formerly General Townsend, at Quebec, and late lord-lieutenant of +Ireland. + +Lord Littleton. "My sentiments are pretty well known. I shall only +observe now that lenient measures have had no other effect than to +produce insult after insult; that the more we conceded, the higher +America rose in her demands, and the more insolent she has grown. It +is for this reason that I am now for the most effective and decisive +measures; and am of opinion that no alternative is left us, but to +relinquish America for ever, or finally determine to compel her to +acknowledge the legislative authority of this country; and it is the +principle of an unconditional submission I would be for maintaining." + +Can words be more expressive than these? Surely the Tories will believe +the Tory lords! The truth is, they do believe them and know as fully as +any Whig on the continent knows, that the king and ministry never had +the least design of an accommodation with America, but an absolute, +unconditional conquest. And the part which the Tories were to act, was, +by downright lying, to endeavor to put the continent off its guard, and +to divide and sow discontent in the minds of such Whigs as they might +gain an influence over. In short, to keep up a distraction here, that +the force sent from England might be able to conquer in "one campaign." +They and the ministry were, by a different game, playing into each +other's hands. The cry of the Tories in England was, "No reconciliation, +no accommodation," in order to obtain the greater military force; +while those in America were crying nothing but "reconciliation and +accommodation," that the force sent might conquer with the less +resistance. + +But this "single campaign" is over, and America not conquered. The +whole work is yet to do, and the force much less to do it with. Their +condition is both despicable and deplorable: out of cash--out of heart, +and out of hope. A country furnished with arms and ammunition as America +now is, with three millions of inhabitants, and three thousand miles +distant from the nearest enemy that can approach her, is able to look +and laugh them in the face. + +Howe appears to have two objects in view, either to go up the North +River, or come to Philadelphia. + +By going up the North River, he secures a retreat for his army through +Canada, but the ships must return if they return at all, the same way +they went; as our army would be in the rear, the safety of their passage +down is a doubtful matter. By such a motion he shuts himself from all +supplies from Europe, but through Canada, and exposes his army and +navy to the danger of perishing. The idea of his cutting off the +communication between the eastern and southern states, by means of +the North River, is merely visionary. He cannot do it by his shipping; +because no ship can lay long at anchor in any river within reach of the +shore; a single gun would drive a first rate from such a station. This +was fully proved last October at Forts Washington and Lee, where one +gun only, on each side of the river, obliged two frigates to cut and +be towed off in an hour's time. Neither can he cut it off by his army; +because the several posts they must occupy would divide them almost +to nothing, and expose them to be picked up by ours like pebbles on a +river's bank; but admitting that he could, where is the injury? Because, +while his whole force is cantoned out, as sentries over the water, they +will be very innocently employed, and the moment they march into the +country the communication opens. + +The most probable object is Philadelphia, and the reasons are many. +Howe's business is to conquer it, and in proportion as he finds himself +unable to the task, he will employ his strength to distress women and +weak minds, in order to accomplish through their fears what he cannot +accomplish by his own force. His coming or attempting to come to +Philadelphia is a circumstance that proves his weakness: for no general +that felt himself able to take the field and attack his antagonist would +think of bringing his army into a city in the summer time; and this mere +shifting the scene from place to place, without effecting any thing, +has feebleness and cowardice on the face of it, and holds him up in a +contemptible light to all who can reason justly and firmly. By several +informations from New York, it appears that their army in general, both +officers and men, have given up the expectation of conquering America; +their eye now is fixed upon the spoil. They suppose Philadelphia to be +rich with stores, and as they think to get more by robbing a town than +by attacking an army, their movement towards this city is probable. We +are not now contending against an army of soldiers, but against a band +of thieves, who had rather plunder than fight, and have no other hope of +conquest than by cruelty. + +They expect to get a mighty booty, and strike another general panic, by +making a sudden movement and getting possession of this city; but unless +they can march out as well as in, or get the entire command of the +river, to remove off their plunder, they may probably be stopped with +the stolen goods upon them. They have never yet succeeded wherever they +have been opposed, but at Fort Washington. At Charleston their defeat +was effectual. At Ticonderoga they ran away. In every skirmish at +Kingsbridge and the White Plains they were obliged to retreat, and the +instant that our arms were turned upon them in the Jerseys, they turned +likewise, and those that turned not were taken. + +The necessity of always fitting our internal police to the circumstances +of the times we live in, is something so strikingly obvious, that no +sufficient objection can be made against it. The safety of all +societies depends upon it; and where this point is not attended to, +the consequences will either be a general languor or a tumult. The +encouragement and protection of the good subjects of any state, and the +suppression and punishment of bad ones, are the principal objects for +which all authority is instituted, and the line in which it ought to +operate. We have in this city a strange variety of men and characters, +and the circumstances of the times require that they should be publicly +known; it is not the number of Tories that hurt us, so much as the not +finding out who they are; men must now take one side or the other, and +abide by the consequences: the Quakers, trusting to their short-sighted +sagacity, have, most unluckily for them, made their declaration in their +last Testimony, and we ought now to take them at their word. They have +involuntarily read themselves out of the continental meeting, and cannot +hope to be restored to it again but by payment and penitence. Men whose +political principles are founded on avarice, are beyond the reach +of reason, and the only cure of Toryism of this cast is to tax it. +A substantial good drawn from a real evil, is of the same benefit to +society, as if drawn from a virtue; and where men have not public spirit +to render themselves serviceable, it ought to be the study of government +to draw the best use possible from their vices. When the governing +passion of any man, or set of men, is once known, the method of managing +them is easy; for even misers, whom no public virtue can impress, would +become generous, could a heavy tax be laid upon covetousness. + +The Tories have endeavored to insure their property with the enemy, by +forfeiting their reputation with us; from which may be justly inferred, +that their governing passion is avarice. Make them as much afraid of +losing on one side as on the other, and you stagger their Toryism; make +them more so, and you reclaim them; for their principle is to worship +the power which they are most afraid of. + +This method of considering men and things together, opens into a large +field for speculation, and affords me an opportunity of offering some +observations on the state of our currency, so as to make the support +of it go hand in hand with the suppression of disaffection and the +encouragement of public spirit. + +The thing which first presents itself in inspecting the state of the +currency, is, that we have too much of it, and that there is a necessity +of reducing the quantity, in order to increase the value. Men are daily +growing poor by the very means that they take to get rich; for in the +same proportion that the prices of all goods on hand are raised, the +value of all money laid by is reduced. A simple case will make this +clear; let a man have 100 L. in cash, and as many goods on hand as will +to-day sell for 20 L.; but not content with the present market price, +he raises them to 40 L. and by so doing obliges others, in their own +defence, to raise cent. per cent. likewise; in this case it is evident +that his hundred pounds laid by, is reduced fifty pounds in value; +whereas, had the market lowered cent. per cent., his goods would have +sold but for ten, but his hundred pounds would have risen in value to +two hundred; because it would then purchase as many goods again, or +support his family as long again as before. And, strange as it may seem, +he is one hundred and fifty pounds the poorer for raising his goods, to +what he would have been had he lowered them; because the forty pounds +which his goods sold for, is, by the general raise of the market cent. +per cent., rendered of no more value than the ten pounds would be had +the market fallen in the same proportion; and, consequently, the whole +difference of gain or loss is on the difference in value of the hundred +pounds laid by, viz. from fifty to two hundred. This rage for raising +goods is for several reasons much more the fault of the Tories than the +Whigs; and yet the Tories (to their shame and confusion ought they to +be told of it) are by far the most noisy and discontented. The greatest +part of the Whigs, by being now either in the army or employed in some +public service, are buyers only and not sellers, and as this evil has +its origin in trade, it cannot be charged on those who are out of it. + +But the grievance has now become too general to be remedied by partial +methods, and the only effectual cure is to reduce the quantity of money: +with half the quantity we should be richer than we are now, because +the value of it would be doubled, and consequently our attachment to it +increased; for it is not the number of dollars that a man has, but how +far they will go, that makes him either rich or poor. These two points +being admitted, viz. that the quantity of money is too great, and that +the prices of goods can only be effectually reduced by, reducing the +quantity of the money, the next point to be considered is, the method +how to reduce it. + +The circumstances of the times, as before observed, require that the +public characters of all men should now be fully understood, and the +only general method of ascertaining it is by an oath or affirmation, +renouncing all allegiance to the king of Great Britain, and to support +the independence of the United States, as declared by Congress. Let, at +the same time, a tax of ten, fifteen, or twenty per cent. per annum, to +be collected quarterly, be levied on all property. These alternatives, +by being perfectly voluntary, will take in all sorts of people. Here +is the test; here is the tax. He who takes the former, conscientiously +proves his affection to the cause, and binds himself to pay his quota +by the best services in his power, and is thereby justly exempt from the +latter; and those who choose the latter, pay their quota in money, to be +excused from the former, or rather, it is the price paid to us for their +supposed, though mistaken, insurance with the enemy. + +But this is only a part of the advantage which would arise by knowing +the different characters of men. The Whigs stake everything on the issue +of their arms, while the Tories, by their disaffection, are sapping and +undermining their strength; and, of consequence, the property of the +Whigs is the more exposed thereby; and whatever injury their estates +may sustain by the movements of the enemy, must either be borne by +themselves, who have done everything which has yet been done, or by the +Tories, who have not only done nothing, but have, by their disaffection, +invited the enemy on. + +In the present crisis we ought to know, square by square and house by +house, who are in real allegiance with the United Independent States, +and who are not. Let but the line be made clear and distinct, and all +men will then know what they are to trust to. It would not only be +good policy but strict justice, to raise fifty or one hundred thousand +pounds, or more, if it is necessary, out of the estates and property +of the king of England's votaries, resident in Philadelphia, to be +distributed, as a reward to those inhabitants of the city and State, who +should turn out and repulse the enemy, should they attempt to march this +way; and likewise, to bind the property of all such persons to make +good the damages which that of the Whigs might sustain. In the +undistinguishable mode of conducting a war, we frequently make reprisals +at sea, on the vessels of persons in England, who are friends to our +cause compared with the resident Tories among us. + +In every former publication of mine, from Common Sense down to the last +Crisis, I have generally gone on the charitable supposition, that the +Tories were rather a mistaken than a criminal people, and have applied +argument after argument, with all the candor and temper which I was +capable of, in order to set every part of the case clearly and fairly +before them, and if possible to reclaim them from ruin to reason. I have +done my duty by them and have now done with that doctrine, taking it for +granted, that those who yet hold their disaffection are either a set +of avaricious miscreants, who would sacrifice the continent to save +themselves, or a banditti of hungry traitors, who are hoping for +a division of the spoil. To which may be added, a list of crown or +proprietary dependants, who, rather than go without a portion of power, +would be content to share it with the devil. Of such men there is no +hope; and their obedience will only be according to the danger set +before them, and the power that is exercised over them. + +A time will shortly arrive, in which, by ascertaining the characters of +persons now, we shall be guarded against their mischiefs then; for in +proportion as the enemy despair of conquest, they will be trying the +arts of seduction and the force of fear by all the mischiefs which they +can inflict. But in war we may be certain of these two things, viz. that +cruelty in an enemy, and motions made with more than usual parade, are +always signs of weakness. He that can conquer, finds his mind too free +and pleasant to be brutish; and he that intends to conquer, never makes +too much show of his strength. + +We now know the enemy we have to do with. While drunk with the +certainty of victory, they disdained to be civil; and in proportion as +disappointment makes them sober, and their apprehensions of an European +war alarm them, they will become cringing and artful; honest they cannot +be. But our answer to them, in either condition they may be in, is short +and full--"As free and independent States we are willing to make peace +with you to-morrow, but we neither can hear nor reply in any other +character." + +If Britain cannot conquer us, it proves that she is neither able to +govern nor protect us, and our particular situation now is such, that +any connection with her would be unwisely exchanging a half-defeated +enemy for two powerful ones. Europe, by every appearance, is now on the +eve, nay, on the morning twilight of a war, and any alliance with George +the Third brings France and Spain upon our backs; a separation from him +attaches them to our side; therefore, the only road to peace, honor and +commerce is Independence. + +Written this fourth year of the UNION, which God preserve. + + COMMON SENSE. + + PHILADELPHIA, April 19, 1777. + + + + +THE CRISIS IV. (THOSE WHO EXPECT TO REAP THE BLESSINGS OF FREEDOM) + + +THOSE who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, +undergo the fatigues of supporting it. The event of yesterday was one +of those kind of alarms which is just sufficient to rouse us to duty, +without being of consequence enough to depress our fortitude. It is not +a field of a few acres of ground, but a cause, that we are defending, +and whether we defeat the enemy in one battle, or by degrees, the +consequences will be the same. + +Look back at the events of last winter and the present year, there you +will find that the enemy's successes always contributed to reduce them. +What they have gained in ground, they paid so dearly for in numbers, +that their victories have in the end amounted to defeats. We have always +been masters at the last push, and always shall be while we do our duty. +Howe has been once on the banks of the Delaware, and from thence driven +back with loss and disgrace: and why not be again driven from the +Schuylkill? His condition and ours are very different. He has everybody +to fight, we have only his one army to cope with, and which wastes away +at every engagement: we can not only reinforce, but can redouble our +numbers; he is cut off from all supplies, and must sooner or later +inevitably fall into our hands. + +Shall a band of ten or twelve thousand robbers, who are this day fifteen +hundred or two thousand men less in strength than they were yesterday, +conquer America, or subdue even a single state? The thing cannot be, +unless we sit down and suffer them to do it. Another such a brush, +notwithstanding we lost the ground, would, by still reducing the enemy, +put them in a condition to be afterwards totally defeated. Could our +whole army have come up to the attack at one time, the consequences +had probably been otherwise; but our having different parts of +the Brandywine creek to guard, and the uncertainty which road to +Philadelphia the enemy would attempt to take, naturally afforded them an +opportunity of passing with their main body at a place where only a +part of ours could be posted; for it must strike every thinking man with +conviction, that it requires a much greater force to oppose an enemy in +several places, than is sufficient to defeat him in any one place. + +Men who are sincere in defending their freedom, will always feel concern +at every circumstance which seems to make against them; it is the +natural and honest consequence of all affectionate attachments, and the +want of it is a vice. But the dejection lasts only for a moment; they +soon rise out of it with additional vigor; the glow of hope, courage and +fortitude, will, in a little time, supply the place of every inferior +passion, and kindle the whole heart into heroism. + +There is a mystery in the countenance of some causes, which we have not +always present judgment enough to explain. It is distressing to see an +enemy advancing into a country, but it is the only place in which we can +beat them, and in which we have always beaten them, whenever they made +the attempt. The nearer any disease approaches to a crisis, the nearer +it is to a cure. Danger and deliverance make their advances together, +and it is only the last push, in which one or the other takes the lead. + +There are many men who will do their duty when it is not wanted; but a +genuine public spirit always appears most when there is most occasion +for it. Thank God! our army, though fatigued, is yet entire. The attack +made by us yesterday, was under many disadvantages, naturally arising +from the uncertainty of knowing which route the enemy would take; and, +from that circumstance, the whole of our force could not be brought +up together time enough to engage all at once. Our strength is yet +reserved; and it is evident that Howe does not think himself a gainer by +the affair, otherwise he would this morning have moved down and attacked +General Washington. + +Gentlemen of the city and country, it is in your power, by a spirited +improvement of the present circumstance, to turn it to a real advantage. +Howe is now weaker than before, and every shot will contribute to reduce +him. You are more immediately interested than any other part of the +continent: your all is at stake; it is not so with the general cause; +you are devoted by the enemy to plunder and destruction: it is the +encouragement which Howe, the chief of plunderers, has promised his +army. Thus circumstanced, you may save yourselves by a manly resistance, +but you can have no hope in any other conduct. I never yet knew our +brave general, or any part of the army, officers or men, out of heart, +and I have seen them in circumstances a thousand times more trying than +the present. It is only those that are not in action, that feel languor +and heaviness, and the best way to rub it off is to turn out, and make +sure work of it. + +Our army must undoubtedly feel fatigue, and want a reinforcement of rest +though not of valor. Our own interest and happiness call upon us to +give them every support in our power, and make the burden of the day, on +which the safety of this city depends, as light as possible. Remember, +gentlemen, that we have forces both to the northward and southward of +Philadelphia, and if the enemy be but stopped till those can arrive, +this city will be saved, and the enemy finally routed. You have too much +at stake to hesitate. You ought not to think an hour upon the matter, +but to spring to action at once. Other states have been invaded, have +likewise driven off the invaders. Now our time and turn is come, and +perhaps the finishing stroke is reserved for us. When we look back on +the dangers we have been saved from, and reflect on the success we have +been blessed with, it would be sinful either to be idle or to despair. + +I close this paper with a short address to General Howe. You, sir, are +only lingering out the period that shall bring with it your defeat. +You have yet scarce began upon the war, and the further you enter, the +faster will your troubles thicken. What you now enjoy is only a respite +from ruin; an invitation to destruction; something that will lead on to +our deliverance at your expense. We know the cause which we are engaged +in, and though a passionate fondness for it may make us grieve at every +injury which threatens it, yet, when the moment of concern is over, the +determination to duty returns. We are not moved by the gloomy smile of a +worthless king, but by the ardent glow of generous patriotism. We fight +not to enslave, but to set a country free, and to make room upon the +earth for honest men to live in. In such a case we are sure that we are +right; and we leave to you the despairing reflection of being the tool +of a miserable tyrant. + + COMMON SENSE. + + PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 12, 1777. + + + + +THE CRISIS. V. TO GEN. SIR WILLIAM HOWE. + + +TO argue with a man who has renounced the use and authority of reason, +and whose philosophy consists in holding humanity in contempt, is like +administering medicine to the dead, or endeavoring to convert an atheist +by scripture. Enjoy, sir, your insensibility of feeling and reflecting. +It is the prerogative of animals. And no man will envy you these honors, +in which a savage only can be your rival and a bear your master. + +As the generosity of this country rewarded your brother's services +in the last war, with an elegant monument in Westminster Abbey, it is +consistent that she should bestow some mark of distinction upon you. You +certainly deserve her notice, and a conspicuous place in the catalogue +of extraordinary persons. Yet it would be a pity to pass you from the +world in state, and consign you to magnificent oblivion among the tombs, +without telling the future beholder why. Judas is as much known as John, +yet history ascribes their fame to very different actions. + +Sir William has undoubtedly merited a monument; but of what kind, or +with what inscription, where placed or how embellished, is a question +that would puzzle all the heralds of St. James's in the profoundest mood +of historical deliberation. We are at no loss, sir, to ascertain your +real character, but somewhat perplexed how to perpetuate its identity, +and preserve it uninjured from the transformations of time or mistake. +A statuary may give a false expression to your bust, or decorate it with +some equivocal emblems, by which you may happen to steal into reputation +and impose upon the hereafter traditionary world. Ill nature or ridicule +may conspire, or a variety of accidents combine to lessen, enlarge, or +change Sir William's fame; and no doubt but he who has taken so much +pains to be singular in his conduct, would choose to be just as singular +in his exit, his monument and his epitaph. + +The usual honors of the dead, to be sure, are not sufficiently sublime +to escort a character like you to the republic of dust and ashes; for +however men may differ in their ideas of grandeur or of government here, +the grave is nevertheless a perfect republic. Death is not the monarch +of the dead, but of the dying. The moment he obtains a conquest he loses +a subject, and, like the foolish king you serve, will, in the end, war +himself out of all his dominions. + +As a proper preliminary towards the arrangement of your funeral honors, +we readily admit of your new rank of knighthood. The title is perfectly +in character, and is your own, more by merit than creation. There are +knights of various orders, from the knight of the windmill to the knight +of the post. The former is your patron for exploits, and the latter will +assist you in settling your accounts. No honorary title could be more +happily applied! The ingenuity is sublime! And your royal master has +discovered more genius in fitting you therewith, than in generating the +most finished figure for a button, or descanting on the properties of a +button mould. + +But how, sir, shall we dispose of you? The invention of a statuary is +exhausted, and Sir William is yet unprovided with a monument. America is +anxious to bestow her funeral favors upon you, and wishes to do it in +a manner that shall distinguish you from all the deceased heroes of the +last war. The Egyptian method of embalming is not known to the +present age, and hieroglyphical pageantry hath outlived the science +of deciphering it. Some other method, therefore, must be thought of to +immortalize the new knight of the windmill and post. Sir William, thanks +to his stars, is not oppressed with very delicate ideas. He has no +ambition of being wrapped up and handed about in myrrh, aloes and +cassia. Less expensive odors will suffice; and it fortunately happens +that the simple genius of America has discovered the art of preserving +bodies, and embellishing them too, with much greater frugality than +the ancients. In balmage, sir, of humble tar, you will be as secure +as Pharaoh, and in a hieroglyphic of feathers, rival in finery all the +mummies of Egypt. + +As you have already made your exit from the moral world, and by +numberless acts both of passionate and deliberate injustice engraved an +"here lieth" on your deceased honor, it must be mere affectation in you +to pretend concern at the humors or opinions of mankind respecting you. +What remains of you may expire at any time. The sooner the better. For +he who survives his reputation, lives out of despite of himself, like a +man listening to his own reproach. + +Thus entombed and ornamented, I leave you to the inspection of the +curious, and return to the history of your yet surviving actions. The +character of Sir William has undergone some extraordinary revolutions. +since his arrival in America. It is now fixed and known; and we +have nothing to hope from your candor or to fear from your capacity. +Indolence and inability have too large a share in your composition, ever +to suffer you to be anything more than the hero of little villainies and +unfinished adventures. That, which to some persons appeared moderation +in you at first, was not produced by any real virtue of your own, but +by a contrast of passions, dividing and holding you in perpetual +irresolution. One vice will frequently expel another, without the least +merit in the man; as powers in contrary directions reduce each other to +rest. + +It became you to have supported a dignified solemnity of character; +to have shown a superior liberality of soul; to have won respect by an +obstinate perseverance in maintaining order, and to have exhibited on +all occasions such an unchangeable graciousness of conduct, that while +we beheld in you the resolution of an enemy, we might admire in you the +sincerity of a man. You came to America under the high sounding titles +of commander and commissioner; not only to suppress what you call +rebellion, by arms, but to shame it out of countenance by the excellence +of your example. Instead of which, you have been the patron of low and +vulgar frauds, the encourager of Indian cruelties; and have imported a +cargo of vices blacker than those which you pretend to suppress. + +Mankind are not universally agreed in their determination of right and +wrong; but there are certain actions which the consent of all nations +and individuals has branded with the unchangeable name of meanness. In +the list of human vices we find some of such a refined constitution, +they cannot be carried into practice without seducing some virtue to +their assistance; but meanness has neither alliance nor apology. It is +generated in the dust and sweepings of other vices, and is of such a +hateful figure that all the rest conspire to disown it. Sir William, the +commissioner of George the Third, has at last vouchsafed to give it +rank and pedigree. He has placed the fugitive at the council board, and +dubbed it companion of the order of knighthood. + +The particular act of meanness which I allude to in this description, is +forgery. You, sir, have abetted and patronized the forging and uttering +counterfeit continental bills. In the same New York newspapers in which +your own proclamation under your master's authority was published, +offering, or pretending to offer, pardon and protection to these states, +there were repeated advertisements of counterfeit money for sale, and +persons who have come officially from you, and under the sanction of +your flag, have been taken up in attempting to put them off. + +A conduct so basely mean in a public character is without precedent or +pretence. Every nation on earth, whether friends or enemies, will unite +in despising you. 'Tis an incendiary war upon society, which nothing can +excuse or palliate,--an improvement upon beggarly villany--and shows an +inbred wretchedness of heart made up between the venomous malignity of a +serpent and the spiteful imbecility of an inferior reptile. + +The laws of any civilized country would condemn you to the gibbet +without regard to your rank or titles, because it is an action foreign +to the usage and custom of war; and should you fall into our hands, +which pray God you may, it will be a doubtful matter whether we are to +consider you as a military prisoner or a prisoner for felony. + +Besides, it is exceedingly unwise and impolitic in you, or any other +persons in the English service, to promote or even encourage, or wink +at the crime of forgery, in any case whatever. Because, as the riches of +England, as a nation, are chiefly in paper, and the far greater part of +trade among individuals is carried on by the same medium, that is, by +notes and drafts on one another, they, therefore, of all people in the +world, ought to endeavor to keep forgery out of sight, and, if possible, +not to revive the idea of it. It is dangerous to make men familiar with +a crime which they may afterwards practise to much greater advantage +against those who first taught them. Several officers in the English +army have made their exit at the gallows for forgery on their agents; +for we all know, who know any thing of England, that there is not a more +necessitous body of men, taking them generally, than what the English +officers are. They contrive to make a show at the expense of the +tailors, and appear clean at the charge of the washer-women. + +England, has at this time, nearly two hundred million pounds sterling +of public money in paper, for which she has no real property: besides a +large circulation of bank notes, bank post bills, and promissory notes +and drafts of private bankers, merchants and tradesmen. She has the +greatest quantity of paper currency and the least quantity of gold and +silver of any nation in Europe; the real specie, which is about sixteen +millions sterling, serves only as change in large sums, which are always +made in paper, or for payment in small ones. Thus circumstanced, the +nation is put to its wit's end, and obliged to be severe almost to +criminality, to prevent the practice and growth of forgery. Scarcely +a session passes at the Old Bailey, or an execution at Tyburn, but +witnesses this truth, yet you, sir, regardless of the policy which her +necessity obliges her to adopt, have made your whole army intimate with +the crime. And as all armies at the conclusion of a war, are too apt to +carry into practice the vices of the campaign, it will probably happen, +that England will hereafter abound in forgeries, to which art the +practitioners were first initiated under your authority in America. You, +sir, have the honor of adding a new vice to the military catalogue; and +the reason, perhaps, why the invention was reserved for you, is, because +no general before was mean enough even to think of it. + +That a man whose soul is absorbed in the low traffic of vulgar vice, is +incapable of moving in any superior region, is clearly shown in you by +the event of every campaign. Your military exploits have been without +plan, object or decision. Can it be possible that you or your employers +suppose that the possession of Philadelphia will be any ways equal +to the expense or expectation of the nation which supports you? What +advantages does England derive from any achievements of yours? To her it +is perfectly indifferent what place you are in, so long as the business +of conquest is unperformed and the charge of maintaining you remains the +same. + +If the principal events of the three campaigns be attended to, the +balance will appear against you at the close of each; but the last, in +point of importance to us, has exceeded the former two. It is pleasant +to look back on dangers past, and equally as pleasant to meditate on +present ones when the way out begins to appear. That period is now +arrived, and the long doubtful winter of war is changing to the sweeter +prospects of victory and joy. At the close of the campaign, in 1775, you +were obliged to retreat from Boston. In the summer of 1776, you appeared +with a numerous fleet and army in the harbor of New York. By what +miracle the continent was preserved in that season of danger is a +subject of admiration! If instead of wasting your time against Long +Island you had run up the North River, and landed any where above +New York, the consequence must have been, that either you would have +compelled General Washington to fight you with very unequal numbers, or +he must have suddenly evacuated the city with the loss of nearly all +the stores of his army, or have surrendered for want of provisions; the +situation of the place naturally producing one or the other of these +events. + +The preparations made to defend New York were, nevertheless, wise and +military; because your forces were then at sea, their numbers uncertain; +storms, sickness, or a variety of accidents might have disabled their +coming, or so diminished them on their passage, that those which +survived would have been incapable of opening the campaign with +any prospect of success; in which case the defence would have been +sufficient and the place preserved; for cities that have been raised +from nothing with an infinitude of labor and expense, are not to be +thrown away on the bare probability of their being taken. On these +grounds the preparations made to maintain New York were as judicious +as the retreat afterwards. While you, in the interim, let slip the very +opportunity which seemed to put conquest in your power. + +Through the whole of that campaign you had nearly double the forces +which General Washington immediately commanded. The principal plan at +that time, on our part, was to wear away the season with as little loss +as possible, and to raise the army for the next year. Long Island, New +York, Forts Washington and Lee were not defended after your superior +force was known under any expectation of their being finally maintained, +but as a range of outworks, in the attacking of which your time might be +wasted, your numbers reduced, and your vanity amused by possessing them +on our retreat. It was intended to have withdrawn the garrison from Fort +Washington after it had answered the former of those purposes, but +the fate of that day put a prize into your hands without much honor to +yourselves. + +Your progress through the Jerseys was accidental; you had it not even +in contemplation, or you would not have sent a principal part of your +forces to Rhode Island beforehand. The utmost hope of America in the +year 1776, reached no higher than that she might not then be conquered. +She had no expectation of defeating you in that campaign. Even the +most cowardly Tory allowed, that, could she withstand the shock of that +summer, her independence would be past a doubt. You had then greatly +the advantage of her. You were formidable. Your military knowledge +was supposed to be complete. Your fleets and forces arrived without an +accident. You had neither experience nor reinforcements to wait for. +You had nothing to do but to begin, and your chance lay in the first +vigorous onset. + +America was young and unskilled. She was obliged to trust her defence to +time and practice; and has, by mere dint of perseverance, maintained her +cause, and brought the enemy to a condition, in which she is now capable +of meeting him on any grounds. + +It is remarkable that in the campaign of 1776 you gained no more, +notwithstanding your great force, than what was given you by consent of +evacuation, except Fort Washington; while every advantage obtained by +us was by fair and hard fighting. The defeat of Sir Peter Parker was +complete. The conquest of the Hessians at Trenton, by the remains of a +retreating army, which but a few days before you affected to despise, is +an instance of their heroic perseverance very seldom to be met with. +And the victory over the British troops at Princeton, by a harassed and +wearied party, who had been engaged the day before and marched all night +without refreshment, is attended with such a scene of circumstances and +superiority of generalship, as will ever give it a place in the first +rank in the history of great actions. + +When I look back on the gloomy days of last winter, and see America +suspended by a thread, I feel a triumph of joy at the recollection of +her delivery, and a reverence for the characters which snatched her +from destruction. To doubt now would be a species of infidelity, and to +forget the instruments which saved us then would be ingratitude. + +The close of that campaign left us with the spirit of conquerors. The +northern districts were relieved by the retreat of General Carleton over +the lakes. The army under your command were hunted back and had their +bounds prescribed. The continent began to feel its military importance, +and the winter passed pleasantly away in preparations for the next +campaign. + +However confident you might be on your first arrival, the result of the +year 1776 gave you some idea of the difficulty, if not impossibility of +conquest. To this reason I ascribe your delay in opening the campaign of +1777. The face of matters, on the close of the former year, gave you +no encouragement to pursue a discretionary war as soon as the spring +admitted the taking the field; for though conquest, in that case, would +have given you a double portion of fame, yet the experiment was too +hazardous. The ministry, had you failed, would have shifted the whole +blame upon you, charged you with having acted without orders, and +condemned at once both your plan and execution. + +To avoid the misfortunes, which might have involved you and your money +accounts in perplexity and suspicion, you prudently waited the arrival +of a plan of operations from England, which was that you should proceed +for Philadelphia by way of the Chesapeake, and that Burgoyne, after +reducing Ticonderoga, should take his route by Albany, and, if +necessary, join you. + +The splendid laurels of the last campaign have flourished in the north. +In that quarter America has surprised the world, and laid the foundation +of this year's glory. The conquest of Ticonderoga, (if it may be called +a conquest) has, like all your other victories, led on to ruin. Even the +provisions taken in that fortress (which by General Burgoyne's return +was sufficient in bread and flour for nearly 5000 men for ten weeks, and +in beef and pork for the same number of men for one month) served only +to hasten his overthrow, by enabling him to proceed to Saratoga, the +place of his destruction. A short review of the operations of the last +campaign will show the condition of affairs on both sides. + +You have taken Ticonderoga and marched into Philadelphia. These are all +the events which the year has produced on your part. A trifling campaign +indeed, compared with the expenses of England and the conquest of the +continent. On the other side, a considerable part of your northern force +has been routed by the New York militia under General Herkemer. Fort +Stanwix has bravely survived a compound attack of soldiers and savages, +and the besiegers have fled. The Battle of Bennington has put a thousand +prisoners into our hands, with all their arms, stores, artillery and +baggage. General Burgoyne, in two engagements, has been defeated; +himself, his army, and all that were his and theirs are now ours. +Ticonderoga and Independence [forts] are retaken, and not the shadow of +an enemy remains in all the northern districts. At this instant we +have upwards of eleven thousand prisoners, between sixty and seventy +[captured] pieces of brass ordnance, besides small arms, tents, stores, +etc. + +In order to know the real value of those advantages, we must reverse +the scene, and suppose General Gates and the force he commanded to be at +your mercy as prisoners, and General Burgoyne, with his army of soldiers +and savages, to be already joined to you in Pennsylvania. So dismal a +picture can scarcely be looked at. It has all the tracings and colorings +of horror and despair; and excites the most swelling emotions of +gratitude by exhibiting the miseries we are so graciously preserved +from. + +I admire the distribution of laurels around the continent. It is the +earnest of future union. South Carolina has had her day of sufferings +and of fame; and the other southern States have exerted themselves in +proportion to the force that invaded or insulted them. Towards the close +of the campaign, in 1776, these middle States were called upon and did +their duty nobly. They were witnesses to the almost expiring flame of +human freedom. It was the close struggle of life and death, the line of +invisible division; and on which the unabated fortitude of a Washington +prevailed, and saved the spark that has since blazed in the north with +unrivalled lustre. + +Let me ask, sir, what great exploits have you performed? Through all the +variety of changes and opportunities which the war has produced, I know +no one action of yours that can be styled masterly. You have moved in +and out, backward and forward, round and round, as if valor consisted in +a military jig. The history and figure of your movements would be truly +ridiculous could they be justly delineated. They resemble the labors of +a puppy pursuing his tail; the end is still at the same distance, and +all the turnings round must be done over again. + +The first appearance of affairs at Ticonderoga wore such an unpromising +aspect, that it was necessary, in July, to detach a part of the forces +to the support of that quarter, which were otherwise destined or +intended to act against you; and this, perhaps, has been the means of +postponing your downfall to another campaign. The destruction of one +army at a time is work enough. We know, sir, what we are about, what we +have to do, and how to do it. + +Your progress from the Chesapeake, was marked by no capital stroke of +policy or heroism. Your principal aim was to get General Washington +between the Delaware and Schuylkill, and between Philadelphia and your +army. In that situation, with a river on each of his flanks, which +united about five miles below the city, and your army above him, you +could have intercepted his reinforcements and supplies, cut off all +his communication with the country, and, if necessary, have despatched +assistance to open a passage for General Burgoyne. This scheme was too +visible to succeed: for had General Washington suffered you to command +the open country above him, I think it a very reasonable conjecture that +the conquest of Burgoyne would not have taken place, because you could, +in that case, have relieved him. It was therefore necessary, while that +important victory was in suspense, to trepan you into a situation in +which you could only be on the defensive, without the power of +affording him assistance. The manoeuvre had its effect, and Burgoyne was +conquered. + +There has been something unmilitary and passive in you from the time of +your passing the Schuylkill and getting possession of Philadelphia, +to the close of the campaign. You mistook a trap for a conquest, the +probability of which had been made known to Europe, and the edge of your +triumph taken off by our own information long before. + +Having got you into this situation, a scheme for a general attack upon +you at Germantown was carried into execution on the 4th of October, and +though the success was not equal to the excellence of the plan, yet the +attempting it proved the genius of America to be on the rise, and her +power approaching to superiority. The obscurity of the morning was your +best friend, for a fog is always favorable to a hunted enemy. Some weeks +after this you likewise planned an attack on General Washington while +at Whitemarsh. You marched out with infinite parade, but on finding him +preparing to attack you next morning, you prudently turned about, and +retreated to Philadelphia with all the precipitation of a man conquered +in imagination. + +Immediately after the battle of Germantown, the probability of +Burgoyne's defeat gave a new policy to affairs in Pennsylvania, and it +was judged most consistent with the general safety of America, to wait +the issue of the northern campaign. Slow and sure is sound work. The +news of that victory arrived in our camp on the 18th of October, and +no sooner did that shout of joy, and the report of the thirteen cannon +reach your ears, than you resolved upon a retreat, and the next day, +that is, on the 19th, you withdrew your drooping army into Philadelphia. +This movement was evidently dictated by fear; and carried with it a +positive confession that you dreaded a second attack. It was hiding +yourself among women and children, and sleeping away the choicest part +of the campaign in expensive inactivity. An army in a city can never +be a conquering army. The situation admits only of defence. It is mere +shelter: and every military power in Europe will conclude you to be +eventually defeated. + +The time when you made this retreat was the very time you ought to have +fought a battle, in order to put yourself in condition of recovering in +Pennsylvania what you had lost in Saratoga. And the reason why you did +not, must be either prudence or cowardice; the former supposes your +inability, and the latter needs no explanation. I draw no conclusions, +sir, but such as are naturally deduced from known and visible facts, +and such as will always have a being while the facts which produced them +remain unaltered. + +After this retreat a new difficulty arose which exhibited the power of +Britain in a very contemptible light; which was the attack and defence +of Mud Island. For several weeks did that little unfinished fortress +stand out against all the attempts of Admiral and General Howe. It was +the fable of Bender realized on the Delaware. Scheme after scheme, and +force upon force were tried and defeated. The garrison, with scarce +anything to cover them but their bravery, survived in the midst of mud, +shot and shells, and were at last obliged to give it up more to the +powers of time and gunpowder than to military superiority of the +besiegers. + +It is my sincere opinion that matters are in much worse condition with +you than what is generally known. Your master's speech at the opening of +Parliament, is like a soliloquy on ill luck. It shows him to be coming +a little to his reason, for sense of pain is the first symptom of +recovery, in profound stupefaction. His condition is deplorable. He is +obliged to submit to all the insults of France and Spain, without daring +to know or resent them; and thankful for the most trivial evasions to +the most humble remonstrances. The time was when he could not deign an +answer to a petition from America, and the time now is when he dare not +give an answer to an affront from France. The capture of Burgoyne's army +will sink his consequence as much in Europe as in America. In his speech +he expresses his suspicions at the warlike preparations of France and +Spain, and as he has only the one army which you command to support his +character in the world with, it remains very uncertain when, or in what +quarter it will be most wanted, or can be best employed; and this will +partly account for the great care you take to keep it from action and +attacks, for should Burgoyne's fate be yours, which it probably will, +England may take her endless farewell not only of all America but of all +the West Indies. + +Never did a nation invite destruction upon itself with the eagerness and +the ignorance with which Britain has done. Bent upon the ruin of a +young and unoffending country, she has drawn the sword that has wounded +herself to the heart, and in the agony of her resentment has applied a +poison for a cure. Her conduct towards America is a compound of rage and +lunacy; she aims at the government of it, yet preserves neither dignity +nor character in her methods to obtain it. Were government a mere +manufacture or article of commerce, immaterial by whom it should be made +or sold, we might as well employ her as another, but when we consider +it as the fountain from whence the general manners and morality of a +country take their rise, that the persons entrusted with the execution +thereof are by their serious example an authority to support these +principles, how abominably absurd is the idea of being hereafter +governed by a set of men who have been guilty of forgery, perjury, +treachery, theft and every species of villany which the lowest wretches +on earth could practise or invent. What greater public curse can befall +any country than to be under such authority, and what greater blessing +than to be delivered therefrom. The soul of any man of sentiment would +rise in brave rebellion against them, and spurn them from the earth. + +The malignant and venomous tempered General Vaughan has amused his +savage fancy in burning the whole town of Kingston, in York government, +and the late governor of that state, Mr. Tryon, in his letter to General +Parsons, has endeavored to justify it and declared his wish to burn the +houses of every committeeman in the country. Such a confession from +one who was once intrusted with the powers of civil government, is a +reproach to the character. But it is the wish and the declaration of a +man whom anguish and disappointment have driven to despair, and who is +daily decaying into the grave with constitutional rottenness. + +There is not in the compass of language a sufficiency of words to +express the baseness of your king, his ministry and his army. They +have refined upon villany till it wants a name. To the fiercer vices of +former ages they have added the dregs and scummings of the most finished +rascality, and are so completely sunk in serpentine deceit, that there +is not left among them one generous enemy. + +From such men and such masters, may the gracious hand of Heaven preserve +America! And though the sufferings she now endures are heavy, and +severe, they are like straws in the wind compared to the weight of evils +she would feel under the government of your king, and his pensioned +Parliament. + +There is something in meanness which excites a species of resentment +that never subsides, and something in cruelty which stirs up the heart +to the highest agony of human hatred; Britain has filled up both these +characters till no addition can be made, and has not reputation left +with us to obtain credit for the slightest promise. The will of God has +parted us, and the deed is registered for eternity. When she shall be +a spot scarcely visible among the nations, America shall flourish the +favorite of heaven, and the friend of mankind. + +For the domestic happiness of Britain and the peace of the world, I +wish she had not a foot of land but what is circumscribed within her own +island. Extent of dominion has been her ruin, and instead of civilizing +others has brutalized herself. Her late reduction of India, under Clive +and his successors, was not so properly a conquest as an extermination +of mankind. She is the only power who could practise the prodigal +barbarity of tying men to mouths of loaded cannon and blowing them away. +It happens that General Burgoyne, who made the report of that horrid +transaction, in the House of Commons, is now a prisoner with us, +and though an enemy, I can appeal to him for the truth of it, being +confident that he neither can nor will deny it. Yet Clive received the +approbation of the last Parliament. + +When we take a survey of mankind, we cannot help cursing the wretch, +who, to the unavoidable misfortunes of nature, shall wilfully add the +calamities of war. One would think there were evils enough in the world +without studying to increase them, and that life is sufficiently short +without shaking the sand that measures it. The histories of Alexander, +and Charles of Sweden, are the histories of human devils; a good man +cannot think of their actions without abhorrence, nor of their deaths +without rejoicing. To see the bounties of heaven destroyed, the +beautiful face of nature laid waste, and the choicest works of creation +and art tumbled into ruin, would fetch a curse from the soul of piety +itself. But in this country the aggravation is heightened by a new +combination of affecting circumstances. America was young, and, compared +with other countries, was virtuous. None but a Herod of uncommon malice +would have made war upon infancy and innocence: and none but a people +of the most finished fortitude, dared under those circumstances, have +resisted the tyranny. The natives, or their ancestors, had fled from the +former oppressions of England, and with the industry of bees had changed +a wilderness into a habitable world. To Britain they were indebted for +nothing. The country was the gift of heaven, and God alone is their Lord +and Sovereign. + +The time, sir, will come when you, in a melancholy hour, shall reckon up +your miseries by your murders in America. Life, with you, begins to wear +a clouded aspect. The vision of pleasurable delusion is wearing away, +and changing to the barren wild of age and sorrow. The poor reflection +of having served your king will yield you no consolation in your +parting moments. He will crumble to the same undistinguished ashes with +yourself, and have sins enough of his own to answer for. It is not the +farcical benedictions of a bishop, nor the cringing hypocrisy of a court +of chaplains, nor the formality of an act of Parliament, that can change +guilt into innocence, or make the punishment one pang the less. You may, +perhaps, be unwilling to be serious, but this destruction of the goods +of Providence, this havoc of the human race, and this sowing the world +with mischief, must be accounted for to him who made and governs it. +To us they are only present sufferings, but to him they are deep +rebellions. + +If there is a sin superior to every other, it is that of wilful and +offensive war. Most other sins are circumscribed within narrow limits, +that is, the power of one man cannot give them a very general extension, +and many kinds of sins have only a mental existence from which no +infection arises; but he who is the author of a war, lets loose the +whole contagion of hell, and opens a vein that bleeds a nation to death. +We leave it to England and Indians to boast of these honors; we feel no +thirst for such savage glory; a nobler flame, a purer spirit animates +America. She has taken up the sword of virtuous defence; she has bravely +put herself between Tyranny and Freedom, between a curse and a blessing, +determined to expel the one and protect the other. + +It is the object only of war that makes it honorable. And if there was +ever a just war since the world began, it is this in which America is +now engaged. She invaded no land of yours. She hired no mercenaries to +burn your towns, nor Indians to massacre their inhabitants. She +wanted nothing from you, and was indebted for nothing to you: and thus +circumstanced, her defence is honorable and her prosperity is certain. + +Yet it is not on the justice only, but likewise on the importance of +this cause that I ground my seeming enthusiastical confidence of our +success. The vast extension of America makes her of too much value in +the scale of Providence, to be cast like a pearl before swine, at the +feet of an European island; and of much less consequence would it be +that Britain were sunk in the sea than that America should miscarry. +There has been such a chain of extraordinary events in the discovery of +this country at first, in the peopling and planting it afterwards, in +the rearing and nursing it to its present state, and in the protection +of it through the present war, that no man can doubt, but Providence +has some nobler end to accomplish than the gratification of the petty +elector of Hanover, or the ignorant and insignificant king of Britain. + +As the blood of the martyrs has been the seed of the Christian church, +so the political persecutions of England will and have already enriched +America with industry, experience, union, and importance. Before the +present era she was a mere chaos of uncemented colonies, individually +exposed to the ravages of the Indians and the invasion of any power that +Britain should be at war with. She had nothing that she could call her +own. Her felicity depended upon accident. The convulsions of Europe +might have thrown her from one conqueror to another, till she had been +the slave of all, and ruined by every one; for until she had spirit +enough to become her own master, there was no knowing to which master +she should belong. That period, thank God, is past, and she is no longer +the dependent, disunited colonies of Britain, but the independent and +United States of America, knowing no master but heaven and herself. You, +or your king, may call this "delusion," "rebellion," or what name you +please. To us it is perfectly indifferent. The issue will determine the +character, and time will give it a name as lasting as his own. + +You have now, sir, tried the fate of three campaigns, and can fully +declare to England, that nothing is to be got on your part, but blows +and broken bones, and nothing on hers but waste of trade and credit, and +an increase of poverty and taxes. You are now only where you might have +been two years ago, without the loss of a single ship, and yet not a +step more forward towards the conquest of the continent; because, as I +have already hinted, "an army in a city can never be a conquering army." +The full amount of your losses, since the beginning of the war, exceeds +twenty thousand men, besides millions of treasure, for which you have +nothing in exchange. Our expenses, though great, are circulated within +ourselves. Yours is a direct sinking of money, and that from both ends +at once; first, in hiring troops out of the nation, and in paying them +afterwards, because the money in neither case can return to Britain. We +are already in possession of the prize, you only in pursuit of it. To +us it is a real treasure, to you it would be only an empty triumph. Our +expenses will repay themselves with tenfold interest, while yours entail +upon you everlasting poverty. + +Take a review, sir, of the ground which you have gone over, and let +it teach you policy, if it cannot honesty. You stand but on a very +tottering foundation. A change of the ministry in England may probably +bring your measures into question, and your head to the block. Clive, +with all his successes, had some difficulty in escaping, and yours being +all a war of losses, will afford you less pretensions, and your enemies +more grounds for impeachment. + +Go home, sir, and endeavor to save the remains of your ruined country, +by a just representation of the madness of her measures. A few moments, +well applied, may yet preserve her from political destruction. I am not +one of those who wish to see Europe in a flame, because I am persuaded +that such an event will not shorten the war. The rupture, at present, +is confined between the two powers of America and England. England finds +that she cannot conquer America, and America has no wish to conquer +England. You are fighting for what you can never obtain, and we +defending what we never mean to part with. A few words, therefore, +settle the bargain. Let England mind her own business and we will mind +ours. Govern yourselves, and we will govern ourselves. You may then +trade where you please unmolested by us, and we will trade where we +please unmolested by you; and such articles as we can purchase of each +other better than elsewhere may be mutually done. If it were possible +that you could carry on the war for twenty years you must still come to +this point at last, or worse, and the sooner you think of it the better +it will be for you. + +My official situation enables me to know the repeated insults which +Britain is obliged to put up with from foreign powers, and the wretched +shifts that she is driven to, to gloss them over. Her reduced strength +and exhausted coffers in a three years' war with America, has given a +powerful superiority to France and Spain. She is not now a match +for them. But if neither councils can prevail on her to think, nor +sufferings awaken her to reason, she must e'en go on, till the honor of +England becomes a proverb of contempt, and Europe dub her the Land of +Fools. + +I am, Sir, with every wish for an honorable peace, + + Your friend, enemy, and countryman, + + COMMON SENSE. + + + + TO THE INHABITANTS OF AMERICA. + +WITH all the pleasure with which a man exchanges bad company for good, +I take my leave of Sir William and return to you. It is now nearly three +years since the tyranny of Britain received its first repulse by the +arms of America. A period which has given birth to a new world, and +erected a monument to the folly of the old. + +I cannot help being sometimes surprised at the complimentary references +which I have seen and heard made to ancient histories and transactions. +The wisdom, civil governments, and sense of honor of the states of +Greece and Rome, are frequently held up as objects of excellence and +imitation. Mankind have lived to very little purpose, if, at this period +of the world, they must go two or three thousand years back for lessons +and examples. We do great injustice to ourselves by placing them in such +a superior line. We have no just authority for it, neither can we tell +why it is that we should suppose ourselves inferior. + +Could the mist of antiquity be cleared away, and men and things be +viewed as they really were, it is more than probable that they would +admire us, rather than we them. America has surmounted a greater variety +and combination of difficulties, than, I believe, ever fell to the share +of any one people, in the same space of time, and has replenished the +world with more useful knowledge and sounder maxims of civil government +than were ever produced in any age before. Had it not been for America, +there had been no such thing as freedom left throughout the whole +universe. England has lost hers in a long chain of right reasoning from +wrong principles, and it is from this country, now, that she must learn +the resolution to redress herself, and the wisdom how to accomplish it. + +The Grecians and Romans were strongly possessed of the spirit of liberty +but not the principle, for at the time that they were determined not to +be slaves themselves, they employed their power to enslave the rest of +mankind. But this distinguished era is blotted by no one misanthropical +vice. In short, if the principle on which the cause is founded, the +universal blessings that are to arise from it, the difficulties that +accompanied it, the wisdom with which it has been debated, the fortitude +by which it has been supported, the strength of the power which we had +to oppose, and the condition in which we undertook it, be all taken +in one view, we may justly style it the most virtuous and illustrious +revolution that ever graced the history of mankind. + +A good opinion of ourselves is exceedingly necessary in private life, +but absolutely necessary in public life, and of the utmost importance in +supporting national character. I have no notion of yielding the palm of +the United States to any Grecians or Romans that were ever born. We +have equalled the bravest in times of danger, and excelled the wisest in +construction of civil governments. + +From this agreeable eminence let us take a review of present affairs. +The spirit of corruption is so inseparably interwoven with British +politics, that their ministry suppose all mankind are governed by the +same motives. They have no idea of a people submitting even to temporary +inconvenience from an attachment to rights and privileges. Their plans +of business are calculated by the hour and for the hour, and are uniform +in nothing but the corruption which gives them birth. They never had, +neither have they at this time, any regular plan for the conquest of +America by arms. They know not how to go about it, neither have they +power to effect it if they did know. The thing is not within the compass +of human practicability, for America is too extensive either to be fully +conquered or passively defended. But she may be actively defended by +defeating or making prisoners of the army that invades her. And this is +the only system of defence that can be effectual in a large country. + +There is something in a war carried on by invasion which makes it differ +in circumstances from any other mode of war, because he who conducts it +cannot tell whether the ground he gains be for him, or against him, when +he first obtains it. In the winter of 1776, General Howe marched with +an air of victory through the Jerseys, the consequence of which was his +defeat; and General Burgoyne at Saratoga experienced the same fate from +the same cause. The Spaniards, about two years ago, were defeated by +the Algerines in the same manner, that is, their first triumphs became +a trap in which they were totally routed. And whoever will attend to +the circumstances and events of a war carried on by invasion, will find, +that any invader, in order to be finally conquered must first begin to +conquer. + +I confess myself one of those who believe the loss of Philadelphia to +be attended with more advantages than injuries. The case stood thus: +The enemy imagined Philadelphia to be of more importance to us than it +really was; for we all know that it had long ceased to be a port: not a +cargo of goods had been brought into it for near a twelvemonth, nor any +fixed manufactories, nor even ship-building, carried on in it; yet as +the enemy believed the conquest of it to be practicable, and to that +belief added the absurd idea that the soul of all America was centred +there, and would be conquered there, it naturally follows that their +possession of it, by not answering the end proposed, must break up the +plans they had so foolishly gone upon, and either oblige them to form a +new one, for which their present strength is not sufficient, or to give +over the attempt. + +We never had so small an army to fight against, nor so fair an +opportunity of final success as now. The death wound is already given. +The day is ours if we follow it up. The enemy, by his situation, is +within our reach, and by his reduced strength is within our power. The +ministers of Britain may rage as they please, but our part is to conquer +their armies. Let them wrangle and welcome, but let, it not draw our +attention from the one thing needful. Here, in this spot is our own +business to be accomplished, our felicity secured. What we have now to +do is as clear as light, and the way to do it is as straight as a +line. It needs not to be commented upon, yet, in order to be perfectly +understood I will put a case that cannot admit of a mistake. + +Had the armies under Generals Howe and Burgoyne been united, and taken +post at Germantown, and had the northern army under General Gates been +joined to that under General Washington, at Whitemarsh, the consequence +would have been a general action; and if in that action we had killed +and taken the same number of officers and men, that is, between nine and +ten thousand, with the same quantity of artillery, arms, stores, etc., +as have been taken at the northward, and obliged General Howe with the +remains of his army, that is, with the same number he now commands, to +take shelter in Philadelphia, we should certainly have thought ourselves +the greatest heroes in the world; and should, as soon as the season +permitted, have collected together all the force of the continent and +laid siege to the city, for it requires a much greater force to besiege +an enemy in a town than to defeat him in the field. The case now is just +the same as if it had been produced by the means I have here supposed. +Between nine and ten thousand have been killed and taken, all their +stores are in our possession, and General Howe, in consequence of that +victory, has thrown himself for shelter into Philadelphia. He, or his +trifling friend Galloway, may form what pretences they please, yet no +just reason can be given for their going into winter quarters so early +as the 19th of October, but their apprehensions of a defeat if they +continued out, or their conscious inability of keeping the field with +safety. I see no advantage which can arise to America by hunting the +enemy from state to state. It is a triumph without a prize, and wholly +unworthy the attention of a people determined to conquer. Neither can +any state promise itself security while the enemy remains in a condition +to transport themselves from one part of the continent to another. Howe, +likewise, cannot conquer where we have no army to oppose, therefore any +such removals in him are mean and cowardly, and reduces Britain to a +common pilferer. If he retreats from Philadelphia, he will be despised; +if he stays, he may be shut up and starved out, and the country, if he +advances into it, may become his Saratoga. He has his choice of evils +and we of opportunities. If he moves early, it is not only a sign but a +proof that he expects no reinforcement, and his delay will prove that he +either waits for the arrival of a plan to go upon, or force to execute +it, or both; in which case our strength will increase more than his, +therefore in any case we cannot be wrong if we do but proceed. + +The particular condition of Pennsylvania deserves the attention of all +the other States. Her military strength must not be estimated by +the number of inhabitants. Here are men of all nations, characters, +professions and interests. Here are the firmest Whigs, surviving, +like sparks in the ocean, unquenched and uncooled in the midst of +discouragement and disaffection. Here are men losing their all with +cheerfulness, and collecting fire and fortitude from the flames of their +own estates. Here are others skulking in secret, many making a market +of the times, and numbers who are changing to Whig or Tory with the +circumstances of every day. + +It is by a mere dint of fortitude and perseverance that the Whigs of +this State have been able to maintain so good a countenance, and do even +what they have done. We want help, and the sooner it can arrive the more +effectual it will be. The invaded State, be it which it may, will always +feel an additional burden upon its back, and be hard set to support its +civil power with sufficient authority; and this difficulty will rise or +fall, in proportion as the other states throw in their assistance to the +common cause. + +The enemy will most probably make many manoeuvres at the opening of this +campaign, to amuse and draw off the attention of the several States from +the one thing needful. We may expect to hear of alarms and pretended +expeditions to this place and that place, to the southward, the +eastward, and the northward, all intended to prevent our forming +into one formidable body. The less the enemy's strength is, the more +subtleties of this kind will they make use of. Their existence depends +upon it, because the force of America, when collected, is sufficient +to swallow their present army up. It is therefore our business to make +short work of it, by bending our whole attention to this one principal +point, for the instant that the main body under General Howe is +defeated, all the inferior alarms throughout the continent, like so many +shadows, will follow his downfall. + +The only way to finish a war with the least possible bloodshed, or +perhaps without any, is to collect an army, against the power of which +the enemy shall have no chance. By not doing this, we prolong the war, +and double both the calamities and expenses of it. What a rich and happy +country would America be, were she, by a vigorous exertion, to reduce +Howe as she has reduced Burgoyne. Her currency would rise to millions +beyond its present value. Every man would be rich, and every man would +have it in his power to be happy. And why not do these things? What +is there to hinder? America is her own mistress and can do what she +pleases. + +If we had not at this time a man in the field, we could, nevertheless, +raise an army in a few weeks sufficient to overwhelm all the force +which General Howe at present commands. Vigor and determination will do +anything and everything. We began the war with this kind of spirit, why +not end it with the same? Here, gentlemen, is the enemy. Here is the +army. The interest, the happiness of all America, is centred in this +half ruined spot. Come and help us. Here are laurels, come and share +them. Here are Tories, come and help us to expel them. Here are Whigs +that will make you welcome, and enemies that dread your coming. + +The worst of all policies is that of doing things by halves. Penny-wise +and pound-foolish, has been the ruin of thousands. The present spring, +if rightly improved, will free us from our troubles, and save us +the expense of millions. We have now only one army to cope with. No +opportunity can be fairer; no prospect more promising. I shall conclude +this paper with a few outlines of a plan, either for filling up the +battalions with expedition, or for raising an additional force, for any +limited time, on any sudden emergency. + +That in which every man is interested, is every man's duty to support. +And any burden which falls equally on all men, and from which every +man is to receive an equal benefit, is consistent with the most perfect +ideas of liberty. I would wish to revive something of that virtuous +ambition which first called America into the field. Then every man was +eager to do his part, and perhaps the principal reason why we have in +any degree fallen therefrom, is because we did not set a right value by +it at first, but left it to blaze out of itself, instead of regulating +and preserving it by just proportions of rest and service. + +Suppose any State whose number of effective inhabitants was 80,000, +should be required to furnish 3,200 men towards the defence of the +continent on any sudden emergency. + +1st, Let the whole number of effective inhabitants be divided into +hundreds; then if each of those hundreds turn out four men, the whole +number of 3,200 will be had. + +2d, Let the name of each hundred men be entered in a book, and let four +dollars be collected from each man, with as much more as any of the +gentlemen, whose abilities can afford it, shall please to throw in, +which gifts likewise shall be entered against the names of the donors. + +3d, Let the sums so collected be offered as a present, over and above +the bounty of twenty dollars, to any four who may be inclined to propose +themselves as volunteers: if more than four offer, the majority of the +subscribers present shall determine which; if none offer, then four out +of the hundred shall be taken by lot, who shall be entitled to the said +sums, and shall either go, or provide others that will, in the space of +six days. + +4th, As it will always happen that in the space of ground on which a +hundred men shall live, there will be always a number of persons who, by +age and infirmity, are incapable of doing personal service, and as such +persons are generally possessed of the greatest part of property in any +country, their portion of service, therefore, will be to furnish each +man with a blanket, which will make a regimental coat, jacket, and +breeches, or clothes in lieu thereof, and another for a watch cloak, +and two pair of shoes; for however choice people may be of these things +matters not in cases of this kind; those who live always in houses can +find many ways to keep themselves warm, but it is a shame and a sin to +suffer a soldier in the field to want a blanket while there is one in +the country. + +Should the clothing not be wanted, the superannuated or infirm persons +possessing property, may, in lieu thereof, throw in their money +subscriptions towards increasing the bounty; for though age will +naturally exempt a person from personal service, it cannot exempt him +from his share of the charge, because the men are raised for the defence +of property and liberty jointly. + +There never was a scheme against which objections might not be raised. +But this alone is not a sufficient reason for rejection. The only line +to judge truly upon is to draw out and admit all the objections which +can fairly be made, and place against them all the contrary qualities, +conveniences and advantages, then by striking a balance you come at the +true character of any scheme, principle or position. + +The most material advantages of the plan here proposed are, ease, +expedition, and cheapness; yet the men so raised get a much larger +bounty than is any where at present given; because all the expenses, +extravagance, and consequent idleness of recruiting are saved or +prevented. The country incurs no new debt nor interest thereon; the +whole matter being all settled at once and entirely done with. It is +a subscription answering all the purposes of a tax, without either the +charge or trouble of collecting. The men are ready for the field with +the greatest possible expedition, because it becomes the duty of the +inhabitants themselves, in every part of the country, to find their +proportion of men instead of leaving it to a recruiting sergeant, who, +be he ever so industrious, cannot know always where to apply. + +I do not propose this as a regular digested plan, neither will the +limits of this paper admit of any further remarks upon it. I believe it +to be a hint capable of much improvement, and as such submit it to the +public. + + COMMON SENSE. + +LANCASTER, March 21, 1778. + + + + +THE CRISIS VI. (TO THE EARL OF CARLISLE AND GENERAL CLINTON) + + + TO THE EARL OF CARLISLE, GENERAL CLINTON, AND + WILLIAM EDEN, ESQ., BRITISH COMMISSIONERS + AT NEW YORK. + + +THERE is a dignity in the warm passions of a Whig, which is never to be +found in the cold malice of a Tory. In the one nature is only heated--in +the other she is poisoned. The instant the former has it in his power to +punish, he feels a disposition to forgive; but the canine venom of the +latter knows no relief but revenge. This general distinction will, I +believe, apply in all cases, and suits as well the meridian of England +as America. + +As I presume your last proclamation will undergo the strictures of other +pens, I shall confine my remarks to only a few parts thereof. All that +you have said might have been comprised in half the compass. It is +tedious and unmeaning, and only a repetition of your former follies, +with here and there an offensive aggravation. Your cargo of pardons will +have no market. It is unfashionable to look at them--even speculation +is at an end. They have become a perfect drug, and no way calculated for +the climate. + +In the course of your proclamation you say, "The policy as well as the +benevolence of Great Britain have thus far checked the extremes of war, +when they tended to distress a people still considered as their fellow +subjects, and to desolate a country shortly to become again a source of +mutual advantage." What you mean by "the benevolence of Great Britain" +is to me inconceivable. To put a plain question; do you consider +yourselves men or devils? For until this point is settled, no +determinate sense can be put upon the expression. You have already +equalled and in many cases excelled, the savages of either Indies; and +if you have yet a cruelty in store you must have imported it, unmixed +with every human material, from the original warehouse of hell. + +To the interposition of Providence, and her blessings on our endeavors, +and not to British benevolence are we indebted for the short chain that +limits your ravages. Remember you do not, at this time, command a foot +of land on the continent of America. Staten Island, York Island, a small +part of Long Island, and Rhode Island, circumscribe your power; and even +those you hold at the expense of the West Indies. To avoid a defeat, or +prevent a desertion of your troops, you have taken up your quarters in +holes and corners of inaccessible security; and in order to conceal what +every one can perceive, you now endeavor to impose your weakness upon +us for an act of mercy. If you think to succeed by such shadowy devices, +you are but infants in the political world; you have the A, B, C, of +stratagem yet to learn, and are wholly ignorant of the people you have +to contend with. Like men in a state of intoxication, you forget that +the rest of the world have eyes, and that the same stupidity which +conceals you from yourselves exposes you to their satire and contempt. + +The paragraph which I have quoted, stands as an introduction to the +following: "But when that country [America] professes the unnatural +design, not only of estranging herself from us, but of mortgaging +herself and her resources to our enemies, the whole contest is changed: +and the question is how far Great Britain may, by every means in her +power, destroy or render useless, a connection contrived for her ruin, +and the aggrandizement of France. Under such circumstances, the laws +of self-preservation must direct the conduct of Britain, and, if the +British colonies are to become an accession to France, will direct her +to render that accession of as little avail as possible to her enemy." + +I consider you in this declaration, like madmen biting in the hour of +death. It contains likewise a fraudulent meanness; for, in order to +justify a barbarous conclusion, you have advanced a false position. The +treaty we have formed with France is open, noble, and generous. It is +true policy, founded on sound philosophy, and neither a surrender +or mortgage, as you would scandalously insinuate. I have seen every +article, and speak from positive knowledge. In France, we have found an +affectionate friend and faithful ally; in Britain, we have found nothing +but tyranny, cruelty, and infidelity. + +But the happiness is, that the mischief you threaten, is not in your +power to execute; and if it were, the punishment would return upon you +in a ten-fold degree. The humanity of America has hitherto restrained +her from acts of retaliation, and the affection she retains for +many individuals in England, who have fed, clothed and comforted her +prisoners, has, to the present day, warded off her resentment, and +operated as a screen to the whole. But even these considerations +must cease, when national objects interfere and oppose them. Repeated +aggravations will provoke a retort, and policy justify the measure. We +mean now to take you seriously up upon your own ground and principle, +and as you do, so shall you be done by. + +You ought to know, gentlemen, that England and Scotland, are far more +exposed to incendiary desolation than America, in her present state, can +possibly be. We occupy a country, with but few towns, and whose riches +consist in land and annual produce. The two last can suffer but little, +and that only within a very limited compass. In Britain it is otherwise. +Her wealth lies chiefly in cities and large towns, the depositories +of manufactures and fleets of merchantmen. There is not a nobleman's +country seat but may be laid in ashes by a single person. Your own +may probably contribute to the proof: in short, there is no evil which +cannot be returned when you come to incendiary mischief. The ships in +the Thames, may certainly be as easily set on fire, as the temporary +bridge was a few years ago; yet of that affair no discovery was ever +made; and the loss you would sustain by such an event, executed at a +proper season, is infinitely greater than any you can inflict. The East +India House and the Bank, neither are nor can be secure from this sort +of destruction, and, as Dr. Price justly observes, a fire at the latter +would bankrupt the nation. It has never been the custom of France and +England when at war, to make those havocs on each other, because the +ease with which they could retaliate rendered it as impolitic as if each +had destroyed his own. + +But think not, gentlemen, that our distance secures you, or our +invention fails us. We can much easier accomplish such a point than any +nation in Europe. We talk the same language, dress in the same habit, +and appear with the same manners as yourselves. We can pass from +one part of England to another unsuspected; many of us are as well +acquainted with the country as you are, and should you impolitically +provoke us, you will most assuredly lament the effects of it. Mischiefs +of this kind require no army to execute them. The means are obvious, and +the opportunities unguardable. I hold up a warning to our senses, if you +have any left, and "to the unhappy people likewise, whose affairs are +committed to you."* I call not with the rancor of an enemy, but the +earnestness of a friend, on the deluded people of England, lest, between +your blunders and theirs, they sink beneath the evils contrived for us. + + + * General [Sir H.] Clinton's letter to Congress. + +"He who lives in a glass house," says a Spanish proverb, "should never +begin throwing stones." This, gentlemen, is exactly your case, and you +must be the most ignorant of mankind, or suppose us so, not to see on +which side the balance of accounts will fall. There are many other modes +of retaliation, which, for several reasons, I choose not to mention. But +be assured of this, that the instant you put your threat into execution, +a counter-blow will follow it. If you openly profess yourselves savages, +it is high time we should treat you as such, and if nothing but distress +can recover you to reason, to punish will become an office of charity. + +While your fleet lay last winter in the Delaware, I offered my service +to the Pennsylvania Navy Board then at Trenton, as one who would make +a party with them, or any four or five gentlemen, on an expedition down +the river to set fire to it, and though it was not then accepted, nor +the thing personally attempted, it is more than probable that your own +folly will provoke a much more ruinous act. Say not when mischief is +done, that you had not warning, and remember that we do not begin it, +but mean to repay it. Thus much for your savage and impolitic threat. + +In another part of your proclamation you say, "But if the honors of +a military life are become the object of the Americans, let them seek +those honors under the banners of their rightful sovereign, and in +fighting the battles of the united British Empire, against our late +mutual and natural enemies." Surely! the union of absurdity with madness +was never marked in more distinguishable lines than these. Your rightful +sovereign, as you call him, may do well enough for you, who dare not +inquire into the humble capacities of the man; but we, who estimate +persons and things by their real worth, cannot suffer our judgments to +be so imposed upon; and unless it is your wish to see him exposed, it +ought to be your endeavor to keep him out of sight. The less you have +to say about him the better. We have done with him, and that ought to +be answer enough. You have been often told so. Strange! that the answer +must be so often repeated. You go a-begging with your king as with a +brat, or with some unsaleable commodity you were tired of; and though +every body tells you no, no, still you keep hawking him about. But +there is one that will have him in a little time, and as we have no +inclination to disappoint you of a customer, we bid nothing for him. + +The impertinent folly of the paragraph that I have just quoted, deserves +no other notice than to be laughed at and thrown by, but the principle +on which it is founded is detestable. We are invited to submit to a man +who has attempted by every cruelty to destroy us, and to join him in +making war against France, who is already at war against him for our +support. + +Can Bedlam, in concert with Lucifer, form a more mad and devilish +request? Were it possible a people could sink into such apostacy they +would deserve to be swept from the earth like the inhabitants of Sodom +and Gomorrah. The proposition is an universal affront to the rank which +man holds in the creation, and an indignity to him who placed him +there. It supposes him made up without a spark of honor, and under no +obligation to God or man. + +What sort of men or Christians must you suppose the Americans to be, +who, after seeing their most humble petitions insultingly rejected; +the most grievous laws passed to distress them in every quarter; an +undeclared war let loose upon them, and Indians and negroes invited to +the slaughter; who, after seeing their kinsmen murdered, their fellow +citizens starved to death in prisons, and their houses and property +destroyed and burned; who, after the most serious appeals to heaven, the +most solemn abjuration by oath of all government connected with you, and +the most heart-felt pledges and protestations of faith to each other; +and who, after soliciting the friendship, and entering into alliances +with other nations, should at last break through all these obligations, +civil and divine, by complying with your horrid and infernal proposal. +Ought we ever after to be considered as a part of the human race? Or +ought we not rather to be blotted from the society of mankind, and +become a spectacle of misery to the world? But there is something in +corruption, which, like a jaundiced eye, transfers the color of itself +to the object it looks upon, and sees every thing stained and impure; +for unless you were capable of such conduct yourselves, you would never +have supposed such a character in us. The offer fixes your infamy. It +exhibits you as a nation without faith; with whom oaths and treaties +are considered as trifles, and the breaking them as the breaking of a +bubble. Regard to decency, or to rank, might have taught you better; or +pride inspired you, though virtue could not. There is not left a step in +the degradation of character to which you can now descend; you have put +your foot on the ground floor, and the key of the dungeon is turned upon +you. + +That the invitation may want nothing of being a complete monster, +you have thought proper to finish it with an assertion which has no +foundation, either in fact or philosophy; and as Mr. Ferguson, your +secretary, is a man of letters, and has made civil society his study, +and published a treatise on that subject, I address this part to him. + +In the close of the paragraph which I last quoted, France is styled the +"natural enemy" of England, and by way of lugging us into some strange +idea, she is styled "the late mutual and natural enemy" of both +countries. I deny that she ever was the natural enemy of either; and +that there does not exist in nature such a principle. The expression +is an unmeaning barbarism, and wholly unphilosophical, when applied to +beings of the same species, let their station in the creation be what +it may. We have a perfect idea of a natural enemy when we think of the +devil, because the enmity is perpetual, unalterable and unabateable. It +admits, neither of peace, truce, or treaty; consequently the warfare is +eternal, and therefore it is natural. But man with man cannot arrange +in the same opposition. Their quarrels are accidental and equivocally +created. They become friends or enemies as the change of temper, or the +cast of interest inclines them. The Creator of man did not constitute +them the natural enemy of each other. He has not made any one order of +beings so. Even wolves may quarrel, still they herd together. If any two +nations are so, then must all nations be so, otherwise it is not nature +but custom, and the offence frequently originates with the accuser. +England is as truly the natural enemy of France, as France is of +England, and perhaps more so. Separated from the rest of Europe, she +has contracted an unsocial habit of manners, and imagines in others the +jealousy she creates in herself. Never long satisfied with peace, +she supposes the discontent universal, and buoyed up with her own +importance, conceives herself the only object pointed at. The expression +has been often used, and always with a fraudulent design; for when the +idea of a natural enemy is conceived, it prevents all other inquiries, +and the real cause of the quarrel is hidden in the universality of the +conceit. Men start at the notion of a natural enemy, and ask no other +question. The cry obtains credit like the alarm of a mad dog, and is +one of those kind of tricks, which, by operating on the common passions, +secures their interest through their folly. + +But we, sir, are not to be thus imposed upon. We live in a large world, +and have extended our ideas beyond the limits and prejudices of an +island. We hold out the right hand of friendship to all the universe, +and we conceive that there is a sociality in the manners of France, +which is much better disposed to peace and negotiation than that of +England, and until the latter becomes more civilized, she cannot expect +to live long at peace with any power. Her common language is vulgar +and offensive, and children suck in with their milk the rudiments of +insult--"The arm of Britain! The mighty arm of Britain! Britain that +shakes the earth to its center and its poles! The scourge of France! The +terror of the world! That governs with a nod, and pours down vengeance +like a God." This language neither makes a nation great or little; but +it shows a savageness of manners, and has a tendency to keep national +animosity alive. The entertainments of the stage are calculated to the +same end, and almost every public exhibition is tinctured with insult. +Yet England is always in dread of France,--terrified at the apprehension +of an invasion, suspicious of being outwitted in a treaty, and privately +cringing though she is publicly offending. Let her, therefore, reform +her manners and do justice, and she will find the idea of a natural +enemy to be only a phantom of her own imagination. + +Little did I think, at this period of the war, to see a proclamation +which could promise you no one useful purpose whatever, and tend only +to expose you. One would think that you were just awakened from a four +years' dream, and knew nothing of what had passed in the interval. +Is this a time to be offering pardons, or renewing the long forgotten +subjects of charters and taxation? Is it worth your while, after every +force has failed you, to retreat under the shelter of argument and +persuasion? Or can you think that we, with nearly half your army +prisoners, and in alliance with France, are to be begged or threatened +into submission by a piece of paper? But as commissioners at a hundred +pounds sterling a week each, you conceive yourselves bound to do +something, and the genius of ill-fortune told you, that you must write. + +For my own part, I have not put pen to paper these several months. +Convinced of our superiority by the issue of every campaign, I was +inclined to hope, that that which all the rest of the world now see, +would become visible to you, and therefore felt unwilling to ruffle your +temper by fretting you with repetitions and discoveries. There have been +intervals of hesitation in your conduct, from which it seemed a pity to +disturb you, and a charity to leave you to yourselves. You have often +stopped, as if you intended to think, but your thoughts have ever been +too early or too late. + +There was a time when Britain disdained to answer, or even hear +a petition from America. That time is past and she in her turn is +petitioning our acceptance. We now stand on higher ground, and offer +her peace; and the time will come when she, perhaps in vain, will ask +it from us. The latter case is as probable as the former ever was. She +cannot refuse to acknowledge our independence with greater obstinacy +than she before refused to repeal her laws; and if America alone could +bring her to the one, united with France she will reduce her to the +other. There is something in obstinacy which differs from every other +passion; whenever it fails it never recovers, but either breaks like +iron, or crumbles sulkily away like a fractured arch. Most other +passions have their periods of fatigue and rest; their suffering and +their cure; but obstinacy has no resource, and the first wound is +mortal. You have already begun to give it up, and you will, from the +natural construction of the vice, find yourselves both obliged and +inclined to do so. + +If you look back you see nothing but loss and disgrace. If you look +forward the same scene continues, and the close is an impenetrable +gloom. You may plan and execute little mischiefs, but are they worth the +expense they cost you, or will such partial evils have any effect on the +general cause? Your expedition to Egg Harbor, will be felt at a distance +like an attack upon a hen-roost, and expose you in Europe, with a sort +of childish frenzy. Is it worth while to keep an army to protect you +in writing proclamations, or to get once a year into winter quarters? +Possessing yourselves of towns is not conquest, but convenience, and +in which you will one day or other be trepanned. Your retreat from +Philadelphia, was only a timely escape, and your next expedition may be +less fortunate. + +It would puzzle all the politicians in the universe to conceive what you +stay for, or why you should have stayed so long. You are prosecuting +a war in which you confess you have neither object nor hope, and that +conquest, could it be effected, would not repay the charges: in the mean +while the rest of your affairs are running to ruin, and a European war +kindling against you. In such a situation, there is neither doubt nor +difficulty; the first rudiments of reason will determine the choice, for +if peace can be procured with more advantages than even a conquest can +be obtained, he must be an idiot indeed that hesitates. + +But you are probably buoyed up by a set of wretched mortals, who, having +deceived themselves, are cringing, with the duplicity of a spaniel, for +a little temporary bread. Those men will tell you just what you +please. It is their interest to amuse, in order to lengthen out their +protection. They study to keep you amongst them for that very purpose; +and in proportion as you disregard their advice, and grow callous to +their complaints, they will stretch into improbability, and season their +flattery the higher. Characters like these are to be found in every +country, and every country will despise them. + + COMMON SENSE. + +PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 20, 1778. + + + + +THE CRISIS VII. TO THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. + + +THERE are stages in the business of serious life in which to amuse is +cruel, but to deceive is to destroy; and it is of little consequence, in +the conclusion, whether men deceive themselves, or submit, by a kind of +mutual consent, to the impositions of each other. That England has long +been under the influence of delusion or mistake, needs no other proof +than the unexpected and wretched situation that she is now involved in: +and so powerful has been the influence, that no provision was ever made +or thought of against the misfortune, because the possibility of its +happening was never conceived. + +The general and successful resistance of America, the conquest of +Burgoyne, and a war in France, were treated in parliament as the dreams +of a discontented opposition, or a distempered imagination. They were +beheld as objects unworthy of a serious thought, and the bare intimation +of them afforded the ministry a triumph of laughter. Short triumph +indeed! For everything which has been predicted has happened, and all +that was promised has failed. A long series of politics so remarkably +distinguished by a succession of misfortunes, without one alleviating +turn, must certainly have something in it systematically wrong. It is +sufficient to awaken the most credulous into suspicion, and the most +obstinate into thought. Either the means in your power are insufficient, +or the measures ill planned; either the execution has been bad, or the +thing attempted impracticable; or, to speak more emphatically, either +you are not able or heaven is not willing. For, why is it that you have +not conquered us? Who, or what has prevented you? You have had every +opportunity that you could desire, and succeeded to your utmost wish in +every preparatory means. Your fleets and armies have arrived in America +without an accident. No uncommon fortune has intervened. No foreign +nation has interfered until the time which you had allotted for victory +was passed. The opposition, either in or out of parliament, neither +disconcerted your measures, retarded or diminished your force. They only +foretold your fate. Every ministerial scheme was carried with as high a +hand as if the whole nation had been unanimous. Every thing wanted was +asked for, and every thing asked for was granted. + +A greater force was not within the compass of your abilities to send, +and the time you sent it was of all others the most favorable. You were +then at rest with the whole world beside. You had the range of every +court in Europe uncontradicted by us. You amused us with a tale of +commissioners of peace, and under that disguise collected a numerous +army and came almost unexpectedly upon us. The force was much greater +than we looked for; and that which we had to oppose it with, was unequal +in numbers, badly armed, and poorly disciplined; beside which, it was +embodied only for a short time, and expired within a few months after +your arrival. We had governments to form; measures to concert; an +army to train, and every necessary article to import or to create. Our +non-importation scheme had exhausted our stores, and your command by sea +intercepted our supplies. We were a people unknown, and unconnected with +the political world, and strangers to the disposition of foreign +powers. Could you possibly wish for a more favorable conjunction of +circumstances? Yet all these have happened and passed away, and, as +it were, left you with a laugh. There are likewise, events of such an +original nativity as can never happen again, unless a new world should +arise from the ocean. + +If any thing can be a lesson to presumption, surely the circumstances +of this war will have their effect. Had Britain been defeated by +any European power, her pride would have drawn consolation from the +importance of her conquerors; but in the present case, she is excelled +by those that she affected to despise, and her own opinions retorting +upon herself, become an aggravation of her disgrace. Misfortune and +experience are lost upon mankind, when they produce neither reflection +nor reformation. Evils, like poisons, have their uses, and there are +diseases which no other remedy can reach. It has been the crime and +folly of England to suppose herself invincible, and that, without +acknowledging or perceiving that a full third of her strength was drawn +from the country she is now at war with. The arm of Britain has been +spoken of as the arm of the Almighty, and she has lived of late as if +she thought the whole world created for her diversion. Her politics, +instead of civilizing, has tended to brutalize mankind, and under the +vain, unmeaning title of "Defender of the Faith," she has made war like +an Indian against the religion of humanity. Her cruelties in the East +Indies will never be forgotten, and it is somewhat remarkable that the +produce of that ruined country, transported to America, should there +kindle up a war to punish the destroyer. The chain is continued, +though with a mysterious kind of uniformity both in the crime and the +punishment. The latter runs parallel with the former, and time and fate +will give it a perfect illustration. + +When information is withheld, ignorance becomes a reasonable excuse; and +one would charitably hope that the people of England do not encourage +cruelty from choice but from mistake. Their recluse situation, +surrounded by the sea, preserves them from the calamities of war, and +keeps them in the dark as to the conduct of their own armies. They see +not, therefore they feel not. They tell the tale that is told them and +believe it, and accustomed to no other news than their own, they receive +it, stripped of its horrors and prepared for the palate of the nation, +through the channel of the London Gazette. They are made to believe that +their generals and armies differ from those of other nations, and have +nothing of rudeness or barbarity in them. They suppose them what +they wish them to be. They feel a disgrace in thinking otherwise, and +naturally encourage the belief from a partiality to themselves. There +was a time when I felt the same prejudices, and reasoned from the +same errors; but experience, sad and painful experience, has taught me +better. What the conduct of former armies was, I know not, but what the +conduct of the present is, I well know. It is low, cruel, indolent and +profligate; and had the people of America no other cause for separation +than what the army has occasioned, that alone is cause sufficient. + +The field of politics in England is far more extensive than that of +news. Men have a right to reason for themselves, and though they cannot +contradict the intelligence in the London Gazette, they may frame upon +it what sentiments they please. But the misfortune is, that a general +ignorance has prevailed over the whole nation respecting America. The +ministry and the minority have both been wrong. The former was always +so, the latter only lately so. Politics, to be executively right, must +have a unity of means and time, and a defect in either overthrows the +whole. The ministry rejected the plans of the minority while they were +practicable, and joined in them when they became impracticable. From +wrong measures they got into wrong time, and have now completed the +circle of absurdity by closing it upon themselves. + +I happened to come to America a few months before the breaking out of +hostilities. I found the disposition of the people such, that they might +have been led by a thread and governed by a reed. Their suspicion was +quick and penetrating, but their attachment to Britain was obstinate, +and it was at that time a kind of treason to speak against it. They +disliked the ministry, but they esteemed the nation. Their idea of +grievance operated without resentment, and their single object was +reconciliation. Bad as I believed the ministry to be, I never conceived +them capable of a measure so rash and wicked as the commencing of +hostilities; much less did I imagine the nation would encourage it. +I viewed the dispute as a kind of law-suit, in which I supposed the +parties would find a way either to decide or settle it. I had no +thoughts of independence or of arms. The world could not then have +persuaded me that I should be either a soldier or an author. If I had +any talents for either, they were buried in me, and might ever have +continued so, had not the necessity of the times dragged and driven them +into action. I had formed my plan of life, and conceiving myself happy, +wished every body else so. But when the country, into which I had just +set my foot, was set on fire about my ears, it was time to stir. It +was time for every man to stir. Those who had been long settled had +something to defend; those who had just come had something to pursue; +and the call and the concern was equal and universal. For in a country +where all men were once adventurers, the difference of a few years in +their arrival could make none in their right. + +The breaking out of hostilities opened a new suspicion in the politics +of America, which, though at that time very rare, has since been proved +to be very right. What I allude to is, "a secret and fixed determination +in the British Cabinet to annex America to the crown of England as a +conquered country." If this be taken as the object, then the whole +line of conduct pursued by the ministry, though rash in its origin and +ruinous in its consequences, is nevertheless uniform and consistent in +its parts. It applies to every case and resolves every difficulty. +But if taxation, or any thing else, be taken in its room, there is no +proportion between the object and the charge. Nothing but the whole +soil and property of the country can be placed as a possible equivalent +against the millions which the ministry expended. No taxes raised in +America could possibly repay it. A revenue of two millions sterling a +year would not discharge the sum and interest accumulated thereon, in +twenty years. + +Reconciliation never appears to have been the wish or the object of the +administration; they looked on conquest as certain and infallible, and, +under that persuasion, sought to drive the Americans into what they +might style a general rebellion, and then, crushing them with arms +in their hands, reap the rich harvest of a general confiscation, and +silence them for ever. The dependents at court were too numerous to be +provided for in England. The market for plunder in the East Indies was +over; and the profligacy of government required that a new mine should +be opened, and that mine could be no other than America, conquered +and forfeited. They had no where else to go. Every other channel was +drained; and extravagance, with the thirst of a drunkard, was gaping for +supplies. + +If the ministry deny this to have been their plan, it becomes them to +explain what was their plan. For either they have abused us in coveting +property they never labored for, or they have abused you in expending an +amazing sum upon an incompetent object. Taxation, as I mentioned before, +could never be worth the charge of obtaining it by arms; and any kind of +formal obedience which America could have made, would have weighed with +the lightness of a laugh against such a load of expense. It is therefore +most probable that the ministry will at last justify their policy by +their dishonesty, and openly declare, that their original design was +conquest: and, in this case, it well becomes the people of England to +consider how far the nation would have been benefited by the success. + +In a general view, there are few conquests that repay the charge of +making them, and mankind are pretty well convinced that it can never be +worth their while to go to war for profit's sake. If they are made war +upon, their country invaded, or their existence at stake, it is their +duty to defend and preserve themselves, but in every other light, and +from every other cause, is war inglorious and detestable. But to return +to the case in question-- + +When conquests are made of foreign countries, it is supposed that the +commerce and dominion of the country which made them are extended. But +this could neither be the object nor the consequence of the present +war. You enjoyed the whole commerce before. It could receive no possible +addition by a conquest, but on the contrary, must diminish as the +inhabitants were reduced in numbers and wealth. You had the same +dominion over the country which you used to have, and had no complaint +to make against her for breach of any part of the contract between +you or her, or contending against any established custom, commercial, +political or territorial. The country and commerce were both your own +when you began to conquer, in the same manner and form as they had been +your own a hundred years before. Nations have sometimes been induced to +make conquests for the sake of reducing the power of their enemies, or +bringing it to a balance with their own. But this could be no part of +your plan. No foreign authority was claimed here, neither was any such +authority suspected by you, or acknowledged or imagined by us. What +then, in the name of heaven, could you go to war for? Or what chance +could you possibly have in the event, but either to hold the same +country which you held before, and that in a much worse condition, or +to lose, with an amazing expense, what you might have retained without a +farthing of charges? + +War never can be the interest of a trading nation, any more than +quarrelling can be profitable to a man in business. But to make war with +those who trade with us, is like setting a bull-dog upon a customer at +the shop-door. The least degree of common sense shows the madness of +the latter, and it will apply with the same force of conviction to the +former. Piratical nations, having neither commerce or commodities of +their own to lose, may make war upon all the world, and lucratively +find their account in it; but it is quite otherwise with Britain: for, +besides the stoppage of trade in time of war, she exposes more of her +own property to be lost, than she has the chance of taking from others. +Some ministerial gentlemen in parliament have mentioned the greatness of +her trade as an apology for the greatness of her loss. This is miserable +politics indeed! Because it ought to have been given as a reason for her +not engaging in a war at first. The coast of America commands the West +India trade almost as effectually as the coast of Africa does that of +the Straits; and England can no more carry on the former without the +consent of America, than she can the latter without a Mediterranean +pass. + +In whatever light the war with America is considered upon commercial +principles, it is evidently the interest of the people of England not to +support it; and why it has been supported so long, against the clearest +demonstrations of truth and national advantage, is, to me, and must be +to all the reasonable world, a matter of astonishment. Perhaps it may +be said that I live in America, and write this from interest. To this +I reply, that my principle is universal. My attachment is to all the +world, and not to any particular part, and if what I advance is right, +no matter where or who it comes from. We have given the proclamation of +your commissioners a currency in our newspapers, and I have no doubt you +will give this a place in yours. To oblige and be obliged is fair. + +Before I dismiss this part of my address, I shall mention one more +circumstance in which I think the people of England have been equally +mistaken: and then proceed to other matters. + +There is such an idea existing in the world, as that of national honor, +and this, falsely understood, is oftentimes the cause of war. In a +Christian and philosophical sense, mankind seem to have stood still +at individual civilization, and to retain as nations all the original +rudeness of nature. Peace by treaty is only a cessation of violence for +a reformation of sentiment. It is a substitute for a principle that +is wanting and ever will be wanting till the idea of national honor be +rightly understood. As individuals we profess ourselves Christians, but +as nations we are heathens, Romans, and what not. I remember the late +Admiral Saunders declaring in the House of Commons, and that in the time +of peace, "That the city of Madrid laid in ashes was not a sufficient +atonement for the Spaniards taking off the rudder of an English sloop +of war." I do not ask whether this is Christianity or morality, I ask +whether it is decency? whether it is proper language for a nation to +use? In private life we call it by the plain name of bullying, and +the elevation of rank cannot alter its character. It is, I think, +exceedingly easy to define what ought to be understood by national +honor; for that which is the best character for an individual is the +best character for a nation; and wherever the latter exceeds or +falls beneath the former, there is a departure from the line of true +greatness. + +I have thrown out this observation with a design of applying it to Great +Britain. Her ideas of national honor seem devoid of that benevolence of +heart, that universal expansion of philanthropy, and that triumph over +the rage of vulgar prejudice, without which man is inferior to himself, +and a companion of common animals. To know who she shall regard or +dislike, she asks what country they are of, what religion they profess, +and what property they enjoy. Her idea of national honor seems to +consist in national insult, and that to be a great people, is to be +neither a Christian, a philosopher, or a gentleman, but to threaten with +the rudeness of a bear, and to devour with the ferocity of a lion. This +perhaps may sound harsh and uncourtly, but it is too true, and the more +is the pity. + +I mention this only as her general character. But towards America she +has observed no character at all; and destroyed by her conduct what she +assumed in her title. She set out with the title of parent, or mother +country. The association of ideas which naturally accompany this +expression, are filled with everything that is fond, tender and +forbearing. They have an energy peculiar to themselves, and, overlooking +the accidental attachment of common affections, apply with infinite +softness to the first feelings of the heart. It is a political term +which every mother can feel the force of, and every child can judge of. +It needs no painting of mine to set it off, for nature only can do it +justice. + +But has any part of your conduct to America corresponded with the title +you set up? If in your general national character you are unpolished and +severe, in this you are inconsistent and unnatural, and you must have +exceeding false notions of national honor to suppose that the world can +admire a want of humanity or that national honor depends on the +violence of resentment, the inflexibility of temper, or the vengeance of +execution. + +I would willingly convince you, and that with as much temper as the +times will suffer me to do, that as you opposed your own interest by +quarrelling with us, so likewise your national honor, rightly conceived +and understood, was no ways called upon to enter into a war with +America; had you studied true greatness of heart, the first and fairest +ornament of mankind, you would have acted directly contrary to all that +you have done, and the world would have ascribed it to a generous cause. +Besides which, you had (though with the assistance of this country) +secured a powerful name by the last war. You were known and dreaded +abroad; and it would have been wise in you to have suffered the world to +have slept undisturbed under that idea. It was to you a force existing +without expense. It produced to you all the advantages of real power; +and you were stronger through the universality of that charm, than any +future fleets and armies may probably make you. Your greatness was so +secured and interwoven with your silence that you ought never to have +awakened mankind, and had nothing to do but to be quiet. Had you been +true politicians you would have seen all this, and continued to draw +from the magic of a name, the force and authority of a nation. + +Unwise as you were in breaking the charm, you were still more unwise +in the manner of doing it. Samson only told the secret, but you have +performed the operation; you have shaven your own head, and wantonly +thrown away the locks. America was the hair from which the charm was +drawn that infatuated the world. You ought to have quarrelled with no +power; but with her upon no account. You had nothing to fear from any +condescension you might make. You might have humored her, even if there +had been no justice in her claims, without any risk to your reputation; +for Europe, fascinated by your fame, would have ascribed it to your +benevolence, and America, intoxicated by the grant, would have slumbered +in her fetters. + +But this method of studying the progress of the passions, in order to +ascertain the probable conduct of mankind, is a philosophy in politics +which those who preside at St. James's have no conception of. They know +no other influence than corruption and reckon all their probabilities +from precedent. A new case is to them a new world, and while they are +seeking for a parallel they get lost. The talents of Lord Mansfield can +be estimated at best no higher than those of a sophist. He understands +the subtleties but not the elegance of nature; and by continually +viewing mankind through the cold medium of the law, never thinks of +penetrating into the warmer region of the mind. As for Lord North, it +is his happiness to have in him more philosophy than sentiment, for he +bears flogging like a top, and sleeps the better for it. His punishment +becomes his support, for while he suffers the lash for his sins, +he keeps himself up by twirling about. In politics, he is a good +arithmetician, and in every thing else nothing at all. + +There is one circumstance which comes so much within Lord North's +province as a financier, that I am surprised it should escape him, +which is, the different abilities of the two countries in supporting the +expense; for, strange as it may seem, England is not a match for America +in this particular. By a curious kind of revolution in accounts, the +people of England seem to mistake their poverty for their riches; that +is, they reckon their national debt as a part of their national wealth. +They make the same kind of error which a man would do, who after +mortgaging his estate, should add the money borrowed, to the full value +of the estate, in order to count up his worth, and in this case he would +conceive that he got rich by running into debt. Just thus it is with +England. The government owed at the beginning of this war one hundred +and thirty-five millions sterling, and though the individuals to whom it +was due had a right to reckon their shares as so much private property, +yet to the nation collectively it was so much poverty. There are as +effectual limits to public debts as to private ones, for when once the +money borrowed is so great as to require the whole yearly revenue to +discharge the interest thereon, there is an end to further borrowing; +in the same manner as when the interest of a man's debts amounts to +the yearly income of his estate, there is an end to his credit. This is +nearly the case with England, the interest of her present debt being +at least equal to one half of her yearly revenue, so that out of ten +millions annually collected by taxes, she has but five that she can call +her own. + +The very reverse of this was the case with America; she began the war +without any debt upon her, and in order to carry it on, she neither +raised money by taxes, nor borrowed it upon interest, but created it; +and her situation at this time continues so much the reverse of yours +that taxing would make her rich, whereas it would make you poor. When we +shall have sunk the sum which we have created, we shall then be out of +debt, be just as rich as when we began, and all the while we are doing +it shall feel no difference, because the value will rise as the quantity +decreases. + +There was not a country in the world so capable of bearing the expense +of a war as America; not only because she was not in debt when she +began, but because the country is young and capable of infinite +improvement, and has an almost boundless tract of new lands in store; +whereas England has got to her extent of age and growth, and has not +unoccupied land or property in reserve. The one is like a young heir +coming to a large improvable estate; the other like an old man whose +chances are over, and his estate mortgaged for half its worth. + +In the second number of the Crisis, which I find has been republished +in England, I endeavored to set forth the impracticability of conquering +America. I stated every case, that I conceived could possibly happen, +and ventured to predict its consequences. As my conclusions were drawn +not artfully, but naturally, they have all proved to be true. I was upon +the spot; knew the politics of America, her strength and resources, and +by a train of services, the best in my power to render, was honored with +the friendship of the congress, the army and the people. I considered +the cause a just one. I know and feel it a just one, and under that +confidence never made my own profit or loss an object. My endeavor was +to have the matter well understood on both sides, and I conceived +myself tendering a general service, by setting forth to the one the +impossibility of being conquered, and to the other the impossibility +of conquering. Most of the arguments made use of by the ministry for +supporting the war, are the very arguments that ought to have been used +against supporting it; and the plans, by which they thought to conquer, +are the very plans in which they were sure to be defeated. They have +taken every thing up at the wrong end. Their ignorance is astonishing, +and were you in my situation you would see it. They may, perhaps, +have your confidence, but I am persuaded that they would make very +indifferent members of Congress. I know what England is, and what +America is, and from the compound of knowledge, am better enabled to +judge of the issue than what the king or any of his ministers can be. + +In this number I have endeavored to show the ill policy and +disadvantages of the war. I believe many of my remarks are new. Those +which are not so, I have studied to improve and place in a manner that +may be clear and striking. Your failure is, I am persuaded, as certain +as fate. America is above your reach. She is at least your equal in the +world, and her independence neither rests upon your consent, nor can it +be prevented by your arms. In short, you spend your substance in vain, +and impoverish yourselves without a hope. + +But suppose you had conquered America, what advantages, collectively or +individually, as merchants, manufacturers, or conquerors, could you +have looked for? This is an object you seemed never to have attended to. +Listening for the sound of victory, and led away by the frenzy of arms, +you neglected to reckon either the cost or the consequences. You must +all pay towards the expense; the poorest among you must bear his share, +and it is both your right and your duty to weigh seriously the matter. +Had America been conquered, she might have been parcelled out in grants +to the favorites at court, but no share of it would have fallen to you. +Your taxes would not have been lessened, because she would have been +in no condition to have paid any towards your relief. We are rich by +contrivance of our own, which would have ceased as soon as you became +masters. Our paper money will be of no use in England, and silver and +gold we have none. In the last war you made many conquests, but were any +of your taxes lessened thereby? On the contrary, were you not taxed to +pay for the charge of making them, and has not the same been the case in +every war? + +To the Parliament I wish to address myself in a more particular manner. +They appear to have supposed themselves partners in the chase, and to +have hunted with the lion from an expectation of a right in the booty; +but in this it is most probable they would, as legislators, have +been disappointed. The case is quite a new one, and many unforeseen +difficulties would have arisen thereon. The Parliament claimed a +legislative right over America, and the war originated from that +pretence. But the army is supposed to belong to the crown, and if +America had been conquered through their means, the claim of the +legislature would have been suffocated in the conquest. Ceded, or +conquered, countries are supposed to be out of the authority of +Parliament. Taxation is exercised over them by prerogative and not by +law. It was attempted to be done in the Grenadas a few years ago, and +the only reason why it was not done was because the crown had made a +prior relinquishment of its claim. Therefore, Parliament have been all +this while supporting measures for the establishment of their authority, +in the issue of which, they would have been triumphed over by the +prerogative. This might have opened a new and interesting opposition +between the Parliament and the crown. The crown would have said that it +conquered for itself, and that to conquer for Parliament was an unknown +case. The Parliament might have replied, that America not being a +foreign country, but a country in rebellion, could not be said to be +conquered, but reduced; and thus continued their claim by disowning +the term. The crown might have rejoined, that however America might +be considered at first, she became foreign at last by a declaration of +independence, and a treaty with France; and that her case being, by that +treaty, put within the law of nations, was out of the law of Parliament, +who might have maintained, that as their claim over America had never +been surrendered, so neither could it be taken away. The crown might +have insisted, that though the claim of Parliament could not be taken +away, yet, being an inferior, it might be superseded; and that, whether +the claim was withdrawn from the object, or the object taken from the +claim, the same separation ensued; and that America being subdued after +a treaty with France, was to all intents and purposes a regal conquest, +and of course the sole property of the king. The Parliament, as the +legal delegates of the people, might have contended against the term +"inferior," and rested the case upon the antiquity of power, and this +would have brought on a set of very interesting and rational questions. + + 1st, What is the original fountain of power and honor in any country? + 2d, Whether the prerogative does not belong to the people? + 3d, Whether there is any such thing as the English constitution? + 4th, Of what use is the crown to the people? + 5th, Whether he who invented a crown was not an enemy to mankind? + 6th, Whether it is not a shame for a man to spend a million a year + and do no good for it, and whether the money might not be better + applied? 7th, Whether such a man is not better dead than alive? + 8th, Whether a Congress, constituted like that of America, is not the + most happy and consistent form of government in the world?--With a + number of others of the same import. + +In short, the contention about the dividend might have distracted the +nation; for nothing is more common than to agree in the conquest and +quarrel for the prize; therefore it is, perhaps, a happy circumstance, +that our successes have prevented the dispute. + +If the Parliament had been thrown out in their claim, which it is most +probable they would, the nation likewise would have been thrown out in +their expectation; for as the taxes would have been laid on by the crown +without the Parliament, the revenue arising therefrom, if any could +have arisen, would not have gone into the exchequer, but into the privy +purse, and so far from lessening the taxes, would not even have been +added to them, but served only as pocket money to the crown. The more I +reflect on this matter, the more I am satisfied at the blindness and +ill policy of my countrymen, whose wisdom seems to operate without +discernment, and their strength without an object. + +To the great bulwark of the nation, I mean the mercantile and +manufacturing part thereof, I likewise present my address. It is your +interest to see America an independent, and not a conquered country. If +conquered, she is ruined; and if ruined, poor; consequently the +trade will be a trifle, and her credit doubtful. If independent, she +flourishes, and from her flourishing must your profits arise. It +matters nothing to you who governs America, if your manufactures find +a consumption there. Some articles will consequently be obtained from +other places, and it is right that they should; but the demand for +others will increase, by the great influx of inhabitants which a state +of independence and peace will occasion, and in the final event you may +be enriched. The commerce of America is perfectly free, and ever will +be so. She will consign away no part of it to any nation. She has not +to her friends, and certainly will not to her enemies; though it is +probable that your narrow-minded politicians, thinking to please you +thereby, may some time or other unnecessarily make such a proposal. +Trade flourishes best when it is free, and it is weak policy to attempt +to fetter it. Her treaty with France is on the most liberal and generous +principles, and the French, in their conduct towards her, have proved +themselves to be philosophers, politicians, and gentlemen. + +To the ministry I likewise address myself. You, gentlemen, have studied +the ruin of your country, from which it is not within your abilities to +rescue her. Your attempts to recover her are as ridiculous as your plans +which involved her are detestable. The commissioners, being about to +depart, will probably bring you this, and with it my sixth number, +addressed to them; and in so doing they carry back more Common Sense +than they brought, and you likewise will have more than when you sent +them. + +Having thus addressed you severally, I conclude by addressing you +collectively. It is a long lane that has no turning. A period of sixteen +years of misconduct and misfortune, is certainly long enough for any one +nation to suffer under; and upon a supposition that war is not declared +between France and you, I beg to place a line of conduct before you +that will easily lead you out of all your troubles. It has been hinted +before, and cannot be too much attended to. + +Suppose America had remained unknown to Europe till the present year, +and that Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander, in another voyage round the world, +had made the first discovery of her, in the same condition that she is +now in, of arts, arms, numbers, and civilization. What, I ask, in that +case, would have been your conduct towards her? For that will point out +what it ought to be now. The problems and their solutions are equal, +and the right line of the one is the parallel of the other. The question +takes in every circumstance that can possibly arise. It reduces politics +to a simple thought, and is moreover a mode of investigation, in which, +while you are studying your interest the simplicity of the case will +cheat you into good temper. You have nothing to do but to suppose that +you have found America, and she appears found to your hand, and while +in the joy of your heart you stand still to admire her, the path of +politics rises straight before you. + +Were I disposed to paint a contrast, I could easily set off what you +have done in the present case, against what you would have done in that +case, and by justly opposing them, conclude a picture that would make +you blush. But, as, when any of the prouder passions are hurt, it is +much better philosophy to let a man slip into a good temper than to +attack him in a bad one, for that reason, therefore, I only state the +case, and leave you to reflect upon it. + +To go a little back into politics, it will be found that the true +interest of Britain lay in proposing and promoting the independence of +America immediately after the last peace; for the expense which Britain +had then incurred by defending America as her own dominions, ought to +have shown her the policy and necessity of changing the style of the +country, as the best probable method of preventing future wars and +expense, and the only method by which she could hold the commerce +without the charge of sovereignty. Besides which, the title which she +assumed, of parent country, led to, and pointed out the propriety, +wisdom and advantage of a separation; for, as in private life, children +grow into men, and by setting up for themselves, extend and secure the +interest of the whole family, so in the settlement of colonies large +enough to admit of maturity, the same policy should be pursued, and the +same consequences would follow. Nothing hurts the affections both of +parents and children so much, as living too closely connected, and +keeping up the distinction too long. Domineering will not do over those, +who, by a progress in life, have become equal in rank to their parents, +that is, when they have families of their own; and though they may +conceive themselves the subjects of their advice, will not suppose them +the objects of their government. I do not, by drawing this parallel, +mean to admit the title of parent country, because, if it is due any +where, it is due to Europe collectively, and the first settlers from +England were driven here by persecution. I mean only to introduce the +term for the sake of policy and to show from your title the line of your +interest. + +When you saw the state of strength and opulence, and that by her own +industry, which America arrived at, you ought to have advised her to set +up for herself, and proposed an alliance of interest with her, and in +so doing you would have drawn, and that at her own expense, more real +advantage, and more military supplies and assistance, both of ships and +men, than from any weak and wrangling government that you could exercise +over her. In short, had you studied only the domestic politics of a +family, you would have learned how to govern the state; but, instead of +this easy and natural line, you flew out into every thing which was +wild and outrageous, till, by following the passion and stupidity of the +pilot, you wrecked the vessel within sight of the shore. + +Having shown what you ought to have done, I now proceed to show why it +was not done. The caterpillar circle of the court had an interest +to pursue, distinct from, and opposed to yours; for though by the +independence of America and an alliance therewith, the trade would have +continued, if not increased, as in many articles neither country can go +to a better market, and though by defending and protecting herself, +she would have been no expense to you, and consequently your +national charges would have decreased, and your taxes might have been +proportionably lessened thereby; yet the striking off so many places +from the court calendar was put in opposition to the interest of the +nation. The loss of thirteen government ships, with their appendages, +here and in England, is a shocking sound in the ear of a hungry +courtier. Your present king and ministry will be the ruin of you; and +you had better risk a revolution and call a Congress, than be thus led +on from madness to despair, and from despair to ruin. America has set +you the example, and you may follow it and be free. + +I now come to the last part, a war with France. This is what no man in +his senses will advise you to, and all good men would wish to prevent. +Whether France will declare war against you, is not for me in this place +to mention, or to hint, even if I knew it; but it must be madness in you +to do it first. The matter is come now to a full crisis, and peace is +easy if willingly set about. Whatever you may think, France has behaved +handsomely to you. She would have been unjust to herself to have acted +otherwise than she did; and having accepted our offer of alliance she +gave you genteel notice of it. There was nothing in her conduct reserved +or indelicate, and while she announced her determination to support her +treaty, she left you to give the first offence. America, on her part, +has exhibited a character of firmness to the world. Unprepared and +unarmed, without form or government, she, singly opposed a nation +that domineered over half the globe. The greatness of the deed demands +respect; and though you may feel resentment, you are compelled both to +wonder and admire. + +Here I rest my arguments and finish my address. Such as it is, it is a +gift, and you are welcome. It was always my design to dedicate a Crisis +to you, when the time should come that would properly make it a Crisis; +and when, likewise, I should catch myself in a temper to write it, and +suppose you in a condition to read it. That time has now arrived, and +with it the opportunity for conveyance. For the commissioners--poor +commissioners! having proclaimed, that "yet forty days and Nineveh shall +be overthrown," have waited out the date, and, discontented with their +God, are returning to their gourd. And all the harm I wish them is, that +it may not wither about their ears, and that they may not make their +exit in the belly of a whale. + +COMMON SENSE. + +PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 21, 1778. + +P.S.--Though in the tranquillity of my mind I have concluded with a +laugh, yet I have something to mention to the commissioners, which, to +them, is serious and worthy their attention. Their authority is derived +from an Act of Parliament, which likewise describes and limits their +official powers. Their commission, therefore, is only a recital, and +personal investiture, of those powers, or a nomination and description +of the persons who are to execute them. Had it contained any thing +contrary to, or gone beyond the line of, the written law from which +it is derived, and by which it is bound, it would, by the English +constitution, have been treason in the crown, and the king been subject +to an impeachment. He dared not, therefore, put in his commission what +you have put in your proclamation, that is, he dared not have authorised +you in that commission to burn and destroy any thing in America. You are +both in the act and in the commission styled commissioners for restoring +peace, and the methods for doing it are there pointed out. Your last +proclamation is signed by you as commissioners under that act. You +make Parliament the patron of its contents. Yet, in the body of it, you +insert matters contrary both to the spirit and letter of the act, and +what likewise your king dared not have put in his commission to you. The +state of things in England, gentlemen, is too ticklish for you to run +hazards. You are accountable to Parliament for the execution of that act +according to the letter of it. Your heads may pay for breaking it, for +you certainly have broke it by exceeding it. And as a friend, who would +wish you to escape the paw of the lion, as well as the belly of the +whale, I civilly hint to you, to keep within compass. + +Sir Harry Clinton, strictly speaking, is as accountable as the rest; for +though a general, he is likewise a commissioner, acting under a superior +authority. His first obedience is due to the act; and his plea of being +a general, will not and cannot clear him as a commissioner, for that +would suppose the crown, in its single capacity, to have a power of +dispensing with an Act of Parliament. Your situation, gentlemen, is nice +and critical, and the more so because England is unsettled. Take heed! +Remember the times of Charles the First! For Laud and Stafford fell by +trusting to a hope like yours. + +Having thus shown you the danger of your proclamation, I now show you +the folly of it. The means contradict your design: you threaten to lay +waste, in order to render America a useless acquisition of alliance to +France. I reply, that the more destruction you commit (if you could do +it) the more valuable to France you make that alliance. You can destroy +only houses and goods; and by so doing you increase our demand upon her +for materials and merchandise; for the wants of one nation, provided it +has freedom and credit, naturally produce riches to the other; and, +as you can neither ruin the land nor prevent the vegetation, you would +increase the exportation of our produce in payment, which would be to +her a new fund of wealth. In short, had you cast about for a plan on +purpose to enrich your enemies, you could not have hit upon a better. + + C. S. + + + + +THE CRISIS VIII. ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. + + +"TRUSTING (says the king of England in his speech of November last,) +in the divine providence, and in the justice of my cause, I am firmly +resolved to prosecute the war with vigor, and to make every exertion +in order to compel our enemies to equitable terms of peace and +accommodation." To this declaration the United States of America, and +the confederated powers of Europe will reply, if Britain will have war, +she shall have enough of it. + +Five years have nearly elapsed since the commencement of hostilities, +and every campaign, by a gradual decay, has lessened your ability to +conquer, without producing a serious thought on your condition or your +fate. Like a prodigal lingering in an habitual consumption, you feel +the relics of life, and mistake them for recovery. New schemes, like +new medicines, have administered fresh hopes, and prolonged the disease +instead of curing it. A change of generals, like a change of physicians, +served only to keep the flattery alive, and furnish new pretences for +new extravagance. + +"Can Britain fail?"* has been proudly asked at the undertaking of every +enterprise; and that "whatever she wills is fate,"*(2) has been given +with the solemnity of prophetic confidence; and though the question +has been constantly replied to by disappointment, and the prediction +falsified by misfortune, yet still the insult continued, and your +catalogue of national evils increased therewith. Eager to persuade +the world of her power, she considered destruction as the minister of +greatness, and conceived that the glory of a nation like that of an +[American] Indian, lay in the number of its scalps and the miseries +which it inflicts. + + + * Whitehead's New Year's ode for 1776. +*(2) Ode at the installation of Lord North, for Chancellor of the +University of Oxford. + +Fire, sword and want, as far as the arms of Britain could extend them, +have been spread with wanton cruelty along the coast of America; and +while you, remote from the scene of suffering, had nothing to lose +and as little to dread, the information reached you like a tale of +antiquity, in which the distance of time defaces the conception, and +changes the severest sorrows into conversable amusement. + +This makes the second paper, addressed perhaps in vain, to the people +of England. That advice should be taken wherever example has failed, +or precept be regarded where warning is ridiculed, is like a picture +of hope resting on despair: but when time shall stamp with universal +currency the facts you have long encountered with a laugh, and the +irresistible evidence of accumulated losses, like the handwriting on +the wall, shall add terror to distress, you will then, in a conflict of +suffering, learn to sympathize with others by feeling for yourselves. + +The triumphant appearance of the combined fleets in the channel and at +your harbor's mouth, and the expedition of Captain Paul Jones, on the +western and eastern coasts of England and Scotland, will, by placing +you in the condition of an endangered country, read to you a stronger +lecture on the calamities of invasion, and bring to your minds a truer +picture of promiscuous distress, than the most finished rhetoric can +describe or the keenest imagination conceive. + +Hitherto you have experienced the expenses, but nothing of the miseries +of war. Your disappointments have been accompanied with no immediate +suffering, and your losses came to you only by intelligence. Like fire +at a distance you heard not even the cry; you felt not the danger, you +saw not the confusion. To you every thing has been foreign but the taxes +to support it. You knew not what it was to be alarmed at midnight with +an armed enemy in the streets. You were strangers to the distressing +scene of a family in flight, and to the thousand restless cares and +tender sorrows that incessantly arose. To see women and children +wandering in the severity of winter, with the broken remains of a well +furnished house, and seeking shelter in every crib and hut, were matters +that you had no conception of. You knew not what it was to stand by and +see your goods chopped for fuel, and your beds ripped to pieces to make +packages for plunder. The misery of others, like a tempestuous night, +added to the pleasures of your own security. You even enjoyed the storm, +by contemplating the difference of conditions, and that which carried +sorrow into the breasts of thousands served but to heighten in you a +species of tranquil pride. Yet these are but the fainter sufferings +of war, when compared with carnage and slaughter, the miseries of a +military hospital, or a town in flames. + +The people of America, by anticipating distress, had fortified their +minds against every species you could inflict. They had resolved to +abandon their homes, to resign them to destruction, and to seek new +settlements rather than submit. Thus familiarized to misfortune, before +it arrived, they bore their portion with the less regret: the justness +of their cause was a continual source of consolation, and the hope of +final victory, which never left them, served to lighten the load and +sweeten the cup allotted them to drink. + +But when their troubles shall become yours, and invasion be transferred +upon the invaders, you will have neither their extended wilderness +to fly to, their cause to comfort you, nor their hope to rest upon. +Distress with them was sharpened by no self-reflection. They had not +brought it on themselves. On the contrary, they had by every proceeding +endeavored to avoid it, and had descended even below the mark of +congressional character, to prevent a war. The national honor or the +advantages of independence were matters which, at the commencement of +the dispute, they had never studied, and it was only at the last moment +that the measure was resolved on. Thus circumstanced, they naturally +and conscientiously felt a dependence upon providence. They had a clear +pretension to it, and had they failed therein, infidelity had gained a +triumph. + +But your condition is the reverse of theirs. Every thing you suffer you +have sought: nay, had you created mischiefs on purpose to inherit +them, you could not have secured your title by a firmer deed. The world +awakens with no pity it your complaints. You felt none for others; you +deserve none for yourselves. Nature does not interest herself in cases +like yours, but, on the contrary, turns from them with dislike, and +abandons them to punishment. You may now present memorials to what court +you please, but so far as America is the object, none will listen. +The policy of Europe, and the propensity there in every mind to curb +insulting ambition, and bring cruelty to judgment, are unitedly against +you; and where nature and interest reinforce with each other, the +compact is too intimate to be dissolved. + +Make but the case of others your own, and your own theirs, and you +will then have a clear idea of the whole. Had France acted towards her +colonies as you have done, you would have branded her with every epithet +of abhorrence; and had you, like her, stepped in to succor a struggling +people, all Europe must have echoed with your own applauses. But +entangled in the passion of dispute you see it not as you ought, and +form opinions thereon which suit with no interest but your own. You +wonder that America does not rise in union with you to impose on herself +a portion of your taxes and reduce herself to unconditional submission. +You are amazed that the southern powers of Europe do not assist you +in conquering a country which is afterwards to be turned against +themselves; and that the northern ones do not contribute to reinstate +you in America who already enjoy the market for naval stores by the +separation. You seem surprised that Holland does not pour in her succors +to maintain you mistress of the seas, when her own commerce is suffering +by your act of navigation; or that any country should study her own +interest while yours is on the carpet. + +Such excesses of passionate folly, and unjust as well as unwise +resentment, have driven you on, like Pharaoh, to unpitied miseries, and +while the importance of the quarrel shall perpetuate your disgrace, the +flag of America will carry it round the world. The natural feelings of +every rational being will be against you, and wherever the story shall +be told, you will have neither excuse nor consolation left. With an +unsparing hand, and an insatiable mind, you have desolated the world, +to gain dominion and to lose it; and while, in a frenzy of avarice and +ambition, the east and the west are doomed to tributary bondage, you +rapidly earned destruction as the wages of a nation. + +At the thoughts of a war at home, every man amongst you ought to +tremble. The prospect is far more dreadful there than in America. Here +the party that was against the measures of the continent were in general +composed of a kind of neutrals, who added strength to neither army. +There does not exist a being so devoid of sense and sentiment as to +covet "unconditional submission," and therefore no man in America could +be with you in principle. Several might from a cowardice of mind, prefer +it to the hardships and dangers of opposing it; but the same disposition +that gave them such a choice, unfitted them to act either for or against +us. But England is rent into parties, with equal shares of resolution. +The principle which produced the war divides the nation. Their +animosities are in the highest state of fermentation, and both sides, by +a call of the militia, are in arms. No human foresight can discern, no +conclusion can be formed, what turn a war might take, if once set on +foot by an invasion. She is not now in a fit disposition to make a +common cause of her own affairs, and having no conquests to hope for +abroad, and nothing but expenses arising at home, her everything is +staked upon a defensive combat, and the further she goes the worse she +is off. + +There are situations that a nation may be in, in which peace or war, +abstracted from every other consideration, may be politically right or +wrong. When nothing can be lost by a war, but what must be lost without +it, war is then the policy of that country; and such was the situation +of America at the commencement of hostilities: but when no security can +be gained by a war, but what may be accomplished by a peace, the case +becomes reversed, and such now is the situation of England. + +That America is beyond the reach of conquest, is a fact which experience +has shown and time confirmed, and this admitted, what, I ask, is now the +object of contention? If there be any honor in pursuing self-destruction +with inflexible passion--if national suicide be the perfection of +national glory, you may, with all the pride of criminal happiness, +expire unenvied and unrivalled. But when the tumult of war shall cease, +and the tempest of present passions be succeeded by calm reflection, or +when those, who, surviving its fury, shall inherit from you a legacy +of debts and misfortunes, when the yearly revenue scarcely be able to +discharge the interest of the one, and no possible remedy be left for +the other, ideas far different from the present will arise, and embitter +the remembrance of former follies. A mind disarmed of its rage feels no +pleasure in contemplating a frantic quarrel. Sickness of thought, the +sure consequence of conduct like yours, leaves no ability for enjoyment, +no relish for resentment; and though, like a man in a fit, you feel +not the injury of the struggle, nor distinguish between strength and +disease, the weakness will nevertheless be proportioned to the violence, +and the sense of pain increase with the recovery. + +To what persons or to whose system of politics you owe your present +state of wretchedness, is a matter of total indifference to America. +They have contributed, however unwillingly, to set her above themselves, +and she, in the tranquillity of conquest, resigns the inquiry. The case +now is not so properly who began the war, as who continues it. That +there are men in all countries to whom a state of war is a mine of +wealth, is a fact never to be doubted. Characters like these naturally +breed in the putrefaction of distempered times, and after fattening +on the disease, they perish with it, or, impregnated with the stench, +retreat into obscurity. + +But there are several erroneous notions to which you likewise owe a +share of your misfortunes, and which, if continued, will only increase +your trouble and your losses. An opinion hangs about the gentlemen +of the minority, that America would relish measures under their +administration, which she would not from the present cabinet. On this +rock Lord Chatham would have split had he gained the helm, and several +of his survivors are steering the same course. Such distinctions in +the infancy of the argument had some degree of foundation, but they now +serve no other purpose than to lengthen out a war, in which the limits +of a dispute, being fixed by the fate of arms, and guaranteed by +treaties, are not to be changed or altered by trivial circumstances. + +The ministry, and many of the minority, sacrifice their time in +disputing on a question with which they have nothing to do, namely, +whether America shall be independent or not. Whereas the only question +that can come under their determination is, whether they will accede to +it or not. They confound a military question with a political one, and +undertake to supply by a vote what they lost by a battle. Say she shall +not be independent, and it will signify as much as if they voted +against a decree of fate, or say that she shall, and she will be no more +independent than before. Questions which, when determined, cannot be +executed, serve only to show the folly of dispute and the weakness of +disputants. + +From a long habit of calling America your own, you suppose her governed +by the same prejudices and conceits which govern yourselves. Because you +have set up a particular denomination of religion to the exclusion of +all others, you imagine she must do the same, and because you, with an +unsociable narrowness of mind, have cherished enmity against France and +Spain, you suppose her alliance must be defective in friendship. +Copying her notions of the world from you, she formerly thought as you +instructed, but now feeling herself free, and the prejudice removed, she +thinks and acts upon a different system. It frequently happens that +in proportion as we are taught to dislike persons and countries, not +knowing why, we feel an ardor of esteem upon the removal of the mistake: +it seems as if something was to be made amends for, and we eagerly give +in to every office of friendship, to atone for the injury of the error. +But, perhaps, there is something in the extent of countries, which, +among the generality of people, insensibly communicates extension of the +mind. The soul of an islander, in its native state, seems bounded by +the foggy confines of the water's edge, and all beyond affords to him +matters only for profit or curiosity, not for friendship. His island +is to him his world, and fixed to that, his every thing centers in it; +while those who are inhabitants of a continent, by casting their eye +over a larger field, take in likewise a larger intellectual circuit, +and thus approaching nearer to an acquaintance with the universe, their +atmosphere of thought is extended, and their liberality fills a wider +space. In short, our minds seem to be measured by countries when we are +men, as they are by places when we are children, and until something +happens to disentangle us from the prejudice, we serve under it without +perceiving it. + +In addition to this, it may be remarked, that men who study any +universal science, the principles of which are universally known, or +admitted, and applied without distinction to the common benefit of all +countries, obtain thereby a larger share of philanthropy than those +who only study national arts and improvements. Natural philosophy, +mathematics and astronomy, carry the mind from the country to the +creation, and give it a fitness suited to the extent. It was not +Newton's honor, neither could it be his pride, that he was an +Englishman, but that he was a philosopher, the heavens had liberated him +from the prejudices of an island, and science had expanded his soul as +boundless as his studies. + + COMMON SENSE. + +PHILADELPHIA, March, 1780. + + + + +THE CRISIS IX. (HAD AMERICA PURSUED HER ADVANTAGES) + + +HAD America pursued her advantages with half the spirit that she +resisted her misfortunes, she would, before now, have been a conquering +and a peaceful people; but lulled in the lap of soft tranquillity, she +rested on her hopes, and adversity only has convulsed her into action. +Whether subtlety or sincerity at the close of the last year induced the +enemy to an appearance for peace, is a point not material to know; it is +sufficient that we see the effects it has had on our politics, and that +we sternly rise to resent the delusion. + +The war, on the part of America, has been a war of natural feelings. +Brave in distress; serene in conquest; drowsy while at rest; and in +every situation generously disposed to peace; a dangerous calm, and +a most heightened zeal have, as circumstances varied, succeeded each +other. Every passion but that of despair has been called to a tour +of duty; and so mistaken has been the enemy, of our abilities +and disposition, that when she supposed us conquered, we rose the +conquerors. The extensiveness of the United States, and the variety of +their resources; the universality of their cause, the quick operation of +their feelings, and the similarity of their sentiments, have, in every +trying situation, produced a something, which, favored by providence, +and pursued with ardor, has accomplished in an instant the business of +a campaign. We have never deliberately sought victory, but snatched it; +and bravely undone in an hour the blotted operations of a season. + +The reported fate of Charleston, like the misfortunes of 1776, has at +last called forth a spirit, and kindled up a flame, which perhaps +no other event could have produced. If the enemy has circulated a +falsehood, they have unwisely aggravated us into life, and if they have +told us the truth, they have unintentionally done us a service. We were +returning with folded arms from the fatigues of war, and thinking and +sitting leisurely down to enjoy repose. The dependence that has been +put upon Charleston threw a drowsiness over America. We looked on the +business done--the conflict over--the matter settled--or that all which +remained unfinished would follow of itself. In this state of dangerous +relaxation, exposed to the poisonous infusions of the enemy, and having +no common danger to attract our attention, we were extinguishing, by +stages, the ardor we began with, and surrendering by piece-meal the +virtue that defended us. + +Afflicting as the loss of Charleston may be, yet if it universally rouse +us from the slumber of twelve months past, and renew in us the spirit of +former days, it will produce an advantage more important than its loss. +America ever is what she thinks herself to be. Governed by sentiment, +and acting her own mind, she becomes, as she pleases, the victor or the +victim. + +It is not the conquest of towns, nor the accidental capture of +garrisons, that can reduce a country so extensive as this. The +sufferings of one part can never be relieved by the exertions of +another, and there is no situation the enemy can be placed in that does +not afford to us the same advantages which he seeks himself. By dividing +his force, he leaves every post attackable. It is a mode of war that +carries with it a confession of weakness, and goes on the principle of +distress rather than conquest. + +The decline of the enemy is visible, not only in their operations, but +in their plans; Charleston originally made but a secondary object in the +system of attack, and it is now become their principal one, because +they have not been able to succeed elsewhere. It would have carried a +cowardly appearance in Europe had they formed their grand expedition, in +1776, against a part of the continent where there was no army, or not +a sufficient one to oppose them; but failing year after year in their +impressions here, and to the eastward and northward, they deserted their +capital design, and prudently contenting themselves with what they can +get, give a flourish of honor to conceal disgrace. + +But this piece-meal work is not conquering the continent. It is a +discredit in them to attempt it, and in us to suffer it. It is now full +time to put an end to a war of aggravations, which, on one side, has +no possible object, and on the other has every inducement which honor, +interest, safety and happiness can inspire. If we suffer them much +longer to remain among us, we shall become as bad as themselves. +An association of vice will reduce us more than the sword. A nation +hardened in the practice of iniquity knows better how to profit by it, +than a young country newly corrupted. We are not a match for them in the +line of advantageous guilt, nor they for us on the principles which we +bravely set out with. Our first days were our days of honor. They have +marked the character of America wherever the story of her wars are told; +and convinced of this, we have nothing to do but wisely and unitedly to +tread the well known track. The progress of a war is often as ruinous +to individuals, as the issue of it is to a nation; and it is not only +necessary that our forces be such that we be conquerors in the end, +but that by timely exertions we be secure in the interim. The present +campaign will afford an opportunity which has never presented itself +before, and the preparations for it are equally necessary, whether +Charleston stand or fall. Suppose the first, it is in that case only +a failure of the enemy, not a defeat. All the conquest that a besieged +town can hope for, is, not to be conquered; and compelling an enemy +to raise the siege, is to the besieged a victory. But there must be +a probability amounting almost to a certainty, that would justify a +garrison marching out to attack a retreat. Therefore should Charleston +not be taken, and the enemy abandon the siege, every other part of the +continent should prepare to meet them; and, on the contrary, should it +be taken, the same preparations are necessary to balance the loss, and +put ourselves in a position to co-operate with our allies, immediately +on their arrival. + +We are not now fighting our battles alone, as we were in 1776; England, +from a malicious disposition to America, has not only not declared war +against France and Spain, but, the better to prosecute her passions +here, has afforded those powers no military object, and avoids them, +to distress us. She will suffer her West India islands to be overrun by +France, and her southern settlements to be taken by Spain, rather than +quit the object that gratifies her revenge. This conduct, on the part +of Britain, has pointed out the propriety of France sending a naval and +land force to co-operate with America on the spot. Their arrival cannot +be very distant, nor the ravages of the enemy long. The recruiting the +army, and procuring the supplies, are the two things most necessary to +be accomplished, and a capture of either of the enemy's divisions will +restore to America peace and plenty. + +At a crisis, big, like the present, with expectation and events, the +whole country is called to unanimity and exertion. Not an ability ought +now to sleep, that can produce but a mite to the general good, nor even +a whisper to pass that militates against it. The necessity of the case, +and the importance of the consequences, admit no delay from a friend, +no apology from an enemy. To spare now, would be the height of +extravagance, and to consult present ease, would be to sacrifice it +perhaps forever. + +America, rich in patriotism and produce, can want neither men nor +supplies, when a serious necessity calls them forth. The slow +operation of taxes, owing to the extensiveness of collection, and their +depreciated value before they arrived in the treasury, have, in many +instances, thrown a burden upon government, which has been artfully +interpreted by the enemy into a general decline throughout the +country. Yet this, inconvenient as it may at first appear, is not only +remediable, but may be turned to an immediate advantage; for it makes no +real difference, whether a certain number of men, or company of militia +(and in this country every man is a militia-man), are directed by law +to send a recruit at their own expense, or whether a tax is laid on them +for that purpose, and the man hired by government afterwards. The first, +if there is any difference, is both cheapest and best, because it saves +the expense which would attend collecting it as a tax, and brings the +man sooner into the field than the modes of recruiting formerly used; +and, on this principle, a law has been passed in this state, for +recruiting two men from each company of militia, which will add upwards +of a thousand to the force of the country. + +But the flame which has broken forth in this city since the report from +New York, of the loss of Charleston, not only does honor to the place, +but, like the blaze of 1776, will kindle into action the scattered +sparks throughout America. The valor of a country may be learned by the +bravery of its soldiery, and the general cast of its inhabitants, but +confidence of success is best discovered by the active measures pursued +by men of property; and when the spirit of enterprise becomes so +universal as to act at once on all ranks of men, a war may then, and not +till then, be styled truly popular. + +In 1776, the ardor of the enterprising part was considerably checked by +the real revolt of some, and the coolness of others. But in the present +case, there is a firmness in the substance and property of the country +to the public cause. An association has been entered into by +the merchants, tradesmen, and principal inhabitants of the city +[Philadelphia], to receive and support the new state money at the value +of gold and silver; a measure which, while it does them honor, will +likewise contribute to their interest, by rendering the operations of +the campaign convenient and effectual. + +Nor has the spirit of exertion stopped here. A voluntary subscription is +likewise begun, to raise a fund of hard money, to be given as bounties, +to fill up the full quota of the Pennsylvania line. It has been the +remark of the enemy, that every thing in America has been done by the +force of government; but when she sees individuals throwing in their +voluntary aid, and facilitating the public measures in concert with the +established powers of the country, it will convince her that the cause +of America stands not on the will of a few but on the broad foundation +of property and popularity. + +Thus aided and thus supported, disaffection will decline, and the +withered head of tyranny expire in America. The ravages of the enemy +will be short and limited, and like all their former ones, will produce +a victory over themselves. + + COMMON SENSE. + +PHILADELPHIA, June 9, 1780. + +P. S. At the time of writing this number of the Crisis, the loss of +Charleston, though believed by some, was more confidently disbelieved +by others. But there ought to be no longer a doubt upon the matter. +Charleston is gone, and I believe for the want of a sufficient supply of +provisions. The man that does not now feel for the honor of the best +and noblest cause that ever a country engaged in, and exert himself +accordingly, is no longer worthy of a peaceable residence among a people +determined to be free. + + C. S. + + THE CRISIS EXTRAORDINARY + + ON THE SUBJECT OF TAXATION. + +IT IS impossible to sit down and think seriously on the affairs of +America, but the original principles upon which she resisted, and +the glow and ardor which they inspired, will occur like the undefaced +remembrance of a lovely scene. To trace over in imagination the purity +of the cause, the voluntary sacrifices that were made to support it, +and all the various turnings of the war in its defence, is at once both +paying and receiving respect. The principles deserve to be remembered, +and to remember them rightly is repossessing them. In this indulgence +of generous recollection, we become gainers by what we seem to give, and +the more we bestow the richer we become. + +So extensively right was the ground on which America proceeded, that it +not only took in every just and liberal sentiment which could impress +the heart, but made it the direct interest of every class and order +of men to defend the country. The war, on the part of Britain, was +originally a war of covetousness. The sordid and not the splendid +passions gave it being. The fertile fields and prosperous infancy of +America appeared to her as mines for tributary wealth. She viewed the +hive, and disregarding the industry that had enriched it, thirsted for +the honey. But in the present stage of her affairs, the violence of +temper is added to the rage of avarice; and therefore, that which at +the first setting out proceeded from purity of principle and public +interest, is now heightened by all the obligations of necessity; for it +requires but little knowledge of human nature to discern what would +be the consequence, were America again reduced to the subjection of +Britain. Uncontrolled power, in the hands of an incensed, imperious, and +rapacious conqueror, is an engine of dreadful execution, and woe be to +that country over which it can be exercised. The names of Whig and Tory +would then be sunk in the general term of rebel, and the oppression, +whatever it might be, would, with very few instances of exception, light +equally on all. + +Britain did not go to war with America for the sake of dominion, because +she was then in possession; neither was it for the extension of trade +and commerce, because she had monopolized the whole, and the country +had yielded to it; neither was it to extinguish what she might call +rebellion, because before she began no resistance existed. It could then +be from no other motive than avarice, or a design of establishing, in +the first instance, the same taxes in America as are paid in England +(which, as I shall presently show, are above eleven times heavier than +the taxes we now pay for the present year, 1780) or, in the second +instance, to confiscate the whole property of America, in case of +resistance and conquest of the latter, of which she had then no doubt. + +I shall now proceed to show what the taxes in England are, and what +the yearly expense of the present war is to her--what the taxes of +this country amount to, and what the annual expense of defending it +effectually will be to us; and shall endeavor concisely to point out +the cause of our difficulties, and the advantages on one side, and the +consequences on the other, in case we do, or do not, put ourselves in +an effectual state of defence. I mean to be open, candid, and sincere. +I see a universal wish to expel the enemy from the country, a murmuring +because the war is not carried on with more vigor, and my intention is +to show, as shortly as possible, both the reason and the remedy. + +The number of souls in England (exclusive of Scotland and Ireland) is +seven millions,* and the number of souls in America is three millions. + + + * This is taking the highest number that the people of England have +been, or can be rated at. + +The amount of taxes in England (exclusive of Scotland and Ireland) +was, before the present war commenced, eleven millions six hundred and +forty-two thousand six hundred and fifty-three pounds sterling; which, +on an average, is no less a sum than one pound thirteen shillings and +three-pence sterling per head per annum, men, women, and children; +besides county taxes, taxes for the support of the poor, and a tenth of +all the produce of the earth for the support of the bishops and clergy.* +Nearly five millions of this sum went annually to pay the interest of +the national debt, contracted by former wars, and the remaining sum of +six millions six hundred and forty-two thousand six hundred pounds +was applied to defray the yearly expense of government, the peace +establishment of the army and navy, placemen, pensioners, etc.; +consequently the whole of the enormous taxes being thus appropriated, +she had nothing to spare out of them towards defraying the expenses +of the present war or any other. Yet had she not been in debt at the +beginning of the war, as we were not, and, like us, had only a land and +not a naval war to carry on, her then revenue of eleven millions and a +half pounds sterling would have defrayed all her annual expenses of +war and government within each year. * The following is taken from Dr. +Price's state of the taxes of England. + +An account of the money drawn from the public by taxes, annually, being +the medium of three years before the year 1776. + + Amount of customs in England 2,528,275 L. + Amount of the excise in England 4,649,892 + Land tax at 3s. 1,300,000 + Land tax at 1s. in the pound 450,000 + Salt duties 218,739 + Duties on stamps, cards, dice, advertisements, + bonds, leases, indentures, newspapers, + almanacks, etc. 280,788 + Duties on houses and windows 385,369 + Post office, seizures, wine licences, hackney + coaches, etc. 250,000 + Annual profits from lotteries 150,000 + Expense of collecting the excise in England 297,887 + Expense of collecting the customs in England 468,703 + Interest of loans on the land tax at 4s. expenses + of collection, militia, etc. 250,000 + Perquisites, etc. to custom-house officers, &c. + supposed 250,000 + Expense of collecting the salt duties in England + 10 1/2 per cent. 27,000 + Bounties on fish exported 18,000 + Expense of collecting the duties on stamps, cards, + advertisements, etc. at 5 and 1/4 per cent. 18,000 + + Total 11,642,653 L. + +But this not being the case with her, she is obliged to borrow about ten +millions pounds sterling, yearly, to prosecute the war that she is now +engaged in, (this year she borrowed twelve) and lay on new taxes to +discharge the interest; allowing that the present war has cost her only +fifty millions sterling, the interest thereon, at five per cent., will +be two millions and an half; therefore the amount of her taxes now +must be fourteen millions, which on an average is no less than forty +shillings sterling, per head, men, women and children, throughout the +nation. Now as this expense of fifty millions was borrowed on the hopes +of conquering America, and as it was avarice which first induced her to +commence the war, how truly wretched and deplorable would the condition +of this country be, were she, by her own remissness, to suffer an +enemy of such a disposition, and so circumstanced, to reduce her to +subjection. + +I now proceed to the revenues of America. + +I have already stated the number of souls in America to be three +millions, and by a calculation that I have made, which I have every +reason to believe is sufficiently correct, the whole expense of the +war, and the support of the several governments, may be defrayed for +two million pounds sterling annually; which, on an average, is thirteen +shillings and four pence per head, men, women, and children, and the +peace establishment at the end of the war will be but three quarters of +a million, or five shillings sterling per head. Now, throwing out of +the question everything of honor, principle, happiness, freedom, and +reputation in the world, and taking it up on the simple ground of +interest, I put the following case: + +Suppose Britain was to conquer America, and, as a conqueror, was to lay +her under no other conditions than to pay the same proportion towards +her annual revenue which the people of England pay: our share, in that +case, would be six million pounds sterling yearly. Can it then be +a question, whether it is best to raise two millions to defend the +country, and govern it ourselves, and only three quarters of a million +afterwards, or pay six millions to have it conquered, and let the enemy +govern it? + +Can it be supposed that conquerors would choose to put themselves in a +worse condition than what they granted to the conquered? In England, the +tax on rum is five shillings and one penny sterling per gallon, which is +one silver dollar and fourteen coppers. Now would it not be laughable to +imagine, that after the expense they have been at, they would let either +Whig or Tory drink it cheaper than themselves? Coffee, which is so +inconsiderable an article of consumption and support here, is there +loaded with a duty which makes the price between five and six shillings +per pound, and a penalty of fifty pounds sterling on any person detected +in roasting it in his own house. There is scarcely a necessary of life +that you can eat, drink, wear, or enjoy, that is not there loaded with +a tax; even the light from heaven is only permitted to shine into their +dwellings by paying eighteen pence sterling per window annually; and the +humblest drink of life, small beer, cannot there be purchased without a +tax of nearly two coppers per gallon, besides a heavy tax upon the malt, +and another on the hops before it is brewed, exclusive of a land-tax on +the earth which produces them. In short, the condition of that country, +in point of taxation, is so oppressive, the number of her poor so great, +and the extravagance and rapaciousness of the court so enormous, that, +were they to effect a conquest of America, it is then only that the +distresses of America would begin. Neither would it signify anything +to a man whether he be Whig or Tory. The people of England, and the +ministry of that country, know us by no such distinctions. What they +want is clear, solid revenue, and the modes which they would take to +procure it, would operate alike on all. Their manner of reasoning would +be short, because they would naturally infer, that if we were able to +carry on a war of five or six years against them, we were able to pay +the same taxes which they do. + +I have already stated that the expense of conducting the present war, +and the government of the several states, may be done for two millions +sterling, and the establishment in the time of peace, for three quarters +of a million.* + + + * I have made the calculations in sterling, because it is a rate +generally known in all the states, and because, likewise, it admits of +an easy comparison between our expenses to support the war, and those +of the enemy. Four silver dollars and a half is one pound sterling, and +three pence over. + +As to navy matters, they flourish so well, and are so well attended to +by individuals, that I think it consistent on every principle of real +use and economy, to turn the navy into hard money (keeping only three or +four packets) and apply it to the service of the army. We shall not have +a ship the less; the use of them, and the benefit from them, will be +greatly increased, and their expense saved. We are now allied with a +formidable naval power, from whom we derive the assistance of a navy. +And the line in which we can prosecute the war, so as to reduce the +common enemy and benefit the alliance most effectually, will be by +attending closely to the land service. + +I estimate the charge of keeping up and maintaining an army, officering +them, and all expenses included, sufficient for the defence of the +country, to be equal to the expense of forty thousand men at thirty +pounds sterling per head, which is one million two hundred thousand +pounds. + +I likewise allow four hundred thousand pounds for continental expenses +at home and abroad. + +And four hundred thousand pounds for the support of the several state +governments--the amount will then be: + + For the army 1,200,000 L. + Continental expenses at home and abroad 400,000 + Government of the several states 400,000 + + Total 2,000,000 L. + +I take the proportion of this state, Pennsylvania, to be an eighth part +of the thirteen United States; the quota then for us to raise will be +two hundred and fifty thousand pounds sterling; two hundred thousand +of which will be our share for the support and pay of the army, and +continental expenses at home and abroad, and fifty thousand pounds for +the support of the state government. + +In order to gain an idea of the proportion in which the raising such a +sum will fall, I make the following calculation: + +Pennsylvania contains three hundred and seventy-five thousand +inhabitants, men, women and children; which is likewise an eighth of the +number of inhabitants of the whole United States: therefore, two hundred +and fifty thousand pounds sterling to be raised among three hundred and +seventy-five thousand persons, is, on an average, thirteen shillings +and four pence per head, per annum, or something more than one shilling +sterling per month. And our proportion of three quarters of a +million for the government of the country, in time of peace, will be +ninety-three thousand seven hundred and fifty pounds sterling; fifty +thousand of which will be for the government expenses of the state, +and forty-three thousand seven hundred and fifty pounds for continental +expenses at home and abroad. + +The peace establishment then will, on an average, be five shillings +sterling per head. Whereas, was England now to stop, and the war cease, +her peace establishment would continue the same as it is now, viz. forty +shillings per head; therefore was our taxes necessary for carrying on +the war, as much per head as hers now is, and the difference to be +only whether we should, at the end of the war, pay at the rate of five +shillings per head, or forty shillings per head, the case needs no +thinking of. But as we can securely defend and keep the country for +one third less than what our burden would be if it was conquered, and +support the governments afterwards for one eighth of what Britain would +levy on us, and could I find a miser whose heart never felt the emotion +of a spark of principle, even that man, uninfluenced by every love but +the love of money, and capable of no attachment but to his interest, +would and must, from the frugality which governs him, contribute to the +defence of the country, or he ceases to be a miser and becomes an idiot. +But when we take in with it every thing that can ornament mankind; when +the line of our interest becomes the line of our happiness; when all +that can cheer and animate the heart, when a sense of honor, fame, +character, at home and abroad, are interwoven not only with the security +but the increase of property, there exists not a man in America, unless +he be an hired emissary, who does not see that his good is connected +with keeping up a sufficient defence. + +I do not imagine that an instance can be produced in the world, of a +country putting herself to such an amazing charge to conquer and enslave +another, as Britain has done. The sum is too great for her to think of +with any tolerable degree of temper; and when we consider the burden +she sustains, as well as the disposition she has shown, it would be the +height of folly in us to suppose that she would not reimburse herself by +the most rapid means, had she America once more within her power. With +such an oppression of expense, what would an empty conquest be to her! +What relief under such circumstances could she derive from a victory +without a prize? It was money, it was revenue she first went to war for, +and nothing but that would satisfy her. It is not the nature of avarice +to be satisfied with any thing else. Every passion that acts upon +mankind has a peculiar mode of operation. Many of them are temporary +and fluctuating; they admit of cessation and variety. But avarice is a +fixed, uniform passion. It neither abates of its vigor nor changes its +object; and the reason why it does not, is founded in the nature of +things, for wealth has not a rival where avarice is a ruling passion. +One beauty may excel another, and extinguish from the mind of man the +pictured remembrance of a former one: but wealth is the phoenix of +avarice, and therefore it cannot seek a new object, because there is not +another in the world. + +I now pass on to show the value of the present taxes, and compare them +with the annual expense; but this I shall preface with a few explanatory +remarks. + +There are two distinct things which make the payment of taxes difficult; +the one is the large and real value of the sum to be paid, and the other +is the scarcity of the thing in which the payment is to be made; and +although these appear to be one and the same, they are in several +instances riot only different, but the difficulty springs from different +causes. + +Suppose a tax to be laid equal to one half of what a man's yearly income +is, such a tax could not be paid, because the property could not be +spared; and on the other hand, suppose a very trifling tax was laid, to +be collected in pearls, such a tax likewise could not be paid, because +they could not be had. Now any person may see that these are distinct +cases, and the latter of them is a representation of our own. + +That the difficulty cannot proceed from the former, that is, from the +real value or weight of the tax, is evident at the first view to any +person who will consider it. + +The amount of the quota of taxes for this State for the year, 1780, (and +so in proportion for every other State,) is twenty millions of dollars, +which at seventy for one, is but sixty-four thousand two hundred and +eighty pounds three shillings sterling, and on an average, is no more +than three shillings and five pence sterling per head, per annum, per +man, woman and child, or threepence two-fifths per head per month. Now +here is a clear, positive fact, that cannot be contradicted, and which +proves that the difficulty cannot be in the weight of the tax, for in +itself it is a trifle, and far from being adequate to our quota of the +expense of the war. The quit-rents of one penny sterling per acre on +only one half of the state, come to upwards of fifty thousand pounds, +which is almost as much as all the taxes of the present year, and +as those quit-rents made no part of the taxes then paid, and are now +discontinued, the quantity of money drawn for public-service this year, +exclusive of the militia fines, which I shall take notice of in the +process of this work, is less than what was paid and payable in any year +preceding the revolution, and since the last war; what I mean is, that +the quit-rents and taxes taken together came to a larger sum then, than +the present taxes without the quit-rents do now. + +My intention by these arguments and calculations is to place the +difficulty to the right cause, and show that it does not proceed from +the weight or worth of the tax, but from the scarcity of the medium in +which it is paid; and to illustrate this point still further, I shall +now show, that if the tax of twenty millions of dollars was of four +times the real value it now is, or nearly so, which would be about two +hundred and fifty thousand pounds sterling, and would be our full quota, +this sum would have been raised with more ease, and have been less felt, +than the present sum of only sixty-four thousand two hundred and eighty +pounds. + +The convenience or inconvenience of paying a tax in money arises from +the quantity of money that can be spared out of trade. + +When the emissions stopped, the continent was left in possession of +two hundred millions of dollars, perhaps as equally dispersed as it was +possible for trade to do it. And as no more was to be issued, the rise +or fall of prices could neither increase nor diminish the quantity. It +therefore remained the same through all the fluctuations of trade and +exchange. + +Now had the exchange stood at twenty for one, which was the rate +Congress calculated upon when they arranged the quota of the several +states, the latter end of last year, trade would have been carried on +for nearly four times less money than it is now, and consequently the +twenty millions would have been spared with much greater ease, and when +collected would have been of almost four times the value that they now +are. And on the other hand, was the depreciation to be ninety or one +hundred for one, the quantity required for trade would be more than at +sixty or seventy for one, and though the value of them would be less, +the difficulty of sparing the money out of trade would be greater. And +on these facts and arguments I rest the matter, to prove that it is +not the want of property, but the scarcity of the medium by which the +proportion of property for taxation is to be measured out, that makes +the embarrassment which we lie under. There is not money enough, and, +what is equally as true, the people will not let there be money enough. + +While I am on the subject of the currency, I shall offer one remark +which will appear true to everybody, and can be accounted for by nobody, +which is, that the better the times were, the worse the money grew; +and the worse the times were, the better the money stood. It never +depreciated by any advantage obtained by the enemy. The troubles of +1776, and the loss of Philadelphia in 1777, made no sensible impression +on it, and every one knows that the surrender of Charleston did not +produce the least alteration in the rate of exchange, which, for long +before, and for more than three months after, stood at sixty for one. It +seems as if the certainty of its being our own, made us careless of its +value, and that the most distant thoughts of losing it made us hug +it the closer, like something we were loth to part with; or that we +depreciate it for our pastime, which, when called to seriousness by the +enemy, we leave off to renew again at our leisure. In short, our good +luck seems to break us, and our bad makes us whole. + +Passing on from this digression, I shall now endeavor to bring into one +view the several parts which I have already stated, and form thereon +some propositions, and conclude. + +I have placed before the reader, the average tax per head, paid by the +people of England; which is forty shillings sterling. + +And I have shown the rate on an average per head, which will defray +all the expenses of the war to us, and support the several governments +without running the country into debt, which is thirteen shillings and +four pence. + +I have shown what the peace establishment may be conducted for, viz., an +eighth part of what it would be, if under the government of Britain. + +And I have likewise shown what the average per head of the present +taxes is, namely, three shillings and fivepence sterling, or threepence +two-fifths per month; and that their whole yearly value, in sterling, +is only sixty-four thousand two hundred and eighty pounds. Whereas our +quota, to keep the payments equal with the expenses, is two hundred +and fifty thousand pounds. Consequently, there is a deficiency of one +hundred and eighty-five thousand seven hundred and twenty pounds, and +the same proportion of defect, according to the several quotas, happens +in every other state. And this defect is the cause why the army has been +so indifferently fed, clothed and paid. It is the cause, likewise, of +the nerveless state of the campaign, and the insecurity of the country. +Now, if a tax equal to thirteen and fourpence per head, will remove all +these difficulties, and make people secure in their homes, leave them to +follow the business of their stores and farms unmolested, and not only +drive out but keep out the enemy from the country; and if the neglect of +raising this sum will let them in, and produce the evils which might be +prevented--on which side, I ask, does the wisdom, interest and policy +lie? Or, rather, would it not be an insult to reason, to put the +question? The sum, when proportioned out according to the several +abilities of the people, can hurt no one, but an inroad from the enemy +ruins hundreds of families. + +Look at the destruction done in this city [Philadelphia]. The many +houses totally destroyed, and others damaged; the waste of fences in +the country round it, besides the plunder of furniture, forage, +and provisions. I do not suppose that half a million sterling would +reinstate the sufferers; and, does this, I ask, bear any proportion to +the expense that would make us secure? The damage, on an average, is +at least ten pounds sterling per head, which is as much as thirteen +shillings and fourpence per head comes to for fifteen years. The same +has happened on the frontiers, and in the Jerseys, New York, and other +places where the enemy has been--Carolina and Georgia are likewise +suffering the same fate. + +That the people generally do not understand the insufficiency of the +taxes to carry on the war, is evident, not only from common observation, +but from the construction of several petitions which were presented to +the Assembly of this state, against the recommendation of Congress of +the 18th of March last, for taking up and funding the present currency +at forty to one, and issuing new money in its stead. The prayer of the +petition was, that the currency might be appreciated by taxes (meaning +the present taxes) and that part of the taxes be applied to the support +of the army, if the army could not be otherwise supported. Now it could +not have been possible for such a petition to have been presented, +had the petitioners known, that so far from part of the taxes being +sufficient for the support of the whole of them falls three-fourths +short of the year's expenses. + +Before I proceed to propose methods by which a sufficiency of money +may be raised, I shall take a short view of the general state of the +country. + +Notwithstanding the weight of the war, the ravages of the enemy, and the +obstructions she has thrown in the way of trade and commerce, so soon +does a young country outgrow misfortune, that America has already +surmounted many that heavily oppressed her. For the first year or two +of the war, we were shut up within our ports, scarce venturing to look +towards the ocean. Now our rivers are beautified with large and valuable +vessels, our stores filled with merchandise, and the produce of the +country has a ready market, and an advantageous price. Gold and silver, +that for a while seemed to have retreated again within the bowels of +the earth, have once more risen into circulation, and every day adds new +strength to trade, commerce and agriculture. In a pamphlet, written +by Sir John Dalrymple, and dispersed in America in the year 1775, he +asserted that two twenty-gun ships, nay, says he, tenders of those +ships, stationed between Albermarle sound and Chesapeake bay, would shut +up the trade of America for 600 miles. How little did Sir John Dalrymple +know of the abilities of America! + +While under the government of Britain, the trade of this country was +loaded with restrictions. It was only a few foreign ports which we were +allowed to sail to. Now it is otherwise; and allowing that the quantity +of trade is but half what it was before the war, the case must show the +vast advantage of an open trade, because the present quantity under her +restrictions could not support itself; from which I infer, that if half +the quantity without the restrictions can bear itself up nearly, if not +quite, as well as the whole when subject to them, how prosperous must +the condition of America be when the whole shall return open with all +the world. By the trade I do not mean the employment of a merchant only, +but the whole interest and business of the country taken collectively. + +It is not so much my intention, by this publication, to propose +particular plans for raising money, as it is to show the necessity and +the advantages to be derived from it. My principal design is to form the +disposition of the people to the measures which I am fully persuaded it +is their interest and duty to adopt, and which need no other force to +accomplish them than the force of being felt. But as every hint may +be useful, I shall throw out a sketch, and leave others to make such +improvements upon it as to them may appear reasonable. + +The annual sum wanted is two millions, and the average rate in which it +falls, is thirteen shillings and fourpence per head. + +Suppose, then, that we raise half the sum and sixty thousand pounds +over. The average rate thereof will be seven shillings per head. + +In this case we shall have half the supply that we want, and an annual +fund of sixty thousand pounds whereon to borrow the other million; +because sixty thousand pounds is the interest of a million at six per +cent.; and if at the end of another year we should be obliged, by the +continuance of the war, to borrow another million, the taxes will be +increased to seven shillings and sixpence; and thus for every million +borrowed, an additional tax, equal to sixpence per head, must be levied. + +The sum to be raised next year will be one million and sixty thousand +pounds: one half of which I would propose should be raised by duties on +imported goods, and prize goods, and the other half by a tax on landed +property and houses, or such other means as each state may devise. + +But as the duties on imports and prize goods must be the same in all the +states, therefore the rate per cent., or what other form the duty shall +be laid, must be ascertained and regulated by Congress, and ingrafted in +that form into the law of each state; and the monies arising therefrom +carried into the treasury of each state. The duties to be paid in gold +or silver. + +There are many reasons why a duty on imports is the most convenient +duty or tax that can be collected; one of which is, because the whole is +payable in a few places in a country, and it likewise operates with the +greatest ease and equality, because as every one pays in proportion to +what he consumes, so people in general consume in proportion to what +they can afford; and therefore the tax is regulated by the abilities +which every man supposes himself to have, or in other words, every man +becomes his own assessor, and pays by a little at a time, when it suits +him to buy. Besides, it is a tax which people may pay or let alone +by not consuming the articles; and though the alternative may have no +influence on their conduct, the power of choosing is an agreeable thing +to the mind. For my own part, it would be a satisfaction to me was there +a duty on all sorts of liquors during the war, as in my idea of things +it would be an addition to the pleasures of society to know, that when +the health of the army goes round, a few drops, from every glass becomes +theirs. How often have I heard an emphatical wish, almost accompanied by +a tear, "Oh, that our poor fellows in the field had some of this!" Why +then need we suffer under a fruitless sympathy, when there is a way to +enjoy both the wish and the entertainment at once. + +But the great national policy of putting a duty upon imports is, that it +either keeps the foreign trade in our own hands, or draws something for +the defence of the country from every foreigner who participates in it +with us. + +Thus much for the first half of the taxes, and as each state will best +devise means to raise the other half, I shall confine my remarks to the +resources of this state. + +The quota, then, of this state, of one million and sixty thousand +pounds, will be one hundred and thirty-three thousand two hundred and +fifty pounds, the half of which is sixty-six thousand six hundred +and twenty-five pounds; and supposing one fourth part of Pennsylvania +inhabited, then a tax of one bushel of wheat on every twenty acres of +land, one with another, would produce the sum, and all the present taxes +to cease. Whereas, the tithes of the bishops and clergy in England, +exclusive of the taxes, are upwards of half a bushel of wheat on every +single acre of land, good and bad, throughout the nation. + +In the former part of this paper, I mentioned the militia fines, but +reserved speaking of the matter, which I shall now do. The ground I +shall put it upon is, that two millions sterling a year will support +a sufficient army, and all the expenses of war and government, without +having recourse to the inconvenient method of continually calling men +from their employments, which, of all others, is the most expensive and +the least substantial. I consider the revenues created by taxes as the +first and principal thing, and fines only as secondary and accidental +things. It was not the intention of the militia law to apply the fines +to anything else but the support of the militia, neither do they produce +any revenue to the state, yet these fines amount to more than all the +taxes: for taking the muster-roll to be sixty thousand men, the fine +on forty thousand who may not attend, will be sixty thousand pounds +sterling, and those who muster, will give up a portion of time equal +to half that sum, and if the eight classes should be called within the +year, and one third turn out, the fine on the remaining forty thousand +would amount to seventy-two millions of dollars, besides the fifteen +shillings on every hundred pounds of property, and the charge of seven +and a half per cent. for collecting, in certain instances which, on +the whole, would be upwards of two hundred and fifty thousand pounds +sterling. + +Now if those very fines disable the country from raising a sufficient +revenue without producing an equivalent advantage, would it not be for +the ease and interest of all parties to increase the revenue, in the +manner I have proposed, or any better, if a better can be devised, and +cease the operation of the fines? I would still keep the militia as an +organized body of men, and should there be a real necessity to call them +forth, pay them out of the proper revenues of the state, and increase +the taxes a third or fourth per cent. on those who do not attend. My +limits will not allow me to go further into this matter, which I shall +therefore close with this remark; that fines are, of all modes of +revenue, the most unsuited to the minds of a free country. When a +man pays a tax, he knows that the public necessity requires it, and +therefore feels a pride in discharging his duty; but a fine seems +an atonement for neglect of duty, and of consequence is paid with +discredit, and frequently levied with severity. + +I have now only one subject more to speak of, with which I shall +conclude, which is, the resolve of Congress of the 18th of March last, +for taking up and funding the present currency at forty for one, and +issuing new money in its stead. + +Every one knows that I am not the flatterer of Congress, but in this +instance they are right; and if that measure is supported, the currency +will acquire a value, which, without it, it will not. But this is not +all: it will give relief to the finances until such time as they can be +properly arranged, and save the country from being immediately doubled +taxed under the present mode. In short, support that measure, and it +will support you. + +I have now waded through a tedious course of difficult business, and +over an untrodden path. The subject, on every point in which it could be +viewed, was entangled with perplexities, and enveloped in obscurity, yet +such are the resources of America, that she wants nothing but system to +secure success. + + COMMON SENSE. + +PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 4, 1780. + + + + +THE CRISIS X. ON THE KING OF ENGLAND'S SPEECH. + + +OF all the innocent passions which actuate the human mind there is none +more universally prevalent than curiosity. It reaches all mankind, and +in matters which concern us, or concern us not, it alike provokes in us +a desire to know them. + +Although the situation of America, superior to every effort to enslave +her, and daily rising to importance and opulence, has placed her above +the region of anxiety, it has still left her within the circle of +curiosity; and her fancy to see the speech of a man who had proudly +threatened to bring her to his feet, was visibly marked with that +tranquil confidence which cared nothing about its contents. It was +inquired after with a smile, read with a laugh, and dismissed with +disdain. + +But, as justice is due, even to an enemy, it is right to say, that the +speech is as well managed as the embarrassed condition of their affairs +could well admit of; and though hardly a line of it is true, except the +mournful story of Cornwallis, it may serve to amuse the deluded commons +and people of England, for whom it was calculated. + +"The war," says the speech, "is still unhappily prolonged by that +restless ambition which first excited our enemies to commence it, and +which still continues to disappoint my earnest wishes and diligent +exertions to restore the public tranquillity." + +How easy it is to abuse truth and language, when men, by habitual +wickedness, have learned to set justice at defiance. That the very man +who began the war, who with the most sullen insolence refused to answer, +and even to hear the humblest of all petitions, who has encouraged +his officers and his army in the most savage cruelties, and the most +scandalous plunderings, who has stirred up the Indians on one side, and +the negroes on the other, and invoked every aid of hell in his behalf, +should now, with an affected air of pity, turn the tables from himself, +and charge to another the wickedness that is his own, can only be +equalled by the baseness of the heart that spoke it. + +To be nobly wrong is more manly than to be meanly right, is an +expression I once used on a former occasion, and it is equally +applicable now. We feel something like respect for consistency even in +error. We lament the virtue that is debauched into a vice, but the +vice that affects a virtue becomes the more detestable: and amongst the +various assumptions of character, which hypocrisy has taught, and men +have practised, there is none that raises a higher relish of disgust, +than to see disappointed inveteracy twisting itself, by the most visible +falsehoods, into an appearance of piety which it has no pretensions to. + +"But I should not," continues the speech, "answer the trust committed +to the sovereign of a free people, nor make a suitable return to my +subjects for their constant, zealous, and affectionate attachment to my +person, family and government, if I consented to sacrifice, either to +my own desire of peace, or to their temporary ease and relief, those +essential rights and permanent interests, upon the maintenance and +preservation of which, the future strength and security of this country +must principally depend." + +That the man whose ignorance and obstinacy first involved and still +continues the nation in the most hopeless and expensive of all wars, +should now meanly flatter them with the name of a free people, and make +a merit of his crime, under the disguise of their essential rights and +permanent interests, is something which disgraces even the character of +perverseness. Is he afraid they will send him to Hanover, or what does +he fear? Why is the sycophant thus added to the hypocrite, and the man +who pretends to govern, sunk into the humble and submissive memorialist? + +What those essential rights and permanent interests are, on which the +future strength and security of England must principally depend, are not +so much as alluded to. They are words which impress nothing but the ear, +and are calculated only for the sound. + +But if they have any reference to America, then do they amount to +the disgraceful confession, that England, who once assumed to be her +protectress, has now become her dependant. The British king and ministry +are constantly holding up the vast importance which America is of +to England, in order to allure the nation to carry on the war: now, +whatever ground there is for this idea, it ought to have operated as a +reason for not beginning it; and, therefore, they support their present +measures to their own disgrace, because the arguments which they now +use, are a direct reflection on their former policy. + +"The favorable appearance of affairs," continues the speech, "in the +East Indies, and the safe arrival of the numerous commercial fleets of +my kingdom, must have given you satisfaction." + +That things are not quite so bad every where as in America may be some +cause of consolation, but can be none for triumph. One broken leg +is better than two, but still it is not a source of joy: and let the +appearance of affairs in the East Indies be ever so favorable, they are +nevertheless worse than at first, without a prospect of their ever being +better. But the mournful story of Cornwallis was yet to be told, and it +was necessary to give it the softest introduction possible. + +"But in the course of this year," continues the speech, "my assiduous +endeavors to guard the extensive dominions of my crown have not been +attended with success equal to the justice and uprightness of my +views."--What justice and uprightness there was in beginning a war with +America, the world will judge of, and the unequalled barbarity with +which it has been conducted, is not to be worn from the memory by the +cant of snivelling hypocrisy. + +"And it is with great concern that I inform you that the events of war +have been very unfortunate to my arms in Virginia, having ended in the +loss of my forces in that province."--And our great concern is that they +are not all served in the same manner. + +"No endeavors have been wanted on my part," says the speech, "to +extinguish that spirit of rebellion which our enemies have found means +to foment and maintain in the colonies; and to restore to my deluded +subjects in America that happy and prosperous condition which they +formerly derived from a due obedience to the laws." + +The expression of deluded subjects is become so hacknied and +contemptible, and the more so when we see them making prisoners of whole +armies at a time, that the pride of not being laughed at would induce a +man of common sense to leave it off. But the most offensive falsehood +in the paragraph is the attributing the prosperity of America to a +wrong cause. It was the unremitted industry of the settlers and their +descendants, the hard labor and toil of persevering fortitude, that +were the true causes of the prosperity of America. The former tyranny +of England served to people it, and the virtue of the adventurers to +improve it. Ask the man, who, with his axe, has cleared a way in the +wilderness, and now possesses an estate, what made him rich, and he will +tell you the labor of his hands, the sweat of his brow, and the blessing +of heaven. Let Britain but leave America to herself and she asks no +more. She has risen into greatness without the knowledge and against the +will of England, and has a right to the unmolested enjoyment of her own +created wealth. + +"I will order," says the speech, "the estimates of the ensuing year to +be laid before you. I rely on your wisdom and public spirit for such +supplies as the circumstances of our affairs shall be found to require. +Among the many ill consequences which attend the continuation of the +present war, I most sincerely regret the additional burdens which it +must unavoidably bring upon my faithful subjects." + +It is strange that a nation must run through such a labyrinth of +trouble, and expend such a mass of wealth to gain the wisdom which an +hour's reflection might have taught. The final superiority of America +over every attempt that an island might make to conquer her, was as +naturally marked in the constitution of things, as the future ability of +a giant over a dwarf is delineated in his features while an infant. +How far providence, to accomplish purposes which no human wisdom could +foresee, permitted such extraordinary errors, is still a secret in the +womb of time, and must remain so till futurity shall give it birth. + +"In the prosecution of this great and important contest," says the +speech, "in which we are engaged, I retain a firm confidence in the +protection of divine providence, and a perfect conviction in the justice +of my cause, and I have no doubt, but, that by the concurrence and +support of my Parliament, by the valour of my fleets and armies, and by +a vigorous, animated, and united exertion of the faculties and resources +of my people, I shall be enabled to restore the blessings of a safe and +honorable peace to all my dominions." + +The King of England is one of the readiest believers in the world. In +the beginning of the contest he passed an act to put America out of the +protection of the crown of England, and though providence, for seven +years together, has put him out of her protection, still the man has no +doubt. Like Pharaoh on the edge of the Red Sea, he sees not the plunge +he is making, and precipitately drives across the flood that is closing +over his head. + +I think it is a reasonable supposition, that this part of the speech was +composed before the arrival of the news of the capture of Cornwallis: +for it certainly has no relation to their condition at the time it was +spoken. But, be this as it may, it is nothing to us. Our line is +fixed. Our lot is cast; and America, the child of fate, is arriving at +maturity. We have nothing to do but by a spirited and quick exertion, +to stand prepared for war or peace. Too great to yield, and too noble +to insult; superior to misfortune, and generous in success, let us +untaintedly preserve the character which we have gained, and show to +future ages an example of unequalled magnanimity. There is something in +the cause and consequence of America that has drawn on her the attention +of all mankind. The world has seen her brave. Her love of liberty; her +ardour in supporting it; the justice of her claims, and the constancy +of her fortitude have won her the esteem of Europe, and attached to her +interest the first power in that country. + +Her situation now is such, that to whatever point, past, present or to +come, she casts her eyes, new matter rises to convince her that she is +right. In her conduct towards her enemy, no reproachful sentiment lurks +in secret. No sense of injustice is left upon the mind. Untainted with +ambition, and a stranger to revenge, her progress has been marked by +providence, and she, in every stage of the conflict, has blest her with +success. + +But let not America wrap herself up in delusive hope and suppose the +business done. The least remissness in preparation, the least relaxation +in execution, will only serve to prolong the war, and increase +expenses. If our enemies can draw consolation from misfortune, and +exert themselves upon despair, how much more ought we, who are to win a +continent by the conquest, and have already an earnest of success? + +Having, in the preceding part, made my remarks on the several matters +which the speech contains, I shall now make my remarks on what it does +not contain. + +There is not a syllable in its respecting alliances. Either the +injustice of Britain is too glaring, or her condition too desperate, or +both, for any neighboring power to come to her support. In the beginning +of the contest, when she had only America to contend with, she hired +assistance from Hesse, and other smaller states of Germany, and +for nearly three years did America, young, raw, undisciplined and +unprovided, stand against the power of Britain, aided by twenty thousand +foreign troops, and made a complete conquest of one entire army. The +remembrance of those things ought to inspire us with confidence and +greatness of mind, and carry us through every remaining difficulty with +content and cheerfulness. What are the little sufferings of the present +day, compared with the hardships that are past? There was a time, when +we had neither house nor home in safety; when every hour was the hour of +alarm and danger; when the mind, tortured with anxiety, knew no repose, +and every thing, but hope and fortitude, was bidding us farewell. + +It is of use to look back upon these things; to call to mind the times +of trouble and the scenes of complicated anguish that are past and gone. +Then every expense was cheap, compared with the dread of conquest and +the misery of submission. We did not stand debating upon trifles, or +contending about the necessary and unavoidable charges of defence. Every +one bore his lot of suffering, and looked forward to happier days, and +scenes of rest. + +Perhaps one of the greatest dangers which any country can be exposed +to, arises from a kind of trifling which sometimes steals upon the mind, +when it supposes the danger past; and this unsafe situation marks at +this time the peculiar crisis of America. What would she once have given +to have known that her condition at this day should be what it now is? +And yet we do not seem to place a proper value upon it, nor vigorously +pursue the necessary measures to secure it. We know that we cannot be +defended, nor yet defend ourselves, without trouble and expense. We have +no right to expect it; neither ought we to look for it. We are a people, +who, in our situation, differ from all the world. We form one common +floor of public good, and, whatever is our charge, it is paid for our +own interest and upon our own account. + +Misfortune and experience have now taught us system and method; and the +arrangements for carrying on the war are reduced to rule and order. The +quotas of the several states are ascertained, and I intend in a future +publication to show what they are, and the necessity as well as the +advantages of vigorously providing for them. + +In the mean time, I shall conclude this paper with an instance of +British clemency, from Smollett's History of England, vol. xi., printed +in London. It will serve to show how dismal the situation of a conquered +people is, and that the only security is an effectual defence. + +We all know that the Stuart family and the house of Hanover opposed each +other for the crown of England. The Stuart family stood first in the +line of succession, but the other was the most successful. + +In July, 1745, Charles, the son of the exiled king, landed in Scotland, +collected a small force, at no time exceeding five or six thousand +men, and made some attempts to re-establish his claim. The late Duke of +Cumberland, uncle to the present King of England, was sent against him, +and on the 16th of April following, Charles was totally defeated at +Culloden, in Scotland. Success and power are the only situations in +which clemency can be shown, and those who are cruel, because they +are victorious, can with the same facility act any other degenerate +character. + +"Immediately after the decisive action at Culloden, the Duke of +Cumberland took possession of Inverness; where six and thirty deserters, +convicted by a court martial, were ordered to be executed: then he +detached several parties to ravage the country. One of these apprehended +The Lady Mackintosh, who was sent prisoner to Inverness, plundered her +house, and drove away her cattle, though her husband was actually in the +service of the government. The castle of Lord Lovat was destroyed. +The French prisoners were sent to Carlisle and Penrith: Kilmarnock, +Balmerino, Cromartie, and his son, The Lord Macleod, were conveyed by +sea to London; and those of an inferior rank were confined in different +prisons. The Marquis of Tullibardine, together with a brother of the +Earl of Dunmore, and Murray, the pretender's secretary, were seized and +transported to the Tower of London, to which the Earl of Traquaire +had been committed on suspicion; and the eldest son of Lord Lovat was +imprisoned in the castle of Edinburgh. In a word, all the jails in +Great Britain, from the capital, northwards, were filled with those +unfortunate captives; and great numbers of them were crowded together in +the holds of ships, where they perished in the most deplorable manner, +for want of air and exercise. Some rebel chiefs escaped in two French +frigates that arrived on the coast of Lochaber about the end of April, +and engaged three vessels belonging to his Britannic majesty, which +they obliged to retire. Others embarked on board a ship on the coast +of Buchan, and were conveyed to Norway, from whence they travelled to +Sweden. In the month of May, the Duke of Cumberland advanced with the +army into the Highlands, as far as Fort Augustus, where he encamped; and +sent off detachments on all hands, to hunt down the fugitives, and +lay waste the country with fire and sword. The castles of Glengary and +Lochiel were plundered and burned; every house, hut, or habitation, +met with the same fate, without distinction; and all the cattle and +provision were carried off; the men were either shot upon the mountains, +like wild beasts, or put to death in cold blood, without form of trial; +the women, after having seen their husbands and fathers murdered, were +subjected to brutal violation, and then turned out naked, with their +children, to starve on the barren heaths. One whole family was enclosed +in a barn, and consumed to ashes. Those ministers of vengeance were so +alert in the execution of their office, that in a few days there was +neither house, cottage, man, nor beast, to be seen within the compass of +fifty miles; all was ruin, silence, and desolation." + +I have here presented the reader with one of the most shocking instances +of cruelty ever practised, and I leave it, to rest on his mind, that he +may be fully impressed with a sense of the destruction he has escaped, +in case Britain had conquered America; and likewise, that he may see +and feel the necessity, as well for his own personal safety, as for the +honor, the interest, and happiness of the whole community, to omit or +delay no one preparation necessary to secure the ground which we so +happily stand upon. + + + TO THE PEOPLE OF AMERICA + + On the expenses, arrangements and disbursements for + carrying on the war, and finishing it with honor + and advantage + +WHEN any necessity or occasion has pointed out the convenience of +addressing the public, I have never made it a consideration whether the +subject was popular or unpopular, but whether it was right or wrong; for +that which is right will become popular, and that which is wrong, though +by mistake it may obtain the cry or fashion of the day, will soon lose +the power of delusion, and sink into disesteem. + +A remarkable instance of this happened in the case of Silas Deane; and +I mention this circumstance with the greater ease, because the poison +of his hypocrisy spread over the whole country, and every man, almost +without exception, thought me wrong in opposing him. The best friends +I then had, except Mr. [Henry] Laurens, stood at a distance, and this +tribute, which is due to his constancy, I pay to him with respect, and +that the readier, because he is not here to hear it. If it reaches him +in his imprisonment, it will afford him an agreeable reflection. + +"As he rose like a rocket, he would fall like a stick," is a metaphor +which I applied to Mr. Deane, in the first piece which I published +respecting him, and he has exactly fulfilled the description. The credit +he so unjustly obtained from the public, he lost in almost as short a +time. The delusion perished as it fell, and he soon saw himself stripped +of popular support. His more intimate acquaintances began to doubt, and +to desert him long before he left America, and at his departure, he saw +himself the object of general suspicion. When he arrived in France, +he endeavored to effect by treason what he had failed to accomplish by +fraud. His plans, schemes and projects, together with his expectation of +being sent to Holland to negotiate a loan of money, had all miscarried. +He then began traducing and accusing America of every crime, which could +injure her reputation. "That she was a ruined country; that she only +meant to make a tool of France, to get what money she could out of her, +and then to leave her and accommodate with Britain." Of all which and +much more, Colonel Laurens and myself, when in France, informed Dr. +Franklin, who had not before heard of it. And to complete the character +of traitor, he has, by letters to his country since, some of which, in +his own handwriting, are now in the possession of Congress, used every +expression and argument in his power, to injure the reputation of +France, and to advise America to renounce her alliance, and surrender up +her independence.* Thus in France he abuses America, and in his letters +to America he abuses France; and is endeavoring to create disunion +between two countries, by the same arts of double-dealing by which he +caused dissensions among the commissioners in Paris, and distractions in +America. But his life has been fraud, and his character has been that of +a plodding, plotting, cringing mercenary, capable of any disguise that +suited his purpose. His final detection has very happily cleared up +those mistakes, and removed that uneasiness, which his unprincipled +conduct occasioned. Every one now sees him in the same light; for +towards friends or enemies he acted with the same deception and +injustice, and his name, like that of Arnold, ought now to be forgotten +among us. As this is the first time that I have mentioned him since my +return from France, it is my intention that it shall be the last. From +this digression, which for several reasons I thought necessary to give, +I now proceed to the purport of my address. + + + * Mr. William Marshall, of this city [Philadelphia], formerly a +pilot, who had been taken at sea and carried to England, and got from +thence to France, brought over letters from Mr. Deane to America, one of +which was directed to "Robert Morris, Esq." Mr. Morris sent it unopened +to Congress, and advised Mr. Marshall to deliver the others there, which +he did. The letters were of the same purport with those which have been +already published under the signature of S. Deane, to which they had +frequent reference. + +I consider the war of America against Britain as the country's war, +the public's war, or the war of the people in their own behalf, for +the security of their natural rights, and the protection of their own +property. It is not the war of Congress, the war of the assemblies, or +the war of government in any line whatever. The country first, by +mutual compact, resolved to defend their rights and maintain their +independence, at the hazard of their lives and fortunes; they elected +their representatives, by whom they appointed their members of Congress, +and said, act you for us, and we will support you. This is the +true ground and principle of the war on the part of America, and, +consequently, there remains nothing to do, but for every one to fulfil +his obligation. + +It was next to impossible that a new country, engaged in a new +undertaking, could set off systematically right at first. She saw not +the extent of the struggle that she was involved in, neither could she +avoid the beginning. She supposed every step that she took, and every +resolution which she formed, would bring her enemy to reason and close +the contest. Those failing, she was forced into new measures; and these, +like the former, being fitted to her expectations, and failing in their +turn, left her continually unprovided, and without system. The +enemy, likewise, was induced to prosecute the war, from the temporary +expedients we adopted for carrying it on. We were continually expecting +to see their credit exhausted, and they were looking to see our currency +fail; and thus, between their watching us, and we them, the hopes of +both have been deceived, and the childishness of the expectation has +served to increase the expense. + +Yet who, through this wilderness of error, has been to blame? Where is +the man who can say the fault, in part, has not been his? They were the +natural, unavoidable errors of the day. They were the errors of a whole +country, which nothing but experience could detect and time remove. +Neither could the circumstances of America admit of system, till either +the paper currency was fixed or laid aside. No calculation of a finance +could be made on a medium failing without reason, and fluctuating +without rule. + +But there is one error which might have been prevented and was not; and +as it is not my custom to flatter, but to serve mankind, I will speak it +freely. It certainly was the duty of every assembly on the continent to +have known, at all times, what was the condition of its treasury, and +to have ascertained at every period of depreciation, how much the real +worth of the taxes fell short of their nominal value. This knowledge, +which might have been easily gained, in the time of it, would have +enabled them to have kept their constituents well informed, and this is +one of the greatest duties of representation. They ought to have studied +and calculated the expenses of the war, the quota of each state, and +the consequent proportion that would fall on each man's property for +his defence; and this must have easily shown to them, that a tax of one +hundred pounds could not be paid by a bushel of apples or an hundred of +flour, which was often the case two or three years ago. But instead of +this, which would have been plain and upright dealing, the little line +of temporary popularity, the feather of an hour's duration, was too much +pursued; and in this involved condition of things, every state, for the +want of a little thinking, or a little information, supposed that it +supported the whole expenses of the war, when in fact it fell, by the +time the tax was levied and collected, above three-fourths short of its +own quota. + +Impressed with a sense of the danger to which the country was exposed by +this lax method of doing business, and the prevailing errors of the day, +I published, last October was a twelvemonth, the Crisis Extraordinary, +on the revenues of America, and the yearly expense of carrying on +the war. My estimation of the latter, together with the civil list of +Congress, and the civil list of the several states, was two million +pounds sterling, which is very nearly nine millions of dollars. + +Since that time, Congress have gone into a calculation, and have +estimated the expenses of the War Department and the civil list of +Congress (exclusive of the civil list of the several governments) at +eight millions of dollars; and as the remaining million will be +fully sufficient for the civil list of the several states, the two +calculations are exceedingly near each other. + +The sum of eight millions of dollars have called upon the states to +furnish, and their quotas are as follows, which I shall preface with the +resolution itself. + + + + "By the United States in Congress assembled. + + "October 30, 1781. + +"Resolved, That the respective states be called upon to furnish the +treasury of the United States with their quotas of eight millions of +dollars, for the War Department and civil list for the ensuing year, to +be paid quarterly, in equal proportions, the first payment to be made on +the first day of April next. + +"Resolved, That a committee, consisting of a member from each state, be +appointed to apportion to the several states the quota of the above sum. + +"November 2d. The committee appointed to ascertain the proportions of +the several states of the monies to be raised for the expenses of the +ensuing year, report the following resolutions: + +"That the sum of eight millions of dollars, as required to be raised by +the resolutions of the 30th of October last, be paid by the states in +the following proportion: + + New Hampshire....... $ 373,598 + Massachusetts....... 1,307,596 + Rhode Island........ 216,684 + Connecticut......... 747,196 + New York............ 373,598 + New Jersey.......... 485,679 + Pennsylvania........ 1,120,794 + Delaware............ 112,085 + Maryland............ 933,996 + Virginia............ 1,307,594 + North Carolina...... 622,677 + South Carolina...... 373,598 + Georgia............. 24,905 + + $8,000,000 + +"Resolved, That it be recommended to the several states, to lay taxes +for raising their quotas of money for the United States, separate from +those laid for their own particular use." + + + +On these resolutions I shall offer several remarks. + + 1st, On the sum itself, and the ability of the country. + 2d, On the several quotas, and the nature of a union. And, + 3d, On the manner of collection and expenditure. + +1st, On the sum itself, and the ability of the country. As I know my +own calculation is as low as possible, and as the sum called for by +congress, according to their calculation, agrees very nearly therewith, +I am sensible it cannot possibly be lower. Neither can it be done for +that, unless there is ready money to go to market with; and even in that +case, it is only by the utmost management and economy that it can be +made to do. + +By the accounts which were laid before the British Parliament last +spring, it appeared that the charge of only subsisting, that is, feeding +their army in America, cost annually four million pounds sterling, which +is very nearly eighteen millions of dollars. Now if, for eight millions, +we can feed, clothe, arm, provide for, and pay an army sufficient for +our defence, the very comparison shows that the money must be well laid +out. + +It may be of some use, either in debate or conversation, to attend to +the progress of the expenses of an army, because it will enable us to +see on what part any deficiency will fall. + +The first thing is, to feed them and prepare for the sick. + + _Second_, to clothe them. + _Third_, to arm and furnish them. + _Fourth_, to provide means for removing them from place to place. And, + _Fifth_, to pay them. + +The first and second are absolutely necessary to them as men. The third +and fourth are equally as necessary to them as an army. And the fifth is +their just due. Now if the sum which shall be raised should fall short, +either by the several acts of the states for raising it, or by the +manner of collecting it, the deficiency will fall on the fifth head, the +soldiers' pay, which would be defrauding them, and eternally disgracing +ourselves. It would be a blot on the councils, the country, and the +revolution of America, and a man would hereafter be ashamed to own that +he had any hand in it. + +But if the deficiency should be still shorter, it would next fall on the +fourth head, the means of removing the army from place to place; and, in +this case, the army must either stand still where it can be of no use, +or seize on horses, carts, wagons, or any means of transportation which +it can lay hold of; and in this instance the country suffers. In short, +every attempt to do a thing for less than it can he done for, is sure to +become at last both a loss and a dishonor. + +But the country cannot bear it, say some. This has been the most +expensive doctrine that ever was held out, and cost America millions +of money for nothing. Can the country bear to be overrun, ravaged, +and ruined by an enemy? This will immediately follow where defence is +wanting, and defence will ever be wanting, where sufficient revenues +are not provided. But this is only one part of the folly. The second is, +that when the danger comes, invited in part by our not preparing against +it, we have been obliged, in a number of instances, to expend double the +sums to do that which at first might have been done for half the money. +But this is not all. A third mischief has been, that grain of all sorts, +flour, beef fodder, horses, carts, wagons, or whatever was absolutely or +immediately wanted, have been taken without pay. Now, I ask, why was all +this done, but from that extremely weak and expensive doctrine, that +the country could not bear it? That is, that she could not bear, in the +first instance, that which would have saved her twice as much at last; +or, in proverbial language, that she could not bear to pay a penny to +save a pound; the consequence of which has been, that she has paid a +pound for a penny. Why are there so many unpaid certificates in almost +every man's hands, but from the parsimony of not providing sufficient +revenues? Besides, the doctrine contradicts itself; because, if the +whole country cannot bear it, how is it possible that a part should? +And yet this has been the case: for those things have been had; and they +must be had; but the misfortune is, that they have been obtained in +a very unequal manner, and upon expensive credit, whereas, with ready +money, they might have been purchased for half the price, and nobody +distressed. + +But there is another thought which ought to strike us, which is, how is +the army to bear the want of food, clothing and other necessaries? The +man who is at home, can turn himself a thousand ways, and find as many +means of ease, convenience or relief: but a soldier's life admits of +none of those: their wants cannot be supplied from themselves: for an +army, though it is the defence of a state, is at the same time the child +of a country, or must be provided for in every thing. + +And lastly, the doctrine is false. There are not three millions of +people in any part of the universe, who live so well, or have such a +fund of ability, as in America. The income of a common laborer, who is +industrious, is equal to that of the generality of tradesmen in England. +In the mercantile line, I have not heard of one who could be said to be +a bankrupt since the war began, and in England they have been without +number. In America almost every farmer lives on his own lands, and in +England not one in a hundred does. In short, it seems as if the poverty +of that country had made them furious, and they were determined to risk +all to recover all. + +Yet, notwithstanding those advantages on the part of America, true it +is, that had it not been for the operation of taxes for our necessary +defence, we had sunk into a state of sloth and poverty: for there was +more wealth lost by neglecting to till the earth in the years 1776, +'77, and '78, than the quota of taxes amounts to. That which is lost by +neglect of this kind, is lost for ever: whereas that which is paid, and +continues in the country, returns to us again; and at the same time that +it provides us with defence, it operates not only as a spur, but as a +premium to our industry. + +I shall now proceed to the second head, viz., on the several quotas, and +the nature of a union. + +There was a time when America had no other bond of union, than that of +common interest and affection. The whole country flew to the relief of +Boston, and, making her cause, their own, participated in her cares and +administered to her wants. The fate of war, since that day, has carried +the calamity in a ten-fold proportion to the southward; but in the mean +time the union has been strengthened by a legal compact of the states, +jointly and severally ratified, and that which before was choice, or the +duty of affection, is now likewise the duty of legal obligation. + +The union of America is the foundation-stone of her independence; +the rock on which it is built; and is something so sacred in her +constitution, that we ought to watch every word we speak, and every +thought we think, that we injure it not, even by mistake. When a +multitude, extended, or rather scattered, over a continent in the manner +we were, mutually agree to form one common centre whereon the whole +shall move to accomplish a particular purpose, all parts must act +together and alike, or act not at all, and a stoppage in any one is a +stoppage of the whole, at least for a time. + +Thus the several states have sent representatives to assemble together +in Congress, and they have empowered that body, which thus becomes their +centre, and are no other than themselves in representation, to conduct +and manage the war, while their constituents at home attend to the +domestic cares of the country, their internal legislation, their farms, +professions or employments, for it is only by reducing complicated +things to method and orderly connection that they can be understood +with advantage, or pursued with success. Congress, by virtue of this +delegation, estimates the expense, and apportions it out to the several +parts of the empire according to their several abilities; and here the +debate must end, because each state has already had its voice, and the +matter has undergone its whole portion of argument, and can no more be +altered by any particular state, than a law of any state, after it has +passed, can be altered by any individual. For with respect to those +things which immediately concern the union, and for which the union was +purposely established, and is intended to secure, each state is to the +United States what each individual is to the state he lives in. And +it is on this grand point, this movement upon one centre, that our +existence as a nation, our happiness as a people, and our safety as +individuals, depend. + +It may happen that some state or other may be somewhat over or under +rated, but this cannot be much. The experience which has been had upon +the matter, has nearly ascertained their several abilities. But even +in this case, it can only admit of an appeal to the United States, but +cannot authorise any state to make the alteration itself, any more than +our internal government can admit an individual to do so in the case of +an act of assembly; for if one state can do it, then may another do the +same, and the instant this is done the whole is undone. + +Neither is it supposable that any single state can be a judge of all the +comparative reasons which may influence the collective body in arranging +the quotas of the continent. The circumstances of the several states are +frequently varying, occasioned by the accidents of war and commerce, and +it will often fall upon some to help others, rather beyond what their +exact proportion at another time might be; but even this assistance is +as naturally and politically included in the idea of a union as that of +any particular assigned proportion; because we know not whose turn +it may be next to want assistance, for which reason that state is the +wisest which sets the best example. + +Though in matters of bounden duty and reciprocal affection, it is rather +a degeneracy from the honesty and ardor of the heart to admit any thing +selfish to partake in the government of our conduct, yet in cases where +our duty, our affections, and our interest all coincide, it may be of +some use to observe their union. The United States will become heir to +an extensive quantity of vacant land, and their several titles to +shares and quotas thereof, will naturally be adjusted according to their +relative quotas, during the war, exclusive of that inability which may +unfortunately arise to any state by the enemy's holding possession of +a part; but as this is a cold matter of interest, I pass it by, +and proceed to my third head, viz., on the manner of collection and +expenditure. + +It has been our error, as well as our misfortune, to blend the affairs +of each state, especially in money matters, with those of the United +States; whereas it is our case, convenience and interest, to keep them +separate. The expenses of the United States for carrying on the war, and +the expenses of each state for its own domestic government, are distinct +things, and to involve them is a source of perplexity and a cloak for +fraud. I love method, because I see and am convinced of its beauty and +advantage. It is that which makes all business easy and understood, and +without which, everything becomes embarrassed and difficult. + +There are certain powers which the people of each state have delegated +to their legislative and executive bodies, and there are other powers +which the people of every state have delegated to Congress, among +which is that of conducting the war, and, consequently, of managing the +expenses attending it; for how else can that be managed, which concerns +every state, but by a delegation from each? When a state has furnished +its quota, it has an undoubted right to know how it has been applied, +and it is as much the duty of Congress to inform the state of the one, +as it is the duty of the state to provide the other. + +In the resolution of Congress already recited, it is recommended to the +several states to lay taxes for raising their quotas of money for the +United States, separate from those laid for their own particular use. + +This is a most necessary point to be observed, and the distinction +should follow all the way through. They should be levied, paid and +collected, separately, and kept separate in every instance. Neither have +the civil officers of any state, nor the government of that state, the +least right to touch that money which the people pay for the support of +their army and the war, any more than Congress has to touch that which +each state raises for its own use. + +This distinction will naturally be followed by another. It will occasion +every state to examine nicely into the expenses of its civil list, and +to regulate, reduce, and bring it into better order than it has hitherto +been; because the money for that purpose must be raised apart, and +accounted for to the public separately. But while the, monies of both +were blended, the necessary nicety was not observed, and the poor +soldier, who ought to have been the first, was the last who was thought +of. + +Another convenience will be, that the people, by paying the taxes +separately, will know what they are for; and will likewise know that +those which are for the defence of the country will cease with the war, +or soon after. For although, as I have before observed, the war is their +own, and for the support of their own rights and the protection of their +own property, yet they have the same right to know, that they have +to pay, and it is the want of not knowing that is often the cause of +dissatisfaction. + +This regulation of keeping the taxes separate has given rise to a +regulation in the office of finance, by which it is directed: + +"That the receivers shall, at the end of every month, make out an exact +account of the monies received by them respectively, during such month, +specifying therein the names of the persons from whom the same shall +have been received, the dates and the sums; which account they shall +respectively cause to be published in one of the newspapers of the +state; to the end that every citizen may know how much of the monies +collected from him, in taxes, is transmitted to the treasury of the +United States for the support of the war; and also, that it may be known +what monies have been at the order of the superintendent of finance. It +being proper and necessary, that, in a free country, the people should +be as fully informed of the administration of their affairs as the +nature of things will admit." + +It is an agreeable thing to see a spirit of order and economy taking +place, after such a series of errors and difficulties. A government or +an administration, who means and acts honestly, has nothing to fear, and +consequently has nothing to conceal; and it would be of use if a monthly +or quarterly account was to be published, as well of the expenditures +as of the receipts. Eight millions of dollars must be husbanded with an +exceeding deal of care to make it do, and, therefore, as the management +must be reputable, the publication would be serviceable. + +I have heard of petitions which have been presented to the assembly of +this state (and probably the same may have happened in other states) +praying to have the taxes lowered. Now the only way to keep taxes low +is, for the United States to have ready money to go to market with: and +though the taxes to be raised for the present year will fall heavy, +and there will naturally be some difficulty in paying them, yet the +difficulty, in proportion as money spreads about the country, will every +day grow less, and in the end we shall save some millions of dollars by +it. We see what a bitter, revengeful enemy we have to deal with, and +any expense is cheap compared to their merciless paw. We have seen the +unfortunate Carolineans hunted like partridges on the mountains, and it +is only by providing means for our defence, that we shall be kept from +the same condition. When we think or talk about taxes, we ought to +recollect that we lie down in peace and sleep in safety; that we +can follow our farms or stores or other occupations, in prosperous +tranquillity; and that these inestimable blessings are procured to us +by the taxes that we pay. In this view, our taxes are properly our +insurance money; they are what we pay to be made safe, and, in strict +policy, are the best money we can lay out. + +It was my intention to offer some remarks on the impost law of five per +cent. recommended by Congress, and to be established as a fund for the +payment of the loan-office certificates, and other debts of the United +States; but I have already extended my piece beyond my intention. And +as this fund will make our system of finance complete, and is strictly +just, and consequently requires nothing but honesty to do it, there +needs but little to be said upon it. + + COMMON SENSE. + +PHILADELPHIA, March 5, 1782. + + + + +THE CRISIS. XI. ON THE PRESENT STATE OF NEWS. + + +SINCE the arrival of two, if not three packets in quick succession, at +New York, from England, a variety of unconnected news has circulated +through the country, and afforded as great a variety of speculation. + +That something is the matter in the cabinet and councils of our enemies, +on the other side of the water, is certain--that they have run their +length of madness, and are under the necessity of changing their +measures may easily be seen into; but to what this change of measures +may amount, or how far it may correspond with our interest, happiness +and duty, is yet uncertain; and from what we have hitherto experienced, +we have too much reason to suspect them in every thing. I do not address +this publication so much to the people of America as to the British +ministry, whoever they may be, for if it is their intention to promote +any kind of negotiation, it is proper they should know beforehand, that +the United States have as much honor as bravery; and that they are no +more to be seduced from their alliance than their allegiance; that their +line of politics is formed and not dependent, like that of their enemy, +on chance and accident. On our part, in order to know, at any time, what +the British government will do, we have only to find out what they ought +not to do, and this last will be their conduct. Forever changing and +forever wrong; too distant from America to improve in circumstances, and +too unwise to foresee them; scheming without principle, and executing +without probability, their whole line of management has hitherto been +blunder and baseness. Every campaign has added to their loss, and every +year to their disgrace; till unable to go on, and ashamed to go back, +their politics have come to a halt, and all their fine prospects to a +halter. + +Could our affections forgive, or humanity forget the wounds of an +injured country--we might, under the influence of a momentary oblivion, +stand still and laugh. But they are engraven where no amusement can +conceal them, and of a kind for which there is no recompense. Can ye +restore to us the beloved dead? Can ye say to the grave, give up the +murdered? Can ye obliterate from our memories those who are no more? +Think not then to tamper with our feelings by an insidious contrivance, +nor suffocate our humanity by seducing us to dishonor. + +In March 1780, I published part of the Crisis, No. VIII., in the +newspapers, but did not conclude it in the following papers, and the +remainder has lain by me till the present day. There appeared about +that time some disposition in the British cabinet to cease the further +prosecution of the war, and as I had formed my opinion that whenever +such a design should take place, it would be accompanied by a +dishonorable proposition to America, respecting France, I had suppressed +the remainder of that number, not to expose the baseness of any such +proposition. But the arrival of the next news from England, declared her +determination to go on with the war, and consequently as the political +object I had then in view was not become a subject, it was unnecessary +in me to bring it forward, which is the reason it was never published. +The matter which I allude to in the unpublished part, I shall now make a +quotation of, and apply it as the more enlarged state of things, at this +day, shall make convenient or necessary. It was as follows: + +"By the speeches which have appeared from the British Parliament, it is +easy to perceive to what impolitic and imprudent excesses their passions +and prejudices have, in every instance, carried them during the present +war. Provoked at the upright and honorable treaty between America and +France, they imagined that nothing more was necessary to be done to +prevent its final ratification, than to promise, through the agency of +their commissioners (Carlisle, Eden, and Johnstone) a repeal of their +once offensive acts of Parliament. The vanity of the conceit, was as +unpardonable as the experiment was impolitic. And so convinced am I of +their wrong ideas of America, that I shall not wonder, if, in their last +stage of political frenzy, they propose to her to break her alliance +with France, and enter into one with them. Such a proposition, should +it ever be made, and it has been already more than once hinted at in +Parliament, would discover such a disposition to perfidiousness, and +such disregard of honor and morals, as would add the finishing vice to +national corruption.--I do not mention this to put America on the watch, +but to put England on her guard, that she do not, in the looseness of +her heart, envelop in disgrace every fragment of reputation."--Thus far +the quotation. + +By the complection of some part of the news which has transpired through +the New York papers, it seems probable that this insidious era in the +British politics is beginning to make its appearance. I wish it may +not; for that which is a disgrace to human nature, throws something of a +shade over all the human character, and each individual feels his share +of the wound that is given to the whole. The policy of Britain has ever +been to divide America in some way or other. In the beginning of the +dispute, she practised every art to prevent or destroy the union of the +states, well knowing that could she once get them to stand singly, she +could conquer them unconditionally. Failing in this project in America, +she renewed it in Europe; and, after the alliance had taken place, she +made secret offers to France to induce her to give up America; and what +is still more extraordinary, she at the same time made propositions to +Dr. Franklin, then in Paris, the very court to which she was secretly +applying, to draw off America from France. But this is not all. On the +14th of September, 1778, the British court, through their secretary, +Lord Weymouth, made application to the Marquis d'Almadovar, the Spanish +ambassador at London, to "ask the mediation," for these were the words, +of the court of Spain, for the purpose of negotiating a peace with +France, leaving America (as I shall hereafter show) out of the question. +Spain readily offered her mediation, and likewise the city of Madrid as +the place of conference, but withal, proposed, that the United States of +America should be invited to the treaty, and considered as independent +during the time the business was negotiating. But this was not the +view of England. She wanted to draw France from the war, that she might +uninterruptedly pour out all her force and fury upon America; and being +disappointed in this plan, as well through the open and generous conduct +of Spain, as the determination of France, she refused the mediation +which she had solicited. I shall now give some extracts from the +justifying memorial of the Spanish court, in which she has set the +conduct and character of Britain, with respect to America, in a clear +and striking point of light. + +The memorial, speaking of the refusal of the British court to meet in +conference with commissioners from the United States, who were to be +considered as independent during the time of the conference, says, + +"It is a thing very extraordinary and even ridiculous, that the court of +London, who treats the colonies as independent, not only in acting, but +of right, during the war, should have a repugnance to treat them as +such only in acting during a truce, or suspension of hostilities. +The convention of Saratoga; the reputing General Burgoyne as a lawful +prisoner, in order to suspend his trial; the exchange and liberation of +other prisoners made from the colonies; the having named commissioners +to go and supplicate the Americans, at their own doors, request peace of +them, and treat with them and the Congress: and, finally, by a thousand +other acts of this sort, authorized by the court of London, which have +been, and are true signs of the acknowledgment of their independence. + +"In aggravation of all the foregoing, at the same time the British +cabinet answered the King of Spain in the terms already mentioned, they +were insinuating themselves at the court of France by means of secret +emissaries, and making very great offers to her, to abandon the colonies +and make peace with England. But there is yet more; for at this same +time the English ministry were treating, by means of another certain +emissary, with Dr. Franklin, minister plenipotentiary from the colonies, +residing at Paris, to whom they made various proposals to disunite them +from France, and accommodate matters with England. + +"From what has been observed, it evidently follows, that the whole +of the British politics was, to disunite the two courts of Paris and +Madrid, by means of the suggestions and offers which she separately +made to them; and also to separate the colonies from their treaties and +engagements entered into with France, and induce them to arm against the +house of Bourbon, or more probably to oppress them when they found, +from breaking their engagements, that they stood alone and without +protection. + +"This, therefore, is the net they laid for the American states; that is +to say, to tempt them with flattering and very magnificent promises to +come to an accommodation with them, exclusive of any intervention of +Spain or France, that the British ministry might always remain the +arbiters of the fate of the colonies. But the Catholic king (the King +of Spain) faithful on the one part of the engagements which bind him +to the Most Christian king (the King of France) his nephew; just and +upright on the other, to his own subjects, whom he ought to protect +and guard against so many insults; and finally, full of humanity and +compassion for the Americans and other individuals who suffer in the +present war; he is determined to pursue and prosecute it, and to make +all the efforts in his power, until he can obtain a solid and permanent +peace, with full and satisfactory securities that it shall be observed." + +Thus far the memorial; a translation of which into English, may be seen +in full, under the head of State Papers, in the Annual Register, for +1779. + +The extracts I have here given, serve to show the various endeavors +and contrivances of the enemy, to draw France from her connection with +America, and to prevail on her to make a separate peace with England, +leaving America totally out of the question, and at the mercy of a +merciless, unprincipled enemy. The opinion, likewise, which Spain +has formed of the British cabinet's character for meanness and +perfidiousness, is so exactly the opinion of America respecting it, +that the memorial, in this instance, contains our own statements and +language; for people, however remote, who think alike, will unavoidably +speak alike. + +Thus we see the insidious use which Britain endeavored to make of the +propositions of peace under the mediation of Spain. I shall now proceed +to the second proposition under the mediation of the Emperor of Germany +and the Empress of Russia; the general outline of which was, that a +congress of the several powers at war should meet at Vienna, in 1781, +to settle preliminaries of peace. I could wish myself at liberty to make +use of all the information which I am possessed of on this subject, but +as there is a delicacy in the matter, I do not conceive it prudent, at +least at present, to make references and quotations in the same manner +as I have done with respect to the mediation of Spain, who published the +whole proceedings herself; and therefore, what comes from me, on this +part of the business, must rest on my own credit with the public, +assuring them, that when the whole proceedings, relative to the proposed +Congress of Vienna shall appear, they will find my account not only +true, but studiously moderate. + +We know at the time this mediation was on the carpet, the expectation of +the British king and ministry ran high with respect to the conquest of +America. The English packet which was taken with the mail on board, +and carried into l'Orient, in France, contained letters from Lord G. +Germaine to Sir Henry Clinton, which expressed in the fullest terms the +ministerial idea of a total conquest. Copies of those letters were sent +to congress and published in the newspapers of last year. Colonel +[John] Laurens brought over the originals, some of which, signed in the +handwriting of the then secretary, Germaine, are now in my possession. + +Filled with these high ideas, nothing could be more insolent towards +America than the language of the British court on the proposed +mediation. A peace with France and Spain she anxiously solicited; but +America, as before, was to be left to her mercy, neither would she hear +any proposition for admitting an agent from the United States into the +congress of Vienna. + +On the other hand, France, with an open, noble and manly determination, +and a fidelity of a good ally, would hear no proposition for a separate +peace, nor even meet in congress at Vienna, without an agent from +America: and likewise that the independent character of the United +States, represented by the agent, should be fully and unequivocally +defined and settled before any conference should be entered on. The +reasoning of the court of France on the several propositions of the +two imperial courts, which relate to us, is rather in the style of an +American than an ally, and she advocated the cause of America as if she +had been America herself.--Thus the second mediation, like the first, +proved ineffectual. But since that time, a reverse of fortune has +overtaken the British arms, and all their high expectations are dashed +to the ground. The noble exertions to the southward under General +[Nathaniel] Greene; the successful operations of the allied arms in the +Chesapeake; the loss of most of their islands in the West Indies, and +Minorca in the Mediterranean; the persevering spirit of Spain against +Gibraltar; the expected capture of Jamaica; the failure of making a +separate peace with Holland, and the expense of an hundred millions +sterling, by which all these fine losses were obtained, have read them +a loud lesson of disgraceful misfortune and necessity has called on them +to change their ground. + +In this situation of confusion and despair, their present councils have +no fixed character. It is now the hurricane months of British politics. +Every day seems to have a storm of its own, and they are scudding under +the bare poles of hope. Beaten, but not humble; condemned, but not +penitent; they act like men trembling at fate and catching at a straw. +From this convulsion, in the entrails of their politics, it is more than +probable, that the mountain groaning in labor, will bring forth a mouse, +as to its size, and a monster in its make. They will try on America the +same insidious arts they tried on France and Spain. + +We sometimes experience sensations to which language is not equal. +The conception is too bulky to be born alive, and in the torture of +thinking, we stand dumb. Our feelings, imprisoned by their magnitude, +find no way out--and, in the struggle of expression, every finger tries +to be a tongue. The machinery of the body seems too little for the mind, +and we look about for helps to show our thoughts by. Such must be the +sensation of America, whenever Britain, teeming with corruption, shall +propose to her to sacrifice her faith. + +But, exclusive of the wickedness, there is a personal offence contained +in every such attempt. It is calling us villains: for no man asks the +other to act the villain unless he believes him inclined to be one. +No man attempts to seduce the truly honest woman. It is the supposed +looseness of her mind that starts the thoughts of seduction, and he who +offers it calls her a prostitute. Our pride is always hurt by the same +propositions which offend our principles; for when we are shocked at the +crime, we are wounded by the suspicion of our compliance. + +Could I convey a thought that might serve to regulate the public mind, +I would not make the interest of the alliance the basis of defending +it. All the world are moved by interest, and it affords them nothing to +boast of. But I would go a step higher, and defend it on the ground of +honor and principle. That our public affairs have flourished under the +alliance--that it was wisely made, and has been nobly executed--that by +its assistance we are enabled to preserve our country from conquest, and +expel those who sought our destruction--that it is our true interest to +maintain it unimpaired, and that while we do so no enemy can conquer +us, are matters which experience has taught us, and the common good of +ourselves, abstracted from principles of faith and honor, would lead us +to maintain the connection. + +But over and above the mere letter of the alliance, we have been nobly +and generously treated, and have had the same respect and attention paid +to us, as if we had been an old established country. To oblige and +be obliged is fair work among mankind, and we want an opportunity of +showing to the world that we are a people sensible of kindness and +worthy of confidence. Character is to us, in our present circumstances, +of more importance than interest. We are a young nation, just stepping +upon the stage of public life, and the eye of the world is upon us +to see how we act. We have an enemy who is watching to destroy our +reputation, and who will go any length to gain some evidence against +us, that may serve to render our conduct suspected, and our character +odious; because, could she accomplish this, wicked as it is, the world +would withdraw from us, as from a people not to be trusted, and our task +would then become difficult. There is nothing which sets the character +of a nation in a higher or lower light with others, than the faithfully +fulfilling, or perfidiously breaking, of treaties. They are things not +to be tampered with: and should Britain, which seems very probable, +propose to seduce America into such an act of baseness, it would +merit from her some mark of unusual detestation. It is one of those +extraordinary instances in which we ought not to be contented with the +bare negative of Congress, because it is an affront on the multitude as +well as on the government. It goes on the supposition that the public +are not honest men, and that they may be managed by contrivance, though +they cannot be conquered by arms. But, let the world and Britain know, +that we are neither to be bought nor sold; that our mind is great and +fixed; our prospect clear; and that we will support our character as +firmly as our independence. + +But I will go still further; General Conway, who made the motion, in +the British Parliament, for discontinuing offensive war in America, is a +gentleman of an amiable character. We have no personal quarrel with him. +But he feels not as we feel; he is not in our situation, and that alone, +without any other explanation, is enough. The British Parliament suppose +they have many friends in America, and that, when all chance of conquest +is over, they will be able to draw her from her alliance with France. +Now, if I have any conception of the human heart, they will fail in this +more than in any thing that they have yet tried. + +This part of the business is not a question of policy only, but of honor +and honesty; and the proposition will have in it something so visibly +low and base, that their partisans, if they have any, will be ashamed of +it. Men are often hurt by a mean action who are not startled at a wicked +one, and this will be such a confession of inability, such a declaration +of servile thinking, that the scandal of it will ruin all their hopes. + +In short, we have nothing to do but to go on with vigor and +determination. The enemy is yet in our country. They hold New York, +Charleston, and Savannah, and the very being in those places is an +offence, and a part of offensive war, and until they can be driven from +them, or captured in them, it would be folly in us to listen to an idle +tale. I take it for granted that the British ministry are sinking under +the impossibility of carrying on the war. Let them then come to a fair +and open peace with France, Spain, Holland and America, in the manner +they ought to do; but until then, we can have nothing to say to them. + + COMMON SENSE. + + PHILADELPHIA, May 22, 1782. + + + + A SUPERNUMERARY CRISIS + + TO SIR GUY CARLETON. + +IT is the nature of compassion to associate with misfortune; and I +address this to you in behalf even of an enemy, a captain in the British +service, now on his way to the headquarters of the American army, and +unfortunately doomed to death for a crime not his own. A sentence so +extraordinary, an execution so repugnant to every human sensation, ought +never to be told without the circumstances which produced it: and as the +destined victim is yet in existence, and in your hands rests his life or +death, I shall briefly state the case, and the melancholy consequence. + +Captain Huddy, of the Jersey militia, was attacked in a small fort on +Tom's River, by a party of refugees in the British pay and service, was +made prisoner, together with his company, carried to New York and lodged +in the provost of that city: about three weeks after which, he was taken +out of the provost down to the water-side, put into a boat, and brought +again upon the Jersey shore, and there, contrary to the practice of all +nations but savages, was hung up on a tree, and left hanging till found +by our people who took him down and buried him. The inhabitants of that +part of the country where the murder was committed, sent a deputation +to General Washington with a full and certified statement of the fact. +Struck, as every human breast must be, with such brutish outrage, and +determined both to punish and prevent it for the future, the General +represented the case to General Clinton, who then commanded, and +demanded that the refugee officer who ordered and attended the +execution, and whose name is Lippencott, should be delivered up as +a murderer; and in case of refusal, that the person of some British +officer should suffer in his stead. The demand, though not refused, has +not been complied with; and the melancholy lot (not by selection, but by +casting lots) has fallen upon Captain Asgill, of the Guards, who, as I +have already mentioned, is on his way from Lancaster to camp, a +martyr to the general wickedness of the cause he engaged in, and the +ingratitude of those whom he served. + +The first reflection which arises on this black business is, what sort +of men must Englishmen be, and what sort of order and discipline do +they preserve in their army, when in the immediate place of their +headquarters, and under the eye and nose of their commander-in-chief, +a prisoner can be taken at pleasure from his confinement, and his death +made a matter of sport. + +The history of the most savage Indians does not produce instances +exactly of this kind. They, at least, have a formality in their +punishments. With them it is the horridness of revenge, but with your +army it is a still greater crime, the horridness of diversion. The +British generals who have succeeded each other, from the time of General +Gage to yourself, have all affected to speak in language that they have +no right to. In their proclamations, their addresses, their letters +to General Washington, and their supplications to Congress (for they +deserve no other name) they talk of British honor, British generosity, +and British clemency, as if those things were matters of fact; whereas, +we whose eyes are open, who speak the same language with yourselves, +many of whom were born on the same spot with you, and who can no more +be mistaken in your words than in your actions, can declare to all the +world, that so far as our knowledge goes, there is not a more detestable +character, nor a meaner or more barbarous enemy, than the present +British one. With us, you have forfeited all pretensions to reputation, +and it is only by holding you like a wild beast, afraid of your keepers, +that you can be made manageable. But to return to the point in question. + +Though I can think no man innocent who has lent his hand to destroy +the country which he did not plant, and to ruin those that he could not +enslave, yet, abstracted from all ideas of right and wrong on the +original question, Captain Asgill, in the present case, is not the +guilty man. The villain and the victim are here separated characters. +You hold the one and we the other. You disown, or affect to disown and +reprobate the conduct of Lippincut, yet you give him a sanctuary; and by +so doing you as effectually become the executioner of Asgill, as if you +had put the rope on his neck, and dismissed him from the world. Whatever +your feelings on this interesting occasion may be are best known to +yourself. Within the grave of your own mind lies buried the fate of +Asgill. He becomes the corpse of your will, or the survivor of your +justice. Deliver up the one, and you save the other; withhold the one, +and the other dies by your choice. + +On our part the case is exceeding plain; an officer has been taken from +his confinement and murdered, and the murderer is within your lines. +Your army has been guilty of a thousand instances of equal cruelty, +but they have been rendered equivocal, and sheltered from personal +detection. Here the crime is fixed; and is one of those extraordinary +cases which can neither be denied nor palliated, and to which the custom +of war does not apply; for it never could be supposed that such a brutal +outrage would ever be committed. It is an original in the history +of civilized barbarians, and is truly British. On your part you are +accountable to us for the personal safety of the prisoners within your +walls. Here can be no mistake; they can neither be spies nor suspected +as such; your security is not endangered, nor your operations subjected +to miscarriage, by men immured within a dungeon. They differ in every +circumstance from men in the field, and leave no pretence for severity +of punishment. But if to the dismal condition of captivity with you must +be added the constant apprehensions of death; if to be imprisoned is +so nearly to be entombed; and if, after all, the murderers are to be +protected, and thereby the crime encouraged, wherein do you differ from +[American] Indians either in conduct or character? + +We can have no idea of your honor, or your justice, in any future +transaction, of what nature it may be, while you shelter within your +lines an outrageous murderer, and sacrifice in his stead an officer of +your own. If you have no regard to us, at least spare the blood which +it is your duty to save. Whether the punishment will be greater on him, +who, in this case, innocently dies, or on him whom sad necessity forces +to retaliate, is, in the nicety of sensation, an undecided question? It +rests with you to prevent the sufferings of both. You have nothing to do +but to give up the murderer, and the matter ends. + +But to protect him, be he who he may, is to patronize his crime, and to +trifle it off by frivolous and unmeaning inquiries, is to promote it. +There is no declaration you can make, nor promise you can give that will +obtain credit. It is the man and not the apology that is demanded. + +You see yourself pressed on all sides to spare the life of your own +officer, for die he will if you withhold justice. The murder of Captain +Huddy is an offence not to be borne with, and there is no security which +we can have, that such actions or similar ones shall not be repeated, +but by making the punishment fall upon yourselves. To destroy the last +security of captivity, and to take the unarmed, the unresisting prisoner +to private and sportive execution, is carrying barbarity too high for +silence. The evil must be put an end to; and the choice of persons rests +with you. But if your attachment to the guilty is stronger than to the +innocent, you invent a crime that must destroy your character, and if +the cause of your king needs to be so supported, for ever cease, sir, +to torture our remembrance with the wretched phrases of British honor, +British generosity and British clemency. + +From this melancholy circumstance, learn, sir, a lesson of morality. The +refugees are men whom your predecessors have instructed in wickedness, +the better to fit them to their master's purpose. To make them useful, +they have made them vile, and the consequence of their tutored villany +is now descending on the heads of their encouragers. They have been +trained like hounds to the scent of blood, and cherished in every +species of dissolute barbarity. Their ideas of right and wrong are +worn away in the constant habitude of repeated infamy, till, like men +practised in execution, they feel not the value of another's life. + +The task before you, though painful, is not difficult; give up the +murderer, and save your officer, as the first outset of a necessary +reformation. COMMON SENSE. + +PHILADELPHIA May 31, 1782. + + + + +THE CRISIS. XII. TO THE EARL OF SHELBURNE. + + +MY LORD,--A speech, which has been printed in several of the British and +New York newspapers, as coming from your lordship, in answer to one from +the Duke of Richmond, of the 10th of July last, contains expressions and +opinions so new and singular, and so enveloped in mysterious reasoning, +that I address this publication to you, for the purpose of giving them a +free and candid examination. The speech I allude to is in these words: + +"His lordship said, it had been mentioned in another place, that he had +been guilty of inconsistency. To clear himself of this, he asserted that +he still held the same principles in respect to American independence +which he at first imbibed. He had been, and yet was of opinion, whenever +the Parliament of Great Britain acknowledges that point, the sun of +England's glory is set forever. Such were the sentiments he possessed on +a former day, and such the sentiments he continued to hold at this +hour. It was the opinion of Lord Chatham, as well as many other able +statesmen. Other noble lords, however, think differently, and as the +majority of the cabinet support them, he acquiesced in the measure, +dissenting from the idea; and the point is settled for bringing +the matter into the full discussion of Parliament, where it will be +candidly, fairly, and impartially debated. The independence of America +would end in the ruin of England; and that a peace patched up with +France, would give that proud enemy the means of yet trampling on this +country. The sun of England's glory he wished not to see set forever; he +looked for a spark at least to be left, which might in time light us +up to a new day. But if independence was to be granted, if Parliament +deemed that measure prudent, he foresaw, in his own mind, that England +was undone. He wished to God that he had been deputed to Congress, that +be might plead the cause of that country as well as of this, and that he +might exercise whatever powers he possessed as an orator, to save both +from ruin, in a conviction to Congress, that, if their independence was +signed, their liberties were gone forever. + +"Peace, his lordship added, was a desirable object, but it must be an +honorable peace, and not an humiliating one, dictated by France, or +insisted on by America. It was very true, that this kingdom was not in a +flourishing state, it was impoverished by war. But if we were not +rich, it was evident that France was poor. If we were straitened in our +finances, the enemy were exhausted in their resources. This was a great +empire; it abounded with brave men, who were able and willing to fight +in a common cause; the language of humiliation should not, therefore, be +the language of Great Britain. His lordship said, that he was not afraid +nor ashamed of those expressions going to America. There were numbers, +great numbers there, who were of the same way of thinking, in respect +to that country being dependent on this, and who, with his lordship, +perceived ruin and independence linked together." + +Thus far the speech; on which I remark--That his lordship is a total +stranger to the mind and sentiments of America; that he has wrapped +himself up in fond delusion, that something less than independence, may, +under his administration, be accepted; and he wishes himself sent to +Congress, to prove the most extraordinary of all doctrines, which is, +that independence, the sublimest of all human conditions, is loss of +liberty. + +In answer to which we may say, that in order to know what the contrary +word dependence means, we have only to look back to those years of +severe humiliation, when the mildest of all petitions could obtain no +other notice than the haughtiest of all insults; and when the base +terms of unconditional submission were demanded, or undistinguishable +destruction threatened. It is nothing to us that the ministry have been +changed, for they may be changed again. The guilt of a government is +the crime of a whole country; and the nation that can, though but for +a moment, think and act as England has done, can never afterwards be +believed or trusted. There are cases in which it is as impossible to +restore character to life, as it is to recover the dead. It is a phoenix +that can expire but once, and from whose ashes there is no resurrection. +Some offences are of such a slight composition, that they reach no +further than the temper, and are created or cured by a thought. But the +sin of England has struck the heart of America, and nature has not left +in our power to say we can forgive. + +Your lordship wishes for an opportunity to plead before Congress the +cause of England and America, and to save, as you say, both from ruin. + +That the country, which, for more than seven years has sought our +destruction, should now cringe to solicit our protection, is adding the +wretchedness of disgrace to the misery of disappointment; and if England +has the least spark of supposed honor left, that spark must be darkened +by asking, and extinguished by receiving, the smallest favor from +America; for the criminal who owes his life to the grace and mercy of +the injured, is more executed by living, than he who dies. + +But a thousand pleadings, even from your lordship, can have no effect. +Honor, interest, and every sensation of the heart, would plead against +you. We are a people who think not as you think; and what is equally +true, you cannot feel as we feel. The situations of the two countries +are exceedingly different. Ours has been the seat of war; yours has seen +nothing of it. The most wanton destruction has been committed in our +sight; the most insolent barbarity has been acted on our feelings. We +can look round and see the remains of burnt and destroyed houses, once +the fair fruit of hard industry, and now the striking monuments of +British brutality. We walk over the dead whom we loved, in every part of +America, and remember by whom they fell. There is scarcely a village but +brings to life some melancholy thought, and reminds us of what we have +suffered, and of those we have lost by the inhumanity of Britain. A +thousand images arise to us, which, from situation, you cannot see, and +are accompanied by as many ideas which you cannot know; and therefore +your supposed system of reasoning would apply to nothing, and all your +expectations die of themselves. + +The question whether England shall accede to the independence of +America, and which your lordship says is to undergo a parliamentary +discussion, is so very simple, and composed of so few cases, that it +scarcely needs a debate. + +It is the only way out of an expensive and ruinous war, which has no +object, and without which acknowledgment there can be no peace. + +But your lordship says, the sun of Great Britain will set whenever she +acknowledges the independence of America.--Whereas the metaphor would +have been strictly just, to have left the sun wholly out of the figure, +and have ascribed her not acknowledging it to the influence of the moon. + +But the expression, if true, is the greatest confession of disgrace +that could be made, and furnishes America with the highest notions of +sovereign independent importance. Mr. Wedderburne, about the year 1776, +made use of an idea of much the same kind,--Relinquish America! says +he--What is it but to desire a giant to shrink spontaneously into a +dwarf. + +Alas! are those people who call themselves Englishmen, of so little +internal consequence, that when America is gone, or shuts her eyes +upon them, their sun is set, they can shine no more, but grope about in +obscurity, and contract into insignificant animals? Was America, then, +the giant of the empire, and England only her dwarf in waiting! Is the +case so strangely altered, that those who once thought we could not live +without them, are now brought to declare that they cannot exist without +us? Will they tell to the world, and that from their first minister of +state, that America is their all in all; that it is by her importance +only that they can live, and breathe, and have a being? Will they, who +long since threatened to bring us to their feet, bow themselves to +ours, and own that without us they are not a nation? Are they become so +unqualified to debate on independence, that they have lost all idea of +it themselves, and are calling to the rocks and mountains of America to +cover their insignificance? Or, if America is lost, is it manly to sob +over it like a child for its rattle, and invite the laughter of the +world by declarations of disgrace? Surely, a more consistent line of +conduct would be to bear it without complaint; and to show that England, +without America, can preserve her independence, and a suitable rank with +other European powers. You were not contented while you had her, and to +weep for her now is childish. + +But Lord Shelburne thinks something may yet be done. What that something +is, or how it is to be accomplished, is a matter in obscurity. By arms +there is no hope. The experience of nearly eight years, with the expense +of an hundred million pounds sterling, and the loss of two armies, +must positively decide that point. Besides, the British have lost their +interest in America with the disaffected. Every part of it has been +tried. There is no new scene left for delusion: and the thousands +who have been ruined by adhering to them, and have now to quit the +settlements which they had acquired, and be conveyed like transports to +cultivate the deserts of Augustine and Nova Scotia, has put an end to +all further expectations of aid. + +If you cast your eyes on the people of England, what have they +to console themselves with for the millions expended? Or, what +encouragement is there left to continue throwing good money after bad? +America can carry on the war for ten years longer, and all the charges +of government included, for less than you can defray the charges of war +and government for one year. And I, who know both countries, know well, +that the people of America can afford to pay their share of the expense +much better than the people of England can. Besides, it is their own +estates and property, their own rights, liberties and government, that +they are defending; and were they not to do it, they would deserve to +lose all, and none would pity them. The fault would be their own, and +their punishment just. + +The British army in America care not how long the war lasts. They enjoy +an easy and indolent life. They fatten on the folly of one country and +the spoils of another; and, between their plunder and their prey, may go +home rich. But the case is very different with the laboring farmer, the +working tradesman, and the necessitous poor in England, the sweat of +whose brow goes day after day to feed, in prodigality and sloth, the +army that is robbing both them and us. Removed from the eye of that +country that supports them, and distant from the government that employs +them, they cut and carve for themselves, and there is none to call them +to account. + +But England will be ruined, says Lord Shelburne, if America is +independent. + +Then I say, is England already ruined, for America is already +independent: and if Lord Shelburne will not allow this, he immediately +denies the fact which he infers. Besides, to make England the mere +creature of America, is paying too great a compliment to us, and too +little to himself. + +But the declaration is a rhapsody of inconsistency. For to say, as Lord +Shelburne has numberless times said, that the war against America is +ruinous, and yet to continue the prosecution of that ruinous war for +the purpose of avoiding ruin, is a language which cannot be understood. +Neither is it possible to see how the independence of America is to +accomplish the ruin of England after the war is over, and yet not affect +it before. America cannot be more independent of her, nor a greater +enemy to her, hereafter than she now is; nor can England derive less +advantages from her than at present: why then is ruin to follow in the +best state of the case, and not in the worst? And if not in the worst, +why is it to follow at all? + +That a nation is to be ruined by peace and commerce, and fourteen or +fifteen millions a-year less expenses than before, is a new doctrine in +politics. We have heard much clamor of national savings and economy; but +surely the true economy would be, to save the whole charge of a silly, +foolish, and headstrong war; because, compared with this, all other +retrenchments are baubles and trifles. + +But is it possible that Lord Shelburne can be serious in supposing that +the least advantage can be obtained by arms, or that any advantage can +be equal to the expense or the danger of attempting it? Will not +the capture of one army after another satisfy him, must all become +prisoners? Must England ever be the sport of hope, and the victim of +delusion? Sometimes our currency was to fail; another time our army was +to disband; then whole provinces were to revolt. Such a general said +this and that; another wrote so and so; Lord Chatham was of this +opinion; and lord somebody else of another. To-day 20,000 Russians and +20 Russian ships of the line were to come; to-morrow the empress was +abused without mercy or decency. Then the Emperor of Germany was to +be bribed with a million of money, and the King of Prussia was to do +wonderful things. At one time it was, Lo here! and then it was, Lo +there! Sometimes this power, and sometimes that power, was to engage in +the war, just as if the whole world was mad and foolish like Britain. +And thus, from year to year, has every straw been catched at, and every +Will-with-a-wisp led them a new dance. + +This year a still newer folly is to take place. Lord Shelburne wishes to +be sent to Congress, and he thinks that something may be done. + +Are not the repeated declarations of Congress, and which all America +supports, that they will not even hear any proposals whatever, until the +unconditional and unequivocal independence of America is recognised; are +not, I say, these declarations answer enough? + +But for England to receive any thing from America now, after so many +insults, injuries and outrages, acted towards us, would show such +a spirit of meanness in her, that we could not but despise her for +accepting it. And so far from Lord Shelburne's coming here to solicit +it, it would be the greatest disgrace we could do them to offer it. +England would appear a wretch indeed, at this time of day, to ask or owe +any thing to the bounty of America. Has not the name of Englishman blots +enough upon it, without inventing more? Even Lucifer would scorn to +reign in heaven by permission, and yet an Englishman can creep for only +an entrance into America. Or, has a land of liberty so many charms, that +to be a doorkeeper in it is better than to be an English minister of +state? + +But what can this expected something be? Or, if obtained, what can it +amount to, but new disgraces, contentions and quarrels? The people +of America have for years accustomed themselves to think and speak so +freely and contemptuously of English authority, and the inveteracy is +so deeply rooted, that a person invested with any authority from that +country, and attempting to exercise it here, would have the life of a +toad under a harrow. They would look on him as an interloper, to whom +their compassion permitted a residence. He would be no more than the +Mungo of a farce; and if he disliked that, he must set off. It would +be a station of degradation, debased by our pity, and despised by our +pride, and would place England in a more contemptible situation than +any she has yet been in during the war. We have too high an opinion +of ourselves, even to think of yielding again the least obedience to +outlandish authority; and for a thousand reasons, England would be the +last country in the world to yield it to. She has been treacherous, and +we know it. Her character is gone, and we have seen the funeral. + +Surely she loves to fish in troubled waters, and drink the cup of +contention, or she would not now think of mingling her affairs with +those of America. It would be like a foolish dotard taking to his arms +the bride that despises him, or who has placed on his head the ensigns +of her disgust. It is kissing the hand that boxes his ears, and +proposing to renew the exchange. The thought is as servile as the war is +wicked, and shows the last scene of the drama to be as inconsistent as +the first. + +As America is gone, the only act of manhood is to let her go. Your +lordship had no hand in the separation, and you will gain no honor +by temporising politics. Besides, there is something so exceedingly +whimsical, unsteady, and even insincere in the present conduct of +England, that she exhibits herself in the most dishonorable colors. On +the second of August last, General Carleton and Admiral Digby wrote to +General Washington in these words: + +"The resolution of the House of Commons, of the 27th of February last, +has been placed in Your Excellency's hands, and intimations given at +the same time that further pacific measures were likely to follow. Since +which, until the present time, we have had no direct communications +with England; but a mail is now arrived, which brings us very important +information. We are acquainted, sir, by authority, that negotiations for +a general peace have already commenced at Paris, and that Mr. Grenville +is invested with full powers to treat with all the parties at war, and +is now at Paris in execution of his commission. And we are further, sir, +made acquainted, that His Majesty, in order to remove any obstacles to +this peace which he so ardently wishes to restore, has commanded his +ministers to direct Mr. Grenville, that the independence of the Thirteen +United Provinces, should be proposed by him in the first instance, +instead of making it a condition of a general treaty." + +Now, taking your present measures into view, and comparing them with the +declaration in this letter, pray what is the word of your king, or his +ministers, or the Parliament, good for? Must we not look upon you as a +confederated body of faithless, treacherous men, whose assurances are +fraud, and their language deceit? What opinion can we possibly form of +you, but that you are a lost, abandoned, profligate nation, who sport +even with your own character, and are to be held by nothing but the +bayonet or the halter? + +To say, after this, that the sun of Great Britain will be set whenever +she acknowledges the independence of America, when the not doing it is +the unqualified lie of government, can be no other than the language of +ridicule, the jargon of inconsistency. There were thousands in America +who predicted the delusion, and looked upon it as a trick of treachery, +to take us from our guard, and draw off our attention from the only +system of finance, by which we can be called, or deserve to be called, +a sovereign, independent people. The fraud, on your part, might be worth +attempting, but the sacrifice to obtain it is too high. + +There are others who credited the assurance, because they thought it +impossible that men who had their characters to establish, would begin +with a lie. The prosecution of the war by the former ministry was savage +and horrid; since which it has been mean, trickish, and delusive. +The one went greedily into the passion of revenge, the other into the +subtleties of low contrivance; till, between the crimes of both, there +is scarcely left a man in America, be he Whig or Tory, who does not +despise or detest the conduct of Britain. + +The management of Lord Shelburne, whatever may be his views, is a +caution to us, and must be to the world, never to regard British +assurances. A perfidy so notorious cannot be hid. It stands even in the +public papers of New York, with the names of Carleton and Digby affixed +to it. It is a proclamation that the king of England is not to be +believed; that the spirit of lying is the governing principle of the +ministry. It is holding up the character of the House of Commons to +public infamy, and warning all men not to credit them. Such are the +consequences which Lord Shelburne's management has brought upon his +country. + +After the authorized declarations contained in Carleton and Digby's +letter, you ought, from every motive of honor, policy and prudence, +to have fulfilled them, whatever might have been the event. It was +the least atonement that you could possibly make to America, and the +greatest kindness you could do to yourselves; for you will save millions +by a general peace, and you will lose as many by continuing the war. + +COMMON SENSE. + +PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 29, 1782. + +P. S. The manuscript copy of this letter is sent your lordship, by the +way of our head-quarters, to New York, inclosing a late pamphlet of +mine, addressed to the Abbe Raynal, which will serve to give your +lordship some idea of the principles and sentiments of America. + + C. S. + + + + +THE CRISIS. XIII. THOUGHTS ON THE PEACE, AND PROBABLE ADVANTAGES +THEREOF. + +"THE times that tried men's souls,"* are over--and the greatest and +completest revolution the world ever knew, gloriously and happily +accomplished. + + + * "These are the times that try men's souls," The Crisis No. I. +published December, 1776. + +But to pass from the extremes of danger to safety--from the tumult +of war to the tranquillity of peace, though sweet in contemplation, +requires a gradual composure of the senses to receive it. Even calmness +has the power of stunning, when it opens too instantly upon us. The long +and raging hurricane that should cease in a moment, would leave us in a +state rather of wonder than enjoyment; and some moments of recollection +must pass, before we could be capable of tasting the felicity of repose. +There are but few instances, in which the mind is fitted for sudden +transitions: it takes in its pleasures by reflection and comparison +and those must have time to act, before the relish for new scenes is +complete. + +In the present case--the mighty magnitude of the object--the various +uncertainties of fate it has undergone--the numerous and complicated +dangers we have suffered or escaped--the eminence we now stand on, +and the vast prospect before us, must all conspire to impress us with +contemplation. + +To see it in our power to make a world happy--to teach mankind the art +of being so--to exhibit, on the theatre of the universe a character +hitherto unknown--and to have, as it were, a new creation intrusted to +our hands, are honors that command reflection, and can neither be too +highly estimated, nor too gratefully received. + +In this pause then of recollection--while the storm is ceasing, and the +long agitated mind vibrating to a rest, let us look back on the scenes +we have passed, and learn from experience what is yet to be done. + +Never, I say, had a country so many openings to happiness as this. Her +setting out in life, like the rising of a fair morning, was unclouded +and promising. Her cause was good. Her principles just and liberal. Her +temper serene and firm. Her conduct regulated by the nicest steps, and +everything about her wore the mark of honor. It is not every country +(perhaps there is not another in the world) that can boast so fair +an origin. Even the first settlement of America corresponds with the +character of the revolution. Rome, once the proud mistress of the +universe, was originally a band of ruffians. Plunder and rapine made her +rich, and her oppression of millions made her great. But America need +never be ashamed to tell her birth, nor relate the stages by which she +rose to empire. + +The remembrance, then, of what is past, if it operates rightly, must +inspire her with the most laudable of all ambition, that of adding to +the fair fame she began with. The world has seen her great in adversity; +struggling, without a thought of yielding, beneath accumulated +difficulties, bravely, nay proudly, encountering distress, and rising +in resolution as the storm increased. All this is justly due to her, for +her fortitude has merited the character. Let, then, the world see that +she can bear prosperity: and that her honest virtue in time of peace, is +equal to the bravest virtue in time of war. + +She is now descending to the scenes of quiet and domestic life. Not +beneath the cypress shade of disappointment, but to enjoy in her own +land, and under her own vine, the sweet of her labors, and the reward of +her toil.--In this situation, may she never forget that a fair national +reputation is of as much importance as independence. That it possesses +a charm that wins upon the world, and makes even enemies civil. That it +gives a dignity which is often superior to power, and commands reverence +where pomp and splendor fail. + +It would be a circumstance ever to be lamented and never to be +forgotten, were a single blot, from any cause whatever, suffered to fall +on a revolution, which to the end of time must be an honor to the age +that accomplished it: and which has contributed more to enlighten the +world, and diffuse a spirit of freedom and liberality among mankind, +than any human event (if this may be called one) that ever preceded it. + +It is not among the least of the calamities of a long continued war, +that it unhinges the mind from those nice sensations which at other +times appear so amiable. The continual spectacle of woe blunts the +finer feelings, and the necessity of bearing with the sight, renders it +familiar. In like manner, are many of the moral obligations of society +weakened, till the custom of acting by necessity becomes an apology, +where it is truly a crime. Yet let but a nation conceive rightly of +its character, and it will be chastely just in protecting it. None +ever began with a fairer than America and none can be under a greater +obligation to preserve it. + +The debt which America has contracted, compared with the cause she +has gained, and the advantages to flow from it, ought scarcely to be +mentioned. She has it in her choice to do, and to live as happily as +she pleases. The world is in her hands. She has no foreign power +to monopolize her commerce, perplex her legislation, or control her +prosperity. The struggle is over, which must one day have happened, and, +perhaps, never could have happened at a better time.* And instead of a +domineering master, she has gained an ally whose exemplary greatness, +and universal liberality, have extorted a confession even from her +enemies. + + + * That the revolution began at the exact period of time best fitted +to the purpose, is sufficiently proved by the event.--But the great +hinge on which the whole machine turned, is the Union of the States: and +this union was naturally produced by the inability of any one state to +support itself against any foreign enemy without the assistance of the +rest. Had the states severally been less able than they were when +the war began, their united strength would not have been equal to the +undertaking, and they must in all human probability have failed.--And, +on the other hand, had they severally been more able, they might not +have seen, or, what is more, might not have felt, the necessity +of uniting: and, either by attempting to stand alone or in small +confederacies, would have been separately conquered. Now, as we cannot +see a time (and many years must pass away before it can arrive) when the +strength of any one state, or several united, can be equal to the whole +of the present United States, and as we have seen the extreme difficulty +of collectively prosecuting the war to a successful issue, and +preserving our national importance in the world, therefore, from the +experience we have had, and the knowledge we have gained, we must, +unless we make a waste of wisdom, be strongly impressed with the +advantage, as well as the necessity of strengthening that happy union +which had been our salvation, and without which we should have been +a ruined people. While I was writing this note, I cast my eye on the +pamphlet, Common Sense, from which I shall make an extract, as it +exactly applies to the case. It is as follows: "I have never met with +a man, either in England or America, who has not confessed it as his +opinion that a separation between the countries would take place one +time or other; and there is no instance in which we have shown less +judgment, than in endeavoring to describe what we call the ripeness +or fitness of the continent for independence. As all men allow the +measure, and differ only in their opinion of the time, let us, in order +to remove mistakes, take a general survey of things, and endeavor, if +possible, to find out the very time. But we need not to go far, +the inquiry ceases at once, for, the time has found us. The general +concurrence, the glorious union of all things prove the fact. It is not +in numbers, but in a union, that our great strength lies. The continent +is just arrived at that pitch of strength, in which no single colony is +able to support itself, and the whole, when united, can accomplish +the matter; and either more or less than this, might be fatal in its +effects." + +With the blessings of peace, independence, and an universal commerce, +the states, individually and collectively, will have leisure and +opportunity to regulate and establish their domestic concerns, and to +put it beyond the power of calumny to throw the least reflection on +their honor. Character is much easier kept than recovered, and that man, +if any such there be, who, from sinister views, or littleness of soul, +lends unseen his hand to injure it, contrives a wound it will never be +in his power to heal. + +As we have established an inheritance for posterity, let that +inheritance descend, with every mark of an honorable conveyance. +The little it will cost, compared with the worth of the states, the +greatness of the object, and the value of the national character, will +be a profitable exchange. + +But that which must more forcibly strike a thoughtful, penetrating mind, +and which includes and renders easy all inferior concerns, is the UNION +OF THE STATES. On this our great national character depends. It is this +which must give us importance abroad and security at home. It is through +this only that we are, or can be, nationally known in the world; it is +the flag of the United States which renders our ships and commerce safe +on the seas, or in a foreign port. Our Mediterranean passes must be +obtained under the same style. All our treaties, whether of alliance, +peace, or commerce, are formed under the sovereignty of the United +States, and Europe knows us by no other name or title. + +The division of the empire into states is for our own convenience, but +abroad this distinction ceases. The affairs of each state are local. +They can go no further than to itself. And were the whole worth of even +the richest of them expended in revenue, it would not be sufficient to +support sovereignty against a foreign attack. In short, we have no other +national sovereignty than as United States. It would even be fatal +for us if we had--too expensive to be maintained, and impossible to be +supported. Individuals, or individual states, may call themselves what +they please; but the world, and especially the world of enemies, is +not to be held in awe by the whistling of a name. Sovereignty must have +power to protect all the parts that compose and constitute it: and as +UNITED STATES we are equal to the importance of the title, but otherwise +we are not. Our union, well and wisely regulated and cemented, is the +cheapest way of being great--the easiest way of being powerful, and the +happiest invention in government which the circumstances of America can +admit of.--Because it collects from each state, that which, by being +inadequate, can be of no use to it, and forms an aggregate that serves +for all. + +The states of Holland are an unfortunate instance of the effects of +individual sovereignty. Their disjointed condition exposes them to +numerous intrigues, losses, calamities, and enemies; and the almost +impossibility of bringing their measures to a decision, and that +decision into execution, is to them, and would be to us, a source of +endless misfortune. + +It is with confederated states as with individuals in society; something +must be yielded up to make the whole secure. In this view of things +we gain by what we give, and draw an annual interest greater than the +capital.--I ever feel myself hurt when I hear the union, that great +palladium of our liberty and safety, the least irreverently spoken of. +It is the most sacred thing in the constitution of America, and that +which every man should be most proud and tender of. Our citizenship +in the United States is our national character. Our citizenship in any +particular state is only our local distinction. By the latter we +are known at home, by the former to the world. Our great title is +AMERICANS--our inferior one varies with the place. + +So far as my endeavors could go, they have all been directed to +conciliate the affections, unite the interests, and draw and keep +the mind of the country together; and the better to assist in this +foundation work of the revolution, I have avoided all places of profit +or office, either in the state I live in, or in the United States; kept +myself at a distance from all parties and party connections, and even +disregarded all private and inferior concerns: and when we take into +view the great work which we have gone through, and feel, as we ought +to feel, the just importance of it, we shall then see, that the +little wranglings and indecent contentions of personal parley, are as +dishonorable to our characters, as they are injurious to our repose. + +It was the cause of America that made me an author. The force with which +it struck my mind and the dangerous condition the country appeared to me +in, by courting an impossible and an unnatural reconciliation with those +who were determined to reduce her, instead of striking out into the only +line that could cement and save her, A DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, made +it impossible for me, feeling as I did, to be silent: and if, in the +course of more than seven years, I have rendered her any service, I have +likewise added something to the reputation of literature, by freely and +disinterestedly employing it in the great cause of mankind, and showing +that there may be genius without prostitution. + +Independence always appeared to me practicable and probable, provided +the sentiment of the country could be formed and held to the object: +and there is no instance in the world, where a people so extended, +and wedded to former habits of thinking, and under such a variety of +circumstances, were so instantly and effectually pervaded, by a turn +in politics, as in the case of independence; and who supported their +opinion, undiminished, through such a succession of good and ill +fortune, till they crowned it with success. + +But as the scenes of war are closed, and every man preparing for home +and happier times, I therefore take my leave of the subject. I have most +sincerely followed it from beginning to end, and through all its turns +and windings: and whatever country I may hereafter be in, I shall always +feel an honest pride at the part I have taken and acted, and a gratitude +to nature and providence for putting it in my power to be of some use to +mankind. + + COMMON SENSE. + +PHILADELPHIA, April 19, 1783. + + + + +A SUPERNUMERARY CRISIS: TO THE PEOPLE OF AMERICA. + +IN "_Rivington's New York Gazette_," of December 6th, is a publication, +under the appearance of a letter from London, dated September 30th; and +is on a subject which demands the attention of the United States. + +The public will remember that a treaty of commerce between the United +States and England was set on foot last spring, and that until the +said treaty could be completed, a bill was brought into the British +Parliament by the then chancellor of the exchequer, Mr. Pitt, to admit +and legalize (as the case then required) the commerce of the United +States into the British ports and dominions. But neither the one nor the +other has been completed. The commercial treaty is either broken off, or +remains as it began; and the bill in Parliament has been thrown aside. +And in lieu thereof, a selfish system of English politics has started +up, calculated to fetter the commerce of America, by engrossing to +England the carrying trade of the American produce to the West India +islands. + +Among the advocates for this last measure is Lord Sheffield, a member +of the British Parliament, who has published a pamphlet entitled +"Observations on the Commerce of the American States." The pamphlet +has two objects; the one is to allure the Americans to purchase British +manufactures; and the other to spirit up the British Parliament to +prohibit the citizens of the United States from trading to the West +India islands. + +Viewed in this light, the pamphlet, though in some parts dexterously +written, is an absurdity. It offends, in the very act of endeavoring +to ingratiate; and his lordship, as a politician, ought not to have +suffered the two objects to have appeared together. The latter alluded +to, contains extracts from the pamphlet, with high encomiums on Lord +Sheffield, for laboriously endeavoring (as the letter styles it) "to +show the mighty advantages of retaining the carrying trade." + +Since the publication of this pamphlet in England, the commerce of +the United States to the West Indies, in American vessels, has been +prohibited; and all intercourse, except in British bottoms, the property +of and navigated by British subjects, cut off. + +That a country has a right to be as foolish as it pleases, has been +proved by the practice of England for many years past: in her island +situation, sequestered from the world, she forgets that her whispers are +heard by other nations; and in her plans of politics and commerce she +seems not to know, that other votes are necessary besides her own. +America would be equally as foolish as Britain, were she to suffer so +great a degradation on her flag, and such a stroke on the freedom of her +commerce, to pass without a balance. + +We admit the right of any nation to prohibit the commerce of another +into its own dominions, where there are no treaties to the contrary; but +as this right belongs to one side as well as the other, there is always +a way left to bring avarice and insolence to reason. + +But the ground of security which Lord Sheffield has chosen to erect his +policy upon, is of a nature which ought, and I think must, awaken +in every American a just and strong sense of national dignity. Lord +Sheffield appears to be sensible, that in advising the British nation +and Parliament to engross to themselves so great a part of the carrying +trade of America, he is attempting a measure which cannot succeed, if +the politics of the United States be properly directed to counteract the +assumption. + +But, says he, in his pamphlet, "It will be a long time before the +American states can be brought to act as a nation, neither are they to +be feared as such by us." + +What is this more or less than to tell us, that while we have no +national system of commerce, the British will govern our trade by their +own laws and proclamations as they please. The quotation discloses +a truth too serious to be overlooked, and too mischievous not to be +remedied. + +Among other circumstances which led them to this discovery none could +operate so effectually as the injudicious, uncandid and indecent +opposition made by sundry persons in a certain state, to the +recommendations of Congress last winter, for an import duty of five per +cent. It could not but explain to the British a weakness in the national +power of America, and encourage them to attempt restrictions on her +trade, which otherwise they would not have dared to hazard. Neither is +there any state in the union, whose policy was more misdirected to its +interest than the state I allude to, because her principal support is +the carrying trade, which Britain, induced by the want of a well-centred +power in the United States to protect and secure, is now attempting to +take away. It fortunately happened (and to no state in the union more +than the state in question) that the terms of peace were agreed on +before the opposition appeared, otherwise, there cannot be a doubt, that +if the same idea of the diminished authority of America had occurred +to them at that time as has occurred to them since, but they would have +made the same grasp at the fisheries, as they have done at the carrying +trade. + +It is surprising that an authority which can be supported with so much +ease, and so little expense, and capable of such extensive advantages +to the country, should be cavilled at by those whose duty it is to watch +over it, and whose existence as a people depends upon it. But this, +perhaps, will ever be the case, till some misfortune awakens us into +reason, and the instance now before us is but a gentle beginning of what +America must expect, unless she guards her union with nicer care and +stricter honor. United, she is formidable, and that with the least +possible charge a nation can be so; separated, she is a medley of +individual nothings, subject to the sport of foreign nations. + +It is very probable that the ingenuity of commerce may have found out +a method to evade and supersede the intentions of the British, in +interdicting the trade with the West India islands. The language of both +being the same, and their customs well understood, the vessels of one +country may, by deception, pass for those of another. But this would +be a practice too debasing for a sovereign people to stoop to, and too +profligate not to be discountenanced. An illicit trade, under any shape +it can be placed, cannot be carried on without a violation of truth. +America is now sovereign and independent, and ought to conduct her +affairs in a regular style of character. She has the same right to +say that no British vessel shall enter ports, or that no British +manufactures shall be imported, but in American bottoms, the property +of, and navigated by American subjects, as Britain has to say the same +thing respecting the West Indies. Or she may lay a duty of ten, fifteen, +or twenty shillings per ton (exclusive of other duties) on every +British vessel coming from any port of the West Indies, where she is not +admitted to trade, the said tonnage to continue as long on her side as +the prohibition continues on the other. + +But it is only by acting in union, that the usurpations of foreign +nations on the freedom of trade can be counteracted, and security +extended to the commerce of America. And when we view a flag, which to +the eye is beautiful, and to contemplate its rise and origin inspires +a sensation of sublime delight, our national honor must unite with our +interest to prevent injury to the one, or insult to the other. + + COMMON SENSE. + +NEW YORK, December 9, 1783. + + + + + + + +THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE, VOLUME II. + +By Thomas Paine + +Collected And Edited By + +Moncure Daniel Conway + + +1779 - 1792 + + + +[Redactor's Note: Reprinted from the "The Writings of Thomas Paine +Volume I" (1894 - 1896). The author's notes are preceded by a "*". A +Table of Contents has been added for each part for the convenience of +the reader which is not included in the printed edition. Notes are at +the end of Part II. ] + + + + + TABLE OF CONTENTS + + XIII The Rights of Man + + PART THE FIRST + BEING AN ANSWER TO MR. BURKE'S ATTACK ON THE FRENCH REVOLUTION + + * Editor's Introduction + * Dedication to George Washington + * Preface to the English Edition + * Preface to the French Edition + * Rights of Man + * Miscellaneous Chapter + * Conclusion + + XIV The Rights of Man + + PART THE SECOND + COMBINING PRINCIPLE AND PRACTICE + + * French Translator's Preface + * Dedication to M. de la Fayette + * Preface + * Introduction + * Chapter I Of Society and Civilisation + * Chapter II Of the Origin of the Present Old Governments + * Chapter III Of the Old and New Systems of Government + * Chapter IV Of Constitutions + * Chapter V Ways and Means of Improving the Condition of Europe, + Interspersed with Miscellaneous Observations + + * Appendix + * Notes + + + + +XIII. RIGHTS OF MAN. + + + + +EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION. + + +WHEN Thomas Paine sailed from America for France, in April, 1787, he was +perhaps as happy a man as any in the world. His most intimate friend, +Jefferson, was Minister at Paris, and his friend Lafayette was the idol +of France. His fame had preceded him, and he at once became, in Paris, +the centre of the same circle of savants and philosophers that had +surrounded Franklin. His main reason for proceeding at once to Paris was +that he might submit to the Academy of Sciences his invention of an iron +bridge, and with its favorable verdict he came to England, in September. +He at once went to his aged mother at Thetford, leaving with a publisher +(Ridgway), his "Prospects on the Rubicon." He next made arrangements to +patent his bridge, and to construct at Rotherham the large model of it +exhibited on Paddington Green, London. He was welcomed in England by +leading statesmen, such as Lansdowne and Fox, and above all by Edmund +Burke, who for some time had him as a guest at Beaconsfield, and drove +him about in various parts of the country. He had not the slightest +revolutionary purpose, either as regarded England or France. Towards +Louis XVI. he felt only gratitude for the services he had rendered +America, and towards George III. he felt no animosity whatever. His four +months' sojourn in Paris had convinced him that there was approaching a +reform of that country after the American model, except that the Crown +would be preserved, a compromise he approved, provided the throne should +not be hereditary. Events in France travelled more swiftly than he had +anticipated, and Paine was summoned by Lafayette, Condorcet, and others, +as an adviser in the formation of a new constitution. + +Such was the situation immediately preceding the political and literary +duel between Paine and Burke, which in the event turned out a tremendous +war between Royalism and Republicanism in Europe. Paine was, both in +France and in England, the inspirer of moderate counsels. Samuel Rogers +relates that in early life he dined at a friend's house in London +with Thomas Paine, when one of the toasts given was the "memory of +Joshua,"--in allusion to the Hebrew leader's conquest of the kings of +Canaan, and execution of them. Paine observed that he would not treat +kings like Joshua. "I 'm of the Scotch parson's opinion," he said, +"when he prayed against Louis XIV.--`Lord, shake him over the mouth of +hell, but don't let him drop!'" Paine then gave as his toast, "The +Republic of the World,"--which Samuel Rogers, aged twenty-nine, noted +as a sublime idea. This was Paine's faith and hope, and with it he +confronted the revolutionary storms which presently burst over France +and England. + +Until Burke's arraignment of France in his parliamentary speech +(February 9, 1790), Paine had no doubt whatever that he would sympathize +with the movement in France, and wrote to him from that country as +if conveying glad tidings. Burke's "Reflections on the Revolution in +France" appeared November 1, 1790, and Paine at once set himself to +answer it. He was then staying at the Angel Inn, Islington. The inn +has been twice rebuilt since that time, and from its contents there is +preserved only a small image, which perhaps was meant to represent +"Liberty,"--possibly brought from Paris by Paine as an ornament for his +study. From the Angel he removed to a house in Harding Street, Fetter +Lane. Rickman says Part First of "Rights of Man" was finished at +Versailles, but probably this has reference to the preface only, as I +cannot find Paine in France that year until April 8. The book had been +printed by Johnson, in time for the opening of Parliament, in February; +but this publisher became frightened after a few copies were out (there +is one in the British Museum), and the work was transferred to J. S. +Jordan, 166 Fleet Street, with a preface sent from Paris (not contained +in Johnson's edition, nor in the American editions). The pamphlet, +though sold at the same price as Burke's, three shillings, had a vast +circulation, and Paine gave the proceeds to the Constitutional Societies +which sprang up under his teachings in various parts of the country. + +Soon after appeared Burke's "Appeal from the New to the Old Whigs." In +this Burke quoted a good deal from "Rights of Man," but replied to it +only with exclamation points, saying that the only answer such ideas +merited was "criminal justice." Paine's Part Second followed, published +February 17, 1792. In Part First Paine had mentioned a rumor that Burke +was a masked pensioner (a charge that will be noticed in connection with +its detailed statement in a further publication); and as Burke had +been formerly arraigned in Parliament, while Paymaster, for a very +questionable proceeding, this charge no doubt hurt a good deal. Although +the government did not follow Burke's suggestion of a prosecution +at that time, there is little doubt that it was he who induced the +prosecution of Part Second. Before the trial came on, December 18, 1792, +Paine was occupying his seat in the French Convention, and could only be +outlawed. + +Burke humorously remarked to a friend of Paine and himself, "We hunt +in pairs." The severally representative character and influence of these +two men in the revolutionary era, in France and England, deserve more +adequate study than they have received. While Paine maintained freedom +of discussion, Burke first proposed criminal prosecution for sentiments +by no means libellous (such as Paine's Part First). While Paine was +endeavoring to make the movement in France peaceful, Burke fomented the +league of monarchs against France which maddened its people, and brought +on the Reign of Terror. While Paine was endeavoring to preserve the +French throne ("phantom" though he believed it), to prevent bloodshed, +Burke was secretly writing to the Queen of France, entreating her not +to compromise, and to "trust to the support of foreign armies" +("Histoire de France depuis 1789." Henri Martin, i., 151). While Burke +thus helped to bring the King and Queen to the guillotine, Paine pleaded +for their lives to the last moment. While Paine maintained the right of +mankind to improve their condition, Burke held that "the awful Author +of our being is the author of our place in the order of existence; +and that, having disposed and marshalled us by a divine tactick, not +according to our will, but according to his, he has, in and by that +disposition, virtually subjected us to act the part which belongs to +the place assigned us." Paine was a religious believer in eternal +principles; Burke held that "political problems do not primarily +concern truth or falsehood. They relate to good or evil. What in the +result is likely to produce evil is politically false, that which is +productive of good politically is true." Assuming thus the visionary's +right to decide before the result what was "likely to produce evil," +Burke vigorously sought to kindle war against the French Republic which +might have developed itself peacefully, while Paine was striving for +an international Congress in Europe in the interest of peace. Paine +had faith in the people, and believed that, if allowed to choose +representatives, they would select their best and wisest men; and that +while reforming government the people would remain orderly, as they had +generally remained in America during the transition from British rule +to selfgovernment. Burke maintained that if the existing political order +were broken up there would be no longer a people, but "a number of +vague, loose individuals, and nothing more." "Alas!" he exclaims, +"they little know how many a weary step is to be taken before they can +form themselves into a mass, which has a true personality." For the sake +of peace Paine wished the revolution to be peaceful as the advance of +summer; he used every endeavor to reconcile English radicals to some +modus vivendi with the existing order, as he was willing to retain Louis +XVI. as head of the executive in France: Burke resisted every tendency +of English statesmanship to reform at home, or to negotiate with the +French Republic, and was mainly responsible for the King's death and the +war that followed between England and France in February, 1793. Burke +became a royal favorite, Paine was outlawed by a prosecution originally +proposed by Burke. While Paine was demanding religious liberty, Burke +was opposing the removal of penal statutes from Unitarians, on the +ground that but for those statutes Paine might some day set up a church +in England. When Burke was retiring on a large royal pension, Paine +was in prison, through the devices of Burke's confederate, the American +Minister in Paris. So the two men, as Burke said, "hunted in pairs." + +So far as Burke attempts to affirm any principle he is fairly quoted in +Paine's work, and nowhere misrepresented. As for Paine's own ideas, the +reader should remember that "Rights of Man" was the earliest complete +statement of republican principles. They were pronounced to be the +fundamental principles of the American Republic by Jefferson, Madison, +and Jackson,-the three Presidents who above all others represented the +republican idea which Paine first allied with American Independence. +Those who suppose that Paine did but reproduce the principles of +Rousseau and Locke will find by careful study of his well-weighed +language that such is not the case. Paine's political principles were +evolved out of his early Quakerism. He was potential in George Fox. The +belief that every human soul was the child of God, and capable of +direct inspiration from the Father of all, without mediator or priestly +intervention, or sacramental instrumentality, was fatal to all privilege +and rank. The universal Fatherhood implied universal Brotherhood, or +human equality. But the fate of the Quakers proved the necessity of +protecting the individual spirit from oppression by the majority as well +as by privileged classes. For this purpose Paine insisted on surrounding +the individual right with the security of the Declaration of Rights, +not to be invaded by any government; and would reduce government to an +association limited in its operations to the defence of those rights +which the individual is unable, alone, to maintain. + +From the preceding chapter it will be seen that Part Second of "Rights +of Man" was begun by Paine in the spring of 1791. At the close of that +year, or early in 1792, he took up his abode with his friend Thomas +"Clio" Rickman, at No. 7 Upper Marylebone Street. Rickman was a radical +publisher; the house remains still a book-binding establishment, and +seems little changed since Paine therein revised the proofs of Part +Second on a table which Rickman marked with a plate, and which is now in +possession of Mr. Edward Truelove. As the plate states, Paine wrote on +the same table other works which appeared in England in 1792. + +In 1795 D. I. Eaton published an edition of "Rights of Man," with a +preface purporting to have been written by Paine while in Luxembourg +prison. It is manifestly spurious. The genuine English and French +prefaces are given. + + + + +RIGHTS OF MAN + +Being An Answer To Mr. Burke's Attack On The French Revoloution + +By Thomas Paine + +Secretary For Foreign Affairs To Congress In The American War, And +Author Of The Works Entitled "Common Sense" And "A Letter To Abbe +Raynal" + + + + DEDICATION + + George Washington + + President Of The United States Of America + + Sir, + + I present you a small treatise in defence of those principles of + freedom which your exemplary virtue hath so eminently contributed to + establish. That the Rights of Man may become as universal as your + benevolence can wish, and that you may enjoy the happiness of seeing + the New World regenerate the Old, is the prayer of + + Sir, + + Your much obliged, and + + Obedient humble Servant, + + Thomas Paine + + + + +PAINE'S PREFACE TO THE ENGLISH EDITION + +From the part Mr. Burke took in the American Revolution, it was natural +that I should consider him a friend to mankind; and as our acquaintance +commenced on that ground, it would have been more agreeable to me to +have had cause to continue in that opinion than to change it. + +At the time Mr. Burke made his violent speech last winter in the English +Parliament against the French Revolution and the National Assembly, I +was in Paris, and had written to him but a short time before to inform +him how prosperously matters were going on. Soon after this I saw his +advertisement of the Pamphlet he intended to publish: As the attack +was to be made in a language but little studied, and less understood in +France, and as everything suffers by translation, I promised some of +the friends of the Revolution in that country that whenever Mr. Burke's +Pamphlet came forth, I would answer it. This appeared to me the more +necessary to be done, when I saw the flagrant misrepresentations which +Mr. Burke's Pamphlet contains; and that while it is an outrageous +abuse on the French Revolution, and the principles of Liberty, it is an +imposition on the rest of the world. + +I am the more astonished and disappointed at this conduct in Mr. Burke, +as (from the circumstances I am going to mention) I had formed other +expectations. + +I had seen enough of the miseries of war, to wish it might never more +have existence in the world, and that some other mode might be found +out to settle the differences that should occasionally arise in the +neighbourhood of nations. This certainly might be done if Courts were +disposed to set honesty about it, or if countries were enlightened +enough not to be made the dupes of Courts. The people of America had +been bred up in the same prejudices against France, which at that time +characterised the people of England; but experience and an acquaintance +with the French Nation have most effectually shown to the Americans the +falsehood of those prejudices; and I do not believe that a more cordial +and confidential intercourse exists between any two countries than +between America and France. + +When I came to France, in the spring of 1787, the Archbishop of +Thoulouse was then Minister, and at that time highly esteemed. I became +much acquainted with the private Secretary of that Minister, a man of +an enlarged benevolent heart; and found that his sentiments and my own +perfectly agreed with respect to the madness of war, and the wretched +impolicy of two nations, like England and France, continually worrying +each other, to no other end than that of a mutual increase of burdens +and taxes. That I might be assured I had not misunderstood him, nor he +me, I put the substance of our opinions into writing and sent it to him; +subjoining a request, that if I should see among the people of England, +any disposition to cultivate a better understanding between the two +nations than had hitherto prevailed, how far I might be authorised +to say that the same disposition prevailed on the part of France? He +answered me by letter in the most unreserved manner, and that not for +himself only, but for the Minister, with whose knowledge the letter was +declared to be written. + +I put this letter into the, hands of Mr. Burke almost three years ago, +and left it with him, where it still remains; hoping, and at the same +time naturally expecting, from the opinion I had conceived of him, that +he would find some opportunity of making good use of it, for the purpose +of removing those errors and prejudices which two neighbouring nations, +from the want of knowing each other, had entertained, to the injury of +both. + +When the French Revolution broke out, it certainly afforded to Mr. Burke +an opportunity of doing some good, had he been disposed to it; instead +of which, no sooner did he see the old prejudices wearing away, than he +immediately began sowing the seeds of a new inveteracy, as if he were +afraid that England and France would cease to be enemies. That there are +men in all countries who get their living by war, and by keeping up the +quarrels of Nations, is as shocking as it is true; but when those who +are concerned in the government of a country, make it their study to sow +discord and cultivate prejudices between Nations, it becomes the more +unpardonable. + +With respect to a paragraph in this work alluding to Mr. Burke's having +a pension, the report has been some time in circulation, at least two +months; and as a person is often the last to hear what concerns him +the most to know, I have mentioned it, that Mr. Burke may have an +opportunity of contradicting the rumour, if he thinks proper. + + Thomas Paine + + + + +PAINE'S PREFACE TO THE FRENCH EDITION + +The astonishment which the French Revolution has caused throughout +Europe should be considered from two different points of view: first as +it affects foreign peoples, secondly as it affects their governments. + +The cause of the French people is that of all Europe, or rather of the +whole world; but the governments of all those countries are by no means +favorable to it. It is important that we should never lose sight of this +distinction. We must not confuse the peoples with their governments; +especially not the English people with its government. + +The government of England is no friend of the revolution of France. +Of this we have sufficient proofs in the thanks given by that weak and +witless person, the Elector of Hanover, sometimes called the King of +England, to Mr. Burke for the insults heaped on it in his book, and in +the malevolent comments of the English Minister, Pitt, in his speeches +in Parliament. + +In spite of the professions of sincerest friendship found in the +official correspondence of the English government with that of France, +its conduct gives the lie to all its declarations, and shows us clearly +that it is not a court to be trusted, but an insane court, plunging in +all the quarrels and intrigues of Europe, in quest of a war to satisfy +its folly and countenance its extravagance. + +The English nation, on the contrary, is very favorably disposed towards +the French Revolution, and to the progress of liberty in the whole +world; and this feeling will become more general in England as the +intrigues and artifices of its government are better known, and the +principles of the revolution better understood. The French should know +that most English newspapers are directly in the pay of government, or, +if indirectly connected with it, always under its orders; and that those +papers constantly distort and attack the revolution in France in order +to deceive the nation. But, as it is impossible long to prevent the +prevalence of truth, the daily falsehoods of those papers no longer have +the desired effect. + +To be convinced that the voice of truth has been stifled in England, the +world needs only to be told that the government regards and prosecutes +as a libel that which it should protect.*[1] This outrage on morality is +called law, and judges are found wicked enough to inflict penalties on +truth. + +The English government presents, just now, a curious phenomenon. Seeing +that the French and English nations are getting rid of the prejudices +and false notions formerly entertained against each other, and which +have cost them so much money, that government seems to be placarding its +need of a foe; for unless it finds one somewhere, no pretext exists for +the enormous revenue and taxation now deemed necessary. + +Therefore it seeks in Russia the enemy it has lost in France, and +appears to say to the universe, or to say to itself. "If nobody will be +so kind as to become my foe, I shall need no more fleets nor armies, +and shall be forced to reduce my taxes. The American war enabled me to +double the taxes; the Dutch business to add more; the Nootka humbug gave +me a pretext for raising three millions sterling more; but unless I can +make an enemy of Russia the harvest from wars will end. I was the first +to incite Turk against Russian, and now I hope to reap a fresh crop of +taxes." + +If the miseries of war, and the flood of evils it spreads over a +country, did not check all inclination to mirth, and turn laughter +into grief, the frantic conduct of the government of England would only +excite ridicule. But it is impossible to banish from one's mind the +images of suffering which the contemplation of such vicious policy +presents. To reason with governments, as they have existed for ages, +is to argue with brutes. It is only from the nations themselves that +reforms can be expected. There ought not now to exist any doubt that the +peoples of France, England, and America, enlightened and enlightening +each other, shall henceforth be able, not merely to give the world an +example of good government, but by their united influence enforce its +practice. + +(Translated from the French) + + + + +RIGHTS OF MAN. PART THE FIRST BEING AN ANSWER TO MR. BURKE'S ATTACK ON +THE FRENCH REVOLUTION + + +Among the incivilities by which nations or individuals provoke and +irritate each other, Mr. Burke's pamphlet on the French Revolution is an +extraordinary instance. Neither the People of France, nor the National +Assembly, were troubling themselves about the affairs of England, or +the English Parliament; and that Mr. Burke should commence an unprovoked +attack upon them, both in Parliament and in public, is a conduct that +cannot be pardoned on the score of manners, nor justified on that of +policy. + +There is scarcely an epithet of abuse to be found in the English +language, with which Mr. Burke has not loaded the French Nation and the +National Assembly. Everything which rancour, prejudice, ignorance or +knowledge could suggest, is poured forth in the copious fury of near +four hundred pages. In the strain and on the plan Mr. Burke was writing, +he might have written on to as many thousands. When the tongue or the +pen is let loose in a frenzy of passion, it is the man, and not the +subject, that becomes exhausted. + +Hitherto Mr. Burke has been mistaken and disappointed in the opinions +he had formed of the affairs of France; but such is the ingenuity of his +hope, or the malignancy of his despair, that it furnishes him with new +pretences to go on. There was a time when it was impossible to make Mr. +Burke believe there would be any Revolution in France. His opinion then +was, that the French had neither spirit to undertake it nor fortitude to +support it; and now that there is one, he seeks an escape by condemning +it. + +Not sufficiently content with abusing the National Assembly, a great +part of his work is taken up with abusing Dr. Price (one of the +best-hearted men that lives) and the two societies in England known by +the name of the Revolution Society and the Society for Constitutional +Information. + +Dr. Price had preached a sermon on the 4th of November, 1789, being +the anniversary of what is called in England the Revolution, which took +place 1688. Mr. Burke, speaking of this sermon, says: "The political +Divine proceeds dogmatically to assert, that by the principles of +the Revolution, the people of England have acquired three fundamental +rights: + +1. To choose our own governors. + +2. To cashier them for misconduct. + +3. To frame a government for ourselves." + +Dr. Price does not say that the right to do these things exists in this +or in that person, or in this or in that description of persons, but +that it exists in the whole; that it is a right resident in the nation. +Mr. Burke, on the contrary, denies that such a right exists in the +nation, either in whole or in part, or that it exists anywhere; and, +what is still more strange and marvellous, he says: "that the people +of England utterly disclaim such a right, and that they will resist +the practical assertion of it with their lives and fortunes." That men +should take up arms and spend their lives and fortunes, not to maintain +their rights, but to maintain they have not rights, is an entirely new +species of discovery, and suited to the paradoxical genius of Mr. Burke. + +The method which Mr. Burke takes to prove that the people of England +have no such rights, and that such rights do not now exist in the +nation, either in whole or in part, or anywhere at all, is of the same +marvellous and monstrous kind with what he has already said; for his +arguments are that the persons, or the generation of persons, in whom +they did exist, are dead, and with them the right is dead also. To prove +this, he quotes a declaration made by Parliament about a hundred years +ago, to William and Mary, in these words: "The Lords Spiritual and +Temporal, and Commons, do, in the name of the people aforesaid" (meaning +the people of England then living) "most humbly and faithfully submit +themselves, their heirs and posterities, for Ever." He quotes a clause +of another Act of Parliament made in the same reign, the terms of which +he says, "bind us" (meaning the people of their day), "our heirs and our +posterity, to them, their heirs and posterity, to the end of time." + +Mr. Burke conceives his point sufficiently established by producing +those clauses, which he enforces by saying that they exclude the +right of the nation for ever. And not yet content with making such +declarations, repeated over and over again, he farther says, "that if +the people of England possessed such a right before the Revolution" +(which he acknowledges to have been the case, not only in England, but +throughout Europe, at an early period), "yet that the English Nation +did, at the time of the Revolution, most solemnly renounce and abdicate +it, for themselves, and for all their posterity, for ever." + +As Mr. Burke occasionally applies the poison drawn from his horrid +principles, not only to the English nation, but to the French Revolution +and the National Assembly, and charges that august, illuminated and +illuminating body of men with the epithet of usurpers, I shall, sans +ceremonie, place another system of principles in opposition to his. + +The English Parliament of 1688 did a certain thing, which, for +themselves and their constituents, they had a right to do, and which +it appeared right should be done. But, in addition to this right, which +they possessed by delegation, they set up another right by assumption, +that of binding and controlling posterity to the end of time. The case, +therefore, divides itself into two parts; the right which they possessed +by delegation, and the right which they set up by assumption. The first +is admitted; but with respect to the second, I reply: There never +did, there never will, and there never can, exist a Parliament, or any +description of men, or any generation of men, in any country, possessed +of the right or the power of binding and controlling posterity to +the "end of time," or of commanding for ever how the world shall be +governed, or who shall govern it; and therefore all such clauses, acts +or declarations by which the makers of them attempt to do what they have +neither the right nor the power to do, nor the power to execute, are in +themselves null and void. Every age and generation must be as free to +act for itself in all cases as the age and generations which preceded +it. The vanity and presumption of governing beyond the grave is the most +ridiculous and insolent of all tyrannies. Man has no property in man; +neither has any generation a property in the generations which are to +follow. The Parliament or the people of 1688, or of any other period, +had no more right to dispose of the people of the present day, or to +bind or to control them in any shape whatever, than the parliament or +the people of the present day have to dispose of, bind or control those +who are to live a hundred or a thousand years hence. Every generation +is, and must be, competent to all the purposes which its occasions +require. It is the living, and not the dead, that are to be +accommodated. When man ceases to be, his power and his wants cease with +him; and having no longer any participation in the concerns of this +world, he has no longer any authority in directing who shall be +its governors, or how its government shall be organised, or how +administered. + +I am not contending for nor against any form of government, nor for nor +against any party, here or elsewhere. That which a whole nation chooses +to do it has a right to do. Mr. Burke says, No. Where, then, does the +right exist? I am contending for the rights of the living, and against +their being willed away and controlled and contracted for by the +manuscript assumed authority of the dead, and Mr. Burke is contending +for the authority of the dead over the rights and freedom of the living. +There was a time when kings disposed of their crowns by will upon their +death-beds, and consigned the people, like beasts of the field, to +whatever successor they appointed. This is now so exploded as scarcely +to be remembered, and so monstrous as hardly to be believed. But the +Parliamentary clauses upon which Mr. Burke builds his political church +are of the same nature. + +The laws of every country must be analogous to some common principle. +In England no parent or master, nor all the authority of Parliament, +omnipotent as it has called itself, can bind or control the personal +freedom even of an individual beyond the age of twenty-one years. On +what ground of right, then, could the Parliament of 1688, or any other +Parliament, bind all posterity for ever? + +Those who have quitted the world, and those who have not yet arrived +at it, are as remote from each other as the utmost stretch of mortal +imagination can conceive. What possible obligation, then, can exist +between them--what rule or principle can be laid down that of two +nonentities, the one out of existence and the other not in, and who +never can meet in this world, the one should control the other to the +end of time? + +In England it is said that money cannot be taken out of the pockets +of the people without their consent. But who authorised, or who could +authorise, the Parliament of 1688 to control and take away the freedom +of posterity (who were not in existence to give or to withhold their +consent) and limit and confine their right of acting in certain cases +for ever? + +A greater absurdity cannot present itself to the understanding of man +than what Mr. Burke offers to his readers. He tells them, and he tells +the world to come, that a certain body of men who existed a hundred +years ago made a law, and that there does not exist in the nation, nor +ever will, nor ever can, a power to alter it. Under how many subtilties +or absurdities has the divine right to govern been imposed on the +credulity of mankind? Mr. Burke has discovered a new one, and he +has shortened his journey to Rome by appealing to the power of this +infallible Parliament of former days, and he produces what it has done +as of divine authority, for that power must certainly be more than human +which no human power to the end of time can alter. + +But Mr. Burke has done some service--not to his cause, but to his +country--by bringing those clauses into public view. They serve to +demonstrate how necessary it is at all times to watch against the +attempted encroachment of power, and to prevent its running to excess. +It is somewhat extraordinary that the offence for which James II. was +expelled, that of setting up power by assumption, should be re-acted, +under another shape and form, by the Parliament that expelled him. It +shows that the Rights of Man were but imperfectly understood at the +Revolution, for certain it is that the right which that Parliament set +up by assumption (for by the delegation it had not, and could not +have it, because none could give it) over the persons and freedom of +posterity for ever was of the same tyrannical unfounded kind which James +attempted to set up over the Parliament and the nation, and for which he +was expelled. The only difference is (for in principle they differ not) +that the one was an usurper over living, and the other over the unborn; +and as the one has no better authority to stand upon than the other, +both of them must be equally null and void, and of no effect. + +From what, or from whence, does Mr. Burke prove the right of any human +power to bind posterity for ever? He has produced his clauses, but he +must produce also his proofs that such a right existed, and show how it +existed. If it ever existed it must now exist, for whatever appertains +to the nature of man cannot be annihilated by man. It is the nature of +man to die, and he will continue to die as long as he continues to be +born. But Mr. Burke has set up a sort of political Adam, in whom all +posterity are bound for ever. He must, therefore, prove that his Adam +possessed such a power, or such a right. + +The weaker any cord is, the less will it bear to be stretched, and the +worse is the policy to stretch it, unless it is intended to break it. +Had anyone proposed the overthrow of Mr. Burke's positions, he would +have proceeded as Mr. Burke has done. He would have magnified the +authorities, on purpose to have called the right of them into question; +and the instant the question of right was started, the authorities must +have been given up. + +It requires but a very small glance of thought to perceive that although +laws made in one generation often continue in force through succeeding +generations, yet they continue to derive their force from the consent of +the living. A law not repealed continues in force, not because it cannot +be repealed, but because it is not repealed; and the non-repealing +passes for consent. + +But Mr. Burke's clauses have not even this qualification in their +favour. They become null, by attempting to become immortal. The nature +of them precludes consent. They destroy the right which they might have, +by grounding it on a right which they cannot have. Immortal power is +not a human right, and therefore cannot be a right of Parliament. The +Parliament of 1688 might as well have passed an act to have authorised +themselves to live for ever, as to make their authority live for ever. +All, therefore, that can be said of those clauses is that they are a +formality of words, of as much import as if those who used them had +addressed a congratulation to themselves, and in the oriental style of +antiquity had said: O Parliament, live for ever! + +The circumstances of the world are continually changing, and the +opinions of men change also; and as government is for the living, and +not for the dead, it is the living only that has any right in it. +That which may be thought right and found convenient in one age may be +thought wrong and found inconvenient in another. In such cases, who is +to decide, the living or the dead? + +As almost one hundred pages of Mr. Burke's book are employed upon these +clauses, it will consequently follow that if the clauses themselves, so +far as they set up an assumed usurped dominion over posterity for ever, +are unauthoritative, and in their nature null and void; that all his +voluminous inferences, and declamation drawn therefrom, or founded +thereon, are null and void also; and on this ground I rest the matter. + +We now come more particularly to the affairs of France. Mr. Burke's book +has the appearance of being written as instruction to the French nation; +but if I may permit myself the use of an extravagant metaphor, suited +to the extravagance of the case, it is darkness attempting to illuminate +light. + +While I am writing this there are accidentally before me some proposals +for a declaration of rights by the Marquis de la Fayette (I ask his +pardon for using his former address, and do it only for distinction's +sake) to the National Assembly, on the 11th of July, 1789, three +days before the taking of the Bastille, and I cannot but remark with +astonishment how opposite the sources are from which that gentleman and +Mr. Burke draw their principles. Instead of referring to musty records +and mouldy parchments to prove that the rights of the living are lost, +"renounced and abdicated for ever," by those who are now no more, as +Mr. Burke has done, M. de la Fayette applies to the living world, +and emphatically says: "Call to mind the sentiments which nature has +engraved on the heart of every citizen, and which take a new force when +they are solemnly recognised by all:--For a nation to love liberty, it +is sufficient that she knows it; and to be free, it is sufficient that +she wills it." How dry, barren, and obscure is the source from which Mr. +Burke labors! and how ineffectual, though gay with flowers, are all his +declamation and his arguments compared with these clear, concise, and +soul-animating sentiments! Few and short as they are, they lead on to a +vast field of generous and manly thinking, and do not finish, like Mr. +Burke's periods, with music in the ear, and nothing in the heart. + +As I have introduced M. de la Fayette, I will take the liberty of adding +an anecdote respecting his farewell address to the Congress of America +in 1783, and which occurred fresh to my mind, when I saw Mr. Burke's +thundering attack on the French Revolution. M. de la Fayette went to +America at the early period of the war, and continued a volunteer in her +service to the end. His conduct through the whole of that enterprise is +one of the most extraordinary that is to be found in the history of a +young man, scarcely twenty years of age. Situated in a country that was +like the lap of sensual pleasure, and with the means of enjoying it, how +few are there to be found who would exchange such a scene for the woods +and wildernesses of America, and pass the flowery years of youth in +unprofitable danger and hardship! but such is the fact. When the +war ended, and he was on the point of taking his final departure, he +presented himself to Congress, and contemplating in his affectionate +farewell the Revolution he had seen, expressed himself in these words: +"May this great monument raised to liberty serve as a lesson to the +oppressor, and an example to the oppressed!" When this address came to +the hands of Dr. Franklin, who was then in France, he applied to Count +Vergennes to have it inserted in the French Gazette, but never +could obtain his consent. The fact was that Count Vergennes was an +aristocratical despot at home, and dreaded the example of the American +Revolution in France, as certain other persons now dread the example of +the French Revolution in England, and Mr. Burke's tribute of fear (for +in this light his book must be considered) runs parallel with Count +Vergennes' refusal. But to return more particularly to his work. + +"We have seen," says Mr. Burke, "the French rebel against a mild and +lawful monarch, with more fury, outrage, and insult, than any people +has been known to rise against the most illegal usurper, or the most +sanguinary tyrant." This is one among a thousand other instances, in +which Mr. Burke shows that he is ignorant of the springs and principles +of the French Revolution. + +It was not against Louis XVI. but against the despotic principles of +the Government, that the nation revolted. These principles had not their +origin in him, but in the original establishment, many centuries back: +and they were become too deeply rooted to be removed, and the Augean +stables of parasites and plunderers too abominably filthy to be cleansed +by anything short of a complete and universal Revolution. When it +becomes necessary to do anything, the whole heart and soul should go +into the measure, or not attempt it. That crisis was then arrived, and +there remained no choice but to act with determined vigor, or not to +act at all. The king was known to be the friend of the nation, and this +circumstance was favorable to the enterprise. Perhaps no man bred up in +the style of an absolute king, ever possessed a heart so little disposed +to the exercise of that species of power as the present King of France. +But the principles of the Government itself still remained the same. The +Monarch and the Monarchy were distinct and separate things; and it was +against the established despotism of the latter, and not against the +person or principles of the former, that the revolt commenced, and the +Revolution has been carried. + +Mr. Burke does not attend to the distinction between men and principles, +and, therefore, he does not see that a revolt may take place against the +despotism of the latter, while there lies no charge of despotism against +the former. + +The natural moderation of Louis XVI. contributed nothing to alter +the hereditary despotism of the monarchy. All the tyrannies of former +reigns, acted under that hereditary despotism, were still liable to be +revived in the hands of a successor. It was not the respite of a reign +that would satisfy France, enlightened as she was then become. A casual +discontinuance of the practice of despotism, is not a discontinuance of +its principles: the former depends on the virtue of the individual who +is in immediate possession of the power; the latter, on the virtue and +fortitude of the nation. In the case of Charles I. and James II. of +England, the revolt was against the personal despotism of the men; +whereas in France, it was against the hereditary despotism of the +established Government. But men who can consign over the rights of +posterity for ever on the authority of a mouldy parchment, like Mr. +Burke, are not qualified to judge of this Revolution. It takes in +a field too vast for their views to explore, and proceeds with a +mightiness of reason they cannot keep pace with. + +But there are many points of view in which this Revolution may be +considered. When despotism has established itself for ages in a country, +as in France, it is not in the person of the king only that it resides. +It has the appearance of being so in show, and in nominal authority; but +it is not so in practice and in fact. It has its standard everywhere. +Every office and department has its despotism, founded upon custom and +usage. Every place has its Bastille, and every Bastille its despot. +The original hereditary despotism resident in the person of the king, +divides and sub-divides itself into a thousand shapes and forms, till +at last the whole of it is acted by deputation. This was the case in +France; and against this species of despotism, proceeding on through +an endless labyrinth of office till the source of it is scarcely +perceptible, there is no mode of redress. It strengthens itself by +assuming the appearance of duty, and tyrannies under the pretence of +obeying. + +When a man reflects on the condition which France was in from the nature +of her government, he will see other causes for revolt than those which +immediately connect themselves with the person or character of Louis +XVI. There were, if I may so express it, a thousand despotisms to be +reformed in France, which had grown up under the hereditary despotism +of the monarchy, and became so rooted as to be in a great measure +independent of it. Between the Monarchy, the Parliament, and the +Church there was a rivalship of despotism; besides the feudal despotism +operating locally, and the ministerial despotism operating everywhere. +But Mr. Burke, by considering the king as the only possible object of +a revolt, speaks as if France was a village, in which everything that +passed must be known to its commanding officer, and no oppression could +be acted but what he could immediately control. Mr. Burke might have +been in the Bastille his whole life, as well under Louis XVI. as Louis +XIV., and neither the one nor the other have known that such a man as +Burke existed. The despotic principles of the government were the same +in both reigns, though the dispositions of the men were as remote as +tyranny and benevolence. + +What Mr. Burke considers as a reproach to the French Revolution (that of +bringing it forward under a reign more mild than the preceding ones) +is one of its highest honors. The Revolutions that have taken place in +other European countries, have been excited by personal hatred. The rage +was against the man, and he became the victim. But, in the instance of +France we see a Revolution generated in the rational contemplation of +the Rights of Man, and distinguishing from the beginning between persons +and principles. + +But Mr. Burke appears to have no idea of principles when he is +contemplating Governments. "Ten years ago," says he, "I could have +felicitated France on her having a Government, without inquiring what +the nature of that Government was, or how it was administered." Is this +the language of a rational man? Is it the language of a heart feeling as +it ought to feel for the rights and happiness of the human race? On +this ground, Mr. Burke must compliment all the Governments in the world, +while the victims who suffer under them, whether sold into slavery, or +tortured out of existence, are wholly forgotten. It is power, and +not principles, that Mr. Burke venerates; and under this abominable +depravity he is disqualified to judge between them. Thus much for his +opinion as to the occasions of the French Revolution. I now proceed to +other considerations. + +I know a place in America called Point-no-Point, because as you proceed +along the shore, gay and flowery as Mr. Burke's language, it continually +recedes and presents itself at a distance before you; but when you have +got as far as you can go, there is no point at all. Just thus it is with +Mr. Burke's three hundred and sixty-six pages. It is therefore difficult +to reply to him. But as the points he wishes to establish may be +inferred from what he abuses, it is in his paradoxes that we must look +for his arguments. + +As to the tragic paintings by which Mr. Burke has outraged his own +imagination, and seeks to work upon that of his readers, they are +very well calculated for theatrical representation, where facts are +manufactured for the sake of show, and accommodated to produce, through +the weakness of sympathy, a weeping effect. But Mr. Burke should +recollect that he is writing history, and not plays, and that his +readers will expect truth, and not the spouting rant of high-toned +exclamation. + +When we see a man dramatically lamenting in a publication intended to be +believed that "The age of chivalry is gone! that The glory of Europe is +extinguished for ever! that The unbought grace of life (if anyone knows +what it is), the cheap defence of nations, the nurse of manly sentiment +and heroic enterprise is gone!" and all this because the Quixot age of +chivalry nonsense is gone, what opinion can we form of his judgment, or +what regard can we pay to his facts? In the rhapsody of his imagination +he has discovered a world of wind mills, and his sorrows are that there +are no Quixots to attack them. But if the age of aristocracy, like that +of chivalry, should fall (and they had originally some connection) Mr. +Burke, the trumpeter of the Order, may continue his parody to the end, +and finish with exclaiming: "Othello's occupation's gone!" + +Notwithstanding Mr. Burke's horrid paintings, when the French Revolution +is compared with the Revolutions of other countries, the astonishment +will be that it is marked with so few sacrifices; but this astonishment +will cease when we reflect that principles, and not persons, were the +meditated objects of destruction. The mind of the nation was acted +upon by a higher stimulus than what the consideration of persons could +inspire, and sought a higher conquest than could be produced by the +downfall of an enemy. Among the few who fell there do not appear to be +any that were intentionally singled out. They all of them had their fate +in the circumstances of the moment, and were not pursued with that long, +cold-blooded unabated revenge which pursued the unfortunate Scotch in +the affair of 1745. + +Through the whole of Mr. Burke's book I do not observe that the Bastille +is mentioned more than once, and that with a kind of implication as if +he were sorry it was pulled down, and wished it were built up again. "We +have rebuilt Newgate," says he, "and tenanted the mansion; and we have +prisons almost as strong as the Bastille for those who dare to libel the +queens of France."*[2] As to what a madman like the person called Lord +George Gordon might say, and to whom Newgate is rather a bedlam than a +prison, it is unworthy a rational consideration. It was a madman that +libelled, and that is sufficient apology; and it afforded an opportunity +for confining him, which was the thing that was wished for. But certain +it is that Mr. Burke, who does not call himself a madman (whatever other +people may do), has libelled in the most unprovoked manner, and in +the grossest style of the most vulgar abuse, the whole representative +authority of France, and yet Mr. Burke takes his seat in the British +House of Commons! From his violence and his grief, his silence on some +points and his excess on others, it is difficult not to believe that Mr. +Burke is sorry, extremely sorry, that arbitrary power, the power of the +Pope and the Bastille, are pulled down. + +Not one glance of compassion, not one commiserating reflection that I +can find throughout his book, has he bestowed on those who lingered out +the most wretched of lives, a life without hope in the most miserable of +prisons. It is painful to behold a man employing his talents to corrupt +himself. Nature has been kinder to Mr. Burke than he is to her. He is +not affected by the reality of distress touching his heart, but by the +showy resemblance of it striking his imagination. He pities the plumage, +but forgets the dying bird. Accustomed to kiss the aristocratical hand +that hath purloined him from himself, he degenerates into a composition +of art, and the genuine soul of nature forsakes him. His hero or his +heroine must be a tragedy-victim expiring in show, and not the real +prisoner of misery, sliding into death in the silence of a dungeon. + +As Mr. Burke has passed over the whole transaction of the Bastille (and +his silence is nothing in his favour), and has entertained his readers +with refections on supposed facts distorted into real falsehoods, I will +give, since he has not, some account of the circumstances which preceded +that transaction. They will serve to show that less mischief could +scarcely have accompanied such an event when considered with the +treacherous and hostile aggravations of the enemies of the Revolution. + +The mind can hardly picture to itself a more tremendous scene than what +the city of Paris exhibited at the time of taking the Bastille, and for +two days before and after, nor perceive the possibility of its quieting +so soon. At a distance this transaction has appeared only as an act of +heroism standing on itself, and the close political connection it had +with the Revolution is lost in the brilliancy of the achievement. But +we are to consider it as the strength of the parties brought man to man, +and contending for the issue. The Bastille was to be either the prize +or the prison of the assailants. The downfall of it included the idea +of the downfall of despotism, and this compounded image was become as +figuratively united as Bunyan's Doubting Castle and Giant Despair. + +The National Assembly, before and at the time of taking the Bastille, +was sitting at Versailles, twelve miles distant from Paris. About a week +before the rising of the Partisans, and their taking the Bastille, it +was discovered that a plot was forming, at the head of which was +the Count D'Artois, the king's youngest brother, for demolishing the +National Assembly, seizing its members, and thereby crushing, by a coup +de main, all hopes and prospects of forming a free government. For +the sake of humanity, as well as freedom, it is well this plan did not +succeed. Examples are not wanting to show how dreadfully vindictive and +cruel are all old governments, when they are successful against what +they call a revolt. + +This plan must have been some time in contemplation; because, in order +to carry it into execution, it was necessary to collect a large military +force round Paris, and cut off the communication between that city +and the National Assembly at Versailles. The troops destined for this +service were chiefly the foreign troops in the pay of France, and who, +for this particular purpose, were drawn from the distant provinces where +they were then stationed. When they were collected to the amount of +between twenty-five and thirty thousand, it was judged time to put the +plan into execution. The ministry who were then in office, and who were +friendly to the Revolution, were instantly dismissed and a new ministry +formed of those who had concerted the project, among whom was Count de +Broglio, and to his share was given the command of those troops. +The character of this man as described to me in a letter which I +communicated to Mr. Burke before he began to write his book, and from +an authority which Mr. Burke well knows was good, was that of "a +high-flying aristocrat, cool, and capable of every mischief." + +While these matters were agitating, the National Assembly stood in the +most perilous and critical situation that a body of men can be supposed +to act in. They were the devoted victims, and they knew it. They had the +hearts and wishes of their country on their side, but military authority +they had none. The guards of Broglio surrounded the hall where the +Assembly sat, ready, at the word of command, to seize their persons, +as had been done the year before to the Parliament of Paris. Had the +National Assembly deserted their trust, or had they exhibited signs of +weakness or fear, their enemies had been encouraged and their country +depressed. When the situation they stood in, the cause they were engaged +in, and the crisis then ready to burst, which should determine their +personal and political fate and that of their country, and probably of +Europe, are taken into one view, none but a heart callous with prejudice +or corrupted by dependence can avoid interesting itself in their +success. + +The Archbishop of Vienne was at this time President of the National +Assembly--a person too old to undergo the scene that a few days or a few +hours might bring forth. A man of more activity and bolder fortitude +was necessary, and the National Assembly chose (under the form of a +Vice-President, for the Presidency still resided in the Archbishop) M. +de la Fayette; and this is the only instance of a Vice-President being +chosen. It was at the moment that this storm was pending (July 11th) +that a declaration of rights was brought forward by M. de la Fayette, +and is the same which is alluded to earlier. It was hastily drawn up, +and makes only a part of the more extensive declaration of rights agreed +upon and adopted afterwards by the National Assembly. The particular +reason for bringing it forward at this moment (M. de la Fayette has +since informed me) was that, if the National Assembly should fall in +the threatened destruction that then surrounded it, some trace of its +principles might have the chance of surviving the wreck. + +Everything now was drawing to a crisis. The event was freedom or +slavery. On one side, an army of nearly thirty thousand men; on the +other, an unarmed body of citizens--for the citizens of Paris, on whom +the National Assembly must then immediately depend, were as unarmed and +as undisciplined as the citizens of London are now. The French guards +had given strong symptoms of their being attached to the national cause; +but their numbers were small, not a tenth part of the force that Broglio +commanded, and their officers were in the interest of Broglio. + +Matters being now ripe for execution, the new ministry made their +appearance in office. The reader will carry in his mind that the +Bastille was taken the 14th July; the point of time I am now speaking of +is the 12th. Immediately on the news of the change of ministry reaching +Paris, in the afternoon, all the playhouses and places of entertainment, +shops and houses, were shut up. The change of ministry was considered as +the prelude of hostilities, and the opinion was rightly founded. + +The foreign troops began to advance towards the city. The Prince de +Lambesc, who commanded a body of German cavalry, approached by the Place +of Louis Xv., which connects itself with some of the streets. In his +march, he insulted and struck an old man with a sword. The French are +remarkable for their respect to old age; and the insolence with which it +appeared to be done, uniting with the general fermentation they were +in, produced a powerful effect, and a cry of "To arms! to arms!" spread +itself in a moment over the city. + +Arms they had none, nor scarcely anyone who knew the use of them; but +desperate resolution, when every hope is at stake, supplies, for a +while, the want of arms. Near where the Prince de Lambesc was drawn up, +were large piles of stones collected for building the new bridge, and +with these the people attacked the cavalry. A party of French guards +upon hearing the firing, rushed from their quarters and joined the +people; and night coming on, the cavalry retreated. + +The streets of Paris, being narrow, are favourable for defence, and the +loftiness of the houses, consisting of many stories, from which great +annoyance might be given, secured them against nocturnal enterprises; +and the night was spent in providing themselves with every sort of +weapon they could make or procure: guns, swords, blacksmiths' hammers, +carpenters' axes, iron crows, pikes, halberts, pitchforks, spits, clubs, +etc., etc. The incredible numbers in which they assembled the next +morning, and the still more incredible resolution they exhibited, +embarrassed and astonished their enemies. Little did the new ministry +expect such a salute. Accustomed to slavery themselves, they had no idea +that liberty was capable of such inspiration, or that a body of unarmed +citizens would dare to face the military force of thirty thousand men. +Every moment of this day was employed in collecting arms, concerting +plans, and arranging themselves into the best order which such an +instantaneous movement could afford. Broglio continued lying round the +city, but made no further advances this day, and the succeeding night +passed with as much tranquility as such a scene could possibly produce. + +But defence only was not the object of the citizens. They had a cause +at stake, on which depended their freedom or their slavery. They every +moment expected an attack, or to hear of one made on the National +Assembly; and in such a situation, the most prompt measures are +sometimes the best. The object that now presented itself was the +Bastille; and the eclat of carrying such a fortress in the face of such +an army, could not fail to strike terror into the new ministry, who had +scarcely yet had time to meet. By some intercepted correspondence this +morning, it was discovered that the Mayor of Paris, M. Defflesselles, +who appeared to be in the interest of the citizens, was betraying them; +and from this discovery, there remained no doubt that Broglio would +reinforce the Bastille the ensuing evening. It was therefore necessary +to attack it that day; but before this could be done, it was first +necessary to procure a better supply of arms than they were then +possessed of. + +There was, adjoining to the city a large magazine of arms deposited at +the Hospital of the Invalids, which the citizens summoned to surrender; +and as the place was neither defensible, nor attempted much defence, +they soon succeeded. Thus supplied, they marched to attack the Bastille; +a vast mixed multitude of all ages, and of all degrees, armed with all +sorts of weapons. Imagination would fail in describing to itself the +appearance of such a procession, and of the anxiety of the events which +a few hours or a few minutes might produce. What plans the ministry +were forming, were as unknown to the people within the city, as what +the citizens were doing was unknown to the ministry; and what movements +Broglio might make for the support or relief of the place, were to the +citizens equally as unknown. All was mystery and hazard. + +That the Bastille was attacked with an enthusiasm of heroism, such only +as the highest animation of liberty could inspire, and carried in the +space of a few hours, is an event which the world is fully possessed of. +I am not undertaking the detail of the attack, but bringing into view +the conspiracy against the nation which provoked it, and which fell +with the Bastille. The prison to which the new ministry were dooming the +National Assembly, in addition to its being the high altar and castle of +despotism, became the proper object to begin with. This enterprise +broke up the new ministry, who began now to fly from the ruin they had +prepared for others. The troops of Broglio dispersed, and himself fled +also. + +Mr. Burke has spoken a great deal about plots, but he has never once +spoken of this plot against the National Assembly, and the liberties +of the nation; and that he might not, he has passed over all the +circumstances that might throw it in his way. The exiles who have fled +from France, whose case he so much interests himself in, and from whom +he has had his lesson, fled in consequence of the miscarriage of this +plot. No plot was formed against them; they were plotting against +others; and those who fell, met, not unjustly, the punishment they +were preparing to execute. But will Mr. Burke say that if this plot, +contrived with the subtilty of an ambuscade, had succeeded, the +successful party would have restrained their wrath so soon? Let the +history of all governments answer the question. + +Whom has the National Assembly brought to the scaffold? None. They +were themselves the devoted victims of this plot, and they have not +retaliated; why, then, are they charged with revenge they have not +acted? In the tremendous breaking forth of a whole people, in which all +degrees, tempers and characters are confounded, delivering themselves, +by a miracle of exertion, from the destruction meditated against them, +is it to be expected that nothing will happen? When men are sore with +the sense of oppressions, and menaced with the prospects of new ones, +is the calmness of philosophy or the palsy of insensibility to be looked +for? Mr. Burke exclaims against outrage; yet the greatest is that which +himself has committed. His book is a volume of outrage, not apologised +for by the impulse of a moment, but cherished through a space of ten +months; yet Mr. Burke had no provocation--no life, no interest, at +stake. + +More of the citizens fell in this struggle than of their opponents: but +four or five persons were seized by the populace, and instantly put to +death; the Governor of the Bastille, and the Mayor of Paris, who was +detected in the act of betraying them; and afterwards Foulon, one of the +new ministry, and Berthier, his son-in-law, who had accepted the office +of intendant of Paris. Their heads were stuck upon spikes, and carried +about the city; and it is upon this mode of punishment that Mr. Burke +builds a great part of his tragic scene. Let us therefore examine how +men came by the idea of punishing in this manner. + +They learn it from the governments they live under; and retaliate the +punishments they have been accustomed to behold. The heads stuck upon +spikes, which remained for years upon Temple Bar, differed nothing in +the horror of the scene from those carried about upon spikes at Paris; +yet this was done by the English Government. It may perhaps be said that +it signifies nothing to a man what is done to him after he is dead; but +it signifies much to the living; it either tortures their feelings or +hardens their hearts, and in either case it instructs them how to punish +when power falls into their hands. + +Lay then the axe to the root, and teach governments humanity. It is +their sanguinary punishments which corrupt mankind. In England the +punishment in certain cases is by hanging, drawing and quartering; +the heart of the sufferer is cut out and held up to the view of the +populace. In France, under the former Government, the punishments were +not less barbarous. Who does not remember the execution of Damien, torn +to pieces by horses? The effect of those cruel spectacles exhibited to +the populace is to destroy tenderness or excite revenge; and by the +base and false idea of governing men by terror, instead of reason, +they become precedents. It is over the lowest class of mankind that +government by terror is intended to operate, and it is on them that it +operates to the worst effect. They have sense enough to feel they are +the objects aimed at; and they inflict in their turn the examples of +terror they have been instructed to practise. + +There is in all European countries a large class of people of that +description, which in England is called the "mob." Of this class were +those who committed the burnings and devastations in London in 1780, and +of this class were those who carried the heads on iron spikes in Paris. +Foulon and Berthier were taken up in the country, and sent to Paris, +to undergo their examination at the Hotel de Ville; for the National +Assembly, immediately on the new ministry coming into office, passed a +decree, which they communicated to the King and Cabinet, that they (the +National Assembly) would hold the ministry, of which Foulon was one, +responsible for the measures they were advising and pursuing; but the +mob, incensed at the appearance of Foulon and Berthier, tore them from +their conductors before they were carried to the Hotel de Ville, and +executed them on the spot. Why then does Mr. Burke charge outrages +of this kind on a whole people? As well may he charge the riots and +outrages of 1780 on all the people of London, or those in Ireland on all +his countrymen. + +But everything we see or hear offensive to our feelings and derogatory +to the human character should lead to other reflections than those +of reproach. Even the beings who commit them have some claim to our +consideration. How then is it that such vast classes of mankind as are +distinguished by the appellation of the vulgar, or the ignorant mob, +are so numerous in all old countries? The instant we ask ourselves +this question, reflection feels an answer. They rise, as an unavoidable +consequence, out of the ill construction of all old governments in +Europe, England included with the rest. It is by distortedly exalting +some men, that others are distortedly debased, till the whole is out +of nature. A vast mass of mankind are degradedly thrown into the +back-ground of the human picture, to bring forward, with greater glare, +the puppet-show of state and aristocracy. In the commencement of a +revolution, those men are rather the followers of the camp than of the +standard of liberty, and have yet to be instructed how to reverence it. + +I give to Mr. Burke all his theatrical exaggerations for facts, and I +then ask him if they do not establish the certainty of what I here lay +down? Admitting them to be true, they show the necessity of the French +Revolution, as much as any one thing he could have asserted. These +outrages were not the effect of the principles of the Revolution, but +of the degraded mind that existed before the Revolution, and which the +Revolution is calculated to reform. Place them then to their proper +cause, and take the reproach of them to your own side. + +It is the honour of the National Assembly and the city of Paris that, +during such a tremendous scene of arms and confusion, beyond the control +of all authority, they have been able, by the influence of example +and exhortation, to restrain so much. Never were more pains taken to +instruct and enlighten mankind, and to make them see that their interest +consisted in their virtue, and not in their revenge, than have been +displayed in the Revolution of France. I now proceed to make some +remarks on Mr. Burke's account of the expedition to Versailles, October +the 5th and 6th. + +I can consider Mr. Burke's book in scarcely any other light than a +dramatic performance; and he must, I think, have considered it in the +same light himself, by the poetical liberties he has taken of omitting +some facts, distorting others, and making the whole machinery bend to +produce a stage effect. Of this kind is his account of the expedition to +Versailles. He begins this account by omitting the only facts which as +causes are known to be true; everything beyond these is conjecture, even +in Paris; and he then works up a tale accommodated to his own passions +and prejudices. + +It is to be observed throughout Mr. Burke's book that he never speaks +of plots against the Revolution; and it is from those plots that all the +mischiefs have arisen. It suits his purpose to exhibit the consequences +without their causes. It is one of the arts of the drama to do so. If +the crimes of men were exhibited with their sufferings, stage effect +would sometimes be lost, and the audience would be inclined to approve +where it was intended they should commiserate. + +After all the investigations that have been made into this intricate +affair (the expedition to Versailles), it still remains enveloped in all +that kind of mystery which ever accompanies events produced more from a +concurrence of awkward circumstances than from fixed design. While the +characters of men are forming, as is always the case in revolutions, +there is a reciprocal suspicion, and a disposition to misinterpret each +other; and even parties directly opposite in principle will sometimes +concur in pushing forward the same movement with very different views, +and with the hopes of its producing very different consequences. A great +deal of this may be discovered in this embarrassed affair, and yet the +issue of the whole was what nobody had in view. + +The only things certainly known are that considerable uneasiness was at +this time excited at Paris by the delay of the King in not sanctioning +and forwarding the decrees of the National Assembly, particularly that +of the Declaration of the Rights of Man, and the decrees of the fourth +of August, which contained the foundation principles on which the +constitution was to be erected. The kindest, and perhaps the fairest +conjecture upon this matter is, that some of the ministers intended to +make remarks and observations upon certain parts of them before they +were finally sanctioned and sent to the provinces; but be this as it +may, the enemies of the Revolution derived hope from the delay, and the +friends of the Revolution uneasiness. + +During this state of suspense, the Garde du Corps, which was composed as +such regiments generally are, of persons much connected with the +Court, gave an entertainment at Versailles (October 1) to some foreign +regiments then arrived; and when the entertainment was at the height, on +a signal given, the Garde du Corps tore the national cockade from their +hats, trampled it under foot, and replaced it with a counter-cockade +prepared for the purpose. An indignity of this kind amounted to +defiance. It was like declaring war; and if men will give challenges +they must expect consequences. But all this Mr. Burke has carefully kept +out of sight. He begins his account by saying: "History will record that +on the morning of the 6th October, 1789, the King and Queen of France, +after a day of confusion, alarm, dismay, and slaughter, lay down under +the pledged security of public faith to indulge nature in a few hours +of respite, and troubled melancholy repose." This is neither the sober +style of history, nor the intention of it. It leaves everything to +be guessed at and mistaken. One would at least think there had been a +battle; and a battle there probably would have been had it not been +for the moderating prudence of those whom Mr. Burke involves in his +censures. By his keeping the Garde du Corps out of sight Mr. Burke has +afforded himself the dramatic licence of putting the King and Queen in +their places, as if the object of the expedition was against them. But +to return to my account this conduct of the Garde du Corps, as might +well be expected, alarmed and enraged the Partisans. The colors of +the cause, and the cause itself, were become too united to mistake the +intention of the insult, and the Partisans were determined to call +the Garde du Corps to an account. There was certainly nothing of the +cowardice of assassination in marching in the face of the day to demand +satisfaction, if such a phrase may be used, of a body of armed men who +had voluntarily given defiance. But the circumstance which serves +to throw this affair into embarrassment is, that the enemies of the +Revolution appear to have encouraged it as well as its friends. The one +hoped to prevent a civil war by checking it in time, and the other to +make one. The hopes of those opposed to the Revolution rested in making +the King of their party, and getting him from Versailles to Metz, +where they expected to collect a force and set up a standard. We have, +therefore, two different objects presenting themselves at the same time, +and to be accomplished by the same means: the one to chastise the Garde +du Corps, which was the object of the Partisans; the other to render the +confusion of such a scene an inducement to the King to set off for Metz. + +On the 5th of October a very numerous body of women, and men in the +disguise of women, collected around the Hotel de Ville or town-hall at +Paris, and set off for Versailles. Their professed object was the Garde +du Corps; but prudent men readily recollect that mischief is more easily +begun than ended; and this impressed itself with the more force from the +suspicions already stated, and the irregularity of such a cavalcade. +As soon, therefore, as a sufficient force could be collected, M. de la +Fayette, by orders from the civil authority of Paris, set off after +them at the head of twenty thousand of the Paris militia. The Revolution +could derive no benefit from confusion, and its opposers might. By an +amiable and spirited manner of address he had hitherto been fortunate in +calming disquietudes, and in this he was extraordinarily successful; to +frustrate, therefore, the hopes of those who might seek to improve +this scene into a sort of justifiable necessity for the King's quitting +Versailles and withdrawing to Metz, and to prevent at the same time +the consequences that might ensue between the Garde du Corps and this +phalanx of men and women, he forwarded expresses to the King, that he +was on his march to Versailles, by the orders of the civil authority of +Paris, for the purpose of peace and protection, expressing at the same +time the necessity of restraining the Garde du Corps from firing upon +the people.*[3] + +He arrived at Versailles between ten and eleven at night. The Garde du +Corps was drawn up, and the people had arrived some time before, but +everything had remained suspended. Wisdom and policy now consisted in +changing a scene of danger into a happy event. M. de la Fayette became +the mediator between the enraged parties; and the King, to remove the +uneasiness which had arisen from the delay already stated, sent for the +President of the National Assembly, and signed the Declaration of the +Rights of Man, and such other parts of the constitution as were in +readiness. + +It was now about one in the morning. Everything appeared to be composed, +and a general congratulation took place. By the beat of a drum a +proclamation was made that the citizens of Versailles would give the +hospitality of their houses to their fellow-citizens of Paris. Those +who could not be accommodated in this manner remained in the streets, or +took up their quarters in the churches; and at two o'clock the King and +Queen retired. + +In this state matters passed till the break of day, when a fresh +disturbance arose from the censurable conduct of some of both parties, +for such characters there will be in all such scenes. One of the Garde +du Corps appeared at one of the windows of the palace, and the people +who had remained during the night in the streets accosted him with +reviling and provocative language. Instead of retiring, as in such a +case prudence would have dictated, he presented his musket, fired, and +killed one of the Paris militia. The peace being thus broken, the people +rushed into the palace in quest of the offender. They attacked the +quarters of the Garde du Corps within the palace, and pursued them +throughout the avenues of it, and to the apartments of the King. On this +tumult, not the Queen only, as Mr. Burke has represented it, but every +person in the palace, was awakened and alarmed; and M. de la Fayette had +a second time to interpose between the parties, the event of which was +that the Garde du Corps put on the national cockade, and the matter +ended as by oblivion, after the loss of two or three lives. + +During the latter part of the time in which this confusion was acting, +the King and Queen were in public at the balcony, and neither of them +concealed for safety's sake, as Mr. Burke insinuates. Matters being thus +appeased, and tranquility restored, a general acclamation broke forth of +Le Roi a Paris--Le Roi a Paris--The King to Paris. It was the shout of +peace, and immediately accepted on the part of the King. By this measure +all future projects of trapanning the King to Metz, and setting up the +standard of opposition to the constitution, were prevented, and the +suspicions extinguished. The King and his family reached Paris in the +evening, and were congratulated on their arrival by M. Bailly, the Mayor +of Paris, in the name of the citizens. Mr. Burke, who throughout his +book confounds things, persons, and principles, as in his remarks on +M. Bailly's address, confounded time also. He censures M. Bailly for +calling it "un bon jour," a good day. Mr. Burke should have informed +himself that this scene took up the space of two days, the day on which +it began with every appearance of danger and mischief, and the day on +which it terminated without the mischiefs that threatened; and that +it is to this peaceful termination that M. Bailly alludes, and to the +arrival of the King at Paris. Not less than three hundred thousand +persons arranged themselves in the procession from Versailles to Paris, +and not an act of molestation was committed during the whole march. + +Mr. Burke on the authority of M. Lally Tollendal, a deserter from the +National Assembly, says that on entering Paris, the people shouted "Tous +les eveques a la lanterne." All Bishops to be hanged at the lanthorn +or lamp-posts. It is surprising that nobody could hear this but Lally +Tollendal, and that nobody should believe it but Mr. Burke. It has not +the least connection with any part of the transaction, and is totally +foreign to every circumstance of it. The Bishops had never been +introduced before into any scene of Mr. Burke's drama: why then are +they, all at once, and altogether, tout a coup, et tous ensemble, +introduced now? Mr. Burke brings forward his Bishops and his +lanthorn-like figures in a magic lanthorn, and raises his scenes by +contrast instead of connection. But it serves to show, with the rest of +his book what little credit ought to be given where even probability is +set at defiance, for the purpose of defaming; and with this reflection, +instead of a soliloquy in praise of chivalry, as Mr. Burke has done, I +close the account of the expedition to Versailles.*[4] + +I have now to follow Mr. Burke through a pathless wilderness of +rhapsodies, and a sort of descant upon governments, in which he asserts +whatever he pleases, on the presumption of its being believed, without +offering either evidence or reasons for so doing. + +Before anything can be reasoned upon to a conclusion, certain facts, +principles, or data, to reason from, must be established, admitted, or +denied. Mr. Burke with his usual outrage, abused the Declaration of +the Rights of Man, published by the National Assembly of France, as +the basis on which the constitution of France is built. This he calls +"paltry and blurred sheets of paper about the rights of man." Does Mr. +Burke mean to deny that man has any rights? If he does, then he must +mean that there are no such things as rights anywhere, and that he has +none himself; for who is there in the world but man? But if Mr. Burke +means to admit that man has rights, the question then will be: What are +those rights, and how man came by them originally? + +The error of those who reason by precedents drawn from antiquity, +respecting the rights of man, is that they do not go far enough into +antiquity. They do not go the whole way. They stop in some of the +intermediate stages of an hundred or a thousand years, and produce what +was then done, as a rule for the present day. This is no authority at +all. If we travel still farther into antiquity, we shall find a direct +contrary opinion and practice prevailing; and if antiquity is to be +authority, a thousand such authorities may be produced, successively +contradicting each other; but if we proceed on, we shall at last come +out right; we shall come to the time when man came from the hand of his +Maker. What was he then? Man. Man was his high and only title, and a +higher cannot be given him. But of titles I shall speak hereafter. + +We are now got at the origin of man, and at the origin of his rights. +As to the manner in which the world has been governed from that day to +this, it is no farther any concern of ours than to make a proper use of +the errors or the improvements which the history of it presents. Those +who lived an hundred or a thousand years ago, were then moderns, as we +are now. They had their ancients, and those ancients had others, and we +also shall be ancients in our turn. If the mere name of antiquity is to +govern in the affairs of life, the people who are to live an hundred or +a thousand years hence, may as well take us for a precedent, as we make +a precedent of those who lived an hundred or a thousand years ago. The +fact is, that portions of antiquity, by proving everything, establish +nothing. It is authority against authority all the way, till we come +to the divine origin of the rights of man at the creation. Here our +enquiries find a resting-place, and our reason finds a home. If a +dispute about the rights of man had arisen at the distance of an hundred +years from the creation, it is to this source of authority they must +have referred, and it is to this same source of authority that we must +now refer. + +Though I mean not to touch upon any sectarian principle of religion, +yet it may be worth observing, that the genealogy of Christ is traced +to Adam. Why then not trace the rights of man to the creation of man? I +will answer the question. Because there have been upstart governments, +thrusting themselves between, and presumptuously working to un-make man. + +If any generation of men ever possessed the right of dictating the +mode by which the world should be governed for ever, it was the +first generation that existed; and if that generation did it not, no +succeeding generation can show any authority for doing it, nor can set +any up. The illuminating and divine principle of the equal rights of man +(for it has its origin from the Maker of man) relates, not only to the +living individuals, but to generations of men succeeding each other. +Every generation is equal in rights to generations which preceded it, +by the same rule that every individual is born equal in rights with his +contemporary. + +Every history of the creation, and every traditionary account, whether +from the lettered or unlettered world, however they may vary in their +opinion or belief of certain particulars, all agree in establishing one +point, the unity of man; by which I mean that men are all of one degree, +and consequently that all men are born equal, and with equal natural +right, in the same manner as if posterity had been continued by creation +instead of generation, the latter being the only mode by which the +former is carried forward; and consequently every child born into the +world must be considered as deriving its existence from God. The world +is as new to him as it was to the first man that existed, and his +natural right in it is of the same kind. + +The Mosaic account of the creation, whether taken as divine authority or +merely historical, is full to this point, the unity or equality of man. +The expression admits of no controversy. "And God said, Let us make man +in our own image. In the image of God created he him; male and female +created he them." The distinction of sexes is pointed out, but no other +distinction is even implied. If this be not divine authority, it is at +least historical authority, and shows that the equality of man, so far +from being a modern doctrine, is the oldest upon record. + +It is also to be observed that all the religions known in the world are +founded, so far as they relate to man, on the unity of man, as being all +of one degree. Whether in heaven or in hell, or in whatever state man +may be supposed to exist hereafter, the good and the bad are the only +distinctions. Nay, even the laws of governments are obliged to slide +into this principle, by making degrees to consist in crimes and not in +persons. + +It is one of the greatest of all truths, and of the highest advantage to +cultivate. By considering man in this light, and by instructing him to +consider himself in this light, it places him in a close connection with +all his duties, whether to his Creator or to the creation, of which he +is a part; and it is only when he forgets his origin, or, to use a more +fashionable phrase, his birth and family, that he becomes dissolute. It +is not among the least of the evils of the present existing governments +in all parts of Europe that man, considered as man, is thrown back to a +vast distance from his Maker, and the artificial chasm filled up with a +succession of barriers, or sort of turnpike gates, through which he has +to pass. I will quote Mr. Burke's catalogue of barriers that he has +set up between man and his Maker. Putting himself in the character of a +herald, he says: "We fear God--we look with awe to kings--with affection +to Parliaments with duty to magistrates--with reverence to priests, +and with respect to nobility." Mr. Burke has forgotten to put in +"'chivalry." He has also forgotten to put in Peter. + +The duty of man is not a wilderness of turnpike gates, through which he +is to pass by tickets from one to the other. It is plain and simple, and +consists but of two points. His duty to God, which every man must feel; +and with respect to his neighbor, to do as he would be done by. If those +to whom power is delegated do well, they will be respected: if not, +they will be despised; and with regard to those to whom no power is +delegated, but who assume it, the rational world can know nothing of +them. + +Hitherto we have spoken only (and that but in part) of the natural +rights of man. We have now to consider the civil rights of man, and +to show how the one originates from the other. Man did not enter into +society to become worse than he was before, nor to have fewer rights +than he had before, but to have those rights better secured. His natural +rights are the foundation of all his civil rights. But in order to +pursue this distinction with more precision, it will be necessary to +mark the different qualities of natural and civil rights. + +A few words will explain this. Natural rights are those which appertain +to man in right of his existence. Of this kind are all the intellectual +rights, or rights of the mind, and also all those rights of acting as an +individual for his own comfort and happiness, which are not injurious to +the natural rights of others. Civil rights are those which appertain to +man in right of his being a member of society. Every civil right has for +its foundation some natural right pre-existing in the individual, but +to the enjoyment of which his individual power is not, in all cases, +sufficiently competent. Of this kind are all those which relate to +security and protection. + +From this short review it will be easy to distinguish between that class +of natural rights which man retains after entering into society and +those which he throws into the common stock as a member of society. + +The natural rights which he retains are all those in which the Power to +execute is as perfect in the individual as the right itself. Among +this class, as is before mentioned, are all the intellectual rights, or +rights of the mind; consequently religion is one of those rights. The +natural rights which are not retained, are all those in which, though +the right is perfect in the individual, the power to execute them is +defective. They answer not his purpose. A man, by natural right, has a +right to judge in his own cause; and so far as the right of the mind is +concerned, he never surrenders it. But what availeth it him to judge, +if he has not power to redress? He therefore deposits this right in the +common stock of society, and takes the ann of society, of which he is +a part, in preference and in addition to his own. Society grants him +nothing. Every man is a proprietor in society, and draws on the capital +as a matter of right. + +From these premisses two or three certain conclusions will follow: + +First, That every civil right grows out of a natural right; or, in other +words, is a natural right exchanged. + +Secondly, That civil power properly considered as such is made up of +the aggregate of that class of the natural rights of man, which becomes +defective in the individual in point of power, and answers not his +purpose, but when collected to a focus becomes competent to the Purpose +of every one. + +Thirdly, That the power produced from the aggregate of natural rights, +imperfect in power in the individual, cannot be applied to invade the +natural rights which are retained in the individual, and in which the +power to execute is as perfect as the right itself. + +We have now, in a few words, traced man from a natural individual to a +member of society, and shown, or endeavoured to show, the quality of +the natural rights retained, and of those which are exchanged for civil +rights. Let us now apply these principles to governments. + +In casting our eyes over the world, it is extremely easy to distinguish +the governments which have arisen out of society, or out of the social +compact, from those which have not; but to place this in a clearer light +than what a single glance may afford, it will be proper to take a review +of the several sources from which governments have arisen and on which +they have been founded. + +They may be all comprehended under three heads. + +First, Superstition. + +Secondly, Power. + +Thirdly, The common interest of society and the common rights of man. + +The first was a government of priestcraft, the second of conquerors, and +the third of reason. + +When a set of artful men pretended, through the medium of oracles, to +hold intercourse with the Deity, as familiarly as they now march up +the back-stairs in European courts, the world was completely under the +government of superstition. The oracles were consulted, and whatever +they were made to say became the law; and this sort of government lasted +as long as this sort of superstition lasted. + +After these a race of conquerors arose, whose government, like that of +William the Conqueror, was founded in power, and the sword assumed the +name of a sceptre. Governments thus established last as long as the +power to support them lasts; but that they might avail themselves of +every engine in their favor, they united fraud to force, and set up +an idol which they called Divine Right, and which, in imitation of the +Pope, who affects to be spiritual and temporal, and in contradiction to +the Founder of the Christian religion, twisted itself afterwards into an +idol of another shape, called Church and State. The key of St. Peter +and the key of the Treasury became quartered on one another, and the +wondering cheated multitude worshipped the invention. + +When I contemplate the natural dignity of man, when I feel (for Nature +has not been kind enough to me to blunt my feelings) for the honour and +happiness of its character, I become irritated at the attempt to govern +mankind by force and fraud, as if they were all knaves and fools, and +can scarcely avoid disgust at those who are thus imposed upon. + +We have now to review the governments which arise out of society, in +contradistinction to those which arose out of superstition and conquest. + +It has been thought a considerable advance towards establishing the +principles of Freedom to say that Government is a compact between those +who govern and those who are governed; but this cannot be true, because +it is putting the effect before the cause; for as man must have +existed before governments existed, there necessarily was a time when +governments did not exist, and consequently there could originally exist +no governors to form such a compact with. + +The fact therefore must be that the individuals themselves, each in his +own personal and sovereign right, entered into a compact with each other +to produce a government: and this is the only mode in which governments +have a right to arise, and the only principle on which they have a right +to exist. + +To possess ourselves of a clear idea of what government is, or ought +to be, we must trace it to its origin. In doing this we shall easily +discover that governments must have arisen either out of the people +or over the people. Mr. Burke has made no distinction. He investigates +nothing to its source, and therefore he confounds everything; but he has +signified his intention of undertaking, at some future opportunity, a +comparison between the constitution of England and France. As he thus +renders it a subject of controversy by throwing the gauntlet, I take him +upon his own ground. It is in high challenges that high truths have the +right of appearing; and I accept it with the more readiness because it +affords me, at the same time, an opportunity of pursuing the subject +with respect to governments arising out of society. + +But it will be first necessary to define what is meant by a +Constitution. It is not sufficient that we adopt the word; we must fix +also a standard signification to it. + +A constitution is not a thing in name only, but in fact. It has not an +ideal, but a real existence; and wherever it cannot be produced in a +visible form, there is none. A constitution is a thing antecedent to a +government, and a government is only the creature of a constitution. The +constitution of a country is not the act of its government, but of the +people constituting its government. It is the body of elements, to which +you can refer, and quote article by article; and which contains the +principles on which the government shall be established, the manner +in which it shall be organised, the powers it shall have, the mode +of elections, the duration of Parliaments, or by what other name +such bodies may be called; the powers which the executive part of the +government shall have; and in fine, everything that relates to the +complete organisation of a civil government, and the principles on which +it shall act, and by which it shall be bound. A constitution, therefore, +is to a government what the laws made afterwards by that government +are to a court of judicature. The court of judicature does not make the +laws, neither can it alter them; it only acts in conformity to the laws +made: and the government is in like manner governed by the constitution. + +Can, then, Mr. Burke produce the English Constitution? If he cannot, +we may fairly conclude that though it has been so much talked about, no +such thing as a constitution exists, or ever did exist, and consequently +that the people have yet a constitution to form. + +Mr. Burke will not, I presume, deny the position I have already +advanced--namely, that governments arise either out of the people or +over the people. The English Government is one of those which arose out +of a conquest, and not out of society, and consequently it arose over +the people; and though it has been much modified from the opportunity of +circumstances since the time of William the Conqueror, the country has +never yet regenerated itself, and is therefore without a constitution. + +I readily perceive the reason why Mr. Burke declined going into the +comparison between the English and French constitutions, because he +could not but perceive, when he sat down to the task, that no such a +thing as a constitution existed on his side the question. His book +is certainly bulky enough to have contained all he could say on this +subject, and it would have been the best manner in which people could +have judged of their separate merits. Why then has he declined the only +thing that was worth while to write upon? It was the strongest ground he +could take, if the advantages were on his side, but the weakest if they +were not; and his declining to take it is either a sign that he could +not possess it or could not maintain it. + +Mr. Burke said, in a speech last winter in Parliament, "that when the +National Assembly first met in three Orders (the Tiers Etat, the Clergy, +and the Noblesse), France had then a good constitution." This shows, +among numerous other instances, that Mr. Burke does not understand what +a constitution is. The persons so met were not a constitution, but a +convention, to make a constitution. + +The present National Assembly of France is, strictly speaking, the +personal social compact. The members of it are the delegates of +the nation in its original character; future assemblies will be the +delegates of the nation in its organised character. The authority of +the present Assembly is different from what the authority of future +Assemblies will be. The authority of the present one is to form a +constitution; the authority of future assemblies will be to legislate +according to the principles and forms prescribed in that constitution; +and if experience should hereafter show that alterations, amendments, +or additions are necessary, the constitution will point out the mode by +which such things shall be done, and not leave it to the discretionary +power of the future government. + +A government on the principles on which constitutional governments +arising out of society are established, cannot have the right of +altering itself. If it had, it would be arbitrary. It might make itself +what it pleased; and wherever such a right is set up, it shows there +is no constitution. The act by which the English Parliament empowered +itself to sit seven years, shows there is no constitution in England. It +might, by the same self-authority, have sat any great number of years, +or for life. The bill which the present Mr. Pitt brought into Parliament +some years ago, to reform Parliament, was on the same erroneous +principle. The right of reform is in the nation in its original +character, and the constitutional method would be by a general +convention elected for the purpose. There is, moreover, a paradox in the +idea of vitiated bodies reforming themselves. + +From these preliminaries I proceed to draw some comparisons. I have +already spoken of the declaration of rights; and as I mean to be as +concise as possible, I shall proceed to other parts of the French +Constitution. + +The constitution of France says that every man who pays a tax of sixty +sous per annum (2s. 6d. English) is an elector. What article will Mr. +Burke place against this? Can anything be more limited, and at the same +time more capricious, than the qualification of electors is in England? +Limited--because not one man in an hundred (I speak much within compass) +is admitted to vote. Capricious--because the lowest character that can +be supposed to exist, and who has not so much as the visible means of an +honest livelihood, is an elector in some places: while in other places, +the man who pays very large taxes, and has a known fair character, and +the farmer who rents to the amount of three or four hundred pounds a +year, with a property on that farm to three or four times that amount, +is not admitted to be an elector. Everything is out of nature, as Mr. +Burke says on another occasion, in this strange chaos, and all sorts of +follies are blended with all sorts of crimes. William the Conqueror and +his descendants parcelled out the country in this manner, and bribed +some parts of it by what they call charters to hold the other parts of +it the better subjected to their will. This is the reason why so many +of those charters abound in Cornwall; the people were averse to the +Government established at the Conquest, and the towns were garrisoned +and bribed to enslave the country. All the old charters are the badges +of this conquest, and it is from this source that the capriciousness of +election arises. + +The French Constitution says that the number of representatives for +any place shall be in a ratio to the number of taxable inhabitants or +electors. What article will Mr. Burke place against this? The county +of York, which contains nearly a million of souls, sends two county +members; and so does the county of Rutland, which contains not an +hundredth part of that number. The old town of Sarum, which contains +not three houses, sends two members; and the town of Manchester, which +contains upward of sixty thousand souls, is not admitted to send any. +Is there any principle in these things? It is admitted that all this +is altered, but there is much to be done yet, before we have a fair +representation of the people. Is there anything by which you can trace +the marks of freedom, or discover those of wisdom? No wonder then Mr. +Burke has declined the comparison, and endeavored to lead his readers +from the point by a wild, unsystematical display of paradoxical +rhapsodies. + +The French Constitution says that the National Assembly shall be elected +every two years. What article will Mr. Burke place against this? Why, +that the nation has no right at all in the case; that the government is +perfectly arbitrary with respect to this point; and he can quote for his +authority the precedent of a former Parliament. + +The French Constitution says there shall be no game laws, that the +farmer on whose lands wild game shall be found (for it is by the produce +of his lands they are fed) shall have a right to what he can take; that +there shall be no monopolies of any kind--that all trades shall be free +and every man free to follow any occupation by which he can procure +an honest livelihood, and in any place, town, or city throughout the +nation. What will Mr. Burke say to this? In England, game is made the +property of those at whose expense it is not fed; and with respect to +monopolies, the country is cut up into monopolies. Every chartered +town is an aristocratical monopoly in itself, and the qualification of +electors proceeds out of those chartered monopolies. Is this freedom? Is +this what Mr. Burke means by a constitution? + +In these chartered monopolies, a man coming from another part of the +country is hunted from them as if he were a foreign enemy. An Englishman +is not free of his own country; every one of those places presents a +barrier in his way, and tells him he is not a freeman--that he has no +rights. Within these monopolies are other monopolies. In a city, such +for instance as Bath, which contains between twenty and thirty thousand +inhabitants, the right of electing representatives to Parliament is +monopolised by about thirty-one persons. And within these monopolies +are still others. A man even of the same town, whose parents were not +in circumstances to give him an occupation, is debarred, in many cases, +from the natural right of acquiring one, be his genius or industry what +it may. + +Are these things examples to hold out to a country regenerating itself +from slavery, like France? Certainly they are not, and certain am I, +that when the people of England come to reflect upon them they will, +like France, annihilate those badges of ancient oppression, those traces +of a conquered nation. Had Mr. Burke possessed talents similar to the +author of "On the Wealth of Nations." he would have comprehended all +the parts which enter into, and, by assemblage, form a constitution. +He would have reasoned from minutiae to magnitude. It is not from his +prejudices only, but from the disorderly cast of his genius, that he is +unfitted for the subject he writes upon. Even his genius is without a +constitution. It is a genius at random, and not a genius constituted. +But he must say something. He has therefore mounted in the air like a +balloon, to draw the eyes of the multitude from the ground they stand +upon. + +Much is to be learned from the French Constitution. Conquest and tyranny +transplanted themselves with William the Conqueror from Normandy into +England, and the country is yet disfigured with the marks. May, then, +the example of all France contribute to regenerate the freedom which a +province of it destroyed! + +The French Constitution says that to preserve the national +representation from being corrupt, no member of the National Assembly +shall be an officer of the government, a placeman or a pensioner. What +will Mr. Burke place against this? I will whisper his answer: Loaves and +Fishes. Ah! this government of loaves and fishes has more mischief in +it than people have yet reflected on. The National Assembly has made the +discovery, and it holds out the example to the world. Had governments +agreed to quarrel on purpose to fleece their countries by taxes, they +could not have succeeded better than they have done. + +Everything in the English government appears to me the reverse of +what it ought to be, and of what it is said to be. The Parliament, +imperfectly and capriciously elected as it is, is nevertheless supposed +to hold the national purse in trust for the nation; but in the manner in +which an English Parliament is constructed it is like a man being both +mortgagor and mortgagee, and in the case of misapplication of trust it +is the criminal sitting in judgment upon himself. If those who vote the +supplies are the same persons who receive the supplies when voted, and +are to account for the expenditure of those supplies to those who voted +them, it is themselves accountable to themselves, and the Comedy of +Errors concludes with the pantomime of Hush. Neither the Ministerial +party nor the Opposition will touch upon this case. The national purse +is the common hack which each mounts upon. It is like what the country +people call "Ride and tie--you ride a little way, and then I."*[5] They +order these things better in France. + +The French Constitution says that the right of war and peace is in the +nation. Where else should it reside but in those who are to pay the +expense? + +In England this right is said to reside in a metaphor shown at the Tower +for sixpence or a shilling a piece: so are the lions; and it would be +a step nearer to reason to say it resided in them, for any inanimate +metaphor is no more than a hat or a cap. We can all see the absurdity of +worshipping Aaron's molten calf, or Nebuchadnezzar's golden image; but +why do men continue to practise themselves the absurdities they despise +in others? + +It may with reason be said that in the manner the English nation is +represented it signifies not where the right resides, whether in the +Crown or in the Parliament. War is the common harvest of all those who +participate in the division and expenditure of public money, in all +countries. It is the art of conquering at home; the object of it is an +increase of revenue; and as revenue cannot be increased without taxes, +a pretence must be made for expenditure. In reviewing the history of the +English Government, its wars and its taxes, a bystander, not blinded +by prejudice nor warped by interest, would declare that taxes were not +raised to carry on wars, but that wars were raised to carry on taxes. + +Mr. Burke, as a member of the House of Commons, is a part of the English +Government; and though he professes himself an enemy to war, he abuses +the French Constitution, which seeks to explode it. He holds up the +English Government as a model, in all its parts, to France; but he +should first know the remarks which the French make upon it. They +contend in favor of their own, that the portion of liberty enjoyed in +England is just enough to enslave a country more productively than by +despotism, and that as the real object of all despotism is revenue, +a government so formed obtains more than it could do either by direct +despotism, or in a full state of freedom, and is, therefore on the +ground of interest, opposed to both. They account also for the readiness +which always appears in such governments for engaging in wars by +remarking on the different motives which produced them. In despotic +governments wars are the effect of pride; but in those governments in +which they become the means of taxation, they acquire thereby a more +permanent promptitude. + +The French Constitution, therefore, to provide against both these evils, +has taken away the power of declaring war from kings and ministers, and +placed the right where the expense must fall. + +When the question of the right of war and peace was agitating in the +National Assembly, the people of England appeared to be much interested +in the event, and highly to applaud the decision. As a principle it +applies as much to one country as another. William the Conqueror, as +a conqueror, held this power of war and peace in himself, and his +descendants have ever since claimed it under him as a right. + +Although Mr. Burke has asserted the right of the Parliament at the +Revolution to bind and control the nation and posterity for ever, he +denies at the same time that the Parliament or the nation had any right +to alter what he calls the succession of the crown in anything but in +part, or by a sort of modification. By his taking this ground he throws +the case back to the Norman Conquest, and by thus running a line of +succession springing from William the Conqueror to the present day, he +makes it necessary to enquire who and what William the Conqueror was, +and where he came from, and into the origin, history and nature of what +are called prerogatives. Everything must have had a beginning, and the +fog of time and antiquity should be penetrated to discover it. Let, +then, Mr. Burke bring forward his William of Normandy, for it is to this +origin that his argument goes. It also unfortunately happens, in running +this line of succession, that another line parallel thereto presents +itself, which is that if the succession runs in the line of the +conquest, the nation runs in the line of being conquered, and it ought +to rescue itself from this reproach. + +But it will perhaps be said that though the power of declaring war +descends in the heritage of the conquest, it is held in check by the +right of Parliament to withhold the supplies. It will always happen when +a thing is originally wrong that amendments do not make it right, and it +often happens that they do as much mischief one way as good the other, +and such is the case here, for if the one rashly declares war as a +matter of right, and the other peremptorily withholds the supplies as a +matter of right, the remedy becomes as bad, or worse, than the disease. +The one forces the nation to a combat, and the other ties its hands; +but the more probable issue is that the contest will end in a collusion +between the parties, and be made a screen to both. + +On this question of war, three things are to be considered. First, the +right of declaring it: secondly, the expense of supporting it: thirdly, +the mode of conducting it after it is declared. The French Constitution +places the right where the expense must fall, and this union can only +be in the nation. The mode of conducting it after it is declared, +it consigns to the executive department. Were this the case in all +countries, we should hear but little more of wars. + +Before I proceed to consider other parts of the French Constitution, +and by way of relieving the fatigue of argument, I will introduce an +anecdote which I had from Dr. Franklin. + +While the Doctor resided in France as Minister from America, during +the war, he had numerous proposals made to him by projectors of every +country and of every kind, who wished to go to the land that floweth +with milk and honey, America; and among the rest, there was one who +offered himself to be king. He introduced his proposal to the Doctor by +letter, which is now in the hands of M. Beaumarchais, of Paris--stating, +first, that as the Americans had dismissed or sent away*[6] their King, +that they would want another. Secondly, that himself was a Norman. +Thirdly, that he was of a more ancient family than the Dukes of +Normandy, and of a more honorable descent, his line having never been +bastardised. Fourthly, that there was already a precedent in England of +kings coming out of Normandy, and on these grounds he rested his offer, +enjoining that the Doctor would forward it to America. But as the Doctor +neither did this, nor yet sent him an answer, the projector wrote a +second letter, in which he did not, it is true, threaten to go over and +conquer America, but only with great dignity proposed that if his offer +was not accepted, an acknowledgment of about L30,000 might be made to +him for his generosity! Now, as all arguments respecting succession must +necessarily connect that succession with some beginning, Mr. Burke's +arguments on this subject go to show that there is no English origin of +kings, and that they are descendants of the Norman line in right of the +Conquest. It may, therefore, be of service to his doctrine to make this +story known, and to inform him, that in case of that natural extinction +to which all mortality is subject, Kings may again be had from Normandy, +on more reasonable terms than William the Conqueror; and consequently, +that the good people of England, at the revolution of 1688, might have +done much better, had such a generous Norman as this known their wants, +and they had known his. The chivalric character which Mr. Burke so much +admires, is certainly much easier to make a bargain with than a hard +dealing Dutchman. But to return to the matters of the constitution: The +French Constitution says, There shall be no titles; and, of consequence, +all that class of equivocal generation which in some countries is called +"aristocracy" and in others "nobility," is done away, and the peer is +exalted into the Man. + +Titles are but nicknames, and every nickname is a title. The thing is +perfectly harmless in itself, but it marks a sort of foppery in the +human character, which degrades it. It reduces man into the diminutive +of man in things which are great, and the counterfeit of women in things +which are little. It talks about its fine blue ribbon like a girl, and +shows its new garter like a child. A certain writer, of some antiquity, +says: "When I was a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a +man, I put away childish things." + +It is, properly, from the elevated mind of France that the folly of +titles has fallen. It has outgrown the baby clothes of Count and Duke, +and breeched itself in manhood. France has not levelled, it has exalted. +It has put down the dwarf, to set up the man. The punyism of a senseless +word like Duke, Count or Earl has ceased to please. Even those who +possessed them have disowned the gibberish, and as they outgrew the +rickets, have despised the rattle. The genuine mind of man, thirsting +for its native home, society, contemns the gewgaws that separate him +from it. Titles are like circles drawn by the magician's wand, to +contract the sphere of man's felicity. He lives immured within the +Bastille of a word, and surveys at a distance the envied life of man. + +Is it, then, any wonder that titles should fall in France? Is it not a +greater wonder that they should be kept up anywhere? What are they? What +is their worth, and "what is their amount?" When we think or speak of +a Judge or a General, we associate with it the ideas of office and +character; we think of gravity in one and bravery in the other; but when +we use the word merely as a title, no ideas associate with it. Through +all the vocabulary of Adam there is not such an animal as a Duke or a +Count; neither can we connect any certain ideas with the words. Whether +they mean strength or weakness, wisdom or folly, a child or a man, or +the rider or the horse, is all equivocal. What respect then can be paid +to that which describes nothing, and which means nothing? Imagination +has given figure and character to centaurs, satyrs, and down to all +the fairy tribe; but titles baffle even the powers of fancy, and are a +chimerical nondescript. + +But this is not all. If a whole country is disposed to hold them in +contempt, all their value is gone, and none will own them. It is +common opinion only that makes them anything, or nothing, or worse +than nothing. There is no occasion to take titles away, for they take +themselves away when society concurs to ridicule them. This species of +imaginary consequence has visibly declined in every part of Europe, and +it hastens to its exit as the world of reason continues to rise. There +was a time when the lowest class of what are called nobility was more +thought of than the highest is now, and when a man in armour riding +throughout Christendom in quest of adventures was more stared at than +a modern Duke. The world has seen this folly fall, and it has fallen +by being laughed at, and the farce of titles will follow its fate. The +patriots of France have discovered in good time that rank and dignity in +society must take a new ground. The old one has fallen through. It must +now take the substantial ground of character, instead of the chimerical +ground of titles; and they have brought their titles to the altar, and +made of them a burnt-offering to Reason. + +If no mischief had annexed itself to the folly of titles they would not +have been worth a serious and formal destruction, such as the National +Assembly have decreed them; and this makes it necessary to enquire +farther into the nature and character of aristocracy. + +That, then, which is called aristocracy in some countries and nobility +in others arose out of the governments founded upon conquest. It was +originally a military order for the purpose of supporting military +government (for such were all governments founded in conquest); and +to keep up a succession of this order for the purpose for which it +was established, all the younger branches of those families were +disinherited and the law of primogenitureship set up. + +The nature and character of aristocracy shows itself to us in this law. +It is the law against every other law of nature, and Nature herself +calls for its destruction. Establish family justice, and aristocracy +falls. By the aristocratical law of primogenitureship, in a family +of six children five are exposed. Aristocracy has never more than one +child. The rest are begotten to be devoured. They are thrown to the +cannibal for prey, and the natural parent prepares the unnatural repast. + +As everything which is out of nature in man affects, more or less, +the interest of society, so does this. All the children which the +aristocracy disowns (which are all except the eldest) are, in general, +cast like orphans on a parish, to be provided for by the public, but +at a greater charge. Unnecessary offices and places in governments and +courts are created at the expense of the public to maintain them. + +With what kind of parental reflections can the father or mother +contemplate their younger offspring? By nature they are children, and +by marriage they are heirs; but by aristocracy they are bastards and +orphans. They are the flesh and blood of their parents in the one line, +and nothing akin to them in the other. To restore, therefore, parents to +their children, and children to their parents relations to each other, +and man to society--and to exterminate the monster aristocracy, root +and branch--the French Constitution has destroyed the law of +Primogenitureship. Here then lies the monster; and Mr. Burke, if he +pleases, may write its epitaph. + +Hitherto we have considered aristocracy chiefly in one point of view. +We have now to consider it in another. But whether we view it before or +behind, or sideways, or any way else, domestically or publicly, it is +still a monster. + +In France aristocracy had one feature less in its countenance than what +it has in some other countries. It did not compose a body of hereditary +legislators. It was not "a corporation of aristocracy," for such I have +heard M. de la Fayette describe an English House of Peers. Let us then +examine the grounds upon which the French Constitution has resolved +against having such a House in France. + +Because, in the first place, as is already mentioned, aristocracy is +kept up by family tyranny and injustice. + +Secondly. Because there is an unnatural unfitness in an aristocracy to +be legislators for a nation. Their ideas of distributive justice are +corrupted at the very source. They begin life by trampling on all their +younger brothers and sisters, and relations of every kind, and are +taught and educated so to do. With what ideas of justice or honour can +that man enter a house of legislation, who absorbs in his own person +the inheritance of a whole family of children or doles out to them some +pitiful portion with the insolence of a gift? + +Thirdly. Because the idea of hereditary legislators is as inconsistent +as that of hereditary judges, or hereditary juries; and as absurd as an +hereditary mathematician, or an hereditary wise man; and as ridiculous +as an hereditary poet laureate. + +Fourthly. Because a body of men, holding themselves accountable to +nobody, ought not to be trusted by anybody. + +Fifthly. Because it is continuing the uncivilised principle of +governments founded in conquest, and the base idea of man having +property in man, and governing him by personal right. + +Sixthly. Because aristocracy has a tendency to deteriorate the human +species. By the universal economy of nature it is known, and by the +instance of the Jews it is proved, that the human species has a tendency +to degenerate, in any small number of persons, when separated from the +general stock of society, and inter-marrying constantly with each other. +It defeats even its pretended end, and becomes in time the opposite of +what is noble in man. Mr. Burke talks of nobility; let him show what +it is. The greatest characters the world have known have arisen on the +democratic floor. Aristocracy has not been able to keep a proportionate +pace with democracy. The artificial Noble shrinks into a dwarf before +the Noble of Nature; and in the few instances of those (for there are +some in all countries) in whom nature, as by a miracle, has survived in +aristocracy, Those Men Despise It.--But it is time to proceed to a new +subject. + +The French Constitution has reformed the condition of the clergy. It has +raised the income of the lower and middle classes, and taken from the +higher. None are now less than twelve hundred livres (fifty pounds +sterling), nor any higher than two or three thousand pounds. What will +Mr. Burke place against this? Hear what he says. + +He says: "That the people of England can see without pain or grudging, +an archbishop precede a duke; they can see a Bishop of Durham, or a +Bishop of Winchester in possession of L10,000 a-year; and cannot see why +it is in worse hands than estates to a like amount, in the hands of this +earl or that squire." And Mr. Burke offers this as an example to France. + +As to the first part, whether the archbishop precedes the duke, or the +duke the bishop, it is, I believe, to the people in general, somewhat +like Sternhold and Hopkins, or Hopkins and Sternhold; you may put which +you please first; and as I confess that I do not understand the merits +of this case, I will not contest it with Mr. Burke. + +But with respect to the latter, I have something to say. Mr. Burke has +not put the case right. The comparison is out of order, by being put +between the bishop and the earl or the squire. It ought to be put +between the bishop and the curate, and then it will stand thus:--"The +people of England can see without pain or grudging, a Bishop of Durham, +or a Bishop of Winchester, in possession of ten thousand pounds a-year, +and a curate on thirty or forty pounds a-year, or less." No, sir, they +certainly do not see those things without great pain or grudging. It is +a case that applies itself to every man's sense of justice, and is one +among many that calls aloud for a constitution. + +In France the cry of "the church! the church!" was repeated as often +as in Mr. Burke's book, and as loudly as when the Dissenters' Bill was +before the English Parliament; but the generality of the French clergy +were not to be deceived by this cry any longer. They knew that whatever +the pretence might be, it was they who were one of the principal objects +of it. It was the cry of the high beneficed clergy, to prevent any +regulation of income taking place between those of ten thousand pounds +a-year and the parish priest. They therefore joined their case to +those of every other oppressed class of men, and by this union obtained +redress. + +The French Constitution has abolished tythes, that source of perpetual +discontent between the tythe-holder and the parishioner. When land is +held on tythe, it is in the condition of an estate held between two +parties; the one receiving one-tenth, and the other nine-tenths of the +produce: and consequently, on principles of equity, if the estate can be +improved, and made to produce by that improvement double or treble what +it did before, or in any other ratio, the expense of such improvement +ought to be borne in like proportion between the parties who are to +share the produce. But this is not the case in tythes: the farmer +bears the whole expense, and the tythe-holder takes a tenth of the +improvement, in addition to the original tenth, and by this means gets +the value of two-tenths instead of one. This is another case that calls +for a constitution. + +The French Constitution hath abolished or renounced Toleration and +Intolerance also, and hath established Universal Right Of Conscience. + +Toleration is not the opposite of Intolerance, but is the counterfeit +of it. Both are despotisms. The one assumes to itself the right of +withholding Liberty of Conscience, and the other of granting it. The +one is the Pope armed with fire and faggot, and the other is the Pope +selling or granting indulgences. The former is church and state, and the +latter is church and traffic. + +But Toleration may be viewed in a much stronger light. Man worships not +himself, but his Maker; and the liberty of conscience which he claims is +not for the service of himself, but of his God. In this case, therefore, +we must necessarily have the associated idea of two things; the mortal +who renders the worship, and the Immortal Being who is worshipped. +Toleration, therefore, places itself, not between man and man, nor +between church and church, nor between one denomination of religion and +another, but between God and man; between the being who worships, and +the Being who is worshipped; and by the same act of assumed authority +which it tolerates man to pay his worship, it presumptuously and +blasphemously sets itself up to tolerate the Almighty to receive it. + +Were a bill brought into any Parliament, entitled, "An Act to tolerate +or grant liberty to the Almighty to receive the worship of a Jew or +Turk," or "to prohibit the Almighty from receiving it," all men would +startle and call it blasphemy. There would be an uproar. The presumption +of toleration in religious matters would then present itself unmasked; +but the presumption is not the less because the name of "Man" only +appears to those laws, for the associated idea of the worshipper and the +worshipped cannot be separated. Who then art thou, vain dust and ashes! +by whatever name thou art called, whether a King, a Bishop, a Church, +or a State, a Parliament, or anything else, that obtrudest thine +insignificance between the soul of man and its Maker? Mind thine own +concerns. If he believes not as thou believest, it is a proof that +thou believest not as he believes, and there is no earthly power can +determine between you. + +With respect to what are called denominations of religion, if every +one is left to judge of its own religion, there is no such thing as +a religion that is wrong; but if they are to judge of each other's +religion, there is no such thing as a religion that is right; and +therefore all the world is right, or all the world is wrong. But with +respect to religion itself, without regard to names, and as directing +itself from the universal family of mankind to the Divine object of all +adoration, it is man bringing to his Maker the fruits of his heart; and +though those fruits may differ from each other like the fruits of the +earth, the grateful tribute of every one is accepted. + +A Bishop of Durham, or a Bishop of Winchester, or the archbishop who +heads the dukes, will not refuse a tythe-sheaf of wheat because it is +not a cock of hay, nor a cock of hay because it is not a sheaf of wheat; +nor a pig, because it is neither one nor the other; but these same +persons, under the figure of an established church, will not permit +their Maker to receive the varied tythes of man's devotion. + +One of the continual choruses of Mr. Burke's book is "Church and State." +He does not mean some one particular church, or some one particular +state, but any church and state; and he uses the term as a general +figure to hold forth the political doctrine of always uniting the church +with the state in every country, and he censures the National Assembly +for not having done this in France. Let us bestow a few thoughts on this +subject. + +All religions are in their nature kind and benign, and united with +principles of morality. They could not have made proselytes at first by +professing anything that was vicious, cruel, persecuting, or immoral. +Like everything else, they had their beginning; and they proceeded by +persuasion, exhortation, and example. How then is it that they lose +their native mildness, and become morose and intolerant? + +It proceeds from the connection which Mr. Burke recommends. By +engendering the church with the state, a sort of mule-animal, capable +only of destroying, and not of breeding up, is produced, called the +Church established by Law. It is a stranger, even from its birth, to any +parent mother, on whom it is begotten, and whom in time it kicks out and +destroys. + +The inquisition in Spain does not proceed from the religion originally +professed, but from this mule-animal, engendered between the church +and the state. The burnings in Smithfield proceeded from the same +heterogeneous production; and it was the regeneration of this strange +animal in England afterwards, that renewed rancour and irreligion among +the inhabitants, and that drove the people called Quakers and Dissenters +to America. Persecution is not an original feature in any religion; +but it is alway the strongly-marked feature of all law-religions, or +religions established by law. Take away the law-establishment, and +every religion re-assumes its original benignity. In America, a catholic +priest is a good citizen, a good character, and a good neighbour; an +episcopalian minister is of the same description: and this proceeds +independently of the men, from there being no law-establishment in +America. + +If also we view this matter in a temporal sense, we shall see the ill +effects it has had on the prosperity of nations. The union of church and +state has impoverished Spain. The revoking the edict of Nantes drove the +silk manufacture from that country into England; and church and state +are now driving the cotton manufacture from England to America and +France. Let then Mr. Burke continue to preach his antipolitical doctrine +of Church and State. It will do some good. The National Assembly +will not follow his advice, but will benefit by his folly. It was by +observing the ill effects of it in England, that America has been warned +against it; and it is by experiencing them in France, that the National +Assembly have abolished it, and, like America, have established +Universal Right Of Conscience, And Universal Right Of Citizenship.*[7] + +I will here cease the comparison with respect to the principles of the +French Constitution, and conclude this part of the subject with a few +observations on the organisation of the formal parts of the French and +English governments. + +The executive power in each country is in the hands of a person styled +the King; but the French Constitution distinguishes between the King and +the Sovereign: It considers the station of King as official, and places +Sovereignty in the nation. + +The representatives of the nation, who compose the National Assembly, +and who are the legislative power, originate in and from the people +by election, as an inherent right in the people.--In England it is +otherwise; and this arises from the original establishment of what +is called its monarchy; for, as by the conquest all the rights of the +people or the nation were absorbed into the hands of the Conqueror, and +who added the title of King to that of Conqueror, those same matters +which in France are now held as rights in the people, or in the nation, +are held in England as grants from what is called the crown. The +Parliament in England, in both its branches, was erected by patents from +the descendants of the Conqueror. The House of Commons did not originate +as a matter of right in the people to delegate or elect, but as a grant +or boon. + +By the French Constitution the nation is always named before the king. +The third article of the declaration of rights says: "The nation is +essentially the source (or fountain) of all sovereignty." Mr. Burke +argues that in England a king is the fountain--that he is the fountain +of all honour. But as this idea is evidently descended from the conquest +I shall make no other remark upon it, than that it is the nature of +conquest to turn everything upside down; and as Mr. Burke will not be +refused the privilege of speaking twice, and as there are but two parts +in the figure, the fountain and the spout, he will be right the second +time. + +The French Constitution puts the legislative before the executive, the +law before the king; la loi, le roi. This also is in the natural +order of things, because laws must have existence before they can have +execution. + +A king in France does not, in addressing himself to the National +Assembly, say, "My Assembly," similar to the phrase used in England +of my "Parliament"; neither can he use it consistently with the +constitution, nor could it be admitted. There may be propriety in the +use of it in England, because as is before mentioned, both Houses +of Parliament originated from what is called the crown by patent or +boon--and not from the inherent rights of the people, as the National +Assembly does in France, and whose name designates its origin. + +The President of the National Assembly does not ask the King to grant to +the Assembly liberty of speech, as is the case with the English House +of Commons. The constitutional dignity of the National Assembly cannot +debase itself. Speech is, in the first place, one of the natural rights +of man always retained; and with respect to the National Assembly the +use of it is their duty, and the nation is their authority. They were +elected by the greatest body of men exercising the right of election +the European world ever saw. They sprung not from the filth of rotten +boroughs, nor are they the vassal representatives of aristocratical +ones. Feeling the proper dignity of their character they support it. +Their Parliamentary language, whether for or against a question, is +free, bold and manly, and extends to all the parts and circumstances of +the case. If any matter or subject respecting the executive department +or the person who presides in it (the king) comes before them it is +debated on with the spirit of men, and in the language of gentlemen; and +their answer or their address is returned in the same style. They stand +not aloof with the gaping vacuity of vulgar ignorance, nor bend with the +cringe of sycophantic insignificance. The graceful pride of truth knows +no extremes, and preserves, in every latitude of life, the right-angled +character of man. + +Let us now look to the other side of the question. In the addresses +of the English Parliaments to their kings we see neither the intrepid +spirit of the old Parliaments of France, nor the serene dignity of the +present National Assembly; neither do we see in them anything of the +style of English manners, which border somewhat on bluntness. Since +then they are neither of foreign extraction, nor naturally of English +production, their origin must be sought for elsewhere, and that origin +is the Norman Conquest. They are evidently of the vassalage class of +manners, and emphatically mark the prostrate distance that exists in +no other condition of men than between the conqueror and the conquered. +That this vassalage idea and style of speaking was not got rid of even +at the Revolution of 1688, is evident from the declaration of Parliament +to William and Mary in these words: "We do most humbly and faithfully +submit ourselves, our heirs and posterities, for ever." Submission is +wholly a vassalage term, repugnant to the dignity of freedom, and an +echo of the language used at the Conquest. + +As the estimation of all things is given by comparison, the Revolution +of 1688, however from circumstances it may have been exalted beyond its +value, will find its level. It is already on the wane, eclipsed by the +enlarging orb of reason, and the luminous revolutions of America and +France. In less than another century it will go, as well as Mr. Burke's +labours, "to the family vault of all the Capulets." Mankind will then +scarcely believe that a country calling itself free would send +to Holland for a man, and clothe him with power on purpose to put +themselves in fear of him, and give him almost a million sterling a year +for leave to submit themselves and their posterity, like bondmen and +bondwomen, for ever. + +But there is a truth that ought to be made known; I have had the +opportunity of seeing it; which is, that notwithstanding appearances, +there is not any description of men that despise monarchy so much as +courtiers. But they well know, that if it were seen by others, as it is +seen by them, the juggle could not be kept up; they are in the condition +of men who get their living by a show, and to whom the folly of that +show is so familiar that they ridicule it; but were the audience to be +made as wise in this respect as themselves, there would be an end to the +show and the profits with it. The difference between a republican and +a courtier with respect to monarchy, is that the one opposes monarchy, +believing it to be something; and the other laughs at it, knowing it to +be nothing. + +As I used sometimes to correspond with Mr. Burke believing him then to +be a man of sounder principles than his book shows him to be, I wrote +to him last winter from Paris, and gave him an account how prosperously +matters were going on. Among other subjects in that letter, I referred +to the happy situation the National Assembly were placed in; that they +had taken ground on which their moral duty and their political interest +were united. They have not to hold out a language which they do not +themselves believe, for the fraudulent purpose of making others believe +it. Their station requires no artifice to support it, and can only be +maintained by enlightening mankind. It is not their interest to cherish +ignorance, but to dispel it. They are not in the case of a ministerial +or an opposition party in England, who, though they are opposed, are +still united to keep up the common mystery. The National Assembly must +throw open a magazine of light. It must show man the proper character of +man; and the nearer it can bring him to that standard, the stronger the +National Assembly becomes. + +In contemplating the French Constitution, we see in it a rational order +of things. The principles harmonise with the forms, and both with their +origin. It may perhaps be said as an excuse for bad forms, that they +are nothing more than forms; but this is a mistake. Forms grow out of +principles, and operate to continue the principles they grow from. It +is impossible to practise a bad form on anything but a bad principle. +It cannot be ingrafted on a good one; and wherever the forms in any +government are bad, it is a certain indication that the principles are +bad also. + +I will here finally close this subject. I began it by remarking that Mr. +Burke had voluntarily declined going into a comparison of the English +and French Constitutions. He apologises (in page 241) for not doing it, +by saying that he had not time. Mr. Burke's book was upwards of eight +months in hand, and is extended to a volume of three hundred and +sixty-six pages. As his omission does injury to his cause, his apology +makes it worse; and men on the English side of the water will begin to +consider, whether there is not some radical defect in what is called the +English constitution, that made it necessary for Mr. Burke to suppress +the comparison, to avoid bringing it into view. + +As Mr. Burke has not written on constitutions so neither has he written +on the French Revolution. He gives no account of its commencement or its +progress. He only expresses his wonder. "It looks," says he, "to me, as +if I were in a great crisis, not of the affairs of France alone, but +of all Europe, perhaps of more than Europe. All circumstances taken +together, the French Revolution is the most astonishing that has +hitherto happened in the world." + +As wise men are astonished at foolish things, and other people at +wise ones, I know not on which ground to account for Mr. Burke's +astonishment; but certain it is, that he does not understand the French +Revolution. It has apparently burst forth like a creation from a chaos, +but it is no more than the consequence of a mental revolution priorily +existing in France. The mind of the nation had changed beforehand, +and the new order of things has naturally followed the new order of +thoughts. I will here, as concisely as I can, trace out the growth of +the French Revolution, and mark the circumstances that have contributed +to produce it. + +The despotism of Louis XIV., united with the gaiety of his Court, and +the gaudy ostentation of his character, had so humbled, and at the same +time so fascinated the mind of France, that the people appeared to have +lost all sense of their own dignity, in contemplating that of their +Grand Monarch; and the whole reign of Louis XV., remarkable only for +weakness and effeminacy, made no other alteration than that of spreading +a sort of lethargy over the nation, from which it showed no disposition +to rise. + +The only signs which appeared to the spirit of Liberty during those +periods, are to be found in the writings of the French philosophers. +Montesquieu, President of the Parliament of Bordeaux, went as far as a +writer under a despotic government could well proceed; and being obliged +to divide himself between principle and prudence, his mind often appears +under a veil, and we ought to give him credit for more than he has +expressed. + +Voltaire, who was both the flatterer and the satirist of despotism, took +another line. His forte lay in exposing and ridiculing the superstitions +which priest-craft, united with state-craft, had interwoven with +governments. It was not from the purity of his principles, or his love +of mankind (for satire and philanthropy are not naturally concordant), +but from his strong capacity of seeing folly in its true shape, and his +irresistible propensity to expose it, that he made those attacks. They +were, however, as formidable as if the motive had been virtuous; and he +merits the thanks rather than the esteem of mankind. + +On the contrary, we find in the writings of Rousseau, and the Abbe +Raynal, a loveliness of sentiment in favour of liberty, that excites +respect, and elevates the human faculties; but having raised this +animation, they do not direct its operation, and leave the mind in love +with an object, without describing the means of possessing it. + +The writings of Quesnay, Turgot, and the friends of those authors, are +of the serious kind; but they laboured under the same disadvantage with +Montesquieu; their writings abound with moral maxims of government, but +are rather directed to economise and reform the administration of the +government, than the government itself. + +But all those writings and many others had their weight; and by the +different manner in which they treated the subject of government, +Montesquieu by his judgment and knowledge of laws, Voltaire by his wit, +Rousseau and Raynal by their animation, and Quesnay and Turgot by their +moral maxims and systems of economy, readers of every class met with +something to their taste, and a spirit of political inquiry began +to diffuse itself through the nation at the time the dispute between +England and the then colonies of America broke out. + +In the war which France afterwards engaged in, it is very well known +that the nation appeared to be before-hand with the French ministry. +Each of them had its view; but those views were directed to different +objects; the one sought liberty, and the other retaliation on England. +The French officers and soldiers who after this went to America, were +eventually placed in the school of Freedom, and learned the practice as +well as the principles of it by heart. + +As it was impossible to separate the military events which took place in +America from the principles of the American Revolution, the publication +of those events in France necessarily connected themselves with the +principles which produced them. Many of the facts were in themselves +principles; such as the declaration of American Independence, and the +treaty of alliance between France and America, which recognised the +natural rights of man, and justified resistance to oppression. + +The then Minister of France, Count Vergennes, was not the friend of +America; and it is both justice and gratitude to say, that it was the +Queen of France who gave the cause of America a fashion at the French +Court. Count Vergennes was the personal and social friend of Dr. +Franklin; and the Doctor had obtained, by his sensible gracefulness, +a sort of influence over him; but with respect to principles Count +Vergennes was a despot. + +The situation of Dr. Franklin, as Minister from America to France, +should be taken into the chain of circumstances. The diplomatic +character is of itself the narrowest sphere of society that man can +act in. It forbids intercourse by the reciprocity of suspicion; and +a diplomatic is a sort of unconnected atom, continually repelling and +repelled. But this was not the case with Dr. Franklin. He was not the +diplomatic of a Court, but of Man. His character as a philosopher +had been long established, and his circle of society in France was +universal. + +Count Vergennes resisted for a considerable time the publication in +France of American constitutions, translated into the French language: +but even in this he was obliged to give way to public opinion, and +a sort of propriety in admitting to appear what he had undertaken to +defend. The American constitutions were to liberty what a grammar is +to language: they define its parts of speech, and practically construct +them into syntax. + +The peculiar situation of the then Marquis de la Fayette is another link +in the great chain. He served in America as an American officer under a +commission of Congress, and by the universality of his acquaintance was +in close friendship with the civil government of America, as well as +with the military line. He spoke the language of the country, entered +into the discussions on the principles of government, and was always a +welcome friend at any election. + +When the war closed, a vast reinforcement to the cause of Liberty spread +itself over France, by the return of the French officers and soldiers. +A knowledge of the practice was then joined to the theory; and all +that was wanting to give it real existence was opportunity. Man cannot, +properly speaking, make circumstances for his purpose, but he always has +it in his power to improve them when they occur, and this was the case +in France. + +M. Neckar was displaced in May, 1781; and by the ill-management of +the finances afterwards, and particularly during the extravagant +administration of M. Calonne, the revenue of France, which was nearly +twenty-four millions sterling per year, was become unequal to the +expenditure, not because the revenue had decreased, but because the +expenses had increased; and this was a circumstance which the nation +laid hold of to bring forward a Revolution. The English Minister, Mr. +Pitt, has frequently alluded to the state of the French finances in his +budgets, without understanding the subject. Had the French Parliaments +been as ready to register edicts for new taxes as an English Parliament +is to grant them, there had been no derangement in the finances, nor yet +any Revolution; but this will better explain itself as I proceed. + +It will be necessary here to show how taxes were formerly raised in +France. The King, or rather the Court or Ministry acting under the use +of that name, framed the edicts for taxes at their own discretion, +and sent them to the Parliaments to be registered; for until they were +registered by the Parliaments they were not operative. Disputes had long +existed between the Court and the Parliaments with respect to the extent +of the Parliament's authority on this head. The Court insisted that the +authority of Parliaments went no farther than to remonstrate or show +reasons against the tax, reserving to itself the right of determining +whether the reasons were well or ill-founded; and in consequence +thereof, either to withdraw the edict as a matter of choice, or to order +it to be unregistered as a matter of authority. The Parliaments on their +part insisted that they had not only a right to remonstrate, but to +reject; and on this ground they were always supported by the nation. + +But to return to the order of my narrative. M. Calonne wanted money: and +as he knew the sturdy disposition of the Parliaments with respect to new +taxes, he ingeniously sought either to approach them by a more gentle +means than that of direct authority, or to get over their heads by a +manoeuvre; and for this purpose he revived the project of assembling a +body of men from the several provinces, under the style of an "Assembly +of the Notables," or men of note, who met in 1787, and who were either +to recommend taxes to the Parliaments, or to act as a Parliament +themselves. An Assembly under this name had been called in 1617. + +As we are to view this as the first practical step towards the +Revolution, it will be proper to enter into some particulars respecting +it. The Assembly of the Notables has in some places been mistaken for +the States-General, but was wholly a different body, the States-General +being always by election. The persons who composed the Assembly of the +Notables were all nominated by the king, and consisted of one hundred +and forty members. But as M. Calonne could not depend upon a majority of +this Assembly in his favour, he very ingeniously arranged them in such +a manner as to make forty-four a majority of one hundred and forty; +to effect this he disposed of them into seven separate committees, of +twenty members each. Every general question was to be decided, not by a +majority of persons, but by a majority of committee, and as eleven votes +would make a majority in a committee, and four committees a majority of +seven, M. Calonne had good reason to conclude that as forty-four would +determine any general question he could not be outvoted. But all his +plans deceived him, and in the event became his overthrow. + +The then Marquis de la Fayette was placed in the second committee, of +which the Count D'Artois was president, and as money matters were the +object, it naturally brought into view every circumstance connected with +it. M. de la Fayette made a verbal charge against Calonne for selling +crown lands to the amount of two millions of livres, in a manner +that appeared to be unknown to the king. The Count D'Artois (as if to +intimidate, for the Bastille was then in being) asked the Marquis if he +would render the charge in writing? He replied that he would. The Count +D'Artois did not demand it, but brought a message from the king to that +purport. M. de la Fayette then delivered in his charge in writing, to +be given to the king, undertaking to support it. No farther proceedings +were had upon this affair, but M. Calonne was soon after dismissed by +the king and set off to England. + +As M. de la Fayette, from the experience of what he had seen in America, +was better acquainted with the science of civil government than the +generality of the members who composed the Assembly of the Notables +could then be, the brunt of the business fell considerably to his share. +The plan of those who had a constitution in view was to contend with the +Court on the ground of taxes, and some of them openly professed their +object. Disputes frequently arose between Count D'Artois and M. de +la Fayette upon various subjects. With respect to the arrears already +incurred the latter proposed to remedy them by accommodating the +expenses to the revenue instead of the revenue to the expenses; and as +objects of reform he proposed to abolish the Bastille and all the State +prisons throughout the nation (the keeping of which was attended with +great expense), and to suppress Lettres de Cachet; but those matters +were not then much attended to, and with respect to Lettres de Cachet, a +majority of the Nobles appeared to be in favour of them. + +On the subject of supplying the Treasury by new taxes the Assembly +declined taking the matter on themselves, concurring in the opinion that +they had not authority. In a debate on this subject M. de la Fayette +said that raising money by taxes could only be done by a National +Assembly, freely elected by the people, and acting as their +representatives. Do you mean, said the Count D'Artois, the +States-General? M. de la Fayette replied that he did. Will you, said +the Count D'Artois, sign what you say to be given to the king? The other +replied that he would not only do this but that he would go farther, +and say that the effectual mode would be for the king to agree to the +establishment of a constitution. + +As one of the plans had thus failed, that of getting the Assembly to act +as a Parliament, the other came into view, that of recommending. On +this subject the Assembly agreed to recommend two new taxes to be +unregistered by the Parliament: the one a stamp-tax and the other a +territorial tax, or sort of land-tax. The two have been estimated +at about five millions sterling per annum. We have now to turn our +attention to the Parliaments, on whom the business was again devolving. + +The Archbishop of Thoulouse (since Archbishop of Sens, and now a +Cardinal), was appointed to the administration of the finances soon +after the dismission of Calonne. He was also made Prime Minister, an +office that did not always exist in France. When this office did +not exist, the chief of each of the principal departments transacted +business immediately with the King, but when a Prime Minister was +appointed they did business only with him. The Archbishop arrived to +more state authority than any minister since the Duke de Choiseul, and +the nation was strongly disposed in his favour; but by a line of conduct +scarcely to be accounted for he perverted every opportunity, turned out +a despot, and sunk into disgrace, and a Cardinal. + +The Assembly of the Notables having broken up, the minister sent +the edicts for the two new taxes recommended by the Assembly to the +Parliaments to be unregistered. They of course came first before the +Parliament of Paris, who returned for answer: "that with such a revenue +as the nation then supported the name of taxes ought not to be mentioned +but for the purpose of reducing them"; and threw both the edicts +out.*[8] On this refusal the Parliament was ordered to Versailles, +where, in the usual form, the King held what under the old government +was called a Bed of justice; and the two edicts were unregistered +in presence of the Parliament by an order of State, in the manner +mentioned, earlier. On this the Parliament immediately returned to +Paris, renewed their session in form, and ordered the enregistering to +be struck out, declaring that everything done at Versailles was illegal. +All the members of the Parliament were then served with Lettres de +Cachet, and exiled to Troyes; but as they continued as inflexible in +exile as before, and as vengeance did not supply the place of taxes, +they were after a short time recalled to Paris. + +The edicts were again tendered to them, and the Count D'Artois undertook +to act as representative of the King. For this purpose he came from +Versailles to Paris, in a train of procession; and the Parliament were +assembled to receive him. But show and parade had lost their influence +in France; and whatever ideas of importance he might set off with, +he had to return with those of mortification and disappointment. On +alighting from his carriage to ascend the steps of the Parliament House, +the crowd (which was numerously collected) threw out trite expressions, +saying: "This is Monsieur D'Artois, who wants more of our money to +spend." The marked disapprobation which he saw impressed him with +apprehensions, and the word Aux armes! (To arms!) was given out by the +officer of the guard who attended him. It was so loudly vociferated, +that it echoed through the avenues of the house, and produced a +temporary confusion. I was then standing in one of the apartments +through which he had to pass, and could not avoid reflecting how +wretched was the condition of a disrespected man. + +He endeavoured to impress the Parliament by great words, and opened his +authority by saying, "The King, our Lord and Master." The Parliament +received him very coolly, and with their usual determination not to +register the taxes: and in this manner the interview ended. + +After this a new subject took place: In the various debates and contests +which arose between the Court and the Parliaments on the subject of +taxes, the Parliament of Paris at last declared that although it had +been customary for Parliaments to enregister edicts for taxes as a +matter of convenience, the right belonged only to the States-General; +and that, therefore, the Parliament could no longer with propriety +continue to debate on what it had not authority to act. The King after +this came to Paris and held a meeting with the Parliament, in which he +continued from ten in the morning till about six in the evening, and, in +a manner that appeared to proceed from him as if unconsulted upon +with the Cabinet or Ministry, gave his word to the Parliament that the +States-General should be convened. + +But after this another scene arose, on a ground different from all +the former. The Minister and the Cabinet were averse to calling +the States-General. They well knew that if the States-General were +assembled, themselves must fall; and as the King had not mentioned any +time, they hit on a project calculated to elude, without appearing to +oppose. + +For this purpose, the Court set about making a sort of constitution +itself. It was principally the work of M. Lamoignon, the Keeper of the +Seals, who afterwards shot himself. This new arrangement consisted in +establishing a body under the name of a Cour Pleniere, or Full Court, +in which were invested all the powers that the Government might have +occasion to make use of. The persons composing this Court were to be +nominated by the King; the contended right of taxation was given up +on the part of the King, and a new criminal code of laws and law +proceedings was substituted in the room of the former. The thing, in +many points, contained better principles than those upon which the +Government had hitherto been administered; but with respect to the Cour +Pleniere, it was no other than a medium through which despotism was to +pass, without appearing to act directly from itself. + +The Cabinet had high expectations from their new contrivance. The people +who were to compose the Cour Pleniere were already nominated; and as it +was necessary to carry a fair appearance, many of the best characters in +the nation were appointed among the number. It was to commence on May +8, 1788; but an opposition arose to it on two grounds the one as to +principle, the other as to form. + +On the ground of Principle it was contended that Government had not a +right to alter itself, and that if the practice was once admitted it +would grow into a principle and be made a precedent for any future +alterations the Government might wish to establish: that the right +of altering the Government was a national right, and not a right of +Government. And on the ground of form it was contended that the Cour +Pleniere was nothing more than a larger Cabinet. + +The then Duke de la Rochefoucault, Luxembourg, De Noailles, and many +others, refused to accept the nomination, and strenuously opposed the +whole plan. When the edict for establishing this new court was sent to +the Parliaments to be unregistered and put into execution, they +resisted also. The Parliament of Paris not only refused, but denied the +authority; and the contest renewed itself between the Parliament and the +Cabinet more strongly than ever. While the Parliament were sitting in +debate on this subject, the Ministry ordered a regiment of soldiers to +surround the House and form a blockade. The members sent out for beds +and provisions, and lived as in a besieged citadel: and as this had no +effect, the commanding officer was ordered to enter the Parliament House +and seize them, which he did, and some of the principal members were +shut up in different prisons. About the same time a deputation of +persons arrived from the province of Brittany to remonstrate against the +establishment of the Cour Pleniere, and those the archbishop sent to the +Bastille. But the spirit of the nation was not to be overcome, and +it was so fully sensible of the strong ground it had taken--that of +withholding taxes--that it contented itself with keeping up a sort of +quiet resistance, which effectually overthrew all the plans at that time +formed against it. The project of the Cour Pleniere was at last obliged +to be given up, and the Prime Minister not long afterwards followed its +fate, and M. Neckar was recalled into office. + +The attempt to establish the Cour Pleniere had an effect upon the nation +which itself did not perceive. It was a sort of new form of government +that insensibly served to put the old one out of sight and to unhinge +it from the superstitious authority of antiquity. It was Government +dethroning Government; and the old one, by attempting to make a new one, +made a chasm. + +The failure of this scheme renewed the subject of convening the +State-General; and this gave rise to a new series of politics. There was +no settled form for convening the States-General: all that it positively +meant was a deputation from what was then called the Clergy, the +Noblesse, and the Commons; but their numbers or their proportions had +not been always the same. They had been convened only on extraordinary +occasions, the last of which was in 1614; their numbers were then in +equal proportions, and they voted by orders. + +It could not well escape the sagacity of M. Neckar, that the mode of +1614 would answer neither the purpose of the then government nor of the +nation. As matters were at that time circumstanced it would have been +too contentious to agree upon anything. The debates would have been +endless upon privileges and exemptions, in which neither the wants of +the Government nor the wishes of the nation for a Constitution would +have been attended to. But as he did not choose to take the decision +upon himself, he summoned again the Assembly of the Notables and +referred it to them. This body was in general interested in the +decision, being chiefly of aristocracy and high-paid clergy, and they +decided in favor of the mode of 1614. This decision was against the +sense of the Nation, and also against the wishes of the Court; for +the aristocracy opposed itself to both and contended for privileges +independent of either. The subject was then taken up by the Parliament, +who recommended that the number of the Commons should be equal to the +other two: and they should all sit in one house and vote in one body. +The number finally determined on was 1,200; 600 to be chosen by the +Commons (and this was less than their proportion ought to have been when +their worth and consequence is considered on a national scale), 300 by +the Clergy, and 300 by the Aristocracy; but with respect to the mode of +assembling themselves, whether together or apart, or the manner in which +they should vote, those matters were referred.*[9] + +The election that followed was not a contested election, but an animated +one. The candidates were not men, but principles. Societies were formed +in Paris, and committees of correspondence and communication established +throughout the nation, for the purpose of enlightening the people, and +explaining to them the principles of civil government; and so orderly +was the election conducted, that it did not give rise even to the rumour +of tumult. + +The States-General were to meet at Versailles in April 1789, but did not +assemble till May. They situated themselves in three separate chambers, +or rather the Clergy and Aristocracy withdrew each into a separate +chamber. The majority of the Aristocracy claimed what they called the +privilege of voting as a separate body, and of giving their consent +or their negative in that manner; and many of the bishops and the +high-beneficed clergy claimed the same privilege on the part of their +Order. + +The Tiers Etat (as they were then called) disowned any knowledge of +artificial orders and artificial privileges; and they were not only +resolute on this point, but somewhat disdainful. They began to consider +the Aristocracy as a kind of fungus growing out of the corruption of +society, that could not be admitted even as a branch of it; and from the +disposition the Aristocracy had shown by upholding Lettres de Cachet, +and in sundry other instances, it was manifest that no constitution +could be formed by admitting men in any other character than as National +Men. + +After various altercations on this head, the Tiers Etat or Commons (as +they were then called) declared themselves (on a motion made for that +purpose by the Abbe Sieyes) "The Representative Of The Nation; and that +the two Orders could be considered but as deputies of corporations, and +could only have a deliberate voice when they assembled in a national +character with the national representatives." This proceeding +extinguished the style of Etats Generaux, or States-General, and erected +it into the style it now bears, that of L'Assemblee Nationale, or +National Assembly. + +This motion was not made in a precipitate manner. It was the result of +cool deliberation, and concerned between the national representatives +and the patriotic members of the two chambers, who saw into the folly, +mischief, and injustice of artificial privileged distinctions. It was +become evident, that no constitution, worthy of being called by that +name, could be established on anything less than a national ground. +The Aristocracy had hitherto opposed the despotism of the Court, and +affected the language of patriotism; but it opposed it as its rival (as +the English Barons opposed King John) and it now opposed the nation from +the same motives. + +On carrying this motion, the national representatives, as had been +concerted, sent an invitation to the two chambers, to unite with them in +a national character, and proceed to business. A majority of the clergy, +chiefly of the parish priests, withdrew from the clerical chamber, and +joined the nation; and forty-five from the other chamber joined in +like manner. There is a sort of secret history belonging to this last +circumstance, which is necessary to its explanation; it was not judged +prudent that all the patriotic members of the chamber styling itself the +Nobles, should quit it at once; and in consequence of this arrangement, +they drew off by degrees, always leaving some, as well to reason the +case, as to watch the suspected. In a little time the numbers increased +from forty-five to eighty, and soon after to a greater number; +which, with the majority of the clergy, and the whole of the national +representatives, put the malcontents in a very diminutive condition. + +The King, who, very different from the general class called by that +name, is a man of a good heart, showed himself disposed to recommend +a union of the three chambers, on the ground the National Assembly had +taken; but the malcontents exerted themselves to prevent it, and began +now to have another project in view. Their numbers consisted of a +majority of the aristocratical chamber, and the minority of the clerical +chamber, chiefly of bishops and high-beneficed clergy; and these men +were determined to put everything to issue, as well by strength as by +stratagem. They had no objection to a constitution; but it must be such +a one as themselves should dictate, and suited to their own views and +particular situations. On the other hand, the Nation disowned knowing +anything of them but as citizens, and was determined to shut out all +such up-start pretensions. The more aristocracy appeared, the more it +was despised; there was a visible imbecility and want of intellects in +the majority, a sort of je ne sais quoi, that while it affected to be +more than citizen, was less than man. It lost ground from contempt more +than from hatred; and was rather jeered at as an ass, than dreaded as a +lion. This is the general character of aristocracy, or what are called +Nobles or Nobility, or rather No-ability, in all countries. + +The plan of the malcontents consisted now of two things; either to +deliberate and vote by chambers (or orders), more especially on all +questions respecting a Constitution (by which the aristocratical chamber +would have had a negative on any article of the Constitution); or, in +case they could not accomplish this object, to overthrow the National +Assembly entirely. + +To effect one or other of these objects they began to cultivate a +friendship with the despotism they had hitherto attempted to rival, and +the Count D'Artois became their chief. The king (who has since declared +himself deceived into their measures) held, according to the old form, +a Bed of Justice, in which he accorded to the deliberation and vote par +tete (by head) upon several subjects; but reserved the deliberation and +vote upon all questions respecting a constitution to the three chambers +separately. This declaration of the king was made against the advice of +M. Neckar, who now began to perceive that he was growing out of fashion +at Court, and that another minister was in contemplation. + +As the form of sitting in separate chambers was yet apparently kept up, +though essentially destroyed, the national representatives immediately +after this declaration of the King resorted to their own chambers +to consult on a protest against it; and the minority of the chamber +(calling itself the Nobles), who had joined the national cause, retired +to a private house to consult in like manner. The malcontents had by +this time concerted their measures with the court, which the Count +D'Artois undertook to conduct; and as they saw from the discontent which +the declaration excited, and the opposition making against it, that they +could not obtain a control over the intended constitution by a +separate vote, they prepared themselves for their final object--that of +conspiring against the National Assembly, and overthrowing it. + +The next morning the door of the chamber of the National Assembly was +shut against them, and guarded by troops; and the members were +refused admittance. On this they withdrew to a tennis-ground in the +neighbourhood of Versailles, as the most convenient place they could +find, and, after renewing their session, took an oath never to separate +from each other, under any circumstance whatever, death excepted, until +they had established a constitution. As the experiment of shutting up +the house had no other effect than that of producing a closer connection +in the members, it was opened again the next day, and the public +business recommenced in the usual place. + +We are now to have in view the forming of the new ministry, which was to +accomplish the overthrow of the National Assembly. But as force would +be necessary, orders were issued to assemble thirty thousand troops, the +command of which was given to Broglio, one of the intended new ministry, +who was recalled from the country for this purpose. But as some +management was necessary to keep this plan concealed till the moment it +should be ready for execution, it is to this policy that a declaration +made by Count D'Artois must be attributed, and which is here proper to +be introduced. + +It could not but occur while the malcontents continued to resort to +their chambers separate from the National Assembly, more jealousy would +be excited than if they were mixed with it, and that the plot might be +suspected. But as they had taken their ground, and now wanted a pretence +for quitting it, it was necessary that one should be devised. This was +effectually accomplished by a declaration made by the Count D'Artois: +"That if they took not a Part in the National Assembly, the life of the +king would be endangered": on which they quitted their chambers, and +mixed with the Assembly, in one body. + +At the time this declaration was made, it was generally treated as a +piece of absurdity in Count D'Artois calculated merely to relieve the +outstanding members of the two chambers from the diminutive situation +they were put in; and if nothing more had followed, this conclusion +would have been good. But as things best explain themselves by their +events, this apparent union was only a cover to the machinations which +were secretly going on; and the declaration accommodated itself to +answer that purpose. In a little time the National Assembly found itself +surrounded by troops, and thousands more were daily arriving. On this a +very strong declaration was made by the National Assembly to the King, +remonstrating on the impropriety of the measure, and demanding the +reason. The King, who was not in the secret of this business, as himself +afterwards declared, gave substantially for answer, that he had no other +object in view than to preserve the public tranquility, which appeared +to be much disturbed. + +But in a few days from this time the plot unravelled itself M. Neckar +and the ministry were displaced, and a new one formed of the enemies +of the Revolution; and Broglio, with between twenty-five and thirty +thousand foreign troops, was arrived to support them. The mask was now +thrown off, and matters were come to a crisis. The event was that in a +space of three days the new ministry and their abettors found it prudent +to fly the nation; the Bastille was taken, and Broglio and his foreign +troops dispersed, as is already related in the former part of this work. + +There are some curious circumstances in the history of this short-lived +ministry, and this short-lived attempt at a counter-revolution. The +Palace of Versailles, where the Court was sitting, was not more than +four hundred yards distant from the hall where the National Assembly +was sitting. The two places were at this moment like the separate +headquarters of two combatant armies; yet the Court was as perfectly +ignorant of the information which had arrived from Paris to the National +Assembly, as if it had resided at an hundred miles distance. The then +Marquis de la Fayette, who (as has been already mentioned) was chosen to +preside in the National Assembly on this particular occasion, named by +order of the Assembly three successive deputations to the king, on the +day and up to the evening on which the Bastille was taken, to inform and +confer with him on the state of affairs; but the ministry, who knew not +so much as that it was attacked, precluded all communication, and were +solacing themselves how dextrously they had succeeded; but in a few +hours the accounts arrived so thick and fast that they had to start from +their desks and run. Some set off in one disguise, and some in another, +and none in their own character. Their anxiety now was to outride the +news, lest they should be stopt, which, though it flew fast, flew not so +fast as themselves. + +It is worth remarking that the National Assembly neither pursued those +fugitive conspirators, nor took any notice of them, nor sought +to retaliate in any shape whatever. Occupied with establishing a +constitution founded on the Rights of Man and the Authority of the +People, the only authority on which Government has a right to exist +in any country, the National Assembly felt none of those mean passions +which mark the character of impertinent governments, founding themselves +on their own authority, or on the absurdity of hereditary succession. It +is the faculty of the human mind to become what it contemplates, and to +act in unison with its object. + +The conspiracy being thus dispersed, one of the first works of the +National Assembly, instead of vindictive proclamations, as has been the +case with other governments, was to publish a declaration of the Rights +of Man, as the basis on which the new constitution was to be built, and +which is here subjoined: + + + Declaration + + Of The + + Rights Of Man And Of Citizens + + By The National Assembly Of France + +The representatives of the people of France, formed into a National +Assembly, considering that ignorance, neglect, or contempt of human +rights, are the sole causes of public misfortunes and corruptions of +Government, have resolved to set forth in a solemn declaration, these +natural, imprescriptible, and inalienable rights: that this declaration +being constantly present to the minds of the members of the body social, +they may be forever kept attentive to their rights and their duties; +that the acts of the legislative and executive powers of Government, +being capable of being every moment compared with the end of political +institutions, may be more respected; and also, that the future claims of +the citizens, being directed by simple and incontestable principles, +may always tend to the maintenance of the Constitution, and the general +happiness. + +For these reasons the National Assembly doth recognize and declare, in +the presence of the Supreme Being, and with the hope of his blessing and +favour, the following sacred rights of men and of citizens: + +One: Men are born, and always continue, free and equal in respect of +their Rights. Civil distinctions, therefore, can be founded only on +Public Utility. + +Two: The end of all Political associations is the Preservation of the +Natural and Imprescriptible Rights of Man; and these rights are Liberty, +Property, Security, and Resistance of Oppression. + +Three: The Nation is essentially the source of all Sovereignty; nor can +any individual, or any body of Men, be entitled to any authority which +is not expressly derived from it. + +Four: Political Liberty consists in the power of doing whatever does not +Injure another. The exercise of the Natural Rights of every Man, has no +other limits than those which are necessary to secure to every other Man +the Free exercise of the same Rights; and these limits are determinable +only by the Law. + +Five: The Law ought to Prohibit only actions hurtful to Society. What is +not Prohibited by the Law should not be hindered; nor should anyone be +compelled to that which the Law does not Require. + +Six: the Law is an expression of the Will of the Community. All Citizens +have a right to concur, either personally or by their Representatives, +in its formation. It Should be the same to all, whether it protects or +punishes; and all being equal in its sight, are equally eligible to +all Honours, Places, and employments, according to their different +abilities, without any other distinction than that created by their +Virtues and talents. + +Seven: No Man should be accused, arrested, or held in confinement, +except in cases determined by the Law, and according to the forms which +it has prescribed. All who promote, solicit, execute, or cause to be +executed, arbitrary orders, ought to be punished, and every Citizen +called upon, or apprehended by virtue of the Law, ought immediately to +obey, and renders himself culpable by resistance. + +Eight: The Law ought to impose no other penalties but such as are +absolutely and evidently necessary; and no one ought to be punished, but +in virtue of a Law promulgated before the offence, and Legally applied. + +Nine: Every Man being presumed innocent till he has been convicted, +whenever his detention becomes indispensable, all rigour to him, more +than is necessary to secure his person, ought to be provided against by +the Law. + +Ten: No Man ought to be molested on account of his opinions, not even on +account of his Religious opinions, provided his avowal of them does not +disturb the Public Order established by the Law. + +Eleven: The unrestrained communication of thoughts and opinions being +one of the Most Precious Rights of Man, every Citizen may speak, write, +and publish freely, provided he is responsible for the abuse of this +Liberty, in cases determined by the Law. + +Twelve: A Public force being necessary to give security to the Rights +of Men and of Citizens, that force is instituted for the benefit of the +Community and not for the particular benefit of the persons to whom it +is intrusted. + +Thirteen: A common contribution being necessary for the support of the +Public force, and for defraying the other expenses of Government, +it ought to be divided equally among the Members of the Community, +according to their abilities. + +Fourteen: every Citizen has a Right, either by himself or his +Representative, to a free voice in determining the necessity of Public +Contributions, the appropriation of them, and their amount, mode of +assessment, and duration. + +Fifteen: every Community has a Right to demand of all its agents an +account of their conduct. + +Sixteen: every Community in which a Separation of Powers and a Security +of Rights is not Provided for, wants a Constitution. + +Seventeen: The Right to Property being inviolable and sacred, no one +ought to be deprived of it, except in cases of evident Public necessity, +legally ascertained, and on condition of a previous just Indemnity. + + + + +OBSERVATIONS ON THE DECLARATION OF RIGHTS + +The first three articles comprehend in general terms the whole of a +Declaration of Rights, all the succeeding articles either originate +from them or follow as elucidations. The 4th, 5th, and 6th define more +particularly what is only generally expressed in the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. + +The 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th articles are declaratory of principles +upon which laws shall be constructed, conformable to rights already +declared. But it is questioned by some very good people in France, +as well as in other countries, whether the 10th article sufficiently +guarantees the right it is intended to accord with; besides which it +takes off from the divine dignity of religion, and weakens its operative +force upon the mind, to make it a subject of human laws. It then +presents itself to man like light intercepted by a cloudy medium, in +which the source of it is obscured from his sight, and he sees nothing +to reverence in the dusky ray.*[10] + +The remaining articles, beginning with the twelfth, are substantially +contained in the principles of the preceding articles; but in the +particular situation in which France then was, having to undo what was +wrong, as well as to set up what was right, it was proper to be more +particular than what in another condition of things would be necessary. + +While the Declaration of Rights was before the National Assembly some of +its members remarked that if a declaration of rights were published +it should be accompanied by a Declaration of Duties. The observation +discovered a mind that reflected, and it only erred by not reflecting +far enough. A Declaration of Rights is, by reciprocity, a Declaration of +Duties also. Whatever is my right as a man is also the right of another; +and it becomes my duty to guarantee as well as to possess. + +The three first articles are the base of Liberty, as well individual as +national; nor can any country be called free whose government does not +take its beginning from the principles they contain, and continue to +preserve them pure; and the whole of the Declaration of Rights is of +more value to the world, and will do more good, than all the laws and +statutes that have yet been promulgated. + +In the declaratory exordium which prefaces the Declaration of Rights +we see the solemn and majestic spectacle of a nation opening its +commission, under the auspices of its Creator, to establish a +Government, a scene so new, and so transcendantly unequalled by anything +in the European world, that the name of a Revolution is diminutive of +its character, and it rises into a Regeneration of man. What are the +present Governments of Europe but a scene of iniquity and oppression? +What is that of England? Do not its own inhabitants say it is a market +where every man has his price, and where corruption is common traffic +at the expense of a deluded people? No wonder, then, that the French +Revolution is traduced. Had it confined itself merely to the destruction +of flagrant despotism perhaps Mr. Burke and some others had been silent. +Their cry now is, "It has gone too far"--that is, it has gone too far +for them. It stares corruption in the face, and the venal tribe are all +alarmed. Their fear discovers itself in their outrage, and they are but +publishing the groans of a wounded vice. But from such opposition the +French Revolution, instead of suffering, receives an homage. The more it +is struck the more sparks it will emit; and the fear is it will not be +struck enough. It has nothing to dread from attacks; truth has given it +an establishment, and time will record it with a name as lasting as his +own. + +Having now traced the progress of the French Revolution through most +of its principal stages, from its commencement to the taking of the +Bastille, and its establishment by the Declaration of Rights, I will +close the subject with the energetic apostrophe of M. de la Fayette, +"May this great monument, raised to Liberty, serve as a lesson to the +oppressor, and an example to the oppressed!"*[11] + + + MISCELLANEOUS CHAPTER + +To prevent interrupting the argument in the preceding part of this work, +or the narrative that follows it, I reserved some observations to be +thrown together in a Miscellaneous Chapter; by which variety might +not be censured for confusion. Mr. Burke's book is all Miscellany. His +intention was to make an attack on the French Revolution; but instead of +proceeding with an orderly arrangement, he has stormed it with a mob of +ideas tumbling over and destroying one another. + +But this confusion and contradiction in Mr. Burke's Book is easily +accounted for.--When a man in a wrong cause attempts to steer his course +by anything else than some polar truth or principle, he is sure to be +lost. It is beyond the compass of his capacity to keep all the parts +of an argument together, and make them unite in one issue, by any +other means than having this guide always in view. Neither memory nor +invention will supply the want of it. The former fails him, and the +latter betrays him. + +Notwithstanding the nonsense, for it deserves no better name, that Mr. +Burke has asserted about hereditary rights, and hereditary succession, +and that a Nation has not a right to form a Government of itself; it +happened to fall in his way to give some account of what Government is. +"Government," says he, "is a contrivance of human wisdom." + +Admitting that government is a contrivance of human wisdom, it must +necessarily follow, that hereditary succession, and hereditary rights +(as they are called), can make no part of it, because it is impossible +to make wisdom hereditary; and on the other hand, that cannot be a +wise contrivance, which in its operation may commit the government of a +nation to the wisdom of an idiot. The ground which Mr. Burke now +takes is fatal to every part of his cause. The argument changes from +hereditary rights to hereditary wisdom; and the question is, Who is the +wisest man? He must now show that every one in the line of hereditary +succession was a Solomon, or his title is not good to be a king. What a +stroke has Mr. Burke now made! To use a sailor's phrase, he has swabbed +the deck, and scarcely left a name legible in the list of Kings; and +he has mowed down and thinned the House of Peers, with a scythe as +formidable as Death and Time. + +But Mr. Burke appears to have been aware of this retort; and he has +taken care to guard against it, by making government to be not only +a contrivance of human wisdom, but a monopoly of wisdom. He puts the +nation as fools on one side, and places his government of wisdom, all +wise men of Gotham, on the other side; and he then proclaims, and says +that "Men have a Right that their Wants should be provided for by this +wisdom." Having thus made proclamation, he next proceeds to explain to +them what their wants are, and also what their rights are. In this +he has succeeded dextrously, for he makes their wants to be a want of +wisdom; but as this is cold comfort, he then informs them, that they +have a right (not to any of the wisdom) but to be governed by it; and +in order to impress them with a solemn reverence for this +monopoly-government of wisdom, and of its vast capacity for all +purposes, possible or impossible, right or wrong, he proceeds with +astrological mysterious importance, to tell to them its powers in these +words: "The rights of men in government are their advantages; and these +are often in balance between differences of good; and in compromises +sometimes between good and evil, and sometimes between +evil and evil. Political reason is a computing principle; +adding--subtracting--multiplying--and dividing, morally and not +metaphysically or mathematically, true moral denominations." + +As the wondering audience, whom Mr. Burke supposes himself talking to, +may not understand all this learned jargon, I will undertake to be +its interpreter. The meaning, then, good people, of all this, is: That +government is governed by no principle whatever; that it can make evil +good, or good evil, just as it pleases. In short, that government is +arbitrary power. + +But there are some things which Mr. Burke has forgotten. First, he has +not shown where the wisdom originally came from: and secondly, he has +not shown by what authority it first began to act. In the manner he +introduces the matter, it is either government stealing wisdom, or +wisdom stealing government. It is without an origin, and its powers +without authority. In short, it is usurpation. + +Whether it be from a sense of shame, or from a consciousness of some +radical defect in a government necessary to be kept out of sight, or +from both, or from any other cause, I undertake not to determine, but +so it is, that a monarchical reasoner never traces government to its +source, or from its source. It is one of the shibboleths by which he +may be known. A thousand years hence, those who shall live in America or +France, will look back with contemplative pride on the origin of their +government, and say, This was the work of our glorious ancestors! But +what can a monarchical talker say? What has he to exult in? Alas he has +nothing. A certain something forbids him to look back to a beginning, +lest some robber, or some Robin Hood, should rise from the long +obscurity of time and say, I am the origin. Hard as Mr. Burke laboured +at the Regency Bill and Hereditary Succession two years ago, and much +as he dived for precedents, he still had not boldness enough to bring +up William of Normandy, and say, There is the head of the list! there +is the fountain of honour! the son of a prostitute, and the plunderer of +the English nation. + +The opinions of men with respect to government are changing fast in all +countries. The Revolutions of America and France have thrown a beam of +light over the world, which reaches into man. The enormous expense of +governments has provoked people to think, by making them feel; and when +once the veil begins to rend, it admits not of repair. Ignorance is of a +peculiar nature: once dispelled, it is impossible to re-establish it. +It is not originally a thing of itself, but is only the absence of +knowledge; and though man may be kept ignorant, he cannot be made +ignorant. The mind, in discovering truth, acts in the same manner as it +acts through the eye in discovering objects; when once any object has +been seen, it is impossible to put the mind back to the same condition +it was in before it saw it. Those who talk of a counter-revolution in +France, show how little they understand of man. There does not exist in +the compass of language an arrangement of words to express so much +as the means of effecting a counter-revolution. The means must be an +obliteration of knowledge; and it has never yet been discovered how to +make man unknow his knowledge, or unthink his thoughts. + +Mr. Burke is labouring in vain to stop the progress of knowledge; and it +comes with the worse grace from him, as there is a certain transaction +known in the city which renders him suspected of being a pensioner in +a fictitious name. This may account for some strange doctrine he has +advanced in his book, which though he points it at the Revolution +Society, is effectually directed against the whole nation. + +"The King of England," says he, "holds his crown (for it does not belong +to the Nation, according to Mr. Burke) in contempt of the choice of the +Revolution Society, who have not a single vote for a king among them +either individually or collectively; and his Majesty's heirs each in +their time and order, will come to the Crown with the same contempt of +their choice, with which his Majesty has succeeded to that which he now +wears." + +As to who is King in England, or elsewhere, or whether there is any +King at all, or whether the people choose a Cherokee chief, or a Hessian +hussar for a King, it is not a matter that I trouble myself about--be +that to themselves; but with respect to the doctrine, so far as it +relates to the Rights of Men and Nations, it is as abominable as +anything ever uttered in the most enslaved country under heaven. +Whether it sounds worse to my ear, by not being accustomed to hear such +despotism, than what it does to another person, I am not so well a judge +of; but of its abominable principle I am at no loss to judge. + +It is not the Revolution Society that Mr. Burke means; it is the Nation, +as well in its original as in its representative character; and he has +taken care to make himself understood, by saying that they have not +a vote either collectively or individually. The Revolution Society is +composed of citizens of all denominations, and of members of both the +Houses of Parliament; and consequently, if there is not a right to a +vote in any of the characters, there can be no right to any either in +the nation or in its Parliament. This ought to be a caution to every +country how to import foreign families to be kings. It is somewhat +curious to observe, that although the people of England had been in the +habit of talking about kings, it is always a Foreign House of Kings; +hating Foreigners yet governed by them.--It is now the House of +Brunswick, one of the petty tribes of Germany. + +It has hitherto been the practice of the English Parliaments to regulate +what was called the succession (taking it for granted that the Nation +then continued to accord to the form of annexing a monarchical branch +of its government; for without this the Parliament could not have had +authority to have sent either to Holland or to Hanover, or to impose +a king upon the nation against its will). And this must be the utmost +limit to which Parliament can go upon this case; but the right of the +Nation goes to the whole case, because it has the right of changing its +whole form of government. The right of a Parliament is only a right in +trust, a right by delegation, and that but from a very small part of the +Nation; and one of its Houses has not even this. But the right of the +Nation is an original right, as universal as taxation. The nation is +the paymaster of everything, and everything must conform to its general +will. + +I remember taking notice of a speech in what is called the English House +of Peers, by the then Earl of Shelburne, and I think it was at the time +he was Minister, which is applicable to this case. I do not directly +charge my memory with every particular; but the words and the purport, +as nearly as I remember, were these: "That the form of a Government was +a matter wholly at the will of the Nation at all times, that if it chose +a monarchical form, it had a right to have it so; and if it afterwards +chose to be a Republic, it had a right to be a Republic, and to say to a +King, 'We have no longer any occasion for you.'" + +When Mr. Burke says that "His Majesty's heirs and successors, each in +their time and order, will come to the crown with the same content of +their choice with which His Majesty had succeeded to that he wears," it +is saying too much even to the humblest individual in the country; +part of whose daily labour goes towards making up the million sterling +a-year, which the country gives the person it styles a king. Government +with insolence is despotism; but when contempt is added it becomes +worse; and to pay for contempt is the excess of slavery. This species +of government comes from Germany; and reminds me of what one of the +Brunswick soldiers told me, who was taken prisoner by, the Americans +in the late war: "Ah!" said he, "America is a fine free country, it is +worth the people's fighting for; I know the difference by knowing my +own: in my country, if the prince says eat straw, we eat straw." +God help that country, thought I, be it England or elsewhere, whose +liberties are to be protected by German principles of government, and +Princes of Brunswick! + +As Mr. Burke sometimes speaks of England, sometimes of France, and +sometimes of the world, and of government in general, it is difficult +to answer his book without apparently meeting him on the same ground. +Although principles of Government are general subjects, it is next to +impossible, in many cases, to separate them from the idea of place and +circumstance, and the more so when circumstances are put for arguments, +which is frequently the case with Mr. Burke. + +In the former part of his book, addressing himself to the people of +France, he says: "No experience has taught us (meaning the English), +that in any other course or method than that of a hereditary crown, +can our liberties be regularly perpetuated and preserved sacred as our +hereditary right." I ask Mr. Burke, who is to take them away? M. de la +Fayette, in speaking to France, says: "For a Nation to be free, it +is sufficient that she wills it." But Mr. Burke represents England as +wanting capacity to take care of itself, and that its liberties must be +taken care of by a King holding it in "contempt." If England is sunk +to this, it is preparing itself to eat straw, as in Hanover, or in +Brunswick. But besides the folly of the declaration, it happens that +the facts are all against Mr. Burke. It was by the government being +hereditary, that the liberties of the people were endangered. Charles I. +and James II. are instances of this truth; yet neither of them went so +far as to hold the Nation in contempt. + +As it is sometimes of advantage to the people of one country to hear +what those of other countries have to say respecting it, it is possible +that the people of France may learn something from Mr. Burke's book, and +that the people of England may also learn something from the answers +it will occasion. When Nations fall out about freedom, a wide field of +debate is opened. The argument commences with the rights of war, without +its evils, and as knowledge is the object contended for, the party that +sustains the defeat obtains the prize. + +Mr. Burke talks about what he calls an hereditary crown, as if it +were some production of Nature; or as if, like Time, it had a power to +operate, not only independently, but in spite of man; or as if it were a +thing or a subject universally consented to. Alas! it has none of +those properties, but is the reverse of them all. It is a thing in +imagination, the propriety of which is more than doubted, and the +legality of which in a few years will be denied. + +But, to arrange this matter in a clearer view than what general +expression can heads under which (what is called) an hereditary crown, +or more properly speaking, an hereditary succession to the Government of +a Nation, can be considered; which are: + +First, The right of a particular Family to establish itself. + +Secondly, The right of a Nation to establish a particular Family. + +With respect to the first of these heads, that of a Family establishing +itself with hereditary powers on its own authority, and independent of +the consent of a Nation, all men will concur in calling it despotism; +and it would be trespassing on their understanding to attempt to prove +it. + +But the second head, that of a Nation establishing a particular Family +with hereditary powers, does not present itself as despotism on the +first reflection; but if men will permit it a second reflection to take +place, and carry that reflection forward but one remove out of their own +persons to that of their offspring, they will then see that hereditary +succession becomes in its consequences the same despotism to others, +which they reprobated for themselves. It operates to preclude the +consent of the succeeding generations; and the preclusion of consent is +despotism. When the person who at any time shall be in possession of +a Government, or those who stand in succession to him, shall say to a +Nation, I hold this power in "contempt" of you, it signifies not on what +authority he pretends to say it. It is no relief, but an aggravation to +a person in slavery, to reflect that he was sold by his parent; and as +that which heightens the criminality of an act cannot be produced to +prove the legality of it, hereditary succession cannot be established as +a legal thing. + +In order to arrive at a more perfect decision on this head, it will be +proper to consider the generation which undertakes to establish a Family +with hereditary powers, apart and separate from the generations which +are to follow; and also to consider the character in which the first +generation acts with respect to succeeding generations. + +The generation which first selects a person, and puts him at the head of +its Government, either with the title of King, or any other distinction, +acts on its own choice, be it wise or foolish, as a free agent for +itself The person so set up is not hereditary, but selected and +appointed; and the generation who sets him up, does not live under a +hereditary government, but under a government of its own choice and +establishment. Were the generation who sets him up, and the person so +set up, to live for ever, it never could become hereditary succession; +and of consequence hereditary succession can only follow on the death of +the first parties. + +As, therefore, hereditary succession is out of the question with respect +to the first generation, we have now to consider the character in which +that generation acts with respect to the commencing generation, and to +all succeeding ones. + +It assumes a character, to which it has neither right nor title. It +changes itself from a Legislator to a Testator, and effects to make +its Will, which is to have operation after the demise of the makers, to +bequeath the Government; and it not only attempts to bequeath, but to +establish on the succeeding generation, a new and different form of +Government under which itself lived. Itself, as already observed, lived +not under a hereditary Government but under a Government of its own +choice and establishment; and it now attempts, by virtue of a will and +testament (and which it has not authority to make), to take from the +commencing generation, and all future ones, the rights and free agency +by which itself acted. + +But, exclusive of the right which any generation has to act collectively +as a testator, the objects to which it applies itself in this case, are +not within the compass of any law, or of any will or testament. + +The rights of men in society, are neither devisable or transferable, nor +annihilable, but are descendable only, and it is not in the power of any +generation to intercept finally, and cut off the descent. If the present +generation, or any other, are disposed to be slaves, it does not lessen +the right of the succeeding generation to be free. Wrongs cannot have +a legal descent. When Mr. Burke attempts to maintain that the English +nation did at the Revolution of 1688, most solemnly renounce and +abdicate their rights for themselves, and for all their posterity for +ever, he speaks a language that merits not reply, and which can +only excite contempt for his prostitute principles, or pity for his +ignorance. + +In whatever light hereditary succession, as growing out of the will +and testament of some former generation, presents itself, it is an +absurdity. A cannot make a will to take from B the property of B, +and give it to C; yet this is the manner in which (what is called) +hereditary succession by law operates. A certain former generation made +a will, to take away the rights of the commencing generation, and all +future ones, and convey those rights to a third person, who afterwards +comes forward, and tells them, in Mr. Burke's language, that they have +no rights, that their rights are already bequeathed to him and that +he will govern in contempt of them. From such principles, and such +ignorance, good Lord deliver the world! + +But, after all, what is this metaphor called a crown, or rather what +is monarchy? Is it a thing, or is it a name, or is it a fraud? Is it a +"contrivance of human wisdom," or of human craft to obtain money from a +nation under specious pretences? Is it a thing necessary to a nation? +If it is, in what does that necessity consist, what service does it +perform, what is its business, and what are its merits? Does the virtue +consist in the metaphor, or in the man? Doth the goldsmith that makes +the crown, make the virtue also? Doth it operate like Fortunatus's +wishing-cap, or Harlequin's wooden sword? Doth it make a man a conjurer? +In fine, what is it? It appears to be something going much out of +fashion, falling into ridicule, and rejected in some countries, both as +unnecessary and expensive. In America it is considered as an absurdity; +and in France it has so far declined, that the goodness of the man, +and the respect for his personal character, are the only things that +preserve the appearance of its existence. + +If government be what Mr. Burke describes it, "a contrivance of human +wisdom" I might ask him, if wisdom was at such a low ebb in England, +that it was become necessary to import it from Holland and from Hanover? +But I will do the country the justice to say, that was not the case; and +even if it was it mistook the cargo. The wisdom of every country, when +properly exerted, is sufficient for all its purposes; and there +could exist no more real occasion in England to have sent for a Dutch +Stadtholder, or a German Elector, than there was in America to have done +a similar thing. If a country does not understand its own affairs, +how is a foreigner to understand them, who knows neither its laws, its +manners, nor its language? If there existed a man so transcendently wise +above all others, that his wisdom was necessary to instruct a nation, +some reason might be offered for monarchy; but when we cast our eyes +about a country, and observe how every part understands its own affairs; +and when we look around the world, and see that of all men in it, the +race of kings are the most insignificant in capacity, our reason cannot +fail to ask us--What are those men kept for? + +If there is anything in monarchy which we people of America do not +understand, I wish Mr. Burke would be so kind as to inform us. I see +in America, a government extending over a country ten times as large +as England, and conducted with regularity, for a fortieth part of the +expense which Government costs in England. If I ask a man in America if +he wants a King, he retorts, and asks me if I take him for an idiot? +How is it that this difference happens? are we more or less wise than +others? I see in America the generality of people living in a style of +plenty unknown in monarchical countries; and I see that the principle +of its government, which is that of the equal Rights of Man, is making a +rapid progress in the world. + +If monarchy is a useless thing, why is it kept up anywhere? and if a +necessary thing, how can it be dispensed with? That civil government +is necessary, all civilized nations will agree; but civil government is +republican government. All that part of the government of England which +begins with the office of constable, and proceeds through the department +of magistrate, quarter-sessions, and general assize, including trial by +jury, is republican government. Nothing of monarchy appears in any part +of it, except in the name which William the Conqueror imposed upon the +English, that of obliging them to call him "Their Sovereign Lord the +King." + +It is easy to conceive that a band of interested men, such as Placemen, +Pensioners, Lords of the bed-chamber, Lords of the kitchen, Lords of +the necessary-house, and the Lord knows what besides, can find as many +reasons for monarchy as their salaries, paid at the expense of the +country, amount to; but if I ask the farmer, the manufacturer, the +merchant, the tradesman, and down through all the occupations of life to +the common labourer, what service monarchy is to him? he can give me no +answer. If I ask him what monarchy is, he believes it is something like +a sinecure. + +Notwithstanding the taxes of England amount to almost seventeen millions +a year, said to be for the expenses of Government, it is still evident +that the sense of the Nation is left to govern itself, and does +govern itself, by magistrates and juries, almost at its own charge, on +republican principles, exclusive of the expense of taxes. The salaries +of the judges are almost the only charge that is paid out of the +revenue. Considering that all the internal government is executed by the +people, the taxes of England ought to be the lightest of any nation +in Europe; instead of which, they are the contrary. As this cannot be +accounted for on the score of civil government, the subject necessarily +extends itself to the monarchical part. + +When the people of England sent for George the First (and it would +puzzle a wiser man than Mr. Burke to discover for what he could be +wanted, or what service he could render), they ought at least to have +conditioned for the abandonment of Hanover. Besides the endless German +intrigues that must follow from a German Elector being King of England, +there is a natural impossibility of uniting in the same person the +principles of Freedom and the principles of Despotism, or as it is +usually called in England Arbitrary Power. A German Elector is in his +electorate a despot; how then could it be expected that he should be +attached to principles of liberty in one country, while his interest in +another was to be supported by despotism? The union cannot exist; and it +might easily have been foreseen that German Electors would make German +Kings, or in Mr. Burke's words, would assume government with "contempt." +The English have been in the habit of considering a King of England only +in the character in which he appears to them; whereas the same person, +while the connection lasts, has a home-seat in another country, the +interest of which is different to their own, and the principles of the +governments in opposition to each other. To such a person England +will appear as a town-residence, and the Electorate as the estate. The +English may wish, as I believe they do, success to the principles of +liberty in France, or in Germany; but a German Elector trembles for +the fate of despotism in his electorate; and the Duchy of Mecklenburgh, +where the present Queen's family governs, is under the same wretched +state of arbitrary power, and the people in slavish vassalage. + +There never was a time when it became the English to watch continental +intrigues more circumspectly than at the present moment, and to +distinguish the politics of the Electorate from the politics of the +Nation. The Revolution of France has entirely changed the ground with +respect to England and France, as nations; but the German despots, with +Prussia at their head, are combining against liberty; and the +fondness of Mr. Pitt for office, and the interest which all his family +connections have obtained, do not give sufficient security against this +intrigue. + +As everything which passes in the world becomes matter for history, I +will now quit this subject, and take a concise review of the state of +parties and politics in England, as Mr. Burke has done in France. + +Whether the present reign commenced with contempt, I leave to Mr. Burke: +certain, however, it is, that it had strongly that appearance. The +animosity of the English nation, it is very well remembered, ran high; +and, had the true principles of Liberty been as well understood then +as they now promise to be, it is probable the Nation would not have +patiently submitted to so much. George the First and Second were +sensible of a rival in the remains of the Stuarts; and as they could not +but consider themselves as standing on their good behaviour, they had +prudence to keep their German principles of government to themselves; +but as the Stuart family wore away, the prudence became less necessary. + +The contest between rights, and what were called prerogatives, continued +to heat the nation till some time after the conclusion of the American +War, when all at once it fell a calm--Execration exchanged itself for +applause, and Court popularity sprung up like a mushroom in a night. + +To account for this sudden transition, it is proper to observe that +there are two distinct species of popularity; the one excited by merit, +and the other by resentment. As the Nation had formed itself into +two parties, and each was extolling the merits of its parliamentary +champions for and against prerogative, nothing could operate to give +a more general shock than an immediate coalition of the champions +themselves. The partisans of each being thus suddenly left in the lurch, +and mutually heated with disgust at the measure, felt no other relief +than uniting in a common execration against both. A higher stimulus +or resentment being thus excited than what the contest on prerogatives +occasioned, the nation quitted all former objects of rights and wrongs, +and sought only that of gratification. The indignation at the Coalition +so effectually superseded the indignation against the Court as to +extinguish it; and without any change of principles on the part of the +Court, the same people who had reprobated its despotism united with it +to revenge themselves on the Coalition Parliament. The case was not, +which they liked best, but which they hated most; and the least hated +passed for love. The dissolution of the Coalition Parliament, as it +afforded the means of gratifying the resentment of the Nation, could not +fail to be popular; and from hence arose the popularity of the Court. + +Transitions of this kind exhibit a Nation under the government of +temper, instead of a fixed and steady principle; and having once +committed itself, however rashly, it feels itself urged along to justify +by continuance its first proceeding. Measures which at other times +it would censure it now approves, and acts persuasion upon itself to +suffocate its judgment. + +On the return of a new Parliament, the new Minister, Mr. Pitt, found +himself in a secure majority; and the Nation gave him credit, not out +of regard to himself, but because it had resolved to do it out of +resentment to another. He introduced himself to public notice by +a proposed Reform of Parliament, which in its operation would have +amounted to a public justification of corruption. The Nation was to be +at the expense of buying up the rotten boroughs, whereas it ought to +punish the persons who deal in the traffic. + +Passing over the two bubbles of the Dutch business and the million +a-year to sink the national debt, the matter which most presents itself, +is the affair of the Regency. Never, in the course of my observation, +was delusion more successfully acted, nor a nation more completely +deceived. But, to make this appear, it will be necessary to go over the +circumstances. + +Mr. Fox had stated in the House of Commons, that the Prince of Wales, +as heir in succession, had a right in himself to assume the Government. +This was opposed by Mr. Pitt; and, so far as the opposition was +confined to the doctrine, it was just. But the principles which Mr. Pitt +maintained on the contrary side were as bad, or worse in their extent, +than those of Mr. Fox; because they went to establish an aristocracy +over the nation, and over the small representation it has in the House +of Commons. + +Whether the English form of Government be good or bad, is not in this +case the question; but, taking it as it stands, without regard to its +merits or demerits, Mr. Pitt was farther from the point than Mr. Fox. + +It is supposed to consist of three parts:--while therefore the Nation +is disposed to continue this form, the parts have a national standing, +independent of each other, and are not the creatures of each other. Had +Mr. Fox passed through Parliament, and said that the person alluded to +claimed on the ground of the Nation, Mr. Pitt must then have contended +what he called the right of the Parliament against the right of the +Nation. + +By the appearance which the contest made, Mr. Fox took the hereditary +ground, and Mr. Pitt the Parliamentary ground; but the fact is, they +both took hereditary ground, and Mr. Pitt took the worst of the two. + +What is called the Parliament is made up of two Houses, one of which is +more hereditary, and more beyond the control of the Nation than what +the Crown (as it is called) is supposed to be. It is an hereditary +aristocracy, assuming and asserting indefeasible, irrevocable rights +and authority, wholly independent of the Nation. Where, then, was +the merited popularity of exalting this hereditary power over another +hereditary power less independent of the Nation than what itself assumed +to be, and of absorbing the rights of the Nation into a House over which +it has neither election nor control? + +The general impulse of the Nation was right; but it acted without +reflection. It approved the opposition made to the right set up by +Mr. Fox, without perceiving that Mr. Pitt was supporting another +indefeasible right more remote from the Nation, in opposition to it. + +With respect to the House of Commons, it is elected but by a small part +of the Nation; but were the election as universal as taxation, which it +ought to be, it would still be only the organ of the Nation, and cannot +possess inherent rights.--When the National Assembly of France resolves +a matter, the resolve is made in right of the Nation; but Mr. Pitt, on +all national questions, so far as they refer to the House of Commons, +absorbs the rights of the Nation into the organ, and makes the organ +into a Nation, and the Nation itself into a cypher. + +In a few words, the question on the Regency was a question of a million +a-year, which is appropriated to the executive department: and Mr. Pitt +could not possess himself of any management of this sum, without setting +up the supremacy of Parliament; and when this was accomplished, it was +indifferent who should be Regent, as he must be Regent at his own cost. +Among the curiosities which this contentious debate afforded, was that +of making the Great Seal into a King, the affixing of which to an act +was to be royal authority. If, therefore, Royal Authority is a Great +Seal, it consequently is in itself nothing; and a good Constitution +would be of infinitely more value to the Nation than what the three +Nominal Powers, as they now stand, are worth. + +The continual use of the word Constitution in the English Parliament +shows there is none; and that the whole is merely a form of government +without a Constitution, and constituting itself with what powers it +pleases. If there were a Constitution, it certainly could be referred +to; and the debate on any constitutional point would terminate by +producing the Constitution. One member says this is Constitution, and +another says that is Constitution--To-day it is one thing; and to-morrow +something else--while the maintaining of the debate proves there is +none. Constitution is now the cant word of Parliament, tuning itself +to the ear of the Nation. Formerly it was the universal supremacy of +Parliament--the omnipotence of Parliament: But since the progress of +Liberty in France, those phrases have a despotic harshness in their +note; and the English Parliament have catched the fashion from +the National Assembly, but without the substance, of speaking of +Constitution. + +As the present generation of the people in England did not make the +Government, they are not accountable for any of its defects; but, +that sooner or later, it must come into their hands to undergo a +constitutional reformation, is as certain as that the same thing has +happened in France. If France, with a revenue of nearly twenty-four +millions sterling, with an extent of rich and fertile country above four +times larger than England, with a population of twenty-four millions +of inhabitants to support taxation, with upwards of ninety millions +sterling of gold and silver circulating in the nation, and with a debt +less than the present debt of England--still found it necessary, from +whatever cause, to come to a settlement of its affairs, it solves the +problem of funding for both countries. + +It is out of the question to say how long what is called the English +constitution has lasted, and to argue from thence how long it is to +last; the question is, how long can the funding system last? It is a +thing but of modern invention, and has not yet continued beyond the +life of a man; yet in that short space it has so far accumulated, that, +together with the current expenses, it requires an amount of taxes at +least equal to the whole landed rental of the nation in acres to defray +the annual expenditure. That a government could not have always gone on +by the same system which has been followed for the last seventy years, +must be evident to every man; and for the same reason it cannot always +go on. + +The funding system is not money; neither is it, properly speaking, +credit. It, in effect, creates upon paper the sum which it appears to +borrow, and lays on a tax to keep the imaginary capital alive by the +payment of interest and sends the annuity to market, to be sold for +paper already in circulation. If any credit is given, it is to the +disposition of the people to pay the tax, and not to the government, +which lays it on. When this disposition expires, what is supposed to be +the credit of Government expires with it. The instance of France under +the former Government shows that it is impossible to compel the payment +of taxes by force, when a whole nation is determined to take its stand +upon that ground. + +Mr. Burke, in his review of the finances of France, states the quantity +of gold and silver in France, at about eighty-eight millions sterling. +In doing this, he has, I presume, divided by the difference of exchange, +instead of the standard of twenty-four livres to a pound sterling; for +M. Neckar's statement, from which Mr. Burke's is taken, is two thousand +two hundred millions of livres, which is upwards of ninety-one millions +and a half sterling. + +M. Neckar in France, and Mr. George Chalmers at the Office of Trade and +Plantation in England, of which Lord Hawkesbury is president, published +nearly about the same time (1786) an account of the quantity of money in +each nation, from the returns of the Mint of each nation. Mr. Chalmers, +from the returns of the English Mint at the Tower of London, states +the quantity of money in England, including Scotland and Ireland, to be +twenty millions sterling.*[12] + +M. Neckar*[13] says that the amount of money in France, recoined from +the old coin which was called in, was two thousand five hundred millions +of livres (upwards of one hundred and four millions sterling); and, +after deducting for waste, and what may be in the West Indies and other +possible circumstances, states the circulation quantity at home to be +ninety-one millions and a half sterling; but, taking it as Mr. Burke has +put it, it is sixty-eight millions more than the national quantity in +England. + +That the quantity of money in France cannot be under this sum, may at +once be seen from the state of the French Revenue, without referring to +the records of the French Mint for proofs. The revenue of France, prior +to the Revolution, was nearly twenty-four millions sterling; and as +paper had then no existence in France the whole revenue was collected +upon gold and silver; and it would have been impossible to have +collected such a quantity of revenue upon a less national quantity than +M. Neckar has stated. Before the establishment of paper in England, +the revenue was about a fourth part of the national amount of gold +and silver, as may be known by referring to the revenue prior to King +William, and the quantity of money stated to be in the nation at that +time, which was nearly as much as it is now. + +It can be of no real service to a nation, to impose upon itself, or to +permit itself to be imposed upon; but the prejudices of some, and +the imposition of others, have always represented France as a nation +possessing but little money--whereas the quantity is not only more than +four times what the quantity is in England, but is considerably greater +on a proportion of numbers. To account for this deficiency on the +part of England, some reference should be had to the English system of +funding. It operates to multiply paper, and to substitute it in the room +of money, in various shapes; and the more paper is multiplied, the +more opportunities are offered to export the specie; and it admits of +a possibility (by extending it to small notes) of increasing paper till +there is no money left. + +I know this is not a pleasant subject to English readers; but the +matters I am going to mention, are so important in themselves, as to +require the attention of men interested in money transactions of a +public nature. There is a circumstance stated by M. Neckar, in his +treatise on the administration of the finances, which has never been +attended to in England, but which forms the only basis whereon to +estimate the quantity of money (gold and silver) which ought to be in +every nation in Europe, to preserve a relative proportion with other +nations. + +Lisbon and Cadiz are the two ports into which (money) gold and silver +from South America are imported, and which afterwards divide and spread +themselves over Europe by means of commerce, and increase the quantity +of money in all parts of Europe. If, therefore, the amount of the annual +importation into Europe can be known, and the relative proportion of the +foreign commerce of the several nations by which it can be distributed +can be ascertained, they give a rule sufficiently true, to ascertain the +quantity of money which ought to be found in any nation, at any given +time. + +M. Neckar shows from the registers of Lisbon and Cadiz, that the +importation of gold and silver into Europe, is five millions sterling +annually. He has not taken it on a single year, but on an average of +fifteen succeeding years, from 1763 to 1777, both inclusive; in which +time, the amount was one thousand eight hundred million livres, which is +seventy-five millions sterling.*[14] + +From the commencement of the Hanover succession in 1714 to the time Mr. +Chalmers published, is seventy-two years; and the quantity imported +into Europe, in that time, would be three hundred and sixty millions +sterling. + +If the foreign commerce of Great Britain be stated at a sixth part of +what the whole foreign commerce of Europe amounts to (which is probably +an inferior estimation to what the gentlemen at the Exchange would +allow) the proportion which Britain should draw by commerce of this sum, +to keep herself on a proportion with the rest of Europe, would be also +a sixth part which is sixty millions sterling; and if the same allowance +for waste and accident be made for England which M. Neckar makes for +France, the quantity remaining after these deductions would be fifty-two +millions; and this sum ought to have been in the nation (at the time Mr. +Chalmers published), in addition to the sum which was in the nation +at the commencement of the Hanover succession, and to have made in the +whole at least sixty-six millions sterling; instead of which there were +but twenty millions, which is forty-six millions below its proportionate +quantity. + +As the quantity of gold and silver imported into Lisbon and Cadiz +is more exactly ascertained than that of any commodity imported into +England, and as the quantity of money coined at the Tower of London +is still more positively known, the leading facts do not admit of +controversy. Either, therefore, the commerce of England is unproductive +of profit, or the gold and silver which it brings in leak continually +away by unseen means at the average rate of about three-quarters of a +million a year, which, in the course of seventy-two years, accounts for +the deficiency; and its absence is supplied by paper.*[15] + +The Revolution of France is attended with many novel circumstances, not +only in the political sphere, but in the circle of money transactions. +Among others, it shows that a government may be in a state of insolvency +and a nation rich. So far as the fact is confined to the late Government +of France, it was insolvent; because the nation would no longer support +its extravagance, and therefore it could no longer support itself--but +with respect to the nation all the means existed. A government may be +said to be insolvent every time it applies to the nation to discharge +its arrears. The insolvency of the late Government of France and the +present of England differed in no other respect than as the dispositions +of the people differ. The people of France refused their aid to the +old Government; and the people of England submit to taxation without +inquiry. What is called the Crown in England has been insolvent several +times; the last of which, publicly known, was in May, 1777, when it +applied to the nation to discharge upwards of L600,000 private debts, +which otherwise it could not pay. + +It was the error of Mr. Pitt, Mr. Burke, and all those who were +unacquainted with the affairs of France to confound the French nation +with the French Government. The French nation, in effect, endeavoured +to render the late Government insolvent for the purpose of taking +government into its own hands: and it reserved its means for the support +of the new Government. In a country of such vast extent and population +as France the natural means cannot be wanting, and the political means +appear the instant the nation is disposed to permit them. When Mr. +Burke, in a speech last winter in the British Parliament, "cast his eyes +over the map of Europe, and saw a chasm that once was France," he talked +like a dreamer of dreams. The same natural France existed as before, +and all the natural means existed with it. The only chasm was that the +extinction of despotism had left, and which was to be filled up with +the Constitution more formidable in resources than the power which had +expired. + +Although the French Nation rendered the late Government insolvent, it +did not permit the insolvency to act towards the creditors; and the +creditors, considering the Nation as the real pay-master, and the +Government only as the agent, rested themselves on the nation, in +preference to the Government. This appears greatly to disturb Mr. +Burke, as the precedent is fatal to the policy by which governments have +supposed themselves secure. They have contracted debts, with a view +of attaching what is called the monied interest of a Nation to their +support; but the example in France shows that the permanent security of +the creditor is in the Nation, and not in the Government; and that in +all possible revolutions that may happen in Governments, the means are +always with the Nation, and the Nation always in existence. Mr. +Burke argues that the creditors ought to have abided the fate of the +Government which they trusted; but the National Assembly considered +them as the creditors of the Nation, and not of the Government--of the +master, and not of the steward. + +Notwithstanding the late government could not discharge the current +expenses, the present government has paid off a great part of the +capital. This has been accomplished by two means; the one by lessening +the expenses of government, and the other by the sale of the monastic +and ecclesiastical landed estates. The devotees and penitent debauchees, +extortioners and misers of former days, to ensure themselves a better +world than that they were about to leave, had bequeathed immense +property in trust to the priesthood for pious uses; and the priesthood +kept it for themselves. The National Assembly has ordered it to be sold +for the good of the whole nation, and the priesthood to be decently +provided for. + +In consequence of the revolution, the annual interest of the debt of +France will be reduced at least six millions sterling, by paying off +upwards of one hundred millions of the capital; which, with lessening +the former expenses of government at least three millions, will place +France in a situation worthy the imitation of Europe. + +Upon a whole review of the subject, how vast is the contrast! While Mr. +Burke has been talking of a general bankruptcy in France, the National +Assembly has been paying off the capital of its debt; and while taxes +have increased near a million a year in England, they have lowered +several millions a year in France. Not a word has either Mr. Burke +or Mr. Pitt said about the French affairs, or the state of the French +finances, in the present Session of Parliament. The subject begins to be +too well understood, and imposition serves no longer. + +There is a general enigma running through the whole of Mr. Burke's +book. He writes in a rage against the National Assembly; but what is he +enraged about? If his assertions were as true as they are groundless, +and that France by her Revolution, had annihilated her power, and +become what he calls a chasm, it might excite the grief of a Frenchman +(considering himself as a national man), and provoke his rage against +the National Assembly; but why should it excite the rage of Mr. Burke? +Alas! it is not the nation of France that Mr. Burke means, but the +Court; and every Court in Europe, dreading the same fate, is in +mourning. He writes neither in the character of a Frenchman nor an +Englishman, but in the fawning character of that creature known in all +countries, and a friend to none--a courtier. Whether it be the Court of +Versailles, or the Court of St. James, or Carlton-House, or the Court in +expectation, signifies not; for the caterpillar principle of all Courts +and Courtiers are alike. They form a common policy throughout Europe, +detached and separate from the interest of Nations: and while they +appear to quarrel, they agree to plunder. Nothing can be more terrible +to a Court or Courtier than the Revolution of France. That which is +a blessing to Nations is bitterness to them: and as their existence +depends on the duplicity of a country, they tremble at the approach of +principles, and dread the precedent that threatens their overthrow. + + CONCLUSION + +Reason and Ignorance, the opposites of each other, influence the +great bulk of mankind. If either of these can be rendered sufficiently +extensive in a country, the machinery of Government goes easily on. +Reason obeys itself; and Ignorance submits to whatever is dictated to +it. + +The two modes of the Government which prevail in the world, are: + +First, Government by election and representation. + +Secondly, Government by hereditary succession. + +The former is generally known by the name of republic; the latter by +that of monarchy and aristocracy. + +Those two distinct and opposite forms erect themselves on the two +distinct and opposite bases of Reason and Ignorance.--As the exercise of +Government requires talents and abilities, and as talents and abilities +cannot have hereditary descent, it is evident that hereditary succession +requires a belief from man to which his reason cannot subscribe, and +which can only be established upon his ignorance; and the more ignorant +any country is, the better it is fitted for this species of Government. + +On the contrary, Government, in a well-constituted republic, requires no +belief from man beyond what his reason can give. He sees the rationale +of the whole system, its origin and its operation; and as it is best +supported when best understood, the human faculties act with boldness, +and acquire, under this form of government, a gigantic manliness. + +As, therefore, each of those forms acts on a different base, the one +moving freely by the aid of reason, the other by ignorance; we have next +to consider, what it is that gives motion to that species of Government +which is called mixed Government, or, as it is sometimes ludicrously +styled, a Government of this, that and t' other. + +The moving power in this species of Government is, of necessity, +Corruption. However imperfect election and representation may be in +mixed Governments, they still give exercise to a greater portion of +reason than is convenient to the hereditary Part; and therefore it +becomes necessary to buy the reason up. A mixed Government is an +imperfect everything, cementing and soldering the discordant parts +together by corruption, to act as a whole. Mr. Burke appears highly +disgusted that France, since she had resolved on a revolution, did not +adopt what he calls "A British Constitution"; and the regretful manner +in which he expresses himself on this occasion implies a suspicion +that the British Constitution needed something to keep its defects in +countenance. + +In mixed Governments there is no responsibility: the parts cover each +other till responsibility is lost; and the corruption which moves the +machine, contrives at the same time its own escape. When it is laid down +as a maxim, that a King can do no wrong, it places him in a state +of similar security with that of idiots and persons insane, and +responsibility is out of the question with respect to himself. It then +descends upon the Minister, who shelters himself under a majority in +Parliament, which, by places, pensions, and corruption, he can always +command; and that majority justifies itself by the same authority with +which it protects the Minister. In this rotatory motion, responsibility +is thrown off from the parts, and from the whole. + +When there is a Part in a Government which can do no wrong, it implies +that it does nothing; and is only the machine of another power, by whose +advice and direction it acts. What is supposed to be the King in the +mixed Governments, is the Cabinet; and as the Cabinet is always a part +of the Parliament, and the members justifying in one character what +they advise and act in another, a mixed Government becomes a continual +enigma; entailing upon a country by the quantity of corruption necessary +to solder the parts, the expense of supporting all the forms of +government at once, and finally resolving itself into a Government +by Committee; in which the advisers, the actors, the approvers, the +justifiers, the persons responsible, and the persons not responsible, +are the same persons. + +By this pantomimical contrivance, and change of scene and character, the +parts help each other out in matters which neither of them singly +would assume to act. When money is to be obtained, the mass of variety +apparently dissolves, and a profusion of parliamentary praises passes +between the parts. Each admires with astonishment, the wisdom, the +liberality, the disinterestedness of the other: and all of them breathe +a pitying sigh at the burthens of the Nation. + +But in a well-constituted republic, nothing of this soldering, praising, +and pitying, can take place; the representation being equal throughout +the country, and complete in itself, however it may be arranged into +legislative and executive, they have all one and the same natural +source. The parts are not foreigners to each other, like democracy, +aristocracy, and monarchy. As there are no discordant distinctions, +there is nothing to corrupt by compromise, nor confound by contrivance. +Public measures appeal of themselves to the understanding of the Nation, +and, resting on their own merits, disown any flattering applications to +vanity. The continual whine of lamenting the burden of taxes, however +successfully it may be practised in mixed Governments, is inconsistent +with the sense and spirit of a republic. If taxes are necessary, they +are of course advantageous; but if they require an apology, the apology +itself implies an impeachment. Why, then, is man thus imposed upon, or +why does he impose upon himself? + +When men are spoken of as kings and subjects, or when Government +is mentioned under the distinct and combined heads of monarchy, +aristocracy, and democracy, what is it that reasoning man is to +understand by the terms? If there really existed in the world two or +more distinct and separate elements of human power, we should then see +the several origins to which those terms would descriptively apply; +but as there is but one species of man, there can be but one element of +human power; and that element is man himself. Monarchy, aristocracy, and +democracy, are but creatures of imagination; and a thousand such may be +contrived as well as three. + +From the Revolutions of America and France, and the symptoms that have +appeared in other countries, it is evident that the opinion of the world +is changing with respect to systems of Government, and that revolutions +are not within the compass of political calculations. The progress of +time and circumstances, which men assign to the accomplishment of great +changes, is too mechanical to measure the force of the mind, and the +rapidity of reflection, by which revolutions are generated: All the old +governments have received a shock from those that already appear, and +which were once more improbable, and are a greater subject of wonder, +than a general revolution in Europe would be now. + +When we survey the wretched condition of man, under the monarchical and +hereditary systems of Government, dragged from his home by one power, +or driven by another, and impoverished by taxes more than by enemies, +it becomes evident that those systems are bad, and that a general +revolution in the principle and construction of Governments is +necessary. + +What is government more than the management of the affairs of a Nation? +It is not, and from its nature cannot be, the property of any particular +man or family, but of the whole community, at whose expense it is +supported; and though by force and contrivance it has been usurped +into an inheritance, the usurpation cannot alter the right of things. +Sovereignty, as a matter of right, appertains to the Nation only, +and not to any individual; and a Nation has at all times an inherent +indefeasible right to abolish any form of Government it finds +inconvenient, and to establish such as accords with its interest, +disposition and happiness. The romantic and barbarous distinction of men +into Kings and subjects, though it may suit the condition of courtiers, +cannot that of citizens; and is exploded by the principle upon +which Governments are now founded. Every citizen is a member of the +Sovereignty, and, as such, can acknowledge no personal subjection; and +his obedience can be only to the laws. + +When men think of what Government is, they must necessarily suppose it +to possess a knowledge of all the objects and matters upon which its +authority is to be exercised. In this view of Government, the republican +system, as established by America and France, operates to embrace the +whole of a Nation; and the knowledge necessary to the interest of +all the parts, is to be found in the center, which the parts by +representation form: But the old Governments are on a construction that +excludes knowledge as well as happiness; government by Monks, who knew +nothing of the world beyond the walls of a Convent, is as consistent as +government by Kings. + +What were formerly called Revolutions, were little more than a change +of persons, or an alteration of local circumstances. They rose and fell +like things of course, and had nothing in their existence or their fate +that could influence beyond the spot that produced them. But what we +now see in the world, from the Revolutions of America and France, are +a renovation of the natural order of things, a system of principles as +universal as truth and the existence of man, and combining moral with +political happiness and national prosperity. + +"I. Men are born, and always continue, free and equal in respect of +their rights. Civil distinctions, therefore, can be founded only on +public utility. + +"II. The end of all political associations is the preservation of the +natural and imprescriptible rights of man; and these rights are liberty, +property, security, and resistance of oppression. + +"III. The nation is essentially the source of all sovereignty; nor can +any Individual, or Any Body Of Men, be entitled to any authority which +is not expressly derived from it." + +In these principles, there is nothing to throw a Nation into confusion +by inflaming ambition. They are calculated to call forth wisdom and +abilities, and to exercise them for the public good, and not for +the emolument or aggrandisement of particular descriptions of men or +families. Monarchical sovereignty, the enemy of mankind, and the source +of misery, is abolished; and the sovereignty itself is restored to its +natural and original place, the Nation. Were this the case throughout +Europe, the cause of wars would be taken away. + +It is attributed to Henry the Fourth of France, a man of enlarged and +benevolent heart, that he proposed, about the year 1610, a plan for +abolishing war in Europe. The plan consisted in constituting an European +Congress, or as the French authors style it, a Pacific Republic; by +appointing delegates from the several Nations who were to act as a +Court of arbitration in any disputes that might arise between nation and +nation. + +Had such a plan been adopted at the time it was proposed, the taxes of +England and France, as two of the parties, would have been at least ten +millions sterling annually to each Nation less than they were at the +commencement of the French Revolution. + +To conceive a cause why such a plan has not been adopted (and that +instead of a Congress for the purpose of preventing war, it has been +called only to terminate a war, after a fruitless expense of several +years) it will be necessary to consider the interest of Governments as a +distinct interest to that of Nations. + +Whatever is the cause of taxes to a Nation, becomes also the means of +revenue to Government. Every war terminates with an addition of taxes, +and consequently with an addition of revenue; and in any event of +war, in the manner they are now commenced and concluded, the power +and interest of Governments are increased. War, therefore, from its +productiveness, as it easily furnishes the pretence of necessity for +taxes and appointments to places and offices, becomes a principal part +of the system of old Governments; and to establish any mode to abolish +war, however advantageous it might be to Nations, would be to take +from such Government the most lucrative of its branches. The frivolous +matters upon which war is made, show the disposition and avidity of +Governments to uphold the system of war, and betray the motives upon +which they act. + +Why are not Republics plunged into war, but because the nature of their +Government does not admit of an interest distinct from that of the +Nation? Even Holland, though an ill-constructed Republic, and with a +commerce extending over the world, existed nearly a century without +war: and the instant the form of Government was changed in France, the +republican principles of peace and domestic prosperity and economy arose +with the new Government; and the same consequences would follow the +cause in other Nations. + +As war is the system of Government on the old construction, the +animosity which Nations reciprocally entertain, is nothing more than +what the policy of their Governments excites to keep up the spirit of +the system. Each Government accuses the other of perfidy, intrigue, +and ambition, as a means of heating the imagination of their respective +Nations, and incensing them to hostilities. Man is not the enemy of +man, but through the medium of a false system of Government. Instead, +therefore, of exclaiming against the ambition of Kings, the exclamation +should be directed against the principle of such Governments; and +instead of seeking to reform the individual, the wisdom of a Nation +should apply itself to reform the system. + +Whether the forms and maxims of Governments which are still in practice, +were adapted to the condition of the world at the period they were +established, is not in this case the question. The older they are, the +less correspondence can they have with the present state of things. +Time, and change of circumstances and opinions, have the same +progressive effect in rendering modes of Government obsolete as they +have upon customs and manners.--Agriculture, commerce, manufactures, and +the tranquil arts, by which the prosperity of Nations is best promoted, +require a different system of Government, and a different species of +knowledge to direct its operations, than what might have been required +in the former condition of the world. + +As it is not difficult to perceive, from the enlightened state of +mankind, that hereditary Governments are verging to their decline, +and that Revolutions on the broad basis of national sovereignty and +Government by representation, are making their way in Europe, it +would be an act of wisdom to anticipate their approach, and produce +Revolutions by reason and accommodation, rather than commit them to the +issue of convulsions. + +From what we now see, nothing of reform in the political world ought to +be held improbable. It is an age of Revolutions, in which everything +may be looked for. The intrigue of Courts, by which the system of war +is kept up, may provoke a confederation of Nations to abolish it: and +an European Congress to patronise the progress of free Government, and +promote the civilisation of Nations with each other, is an event nearer +in probability, than once were the revolutions and alliance of France +and America. + + END OF PART I. + + + + +RIGHTS OF MAN. PART SECOND, COMBINING PRINCIPLE AND PRACTICE. + +By Thomas Paine. + + + + +FRENCH TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. + +(1792) + +THE work of which we offer a translation to the public has created the +greatest sensation in England. Paine, that man of freedom, who seems +born to preach "Common Sense" to the whole world with the same success +as in America, explains in it to the people of England the theory of the +practice of the Rights of Man. + +Owing to the prejudices that still govern that nation, the author has +been obliged to condescend to answer Mr. Burke. He has done so more +especially in an extended preface which is nothing but a piece of +very tedious controversy, in which he shows himself very sensitive to +criticisms that do not really affect him. To translate it seemed an +insult to the free French people, and similar reasons have led the +editors to suppress also a dedicatory epistle addressed by Paine to +Lafayette. + +The French can no longer endure dedicatory epistles. A man should write +privately to those he esteems: when he publishes a book his thoughts +should be offered to the public alone. Paine, that uncorrupted friend +of freedom, believed too in the sincerity of Lafayette. So easy is it +to deceive men of single-minded purpose! Bred at a distance from courts, +that austere American does not seem any more on his guard against the +artful ways and speech of courtiers than some Frenchmen who resemble +him. + + + TO + + M. DE LA FAYETTE + +After an acquaintance of nearly fifteen years in difficult situations +in America, and various consultations in Europe, I feel a pleasure in +presenting to you this small treatise, in gratitude for your services +to my beloved America, and as a testimony of my esteem for the virtues, +public and private, which I know you to possess. + +The only point upon which I could ever discover that we differed was not +as to principles of government, but as to time. For my own part I think +it equally as injurious to good principles to permit them to linger, +as to push them on too fast. That which you suppose accomplishable in +fourteen or fifteen years, I may believe practicable in a much shorter +period. Mankind, as it appears to me, are always ripe enough to +understand their true interest, provided it be presented clearly to +their understanding, and that in a manner not to create suspicion by +anything like self-design, nor offend by assuming too much. Where we +would wish to reform we must not reproach. + +When the American revolution was established I felt a disposition to +sit serenely down and enjoy the calm. It did not appear to me that any +object could afterwards arise great enough to make me quit tranquility +and feel as I had felt before. But when principle, and not place, is the +energetic cause of action, a man, I find, is everywhere the same. + +I am now once more in the public world; and as I have not a right to +contemplate on so many years of remaining life as you have, I have +resolved to labour as fast as I can; and as I am anxious for your aid +and your company, I wish you to hasten your principles and overtake me. + +If you make a campaign the ensuing spring, which it is most probable +there will be no occasion for, I will come and join you. Should the +campaign commence, I hope it will terminate in the extinction of German +despotism, and in establishing the freedom of all Germany. When France +shall be surrounded with revolutions she will be in peace and safety, +and her taxes, as well as those of Germany, will consequently become +less. + +Your sincere, + + Affectionate Friend, + + Thomas Paine + +London, Feb. 9, 1792 + + + + +PREFACE + +When I began the chapter entitled the "Conclusion" in the former part +of the RIGHTS OF MAN, published last year, it was my intention to have +extended it to a greater length; but in casting the whole matter in my +mind, which I wish to add, I found that it must either make the work too +bulky, or contract my plan too much. I therefore brought it to a close +as soon as the subject would admit, and reserved what I had further to +say to another opportunity. + +Several other reasons contributed to produce this determination. +I wished to know the manner in which a work, written in a style of +thinking and expression different to what had been customary in England, +would be received before I proceeded farther. A great field was opening +to the view of mankind by means of the French Revolution. Mr. Burke's +outrageous opposition thereto brought the controversy into England. He +attacked principles which he knew (from information) I would contest +with him, because they are principles I believe to be good, and which I +have contributed to establish, and conceive myself bound to defend. Had +he not urged the controversy, I had most probably been a silent man. + +Another reason for deferring the remainder of the work was, that Mr. +Burke promised in his first publication to renew the subject at another +opportunity, and to make a comparison of what he called the English and +French Constitutions. I therefore held myself in reserve for him. He has +published two works since, without doing this: which he certainly would +not have omitted, had the comparison been in his favour. + +In his last work, his "Appeal from the New to the Old Whigs," he has +quoted about ten pages from the RIGHTS OF MAN, and having given himself +the trouble of doing this, says he "shall not attempt in the smallest +degree to refute them," meaning the principles therein contained. I am +enough acquainted with Mr. Burke to know that he would if he could. But +instead of contesting them, he immediately after consoles himself with +saying that "he has done his part."--He has not done his part. He has +not performed his promise of a comparison of constitutions. He started +the controversy, he gave the challenge, and has fled from it; and he is +now a case in point with his own opinion that "the age of chivalry is +gone!" + +The title, as well as the substance of his last work, his "Appeal," is +his condemnation. Principles must stand on their own merits, and if they +are good they certainly will. To put them under the shelter of other +men's authority, as Mr. Burke has done, serves to bring them into +suspicion. Mr. Burke is not very fond of dividing his honours, but in +this case he is artfully dividing the disgrace. + +But who are those to whom Mr. Burke has made his appeal? A set of +childish thinkers, and half-way politicians born in the last century, +men who went no farther with any principle than as it suited their +purposes as a party; the nation was always left out of the question; and +this has been the character of every party from that day to this. +The nation sees nothing of such works, or such politics, worthy its +attention. A little matter will move a party, but it must be something +great that moves a nation. + +Though I see nothing in Mr. Burke's "Appeal" worth taking much notice +of, there is, however, one expression upon which I shall offer a few +remarks. After quoting largely from the RIGHTS OF MAN, and declining to +contest the principles contained in that work, he says: "This will most +probably be done (if such writings shall be thought to deserve any other +refutation than that of criminal justice) by others, who may think with +Mr. Burke and with the same zeal." + +In the first place, it has not yet been done by anybody. Not less, I +believe, than eight or ten pamphlets intended as answers to the former +part of the RIGHTS OF MAN have been published by different persons, and +not one of them to my knowledge, has extended to a second edition, nor +are even the titles of them so much as generally remembered. As I am +averse to unnecessary multiplying publications, I have answered none of +them. And as I believe that a man may write himself out of reputation +when nobody else can do it, I am careful to avoid that rock. + +But as I would decline unnecessary publications on the one hand, so +would I avoid everything that might appear like sullen pride on the +other. If Mr. Burke, or any person on his side the question, will +produce an answer to the RIGHTS OF MAN that shall extend to a half, or +even to a fourth part of the number of copies to which the Rights Of Man +extended, I will reply to his work. But until this be done, I shall so +far take the sense of the public for my guide (and the world knows I am +not a flatterer) that what they do not think worth while to read, is not +worth mine to answer. I suppose the number of copies to which the +first part of the RIGHTS OF MAN extended, taking England, Scotland, and +Ireland, is not less than between forty and fifty thousand. + +I now come to remark on the remaining part of the quotation I have made +from Mr. Burke. + +"If," says he, "such writings shall be thought to deserve any other +refutation than that of criminal justice." + +Pardoning the pun, it must be criminal justice indeed that should +condemn a work as a substitute for not being able to refute it. +The greatest condemnation that could be passed upon it would be a +refutation. But in proceeding by the method Mr. Burke alludes to, the +condemnation would, in the final event, pass upon the criminality of +the process and not upon the work, and in this case, I had rather be the +author, than be either the judge or the jury that should condemn it. + +But to come at once to the point. I have differed from some professional +gentlemen on the subject of prosecutions, and I since find they are +falling into my opinion, which I will here state as fully, but as +concisely as I can. + +I will first put a case with respect to any law, and then compare it +with a government, or with what in England is, or has been, called a +constitution. + +It would be an act of despotism, or what in England is called arbitrary +power, to make a law to prohibit investigating the principles, good or +bad, on which such a law, or any other is founded. + +If a law be bad it is one thing to oppose the practice of it, but it is +quite a different thing to expose its errors, to reason on its defects, +and to show cause why it should be repealed, or why another ought to be +substituted in its place. I have always held it an opinion (making it +also my practice) that it is better to obey a bad law, making use at the +same time of every argument to show its errors and procure its repeal, +than forcibly to violate it; because the precedent of breaking a bad law +might weaken the force, and lead to a discretionary violation, of those +which are good. + +The case is the same with respect to principles and forms of government, +or to what are called constitutions and the parts of which they are, +composed. + +It is for the good of nations and not for the emolument or +aggrandisement of particular individuals, that government ought to be +established, and that mankind are at the expense of supporting it. The +defects of every government and constitution both as to principle and +form, must, on a parity of reasoning, be as open to discussion as the +defects of a law, and it is a duty which every man owes to society to +point them out. When those defects, and the means of remedying them, are +generally seen by a nation, that nation will reform its government or +its constitution in the one case, as the government repealed or reformed +the law in the other. The operation of government is restricted to the +making and the administering of laws; but it is to a nation that the +right of forming or reforming, generating or regenerating constitutions +and governments belong; and consequently those subjects, as subjects +of investigation, are always before a country as a matter of right, and +cannot, without invading the general rights of that country, be made +subjects for prosecution. On this ground I will meet Mr. Burke whenever +he please. It is better that the whole argument should come out than to +seek to stifle it. It was himself that opened the controversy, and he +ought not to desert it. + +I do not believe that monarchy and aristocracy will continue seven years +longer in any of the enlightened countries in Europe. If better reasons +can be shown for them than against them, they will stand; if the +contrary, they will not. Mankind are not now to be told they shall not +think, or they shall not read; and publications that go no farther than +to investigate principles of government, to invite men to reason and to +reflect, and to show the errors and excellences of different systems, +have a right to appear. If they do not excite attention, they are not +worth the trouble of a prosecution; and if they do, the prosecution will +amount to nothing, since it cannot amount to a prohibition of reading. +This would be a sentence on the public, instead of the author, and would +also be the most effectual mode of making or hastening revolution. + +On all cases that apply universally to a nation, with respect to systems +of government, a jury of twelve men is not competent to decide. Where +there are no witnesses to be examined, no facts to be proved, and where +the whole matter is before the whole public, and the merits or demerits +of it resting on their opinion; and where there is nothing to be known +in a court, but what every body knows out of it, every twelve men is +equally as good a jury as the other, and would most probably reverse +each other's verdict; or, from the variety of their opinions, not be +able to form one. It is one case, whether a nation approve a work, or a +plan; but it is quite another case, whether it will commit to any such +jury the power of determining whether that nation have a right to, or +shall reform its government or not. I mention those cases that Mr. Burke +may see I have not written on Government without reflecting on what is +Law, as well as on what are Rights.--The only effectual jury in such +cases would be a convention of the whole nation fairly elected; for +in all such cases the whole nation is the vicinage. If Mr. Burke will +propose such a jury, I will waive all privileges of being the citizen +of another country, and, defending its principles, abide the issue, +provided he will do the same; for my opinion is, that his work and his +principles would be condemned instead of mine. + +As to the prejudices which men have from education and habit, in favour +of any particular form or system of government, those prejudices have +yet to stand the test of reason and reflection. In fact, such prejudices +are nothing. No man is prejudiced in favour of a thing, knowing it to be +wrong. He is attached to it on the belief of its being right; and +when he sees it is not so, the prejudice will be gone. We have but a +defective idea of what prejudice is. It might be said, that until men +think for themselves the whole is prejudice, and not opinion; for that +only is opinion which is the result of reason and reflection. I offer +this remark, that Mr. Burke may not confide too much in what have been +the customary prejudices of the country. + +I do not believe that the people of England have ever been fairly and +candidly dealt by. They have been imposed upon by parties, and by men +assuming the character of leaders. It is time that the nation should +rise above those trifles. It is time to dismiss that inattention which +has so long been the encouraging cause of stretching taxation to excess. +It is time to dismiss all those songs and toasts which are calculated to +enslave, and operate to suffocate reflection. On all such subjects men +have but to think, and they will neither act wrong nor be misled. To +say that any people are not fit for freedom, is to make poverty their +choice, and to say they had rather be loaded with taxes than not. If +such a case could be proved, it would equally prove that those who +govern are not fit to govern them, for they are a part of the same +national mass. + +But admitting governments to be changed all over Europe; it certainly +may be done without convulsion or revenge. It is not worth making +changes or revolutions, unless it be for some great national benefit: +and when this shall appear to a nation, the danger will be, as in +America and France, to those who oppose; and with this reflection I +close my Preface. + + THOMAS PAINE + +London, Feb. 9, 1792 + + + + +RIGHTS OF MAN PART II. + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + +What Archimedes said of the mechanical powers, may be applied to Reason +and Liberty. "Had we," said he, "a place to stand upon, we might raise +the world." + +The revolution of America presented in politics what was only theory in +mechanics. So deeply rooted were all the governments of the old +world, and so effectually had the tyranny and the antiquity of habit +established itself over the mind, that no beginning could be made in +Asia, Africa, or Europe, to reform the political condition of man. +Freedom had been hunted round the globe; reason was considered as +rebellion; and the slavery of fear had made men afraid to think. + +But such is the irresistible nature of truth, that all it asks,--and all +it wants,--is the liberty of appearing. The sun needs no inscription +to distinguish him from darkness; and no sooner did the American +governments display themselves to the world, than despotism felt a shock +and man began to contemplate redress. + +The independence of America, considered merely as a separation from +England, would have been a matter but of little importance, had it +not been accompanied by a revolution in the principles and practice of +governments. She made a stand, not for herself only, but for the +world, and looked beyond the advantages herself could receive. Even +the Hessian, though hired to fight against her, may live to bless his +defeat; and England, condemning the viciousness of its government, +rejoice in its miscarriage. + +As America was the only spot in the political world where the principle +of universal reformation could begin, so also was it the best in the +natural world. An assemblage of circumstances conspired, not only to +give birth, but to add gigantic maturity to its principles. The scene +which that country presents to the eye of a spectator, has something in +it which generates and encourages great ideas. Nature appears to him in +magnitude. The mighty objects he beholds, act upon his mind by enlarging +it, and he partakes of the greatness he contemplates.--Its first +settlers were emigrants from different European nations, and of +diversified professions of religion, retiring from the governmental +persecutions of the old world, and meeting in the new, not as enemies, +but as brothers. The wants which necessarily accompany the cultivation +of a wilderness produced among them a state of society, which countries +long harassed by the quarrels and intrigues of governments, had +neglected to cherish. In such a situation man becomes what he ought. He +sees his species, not with the inhuman idea of a natural enemy, but as +kindred; and the example shows to the artificial world, that man must go +back to Nature for information. + +From the rapid progress which America makes in every species of +improvement, it is rational to conclude that, if the governments of +Asia, Africa, and Europe had begun on a principle similar to that of +America, or had not been very early corrupted therefrom, those countries +must by this time have been in a far superior condition to what they +are. Age after age has passed away, for no other purpose than to behold +their wretchedness. Could we suppose a spectator who knew nothing of the +world, and who was put into it merely to make his observations, he would +take a great part of the old world to be new, just struggling with the +difficulties and hardships of an infant settlement. He could not suppose +that the hordes of miserable poor with which old countries abound +could be any other than those who had not yet had time to provide for +themselves. Little would he think they were the consequence of what in +such countries they call government. + +If, from the more wretched parts of the old world, we look at those +which are in an advanced stage of improvement we still find the greedy +hand of government thrusting itself into every corner and crevice +of industry, and grasping the spoil of the multitude. Invention is +continually exercised to furnish new pretences for revenue and taxation. +It watches prosperity as its prey, and permits none to escape without a +tribute. + +As revolutions have begun (and as the probability is always greater +against a thing beginning, than of proceeding after it has begun), it +is natural to expect that other revolutions will follow. The amazing and +still increasing expenses with which old governments are conducted, the +numerous wars they engage in or provoke, the embarrassments they throw +in the way of universal civilisation and commerce, and the oppression +and usurpation acted at home, have wearied out the patience, and +exhausted the property of the world. In such a situation, and with such +examples already existing, revolutions are to be looked for. They are +become subjects of universal conversation, and may be considered as the +Order of the day. + +If systems of government can be introduced less expensive and more +productive of general happiness than those which have existed, all +attempts to oppose their progress will in the end be fruitless. Reason, +like time, will make its own way, and prejudice will fall in a combat +with interest. If universal peace, civilisation, and commerce are +ever to be the happy lot of man, it cannot be accomplished but by a +revolution in the system of governments. All the monarchical governments +are military. War is their trade, plunder and revenue their objects. +While such governments continue, peace has not the absolute security +of a day. What is the history of all monarchical governments but a +disgustful picture of human wretchedness, and the accidental respite of +a few years' repose? Wearied with war, and tired with human butchery, +they sat down to rest, and called it peace. This certainly is not the +condition that heaven intended for man; and if this be monarchy, well +might monarchy be reckoned among the sins of the Jews. + +The revolutions which formerly took place in the world had nothing in +them that interested the bulk of mankind. They extended only to a change +of persons and measures, but not of principles, and rose or fell among +the common transactions of the moment. What we now behold may not +improperly be called a "counter-revolution." Conquest and tyranny, +at some earlier period, dispossessed man of his rights, and he is now +recovering them. And as the tide of all human affairs has its ebb +and flow in directions contrary to each other, so also is it in this. +Government founded on a moral theory, on a system of universal peace, on +the indefeasible hereditary Rights of Man, is now revolving from west +to east by a stronger impulse than the government of the sword revolved +from east to west. It interests not particular individuals, but nations +in its progress, and promises a new era to the human race. + +The danger to which the success of revolutions is most exposed is that +of attempting them before the principles on which they proceed, and the +advantages to result from them, are sufficiently seen and understood. +Almost everything appertaining to the circumstances of a nation, has +been absorbed and confounded under the general and mysterious word +government. Though it avoids taking to its account the errors it +commits, and the mischiefs it occasions, it fails not to arrogate to +itself whatever has the appearance of prosperity. It robs industry of +its honours, by pedantically making itself the cause of its effects; and +purloins from the general character of man, the merits that appertain to +him as a social being. + +It may therefore be of use in this day of revolutions to discriminate +between those things which are the effect of government, and those +which are not. This will best be done by taking a review of society +and civilisation, and the consequences resulting therefrom, as things +distinct from what are called governments. By beginning with this +investigation, we shall be able to assign effects to their proper causes +and analyse the mass of common errors. + + + + +CHAPTER I. OF SOCIETY AND CIVILISATION + +Great part of that order which reigns among mankind is not the effect +of government. It has its origin in the principles of society and the +natural constitution of man. It existed prior to government, and +would exist if the formality of government was abolished. The mutual +dependence and reciprocal interest which man has upon man, and all the +parts of civilised community upon each other, create that great chain +of connection which holds it together. The landholder, the farmer, +the manufacturer, the merchant, the tradesman, and every occupation, +prospers by the aid which each receives from the other, and from the +whole. Common interest regulates their concerns, and forms their law; +and the laws which common usage ordains, have a greater influence than +the laws of government. In fine, society performs for itself almost +everything which is ascribed to government. + +To understand the nature and quantity of government proper for man, +it is necessary to attend to his character. As Nature created him for +social life, she fitted him for the station she intended. In all cases +she made his natural wants greater than his individual powers. No one +man is capable, without the aid of society, of supplying his own wants, +and those wants, acting upon every individual, impel the whole of them +into society, as naturally as gravitation acts to a centre. + +But she has gone further. She has not only forced man into society by +a diversity of wants which the reciprocal aid of each other can supply, +but she has implanted in him a system of social affections, which, +though not necessary to his existence, are essential to his happiness. +There is no period in life when this love for society ceases to act. It +begins and ends with our being. + +If we examine with attention into the composition and constitution +of man, the diversity of his wants, and the diversity of talents in +different men for reciprocally accommodating the wants of each other, +his propensity to society, and consequently to preserve the advantages +resulting from it, we shall easily discover, that a great part of what +is called government is mere imposition. + +Government is no farther necessary than to supply the few cases to which +society and civilisation are not conveniently competent; and instances +are not wanting to show, that everything which government can usefully +add thereto, has been performed by the common consent of society, +without government. + +For upwards of two years from the commencement of the American War, +and to a longer period in several of the American States, there were no +established forms of government. The old governments had been abolished, +and the country was too much occupied in defence to employ its attention +in establishing new governments; yet during this interval order and +harmony were preserved as inviolate as in any country in Europe. There +is a natural aptness in man, and more so in society, because it embraces +a greater variety of abilities and resource, to accommodate itself to +whatever situation it is in. The instant formal government is abolished, +society begins to act: a general association takes place, and common +interest produces common security. + +So far is it from being true, as has been pretended, that the abolition +of any formal government is the dissolution of society, that it acts by +a contrary impulse, and brings the latter the closer together. All +that part of its organisation which it had committed to its government, +devolves again upon itself, and acts through its medium. When men, as +well from natural instinct as from reciprocal benefits, have habituated +themselves to social and civilised life, there is always enough of its +principles in practice to carry them through any changes they may find +necessary or convenient to make in their government. In short, man is so +naturally a creature of society that it is almost impossible to put him +out of it. + +Formal government makes but a small part of civilised life; and when +even the best that human wisdom can devise is established, it is a thing +more in name and idea than in fact. It is to the great and fundamental +principles of society and civilisation--to the common usage universally +consented to, and mutually and reciprocally maintained--to the unceasing +circulation of interest, which, passing through its million channels, +invigorates the whole mass of civilised man--it is to these things, +infinitely more than to anything which even the best instituted +government can perform, that the safety and prosperity of the individual +and of the whole depends. + +The more perfect civilisation is, the less occasion has it for +government, because the more does it regulate its own affairs, and +govern itself; but so contrary is the practice of old governments to the +reason of the case, that the expenses of them increase in the proportion +they ought to diminish. It is but few general laws that civilised life +requires, and those of such common usefulness, that whether they are +enforced by the forms of government or not, the effect will be nearly +the same. If we consider what the principles are that first condense +men into society, and what are the motives that regulate their mutual +intercourse afterwards, we shall find, by the time we arrive at what is +called government, that nearly the whole of the business is performed by +the natural operation of the parts upon each other. + +Man, with respect to all those matters, is more a creature of +consistency than he is aware, or than governments would wish him to +believe. All the great laws of society are laws of nature. Those +of trade and commerce, whether with respect to the intercourse of +individuals or of nations, are laws of mutual and reciprocal interest. +They are followed and obeyed, because it is the interest of the parties +so to do, and not on account of any formal laws their governments may +impose or interpose. + +But how often is the natural propensity to society disturbed or +destroyed by the operations of government! When the latter, instead of +being ingrafted on the principles of the former, assumes to exist for +itself, and acts by partialities of favour and oppression, it becomes +the cause of the mischiefs it ought to prevent. + +If we look back to the riots and tumults which at various times have +happened in England, we shall find that they did not proceed from the +want of a government, but that government was itself the generating +cause; instead of consolidating society it divided it; it deprived it +of its natural cohesion, and engendered discontents and disorders +which otherwise would not have existed. In those associations which men +promiscuously form for the purpose of trade, or of any concern in which +government is totally out of the question, and in which they act merely +on the principles of society, we see how naturally the various parties +unite; and this shows, by comparison, that governments, so far from +being always the cause or means of order, are often the destruction +of it. The riots of 1780 had no other source than the remains of those +prejudices which the government itself had encouraged. But with respect +to England there are also other causes. + +Excess and inequality of taxation, however disguised in the means, never +fail to appear in their effects. As a great mass of the community are +thrown thereby into poverty and discontent, they are constantly on the +brink of commotion; and deprived, as they unfortunately are, of the +means of information, are easily heated to outrage. Whatever the +apparent cause of any riots may be, the real one is always want of +happiness. It shows that something is wrong in the system of government +that injures the felicity by which society is to be preserved. + +But as a fact is superior to reasoning, the instance of America presents +itself to confirm these observations. If there is a country in the world +where concord, according to common calculation, would be least expected, +it is America. Made up as it is of people from different nations,*[16] +accustomed to different forms and habits of government, speaking +different languages, and more different in their modes of worship, it +would appear that the union of such a people was impracticable; but by +the simple operation of constructing government on the principles of +society and the rights of man, every difficulty retires, and all the +parts are brought into cordial unison. There the poor are not oppressed, +the rich are not privileged. Industry is not mortified by the splendid +extravagance of a court rioting at its expense. Their taxes are few, +because their government is just: and as there is nothing to render them +wretched, there is nothing to engender riots and tumults. + +A metaphysical man, like Mr. Burke, would have tortured his invention +to discover how such a people could be governed. He would have supposed +that some must be managed by fraud, others by force, and all by some +contrivance; that genius must be hired to impose upon ignorance, and +show and parade to fascinate the vulgar. Lost in the abundance of +his researches, he would have resolved and re-resolved, and finally +overlooked the plain and easy road that lay directly before him. + +One of the great advantages of the American Revolution has been, that it +led to a discovery of the principles, and laid open the imposition, of +governments. All the revolutions till then had been worked within the +atmosphere of a court, and never on the grand floor of a nation. The +parties were always of the class of courtiers; and whatever was +their rage for reformation, they carefully preserved the fraud of the +profession. + +In all cases they took care to represent government as a thing made up +of mysteries, which only themselves understood; and they hid from the +understanding of the nation the only thing that was beneficial to know, +namely, That government is nothing more than a national association +adding on the principles of society. + +Having thus endeavoured to show that the social and civilised state of +man is capable of performing within itself almost everything necessary +to its protection and government, it will be proper, on the other hand, +to take a review of the present old governments, and examine whether +their principles and practice are correspondent thereto. + + + + +CHAPTER II. OF THE ORIGIN OF THE PRESENT OLD GOVERNMENTS + +It is impossible that such governments as have hitherto existed in the +world, could have commenced by any other means than a total violation of +every principle sacred and moral. The obscurity in which the origin +of all the present old governments is buried, implies the iniquity and +disgrace with which they began. The origin of the present government of +America and France will ever be remembered, because it is honourable +to record it; but with respect to the rest, even Flattery has consigned +them to the tomb of time, without an inscription. + +It could have been no difficult thing in the early and solitary ages +of the world, while the chief employment of men was that of attending +flocks and herds, for a banditti of ruffians to overrun a country, and +lay it under contributions. Their power being thus established, the +chief of the band contrived to lose the name of Robber in that of +Monarch; and hence the origin of Monarchy and Kings. + +The origin of the Government of England, so far as relates to what is +called its line of monarchy, being one of the latest, is perhaps the +best recorded. The hatred which the Norman invasion and tyranny begat, +must have been deeply rooted in the nation, to have outlived the +contrivance to obliterate it. Though not a courtier will talk of the +curfew-bell, not a village in England has forgotten it. + +Those bands of robbers having parcelled out the world, and divided it +into dominions, began, as is naturally the case, to quarrel with each +other. What at first was obtained by violence was considered by others +as lawful to be taken, and a second plunderer succeeded the first. They +alternately invaded the dominions which each had assigned to himself, +and the brutality with which they treated each other explains the +original character of monarchy. It was ruffian torturing ruffian. +The conqueror considered the conquered, not as his prisoner, but his +property. He led him in triumph rattling in chains, and doomed him, at +pleasure, to slavery or death. As time obliterated the history of their +beginning, their successors assumed new appearances, to cut off the +entail of their disgrace, but their principles and objects remained the +same. What at first was plunder, assumed the softer name of revenue; and +the power originally usurped, they affected to inherit. + +From such beginning of governments, what could be expected but a +continued system of war and extortion? It has established itself into a +trade. The vice is not peculiar to one more than to another, but is the +common principle of all. There does not exist within such governments +sufficient stamina whereon to engraft reformation; and the shortest and +most effectual remedy is to begin anew on the ground of the nation. + +What scenes of horror, what perfection of iniquity, present themselves +in contemplating the character and reviewing the history of such +governments! If we would delineate human nature with a baseness of +heart and hypocrisy of countenance that reflection would shudder at and +humanity disown, it is kings, courts and cabinets that must sit for the +portrait. Man, naturally as he is, with all his faults about him, is not +up to the character. + +Can we possibly suppose that if governments had originated in a right +principle, and had not an interest in pursuing a wrong one, the world +could have been in the wretched and quarrelsome condition we have seen +it? What inducement has the farmer, while following the plough, to lay +aside his peaceful pursuit, and go to war with the farmer of another +country? or what inducement has the manufacturer? What is dominion to +them, or to any class of men in a nation? Does it add an acre to any +man's estate, or raise its value? Are not conquest and defeat each of +the same price, and taxes the never-failing consequence?--Though this +reasoning may be good to a nation, it is not so to a government. War is +the Pharo-table of governments, and nations the dupes of the game. + +If there is anything to wonder at in this miserable scene of governments +more than might be expected, it is the progress which the peaceful arts +of agriculture, manufacture and commerce have made beneath such a long +accumulating load of discouragement and oppression. It serves to show +that instinct in animals does not act with stronger impulse than +the principles of society and civilisation operate in man. Under all +discouragements, he pursues his object, and yields to nothing but +impossibilities. + + + + +CHAPTER III. OF THE OLD AND NEW SYSTEMS OF GOVERNMENT + +Nothing can appear more contradictory than the principles on which the +old governments began, and the condition to which society, civilisation +and commerce are capable of carrying mankind. Government, on the old +system, is an assumption of power, for the aggrandisement of itself; on +the new, a delegation of power for the common benefit of society. +The former supports itself by keeping up a system of war; the latter +promotes a system of peace, as the true means of enriching a nation. +The one encourages national prejudices; the other promotes universal +society, as the means of universal commerce. The one measures its +prosperity, by the quantity of revenue it extorts; the other proves its +excellence, by the small quantity of taxes it requires. + +Mr. Burke has talked of old and new whigs. If he can amuse himself with +childish names and distinctions, I shall not interrupt his pleasure. It +is not to him, but to the Abbe Sieyes, that I address this chapter. I +am already engaged to the latter gentleman to discuss the subject of +monarchical government; and as it naturally occurs in comparing the old +and new systems, I make this the opportunity of presenting to him my +observations. I shall occasionally take Mr. Burke in my way. + +Though it might be proved that the system of government now called the +New, is the most ancient in principle of all that have existed, being +founded on the original, inherent Rights of Man: yet, as tyranny and +the sword have suspended the exercise of those rights for many centuries +past, it serves better the purpose of distinction to call it the new, +than to claim the right of calling it the old. + +The first general distinction between those two systems, is, that the +one now called the old is hereditary, either in whole or in part; +and the new is entirely representative. It rejects all hereditary +government: + +First, As being an imposition on mankind. + +Secondly, As inadequate to the purposes for which government is +necessary. + +With respect to the first of these heads--It cannot be proved by what +right hereditary government could begin; neither does there exist +within the compass of mortal power a right to establish it. Man has no +authority over posterity in matters of personal right; and, therefore, +no man, or body of men, had, or can have, a right to set up hereditary +government. Were even ourselves to come again into existence, instead of +being succeeded by posterity, we have not now the right of taking from +ourselves the rights which would then be ours. On what ground, then, do +we pretend to take them from others? + +All hereditary government is in its nature tyranny. An heritable crown, +or an heritable throne, or by what other fanciful name such things may +be called, have no other significant explanation than that mankind are +heritable property. To inherit a government, is to inherit the people, +as if they were flocks and herds. + +With respect to the second head, that of being inadequate to the +purposes for which government is necessary, we have only to consider +what government essentially is, and compare it with the circumstances to +which hereditary succession is subject. + +Government ought to be a thing always in full maturity. It ought to +be so constructed as to be superior to all the accidents to which +individual man is subject; and, therefore, hereditary succession, by +being subject to them all, is the most irregular and imperfect of all +the systems of government. + +We have heard the Rights of Man called a levelling system; but the +only system to which the word levelling is truly applicable, is the +hereditary monarchical system. It is a system of mental levelling. +It indiscriminately admits every species of character to the same +authority. Vice and virtue, ignorance and wisdom, in short, every +quality good or bad, is put on the same level. Kings succeed each other, +not as rationals, but as animals. It signifies not what their mental or +moral characters are. Can we then be surprised at the abject state of +the human mind in monarchical countries, when the government itself is +formed on such an abject levelling system?--It has no fixed character. +To-day it is one thing; to-morrow it is something else. It changes with +the temper of every succeeding individual, and is subject to all the +varieties of each. It is government through the medium of passions and +accidents. It appears under all the various characters of childhood, +decrepitude, dotage, a thing at nurse, in leading-strings, or in +crutches. It reverses the wholesome order of nature. It occasionally +puts children over men, and the conceits of nonage over wisdom and +experience. In short, we cannot conceive a more ridiculous figure of +government, than hereditary succession, in all its cases, presents. + +Could it be made a decree in nature, or an edict registered in heaven, +and man could know it, that virtue and wisdom should invariably +appertain to hereditary succession, the objection to it would be +removed; but when we see that nature acts as if she disowned and sported +with the hereditary system; that the mental character of successors, in +all countries, is below the average of human understanding; that one is +a tyrant, another an idiot, a third insane, and some all three together, +it is impossible to attach confidence to it, when reason in man has +power to act. + +It is not to the Abbe Sieyes that I need apply this reasoning; he has +already saved me that trouble by giving his own opinion upon the +case. "If it be asked," says he, "what is my opinion with respect to +hereditary right, I answer without hesitation, That in good theory, an +hereditary transmission of any power of office, can never accord with +the laws of a true representation. Hereditaryship is, in this sense, as +much an attaint upon principle, as an outrage upon society. But let +us," continues he, "refer to the history of all elective monarchies and +principalities: is there one in which the elective mode is not worse +than the hereditary succession?" + +As to debating on which is the worst of the two, it is admitting both +to be bad; and herein we are agreed. The preference which the Abbe has +given, is a condemnation of the thing that he prefers. Such a mode of +reasoning on such a subject is inadmissible, because it finally amounts +to an accusation upon Providence, as if she had left to man no other +choice with respect to government than between two evils, the best of +which he admits to be "an attaint upon principle, and an outrage upon +society." + +Passing over, for the present, all the evils and mischiefs which +monarchy has occasioned in the world, nothing can more effectually +prove its uselessness in a state of civil government, than making it +hereditary. Would we make any office hereditary that required wisdom and +abilities to fill it? And where wisdom and abilities are not necessary, +such an office, whatever it may be, is superfluous or insignificant. + +Hereditary succession is a burlesque upon monarchy. It puts it in the +most ridiculous light, by presenting it as an office which any child or +idiot may fill. It requires some talents to be a common mechanic; but +to be a king requires only the animal figure of man--a sort of breathing +automaton. This sort of superstition may last a few years more, but it +cannot long resist the awakened reason and interest of man. + +As to Mr. Burke, he is a stickler for monarchy, not altogether as a +pensioner, if he is one, which I believe, but as a political man. He +has taken up a contemptible opinion of mankind, who, in their turn, are +taking up the same of him. He considers them as a herd of beings that +must be governed by fraud, effigy, and show; and an idol would be as +good a figure of monarchy with him, as a man. I will, however, do him +the justice to say that, with respect to America, he has been very +complimentary. He always contended, at least in my hearing, that the +people of America were more enlightened than those of England, or of +any country in Europe; and that therefore the imposition of show was not +necessary in their governments. + +Though the comparison between hereditary and elective monarchy, +which the Abbe has made, is unnecessary to the case, because the +representative system rejects both: yet, were I to make the comparison, +I should decide contrary to what he has done. + +The civil wars which have originated from contested hereditary +claims, are more numerous, and have been more dreadful, and of longer +continuance, than those which have been occasioned by election. All the +civil wars in France arose from the hereditary system; they were either +produced by hereditary claims, or by the imperfection of the hereditary +form, which admits of regencies or monarchy at nurse. With respect to +England, its history is full of the same misfortunes. The contests +for succession between the houses of York and Lancaster lasted a whole +century; and others of a similar nature have renewed themselves +since that period. Those of 1715 and 1745 were of the same kind. The +succession war for the crown of Spain embroiled almost half Europe. The +disturbances of Holland are generated from the hereditaryship of the +Stadtholder. A government calling itself free, with an hereditary +office, is like a thorn in the flesh, that produces a fermentation which +endeavours to discharge it. + +But I might go further, and place also foreign wars, of whatever kind, +to the same cause. It is by adding the evil of hereditary succession +to that of monarchy, that a permanent family interest is created, whose +constant objects are dominion and revenue. Poland, though an elective +monarchy, has had fewer wars than those which are hereditary; and it is +the only government that has made a voluntary essay, though but a small +one, to reform the condition of the country. + +Having thus glanced at a few of the defects of the old, or hereditary +systems of government, let us compare it with the new, or representative +system. + +The representative system takes society and civilisation for its basis; +nature, reason, and experience, for its guide. + +Experience, in all ages, and in all countries, has demonstrated that it +is impossible to control Nature in her distribution of mental powers. +She gives them as she pleases. Whatever is the rule by which she, +apparently to us, scatters them among mankind, that rule remains +a secret to man. It would be as ridiculous to attempt to fix the +hereditaryship of human beauty, as of wisdom. Whatever wisdom +constituently is, it is like a seedless plant; it may be reared when +it appears, but it cannot be voluntarily produced. There is always a +sufficiency somewhere in the general mass of society for all purposes; +but with respect to the parts of society, it is continually changing +its place. It rises in one to-day, in another to-morrow, and has most +probably visited in rotation every family of the earth, and again +withdrawn. + +As this is in the order of nature, the order of government must +necessarily follow it, or government will, as we see it does, degenerate +into ignorance. The hereditary system, therefore, is as repugnant to +human wisdom as to human rights; and is as absurd as it is unjust. + +As the republic of letters brings forward the best literary productions, +by giving to genius a fair and universal chance; so the representative +system of government is calculated to produce the wisest laws, by +collecting wisdom from where it can be found. I smile to myself when I +contemplate the ridiculous insignificance into which literature and all +the sciences would sink, were they made hereditary; and I carry the same +idea into governments. An hereditary governor is as inconsistent as an +hereditary author. I know not whether Homer or Euclid had sons; but +I will venture an opinion that if they had, and had left their works +unfinished, those sons could not have completed them. + +Do we need a stronger evidence of the absurdity of hereditary government +than is seen in the descendants of those men, in any line of life, who +once were famous? Is there scarcely an instance in which there is not +a total reverse of the character? It appears as if the tide of mental +faculties flowed as far as it could in certain channels, and then +forsook its course, and arose in others. How irrational then is the +hereditary system, which establishes channels of power, in company +with which wisdom refuses to flow! By continuing this absurdity, man is +perpetually in contradiction with himself; he accepts, for a king, or a +chief magistrate, or a legislator, a person whom he would not elect for +a constable. + +It appears to general observation, that revolutions create genius and +talents; but those events do no more than bring them forward. There is +existing in man, a mass of sense lying in a dormant state, and which, +unless something excites it to action, will descend with him, in that +condition, to the grave. As it is to the advantage of society that +the whole of its faculties should be employed, the construction of +government ought to be such as to bring forward, by a quiet and regular +operation, all that extent of capacity which never fails to appear in +revolutions. + +This cannot take place in the insipid state of hereditary government, +not only because it prevents, but because it operates to benumb. When +the mind of a nation is bowed down by any political superstition in its +government, such as hereditary succession is, it loses a considerable +portion of its powers on all other subjects and objects. Hereditary +succession requires the same obedience to ignorance, as to wisdom; +and when once the mind can bring itself to pay this indiscriminate +reverence, it descends below the stature of mental manhood. It is fit +to be great only in little things. It acts a treachery upon itself, and +suffocates the sensations that urge the detection. + +Though the ancient governments present to us a miserable picture of the +condition of man, there is one which above all others exempts itself +from the general description. I mean the democracy of the Athenians. We +see more to admire, and less to condemn, in that great, extraordinary +people, than in anything which history affords. + +Mr. Burke is so little acquainted with constituent principles of +government, that he confounds democracy and representation together. +Representation was a thing unknown in the ancient democracies. In those +the mass of the people met and enacted laws (grammatically speaking) in +the first person. Simple democracy was no other than the common hall of +the ancients. It signifies the form, as well as the public principle of +the government. As those democracies increased in population, and the +territory extended, the simple democratical form became unwieldy and +impracticable; and as the system of representation was not known, the +consequence was, they either degenerated convulsively into monarchies, +or became absorbed into such as then existed. Had the system of +representation been then understood, as it now is, there is no reason +to believe that those forms of government, now called monarchical or +aristocratical, would ever have taken place. It was the want of +some method to consolidate the parts of society, after it became too +populous, and too extensive for the simple democratical form, and also +the lax and solitary condition of shepherds and herdsmen in other parts +of the world, that afforded opportunities to those unnatural modes of +government to begin. + +As it is necessary to clear away the rubbish of errors, into which the +subject of government has been thrown, I will proceed to remark on some +others. + +It has always been the political craft of courtiers and +court-governments, to abuse something which they called republicanism; +but what republicanism was, or is, they never attempt to explain. Let us +examine a little into this case. + +The only forms of government are the democratical, the aristocratical, +the monarchical, and what is now called the representative. + +What is called a republic is not any particular form of government. It +is wholly characteristical of the purport, matter or object for which +government ought to be instituted, and on which it is to be employed, +Res-Publica, the public affairs, or the public good; or, literally +translated, the public thing. It is a word of a good original, referring +to what ought to be the character and business of government; and in +this sense it is naturally opposed to the word monarchy, which has a +base original signification. It means arbitrary power in an individual +person; in the exercise of which, himself, and not the res-publica, is +the object. + +Every government that does not act on the principle of a Republic, or +in other words, that does not make the res-publica its whole and sole +object, is not a good government. Republican government is no other than +government established and conducted for the interest of the public, as +well individually as collectively. It is not necessarily connected +with any particular form, but it most naturally associates with the +representative form, as being best calculated to secure the end for +which a nation is at the expense of supporting it. + +Various forms of government have affected to style themselves a +republic. Poland calls itself a republic, which is an hereditary +aristocracy, with what is called an elective monarchy. Holland calls +itself a republic, which is chiefly aristocratical, with an hereditary +stadtholdership. But the government of America, which is wholly on the +system of representation, is the only real Republic, in character and in +practice, that now exists. Its government has no other object than the +public business of the nation, and therefore it is properly a republic; +and the Americans have taken care that This, and no other, shall +always be the object of their government, by their rejecting everything +hereditary, and establishing governments on the system of representation +only. Those who have said that a republic is not a form of government +calculated for countries of great extent, mistook, in the first +place, the business of a government, for a form of government; for +the res-publica equally appertains to every extent of territory and +population. And, in the second place, if they meant anything with +respect to form, it was the simple democratical form, such as was the +mode of government in the ancient democracies, in which there was no +representation. The case, therefore, is not, that a republic cannot be +extensive, but that it cannot be extensive on the simple democratical +form; and the question naturally presents itself, What is the best form +of government for conducting the Res-Publica, or the Public Business +of a nation, after it becomes too extensive and populous for the simple +democratical form? It cannot be monarchy, because monarchy is subject +to an objection of the same amount to which the simple democratical form +was subject. + +It is possible that an individual may lay down a system of principles, +on which government shall be constitutionally established to any extent +of territory. This is no more than an operation of the mind, acting by +its own powers. But the practice upon those principles, as applying to +the various and numerous circumstances of a nation, its agriculture, +manufacture, trade, commerce, etc., etc., a knowledge of a different +kind, and which can be had only from the various parts of society. It is +an assemblage of practical knowledge, which no individual can possess; +and therefore the monarchical form is as much limited, in useful +practice, from the incompetency of knowledge, as was the democratical +form, from the multiplicity of population. The one degenerates, by +extension, into confusion; the other, into ignorance and incapacity, of +which all the great monarchies are an evidence. The monarchical form, +therefore, could not be a substitute for the democratical, because it +has equal inconveniences. + +Much less could it when made hereditary. This is the most effectual of +all forms to preclude knowledge. Neither could the high democratical +mind have voluntarily yielded itself to be governed by children and +idiots, and all the motley insignificance of character, which attends +such a mere animal system, the disgrace and the reproach of reason and +of man. + +As to the aristocratical form, it has the same vices and defects with +the monarchical, except that the chance of abilities is better from the +proportion of numbers, but there is still no security for the right use +and application of them.*[17] + +Referring them to the original simple democracy, it affords the true +data from which government on a large scale can begin. It is incapable +of extension, not from its principle, but from the inconvenience of its +form; and monarchy and aristocracy, from their incapacity. Retaining, +then, democracy as the ground, and rejecting the corrupt systems of +monarchy and aristocracy, the representative system naturally presents +itself; remedying at once the defects of the simple democracy as to +form, and the incapacity of the other two with respect to knowledge. + +Simple democracy was society governing itself without the aid of +secondary means. By ingrafting representation upon democracy, we arrive +at a system of government capable of embracing and confederating all the +various interests and every extent of territory and population; and that +also with advantages as much superior to hereditary government, as the +republic of letters is to hereditary literature. + +It is on this system that the American government is founded. It is +representation ingrafted upon democracy. It has fixed the form by a +scale parallel in all cases to the extent of the principle. What Athens +was in miniature America will be in magnitude. The one was the wonder of +the ancient world; the other is becoming the admiration of the present. +It is the easiest of all the forms of government to be understood and +the most eligible in practice; and excludes at once the ignorance and +insecurity of the hereditary mode, and the inconvenience of the simple +democracy. + +It is impossible to conceive a system of government capable of acting +over such an extent of territory, and such a circle of interests, as is +immediately produced by the operation of representation. France, great +and populous as it is, is but a spot in the capaciousness of the system. +It is preferable to simple democracy even in small territories. Athens, +by representation, would have outrivalled her own democracy. + +That which is called government, or rather that which we ought to +conceive government to be, is no more than some common center in which +all the parts of society unite. This cannot be accomplished by any +method so conducive to the various interests of the community, as by the +representative system. It concentrates the knowledge necessary to the +interest of the parts, and of the whole. It places government in a state +of constant maturity. It is, as has already been observed, never young, +never old. It is subject neither to nonage, nor dotage. It is never +in the cradle, nor on crutches. It admits not of a separation between +knowledge and power, and is superior, as government always ought to be, +to all the accidents of individual man, and is therefore superior to +what is called monarchy. + +A nation is not a body, the figure of which is to be represented by +the human body; but is like a body contained within a circle, having a +common center, in which every radius meets; and that center is formed by +representation. To connect representation with what is called monarchy, +is eccentric government. Representation is of itself the delegated +monarchy of a nation, and cannot debase itself by dividing it with +another. + +Mr. Burke has two or three times, in his parliamentary speeches, and in +his publications, made use of a jingle of words that convey no ideas. +Speaking of government, he says, "It is better to have monarchy for its +basis, and republicanism for its corrective, than republicanism for its +basis, and monarchy for its corrective."--If he means that it is +better to correct folly with wisdom, than wisdom with folly, I will no +otherwise contend with him, than that it would be much better to reject +the folly entirely. + +But what is this thing which Mr. Burke calls monarchy? Will he explain +it? All men can understand what representation is; and that it must +necessarily include a variety of knowledge and talents. But what +security is there for the same qualities on the part of monarchy? or, +when the monarchy is a child, where then is the wisdom? What does +it know about government? Who then is the monarch, or where is the +monarchy? If it is to be performed by regency, it proves to be a farce. +A regency is a mock species of republic, and the whole of monarchy +deserves no better description. It is a thing as various as imagination +can paint. It has none of the stable character that government ought +to possess. Every succession is a revolution, and every regency a +counter-revolution. The whole of it is a scene of perpetual court cabal +and intrigue, of which Mr. Burke is himself an instance. To render +monarchy consistent with government, the next in succession should +not be born a child, but a man at once, and that man a Solomon. It is +ridiculous that nations are to wait and government be interrupted till +boys grow to be men. + +Whether I have too little sense to see, or too much to be imposed upon; +whether I have too much or too little pride, or of anything else, +I leave out of the question; but certain it is, that what is called +monarchy, always appears to me a silly, contemptible thing. I compare it +to something kept behind a curtain, about which there is a great deal of +bustle and fuss, and a wonderful air of seeming solemnity; but when, by +any accident, the curtain happens to be open--and the company see what +it is, they burst into laughter. + +In the representative system of government, nothing of this can happen. +Like the nation itself, it possesses a perpetual stamina, as well of +body as of mind, and presents itself on the open theatre of the world in +a fair and manly manner. Whatever are its excellences or defects, they +are visible to all. It exists not by fraud and mystery; it deals not in +cant and sophistry; but inspires a language that, passing from heart to +heart, is felt and understood. + +We must shut our eyes against reason, we must basely degrade our +understanding, not to see the folly of what is called monarchy. Nature +is orderly in all her works; but this is a mode of government that +counteracts nature. It turns the progress of the human faculties upside +down. It subjects age to be governed by children, and wisdom by folly. + +On the contrary, the representative system is always parallel with the +order and immutable laws of nature, and meets the reason of man in every +part. For example: + +In the American Federal Government, more power is delegated to the +President of the United States than to any other individual member of +Congress. He cannot, therefore, be elected to this office under the +age of thirty-five years. By this time the judgment of man becomes more +matured, and he has lived long enough to be acquainted with men and +things, and the country with him.--But on the monarchial plan (exclusive +of the numerous chances there are against every man born into the world, +of drawing a prize in the lottery of human faculties), the next in +succession, whatever he may be, is put at the head of a nation, and of +a government, at the age of eighteen years. Does this appear like an +action of wisdom? Is it consistent with the proper dignity and the manly +character of a nation? Where is the propriety of calling such a lad the +father of the people?--In all other cases, a person is a minor until the +age of twenty-one years. Before this period, he is not trusted with the +management of an acre of land, or with the heritable property of a flock +of sheep, or an herd of swine; but, wonderful to tell! he may, at the +age of eighteen years, be trusted with a nation. + +That monarchy is all a bubble, a mere court artifice to procure money, +is evident (at least to me) in every character in which it can be +viewed. It would be impossible, on the rational system of representative +government, to make out a bill of expenses to such an enormous amount +as this deception admits. Government is not of itself a very chargeable +institution. The whole expense of the federal government of America, +founded, as I have already said, on the system of representation, and +extending over a country nearly ten times as large as England, is but +six hundred thousand dollars, or one hundred and thirty-five thousand +pounds sterling. + +I presume that no man in his sober senses will compare the character +of any of the kings of Europe with that of General Washington. Yet, in +France, and also in England, the expense of the civil list only, for the +support of one man, is eight times greater than the whole expense of +the federal government in America. To assign a reason for this, appears +almost impossible. The generality of people in America, especially the +poor, are more able to pay taxes, than the generality of people either +in France or England. + +But the case is, that the representative system diffuses such a body +of knowledge throughout a nation, on the subject of government, as to +explode ignorance and preclude imposition. The craft of courts cannot be +acted on that ground. There is no place for mystery; nowhere for it +to begin. Those who are not in the representation, know as much of +the nature of business as those who are. An affectation of mysterious +importance would there be scouted. Nations can have no secrets; and the +secrets of courts, like those of individuals, are always their defects. + +In the representative system, the reason for everything must publicly +appear. Every man is a proprietor in government, and considers it a +necessary part of his business to understand. It concerns his interest, +because it affects his property. He examines the cost, and compares it +with the advantages; and above all, he does not adopt the slavish custom +of following what in other governments are called Leaders. + +It can only be by blinding the understanding of man, and making him +believe that government is some wonderful mysterious thing, that +excessive revenues are obtained. Monarchy is well calculated to ensure +this end. It is the popery of government; a thing kept up to amuse the +ignorant, and quiet them into taxes. + +The government of a free country, properly speaking, is not in the +persons, but in the laws. The enacting of those requires no great +expense; and when they are administered, the whole of civil government +is performed--the rest is all court contrivance. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. OF CONSTITUTIONS + +That men mean distinct and separate things when they speak of +constitutions and of governments, is evident; or why are those terms +distinctly and separately used? A constitution is not the act of a +government, but of a people constituting a government; and government +without a constitution, is power without a right. + +All power exercised over a nation, must have some beginning. It +must either be delegated or assumed. There are no other sources. All +delegated power is trust, and all assumed power is usurpation. Time does +not alter the nature and quality of either. + +In viewing this subject, the case and circumstances of America present +themselves as in the beginning of a world; and our enquiry into the +origin of government is shortened, by referring to the facts that have +arisen in our own day. We have no occasion to roam for information into +the obscure field of antiquity, nor hazard ourselves upon conjecture. +We are brought at once to the point of seeing government begin, as if we +had lived in the beginning of time. The real volume, not of history, +but of facts, is directly before us, unmutilated by contrivance, or the +errors of tradition. + +I will here concisely state the commencement of the American +constitutions; by which the difference between constitutions and +governments will sufficiently appear. + +It may not appear improper to remind the reader that the United +States of America consist of thirteen separate states, each of +which established a government for itself, after the declaration of +independence, done the 4th of July, 1776. Each state acted independently +of the rest, in forming its governments; but the same general principle +pervades the whole. When the several state governments were formed, they +proceeded to form the federal government, that acts over the whole in +all matters which concern the interest of the whole, or which relate to +the intercourse of the several states with each other, or with foreign +nations. I will begin with giving an instance from one of the state +governments (that of Pennsylvania) and then proceed to the federal +government. + +The state of Pennsylvania, though nearly of the same extent of territory +as England, was then divided into only twelve counties. Each of those +counties had elected a committee at the commencement of the dispute with +the English government; and as the city of Philadelphia, which also +had its committee, was the most central for intelligence, it became +the center of communication to the several country committees. When +it became necessary to proceed to the formation of a government, the +committee of Philadelphia proposed a conference of all the committees, +to be held in that city, and which met the latter end of July, 1776. + +Though these committees had been duly elected by the people, they were +not elected expressly for the purpose, nor invested with the authority +of forming a constitution; and as they could not, consistently with the +American idea of rights, assume such a power, they could only confer +upon the matter, and put it into a train of operation. The conferees, +therefore, did no more than state the case, and recommend to the several +counties to elect six representatives for each county, to meet in +convention at Philadelphia, with powers to form a constitution, and +propose it for public consideration. + +This convention, of which Benjamin Franklin was president, having met +and deliberated, and agreed upon a constitution, they next ordered it to +be published, not as a thing established, but for the consideration of +the whole people, their approbation or rejection, and then adjourned to +a stated time. When the time of adjournment was expired, the convention +re-assembled; and as the general opinion of the people in approbation of +it was then known, the constitution was signed, sealed, and proclaimed +on the authority of the people and the original instrument deposited +as a public record. The convention then appointed a day for the general +election of the representatives who were to compose the government, and +the time it should commence; and having done this they dissolved, and +returned to their several homes and occupations. + +In this constitution were laid down, first, a declaration of rights; +then followed the form which the government should have, and the powers +it should possess--the authority of the courts of judicature, and of +juries--the manner in which elections should be conducted, and the +proportion of representatives to the number of electors--the time which +each succeeding assembly should continue, which was one year--the mode +of levying, and of accounting for the expenditure, of public money--of +appointing public officers, etc., etc., etc. + +No article of this constitution could be altered or infringed at +the discretion of the government that was to ensue. It was to that +government a law. But as it would have been unwise to preclude the +benefit of experience, and in order also to prevent the accumulation of +errors, if any should be found, and to preserve an unison of government +with the circumstances of the state at all times, the constitution +provided that, at the expiration of every seven years, a convention +should be elected, for the express purpose of revising the constitution, +and making alterations, additions, or abolitions therein, if any such +should be found necessary. + +Here we see a regular process--a government issuing out of a +constitution, formed by the people in their original character; and that +constitution serving, not only as an authority, but as a law of control +to the government. It was the political bible of the state. Scarcely a +family was without it. Every member of the government had a copy; and +nothing was more common, when any debate arose on the principle of a +bill, or on the extent of any species of authority, than for the members +to take the printed constitution out of their pocket, and read the +chapter with which such matter in debate was connected. + +Having thus given an instance from one of the states, I will show the +proceedings by which the federal constitution of the United States arose +and was formed. + +Congress, at its two first meetings, in September 1774, and May 1775, +was nothing more than a deputation from the legislatures of the several +provinces, afterwards states; and had no other authority than what arose +from common consent, and the necessity of its acting as a public body. +In everything which related to the internal affairs of America, congress +went no further than to issue recommendations to the several provincial +assemblies, who at discretion adopted them or not. Nothing on the +part of congress was compulsive; yet, in this situation, it was more +faithfully and affectionately obeyed than was any government in +Europe. This instance, like that of the national assembly in France, +sufficiently shows, that the strength of government does not consist in +any thing itself, but in the attachment of a nation, and the interest +which a people feel in supporting it. When this is lost, government is +but a child in power; and though, like the old government in France, it +may harass individuals for a while, it but facilitates its own fall. + +After the declaration of independence, it became consistent with the +principle on which representative government is founded, that the +authority of congress should be defined and established. Whether that +authority should be more or less than congress then discretionarily +exercised was not the question. It was merely the rectitude of the +measure. + +For this purpose, the act, called the act of confederation (which was a +sort of imperfect federal constitution), was proposed, and, after long +deliberation, was concluded in the year 1781. It was not the act of +congress, because it is repugnant to the principles of representative +government that a body should give power to itself. Congress first +informed the several states, of the powers which it conceived were +necessary to be invested in the union, to enable it to perform the +duties and services required from it; and the states severally agreed +with each other, and concentrated in congress those powers. + +It may not be improper to observe that in both those instances (the one +of Pennsylvania, and the other of the United States), there is no such +thing as the idea of a compact between the people on one side, and the +government on the other. The compact was that of the people with each +other, to produce and constitute a government. To suppose that any +government can be a party in a compact with the whole people, is to +suppose it to have existence before it can have a right to exist. The +only instance in which a compact can take place between the people and +those who exercise the government, is, that the people shall pay them, +while they choose to employ them. + +Government is not a trade which any man, or any body of men, has a right +to set up and exercise for his own emolument, but is altogether a trust, +in right of those by whom that trust is delegated, and by whom it is +always resumeable. It has of itself no rights; they are altogether +duties. + +Having thus given two instances of the original formation of a +constitution, I will show the manner in which both have been changed +since their first establishment. + +The powers vested in the governments of the several states, by the state +constitutions, were found, upon experience, to be too great; and those +vested in the federal government, by the act of confederation, too +little. The defect was not in the principle, but in the distribution of +power. + +Numerous publications, in pamphlets and in the newspapers, appeared, +on the propriety and necessity of new modelling the federal government. +After some time of public discussion, carried on through the channel +of the press, and in conversations, the state of Virginia, experiencing +some inconvenience with respect to commerce, proposed holding a +continental conference; in consequence of which, a deputation from five +or six state assemblies met at Annapolis, in Maryland, in 1786. This +meeting, not conceiving itself sufficiently authorised to go into the +business of a reform, did no more than state their general opinions of +the propriety of the measure, and recommend that a convention of all the +states should be held the year following. + +The convention met at Philadelphia in May, 1787, of which General +Washington was elected president. He was not at that time connected +with any of the state governments, or with congress. He delivered up +his commission when the war ended, and since then had lived a private +citizen. + +The convention went deeply into all the subjects; and having, after a +variety of debate and investigation, agreed among themselves upon the +several parts of a federal constitution, the next question was, the +manner of giving it authority and practice. + +For this purpose they did not, like a cabal of courtiers, send for a +Dutch Stadtholder, or a German Elector; but they referred the whole +matter to the sense and interest of the country. + +They first directed that the proposed constitution should be published. +Secondly, that each state should elect a convention, expressly for the +purpose of taking it into consideration, and of ratifying or rejecting +it; and that as soon as the approbation and ratification of any nine +states should be given, that those states shall proceed to the election +of their proportion of members to the new federal government; and that +the operation of it should then begin, and the former federal government +cease. + +The several states proceeded accordingly to elect their conventions. +Some of those conventions ratified the constitution by very large +majorities, and two or three unanimously. In others there were much +debate and division of opinion. In the Massachusetts convention, which +met at Boston, the majority was not above nineteen or twenty, in +about three hundred members; but such is the nature of representative +government, that it quietly decides all matters by majority. After the +debate in the Massachusetts convention was closed, and the vote taken, +the objecting members rose and declared, "That though they had argued +and voted against it, because certain parts appeared to them in a +different light to what they appeared to other members; yet, as the vote +had decided in favour of the constitution as proposed, they should give +it the same practical support as if they had for it." + +As soon as nine states had concurred (and the rest followed in the +order their conventions were elected), the old fabric of the federal +government was taken down, and the new one erected, of which General +Washington is president.--In this place I cannot help remarking, that +the character and services of this gentleman are sufficient to put all +those men called kings to shame. While they are receiving from the sweat +and labours of mankind, a prodigality of pay, to which neither their +abilities nor their services can entitle them, he is rendering every +service in his power, and refusing every pecuniary reward. He accepted +no pay as commander-in-chief; he accepts none as president of the United +States. + +After the new federal constitution was established, the state of +Pennsylvania, conceiving that some parts of its own constitution +required to be altered, elected a convention for that purpose. The +proposed alterations were published, and the people concurring therein, +they were established. + +In forming those constitutions, or in altering them, little or no +inconvenience took place. The ordinary course of things was not +interrupted, and the advantages have been much. It is always the +interest of a far greater number of people in a nation to have things +right, than to let them remain wrong; and when public matters are open +to debate, and the public judgment free, it will not decide wrong, +unless it decides too hastily. + +In the two instances of changing the constitutions, the governments then +in being were not actors either way. Government has no right to make +itself a party in any debate respecting the principles or modes of +forming, or of changing, constitutions. It is not for the benefit of +those who exercise the powers of government that constitutions, and the +governments issuing from them, are established. In all those matters the +right of judging and acting are in those who pay, and not in those who +receive. + +A constitution is the property of a nation, and not of those who +exercise the government. All the constitutions of America are declared +to be established on the authority of the people. In France, the word +nation is used instead of the people; but in both cases, a constitution +is a thing antecedent to the government, and always distinct there from. + +In England it is not difficult to perceive that everything has a +constitution, except the nation. Every society and association that is +established, first agreed upon a number of original articles, digested +into form, which are its constitution. It then appointed its officers, +whose powers and authorities are described in that constitution, and the +government of that society then commenced. Those officers, by whatever +name they are called, have no authority to add to, alter, or abridge the +original articles. It is only to the constituting power that this right +belongs. + +From the want of understanding the difference between a constitution +and a government, Dr. Johnson, and all writers of his description, have +always bewildered themselves. They could not but perceive, that there +must necessarily be a controlling power existing somewhere, and they +placed this power in the discretion of the persons exercising the +government, instead of placing it in a constitution formed by the +nation. When it is in a constitution, it has the nation for its support, +and the natural and the political controlling powers are together. The +laws which are enacted by governments, control men only as individuals, +but the nation, through its constitution, controls the whole government, +and has a natural ability to do so. The final controlling power, +therefore, and the original constituting power, are one and the same +power. + +Dr. Johnson could not have advanced such a position in any country where +there was a constitution; and he is himself an evidence that no such +thing as a constitution exists in England. But it may be put as a +question, not improper to be investigated, that if a constitution does +not exist, how came the idea of its existence so generally established? + +In order to decide this question, it is necessary to consider a +constitution in both its cases:--First, as creating a government and +giving it powers. Secondly, as regulating and restraining the powers so +given. + +If we begin with William of Normandy, we find that the government of +England was originally a tyranny, founded on an invasion and conquest of +the country. This being admitted, it will then appear, that the exertion +of the nation, at different periods, to abate that tyranny, and render +it less intolerable, has been credited for a constitution. + +Magna Charta, as it was called (it is now like an almanack of the same +date), was no more than compelling the government to renounce a part of +its assumptions. It did not create and give powers to government in a +manner a constitution does; but was, as far as it went, of the nature of +a re-conquest, and not a constitution; for could the nation have totally +expelled the usurpation, as France has done its despotism, it would then +have had a constitution to form. + +The history of the Edwards and the Henries, and up to the commencement +of the Stuarts, exhibits as many instances of tyranny as could be acted +within the limits to which the nation had restricted it. The Stuarts +endeavoured to pass those limits, and their fate is well known. In +all those instances we see nothing of a constitution, but only of +restrictions on assumed power. + +After this, another William, descended from the same stock, and claiming +from the same origin, gained possession; and of the two evils, James +and William, the nation preferred what it thought the least; since, from +circumstances, it must take one. The act, called the Bill of Rights, +comes here into view. What is it, but a bargain, which the parts of +the government made with each other to divide powers, profits, and +privileges? You shall have so much, and I will have the rest; and with +respect to the nation, it said, for your share, You shall have the right +of petitioning. This being the case, the bill of rights is more properly +a bill of wrongs, and of insult. As to what is called the convention +parliament, it was a thing that made itself, and then made the authority +by which it acted. A few persons got together, and called themselves by +that name. Several of them had never been elected, and none of them for +the purpose. + +From the time of William a species of government arose, issuing out +of this coalition bill of rights; and more so, since the corruption +introduced at the Hanover succession by the agency of Walpole; that can +be described by no other name than a despotic legislation. Though the +parts may embarrass each other, the whole has no bounds; and the only +right it acknowledges out of itself, is the right of petitioning. Where +then is the constitution either that gives or restrains power? + +It is not because a part of the government is elective, that makes it +less a despotism, if the persons so elected possess afterwards, as a +parliament, unlimited powers. Election, in this case, becomes separated +from representation, and the candidates are candidates for despotism. + +I cannot believe that any nation, reasoning on its own rights, would +have thought of calling these things a constitution, if the cry of +constitution had not been set up by the government. It has got into +circulation like the words bore and quoz [quiz], by being chalked up in +the speeches of parliament, as those words were on window shutters and +doorposts; but whatever the constitution may be in other respects, it +has undoubtedly been the most productive machine of taxation that was +ever invented. The taxes in France, under the new constitution, are not +quite thirteen shillings per head,*[18] and the taxes in England, under +what is called its present constitution, are forty-eight shillings +and sixpence per head--men, women, and children--amounting to nearly +seventeen millions sterling, besides the expense of collecting, which is +upwards of a million more. + +In a country like England, where the whole of the civil Government is +executed by the people of every town and county, by means of parish +officers, magistrates, quarterly sessions, juries, and assize; without +any trouble to what is called the government or any other expense to the +revenue than the salary of the judges, it is astonishing how such a mass +of taxes can be employed. Not even the internal defence of the country +is paid out of the revenue. On all occasions, whether real or contrived, +recourse is continually had to new loans and new taxes. No wonder, +then, that a machine of government so advantageous to the advocates of +a court, should be so triumphantly extolled! No wonder, that St. James's +or St. Stephen's should echo with the continual cry of constitution; +no wonder, that the French revolution should be reprobated, and the +res-publica treated with reproach! The red book of England, like the red +book of France, will explain the reason.*[19] + +I will now, by way of relaxation, turn a thought or two to Mr. Burke. I +ask his pardon for neglecting him so long. + +"America," says he (in his speech on the Canada Constitution bill), +"never dreamed of such absurd doctrine as the Rights of Man." + +Mr. Burke is such a bold presumer, and advances his assertions and his +premises with such a deficiency of judgment, that, without troubling +ourselves about principles of philosophy or politics, the mere logical +conclusions they produce, are ridiculous. For instance, + +If governments, as Mr. Burke asserts, are not founded on the Rights of +Man, and are founded on any rights at all, they consequently must be +founded on the right of something that is not man. What then is that +something? + +Generally speaking, we know of no other creatures that inhabit the +earth than man and beast; and in all cases, where only two things offer +themselves, and one must be admitted, a negation proved on any one, +amounts to an affirmative on the other; and therefore, Mr. Burke, by +proving against the Rights of Man, proves in behalf of the beast; and +consequently, proves that government is a beast; and as difficult things +sometimes explain each other, we now see the origin of keeping wild +beasts in the Tower; for they certainly can be of no other use than +to show the origin of the government. They are in the place of a +constitution. O John Bull, what honours thou hast lost by not being a +wild beast. Thou mightest, on Mr. Burke's system, have been in the Tower +for life. + +If Mr. Burke's arguments have not weight enough to keep one serious, the +fault is less mine than his; and as I am willing to make an apology to +the reader for the liberty I have taken, I hope Mr. Burke will also make +his for giving the cause. + +Having thus paid Mr. Burke the compliment of remembering him, I return +to the subject. + +From the want of a constitution in England to restrain and regulate the +wild impulse of power, many of the laws are irrational and tyrannical, +and the administration of them vague and problematical. + +The attention of the government of England (for I rather choose to +call it by this name than the English government) appears, since its +political connection with Germany, to have been so completely engrossed +and absorbed by foreign affairs, and the means of raising taxes, that it +seems to exist for no other purposes. Domestic concerns are neglected; +and with respect to regular law, there is scarcely such a thing. + +Almost every case must now be determined by some precedent, be that +precedent good or bad, or whether it properly applies or not; and +the practice is become so general as to suggest a suspicion, that it +proceeds from a deeper policy than at first sight appears. + +Since the revolution of America, and more so since that of France, +this preaching up the doctrines of precedents, drawn from times and +circumstances antecedent to those events, has been the studied practice +of the English government. The generality of those precedents are +founded on principles and opinions, the reverse of what they ought; and +the greater distance of time they are drawn from, the more they are to +be suspected. But by associating those precedents with a superstitious +reverence for ancient things, as monks show relics and call them holy, +the generality of mankind are deceived into the design. Governments now +act as if they were afraid to awaken a single reflection in man. They +are softly leading him to the sepulchre of precedents, to deaden his +faculties and call attention from the scene of revolutions. They feel +that he is arriving at knowledge faster than they wish, and their policy +of precedents is the barometer of their fears. This political popery, +like the ecclesiastical popery of old, has had its day, and is hastening +to its exit. The ragged relic and the antiquated precedent, the monk and +the monarch, will moulder together. + +Government by precedent, without any regard to the principle of the +precedent, is one of the vilest systems that can be set up. In numerous +instances, the precedent ought to operate as a warning, and not as an +example, and requires to be shunned instead of imitated; but instead of +this, precedents are taken in the lump, and put at once for constitution +and for law. + +Either the doctrine of precedents is policy to keep a man in a state of +ignorance, or it is a practical confession that wisdom degenerates in +governments as governments increase in age, and can only hobble along by +the stilts and crutches of precedents. How is it that the same persons +who would proudly be thought wiser than their predecessors, appear at +the same time only as the ghosts of departed wisdom? How strangely is +antiquity treated! To some purposes it is spoken of as the times of +darkness and ignorance, and to answer others, it is put for the light of +the world. + +If the doctrine of precedents is to be followed, the expenses of +government need not continue the same. Why pay men extravagantly, who +have but little to do? If everything that can happen is already in +precedent, legislation is at an end, and precedent, like a dictionary, +determines every case. Either, therefore, government has arrived at +its dotage, and requires to be renovated, or all the occasions for +exercising its wisdom have occurred. + +We now see all over Europe, and particularly in England, the curious +phenomenon of a nation looking one way, and the government the +other--the one forward and the other backward. If governments are to go +on by precedent, while nations go on by improvement, they must at last +come to a final separation; and the sooner, and the more civilly they +determine this point, the better.*[20] + +Having thus spoken of constitutions generally, as things distinct from +actual governments, let us proceed to consider the parts of which a +constitution is composed. + +Opinions differ more on this subject than with respect to the whole. +That a nation ought to have a constitution, as a rule for the conduct +of its government, is a simple question in which all men, not directly +courtiers, will agree. It is only on the component parts that questions +and opinions multiply. + +But this difficulty, like every other, will diminish when put into a +train of being rightly understood. + +The first thing is, that a nation has a right to establish a +constitution. + +Whether it exercises this right in the most judicious manner at first +is quite another case. It exercises it agreeably to the judgment it +possesses; and by continuing to do so, all errors will at last be +exploded. + +When this right is established in a nation, there is no fear that it +will be employed to its own injury. A nation can have no interest in +being wrong. + +Though all the constitutions of America are on one general principle, +yet no two of them are exactly alike in their component parts, or in the +distribution of the powers which they give to the actual governments. +Some are more, and others less complex. + +In forming a constitution, it is first necessary to consider what are +the ends for which government is necessary? Secondly, what are the best +means, and the least expensive, for accomplishing those ends? + +Government is nothing more than a national association; and the +object of this association is the good of all, as well individually as +collectively. Every man wishes to pursue his occupation, and to enjoy +the fruits of his labours and the produce of his property in peace +and safety, and with the least possible expense. When these things +are accomplished, all the objects for which government ought to be +established are answered. + +It has been customary to consider government under three distinct +general heads. The legislative, the executive, and the judicial. + +But if we permit our judgment to act unincumbered by the habit of +multiplied terms, we can perceive no more than two divisions of power, +of which civil government is composed, namely, that of legislating or +enacting laws, and that of executing or administering them. Everything, +therefore, appertaining to civil government, classes itself under one or +other of these two divisions. + +So far as regards the execution of the laws, that which is called the +judicial power, is strictly and properly the executive power of every +country. It is that power to which every individual has appeal, and +which causes the laws to be executed; neither have we any other clear +idea with respect to the official execution of the laws. In England, and +also in America and France, this power begins with the magistrate, and +proceeds up through all the courts of judicature. + +I leave to courtiers to explain what is meant by calling monarchy the +executive power. It is merely a name in which acts of government are +done; and any other, or none at all, would answer the same purpose. Laws +have neither more nor less authority on this account. It must be from +the justness of their principles, and the interest which a nation feels +therein, that they derive support; if they require any other than this, +it is a sign that something in the system of government is imperfect. +Laws difficult to be executed cannot be generally good. + +With respect to the organization of the legislative power, different +modes have been adopted in different countries. In America it is +generally composed of two houses. In France it consists but of one, but +in both countries, it is wholly by representation. + +The case is, that mankind (from the long tyranny of assumed power) have +had so few opportunities of making the necessary trials on modes and +principles of government, in order to discover the best, that government +is but now beginning to be known, and experience is yet wanting to +determine many particulars. + +The objections against two houses are, first, that there is an +inconsistency in any part of a whole legislature, coming to a final +determination by vote on any matter, whilst that matter, with respect +to that whole, is yet only in a train of deliberation, and consequently +open to new illustrations. + +Secondly, That by taking the vote on each, as a separate body, it always +admits of the possibility, and is often the case in practice, that the +minority governs the majority, and that, in some instances, to a degree +of great inconsistency. + +Thirdly, That two houses arbitrarily checking or controlling each other +is inconsistent; because it cannot be proved on the principles of just +representation, that either should be wiser or better than the other. +They may check in the wrong as well as in the right therefore to give +the power where we cannot give the wisdom to use it, nor be assured +of its being rightly used, renders the hazard at least equal to the +precaution.*[21] + +The objection against a single house is, that it is always in a +condition of committing itself too soon.--But it should at the same +time be remembered, that when there is a constitution which defines the +power, and establishes the principles within which a legislature +shall act, there is already a more effectual check provided, and more +powerfully operating, than any other check can be. For example, + +Were a Bill to be brought into any of the American legislatures similar +to that which was passed into an act by the English parliament, at +the commencement of George the First, to extend the duration of the +assemblies to a longer period than they now sit, the check is in the +constitution, which in effect says, Thus far shalt thou go and no +further. + +But in order to remove the objection against a single house (that of +acting with too quick an impulse), and at the same time to avoid the +inconsistencies, in some cases absurdities, arising from two houses, the +following method has been proposed as an improvement upon both. + +First, To have but one representation. + +Secondly, To divide that representation, by lot, into two or three +parts. + +Thirdly, That every proposed bill shall be first debated in those parts +by succession, that they may become the hearers of each other, but +without taking any vote. After which the whole representation to +assemble for a general debate and determination by vote. + +To this proposed improvement has been added another, for the purpose of +keeping the representation in the state of constant renovation; which +is, that one-third of the representation of each county, shall go out at +the expiration of one year, and the number be replaced by new elections. +Another third at the expiration of the second year replaced in like +manner, and every third year to be a general election.*[22] + +But in whatever manner the separate parts of a constitution may be +arranged, there is one general principle that distinguishes freedom from +slavery, which is, that all hereditary government over a people is to +them a species of slavery, and representative government is freedom. + +Considering government in the only light in which it should be +considered, that of a National Association, it ought to be so +constructed as not to be disordered by any accident happening among the +parts; and, therefore, no extraordinary power, capable of producing such +an effect, should be lodged in the hands of any individual. The death, +sickness, absence or defection, of any one individual in a government, +ought to be a matter of no more consequence, with respect to the nation, +than if the same circumstance had taken place in a member of the English +Parliament, or the French National Assembly. + +Scarcely anything presents a more degrading character of national +greatness, than its being thrown into confusion, by anything happening +to or acted by any individual; and the ridiculousness of the scene is +often increased by the natural insignificance of the person by whom it +is occasioned. Were a government so constructed, that it could not go on +unless a goose or a gander were present in the senate, the difficulties +would be just as great and as real, on the flight or sickness of +the goose, or the gander, as if it were called a King. We laugh at +individuals for the silly difficulties they make to themselves, without +perceiving that the greatest of all ridiculous things are acted in +governments.*[23] + +All the constitutions of America are on a plan that excludes the +childish embarrassments which occur in monarchical countries. No +suspension of government can there take place for a moment, from any +circumstances whatever. The system of representation provides for +everything, and is the only system in which nations and governments can +always appear in their proper character. + +As extraordinary power ought not to be lodged in the hands of any +individual, so ought there to be no appropriations of public money +to any person, beyond what his services in a state may be worth. It +signifies not whether a man be called a president, a king, an emperor, +a senator, or by any other name which propriety or folly may devise or +arrogance assume; it is only a certain service he can perform in the +state; and the service of any such individual in the routine of office, +whether such office be called monarchical, presidential, senatorial, or +by any other name or title, can never exceed the value of ten thousand +pounds a year. All the great services that are done in the world are +performed by volunteer characters, who accept nothing for them; but +the routine of office is always regulated to such a general standard +of abilities as to be within the compass of numbers in every country +to perform, and therefore cannot merit very extraordinary recompense. +Government, says Swift, is a Plain thing, and fitted to the capacity of +many heads. + +It is inhuman to talk of a million sterling a year, paid out of the +public taxes of any country, for the support of any individual, whilst +thousands who are forced to contribute thereto, are pining with want, +and struggling with misery. Government does not consist in a contrast +between prisons and palaces, between poverty and pomp; it is not +instituted to rob the needy of his mite, and increase the wretchedness +of the wretched.--But on this part of the subject I shall speak +hereafter, and confine myself at present to political observations. + +When extraordinary power and extraordinary pay are allotted to any +individual in a government, he becomes the center, round which every +kind of corruption generates and forms. Give to any man a million a +year, and add thereto the power of creating and disposing of places, +at the expense of a country, and the liberties of that country are no +longer secure. What is called the splendour of a throne is no other +than the corruption of the state. It is made up of a band of parasites, +living in luxurious indolence, out of the public taxes. + +When once such a vicious system is established it becomes the guard and +protection of all inferior abuses. The man who is in the receipt of a +million a year is the last person to promote a spirit of reform, lest, +in the event, it should reach to himself. It is always his interest to +defend inferior abuses, as so many outworks to protect the citadel; and +on this species of political fortification, all the parts have such a +common dependence that it is never to be expected they will attack each +other.*[24] + +Monarchy would not have continued so many ages in the world, had it not +been for the abuses it protects. It is the master-fraud, which shelters +all others. By admitting a participation of the spoil, it makes itself +friends; and when it ceases to do this it will cease to be the idol of +courtiers. + +As the principle on which constitutions are now formed rejects all +hereditary pretensions to government, it also rejects all that catalogue +of assumptions known by the name of prerogatives. + +If there is any government where prerogatives might with apparent safety +be entrusted to any individual, it is in the federal government of +America. The president of the United States of America is elected only +for four years. He is not only responsible in the general sense of the +word, but a particular mode is laid down in the constitution for trying +him. He cannot be elected under thirty-five years of age; and he must be +a native of the country. + +In a comparison of these cases with the Government of England, the +difference when applied to the latter amounts to an absurdity. In +England the person who exercises prerogative is often a foreigner; +always half a foreigner, and always married to a foreigner. He is +never in full natural or political connection with the country, is not +responsible for anything, and becomes of age at eighteen years; yet +such a person is permitted to form foreign alliances, without even the +knowledge of the nation, and to make war and peace without its consent. + +But this is not all. Though such a person cannot dispose of the +government in the manner of a testator, he dictates the marriage +connections, which, in effect, accomplish a great part of the same end. +He cannot directly bequeath half the government to Prussia, but he can +form a marriage partnership that will produce almost the same thing. +Under such circumstances, it is happy for England that she is not +situated on the Continent, or she might, like Holland, fall under +the dictatorship of Prussia. Holland, by marriage, is as effectually +governed by Prussia, as if the old tyranny of bequeathing the government +had been the means. + +The presidency in America (or, as it is sometimes called, the executive) +is the only office from which a foreigner is excluded, and in England it +is the only one to which he is admitted. A foreigner cannot be a member +of Parliament, but he may be what is called a king. If there is any +reason for excluding foreigners, it ought to be from those offices where +mischief can most be acted, and where, by uniting every bias of interest +and attachment, the trust is best secured. But as nations proceed in +the great business of forming constitutions, they will examine with +more precision into the nature and business of that department which is +called the executive. What the legislative and judicial departments are +every one can see; but with respect to what, in Europe, is called +the executive, as distinct from those two, it is either a political +superfluity or a chaos of unknown things. + +Some kind of official department, to which reports shall be made from +the different parts of a nation, or from abroad, to be laid before the +national representatives, is all that is necessary; but there is no +consistency in calling this the executive; neither can it be considered +in any other light than as inferior to the legislative. The sovereign +authority in any country is the power of making laws, and everything +else is an official department. + +Next to the arrangement of the principles and the organization of the +several parts of a constitution, is the provision to be made for +the support of the persons to whom the nation shall confide the +administration of the constitutional powers. + +A nation can have no right to the time and services of any person at his +own expense, whom it may choose to employ or entrust in any department +whatever; neither can any reason be given for making provision for the +support of any one part of a government and not for the other. + +But admitting that the honour of being entrusted with any part of a +government is to be considered a sufficient reward, it ought to be so to +every person alike. If the members of the legislature of any country +are to serve at their own expense that which is called the executive, +whether monarchical or by any other name, ought to serve in like manner. +It is inconsistent to pay the one, and accept the service of the other +gratis. + +In America, every department in the government is decently provided for; +but no one is extravagantly paid. Every member of Congress, and of +the Assemblies, is allowed a sufficiency for his expenses. Whereas in +England, a most prodigal provision is made for the support of one part +of the Government, and none for the other, the consequence of which is +that the one is furnished with the means of corruption and the other is +put into the condition of being corrupted. Less than a fourth part of +such expense, applied as it is in America, would remedy a great part of +the corruption. + +Another reform in the American constitution is the exploding all oaths +of personality. The oath of allegiance in America is to the nation only. +The putting any individual as a figure for a nation is improper. +The happiness of a nation is the superior object, and therefore the +intention of an oath of allegiance ought not to be obscured by being +figuratively taken, to, or in the name of, any person. The oath, called +the civic oath, in France, viz., "the nation, the law, and the king," is +improper. If taken at all, it ought to be as in America, to the nation +only. The law may or may not be good; but, in this place, it can have no +other meaning, than as being conducive to the happiness of a nation, and +therefore is included in it. The remainder of the oath is improper, on +the ground, that all personal oaths ought to be abolished. They are the +remains of tyranny on one part and slavery on the other; and the name of +the Creator ought not to be introduced to witness the degradation of +his creation; or if taken, as is already mentioned, as figurative of the +nation, it is in this place redundant. But whatever apology may be made +for oaths at the first establishment of a government, they ought not to +be permitted afterwards. If a government requires the support of oaths, +it is a sign that it is not worth supporting, and ought not to be +supported. Make government what it ought to be, and it will support +itself. + +To conclude this part of the subject:--One of the greatest improvements +that have been made for the perpetual security and progress of +constitutional liberty, is the provision which the new constitutions +make for occasionally revising, altering, and amending them. + +The principle upon which Mr. Burke formed his political creed, that of +"binding and controlling posterity to the end of time, and of renouncing +and abdicating the rights of all posterity, for ever," is now become too +detestable to be made a subject of debate; and therefore, I pass it over +with no other notice than exposing it. + +Government is but now beginning to be known. Hitherto it has been the +mere exercise of power, which forbade all effectual enquiry into rights, +and grounded itself wholly on possession. While the enemy of liberty was +its judge, the progress of its principles must have been small indeed. + +The constitutions of America, and also that of France, have either +affixed a period for their revision, or laid down the mode by which +improvement shall be made. It is perhaps impossible to establish +anything that combines principles with opinions and practice, which the +progress of circumstances, through a length of years, will not in some +measure derange, or render inconsistent; and, therefore, to prevent +inconveniences accumulating, till they discourage reformations or +provoke revolutions, it is best to provide the means of regulating them +as they occur. The Rights of Man are the rights of all generations of +men, and cannot be monopolised by any. That which is worth following, +will be followed for the sake of its worth, and it is in this that +its security lies, and not in any conditions with which it may be +encumbered. When a man leaves property to his heirs, he does not connect +it with an obligation that they shall accept it. Why, then, should we +do otherwise with respect to constitutions? The best constitution that +could now be devised, consistent with the condition of the present +moment, may be far short of that excellence which a few years may +afford. There is a morning of reason rising upon man on the subject +of government, that has not appeared before. As the barbarism of the +present old governments expires, the moral conditions of nations with +respect to each other will be changed. Man will not be brought up with +the savage idea of considering his species as his enemy, because +the accident of birth gave the individuals existence in countries +distinguished by different names; and as constitutions have always some +relation to external as well as to domestic circumstances, the means of +benefitting by every change, foreign or domestic, should be a part +of every constitution. We already see an alteration in the national +disposition of England and France towards each other, which, when we +look back to only a few years, is itself a Revolution. Who could have +foreseen, or who could have believed, that a French National Assembly +would ever have been a popular toast in England, or that a friendly +alliance of the two nations should become the wish of either? It shows +that man, were he not corrupted by governments, is naturally the friend +of man, and that human nature is not of itself vicious. That spirit +of jealousy and ferocity, which the governments of the two countries +inspired, and which they rendered subservient to the purpose of +taxation, is now yielding to the dictates of reason, interest, and +humanity. The trade of courts is beginning to be understood, and the +affectation of mystery, with all the artificial sorcery by which +they imposed upon mankind, is on the decline. It has received its +death-wound; and though it may linger, it will expire. Government ought +to be as much open to improvement as anything which appertains to man, +instead of which it has been monopolised from age to age, by the most +ignorant and vicious of the human race. Need we any other proof of their +wretched management, than the excess of debts and taxes with which every +nation groans, and the quarrels into which they have precipitated the +world? Just emerging from such a barbarous condition, it is too soon to +determine to what extent of improvement government may yet be carried. +For what we can foresee, all Europe may form but one great Republic, and +man be free of the whole. + + + + +CHAPTER V. WAYS AND MEANS OF IMPROVING THE CONDITION OF EUROPE + +INTERSPERSED WITH MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS + +In contemplating a subject that embraces with equatorial magnitude the +whole region of humanity it is impossible to confine the pursuit in one +single direction. It takes ground on every character and condition that +appertains to man, and blends the individual, the nation, and the world. +From a small spark, kindled in America, a flame has arisen not to be +extinguished. Without consuming, like the Ultima Ratio Regum, it winds +its progress from nation to nation, and conquers by a silent operation. +Man finds himself changed, he scarcely perceives how. He acquires +a knowledge of his rights by attending justly to his interest, and +discovers in the event that the strength and powers of despotism consist +wholly in the fear of resisting it, and that, in order "to be free, it +is sufficient that he wills it." + +Having in all the preceding parts of this work endeavoured to establish +a system of principles as a basis on which governments ought to be +erected, I shall proceed in this, to the ways and means of rendering +them into practice. But in order to introduce this part of the subject +with more propriety, and stronger effect, some preliminary observations, +deducible from, or connected with, those principles, are necessary. + +Whatever the form or constitution of government may be, it ought to have +no other object than the general happiness. When, instead of this, it +operates to create and increase wretchedness in any of the parts +of society, it is on a wrong system, and reformation is necessary. +Customary language has classed the condition of man under the two +descriptions of civilised and uncivilised life. To the one it has +ascribed felicity and affluence; to the other hardship and want. But, +however our imagination may be impressed by painting and comparison, +it is nevertheless true, that a great portion of mankind, in what are +called civilised countries, are in a state of poverty and wretchedness, +far below the condition of an Indian. I speak not of one country, but of +all. It is so in England, it is so all over Europe. Let us enquire into +the cause. + +It lies not in any natural defect in the principles of civilisation, +but in preventing those principles having a universal operation; the +consequence of which is, a perpetual system of war and expense, +that drains the country, and defeats the general felicity of which +civilisation is capable. All the European governments (France +now excepted) are constructed not on the principle of universal +civilisation, but on the reverse of it. So far as those governments +relate to each other, they are in the same condition as we conceive of +savage uncivilised life; they put themselves beyond the law as well +of God as of man, and are, with respect to principle and reciprocal +conduct, like so many individuals in a state of nature. The inhabitants +of every country, under the civilisation of laws, easily civilise +together, but governments being yet in an uncivilised state, and almost +continually at war, they pervert the abundance which civilised life +produces to carry on the uncivilised part to a greater extent. By thus +engrafting the barbarism of government upon the internal civilisation of +a country, it draws from the latter, and more especially from the poor, +a great portion of those earnings, which should be applied to their +own subsistence and comfort. Apart from all reflections of morality and +philosophy, it is a melancholy fact that more than one-fourth of the +labour of mankind is annually consumed by this barbarous system. What +has served to continue this evil, is the pecuniary advantage which +all the governments of Europe have found in keeping up this state of +uncivilisation. It affords to them pretences for power, and revenue, +for which there would be neither occasion nor apology, if the circle +of civilisation were rendered complete. Civil government alone, or the +government of laws, is not productive of pretences for many taxes; it +operates at home, directly under the eye of the country, and precludes +the possibility of much imposition. But when the scene is laid in +the uncivilised contention of governments, the field of pretences is +enlarged, and the country, being no longer a judge, is open to every +imposition, which governments please to act. Not a thirtieth, scarcely +a fortieth, part of the taxes which are raised in England are either +occasioned by, or applied to, the purpose of civil government. It is +not difficult to see, that the whole which the actual government does +in this respect, is to enact laws, and that the country administers +and executes them, at its own expense, by means of magistrates, juries, +sessions, and assize, over and above the taxes which it pays. In this +view of the case, we have two distinct characters of government; the one +the civil government, or the government of laws, which operates at home, +the other the court or cabinet government, which operates abroad, on the +rude plan of uncivilised life; the one attended with little charge, the +other with boundless extravagance; and so distinct are the two, that if +the latter were to sink, as it were, by a sudden opening of the earth, +and totally disappear, the former would not be deranged. It would still +proceed, because it is the common interest of the nation that it should, +and all the means are in practice. Revolutions, then, have for their +object a change in the moral condition of governments, and with this +change the burthen of public taxes will lessen, and civilisation will be +left to the enjoyment of that abundance, of which it is now deprived. +In contemplating the whole of this subject, I extend my views into the +department of commerce. In all my publications, where the matter would +admit, I have been an advocate for commerce, because I am a friend to +its effects. It is a pacific system, operating to cordialise mankind, by +rendering nations, as well as individuals, useful to each other. As to +the mere theoretical reformation, I have never preached it up. The most +effectual process is that of improving the condition of man by means of +his interest; and it is on this ground that I take my stand. If commerce +were permitted to act to the universal extent it is capable, it would +extirpate the system of war, and produce a revolution in the uncivilised +state of governments. The invention of commerce has arisen since those +governments began, and is the greatest approach towards universal +civilisation that has yet been made by any means not immediately flowing +from moral principles. Whatever has a tendency to promote the civil +intercourse of nations by an exchange of benefits, is a subject as +worthy of philosophy as of politics. Commerce is no other than the +traffic of two individuals, multiplied on a scale of numbers; and by the +same rule that nature intended for the intercourse of two, she intended +that of all. For this purpose she has distributed the materials of +manufactures and commerce, in various and distant parts of a nation and +of the world; and as they cannot be procured by war so cheaply or so +commodiously as by commerce, she has rendered the latter the means +of extirpating the former. As the two are nearly the opposite of each +other, consequently, the uncivilised state of the European governments +is injurious to commerce. Every kind of destruction or embarrassment +serves to lessen the quantity, and it matters but little in what part +of the commercial world the reduction begins. Like blood, it cannot be +taken from any of the parts, without being taken from the whole mass in +circulation, and all partake of the loss. When the ability in any +nation to buy is destroyed, it equally involves the seller. Could the +government of England destroy the commerce of all other nations, she +would most effectually ruin her own. It is possible that a nation may be +the carrier for the world, but she cannot be the merchant. She cannot +be the seller and buyer of her own merchandise. The ability to buy must +reside out of herself; and, therefore, the prosperity of any commercial +nation is regulated by the prosperity of the rest. If they are poor she +cannot be rich, and her condition, be what it may, is an index of the +height of the commercial tide in other nations. That the principles +of commerce, and its universal operation may be understood, without +understanding the practice, is a position that reason will not deny; and +it is on this ground only that I argue the subject. It is one thing +in the counting-house, in the world it is another. With respect to its +operation it must necessarily be contemplated as a reciprocal thing; +that only one-half its powers resides within the nation, and that +the whole is as effectually destroyed by the destroying the half that +resides without, as if the destruction had been committed on that which +is within; for neither can act without the other. When in the last, as +well as in former wars, the commerce of England sunk, it was because the +quantity was lessened everywhere; and it now rises, because commerce is +in a rising state in every nation. If England, at this day, imports +and exports more than at any former period, the nations with which she +trades must necessarily do the same; her imports are their exports, and +vice versa. There can be no such thing as a nation flourishing alone +in commerce: she can only participate; and the destruction of it in any +part must necessarily affect all. When, therefore, governments are +at war, the attack is made upon a common stock of commerce, and the +consequence is the same as if each had attacked his own. The present +increase of commerce is not to be attributed to ministers, or to any +political contrivances, but to its own natural operation in consequence +of peace. The regular markets had been destroyed, the channels of trade +broken up, the high road of the seas infested with robbers of every +nation, and the attention of the world called to other objects. Those +interruptions have ceased, and peace has restored the deranged condition +of things to their proper order.*[25] It is worth remarking that every +nation reckons the balance of trade in its own favour; and therefore +something must be irregular in the common ideas upon this subject. The +fact, however, is true, according to what is called a balance; and it +is from this cause that commerce is universally supported. Every nation +feels the advantage, or it would abandon the practice: but the deception +lies in the mode of making up the accounts, and in attributing what are +called profits to a wrong cause. Mr. Pitt has sometimes amused himself, +by showing what he called a balance of trade from the custom-house +books. This mode of calculating not only affords no rule that is true, +but one that is false. In the first place, Every cargo that departs from +the custom-house appears on the books as an export; and, according to +the custom-house balance, the losses at sea, and by foreign failures, +are all reckoned on the side of profit because they appear as exports. + +Secondly, Because the importation by the smuggling trade does not appear +on the custom-house books, to arrange against the exports. + +No balance, therefore, as applying to superior advantages, can be +drawn from these documents; and if we examine the natural operation of +commerce, the idea is fallacious; and if true, would soon be injurious. +The great support of commerce consists in the balance being a level of +benefits among all nations. + +Two merchants of different nations trading together, will both become +rich, and each makes the balance in his own favour; consequently, they +do not get rich of each other; and it is the same with respect to the +nations in which they reside. The case must be, that each nation must +get rich out of its own means, and increases that riches by something +which it procures from another in exchange. + +If a merchant in England sends an article of English manufacture abroad +which costs him a shilling at home, and imports something which sells +for two, he makes a balance of one shilling in his favour; but this is +not gained out of the foreign nation or the foreign merchant, for he +also does the same by the articles he receives, and neither has the +advantage upon the other. The original value of the two articles in +their proper countries was but two shillings; but by changing their +places, they acquire a new idea of value, equal to double what they had +first, and that increased value is equally divided. + +There is no otherwise a balance on foreign than on domestic commerce. +The merchants of London and Newcastle trade on the same principles, as +if they resided in different nations, and make their balances in the +same manner: yet London does not get rich out of Newcastle, any more +than Newcastle out of London: but coals, the merchandize of Newcastle, +have an additional value at London, and London merchandize has the same +at Newcastle. + +Though the principle of all commerce is the same, the domestic, in a +national view, is the part the most beneficial; because the whole of the +advantages, an both sides, rests within the nation; whereas, in foreign +commerce, it is only a participation of one-half. + +The most unprofitable of all commerce is that connected with foreign +dominion. To a few individuals it may be beneficial, merely because it +is commerce; but to the nation it is a loss. The expense of maintaining +dominion more than absorbs the profits of any trade. It does not +increase the general quantity in the world, but operates to lessen it; +and as a greater mass would be afloat by relinquishing dominion, the +participation without the expense would be more valuable than a greater +quantity with it. + +But it is impossible to engross commerce by dominion; and therefore +it is still more fallacious. It cannot exist in confined channels, and +necessarily breaks out by regular or irregular means, that defeat +the attempt: and to succeed would be still worse. France, since the +Revolution, has been more indifferent as to foreign possessions, and +other nations will become the same when they investigate the subject +with respect to commerce. + +To the expense of dominion is to be added that of navies, and when the +amounts of the two are subtracted from the profits of commerce, it will +appear, that what is called the balance of trade, even admitting it to +exist, is not enjoyed by the nation, but absorbed by the Government. + +The idea of having navies for the protection of commerce is delusive. +It is putting means of destruction for the means of protection. Commerce +needs no other protection than the reciprocal interest which every +nation feels in supporting it--it is common stock--it exists by a +balance of advantages to all; and the only interruption it meets, is +from the present uncivilised state of governments, and which it is its +common interest to reform.*[26] + +Quitting this subject, I now proceed to other matters.--As it is +necessary to include England in the prospect of a general reformation, +it is proper to inquire into the defects of its government. It is only +by each nation reforming its own, that the whole can be improved, and +the full benefit of reformation enjoyed. Only partial advantages can +flow from partial reforms. + +France and England are the only two countries in Europe where a +reformation in government could have successfully begun. The one secure +by the ocean, and the other by the immensity of its internal strength, +could defy the malignancy of foreign despotism. But it is with +revolutions as with commerce, the advantages increase by their becoming +general, and double to either what each would receive alone. + +As a new system is now opening to the view of the world, the European +courts are plotting to counteract it. Alliances, contrary to all former +systems, are agitating, and a common interest of courts is forming +against the common interest of man. This combination draws a line that +runs throughout Europe, and presents a cause so entirely new as to +exclude all calculations from former circumstances. While despotism +warred with despotism, man had no interest in the contest; but in a +cause that unites the soldier with the citizen, and nation with nation, +the despotism of courts, though it feels the danger and meditates +revenge, is afraid to strike. + +No question has arisen within the records of history that pressed with +the importance of the present. It is not whether this or that party +shall be in or not, or Whig or Tory, high or low shall prevail; but +whether man shall inherit his rights, and universal civilisation take +place? Whether the fruits of his labours shall be enjoyed by himself +or consumed by the profligacy of governments? Whether robbery shall be +banished from courts, and wretchedness from countries? + +When, in countries that are called civilised, we see age going to the +workhouse and youth to the gallows, something must be wrong in the +system of government. It would seem, by the exterior appearance of such +countries, that all was happiness; but there lies hidden from the eye of +common observation, a mass of wretchedness, that has scarcely any other +chance, than to expire in poverty or infamy. Its entrance into life is +marked with the presage of its fate; and until this is remedied, it is +in vain to punish. + +Civil government does not exist in executions; but in making such +provision for the instruction of youth and the support of age, as to +exclude, as much as possible, profligacy from the one and despair from +the other. Instead of this, the resources of a country are lavished upon +kings, upon courts, upon hirelings, impostors and prostitutes; and even +the poor themselves, with all their wants upon them, are compelled to +support the fraud that oppresses them. + +Why is it that scarcely any are executed but the poor? The fact is a +proof, among other things, of a wretchedness in their condition. Bred up +without morals, and cast upon the world without a prospect, they are +the exposed sacrifice of vice and legal barbarity. The millions that are +superfluously wasted upon governments are more than sufficient to reform +those evils, and to benefit the condition of every man in a nation, not +included within the purlieus of a court. This I hope to make appear in +the progress of this work. + +It is the nature of compassion to associate with misfortune. In taking +up this subject I seek no recompense--I fear no consequence. Fortified +with that proud integrity, that disdains to triumph or to yield, I will +advocate the Rights of Man. + +It is to my advantage that I have served an apprenticeship to life. I +know the value of moral instruction, and I have seen the danger of the +contrary. + +At an early period--little more than sixteen years of age, raw and +adventurous, and heated with the false heroism of a master*[27] who +had served in a man-of-war--I began the carver of my own fortune, +and entered on board the Terrible Privateer, Captain Death. From +this adventure I was happily prevented by the affectionate and moral +remonstrance of a good father, who, from his own habits of life, being +of the Quaker profession, must begin to look upon me as lost. But the +impression, much as it effected at the time, began to wear away, and I +entered afterwards in the King of Prussia Privateer, Captain Mendez, +and went with her to sea. Yet, from such a beginning, and with all the +inconvenience of early life against me, I am proud to say, that with +a perseverance undismayed by difficulties, a disinterestedness that +compelled respect, I have not only contributed to raise a new empire in +the world, founded on a new system of government, but I have arrived at +an eminence in political literature, the most difficult of all lines to +succeed and excel in, which aristocracy with all its aids has not been +able to reach or to rival.*[28] + +Knowing my own heart and feeling myself as I now do, superior to all the +skirmish of party, the inveteracy of interested or mistaken opponents, +I answer not to falsehood or abuse, but proceed to the defects of the +English Government. + +I begin with charters and corporations. + +It is a perversion of terms to say that a charter gives rights. It +operates by a contrary effect--that of taking rights away. Rights are +inherently in all the inhabitants; but charters, by annulling those +rights, in the majority, leave the right, by exclusion, in the hands of +a few. If charters were constructed so as to express in direct terms, +"that every inhabitant, who is not a member of a corporation, shall +not exercise the right of voting," such charters would, in the face, be +charters not of rights, but of exclusion. The effect is the same under +the form they now stand; and the only persons on whom they operate are +the persons whom they exclude. Those whose rights are guaranteed, by +not being taken away, exercise no other rights than as members of the +community they are entitled to without a charter; and, therefore, all +charters have no other than an indirect negative operation. They do not +give rights to A, but they make a difference in favour of A by taking +away the right of B, and consequently are instruments of injustice. + +But charters and corporations have a more extensive evil effect +than what relates merely to elections. They are sources of endless +contentions in the places where they exist, and they lessen the common +rights of national society. A native of England, under the operation of +these charters and corporations, cannot be said to be an Englishman in +the full sense of the word. He is not free of the nation, in the same +manner that a Frenchman is free of France, and an American of America. +His rights are circumscribed to the town, and, in some cases, to the +parish of his birth; and all other parts, though in his native land, are +to him as a foreign country. To acquire a residence in these, he must +undergo a local naturalisation by purchase, or he is forbidden or +expelled the place. This species of feudality is kept up to aggrandise +the corporations at the ruin of towns; and the effect is visible. + +The generality of corporation towns are in a state of solitary decay, +and prevented from further ruin only by some circumstance in their +situation, such as a navigable river, or a plentiful surrounding +country. As population is one of the chief sources of wealth (for +without it land itself has no value), everything which operates to +prevent it must lessen the value of property; and as corporations have +not only this tendency, but directly this effect, they cannot but be +injurious. If any policy were to be followed, instead of that of general +freedom, to every person to settle where he chose (as in France or +America) it would be more consistent to give encouragement to new comers +than to preclude their admission by exacting premiums from them.*[29] + +The persons most immediately interested in the abolition of corporations +are the inhabitants of the towns where corporations are established. The +instances of Manchester, Birmingham, and Sheffield show, by contrast, +the injuries which those Gothic institutions are to property and +commerce. A few examples may be found, such as that of London, whose +natural and commercial advantage, owing to its situation on the Thames, +is capable of bearing up against the political evils of a corporation; +but in almost all other cases the fatality is too visible to be doubted +or denied. + +Though the whole nation is not so directly affected by the depression of +property in corporation towns as the inhabitants themselves, it partakes +of the consequence. By lessening the value of property, the quantity of +national commerce is curtailed. Every man is a customer in proportion +to his ability; and as all parts of a nation trade with each other, +whatever affects any of the parts must necessarily communicate to the +whole. + +As one of the Houses of the English Parliament is, in a great measure, +made up of elections from these corporations; and as it is unnatural +that a pure stream should flow from a foul fountain, its vices are but a +continuation of the vices of its origin. A man of moral honour and good +political principles cannot submit to the mean drudgery and disgraceful +arts, by which such elections are carried. To be a successful candidate, +he must be destitute of the qualities that constitute a just legislator; +and being thus disciplined to corruption by the mode of entering into +Parliament, it is not to be expected that the representative should be +better than the man. + +Mr. Burke, in speaking of the English representation, has advanced +as bold a challenge as ever was given in the days of chivalry. "Our +representation," says he, "has been found perfectly adequate to all +the purposes for which a representation of the people can be desired or +devised." "I defy," continues he, "the enemies of our constitution +to show the contrary."--This declaration from a man who has been in +constant opposition to all the measures of parliament the whole of his +political life, a year or two excepted, is most extraordinary; and, +comparing him with himself, admits of no other alternative, than that he +acted against his judgment as a member, or has declared contrary to it +as an author. + +But it is not in the representation only that the defects lie, and +therefore I proceed in the next place to the aristocracy. + +What is called the House of Peers, is constituted on a ground very +similar to that, against which there is no law in other cases. It +amounts to a combination of persons in one common interest. No better +reason can be given, why a house of legislation should be composed +entirely of men whose occupation consists in letting landed property, +than why it should be composed of those who hire, or of brewers, or +bakers, or any other separate class of men. Mr. Burke calls this house +"the great ground and pillar of security to the landed interest." Let us +examine this idea. + +What pillar of security does the landed interest require more than any +other interest in the state, or what right has it to a distinct and +separate representation from the general interest of a nation? The only +use to be made of this power (and which it always has made), is to ward +off taxes from itself, and throw the burthen upon those articles of +consumption by which itself would be least affected. + +That this has been the consequence (and will always be the consequence) +of constructing governments on combinations, is evident with respect to +England, from the history of its taxes. + +Notwithstanding taxes have increased and multiplied upon every article +of common consumption, the land-tax, which more particularly affects +this "pillar," has diminished. In 1778 the amount of the land-tax was +L1,950,000, which is half-a-million less than it produced almost +a hundred years ago,*[30] notwithstanding the rentals are in many +instances doubled since that period. + +Before the coming of the Hanoverians, the taxes were divided in nearly +equal proportions between the land and articles of consumption, the land +bearing rather the largest share: but since that era nearly thirteen +millions annually of new taxes have been thrown upon consumption. The +consequence of which has been a constant increase in the number and +wretchedness of the poor, and in the amount of the poor-rates. Yet here +again the burthen does not fall in equal proportions on the aristocracy +with the rest of the community. Their residences, whether in town or +country, are not mixed with the habitations of the poor. They live apart +from distress, and the expense of relieving it. It is in manufacturing +towns and labouring villages that those burthens press the heaviest; in +many of which it is one class of poor supporting another. + +Several of the most heavy and productive taxes are so contrived, as to +give an exemption to this pillar, thus standing in its own defence. The +tax upon beer brewed for sale does not affect the aristocracy, who brew +their own beer free from this duty. It falls only on those who have +not conveniency or ability to brew, and who must purchase it in small +quantities. But what will mankind think of the justice of taxation, +when they know that this tax alone, from which the aristocracy are from +circumstances exempt, is nearly equal to the whole of the land-tax, +being in the year 1788, and it is not less now, L1,666,152, and with its +proportion of the taxes on malt and hops, it exceeds it.--That a single +article, thus partially consumed, and that chiefly by the working part, +should be subject to a tax, equal to that on the whole rental of a +nation, is, perhaps, a fact not to be paralleled in the histories of +revenues. + +This is one of the circumstances resulting from a house of legislation, +composed on the ground of a combination of common interest; for whatever +their separate politics as to parties may be, in this they are united. +Whether a combination acts to raise the price of any article for sale, +or rate of wages; or whether it acts to throw taxes from itself upon +another class of the community, the principle and the effect are the +same; and if the one be illegal, it will be difficult to show that the +other ought to exist. + +It is no use to say that taxes are first proposed in the House of +Commons; for as the other house has always a negative, it can +always defend itself; and it would be ridiculous to suppose that its +acquiescence in the measures to be proposed were not understood +before hand. Besides which, it has obtained so much influence by +borough-traffic, and so many of its relations and connections are +distributed on both sides the commons, as to give it, besides an +absolute negative in one house, a preponderancy in the other, in all +matters of common concern. + +It is difficult to discover what is meant by the landed interest, if +it does not mean a combination of aristocratical landholders, opposing +their own pecuniary interest to that of the farmer, and every branch of +trade, commerce, and manufacture. In all other respects it is the +only interest that needs no partial protection. It enjoys the general +protection of the world. Every individual, high or low, is interested +in the fruits of the earth; men, women, and children, of all ages and +degrees, will turn out to assist the farmer, rather than a harvest +should not be got in; and they will not act thus by any other property. +It is the only one for which the common prayer of mankind is put up, +and the only one that can never fail from the want of means. It is the +interest, not of the policy, but of the existence of man, and when it +ceases, he must cease to be. + +No other interest in a nation stands on the same united support. +Commerce, manufactures, arts, sciences, and everything else, compared +with this, are supported but in parts. Their prosperity or their decay +has not the same universal influence. When the valleys laugh and sing, +it is not the farmer only, but all creation that rejoice. It is a +prosperity that excludes all envy; and this cannot be said of anything +else. + +Why then, does Mr. Burke talk of his house of peers as the pillar of +the landed interest? Were that pillar to sink into the earth, the same +landed property would continue, and the same ploughing, sowing, and +reaping would go on. The aristocracy are not the farmers who work the +land, and raise the produce, but are the mere consumers of the rent; and +when compared with the active world are the drones, a seraglio of males, +who neither collect the honey nor form the hive, but exist only for lazy +enjoyment. + +Mr. Burke, in his first essay, called aristocracy "the Corinthian +capital of polished society." Towards completing the figure, he has now +added the pillar; but still the base is wanting; and whenever a nation +choose to act a Samson, not blind, but bold, down will go the temple of +Dagon, the Lords and the Philistines. + +If a house of legislation is to be composed of men of one class, for +the purpose of protecting a distinct interest, all the other interests +should have the same. The inequality, as well as the burthen of +taxation, arises from admitting it in one case, and not in all. Had +there been a house of farmers, there had been no game laws; or a house +of merchants and manufacturers, the taxes had neither been so unequal +nor so excessive. It is from the power of taxation being in the hands of +those who can throw so great a part of it from their own shoulders, that +it has raged without a check. + +Men of small or moderate estates are more injured by the taxes being +thrown on articles of consumption, than they are eased by warding it +from landed property, for the following reasons: + +First, They consume more of the productive taxable articles, in +proportion to their property, than those of large estates. + +Secondly, Their residence is chiefly in towns, and their property in +houses; and the increase of the poor-rates, occasioned by taxes on +consumption, is in much greater proportion than the land-tax has +been favoured. In Birmingham, the poor-rates are not less than +seven shillings in the pound. From this, as is already observed, the +aristocracy are in a great measure exempt. + +These are but a part of the mischiefs flowing from the wretched scheme +of an house of peers. + +As a combination, it can always throw a considerable portion of taxes +from itself; and as an hereditary house, accountable to nobody, it +resembles a rotten borough, whose consent is to be courted by interest. +There are but few of its members, who are not in some mode or +other participators, or disposers of the public money. One turns a +candle-holder, or a lord in waiting; another a lord of the bed-chamber, +a groom of the stole, or any insignificant nominal office to which a +salary is annexed, paid out of the public taxes, and which avoids the +direct appearance of corruption. Such situations are derogatory to the +character of man; and where they can be submitted to, honour cannot +reside. + +To all these are to be added the numerous dependants, the long list of +younger branches and distant relations, who are to be provided for +at the public expense: in short, were an estimation to be made of the +charge of aristocracy to a nation, it will be found nearly equal to that +of supporting the poor. The Duke of Richmond alone (and there are cases +similar to his) takes away as much for himself as would maintain two +thousand poor and aged persons. Is it, then, any wonder, that under such +a system of government, taxes and rates have multiplied to their present +extent? + +In stating these matters, I speak an open and disinterested language, +dictated by no passion but that of humanity. To me, who have not only +refused offers, because I thought them improper, but have declined +rewards I might with reputation have accepted, it is no wonder that +meanness and imposition appear disgustful. Independence is my happiness, +and I view things as they are, without regard to place or person; my +country is the world, and my religion is to do good. + +Mr. Burke, in speaking of the aristocratical law of primogeniture, says, +"it is the standing law of our landed inheritance; and which, without +question, has a tendency, and I think," continues he, "a happy tendency, +to preserve a character of weight and consequence." + +Mr. Burke may call this law what he pleases, but humanity and impartial +reflection will denounce it as a law of brutal injustice. Were we not +accustomed to the daily practice, and did we only hear of it as the +law of some distant part of the world, we should conclude that +the legislators of such countries had not arrived at a state of +civilisation. + +As to its preserving a character of weight and consequence, the case +appears to me directly the reverse. It is an attaint upon character; +a sort of privateering on family property. It may have weight among +dependent tenants, but it gives none on a scale of national, and much +less of universal character. Speaking for myself, my parents were not +able to give me a shilling, beyond what they gave me in education; and +to do this they distressed themselves: yet, I possess more of what is +called consequence, in the world, than any one in Mr. Burke's catalogue +of aristocrats. + +Having thus glanced at some of the defects of the two houses of +parliament, I proceed to what is called the crown, upon which I shall be +very concise. + +It signifies a nominal office of a million sterling a year, the business +of which consists in receiving the money. Whether the person be wise +or foolish, sane or insane, a native or a foreigner, matters not. Every +ministry acts upon the same idea that Mr. Burke writes, namely, that the +people must be hood-winked, and held in superstitious ignorance by some +bugbear or other; and what is called the crown answers this purpose, and +therefore it answers all the purposes to be expected from it. This is +more than can be said of the other two branches. + +The hazard to which this office is exposed in all countries, is not from +anything that can happen to the man, but from what may happen to the +nation--the danger of its coming to its senses. + +It has been customary to call the crown the executive power, and the +custom is continued, though the reason has ceased. + +It was called the executive, because the person whom it signified +used, formerly, to act in the character of a judge, in administering +or executing the laws. The tribunals were then a part of the court. The +power, therefore, which is now called the judicial, is what was called +the executive and, consequently, one or other of the terms is redundant, +and one of the offices useless. When we speak of the crown now, it means +nothing; it signifies neither a judge nor a general: besides which it +is the laws that govern, and not the man. The old terms are kept up, to +give an appearance of consequence to empty forms; and the only effect +they have is that of increasing expenses. + +Before I proceed to the means of rendering governments more conducive to +the general happiness of mankind, than they are at present, it will not +be improper to take a review of the progress of taxation in England. + +It is a general idea, that when taxes are once laid on, they are never +taken off. However true this may have been of late, it was not always +so. Either, therefore, the people of former times were more watchful +over government than those of the present, or government was +administered with less extravagance. + +It is now seven hundred years since the Norman conquest, and the +establishment of what is called the crown. Taking this portion of time +in seven separate periods of one hundred years each, the amount of the +annual taxes, at each period, will be as follows: + + Annual taxes levied by William the Conqueror, + beginning in the year 1066 L400,000 + Annual taxes at 100 years from the conquest (1166) 200,000 + Annual taxes at 200 years from the conquest (1266) 150,000 + Annual taxes at 300 years from the conquest (1366) 130,000 + Annual taxes at 400 years from the conquest (1466) 100,000 + +These statements and those which follow, are taken from Sir John +Sinclair's History of the Revenue; by which it appears, that taxes +continued decreasing for four hundred years, at the expiration of which +time they were reduced three-fourths, viz., from four hundred thousand +pounds to one hundred thousand. The people of England of the present +day, have a traditionary and historical idea of the bravery of their +ancestors; but whatever their virtues or their vices might have been, +they certainly were a people who would not be imposed upon, and who kept +governments in awe as to taxation, if not as to principle. Though they +were not able to expel the monarchical usurpation, they restricted it to +a republican economy of taxes. + +Let us now review the remaining three hundred years: + +Annual amount of taxes at: + + 500 years from the conquest (1566) 500,000 + 600 years from the conquest (1666) 1,800,000 + the present time (1791) 17,000,000 + +The difference between the first four hundred years and the last three, +is so astonishing, as to warrant an opinion, that the national character +of the English has changed. It would have been impossible to have +dragooned the former English, into the excess of taxation that now +exists; and when it is considered that the pay of the army, the navy, +and of all the revenue officers, is the same now as it was about a +hundred years ago, when the taxes were not above a tenth part of what +they are at present, it appears impossible to account for the enormous +increase and expenditure on any other ground, than extravagance, +corruption, and intrigue.*[31] + +With the Revolution of 1688, and more so since the Hanover succession, +came the destructive system of continental intrigues, and the rage for +foreign wars and foreign dominion; systems of such secure mystery that +the expenses admit of no accounts; a single line stands for millions. To +what excess taxation might have extended had not the French revolution +contributed to break up the system, and put an end to pretences, is +impossible to say. Viewed, as that revolution ought to be, as the +fortunate means of lessening the load of taxes of both countries, it is +of as much importance to England as to France; and, if properly improved +to all the advantages of which it is capable, and to which it leads, +deserves as much celebration in one country as the other. + +In pursuing this subject, I shall begin with the matter that first +presents itself, that of lessening the burthen of taxes; and shall then +add such matter and propositions, respecting the three countries of +England, France, and America, as the present prospect of things appears +to justify: I mean, an alliance of the three, for the purposes that will +be mentioned in their proper place. + +What has happened may happen again. By the statement before shown of +the progress of taxation, it is seen that taxes have been lessened to +a fourth part of what they had formerly been. Though the present +circumstances do not admit of the same reduction, yet they admit of such +a beginning, as may accomplish that end in less time than in the former +case. + +The amount of taxes for the year ending at Michaelmas 1788, was as +follows: + + Land-tax L 1,950,000 + Customs 3,789,274 + Excise (including old and new malt) 6,751,727 + Stamps 1,278,214 + Miscellaneous taxes and incidents 1,803,755 + ----------- + L15,572,755 + +Since the year 1788, upwards of one million new taxes have been laid on, +besides the produce of the lotteries; and as the taxes have in general +been more productive since than before, the amount may be taken, in +round numbers, at L17,000,000. (The expense of collection and the +drawbacks, which together amount to nearly two millions, are paid out of +the gross amount; and the above is the net sum paid into the exchequer). +This sum of seventeen millions is applied to two different purposes; the +one to pay the interest of the National Debt, the other to the current +expenses of each year. About nine millions are appropriated to the +former; and the remainder, being nearly eight millions, to the latter. +As to the million, said to be applied to the reduction of the debt, it +is so much like paying with one hand and taking out with the other, as +not to merit much notice. It happened, fortunately for France, that +she possessed national domains for paying off her debt, and thereby +lessening her taxes; but as this is not the case with England, her +reduction of taxes can only take place by reducing the current expenses, +which may now be done to the amount of four or five millions annually, +as will hereafter appear. When this is accomplished it will more than +counter-balance the enormous charge of the American war; and the saving +will be from the same source from whence the evil arose. As to the +national debt, however heavy the interest may be in taxes, yet, as it +serves to keep alive a capital useful to commerce, it balances by its +effects a considerable part of its own weight; and as the quantity +of gold and silver is, by some means or other, short of its proper +proportion, being not more than twenty millions, whereas it should be +sixty (foreign intrigue, foreign wars, foreign dominions, will in +a great measure account for the deficiency), it would, besides the +injustice, be bad policy to extinguish a capital that serves to supply +that defect. But with respect to the current expense, whatever is saved +therefrom is gain. The excess may serve to keep corruption alive, but it +has no re-action on credit and commerce, like the interest of the debt. + +It is now very probable that the English Government (I do not mean +the nation) is unfriendly to the French Revolution. Whatever serves to +expose the intrigue and lessen the influence of courts, by lessening +taxation, will be unwelcome to those who feed upon the spoil. Whilst the +clamour of French intrigue, arbitrary power, popery, and wooden shoes +could be kept up, the nation was easily allured and alarmed into taxes. +Those days are now past: deception, it is to be hoped, has reaped its +last harvest, and better times are in prospect for both countries, and +for the world. + +Taking it for granted that an alliance may be formed between England, +France, and America for the purposes hereafter to be mentioned, the +national expenses of France and England may consequently be lessened. +The same fleets and armies will no longer be necessary to either, and +the reduction can be made ship for ship on each side. But to accomplish +these objects the governments must necessarily be fitted to a common +and correspondent principle. Confidence can never take place while an +hostile disposition remains in either, or where mystery and secrecy on +one side is opposed to candour and openness on the other. + +These matters admitted, the national expenses might be put back, for the +sake of a precedent, to what they were at some period when France and +England were not enemies. This, consequently, must be prior to the +Hanover succession, and also to the Revolution of 1688.*[32] The first +instance that presents itself, antecedent to those dates, is in the +very wasteful and profligate times of Charles the Second; at which time +England and France acted as allies. If I have chosen a period of great +extravagance, it will serve to show modern extravagance in a still worse +light; especially as the pay of the navy, the army, and the revenue +officers has not increased since that time. + +The peace establishment was then as follows (see Sir John Sinclair's +History of the Revenue): + + Navy L 300,000 + Army 212,000 + Ordnance 40,000 + Civil List 462,115 + ------- + L1,014,115 + +The parliament, however, settled the whole annual peace establishment +at $1,200,000.*[33] If we go back to the time of Elizabeth the amount of +all the taxes was but half a million, yet the nation sees nothing during +that period that reproaches it with want of consequence. + +All circumstances, then, taken together, arising from the French +revolution, from the approaching harmony and reciprocal interest of the +two nations, the abolition of the court intrigue on both sides, and +the progress of knowledge in the science of government, the annual +expenditure might be put back to one million and a half, viz.: + + Navy L 500,000 + Army 500,000 + Expenses of Government 500,000 + ---------- + L1,500,000 + +Even this sum is six times greater than the expenses of government are +in America, yet the civil internal government in England (I mean that +administered by means of quarter sessions, juries and assize, and which, +in fact, is nearly the whole, and performed by the nation), is +less expense upon the revenue, than the same species and portion of +government is in America. + +It is time that nations should be rational, and not be governed like +animals, for the pleasure of their riders. To read the history of kings, +a man would be almost inclined to suppose that government consisted in +stag-hunting, and that every nation paid a million a-year to a huntsman. +Man ought to have pride, or shame enough to blush at being thus imposed +upon, and when he feels his proper character he will. Upon all subjects +of this nature, there is often passing in the mind, a train of ideas he +has not yet accustomed himself to encourage and communicate. Restrained +by something that puts on the character of prudence, he acts the +hypocrite upon himself as well as to others. It is, however, curious +to observe how soon this spell can be dissolved. A single expression, +boldly conceived and uttered, will sometimes put a whole company into +their proper feelings: and whole nations are acted on in the same +manner. + +As to the offices of which any civil government may be composed, it +matters but little by what names they are described. In the routine of +business, as before observed, whether a man be styled a president, a +king, an emperor, a senator, or anything else, it is impossible that any +service he can perform, can merit from a nation more than ten thousand +pounds a year; and as no man should be paid beyond his services, so +every man of a proper heart will not accept more. Public money ought to +be touched with the most scrupulous consciousness of honour. It is +not the produce of riches only, but of the hard earnings of labour and +poverty. It is drawn even from the bitterness of want and misery. Not +a beggar passes, or perishes in the streets, whose mite is not in that +mass. + +Were it possible that the Congress of America could be so lost to their +duty, and to the interest of their constituents, as to offer General +Washington, as president of America, a million a year, he would not, and +he could not, accept it. His sense of honour is of another kind. It +has cost England almost seventy millions sterling, to maintain a family +imported from abroad, of very inferior capacity to thousands in the +nation; and scarcely a year has passed that has not produced some new +mercenary application. Even the physicians' bills have been sent to +the public to be paid. No wonder that jails are crowded, and taxes and +poor-rates increased. Under such systems, nothing is to be looked for +but what has already happened; and as to reformation, whenever it come, +it must be from the nation, and not from the government. + +To show that the sum of five hundred thousand pounds is more than +sufficient to defray all the expenses of the government, exclusive of +navies and armies, the following estimate is added, for any country, of +the same extent as England. + +In the first place, three hundred representatives fairly elected, are +sufficient for all the purposes to which legislation can apply, and +preferable to a larger number. They may be divided into two or three +houses, or meet in one, as in France, or in any manner a constitution +shall direct. + +As representation is always considered, in free countries, as the most +honourable of all stations, the allowance made to it is merely to defray +the expense which the representatives incur by that service, and not to +it as an office. + + If an allowance, at the rate of five hundred pounds per + annum, be made to every representative, deducting for + non-attendance, the expense, if the whole number + attended for six months, each year, would be L 75,00 + + The official departments cannot reasonably exceed the + following number, with the salaries annexed: + + Three offices at ten thousand pounds each L 30,000 + Ten ditto, at five thousand pounds each 50,000 + Twenty ditto, at two thousand pounds each 40,000 + Forty ditto, at one thousand pounds each 40,000 + Two hundred ditto, at five hundred pounds each 100,000 + Three hundred ditto, at two hundred pounds each 60,000 + Five hundred ditto, at one hundred pounds each 50,000 + Seven hundred ditto, at seventy-five pounds each 52,500 + -------- + L497,500 + +If a nation choose, it can deduct four per cent. from all offices, and +make one of twenty thousand per annum. + +All revenue officers are paid out of the monies they collect, and +therefore, are not in this estimation. + +The foregoing is not offered as an exact detail of offices, but to show +the number of rate of salaries which five hundred thousand pounds will +support; and it will, on experience, be found impracticable to find +business sufficient to justify even this expense. As to the manner in +which office business is now performed, the Chiefs, in several offices, +such as the post-office, and certain offices in the exchequer, etc., do +little more than sign their names three or four times a year; and the +whole duty is performed by under-clerks. + +Taking, therefore, one million and a half as a sufficient peace +establishment for all the honest purposes of government, which is +three hundred thousand pounds more than the peace establishment in the +profligate and prodigal times of Charles the Second (notwithstanding, as +has been already observed, the pay and salaries of the army, navy, +and revenue officers, continue the same as at that period), there will +remain a surplus of upwards of six millions out of the present current +expenses. The question then will be, how to dispose of this surplus. + +Whoever has observed the manner in which trade and taxes twist +themselves together, must be sensible of the impossibility of separating +them suddenly. + +First. Because the articles now on hand are already charged with the +duty, and the reduction cannot take place on the present stock. + +Secondly. Because, on all those articles on which the duty is charged +in the gross, such as per barrel, hogshead, hundred weight, or ton, the +abolition of the duty does not admit of being divided down so as fully +to relieve the consumer, who purchases by the pint, or the pound. The +last duty laid on strong beer and ale was three shillings per barrel, +which, if taken off, would lessen the purchase only half a farthing per +pint, and consequently, would not reach to practical relief. + +This being the condition of a great part of the taxes, it will be +necessary to look for such others as are free from this embarrassment +and where the relief will be direct and visible, and capable of +immediate operation. + +In the first place, then, the poor-rates are a direct tax which every +house-keeper feels, and who knows also, to a farthing, the sum which +he pays. The national amount of the whole of the poor-rates is not +positively known, but can be procured. Sir John Sinclair, in his History +of the Revenue has stated it at L2,100,587. A considerable part of +which is expended in litigations, in which the poor, instead of being +relieved, are tormented. The expense, however, is the same to the parish +from whatever cause it arises. + +In Birmingham, the amount of poor-rates is fourteen thousand pounds +a year. This, though a large sum, is moderate, compared with the +population. Birmingham is said to contain seventy thousand souls, and on +a proportion of seventy thousand to fourteen thousand pounds poor-rates, +the national amount of poor-rates, taking the population of England as +seven millions, would be but one million four hundred thousand pounds. +It is, therefore, most probable, that the population of Birmingham +is over-rated. Fourteen thousand pounds is the proportion upon fifty +thousand souls, taking two millions of poor-rates, as the national +amount. + +Be it, however, what it may, it is no other than the consequence of +excessive burthen of taxes, for, at the time when the taxes were very +low, the poor were able to maintain themselves; and there were no +poor-rates.*[34] In the present state of things a labouring man, with a +wife or two or three children, does not pay less than between seven and +eight pounds a year in taxes. He is not sensible of this, because it is +disguised to him in the articles which he buys, and he thinks only of +their dearness; but as the taxes take from him, at least, a fourth part +of his yearly earnings, he is consequently disabled from providing for +a family, especially, if himself, or any of them, are afflicted with +sickness. + +The first step, therefore, of practical relief, would be to abolish the +poor-rates entirely, and in lieu thereof, to make a remission of taxes +to the poor of double the amount of the present poor-rates, viz., four +millions annually out of the surplus taxes. By this measure, the poor +would be benefited two millions, and the house-keepers two millions. +This alone would be equal to a reduction of one hundred and twenty +millions of the National Debt, and consequently equal to the whole +expense of the American War. + +It will then remain to be considered, which is the most effectual mode +of distributing this remission of four millions. + +It is easily seen, that the poor are generally composed of large +families of children, and old people past their labour. If these two +classes are provided for, the remedy will so far reach to the full +extent of the case, that what remains will be incidental, and, in a +great measure, fall within the compass of benefit clubs, which, though +of humble invention, merit to be ranked among the best of modern +institutions. + +Admitting England to contain seven millions of souls; if one-fifth +thereof are of that class of poor which need support, the number will be +one million four hundred thousand. Of this number, one hundred and forty +thousand will be aged poor, as will be hereafter shown, and for which a +distinct provision will be proposed. + +There will then remain one million two hundred and sixty thousand +which, at five souls to each family, amount to two hundred and fifty-two +thousand families, rendered poor from the expense of children and the +weight of taxes. + +The number of children under fourteen years of age, in each of those +families, will be found to be about five to every two families; some +having two, and others three; some one, and others four: some none, +and others five; but it rarely happens that more than five are under +fourteen years of age, and after this age they are capable of service or +of being apprenticed. + +Allowing five children (under fourteen years) to every two families, + +The number of children will be 630,000 + +The number of parents, were they all living, would be 504,000 + +It is certain, that if the children are provided for, the parents are +relieved of consequence, because it is from the expense of bringing up +children that their poverty arises. + +Having thus ascertained the greatest number that can be supposed to need +support on account of young families, I proceed to the mode of relief or +distribution, which is, + +To pay as a remission of taxes to every poor family, out of the surplus +taxes, and in room of poor-rates, four pounds a year for every child +under fourteen years of age; enjoining the parents of such children to +send them to school, to learn reading, writing, and common arithmetic; +the ministers of every parish, of every denomination to certify jointly +to an office, for that purpose, that this duty is performed. The amount +of this expense will be, + + For six hundred and thirty thousand children + at four pounds per annum each L2,520,000 + +By adopting this method, not only the poverty of the parents will be +relieved, but ignorance will be banished from the rising generation, and +the number of poor will hereafter become less, because their abilities, +by the aid of education, will be greater. Many a youth, with good +natural genius, who is apprenticed to a mechanical trade, such as +a carpenter, joiner, millwright, shipwright, blacksmith, etc., is +prevented getting forward the whole of his life from the want of a +little common education when a boy. + +I now proceed to the case of the aged. + +I divide age into two classes. First, the approach of age, beginning at +fifty. Secondly, old age commencing at sixty. + +At fifty, though the mental faculties of man are in full vigour, and +his judgment better than at any preceding date, the bodily powers for +laborious life are on the decline. He cannot bear the same quantity of +fatigue as at an earlier period. He begins to earn less, and is +less capable of enduring wind and weather; and in those more retired +employments where much sight is required, he fails apace, and sees +himself, like an old horse, beginning to be turned adrift. + +At sixty his labour ought to be over, at least from direct necessity. +It is painful to see old age working itself to death, in what are called +civilised countries, for daily bread. + +To form some judgment of the number of those above fifty years of age, +I have several times counted the persons I met in the streets of London, +men, women, and children, and have generally found that the average is +about one in sixteen or seventeen. If it be said that aged persons +do not come much into the streets, so neither do infants; and a great +proportion of grown children are in schools and in work-shops as +apprentices. Taking, then, sixteen for a divisor, the whole number of +persons in England of fifty years and upwards, of both sexes, rich and +poor, will be four hundred and twenty thousand. + +The persons to be provided for out of this gross number will be +husbandmen, common labourers, journeymen of every trade and their wives, +sailors, and disbanded soldiers, worn out servants of both sexes, and +poor widows. + +There will be also a considerable number of middling tradesmen, +who having lived decently in the former part of life, begin, as age +approaches, to lose their business, and at last fall to decay. + +Besides these there will be constantly thrown off from the revolutions +of that wheel which no man can stop nor regulate, a number from every +class of life connected with commerce and adventure. + +To provide for all those accidents, and whatever else may befall, I take +the number of persons who, at one time or other of their lives, after +fifty years of age, may feel it necessary or comfortable to be better +supported, than they can support themselves, and that not as a matter of +grace and favour, but of right, at one-third of the whole number, which +is one hundred and forty thousand, as stated in a previous page, and +for whom a distinct provision was proposed to be made. If there be more, +society, notwithstanding the show and pomposity of government, is in a +deplorable condition in England. + +Of this one hundred and forty thousand, I take one half, seventy +thousand, to be of the age of fifty and under sixty, and the other half +to be sixty years and upwards. Having thus ascertained the probable +proportion of the number of aged persons, I proceed to the mode of +rendering their condition comfortable, which is: + +To pay to every such person of the age of fifty years, and until he +shall arrive at the age of sixty, the sum of six pounds per annum out of +the surplus taxes, and ten pounds per annum during life after the age of +sixty. The expense of which will be, + + Seventy thousand persons, at L6 per annum L 420,000 + Seventy thousand persons, at L10 per annum 700,000 + ------- + L1,120,000 + +This support, as already remarked, is not of the nature of a charity but +of a right. Every person in England, male and female, pays on an average +in taxes two pounds eight shillings and sixpence per annum from the day +of his (or her) birth; and, if the expense of collection be added, he +pays two pounds eleven shillings and sixpence; consequently, at the end +of fifty years he has paid one hundred and twenty-eight pounds fifteen +shillings; and at sixty one hundred and fifty-four pounds ten shillings. +Converting, therefore, his (or her) individual tax in a tontine, the +money he shall receive after fifty years is but little more than the +legal interest of the net money he has paid; the rest is made up from +those whose circumstances do not require them to draw such support, and +the capital in both cases defrays the expenses of government. It is on +this ground that I have extended the probable claims to one-third of +the number of aged persons in the nation.--Is it, then, better that +the lives of one hundred and forty thousand aged persons be rendered +comfortable, or that a million a year of public money be expended on +any one individual, and him often of the most worthless or insignificant +character? Let reason and justice, let honour and humanity, let even +hypocrisy, sycophancy and Mr. Burke, let George, let Louis, +Leopold, Frederic, Catherine, Cornwallis, or Tippoo Saib, answer the +question.*[35] + +The sum thus remitted to the poor will be, + + To two hundred and fifty-two thousand poor families, + containing six hundred and thirty thousand children L2,520,000 + To one hundred and forty thousand aged persons 1,120,000 + ---------- + L3,640,000 + +There will then remain three hundred and sixty thousand pounds out of +the four millions, part of which may be applied as follows:-- + +After all the above cases are provided for there will still be a number +of families who, though not properly of the class of poor, yet find it +difficult to give education to their children; and such children, under +such a case, would be in a worse condition than if their parents were +actually poor. A nation under a well-regulated government should permit +none to remain uninstructed. It is monarchical and aristocratical +government only that requires ignorance for its support. + +Suppose, then, four hundred thousand children to be in this condition, +which is a greater number than ought to be supposed after the provisions +already made, the method will be: + +To allow for each of those children ten shillings a year for the +expense of schooling for six years each, which will give them six months +schooling each year, and half a crown a year for paper and spelling +books. + +The expense of this will be annually L250,000.*[36] + +There will then remain one hundred and ten thousand pounds. + +Notwithstanding the great modes of relief which the best instituted and +best principled government may devise, there will be a number of smaller +cases, which it is good policy as well as beneficence in a nation to +consider. + +Were twenty shillings to be given immediately on the birth of a child, +to every woman who should make the demand, and none will make it whose +circumstances do not require it, it might relieve a great deal of +instant distress. + +There are about two hundred thousand births yearly in England; and if +claimed by one fourth, + + The amount would be L50,000 + +And twenty shillings to every new-married couple who should claim in +like manner. This would not exceed the sum of L20,000. + +Also twenty thousand pounds to be appropriated to defray the funeral +expenses of persons, who, travelling for work, may die at a distance +from their friends. By relieving parishes from this charge, the sick +stranger will be better treated. + +I shall finish this part of the subject with a plan adapted to the +particular condition of a metropolis, such as London. + +Cases are continually occurring in a metropolis, different from those +which occur in the country, and for which a different, or rather an +additional, mode of relief is necessary. In the country, even in large +towns, people have a knowledge of each other, and distress never rises +to that extreme height it sometimes does in a metropolis. There is no +such thing in the country as persons, in the literal sense of the word, +starved to death, or dying with cold from the want of a lodging. Yet +such cases, and others equally as miserable, happen in London. + +Many a youth comes up to London full of expectations, and with little +or no money, and unless he get immediate employment he is already half +undone; and boys bred up in London without any means of a livelihood, +and as it often happens of dissolute parents, are in a still worse +condition; and servants long out of place are not much better off. In +short, a world of little cases is continually arising, which busy or +affluent life knows not of, to open the first door to distress. Hunger +is not among the postponable wants, and a day, even a few hours, in such +a condition is often the crisis of a life of ruin. + +These circumstances which are the general cause of the little thefts +and pilferings that lead to greater, may be prevented. There yet remain +twenty thousand pounds out of the four millions of surplus taxes, which +with another fund hereafter to be mentioned, amounting to about twenty +thousand pounds more, cannot be better applied than to this purpose. The +plan will then be: + +First, To erect two or more buildings, or take some already erected, +capable of containing at least six thousand persons, and to have in each +of these places as many kinds of employment as can be contrived, so that +every person who shall come may find something which he or she can do. + +Secondly, To receive all who shall come, without enquiring who or what +they are. The only condition to be, that for so much, or so many hours' +work, each person shall receive so many meals of wholesome food, and a +warm lodging, at least as good as a barrack. That a certain portion of +what each person's work shall be worth shall be reserved, and given to +him or her, on their going away; and that each person shall stay as long +or as short a time, or come as often as he choose, on these conditions. + +If each person stayed three months, it would assist by rotation +twenty-four thousand persons annually, though the real number, at all +times, would be but six thousand. By establishing an asylum of this +kind, such persons to whom temporary distresses occur, would have an +opportunity to recruit themselves, and be enabled to look out for better +employment. + +Allowing that their labour paid but one half the expense of supporting +them, after reserving a portion of their earnings for themselves, the +sum of forty thousand pounds additional would defray all other charges +for even a greater number than six thousand. + +The fund very properly convertible to this purpose, in addition to +the twenty thousand pounds, remaining of the former fund, will be the +produce of the tax upon coals, so iniquitously and wantonly applied to +the support of the Duke of Richmond. It is horrid that any man, more +especially at the price coals now are, should live on the distresses of +a community; and any government permitting such an abuse, deserves to +be dismissed. This fund is said to be about twenty thousand pounds per +annum. + +I shall now conclude this plan with enumerating the several particulars, +and then proceed to other matters. + +The enumeration is as follows:-- + +First, Abolition of two millions poor-rates. + +Secondly, Provision for two hundred and fifty thousand poor families. + +Thirdly, Education for one million and thirty thousand children. + +Fourthly, Comfortable provision for one hundred and forty thousand aged +persons. + +Fifthly, Donation of twenty shillings each for fifty thousand births. + +Sixthly, Donation of twenty shillings each for twenty thousand +marriages. + +Seventhly, Allowance of twenty thousand pounds for the funeral expenses +of persons travelling for work, and dying at a distance from their +friends. + +Eighthly, Employment, at all times, for the casual poor in the cities of +London and Westminster. + +By the operation of this plan, the poor laws, those instruments of civil +torture, will be superseded, and the wasteful expense of litigation +prevented. The hearts of the humane will not be shocked by ragged and +hungry children, and persons of seventy and eighty years of age, begging +for bread. The dying poor will not be dragged from place to place to +breathe their last, as a reprisal of parish upon parish. Widows will +have a maintenance for their children, and not be carted away, on the +death of their husbands, like culprits and criminals; and children will +no longer be considered as increasing the distresses of their parents. +The haunts of the wretched will be known, because it will be to their +advantage; and the number of petty crimes, the offspring of distress and +poverty, will be lessened. The poor, as well as the rich, will then be +interested in the support of government, and the cause and apprehension +of riots and tumults will cease.--Ye who sit in ease, and solace +yourselves in plenty, and such there are in Turkey and Russia, as well +as in England, and who say to yourselves, "Are we not well off?" have ye +thought of these things? When ye do, ye will cease to speak and feel for +yourselves alone. + +The plan is easy in practice. It does not embarrass trade by a sudden +interruption in the order of taxes, but effects the relief by changing +the application of them; and the money necessary for the purpose can be +drawn from the excise collections, which are made eight times a year in +every market town in England. + +Having now arranged and concluded this subject, I proceed to the next. + +Taking the present current expenses at seven millions and an half, which +is the least amount they are now at, there will remain (after the sum of +one million and an half be taken for the new current expenses and four +millions for the before-mentioned service) the sum of two millions; part +of which to be applied as follows: + +Though fleets and armies, by an alliance with France, will, in a great +measure, become useless, yet the persons who have devoted themselves to +those services, and have thereby unfitted themselves for other lines of +life, are not to be sufferers by the means that make others happy. They +are a different description of men from those who form or hang about a +court. + +A part of the army will remain, at least for some years, and also of the +navy, for which a provision is already made in the former part of this +plan of one million, which is almost half a million more than the peace +establishment of the army and navy in the prodigal times of Charles the +Second. + +Suppose, then, fifteen thousand soldiers to be disbanded, and that an +allowance be made to each of three shillings a week during life, clear +of all deductions, to be paid in the same manner as the Chelsea College +pensioners are paid, and for them to return to their trades and their +friends; and also that an addition of fifteen thousand sixpences per +week be made to the pay of the soldiers who shall remain; the annual +expenses will be: + + To the pay of fifteen thousand disbanded soldiers + at three shillings per week L117,000 + Additional pay to the remaining soldiers 19,500 + Suppose that the pay to the officers of the + disbanded corps be the same amount as sum allowed + to the men 117,000 + -------- L253,500 + + To prevent bulky estimations, admit the same sum + to the disbanded navy as to the army, + and the same increase of pay 253,500 + -------- + Total L507,000 + +Every year some part of this sum of half a million (I omit the odd seven +thousand pounds for the purpose of keeping the account unembarrassed) +will fall in, and the whole of it in time, as it is on the ground of +life annuities, except the increased pay of twenty-nine thousand +pounds. As it falls in, part of the taxes may be taken off; and as, for +instance, when thirty thousand pounds fall in, the duty on hops may be +wholly taken off; and as other parts fall in, the duties on candles and +soap may be lessened, till at last they will totally cease. There now +remains at least one million and a half of surplus taxes. + +The tax on houses and windows is one of those direct taxes, which, like +the poor-rates, is not confounded with trade; and, when taken off, the +relief will be instantly felt. This tax falls heavy on the middle class +of people. The amount of this tax, by the returns of 1788, was: + + Houses and windows: L s. d. + By the act of 1766 385,459 11 7 + By the act be 1779 130,739 14 5 1/2 + ---------------------- + Total 516,199 6 0 1/2 + +If this tax be struck off, there will then remain about one million of +surplus taxes; and as it is always proper to keep a sum in reserve, for +incidental matters, it may be best not to extend reductions further in +the first instance, but to consider what may be accomplished by other +modes of reform. + +Among the taxes most heavily felt is the commutation tax. I shall +therefore offer a plan for its abolition, by substituting another in its +place, which will effect three objects at once: 1, that of removing +the burthen to where it can best be borne; 2, restoring justice among +families by a distribution of property; 3, extirpating the overgrown +influence arising from the unnatural law of primogeniture, which is +one of the principal sources of corruption at elections. The amount of +commutation tax by the returns of 1788, was L771,657. + +When taxes are proposed, the country is amused by the plausible language +of taxing luxuries. One thing is called a luxury at one time, and +something else at another; but the real luxury does not consist in the +article, but in the means of procuring it, and this is always kept out +of sight. + +I know not why any plant or herb of the field should be a greater luxury +in one country than another; but an overgrown estate in either is a +luxury at all times, and, as such, is the proper object of taxation. It +is, therefore, right to take those kind tax-making gentlemen up on their +own word, and argue on the principle themselves have laid down, that of +taxing luxuries. If they or their champion, Mr. Burke, who, I fear, is +growing out of date, like the man in armour, can prove that an estate of +twenty, thirty, or forty thousand pounds a year is not a luxury, I will +give up the argument. + +Admitting that any annual sum, say, for instance, one thousand pounds, +is necessary or sufficient for the support of a family, consequently the +second thousand is of the nature of a luxury, the third still more so, +and by proceeding on, we shall at last arrive at a sum that may not +improperly be called a prohibitable luxury. It would be impolitic to set +bounds to property acquired by industry, and therefore it is right to +place the prohibition beyond the probable acquisition to which +industry can extend; but there ought to be a limit to property or the +accumulation of it by bequest. It should pass in some other line. The +richest in every nation have poor relations, and those often very near +in consanguinity. + +The following table of progressive taxation is constructed on the above +principles, and as a substitute for the commutation tax. It will reach +the point of prohibition by a regular operation, and thereby supersede +the aristocratical law of primogeniture. + + TABLE I + A tax on all estates of the clear yearly value of L50, + after deducting the land tax, and up + + To L500 0s 3d per pound + From L500 to L1,000 0 6 + On the second thousand 0 9 + On the third " 1 0 + On the fourth " 1 6 + On the fifth " 2 0 + On the sixth " 3 0 + On the seventh " 4 0 + On the eighth " 5 0 + On the ninth " 6s 0d per pound + On the tenth " 7 0 + On the eleventh " 8 0 + On the twelfth " 9 0 + On the thirteenth " 10 0 + On the fourteenth " 11 0 + On the fifteenth " 12 0 + On the sixteenth " 13 0 + On the seventeenth " 14 0 + On the eighteenth " 15 0 + On the nineteenth " 16 0 + On the twentieth " 17 0 + On the twenty-first " 18 0 + On the twenty-second " 19 0 + On the twenty-third " 20 0 + +The foregoing table shows the progression per pound on every progressive +thousand. The following table shows the amount of the tax on every +thousand separately, and in the last column the total amount of all the +separate sums collected. + + TABLE II + An estate of: + L 50 per annum at 3d per pound pays L0 12 6 + 100 " " " " 1 5 0 + 200 " " " " 2 10 0 + 300 " " " " 3 15 0 + 400 " " " " 5 0 0 + 500 " " " " 7 5 0 + +After L500, the tax of 6d. per pound takes place on the second L500; +consequently an estate of L1,000 per annum pays L2l, 15s., and so on. + + Total amount + For the 1st L500 at 0s 3d per pound L7 5s + 2nd " 0 6 14 10 L21 15s + 2nd 1000 at 0 9 37 11 59 5 + 3rd " 1 0 50 0 109 5 + (Total amount) + 4th 1000 at 1s 6d per pound L75 0s L184 5s + 5th " 2 0 100 0 284 5 + 6th " 3 0 150 0 434 5 + 7th " 4 0 200 0 634 5 + 8th " 5 0 250 0 880 5 + 9th " 6 0 300 0 1100 5 + 10th " 7 0 350 0 1530 5 + 11th " 8 0 400 0 1930 5 + 12th " 9 0 450 0 2380 5 + 13th " 10 0 500 0 2880 5 + 14th " 11 0 550 0 3430 5 + 15th " 12 0 600 0 4030 5 + 16th " 13 0 650 0 4680 5 + 17th " 14 0 700 0 5380 5 + 18th " 15 0 750 0 6130 5 + 19th " 16 0 800 0 6930 5 + 20th " 17 0 850 0 7780 5 + 21st " 18 0 900 0 8680 5 + (Total amount) + 22nd 1000 at 19s 0d per pound L950 0s L9630 5s + 23rd " 20 0 1000 0 10630 5 + +At the twenty-third thousand the tax becomes 20s. in the pound, and +consequently every thousand beyond that sum can produce no profit but by +dividing the estate. Yet formidable as this tax appears, it will not, I +believe, produce so much as the commutation tax; should it produce more, +it ought to be lowered to that amount upon estates under two or three +thousand a year. + +On small and middling estates it is lighter (as it is intended to be) +than the commutation tax. It is not till after seven or eight thousand +a year that it begins to be heavy. The object is not so much the produce +of the tax as the justice of the measure. The aristocracy has screened +itself too much, and this serves to restore a part of the lost +equilibrium. + +As an instance of its screening itself, it is only necessary to look +back to the first establishment of the excise laws, at what is called +the Restoration, or the coming of Charles the Second. The aristocratical +interest then in power, commuted the feudal services itself was under, +by laying a tax on beer brewed for sale; that is, they compounded with +Charles for an exemption from those services for themselves and their +heirs, by a tax to be paid by other people. The aristocracy do not +purchase beer brewed for sale, but brew their own beer free of the duty, +and if any commutation at that time were necessary, it ought to have +been at the expense of those for whom the exemptions from those services +were intended;*[37] instead of which, it was thrown on an entirely +different class of men. + +But the chief object of this progressive tax (besides the justice of +rendering taxes more equal than they are) is, as already stated, to +extirpate the overgrown influence arising from the unnatural law of +primogeniture, and which is one of the principal sources of corruption +at elections. + +It would be attended with no good consequences to enquire how such vast +estates as thirty, forty, or fifty thousand a year could commence, and +that at a time when commerce and manufactures were not in a state to +admit of such acquisitions. Let it be sufficient to remedy the evil by +putting them in a condition of descending again to the community by the +quiet means of apportioning them among all the heirs and heiresses of +those families. This will be the more necessary, because hitherto the +aristocracy have quartered their younger children and connections upon +the public in useless posts, places and offices, which when abolished +will leave them destitute, unless the law of primogeniture be also +abolished or superseded. + +A progressive tax will, in a great measure, effect this object, and that +as a matter of interest to the parties most immediately concerned, as +will be seen by the following table; which shows the net produce upon +every estate, after subtracting the tax. By this it will appear that +after an estate exceeds thirteen or fourteen thousand a year, the +remainder produces but little profit to the holder, and consequently, +Will pass either to the younger children, or to other kindred. + + TABLE III + Showing the net produce of every estate from one thousand + to twenty-three thousand pounds a year + + No of thousand Total tax + per annum subtracted Net produce + L1000 L21 L979 + 2000 59 1941 + 3000 109 2891 + 4000 184 3816 + 5000 284 4716 + 6000 434 5566 + 7000 634 6366 + 8000 880 7120 + 9000 1100 7900 + 10,000 1530 8470 + 11,000 1930 9070 + 12,000 2380 9620 + 13,000 2880 10,120 + (No of thousand (Total tax + per annum) subtracted) (Net produce) + 14,000 3430 10,570 + 15,000 4030 10,970 + 16,000 4680 11,320 + 17,000 5380 11,620 + 18,000 6130 11,870 + 19,000 6930 12,170 + 20,000 7780 12,220 + 21,000 8680 12,320 + 22,000 9630 12,370 + 23,000 10,630 12,370 + +N.B. The odd shillings are dropped in this table. + +According to this table, an estate cannot produce more than L12,370 +clear of the land tax and the progressive tax, and therefore the +dividing such estates will follow as a matter of family interest. An +estate of L23,000 a year, divided into five estates of four thousand +each and one of three, will be charged only L1,129 which is but five per +cent., but if held by one possessor, will be charged L10,630. + +Although an enquiry into the origin of those estates be unnecessary, the +continuation of them in their present state is another subject. It is a +matter of national concern. As hereditary estates, the law has created +the evil, and it ought also to provide the remedy. Primogeniture ought +to be abolished, not only because it is unnatural and unjust, but +because the country suffers by its operation. By cutting off (as before +observed) the younger children from their proper portion of inheritance, +the public is loaded with the expense of maintaining them; and the +freedom of elections violated by the overbearing influence which +this unjust monopoly of family property produces. Nor is this all. It +occasions a waste of national property. A considerable part of the land +of the country is rendered unproductive, by the great extent of parks +and chases which this law serves to keep up, and this at a time when +the annual production of grain is not equal to the national +consumption.*[38]--In short, the evils of the aristocratical system are +so great and numerous, so inconsistent with every thing that is just, +wise, natural, and beneficent, that when they are considered, there +ought not to be a doubt that many, who are now classed under that +description, will wish to see such a system abolished. + +What pleasure can they derive from contemplating the exposed +condition, and almost certain beggary of their younger offspring? Every +aristocratical family has an appendage of family beggars hanging round +it, which in a few ages, or a few generations, are shook off, and +console themselves with telling their tale in almshouses, workhouses, +and prisons. This is the natural consequence of aristocracy. The peer +and the beggar are often of the same family. One extreme produces the +other: to make one rich many must be made poor; neither can the system +be supported by other means. + +There are two classes of people to whom the laws of England are +particularly hostile, and those the most helpless; younger children, +and the poor. Of the former I have just spoken; of the latter I shall +mention one instance out of the many that might be produced, and with +which I shall close this subject. + +Several laws are in existence for regulating and limiting work-men's +wages. Why not leave them as free to make their own bargains, as the +law-makers are to let their farms and houses? Personal labour is all +the property they have. Why is that little, and the little freedom they +enjoy, to be infringed? But the injustice will appear stronger, if we +consider the operation and effect of such laws. When wages are fixed +by what is called a law, the legal wages remain stationary, while every +thing else is in progression; and as those who make that law still +continue to lay on new taxes by other laws, they increase the expense of +living by one law, and take away the means by another. + +But if these gentlemen law-makers and tax-makers thought it right to +limit the poor pittance which personal labour can produce, and on which +a whole family is to be supported, they certainly must feel themselves +happily indulged in a limitation on their own part, of not less than +twelve thousand a-year, and that of property they never acquired (nor +probably any of their ancestors), and of which they have made never +acquire so ill a use. + +Having now finished this subject, I shall bring the several particulars +into one view, and then proceed to other matters. + +The first eight articles, mentioned earlier, are; + +1. Abolition of two millions poor-rates. + +2. Provision for two hundred and fifty-two thousand poor families, at +the rate of four pounds per head for each child under fourteen years of +age; which, with the addition of two hundred and fifty thousand pounds, +provides also education for one million and thirty thousand children. + +3. Annuity of six pounds (per annum) each for all poor persons, decayed +tradesmen, and others (supposed seventy thousand) of the age of fifty +years, and until sixty. + +4. Annuity of ten pounds each for life for all poor persons, decayed +tradesmen, and others (supposed seventy thousand) of the age of sixty +years. + +5. Donation of twenty shillings each for fifty thousand births. + +6. Donation of twenty shillings each for twenty thousand marriages. + +7. Allowance of twenty thousand pounds for the funeral expenses of +persons travelling for work, and dying at a distance from their friends. + +8. Employment at all times for the casual poor in the cities of London +and Westminster. + +Second Enumeration + +9. Abolition of the tax on houses and windows. + +10. Allowance of three shillings per week for life to fifteen thousand +disbanded soldiers, and a proportionate allowance to the officers of the +disbanded corps. + +11. Increase of pay to the remaining soldiers of L19,500 annually. + +12. The same allowance to the disbanded navy, and the same increase of +pay, as to the army. + +13. Abolition of the commutation tax. + +14. Plan of a progressive tax, operating to extirpate the unjust +and unnatural law of primogeniture, and the vicious influence of the +aristocratical system.*[39] + +There yet remains, as already stated, one million of surplus taxes. Some +part of this will be required for circumstances that do not immediately +present themselves, and such part as shall not be wanted, will admit of +a further reduction of taxes equal to that amount. + +Among the claims that justice requires to be made, the condition of the +inferior revenue-officers will merit attention. It is a reproach to +any government to waste such an immensity of revenue in sinecures and +nominal and unnecessary places and officers, and not allow even a decent +livelihood to those on whom the labour falls. The salary of the inferior +officers of the revenue has stood at the petty pittance of less than +fifty pounds a year for upwards of one hundred years. It ought to be +seventy. About one hundred and twenty thousand pounds applied to this +purpose, will put all those salaries in a decent condition. + +This was proposed to be done almost twenty years ago, but the +treasury-board then in being, startled at it, as it might lead to +similar expectations from the army and navy; and the event was, that the +King, or somebody for him, applied to parliament to have his own salary +raised an hundred thousand pounds a year, which being done, every thing +else was laid aside. + +With respect to another class of men, the inferior clergy, I forbear to +enlarge on their condition; but all partialities and prejudices for, +or against, different modes and forms of religion aside, common justice +will determine, whether there ought to be an income of twenty or thirty +pounds a year to one man, and of ten thousand to another. I speak on +this subject with the more freedom, because I am known not to be a +Presbyterian; and therefore the cant cry of court sycophants, about +church and meeting, kept up to amuse and bewilder the nation, cannot be +raised against me. + +Ye simple men on both sides the question, do you not see through this +courtly craft? If ye can be kept disputing and wrangling about church +and meeting, ye just answer the purpose of every courtier, who lives the +while on the spoils of the taxes, and laughs at your credulity. Every +religion is good that teaches man to be good; and I know of none that +instructs him to be bad. + +All the before-mentioned calculations suppose only sixteen millions +and an half of taxes paid into the exchequer, after the expense of +collection and drawbacks at the custom-house and excise-office are +deducted; whereas the sum paid into the exchequer is very nearly, if not +quite, seventeen millions. The taxes raised in Scotland and Ireland are +expended in those countries, and therefore their savings will come out +of their own taxes; but if any part be paid into the English exchequer, +it might be remitted. This will not make one hundred thousand pounds a +year difference. + +There now remains only the national debt to be considered. In the year +1789, the interest, exclusive of the tontine, was L9,150,138. How much +the capital has been reduced since that time the minister best knows. +But after paying the interest, abolishing the tax on houses and windows, +the commutation tax, and the poor-rates; and making all the provisions +for the poor, for the education of children, the support of the aged, +the disbanded part of the army and navy, and increasing the pay of the +remainder, there will be a surplus of one million. + +The present scheme of paying off the national debt appears to me, +speaking as an indifferent person, to be an ill-concerted, if not a +fallacious job. The burthen of the national debt consists not in its +being so many millions, or so many hundred millions, but in the quantity +of taxes collected every year to pay the interest. If this quantity +continues the same, the burthen of the national debt is the same to all +intents and purposes, be the capital more or less. The only knowledge +which the public can have of the reduction of the debt, must be through +the reduction of taxes for paying the interest. The debt, therefore, +is not reduced one farthing to the public by all the millions that +have been paid; and it would require more money now to purchase up the +capital, than when the scheme began. + +Digressing for a moment at this point, to which I shall return again, I +look back to the appointment of Mr. Pitt, as minister. + +I was then in America. The war was over; and though resentment had +ceased, memory was still alive. + +When the news of the coalition arrived, though it was a matter of no +concern to I felt it as a man. It had something in it which shocked, by +publicly sporting with decency, if not with principle. It was impudence +in Lord North; it was a want of firmness in Mr. Fox. + +Mr. Pitt was, at that time, what may be called a maiden character in +politics. So far from being hackneyed, he appeared not to be initiated +into the first mysteries of court intrigue. Everything was in his +favour. Resentment against the coalition served as friendship to him, +and his ignorance of vice was credited for virtue. With the return +of peace, commerce and prosperity would rise of itself; yet even this +increase was thrown to his account. + +When he came to the helm, the storm was over, and he had nothing to +interrupt his course. It required even ingenuity to be wrong, and +he succeeded. A little time showed him the same sort of man as his +predecessors had been. Instead of profiting by those errors which had +accumulated a burthen of taxes unparalleled in the world, he sought, +I might almost say, he advertised for enemies, and provoked means to +increase taxation. Aiming at something, he knew not what, he ransacked +Europe and India for adventures, and abandoning the fair pretensions he +began with, he became the knight-errant of modern times. + +It is unpleasant to see character throw itself away. It is more so to +see one's-self deceived. Mr. Pitt had merited nothing, but he promised +much. He gave symptoms of a mind superior to the meanness and corruption +of courts. His apparent candour encouraged expectations; and the public +confidence, stunned, wearied, and confounded by a chaos of parties, +revived and attached itself to him. But mistaking, as he has done, the +disgust of the nation against the coalition, for merit in himself, +he has rushed into measures which a man less supported would not have +presumed to act. + +All this seems to show that change of ministers amounts to nothing. +One goes out, another comes in, and still the same measures, vices, and +extravagance are pursued. It signifies not who is minister. The defect +lies in the system. The foundation and the superstructure of the +government is bad. Prop it as you please, it continually sinks into +court government, and ever will. + +I return, as I promised, to the subject of the national debt, that +offspring of the Dutch-Anglo revolution, and its handmaid the Hanover +succession. + +But it is now too late to enquire how it began. Those to whom it is +due have advanced the money; and whether it was well or ill spent, or +pocketed, is not their crime. It is, however, easy to see, that as +the nation proceeds in contemplating the nature and principles of +government, and to understand taxes, and make comparisons between those +of America, France, and England, it will be next to impossible to keep +it in the same torpid state it has hitherto been. Some reform must, +from the necessity of the case, soon begin. It is not whether these +principles press with little or much force in the present moment. They +are out. They are abroad in the world, and no force can stop them. Like +a secret told, they are beyond recall; and he must be blind indeed that +does not see that a change is already beginning. + +Nine millions of dead taxes is a serious thing; and this not only for +bad, but in a great measure for foreign government. By putting the power +of making war into the hands of the foreigners who came for what they +could get, little else was to be expected than what has happened. + +Reasons are already advanced in this work, showing that whatever the +reforms in the taxes may be, they ought to be made in the current +expenses of government, and not in the part applied to the interest +of the national debt. By remitting the taxes of the poor, they will be +totally relieved, and all discontent will be taken away; and by striking +off such of the taxes as are already mentioned, the nation will more +than recover the whole expense of the mad American war. + +There will then remain only the national debt as a subject of +discontent; and in order to remove, or rather to prevent this, it +would be good policy in the stockholders themselves to consider it as +property, subject like all other property, to bear some portion of the +taxes. It would give to it both popularity and security, and as a great +part of its present inconvenience is balanced by the capital which it +keeps alive, a measure of this kind would so far add to that balance as +to silence objections. + +This may be done by such gradual means as to accomplish all that is +necessary with the greatest ease and convenience. + +Instead of taxing the capital, the best method would be to tax the +interest by some progressive ratio, and to lessen the public taxes in +the same proportion as the interest diminished. + +Suppose the interest was taxed one halfpenny in the pound the first +year, a penny more the second, and to proceed by a certain ratio to be +determined upon, always less than any other tax upon property. Such +a tax would be subtracted from the interest at the time of payment, +without any expense of collection. + +One halfpenny in the pound would lessen the interest and consequently +the taxes, twenty thousand pounds. The tax on wagons amounts to this +sum, and this tax might be taken off the first year. The second year the +tax on female servants, or some other of the like amount might also be +taken off, and by proceeding in this manner, always applying the tax +raised from the property of the debt toward its extinction, and not +carry it to the current services, it would liberate itself. + +The stockholders, notwithstanding this tax, would pay less taxes than +they do now. What they would save by the extinction of the poor-rates, +and the tax on houses and windows, and the commutation tax, would +be considerably greater than what this tax, slow, but certain in its +operation, amounts to. + +It appears to me to be prudence to look out for measures that may apply +under any circumstances that may approach. There is, at this moment, +a crisis in the affairs of Europe that requires it. Preparation now +is wisdom. If taxation be once let loose, it will be difficult to +re-instate it; neither would the relief be so effectual, as if it +proceeded by some certain and gradual reduction. + +The fraud, hypocrisy, and imposition of governments, are now beginning +to be too well understood to promise them any long career. The farce +of monarchy and aristocracy, in all countries, is following that of +chivalry, and Mr. Burke is dressing aristocracy, in all countries, is +following that of chivalry, and Mr. Burke is dressing for the funeral. +Let it then pass quietly to the tomb of all other follies, and the +mourners be comforted. + +The time is not very distant when England will laugh at itself for +sending to Holland, Hanover, Zell, or Brunswick for men, at the expense +of a million a year, who understood neither her laws, her language, nor +her interest, and whose capacities would scarcely have fitted them for +the office of a parish constable. If government could be trusted to such +hands, it must be some easy and simple thing indeed, and materials fit +for all the purposes may be found in every town and village in England. + +When it shall be said in any country in the world, my poor are happy; +neither ignorance nor distress is to be found among them; my jails are +empty of prisoners, my streets of beggars; the aged are not in want, the +taxes are not oppressive; the rational world is my friend, because I +am the friend of its happiness: when these things can be said, then may +that country boast its constitution and its government. + +Within the space of a few years we have seen two revolutions, those +of America and France. In the former, the contest was long, and +the conflict severe; in the latter, the nation acted with such a +consolidated impulse, that having no foreign enemy to contend with, the +revolution was complete in power the moment it appeared. From both those +instances it is evident, that the greatest forces that can be brought +into the field of revolutions, are reason and common interest. Where +these can have the opportunity of acting, opposition dies with fear, or +crumbles away by conviction. It is a great standing which they have now +universally obtained; and we may hereafter hope to see revolutions, or +changes in governments, produced with the same quiet operation by which +any measure, determinable by reason and discussion, is accomplished. + +When a nation changes its opinion and habits of thinking, it is no +longer to be governed as before; but it would not only be wrong, but +bad policy, to attempt by force what ought to be accomplished by reason. +Rebellion consists in forcibly opposing the general will of a nation, +whether by a party or by a government. There ought, therefore, to be in +every nation a method of occasionally ascertaining the state of public +opinion with respect to government. On this point the old government of +France was superior to the present government of England, because, on +extraordinary occasions, recourse could be had what was then called the +States General. But in England there are no such occasional bodies; and +as to those who are now called Representatives, a great part of them are +mere machines of the court, placemen, and dependants. + +I presume, that though all the people of England pay taxes, not an +hundredth part of them are electors, and the members of one of the +houses of parliament represent nobody but themselves. There is, +therefore, no power but the voluntary will of the people that has a +right to act in any matter respecting a general reform; and by the same +right that two persons can confer on such a subject, a thousand may. +The object, in all such preliminary proceedings, is to find out what the +general sense of a nation is, and to be governed by it. If it prefer a +bad or defective government to a reform or choose to pay ten times more +taxes than there is any occasion for, it has a right so to do; and so +long as the majority do not impose conditions on the minority, different +from what they impose upon themselves, though there may be much error, +there is no injustice. Neither will the error continue long. Reason and +discussion will soon bring things right, however wrong they may begin. +By such a process no tumult is to be apprehended. The poor, in all +countries, are naturally both peaceable and grateful in all reforms in +which their interest and happiness is included. It is only by neglecting +and rejecting them that they become tumultuous. + +The objects that now press on the public attention are, the French +revolution, and the prospect of a general revolution in governments. +Of all nations in Europe there is none so much interested in the French +revolution as England. Enemies for ages, and that at a vast expense, +and without any national object, the opportunity now presents itself of +amicably closing the scene, and joining their efforts to reform the rest +of Europe. By doing this they will not only prevent the further effusion +of blood, and increase of taxes, but be in a condition of getting rid +of a considerable part of their present burthens, as has been already +stated. Long experience however has shown, that reforms of this kind are +not those which old governments wish to promote, and therefore it is +to nations, and not to such governments, that these matters present +themselves. + +In the preceding part of this work, I have spoken of an alliance between +England, France, and America, for purposes that were to be afterwards +mentioned. Though I have no direct authority on the part of America, +I have good reason to conclude, that she is disposed to enter into a +consideration of such a measure, provided, that the governments with +which she might ally, acted as national governments, and not as courts +enveloped in intrigue and mystery. That France as a nation, and a +national government, would prefer an alliance with England, is a matter +of certainty. Nations, like individuals, who have long been enemies, +without knowing each other, or knowing why, become the better friends +when they discover the errors and impositions under which they had +acted. + +Admitting, therefore, the probability of such a connection, I will state +some matters by which such an alliance, together with that of Holland, +might render service, not only to the parties immediately concerned, but +to all Europe. + +It is, I think, certain, that if the fleets of England, France, and +Holland were confederated, they could propose, with effect, a limitation +to, and a general dismantling of, all the navies in Europe, to a certain +proportion to be agreed upon. + +First, That no new ship of war shall be built by any power in Europe, +themselves included. + +Second, That all the navies now in existence shall be put back, suppose +to one-tenth of their present force. This will save to France and +England, at least two millions sterling annually to each, and their +relative force be in the same proportion as it is now. If men will +permit themselves to think, as rational beings ought to think, +nothing can appear more ridiculous and absurd, exclusive of all moral +reflections, than to be at the expense of building navies, filling them +with men, and then hauling them into the ocean, to try which can +sink each other fastest. Peace, which costs nothing, is attended with +infinitely more advantage, than any victory with all its expense. But +this, though it best answers the purpose of nations, does not that +of court governments, whose habited policy is pretence for taxation, +places, and offices. + +It is, I think, also certain, that the above confederated powers, +together with that of the United States of America, can propose with +effect, to Spain, the independence of South America, and the opening +those countries of immense extent and wealth to the general commerce of +the world, as North America now is. + +With how much more glory, and advantage to itself, does a nation act, +when it exerts its powers to rescue the world from bondage, and to +create itself friends, than when it employs those powers to increase +ruin, desolation, and misery. The horrid scene that is now acting by the +English government in the East-Indies, is fit only to be told of Goths +and Vandals, who, destitute of principle, robbed and tortured the world +they were incapable of enjoying. + +The opening of South America would produce an immense field of commerce, +and a ready money market for manufactures, which the eastern world does +not. The East is already a country full of manufactures, the importation +of which is not only an injury to the manufactures of England, but a +drain upon its specie. The balance against England by this trade is +regularly upwards of half a million annually sent out in the East-India +ships in silver; and this is the reason, together with German intrigue, +and German subsidies, that there is so little silver in England. + +But any war is harvest to such governments, however ruinous it may be +to a nation. It serves to keep up deceitful expectations which prevent +people from looking into the defects and abuses of government. It is the +lo here! and the lo there! that amuses and cheats the multitude. + +Never did so great an opportunity offer itself to England, and to all +Europe, as is produced by the two Revolutions of America and France. By +the former, freedom has a national champion in the western world; and by +the latter, in Europe. When another nation shall join France, despotism +and bad government will scarcely dare to appear. To use a trite +expression, the iron is becoming hot all over Europe. The insulted +German and the enslaved Spaniard, the Russ and the Pole, are beginning +to think. The present age will hereafter merit to be called the Age of +Reason, and the present generation will appear to the future as the Adam +of a new world. + +When all the governments of Europe shall be established on the +representative system, nations will become acquainted, and the +animosities and prejudices fomented by the intrigue and artifice of +courts, will cease. The oppressed soldier will become a freeman; and +the tortured sailor, no longer dragged through the streets like a felon, +will pursue his mercantile voyage in safety. It would be better that +nations should wi continue the pay of their soldiers during their lives, +and give them their discharge and restore them to freedom and their +friends, and cease recruiting, than retain such multitudes at the +same expense, in a condition useless to society and to themselves. As +soldiers have hitherto been treated in most countries, they might be +said to be without a friend. Shunned by the citizen on an apprehension +of their being enemies to liberty, and too often insulted by those +who commanded them, their condition was a double oppression. But where +genuine principles of liberty pervade a people, every thing is restored +to order; and the soldier civilly treated, returns the civility. + +In contemplating revolutions, it is easy to perceive that they may arise +from two distinct causes; the one, to avoid or get rid of some great +calamity; the other, to obtain some great and positive good; and the two +may be distinguished by the names of active and passive revolutions. In +those which proceed from the former cause, the temper becomes incensed +and soured; and the redress, obtained by danger, is too often sullied by +revenge. But in those which proceed from the latter, the heart, rather +animated than agitated, enters serenely upon the subject. Reason +and discussion, persuasion and conviction, become the weapons in the +contest, and it is only when those are attempted to be suppressed that +recourse is had to violence. When men unite in agreeing that a thing is +good, could it be obtained, such for instance as relief from a burden +of taxes and the extinction of corruption, the object is more than half +accomplished. What they approve as the end, they will promote in the +means. + +Will any man say, in the present excess of taxation, falling so heavily +on the poor, that a remission of five pounds annually of taxes to one +hundred and four thousand poor families is not a good thing? Will he say +that a remission of seven pounds annually to one hundred thousand other +poor families--of eight pounds annually to another hundred thousand poor +families, and of ten pounds annually to fifty thousand poor and widowed +families, are not good things? And, to proceed a step further in this +climax, will he say that to provide against the misfortunes to which +all human life is subject, by securing six pounds annually for all poor, +distressed, and reduced persons of the age of fifty and until sixty, and +of ten pounds annually after sixty, is not a good thing? + +Will he say that an abolition of two millions of poor-rates to the +house-keepers, and of the whole of the house and window-light tax and of +the commutation tax is not a good thing? Or will he say that to abolish +corruption is a bad thing? + +If, therefore, the good to be obtained be worthy of a passive, rational, +and costless revolution, it would be bad policy to prefer waiting for +a calamity that should force a violent one. I have no idea, considering +the reforms which are now passing and spreading throughout Europe, that +England will permit herself to be the last; and where the occasion and +the opportunity quietly offer, it is better than to wait for a turbulent +necessity. It may be considered as an honour to the animal faculties +of man to obtain redress by courage and danger, but it is far greater +honour to the rational faculties to accomplish the same object by +reason, accommodation, and general consent.*[40] + +As reforms, or revolutions, call them which you please, extend +themselves among nations, those nations will form connections and +conventions, and when a few are thus confederated, the progress will +be rapid, till despotism and corrupt government be totally expelled, at +least out of two quarters of the world, Europe and America. The Algerine +piracy may then be commanded to cease, for it is only by the malicious +policy of old governments, against each other, that it exists. + +Throughout this work, various and numerous as the subjects are, which +I have taken up and investigated, there is only a single paragraph +upon religion, viz. "that every religion is good that teaches man to be +good." + +I have carefully avoided to enlarge upon the subject, because I am +inclined to believe that what is called the present ministry, wish to +see contentions about religion kept up, to prevent the nation turning +its attention to subjects of government. It is as if they were to say, +"Look that way, or any way, but this." + +But as religion is very improperly made a political machine, and the +reality of it is thereby destroyed, I will conclude this work with +stating in what light religion appears to me. + +If we suppose a large family of children, who, on any particular day, +or particular circumstance, made it a custom to present to their parents +some token of their affection and gratitude, each of them would make a +different offering, and most probably in a different manner. Some would +pay their congratulations in themes of verse and prose, by some little +devices, as their genius dictated, or according to what they thought +would please; and, perhaps, the least of all, not able to do any of +those things, would ramble into the garden, or the field, and gather +what it thought the prettiest flower it could find, though, perhaps, it +might be but a simple weed. The parent would be more gratified by such +a variety, than if the whole of them had acted on a concerted plan, +and each had made exactly the same offering. This would have the cold +appearance of contrivance, or the harsh one of control. But of all +unwelcome things, nothing could more afflict the parent than to know, +that the whole of them had afterwards gotten together by the ears, boys +and girls, fighting, scratching, reviling, and abusing each other about +which was the best or the worst present. + +Why may we not suppose, that the great Father of all is pleased with +variety of devotion; and that the greatest offence we can act, is that +by which we seek to torment and render each other miserable? For my own +part, I am fully satisfied that what I am now doing, with an endeavour +to conciliate mankind, to render their condition happy, to unite nations +that have hitherto been enemies, and to extirpate the horrid practice of +war, and break the chains of slavery and oppression is acceptable in his +sight, and being the best service I can perform, I act it cheerfully. + +I do not believe that any two men, on what are called doctrinal points, +think alike who think at all. It is only those who have not thought that +appear to agree. It is in this case as with what is called the British +constitution. It has been taken for granted to be good, and encomiums +have supplied the place of proof. But when the nation comes to examine +into its principles and the abuses it admits, it will be found to have +more defects than I have pointed out in this work and the former. + +As to what are called national religions, we may, with as much +propriety, talk of national Gods. It is either political craft or the +remains of the Pagan system, when every nation had its separate and +particular deity. Among all the writers of the English church clergy, +who have treated on the general subject of religion, the present Bishop +of Llandaff has not been excelled, and it is with much pleasure that I +take this opportunity of expressing this token of respect. + +I have now gone through the whole of the subject, at least, as far as it +appears to me at present. It has been my intention for the five years I +have been in Europe, to offer an address to the people of England on +the subject of government, if the opportunity presented itself before I +returned to America. Mr. Burke has thrown it in my way, and I thank +him. On a certain occasion, three years ago, I pressed him to propose a +national convention, to be fairly elected, for the purpose of taking +the state of the nation into consideration; but I found, that however +strongly the parliamentary current was then setting against the party +he acted with, their policy was to keep every thing within that field +of corruption, and trust to accidents. Long experience had shown that +parliaments would follow any change of ministers, and on this they +rested their hopes and their expectations. + +Formerly, when divisions arose respecting governments, recourse was had +to the sword, and a civil war ensued. That savage custom is exploded by +the new system, and reference is had to national conventions. Discussion +and the general will arbitrates the question, and to this, private +opinion yields with a good grace, and order is preserved uninterrupted. + +Some gentlemen have affected to call the principles upon which this +work and the former part of Rights of Man are founded, "a new-fangled +doctrine." The question is not whether those principles are new or old, +but whether they are right or wrong. Suppose the former, I will show +their effect by a figure easily understood. + +It is now towards the middle of February. Were I to take a turn into +the country, the trees would present a leafless, wintery appearance. As +people are apt to pluck twigs as they walk along, I perhaps might do the +same, and by chance might observe, that a single bud on that twig had +begun to swell. I should reason very unnaturally, or rather not reason +at all, to suppose this was the only bud in England which had this +appearance. Instead of deciding thus, I should instantly conclude, that +the same appearance was beginning, or about to begin, every where; and +though the vegetable sleep will continue longer on some trees and plants +than on others, and though some of them may not blossom for two or three +years, all will be in leaf in the summer, except those which are rotten. +What pace the political summer may keep with the natural, no human +foresight can determine. It is, however, not difficult to perceive +that the spring is begun.--Thus wishing, as I sincerely do, freedom and +happiness to all nations, I close the Second Part. + + + + +APPENDIX + +As the publication of this work has been delayed beyond the time +intended, I think it not improper, all circumstances considered, to +state the causes that have occasioned delay. + +The reader will probably observe, that some parts in the plan contained +in this work for reducing the taxes, and certain parts in Mr. Pitt's +speech at the opening of the present session, Tuesday, January 31, are +so much alike as to induce a belief, that either the author had taken +the hint from Mr. Pitt, or Mr. Pitt from the author.--I will first point +out the parts that are similar, and then state such circumstances as I +am acquainted with, leaving the reader to make his own conclusion. + +Considering it as almost an unprecedented case, that taxes should +be proposed to be taken off, it is equally extraordinary that such a +measure should occur to two persons at the same time; and still more +so (considering the vast variety and multiplicity of taxes) that they +should hit on the same specific taxes. Mr. Pitt has mentioned, in his +speech, the tax on Carts and Wagons--that on Female Servantsthe lowering +the tax on Candles and the taking off the tax of three shillings on +Houses having under seven windows. + +Every one of those specific taxes are a part of the plan contained in +this work, and proposed also to be taken off. Mr. Pitt's plan, it is +true, goes no further than to a reduction of three hundred and twenty +thousand pounds; and the reduction proposed in this work, to nearly six +millions. I have made my calculations on only sixteen millions and an +half of revenue, still asserting that it was "very nearly, if not quite, +seventeen millions." Mr. Pitt states it at 16,690,000. I know enough of +the matter to say, that he has not overstated it. Having thus given the +particulars, which correspond in this work and his speech, I will state +a chain of circumstances that may lead to some explanation. + +The first hint for lessening the taxes, and that as a consequence +flowing from the French revolution, is to be found in the Address and +Declaration of the Gentlemen who met at the Thatched-House Tavern, +August 20, 1791. Among many other particulars stated in that Address, is +the following, put as an interrogation to the government opposers of the +French Revolution. "Are they sorry that the pretence for new oppressive +taxes, and the occasion for continuing many old taxes will be at an +end?" + +It is well known that the persons who chiefly frequent the +Thatched-House Tavern, are men of court connections, and so much did +they take this Address and Declaration respecting the French Revolution, +and the reduction of taxes in disgust, that the Landlord was under the +necessity of informing the Gentlemen, who composed the meeting of the +20th of August, and who proposed holding another meeting, that he could +not receive them.*[41] + +What was only hinted in the Address and Declaration respecting taxes and +principles of government, will be found reduced to a regular system in +this work. But as Mr. Pitt's speech contains some of the same things +respecting taxes, I now come to give the circumstances before alluded +to. + +The case is: This work was intended to be published just before the +meeting of Parliament, and for that purpose a considerable part of +the copy was put into the printer's hands in September, and all the +remaining copy, which contains the part to which Mr. Pitt's speech +is similar, was given to him full six weeks before the meeting of +Parliament, and he was informed of the time at which it was to appear. +He had composed nearly the whole about a fortnight before the time of +Parliament meeting, and had given me a proof of the next sheet. It was +then in sufficient forwardness to be out at the time proposed, as two +other sheets were ready for striking off. I had before told him, that +if he thought he should be straitened for time, I could get part of +the work done at another press, which he desired me not to do. In this +manner the work stood on the Tuesday fortnight preceding the meeting of +Parliament, when all at once, without any previous intimation, though I +had been with him the evening before, he sent me, by one of his +workmen, all the remaining copy, declining to go on with the work on any +consideration. + +To account for this extraordinary conduct I was totally at a loss, as +he stopped at the part where the arguments on systems and principles of +government closed, and where the plan for the reduction of taxes, the +education of children, and the support of the poor and the aged begins; +and still more especially, as he had, at the time of his beginning to +print, and before he had seen the whole copy, offered a thousand pounds +for the copy-right, together with the future copy-right of the former +part of the Rights of Man. I told the person who brought me this offer +that I should not accept it, and wished it not to be renewed, giving him +as my reason, that though I believed the printer to be an honest man, I +would never put it in the power of any printer or publisher to suppress +or alter a work of mine, by making him master of the copy, or give to +him the right of selling it to any minister, or to any other person, +or to treat as a mere matter of traffic, that which I intended should +operate as a principle. + +His refusal to complete the work (which he could not purchase) obliged +me to seek for another printer, and this of consequence would throw +the publication back till after the meeting of Parliament, otherways it +would have appeared that Mr. Pitt had only taken up a part of the plan +which I had more fully stated. + +Whether that gentleman, or any other, had seen the work, or any part of +it, is more than I have authority to say. But the manner in which the +work was returned, and the particular time at which this was done, and +that after the offers he had made, are suspicious circumstances. I know +what the opinion of booksellers and publishers is upon such a case, but +as to my own opinion, I choose to make no declaration. There are many +ways by which proof sheets may be procured by other persons before a +work publicly appears; to which I shall add a certain circumstance, +which is, + +A ministerial bookseller in Piccadilly who has been employed, as common +report says, by a clerk of one of the boards closely connected with +the ministry (the board of trade and plantation, of which Hawkesbury is +president) to publish what he calls my Life, (I wish his own life and +those of the cabinet were as good), used to have his books printed at +the same printing-office that I employed; but when the former part of +Rights of Man came out, he took his work away in dudgeon; and about a +week or ten days before the printer returned my copy, he came to +make him an offer of his work again, which was accepted. This would +consequently give him admission into the printing-office where the +sheets of this work were then lying; and as booksellers and printers are +free with each other, he would have the opportunity of seeing what was +going on.--Be the case, however, as it may, Mr. Pitt's plan, little and +diminutive as it is, would have made a very awkward appearance, had this +work appeared at the time the printer had engaged to finish it. + +I have now stated the particulars which occasioned the delay, from the +proposal to purchase, to the refusal to print. If all the Gentlemen +are innocent, it is very unfortunate for them that such a variety of +suspicious circumstances should, without any design, arrange themselves +together. + +Having now finished this part, I will conclude with stating another +circumstance. + +About a fortnight or three weeks before the meeting of Parliament, a +small addition, amounting to about twelve shillings and sixpence a year, +was made to the pay of the soldiers, or rather their pay was docked +so much less. Some Gentlemen who knew, in part, that this work would +contain a plan of reforms respecting the oppressed condition of +soldiers, wished me to add a note to the work, signifying that the part +upon that subject had been in the printer's hands some weeks before that +addition of pay was proposed. I declined doing this, lest it should be +interpreted into an air of vanity, or an endeavour to excite suspicion +(for which perhaps there might be no grounds) that some of the +government gentlemen had, by some means or other, made out what this +work would contain: and had not the printing been interrupted so as +to occasion a delay beyond the time fixed for publication, nothing +contained in this appendix would have appeared. + + Thomas Paine + + + + +THE AUTHOR'S NOTES FOR PART ONE AND PART TWO + + +[Footnote 1: The main and uniform maxim of the judges is, the greater the truth +the greater the libel.] + +[Footnote 2: Since writing the above, two other places occur in Mr. Burke's +pamphlet in which the name of the Bastille is mentioned, but in the same +manner. In the one he introduces it in a sort of obscure question, and +asks: "Will any ministers who now serve such a king, with but a decent +appearance of respect, cordially obey the orders of those whom but the +other day, in his name, they had committed to the Bastille?" In the +other the taking it is mentioned as implying criminality in the French +guards, who assisted in demolishing it. "They have not," says he, +"forgot the taking the king's castles at Paris." This is Mr. Burke, who +pretends to write on constitutional freedom.] + +[Footnote 3: I am warranted in asserting this, as I had it personally from M. +de la Fayette, with whom I lived in habits of friendship for fourteen +years.] + +[Footnote 4: An account of the expedition to Versailles may be seen in No. 13 of +the Revolution de Paris containing the events from the 3rd to the 10th +of October, 1789.] + +[Footnote 5: It is a practice in some parts of the country, when two travellers +have but one horse, which, like the national purse, will not carry +double, that the one mounts and rides two or three miles ahead, and then +ties the horse to a gate and walks on. When the second traveller arrives +he takes the horse, rides on, and passes his companion a mile or two, +and ties again, and so on--Ride and tie.] + +[Footnote 6: The word he used was renvoye, dismissed or sent away.] + +[Footnote 7: When in any country we see extraordinary circumstances taking +place, they naturally lead any man who has a talent for observation +and investigation, to enquire into the causes. The manufacturers of +Manchester, Birmingham, and Sheffield, are the principal manufacturers +in England. From whence did this arise? A little observation will +explain the case. The principal, and the generality of the inhabitants +of those places, are not of what is called in England, the church +established by law: and they, or their fathers, (for it is within but a +few years) withdrew from the persecution of the chartered towns, where +test-laws more particularly operate, and established a sort of asylum +for themselves in those places. It was the only asylum that then +offered, for the rest of Europe was worse.--But the case is now +changing. France and America bid all comers welcome, and initiate them +into all the rights of citizenship. Policy and interest, therefore, +will, but perhaps too late, dictate in England, what reason and justice +could not. Those manufacturers are withdrawing, and arising in other +places. There is now erecting in Passey, three miles from Paris, a large +cotton manufactory, and several are already erected in America. Soon +after the rejecting the Bill for repealing the test-law, one of the +richest manufacturers in England said in my hearing, "England, Sir, is +not a country for a dissenter to live in,--we must go to France." These +are truths, and it is doing justice to both parties to tell them. It +is chiefly the dissenters that have carried English manufactures to the +height they are now at, and the same men have it in their power to carry +them away; and though those manufactures would afterwards continue in +those places, the foreign market will be lost. There frequently appear +in the London Gazette, extracts from certain acts to prevent machines +and persons, as far as they can extend to persons, from going out of the +country. It appears from these that the ill effects of the test-laws and +church-establishment begin to be much suspected; but the remedy of force +can never supply the remedy of reason. In the progress of less than a +century, all the unrepresented part of England, of all denominations, +which is at least an hundred times the most numerous, may begin to feel +the necessity of a constitution, and then all those matters will come +regularly before them.] + +[Footnote 8: When the English Minister, Mr. Pitt, mentions the French finances +again in the English Parliament, it would be well that he noticed this +as an example.] + +[Footnote 9: Mr. Burke, (and I must take the liberty of telling him that he is +very unacquainted with French affairs), speaking upon this subject, +says, "The first thing that struck me in calling the States-General, +was a great departure from the ancient course";--and he soon after says, +"From the moment I read the list, I saw distinctly, and very nearly as +it has happened, all that was to follow."--Mr. Burke certainly did not +see an that was to follow. I endeavoured to impress him, as well before +as after the States-General met, that there would be a revolution; but +was not able to make him see it, neither would he believe it. How then +he could distinctly see all the parts, when the whole was out of sight, +is beyond my comprehension. And with respect to the "departure from the +ancient course," besides the natural weakness of the remark, it shows +that he is unacquainted with circumstances. The departure was necessary, +from the experience had upon it, that the ancient course was a bad one. +The States-General of 1614 were called at the commencement of the civil +war in the minority of Louis XIII.; but by the class of arranging them +by orders, they increased the confusion they were called to compose. The +author of L'Intrigue du Cabinet, (Intrigue of the Cabinet), who +wrote before any revolution was thought of in France, speaking of the +States-General of 1614, says, "They held the public in suspense five +months; and by the questions agitated therein, and the heat with which +they were put, it appears that the great (les grands) thought more to +satisfy their particular passions, than to procure the goods of the +nation; and the whole time passed away in altercations, ceremonies and +parade."--L'Intrigue du Cabinet, vol. i. p. 329.] + +[Footnote 10: There is a single idea, which, if it strikes rightly upon the mind, +either in a legal or a religious sense, will prevent any man or any body +of men, or any government, from going wrong on the subject of religion; +which is, that before any human institutions of government were known in +the world, there existed, if I may so express it, a compact between +God and man, from the beginning of time: and that as the relation and +condition which man in his individual person stands in towards his Maker +cannot be changed by any human laws or human authority, that religious +devotion, which is a part of this compact, cannot so much as be made a +subject of human laws; and that all laws must conform themselves to this +prior existing compact, and not assume to make the compact conform to +the laws, which, besides being human, are subsequent thereto. The first +act of man, when he looked around and saw himself a creature which he +did not make, and a world furnished for his reception, must have been +devotion; and devotion must ever continue sacred to every individual +man, as it appears, right to him; and governments do mischief by +interfering.] + +[Footnote 11: See this work, Part I starting at line number 254.--N.B. Since the +taking of the Bastille, the occurrences have been published: but the +matters recorded in this narrative, are prior to that period; and some +of them, as may be easily seen, can be but very little known.] + +[Footnote 12: See "Estimate of the Comparative Strength of Great Britain," by G. +Chalmers.] + +[Footnote 13: See "Administration of the Finances of France," vol. iii, by M. +Neckar.] + +[Footnote 14: "Administration of the Finances of France," vol. iii.] + +[Footnote 15: Whether the English commerce does not bring in money, or whether the +government sends it out after it is brought in, is a matter which the +parties concerned can best explain; but that the deficiency exists, is +not in the power of either to disprove. While Dr. Price, Mr. Eden, (now +Auckland), Mr. Chalmers, and others, were debating whether the quantity +of money in England was greater or less than at the Revolution, the +circumstance was not adverted to, that since the Revolution, there +cannot have been less than four hundred millions sterling imported into +Europe; and therefore the quantity in England ought at least to have +been four times greater than it was at the Revolution, to be on a +proportion with Europe. What England is now doing by paper, is what she +would have been able to do by solid money, if gold and silver had come +into the nation in the proportion it ought, or had not been sent out; +and she is endeavouring to restore by paper, the balance she has lost by +money. It is certain, that the gold and silver which arrive annually +in the register-ships to Spain and Portugal, do not remain in those +countries. Taking the value half in gold and half in silver, it is about +four hundred tons annually; and from the number of ships and galloons +employed in the trade of bringing those metals from South-America to +Portugal and Spain, the quantity sufficiently proves itself, without +referring to the registers. + +In the situation England now is, it is impossible she can increase in +money. High taxes not only lessen the property of the individuals, but +they lessen also the money capital of the nation, by inducing smuggling, +which can only be carried on by gold and silver. By the politics which +the British Government have carried on with the Inland Powers of Germany +and the Continent, it has made an enemy of all the Maritime Powers, and +is therefore obliged to keep up a large navy; but though the navy is +built in England, the naval stores must be purchased from abroad, and +that from countries where the greatest part must be paid for in gold +and silver. Some fallacious rumours have been set afloat in England to +induce a belief in money, and, among others, that of the French refugees +bringing great quantities. The idea is ridiculous. The general part of +the money in France is silver; and it would take upwards of twenty of +the largest broad wheel wagons, with ten horses each, to remove one +million sterling of silver. Is it then to be supposed, that a few people +fleeing on horse-back or in post-chaises, in a secret manner, and having +the French Custom-House to pass, and the sea to cross, could bring even +a sufficiency for their own expenses? + +When millions of money are spoken of, it should be recollected, that +such sums can only accumulate in a country by slow degrees, and a long +procession of time. The most frugal system that England could now adopt, +would not recover in a century the balance she has lost in money since +the commencement of the Hanover succession. She is seventy millions +behind France, and she must be in some considerable proportion behind +every country in Europe, because the returns of the English mint do not +show an increase of money, while the registers of Lisbon and Cadiz +show an European increase of between three and four hundred millions +sterling.] + +[Footnote 16: That part of America which is generally called New-England, +including New-Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode-Island, and Connecticut, +is peopled chiefly by English descendants. In the state of New-York +about half are Dutch, the rest English, Scotch, and Irish. In +New-jersey, a mixture of English and Dutch, with some Scotch and Irish. +In Pennsylvania about one third are English, another Germans, and +the remainder Scotch and Irish, with some Swedes. The States to the +southward have a greater proportion of English than the middle States, +but in all of them there is a mixture; and besides those enumerated, +there are a considerable number of French, and some few of all the +European nations, lying on the coast. The most numerous religious +denomination are the Presbyterians; but no one sect is established above +another, and all men are equally citizens.] + +[Footnote 17: For a character of aristocracy, the reader is referred to Rights of +Man, Part I., starting at line number 1457.] + +[Footnote 18: The whole amount of the assessed taxes of France, for the present +year, is three hundred millions of francs, which is twelve millions +and a half sterling; and the incidental taxes are estimated at three +millions, making in the whole fifteen millions and a half; which among +twenty-four millions of people, is not quite thirteen shillings per +head. France has lessened her taxes since the revolution, nearly nine +millions sterling annually. Before the revolution, the city of Paris +paid a duty of upwards of thirty per cent. on all articles brought into +the city. This tax was collected at the city gates. It was taken off on +the first of last May, and the gates taken down.] + +[Footnote 19: What was called the livre rouge, or the red book, in France, was not +exactly similar to the Court Calendar in England; but it sufficiently +showed how a great part of the taxes was lavished.] + +[Footnote 20: In England the improvements in agriculture, useful arts, +manufactures, and commerce, have been made in opposition to the genius +of its government, which is that of following precedents. It is from +the enterprise and industry of the individuals, and their numerous +associations, in which, tritely speaking, government is neither pillow +nor bolster, that these improvements have proceeded. No man thought +about government, or who was in, or who was out, when he was planning +or executing those things; and all he had to hope, with respect to +government, was, that it would let him alone. Three or four very silly +ministerial newspapers are continually offending against the spirit of +national improvement, by ascribing it to a minister. They may with as +much truth ascribe this book to a minister.] + +[Footnote 21: With respect to the two houses, of which the English parliament is +composed, they appear to be effectually influenced into one, and, as a +legislature, to have no temper of its own. The minister, whoever he +at any time may be, touches it as with an opium wand, and it sleeps +obedience. + +But if we look at the distinct abilities of the two houses, the +difference will appear so great, as to show the inconsistency of +placing power where there can be no certainty of the judgment to use +it. Wretched as the state of representation is in England, it is manhood +compared with what is called the house of Lords; and so little is this +nick-named house regarded, that the people scarcely enquire at any time +what it is doing. It appears also to be most under influence, and the +furthest removed from the general interest of the nation. In the debate +on engaging in the Russian and Turkish war, the majority in the house +of peers in favor of it was upwards of ninety, when in the other house, +which was more than double its numbers, the majority was sixty-three.] + +The proceedings on Mr. Fox's bill, respecting the rights of juries, +merits also to be noticed. The persons called the peers were not the +objects of that bill. They are already in possession of more privileges +than that bill gave to others. They are their own jury, and if any one +of that house were prosecuted for a libel, he would not suffer, even +upon conviction, for the first offense. Such inequality in laws ought +not to exist in any country. The French constitution says, that the law +is the same to every individual, whether to Protect or to punish. All +are equal in its sight.] + +[Footnote 22: As to the state of representation in England, it is too absurd to +be reasoned upon. Almost all the represented parts are decreasing +in population, and the unrepresented parts are increasing. A general +convention of the nation is necessary to take the whole form of +government into consideration.] + +[Footnote 23: It is related that in the canton of Berne, in Switzerland, it has +been customary, from time immemorial, to keep a bear at the public +expense, and the people had been taught to believe that if they had not +a bear they should all be undone. It happened some years ago that the +bear, then in being, was taken sick, and died too suddenly to have his +place immediately supplied with another. During this interregnum the +people discovered that the corn grew, and the vintage flourished, and +the sun and moon continued to rise and set, and everything went on +the same as before, and taking courage from these circumstances, they +resolved not to keep any more bears; for, said they, "a bear is a very +voracious expensive animal, and we were obliged to pull out his claws, +lest he should hurt the citizens." The story of the bear of Berne was +related in some of the French newspapers, at the time of the flight of +Louis Xvi., and the application of it to monarchy could not be mistaken +in France; but it seems that the aristocracy of Berne applied it to +themselves, and have since prohibited the reading of French newspapers.] + +[Footnote 24: It is scarcely possible to touch on any subject, that will not +suggest an allusion to some corruption in governments. The simile of +"fortifications," unfortunately involves with it a circumstance, which +is directly in point with the matter above alluded to.] + +Among the numerous instances of abuse which have been acted or protected +by governments, ancient or modern, there is not a greater than that of +quartering a man and his heirs upon the public, to be maintained at its +expense. + +Humanity dictates a provision for the poor; but by what right, moral or +political, does any government assume to say, that the person called +the Duke of Richmond, shall be maintained by the public? Yet, if +common report is true, not a beggar in London can purchase his wretched +pittance of coal, without paying towards the civil list of the Duke of +Richmond. Were the whole produce of this imposition but a shilling a +year, the iniquitous principle would be still the same; but when it +amounts, as it is said to do, to no less than twenty thousand pounds per +annum, the enormity is too serious to be permitted to remain. This is +one of the effects of monarchy and aristocracy. + +In stating this case I am led by no personal dislike. Though I think +it mean in any man to live upon the public, the vice originates in the +government; and so general is it become, that whether the parties are in +the ministry or in the opposition, it makes no difference: they are sure +of the guarantee of each other.] + +[Footnote 25: In America the increase of commerce is greater in proportion than in +England. It is, at this time, at least one half more than at any period +prior to the revolution. The greatest number of vessels cleared out +of the port of Philadelphia, before the commencement of the war, was +between eight and nine hundred. In the year 1788, the number was upwards +of twelve hundred. As the State of Pennsylvania is estimated at an +eighth part of the United States in population, the whole number of +vessels must now be nearly ten thousand.] + +[Footnote 26: When I saw Mr. Pitt's mode of estimating the balance of trade, in +one of his parliamentary speeches, he appeared to me to know nothing +of the nature and interest of commerce; and no man has more wantonly +tortured it than himself. During a period of peace it has been havocked +with the calamities of war. Three times has it been thrown into +stagnation, and the vessels unmanned by impressing, within less than +four years of peace.] + +[Footnote 27: Rev. William Knowle, master of the grammar school of Thetford, in +Norfolk.] + +[Footnote 28: Politics and self-interest have been so uniformly connected that +the world, from being so often deceived, has a right to be suspicious of +public characters, but with regard to myself I am perfectly easy on +this head. I did not, at my first setting out in public life, nearly +seventeen years ago, turn my thoughts to subjects of government from +motives of interest, and my conduct from that moment to this proves the +fact. I saw an opportunity in which I thought I could do some good, and +I followed exactly what my heart dictated. I neither read books, nor +studied other people's opinion. I thought for myself. The case was +this:-- + +During the suspension of the old governments in America, both prior to +and at the breaking out of hostilities, I was struck with the order and +decorum with which everything was conducted, and impressed with the idea +that a little more than what society naturally performed was all the +government that was necessary, and that monarchy and aristocracy were +frauds and impositions upon mankind. On these principles I published the +pamphlet Common Sense. The success it met with was beyond anything since +the invention of printing. I gave the copyright to every state in the +Union, and the demand ran to not less than one hundred thousand copies. +I continued the subject in the same manner, under the title of The +Crisis, till the complete establishment of the Revolution. + +After the declaration of independence Congress unanimously, and unknown +to me, appointed me Secretary in the Foreign Department. This was +agreeable to me, because it gave me the opportunity of seeing into the +abilities of foreign courts, and their manner of doing business. But +a misunderstanding arising between Congress and me, respecting one of +their commissioners then in Europe, Mr. Silas Deane, I resigned the +office, and declined at the same time the pecuniary offers made by the +Ministers of France and Spain, M. Gerald and Don Juan Mirralles.] +I had by this time so completely gained the ear and confidence of +America, and my own independence was become so visible, as to give me a +range in political writing beyond, perhaps, what any man ever possessed +in any country, and, what is more extraordinary, I held it undiminished +to the end of the war, and enjoy it in the same manner to the present +moment. As my object was not myself, I set out with the determination, +and happily with the disposition, of not being moved by praise or +censure, friendship or calumny, nor of being drawn from my purpose by +any personal altercation, and the man who cannot do this is not fit for +a public character. + +When the war ended I went from Philadelphia to Borden-Town, on the east +bank of the Delaware, where I have a small place. Congress was at this +time at Prince-Town, fifteen miles distant, and General Washington +had taken his headquarters at Rocky Hill, within the neighbourhood of +Congress, for the purpose of resigning up his commission (the object +for which he accepted it being accomplished), and of retiring to private +life. While he was on this business he wrote me the letter which I here +subjoin: + +"Rocky-Hill, Sept. 10, 1783. + +"I have learned since I have been at this place that you are at +Borden-Town. Whether for the sake of retirement or economy I know not. +Be it for either, for both, or whatever it may, if you will come to this +place, and partake with me, I shall be exceedingly happy to see you at +it. + +"Your presence may remind Congress of your past services to this +country, and if it is in my power to impress them, command my best +exertions with freedom, as they will be rendered cheerfully by one who +entertains a lively sense of the importance of your works, and who, with +much pleasure, subscribes himself, Your sincere friend, + +G. Washington." + +During the war, in the latter end of the year 1780, I formed to myself a +design of coming over to England, and communicated it to General Greene, +who was then in Philadelphia on his route to the southward, General +Washington being then at too great a distance to communicate with +immediately. I was strongly impressed with the idea that if I could get +over to England without being known, and only remain in safety till I +could get out a publication, that I could open the eyes of the country +with respect to the madness and stupidity of its Government. I saw that +the parties in Parliament had pitted themselves as far as they could go, +and could make no new impressions on each other. General Greene entered +fully into my views, but the affair of Arnold and Andre happening just +after, he changed his mind, under strong apprehensions for my safety, +wrote very pressingly to me from Annapolis, in Maryland, to give up +the design, which, with some reluctance, I did. Soon after this I +accompanied Colonel Lawrens, son of Mr. Lawrens, who was then in the +Tower, to France on business from Congress. We landed at L'orient, and +while I remained there, he being gone forward, a circumstance occurred +that renewed my former design. An English packet from Falmouth to +New York, with the Government dispatches on board, was brought into +L'orient. That a packet should be taken is no extraordinary thing, but +that the dispatches should be taken with it will scarcely be credited, +as they are always slung at the cabin window in a bag loaded with +cannon-ball, and ready to be sunk at a moment. The fact, however, is +as I have stated it, for the dispatches came into my hands, and I +read them. The capture, as I was informed, succeeded by the following +stratagem:--The captain of the "Madame" privateer, who spoke English, on +coming up with the packet, passed himself for the captain of an English +frigate, and invited the captain of the packet on board, which, when +done, he sent some of his own hands back, and he secured the mail. But +be the circumstance of the capture what it may, I speak with certainty +as to the Government dispatches. They were sent up to Paris to Count +Vergennes, and when Colonel Lawrens and myself returned to America we +took the originals to Congress. + +By these dispatches I saw into the stupidity of the English Cabinet far +more than I otherwise could have done, and I renewed my former design. +But Colonel Lawrens was so unwilling to return alone, more especially +as, among other matters, we had a charge of upwards of two hundred +thousand pounds sterling in money, that I gave in to his wishes, and +finally gave up my plan. But I am now certain that if I could have +executed it that it would not have been altogether unsuccessful.] + +[Footnote 29: It is difficult to account for the origin of charter and corporation +towns, unless we suppose them to have arisen out of, or been connected +with, some species of garrison service. The times in which they began +justify this idea. The generality of those towns have been garrisons, +and the corporations were charged with the care of the gates of the +towns, when no military garrison was present. Their refusing or granting +admission to strangers, which has produced the custom of giving, +selling, and buying freedom, has more of the nature of garrison +authority than civil government. Soldiers are free of all corporations +throughout the nation, by the same propriety that every soldier is +free of every garrison, and no other persons are. He can follow any +employment, with the permission of his officers, in any corporation +towns throughout the nation.] + +[Footnote 30: See Sir John Sinclair's History of the Revenue. The land-tax in 1646 +was L2,473,499.] + +[Footnote 31: Several of the court newspapers have of late made frequent mention +of Wat Tyler. That his memory should be traduced by court sycophants and +an those who live on the spoil of a public is not to be wondered at. He +was, however, the means of checking the rage and injustice of taxation +in his time, and the nation owed much to his valour. The history is +concisely this:--In the time of Richard Ii. a poll tax was levied of one +shilling per head upon every person in the nation of whatever estate or +condition, on poor as well as rich, above the age of fifteen years. If +any favour was shown in the law it was to the rich rather than to the +poor, as no person could be charged more than twenty shillings for +himself, family and servants, though ever so numerous; while all other +families, under the number of twenty were charged per head. Poll taxes +had always been odious, but this being also oppressive and unjust, it +excited as it naturally must, universal detestation among the poor and +middle classes. The person known by the name of Wat Tyler, whose proper +name was Walter, and a tiler by trade, lived at Deptford. The gatherer +of the poll tax, on coming to his house, demanded tax for one of +his daughters, whom Tyler declared was under the age of fifteen. The +tax-gatherer insisted on satisfying himself, and began an indecent +examination of the girl, which, enraging the father, he struck him with +a hammer that brought him to the ground, and was the cause of his +death. This circumstance served to bring the discontent to an issue. The +inhabitants of the neighbourhood espoused the cause of Tyler, who in a +few days was joined, according to some histories, by upwards of fifty +thousand men, and chosen their chief. With this force he marched +to London, to demand an abolition of the tax and a redress of other +grievances. The Court, finding itself in a forlorn condition, and, +unable to make resistance, agreed, with Richard at its head, to hold +a conference with Tyler in Smithfield, making many fair professions, +courtier-like, of its dispositions to redress the oppressions. While +Richard and Tyler were in conversation on these matters, each being on +horseback, Walworth, then Mayor of London, and one of the creatures of +the Court, watched an opportunity, and like a cowardly assassin, stabbed +Tyler with a dagger, and two or three others falling upon him, he +was instantly sacrificed. Tyler appears to have been an intrepid +disinterested man with respect to himself. All his proposals made to +Richard were on a more just and public ground than those which had +been made to John by the Barons, and notwithstanding the sycophancy of +historians and men like Mr. Burke, who seek to gloss over a base action +of the Court by traducing Tyler, his fame will outlive their falsehood. +If the Barons merited a monument to be erected at Runnymede, Tyler +merited one in Smithfield.] + +[Footnote 32: I happened to be in England at the celebration of the centenary of +the Revolution of 1688. The characters of William and Mary have always +appeared to be detestable; the one seeking to destroy his uncle, and +the other her father, to get possession of power themselves; yet, as +the nation was disposed to think something of that event, I felt hurt at +seeing it ascribe the whole reputation of it to a man who had undertaken +it as a job and who, besides what he otherwise got, charged six hundred +thousand pounds for the expense of the fleet that brought him from +Holland. George the First acted the same close-fisted part as William +had done, and bought the Duchy of Bremen with the money he got from +England, two hundred and fifty thousand pounds over and above his pay as +king, and having thus purchased it at the expense of England, added it +to his Hanoverian dominions for his own private profit. In fact, every +nation that does not govern itself is governed as a job. England has +been the prey of jobs ever since the Revolution.] + +[Footnote 33: Charles, like his predecessors and successors, finding that war was +the harvest of governments, engaged in a war with the Dutch, the expense +of which increased the annual expenditure to L1,800,000 as stated under +the date of 1666; but the peace establishment was but L1,200,000.] + +[Footnote 34: Poor-rates began about the time of Henry VIII., when the taxes began +to increase, and they have increased as the taxes increased ever since.] + +[Footnote 35: Reckoning the taxes by families, five to a family, each family pays +on an average L12 7s. 6d. per annum. To this sum are to be added the +poor-rates. Though all pay taxes in the articles they consume, all do +not pay poor-rates. About two millions are exempted: some as not being +house-keepers, others as not being able, and the poor themselves +who receive the relief. The average, therefore, of poor-rates on the +remaining number, is forty shillings for every family of five persons, +which make the whole average amount of taxes and rates L14 17s. 6d. For +six persons L17 17s. For seven persons L2O 16s. 6d. +The average of taxes in America, under the new or representative system +of government, including the interest of the debt contracted in the +war, and taking the population at four millions of souls, which it now +amounts to, and it is daily increasing, is five shillings per head, +men, women, and children. The difference, therefore, between the two +governments is as under: + + England America + L s. d. L s. d. + For a family of five persons 14 17 6 1 5 0 + For a family of six persons 17 17 0 1 10 0 + For a family of seven persons 20 16 6 1 15 0 + +[Footnote 36: Public schools do not answer the general purpose of the poor. +They are chiefly in corporation towns from which the country towns and +villages are excluded, or, if admitted, the distance occasions a great +loss of time. Education, to be useful to the poor, should be on the +spot, and the best method, I believe, to accomplish this is to enable +the parents to pay the expenses themselves. There are always persons of +both sexes to be found in every village, especially when growing into +years, capable of such an undertaking. Twenty children at ten shillings +each (and that not more than six months each year) would be as much as +some livings amount to in the remotest parts of England, and there are +often distressed clergymen's widows to whom such an income would be +acceptable. Whatever is given on this account to children answers two +purposes. To them it is education--to those who educate them it is a +livelihood.] + +[Footnote 37: The tax on beer brewed for sale, from which the aristocracy are +exempt, is almost one million more than the present commutation tax, +being by the returns of 1788, L1,666,152--and, consequently, they ought +to take on themselves the amount of the commutation tax, as they are +already exempted from one which is almost a million greater.] + +[Footnote 38: See the Reports on the Corn Trade.] + +[Footnote 39: When enquiries are made into the condition of the poor, various +degrees of distress will most probably be found, to render a different +arrangement preferable to that which is already proposed. Widows with +families will be in greater want than where there are husbands living. +There is also a difference in the expense of living in different +counties: and more so in fuel. + + Suppose then fifty thousand extraordinary cases, at + the rate of ten pounds per family per annum L500,000 + 100,000 families, at L8 per family per annum 800,000 + 100,000 families, at L7 per family per annum 700,000 + 104,000 families, at L5 per family per annum 520,000 + + And instead of ten shillings per head for the education + of other children, to allow fifty shillings per family + for that purpose to fifty thousand families 250,000 + ---------- + L2,770,000 + 140,000 aged persons as before 1,120,000 + ---------- + L3,890,000 + +This arrangement amounts to the same sum as stated in this work, Part +II, line number 1068, including the L250,000 for education; but it +provides (including the aged people) for four hundred and four thousand +families, which is almost one third of an the families in England.] + +[Footnote 40: I know it is the opinion of many of the most enlightened characters +in France (there always will be those who see further into events than +others), not only among the general mass of citizens, but of many of the +principal members of the former National Assembly, that the monarchical +plan will not continue many years in that country. They have found out, +that as wisdom cannot be made hereditary, power ought not; and that, for +a man to merit a million sterling a year from a nation, he ought to have +a mind capable of comprehending from an atom to a universe, which, if he +had, he would be above receiving the pay. But they wished not to appear +to lead the nation faster than its own reason and interest dictated. In +all the conversations where I have been present upon this subject, the +idea always was, that when such a time, from the general opinion of the +nation, shall arrive, that the honourable and liberal method would be, +to make a handsome present in fee simple to the person, whoever he may +be, that shall then be in the monarchical office, and for him to retire +to the enjoyment of private life, possessing his share of general rights +and privileges, and to be no more accountable to the public for his time +and his conduct than any other citizen.] + +[Footnote 41: The gentleman who signed the address and declaration as chairman of +the meeting, Mr. Horne Tooke, being generally supposed to be the person +who drew it up, and having spoken much in commendation of it, has +been jocularly accused of praising his own work. To free him from this +embarrassment, and to save him the repeated trouble of mentioning the +author, as he has not failed to do, I make no hesitation in saying, +that as the opportunity of benefiting by the French Revolution easily +occurred to me, I drew up the publication in question, and showed it to +him and some other gentlemen, who, fully approving it, held a meeting +for the purpose of making it public, and subscribed to the amount of +fifty guineas to defray the expense of advertising. I believe there +are at this time, in England, a greater number of men acting on +disinterested principles, and determined to look into the nature and +practices of government themselves, and not blindly trust, as +has hitherto been the case, either to government generally, or to +parliaments, or to parliamentary opposition, than at any former period. +Had this been done a century ago, corruption and taxation had not +arrived to the height they are now at.] + + + -END OF PART II.- + + + + + + +THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE + +By Thomas Paine + +Edited By Moncure Daniel Conway + + +VOLUME III. + +1791-1804 + +G. P. Putnam's Sons + +New York London + + +Copyright, 1895 + +By G. P. Putnam's Sons + + + +CONTENTS. + + + Introduction to the Third Volume + + I. The Republican Proclamation + + II. To the Authors of "Le Républicain" + + III. To the Abbe Sieyes + + IV. To the Attorney General + + V. To Mr. Secretary Dundas + + VI. Letters to Onslow Cranley + + VII. To the Sheriff of the County of Sussex + + VIII. To Mr. Secretary Dundas + + IX. Letter Addressed to the Addressers on the Late Proclamation + + X. Address to the People of France + + XI. Anti-Monarchal Essay + + XII. To the Attorney General, on the Prosecution AGAINST + THE SECOND PART OF RIGHTS of Man + + XIII. On the Propriety of Bringing Louis XVI to Trial + + XIV. Reasons for Preserving the Life of Louis Capet + + XV. Shall Louis XVI. Have Respite? + + XVI. Declaration of Rights. + + XVII. Private Letters to Jefferson + + XVIII. Letters to Danton + + XIX. A Citizen of America to the Citizens of Europe + + XX. Appeal to the Convention + + XXI. The Memorial to Monroe + + XXII. Letter to George Washington + + XXIII. Observations + + XXIV. Dissertation on First Principles of Government + + XXV. The Constitution of 1795 + + XXVI. The Decline and Fall of the English System of Finance + + XXVII. Forgetfulness + + XXVIII. Agrarian Justice + + XXIX. The Eighteenth Fructidor + + XXX. The Recall of Monroe + + XXXI. Private Letter to President Jefferson + + XXXII. Proposal that Louisiana be Purchased + + XXXIII. Thomas Paine to the Citizens of the United States + + XXXIV. To the French Inhabitants of Louisiana + + + + +INTRODUCTION TO THE THIRD VOLUME. + +WITH HISTORICAL NOTES AND DOCUMENTS. + +In a letter of Lafayette to Washington ("Paris, 12 Jan., 1790") he +writes: "_Common Sense_ is writing for you a brochure where you will see +a part of my adventures." It thus appears that the narrative embodied in +the reply to Burke ("Rights of Man," Part I.), dedicated to Washington, +was begun with Lafayette's collaboration fourteen months before its +publication (March 13, 1791). + +In another letter of Lafayette to Washington (March 17, 1790) he writes: + +"To Mr. Paine, who leaves for London, I entrust the care of sending +you my news.... Permit me, my dear General, to offer you a picture +representing the Bastille as it was some days after I gave the order for +its demolition. I also pay you the homage of sending you the principal +Key of that fortress of despotism. It is a tribute I owe as a son to +my adoptive father, as aide-de-camp to my General, as a missionary of +liberty to his Patriarch." + +The Key was entrusted to Paine, and by him to J. Rut-ledge, Jr., who +sailed from London in May. I have found in the manuscript despatches of +Louis Otto, Chargé d' Affaires, several amusing paragraphs, addressed to +his govern-ment at Paris, about this Key. + +"August 4, 1790. In attending yesterday the public audience of the +President, I was surprised by a question from the Chief Magistrate, +'whether I would like to see the Key of the Bastille?' One of his +secretaries showed me at the same moment a large Key, which had +been sent to the President by desire of the Marquis de la Fayette. I +dissembled my surprise in observing to the President that 'the time had +not yet come in America to do ironwork equal to that before him.' +The Americans present looked at the key with indifference, and as if +wondering why it had been sent But the serene face of the President +showed that he regarded it as an homage from the French nation." +"December 13, 1790. The Key of the Bastille, regularly shown at the +President's audiences, is now also on exhibition in Mrs. Washington's +_salon_, where it satisfies the curiosity of the Philadelphians. I am +persuaded, Monseigneur, that it is only their vanity that finds pleasure +in the exhibition of this trophy, but Frenchmen here are not the less +piqued, and many will not enter the President's house on this account." + +In sending the key Paine, who saw farther than these distant Frenchmen, +wrote to Washington: "That the principles of America opened the Bastille +is not to be doubted, and therefore the Key comes to the right place." + +Early in May, 1791 (the exact date is not given), Lafayette writes +Washington: "I send you the rather indifferent translation of Mr. Paine +as a kind of preservative and to keep me near you." This was a hasty +translation of "Rights of Man," Part I., by F. Soûles, presently +superseded by that of Lanthenas. + +The first convert of Paine to pure republicanism in France was Achille +Duchâtelet, son of the Duke, and grandson of the authoress,--the friend +of Voltaire. It was he and Paine who, after the flight of Louis XVI., +placarded Paris with the Proclamation of a Republic, given as the first +chapter of this volume. An account of this incident is here quoted from +Etienne Dumont's "Recollections of Mirabeau": + +"The celebrated Paine was at this time in Paris, and intimate in +Condorcet's family. Thinking that he had effected the American +Revolution, he fancied himself called upon to bring about one in France. +Duchâtelet called on me, and after a little preface placed in my hand an +English manuscript--a Proclamation to the French People. It was nothing +less than an anti-royalist Manifesto, and summoned the nation to +seize the opportunity and establish a Republic. Paine was its author. +Duchâtelet had adopted and was resolved to sign, placard the walls of +Paris with it, and take the consequences. He had come to request me to +translate and develop it. I began discussing the strange proposal, +and pointed out the danger of raising a republican standard without +concurrence of the National Assembly, and nothing being as yet known +of the king's intentions, resources, alliances, and possibilities of +support by the army, and in the provinces. I asked if he had consulted +any of the most influential leaders,--Sieves, Lafayette, etc. He had +not: he and Paine had acted alone. An American and an impulsive nobleman +had put themselves forward to change the whole governmental system +of France. Resisting his entreaties, I refused to translate the +Proclamation. Next day the republican Proclamation appeared on the walls +in every part of Paris, and was denounced to the Assembly. The idea of +a Republic had previously presented itself to no one: this first +intimation filled with consternation the Right and the moderates of the +Left. Malouet, Cazales, and others proposed prosecution of the author, +but Chapelier, and a numerous party, fearing to add fuel to the fire +instead of extinguishing it, prevented this. But some of the seed sown +by the audacious hand of Paine were now budding in leading minds." + +A Republican Club was formed in July, consisting of five members, the +others who joined themselves to Paine and Duchâtelet being Condorcet, +and probably Lanthenas (translator of Paine's works), and Nicolas de +Bonneville. They advanced so far as to print "Le Républicain," of which, +however, only one number ever appeared. From it is taken the second +piece in this volume. + +Early in the year 1792 Paine lodged in the house and book-shop of Thomas +"Clio" Rickman, now as then 7 Upper Marylebone Street. Among his friends +was the mystical artist and poet, William Blake. Paine had become to +him a transcendental type; he is one of the Seven who appear in Blake's +"Prophecy" concerning America (1793): + + + "The Guardian Prince of Albion burns in his nightly tent + Sullen fires across the Atlantic glow to America's shore; + Piercing the souls of warlike men, who rise in silent night:-- + Washington, Franklin, Paine, and Warren, Gates, Hancock, and Greene, + Meet on the coast glowing with blood from Albion's fiery Prince." + + +The Seven are wrapt in the flames of their enthusiasm. Albion's Prince +sends to America his thirteen Angels, who, however, there become +Governors of the thirteen States. It is difficult to discover from +Blake's mystical visions how much political radicalism was in him, but +he certainly saved Paine from the scaffold by forewarning him (September +13, 1792) that an order had been issued for his arrest. Without +repeating the story told in Gilchrist's "Life of Blake," and in my "Life +of Paine," I may add here my belief that Paine also appears in one of +Blake's pictures. The picture is in the National Gallery (London), and +called "The spiritual form of Pitt guiding Behemoth." The monster jaws +of Behemoth are full of struggling men, some of whom stretch imploring +hands to another spiritual form, who reaches down from a crescent +moon in the sky, as if to rescue them. This face and form appear to me +certainly meant for Paine. + +Acting on Blake's warning Paine's friends got him off to Dover, where, +after some trouble, related in a letter to Dundas (see p. 41 of this +volume), he reached Calais. He had been elected by four departments to +the National Convention, and selected Calais, where he was welcomed +with grand civic parades. On September 19, 1792, he arrived in Paris, +stopping at "White's Hotel," 7 Passage des Pétits Pères, about five +minutes' walk from the Salle de Manége, where, on September 21st, the +National Convention opened its sessions. The spot is now indicated by a +tablet on the wall of the Tuileries Garden, Rue de Rivoli. On that +day Paine was introduced to the Convention by the Abbé Grégoire, and +received with acclamation. + +The French Minister in London, Chauvelin, had sent to his government +(still royalist) a despatch unfavorable to Paine's work in England, part +of which I translate: + +"May 23, 1792. An Association [for Parliamentary Reform, see pp. 78, +93, of this volume] has been formed to seek the means of forwarding the +demand. It includes some distinguished members of the Commons, and a few +peers. The writings of M. Payne which preceded this Association by a +few days have done it infinite harm. People suspect under the veil of +a reform long demanded by justice and reason an intention to destroy a +constitution equally dear to the peers whose privileges it consecrates, +to the wealthy whom it protects, and to the entire nation, to which +it assures all the liberty desired by a people methodical and slow in +character, and who, absorbed in their commercial interests, do not +like being perpetually worried about the imbecile George III. or public +affairs. Vainly have the friends of reform protested their attachment +to the Constitution. Vainly they declare that they desire to demand +nothing, to obtain nothing, save in lawful ways. They are persistently +disbelieved. Payne alone is seen in all their movements; and this author +has not, like Mackintosh, rendered imposing his refutation of Burke. The +members of the Association, although very different in principles, find +themselves involved in the now almost general disgrace of Payne." + +M. Noël writes from London, November 2, 1792, to the republican +Minister, Le Brun, concerning the approaching trial of Paine, which had +been fixed for December 18th. + +"This matter above all excites the liveliest interest. People desire +to know whether they live in a free country, where criticism even of +government is a right of every citizen. Whatever may be the decision in +this interesting trial, the result can only be fortunate for the cause +of liberty. But the government cannot conceal from itself that it is +suspended over a volcano. The wild dissipations of the King's sons +add to the discontent, and if something is overlooked in the Prince of +Wales, who is loved enough, it is not so with the Duke of York, who +has few friends. The latter has so many debts that at this moment the +receivers are in his house, and the creditors wish even his bed to be +seized. You perceive, Citizen, what a text fruitful in reflexions this +conduct presents to a people groaning under the weight of taxes for the +support of such whelps (_louvetaux_)." + +Under date of December 22, 1792, M. Noël writes: + +"London is perfectly tranquil. The arbitrary measures taken by the +government in advance [of Paine's trial] cause no anxiety to the mass +of the nation about its liberties. Some dear-headed people see well that +the royal prerogative will gain in this crisis, and that it is dangerous +to leave executive power to become arbitrary at pleasure; but this very +small number groan in silence, and dare not speak for fear of seeing +their property pillaged or burned by what the miserable hirelings +of government call 'Loyal Mob,' or 'Church and King Mob.' To the +'Addressers,' of whom I wrote you, are added the associations for +maintaining the Constitution they are doing all they can to destroy. +There is no corporation, no parish, which is not mustered for this +object. All have assembled, one on the other, to press against +those whom they call 'The Republicans and the Levellers,' the most +inquisitorial measures. Among other parishes, one (S. James' Vestry +Room) distinguishes itself by a decree worthy of the sixteenth century. +It promises twenty guineas reward to any one who shall denounce those +who in conversation or otherwise propagate opinions contrary to the +public tranquillity, and places the denouncer under protection of the +parish. The inhabitants of London are now placed under a new kind of +_Test_, and those who refuse it will undoubtedly be persecuted. Meantime +these papers are carried from house to house to be signed, especially by +those lodging as strangers. This _Test_ causes murmurs, and some try to +evade signature, but the number is few. The example of the capital is +generally followed. The trial of Payne, which at one time seemed likely +to cause events, has ended in the most peaceful way. Erskine has been +borne to his house by people shouting _God Save the King! Erskine +forever!_ The friends of liberty generally are much dissatisfied with +the way in which he has defended his client. They find that he threw +himself into commonplaces which could make his eloquence shine, but +guarded himself well from going to the bottom of the question. Vane +especially, a distinguished advocate and zealous democrat, is furious +against Erskine. It is now for Payne to defend himself. But whatever +he does, he will have trouble enough to reverse the opinion. The Jury's +verdict is generally applauded: a mortal blow is dealt to freedom of +thought. People sing in the streets, even at midnight, _God save the +King and damn Tom Payne!_" (1) + + 1 The despatches from which these translations are made are + in the Archives of the Department of State at Paris, series + marked _Angleterre_ vol. 581. + +The student of that period will find some instruction in a collection, +now in the British Museum, of coins and medals mostly struck after the +trial and outlawry of Paine. A halfpenny, January 21,1793: _obverse_, +a man hanging on a gibbet, with church in the distance; motto "End of +Pain"; _reverse_, open book inscribed "The Wrongs of Man." A token: bust +of Paine, with his name; _reverse_, "The Mountain in Labour, 1793." +Farthing: Paine gibbeted; _reverse_, breeches burning, legend, +"Pandora's breeches"; beneath, serpent decapitated by a dagger, +the severed head that of Paine. Similar farthing, but _reverse_, +combustibles intermixed with labels issuing from a globe marked +"Fraternity"; the labels inscribed "Regicide," "Robbery," "Falsity," +"Requisition"; legend, "French Reforms, 1797"; near by, a church with +flag, on it a cross. Half-penny without date, but no doubt struck in +1794, when a rumor reached London that Paine had been guillotined: +Paine gibbeted; above, devil smoking a pipe; _reverse_, monkey dancing; +legend, "We dance, Paine swings." Farthing: three men hanging on a +gallows; "The three Thomases, 1796." _Reverse_, "May the three knaves +of Jacobin Clubs never get a trick." The three Thomases were Thomas +Paine, Thomas Muir, and Thomas Spence. In 1794 Spence was imprisoned +seven months for publishing some of Paine's works at his so-called +"Hive of Liberty." Muir, a Scotch lawyer, was banished to Botany Bay for +fourteen years for having got up in Edinburgh (1792) a "Convention," in +imitation of that just opened in Paris; two years later he escaped from +Botany Bay on an American ship, and found his way to Paine in Paris. +Among these coins there are two of opposite character. A farthing +represents Pitt on a gibbet, against which rests a ladder; inscription, +"End of P [here an eye] T." _Reverse_, face of Pitt conjoined with that +of the devil, and legend, "Even Fellows." Another farthing like the +last, except an added legend, "Such is the reward of tyrants, 1796." +These anti-Pitt farthings were struck by Thomas Spence. + +In the winter of 1792-3 the only Reign of Terror was in England. The +Ministry had replied to Paine's "Rights of Man" by a royal proclamation +against seditious literature, surrounding London with militia, and +calling a meeting of Parliament (December, 1792) out of season. +Even before the trial of Paine his case was prejudged by the royal +proclamation, and by the Addresses got up throughout the country in +response,--documents which elicited Paine's Address to the Addressers, +chapter IX. in this volume. The Tory gentry employed roughs to burn +Paine in effigy throughout the country, and to harry the Nonconformists. +Dr. Priestley's house was gutted. Mr. Fox (December 14, 1792) reminded +the House of Commons that all the mobs had "Church and King" for their +watchword, no mob having been heard of for "The Rights of Man"; and +he vainly appealed to the government to prosecute the dangerous libels +against Dissenters as they were prosecuting Paine's work. Burke, who in +the extra session of Parliament for the first time took his seat on the +Treasury Bench, was reminded that he had once "exulted at the victories +of that rebel Washington," and welcomed Franklin. "Franklin," he said, +"was a native of America; Paine was born in England, and lived under the +protection of our laws; but, instigated by his evil genius, he conspired +against the very country which gave him birth, by attempting to +introduce the new and pernicious doctrines of republicans." + +In the course of the same harangue, Burke alluded to the English and +Irish deputations, then in Paris, which had congratulated the Convention +on the defeat of the invaders of the Republic. Among them he named +Lord Semphill, John Frost, D. Adams, and "Joel--Joel the Prophet" (Joel +Barlow). These men were among those who, towards the close of 1792, +formed a sort of Paine Club at "Philadelphia House"--as White's Hotel +was now called. The men gathered around Paine, as the exponent of +republican principles, were animated by a passion for liberty which +withheld no sacrifice. Some of them threw away wealth and rank as +trifles. At a banquet of the Club, at Philadelphia House, November 18, +1792, where Paine presided, Lord Edward Fitzgerald and Sir Robert Smyth, +Baronet, formally renounced their titles. Sir Robert proposed the toast, +"A speedy abolition of all hereditary titles and feudal distinctions." +Another toast was, "Paine--and the new way of making good books known by +a Royal proclamation and a King's Bench prosecution." + +There was also Franklin's friend, Benjamin Vaughan, Member of +Parliament, who, compromised by an intercepted letter, took refuge in +Paris under the name of Jean Martin. Other Englishmen were Rev. Jeremiah +Joyce, a Unitarian minister and author (coadjutor of Dr. Gregory in +his "Cyclopaedia "); Henry Redhead Yorke, a West Indian with some negro +blood (afterwards an agent of Pitt, under whom he had been imprisoned); +Robert Merry, husband of the actress "Miss Brunton"; Sayer, Rayment, +Macdonald, Perry. + +Sampson Perry of London, having attacked the government in his journal, +"The Argus," fled from an indictment, and reached Paris in January, +1793. These men, who for a time formed at Philadelphia House their +Parliament of Man, were dashed by swift storms on their several rocks. +Sir Robert Smyth was long a prisoner under the Reign of Terror, and died +(1802) of the illness thereby contracted. Lord Edward Fitzgerald was +slain while trying to kindle a revolution in Ireland. Perry was a +prisoner in the Luxembourg, and afterwards in London. John Frost, a +lawyer (struck off the roll), ventured back to London, where he was +imprisoned six months in Newgate, sitting in the pillory at Charing +Cross one hour per day. Robert Merry went to Baltimore, where he died +in 1798. Nearly all of these men suffered griefs known only to the "man +without a country." + +Sampson Perry, who in 1796 published an interesting "History of the +French Revolution," has left an account of his visit to Paine in +January, 1793: + +"I breakfasted with Paine about this time at the Philadelphia Hotel, and +asked him which province in America he conceived the best calculated +for a fugitive to settle in, and, as it were, to begin the world with no +other means or pretensions than common sense and common honesty. Whether +he saw the occasion and felt the tendency of this question I know not; +but he turned it aside by the political news of the day, and added that +he was going to dine with Petion, the mayor, and that he knew I should +be welcome and be entertained. We went to the mayoralty in a hackney +coach, and were seated at a table about which were placed the following +persons: Petion, the mayor of Paris, with his female relation who did +the honour of the table; Dumourier, the commander-in-chief of the French +forces, and one of his aides-de-camp; Santerre, the commandant of the +armed force of Paris, and an aide-de-camp; Condorcet; Brissot; Gaudet; +Genson-net; Danton; Rersaint; Clavière; Vergniaud; and Syèyes; which, +with three other persons, whose names I do not now recollect, and +including Paine and myself, made in all nineteen." + +Paine found warm welcome in the home of Achille Du-châtelet, who with +him had first proclaimed the Republic, and was now a General. Madame +Duchâtelet was an English lady of rank, Charlotte Comyn, and English was +fluently spoken in the family. They resided at Auteuil, not far from the +Abbé Moulet, who preserved an arm-chair with the inscription, _Benjamin +Franklin hic sedebat_, Paine was a guest of the Duchâtelets soon after +he got to work in the Convention, as I have just discovered by a letter +addressed "To Citizen Le Brun, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Paris." + +"Auteuil, Friday, the 4th December, 1792. I enclose an Irish newspaper +which has been sent me from Belfast. It contains the Address of the +Society of United Irishmen of Dublin (of which Society I am a member) +to the volunteers of Ireland. None of the English newspapers that I have +seen have ventured to republish this Address, and as there is no other +copy of it than this which I send you, I request you not to let it go +out of your possession. Before I received this newspaper I had drawn up +a statement of the affairs of Ireland, which I had communicated to my +friend General Duchâtelet at Auteuil, where I now am. I wish to confer +with you on that subject, but as I do not speak French, and as the +matter requires confidence, General Duchâtelet has desired me to say +that if you can make it convenient to dine with him and me at Auteuil, +he will with pleasure do the office of interpreter. I send this letter +by my servant, but as it may not be convenient to you to give an answer +directly, I have told him not to wait--Thomas Paine." + +It will be noticed that Paine now keeps his servant, and drives to the +Mayor's dinner in a hackney coach. A portrait painted in Paris about +this time, now owned by Mr. Alfred Howlett of Syracuse, N. Y., shows him +in elegant costume. + +It is mournful to reflect, even at this distance, that only a little +later both Paine and his friend General Duchâtelet were prisoners. The +latter poisoned himself in prison (1794). + +The illustrative notes and documents which it seems best to set before +the reader at the outset may here terminate. As in the previous volumes +the writings are, as a rule, given in chronological sequence, but an +exception is now made in respect of Paine's religious writings, some of +which antedate essays in the present volume. The religious writings +are reserved for the fourth and final volume, to which will be added +an Appendix containing Paine's poems, scientific fragments, and several +letters of general interest. + + + + +I. THE REPUBLICAN PROCLAMATION.(1) + +"Brethren and Fellow Citizens: + +"The serene tranquillity, the mutual confidence which prevailed amongst +us, during the time of the late King's escape, the indifference with +which we beheld him return, are unequivocal proofs that the absence of +a King is more desirable than his presence, and that he is not only a +political superfluity, but a grievous burden, pressing hard on the whole +nation. + +"Let us not be imposed on by sophisms; all that concerns this is reduced +to four points. + +"He has abdicated the throne in having fled from his post. Abdication +and desertion are not characterized by the length of absence; but by the +single act of flight. In the present instance, the act is everything, +and the time nothing. + +"The nation can never give back its confidence to a man who, false to +his trust, perjured to his oath, conspires a clandestine flight, obtains +a fraudulent passport, conceals a King of France under the disguise of +a valet, directs his course towards a frontier covered with traitors +and deserters, and evidently meditates a return into our country, with a +force capable of imposing his own despotic laws. + +"Should his flight be considered as his own act, or the act of those +who fled with him? Was it a spontaneous resolution of his own, or was +it inspired by others? The alternative is immaterial; whether fool or +hypocrite, idiot or traitor, he has proved himself equally unworthy of +the important functions that had been delegated to him. + + 1 See Introduction to this volume. This manifesto with which + Paris was found placarded on July 1, 1791, is described by + Dumont as a "Republican Proclamation," but what its literal + caption was I have not found.--_Editor_. + +"In every sense in which the question can be considered, the reciprocal +obligation which subsisted between us is dissolved. He holds no longer +any authority. We owe him no longer obedience. We see in him no more +than an indifferent person; we can regard him only as Louis Capet. + +"The history of France presents little else than a long series of public +calamity, which takes its source from the vices of Kings; we have been +the wretched victims that have never ceased to suffer either for them +or by them. The catalogue of their oppressions was complete, but to +complete the sum of their crimes, treason was yet wanting. Now the +only vacancy is filled up, the dreadful list is full; the system is +exhausted; there are no remaining errors for them to commit; their reign +is consequently at an end. + +"What kind of office must that be in a government which requires for its +execution neither experience nor ability, that may be abandoned to the +desperate chance of birth, that may be filled by an idiot, a madman, a +tyrant, with equal effect as by the good, the virtuous, and the wise? An +office of this nature is a mere nonentity; it is a place of show, not of +use. Let France then, arrived at the age of reason, no longer be deluded +by the sound of words, and let her deliberately examine, if a King, +however insignificant and contemptible in himself, may not at the same +time be extremely dangerous. + +"The thirty millions which it costs to support a King in the eclat of +stupid brutal luxury, presents us with an easy method of reducing taxes, +which reduction would at once relieve the people, and stop the progress +of political corruption. The grandeur of nations consists, not, as Kings +pretend, in the splendour of thrones, but in a conspicuous sense of +their own dignity, and in a just disdain of those barbarous follies and +crimes which, under the sanction of Royalty, have hitherto desolated +Europe. + +"As to the personal safety of Louis Capet, it is so much the more +confirmed, as France will not stoop to degrade herself by a spirit of +revenge against a wretch who has dishonoured himself. In defending +a just and glorious cause, it is not possible to degrade it, and the +universal tranquillity which prevails is an undeniable proof that a free +people know how to respect themselves." + + + + +II. TO THE AUTHORS OF "LE RÉPUBLICAIN."(1) + + +Gentlemen: + +M. Duchâtelet has mentioned to me the intention of some persons to +commence a work under the title of "The Republican." + +As I am a Citizen of a country which knows no other Majesty than that of +the People; no other Government than that of the Representative body; +no other sovereignty than that of the Laws, and which is attached to +_France_ both by alliance and by gratitude, I voluntarily offer you my +services in support of principles as honorable to a nation as they are +adapted to promote the happiness of mankind. I offer them to you with +the more zeal, as I know the moral, literary, and political character +of those who are engaged in the undertaking, and find myself honoured in +their good opinion. + +But I must at the same time observe, that from ignorance of the French +language, my works must necessarily undergo a translation; they can of +course be of but little utility, and my offering must consist more of +wishes than services. I must add, that I am obliged to pass a part of +this summer in England and Ireland. + +As the public has done me the unmerited favor of recognizing me under +the appellation of "Common Sense," which is my usual signature, I shall +continue it in this publication to avoid mistakes, and to prevent +my being supposed the author of works not my own. As to my political +principles, I shall endeavour, in this letter, to trace their general +features in such a manner, as that they cannot be misunderstood. + + 1 "Le Républicain; ou le Défenseur du gouvernement + Représentatif. Par une Société des Républicains. A Paris. + July, 1791." See Introduction to this volume.--_Editor_. + +It is desirable in most instances to avoid that which may give even the +least suspicion as to the part meant to be adopted, and particularly +on the present occasion, where a perfect clearness of expression is +necessary to the avoidance of any possible misinterpretation. I am +happy, therefore, to find, that the work in question is entitled "The +Republican." This word expresses perfectly the idea which we ought to +have of Government in general--_Res Publico_,--the public affairs of a +nation. + +As to the word _Monarchy_, though the address and intrigue of Courts +have rendered it familiar, it does not contain the less of reproach or +of insult to a nation. The word, in its immediate or original sense, +signifies _the absolute power of a single individual_, who may prove +a fool, an hypocrite, or a tyrant. The appellation admits of no other +interpretation than that which is here given. France is therefore not a +_Monarchy_; it is insulted when called by that name. The servile spirit +which characterizes this species of government is banished from France, +and this country, like AMERICA, can now afford to Monarchy no more than +a glance of disdain. + +Of the errors which monarchic ignorance or knavery has spread through +the world, the one which bears the marks of the most dexterous +invention, is the opinion that the system of _Republicanism_ is only +adapted to a small country, and that a _Monarchy_ is suited, on the +contrary, to those of greater extent. Such is the language of Courts, +and such the sentiments which they have caused to be adopted in +monarchic countries; but the opinion is contrary, at the same time, to +principle and to experience. + +The Government, to be of real use, should possess a complete knowledge +of all the parties, all the circumstances, and all the interests of a +nation. The monarchic system, in consequence, instead of being suited +to a country of great extent, would be more admissible in a small +territory, where an individual may be supposed to know the affairs and +the interests of the whole. But when it is attempted to extend this +individual knowledge to the affairs of a great country, the capacity of +knowing bears no longer any proportion to the extent or multiplicity of +the objects which ought to be known, and the government inevitably falls +from ignorance into tyranny. For the proof of this position we need only +look to Spain, Russia, Germany, Turkey, and the whole of the Eastern +Continent,--countries, for the deliverance of which I offer my most +sincere wishes. + +On the contrary, the true _Republican_ system, by Election and +Representation, offers the only means which are known, and, in my +opinion, the only means which are possible, of proportioning the wisdom +and the information of a Government to the extent of a country. + +The system of _Representation_ is the strongest and most powerful center +that can be devised for a nation. Its attraction acts so powerfully, +that men give it their approbation even without reasoning on the cause; +and France, however distant its several parts, finds itself at this +moment _an whole_, in its _central_ Representation. The citizen is +assured that his rights are protected, and the soldier feels that he +is no longer the slave of a Despot, but that he is become one of the +Nation, and interested of course in its defence. + +The states at present styled _Republican_, as Holland, Genoa, Venice, +Berne, &c. are not only unworthy the name, but are actually in +opposition to every principle of a _Republican_ government, and the +countries submitted to their power are, truly speaking, subject to an +_Aristocratic_ slavery! + +It is, perhaps, impossible, in the first steps which are made in a +Revolution, to avoid all kind of error, in principle or in practice, or +in some instances to prevent the combination of both. Before the sense +of a nation is sufficiently enlightened, and before men have entered +into the habits of a free communication with each other of their natural +thoughts, a certain reserve--a timid prudence seizes on the human mind, +and prevents it from obtaining its level with that vigor and promptitude +that belongs to _right_.--An example of this influence discovers +itself in the commencement of the present Revolution: but happily this +discovery has been made before the Constitution was completed, and in +time to provide a remedy. + +The _hereditary succession_ can never exist as a matter of _right_; it +is a _nullity_--a _nothing_. To admit the idea is to regard man as a +species of property belonging to some individuals, either born or to +be born! It is to consider our descendants, and all posterity, as mere +animals without a right or will! It is, in fine, the most base and +humiliating idea that ever degraded the human species, and which, for +the honor of Humanity, should be destroyed for ever. + +The idea of hereditary succession is so contrary to the rights of man, +that if we were ourselves to be recalled to existence, instead of being +replaced by our posterity, we should not have the right of depriving +ourselves beforehand of those _rights_ which would then properly belong +to us. On what ground, then, or by what authority, do we dare to deprive +of their rights those children who will soon be men? Why are we not +struck with the injustice which we perpetrate on our descendants, by +endeavouring to transmit them as a vile herd to masters whose vices are +all that can be foreseen. + +Whenever the _French_ constitution shall be rendered conformable to its +_Declaration of Rights_, we shall then be enabled to give to France, and +with justice, the appellation of a _civic Empire_; for its government +will be the empire of laws founded on the great republican principles +of _Elective Representation_, and the _Rights of Man_.--But Monarchy +and Hereditary Succession are incompatible with the _basis_ of its +constitution. + +I hope that I have at present sufficiently proved to you that I am +a good Republican; and I have such a confidence in the truth of the +principles, that I doubt not they will soon be as universal in _France_ +as in _America_. The pride of human nature will assist their evidence, +will contribute to their establishment, and men will be ashamed of +Monarchy. + +I am, with respect, Gentlemen, your friend, + +Thomas Paine. + +Paris, June, 1791. + + + + +III. TO THE ABBÉ SIÈYES.(1) + +Paris, 8th July, 1791. + +Sir, + +At the moment of my departure for England, I read, in the _Moniteur_ +of Tuesday last, your letter, in which you give the challenge, on +the subject of Government, and offer to defend what is called the +_Monarchical opinion_ against the Republican system. + +I accept of your challenge with pleasure; and I place such a confidence +in the superiority of the Republican system over that nullity of a +system, called _Monarchy_, that I engage not to exceed the extent of +fifty pages, and to leave you the liberty of taking as much latitude as +you may think proper. + +The respect which I bear your moral and literary reputation, will be +your security for my candour in the course of this discussion; but, +notwithstanding that I shall treat the subject seriously and sincerely, +let me promise, that I consider myself at liberty to ridicule, as they +deserve, Monarchical absurdities, whensoever the occasion shall present +itself. + +By Republicanism, I do not understand what the name signifies in +Holland, and in some parts of Italy. I understand simply a government +by representation--a government founded upon the principles of the +Declaration of Rights; principles to which several parts of the French +Constitution arise in contradiction. The Declaration of Rights of France +and America are but one and the same thing in principles, and almost in +expressions; and this is the Republicanism which I undertake to defend +against what is called _Monarchy_ and _Aristocracy_. + + 1 Written to the _Moniteur_ in reply to a letter of the Abbé + (July 8) elicited by Paine's letter to "Le Républicain" + (II.). The Abbé now declining a controversy, Paine dealt + with his views in "Rights of Man," Part IL, ch. 3.-- + _Editor_. + +I see with pleasure that in respect to one point we are already agreed; +and _that is, the extreme danger of a civil list of thirty millions_. I +can discover no reason why one of the parts of the government should +be supported with so extravagant a profusion, whilst the other scarcely +receives what is sufficient for its common wants. + +This dangerous and dishonourable disproportion at once supplies the one +with the means of corrupting, and throws the other into the predicament +of being corrupted. In America there is but little difference, with +regard to this point, between the legislative and the executive part of +our government; but the first is much better attended to than it is in +France. + +In whatsoever manner, Sir, I may treat the subject of which you +have proposed the investigation, I hope that you will not doubt my +entertaining for you the highest esteem. I must also add, that I am not +the personal enemy of Kings. Quite the contrary. No man more heartily +wishes than myself to see them all in the happy and honourable state of +private individuals; but I am the avowed, open, and intrepid enemy of +what is called Monarchy; and I am such by principles which nothing can +either alter or corrupt--by my attachment to humanity; by the anxiety +which I feel within myself, for the dignity and the honour of the human +race; by the disgust which I experience, when I observe men directed by +children, and governed by brutes; by the horror which all the evils that +Monarchy has spread over the earth excite within my breast; and by those +sentiments which make me shudder at the calamities, the exactions, the +wars, and the massacres with which Monarchy has crushed mankind: in +short, it is against all the hell of monarchy that I have declared war. + +Thomas Paine.(1) + + 1 To the sixth paragraph of the above letter is appended a + footnote: "A deputy to the congress receives about a guinea + and a half daily: and provisions are cheaper in America + than in France." The American Declaration of Rights referred + to unless the Declaration of Independence, was no doubt, + especially that of Pennsylvania, which Paine helped to + frame.--Editor. + + + + +IV. TO THE ATTORNEY GENERAL. + + +[Undated, but probably late in May, 1793.] + + +Sir, + +Though I have some reason for believing that you were not the original +promoter or encourager of the prosecution commenced against the work +entitled "Rights of Man" either as that prosecution is intended to +affect the author, the publisher, or the public; yet as you appear +the official person therein, I address this letter to you, not as Sir +Archibald Macdonald, but as Attorney General. + +You began by a prosecution against the publisher Jordan, and the reason +assigned by Mr. Secretary Dundas, in the House of Commons, in the debate +on the Proclamation, May 25, for taking that measure, was, he said, +because Mr. Paine could not be found, or words to that effect. Mr. +Paine, sir, so far from secreting himself, never went a step out of his +way, nor in the least instance varied from his usual conduct, to avoid +any measure you might choose to adopt with respect to him. It is on the +purity of his heart, and the universal utility of the principles and +plans which his writings contain, that he rests the issue; and he will +not dishonour it by any kind of subterfuge. The apartments which he +occupied at the time of writing the work last winter, he has continued +to occupy to the present hour, and the solicitors of the prosecution +knew where to find him; of which there is a proof in their own office, +as far back as the 21st of May, and also in the office of my own +Attorney.(1) + + 1 Paine was residing at the house of one of his publishers, + Thomas Rickman, 7 Upper Marylebone Street, London. His + Attorney was the Hon. Thomas Erskine.--_Editor_. + +But admitting, for the sake of the case, that the reason for proceeding +against the publisher was, as Mr. Dundas stated, that Mr. Paine could +not be found, that reason can now exist no longer. + +The instant that I was informed that an information was preparing to be +filed against me, as the author of, I believe, one of the most useful +and benevolent books ever offered to mankind, I directed my Attorney +to put in an appearance; and as I shall meet the prosecution fully and +fairly, and with a good and upright conscience, I have a right to +expect that no act of littleness will be made use of on the part of the +prosecution towards influencing the future issue with respect to the +author. This expression may, perhaps, appear obscure to you, but I am +in the possession of some matters which serve to shew that the action +against the publisher is not intended to be a _real_ action. If, +therefore, any persons concerned in the prosecution have found their +cause so weak, as to make it appear convenient to them to enter into +a negociation with the publisher, whether for the purpose of his +submitting to a verdict, and to make use of the verdict so obtained as a +circumstance, by way of precedent, on a future trial against myself; +or for any other purpose not fully made known to me; if, I say, I have +cause to suspect this to be the case, I shall most certainly withdraw +the defence I should otherwise have made, or promoted on his (the +publisher's) behalf, and leave the negociators to themselves, and shall +reserve the whole of the defence for the _real_ trial.(1) + +But, sir, for the purpose of conducting this matter with at least the +appearance of fairness and openness, that shall justify itself before +the public, whose cause it really is, (for it is the right of public +discussion and investigation that is questioned,) I have to propose to +you to cease the prosecution against the publisher; and as the reason +or pretext can no longer exist for continuing it against him because +Mr. Paine could not be found, that you would direct the whole process +against me, with whom the prosecuting party will not find it possible to +enter into any private negociation. + + 1 A detailed account of the proceedings with regard to the + publisher will be found infra, in ix., Letter to the + Addressers.--_Editor_. + +I will do the cause full justice, as well for the sake of the nation, as +for my own reputation. + +Another reason for discontinuing the process against the publisher is, +because it can amount to nothing. First, because a jury in London cannot +decide upon the fact of publishing beyond the limits of the jurisdiction +of London, and therefore the work may be republished over and over +again in every county in the nation, and every case must have a separate +process; and by the time that three or four hundred prosecutions have +been had, the eyes of the nation will then be fully open to see that the +work in question contains a plan the best calculated to root out all the +abuses of government, and to lessen the taxes of the nation upwards of +_six millions annually_. + +Secondly, Because though the gentlemen of London may be very expert in +understanding their particular professions and occupations, and how +to make business contracts with government beneficial to themselves as +individuals, the rest of the nation may not be disposed to consider them +sufficiently qualified nor authorized to determine for the whole Nation +on plans of reform, and on systems and principles of Government. This +would be in effect to erect a jury into a National Convention, instead +of electing a Convention, and to lay a precedent for the probable +tyranny of juries, under the pretence of supporting their rights. + +That the possibility always exists of packing juries will not be denied; +and, therefore, in all cases, where Government is the prosecutor, +more especially in those where the right of public discussion and +investigation of principles and systems of Government is attempted to be +suppressed by a verdict, or in those where the object of the work that +is prosecuted is the reform of abuse and the abolition of sinecure +places and pensions, in all these cases the verdict of a jury will +itself become a subject of discussion; and therefore, it furnishes +an additional reason for discontinuing the prosecution against the +publisher, more especially as it is not a secret that there has been a +negociation with him for secret purposes, and for proceeding against +me only. I shall make a much stronger defence than what I believe the +Treasury Solicitor's agreement with him will permit him to do. + +I believe that Mr. Burke, finding himself defeated, and not being able +to make any answer to the _Rights of Man_, has been one of the promoters +of this prosecution; and I shall return the compliment to him by +shewing, in a future publication, that he has been a masked pensioner at +1500L. per annum for about ten years. + +Thus it is that the public money is wasted, and the dread of public +investigation is produced. + +I am, sir, Your obedient humble servant, + +Thomas Paine.(1) + + 1 Paine's case was set down for June 8th, and on that day he + appeared in court; but, much to his disappointment, the + trial was adjourned to December 18th, at which time he was + in his place in the National Convention at Paris.--_Editor_. + + + + +V. TO MR. SECRETARY DUNDAS.(1) + + +London, June 6, 1793. + +Sir, + +As you opened the debate in the House of Commons, May 25th, on the +proclamation for suppressing publications, which that proclamation +(without naming any) calls wicked and seditious: and as you applied +those opprobious epithets to the works entitled "RIGHTS OF MAN," I think +it unnecessary to offer any other reason for addressing this letter to +you. + +I begin, then, at once, by declaring, that I do not believe there are +found in the writings of any author, ancient or modern, on the subject +of government, a spirit of greater benignity, and a stronger inculcation +of moral principles than in those which I have published. They come, +Sir, from a man, who, by having lived in different countries, and +under different systems of government, and who, being intimate in +the construction of them, is a better judge of the subject than it is +possible that you, from the want of those opportunities, can be:--And +besides this, they come from a heart that knows not how to beguile. + +I will farther say, that when that moment arrives in which the best +consolation that shall be left will be looking back on some past +actions, more virtuous and more meritorious than the rest, I shall then +with happiness remember, among other things, I have written the RIGHTS +OF MAN.---As to what proclamations, or prosecutions, or place-men, +and place-expectants,--those who possess, or those who are gaping for +office,--may say of them, it will not alter their character, either with +the world or with me. + + 1 Henry D. (afterwards Viscount Melville), appointed + Secretary for the Home Department, 1791. In 1805 he was + impeached by the Commons for "gross malversation" while + Treasurer of the Navy; he was acquitted by the Lords + (1806), but not by public sentiment or by history.-- + _Editor_. + +Having, Sir, made this declaration, I shall proceed to remark, not +particularly on your speech on that occasion, but on any one to which +your motion on that day gave rise; and I shall begin with that of Mr. +Adam. + +This Gentleman accuses me of not having done the very thing that _I have +done_, and which, he says, if I _had_ done, he should not have accused +me. + +Mr. Adam, in his speech, (see the Morning Chronicle of May 26,) says, + +"That he had well considered the subject of Constitutional Publications, +and was by no means ready to say (but the contrary) that books of +science upon government though recommending a doctrine or system +different from the form of our constitution (meaning that of England) +were fit objects of prosecution; that if he did, he must condemn +Harrington for his Oceana, Sir Thomas More for his Eutopia, and Hume +for his Idea of a perfect Commonwealth. But (continued Mr. Adam) the +publication of Mr. Paine was very different; for it reviled what +was most sacred in the constitution, destroyed every principle of +subordination, and _established nothing in their room_." + +I readily perceive that Mr. Adam has not read the Second Part of _Rights +of Man_, and I am put under the necessity, either of submitting to an +erroneous charge, or of justifying myself against it; and certainly +shall prefer the latter.--If, then, I shall prove to Mr. Adam, that in +my reasoning upon systems of government, in the Second Part of _Rights +of Man_, I have shown as clearly, I think, as words can convey ideas, a +certain system of government, and that not existing in theory only, +but already in full and established practice, and systematically +and practically free from all the vices and defects of the English +government, and capable of producing more happiness to the people, and +that also with an eightieth part of the taxes, which the present English +system of government consumes; I hope he will do me the justice, when +he next goes to the House, to get up and confess he had been mistaken in +saying, that I had _established nothing, and that I had destroyed every +principle of subordination_. Having thus opened the case, I now come to +the point. + +In the Second Part of the Rights of Man, I have distinguished government +into two classes or systems: the one the hereditary system, the other +the representative system. + +In the First Part of _Rights of Man_, I have endeavoured to shew, and +I challenge any man to refute it, that there does not exist a right +to establish hereditary government; or, in other words, hereditary +governors; because hereditary government always means a government +yet to come, and the case always is, that the people who are to live +afterwards, have always the same right to choose a government for +themselves, as the people had who lived before them. + +In the Second Part of _Rights of Man_, I have not repeated those +arguments, because they are irrefutable; but have confined myself to +shew the defects of what is called hereditary government, or hereditary +succession, that it must, from the nature of it, throw government into +the hands of men totally unworthy of it, from want of principle, or +unfitted for it from want of capacity.--James the IId. is recorded as +an instance of the first of these cases; and instances are to be found +almost all over Europe to prove the truth of the latter. + +To shew the absurdity of the Hereditary System still more strongly, I +will now put the following case:--Take any fifty men promiscuously, and +it will be very extraordinary, if, out of that number, one man should be +found, whose principles and talents taken together (for some might have +principles, and others might have talents) would render him a person +truly fitted to fill any very extraordinary office of National Trust. +If then such a fitness of character could not be expected to be found +in more than one person out of fifty, it would happen but once in a +thousand years to the eldest son of any one family, admitting each, on +an average, to hold the office twenty years. Mr. Adam talks of something +in the Constitution which he calls _most sacred_; but I hope he does not +mean hereditary succession, a thing which appears to me a violation of +every order of nature, and of common sense. + +When I look into history and see the multitudes of men, otherwise +virtuous, who have died, and their families been ruined, in the defence +of knaves and fools, and which they would not have done, had they +reasoned at all upon the system; I do not know a greater good that an +individual can render to mankind, than to endeavour to break the chains +of political superstition. Those chains are now dissolving fast, +and proclamations and persecutions will serve but to hasten that +dissolution. + +Having thus spoken of the Hereditary System as a bad System, and subject +to every possible defect, I now come to the Representative System, and +this Mr. Adam will find stated in the Second Part of Rights of Man, not +only as the best, but as the only _Theory_ of Government under which the +liberties of the people can be permanently secure. + +But it is needless now to talk of mere theory, since there is already a +government in full practice, established upon that theory; or in other +words, upon the Rights of Man, and has been so for almost twenty years. +Mr. Pitt, in a speech of his some short time since, said, "That there +never did, and never could exist a Government established upon those +Rights, and that if it began at noon, it would end at night." Mr. Pitt +has not yet arrived at the degree of a school-boy in this species of +knowledge; his practice has been confined to the means of _extorting +revenue_, and his boast has been--_how much!_ Whereas the boast of the +system of government that I am speaking of, is not how much, but how +little. + +The system of government purely representative, unmixed with any thing +of hereditary nonsense, began in America. I will now compare the effects +of that system of government with the system of government in England, +both during, and since the close of the war. + +So powerful is the Representative system, first, by combining and +consolidating all the parts of a country together, however great the +extent; and, secondly, by admitting of none but men properly qualified +into the government, or dismissing them if they prove to be otherwise, +that America was enabled thereby totally to defeat and overthrow all +the schemes and projects of the hereditary government of England against +her. As the establishment of the Revolution and Independence of America +is a proof of this fact, it is needless to enlarge upon it. + +I now come to the comparative effect of the two systems _since_ the +close of the war, and I request Mr. Adam to attend to it. + +America had internally sustained the ravages of upwards of seven years +of war, which England had not. England sustained only the expence of the +war; whereas America sustained not only the expence, but the destruction +of property committed by _both_ armies. Not a house was built +during that period, and many thousands were destroyed. The farms and +plantations along the coast of the country, for more than a thousand +miles, were laid waste. Her commerce was annihilated. Her ships were +either taken, or had rotted within her own harbours. The credit of +her funds had fallen upwards of ninety per cent., that is, an original +hundred pounds would not sell for ten pounds. In fine, she was +apparently put back an hundred years when the war closed, which was not +the case with England. + +But such was the event, that the same representative system of +government, though since better organized, which enabled her to conquer, +enabled her also to recover, and she now presents a more flourishing +condition, and a more happy and harmonized society, under that system of +government, than any country in the world can boast under any other. Her +towns are rebuilt, much better than before; her farms and plantations +are in higher improvement than ever; her commerce is spread over the +world, and her funds have risen from less than ten pounds the hundred to +upwards of one hundred and twenty. Mr. Pitt and his colleagues talk +of the things that have happened in his boyish administration, without +knowing what greater things have happened elsewhere, and under other +systems of government. + +I now come to state the expence of the two systems, as they now stand +in each of the countries; but it may first be proper to observe, that +government in America is what it ought to be, a matter of honour and +trust, and not made a trade of for the purpose of lucre. + +The whole amount of the nett(sic) taxes in England (exclusive of the +expence of collection, of drawbacks, of seizures and condemnation, of +fines and penalties, of fees of office, of litigations and informers, +which are some of the blessed means of enforcing them) is seventeen +millions. Of this sum, about nine millions go for the payment of the +interest of the national debt, and the remainder, being about eight +millions, is for the current annual expences. This much for one side of +the case. I now come to the other. + +The expence of the several departments of the general Representative +Government of the United States of America, extending over a space +of country nearly ten times larger than England, is two hundred and +ninety-four thousand, five hundred and fifty-eight dollars, which, at +4s. 6d. per dollar, is 66,305L. 11s. sterling, and is thus apportioned; + +[Illustration: table046] + +On account of the incursions of the Indians on the back settlements, +Congress is at this time obliged to keep six thousand militia in pay, in +addition to a regiment of foot, and a battalion of artillery, which it +always keeps; and this increases the expence of the War Department to +390,000 dollars, which is 87,795L. sterling, but when peace shall be +concluded with the Indians, the greatest part of this expence will +cease, and the total amount of the expence of government, including that +of the army, will not amount to 100,000L. sterling, which, as has been +already stated, is but an eightieth part of the expences of the English +government. + +I request Mr. Adam and Mr. Dundas, and all those who are talking of +Constitutions, and blessings, and Kings, and Lords, and the Lord +knows what, to look at this statement. Here is a form and system of +government, that is better organized and better administered than any +government in the world, and that for less than one hundred thousand +pounds per annum, and yet every Member of Congress receives, as a +compensation for his time and attendance on public business, one pound +seven shillings per day, which is at the rate of nearly five hundred +pounds a year. + +This is a government that has nothing to fear. It needs no proclamations +to deter people from writing and reading. It needs no political +superstition to support it; it was by encouraging discussion and +rendering the press free upon all subjects of government, that the +principles of government became understood in America, and the people +are now enjoying the present blessings under it. You hear of no riots, +tumults, and disorders in that country; because there exists no cause +to produce them. Those things are never the effect of Freedom, but of +restraint, oppression, and excessive taxation. + +In America, there is not that class of poor and wretched people that +are so numerously dispersed all over England, who are to be told by a +proclamation, that they are happy; and this is in a great measure to +be accounted for, not by the difference of proclamations, but by the +difference of governments and the difference of taxes between that +country and this. What the labouring people of that country earn, they +apply to their own use, and to the education of their children, and +do not pay it away in taxes as fast as they earn it, to support Court +extravagance, and a long enormous list of place-men and pensioners; +and besides this, they have learned the manly doctrine of reverencing +themselves, and consequently of respecting each other; and they laugh +at those imaginary beings called Kings and Lords, and all the fraudulent +trumpery of Court. + +When place-men and pensioners, or those who expect to be such, are +lavish in praise of a government, it is not a sign of its being a good +one. The pension list alone in England (see sir John Sinclair's History +of the Revenue, p. 6, of the Appendix) is one hundred and seven thousand +four hundred and four pounds, _which is more than the expences of the +whole Government of America amount to_. And I am now more convinced than +before, that the offer that was made to me of a thousand pounds for the +copy-right of the second part of the Rights of Man, together with the +remaining copyright of the first part, was to have effected, by a quick +suppression, what is now attempted to be done by a prosecution. The +connection which the person, who made the offer, has with the King's +printing-office, may furnish part of the means of inquiring into this +affair, when the ministry shall please to bring their prosecution to +issue.(1) But to return to my subject.-- + +I have said in the second part of the _Rights of Man_, and I repeat +it here, that the service of any man, whether called King, President, +Senator, Legislator, or any thing else, cannot be worth more to any +country, in the regular routine of office, than ten thousand pounds per +annum. We have a better man in America, and more of a gentleman, than +any King I ever knew of, who does not occasion half that ex-pence; for, +though the salary is fixed at £5625 he does not accept it, and it is +only the incidental expences that are paid out of it.(2) The name by +which a man is called is of itself but an empty thing. It is worth and +character alone which can render him valuable, for without these, Kings, +and Lords, and Presidents, are but jingling names. + +But without troubling myself about Constitutions of Government, I have +shewn in the Second Part of _Rights of Man_, that an alliance may be +formed between England, France, and America, and that the expences of +government in England may be put back to one million and a half, viz.: + + Civil expence of Government...... 500,000L. + Army............................. 500,000 + Navy............................. 500,000 + ---------- + 1,500,000L. + +And even this sum is fifteen times greater than the expences of +government are in America; and it is also greater than the whole peace +establishment of England amounted to about an hundred years ago. So much +has the weight and oppression of taxes increased since the Revolution, +and especially since the year 1714. + + 1 At Paine's trial, Chapman, the printer, in answer to fa + question of the Solicitor General, said: "I made him three + separate offers in the different stages of the work; the + first, I believe, was a hundred guineas, the second five + hundred, and the last was a thousand."--_Editor_. + + 2 Error. See also ante, and in vol. ii., p. 435. + Washington had retracted his original announcement, and + received his salary regularly.--_Editor_. + +To shew that the sum of 500,000L. is sufficient to defray all civil +expences of government, I have, in that work, annexed the following +estimate for any country of the same extent as England.-- + +In the first place, three hundred Representatives, fairly elected, are +sufficient for all the purposes to which Legislation can apply, and +preferable to a larger number. + +If, then, an allowance, at the rate of 500L. per annum be made to every +Representative, deducting for non-attendance, the expence, if the whole +number attended six months each year, would be.......75,000L. + +The Official Departments could not possibly exceed the following number, +with the salaries annexed, viz.: + + + +[ILLUSTRATION: Table] + +Three offices at + 10,000L. + each + 30,000 + +Ten ditto at + 5,000 + u + 50,000 + +Twenty ditto at + 2,000 + u + 40,000 + +Forty ditto at + 1,000 + it + 40,000 + +Two hundred ditto at + 500 + u + 100,000 + +Three hundred ditto at 200 + u + 60,000 + +Five hundred ditto at + 100 + u + 50,000 + +Seven hundred ditto at 75 + it + 52,500 + +497,500L. + + +If a nation chose, it might deduct four per cent, from all the offices, +and make one of twenty thousand pounds per annum, and style the person +who should fill it, King or Madjesty, (1) or give him any other title. + +Taking, however, this sum of one million and a half, as an abundant +supply for all the expences of government under any form whatever, +there will remain a surplus of nearly six millions and a half out of +the present taxes, after paying the interest of the national debt; and +I have shewn in the Second Part of _Rights of Man_, what appears to me, +the best mode of applying the surplus money; for I am now speaking of +expences and savings, and not of systems of government. + + 1 A friend of Paine advised him against this pun, as too + personal an allusion to George the Third, to whom however + much has been forgiven on account of his mental infirmity. + Yorke, in his account of his visit to Paine, 1802, alludes + to his (Paine's) anecdotes "of humor and benevolence" + concerning George III.--_Editor_. + +I have, in the first place, estimated the poor-rates at two millions +annually, and shewn that the first effectual step would be to abolish +the poor-rates entirely (which would be a saving of two millions to the +house-keepers,) and to remit four millions out of the surplus taxes to +the poor, to be paid to them in money, in proportion to the number of +children in each family, and the number of aged persons. + +I have estimated the number of persons of both sexes in England, of +fifty years of age and upwards, at 420,000, and have taken one third of +this number, viz. 140,000, to be poor people. + +To save long calculations, I have taken 70,000 of them to be upwards of +fifty years of age, and under sixty, and the others to be sixty years +and upwards; and to allow six pounds per annum to the former class, and +ten pounds per annum to the latter. The expence of which will be, + + Seventy thousand persons at 6L. per annum..... 420,000L. + Seventy thousand persons at 10L. per annum.... 700,000 + ----------- + 1,120,000L. + +There will then remain of the four millions, 2,880,000L. I have stated +two different methods of appropriating this money. The one is to pay it +in proportion to the number of children in each family, at the rate of +three or four pounds per annum for each child; the other is to apportion +it according to the expence of living in different counties; but in +either of these cases it would, together with the allowance to be +made to the aged, completely take off taxes from one third of all the +families in England, besides relieving all the other families from the +burthen of poor-rates. + +The whole number of families in England, allotting five souls to each +family, is one million four hundred thousand, of which I take one third, +_viz_. 466,666 to be poor families who now pay four millions of taxes, +and that the poorest pays at least four guineas a year; and that the +other thirteen millions are paid by the other two-thirds. The plan, +therefore, as stated in the work, is, first, to remit or repay, as is +already stated, this sum of four millions to the poor, because it is +impossible to separate them from the others in the present mode of +collecting taxes on articles of consumption; and, secondly, to abolish +the poor-rates, the house and window-light tax, and to change the +commutation tax into a progressive tax on large estates, the particulars +of all which are set forth in the work, to which I desire Mr. Adam to +refer for particulars. I shall here content myself with saying, that to +a town of the population of Manchester, it will make a difference in its +favour, compared with the present state of things, of upwards of fifty +thousand pounds annually, and so in proportion to all other places +throughout the nation. This certainly is of more consequence than that +the same sums should be collected to be afterwards spent by riotous +and profligate courtiers, and in nightly revels at the Star and Garter +tavern, Pall Mall. + +I will conclude this part of my letter with an extract from the Second +Part of the _Rights of Man_, which Mr. Dundas (a man rolling in luxury +at the expence of the nation) has branded with the epithet of "wicked." + +"By the operation of this plan, the poor laws, those instruments +of civil torture, will be superseded, and the wasteful ex-pence of +litigation prevented. The hearts of the humane will not be shocked by +ragged and hungry children, and persons of seventy and eighty years of +age begging for bread. The dying poor will not be dragged from place to +place to breathe their last, as a reprisal of parish upon parish. Widows +will have a maintenance for their children, and not be carted away, on +the death of their husbands, like culprits and criminals; and children +will no longer be considered as increasing the distresses of their +parents. The haunts of the wretched will be known, because it will be +to their advantage; and the number of petty crimes, the offspring of +poverty and distress, will be lessened. The poor as well as the rich +will then be interested in the support of Government, and the cause and +apprehension of riots and tumults will cease. Ye who sit in ease, and +solace yourselves in plenty, and such there are in Turkey and Russia, +as well as in England, and who say to yourselves, _are we not well off_ +have ye thought of these things? When ye do, ye will cease to speak and +feel for yourselves alone." + +After this remission of four millions be made, and the poor-rates +and houses and window-light tax be abolished, and the commutation +tax changed, there will still remain nearly one million and a half +of surplus taxes; and as by an alliance between England, France and +America, armies and navies will, in a great measure, be rendered +unnecessary; and as men who have either been brought up in, or long +habited to, those lines of life, are still citizens of a nation in +common with the rest, and have a right to participate in all plans of +national benefit, it is stated in that work (_Rights of Man_, Part ii.) +to apply annually 507,000L. out of the surplus taxes to this purpose, in +the following manner: + +[Illustration: table 053] + +The limits to which it is proper to confine this letter, will not admit +of my entering into further particulars. I address it to Mr. Dundas +because he took the lead in the debate, and he wishes, I suppose, to +appear conspicuous; but the purport of it is to justify myself from the +charge which Mr. Adam has made. + +This Gentleman, as has been observed in the beginning of this letter, +considers the writings of Harrington, More and Hume, as justifiable and +legal publications, because they reasoned by comparison, though in so +doing they shewed plans and systems of government, not only different +from, but preferable to, that of England; and he accuses me of +endeavouring to confuse, instead of producing a system in the room of +that which I had reasoned against; whereas, the fact is, that I have +not only reasoned by comparison of the representative system against +the hereditary system, but I have gone further; for I have produced +an instance of a government established entirely on the representative +system, under which greater happiness is enjoyed, much fewer taxes +required, and much higher credit is established, than under the system +of government in England. The funds in England have risen since the war +only from 54L. to 97L. and they have been down since the proclamation, +to 87L. whereas the funds in America rose in the mean time from 10L. to +120L. + +His charge against me of "destroying every principle of subordination," +is equally as groundless; which even a single paragraph from the work +will prove, and which I shall here quote: + +"Formerly when divisions arose respecting Governments, recourse was had +to the sword, and a civil war ensued. That savage custom is exploded +by the new system, and _recourse is had to a national convention_. +Discussion, and the general will, arbitrates the question, and to +this private opinion yields with a good grace, and _order is preserved +uninterrupted_." + +That two different charges should be brought at the same time, the one +by a Member of the Legislative, for _not_ doing a certain thing, and +the other by the Attorney General for _doing_ it, is a strange jumble of +contradictions. I have now justified myself, or the work rather, against +the first, by stating the case in this letter, and the justification of +the other will be undertaken in its proper place. But in any case the +work will go on. + +I shall now conclude this letter with saying, that the only objection +I found against the plan and principles contained in the Second Part +of _Rights of Man_, when I had written the book, was, that they would +beneficially interest at least ninety-nine persons out of every hundred +throughout the nation, and therefore would not leave sufficient room for +men to act from the direct and disinterested principles of honour; but +the prosecution now commenced has fortunately removed that objection, +and the approvers and protectors of that work now feel the immediate +impulse of honour added to that of national interest. + +I am, Mr. Dundas, + +Not your obedient humble Servant, + +But the contrary, + +Thomas Paine. + + + + +VI. LETTERS TO ONSLOW CRANLEY, + +Lord Lieutenant of the county of Surry; on the subject of the late +excellent proclamation:--or the chairman who shall preside at the +meeting to be held at Epsom, June 18. + + +FIRST LETTER. + +London, June 17th, 1792. + +SIR, + +I have seen in the public newspapers the following advertisement, to +wit-- + +"To the Nobility, Gentry, Clergy, Freeholders, and other Inhabitants of +the county of Surry. + +"At the requisition and desire of several of the freeholders of the +county, I am, in the absence of the Sheriff, to desire the favour of +your attendance, at a meeting to be held at Epsom, on Monday, the 18th +instant, at 12 o'clock at noon, to consider of an humble address to his +majesty, to express our grateful approbation of his majesty's paternal, +and well-timed attendance to the public welfare, in his late most +gracious Proclamation against the enemies of our happy Constitution. + +"(Signed.) Onslow Cranley." + + +Taking it for granted, that the aforesaid advertisement, equally as +obscure as the proclamation to which it refers, has nevertheless some +meaning, and is intended to effect some purpose; and as a prosecution +(whether wisely or unwisely, justly or unjustly) is already commenced +against a work intitled RIGHTS OF MAN, of which I have the honour and +happiness to be the author; I feel it necessary to address this letter +to you, and to request that it may be read publicly to the gentlemen who +shall meet at Epsom in consequence of the advertisement. + +The work now under prosecution is, I conceive, the same work which is +intended to be suppressed by the aforesaid proclamation. Admitting this +to be the case, the gentlemen of the county of Surry are called upon by +somebody to condemn a work, and they are at the same time forbidden by +the proclamation to know what that work is; and they are further called +upon to give their aid and assistance to prevent other people from +knowing it also. It is therefore necessary that the author, for his own +justification, as well as to prevent the gentlemen who shall meet from +being imposed upon by misrepresentation, should give some outlines of +the principles and plans which that work contains. + +The work, Sir, in question, contains, first, an investigation of general +principles of government. + +It also distinguishes government into two classes or systems, the one +the hereditary system; the other the representative system; and it +compares these two systems with each other. + +It shews that what is called hereditary government cannot exist as a +matter of right; because hereditary government always means a government +yet to come; and the case always is, that those who are to live +afterwards have always the same right to establish a government for +themselves as the people who had lived before them. + +It also shews the defect to which hereditary government is unavoidably +subject: that it must, from the nature of it, throw government into +the hands of men totally unworthy of it from the want of principle, and +unfitted for it from want of capacity. James II. and many others are +recorded in the English history as proofs of the former of those cases, +and instances are to be found all over Europe to prove the truth of the +latter. + +It then shews that the representative system is the only true system of +government; that it is also the only system under which the liberties of +any people can be permanently secure; and, further, that it is the +only one that can continue the same equal probability at all times of +admitting of none but men properly qualified, both by principles and +abilities, into government, and of excluding such as are otherwise. + +The work shews also, by plans and calculations not hitherto denied nor +controverted, not even by the prosecution that is commenced, that the +taxes now existing may be reduced at least six millions, that taxes may +be entirely taken off from the poor, who are computed at one third of +the nation; and that taxes on the other two thirds may be considerably +reduced; that the aged poor may be comfortably provided for, and the +children of poor families properly educated; that fifteen thousand +soldiers, and the same number of sailors, may be allowed three +shillings per week during life out of the surplus taxes; and also that a +proportionate allowance may be made to the officers, and the pay of the +remaining soldiers and sailors be raised; and that it is better to apply +the surplus taxes to those purposes, than to consume them on lazy and +profligate placemen and pensioners; and that the revenue, said to be +twenty thousand pounds per annum, raised by a tax upon coals, and given +to the Duke of Richmond, is a gross imposition upon all the people of +London, and ought to be instantly abolished. + +This, Sir, is a concise abstract of the principles and plans contained +in the work that is now prosecuted, and for the suppression of which the +proclamation appears to be intended; but as it is impossible that I can, +in the compass of a letter, bring into view all the matters contained +in the work, and as it is proper that the gentlemen who may compose that +meeting should know what the merits or demerits of it are, before they +come to any resolutions, either directly or indirectly relating thereto, +I request the honour of presenting them with one hundred copies of the +second part of the Rights of Man, and also one thousand copies of my +letter to Mr. Dundas, which I have directed to be sent to Epsom for that +purpose; and I beg the favour of the Chairman to take the trouble of +presenting them to the gentlemen who shall meet on that occasion, with +my sincere wishes for their happiness, and for that of the nation in +general. + +Having now closed thus much of the subject of my letter, I next come +to speak of what has relation to me personally. I am well aware of the +delicacy that attends it, but the purpose of calling the meeting appears +to me so inconsistent with that justice that is always due between man +and man, that it is proper I should (as well on account of the gentlemen +who may meet, as on my own account) explain myself fully and candidly +thereon. + +I have already informed the gentlemen, that a prosecution is commenced +against a work of which I have the honour and happiness to be the +author; and I have good reasons for believing that the proclamation +which the gentlemen are called to consider, and to present an address +upon, is purposely calculated to give an impression to the jury before +whom that matter is to come. In short, that it is dictating a verdict by +proclamation; and I consider the instigators of the meeting to be held +at Epsom, as aiding and abetting the same improper, and, in my opinion, +illegal purpose, and that in a manner very artfully contrived, as I +shall now shew. + +Had a meeting been called of the Freeholders of the county of Middlesex, +the gentlemen who had composed that meeting would have rendered +themselves objectionable as persons to serve on a Jury, before whom the +judicial case was afterwards to come. But by calling a meeting out +of the county of Middlesex, that matter is artfully avoided, and the +gentlemen of Surry are summoned, as if it were intended thereby to give +a tone to the sort of verdict which the instigators of the meeting no +doubt wish should be brought in, and to give countenance to the Jury in +so doing. I am, sir, + +With much respect to the + +Gentlemen who shall meet, Their and your obedient and humble Servant, + +Thomas Paine. + + +TO ONSLOW CRANLEY, + +COMMONLY CALLED LORD ONSLOW. + +SECOND LETTER. SIR, + +London, June 21st 1792. + +WHEN I wrote you the letter which Mr. Home Tooke did me the favour to +present to you, as chairman of the meeting held at Epsom, Monday, June +18, it was not with much expectation that you would do me the justice of +permitting, or recommending it to be publicly read. I am well aware that +the signature of Thomas Paine has something in it dreadful to sinecure +Placemen and Pensioners; and when you, on seeing the letter opened, +informed the meeting that it was signed Thomas Paine, and added in a +note of exclamation, "the common enemy of us all." you spoke one of the +greatest truths you ever uttered, if you confine the expression to +men of the same description with yourself; men living in indolence and +luxury, on the spoil and labours of the public. + +The letter has since appeared in the "Argus," and probably in other +papers.(1) It will justify itself; but if any thing on that account +hath been wanting, your conduct at the meeting would have supplied +the omission. You there sufficiently proved that I was not mistaken in +supposing that the meeting was called to give an indirect aid to the +prosecution commenced against a work, the reputation of which will long +outlive the memory of the Pensioner I am writing to. + +When meetings, Sir, are called by the partisans of the Court, to +preclude the nation the right of investigating systems and principles +of government, and of exposing errors and defects, under the pretence +of prosecuting an individual--it furnishes an additional motive for +maintaining sacred that violated right. + +The principles and arguments contained in the work in question, _Rights +OF Man_, have stood, and they now stand, and I believe ever will stand, +unrefuted. They are stated in a fair and open manner to the world, and +they have already received the public approbation of a greater number of +men, of the best of characters, of every denomination of religion, and +of every rank in life, (placemen and pensioners excepted,) than all the +juries that shall meet in England, for ten years to come, will amount +to; and I have, moreover, good reasons for believing that the approvers +of that work, as well private as public, are already more numerous than +all the present electors throughout the nation. + + 1 The _Argus_ was edited by Sampson Perry, soon after + prosecuted.--_Editor_. + +Not less than forty pamphlets, intended as answers thereto, have +appeared, and as suddenly disappeared: scarcely are the titles of any of +them remembered, notwithstanding their endeavours have been aided by all +the daily abuse which the Court and Ministerial newspapers, for almost +a year and a half, could bestow, both upon the work and the author; +and now that every attempt to refute, and every abuse has failed, +the invention of calling the work a libel has been hit upon, and the +discomfited party has pusillanimously retreated to prosecution and a +jury, and obscure addresses. + +As I well know that a long letter from me will not be agreeable to you, +I will relieve your uneasiness by making it as short as I conveniently +can; and will conclude it with taking up the subject at that part where +Mr. HORNE TOOKE was interrupted from going on when at the meeting. + +That gentleman was stating, that the situation you stood in rendered it +improper for you to appear _actively_ in a scene in which your private +interest was too visible: that you were a Bedchamber Lord at a thousand +a year, and a Pensioner at three thousand pounds a year more--and here +he was stopped by the little but noisy circle you had collected round. +Permit me then, Sir, to add an explanation to his words, for the benefit +of your neighbours, and with which, and a few observations, I shall +close my letter. + +When it was reported in the English Newspapers, some short time since, +that the empress of RUSSIA had given to one of her minions a large tract +of country and several thousands of peasants as property, it very justly +provoked indignation and abhorrence in those who heard it. But if we +compare the mode practised in England, with that which appears to us so +abhorrent in Russia, it will be found to amount to very near the same +thing;--for example-- + +As the whole of the revenue in England is drawn by taxes from the +pockets of the people, those things called gifts and grants (of which +kind are all pensions and sinecure places) are paid out of that stock. +The difference, therefore, between the two modes is, that in England the +money is collected by the government, and then given to the Pensioner, +and in Russia he is left to collect it for himself. The smallest sum +which the poorest family in a county so near London as Surry, can be +supposed to pay annually, of taxes, is not less than five pounds; and as +your sinecure of one thousand, and pension of three thousand per annum, +are made up of taxes paid by eight hundred such poor families, it comes +to the same thing as if the eight hundred families had been given to +you, as in Russia, and you had collected the money on your account. +Were you to say that you are not quartered particularly on the people +of Surrey, but on the nation at large, the objection would amount to +nothing; for as there are more pensioners than counties, every one may +be considered as quartered on that in which he lives. + +What honour or happiness you can derive from being the PRINCIPAL PAUPER +of the neighbourhood, and occasioning a greater expence than the poor, +the aged, and the infirm, for ten miles round you, I leave you to enjoy. +At the same time I can see that it is no wonder you should be strenuous +in suppressing a book which strikes at the root of those abuses. No +wonder that you should be against reforms, against the freedom of the +press, and the right of investigation. To you, and to others of your +description, these are dreadful things; but you should also consider, +that the motives which prompt you to _act_, ought, by reflection, to +compel you to be _silent_. + +Having now returned your compliment, and sufficiently tired your +patience, I take my leave of you, with mentioning, that if you had not +prevented my former letter from being read at the meeting, you would not +have had the trouble of reading this; and also with requesting, that +the next time you call me "_a common enemy_," you would add, "_of us +sinecure placemen and pensioners_." + +I am, Sir, &c. &c. &c. + +Thomas Paine. + + + + +VII. TO THE SHERIFF OF THE COUNTY OF SUSSEX, + +OR, THE GENTLEMAN WHO SHALL PRESIDE AT THE MEETING TO BE HELD AT LEWES, +JULY 4. + +London, June 30, 1792. + +Sir, + +I have seen in the Lewes newspapers, of June 25, an advertisement, +signed by sundry persons, and also by the sheriff, for holding a meeting +at the Town-hall of Lewes, for the purpose, as the advertisement states, +of presenting an Address on the late Proclamation for suppressing +writings, books, &c. And as I conceive that a certain publication +of mine, entitled "Rights of Man," in which, among other things, the +enormous increase of taxes, placemen, and pensioners, is shewn to be +unnecessary and oppressive, _is the particular writing alluded to in +the said publication_; I request the Sheriff, or in his absence, whoever +shall preside at the meeting, or any other person, to read this letter +publicly to the company who shall assemble in consequence of that +advertisement. + +Gentlemen--It is now upwards of eighteen years since I was a resident +inhabitant of the town of Lewes. My situation among you, as an officer +of the revenue, for more than six years, enabled me to see into the +numerous and various distresses which the weight of taxes even at that +time of day occasioned; and feeling, as I then did, and as it is natural +for me to do, for the hard condition of others, it is with pleasure I +can declare, and every person then under my survey, and now living, can +witness, the exceeding candour, and even tenderness, with which that +part of the duty that fell to my share was executed. The name of _Thomas +Paine_ is not to be found in the records of the Lewes' justices, in any +one act of contention with, or severity of any kind whatever towards, +the persons whom he surveyed, either in the town, or in the country; +of this, _Mr. Fuller_ and _Mr. Shelley_, who will probably attend the +meeting, can, if they please, give full testimony. It is, however, not +in their power to contradict it. + +Having thus indulged myself in recollecting a place where I formerly +had, and even now have, many friends, rich and poor, and most probably +some enemies, I proceed to the more important purport of my letter. + +Since my departure from Lewes, fortune or providence has thrown me +into a line of action, which my first setting out into life could not +possibly have suggested to me. + +I have seen the fine and fertile country of America ravaged and deluged +in blood, and the taxes of England enormously increased and multiplied +in consequence thereof; and this, in a great measure, by the instigation +of the same class of placemen, pensioners, and Court dependants, who +are now promoting addresses throughout England, on the present +_unintelligible_ Proclamation. + +I have also seen a system of Government rise up in that country, free +from corruption, and now administered over an extent of territory ten +times as large as England, _for less expence than the pensions alone in +England amount to_; and under which more freedom is enjoyed, and a more +happy state of society is preserved, and a more general prosperity is +promoted, than under any other system of Government now existing in the +world. Knowing, as I do, the things I now declare, I should reproach +myself with want of duty and affection to mankind, were I not in the +most undismayed manner to publish them, as it were, on the house-tops, +for the good of others. + +Having thus glanced at what has passed within my knowledge, since my +leaving Lewes, I come to the subject more immediately before the meeting +now present. + +Mr. Edmund Burke, who, as I shall show, in a future publication, has +lived a concealed pensioner, at the expence of the public, of fifteen +hundred pounds per annum, for about ten years last past, published a +book the winter before last, in open violation of the principles of +liberty, and for which he was applauded by that class of men _who are +now promoting addresses_. Soon after his book appeared, I published the +first part of the work, entitled "Rights of Man," as an answer thereto, +and had the happiness of receiving the public thanks of several bodies +of men, and of numerous individuals of the best character, of every +denomination in religion, and of every rank in life--placemen and +pensioners excepted. + +In February last, I published the Second Part of "Rights of Man," and as +it met with still greater approbation from the true friends of national +freedom, and went deeper into the system of Government, and exposed the +abuses of it, more than had been done in the First Part, it consequently +excited an alarm among all those, who, insensible of the burthen of +taxes which the general mass of the people sustain, are living in luxury +and indolence, and hunting after Court preferments, sinecure places, and +pensions, either for themselves, or for their family connections. + +I have shewn in that work, that the taxes may be reduced at least _six +millions_, and even then the expences of Government in England would be +twenty times greater than they are in the country I have already spoken +of. That taxes may be entirely taken off from the poor, by remitting to +them in money at the rate of between _three and four pounds_ per head +per annum, for the education and bringing up of the children of the poor +families, who are computed at one third of the whole nation, and _six +pounds_ per annum to all poor persons, decayed tradesmen, or others, +from the age of fifty until sixty, and _ten pounds_ per annum from after +sixty. And that in consequence of this allowance, to be paid out of the +surplus taxes, the poor-rates would become unnecessary, and that it is +better to apply the surplus taxes to these beneficent purposes, _than to +waste them on idle and profligate courtiers, placemen, and pensioners_. + +These, gentlemen, are a part of the plans and principles contained in +the work, which this meeting is now called upon, in an indirect manner, +to vote an address against, and brand with the name of _wicked and +seditious_. But that the work may speak for itself, I request leave to +close this part of my letter with an extract therefrom, in the following +words: [_Quotation the same as that on p. 26_.] + +Gentlemen, I have now stated to you such matters as appear necessary +to me to offer to the consideration of the meeting. I have no other +interest in what I am doing, nor in writing you this letter, than the +interest of the _heart_. I consider the proposed address as calculated +to give countenance to placemen, pensioners, enormous taxation, and +corruption. Many of you will recollect, that whilst I resided among you, +there was not a man more firm and open in supporting the principles of +liberty than myself, and I still pursue, and ever will, the same path. + +I have, Gentlemen, only one request to make, which is--that those +who have called the meeting will speak _out_, and say, whether in +the address they are going to present against publications, which the +proclamation calls wicked, they mean the work entitled _Rights of Man_, +or whether they do not? + +I am, Gentlemen, With sincere wishes for your happiness, + +Your friend and Servant, + +Thomas Paine. + + + + +VIII. TO MR. SECRETARY DUNDAS. + +Calais, Sept. 15, 1792. + +Sir, + +I CONCEIVE it necessary to make you acquainted with the following +circumstance:--The department of Calais having elected me a member +of the National Convention of France, I set off from London the 13th +instant, in company with Mr. Frost, of Spring Garden, and Mr. Audibert, +one of the municipal officers of Calais, who brought me the certificate +of my being elected. We had not arrived more, I believe, than five +minutes at the York Hotel, at Dover, when the train of circumstances +began that I am going to relate. We had taken our baggage out of the +carriage, and put it into a room, into which we went. Mr. Frost, having +occasion to go out, was stopped in the passage by a gentleman, who told +him he must return into the room, which he did, and the gentleman came +in with him, and shut the door. I had remained in the room; Mr. Audibert +was gone to inquire when the packet was to sail. The gentleman then +said, that he was collector of the customs, and had an information +against us, and must examine our baggage for prohibited articles. He +produced his commission as Collector. Mr. Frost demanded to see the +information, which the Collector refused to shew, and continued to +refuse, on every demand that we made. The Collector then called in +several other officers, and began first to search our pockets. He took +from Mr. Audibert, who was then returned into the room, every thing +he found in his pocket, and laid it on the table. He then searched Mr. +Frost in the same manner, (who, among other things, had the keys of the +trunks in his pocket,) and then did the same by me. Mr. Frost wanting +to go out, mentioned it, and was going towards the door; on which the +Collector placed himself against the door, and said, nobody should +depart the room. After the keys had been taken from Mr. Frost, (for I +had given him the keys of my trunks beforehand, for the purpose of his +attending the baggage to the customs, if it should be necessary,) the +Collector asked us to open the trunks, presenting us the keys for +that purpose; this we declined to do, unless he would produce his +information, which he again refused. The Collector then opened the +trunks himself, and took out every paper and letter, sealed or unsealed. +On our remonstrating with him on the bad policy, as well as the +illegality, of Custom-House officers seizing papers and letters, which +were things that did not come under their cognizance, he replied, that +the _Proclamation_ gave him the authority. + +Among the letters which he took out of my trunk, were two sealed +letters, given into my charge by the American Minister in London +[Pinckney], one of which was directed to the American Minister at Paris +[Gouverneur Morris], the other to a private gentleman; a letter from the +President of the United States, and a letter from the Secretary of +State in America, both directed to me, and which I had received from +the American Minister, now in London, and were private letters of +friendship; a letter from the electoral body of the Department of +Calais, containing the notification of my being elected to the National +Convention; and a letter from the President of the National Assembly, +informing me of my being also elected for the Department of the Oise. + +As we found that all remonstrances with the Collector, on the bad policy +and illegality of seizing papers and letters, and retaining our persons +by force, under the pretence of searching for prohibited articles, +were vain, (for he justified himself on the Proclamation, and on the +information which he refused to shew,) we contented ourselves with +assuring him, that what he was then doing, he would afterwards have to +answer for, and left it to himself to do as he pleased. + +It appeared to us that the Collector was acting under the direction of +some other person or persons, then in the hotel, but whom he did not +choose we should see, or who did not choose to be seen by us; for the +Collector went several times out of the room for a few minutes, and was +also called out several times. + +When the Collector had taken what papers and letters he pleased out of +the trunks, he proceeded to read them. The first letter he took up for +this purpose was that from the President of the United States to me. +While he was doing this, I said, that it was very extraordinary that +General Washington could not write a letter of private friendship to +me, without its being subject to be read by a custom-house officer. Upon +this Mr. Frost laid his hand over the face of the letter, and told the +Collector that he should not read it, and took it from him. Mr. Frost +then, casting his eyes on the concluding paragraph of the letter, said, +I will read this part to you, which he did; of which the following is an +exact transcript-- + +"And as no one can feel a greater interest in the happiness of mankind +than I do, it is the first wish of my heart, that the enlightened policy +of the present age may diffuse to all men those blessings to which +they are entitled, and lay the foundation of happiness for future +generations."(1) + +As all the other letters and papers lay then on the table, the Collector +took them up, and was going out of the room with them. During the +transactions already stated, I contented myself with observing what +passed, and spoke but little; but on seeing the Collector going out of +the room with the letters, I told him that the papers and letters then +in his hand were either belonging to me, or entrusted to my charge, and +that as I could not permit them to be out of my sight, I must insist on +going with him. + + 1 Washington's letter is dated 6 May, 1792. See my _Life of + Paine_ vol. i., p. 302.--_Editor_. + +The Collector then made a list of the letters and papers, and went out +of the room, giving the letters and papers into the charge of one of +the officers. He returned in a short time, and, after some trifling +conversation, chiefly about the Proclamation, told us, that he saw _the +Proclamation was ill-founded_, and asked if we chose to put the letters +and papers into the trunks ourselves, which, as we had not taken them +out, we declined doing, and he did it himself, and returned us the keys. + +In stating to you these matters, I make no complaint against the +personal conduct of the Collector, or of any of the officers. Their +manner was as civil as such an extraordinary piece of business could +admit of. + +My chief motive in writing to you on this subject is, that you may take +measures for preventing the like in future, not only as it concerns +private individuals, but in order to prevent a renewal of those +unpleasant consequences that have heretofore arisen between nations from +circumstances equally as insignificant. I mention this only for myself; +but as the interruption extended to two other gentlemen, it is probable +that they, as individuals, will take some more effectual mode for +redress. + +I am, Sir, yours, &c. + +Thomas Paine. + +P. S. Among the papers seized, was a copy of the Attorney-General's +information against me for publishing the _Rights of Man_, and a printed +proof copy of my Letter to the Addressers, which will soon be published. + + + + +IX. LETTER ADDRESSED TO THE ADDRESSERS ON THE LATE PROCLAMATION.(1) + +COULD I have commanded circumstances with a wish, I know not of any that +would have more generally promoted the progress of knowledge, than +the late Proclamation, and the numerous rotten Borough and Corporation +Addresses thereon. They have not only served as advertisements, but they +have excited a spirit of enquiry into principles of government, and a +desire to read the Rights OF Man, in places where that spirit and that +work were before unknown. + +The people of England, wearied and stunned with parties, and alternately +deceived by each, had almost resigned the prerogative of thinking. Even +curiosity had expired, and a universal languor had spread itself over +the land. The opposition was visibly no other than a contest for power, +whilst the mass of the nation stood torpidly by as the prize. + +In this hopeless state of things, the First Part of the Rights of +Man made its appearance. It had to combat with a strange mixture +of prejudice and indifference; it stood exposed to every species of +newspaper abuse; and besides this, it had to remove the obstructions +which Mr. Burke's rude and outrageous attack on the French Revolution +had artfully raised. + + 1 The Royal Proclamation issued against seditious writings, + May 21st. This pamphlet, the proof of which was read in + Paris (see P. S. of preceding chapter), was published at 1s. + 6d. by H. D. Symonds, Paternoster Row, and Thomas Clio + Rickman, 7 Upper Marylebone Street (where it was written), + both pub-Ushers being soon after prosecuted.--_Editor_. + +But how easy does even the most illiterate reader distinguish the +spontaneous sensations of the heart, from the laboured productions of +the brain. Truth, whenever it can fully appear, is a thing so naturally +familiar to the mind, that an acquaintance commences at first sight. +No artificial light, yet discovered, can display all the properties of +daylight; so neither can the best invented fiction fill the mind with +every conviction which truth begets. + +To overthrow Mr. Burke's fallacious book was scarcely the operation of a +day. Even the phalanx of Placemen and Pensioners, who had given the +tone to the multitude, by clamouring forth his political fame, became +suddenly silent; and the final event to himself has been, that as he +rose like a rocket, he fell like the stick. + +It seldom happens, that the mind rests satisfied with the simple +detection of error or imposition. Once put in motion, _that_ motion soon +becomes accelerated; where it had intended to stop, it discovers new +reasons to proceed, and renews and continues the pursuit far beyond the +limits it first prescribed to itself. Thus it has happened to the people +of England. From a detection of Mr. Burke's incoherent rhapsodies, and +distorted facts, they began an enquiry into the first principles of +Government, whilst himself, like an object left far behind, became +invisible and forgotten. + +Much as the First Part of RIGHTS OF Man impressed at its first +appearance, the progressive mind soon discovered that it did not go far +enough. It detected errors; it exposed absurdities; it shook the fabric +of political superstition; it generated new ideas; but it did not +produce a regular system of principles in the room of those which it +displaced. And, if I may guess at the mind of the Government-party, +they beheld it as an unexpected gale that would soon blow over, and +they forbore, like sailors in threatening weather, to whistle, lest they +should encrease(sic) the wind. Every thing, on their part, was profound +silence. + +When the Second Part of _Rights of Man, combining Principle and +Practice_, was preparing to appear, they affected, for a while, to act +with the same policy as before; but finding their silence had no more +influence in stifling the progress of the work, than it would have in +stopping the progress of time, they changed their plan, and affected +to treat it with clamorous contempt. The Speech-making Placemen and +Pensioners, and Place-expectants, in both Houses of Parliament, the +_Outs_ as well as the _Ins_, represented it as a silly, insignificant +performance; as a work incapable of producing any effect; as something +which they were sure the good sense of the people would either despise +or indignantly spurn; but such was the overstrained awkwardness with +which they harangued and encouraged each other, that in the very act of +declaring their confidence they betrayed their fears. + +As most of the rotten Borough Addressers are obscured in holes and +corners throughout the country, and to whom a newspaper arrives as +rarely as an almanac, they most probably have not had the opportunity of +knowing how far this part of the farce (the original prelude to all the +Addresses) has been acted. For _their_ information, I will suspend a +while the more serious purpose of my Letter, and entertain them with two +or three Speeches in the last Session of Parliament, which will serve +them for politics till Parliament meets again. + +You must know, Gentlemen, that the Second Part of the Rights of Man (the +book against which you have been presenting Addresses, though it is +most probable that many of you did not know it) was to have come out +precisely at the time that Parliament last met. It happened not to be +published till a few days after. But as it was very well known that the +book would shortly appear, the parliamentary Orators entered into a very +cordial coalition to cry the book down, and they began their attack by +crying up the _blessings_ of the Constitution. + +Had it been your fate to have been there, you could not but have been +moved at the heart-and-pocket-felt congratulations that passed between +all the parties on this subject of _blessings_; for the _Outs_ enjoy +places and pensions and sinecures as well as the _Ins_, and are as +devoutly attached to the firm of the house. + +One of the most conspicuous of this motley groupe, is the Clerk of +the Court of King's Bench, who calls himself Lord Stormont. He is also +called Justice General of Scotland, and Keeper of Scoon, (an opposition +man,) and he draws from the public for these nominal offices, not less, +as I am informed, than six thousand pounds a-year, and he is, most +probably, at the trouble of counting the money, and signing a receipt, +to shew, perhaps, that he is qualified to be Clerk as well as Justice. +He spoke as follows.(*) + +"That we shall all be unanimous in expressing our attachment to the +constitution of these realms, I am confident. It is a subject upon which +there can be no divided opinion in this house. I do not pretend to be +deep read in the knowledge of the Constitution, but I take upon me to +say, that from the extent of my knowledge [_for I have so many thousands +a year for nothing_] it appears to me, that from the period of the +Revolution, for it was by no means created then, it has been, both in +theory and practice, the wisest system that ever was formed. I never was +[he means he never was till now] a dealer in political cant. My life has +not been occupied in that way, but the speculations of late years seem +to have taken a turn, for which I cannot account. When I came into +public life, the political pamphlets of the time, however they might be +charged with the heat and violence of parties, were agreed in extolling +the radical beauties of the Constitution itself. I remember [_he means +he has forgotten_] a most captivating eulogium on its charms, by Lord +Bolingbroke, where he recommends his readers to contemplate it in all +its aspects, with the assurance that it would be found more estimable +the more it was seen, I do not recollect his precise words, but I wish +that men who write upon these subjects would take this for their +model, instead of the political pamphlets, which, I am told, are now in +circulation, [_such, I suppose, as Rights of Man,_] pamphlets which +I have not read, and whose purport I know only by report, [_he means, +perhaps, by the noise they make_.] This, however, I am sure, that +pamphlets tending to unsettle the public reverence for the constitution, +will have very little influence. They can do very little harm--for +[_by the bye, he is no dealer in political cant_] the English are a +sober-thinking people, and are more intelligent, more solid, more steady +in their opinions, than any people I ever had the fortune to see. [_This +is pretty well laid on, though, for a new beginner_.] But if there +should ever come a time when the propagation of those doctrines should +agitate the public mind, I am sure for every one of your Lordships, that +no attack will be made on the constitution, from which it is truly said +that we derive all our prosperity, without raising every one of +your Lordships to its support It will then be found that there is no +difference among us, but that we are all determined to stand or fall +together, in defence of the inestimable system "--[_of places and +pensions_]. + + * See his speech in the Morning Chronicle of Feb. 1.-- + Author. + +After Stormont, on the opposition side, sat down, up rose another noble +Lord, on the ministerial side, Grenville. This man ought to be as strong +in the back as a mule, or the sire of a mule, or it would crack with +the weight of places and offices. He rose, however, without feeling any +incumbrance, full master of his weight; and thus said this noble Lord to +t'other noble Lord! + +"The patriotic and manly manner in which the noble Lord has declared +his sentiments on the subject of the constitution, demands my cordial +approbation. The noble Viscount has proved, that however we may differ +on particular measures, amidst all the jars and dissonance of parties, +we are unanimous in principle. There is a perfect and entire consent +[_between us_] in the love and maintenance of the constitution as +happily subsisting. It must undoubtedly give your Lordships concern, to +find that the time is come [heigh ho!] when there is propriety in the +expressions of regard to [o! o! o!] the constitution. And that there are +men [confound--their--po-li-tics] who disseminate doctrines hostile to +the genuine spirit of our well balanced system, [_it is certainly well +balanced when both sides hold places and pensions at once._] I agree +with the noble viscount that they have not [I hope] much success. I am +convinced that there is no danger to be apprehended from their attempts: +but it is truly important and consolatory [to us placemen, I suppose] to +know, that if ever there should arise a serious alarm, there is but one +spirit, one sense, [_and that sense I presume is not common sense_] +and one determination in this house "--which undoubtedly is to hold all +their places and pensions as long as they can. + +Both those speeches (except the parts enclosed in parenthesis, which +are added for the purpose of illustration) are copied verbatim from the +Morning Chronicle of the 1st of February last; and when the situation of +the speakers is considered, the one in the opposition, and the other +in the ministry, and both of them living at the public expence, by +sinecure, or nominal places and offices, it required a very unblushing +front to be able to deliver them. Can those men seriously suppose +any nation to be so completely blind as not to see through them? Can +Stormont imagine that the political _cant_, with which he has larded his +harangue, will conceal the craft? Does he not know that there never was +a cover large enough to hide _itself_? Or can Grenvilie believe that his +credit with the public encreases with his avarice for places? + +But, if these orators will accept a service from me, in return for the +allusions they have made to the _Rights of Man_, I will make a speech +for either of them to deliver, on the excellence of the constitution, +that shall be as much to the purpose as what they have spoken, or as +_Bolingbroke's captivating eulogium_. Here it is. + +"That we shall all be unanimous in expressing our attachment to the +constitution, I am confident. It is, my Lords, incomprehensibly good: +but the great wonder of all is the wisdom; for it is, my lords, _the +wisest system that ever was formed_. + +"With respect to us, noble Lords, though the world does not know it, it +is very well known to us, that we have more wisdom than we know what to +do with; and what is still better, my Lords, we have it all in stock. I +defy your Lordships to prove, that a tittle of it has been used yet; and +if we but go on, my Lords, with the frugality we have hitherto done, we +shall leave to our heirs and successors, when we go out of the world, +the whole stock of wisdom, _untouched_, that we brought in; and there is +no doubt but they will follow our example. This, my lords, is one of the +blessed effects of the hereditary system; for we can never be without +wisdom so long as we keep it by us, and do not use it. + +"But, my Lords, as all this wisdom is hereditary property, for the sole +benefit of us and our heirs, and it is necessary that the people should +know where to get a supply for their own use, the excellence of our +constitution has provided us a King for this very purpose, and for _no +other_. But, my Lords, I perceive a defect to which the constitution +is subject, and which I propose to remedy by bringing a bill into +Parliament for that purpose. + +"The constitution, my Lords, out of delicacy, I presume, has left it as +a matter of _choice_ to a King whether he will be wise or not. It has +not, I mean, my Lords, insisted upon it as a constitutional point, +which, I conceive it ought to have done; for I pledge myself to your +Lordships to prove, and that with _true patriotic boldness_, that he has +_no choice in the matter_. This bill, my Lords, which I shall bring in, +will be to declare, that the constitution, according to the true intent +and meaning thereof, does not invest the King with this choice; our +ancestors were too wise to do that; and, in order to prevent any doubts +that might otherwise arise, I shall prepare, my Lords, an enacting +clause, to fix the wisdom of Kings by act of Parliament; and then, my +Lords our Constitution will be the wonder of the world! + +"Wisdom, my lords, is the one thing needful: but that there may be no +mistake in this matter, and that we may proceed consistently with the +true wisdom of the constitution, I shall propose a _certain criterion_ +whereby the _exact quantity of wisdom_ necessary for a King may be +known. [Here should be a cry of, Hear him! Hear him!] + +"It is recorded, my Lords, in the Statutes at Large of the Jews, 'a +book, my Lords, which I have not read, and whose purport I know only by +report,' _but perhaps the bench of Bishops can recollect something about +it_, that Saul gave the most convincing proofs of royal wisdom before +he was made a King, _for he was sent to seek his father's asses and he +could not find them_. + +"Here, my Lords, we have, most happily for us, a case in point: This +precedent ought to be established by act of Parliament; and every King, +before he be crowned, should be sent to seek his father's asses, and +if he cannot find them, he shall be declared wise enough to be King, +according to the true meaning of our excellent constitution. All, +therefore, my Lords, that will be necessary to be done by the enacting +clause that I shall bring in, will be to invest the King beforehand with +the quantity of wisdom necessary for this purpose, lest he should happen +not to possess it; and this, my Lords, we can do without making use of +any of our own. + +"We further read, my Lords, in the said Statutes at Large of the +Jews, that Samuel, who certainly was as mad as any Man-of-Rights-Man +now-a-days (hear him! hear him!), was highly displeased, and even +exasperated, at the proposal of the Jews to have a King, and he warned +them against it with all that assurance and impudence of which he was +master. I have been, my Lords, at the trouble of going all the way to +_Paternoster-row_, to procure an extract from the printed copy. I was +told that I should meet with it there, or in _Amen-eorner_, for I was +then going, my Lords, to rummage for it among the curiosities of the +_Antiquarian Society_. I will read the extracts to your Lordships, to +shew how little Samuel knew of the matter. + +"The extract, my Lords, is from 1 Sam. chap. viii.: + +"'And Samuel told all the words of the Lord unto the people that asked +of him a King. + +"'And he said, this will be the manner of the King that shall reign +over you: he will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for +his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his +chariots. + +"'And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over +fifties, and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, +and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots. + +"'And he will take your daughters to be confectionnes, and to be cooks, +and to be bakers. + +"'And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your +olive-yards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants. + +"'And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and +give to his officers and to his servants. + +"'And he will take your men-servants, and your maid-servants, and your +goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work. + +"'And he will take the tenth of your sheep, and ye shall be his +servants. + +"'And ye shall cry out in that day, because of your King, which ye shall +have chosen you; and the Lord will not hear you in that day.' + +"Now, my Lords, what can we think of this man Samuel? Is there a word of +truth, or any thing like truth, in all that he has said? He pretended +to be a prophet, or a wise man, but has not the event proved him to be a +fool, or an incendiary? Look around, my Lords, and see if any thing has +happened that he pretended to foretell! Has not the most profound peace +reigned throughout the world ever since Kings were in fashion? Are not, +for example, the present Kings of Europe the most peaceable of mankind, +and the Empress of Russia the very milk of human kindness? It would not +be worth having Kings, my Lords, if it were not that they never go to +war. + +"If we look at home, my Lords, do we not see the same things here as are +seen every where else? Are our young men taken to be horsemen, or foot +soldiers, any more than in Germany or in Prussia, or in Hanover or in +Hesse? Are not our sailors as safe at land as at sea? Are they ever +dragged from their homes, like oxen to the slaughter-house, to serve on +board ships of war? When they return from the perils of a long voyage +with the merchandize of distant countries, does not every man sit down +under his own vine and his own fig-tree, in perfect security? Is the +tenth of our seed taken by tax-gatherers, or is any part of it given to +the King's servants? In short, _is not everything as free from taxes as +the light from Heaven!_ (1) + +"Ah! my Lords, do we not see the blessed effect of having Kings in every +thing we look at? Is not the G. R., or the broad R., stampt upon every +thing? Even the shoes, the gloves, and the hats that we wear, +are enriched with the impression, and all our candles blaze a +burnt-offering. + +"Besides these blessings, my Lords, that cover us from the sole of the +foot to the crown of the head, do we not see a race of youths growing +up to be Kings, who are the very paragons of virtue? There is not one of +them, my Lords, but might be trusted with untold gold, as safely as +the other. Are they not '_more sober, intelligent, more solid, more +steady_,' and withal, _more learned, more wise, more every thing, than +any youths we '_ever had the fortune to see.' Ah! my Lords, they are a +_hopeful family_. + +"The blessed prospect of succession, which the nation has at this moment +before its eyes, is a most undeniable proof of the excellence of our +constitution, and of the blessed hereditary system; for nothing, my +Lords, but a constitution founded on the truest and purest wisdom +could admit such heaven-born and heaven-taught characters into the +government.--Permit me now, my Lords, to recal your attention to the +libellous chapter I have just read about Kings. I mention this, my +Lords, because it is my intention to move for a bill to be brought into +parliament to expunge that chapter from the Bible, and that the Lord +Chancellor, with the assistance of the Prince of Wales, the Duke of +York, and the Duke of Clarence, be requested to write a chapter in the +room of it; and that Mr. Burke do see that it be truly canonical, and +faithfully inserted."--Finis. + + 1 Allusion to the window-tax.--Editor, + +If the Clerk of the Court of King's Bench should chuse to be the orator +of this luminous encomium on the constitution, I hope he will get +it well by heart before he attempts to deliver it, and not have +to apologize to Parliament, as he did in the case of Bolingbroke's +encomium, for forgetting his lesson; and, with this admonition I leave +him. + +Having thus informed the Addressers of what passed at the meeting of +Parliament, I return to take up the subject at the part where I broke +off in order to introduce the preceding speeches. + +I was then stating, that the first policy of the Government party was +silence, and the next, clamorous contempt; but as people generally +choose to read and judge for themselves, the work still went on, and the +affectation of contempt, like the silence that preceded it, passed for +nothing. + +Thus foiled in their second scheme, their evil genius, like a +will-with-a-wisp, led them to a third; when all at once, as if it had +been unfolded to them by a fortune-teller, or Mr. Dundas had discovered +it by second sight, this once harmless, insignificant book, without +undergoing the alteration of a single letter, became a most wicked and +dangerous Libel. The whole Cabinet, like a ship's crew, became alarmed; +all hands were piped upon deck, as if a conspiracy of elements was +forming around them, and out came the Proclamation and the Prosecution; +and Addresses supplied the place of prayers. + +Ye silly swains, thought I to myself, why do you torment yourselves +thus? The Rights OF Man is a book calmly and rationally written; why +then are you so disturbed? Did you see how little or how suspicious such +conduct makes you appear, even cunning alone, had you no other faculty, +would hush you into prudence. The plans, principles, and arguments, +contained in that work, are placed before the eyes of the nation, and +of the world, in a fair, open, and manly manner, and nothing more is +necessary than to refute them. Do this, and the whole is done; but if ye +cannot, so neither can ye suppress the reading, nor convict the author; +for the Law, in the opinion of all good men, would convict itself, that +should condemn what cannot be refuted. + +Having now shown the Addressers the several stages of the business, +prior to their being called upon, like Cæsar in the Tyber, crying to +Cassius, "_help, Cassius, or I sink_!" I next come to remark on the +policy of the Government, in promoting Addresses; on the consequences +naturally resulting therefrom; and on the conduct of the persons +concerned. + +With respect to the policy, it evidently carries with it every mark +and feature of disguised fear. And it will hereafter be placed in the +history of extraordinary things, that a pamphlet should be produced by +an individual, unconnected with any sect or party, and not seeking to +make any, and almost a stranger in the land, that should compleatly +frighten a whole Government, and that in the midst of its most +triumphant security. Such a circumstance cannot fail to prove, that +either the pamphlet has irresistible powers, or the Government very +extraordinary defects, or both. The nation exhibits no signs of fear at +the Rights of Man; why then should the Government, unless the interest +of the two are really opposite to each other, and the secret is +beginning to be known? That there are two distinct classes of men in +the nation, those who pay taxes, and those who receive and live upon +the taxes, is evident at first sight; and when taxation is carried to +excess, it cannot fail to disunite those two, and something of this kind +is now beginning to appear. + +It is also curious to observe, amidst all the fume and bustle about +Proclamations and Addresses, kept up by a few noisy and interested men, +how little the mass of the nation seem to care about either. They +appear to me, by the indifference they shew, not to believe a word the +Proclamation contains; and as to the Addresses, they travel to London +with the silence of a funeral, and having announced their arrival in +the Gazette, are deposited with the ashes of their predecessors, and Mr. +Dundas writes their _hic facet_. + +One of the best effects which the Proclamation, and its echo the +Addresses have had, has been that of exciting and spreading curiosity; +and it requires only a single reflection to discover, that the object +of all curiosity is knowledge. When the mass of the nation saw that +Placemen, Pensioners, and Borough-mongers, were the persons that stood +forward to promote Addresses, it could not fail to create suspicions +that the public good was not their object; that the character of the +books, or writings, to which such persons obscurely alluded, not daring +to mention them, was directly contrary to what they described them to +be, and that it was necessary that every man, for his own satisfaction, +should exercise his proper right, and read and judge for himself. + +But how will the persons who have been induced to read the _Rights of +Man_, by the clamour that has been raised against it, be surprized +to find, that, instead of a wicked, inflammatory work, instead of a +licencious and profligate performance, it abounds with principles of +government that are uncontrovertible--with arguments which every reader +will feel, are unanswerable--with plans for the increase of commerce +and manufactures--for the extinction of war--for the education of +the children of the poor--for the comfortable support of the aged and +decayed persons of both sexes--for the relief of the army and navy, and, +in short, for the promotion of every thing that can benefit the moral, +civil, and political condition of Man. + +Why, then, some calm observer will ask, why is the work prosecuted, if +these be the goodly matters it contains? I will tell thee, friend; +it contains also a plan for the reduction of Taxes, for lessening the +immense expences of Government, for abolishing sinecure Places and +Pensions; and it proposes applying the redundant taxes, that shall +be saved by these reforms, to the purposes mentioned in the former +paragraph, instead of applying them to the support of idle and +profligate Placemen and Pensioners. + +Is it, then, any wonder that Placemen and Pensioners, and the whole +train of Court expectants, should become the promoters of Addresses, +Proclamations, and Prosecutions? or, is it any wonder that Corporations +and rotten Boroughs, which are attacked and exposed, both in the First +and Second Parts of _Rights of Man_, as unjust monopolies and public +nuisances, should join in the cavalcade? Yet these are the sources from +which Addresses have sprung. Had not such persons come forward to +oppose the _Rights of Man_, I should have doubted the efficacy of my +own writings: but those opposers have now proved to me that the blow was +well directed, and they have done it justice by confessing the smart. + +The principal deception in this business of Addresses has been, that the +promoters of them have not come forward in their proper characters. They +have assumed to pass themselves upon the public as a part of the Public, +bearing a share of the burthen of Taxes, and acting for the public good; +whereas, they are in general that part of it that adds to the public +burthen, by living on the produce of the public taxes. They are to the +public what the locusts are to the tree: the burthen would be less, and +the prosperity would be greater, if they were shaken off. + +"I do not come here," said Onslow, at the Surry County meeting, "as the +Lord Lieutenant and Custos Rotulorum of the county, but I come here as +a plain country gentleman." The fact is, that he came there as what he +was, and as no other, and consequently he came as one of the beings I +have been describing. If it be the character of a gentleman to be fed by +the public, as a pauper is by the parish, Onslow has a fair claim to the +title; and the same description will suit the Duke of Richmond, who led +the Address at the Sussex meeting. He also may set up for a gentleman. + +As to the meeting in the next adjoining county (Kent), it was a scene of +disgrace. About two hundred persons met, when a small part of them drew +privately away from the rest, and voted an Address: the consequence of +which was that they got together by the ears, and produced a riot in the +very act of producing an Address to prevent Riots. + +That the Proclamation and the Addresses have failed of their intended +effect, may be collected from the silence which the Government party +itself observes. The number of addresses has been weekly retailed in the +Gazette; but the number of Addressers has been concealed. Several of the +Addresses have been voted by not more than ten or twelve persons; and a +considerable number of them by not more than thirty. The whole number of +Addresses presented at the time of writing this letter is three hundred +and twenty, (rotten Boroughs and Corporations included) and even +admitting, on an average, one hundred Addressers to each address, the +whole number of addressers would be but thirty-two thousand, and nearly +three months have been taken up in procuring this number. That the +success of the Proclamation has been less than the success of the work +it was intended to discourage, is a matter within my own knowledge; for +a greater number of the cheap edition of the First and Second Parts of +the Rights OF Man has been sold in the space only of one month, than the +whole number of Addressers (admitting them to be thirty-two thousand) +have amounted to in three months. + +It is a dangerous attempt in any government to say to a Nation, "_thou +shalt not read_." This is now done in Spain, and was formerly done under +the old Government of France; but it served to procure the downfall of +the latter, and is subverting that of the former; and it will have +the same tendency in all countries; because _thought_ by some means +or other, is got abroad in the world, and cannot be restrained, though +reading may. + +If _Rights of Man_ were a book that deserved the vile description which +the promoters of the Address have given of it, why did not these men +prove their charge, and satisfy the people, by producing it, and reading +it publicly? This most certainly ought to have been done, and would also +have been done, had they believed it would have answered their purpose. +But the fact is, that the book contains truths which those time-servers +dreaded to hear, and dreaded that the people should know; and it is now +following up the, + + +ADDRESS TO ADDRESSERS. + +Addresses in every part of the nation, and convicting them of +falsehoods. + +Among the unwarrantable proceedings to which the Proclamation has given +rise, the meetings of the Justices in several of the towns and counties +ought to be noticed.. Those men have assumed to re-act the farce of +General Warrants, and to suppress, by their own authority, whatever +publications they please. This is an attempt at power equalled only by +the conduct of the minor despots of the most despotic governments in +Europe, and yet those Justices affect to call England a Free Country. +But even this, perhaps, like the scheme for garrisoning the country +by building military barracks, is necessary to awaken the country to a +sense of its Rights, and, as such, it will have a good effect. + +Another part of the conduct of such Justices has been, that of +threatening to take away the licences from taverns and public-houses, +where the inhabitants of the neighbourhood associated to read and +discuss the principles of Government, and to inform each other thereon. +This, again, is similar to what is doing in Spain and Russia; and the +reflection which it cannot fail to suggest is, that the principles and +conduct of any Government must be bad, when that Government dreads and +startles at discussion, and seeks security by a prevention of knowledge. + +If the Government, or the Constitution, or by whatever name it be +called, be that miracle of perfection which the Proclamation and +the Addresses have trumpeted it forth to be, it ought to have defied +discussion and investigation, instead of dreading it. Whereas, every +attempt it makes, either by Proclamation, Prosecution, or Address, to +suppress investigation, is a confession that it feels itself unable to +bear it. It is error only, and not truth, that shrinks from enquiry. All +the numerous pamphlets, and all the newspaper falsehood and abuse, that +have been published against the Rights of Man, have fallen before it +like pointless arrows; and, in like manner, would any work have fallen +before the Constitution, had the Constitution, as it is called, been +founded on as good political principles as those on which the Rights OF +Man is written. + +It is a good Constitution for courtiers, placemen, pensioners, +borough-holders, and the leaders of Parties, and these are the men that +have been the active leaders of Addresses; but it is a bad Constitution +for at least ninety-nine parts of the nation out of an hundred, and this +truth is every day making its way. + +It is bad, first, because it entails upon the nation the unnecessary +expence of supporting three forms and systems of Government at once, +namely, the monarchical, the aristocratical, and the democratical. + +Secondly, because it is impossible to unite such a discordant +composition by any other means than perpetual corruption; and therefore +the corruption so loudly and so universally complained of, is no +other than the natural consequence of such an unnatural compound of +Governments; and in this consists that excellence which the numerous +herd of placemen and pensioners so loudly extol, and which at the same +time, occasions that enormous load of taxes under which the rest of the +nation groans. + +Among the mass of national delusions calculated to amuse and impose upon +the multitude, the standing one has been that of flattering them into +taxes, by calling the Government (or as they please to express it, +the English Constitution) "_the envy and the admiration of the world_" +Scarcely an Address has been voted in which some of the speakers have +not uttered this hackneyed nonsensical falsehood. + +Two Revolutions have taken place, those of America and France; and both +of them have rejected the unnatural compounded system of the English +government. America has declared against all hereditary Government, and +established the representative system of Government only. France has +entirely rejected the aristocratical part, and is now discovering +the absurdity of the monarchical, and is approaching fast to the +representative system. On what ground then, do these men continue a +declaration, respecting what they call the _envy and admiration of other +nations_, which the voluntary practice of such nations, as have had the +opportunity of establishing Government, contradicts and falsifies. Will +such men never confine themselves to truth? Will they be for ever the +deceivers of the people? + +But I will go further, and shew, that were Government now to begin in +England, the people could not be brought to establish the same system +they now submit to. + +In speaking on this subject (or on any other) _on the pure ground +of principle_, antiquity and precedent cease to be authority, and +hoary-headed error loses its effect. The reasonableness and propriety of +things must be examined abstractedly from custom and usage; and, in this +point of view, the right which grows into practice to-day is as much a +right, and as old in principle and theory, as if it had the customary +sanction of a thousand ages. Principles have no connection with time, +nor characters with names. + +To say that the Government of this country is composed of King, Lords, +and Commons, is the mere phraseology of custom. It is composed of +men; and whoever the men be to whom the Government of any country is +intrusted, they ought to be the best and wisest that can be found, and +if they are not so, they are not fit for the station. A man derives +no more excellence from the change of a name, or calling him King, or +calling him Lord, than I should do by changing my name from Thomas to +George, or from Paine to Guelph. I should not be a whit more able to +write a book because my name was altered; neither would any man, now +called a King or a lord, have a whit the more sense than he now has, +were he to call himself Thomas Paine. + +As to the word "Commons," applied as it is in England, it is a term +of degradation and reproach, and ought to be abolished. It is a term +unknown in free countries. + +But to the point.--Let us suppose that Government was now to begin in +England, and that the plan of Government, offered to the nation for its +approbation or rejection, consisted of the following parts: + +First--That some one individual should be taken from all the rest of the +nation, and to whom all the rest should swear obedience, and never be +permitted to sit down in his presence, and that they should give to him +one million sterling a year.--That the nation should never after have +power or authority to make laws but with his express consent; and that +his sons and his sons' sons, whether wise or foolish, good men or +bad, fit or unfit, should have the same power, and also the same money +annually paid to them for ever. + +Secondly--That there should be two houses of Legislators to assist in +making laws, one of which should, in the first instance, be entirely +appointed by the aforesaid person, and that their sons and their sons' +sons, whether wise or foolish, good men or bad, fit or unfit, should for +ever after be hereditary Legislators. + +Thirdly--That the other house should be chosen in the same manner as the +house now called the House of Commons is chosen, and should be subject +to the controul of the two aforesaid hereditary Powers in all things. + +It would be impossible to cram such a farrago of imposition and +absurdity down the throat of this or any other nation that was capable +of reasoning upon its rights and its interest. + +They would ask, in the first place, on what ground of right, or on what +principle, such irrational and preposterous distinctions could, or ought +to be made; and what pretensions any man could have, or what services he +could render, to entitle him to a million a year? They would go +farther, and revolt at the idea of consigning their children, and their +children's children, to the domination of persons hereafter to be born, +who might, for any thing they could foresee, turn out to be knaves or +fools; and they would finally discover, that the project of hereditary +Governors and Legislators _was a treasonable usurpation over the rights +of posterity_. Not only the calm dictates of reason, and the force of +natural affection, but the integrity of manly pride, would impel men to +spurn such proposals. + +From the grosser absurdities of such a scheme, they would extend their +examination to the practical defects--They would soon see that it would +end in tyranny accomplished by fraud. That in the operation of it, it +would be two to one against them, because the two parts that were to be +made hereditary would form a common interest, and stick to each other; +and that themselves and representatives would become no better +than hewers of wood and drawers of water for the other parts of the +Government.--Yet call one of those powers King, the other Lords, and the +third the Commons, and it gives the model of what is called the English +Government. + +I have asserted, and have shewn, both in the First and Second Parts +of _Rights of Man_, that there is not such a thing as an English +Constitution, and that the people have yet a Constitution to form. _A +Constitution is a thing antecedent to a Government; it is the act of a +people creating a Government and giving it powers, and defining the +limits and exercise of the powers so given_. But whenever did the people +of England, acting in their original constituent character, by a +delegation elected for that express purpose, declare and say, "We, the +people of this land, do constitute and appoint this to be our system and +form of Government." The Government has assumed to constitute itself, +but it never was constituted by the people, in whom alone the right of +constituting resides. + +I will here recite the preamble to the Federal Constitution of the +United States of America. I have shewn in the Second Part of _Rights +of Man_, the manner by which the Constitution was formed and afterwards +ratified; and to which I refer the reader. The preamble is in the +following words: + +"We, the people, of the United States, in order to form a more perfect +union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for +common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings +of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this +constitution for the United States of America." + +Then follow the several articles which appoint the manner in which the +several component parts of the Government, legislative and executive, +shall be elected, and the period of their duration, and the powers they +shall have: also, the manner by which future additions, alterations, +or amendments, shall be made to the constitution. Consequently, every +improvement that can be made in the science of government, follows in +that country as a matter of order. It is only in Governments founded on +assumption and false principles, that reasoning upon, and investigating +systems and principles of Government, and shewing their several +excellencies and defects, are termed libellous and seditious. These +terms were made part of the charge brought against Locke, Hampden, and +Sydney, and will continue to be brought against all good men, so long as +bad government shall continue. + +The Government of this country has been ostentatiously giving challenges +for more than an hundred years past, upon what it called its own +excellence and perfection. Scarcely a King's Speech, or a Parliamentary +Speech, has been uttered, in which this glove has not been thrown, till +the world has been insulted with their challenges. But it now appears +that all this was vapour and vain boasting, or that it was intended to +conceal abuses and defects, and hush the people into taxes. I have taken +the challenge up, and in behalf of the public have shewn, in a fair, +open, and candid manner, both the radical and practical defects of the +system; when, lo! those champions of the Civil List have fled away, +and sent the Attorney-General to deny the challenge, by turning the +acceptance of it into an attack, and defending their Places and Pensions +by a prosecution. + +I will here drop this part of the subject, and state a few particulars +respecting the prosecution now pending, by which the Addressers will +see that they have been used as tools to the prosecuting party and their +dependents. The case is as follows: + +The original edition of the First and Second Parts of the Rights of +Man, having been expensively printed, (in the modern stile of printing +pamphlets, that they might be bound up with Mr. Burke's Reflections on +the French Revolution,) the high price(1) precluded the generality +of people from purchasing; and many applications were made to me from +various parts of the country to print the work in a cheaper manner. The +people of Sheffield requested leave to print two thousand copies for +themselves, with which request I immediately complied. The same request +came to me from Rotherham, from Leicester, from Chester, from several +towns in Scotland; and Mr. James Mackintosh, author of _Vindico +Gallico_, brought me a request from Warwickshire, for leave to print ten +thousand copies in that county. I had already sent a cheap edition to +Scotland; and finding the applications increase, I concluded that the +best method of complying therewith, would be to print a very numerous +edition in London, under my own direction, by which means the work would +be more perfect, and the price be reduced lower than it could be by +_printing_ small editions in the country, of only a few thousands each. + + 1 Half a crown.--_Editor_. + +The cheap edition of the first part was begun about the first of last +April, and from that moment, and not before, I expected a prosecution, +and the event has proved that I was not mistaken. I had then occasion to +write to Mr. Thomas Walker of Manchester, and after informing him of my +intention of giving up the work for the purpose of general information, +I informed him of what I apprehended would be the consequence; that +while the work was at a price that precluded an extensive circulation, +the government party, not able to controvert the plans, arguments, +and principles it contained, had chosen to remain silent; but that I +expected they would make an attempt to deprive the mass of the nation, +and especially the poor, of the right of reading, by the pretence of +prosecuting either the Author or the Publisher, or both. They chose to +begin with the Publisher. + +Nearly a month, however, passed, before I had any information given me +of their intentions. I was then at Bromley, in Kent, upon which I came +immediately to town, (May 14) and went to Mr. Jordan, the publisher of +the original edition. He had that evening been served with a summons to +appear at the Court of King's Bench, on the Monday following, but for +what purpose was not stated. Supposing it to be on account of the +work, I appointed a meeting with him on the next morning, which was +accordingly had, when I provided an attorney, and took the ex-pence of +the defence on myself. But finding afterwards that he absented himself +from the attorney employed, and had engaged another, and that he had +been closeted with the Solicitors of the Treasury, I left him to follow +his own choice, and he chose to plead Guilty. This he might do if he +pleased; and I make no objection against him for it. I believe that his +idea by the word _Guilty_, was no other than declaring himself to be the +publisher, without any regard to the merits or demerits of the work; for +were it to be construed otherwise, it would amount to the absurdity of +converting a publisher into a Jury, and his confession into a verdict +upon the work itself. This would be the highest possible refinement upon +packing of Juries. + +On the 21st of May, they commenced their prosecution against me, as the +author, by leaving a summons at my lodgings in town, to appear at the +Court of King's Bench on the 8th of June following; and on the same day, +(May 21,) _they issued also their Proclamation_. Thus the Court of St. +James and the Court of King's Bench, were playing into each other's +hands at the same instant of time, and the farce of Addresses brought up +the rear; and this mode of proceeding is called by the prostituted name +of Law. Such a thundering rapidity, after a ministerial dormancy of +almost eighteen months, can be attributed to no other cause than their +having gained information of the forwardness of the cheap Edition, and +the dread they felt at the progressive increase of political knowledge. + +I was strongly advised by several gentlemen, as well those in the +practice of the law, as others, to prefer a bill of indictment +against the publisher of the Proclamation, as a publication tending to +influence, or rather to dictate the verdict of a Jury on the issue of a +matter then pending; but it appeared to me much better to avail myself +of the opportunity which such a precedent justified me in using, by +meeting the Proclamation and the Addressers on their own ground, and +publicly defending the Work which had been thus unwarrantably attacked +and traduced.--And conscious as I now am, that the Work entitled +Rights OF Man so far from being, as has been maliciously or erroneously +represented, a false, wicked, and seditious libel, is a work abounding +with unanswerable truths, with principles of the purest morality and +benevolence, and with arguments not to be controverted--Conscious, I +say, of these things, and having no object in view but the happiness +of mankind, I have now put the matter to the best proof in my power, by +giving to the public a cheap edition of the First and Second Parts of +that Work. Let every man read and judge for himself, not only of the +merits and demerits of the Work, but of the matters therein contained, +which relate to his own interest and happiness. + +If, to expose the fraud and imposition of monarchy, and every species +of hereditary government--to lessen the oppression of taxes--to propose +plans for the education of helpless infancy, and the comfortable support +of the aged and distressed--to endeavour to conciliate nations to each +other--to extirpate the horrid practice of war--to promote universal +peace, civilization, and commerce--and to break the chains of political +superstition, and raise degraded man to his proper rank;--if these +things be libellous, let me live the life of a Libeller, and let the +name of Libeller be engraved on my tomb. + +Of all the weak and ill-judged measures which fear, ignorance, +or arrogance could suggest, the Proclamation, and the project for +Addresses, are two of the worst. They served to advertise the work which +the promoters of those measures wished to keep unknown; and in doing +this they offered violence to the judgment of the people, by calling on +them to condemn what they forbad them to know, and put the strength +of their party to that hazardous issue that prudence would have +avoided.--The County Meeting for Middlesex was attended by only +one hundred and eighteen Addressers. They, no doubt, expected, that +thousands would flock to their standard, and clamor against the _Rights +of Man_. But the case most probably is, that men in all countries, are +not so blind to their Rights and their Interest as Governments believe. + +Having thus shewn the extraordinary manner in which the Government party +commenced their attack, I proceed to offer a few observations on the +prosecution, and on the mode of trial by Special Jury. + +In the first place, I have written a book; and if it cannot be refuted, +it cannot be condemned. But I do not consider the prosecution as +particularly levelled against me, but against the general right, or +the right of every man, of investigating systems and principles of +government, and shewing their several excellencies or defects. If the +press be free only to flatter Government, as Mr. Burke has done, and to +cry up and extol what certain Court sycophants are pleased to call a +"glorious Constitution," and not free to examine into its errors or +abuses, or whether a Constitution really exist or not, such freedom is +no other than that of Spain, Turkey, or Russia; and a Jury in this case, +would not be a Jury to try, but an Inquisition to condemn. + +I have asserted, and by fair and open argument maintained, the right +of every nation at all times to establish such a system and form of +government for itself as best accords with its disposition, interest, +and happiness; and to change and alter it as it sees occasion. Will any +Jury deny to the Nation this right? If they do, they are traitors, and +their verdict would be null and void. And if they admit the right, the +means must be admitted also; for it would be the highest absurdity to +say, that the right existed, but the means did not. The question then +is, What are the means by which the possession and exercise of +this National Right are to be secured? The answer will be, that +of maintaining, inviolably, the right of free investigation; for +investigation always serves to detect error, and to bring forth truth. + +I have, as an individual, given my opinion upon what I believe to be +not only the best, but the true system of Government, which is the +representative system, and I have given reasons for that opinion. + +First, Because in the representative system, no office of very +extraordinary power, or extravagant pay, is attached to any individual; +and consequently there is nothing to excite those national contentions +and civil wars with which countries under monarchical governments are +frequently convulsed, and of which the History of England exhibits such +numerous instances. + +Secondly, Because the representative is a system of Government always +in maturity; whereas monarchical government fluctuates through all the +stages, from non-age to dotage. + +Thirdly, Because the representative system admits of none but men +properly qualified into the Government, or removes them if they prove +to be otherwise. Whereas, in the hereditary system, a nation may be +encumbered with a knave or an ideot for a whole life-time, and not be +benefited by a successor. + +Fourthly, Because there does not exist a right to establish hereditary +government, or, in other words, hereditary successors, because +hereditary government always means a government yet to come, and the +case always is, that those who are to live afterwards have the same +right to establish government for themselves, as the people had who +lived before them; and, therefore, all laws attempting to establish +hereditary government, are founded on assumption and political fiction. + +If these positions be truths, and I challenge any man to prove the +contrary; if they tend to instruct and enlighten mankind, and to free +them from error, oppression, and political superstition, which are the +objects I have in view in publishing them, that Jury would commit an act +of injustice to their country, and to me, if not an act of perjury, that +should call them _false, wicked, and malicious_. + +Dragonetti, in his treatise "On Virtues and Rewards," has a paragraph +worthy of being recorded in every country in the world--"The science +(says he,) of the politician, consists, in, fixing the true point of +happiness and freedom. Those men deserve the gratitude of ages who +should discover a mode of government that contained the greatest sum of +_individual happiness_ with the least _national expence_." But if Juries +are to be made use of to prohibit enquiry, to suppress truth, and +to stop the progress of knowledge, this boasted palladium of liberty +becomes the most successful instrument of tyranny. + +Among the arts practised at the Bar, and from the Bench, to impose +upon the understanding of a Jury, and to obtain a Verdict where +the consciences of men could not otherwise consent, one of the most +successful has been that of calling _truth a libel_, and of insinuating +that the words "_falsely, wickedly, and maliciously_," though they +are made the formidable and high sounding part of the charge, are not +matters of consideration with a Jury. For what purpose, then, are they +retained, unless it be for that of imposition and wilful defamation? + +I cannot conceive a greater violation of order, nor a more abominable +insult upon morality, and upon human understanding, than to see a man +sitting in the judgment seat, affecting by an antiquated foppery of +dress to impress the audience with awe; then causing witnesses and Jury +to be sworn to truth and justice, himself having officially sworn the +same; then causing to be read a prosecution against a man charging him +with having _wickedly and maliciously written and published a certain +false, wicked, and seditious book_; and having gone through all this +with a shew of solemnity, as if he saw the eye of the Almighty darting +through the roof of the building like a ray of light, turn, in an +instant, the whole into a farce, and, in order to obtain a verdict +that could not otherwise be obtained, tell the Jury that the charge of +_falsely, wickedly, and seditiously_, meant nothing; that _truth_ was +out of the question; and that whether the person accused spoke truth or +falsehood, or intended _virtuously or wickedly_, was the same thing; +and finally conclude the wretched inquisitorial scene, by stating +some antiquated precedent, equally as abominable as that which is then +acting, or giving some opinion of his own, and _falsely calling the one +and the other--Law_. It was, most probably, to such a Judge as this, +that the most solemn of all reproofs was given--"_The Lord will smite +thee, thou whitened wall_." + +I now proceed to offer some remarks on what is called a Special Jury. As +to what is called a Special Verdict, I shall make no other remark upon +it, than that it is in reality _not_ a verdict. It is an attempt on the +part of the Jury to delegate, or of the Bench to obtain, the exercise of +that right, which is committed to the Jury only. + +With respect to the Special Juries, I shall state such matters as I have +been able to collect, for I do not find any uniform opinion concerning +the mode of appointing them. + +In the first place, this mode of trial is but of modern invention, and +the origin of it, as I am told, is as follows: + +Formerly, when disputes arose between Merchants, and were brought before +a Court, the case was that the nature of their commerce, and the method +of keeping Merchants' accounts not being sufficiently understood by +persons out of their own line, it became necessary to depart from the +common mode of appointing Juries, and to select such persons for a Jury +whose _practical knowledge_ would enable them to decide upon the case. +From this introduction, Special Juries became more general; but some +doubts having arisen as to their legality, an act was passed in the 3d +of George II. to establish them as legal, and also to extend them to all +cases, not only between individuals, but in cases where _the Government +itself should be the prosecutor_. This most probably gave rise to the +suspicion so generally entertained of packing a Jury; because, by this +act, when the Crown, as it is called, is the Prosecutor, the Master of +the Crown-office, who holds his office under the Crown, is the person +who either wholly nominates, or has great power in nominating the Jury, +and therefore it has greatly the appearance of the prosecuting party +selecting a Jury. + +The process is as follows: + +On motion being made in Court, by either the Plaintiff or Defendant, for +a Special Jury, the Court grants it or not, at its own discretion. + +If it be granted, the Solicitor of the party that applied for the +Special Jury, gives notice to the Solicitor of the adverse party, and a +day and hour are appointed for them to meet at the office of the Master +of the Crown-office. The Master of the Crown-office sends to the Sheriff +or his deputy, who attends with the Sheriff's book of Freeholders. From +this book, forty-eight names are taken, and a copy thereof given to each +of the parties; and, on a future day, notice is again given, and the +Solicitors meet a second time, and each strikes out twelve names. The +list being thus reduced from forty-eight to twenty-four, the first +twelve that appear in Court, and answer to their names, is the Special +Jury for that cause. The first operation, that of taking the forty-eight +names, is called nominating the Jury; and the reducing them to +twenty-four is called striking the Jury. + +Having thus stated the general process, I come to particulars, and the +first question will be, how are the forty-eight names, out of which the +Jury is to be struck, obtained from the Sheriff's book? For herein lies +the principal ground of suspicion, with respect to what is understood by +packing of Juries. + +Either they must be taken by some rule agreed upon between the parties, +or by some common rule known and established beforehand, or at the +discretion of some person, who in such a case, ought to be perfectly +disinterested in the issue, as well officially as otherwise. + +In the case of Merchants, and in all cases between individuals, +the Master of the office, called the Crown-office, is officially an +indifferent person, and as such may be a proper person to act between +the parties, and present them with a list of forty-eight names, out of +which each party is to strike twelve. But the case assumes an entire +difference of character, when the Government itself is the Prosecutor. +The Master of the Crown-office is then an officer holding his office +under the Prosecutor; and it is therefore no wonder that the suspicion +of packing Juries should, in such cases, have been so prevalent. + +This will apply with additional force, when the prosecution is commenced +against the Author or Publisher of such Works as treat of reforms, and +of the abolition of superfluous places and offices, &c, because in such +cases every person holding an office, subject to that suspicion, becomes +interested as a party; and the office, called the Crown-office, may, +upon examination, be found to be of this description. + +I have heard it asserted, that the Master of the Crown-office is to open +the sheriff's book as it were per hazard, and take thereout forty-eight +_following_ names, to which the word Merchant or Esquire is affixed. +The former of these are certainly proper, when the case is between +Merchants, and it has reference to the origin of the custom, and to +nothing else. As to the word Esquire, every man is an Esquire who +pleases to call himself Esquire; and the sensible part of mankind are +leaving it off. But the matter for enquiry is, whether there be any +existing law to direct the mode by which the forty-eight names shall be +taken, or whether the mode be merely that of custom which the office has +created; or whether the selection of the forty-eight names be wholly +at the discretion and choice of the Master of the Crown-office? One or +other of the two latter appears to be the case, because the act already +mentioned, of the 3d of George II. lays down no rule or mode, nor refers +to any preceding law--but says only, that Special Juries shall hereafter +be struck, "_in such manner as Special Juries have been and are usually +struck_." + +This act appears to have been what is generally understood by a "_deep +take in_." It was fitted to the spur of the moment in which it was +passed, 3d of George II. when parties ran high, and it served to throw +into the hands of Walpole, who was then Minister, the management of +Juries in Crown prosecutions, by making the nomination of the +forty-eight persons, from whom the Jury was to be struck, follow the +precedent established by custom between individuals, and by this means +slipt into practice with less suspicion. Now, the manner of obtaining +Special Juries through the medium of an officer of the Government, such, +for instance, as a Master of the Crown-office, may be impartial in the +case of Merchants or other individuals, but it becomes highly improper +and suspicious in cases where the Government itself is one of the +parties. And it must, upon the whole, appear a strange inconsistency, +that a Government should keep one officer to commence prosecutions, and +another officer to nominate the forty-eight persons from whom the Jury +is to be struck, both of whom are _officers of the Civil List_, and yet +continue to call this by the pompous name of _the glorious "Right of +trial by Jury!_" + +In the case of the King against Jordan, for publishing the Rights of +Man, the Attorney-General moved for the appointment of a Special Jury, +and the Master of the Crown-office nominated the forty-eight persons +himself, and took them from such part of the Sheriff's book as he +pleased. + +The trial did not come on, occasioned by Jordan withdrawing his plea; +but if it had, it might have afforded an opportunity of discussing the +subject of Special Juries; for though such discussion might have had +no effect in the Court of King's Bench, it would, in the present +disposition for enquiry, have had a considerable effect upon the +Country; and, in all national reforms, this is the proper point to begin +at. But a Country right, and it will soon put Government right. Among +the improper things acted by the Government in the case of Special +Juries, on their own motion, one has been that of treating the Jury with +a dinner, and afterwards giving each Juryman two guineas, if a verdict +be found for the prosecution, and only one if otherwise; and it has been +long observed, that, in London and Westminster, there are persons who +appear to make a trade of serving, by being so frequently seen upon +Special Juries. + +Thus much for Special Juries. As to what is called a _Common Jury_, upon +any Government prosecution against the Author or Publisher of RIGHTS OF +Man, during the time of the _present Sheriffry_, I have one question +to offer, which is, _whether the present Sheriffs of London, having +publicly prejudged the case, by the part they have taken in procuring +an Address from the county of Middlesex, (however diminutive and +insignificant the number of Addressers were, being only one hundred and +eighteen,) are eligible or proper persons to be intrusted with the power +of returning a Jury to try the issue of any such prosecution_. + +But the whole matter appears, at least to me, to be worthy of a more +extensive consideration than what relates to any Jury, whether Special +or Common; for the case is, whether any part of a whole nation, locally +selected as a Jury of twelve men always is, be competent to judge and +determine for the whole nation, on any matter that relates to systems +and principles of Government, and whether it be not applying the +institution of Juries to purposes for which such institutions were not +intended? For example, + +I have asserted, in the Work Rights of Man, that as every man in the +nation pays taxes, so has every man a right to a share in government, +and consequently that the people of Manchester, Birmingham, Sheffield, +Leeds, Halifax, &c have the same right as those of London. Shall, then, +twelve men, picked out between Temple-bar and Whitechapel, because the +book happened to be first published there, decide upon the rights of +the inhabitants of those towns, or of any other town or village in the +nation? + +Having thus spoken of Juries, I come next to offer a few observations on +the matter contained in the information or prosecution. + +The work, Rights of Man, consists of Part the First, and Fart the +Second. The First Part the prosecutor has thought it most proper to let +alone; and from the Second Fart he has selected a few short paragraphs, +making in the whole not quite two pages of the same printing as in the +cheap edition. Those paragraphs relate chiefly to certain facts, such +as the revolution of 1688, and the coming of George the First, commonly +called of the House of Hanover, or the House of Brunswick, or some such +House. The arguments, plans and principles contained in the work, the +prosecutor has not ventured to attack. They are beyond his reach. + +The Act which the prosecutor appears to rest most upon for the support +of the prosecution, is the Act intituled, "An Act, declaring the rights +and liberties of the subject, and settling the succession of the crown," +passed in the first year of William and Mary, and more commonly known by +the name of the "Bill of Rights." + +I have called this bill "_A Bill of wrongs and of insult_." My reasons, +and also my proofs, are as follow: + +The method and principle which this Bill takes for declaring rights and +liberties, are in direct contradiction to rights and liberties; it is an +assumed attempt to take them wholly from posterity--for the declaration +in the said Bill is as follows: + +"The Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, do, in _the name of all +the people_, most humbly and faithfully _submit themselves, their heirs, +and posterity for ever_;" that is, to William and Mary his wife, their +heirs and successors. This is a strange way of declaring rights and +liberties. But the Parliament who made this declaration in the name, and +on the part, of the people, had no authority from them for so doing; +and with respect to _posterity for ever_, they had no right or authority +whatever in the case. It was assumption and usurpation. I have reasoned +very extensively against the principle of this Bill, in the first part +of Rights of Man; the prosecutor has silently admitted that reasoning, +and he now commences a prosecution on the authority of the Bill, after +admitting the reasoning against it. + +It is also to be observed, that the declaration in this Bill, abject and +irrational as it is, had no other intentional operation than against the +family of the Stuarts, and their abettors. The idea did not then exist, +that in the space of an hundred years, posterity might discover a +different and much better system of government, and that every species +of hereditary government might fall, as Popes and Monks had fallen +before. This, I say, was not then thought of, and therefore the +application of the Bill, in the present case, is a new, erroneous, and +illegal application, and is the same as creating a new Bill _ex post +facto_. + +It has ever been the craft of Courtiers, for the purpose of keeping +up an expensive and enormous Civil List, and a mummery of useless and +antiquated places and offices at the public expence, to be continually +hanging England upon some individual or other, called _King_, though +the man might not have capacity to be a parish constable. The folly and +absurdity of this, is appearing more and more every day; and still those +men continue to act as if no alteration in the public opinion had taken +place. They hear each other's nonsense, and suppose the whole nation +talks the same Gibberish. + +Let such men cry up the House of Orange, or the House of Brunswick, +if they please. They would cry up any other house if it suited their +purpose, and give as good reasons for it. But what is this house, or +that house, or any other house to a nation? "_For a nation to be free, +it is sufficient that she wills it_." Her freedom depends wholly upon +herself, and not on any house, nor on any individual. I ask not in what +light this cargo of foreign houses appears to others, but I will say in +what light it appears to me--It was like the trees of the forest, saying +unto the bramble, come thou and reign over us. + +Thus much for both their houses. I now come to speak of two other +houses, which are also put into the information, and those are the +House of Lords, and the House of Commons. Here, I suppose, the +Attorney-General intends to prove me guilty of speaking either truth +or falsehood; for, according to the modern interpretation of Libels, it +does not signify which, and the only improvement necessary to shew the +compleat absurdity of such doctrine, would be, to prosecute a man for +uttering a most _false and wicked truth_. + +I will quote the part I am going to give, from the Office Copy, with the +Attorney General's inuendoes, enclosed in parentheses as they stand in +the information, and I hope that civil list officer will caution the +Court not to laugh when he reads them, and also to take care not to +laugh himself. + +The information states, that _Thomas Paine, being a wicked, malicious, +seditious, and evil-disposed person, hath, with force and arms, and +most wicked cunning, written and published a certain false, scandalous, +malicious, and seditious libel; in one part thereof, to the tenor and +effect following, that is to say_-- + +"With respect to the two Houses, of which the English Parliament +(_meaning the Parliament of this Kingdom_) is composed, they appear to +be effectually influenced into one, and, as a Legislature, to have no +temper of its own. The Minister, (_meaning the Minuter employed by the +King of this Realm, in the administration of the Government thereof_) +whoever he at any time may be, touches it (_meaning the two Houses of +Parliament of this Kingdom_) as with an opium wand, and it (_meaning the +two Houses of Parliament of this Kingdom_) sleeps obedience." + +As I am not malicious enough to disturb their repose, though it be time +they should awake, I leave the two Houses and the Attorney General, to +the enjoyment of their dreams, and proceed to a new subject. + +The Gentlemen, to whom I shall next address myself, are those who have +stiled themselves "_Friends of the people_," holding their meeting at +the Freemasons' Tavern, London.(1) + +One of the principal Members of this Society, is Mr. Grey, who, I +believe, is also one of the most independent Members in Parliament.(2) +I collect this opinion from what Mr. Burke formerly mentioned to me, +rather than from any knowledge of my own. The occasion was as follows: + +I was in England at the time the bubble broke forth about Nootka Sound: +and the day after the King's Message, as it is called, was sent to +Parliament, I wrote a note to Mr. Burke, that upon the condition the +French Revolution should not be a subject (for he was then writing +the book I have since answered) I would call on him the next day, and +mention some matters I was acquainted with, respecting the affair; for +it appeared to me extraordinary that any body of men, calling themselves +Representatives, should commit themselves so precipitately, or "sleep +obedience," as Parliament was then doing, and run a nation into expence, +and perhaps a war, without so much as enquiring into the case, or the +subject, of both which I had some knowledge. + + 1 See in the Introduction to this volume Chauvelin's account + of this Association.--_Editor._ + + 2 In the debate in the House of Commons, Dec. 14, 1793, Mr. + Grey is thus reported: "Mr. Grey was not a friend to + Paine's doctrines, but he was not to be deterred by a man + from acknowledging that he considered the rights of man as + the foundation of every government, and those who stood out + against those rights as conspirators against the people." He + severely denounced the Proclamation. Parl. Hist., vol. + xxvi.--_Editor._ + +When I saw Mr. Burke, and mentioned the circumstances to him, he +particularly spoke of Mr. Grey, as the fittest Member to bring such +matters forward; "for," said Mr. Burke, "_I am not the proper_ person to +do it, as I am in a treaty with Mr. Pitt about Mr. Hastings's trial." I +hope the Attorney General will allow, that Mr. Burke was then _sleeping +his obedience_.--But to return to the Society------ + +I cannot bring myself to believe, that the general motive of this +Society is any thing more than that by which every former parliamentary +opposition has been governed, and by which the present is sufficiently +known. Failing in their pursuit of power and place within doors, they +have now (and that in not a very mannerly manner) endeavoured to possess +themselves of that ground out of doors, which, had it not been made +by others, would not have been made by them. They appear to me to have +watched, with more cunning than candour, the progress of a certain +publication, and when they saw it had excited a spirit of enquiry, +and was rapidly spreading, they stepped forward to profit by the +opportunity, and Mr. Fox _then_ called it a Libel. In saying this, he +libelled himself. Politicians of this cast, such, I mean, as those who +trim between parties, and lye by for events, are to be found in every +country, and it never yet happened that they did not do more harm +than good. They embarrass business, fritter it to nothing, perplex the +people, and the event to themselves generally is, that they go just +far enough to make enemies of the few, without going far enough to make +friends of the many. + +Whoever will read the declarations of this Society, of the 25th of April +and 5th of May, will find a studied reserve upon all the points that are +real abuses. They speak not once of the extravagance of Government, of +the abominable list of unnecessary and sinecure places and pensions, of +the enormity of the Civil List, of the excess of taxes, nor of any one +matter that substantially affects the nation; and from some conversation +that has passed in that Society, it does not appear to me that it is +any part of their plan to carry this class of reforms into practice. No +Opposition Party ever did, when it gained possession. + +In making these free observations, I mean not to enter into contention +with this Society; their incivility towards me is what I should expect +from place-hunting reformers. They are welcome, however, to the ground +they have advanced upon, and I wish that every individual among them may +act in the same upright, uninfluenced, and public spirited manner that I +have done. Whatever reforms may be obtained, and by whatever means, +they will be for the benefit of others and not of me. I have no other +interest in the cause than the interest of my heart. The part I have +acted has been wholly that of a volunteer, unconnected with party; and +when I quit, it shall be as honourably as I began. + +I consider the reform of Parliament, by an application to Parliament, as +proposed by the Society, to be a worn-out hackneyed subject, about which +the nation is tired, and the parties are deceiving each other. It is not +a subject that is cognizable before Parliament, because no Government +has a right to alter itself, either in whole or in part. The right, +and the exercise of that right, appertains to the nation only, and the +proper means is by a national convention, elected for the purpose, by +all the people. By this, the will of the nation, whether to reform or +not, or what the reform shall be, or how far it shall extend, will be +known, and it cannot be known by any other means. Partial addresses, or +separate associations, are not testimonies of the general will. + +It is, however, certain, that the opinions of men, with respect +to systems and principles of government, are changing fast in all +countries. The alteration in England, within the space of a little more +than a year, is far greater than could have been believed, and it is +daily and hourly increasing. It moves along the country with the silence +of thought. The enormous expence of Government has provoked men to +think, by making them feel; and the Proclamation has served to increase +jealousy and disgust. To prevent, therefore, those commotions which too +often and too suddenly arise from suffocated discontents, it is best +that the general WILL should have the full and free opportunity of being +publicly ascertained and known. + +Wretched as the state of representation is in England, it is every +day becoming worse, because the unrepresented parts of the nation are +increasing in population and property, and the represented parts are +decreasing. It is, therefore, no ill-grounded estimation to say, that +as not one person in seven is represented, at least fourteen millions of +taxes out of the seventeen millions, are paid by the unrepresented part; +for although copyholds and leaseholds are assessed to the land-tax, the +holders are unrepresented. Should then a general demur take place as to +the obligation of paying taxes, on the ground of not being represented, +it is not the Representatives of Rotten Boroughs, nor Special Juries, +that can decide the question. This is one of the possible cases that +ought to be foreseen, in order to prevent the inconveniencies that might +arise to numerous individuals, by provoking it. + +I confess I have no idea of petitioning for rights. Whatever the rights +of people are, they have a right to them, and none have a right either +to withhold them, or to grant them. Government ought to be established +on such principles of justice as to exclude the occasion of all such +applications, for wherever they appear they are virtually accusations. + +I wish that Mr. Grey, since he has embarked in the business, would take +the whole of it into consideration. He will then see that the right of +reforming the state of the Representation does not reside in Parliament, +and that the only motion he could consistently make would be, that +Parliament should _recommend_ the election of a convention of the +people, because all pay taxes. But whether Parliament recommended it +or not, the right of the nation would neither be lessened nor increased +thereby. + +As to Petitions from the unrepresented part, they ought not to be looked +for. As well might it be expected that Manchester, Sheffield, &c. +should petition the rotten Boroughs, as that they should petition the +Representatives of those Boroughs. Those two towns alone pay far more +taxes than all the rotten Boroughs put together, and it is scarcely to +be expected they should pay their court either to the Boroughs, or the +Borough-mongers. + +It ought also to be observed, that what is called Parliament, is +composed of two houses that have always declared against the right of +each other to interfere in any matter that related to the circumstances +of either, particularly that of election. A reform, therefore, in the +representation cannot, on the ground they have individually taken, +become the subject of an act of Parliament, because such a mode would +include the interference, against which the Commons on their part have +protested; but must, as well on the ground of formality, as on that of +right, proceed from a National Convention. + +Let Mr. Grey, or any other man, sit down and endeavour to put his +thoughts together, for the purpose of drawing up an application to +Parliament for a reform of Parliament, and he will soon convince himself +of the folly of the attempt. He will find that he cannot get on; that +he cannot make his thoughts join, so as to produce any effect; for, +whatever formality of words he may use, they will unavoidably include +two ideas directly opposed to each other; the one in setting forth +the reasons, the other in praying for relief, and the two, when placed +together, would stand thus: "_The Representation in Parliament is so +very corrupt, that we can no longer confide in it,--and, therefore, +confiding in the justice and wisdom of Parliament, we pray_," &c, &c. + +The heavy manner in which every former proposed application to +Parliament has dragged, sufficiently shews, that though the nation might +not exactly see the awkwardness of the measure, it could not clearly see +its way, by those means. To this also may be added another remark, which +is, that the worse Parliament is, the less will be the inclination to +petition it. This indifference, viewed as it ought to be, is one of the +strongest censures the public express. It is as if they were to say to +them, "Ye are not worth reforming." + +Let any man examine the Court-Kalendar of Placemen in both Houses, and +the manner in which the Civil List operates, and he will be at no loss +to account for this indifference and want of confidence on one side, nor +of the opposition to reforms on the other. + +Who would have supposed that Mr. Burke, holding forth as he formerly +did against secret influence, and corrupt majorities, should become +a concealed Pensioner? I will now state the case, not for the little +purpose of exposing Mr. Burke, but to shew the inconsistency of any +application to a body of men, more than half of whom, as far as the +nation can at present know, may be in the same case with himself. + +Towards the end of Lord North's administration, Mr. Burke brought a bill +into Parliament, generally known by Mr. Burke's Reform Bill; in which, +among other things, it is enacted, "That no pension exceeding the sum +of three hundred pounds a year, shall be granted to any one person, +and that the whole amount of the pensions granted in one year shall not +exceed six hundred pounds; a list of which, together with the _names +of the persons_ to whom the same are granted, shall be laid before +Parliament in twenty days after the beginning of each session, until +the whole pension list shall be reduced to ninety thousand pounds." A +provisory clause is afterwards added, "That it shall be lawful for the +First Commissioner of the Treasury, to return into the Exchequer any +pension or annuity, _without a name_, on his making oath that such +pension or annuity is not directly or indirectly for the benefit, use, +or behoof of any Member of the House of Commons." + +But soon after that administration ended, and the party Mr. Burke acted +with came into power, it appears from the circumstances I am going to +relate, that Mr. Burke became himself a Pensioner in disguise; in a +similar manner as if a pension had been granted in the name of John +Nokes, to be privately paid to and enjoyed by Tom Stiles. The name of +Edmund Burke does not appear in the original transaction: but after the +pension was obtained, Mr. Burke wanted to make the most of it at once, +by selling or mortgaging it; and the gentleman in whose name the pension +stands, applied to one of the public offices for that purpose. This +unfortunately brought forth the name of _Edmund Burke_, as the real +Pensioner of 1,500L. per annum.(1) When men trumpet forth what they call +the blessings of the Constitution, it ought to be known what sort of +blessings they allude to. + +As to the Civil List of a million a year, it is not to be supposed that +any one man can eat, drink, or consume the whole upon himself. The case +is, that above half the sum is annually apportioned among Courtiers, +and Court Members, of both Houses, in places and offices, altogether +insignificant and perfectly useless as to every purpose of civil, +rational, and manly government. For instance, + +Of what use in the science and system of Government is what is called +a Lord Chamberlain, a Master and Mistress of the Robes, a Master of the +Horse, a Master of the Hawks, and one hundred other such things? Laws +derive no additional force, nor additional excellence from such mummery. + +In the disbursements of the Civil List for the year 1786, (which may be +seen in Sir John Sinclair's History of the Revenue,) are four separate +charges for this mummery office of Chamberlain: + +[Illustration: table110] + +From this sample the rest may be guessed at. As to the Master of the +Hawks, (there are no hawks kept, and if there were, it is no reason the +people should pay the expence of feeding them, many of whom are put to +it to get bread for their children,) his salary is 1,372L. 10s. + + 1 See note at the end of this chapter.--_Editor._ + +And besides a list of items of this kind, sufficient to fill a quire of +paper, the Pension lists alone are 107,404L. 13s. 4d. which is a greater +sum than all the expences of the federal Government in America amount +to. + +Among the items, there are two I had no expectation of finding, and +which, in this day of enquiry after Civil List influence, ought to be +exposed. The one is an annual payment of one thousand seven hundred +pounds to the Dissenting Ministers in England, and the other, eight +hundred pounds to those of Ireland. + +This is the fact; and the distribution, as I am informed, is as follows: +The whole sum of 1,700L. is paid to one person, a Dissenting Minister +in London, who divides it among eight others, and those eight among such +others as they please. The Lay-body of the Dissenters, and many of their +principal Ministers, have long considered it as dishonourable, and have +endeavoured to prevent it, but still it continues to be secretly paid; +and as the world has sometimes seen very fulsome Addresses from parts of +that body, it may naturally be supposed that the receivers, like Bishops +and other Court-Clergy, are not idle in promoting them. How the money is +distributed in Ireland, I know not. + +To recount all the secret history of the Civil List, is not the +intention of this publication. It is sufficient, in this place, to +expose its general character, and the mass of influence it keeps alive. +It will necessarily become one of the objects of reform; and therefore +enough is said to shew that, under its operation, no application to +Parliament can be expected to succeed, nor can consistently be made. + +Such reforms will not be promoted by the Party that is in possession of +those places, nor by the Opposition who are waiting for them; and as +to a _mere reform_, in the state of the Representation, the idea that +another Parliament, differently elected from the present, but still a +third component part of the same system, and subject to the controul of +the other two parts, will abolish those abuses, is altogether delusion; +because it is not only impracticable on the ground of formality, but is +unwisely exposing another set of men to the same corruptions that have +tainted the present. + +Were all the objects that require reform accomplishable by a mere reform +in the state of the Representation, the persons who compose the present +Parliament might, with rather more propriety, be asked to abolish all +the abuses themselves, than be applied to as the more instruments of +doing it by a future Parliament. If the virtue be wanting to abolish the +abuse, it is also wanting to act as the means, and the nation must, from +necessity, proceed by some other plan. + +Having thus endeavoured to shew what the abject condition of Parliament +is, and the impropriety of going a second time over the same ground that +has before miscarried, I come to the remaining part of the subject. + +There ought to be, in the constitution of every country, a mode of +referring back, on any extraordinary occasion, to the sovereign and +original constituent power, which is the nation itself. The right of +altering any part of a Government, cannot, as already observed, reside +in the Government, or that Government might make itself what it pleased. + +It ought also to be taken for granted, that though a nation may feel +inconveniences, either in the excess of taxation, or in the mode of +expenditure, or in any thing else, it may not at first be sufficiently +assured in what part of its government the defect lies, or where the +evil originates. It may be supposed to be in one part, and on enquiry +be found to be in another; or partly in all. This obscurity is naturally +interwoven with what are called mixed Governments. + +Be, however, the reform to be accomplished whatever it may, it can only +follow in consequence of obtaining a full knowledge of all the causes +that have rendered such reform necessary, and every thing short of this +is guess-work or frivolous cunning. In this case, it cannot be supposed +that any application to Parliament can bring forward this knowledge. +That body is itself the supposed cause, or one of the supposed causes, +of the abuses in question; and cannot be expected, and ought not to be +asked, to give evidence against itself. The enquiry, therefore, which +is of necessity the first step in the business, cannot be trusted to +Parliament, but must be undertaken by a distinct body of men, separated +from every suspicion of corruption or influence. + +Instead, then, of referring to rotten Boroughs and absurd Corporations +for Addresses, or hawking them about the country to be signed by a few +dependant tenants, the real and effectual mode would be to come at once +to the point, and to ascertain the sense of the nation by electing a +National Convention. By this method, as already observed, the general +WILL, whether to reform or not, or what the reform shall be, or how +far it shall extend, will be known, and it cannot be known by any other +means. Such a body, empowered and supported by the nation, will have +authority to demand information upon all matters necessary to be +en-quired into; and no Minister, nor any person, will dare to refuse it. +It will then be seen whether seventeen millions of taxes are necessary, +and for what purposes they are expended. The concealed Pensioners will +then be obliged to unmask; and the source of influence and corruption, +if any such there be, will be laid open to the nation, not for the +purpose of revenge, but of redress. + +By taking this public and national ground, all objections against +partial Addresses on the one side, or private associations on the other, +will be done away; THE NATION WILL DECLARE ITS OWN REFORMS; and the +clamour about Party and Faction, or Ins or Outs, will become ridiculous. + +The plan and organization of a convention is easy in practice. + +In the first place, the number of inhabitants in every county can be +sufficiently ascertained from the number of houses assessed to the +House and Window-light tax in each county. This will give the rule +for apportioning the number of Members to be elected to the National +Convention in each of the counties. + +If the total number of inhabitants in England be seven millions, and the +total number of Members to be elected to the Convention be one thousand, +the number of members to be elected in a county containing one hundred +and fifty thousand inhabitants will be _twenty-one_, and in like +proportion for any other county. + +As the election of a Convention must, in order to ascertain the general +sense of the nation, go on grounds different from that of Parliamentary +elections, the mode that best promises this end will have no +difficulties to combat with from absurd customs and pretended rights. +The right of every man will be the same, whether he lives in a city, +a town, or a village. The custom of attaching Rights to _place_, or +in other words, to inanimate matter, instead of to the _person_, +independently of place, is too absurd to make any part of a rational +argument. + +As every man in the nation, of the age of twenty-one years, pays taxes, +either out of the property he possesses, or out of the product of his +labor, which is property to him; and is amenable in his own person to +every law of the land; so has every one the same equal right to vote, +and no one part of the nation, nor any individual, has a right to +dispute the right of another. The man who should do this ought to +forfeit the exercise of his _own_ right, for a term of years. This would +render the punishment consistent with the crime. + +When a qualification to vote is regulated by years, it is placed on the +firmest possible ground; because the qualification is such, as nothing +but dying before the time can take away; and the equality of Rights, as +a principle, is recognized in the act of regulating the exercise. But +when Rights are placed upon, or made dependant upon property, they are +on the most precarious of all tenures. "Riches make themselves wings, +and fly away," and the rights fly with them; and thus they become lost +to the man when they would be of most value. + +It is from a strange mixture of tyranny and cowardice, that exclusions +have been set up and continued. The boldness to do wrong at first, +changes afterwards into cowardly craft, and at last into fear. The +Representatives in England appear now to act as if they were afraid to +do right, even in part, lest it should awaken the nation to a sense of +all the wrongs it has endured. This case serves to shew, that the same +conduct that best constitutes the safety of an individual, namely, +a strict adherence to principle, constitutes also the safety of a +Government, and that without it safety is but an empty name. When the +rich plunder the poor of his rights, it becomes an example to the poor +to plunder the rich of his property; for the rights of the one are +as much property to him, as wealth is property to the other, and the +_little all_ is as dear as the _much_. It is only by setting out on just +principles that men are trained to be just to each other; and it will +always be found, that when the rich protect the rights of the poor, the +poor will protect the property of the rich. But the guarantee, to be +effectual, must be parliamentarily reciprocal. + +Exclusions are not only unjust, but they frequently operate as +injuriously to the party who monopolizes, as to those who are excluded. +When men seek to exclude others from participating in the exercise of +any right, they should, at least, be assured, that they can effectually +perform the whole of the business they undertake; for, unless they do +this, themselves will be losers by the monopoly. This has been the case +with respect to the monopolized right of Election. The monopolizing +party has not been able to keep the Parliamentary Representation, to +whom the power of taxation was entrusted, in the state it ought to have +been, and have thereby multiplied taxes upon themselves equally with +those who were excluded. + +A great deal has been, and will continue to be said, about +disqualifications, arising from the commission of offences; but were +this subject urged to its full extent, it would disqualify a great +number of the present Electors, together with their Representatives; +for, of all offences, none are more destructive to the morals of Society +than Bribery and Corruption. It is, therefore, civility to such persons +to pass this subject over, and to give them a fair opportunity of +recovering, or rather of creating character. + +Every thing, in the present mode of electioneering in England, is the +reverse of what it ought to be, and the vulgarity that attends elections +is no other than the natural consequence of inverting the order of the +system. + +In the first place, the Candidate seeks the Elector, instead of the +Elector seeking for a Representative; and the Electors are advertised as +being in the interest of the Candidate, instead of the Candidate being +in the interest of the Electors. The Candidate pays the Elector for his +vote, instead of the Nation paying the Representative for his time and +attendance on public business. The complaint for an undue election is +brought by the Candidate, as if he, and not the Electors, were the party +aggrieved; and he takes on himself, at any period of the election, to +break it up, by declining, as if the election was in his right and not +in theirs. + +The compact that was entered into at the last Westminster election +between two of the candidates (Mr. Fox and Lord Hood,) was an indecent +violation of the principles of election. The Candidates assumed, in +their own persons, the rights of the Electors; for, it was only in the +body of the Electors, and not at all in the Candidates, that the +right of making any such compact, or compromise, could exist. But the +principle of Election and Representation is so completely done away, +in every stage thereof, that inconsistency has no longer the power of +surprising. + +Neither from elections thus conducted, nor from rotten Borough +Addressers, nor from County-meetings, promoted by Placemen and +Pensioners, can the sense of the nation be known. It is still corruption +appealing to itself. But a Convention of a thousand persons, fairly +elected, would bring every matter to a decided issue. + +As to County-meetings, it is only persons of leisure, or those who live +near to the place of meeting, that can attend, and the number on such +occasions is but like a drop in the bucket compared with the whole. The +only consistent service which such meetings could render, would be that +of apportioning the county into convenient districts, and when this is +done, each district might, according to its number of inhabitants, elect +its quota of County Members to the National Convention; and the vote of +each Elector might be taken in the parish where he resided, either by +ballot or by voice, as he should chuse to give it. + +A National Convention thus formed, would bring together the sense and +opinions of every part of the nation, fairly taken. The science of +Government, and the interest of the Public, and of the several parts +thereof, would then undergo an ample and rational discussion, freed from +the language of parliamentary disguise. + +But in all deliberations of this kind, though men have a right to +reason with, and endeavour to convince each other, upon any matter that +respects their common good, yet, in point of practice, the majority of +opinions, when known, forms a rule for the whole, and to this rule every +good citizen practically conforms. + +Mr. Burke, as if he knew, (for every concealed Pensioner has the +opportunity of knowing,) that the abuses acted under the present system, +are too flagrant to be palliated, and that the majority of opinions, +whenever such abuses should be made public, would be for a general and +effectual reform, has endeavoured to preclude the event, by sturdily +denying the right of a majority of a nation to act as a whole. Let us +bestow a thought upon this case. + +When any matter is proposed as a subject for consultation, it +necessarily implies some mode of decision. Common consent, arising from +absolute necessity, has placed this in a majority of opinions; because, +without it, there can be no decision, and consequently no order. It is, +perhaps, the only case in which mankind, however various in their ideas +upon other matters, can consistently be unanimous; because it is a mode +of decision derived from the primary original right of every individual +concerned; _that_ right being first individually exercised in giving an +opinion, and whether that opinion shall arrange with the minority or the +majority, is a subsequent accidental thing that neither increases nor +diminishes the individual original right itself. Prior to any debate, +enquiry, or investigation, it is not supposed to be known on which side +the majority of opinions will fall, and therefore, whilst this mode of +decision secures to every one the right of giving an opinion, it admits +to every one an equal chance in the ultimate event. + +Among the matters that will present themselves to the consideration of +a national convention, there is one, wholly of a domestic nature, but so +marvellously loaded with con-fusion, as to appear at first sight, almost +impossible to be reformed. I mean the condition of what is called Law. + +But, if we examine into the cause from whence this confusion, now so +much the subject of universal complaint, is produced, not only the +remedy will immediately present itself, but, with it, the means of +preventing the like case hereafter. + +In the first place, the confusion has generated itself from the +absurdity of every Parliament assuming to be eternal in power, and +the laws partake in a similar manner, of this assumption. They have no +period of legal or natural expiration; and, however absurd in principle, +or inconsistent in practice many of them have become, they still are, +if not especially repealed, considered as making a part of the general +mass. By this means the body of what is called Law, is spread over a +space of _several hundred years_, comprehending laws obsolete, laws +repugnant, laws ridiculous, and every other kind of laws forgotten +or remembered; and what renders the case still worse, is, that the +confusion multiplies with the progress of time. (*) + +To bring this misshapen monster into form, and to prevent its lapsing +again into a wilderness state, only two things, and those very simple, +are necessary. + +The first is, to review the whole mass of laws, and to bring forward +such only as are worth retaining, and let all the rest drop; and to give +to the laws so brought forward a new era, commencing from the time of +such reform. + + * In the time of Henry IV. a law was passed making it felony + "to multiply gold or silver, or to make use of the craft of + multiplication," and this law remained two hundred and + eighty-six years upon the statute books. It was then + repealed as being ridiculous and injurious.--_Author_. + +Secondly; that at the expiration of every twenty-one years (or any other +stated period) a like review shall again be taken, and the laws, found +proper to be retained, be again carried forward, commencing with that +date, and the useless laws dropped and discontinued. + +By this means there can be no obsolete laws, and scarcely such a thing +as laws standing in direct or equivocal contradiction to each other, and +every person will know the period of time to which he is to look back +for all the laws in being. + +It is worth remarking, that while every other branch of science is +brought within some commodious system, and the study of it simplified by +easy methods, the laws take the contrary course, and become every year +more complicated, entangled, confused, and obscure. + +Among the paragraphs which the Attorney General has taken from the +_Rights of Man_, and put into his information, one is, that where I +have said, "that with respect to regular law, there is _scarcely such a +thing_." + +As I do not know whether the Attorney-General means to show this +expression to be libellous, because it is TRUE, or because it is FALSE, +I shall make no other reply to him in this place, than by remarking, +that if almanack-makers had not been more judicious than law-makers, +the study of almanacks would by this time have become as abstruse as the +study of the law, and we should hear of a library of almanacks as we +now do of statutes; but by the simple operation of letting the obsolete +matter drop, and carrying forward that only which is proper to be +retained, all that is necessary to be known is found within the space of +a year, and laws also admit of being kept within some given period. + +I shall here close this letter, so far as it respects the Addresses, the +Proclamation, and the Prosecution; and shall offer a few observations to +the Society, styling itself "The Friends of the People." + +That the science of government is beginning to be better understood than +in former times, and that the age of fiction and political superstition, +and of craft and mystery, is passing away, are matters which the +experience of every day-proves to be true, as well in England as in +other countries. + +As therefore it is impossible to calculate the silent progress of +opinion, and also impossible to govern a nation after it has changed +its habits of thinking, by the craft or policy that it was governed +by before, the only true method to prevent popular discontents and +commotions is, to throw, by every fair and rational argument, all the +light upon the subject that can possibly be thrown; and at the same +time, to open the means of collecting the general sense of the nation; +and this cannot, as already observed, be done by any plan so effectually +as a national convention. Here individual opinion will quiet itself by +having a centre to rest upon. + +The society already mentioned, (which is made up of men of various +descriptions, but chiefly of those called Foxites,) appears to me, +either to have taken wrong grounds from want of judgment, or to have +acted with cunning reserve. It is now amusing the people with a +new phrase, namely, that of "a temperate and moderate reform," the +interpretation of which is, _a continuance of the abuses as long as +possible, If we cannot hold all let us hold some_. + +Who are those that are frightened at reforms? Are the public afraid that +their taxes should be lessened too much? Are they afraid that sinecure +places and pensions should be abolished too fast? Are the poor afraid +that their condition should be rendered too comfortable? Is the worn-out +mechanic, or the aged and decayed tradesman, frightened at the prospect +of receiving ten pounds a year out of the surplus taxes? Is the soldier +frightened at the thoughts of his discharge, and three shillings per +week during life? Is the sailor afraid that press-warrants will be +abolished? The Society mistakes the fears of borough-mongers, placemen, +and pensioners, for the fears of the people; and the _temperate and +moderate Reform_ it talks of, is calculated to suit the condition of the +former. + +Those words, "temperate and moderate," are words either of political +cowardice, or of cunning, or seduction.--A thing, moderately good, is +not so good as it ought to be. Moderation in temper, is always a virtue; +but moderation in principle, is a species of vice. But who is to be the +judge of what is a temperate and moderate Reform? The Society is the +representative of nobody; neither can the unrepresented part of the +nation commit this power to those in Parliament, in whose election they +had no choice; and, therefore, even upon the ground the Society has +taken, recourse must be had to a National Convention. + +The objection which Mr. Fox made to Mr. Grey's proposed Motion for a +Parliamentary Reform was, that it contained no plan.--It certainly did +not. But the plan very easily presents itself; and whilst it is fair +for all parties, it prevents the dangers that might otherwise arise from +private or popular discontent. + +Thomas Paine. + + + Editorial Note on Burke's Alleged Secret Pension.--By + reference to Vol. II., pp. 271, 360, of this work, it will + be seen that Paine mentions a report that Burke was a + "pensioner in a fictitious name." A letter of John Hall to a + relative in Leicester, (London, May 1,1792.) says: "You will + remember that there was a vote carried, about the conclusion + of the American war, that the influence of the Crown had + increased, was increasing, and should be diminished. Burke, + poor, and like a good angler, baited a hook with a bill to + bring into Parliament, that no pensions should be given + above £300 a year, but what should be publicly granted, and + for what, (I may not be quite particular.) To stop that he + took in another person's name £1500 a year for life, and + some time past he disposed of it, or sold his life out. He + has been very still since his declension from the Whigs, and + is not concerned in the slave-trade [question?] as I hear + of." This letter, now in possession of Hall's kinsman, Dr. + Dutton Steele of Philadelphia, contains an item not in + Paine's account, which may have been derived from it. Hall + was an English scientific engineer, and acquainted with + intelligent men in London. Paine was rather eager for a + judicial encounter with Burke, and probably expected to be + sued by him for libel, as he (Burke) had once sued the + "Public Advertiser" for a personal accusation. But Burke + remained quiet under this charge, and Paine, outlawed, and + in France, had no opportunity for summoning witnesses in its + support. The biographers of Burke have silently passed over + the accusation, and this might be fair enough were this + unconfirmed charge made against a public man of stainless + reputation in such matters. But though Burke escaped + parliamentary censure for official corruption (May 16, 1783, + by only 24 majority) he has never been vindicated. It was + admitted that he had restored to office a cashier and an + accountant dismissed for dishonesty by his predecessor. + ("Pari. Hist.," xxiii., pp. 801,902.) He escaped censure by + agreeing to suspend them. One was proved guilty, the + other committed suicide. It was subsequently shown that one + of the men had been an agent of the Burkes in raising India + stock. (Dilke's "Papers of a Critic," ii-, p. 333--"Dict. + Nat Biography": art Burke.) Paine, in his letter to the + Attorney-General (IV. of this volume), charged that Burke + had been a "masked pensioner" ten years. The date + corresponds with a secret arrangement made in 1782 with + Burke for a virtual pension to his son, for life, and his + mother. Under date April 34 of that year, Burke, writing to + William Burke at Madras, reports his appointment as + Paymaster: "The office is to be 4000L. certain. Young + Richard [his son] is the deputy with a salary of 500L. The + office to be reformed according to the Bill. There is enough + emoluments. In decency it could not be more. Something + considerable is also to be secured for the life of young + Richard to be a security for him and his mother."("Mem. and + Cor. of Charles James Fox," i., p. 451.) It is thus certain + that the Rockingham Ministry were doing for the Paymaster + all they could "in decency," and that while posing as a + reformer in reducing the expenses of that office, he was + arranging for secret advantages to his family. It is said + that the arrangement failed by his loss of office, but while + so many of Burke's papers are withheld from the public (if + not destroyed), it cannot be certain that something was not + done of the kind charged by Paine. That Burke was not strict + in such matters is further shown by his efforts to secure + for his son the rich sinecure of the Clerkship of the Polls, + in which he failed. Burke was again Paymaster in 1783-4, and + this time remained long enough in office to repeat more + successfully his secret attempts to secure irregular + pensions for his family. On April 7, 1894, Messrs. Sotheby, + Wilkinson, and Hodge sold in London (Lot 404) a letter of + Burke (which I have not seen in print), dated July 16, 1795. + It was written to the Chairman of the Commission on Public + Accounts, who had required him to render his accounts for + the time he was in office as Paymaster-General, 1783-4. + Burke refuses to do so in four angry and quibbling pages, + and declares he will appeal to his country against the + demand if it is pressed. Why should Burke wish to conceal + his accounts? There certainly were suspicions around Burke, + and they may have caused Pitt to renounce his intention, + conveyed to Burke, August 30, 1794, of asking Parliament to + bestow on him a pension. "It is not exactly known," says one + of Burke's editors, "what induced Mr. Pitt to decline + bringing before Parliament a measure which he had himself + proposed without any solicitation whatever on the part of + Burke." (Burke's "Works," English Ed., 1852, ii., p. 252.) + The pensions were given without consultation with + Parliament--1200L. granted him by the King from the Civil + List, and 2500L. by Pitt in West Indian 41/2 per cents. + Burke, on taking his seat beside Pitt in the great Paine + Parliament (December, 1792), had protested that he had not + abandoned his party through expectation of a pension, but + the general belief of those with whom he had formerly acted + was that he had been promised a pension. A couplet of the + time ran: + + "A pension makes him change his plan, + And loudly damn the rights of man." + + Writing in 1819, Cobbett says: "As my Lord Grenville + introduced the name of Burke, suffer me, my Lord, to + introduce the name of the man [Paine] who put this Burke to + shame, who drove him off the public stage to seek shelter in + the Pension List, and who is now named fifty million times + where the name of the pensioned Burke is mentioned once."-- + _Editor._ + + + + +X. ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE OF FRANCE. + + +Paris, Sept. 25, [1792.] First Year of the Republic. + +Fellow Citizens, + +I RECEIVE, with affectionate gratitude, the honour which the late +National Assembly has conferred upon me, by adopting me a Citizen of +France: and the additional honor of being elected by my fellow citizens +a Member of the National Convention.(1) Happily impressed, as I am, by +those testimonies of respect shown towards me as an individual, I feel +my felicity increased by seeing the barrier broken down that divided +patriotism by spots of earth, and limited citizenship to the soil, like +vegetation. + +Had those honours been conferred in an hour of national tranquillity, +they would have afforded no other means of shewing my affection, than +to have accepted and enjoyed them; but they come accompanied with +circumstances that give me the honourable opportunity of commencing +my citizenship in the stormy hour of difficulties. I come not to enjoy +repose. Convinced that the cause of France is the cause of all mankind, +and that liberty cannot be purchased by a wish, I gladly share with you +the dangers and honours necessary to success. + + 1 The National Assembly (August 26, 1792) conferred the + title of "French Citizen" on "Priestley, Payne, Bentham, + Wilberforce, Clarkson, Mackintosh, Campe, Cormelle, Paw, + David Williams, Gorani, Anacharsis Clootz, Pestalozzi, + Washington, Hamilton, Madison, Klopstoc, Kosciusko, + Gilleers."--_Editor._. vol ni--7 + +I am well aware that the moment of any great change, such as that +accomplished on the 10th of August, is unavoidably the moment of +terror and confusion. The mind, highly agitated by hope, suspicion and +apprehension, continues without rest till the change be accomplished. +But let us now look calmly and confidently forward, and success is +certain. It is no longer the paltry cause of kings, or of this, or of +that individual, that calls France and her armies into action. It is the +great cause of all. It is the establishment of a new aera, that shall +blot despotism from the earth, and fix, on the lasting principles of +peace and citizenship, the great Republic of Man. + +It has been my fate to have borne a share in the commencement and +complete establishment of one Revolution, (I mean the Revolution of +America.) The success and events of that Revolution are encouraging to +us. The prosperity and happiness that have since flowed to that country, +have amply rewarded her for all the hardships she endured and for all +the dangers she encountered. + +The principles on which that Revolution began, have extended themselves +to Europe; and an over-ruling Providence is regenerating the Old World +by the principles of the New. The distance of America from all the +other parts of the globe, did not admit of her carrying those principles +beyond her own situation. It is to the peculiar honour of France, that +she now raises the standard of liberty for all nations; and in fighting +her own battles, contends for the rights of all mankind. + +The same spirit of fortitude that insured success to America; will +insure it to France, for it is impossible to conquer a nation determined +to be free! The military circumstances that now unite themselves to +France, are such as the despots of the earth know nothing of, and can +form no calculation upon. They know not what it is to fight against a +nation; they have only been accustomed to make war upon each other, +and they know, from system and practice, how to calculate the probable +success of despot against despot; and here their knowledge and their +experience end. + +But in a contest like the present a new and boundless variety of +circumstances arise, that deranges all such customary calculations. When +a whole nation acts as an army, the despot knows not the extent of the +power against which he contends. New armies arise against him with the +necessity of the moment. It is then that the difficulties of an invading +enemy multiply, as in the former case they diminished; and he finds them +at their height when he expected them to end. + +The only war that has any similarity of circumstances with the present, +is the late revolution war in America. On her part, as it now is in +France, it was a war of the whole nation:--there it was that the enemy, +by beginning to conquer, put himself in a condition of being conquered. +His first victories prepared him for defeat. He advanced till he could +not retreat, and found himself in the midst of a nation of armies. + +Were it now to be proposed to the Austrians and Prussians, to escort +them into the middle of France, and there leave them to make the most +of such a situation, they would see too much into the dangers of it to +accept the offer, and the same dangers would attend them, could they +arrive there by any other means. Where, then, is the military policy of +their attempting to obtain, by force, that which they would refuse by +choice? But to reason with despots is throwing reason away. The best of +arguments is a vigorous preparation. + +Man is ever a stranger to the ways by which Providence regulates the +order of things. The interference of foreign despots may serve to +introduce into their own enslaved countries the principles they come +to oppose. Liberty and Equality are blessings too great to be the +inheritance of France alone. It is an honour to her to be their first +champion; and she may now say to her enemies, with a mighty voice, "O! +ye Austrians, ye Prussians! ye who now turn your bayonets against us, +it is for you, it is for all Europe, it is for all mankind, and not for +France alone, that she raises the standard of Liberty and Equality!" + +The public cause has hitherto suffered from the contradictions contained +in the Constitution of the Constituent Assembly. Those contradictions +have served to divide the opinions of individuals at home, and to +obscure the great principles of the Revolution in other countries. But +when those contradictions shall be removed, and the Constitution be +made conformable to the declaration of Rights; when the bagatelles of +monarchy, royalty, regency, and hereditary succession, shall be exposed, +with all their absurdities, a new ray of light will be thrown over the +world, and the Revolution will derive new strength by being universally +understood. + +The scene that now opens itself to France extends far beyond the +boundaries of her own dominions. Every nation is becoming her colleague, +and every court is become her enemy. It is now the cause of all nations, +against the cause of all courts. The terror that despotism felt, +clandestinely begot a confederation of despots; and their attack upon +France was produced by their fears at home. + +In entering on this great scene, greater than any nation has yet been +called to act in, let us say to the agitated mind, be calm. Let us +punish by instructing, rather than by revenge. Let us begin the new +ara by a greatness of friendship, and hail the approach of union and +success. + +Your Fellow-Citizen, + +Thomas Paine. + + + + +XI. ANTI-MONARCHAL ESSAY. FOR THE USE OF NEW REPUBLICANS.(1) + +When we reach some great good, long desired, we begin by felicitating +ourselves. We triumph, we give ourselves up to this joy without +rendering to our minds any full account of our reasons for it. Then +comes reflexion: we pass in review all the circumstances of our new +happiness; we compare it in detail with our former condition; and +each of these thoughts becomes a fresh enjoyment. This satisfaction, +elucidated and well-considered, we now desire to procure for our +readers. + +In seeing Royalty abolished and the Republic established, all France +has resounded with unanimous plaudits.(2) Yet, Citizen President: In the +name of the Deputies of the Department of the Pas de Calais, I have the +honor of presenting to the Convention the felicitations of the General +Council of the Commune of Calais on the abolition of Royalty. + + 1 Translated for this work from Le Patriote François, + "Samedi 20 Octobre, 1793, l'an Ier de la République. + Supplement au No. 1167," in the Bibliothèque Nationale, + Paris. It is headed, "Essai anti-monarchique, à l'usage des + nouveaux républicains, tiré de la Feuille Villageoise." I + have not found this Feuille, but no doubt Brissot, in + editing the essay for his journal (Le Patriote François) + abridged it, and in one instance Paine is mentioned by name. + Although in this essay Paine occasionally repeats sentences + used elsewhere, and naturally maintains his well-known + principles, the work has a peculiar interest as indicating + the temper and visions of the opening revolution.--_Editor._ + + 2 Royalty was abolished by the National Convention on the + first day of its meeting, September 21, 1792, the + revolutionary Calendar beginning next day. Paine was chosen + by his fellow-deputies of Calais to congratulate the + Convention, and did so in a brief address, dated October 27, + which was loaned by M. Charavay to the Historical Exposition + of the Revolution at Paris, 1889, where I made the subjoined + translation: "folly of oar ancestor», who have placed us + under the necessity of treating gravely (solennellement) the + abolition of a phantom (fantôme).--Thomas Paine, Deputy."-- + _Editor._ + +Amid the joy inspired by this event, one cannot forbear some pain +at the some who clap their hands do not sufficiently understand the +condition they are leaving or that which they are assuming. + +The perjuries of Louis, the conspiracies of his court, the wildness of +his worthy brothers, have filled every Frenchman with horror, and this +race was dethroned in their hearts before its fall by legal decree. But +it is little to throw down an idol; it is the pedestal that above all +must be broken down; it is the regal office rather than the incumbent +that is murderous. All do not realize this. + +Why is Royalty an absurd and detestable government? Why is the Republic +a government accordant with nature and reason? At the present time a +Frenchman should put himself in a position to answer these two questions +clearly. For, in fine, if you are free and contented it is yet needful +that you should know why. + +Let us first discuss Royalty or Monarchy. Although one often wishes to +distinguish between these names, common usage gives them the same sense. + + +ROYALTY. + +Bands of brigands unite to subvert a country, place it under tribute, +seize its lands, enslave its inhabitants. The expedition completed, the +chieftain of the robbers adopts the title of monarch or king. Such +is the origin of Royalty among all tribes--huntsmen, agriculturists, +shepherds. + +A second brigand arrives who finds it equitable to take away by force +what was conquered by violence: he dispossesses the first; he chains +him, kills him, reigns in his place. Ere long time effaces the memory +of this origin; the successors rule under a new form; they do a little +good, from policy; they corrupt all who surround them; they invent +fictitious genealogies to make their families sacred (1); the knavery +of priests comes to their aid; they take Religion for a life-guard: +thenceforth tyranny becomes immortal, the usurped power becomes an +hereditary right. + + 1 The Boston Investigator's compilation of Paine's Works + contains the following as supposed to be Mr. Paine's: + + "Royal Pedigree.--George the Third, who was the grandson of + George the Second, who was the son of George the First, who + was the son of the Princess Sophia, who was the cousin of + Anne, who was the sister of William and Mary, who were the + daughter and son-in-law of James the Second, who was the son + of Charles the First, who was a traitor to his country and + decapitated as such, who was the son of James the First, who + was the son of Mary, who was the sister of Edward the Sixth, + who was the son of Henry the Eighth, who was the coldblooded + murderer of his wives, and the promoter of the Protestant + religion, who was the son of Henry the Seventh, who slew + Richard the Third, who smothered his nephew Edward the + Fifth, who was the son of Edward the Fourth, who with bloody + Richard slew Henry the Sixth, who succeeded Henry the Fifth, + who was the son of Henry the Fourth, who was the cousin of + Richard the Second, who was the son of Edward the Third, who + was the son of Richard the Second, who was the son of Edward + the First, who was the son of Henry the Third, who was the + son of John, who was the brother of Richard the First, who + was the son of Henry the Second, who was the son of Matilda, + who was the daughter of Henry the First, who was the brother + of William Rufus, who was the son of William the Conqueror, + who was the son of a whore."--_Editor._ + +The effects of Royalty have been entirely harmonious with its origin. +What scenes of horror, what refinements of iniquity, do the annals of +monarchies present! If we should paint human nature with a baseness of +heart, an hypocrisy, from which all must recoil and humanity disavow, it +would be the portraiture of kings, their ministers and courtiers. + +And why should it not be so? What should such a monstrosity produce +but miseries and crimes? What is monarchy? It has been finely disguised, +and the people familiarized with the odious title: in its real sense the +word signifies _the absolute power of one single individual_, who may +with impunity be stupid, treacherous, tyrannical, etc. Is it not an +insult to nations to wish them so governed? + +Government by a single individual is vicious in itself, independently of +the individual's vices. For however little a State, the prince is +nearly always too small: where is the proportion between one man and the +affairs of a whole nation? + +True, some men of genius have been seen under the diadem; but the evil +is then even greater: the ambition of such a man impels him to conquest +and despotism, his subjects soon have to lament his glory, and sing +their _Te-deums_ while perishing with hunger. Such is the history of +Louis XIV. and so many others. + +But if ordinary men in power repay you with incapacity or with princely +vices? But those who come to the front in monarchies are frequently +mere mean mischief-makers, commonplace knaves, petty intriguers, whose +small wits, which in courts reach large places, serve only to display +their ineptitude in public, as soon as they appear. (*) In short, +monarchs do nothing, and their ministers do evil: this is the history of +all monarchies. + +But if Royalty as such is baneful, as hereditary succession it is +equally revolting and ridiculous. What! there exists among my kind a man +who pretends that he is born to govern me? Whence derived he such right? +From his and my ancestors, says he. But how could they transmit to him +a right they did not possess? Man has no authority over generations +unborn. I cannot be the slave of the dead, more than of the living. +Suppose that instead of our posterity, it was we who should succeed +ourselves: we should not to-day be able to despoil ourselves of the +rights which would belong to us in our second life: for a stronger +reason we cannot so despoil others. + +An hereditary crown! A transmissible throne! What a notion! With even a +little reflexion, can any one tolerate it? Should human beings then be +the property of certain individuals, born or to be born? Are we then to +treat our descendants in advance as cattle, who shall have neither will +nor rights of their own? To inherit government is to inherit peoples, +as if they were herds. It is the basest, the most shameful fantasy that +ever degraded mankind. + +It is wrong to reproach kings with their ferocity, their brutal +indifference, the oppressions of the people, and molestations of +citizens: it is hereditary succession that makes them what they are: +this breeds monsters as a marsh breeds vipers. + + * J. J. Rousseau, Contrat Social.--Author. + +The logic on which the hereditary prince rests is in effect this: I +derive my power from my birth; I derive my birth from God; therefore +I owe nothing to men. It is little that he has at hand a complacent +minister, he continues to indulge, conscientiously, in all the crimes of +tyranny. This has been seen in all times and countries. + +Tell me, then, what is there in common between him who is master of a +people, and the people of whom he is master? Are these masters really of +their kind? It is by sympathy that we are good and human: with whom does +a monarch sympathize? When my neighbor suffers I pity, because I put +myself in his place: a monarch pities none, because he has never been, +can never be, in any other place than his own. + +A monarch is an egoist by nature, the _egoist par excellence_. A +thousand traits show that this kind of men have no point of contact with +the rest of humanity. There was demanded of Charles II. the punishment +of Lauderdale, his favorite, who had infamously oppressed the Scotch. +"Yes," said Charles coolly, "this man has done much against the Scotch, +but I cannot see that he has done anything against my interests." Louis +XIV. often said: "If I follow the wishes of the people, I cannot act the +king." Even such phrases as "misfortunes of the State," "safety of the +State," filled Louis XIV. with wrath. + +Could nature make a law which should assure virtue and wisdom invariably +in these privileged castes that perpetuate themselves on thrones, there +would be no objection to their hereditary succession. But let us pass +Europe in review: all of its monarchs are the meanest of men. This one +a tyrant, that one an imbecile, another a traitor, the next a debauchee, +while some muster all the vices. It looks as if fate and nature had +aimed to show our epoch, and all nations, the absurdity and enormity of +Royalty. + +But I mistake: this epoch has nothing peculiar. For, such is the +essential vice of this royal succession by animal filiation, the peoples +have not even the chances of nature,--they cannot even hope for a good +prince as an alternative. All things conspire to deprive of reason +and justice an individual reared to command others. The word of young +Dionysius was very sensible: his father, reproaching him for a shameful +action, said, "Have I given thee such example?" "Ah," answered the +youth, "thy father was not a king!" + +In truth, were laughter on such a subject permissible, nothing would +suggest ideas more burlesque than this fantastic institution of +hereditary kings. Would it not be believed, to look at them, that there +really exist particular lineages possessing certain qualities which +enter the blood of the embryo prince, and adapt him physically +for royalty, as a horse for the racecourse? But then, in this wild +supposition, it yet becomes necessary to assure the genuine family +descent of the heir presumptive. To perpetuate the noble race of +Andalusian chargers, the circumstances pass before witnesses, and +similar precautions seem necessary, however indecent, to make sure that +the trickeries of queens shall not supply thrones with bastards, and +that the kings, like the horses, shall always be thoroughbreds. + +Whether one jests or reasons, there is found in this idea of hereditary +royalty only folly and shame. What then is this office, which may be +filled by infants or idiots? Some talent is required to be a simple +workman; to be a king there is need to have only the human shape, to be +a living automaton. We are astonished when reading that the Egyptians +placed on the throne a flint, and called it their king. We smile at +the dog Barkouf, sent by an Asiatic despot to govern one of his +provinces.(*) But mon-archs of this kind are less mischievous and less +absurd than those before whom whole peoples prostrate themselves. The +flint and the dog at least imposed on nobody. None ascribed to them +qualities or characters they did not possess. They were not styled +'Father of the People,'--though this were hardly more ridiculous than +to give that title to a rattle-head whom inheritance crowns at eighteen. +Better a mute than an animate idol. Why, there can hardly be cited an +instance of a great man having children worthy of him, yet you will have +the royal function pass from father to son! As well declare that a wise +man's son will be wise. A king is an administrator, and an hereditary +administrator is as absurd as an author by birthright. + + * See the first year of La Feuille Villageoise, No. 42.-- + Author. [Cf. Montaigne's Essays, chap. xii.--_Editor._] + +Royalty is thus as contrary to common sense as to com-mon right. But it +would be a plague even if no more than an absurdity; for a people who +can bow down in honor of a silly thing is a debased people. Can they be +fit for great affairs who render equal homage to vice and virtue, and +yield the same submission to ignorance and wisdom? Of all institutions, +none has caused more intellectual degeneracy. This explains the +often-remarked abjectness of character under monarchies. + +Such is also the effect of this contagious institution that it renders +equality impossible, and draws in its train the presumption and the +evils of "Nobility." If you admit inheritance of an office, why not that +of a distinction? The Nobility's heritage asks only homage, that of +the Crown commands submission. When a man says to me, 'I am born +illustrious,' I merely smile; when he says 'I am born your master,' I +set my foot on him. + +When the Convention pronounced the abolition of Royalty none rose +for the defence that was expected. On this subject a philosopher, who +thought discussion should always precede enactment, proposed a singular +thing; he desired that the Convention should nominate an orator +commissioned to plead before it the cause of Royalty, so that the +pitiful arguments by which it has in all ages been justified might +appear in broad daylight. Judges give one accused, however certain +his guilt, an official defender. In the ancient Senate of Venice there +existed a public officer whose function was to contest all propositions, +however incontestible, or however perfect their evidence. For the rest, +pleaders for Royalty are not rare: let us open them, and see what the +most specious of royalist reasoners have said. + +1. _A king is necessary to preserve a people from the tyranny of +powerful men_. + +Establish the Rights of Man(1); enthrone Equality; form a good +Constitution; divide well its powers; let there be no privileges, no +distinctions of birth, no monopolies; make safe the liberty of industry +and of trade, the equal distribution of [family] inheritances, publicity +of administration, freedom of the press: these things all established, +you will be assured of good laws, and need not fear the powerful men. +Willingly or unwillingly, all citizens will be under the Law. + + 1 The reader should bear in mind that this phrase, now used + vaguely, had for Paine and his political school a special + significance; it implied a fundamental Declaration of + individual rights, of supreme force and authority, invasion + which, either by legislatures, law courts, majorities, or + administrators, was to be regarded as the worst treason and + despotism.--_Editor._ + +2. _The Legislature might usurp authority, and a king is needed to +restrain it_. + +With representatives, frequently renewed, who neither administer +nor judge, whose functions are determined by the laws; with national +conventions, with primary assemblies, which can be convoked any moment; +with a people knowing how to read, and how to defend itself; with good +journals, guns, and pikes; a Legislature would have a good deal of +trouble in enjoying any months of tyranny. Let us not suppose an evil +for the sake of its remedy. + +3. _A king is needed to give force to executive power_. + +This might be said while there existed nobles, a priesthood, +parliaments, the privileged of every kind. But at present who can resist +the Law, which is the will of all, whose execution is the interest of +all? On the contrary the existence of an hereditary prince inspires +perpetual distrust among the friends of liberty; his authority is odious +to them; in checking despotism they constantly obstruct the action of +government. Observe how feeble the executive power was found, after our +recent pretence of marrying Royalty with Liberty. + +Take note, for the rest, that those who talk in this way are men who +believe that the King and the Executive Power are only one and the same +thing: readers of _La Feuille Villageoise_ are more advanced.(*) + + * See No. 50.--_Author_ + +Others use this bad reasoning: "Were there no hereditary chief there +would be an elective chief: the citizens would side with this man or +that, and there would be a civil war at every election." In the first +place, it is certain that hereditary succession alone has produced +the civil wars of France and England; and that beyond this are the +pre-tended rights, of royal families which have twenty times drawn on +these nations the scourge of foreign wars. It is, in fine, the heredity +of crowns that has caused the troubles of Regency, which Thomas Paine +calls Monarchy at nurse. + +But above all it must be said, that if there be an elective chief, that +chief will not be a king surrounded by courtiers, burdened with pomp, +inflated by idolatries, and endowed with thirty millions of money; also, +that no citizen will be tempted to injure himself by placing another +citizen, his equal, for some years in an office without limited income +and circumscribed power. + +In a word, whoever demands a king demands an aristocracy, and thirty +millions of taxes. See why Franklin described Royalism as _a crime like +poisoning_. + +Royalty, its fanatical eclat, its superstitious idolatry, the delusive +assumption of its necessity, all these fictions have been invented only +to obtain from men excessive taxes and voluntary servitude. Royalty +and Popery have had the same aim, have sustained themselves by the same +artifices, and crumble under the same Light. + + + + +XII. TO THE ATTORNEY GENERAL, ON THE PROSECUTION AGAINST THE SECOND PART +OF RIGHTS OF MAN.(1) + +Paris, 11th of November, 1st Year of the Republic. [1792.] + +Mr. Attorney General: + +Sir,--As there can be no personal resentment between two strangers, I +write this letter to you, as to a man against whom I have no animosity. + +You have, as Attorney General, commenced a prosecution against me, as +the author of Rights of Man. Had not my duty, in consequence of my being +elected a member of the National Convention of France, called me from +England, I should have staid to have contested the injustice of +that prosecution; not upon my own account, for I cared not about the +prosecution, but to have defended the principles I had advanced in the +work. + + 1 Read to the Jury by the Attorney General, Sir Archibald + Macdonald, at the trial of Paine, December 18, 1792, which + resulted in his outlawry.--_Editor._ + +The duty I am now engaged in is of too much importance to permit me to +trouble myself about your prosecution: when I have leisure, I shall have +no objection to meet you on that ground; but, as I now stand, whether +you go on with the prosecution, or whether you do not, or whether you +obtain a verdict, or not, is a matter of the most perfect indifference +to me as an individual. If you obtain one, (which you are welcome to +if you can get it,) it cannot affect me either in person, property, or +reputation, otherwise than to increase the latter; and with respect to +yourself, it is as consistent that you obtain a verdict against the Man +in the Moon as against me; neither do I see how you can continue the +prosecution against me as you would have done against one _your own +people, who_ had absented himself because he was prosecuted; what passed +at Dover proves that my departure from England was no secret. (1) + +My necessary absence from your country affords the opportunity of +knowing whether the prosecution was intended against Thomas Paine, or +against the Right of the People of England to investigate systems and +principles of government; for as I cannot now be the object of the +prosecution, the going on with the prosecution will shew that something +else was the object, and that something else can be no other than the +People of England, for it is against _their Rights_, and not against +me, that a verdict or sentence can operate, if it can operate at all. +Be then so candid as to tell the Jury, (if you choose to continue the +process,) whom it is you are prosecuting, and on whom it is that the +verdict is to fall.(2) + +But I have other reasons than those I have mentioned for writing you +this letter; and, however you may choose to interpret them, they proceed +from a good heart. The time, Sir, is becoming too serious to play +with Court prosecutions, and sport with national rights. The terrible +examples that have taken place here, upon men who, less than a year ago, +thought themselves as secure as any prosecuting Judge, Jury, or Attorney +General, now can in England, ought to have some weight with men in +your situation. That the government of England is as great, if not the +greatest, perfection of fraud and corruption that ever took place since +governments began, is what you cannot be a stranger to, unless the +constant habit of seeing it has blinded your senses; but though you +may not chuse to see it, the people are seeing it very fast, and the +progress is beyond what you may chuse to believe. Is it possible that +you, or I, can believe, or that reason can make any other man believe, +that the capacity of such a man as Mr. Guelph, or any of his profligate +sons, is necessary to the government of a nation? I speak to you as one +man ought to speak to another; and I know also that I speak what other +people are beginning to think. + + 1 See Chapter VIII. of this volume.--_Editor._ + + 2 In reading the letter in court the Attorney General said + at this point: "Gentlemen, I certainly will comply with + this request. I am prosecuting both him and his work; and + if I succeed in this prosecution, he shall never return to + this country otherwise than _in vintulis_, for I will outlaw + him."--_Editor._ + +That you cannot obtain a verdict (and if you do, it will signify +nothing) _without packing a Jury_, (and we _both_ know that such tricks +are practised,) is what I have very good reason to believe, I have gone +into coffee-houses, and places where I was unknown, on purpose to learn +the currency of opinion, and I never yet saw any company of twelve men +that condemned the book; but I have often found a greater number than +twelve approving it, and this I think is _a fair way of collecting the +natural currency of opinion_. Do not then, Sir, be the instrument of +drawing twelve men into a situation that may be _injurious_ to them +afterwards. I do not speak this from policy, but from benevolence; but +if you chuse to go on with the process, I make it my request to you that +you will read this letter in Court, after which the Judge and the Jury +may do as they please. As I do not consider myself the object of the +prosecution, neither can I be affected by the issue, one way or the +other, I shall, though a foreigner in your country, subscribe as much +money as any other man towards supporting the right of the nation +against the prosecution; and it is for this purpose only that I shall do +it.(1) + +Thomas Paine. + +As I have not time to copy letters, you will excuse the corrections. + + 1 In reading this letter at the trial the Attorney + interspersed comments. At the phrase, "Mr. Guelph and his + profligate sons," he exclaimed: "This passage is + contemptuous, scandalous, false, cruel. Why, gentlemen, is + Mr. Paine, in addition to the political doctrines he is + teaching us in this country, to teach us the morality and + religion of implacability? Is he to teach human creatures, + whose moments of existence depend upon the permission of a + Being, merciful, long-suffering, and of great goodness, that + those youthful errors from which even royalty is not + exempted, are to be treasured up in a vindictive memory, and + are to receive sentence of irremissible sin at His hands.... + If giving me pain was his object he has that hellish + gratification." Erskine, Fame's counsel, protested in + advance against the reading of this letter (of which he had + heard), as containing matter likely to divert the Jury from + the subject of prosecution (the book). Lord Kenyon admitted + the letter.--_Editor._ + +P. S. I intended, had I staid in England, to have published the +information, with my remarks upon it, before the trial came on; but as +I am otherwise engaged, I reserve myself till the trial is over, when I +shall reply fully to every thing you shall advance. + + + + +XIII. ON THE PROPRIETY OF BRINGING LOUIS XVI. TO TRIAL.(1) + +Read to the Convention, November 21, 1792. + +Paris, Nov. 20, 1792. + +Citizen President, + +As I do not know precisely what day the Convention will resume the +discussion on the trial of Louis XVI., and, on account of my inability +to express myself in French, I cannot speak at the tribune, I request +permission to deposit in your hands the enclosed paper, which contains +my opinion on that subject. I make this demand with so much more +eagerness, because circumstances will prove how much it imports to +France, that Louis XVI. should continue to enjoy good health. I should +be happy if the Convention would have the goodness to hear this paper +read this morning, as I propose sending a copy of it to London, to be +printed in the English journals.(2) + +Thomas Paine. + + 1 This address, which has suffered by alterations in all + editions is here revised and completed by aid of the + official document: "Opinion de Thomas Payne, Depute du + Département de la Somme [error], concernant le jugement de + Louis XVI. Précédé par sa lettre d'envoi au Président de la + Convention. Imprimé par ordre de la Convention Nationale. À + Paris. De l'Imprimerie Nationale." Lamartine has censured + Paine for this speech; but the trial of the King was a + foregone conclusion, and it will be noted that Paine was + already trying to avert popular wrath from the individual + man by directing it against the general league of monarchs, + and the monarchal system. Nor would his plea for the King's + life have been listened to but for this previous address.-- + _Editor._ + + 2 Of course no English journal could then venture to print + it.--_Editor._ + +A Secretary read the opinion of Thomas Paine. I think it necessary +that Louis XVI. should be tried; not that this advice is suggested by +a spirit of vengeance, but because this measure appears to me just, +lawful, and conformable to sound policy. If Louis is innocent, let us +put him to prove his innocence; if he is guilty, let the national will +determine whether he shall be pardoned or punished. + +But besides the motives personal to Louis XVI., there are others which +make his trial necessary. I am about to develope these motives, in the +language which I think expresses them, and no other. I forbid myself the +use of equivocal expression or of mere ceremony. There was formed among +the crowned brigands of Europe a conspiracy which threatened not only +French liberty, but likewise that of all nations. Every thing tends +to the belief that Louis XVI. was the partner of this horde of +conspirators. You have this man in your power, and he is at present the +only one of the band of whom you can make sure. I consider Louis XVI. in +the same point of view as the two first robbers taken up in the affair +of the Store Room; their trial led to discovery of the gang to which +they belonged. We have seen the unhappy soldiers of Austria, of Prussia, +and the other powers which declared themselves our enemies, torn from +their fire-sides, and drawn to butchery like wretched animals, to +sustain, at the cost of their blood, the common cause of these crowned +brigands. They loaded the inhabitants of those regions with taxes to +support the expenses of the war. All this was not done solely for Louis +XVI. Some of the conspirators have acted openly: but there is reason +to presume that this conspiracy is composed of two classes of brigands; +those who have taken up arms, and those who have lent to their cause +secret encouragement and clandestine assistance. Now it is indispensable +to let France and the whole world know all these accomplices. + +A little time after the National Convention was constituted, the +Minister for Foreign Affairs presented the picture of all the +governments of Europe,--those whose hostilities were public, and those +that acted with a mysterious circumspection. This picture supplied +grounds for just suspicions of the part the latter were disposed to +take, and since then various circumstances have occurred to confirm +those suspicions. We have already penetrated into some part of the +conduct of Mr. Guelph, Elector of Hanover, and strong presumptions +involve the same man, his court and ministers, in quality of king +of England. M. Calonne has constantly been favoured with a friendly +reception at that court.(1) The arrival of Mr. Smith, secretary to Mr. +Pitt, at Coblentz, when the emigrants were assembling there; the recall +of the English ambassador; the extravagant joy manifested by the court +of St. James' at the false report of the defeat of Dumouriez, when +it was communicated by Lord Elgin, then Minister of Great Britain at +Brussels--all these circumstances render him [George III.] extremely +suspicious; the trial of Louis XVI. will probably furnish more decisive +proofs. + +The long subsisting fear of a revolution in England, would alone, I +believe, prevent that court from manifesting as much publicity in its +operations as Austria and Prussia. Another reason could be added to +this: the inevitable decrease of credit, by means of which alone all +the old governments could obtain fresh loans, in proportion as the +probability of revolutions increased. Whoever invests in the new loans +of such governments must expect to lose his stock. + +Every body knows that the Landgrave of Hesse fights only as far as he is +paid. He has been for many years in the pay of the court of London. If +the trial of Louis XVI. could bring it to light, that this detestable +dealer in human flesh has been paid with the produce of the taxes +imposed on the English people, it would be justice to that nation to +disclose that fact. It would at the same time give to France an exact +knowledge of the character of that court, which has not ceased to be the +most intriguing in Europe, ever since its connexion with Germany. + + 1 Calonne (1734-1802), made Controller General of the + Treasury in 1783, lavished the public money on the Queen, on + courtiers, and on himself (purchasing St. Cloud and + Rambouillet), borrowing vast sums and deceiving the King as + to the emptiness of the Treasury, the annual deficit having + risen in 1787 to 115 millions of francs. He was then + banished to Lorraine, whence he proceeded to England, where + he married the wealthy widow Haveley. By his agency for the + Coblentz party he lost his fortune. In 1802 Napoleon brought + him back from London to Paris, where he died the same year. + --_Editor._ + +Louis XVI., considered as an individual, is an object beneath the notice +of the Republic; but when he is looked upon as a part of that band of +conspirators, as an accused man whose trial may lead all nations in +the world to know and detest the disastrous system of monarchy, and the +plots and intrigues of their own courts, he ought to be tried. + +If the crimes for which Louis XVI. is arraigned were absolutely personal +to him, without reference to general conspiracies, and confined to the +affairs of France, the plea of inviolability, that folly of the moment, +might have been urged in his behalf with some appearance of reason; but +he is arraigned not only for treasons against France, but for having +conspired against all Europe, and if France is to be just to all Europe +we ought to use every means in our power to discover the whole extent +of that conspiracy. France is now a republic; she has completed her +revolution; but she cannot earn all its advantages so long as she is +surrounded with despotic governments. Their armies and their marine +oblige her also to keep troops and ships in readiness. It is therefore +her immediate interest that all nations shall be as free as herself; +that revolutions shall be universal; and since the trial of Louis XVI. +can serve to prove to the world the flagitiousness of governments in +general, and the necessity of revolutions, she ought not to let slip so +precious an opportunity. + +The despots of Europe have formed alliances to preserve their respective +authority, and to perpetuate the oppression of peoples. This is the end +they proposed to themselves in their invasion of French territory. They +dread the effect of the French revolution in the bosom of their own +countries; and in hopes of preventing it, they are come to attempt +the destruction of this revolution before it should attain its perfect +maturity. Their attempt has not been attended with success. France has +already vanquished their armies; but it remains for her to sound the +particulars of the conspiracy, to discover, to expose to the eyes of +the world, those despots who had the infamy to take part in it; and the +world expects from her that act of justice. + +These are my motives for demanding that Louis XVI. be judged; and it is +in this sole point of view that his trial appears to me of sufficient +importance to receive the attention of the Republic. + +As to "inviolability," I would not have such a word mentioned. If, +seeing in Louis XVI. only a weak and narrow-minded man, badly reared, +like all his kind, given, as it is said, to frequent excesses of +drunkenness--a man whom the National Assembly imprudently raised again +on a throne for which he was not made--he is shown hereafter some +compassion, it shall be the result of the national magnanimity, and not +the burlesque notion of a pretended "inviolability." + +Thomas Paine. + + + + +XIV. REASONS FOR PRESERVING THE LIFE OF LOUIS CAPET, + +As Delivered to the National Convention, January 15, 1703.(1) + +Citizen President, + +My hatred and abhorrence of monarchy are sufficiently known: they +originate in principles of reason and conviction, nor, except with life, +can they ever be extirpated; but my compassion for the unfortunate, +whether friend or enemy, is equally lively and sincere. + +I voted that Louis should be tried, because it was necessary to afford +proofs to the world of the perfidy, corruption, and abomination of the +monarchical system. The infinity of evidence that has been produced +exposes them in the most glaring and hideous colours; thence it results +that monarchy, whatever form it may assume, arbitrary or otherwise, +becomes necessarily a centre round which are united every species of +corruption, and the kingly trade is no less destructive of all morality +in the human breast, than the trade of an executioner is destructive +of its sensibility. I remember, during my residence in another country, +that I was exceedingly struck with a sentence of M. Autheine, at the +Jacobins [Club], which corresponds exactly with my own idea,--"Make me a +king to-day," said he, "and I shall be a robber to-morrow." + + 1 Printed in Paris (Hartley, Adlard & Son) and published in + London with the addition of D. I. Eaton's name, in 1796. + While Paine was in prison, he was accused in England and + America of having helped to bring Louis XVI. to the + scaffold. The English pamphlet has a brief preface in which + it is presented "as a burnt offering to Truth, in behalf of + the most zealous friend and advocate of the Rights of Man; + to protect him against the barbarous shafts of scandal and + delusion, and as a reply to all the horrors which despots of + every description have, with such unrelenting malice, + attempted to fix on his conduct. But truth in the end must + triumph: cease then such calumnies: all your efforts are + in vain --you bite a file."--_Editor._ + +Nevertheless, I am inclined to believe that if Louis Capet had been born +in obscure condition, had he lived within the circle of an amiable and +respectable neighbourhood, at liberty to practice the duties of domestic +life, had he been thus situated, I cannot believe that he would have +shewn himself destitute of social virtues: we are, in a moment of +fermentation like this, naturally little indulgent to his vices, or +rather to those of his government; we regard them with additional +horror and indignation; not that they are more heinous than those of +his predecessors, but because our eyes are now open, and the veil of +delusion at length withdrawn; yet the lamentable, degraded state to +which he is actually reduced, is surely far less imputable to him +than to the Constituent Assembly, which, of its own authority, without +consent or advice of the people, restored him to the throne. + +I was in Paris at the time of the flight, or abdication of Louis XVI., +and when he was taken and brought back. The proposal of restoring him to +supreme power struck me with amazement; and although at that time I was +not a French citizen, yet as a citizen of the world I employed all the +efforts that depended on me to prevent it. + +A small society, composed only of five persons, two of whom are +now members of the Convention,(1) took at that time the name of the +Republican Club (Société Républicaine). This society opposed the +restoration of Louis, not so much on account of his personal offences, +as in order to overthrow the monarchy, and to erect on its ruins the +republican system and an equal representation. + +With this design, I traced out in the English language certain +propositions, which were translated with some trifling alterations, and +signed by Achille Duchâtelet, now Lieutenant-General in the army of the +French republic, and at that time one of the five members which composed +our little party: the law requiring the signature of a citizen at the +bottom of each printed paper. + + 1 Condorect and Paine; the other members were Achille + Duchitelet, and probably Nicolas de Bonneville and + Lanthenas,--translator of Paine's "Works."--_Editor._ + +The paper was indignantly torn by Malouet; and brought forth in this +very room as an article of accusation against the person who had signed +it, the author and their adherents; but such is the revolution of +events, that this paper is now received and brought forth for a very +opposite purpose--to remind the nation of the errors of that unfortunate +day, that fatal error of not having then banished Louis XVI. from its +bosom, and to plead this day in favour of his exile, preferable to his +death. + +The paper in question, was conceived in the following terms: + +[The address constitutes the first chapter of the present volume.] + +Having thus explained the principles and the exertions of the +republicans at that fatal period, when Louis was rein-stated in +full possession of the executive power which by his flight had been +suspended, I return to the subject, and to the deplorable situation in +which the man is now actually involved. + +What was neglected at the time of which I have been speaking, has been +since brought about by the force of necessity. The wilful, treacherous +defects in the former constitution have been brought to light; the +continual alarm of treason and conspiracy aroused the nation, and +produced eventually a second revolution. The people have beat down +royalty, never, never to rise again; they have brought Louis Capet to +the bar, and demonstrated in the face of the whole world, the intrigues, +the cabals, the falsehood, corruption, and rooted depravity, the +inevitable effects of monarchical government. There remains then only +one question to be considered, what is to be done with this man? + +For myself I seriously confess, that when I reflect on the unaccountable +folly that restored the executive power to his hands, all covered as +he was with perjuries and treason, I am far more ready to condemn the +Constituent Assembly than the unfortunate prisoner Louis Capet. + +But abstracted from every other consideration, there is one circumstance +in his life which ought to cover or at least to palliate a great number +of his transgressions, and this very circumstance affords to the French +nation a blessed occasion of extricating itself from the yoke of kings, +without defiling itself in the impurities of their blood. + +It is to France alone, I know, that the United States of America owe +that support which enabled them to shake off the unjust and tyrannical +yoke of Britain. The ardour and zeal which she displayed to provide both +men and money, were the natural consequence of a thirst for liberty. +But as the nation at that time, restrained by the shackles of her own +government, could only act by the means of a monarchical organ, this +organ--whatever in other respects the object might be--certainly +performed a good, a great action. + +Let then those United States be the safeguard and asylum of Louis Capet. +There, hereafter, far removed from the miseries and crimes of royalty, +he may learn, from the constant aspect of public prosperity, that the +true system of government consists not in kings, but in fair, equal, and +honourable representation. + +In relating this circumstance, and in submitting this proposition, I +consider myself as a citizen of both countries. I submit it as a citizen +of America, who feels the debt of gratitude which he owes to every +Frenchman. I submit it also as a man, who, although the enemy of kings, +cannot forget that they are subject to human frailties. I support my +proposition as a citizen of the French republic, because it appears to +me the best, the most politic measure that can be adopted. + +As far as my experience in public life extends, I have ever observed, +that the great mass of the people are invariably just, both in their +intentions and in their objects; but the true method of accomplishing an +effect does not always shew itself in the first instance. For example: +the English nation had groaned under the despotism of the Stuarts. +Hence Charles I. lost his life; yet Charles II. was restored to all +the plenitude of power, which his father had lost. Forty years had +not expired when the same family strove to reestablish their ancient +oppression; so the nation then banished from its territories the whole +race. The remedy was effectual. The Stuart family sank into obscurity, +confounded itself with the multitude, and is at length extinct. + +The French nation has carried her measures of government to a greater +length. France is not satisfied with exposing the guilt of the monarch. +She has penetrated into the vices and horrors of the monarchy. She has +shown them clear as daylight, and forever crushed that system; and he, +whoever he may be, that should ever dare to reclaim those rights would +be regarded not as a pretender, but punished as a traitor. + +Two brothers of Louis Capet have banished themselves from the country; +but they are obliged to comply with the spirit and etiquette of the +courts where they reside. They can advance no pretensions on their own +account, so long as Louis Capet shall live. + +Monarchy, in France, was a system pregnant with crime and murders, +cancelling all natural ties, even those by which brothers are united. We +know how often they have assassinated each other to pave a way to power. +As those hopes which the emigrants had reposed in Louis XVI. are fled, +the last that remains rests upon his death, and their situation inclines +them to desire this catastrophe, that they may once again rally around +a more active chief, and try one further effort under the fortune of +the ci-devant Monsieur and d'Artois. That such an enterprize would +precipitate them into a new abyss of calamity and disgrace, it is not +difficult to foresee; yet it might be attended with mutual loss, and it +is our duty as legislators not to spill a drop of blood when our purpose +may be effectually accomplished without it. + +It has already been proposed to abolish the punishment of death, and it +is with infinite satisfaction that I recollect the humane and excellent +oration pronounced by Robespierre on that subject in the Constituent +Assembly. This cause must find its advocates in every corner where +enlightened politicians and lovers of humanity exist, and it ought above +all to find them in this assembly. + +Monarchical governments have trained the human race, and inured it to +the sanguinary arts and refinements of punishment; and it is exactly the +same punishment which has so long shocked the sight and tormented +the patience of the people, that now, in their turn, they practice in +revenge upon their oppressors. But it becomes us to be strictly on our +guard against the abomination and perversity of monarchical examples: +as France has been the first of European nations to abolish royalty, let +her also be the first to abolish the punishment of death, and to find +out a milder and more effectual substitute. + +In the particular case now under consideration, I submit the following +propositions: 1st, That the National Convention shall pronounce sentence +of banishment on Louis and his family. 2d, That Louis Capet shall +be detained in prison till the end of the war, and at that epoch the +sentence of banishment to be executed. + + + + +XV. SHALL LOUIS XVI. HAVE RESPITE? + +SPEECH IN THE CONVENTION, JANUARY 19, 1793.(1) + +(Read in French by Deputy Bancal,) + +Very sincerely do I regret the Convention's vote of yesterday for death. + +Marat [_interrupting_]: I submit that Thomas Paine is incompetent to +vote on this question; being a Quaker his religious principles are +opposed to capital punishment. [_Much confusion, quieted by cries for +"freedom of speech" on which Bancal proceeds with Paine's speech_.] + + 1 Not included in any previous edition of Paine's "Works." + It is here printed from contemporary French reports, + modified only by Paine's own quotations of a few sentences + in his Memorial to Monroe (xxi.).--_Editor._ + +I have the advantage of some experience; it is near twenty years that I +have been engaged in the cause of liberty, having contributed something +to it in the revolution of the United States of America, My language has +always been that of liberty _and_ humanity, and I know that nothing +so exalts a nation as the union of these two principles, under all +circumstances. I know that the public mind of France, and particularly +that of Paris, has been heated and irritated by the dangers to which +they have been exposed; but could we carry our thoughts into the future, +when the dangers are ended and the irritations forgotten, what +to-day seems an act of justice may then appear an act of vengeance. +[_Murmurs_.] My anxiety for the cause of France has become for the +moment concern for her honor. If, on my return to America, I should +employ myself on a history of the French Revolution, I had rather record +a thousand errors on the side of mercy, than be obliged to tell one act +of severe justice. I voted against an appeal to the people, because it +appeared to me that the Convention was needlessly wearied on that point; +but I so voted in the hope that this Assembly would pronounce against +death, and for the same punishment that the nation would have voted, +at least in my opinion, that is for reclusion during the war, and +banishment thereafter.(1) That is the punishment most efficacious, +because it includes the whole family at once, and none other can so +operate. I am still against the appeal to the primary assemblies, +because there is a better method. This Convention has been elected to +form a Constitution, which will be submitted to the primary assemblies. +After its acceptance a necessary consequence will be an election and +another assembly. We cannot suppose that the present Convention will +last more than five or six months. The choice of new deputies will +express the national opinion, on the propriety or impropriety of your +sentence, with as much efficacy as if those primary assemblies had been +consulted on it. As the duration of our functions here cannot be long, +it is a part of our duty to consider the interests of those who shall +replace us. If by any act of ours the number of the nation's enemies +shall be needlessly increased, and that of its friends diminished,--at a +time when the finances may be more strained than to-day,--we should +not be justifiable for having thus unnecessarily heaped obstacles in +the path of our successors. Let us therefore not be precipitate in our +decisions. + + 1 It is possible that the course of the debate may have + produced some reaction among the people, but when Paine + voted against submitting the king's fate to the popular vote + it was believed by the king and his friends that it would be + fatal. The American Minister, Gouverneur Morris, who had + long been acting for the king, wrote to President + Washington, Jan. 6, 1793: "The king's fate is to be decided + next Monday, the 14th. That unhappy man, conversing with one + of his Council on his own fate, calmly summed up the motives + of every kind, and concluded that a majority of the Council + would vote for referring his case to the people, and that in + consequence he should be massacred." Writing to Washington + on Dec. 28, 1792, Morris mentions having heard from Paine + that he was to move the king's banishment to America, and he + may then have informed Paine that the king believed + reference of his case to popular vote would be fatal. + Genet was to have conducted the royal family to America.-- + _Editor._ + +France has but one ally--the United States of America. That is the only +nation that can furnish France with naval provisions, for the +kingdoms of northern Europe are, or soon will be, at war with her. It +unfortunately happens that the person now under discussion is considered +by the Americans as having been the friend of their revolution. His +execution will be an affliction to them, and it is in your power not +to wound the feelings of your ally. Could I speak the French language I +would descend to your bar, and in their name become your petitioner to +respite the execution of the sentence on Louis. + +Thuriot: This is not the language of Thomas Paine. + +Marat: I denounce the interpreter. I maintain that it is not Thomas +Paine's opinion. It is an untrue translation. + +Garran: I have read the original, and the translation is correct.(1) + +[_Prolonged uproar. Paine, still standing in the tribune beside his +interpreter, Deputy Bancal, declared the sentiments to be his._] + +Your Executive Committee will nominate an ambassador to Philadelphia; +my sincere wish is that he may announce to America that the National +Convention of France, out of pure friendship to America, has consented +to respite Louis. That people, by my vote, ask you to delay the +execution. + +Ah, citizens, give not the tyrant of England the triumph of seeing the +man perish on the scaffold who had aided my much-loved America to break +his chains! + +Marat ["_launching himself into the middle of the hall_"]: Paine voted +against the punishment of death because he is a Quaker. + +Paine: I voted against it from both moral motives and motives of public +policy. + + 1 See Guizot, "Hist, of France," vi., p. 136. "Hist. + Parliamentair," vol. ii., p. 350. Louis Blanc says that + Paine's appeal was so effective that Marat interrupted + mainly in order to destroy its effect.--"Hist, de la Rev.," + tome vii, 396.--_Editor._ + + + + +XVI. DECLARATION OF RIGHTS.(1) + +The object of all union of men in society being maintenance of their +natural rights, civil and political, these rights are the basis of the +social pact: their recognition and their declaration ought to precede +the Constitution which assures their guarantee. + +1. The natural rights of men, civil and political, are liberty, +equality, security, property, social protection, and resistance to +oppression. + +2. Liberty consists in the right to do whatever is not contrary to +the rights of others: thus, exercise of the natural rights of each +individual has no limits other than those which secure to other members +of society enjoyment of the same rights. + + 1 In his appeal from prison to the Convention (August 7, + 1794) Paine states that he had, as a member of the Committee + for framing the Constitution, prepared a Plan, which was in + the hands of Barère, also of that Committee. I have not yet + succeeded in finding Paine's Constitution, but it is certain + that the work of framing the Constitution of 1793 was mainly + entrusted to Paine and Condorcet. + + Dr. John Moore, in his work on the French Revolution, + describes the two at their work; and it is asserted that he + "assisted in drawing up the French Declaration of Rights," + by "Juvencus," author of an able "Essay on the Life and + Genius of Thomas Paine," whose information came from a + personal friend of Paine. ("Aphorisms, Opinions, and + Reflections of Thomas Paine," etc., London, 1826. Pp. 3, + 14.) A translation of the Declaration and Constitution + appeared in England (Debrett, Picadilly, 1793), but with + some faults. The present translation is from "Oeuvres + Complètes de Condorcet," tome xviii. The Committee reported + their Constitution February 15th, and April 15th was set for + its discussion, Robespierre then demanded separate + discussion of the Declaration of Rights, to which he + objected that it made no mention of the Supreme Being, and + that its extreme principles of freedom would shield illicit + traffic. Paine and Jefferson were troubled that the United + States Constitution contained no Declaration of Rights, it + being a fundamental principle in Paine's theory of + government that such a Declaration was the main safeguard of + the individual against the despotism of numbers. See + supra, vol. ii.t pp. 138, 139.--_Editor._. + +3. The preservation of liberty depends on submission to the Law, which +is the expression of the general will. Nothing unforbidden by law can be +hindered, and none may be forced to do what the law does not command. + +4. Every man is free to make known his thoughts and opinions. + +5. Freedom of the press, and every other means of publishing one's +opinion, cannot be interdicted, suspended, or limited. + +6. Every citizen shall be free in the exercise of his religion +(_culte_). + +7. Equality consists in the enjoyment by every one of the same rights. + +8. The law should be equal for all, whether it rewards or punishes, +protects or represses. + +9. All citizens are admissible to all public positions, employments, and +functions. Free nations recognize no grounds of preference save talents +and virtues. + +10. Security consists in the protection accorded by society to every +citizen for the preservation of his person, property, and rights. + +11. None should be sued, accused, arrested, or detained, save in cases +determined by the law, and in accordance with forms prescribed by it. +Every other act against a citizen is arbitrary and null. + +12. Those who solicit, further, sign, execute, or cause to be executed, +such arbitrary acts are culpable, and should be punished. + +13. Citizens against whom the execution of such acts is attempted +have the right to repel force by force; but every citizen summoned or +arrested by authority of the Law, and in the forms by it prescribed, +should instantly obey: he renders himself guilty by resistance. + +14. Every man being presumed innocent until legally pronounced guilty, +should his arrest be deemed indispensable, all rigor not necessary to +secure his person should be severely represssed by law. + +15. None should be punished save in virtue of a law formally enacted, +promulgated anterior to the offence, and legally applied. + +16. Any law that should punish offences committed before its existence +would be an arbitrary act. Retroactive effect given to the law is a +crime. + +17. The law should award only penalties strictly and evidently necessary +to the general safety. Penalties should be proportioned to offences, and +useful to society. + +18. The right of property consists in every man's being master in the +disposal, at his will, of his goods, capital, income, and industry. + +19. No kind of labor, commerce, or culture, can be prohibited to any +one: he may make, sell, and transport every species of production. + +20. Every man may engage his services and his time; but he cannot sell +himself; his person is not an alienable property. + +21. No one can be deprived of the least portion of his property without +his consent, unless evidently required by public necessity, legally +determined, and under the condition of a just indemnity in advance. + +22. No tax shall be imposed except for the general welfare, and to meet +public needs. All citizens have the right to unite personally, or by +their representatives, in the fixing of imposts. + +23. Instruction is the need of all, and society owes it to all its +members equally. + +24. Public succours are a sacred debt of society; it is for the law to +determine their extent and application. + +25. The social guarantee of the rights of man rests on the national +sovereignty. + +26. This sovereignty is one, indivisible, imprescriptible, and +inalienable. + +27. It resides essentially in the whole people, and every citizen has an +equal right to unite in its exercise. + +28. No partial assemblage of citizens, and no individual, may attribute +to themselves sovereignty, or exercise any authority, or discharge any +public function, without formal delegation thereto by the law. + +29. The social guarantee cannot exist if the limits of public +administration are not clearly determined by law, and if the +responsibility of all public functionaries is not assured. + +30. All citizens are bound to unite in this guarantee, and in enforcing +the law when summoned in its name. + +31. Men united in society should have legal means of resisting +oppression. + +32. There is oppression when any law violates the natural rights, civil +and political, which it should guarantee. + +There is oppression when the law is violated by public officials in its +application to individual cases. + +There is oppression when arbitrary actions violate the rights of citizen +against the express purpose (_expression_) of the law. + +In a free government the mode of resisting these different acts of +oppression should be regulated by the Constitution. + +33. A people possesses always the right to reform and alter its +Constitution. A generation has no right to subject a future generation +to its laws; and all heredity in offices is absurd and tyrannical. + + + + +XVII. PRIVATE LETTERS TO JEFFERSON. + + +Paris, 20 April, 1793. + +My dear Friend,--The gentleman (Dr. Romer) to whom I entrust this +letter is an intimate acquaintance of Lavater; but I have not had the +opportunity of seeing him, as he had set off for Havre prior to my +writing this letter, which I forward to him under cover from one of his +friends, who is also an acquaintance of mine. + +We are now in an extraordinary crisis, and it is not altogether without +some considerable faults here. Dumouriez, partly from having no fixed +principles of his own, and partly from the continual persecution of the +Jacobins, who act without either prudence or morality, has gone off +to the Enemy, and taken a considerable part of the Army with him. The +expedition to Holland has totally failed, and all Brabant is again in +the hands of the Austrians. + +You may suppose the consternation which such a sudden reverse of fortune +has occasioned, but it has been without commotion. Dumouriez threatened +to be in Paris in three weeks. It is now three weeks ago; he is still on +the frontier near to Mons with the Enemy, who do not make any progress. +Dumouriez has proposed to re-establish the former Constitution in +which plan the Austrians act with him. But if France and the National +Convention act prudently this project will not succeed. In the first +place there is a popular disposition against it, and there is force +sufficient to prevent it. In the next place, a great deal is to be taken +into the calculation with respect to the Enemy. There are now so many +persons accidentally jumbled together as to render it exceedingly +difficult to them to agree upon any common object. + +The first object, that of restoring the old Monarchy, is evidently given +up by the proposal to re-establish the late Constitution. The object of +England and Prussia was to preserve Holland, and the object of Austria +was to recover Brabant; while those separate objects lasted, each party +having one, the Confederation could hold together, each helping the +other; but after this I see not how a common object is to be formed. +To all this is to be added the probable disputes about opportunity, +the expence, and the projects of reimbursements. The Enemy has once +adventured into France, and they had the permission or the good fortune +to get back again. On every military calculation it is a hazardous +adventure, and armies are not much disposed to try a second time the +ground upon which they have been defeated. + +Had this revolution been conducted consistently with its principles, +there was once a good prospect of extending liberty through the greatest +part of Europe; but I now relinquish that hope. Should the Enemy by +venturing into France put themselves again in a condition of being +captured, the hope will revive; but this is a risk I do not wish to see +tried, lest it should fail. + +As the prospect of a general freedom is now much shortened, I begin +to contemplate returning home. I shall await the event of the proposed +Constitution, and then take my final leave of Europe. I have not written +to the President, as I have nothing to communicate more than in this +letter. Please to present him my affection and compliments, and remember +me among the circle of my friends. + +Your sincere and affectionate friend, + +Thomas Paine. + +P. S. I just now received a letter from General Lewis Morris, who tells +me that the house and Barn on my farm at New Rochelle are burnt down. I +assure you I shall not bring money enough to build another. + + + +Paris, 20 Oct., 1793. + +I wrote you by Captain Dominick who was to sail from Havre about the +20th of this month. This will probably be brought you by Mr. Barlow or +Col. Oswald. Since my letter by Dominick I am every day more convinced +and impressed with the propriety of Congress sending Commissioners to +Europe to confer with the Ministers of the Jesuitical Powers on the +means of terminating the War. The enclosed printed paper will shew there +are a variety of subjects to be taken into consideration which did not +appear at first, all of which have some tendency to put an end to the +War. I see not how this War is to terminate if some intermediate power +does not step forward. There is now no prospect that France can carry +revolutions into Europe on the one hand, or that the combined powers can +conquer France on the other hand. It is a sort of defensive War on both +sides. This being the case, how is the War to close? Neither side +will ask for peace though each may wish it. I believe that England +and Holland are tired of the War. Their Commerce and Manufactures have +suffered most exceedingly,--besides this, it is for them a War without +an object. Russia keeps herself at a distance. + +I cannot help repeating my wish that Congress would send Commissioners, +and I wish also that yourself would venture once more across the ocean, +as one of them. If the Commissioners rendezvous at Holland they would +know what steps to take. They could call Mr. Pinckney [Gen. Thomas +Pinckney, American Minister in England] to their councils, and it would +be of use, on many accounts, that one of them should come over from +Holland to France. Perhaps a long truce, were it proposed by the neutral +powers, would have all the effects of a Peace, without the difficulties +attending the adjustment of all the forms of Peace. + +Yours affectionately, + +Thomas Paine. + + + + +XVIII. LETTER TO DANTON.(1) + +Paris, May 6, 2nd year of the Republic [1793.] + +Citoyen Danton: As you read English, I write this letter to you without +passing it through the hands of a translator. I am exceedingly disturbed +at the distractions, jealousies, discontents and uneasiness that reign +among us, and which, if they continue, will bring ruin and disgrace on +the Republic. When I left America in the year 1787, it was my intention +to return the year following, but the French Revolution, and the +prospect it afforded of extending the principles of liberty and +fraternity through the greater part of Europe, have induced me to +prolong my stay upwards of six years. I now despair of seeing the great +object of European liberty accomplished, and my despair arises not from +the combined foreign powers, not from the intrigues of aristocracy and +priestcraft, but from the tumultuous misconduct with which the internal +affairs of the present revolution are conducted. + +All that now can be hoped for is limited to France only, and I agree +with your motion of not interfering in the government of any foreign +country, nor permitting any foreign country to interfere in the +government of France. This decree was necessary as a preliminary toward +terminating the war. But while these internal contentions continue, +while the hope remains to the enemy of seeing the Republic fall to +pieces, while not only the representatives of the departments but +representation itself is publicly insulted, as it has lately been and +now is by the people of Paris, or at least by the tribunes, the enemy +will be encouraged to hang about the frontiers and await the issue of +circumstances. + + 1 This admirable letter was brought to light by the late M. + Taine, and first published in full by Taine's translator, + John Durand ("New Materials for the History of the American + Revolution," 1889). The letter to Marat mentioned by Paine + has not been discovered. Danton followed Paine to prison, + and on meeting him there said: "That which you did for the + happiness and liberty of your country I tried to do for + mine. I have been less fortunate, but not less innocent. + They will send me to the scaffold; very well, my friend, I + will go gaily." M. Taine in La Révolution (vol. ii., pp. + 382, 413, 414) refers to this letter of Paine, and says: + "Compared with the speeches and writings of the time, it + produces the strangest effect by its practical good sense." + --_Editor._, + +I observe that the confederated powers have not yet recognized Monsieur, +or D'Artois, as regent, nor made any proclamation in favour of any +of the Bourbons; but this negative conduct admits of two different +conclusions. The one is that of abandoning the Bourbons and the war +together; the other is that of changing the object of the war and +substituting a partition scheme in the place of their first object, as +they have done by Poland. If this should be their object, the internal +contentions that now rage will favour that object far more than it +favoured their former object. The danger every day increases of a +rupture between Paris and the departments. The departments did not send +their deputies to Paris to be insulted, and every insult shown to them +is an insult to the departments that elected and sent them. I see but +one effectual plan to prevent this rupture taking place, and that is to +fix the residence of the Convention, and of the future assemblies, at a +distance from Paris. + +I saw, during the American Revolution, the exceeding inconvenience that +arose by having the government of Congress within the limits of any +Municipal Jurisdiction. Congress first resided in Philadelphia, and +after a residence of four years it found it necessary to leave it. It +then adjourned to the State of Jersey. It afterwards removed to +New York; it again removed from New York to Philadelphia, and after +experiencing in every one of these places the great inconvenience of +a government, it formed the project of building a Town, not within +the limits of any municipal jurisdiction, for the future residence of +Congress. In any one of the places where Congress resided, the municipal +authority privately or openly opposed itself to the authority of +Congress, and the people of each of these places expected more attention +from Congress than their equal share with the other States amounted to. +The same thing now takes place in France, but in a far greater excess. + +I see also another embarrassing circumstance arising in Paris of which +we have had full experience in America. I mean that of fixing the price +of provisions. But if this measure is to be attempted it ought to +be done by the Municipality. The Convention has nothing to do with +regulations of this kind; neither can they be carried into practice. The +people of Paris may say they will not give more than a certain price +for provisions, but as they cannot compel the country people to bring +provisions to market the consequence will be directly contrary to their +expectations, and they will find dearness and famine instead of plenty +and cheapness. They may force the price down upon the stock in hand, but +after that the market will be empty. + +I will give you an example. In Philadelphia we undertook, among other +regulations of this kind, to regulate the price of Salt; the consequence +was that no Salt was brought to market, and the price rose to thirty-six +shillings sterling per Bushel. The price before the war was only one +shilling and sixpence per Bushel; and we regulated the price of flour +(farina) till there was none in the market, and the people were glad to +procure it at any price. + +There is also a circumstance to be taken into the account which is not +much attended to. The assignats are not of the same value they were a +year ago, and as the quantity increases the value of them will diminish. +This gives the appearance of things being dear when they are not so in +fact, for in the same proportion that any kind of money falls in +value articles rise in price. If it were not for this the quantity of +assignats would be too great to be circulated. Paper money in America +fell so much in value from this excessive quantity of it, that in the +year 1781 I gave three hundred paper dollars for one pair of worsted +stockings. What I write you upon this subject is experience, and not +merely opinion. I have no personal interest in any of these matters, nor +in any party disputes. I attend only to general principles. + +As soon as a constitution shall be established I shall return to +America; and be the future prosperity of France ever so great, I shall +enjoy no other part of it than the happiness of knowing it. In the mean +time I am distressed to see matters so badly conducted, and so little +attention paid to moral principles. It is these things that injure the +character of the Revolution and discourage the progress of liberty all +over the world. When I began this letter I did not intend making it so +lengthy, but since I have gone thus far I will fill up the remainder of +the sheet with such matters as occur to me. + +There ought to be some regulation with respect to the spirit of +denunciation that now prevails. If every individual is to indulge his +private malignancy or his private ambition, to denounce at random and +without any kind of proof, all confidence will be undermined and all +authority be destroyed. Calumny is a species of Treachery that ought to +be punished as well as any other kind of Treachery. It is a private vice +productive of public evils; because it is possible to irritate men into +disaffection by continual calumny who never intended to be disaffected. +It is therefore, equally as necessary to guard against the evils +of unfounded or malignant suspicion as against the evils of blind +confidence. It is equally as necessary to protect the characters of +public officers from calumny as it is to punish them for treachery or +misconduct. For my own part I shall hold it a matter of doubt, until +better evidence arises than is known at present, whether Dumouriez has +been a traitor from policy or resentment. There was certainly a time +when he acted well, but it is not every man whose mind is strong enough +to bear up against ingratitude, and I think he experienced a great deal +of this before he revolted. Calumny becomes harmless and defeats itself, +when it attempts to act upon too large a scale. Thus the denunciation +of the Sections [of Paris] against the twenty-two deputies [Girondists] +falls to the ground. The departments that elected them are better judges +of their moral and political characters than those who have denounced +them. This denunciation will injure Paris in the opinion of the +departments because it has the appearance of dictating to them what sort +of deputies they shall elect. Most of the acquaintances that I have in +the Convention are among those who are in that list, and I know there +are not better men nor better patriots than what they are. + +I have written a letter to Marat of the same date as this but not on the +same subject. He may show it to you if he chuse. + +Votre Ami, + +Thomas Paine. + +Citoyen Danton. + + + + +XIX. A CITIZEN OF AMERICA TO THE CITIZENS OF EUROPE (1) + + +18th Year of Independence. + + 1 State Archives, Paris: États Unis, vol. 38, fol. 90. This + pamphlet is in English, without indication of authorship or + of the place of publication. It is accompanied by a French + translation (MS.) inscribed "Par Thomas Payne." In the + printed pamphlet the date (18th Year, etc) is preceded by + the French words (printed): "Philadelphie 28 Juillet 1793." + It was no doubt the pamphlet sent by Paine to Monroe, with + various documents relating to his imprisonment, describing + it as "a Letter which I had printed here as an American + letter, some copies of which I sent to Mr. Jefferson." A + considerable portion of the pamphlet embodies, with + occasional changes of phraseology, a manuscript (États Unis, + vol. 37, Do. 39) endorsed: "January 1793. Thorn. Payne. + Copie. Observations on the situation of the Powers joined + against France." This opens with the following paragraph: + "It is always useful to know the position and the designs of + one's enemies. It is much easier to do so by combining and + comparing the events, and by examining the consequences + which result from them, than by forming one's judgment by + letters found or intercepted. These letters could be + fabricated with the intention of deceiving, but events or + circumstances have a character which is proper to them. If + in the course of our political operations we mistake the + designs of our enemy, it leads us to do precisely that which + he desires we should do, and it happens by the fact, but + against our intentions, that we work for him." That the date + written on this MS. is erroneous appears by an allusion to + the defeat of the Duke of York at Dunkirk in the closing + paragraph: "There are three distinct parties in England at + this moment: the government party, the revolutionary party, + and an intermedial party,--which is only opposed to the war + on account of the expense it entails, and the harm it does + commerce and manufactures. I am speaking of the People, and + not of the Parliament. The latter is divided into two + parties: the Ministerial, and the Anti-ministerial. The + revolutionary party, the intermedial party, and the anti- + ministerial party, will all rejoice, publicly or privately, + at the defeat of the Duke of York at Dunkirk." The two + paragraphs quoted represent the only actual additions to the + pamphlet. I have a clipping from the London Morning + Chronicle of Friday, April 25, 1794, containing the part of + the pamphlet headed "Of the present state of Europe and the + Confederacy," signed "Thomas Paine, Author of Common Sense, + etc." On February 1,1793, the Convention having declared + war, appointed Paine, Barère, Condorcet and Faber, a + Committee to draft an address to the English people. It was + never done, but these fragments may represent notes written + by Paine with reference to that task. The pamphlet + probably appeared late in September, 1793.--_Editor._, + + +Understanding that a proposal is intended to be made at the ensuing +meeting of the Congress of the United States of America "to send +commissioners to Europe to confer with the Ministers of all the Neutral +Powers for the purpose of negotiating preliminaries of peace," I address +this letter to you on that subject, and on the several matters connected +therewith. + +In order to discuss this subject through all its circumstances, it +will be necessary to take a review of the state of Europe, prior to the +French revolution. It will from thence appear, that the powers leagued +against France are fighting to attain an object, which, were it possible +to be attained, would be injurious to themselves. + +This is not an uncommon error in the history of wars and governments, of +which the conduct of the English government in the war against America +is a striking instance. She commenced that war for the avowed purpose of +subjugating America; and after wasting upwards of one hundred millions +sterling, and then abandoning the object, she discovered, in the course +of three or four years, that the prosperity of England was increased, +instead of being diminished, by the independence of America. In short, +every circumstance is pregnant with some natural effect, upon which +intentions and opinions have no influence; and the political error +lies in misjudging what the effect will be. England misjudged it in +the American war, and the reasons I shall now offer will shew, that she +misjudges it in the present war. In discussing this subject, I leave out +of the question everything respecting forms and systems of government; +for as all the governments of Europe differ from each other, there is no +reason that the government of France should not differ from the rest. + +The clamours continually raised in all the countries of Europe were, +that the family of the Bourbons was become too powerful; that the +intrigues of the court of France endangered the peace of Europe. Austria +saw with a jealous eye the connection of France with Prussia; and +Prussia, in her turn became jealous of the connection of France with +Austria; England had wasted millions unsuccessfully in attempting to +prevent the family compact with Spain; Russia disliked the alliance +between France and Turkey; and Turkey became apprehensive of the +inclination of France towards an alliance with Russia. Sometimes the +quadruple alliance alarmed some of the powers, and at other times a +contrary system alarmed others, and in all those cases the charge was +always made against the intrigues of the Bourbons. + +Admitting those matters to be true, the only thing that could have +quieted the apprehensions of all those powers with respect to the +interference of France, would have been her entire NEUTRALITY in Europe; +but this was impossible to be obtained, or if obtained was impossible +to be secured, because the genius of her government was repugnant to all +such restrictions. + +It now happens that by entirely changing the genius of her government, +which France has done for herself, this neutrality, which neither wars +could accomplish nor treaties secure, arises naturally of itself, and +becomes the ground upon which the war should terminate. It is the +thing that approaches the nearest of all others to what ought to be the +political views of all the European powers; and there is nothing that +can so effectually secure this neutrality, as that the genius of the +French government should be different from the rest of Europe. + +But if their object is to restore the Bourbons and monarchy together, +they will unavoidably restore with it all the evils of which they have +complained; and the first question of discord will be, whose ally is +that monarchy to be? + +Will England agree to the restoration of the family compact against +which she has been fighting and scheming ever since it existed? Will +Prussia agree to restore the alliance between France and Austria, or +will Austria agree to restore the former connection between France and +Prussia, formed on purpose to oppose herself; or will Spain or Russia, +or any of the maritime powers, agree that France and her navy should be +allied to England? In fine, will any of the powers agree to strengthen +the hands of the other against itself? Yet all these cases involve +themselves in the original question of the restoration of the Bourbons; +and on the other hand, all of them disappear by the neutrality of +France. + +If their object is not to restore the Bourbons, it must be the +impracticable project of a partition of the country. The Bourbons will +then be out of the question, or, more properly speaking, they will be +put in a worse condition; for as the preservation of the Bourbons made +a part of the first object, the extirpation of them makes a part of the +second. Their pretended friends will then become interested in their +destruction, because it is favourable to the purpose of partition that +none of the nominal claimants should be left in existence. + +But however the project of a partition may at first blind the eyes of +the confederacy, or however each of them may hope to outwit the other +in the progress or in the end, the embarrassments that will arise are +insurmountable. But even were the object attainable, it would not be of +such general advantage to the parties as the neutrality of France, which +costs them nothing, and to obtain which they would formerly have gone to +war. + + + +OF THE PRESENT STATE OF EUROPE, AND THE CONFEDERACY. + +In the first place the confederacy is not of that kind that forms +itself originally by concert and consent. It has been forced together by +chance--a heterogeneous mass, held only by the accident of the moment; +and the instant that accident ceases to operate, the parties will retire +to their former rivalships. + +I will now, independently of the impracticability of a partition +project, trace out some of the embarrassments which will arise among the +confederated parties; for it is contrary to the interest of a majority +of them that such a project should succeed. + +To understand this part of the subject it is necessary, in the +first place, to cast an eye over the map of Europe, and observe the +geographical situation of the several parts of the confederacy; for +however strongly the passionate politics of the moment may operate, the +politics that arise from geographical situation are the most certain, +and will in all cases finally prevail. + +The world has been long amused with what is called the "_balance of +power_." But it is not upon armies only that this balance depends. +Armies have but a small circle of action. Their progress is slow and +limited. But when we take maritime power into the calculation, the scale +extends universally. It comprehends all the interests connected with +commerce. + +The two great maritime powers are England and France. Destroy either of +those, and the balance of naval power is destroyed. The whole world of +commerce that passes on the Ocean would then lie at the mercy of the +other, and the ports of any nation in Europe might be blocked up. + +The geographical situation of those two maritime powers comes next under +consideration. Each of them occupies one entire side of the channel from +the straits of Dover and Calais to the opening into the Atlantic. The +commerce of all the northern nations, from Holland to Russia, must pass +the straits of Dover and Calais, and along the Channel, to arrive at the +Atlantic. + +This being the case, the systematical politics of all the nations, +northward of the straits of Dover and Calais, can be ascertained from +their geographical situation; for it is necessary to the safety of their +commerce that the two sides of the Channel, either in whole or in part, +should not be in the possession either of England or France. While one +nation possesses the whole of one side, and the other nation the other +side, the northern nations cannot help seeing that in any situation of +things their commerce will always find protection on one side or the +other. It may sometimes be that of England and sometimes that of France. + +Again, while the English navy continues in its present condition, it is +necessary that another navy should exist to controul the universal sway +the former would otherwise have over the commerce of all nations. France +is the only nation in Europe where this balance can be placed. The +navies of the North, were they sufficiently powerful, could not be +sufficiently operative. They are blocked up by the ice six months in the +year. Spain lies too remote; besides which, it is only for the sake of +her American mines that she keeps up her navy. + +Applying these cases to the project of a partition of France, it will +appear, that the project involves with it a DESTRUCTION OF THE BALANCE +OF MARITIME POWER; because it is only by keeping France entire and +indivisible that the balance can be kept up. This is a case that at +first sight lies remote and almost hidden. But it interests all the +maritime and commercial nations in Europe in as great a degree as any +case that has ever come before them.--In short, it is with war as it +is with law. In law, the first merits of the case become lost in the +multitude of arguments; and in war they become lost in the variety of +events. New objects arise that take the lead of all that went before, +and everything assumes a new aspect. This was the case in the last great +confederacy in what is called the succession war, and most probably will +be the case in the present. + +I have now thrown together such thoughts as occurred to me on the +several subjects connected with the confederacy against France, and +interwoven with the interest of the neutral powers. Should a conference +of the neutral powers take place, these observations will, at least, +serve to generate others. The whole matter will then undergo a more +extensive investigation than it is in my power to give; and the evils +attending upon either of the projects, that of restoring the Bourbons, +or of attempting a partition of France, will have the calm opportunity +of being fully discussed. + +On the part of England, it is very extraordinary that she should have +engaged in a former confederacy, and a long expensive war, to _prevent_ +the family compact, and now engage in another confederacy to _preserve_ +it. And on the part of the other powers, it is as inconsistent that they +should engage in a partition project, which, could it be executed, would +immediately destroy the balance of maritime power in Europe, and would +probably produce a second war, to remedy the political errors of the +first. + +A Citizen of the United States of America. + + + + +XX. APPEAL TO THE CONVENTION.(1) + + +Citizens Representatives: If I should not express myself with the energy +I used formerly to do, you will attribute it to the very dangerous +illness I have suffered in the prison of the Luxembourg. For several +days I was insensible of my own existence; and though I am much +recovered, it is with exceeding great difficulty that I find power to +write you this letter. + + 1 Written in Luxembourg prison, August 7, 1794. Robespierre + having fallen July 29th, those who had been imprisoned under + his authority were nearly all at once released, but Paine + remained. There were still three conspirators against him on + the Committee of Public Safety, and to that Committee this + appeal was unfortunately confided; consequently it never + reached the Convention. The circumstances are related at + length infra, in the introduction to the Memorial to Monroe + (XXI.). It will also be seen that Paine was mistaken in his + belief that his imprisonment was due to the enmity of + Robespierre, and this he vaguely suspected when his + imprisonment was prolonged three months after Robespierre's + death.--_Editor._. + +But before I proceed further, I request the Convention to observe: that +this is the first line that has come from me, either to the Convention +or to any of the Committees, since my imprisonment,--which is +approaching to eight months. --Ah, my friends, eight months' loss of +liberty seems almost a life-time to a man who has been, as I have been, +the unceasing defender of Liberty for twenty years. + +I have now to inform the Convention of the reason of my not having +written before. It is a year ago that I had strong reason to believe +that Robespierre was my inveterate enemy, as he was the enemy of every +man of virtue and humanity. The address that was sent to the Convention +some time about last August from Arras, the native town of Robespierre, +I have always been informed was the work of that hypocrite and the +partizans he had in the place. The intention of that address was to +prepare the way for destroying me, by making the people declare (though +without assigning any reason) that I had lost their confidence; the +Address, however, failed of success, as it was immediately opposed by a +counter-address from St. Omer, which declared the direct contrary. But +the strange power that Robespierre, by the most consummate hypocrisy and +the most hardened cruelties, had obtained, rendered any attempt on my +part to obtain justice not only useless but dangerous; for it is the +nature of Tyranny always to strike a deeper blow when any attempt has +been made to repel a former one. This being my situation, I submitted +with patience to the hardness of my fate and waited the event of +brighter days. I hope they are now arrived to the nation and to me. + +Citizens, when I left the United States in the year 1787 I promised to +all my friends that I would return to them the next year; but the hope +of seeing a revolution happily established in France, that might serve +as a model to the rest of Europe,(1) and the earnest and disinterested +desire of rendering every service in my power to promote it, induced me +to defer my return to that country, and to the society of my friends, +for more than seven years. This long sacrifice of private tranquillity, +especially after having gone through the fatigues and dangers of the +American Revolution which continued almost eight years, deserved a +better fate than the long imprisonment I have silently suffered. But it +is not the nation but a faction that has done me this injustice. Parties +and Factions, various and numerous as they have been, I have always +avoided. My heart was devoted to all France, and the object to which I +applied myself was the Constitution. The Plan which I proposed to the +Committee, of which I was a member, is now in the hands of Barère, and +it will speak for itself. + + 1 Revolutions have now acquired such sanguinary associations + that it is important to bear in mind that by "revolution" + Paine always means simply a change or reformation of + government, which might be and ought to be bloodless. See + "Rights of Man" Part II., vol. ii. of this work, pp. 513, + 523.--:_Editor_. + +It is perhaps proper that I inform you of the cause as-assigned in the +order for my imprisonment. It is that I am 'a Foreigner'; whereas, the +_Foreigner_ thus imprisoned was invited into France by a decree of the +late National Assembly, and that in the hour of her greatest danger, +when invaded by Austrians and Prussians. He was, moreover, a citizen of +the United States of America, an ally of France, and not a subject of +any country in Europe, and consequently not within the intentions of any +decree concerning Foreigners. But any excuse can be made to serve the +purpose of malignity when in power. + +I will not intrude on your time by offering any apology for the broken +and imperfect manner in which I have expressed myself. I request you to +accept it with the sincerity with which it comes from my heart; and I +conclude with wishing Fraternity and prosperity to France, and union and +happiness to her representatives. + +Citizens, I have now stated to you my situation, and I can have no doubt +but your justice will restore me to the Liberty of which I have been +deprived. + +Thomas Paine. + +Luxembourg, Thermidor 19, 2nd Year of the French Republic, one and +indivisible. + + + + +XXI. THE MEMORIAL TO MONROE. + +EDITOR'S historical introduction: + +The Memorial is here printed from the manuscript of Paine now among the +Morrison Papers, in the British Museum,--no doubt the identical document +penned in Luxembourg prison. The paper in the United States State +Department (vol. vii., Monroe Papers) is accompanied by a note by +Monroe: "Mr. Paine, Luxembourg, on my arrival in France, 1794. My answer +was after the receipt of his second letter. It is thought necessary to +print only those parts of his that relate directly to his confinement, +and to omit all between the parentheses in each." The paper thus +inscribed seems to have been a wrapper for all of Paine's letters. +An examination of the MS. at Washington does not show any such +"parentheses," indicating omissions, whereas that in the British Museum +has such marks, and has evidently been prepared for the press,--being +indeed accompanied by the long title of the French pamphlet. There are +other indications that the British Museum MS. is the original Memorial +from which was printed in Paris the pamphlet entitled: + +"Mémoire de Thomas Payne, autographe et signé de sa main: addressé à +M. Monroe, ministre des États-unis en france, pour réclamer sa mise en +liberté comme citoyen Américain, 10 Sept 1794. Robespierre avait fait +arrêter Th. Payne, en 1793--il fut conduit au Luxembourg où le glaive +fut longtemps suspendu sur sa tête. Après onze mois de captivité, il +recouvra la liberté, sur la réclamation du ministre Américain--c'était +après la chute de Robespierre--il reprit sa place à la convention, le 8 +décembre 1794. (18 frimaire an iii.) Ce Mémoire contient des renseigne +mens curieux sur la conduite politique de Th. Payne en france, pendant +la Révolution, et à l'époque du procès de Louis XVI. Ce n'est point, dit +il, comme Quaker, qu'il ne vota pas La Mort du Roi mais par un sentiment +d'humanité, qui ne tenait point à ses principes religieux. Villenave." + +No date is given, but the pamphlet probably appeared early in 1795. +Matthieu Gillaume Thérèse Villenave (b. 1762, d. 1846) was a journalist, +and it will be noticed that he, or the translator, modifies Paine's +answer to Marat about his Quakerism. There are some loose translations +in the cheap French pamphlet, but it is the only publication which +has given Paine's Memorial with any fulness. Nearly ten pages of +the manuscript were omitted from the Memorial when it appeared as +an Appendix to the pamphlet entitled "Letter to George Washington, +President of the United States of America, on Affairs public and +private." By Thomas Paine, Author of the Works entitled, Common Sense, +Rights of Man, Age of Reason, &c. Philadelphia: Printed by Benj. +Franklin Bache, No. 112 Market Street. 1796. [Entered according to +law.] This much-abridged copy of the Memorial has been followed in +all subsequent editions, so that the real document has not hitherto +appeared.(1) + +In appending the Memorial to his "Letter to Washington," Paine would +naturally omit passages rendered unimportant by his release, but his +friend Bache may have suppressed others that might have embarrassed +American partisans of France, such as the scene at the king's trial. + + 1 Bache's pamphlet reproduces the portrait engraved in + Villenave, where it is underlined: "Peint par Ped [Peale] à + Philadelphie, Dessiné par F. Bonneville, Gravé par Sandoz." + In Bache it is: "Bolt sc. 1793 "; and beneath this the + curious inscription: "Thomas Paine. Secretair d. Americ: + Congr: 1780. Mitgl: d. fr. Nat. Convents. 1793." The + portrait is a variant of that now in Independence Hall, and + one of two painted by C. W. Peale. The other (in which the + chin is supported by the hand) was for religious reasons + refused by the Boston Museum when it purchased the + collection of "American Heroes" from Rembrandt Peale. It was + bought by John McDonough, whose brother sold it to Mr. + Joseph Jefferson, the eminent actor, and perished when his + house was burned at Buzzard's Bay. Mr. Jefferson writes me + that he meant to give the portrait to the Paine Memorial + Society, Boston; "but the cruel fire roasted the splendid + _Infidel_, so I presume the saints are satisfied." + +This description, however, and a large proportion of the suppressed +pages, are historically among the most interesting parts of the +Memorial, and their restoration renders it necessary to transfer the +document from its place as an appendix to that of a preliminary to the +"Letter to Washington." + +Paine's Letter to Washington burdens his reputation today more, +probably, than any other production of his pen. The traditional judgment +was formed in the absence of many materials necessary for a just +verdict. The editor feels under the necessity of introducing at this +point an historical episode; he cannot regard it as fair to the memory +of either Paine or Washington that these two chapters should be printed +without a full statement of the circumstances, the most important of +which, but recently discovered, were unknown to either of those men. In +the editor's "Life of Thomas Paine" (ii., pp. 77-180) newly discovered +facts and documents bearing on the subject are given, which may +be referred to by those who desire to investigate critically such +statements as may here appear insufficiently supported. Considerations +of space require that the history in that work should be only summarized +here, especially as important new details must be added. + +Paine was imprisoned (December 28, 1793) through the hostility of +Gouverneur Morris, the American Minister in Paris. The fact that the +United States, after kindling revolution in France by its example, was +then represented in that country by a Minister of vehement royalist +opinions, and one who literally entered into the service of the King to +defeat the Republic, has been shown by that Minister's own biographers. +Some light is cast on the events that led to this strange situation by +a letter written to M. de Mont-morin, Minister of Foreign Affairs, by +a French Chargé d'Affaires, Louis Otto, dated Philadelphia, 10 March, +1792. Otto, a nobleman who married into the Livingston family, was an +astute diplomatist, and enjoyed the intimacy of the Secretary of +State, Jefferson, and of his friends. At the close of a long interview +Jefferson tells him that "The secresy with which the Senate covers its +deliberations serves to veil personal interest, which reigns therein in +all its strength." Otto explains this as referring to the speculative +operations of Senators, and to the commercial connections some of them +have with England, making them unfriendly to French interests. + +"Among the latter the most remarkable is Mr. Robert Morris, of English +birth, formerly Superintendent of Finance, a man of greatest talent, +whose mercantile speculations are as unlimited as his ambition. He +directs the Senate as he once did the American finances in making it +keep step with his policy and his business.... About two years ago Mr. +Robert Morris sent to France Mr. Gouverneur Morris to negotiate a loan +in his name, and for different other personal matters.... During his +sojourn in France, Mr. Rob. Morris thought he could make him more useful +for his aims by inducing the President of the United States to entrust +him with a negotiation with England relative to the Commerce of the two +countries. M. Gouv. Morris acquitted himself in this as an adroit man, +and with his customary zeal, but despite his address (insinuation) +obtained only the vague hope of an advantageous commercial treaty on +condition of an _Alliance resembling that between France and the United +States_.... [Mr. Robert Morris] is himself English, and interested in +all the large speculations founded in this country for Great Britain.... +His great services as Superintendent of Finance during the Revolution +have assured him the esteem and consideration of General Washington, +who, however, is far from adopting his views about France. The warmth +with which Mr. Rob. Morris opposed in the Senate the exemption of French +_armateurs_ from tonnage, demanded by His Majesty, undoubtedly had +for its object to induce the king, by this bad behavior, to break the +treaty, in order to facilitate hereafter the negotiations begun with +England to form an alliance. As for Mr. Gouv. Morris he is entirely +devoted to his correspondent, with whom he has been constantly connected +in business and opinion. His great talents are recognized, and his +extreme quickness in conceiving new schemes and gaining others to them. +He is perhaps the most eloquent and ingenious man of his country, but +his countrymen themselves distrust his talents. They admire but fear +him." (1) + + 1 Archives of the State Department, Paris, États Unis., + vol. 35, fol. 301. + +The Commission given to Gouverneur Morris by Washington, to which +Otto refers, was in his own handwriting, dated October 13, 1789, and +authorized him "in the capacity of private agent, and in the credit of +this letter, to converse with His Britannic Majesty's ministers on these +points, viz. whether there be any, and what objection to performing +those articles of the treaty which remained to be performed on his part; +and whether they incline to a treaty of commerce on any and what terms. +This communication ought regularly to be made to you by the Secretary +of State; but, that office not being at present filled, my desire of +avoiding delays induces me to make it under my own hand."(1) + +The President could hardly have assumed the authority of secretly +appointing a virtual ambassador had there not been a tremendous object +in view: this, as he explains in an accompanying letter, was to +secure the evacuation by Great Britain of the frontier posts. This +all-absorbing purpose of Washington is the key to his administration. +Gouverneur Morris paved the way for Jay's treaty, and he was paid for +it with the French mission. The Senate would not have tolerated his +appointment to England, and only by a majority of four could the +President secure his confirmation as Minister to France (January 12, +1792). The President wrote Gouverneur Morris (January 28th) a friendly +lecture about the objections made to him, chiefly that he favored the +aristocracy and was unfriendly to the revolution, and expressed "the +fullest confidence" that, supposing the allegations founded, he would +"effect a change." But Gouverneur Morris remained the agent of Senator +Robert Morris, and still held Washington's mission to England, and he +knew only as "conspirators" the rulers who succeeded Louis XVI. Even +while utilizing them, he was an agent of Great Britain in its war +against the country to which he was officially commissioned. + + 1 Ford's "Writings of George Washington" vol. xi., p. 440. + +Lafayette wrote to Washington ("Paris, March 15,1792") the following +appeal: + +"Permit me, my dear General, to make an observation for yourself alone, +on the recent selection of an American ambassador. Personally I am a +friend of Gouverneur Morris, and have always been, in private, quite +content with him; but the aristocratic and really contra-revolutionary +principles which he has avowed render him little fit to represent the +only government resembling ours.... I cannot repress the desire that +American and French principles should be in the heart and on the lips of +the ambassador of the United States in France." (1) + +In addition to this; two successive Ministers from France, after the +fall of the Monarchy, conveyed to the American Government the most +earnest remonstrances against the continuance of Gouverneur Morris in +their country, one of them reciting the particular offences of which +he was guilty. The President's disregard of all these protests and +entreaties, unexampled perhaps in history, had the effect of giving +Gouverneur Morris enormous power over the country against which he +was intriguing. He was recognized as the Irremovable. He represented +Washington's fixed and unalterable determination, and this at a moment +when the main purpose of the revolutionary leaders was to preserve the +alliance with America. Robespierre at that time ( 1793) had special +charge of diplomatic affairs, and it is shown by the French historian, +Frédéric Masson, that he was very anxious to recover for the republic +the initiative of the American alliance credited to the king; and +"although their Minister, Gouverneur Morris, was justly suspected, +and the American republic was at that time aiming only to utilize the +condition of its ally, the French republic cleared it at a cheap rate of +its debts contracted with the King."(2) Morris adroitly held this +doubt, whether the alliance of his government with Louis XVI. would +be continued to that King's executioners, over the head of the +revolutionists, as a suspended sword. Under that menace, and with +the authentication of being Washington's irremovable mouthpiece, this +Minister had only to speak and it was done. + + 1 "Mémoire», etc., du General Lafayette," Bruxelles, 1837, + tome ii., pp. 484,485. + + 2 "Le Département des Affaires Étrangères pendant la + Révolution," p. 395. + +Meanwhile Gouverneur Morris was steadily working in France for the +aim which he held in common with Robert Morris, namely to transfer the +alliance from France to England. These two nations being at war, it was +impossible for France to fulfil all the terms of the alliance; it could +not permit English ships alone to seize American provisions on the seas, +and it was compelled to prevent American vessels from leaving French +ports with cargoes certain of capture by British cruisers. In this way +a large number of American Captains with their ships were detained in +France, to their distress, but to their Minister's satisfaction. He did +not fail to note and magnify all "infractions" of the treaty, with the +hope that they might be the means of annulling it in favor of England, +and he did nothing to mitigate sufferings which were counts in his +indictment of the Treaty. + +It was at this point that Paine came in the American Minister's way. He +had been on good terms with Gouverneur Morris, who in 1790 (May 29th) +wrote from London to the President: + +"On the 17th Mr. Paine called to tell me that he had conversed on the +same subject [impressment of American seamen] with Mr. Burke, who had +asked him if there was any minister, consul, or other agent of the +United States who could properly make application to the Government: to +which he had replied in the negative; but said that I was here, who had +been a member of Congress, and was therefore the fittest person to step +forward. In consequence of what passed thereupon between them he [Paine] +urged me to take the matter up, which I promised to do. On the 18th I +wrote to the Duke of Leeds requesting an interview." + + 1 Force's "American State Papers, For. Rel.," vol. i. + +At that time (1790) Paine was as yet a lion in London, thus able to +give Morris a lift. He told Morris, in 1792 that he considered his +appointment to France a mistake. This was only on the ground of his +anti-republican opinions; he never dreamed of the secret commissions +to England. He could not have supposed that the Minister who had so +promptly presented the case of impressed seamen in England would +not equally attend to the distressed Captains in France; but these, +neglected by their Minister, appealed to Paine. Paine went to see +Morris, with whom he had an angry interview, during which he asked +Morris "if he did not feel ashamed to take the money of the country +and do nothing for it." Paine thus incurred the personal enmity of +Gouverneur Morris. By his next step he endangered this Minister's +scheme for increasing the friction between France and America; for +Paine advised the Americans to appeal directly to the Convention, and +introduced them to that body, which at once heeded their application, +Morris being left out of the matter altogether. This was August 22d, and +Morris was very angry. It is probable that the Americans in Paris +felt from that time that Paine was in danger, for on September 13th a +memorial, evidently concocted by them, was sent to the French government +proposing that they should send Commissioners to the United States to +forestall the intrigues of England, and that Paine should go with them, +and set forth their case in the journals, as he "has great influence +with the people." This looks like a design to get Paine safely out of +the country, but it probably sealed his fate. Had Paine gone to America +and reported there Morris's treacheries to France and to his own +country, and his licentiousness, notorious in Paris, which his diary has +recently revealed to the world, the career of the Minister would have +swiftly terminated. Gouverneur Morris wrote to Robert Morris that +Paine was intriguing for his removal, and intimates that he (Paine) was +ambitious of taking his place in Paris. Paine's return to America must +be prevented. + +Had the American Minister not been well known as an enemy of the +republic it might have been easy to carry Paine from the Convention to +the guillotine; but under the conditions the case required all of the +ingenuity even of a diplomatist so adroit as Gouverneur Morris. But fate +had played into his hand. It so happened that Louis Otto, whose letter +from Philadelphia has been quoted, had become chief secretary to the +Minister of Foreign Affairs in Paris, M. Deforgues. This Minister and +his Secretary, apprehending the fate that presently overtook both, were +anxious to be appointed to America. No one knew better than Otto the +commanding influence of Gouverneur Morris, as Washington's "irremovable" +representative, both in France and America, and this desire of the two +frightened officials to get out of France was confided to him.(1) By +hope of his aid, and by this compromising confidence, Deforgues came +under the power of a giant who used it like a giant. Morris at +once hinted that Paine was fomenting the troubles given by Genêt to +Washington in America, and thus set in motion the procedure by which +Paine was ultimately lodged in prison. + +There being no charge against Paine in France, and no ill-will felt +towards him by Robespierre, compliance with the supposed will of +Washington was in this case difficult. Six months before, a law had been +passed to imprison aliens of hostile nationality, which could not affect +Paine, he being a member of the Convention and an American. But a decree +was passed, evidently to reach Paine, "that no foreigner should be +admitted to represent the French people"; by this he was excluded from +the Convention, and the Committee of General Surety enabled to take the +final step of assuming that he was an Englishman, and thus under the +decree against aliens of hostile nations.(2) + + 1 Letter of Gouverneur Morris to Washington, Oct 19, 1793. + Sparks's "Life of Gouverneur Morris," vol. ii., p. 375. + + 2 Although, as I have said, there was no charge against + Paine in France, and none assigned in any document connected + with his arrest, some kind of insinuation had to be made in + the Convention to cover proceedings against a Deputy, and + Bourdon de l'Oise said, "I know that he has intrigued with a + former agent of the bureau of Foreign Affairs." It will be + seen by the third addendum to the Memorial to Monroe that + Paine supposed this to refer to Louis Otto, who had been his + interpreter in an interview requested by Barère, of the + Committee of Public Safety. But as Otto was then, early in + September, 1793, Secretary in the Foreign Office, and Barère + a fellow-terrorist of Bourdon, there could be no accusation + based on an interview which, had it been probed, would have + put Paine's enemies to confusion. It is doubtful, however, + if Paine was right in his conjecture. The reference of + Bourdon was probably to the collusion between Paine and + Genêt suggested by Morris. + +Paine was thus lodged in prison simply to please Washington, to whom +it was left to decide whether he had been rightly represented by his +Minister in the case. When the large number of Americans in Paris +hastened in a body to the Convention to demand his release, the +President (Vadier) extolled Paine, but said his birth in England brought +him under the measures of safety, and referred them to the Committees. +There they were told that "their reclamation was only the act of +individuals, without any authority from the American Government." +Unfortunately the American petitioners, not understanding by this a +reference to the President, unsuspiciously repaired to Morris, as +also did Paine by letter. The Minister pretended compliance, thereby +preventing their direct appeal to the President. Knowing, however, that +America would never agree that nativity under the British flag made +Paine any more than other Americans a citizen of England, the American +Minister came from Sain-port, where he resided, to Paris, and secured +from the obedient Deforgues a certificate that he had reclaimed Paine +as an American citizen, but that he was held as a _French_ citizen. +This ingeniously prepared certificate which was sent to the Secretary +of State (Jefferson), and Morris's pretended "reclamation," _which was +never sent to America_, are translated in my "Life of Paine," and here +given in the original. + + +À Paris le 14 février 1794, 26 pluviôse. + +Le Minisire plénipotentiaire des États Unis de l'Amérique près la +République française au Ministre des Affaires Étrangères. + +Monsieur: + +Thomas Paine vient de s'adresser à moi pour que je le réclame comme +Citoyen des États Unis. Voici (je crois) les Faits que le regardent. Il +est né en Angleterre. Devenu ensuite Citoyen des États Unis il s'y +est acquise une grande célébrité par des Écrits révolutionnaires. En +consequence il fût adopté Citoyen français et ensuite élu membre de la +Convention. Sa conduite depuis cette époque n'est pas de mon ressort. +J'ignore la cause de sa Détention actuelle dans la prison du Luxembourg, +mais je vous prie Monsieur (si des raisons que ne me sont pas connues +s'opposent à sa liberation) de vouloir bien m'en instruire pour que je +puisse les communiquer au Gouvernement des États Unis. J'ai l'honneur +d'être, Monsieur, + +Votre très humble Serviteur + +Gouv. Morris. + +Paris, i Ventôse l'An ad. de la République une et indivisible. + +Le Ministre des Affaires Étrangères au Ministre Plénipotentiaire des +États Unis de V Amérique près la République Française. + +Par votre lettre du 26 du mois dernier, vous réclamez la liberté de +Thomas Faine, comme Citoyen américain. Né en Angleterre, cet ex-deputé +est devenu successivement Citoyen Américain et Citoyen français. En +acceptant ce dernier titre et en remplissant une place dans le Corps +Législatif, il est soumis aux lob de la République et il a renoncé de +fait à la protection que le droit des gens et les traités conclus avec +les États Unis auraient pu lui assurer. + +J'ignore les motifs de sa détention mais je dois présumer qûils bien +fondés. Je vois néanmoins soumettre au Comité de Salut Public la démande +que vous m'avez adressée et je m'empresserai de vous faire connaître sa +décision. + +Dir ORGUBS. (1) + + 1 Archives of the Foreign Office, Paris, "États Unis," vol. + xl. Translations:--Morris: "Sir,--Thomas Paine has just + applied to me to claim him as a citizen of the United + States. Here (I believe) are the facts relating to him. He + was born in England. Having afterwards become a citizen of + the United States, he acquired great celebrity there by his + revolutionary writings. In consequence he was adopted a + French citizen and then elected Member of the Convention. + His conduct since this epoch is out of my jurisdiction. I am + ignorant of the reason for his present detention in the + Luxembourg prison, but I beg you, sir (if reasons unknown to + me prevent his liberation), be so good as to inform me, that + I may communicate them to the government of the United + States." Deporgurs: "By your letter of the 36th of last + month you reclaim the liberty of Thomas Paine as an American + citizen. Born in England, this ex-deputy has become + successively an American and a French citizen. In accepting + this last title, and in occupying a place in the Corps + Législatif he submitted himself to the laws of the Republic, + and has certainly renounced the protection which the law of + nations, and treaties concluded with the United States, + could have assured him. I am ignorant of the motives of his + detention, but I must presume they are well founded. I shall + nevertheless submit to the Committee of Public Safety the + demand you have addressed to me, and I shall lose no time in + letting you know its decision." + +It will be seen that Deforgues begins his letter with a falsehood: "You +reclaim the liberty of Paine as an American citizen." Morris's letter +had declared him a French citizen out of his (the American Minister's) +"jurisdiction." Morris states for Deforgues his case, and it is +obediently adopted, though quite discordant with the decree, which +imprisoned Paine as a foreigner. Deforgues also makes Paine a member +of a non-existent body, the "Corps Législatif," which might suggest +in Philadelphia previous connection with the defunct Assembly. No such +inquiries as Deforgues promised, nor any, were ever made, and of course +none were intended. Morris had got from Deforgues the certificate he +needed to show in Philadelphia and to Americans in Paris. His pretended +"reclamation" was of course withheld: no copy of it ever reached America +till brought from French archives by the present writer. Morris does +not appear to have ventured even to keep a copy of it himself. The draft +(presumably in English), found among his papers by Sparks, alters the +fatal sentence which deprived Paine of his American citizenship and of +protection. "Res-sort"--jurisdiction--which has a definite technical +meaning in the mouth of a Minister, is changed to "cognizance"; the +sentence is made to read, "his conduct from that time has not come under +my cognizance." (Sparks's "Life of Gouverneur Morris," i., p. 401). +Even as it stands in his book, Sparks says: "The application, it must +be confessed, was neither pressing in its terms, nor cogent in its +arguments." + +The American Minister, armed with this French missive, dictated by +himself, enclosed it to the Secretary of State, whom he supposed to be +still Jefferson, with a letter stating that he had reclaimed Paine as an +American, that he (Paine) was held to answer for "crimes," and that any +further attempt to release him would probably be fatal to the prisoner. +By these falsehoods, secured from detection by the profound secrecy of +the Foreign Offices in both countries, Morris paralyzed all interference +from America, as Washington could not of course intervene in behalf of +an American charged with "crimes" committed in a foreign country, except +to demand his trial. But it was important also to paralyze further +action by Americans in Paris, and to them, too, was shown the French +certificate of a reclamation never made. A copy was also sent to Paine, +who returned to Morris an argument which he entreated him to embody in +a further appeal to the French Minister. This document was of course +buried away among the papers of Morris, who never again mentioned Paine +in any communication to the French government, but contented himself +with personal slanders of his victim in private letters to Washington's +friend, Robert Morris, and no doubt others. I quote Sparks's summary of +the argument unsuspectingly sent by Paine to Morris: + +"He first proves himself to have been an American citizen, a character +of which he affirms no subsequent act had deprived him. The title of +French citizen was a mere nominal and honorary one, which the +Convention chose to confer, when they asked him to help them in making a +Constitution. But let the nature or honor of the title be what it might, +the Convention had taken it away of their own accord. 'He was +excluded from the Convention on the motion for excluding _foreigners_. +Consequently he was no longer under the law of the Republic as a +_citizen_, but under the protection of the Treaty of Alliance, as fully +and effectually as any other citizen of America. It was therefore the +duty of the American Minister to demand his release.'" + +To this Sparks adds: + +"Such is the drift of Paine's argument, and it would seem indeed that +he could not be a foreigner and a citizen at the same time. It was hard +that his only privilege of citizenship should be that of imprisonment. +But this logic was a little too refined for the revolutionary tribunals +of the Jacobins in Paris, and Mr. Morris well knew it was not worth +while to preach it to them. He did not believe there was any serious +design at that time against the life of the prisoner, and he considered +his best chance of safety to be in preserving silence for the present. +Here the matter rested, and Paine was left undisturbed till the arrival +of Mr. Monroe, who procured his discharge from confinement." ("Life of +Gouverneur Morris," i., p. 417.)l + +Sparks takes the gracious view of the man whose Life he was writing, but +the facts now known turn his words to sarcasm. The Terror by which Paine +suffered was that of Morris, who warned him and his friends, both in +Paris and America, that if his case was stirred the knife would fall +on him. Paine declares (see xx.) that this danger kept him silent till +after the fall of Robespierre. None knew so well as Morris that +there were no charges against Paine for offences in France, and that +Robespierre was awaiting that action by Washington which he (Morris) had +rendered impossible. Having thus suspended the knife over Paine for six +months, Robespierre interpreted the President's silence, and that +of Congress, as confirmation of Morris's story, and resolved on the +execution of Paine "in the interests of America as well as of France"; +in other words to conciliate Washington to the endangered alliance with +France. + +Paine escaped the guillotine by the strange accident related in a +further chapter. The fall of Robespierre did not of course end his +imprisonment, for he was not Robespierre's but Washington's prisoner. +Morris remained Minister in France nearly a month after Robespierre's +death, but the word needed to open Paine's prison was not spoken. +After his recall, had Monroe been able at once to liberate Paine, an +investigation must have followed, and Morris would probably have taken +his prisoner's place in the Luxembourg. But Morris would not present his +letters of recall, and refused to present his successor, thus keeping +Monroe out of his office four weeks. In this he was aided by Bourdon +de l'Oise (afterwards banished as a royalist conspirator, but now a +commissioner to decide on prisoners); also by tools of Robespierre who +had managed to continue on the Committee of Public Safety by laying +their crimes on the dead scapegoat--Robespierre. Against Barère (who had +signed Paine's death-warrant), Billaud-Varennes, and Colloit d'Her-bois, +Paine, if liberated, would have been a terrible witness. The Committee +ruled by them had suppressed Paine's appeal to the Convention, as they +presently suppressed Monroe's first appeal. Paine, knowing that Monroe +had arrived, but never dreaming that the manoeuvres of Morris were +keeping him out of office, wrote him from prison the following letters, +hitherto unpublished. + + 1 There is no need to delay the reader here with any + argument about Paine's unquestionable citizenship, that + point having been settled by his release as an American, and + the sanction of Monroe's action by his government. There was + no genuineness in any challenge of Paine's citizenship, but + a mere desire to do him an injury. In this it had marvellous + success. Ten years after Paine had been reclaimed by Monroe, + with the sanction of Washington, as an American citizen, his + vote was refused at New Rochelle, New York, by the + supervisor, Elisha Ward, on the ground that Washington and + Morris had refused to Declaim him. Under his picture of the + dead Paine, Jarvis, the artist, wrote: "A man who devoted + his whole life to the attainment of two objects--rights of + man, and freedom of conscience--had his vote denied when + living, and was denied a grave when dead."--_Editor._ + + +August 17th, 1794. + +My Dear Sir: As I believe none of the public papers have announced your +name right I am unable to address you by it, but a _new_ minister from +America is joy to me and will be so to every American in France. + +Eight months I have been imprisoned, and I know not for what, except +that the order says that I am a Foreigner. The Illness I have suffered +in this place (and from which I am but just recovering) had nearly put +an end to my existence. My life is but of little value to me in +this situation tho' I have borne it with a firmness of patience and +fortitude. + +I enclose you a copy of a letter, (as well the translation as the +English)--which I sent to the Convention after the fall of the Monster +Robespierre--for I was determined not to write a line during the time of +his detestable influence. I sent also a copy to the Committee of public +safety--but I have not heard any thing respecting it. I have now +no expectation of delivery but by your means--_Morris has been my +inveterate enemy_ and I think he has permitted something of the national +Character of America to suffer by quietly letting a Citizen of that +Country remain almost eight months in prison without making every +official exertion to procure him justice,--for every act of violence +offered to a foreigner is offered also to the Nation to which he +belongs. + +The gentleman, Mr. Beresford, who will present you this has been very +friendly to me.(1) Wishing you happiness in your appointment, I am your +affectionate friend and humble servant. + + +August 18th, 1794. + +Dear Sir: In addition to my letter of yesterday (sent to Mr. Beresford +to be conveyed to you but which is delayed on account of his being at +St. Germain) I send the following memoranda. + +I was in London at the time I was elected a member of this Convention. +I was elected a Deputé in four different departments without my knowing +any thing of the matter, or having the least idea of it. The intention +of electing the Convention before the time of the former Legislature +expired, was for the purpose of reforming the Constitution or rather for +forming a new one. As the former Legislature shewed a disposition that +I should assist in this business of the new Constitution, they prepared +the way by voting me a French Citoyen (they conferred the same title +on General Washington and certainly I had no more idea than he had of +vacating any part of my real Citizenship of America for a nominal one in +France, especially at a time when she did not know whether she would +be a Nation or not, and had it not even in her power to promise me +protection). I was elected (the second person in number of Votes, the +Abbé Sieves being first) a member for forming the Constitution, and +every American in Paris as well as my other acquaintance knew that it +was my intention to return to America as soon as the Constitution should +be established. The violence of Party soon began to shew itself in the +Convention, but it was impossible for me to see upon what principle they +differed--unless it was a contention for power. I acted however as I +did in America, I connected myself with no Party, but considered myself +altogether a National Man--but the case with Parties generally is that +when you are not with one you are supposed to be with the other. + + 1 A friendly lamp-lighter, alluded to in the Letter to + Washington, conveyed this letter to Mr. Beresford.-- + _Editor._ + +I was taken out of bed between three and four in the morning on the +28 of December last, and brought to the Luxembourg--without any other +accusation inserted in the order than that I was a foreigner; a motion +having been made two days before in the Convention to expel Foreigners +therefrom. I certainly then remained, even upon their own tactics, what +I was before, a Citizen of America. + +About three weeks after my imprisonment the Americans that were in Paris +went to the bar of the Convention to reclaim me, but contrary to my +advice, they made their address into a Petition, and it miscarried. +I then applied to G. Morris, to reclaim me as an official part of his +duty, which he found it necessary to do, and here the matter stopt.(1) +I have not heard a single line or word from any American since, which +is now seven months. I rested altogether on the hope that a new Minister +would arrive from America. I have escaped with life from more dangers +than one. Had it not been for the fall of Roberspierre and your timely +arrival I know not what fate might have yet attended me. There seemed to +be a determination to destroy all the Prisoners without regard to merit, +character, or any thing else. During the time I laid at the height of my +illness they took, in one night only, 169 persons out of this prison +and executed all but eight. The distress that I have suffered at being +obliged to exist in the midst of such horrors, exclusive of my own +precarious situation, suspended as it were by the single thread of +accident, is greater than it is possible you can conceive--but thank God +times are at last changed, and I hope that your Authority will release +me from this unjust imprisonment. + + 1 The falsehood told Paine, accompanied by an intimation of + danger in pursuing the pretended reclamation, was of course + meant to stop any farther action by Paine or his friends.-- + _Editor._. + + +August 25, 1794. + +My Dear Sir: Having nothing to do but to sit and think, I will write +to pass away time, and to say that I am still here. I have received two +notes from Mr. Beresford which are encouraging (as the generality of +notes and letters are that arrive to persons here) but they contain +nothing explicit or decisive with respect to my liberation, and _I +shall be very glad to receive a line from yourself to inform me in what +condition the matter stands_. If I only glide out of prison by a sort +of accident America gains no credit by my liberation, neither can my +attachment to her be increased by such a circumstance. She has had the +services of my best days, she has my allegiance, she receives my portion +of Taxes for my house in Borden Town and my farm at New Rochelle, and +she owes me protection both at home and thro' her Ministers abroad, yet +I remain in prison, in the face of her Minister, at the arbitrary will +of a committee. + +Excluded as I am from the knowledge of everything and left to a random +of ideas, I know not what to think or how to act. Before there was +any Minister here (for I consider Morris as none) and while the +Robespierrian faction lasted, I had nothing to do but to keep my mind +tranquil and expect the fate that was every day inflicted upon my +comrades, not individually but by scores. Many a man whom I have passed +an hour with in conversation I have seen marching to his destruction the +next hour, or heard of it the next morning; for what rendered the scene +more horrible was that they were generally taken away at midnight, so +that every man went to bed with the apprehension of never seeing his +friends or the world again. + +I wish to impress upon you that all the changes that have taken place in +Paris have been sudden. There is now a moment of calm, but if thro' any +over complaisance to the persons you converse with on the subject of my +liberation, you omit procuring it for me _now_, you may have to lament +the fate of your friend when its too late. The loss of a Battle to the +Northward or other possible accident may happen to bring this about. I +am not out of danger till I am out of Prison. + +Yours affectionately. + +P. S.--I am now entirely without money. The Convention owes me 1800 +livres salary which I know not how to get while I am here, nor do I know +how to draw for money on the rent of my farm in America. It is under +the care of my good friend General Lewis Morris. I have received no rent +since I have been in Europe. + +[Addressed] Minister Plenipotentiary from America, Maison des Étrangers, +Rue de la Loi, Rue Richelieu. + + +Such was the sufficiently cruel situation when there reached Paine in +prison, September 4th, the letter of Peter Whiteside which caused him +to write his Memorial. Whiteside was a Philadelphian whose bankruptcy in +London had swallowed up some of Paine's means. His letter, reporting to +Paine that he was not regarded by the American Government or people as +an American citizen, and that no American Minister could interfere in +his behalf, was evidently inspired by Morris who was still in Paris, the +authorities being unwilling to give him a passport to Switzerland, +as they knew he was going in that direction to join the conspirators +against France. This Whiteside letter put Paine, and through him Monroe, +on a false scent by suggesting that the difficulty of his case lay in a +_bona fide_ question of citizenship, whereas there never had been really +any such question. The knot by which Morris had bound Paine was thus +concealed, and Monroe was appealing to polite wolves in the interest of +their victim. There were thus more delays, inexplicable alike to Monroe +and to Paine, eliciting from the latter some heartbroken letters, not +hitherto printed, which I add at the end of the Memorial. To add to +the difficulties and dangers, Paris was beginning to be agitated by +well-founded rumors of Jay's injurious negotiations in England, and a +coldness towards Monroe was setting in. Had Paine's release been delayed +much longer an American Minister's friendship might even have proved +fatal. Of all this nothing could be known to Paine, who suffered agonies +he had not known during the Reign of Terror. The other prisoners of +Robespierre's time had departed; he alone paced the solitary corridors +of the Luxembourg, chilled by the autumn winds, his cell tireless, unlit +by any candle, insufficiently nourished, an abscess forming in his side; +all this still less cruel than the feeling that he was abandoned, not +only by Washington but by all America. + +This is the man of whom Washington wrote to Madison nine years before: +"Must the merits and services of 'Common Sense' continue to glide down +the stream of time unrewarded by this country?" This, then, is his +reward. To his old comrade in the battle-fields of Liberty, George +Washington, Paine owed his ten months of imprisonment, at the end of +which Monroe found him a wreck, and took him (November 4) to his own +house, where he and his wife nursed him back into life. But it was not +for some months supposed that Paine could recover; it was only after +several relapses; and it was under the shadow of death that he wrote the +letter to Washington so much and so ignorantly condemned. Those who have +followed the foregoing narrative will know that Paine's grievances were +genuine, that his infamous treatment stains American history; but they +will also know that they lay chiefly at the door of a treacherous and +unscrupulous American Minister. + +Yet it is difficult to find an excuse for the retention of that Minister +in France by Washington. On Monroe's return to America in 1797, he +wrote a pamphlet concerning the mission from which he had been curtly +recalled, in which he said: + +"I was persuaded from Mr. Morris's known political character and +principles, that his appointment, and especially at a period when the +French nation was in a course of revolution from an arbitrary to a free +government, would tend to discountenance the republican cause there +and at home, and otherwise weaken, and greatly to our prejudice, the +connexion subsisting between the two countries." + +In a copy of this pamphlet found at Mount Vernon, Washington wrote on +the margin of this sentence: + +"Mr. Morris was known to be a man of first rate abilities; and his +integrity and honor had never been impeached. Besides, Mr. Morris was +sent whilst the kingly government was in existence, ye end of 91 or +beginning of 92." (1) + +But this does not explain why Gouverneur Morris was persistently kept in +France after monarchy was abolished (September 21, 1792), or even after +Lafayette's request for his removal, already quoted. To that letter +of Lafayette no reply has been discovered. After the monarchy was +abolished, Ternant and Genêt successively carried to America protests +from their Foreign Office against the continuance of a Minister in +France, who was known in Paris, and is now known to all acquainted with +his published papers, to have all along made his office the headquarters +of British intrigue against France, American interests being quite +subordinated. Washington did not know this, but he might have known it, +and his disregard of French complaints can hardly be ascribed to any +other cause than his delusion that Morris was deeply occupied with +the treaty negotiations confided to him. It must be remembered that +Washington believed such a treaty with England to be the alternative of +war.(2) On that apprehension the British party in America, and British +agents, played to the utmost, and under such influences Washington +sacrificed many old friendships,--with Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, +Edmund Randolph, Paine,--and also the confidence of his own State, +Virginia. + + 1 Washington's marginal notes on Monroe's "View, etc.," + were first fully given in Ford's "Writings of Washington," + vol. xiii., p. 452, seq. + + 2 Ibid., p. 453. + +There is a traditional impression that Paine's angry letter to +Washington was caused by the President's failure to inter-pose for +his relief from prison. But Paine believed that the American Minister +(Morris) had reclaimed him in some feeble fashion, as an American +citizen, and he knew that the President had officially approved Monroe's +action in securing his release. His grievance was that Washington, whose +letters of friendship he cherished, who had extolled his services to +America, should have manifested no concern personally, made no use of +his commanding influence to rescue him from daily impending death, sent +to his prison no word of kindness or inquiry, and sent over their mutual +friend Monroe without any instructions concerning him; and finally, that +his private letter, asking explanation, remained unanswered. No doubt +this silence of Washington concerning the fate of Paine, whom he +acknowledged to be an American citizen, was mainly due to his fear +of offending England, which had proclaimed Paine. The "outlaw's" +imprisonment in Paris caused jubilations among the English gentry, +and went on simultaneously with Jay's negotiations in London, when any +expression by Washington of sympathy with Paine (certain of publication) +might have imperilled the Treaty, regarded by the President as vital. + +So anxious was the President about this, that what he supposed had been +done for Paine by Morris, and what had really been done by Monroe, +was kept in such profound secrecy, that even his Secretary of State, +Pickering, knew nothing of it. This astounding fact I recently +discovered in the manuscripts of that Secretary.(1) Colonel Pickering, +while flattering enough to the President in public, despised his +intellect, and among his papers is a memorandum concluding as follows: + +"But when the hazards of the Revolutionary War had ended, by the +establishment of our Independence, why was the knowledge of General +Washington's comparatively defective mental powers not freely divulged? +Why, even by the enemies of his civil administration were his abilities +very tenderly glanced at? --Because there were few, if any men, who +did not revere him for his distinguished virtues; his modesty--his +unblemished integrity, his pure and disinterested patriotism. These +virtues, of infinitely more value than exalted abilities without them, +secured to him the veneration and love of his fellow citizens at large. +Thus immensely popular, no man was willing to publish, under his hand, +even the simple truth. The only exception, that I recollect, was the +infamous Tom Paine; and this when in France, after he had escaped the +guillotine of Robespierre; and in resentment, because, after he had +participated in the French Revolution, President Washington seemed +not to have thought him so very important a character in the world, +as officially to interpose for his relief from the fangs of the French +ephemeral Rulers. In a word, no man, however well informed, was willing +to hazard his own popularity by exhibiting the real intellectual +character of the immensely popular Washington." + + 1 Massachusetts Historical Society, vol. 11., p. 171. + +How can this ignorance of an astute man, Secretary of State under +Washington and Adams, be explained? Had Washington hidden the letters +showing on their face that he _had_ "officially interposed" for Paine by +two Ministers? + +Madison, writing to Monroe, April 7, 1796, says that Pickering had +spoken to him "in harsh terms" of a letter written by Paine to the +President. This was a private letter of September 20, 1795, afterwards +printed in Paine's public Letter to Washington. The Secretary certainly +read that letter on its arrival, January 18, 1796, and yet Washington +does not appear to have told him of what had been officially done in +Paine's case! Such being the secrecy which Washington had carried from +the camp to the cabinet, and the morbid extent of it while the British +Treaty was in negotiation and discussion, one can hardly wonder at his +silence under Paine's private appeal and public reproach. + +Much as Pickering hated Paine, he declares him the only man who ever +told the simple truth about Washington. In the lapse of time historical +research, while removing the sacred halo of Washington, has revealed +beneath it a stronger brain than was then known to any one. Paine +published what many whispered, while they were fawning on Washington for +office, or utilizing his power for partisan ends. Washington, during his +second administration, when his mental decline was remarked by +himself, by Jefferson, and others, was regarded by many of his eminent +contemporaries as fallen under the sway of small partisans. Not only +was the influence of Jefferson, Madison, Randolph, Monroe, Livingston, +alienated, but the counsels of Hamilton were neutralized by Wolcott and +Pickering, who apparently agreed about the President's "mental powers." +Had not Paine previously incurred the _odium theologicum_, his pamphlet +concerning Washington would have been more damaging; even as it was, the +verdict was by no means generally favorable to the President, especially +as the replies to Paine assumed that Washington had indeed failed to +try and rescue him from impending death.(1) A pamphlet written by Bache, +printed anonymously (1797), Remarks occasioned by the late conduct of +Mr. Washington, indicates the belief of those who raised Washington to +power, that both Randolph and Paine had been sacrificed to please Great +Britain. + +The _Bien-informé_ (Paris, November 12, 1797) published a letter from +Philadelphia, which may find translation here as part of the history of +the pamphlet: + +"The letter of Thomas Paine to General Washington is read here with +avidity. We gather from the English papers that the Cabinet of St James +has been unable to stop the circulation of that pamphlet in England, +since it is allowable to reprint there any English work already +published elsewhere, however disagreeable to Messrs. Pitt and Dundas. +We read in the letter to Washington that Robespierre had declared to +the Committee of Public Safety that it was desirable in the interests +of both France and America that Thomas Paine, who, for seven or eight +months had been kept a prisoner in the Luxembourg, should forthwith be +brought up for judgment before the revolutionary tribunal. The proof of +this fact is found in Robespierre's papers, and gives ground for strange +suspicions." + + 1 The principal ones were "A Letter to Thomas Paine. By an + American Citizen. New York, 1797," and "A Letter to the + infamous Tom Paine, in answer to his Letter to General + Washington. December 1796. By Peter Porcupine" (Cobbett). + Writing to David Stuart, January 8,1797, Washington, + speaking of himself in the third person, says: "Although + he is soon to become a private citizen, his opinions are to + be knocked down, and his character traduced as low as they + are capable of sinking it, even by resorting to absolute + falsehoods. As an evidence whereof, and of the plan they are + pursuing, I send you a letter of Mr. Paine to me, printed in + this city and disseminated with great industry. Enclosed you + will receive also a production of Peter Porcupine, alias + William Cobbett. Making allowances for the asperity of an + Englishman, for some of his strong and coarse expressions, + and a want of official information as to many facts, it is + not a bad thing." The "many facts" were, of course, the + action of Monroe, and the supposed action of Morris in + Paris, but not even to one so intimate as Stuart are these + disclosed. + +"It was long believed that Paine had returned to America with his friend +James Monroe, and the lovers of freedom [there] congratulated themselves +on being able to embrace that illustrious champion of the Rights of Man. +Their hopes have been frustrated. We know positively that Thomas Paine +is still living in France. The partizans of the late presidency [in +America] also know it well, yet they have spread a rumor that after +actually arriving he found his (really popular) _principles no longer +the order of the day_, and thought best to re-embark. + +"The English journals, while repeating this idle rumor, observed that it +was unfounded, and that Paine had not left France. Some French journals +have copied these London paragraphs, but without comments; so that at +the very moment when Thomas Paine's Letter on the 18th. Fructidor is +published, _La Clef du Cabinet_ says that this citizen is suffering +unpleasantness in America." + +Paine had intended to return with Monroe, in the spring of 1797, but, +suspecting the Captain and a British cruiser in the distance, returned +from Havre to Paris. The packet was indeed searched by the cruiser +for Paine, and, had he been captured, England would have executed the +sentence pronounced by Robespierre to please Washington. + + + +MEMORIAL ADDRESSED TO JAMES MONROE, + +MINISTER FROM THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA TO THE FRENCH REPUBLIC. + +Prison of the Luxembourg, Sept. 10th, 1794. + +I address this memorial to you, in consequence of a letter I received +from a friend, 18 Fructidor (September 4th,) in which he says, "Mr. +Monroe has told me, that he has no orders [meaning from the American +government] respecting you; but I am sure he will leave nothing +undone to liberate you; but, from what I can learn, from all the late +Americans, you are not considered either by the Government, or by +the individuals, as an American citizen. You have been made a french +Citizen, which you have accepted, and you have further made yourself +a servant of the french Republic; and, therefore, it would be out +of character for an American Minister to interfere in their internal +concerns. You must therefore either be liberated out of Compliment to +America, or stand your trial, which you have a right to demand." + +This information was so unexpected by me, that I am at a loss how to +answer it. I know not on what principle it originates; whether from an +idea that I had voluntarily abandoned my Citizenship of America for that +of France, or from any article of the American Constitution applied to +me. The first is untrue with respect to any intention on my part; and +the second is without foundation, as I shall shew in the course of this +memorial. + +The idea of conferring honor of Citizenship upon foreigners, who had +distinguished themselves in propagating the principles of liberty and +humanity, in opposition to despotism, war, and bloodshed, was first +proposed by me to La Fayette, at the commencement of the french +revolution, when his heart appeared to be warmed with those principles. +My motive in making this proposal, was to render the people of different +nations more fraternal than they had been, or then were. I observed that +almost every branch of Science had possessed itself of the exercise +of this right, so far as it regarded its own institution. Most of the +Academies and Societies in Europe, and also those of America, conferred +the rank of honorary member, upon foreigners eminent in knowledge, and +made them, in fact, citizens of their literary or scientific republic, +without affecting or anyways diminishing their rights of citizenship +in their own country or in other societies: and why the Science of +Government should not have the same advantage, or why the people of +one nation should not, by their representatives, exercise the right of +conferring the honor of Citizenship upon individuals eminent in another +nation, without affecting _their_ rights of citizenship, is a problem +yet to be solved. + +I now proceed to remark on that part of the letter, in which the writer +says, that, _from what he can learn from all the late Americans, I +am not considered in America, either by the Government or by the +individuals, as an American citizen_. + +In the first place I wish to ask, what is here meant by the Government +of America? The members who compose the Government are only individuals, +when in conversation, and who, most probably, hold very different +opinions upon the subject. Have Congress as a body made any declaration +respecting me, that they now no longer consider me as a citizen? If they +have not, anything they otherwise say is no more than the opinion +of individuals, and consequently is not legal authority, nor anyways +sufficient authority to deprive any man of his Citizenship. Besides, +whether a man has forfeited his rights of Citizenship, is a question not +determinable by Congress, but by a Court of Judicature and a Jury; and +must depend upon evidence, and the application of some law or article of +the Constitution to the case. No such proceeding has yet been had, and +consequently I remain a Citizen until it be had, be that decision what +it may; for there can be no such thing as a suspension of rights in the +interim. + +I am very well aware, and always was, of the article of the Constitution +which says, as nearly as I can recollect the words, that "any citizen +of the United States, who shall accept any title, place, or office, from +any foreign king, prince, or state, shall forfeit and lose his right of +Citizenship of the United States." + +Had the Article said, that _any citizen of the United States, who shall +be a member of any foreign convention, for the purpose of forming a free +constitution, shall forfeit and lose the right of citizenship of the +United States_, the article had been directly applicable to me; but +the idea of such an article never could have entered the mind of the +American Convention, and the present article _is_ altogether foreign +to the case with respect to me. It supposes a Government in active +existence, and not a Government dissolved; and it supposes a citizen of +America accepting titles and offices under that Government, and not a +citizen of America who gives his assistance in a Convention chosen by +the people, for the purpose of forming a Government _de nouveau_ founded +on their authority. + +The late Constitution and Government of France was dissolved the 10th of +August, 1792. The National legislative Assembly then in being, supposed +itself without sufficient authority to continue its sittings, and it +proposed to the departments to elect not another legislative Assembly, +but a Convention for the express purpose of forming a new Constitution. +When the Assembly were discoursing on this matter, some of the members +said, that they wished to gain all the assistance possible upon the +subject of free constitutions; and expressed a wish to elect and invite +foreigners of any Nation to the Convention, who had distinguished +themselves in defending, explaining, and propagating the principles +of liberty. It was on this occasion that my name was mentioned in the +Assembly. (I was then in England.) + + 1 In the American pamphlet a footnote, probably added by + Bache, here says: "Even this article does not exist in the + manner here stated." It is a pity Paine did not have in his + prison the article, which says: "No person holding any + office of profit or trust under them [the United States] + shall, without the consent of Congress, accept of any + present, emolument, office, or title of any kind whatever, + from any king, prince, or foreign State."--_Editor._ + + +After this, a deputation from a body of the french people, in order +to remove any objection that might be made against my assisting at the +proposed Convention, requested the Assembly, as their representatives, +to give me the title of French Citizen; after which, I was elected a +member of the Convention, in four different departments, as is already +known.(1) + +The case, therefore, is, that I accepted nothing from any king, +prince, or state, nor from any Government: for France was without any +Government, except what arose from common consent, and the necessity of +the case. Neither did I _make myself a servant of the french Republic_, +as the letter alluded to expresses; for at that time France was not a +republic, not even in name. She was altogether a people in a state of +revolution. + +It was not until the Convention met that France was declared a republic, +and monarchy abolished; soon after which a committee was elected, of +which I was a member,(2) to form a Constitution, which was presented to +the Convention [and read by Condorcet, who was also a member] the +15th and 16th of February following, but was not to be taken into +consideration till after the expiration of two months,(3) and if +approved of by the Convention, was then to be referred to the people for +their acceptance, with such additions or amendments as the Convention +should make. + + 1 The deputation referred to was described as the + "Commission Extraordinaire," in whose name M. Guadet moved + that the title of French Citizen be conferred on Priestley, + Paine, Bentham, Wilberforce, Clarkson, Mackintosh, David + Williams, Cormelle, Paw, Pestalozzi, Washington, Madison, + Hamilton, Klopstock, Koscinsko, Gorani, Campe, Anacharsis + Clootz, Gilleers. This was on August 26, and Paine was + elected by Calais on September 6,1792; and in the same week + by Oise, Somme, and Puy-de-Dome.--_Editor._ + + 2 Sieves, Paine, Brissot, Pétion, Vergniaud, Gensonne, + Barère, Danton, Condorcet.--_Editor._ + + 3 The remainder of this sentence is replaced in the American + pamphlet by the following: "The disorders and the + revolutionary government that took place after this put a + stop to any further progress upon the case."--_Editor._ + +In thus employing myself upon the formation of a Constitution, I +certainly did nothing inconsistent with the American Constitution. I +took no oath of allegiance to France, or any other oath whatever. I +considered the Citizenship they had presented me with as an honorary +mark of respect paid to me not only as a friend to liberty, but as +an American Citizen. My acceptance of that, or of the deputyship, not +conferred on me by any king, prince, or state, but by a people in a +state of revolution and contending for liberty, required no transfer of +my allegiance or of my citizenship from America to France. There I was +a real citizen, paying Taxes; here, I was a voluntary friend, employing +myself on a temporary service. Every American in Paris knew that it was +my constant intention to return to America, as soon as a constitution +should be established, and that I anxiously waited for that event. + +I know not what opinions have been circulated in America. It may have +been supposed there that I had voluntarily and intentionally abandoned +America, and that my citizenship had ceased by my own choice. I can +easily [believe] there are those in that country who would take such +a proceeding on my part somewhat in disgust. The idea of forsaking +old friendships for new acquaintances is not agreeable. I am a little +warranted in making this supposition by a letter I received some time +ago from the wife of one of the Georgia delegates in which she says +"Your friends on this side the water cannot be reconciled to the idea of +your abandoning America." + +I have never abandoned her in thought, word or deed; and I feel it +incumbent upon me to give this assurance to the friends I have in that +country and with whom I have always intended and am determined, if the +possibility exists, to close the scene of my life. It is there that I +have made myself a home. It is there that I have given the services of +my best days. America never saw me flinch from her cause in the most +gloomy and perilous of her situations; and I know there are those in +that country who will not flinch from me. If I have enemies (and every +man has some) I leave them to the enjoyment of their ingratitude.* + + * I subjoin in a note, for the sake of wasting the solitude + of a prison, the answer that I gave to the part of the + letter above mentioned. It is not inapplacable to the + subject of this Memorial; but it contain! somewhat of a + melancholy idea, a little predictive, that I hope is not + becoming true so soon. + +It is somewhat extraordinary that the idea of my not being a citizen +of America should have arisen only at the time that I am imprisoned +in France because, or on the pretence that, I am a foreigner. The case +involves a strange contradiction of ideas. None of the Americans who +came to France whilst I was in liberty had conceived any such idea or +circulated any such opinion; and why it should arise now is a matter +yet to be explained. However discordant the late American Minister G. M. +[Gouverneur Morris] and the late French Committee of Public Safety were, +it suited the purpose of both that I should be continued in arrestation. +The former wished to prevent my return to America, that I should not +expose his misconduct; and the latter, lest I should publish to the +world the history of its wickedness. Whilst that Minister and the +Committee continued I had no expectation of liberty. I speak here of the +Committee of which Robespierre was member.(1) + + "You touch me on a very tender point when you say that my + friends on your side the water cannot be reconciled to the + idea of my abandoning America. They are right. I had rather + see my horse Button eating the grass of Borden-Town or + Morrisania than see all the pomp and show of Europe. + + "A thousand years hence (for I must indulge a few thoughts) + perhaps in less, America may be what Europe now is. The + innocence of her character, that won the hearts of all + nations in her favour, may sound like a romance and her + inimitable virtue as if it had never been. The ruin of that + liberty which thousands bled for or struggled to obtain may + just furnish materials for a village tale or extort a sigh + from rustic sensibility, whilst the fashionable of that day, + enveloped in dissipation, shall deride the principle and + deny the fact. + + "When we contemplate the fall of Empires and the extinction + of the nations of the Ancient World, we see but little to + excite our regret than the mouldering ruins of pompous + palaces, magnificent museums, lofty pyramids and walls and + towers of the most costly workmanship; but when the Empire + of America shall fall, the subject for contemplative sorrow + will be infinitely greater than crumbling brass and marble + can inspire. It will not then be said, here stood a temple + of vast antiquity; here rose a babel of invisible height; + or there a palace of sumptuous extravagance; but here, Ah, + painful thought! the noblest work of human wisdom, the + grandest scene of human glory, the fair cause of Freedom + rose and fell. Read this, and then ask if I forget + America."--Author. + + + 1 This letter, quoted also in Paine's Letter to Washington, + was written from London, Jan. 6, 1789, to the wife of Col. + Few, née Kate Nicholson. It is given in full in my "Life of + Paine," i., p. 247.--_Editor._ + + + +THE MEMORIAL TO MONROE. + +I ever must deny, that the article of the American constitution +already mentioned, can be applied either verbally, intentionally, +or constructively, to me. It undoubtedly was the intention of the +Convention that framed it, to preserve the purity of the American +republic from being debased by foreign and foppish customs; but it never +could be its intention to act against the principles of liberty, by +forbidding its citizens to assist in promoting those principles in +foreign Countries; neither could it be its intention to act against +the principles of gratitude.(1) France had aided America in the +establishment of her revolution, when invaded and oppressed by England +and her auxiliaries. France in her turn was invaded and oppressed by a +combination of foreign despots. In this situation, I conceived it an act +of gratitude in me, as a citizen of America, to render her in return the +best services I could perform. I came to France (for I was in England +when I received the invitation) not to enjoy ease, emoluments, and +foppish honours, as the article supposes; but to encounter difficulties +and dangers in defence of liberty; and I much question whether those who +now malignantly seek (for some I believe do) to turn this to my injury, +would have had courage to have done the same thing. I am sure Gouverneur +Morris would not. He told me the second day after my arrival, (in +Paris,) that the Austrians and Prussians, who were then at Verdun, +would be in Paris in a fortnight. I have no idea, said he, that seventy +thousand disciplined troops can be stopped in their march by any power +in France. + + 1 This and the two preceding paragraphs, including the + footnote, are entirely omitted from the American pamphlet. + It will be seen that Paine had now a suspicion of the + conspiracy between Gouverneur Morris and those by whom he + was imprisoned. Soon after his imprisonment he had applied + to Morris, who replied that he had reclaimed him, and + enclosed the letter of Deforgues quoted in my Introduction + to this chapter, of course withholding his own letter to the + Minister. Paine answered (Feb. 14, 1793): "You must not + leave me in the situation in which this letter places me. + You know I do not deserve it, and you see the unpleasant + situation in which I am thrown. I have made an answer to the + Minister's letter, which I wish you to make ground of a + reply to him. They have nothing against me--except that they + do not choose I should lie in a state of freedom to write my + mind freely upon things I have seen. Though you and I are + not on terms of the best harmony, I apply to you as the + Minister of America, and you may add to that service + whatever you think my integrity deserves. At any rate I + expect you to make Congress acquainted with my situation, + and to send them copies of the letters that have passed on + the subject. A reply to the Minister's letter is absolutely + necessary, were it only to continue the reclamation. + Otherwise your silence will be a sort of consent to his + observations." Deforgues' "observations" having been + dictated by Morris himself, no reply was sent to him, and no + word to Congress.--_Editor_. + + 2 In the pamphlet this last clause of the sentence is + omitted.--_Editor._. + +Besides the reasons I have already given for accepting the invitations +to the Convention, I had another that has reference particularly to +America, and which I mentioned to Mr. Pinckney the night before I left +London to come to Paris: "That it was to the interest of America that +the system of European governments should be changed and placed on the +same principle with her own." Mr. Pinckney agreed fully in the same +opinion. I have done my part towards it.(1) + +It is certain that governments upon similar systems agree better +together than those that are founded on principles discordant with each +other; and the same rule holds good with respect to the people living +under them. In the latter case they offend each other by pity, or by +reproach; and the discordancy carries itself to matters of commerce. I +am not an ambitious man, but perhaps I have been an ambitious American. +I have wished to see America the _Mother Church_ of government, and I +have done my utmost to exalt her character and her condition. + + 1 In the American pamphlet the name of Pinckney (American + Minister in England) is left blank in this paragraph, and + the two concluding sentences are omitted from both the + French and American pamphlets.--_Editor._, + +I have now stated sufficient matter, to shew that the Article in +question is not applicable to me; and that any such application to my +injury, as well in circumstances as in Rights, is contrary both to +the letter and intention of that Article, and is illegal and +unconstitutional. Neither do I believe that any Jury in America, when +they are informed of the whole of the case, would give a verdict to +deprive me of my Rights upon that Article. The citizens of America, +I believe, are not very fond of permitting forced and indirect +explanations to be put upon matters of this kind. I know not what were +the merits of the case with respect to the person who was prosecuted for +acting as prize master to a french privateer, but I know that the jury +gave a verdict against the prosecution. The Rights I have acquired +are dear to me. They have been acquired by honourable means, and by +dangerous service in the worst of times, and I cannot passively permit +them to be wrested from me. I conceive it my duty to defend them, as the +case involves a constitutional and public question, which is, how +far the power of the federal government (1) extends, in depriving any +citizen of his Rights of Citizenship, or of suspending them. + +That the explanation of National Treaties belongs to Congress is +strictly constitutional; but not the explanation of the Constitution +itself, any more than the explanation of Law in the case of individual +citizens. These are altogether Judiciary questions. It is, however, +worth observing, that Congress, in explaining the Article of the Treaty +with respect to french prizes and french privateers, confined itself +strictly to the letter of the Article. Let them explain the Article +of the Constitution with respect to me in the same manner, and the +decision, did it appertain to them, could not deprive me of my Rights of +Citizenship, or suspend them, for I have accepted nothing from any king, +prince, state, or Government. + +You will please to observe, that I speak as if the federal Government +had made some declaration upon the subject of my Citizenship; whereas +the fact is otherwise; and your saying that you have no order respecting +me is a proof of it. Those therefore who propagate the report of my not +being considered as a Citizen of America by Government, do it to the +prolongation of my imprisonment, and without authority; for Congress, +_as a government_, has neither decided upon it, nor yet taken the matter +into consideration; and I request you to caution such persons against +spreading such reports. But be these matters as they may, I cannot have +a doubt that you find and feel the case very different, since you have +heard what I have to say, and known what my situation is [better] than +you did before your arrival. + + 1 In the pamphlet occurs here a significant parenthesis by + Bache: "it should have been said in this case, how far the + Executive."--_Editor._. + +But it was not the Americans only, but the Convention also, that +knew what my intentions were upon that subject. In my last discourse +delivered at the Tribune of the Convention, January 19,1793, on the +motion for suspending the execution of Louis 16th, I said (the Deputy +Bancal read the translation in French): "It unfortunately happens that +the person who is the subject of the present discussion, is considered +by the Americans as having been the friend of their revolution. His +execution will be an affliction to them, and it is in your power not +to wound the feelings of your ally. Could I speak the french language I +would descend to your bar, and in their name become your petitioner to +respite the execution of the sentence/"--"As the convention was elected +for the express purpose of forming a Constitution, its continuance +cannot be longer than four or five months more at furthest; and if, +after my _return to America_, I should employ myself in writing the +history of the french Revolution, I had rather record a thousand +errors on the side of mercy, than be obliged to tell one act of severe +Justice."--"Ah Citizens! give not the tyrant of England the triumph +of seeing the man perish on a scaffold who had aided my much-loved +America." + +Does this look as if I had abandoned America? But if she abandons me +in the situation I am in, to gratify the enemies of humanity, let that +disgrace be to herself. But I know the people of America better than to +believe it,(1) tho' I undertake not to answer for every individual. + +When this discourse was pronounced, Marat launched himself into the +middle of the hall and said that "I voted against the punishment of +death because I was a quaker." I replied that "I voted against it both +morally and politically." + + 1 In the French pamphlet: "pour jamais lui prêter du tels + sentiments." + +I certainly went a great way, considering the rage of the times, in +endeavouring to prevent that execution. I had many reasons for so doing. +I judged, and events have shewn that I judged rightly, that if they once +began shedding blood, there was no knowing where it would end; and as +to what the world might call _honour_ the execution would appear like a +nation killing a mouse; and in a political view, would serve to transfer +the hereditary claim to some more formidable Enemy. The man could do no +more mischief; and that which he had done was not only from the vice of +his education, but was as much the fault of the Nation in restoring +him after he had absconded June 21st, 1791, as it was his. I made +the proposal for imprisonment until the end of the war and perpetual +banishment after the war, instead of the punishment of death. Upwards of +three hundred members voted for that proposal. The sentence for absolute +death (for some members had voted the punishment of death conditionally) +was carried by a majority of twenty-five out of more than seven hundred. + +I return from this digression to the proper subject of my memorial.(1) + + 1 This and the preceding five paragraphs, and five following + the nest, are omitted from the American pamphlet.-- + _Editor._. + +Painful as the want of liberty may be, it is a consolation to me to +believe, that my imprisonment proves to the world, that I had no share +in the murderous system that then reigned. That I was an enemy to it, +both morally and politically, is known to all who had any knowledge of +me; and could I have written french as well as I can English, I would +publicly have exposed its wickedness and shewn the ruin with which it +was pregnant. They who have esteemed me on former occasions, whether in +America or in Europe will, I know, feel no cause to abate that esteem, +when they reflect, that _imprisonment with preservation of character is +preferable to liberty with disgrace_. + +I here close my Memorial and proceed to offer you a proposal that +appears to me suited to all the circumstances of the case; which is, +that you reclaim me conditionally, until the opinion of Congress can be +obtained on the subject of my citizenship of America; and that I remain +in liberty under your protection during that time. + +I found this proposal upon the following grounds. + +First, you say you have no orders respecting me; consequently, you +have no orders _not_ to reclaim me; and in this case you are left +discretionary judge whether to reclaim or not. My proposal therefore +unites a consideration of your situation with my own. + +Secondly, I am put in arrestation because I am a foreigner. It is +therefore necessary to determine to what country I belong. The right of +determining this question cannot appertain exclusively to the Committee +of Public Safety or General Surety; because I appeal to the Minister of +the United States, and show that my citizenship of that country is good +and valid, referring at the same time, thro' the agency of the Minister, +my claim of right to the opinion of Congress. It being a matter between +two Governments. + +Thirdly. France does not claim me fora citizen; neither do I set up any +claim of citizenship in France. The question is simply, whether I am +or am not a citizen of America. I am imprisoned here on the decree for +imprisoning foreigners, because, say they, I was born in England. I +say in answer that, though born in England, I am not a subject of the +English Government any more than any other American who was born, as +they all were, under the same Government, or than the Citizens of France +are subjects of the French Monarchy under which they were born. I have +twice taken the oath of abjuration to the British King and Government +and of Allegiance to America,--once as a citizen of the State of +Pennsylvania in 1776, and again before Congress, administered to me by +the President, Mr. Hancock, when I was appointed Secretary in the Office +of Foreign Affairs in 1777. + +The letter before quoted in the first page of this memorial, says, "It +would be out of character for an American minister to interfere in the +internal affairs of France." This goes on the idea that I am a citizen +of France, and a member of the Convention, which is not the fact. The +Convention have declared me to be a foreigner; and consequently the +citizenship and the election are null and void.(1) It also has the +appearance of a Decision, that the article of the Constitution, +respecting grants made to American Citizens by foreign kings, princes, +or states, is applicable to me; which is the very point in question, +and against the application of which I contend. I state evidence to the +Minister, to shew that I am not within the letter or meaning of that +Article; that it cannot operate against me; and I apply to him for the +protection that I conceive I have a right to ask and to receive. The +internal affairs of France are out of the question with respect to my +application or his interference. I ask it not as a citizen of France, +for I am not one: I ask it not as a member of the Convention, for I am +not one; both these, as before said, have been rendered null and void; +I ask it not as a man against whom there is any accusation, for there +is none; I ask it not as an exile from America, whose liberties I +have honourably and generously contributed to establish; I ask it as a +Citizen of America, deprived of his liberty in France, under the plea of +being a foreigner; and I ask it because I conceive I am entitled to it, +upon every principle of Constitutional Justice and National honour.(2) + + 1 In the pamphlet: "The Convention included me in the vote + for dismissing foreigners from the Convention, and the + Committees imprisoned me as a foreigner."--_Editor._ + + 2 All previous editions of the pamphlet end with this + word.--_Editor._ + +But tho' I thus positively assert my claim because I believe I have a +right to do so, it is perhaps most eligible, in the present situation +of things, to put that claim upon the footing I have already mentioned; +that is, that the Minister reclaims me conditionally until the opinion +of Congress can be obtained on the subject of my citizenship of America, +and that I remain in liberty under the protection of the Minister during +that interval. + +N. B. I should have added that as Gouverneur Morris could not inform +Congress of the cause of my arrestation, as he knew it not himself, it +is to be supposed that Congress was not enough acquainted with the case +to give any directions respecting me when you came away. + +T.P. + + + +ADDENDA. + +Letters, hitherto unpublished, written by Paine to Monroe before his +release on November 4., 1794. + + +1. Luxembourg Mem Vendemaire, Old Style Oct 4th 1794 + +Dear Sir: I thank you for your very friendly and affectionate letter of +the 18th September which I did not receive till this morning.(1) It has +relieved my mind from a load of disquietude. You will easily suppose +that if the information I received had been exact, my situation was +without hope. I had in that case neither section, department nor +Country, to reclaim me; but that is not all, I felt a poignancy of +grief, in having the least reason to suppose that America had so soon +forgotten me who had never forgotten her. + +Mr. Labonadaire, in a note of yesterday, directed me to write to the +Convention. As I suppose this measure has been taken in concert with +you, I have requested him to shew you the letter, of which he will make +a translation to accompany the original. + +(I cannot see what motive can induce them to keep me in prison. It +will gratify the English Government and afflict the friends I have in +America. The supporters of the system of Terror might apprehend that if +I was in liberty and in America I should publish the history of their +crimes, but the present persons who have overset that immoral System +ought to have no such apprehension. On the contrary, they ought to +consider me as one of themselves, at least as one of their friends. Had +I been an insignificant character I had not been in arrestation. It was +the literary and philosophical reputation I had gained, in the world, +that made them my Enemies; and I am the victim of the principles, and +if I may be permitted to say it, of the talents, that procured me the +esteem of America. My character is the _secret_ of my arrestation.) + + 1 Printed in the letter to Washington, chap. XXII. The delay + of sixteen days in Monroe's letter was probably due to the + manouvres of Paine's enemies on the Committee of Public + Safety. He was released only after their removal from the + Committee, and the departure of Gouverneur Morris.-- + _Editor._, + +If the letter I have written be not covered by other authority than my +own it will have no effect, for they already know all that I can say. On +what ground do they pretend to deprive America of the service of any +of her citizens without assigning a cause, or only the flimsy one of +my being born in England? Gates, were he here, might be arrested on the +same pretence, and he and Burgoyne be confounded together. + +It is difficult for me to give an opinion, but among other things +that occur to me, I think that if you were to say that, as it will be +necessary to you to inform the Government of America of my situation, +you require an explanation with the Committee upon that subject; that +you are induced to make this proposal not only out of esteem for the +character of the person who is the personal object of it, but because +you know that his arrestation will distress the Americans, and the more +so as it will appear to them to be contrary to their ideas of civil and +national justice, it might perhaps have some effect. If the Committee +[of Public Safety] will do nothing, it will be necessary to bring this +matter openly before the Convention, for I do most sincerely assure you, +from the observations that I hear, and I suppose the same are made in +other places, that the character of America lies under some reproach. +All the world knows that I have served her, and they see that I am still +in prison; and you know that when people can form a conclusion upon a +simple fact, they trouble not themselves about reasons. I had rather +that America cleared herself of all suspicion of ingratitude, though I +were to be the victim. + +You advise me to have patience, but I am fully persuaded that the longer +I continue in prison the more difficult will be my liberation. There +are two reasons for this: the one is that the present Committee, by +continuing so long my imprisonment, will naturally suppose that my mind +will be soured against them, as it was against those who put me in, and +they will continue my imprisonment from the same apprehensions as the +former Committee did; the other reason is, that it is now about two +months since your arrival, and I am still in prison. They will explain +this into an indifference upon my fate that will encourage them to +continue my imprisonment. When I hear some people say that it is the +Government of America that now keeps me in prison by not reclaiming me, +and then pour forth a volley of execrations against her, I know not +how to answer them otherwise than by a direct denial which they do not +appear to believe. You will easily conclude that whatever relates to +imprisonments and liberations makes a topic of prison conversation; +and as I am now the oldest inhabitant within these walls, except two +or three, I am often the subject of their remarks, because from the +continuance of my imprisonment they auger ill to themselves. You see I +write you every thing that occurs to me, and I conclude with thanking +you again for your very friendly and affectionate letter, and am with +great respect, + +Your's affectionately, + +Thomas Paine. + +(To day is the anniversary of the action at German Town. [October 4, +1777.] Your letter has enabled me to contradict the observations before +mentioned.) + + + +2. Oct 13, 1794 Dear Sir: On the 28th of this Month (October) I shall +have suffered ten months imprisonment, to the dishonour of America as +well as of myself, and I speak to you very honestly when I say that my +patience is exhausted. It is only my actual liberation that can make me +believe it. Had any person told me that I should remain in prison two +months after the arrival of a new Minister, I should have supposed that +he meant to affront me as an American. By the friendship and sympathy +you express in your letter you seem to consider my imprisonment as +having connection only with myself, but I am certain that the inferences +that follow from it have relation also to the National character of +America, I already feel this in myself, for I no longer speak with pride +of being a citizen of that country. Is it possible Sir that I should, +when I am suffering unjust imprisonment under the very eye of her new +Minister? + +While there was no Minister here (for I consider Morris as none) nobody +wondered at my imprisonment, but now everybody wonders. The continuance +of it under a change of diplomatic circumstances, subjects me to the +suspicion of having merited it, and also to the suspicion of having +forfeited my reputation with America; and it subjects her at the same +time to the suspicion of ingratitude, or to the reproach of wanting +national or diplomatic importance. The language that some Americans +have held of my not being considered as an American citizen, tho' +contradicted by yourself, proceeds, I believe, from no other motive, +than the shame and dishonour they feel at the imprisonment of a +fellow-citizen, and they adopt this apology, at my expence, to get rid +of that disgrace. Is it not enough that I suffer imprisonment, but my +mind also must be wounded and tortured with subjects of this kind? Did I +reason from personal considerations only, independent of principles and +the pride of having practiced those principles honourably, I should be +tempted to curse the day I knew America. By contributing to her liberty +I have lost my own, and yet her Government beholds my situation in +silence. Wonder not, Sir, at the ideas I express or the language in +which I express them. If I have a heart to feel for others I can feel +also for myself, and if I have anxiety for my own honour, I have it also +for a country whose suffering infancy I endeavoured to nourish and +to which I have been enthusiastically attached. As to patience I have +practiced it long--as long as it was honorable to do so, and when it +goes beyond that point it becomes meanness. + +I am inclined to believe that you have attended to my imprisonment +more as a friend than as a Minister. As a friend I thank you for your +affectionate attachment. As a Minister you have to look beyond me to the +honour and reputation of your Government; and your Countrymen, who have +accustomed themselves to consider any subject in one line of thinking +only, more especially if it makes a strong [impression] upon them, as +I believe my situation has made upon you, do not immediately see the +matters that have relation to it in another line; and it is to bring +these two into one point that I offer you these observations. A citizen +and his country, in a case like mine, are so closely connected that the +case of one is the case of both. + +When you first arrived the path you had to pursue with respect to my +liberation was simple. I was imprisoned as a foreigner; you knew that +foreigner to be a citizen of America, and you knew also his character, +and as such you should immediately have reclaimed him. You could lose +nothing by taking strong ground, but you might lose much by taking an +inferior one; but instead of this, which I conceive would have been the +right line of acting, you left me in their hands on the loose intimation +that my liberation would take place without your direct interference, +and you strongly recommended it to me to wait the issue. This is more +than seven weeks ago and I am still in prison. I suspect these people +are trifling with you, and if they once believe they can do that, you +will not easily get any business done except what they wish to have +done. + +When I take a review of my whole situation--my circumstances ruined, +my health half destroyed, my person imprisoned, and the prospect of +imprisonment still staring me in the face, can you wonder at the +agony of my feelings? You lie down in safety and rise to plenty; it +is otherwise with me; I am deprived of more than half the common +necessaries of life; I have not a candle to burn and cannot get one. +Fuel can be procured only in small quantities and that with great +difficulty and very dear, and to add to the rest, I am fallen into a +relapse and am again on the sick list. Did you feel the whole force of +what I suffer, and the disgrace put upon America by this injustice done +to one of her best and most affectionate citizens, you would not, either +as a friend or Minister, rest a day till you had procured my liberation. +It is the work of two or three hours when you set heartily about +it, that is, when you demand me as an American citizen, or propose a +conference with the Committee upon that subject; or you may make it the +work of a twelve-month and not succeed. I know these people better than +you do. + +You desire me to believe that "you are placed here on a difficult +Theatre with many important objects to attend to, and with but few to +consult with, and that it becomes you in pursuit of these to regulate +your conduct with respect to each, as to manner and time, as will in +your judgment be best calculated to accomplish the whole." As I know +not what these objects are I can say nothing to that point. But I have +always been taught to believe that the liberty of a Citizen was the +first object of all free Governments, and that it ought not to give +preference to, or be blended with, any other. It is that public object +that all the world can see, and which obtains an influence upon public +opinion more than any other. This is not the case with the objects you +allude to. But be those objects what they may, can you suppose you will +accomplish them the easier by holding me in the back-ground, or making +me only an accident in the negotiation? Those with whom you confer will +conclude from thence that you do not feel yourself very strong upon +those points, and that you politically keep me out of sight in the +meantime to make your approach the easier. + +There is one part in your letter that is equally as proper should be +communicated to the Committee as to me, and which I conceive you are +under some diplomatic obligation to do. It is that part which you +conclude by saying that "_to the welfare of Thomas Paine the Americans +are not and cannot be indifferent_." As it is impossible the Americans +can preserve their esteem for me and for my oppressors at the same +time, the injustice to me strikes at the popular part of the Treaty of +Alliance. If it be the wish of the Committee to reduce the treaty to a +mere skeleton of Government forms, they are taking the right method to +do it, and it is not improbable they will blame you afterwards for not +in-forming them upon the subject. The disposition to retort has been so +notorious here, that you ought to be guarded against it at all points. + +You say in your letter that you doubt whether the gentleman who informed +me of the language held by some Americans respecting my citizenship of +America conveyed even his own ideas clearly upon the subject.(1) I know +not how this may be, but I believe he told me the truth. I received a +letter a few days ago from a friend and former comrade of mine in which +he tells me, that all the Americans he converses with, say, that +I should have been in liberty long ago if the Minister could have +reclaimed me as an American citizen. When I compare this with the +counter-declarations in your letter I can explain the case no otherwise +than I have already done, that it is an apology to get rid of the shame +and dishonour they feel at the imprisonment of an American citizen, +and because they are not willing it should be supposed there is want +of influence in the American Embassy. But they ought to see that this +language is injurious to me. + +On the 2d of this month Vendemaire I received a line from Mr. Beresford +in which he tells me I shall be in liberty in two or three days, and +that he has this from good authority. On the 12th I received a note from +Mr. Labonadaire, written at the Bureau of the Concierge, in which he +tells me of the interest you take in procuring my liberation, and that +after the steps that had been already taken that I ought to write to the +Convention to demand my liberty _purely and simply_ as a citizen of the +United States of America. He advised me to send the letter to him, and +he would translate it. I sent the letter inclosing at the same time +a letter to you. I have heard nothing since of the letter to the +Convention. On the 17th I received a letter from my former comrade +Vanhuele, in which he says "I am just come from Mr. Russell who had +yesterday a conversation with your Minister and your liberation is +certain--you will be in liberty to-morrow." Vanhuele also adds, "I find +the advice of Mr. Labonadaire good, for tho' you have some enemies in +the Convention, the strongest and best part are in your favour." But +the case is, and I felt it whilst I was writing the letter to the +Convention, that there is an awkwardness in my appearing, you being +present; for every foreigner should apply thro' his Minister, or rather +his Minister for him. + + 1 The letter of Peter Whiteside, quoted at the beginning of + the Memorial. See introduction to the Memorial. It would + seem from this whole letter that it was not known by + Americans in Paris that Monroe had been kept ont of his + office by Morris for nearly a month after his arrival in + Paris.--_Editor._ + +When I thus see day after day and month after month, and promise after +promise, pass away without effect, what can I conclude but that either +the Committees are secretly determined not to let me go, or that the +measures you take are not pursued with the vigor necessary to give them +effect; or that the American National character is without sufficient +importance in the French Republic? The latter will be gratifying to +the English Government. In short, Sir, the case is now arrived to that +crisis, that for the sake of your own reputation as a Minister you ought +to require a positive answer from the Committee. As to myself, it is +more agreeable to me now to contemplate an honourable destruction, and +to perish in the act of protesting against the injustice I suffer, +and to caution the people of America against confiding too much in the +Treaty of Alliance, violated as it has been in every principle, and in +my imprisonment though an American Citizen, than remain in the wretched +condition I am. I am no longer of any use to the world or to myself. + +There was a time when I beheld the Revolution of the 10th. Thermidor +[the fall of Robespierre] with enthusiasm. It was the first news +my comrade Vanhuele communicated to me during my illness, and it +contributed to my recovery. But there is still something rotten at the +Center, and the Enemies that I have, though perhaps not numerous, are +more active than my friends. If I form a wrong opinion of men or things +it is to you I must look to set me right. You are in possession of the +secret. I know nothing of it. But that I may be guarded against as many +wants as possible I shall set about writing a memorial to Congress, +another to the State of Pennsylvania, and an address to the people of +America; but it will be difficult for me to finish these until I know +from yourself what applications you have made for my liberation, and +what answers you have received. + +Ah, Sir, you would have gotten a load of trouble and difficulties off +your hands that I fear will multiply every day, had you made it a point +to procure my liberty when you first arrived, and not left me floating +on the promises of men whom you did not know. You were then a new +character. You had come in consequence of their own request that Morris +should be recalled; and had you then, before you opened any subject +of negociation that might arise into controversy, demanded my liberty +either as a Civility or as a Right I see not how they could have refused +it. + +I have already said that after all the promises that have been made I +am still in prison. I am in the dark upon all the matters that relate +to myself. I know not if it be to the Convention, to the Committee of +Public Safety, of General Surety, or to the deputies who come +sometimes to the Luxembourg to examine and put persons in liberty, that +applications have been made for my liberation. But be it to whom it +may, my earnest and pressing request to you as Minister is that you +will bring this matter to a conclusion by reclaiming me as an American +citizen imprisoned in France under the plea of being a foreigner born in +England; that I may know the result, and how to prepare the Memorials +I have mentioned, should there be occasion for them. The right of +determining who are American citizens can belong only to America. The +Convention have declared I am not a French Citizen because she has +declared me to be a foreigner, and have by that declaration cancelled +and annulled the vote of the former assembly that conferred the Title +of Citizen upon Citizens or subjects of other Countries. I should not be +honest to you nor to myself were I not to express myself as I have done +in this letter, and I confide and request you will accept it in that +sense and in no other. + +I am, with great respect, your suffering fellow-citizen, + +Thomas Paine. + +P. S.--If my imprisonment is to continue, and I indulge very little hope +to the contrary, I shall be under the absolute necessity of applying +to you for a supply of several articles. Every person here have their +families or friends upon the spot who make provision for them. This is +not the case with me; I have no person I can apply to but the American +Minister, and I can have no doubt that if events should prevent +my repaying the expence Congress or the State of Pennsylvania will +discharge it for me. + +To day is 22 Vendemaire Monday October 13, but you will not receive this +letter till the 14th. I will send the bearer to you again on the 15th, +Wednesday, and I will be obliged to you to send me for the present, +three or four candles, a little sugar of any kind, and some soap for +shaving; and I should be glad at the same time to receive a line from +you and a memorandum of the articles. Were I in your place I would order +a Hogshead of Sugar, some boxes of Candles and Soap from America, for +they will become still more scarce. Perhaps the best method for you +to procure them at present is by applying to the American Consuls at +Bordeaux and Havre, and have them up by the diligence. + + + +3. [Undated.] + +Dear Sir: As I have not yet received any answer to my last, I have +amused myself with writing you the inclosed memoranda. Though +you recommend patience to me I cannot but feel very pointedly the +uncomfortableness of my situation, and among other reflections that +occur to me I cannot think that America receives any credit from the +long imprisonment that I suffer. It has the appearance of neglecting +her citizens and her friends and of encouraging the insults of foreign +nations upon them, and upon her commerce. My imprisonment is as well +and perhaps more known in England than in France, and they (the English) +will not be intimidated from molesting an American ship when they see +that one of her best citizens (for I have a right to call myself so) can +be imprisoned in another country at the mere discretion of a Committee, +because he is a foreigner. + +When you first arrived every body congratulated me that I should soon, +if not immediately, be in liberty. Since that time about two hundred +have been set free from this prison on the applications of their +sections or of individuals--and I am continually hurt by the +observations that are made--"that a section in Paris has more influence +than America." + +It is right that I furnish you with these circumstances. It is the +effect of my anxiety that the character of America suffer no reproach; +for the world knows that I have acted a generous duty by her. I am the +third American that has been imprisoned. Griffiths nine weeks, Haskins +about five, and myself eight [months] and yet in prison. With respect +to the two former there was then no Minister, for I consider Morris as +none; and they were liberated on the applications of the Americans in +Paris. As to myself I had rather be publicly and honorably reclaimed, +tho' the reclamation was refused, than remain in the uncertain situation +that I am. Though my health has suffered my spirits are not broken. I +have nothing to fear unless innocence and fortitude be crimes. America, +whatever may be my fate, will have no cause to blush for me as a +citizen; I hope I shall have none to blush for her as a country. If, my +dear Sir, there is any-thing in the perplexity of ideas I have mistaken, +only suppose yourself in my situation, and you will easily find an +excuse for it. I need not say how much I shall rejoice to pay my +respects to you without-side the walls of this prison, and to enquire +after my American friends. But I know that nothing can be +accomplished here but by unceasing perseverance and application. Yours +affectionately. + + + +4. October 20, 1794. + +Dear Sir: I recd. your friendly letter of the 26 Vendemaire on the day +it was written, and I thank you for communicating to me your opinion +upon my case. Ideas serve to beget ideas, and as it is from a review of +every thing that can be said upon a subject, or is any ways connected +with it, that the best judgment can be formed how to proceed, I present +you with such ideas as occur to me. I am sure of one thing, which is +that you will give them a patient and attentive perusal. + +You say in your letter that "I must be sensible that although I am an +American citizen, yet if you interfere in my behalf as the Minister of +my country you must demand my liberation only in case there be no charge +against me; and that if there is I must be brought to trial previously, +since no person in a _private_ character can be exempt from the laws of +the country in which he resides."--This is what I have twice attempted +to do. I wrote a letter on the 3d Sans Culottodi(1) to the Deputies, +members of the Committee of Surety General, who came to the Luxembourg +to examine the persons detained. The letter was as follows:--"Citizens +Representatives: I offer myself for examination. Justice is due to every +Man. It is Justice only that I ask.--Thomas Paine." + +As I was not called for examination, nor heard anything in consequence +of my letter the first time of sending it, I sent a duplicate of it a +few days after. It was carried to them by my good friend and comrade +Vanhuele, who was then going in liberty, having been examined the day +before. Vanhuele wrote me on the next day and said: "Bourdon de l'Oise +[who was one of the examining Deputies] is the most inveterate enemy you +can have. The answer he gave me when I presented your letter put me in +such a passion with him that I expected I should be sent back again +to prison." I then wrote a third letter but had not an opportunity of +sending it, as Bourdon did not come any more till after I received Mr. +Labonadaire's letter advising me to write to the Convention. The letter +was as follows:--"Citizens, I have twice offered myself for examination, +and I chose to do this while Bourdon de l'Oise was one of the +Commissioners. + + 1 Festival of Labour, September 19, 1794.--_Editor._. + +This Deputy has said in the Convention that I intrigued with an ancient +agent of the Bureau of Foreign Affairs. My examination therefore while +he is present will give him an opportunity of proving his charge or of +convincing himself of his error. If Bourdon de l'Oise is an honest man +he will examine me, but lest he should not I subjoin the following. That +which B[ourdon] calls an intrigue was at the request of a member of the +former Committee of Salut Public, last August was a twelvemonth. I met +the member on the Boulevard. He asked me something in French which I +did not understand and we went together to the Bureau of Foreign Affairs +which was near at hand. The Agent (Otto, whom you probably knew in +America) served as interpreter, The member (it was Barère) then asked +me 1st, If I could furnish him with the plan of Constitution I had +presented to the Committee of Constitution of which I was member with +himself, because, he said, it contained several things which he +wished had been adopted: 2dly, He asked me my opinion upon sending +Commissioners to the United States of America: 3dly, If fifty or an +hundred ship loads of flour could be procured from America. As verbal +interpretation was tedious, it was agreed that I should give him my +opinion in writing, and that the Agent [Otto] should translate it, which +he did. I answered the first question by sending him the plan [of +a Constitution] which he still has. To the second, I replied that +I thought it would be proper to send Commissioners, because that in +Revolutions circumstances change so fast that it was often necessary +to send a better supply of information to an Ally than could be +communicated by writing; and that Congress had done the same thing +during the American War; and I gave him some information that the +Commissioners would find useful on their arrival. I answered the third +question by sending him a list of American exports two years before, +distinguishing the several articles by which he would see that the +supply he mentioned could be obtained. I sent him also the plan of Paul +Jones, giving it as his, for procuring salt-petre, which was to send +a squadron (it did not require a large one) to take possession of the +Island of St. Helen's, to keep the English flag flying at the port, +that the English East India ships coming from the East Indies, and that +ballast with salt-petre, might be induced to enter as usual; And that it +would be a considerable time before the English Government could know +of what had happened at St. Helen's. See here what Bourdon de l'Oise has +called an intrigue.--If it was an intrigue it was between a Committee of +Salut Public and myself, for the Agent was no more than the interpreter +and translator, and the object of the intrigue was to furnish France +with flour and salt-petre."--I suppose Bourdon had heard that the agent +and I were seen together talking English, and this was enough for _him_ +to found his charge upon.(1) + +You next say that "I must likewise be sensible that although I am an +American citizen that it is likewise believed there [in America] that +I am become a citizen of France, and that in consequence this latter +character has so far [illegible] the former as to weaken if not destroy +any claim you might have to interpose in my behalf." I am sorry I cannot +add any new arguments to those I have already advanced on this part of +the subject. But I cannot help asking myself, and I wish you would +ask the Committee, if it could possibly be the intention of France to +_kidnap_ citizens from America under the pretence of dubbing them +with the title of French citizens, and then, after inviting or rather +enveigling them into France, make it a pretence for detaining them? If +it was, (which I am sure it was not, tho' they now act as if it was) the +insult was to America, tho' the injury was to me, and the treachery was +to both. + + 1 The communications of Paine to Barère are given in my + "Life of Paine," vol. ii-i PP. 73, 87. Otto was Secretary to + the Minister of Foreign Affairs when he acted as interpreter + between Paine and Barère. There was never any charge at all + made against Paine, as the Archives of France now prove, + save that he was a "foreigner." Paine was of coarse ignorant + of the conspiracy between Morris and Deforgues which had + imprisoned him. Bourdon de l'Oise, one of the most cruel + Jacobins and Terrorists, afterwards conspired with Pichegru + to overthrow the Republic, and was with him banished (1797) + to Sinamari, South America, where he died soon after his + arrival.--_Editor._. + +Did they mean to kidnap General Washington, Mr. Madison, and several +other Americans whom they dubbed with the same title as well as me? Let +any man look at the condition of France when I arrived in it,--invaded +by Austrians and Prussians and declared to be in danger,--and then ask +if any man who had a home and a country to go to, as I had in America, +would have come amongst them from any other motive than of assisting +them. If I could possibly have supposed them capable of treachery +I certainly would not have trusted myself in their power. Instead +therefore of your being unwilling or apprehensive of meeting the +question of French citizenship, they ought to be ashamed of advancing +it, and this will be the case unless you admit their arguments or +objections too passively. It is a case on their part fit only for +the continuations of Robespierre to set up. As to the name of French +citizen, I never considered it in any other light, so far as regarded +myself, than as a token of honorary respect. I never made them any +promise nor took any oath of allegiance or of citizenship, nor bound +myself by an act or means whatever to the performance of any thing. +I acted altogether as a friend invited among them as I supposed on +honorable terms. I did not come to join myself to a Government already +formed, but to assist in forming one _de nouveau_, which was afterwards +to be submitted to the people whether they would accept it or not, and +this any foreigner might do. And strictly speaking there are no citizens +before this is a government. They are all of the People. The Americans +were not called citizens till after Government was established, and not +even then until they had taken the oath of allegiance. This was the +case in Pennsylvania. But be this French citizenship more or less, the +Convention have swept it away by declaring me to be a foreigner, and +imprisoning me as such; and this is a short answer to all those who +affect to say or to believe that I am French Citizen. A Citizen without +Citizenship is a term non-descript. + +After the two preceeding paragraphs you ask--"If it be my wish that you +should embark in this controversy (meaning that of reclaiming me) +and risque the consequences with respect to myself and the good +understanding subsisting between the two countries, or, without +relinquishing any point of right, and which might be insisted on in +case of extremities, pursue according to your best judgment and with the +light before you, the object of my liberation?" + +As I believe from the apparent obstinacy of the Committees that +circumstances will grow towards the extremity you mention, unless +prevented beforehand, I will endeavour to throw into your hands all the +lights I can upon the subject. + +In the first place, reclamation may mean two distinct things. All the +reclamations that are made by the sections in behalf of persons detained +as _suspect_ are made on the ground that the persons so detained are +patriots, and the reclamation is good against the charge of "suspect" +because it proves the contrary. But my situation includes another +circumstance. I am imprisoned on the charge (if it can be called one) +of being a foreigner born in England. You know that foreigner to be a +citizen of the United States of America, and that he has been such since +the 4th of July 1776, the political birthday of the United States, +and of every American citizen, for before that period all were British +subjects, and the States, then provinces, were British dominions.--Your +reclamation of me therefore as a citizen of the United States (all other +considerations apart) is good against the pretence for imprisoning me, +or that pretence is equally good against every American citizen born +in England, Ireland, Scotland, Germany, or Holland, and you know this +description of men compose a very great part of the population of the +three States of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, and make also a +part of Congress, and of the State Legislatures. + +Every politician ought to know, and every civilian does know, that the +Law of Treaty of Alliance, and also that of Amity and Commerce knows no +distinction of American Citizens on account of the place of their birth, +but recognizes all to be Citizens whom the Constitution and laws of the +United States of America recognize as such; and if I recollect rightly +there is an article in the Treaty of Commerce particular to this +point. The law therefore which they have here, to put all persons in +arrestation born in any of the Countries at war with France, is, when +applied to Citizens of America born in England, Ireland, Scotland, +Germany, or holland, a violation of the treaties of Alliance and of +Commerce, because it assumes to make a distinction of Citizens which +those Treaties and the Constitution of America know nothing of. This is +a subject that officially comes under your cognizance as Minister, and +it would be consistent that you expostulated with them upon the Case. +That foolish old man Vadier, who was president of the Convention and of +the Committee of Surety general when the Americans then in Paris went +to the Bar of the Convention to reclaim me, gave them for answer that +my being born in England was cause sufficient for imprisoning me. It +happened that at least half those who went up with that address were in +the same case with myself. + +As to reclamations on the ground of Patriotism it is difficult to know +what is to be understood by Patriotism here. There is not a vice, and +scarcely a virtue, that has not as the fashion of the moment suited +been called by the name of Patriotism. The wretches who composed the +revolutionary tribunal of Nantz were the Patriots of that day and the +criminals of this. The Jacobins called themselves Patriots of the first +order, men up to the height of the circumstances, and they are now +considered as an antidote to Patriotism. But if we give to Patriotism a +fixed idea consistent with that of a Republic, it would signify a strict +adherence to the principles of Moral Justice, to the equality of civil +and political Rights, to the System of representative Government, and an +opposition to every hereditary claim to govern; and of this species +of Patriotism you know my character. But, Sir, there are men on the +Committee who have changed their Party but not their principles. Their +aim is to hold power as long as possible by preventing the establishment +of a Constitution, and these men are and will be my Enemies, and seek to +hold me in prison as long as they can. I am too good a Patriot for them. +It is not improbable that they have heard of the strange language held +by some Americans that I am not considered in America as an American +citizen, and they may also have heard say, that you had no orders +respecting me, and it is not improbable that they interpret that +language and that silence into a connivance at my imprisonment. If they +had not some ideas of this kind would they resist so long the civil +efforts you make for my liberation, or would they attach so much +importance to the imprisonment of an Individual as _to risque_ (as +you say to me) _the good understanding that exists between the two +Countries?_You also say that _it is impossible for any person to do more +than you have done without adopting the other means_, meaning that of +reclaiming me. How then can you account for the want of success after so +many efforts, and such a length of time, upwards of ten weeks, without +supposing that they fortify themselves in the interpretation I have just +mentioned? I can admit that it was not necessary to give orders, and +that it was difficult to give direct orders, for I much question if +Morris had informed Congress or the President of the whole of the case, +or had sent copies of my letters to him as I had desired him to do. +You would find the case here when you came, and you could not fully +understand it till you did come, and as Minister you would have +authority to act upon it. But as you inform me that you know what the +wishes of the President are, you will see also that his reputation is +exposed to some risque, admitting there to be ground for the supposition +I have made. It will not add to his popularity to have it believed in +America, as I am inclined to think the Committee believe here, that he +connives at my imprisonment. You say also that _it is known to everybody +that you wish my liberation_. It is, Sir, because they know your wishes +that they misinterpret the means you use. They suppose that those mild +means arise from a restriction that you cannot use others, or from a +consciousness of some defect on my part of which you are unwilling to +provoke the enquiry. + +But as you ask me if it be my wish that you should embark in this +controversy and risque the consequences with respect to myself, I will +answer this part of the question by marking out precisely the part I +wish you to take. What I mean is a sort of middle line above what you +have yet gone, and not up to the full extremity of the case, which will +still lie in reserve. It is to write a letter to the Committee that +shall in the first place defeat by anticipation all the objections they +might make to a simple reclamation, and at the same time make the ground +good for that object. But, instead of sending the letter immediately, to +invite some of the Committee to your house and to make that invitation +the opportunity of shewing them the letter, expressing at the same time +a wish that you had done this, from a hope that the business might be +settled in an amicable manner without your being forced into an official +interference, that would excite the observations of the Enemies of both +Countries, and probably interrupt the harmony that subsisted between the +two republics. But as I can not convey the ideas I wish you to use by +any means so concisely or so well as to suppose myself the writer of the +letter I shall adopt this method and you will make use of such parts or +such ideas of it as you please if you approve the plan. Here follows the +supposed letter: + +Citizens: When I first arrived amongst you as Minister from the United +States of America I was given to understand that the liberation of +Thomas Paine would take place without any official interference on my +part. This was the more agreeable to me as it would not only supercede +the necessity of that interference, but would leave to yourselves the +whole opportunity of doing justice to a man who as far as I have been +able to learn has suffered much cruel treatment under what you have +denominated the system of Terror. But as I find my expectations have not +been fulfilled I am under the official necessity of being more explicit +upon the subject than I have hitherto been. + +Permit me, in the first place, to observe that as it is impossible for +me to suppose that it could have been the intention of France to seduce +any citizens of America from their allegiance to their proper country +by offering them the title of French citizen, so must I be compelled to +believe, that the title of French citizen conferred on Thomas Paine was +intended only as a mark of honorary respect towards a man who had +so eminently distinguished himself in defence of liberty, and on no +occasion more so than in promoting and defending your own revolution. +For a proof of this I refer you to his two works entitled _Rights of +Man_. Those works have procured to him an addition of esteem in America, +and I am sorry they have been so ill rewarded in France. But be this +title of French Citizen more or less, it is now entirely swept away by +the vote of the Convention which declares him to be a foreigner, and +which supercedes the vote of the Assembly that conferred that title upon +him, consequently upon the case superceded with it. + +In consequence of this vote of the Convention declaring him to be a +foreigner the former Committees have imprisoned him. It is therefore +become my official duty to declare to you that the foreigner thus +imprisoned is a citizen of the United States of America as fully, as +legally, as constitutionally as myself, and that he is moreover one of +the principal founders of the American Republic. + +I have been informed of a law or decree of the Convention which +subjects foreigners born in any of the countries at war with France +to arrestation and imprisonment. This law when applied to citizens of +America born in England is an infraction of the Treaty of Alliance and +of Amity and Commerce, which knows no distinction of American citizens +on account of the place of their birth, but recognizes all to be +citizens whom the Constitution and laws of America recognize as such. +The circumstances under which America has been peopled requires this +guard on her Treaties, because the mass of her citizens are composed not +of natives only but also of the natives of almost all the countries +of Europe who have sought an asylum there from the persecutions they +experienced in their own countries. After this intimation you will +without doubt see the propriety of modelling that law to the principles +of the Treaty, because the law of Treaty in cases where it applies is +the governing law to both parties alike, and it cannot be infracted +without hazarding the existence of the Treaty. + +Of the Patriotism of Thomas Paine I can speak fully, if we agree to give +to patriotism a fixed idea consistent with that of a republic. It would +then signify a strict adherence to Moral Justice, to the equality of +civil and political rights, to the system of representative government, +and an opposition to all hereditary claims to govern. Admitting +patriotism to consist in these principles, I know of no man who has gone +beyond Thomas Paine in promulgating and defending them, and that for +almost twenty years past. + +I have now spoken to you on the principal matters concerned in the case +of Thomas Paine. The title of French citizen which you had enforced upon +him, you have since taken away by declaring him to be a foreigner, and +consequently this part of the subject ceases of itself. I have declared +to you that this foreigner is a citizen of the United States of America, +and have assured you of his patriotism. + +I cannot help at the same time repeating to you my wish that his +liberation had taken place without my being obliged to go thus far into +the subject, because it is the mutual interest of both republics to +avoid as much as possible all subjects of controversy, especially those +from which no possible good can flow. I still hope that you will save me +the unpleasant task of proceeding any farther by sending me an order +for his liberation, which the injured state of his health absolutely +requires. I shall be happy to receive such an order from you and +happy in presenting it to him, for to the welfare of Thomas Paine the +Americans are not and cannot be indifferent. + +This is the sort of letter I wish you to write, for I have no idea that +you will succeed by any measures that can, by any kind of construction, +be interpreted into a want of confidence or an apprehension of +consequences. It is themselves that ought to be apprehensive of +consequences if any are to be apprehended. They, I mean the Committees, +are not certain that the Convention or the nation would support them +in forcing any question to extremity that might interrupt the good +understanding subsisting between the two countries; and I know of no +question [so likely] to do this as that which involves the rights and +liberty of a citizen. + +You will please to observe that I have put the case of French +citizenship in a point of view that ought not only to preclude, but to +make them ashamed to advance any thing upon this subject; and this is +better than to have to answer their counter-reclamation afterwards. +Either the Citizenship was intended as a token of honorary respect, or +it was in-tended to deprive America of a citizen or to seduce him from +his allegiance to his proper country. If it was intended as an honour +they must act consistently with the principle of honour. But if they +make a pretence for detaining me, they convict themselves of the act +of seduction. Had America singled out any particular French citizen, +complimented him with the title of Citizen of America, which he without +suspecting any fraudulent intention might accept, and then after having +invited or rather inveigled him into America made his acceptance of +that Title a pretence for seducing or forcing him from his allegiance to +France, would not France have just cause to be offended at America? And +ought not America to have the same right to be offended at France? And +will the Committees take upon themselves to answer for the dishonour +they bring upon the National Character of their Country? If these +arguments are stated beforehand they will prevent the Committees going +into the subject of French Citizenship. They must be ashamed of it. +But after all the case comes to this, that this French Citizenship +appertains no longer to me because the Convention, as I have already +said, have swept it away by declaring me to be foreigner, and it is not +in the power of the Committees to reverse it. But if I am to be citizen +and foreigner, and citizen again, just when and how and for any purpose +they please, they take the Government of America into their own hands +and make her only a Cypher in their system. + +Though these ideas have been long with me they have been more +particularly matured by reading your last Communication, and I have +many reasons to wish you had opened that Communication sooner. I am best +acquainted with the persons you have to deal with and the circumstances +of my own case. If you chuse to adopt the letter as it is, I send you a +translation for the sake of expediting the business. I have endeavoured +to conceive your own manner of expression as well as I could, and the +civility of language you would use, but the matter of the letter is +essential to me. + +If you chuse to confer with some of the members of the Committee at +your own house on the subject of the letter it may render the sending it +unnecessary; but in either case I must request and press you not to give +away to evasion and delay, and that you will fix positively with them +that they shall give you an answer in three or four days whether they +will liberate me on the representation you have made in the letter, or +whether you must be forced to go further into the subject. The state of +my health will not admit of delay, and besides the tortured state of +my mind wears me down. If they talk of bringing me to trial (and I well +know there is no accusation against me and that they can bring none) +I certainly summons you as an Evidence to my Character. This you may +mention to them either as what I intend to do or what you intend to do +voluntarily for me. + +I am anxious that you undertake this business without losing time, +because if I am not liberated in the course of this decade, I intend, if +in case the seventy-one detained deputies are liberated, to follow the +same track that they have done, and publish my own case myself.(1) +I cannot rest any longer in this state of miserable suspense, be the +consequences what they may. + +Thomas Paine. + + 1 Those deputies, imprisoned for having protested against + the overthrow of the Girondin government, May 31,1793, when + the Convention was invaded and overawed by the armed + communes of Paris. These deputies were liberated and + recalled to the Convention, December 8, 1794. Paine was + invited to resume his seat the day before, by a special act + of the Convention, after an eloquent speech by Thibaudeau.-- + _Editor._. + + +Dear Sir: I need not mention to you the happiness I received from the +information you sent me by Mr. Beresford. I easily guess the persons +you have conversed with on the subject of my liberation--but matters +and even promises that pass in conversation are not quite so strictly +attended to here as in the Country you come from. I am not, my Dear Sir, +impatient from any thing in my disposition, but the state of my health +requires liberty and a better air; and besides this, the rules of the +prison do not permit me, though I have all the indulgences the Concierge +can give, to procure the things necessary to my recovery, which is +slow as to strength. I have a tolerable appetite but the allowance of +provision is scanty. We are not allowed a knife to cut our victuals +with, nor a razor to shave; but they have lately allowed some barbers +that are here to shave. The room where I am lodged is a ground floor +level with the earth in the garden and floored with brick, and is so +wet after every rain that I cannot guard against taking colds that +continually cheat my recovery. If you could, without interfering with or +deranging the mode proposed for my liberation, inform the Committee that +the state of my health requires liberty and air, it would be good ground +to hasten my liberation. The length of my imprisonment is also a reason, +for I am now almost the oldest inhabitant of this uncomfortable mansion, +and I see twenty, thirty and sometimes forty persons a day put in +liberty who have not been so long confined as myself. Their liberation +is a happiness to me; but I feel sometimes, a little mortification +that I am thus left behind. I leave it entirely to you to arrange this +matter. The messenger waits. Your's affectionately, + +T. P. + +I hope and wish much to see you. I have much to say. I have had the +attendance of Dr. Graham (Physician to Genl. O'Hara, who is prisoner +here) and of Dr. Makouski, house physician, who has been most +exceedingly kind to me. After I am at liberty I shall be glad to +introduce him to you. + + 1 This letter, written in a feeble handwriting, is not + dated, but Monroe's endorsement, "2d. Luxembourg," + indicates November 2, two days before Paine's liberation.-- + _Editor._. + + + + +XXII. LETTER TO GEORGE WASHINGTON. + +Paris, July 30, 1796. + +As censure is but awkwardly softened by apology. I shall offer you +no apology for this letter. The eventful crisis to which your double +politics have conducted the affairs of your country, requires an +investigation uncramped by ceremony. + +There was a time when the fame of America, moral and political, stood +fair and high in the world. The lustre of her revolution extended itself +to every individual; and to be a citizen of America gave a title to +respect in Europe. Neither meanness nor ingratitude had been mingled +in the composition of her character. Her resistance to the attempted +tyranny of England left her unsuspected of the one, and her open +acknowledgment of the aid she received from France precluded all +suspicion of the other. The Washington of politics had not then +appeared. + +At the time I left America (April 1787) the Continental Convention, that +formed the federal Constitution was on the point of meeting. Since that +time new schemes of politics, and new distinctions of parties, have +arisen. The term _Antifederalist_ has been applied to all those who +combated the defects of that constitution, or opposed the measures +of your administration. It was only to the absolute necessity of +establishing some federal authority, extending equally over all the +States, that an instrument so inconsistent as the present federal +Constitution is, obtained a suffrage. I would have voted for it myself, +had I been in America, or even for a worse, rather than have had none, +provided it contained the means of remedying its defects by the same +appeal to the people by which it was to be established. It is always +better policy to leave removeable errors to expose themselves, than +to hazard too much in contending against them theoretically. I have +introduced these observations, not only to mark the general difference +between Antifederalist and Anti-constitutionalist, but to preclude +the effect, and even the application, of the former of these terms to +myself. I declare myself opposed to several matters in the Constitution, +particularly to the manner in which what is called the Executive is +formed, and to the long duration of the Senate; and if I live to return +to America, I will use all my endeavours to have them altered.(*) I also +declare myself opposed to almost the whole of your administration; for +I know it to have been deceitful, if not perfidious, as I shall shew +in the course of this letter. But as to the point of consolidating the +States into a Federal Government, it so happens, that the proposition +for that purpose came originally from myself. I proposed it in a letter +to Chancellor Livingston in the spring of 1782, while that gentleman +was Minister for Foreign Affairs. The five per cent, duty recommended +by Congress had then fallen through, having been adopted by some of the +States, altered by others, rejected by Rhode Island, and repealed by +Virginia after it had been consented to. The proposal in the letter I +allude to, was to get over the whole difficulty at once, by annexing a +continental legislative body to Congress; for in order to have any law +of the Union uniform, the case could only be, that either Congress, as +it then stood, must frame the law, and the States severally adopt it +without alteration, or the States must erect a Continental Legislature +for the purpose. Chancellor Livingston, Robert Morris, Gouverneur +Morris, and myself, had a meeting at the house of Robert Morris on +the subject of that letter. There was no diversity of opinion on the +proposition for a Continental Legislature: the only difficulty was on +the manner of bringing the proposition forward. For my own part, as I +considered it as a remedy in reserve, that could be applied at any time +_when the States saw themselves wrong enough to be put right_, (which +did not appear to be the case at that time) I did not see the propriety +of urging it precipitately, and declined being the publisher of it +myself. After this account of a fact, the leaders of your party will +scarcely have the hardiness to apply to me the term of Antifederalist. +But I can go to a date and to a fact beyond this; for the proposition +for electing a continental convention to form the Continental Government +is one of the subjects treated of in the pamphlet _Common Sense_.(1) + + * I have always been opposed to the mode of refining + Government up to an individual, or what is called a single + Executive. Such a man will always be the chief of a party. A + plurality is far better: It combines the mass of a nation + better together: And besides this, it is necessary to the + manly mind of a republic that it loses the debasing idea of + obeying an individual.--_Author_. + + + 1 See vol. i. of this work, pp. 97, 98, 109, no.--_Editor._. + +Having thus cleared away a little of the rubbish that might otherwise +have lain in my way, I return to the point of time at which the present +Federal Constitution and your administration began. It was very well +said by an anonymous writer in Philadelphia, about a year before that +period, that "_thirteen staves and ne'er a hoop will not make a barrel_" +and as any kind of hooping the barrel, however defectively executed, +would be better than none, it was scarcely possible but that +considerable advantages must arise from the federal hooping of the +States. It was with pleasure that every sincere friend of America +beheld, as the natural effect of union, her rising prosperity; and it +was with grief they saw that prosperity mixed, even in the blossom, +with the germ of corruption. Monopolies of every kind marked your +administration almost in the moment of its commencement. The lands +obtained by the revolution were lavished upon partisans; the interest +of the disbanded soldier was sold to the speculator; injustice was acted +under the pretence of faith; and the chief of the army became the patron +of the fraud.(2) From such a beginning what else could be expected, than +what has happened? A mean and servile submission to the insults of one +nation; treachery and ingratitude to another. + + 2 The history of the Scioto Company, by which so many + Frenchmen as well as Americans were ruined, warranted an + even stronger statement. Though Washington did not know what + was going on, he cannot be acquitted of a lack of due + precaution in patronizing leading agents of these + speculations, and introducing them in France.--_Editor._ + +Some vices make their approach with such a splendid appearance, that we +scarcely know to what class of moral distinctions they belong. They +are rather virtues corrupted than vices, originally. But meanness and +ingratitude have nothing equivocal in their character. There is not a +trait in them that renders them doubtful. They are so originally vice, +that they are generated in the dung of other vices, and crawl into +existence with the filth upon their back. The fugitives have found +protection in you, and the levee-room is their place of rendezvous. + +As the Federal Constitution is a copy, though not quite so base as the +original, of the form of the British Government, an imitation of its +vices was naturally to be expected. So intimate is the connection +between _form and practice_, that to adopt the one is to invite the +other. Imitation is naturally progressive, and is rapidly so in matters +that are vicious. + +Soon after the Federal Constitution arrived in England, I received a +letter from a female literary correspondent (a native of New York) very +well mixed with friendship, sentiment, and politics. In my answer +to that letter, I permitted myself to ramble into the wilderness of +imagination, and to anticipate what might hereafter be the condition +of America. I had no idea that the picture I then drew was realizing +so fast, and still less that Mr. Washington was hurrying it on. As the +extract I allude to is congenial with the subject I am upon, I here +transcribe it: + + [_The extract is the same as that given in a footnote, in + the Memorial to Monroe, p. 180_.] + +Impressed, as I was, with apprehensions of this kind, I had America +constantly in my mind in all the publications I afterwards made. The +First, and still more the Second, Part of the Rights of Man, bear +evident marks of this watchfulness; and the Dissertation on First +Principles of Government [XXIV.] goes more directly to the point than +either of the former. I now pass on to other subjects. + +It will be supposed by those into whose hands this letter may fall, that +I have some personal resentment against you; I will therefore settle +this point before I proceed further. + +If I have any resentment, you must acknowledge that I have not been +hasty in declaring it; neither would it now be declared (for what are +private resentments to the public) if the cause of it did not unite +itself as well with your public as with your private character, and with +the motives of your political conduct. + +The part I acted in the American revolution is well known; I shall not +here repeat it. I know also that had it not been for the aid received +from France, in men, money and ships, that your cold and unmilitary +conduct (as I shall shew in the course of this letter) would in all +probability have lost America; at least she would not have been the +independent nation she now is. You slept away your time in the field, +till the finances of the country were completely exhausted, and you have +but little share in the glory of the final event. It is time, sir, to +speak the undisguised language of historical truth. + +Elevated to the chair of the Presidency, you assumed the merit of every +thing to yourself, and the natural ingratitude of your constitution +began to appear. You commenced your Presidential career by encouraging +and swallowing the grossest adulation, and you travelled America from +one end to the other to put yourself in the way of receiving it. You +have as many addresses in your chest as James the II. As to what were +your views, for if you are not great enough to have ambition you are +little enough to have vanity, they cannot be directly inferred from +expressions of your own; but the partizans of your politics have +divulged the secret. + +John Adams has said, (and John it is known was always a speller after +places and offices, and never thought his little services were highly +enough paid,)--John has said, that as Mr. Washington had no child, the +Presidency should be made hereditary in the family of Lund Washington. +John might then have counted upon some sinecure himself, and a provision +for his descendants. He did not go so far as to say, also, that the +Vice-Presidency should be hereditary in the family of John Adams. He +prudently left that to stand on the ground that one good turn deserves +another.(*) + +John Adams is one of those men who never contemplated the origin of +government, or comprehended any thing of first principles. If he had, +he might have seen, that the right to set up and establish hereditary +government, never did, and never can, exist in any generation at any +time whatever; that it is of the nature of treason; because it is an +attempt to take away the rights of all the minors living at that time, +and of all succeeding generations. It is of a degree beyond common +treason. It is a sin against nature. The equal right of every generation +is a right fixed in the nature of things. It belongs to the son when of +age, as it belonged to the father before him. John Adams would himself +deny the right that any former deceased generation could have to +decree authoritatively a succession of governors over him, or over his +children; and yet he assumes the pretended right, treasonable as it is, +of acting it himself. His ignorance is his best excuse. + +John Jay has said,(**) (and this John was always the sycophant of +every thing in power, from Mr. Girard in America, to Grenville in +England,)--John Jay has said, that the Senate should have been appointed +for life. He would then have been sure of never wanting a lucrative +appointment for himself, and have had no fears about impeachment. These +are the disguised traitors that call themselves Federalists.(**) + +Could I have known to what degree of corruption and perfidy the +administrative part of the government of America had descended, I +could have been at no loss to have understood the reservedness of Mr. +Washington towards me, during my imprisonment in the Luxembourg. There +are cases in which silence is a loud language. I will here explain the +cause of that imprisonment, and return to Mr. Washington afterwards. + + * Two persons to whom John Adams said this, told me of it. + The secretary of Mr. Jay was present when it was told to + me.--_Author_. + + ** If Mr. John Jay desires to know on what authority I say + this, I will give that authority publicly when he chooses to + call for it--_Author_. + +In the course of that rage, terror and suspicion, which the brutal +letter of the Duke of Brunswick first started into existence in France, +it happened that almost every man who was opposed to violence, or who +was not violent himself, became suspected. I had constantly been opposed +to every thing which was of the nature or of the appearance of violence; +but as I had always done it in a manner that shewed it to be a principle +founded in my heart, and not a political manouvre, it precluded the +pretence of accusing me. I was reached, however, under another pretence. + +A decree was passed to imprison all persons born in England; but as +I was a member of the Convention, and had been complimented with the +honorary style of Citizen of France, as Mr. Washington and some other +Americans had been, this decree fell short of reaching me. A motion was +afterwards made and carried, supported chiefly by Bourdon de l'Oise, +for expelling foreigners from the Convention. My expulsion being thus +effected, the two committees of Public Safety and of General Surety, +of which Robespierre was the dictator, put me in arrestation under the +former decree for imprisoning persons born in England. Having thus shewn +under what pretence the imprisonment was effected, I come to speak of +such parts of the case as apply between me and Mr. Washington, either as +a President or as an individual. + +I have always considered that a foreigner, such as I was in fact, with +respect to France, might be a member of a Convention for framing a +Constitution, without affecting his right of citizenship in the +country to which he belongs, but not a member of a government after +a Constitution is formed; and I have uniformly acted upon this +distinction» To be a member of a government requires that a person be +in allegiance to that government and to the country locally. But a +Constitution, being a thing of principle, and not of action, and +which, after it is formed, is to be referred to the people for their +approbation or rejection, does not require allegiance in the persons +forming and proposing it; and besides this, it is only to the thing +after it be formed and established, and to the country after its +governmental character is fixed by the adoption of a constitution, that +the allegiance can be given. No oath of allegiance or of citizenship was +required of the members who composed the Convention: there was nothing +existing in form to swear allegiance to. If any such condition had been +required, I could not, as Citizen of America in fact, though Citizen of +France by compliment, have accepted a seat in the Convention. + +As my citizenship in America was not altered or diminished by any thing +I had done in Europe, (on the contrary, it ought to be considered as +strengthened, for it was the American principle of government that I +was endeavouring to spread in Europe,) and as it is the duty of every +govern-ment to charge itself with the care of any of its citizens who +may happen to fall under an arbitrary persecution abroad, and is also +one of the reasons for which ambassadors or ministers are appointed,--it +was the duty of the Executive department in America, to have made (at +least) some enquiries about me, as soon as it heard of my imprisonment. +But if this had not been the case, that government owed it to me on +every ground and principle of honour and gratitude. Mr. Washington owed +it to me on every score of private acquaintance, I will not now say, +friendship; for it has some time been known by those who know him, that +he has no friendships; that he is incapable of forming any; he can serve +or desert a man, or a cause, with constitutional indifference; and it is +this cold hermaphrodite faculty that imposed itself upon the world, +and was credited for a while by enemies as by friends, for prudence, +moderation and impartiality.(1) + + 1 "L'on pent dire qu'il [Washington] jouit de tous les + avantages possibles a l'exception des douceurs de + l'amitié."--Louis Otto, Chargé d'Affaires (at New York) to + his government, 13 June, 1790. French Archives, vol. 35, No. + 32.--Editor. + +Soon after I was put into arrestation, and imprisoned in the Luxembourg, +the Americans who were then in Paris went in a body to the bar of the +Convention to reclaim me. They were answered by the then President +Vadier, who has since absconded, that _I was born in England_, and it +was signified to them, by some of the Committee of _General Surety_, to +whom they were referred (I have been told it was Billaud Varennes,) that +their reclamation of me was only the act of individuals, without any +authority from the American government. + +A few days after this, all communications from persons imprisoned to +any person without the prison was cut off by an order of the Police. I +neither saw, nor heard from, any body for six months; and the only hope +that remained to me was, that a new Minister would arrive from America +to supercede Morris, and that he would be authorized to enquire into +the cause of my imprisonment. But even this hope, in the state to which +matters were daily arriving, was too remote to have any consolatory +effect, and I contented myself with the thought, that I might be +remembered when it would be too late. There is perhaps no condition from +which a man conscious of his own uprightness cannot derive consolation; +for it is in itself a consolation for him to find, that he can bear that +condition with calmness and fortitude. + +From about the middle of March (1794) to the fall of Robespierre +July 29, (9th of Thermidor,) the state of things in the prisons was a +continued scene of horror. No man could count upon life for twenty-four +hours. To such a pitch of rage and suspicion were Robespierre and his +Committee arrived, that it seemed as if they feared to leave a man +living. Scarcely a night passed in which ten, twenty, thirty, forty, +fifty, or more, were not taken out of the prison, carried before a +pretended tribunal in the morning, and guillotined before night. One +hundred and sixty-nine were taken out of the Luxembourg one night, in +the month of July, and one hundred and sixty of them guillotined. A +list of two hundred more, according to the report in the prison, was +preparing a few days before Robespierre fell. In this last list I have +good reason to believe I was included. A memorandum in the hand-writing +of Robespierre was afterwards produced in the Convention, by the +committee to whom the papers of Robespierre were referred, in these +words: + + "Demander que Thomas "I Demand that Thomas Paine + "Payne soit décrété d'ac- be decreed of accusation + "cusation pour les inté- for the interests of America + "rôtsde l'Amérique,autant as well as of France." + "que de la France." + + + 1 In reading this the Committee added, "Why Thomas Payne + more than another? Because He helped to establish the + liberty of both worlds."--_Editor_. + +I had then been imprisoned seven months, and the silence of the +Executive part of the government of America (Mr. Washington) upon the +case, and upon every thing respecting me, was explanation enough to +Robespierre that he might proceed to extremities. + +A violent fever which had nearly terminated my existence, was, I +believe, the circumstance that preserved it. I was not in a condition to +be removed, or to know of what was passing, or of what had passed, for +more than a month. It makes a blank in my remembrance of life. The first +thing I was informed of was the fall of Robespierre. + +About a week after this, Mr. Monroe arrived to supercede Gouverneur +Morris, and as soon as I was able to write a note legible enough to be +read, I found a way to convey one to him by means of the man who lighted +the lamps in the prison; and whose unabated friendship to me, from whom +he had never received any service, and with difficulty accepted any +recompense, puts the character of Mr. Washington to shame. + +In a few days I received a message from Mr. Monroe, conveyed to me in a +note from an intermediate person, with assurance of his friendship, and +expressing a desire that I would rest the case in his hands. After a +fortnight or more had passed, and hearing nothing farther, I wrote to a +friend who was then in Paris, a citizen of Philadelphia, requesting him +to inform me what was the true situation of things with respect to me. I +was sure that something was the matter; I began to have hard thoughts of +Mr. Washington, but I was unwilling to encourage them. + +In about ten days, I received an answer to my letter, in which the +writer says, "Mr. Monroe has told me that he has no order [meaning from +the President, Mr. Washington] respecting you, but that he (Mr. Monroe) +will do every thing in his power to liberate you; but, from what I learn +from the Americans lately arrived in Paris, you are not considered, +either by the American government, or by the individuals, as an American +citizen." + +I was now at no loss to understand Mr. Washington and his new fangled +faction, and that their policy was silently to leave me to fall in +France. They were rushing as fast as they could venture, without +awakening the jealousy of America, into all the vices and corruptions of +the British government; and it was no more consistent with the policy +of Mr. Washington, and those who immediately surrounded him, than it was +with that of Robespierre or of Pitt, that I should survive. They have, +however, missed the mark, and the reaction is upon themselves. + +Upon the receipt of the letter just alluded to, I sent a memorial to Mr. +Monroe, which the reader will find in the appendix, and I received from +him the following answer.(1) It is dated the 18th of September, but did +not come to hand till about the 4th of October. I was then failing into +a relapse, the weather was becoming damp and cold, fuel was not to be +had, and the abscess in my side, the consequence of these things, and +of the want of air and exercise, was beginning to form, and which has +continued immoveable ever since. Here follows Mr. Monroe's letter. + + 1 The appendix consisted of an abridgment of the Memorial, + which forms the preceding chapter (XXI.) in this volume.-- + _Editor._. + + +Paris, September 18th, 1794. "Dear Sir, + +"I was favoured soon after my arrival here with several letters from +you, and more latterly with one in the character of memorial upon the +subject of your confinement; and should have answered them at the +times they were respectively written had I not concluded you would have +calculated with certainty upon the deep interest I take in your welfare, +and the pleasure with which I shall embrace every opportunity in my +power to serve you. I should still pursue the same course, and for +reasons which must obviously occur, if I did not find that you are +disquieted with apprehensions upon interesting points, and which justice +to you and our country equally forbid you should entertain. You mention +that you have been informed you are not considered as an American +citizen by the Americans, and that you have likewise heard that I had +no instructions respecting you by the government. I doubt not the person +who gave you the information meant well, but I suspect he did not even +convey accurately his own ideas on the first point: for I presume the +most he could say is, that you had likewise become a French citizen, +and which by no means deprived you of being an American one. Even +this, however, may be doubted, I mean the acquisition of citizenship in +France, and I confess you have said much to show that it has not been +made. I really suspect that this was all that the gentleman who wrote +to you, and those Americans he heard speak upon the subject meant. It +becomes my duty, however, to declare to you, that I consider you as +an American citizen, and that you are considered universally in that +character by the people of America. As such you are entitled to my +attention; and so far as it can be given consistently with those +obligations which are mutual between every government and even a +transient passenger, you shall receive it. + +"The Congress have never decided upon the subject of citizenship in +a manner to regard the present case. By being with us through the +revolution you are of our country as absolutely as if you had been born +there, and you are no more of England, than every native American is. +This is the true doctrine in the present case, so far as it becomes +complicated with any other consideration. I have mentioned it to make +you easy upon the only point which could give you any disquietude. + +"Is it necessary for me to tell you how much all your countrymen, I +speak of the great mass of the people, are interested in your welfare? +They have not forgotten the history of their own revolution and the +difficult scenes through which they passed; nor do they review its +several stages without reviving in their bosoms a due sensibility of the +merits of those who served them in that great and arduous conflict. The +crime of ingratitude has not yet stained, and I trust never will stain, +our national character. You are considered by them as not only having +rendered important service in our own revolution, but as being, on a +more extensive scale, the friend of human rights, and a distinguished +and able advocate in favour of public liberty. To the welfare of Thomas +Paine, the Americans are not, nor can they be, indifferent. + +"Of the sense which the President has always entertained of your merits, +and of his friendly disposition towards you, you are too well assured +to require any declaration of it from me. That I forward his wishes +in seeking your safety is what I well know, and this will form an +additional obligation on me to perform what I should otherwise consider +as a duty. + +"You are, in my opinion, at present menaced by no kind of danger. +To liberate you, will be an object of my endeavours, and as soon as +possible. But you must, until that event shall be accomplished, bear +your situation with patience and fortitude. You will likewise have the +justice to recollect, that I am placed here upon a difficult theatre* +many important objects to attend to, with few to consult It becomes me +in pursuit of those to regulate my conduct in respect to each, as to +the manner and the time, as will, in my judgment, be best calculated to +accomplish the whole. + +"With great esteem and respect consider me personally your friend, + +"James Monroe." + + +The part in Mr. Monroe's letter, in which he speaks of the President, +(Mr. Washington,) is put in soft language. Mr. Monroe knew what Mr. +Washington had said formerly, and he was willing to keep that in view. +But the fact is, not only that Mr. Washington had given no orders to Mr. +Monroe, as the letter [of Whiteside] stated, but he did not so much as +say to him, enquire if Mr. Paine be dead or alive, in prison or out, or +see if there be any assistance we can give him. + + This I presume alludes to the embarrassments which the + strange conduct of Gouverneur Morris had occasioned, and + which, I well know, had created suspicions of the sincerity + of Mr. Washington.--_Author_. voi. m--ij + +While these matters were passing, the liberations from the prisons were +numerous; from twenty to forty in the course of almost every twenty-four +hours. The continuance of my imprisonment after a new Minister had +arrived immediately from America, which was now more than two months, +was a matter so obviously strange, that I found the character of the +American government spoken of in very unqualified terms of reproach; +not only by those who still remained in prison, but by those who were +liberated, and by persons who had access to the prison from without. +Under these circumstances I wrote again to Mr. Monroe, and found +occasion, among other things, to say: "It will not add to the popularity +of Mr. Washington to have it believed in America, as it is believed +here, that he connives at my imprisonment." + +The case, so far as it respected Mr. Monroe, was, that having to get +over the difficulties, which the strange conduct of Gouverneur Morris +had thrown in the way of a successor, and having no authority from the +American government to speak officially upon any thing relating to me, +he found himself obliged to proceed by unofficial means with individual +members; for though Robespierre was overthrown, the Robespierrian +members of the Committee of Public Safety still remained in considerable +force, and had they found out that Mr. Monroe had no official authority +upon the case, they would have paid little or no regard to his +reclamation of me. In the mean time my health was suffering exceedingly, +the dreary prospect of winter was coming on, and imprisonment was still +a thing of danger. After the Robespierrian members of the Committee were +removed by the expiration of their time of serving, Mr. Monroe reclaimed +me, and I was liberated the 4th of November. Mr. Monroe arrived in Paris +the beginning of August before. All that period of my imprisonment, +at least, I owe not to Robespierre, but to his colleague in projects, +George Washington. Immediately upon my liberation, Mr. Monroe invited me +to his house, where I remained more than a year and a half; and I speak +of his aid and friendship, as an open-hearted man will always do in such +a case, with respect and gratitude. + +Soon after my liberation, the Convention passed an unanimous vote, +to invite me to return to my seat among them. The times were still +unsettled and dangerous, as well from without as within, for the +coalition was unbroken, and the constitution not settled. I chose, +however, to accept the invitation: for as I undertake nothing but what +I believe to be right, I abandon nothing that I undertake; and I +was willing also to shew, that, as I was not of a cast of mind to be +deterred by prospects or retrospects of danger, so neither were my +principles to be weakened by misfortune or perverted by disgust. + +Being now once more abroad in the world, I began to find that I was +not the only one who had conceived an unfavourable opinion of Mr. +Washington; it was evident that his character was on the decline as well +among Americans as among foreigners of different nations. From being the +chief of the government, he had made himself the chief of a party; +and his integrity was questioned, for his politics had a doubtful +appearance. The mission of Mr. Jay to London, notwithstanding there +was an American Minister there already, had then taken place, and was +beginning to be talked of. It appeared to others, as it did to me, to +be enveloped in mystery, which every day served either to increase or to +explain into matter of suspicion. + +In the year 1790, or about that time, Mr. Washington, as President, +had sent Gouverneur Morris to London, as his secret agent to have some +communication with the British Ministry. To cover the agency of Morris +it was given out, I know not by whom, that he went as an agent from +Robert Morris to borrow money in Europe, and the report was permitted +to pass uncontradicted. The event of Morris's negociation was, that Mr. +Hammond was sent Minister from England to America, Pinckney from +America to England, and himself Minister to France. If, while Morris was +Minister in France, he was not a emissary of the British Ministry and +the coalesced powers, he gave strong reasons to suspect him of it. No +one who saw his conduct, and heard his conversation, could doubt his +being in their interest; and had he not got off the time he did, after +his recall, he would have been in arrestation. Some letters of his had +fallen into the hands of the Committee of Public Safety, and enquiry was +making after him. + +A great bustle had been made by Mr. Washington about the conduct of +Genet in America, while that of his own Minister, Morris, in France, was +infinitely more reproachable. If Genet was imprudent or rash, he was not +treacherous; but Morris was all three. He was the enemy of the French +revolution, in every stage of it. But notwithstanding this conduct +on the part of Morris, and the known profligacy of his character, Mr. +Washington in a letter he wrote to him at the time of recalling him on +the complaint and request of the Committee of Public Safety, assures +him, that though he had complied with that request, he still retained +the same esteem and friendship for him as before. This letter Morris was +foolish enough to tell of; and, as his own char-acter and conduct were +notorious, the telling of it could have but one effect, which was that +of implicating the character of the writer.(1) Morris still loiters +in Europe, chiefly in England; and Mr. Washington is still in +correspondence with him. Mr. Washington ought, therefore, to expect, +especially since his conduct in the affairs of Jay's treaty, that France +must consider Morris and Washington as men of the same description. The +chief difference, however, between the two is, (for in politics there +is none,) that the one is profligate enough to profess an indifference +about _moral_ principles, and the other is prudent enough to conceal the +want of them. + + 1 Washington wrote to Morris, June 19,1794, "my confidence + in and friendship for you remain undiminished." It was not + "foolish" but sagacious to show this one sentence, without + which Morris might not have escaped out of France. The + letter reveals Washington's mental decline. He says "until + then [Fauchet's demand for recall of Morris, early 1794] I + had supposed you stood well with the powers that were." + Lafayette had pleaded for Morris's removal, and two French + Ministers before Fauchet, Ternant and Genet, had expressed + their Government's dissatisfaction with him. See Ford's + Writings of Washington, vii., p. 453; also Editor's + Introduction to XXI.--_Editor._ + +About three months after I was at liberty, the official note of Jay +to Grenville on the subject of the capture of American vessels by the +British cruisers, appeared in the American papers that arrived at Paris. +Every thing was of a-piece. Every thing was mean. The same kind of +character went to all circumstances public or private. Disgusted at +this national degradation, as well as at the particular conduct of Mr. +Washington to me, I wrote to him (Mr. Washington) on the 22d of February +(1795) under cover to the then Secretary of State, (Mr. Randolph,) and +entrusted the letter to Mr. Le-tombe, who was appointed French consul +to Philadelphia, and was on the point of taking his departure. When I +supposed Mr. Letombe had sailed, I mentioned the letter to Mr. Monroe, +and as I was then in his house, I shewed it to him. He expressed a +wish that I would recall it, which he supposed might be done, as he had +learnt that Mr. Letombe had not then sailed. I agreed to do so, and it +was returned by Mr. Letombe under cover to Mr. Monroe. + +The letter, however, will now reach Mr. Washington publicly in the +course of this work. + +About the month of September following, I had a severe relapse which +gave occasion to the report of my death. I had felt it coming on a +considerable time before, which occasioned me to hasten the work I +had then in hand, the _Second part of the Age of Reason_. When I had +finished that work, I bestowed another letter on Mr. Washington, which I +sent under cover to Mr. Benj. Franklin Bache of Philadelphia. The letter +is as follows: + + +"Paris, September 20th, 1795. + +"Sir, + +"I had written you a letter by Mr. Letombe, French consul, but, at the +request of Mr. Monroe, I withdrew it, and the letter is still by me. +I was the more easily prevailed upon to do this, as it was then my +intention to have returned to America the latter end of the present +year, 1795; but the illness I now suffer prevents me. In case I had +come, I should have applied to you for such parts of your official +letters (and of your private ones, if you had chosen to give them) as +contained any instructions or directions either to Mr. Monroe, or to +Mr. Morris, or to any other person respecting me; for after you were +informed of my imprisonment in France, it was incumbent on you to have +made some enquiry into the cause, as you might very well conclude that I +had not the opportunity of informing you of it. I cannot understand your +silence upon this subject upon any other ground, than as _connivance_ at +my imprisonment; and this is the manner it is understood here, and will +be understood in America, unless you give me authority for contradicting +it. I therefore write you this letter, to propose to you to send me +copies of any letters you have written, that may remove that suspicion. +In the preface to the second part of the Age of Reason, I have given a +memorandum from the hand-writing of Robespierre, in which he proposed a +decree of accusation against me, '_for the interests of America as well +as of France!_' He could have no cause for putting America in the +case, but by interpreting the silence of the American government into +connivance and consent. I was imprisoned on the ground of being born +in England; and your silence in not enquiring into the cause of that +imprisonment, and reclaiming me against it, was tacitly giving me up. I +ought not to have suspected you of treachery; but whether I recover +from the illness I now suffer or not, I shall continue to think you +treacherous, till you give me cause to think otherwise. I am sure you +would have found yourself more at your ease, had you acted by me as +you ought; for whether your desertion of me was intended to gratify the +English Government, or to let me fall into destruction in France that +you might exclaim the louder against the French Revolution, or whether +you hoped by my extinction to meet with less opposition in mounting up +the American government--either of these will involve you in reproach +you will not easily shake off. + +"THOMAS Paine." + + 1 Washington Papers in State Department. Endorsed by Bache: + "Jan. 18, 1796. Enclosed to Benj. Franklin Bache, and by him + forwarded immediately upon receipt."--_Editor._. + +Here follows the letter above alluded to, which I had stopped in +complaisance to Mr. Monroe. + + +"Paris, February aad, 1795. + +"Sir, + +"As it is always painful to reproach those one would wish to respect, it +is not without some difficulty that I have taken the resolution to +write to you. The dangers to which I have been exposed cannot have been +unknown to you, and the guarded silence you have observed upon that +circumstance is what I ought not to have expected from you, either as a +friend or as President of the United States. + +"You knew enough of my character to be assured that I could not have +deserved imprisonment in France; and, without knowing any thing more +than this, you had sufficient ground to have taken some interest for my +safety. Every motive arising from recollection of times past, ought to +have suggested to you the propriety of such a measure. But I cannot find +that you have so much as directed any enquiry to be made whether I +was in prison or at liberty, dead or alive; what the cause of that +imprisonment was, or whether there was any service or assistance you +could render. Is this what I ought to have expected from America, after +the part I had acted towards her, or will it redound to her honour or +to yours, that I tell the story? I do not hesitate to say, that you have +not served America with more disinterestedness, or greater zeal, or more +fidelity, than myself, and I know not if with better effect. After the +revolution of America was established I ventured into new scenes +of difficulties to extend the principles which that revolution had +produced, and you rested at home to partake of the advantages. In the +progress of events, you beheld yourself a President in America, and me a +prisoner in France. You folded your arms, forgot your friend, and became +silent. + +"As every thing I have been doing in Europe was connected with my wishes +for the prosperity of America, I ought to be the more surprised at this +conduct on the part of her government. It leaves me but one mode of +explanation, which is, _that every thing is not as it ought to be +amongst you_, and that the presence of a man who might disapprove, and +who had credit enough with the country to be heard and believed, was not +wished for. This was the operating motive with the despotic faction +that imprisoned me in France, (though the pretence was, that I was a +foreigner,) and those that have been silent and inactive towards me +in America, appear to me to have acted from the same motive. It is +impossible for me to discover any other.(1) + +"After the part I have taken in the revolution of America, it is +natural that I feel interested in whatever relates to her character +and prosperity. Though I am not on the spot to see what is immediately +acting there, I see some part of what she is acting in Europe. For +your own sake, as well as for that of America, I was both surprised +and concerned at the appointment of Gouverneur Morris to be Minister +to France. His conduct has proved that the opinion I had formed of that +appointment was well founded. I wrote that opinion to Mr. Jefferson at +the time, and I was frank enough to say the same thing to Morris--_that +it was an unfortunate appointment?_ His prating, insignificant +pomposity, rendered him at once offensive, suspected, and ridiculous; +and his total neglect of all business had so disgusted the Americans, +that they proposed drawing up a protest against him. He carried this +neglect to such an extreme, that it was necessary to inform him of it; +and I asked him one day, if he did not feel himself ashamed to take the +money of the country, and do nothing for it?' But Morris is so fond of +profit and voluptousness, that he cares nothing about character. Had +he not been removed at the time he was, I think his conduct would have +precipitated the two countries into a rupture; and in this case, +hated _systematically_ as America is and ever will be by the British +government, and at the same time suspected by France, the commerce of +America would have fallen a prey to both countries. + + 1 This paragraph of the original letter was omitted from the + American pamphlet, probably by the prudence of Mr. Bache.-- + _Editor._ + + 2 "I have just heard of Gouverneur Morris's appointment. It + is a most unfortunate one; and, as I shall mention the same + thing to him when I see him, I do not express it to you with + the injunction of confidence."--Paine to Jefferson, Feb. + 13,1792.--_Editor._ + + 3 Paine could not of course know that Morris was willing + that the Americans, to whom he alludes, captains of captured + vessels, should suffer, in order that there might be a case + against France of violation of treaty, which would leave the + United States free to transfer the alliance to England. See + Introduction to XXI.. also my "Life of Paine," ii., p. + 83.--_Editor._. + +"If the inconsistent conduct of Morris exposed the interest of America +to some hazard in France, the pusillanimous conduct of Mr. Jay in +England has rendered the American government contemptible in Europe. +Is it possible that any man who has contributed to the independence of +Amer-ica, and to free her from the tyranny and injustice of the British +government, can read without shame and indignation the note of Jay to +Grenville? It is a satire upon the declaration of Independence, and an +encouragement to the British government to treat America with contempt. +At the time this Minister of Petitions was acting this miserable part, +he had every means in his hands to enable him to have done his business +as he ought. The success or failure of his mission depended upon the +success or failure of the French arms. Had France failed, Mr. Jay might +have put his humble petition in his pocket, and gone home. The case +happened to be otherwise, and he has sacrificed the honour and perhaps +all the advantages of it, by turning petitioner. I take it for granted, +that he was sent over to demand indemnification for the captured +property; and, in this case, if he thought he wanted a preamble to his +demand, he might have said, + +'That, tho' the government of England might suppose itself under +the necessity of seizing American property bound to France, yet +that supposed necessity could not preclude indemnification to the +proprietors, who, acting under the authority of their own government, +were not accountable to any other.' + +"But Mr. Jay sets out with an implied recognition of the right of the +British government to seize and condemn: for he enters his complaint +against the _irregularity_ of the seizures and the condemnation, as if +they were reprehensible only by not being _conformable_ to the _terms_ +of the proclamation under which they were seized. Instead of being the +Envoy of a government, he goes over like a lawyer to demand a new trial. +I can hardly help thinking that Grenville wrote that note himself and +Jay signed it; for the style of it is domestic and not diplomatic. +The term, _His_ Majesty, used without any descriptive epithet, always +signifies the King whom the Minister that speaks represents. If this +sinking of the demand into a petition was a juggle between Grenville +and Jay, to cover the indemnification, I think it will end in another +juggle, that of never paying the money, and be made use of afterwards to +preclude the right of demanding it: for Mr. Jay has virtually disowned +the right _by appealing to the magnanimity of his Majesty against the +capturers_. He has made this magnanimous Majesty the umpire in the case, +and the government of the United States must abide by the decision. If, +Sir, I turn some part of this business into ridicule, it is to avoid the +unpleasant sensation of serious indignation. + +"Among other things which I confess I do not understand, is the +proclamation of neutrality. This has always appeared to me as +an assumption on the part of the executive not warranted by the +Constitution. But passing this over, as a disputable case, and +considering it only as political, the consequence has been that of +sustaining the losses of war, without the balance of reprisals. When +the profession of neutrality, on the part of America, was answered by +hostilities on the part of Britain, the object and intention of that +neutrality existed no longer; and to maintain it after this, was not +only to encourage farther insults and depredations, but was an informal +breach of neutrality towards France, by passively contributing to the +aid of her enemy. That the government of England considered the American +government as pusillanimous, is evident from the encreasing insolence of +the conduct of the former towards the latter, till the affair of General +Wayne. She then saw that it might be possible to kick a government into +some degree of spirit.(1) So far as the proclamation of neutrality was +intended to prevent a dissolute spirit of privateering in America under +foreign colors, it was undoubtedly laudable; but to continue it as a +government neutrality, after the commerce of America was made war upon, +was submission and not neutrality. I have heard so much about this thing +called neutrality, that I know not if the ungenerous and dishonorable +silence (for I must call it such,) that has been observed by your part +of the government towards me, during my imprisonment, has not in some +measure arisen from that policy. + + 1 Wayne's success against the Indians of the Six Nations, + 1794, was regarded by Washington also as a check on England. + Writing to Pendleton, Jan. 22, 1795, he says: "There is + reason to believe that the Indians...._together with their + abettors_; begin to see things in a different point of + view." (Italics mine).--_Editor._ + +"Tho' I have written you this letter, you ought not to suppose it has +been an agreeable undertaking to me. On the contrary, I assure you, it +has caused me some disquietude. I am sorry you have given me cause to +do it; for, as I have always remembered your former friendship with +pleasure, I suffer a loss by your depriving me of that sentiment. + +"Thomas Paine." + + +That this letter was not written in very good temper, is very evident; +but it was just such a letter as his conduct appeared to me to merit, +and every thing on his part since has served to confirm that +opinion. Had I wanted a commentary on his silence, with respect to my +imprisonment in France, some of his faction have furnished me with it. +What I here allude to, is a publication in a Philadelphia paper, copied +afterwards into a New York paper, both under the patronage of the +Washington faction, in which the writer, still supposing me in prison +in France, wonders at my lengthy respite from the scaffold; and he marks +his politics still farther, by saying: + +"It appears, moreover, that the people of England did not relish his +(Thomas Paine's) opinions quite so well as he expected, and that for one +of his last pieces, as destructive to the peace and happiness of their +country, (meaning, I suppose, the _Rights of Man_,) they threatened +our knight-errant with such serious vengeance, that, to avoid a trip to +Botany Bay, he fled over to France, as a less dangerous voyage." + +I am not refuting or contradicting the falsehood of this publication, +for it is sufficiently notorious; neither am I censuring the writer: on +the contrary, I thank him for the explanation he has incautiously given +of the principles of the Washington faction. Insignificant, however, as +the piece is, it was capable of having some ill effects, had it arrived +in France during my imprisonment, and in the time of Robespierre; and I +am not uncharitable in supposing that this was one of the intentions of +the writer.(*) + + * I know not who the writer of the piece is, but some of the + Americans say it is Phineas Bond, an American refugee, but + now a British consul; and that he writes under the + signature of Peter Skunk or Peter Porcupine, or some such + signature.--Author. + + This footnote probably added to the gall of Porcupine's + (Cobbett's) "Letter to the Infamous Tom Paine, in Answer to + his Letter to General Washington" (Polit. Censor, Dec., + 1796), of which he (Cobbett) afterwards repented. Phineas + Bond had nothing to do with it.--Editor. + +I have now done with Mr. Washington on the score of private affairs. It +would have been far more agreeable to me, had his conduct been such as +not to have merited these reproaches. Errors or caprices of the temper +can be pardoned and forgotten; but a cold deliberate crime of the heart, +such as Mr. Washington is capable of acting, is not to be washed away. I +now proceed to other matter. + +After Jay's note to Grenville arrived in Paris from America, the +character of every thing that was to follow might be easily foreseen; +and it was upon this anticipation that _my_ letter of February the 22d +was founded. The event has proved that I was not mistaken, except that +it has been much worse than I expected. + +It would naturally occur to Mr. Washington, that the secrecy of Jay's +mission to England, where there was already an American Minister, could +not but create some suspicion in the French government; especially +as the conduct of Morris had been notorious, and the intimacy of Mr. +Washington with Morris was known. + +The character which Mr. Washington has attempted to act in the world, is +a sort of non-describable, camelion-colored thing, called _prudence_. It +is, in many cases, a substitute for principle, and is so nearly allied +to hypocrisy that it easily slides into it. His genius for prudence +furnished him in this instance with an expedient that served, as is +the natural and general character of all expedients, to diminish the +embarrassments of the moment and multiply them afterwards; for +he authorized it to be made known to the French government, as a +confidential matter, (Mr. Washington should recollect that I was a +member of the Convention, and had the means of knowing what I here +state) he authorized it, I say, to be announced, and that for the +purpose of preventing any uneasiness to France on the score of Mr. Jay's +mission to England, that the object of that mission, and of Mr. Jay's +authority, was restricted to that of demanding the surrender of the +western posts, and indemnification for the cargoes captured in American +vessels. Mr. Washington knows that this was untrue; and knowing this, +he had good reason to himself for refusing to furnish the House of +Representatives with copies of the instructions given to Jay, as he +might suspect, among other things, that he should also be called upon +for copies of instructions given to other Ministers, and that, in +the contradiction of instructions, his want of integrity would be +detected.(1) Mr. Washington may now, perhaps, learn, when it is too late +to be of any use to him, that a man will pass better through the world +with a thousand open errors upon his back, than in being detected in +_one_ sly falsehood. When one is detected, a thousand are suspected. + +The first account that arrived in Paris of a treaty being negotiated by +Mr. Jay, (for nobody suspected any,) came in an English newspaper, which +announced that a treaty _offensive and defensive_ had been concluded +between the United States of America and England. This was immediately +denied by every American in Paris, as an impossible thing; and though +it was disbelieved by the French, it imprinted a suspicion that some +underhand business was going forward.(*) At length the treaty itself +arrived, and every well-affected American blushed with shame. + + 1 When the British treaty had been ratified by the Senate + (with one stipulation) and signed by the President, the + House of Representatives, required to supply the means for + carrying into effect, believed that its power over the + supplies authorized it to check what a large majority + considered an outrage on the country and on France. This was + the opinion of Edmund Randolph (the first Attorney General), + of Jefferson, Madison, and other eminent men. The House + having respectfully requested the President to send them + such papers on the treaty as would not affect any existing + negotiations, he refused in a message (March 30, 1796), + whose tenor Madison described as "improper and indelicate." + He said "the assent of the House of Representatives is not + necessary to the validity of a treaty." The House regarded + the message as menacing a serious conflict, and receded.-- + _Editor._ + + * It was the embarrassment into which the affairs and credit + of America were thrown at this instant by the report above + alluded to, that made it necessary to contradict it, and + that by every means arising from opinion or founded upon + authority. The Committee of Public Safety, existing at that + time, had agreed to the full execution, on their part, of + the treaty between America and France, notwithstanding some + equivocal conduct on the part of the American government, + not very consistent with the good faith of an ally; but they + were not in a disposition to be imposed upon by a counter- + treaty. That Jay had no instructions beyond the points above + stated, or none that could possibly be construed to extend + to the length the British treaty goes, was a matter believed + in America, in England, and in France; and without going to + any other source it followed naturally from the message of + the President to Congress, when he nominated Jay upon that + mission. The secretary of Mr. Jay came to Paris soon after + the treaty with England had been concluded, and brought with + him a copy of Mr. Jay's instructions, which he offered to + shew to me as _justification of Jay_. I advised him, as a + friend, not to shew them to anybody, and did not permit him + to shew them to me. "Who is it," said I to him, "that you + intend to implicate as censureable by shewing those + instructions? Perhaps that implication may fall upon your + own government." Though I did not see the instructions, I + could not be at a loss to understand that the American + administration had been playing a double game.--Author. + + That there was a "double game" in this business, from first + to last, is now a fact of history. Jay was confirmed by the + Senate on a declaration of the President in which no + faintest hint of a treaty was given, but only the + "adjustment of our complaints," "vindication of our rights," + and cultivation of "peace." Only after the Envoy's + confirmation did the Cabinet add the main thing, his + authority to negotiate a commercial treaty. This was done + against the protest of the only lawyer among them, Edmund + Randolph, Secretary of State, who said the exercise of such + a power by Jay would be an abridgment of the rights of the + Senate and of the nation. See my "Life of Randolph," p. 220. + For Jay's Instructions, etc., see I. Am. State Papers, + Foreign Relations.--Editor. + +It is curious to observe, how the appearance of characters will change, +whilst the root that produces them remains the same. The Washington +faction having waded through the slough of negociation, and whilst it +amused France with professions of friendship contrived to injure her, +immediately throws off the hypocrite, and assumes the swaggering air of +a bravado. The party papers of that imbecile administration were on +this occasion filled with paragraphs about _Sovereignty_. A paltroon may +boast of his sovereign right to let another kick him, and this is the +only kind of sovereignty shewn in the treaty with England. But those +daring paragraphs, as Timothy Pickering(1) well knows, were intended +for France; without whose assistance, in men, money, and ships, Mr. +Washington would have cut but a poor figure in the American war. But of +his military talents I shall speak hereafter. + +I mean not to enter into any discussion of any article of Jay's treaty; +I shall speak only upon the whole of it. It is attempted to be justified +on the ground of its not being a violation of any article or articles +of the treaty pre-existing with France. But the sovereign right of +explanation does not lie with George Washington and his man Timothy; +France, on her part, has, at least, an equal right: and when nations +dispute, it is not so much about words as about things. + +A man, such as the world calls a sharper, and versed as Jay must be +supposed to be in the quibbles of the law, may find a way to enter into +engagements, and make bargains, in such a manner as to cheat some other +party, without that party being able, as the phrase is, _to take the law +of him_. This often happens in the cabalistical circle of what is called +law. But when this is attempted to be acted on the national scale of +treaties, it is too despicable to be defended, or to be permitted to +exist. Yet this is the trick upon which Jay's treaty is founded, so +far as it has relation to the treaty pre-existing with France. It is a +counter-treaty to that treaty, and perverts all the great articles of +that treaty to the injury of France, and makes them operate as a bounty +to England, with whom France is at war. + + 1 Secretary of State.--_Editor._. + +The Washington administration shews great desire that the treaty between +France and the United States be preserved. Nobody can doubt their +sincerity upon this matter. There is not a British Minister, a British +merchant, or a British agent or sailor in America, that does not +anxiously wish the same thing. The treaty with France serves now as +a passport to supply England with naval stores and other articles of +American produce, whilst the same articles, when coming to France, are +made contraband or seizable by Jay's treaty with England. The treaty +with France says, that neutral ships make neutral property, and thereby +gives protection to English property on board American ships; and Jay's +treaty delivers up French property on board American ships to be seized +by the English. It is too paltry to talk of faith, of national honour, +and of the preservation of treaties, whilst such a bare-faced treachery +as this stares the world in the face. + +The Washington administration may save itself the trouble of proving to +the French government its _most faithful_ intentions of preserving +the treaty with France; for France has now no desire that it should be +preserved. She had nominated an Envoy extraordinary to America, to make +Mr. Washington and his government a present of the treaty, and to +have no more to do with _that_, or with _him_. It was at the same time +officially declared to the American Minister at Paris, _that the French +Republic had rather have the American government for an open enemy +than a treacherous friend_. This, sir, together with the internal +distractions caused in America, and the loss of character in the world, +is the _eventful crisis_, alluded to in the beginning of this letter, to +which your double politics have brought the affairs of your country. It +is time that the eyes of America be opened upon you. + +How France would have conducted herself towards America and American +commerce, after all treaty stipulations had ceased, and under the sense +of services rendered and injuries received, I know not. It is, however, +an unpleasant reflection, that in all national quarrels, the innocent, +and even the friendly part of the community, become involved with the +culpable and the unfriendly; and as the accounts that arrived from +America continued to manifest an invariable attachment in the general +mass of the people to their original ally, in opposition to the +new-fangled Washington faction,--the resolutions that had been taken +in France were suspended. It happened also, fortunately enough, that +Gouverneur Morris was not Minister at this time. + +There is, however, one point that still remains in embryo, and +which, among other things, serves to shew the ignorance of Washington +treaty-makers, and their inattention to preexisting treaties, when they +were employing themselves in framing or ratifying the new treaty with +England. + +The second article of the treaty of commerce between the United States +and France says: + +"The most christian king and the United States engage mutually, not to +grant any particular favour to other nations in respect of commerce and +navigation that shall not immediately become common to the other party, +who shall enjoy the same favour freely, if the concession was freely +made, or on allowing the same compensation if the concession was +conditional." + +All the concessions, therefore, made to England by Jay's treaty are, +through the medium of this second article in the pre-existing treaty, +made to France, and become engrafted into the treaty with France, and +can be exercised by her as a matter of right, the same as by England. + +Jay's treaty makes a concession to England, and that unconditionally, +of seizing naval stores in American ships, and condemning them as +contraband. It makes also a concession to England to seize provisions +and _other articles_ in American ships. _Other articles are all other +articles_, and none but an ignoramus, or something worse, would have put +such a phrase into a treaty. The condition annexed in this case is, that +the provisions and other articles so seized, are to be paid for at a +price to be agreed upon. Mr. Washington, as President, ratified +this treaty after he knew the British Government had recommended an +indiscriminate seizure of provisions and all other articles in American +ships; and it is now known that those seizures were made to fit out the +expedition going to Quiberon Bay, and it was known before hand that they +would be made. The evidence goes also a good way to prove that Jay and +Grenville understood each other upon that subject. Mr. Pinckney,(1) +when he passed through France on his way to Spain, spoke of the +recommencement of the seizures as a thing that would take place. + + 1 Gen. Thomas Pinckney, U. S. Minister to England.-- + _Editor._ + +The French government had by some means received information from London +to the same purpose, with the addition, that the recommencement of +the seizures would cause no misunderstanding between the British and +American governments. Grenville, in defending himself against the +opposition in Parliament, on account of the scarcity of corn, said (see +his speech at the opening of the Parliament that met October 29, 1795) +that _the supplies for the Quiberon expedition were furnished out of the +American ships_, and all the accounts received at that time from +England stated that those seizures were made under the treaty. After the +supplies for the Quiberon expedition had been procured, and the expected +success had failed, the seizures were countermanded; and had the French +seized provision vessels going to England, it is probable that the +Quiberon expedition could not have been attempted. + +In one point of view, the treaty with England operates as a loan to +the English government. It gives permission to that government to take +American property at sea, to any amount, and pay for it when it suits +her; and besides this, the treaty is in every point of view a surrender +of the rights of American commerce and navigation, and a refusal to +France of the rights of neutrality. The American flag is not now a +neutral flag to France; Jay's treaty of surrender gives a monopoly of it +to England. + +On the contrary, the treaty of commerce between America and France +was formed on the most liberal principles, and calculated to give the +greatest encouragement to the infant commerce of America. France was +neither a carrier nor an exporter of naval stores or of provisions. +Those articles belonged wholly to America, and they had all the +protection in that treaty which a treaty could give. But so much has +that treaty been perverted, that the liberality of it on the part +of France, has served to encourage Jay to form a counter-treaty with +England; for he must have supposed the hands of France tied up by her +treaty with America, when he was making such large concessions in favour +of England. The injury which Mr. Washington's administration has done to +the character as well as to the commerce of America, is too great to be +repaired by him. Foreign nations will be shy of making treaties with +a government that has given the faithless example of perverting the +liberality of a former treaty to the injury of the party with whom it +was made.(1) + + 1 For an analysis of the British Treaty see Wharton's + "Digest of the International Law of the United States," vol. + it, § 150 a. Paine's analysis is perfectly correct.-- + _Editor._. + +In what a fraudulent light must Mr. Washington's character appear in the +world, when his declarations and his conduct are compared together! Here +follows the letter he wrote to the Committee of Public Safety, while Jay +was negotiating in profound secrecy this treacherous treaty: + +"George Washington, President of the United States of America, to the +Representatives of the French people, members of the Committee of Public +Safety of the French Republic, the great and good friend and ally of the +United States. + +"On the intimation of the wish of the French republic that à new +Minister should be sent from the United States, I resolved to manifest +my sense of the readiness with which _my_ request was fulfilled, [that +of recalling Genet,] by immediately fulfilling the request of your +government, [that of recalling Morris]. + +"It was some time before a character could be obtained, worthy of the +high office of expressing the attachment of the United States to +the happiness of our allies, _and drawing closer the bonds of our +friendship_. I have now made choice of James Monroe, one of our +distinguished citizens, to reside near the French republic, in quality +of Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States of America. He is +instructed to bear to you our _sincere solicitude for your welfare, and +to cultivate with teal the cordiality so happily subsisting between +us_. From a knowledge of his fidelity, probity, and good conduct, I have +entire confidence that he will render himself acceptable to you, +and give effect to your desire of preserving and _advancing, on all +occasions, the interest and connection of the two nations_. I beseech +you, therefore, to give full credence to whatever he shall say to you +on the part of the United States, and _most of all, when he shall assure +you that your prosperity is an object of our affection_. + +"And I pray God to have the French Republic in his holy keeping. + +"G. Washington." + + +Was it by entering into a treaty with England to surrender French +property on board American ships to be seized by the English, while +English property on board American ships was declared by the French +treaty not to be seizable, _that the bonds of friendship between America +and France were to be drawn the closer?_ Was it by declaring naval +stores contraband when coming to France, whilst by the French treaty +they were not contraband when going to England, that the _connection +between France and America was to be advanced?_ Was it by opening the +American ports to the British navy in the present war, from which ports +the same navy had been expelled by the aid solicited from France in the +American war (and that aid gratuitously given) (2) that the gratitude +of America was to be shewn, and the _solicitude_ spoken of in the letter +demonstrated? + + 1 The italics are Paine's. Paine's free use of this document + suggests that he possessed the confidence of the French + Directory.--_Editor._ + + 2 It is notable that Paine adheres to his old contention in + his controversy with Deane. See vol. i., ch. aa of this work; + and vol. i., ch. 9 of my "Life of Paine."--_Editor._. + +As the letter was addressed to the Committee of Public Safety, Mr. +Washington did not expect it would get abroad in the world, or be seen +by any other eye than that of Robespierre, or be heard by any other ear +than that of the Committee; that it would pass as a whisper across the +Atlantic, from one dark chamber to the other, and there terminate. It +was calculated to remove from the mind of the Committee all suspicion +upon Jay's mission to England, and, in this point of view, it was suited +to the circumstances of the movement then passing; but as the event +of that mission has proved the letter to be hypocritical, it serves no +other purpose of the present moment than to shew that the writer is +not to be credited. Two circumstances serve to make the reading of the +letter necessary in the Convention. The one was, that they who succeeded +on the fall of Robespierre, found it most proper to act with publicity; +the other, to extinguish the suspicions which the strange conduct of +Morris had occasioned in France. + +When the British treaty, and the ratification of it by Mr. Washington, +was known in France, all further declarations from him of his good +disposition as an ally and friend, passed for so many cyphers; but still +it appeared necessary to him to keep up the farce of declarations. It +is stipulated in the British treaty, that commissioners are to report +at the end of two years, on the case of _neutral ships making neutral +property_. In the mean time, neutral ships do _not_ make neutral +property, according to the British treaty, and they _do_ according to +the French treaty. The preservation, therefore, of the French treaty +became of great importance to England, as by that means she can employ +American ships as carriers, whilst the same advantage is denied to +France. Whether the French treaty could exist as a matter of right after +this clandestine perversion of it, could not but give some apprehensions +to the partizans of the British treaty, and it became necessary to them +to make up, by fine words, what was wanting in good actions. + +An opportunity offered to that purpose. The Convention, on the public +reception of Mr. Monroe, ordered the American flag and the French flags +to be displayed unitedly in the hall of the Convention. Mr. Monroe made +a present of an American flag for the purpose. The Convention returned +this compliment by sending a French flag to America, to be presented by +their Minister, Mr. Adet, to the American government. This resolution +passed long before Jay's treaty was known or suspected: it passed in +the days of confidence; but the flag was not presented by Mr. Adet till +several months after the treaty had been ratified. Mr. Washington made +this the occasion of saying some fine things to the French Minister; and +the better to get himself into tune to do this, he began by saying the +finest things of himself. + +"Born, sir (said he) in a land of liberty; _having_ early learned its +value; _having_ engaged in a perilous conflict to defend it; _having_, +in a word, devoted the best years of my life to secure its permanent +establishment in my own country; _my_ anxious recollections, my +sympathetic feelings, and _my_ best wishes are irresistibly excited, +whenever, in any country, I see an oppressed people unfurl the banner of +freedom." + +Mr. Washington, having expended so many fine phrases upon himself, was +obliged to invent a new one for the French, and he calls them "wonderful +people!" The coalesced powers acknowledged as much. + +It is laughable to hear Mr. Washington talk of his _sympathetic +feelings_, who has always been remarked, even among his friends, for +not having any. He has, however, given no proofs of any to me. As to the +pompous encomiums he so liberally pays to himself, on the score of the +American revolution, the reality of them may be questioned; and since +he has forced them so much into notice, it is fair to examine his +pretensions. + +A stranger might be led to suppose, from the egotism with which Mr. +Washington speaks, that himself, and himself only, had generated, +conducted, compleated, and established the revolution: In fine, that it +was all his own doing. + +In the first place, as to the political part, he had no share in it; +and, therefore, the whole of _that_ is out of the question with respect +to him. There remains, then, only the military part; and it would have +been prudent in Mr. Washington not to have awakened enquiry upon that +subject. Fame then was cheap; he enjoyed it cheaply; and nobody was +disposed to take away the laurels that, whether they were _acquired_ or +not, had been _given_. + +Mr. Washington's merit consisted in constancy. But constancy was the +common virtue of the revolution. Who was there that was inconstant? I +know but of one military defection, that of Arnold; and I know of no +political defection, among those who made themselves eminent when the +revolution was formed by the declaration of independence. Even Silas +Deane, though he attempted to defraud, did not betray.(1) + + 1 This generous judgment by Deane's old adversary has become + questionable under recent investigations.--_Editor._. + +But when we speak of military character, something more is to be +understood than constancy; and something more _ought_ to be understood +than the Fabian system of _doing nothing_. The _nothing_ part can be +done by any body. Old Mrs. Thompson, the housekeeper of head quarters, +(who threatened to make the sun and the wind shine through Rivington of +New York,) 'could have done it as well as Mr. Washington. Deborah would +have been as good as Barak. + +Mr. Washington had the nominal rank of Commander in Chief, but he was +not so in fact. He had, in reality, only a separate command. He had no +controul over, or direction of, the army to the northward under Gates, +that captured Burgoyne; nor of that to the south under [Nathaniel] +Greene, that recovered the southern States.(2) The nominal rank, +however, of Commander in Chief, served to throw upon him the lustre +of those actions, and to make him appear as the soul and centre of all +military operations in America. + + 1 The Tory publisher of New York City, whose press was + destroyed in 1775 by a mob of Connecticut soldiers.-- + _Editor._ + + 2 See Mr. Winterbotham's valuable History of America, lately + published.--Author. [The "History of the Establishment of + Independence" is contained in the first of Mr. + Winterbotham's four volumes (London, 1795).--_Editor._.] + +He commenced his command June, 1775, during the time the Massachusetts +army lay before Boston, and after the affair of Bunker-hill. The +commencement of his command was the commencement of inactivity. Nothing +was afterwards done, or attempted to be done, during the nine months +he remained before Boston. If we may judge from the resistance made at +Concord, and afterwards at Bunker-hill, there was a spirit of enterprise +at that time, which the presence of Mr. Washington chilled into cold +defence. By the advantage of a good exterior he attracts respect, which +his habitual silence tends to preserve; but he has not the talent of +inspiring ardour in an army. The enemy removed from Boston in March +1776, to wait for reinforcements from Europe, and to take a more +advantageous position at New York. + +The inactivity of the campaign of 1775, on the part of General +Washington, when the enemy had a less force than in any other future +period of the war, and the injudicious choice of positions taken by +him in the campaign of 1776, when the enemy had its greatest force, +necessarily produced the losses and misfortunes that marked that gloomy +campaign. The positions taken were either islands or necks of land. +In the former, the enemy, by the aid of their ships, could bring their +whole force against apart of General Washington's, as in the affair +of Long Island; and in the latter, he might be shut up as in the bottom +of a bag. This had nearly been the case at New York, and it was so in +part; it was actually the case at Fort Washington; and it would have +been the case at Fort Lee, if General Greene had not moved precipitately +off, leaving every thing behind, and by gaining Hackinsack bridge, got +out of the bag of Bergen Neck. How far Mr. Washington, as General, is +blameable for these matters, I am not undertaking to determine; but they +are evidently defects in military geography. The successful skirmishes +at the close of that campaign, (matters that would scarcely be noticed +in a better state of things,) make the brilliant exploits of General +Washington's seven campaigns. No wonder we see so much pusillanimity in +the President, when we see so little enterprise in the General! + +The campaign of 1777 became famous, not by anything on the part of +General Washington, but by the capture of General Burgoyne, and the +army under his command, by the Northern army at Saratoga, under General +Gates. So totally distinct and unconnected were the two armies of +Washington and Gates, and so independent was the latter of the authority +of the nominal Commander in Chief, that the two Generals did not so much +as correspond, and it was only by a letter of General (since Governor) +Clinton, that General Washington was informed of that event. The British +took possession of Philadelphia this year, which they evacuated +the next, just time enough to save their heavy baggage and fleet of +transports from capture by the French Admiral d'Estaing, who arrived at +the mouth of the Delaware soon after. + +The capture of Burgoyne gave an eclat in Europe to the American arms, +and facilitated the alliance with France. The eclat, however, was +not kept up by any thing on the part of General Washington. The same +unfortunate languor that marked his entrance into the field, continued +always. Discontent began to prevail strongly against him, and a party +was formed in Congress, whilst sitting at York-town, in Pennsylvania, +for removing him from the command of the army. The hope, however, +of better times, the news of the alliance with France, and the +unwillingness of shewing discontent, dissipated the matter. + +Nothing was done in the campaigns of 1778, 1779, 1780, in the part +where General Washington commanded, except the taking of Stony Point by +General Wayne. The Southern States in the mean time were over-run by the +enemy. They were afterwards recovered by General Greene, who had in a +very great measure created the army that accomplished that recovery. +In all this General Washington had no share. The Fabian system of war, +followed by him, began now to unfold itself with all its evils; but +what is Fabian war without Fabian means to support it? The finances of +Congress depending wholly on emissions of paper money, were exhausted. +Its credit was gone. The continental treasury was not able to pay the +expense of a brigade of waggons to transport the necessary stores to the +army, and yet the sole object, the establishment of the revolution, +was a thing of remote distance. The time I am now speaking of is in the +latter end of the year 1780. + +In this situation of things it was found not only expedient, but +absolutely necessary, for Congress to state the whole case to its ally. +I knew more of this matter, (before it came into Congress or was known +to General Washington) of its progress, and its issue, than I chuse +to state in this letter. Colonel John Laurens was sent to France as an +Envoy Extraordinary on this occasion, and by a private agreement between +him and me I accompanied him. We sailed from Boston in the Alliance +frigate, February 11th, 1781. France had already done much in accepting +and paying bills drawn by Congress. She was now called upon to do more. +The event of Colonel Laurens's mission, with the aid of the venerable +Minister, Franklin, was, that France gave in money, as a present, six +millions of livres, and ten millions more as a loan, and agreed to send +a fleet of not less than thirty sail of the line, at her own expense, +as an aid to America. Colonel Laurens and myself returned from Brest the +1st of June following, taking with us two millions and a half of livres +(upwards of one hundred thousand pounds sterling) of the money given, +and convoying two ships with stores. + +We arrived at Boston the 25th of August following. De Grasse arrived +with the French fleet in the Chesapeak at the same time, and was +afterwards joined by that of Barras, making 31 sail of the line. +The money was transported in waggons from Boston to the Bank at +Philadelphia, of which Mr. Thomas Willing, who has since put himself at +the head of the list of petitioners in favour of the British treaty, was +then President. And it was by the aid of this money, and this fleet, and +of Rochambeau's army, that Cornwallis was taken; the laurels of which +have been unjustly given to Mr. Washington. His merit in that affair was +no more than that of any other American officer. + +I have had, and still have, as much pride in the American revolution as +any man, or as Mr. Washington has a right to have; but that pride has +never made me forgetful whence the great aid came that compleated +the business. Foreign aid (that of France) was calculated upon at the +commencement of the revolution. It is one of the subjects treated of +in the pamphlet _Common Sense_, but as a matter that could not be hoped +for, unless independence was declared.1 The aid, however, was greater +than could have been expected. + +It is as well the ingratitude as the pusillanimity of Mr. Washington, +and the Washington faction, that has brought upon America the loss +of character she now suffers in the world, and the numerous evils her +commerce has undergone, and to which it is yet exposed. The British +Ministry soon found out what sort of men they had to deal with, and they +dealt with them accordingly; and if further explanation was wanting, it +has been fully given since, in the snivelling address of the New York +Chamber of Commerce to the President, and in that of sundry merchants of +Philadelphia, which was not much better. + + 1 See vol. i. of this work, p. ixx. Paine was sharply taken + to task on this point by "Cato." Ib.% pp. 145-147.-- + _Editor._. + +When the revolution of America was finally established by the +termination of the war, the world gave her credit for great character; +and she had nothing to do but to stand firm upon that ground. The +British ministry had their hands too full of trouble to have provoked +a rupture with her, had she shown a proper resolution to defend her +rights. But encouraged as they were by the submissive character of the +American administration, they proceeded from insult to insult, till none +more were left to be offered. The proposals made by Sweden and Denmark +to the American administration were disregarded. I know not if so much +as an answer has been returned to them. The minister penitentiary, +(as some of the British prints called him,) Mr. Jay, was sent on a +pilgrimage to London, to make up all by penance and petition. In the +mean time the lengthy and drowsy writer of the pieces signed _Camillas_ +held himself in reserve to vindicate every thing; and to sound in +America the tocsin of terror upon the inexhaustible resources of +England. Her resources, says he, are greater than those of all the other +powers. This man is so intoxicated with fear and finance, that he knows +not the difference between _plus_ and _minus_--between a hundred pounds +in hand, and a hundred pounds worse than nothing. + +The commerce of America, so far as it had been established by all the +treaties that had been formed prior to that by Jay, was free, and the +principles upon which it was established were good. That ground ought +never to have been departed from. It was the justifiable ground +of right, and no temporary difficulties ought to have induced an +abandonment of it. The case is now otherwise. The ground, the scene, the +pretensions, the everything, are changed. The commerce of America is, by +Jay's treaty, put under foreign dominion. The sea is not free for her. +Her right to navigate it is reduced to the right of escaping; that is, +until some ship of England or France stops her vessels, and carries them +into port. Every article of American produce, whether from the sea or +the sand, fish, flesh, vegetable, or manufacture, is, by Jay's treaty, +made either contraband or seizable. Nothing is exempt. In all other +treaties of commerce, the article which enumerates the contraband +articles, such as fire arms, gunpowder, &c, is followed by another +article which enumerates the articles not contraband: but it is not so +in Jay's treaty. There is no exempting article. Its place is supplied by +the article for seizing and carrying into port; and the sweeping phrase +of "provisions and _other articles _" includes every thing. There never +was such a base and servile treaty of surrender since treaties began to +exist. + +This is the ground upon which America now stands. All her rights +of commerce and navigation are to begin anew, and that with loss of +character to begin with. If there is sense enough left in the heart +to call a blush into the cheek, the Washington administration must +be ashamed to appear.--And as to you, Sir, treacherous in private +friendship (for so you have been to me, and that in the day of danger) +and a hypocrite in public life, the world will be puzzled to decide +whether you are an apostate or an impostor; whether you have abandoned +good principles, or whether you ever had any. + +Thomas Paine. + + + + +XXIII. OBSERVATIONS.(1) + + 1 State Archives, Paris, États Unis, vol. 43, fol. 100. + Undated, but evidently written early in the year 1795, when + Jay's Treaty was as yet unknown. Paine was then staying in + the house of the American Minister, Monroe.--' Editor, + +The United States of America are negociating with Spain respecting the +free Navigation of the Mississippi, and the territorial limits of this +large river, in conformity with the Treaty of Peace with England dated +30th November, 1782. As the brilliant successes of the French Republic +have forced England to grant us, what was in all justice our due, so the +continuation of the prosperity of the Republic, will force Spain to make +a Treaty with us on the points in controversy. + +Since it is certain that all that we shall obtain from Spain will be due +to the victories of France, and as the inhabitants of the western part +of the United States (which part contains or covers more than half +the United States), have decided to claim their rights to the free +navigation of the Mississippi, would it not be a wiser policy for the +Republican Government (who have only to command to obtain) to arrogate +all the merit, by making our demands to Spain, one of the conditions, of +France, to consent to restore peace to the Castilians. They have only +to declare, they will not make Peace, or that they will support with +all their might, the just reclamations of their allies against these +Powers,--against England for the surrender of the frontier posts, and +for the indemnities due through their depredations on our Trade, and +against Spain for our territorial limits, and the free navigation of +the Mississippi. This declaration would certainly not prolong the War a +single day more, nor cost the Republic an obole, whilst it would assure +all the merit of success to France, and besides produce all the good +effects mentioned above. + +It may perhaps be observed that the Negociation is already finished +with England, and perhaps in a manner which will not be approved of by +France. That may be, (though the terms of this arrangement may not be +known); but as to Spain, the negociation is still pending, and it is +evident that if France makes the above _Declaration_ as to this Power +(which declaration would be a demonstrative proof of what she would +have done in the other case if circumstances had required it), she would +receive the same credit as if the Declaration had been made relatively +to the two Powers. In fact the Decree or resolution (and perhaps this +last would be preferable) can be worded in terms which would declare +that in case the arrangement with England were not satisfactory, France +will nevertheless, maintain the just demands of America against +that Power. A like Declaration, in case Mr. Jay should do anything +reprehensible, and which might even be approved of in America, would +certainly raise the reputation of the French Republic to the most +eminent degree of splendour, and lower in proportion that of her +enemies. + +It is very certain that France cannot better favour the views of the +British party in America, and wound in a most sensible manner the +Republican Government of this country, than by adopting a strict and +oppressive policy with regard to us. Every one knows that the injustices +committed by the privateers and other ships belonging to the French +Republic against our navigation, were causes of exultation and joy +to this party, even when their own properties were subjected to these +depredations, whilst the friends of France and the Revolution were vexed +and most confused about it. It follows then, that a generous policy +would produce quite opposite effects--it would acquire for France the +merit that is her due; it would discourage the hopes of her adversaries, +and furnish the friends of humanity and liberty with the means of acting +against the intrigues of England, and cement the Union, and contribute +towards the true interests of the two republics. + +So sublime and generous a manner of acting, which would not cost +anything to France, would cement in a stronger way the ties between +the two republics. The effect of such an event, would confound and +annihilate in an irrevocable manner all the partisans for the British +in America. There are nineteen twentieths of our nation attached through +inclination and gratitude to France, and the small number who seek +uselessly all sorts of pretexts to magnify the small occasions of +complaint which might have subsisted previously will find itself reduced +to silence, or have to join their expressions of gratitude to ours.--The +results of this event cannot be doubted, though not reckoned on: all the +American hearts will be French, and England will be afflicted. + +An American. + + + + +XXIV. DISSERTATION ON FIRST PRINCIPLES OF GOVERNMENT. (1) + + 1 Printed from the first edition, whose title is as above, + with the addition: "By Thomas Paine, Author of Common Sense; + Rights of Man; Age of Reason. Paris, Printed at the + English Press, me de Vaugerard, No. 970. Third year of the + French Republic." The pamphlet seems to have appeared early + in July (perhaps the Fourth), 1795, and was meant to + influence the decision of the National Convention on the + Constitution then under discussion. This Constitution, + adopted September 23d, presently swept away by Napoleon, + contained some features which appeared to Paine reactionary. + Those to which he most objected are quoted by him in his + speech in the Convention, which is bound up in the same + pamphlet, and follows this "Dissertation" in the present + volume. In the Constitution as adopted Paine's preference + for a plural Executive was established, and though the + bicameral organization (the Council of Five Hundred and the + Council of Ancients) was not such as he desired, his chief + objection was based on his principle of manhood suffrage. + But in regard to this see Paine's "Dissertations on + Government," written nine years before (vol. ii., ch. vi. of + this work), and especially p. 138 seq. of that volume, where + he indicates the method of restraining the despotism of + numbers.--_Editor._, + +There is no subject more interesting to every man than the subject of +government. His security, be he rich or poor, and in a great measure +his prosperity, are connected therewith; it is therefore his interest +as well as his duty to make himself acquainted with its principles, and +what the practice ought to be. + +Every art and science, however imperfectly known at first, has been +studied, improved, and brought to what we call perfection by the +progressive labours of succeeding generations; but the science of +government has stood still. No improvement has been made in the +principle and scarcely any in the practice till the American revolution +began. In all the countries of Europe (except in France) the same forms +and systems that were erected in the remote ages of ignorance still +continue, and their antiquity is put in the place of principle; it is +forbidden to investigate their origin, or by what right they exist. +If it be asked how has this happened, the answer is easy: they are +established on a principle that is false, and they employ their power to +prevent detection. + +Notwithstanding the mystery with which the science of government has +been enveloped, for the purpose of enslaving, plundering, and imposing +upon mankind, it is of all things the least mysterious and the most easy +to be understood. The meanest capacity cannot be at a loss, if it begins +its enquiries at the right point. Every art and science has some point, +or alphabet, at which the study of that art or science begins, and by +the assistance of which the progress is facilitated. The same method +ought to be observed with respect to the science of government. + +Instead then of embarrassing the subject in the outset with the numerous +subdivisions under which different forms of government have been +classed, such as aristocracy, democracy, oligarchy, monarchy, &c. +the better method will be to begin with what may be called primary +divisions, or those under which all the several subdivisions will be +comprehended. + +The primary divisions are but two: + +First, government by election and representation. + +Secondly, government by hereditary succession. + +All the several forms and systems of government, however numerous +or diversified, class themselves under one or other of those primary +divisions; for either they are on the system of representation, or on +that of hereditary succession. As to that equivocal thing called mixed +government, such as the late government of Holland, and the present +government of England, it does not make an exception to the general +rule, because the parts separately considered are either representative +or hereditary. + +Beginning then our enquiries at this point, we have first to examine +into the nature of those two primary divisions. + +If they are equally right in principle, it is mere matter of opinion +which we prefer. If the one be demonstratively better than the other, +that difference directs our choice; but if one of them should be so +absolutely false as not to have a right to existence, the matter settles +itself at once; because a negative proved on one thing, where two only +are offered, and one must be accepted, amounts to an affirmative on the +other. + +The revolutions that are now spreading themselves in the world have +their origin in this state of the case, and the present war is a +conflict between the representative system founded on the rights of the +people, and the hereditary system founded in usurpation. As to what are +called Monarchy, Royalty, and Aristocracy, they do not, either as things +or as terms, sufficiently describe the hereditary system; they are but +secondary things or signs of the hereditary system, and which fall of +themselves if that system has not a right to exist. Were there no +such terms as Monarchy, Royalty, and Aristocracy, or were other terms +substituted in their place, the hereditary system, if it continued, +would not be altered thereby. It would be the same system under any +other titulary name as it is now. + +The character therefore of the revolutions of the present day +distinguishes itself most definitively by grounding itself on the system +of representative government, in opposition to the hereditary. No other +distinction reaches the whole of the principle. + +Having thus opened the case generally, I proceed, in the first place, to +examine the hereditary system, because it has the priority in point of +time. The representative system is the invention of the modern world; +and, that no doubt may arise as to my own opinion, I declare it +before hand, which is, _that there is not a problem in Euclid more +mathematically true, than that hereditary government has not a right to +exist. When therefore we take from any man the exercise of hereditary +power, we take away that which he never had the right to possess, and +which no law or custom could, or ever can, give him a title to_. + +The arguments that have hitherto been employed against the hereditary +system have been chiefly founded upon the absurdity of it, and its +incompetency to the purpose of good government. Nothing can present to +our judgment, or to our imagination, a figure of greater absurdity, than +that of seeing the government of a nation fall, as it frequently does, +into the hands of a lad necessarily destitute of experience, and often +little better than a fool. It is an insult to every man of years, of +character, and of talents, in a country. The moment we begin to reason +upon the hereditary system, it falls into derision; let but a single +idea begin, and a thousand will soon follow. Insignificance, imbecility, +childhood, dotage, want of moral character; in fine, every defect +serious or laughable unite to hold up the hereditary system as a figure +of ridicule. Leaving, however, the ridiculousness of the thing to the +reflections of the reader, I proceed to the more important part of the +question, namely, whether such a system has a right to exist. + +To be satisfied of the right of a thing to exist, we must be satisfied +that it had a right to begin. If it had not a right to begin, it has not +a right to continue. By what right then did the hereditary system begin? +Let a man but ask himself this question, and he will find that he cannot +satisfy himself with an answer. + +The right which any man or any family had to set itself up at first to +govern a nation, and to establish itself hereditarily, was no other than +the right which Robespierre had to do the same thing in France. If he +had none, they had none. If they had any, he had as much; for it is +impossible to discover superiority of right in any family, by virtue of +which hereditary government could begin. The Capets, the Guelphs, +the Robespierres, the Marats, are all on the same standing as to the +question of right. It belongs exclusively to none. + +It is one step towards liberty, to perceive that hereditary government +could not begin as an exclusive right in any family. The next point +will be, whether, having once begun, it could grow into a right by the +influence of time. + +This would be supposing an absurdity; for either it is putting time in +the place of principle, or making it superior to principle; whereas time +has no more connection with, or influence upon principle, than principle +has upon time. The wrong which began a thousand years ago, is as much a +wrong as if it began to-day; and the right which originates to-day, is +as much a right as if it had the sanction of a thousand years. Time with +respect to principles is an eternal now: it has no operation upon them: +it changes nothing of their nature and qualities. But what have we to +do with a thousand years? Our life-time is but a short portion of that +period, and if we find the wrong in existence as soon as we begin to +live, that is the point of time at which it begins to us; and our right +to resist it is the same as if it never existed before. + +As hereditary government could not begin as a natural right in any +family, nor derive after its commencement any right from time, we have +only to examine whether there exist in a nation a right to set it up, +and establish it by what is called law, as has been done in England. I +answer NO; and that any law or any constitution made for that purpose is +an act of treason against the right of every minor in the nation, at the +time it is made, and against the rights of all succeeding generations. +I shall speak upon each of those cases. First, of the minor at the time +such law is made. Secondly, of the generations that are to follow. + +A nation, in a collective sense, comprehends all the individuals of +whatever age, from just born to just dying. Of these, one part will be +minors, and the other aged. The average of life is not exactly the same +in every climate and country, but in general, the minority in years are +the majority in numbers; that is, the number of persons under twenty-one +years, is greater than the number of persons above that age. This +difference in number is not necessary to the establishment of the +principle I mean to lay down, but it serves to shew the justice of it +more strongly. The principle would be equally as good, if the majority +in years were also the majority in numbers. + +The rights of minors are as sacred as the rights of the aged. The +difference is altogether in the different age of the two parties, and +nothing in the nature of the rights; the rights are the same rights; +and are to be preserved inviolate for the inheritance of the minors when +they shall come of age. During the minority of minors their rights are +under the sacred guardianship of the aged. The minor cannot surrender +them; the guardian cannot dispossess him; consequently, the aged part +of a nation, who are the law-makers for the time being, and who, in the +march of life are but a few years ahead of those who are yet minors, and +to whom they must shortly give place, have not and cannot have the right +to make a law to set up and establish hereditary government, or, to +speak more distinctly, _an hereditary succession of governors_; because +it is an attempt to deprive every minor in the nation, at the time such +a law is made, of his inheritance of rights when he shall come of age, +and to subjugate him to a system of government to which, during his +minority, he could neither consent nor object. + +If a person who is a minor at the time such a law is proposed, had +happened to have been born a few years sooner, so as to be of the age of +twenty-one years at the time of proposing it, his right to have objected +against it, to have exposed the injustice and tyrannical principles of +it, and to have voted against it, will be admitted on all sides. If, +therefore, the law operates to prevent his exercising the same rights +after he comes of age as he would have had a right to exercise had he +been of age at the time, it is undeniably a law to take away and annul +the rights of every person in the nation who shall be a minor at the +time of making such a law, and consequently the right to make it cannot +exist. + +I come now to speak of government by hereditary succession, as it +applies to succeeding generations; and to shew that in this case, as in +the case of minors, there does not exist in a nation a right to set it +up. + +A nation, though continually existing, is continually in a state of +renewal and succession. It is never stationary. + +Every day produces new births, carries minors forward to maturity, and +old persons from the stage. In this ever running flood of generations +there is no part superior in authority to another. Could we conceive an +idea of superiority in any, at what point of time, or in what century of +the world, are we to fix it? To what cause are we to ascribe it? By +what evidence are we to prove it? By what criterion are we to know it? A +single reflection will teach us that our ancestors, like ourselves, were +but tenants for life in the great freehold of rights. The fee-absolute +was not in them, it is not in us, it belongs to the whole family of +man, thro* all ages. If we think otherwise than this, we think either as +slaves or as tyrants. As slaves, if we think that any former generation +had a right to bind us; as tyrants, if we think that we have authority +to bind the generations that are to follow. + +It may not be inapplicable to the subject, to endeavour to define what +is to be understood by a generation, in the sense the word is here used. + +As a natural term its meaning is sufficiently clear. The father, the +son, the grandson, are so many distinct generations. But when we speak +of a generation as describing the persons in whom legal authority +resides, as distinct from another generation of the same description who +are to succeed them, it comprehends all those who are above the age of +twenty-one years, at the time that we count from; and a generation of +this kind will continue in authority between fourteen and twenty-one +years, that is, until the number of minors, who shall have arrived at +age, shall be greater than the number of persons remaining of the former +stock. + +For example: if France, at this or any other moment, contains +twenty-four millions of souls, twelve millions will be males, and twelve +females. Of the twelve millions of males, six millions will be of the +age of twenty-one years, and six will be under, and the authority +to govern will reside in the first six. But every day will make some +alteration, and in twenty-one years every one of those minors who +survives will have arrived at age, and the greater part of the former +stock will be gone: the majority of persons then living, in whom the +legal authority resides, will be composed of those who, twenty-one years +before, had no legal existence. Those will be fathers and grandfathers +in their turn, and, in the next twenty-one years, (or less) another race +of minors, arrived at age, will succeed them, and so on. + +As this is ever the case, and as every generation is equal in rights to +another, it consequently follows, that there cannot be a right in any +to establish government by hereditary succession, because it would be +supposing itself possessed of a right superior to the rest, namely, +that of commanding by its own authority how the world shall be hereafter +governed and who shall govern it. Every age and generation is, and must +be, (as a matter of right,) as free to act for itself in all cases, as +the age and generation that preceded it. The vanity and presumption of +governing beyond the grave is the most ridiculous and insolent of all +tyrannies. Man has no property in man, neither has one generation a +property in the generations that are to follow. + +In the first part of the Rights of Man I have spoken of government by +hereditary succession; and I will here close the subject with an extract +from that work, which states it under the two following heads. (1) + + 1 The quotation, here omitted, will be found in vol. ii. of + this work, beginning with p. 364, and continuing, with a few + omissions, to the 15th line of p. 366. This "Dissertation" + was originally written for circulation in Holland, where + Paine's "Rights of Man" was not well known.--_Editor._ + + +***** + + +The history of the English parliament furnishes an example of this kind; +and which merits to be recorded, as being the greatest instance of +legislative ignorance and want of principle that is to be found in any +country. The case is as follows: + +The English parliament of 1688, imported a man and his wife from +Holland, _William and Mary_, and made them king and queen of England. +(2) Having done this, the said parliament made a law to convey the +government of the country to the heirs of William and Mary, in the +following words: "We, the lords spiritual and temporal, and commons, do, +in the name of the people of England, most humbly and faithfully submit +_ourselves, our heirs, and posterities_, to William and Mary, _their +heirs and posterities_, for ever." And in a subsequent law, as quoted by +Edmund Burke, the said parliament, in the name of the people of England +then living, _binds the said people, their heirs and posterities, to +William and Mary, their heirs and posterities, to the end of time_. + + 2 "The Bill of Rights (temp. William III.) shows that the + Lords and Commons met not in Parliament but in convention, + that they declared against James II., and in favour of + William III. The latter was accepted as sovereign, and, when + monarch. Acta of Parliament were passed confirming what had + been done."--Joseph Fisher in Notes and Queries (London), + May 2,1874. This does not affect Paine's argument, as a + Convention could have no more right to bind the future than + a Parliament.--_Editor._. + +It is not sufficient that we laugh at the ignorance of such law-makers; +it is necessary that we reprobate their want of principle. The +constituent assembly of France, 1789, fell into the same vice as the +parliament of England had done, and assumed to establish an hereditary +succession in the family of the Capets, as an act of the constitution +of that year. That every nation, _for the time being_, has a right to +govern itself as it pleases, must always be admitted; but government by +hereditary succession is government for another race of people, and +not for itself; and as those on whom it is to operate are not yet in +existence, or are minors, so neither is the right in existence to set it +up for them, and to assume such a right is treason against the right of +posterity. + +I here close the arguments on the first head, that of government by +hereditary succession; and proceed to the second, that of government +by election and representation; or, as it may be concisely expressed, +_representative government_, in contra-distinction to _hereditary +government_. + +Reasoning by exclusion, if _hereditary government_ has not a right to +exist, and that it has not is proveable, _representative government_ is +admitted of course. + +In contemplating government by election and representation, we amuse +not ourselves in enquiring when or how, or by what right, it began. Its +origin is ever in view. Man is himself the origin and the evidence +of the right. It appertains to him in right of his existence, and his +person is the title deed.(1) + +The true and only true basis of representative government is equality of +Rights. Every man has a right to one vote, and no more, in the choice +of representatives. The rich have no more right to exclude the poor from +the right of voting, or of electing and being elected, than the poor +have to exclude the rich; and wherever it is attempted, or proposed, on +either side, it is a question of force and not of right. Who is he that +would exclude another? That other has a right to exclude him. + +That which is now called aristocracy implies an inequality of rights; +but who are the persons that have a right to establish this inequality? +Will the rich exclude themselves? No. Will the poor exclude themselves? +No. By what right then can any be excluded? It would be a question, if +any man or class of men have a right to exclude themselves; but, be this +as it may, they cannot have the right to exclude another. The poor will +not delegate such a right to the rich, nor the rich to the poor, and to +assume it is not only to assume arbitrary power, but to assume a right +to commit robbery. Personal rights, of which the right of voting for +representatives is one, are a species of property of the most sacred +kind: and he that would employ his pecuniary property, or presume upon +the influence it gives him, to dispossess or rob another of his property +of rights, uses that pecuniary property as he would use fire-arms, and +merits to have it taken from him. + + 1 "The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for + among old parchments or musty records. They are written as + with a sunbeam in the whole volume of human nature by the + hand of Divinity itself, and can never be erased or obscured + by mortal power."--Alexander Hamilton, 1775. (Cf. Rights of + Man, Toi. ii., p. 304): "Portions of antiquity by proving + everything establish nothing. It is authority against + authority all the way, till we come to the divine origin of + the rights of man at the creation."--_Editor._. + +Inequality of rights is created by a combination in one part of the +community to exclude another part from its rights. Whenever it be made +an article of a constitution, or a law, that the right of voting, or +of electing and being elected, shall appertain exclusively to persons +possessing a certain quantity of property, be it little or much, it is a +combination of the persons possessing that quantity to exclude those who +do not possess the same quantity. It is investing themselves with powers +as a self-created part of society, to the exclusion of the rest. + +It is always to be taken for granted, that those who oppose an equality +of rights never mean the exclusion should take place on themselves; and +in this view of the case, pardoning the vanity of the thing, aristocracy +is a subject of laughter. This self-soothing vanity is encouraged by +another idea not less selfish, which is, that the opposers conceive they +are playing a safe game, in which there is a chance to gain and none +to lose; that at any rate the doctrine of equality includes _them_, +and that if they cannot get more rights than those whom they oppose and +would exclude, they shall not have less. This opinion has already been +fatal to thousands, who, not contented with _equal rights_, have sought +more till they lost all, and experienced in themselves the degrading +_inequality_ they endeavoured to fix upon others. + +In any view of the case it is dangerous and impolitic, sometimes +ridiculous, and always unjust, to make property the criterion of the +right of voting. If the sum or value of the property upon which the +right is to take place be considerable, it will exclude a majority of +the people, and unite them in a common interest against the government +and against those who support it; and as the power is always with +the majority, they can overturn such a government and its supporters +whenever they please. + +If, in order to avoid this danger, a small quantity of property be +fixed, as the criterion of the right, it exhibits liberty in disgrace, +by putting it in competition with accident and insignificance. When a +brood-mare shall fortunately produce a foal or a mule that, by being +worth the sum in question, shall convey to its owner the right of +voting, or by its death take it from him, in whom does the origin of +such a right exist? Is it in the man, or in the mule? When we consider +how many ways property may be acquired without merit, and lost without a +crime, we ought to spurn the idea of making it a criterion of rights. + +But the offensive part of the case is, that this exclusion from the +right of voting implies a stigma on the moral char* acter of the persons +excluded; and this is what no part of the community has a right to +pronounce upon another part. No external circumstance can justify it: +wealth is no proof of moral character; nor poverty of the want of it. +On the contrary, wealth is often the presumptive evidence of dishonesty; +and poverty the negative evidence of innocence. If therefore property, +whether little or much, be made a criterion, the means by which that +property has been acquired ought to be made a criterion also. + +The only ground upon which exclusion from the right of voting is +consistent with justice, would be to inflict it as a punishment for a +certain time upon those who should propose to take away that right from +others. The right of voting for representatives is the primary right by +which other rights are protected. To take away this right is to reduce +a man to slavery, for slavery consists in being subject to the will of +another, and he that has not a vote in the election of representatives +is in this case. The proposal therefore to disfranchise any class of men +is as criminal as the proposal to take away property. When we speak +of right, we ought always to unite with it the idea of duties: rights +become duties by reciprocity. The right which I enjoy becomes my duty +to guarantee it to another, and he to me; and those who violate the duty +justly incur a forfeiture of the right. + +In a political view of the case, the strength and permanent security +of government is in proportion to the number of people interested in +supporting it. The true policy therefore is to interest the whole by +an equality of rights, for the danger arises from exclusions. It is +possible to exclude men from the right of voting, but it is impossible +to exclude them from the right of rebelling against that exclusion; and +when all other rights are taken away, the right of rebellion is made +perfect. + +While men could be persuaded they had no rights, or that rights +appertained only to a certain class of men, or that government was a +thing existing in right of itself, it was not difficult to govern +them authoritatively. The ignorance in which they were held, and the +superstition in which they were instructed, furnished the means of doing +it. But when the ignorance is gone, and the superstition with it; when +they perceive the imposition that has been acted upon them; when they +reflect that the cultivator and the manufacturer are the primary +means of all the wealth that exists in the world, beyond what nature +spontaneously produces; when they begin to feel their consequence by +their usefulness, and their right as members of society, it is then no +longer possible to govern them as before. The fraud once detected +cannot be re-acted. To attempt it is to provoke derision, or invite +destruction. + +That property will ever be unequal is certain. Industry, superiority +of talents, dexterity of management, extreme frugality, fortunate +opportunities, or the opposite, or the means of those things, will ever +produce that effect, without having recourse to the harsh, ill sounding +names of avarice and oppression; and besides this, there are some men +who, though they do not despise wealth, will not stoop to the drudgery +or the means of acquiring it, nor will be troubled with it beyond their +wants or their independence; whilst in others there is an avidity to +obtain it by every means not punishable; it makes the sole business of +their lives, and they follow it as a religion. All that is required +with respect to property is to obtain it honestly, and not employ it +criminally; but it is always criminally employed when it is made a +criterion for exclusive rights. + +In institutions that are purely pecuniary, such as that of a bank or a +commercial company, the rights of the members composing that company are +wholly created by the property they invest therein; and no other rights +are represented in the government of that company, than what arise out +of that property; neither has that government cognizance of _any thing +but property_. + +But the case is totally different with respect to the institution of +civil government, organized on the system of representation. Such a +government has cognizance of every thing, and of _every man_ as a member +of the national society, whether he has property or not; and, therefore, +the principle requires that _every man_, and _every kind of right_, be +represented, of which the right to acquire and to hold property is but +one, and that not of the most essential kind. The protection of a man's +person is more sacred than the protection of property; and besides +this, the faculty of performing any kind of work or services by which +he acquires a livelihood, or maintaining his family, is of the nature of +property. It is property to him; he has acquired it; and it is as much +the object of his protection as exterior property, possessed without +that faculty, can be the object of protection in another person. + +I have always believed that the best security for property, be it much +or little, is to remove from every part of the community, as far as +can possibly be done, every cause of complaint, and every motive to +violence; and this can only be done by an equality of rights. When +rights are secure, property is secure in consequence. But when property +is made a pretence for unequal or exclusive rights, it weakens the right +to hold the property, and provokes indignation and tumult; for it is +unnatural to believe that property can be secure under the guarantee of +a society injured in its rights by the influence of that property. + +Next to the injustice and ill-policy of making property a pretence +for exclusive rights, is the unaccountable absurdity of giving to mere +_sound_ the idea of property, and annexing to it certain rights; for +what else is a _title_ but sound? Nature is often giving to the world +some extraordinary men who arrive at fame by merit and universal +consent, such as Aristotle, Socrates, Plato, &c. They were truly great +or noble. + +But when government sets up a manufactory of nobles, it is as absurd +as if she undertook to manufacture wise men. Her nobles are all +counterfeits. + +This wax-work order has assumed the name of aristocracy; and the +disgrace of it would be lessened if it could be considered only as +childish imbecility. We pardon foppery because of its insignificance» +and on the same ground we might pardon the foppery of Titles. But the +origin of aristocracy was worse than foppery. It was robbery. The +first aristocrats in all countries were brigands. Those of later times, +sycophants. + +It is very well known that in England, (and the same will be found +in other countries) the great landed estates now held in descent were +plundered from the quiet inhabitants at the conquest. The possibility +did not exist of acquiring such estates honestly. If it be asked how +they could have been acquired, no answer but that of robbery can +be given. That they were not acquired by trade, by commerce, by +manufactures, by agriculture, or by any reputable employment, is +certain. How then were they acquired? Blush, aristocracy, to hear your +origin, for your progenitors were Thieves. They were the Robespierres +and the Jacobins of that day. When they had committed the robbery, they +endeavoured to lose the disgrace of it by sinking their real names under +fictitious ones, which they called Titles. It is ever the practice of +Felons to act in this manner. They never pass by their real names.(1) + + 1 This and the preceding paragraph have been omitted from + some editions.--Editor. + +As property, honestly obtained, is best secured by an equality of +Rights, so ill-gotten property depends for protection on a monopoly of +rights. He who has robbed another of his property, will next endeavour +to disarm him of his rights, to secure that property; for when the +robber becomes the legislator he believes himself secure. That part +of the government of England that is called the house of lords, was +originally composed of persons who had committed the robberies of which +I have been speaking. It was an association for the protection of the +property they had stolen. + +But besides the criminality of the origin of aristocracy, it has an +injurious effect on the moral and physical character of man. Like +slavery it debilitates the human faculties; for as the mind bowed down +by slavery loses in silence its elastic powers, so, in the contrary +extreme, when it is buoyed up by folly, it becomes incapable of exerting +them, and dwindles into imbecility. It is impossible that a mind +employed upon ribbands and titles can ever be great. The childishness of +the objects consumes the man. + +It is at all times necessary, and more particularly so during the +progress of a revolution, and until right ideas confirm themselves by +habit, that we frequently refresh our patriotism by reference to first +principles. It is by tracing things to their origin that we learn to +understand them: and it is by keeping that line and that origin always +in view that we never forget them. + +An enquiry into the origin of Rights will demonstrate to us that +_rights_ are not _gifts_ from one man to another, nor from one class of +men to another; for who is he who could be the first giver, or by what +principle, or on what authority, could he possess the right of giving? A +declaration of rights is not a creation of them, nor a donation of them. +It is a manifest of the principle by which they exist, followed by a +detail of what the rights are; for every civil right has a natural +right for its foundation, and it includes the principle of a reciprocal +guarantee of those rights from man to man. As, therefore, it is +impossible to discover any origin of rights otherwise than in the origin +of man, it consequently follows, that rights appertain to man in right +of his existence only, and must therefore be equal to every man. The +principle of an _equality of rights_ is clear and simple. Every man can +understand it, and it is by understanding his rights that he learns his +duties; for where the rights of men are equal, every man must finally +see the necessity of protecting the rights of others as the most +effectual security for his own. But if, in the formation of a +constitution, we depart from the principle of equal rights, or attempt +any modification of it, we plunge into a labyrinth of difficulties from +which there is no way out but by retreating. Where are we to stop? Or +by what principle are we to find out the point to stop at, that shall +discriminate between men of the same country, part of whom shall be +free, and the rest not? If property is to be made the criterion, it is +a total departure from every moral principle of liberty, because it +is attaching rights to mere matter, and making man the agent of that +matter. It is, moreover, holding up property as an apple of discord, +and not only exciting but justifying war against it; for I maintain the +principle, that when property is used as an instrument to take away the +rights of those who may happen not to possess property, it is used to an +unlawful purpose, as fire-arms would be in a similar case. + +In a state of nature all men are equal in rights, but they are not equal +in power; the weak cannot protect themselves against the strong. This +being the case, the institution of civil society is for the purpose +of making an equalization of powers that shall be parallel to, and +a guarantee of, the equality of rights. The laws of a country, when +properly constructed, apply to this purpose. Every man takes the arm of +the law for his protection as more effectual than his own; and therefore +every man has an equal right in the formation of the government, and +of the laws by which he is to be governed and judged. In extensive +countries and societies, such as America and France, this right in the +individual can only be exercised by delegation, that is, by election and +representation; and hence it is that the institution of representative +government arises. + +Hitherto, I have confined myself to matters of principle only. First, +that hereditary government has not a right to exist; that it cannot be +established on any principle of right; and that it is a violation of all +principle. Secondly, that government by election and representation has +its origin in the natural and eternal rights of man; for whether a man +be his own lawgiver, as he would be in a state of nature; or whether he +exercises his portion of legislative sovereignty in his own person, as +might be the case in small democracies where all could assemble for the +formation of the laws by which they were to be governed; or whether he +exercises it in the choice of persons to represent him in a national +assembly of representatives, the origin of the right is the same in +all cases. The first, as is before observed, is defective in power; the +second, is practicable only in democracies of small extent; the third, +is the greatest scale upon which human government can be instituted. + +Next to matters of _principle_ are matters of _opinion_, and it is +necessary to distinguish between the two. Whether the rights of men +shall be equal is not a matter of opinion but of right, and consequently +of principle; for men do not hold their rights as grants from each +other, but each one in right of himself. Society is the guardian but not +the giver. And as in extensive societies, such as America and France, +the right of the individual in matters of government cannot be exercised +but by election and representation, it consequently follows that the +only system of government consistent with principle, where simple +democracy is impracticable, is the representative system. But as to the +organical part, or the manner in which the several parts of government +shall be arranged and composed, it is altogether _matter of opinion_, +It is necessary that all the parts be conformable with the _principle of +equal rights_; and so long as this principle be religiously adhered to, +no very material error can take place, neither can any error continue +long in that part which falls within the province of opinion. + +In all matters of opinion, the social compact, or the principle by which +society is held together, requires that the majority of opinions becomes +the rule for the whole, and that the minority yields practical obedience +thereto. This is perfectly conformable to the principle of equal rights: +for, in the first place, every man has a _right to give an opinion_ but +no man has a right that his opinion should _govern the rest_. In the +second place, it is not supposed to be known beforehand on which side +of any question, whether for or against, any man's opinion will fall. +He may happen to be in a majority upon some questions, and in a minority +upon others; and by the same rule that he expects obedience in the one +case, he must yield it in the other. All the disorders that have arisen +in France, during the progress of the revolution, have had their origin, +not in the _principle of equal rights_, but in the violation of that +principle. The principle of equal rights has been repeatedly violated, +and that not by the majority but by the minority, and _that minority +has been composed of men possessing property as well as of men without +property; property, therefore, even upon the experience already had, +is no more a criterion of character than it is of rights_. It will +sometimes happen that the minority are right, and the majority are +wrong, but as soon as experience proves this to be the case, the +minority will increase to a majority, and the error will reform itself +by the tranquil operation of freedom of opinion and equality of rights. +Nothing, therefore, can justify an insurrection, neither can it ever be +necessary where rights are equal and opinions free. + +Taking then the principle of equal rights as the foundation of the +revolution, and consequently of the constitution, the organical part, +or the manner in which the several parts of the government shall be +arranged in the constitution, will, as is already said, fall within the +province of opinion. + +Various methods will present themselves upon a question of this kind, +and tho' experience is yet wanting to determine which is the best, +it has, I think, sufficiently decided which is the worst. That is +the worst, which in its deliberations and decisions is subject to +the precipitancy and passion of an individual; and when the whole +legislature is crowded into one body it is an individual in mass. In all +cases of deliberation it is necessary to have a corps of reserve, and it +would be better to divide the representation by lot into two parts, and +let them revise and correct each other, than that the whole should sit +together, and debate at once. + +Representative government is not necessarily confined to any one +particular form. The principle is the same in all the forms under which +it can be arranged. The equal rights of the people is the root from +which the whole springs, and the branches may be arranged as present +opinion or future experience shall best direct. As to that _hospital of +incurables_ (as Chesterfield calls it), the British house of peers, +it is an excrescence growing out of corruption; and there is no more +affinity or resemblance between any of the branches of a legislative +body originating from the right of the people, and the aforesaid +house of peers, than between a regular member of the human body and an +ulcerated wen. + +As to that part of government that is called the _executive_, it is +necessary in the first place to fix a precise meaning to the word. + +There are but two divisions into which power can be arranged. First, +that of willing or decreeing the laws; secondly, that of executing or +putting them in practice. The former corresponds to the intellectual +faculties of the human mind, which reasons and determines what shall be +done; the second, to the mechanical powers of the human body, that puts +that determination into practice.(1) If the former decides, and the +latter does not perform, it is a state of imbecility; and if the latter +acts without the predetermination of the former, it is a state +of lunacy. The executive department therefore is official, and is +subordinate to the legislative, as the body is to the mind, in a +state of health; for it is impossible to conceive the idea of two +sovereignties, a sovereignty to _will_, and a sovereignty to _act_. +The executive is not invested with the power of deliberating whether it +shall act or not; it has no discretionary authority in the case; for it +can _act no other thing_ than what the laws decree, and it is _obliged_ +to act conformably thereto; and in this view of the case, the executive +is made up of all the official departments that execute the laws, of +which that which is called the judiciary is the chief. + + 1 Paine may have had in mind the five senses, with reference + to the proposed five members of the Directory.--_Editor._. + +But mankind have conceived an idea that _some kind of authority_ is +necessary to _superintend_ the execution of the laws and to see +that they are faithfully performed; and it is by confounding this +superintending authority with the official execution that we get +embarrassed about the term _executive power_. All the parts in the +governments of the United States of America that are called THE +EXECUTIVE, are no other than authorities to superintend the execution of +the laws; and they are so far independent of the legislative, that they +know the legislative only thro' the laws, and cannot be controuled or +directed by it through any other medium. + +In what manner this superintending authority shall be appointed, or +composed, is a matter that falls within the province of opinion. Some +may prefer one method and some another; and in all cases, where opinion +only and not principle is concerned, the majority of opinions forms the +rule for all. There are however some things deducible from reason, and +evidenced by experience, that serve to guide our decision upon the case. +The one is, never to invest any individual with extraordinary power; for +besides his being tempted to misuse it, it will excite contention and +commotion in the nation for the office. Secondly, never to invest power +long in the hands of any number of individuals. The inconveniences that +may be supposed to accompany frequent changes are less to be feared than +the danger that arises from long continuance. + +I shall conclude this discourse with offering some observations on the +means of _preserving liberty_; for it is not only necessary that we +establish it, but that we preserve it. + +It is, in the first place, necessary that we distinguish between the +means made use of to overthrow despotism, in order to prepare the way +for the establishment of liberty, and the means to be used after the +despotism is overthrown. + +The means made use of in the first case are justified by necessity. +Those means are, in general, insurrections; for whilst the established +government of despotism continues in any country it is scarcely possible +that any other means can be used. It is also certain that in the +commencement of a revolution, the revolutionary party permit to +themselves a _discretionary exercise of power_ regulated more by +circumstances than by principle, which, were the practice to continue, +liberty would never be established, or if established would soon be +overthrown. It is never to be expected in a revolution that every man is +to change his opinion at the same moment. There never yet was any truth +or any principle so irresistibly obvious, that all men believed it +at once. Time and reason must co-operate with each other to the final +establishment of any principle; and therefore those who may happen to be +first convinced have not a right to persecute others, on whom conviction +operates more slowly. The moral principle of revolutions is to instruct, +not to destroy. + +Had a constitution been established two years ago, (as ought to have +been done,) the violences that have since desolated France and injured +the character of the revolution, would, in my opinion, have been +prevented.(1) The nation would then have had a bond of union, and every +individual would have known the line of conduct he was to follow. But, +instead of this, a revolutionary government, a thing without either +principle or authority, was substituted in its place; virtue and crime +depended upon accident; and that which was patriotism one day, became +treason the next. All these things have followed from the want of a +constitution; for it is the nature and intention of a constitution to +_prevent governing by party_, by establishing a common principle that +shall limit and control the power and impulse of party, and that says to +all parties, _thus far shalt thou go and no further_. But in the absence +of a constitution, men look entirely to party; and instead of principle +governing party, party governs principle. + + 1 The Constitution adopted August 10, 1793, was by the + determination of "The Mountain," suspended during the war + against France. The revolutionary government was thus made + chronic--_Editor._ + +An avidity to punish is always dangerous to liberty. It leads men to +stretch, to misinterpret, and to misapply even the best of laws. He +that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from +oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes a precedent +that will reach to himself. Thomas Paine. + +Paris, July, 1795. + + + + +XXV. THE CONSTITUTION OF 1795. + + +SPEECH IN THE FRENCH NATIONAL CONVENTION, JULY 7, 1795. + +On the motion of Lanthenas, "That permission be granted to Thomas +Paine, to deliver his sentiments on the declaration of rights and the +constitution," Thomas Paine ascended the Tribune; and no opposition +being made to the motion, one of the Secretaries, who stood by Mr. +Paine, read his speech, of which the following is a literal translation: + +Citizens: + +The effects of a malignant fever, with which I was afflicted during a +rigorous confinement in the Luxembourg, have thus long prevented me from +attending at my post in the bosom of the Convention, and the magnitude +of the subject under discussion, and no other consideration on earth, +could induce me now to repair to my station. + +A recurrence to the vicissitudes I have experienced, and the critical +situations in which I have been placed in consequence of the French +Revolution, will throw upon what I now propose to submit to the +Convention the most unequivocal proofs of my integrity, and the +rectitude of those principles which have uniformly influenced my +conduct. + +In England I was proscribed for having vindicated the French Revolution, +and I have suffered a rigorous imprisonment in France for having pursued +a similar mode of conduct. During the reign of terrorism, I was a close +prisoner for eight long months, and remained so above three months after +the era of the 10th Thermidor.(1) I ought, however, to state, that I +was not persecuted by the _people_ either of England or France. The +proceedings in both countries were the effects of the despotism existing +in their respective governments. But, even if my persecution had +originated in the people at large, my principles and conduct would still +have remained the same. Principles which are influenced and subject to +the controul of tyranny, have not their foundation in the heart. + + 1 By the French republican calendar this was nearly the + time. Paine's imprisonment lasted from December 28, 1793, to + November 4, 1794. He was by a unanimous vote recalled to the + Convention, Dec 7, 1794, but his first appearance there was + on July 7, 1795.--_Editor._, + +A few days ago, I transmitted to you by the ordinary mode of +distribution, a short Treatise, entitled "Dissertation on the First +Principles of Government." This little work I did intend to have +dedicated to the people of Holland, who, about the time I began to write +it, were determined to accomplish a Revolution in their Government, +rather than to the people of France, who had long before effected that +glorious object. But there are, in the Constitution which is about to +be ratified by the Convention certain articles, and in the report which +preceded it certain points, so repugnant to reason, and incompatible +with the true principles of liberty, as to render this Treatise, drawn +up for another purpose, applicable to the present occasion, and under +this impression I presumed to submit it to your consideration. + +If there be faults in the Constitution, it were better to expunge them +now, than to abide the event of their mischievous tendency; for certain +it is, that the plan of the Constitution which has been presented to you +is not consistent with the grand object of the Revolution, nor congenial +to the sentiments of the individuals who accomplished it. + +To deprive half the people in a nation of their rights as citizens, +is an easy matter in theory or on paper: but it is a most dangerous +experiment, and rarely practicable in the execution. + +I shall now proceed to the observations I have to offer on this +important subject; and I pledge myself that they shall be neither +numerous nor diffusive. + +In my apprehension, a constitution embraces two distinct parts or +objects, the _Principle_ and the _Practice_; and it is not only an +essential but an indispensable provision that the practice should +emanate from, and accord with, the principle. Now I maintain, that the +reverse of this proposition is the case in the plan of the Constitution +under discussion. The first article, for instance, of the _political +state_ of citizens, (v. Title ii. of the Constitution,) says: + +"Every man born and resident in France, who, being twenty-one years of +age, has inscribed his name on the Civic Register of his Canton, and who +has lived afterwards one year on the territory of the Republic, and who +pays any direct contribution whatever, real or personal, is a French +citizen." (1) + + 1 The article as ultimately adopted substituted "person" for + "man," and for "has inscribed his name" (a slight + educational test) inserted "whose name is inscribed."-- + _Editor._ + +I might here ask, if those only who come under the above description are +to be considered as citizens, what designation do you mean to give the +rest of the people? I allude to that portion of the people on whom the +principal part of the labour falls, and on whom the weight of indirect +taxation will in the event chiefly press. In the structure of the social +fabric, this class of people are infinitely superior to that privileged +order whose only qualification is their wealth or territorial +possessions. For what is trade without merchants? What is land without +cultivation? And what is the produce of the land without manufactures? +But to return to the subject. + +In the first place, this article is incompatible with the three first +articles of the Declaration of Rights, which precede the Constitutional +Act. + +The first article of the Declaration of Rights says: + +"The end of society is the public good; and the institution of +government is to secure to every individual the enjoyment of his +rights." + +But the article of the Constitution to which I have just adverted +proposes as the object of society, not the public good, or in other +words, the good of _all_, but a partial good; or the good only of a +_few_; and the Constitution provides solely for the rights of this few, +to the exclusion of the many. + +The second article of the Declaration of Rights says: + +"The Rights of Man in society are Liberty, Equality, Security of his +person and property." + +But the article alluded to in the Constitution has a direct tendency to +establish the reverse of this position, inasmuch as the persons excluded +by this _inequality_ can neither be said to possess liberty, nor +security against oppression. They are consigned totally to the caprice +and tyranny of the rest. + +The third article of the Declaration of Rights says: + +"Liberty consists in such acts of volition as are not injurious to +others." + +But the article of the Constitution, on which I have observed, breaks +down this barrier. It enables the liberty of one part of society to +destroy the freedom of the other. + +Having thus pointed out the inconsistency of this article to the +Declaration of Rights, I shall proceed to comment on that of the same +article which makes a direct contribution a necessary qualification to +the right of citizenship. + +A modern refinement on the object of public revenue has divided the +taxes, or contributions, into two classes, the _direct_ and the_ +indirect_, without being able to define precisely the distinction or +difference between them, because the effect of both is the same. + +Those are designated indirect taxes which fall upon the consumers of +certain articles, on which the tax is imposed, because, the tax being +included in the price, the consumer pays it without taking notice of it. + +The same observation is applicable to the territorial tax. The land +proprietors, in order to reimburse themselves, will rack-rent their +tenants: the farmer, of course, will transfer the obligation to the +miller, by enhancing the price of grain; the miller to the baker, by +increasing the price of flour; and the baker to the consumer, by raising +the price of bread. The territorial tax, therefore, though called +_direct_, is, in its consequences, _indirect_. + +To this tax the land proprietor contributes only in proportion to the +quantity of bread and other provisions that are consumed in his own +family. The deficit is furnished by the great mass of the community, +which comprehends every individual of the nation. + +From the logical distinction between the direct and in-direct taxation, +some emolument may result, I allow, to auditors of public accounts, &c., +but to the people at large I deny that such a distinction (which by the +by is without a difference) can be productive of any practical +benefit. It ought not, therefore, to be admitted as a principle in the +constitution. + +Besides this objection, the provision in question does not affect to +define, secure, or establish the right of citizenship. It consigns to +the caprice or discretion of the legislature the power of pronouncing +who shall, or shall not, exercise the functions of a citizen; and +this may be done effectually, either by the imposition of a _direct or +indirect_ tax, according to the selfish views of the legislators, or by +the mode of collecting the taxes so imposed. + +Neither a tenant who occupies an extensive farm, nor a merchant or +manufacturer who may have embarked a large capital in their respective +pursuits, can ever, according to this system, attain the preemption +of a citizen. On the other hand, any upstart, who has, by succession +or management, got possession of a few acres of land or a miserable +tenement, may exultingly exercise the functions of a citizen, although +perhaps neither possesses a hundredth part of the worth or property of a +simple mechanic, nor contributes in any proportion to the exigencies of +the State. + +The contempt in which the old government held mercantile pursuits, and +the obloquy that attached on merchants and manufacturers, contributed +not a little to its embarrassments, and its eventual subversion; and, +strange to tell, though the mischiefs arising from this mode of conduct +are so obvious, yet an article is proposed for your adoption which has a +manifest tendency to restore a defect inherent in the monarchy. + + +I shall now proceed to the second article of the same Title, with which +I shall conclude my remarks. + +The second article says, "Every French soldier, who shall have served +one or more campaigns in the cause of liberty, is deemed a citizen +of the republic, without any respect or reference to other +qualifications."(1) + +It would seem, that in this Article the Committee were desirous of +extricating themselves from a dilemma into which they had been plunged +by the preceding article. When men depart from an established principle +they are compelled to resort to trick and subterfuge, always shifting +their means to preserve the unity of their objects; and as it rarely +happens that the first expedient makes amends for the prostitution of +principle, they must call in aid a second, of a more flagrant nature, +to supply the deficiency of the former. In this manner legislators go +on accumulating error upon error, and artifice upon artifice, until +the mass becomes so bulky and incongruous, and their embarrassment so +desperate, that they are compelled, as their last expedient, to resort +to the very principle they had violated. The Committee were precisely +in this predicament when they framed this article; and to me, I confess, +their conduct appears specious rather than efficacious.(2) + + 1 This article eventually stood: "All Frenchmen who shall + have made one or more campaigns for the establishment of the + Republic, are citizens, without condition as to taxes."-- + _Editor._ + + 2 The head of the Committee (eleven) was the Abbé Sieves, + whose political treachery was well known to Paine before it + became known to the world by his services to Napoleon in + overthrowing the Republic.--_Editor._ + +It was not for himself alone, but for his family, that the French +citizen, at the dawn of the revolution, (for then indeed every man +was considered a citizen) marched soldier-like to the frontiers, and +repelled a foreign invasion. He had it not in his contemplation, that he +should enjoy liberty for the residue of his earthly career, and by his +own act preclude his offspring from that inestimable blessing. No! He +wished to leave it as an inheritance to his children, and that they +might hand it down to their latest posterity. If a Frenchman, who united +in his person the character of a Soldier and a Citizen, was now to +return from the army to his peaceful habitation, he must address his +small family in this manner: "Sorry I am, that I cannot leave to you +a small portion of what I have acquired by exposing my person to +the ferocity of our enemies and defeating their machinations. I have +established the republic, and, painful the reflection, all the laurels +which I have won in the field are blasted, and all the privileges to +which my exertions have entitled me extend not beyond the period of +my own existence!" Thus the measure that has been adopted by way of +subterfuge falls short of what the framers of it speculated upon; for +in conciliating the affections of the _Soldier_, they have subjected +the _Father_ to the most pungent sensations, by obliging him to adopt a +generation of Slaves. + +Citizens, a great deal has been urged respecting insurrections. I am +confident that no man has a greater abhorrence of them than myself, and +I am sorry that any insinuations should have been thrown out upon me +as a promoter of violence of any kind. The whole tenor of my life and +conversation gives the lie to those calumnies, and proves me to be a +friend to order, truth and justice. + +I hope you will attribute this effusion of my sentiments to my anxiety +for the honor and success of the revolution. I have no interest distinct +from that which has a tendency to meliorate the situation of mankind. +The revolution, as far as it respects myself, has been productive of +more loss and persecution than it is possible for me to describe, or for +you to indemnify. But with respect to the subject under consideration, I +could not refrain from declaring my sentiments. + +In my opinion, if you subvert the basis of the revolution, if you +dispense with principles, and substitute expedients, you will extinguish +that enthusiasm and energy which have hitherto been the life and soul of +the revolution; and you will substitute in its place nothing but a +cold indifference and self-interest, which will again degenerate into +intrigue, cunning, and effeminacy. + +But to discard all considerations of a personal and subordinate nature, +it is essential to the well-being of the republic that the practical or +organic part of the constitution should correspond with its principles; +and as this does not appear to be the case in the plan that has been +presented to you, it is absolutely necessary that it should be submitted +to the revision of a committee, who should be instructed to compare it +with the Declaration of Rights, in order to ascertain the difference +between the two, and to make such alterations as shall render them +perfectly consistent and compatible with each other. + + + + +XXVI. THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ENGLISH SYSTEM OF FINANCE.(1) + + "On the verge, nay even in the gulph of bankruptcy." + + 1 This pamphlet, as Paine predicts at its close (no doubt on + good grounds), was translated into all languages of Europe, + and probably hastened the gold suspension of the Bank of + England (1797), which it predicted. The British Government + entrusted its reply to Ralph Broome and George Chalmers, who + wrote pamphlets. There is in the French Archives an order + for 1000 copies, April 27, 1796, nineteen days after Paine's + pamphlet appeared. "Mr. Cobbett has made this little + pamphlet a text-book for most of his elaborate treatises on + our finances.... On the authority of a late Register of Mr. + Cobbett's I learn that the profits arising from the sale of + this pamphlet were devoted [by Paine] to the relief of the + prisoners confined in Newgate for debt."--"Life of Paine," + by Richard Carlile, 1819.--_Editor._. + + +Debates in Parliament. + +Nothing, they say, is more certain than death, and nothing more +uncertain than the time of dying; yet we can always fix a period beyond +which man cannot live, and within some moment of which he will die. We +are enabled to do this, not by any spirit of prophecy, or foresight into +the event, but by observation of what has happened in all cases of human +or animal existence. If then any other subject, such, for instance, as +a system of finance, exhibits in its progress a series of symptoms +indicating decay, its final dissolution is certain, and the period of it +can be calculated from the symptoms it exhibits. + +Those who have hitherto written on the English system of finance, (the +funding system,) have been uniformly impressed with the idea that its +downfall would happen _some time or other_. They took, however, no data +for their opinion, but expressed it predictively,--or merely as opinion, +from a conviction that the perpetual duration of such a system was a +natural impossibility. It is in this manner that Dr. Price has spoken of +it; and Smith, in his Wealth of Nations, has spoken in the same manner; +that is, merely as opinion without data. "The progress," says Smith, +"of the enormous debts, which at present oppress, and will in the long +run _most probably ruin_, all the great nations of Europe [he should +have said _governments_] has been pretty uniform." But this general +manner of speaking, though it might make some impression, carried with +it no conviction. + +It is not my intention to predict any thing; but I will show from data +already known, from symptoms and facts which the English funding system +has already exhibited publicly, that it will not continue to the end of +Mr. Pitt's life, supposing him to live the usual age of a man. How much +sooner it may fall, I leave to others to predict. + +Let financiers diversify systems of credit as they will, it _is_ +nevertheless true, that every system of credit is a system of paper +money. Two experiments have already been had upon paper money; the one +in America, the other in France. In both those cases the whole capital +was emitted, and that whole capital, which in America was called +continental money, and in France assignats, appeared in circulation; the +consequence of which was, that the quantity became so enormous, and so +disproportioned to the quantity of population, and to the quantity' of +objects upon which it could be employed, that the market, if I may so +express it, was glutted with it, and the value of it fell. Between five +and six years determined the fate of those experiments. The same fate +would have happened to gold and silver, could gold and silver have been +issued in the same abundant manner that paper had been, and confined +within the country as paper money always is, by having no circulation +out of it; or, to speak on a larger scale, the same thing would happen +in the world, could the world be glutted with gold and silver, as +America and France have been with paper. + +The English system differs from that of America and France in this one +particular, that its capital is kept out of sight; that is, it does +not appear in circulation. Were the whole capital of the national debt, +which at the time I write this is almost one hundred million pounds +sterling, to be emitted in assignats or bills, and that whole quantity +put into circulation, as was done in America and in France, those +English assignats, or bills, would soon sink in value as those of +America and France have done; and that in a greater degree, because +the quantity of them would be more disproportioned to the quantity +of population in England, than was the case in either of the other two +countries. A nominal pound sterling in such bills would not be worth one +penny. + +But though the English system, by thus keeping the capital out of sight, +is preserved from hasty destruction, as in the case of America and +France, it nevertheless approaches the same fate, and will arrive at it +with the same certainty, though by a slower progress. The difference +is altogether in the degree of speed by which the two systems approach +their fate, which, to speak in round numbers, is as twenty is to one; +that is, the English system, that of funding the capital instead of +issuing it, contained within itself a capacity of enduring twenty times +longer than the systems adopted by America and France; and at the end of +that time it would arrive at the same common grave, the Potter's Field +of paper money. + +The datum, I take for this proportion of twenty to one, is the +difference between a capital and the interest at five per cent. Twenty +times the interest is equal to the capital. The accumulation of paper +money in England is in proportion to the accumulation of the interest +upon every new loan; and therefore the progress to the dissolution is +twenty times slower than if the capital were to be emitted and put into +circulation immediately. Every twenty years in the English system is +equal to one year in the French and American systems. + +Having thus stated the duration of the two systems, that of funding upon +interest, and that of emitting the whole capital without funding, to be +as twenty to one, I come to examine the symptoms of decay, approaching +to dissolution, that the English system has already exhibited, and to +compare them with similar systems in the French and American systems. + +The English funding system began one hundred years ago; in which time +there have been six wars, including the war that ended in 1697. + +1. The war that ended, as I have just said, in 1697. + +2. The war that began in 1702. + +3. The war that began in 1739. + +4. The war that began in 1756. + +5. The American war, that began in 1775. + +6. The present war, that began in 1793. + + +The national debt, at the conclusion of the war which ended in 1697, was +twenty-one millions and an half. (See Smith's Wealth of Nations, +chapter on Public Debts.) We now see it approaching fast to four hundred +millions. If between these two extremes of twenty-one millions and four +hundred millions, embracing the several expenses of all the including +wars, there exist some common ratio that will ascertain arithmetically +the amount of the debts at the end of each war, as certainly as the fact +is known to be, that ratio will in like manner determine what the amount +of the debt will be in all future wars, and will ascertain the period +within which the funding system will expire in a bankruptcy of the +government; for the ratio I allude to, is the ratio which the nature of +the thing has established for itself. + +Hitherto no idea has been entertained that any such ratio existed, or +could exist, that would determine a problem of this kind; that is, that +would ascertain, without having any knowledge of the fact, what the +expense of any former war had been, or what the expense of any future +war would be; but it is nevertheless true that such a ratio does exist, +as I shall show, and also the mode of applying it. + +The ratio I allude to is not in arithmetical progression like the +numbers 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9; nor yet in geometrical progression, like +the numbers 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256; but it is in the series of +one half upon each preceding number; like the numbers 8, 12, 18, 27, 40, +60, 90, 135. + +Any person can perceive that the second number, 12, is produced by the +preceding number, 8, and half 8; and that the third number, 18, is in +like manner produced by the preceding number, 12, and half 12; and so +on for the rest. They can also see how rapidly the sums increase as +the ratio proceeds. The difference between the two first numbers is but +four; but the difference between the two last is forty-five; and from +thence they may see with what immense rapidity the national debt has +increased, and will continue to increase, till it exceeds the ordinary +powers of calculation, and loses itself in ciphers. + +I come now to apply the ratio as a rule to determine in all cases. + +I began with the war that ended in 1697, which was the war in which the +funding system began. The expense of that war was twenty-one millions +and an half. In order to ascertain the expense of the next war, I add +to twenty-one millions and an half, the half thereof (ten millions and +three quarters) which makes thirty-two millions and a quarter for the +expense of that war. This thirty-two millions and a quarter, added to +the former debt of twenty-one millions and an half, carries the national +debt to fifty-three millions and three quarters. Smith, in his +chapter on Public Debts, says, that the national debt was at this time +fifty-three millions. + +I proceed to ascertain the expense of the next war, that of 1739, by +adding, as in the former case, one half to the expense of the preceding +war. The expense of the preceding war was thirty-two millions and a +quarter; for the sake of even numbers, say, thirty-two millions; the +half of which (16) makes forty-eight millions for the expense of that +war. + +I proceed to ascertain the expense of the war of 1756, by adding, +according to the ratio, one half to the expense of the preceding war. +The expense of the preceding was taken at 48 millions, the half of which +(24) makes 72 millions for the expense of that war. Smith, (chapter on +Public Debts,) says, the expense of the war of 1756, was 72 millions and +a quarter. + +I proceed to ascertain the expense of the American war, of 1775, by +adding, as in the former cases, one half to the expense of the preceding +war. The expense of the preceding war was 72 millions, the half of which +(36) makes 108 millions for the expense of that war. In the last +edition of Smith, (chapter on Public Debts,) he says, the expense of the +American war was _more than an hundred millions_. + +I come now to ascertain the expense of the present war, supposing it to +continue as long as former wars have done, and the funding system not +to break up before that period. The expense of the preceding war was 108 +millions, the half of which (54) makes 162 millions for the expense of +the present war. It gives symptoms of going beyond this sum, supposing +the funding system not to break up; for the loans of the last year and +of the present year are twenty-two millions each, which exceeds the +ratio compared with the loans of the preceding war. It will not be from +the inability of procuring loans that the system will break up. On +the contrary, it is the facility with which loans can be procured that +hastens that event. The loans are altogether paper transactions; and +it is the excess of them that brings on, with accelerating speed, that +progressive depreciation of funded paper money that will dissolve the +funding system. + +I proceed to ascertain the expense of future wars, and I do this merely +to show the impossibility of the continuance of the funding system, and +the certainty of its dissolution. + +The expense of the next war after the present war, according to the +ratio that has ascertained the preceding cases, will be 243 millions. + +Expense of the second war 364 + +---------------- third war 546 + +---------------- fourth war 819 + +-------- fifth war 1228 + + 3200 millions; + +which, at only four per cent. will require taxes to the nominal amount +of one hundred and twenty-eight millions to pay the annual interest, +besides the interest of the present debt, and the expenses of +government, which are not included in this account. Is there a man so +mad, so stupid, as to sup-pose this system can continue? + +When I first conceived the idea of seeking for some common ratio that +should apply as a rule of measurement to all the cases of the funding +system, so far as to ascertain the several stages of its approach to +dissolution, I had no expectation that any ratio could be found that +would apply with so much exactness as this does. I was led to the idea +merely by observing that the funding system was a thing in continual +progression, and that whatever was in a state of progression might be +supposed to admit of, at least, some general ratio of measurement, +that would apply without any very great variation. But who could have +supposed that falling systems, or falling opinions, admitted of a ratio +apparently as true as the descent of falling bodies? I have not made the +ratio any more than Newton made the ratio of gravitation. I have only +discovered it, and explained the mode of applying it. + +To shew at one view the rapid progression of the funding system to +destruction, and to expose the folly of those who blindly believe in +its continuance, and who artfully endeavour to impose that belief upon +others, I exhibit in the annexed table, the expense of each of the six +wars since the funding system began, as ascertained by ratio, and the +expense of the six wars yet to come, ascertained by the same ratio. + +[Illustration: Table318] + + * The actual expense of the war of 1739 did not come up to + the sum ascertained by the ratio. But as that which is the + natural disposition of a thing, as it is the natural + disposition of a stream of water to descend, will, if + impeded in its course, overcome by a new effort what it had + lost by that impediment, so it was with respect to this war + and the next (1756) taken collectively; for the expense of + the war of 1756 restored the equilibrium of the ratio, as + fully as if it had not been impeded. A circumstance that + serves to prove the truth of the ratio more folly than if + the interruption had not taken place. The war of 1739 *** + languid; the efforts were below the value of money et that + time; for the ratio is the measure of the depreciation of + money in consequence of the funding system; or what comes + to the same end, it is the measure of the increase of paper. + Every additional quantity of it, whether in bank notes or + otherwise, diminishes the real, though not the nominal value + of the former quantity.--_Author_ + + +Those who are acquainted with the power with which even a small ratio, +acting in progression, multiplies in a long series, will see nothing to +wonder at in this table. Those who are not acquainted with that subject, +and not knowing what else to say, may be inclined to deny it. But it is +not their opinion one way, nor mine the other, that can influence the +event. The table exhibits the natural march of the funding system to its +irredeemable dissolution. Supposing the present government of England to +continue, and to go on as it has gone on since the funding system began, +I would not give twenty shillings for one hundred pounds in the funds to +be paid twenty years hence. I do not speak this predictively; I produce +the data upon which that belief is founded; and which data it is every +body's interest to know, who have any thing to do with the funds, or +who are going to bequeath property to their descendants to be paid at a +future day. + +Perhaps it may be asked, that as governments or ministers proceeded by +no ratio in making loans or incurring debts, and nobody intended any +ratio, or thought of any, how does it happen that there is one? I +answer, that the ratio is founded in necessity; and I now go to explain +what that necessity is. + +It will always happen, that the price of labour, or of the produce +of labour, be that produce what it may, will be in proportion to the +quantity of money in a country, admitting things to take their natural +course. Before the invention of the funding system, there was no other +money than gold and silver; and as nature gives out those metals with +a sparing hand, and in regular annual quantities from the mines, the +several prices of things were proportioned to the quantity of money at +that time, and so nearly stationary as to vary but little in any fifty +or sixty years of that period. + +When the funding system began, a substitute for gold and silver began +also. That substitute was paper; and the quantity increased as the +quantity of interest increased upon accumulated loans. This appearance +of a new and additional species of money in the nation soon began to +break the relative value which money and the things it will purchase +bore to each other before. Every thing rose in price; but the rise at +first was little and slow, like the difference in units between two +first numbers, 8 and 12, compared with the two last numbers 90 and 135, +in the table. It was however sufficient to make itself considerably felt +in a large transaction. When therefore government, by engaging in a new +war, required a new loan, it was obliged to make a higher loan than the +former loan, to balance the increased price to which things had risen; +and as that new loan increased the quantity of paper in proportion +to the new quantity of interest, it carried the price of things still +higher than before. The next loan was again higher, to balance that +further increased price; and all this in the same manner, though not +in the same degree, that every new emission of continental money in +America, or of assignats in France, was greater than the preceding +emission, to make head against the advance of prices, till the combat +could be maintained no longer. Herein is founded the necessity of which +I have just spoken. That necessity proceeds with accelerating velocity, +and the ratio I have laid down is the measure of that acceleration; or, +to speak the technical language of the subject, it is the measure of the +increasing depreciation of funded paper money, which it is impossible to +prevent while the quantity of that money and of bank notes continues to +multiply. What else but this can account for the difference between one +war costing 21 millions, and another war costing 160 millions? + +The difference cannot be accounted for on the score of extraordinary +efforts or extraordinary achievements. The war that cost twenty-one +millions was the war of the con-federates, historically called the grand +alliance, consisting of England, Austria, and Holland in the time of +William III. against Louis XIV. and in which the confederates were +victorious. The present is a war of a much greater confederacy--a +confederacy of England, Austria, Prussia, the German Empire, Spain, +Holland, Naples, and Sardinia, eight powers, against the French Republic +singly, and the Republic has beaten the whole confederacy.--But to +return to my subject. + +It is said in England, that the value of paper keeps equal with the +value of gold and silver. But the case is not rightly stated; for the +fact is, that the paper has _pulled down_ the value of gold and silver +to a level with itself. Gold and silver will not purchase so much of any +purchasable article at this day as if no paper had appeared, nor so much +as it will in any country in Europe where there is no paper. How long +this hanging together of money and paper will continue, makes a new +case; because it daily exposes the system to sudden death, independent +of the natural death it would otherwise suffer. + +I consider the funding system as being now advanced into the last twenty +years of its existence. The single circumstance, were there no other, +that a war should now cost nominally one hundred and sixty millions, +which when the system began cost but twenty-one millions, or that the +loan for one year only (including the loan to the Emperor) should now be +nominally greater than the whole expense of that war, shows the state of +depreciation to which the funding system has arrived. Its depreciation +is in the proportion of eight for one, compared with the value of its +money when the system began; which is the state the French assignats +stood a year ago (March 1795) compared with gold and silver. It is +therefore that I say, that the English funding system has entered on the +last twenty years of its existence, comparing each twenty years of +the English system with every single year of the American and French +systems, as before stated. + +Again, supposing the present war to close as former wars have done, and +without producing either revolution or reform in England, another war at +least must be looked for in the space of the twenty years I allude to; +for it has never yet happened that twenty years have passed off without +a war, and that more especially since the English government has dabbled +in German politics, and shown a disposition to insult the world, and the +world of commerce, with her navy. The next war will carry the national +debt to very nearly seven hundred millions, the interest of which, at +four per cent, will be twenty-eight millions besides the taxes for +the (then) expenses of government, which will increase in the same +proportion, and which will carry the taxes to at least forty millions; +and if another war only begins, it will quickly carry them to above +fifty; for it is in the last twenty years of the funding system, as in +the last year of the American and French systems without funding, that +all the great shocks begin to operate. + +I have just mentioned that, paper in England has _pulled down_ the value +of gold and silver to a level with itself; and that _this pulling dawn_ +of gold and silver money has created the appearance of paper money +keeping up. The same thing, and the same mistake, took place in +America and in France, and continued for a considerable time after the +commencement of their system of paper; and the actual depreciation of +money was hidden under that mistake. + +It was said in America, at that time, that everything was becoming +_dear_; but gold and silver could then buy those dear articles no +cheaper than paper could; and therefore it was not called depreciation. +The idea of _dearness_ established itself for the idea of depreciation. +The same was the case in France. Though every thing rose in price soon +after assignats appeared, yet those dear articles could be purchased no +cheaper with gold and silver, than with paper, and it was only said that +things were _dear_. The same is still the language in England. They +call it _deariness_. But they will soon find that it is an actual +depreciation, and that this depreciation is the effect of the funding +system; which, by crowding such a continually increasing mass of paper +into circulation, carries down the value of gold and silver with it. But +gold and silver, will, in the long run, revolt against depreciation, and +separate from the value of paper; for the progress of all such systems +appears to be, that the paper will take the command in the beginning, +and gold and silver in the end. + +But this succession in the command of gold and silver over paper, makes +a crisis far more eventful to the funding system than to any other +system upon which paper can be issued; for, strictly speaking, it is not +a crisis of danger but a symptom of death. It is a death-stroke to the +funding system. It is a revolution in the whole of its affairs. + +If paper be issued without being funded upon interest, emissions of it +can be continued after the value of it separates from gold and silver, +as we have seen in the two cases of America and France. But the funding +system rests altogether upon the value of paper being equal to gold and +silver; which will be as long as the paper can continue carrying down +the value of gold and silver to the same level to which itself descends, +and no longer. But even in this state, that of descending equally +together, the minister, whoever he may be, will find himself beset with +accumulating difficulties; because the loans and taxes voted for the +service of each ensuing year will wither in his hands before the year +expires, or before they can be applied. This will force him to have +recourse to emissions of what are called exchequer and navy bills, +which, by still increasing the mass of paper in circulation, will drive +on the depreciation still more rapidly. + +It ought to be known that taxes in England are not paid in gold +and silver, but in paper (bank notes). Every person who pays any +considerable quantity of taxes, such as maltsters, brewers, distillers, +(I appeal for the truth of it, to any of the collectors of excise in +England, or to Mr. White-bread,)(1) knows this to be the case. There is +not gold and silver enough in the nation to pay the taxes in coin, as +I shall show; and consequently there is not money enough in the bank to +pay the notes. The interest of the national funded debt is paid at the +bank in the same kind of paper in which the taxes are collected. When +people find, as they will find, a reservedness among each other in +giving gold and silver for bank notes, or the least preference for the +former over the latter, they will go for payment to the bank, where they +have a right to go. They will do this as a measure of prudence, each one +for himself, and the truth or delusion of the funding system will then +be proved. + + 1 An eminent Member of Parliament.--_Editor._. + +I have said in the foregoing paragraph that there is not gold and silver +enough in the nation to pay the taxes in coin, and consequently that +there cannot be enough in the bank to pay the notes. As I do not choose +to rest anything upon assertion, I appeal for the truth of this to the +publications of Mr. Eden (now called Lord Auckland) and George Chalmers, +Secretary to the Board of Trade and Plantation, of which Jenkinson (now +Lord Hawkesbury) is president.(1) (These sort of folks change their +names so often that it is as difficult to know them as it is to know +a thief.) Chalmers gives the quantity of gold and silver coin from the +returns of coinage at the Mint; and after deducting for the light gold +recoined, says that the amount of gold and silver coined is about twenty +millions. He had better not have proved this, especially if he had +reflected that _public credit is suspicion asleep_. The quantity is much +too little. + + 1 Concerning Chalmers and Hawkesbury see vol. ii., p. 533. + Also, preface to my "Life of Paine", xvi., and other + passages.---_Editor._. + +Of this twenty millions (which is not a fourth part of the quantity of +gold and silver there is in France, as is shown in Mr. Neckar's Treatise +on the Administration of the Finances) three millions at least must be +supposed to be in Ireland, some in Scotland, and in the West Indies, +Newfoundland, &c. The quantity therefore in England cannot be more than +sixteen millions, which is four millions less than the amount of the +taxes. But admitting that there are sixteen millions, not more than +a fourth part thereof (four millions) can be in London, when it is +considered that every city, town, village, and farm-house in the nation +must have a part of it, and that all the great manufactories, which most +require cash, are out of London. Of this four millions in London, every +banker, merchant, tradesman, in short every individual, must have some. +He must be a poor shopkeeper indeed, who has not a few guineas in his +till. The quantity of cash therefore in the bank can never, on the +evidence of circumstances, be so much as two millions; most probably +not more than one million; and on this slender twig, always liable to be +broken, hangs the whole funding system of four hundred millions, besides +many millions in bank notes. The sum in the bank is not sufficient to +pay one-fourth of only one year's interest of the national debt, were +the creditors to demand payment in cash, or demand cash for the bank +notes in which the interest is paid, a circumstance always liable to +happen. + +One of the amusements that has kept up the farce of the funding system +is, that the interest is regularly paid. But as the interest is always +paid in bank notes, and as bank notes can always be coined for the +purpose, this mode of payment proves nothing. The point of proof is, can +the bank give cash for the bank notes with which the interest is paid? +If it cannot, and it is evident it cannot, some millions of bank notes +must go without payment, and those holders of bank notes who apply last +will be worst off. When the present quantity of cash in the bank is paid +away, it is next to impossible to see how any new quantity is to arrive. +None will arrive from taxes, for the taxes will all be paid in bank +notes; and should the government refuse bank notes in payment of taxes, +the credit of bank notes will be gone at once. No cash will arise from +the business of discounting merchants' bills; for every merchant will +pay off those bills in bank notes, and not in cash. There is therefore +no means left for the bank to obtain a new supply of cash, after the +present quantity is paid away. But besides the impossibility of paying +the interest of the funded debt in cash, there are many thousand +persons, in London and in the country, who are holders of bank notes +that came into their hands in the fair way of trade, and who are not +stockholders in the funds; and as such persons have had no hand in +increasing the demand upon the bank, as those have had who for their own +private interest, like Boyd and others, are contracting or pretending to +contract for new loans, they will conceive they have a just right that +their bank notes should be paid first. Boyd has been very sly in France, +in changing his paper into cash. He will be just as sly in doing the +same thing in London, for he has learned to calculate; and then it is +probable he will set off for America. + +A stoppage of payment at the bank is not a new thing. Smith in his +Wealth of Nations, book ii. chap. 2, says, that in the year 1696, +exchequer bills fell forty, fifty, and sixty per cent; bank notes twenty +per cent; and the bank stopped payment. That which happened in 1696 may +happen again in 1796. The period in which it happened was the last year +of the war of King William. It necessarily put a stop to the further +emissions of exchequer and navy bills, and to the raising of new loans; +and the peace which took place the next year was probably hurried on by +this circumstance, and saved the bank from bankruptcy. Smith in speaking +from the circumstances of the bank, upon another occasion, says (book +ii. chap. 2.) "This great company had been reduced to the necessity +of paying in sixpences." When a bank adopts the expedient of paying in +sixpences, it is a confession of insolvency. + +It is worthy of observation, that every case of failure in finances, +since the system of paper began, has produced a revolution in +governments, either total or partial. A failure in the finances of +France produced the French revolution. A failure in the finance of +the assignats broke up the revolutionary government, and produced +the present French Constitution. A failure in the finances of the Old +Congress of America, and the embarrassments it brought upon commerce, +broke up the system of the old confederation, and produced the federal +Constitution. If, then, we admit of reasoning by comparison of causes +and events, the failure of the English finances will produce some change +in the government of that country. + +As to Mr. Pitt's project of paying off the national debt by applying +a million a-year for that purpose, while he continues adding more than +twenty millions a-year to it, it is like setting a man with a wooden leg +to run after a hare. The longer he runs the farther he is off. + +When I said that the funding system had entered the last twenty years +of its existence, I certainly did not mean that it would continue twenty +years, and then expire as a lease would do. I meant to describe that +age of decrepitude in which death is every day to be expected, and life +cannot continue long. But the death of credit, or that state that is +called bankruptcy, is not always marked by those progressive stages +of visible decline that marked the decline of natural life. In the +progression of natural life age cannot counterfeit youth, nor conceal +the departure of juvenile abilities. But it is otherwise with respect +to the death of credit; for though all the approaches to bankruptcy +may actually exist in circumstances, they admit of being concealed by +appearances. Nothing is more common than to see the bankrupt of to-day a +man in credit but the day before; yet no sooner is the real state of +his affairs known, than every body can see he had been insolvent long +before. In London, the greatest theatre of bankruptcy in Europe, this +part of the subject will be well and feelingly understood. + +Mr. Pitt continually talks of credit, and the national resources. These +are two of the feigned appearances by which the approaches to bankruptcy +are concealed. That which he calls credit may exist, as I have just +shown, in a state of insolvency, and is always what I have before +described it to be, _suspicion asleep_. + +As to national resources, Mr. Pitt, like all English financiers that +preceded him since the funding system began, has uniformly mistaken the +nature of a resource; that is, they have mistaken it consistently with +the delusion of the funding system; but time is explaining the delusion. +That which he calls, and which they call, a resource, is not a resource, +but is the _anticipation_ of a resource. They have anticipated what +_would have been_ a resource in another generation, had not the use of +it been so anticipated. The funding system is a system of anticipation. +Those who established it an hundred years ago anticipated the resources +of those who were to live an hundred years after; for the people of the +present day have to pay the interest of the debts contracted at that +time, and all debts contracted since. But it is the last feather that +breaks the horse's back. Had the system begun an hundred years before, +the amount of taxes at this time to pay the annual interest at four per +cent. (could we suppose such a system of insanity could have continued) +would be two hundred and twenty millions annually: for the capital of +the debt would be 5486 millions, according to the ratio that ascertains +the expense of the wars for the hundred years that are past. But long +before it could have reached this period, the value of bank notes, +from the immense quantity of them, (for it is in paper only that such +a nominal revenue could be collected,) would have been as low or lower +than continental paper has been in America, or assignats in France; and +as to the idea of exchanging them for gold and silver, it is too absurd +to be contradicted. + +Do we not see that nature, in all her operations, disowns the visionary +basis upon which the funding system is built? She acts always by +renewed successions, and never by accumulating additions perpetually +progressing. Animals and vegetables, men and trees, have existed since +the world began: but that existence has been carried on by succession +of generations, and not by continuing the same men and the same trees in +existence that existed first; and to make room for the new she removes +the old. Every natural idiot can see this; it is the stock-jobbing idiot +only that mistakes. He has conceived that art can do what nature cannot. +He is teaching her a new system--that there is no occasion for man to +die--that the scheme of creation can be carried on upon the plan of +the funding system--that it can proceed by continual additions of new +beings, like new loans, and all live together in eternal youth. Go, +count the graves, thou idiot, and learn the folly of thy arithmetic! + +But besides these things, there is something visibly farcical in the +whole operation of loaning. It is scarcely more than four years ago +that such a rot of bankruptcy spread itself over London, that the whole +commercial fabric tottered; trade and credit were at a stand; and +such was the state of things that, to prevent or suspend a general +bankruptcy, the government lent the merchants six millions in +_government_ paper, and now the merchants lend the government twenty-two +millions in _their_ paper; and two parties, Boyd and Morgan, men but +little known, contend who shall be the lenders. What a farce is this! +It reduces the operation of loaning to accommodation paper, in which +the competitors contend, not who shall lend, but who shall sign, because +there is something to be got for signing. + +Every English stock-jobber and minister boasts of the credit of England. +Its credit, say they, is greater than that of any country in Europe. +There is a good reason for this: for there is not another country in +Europe that could be made the dupe of such a delusion. The English +funding system will remain a monument of wonder, not so much on account +of the extent to which it has been carried, as of the folly of believing +in it. + +Those who had formerly predicted that the funding system would break +up when the debt should amount to one hundred or one hundred and fifty +millions, erred only in not distinguishing between insolvency and actual +bankruptcy; for the insolvency commenced as soon as the government +became unable to pay the interest in cash, or to give cash for the bank +notes in which the interest was paid, whether that inability was known +or not, or whether it was suspected or not. Insolvency always takes +place before bankruptcy; for bankruptcy is nothing more than the +publication of that insolvency. In the affairs of an individual, it +often happens that insolvency exists several years before bankruptcy, +and that the insolvency is concealed and carried on till the individual +is not able to pay one shilling in the pound. A government can ward off +bankruptcy longer than an individual: but insolvency will inevitably +produce bankruptcy, whether in an individual or in a government. If then +the quantity of bank notes payable on demand, which the bank has issued, +are greater than the bank can pay off, the bank is insolvent: and when +that insolvency is declared, it is bankruptcy.(*) + + * Among the delusions that have been imposed upon the + nation by ministers to give a false colouring to its + affairs, and by none more than by Mr. Pitt, is a motley, + amphibious-charactered thing called the _balance of trade_. + This balance of trade, as it is called, is taken from the + custom-house books, in which entries are made of all cargoes + exported, and also of all cargoes imported, in each year; + and when the value of the exports, according to the price + set upon them by the exporter or by the custom-house, is + greater than the value of the imports, estimated in the same + manner, they say the balance of trade is much in their + favour. + + The custom-house books prove regularly enough that so many + cargoes have been exported, and so many imported; but this + is all that they prove, or were intended to prove. They have + nothing to do with the balance of profit or loss; and it is + ignorance to appeal to them upon that account: for the case + is, that the greater the loss is in any one year, the higher + will this thing called the balance of trade appear to be + according to the custom-house books. For example, nearly the + whole of the Mediterranean convoy has been taken by the + French this year; consequently those cargoes will not + appear as imports on the custom-house books, and therefore + the balance of trade, by which they mean the profits of it, + will appear to be so much the greater as the loss amounts to; + and, on the other hand, had the loss not happened, the + profits would have appeared to have been so much the less. + All the losses happening at sea to returning cargoes, by + accidents, by the elements, or by capture, make the balance + appear the higher on the side of the exports; and were they + all lost at sea, it would appear to be all profit on the + custom-house books. Also every cargo of exports that is lost + that occasions another to be sent, adds in like manner to + the side of the exports, and appears as profit. This year + the balance of trade will appear high, because the losses + have been great by capture and by storms. The ignorance of + the British Parliament in listening to this hackneyed + imposition of ministers about the balance of trade is + astonishing. It shows how little they know of national + affairs--and Mr. Grey may as well talk Greek to them, as to + make motions about the state of the nation. They understand + only fox-hunting and the game laws,--_Author_. + +I come now to show the several ways by which bank notes get into +circulation: I shall afterwards offer an estimate on the total quantity +or amount of bank notes existing at this moment. + +The bank acts in three capacities. As a bank of discount; as a bank of +deposit; and as a banker for the government. + +First, as a bank of discount. The bank discounts merchants' bills of +exchange for two months. When a merchant has a bill that will become due +at the end of two months, and wants payment before that time, the bank +advances that payment to him, deducting therefrom at the rate of five +per cent, per annum. The bill of exchange remains at the bank as a +pledge or pawn, and at the end of two months it must be redeemed. This +transaction is done altogether in paper; for the profits of the bank, +as a bank of discount, arise entirely from its making use of paper as +money. The bank gives bank notes to the merchant in discounting the bill +of exchange, and the redeemer of the bill pays bank notes to the bank in +redeeming it. It very seldom happens that any real money passes between +them. + +If the profits of a bank be, for example, two hundred thousand pounds a +year (a great sum to be made merely by exchanging one sort of paper +for another, and which shows also that the merchants of that place are +pressed for money for payments, instead of having money to spare to lend +to government,) it proves that the bank discounts to the amount of four +millions annually, or 666,666L. every two months; and as there never +remain in the bank more than two months' pledges, of the value of +666,666L., at any one time, the amount of bank notes in circulation at +any one time should not be more than to that amount. This is sufficient +to show that the present immense quantity of bank notes, which are +distributed through every city, town, village, and farm-house in +England, cannot be accounted for on the score of discounting. + +Secondly, as a bank of deposit. To deposit money at the bank means to +lodge it there for the sake of convenience, and to be drawn out at any +moment the depositor pleases, or to be paid away to his order. When +the business of discounting is great, that of depositing is necessarily +small. No man deposits and applies for discounts at the same time; +for it would be like paying interest for lending money, instead of for +borrowing it. The deposits that are now made at the bank are almost +entirely in bank notes, and consequently they add nothing to the ability +of the bank to pay off the bank notes that may be presented for payment; +and besides this, the deposits are no more the property of the bank than +the cash or bank notes in a merchant's counting-house are the property +of his book-keeper. No great increase therefore of bank notes, beyond +what the discounting business admits, can be accounted for on the score +of deposits. + +Thirdly, the bank acts as banker for the government. This is the +connection that threatens to ruin every public bank. It is through this +connection that the credit of a bank is forced far beyond what it ought +to be, and still further beyond its ability to pay. It is through this +connection, that such an immense redundant quantity of bank notes, have +gotten into circulation; and which, instead of being issued because +there was property in the bank, have been issued because there was none. + +When the treasury is empty, which happens in almost every year of every +war, its coffers at the bank are empty also. It is in this condition of +emptiness that the minister has recourse to emissions of what are called +exchequer and navy bills, which continually generates a new increase of +bank notes, and which are sported upon the public, without there being +property in the bank to pay them. These exchequer and navy bills (being, +as I have said, emitted because the treasury and its coffers at the bank +are empty, and cannot pay the demands that come in) are no other than +an acknowledgment that the bearer is entitled to receive so much money. +They may be compared to the settlement of an account, in which the +debtor acknowledges the balance he owes, and for which he gives a note +of hand; or to a note of hand given to raise money upon it. + +Sometimes the bank discounts those bills as it would discount merchants' +bills of exchange; sometimes it purchases them of the holders at the +current price; and sometimes it agrees with the ministers to pay an +interest upon them to the holders, and keep them in circulation. In +every one of these cases an additional quantity of bank notes gets into +circulation, and are sported, as I have said, upon the public, without +there being property in the bank, as banker for the government, to pay +them; and besides this, the bank has now no money of its own; for the +money that was originally subscribed to begin the credit of the bank +with, at its first establishment, has been lent to government and wasted +long ago. + +"The bank" (says Smith, book ii. chap. 2.) "acts not only as an ordinary +bank, but as a great engine of State; it receives and pays a greater +part of the annuities which are due to the creditors of the _public_." +(It is worth observing, that the _public_, or the _nation_, is always +put for the government, in speaking of debts.) "It circulates" (says +Smith) "exchequer bills, and it advances to government the annual amount +of the land and malt taxes, which are frequently not paid till several +years afterwards." (This advancement is also done in bank notes, +for which there is not property in the bank.) "In those different +operations" (says Smith) "_its duty to the public_ may sometimes have +obliged it, without any fault of its directors, _to overstock the +circulation with paper money_."--bank notes. How its _duty_ to _the +public_ can induce it _to overstock that public_ with promissory bank +notes which it _cannot pay_, and thereby expose the individuals of that +public to ruin, is too paradoxical to be explained; for it is on +the credit which individuals _give to the bank_, by receiving and +circulating its notes, and not upon its _own_ credit or its _own_ +property, for it has none, that the bank sports. If, however, it be the +duty of the bank to expose the public to this hazard, it is at least +equally the duty of the individuals of that public to get their money +and take care of themselves; and leave it to placemen, pensioners, +government contractors, Reeves' association, and the members of both +houses of Parliament, who have voted away the money at the nod of +the minister, to continue the credit if they can, and for which their +estates individually and collectively ought to answer, as far as they +will go. + +There has always existed, and still exists, a mysterious, suspicious +connection, between the minister and the directors of the bank, and +which explains itself no otherways than by a continual increase in bank +notes. Without, therefore, entering into any further details of the +various contrivances by which bank notes are issued, and thrown upon the +public, I proceed, as I before mentioned, to offer an estimate on the +total quantity of bank notes in circulation. + +However disposed governments may be to wring money by taxes from the +people, there is a limit to the practice established by the nature of +things. That limit is the proportion between the quantity of money in a +nation, be that quantity what it may, and the greatest quantity of taxes +that can be raised upon it. People have other uses for money besides +paying taxes; and it is only a proportional part of the money they can +spare for taxes, as it is only a proportional part they can spare +for house-rent, for clothing, or for any other particular use. These +proportions find out and establish themselves; and that with such +exactness, that if any one part exceeds its proportion, all the other +parts feel it. + +Before the invention of paper money (bank notes,) there was no other +money in the nation than gold and silver, and the greatest quantity of +money that was ever raised in taxes during that period never exceeded a +fourth part of the quantity of money in the nation. It was high taxing +when it came to this point. The taxes in the time of William III. never +reached to four millions before the invention of paper, and the quantity +of money in the nation at that time was estimated to be about sixteen +millions. The same proportions established themselves in France. There +was no paper money in France before the present revolution, and the +taxes were collected in gold and silver money. The highest quantity of +taxes never exceeded twenty-two millions sterling; and the quantity of +gold and silver money in the nation at the same time, as stated by M. +Neckar, from returns of coinage at the Mint, in his Treatise on the +Administration of the Finances, was about ninety millions sterling. To +go beyond this limit of a fourth part, in England, they were obliged to +introduce paper money; and the attempt to go beyond it in France, where +paper could not be introduced, broke up the government. This proportion, +therefore, of a fourth part, is the limit which the thing establishes +for itself, be the quantity of money in a nation more or less. + +The amount of taxes in England at this time is full twenty millions; +and therefore the quantity of gold and silver, and of bank notes, taken +together, amounts to eighty millions. The quantity of gold and silver, +as stated by Lord Hawkes-bury's Secretary, George Chalmers, as I have +before shown, is twenty millions; and, therefore, the total amount +of bank notes in circulation, all made payable on demand, is sixty +millions. This enormous sum will astonish the most stupid stock-jobber, +and overpower the credulity of the most thoughtless Englishman: but were +it only a third part of that sum, the bank cannot pay half a crown in +the pound. + +There is something curious in the movements of this modern complicated +machine, the funding system; and it is only now that it is beginning +to unfold the full extent of its movements. In the first part of its +movements it gives great powers into the hands of government, and in the +last part it takes them completely away. + +The funding system set out with raising revenues under the name of +loans, by means of which government became both prodigal and powerful. +The loaners assumed the name of creditors, and though it was soon +discovered that loaning was government-jobbing, those pretended loaners, +or the persons who purchased into the funds afterwards, conceived +themselves not only to be creditors, but to be the _only_ creditors. + +But such has been the operation of this complicated machine, the funding +system, that it has produced, unperceived, a second generation of +creditors, more numerous and far more formidable and withal more +real than the first generation; for every holder of a bank note is a +creditor, and a real creditor, and the debt due to him is made payable +on demand. The debt therefore which the government owes to individuals +is composed of two parts; the one about four hundred millions bearing +interest, the other about sixty millions payable on demand. The one is +called the funded debt, the other is the debt due in bank notes. + +The second debt (that contained in the bank notes) has, in a great +measure, been incurred to pay the interest of the first debt; so that in +fact little or no real interest has been paid by government. The whole +has been delusion and fraud. Government first contracted a debt, in the +form of loans, with one class of people, and then run clandestinely into +debt with another class, by means of bank notes, to pay the interest. +Government acted of itself in contracting the first debt, and made a +machine of the bank to contract the second. It is this second debt that +changes the seat of power and the order of things; for it puts it in +the power of even a small part of the holders of bank notes (had they no +other motives than disgust at Pitt and Grenville's sedition bills,) to +control any measure of government they found to be injurious to their +interest; and that not by popular meetings, or popular societies, but +by the simple and easy opera-tion of withholding their credit from that +government; that is, by individually demanding payment at the bank +for every bank note that comes into their hands. Why should Pitt and +Grenville expect that the very men whom they insult and injure, +should, at the same time, continue to support the measures of Pitt and +Grenville, by giving credit to their promissory notes of payment? No new +emissions of bank notes could go on while payment was demanding on the +old, and the cash in the bank wasting daily away; nor any new advances +be made to government, or to the emperor, to carry on the war; nor any +new emission be made on exchequer bills. + +"_The bank_" says Smith, (book ii. chap. 2) "_is a great engine of +state_." And in the same paragraph he says, "_The stability of the bank +is equal to that of the British government_;" which is the same as to +say that the stability of the government is equal to that of the bank, +and no more. If then the bank cannot pay, the _arch-treasurer_ of the +holy Roman empire (S. R. I. A.*) is a bankrupt. When Folly invented +titles, she did not attend to their application; forever since the +government of England has been in the hands of _arch-treasurers_, it has +been running into bankruptcy; and as to the arch-treasurer _apparent_, +he has been a bankrupt long ago. What a miserable prospect has England +before its eyes! + + * Put of the inscription on an English guinea.--_Author_. + +Before the war of 1755 there were no bank notes lower than twenty +pounds. During that war, bank notes of fifteen pounds and of ten pounds +were coined; and now, since the commencement of the present war, they +are coined as low as five pounds. These five-pound notes will circulate +chiefly among little shop-keepers, butchers, bakers, market-people, +renters of small houses, lodgers, &c. All the high departments of +commerce and the affluent stations of life were already _overstocked_, +as Smith expresses it, with the bank notes. No place remained open +wherein to crowd an additional quantity of bank notes but among the +class of people I have just mentioned, and the means of doing this +could be best effected by coining five-pound notes. This conduct has the +appearance of that of an unprincipled insolvent, who, when on the verge +of bankruptcy to the amount of many thousands, will borrow as low as +five pounds of the servants in his house, and break the next day. + +But whatever momentary relief or aid the minister and his bank might +expect from this low contrivance of five-pound notes, it will increase +the inability of the bank to pay the higher notes, and hasten the +destruction of all; for even the small taxes that used to be paid in +money will now be paid in those notes, and the bank will soon find +itself with scarcely any other money than what the hair-powder +guinea-tax brings in. + +The bank notes make the most serious part of the business of finance: +what is called the national funded debt is but a trifle when put in +comparison with it; yet the case of the bank notes has never been +touched upon. But it certainly ought to be known upon what authority, +whether that of the minister or of the directors, and upon what +foundation, such immense quantities are issued. I have stated the amount +of them at sixty millions; I have produced data for that estimation; and +besides this, the apparent quantity of them, far beyond that of gold and +silver in the nation, corroborates the statement. But were there but a +third part of sixty millions, the bank cannot pay half a crown in the +pound; for no new supply of money, as before said, can arrive at the +bank, as all the taxes will be paid in paper. + +When the funding system began, it was not doubted that the loans that +had been borrowed would be repaid. Government not only propagated that +belief, but it began paying them off. In time this profession came to be +abandoned: and it is not difficult to see that bank notes will march +the same way; for the amount of them is only another debt under another +name; and the probability is that Mr. Pitt will at last propose +funding them. In that case bank notes will not be so valuable as French +assignats. The assignats have a solid property in reserve, in the +national domains; bank notes have none; and, besides this, the English +revenue must then sink down to what the amount of it was before the +funding system began--between three and four millions; one of which +the _arch-treasurer_ would require for himself, and the arch-treasurer +_apparent_ would require three-quarters of a million more to pay his +debts. "_In France_," says Sterne, "_they order these things better_." + +I have now exposed the English system of finance to the eyes of all +nations; for this work will be published in all languages. In doing +this, I have done an act of justice to those numerous citizens of +neutral nations who have been imposed upon by that fraudulent system, +and who have property at stake upon the event. + +As an individual citizen of America, and as far as an individual can +go, I have revenged (if I may use the expression without any immoral +meaning) the piratical depredations committed on the American commerce +by the English government. I have retaliated for France on the subject +of finance: and I conclude with retorting on Mr. Pitt the expression he +used against France, and say, that the English system of finance "is on +the verge, nay even in the + +GULPH OF BANKRUPTCY." + +Thomas Paine. + +PARIS, 19th Germinal. 4th year of the Republic, April 8, 1796. + + + + +XXVII. FORGETFULNESS.(1) + + 1 This undated composition, of much biographical interest, + was shown by Paine to Henry Redhead Yorke, who visited him + in Paris (1802), and was allowed to copy the only portions + now preserved. In the last of Yorke's Letters from France + (Lond., 1814), thirty-three pages are given to Paine. Under + the name "Little Corner of the World," Lady Smyth wrote + cheering letters to Paine in his prison, and he replied to + his then unknown correspondent under the name of "The Castle + in die Air." After his release he discovered in his + correspondent a lady who had appealed to him for assistance, + no doubt for her husband. With Sir Robert (an English banker + in Paris) and Lady Smyth, Paine formed a fast friendship + which continued through life. Sir Robert was born in 1744, + and married (1776) a Miss Blake of Hanover Square, London. + He died in 1802 of illness brought on by his imprisonment + under Napoleon. Several of Paine's poems were addressed to + Lady Smyth.--_Editor._ + + +FROM "THE CASTLE IN THE AIR," TO THE "LITTLE CORNER OF THE WORLD." + +Memory, like a beauty that is always present to hear her-self +flattered, is flattered by every one. But the absent and silent goddess, +Forgetfulness, has no votaries, and is never thought of: yet we owe her +much. She is the goddess of ease, though not of pleasure. + +When the mind is like a room hung with black, and every corner of it +crowded with the most horrid images imagination can create, this kind +speechless goddess of a maid, Forgetfulness, is following us night +and day with her opium wand, and gently touching first one, and then +another, benumbs them into rest, and at last glides them away with the +silence of a departing shadow. It is thus the tortured mind is restored +to the calm condition of ease, and fitted for happiness. + +How dismal must the picture of life appear to the mind in that dreadful +moment when it resolves on darkness, and to die! One can scarcely +believe such a choice was possible. Yet how many of the young and +beautiful, timid in every thing else, and formed for delight, have shut +their eyes upon the world, and made the waters their sepulchral bed! Ah, +would they in that crisis, when life and death are before them, and +each within their reach, would they but think, or try to think, that +Forgetfulness will come to their relief, and lull them into ease, they +could stay their hand, and lay hold of life. But there is a necromancy +in wretchedness that entombs the mind, and increases the misery, by +shutting out every ray of light and hope. It makes the wretched +falsely believe they will be wretched ever. It is the most fatal of all +dangerous delusions; and it is only when this necromantic night-mare of +the mind begins to vanish, by being resisted, that it is discovered to +be but a tyrannic spectre. All grief, like all things else, will yield +to the obliterating power of time. While despair is preying on the mind, +time and its effects are preying on despair; and certain it is, the +dismal vision will fade away, and Forgetfulness, with her sister Ease, +will change the scene. Then let not the wretched be rash, but wait, +painful as the struggle may be, the arrival of Forgetfulness; for it +will certainly arrive. + +I have twice been present at the scene of attempted suicide. The one +a love-distracted girl in England, the other of a patriotic friend in +France; and as the circumstances of each are strongly pictured in my +memory, I will relate them to you. They will in some measure corroborate +what I have said of Forgetfulness. + +About the year 1766, I was in Lincolnshire, in England, and on a visit +at the house of a widow lady, Mrs. E____, at a small village in the fens +of that county. It was in summer; and one evening after supper, Mrs. +E____ and myself went to take a turn in the garden. It was about eleven +o'clock, and to avoid the night air of the fens, we were walking in a +bower, shaded over with hazel bushes. On a sudden, she screamed out, +and cried "Lord, look, look!" I cast my eyes through the openings of the +hazel bushes in the direction she was looking, and saw a white shapeless +figure, without head or arms, moving along one of the walks at some +distance from us. I quitted Mrs. E______, and went after it. When I got +into the walk where the figure was, and was following it, it took up +another walk. There was a holly bush in the corner of the two walks, +which, it being night, I did not observe; and as I continued to step +forward, the holly bush came in a straight line between me and the +figure, and I lost sight of it; and as I passed along one walk, and the +figure the other, the holly bush still continued to intercept the view, +so as to give the appearance that the figure had vanished. When I came +to the corner of the two walks, I caught sight of it again, and coming +up with it, I reached out my hand to touch it; and in the act of doing +this, the idea struck me, will my hand pass through the air, or shall I +feel any thing? Less than a moment would decide this, and my hand rested +on the shoulder of a human figure. I spoke, but do not recollect what I +said. It answered in a low voice, "Pray let me alone." I then knew who +it was. It was a young lady who was on a visit to Mrs. E------, and who, +when we sat down to supper, said she found herself extremely ill, and +would go to bed. I called to Mrs. E------, who came, and I said to her, +"It is Miss N------." Mrs. E------ said, "My God, I hope you are not +going to do yourself any hurt;" for Mrs. E------ suspected something. +She replied with pathetic melancholy, "Life has not one pleasure for +me." We got her into the house, and Mrs. E------ took her to sleep with +her. + +The case was, the man to whom she expected to be married had forsaken +her, and when she heard he was to be married to another the shock +appeared to her to be too great to be borne. She had retired, as I have +said, to her room, and when she supposed all the family were gone to +bed, (which would have been the case if Mrs. E------ and I had not +walked into the garden,) she undressed herself, and tied her apron over +her head; which, descending below her waist, gave her the shapeless +figure I have spoken of. With this and a white under petticoat and +slippers, for she had taken out her buckles and put them at the servant +maid's door, I suppose as a keepsake, and aided by the obscurity of +almost midnight, she came down stairs, and was going to drown her-self +in a pond at the bottom of the garden, towards which she was going when +Mrs. E------screamed out. We found afterwards that she had heard the +scream, and that was the cause of her changing her walk. + +By gentle usage, and leading her into subjects that might, without +doing violence to her feelings, and without letting her see the direct +intention of it, steal her as it were from the horror she was in, (and +I felt a compassionate, earnest disposition to do it, for she was a good +girl,) she recovered her former cheerfulness, and was afterwards a happy +wife, and the mother of a family. + +The other case, and the conclusion in my next: In Paris, in 1793, had +lodgings in the Rue Fauxbourg, St. Denis, No. 63.(1) They were the most +agreeable, for situation, of any I ever had in Paris, except that they +were too remote from the Convention, of which I was then a member. But +this was recompensed by their being also remote from the alarms and +confusion into which the interior of Paris was then often thrown. The +news of those things used to arrive to us, as if we were in a state of +tranquility in the country. The house, which was enclosed by a wall and +gateway from the street, was a good deal like an old mansion farm house, +and the court yard was like a farm-yard, stocked with fowls, ducks, +turkies, and geese; which, for amusement, we used to feed out of the +parlour window on the ground floor. There were some hutches for rabbits, +and a sty with two pigs. Beyond, was a garden of more than an acre +of ground, well laid out, and stocked with excellent fruit trees. The +orange, apricot, and green-gage plum, were the best I ever tasted; +and it is the only place where I saw the wild cucumber. The place had +formerly been occupied by some curious person.(2) + + 1 This ancient mansion is still standing (1895).--_Editor._ + + 2 Madame de Pompadour, among others.--_Editor._» + +My apartments consisted of three rooms; the first for wood, water, etc., +with an old fashioned closet chest, high enough to hang up clothes in; +the next was the bed room; and beyond it the sitting room, which looked +into the garden through a glass door; and on the outside there was a +small landing place railed in, and a flight of narrow stairs almost +hidden by the vines that grew over it, by which I could descend into +the garden, without going down stairs through the house. I am trying +by description to make you see the place in your mind, because it will +assist the story I have to tell; and which I think you can do, because +you once called upon me there on account of Sir [Robert Smyth], who was +then, as I was soon afterwards, in arrestation. But it was winter when +you came, and it is a summer scene I am describing. + +***** + +I went into my chambers to write and sign a certificate for them, which +I intended to take to the guard house to obtain their release. Just as I +had finished it a man came into my room dressed in the Parisian uniform +of a captain, and spoke to me in good English, and with a good address. +He told me that two young men, Englishmen, were arrested and detained +in the guard house, and that the section, (meaning those who represented +and acted for the section,) had sent him to ask me if I knew them, +in which case they would be liberated. This matter being soon settled +between us, he talked to me about the Revolution, and something about +the "Rights of Man," which he had read in English; and at parting +offered me in a polite and civil manner, his services. And who do you +think the man was that offered me his services? It was no other than the +public executioner Samson, who guillotined the king, and all who were +guillotined in Paris; and who lived in the same section, and in the same +street with me. + +***** + +As to myself, I used to find some relief by walking alone in the garden +after dark, and cursing with hearty good will the authors of that +terrible system that had turned the character of the Revolution I had +been proud to defend. + +I went but little to the Convention, and then only to make my +appearance; because I found it impossible to join in their tremendous +decrees, and useless and dangerous to oppose them. My having voted and +spoken extensively, more so than any other member, against the execution +of the king, had already fixed a mark upon me: neither dared any of my +associates in the Convention to translate and speak in French for me +anything I might have dared to have written. + + +***** + +Pen and ink were then of no use to me: no good could be done by writing, +and no printer dared to print; and whatever I might have written for +my private amusement, as anecdotes of the times, would have been +continually exposed to be examined, and tortured into any meaning that +the rage of party might fix upon it; and as to softer subjects, my heart +was in distress at the fate of my friends, and my harp hung upon the +weeping willows.(1) + +As it was summer we spent most of our time in the garden, and passed it +away in those childish amusements that serve to keep reflection from the +mind, such as marbles, scotch-hops, battledores, etc., at which we were +all pretty expert. + +In this retired manner we remained about six or seven weeks, and our +landlord went every evening into the city to bring us the news of the +day and the evening journal. + +I have now, my "Little Corner of the World," led you on, step by step, +to the scene that makes the sequel to this narrative, and I will put +that scene before your eyes. You shall see it in description as I saw it +in fact. + + 1 This allusion is to the Girondins.--_Editor._, + + 2 Yorke omits the description "from motives of personal + delicacy." The case was that of young Johnson, a wealthy + devotee of Paine in London, who had followed him to Paris + and lived in the same house with him. Hearing that Marat had + resolved on Paine's death, Johnson wrote a will bequeathing + his property to Paine, then stabbed himself, but recovered. + Paine was examined about this incident at Marat's trial. + (Moniteur, April 24, 1793.) See my "Life of Paine," vol. + ii., p. 48 seq.--_Editor._. + +***** + +He recovered, and being anxious to get out of France, a passage was +obtained for him and Mr. Choppin: they received it late in the evening, +and set off the next morning for Basle before four, from which place I +had a letter from them, highly pleased with their escape from France, +into which they had entered with an enthusiasm of patriotic devotion. +Ah, France! thou hast ruined the character of a Revolution virtuously +begun, and destroyed those who produced it. I might almost say like +Job's servant, "and I only am escaped." + +Two days after they were gone I heard a rapping at the gate, and looking +out of the window of the bed room I saw the landlord going with the +candle to the gate, which he opened, and a guard with musquets and fixed +bayonets entered. I went to bed again, and made up my mind for prison, +for I was then the only lodger. It was a guard to take up [Johnson and +Choppin], but, I thank God, they were out of their reach. + +The guard came about a month after in the night, and took away the +landlord Georgeit; and the scene in the house finished with the +arrestation of myself. This was soon after you called on me, and sorry +I was it was not in my power to render to [Sir Robert Smyth] the service +that you asked. + +I have now fulfilled my engagement, and I hope your expectation, in +relating the case of [Johnson], landed back on the shore of life, by +the mistake of the pilot who was conducting him out; and preserved +afterwards from prison, perhaps a worse fate, without knowing it +himself. + +You say a story cannot be too melancholy for you. This is interesting +and affecting, but not melancholy. It may raise in your mind a +sympathetic sentiment in reading it; and though it may start a tear of +pity, you will not have a tear of sorrow to drop on the page. + +***** + +Here, my contemplative correspondent, let us stop and look back upon the +scene. The matters here related being all facts, are strongly pictured +in my mind, and in this sense Forgetfulness does not apply. But facts +and feelings are distinct things, and it is against feelings that the +opium wand of Forgetfulness draws us into ease. Look back on any scene +or subject that once gave you distress, for all of us have felt some, +and you will find, that though the remembrance of the fact is not +extinct in your memory, the feeling is extinct in your mind. You can +remember when you had felt distress, but you cannot feel that distress +again, and perhaps will wonder you felt it then. It is like a shadow +that loses itself by light. + +It is often difficult to know what is a misfortune: that which we feel +as a great one today, may be the means of turning aside our steps into +some new path that leads to happiness yet unknown. In tracing the scenes +of my own life, I can discover that the condition I now enjoy, which is +sweet to me, and will be more so when I get to America, except by the +loss of your society, has been produced, in the first instance, in my +being disappointed in former projects. Under that impenetrable veil, +futurity, we know not what is concealed, and the day to arrive is hidden +from us. Turning then our thoughts to those cases of despair that lead +to suicide, when, "the mind," as you say, "neither sees nor hears, and +holds counsel only with itself; when the very idea of consolation would +add to the torture, and self-destruction is its only aim," what, it may +be asked, is the best advice, what the best relief? I answer, seek it +not in reason, for the mind is at war with reason, and to reason against +feelings is as vain as to reason against fire: it serves only to torture +the torture, by adding reproach to horror. All reasoning with ourselves +in such cases acts upon us like the reason of another person, which, +however kindly done, serves but to insult the misery we suffer. If +reason could remove the pain, reason would have prevented it. If she +could not do the one, how is she to perform the other? In all such cases +we must look upon Reason as dispossessed of her empire, by a revolt +of the mind. She retires herself to a distance to weep, and the ebony +sceptre of Despair rules alone. All that Reason can do is to suggest, +to hint a thought, to signify a wish, to cast now and then a kind +of bewailing look, to hold up, when she can catch the eye, the +miniature-shaded portrait of Hope; and though dethroned, and can dictate +no more, to wait upon us in the humble station of a handmaid. + + + + +XXVIII. AGRARIAN JUSTICE. + +Editor's introduction: + +This pamphlet appeared first in Paris, 1797, with the title: "Thomas +Payne à La Législature et au Directoire. Ou la Justice Agraire opposée à +la Loi Agraire, et aux privilèges agraires. Prix 15 sols. À Paris, chez +la citoyenne Ragouleau, près le Théâtre de la République, No. 229. Et +chez les Marchands de Nouveautés." A prefatory note says (translated): +"The sudden departure of Thomas Paine has pre-vented his supervising the +translation of this work, to which he attached great value. He entrusted +it to a friend. It is for the reader to decide whether the scheme here +set forth is worthy of the publicity given it." (Paine had gone to Havre +early in May with the Monroes, intending to accompany them to America, +but, rightly suspecting plans for his capture by an English cruiser, +returned to Paris.) In the same year the pamphlet was printed in +English, by W. Adlard in Paris, and in London for "T. Williams, No. +8 Little Turnstile, Holborn." Paine's preface to the London edition +contained some sentences which the publishers, as will be seen, +suppressed under asterisks, and two sentences were omitted from the +pamphlet which I have supplied from the French. The English title adds a +brief resume of Paine's scheme to the caption--"Agrarian Justice opposed +to Agrarian Law, and to Agrarian Monopoly." The work was written in the +winter of 1795-6, when Paine was still an invalid in Monroe's house, +though not published until 1797. + +The prefatory Letter to the Legislature and the Directory, now for the +first time printed in English, is of much historical interest, and shows +the title of the pamphlet related to the rise of Socialism in France. +The leader of that move-ment, François Noel Babeuf, a frantic and +pathetic figure of the time, had just been executed. He had named +himself "Gracchus," and called his journal "Tribune du Peuple," in +homage to the Roman Tribune, Caius Gracchus, the original socialist and +agrarian, whose fate (suicide of himself and his servant) Babeuf and his +disciple Darthé invoked in prison, whence they were carried bleeding to +the guillotine. This, however, was on account of the conspiracy they had +formed, with the remains of the Robespierrian party and some disguised +royalists, to overthrow the government. The socialistic propaganda of +Babeuf, however, prevailed over all other elements of the conspiracy: +the reactionary features of the Constitution, especially the property +qualification of suffrage of whose effects Paine had warned the +Convention in the speech printed in this volume, (chapter xxv.) and the +poverty which survived a revolution that promised its abolition, had +excited wide discontent. The "Babouvists" numbered as many as 17,000 in +Paris. Babeuf and Lepelletier were appointed by the secret council of +this fraternity (which took the name of "Equals") a "Directory of Public +Safety." May 11, 1796, was fixed for seizing on the government, and +Babeuf had prepared his Proclamation of the socialistic millennium. But +the plot was discovered, May 10th, the leaders arrested, and, after +a year's delay, two of them executed,--the best-hearted men in the +movement, Babeuf and Darthé. Paine too had been moved by the cry for +"Bread, and the Constitution of '93 "; and it is a notable coincidence +that in that winter of 1795-6, while the socialists were secretly +plotting to seize the kingdom of heaven by violence, Paine was devising +his plan of relief by taxing inheritances of land, anticipating by a +hundred years the English budget of Sir William Harcourt. Babeuf having +failed in his socialist, and Pichegru in his royalist, plot, their blows +were yet fatal: there still remained in the hearts of millions a Babeuf +or a Pichegru awaiting the chieftain strong enough to combine them, +as Napoleon presently did, making all the nation "Égaux" as parts of a +mighty military engine, and satisfying the royalist triflers with the +pomp and glory of war. + + + +AUTHOR'S INSCRIPTION. + +To the Legislature and the Executive Directory of the French Republic. + +The plan contained in this work is not adapted for any particular +country alone: the principle on which it is based is general. But as the +rights of man are a new study in this world, and one needing protection +from priestly imposture, and the insolence of oppressions too long +established, I have thought it right to place this little work under +your safeguard. When we reflect on the long and dense night in which +France and all Europe have remained plunged by their governments and +their priests, we must feel less surprise than grief at the bewilderment +caused by the first burst of light that dispels the darkness. The eye +accustomed to darkness can hardly bear at first the broad daylight. It +is by usage the eye learns to see, and it is the same in passing from +any situation to its opposite. + +As we have not at one instant renounced all our errors, we cannot at one +stroke acquire knowledge of all our rights. France has had the honour of +adding to the word _Liberty_ that of _Equality_; and this word signifies +essentially a principal that admits of no gradation in the things to +which it applies. But equality is often misunderstood, often misapplied, +and often violated. + +_Liberty_ and _Property_ are words expressing all those of our +possessions which are not of an intellectual nature. There are two kinds +of property. Firstly, natural property, or that which comes to us from +the Creator of the universe,--such as the earth, air, water. Secondly, +artificial or acquired property,--the invention of men. In the latter +equality is impossible; for to distribute it equally it would be +necessary that all should have contributed in the same proportion, which +can never be the case; and this being the case, every individual would +hold on to his own property, as his right share. Equality of natural +property is the subject of this little essay. Every individual in +the world is born therein with legitimate claims on a certain kind of +property, or its equivalent. + +The right of voting for persons charged with the execution of the laws +that govern society is inherent in the word Liberty, and constitutes +the equality of personal rights. But even if that right (of voting) were +inherent in property, which I deny, the right of suffrage would still +belong to all equally, because, as I have said, all individuals have +legitimate birthrights in a certain species of property. + +I have always considered the present Constitution of the French Republic +the _best organized system_ the human mind has yet produced. But I hope +my former colleagues will not be offended if I warn them of an error +which has slipped into its principle. Equality of the right of suffrage +is not maintained. This right is in it connected with a condition on +which it ought not to depend; that is, with a proportion of a certain +tax called "direct." The dignity of suffrage is thus lowered; and, in +placing it in the scale with an inferior thing, the enthusiasm that +right is capable of inspiring is diminished. It is impossible to find +any equivalent counterpoise for the right of suffrage, because it is +alone worthy to be its own basis, and cannot thrive as a graft, or an +appendage. + +Since the Constitution was established we have seen two conspiracies +stranded,--that of Babeuf, and that of some obscure personages who +decorate themselves with the despicable name of "royalists." The defect +in principle of the Constitution was the origin of Babeuf's conspiracy. +He availed himself of the resentment caused by this flaw, and instead +of seeking a remedy by legitimate and constitutional means, or proposing +some measure useful to society, the conspirators did their best to renew +disorder and confusion, and constituted themselves personally into a +Directory, which is formally destructive of election and representation. +They were, in fine, extravagant enough to suppose that society, occupied +with its domestic affairs, would blindly yield to them a directorship +usurped by violence. + +The conspiracy of Babeuf was followed in a few months by that of the +royalists, who foolishly flattered themselves with the notion of +doing great things by feeble or foul means. They counted on all the +discontented, from whatever cause, and tried to rouse, in their turn, +the class of people who had been following the others. But these new +chiefs acted as if they thought society had nothing more at heart +than to maintain courtiers, pensioners, and all their train, under the +contemptible title of royalty. My little essay will disabuse them, by +showing that society is aiming at a very different end,--maintaining +itself. + +We all know or should know, that the time during which a revolution is +proceeding is not the time when its resulting advantages can be +enjoyed. But had Babeuf and his accomplices taken into consideration the +condition of France under this constitution, and compared it with what +it was under the tragical revolutionary government, and during the +execrable reign of Terror, the rapidity of the alteration must have +appeared to them very striking and astonishing. Famine has been replaced +by abundance, and by the well-founded hope of a near and increasing +prosperity. + +As for the defect in the Constitution, I am fully convinced that it will +be rectified constitutionally, and that this step is indispensable; for +so long as it continues it will inspire the hopes and furnish the means +of conspirators; and for the rest, it is regrettable that a Constitution +so wisely organized should err so much in its principle. This fault +exposes it to other dangers which will make themselves felt. Intriguing +candidates will go about among those who have not the means to pay the +direct tax and pay it for them, on condition of receiving their votes. +Let us maintain inviolably equality in the sacred right of suffrage: +public security can never have a basis more solid. Salut et Fraternité. + +Your former colleague, + +Thomas Paine. + + + +AUTHOR'S ENGLISH PREFACE. + +The following little Piece was written in the winter of 1795 and 96; +and, as I had not determined whether to publish it during the present +war, or to wait till the commencement of a peace, it has lain by me, +without alteration or addition, from the time it was written. + +What has determined me to publish it now is, a sermon preached by +Watson, _Bishop of Llandaff_. Some of my Readers will recollect, that +this Bishop wrote a Book entitled _An Apology for the Bible_ in answer +to my _Second Part of the Age of Reason_. I procured a copy of his Book, +and he may depend upon hearing from me on that subject. + +At the end of the Bishop's Book is a List of the Works he has written. +Among which is the sermon alluded to; it is entitled: "The Wisdom and +Goodness of God, in having made both Rich and Poor; with an Appendix, +containing Reflections on the Present State of England and France." + +The error contained in this sermon determined me to publish my Agrarian +Justice. It is wrong to say God made _rich and poor_; he made only _male +and female_; and he gave them the earth for their inheritance. '... + +Instead of preaching to encourage one part of mankind in insolence... it +would be better that Priests employed their time to render the general +condition of man less miserable than it is. Practical religion consists +in doing good: and the only way of serving God is, that of endeavouring +to make his creation happy. All preaching that has not this for its +object is nonsense and hypocracy. + + 1 The omissions are noted in the English edition of 1797.-- + _Editor._. + +To preserve the benefits of what is called civilized life, and to remedy +at the same time the evil which it has produced, ought to be considered +as one of the first objects of reformed legislation. + +Whether that state that is proudly, perhaps erroneously, called +civilization, has most promoted or most injured the general happiness +of man, is a question that may be strongly contested. On one side, +the spectator is dazzled by splendid appearances; on the other, he is +shocked by extremes of wretchedness; both of which it has erected. The +most affluent and the most miserable of the human race are to be found +in the countries that are called civilized. + +To understand what the state of society ought to be, it is necessary to +have some idea of the natural and primitive state of man; such as it is +at this day among the Indians of North America. There is not, in that +state, any of those spectacles of human misery which poverty and want +present to our eyes in all the towns and streets in Europe. Poverty, +therefore, is a thing created by that which is called civilized life. It +exists not in the natural state. On the other hand, the natural state is +without those advantages which flow from agriculture, arts, science, and +manufactures. + +The life of an Indian is a continual holiday, compared with the poor of +Europe; and, on the other hand it appears to be abject when compared +to the rich. Civilization, therefore, or that which is so called, has +operated two ways: to make one part of society more affluent, and the +other more wretched, than would have been the lot of either in a natural +state. + +It is always possible to go from the natural to the civilized state, but +it is never possible to go from the civilized to the natural state. The +reason is, that man in a natural state, subsisting by hunting, requires +ten times the quantity of land to range over to procure himself +sustenance, than would support him in a civilized state, where the +earth is cultivated. When, therefore, a country becomes populous by the +additional aids of cultivation, art, and science, there is a necessity +of preserving things in that state; because without it there cannot be +sustenance for more, perhaps, than a tenth part of its inhabitants. The +thing, therefore, now to be done is to remedy the evils and preserve the +benefits that have arisen to society by passing from the natural to that +which is called the civilized state. + +In taking the matter upon this ground, the first principle of +civilization ought to have been, and ought still to be, that the +condition of every person born into the world, after a state of +civilization commences, ought not to be worse than if he had been born +before that period. But the fact is, that the condition of millions, in +every country in Europe, is far worse than if they had been born before +civilization began, or had been born among the Indians of North America +at the present day. I will shew how this fact has happened. + +It is a position not to be controverted that the earth, in its natural +uncultivated state was, and ever would have continued to be, _the common +property of the human race_. In that state every man would have been +born to property. He would have been a joint life proprietor with the +rest in the property of the soil, and in all its natural productions, +vegetable and animal. + +But the earth in its natural state, as before said, is capable of +supporting but a small number of inhabitants compared with what it +is capable of doing in a cultivated state. And as it is impossible to +separate the improvement made by cultivation from the earth itself, upon +which that improvement is made, the idea of landed property arose from +that inseparable connection; but it is nevertheless true, that it is +the value of the improvement only, and not the earth itself, that is +individual property. Every proprietor, therefore, of cultivated land, +owes to the community a _ground-rent_ (for I know of no better term +to express the idea) for the land which he holds; and it is from this +ground-rent that the fund proposed in this plan is to issue. + +It is deducible, as well from the nature of the thing as from all the +histories transmitted to us, that the idea of landed property commenced +with cultivation, and that there was no such thing as landed property +before that time. It could not exist in the first state of man, that +of hunters. It did not exist in the second state, that of shepherds: +neither Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, nor Job, so far as the history of the +Bible may be credited in probable things, were owners of land. Their +property consisted, as is always enumerated, in flocks and herds, and +they travelled with them from place to place. The frequent contentions +at that time, about the use of a well in the dry country of Arabia, +where those people lived, also shew that there was no landed property. +It was not admitted that land could be claimed as property. + +There could be no such thing as landed property originally. Man did not +make the earth, and, though he had a natural right to occupy it, he had +no right to locate as his property in perpetuity any part of it; neither +did the creator of the earth open a land-office, from whence the +first title-deeds should issue. Whence then, arose the idea of landed +property? I answer as before, that when cultivation began the idea of +landed property began with it, from the impossibility of separating the +improvement made by cultivation from the earth itself, upon which that +improvement was made. The value of the improvement so far exceeded the +value of the natural earth, at that time, as to absorb it; till, in the +end, the common right of all became confounded into the cultivated right +of the individual. But there are, nevertheless, distinct species of +rights, and will continue to be so long as the earth endures. + +It is only by tracing things to their origin that we can gain rightful +ideas of them, and it is by gaining such ideas that we discover the +boundary that divides right from wrong, and teaches every man to know +his own. I have entitled this tract Agrarian Justice, to distinguish it +from Agrarian Law. Nothing could be more unjust than Agrarian Law in a +country improved by cultivation; for though every man, as an inhabitant +of the earth, is a joint proprietor of it in its natural state, it +does not follow that he is a joint proprietor of cultivated earth. The +additional value made by cultivation, after the system was admitted, +became the property of those who did it, or who inherited it from them, +or who purchased it. It had originally no owner. Whilst, therefore, I +advocate the right, and interest myself in the hard case of all +those who have been thrown out of their natural inheritance by the +introduction of the system of landed property, I equally defend the +right of the possessor to the part which is his. + +Cultivation is at least one of the greatest natural improvements ever +made by human invention. It has given to created earth a tenfold value. +But the landed monopoly that began with it has produced the greatest +evil. It has dispossessed more than half the inhabitants of every nation +of their natural inheritance, without providing for them, as ought +to have been done, an indemnification for that loss, and has thereby +created a species of poverty and wretchedness that did not exist before. + +In advocating the case of the persons thus dispossessed, it is a right, +and not a charity, that I am pleading for. But it is that kind of right +which, being neglected at first, could not be brought forward afterwards +till heaven had opened the way by a revolution in the system of +government. Let us then do honour to revolutions by justice, and give +currency to their principles by blessings. + +Having thus in a few words, opened the merits of the case, I shall now +proceed to the plan I have to propose, which is, + +To create a National Fund, out of which there shall be paid to every +person, when arrived at the age of twenty-one years, the sum of fifteen +pounds sterling, as a compensation in part, for the loss of his or +her natural inheritance, by the introduction of the system of landed +property: + +And also, the sum of ten pounds per annum, during life, to every person +now living, of the age of fifty years, and to all others as they shall +arrive at that age. + + + +MEANS BY WHICH THE FUND IS TO BE CREATED. + +I have already established the principle, namely, that the earth, in its +natural uncultivated state was, and ever would have continued to be, the +_common property of the human race_; that in that state, every person +would have been born to property; and that the system of landed +property, by its inseparable connection with cultivation, and with what +is called civilized life, has absorbed the property of all those whom +it dispossessed, without providing, as ought to have been done, an +indemnification for that loss. + +The fault, however, is not in the present possessors. No complaint is +intended, or ought to be alleged against them, unless they adopt the +crime by opposing justice. The fault is in the system, and it has stolen +imperceptibly upon the world, aided afterwards by the agrarian law of +the sword. But the fault can be made to reform itself by successive +generations; and without diminishing or deranging the property of any of +the present possessors, the operation of the fund can yet commence, and +be in full activity, the first year of its establishment, or soon after, +as I shall shew. + +It is proposed that the payments, as already stated, be made to every +person, rich or poor. It is best to make it so, to prevent invidious +distinctions. It is also right it should be so, because it is in lieu of +the natural inheritance, which, as a right, belongs to every man, over +and above the property he may have created, or inherited from those who +did. Such persons as do not choose to receive it can throw it into the +common fund. + +Taking it then for granted that no person ought to be in a worse +condition when born under what is called a state of civilization, than +he would have been had he been born in a state of nature, and that +civilization ought to have made, and ought still to make, provision for +that purpose, it can only be done by subtracting from property a portion +equal in value to the natural inheritance it has absorbed. + +Various methods may be proposed for this purpose, but that which appears +to be the best (not only because it will operate without deranging any +present possessors, or without interfering with the collection of taxes +or emprunts necessary for the purposes of government and the revolution, +but because it will be the least troublesome and the most effectual, and +also because the subtraction will be made at a time that best admits it) +is at the moment that.. property is passing by the death of one person +to the possession of another. In this case, the bequeather gives +nothing: the receiver pays nothing. The only matter to him is, that +the monopoly of natural inheritance, to which there never was a right, +begins to cease in his person. A generous man would not wish it to +continue, and a just man will rejoice to see it abolished. + +My state of health prevents my making sufficient inquiries with respect +to the doctrine of probabilities, whereon to found calculations with +such degrees of certainty as they are capable of. What, therefore, I +offer on this head is more the result of observation and reflection +than of received information; but I believe it will be found to agree +sufficiently with fact. + +In the first place, taking twenty-one years as the epoch of maturity, +all the property of a nation, real and personal, is always in the +possession of persons above that age. It is then necessary to know, as a +datum of calculation, the average of years which persons above that age +will live. I take this average to be about thirty years, for though +many persons will live forty, fifty, or sixty years after the age of +twenty-one years, others will die much sooner, and some in every year of +that time. + +Taking, then, thirty years as the average of time, it will give, without +any material variation one way or other, the average of time in which +the whole property or capital of a nation, or a sum equal thereto, will +have passed through one entire revolution in descent, that is, will have +gone by deaths to new possessors; for though, in many instances, some +parts of this capital will remain forty, fifty, or sixty years in the +possession of one person, other parts will have revolved two or three +times before those thirty years expire, which will bring it to that +average; for were one half the capital of a nation to revolve twice in +thirty years, it would produce the same fund as if the whole revolved +once. + +Taking, then, thirty years as the average of time in which the whole +capital of a nation, or a sum equal thereto, will revolve once, the +thirtieth part thereof will be the sum that will revolve every year, +that is, will go by deaths to new possessors; and this last sum being +thus known, and the ratio per cent, to be subtracted from it determined, +it will give the annual amount or income of the proposed fund, to be +applied as already mentioned. + +In looking over the discourse of the English minister, Pitt, in his +opening of what is called in England the budget, (the scheme of finance +for the year 1796,) I find an estimate of the national capital of that +country. As this estimate of a national capital is prepared ready to my +hand, I take it as a datum to act upon. When a calculation is made upon +the known capital of any nation, combined with its population, it will +serve as a scale for any other nation, in proportion as its capital and +population be more or less. I am the more disposed to take this estimate +of Mr. Pitt, for the purpose of showing to that minister, upon his own +calculation, how much better money may be employed than in wasting it, +as he has done, on the wild project of setting up Bourbon kings. What, +in the name of heaven, are Bourbon kings to the people of England? It is +better that the people have bread. + +Mr. Pitt states the national capital of England, real and personal, +to be one thousand three hundred millions sterling, which is about +one-fourth part of the national capital of France, including Belgia. The +event of the last harvest in each country proves that the soil of France +is more productive than that of England, and that it can better support +twenty-four or twenty-five millions of inhabitants than that of England +can seven or seven and a half millions. + +The thirtieth part of this capital of 1,300,000,000L. is 43,333,333L. +which is the part that will revolve every year by deaths in that country +to new possessors; and the sum that will annually revolve in France +in the proportion of four to one, will be about one hundred and +seventy-three millions sterling. From this sum of 43,333,333L. annually +revolving, is to be subtracted the value of the natural inheritance +absorbed in it, which, perhaps, in fair justice, cannot be taken at +less, and ought not to be taken for more, than a tenth part. + +It will always happen, that of the property thus revolving by deaths +every year a part will descend in a direct line to sons and daughters, +and the other part collaterally, and the proportion will be found to be +about three to one; that is, about thirty millions of the above sum will +descend to direct heirs, and the remaining sum of 13,333,333L. to more +distant relations, and in part to strangers. + +Considering, then, that man is always related to society, that +relationship will become comparatively greater in proportion as the next +of kin is more distant, it is therefore consistent with civilization to +say that where there are no direct heirs society shall be heir to a part +over and above the tenth part due to society. If this additional part be +from five to ten or twelve per cent., in proportion as the next of kin +be nearer or more remote, so as to average with the escheats that may +fall, which ought always to go to society and not to the government +(an addition of ten per cent, more), the produce from the annual sum of +43,333,333L. will be: + +[Illustration: table361] + +Having thus arrived at the annual amount of the proposed fund, I come, +in the next place, to speak of the population proportioned to this fund, +and to compare it with the uses to which the fund is to be applied. + +The population (I mean that of England) does not exceed seven millions +and a half, and the number of persons above the age of fifty will in +that case be about four hundred thousand. There would not, however, be +more than that number that would accept the proposed ten pounds sterling +per annum, though they would be entitled to it. I have no idea it would +be accepted by many persons who had a yearly income of two or three +hundred pounds sterling. But as we often see instances of rich people +falling into sudden poverty, even at the age of sixty, they would always +have the right of drawing all the arrears due to them. Four millions, +therefore, of the above annual sum of 5,666,6667L. will be required for +four hundred thousand aged persons, at ten pounds sterling each. + +I come now to speak of the persons annually arriving at twenty-one years +of age. If all the persons who died were above the age of twenty-one +years, the number of persons annually arriving at that age, must be +equal to the annual number of deaths, to keep the population stationary. +But the greater part die under the age of twenty-one, and therefore the +number of persons annually arriving at twenty-one will be less than half +the number of deaths. The whole number of deaths upon a population of +seven millions and an half will be about 220,000 annually. The number +arriving at twenty-one years of age will be about 100,000. The whole +number of these will not receive the proposed fifteen pounds, for the +reasons already mentioned, though, as in the former case, they would be +entitled to it. Admitting then that a tenth part declined receiving it, +the amount would stand thus: + +[Illustration: table362] + +There are, in every country, a number of blind and lame persons, totally +incapable of earning a livelihood. But as it will always happen that the +greater number of blind persons will be among those who are above +the age of fifty years, they will be provided for in that class. The +remaining sum of 316,666L. will provide for the lame and blind under +that age, at the same rate of 10L. annually for each person. + +Having now gone through all the necessary calculations, and stated the +particulars of the plan, I shall conclude with some observations. + +It is not charity but a right, not bounty but justice, that I am +pleading for. The present state of civilization is as odious as it is +unjust. It is absolutely the opposite of what it should be, and it is +necessary that a revolution should be made in it.(1) The contrast of +affluence and wretchedness continually meeting and offending the eye, +is like dead and living bodies chained together. Though I care as little +about riches, as any man, I am a friend to riches because they are +capable of good. I care not how affluent some may be, provided that +none be miserable in consequence of it. But it is impossible to enjoy +affluence with the felicity it is capable of being enjoyed, whilst so +much misery is mingled in the scene. The sight of the misery, and the +unpleasant sensations it suggests, which, though they may be suffocated +cannot be extinguished, are a greater drawback upon the felicity of +affluence than the proposed 10 per cent, upon property is worth. He that +would not give the one to get rid of the other has no charity, even for +himself. + + 1 This and the preceding sentence axe omitted in all + previous English and American editions.--_Editor._. + +There are, in every country, some magnificent charities established by +individuals. It is, however, but little that any individual can do, +when the whole extent of the misery to be relieved is considered. He may +satisfy his conscience, but not his heart. He may give all that he +has, and that all will relieve but little. It is only by organizing +civilization upon such principles as to act like a system of pullies, +that the whole weight of misery can be removed. + +The plan here proposed will reach the whole. It will immediately relieve +and take out of view three classes of wretchedness--the blind, the lame, +and the aged poor; and it will furnish the rising generation with means +to prevent their becoming poor; and it will do this without deranging +or interfering with any national measures. To shew that this will be the +case, it is sufficient to observe that the operation and effect of +the plan will, in all cases, be the same as if every individual were +_voluntarily_ to make his will and dispose of his property in the manner +here proposed. + +But it is justice, and not charity, that is the principle of the plan. +In all great cases it is necessary to have a principle more universally +active than charity; and, with respect to justice, it ought not to be +left to the choice of detached individuals whether they will do justice +or not. Considering then, the plan on the ground of justice, it ought to +be the act of the whole, growing spontaneously out of the principles of +the revolution, and the reputation of it ought to be national and not +individual. + +A plan upon this principle would benefit the revolution by the energy +that springs from the consciousness of justice. It would multiply also +the national resources; for property, like vegetation, increases +by offsets. When a young couple begin the world, the difference is +exceedingly great whether they begin with nothing or with fifteen pounds +apiece. With this aid they could buy a cow, and implements to cultivate +a few acres of land; and instead of becoming burdens upon society, which +is always the case where children are produced faster than they can be +fed, would be put in the way of becoming useful and profitable citizens. +The national domains also would sell the better if pecuniary aids were +provided to cultivate them in small lots. + +It is the practice of what has unjustly obtained the name of +civilization (and the practice merits not to be called either charity +or policy) to make some provision for persons becoming poor and wretched +only at the time they become so. Would it not, even as a matter of +economy, be far better to adopt means to prevent their becoming poor? +This can best be done by making every person when arrived at the age +of twenty-one years an inheritor of something to begin with. The rugged +face of society, chequered with the extremes of affluence and want, +proves that some extraordinary violence has been committed upon it, +and calls on justice for redress. The great mass of the poor in all +countries are become an hereditary race, and it is next to impossible +for them to get cut of that state of themselves. It ought also to be +observed that this mass increases in all countries that are called +civilized. More persons fall annually into it than get out of it. + +Though in a plan of which justice and humanity are the +foundation-principles, interest ought not to be admitted into the +calculation, yet it is always of advantage to the establishment of any +plan to shew that it is beneficial as a matter of interest. The success +of any proposed plan submitted to public consideration must finally +depend on the numbers interested in supporting it, united with the +justice of its principles. + +The plan here proposed will benefit all, without injuring any. It will +consolidate the interest of the Republic with that of the individual. +To the numerous class dispossessed of their natural inheritance by the +system of landed property it will be an act of national justice. To +persons dying possessed of moderate fortunes it will operate as a +tontine to their children, more beneficial than the sum of money paid +into the fund: and it will give to the accumulation of riches a degree +of security that none of the old governments of Europe, now tottering on +their foundations, can give. + +I do not suppose that more than one family in ten, in any of the +countries of Europe, has, when the head of the family dies, a clear +property left of five hundred pounds sterling. To all such the plan is +advantageous. That property would pay fifty pounds into the fund, and if +there were only two children under age they would receive fifteen pounds +each, (thirty pounds,) on coming of age, and be entitled to ten pounds +a-year after fifty. It is from the overgrown acquisition of property +that the fund will support itself; and I know that the possessors of +such property in England, though they would eventually be benefited by +the protection of nine-tenths of it, will exclaim against the plan. But +without entering into any inquiry how they came by that property, let +them recollect that they have been the advocates of this war, and that +Mr. Pitt has already laid on more new taxes to be raised annually upon +the people of England, and that for supporting the despotism of Austria +and the Bourbons against the liberties of France, than would pay +annually all the sums proposed in this plan. + +I have made the calculations stated in this plan, upon what is called +personal, as well as upon landed property. The reason for making it upon +land is already explained; and the reason for taking personal property +into the calculation is equally well founded though on a different +principle. Land, as before said, is the free gift of the Creator in +common to the human race. Personal property is the effect of society; +and it is as impossible for an individual to acquire personal property +without the aid of society, as it is for him to make land originally. +Separate an individual from society, and give him an island or a +continent to possess, and he cannot acquire personal property. He cannot +be rich. So inseparably are the means connected with the end, in all +cases, that where the former do not exist the latter cannot be obtained. +All accumulation, therefore, of personal property, beyond what a man's +own hands produce, is derived to him by living in society; and he owes +on every principle of justice, of gratitude, and of civilization, a part +of that accumulation back again to society from whence the whole came. +This is putting the matter on a general principle, and perhaps it is +best to do so; for if we examine the case minutely it will be found that +the accumulation of personal property is, in many instances, the effect +of paying too little for the labour that produced it; the consequence +of which is, that the working hand perishes in old age, and the employer +abounds in affluence. It is, perhaps, impossible to proportion exactly +the price of labour to the profits it produces; and it will also be +said, as an apology for the injustice, that were a workman to receive +an increase of wages daily he would not save it against old age, nor be +much bet-ter for it in the interim. Make, then, society the treasurer to +guard it for him in a common fund; for it is no reason, that because he +might not make a good use of it for himself, another should take it. + +The state of civilization that has prevailed throughout Europe, is as +unjust in its principle, as it is horrid in its effects; and it is the +consciousness of this, and the apprehension that such a state cannot +continue when once investigation begins in any country, that makes +the possessors of property dread every idea of a revolution. It is the +hazard and not the principle of revolutions that retards their progress. +This being the case, it is necessary as well for the protection of +property, as for the sake of justice and humanity, to form a system +that, whilst it preserves one part of society from wretchedness, shall +secure the other from depredation. + +The superstitious awe, the enslaving reverence, that formerly surrounded +affluence, is passing away in all countries, and leaving the possessor +of property to the convulsion of accidents. When wealth and splendour, +instead of fascinating the multitude, excite emotions of disgust; when, +instead of drawing forth admiration, it is beheld as an insult upon +wretchedness; when the ostentatious appearance it makes serves to call +the right of it in question, the case of property becomes critical, and +it is only in a system of justice that the possessor can contemplate +security. + +To remove the danger, it is necessary to remove the antipathies, and +this can only be done by making property productive of a national +blessing, extending to every individual. When the riches of one man +above another shall increase the national fund in the same proportion; +when it shall be seen that the prosperity of that fund depends on the +prosperity of individuals; when the more riches a man acquires, the +better it shall be for the general mass; it is then that antipathies +will cease, and property be placed on the permanent basis of national +interest and protection. + +I have no property in France to become subject to the plan I propose. +What I have which is not much, is in the United States of America. But +I will pay one hundred pounds sterling towards this fund in rance, the +instant it shall be established; and I will pay the same sum in England +whenever a similar establishment shall take place in that country. + +A revolution in the state of civilization is the necessary companion of +revolutions in the system of government. If a revolution in any country +be from bad to good, or from good to bad, the state of what is called +civilization in that country, must be made conformable thereto, to give +that revolution effect. Despotic government supports itself by abject +civilization, in which debasement of the human mind, and wretchedness +in the mass of the people, are the chief enterions. Such governments +consider man merely as an animal; that the exercise of intellectual +faculty is not his privilege; _that he has nothing to do with the laws +but to obey them _; (*) and they politically depend more upon breaking +the spirit of the people by poverty, than they fear enraging it by +desperation. + + * Expression of Horsley, an English bishop, in the English + parliament.--Author. + +It is a revolution in the state of civilization that will give +perfection to the revolution of France. Already the conviction that +government by representation is the true system of government is +spreading itself fast in the world. The reasonableness of it can be seen +by all. The justness of it makes itself felt even by its opposers. But +when a system of civilization, growing out of that system of government, +shall be so organized that not a man or woman born in the Republic but +shall inherit some means of beginning the world, and see before them +the certainty of escaping the miseries that under other governments +accompany old age, the revolution of France will have an advocate and an +ally in the heart of all nations. + +An army of principles will penetrate where an army of soldiers cannot; +it will succeed where diplomatic management would fail: it is neither +the Rhine, the Channel, nor the Ocean that can arrest its progress: it +will march on the horizon of the world, and it will conquer. + + +MEANS FOR CARRYING THE PROPOSED PLAN INTO EXECUTION, + +AND TO RENDER IT AT THE SAME TIME CONDUCIVE TO THE PUBLIC INTEREST. + +I. Each canton shall elect in its primary assemblies, three persons, +as commissioners for that canton, who shall take cognizance, and keep +a register of all matters happening in that canton, conformable to the +charter that shall be established by law for carrying this plan into +execution. + +II. The law shall fix the manner in which the property of deceased +persons shall be ascertained. + +III. When the amount of the property of any deceased person shall be +ascertained, the principal heir to that property, or the eldest of the +co-heirs, if of lawful age, or if under age the person authorized by the +will of the deceased to represent him or them, shall give bond to the +commissioners of the canton to pay the said tenth part thereof in four +equal quarterly payments, within the space of one year or sooner, at the +choice of the payers. One half of the whole property shall remain as a +security until the bond be paid off. + +IV. The bond shall be registered in the office of the commissioners of +the canton, and the original bonds shall be deposited in the national +bank at Paris. The bank shall publish every quarter of a year the amount +of the bonds in its possession, and also the bonds that shall have been +paid off, or what parts thereof, since the last quarterly publication. + +V. The national bank shall issue bank notes upon the security of the +bonds in its possession. The notes so issued, shall be applied to pay +the pensions of aged persons, and the compensations to persons arriving +at twenty-one years of age. It is both reasonable and generous to +suppose, that persons not under immediate necessity, will suspend their +right of drawing on the fund, until it acquire, as it will do, a greater +degree of ability. In this case, it is proposed, that an honorary +register be kept, in each canton, of the names of the persons thus +suspending that right, at least during the present war. + +VI. As the inheritors of property must always take up their bonds in +four quarterly payments, or sooner if they choose, there will always +be _numéraire_ [cash] arriving at the bank after the expiration of the +first quarter, to exchange for the bank notes that shall be brought in. + +VII. The bank notes being thus put in circulation, upon the best of all +possible security, that of actual property, to more than four times +the amount of the bonds upon which the notes are issued, and with +_numéraire_ continually arriving at the bank to exchange or pay them off +whenever they shall be presented for that purpose, they will acquire +a permanent value in all parts of the Republic. They can therefore be +received in payment of taxes, or emprunts equal to numéraire, because +the government can always receive numéraire for them at the bank. + +VIII. It will be necessary that the payments of the ten per cent, be +made in numeraire for the first year from the establishment of the plan. +But after the expiration of the first year, the inheritors of property +may pay ten per cent either in bank notes issued upon the fund, or in +numeraire, If the payments be in numeraire, it will lie as a deposit at +the bank, to be exchanged for a quantity of notes equal to that amount; +and if in notes issued upon the fund, it will cause a demand upon the +fund, equal thereto; and thus the operation of the plan will create +means to carry itself into execution. + +Thomas Paine. + + + + +XXIX. THE EIGHTEENTH FRUCTIDOR. + + +To the People of France and the French Armies (1) + + 1 This pamphlet was written between the defeat of Pichegru's + attempt, September 4, 1794, and November 12, of the same + year, the date of the Bien-informé in which the publication + is noticed. General Pichegra (Charles), (1761-1804) having + joined a royalist conspiracy against the Republic, was + banished to Cayenne (1797), whence he escaped to England; + having returned to Paris (1804) he was imprisoned in the + Temple, and there found strangled by a silk handkerchief, + whether by his own or another's act remaining doubtful. + --Editor. + +When an extraordinary measure, not warranted by established +constitutional rules, and justifiable only on the supreme law of +absolute necessity, bursts suddenly upon us, we must, in order to form +a true judgment thereon, carry our researches back to the times that +preceded and occasioned it. Taking up then the subject with respect to +the event of the Eighteenth of Fructidor on this ground, I go to examine +the state of things prior to that period. I begin with the establishment +of the constitution of the year 3 of the French Republic. + +A better _organized_ constitution has never yet been devised by human +wisdom. It is, in its organization, free from all the vices and defects +to which other forms of government are more or less subject. I will +speak first of the legislative body, because the Legislature is, in the +natural order of things, the first power; the Executive is the first +magistrate. + +By arranging the legislative body into two divisions, as is done in the +French Constitution, the one, (the Council of Five Hundred,) whose part +it is to conceive and propose laws; the other, a Council of Ancients, to +review, approve, or reject the laws proposed; all the security is given +that can arise from coolness of reflection acting upon, or correcting +the precipitancy or enthusiasm of conception and imagination. It is +seldom that our first thought, even upon any subject, is sufficiently +just.(1) + + 1 For Paine's ideas on the right division of representatives + into two chambers, which differ essentially from any + bicameral system ever adopted, see vol. ii., p. 444 of this + work; also, in the present volume, Chapter XXXIV.-- + _Editor._. + +The policy of renewing the Legislature by a third part each year, though +not entirely new, either in theory or in practice, is nevertheless one +of the modern improvements in the science of government. It prevents, +on the one hand, that convulsion and precipitate change of measures +into which a nation might be surprised by the going out of the whole +Legislature at the same time, and the instantaneous election of a new +one; on the other hand, it excludes that common interest from taking +place that might tempt a whole Legislature, whose term of duration +expired at once, to usurp the right of continuance. I go now to speak of +the Executive. + +It is a principle uncontrovertible by reason, that each of the parts +by which government is composed, should be so constructed as to be in +perpetual maturity. We should laugh at the idea of a Council of Five +Hundred, or a Council of Ancients, or a Parliament, or any national +assembly, who should be all children in leading strings and in the +cradle, or be all sick, insane, deaf, dumb, lame or blind, at the same +time, or be all upon crutches, tottering with age or infirmities. Any +form of government that was so constructed as to admit the possibility +of such cases happening to a whole Legislature would justly be the +ridicule of the world; and on a parity of reasoning, it is equally as +ridiculous that the same cases should happen in that part of government +which is called the Executive; yet this is the contemptible condition to +which an Executive is always subject, and which is often happening, +when it is placed in an hereditary individual called a king. When +that individual is in either of the cases before mentioned, the whole +Executive is in the same case; for himself is the whole. He is then (as +an Executive) the ridiculous picture of what a Legislature would be if +all its members were in the same case. The one is a whole made up of +parts, the other a whole without parts; and anything happening to the +one, (as a part or sec-tion of the government,) is parallel to the same +thing happening to the other. + +As, therefore, an hereditary executive called a king is a perfect +absurdity in itself, any attachment to it is equally as absurd. It is +neither instinct or reason; and if this attachment is what is called +royalism in France, then is a royalist inferior in character to every +species of the animal world; for what can that being be who acts neither +by instinct nor by reason? Such a being merits rather our derision +than our pity; and it is only when it assumes to act its folly that it +becomes capable of provoking republican indignation. In every other +case it is too contemptible to excite anger. For my own part, when I +contemplate the self-evident absurdity of the thing, I can scarcely +permit myself to believe that there exists in the high-minded nation of +France such a mean and silly animal as a royalist. + +As it requires but a single glance of thought to see (as is before said) +that all the parts of which government is composed must be at all times +in a state of full maturity, it was not possible that men acting under +the influence of reason, could, in forming a Constitution, admit an +hereditary Executive, any more than an hereditary Legislature. I go +therefore to examine the other cases. + +In the first place, (rejecting the hereditary system,) shall the +Executive by election be an _individual or a plurality_. + +An individual by election is almost as bad as the hereditary system, +except that there is always a better chance of not having an idiot. But +he will never be any thing more than a chief of a party, and none but +those of that party will have access to him. He will have no person +to consult with of a standing equal with himself, and consequently be +deprived of the advantages arising from equal discussion. + +Those whom he admits in consultation will be ministers of his own +appointment, who, if they displease by their advice, must expect to +be dismissed. The authority also is too great, and the business too +complicated, to be intrusted to the ambition or the judgment of an +individual; and besides these cases, the sudden change of measures +that might follow by the going out of an individual Executive, and the +election of a new one, would hold the affairs of a nation in a state of +perpetual uncertainty. We come then to the case of a plural Executive. + +It must be sufficiently plural, to give opportunity to discuss all the +various subjects that in the course of national business may come before +it; and yet not so numerous as to endanger the necessary secrecy that +certain cases, such as those of war, require. + +Establishing, then, plurality as a principle, the only question is, What +shall be the number of that plurality? + +Three are too few either for the variety or the quantity of business. +The Constitution has adopted five; and experience has shewn, from the +commencement of the Constitution to the time of the election of the new +legislative third, that this number of Directors, when well chosen, is +sufficient for all national executive purposes; and therefore a greater +number would be only an unnecessary expence. That the measures of the +Directory during that period were well concerted is proved by their +success; and their being well concerted shews they were well discussed; +and, therefore, that five is a sufficient number with respect to +discussion; and, on the other hand, the secret, whenever there was +one, (as in the case of the expedition to Ireland,) was well kept, and +therefore the number is not too great to endanger the necessary secrecy. + +The reason why the two Councils are numerous is not from the necessity +of their being so, on account of business, but because that every +part of the republic shall find and feel itself in the national +representation. + +Next to the general principle of government by representation, the +excellence of the French Constitution consists in providing means to +prevent that abuse of power that might arise by letting it remain too +long in the same hands. This wise precaution pervades every part of the +Constitution. Not only the legislature is renewable by a third every +year, but the president of each of the Councils is renewable every +month; and of the Directory, one member each year, and its president +every three months. Those who formed the Constitution cannot be accused +of having contrived for themselves. The Constitution, in this respect, +is as impartially constructed as if those who framed it were to die as +soon as they had finished their work. + +The only defect in the Constitution is that of having narrowed the right +of suffrage; and it is in a great measure due to this narrowing the +right, that the last elections have not generally been good. My former +colleagues will, I presume, pardon my saying this to day, when they +recollect my arguments against this defect, at the time the Constitution +was discussed in the Convention.(1) + + 1 See Chapters XXIV. and XXV., also the letter prefaced to + XXVIII., in this volume.--_Editor._, + +I will close this part of the subject by remarking on one of the most +vulgar and absurd sayings or dogmas that ever yet imposed itself upon +the world, which is, "_that a Republic is fit only for a small country, +and a Monarchy for a large one_." Ask those who say this their reasons +why it is so, and they can give none. + +Let us then examine the case. If the quantity of knowledge in a +government ought to be proportioned to the extent of a country, and +the magnitude and variety of its affairs, it follows, as an undeniable +result, that this absurd dogma is false, and that the reverse of it is +true. As to what is called Monarchy, if it be adaptable to any country +it can only be so to a small one, whose concerns are few, little +complicated, and all within the comprehension of an individual. But when +we come to a country of large extent, vast population, and whose affairs +are great, numerous, and various, it is the representative republican +system only, that can collect into the government the quantity +of knowledge necessary to govern to the best national advantage. +Montesquieu, who was strongly inclined to republican government, +sheltered himself under this absurd dogma; for he had always the +Bastile before his eyes when he was speaking of Republics, and therefore +_pretended_ not to write for France. Condorcet governed himself by +the same caution, but it was caution only, for no sooner had he the +opportunity of speaking fully out than he did it. When I say this of +Condorcet, I know it as a fact. In a paper published in Paris, July, +1791, entitled, "_The Republican, or the Defender of Representative +Government?_" is a piece signed _Thomas Paine_.(1) That piece was +concerted between Condorcet and myself. I wrote the original in +English, and Condorcet translated it. The object of it was to expose the +absurdity and falsehood of the above mentioned dogma. + + 1 Chapter II. of this volume. See also my "Life of Paine," + vol. i., p. 311.--Editor. + +Having thus concisely glanced at the excellencies of the Constitution, +and the superiority of the representative system of government over +every other system, (if any other can be called a system,) I come to +speak of the circumstances that have intervened between the time the +Constitution was established and the event that took place on the 18th +of Fructidor of the present year. + +Almost as suddenly as the morning light dissipates darkness, did the +establishment of the Constitution change the face of affairs in France. +Security succeeded to terror, prosperity to distress, plenty to famine, +and confidence increased as the days multiplied, until the coming of the +new third. A series of victories unequalled in the world, followed +each other, almost too rapidly to be counted, and too numerous to be +remembered. The Coalition, every where defeated and confounded, crumbled +away like a ball of dust in the hand of a giant. Every thing, during +that period, was acted on such a mighty scale that reality appeared a +dream, and truth outstript romance. It may figuratively be said, that +the Rhine and the Rubicon (Germany and Italy) replied in triumphs to +each other, and the echoing Alps prolonged the shout. I will not +here dishonour a great description by noticing too much the English +government. It is sufficient to say paradoxically, that in the magnitude +of its littleness it cringed, it intrigued, and sought protection in +corruption. + +Though the achievements of these days might give trophies to a nation +and laurels to its heroes, they derive their full radiance of glory +from the principle they inspired and the object they accomplished. +Desolation, chains, and slavery had marked the progress of former wars, +but to conquer for Liberty had never been thought of. To receive +the degrading submission of a distressed and subjugated people, and +insultingly permit them to live, made the chief triumph of former +conquerors; but to receive them with fraternity, to break their chains, +to tell them they are free, and teach them to be so, make a new volume +in the history of man. + +Amidst those national honours, and when only two enemies remained, both +of whom had solicited peace, and one of them had signed preliminaries, +the election of the new third commenced. Every thing was made easy to +them. All difficulties had been conquered before they arrived at the +government. They came in the olive days of the revolution, and all they +had to do was not to do mischief. + +It was, however, not difficult to foresee, that the elections would not +be generally good. The horrid days of Robespierre were still remembered, +and the gratitude due to those who had put an end to them was forgotten. + +Thousands who, by passive approbation during that tremendous scene, had +experienced no suffering, assumed the merit of being the loudest against +it. Their cowardice in not opposing it, became courage when it was over. +They exclaimed against Terrorism as if they had been the heroes that +overthrew it, and rendered themselves ridiculous by fantastically +overacting moderation. The most noisy of this class, that I have met +with, are those who suffered nothing. They became all things, at all +times, to all men; till at last they laughed at principle. It was the +real republicans who suffered most during the time of Robespierre. The +persecution began upon them on the 31st of May, 1793, and ceased only +by the exertions of the remnant that survived. + +In such a confused state of things as preceded the late elections the +public mind was put into a condition of being easily deceived; and it +was almost natural that the hypocrite would stand the best chance of +being elected into the new third. Had those who, since their election, +have thrown the public affairs into confusion by counter-revolutionary +measures, declared themselves beforehand, they would have been denounced +instead of being chosen. Deception was necessary to their success. +The Constitution obtained a full establishment; the revolution was +considered as complete; and the war on the eve of termination. In such a +situation, the mass of the people, fatigued by a long revolution, sought +repose; and in their elections they looked out for quiet men. They +unfortunately found hypocrites. Would any of the primary assemblies +have voted for a civil war? Certainly they would not. But the electoral +assemblies of some departments have chosen men whose measures, since +their election, tended to no other end but to provoke it. Either those +electors have deceived their constituents of the primary assemblies, or +they have been themselves deceived in the choice they made of deputies. + +That there were some direct but secret conspirators in the new third can +scarcely admit of a doubt; but it is most reasonable to suppose that a +great part were seduced by the vanity of thinking they could do better +than those whom they succeeded. Instead of trusting to experience, they +attempted experiments. This counter-disposition prepared them to fall in +with any measures contrary to former measures, and that without seeing, +and probably without suspecting, the end to which they led. + +No sooner were the members of the new third arrived at the seat of +government, than expectation was excited to see how they would act. +Their motions were watched by all parties, and it was impossible for +them to steal a march unobserved. They had it in their power to do great +good, or great mischief. A firm and manly conduct on their part, uniting +with that of the Directory and their colleagues, would have terminated +the war. But the moment before them was not the moment of hesitation. He +that hesitates in such situation is lost. + +The first public act of the Council of Five Hundred was the election of +Pichegru to the presidency of that Council. He arrived at it by a very +large majority, and the public voice was in his favour. I among the rest +was one who rejoiced at it. But if the defection of Pichegru was at that +time known to Condé, and consequently to Pitt, it unveils the cause that +retarded all negotiations for peace.(1) They interpreted that election +into a signal of a counter-revolution, and were waiting for it; and they +mistook the respect shown to Pichegru, founded on the supposition of his +integrity, as a symptom of national revolt. Judging of things by their +own foolish ideas of government, they ascribed appearances to causes +between which there was no connection. Every thing on their part has +been a comedy of errors, and the actors have been chased from the stage. + + 1 Louis Joseph de Bourbon, Prince de Condé (1736-1818), + organized the French emigrants on the Rhine into an army + which was incorporated with that of Austria but paid by + England. He converted Pichegru into a secret partisan of the + Bourbons. He ultimately returned to France with Louis + XVIII., who made him colonel of infantry and master of the + royal household.--_Editor._, + +Two or three decades of the new sessions passed away without any +thing very material taking place; but matters soon began to explain +themselves. The first thing that struck the public mind was, that no +more was heard of negotiations for peace, and that public business stood +still. It was not the object of the conspirators that there should be +peace; but as it was necessary to conceal their object, the Constitution +was ransacked to find pretences for delays. In vain did the Directory +explain to them the state of the finances and the wants of the army. The +committee, charged with that business, trifled away its time by a series +of unproductive reports, and continued to sit only to produce more. +Every thing necessary to be done was neglected, and every thing improper +was attempted. Pichegru occupied himself about forming a national guard +for the Councils--the suspicious signal of war,--Camille Jordan about +priests and bells, and the emigrants, with whom he had associated +during the two years he was in England.1 Willot and Delarue attacked the +Directory: their object was to displace some one of the directors, to +get in another of their own. Their motives with respect to the age of +Barras (who is as old as he wishes to be, and has been a little too old +for them) were too obvious not to be seen through.(2) + + 1 Paine's pamphlet, addressed to Jordan, deals mainly with + religions matters, and is reserved for oar fourth volume.-- + _Editor._. + + 2 Paul François Jean Nicolas Barras (1755-1899) was + President of the Directory at this time, 1797.--_Editor._. + +In this suspensive state of things, the public mind, filled with +apprehensions, became agitated, and without knowing what it might be, +looked for some extraordinary event. It saw, for it could not avoid +seeing, that things could not remain long in the state they were in, +but it dreaded a convulsion. That spirit of triflingness which it +had indulged too freely when in a state of security, and which it is +probable the new agents had interpreted into indifference about the +success of the Republic, assumed a serious aspect that afforded to +conspiracy no hope of aid; but still it went on. It plunged itself into +new measures with the same ill success, and the further it went the +further the public mind retired. The conspiracy saw nothing around it to +give it encouragement. + +The obstinacy, however, with which it persevered in its repeated +attacks upon the Directory, in framing laws in favour of emigrants and +refractory priests, and in every thing inconsistent with the immediate +safety of the Republic, and which served to encourage the enemy to +prolong the war, admitted of no other direct interpretation than that +something was rotten in the Council of Five Hundred. The evidence of +circumstances became every day too visible not to be seen, and too +strong to be explained away. Even as errors, (to say no worse of +them,) they are not entitled to apology; for where knowledge is a duty, +ignorance is a crime. + +The more serious republicans, who had better opportunities than the +generality had, of knowing the state of politics, began to take +the alarm, and formed themselves into a Society, by the name of the +Constitutional Club. It is the only Society of which I have been a +member in France; and I went to this because it was become necessary +that the friends of the Republic should rally round the standard of +the constitution. I met there several of the original patriots of the +revolution; I do not mean of the last order of Jacobins, but of the +first of that name. The faction in the Council of Five Hundred, +who, finding no counsel from the public, began to be frightened at +appearances, fortified itself against the dread of this Society, by +passing a law to dissolve it. The constitutionality of the law was at +least doubtful: but the Society, that it might not give the example of +exasperating matters already too much inflamed, suspended its meetings. + +A matter, however, of much greater moment soon after presented itself. +It was the march of four regiments, some of whom, in the line of their +route, had to pass within about twelve leagues of Paris, which is the +boundary the Constitution had fixed as the distance of any armed +force from the legislative body. In another state of things, such a +circumstance would not have been noticed. But conspiracy is quick of +suspicion, and the fear which the faction in the Council of Five +Hundred manifested upon this occasion could not have suggested itself +to innocent men; neither would innocent men have expostulated with the +Directory upon the case, in the manner these men did. The question they +urged went to extort from the Directory, and to make known to the enemy, +what the destination of the troops was. The leaders of the faction +conceived that the troops were marching against them; and the conduct +they adopted in consequence of it was sufficient to justify the measure, +even if it had been so. From what other motive than the consciousness of +their own designs could they have fear? The troops, in every instance, +had been the gallant defenders of the Republic, and the openly declared +friends of the Constitution; the Directory had been the same, and if the +faction were not of a different description neither fear nor suspicion +could have had place among them. + +All those manouvres in the Council were acted under the most +professional attachment to the Constitution; and this as necessarily +served to enfeeble their projects. It is exceedingly difficult, and next +to impossible, to conduct a conspiracy, and still more so to give it +success, in a popular government. The disguised and feigned pretences +which men in such cases are obliged to act in the face of the public, +suppress the action of the faculties, and give even to natural courage +the features of timidity. They are not half the men they would be where +no disguise is necessary. It is impossible to be a hypocrite and to be +brave at the same instant. + +The faction, by the imprudence of its measures, upon the march of +the troops, and upon the declarations of the officers and soldiers to +support the Republic and the Constitution against all open or concealed +attempts to overturn them, had gotten itself involved with the army, and +in effect declared itself a party against it. On the one hand, laws were +proposed to admit emigrants and refractory priests as free citizens; and +on the other hand to exclude the troops from Paris, and to punish the +soldiers who had declared to support the Republic In the mean time all +negociations for peace went backward; and the enemy, still recruiting +its forces, rested to take advantage of circumstances. Excepting the +absence of hostilities, it was a state worse than war. + +If all this was not a conspiracy, it had at least the features of one, +and was pregnant with the same mischiefs. The eyes of the faction could +not avoid being open to the dangers to which it obstinately exposed +the Republic; yet still it persisted. During this scene, the journals +devoted to the faction were repeatedly announcing the near approach of +peace with Austria and with England, and often asserting that it was +concluded. This falsehood could be intended for no other purpose than to +keep the eyes of the people shut against the dangers to which they were +exposed. + +Taking all circumstances together, it was impossible that such a state +of things could continue long; and at length it was resolved to bring it +to an issue. There is good reason to believe that the affair of the +18th Fructidor (September 4) was intended to have taken place two days +before; but on recollecting that it was the 2d of September, a day +mournful in the annals of the revolution, it was postponed. When the +issue arrived, the faction found to its cost it had no party among the +public. It had sought its own disasters, and was left to suffer the +consequences. Foreign enemies, as well as those of the interior, if +any such there be, ought to see in the event of this day that all +expectation of aid from any part of the public in support of a counter +revolution is delusion. In a state of security the thoughtless, who +trembled at terror, may laugh at principles of Liberty (for they have +laughed) but it is one thing to indulge a foolish laugh, quite another +thing to surrender Liberty. + +Considering the event of the 18th Fructidor in a political light, it is +one of those that are justifiable only on the supreme law of absolute +necessity, and it is the necessity abstracted from the event that is to +be deplored. The event itself is matter of joy. Whether the manouvres in +the Council of Five Hundred were the conspiracy of a few, aided l>y the +perverseness of many, or whether it had a deeper root, the dangers were +the same. It was impossible to go on. Every thing was at stake, and +all national business at a stand. The case reduced itself to a simple +alternative--shall the Republic be destroyed by the darksome manouvres +-of a faction, or shall it be preserved by an exceptional act? + +During the American Revolution, and that after the State constitutions +were established, particular cases arose that rendered it necessary to +act in a manner that would have been treasonable in a state of peace. At +one time Congress invested General Washington with dictatorial power. +At another time the Government of Pennsylvania suspended itself and +declared martial law. It was the necessity of the times only that +made the apology of those extraordinary measures. But who was it that +produced the necessity of an extraordinary measure in France? A faction, +and that in the face of prosperity and success. Its conduct is without +apology; and it is on the faction only that the exceptional measure has +fallen. The public has suffered no inconvenience. If there are some men +more disposed than others not to act severely, I have a right to place +myself in that class; the whole of my political life invariably proves +it; yet I cannot see, taking all parts of the case together, what else, +or what better, could have been done, than has been done. It was a +great stroke, applied in a great crisis, that crushed in an instant, +and without the loss of a life, all the hopes of the enemy, and restored +tranquillity to the interior. + +The event was ushered in by the discharge of two cannon at four in the +morning, and was the only noise that was heard throughout the day. It +naturally excited a movement among the Parisians to enquire the cause. +They soon learned it, and the countenance they carried was easy to be +interpreted. It was that of a people who, for some time past, had +been oppressed with apprehensions of some direful event, and who felt +themselves suddenly relieved, by finding what it was. Every one went +about his business, or followed his curiosity in quietude. It resembled +the cheerful tranquillity of the day when Louis XVI. absconded in 1791, +and like that day it served to open the eyes of the nation. + +If we take a review of the various events, as well conspiracies as +commotions, that have succeeded each other in this revolution, we shall +see how the former have wasted consumptively away, and the consequences +of the latter have softened. The 31st May and its consequences were +terrible. That of the 9th and 10th Thermidor, though glorious for the +republic, as it overthrew one of the most horrid and cruel despotisms +that ever raged, was nevertheless marked with many circumstances +of severe and continued retaliation. The commotions of Germinal and +Prairial of the year 3, and of Vendemaire of the year 4, were many +degrees below those that preceded them, and affected but a small part of +the public. This of Pichegru and his associates has been crushed in an +instant, without the stain of blood, and without involving the public in +the least inconvenience. + +These events taken in a series, mark the progress of the Republic from +disorder to stability. The contrary of this is the case in all parts +of the British dominions. There, commotions are on an ascending scale; +every one is higher than the former. That of the sailors had nearly +been the overthrow of the government. But the most potent of all is the +invisible commotion in the Bank. It works with the silence of time, and +the certainty of death. Every thing happening in France is curable; but +this is beyond the reach of nature or invention. + +Leaving the event of the 18th Fructidor to justify itself by the +necessity that occasioned it, and glorify itself by the happiness of +its consequences, I come to cast a coup-d'oil on the present state of +affairs. + +We have seen by the lingering condition of the negociations for peace, +that nothing was to be expected from them, in the situation that things +stood prior to the 18th Fructidor. The armies had done wonders, but +those wonders were rendered unproductive by the wretched manouvres of a +faction. New exertions are now necessary to repair the mischiefs which +that faction has done. The electoral bodies, in some Departments, who +by an injudicious choice, or a corrupt influence, have sent improper +deputies to the Legislature, have some atonement to make to their +country. The evil originated with them, and the least they can do is to +be among the foremost to repair it. + +It is, however, in vain to lament an evil that is past. There is neither +manhood nor policy in grief; and it often happens that an error in +politics, like an error in war, admits of being turned to greater +advantage than if it had not occurred. The enemy, encouraged by that +error, presumes too much, and becomes doubly foiled by the re-action. +England, unable to conquer, has stooped to corrupt; and defeated in +the last, as in the first, she is in a worse condition than before. +Continually increasing her crimes, she increases the measure of her +atonement, and multiplies the sacrifices she must make to obtain peace. +Nothing but the most obstinate stupidity could have induced her to let +slip the opportunity when it was within her reach. In addition to the +prospect of new expenses, she is now, to use Mr. Pitt's own figurative +expression against France, _not only on the brink, but in the gulph +of bankruptcy_. There is no longer any mystery in paper money. Call +it assignats, mandats, exchequer bills, or bank notes, it is still the +same. Time has solved the problem, and experience has fixed its fate.(1) + + 1 See Chapter XXVI. of this volume.--_Editor._. + +The government of that unfortunate country discovers its faithlessness +so much, that peace on any terms with her is scarcely worth obtaining. +Of what use is peace with a government that will employ that peace for +no other purpose than to repair, as far as it is possible, her shattered +finances and broken credit, and then go to war again? Four times within +the last ten years, from the time the American war closed, has the +Anglo-germanic government of England been meditating fresh war. First +with France on account of Holland, in 1787; afterwards with Russia; +then with Spain, on account of Nootka Sound; and a second time against +France, to overthrow her revolution. Sometimes that government employs +Prussia against Austria; at another time Austria against Prussia; and +always one or the other, or both against France. Peace with such a +government is only a treacherous cessation of hostilities. + +The frequency of wars on the part of England, within the last century, +more than before, must have had some cause that did not exist prior to +that epoch. It is not difficult to discover what that cause is. It is +the mischievous compound of an Elector of the Germanic body and a King +of England; and which necessarily must, at some day or other, become +an object of attention to France. That one nation has not a right to +interfere in the internal government of another nation, is admitted; and +in this point of view, France has no right to dictate to England what +its form of government shall be. If it choose to have a thing called a +King, or whether that King shall be a man or an ass, is a matter with +which France has no business. But whether an Elector of the Germanic +body shall be King of England, is an _external_ case, with which +France and every other nation, who suffers inconvenience and injury in +consequence of it, has a right to interfere. + +It is from this mischievous compound of Elector and King, that +originates a great part of the troubles that vex the continent of +Europe; and with respect to England, it has been the cause of her +immense national debt, the ruin of her finances, and the insolvency of +her bank. All intrigues on the continent, in which England is a party, +or becomes involved, are generated by, and act through, the medium of +this Anglo-germanic compound. It will be necessary to dissolve it. Let +the Elector retire to his Electorate, and the world will have peace. + +England herself has given examples of interference in matters of this +kind, and that in cases where injury was only apprehended. She engaged +in a long and expensive war against France (called the succession war) +to prevent a grandson of Louis the Fourteenth being king of Spain; +because, said she, _it will be injurious_ to me; and she has been +fighting and intriguing against what was called the family-compact ever +since. In 1787 she threatened France with war to prevent a connection +between France and Hoi-land; and in all her propositions of peace to-day +she is dictating separations. But if she look at the Anglo-germanic +compact at home, called the Hanover succession, she cannot avoid seeing +that France necessarily must, some day or other, take up that subject, +and make the return of the Elector to his Electorate one of the +conditions of peace. There will be no lasting peace between the two +countries till this be done, and the sooner it be done the better will +it be for both. + +I have not been in any company where this matter aas been a topic, that +did not see it in the light it is here stated. Even Barthélémy,(1) when +he first came to the Directory (and Barthélémy was never famous for +patriotism) acknowledged in my hearing, and in company with Derché, +Secretary to the Legation at Lille, the connection of an Elector of +Germany and a King of England to be injurious to France. I do not, +however, mention it from a wish to embarrass the negociation for peace. +The Directory has fixed its _ultimatum_; but if that ultimatum be +rejected, the obligation to adhere to it is discharged, and a new one +may be assumed. So wretchedly has Pitt managed his opportunities» that +every succeeding negociation has ended in terms more against him than +the former. If the Directory had bribed him, he could not serve his +interest better than he does. He serves it as Lord North served that of +America, which finished in the discharge of his master.* + + 1 Marquis de Barthélémy (François) (1750-1830) entered the + Directory in June, 1796, through royalist influence. He + shared Pichegru's banishment, and subsequently became an + agent of Louis XVIII.--_Editor._ + + * The father of Pitt, when a member of the House of Commons, + exclaiming one day, during a former war, against the + enormous and ruinous expense of German connections, as the + offspring of the Hanover succession, and borrowing a + metaphor from the story of Prometheus, cried out: "Thus, + Hie Prometheus, is Britain chained to the barren rock of + Hanover; whilst the imperial eagle preys upon her vitals."-- + Author. + +Thus far I had written when the negociation at Lille became suspended, +in consequence of which I delayed the publication, that the ideas +suggested in this letter might not intrude themselves during the +interval. The _ultimatum_ offered by the Directory, as the terms of +peace, was more moderate than the government of England had a right to +expect. That government, though the provoker of the war, and the first +that committed hostilities by sending away the ambassador Chauvelin,(**) +had formerly talked of demanding from France, _indemnification for +the past and security for the future_. France, in her turn, might have +retorted, and demanded the same from England; but she did not. As it was +England that, in consequence of her bankruptcy, solicited peace, France +offered it to her on the simple condition of her restoring the islands +she had taken. The ultimatum has been rejected, and the negociation +broken off. The spirited part of France will say, _tant mieux_, so much +the better. + + ** It was stipulated in the treaty of commerce between + France and England, concluded at Paris, that the sending + away an ambassador by either party, should be taken as an + act of hostility by the other party. The declaration of war + (Feb. M *793) by the Convention, of which I was then a + member and know well the case, was made in exact conformity + to this article in the treaty; for it was not a declaration + of war against England, but a declaration that the French + Republic is in war with England; the first act of hostility + having been committed by England. The declaration was made + immediately on Chauvelin's return to France, and in + consequence of it. Mr. Pitt should inform himself of things + better than he does, before he prates so much about them, or + of the sending away of Malmesbury, who was only on a visit + of permission.--Author. + +How the people of England feel on the breaking up of the negociation, +which was entirely the act of their own Government, is best known to +themselves; but from what I know of the two nations, France ought to +hold herself perfectly indifferent about a peace with the Government of +England. Every day adds new strength to France and new embarrassments +to her enemy. The resources of the one increase, as those of the other +become exhausted. England is now reduced to the same system of paper +money from which France has emerged, and we all know the inevitable fate +of that system. It is not a victory over a few ships, like that on the +coast of Holland, that gives the least support or relief to a paper +system. On the news of this victory arriving in England, the funds did +not rise a farthing. The Government rejoiced, but its creditors were +silent. + +It is difficult to find a motive, except in folly and madness, for the +conduct of the English government. Every calculation and prediction of +Mr. Pitt has turned out directly the contrary; yet still he predicts. +He predicted, with all the solemn assurance of a magician, that France +would be bankrupt in a few months. He was right as to the thing, but +wrong as to the place, for the bankruptcy happened in England whilst the +words were yet warm upon his lips. To find out what will happen, it is +only necessary to know what Mr. Pitt predicts. He is a true prophet if +taken in the reverse. + +Such is the ruinous condition that England is now in, that great as +the difficulties of war are to the people, the difficulties that would +accompany peace are equally as great to the Government. Whilst the war +continues, Mr. Pitt has a pretence for shutting up the bank. But as that +pretence could last no longer than the war lasted, he dreads the peace +that would expose the absolute bankruptcy of the government, and unveil +to a deceived nation the ruinous effect of his measures. Peace would be +a day of accounts to him, and he shuns it as an insolvent debtor shuns +a meeting of his creditors. War furnishes him with many pretences; peace +would furnish him with none, and he stands alarmed at its consequences. +His conduct in the negociation at Lille can be easily interpreted. It is +not for the sake of the nation that he asks to retain some of the taken +islands; for what are islands to a nation that has already too many for +her own good, or what are they in comparison to the expense of another +campaign in the present depreciating state of the English funds? (And +even then those islands must be restored.) + +No, it is not for the sake of the nation that he asks. It is for the +sake of himself. It is as if he said to France, Give me some pretence, +cover me from disgrace when my day of reckoning comes! + +Any person acquainted with the English Government knows that every +Minister has some dread of what is called in England the winding up +of accounts at the end of a war; that is, the final settlement of all +expenses incurred by the war; and no Minister had ever so great cause of +dread as Mr. Pitt. A burnt child dreads the fire, and Pitt has had some +experience upon this case. The winding up of accounts at the end of the +American war was so great, that, though he was not the cause of it, +and came into the Ministry with great popularity, he lost it all by +undertaking, what was impossible for him to avoid, the voluminous +business of the winding up. If such was the case in settling the +accounts of his predecessor, how much more has he to apprehend when the +accounts to be settled are his own? All men in bad circumstances +hate the settlement of accounts, and Pitt, as a Minister, is of that +description. + +But let us take a view of things on a larger ground than the case of +a Minister. It will then be found, that England, on a comparison of +strength with France, when both nations are disposed to exert their +utmost, has no possible chance of success. The efforts that England made +within the last century were not generated on the ground of _natural +ability_, but of _artificial anticipations_. She ran posterity into +debt, and swallowed up in one generation the resources of several +generations yet to come, till the project can be pursued no longer. It +is otherwise in France. The vastness of her territory and her population +render the burden easy that would make a bankrupt of a country like +England. + +It is not the weight of a thing, but the numbers who are to bear that +weight, that makes it feel light or heavy to the shoulders of those who +bear it. A land-tax of half as much in the pound as the land-tax is in +England, will raise nearly four times as much revenue in France as is +raised in England. This is a scale easily understood, by which all the +other sections of productive revenue can be measured. Judge then of the +difference of natural ability. + +England is strong in a navy; but that navy costs about eight millions +sterling a-year, and is one of the causes that has hastened her +bankruptcy. The history of navy bills sufficiently proves this. But +strong as England is in this case, the fate of navies must finally be +decided by the natural ability of each country to carry its navy to the +greatest extent; and France is able to support a navy twice as large as +that of England, with less than half the expense per head on the people, +which the present navy of England costs. + +We all know that a navy cannot be raised as expeditiously as an army. +But as the average duration of a navy, taking the decay of time, storms, +and all circumstances and accidents together, is less than twenty years, +every navy must be renewed within that time; and France at the end of a +few years, can create and support a navy of double the extent of that of +England; and the conduct of the English government will provoke her to +it. + +But of what use are navies otherwise than to make or prevent invasions? +Commercially considered, they are losses. They scarcely give any +protection to the commerce of the countries which have them, compared +with the expense of maintaining them, and they insult the commerce of +the nations that are neutral. + +During the American war, the plan of the armed neutrality was formed and +put in execution: but it was inconvenient, expensive, and ineffectual. +This being the case, the problem is, does not commerce contain within +itself, the means of its own protection? It certainly does, if the +neutral nations will employ that means properly. + +Instead then of an _armed neutrality_, the plan should be directly the +contrary. It should be an _unarmed neutrality_. In the first place, +the rights of neutral nations are easily defined. They are such as are +exercised by nations in their intercourse with each other in time of +peace, and which ought not, and cannot of right, be interrupted in +consequence of war breaking out between any two or more of them. + +Taking this as a principle, the next thing is to give it effect. The +plan of the armed neutrality was to effect it by threatening war; but an +unarmed neutrality can effect it by much easier and more powerful means. + +Were the neutral nations to associate, under an honourable injunction of +fidelity to each other, and publicly declare to the world, that if any +belligerent power shall seize or molest any ship or vessel belonging +to the citizens or subjects of any of the powers composing that +Association, that the whole Association will shut its ports against the +flag of the offending nation, and will not permit any goods, wares, +or merchandise, produced or manufactured in the offending nation, or +appertaining thereto, to be imported into any of the ports included in +the Association, until reparation be made to the injured party,--the +reparation to be three times the value of the vessel and cargo,--and +moreover that all remittances on money, goods, and bills of exchange, do +cease to be made to the offending nation, until the said reparation be +made: were the neutral nations only to do this, which it is their +direct interest to do, England, as a nation depending on the commerce of +neutral nations in time of war, dare not molest them, and France would +not. But whilst, from the want of a common system, they individually +permit England to do it, because individually they cannot resist it, +they put France under the necessity of doing the same thing. The supreme +of all laws, in all cases, is that of self-preservation. + +As the commerce of neutral nations would thus be protected by the means +that commerce naturally contains within itself, all the naval operations +of France and England would be confined within the circle of acting +against each other: and in that case it needs no spirit of prophecy to +discover that France must finally prevail. The sooner this be done, the +better will it be for both nations, and for all the world. + +Thomas Paine.(1) + + 1 Paine had already prepared his "Maritime Compact," and + devised the Rainbow Flag, which was to protect commerce, the + substance and history of which constitutes his Seventh + Letter to the People of the United States, Chapter XXXIII. + of the present volume. He sent the articles of his proposed + international Association to the Minister of Foreign + Relations, Talleyrand, who responded with a cordial letter. + The articles of "Maritime Compact," translated into French + by Nicolas Bouneville, were, in 1800, sent to all the + Ministers of Foreign Affairs in Europe, and to the + ambassadors in Paris.--_Editor._, + + + + +XXX. THE RECALL OF MONROE. (1) + + + 1 Monroe, like Edmund Randolph and Thomas Paine, was + sacrificed to the new commercial alliance with Great + Britain. The Cabinet of Washington were entirely hostile to + France, and in their determination to replace Monroe were + assisted by Gouverneur Morris, still in Europe, who wrote to + President Washington calumnies against that Minister. In a + letter of December 19, 1795, Morris tells Washington that he + had heard from a trusted informant that Monroe had said to + several Frenchmen that "he had no doubt but that, if they + would do what was proper here, he and his friends would turn + out Washington." On July 2, 1796, the Cabinet ministers, + Pickering, Wolcott, and Mo-Henry, wrote to the President + their joint opinion that the interests of the United States + required Monroe's recall, and slanderously connected him + with anonymous letters from France written by M. + Montflorence. The recall, dated August 22, 1796, reached + Monroe early in November. It alluded to certain "concurring + circumstances," which induced his removal, and these "hidden + causes" (in Paine's phrase) Monroe vainly demanded on his + return to America early in 1797. The Directory, on + notification of Monroe's recall, resolved not to recognize + his successor, and the only approach to an American Minister + in Paris for the remainder of the century was Thomas Paine, + who was consulted by the Foreign Ministers, De la Croix and + Talleyrand, and by Napoleon. On the approach of C. C. + Pinckney, as successor to Monroe, Paine feared that his + dismissal might entail war, and urged the Minister (De la + Croix) to regard Pinckney,--nominated in a recess of the + Senate,--as in "suspension" until confirmed by that body. + There might be unofficial "pourparlers," with him. This + letter (State Archives, Paris, États Unis, vol. 46, fol. 425) + was considered for several days before Pinckney reached + Paris (December 5, 1796), but the Directory considered that + it was not a "dignified" course, and Pinckney was ordered to + leave French territory, under the existing decree against + foreigners who had no permit to remain.--_Editor._. + + +Paris, Sept. 27, 1797. Editors of the Bien-in formé. + +Citizens: in your 19th number of the complementary 5th, you gave an +analysis of the letters of James Monroe to Timothy Pickering. The +newspapers of Paris and the departments have copied this correspondence +between the ambassador of the United States and the Secretary of State. +I notice, however, that a few of them have omitted some important facts, +whilst indulging in comments of such an extraordinary nature that it is +clear they know neither Monroe's integrity nor the intrigues of Pitt in +this affair. + +The recall of Monroe is connected with circumstances so important to the +interests of France and the United States, that we must be careful not +to confound it with the recall of an ordinary individual. The Washington +faction had affected to spread it abroad that James Monroe was the cause +of rupture between the two Republics. This accusation is a perfidious +and calumnious one; since the main point in this affair is not so much +the recall of a worthy, enlightened and republican minister, as +the ingratitude and clandestine manoeuvering of the government of +Washington, who caused the misunderstanding by signing a treaty +injurious to the French Republic. + +James Monroe, in his letters, does not deny the right of government to +withdraw its confidence from any one of its delegates, representatives, +or agents. He has hinted, it is true, that caprice and temper are not +in accordance with the spirit of paternal rule, and that whenever a +representative government punishes or rewards, good faith, integrity and +justice should replace _the good pleasure of Kings_. + +In the present case, they have done more than recall an agent. Had they +confined themselves to depriving him of his appointment, James Monroe +would have kept silence; but he has been accused of lighting the torch +of discord in both Republics. The refutation of this absurd and infamous +reproach is the chief object of his correspondence. If he did not +immediately complain of these slanders in his letters of the 6th and +8th [July], it is because he wished to use at first a certain degree of +caution, and, if it were possible, to stifle intestine troubles at +their birth. He wished to reopen the way to peaceful negotiations to be +conducted with good faith and justice. + +The arguments of the Secretary of State on the rights of the supreme +administration of the United States are peremptory; but the observations +of Monroe on the hidden causes of his recall are touching; they come +from the heart; they are characteristic of an excellent citizen. If he +does more than complain of his unjust recall as a man of feeling would; +if he proudly asks for proofs of a grave accusation, it is after he has +tried in vain every honest and straightforward means. He will not suffer +that a government, sold to the enemies of freedom, should discharge upon +him its shame, its crimes, its ingratitude, and all the odium of its +unjust dealings. + +Were Monroe to find himself an object of public hatred, the Republican +party in the United States, that party which is the sincere ally +of France, would be annihilated, and this is the aim of the English +government. + +Imagine the triumph of Pitt, if Monroe and the other friends of freedom +in America, should be unjustly attacked in France! + +Monroe does not lay his cause before the Senate since the Senate +itself ratified the unconstitutional treaty; he appeals to the house of +Representatives, and at the same time lays his cause before the upright +tribunal of the American nation. + + + + +XXXI. PRIVATE LETTER TO PRESIDENT JEFFERSON. + + +Paris, October 1, 1800. + +Dear Sir,--I wrote to you from Havre by the ship Dublin Packet in the +year 1797. It was then my intention to return to America; but there were +so many British frigates cruising in sight of the port, and which after +a few days knew that I was at Havre waiting to go to America, that I did +not think it best to trust myself to their discretion, and the more so, +as I had no confidence in the captain of the Dublin Packet (Clay).(1) I +mentioned to you in that letter, which I believe you received thro' +the hands of Colonel [Aaron] Burr, that I was glad since you were not +President that you had accepted the nomination of Vice President. + +The Commissioners Ellsworth & Co.(2) have been here about eight months, +and three more useless mortals never came upon public business. Their +presence appears to me to have been rather an injury than a benefit. +They set themselves up for a faction as soon as they arrived. I was then +in Belgia.(3) Upon my return to Paris I learnt they had made a point of +not returning the visits of Mr. Skipwith and Barlow, because, they said, +they had not the confidence of the executive. Every known republican was +treated in the same manner. I learned from Mr. Miller of Philadelphia, +who had occasion to see them upon business, that they did not intend +to return my visit, if I made one. This, I supposed, it was intended I +should know, that I might not make one. It had the contrary effect. I +went to see Mr. Ellsworth. I told him, I did not come to see him as a +commissioner, nor to congratulate him upon his mission; that I came to +see him because I had formerly known him in Congress. "I mean not," +said I, "to press you with any questions, or to engage you in +any conversation upon the business you are come upon, but I will +nevertheless candidly say that I know not what expectations the +Government or the people of America may have of your mission, or what +expectations you may have yourselves, but I believe you will find you +can do but little. The treaty with England lies at the threshold of all +your business. The American Government never did two more foolish things +than when it signed that Treaty and recalled Mr. Monroe, who was the +only man could do them any service." Mr. Ellsworth put on the dull +gravity of a Judge, and was silent. I added, "You may perhaps make a +treaty like that you have made with England, which is a surrender of the +rights of the American flag; for the principle that neutral ships make +neutral property must be general or not at all." I then changed the +subject, for I had all the talk to myself upon this topic, and enquired +after Samuel Adams, (I asked nothing about John,) Mr. Jefferson, Mr. +Monroe, and others of my friends; and the melancholy case of the yellow +fever,--of which he gave me as circumstantial an account as if he had +been summing up a case to a Jury. Here my visit ended, and had Mr. +Ellsworth been as cunning as a statesman, or as wise as a Judge, he +would have returned my visit that he might appear insensible of the +intention of mine. + + 1 The packet was indeed searched for Paine by a British + cruiser.--_Editor._ + + 2 Oliver Ellsworth (Chief Justice), W. V. Murray, and W. R. + Davie, were sent by President Adams to France to negotiate a + treaty. In this they failed, but a convention was signed + September 30, 1800, which terminated the treaty of 1778, + which had become a source of discord, and prepared the way + for the negotiations of Livingston and Monroe in 1803.-- + _Editor._ + + 3 Paine had visited his room-mate in Luxembourg prison, + Vanhuele, who was now Mayor of Bruges.--_Editor._. + +I now come to the affairs of this country and of Europe. You will, I +suppose, have heard before this arrives to you, of the battle of +Marengo in Italy, where the Austrians were defeated--of the armistice +in consequence thereof, and the surrender of Milan, Genoa etc. to +the french--of the successes of the french Army in Germany--and the +extension of the armistice in that quarter--of the preliminaries of +Peace signed at Paris--of the refusal of the Emperor [of Austria] to +ratify these preliminaries--of the breaking of the armistice by the +french Government in consequence of that refusal--of the "gallant" +expedition of the Emperor to put himself at the head of his Army--of his +pompous arrival there--of his having made his will--of prayers being put +in all his churches for the preservation of the life of this Hero--of +General Moreau announcing to him, immediately on his arrival at the +Army, that hostilities would commence the day after the next at sunrise +unless he signed the treaty or gave security that he would sign within +45 days--of his surrendering up three of the principal keys of Germany +(Ulm, Philipsbourg, and Ingolstadt) as security that he would sign them. +This is the state things are now in, at the time of writing this letter; +but it is proper to add that the refusal of the Emperor to sign the +preliminaries was motived upon a note from the King of England to be +admitted to the Congress for negociating Peace, which was consented to +by the french upon the condition of an armistice at Sea, which England, +before knowing of the surrender the Emperor had made, had refused. From +all which it appears to me, judging from circumstances, that the Emperor +is now so compleatly in the hands of the french, that he has no way of +getting out but by a peace. The Congress for the peace is to be held +at Lunéville, a town in France. Since the affair of Rastadt the French +commissioners will not trust themselves within the Emperor's territory. + +I now come to domestic Affairs. I know not what the Commissioners have +done, but from a paper I enclose to you, which appears to have +some authority, it is not much. The paper as you will perceive is +considerably prior to this letter. I know that the Commissioners before +this piece appeared intended setting off. It is therefore probable that +what they have done is conformable to what this paper mentions, which +certainly will not atone for the expence their mission has incurred, +neither are they, by all the accounts I hear of them, men fitted for the +business. + +But independently of these matters there appears to be a state of +circumstances rising, which if it goes on, will render all partial +treaties unnecessary. In the first place I doubt if any peace will be +made with England; and in the second place, I should not wonder to see a +coalition formed against her, to compel her to abandon her insolence on +the seas. This brings me to speak of the manuscripts I send you. + +The piece No. I, without any title, was written in consequence of a +question put to me by Bonaparte. As he supposed I knew England and +English Politics he sent a person to me to ask, that in case of +negociating a Peace with Austria, whether it would be proper to include +England. This was when Count St. Julian was in Paris, on the part of the +Emperor negociating the preliminaries:--which as I have before said the +Emperor refused to sign on the pretence of admitting England. + +The piece No. 2, entitled _On the Jacobinism of the English at sea_, was +written when the English made their insolent and impolitic expedition to +Denmark, and is also an auxiliary to the politic of No. I. I shewed it +to a friend [Bonneville] who had it translated into french, and printed +in the form of a Pamphlet, and distributed gratis among the foreign +Ministers, and persons in the Government. It was immediately copied +into several of the french Journals, and into the official Paper, the +Moniteur. It appeared in this paper one day before the last dispatch +arrived from Egypt; which agreed perfectly with what I had said +respecting Egypt. It hit the two cases of Denmark and Egypt in the exact +proper moment. + +The Piece No. 3, entitled _Compact Maritime_, is the sequel of No. 2, +digested in form. It is translating at the time I write this letter, +and I am to have a meeting with the Senator Garat upon the subject. +The pieces 2 and 3 go off in manuscript to England, by a confidential +person, where they will be published.(1) + + 1 The substance of most of these "pieces" are embodied in + Paine's Seventh Letter to the People of the United States + (infra p. 420).--_Editor._ + +By all the news we get from the North there appears to be something +meditating against England. It is now given for certain that Paul has +embargoed all the English vessels and English property in Russia till +some principle be established for protecting the Rights of neutral +Nations, and securing the liberty of the Seas. The preparations in +Denmark continue, notwithstanding the convention that she has made with +England, which leaves the question with respect to the right set up by +England to stop and search Neutral vessels undecided. I send you the +paragraphs upon the subject. + +The tumults are great in all parts of England on account of the +excessive price of corn and bread, which has risen since the harvest. +I attribute it more to the abundant increase of paper, and the +non-circulation of cash, than to any other cause. People in trade +can push the paper off as fast as they receive it, as they did by +continental money in America; but as farmers have not this opportunity, +they endeavor to secure themselves by going considerably in advance. + +I have now given you all the great articles of intelligence, for I +trouble not myself with little ones, and consequently not with the +Commissioners, nor any thing they are about, nor with John Adams, +otherwise than to wish him safe home, and a better and wiser man in his +place. + +In the present state of circumstances and the prospects arising from +them, it may be proper for America to consider whether it is worth her +while to enter into any treaty at this moment, or to wait the event of +those circumstances which if they go on will render partial treaties +useless by deranging them. But if, in the mean time, she enters into +any treaty it ought to be with a condition to the following purpose: +Reserving to herself the right of joining in an Association of Nations +for the protection of the Rights of Neutral Commerce and the security of +the liberty of the Seas. + +The pieces 2, 3, may go to the press. They will make a small pamphlet +and the printers are welcome to put my name to it. (It is best it should +be put.) From thence they will get into the newspapers. I know that the +faction of John Adams abuses me pretty heartily. They are welcome. + +It does not disturb me, and they lose their labour; and in return for +it I am doing America more service, as a neutral Nation, than their +expensive Commissioners can do, and she has that service from me for +nothing. The piece No. 1 is only for your own amusement and that of your +friends. + +I come now to speak confidentially to you on a private subject. When Mr. +Ellsworth and Davie return to America, Murray will return to Holland, +and in that case there will be nobody in Paris but Mr. Skipwith that +has been in the habit of transacting business with the french Government +since the revolution began. He is on a good standing with them, and if +the chance of the day should place you in the presidency you cannot do +better than appoint him for any purpose you may have occasion for in +France. He is an honest man and will do his country justice, and that +with civility and good manners to the government he is commissioned to +act with; a faculty which that Northern Bear Timothy Pickering wanted, +and which the Bear of that Bear, John Adams, never possessed. + +I know not much of Mr. Murray, otherwise than of his unfriendliness to +every American who is not of his faction, but I am sure that Joel Barlow +is a much fitter man to be in Holland than Mr. Murray. It is upon +the fitness of the man to the place that I speak, for I have not +communicated a thought upon the subject to Barlow, neither does he +know, at the time of my writing this (for he is at Havre), that I have +intention to do it. + +I will now, by way of relief, amuse you with some account of the +progress of iron bridges. + +[Here follows an account of the building of the iron bridge at +Sunderland, England, and some correspondence with Mr. Milbanke, M. P., +which will be given more fully and precisely in a chapter of vol. IV. +(Appendix), on Iron Bridges, and is therefore omitted here.] + +I have now made two other Models [of bridges]. One is pasteboard, five +feet span and five inches of height from the cords. It is in the opinion +of every person who has seen it one of the most beautiful objects the +eye can behold. I then cast a model in metal following the construction +of that in paste-board and of the same dimensions. The whole was +executed in my own Chamber. It is far superior in strength, elegance, +and readiness in execution to the model I made in America, and which you +saw in Paris.(1) I shall bring those models with me when I come +home, which will be as soon as I can pass the seas in safety from the +piratical John Bulls. I suppose you have seen, or have heard of the +Bishop of Landaff's answer to my second part of the Age of Reason. As +soon as I got a copy of it I began a third part, which served also as an +answer to the Bishop; but as soon as the clerical society for promoting +_Christian Knowledge_ knew of my intention to answer the Bishop, they +prosecuted, as a Society, the printer of the first and second parts, to +prevent that answer appearing. No other reason than this can be assigned +for their prosecuting at the time they did, because the first part had +been in circulation above three years and the second part more than one, +and they prosecuted immediately on knowing that I was taking up their +Champion. The Bishop's answer, like Mr. Burke's attack on the french +revolution, served me as a back-ground to bring forward other subjects +upon, with more advantage than if the background was not there. This is +the motive that induced me to answer him, otherwise I should have gone +on without taking any notice of him. I have made and am still making +additions to the manuscript, and shall continue to do so till an +opportunity arrive for publishing it. + + 1 "These models exhibit an extraordinary degree not only of + skill, but of taste, and are wrought with extreme delicacy + entirely by his own hands. The largest is nearly four feet + in length; the iron-works, the chains, and every other + article belonging to it, were forged and manufactured by + himself. It is intended as the model of a bridge which is to + be constructed across the Delaware, extending 480 feet, with + only one arch. The other is to be erected over a lesser + river, whose name I forget, and is likewise a single arch, + and of his own workmanship, excepting the chains, which, + instead of iron, are cut out of paste-hoard by the fair hand + of his correspondent, the 'Little Corner of the World' (Lady + Smyth), whose indefatigable perseverance is extraordinary. + He was offered £3000 for these models and refused it."-- + Yorke's _Letters from France_, These models excited much + admiration in Washington and Philadelphia. They remained for + a long time in Peale's Museum at Philadelphia, but no trace + is left of them.--_Editor._ + +If any American frigate should come to france, and the direction of +it fall to you, I will be glad you would give me the opportunity of +returning. The abscess under which I suffered almost two years is +entirely healed of itself, and I enjoy exceeding good health. This is +the first of October, and Mr. Skipwith has just called to tell me the +Commissioners set off for Havre to-morrow. This will go by the frigate +but not with the knowledge of the Commissioners. Remember me with much +affection to my friends and accept the same to yourself. + +Thomas Paine. + + + + +XXXII. PROPOSAL THAT LOUISIANA BE PURCHASED.(1) + + +(SENT TO THE PRESIDENT, CHRISTMAS DAY, 1802.) + + 1 Paine, being at Lovell's Hotel, Washington, suggested the + purchase of Louisiana to Dr. Michael Leib, representative + from Pennsylvania, who, being pleased with the idea, + suggested that he should write it to Jefferson. On the day + after its reception the President told Paine that "measures + were already taken in that business."--_Editor._. + +Spain has ceded Louisiana to France, and France has excluded Americans +from New Orleans, and the navigation of the Mississippi. The people of +the Western Territory have complained of it to their Government, and the +Government is of consequence involved and interested in the affair. The +question then is--What is the best step to be taken? + +The one is to begin by memorial and remonstrance against an infraction +of a right. The other is by accommodation,--still keeping the right in +view, but not making it a groundwork. + +Suppose then the Government begin by making a proposal to France to +re-purchase the cession made to her by Spain, of Louisiana, provided it +be with the consent of the people of Louisiana, or a majority thereof. + +By beginning on this ground any thing can be said without carrying the +appearance of a threat. The growing power of the Western Territory can +be stated as a matter of information, and also the impossibility +of restraining them from seizing upon New Orleans, and the equal +impossibility of France to prevent it. + +Suppose the proposal attended to, the sum to be given comes next on +the carpet. This, on the part of America, will be estimated between the +value of the commerce and the quantity of revenue that Louisiana will +produce. + +The French Treasury is not only empty, but the Government has consumed +by anticipation a great part of the next year's revenue. A monied +proposal will, I believe, be attended to; if it should, the claims upon +France can be stipulated as part of the payment, and that sum can be +paid here to the claimants. + +----I congratulate you on _The Birthday of the New Sun_, + +now called Christmas Day; and I make you a present of a thought on +Louisiana. + +T.P. + + + + +XXXIII. THOMAS PAINE TO THE CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES, + + +And particularly to the Leaders of the Federal Faction, LETTER I.(1) + + 1 The National Intelligencer, November 15th. The venerable + Mr. Gales, so long associated with this paper, had been in + youth a prosecuted adherent of Paine in Sheffield, England. + The paper distinguished itself by the kindly welcome it gave + Paine on his return to America. (See issues of Nov. 3 and + 10, 1802.) Paine landed at Baltimore, Oct. 30th.--_Editor._, + +After an absence of almost fifteen years, I am again returned to the +country in whose dangers I bore my share, and to whose greatness I +contributed my part. + +When I sailed for Europe, in the spring of 1787, it was my intention to +return to America the next year, and enjoy in retirement the esteem of +my friends, and the repose I was entitled to. I had stood out the storm +of one revolution, and had no wish to embark in another. But other +scenes and other circumstances than those of contemplated ease were +allotted to me. The French revolution was beginning to germinate when I +arrived in France. The principles of it were good, they were copied +from America, and the men who conducted it were honest. But the fury of +faction soon extinguished the one, and sent the other to the scaffold. +Of those who began that revolution, I am almost the only survivor, +and that through a thousand dangers. I owe this not to the prayers of +priests, nor to the piety of hypocrites, but to the continued protection +of Providence. + +But while I beheld with pleasure the dawn of liberty rising in Europe, +I saw with regret the lustre of it fading in America. In less than two +years from the time of my departure some distant symptoms painfully +suggested the idea that the principles of the revolution were expiring +on the soil that produced them. I received at that time a letter from a +female literary correspondent, and in my answer to her, I expressed my +fears on that head.(1) + +I now know from the information I obtain upon the spot, that the +impressions that then distressed me, for I was proud of America, were +but too well founded. She was turning her back on her own glory, and +making hasty strides in the retrograde path of oblivion. But a spark +from the altar of _Seventy-six_, unextinguished and unextinguishable +through the long night of error, is again lighting up, in every part of +the Union, the genuine name of rational liberty. + +As the French revolution advanced, it fixed the attention of the world, +and drew from the pensioned pen (2) of Edmund Burke a furious attack. +This brought me once more on the public theatre of politics, and +occasioned the pamphlet _Rights of Man_. It had the greatest run of +any work ever published in the English language. The number of copies +circulated in England, Scotland, and Ireland, besides translations +into foreign languages, was between four and five hundred thousand. The +principles of that work were the same as those in _Common Sense_, and +the effects would have been the same in England as that had produced in +America, could the vote of the nation been quietly taken, or had equal +opportunities of consulting or acting existed. The only difference +between the two works was, that the one was adapted to the local +circumstances of England, and the other to those of America. As to +myself, I acted in both cases alike; I relinquished to the people of +England, as I had done to those of America, all profits from the work. +My reward existed in the ambition to do good, and the independent +happiness of my own mind. + + 1 Paine here quotes a passage from his letter to Mrs. Few, + already given in the Memorial to Monroe (XXI.). The entire + letter to Mrs. Few will be printed in the Appendix to Vol. + IV. of this work.--_Editor._ + + 2 See editorial note p. 95 in this volume.--_Editor._ + +But a faction, acting in disguise, was rising in America; they had lost +sight of first principles. They were beginning to contemplate government +as a profitable monopoly, and the people as hereditary property. It +is, therefore, no wonder that the _Rights of Man_ was attacked by that +faction, and its author continually abused. But let them go on; give +them rope enough and they will put an end to their own insignificance. +There is too much common sense and independence in America to be long +the dupe of any faction, foreign or domestic. + +But, in the midst of the freedom we enjoy, the licentiousness of the +papers called Federal, (and I know not why they are called so, for they +are in their principles anti-federal and despotic,) is a dishonour +to the character of the country, and an injury to its reputation +and importance abroad. They represent the whole people of America as +destitute of public principle and private manners. As to any injury they +can do at home to those whom they abuse, or service they can render +to those who employ them, it is to be set down to the account of +noisy nothingness. It is on themselves the disgrace recoils, for the +reflection easily presents itself to every thinking mind, that _those +who abuse liberty when they possess it would abuse power could they +obtain it_; and, therefore, they may as well take as a general motto, +for all such papers, _We and our patrons are not fit to be trusted with +power_. + +There is in America, more than in any other country, a large body +of people who attend quietly to their farms, or follow their several +occupations; who pay no regard to the clamours of anonymous scribblers, +who think for themselves, and judge of government, not by the fury of +newspaper writers, but by the prudent frugality of its measures, and the +encouragement it gives to the improvement and prosperity of the country; +and who, acting on their own judgment, never come forward in an election +but on some important occasion. When this body moves, all the little +barkings of scribbling and witless curs pass for nothing. To say to this +independent description of men, "You must turn out such and such persons +at the next election, for they have taken off a great many taxes, and +lessened the expenses of government, they have dismissed my son, or my +brother, or myself, from a lucrative office, in which there was nothing +to do"--is to show the cloven foot of faction, and preach the language +of ill-disguised mortification. In every part of the Union, this faction +is in the agonies of death, and in proportion as its fate approaches, +gnashes its teeth and struggles. My arrival has struck it as with an +hydrophobia, it is like the sight of water to canine madness. + +As this letter is intended to announce my arrival to my friends, and to +my enemies if I have any, for I ought to have none in America, and as +introductory to others that will occasionally follow, I shall close it +by detailing the line of conduct I shall pursue. + +I have no occasion to ask, and do not intend to accept, any place or +office in the government.(1) There is none it could give me that would +be any ways equal to the profits I could make as an author, for I have +an established fame in the literary world, could I reconcile it to my +principles to make money by my politics or religion. I must be in every +thing what I have ever been, a disinterested volunteer; my proper sphere +of action is on the common floor of citizenship, and to honest men I +give my hand and my heart freely. + + 1 The President (Jefferson) being an intimate friend of + Paine, and suspected, despite his reticence, of sympathizing + with Paine's religions views, was included in the + denunciations of Paine ("The Two Toms" they were called), + and Paine here goes out of his way to soften matters for + Jefferson.--_Editor._. + +I have some manuscript works to publish, of which I shall give proper +notice, and some mechanical affairs to bring forward, that will employ +all my leisure time. I shall continue these letters as I see occasion, +and as to the low party prints that choose to abuse me, they are +welcome; I shall not descend to answer them. I have been too much used +to such common stuff to take any notice of it. The government of England +honoured me with a thousand martyrdoms, by burning me in effigy in every +town in that country, and their hirelings in America may do the same. + +City of Washington. + +THOMAS PAINE. + + + +LETTER II(1) + +As the affairs of the country to which I am returned are of more +importance to the world, and to me, than of that I have lately left, +(for it is through the new world the old must be regenerated, if +regenerated at all,) I shall not take up the time of the reader with an +account of scenes that have passed in France, many of which are painful +to remember and horrid to relate, but come at once to the circumstances +in which I find America on my arrival. + +Fourteen years, and something more, have produced a change, at least +among a part of the people, and I ask my-self what it is? I meet or hear +of thousands of my former connexions, who are men of the same principles +and friendships as when I left them. But a non-descript race, and of +equivocal generation, assuming the name of _Federalist_,--a name that +describes no character of principle good or bad, and may equally +be applied to either,--has since started up with the rapidity of a +mushroom, and like a mushroom is withering on its rootless stalk. Are +those men _federalized_ to support the liberties of their country or to +overturn them? To add to its fair fame or riot on its spoils? The +name contains no defined idea. It is like John Adams's definition of a +Republic, in his letter to Mr. Wythe of Virginia.(2) _It is_, says he, +_an empire of laws and not of men_. But as laws may be bad as well as +good, an empire of laws may be the best of all governments or the worst +of all tyrannies. But John Adams is a man of paradoxical heresies, and +consequently of a bewildered mind. He wrote a book entitled, "_A Defence +of the American Constitutions_," and the principles of it are an attack +upon them. But the book is descended to the tomb of forgetfulness, and +the best fortune that can attend its author is quietly to follow its +fate. John was not born for immortality. But, to return to Federalism. + + 1 National Intelligencer, Nov. 23d, 1802.--_Editor._ + + 2 Chancellor Wythe, 1728-1806.--_Editor._ vol m--«5 + +In the history of parties and the names they assume, it often happens +that they finish by the direct contrary principles with which they +profess to begin, and thus it has happened with Federalism. + +During the time of the old Congress, and prior to the establishment of +the federal government, the continental belt was too loosely buckled. +The several states were united in name but not in fact, and that nominal +union had neither centre nor circle. The laws of one state frequently +interferred with, and sometimes opposed, those of another. Commerce +between state and state was without protection, and confidence without +a point to rest on. The condition the country was then in, was aptly +described by Pelatiah Webster, when he said, "_thirteen staves and ne'er +a hoop will not make a barrel_."(1) + +If, then, by _Federalist_ is to be understood one who was for cementing +the Union by a general government operating equally over all the States, +in all matters that embraced the common interest, and to which the +authority of the States severally was not adequate, for no one State +can make laws to bind another; if, I say, by a _Federalist_ is meant +a person of this description, (and this is the origin of the name,) _I +ought to stand first on the list of Federalists_, for the proposition +for establishing a general government over the Union, came originally +from me in 1783, in a written Memorial to Chancellor Livingston, then +Secretary for Foreign Affairs to Congress, Robert Morris, Minister +of Finance, and his associate, Gouverneur Morris, all of whom are now +living; and we had a dinner and conference at Robert Morris's on the +subject. The occasion was as follows: + +Congress had proposed a duty of five per cent, on imported articles, the +money to be applied as a fund towards paying the interest of loans to +be borrowed in Holland. The resolve was sent to the several States to +be enacted into a law. Rhode Island absolutely refused. I was at +the trouble of a journey to Rhode Island to reason with them on the +subject.(2) Some other of the States enacted it with alterations, each +one as it pleased. Virginia adopted it, and afterwards repealed it, and +the affair came to nothing. + + 1 "Like a stare in a cask well bound with hoops, it [the + individual State] stands firmer, is not so easily shaken, + bent, or broken, as it would be were it set up by itself + alone."--Pelatiah Webster, 1788. See Paul L. Ford's + Pamphlets cm the Constitution, etc., p. 128.--Editor + + 2 See my "Life of Paine." vol i., p. 103.--Editor, + +It was then visible, at least to me, that either Congress must frame the +laws necessary for the Union, and send them to the several States to be +enregistered without any alteration, which would in itself appear like +usurpation on one part and passive obedience on the other, or some +method must be devised to accomplish the same end by constitutional +principles; and the proposition I made in the memorial was, to _add +a continental legislature to Congress, to be elected by the several +States_. The proposition met the full approbation of the gentlemen to +whom it was addressed, and the conversation turned on the manner of +bringing it forward. Gouverneur Morris, in walking with me after dinner, +wished me to throw out the idea in the newspaper; I replied, that I did +not like to be always the proposer of new things, that it would have too +assuming an appearance; and besides, that _I did not think the country +was quite wrong enough to be put right_. I remember giving the same +reason to Dr. Rush, at Philadelphia, and to General Gates, at whose +quarters I spent a day on my return from Rhode Island; and I suppose +they will remember it, because the observation seemed to strike them.(1) + + 1 The Letter Books of Robert Morris (16 folio volumes, which + should be in our national Archives) contain many entries + relating to Paine's activity in the public service. Under + date Aug. 21, 1783, about the time referred to by Paine in + this letter, Robert Morris mentions a conversation with him + on public affairs. I am indebted to General Meredith Read, + owner of these Morris papers, for permission to examine + them.--_Editor._. + +But the embarrassments increasing, as they necessarily must from the +want of a better cemented union, the State of Virginia proposed holding +a commercial convention, and that convention, which was not sufficiently +numerous, proposed that another convention, with more extensive and +better defined powers, should be held at Philadelphia, May 10, 1787. + +When the plan of the Federal Government, formed by this Convention, was +proposed and submitted to the consideration of the several States, it +was strongly objected to in each of them. But the objections were not on +anti-federal grounds, but on constitutional points. Many were shocked +at the idea of placing what is called Executive Power in the hands of a +single individual. To them it had too much the form and appearance of a +military government, or a despotic one. Others objected that the +powers given to a president were too great, and that in the hands of +an ambitious and designing man it might grow into tyranny, as it did +in England under Oliver Cromwell, and as it has since done in France. +A Republic must not only be so in its principles, but in its forms. The +Executive part of the Federal government was made for a man, and those +who consented, against their judgment, to place Executive Power in the +hands of a single individual, reposed more on the supposed moderation of +the person they had in view, than on the wisdom of the measure itself. + +Two considerations, however, overcame all objections. The one was, the +absolute necessity of a Federal Government. The other, the rational +reflection, that as government in America is founded on the +representative system any error in the first essay could be reformed +by the same quiet and rational process by which the Constitution was +formed, and that either by the generation then living, or by those who +were to succeed. If ever America lose sight of this principle, she will +no longer be the _land of liberty_. The father will become the assassin +of the rights of the son, and his descendants be a race of slaves. + +As many thousands who were minors are grown up to manhood since the name +of _Federalist_ began, it became necessary, for their information, to +go back and show the origin of the name, which is now no longer what it +originally was; but it was the more necessary to do this, in order to +bring forward, in the open face of day, the apostacy of those who first +called themselves Federalists. + +To them it served as a cloak for treason, a mask for tyranny. Scarcely +were they placed in the seat of power and office, than Federalism was to +be destroyed, and the representative system of government, the pride +and glory of America, and the palladium of her liberties, was to be +overthrown and abolished. The next generation was not to be free. The +son was to bend his neck beneath the father's foot, and live, deprived +of his rights, under hereditary control. Among the men of this apostate +description, is to be ranked the ex-president _John Adams_. It has been +the political career of this man to begin with hypocrisy, proceed with +arrogance, and finish in contempt. May such be the fate of all such +characters. + +I have had doubts of John Adams ever since the year 1776. In a +conversation with me at that time, concerning the pamphlet _Common +Sense_, he censured it because it attacked the English form of +government. John was for independence because he expected to be made +great by it; but it was not difficult to perceive, for the surliness of +his temper makes him an awkward hypocrite, that his head was as full of +kings, queens, and knaves, as a pack of cards. But John has lost deal. + +When a man has a concealed project in his brain that he wants to bring +forward, and fears will not succeed, he begins with it as physicians +do by suspected poison, try it first on an animal; if it agree with the +stomach of the animal, he makes further experiments, and this was the +way John took. His brain was teeming with projects to overturn the +liberties of America, and the representative system of government, and +he began by hinting it in little companies. The secretary of John Jay, +an excellent painter and a poor politician, told me, in presence of +another American, Daniel Parker, that in a company where himself was +present, John Adams talked of making the government hereditary, and that +as Mr. Washington had no children, it should be made hereditary in the +family of Lund Washington.(1) John had not impudence enough to propose +himself in the first instance, as the old French Normandy baron did, +who offered to come over to be king of America, and if Congress did not +accept his offer, that they would give him thirty thousand pounds for +the generosity of it(2); but John, like a mole, was grubbing his way to +it under ground. He knew that Lund Washington was unknown, for nobody +had heard of him, and that as the president had no children to succeed +him, the vice-president had, and if the treason had succeeded, and the +hint with it, the goldsmith might be sent for to take measure of the +head of John or of his son for a golden wig. In this case, the good +people of Boston might have for a king the man they have rejected as a +delegate. The representative system is fatal to ambition. + + 1 See supra footnote on p. 288.--_Editor._ + + 2 See vol. ii. p. 318 of this work.--_Editor._ + +Knowing, as I do, the consummate vanity of John Adams, and the +shallowness of his judgment, I can easily picture to myself that when +he arrived at the Federal City he was strutting in the pomp of his +imagination before the presidential house, or in the audience hall, and +exulting in the language of Nebuchadnezzar, "Is not this great Babylon, +that I have built for the honour of my Majesty!" But in that unfortunate +hour, or soon after, John, like Nebuchadnezzar, was driven from among +men, and fled with the speed of a post-horse. + +Some of John Adams's loyal subjects, I see, have been to present him +with an address on his birthday; but the language they use is too tame +for the occasion. Birthday addresses, like birthday odes, should not +creep along like mildrops down a cabbage leaf, but roll in a torrent of +poetical metaphor. I will give them a specimen for the next year. Here +it is-- + +When an Ant, in travelling over the globe, lift up its foot, and put it +again on the ground, it shakes the earth to its centre: but when YOU, +the mighty Ant of the East, was born, &c. &c. &c, the centre jumped upon +the surface. + +This, gentlemen, is the proper style of addresses from _well-bred_ ants +to the monarch of the ant hills; and as I never take pay for preaching, +praying, politics, or poetry, I make you a present of it. Some people +talk of impeaching John Adams; but I am for softer measures. I would +keep him to make fun of. He will then answer one of the ends for which +he was born, and he ought to be thankful that I am arrived to take his +part. I voted in earnest to save the life of one unfortunate king, and +I now vote in jest to save another. It is my fate to be always plagued +with fools. But to return to Federalism and apostacy. + +The plan of the leaders of the faction was to overthrow the liberties +of the new world, and place government on the corrupt system of the old. +They wanted to hold their power by a more lasting tenure than the choice +of their constituents. It is impossible to account for their conduct and +the measures they adopted on any other ground. But to accomplish that +object, a standing army and a prodigal revenue must be raised; and to +obtain these, pretences must be invented to deceive. Alarms of dangers +that did not exist even in imagination, but in the direct spirit of +lying, were spread abroad. Apostacy stalked through the land in the garb +of patriotism, and the torch of treason blinded for a while the flame of +liberty. + +For what purpose could an army of twenty-five thousand men be wanted? +A single reflection might have taught the most credulous that while +the war raged between France and England, neither could spare a man to +invade America. For what purpose, then, could it be wanted? The case +carries its own explanation. It was wanted for the purpose of destroying +the representative system, for it could be employed for no other. Are +these men Federalists? If they are, they are federalized to deceive and +to destroy. + +The rage against Dr. Logan's patriotic and voluntary mission to France +was excited by the shame they felt at the detection of the false alarms +they had circulated. As to the opposition given by the remnant of +the faction to the repeal of the taxes laid on during the former +administration, it is easily accounted for. The repeal of those taxes +was a sentence of condemnation on those who laid them on, and in the +opposition they gave in that repeal, they are to be considered in the +light of criminals standing on their defence, and the country has passed +judgment upon them. + +Thomas Paine. + +City of Washington, Lovett's Hotel, Nov. 19, 1802. + + + +LETTER III.(1) + + + 1 The National Intelligencer, Dec. 29th, 1802.--_Editor._. + +To ELECT, and to REJECT, is the prerogative of a free people. + +Since the establishment of Independence, no period has arrived that +so decidedly proves the excellence of the representative system of +government, and its superiority over every other, as the time we now +live in. Had America been cursed with John Adams's _hereditary Monarchy_ +or Alexander Hamilton's _Senate for life_ she must have sought, in the +doubtful contest of civil war, what she now obtains by the expression of +public will. An appeal to elections decides better than an appeal to the +sword. + +The Reign of Terror that raged in America during the latter end of the +Washington administration, and the whole of that of Adams, is enveloped +in mystery to me. That there were men in the government hostile to the +representative system, was once their boast, though it is now their +overthrow, and therefore the fact is established against them. But that +so large a mass of the people should become the dupes of those who were +loading them with taxes in order to load them with chains, and deprive +them of the right of election, can be ascribed only to that species +of wildfire rage, lighted up by falsehood, that not only acts without +reflection, but is too impetuous to make any. + +There is a general and striking difference between the genuine effects +of truth itself, and the effects of falsehood believed to be truth. +Truth is naturally benign; but falsehood believed to be truth is always +furious. The former delights in serenity, is mild and persuasive, and +seeks not the auxiliary aid of invention. The latter sticks at nothing. +It has naturally no morals. Every lie is welcome that suits its purpose. +It is the innate character of the thing to act in this manner, and the +criterion by which it may be known, whether in politics or religion. +When any thing is attempted to be supported by lying, it is presumptive +evidence that the thing so supported is a lie also. The stock on which a +lie can be grafted must be of the same species as the graft. + +What is become of the mighty clamour of French invasion, and the cry +that our country is in danger, and taxes and armies must be raised to +defend it? The danger is fled with the faction that created it, and what +is worst of all, the money is fled too. It is I only that have committed +the hostility of invasion, and all the artillery of popguns are prepared +for action. Poor fellows, how they foam! They set half their own +partisans in laughter; for among ridiculous things nothing is more +ridiculous than ridiculous rage. But I hope they will not leave off. I +shall lose half my greatness when they cease to lie. + +So far as respects myself, I have reason to believe, and a right to say, +that the leaders of the Reign of Terror in America and the leaders of +the Reign of Terror in France, during the time of Robespierre, were in +character the same sort of men; or how is it to be accounted for, that +I was persecuted by both at the same time? When I was voted out of +the French Convention, the reason assigned for it was, that I was a +foreigner. When Robespierre had me seized in the night, and imprisoned +in the Luxembourg, (where I remained eleven months,) he assigned no +reason for it. But when he proposed bringing me to the tribunal, which +was like sending me at once to the scaffold, he then assigned a reason, +and the reason was, _for the interests of America as well as of France, +"Pour les intérêts de l'Amérique autant que de la France_" The words are +in his own hand-writing, and reported to the Convention by the committee +appointed to examine his papers, and are printed in their report, with +this reflection added to them, "_Why Thomas Paine more than another? +Because he contributed to the liberty of both worlds_."(1) + + 1 See my "Life of Paine," vol. ii., pp. 79, 81. Also, the + historical introduction to XXI., p. 330, of this volume. + Robespierre never wrote an idle word. This Paine well knew, + as Mirabeau, who said of Robespierre: "That man will go far + he believes every word he says."--_Editor._ + +There must have been a coalition in sentiment, if not in fact, between +the Terrorists of America and the Terrorists of France, and Robespierre +must have known it, or he could not have had the idea of putting America +into the bill of accusation against me. Yet these men, these Terrorists +of the new world, who were waiting in the devotion of their hearts for +the joyful news of my destruction, are the same banditti who are now +bellowing in all the hacknied language of hacknied hypocrisy, about +humanity, and piety, and often about something they call infidelity, and +they finish with the chorus of _Crucify him, crucify him_. I am become +so famous among them, they cannot eat or drink without me. I serve them +as a standing dish, and they cannot make up a bill of fare if I am not +in it. + +But there is one dish, and that the choicest of all, that they have not +presented on the table, and it is time they should. They have not yet +_accused Providence of Infidelity_. Yet according to their outrageous +piety, she(1) must be as bad as Thomas Paine; she has protected him in +all his dangers, patronized him in all his undertakings, encouraged him +in all his ways, and rewarded him at last by bringing him in safety and +in health to the Promised Land. This is more than she did by the Jews, +the chosen people, that they tell us she brought out of the land +of Egypt, and out of the house of bondage; for they all died in the +wilderness, and Moses too. + +I was one of the nine members that composed the first Committee of +Constitution. Six of them have been destroyed. Sièyes and myself have +survived--he by bending with the times, and I by not bending. The other +survivor joined Robespierre, he was seized and imprisoned in his turn, +and sentenced to transportation. He has since apologized to me for +having signed the warrant, by saying he felt himself in danger and was +obliged to do it.(2) + + 1 Is this a "survival" of the goddess Fortuna?--_Editor._ + + 2 Barère. His apology to Paine proves that a death- + warrant had been issued, for Barère did not sign the order + for Paine's arrest or imprisonment.--_Editor._ + +Hérault Sechelles, an acquaintance of Mr. Jefferson, and a good patriot, +was my _suppléant_ as member of the Committee of Constitution, that is, +he was to supply my place, if I had not accepted or had resigned, being +next in number of votes to me. He was imprisoned in the Luxembourg with +me, was taken to the tribunal and the guillotine, and I, his principal, +was left. + +There were two foreigners in the Convention, Anarcharsis Clootz and +myself. We were both put out of the Convention by the same vote, +arrested by the same order, and carried to prison together the same +night. He was taken to the guillotine, and I was again left. Joel Barlow +was with us when we went to prison. + +Joseph Lebon, one of the vilest characters that ever existed, and who +made the streets of Arras run with blood, was my _suppléant_, as member +of the Convention for the department of the Pas de Calais. When I +was put out of the Convention he came and took my place. When I was +liberated from prison and voted again into the Convention, he was sent +to the same prison and took my place there, and he was sent to the +guillotine instead of me. He supplied my place all the way through. + +One hundred and sixty-eight persons were taken out of the Luxembourg +in one night, and a hundred and sixty of them guillotined next day, of +which I now know I was to have been one; and the manner I escaped that +fate is curious, and has all the appearance of accident. + +The room in which I was lodged was on the ground floor, and one of a +long range of rooms under a gallery, and the door of it opened outward +and flat against the wall; so that when it was open the inside of the +door appeared outward, and the contrary when it was shut. I had three +comrades, fellow prisoners with me, Joseph Vanhuele, of Bruges, since +President of the Municipality of that town, Michael Rubyns, and Charles +Bastini of Louvain. + +When persons by scores and by hundreds were to be taken out of the +prison for the guillotine it was always done in the night, and those who +performed that office had a private mark or signal, by which they knew +what rooms to go to, and what number to take. We, as I have stated, were +four, and the door of our room was marked, unobserved by us, with that +number in chalk; but it happened, if happening is a proper word, that +the mark was put on when the door was open, and flat against the +wall, and thereby came on the inside when we shut it at night, and the +destroying angel passed by it.(1) A few days after this, Robespierre +fell, and Mr. Monroe arrived and reclaimed me, and invited me to his +house. + + 1 Painefs preface to the "Age of Reason" Part IL, and his + Letter to Washington (p. 222.) show that for some time after + his release from prison he had attributed his escape from + the guillotine to a fever which rendered him unconscious at + the time when his accusation was demanded by Robespierre; + but it will be seen (XXXI.) that he subsequently visited his + prison room-mate Vanhuele, who had become Mayor of Bruges, + and he may have learned from him the particulars of their + marvellous escape. Carlyle having been criticised by John G. + Alger for crediting this story of the chalk mark, an + exhaustive discussion of the facts took place in the London + Athenoum, July 7, 21, August 25, September 1, 1894, in which + it was conclusively proved, I think, that there is no reason + to doubt the truth of the incident See also my article on + Paine's escape, in The Open Court (Chicago), July 26,1894. + The discussion in the Athenoum elicited the fact that a + tradition had long existed in the family of Sampson Perry + that he had shared Paine's cell and been saved by the + curious mistake. Such is not the fact. Perry, in his book on + the French Revolution, and in his "Argus," told the story of + Paine's escape by his illness, as Paine first told it; and + he also relates an anecdote which may find place here: + "Mr. Paine speaks gratefully of the kindness shown him by his + fellow-prisoners of the same chamber during his severe + malady, and especially of the skilful and voluntary + assistance lent him by General O'Hara's surgeon. He relates + an anecdote of himself which may not be unworthy of + repeating. An arrêt of the Committee of Public Welfare had + given directions to the administrators of the palace + [Luxembourg] to enter all the prisons with additional guards + and dispossess every prisoner of his knives, forks, and + every other sharp instrument; and also to take their money + from them. This happened a short time before Mr. Paine's + illness, and as this ceremony was represented to him as an + atrocious plunder in the dregs of municipality, he + determined to avert its effect so far as it concerned + himself. He had an English bank note of some value and gold + coin in his pocket, and as he conceived the visitors would + rifle them, as well as his trunks (though they did not do so + by any one) he took off the lock from his door, and hid the + whole of what he had about him in its inside. He recovered + his health, he found his money, but missed about three + hundred of his associated prisoners, who had been sent in + crowds to the murderous tribunal, while he had been + insensible of their or his own danger." This was probably + the money (£200) loaned by Paine to General O'Hara (who + figured at the Yorktown surrender) in prison.--_Editor._ + +During the whole of my imprisonment, prior to the fall of Robespierre, +there was no time when I could think my life worth twenty-four hours, +and my mind was made up to meet its fate. The Americans in Paris went in +a body to the Convention to reclaim me, but without success. There was +no party among them with respect to me. My only hope then rested on the +government of America, that it would _remember me_. But the icy heart of +ingratitude, in whatever man it be placed, has neither feeling nor +sense of honour. The letter of Mr. Jefferson has served to wipe away the +reproach, and done justice to the mass of the people of America.(1) + + 1 Printed in the seventh of this series of Letters.-- + _Editor._. + +When a party was forming, in the latter end of 1777, and beginning of +1778, of which John Adams was one, to remove Mr. Washington from the +command of the army on the complaint that _he did nothing_, I wrote the +fifth number of the Crisis, and published it at Lancaster, (Congress +then being at Yorktown, in Pennsylvania,) to ward off that meditated +blow; for though I well knew that the black times of '76 were the +natural consequence of his want of military judgment in the choice of +positions into which the army was put about New York and New Jersey, I +could see no possible advantage, and nothing but mischief, that could +arise by distracting the army into parties, which would have been the +case had the intended motion gone on. + +General [Charles] Lee, who with a sarcastic genius joined a great fund +of military knowledge, was perfectly right when he said "_We have no +business on islands, and in the bottom of bogs, where the enemy, by the +aid of its ships, can bring its whole force against apart of ours and +shut it up_." This had like to have been the case at New York, and it +was the case at Fort Washington, and would have been the case at Fort +Lee if General [Nathaniel] Greene had not moved instantly off on the +first news of the enemy's approach. I was with Greene through the whole +of that affair, and know it perfectly. + +But though I came forward in defence of Mr. Washington when he was +attacked, and made the best that could be made of a series of blunders +that had nearly ruined the country, he left me to perish when I was in +prison. But as I told him of it in his life-time, I should not now bring +it up if the ignorant impertinence of some of the Federal papers, who +are pushing Mr. Washington forward as their stalking horse, did not make +it necessary. + +That gentleman did not perform his part in the Revolution better, nor +with more honour, than I did mine, and the one part was as necessary +as the other. He accepted as a present, (though he was already rich,) +a hundred thousand acres of land in America, and left me to occupy six +foot of earth in France.(1) I wish, for his own reputation, he had acted +with more justice. But it was always known of Mr. Washington, by +those who best knew him, that he was of such an icy and death-like +constitution, that he neither loved his friends nor hated his enemies. +But, be this as it may, I see no reason that a difference between Mr. +Washington and me should be made a theme of discord with other people. +There are those who may see merit in both, without making themselves +partisans of either, and with this reflection I close the subject. + + 1 Paine was mistaken, as many others were, about the gifts + of Virginia (1785) to Washington. They were 100 shares, of + $100 each, in the James River Company, and 50 shares, of + £100 each, in the Potomac Company. Washington, accepted on + condition that he might appropriate them _to public uses_ + which was done in his Will.--_Editor._ + +As to the hypocritical abuse thrown out by the Federalists on other +subjects, I recommend to them the observance of a commandment that +existed before either Christian or Jew existed: + + Thou shalt make a covenant with thy senses: + With thine eye that it behold no evil, + With thine ear, that it hear no evil, + With thy tongue, that it speak no evil, + With thy hands, that they commit no evil. + +If the Federalists will follow this commandment, they will leave off +lying. + +Thomas Paine. + +Federal City, Lovett's Hotel, Nov. 26,1802. + + + +LETTER IV.(1) + + 1 The National Intelligencer, Dec. 6th. 1802.--_Editor._. + +As Congress is on the point of meeting, the public papers will +necessarily be occupied with the debates of the ensuing session, and +as, in consequence of my long absence from America, my private affairs +require my attendance, (for it is necessary I do this, or I could not +preserve, as I do, my independence,) I shall close my address to the +public with this letter. + +I congratulate them on the success of the late elections, and _that_ +with the additional confidence, that while honest men are chosen and +wise measures pursued, neither the treason of apostacy, masked under the +name of Federalism, of which I have spoken in my second letter, nor the +intrigues of foreign emissaries, acting in concert with that mask, can +prevail. + +As to the licentiousness of the papers calling themselves _Federal_, a +name that apostacy has taken, it can hurt nobody but the party or the +persons who support such papers. There is naturally a wholesome pride +in the public mind that revolts at open vulgarity. It feels itself +dishonoured even by hearing it, as a chaste woman feels dishonour by +hearing obscenity she cannot avoid. It can smile at wit, or be diverted +with strokes of satirical humour, but it detests the _blackguard_. The +same sense of propriety that governs in private companies, governs in +public life. If a man in company runs his wit upon another, it may draw +a smile from some persons present, but as soon as he turns a blackguard +in his language the company gives him up; and it is the same in public +life. The event of the late election shows this to be true; for in +proportion as those papers have become more and more vulgar and abusive, +the elections have gone more and more against the party they support, +or that supports them. Their predecessor, _Porcupine_ [Cobbett] had +wit--these scribblers have none. But as soon as his _blackguardism_ (for +it is the proper name of it) outran his wit, he was abandoned by every +body but the English Minister who protected him. + +The Spanish proverb says, "_there never was a cover large enough to hide +itself_"; and the proverb applies to the case of those papers and the +shattered remnant of the faction that supports them. The falsehoods they +fabricate, and the abuse they circulate, is a cover to hide something +from being seen, but it is not large enough to hide itself. It is as +a tub thrown out to the whale to prevent its attacking and sinking the +vessel. They want to draw the attention of the public from thinking +about, or inquiring into, the measures of the late administration, and +the reason why so much public money was raised and expended; and so far +as a lie today, and a new one tomorrow, will answer this purpose, it +answers theirs. It is nothing to them whether they be believed or not, +for if the negative purpose be answered the main point is answered, to +them. + +He that picks your pocket always tries to make you look another way. +"Look," says he, "at yon man t'other side the street--what a nose he has +got?--Lord, yonder is a chimney on fire!--Do you see yon man going along +in the salamander great coat? That is the very man that stole one of +Jupiter's satellites, and sold it to a countryman for a gold watch, +and it set his breeches on fire!" Now the man that has his hand in your +pocket, does not care a farthing whether you believe what he says or +not. All his aim is to prevent your looking at _him_; and this is the +case with the remnant of the Federal faction. The leaders of it have +imposed upon the country, and they want to turn the attention of it from +the subject. + +In taking up any public matter, I have never made it a consideration, +and never will, whether it be popular or unpopular; but whether it be +_right_ or _wrong_. The right will always become the popular, if it has +courage to show itself, and the shortest way is always a straight line. +I despise expedients, they are the gutter-hole of politics, and the sink +where reputation dies. In the present case, as in every other, I +cannot be accused of using any; and I have no doubt but thousands will +hereafter be ready to say, as Gouverneur Morris said to me, after having +abused me pretty handsomely in Congress for the opposition I gave +the fraudulent demand of Silas Deane of two thousand pounds sterling: +"_Well, we were all duped, and I among the rest!_"(1) + + 1 See vol. I., chapters xxii., xxiii., xxiv., of this work. + Also my "Life of Paine," vol. I., ch. ix., x.--_Editor._ + +Were the late administration to be called upon to give reasons for +the expence it put the country to, it can give none. The danger of an +invasion was a bubble that served as a cover to raise taxes and armies +to be employed on some other purpose. But if the people of America +believed it true, the cheerfulness with which they supported those +measures and paid those taxes is an evidence of their patriotism; and +if they supposed me their enemy, though in that supposition they did me +injustice, it was not injustice in them. He that acts as he believes, +though he may act wrong, is not conscious of wrong. + +But though there was no danger, no thanks are due to the late +administration for it. They sought to blow up a flame between the two +countries; and so intent were they upon this, that they went out of +their way to accomplish it. In a letter which the Secretary of State, +Timothy Pickering, wrote to Mr. Skipwith, the American Consul at Paris, +he broke off from the official subject of his letter, to _thank God_ in +very exulting language, _that the Russians had cut the French army +to pieces_. Mr. Skipwith, after showing me the letter, very prudently +concealed it. + +It was the injudicious and wicked acrimony of this letter, and some +other like conduct of the then Secretary of State, that occasioned me, +in a letter to a friend in the government, to say, that if there was any +official business to be done in France, till a regular Minister could +be appointed, it could not be trusted to a more proper person than Mr. +Skipwith. "_He is_," said I, "_an honest man, and will do business, and +that with good manners to the government he is commissioned to act with. +A faculty which that BEAR, Timothy Pickering, wanted, and which the BEAR +of that bear, John Adams, never possessed_."(2) + + 2 By reference to the letter itself (p. 376 of this volume) + it will be seen that Paine here quotes it from memory.-- + _Editor._ vol III-- + +In another letter to the same friend, in 1797, and which was put +unsealed under cover to Colonel Burr, I expressed a satisfaction +that Mr. Jefferson, since he was not president, had accepted the +vice presidency; "_for_," said I, "_John Adams has such a talent for +blundering and offending, it will be necessary to keep an eye over +him_." He has now sufficiently proved, that though I have not the spirit +of prophecy, I have the gift of _judging right_. And all the world +knows, for it cannot help knowing, that to judge _rightly_ and to write +_clearly_, and that upon all sorts of subjects, to be able to command +thought and as it were to play with it at pleasure, and be always master +of one's temper in writing, is the faculty only of a serene mind, and +the attribute of a happy and philosophical temperament. The scribblers, +who know me not, and who fill their papers with paragraphs about me, +besides their want of talents, drink too many slings and drams in a +morning to have any chance with me. But, poor fellows, they must do +something for the little pittance they get from their employers. This is +my apology for them. + +My anxiety to get back to America was great for many years. It is the +country of my heart, and the place of my political and literary birth. +It was the American revolution that made me an author, and forced into +action the mind that had been dormant, and had no wish for public life, +nor has it now. By the accounts I received, she appeared to me to be +going wrong, and that some meditated treason against her liberties +lurked at the bottom of her government. I heard that my friends were +oppressed, and I longed to take my stand among them, and if other times +to _try mens souls_ were to arrive, that I might bear my share. But my +efforts to return were ineffectual. + +As soon as Mr. Monroe had made a good standing with the French +government, for the conduct of his predecessor [Morris] had made his +reception as Minister difficult, he wanted to send despatches to his own +government by a person to whom he could confide a verbal communication, +and he fixed his choice on me. He then applied to the Committee of +Public Safety for a passport; but as I had been voted again into the +Convention, it was only the Convention that could give the passport; +and as an application to them for that purpose, would have made my going +publicly known, I was obliged to sustain the disappointment, and Mr. +Monroe to lose the opportunity.(1) + +When that gentleman left France to return to America, I was to have +gone with him. It was fortunate I did not. The vessel he sailed in was +visited by a British frigate, that searched every part of it, and down +to the hold, for Thomas Paine.(2) I then went, the same year, to embark +at Havre. But several British frigates were cruizing in sight of the +port who knew I was there, and I had to return again to Paris. Seeing +myself thus cut off from every opportunity that was in my power to +command, I wrote to Mr. Jefferson, that, if the fate of the election +should put him in the chair of the presidency, and he should have +occasion to send a frigate to France, he would give me the opportunity +of returning by it, which he did. But I declined coming by the +_Maryland_, the vessel that was offered me, and waited for the frigate +that was to bring the new Minister, Mr. Chancellor Livingston, to +France. But that frigate was ordered round to the Mediterranean; and +as at that time the war was over, and the British cruisers called in, +I could come any way. I then agreed to come with Commodore Barney in a +vessel he had engaged. It was again fortunate I did not, for the vessel +sank at sea, and the people were preserved in the boat. + + 1 The correspondence is in my "Life of Paine," vol. ii., + pp. 154-5.--_Editor._ + + 2 The "Dublin Packet," Captain Clay, in whom Paine, as he + wrote to Jefferson, "had no confidence."--_Editor._ + +Had half the number of evils befallen me that the number of dangers +amount to through which I have been pre-served, there are those who +would ascribe it to the wrath of heaven; why then do they not ascribe +my preservation to the protecting favour of heaven? Even in my worldly +concerns I have been blessed. The little property I left in America, +and which I cared nothing about, not even to receive the rent of it, +has been increasing in the value of its capital more than eight hundred +dollars every year, for the fourteen years and more that I have been +absent from it. I am now in my circumstances independent; and my economy +makes me rich. As to my health, it is perfectly good, and I leave the +world to judge of the stature of my mind. I am in every instance a +living contradiction to the mortified Federalists. + +In my publications, I follow the rule I began with in _Common Sense_, +that is, to consult nobody, nor to let any body see what I write till +it appears publicly. Were I to do otherwise, the case would be, that +between the timidity of some, who are so afraid of doing wrong that they +never do right, the puny judgment of others, and the despicable craft of +preferring _expedient to right_, as if the world was a world of babies +in leading strings, I should get forward with nothing. My path is a +right line, as straight and clear to me as a ray of light. The boldness +(if they will have it to be so) with which I speak on any subject, is a +compliment to the judgment of the reader. It is like saying to him, +_I treat you as a man and not as a child_. With respect to any worldly +object, as it is impossible to discover any in me, therefore what I do, +and my manner of doing it, ought to be ascribed to a good motive. + +In a great affair, where the happiness of man is at stake, I love +to work for nothing; and so fully am I under the influence of this +principle, that I should lose the spirit, the pleasure, and the pride +of it, were I conscious that I looked for reward; and with this +declaration, I take my leave for the present.(1) + + 1 The self-assertion of this and other letters about this + time was really self-defence, the invective against him, and + the calumnies, being such as can hardly be credited by those + not familiar with the publications of that time.--_Editor._ + +Thomas Paine. + +Federal City, Lovett's Hotel, Dec. 3, 1802. + + + +LETTER V.(1) + + 1 The National Intelligencer, Feb., 1803. In the Tarions + collections of these Letters there appears at this point a + correspondence between Paine and Samuel Adams of Boston, but + as it relates to religious matters I reserve it for the + fourth volume.--_Editor._. + +It is always the interest of a far greater part of the nation to have +a thing right than to have it wrong; and therefore, in a country whose +government is founded on the system of election and representation, the +fate of every party is decided by its principles. + +As this system is the only form and principle of government by which +liberty can be preserved, and the only one that can embrace all the +varieties of a great extent of country, it necessarily follows, that to +have the representation real, the election must be real; and that where +the election is a fiction, the representation is a fiction also. _Like +will always produce like_. + +A great deal has been said and written concerning the conduct of Mr. +Burr, during the late contest, in the federal legislature, whether Mr. +Jefferson or Mr. Burr should be declared President of the United States. +Mr. Burr has been accused of intriguing to obtain the Presidency. +Whether this charge be substantiated or not makes little or no part of +the purport of this letter. There is a point of much higher importance +to attend to than any thing that relates to the individual Mr. Burr: for +the great point is not whether Mr. Burr has intrigued, but whether the +legislature has intrigued with _him_. + +Mr. Ogden, a relation of one of the senators of New Jersey of the same +name, and of the party assuming the style of Federalists, has written +a letter published in the New York papers, signed with his name, the +purport of which is to exculpate Mr. Burr from the charges brought +against him. In this letter he says: + +"When about to return from Washington, two or three _members of +Congress_ of the federal party spoke to me of _their views_, as to the +election of a president, desiring me to converse with Colonel Burr on +the subject, and to ascertain _whether he would enter into terms_. On my +return to New York I called on Colonel Burr, and communicated the above +to him. He explicitly declined the explanation, and _did neither propose +nor agree to any terms_." + +How nearly is human cunning allied to folly! The animals to whom nature +has given the faculty we call _cunning_, know always when to use it, +and use it wisely; but when man descends to cunning, he blunders and +betrays. + +Mr. Ogden's letter is intended to exculpate Mr. Burr from the charge +of intriguing to obtain the presidency; and the letter that he (Ogden) +writes for this purpose is direct evidence against his party in +Congress, that they intrigued with Burr to obtain him for President, +and employed him (Ogden) for the purpose. To save _Aaron_, he betrays +_Moses_, and then turns informer against the _Golden Calf_. + +It is but of little importance to the world to know if Mr. Burr +_listened_ to an intriguing proposal, but it is of great importance to +the constituents to know if their representatives in Congress made one. +The ear can commit no crime, but the tongue may; and therefore the right +policy is to drop Mr. Burr, as being only the hearer, and direct the +whole charge against the Federal faction in Congress as the active +original culprit, or, if the priests will have scripture for it, as the +serpent that beguiled Eve. + + 1 In the presidential canvas of 1800, the votes in the + electoral college being equally divided between Burr and + Jefferson, the election was thrown into the House of + Representatives. Jefferson was elected on the 36th ballot, + but he never forgave Burr, and between these two old friends + Paine had to write this letter under some embarrassment. The + last paragraph of this Letter shows Paine's desire for a + reconciliation between Burr and Jefferson. Aaron Burr is one + of the traditionally slandered figures of American history. + --_Editor._ + +The plot of the intrigue was to make Mr. Burr President, on the private +condition of his agreeing to, and entering into, terms with them, that +is, with the proposers. Had then the election been made, the country, +knowing nothing of this private and illegal transaction, would have +supposed, for who could have supposed otherwise, that it had a President +according to the forms, principles, and intention of the constitution. +No such thing. Every form, principle, and intention of the constitution +would have been violated; and instead of a President, it would have had +a mute, a sort of image, hand-bound and tongue-tied, the dupe and slave +of a party, placed on the theatre of the United States, and acting the +farce of President. + +It is of little importance, in a constitutional sense, to know what the +terms to be proposed might be, because any terms other than those which +the constitution prescribes to a President are criminal. Neither do I +see how Mr. Burr, or any other person put in the same condition, could +have taken the oath prescribed by the constitution to a President, which +is, "_I do solemnly swear (or affirm,) that I will faithfully execute +the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of +my ability preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United +States_." + +How, I ask, could such a person have taken such an oath, knowing at the +same time that he had entered into the Presidency on terms unknown +in the Constitution, and private, and which would deprive him of the +freedom and power of acting as President of the United States, agreeably +to his constitutional oath? + +Mr. Burr, by not agreeing to terms, has escaped the danger to which +they exposed him, and the perjury that would have followed, and also +the punishment annexed thereto. Had he accepted the Presidency on +terms unknown in the constitution, and private, and had the transaction +afterwards transpired, (which it most probably would, for roguery is a +thing difficult to conceal,) it would have produced a sensation in the +country too violent to be quieted, and too just to be resisted; and in +any case the election must have been void. + +But what are we to think of those members of Congress, who having taken +an oath of the same constitutional import as the oath of the President, +violate that oath by tampering to obtain a President on private +conditions. If this is not sedition against the constitution and the +country, it is difficult to define what sedition in a representative can +be. + +Say not that this statement of the case is the effect of personal or +party resentment. No. It is the effect of _sincere concern_ that such +corruption, of which this is but a sample, should, in the space of a few +years, have crept into a country that had the fairest opportunity that +Providence ever gave, within the knowledge of history, of making itself +an illustrious example to the world. + +What the terms were, or were to be, it is probable we never shall know; +or what is more probable, that feigned ones, if any, will be given. But +from the conduct of the party since that time we may conclude, that no +taxes would have been taken off, that the clamour for war would have +been kept up, new expences incurred, and taxes and offices increased +in consequence; and, among the articles of a private nature, that +the leaders in this seditious traffic were to stipulate with the mock +President for lucrative appointments for themselves. + +But if these plotters against the Constitution understood their +business, and they had been plotting long enough to be masters of it, a +single article would have comprehended every thing, which is, _That the +President (thus made) should be governed in all cases whatsoever by a +private junto appointed by themselves_. They could then, through the +medium of a mock President, have negatived all bills which their +party in Congress could not have opposed with success, and reduced +representation to a nullity. + +The country has been imposed upon, and the real culprits are but few; +and as it is necessary for the peace, harmony, and honour of the Union, +to separate the deceiver from the deceived, the betrayer from the +betrayed, that men who once were friends, and that in the worst of +times, should be friends again, it is necessary, as a beginning, that +this dark business be brought to full investigation. Ogden's letter +is direct evidence of the fact of tampering to obtain a conditional +President. He knows the two or three members of Congress that +commissioned him, and they know who commissioned them. + +Thomas Paine. + +Federal City, Lovett's Hotel, Jan. 29th, 1803. + + + +LETTER VI.(1) + + 1 The Aurora (Philadelphia).--_Editor._. + +Religion and War is the cry of the Federalists; Morality and Peace the +voice of Republicans. The union of Morality and Peace is congenial; +but that of Religion and War is a paradox, and the solution of it is +hypocrisy. + +The leaders of the Federalists have no judgment; their plans no +consistency of parts; and want of consistency is the natural consequence +of want of principle. + +They exhibit to the world the curious spectacle of an _Opposition_ +without a _cause_, and conduct without system. Were they, as doctors, +to prescribe medicine as they practise politics, they would poison their +patients with destructive compounds. + +There are not two things more opposed to each other than War and +Religion; and yet, in the double game those leaders have to play, the +one is necessarily the theme of their politics, and the other the text +of their sermons. The week-day orator of Mars, and the Sunday preacher +of Federal Grace, play like gamblers into each other's hands, and this +they call Religion. + +Though hypocrisy can counterfeit every virtue, and become the associate +of every vice, it requires a great dexterity of craft to give it the +power of deceiving. A painted sun may glisten, but it cannot warm. For +hypocrisy to personate virtue successfully it must know and feel what +virtue is, and as it cannot long do this, it cannot long deceive. +When an orator foaming for War breathes forth in another sentence a +_plaintive piety of words_, he may as well write hypocrisy on his front. + +The late attempt of the Federal leaders in Congress (for they acted +without the knowledge of their constituents) to plunge the country into +War, merits not only reproach but indignation. It was madness, conceived +in ignorance and acted in wickedness. The head and the heart went +partners in the crime. + +A neglect of punctuality in the performance of a treaty is made +a _cause_ of war by the _Barbary powers_, and of remonstrance and +explanation by _civilised powers_. The Mahometans of Barbary negociate +by the sword--they seize first, and ex-postulate afterwards; and the +federal leaders have been labouring to _barbarize_ the United States by +adopting the practice of the Barbary States, and this they call honour. +Let their honour and their hypocrisy go weep together, for both are +defeated. Their present Administration is too moral for hypocrites, and +too economical for public spendthrifts. + +A man the least acquainted with diplomatic affairs must know that a +neglect in punctuality is not one of the legal causes of war, unless +that neglect be confirmed by a refusal to perform; and even then it +depends upon circumstances connected with it. The world would be in +continual quarrels and war, and commerce be annihilated, if Algerine +policy was the law of nations. And were America, instead of becoming an +example to the old world of good and moral government and civil manners, +or, if they like it better, of gentlemanly conduct towards other +nations, to set up the character of ruffian, that of _word and blow, and +the blow first_, and thereby give the example of pulling down the little +that civilization has gained upon barbarism, her Independence, instead +of being an honour and a blessing, would become a curse upon the world +and upon herself. + +The conduct of the Barbary powers, though unjust in principle, is suited +to their prejudices, situation, and circumstances. The crusades of the +church to exterminate them fixed in their minds the unobliterated belief +that every Christian power was their mortal enemy. Their religious +prejudices, therefore, suggest the policy, which their situation and +circumstances protect them in. As a people, they are neither commercial +nor agricultural, they neither import nor export, have no property +floating on the seas, nor ships and cargoes in the ports of foreign +nations. No retaliation, therefore, can be acted upon them, and they sin +secure from punishment. + +But this is not the case with the United States. If she sins as a +Barbary power, she must answer for it as a Civilized one. Her commerce +is continually passing on the seas exposed to capture, and her ships +and cargoes in foreign ports to detention and reprisal. An act of War +committed by her in the Mississippi would produce a War against the +commerce of the Atlantic States, and the latter would have to curse the +policy that provoked the former. In every point, therefore, in which the +character and interest of the United States be considered, it would +ill become her to set an example contrary to the policy and custom of +Civilized powers, and practised only by the Barbary powers, that of +striking before she expostulates. + +But can any man, calling himself a Legislator, and supposed by his +constituents to know something of his duty, be so ignorant as to imagine +that seizing on New Orleans would finish the affair or even contribute +towards it? On the contrary it would have made it worse. The treaty +right of deposite at New Orleans, and the right of the navigation of the +Mississippi into the Gulph of Mexico, are distant things. New Orleans is +more than an hundred miles in the country from the mouth of the river, +and, as a place of deposite, is of no value if the mouth of the river be +shut, which either France or Spain could do, and which our possession +of New Orleans could neither prevent or remove. New Orleans in our +possession, by an act of hostility, would have become a blockaded +port, and consequently of no value to the western people as a place of +deposite. Since, therefore, an interruption had arisen to the commerce +of the western states, and until the matter could be brought to a fair +explanation, it was of less injury to have the port shut and the river +open, than to have the river shut and the port in our possession. + +That New Orleans could be taken required no stretch of policy to plan, +nor spirit of enterprize to effect. It was like marching behind a man to +knock him down: and the dastardly slyness of such an attack would have +stained the fame of the United States. Where there is no danger cowards +are bold, and Captain Bobadils are to be found in the Senate as well +as on the stage. Even _Gouverneur_, on such a march, dare have shown a +leg.(1) + + 1 Gouverneur Morris being now leader of the belligerent + faction in Congress, Paine could not resist the temptation + to allude to a well-known incident (related in his Diary and + Letters, i., p. 14). A mob in Paris having surrounded his + fine carriage, crying "Aristocrat!" Morris showed his + wooden leg, declaring he had lost his leg in the cause of + American liberty. Morris was never in any fight, his leg + being lost by a commonplace accident while driving in + Philadelphia. Although Paine's allusion may appear in bad + taste, even with this reference, it was politeness itself + compared with the brutal abuse which Morris (not content + with imprisoning Paine in Paris) and his adherents were + heaping on the author on his return to America; also on + Monroe, whom Jefferson had returned to France to negotiate + for the purchase of Louisiana.--_Editor._, + +The people of the western country to whom the Mississippi serves as +an inland sea to their commerce, must be supposed to understand the +circumstances of that commerce better than a man who is a stranger to +it; and as they have shown no approbation of the war-whoop measures of +the Federal senators, it becomes presumptive evidence they disapprove +them. This is a new mortification for those war-whoop politicians; for +the case is, that finding themselves losing ground and withering away in +the Atlantic States, they laid hold of the affair of New Orleans in the +vain hope of rooting and reinforcing themselves in the western States; +and they did this without perceiving that it was one of those ill judged +hypocritical expedients in politics, that whether it succeeded or failed +the event would be the same. Had their motion [that of Ross and Morris] +succeeded, it would have endangered the commerce of the Atlantic States +and ruined their reputation there; and on the other hand the attempt +to make a tool of the western people was so badly concealed as to +extinguish all credit with them. + +But hypocrisy is a vice of sanguine constitution. It flatters and +promises itself every thing; and it has yet to learn, with respect to +moral and political reputation, it is less dangerous to offend than to +deceive. + +To the measures of administration, supported by the firmness and +integrity of the majority in Congress, the United States owe, as far as +human means are concerned, the preservation of peace, and of national +honour. The confidence which the western people reposed in the +government and their representatives is rewarded with success. They are +reinstated in their rights with the least possible loss of time; and +their harmony with the people of New Orleans, so necessary to the +prosperity of the United States, which would have been broken, and the +seeds of discord sown in its place, had hostilities been preferred to +accommodation, remains unimpaired. Have the Federal ministers of the +church meditated on these matters? and laying aside, as they ought to +do, their electioneering and vindictive prayers and sermons, returned +thanks that peace is preserved, and commerce, without the stain of +blood? + +In the pleasing contemplation of this state of things the mind, by +comparison, carries itself back to those days of uproar and extravagance +that marked the career of the former administration, and decides, by +the unstudied impulse of its own feelings, that something must then have +been wrong. Why was it, that America, formed for happiness, and remote +by situation and circumstances from the troubles and tumults of the +European world, became plunged into its vortex and contaminated with its +crimes? The answer is easy. Those who were then at the head of affairs +were apostates from the principles of the revolution. Raised to an +elevation they had not a right to expect, nor judgment to conduct, +they became like feathers in the air, and blown about by every puff of +passion or conceit. + +Candour would find some apology for their conduct if want of judgment +was their only defect. But error and crime, though often alike in their +features, are distant in their characters and in their origin. The one +has its source in the weakness of the head, the other in the hardness +of the heart, and the coalition of the two, describes the former +Administration.(1) + + 1 That of John Adams.--_Editor._ + +Had no injurious consequences arisen from the conduct of that +Administration, it might have passed for error or imbecility, and +been permitted to die and be forgotten. The grave is kind to innocent +offence. But even innocence, when it is a cause of injury, ought to +undergo an enquiry. + +The country, during the time of the former Administration, was kept in +continual agitation and alarm; and that no investigation might be made +into its conduct, it entrenched itself within a magic circle of terror, +and called it a SEDITION LAW.(1) Violent and mysterious in its measures +and arrogant in its manners, it affected to disdain information, and +insulted the principles that raised it from obscurity. John Adams and +Timothy Pickering were men whom nothing but the accidents of the times +rendered visible on the political horizon. Elevation turned their heads, +and public indignation hath cast them to the ground. But an inquiry +into the conduct and measures of that Administration is nevertheless +necessary. + +The country was put to great expense. Loans, taxes, and standing armies +became the standing order of the day. The militia, said Secretary +Pickering, are not to be depended upon, and fifty thousand men must be +raised. For what? No cause to justify such measures has yet appeared. No +discovery of such a cause has yet been made. The pretended Sedition Law +shut up the sources of investigation, and the precipitate flight of John +Adams closed the scene. But the matter ought not to sleep here. + +It is not to gratify resentment, or encourage it in others, that I enter +upon this subject. It is not in the power of man to accuse me of a +persecuting spirit. But some explanation ought to be had. The motives +and objects respecting the extraordinary and expensive measures of the +former Administration ought to be known. The Sedition Law, that shield +of the moment, prevented it then, and justice demands it now. If the +public have been imposed upon, it is proper they should know it; for +where judgment is to act, or a choice is to be made, knowledge is first +necessary. The conciliation of parties, if it does not grow out of +explanation, partakes of the character of collusion or indifference. + + 1 Passed July 14, 1798, to continue until March 3, 1801. + This Act, described near the close of this Letter, and one + passed June 35th, giving the President despotic powers over + aliens in the United States, constituted the famous "Alien + and Sedition Laws." Hamilton opposed them, and rightly saw + in them the suicide of the Federal party.--_Editor._, + +There has been guilt somewhere; and it is better to fix it where +it belongs, and separate the deceiver from the deceived, than that +suspicion, the bane of society, should range at large, and sour the +public mind. The military measures that were proposed and carrying on +during the former administration, could not have for their object the +defence of the country against invasion. This is a case that decides +itself; for it is self evident, that while the war raged in Europe, +neither France nor England could spare a man to send to America. The +object, therefore, must be something at home, and that something was the +overthrow of the representative system of government, for it could be +nothing else. But the plotters got into confusion and became enemies to +each other. Adams hated and was jealous of Hamilton, and Hamilton hated +and despised both Adams and Washington.(1) Surly Timothy stood aloof, as +he did at the affair of Lexington, and the part that fell to the public +was to pay the expense.(2) + + 1 Hamilton's bitter pamphlet against Adams appeared in 1800, + but his old quarrel with Washington (1781) had apparently + healed. Yet, despite the favors lavished by Washington on + Hamilton, there is no certainty that the latter ever changed + his unfavorable opinion of the former, as expressed in a + letter to General Schuylor, Feb. 18, 1781 (Lodge's + "Hamilton's Works," vol. viii., p. 35).--_Editor._ + + 2 Colonel Pickering's failure, in 1775, to march his Salem + troops in time to intercept the British retreat from + Lexington was attributed to his half-heartedness + in the patriotic cause.--_Editor._ + +But ought a people who, but a few years ago, were fighting the battles +of the world, for liberty had no home but here, ought such a people +to stand quietly by and see that liberty undermined by apostacy +and overthrown by intrigue? Let the tombs of the slain recall their +recollection, and the forethought of what their children are to be +revive and fix in their hearts the love of liberty. + +If the former administration can justify its conduct, give it the +opportunity. The manner in which John Adams disappeared from the +government renders an inquiry the more necessary. He gave some account +of himself, lame and confused as it was, to certain _eastern wise men_ +who came to pay homage to him on his birthday. But if he thought it +necessary to do this, ought he not to have rendered an account to +the public. They had a right to expect it of him. In that tête-à-tête +account, he says, "Some measures were the effect of imperious necessity, +much against my inclination." What measures does Mr. Adams mean, and +what is the imperious necessity to which he alludes? "Others (says he) +were measures of the Legislature, which, although approved when passed, +were never previously proposed or recommended by me." What measures, +it may be asked, were those, for the public have a right to know the +conduct of their representatives? "Some (says he) left to my discretion +were never executed, because no necessity for them, in my judgment, ever +occurred." + +What does this dark apology, mixed with accusation, amount to, but +to increase and confirm the suspicion that something was wrong? +Administration only was possessed of foreign official information, +and it was only upon that information communicated by him publicly or +privately, or to Congress, that Congress could act; and it is not in +the power of Mr. Adams to show, from the condition of the belligerent +powers, that any imperious necessity called for the warlike and +expensive measures of his Administration. + +What the correspondence between Administration and Rufus King in London, +or Quincy Adams in Holland, or Berlin, might be, is but little known. +The public papers have told us that the former became cup-bearer from +the London underwriters to Captain Truxtun,(1) for which, as Minister +from a neutral nation, he ought to have been censured. It is, however, +a feature that marks the politics of the Minister, and hints at the +character of the correspondence. + + 1 Thomas Truxtun (1755-1822), for having captured the French + frigate "L'Insurgente," off Hen's Island, 1799, was + presented at Lloyd's coffee-house with plate to the value of + 600 guineas. Rufus King (1755-1827), made Minister to England + in 1796, continued under Adams, and for two years under + Jefferson's administration.--_Editor._ + +I know that it is the opinion of several members of both houses of +Congress, that an enquiry, with respect to the conduct of the late +Administration, ought to be gone into. The convulsed state into which +the country has been thrown will be best settled by a full and fair +exposition of the conduct of that Administration, and the causes and +object of that conduct. To be deceived, or to remain deceived, can be +the interest of no man who seeks the public good; and it is the deceiver +only, or one interested in the deception, that can wish to preclude +enquiry. + +The suspicion against the late Administration is, that it was plotting +to overturn the representative system of government, and that it spread +alarms of invasions that had no foundation, as a pretence for raising +and establishing a military force as the means of accomplishing that +object. + +The law, called the Sedition Law, enacted, that if any person should +write or publish, or cause to be written or published, any libel +[without defining what a libel is] against the Government of the United +States, or either house of congress, or against the President, he +should be punished by a fine not exceeding two thousand dollars, and by +imprisonment not exceeding two years. + +But it is a much greater crime for a president to plot against a +Constitution and the liberties of the people, than for an individual to +plot against a President; and consequently, John Adams is accountable to +the public for his conduct, as the individuals under his administration +were to the sedition law. + +The object, however, of an enquiry, in this case, is not to punish, but +to satisfy; and to shew, by example, to future administrations, that an +abuse of power and trust, however disguised by appearances, or rendered +plausible by pretence, is one time or other to be accounted for. + +Thomas Paine. + +BORDENTOWN, ON THE DELAWARE, + +New Jersey, March 12, 1803. vol. III--27 + + + +LETTER VII. + + EDITOR'S PREFACE. + + This letter was printed in _The True American_, Trenton, New + Jersey, soon after Paine's return to his old home at + Bordenton. It is here printed from the original manuscript, + for which I am indebted to Mr. W. F. Havemeyer of New York. + Although the Editor has concluded to present Paine's + "Maritime Compact" in the form he finally gave it, the + articles were printed in French in 1800, and by S. H. Smith, + Washington, at the close of the same year. There is an + interesting history connected with it. John Hall, in his + diary ("Trenton, 20 April, 1787") relates that Paine told + him of Dr. Franklin, whom he (Paine) had just visited in + Philadelphia, and the Treaty he, the Doctor, made with the + late King of Prussia by adding an article that, should war + ever break out, Commerce should be free. The Doctor said he + showed it to Vergennes, who said it met his idea, and was + such as he would make even with England. In his Address to + the People of France, 1797 (see p. 366), Paine closes with a + suggestion on the subject, and a year later (September 30, + 1798), when events were in a critical condition, he sent + nine articles of his proposed _Pacte Maritime_ to + Talleyrand, newly appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs. The + letters that passed are here taken from the originals (State + Archives, Paris, États Unis, vol. 48). + + +"Rue Theatre française, No. 4, 9 Vendemaire, 6 year. + +"Citizen Minister: I promised you some observations on the state of +things between France and America. I divide the case into two parts. +First, with respect to some Method that shall effectually put an end to +all interruptions of the American Commerce. Secondly, with respect to +the settlement for the captures that have been made on that Commerce. + +"As to the first case (the interruption of the American Commerce +by France) it has foundation in the British Treaty, and it is the +continuance of that treaty that renders the remedy difficult. Besides, +the American administration has blundered so much in the business of +treaty-making, that it is probable it will blunder again in making +another with France. There is, however, one method left, and there is +but one that I can see, that will be effectual. It is a _non-importation +Convention; that America agrees not to import from any Nation in Europe +who shall interrupt her Commerce on the seas, any goods, wares, or +merchandize whatever, and that all her ports shall be shut against +the Nation that gives the offence_. This will draw America out of her +difficulties with respect to her treaty with England. + +"But it will be far better if this non-importation convention were to +be a general convention of Nations acting as a Whole. It would give a +better protection to Neutral Commerce than the armed neutrality could +do. I would rather be a Neutral Nation under the protection of such a +Convention, which costs nothing to make it, than be under the protection +of a navy equal to that of Great Britain. France should be the patron of +such a Convention and sign it. It would be giving both her consent and +her protection to the Rights of Neutral Nations. If England refuse to +sign it she will nevertheless be obliged to respect it, or lose all her +Commerce. + +"I enclose you a plan I drew up about four months ago, when there was +expectation that Mr. Madison would come to France. It has lain by me +ever since. + +"The second part, that of settlement for the captures, I will make the +subject of a future correspondence. Salut et respect." + + +Talleyrand's Reply ("Foreign Relations, 15 Vendemaire An. 6," Oct. +6, 1797): "I have the honor to return you, Citizen, with very sincere +thanks, your Letter to General Washington which you have had the +goodness to show me. + +"I have received the letter which you have taken the trouble to write +me, the 9th of this month. I need not assure you of the appreciation +with which I shall receive the further indications you promise on the +means of terminating in a durable manner the differences which must +excite your interest as a patriot and as a Republican. Animated by +such a principle your ideas cannot fail to throw valuable light on the +discussion you open, and which should have for its object to reunite the +two Republics in whose alienation the enemies of liberty triumph." + +Paine's plan made a good impression in France--He writes to Jefferson, +October 6, 1800, that the Consul Le Brun, at an entertainment given to +the American envoys, gave for his toast: "À l'union de 1' Amérique avec +les Puissances du Nord pour faire respecter la liberté des mers." + +The malignant mind, like the jaundiced eye, sees everything through a +false medium of its own creating. The light of heaven appears stained +with yellow to the distempered sight of the one, and the fairest actions +have the form of crimes in the venomed imagination of the other. + +For seven months, both before and after my return to America in October +last, the apostate papers styling themselves "Federal" were filled with +paragraphs and Essays respecting a letter from Mr. Jefferson to me at +Paris; and though none of them knew the contents of the letter, nor the +occasion of writing it, malignity taught them to suppose it, and the +lying tongue of injustice lent them its aid. + +That the public may no longer be imposed upon by Federal apostacy, I +will now publish the Letter, and the occasion of its being written. + +The Treaty negociated in England by John Jay, and ratified by the +Washington Administration, had so disgracefully surrendered the right +and freedom of the American flag, that all the Commerce of the +United States on the Ocean became exposed to capture, and suffered in +consequence of it. The duration of the Treaty was limited to two years +after the war; and consequently America could not, during that period, +relieve herself from the Chains which the Treaty had fixed upon her. +This being the case, the only relief that could come must arise out of +something originating in Europe, that would, in its consequences, extend +to America. It had long been my opinion that Commerce contained within +itself the means of its own protection; but as the time for bringing +forward any new system is not always happening, it is necessary to watch +its approach, and lay hold of it before it passes away. + +As soon as the late Emperor Paul of Russia abandoned his coalition with +England and become a Neutral Power, this Crisis of time, and also of +circumstances, was then arriving; and I employed it in arranging a plan +for the protection of the Commerce of Neutral Nations during War, +that might, in its operation and consequences, relieve the Commerce of +America. The Plan, with the pieces accompanying it, consisted of +about forty pages. The Citizen Bonneville, with whom I lived in Paris, +translated it into French; Mr. Skipwith, the American Consul, Joel +Barlow, and myself, had the translation printed and distributed as +a present to the Foreign Ministers of all the Neutral Nations then +resident in Paris. This was in the summer of 1800. + +It was entitled Maritime Compact (in French _Pacte Maritime_), The plan, +exclusive of the pieces that accompanied it, consisted of the following +Preamble and Articles. + + +MARITIME COMPACT. + +Being an Unarmed Association of Nations for the protection of the Rights +and Commerce of Nations that shall be neutral in time of War. + +Whereas, the Vexations and Injuries to which the Rights and Commerce of +Neutral Nations have been, and continue to be, exposed during the time +of maritime War, render it necessary to establish a law of Nations for +the purpose of putting an end to such vexations and Injuries, and to +guarantee to the Neutral Nations the exercise of their just Rights, + +We, therefore, the undersigned Powers, form ourselves into an +Association, and establish the following as a Law of Nations on the +Seas. + +ARTICLE THE FIRST. Definition of the Rights of neutral Nations. + +The Rights of Nations, such as are exercised by them in their +intercourse with each other in time of Peace, are, and of right ought to +be, the Rights of Neutral Nations at all times; because, + +First, those Rights not having been abandoned by them, remain with them. + +Secondly, because those Rights cannot become forfeited or void, in +consequence of War breaking out between two or more other Nations. + +A War of Nation against Nation being exclusively the act of the Nations +that make the War, and not the act of the Neutral Nations, cannot, +whether considered in itself or in its consequences, destroy or diminish +the Rights of the Nations remaining in Peace. + + +ARTICLE THE SECOND. + +The Ships and Vessels of Nations that rest neuter and at Peace with the +World during a War with other Nations, have a Right to navigate freely +on the Seas as they navigated before that War broke out, and to proceed +to and enter the Port or Ports of any of the Belligerent Powers, _with +the consent of that Power_, without being seized, searched, visited, or +any ways interrupted, by the Nation or Nations with which that Nation is +at War. + + +ARTICLE THE THIRD. + +For the Conservation of the aforesaid Rights, We, the undersigned +Powers, engaging to each other our Sacred Faith and Honour, declare, + +That if any Belligerent Power shall seize, search, visit, or any ways +interrupt any Ship or Vessel belonging to the Citizens or Subjects of +any of the Powers composing this Association, then each and all of the +said undersigned Powers will cease to import, and will not permit to +be imported into the Ports or Dominions of any of the said undersigned +Powers, in any Ship or Vessel whatever, any Goods, wares, or +Merchandize, produced or manufactured in, or exported from, the +Dominions of the Power so offending against the Association hereby +established and Proclaimed. + + +ARTICLE THE FOURTH. + +That all the Ports appertaining to any and all of the Powers composing +this Association shall be shut against the Flag of the offending Nation. + + +ARTICLE THE FIFTH. + +That no remittance or payment in Money, Merchandize, or Bills of +Exchange, shall be made by any of the Citizens, or Subjects, of any of +the Powers composing this Association, to the Citizens or Subjects of +the offending Nation, for the Term of one year, or until reparation +be made. The reparation to be ---- times the amount of the damages +sustained. + + +ARTICLE THE SIXTH. + +If any Ship or Vessel appertaining to any of the Citizens or Subjects of +any of the Powers composing this Association shall be seized, searched, +visited, or interrupted, by any Belligerent Nation, or be forcibly +prevented entering the Port of her destination, or be seized, searched, +visited, or interrupted, in coming out of such Port, or be forcibly +prevented from proceeding to any new destination, or be insulted or +visited by any Agent from on board any Vessel of any Belligerent Power, +the Government or Executive Power of the Nation to which the Ship or +Vessel so seized, searched, visited, or interrupted belongs, shall, on +evidence of the fact, make public Proclamation of the same, and send +a Copy thereof to the Government, or Executive, of each of the Powers +composing this Association, who shall publish the same in all the extent +of his Dominions, together with a Declaration, that at the expiration +of ---- days after publication, the penal articles of this Association +shall be put in execution against the offending Nation. + + +ARTICLE THE SEVENTH. + +If reparation be not made within the space of one year, the said +Proclamation shall be renewed for one year more, and so on. + + +ARTICLE THE EIGHTH. + +The Association chooses for itself a Flag to be carried at the Mast-head +conjointly with the National Flag of each Nation composing this +Association. + +The Flag of the Association shall be composed of the same colors as +compose the Rainbow, and arranged in the same order as they appear in +that Phenomenon. + + +ARTICLE THE NINTH. + +And whereas, it may happen that one or more of the Nations composing +this Association may be, at the time of forming it, engaged in War or +become so in future, in that case, the Ships and Vessels of such Nation +shall carry the Flag of the Association bound round the Mast, to denote +that the Nation to which she belongs is a Member of the Association and +a respecter of its Laws. + +N. B. This distinction in the manner of carrying the Flag is mearly for +the purpose, that Neutral Vessels having the Flag at the Mast-head, may +be known at first sight. + + +ARTICLE THE TENTH. + +And whereas, it is contrary to the moral principles of Neutrality and +Peace, that any Neutral Nation should furnish to the Belligerent Powers, +or any of them, the means of carrying on War against each other, We, +therefore, the Powers composing this Association, Declare, that we +will each one for itself, prohibit in our Dominions the exportation or +transportation of military stores, comprehending gunpowder, cannon, and +cannon-balls, fire arms of all kinds, and all kinds of iron and steel +weapons used in War. Excluding therefrom all kinds of Utensils and +Instruments used in civil or domestic life, and every other article that +cannot, in its immediate state, be employed in War. + +Having thus declared the moral Motives of the foregoing Article, We +declare also the civil and political Intention thereof, to wit, + +That as Belligerent Nations have no right to visit or search any Ship or +Vessel belonging to a Nation at Peace, and under the protection of +the Laws and Government thereof, and as all such visit or search is an +insult to the Nation to which such Ship or Vessel belongs and to +the Government of the same, We, therefore, the Powers composing this +Association, will take the right of prohibition on ourselves to whom it +properly belongs, and by whom only it can be legally exercised, and +not permit foreign Nations, in a state of War, to usurp the right of +legislating by Proclamation for any of the Citizens or Subjects of the +Powers composing this Association. + +It is, therefore, in order to take away all pretence of search or visit, +which by being offensive might become a new cause of War, that we will +provide Laws and publish them by Proclamation, each in his own Dominion, +to prohibit the supplying, or carrying to, the Belligerent Powers, +or either of them, the military stores or articles before mentioned, +annexing thereto a penalty to be levied or inflicted upon any persons +within our several Dominions transgressing the same. And we invite all +Persons, as well of the Belligerent Nations as of our own, or of +any other, to give information of any knowledge they may have of +any transgressions against the said Law, that the offenders may be +prosecuted. + +By this conduct we restore the word Contraband (_contra_ and _ban_) to +its true and original signification, which means against Law, edict, or +Proclamation; and none but the Government of a Nation can have, or can +exercise, the right of making Laws, edicts, or Proclamations, for the +conduct of its Citizens or Subjects. + +Now We, the undersigned Powers, declare the aforesaid Articles to be a +Law of Nations at all times, or until a Congress of Nations shall meet +to form some Law more effectual. + +And we do recommend that immediately on the breaking out of War between +any two or more Nations, that Deputies be appointed by all Neutral +Nations, whether members of this Association or not, to meet in Congress +in some central place to take cognizance of any violations of the Rights +of Neutral Nations. + +Signed, &c. + + +For the purpose of giving operation to the aforesaid plan of an _unarmed +Association_, the following Paragraph was subjoined: + +It may be judged proper for the order of Business, that the Association +of Nations have a President for a term of years, and the Presidency to +pass by rotation, to each of the parties composing the Association. + +In that case, and for the sake of regularity, the first President to +be the Executive power of the most northerly Nation composing the +Association, and his deputy or Minister at the Congress to be President +of the Congress,--and the next most northerly to be Vice-president, who +shall succeed to the Presidency, and so on. The line determining the +Geographical situation of each, to be the latitude of the Capital of +each Nation. + +If this method be adopted it will be proper that the first President +be nominally constituted in order to give rotation to the rest. In that +case the following Article might be added to the foregoing, viz't. The +Constitution of the Association nominates the Emperor Paul to be _first +President_ of the Association of Nations for the protection of Neutral +Commerce, and securing the freedom of the Seas. + + +The foregoing plan, as I have before mentioned, was presented to the +Ministers of all the Neutral Nations then in Paris, in the summer of +1800. Six Copies were given to the Russian General Springporten; and a +Russian Gentleman who was going to Petersburgh took two expressly for +the purpose of putting them into the hands of Paul I sent the original +manuscript, in my own handwriting, to Mr. Jefferson, and also wrote him +four Letters, dated the 1st, 4th, 6th, 16th of October, 1800, giving +him an account of what was then going on in Europe respecting Neutral +Commerce. + +The Case was, that in order to compel the English Government to +acknowledge the rights of Neutral Commerce, and that free Ships make +free Goods, the _Emperor Paul_, in the month of September following the +publication of the plan, shut all the Ports of Russia against England. +Sweden and Denmark did the same by their Ports, and Denmark shut up +Hamburgh. Prussia shut up the Elbe and the Weser. The ports of Spain, +Portugal, and Naples were shut up, and, in general, all the ports of +Italy, except Venice, which the Emperor of Germany held; and had it not +been for the untimely death of Paul, a _Law of Nations_, founded on the +authority of Nations, for establishing the rights of Neutral Commerce +and the freedom of the Seas, would have been proclaimed, and the +Government of England must have consented to that Law, or the Nation +must have lost its Commerce; and the consequence to America would have +been, that such a Law would, in a great measure if not entirely, have +released her from the injuries of Jay's Treaty. + +Of all these matters I informed Mr. Jefferson. This was before he was +President, and the Letter he wrote me after he was President was in +answer to those I had written to him and the manuscript Copy of the plan +I had sent here. Here follows the Letter: + + +Washington, March 18, 1801. Dear Sir: + +Your letters of Oct. 1st, 4th, 6th, 16th, came duly to hand, and the +papers which they covered were, according to your permission, published +in the Newspapers, and in a Pamphlet, and under your own name. These +papers contain precisely our principles, and I hope they will be +generally recognized here. _Determined as we are to avoid, if possible, +wasting the energies of our People in war and destruction, we shall +avoid implicating ourselves with the Powers of Europe, even in support +of principles which we mean to pursue. They have so many other Interests +different from ours that we must avoid being entangled in them. We +believe we can enforce those principles as to ourselves by Peaceable +means, now that we are likely to have our Public Councils detached from +foreign views. The return of our citizens from the phrenzy into which +they had been wrought, partly by ill conduct in France, partly by +artifices practiced upon them, is almost extinct, and will, I believe, +become quite so_, But these details, too minute and long for a Letter, +will be better developed by Mr. Dawson, the Bearer of this, a Member of +the late Congress, to whom I refer you for them. He goes in the Maryland +Sloop of War, which will wait a few days at Havre to receive his Letters +to be written on his arrival at Paris. You expressed a wish to get a +passage to this Country in a Public Vessel. Mr. Dawson is charged with +orders to the Captain of the Maryland to receive and accommodate you +back if you can be ready to depart at such a short warning. Rob't R. +Livingston is appointed Minister Plenipotentiary to the Republic of +France, but will not leave this, till we receive the ratification of +the Convention by Mr. Dawson. I am in hopes you will find us returned +generally to sentiments worthy of former times. In these it will be +your glory to have steadily laboured and with as much effect as any man +living. That you may long live to continue your useful Labours and to +reap the reward in the thankfulness of Nations is my sincere prayer. +Accept assurances of my high esteem and affectionate attachment. + +Thomas Jefferson. + + +This, Citizens of the United States, is the Letter about which the +leaders and tools of the Federal faction, without knowing its contents +or the occasion of writing it, have wasted so many malignant falsehoods. +It is a Letter which, on account of its wise economy and peaceable +principles, and its forbearance to reproach, will be read by every good +Man and every good Citizen with pleasure; and the faction, mortified at +its appearance, will have to regret they forced it into publication. The +least atonement they can now offer is to make the Letter as public as +they have made their own infamy, and learn to lie no more. + +The same injustice they shewed to Mr. Jefferson they shewed to me. I +had employed myself in Europe, and at my own expense, in forming and +promoting a plan that would, in its operation, have benefited the +Commerce of America; and the faction here invented and circulated an +account in the papers they employ, that I had given a plan to the French +for burning all the towns on the Coast from Savannah to Baltimore. Were +I to prosecute them for this (and I do not promise that I will not, for +the Liberty of the Press is not the liberty of lying,) there is not a +federal judge, not even one of Midnight appointment, but must, from the +nature of the case, be obliged to condemn them. The faction, however, +cannot complain they have been restrained in any thing. They have had +their full swing of lying uncontradicted; they have availed themselves, +unopposed, of all the arts Hypocrisy could devise; and the event has +been, what in all such cases it ever will and ought to be, _the ruin of +themselves_. + +The Characters of the late and of the present Administrations are now +sufficiently marked, and the adherents of each keep up the distinction. +The former Administration rendered itself notorious by outrage, +coxcombical parade, false alarms, a continued increase of taxes, and an +unceasing clamor for War; and as every vice has a virtue opposed to +it, the present Administration moves on the direct contrary line. +The question, therefore, at elections is not properly a question upon +Persons, but upon principles. Those who are for Peace, moderate taxes, +and mild Government, will vote for the Administration that conducts +itself by those principles, in whatever hands that Administration may +be. + +There are in the United States, and particularly in the middle States, +several religious Sects, whose leading moral principle is PEACE. It is, +therefore, impossible that such Persons, consistently with the dictates +of that principle, can vote for an Administration that is clamorous +for War. When moral principles, rather than Persons, are candidates for +Power, to vote is to perform a moral duty, and not to vote is to neglect +a duty. + +That persons who are hunting after places, offices, and contracts, +should be advocates for War, taxes, and extravagance, is not to be +wondered at; but that so large a portion of the People who had nothing +to depend upon but their Industry, and no other public prospect but that +of paying taxes, and bearing the burden, should be advocates for the +same measures, is a thoughtlessness not easily accounted for. But reason +is recovering her empire, and the fog of delusion is clearing away. + +Thomas Paine. + +BORDENTOWN, ON THE DELAWARE, + +New Jersey, April 21, 1803.(1) + + + 1 Endorsed: "Sent by Gen. Bloomfield per Mr. Wilson for Mr. + Duane." And, in a later hand: "Paine Letter 6. Found among + the Bartram Papers sent by Col. Carr."--Editor. + + + + +XXXIV. TO THE FRENCH INHABITANTS OF LOUISIANA.(1) + + 1 In a letter to Albert Gallatin, Secretary of the Treasury + (Oct 14, 1804), John Randolph of Roanoke proposed "the + printing of -- thousand copies of Tom Paine's answer to + their remonstrance, and transmitting them by as many + thousand troops, who can speak a language perfectly + intelligible to the people of Louisiana, whatever that of + their government may be," The purchase of Louisiana was + announced to the Senate by President Jefferson, October 17, + 1803.--Editor. + +A publication having the appearance of a memorial and remonstrance, to +be presented to Congress at the ensuing session, has appeared in several +papers. It is therefore open to examination, and I offer you my remarks +upon it. The title and introductory paragraph are as follows: + +"_To the Congress of the United States in the Senate and House of +Representatives convened_: We the subscribers, planters, merchants, and +other inhabitants of Louisiana, respectfully approach the legislature +of the United States with a memorial of _our rights_, a remonstrance +against certain laws which contravene them, and a petition for +that redress to which the laws of nature, sanctioned by positive +stipulations, have entitled us." + +It often happens that when one party, or one that thinks itself a party, +talks much about its rights, it puts those of the other party upon +examining into their own, and such is the effect produced by your +memorial. + +A single reading of that memorial will show it is the work of some +person who is not of your people. His acquaintance with the cause, +commencement, progress, and termination of the American revolution, +decides this point; and his making our merits in that revolution the +ground of your claims, as if our merits could become yours, show she +does not understand your situation. + +We obtained our rights by calmly understanding principles, and by the +successful event of a long, obstinate, and expensive war. But it is +not incumbent on us to fight the battles of the world for the world's +profit. You are already participating, without any merit or expense in +obtaining it, the blessings of freedom acquired by ourselves; and in +proportion as you become initiated into the principles and practice of +the representative system of government, of which you have yet had no +experience, you will participate more, and finally be partakers of the +whole. You see what mischief ensued in France by the possession of power +before they understood principles. They earned liberty in words, but +not in fact. The writer of this was in France through the whole of +the revolution, and knows the truth of what he speaks; for after +endeavouring to give it principle, he had nearly fallen a victim to its +rage. + +There is a great want of judgment in the person who drew up your +memorial. He has mistaken your case, and forgotten his own; and by +trying to court your applause has injured your pretensions. He has +written like a lawyer, straining every point that would please his +client, without studying his advantage. I find no fault with the +composition of the memorial, for it is well written; nor with the +principles of liberty it contains, considered in the abstract. The error +lies in the misapplication of them, and in assuming a ground they have +not a right to stand upon. Instead of their serving you as a ground of +reclamation against us, they change into a satire on yourselves. Why +did you not speak thus when you ought to have spoken it? We fought for +liberty when you stood quiet in slavery. + +The author of the memorial injudiciously confounding two distinct +cases together, has spoken as if he was the memorialist of a body of +Americans, who, after sharing equally with us in all the dangers and +hardships of the revolutionary war, had retired to a distance and made +a settlement for themselves. If, in such a situation, Congress had +established a temporary government over them, in which they were not +personally consulted, they would have had a right to speak as the +memorial speaks. But your situation is different from what the situation +of such persons would be, and therefore their ground of reclamation +cannot of right become yours. You are arriving at freedom by the easiest +means that any people ever enjoyed it; without contest, without expense, +and even without any contrivance of your own. And you already so far +mistake principles, that under the name of _rights_ you ask for _powers; +power to import and enslave Africans_; and _to govern_ a territory that +_we have purchased_. + +To give colour to your memorial, you refer to the treaty of cession, (in +which _you were not_ one of the contracting parties,) concluded at Paris +between the governments of the United States and France. + +"The third article" you say "of the treaty lately concluded at +Paris declares, that the inhabitants of the ceded territory shall be +incorporated in the union of the United States, and admitted _as soon as +possible, according to the principles_ of the Federal Constitution, to +the enjoyment of all the rights, advantages, and immunities of citizens +of the United States; and _in the mean time_, they shall be protected +in the enjoyment of their liberty, property, and the exercise of the +religion they profess." + +As from your former condition, you cannot be much acquainted with +diplomatic policy, and I am convinced that even the gentleman who +drew up the memorial is not, I will explain to you the grounds of this +article. It may prevent your running into further errors. + +The territory of Louisiana had been so often ceded to different European +powers, that it became a necessary article on the part of France, +and for the security of Spain, the ally of France, and which accorded +perfectly with our own principles and intentions, that it should be +_ceded no more_; and this article, stipulating for the incorporation of +Louisiana into the union of the United States, stands as a bar against +all future cession, and at the same time, as well as "_in the mean +time_" secures to you a civil and political permanency, personal +security and liberty which you never enjoyed before. + +France and Spain might suspect, (and the suspicion would not have been +ill-founded had the cession been treated for in the administration of +John Adams, or when Washington was president, and Alexander Hamilton +president over him,) that we _bought_ Louisiana for the British +government, or with a view of selling it to her; and though such +suspicion had no just ground to stand upon with respect to our present +president, Thomas Jefferson, who is not only not a man of intrigue but +who possesses that honest pride of principle that cannot be intrigued +with, and which keeps intriguers at a distance, the article was +nevertheless necessary as a precaution against future contingencies. +But you, from not knowing the political ground of the article, apply +to yourselves _personally_ and _exclusively_, what had reference to the +_territory_, to prevent its falling into the hands of any foreign +power that might endanger the [establishment of] _Spanish_ dominion in +America, or those of the _French_ in the West India Islands. + +You claim, (you say), to be incorporated into the union of the United +States, and your remonstrances on this subject are unjust and without +cause. + +You are already _incorporated_ into it as fully and effectually as the +Americans themselves are, who are settled in Louisiana. You enjoy the +same rights, privileges, advantages, and immunities, which they +enjoy; and when Louisiana, or some part of it, shall be erected into a +constitutional State, you also will be citizens equal with them. + +You speak in your memorial, as if you were the only people who were +to live in Louisiana, and as if the territory was purchased that +you exclusively might govern it. In both these cases you are greatly +mistaken. The emigrations from the United States into the purchased +territory, and the population arising therefrom, will, in a few years, +exceed you in numbers. It is but twenty-six years since Kentucky +began to be settled, and it already contains more than _double_ your +population. + +In a candid view of the case, you ask for what would be injurious to +yourselves to receive, and unjust in us to grant. _Injurious_, because +the settlement of Louisiana will go on much faster under the government +and guardianship of Congress, then if the government of it were +committed to _your_ hands; and consequently, the landed property +you possessed as individuals when the treaty was concluded, or have +purchased since, will increase so much faster in value.--_Unjust to +ourselves_, because as the reimbursements of the purchase money must +come out of the sale of the lands to new settlers, the government of it +cannot suddenly go out of the hands of Congress. They are guardians of +that property for _all the people of the United States_. And besides +this, as the new settlers will be chiefly from the United States, it +would be unjust and ill policy to put them and their property under the +jurisdiction of a people whose freedom they had contributed to purchase. +You ought also to recollect, that the French Revolution has not +exhibited to the world that grand display of principles and rights, that +would induce settlers from other countries to put themselves under a +French jurisdiction in Louisiana. Beware of intriguers who may push you +on from private motives of their own. + +You complain of two cases, one of which you have _no right_, no concern +with; and the other is founded in direct injustice. + +You complain that Congress has passed a law to divide the country +into two territories. It is not improper to inform you, that after the +revolutionary war ended, Congress divided the territory acquired by +that war into ten territories; each of which was to be erected into a +constitutional State, when it arrived at a certain population mentioned +in the Act; and, in the mean time, an officer appointed by the +President, as the Governor of Louisiana now is, presided, as Governor +of the Western Territory, over all such parts as have not arrived at +the maturity of _statehood_. Louisiana will require to be divided +into twelve States or more; but this is a matter that belongs to _the +purchaser_ of the territory of Louisiana, and with which the inhabitants +of the town of New-Orleans have no right to interfere; and beside this, +it is probable that the inhabitants of the other territory would choose +to be independent of New-Orleans. They might apprehend, that on some +speculating pretence, their produce might be put in requisition, and a +maximum price put on it--a thing not uncommon in a French government. +As a general rule, without refining upon sentiment, one may put +confidence in the justice of those who have no inducement to do us +injustice; and this is the case Congress stands in with respect to both +territories, and to all other divisions that may be laid out, and to all +inhabitants and settlers, of whatever nation they may be. + +There can be no such thing as what the memorial speaks of, that is, _of +a Governor appointed by the President who may have no interest in the +welfare of Louisiana_. He must, from the nature of the case, have more +interest in it than any other person can have. He is entrusted with the +care of an extensive tract of country, now the property of the United +States by purchase. The value of those lands will depend on the +increasing prosperity of Louisiana, its agriculture, commerce, and +population. You have only a local and partial interest in the town of +New-Orleans, or its vicinity; and if, in consequence of exploring the +country, new seats of commerce should offer, his general interest would +lead him to open them, and your partial interest to shut them up. + +There is probably some justice in your remark, as it applies to the +governments under which you _formerly_ lived. Such governments +always look with jealousy, and an apprehension of revolt, on colonies +increasing in prosperity and population, and they send governors to +_keep them down_. But when you argue from the conduct of governments +_distant and despotic_, to that of _domestic_ and _free_ government, it +shows you do not understand the principles and interest of a Republic, +and to put you right is friendship. We have had experience, and you have +not. + +The other case to which I alluded, as being founded in direct injustice, +is that in which you petition for _power_, under the name of _rights_, +to import and enslave Africans! + +_Dare you put up a petition to Heaven for such a power, without fearing +to be struck from the earth by its justice?_ + +_Why, then, do you ask it of man against man?_ + +_Do you want to renew in Louisiana the horrors of Domingo?_ + + +Common Sense. + +Sept 22, 1804. + + +END OF VOLUME III. + + + + + + +THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE + +By Thomas Paine + + +Collected And Edited By Moncure Daniel Conway + +VOLUME IV. + + + + +THE AGE OF REASON + + +(1796) + + + Contents + + Editor's Introduction + + Part One + Chapter I - The Author's Profession Of Faith + Chapter II - Of Missions And Revelations + Chapter III - Concerning The Character of Jesus Christ, And His History + Chapter IV - Of The Bases Of Christianity + Chapter V - Examination In Detail Of The Preceding Bases + Chapter VI - Of The True Theology + Chapter VII - Examination Of The Old Testament + Chapter VIII - Of The New Testament + Chapter IX - In What The True Revelation Consists + Chapter X - Concerning God, And The Lights Cast On His Existence And + Attributes By The Bible + Chapter XI - Of The Theology Of The Christians; And The True Theology + Chapter XII - The Effects Of Christianism On Education; Proposed Reforms + Chapter XIII - Comparison Of Christianism With The Religious Ideas + Inspired By Nature + Chapter XIV - System Of The Universe + Chapter XV - Advantages Of The Existence Of Many Worlds In Each Solar + System + Chapter XVI - Applications Of The Preceding To The System Of The + Christians + Chapter XVII - Of The Means Employed In All Time, And Almost + Universally, To Deceive The Peoples + Recapitulation + + Part Two + Preface + Chapter I - The Old Testament + Chapter II - The New Testament + Chapter III - Conclusion + + + + +EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION + +WITH SOME RESULTS OF RECENT RESEARCHES. + +IN the opening year, 1793, when revolutionary France had beheaded its +king, the wrath turned next upon the King of kings, by whose grace every +tyrant claimed to reign. But eventualities had brought among them a +great English and American heart--Thomas Paine. He had pleaded for Louis +Caper--"Kill the king but spare the man." Now he pleaded,--"Disbelieve +in the King of kings, but do not confuse with that idol the Father of +Mankind!" + +In Paine's Preface to the Second Part of "The Age of Reason" he +describes himself as writing the First Part near the close of the year +1793. "I had not finished it more than six hours, in the state it has +since appeared, before a guard came about three in the morning, with an +order signed by the two Committees of Public Safety and Surety General, +for putting me in arrestation." This was on the morning of December 28. +But it is necessary to weigh the words just quoted--"in the state it has +since appeared." For on August 5, 1794, Francois Lanthenas, in an +appeal for Paine's liberation, wrote as follows: "I deliver to Merlin +de Thionville a copy of the last work of T. Payne [The Age of Reason], +formerly our colleague, and in custody since the decree excluding +foreigners from the national representation. This book was written by +the author in the beginning of the year '93 (old style). I undertook its +translation before the revolution against priests, and it was published +in French about the same time. Couthon, to whom I sent it, seemed +offended with me for having translated this work." + +Under the frown of Couthon, one of the most atrocious colleagues of +Robespierre, this early publication seems to have been so effectually +suppressed that no copy bearing that date, 1793, can be found in France +or elsewhere. In Paine's letter to Samuel Adams, printed in the present +volume, he says that he had it translated into French, to stay the +progress of atheism, and that he endangered his life "by opposing +atheism." The time indicated by Lanthenas as that in which he submitted +the work to Couthon would appear to be the latter part of March, 1793, +the fury against the priesthood having reached its climax in the decrees +against them of March 19 and 26. If the moral deformity of Couthon, even +greater than that of his body, be remembered, and the readiness with +which death was inflicted for the most theoretical opinion not approved +by the "Mountain," it will appear probable that the offence given +Couthon by Paine's book involved danger to him and his translator. +On May 31, when the Girondins were accused, the name of Lanthenas was +included, and he barely escaped; and on the same day Danton persuaded +Paine not to appear in the Convention, as his life might be in danger. +Whether this was because of the "Age of Reason," with its fling at the +"Goddess Nature" or not, the statements of author and translator +are harmonized by the fact that Paine prepared the manuscript, with +considerable additions and changes, for publication in English, as he +has stated in the Preface to Part II. + +A comparison of the French and English versions, sentence by sentence, +proved to me that the translation sent by Lanthenas to Merlin de +Thionville in 1794 is the same as that he sent to Couthon in 1793. This +discovery was the means of recovering several interesting sentences +of the original work. I have given as footnotes translations of such +clauses and phrases of the French work as appeared to be important. +Those familiar with the translations of Lanthenas need not be reminded +that he was too much of a literalist to depart from the manuscript +before him, and indeed he did not even venture to alter it in an +instance (presently considered) where it was obviously needed. Nor would +Lanthenas have omitted any of the paragraphs lacking in his translation. +This original work was divided into seventeen chapters, and these I have +restored, translating their headings into English. The "Age of Reason" +is thus for the first time given to the world with nearly its original +completeness. + +It should be remembered that Paine could not have read the proof of his +"Age of Reason" (Part I.) which went through the press while he was in +prison. To this must be ascribed the permanence of some sentences as +abbreviated in the haste he has described. A notable instance is the +dropping out of his estimate of Jesus the words rendered by Lanthenas +"trop peu imite, trop oublie, trop meconnu." The addition of these +words to Paine's tribute makes it the more notable that almost the only +recognition of the human character and life of Jesus by any theological +writer of that generation came from one long branded as an infidel. + +To the inability of the prisoner to give his work any revision must be +attributed the preservation in it of the singular error already alluded +to, as one that Lanthenas, but for his extreme fidelity, would have +corrected. This is Paine's repeated mention of six planets, and +enumeration of them, twelve years after the discovery of Uranus. Paine +was a devoted student of astronomy, and it cannot for a moment be +supposed that he had not participated in the universal welcome of +Herschel's discovery. The omission of any allusion to it convinces me +that the astronomical episode was printed from a manuscript written +before 1781, when Uranus was discovered. Unfamiliar with French in 1793, +Paine might not have discovered the erratum in Lanthenas' translation, +and, having no time for copying, he would naturally use as much as +possible of the same manuscript in preparing his work for English +readers. But he had no opportunity of revision, and there remains an +erratum which, if my conjecture be correct, casts a significant light +on the paragraphs in which he alludes to the preparation of the work. He +states that soon after his publication of "Common Sense" (1776), he "saw +the exceeding probability that a revolution in the system of government +would be followed by a revolution in the system of religion," and that +"man would return to the pure, unmixed, and unadulterated belief of +one God and no more." He tells Samuel Adams that it had long been his +intention to publish his thoughts upon religion, and he had made a +similar remark to John Adams in 1776. Like the Quakers among whom he +was reared Paine could then readily use the phrase "word of God" for +anything in the Bible which approved itself to his "inner light," and +as he had drawn from the first Book of Samuel a divine condemnation +of monarchy, John Adams, a Unitarian, asked him if he believed in the +inspiration of the Old Testament. Paine replied that he did not, and +at a later period meant to publish his views on the subject. There is +little doubt that he wrote from time to time on religious points, during +the American war, without publishing his thoughts, just as he worked on +the problem of steam navigation, in which he had invented a practicable +method (ten years before John Fitch made his discovery) without +publishing it. At any rate it appears to me certain that the part of +"The Age of Reason" connected with Paine's favorite science, astronomy, +was written before 1781, when Uranus was discovered. + +Paine's theism, however invested with biblical and Christian +phraseology, was a birthright. It appears clear from several allusions +in "The Age of Reason" to the Quakers that in his early life, or +before the middle of the eighteenth century, the people so called were +substantially Deists. An interesting confirmation of Paine's statements +concerning them appears as I write in an account sent by Count Leo +Tolstoi to the London 'Times' of the Russian sect called Dukhobortsy +(The Times, October 23, 1895). This sect sprang up in the last century, +and the narrative says: + +"The first seeds of the teaching called afterwards 'Dukhoborcheskaya' +were sown by a foreigner, a Quaker, who came to Russia. The fundamental +idea of his Quaker teaching was that in the soul of man dwells God +himself, and that He himself guides man by His inner word. God lives +in nature physically and in man's soul spiritually. To Christ, as to an +historical personage, the Dukhobortsy do not ascribe great importance... +Christ was God's son, but only in the sense in which we call, ourselves +'sons of God.' The purpose of Christ's sufferings was no other than to +show us an example of suffering for truth. The Quakers who, in 1818, +visited the Dukhobortsy, could not agree with them upon these religious +subjects; and when they heard from them their opinion about Jesus +Christ (that he was a man), exclaimed 'Darkness!' From the Old and New +Testaments,' they say, 'we take only what is useful,' mostly the moral +teaching.... The moral ideas of the Dukhobortsy are the following:--All +men are, by nature, equal; external distinctions, whatsoever they may +be, are worth nothing. This idea of men's equality the Dukhoborts have +directed further, against the State authority.... Amongst themselves +they hold subordination, and much more, a monarchical Government, to be +contrary to their ideas." + +Here is an early Hicksite Quakerism carried to Russia long before the +birth of Elias Hicks, who recovered it from Paine, to whom the American +Quakers refused burial among them. Although Paine arraigned the union +of Church and State, his ideal Republic was religious; it was based on +a conception of equality based on the divine son-ship of every man. This +faith underlay equally his burden against claims to divine partiality by +a "Chosen People," a Priesthood, a Monarch "by the grace of God," or +an Aristocracy. Paine's "Reason" is only an expansion of the Quaker's +"inner light"; and the greater impression, as compared with previous +republican and deistic writings made by his "Rights of Man" and "Age +of Reason" (really volumes of one work), is partly explained by the +apostolic fervor which made him a spiritual, successor of George Fox. + +Paine's mind was by no means skeptical, it was eminently instructive. +That he should have waited until his fifty-seventh year before +publishing his religious convictions was due to a desire to work out +some positive and practicable system to take the place of that which he +believed was crumbling. The English engineer Hall, who assisted Paine in +making the model of his iron bridge, wrote to his friends in England, +in 1786: "My employer has Common Sense enough to disbelieve most of the +common systematic theories of Divinity, but does not seem to establish +any for himself." But five years later Paine was able to lay the +corner-stone of his temple: "With respect to religion itself, without +regard to names, and as directing itself from the universal family of +mankind to the 'Divine object of all adoration, it is man bringing to +his Maker the fruits of his heart; and though those fruits may differ +from each other like the fruits of the earth, the grateful tribute of +every one, is accepted." ("Rights of Man." See my edition of Paine's +Writings, ii., p. 326.) Here we have a reappearance of George Fox +confuting the doctor in America who "denied the light and Spirit of +God to be in every one; and affirmed that it was not in the Indians. +Whereupon I called an Indian to us, and asked him 'whether or not, when +he lied, or did wrong to anyone, there was not something in him that +reproved him for it?' He said, 'There was such a thing in him that did +so reprove him; and he was ashamed when he had done wrong, or spoken +wrong.' So we shamed the doctor before the governor and the people." +(Journal of George Fox, September 1672.) + +Paine, who coined the phrase "Religion of Humanity" (The Crisis, vii., +1778), did but logically defend it in "The Age of Reason," by denying a +special revelation to any particular tribe, or divine authority in +any particular creed of church; and the centenary of this much-abused +publication has been celebrated by a great conservative champion of +Church and State, Mr. Balfour, who, in his "Foundations of Belief," +affirms that "inspiration" cannot be denied to the great Oriental +teachers, unless grapes may be gathered from thorns. + +The centenary of the complete publication of "The Age of Reason," +(October 25, 1795), was also celebrated at the Church Congress, Norwich, +on October 10, 1895, when Professor Bonney, F.R.S., Canon of Manchester, +read a paper in which he said: "I cannot deny that the increase of +scientific knowledge has deprived parts of the earlier books of the +Bible of the historical value which was generally attributed to them by +our forefathers. The story of Creation in the Book of Genesis, unless we +play fast and loose either with words or with science, cannot be brought +into harmony with what we have learnt from geology. Its ethnological +statements are imperfect, if not sometimes inaccurate. The stories of +the Fall, of the Flood, and of the Tower of Babel, are incredible in +their present form. Some historical element may underlie many of the +traditions in the first eleven chapters in that book, but this we cannot +hope to recover." Canon Bonney proceeded to say of the New Testament +also, that "the Gospels are not so far as we know, strictly +contemporaneous records, so we must admit the possibility of variations +and even inaccuracies in details being introduced by oral tradition." +The Canon thinks the interval too short for these importations to be +serious, but that any question of this kind is left open proves the Age +of Reason fully upon us. Reason alone can determine how many texts are +as spurious as the three heavenly witnesses (i John v. 7), and like +it "serious" enough to have cost good men their lives, and persecutors +their charities. When men interpolate, it is because they believe their +interpolation seriously needed. It will be seen by a note in Part II. of +the work, that Paine calls attention to an interpolation introduced into +the first American edition without indication of its being an editorial +footnote. This footnote was: "The book of Luke was carried by a majority +of one only. Vide Moshelm's Ecc. History." Dr. Priestley, then in +America, answered Paine's work, and in quoting less than a page from the +"Age of Reason" he made three alterations,--one of which changed "church +mythologists" into "Christian mythologists,"--and also raised the +editorial footnote into the text, omitting the reference to Mosheim. +Having done this, Priestley writes: "As to the gospel of Luke being +carried by a majority of one only, it is a legend, if not of Mr. Paine's +own invention, of no better authority whatever." And so on with further +castigation of the author for what he never wrote, and which he himself +(Priestley) was the unconscious means of introducing into the text +within the year of Paine's publication. + +If this could be done, unintentionally by a conscientious and exact man, +and one not unfriendly to Paine, if such a writer as Priestley could +make four mistakes in citing half a page, it will appear not very +wonderful when I state that in a modern popular edition of "The Age +of Reason," including both parts, I have noted about five hundred +deviations from the original. These were mainly the accumulated efforts +of friendly editors to improve Paine's grammar or spelling; some were +misprints, or developed out of such; and some resulted from the sale +in London of a copy of Part Second surreptitiously made from the +manuscript. These facts add significance to Paine's footnote (itself +altered in some editions!), in which he says: "If this has happened +within such a short space of time, notwithstanding the aid of printing, +which prevents the alteration of copies individually; what may not have +happened in a much greater length of time, when there was no printing, +and when any man who could write, could make a written copy, and call it +an original, by Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John." + +Nothing appears to me more striking, as an illustration of the +far-reaching effects of traditional prejudice, than the errors into +which some of our ablest contemporary scholars have fallen by reason of +their not having studied Paine. Professor Huxley, for instance, speaking +of the freethinkers of the eighteenth century, admires the acuteness, +common sense, wit, and the broad humanity of the best of them, but says +"there is rarely much to be said for their work as an example of the +adequate treatment of a grave and difficult investigation," and that +they shared with their adversaries "to the full the fatal weakness of +a priori philosophizing." [NOTE: Science and Christian Tradition, p. +18 (Lon. ed., 1894).] Professor Huxley does not name Paine, evidently +because he knows nothing about him. Yet Paine represents the +turning-point of the historical freethinking movement; he renounced the +'a priori' method, refused to pronounce anything impossible outside +pure mathematics, rested everything on evidence, and really founded the +Huxleyan school. He plagiarized by anticipation many things from the +rationalistic leaders of our time, from Strauss and Baur (being the +first to expatiate on "Christian Mythology"), from Renan (being the +first to attempt recovery of the human Jesus), and notably from Huxley, +who has repeated Paine's arguments on the untrustworthiness of the +biblical manuscripts and canon, on the inconsistencies of the narratives +of Christ's resurrection, and various other points. None can be more +loyal to the memory of Huxley than the present writer, and it is even +because of my sense of his grand leadership that he is here mentioned as +a typical instance of the extent to which the very elect of free-thought +may be unconsciously victimized by the phantasm with which they are +contending. He says that Butler overthrew freethinkers of the eighteenth +century type, but Paine was of the nineteenth century type; and it was +precisely because of his critical method that he excited more animosity +than his deistical predecessors. He compelled the apologists to defend +the biblical narratives in detail, and thus implicitly acknowledge +the tribunal of reason and knowledge to which they were summoned. The +ultimate answer by police was a confession of judgment. A hundred years +ago England was suppressing Paine's works, and many an honest Englishman +has gone to prison for printing and circulating his "Age of Reason." +The same views are now freely expressed; they are heard in the seats of +learning, and even in the Church Congress; but the suppression of Paine, +begun by bigotry and ignorance, is continued in the long indifference of +the representatives of our Age of Reason to their pioneer and founder. +It is a grievous loss to them and to their cause. It is impossible to +understand the religious history of England, and of America, without +studying the phases of their evolution represented in the writings +of Thomas Paine, in the controversies that grew out of them with such +practical accompaniments as the foundation of the Theophilanthropist +Church in Paris and New York, and of the great rationalist wing of +Quakerism in America. + +Whatever may be the case with scholars in our time, those of Paine's +time took the "Age of Reason" very seriously indeed. Beginning with +the learned Dr. Richard Watson, Bishop of Llandaff, a large number of +learned men replied to Paine's work, and it became a signal for the +commencement of those concessions, on the part of theology, which have +continued to our time; and indeed the so-called "Broad Church" is to +some extent an outcome of "The Age of Reason." It would too much enlarge +this Introduction to cite here the replies made to Paine (thirty-six are +catalogued in the British Museum), but it may be remarked that they +were notably free, as a rule, from the personalities that raged in +the pulpits. I must venture to quote one passage from his very learned +antagonist, the Rev. Gilbert Wakefield, B.A., "late Fellow of Jesus +College, Cambridge." Wakefield, who had resided in London during all the +Paine panic, and was well acquainted with the slanders uttered against +the author of "Rights of Man," indirectly brands them in answering +Paine's argument that the original and traditional unbelief of the Jews, +among whom the alleged miracles were wrought, is an important evidence +against them. The learned divine writes: + +"But the subject before us admits of further illustration from the +example of Mr. Paine himself. In this country, where his opposition to +the corruptions of government has raised him so many adversaries, +and such a swarm of unprincipled hirelings have exerted themselves in +blackening his character and in misrepresenting all the transactions +and incidents of his life, will it not be a most difficult, nay an +impossible task, for posterity, after a lapse of 1700 years, if such a +wreck of modern literature as that of the ancient, should intervene, to +identify the real circumstances, moral and civil, of the man? And will +a true historian, such as the Evangelists, be credited at that future +period against such a predominant incredulity, without large and +mighty accessions of collateral attestation? And how transcendently +extraordinary, I had almost said miraculous, will it be estimated +by candid and reasonable minds, that a writer whose object was a +melioration of condition to the common people, and their deliverance +from oppression, poverty, wretchedness, to the numberless blessings of +upright and equal government, should be reviled, persecuted, and burned +in effigy, with every circumstance of insult and execration, by these +very objects of his benevolent intentions, in every corner of the +kingdom?" After the execution of Louis XVI., for whose life Paine +pleaded so earnestly,--while in England he was denounced as an +accomplice in the deed,--he devoted himself to the preparation of a +Constitution, and also to gathering up his religious compositions and +adding to them. This manuscript I suppose to have been prepared in what +was variously known as White's Hotel or Philadelphia House, in Paris, +No. 7 Passage des Petits Peres. This compilation of early and fresh +manuscripts (if my theory be correct) was labelled, "The Age of Reason," +and given for translation to Francois Lanthenas in March 1793. It is +entered, in Qudrard (La France Literaire) under the year 1793, but with +the title "L'Age de la Raison" instead of that which it bore in +1794, "Le Siecle de la Raison." The latter, printed "Au Burcau de +l'imprimerie, rue du Theatre-Francais, No. 4," is said to be by "Thomas +Paine, Citoyen et cultivateur de l'Amerique septentrionale, secretaire +du Congres du departement des affaires etrangeres pendant la guerre +d'Amerique, et auteur des ouvrages intitules: LA SENS COMMUN et LES +DROITS DE L'HOMME." + +When the Revolution was advancing to increasing terrors, Paine, +unwilling to participate in the decrees of a Convention whose sole legal +function was to frame a Constitution, retired to an old mansion +and garden in the Faubourg St. Denis, No. 63. Mr. J.G. Alger, whose +researches in personal details connected with the Revolution are +original and useful, recently showed me in the National Archives +at Paris, some papers connected with the trial of Georgeit, Paine's +landlord, by which it appears that the present No. 63 is not, as I had +supposed, the house in which Paine resided. Mr. Alger accompanied me to +the neighborhood, but we were not able to identify the house. The +arrest of Georgeit is mentioned by Paine in his essay on "Forgetfulness" +(Writings, iii., 319). When his trial came on one of the charges was +that he had kept in his house "Paine and other Englishmen,"--Paine +being then in prison,--but he (Georgeit) was acquitted of the paltry +accusations brought against him by his Section, the "Faubourg du Nord." +This Section took in the whole east side of the Faubourg St. Denis, +whereas the present No. 63 is on the west side. After Georgeit (or +Georger) had been arrested, Paine was left alone in the large mansion +(said by Rickman to have been once the hotel of Madame de Pompadour), +and it would appear, by his account, that it was after the execution +(October 31, 1793) Of his friends the Girondins, and political comrades, +that he felt his end at hand, and set about his last literary bequest +to the world,--"The Age of Reason,"--in the state in which it has since +appeared, as he is careful to say. There was every probability, during +the months in which he wrote (November and December 1793) that he would +be executed. His religious testament was prepared with the blade of +the guillotine suspended over him,--a fact which did not deter pious +mythologists from portraying his death-bed remorse for having written +the book. + +In editing Part I. of "The Age of Reason," I follow closely the first +edition, which was printed by Barrois in Paris from the manuscript, no +doubt under the superintendence of Joel Barlow, to whom Paine, on +his way to the Luxembourg, had confided it. Barlow was an American +ex-clergyman, a speculator on whose career French archives cast an +unfavorable light, and one cannot be certain that no liberties were +taken with Paine's proofs. + +I may repeat here what I have stated in the outset of my editorial work +on Paine that my rule is to correct obvious misprints, and also any +punctuation which seems to render the sense less clear. And to that I +will now add that in following Paine's quotations from the Bible I have +adopted the Plan now generally used in place of his occasionally too +extended writing out of book, chapter, and verse. + +Paine was imprisoned in the Luxembourg on December 28, 1793, and +released on November 4, 1794. His liberation was secured by his old +friend, James Monroe (afterwards President), who had succeeded his +(Paine's) relentless enemy, Gouverneur Morris, as American Minister in +Paris. He was found by Monroe more dead than alive from semi-starvation, +cold, and an abscess contracted in prison, and taken to the Minister's +own residence. It was not supposed that he could survive, and he owed +his life to the tender care of Mr. and Mrs. Monroe. It was while thus +a prisoner in his room, with death still hovering over him, that Paine +wrote Part Second of "The Age of Reason." + +The work was published in London by H.D. Symonds on October 25, 1795, +and claimed to be "from the Author's manuscript." It is marked as +"Entered at Stationers Hall," and prefaced by an apologetic note of +"The Bookseller to the Public," whose commonplaces about avoiding both +prejudice and partiality, and considering "both sides," need not be +quoted. While his volume was going through the press in Paris, Paine +heard of the publication in London, which drew from him the following +hurried note to a London publisher, no doubt Daniel Isaacs Eaton: + +"SIR,--I have seen advertised in the London papers the second Edition +[part] of the Age of Reason, printed, the advertisement says, from the +Author's Manuscript, and entered at Stationers Hall. I have never sent +any manuscript to any person. It is therefore a forgery to say it is +printed from the author's manuscript; and I suppose is done to give the +Publisher a pretence of Copy Right, which he has no title to. + +"I send you a printed copy, which is the only one I have sent to London. +I wish you to make a cheap edition of it. I know not by what means any +copy has got over to London. If any person has made a manuscript copy +I have no doubt but it is full of errors. I wish you would talk to Mr. +----- upon this subject as I wish to know by what means this trick has +been played, and from whom the publisher has got possession of any copy. + +"T. PAINE. + +"PARIS, December 4, 1795" + +Eaton's cheap edition appeared January 1, 1796, with the above letter on +the reverse of the title. The blank in the note was probably "Symonds" +in the original, and possibly that publisher was imposed upon. Eaton, +already in trouble for printing one of Paine's political pamphlets, fled +to America, and an edition of the "Age of Reason" was issued under a new +title; no publisher appears; it is said to be "printed for, and sold by +all the Booksellers in Great Britain and Ireland." It is also said to +be "By Thomas Paine, author of several remarkable performances." I have +never found any copy of this anonymous edition except the one in my +possession. It is evidently the edition which was suppressed by the +prosecution of Williams for selling a copy of it. + +A comparison with Paine's revised edition reveals a good many clerical +and verbal errors in Symonds, though few that affect the sense. The +worst are in the preface, where, instead of "1793," the misleading +date "1790" is given as the year at whose close Paine completed Part +First,--an error that spread far and wide and was fastened on by his +calumnious American "biographer," Cheetham, to prove his inconsistency. +The editors have been fairly demoralized by, and have altered in +different ways, the following sentence of the preface in Symonds: "The +intolerant spirit of religious persecution had transferred itself into +politics; the tribunals, styled Revolutionary, supplied the place of the +Inquisition; and the Guillotine of the State outdid the Fire and Faggot +of the Church." The rogue who copied this little knew the care with +which Paine weighed words, and that he would never call persecution +"religious," nor connect the guillotine with the "State," nor concede +that with all its horrors it had outdone the history of fire and faggot. +What Paine wrote was: "The intolerant spirit of church persecution had +transferred itself into politics; the tribunals, styled Revolutionary, +supplied the place of an Inquisition and the Guillotine, of the Stake." + +An original letter of Paine, in the possession of Joseph Cowen, ex-M.P., +which that gentleman permits me to bring to light, besides being one +of general interest makes clear the circumstances of the original +publication. Although the name of the correspondent does not appear on +the letter, it was certainly written to Col. John Fellows of New +York, who copyrighted Part I. of the "Age of Reason." He published the +pamphlets of Joel Barlow, to whom Paine confided his manuscript on his +way to prison. Fellows was afterwards Paine's intimate friend in New +York, and it was chiefly due to him that some portions of the author's +writings, left in manuscript to Madame Bonneville while she was a +freethinker were rescued from her devout destructiveness after her +return to Catholicism. The letter which Mr. Cowen sends me, is dated at +Paris, January 20, 1797. + +"SIR,--Your friend Mr. Caritat being on the point of his departure for +America, I make it the opportunity of writing to you. I received two +letters from you with some pamphlets a considerable time past, in which +you inform me of your entering a copyright of the first part of the Age +of Reason: when I return to America we will settle for that matter. + +"As Doctor Franklin has been my intimate friend for thirty years past +you will naturally see the reason of my continuing the connection with +his grandson. I printed here (Paris) about fifteen thousand of the +second part of the Age of Reason, which I sent to Mr. F[ranklin] Bache. +I gave him notice of it in September 1795 and the copy-right by my +own direction was entered by him. The books did not arrive till April +following, but he had advertised it long before. + +"I sent to him in August last a manuscript letter of about 70 pages, +from me to Mr. Washington to be printed in a pamphlet. Mr. Barnes of +Philadelphia carried the letter from me over to London to be forwarded +to America. It went by the ship Hope, Cap: Harley, who since his return +from America told me that he put it into the post office at New York for +Bache. I have yet no certain account of its publication. I mention this +that the letter may be enquired after, in case it has not been published +or has not arrived to Mr. Bache. Barnes wrote to me, from London 29 +August informing me that he was offered three hundred pounds sterling +for the manuscript. The offer was refused because it was my intention it +should not appear till it appeared in America, as that, and not England +was the place for its operation. + +"You ask me by your letter to Mr. Caritat for a list of my several +works, in order to publish a collection of them. This is an undertaking +I have always reserved for myself. It not only belongs to me of right, +but nobody but myself can do it; and as every author is accountable (at +least in reputation) for his works, he only is the person to do it. If +he neglects it in his life-time the case is altered. It is my intention +to return to America in the course of the present year. I shall then +[do] it by subscription, with historical notes. As this work will employ +many persons in different parts of the Union, I will confer with you +upon the subject, and such part of it as will suit you to +undertake, will be at your choice. I have sustained so much loss, by +disinterestedness and inattention to money matters, and by accidents, +that I am obliged to look closer to my affairs than I have done. The +printer (an Englishman) whom I employed here to print the second part +of 'the Age of Reason' made a manuscript copy of the work while he was +printing it, which he sent to London and sold. It was by this means that +an edition of it came out in London. + +"We are waiting here for news from America of the state of the federal +elections. You will have heard long before this reaches you that the +French government has refused to receive Mr. Pinckney as minister. While +Mr. Monroe was minister he had the opportunity of softening matters with +this government, for he was in good credit with them tho' they were in +high indignation at the infidelity of the Washington Administration. +It is time that Mr. Washington retire, for he has played off so much +prudent hypocrisy between France and England that neither government +believes anything he says. + +"Your friend, etc., + +"THOMAS PAINE." + +It would appear that Symonds' stolen edition must have got ahead of that +sent by Paine to Franklin Bache, for some of its errors continue in +all modern American editions to the present day, as well as in those of +England. For in England it was only the shilling edition--that +revised by Paine--which was suppressed. Symonds, who ministered to the +half-crown folk, and who was also publisher of replies to Paine, was +left undisturbed about his pirated edition, and the new Society for the +suppression of Vice and Immorality fastened on one Thomas Williams, who +sold pious tracts but was also convicted (June 24, 1797) of having sold +one copy of the "Age of Reason." Erskine, who had defended Paine at his +trial for the "Rights of Man," conducted the prosecution of Williams. +He gained the victory from a packed jury, but was not much elated by +it, especially after a certain adventure on his way to Lincoln's Inn. He +felt his coat clutched and beheld at his feet a woman bathed in tears. +She led him into the small book-shop of Thomas Williams, not yet called +up for judgment, and there he beheld his victim stitching tracts in a +wretched little room, where there were three children, two suffering +with Smallpox. He saw that it would be ruin and even a sort of murder to +take away to prison the husband, who was not a freethinker, and lamented +his publication of the book, and a meeting of the Society which had +retained him was summoned. There was a full meeting, the Bishop of +London (Porteus) in the chair. Erskine reminded them that Williams was +yet to be brought up for sentence, described the scene he had witnessed, +and Williams' penitence, and, as the book was now suppressed, asked +permission to move for a nominal sentence. Mercy, he urged, was a part +of the Christianity they were defending. Not one of the Society took his +side,--not even "philanthropic" Wilberforce--and Erskine threw up his +brief. This action of Erskine led the Judge to give Williams only a year +in prison instead of the three he said had been intended. + +While Williams was in prison the orthodox colporteurs were circulating +Erskine's speech on Christianity, but also an anonymous sermon "On the +Existence and Attributes of the Deity," all of which was from Paine's +"Age of Reason," except a brief "Address to the Deity" appended. +This picturesque anomaly was repeated in the circulation of Paine's +"Discourse to the Theophilanthropists" (their and the author's names +removed) under the title of "Atheism Refuted." Both of these pamphlets +are now before me, and beside them a London tract of one page just sent +for my spiritual benefit. This is headed "A Word of Caution." It begins +by mentioning the "pernicious doctrines of Paine," the first being "that +there is No GOD" (sic,) then proceeds to adduce evidences of divine +existence taken from Paine's works. It should be added that this one +dingy page is the only "survival" of the ancient Paine effigy in the +tract form which I have been able to find in recent years, and to this +no Society or Publisher's name is attached. + +The imprisonment of Williams was the beginning of a thirty years' war +for religious liberty in England, in the course of which occurred many +notable events, such as Eaton receiving homage in his pillory at Choring +Cross, and the whole Carlile family imprisoned,--its head imprisoned +more than nine years for publishing the "Age of Reason." This last +victory of persecution was suicidal. Gentlemen of wealth, not adherents +of Paine, helped in setting Carlile up in business in Fleet Street, +where free-thinking publications have since been sold without +interruption. But though Liberty triumphed in one sense, the "Age of +Reason." remained to some extent suppressed among those whose attention +it especially merited. Its original prosecution by a Society for the +Suppression of Vice (a device to, relieve the Crown) amounted to a libel +upon a morally clean book, restricting its perusal in families; and the +fact that the shilling book sold by and among humble people was alone +prosecuted, diffused among the educated an equally false notion that the +"Age of Reason" was vulgar and illiterate. The theologians, as we +have seen, estimated more justly the ability of their antagonist, +the collaborator of Franklin, Rittenhouse, and Clymer, on whom the +University of Pennsylvania had conferred the degree of Master of +Arts,--but the gentry confused Paine with the class described by Burke +as "the swinish multitude." Skepticism, or its free utterance, was +temporarily driven out of polite circles by its complication with the +out-lawed vindicator of the "Rights of Man." But that long combat has +now passed away. Time has reduced the "Age of Reason" from a flag of +popular radicalism to a comparatively conservative treatise, so far as +its negations are concerned. An old friend tells me that in his youth +he heard a sermon in which the preacher declared that "Tom Paine was +so wicked that he could not be buried; his bones were thrown into a box +which was bandied about the world till it came to a button-manufacturer; +and now Paine is travelling round the world in the form of buttons!" +This variant of the Wandering Jew myth may now be regarded as +unconscious homage to the author whose metaphorical bones may be +recognized in buttons now fashionable, and some even found useful in +holding clerical vestments together. + +But the careful reader will find in Paine's "Age of Reason" something +beyond negations, and in conclusion I will especially call attention to +the new departure in Theism indicated in a passage corresponding to a +famous aphorism of Kant, indicated by a note in Part II. The discovery +already mentioned, that Part I. was written at least fourteen years +before Part II., led me to compare the two; and it is plain that while +the earlier work is an amplification of Newtonian Deism, based on the +phenomena of planetary motion, the work of 1795 bases belief in God on +"the universal display of himself in the works of the creation and by +that repugnance we feel in ourselves to bad actions, and disposition +to do good ones." This exaltation of the moral nature of man to be the +foundation of theistic religion, though now familiar, was a hundred +years ago a new affirmation; it has led on a conception of deity +subversive of last-century deism, it has steadily humanized religion, +and its ultimate philosophical and ethical results have not yet been +reached. + + + +CHAPTER I - THE AUTHOR'S PROFESSION OF FAITH. + +IT has been my intention, for several years past, to publish my thoughts +upon religion; I am well aware of the difficulties that attend the +subject, and from that consideration, had reserved it to a more advanced +period of life. I intended it to be the last offering I should make to +my fellow-citizens of all nations, and that at a time when the purity of +the motive that induced me to it could not admit of a question, even by +those who might disapprove the work. + +The circumstance that has now taken place in France, of the total +abolition of the whole national order of priesthood, and of everything +appertaining to compulsive systems of religion, and compulsive articles +of faith, has not only precipitated my intention, but rendered a work +of this kind exceedingly necessary, lest, in the general wreck of +superstition, of false systems of government, and false theology, we +lose sight of morality, of humanity, and of the theology that is true. + +As several of my colleagues, and others of my fellow-citizens of France, +have given me the example of making their voluntary and individual +profession of faith, I also will make mine; and I do this with all that +sincerity and frankness with which the mind of man communicates with +itself. + +I believe in one God, and no more; and I hope for happiness beyond this +life. + +I believe the equality of man, and I believe that religious duties +consist in doing justice, loving mercy, and endeavoring to make our +fellow-creatures happy. + +But, lest it should be supposed that I believe many other things in +addition to these, I shall, in the progress of this work, declare the +things I do not believe, and my reasons for not believing them. + +I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by +the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the +Protestant church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is my +own church. + +All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian, or +Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions set up to terrify +and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit. + +I do not mean by this declaration to condemn those who believe +otherwise; they have the same right to their belief as I have to +mine. But it is necessary to the happiness of man, that he be mentally +faithful to himself. Infidelity does not consist in believing, or in +disbelieving; it consists in professing to believe what he does not +believe. + +It is impossible to calculate the moral mischief, if I may so express +it, that mental lying has produced in society. When a man has so far +corrupted and prostituted the chastity of his mind, as to subscribe +his professional belief to things he does not believe, he has prepared +himself for the commission of every other crime. He takes up the trade +of a priest for the sake of gain, and, in order to qualify himself for +that trade, he begins with a perjury. Can we conceive anything more +destructive to morality than this? + +Soon after I had published the pamphlet COMMON SENSE, in America, I saw +the exceeding probability that a revolution in the system of government +would be followed by a revolution in the system of religion. The +adulterous connection of church and state, wherever it had taken place, +whether Jewish, Christian, or Turkish, had so effectually prohibited, by +pains and penalties, every discussion upon established creeds, and upon +first principles of religion, that until the system of government should +be changed, those subjects could not be brought fairly and openly before +the world; but that whenever this should be done, a revolution in the +system of religion would follow. Human inventions and priest-craft +would be detected; and man would return to the pure, unmixed, and +unadulterated belief of one God, and no more. + +CHAPTER II - OF MISSIONS AND REVELATIONS. + +EVERY national church or religion has established itself by pretending +some special mission from God, communicated to certain individuals. The +Jews have their Moses; the Christians their Jesus Christ, their apostles +and saints; and the Turks their Mahomet; as if the way to God was not +open to every man alike. + +Each of those churches shows certain books, which they call revelation, +or the Word of God. The Jews say that their Word of God was given by God +to Moses face to face; the Christians say, that their Word of God came +by divine inspiration; and the Turks say, that their Word of God (the +Koran) was brought by an angel from heaven. Each of those churches +accuses the other of unbelief; and, for my own part, I disbelieve them +all. + +As it is necessary to affix right ideas to words, I will, before I +proceed further into the subject, offer some observations on the word +'revelation.' Revelation when applied to religion, means something +communicated immediately from God to man. + +No one will deny or dispute the power of the Almighty to make such a +communication if he pleases. But admitting, for the sake of a case, that +something has been revealed to a certain person, and not revealed to any +other person, it is revelation to that person only. When he tells it to +a second person, a second to a third, a third to a fourth, and so on, it +ceases to be a revelation to all those persons. It is revelation to the +first person only, and hearsay to every other, and, consequently, they +are not obliged to believe it. + +It is a contradiction in terms and ideas to call anything a revelation +that comes to us at second hand, either verbally or in writing. +Revelation is necessarily limited to the first communication. After +this, it is only an account of something which that person says was +a revelation made to him; and though he may find himself obliged to +believe it, it cannot be incumbent on me to believe it in the same +manner, for it was not a revelation made to me, and I have only his word +for it that it was made to him. + +When Moses told the children of Israel that he received the two tables +of the commandments from the hand of God, they were not obliged to +believe him, because they had no other authority for it than his telling +them so; and I have no other authority for it than some historian +telling me so, the commandments carrying no internal evidence of +divinity with them. They contain some good moral precepts such as any +man qualified to be a lawgiver or a legislator could produce himself, +without having recourse to supernatural intervention. [NOTE: It is, +however, necessary to except the declamation which says that God 'visits +the sins of the fathers upon the children'. This is contrary to every +principle of moral justice.--Author.] + +When I am told that the Koran was written in Heaven, and brought to +Mahomet by an angel, the account comes to near the same kind of hearsay +evidence and second hand authority as the former. I did not see the +angel myself, and therefore I have a right not to believe it. + +When also I am told that a woman, called the Virgin Mary, said, or gave +out, that she was with child without any cohabitation with a man, and +that her betrothed husband, Joseph, said that an angel told him so, I +have a right to believe them or not: such a circumstance required a +much stronger evidence than their bare word for it: but we have not even +this; for neither Joseph nor Mary wrote any such matter themselves. +It is only reported by others that they said so. It is hearsay upon +hearsay, and I do not chose to rest my belief upon such evidence. + +It is, however, not difficult to account for the credit that was given +to the story of Jesus Christ being the Son of God. He was born when the +heathen mythology had still some fashion and repute in the world, and +that mythology had prepared the people for the belief of such a story. +Almost all the extraordinary men that lived under the heathen mythology +were reputed to be the sons of some of their gods. It was not a new +thing at that time to believe a man to have been celestially begotten; +the intercourse of gods with women was then a matter of familiar +opinion. Their Jupiter, according to their accounts, had cohabited with +hundreds; the story therefore had nothing in it either new, wonderful, +or obscene; it was conformable to the opinions that then prevailed among +the people called Gentiles, or mythologists, and it was those people +only that believed it. The Jews, who had kept strictly to the belief of +one God, and no more, and who had always rejected the heathen mythology, +never credited the story. + +It is curious to observe how the theory of what is called the Christian +Church, sprung out of the tail of the heathen mythology. A direct +incorporation took place in the first instance, by making the reputed +founder to be celestially begotten. The trinity of gods that then +followed was no other than a reduction of the former plurality, which +was about twenty or thirty thousand. The statue of Mary succeeded the +statue of Diana of Ephesus. The deification of heroes changed into the +canonization of saints. The Mythologists had gods for everything; the +Christian Mythologists had saints for everything. The church became as +crowded with the one, as the pantheon had been with the other; and Rome +was the place of both. The Christian theory is little else than the +idolatry of the ancient mythologists, accommodated to the purposes +of power and revenue; and it yet remains to reason and philosophy to +abolish the amphibious fraud. + + + +CHAPTER III - CONCERNING THE CHARACTER OF JESUS CHRIST, AND HIS HISTORY. + +NOTHING that is here said can apply, even with the most distant +disrespect, to the real character of Jesus Christ. He was a virtuous and +an amiable man. The morality that he preached and practiced was of the +most benevolent kind; and though similar systems of morality had been +preached by Confucius, and by some of the Greek philosophers, many years +before, by the Quakers since, and by many good men in all ages, it has +not been exceeded by any. + +Jesus Christ wrote no account of himself, of his birth, parentage, or +anything else. Not a line of what is called the New Testament is of his +writing. The history of him is altogether the work of other people; and +as to the account given of his resurrection and ascension, it was the +necessary counterpart to the story of his birth. His historians, having +brought him into the world in a supernatural manner, were obliged to +take him out again in the same manner, or the first part of the story +must have fallen to the ground. + +The wretched contrivance with which this latter part is told, exceeds +everything that went before it. The first part, that of the miraculous +conception, was not a thing that admitted of publicity; and therefore +the tellers of this part of the story had this advantage, that though +they might not be credited, they could not be detected. They could not +be expected to prove it, because it was not one of those things that +admitted of proof, and it was impossible that the person of whom it was +told could prove it himself. + +But the resurrection of a dead person from the grave, and his ascension +through the air, is a thing very different, as to the evidence it admits +of, to the invisible conception of a child in the womb. The resurrection +and ascension, supposing them to have taken place, admitted of public +and ocular demonstration, like that of the ascension of a balloon, or +the sun at noon day, to all Jerusalem at least. A thing which everybody +is required to believe, requires that the proof and evidence of it +should be equal to all, and universal; and as the public visibility of +this last related act was the only evidence that could give sanction +to the former part, the whole of it falls to the ground, because that +evidence never was given. Instead of this, a small number of persons, +not more than eight or nine, are introduced as proxies for the whole +world, to say they saw it, and all the rest of the world are called +upon to believe it. But it appears that Thomas did not believe the +resurrection; and, as they say, would not believe without having ocular +and manual demonstration himself. So neither will I; and the reason is +equally as good for me, and for every other person, as for Thomas. + +It is in vain to attempt to palliate or disguise this matter. The story, +so far as relates to the supernatural part, has every mark of fraud and +imposition stamped upon the face of it. Who were the authors of it is +as impossible for us now to know, as it is for us to be assured that the +books in which the account is related were written by the persons whose +names they bear. The best surviving evidence we now have respecting this +affair is the Jews. They are regularly descended from the people who +lived in the time this resurrection and ascension is said to have +happened, and they say 'it is not true.' It has long appeared to me a +strange inconsistency to cite the Jews as a proof of the truth of the +story. It is just the same as if a man were to say, I will prove the +truth of what I have told you, by producing the people who say it is +false. + +That such a person as Jesus Christ existed, and that he was crucified, +which was the mode of execution at that day, are historical relations +strictly within the limits of probability. He preached most excellent +morality, and the equality of man; but he preached also against the +corruptions and avarice of the Jewish priests, and this brought upon +him the hatred and vengeance of the whole order of priest-hood. The +accusation which those priests brought against him was that of sedition +and conspiracy against the Roman government, to which the Jews were +then subject and tributary; and it is not improbable that the Roman +government might have some secret apprehension of the effects of his +doctrine as well as the Jewish priests; neither is it improbable that +Jesus Christ had in contemplation the delivery of the Jewish nation +from the bondage of the Romans. Between the two, however, this virtuous +reformer and revolutionist lost his life. [NOTE: The French work has +here: "However this may be, for one or the other of these suppositions +this virtuous reformer, this revolutionist, too little imitated, +too much forgotten, too much misunderstood, lost his life."--Editor. +(Conway)] + + + +CHAPTER IV - OF THE BASES OF CHRISTIANITY. + +IT is upon this plain narrative of facts, together with another case I +am going to mention, that the Christian mythologists, calling themselves +the Christian Church, have erected their fable, which for absurdity +and extravagance is not exceeded by anything that is to be found in the +mythology of the ancients. + +The ancient mythologists tell us that the race of Giants made war +against Jupiter, and that one of them threw a hundred rocks against him +at one throw; that Jupiter defeated him with thunder, and confined +him afterwards under Mount Etna; and that every time the Giant turns +himself, Mount Etna belches fire. It is here easy to see that the +circumstance of the mountain, that of its being a volcano, suggested the +idea of the fable; and that the fable is made to fit and wind itself up +with that circumstance. + +The Christian mythologists tell that their Satan made war against the +Almighty, who defeated him, and confined him afterwards, not under a +mountain, but in a pit. It is here easy to see that the first fable +suggested the idea of the second; for the fable of Jupiter and the +Giants was told many hundred years before that of Satan. + +Thus far the ancient and the Christian mythologists differ very little +from each other. But the latter have contrived to carry the matter much +farther. They have contrived to connect the fabulous part of the story +of Jesus Christ with the fable originating from Mount Etna; and, in +order to make all the parts of the story tie together, they have taken +to their aid the traditions of the Jews; for the Christian mythology is +made up partly from the ancient mythology, and partly from the Jewish +traditions. + +The Christian mythologists, after having confined Satan in a pit, were +obliged to let him out again to bring on the sequel of the fable. He is +then introduced into the garden of Eden in the shape of a snake, or a +serpent, and in that shape he enters into familiar conversation with +Eve, who is no ways surprised to hear a snake talk; and the issue of +this tete-a-tate is, that he persuades her to eat an apple, and the +eating of that apple damns all mankind. + +After giving Satan this triumph over the whole creation, one would have +supposed that the church mythologists would have been kind enough to +send him back again to the pit, or, if they had not done this, that they +would have put a mountain upon him, (for they say that their faith +can remove a mountain) or have put him under a mountain, as the former +mythologists had done, to prevent his getting again among the women, +and doing more mischief. But instead of this, they leave him at large, +without even obliging him to give his parole. The secret of which is, +that they could not do without him; and after being at the trouble of +making him, they bribed him to stay. They promised him ALL the Jews, ALL +the Turks by anticipation, nine-tenths of the world beside, and Mahomet +into the bargain. After this, who can doubt the bountifulness of the +Christian Mythology? + +Having thus made an insurrection and a battle in heaven, in which none +of the combatants could be either killed or wounded--put Satan into +the pit--let him out again--given him a triumph over the whole +creation--damned all mankind by the eating of an apple, there Christian +mythologists bring the two ends of their fable together. They represent +this virtuous and amiable man, Jesus Christ, to be at once both God and +man, and also the Son of God, celestially begotten, on purpose to be +sacrificed, because they say that Eve in her longing [NOTE: The French +work has: "yielding to an unrestrained appetite."--Editor.] had eaten an +apple. + + + +CHAPTER V - EXAMINATION IN DETAIL OF THE PRECEDING BASES. + +PUTTING aside everything that might excite laughter by its absurdity, +or detestation by its profaneness, and confining ourselves merely to +an examination of the parts, it is impossible to conceive a story more +derogatory to the Almighty, more inconsistent with his wisdom, more +contradictory to his power, than this story is. + +In order to make for it a foundation to rise upon, the inventors were +under the necessity of giving to the being whom they call Satan a power +equally as great, if not greater, than they attribute to the Almighty. +They have not only given him the power of liberating himself from +the pit, after what they call his fall, but they have made that power +increase afterwards to infinity. Before this fall they represent him +only as an angel of limited existence, as they represent the rest. +After his fall, he becomes, by their account, omnipresent. He exists +everywhere, and at the same time. He occupies the whole immensity of +space. + +Not content with this deification of Satan, they represent him as +defeating by stratagem, in the shape of an animal of the creation, +all the power and wisdom of the Almighty. They represent him as having +compelled the Almighty to the direct necessity either of surrendering +the whole of the creation to the government and sovereignty of this +Satan, or of capitulating for its redemption by coming down upon earth, +and exhibiting himself upon a cross in the shape of a man. + +Had the inventors of this story told it the contrary way, that is, had +they represented the Almighty as compelling Satan to exhibit himself +on a cross in the shape of a snake, as a punishment for his +new transgression, the story would have been less absurd, less +contradictory. But, instead of this they make the transgressor triumph, +and the Almighty fall. + +That many good men have believed this strange fable, and lived very good +lives under that belief (for credulity is not a crime) is what I have no +doubt of. In the first place, they were educated to believe it, and they +would have believed anything else in the same manner. There are also +many who have been so enthusiastically enraptured by what they conceived +to be the infinite love of God to man, in making a sacrifice of himself, +that the vehemence of the idea has forbidden and deterred them from +examining into the absurdity and profaneness of the story. The more +unnatural anything is, the more is it capable of becoming the object +of dismal admiration. [NOTE: The French work has "blind and" preceding +dismal.--Editor.] + + + +CHAPTER VI - OF THE TRUE THEOLOGY. + +BUT if objects for gratitude and admiration are our desire, do they not +present themselves every hour to our eyes? Do we not see a fair creation +prepared to receive us the instant we are born--a world furnished to our +hands, that cost us nothing? Is it we that light up the sun; that pour +down the rain; and fill the earth with abundance? Whether we sleep +or wake, the vast machinery of the universe still goes on. Are these +things, and the blessings they indicate in future, nothing to, us? Can +our gross feelings be excited by no other subjects than tragedy and +suicide? Or is the gloomy pride of man become so intolerable, that +nothing can flatter it but a sacrifice of the Creator? + +I know that this bold investigation will alarm many, but it would be +paying too great a compliment to their credulity to forbear it on that +account. The times and the subject demand it to be done. The suspicion +that the theory of what is called the Christian church is fabulous, is +becoming very extensive in all countries; and it will be a consolation +to men staggering under that suspicion, and doubting what to believe and +what to disbelieve, to see the subject freely investigated. I therefore +pass on to an examination of the books called the Old and the New +Testament. + + + +CHAPTER VII - EXAMINATION OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. + +THESE books, beginning with Genesis and ending with Revelations, (which, +by the bye, is a book of riddles that requires a revelation to explain +it) are, we are told, the word of God. It is, therefore, proper for +us to know who told us so, that we may know what credit to give to the +report. The answer to this question is, that nobody can tell, except +that we tell one another so. The case, however, historically appears to +be as follows: + +When the church mythologists established their system, they collected +all the writings they could find, and managed them as they pleased. It +is a matter altogether of uncertainty to us whether such of the writings +as now appear under the name of the Old and the New Testament, are in +the same state in which those collectors say they found them; or whether +they added, altered, abridged, or dressed them up. + +Be this as it may, they decided by vote which of the books out of the +collection they had made, should be the WORD OF GOD, and which should +not. They rejected several; they voted others to be doubtful, such as +the books called the Apocrypha; and those books which had a majority of +votes, were voted to be the word of God. Had they voted otherwise, all +the people since calling themselves Christians had believed otherwise; +for the belief of the one comes from the vote of the other. Who the +people were that did all this, we know nothing of. They call themselves +by the general name of the Church; and this is all we know of the +matter. + +As we have no other external evidence or authority for believing these +books to be the word of God, than what I have mentioned, which is no +evidence or authority at all, I come, in the next place, to examine the +internal evidence contained in the books themselves. + +In the former part of this essay, I have spoken of revelation. I now +proceed further with that subject, for the purpose of applying it to the +books in question. + +Revelation is a communication of something, which the person, to whom +that thing is revealed, did not know before. For if I have done a thing, +or seen it done, it needs no revelation to tell me I have done it, or +seen it, nor to enable me to tell it, or to write it. + +Revelation, therefore, cannot be applied to anything done upon earth of +which man is himself the actor or the witness; and consequently all the +historical and anecdotal part of the Bible, which is almost the whole of +it, is not within the meaning and compass of the word revelation, and, +therefore, is not the word of God. + +When Samson ran off with the gate-posts of Gaza, if he ever did so, (and +whether he did or not is nothing to us,) or when he visited his Delilah, +or caught his foxes, or did anything else, what has revelation to do +with these things? If they were facts, he could tell them himself; or +his secretary, if he kept one, could write them, if they were worth +either telling or writing; and if they were fictions, revelation could +not make them true; and whether true or not, we are neither the better +nor the wiser for knowing them. When we contemplate the immensity of +that Being, who directs and governs the incomprehensible WHOLE, of which +the utmost ken of human sight can discover but a part, we ought to feel +shame at calling such paltry stories the word of God. + +As to the account of the creation, with which the book of Genesis opens, +it has all the appearance of being a tradition which the Israelites had +among them before they came into Egypt; and after their departure from +that country, they put it at the head of their history, without telling, +as it is most probable that they did not know, how they came by it. +The manner in which the account opens, shows it to be traditionary. It +begins abruptly. It is nobody that speaks. It is nobody that hears. It +is addressed to nobody. It has neither first, second, nor third person. +It has every criterion of being a tradition. It has no voucher. Moses +does not take it upon himself by introducing it with the formality that +he uses on other occasions, such as that of saying, "The Lords spake +unto Moses, saying." + +Why it has been called the Mosaic account of the creation, I am at +a loss to conceive. Moses, I believe, was too good a judge of such +subjects to put his name to that account. He had been educated among +the Egyptians, who were a people as well skilled in science, and +particularly in astronomy, as any people of their day; and the silence +and caution that Moses observes, in not authenticating the account, is +a good negative evidence that he neither told it nor believed it.--The +case is, that every nation of people has been world-makers, and the +Israelites had as much right to set up the trade of world-making as any +of the rest; and as Moses was not an Israelite, he might not chose to +contradict the tradition. The account, however, is harmless; and this is +more than can be said for many other parts of the Bible. + +Whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the +cruel and torturous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness, with +which more than half the Bible [NOTE: It must be borne in mind that by +the "Bible" Paine always means the Old Testament alone.--Editor.] is +filled, it would be more consistent that we called it the word of a +demon, than the Word of God. It is a history of wickedness, that +has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind; and, for my own part, I +sincerely detest it, as I detest everything that is cruel. + +We scarcely meet with anything, a few phrases excepted, but what +deserves either our abhorrence or our contempt, till we come to the +miscellaneous parts of the Bible. In the anonymous publications, the +Psalms, and the Book of Job, more particularly in the latter, we find +a great deal of elevated sentiment reverentially expressed of the power +and benignity of the Almighty; but they stand on no higher rank than +many other compositions on similar subjects, as well before that time as +since. + +The Proverbs which are said to be Solomon's, though most probably +a collection, (because they discover a knowledge of life, which his +situation excluded him from knowing) are an instructive table of ethics. +They are inferior in keenness to the proverbs of the Spaniards, and not +more wise and oeconomical than those of the American Franklin. + +All the remaining parts of the Bible, generally known by the name of the +Prophets, are the works of the Jewish poets and itinerant preachers, +who mixed poetry, anecdote, and devotion together--and those works still +retain the air and style of poetry, though in translation. [NOTE: As +there are many readers who do not see that a composition is poetry, +unless it be in rhyme, it is for their information that I add this note. + +Poetry consists principally in two things--imagery and composition. The +composition of poetry differs from that of prose in the manner of mixing +long and short syllables together. Take a long syllable out of a line +of poetry, and put a short one in the room of it, or put a long syllable +where a short one should be, and that line will lose its poetical +harmony. It will have an effect upon the line like that of misplacing a +note in a song. + +The imagery in those books called the Prophets appertains altogether to +poetry. It is fictitious, and often extravagant, and not admissible in +any other kind of writing than poetry. + +To show that these writings are composed in poetical numbers, I will +take ten syllables, as they stand in the book, and make a line of the +same number of syllables, (heroic measure) that shall rhyme with the +last word. It will then be seen that the composition of those books is +poetical measure. The instance I shall first produce is from Isaiah:-- + + "Hear, O ye heavens, and give ear, O earth + 'T is God himself that calls attention forth. + +Another instance I shall quote is from the mournful Jeremiah, to which +I shall add two other lines, for the purpose of carrying out the figure, +and showing the intention of the poet. + + "O, that mine head were waters and mine eyes + Were fountains flowing like the liquid skies; + Then would I give the mighty flood release + And weep a deluge for the human race."--Author.] + +There is not, throughout the whole book called the Bible, any word that +describes to us what we call a poet, nor any word that describes what we +call poetry. The case is, that the word prophet, to which a later times +have affixed a new idea, was the Bible word for poet, and the word +'propesying' meant the art of making poetry. It also meant the art of +playing poetry to a tune upon any instrument of music. + +We read of prophesying with pipes, tabrets, and horns--of prophesying +with harps, with psalteries, with cymbals, and with every other +instrument of music then in fashion. Were we now to speak of prophesying +with a fiddle, or with a pipe and tabor, the expression would have no +meaning, or would appear ridiculous, and to some people contemptuous, +because we have changed the meaning of the word. + +We are told of Saul being among the prophets, and also that he +prophesied; but we are not told what they prophesied, nor what he +prophesied. The case is, there was nothing to tell; for these prophets +were a company of musicians and poets, and Saul joined in the concert, +and this was called prophesying. + +The account given of this affair in the book called Samuel, is, that +Saul met a company of prophets; a whole company of them! coming down +with a psaltery, a tabret, a pipe, and a harp, and that they prophesied, +and that he prophesied with them. But it appears afterwards, that Saul +prophesied badly, that is, he performed his part badly; for it is said +that an "evil spirit from God [NOTE: As thos; men who call themselves +divines and commentators are very fond of puzzling one another, I leave +them to contest the meaning of the first part of the phrase, that of an +evil spirit of God. I keep to my text. I keep to the meaning of the word +prophesy.--Author.] came upon Saul, and he prophesied." + +Now, were there no other passage in the book called the Bible, than +this, to demonstrate to us that we have lost the original meaning of the +word prophesy, and substituted another meaning in its place, this alone +would be sufficient; for it is impossible to use and apply the word +prophesy, in the place it is here used and applied, if we give to it the +sense which later times have affixed to it. The manner in which it is +here used strips it of all religious meaning, and shews that a man might +then be a prophet, or he might Prophesy, as he may now be a poet or a +musician, without any regard to the morality or the immorality of his +character. The word was originally a term of science, promiscuously +applied to poetry and to music, and not restricted to any subject upon +which poetry and music might be exercised. + +Deborah and Barak are called prophets, not because they predicted +anything, but because they composed the poem or song that bears their +name, in celebration of an act already done. David is ranked among the +prophets, for he was a musician, and was also reputed to be (though +perhaps very erroneously) the author of the Psalms. But Abraham, Isaac, +and Jacob are not called prophets; it does not appear from any accounts +we have, that they could either sing, play music, or make poetry. + +We are told of the greater and the lesser prophets. They might as well +tell us of the greater and the lesser God; for there cannot be degrees +in prophesying consistently with its modern sense. But there are degrees +in poetry, and there-fore the phrase is reconcilable to the case, when +we understand by it the greater and the lesser poets. + +It is altogether unnecessary, after this, to offer any observations upon +what those men, styled prophets, have written. The axe goes at once +to the root, by showing that the original meaning of the word has been +mistaken, and consequently all the inferences that have been drawn from +those books, the devotional respect that has been paid to them, and +the laboured commentaries that have been written upon them, under +that mistaken meaning, are not worth disputing about.--In many things, +however, the writings of the Jewish poets deserve a better fate than +that of being bound up, as they now are, with the trash that accompanies +them, under the abused name of the Word of God. + +If we permit ourselves to conceive right ideas of things, we must +necessarily affix the idea, not only of unchangeableness, but of the +utter impossibility of any change taking place, by any means or accident +whatever, in that which we would honour with the name of the Word of +God; and therefore the Word of God cannot exist in any written or human +language. + +The continually progressive change to which the meaning of words is +subject, the want of an universal language which renders translation +necessary, the errors to which translations are again subject, the +mistakes of copyists and printers, together with the possibility of +wilful alteration, are of themselves evidences that human language, +whether in speech or in print, cannot be the vehicle of the Word of +God.--The Word of God exists in something else. + +Did the book called the Bible excel in purity of ideas and expression +all the books now extant in the world, I would not take it for my +rule of faith, as being the Word of God; because the possibility would +nevertheless exist of my being imposed upon. But when I see throughout +the greatest part of this book scarcely anything but a history of the +grossest vices, and a collection of the most paltry and contemptible +tales, I cannot dishonour my Creator by calling it by his name. + + + +CHAPTER VIII - OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. + +THUS much for the Bible; I now go on to the book called the New +Testament. The new Testament! that is, the 'new' Will, as if there could +be two wills of the Creator. + +Had it been the object or the intention of Jesus Christ to establish a +new religion, he would undoubtedly have written the system himself, or +procured it to be written in his life time. But there is no publication +extant authenticated with his name. All the books called the New +Testament were written after his death. He was a Jew by birth and by +profession; and he was the son of God in like manner that every other +person is; for the Creator is the Father of All. + +The first four books, called Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, do not give +a history of the life of Jesus Christ, but only detached anecdotes of +him. It appears from these books, that the whole time of his being a +preacher was not more than eighteen months; and it was only during this +short time that those men became acquainted with him. They make mention +of him at the age of twelve years, sitting, they say, among the Jewish +doctors, asking and answering them questions. As this was several years +before their acquaintance with him began, it is most probable they had +this anecdote from his parents. From this time there is no account of +him for about sixteen years. Where he lived, or how he employed himself +during this interval, is not known. Most probably he was working at his +father's trade, which was that of a carpenter. It does not appear that +he had any school education, and the probability is, that he could not +write, for his parents were extremely poor, as appears from their not +being able to pay for a bed when he was born. [NOTE: One of the few +errors traceable to Paine's not having a Bible at hand while writing +Part I. There is no indication that the family was poor, but the reverse +may in fact be inferred.--Editor.] + +It is somewhat curious that the three persons whose names are the +most universally recorded were of very obscure parentage. Moses was a +foundling; Jesus Christ was born in a stable; and Mahomet was a mule +driver. The first and the last of these men were founders of different +systems of religion; but Jesus Christ founded no new system. He called +men to the practice of moral virtues, and the belief of one God. The +great trait in his character is philanthropy. + +The manner in which he was apprehended shows that he was not much known, +at that time; and it shows also that the meetings he then held with +his followers were in secret; and that he had given over or suspended +preaching publicly. Judas could no otherways betray him than by giving +information where he was, and pointing him out to the officers that went +to arrest him; and the reason for employing and paying Judas to do this +could arise only from the causes already mentioned, that of his not +being much known, and living concealed. + +The idea of his concealment, not only agrees very ill with his reputed +divinity, but associates with it something of pusillanimity; and +his being betrayed, or in other words, his being apprehended, on the +information of one of his followers, shows that he did not intend to be +apprehended, and consequently that he did not intend to be crucified. + +The Christian mythologists tell us that Christ died for the sins of the +world, and that he came on Purpose to die. Would it not then have been +the same if he had died of a fever or of the small pox, of old age, or +of anything else? + +The declaratory sentence which, they say, was passed upon Adam, in case +he ate of the apple, was not, that thou shalt surely be crucified, but, +thou shale surely die. The sentence was death, and not the manner of +dying. Crucifixion, therefore, or any other particular manner of dying, +made no part of the sentence that Adam was to suffer, and consequently, +even upon their own tactic, it could make no part of the sentence that +Christ was to suffer in the room of Adam. A fever would have done as +well as a cross, if there was any occasion for either. + +This sentence of death, which, they tell us, was thus passed upon Adam, +must either have meant dying naturally, that is, ceasing to live, or +have meant what these mythologists call damnation; and consequently, +the act of dying on the part of Jesus Christ, must, according to their +system, apply as a prevention to one or other of these two things +happening to Adam and to us. + +That it does not prevent our dying is evident, because we all die; +and if their accounts of longevity be true, men die faster since the +crucifixion than before: and with respect to the second explanation, +(including with it the natural death of Jesus Christ as a substitute +for the eternal death or damnation of all mankind,) it is impertinently +representing the Creator as coming off, or revoking the sentence, by a +pun or a quibble upon the word death. That manufacturer of, quibbles, +St. Paul, if he wrote the books that bear his name, has helped this +quibble on by making another quibble upon the word Adam. He makes there +to be two Adams; the one who sins in fact, and suffers by proxy; +the other who sins by proxy, and suffers in fact. A religion thus +interlarded with quibble, subterfuge, and pun, has a tendency to +instruct its professors in the practice of these arts. They acquire the +habit without being aware of the cause. + +If Jesus Christ was the being which those mythologists tell us he +was, and that he came into this world to suffer, which is a word they +sometimes use instead of 'to die,' the only real suffering he could have +endured would have been 'to live.' His existence here was a state +of exilement or transportation from heaven, and the way back to his +original country was to die.--In fine, everything in this strange system +is the reverse of what it pretends to be. It is the reverse of truth, +and I become so tired of examining into its inconsistencies and +absurdities, that I hasten to the conclusion of it, in order to proceed +to something better. + +How much, or what parts of the books called the New Testament, were +written by the persons whose names they bear, is what we can know +nothing of, neither are we certain in what language they were originally +written. The matters they now contain may be classed under two heads: +anecdote, and epistolary correspondence. + +The four books already mentioned, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, are +altogether anecdotal. They relate events after they had taken place. +They tell what Jesus Christ did and said, and what others did and said +to him; and in several instances they relate the same event differently. +Revelation is necessarily out of the question with respect to those +books; not only because of the disagreement of the writers, but because +revelation cannot be applied to the relating of facts by the persons +who saw them done, nor to the relating or recording of any discourse +or conversation by those who heard it. The book called the Acts of the +Apostles (an anonymous work) belongs also to the anecdotal part. + +All the other parts of the New Testament, except the book of enigmas, +called the Revelations, are a collection of letters under the name of +epistles; and the forgery of letters has been such a common practice +in the world, that the probability is at least equal, whether they are +genuine or forged. One thing, however, is much less equivocal, which +is, that out of the matters contained in those books, together with +the assistance of some old stories, the church has set up a system of +religion very contradictory to the character of the person whose name +it bears. It has set up a religion of pomp and of revenue in pretended +imitation of a person whose life was humility and poverty. + +The invention of a purgatory, and of the releasing of souls therefrom, +by prayers, bought of the church with money; the selling of pardons, +dispensations, and indulgences, are revenue laws, without bearing that +name or carrying that appearance. But the case nevertheless is, that +those things derive their origin from the proxysm of the crucifixion, +and the theory deduced therefrom, which was, that one person could stand +in the place of another, and could perform meritorious services for him. +The probability, therefore, is, that the whole theory or doctrine of +what is called the redemption (which is said to have been accomplished +by the act of one person in the room of another) was originally +fabricated on purpose to bring forward and build all those secondary +and pecuniary redemptions upon; and that the passages in the books upon +which the idea of theory of redemption is built, have been manufactured +and fabricated for that purpose. Why are we to give this church credit, +when she tells us that those books are genuine in every part, any more +than we give her credit for everything else she has told us; or for the +miracles she says she has performed? That she could fabricate writings +is certain, because she could write; and the composition of the writings +in question, is of that kind that anybody might do it; and that she did +fabricate them is not more inconsistent with probability, than that she +should tell us, as she has done, that she could and did work miracles. + +Since, then, no external evidence can, at this long distance of time, +be produced to prove whether the church fabricated the doctrine called +redemption or not, (for such evidence, whether for or against, would be +subject to the same suspicion of being fabricated,) the case can only be +referred to the internal evidence which the thing carries of itself; and +this affords a very strong presumption of its being a fabrication. For +the internal evidence is, that the theory or doctrine of redemption +has for its basis an idea of pecuniary justice, and not that of moral +justice. + +If I owe a person money, and cannot pay him, and he threatens to put me +in prison, another person can take the debt upon himself, and pay it for +me. But if I have committed a crime, every circumstance of the case is +changed. Moral justice cannot take the innocent for the guilty even if +the innocent would offer itself. To suppose justice to do this, is to +destroy the principle of its existence, which is the thing itself. It is +then no longer justice. It is indiscriminate revenge. + +This single reflection will show that the doctrine of redemption is +founded on a mere pecuniary idea corresponding to that of a debt which +another person might pay; and as this pecuniary idea corresponds again +with the system of second redemptions, obtained through the means of +money given to the church for pardons, the probability is that the same +persons fabricated both the one and the other of those theories; +and that, in truth, there is no such thing as redemption; that it is +fabulous; and that man stands in the same relative condition with his +Maker he ever did stand, since man existed; and that it is his greatest +consolation to think so. + +Let him believe this, and he will live more consistently and morally, +than by any other system. It is by his being taught to contemplate +himself as an out-law, as an out-cast, as a beggar, as a mumper, as +one thrown as it were on a dunghill, at an immense distance from his +Creator, and who must make his approaches by creeping, and cringing to +intermediate beings, that he conceives either a contemptuous disregard +for everything under the name of religion, or becomes indifferent, or +turns what he calls devout. In the latter case, he consumes his life +in grief, or the affectation of it. His prayers are reproaches. His +humility is ingratitude. He calls himself a worm, and the fertile earth +a dunghill; and all the blessings of life by the thankless name of +vanities. He despises the choicest gift of God to man, the GIFT OF +REASON; and having endeavoured to force upon himself the belief of a +system against which reason revolts, he ungratefully calls it human +reason, as if man could give reason to himself. + +Yet, with all this strange appearance of humility, and this contempt for +human reason, he ventures into the boldest presumptions. He finds fault +with everything. His selfishness is never satisfied; his ingratitude is +never at an end. He takes on himself to direct the Almighty what to do, +even in the govemment of the universe. He prays dictatorially. When +it is sunshine, he prays for rain, and when it is rain, he prays for +sunshine. He follows the same idea in everything that he prays for; +for what is the amount of all his prayers, but an attempt to make the +Almighty change his mind, and act otherwise than he does? It is as if he +were to say--thou knowest not so well as I. + + + +CHAPTER IX - IN WHAT THE TRUE REVELATION CONSISTS. + +BUT some perhaps will say--Are we to have no word of God--no revelation? +I answer yes. There is a Word of God; there is a revelation. + +THE WORD OF GOD IS THE CREATION WE BEHOLD: And it is in this word, +which no human invention can counterfeit or alter, that God speaketh +universally to man. + +Human language is local and changeable, and is therefore incapable of +being used as the means of unchangeable and universal information. +The idea that God sent Jesus Christ to publish, as they say, the glad +tidings to all nations, from one end of the earth unto the other, is +consistent only with the ignorance of those who know nothing of the +extent of the world, and who believed, as those world-saviours +believed, and continued to believe for several centuries, (and that in +contradiction to the discoveries of philosophers and the experience of +navigators,) that the earth was flat like a trencher; and that a man +might walk to the end of it. + +But how was Jesus Christ to make anything known to all nations? He could +speak but one language, which was Hebrew; and there are in the world +several hundred languages. Scarcely any two nations speak the same +language, or understand each other; and as to translations, every +man who knows anything of languages, knows that it is impossible to +translate from one language into another, not only without losing a +great part of the original, but frequently of mistaking the sense; and +besides all this, the art of printing was wholly unknown at the time +Christ lived. + +It is always necessary that the means that are to accomplish any end +be equal to the accomplishment of that end, or the end cannot be +accomplished. It is in this that the difference between finite and +infinite power and wisdom discovers itself. Man frequently fails in +accomplishing his end, from a natural inability of the power to the +purpose; and frequently from the want of wisdom to apply power properly. +But it is impossible for infinite power and wisdom to fail as man +faileth. The means it useth are always equal to the end: but human +language, more especially as there is not an universal language, is +incapable of being used as an universal means of unchangeable and +uniform information; and therefore it is not the means that God useth in +manifesting himself universally to man. + +It is only in the CREATION that all our ideas and conceptions of a +word of God can unite. The Creation speaketh an universal language, +independently of human speech or human language, multiplied and various +as they be. It is an ever existing original, which every man can read. +It cannot be forged; it cannot be counterfeited; it cannot be lost; it +cannot be altered; it cannot be suppressed. It does not depend upon the +will of man whether it shall be published or not; it publishes itself +from one end of the earth to the other. It preaches to all nations and +to all worlds; and this word of God reveals to man all that is necessary +for man to know of God. + +Do we want to contemplate his power? We see it in the immensity of +the creation. Do we want to contemplate his wisdom? We see it in the +unchangeable order by which the incomprehensible Whole is governed. Do +we want to contemplate his munificence? We see it in the abundance with +which he fills the earth. Do we want to contemplate his mercy? We see it +in his not withholding that abundance even from the unthankful. In +fine, do we want to know what God is? Search not the book called the +scripture, which any human hand might make, but the scripture called the +Creation. + + + +CHAPTER X - CONCERNING GOD, AND THE LIGHTS CAST ON HIS EXISTENCE + +AND ATTRIBUTES BY THE BIBLE. + +THE only idea man can affix to the name of God, is that of a first +cause, the cause of all things. And, incomprehensibly difficult as it is +for a man to conceive what a first cause is, he arrives at the belief +of it, from the tenfold greater difficulty of disbelieving it. It is +difficult beyond description to conceive that space can have no end; +but it is more difficult to conceive an end. It is difficult beyond the +power of man to conceive an eternal duration of what we call time; but +it is more impossible to conceive a time when there shall be no time. + +In like manner of reasoning, everything we behold carries in itself the +internal evidence that it did not make itself. Every man is an evidence +to himself, that he did not make himself; neither could his father make +himself, nor his grandfather, nor any of his race; neither could any +tree, plant, or animal make itself; and it is the conviction arising +from this evidence, that carries us on, as it were, by necessity, to +the belief of a first cause eternally existing, of a nature totally +different to any material existence we know of, and by the power of +which all things exist; and this first cause, man calls God. + +It is only by the exercise of reason, that man can discover God. Take +away that reason, and he would be incapable of understanding anything; +and in this case it would be just as consistent to read even the book +called the Bible to a horse as to a man. How then is it that those +people pretend to reject reason? + +Almost the only parts in the book called the Bible, that convey to +us any idea of God, are some chapters in Job, and the 19th Psalm; I +recollect no other. Those parts are true deistical compositions; +for they treat of the Deity through his works. They take the book of +Creation as the word of God; they refer to no other book; and all the +inferences they make are drawn from that volume. + +I insert in this place the 19th Psalm, as paraphrased into English verse +by Addison. I recollect not the prose, and where I write this I have not +the opportunity of seeing it: + + The spacious firmament on high, + With all the blue etherial sky, + And spangled heavens, a shining frame, + Their great original proclaim. + The unwearied sun, from day to day, + Does his Creator's power display, + And publishes to every land + The work of an Almighty hand. + Soon as the evening shades prevail, + The moon takes up the wondrous tale, + And nightly to the list'ning earth + Repeats the story of her birth; + Whilst all the stars that round her burn, + And all the planets, in their turn, + Confirm the tidings as they roll, + And spread the truth from pole to pole. + What though in solemn silence all + Move round this dark terrestrial ball + What though no real voice, nor sound, + Amidst their radiant orbs be found, + In reason's ear they all rejoice, + And utter forth a glorious voice, + Forever singing as they shine, + THE HAND THAT MADE US IS DIVINE. + +What more does man want to know, than that the hand or power that made +these things is divine, is omnipotent? Let him believe this, with the +force it is impossible to repel if he permits his reason to act, and his +rule of moral life will follow of course. + +The allusions in job have all of them the same tendency with this Psalm; +that of deducing or proving a truth that would be otherwise unknown, +from truths already known. + +I recollect not enough of the passages in Job to insert them correctly; +but there is one that occurs to me that is applicable to the subject I +am speaking upon. "Canst thou by searching find out God; canst thou find +out the Almighty to perfection?" + +I know not how the printers have pointed this passage, for I keep no +Bible; but it contains two distinct questions that admit of distinct +answers. + +First, Canst thou by searching find out God? Yes. Because, in the first +place, I know I did not make myself, and yet I have existence; and by +searching into the nature of other things, I find that no other thing +could make itself; and yet millions of other things exist; therefore it +is, that I know, by positive conclusion resulting from this search, that +there is a power superior to all those things, and that power is God. + +Secondly, Canst thou find out the Almighty to perfection? No. Not only +because the power and wisdom He has manifested in the structure of the +Creation that I behold is to me incomprehensible; but because even this +manifestation, great as it is is probably but a small display of that +immensity of power and wisdom, by which millions of other worlds, to me +invisible by their distance, were created and continue to exist. + +It is evident that both of these questions were put to the reason of the +person to whom they are supposed to have been addressed; and it is only +by admitting the first question to be answered affirmatively, that the +second could follow. It would have been unnecessary, and even absurd, to +have put a second question, more difficult than the first, if the first +question had been answered negatively. The two questions have different +objects; the first refers to the existence of God, the second to his +attributes. Reason can discover the one, but it falls infinitely short +in discovering the whole of the other. + +I recollect not a single passage in all the writings ascribed to the men +called apostles, that conveys any idea of what God is. Those writings +are chiefly controversial; and the gloominess of the subject they dwell +upon, that of a man dying in agony on a cross, is better suited to the +gloomy genius of a monk in a cell, by whom it is not impossible they +were written, than to any man breathing the open air of the Creation. +The only passage that occurs to me, that has any reference to the works +of God, by which only his power and wisdom can be known, is related to +have been spoken by Jesus Christ, as a remedy against distrustful care. +"Behold the lilies of the field, they toil not, neither do they spin." +This, however, is far inferior to the allusions in Job and in the 19th +Psalm; but it is similar in idea, and the modesty of the imagery is +correspondent to the modesty of the man. + + + +CHAPTER XI - OF THE THEOLOGY OF THE CHRISTIANS; AND THE TRUE THEOLOGY. + +As to the Christian system of faith, it appears to me as a species of +atheism; a sort of religious denial of God. It professes to believe in a +man rather than in God. It is a compound made up chiefly of man-ism with +but little deism, and is as near to atheism as twilight is to darkness. +It introduces between man and his Maker an opaque body, which it calls +a redeemer, as the moon introduces her opaque self between the earth +and the sun, and it produces by this means a religious or an irreligious +eclipse of light. It has put the whole orbit of reason into shade. + +The effect of this obscurity has been that of turning everything upside +down, and representing it in reverse; and among the revolutions it has +thus magically produced, it has made a revolution in Theology. + +That which is now called natural philosophy, embracing the whole circle +of science, of which astronomy occupies the chief place, is the study of +the works of God, and of the power and wisdom of God in his works, and +is the true theology. + +As to the theology that is now studied in its place, it is the study of +human opinions and of human fancies concerning God. It is not the +study of God himself in the works that he has made, but in the works +or writings that man has made; and it is not among the least of the +mischiefs that the Christian system has done to the world, that it +has abandoned the original and beautiful system of theology, like a +beautiful innocent, to distress and reproach, to make room for the hag +of superstition. + +The Book of Job and the 19th Psalm, which even the church admits to be +more ancient than the chronological order in which they stand in the +book called the Bible, are theological orations conformable to the +original system of theology. The internal evidence of those orations +proves to a demonstration that the study and contemplation of the works +of creation, and of the power and wisdom of God revealed and manifested +in those works, made a great part of the religious devotion of the +times in which they were written; and it was this devotional study and +contemplation that led to the discovery of the principles upon which +what are now called Sciences are established; and it is to the discovery +of these principles that almost all the Arts that contribute to the +convenience of human life owe their existence. Every principal art has +some science for its parent, though the person who mechanically performs +the work does not always, and but very seldom, perceive the connection. + +It is a fraud of the Christian system to call the sciences 'human +inventions;' it is only the application of them that is human. +Every science has for its basis a system of principles as fixed and +unalterable as those by which the universe is regulated and governed. +Man cannot make principles, he can only discover them. + +For example: Every person who looks at an almanack sees an account when +an eclipse will take place, and he sees also that it never fails to +take place according to the account there given. This shows that man is +acquainted with the laws by which the heavenly bodies move. But it would +be something worse than ignorance, were any church on earth to say that +those laws are an human invention. + +It would also be ignorance, or something worse, to say that the +scientific principles, by the aid of which man is enabled to calculate +and foreknow when an eclipse will take place, are an human invention. +Man cannot invent any thing that is eternal and immutable; and the +scientific principles he employs for this purpose must, and are, of +necessity, as eternal and immutable as the laws by which the heavenly +bodies move, or they could not be used as they are to ascertain the time +when, and the manner how, an eclipse will take place. + +The scientific principles that man employs to obtain the foreknowledge +of an eclipse, or of any thing else relating to the motion of the +heavenly bodies, are contained chiefly in that part of science that +is called trigonometry, or the properties of a triangle, which, when +applied to the study of the heavenly bodies, is called astronomy; +when applied to direct the course of a ship on the ocean, it is called +navigation; when applied to the construction of figures drawn by a rule +and compass, it is called geometry; when applied to the construction +of plans of edifices, it is called architecture; when applied to the +measurement of any portion of the surface of the earth, it is called +land-surveying. In fine, it is the soul of science. It is an eternal +truth: it contains the mathematical demonstration of which man speaks, +and the extent of its uses are unknown. + +It may be said, that man can make or draw a triangle, and therefore a +triangle is an human invention. + +But the triangle, when drawn, is no other than the image of the +principle: it is a delineation to the eye, and from thence to the mind, +of a principle that would otherwise be imperceptible. The triangle does +not make the principle, any more than a candle taken into a room that +was dark, makes the chairs and tables that before were invisible. All +the properties of a triangle exist independently of the figure, and +existed before any triangle was drawn or thought of by man. Man had no +more to do in the formation of those properties or principles, than +he had to do in making the laws by which the heavenly bodies move; and +therefore the one must have the same divine origin as the other. + +In the same manner as, it may be said, that man can make a triangle, +so also, may it be said, he can make the mechanical instrument called +a lever. But the principle by which the lever acts, is a thing distinct +from the instrument, and would exist if the instrument did not; it +attaches itself to the instrument after it is made; the instrument, +therefore, can act no otherwise than it does act; neither can all the +efforts of human invention make it act otherwise. That which, in all +such cases, man calls the effect, is no other than the principle itself +rendered perceptible to the senses. + +Since, then, man cannot make principles, from whence did he gain a +knowledge of them, so as to be able to apply them, not only to things on +earth, but to ascertain the motion of bodies so immensely distant from +him as all the heavenly bodies are? From whence, I ask, could he gain +that knowledge, but from the study of the true theology? + +It is the structure of the universe that has taught this knowledge to +man. That structure is an ever-existing exhibition of every principle +upon which every part of mathematical science is founded. The offspring +of this science is mechanics; for mechanics is no other than the +principles of science applied practically. The man who proportions the +several parts of a mill uses the same scientific principles as if he had +the power of constructing an universe, but as he cannot give to matter +that invisible agency by which all the component parts of the immense +machine of the universe have influence upon each other, and act in +motional unison together, without any apparent contact, and to which +man has given the name of attraction, gravitation, and repulsion, he +supplies the place of that agency by the humble imitation of teeth and +cogs. All the parts of man's microcosm must visibly touch. But could +he gain a knowledge of that agency, so as to be able to apply it in +practice, we might then say that another canonical book of the word of +God had been discovered. + +If man could alter the properties of the lever, so also could he alter +the properties of the triangle: for a lever (taking that sort of lever +which is called a steel-yard, for the sake of explanation) forms, when +in motion, a triangle. The line it descends from, (one point of that +line being in the fulcrum,) the line it descends to, and the chord of +the arc, which the end of the lever describes in the air, are the +three sides of a triangle. The other arm of the lever describes also a +triangle; and the corresponding sides of those two triangles, calculated +scientifically, or measured geometrically,--and also the sines, +tangents, and secants generated from the angles, and geometrically +measured,--have the same proportions to each other as the different +weights have that will balance each other on the lever, leaving the +weight of the lever out of the case. + +It may also be said, that man can make a wheel and axis; that he can put +wheels of different magnitudes together, and produce a mill. Still the +case comes back to the same point, which is, that he did not make the +principle that gives the wheels those powers. This principle is as +unalterable as in the former cases, or rather it is the same principle +under a different appearance to the eye. + +The power that two wheels of different magnitudes have upon each other +is in the same proportion as if the semi-diameter of the two wheels +were joined together and made into that kind of lever I have described, +suspended at the part where the semi-diameters join; for the two wheels, +scientifically considered, are no other than the two circles generated +by the motion of the compound lever. + +It is from the study of the true theology that all our knowledge of +science is derived; and it is from that knowledge that all the arts have +originated. + +The Almighty lecturer, by displaying the principles of science in the +structure of the universe, has invited man to study and to imitation. It +is as if he had said to the inhabitants of this globe that we call ours, +"I have made an earth for man to dwell upon, and I have rendered the +starry heavens visible, to teach him science and the arts. He can now +provide for his own comfort, AND LEARN FROM MY MUNIFICENCE TO ALL, TO BE +KIND TO EACH OTHER." + +Of what use is it, unless it be to teach man something, that his eye is +endowed with the power of beholding, to an incomprehensible distance, an +immensity of worlds revolving in the ocean of space? Or of what use is +it that this immensity of worlds is visible to man? What has man to do +with the Pleiades, with Orion, with Sirius, with the star he calls the +north star, with the moving orbs he has named Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, +Venus, and Mercury, if no uses are to follow from their being visible? +A less power of vision would have been sufficient for man, if the +immensity he now possesses were given only to waste itself, as it were, +on an immense desert of space glittering with shows. + +It is only by contemplating what he calls the starry heavens, as the +book and school of science, that he discovers any use in their being +visible to him, or any advantage resulting from his immensity of +vision. But when he contemplates the subject in this light, he sees an +additional motive for saying, that nothing was made in vain; for in vain +would be this power of vision if it taught man nothing. + + + +CHAPTER XII - THE EFFECTS OF CHRISTIANISM ON EDUCATION; PROPOSED +REFORMS. + +As the Christian system of faith has made a revolution in theology, so +also has it made a revolution in the state of learning. That which is +now called learning, was not learning originally. Learning does not +consist, as the schools now make it consist, in the knowledge of +languages, but in the knowledge of things to which language gives names. + +The Greeks were a learned people, but learning with them did not consist +in speaking Greek, any more than in a Roman's speaking Latin, or a +Frenchman's speaking French, or an Englishman's speaking English. From +what we know of the Greeks, it does not appear that they knew or studied +any language but their own, and this was one cause of their becoming +so learned; it afforded them more time to apply themselves to better +studies. The schools of the Greeks were schools of science and +philosophy, and not of languages; and it is in the knowledge of the +things that science and philosophy teach that learning consists. + +Almost all the scientific learning that now exists, came to us from the +Greeks, or the people who spoke the Greek language. It therefore +became necessary to the people of other nations, who spoke a different +language, that some among them should learn the Greek language, in order +that the learning the Greeks had might be made known in those nations, +by translating the Greek books of science and philosophy into the mother +tongue of each nation. + +The study, therefore, of the Greek language (and in the same manner for +the Latin) was no other than the drudgery business of a linguist; and +the language thus obtained, was no other than the means, or as it were +the tools, employed to obtain the learning the Greeks had. It made no +part of the learning itself; and was so distinct from it as to make it +exceedingly probable that the persons who had studied Greek sufficiently +to translate those works, such for instance as Euclid's Elements, did +not understand any of the learning the works contained. + +As there is now nothing new to be learned from the dead languages, all +the useful books being already translated, the languages are become +useless, and the time expended in teaching and in learning them is +wasted. So far as the study of languages may contribute to the progress +and communication of knowledge (for it has nothing to do with the +creation of knowledge) it is only in the living languages that new +knowledge is to be found; and certain it is, that, in general, a +youth will learn more of a living language in one year, than of a dead +language in seven; and it is but seldom that the teacher knows much of +it himself. The difficulty of learning the dead languages does not arise +from any superior abstruseness in the languages themselves, but in their +being dead, and the pronunciation entirely lost. It would be the same +thing with any other language when it becomes dead. The best Greek +linguist that now exists does not understand Greek so well as a Grecian +plowman did, or a Grecian milkmaid; and the same for the Latin, +compared with a plowman or a milkmaid of the Romans; and with respect +to pronunciation and idiom, not so well as the cows that she milked. It +would therefore be advantageous to the state of learning to abolish +the study of the dead languages, and to make learning consist, as it +originally did, in scientific knowledge. + +The apology that is sometimes made for continuing to teach the dead +languages is, that they are taught at a time when a child is not capable +of exerting any other mental faculty than that of memory. But this +is altogether erroneous. The human mind has a natural disposition to +scientific knowledge, and to the things connected with it. The first and +favourite amusement of a child, even before it begins to play, is that +of imitating the works of man. It builds bouses with cards or sticks; it +navigates the little ocean of a bowl of water with a paper boat; or dams +the stream of a gutter, and contrives something which it calls a mill; +and it interests itself in the fate of its works with a care that +resembles affection. It afterwards goes to school, where its genius is +killed by the barren study of a dead language, and the philosopher is +lost in the linguist. + +But the apology that is now made for continuing to teach the dead +languages, could not be the cause at first of cutting down learning to +the narrow and humble sphere of linguistry; the cause therefore must be +sought for elsewhere. In all researches of this kind, the best evidence +that can be produced, is the internal evidence the thing carries with +itself, and the evidence of circumstances that unites with it; both of +which, in this case, are not difficult to be discovered. + +Putting then aside, as matter of distinct consideration, the outrage +offered to the moral justice of God, by supposing him to make the +innocent suffer for the guilty, and also the loose morality and low +contrivance of supposing him to change himself into the shape of a man, +in order to make an excuse to himself for not executing his supposed +sentence upon Adam; putting, I say, those things aside as matter of +distinct consideration, it is certain that what is called the +christian system of faith, including in it the whimsical account of +the creation--the strange story of Eve, the snake, and the apple--the +amphibious idea of a man-god--the corporeal idea of the death of a +god--the mythological idea of a family of gods, and the christian +system of arithmetic, that three are one, and one is three, are all +irreconcilable, not only to the divine gift of reason, that God has +given to man, but to the knowledge that man gains of the power and +wisdom of God by the aid of the sciences, and by studying the structure +of the universe that God has made. + +The setters up, therefore, and the advocates of the Christian system of +faith, could not but foresee that the continually progressive knowledge +that man would gain by the aid of science, of the power and wisdom of +God, manifested in the structure of the universe, and in all the works +of creation, would militate against, and call into question, the truth +of their system of faith; and therefore it became necessary to their +purpose to cut learning down to a size less dangerous to their project, +and this they effected by restricting the idea of learning to the dead +study of dead languages. + +They not only rejected the study of science out of the christian +schools, but they persecuted it; and it is only within about the last +two centuries that the study has been revived. So late as 1610, Galileo, +a Florentine, discovered and introduced the use of telescopes, and by +applying them to observe the motions and appearances of the heavenly +bodies, afforded additional means for ascertaining the true structure +of the universe. Instead of being esteemed for these discoveries, he was +sentenced to renounce them, or the opinions resulting from them, as a +damnable heresy. And prior to that time Virgilius was condemned to be +burned for asserting the antipodes, or in other words, that the earth +was a globe, and habitable in every part where there was land; yet the +truth of this is now too well known even to be told. [NOTE: I cannot +discover the source of this statement concerning the ancient author +whose Irish name Feirghill was Latinized into Virgilius. The British +Museum possesses a copy of the work (Decalogiunt) which was the pretext +of the charge of heresy made by Boniface, Archbishop of Mayence, against +Virgilius, Abbot--bishop of Salzburg, These were leaders of the +rival "British" and "Roman parties, and the British champion made a +countercharge against Boniface of irreligious practices." Boniface had +to express a "regret," but none the less pursued his rival. The Pope, +Zachary II., decided that if his alleged "doctrine, against God and his +soul, that beneath the earth there is another world, other men, or +sun and moon," should be acknowledged by Virgilius, he should be +excommunicated by a Council and condemned with canonical sanctions. +Whatever may have been the fate involved by condemnation with "canonicis +sanctionibus," in the middle of the eighth century, it did not fall on +Virgilius. His accuser, Boniface, was martyred, 755, and it is probable +that Virgilius harmonied his Antipodes with orthodoxy. The gravamen of +the heresy seems to have been the suggestion that there were men not of +the progeny of Adam. Virgilius was made Bishop of Salzburg in 768. He +bore until his death, 789, the curious title, "Geometer and Solitary," +or "lone wayfarer" (Solivagus). A suspicion of heresy clung to his +memory until 1233, when he was raised by Gregory IX, to sainthood beside +his accuser, St. Boniface.--Editor. (Conway)] + +If the belief of errors not morally bad did no mischief, it would make +no part of the moral duty of man to oppose and remove them. There was no +moral ill in believing the earth was flat like a trencher, any more than +there was moral virtue in believing it was round like a globe; neither +was there any moral ill in believing that the Creator made no other +world than this, any more than there was moral virtue in believing that +he made millions, and that the infinity of space is filled with worlds. +But when a system of religion is made to grow out of a supposed system +of creation that is not true, and to unite itself therewith in a manner +almost inseparable therefrom, the case assumes an entirely different +ground. It is then that errors, not morally bad, become fraught with +the same mischiefs as if they were. It is then that the truth, though +otherwise indifferent itself, becomes an essential, by becoming the +criterion that either confirms by corresponding evidence, or denies by +contradictory evidence, the reality of the religion itself. In this +view of the case it is the moral duty of man to obtain every possible +evidence that the structure of the heavens, or any other part of +creation affords, with respect to systems of religion. But this, the +supporters or partizans of the christian system, as if dreading the +result, incessantly opposed, and not only rejected the sciences, but +persecuted the professors. Had Newton or Descartes lived three or four +hundred years ago, and pursued their studies as they did, it is most +probable they would not have lived to finish them; and had Franklin +drawn lightning from the clouds at the same time, it would have been at +the hazard of expiring for it in flames. + +Later times have laid all the blame upon the Goths and Vandals, but, +however unwilling the partizans of the Christian system may be to +believe or to acknowledge it, it is nevertheless true, that the age of +ignorance commenced with the Christian system. There was more knowledge +in the world before that period, than for many centuries afterwards; and +as to religious knowledge, the Christian system, as already said, +was only another species of mythology; and the mythology to which it +succeeded, was a corruption of an ancient system of theism. [NOTE by +Paine: It is impossible for us now to know at what time the heathen +mythology began; but it is certain, from the internal evidence that it +carries, that it did not begin in the same state or condition in which +it ended. All the gods of that mythology, except Saturn, were of modern +invention. The supposed reign of Saturn was prior to that which is +called the heathen mythology, and was so far a species of theism that +it admitted the belief of only one God. Saturn is supposed to have +abdicated the govemment in favour of his three sons and one daughter, +Jupiter, Pluto, Neptune, and Juno; after this, thousands of other +gods and demigods were imaginarily created, and the calendar of gods +increased as fast as the calendar of saints and the calendar of courts +have increased since. + +All the corruptions that have taken place, in theology and in religion +have been produced by admitting of what man calls 'revealed religion.' +The mythologists pretended to more revealed religion than the christians +do. They had their oracles and their priests, who were supposed to +receive and deliver the word of God verbally on almost all occasions. + +Since then all corruptions down from Moloch to modern predestinarianism, +and the human sacrifices of the heathens to the christian sacrifice of +the Creator, have been produced by admitting of what is called revealed +religion, the most effectual means to prevent all such evils and +impositions is, not to admit of any other revelation than that which is +manifested in the book of Creation., and to contemplate the Creation as +the only true and real word of God that ever did or ever will exist; +and every thing else called the word of God is fable and +imposition.--Author.] + +It is owing to this long interregnum of science, and to no other cause, +that we have now to look back through a vast chasm of many hundred years +to the respectable characters we call the Ancients. Had the progression +of knowledge gone on proportionably with the stock that before existed, +that chasm would have been filled up with characters rising superior in +knowledge to each other; and those Ancients we now so much admire +would have appeared respectably in the background of the scene. But +the christian system laid all waste; and if we take our stand about +the beginning of the sixteenth century, we look back through that long +chasm, to the times of the Ancients, as over a vast sandy desert, in +which not a shrub appears to intercept the vision to the fertile hills +beyond. + +It is an inconsistency scarcely possible to be credited, that any +thing should exist, under the name of a religion, that held it to be +irreligious to study and contemplate the structure of the universe that +God had made. But the fact is too well established to be denied. The +event that served more than any other to break the first link in this +long chain of despotic ignorance, is that known by the name of the +Reformation by Luther. From that time, though it does not appear to have +made any part of the intention of Luther, or of those who are called +Reformers, the Sciences began to revive, and Liberality, their +natural associate, began to appear. This was the only public good the +Reformation did; for, with respect to religious good, it might as well +not have taken place. The mythology still continued the same; and a +multiplicity of National Popes grew out of the downfall of the Pope of +Christendom. + + + +CHAPTER XIII - COMPARISON OF CHRISTIANISM WITH THE RELIGIOUS IDEAS +INSPIRED BY NATURE. + +HAVING thus shewn, from the internal evidence of things, the cause +that produced a change in the state of learning, and the motive for +substituting the study of the dead languages, in the place of the +Sciences, I proceed, in addition to the several observations already +made in the former part of this work, to compare, or rather to confront, +the evidence that the structure of the universe affords, with the +christian system of religion. But as I cannot begin this part better +than by referring to the ideas that occurred to me at an early part of +life, and which I doubt not have occurred in some degree to almost every +other person at one time or other, I shall state what those ideas were, +and add thereto such other matter as shall arise out of the subject, +giving to the whole, by way of preface, a short introduction. + +My father being of the quaker profession, it was my good fortune to have +an exceedingly good moral education, and a tolerable stock of useful +learning. Though I went to the grammar school, I did not learn Latin, +not only because I had no inclination to learn languages, but because of +the objection the quakers have against the books in which the language +is taught. But this did not prevent me from being acquainted with the +subjects of all the Latin books used in the school. + +The natural bent of my mind was to science. I had some turn, and +I believe some talent for poetry; but this I rather repressed than +encouraged, as leading too much into the field of imagination. As +soon as I was able, I purchased a pair of globes, and attended the +philosophical lectures of Martin and Ferguson, and became afterwards +acquainted with Dr. Bevis, of the society called the Royal Society, then +living in the Temple, and an excellent astronomer. + +I had no disposition for what was called politics. It presented to +my mind no other idea than is contained in the word jockeyship. When, +therefore, I turned my thoughts towards matters of government, I had to +form a system for myself, that accorded with the moral and philosophic +principles in which I had been educated. I saw, or at least I thought I +saw, a vast scene opening itself to the world in the affairs of America; +and it appeared to me, that unless the Americans changed the plan they +were then pursuing, with respect to the government of England, and +declared themselves independent, they would not only involve themselves +in a multiplicity of new difficulties, but shut out the prospect that +was then offering itself to mankind through their means. It was from +these motives that I published the work known by the name of Common +Sense, which is the first work I ever did publish, and so far as I can +judge of myself, I believe I should never have been known in the world +as an author on any subject whatever, had it not been for the affairs +of America. I wrote Common Sense the latter end of the year 1775, and +published it the first of January, 1776. Independence was declared the +fourth of July following. [NOTE: The pamphlet Common Sense was first +advertised, as "just published," on January 10, 1776. His plea for the +Officers of Excise, written before leaving England, was printed, but not +published until 1793. Despite his reiterated assertion that Common Sense +was the first work he ever published the notion that he was "junius" +still finds some believers. An indirect comment on our Paine-Junians +may be found in Part 2 of this work where Paine says a man capable of +writing Homer "would not have thrown away his own fame by giving it to +another." It is probable that Paine ascribed the Letters of Junius to +Thomas Hollis. His friend F. Lanthenas, in his translation of the Age of +Reason (1794) advertises his translation of the Letters of Junius from +the English "(Thomas Hollis)." This he could hardly have done without +consultation with Paine. Unfortunately this translation of Junius cannot +be found either in the Bibliotheque Nationale or the British Museum, and +it cannot be said whether it contains any attempt at an identification +of Junius--Editor.] + +Any person, who has made observations on the state and progress of the +human mind, by observing his own, can not but have observed, that there +are two distinct classes of what are called Thoughts; those that we +produce in ourselves by reflection and the act of thinking, and those +that bolt into the mind of their own accord. I have always made it a +rule to treat those voluntary visitors with civility, taking care to +examine, as well as I was able, if they were worth entertaining; and it +is from them I have acquired almost all the knowledge that I have. As +to the learning that any person gains from school education, it serves +only, like a small capital, to put him in the way of beginning learning +for himself afterwards. Every person of learning is finally his own +teacher; the reason of which is, that principles, being of a distinct +quality to circumstances, cannot be impressed upon the memory; their +place of mental residence is the understanding, and they are never so +lasting as when they begin by conception. Thus much for the introductory +part. + +From the time I was capable of conceiving an idea, and acting upon it +by reflection, I either doubted the truth of the christian system, or +thought it to be a strange affair; I scarcely knew which it was: but I +well remember, when about seven or eight years of age, hearing a sermon +read by a relation of mine, who was a great devotee of the church, upon +the subject of what is called Redemption by the death of the Son of God. +After the sermon was ended, I went into the garden, and as I was going +down the garden steps (for I perfectly recollect the spot) I revolted at +the recollection of what I had heard, and thought to myself that it was +making God Almighty act like a passionate man, that killed his son, +when he could not revenge himself any other way; and as I was sure a man +would be hanged that did such a thing, I could not see for what purpose +they preached such sermons. This was not one of those kind of thoughts +that had any thing in it of childish levity; it was to me a serious +reflection, arising from the idea I had that God was too good to do such +an action, and also too almighty to be under any necessity of doing it. +I believe in the same manner to this moment; and I moreover believe, +that any system of religion that has anything in it that shocks the mind +of a child, cannot be a true system. + +It seems as if parents of the christian profession were ashamed to tell +their children any thing about the principles of their religion. They +sometimes instruct them in morals, and talk to them of the goodness of +what they call Providence; for the Christian mythology has five deities: +there is God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost, the God +Providence, and the Goddess Nature. But the christian story of God the +Father putting his son to death, or employing people to do it, (for that +is the plain language of the story,) cannot be told by a parent to a +child; and to tell him that it was done to make mankind happier and +better, is making the story still worse; as if mankind could be improved +by the example of murder; and to tell him that all this is a mystery, is +only making an excuse for the incredibility of it. + +How different is this to the pure and simple profession of Deism! The +true deist has but one Deity; and his religion consists in contemplating +the power, wisdom, and benignity of the Deity in his works, and in +endeavouring to imitate him in every thing moral, scientifical, and +mechanical. + +The religion that approaches the nearest of all others to true Deism, in +the moral and benign part thereof, is that professed by the quakers: but +they have contracted themselves too much by leaving the works of God out +of their system. Though I reverence their philanthropy, I can not help +smiling at the conceit, that if the taste of a quaker could have been +consulted at the creation, what a silent and drab-colored creation it +would have been! Not a flower would have blossomed its gaieties, nor a +bird been permitted to sing. + +Quitting these reflections, I proceed to other matters. After I had +made myself master of the use of the globes, and of the orrery, [NOTE by +Paine: As this book may fall into the bands of persons who do not know +what an orrery is, it is for their information I add this note, as the +name gives no idea of the uses of the thing. The orrery has its name +from the person who invented it. It is a machinery of clock-work, +representing the universe in miniature: and in which the revolution of +the earth round itself and round the sun, the revolution of the moon +round the earth, the revolution of the planets round the sun, their +relative distances from the sun, as the center of the whole system, +their relative distances from each other, and their different +magnitudes, are represented as they really exist in what we call the +heavens.--Author.] and conceived an idea of the infinity of space, and +of the eternal divisibility of matter, and obtained, at least, a general +knowledge of what was called natural philosophy, I began to compare, or, +as I have before said, to confront, the internal evidence those things +afford with the christian system of faith. + +Though it is not a direct article of the christian system that this +world that we inhabit is the whole of the habitable creation, yet it is +so worked up therewith, from what is called the Mosaic account of the +creation, the story of Eve and the apple, and the counterpart of that +story, the death of the Son of God, that to believe otherwise, that is, +to believe that God created a plurality of worlds, at least as numerous +as what we call stars, renders the christian system of faith at once +little and ridiculous; and scatters it in the mind like feathers in the +air. The two beliefs can not be held together in the same mind; and he +who thinks that he believes both, has thought but little of either. + +Though the belief of a plurality of worlds was familiar to the +ancients, it is only within the last three centuries that the extent and +dimensions of this globe that we inhabit have been ascertained. Several +vessels, following the tract of the ocean, have sailed entirely round +the world, as a man may march in a circle, and come round by the +contrary side of the circle to the spot he set out from. The circular +dimensions of our world, in the widest part, as a man would measure the +widest round of an apple, or a ball, is only twenty-five thousand and +twenty English miles, reckoning sixty-nine miles and an half to an +equatorial degree, and may be sailed round in the space of about three +years. [NOTE by Paine: Allowing a ship to sail, on an average, three +miles in an hour, she would sail entirely round the world in less than +one year, if she could sail in a direct circle, but she is obliged to +follow the course of the ocean.--Author.] + +A world of this extent may, at first thought, appear to us to be +great; but if we compare it with the immensity of space in which it is +suspended, like a bubble or a balloon in the air, it is infinitely less +in proportion than the smallest grain of sand is to the size of +the world, or the finest particle of dew to the whole ocean, and is +therefore but small; and, as will be hereafter shown, is only one of a +system of worlds, of which the universal creation is composed. + +It is not difficult to gain some faint idea of the immensity of space +in which this and all the other worlds are suspended, if we follow a +progression of ideas. When we think of the size or dimensions of, a +room, our ideas limit themselves to the walls, and there they stop. +But when our eye, or our imagination darts into space, that is, when +it looks upward into what we call the open air, we cannot conceive any +walls or boundaries it can have; and if for the sake of resting our +ideas we suppose a boundary, the question immediately renews itself, and +asks, what is beyond that boundary? and in the same manner, what beyond +the next boundary? and so on till the fatigued imagination returns and +says, there is no end. Certainly, then, the Creator was not pent for +room when he made this world no larger than it is; and we have to seek +the reason in something else. + +If we take a survey of our own world, or rather of this, of which the +Creator has given us the use as our portion in the immense system of +creation, we find every part of it, the earth, the waters, and the air +that surround it, filled, and as it were crowded with life, down from +the largest animals that we know of to the smallest insects the naked +eye can behold, and from thence to others still smaller, and totally +invisible without the assistance of the microscope. Every tree, every +plant, every leaf, serves not only as an habitation, but as a world +to some numerous race, till animal existence becomes so exceedingly +refined, that the effluvia of a blade of grass would be food for +thousands. + +Since then no part of our earth is left unoccupied, why is it to be +supposed that the immensity of space is a naked void, lying in eternal +waste? There is room for millions of worlds as large or larger than +ours, and each of them millions of miles apart from each other. + +Having now arrived at this point, if we carry our ideas only one thought +further, we shall see, perhaps, the true reason, at least a very good +reason for our happiness, why the Creator, instead of making one immense +world, extending over an immense quantity of space, has preferred +dividing that quantity of matter into several distinct and separate +worlds, which we call planets, of which our earth is one. But before I +explain my ideas upon this subject, it is necessary (not for the sake +of those that already know, but for those who do not) to show what the +system of the universe is. + + + +CHAPTER XIV - SYSTEM OF THE UNIVERSE. + +THAT part of the universe that is called the solar system (meaning the +system of worlds to which our earth belongs, and of which Sol, or in +English language, the Sun, is the center) consists, besides the Sun, of +six distinct orbs, or planets, or worlds, besides the secondary bodies, +called the satellites, or moons, of which our earth has one that attends +her in her annual revolution round the Sun, in like manner as the +other satellites or moons, attend the planets or worlds to which they +severally belong, as may be seen by the assistance of the telescope. + +The Sun is the center round which those six worlds or planets revolve at +different distances therefrom, and in circles concentric to each other. +Each world keeps constantly in nearly the same tract round the Sun, and +continues at the same time turning round itself, in nearly an upright +position, as a top turns round itself when it is spinning on the ground, +and leans a little sideways. + +It is this leaning of the earth (23 1/2 degrees) that occasions summer +and winter, and the different length of days and nights. If the earth +turned round itself in a position perpendicular to the plane or level +of the circle it moves in round the Sun, as a top turns round when it +stands erect on the ground, the days and nights would be always of the +same length, twelve hours day and twelve hours night, and the season +would be uniformly the same throughout the year. + +Every time that a planet (our earth for example) turns round itself, it +makes what we call day and night; and every time it goes entirely round +the Sun, it makes what we call a year, consequently our world turns +three hundred and sixty-five times round itself, in going once round the +Sun. + +The names that the ancients gave to those six worlds, and which are +still called by the same names, are Mercury, Venus, this world that we +call ours, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. They appear larger to the eye than +the stars, being many million miles nearer to our earth than any of the +stars are. The planet Venus is that which is called the evening star, +and sometimes the morning star, as she happens to set after, or rise +before the Sun, which in either case is never more than three hours. + +The Sun as before said being the center, the planet or world nearest the +Sun is Mercury; his distance from the Sun is thirty-four million miles, +and he moves round in a circle always at that distance from the Sun, as +a top may be supposed to spin round in the tract in which a horse goes +in a mill. The second world is Venus; she is fifty-seven million miles +distant from the Sun, and consequently moves round in a circle much +greater than that of Mercury. The third world is this that we inhabit, +and which is eighty-eight million miles distant from the Sun, and +consequently moves round in a circle greater than that of Venus. The +fourth world is Mars; he is distant from the sun one hundred and +thirty-four million miles, and consequently moves round in a circle +greater than that of our earth. The fifth is Jupiter; he is distant from +the Sun five hundred and fifty-seven million miles, and consequently +moves round in a circle greater than that of Mars. The sixth world is +Saturn; he is distant from the Sun seven hundred and sixty-three million +miles, and consequently moves round in a circle that surrounds the +circles or orbits of all the other worlds or planets. + +The space, therefore, in the air, or in the immensity of space, that +our solar system takes up for the several worlds to perform their +revolutions in round the Sun, is of the extent in a strait line of the +whole diameter of the orbit or circle in which Saturn moves round the +Sun, which being double his distance from the Sun, is fifteen hundred +and twenty-six million miles; and its circular extent is nearly five +thousand million; and its globical content is almost three thousand five +hundred million times three thousand five hundred million square miles. +[NOTE by Paine: If it should be asked, how can man know these things? I +have one plain answer to give, which is, that man knows how to calculate +an eclipse, and also how to calculate to a minute of time when the +planet Venus, in making her revolutions round the Sun, will come in a +strait line between our earth and the Sun, and will appear to us about +the size of a large pea passing across the face of the Sun. This happens +but twice in about a hundred years, at the distance of about eight years +from each other, and has happened twice in our time, both of which were +foreknown by calculation. It can also be known when they will happen +again for a thousand years to come, or to any other portion of time. +As therefore, man could not be able to do these things if he did not +understand the solar system, and the manner in which the revolutions of +the several planets or worlds are performed, the fact of calculating an +eclipse, or a transit of Venus, is a proof in point that the knowledge +exists; and as to a few thousand, or even a few million miles, more +or less, it makes scarcely any sensible difference in such immense +distances.--Author.] + +But this, immense as it is, is only one system of worlds. Beyond this, +at a vast distance into space, far beyond all power of calculation, are +the stars called the fixed stars. They are called fixed, because they +have no revolutionary motion, as the six worlds or planets have that +I have been describing. Those fixed stars continue always at the same +distance from each other, and always in the same place, as the Sun does +in the center of our system. The probability, therefore, is that each of +those fixed stars is also a Sun, round which another system of worlds or +planets, though too remote for us to discover, performs its revolutions, +as our system of worlds does round our central Sun. By this easy +progression of ideas, the immensity of space will appear to us to be +filled with systems of worlds; and that no part of space lies at +waste, any more than any part of our globe of earth and water is left +unoccupied. + +Having thus endeavoured to convey, in a familiar and easy manner, some +idea of the structure of the universe, I return to explain what I before +alluded to, namely, the great benefits arising to man in consequence of +the Creator having made a Plurality of worlds, such as our system is, +consisting of a central Sun and six worlds, besides satellites, in +preference to that of creating one world only of a vast extent. + + + +CHAPTER XV - ADVANTAGES OF THE EXISTENCE OF MANY WORLDS IN EACH SOLAR +SYSTEM. + +IT is an idea I have never lost sight of, that all our knowledge of +science is derived from the revolutions (exhibited to our eye and from +thence to our understanding) which those several planets or worlds of +which our system is composed make in their circuit round the Sun. + +Had then the quantity of matter which these six worlds contain been +blended into one solitary globe, the consequence to us would have +been, that either no revolutionary motion would have existed, or not a +sufficiency of it to give us the ideas and the knowledge of science we +now have; and it is from the sciences that all the mechanical arts that +contribute so much to our earthly felicity and comfort are derived. + +As therefore the Creator made nothing in vain, so also must it be +believed that he organized the structure of the universe in the most +advantageous manner for the benefit of man; and as we see, and from +experience feel, the benefits we derive from the structure of the +universe, formed as it is, which benefits we should not have had the +opportunity of enjoying if the structure, so far as relates to our +system, had been a solitary globe, we can discover at least one reason +why a plurality of worlds has been made, and that reason calls forth the +devotional gratitude of man, as well as his admiration. + +But it is not to us, the inhabitants of this globe, only, that the +benefits arising from a plurality of worlds are limited. The inhabitants +of each of the worlds of which our system is composed, enjoy the same +opportunities of knowledge as we do. They behold the revolutionary +motions of our earth, as we behold theirs. All the planets revolve +in sight of each other; and, therefore, the same universal school of +science presents itself to all. + +Neither does the knowledge stop here. The system of worlds next to us +exhibits, in its revolutions, the same principles and school of science, +to the inhabitants of their system, as our system does to us, and in +like manner throughout the immensity of space. + +Our ideas, not only of the almightiness of the Creator, but of his +wisdom and his beneficence, become enlarged in proportion as we +contemplate the extent and the structure of the universe. The solitary +idea of a solitary world, rolling or at rest in the immense ocean of +space, gives place to the cheerful idea of a society of worlds, so +happily contrived as to administer, even by their motion, instruction +to man. We see our own earth filled with abundance; but we forget to +consider how much of that abundance is owing to the scientific knowledge +the vast machinery of the universe has unfolded. + + + +CHAPTER XVI - APPLICATION OF THE PRECEDING TO THE SYSTEM OF THE +CHRISTIANS. + +BUT, in the midst of those reflections, what are we to think of the +christian system of faith that forms itself upon the idea of only +one world, and that of no greater extent, as is before shown, than +twenty-five thousand miles. An extent which a man, walking at the rate +of three miles an hour for twelve hours in the day, could he keep on in +a circular direction, would walk entirely round in less than two years. +Alas! what is this to the mighty ocean of space, and the almighty power +of the Creator! + +From whence then could arise the solitary and strange conceit that +the Almighty, who had millions of worlds equally dependent on his +protection, should quit the care of all the rest, and come to die in our +world, because, they say, one man and one woman had eaten an apple! And, +on the other hand, are we to suppose that every world in the boundless +creation had an Eve, an apple, a serpent, and a redeemer? In this case, +the person who is irreverently called the Son of God, and sometimes +God himself, would have nothing else to do than to travel from world +to world, in an endless succession of death, with scarcely a momentary +interval of life. + +It has been by rejecting the evidence, that the word, or works of God in +the creation, affords to our senses, and the action of our reason upon +that evidence, that so many wild and whimsical systems of faith, and of +religion, have been fabricated and set up. There may be many systems of +religion that so far from being morally bad are in many respects morally +good: but there can be but ONE that is true; and that one necessarily +must, as it ever will, be in all things consistent with the ever +existing word of God that we behold in his works. But such is the +strange construction of the christian system of faith, that every +evidence the heavens affords to man, either directly contradicts it or +renders it absurd. + +It is possible to believe, and I always feel pleasure in encouraging +myself to believe it, that there have been men in the world who +persuaded themselves that what is called a pious fraud, might, at least +under particular circumstances, be productive of some good. But the +fraud being once established, could not afterwards be explained; for +it is with a pious fraud as with a bad action, it begets a calamitous +necessity of going on. + +The persons who first preached the christian system of faith, and in +some measure combined with it the morality preached by Jesus Christ, +might persuade themselves that it was better than the heathen mythology +that then prevailed. From the first preachers the fraud went on to +the second, and to the third, till the idea of its being a pious fraud +became lost in the belief of its being true; and that belief became +again encouraged by the interest of those who made a livelihood by +preaching it. + +But though such a belief might, by such means, be rendered almost +general among the laity, it is next to impossible to account for the +continual persecution carried on by the church, for several hundred +years, against the sciences, and against the professors of science, if +the church had not some record or tradition that it was originally +no other than a pious fraud, or did not foresee that it could not be +maintained against the evidence that the structure of the universe +afforded. + + + +CHAPTER XVII - OF THE MEANS EMPLOYED IN ALL TIME, AND ALMOST +UNIVERSALLY, TO DECEIVE THE PEOPLES. + +HAVING thus shown the irreconcileable inconsistencies between the real +word of God existing in the universe, and that which is called the word +of God, as shown to us in a printed book that any man might make, I +proceed to speak of the three principal means that have been employed in +all ages, and perhaps in all countries, to impose upon mankind. + +Those three means are Mystery, Miracle, and Prophecy, The first two +are incompatible with true religion, and the third ought always to be +suspected. + +With respect to Mystery, everything we behold is, in one sense, a +mystery to us. Our own existence is a mystery: the whole vegetable world +is a mystery. We cannot account how it is that an acorn, when put into +the ground, is made to develop itself and become an oak. We know not how +it is that the seed we sow unfolds and multiplies itself, and returns to +us such an abundant interest for so small a capital. + +The fact however, as distinct from the operating cause, is not a +mystery, because we see it; and we know also the means we are to +use, which is no other than putting the seed in the ground. We know, +therefore, as much as is necessary for us to know; and that part of +the operation that we do not know, and which if we did, we could not +perform, the Creator takes upon himself and performs it for us. We are, +therefore, better off than if we had been let into the secret, and left +to do it for ourselves. + +But though every created thing is, in this sense, a mystery, the word +mystery cannot be applied to moral truth, any more than obscurity can +be applied to light. The God in whom we believe is a God of moral truth, +and not a God of mystery or obscurity. Mystery is the antagonist +of truth. It is a fog of human invention that obscures truth, and +represents it in distortion. Truth never envelops itself in mystery; +and the mystery in which it is at any time enveloped, is the work of its +antagonist, and never of itself. + +Religion, therefore, being the belief of a God, and the practice of +moral truth, cannot have connection with mystery. The belief of a God, +so far from having any thing of mystery in it, is of all beliefs the +most easy, because it arises to us, as is before observed, out of +necessity. And the practice of moral truth, or, in other words, a +practical imitation of the moral goodness of God, is no other than our +acting towards each other as he acts benignly towards all. We cannot +serve God in the manner we serve those who cannot do without such +service; and, therefore, the only idea we can have of serving God, is +that of contributing to the happiness of the living creation that God +has made. This cannot be done by retiring ourselves from the society of +the world, and spending a recluse life in selfish devotion. + +The very nature and design of religion, if I may so express it, prove +even to demonstration that it must be free from every thing of mystery, +and unincumbered with every thing that is mysterious. Religion, +considered as a duty, is incumbent upon every living soul alike, and, +therefore, must be on a level to the understanding and comprehension of +all. Man does not learn religion as he learns the secrets and mysteries +of a trade. He learns the theory of religion by reflection. It arises +out of the action of his own mind upon the things which he sees, or upon +what he may happen to hear or to read, and the practice joins itself +thereto. + +When men, whether from policy or pious fraud, set up systems of religion +incompatible with the word or works of God in the creation, and not +only above but repugnant to human comprehension, they were under the +necessity of inventing or adopting a word that should serve as a bar +to all questions, inquiries and speculations. The word mystery answered +this purpose, and thus it has happened that religion, which is in itself +without mystery, has been corrupted into a fog of mysteries. + +As mystery answered all general purposes, miracle followed as an +occasional auxiliary. The former served to bewilder the mind, the latter +to puzzle the senses. The one was the lingo, the other the legerdemain. + +But before going further into this subject, it will be proper to inquire +what is to be understood by a miracle. + +In the same sense that every thing may be said to be a mystery, so also +may it be said that every thing is a miracle, and that no one thing is +a greater miracle than another. The elephant, though larger, is not a +greater miracle than a mite: nor a mountain a greater miracle than an +atom. To an almighty power it is no more difficult to make the one than +the other, and no more difficult to make a million of worlds than to +make one. Every thing, therefore, is a miracle, in one sense; whilst, +in the other sense, there is no such thing as a miracle. It is a miracle +when compared to our power, and to our comprehension. It is not a +miracle compared to the power that performs it. But as nothing in this +description conveys the idea that is affixed to the word miracle, it is +necessary to carry the inquiry further. + +Mankind have conceived to themselves certain laws, by which what they +call nature is supposed to act; and that a miracle is something contrary +to the operation and effect of those laws. But unless we know the whole +extent of those laws, and of what are commonly called the powers of +nature, we are not able to judge whether any thing that may appear to us +wonderful or miraculous, be within, or be beyond, or be contrary to, her +natural power of acting. + +The ascension of a man several miles high into the air, would have +everything in it that constitutes the idea of a miracle, if it were not +known that a species of air can be generated several times lighter than +the common atmospheric air, and yet possess elasticity enough to prevent +the balloon, in which that light air is inclosed, from being compressed +into as many times less bulk, by the common air that surrounds it. In +like manner, extracting flashes or sparks of fire from the human body, +as visibly as from a steel struck with a flint, and causing iron or +steel to move without any visible agent, would also give the idea of a +miracle, if we were not acquainted with electricity and magnetism; so +also would many other experiments in natural philosophy, to those who +are not acquainted with the subject. The restoring persons to life who +are to appearance dead as is practised upon drowned persons, would also +be a miracle, if it were not known that animation is capable of being +suspended without being extinct. + +Besides these, there are performances by slight of hand, and by persons +acting in concert, that have a miraculous appearance, which, when known, +are thought nothing of. And, besides these, there are mechanical and +optical deceptions. There is now an exhibition in Paris of ghosts or +spectres, which, though it is not imposed upon the spectators as a fact, +has an astonishing appearance. As, therefore, we know not the extent to +which either nature or art can go, there is no criterion to determine +what a miracle is; and mankind, in giving credit to appearances, under +the idea of their being miracles, are subject to be continually imposed +upon. + +Since then appearances are so capable of deceiving, and things not +real have a strong resemblance to things that are, nothing can be more +inconsistent than to suppose that the Almighty would make use of means, +such as are called miracles, that would subject the person who performed +them to the suspicion of being an impostor, and the person who related +them to be suspected of lying, and the doctrine intended to be supported +thereby to be suspected as a fabulous invention. + +Of all the modes of evidence that ever were invented to obtain belief to +any system or opinion to which the name of religion has been given, that +of miracle, however successful the imposition may have been, is the most +inconsistent. For, in the first place, whenever recourse is had to show, +for the purpose of procuring that belief (for a miracle, under any +idea of the word, is a show) it implies a lameness or weakness in the +doctrine that is preached. And, in the second place, it is degrading the +Almighty into the character of a show-man, playing tricks to amuse and +make the people stare and wonder. It is also the most equivocal sort of +evidence that can be set up; for the belief is not to depend upon the +thing called a miracle, but upon the credit of the reporter, who says +that he saw it; and, therefore, the thing, were it true, would have no +better chance of being believed than if it were a lie. + +Suppose I were to say, that when I sat down to write this book, a hand +presented itself in the air, took up the pen and wrote every word that +is herein written; would any body believe me? Certainly they would not. +Would they believe me a whit the more if the thing had been a fact? +Certainly they would not. Since then a real miracle, were it to happen, +would be subject to the same fate as the falsehood, the inconsistency +becomes the greater of supposing the Almighty would make use of means +that would not answer the purpose for which they were intended, even if +they were real. + +If we are to suppose a miracle to be something so entirely out of the +course of what is called nature, that she must go out of that course +to accomplish it, and we see an account given of such a miracle by the +person who said he saw it, it raises a question in the mind very easily +decided, which is,--Is it more probable that nature should go out of +her course, or that a man should tell a lie? We have never seen, in our +time, nature go out of her course; but we have good reason to believe +that millions of lies have been told in the same time; it is, therefore, +at least millions to one, that the reporter of a miracle tells a lie. + +The story of the whale swallowing Jonah, though a whale is large +enough to do it, borders greatly on the marvellous; but it would have +approached nearer to the idea of a miracle, if Jonah had swallowed the +whale. In this, which may serve for all cases of miracles, the matter +would decide itself as before stated, namely, Is it more probable that a +man should have, swallowed a whale, or told a lie? + +But suppose that Jonah had really swallowed the whale, and gone with +it in his belly to Nineveh, and to convince the people that it was true +have cast it up in their sight, of the full length and size of a whale, +would they not have believed him to have been the devil instead of a +prophet? or if the whale had carried Jonah to Nineveh, and cast him up +in the same public manner, would they not have believed the whale to +have been the devil, and Jonah one of his imps? + +The most extraordinary of all the things called miracles, related in the +New Testament, is that of the devil flying away with Jesus Christ, +and carrying him to the top of a high mountain; and to the top of the +highest pinnacle of the temple, and showing him and promising to him +all the kingdoms of the world. How happened it that he did not discover +America? or is it only with kingdoms that his sooty highness has any +interest. + +I have too much respect for the moral character of Christ to believe +that he told this whale of a miracle himself: neither is it easy to +account for what purpose it could have been fabricated, unless it were +to impose upon the connoisseurs of miracles, as is sometimes practised +upon the connoisseurs of Queen Anne's farthings, and collectors of +relics and antiquities; or to render the belief of miracles ridiculous, +by outdoing miracle, as Don Quixote outdid chivalry; or to embarrass the +belief of miracles, by making it doubtful by what power, whether of God +or of the devil, any thing called a miracle was performed. It requires, +however, a great deal of faith in the devil to believe this miracle. + +In every point of view in which those things called miracles can be +placed and considered, the reality of them is improbable, and their +existence unnecessary. They would not, as before observed, answer any +useful purpose, even if they were true; for it is more difficult to +obtain belief to a miracle, than to a principle evidently moral, without +any miracle. Moral principle speaks universally for itself. Miracle +could be but a thing of the moment, and seen but by a few; after this it +requires a transfer of faith from God to man to believe a miracle upon +man's report. Instead, therefore, of admitting the recitals of miracles +as evidence of any system of religion being true, they ought to be +considered as symptoms of its being fabulous. It is necessary to the +full and upright character of truth that it rejects the crutch; and it +is consistent with the character of fable to seek the aid that truth +rejects. Thus much for Mystery and Miracle. + +As Mystery and Miracle took charge of the past and the present, Prophecy +took charge of the future, and rounded the tenses of faith. It was +not sufficient to know what had been done, but what would be done. The +supposed prophet was the supposed historian of times to come; and if +he happened, in shooting with a long bow of a thousand years, to strike +within a thousand miles of a mark, the ingenuity of posterity could make +it point-blank; and if he happened to be directly wrong, it was only +to suppose, as in the case of Jonah and Nineveh, that God had repented +himself and changed his mind. What a fool do fabulous systems make of +man! + +It has been shewn, in a former part of this work, that the original +meaning of the words prophet and prophesying has been changed, and that +a prophet, in the sense of the word as now used, is a creature of modern +invention; and it is owing to this change in the meaning of the words, +that the flights and metaphors of the Jewish poets, and phrases and +expressions now rendered obscure by our not being acquainted with the +local circumstances to which they applied at the time they were used, +have been erected into prophecies, and made to bend to explanations +at the will and whimsical conceits of sectaries, expounders, and +commentators. Every thing unintelligible was prophetical, and every +thing insignificant was typical. A blunder would have served for a +prophecy; and a dish-clout for a type. + +If by a prophet we are to suppose a man to whom the Almighty +communicated some event that would take place in future, either there +were such men, or there were not. If there were, it is consistent to +believe that the event so communicated would be told in terms that could +be understood, and not related in such a loose and obscure manner as to +be out of the comprehension of those that heard it, and so equivocal +as to fit almost any circumstance that might happen afterwards. It is +conceiving very irreverently of the Almighty, to suppose he would +deal in this jesting manner with mankind; yet all the things called +prophecies in the book called the Bible come under this description. + +But it is with Prophecy as it is with Miracle. It could not answer the +purpose even if it were real. Those to whom a prophecy should be told +could not tell whether the man prophesied or lied, or whether it had +been revealed to him, or whether he conceited it; and if the thing that +he prophesied, or pretended to prophesy, should happen, or some thing +like it, among the multitude of things that are daily happening, nobody +could again know whether he foreknew it, or guessed at it, or whether +it was accidental. A prophet, therefore, is a character useless and +unnecessary; and the safe side of the case is to guard against being +imposed upon, by not giving credit to such relations. + +Upon the whole, Mystery, Miracle, and Prophecy, are appendages that +belong to fabulous and not to true religion. They are the means by which +so many Lo heres! and Lo theres! have been spread about the world, +and religion been made into a trade. The success of one impostor gave +encouragement to another, and the quieting salvo of doing some good by +keeping up a pious fraud protected them from remorse. + +RECAPITULATION. + +HAVING now extended the subject to a greater length than I first +intended, I shall bring it to a close by abstracting a summary from the +whole. + +First, That the idea or belief of a word of God existing in print, or in +writing, or in speech, is inconsistent in itself for the reasons already +assigned. These reasons, among many others, are the want of an universal +language; the mutability of language; the errors to which translations +are subject, the possibility of totally suppressing such a word; the +probability of altering it, or of fabricating the whole, and imposing it +upon the world. + +Secondly, That the Creation we behold is the real and ever existing word +of God, in which we cannot be deceived. It proclaimeth his power, it +demonstrates his wisdom, it manifests his goodness and beneficence. + +Thirdly, That the moral duty of man consists in imitating the moral +goodness and beneficence of God manifested in the creation towards all +his creatures. That seeing as we daily do the goodness of God to all +men, it is an example calling upon all men to practise the same towards +each other; and, consequently, that every thing of persecution and +revenge between man and man, and every thing of cruelty to animals, is a +violation of moral duty. + +I trouble not myself about the manner of future existence. I content +myself with believing, even to positive conviction, that the power that +gave me existence is able to continue it, in any form and manner he +pleases, either with or without this body; and it appears more probable +to me that I shall continue to exist hereafter than that I should have +had existence, as I now have, before that existence began. + +It is certain that, in one point, all nations of the earth and all +religions agree. All believe in a God. The things in which they disgrace +are the redundancies annexed to that belief; and therefore, if ever an +universal religion should prevail, it will not be believing any thing +new, but in getting rid of redundancies, and believing as man believed +at first. ["In the childhood of the world," according to the first +(French) version; and the strict translation of the final sentence is: +"Deism was the religion of Adam, supposing him not an imaginary being; +but none the less must it be left to all men to follow, as is their +right, the religion and worship they prefer."--Editor.] Adam, if ever +there was such a man, was created a Deist; but in the mean time, let +every man follow, as he has a right to do, the religion and worship he +prefers. + + +END OF PART I + + + + + +THE AGE OF REASON - PART II + + + Contents + + * Preface + * Chapter I - The Old Testament + * Chapter II - The New Testament + * Chapter III - Conclusion + + + + +PREFACE + +I HAVE mentioned in the former part of The Age of Reason that it had +long been my intention to publish my thoughts upon Religion; but that I +had originally reserved it to a later period in life, intending it to +be the last work I should undertake. The circumstances, however, which +existed in France in the latter end of the year 1793, determined me to +delay it no longer. The just and humane principles of the Revolution +which Philosophy had first diffused, had been departed from. The Idea, +always dangerous to Society as it is derogatory to the Almighty,--that +priests could forgive sins,--though it seemed to exist no longer, had +blunted the feelings of humanity, and callously prepared men for the +commission of all crimes. The intolerant spirit of church persecution +had transferred itself into politics; the tribunals, stiled +Revolutionary, supplied the place of an Inquisition; and the Guillotine +of the Stake. I saw many of my most intimate friends destroyed; others +daily carried to prison; and I had reason to believe, and had also +intimations given me, that the same danger was approaching myself. + +Under these disadvantages, I began the former part of the Age of Reason; +I had, besides, neither Bible nor Testament [It must be borne in mind +that throughout this work Paine generally means by "Bible" only the Old +Testament, and speaks of the New as the "Testament."--Editor.] to +refer to, though I was writing against both; nor could I procure any; +notwithstanding which I have produced a work that no Bible Believer, +though writing at his ease and with a Library of Church Books about him, +can refute. Towards the latter end of December of that year, a motion +was made and carried, to exclude foreigners from the Convention. There +were but two, Anacharsis Cloots and myself; and I saw I was particularly +pointed at by Bourdon de l'Oise, in his speech on that motion. + +Conceiving, after this, that I had but a few days of liberty, I sat down +and brought the work to a close as speedily as possible; and I had not +finished it more than six hours, in the state it has since appeared, +[This is an allusion to the essay which Paine wrote at an earlier part +of 1793. See Introduction.--Editor.] before a guard came there, about +three in the morning, with an order signed by the two Committees of +Public Safety and Surety General, for putting me in arrestation as +a foreigner, and conveying me to the prison of the Luxembourg. I +contrived, in my way there, to call on Joel Barlow, and I put the +Manuscript of the work into his hands, as more safe than in my +possession in prison; and not knowing what might be the fate in France +either of the writer or the work, I addressed it to the protection of +the citizens of the United States. + +It is justice that I say, that the guard who executed this order, and +the interpreter to the Committee of General Surety, who accompanied +them to examine my papers, treated me not only with civility, but with +respect. The keeper of the 'Luxembourg, Benoit, a man of good heart, +shewed to me every friendship in his power, as did also all his family, +while he continued in that station. He was removed from it, put +into arrestation, and carried before the tribunal upon a malignant +accusation, but acquitted. + +After I had been in Luxembourg about three weeks, the Americans then in +Paris went in a body to the Convention to reclaim me as their countryman +and friend; but were answered by the President, Vadier, who was also +President of the Committee of Surety General, and had signed the order +for my arrestation, that I was born in England. [These excited Americans +do not seem to have understood or reported the most important item in +Vadeer's reply, namely that their application was "unofficial," i.e. not +made through or sanctioned by Gouverneur Morris, American Minister. +For the detailed history of all this see vol. iii.--Editor.] I heard no +more, after this, from any person out of the walls of the prison, till +the fall of Robespierre, on the 9th of Thermidor--July 27, 1794. + +About two months before this event, I was seized with a fever that in +its progress had every symptom of becoming mortal, and from the effects +of which I am not recovered. It was then that I remembered with renewed +satisfaction, and congratulated myself most sincerely, on having written +the former part of The Age of Reason. I had then but little expectation +of surviving, and those about me had less. I know therefore by +experience the conscientious trial of my own principles. + +I was then with three chamber comrades: Joseph Vanheule of Bruges, +Charles Bastfni, and Michael Robyns of Louvain. The unceasing and +anxious attention of these three friends to me, by night and day, I +remember with gratitude and mention with pleasure. It happened that a +physician (Dr. Graham) and a surgeon, (Mr. Bond,) part of the suite of +General O'Hara, [The officer who at Yorktown, Virginia, carried out +the sword of Cornwallis for surrender, and satirically offered it to +Rochambeau instead of Washington. Paine loaned him 300 pounds when he +(O'Hara) left the prison, the money he had concealed in the lock of +his cell-door.--Editor.] were then in the Luxembourg: I ask not myself +whether it be convenient to them, as men under the English Government, +that I express to them my thanks; but I should reproach myself if I did +not; and also to the physician of the Luxembourg, Dr. Markoski. + +I have some reason to believe, because I cannot discover any other, that +this illness preserved me in existence. Among the papers of Robespierre +that were examined and reported upon to the Convention by a Committee of +Deputies, is a note in the hand writing of Robespierre, in the following +words: + +"Demander que Thomas Paine soit decrete d'accusation, pour l'interet de +l'Amerique autant que de la France." + +[Demand that Thomas Paine be decreed of accusation, for the interest +of America, as well as of France.] From what cause it was that the +intention was not put in execution, I know not, and cannot inform +myself; and therefore I ascribe it to impossibility, on account of that +illness. + +The Convention, to repair as much as lay in their power the injustice I +had sustained, invited me publickly and unanimously to return into the +Convention, and which I accepted, to shew I could bear an injury without +permitting it to injure my principles or my disposition. It is not +because right principles have been violated, that they are to be +abandoned. + +I have seen, since I have been at liberty, several publications written, +some in America, and some in England, as answers to the former part of +"The Age of Reason." If the authors of these can amuse themselves by so +doing, I shall not interrupt them, They may write against the work, and +against me, as much as they please; they do me more service than they +intend, and I can have no objection that they write on. They will find, +however, by this Second Part, without its being written as an answer to +them, that they must return to their work, and spin their cobweb over +again. The first is brushed away by accident. + +They will now find that I have furnished myself with a Bible and +Testament; and I can say also that I have found them to be much worse +books than I had conceived. If I have erred in any thing, in the former +part of the Age of Reason, it has been by speaking better of some parts +than they deserved. + +I observe, that all my opponents resort, more or less, to what they call +Scripture Evidence and Bible authority, to help them out. They are +so little masters of the subject, as to confound a dispute about +authenticity with a dispute about doctrines; I will, however, put them +right, that if they should be disposed to write any more, they may know +how to begin. + +THOMAS PAINE. October, 1795. + + + + +CHAPTER I - THE OLD TESTAMENT + +IT has often been said that any thing may be proved from the Bible; but +before any thing can be admitted as proved by Bible, the Bible itself +must be proved to be true; for if the Bible be not true, or the truth of +it be doubtful, it ceases to have authority, and cannot be admitted as +proof of any thing. + +It has been the practice of all Christian commentators on the Bible, and +of all Christian priests and preachers, to impose the Bible on the +world as a mass of truth, and as the word of God; they have disputed +and wrangled, and have anathematized each other about the supposeable +meaning of particular parts and passages therein; one has said and +insisted that such a passage meant such a thing, another that it meant +directly the contrary, and a third, that it meant neither one nor the +other, but something different from both; and this they have called +understanding the Bible. + +It has happened, that all the answers that I have seen to the former +part of 'The Age of Reason' have been written by priests: and these +pious men, like their predecessors, contend and wrangle, and understand +the Bible; each understands it differently, but each understands it +best; and they have agreed in nothing but in telling their readers that +Thomas Paine understands it not. + +Now instead of wasting their time, and heating themselves in fractious +disputations about doctrinal points drawn from the Bible, these men +ought to know, and if they do not it is civility to inform them, +that the first thing to be understood is, whether there is sufficient +authority for believing the Bible to be the word of God, or whether +there is not? + +There are matters in that book, said to be done by the express command +of God, that are as shocking to humanity, and to every idea we have of +moral justice, as any thing done by Robespierre, by Carrier, by Joseph +le Bon, in France, by the English government in the East Indies, or by +any other assassin in modern times. When we read in the books ascribed +to Moses, Joshua, etc., that they (the Israelites) came by stealth upon +whole nations of people, who, as the history itself shews, had given +them no offence; that they put all those nations to the sword; that they +spared neither age nor infancy; that they utterly destroyed men, women +and children; that they left not a soul to breathe; expressions that are +repeated over and over again in those books, and that too with exulting +ferocity; are we sure these things are facts? are we sure that the +Creator of man commissioned those things to be done? Are we sure that +the books that tell us so were written by his authority? + +It is not the antiquity of a tale that is an evidence of its truth; +on the contrary, it is a symptom of its being fabulous; for the more +ancient any history pretends to be, the more it has the resemblance of +a fable. The origin of every nation is buried in fabulous tradition, and +that of the Jews is as much to be suspected as any other. + +To charger the commission of things upon the Almighty, which in their +own nature, and by every rule of moral justice, are crimes, as all +assassination is, and more especially the assassination of infants, is +matter of serious concern. The Bible tells us, that those assassinations +were done by the express command of God. To believe therefore the Bible +to be true, we must unbelieve all our belief in the moral justice of +God; for wherein could crying or smiling infants offend? And to read +the Bible without horror, we must undo every thing that is tender, +sympathising, and benevolent in the heart of man. Speaking for myself, +if I had no other evidence that the Bible is fabulous, than the +sacrifice I must make to believe it to be true, that alone would be +sufficient to determine my choice. + +But in addition to all the moral evidence against the Bible, I will, in +the progress of this work, produce such other evidence as even a +priest cannot deny; and show, from that evidence, that the Bible is not +entitled to credit, as being the word of God. + +But, before I proceed to this examination, I will show wherein the Bible +differs from all other ancient writings with respect to the nature of +the evidence necessary to establish its authenticity; and this is is +the more proper to be done, because the advocates of the Bible, in their +answers to the former part of 'The Age of Reason,' undertake to say, and +they put some stress thereon, that the authenticity of the Bible is as +well established as that of any other ancient book: as if our belief of +the one could become any rule for our belief of the other. + +I know, however, but of one ancient book that authoritatively challenges +universal consent and belief, and that is Euclid's Elements of Geometry; +[Euclid, according to chronological history, lived three hundred years +before Christ, and about one hundred before Archimedes; he was of the +city of Alexandria, in Egypt.--Author.] and the reason is, because it +is a book of self-evident demonstration, entirely independent of its +author, and of every thing relating to time, place, and circumstance. +The matters contained in that book would have the same authority they +now have, had they been written by any other person, or had the work +been anonymous, or had the author never been known; for the identical +certainty of who was the author makes no part of our belief of the +matters contained in the book. But it is quite otherwise with respect to +the books ascribed to Moses, to Joshua, to Samuel, etc.: those are +books of testimony, and they testify of things naturally incredible; +and therefore the whole of our belief, as to the authenticity of those +books, rests, in the first place, upon the certainty that they were +written by Moses, Joshua, and Samuel; secondly, upon the credit we give +to their testimony. We may believe the first, that is, may believe the +certainty of the authorship, and yet not the testimony; in the same +manner that we may believe that a certain person gave evidence upon a +case, and yet not believe the evidence that he gave. But if it should +be found that the books ascribed to Moses, Joshua, and Samuel, were not +written by Moses, Joshua, and Samuel, every part of the authority and +authenticity of those books is gone at once; for there can be no such +thing as forged or invented testimony; neither can there be anonymous +testimony, more especially as to things naturally incredible; such +as that of talking with God face to face, or that of the sun and moon +standing still at the command of a man. + +The greatest part of the other ancient books are works of genius; of +which kind are those ascribed to Homer, to Plato, to Aristotle, to +Demosthenes, to Cicero, etc. Here again the author is not an essential +in the credit we give to any of those works; for as works of genius they +would have the same merit they have now, were they anonymous. Nobody +believes the Trojan story, as related by Homer, to be true; for it is +the poet only that is admired, and the merit of the poet will remain, +though the story be fabulous. But if we disbelieve the matters related +by the Bible authors (Moses for instance) as we disbelieve the things +related by Homer, there remains nothing of Moses in our estimation, but +an imposter. As to the ancient historians, from Herodotus to Tacitus, we +credit them as far as they relate things probable and credible, and no +further: for if we do, we must believe the two miracles which Tacitus +relates were performed by Vespasian, that of curing a lame man, and a +blind man, in just the same manner as the same things are told of Jesus +Christ by his historians. We must also believe the miracles cited by +Josephus, that of the sea of Pamphilia opening to let Alexander and his +army pass, as is related of the Red Sea in Exodus. These miracles are +quite as well authenticated as the Bible miracles, and yet we do not +believe them; consequently the degree of evidence necessary to establish +our belief of things naturally incredible, whether in the Bible or +elsewhere, is far greater than that which obtains our belief to natural +and probable things; and therefore the advocates for the Bible have no +claim to our belief of the Bible because that we believe things stated +in other ancient writings; since that we believe the things stated +in those writings no further than they are probable and credible, or +because they are self-evident, like Euclid; or admire them because they +are elegant, like Homer; or approve them because they are sedate, like +Plato; or judicious, like Aristotle. + +Having premised these things, I proceed to examine the authenticity of +the Bible; and I begin with what are called the five books of Moses, +Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. My intention is to +shew that those books are spurious, and that Moses is not the author of +them; and still further, that they were not written in the time of Moses +nor till several hundred years afterwards; that they are no other than +an attempted history of the life of Moses, and of the times in which he +is said to have lived, and also of the times prior thereto, written by +some very ignorant and stupid pretenders to authorship, several hundred +years after the death of Moses; as men now write histories of things +that happened, or are supposed to have happened, several hundred or +several thousand years ago. + +The evidence that I shall produce in this case is from the books +themselves; and I will confine myself to this evidence only. Were I to +refer for proofs to any of the ancient authors, whom the advocates of +the Bible call prophane authors, they would controvert that authority, +as I controvert theirs: I will therefore meet them on their own ground, +and oppose them with their own weapon, the Bible. + +In the first place, there is no affirmative evidence that Moses is +the author of those books; and that he is the author, is altogether an +unfounded opinion, got abroad nobody knows how. The style and manner +in which those books are written give no room to believe, or even to +suppose, they were written by Moses; for it is altogether the style and +manner of another person speaking of Moses. In Exodus, Leviticus and +Numbers, (for every thing in Genesis is prior to the times of Moses and +not the least allusion is made to him therein,) the whole, I say, of +these books is in the third person; it is always, the Lord said unto +Moses, or Moses said unto the Lord; or Moses said unto the people, +or the people said unto Moses; and this is the style and manner that +historians use in speaking of the person whose lives and actions they +are writing. It may be said, that a man may speak of himself in the +third person, and, therefore, it may be supposed that Moses did; but +supposition proves nothing; and if the advocates for the belief that +Moses wrote those books himself have nothing better to advance than +supposition, they may as well be silent. + +But granting the grammatical right, that Moses might speak of himself in +the third person, because any man might speak of himself in that manner, +it cannot be admitted as a fact in those books, that it is Moses who +speaks, without rendering Moses truly ridiculous and absurd:--for +example, Numbers xii. 3: "Now the man Moses was very MEEK, above all the +men which were on the face of the earth." If Moses said this of himself, +instead of being the meekest of men, he was one of the most vain and +arrogant coxcombs; and the advocates for those books may now take which +side they please, for both sides are against them: if Moses was not the +author, the books are without authority; and if he was the author, the +author is without credit, because to boast of meekness is the reverse of +meekness, and is a lie in sentiment. + +In Deuteronomy, the style and manner of writing marks more evidently +than in the former books that Moses is not the writer. The manner here +used is dramatical; the writer opens the subject by a short introductory +discourse, and then introduces Moses as in the act of speaking, and when +he has made Moses finish his harrangue, he (the writer) resumes his own +part, and speaks till he brings Moses forward again, and at last closes +the scene with an account of the death, funeral, and character of Moses. + +This interchange of speakers occurs four times in this book: from the +first verse of the first chapter, to the end of the fifth verse, it is +the writer who speaks; he then introduces Moses as in the act of making +his harrangue, and this continues to the end of the 40th verse of the +fourth chapter; here the writer drops Moses, and speaks historically of +what was done in consequence of what Moses, when living, is supposed to +have said, and which the writer has dramatically rehearsed. + +The writer opens the subject again in the first verse of the fifth +chapter, though it is only by saying that Moses called the people of +Israel together; he then introduces Moses as before, and continues him +as in the act of speaking, to the end of the 26th chapter. He does the +same thing at the beginning of the 27th chapter; and continues Moses +as in the act of speaking, to the end of the 28th chapter. At the 29th +chapter the writer speaks again through the whole of the first verse, +and the first line of the second verse, where he introduces Moses for +the last time, and continues him as in the act of speaking, to the end +of the 33d chapter. + +The writer having now finished the rehearsal on the part of Moses, comes +forward, and speaks through the whole of the last chapter: he begins by +telling the reader, that Moses went up to the top of Pisgah, that he +saw from thence the land which (the writer says) had been promised to +Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; that he, Moses, died there in the land of +Moab, that he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, but that no +man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day, that is unto the time in +which the writer lived who wrote the book of Deuteronomy. The writer +then tells us, that Moses was one hundred and ten years of age when he +died--that his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated; and he +concludes by saying, that there arose not a prophet since in Israel +like unto Moses, whom, says this anonymous writer, the Lord knew face to +face. + +Having thus shewn, as far as grammatical evidence implies, that +Moses was not the writer of those books, I will, after making a few +observations on the inconsistencies of the writer of the book of +Deuteronomy, proceed to shew, from the historical and chronological +evidence contained in those books, that Moses was not, because he could +not be, the writer of them; and consequently, that there is no authority +for believing that the inhuman and horrid butcheries of men, women, and +children, told of in those books, were done, as those books say they +were, at the command of God. It is a duty incumbent on every true deist, +that he vindicates the moral justice of God against the calumnies of the +Bible. + +The writer of the book of Deuteronomy, whoever he was, for it is an +anonymous work, is obscure, and also contradictory with himself in the +account he has given of Moses. + +After telling that Moses went to the top of Pisgah (and it does not +appear from any account that he ever came down again) he tells us, that +Moses died there in the land of Moab, and that he buried him in a valley +in the land of Moab; but as there is no antecedent to the pronoun he, +there is no knowing who he was, that did bury him. If the writer meant +that he (God) buried him, how should he (the writer) know it? or why +should we (the readers) believe him? since we know not who the writer +was that tells us so, for certainly Moses could not himself tell where +he was buried. + +The writer also tells us, that no man knoweth where the sepulchre of +Moses is unto this day, meaning the time in which this writer lived; +how then should he know that Moses was buried in a valley in the land +of Moab? for as the writer lived long after the time of Moses, as is +evident from his using the expression of unto this day, meaning a great +length of time after the death of Moses, he certainly was not at his +funeral; and on the other hand, it is impossible that Moses himself +could say that no man knoweth where the sepulchre is unto this day. To +make Moses the speaker, would be an improvement on the play of a child +that hides himself and cries nobody can find me; nobody can find Moses. + +This writer has no where told us how he came by the speeches which he +has put into the mouth of Moses to speak, and therefore we have a right +to conclude that he either composed them himself, or wrote them from +oral tradition. One or other of these is the more probable, since he +has given, in the fifth chapter, a table of commandments, in which that +called the fourth commandment is different from the fourth commandment +in the twentieth chapter of Exodus. In that of Exodus, the reason given +for keeping the seventh day is, because (says the commandment) God made +the heavens and the earth in six days, and rested on the seventh; but in +that of Deuteronomy, the reason given is, that it was the day on which +the children of Israel came out of Egypt, and therefore, says this +commandment, the Lord thy God commanded thee to kee the sabbath-day This +makes no mention of the creation, nor that of the coming out of Egypt. +There are also many things given as laws of Moses in this book, that are +not to be found in any of the other books; among which is that inhuman +and brutal law, xxi. 18, 19, 20, 21, which authorizes parents, the +father and the mother, to bring their own children to have them stoned +to death for what it pleased them to call stubbornness.--But priests +have always been fond of preaching up Deuteronomy, for Deuteronomy +preaches up tythes; and it is from this book, xxv. 4, they have taken +the phrase, and applied it to tything, that "thou shalt not muzzle +the ox when he treadeth Out the corn:" and that this might not escape +observation, they have noted it in the table of contents at the head of +the chapter, though it is only a single verse of less than two lines. O +priests! priests! ye are willing to be compared to an ox, for the sake +of tythes. [An elegant pocket edition of Paine's Theological Works +(London. R. Carlile, 1822) has in its title a picture of Paine, as a +Moses in evening dress, unfolding the two tables of his "Age of Reason" +to a farmer from whom the Bishop of Llandaff (who replied to this work) +has taken a sheaf and a lamb which he is carrying to a church at the +summit of a well stocked hill.--Editor.]--Though it is impossible for +us to know identically who the writer of Deuteronomy was, it is not +difficult to discover him professionally, that he was some Jewish +priest, who lived, as I shall shew in the course of this work, at least +three hundred and fifty years after the time of Moses. + +I come now to speak of the historical and chronological evidence. The +chronology that I shall use is the Bible chronology; for I mean not to +go out of the Bible for evidence of any thing, but to make the Bible +itself prove historically and chronologically that Moses is not the +author of the books ascribed to him. It is therefore proper that I +inform the readers (such an one at least as may not have the opportunity +of knowing it) that in the larger Bibles, and also in some smaller ones, +there is a series of chronology printed in the margin of every page for +the purpose of showing how long the historical matters stated in each +page happened, or are supposed to have happened, before Christ, and +consequently the distance of time between one historical circumstance +and another. + +I begin with the book of Genesis.--In Genesis xiv., the writer gives an +account of Lot being taken prisoner in a battle between the four kings +against five, and carried off; and that when the account of Lot being +taken came to Abraham, that he armed all his household and marched to +rescue Lot from the captors; and that he pursued them unto Dan. (ver. +14.) + +To shew in what manner this expression of Pursuing them unto Dan applies +to the case in question, I will refer to two circumstances, the one in +America, the other in France. The city now called New York, in America, +was originally New Amsterdam; and the town in France, lately called +Havre Marat, was before called Havre-de-Grace. New Amsterdam was changed +to New York in the year 1664; Havre-de-Grace to Havre Marat in the year +1793. Should, therefore, any writing be found, though without date, +in which the name of New-York should be mentioned, it would be certain +evidence that such a writing could not have been written before, and +must have been written after New Amsterdam was changed to New York, and +consequently not till after the year 1664, or at least during the course +of that year. And in like manner, any dateless writing, with the name +of Havre Marat, would be certain evidence that such a writing must have +been written after Havre-de-Grace became Havre Marat, and consequently +not till after the year 1793, or at least during the course of that +year. + +I now come to the application of those cases, and to show that there +was no such place as Dan till many years after the death of Moses; and +consequently, that Moses could not be the writer of the book of Genesis, +where this account of pursuing them unto Dan is given. + +The place that is called Dan in the Bible was originally a town of the +Gentiles, called Laish; and when the tribe of Dan seized upon this +town, they changed its name to Dan, in commemoration of Dan, who was the +father of that tribe, and the great grandson of Abraham. + +To establish this in proof, it is necessary to refer from Genesis to +chapter xviii. of the book called the Book of judges. It is there said +(ver. 27) that "they (the Danites) came unto Laish to a people that were +quiet and secure, and they smote them with the edge of the sword [the +Bible is filled with murder] and burned the city with fire; and they +built a city, (ver. 28,) and dwelt therein, and [ver. 29,] they called +the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan, their father; howbeit +the name of the city was Laish at the first." + +This account of the Danites taking possession of Laish and changing it +to Dan, is placed in the book of Judges immediately after the death of +Samson. The death of Samson is said to have happened B.C. 1120 and +that of Moses B.C. 1451; and, therefore, according to the historical +arrangement, the place was not called Dan till 331 years after the death +of Moses. + +There is a striking confusion between the historical and the +chronological arrangement in the book of judges. The last five chapters, +as they stand in the book, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, are put chronologically +before all the preceding chapters; they are made to be 28 years before +the 16th chapter, 266 before the 15th, 245 before the 13th, 195 before +the 9th, go before the 4th, and 15 years before the 1st chapter. This +shews the uncertain and fabulous state of the Bible. According to the +chronological arrangement, the taking of Laish, and giving it the name +of Dan, is made to be twenty years after the death of Joshua, who was +the successor of Moses; and by the historical order, as it stands in +the book, it is made to be 306 years after the death of Joshua, and 331 +after that of Moses; but they both exclude Moses from being the writer +of Genesis, because, according to either of the statements, no such a +place as Dan existed in the time of Moses; and therefore the writer of +Genesis must have been some person who lived after the town of Laish had +the name of Dan; and who that person was nobody knows, and consequently +the book of Genesis is anonymous, and without authority. + +I come now to state another point of historical and chronological +evidence, and to show therefrom, as in the preceding case, that Moses is +not the author of the book of Genesis. + +In Genesis xxxvi. there is given a genealogy of the sons and descendants +of Esau, who are called Edomites, and also a list by name of the kings +of Edom; in enumerating of which, it is said, verse 31, "And these are +the kings that reigned in Edom, before there reigned any king over the +children of Israel." + +Now, were any dateless writing to be found, in which, speaking of any +past events, the writer should say, these things happened before there +was any Congress in America, or before there was any Convention in +France, it would be evidence that such writing could not have been +written before, and could only be written after there was a Congress +in America or a Convention in France, as the case might be; and, +consequently, that it could not be written by any person who died before +there was a Congress in the one country, or a Convention in the other. + +Nothing is more frequent, as well in history as in conversation, than +to refer to a fact in the room of a date: it is most natural so to do, +because a fact fixes itself in the memory better than a date; secondly, +because the fact includes the date, and serves to give two ideas at +once; and this manner of speaking by circumstances implies as positively +that the fact alluded to is past, as if it was so expressed. When a +person in speaking upon any matter, says, it was before I was married, +or before my son was born, or before I went to America, or before I went +to France, it is absolutely understood, and intended to be understood, +that he has been married, that he has had a son, that he has been in +America, or been in France. Language does not admit of using this mode +of expression in any other sense; and whenever such an expression is +found anywhere, it can only be understood in the sense in which only it +could have been used. + +The passage, therefore, that I have quoted--that "these are the kings +that reigned in Edom, before there reigned any king over the children +of Israel," could only have been written after the first king began to +reign over them; and consequently that the book of Genesis, so far from +having been written by Moses, could not have been written till the time +of Saul at least. This is the positive sense of the passage; but the +expression, any king, implies more kings than one, at least it implies +two, and this will carry it to the time of David; and, if taken in +a general sense, it carries itself through all times of the Jewish +monarchy. + +Had we met with this verse in any part of the Bible that professed to +have been written after kings began to reign in Israel, it would have +been impossible not to have seen the application of it. It happens then +that this is the case; the two books of Chronicles, which give a history +of all the kings of Israel, are professedly, as well as in fact, written +after the Jewish monarchy began; and this verse that I have quoted, +and all the remaining verses of Genesis xxxvi. are, word for word, In 1 +Chronicles i., beginning at the 43d verse. + +It was with consistency that the writer of the Chronicles could say as +he has said, 1 Chron. i. 43, "These are the kings that reigned in Edom, +before there reigned any king ever the children of Israel," because he +was going to give, and has given, a list of the kings that had reigned +in Israel; but as it is impossible that the same expression could have +been used before that period, it is as certain as any thing can be +proved from historical language, that this part of Genesis is taken from +Chronicles, and that Genesis is not so old as Chronicles, and probably +not so old as the book of Homer, or as AEsop's Fables; admitting Homer +to have been, as the tables of chronology state, contemporary with +David or Solomon, and AEsop to have lived about the end of the Jewish +monarchy. + +Take away from Genesis the belief that Moses was the author, on which +only the strange belief that it is the word of God has stood, and there +remains nothing of Genesis but an anonymous book of stories, fables, and +traditionary or invented absurdities, or of downright lies. The story of +Eve and the serpent, and of Noah and his ark, drops to a level with the +Arabian Tales, without the merit of being entertaining, and the account +of men living to eight and nine hundred years becomes as fabulous as the +immortality of the giants of the Mythology. + +Besides, the character of Moses, as stated in the Bible, is the most +horrid that can be imagined. If those accounts be true, he was the +wretch that first began and carried on wars on the score or on the +pretence of religion; and under that mask, or that infatuation, +committed the most unexampled atrocities that are to be found in the +history of any nation. Of which I will state only one instance: + +When the Jewish army returned from one of their plundering and murdering +excursions, the account goes on as follows (Numbers xxxi. 13): "And +Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and all the princes of the congregation, +went forth to meet them without the camp; and Moses was wroth with the +officers of the host, with the captains over thousands, and captains +over hundreds, which came from the battle; and Moses said unto them, +'Have ye saved all the women alive?' behold, these caused the children +of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against +the Lord in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague among the +congregation of the Lord. Now therefore, 'kill every male among the +little ones, and kill every woman that hath known a man by lying with +him; but all the women-children that have not known a man by lying with +him, keep alive for Yourselves.'" + +Among the detestable villains that in any period of the world have +disgraced the name of man, it is impossible to find a greater than +Moses, if this account be true. Here is an order to butcher the boys, to +massacre the mothers, and debauch the daughters. + +Let any mother put herself in the situation of those mothers, one child +murdered, another destined to violation, and herself in the hands of +an executioner: let any daughter put herself in the situation of +those daughters, destined as a prey to the murderers of a mother and a +brother, and what will be their feelings? It is in vain that we attempt +to impose upon nature, for nature will have her course, and the religion +that tortures all her social ties is a false religion. + +After this detestable order, follows an account of the plunder taken, +and the manner of dividing it; and here it is that the profaneings of +priestly hypocrisy increases the catalogue of crimes. Verse 37, "And the +Lord's tribute of the sheep was six hundred and threescore and fifteen; +and the beeves were thirty and six thousand, of which the Lord's tribute +was threescore and twelve; and the asses were thirty thousand, of which +the Lord's tribute was threescore and one; and the persons were sixteen +thousand, of which the Lord's tribute was thirty and two." In short, the +matters contained in this chapter, as well as in many other parts of the +Bible, are too horrid for humanity to read, or for decency to hear; +for it appears, from the 35th verse of this chapter, that the number +of women-children consigned to debauchery by the order of Moses was +thirty-two thousand. + +People in general know not what wickedness there is in this pretended +word of God. Brought up in habits of superstition, they take it for +granted that the Bible is true, and that it is good; they permit +themselves not to doubt of it, and they carry the ideas they form of the +benevolence of the Almighty to the book which they have been taught to +believe was written by his authority. Good heavens! it is quite another +thing, it is a book of lies, wickedness, and blasphemy; for what can be +greater blasphemy, than to ascribe the wickedness of man to the orders +of the Almighty! + +But to return to my subject, that of showing that Moses is not the +author of the books ascribed to him, and that the Bible is spurious. +The two instances I have already given would be sufficient, without any +additional evidence, to invalidate the authenticity of any book that +pretended to be four or five hundred years more ancient than the matters +it speaks of, refers to, them as facts; for in the case of pursuing them +unto Dan, and of the kings that reigned over the children of Israel; not +even the flimsy pretence of prophecy can be pleaded. The expressions are +in the preter tense, and it would be downright idiotism to say that a +man could prophecy in the preter tense. + +But there are many other passages scattered throughout those books that +unite in the same point of evidence. It is said in Exodus, (another of +the books ascribed to Moses,) xvi. 35: "And the children of Israel did +eat manna until they came to a land inhabited; they did eat manna until +they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan." + +Whether the children of Israel ate manna or not, or what manna was, or +whether it was anything more than a kind of fungus or small mushroom, or +other vegetable substance common to that part of the country, makes no +part of my argument; all that I mean to show is, that it is not Moses +that could write this account, because the account extends itself beyond +the life time of Moses. Moses, according to the Bible, (but it is such +a book of lies and contradictions there is no knowing which part to +believe, or whether any) died in the wilderness, and never came upon +the borders of 'the land of Canaan; and consequently, it could not be +he that said what the children of Israel did, or what they ate when they +came there. This account of eating manna, which they tell us was written +by Moses, extends itself to the time of Joshua, the successor of +Moses, as appears by the account given in the book of Joshua, after +the children of Israel had passed the river Jordan, and came into the +borders of the land of Canaan. Joshua, v. 12: "And the manna ceased on +the morrow, after they had eaten of the old corn of the land; neither +had the children of Israel manna any more, but they did eat of the fruit +of the land of Canaan that year." + +But a more remarkable instance than this occurs in Deuteronomy; which, +while it shows that Moses could not be the writer of that book, shows +also the fabulous notions that prevailed at that time about giants' In +Deuteronomy iii. 11, among the conquests said to be made by Moses, is +an account of the taking of Og, king of Bashan: "For only Og, king +of Bashan, remained of the race of giants; behold, his bedstead was a +bedstead of iron; is it not in Rabbath of the children of Ammon? nine +cubits was the length thereof, and four cubits the breadth of it, after +the cubit of a man." A cubit is 1 foot 9 888/1000 inches; the length +therefore of the bed was 16 feet 4 inches, and the breadth 7 feet 4 +inches: thus much for this giant's bed. Now for the historical part, +which, though the evidence is not so direct and positive as in the +former cases, is nevertheless very presumable and corroborating +evidence, and is better than the best evidence on the contrary side. + +The writer, by way of proving the existence of this giant, refers to his +bed, as an ancient relick, and says, is it not in Rabbath (or Rabbah) +of the children of Ammon? meaning that it is; for such is frequently the +bible method of affirming a thing. But it could not be Moses that said +this, because Moses could know nothing about Rabbah, nor of what was in +it. Rabbah was not a city belonging to this giant king, nor was it one +of the cities that Moses took. The knowledge therefore that this bed was +at Rabbah, and of the particulars of its dimensions, must be referred to +the time when Rabbah was taken, and this was not till four hundred +years after the death of Moses; for which, see 2 Sam. xii. 26: "And Joab +[David's general] fought against Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and +took the royal city," etc. + +As I am not undertaking to point out all the contradictions in time, +place, and circumstance that abound in the books ascribed to Moses, and +which prove to demonstration that those books could not be written by +Moses, nor in the time of Moses, I proceed to the book of Joshua, and +to shew that Joshua is not the author of that book, and that it is +anonymous and without authority. The evidence I shall produce is +contained in the book itself: I will not go out of the Bible for proof +against the supposed authenticity of the Bible. False testimony is +always good against itself. + +Joshua, according to Joshua i., was the immediate successor of Moses; he +was, moreover, a military man, which Moses was not; and he continued as +chief of the people of Israel twenty-five years; that is, from the time +that Moses died, which, according to the Bible chronology, was B.C. +1451, until B.C. 1426, when, according to the same chronology, Joshua +died. If, therefore, we find in this book, said to have been written +by Joshua, references to facts done after the death of Joshua, it is +evidence that Joshua could not be the author; and also that the book +could not have been written till after the time of the latest fact +which it records. As to the character of the book, it is horrid; it is +a military history of rapine and murder, as savage and brutal as those +recorded of his predecessor in villainy and hypocrisy, Moses; and the +blasphemy consists, as in the former books, in ascribing those deeds to +the orders of the Almighty. + +In the first place, the book of Joshua, as is the case in the preceding +books, is written in the third person; it is the historian of Joshua +that speaks, for it would have been absurd and vainglorious that Joshua +should say of himself, as is said of him in the last verse of the sixth +chapter, that "his fame was noised throughout all the country."--I now +come more immediately to the proof. + +In Joshua xxiv. 31, it is said "And Israel served the Lord all the days +of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that over-lived Joshua." Now, +in the name of common sense, can it be Joshua that relates what people +had done after he was dead? This account must not only have been written +by some historian that lived after Joshua, but that lived also after the +elders that out-lived Joshua. + +There are several passages of a general meaning with respect to time, +scattered throughout the book of Joshua, that carries the time in which +the book was written to a distance from the time of Joshua, but without +marking by exclusion any particular time, as in the passage above +quoted. In that passage, the time that intervened between the death +of Joshua and the death of the elders is excluded descriptively and +absolutely, and the evidence substantiates that the book could not have +been written till after the death of the last. + +But though the passages to which I allude, and which I am going to +quote, do not designate any particular time by exclusion, they imply a +time far more distant from the days of Joshua than is contained between +the death of Joshua and the death of the elders. Such is the passage, x. +14, where, after giving an account that the sun stood still upon Gibeon, +and the moon in the valley of Ajalon, at the command of Joshua, (a tale +only fit to amuse children) [NOTE: This tale of the sun standing still +upon Motint Gibeon, and the moon in the valley of Ajalon, is one of +those fables that detects itself. Such a circumstance could not have +happened without being known all over the world. One half would have +wondered why the sun did not rise, and the other why it did not set; and +the tradition of it would be universal; whereas there is not a nation +in the world that knows anything about it. But why must the moon stand +still? What occasion could there be for moonlight in the daytime, and +that too whilst the sun shined? As a poetical figure, the whole is well +enough; it is akin to that in the song of Deborah and Barak, The stars +in their courses fought against Sisera; but it is inferior to the +figurative declaration of Mahomet to the persons who came to expostulate +with him on his goings on, Wert thou, said he, to come to me with the +sun in thy right hand and the moon in thy left, it should not alter my +career. For Joshua to have exceeded Mahomet, he should have put the sun +and moon, one in each pocket, and carried them as Guy Faux carried his +dark lanthorn, and taken them out to shine as he might happen to want +them. The sublime and the ridiculous are often so nearly related that it +is difficult to class them separately. One step above the sublime makes +the ridiculous, and one step above the ridiculous makes the sublime +again; the account, however, abstracted from the poetical fancy, shews +the ignorance of Joshua, for he should have commanded the earth to have +stood still.--Author.] the passage says: "And there was no day like +that, before it, nor after it, that the Lord hearkened to the voice of a +man." + +The time implied by the expression after it, that is, after that day, +being put in comparison with all the time that passed before it, must, +in order to give any expressive signification to the passage, mean a +great length of time:--for example, it would have been ridiculous to +have said so the next day, or the next week, or the next month, or the +next year; to give therefore meaning to the passage, comparative with +the wonder it relates, and the prior time it alludes to, it must mean +centuries of years; less however than one would be trifling, and less +than two would be barely admissible. + +A distant, but general time is also expressed in chapter viii.; where, +after giving an account of the taking the city of Ai, it is said, ver. +28th, "And Joshua burned Ai, and made it an heap for ever, a desolation +unto this day;" and again, ver. 29, where speaking of the king of Ai, +whom Joshua had hanged, and buried at the entering of the gate, it is +said, "And he raised thereon a great heap of stones, which remaineth +unto this day," that is, unto the day or time in which the writer of the +book of Joshua lived. And again, in chapter x. where, after speaking of +the five kings whom Joshua had hanged on five trees, and then thrown in +a cave, it is said, "And he laid great stones on the cave's mouth, which +remain unto this very day." + +In enumerating the several exploits of Joshua, and of the tribes, and +of the places which they conquered or attempted, it is said, xv. 63, "As +for the Jebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the children of Judah +could not drive them out; but the Jebusites dwell with the children of +Judah AT JERUSALEM unto this day." The question upon this passage is, At +what time did the Jebusites and the children of Judah dwell together at +Jerusalem? As this matter occurs again in judges i. I shall reserve my +observations till I come to that part. + +Having thus shewn from the book of Joshua itself, without any auxiliary +evidence whatever, that Joshua is not the author of that book, and +that it is anonymous, and consequently without authority, I proceed, as +before-mentioned, to the book of Judges. + +The book of Judges is anonymous on the face of it; and, therefore, even +the pretence is wanting to call it the word of God; it has not so much +as a nominal voucher; it is altogether fatherless. + +This book begins with the same expression as the book of Joshua. That of +Joshua begins, chap i. 1, Now after the death of Moses, etc., and this +of the Judges begins, Now after the death of Joshua, etc. This, and the +similarity of stile between the two books, indicate that they are the +work of the same author; but who he was, is altogether unknown; the only +point that the book proves is that the author lived long after the time +of Joshua; for though it begins as if it followed immediately after his +death, the second chapter is an epitome or abstract of the whole book, +which, according to the Bible chronology, extends its history through a +space of 306 years; that is, from the death of Joshua, B.C. 1426 to the +death of Samson, B.C. 1120, and only 25 years before Saul went to seek +his father's asses, and was made king. But there is good reason to +believe, that it was not written till the time of David, at least, and +that the book of Joshua was not written before the same time. + +In Judges i., the writer, after announcing the death of Joshua, proceeds +to tell what happened between the children of Judah and the native +inhabitants of the land of Canaan. In this statement the writer, having +abruptly mentioned Jerusalem in the 7th verse, says immediately after, +in the 8th verse, by way of explanation, "Now the children of Judah had +fought against Jerusalem, and taken it;" consequently this book could +not have been written before Jerusalem had been taken. The reader will +recollect the quotation I have just before made from Joshua xv. 63, +where it said that the Jebusites dwell with the children of Judah at +Jerusalem at this day; meaning the time when the book of Joshua was +written. + +The evidence I have already produced to prove that the books I have +hitherto treated of were not written by the persons to whom they are +ascribed, nor till many years after their death, if such persons ever +lived, is already so abundant, that I can afford to admit this passage +with less weight than I am entitled to draw from it. For the case is, +that so far as the Bible can be credited as an history, the city of +Jerusalem was not taken till the time of David; and consequently, that +the book of Joshua, and of Judges, were not written till after the +commencement of the reign of David, which was 370 years after the death +of Joshua. + +The name of the city that was afterward called Jerusalem was originally +Jebus, or Jebusi, and was the capital of the Jebusites. The account of +David's taking this city is given in 2 Samuel, v. 4, etc.; also in 1 +Chron. xiv. 4, etc. There is no mention in any part of the Bible that it +was ever taken before, nor any account that favours such an opinion. +It is not said, either in Samuel or in Chronicles, that they "utterly +destroyed men, women and children, that they left not a soul to +breathe," as is said of their other conquests; and the silence here +observed implies that it was taken by capitulation; and that the +Jebusites, the native inhabitants, continued to live in the place +after it was taken. The account therefore, given in Joshua, that "the +Jebusites dwell with the children of Judah" at Jerusalem at this day, +corresponds to no other time than after taking the city by David. + +Having now shown that every book in the Bible, from Genesis to Judges, +is without authenticity, I come to the book of Ruth, an idle, bungling +story, foolishly told, nobody knows by whom, about a strolling +country-girl creeping slily to bed to her cousin Boaz. [The text of +Ruth does not imply the unpleasant sense Paine's words are likely to +convey.--Editor.] Pretty stuff indeed to be called the word of God. It +is, however, one of the best books in the Bible, for it is free from +murder and rapine. + +I come next to the two books of Samuel, and to shew that those books +were not written by Samuel, nor till a great length of time after +the death of Samuel; and that they are, like all the former books, +anonymous, and without authority. + +To be convinced that these books have been written much later than the +time of Samuel, and consequently not by him, it is only necessary +to read the account which the writer gives of Saul going to seek his +father's asses, and of his interview with Samuel, of whom Saul went +to enquire about those lost asses, as foolish people now-a-days go to a +conjuror to enquire after lost things. + +The writer, in relating this story of Saul, Samuel, and the asses, does +not tell it as a thing that had just then happened, but as an ancient +story in the time this writer lived; for he tells it in the language or +terms used at the time that Samuel lived, which obliges the writer to +explain the story in the terms or language used in the time the writer +lived. + +Samuel, in the account given of him in the first of those books, chap. +ix. 13 called the seer; and it is by this term that Saul enquires after +him, ver. 11, "And as they [Saul and his servant] went up the hill to +the city, they found young maidens going out to draw water; and they +said unto them, Is the seer here?" Saul then went according to the +direction of these maidens, and met Samuel without knowing him, and said +unto him, ver. 18, "Tell me, I pray thee, where the seer's house is? and +Samuel answered Saul, and said, I am the seer." + +As the writer of the book of Samuel relates these questions and answers, +in the language or manner of speaking used in the time they are said +to have been spoken, and as that manner of speaking was out of use when +this author wrote, he found it necessary, in order to make the story +understood, to explain the terms in which these questions and +answers are spoken; and he does this in the 9th verse, where he says, +"Before-time in Israel, when a man went to enquire of God, thus he +spake, Come let us go to the seer; for he that is now called a prophet, +was before-time called a seer." This proves, as I have before said, that +this story of Saul, Samuel, and the asses, was an ancient story at the +time the book of Samuel was written, and consequently that Samuel did +not write it, and that the book is without authenticity. + +But if we go further into those books the evidence is still more +positive that Samuel is not the writer of them; for they relate things +that did not happen till several years after the death of Samuel. Samuel +died before Saul; for i Samuel, xxviii. tells, that Saul and the witch +of Endor conjured Samuel up after he was dead; yet the history of +matters contained in those books is extended through the remaining part +of Saul's life, and to the latter end of the life of David, who succeeded +Saul. The account of the death and burial of Samuel (a thing which he +could not write himself) is related in i Samuel xxv.; and the chronology +affixed to this chapter makes this to be B.C. 1060; yet the history of +this first book is brought down to B.C. 1056, that is, to the death of +Saul, which was not till four years after the death of Samuel. + +The second book of Samuel begins with an account of things that did not +happen till four years after Samuel was dead; for it begins with the +reign of David, who succeeded Saul, and it goes on to the end of David's +reign, which was forty-three years after the death of Samuel; and, +therefore, the books are in themselves positive evidence that they were +not written by Samuel. + +I have now gone through all the books in the first part of the Bible, +to which the names of persons are affixed, as being the authors of those +books, and which the church, styling itself the Christian church, have +imposed upon the world as the writings of Moses, Joshua and Samuel; and +I have detected and proved the falsehood of this imposition.--And now ye +priests, of every description, who have preached and written against the +former part of the 'Age of Reason,' what have ye to say? Will ye with +all this mass of evidence against you, and staring you in the face, +still have the assurance to march into your pulpits, and continue to +impose these books on your congregations, as the works of inspired +penmen and the word of God? when it is as evident as demonstration can +make truth appear, that the persons who ye say are the authors, are not +the authors, and that ye know not who the authors are. What shadow of +pretence have ye now to produce for continuing the blasphemous fraud? +What have ye still to offer against the pure and moral religion of +deism, in support of your system of falsehood, idolatry, and pretended +revelation? Had the cruel and murdering orders, with which the Bible +is filled, and the numberless torturing executions of men, women, and +children, in consequence of those orders, been ascribed to some friend, +whose memory you revered, you would have glowed with satisfaction at +detecting the falsehood of the charge, and gloried in defending his +injured fame. It is because ye are sunk in the cruelty of superstition, +or feel no interest in the honour of your Creator, that ye listen to the +horrid tales of the Bible, or hear them with callous indifference. The +evidence I have produced, and shall still produce in the course of this +work, to prove that the Bible is without authority, will, whilst it +wounds the stubbornness of a priest, relieve and tranquillize the minds +of millions: it will free them from all those hard thoughts of the +Almighty which priestcraft and the Bible had infused into their minds, +and which stood in everlasting opposition to all their ideas of his +moral justice and benevolence. + +I come now to the two books of Kings, and the two books of +Chronicles.--Those books are altogether historical, and are chiefly +confined to the lives and actions of the Jewish kings, who in general +were a parcel of rascals: but these are matters with which we have no +more concern than we have with the Roman emperors, or Homer's account of +the Trojan war. Besides which, as those books are anonymous, and as we +know nothing of the writer, or of his character, it is impossible for +us to know what degree of credit to give to the matters related therein. +Like all other ancient histories, they appear to be a jumble of fable +and of fact, and of probable and of improbable things, but which +distance of time and place, and change of circumstances in the world, +have rendered obsolete and uninteresting. + +The chief use I shall make of those books will be that of comparing +them with each other, and with other parts of the Bible, to show the +confusion, contradiction, and cruelty in this pretended word of God. + +The first book of Kings begins with the reign of Solomon, which, +according to the Bible chronology, was B.C. 1015; and the second +book ends B.C. 588, being a little after the reign of Zedekiah, whom +Nebuchadnezzar, after taking Jerusalem and conquering the Jews, carried +captive to Babylon. The two books include a space of 427 years. + +The two books of Chronicles are an history of the same times, and in +general of the same persons, by another author; for it would be absurd +to suppose that the same author wrote the history twice over. The first +book of Chronicles (after giving the genealogy from Adam to Saul, which +takes up the first nine chapters) begins with the reign of David; and +the last book ends, as in the last book of Kings, soon, after the reign +of Zedekiah, about B.C. 588. The last two verses of the last chapter +bring the history 52 years more forward, that is, to 536. But these +verses do not belong to the book, as I shall show when I come to speak +of the book of Ezra. + +The two books of Kings, besides the history of Saul, David, and Solomon, +who reigned over all Israel, contain an abstract of the lives of +seventeen kings, and one queen, who are stiled kings of Judah; and +of nineteen, who are stiled kings of Israel; for the Jewish nation, +immediately on the death of Solomon, split into two parties, who chose +separate kings, and who carried on most rancorous wars against each +other. + +These two books are little more than a history of assassinations, +treachery, and wars. The cruelties that the Jews had accustomed +themselves to practise on the Canaanites, whose country they had +savagely invaded, under a pretended gift from God, they afterwards +practised as furiously on each other. Scarcely half their kings died a +natural death, and in some instances whole families were destroyed +to secure possession to the successor, who, after a few years, and +sometimes only a few months, or less, shared the same fate. In 2 Kings +x., an account is given of two baskets full of children's heads, seventy +in number, being exposed at the entrance of the city; they were the +children of Ahab, and were murdered by the orders of Jehu, whom Elisha, +the pretended man of God, had anointed to be king over Israel, on +purpose to commit this bloody deed, and assassinate his predecessor. And +in the account of the reign of Menahem, one of the kings of Israel who +had murdered Shallum, who had reigned but one month, it is said, 2 Kings +xv. 16, that Menahem smote the city of Tiphsah, because they opened +not the city to him, and all the women therein that were with child he +ripped up. + +Could we permit ourselves to suppose that the Almighty would distinguish +any nation of people by the name of his chosen people, we must suppose +that people to have been an example to all the rest of the world of +the purest piety and humanity, and not such a nation of ruffians and +cut-throats as the ancient Jews were,--a people who, corrupted by and +copying after such monsters and imposters as Moses and Aaron, Joshua, +Samuel, and David, had distinguished themselves above all others on the +face of the known earth for barbarity and wickedness. If we will not +stubbornly shut our eyes and steel our hearts it is impossible not to +see, in spite of all that long-established superstition imposes upon the +mind, that the flattering appellation of his chosen people is no other +than a LIE which the priests and leaders of the Jews had invented to +cover the baseness of their own characters; and which Christian priests +sometimes as corrupt, and often as cruel, have professed to believe. + +The two books of Chronicles are a repetition of the same crimes; but the +history is broken in several places, by the author leaving out the reign +of some of their kings; and in this, as well as in that of Kings, there +is such a frequent transition from kings of Judah to kings of Israel, +and from kings of Israel to kings of Judah, that the narrative +is obscure in the reading. In the same book the history sometimes +contradicts itself: for example, in 2 Kings, i. 17, we are told, but in +rather ambiguous terms, that after the death of Ahaziah, king of Israel, +Jehoram, or Joram, (who was of the house of Ahab), reigned in his stead +in the second Year of Jehoram, or Joram, son of Jehoshaphat, king of +Judah; and in viii. 16, of the same book, it is said, "And in the fifth +year of Joram, the son of Ahab, king of Israel, Jehoshaphat being then +king of Judah, Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat king of judah, began to +reign." That is, one chapter says Joram of Judah began to reign in the +second year of Joram of Israel; and the other chapter says, that Joram +of Israel began to reign in the fifth year of Joram of Judah. + +Several of the most extraordinary matters related in one history, as +having happened during the reign of such or such of their kings, are not +to be found in the other, in relating the reign of the same king: for +example, the two first rival kings, after the death of Solomon, were +Rehoboam and Jeroboam; and in i Kings xii. and xiii. an account is given +of Jeroboam making an offering of burnt incense, and that a man, who +is there called a man of God, cried out against the altar (xiii. 2): "O +altar, altar! thus saith the Lord: Behold, a child shall be born unto +the house of David, Josiah by name, and upon thee shall he offer the +priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men's bones +shall be burned upon thee." Verse 4: "And it came to pass, when king +Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, which had cried against the +altar in Bethel, that he put forth his hand from the altar, saying, Lay +hold on him; and his hand which he put out against him dried up so that +he could not pull it again to him." + +One would think that such an extraordinary case as this, (which is +spoken of as a judgement,) happening to the chief of one of the parties, +and that at the first moment of the separation of the Israelites into +two nations, would, if it,. had been true, have been recorded in both +histories. But though men, in later times, have believed all that the +prophets have said unto them, it does appear that those prophets, or +historians, disbelieved each other: they knew each other too well. + +A long account also is given in Kings about Elijah. It runs through +several chapters, and concludes with telling, 2 Kings ii. 11, "And it +came to pass, as they (Elijah and Elisha) still went on, and talked, +that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire, +and parted them both asunder, and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into +heaven." Hum! this the author of Chronicles, miraculous as the story is, +makes no mention of, though he mentions Elijah by name; neither does he +say anything of the story related in the second chapter of the same book +of Kings, of a parcel of children calling Elisha bald head; and that +this man of God (ver. 24) "turned back, and looked upon them, and cursed +them in the name of the Lord; and there came forth two she-bears out of +the wood, and tare forty and two children of them." He also passes over +in silence the story told, 2 Kings xiii., that when they were burying a +man in the sepulchre where Elisha had been buried, it happened that the +dead man, as they were letting him down, (ver. 21) "touched the bones +of Elisha, and he (the dead man) revived, and stood up on his feet." The +story does not tell us whether they buried the man, notwithstanding he +revived and stood upon his feet, or drew him up again. Upon all these +stories the writer of the Chronicles is as silent as any writer of the +present day, who did not chose to be accused of lying, or at least of +romancing, would be about stories of the same kind. + +But, however these two historians may differ from each other with +respect to the tales related by either, they are silent alike with +respect to those men styled prophets whose writings fill up the latter +part of the Bible. Isaiah, who lived in the time of Hezekiab, is +mentioned in Kings, and again in Chronicles, when these histories are +speaking of that reign; but except in one or two instances at most, and +those very slightly, none of the rest are so much as spoken of, or even +their existence hinted at; though, according to the Bible chronology, +they lived within the time those histories were written; and some of +them long before. If those prophets, as they are called, were men of +such importance in their day, as the compilers of the Bible, and priests +and commentators have since represented them to be, how can it be +accounted for that not one of those histories should say anything about +them? + +The history in the books of Kings and of Chronicles is brought forward, +as I have already said, to the year B.C. 588; it will, therefore, be +proper to examine which of these prophets lived before that period. + +Here follows a table of all the prophets, with the times in which they +lived before Christ, according to the chronology affixed to the first +chapter of each of the books of the prophets; and also of the number of +years they lived before the books of Kings and Chronicles were written: + +TABLE of the Prophets, with the time in which they lived before Christ, +and also before the books of Kings and Chronicles were written: + + Years Years before + NAMES. before Kings and Observations. + Christ. Chronicles. + + Isaiah............... 760 172 mentioned. + + + (mentioned only in + Jeremiah............. 629 41 the last [two] chapters + of Chronicles. + + Ezekiel.............. 595 7 not mentioned. + + Daniel............... 607 19 not mentioned. + + Hosea................ 785 97 not mentioned. + + Joel................. 800 212 not mentioned. + + Amos................. 789 199 not mentioned. + + Obadiah.............. 789 199 not mentioned. + + Jonah................ 862 274 see the note. + + Micah................ 750 162 not mentioned. + + Nahum................ 713 125 not mentioned. + + Habakkuk............. 620 38 not mentioned. + + Zepbaniah............ 630 42 not mentioned. + +Haggai Zechariah all three after the year 588 Medachi [NOTE In 2 Kings +xiv. 25, the name of Jonah is mentioned on account of the restoration of +a tract of land by Jeroboam; but nothing further is said of him, nor +is any allusion made to the book of Jonah, nor to his expedition to +Nineveh, nor to his encounter with the whale.--Author.] + +This table is either not very honourable for the Bible historians, or +not very honourable for the Bible prophets; and I leave to priests and +commentators, who are very learned in little things, to settle the point +of etiquette between the two; and to assign a reason, why the authors of +Kings and of Chronicles have treated those prophets, whom, in the former +part of the 'Age of Reason,' I have considered as poets, with as much +degrading silence as any historian of the present day would treat Peter +Pindar. + +I have one more observation to make on the book of Chronicles; after +which I shall pass on to review the remaining books of the Bible. + +In my observations on the book of Genesis, I have quoted a passage from +xxxvi. 31, which evidently refers to a time, after that kings began to +reign over the children of Israel; and I have shown that as this +verse is verbatim the same as in 1 Chronicles i. 43, where it stands +consistently with the order of history, which in Genesis it does not, +that the verse in Genesis, and a great part of the 36th chapter, have +been taken from Chronicles; and that the book of Genesis, though it is +placed first in the Bible, and ascribed to Moses, has been manufactured +by some unknown person, after the book of Chronicles was written, which +was not until at least eight hundred and sixty years after the time of +Moses. + +The evidence I proceed by to substantiate this, is regular, and has in +it but two stages. First, as I have already stated, that the passage in +Genesis refers itself for time to Chronicles; secondly, that the book +of Chronicles, to which this passage refers itself, was not begun to be +written until at least eight hundred and sixty years after the time of +Moses. To prove this, we have only to look into 1 Chronicles iii. 15, +where the writer, in giving the genealogy of the descendants of +David, mentions Zedekiah; and it was in the time of Zedekiah that +Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem, B.C. 588, and consequently more than +860 years after Moses. Those who have superstitiously boasted of the +antiquity of the Bible, and particularly of the books ascribed to Moses, +have done it without examination, and without any other authority +than that of one credulous man telling it to another: for, so far as +historical and chronological evidence applies, the very first book in +the Bible is not so ancient as the book of Homer, by more than three +hundred years, and is about the same age with AEsop's Fables. + +I am not contending for the morality of Homer; on the contrary, I think +it a book of false glory, and tending to inspire immoral and mischievous +notions of honour; and with respect to AEsop, though the moral is in +general just, the fable is often cruel; and the cruelty of the fable +does more injury to the heart, especially in a child, than the moral +does good to the judgment. + +Having now dismissed Kings and Chronicles, I come to the next in course, +the book of Ezra. + +As one proof, among others I shall produce to shew the disorder in which +this pretended word of God, the Bible, has been put together, and the +uncertainty of who the authors were, we have only to look at the first +three verses in Ezra, and the last two in 2 Chronicles; for by what kind +of cutting and shuffling has it been that the first three verses in Ezra +should be the last two verses in 2 Chronicles, or that the last two in 2 +Chronicles should be the first three in Ezra? Either the authors did not +know their own works or the compilers did not know the authors. + +Last Two Verses of 2 Chronicles. + +Ver. 22. Now in the first year of Cyrus, King of Persia, that the word +of the Lord, spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah, might be accomplished, +the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia, that he made +a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, +saying. + +earth hath the Lord God of heaven given me; and he hath charged me to +build him an house in Jerusalem which is in Judah. Who is there among +you of all his people? the Lord his God be with him, and let him go up. +*** + +First Three Verses of Ezra. + +Ver. 1. Now in the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, that the word of +the Lord, by the mouth of Jeremiah, might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred +up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia, that he made a proclamation +throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying. + +2. Thus saith Cyrus, king of Persia, The Lord God of heaven hath given +me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him an +house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. + +3. Who is there among you of all his people? his God be with him, and +let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of +the Lord God of Israel (he is the God) which is in Jerusalem. + +*** The last verse in Chronicles is broken abruptly, and ends in the +middle of the phrase with the word 'up' without signifying to what +place. This abrupt break, and the appearance of the same verses in +different books, show as I have already said, the disorder and ignorance +in which the Bible has been put together, and that the compilers of +it had no authority for what they were doing, nor we any authority for +believing what they have done. [NOTE I observed, as I passed along, +several broken and senseless passages in the Bible, without thinking +them of consequence enough to be introduced in the body of the work; +such as that, 1 Samuel xiii. 1, where it is said, "Saul reigned one +year; and when he had reigned two years over Israel, Saul chose him +three thousand men," &c. The first part of the verse, that Saul reigned +one year has no sense, since it does not tell us what Saul did, nor +say any thing of what happened at the end of that one year; and it is, +besides, mere absurdity to say he reigned one year, when the very +next phrase says he had reigned two for if he had reigned two, it was +impossible not to have reigned one. + +Another instance occurs in Joshua v. where the writer tells us a story +of an angel (for such the table of contents at the head of the chapter +calls him) appearing unto Joshua; and the story ends abruptly, and +without any conclusion. The story is as follows:--Ver. 13. "And it came +to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and +looked, and behold there stood a man over against him with his sword +drawn in his hand; and Joshua went unto him and said unto him, Art thou +for us, or for our adversaries?" Verse 14, "And he said, Nay; but as +captain of the host of the Lord am I now come. And Joshua fell on his +face to the earth, and did worship and said unto him, What saith my Lord +unto his servant?" Verse 15, "And the captain of the Lord's host said +unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon +thou standeth is holy. And Joshua did so."--And what then? nothing: for +here the story ends, and the chapter too. + +Either this story is broken off in the middle, or it is a story told +by some Jewish humourist in ridicule of Joshua's pretended mission from +God, and the compilers of the Bible, not perceiving the design of +the story, have told it as a serious matter. As a story of humour and +ridicule it has a great deal of point; for it pompously introduces an +angel in the figure of a man, with a drawn sword in his hand, before +whom Joshua falls on his face to the earth, and worships (which is +contrary to their second commandment;) and then, this most important +embassy from heaven ends in telling Joshua to pull off his shoe. It +might as well have told him to pull up his breeches. + +It is certain, however, that the Jews did not credit every thing their +leaders told them, as appears from the cavalier manner in which they +speak of Moses, when he was gone into the mount. As for this Moses, say +they, we wot not what is become of him. Exod. xxxii. 1.--Author. + +The only thing that has any appearance of certainty in the book of Ezra +is the time in which it was written, which was immediately after the +return of the Jews from the Babylonian captivity, about B.C. 536. Ezra +(who, according to the Jewish commentators, is the same person as is +called Esdras in the Apocrypha) was one of the persons who returned, and +who, it is probable, wrote the account of that affair. Nebemiah, whose +book follows next to Ezra, was another of the returned persons; and who, +it is also probable, wrote the account of the same affair, in the book +that bears his name. But those accounts are nothing to us, nor to any +other person, unless it be to the Jews, as a part of the history of +their nation; and there is just as much of the word of God in those +books as there is in any of the histories of France, or Rapin's history +of England, or the history of any other country. + +But even in matters of historical record, neither of those writers are +to be depended upon. In Ezra ii., the writer gives a list of the tribes +and families, and of the precise number of souls of each, that returned +from Babylon to Jerusalem; and this enrolment of the persons so returned +appears to have been one of the principal objects for writing the +book; but in this there is an error that destroys the intention of the +undertaking. + +The writer begins his enrolment in the following manner (ii. 3): "The +children of Parosh, two thousand one hundred seventy and four." Ver. 4, +"The children of Shephatiah, three hundred seventy and two." And in this +manner he proceeds through all the families; and in the 64th verse, he +makes a total, and says, the whole congregation together was forty and +two thousand three hundred and threescore. + +But whoever will take the trouble of casting up the several particulars, +will find that the total is but 29,818; so that the error is 12,542. +What certainty then can there be in the Bible for any thing? + +[Here Mr. Paine includes the long list of numbers from the Bible of all +the children listed and the total thereof. This can be had directly from +the Bible.] + +Nehemiah, in like manner, gives a list of the returned families, and +of the number of each family. He begins as in Ezra, by saying (vii. 8): +"The children of Parosh, two thousand three hundred and seventy-two;" +and so on through all the families. (The list differs in several of the +particulars from that of Ezra.) In ver. 66, Nehemiah makes a total, and +says, as Ezra had said, "The whole congregation together was forty and +two thousand three hundred and threescore." But the particulars of this +list make a total but of 31,089, so that the error here is 11,271. These +writers may do well enough for Bible-makers, but not for any thing where +truth and exactness is necessary. + +The next book in course is the book of Esther. If Madam Esther thought +it any honour to offer herself as a kept mistress to Ahasuerus, or as a +rival to Queen Vashti, who had refused to come to a drunken king in the +midst of a drunken company, to be made a show of, (for the account +says, they had been drinking seven days, and were merry,) let Esther and +Mordecai look to that, it is no business of ours, at least it is none of +mine; besides which, the story has a great deal the appearance of being +fabulous, and is also anonymous. I pass on to the book of Job. + +The book of Job differs in character from all the books we have hitherto +passed over. Treachery and murder make no part of this book; it is the +meditations of a mind strongly impressed with the vicissitudes of human +life, and by turns sinking under, and struggling against the pressure. +It is a highly wrought composition, between willing submission and +involuntary discontent; and shows man, as he sometimes is, more disposed +to be resigned than he is capable of being. Patience has but a small +share in the character of the person of whom the book treats; on the +contrary, his grief is often impetuous; but he still endeavours to keep +a guard upon it, and seems determined, in the midst of accumulating +ills, to impose upon himself the hard duty of contentment. + +I have spoken in a respectful manner of the book of Job in the former +part of the 'Age of Reason,' but without knowing at that time what I +have learned since; which is, that from all the evidence that can be +collected, the book of Job does not belong to the Bible. + +I have seen the opinion of two Hebrew commentators, Abenezra and +Spinoza, upon this subject; they both say that the book of Job carries +no internal evidence of being an Hebrew book; that the genius of the +composition, and the drama of the piece, are not Hebrew; that it has +been translated from another language into Hebrew, and that the author +of the book was a Gentile; that the character represented under the name +of Satan (which is the first and only time this name is mentioned in +the Bible) [In a later work Paine notes that in "the Bible" (by which +he always means the Old Testament alone) the word Satan occurs also in 1 +Chron. xxi. 1, and remarks that the action there ascribed to Satan is +in 2 Sam. xxiv. 1, attributed to Jehovah ("Essay on Dreams"). In these +places, however, and in Ps. cix. 6, Satan means "adversary," and is so +translated (A.S. version) in 2 Sam. xix. 22, and 1 Kings v. 4, xi. 25. +As a proper name, with the article, Satan appears in the Old Testament +only in Job and in Zech. iii. 1, 2. But the authenticity of the passage +in Zechariah has been questioned, and it may be that in finding the +proper name of Satan in Job alone, Paine was following some opinion +met with in one of the authorities whose comments are condensed in his +paragraph.--Editor.] does not correspond to any Hebrew idea; and that +the two convocations which the Deity is supposed to have made of those +whom the poem calls sons of God, and the familiarity which this supposed +Satan is stated to have with the Deity, are in the same case. + +It may also be observed, that the book shows itself to be the production +of a mind cultivated in science, which the Jews, so far from being +famous for, were very ignorant of. The allusions to objects of natural +philosophy are frequent and strong, and are of a different cast to any +thing in the books known to be Hebrew. The astronomical names, Pleiades, +Orion, and Arcturus, are Greek and not Hebrew names, and it does not +appear from any thing that is to be found in the Bible that the Jews +knew any thing of astronomy, or that they studied it, they had no +translation of those names into their own language, but adopted the +names as they found them in the poem. [Paine's Jewish critic, David +Levi, fastened on this slip ("Defence of the Old Testament," 1797, p. +152). In the original the names are Ash (Arcturus), Kesil' (Orion), +Kimah' (Pleiades), though the identifications of the constellations in +the A.S.V. have been questioned.--Editor.] + +That the Jews did translate the literary productions of the Gentile +nations into the Hebrew language, and mix them with their own, is not a +matter of doubt; Proverbs xxxi. i, is an evidence of this: it is there +said, The word of king Lemuel, the prophecy which his mother taught him. +This verse stands as a preface to the proverbs that follow, and which +are not the proverbs of Solomon, but of Lemuel; and this Lemuel was not +one of the kings of Israel, nor of Judah, but of some other country, and +consequently a Gentile. The Jews however have adopted his proverbs; and +as they cannot give any account who the author of the book of Job was, +nor how they came by the book, and as it differs in character from the +Hebrew writings, and stands totally unconnected with every other +book and chapter in the Bible before it and after it, it has all the +circumstantial evidence of being originally a book of the Gentiles. +[The prayer known by the name of Agur's Prayer, in Proverbs +xxx.,--immediately preceding the proverbs of Lemuel,--and which is the +only sensible, well-conceived, and well-expressed prayer in the Bible, +has much the appearance of being a prayer taken from the Gentiles. +The name of Agur occurs on no other occasion than this; and he is +introduced, together with the prayer ascribed to him, in the same +manner, and nearly in the same words, that Lemuel and his proverbs are +introduced in the chapter that follows. The first verse says, "The words +of Agur, the son of Jakeh, even the prophecy:" here the word prophecy +is used with the same application it has in the following chapter of +Lemuel, unconnected with anything of prediction. The prayer of Agur is +in the 8th and 9th verses, "Remove far from me vanity and lies; give +me neither riches nor poverty, but feed me with food convenient for me; +lest I be full and deny thee and say, Who is the Lord? or lest I be poor +and steal, and take the name of my God in vain." This has not any of the +marks of being a Jewish prayer, for the Jews never prayed but when +they were in trouble, and never for anything but victory, vengeance, +or riches.--Author. (Prov. xxx. 1, and xxxi. 1) the word "prophecy" in +these verses is translated "oracle" or "burden" (marg.) in the revised +version.--The prayer of Agur was quoted by Paine in his plea for the +officers of Excise, 1772.--Editor.] + +The Bible-makers, and those regulators of time, the Bible chronologists, +appear to have been at a loss where to place and how to dispose of +the book of Job; for it contains no one historical circumstance, nor +allusion to any, that might serve to determine its place in the Bible. +But it would not have answered the purpose of these men to have informed +the world of their ignorance; and, therefore, they have affixed it to +the aera of B.C. 1520, which is during the time the Israelites were in +Egypt, and for which they have just as much authority and no more than +I should have for saying it was a thousand years before that period. The +probability however is, that it is older than any book in the Bible; and +it is the only one that can be read without indignation or disgust. + +We know nothing of what the ancient Gentile world (as it is called) was +before the time of the Jews, whose practice has been to calumniate and +blacken the character of all other nations; and it is from the Jewish +accounts that we have learned to call them heathens. But, as far as +we know to the contrary, they were a just and moral people, and not +addicted, like the Jews, to cruelty and revenge, but of whose profession +of faith we are unacquainted. It appears to have been their custom +to personify both virtue and vice by statues and images, as is done +now-a-days both by statuary and by painting; but it does not follow from +this that they worshipped them any more than we do.--I pass on to the +book of, + +Psalms, of which it is not necessary to make much observation. Some of +them are moral, and others are very revengeful; and the greater part +relates to certain local circumstances of the Jewish nation at the time +they were written, with which we have nothing to do. It is, however, +an error or an imposition to call them the Psalms of David; they are a +collection, as song-books are now-a-days, from different song-writers, +who lived at different times. The 137th Psalm could not have been +written till more than 400 years after the time of David, because it +is written in commemoration of an event, the captivity of the Jews in +Babylon, which did not happen till that distance of time. "By the rivers +of Babylon we sat down; yea, we wept when we remembered Zion. We hanged +our harps upon the willows, in the midst thereof; for there they that +carried us away captive required of us a song, saying, sing us one +of the songs of Zion." As a man would say to an American, or to a +Frenchman, or to an Englishman, sing us one of your American songs, or +your French songs, or your English songs. This remark, with respect to +the time this psalm was written, is of no other use than to show (among +others already mentioned) the general imposition the world has been +under with respect to the authors of the Bible. No regard has been paid +to time, place, and circumstance; and the names of persons have been +affixed to the several books which it was as impossible they should +write, as that a man should walk in procession at his own funeral. + +The Book of Proverbs. These, like the Psalms, are a collection, and that +from authors belonging to other nations than those of the Jewish nation, +as I have shewn in the observations upon the book of Job; besides which, +some of the Proverbs ascribed to Solomon did not appear till two hundred +and fifty years after the death of Solomon; for it is said in xxv. i, +"These are also proverbs of Solomon which the men of Hezekiah, king of +Judah, copied out." It was two hundred and fifty years from the time of +Solomon to the time of Hezekiah. When a man is famous and his name is +abroad he is made the putative father of things he never said or did; +and this, most probably, has been the case with Solomon. It appears to +have been the fashion of that day to make proverbs, as it is now to +make jest-books, and father them upon those who never saw them. [A "Tom +Paine's Jest Book" had appeared in London with little or nothing of +Paine in it.--Editor.] + +The book of Ecclesiastes, or the Preacher, is also ascribed to Solomon, +and that with much reason, if not with truth. It is written as the +solitary reflections of a worn-out debauchee, such as Solomon was, who +looking back on scenes he can no longer enjoy, cries out All is Vanity! +A great deal of the metaphor and of the sentiment is obscure, most +probably by translation; but enough is left to show they were strongly +pointed in the original. [Those that look out of the window shall +be darkened, is an obscure figure in translation for loss of +sight.--Author.] From what is transmitted to us of the character of +Solomon, he was witty, ostentatious, dissolute, and at last melancholy. +He lived fast, and died, tired of the world, at the age of fifty-eight +years. + +Seven hundred wives, and three hundred concubines, are worse than +none; and, however it may carry with it the appearance of heightened +enjoyment, it defeats all the felicity of affection, by leaving it no +point to fix upon; divided love is never happy. This was the case +with Solomon; and if he could not, with all his pretensions to wisdom, +discover it beforehand, he merited, unpitied, the mortification he +afterwards endured. In this point of view, his preaching is unnecessary, +because, to know the consequences, it is only necessary to know the +cause. Seven hundred wives, and three hundred concubines would have +stood in place of the whole book. It was needless after this to say that +all was vanity and vexation of spirit; for it is impossible to derive +happiness from the company of those whom we deprive of happiness. + +To be happy in old age it is necessary that we accustom ourselves to +objects that can accompany the mind all the way through life, and that +we take the rest as good in their day. The mere man of pleasure is +miserable in old age; and the mere drudge in business is but little +better: whereas, natural philosophy, mathematical and mechanical +science, are a continual source of tranquil pleasure, and in spite of +the gloomy dogmas of priests, and of superstition, the study of those +things is the study of the true theology; it teaches man to know and to +admire the Creator, for the principles of science are in the creation, +and are unchangeable, and of divine origin. + +Those who knew Benjamin Franklin will recollect, that his mind was +ever young; his temper ever serene; science, that never grows grey, was +always his mistress. He was never without an object; for when we cease +to have an object we become like an invalid in an hospital waiting for +death. + +Solomon's Songs, amorous and foolish enough, but which wrinkled +fanaticism has called divine.--The compilers of the Bible have placed +these songs after the book of Ecclesiastes; and the chronologists have +affixed to them the aera of B.C. 1014, at which time Solomon, according +to the same chronology, was nineteen years of age, and was then +forming his seraglio of wives and concubines. The Bible-makers and +the chronologists should have managed this matter a little better, +and either have said nothing about the time, or chosen a time less +inconsistent with the supposed divinity of those songs; for Solomon was +then in the honey-moon of one thousand debaucheries. + +It should also have occurred to them, that as he wrote, if he did +write, the book of Ecclesiastes, long after these songs, and in which +he exclaims that all is vanity and vexation of spirit, that he included +those songs in that description. This is the more probable, because he +says, or somebody for him, Ecclesiastes ii. 8, I got me men-singers, +and women-singers [most probably to sing those songs], and musical +instruments of all sorts; and behold (Ver. ii), "all was vanity and +vexation of spirit." The compilers however have done their work but by +halves; for as they have given us the songs they should have given us +the tunes, that we might sing them. + +The books called the books of the Prophets fill up all the remaining +part of the Bible; they are sixteen in number, beginning with Isaiah and +ending with Malachi, of which I have given a list in the observations +upon Chronicles. Of these sixteen prophets, all of whom except the +last three lived within the time the books of Kings and Chronicles were +written, two only, Isaiah and Jeremiah, are mentioned in the history of +those books. I shall begin with those two, reserving, what I have to say +on the general character of the men called prophets to another part of +the work. + +Whoever will take the trouble of reading the book ascribed to Isaiah, +will find it one of the most wild and disorderly compositions ever put +together; it has neither beginning, middle, nor end; and, except a short +historical part, and a few sketches of history in the first two or +three chapters, is one continued incoherent, bombastical rant, full of +extravagant metaphor, without application, and destitute of meaning; a +school-boy would scarcely have been excusable for writing such stuff; +it is (at least in translation) that kind of composition and false taste +that is properly called prose run mad. + +The historical part begins at chapter xxxvi., and is continued to the +end of chapter xxxix. It relates some matters that are said to have +passed during the reign of Hezekiah, king of Judah, at which time Isaiah +lived. This fragment of history begins and ends abruptly; it has not the +least connection with the chapter that precedes it, nor with that which +follows it, nor with any other in the book. It is probable that +Isaiah wrote this fragment himself, because he was an actor in the +circumstances it treats of; but except this part there are scarcely two +chapters that have any connection with each other. One is entitled, at +the beginning of the first verse, the burden of Babylon; another, the +burden of Moab; another, the burden of Damascus; another, the burden of +Egypt; another, the burden of the Desert of the Sea; another, the burden +of the Valley of Vision: as you would say the story of the Knight of the +Burning Mountain, the story of Cinderella, or the glassen slipper, the +story of the Sleeping Beauty in the Wood, etc., etc. + + +I have already shown, in the instance of the last two verses of 2 +Chronicles, and the first three in Ezra, that the compilers of the Bible +mixed and confounded the writings of different authors with each other; +which alone, were there no other cause, is sufficient to destroy the +authenticity of an compilation, because it is more than presumptive +evidence that the compilers are ignorant who the authors were. A very +glaring instance of this occurs in the book ascribed to Isaiah: the +latter part of the 44th chapter, and the beginning of the 45th, so far +from having been written by Isaiah, could only have been written by some +person who lived at least an hundred and fifty years after Isaiah was +dead. + +These chapters are a compliment to Cyrus, who permitted the Jews to +return to Jerusalem from the Babylonian captivity, to rebuild Jerusalem +and the temple, as is stated in Ezra. The last verse of the 44th +chapter, and the beginning of the 45th [Isaiah] are in the following +words: "That saith of Cyrus, he is my shepherd, and shall perform all +my pleasure; even saying to Jerusalem, thou shalt be built; and to +the temple thy foundations shall be laid: thus saith the Lord to his +enointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden to subdue nations +before him, and I will loose the loins of kings to open before him the +two-leaved gates, and the gates shall not be shut; I will go before +thee," etc. + +What audacity of church and priestly ignorance it is to impose this book +upon the world as the writing of Isaiah, when Isaiah, according to their +own chronology, died soon after the death of Hezekiah, which was +B.C. 698; and the decree of Cyrus, in favour of the Jews returning to +Jerusalem, was, according to the same chronology, B.C. 536; which is a +distance of time between the two of 162 years. I do not suppose that the +compilers of the Bible made these books, but rather that they picked up +some loose, anonymous essays, and put them together under the names +of such authors as best suited their purpose. They have encouraged the +imposition, which is next to inventing it; for it was impossible but +they must have observed it. + +When we see the studied craft of the scripture-makers, in making +every part of this romantic book of school-boy's eloquence bend to the +monstrous idea of a Son of God, begotten by a ghost on the body of a +virgin, there is no imposition we are not justified in suspecting them +of. Every phrase and circumstance are marked with the barbarous hand of +superstitious torture, and forced into meanings it was impossible they +could have. The head of every chapter, and the top of every page, are +blazoned with the names of Christ and the Church, that the unwary reader +might suck in the error before he began to read. + +Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son (Isa. vii. I4), has been +interpreted to mean the person called Jesus Christ, and his mother Mary, +and has been echoed through christendom for more than a thousand years; +and such has been the rage of this opinion, that scarcely a spot in +it but has been stained with blood and marked with desolation in +consequence of it. Though it is not my intention to enter into +controversy on subjects of this kind, but to confine myself to show +that the Bible is spurious,--and thus, by taking away the foundation, to +overthrow at once the whole structure of superstition raised thereon,--I +will however stop a moment to expose the fallacious application of this +passage. + +Whether Isaiah was playing a trick with Ahaz, king of Judah, to whom +this passage is spoken, is no business of mine; I mean only to show +the misapplication of the passage, and that it has no more reference +to Christ and his mother, than it has to me and my mother. The story is +simply this: + +The king of Syria and the king of Israel (I have already mentioned that +the Jews were split into two nations, one of which was called Judah, the +capital of which was Jerusalem, and the other Israel) made war jointly +against Ahaz, king of Judah, and marched their armies towards Jerusalem. +Ahaz and his people became alarmed, and the account says (Is. vii. 2), +Their hearts were moved as the trees of the wood are moved with the +wind. + +In this situation of things, Isaiah addresses himself to Ahaz, and +assures him in the name of the Lord (the cant phrase of all the +prophets) that these two kings should not succeed against him; and to +satisfy Ahaz that this should be the case, tells him to ask a sign. +This, the account says, Ahaz declined doing; giving as a reason that he +would not tempt the Lord; upon which Isaiah, who is the speaker, says, +ver. 14, "Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; behold a +virgin shall conceive and bear a son;" and the 16th verse says, "And +before this child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, +the land which thou abhorrest or dreadest [meaning Syria and the kingdom +of Israel] shall be forsaken of both her kings." Here then was the sign, +and the time limited for the completion of the assurance or promise; +namely, before this child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the +good. + +Isaiah having committed himself thus far, it became necessary to him, +in order to avoid the imputation of being a false prophet, and the +consequences thereof, to take measures to make this sign appear. It +certainly was not a difficult thing, in any time of the world, to find +a girl with child, or to make her so; and perhaps Isaiah knew of one +beforehand; for I do not suppose that the prophets of that day were any +more to be trusted than the priests of this: be that, however, as it +may, he says in the next chapter, ver. 2, "And I took unto me faithful +witnesses to record, Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of +Jeberechiah, and I went unto the prophetess, and she conceived and bare +a son." + +Here then is the whole story, foolish as it is, of this child and this +virgin; and it is upon the barefaced perversion of this story that the +book of Matthew, and the impudence and sordid interest of priests in +later times, have founded a theory, which they call the gospel; and +have applied this story to signify the person they call Jesus Christ; +begotten, they say, by a ghost, whom they call holy, on the body of +a woman engaged in marriage, and afterwards married, whom they call a +virgin, seven hundred years after this foolish story was told; a theory +which, speaking for myself, I hesitate not to believe, and to say, is as +fabulous and as false as God is true. [In Is. vii. 14, it is said that +the child should be called Immanuel; but this name was not given to +either of the children, otherwise than as a character, which the word +signifies. That of the prophetess was called Maher-shalalhash-baz, and +that of Mary was called Jesus.--Author.] + +But to show the imposition and falsehood of Isaiah we have only to +attend to the sequel of this story; which, though it is passed over in +silence in the book of Isaiah, is related in 2 Chronicles, xxviii; +and which is, that instead of these two kings failing in their attempt +against Ahaz, king of Judah, as Isaiah had pretended to foretel in the +name of the Lord, they succeeded: Ahaz was defeated and destroyed; an +hundred and twenty thousand of his people were slaughtered; Jerusalem +was plundered, and two hundred thousand women and sons and daughters +carried into captivity. Thus much for this lying prophet and imposter +Isaiah, and the book of falsehoods that bears his name. I pass on to the +book of Jeremiah. This prophet, as he is called, lived in the time that +Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem, in the reign of Zedekiah, the last +king of Judah; and the suspicion was strong against him that he was +a traitor in the interest of Nebuchadnezzar. Every thing relating to +Jeremiah shows him to have been a man of an equivocal character: in +his metaphor of the potter and the clay, (ch. xviii.) he guards his +prognostications in such a crafty manner as always to leave himself a +door to escape by, in case the event should be contrary to what he had +predicted. In the 7th and 8th verses he makes the Almighty to say, +"At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a +kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and destroy it, if that nation, +against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent me +of the evil that I thought to do unto them." Here was a proviso against +one side of the case: now for the other side. Verses 9 and 10, "At what +instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to +build and to plant it, if it do evil in my sight, that it obey not +my voice, then I will repent me of the good wherewith I said I would +benefit them." Here is a proviso against the other side; and, according +to this plan of prophesying, a prophet could never be wrong, however +mistaken the Almighty might be. This sort of absurd subterfuge, and +this manner of speaking of the Almighty, as one would speak of a man, is +consistent with nothing but the stupidity of the Bible. + +As to the authenticity of the book, it is only necessary to read it in +order to decide positively that, though some passages recorded therein +may have been spoken by Jeremiah, he is not the author of the book. The +historical parts, if they can be called by that name, are in the most +confused condition; the same events are several times repeated, and that +in a manner different, and sometimes in contradiction to each other; +and this disorder runs even to the last chapter, where the history, upon +which the greater part of the book has been employed, begins anew, and +ends abruptly. The book has all the appearance of being a medley of +unconnected anecdotes respecting persons and things of that time, +collected together in the same rude manner as if the various and +contradictory accounts that are to be found in a bundle of newspapers, +respecting persons and things of the present day, were put together +without date, order, or explanation. I will give two or three examples +of this kind. + +It appears, from the account of chapter xxxvii. that the army of +Nebuchadnezzer, which is called the army of the Chaldeans, had besieged +Jerusalem some time; and on their hearing that the army of Pharaoh of +Egypt was marching against them, they raised the siege and retreated for +a time. It may here be proper to mention, in order to understand this +confused history, that Nebuchadnezzar had besieged and taken Jerusalem +during the reign of Jehoakim, the redecessor of Zedekiah; and that it +was Nebuchadnezzar who had make Zedekiah king, or rather viceroy; and +that this second siege, of which the book of Jeremiah treats, was in +consequence of the revolt of Zedekiah against Nebuchadnezzar. This +will in some measure account for the suspicion that affixes +itself to Jeremiah of being a traitor, and in the interest of +Nebuchadnezzar,--whom Jeremiah calls, xliii. 10, the servant of God. + +Chapter xxxvii. 11-13, says, "And it came to pass, that, when the army +of the Chaldeans was broken up from Jerusalem, for fear of Pharaoh's +army, that Jeremiah went forth out of Jerusalem, to go (as this account +states) into the land of Benjamin, to separate himself thence in the +midst of the people; and when he was in the gate of Benjamin a captain +of the ward was there, whose name was Irijah... and he took Jeremiah the +prophet, saying, Thou fallest away to the Chaldeans; then Jeremiah said, +It is false; I fall not away to the Chaldeans." Jeremiah being thus +stopt and accused, was, after being examined, committed to prison, on +suspicion of being a traitor, where he remained, as is stated in the +last verse of this chapter. + +But the next chapter gives an account of the imprisonment of Jeremiah, +which has no connection with this account, but ascribes his imprisonment +to another circumstance, and for which we must go back to chapter +xxi. It is there stated, ver. 1, that Zedekiah sent Pashur the son of +Malchiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, to Jeremiah, +to enquire of him concerning Nebuchadnezzar, whose army was then before +Jerusalem; and Jeremiah said to them, ver. 8, "Thus saith the Lord, +Behold I set before you the way of life, and the way of death; he that +abideth in this city shall die by the sword and by the famine, and by +the pestilence; but he that goeth out and falleth to the Chaldeans that +besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be unto him for a prey." + +This interview and conference breaks off abruptly at the end of the 10th +verse of chapter xxi.; and such is the disorder of this book that we +have to pass over sixteen chapters upon various subjects, in order to +come at the continuation and event of this conference; and this brings +us to the first verse of chapter xxxviii., as I have just mentioned. The +chapter opens with saying, "Then Shaphatiah, the son of Mattan, Gedaliah +the son of Pashur, and Jucal the son of Shelemiah, and Pashur the son of +Malchiah, (here are more persons mentioned than in chapter xxi.) heard +the words that Jeremiah spoke unto all the people, saying, Thus saith +the Lord, He that remaineth in this city, shall die by the sword, by +famine, and by the pestilence; but he that goeth forth to the Chaldeans +shall live; for he shall have his life for a prey, and shall live"; +[which are the words of the conference;] therefore, (say they to +Zedekiah,) "We beseech thee, let this man be put to death, for thus he +weakeneth the hands of the men of war that remain in this city, and the +hands of all the people, in speaking such words unto them; for this man +seeketh not the welfare of the people, but the hurt:" and at the 6th +verse it is said, "Then they took Jeremiah, and put him into the dungeon +of Malchiah." + +These two accounts are different and contradictory. The one ascribes his +imprisonment to his attempt to escape out of the city; the other to his +preaching and prophesying in the city; the one to his being seized by +the guard at the gate; the other to his being accused before Zedekiah +by the conferees. [I observed two chapters in I Samuel (xvi. and xvii.) +that contradict each other with respect to David, and the manner he +became acquainted with Saul; as Jeremiah xxxvii. and xxxviii. contradict +each other with respect to the cause of Jeremiah's imprisonment. + +In 1 Samuel, xvi., it is said, that an evil spirit of God troubled Saul, +and that his servants advised him (as a remedy) "to seek out a man who +was a cunning player upon the harp." And Saul said, ver. 17, "Provide me +now a man that can play well, and bring him to me. Then answered one +of his servants, and said, Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse, the +Bethlehemite, that is cunning in playing, and a mighty man, and a man of +war, and prudent in matters, and a comely person, and the Lord is with +him; wherefore Saul sent messengers unto Jesse, and said, Send me David, +thy son. And (verse 21) David came to Saul, and stood before him, and +he loved him greatly, and he became his armour-bearer; and when the +evil spirit from God was upon Saul, (verse 23) David took his harp, and +played with his hand, and Saul was refreshed, and was well." + +But the next chapter (xvii.) gives an account, all different to this, of +the manner that Saul and David became acquainted. Here it is ascribed +to David's encounter with Goliah, when David was sent by his father to +carry provision to his brethren in the camp. In the 55th verse of +this chapter it is said, "And when Saul saw David go forth against the +Philistine (Goliah) he said to Abner, the captain of the host, Abner, +whose son is this youth? And Abner said, As thy soul liveth, 0 king, I +cannot tell. And the king said, Enquire thou whose son the stripling is. +And as David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, Abner took +him and brought him before Saul, with the head of the Philistine in his +hand; and Saul said unto him, Whose son art thou, thou young man? And +David answered, I am the son of thy servant, Jesse, the Betblehemite," +These two accounts belie each other, because each of them supposes Saul +and David not to have known each other before. This book, the Bible, is +too ridiculous for criticism.--Author.] + +In the next chapter (Jer. xxxix.) we have another instance of the +disordered state of this book; for notwithstanding the siege of the +city by Nebuchadnezzar has been the subject of several of the preceding +chapters, particularly xxxvii. and xxxviii., chapter xxxix. begins as +if not a word had been said upon the subject, and as if the reader was +still to be informed of every particular respecting it; for it begins +with saying, ver. 1, "In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in +the tenth month, came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and all his army, +against Jerusalem, and besieged it," etc. + +But the instance in the last chapter (lii.) is still more glaring; for +though the story has been told over and over again, this chapter still +supposes the reader not to know anything of it, for it begins by saying, +ver. i, "Zedekiah was one and twenty years old when he began to reign, +and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem, and his mother's name was +Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah." (Ver. 4,) "And it came +to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, that +Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against +Jerusalem, and pitched against it, and built forts against it," etc. + +It is not possible that any one man, and more particularly Jeremiah, +could have been the writer of this book. The errors are such as could +not have been committed by any person sitting down to compose a work. +Were I, or any other man, to write in such a disordered manner, no +body would read what was written, and every body would suppose that the +writer was in a state of insanity. The only way, therefore, to +account for the disorder is, that the book is a medley of detached +unauthenticated anecdotes, put together by some stupid book-maker, under +the name of Jeremiah; because many of them refer to him, and to the +circumstances of the times he lived in. + +Of the duplicity, and of the false predictions of Jeremiah, I shall +mention two instances, and then proceed to review the remainder of the +Bible. + +It appears from chapter xxxviii. that when Jeremiah was in prison, +Zedekiah sent for him, and at this interview, which was private, +Jeremiah pressed it strongly on Zedekiah to surrender himself to the +enemy. "If," says he, (ver. 17,) "thou wilt assuredly go forth unto the +king of Babylon's princes, then thy soul shall live," etc. Zedekiah was +apprehensive that what passed at this conference should be known; and +he said to Jeremiah, (ver. 25,) "If the princes [meaning those of Judah] +hear that I have talked with thee, and they come unto thee, and say unto +thee, Declare unto us now what thou hast said unto the king; hide it not +from us, and we will not put thee to death; and also what the king said +unto thee; then thou shalt say unto them, I presented my supplication +before the king that he would not cause me to return to Jonathan's +house, to die there. Then came all the princes unto Jeremiah, and +asked him, and "he told them according to all the words the king had +commanded." Thus, this man of God, as he is called, could tell a lie, or +very strongly prevaricate, when he supposed it would answer his purpose; +for certainly he did not go to Zedekiah to make this supplication, +neither did he make it; he went because he was sent for, and he +employed that opportunity to advise Zedekiah to surrender himself to +Nebuchadnezzar. + +In chapter xxxiv. 2-5, is a prophecy of Jeremiah to Zedekiah in these +words: "Thus saith the Lord, Behold I will give this city into the hand +of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it with fire; and thou +shalt not escape out of his hand, but thou shalt surely be taken, and +delivered into his hand; and thine eyes shall behold the eyes of the +king of Babylon, and he shall speak with thee mouth to mouth, and thou +shalt go to Babylon. Yet hear the word of the Lord; O Zedekiah, king, +of Judah, thus saith the Lord, Thou shalt not die by the sword, but thou +shalt die in Peace; and with the burnings of thy fathers, the former +kings that were before thee, so shall they burn odours for thee, and +they will lament thee, saying, Ah, Lord! for I have pronounced the word, +saith the Lord." + +Now, instead of Zedekiah beholding the eyes of the king of Babylon, +and speaking with him mouth to mouth, and dying in peace, and with the +burning of odours, as at the funeral of his fathers, (as Jeremiah had +declared the Lord himself had pronounced,) the reverse, according to +chapter Iii., 10, 11 was the case; it is there said, that the king of +Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes: then he put out the +eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him in chains, and carried him to Babylon, +and put him in prison till the day of his death. + +What then can we say of these prophets, but that they are impostors and +liars? + +As for Jeremiah, he experienced none of those evils. He was taken into +favour by Nebuchadnezzar, who gave him in charge to the captain of the +guard (xxxix, 12), "Take him (said he) and look well to him, and do +him no harm; but do unto him even as he shall say unto thee." Jeremiah +joined himself afterwards to Nebuchadnezzar, and went about prophesying +for him against the Egyptians, who had marched to the relief of +Jerusalem while it was besieged. Thus much for another of the lying +prophets, and the book that bears his name. + +I have been the more particular in treating of the books ascribed to +Isaiah and Jeremiah, because those two are spoken of in the books of +Kings and Chronicles, which the others are not. The remainder of the +books ascribed to the men called prophets I shall not trouble myself +much about; but take them collectively into the observations I shall +offer on the character of the men styled prophets. + +In the former part of the 'Age of Reason,' I have said that the word +prophet was the Bible-word for poet, and that the flights and metaphors +of Jewish poets have been foolishly erected into what are now called +prophecies. I am sufficiently justified in this opinion, not only +because the books called the prophecies are written in poetical +language, but because there is no word in the Bible, except it be the +word prophet, that describes what we mean by a poet. I have also said, +that the word signified a performer upon musical instruments, of which +I have given some instances; such as that of a company of prophets, +prophesying with psalteries, with tabrets, with pipes, with harps, etc., +and that Saul prophesied with them, 1 Sam. x., 5. It appears from this +passage, and from other parts in the book of Samuel, that the word +prophet was confined to signify poetry and music; for the person who was +supposed to have a visionary insight into concealed things, was not a +prophet but a seer, [I know not what is the Hebrew word that corresponds +to the word seer in English; but I observe it is translated into French +by Le Voyant, from the verb voir to see, and which means the person who +sees, or the seer.--Author.] + +[The Hebrew word for Seer, in 1 Samuel ix., transliterated, is +chozeh, the gazer, it is translated in Is. xlvii. 13, "the +stargazers."--Editor.] (i Sam, ix. 9;) and it was not till after the +word seer went out of use (which most probably was when Saul banished +those he called wizards) that the profession of the seer, or the art of +seeing, became incorporated into the word prophet. + +According to the modern meaning of the word prophet and prophesying, it +signifies foretelling events to a great distance of time; and it became +necessary to the inventors of the gospel to give it this latitude of +meaning, in order to apply or to stretch what they call the prophecies +of the Old Testament, to the times of the New. But according to the Old +Testament, the prophesying of the seer, and afterwards of the prophet, +so far as the meaning of the word "seer" was incorporated into that of +prophet, had reference only to things of the time then passing, or very +closely connected with it; such as the event of a battle they were going +to engage in, or of a journey, or of any enterprise they were going to +undertake, or of any circumstance then pending, or of any difficulty +they were then in; all of which had immediate reference to themselves +(as in the case already mentioned of Ahaz and Isaiah with respect to the +expression, Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son,) and not +to any distant future time. It was that kind of prophesying that +corresponds to what we call fortune-telling; such as casting nativities, +predicting riches, fortunate or unfortunate marriages, conjuring for +lost goods, etc.; and it is the fraud of the Christian church, not that +of the Jews, and the ignorance and the superstition of modern, not that +of ancient times, that elevated those poetical, musical, conjuring, +dreaming, strolling gentry, into the rank they have since had. + +But, besides this general character of all the prophets, they had also +a particular character. They were in parties, and they prophesied for +or against, according to the party they were with; as the poetical and +political writers of the present day write in defence of the party they +associate with against the other. + +After the Jews were divided into two nations, that of Judah and that of +Israel, each party had its prophets, who abused and accused each other +of being false prophets, lying prophets, impostors, etc. + +The prophets of the party of Judah prophesied against the prophets of +the party of Israel; and those of the party of Israel against those +of Judah. This party prophesying showed itself immediately on the +separation under the first two rival kings, Rehoboam and Jeroboam. The +prophet that cursed, or prophesied against the altar that Jeroboam had +built in Bethel, was of the party of Judah, where Rehoboam was king; and +he was way-laid on his return home by a prophet of the party of Israel, +who said unto him (i Kings xiii.) "Art thou the man of God that came +from Judah? and he said, I am." Then the prophet of the party of Israel +said to him "I am a prophet also, as thou art, [signifying of Judah,] +and an angel spake unto me by the word of the Lord, saying, Bring him +back with thee unto thine house, that he may eat bread and drink +water; but (says the 18th verse) he lied unto him." The event, however, +according to the story, is, that the prophet of Judah never got back +to Judah; for he was found dead on the road by the contrivance of the +prophet of Israel, who no doubt was called a true prophet by his own +party, and the prophet of Judah a lying prophet. + +In 2 Kings, iii., a story is related of prophesying or conjuring that +shews, in several particulars, the character of a prophet. Jehoshaphat +king of Judah, and Joram king of Israel, had for a while ceased their +party animosity, and entered into an alliance; and these two, together +with the king of Edom, engaged in a war against the king of Moab. After +uniting and marching their armies, the story says, they were in great +distress for water, upon which Jehoshaphat said, "Is there not here a +prophet of the Lord, that we may enquire of the Lord by him? and one of +the servants of the king of Israel said here is Elisha. [Elisha was of +the party of Judah.] And Jehoshaphat the king of Judah said, The word of +the Lord is with him." The story then says, that these three kings went +down to Elisha; and when Elisha [who, as I have said, was a Judahmite +prophet] saw the King of Israel, he said unto him, "What have I to do +with thee, get thee to the prophets of thy father and the prophets of +thy mother. Nay but, said the king of Israel, the Lord hath called these +three kings together, to deliver them into the hands of the king of +Moab," (meaning because of the distress they were in for water;) upon +which Elisha said, "As the Lord of hosts liveth before whom I stand, +surely, were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat, king +of Judah, I would not look towards thee nor see thee." Here is all +the venom and vulgarity of a party prophet. We are now to see the +performance, or manner of prophesying. + +Ver. 15. "'Bring me,' (said Elisha), 'a minstrel'; and it came to pass, +when the minstrel played, that the hand of the Lord came upon him." Here +is the farce of the conjurer. Now for the prophecy: "And Elisha said, +[singing most probably to the tune he was playing], Thus saith the Lord, +Make this valley full of ditches;" which was just telling them what +every countryman could have told them without either fiddle or farce, +that the way to get water was to dig for it. + +But as every conjuror is not famous alike for the same thing, so neither +were those prophets; for though all of them, at least those I have +spoken of, were famous for lying, some of them excelled in cursing. +Elisha, whom I have just mentioned, was a chief in this branch of +prophesying; it was he that cursed the forty-two children in the name +of the Lord, whom the two she-bears came and devoured. We are to suppose +that those children were of the party of Israel; but as those who will +curse will lie, there is just as much credit to be given to this story +of Elisha's two she-bears as there is to that of the Dragon of Wantley, +of whom it is said: + + Poor children three devoured be, + That could not with him grapple; + And at one sup he eat them up, + As a man would eat an apple. + +There was another description of men called prophets, that amused +themselves with dreams and visions; but whether by night or by day +we know not. These, if they were not quite harmless, were but little +mischievous. Of this class are, + +EZEKIEL and DANIEL; and the first question upon these books, as upon all +the others, is, Are they genuine? that is, were they written by Ezekiel +and Daniel? + +Of this there is no proof; but so far as my own opinion goes, I am more +inclined to believe they were, than that they were not. My reasons for +this opinion are as follows: First, Because those books do not contain +internal evidence to prove they were not written by Ezekiel and Daniel, +as the books ascribed to Moses, Joshua, Samuel, etc., prove they were +not written by Moses, Joshua, Samuel, etc. + +Secondly, Because they were not written till after the Babylonish +captivity began; and there is good reason to believe that not any book +in the bible was written before that period; at least it is proveable, +from the books themselves, as I have already shown, that they were not +written till after the commencement of the Jewish monarchy. + +Thirdly, Because the manner in which the books ascribed to Ezekiel and +Daniel are written, agrees with the condition these men were in at the +time of writing them. + +Had the numerous commentators and priests, who have foolishly employed +or wasted their time in pretending to expound and unriddle those books, +been carred into captivity, as Ezekiel and Daniel were, it would greatly +have improved their intellects in comprehending the reason for this mode +of writing, and have saved them the trouble of racking their invention, +as they have done to no purpose; for they would have found that +themselves would be obliged to write whatever they had to write, +respecting their own affairs, or those of their friends, or of their +country, in a concealed manner, as those men have done. + +These two books differ from all the rest; for it is only these that are +filled with accounts of dreams and visions: and this difference arose +from the situation the writers were in as prisoners of war, or prisoners +of state, in a foreign country, which obliged them to convey even +the most trifling information to each other, and all their political +projects or opinions, in obscure and metaphorical terms. They pretend to +have dreamed dreams, and seen visions, because it was unsafe for them to +speak facts or plain language. We ought, however, to suppose, that the +persons to whom they wrote understood what they meant, and that it +was not intended anybody else should. But these busy commentators +and priests have been puzzling their wits to find out what it was not +intended they should know, and with which they have nothing to do. + +Ezekiel and Daniel were carried prisoners to Babylon, under the first +captivity, in the time of Jehoiakim, nine years before the second +captivity in the time of Zedekiah. The Jews were then still numerous, +and had considerable force at Jerusalem; and as it is natural to suppose +that men in the situation of Ezekiel and Daniel would be meditating the +recovery of their country, and their own deliverance, it is reasonable +to suppose that the accounts of dreams and visions with which these +books are filled, are no other than a disguised mode of correspondence +to facilitate those objects: it served them as a cypher, or secret +alphabet. If they are not this, they are tales, reveries, and nonsense; +or at least a fanciful way of wearing off the wearisomeness of +captivity; but the presumption is, they are the former. + +Ezekiel begins his book by speaking of a vision of cherubims, and of a +wheel within a wheel, which he says he saw by the river Chebar, in +the land of his captivity. Is it not reasonable to suppose that by the +cherubims he meant the temple at Jerusalem, where they had figures of +cherubims? and by a wheel within a wheel (which as a figure has always +been understood to signify political contrivance) the project or means +of recovering Jerusalem? In the latter part of his book he supposes +himself transported to Jerusalem, and into the temple; and he refers +back to the vision on the river Chebar, and says, (xliii- 3,) that this +last vision was like the vision on the river Chebar; which indicates +that those pretended dreams and visions had for their object the +recovery of Jerusalem, and nothing further. + +As to the romantic interpretations and applications, wild as the dreams +and visions they undertake to explain, which commentators and priests +have made of those books, that of converting them into things which they +call prophecies, and making them bend to times and circumstances as far +remote even as the present day, it shows the fraud or the extreme folly +to which credulity or priestcraft can go. + +Scarcely anything can be more absurd than to suppose that men situated +as Ezekiel and Daniel were, whose country was over-run, and in the +possession of the enemy, all their friends and relations in captivity +abroad, or in slavery at home, or massacred, or in continual danger of +it; scarcely any thing, I say, can be more absurd than to suppose that +such men should find nothing to do but that of employing their time and +their thoughts about what was to happen to other nations a thousand or +two thousand years after they were dead; at the same time nothing more +natural than that they should meditate the recovery of Jerusalem, and +their own deliverance; and that this was the sole object of all the +obscure and apparently frantic writing contained in those books. + +In this sense the mode of writing used in those two books being forced +by necessity, and not adopted by choice, is not irrational; but, if we +are to use the books as prophecies, they are false. In Ezekiel xxix. +11., speaking of Egypt, it is said, "No foot of man shall pass through +it, nor foot of beast pass through it; neither shall it be inhabited for +forty years." This is what never came to pass, and consequently it is +false, as all the books I have already reviewed are.--I here close this +part of the subject. + +In the former part of 'The Age of Reason' I have spoken of Jonah, and +of the story of him and the whale.--A fit story for ridicule, if it was +written to be believed; or of laughter, if it was intended to try what +credulity could swallow; for, if it could swallow Jonah and the whale it +could swallow anything. + +But, as is already shown in the observations on the book of Job and of +Proverbs, it is not always certain which of the books in the Bible are +originally Hebrew, or only translations from the books of the Gentiles +into Hebrew; and, as the book of Jonah, so far from treating of +the affairs of the Jews, says nothing upon that subject, but treats +altogether of the Gentiles, it is more probable that it is a book of +the Gentiles than of the Jews, [I have read in an ancient Persian poem +(Saadi, I believe, but have mislaid the reference) this phrase: "And now +the whale swallowed Jonah: the sun set."--Editor.] and that it has been +written as a fable to expose the nonsense, and satyrize the vicious and +malignant character, of a Bible-prophet, or a predicting priest. + +Jonah is represented, first as a disobedient prophet, running away from +his mission, and taking shelter aboard a vessel of the Gentiles, bound +from Joppa to Tarshish; as if he ignorantly supposed, by such a paltry +contrivance, he could hide himself where God could not find him. The +vessel is overtaken by a storm at sea; and the mariners, all of whom are +Gentiles, believing it to be a judgement on account of some one on board +who had committed a crime, agreed to cast lots to discover the offender; +and the lot fell upon Jonah. But before this they had cast all their +wares and merchandise over-board to lighten the vessel, while Jonah, +like a stupid fellow, was fast asleep in the hold. + +After the lot had designated Jonah to be the offender, they questioned +him to know who and what he was? and he told them he was an Hebrew; +and the story implies that he confessed himself to be guilty. But these +Gentiles, instead of sacrificing him at once without pity or mercy, as a +company of Bible-prophets or priests would have done by a Gentile in the +same case, and as it is related Samuel had done by Agag, and Moses by +the women and children, they endeavoured to save him, though at the risk +of their own lives: for the account says, "Nevertheless [that is, though +Jonah was a Jew and a foreigner, and the cause of all their misfortunes, +and the loss of their cargo] the men rowed hard to bring the boat +to land, but they could not, for the sea wrought and was tempestuous +against them." Still however they were unwilling to put the fate of the +lot into execution; and they cried, says the account, unto the Lord, +saying, "We beseech thee, O Lord, let us not perish for this man's life, +and lay not upon us innocent blood; for thou, O Lord, hast done as it +pleased thee." Meaning thereby, that they did not presume to judge Jonah +guilty, since that he might be innocent; but that they considered the +lot that had fallen upon him as a decree of God, or as it pleased +God. The address of this prayer shows that the Gentiles worshipped one +Supreme Being, and that they were not idolaters as the Jews represented +them to be. But the storm still continuing, and the danger encreasing, +they put the fate of the lot into execution, and cast Jonah in the sea; +where, according to the story, a great fish swallowed him up whole and +alive! + +We have now to consider Jonah securely housed from the storm in the +fish's belly. Here we are told that he prayed; but the prayer is +a made-up prayer, taken from various parts of the Psalms, without +connection or consistency, and adapted to the distress, but not at all +to the condition that Jonah was in. It is such a prayer as a Gentile, +who might know something of the Psalms, could copy out for him. This +circumstance alone, were there no other, is sufficient to indicate that +the whole is a made-up story. The prayer, however, is supposed to have +answered the purpose, and the story goes on, (taking-off at the same +time the cant language of a Bible-prophet,) saying, "The Lord spake unto +the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon dry land." + +Jonah then received a second mission to Nineveh, with which he sets +out; and we have now to consider him as a preacher. The distress he is +represented to have suffered, the remembrance of his own disobedience as +the cause of it, and the miraculous escape he is supposed to have had, +were sufficient, one would conceive, to have impressed him with sympathy +and benevolence in the execution of his mission; but, instead of this, +he enters the city with denunciation and malediction in his mouth, +crying, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown." + +We have now to consider this supposed missionary in the last act of his +mission; and here it is that the malevolent spirit of a Bible-prophet, +or of a predicting priest, appears in all that blackness of character +that men ascribe to the being they call the devil. + +Having published his predictions, he withdrew, says the story, to the +east side of the city.--But for what? not to contemplate in retirement +the mercy of his Creator to himself or to others, but to wait, with +malignant impatience, the destruction of Nineveh. It came to pass, +however, as the story relates, that the Ninevites reformed, and that +God, according to the Bible phrase, repented him of the evil he had said +he would do unto them, and did it not. This, saith the first verse of +the last chapter, displeased Jonah exceedingly and he was very angry. +His obdurate heart would rather that all Nineveh should be destroyed, +and every soul, young and old, perish in its ruins, than that his +prediction should not be fulfilled. To expose the character of a prophet +still more, a gourd is made to grow up in the night, that promises him +an agreeable shelter from the heat of the sun, in the place to which he +is retired; and the next morning it dies. + +Here the rage of the prophet becomes excessive, and he is ready to +destroy himself. "It is better, said he, for me to die than to live." +This brings on a supposed expostulation between the Almighty and the +prophet; in which the former says, "Doest thou well to be angry for the +gourd? And Jonah said, I do well to be angry even unto death. Then +said the Lord, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for which thou hast +not laboured, neither madest it to grow, which came up in a night, and +perished in a night; and should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, +in which are more than threescore thousand persons, that cannot discern +between their right hand and their left?" + +Here is both the winding up of the satire, and the moral of the fable. +As a satire, it strikes against the character of all the Bible-prophets, +and against all the indiscriminate judgements upon men, women and +children, with which this lying book, the bible, is crowded; such as +Noah's flood, the destruction of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, the +extirpation of the Canaanites, even to suckling infants, and women with +child; because the same reflection 'that there are more than threescore +thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their +left,' meaning young children, applies to all their cases. It satirizes +also the supposed partiality of the Creator for one nation more than for +another. + +As a moral, it preaches against the malevolent spirit of prediction; for +as certainly as a man predicts ill, he becomes inclined to wish it. The +pride of having his judgment right hardens his heart, till at last +he beholds with satisfaction, or sees with disappointment, the +accomplishment or the failure of his predictions.--This book ends +with the same kind of strong and well-directed point against prophets, +prophecies and indiscriminate judgements, as the chapter that Benjamin +Franklin made for the Bible, about Abraham and the stranger, ends +against the intolerant spirit of religious persecutions--Thus much for +the book Jonah. [The story of Abraham and the Fire-worshipper, ascribed +to Franklin, is from Saadi. (See my "Sacred Anthology," p. 61.) Paine +has often been called a "mere scoffer," but he seems to have been among +the first to treat with dignity the book of Jonah, so especially liable +to the ridicule of superficial readers, and discern in it the highest +conception of Deity known to the Old Testament.--Editor.] + +Of the poetical parts of the Bible, that are called prophecies, I have +spoken in the former part of 'The Age of Reason,' and already in this, +where I have said that the word for prophet is the Bible-word for Poet, +and that the flights and metaphors of those poets, many of which have +become obscure by the lapse of time and the change of circumstances, +have been ridiculously erected into things called prophecies, and +applied to purposes the writers never thought of. When a priest quotes +any of those passages, he unriddles it agreeably to his own views, and +imposes that explanation upon his congregation as the meaning of the +writer. The whore of Babylon has been the common whore of all the +priests, and each has accused the other of keeping the strumpet; so well +do they agree in their explanations. + +There now remain only a few books, which they call books of the lesser +prophets; and as I have already shown that the greater are impostors, +it would be cowardice to disturb the repose of the little ones. Let +them sleep, then, in the arms of their nurses, the priests, and both be +forgotten together. + +I have now gone through the Bible, as a man would go through a wood with +an axe on his shoulder, and fell trees. Here they lie; and the priests, +if they can, may replant them. They may, perhaps, stick them in the +ground, but they will never make them grow.--I pass on to the books of +the New Testament. + + + +CHAPTER II - THE NEW TESTAMENT + +THE New Testament, they tell us, is founded upon the prophecies of the +Old; if so, it must follow the fate of its foundation. + +As it is nothing extraordinary that a woman should be with child before +she was married, and that the son she might bring forth should be +executed, even unjustly, I see no reason for not believing that such a +woman as Mary, and such a man as Joseph, and Jesus, existed; their mere +existence is a matter of indifference, about which there is no ground +either to believe or to disbelieve, and which comes under the common +head of, It may be so, and what then? The probability however is that +there were such persons, or at least such as resembled them in part +of the circumstances, because almost all romantic stories have been +suggested by some actual circumstance; as the adventures of Robinson +Crusoe, not a word of which is true, were suggested by the case of +Alexander Selkirk. + +It is not then the existence or the non-existence, of the persons that +I trouble myself about; it is the fable of Jesus Christ, as told in +the New Testament, and the wild and visionary doctrine raised thereon, +against which I contend. The story, taking it as it is told, is +blasphemously obscene. It gives an account of a young woman engaged +to be married, and while under this engagement, she is, to speak plain +language, debauched by a ghost, under the impious pretence, (Luke i. +35,) that "the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the +Highest shall overshadow thee." Notwithstanding which, Joseph afterwards +marries her, cohabits with her as his wife, and in his turn rivals the +ghost. This is putting the story into intelligible language, and when +told in this manner, there is not a priest but must be ashamed to own +it. [Mary, the supposed virgin, mother of Jesus, had several other +children, sons and daughters. See Matt. xiii. 55, 56.--Author.] + +Obscenity in matters of faith, however wrapped up, is always a token of +fable and imposture; for it is necessary to our serious belief in God, +that we do not connect it with stories that run, as this does, into +ludicrous interpretations. This story is, upon the face of it, the same +kind of story as that of Jupiter and Leda, or Jupiter and Europa, or any +of the amorous adventures of Jupiter; and shews, as is already stated +in the former part of 'The Age of Reason,' that the Christian faith is +built upon the heathen Mythology. + +As the historical parts of the New Testament, so far as concerns Jesus +Christ, are confined to a very short space of time, less than two +years, and all within the same country, and nearly to the same spot, the +discordance of time, place, and circumstance, which detects the fallacy +of the books of the Old Testament, and proves them to be impositions, +cannot be expected to be found here in the same abundance. The New +Testament compared with the Old, is like a farce of one act, in which +there is not room for very numerous violations of the unities. There +are, however, some glaring contradictions, which, exclusive of the +fallacy of the pretended prophecies, are sufficient to show the story of +Jesus Christ to be false. + +I lay it down as a position which cannot be controverted, first, that +the agreement of all the parts of a story does not prove that story +to be true, because the parts may agree, and the whole may be false; +secondly, that the disagreement of the parts of a story proves the whole +cannot be true. The agreement does not prove truth, but the disagreement +proves falsehood positively. + +The history of Jesus Christ is contained in the four books ascribed to +Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.--The first chapter of Matthew begins with +giving a genealogy of Jesus Christ; and in the third chapter of Luke +there is also given a genealogy of Jesus Christ. Did these two agree, it +would not prove the genealogy to be true, because it might nevertheless +be a fabrication; but as they contradict each other in every particular, +it proves falsehood absolutely. If Matthew speaks truth, Luke speaks +falsehood; and if Luke speaks truth, Matthew speaks falsehood: and as +there is no authority for believing one more than the other, there is no +authority for believing either; and if they cannot be believed even +in the very first thing they say, and set out to prove, they are not +entitled to be believed in any thing they say afterwards. Truth is an +uniform thing; and as to inspiration and revelation, were we to admit +it, it is impossible to suppose it can be contradictory. Either then the +men called apostles were imposters, or the books ascribed to them have +been written by other persons, and fathered upon them, as is the case in +the Old Testament. + +The book of Matthew gives (i. 6), a genealogy by name from David, up, +through Joseph, the husband of Mary, to Christ; and makes there to be +twent eight generations. The book of Luke gives also a genealogy by +name from Christ, through Joseph the husband of Mary, down to David, and +makes there to be forty-three generations; besides which, there is only +the two names of David and Joseph that are alike in the two lists.--I +here insert both genealogical lists, and for the sake of perspicuity and +comparison, have placed them both in the same direction, that is, from +Joseph down to David. + + Genealogy, according to Genealogy, according to + Matthew. Luke. + + Christ Christ + 2 Joseph 2 Joseph + 3 Jacob 3 Heli + 4 Matthan 4 Matthat + 5 Eleazer 5 Levi + 6 Eliud 6 Melchl + 7 Achim 7 Janna + 8 Sadoc 8 Joseph + 9 Azor 9 Mattathias + 10 Eliakim 10 Amos + 11 Abiud 11 Naum + 12 Zorobabel 12 Esli + 13 Salathiel 13 Nagge + 14 Jechonias 14 Maath + 15 Josias 15 Mattathias + 16 Amon 16 Semei + 17 Manasses 17 Joseph + 18 Ezekias 18 Juda + 19 Achaz 19 Joanna + 20 Joatham 20 Rhesa + 21 Ozias 21 Zorobabel + 22 Joram 22 Salathiel + 23 Josaphat 23 Neri + 24 Asa 24 Melchi + 25 Abia 25 Addi + 26 Roboam 26 Cosam + 27 Solomon 27 Elmodam + 28 David * 28 Er + 29 Jose + 30 Eliezer + 31 Jorim + 32 Matthat + 33 Levi + 34 Simeon + 35 Juda + 36 Joseph + 37 Jonan + 38 Eliakim + 39 Melea + 40 Menan + 41 Mattatha + 42 Nathan + 43 David + +[NOTE: * From the birth of David to the birth of Christ is upwards of +1080 years; and as the life-time of Christ is not included, there are +but 27 full generations. To find therefore the average age of each +person mentioned in the list, at the time his first son was born, it +is only necessary to divide 1080 by 27, which gives 40 years for each +person. As the life-time of man was then but of the same extent it is +now, it is an absurdity to suppose, that 27 following generations should +all be old bachelors, before they married; and the more so, when we are +told that Solomon, the next in succession to David, had a house full of +wives and mistresses before he was twenty-one years of age. So far from +this genealogy being a solemn truth, it is not even a reasonable lie. +The list of Luke gives about twenty-six years for the average age, and +this is too much.--Author.] + +Now, if these men, Matthew and Luke, set out with a falsehood between +them (as these two accounts show they do) in the very commencement of +their history of Jesus Christ, and of who, and of what he was, what +authority (as I have before asked) is there left for believing the +strange things they tell us afterwards? If they cannot be believed in +their account of his natural genealogy, how are we to believe them when +they tell us he was the son of God, begotten by a ghost; and that +an angel announced this in secret to his mother? If they lied in one +genealogy, why are we to believe them in the other? If his natural +genealogy be manufactured, which it certainly is, why are we not to +suppose that his celestial genealogy is manufactured also, and that the +whole is fabulous? Can any man of serious reflection hazard his future +happiness upon the belief of a story naturally impossible, repugnant +to every idea of decency, and related by persons already detected of +falsehood? Is it not more safe that we stop ourselves at the plain, +pure, and unmixed belief of one God, which is deism, than that we +commit ourselves on an ocean of improbable, irrational, indecent, and +contradictory tales? + +The first question, however, upon the books of the New Testament, as +upon those of the Old, is, Are they genuine? were they written by the +persons to whom they are ascribed? For it is upon this ground only that +the strange things related therein have been credited. Upon this point, +there is no direct proof for or against; and all that this state of a +case proves is doubtfulness; and doubtfulness is the opposite of belief. +The state, therefore, that the books are in, proves against themselves +as far as this kind of proof can go. + +But, exclusive of this, the presumption is that the books called the +Evangelists, and ascribed to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, were not +written by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John; and that they are impositions. +The disordered state of the history in these four books, the silence of +one book upon matters related in the other, and the disagreement that +is to be found among them, implies that they are the productions of some +unconnected individuals, many years after the things they pretend to +relate, each of whom made his own legend; and not the writings of men +living intimately together, as the men called apostles are supposed to +have done: in fine, that they have been manufactured, as the books of +the Old Testament have been, by other persons than those whose names +they bear. + +The story of the angel announcing what the church calls the immaculate +conception, is not so much as mentioned in the books ascribed to Mark, +and John; and is differently related in Matthew and Luke. The former +says the angel, appeared to Joseph; the latter says, it was to Mary; +but either Joseph or Mary was the worst evidence that could have been +thought of; for it was others that should have testified for them, and +not they for themselves. Were any girl that is now with child to say, +and even to swear it, that she was gotten with child by a ghost, and +that an angel told her so, would she be believed? Certainly she would +not. Why then are we to believe the same thing of another girl whom we +never saw, told by nobody knows who, nor when, nor where? How strange +and inconsistent is it, that the same circumstance that would weaken +the belief even of a probable story, should be given as a motive for +believing this one, that has upon the face of it every token of absolute +impossibility and imposture. + +The story of Herod destroying all the children under two years old, +belongs altogether to the book of Matthew; not one of the rest mentions +anything about it. Had such a circumstance been true, the universality +of it must have made it known to all the writers, and the thing would +have been too striking to have been omitted by any. This writer tell us, +that Jesus escaped this slaughter, because Joseph and Mary were warned +by an angel to flee with him into Egypt; but he forgot to make provision +for John [the Baptist], who was then under two years of age. John, +however, who staid behind, fared as well as Jesus, who fled; and +therefore the story circumstantially belies itself. + +Not any two of these writers agree in reciting, exactly in the same +words, the written inscription, short as it is, which they tell us was +put over Christ when he was crucified; and besides this, Mark says, He +was crucified at the third hour, (nine in the morning;) and John says it +was the sixth hour, (twelve at noon.) [According to John, (xix. 14) +the sentence was not passed till about the sixth hour (noon,) and +consequently the execution could not be till the afternoon; but Mark +(xv. 25) Says expressly that he was crucified at the third hour, (nine +in the morning,)--Author.] + +The inscription is thus stated in those books: + +Matthew--This is Jesus the king of the Jews. Mark--The king of the Jews. +Luke--This is the king of the Jews. John--Jesus of Nazareth the king of +the Jews. + +We may infer from these circumstances, trivial as they are, that those +writers, whoever they were, and in whatever time they lived, were +not present at the scene. The only one of the men called apostles who +appears to have been near to the spot was Peter, and when he was accused +of being one of Jesus's followers, it is said, (Matthew xxvi. 74,) "Then +Peter began to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man:" yet +we are now called to believe the same Peter, convicted, by their own +account, of perjury. For what reason, or on what authority, should we do +this? + +The accounts that are given of the circumstances, that they tell us +attended the crucifixion, are differently related in those four books. + +The book ascribed to Matthew says 'there was darkness over all the land +from the sixth hour unto the ninth hour--that the veil of the temple +was rent in twain from the top to the bottom--that there was an +earthquake--that the rocks rent--that the graves opened, that the bodies +of many of the saints that slept arose and came out of their graves +after the resurrection, and went into the holy city and appeared unto +many.' Such is the account which this dashing writer of the book of +Matthew gives, but in which he is not supported by the writers of the +other books. + +The writer of the book ascribed to Mark, in detailing the circumstances +of the crucifixion, makes no mention of any earthquake, nor of the rocks +rending, nor of the graves opening, nor of the dead men walking out. The +writer of the book of Luke is silent also upon the same points. And +as to the writer of the book of John, though he details all the +circumstances of the crucifixion down to the burial of Christ, he +says nothing about either the darkness--the veil of the temple--the +earthquake--the rocks--the graves--nor the dead men. + +Now if it had been true that these things had happened, and if the +writers of these books had lived at the time they did happen, and +had been the persons they are said to be--namely, the four men called +apostles, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John,--it was not possible for them, +as true historians, even without the aid of inspiration, not to have +recorded them. The things, supposing them to have been facts, were of +too much notoriety not to have been known, and of too much importance +not to have been told. All these supposed apostles must have been +witnesses of the earthquake, if there had been any, for it was not +possible for them to have been absent from it: the opening of the graves +and resurrection of the dead men, and their walking about the city, is +of still greater importance than the earthquake. An earthquake is always +possible, and natural, and proves nothing; but this opening of the +graves is supernatural, and directly in point to their doctrine, their +cause, and their apostleship. Had it been true, it would have filled +up whole chapters of those books, and been the chosen theme and general +chorus of all the writers; but instead of this, little and trivial +things, and mere prattling conversation of 'he said this and she said +that' are often tediously detailed, while this most important of all, +had it been true, is passed off in a slovenly manner by a single dash +of the pen, and that by one writer only, and not so much as hinted at by +the rest. + +It is an easy thing to tell a lie, but it is difficult to support the +lie after it is told. The writer of the book of Matthew should have told +us who the saints were that came to life again, and went into the city, +and what became of them afterwards, and who it was that saw them; for he +is not hardy enough to say that he saw them himself;--whether they came +out naked, and all in natural buff, he-saints and she-saints, or whether +they came full dressed, and where they got their dresses; whether they +went to their former habitations, and reclaimed their wives, their +husbands, and their property, and how they were received; whether they +entered ejectments for the recovery of their possessions, or brought +actions of crim. con. against the rival interlopers; whether they +remained on earth, and followed their former occupation of preaching or +working; or whether they died again, or went back to their graves alive, +and buried themselves. + +Strange indeed, that an army of saints should retum to life, and nobody +know who they were, nor who it was that saw them, and that not a word +more should be said upon the subject, nor these saints have any thing +to tell us! Had it been the prophets who (as we are told) had formerly +prophesied of these things, they must have had a great deal to say. +They could have told us everything, and we should have had posthumous +prophecies, with notes and commentaries upon the first, a little better +at least than we have now. Had it been Moses, and Aaron, and Joshua, and +Samuel, and David, not an unconverted Jew had remained in all Jerusalem. +Had it been John the Baptist, and the saints of the times then present, +everybody would have known them, and they would have out-preached and +out-famed all the other apostles. But, instead of this, these saints are +made to pop up, like Jonah's gourd in the night, for no purpose at all +but to wither in the morning.--Thus much for this part of the story. + +The tale of the resurrection follows that of the crucifixion; and in +this as well as in that, the writers, whoever they were, disagree so +much as to make it evident that none of them were there. + +The book of Matthew states, that when Christ was put in the sepulchre +the Jews applied to Pilate for a watch or a guard to be placed over the +septilchre, to prevent the body being stolen by the disciples; and that +in consequence of this request the sepulchre was made sure, sealing the +stone that covered the mouth, and setting a watch. But the other books +say nothing about this application, nor about the sealing, nor the +guard, nor the watch; and according to their accounts, there were none. +Matthew, however, follows up this part of the story of the guard or the +watch with a second part, that I shall notice in the conclusion, as it +serves to detect the fallacy of those books. + +The book of Matthew continues its account, and says, (xxviii. 1,) that +at the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn, towards the first day of +the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, to see the sepulchre. +Mark says it was sun-rising, and John says it was dark. Luke says it +was Mary Magdalene and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and other +women, that came to the sepulchre; and John states that Mary Magdalene +came alone. So well do they agree about their first evidence! They all, +however, appear to have known most about Mary Magdalene; she was a woman +of large acquaintance, and it was not an ill conjecture that she might +be upon the stroll. [The Bishop of Llandaff, in his famous "Apology," +censured Paine severely for this insinuation against Mary Magdalene, but +the censure really falls on our English version, which, by a +chapter-heading (Luke vii.), has unwarrantably identified her as the +sinful woman who anointed Jesus, and irrevocably branded her.--Editor.] + +The book of Matthew goes on to say (ver. 2): "And behold there was a +great earthquake, for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and +came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it" But +the other books say nothing about any earthquake, nor about the angel +rolling back the stone, and sitting upon it and, according to their +account, there was no angel sitting there. Mark says the angel [Mark +says "a young man," and Luke "two men."--Editor.] was within the +sepulchre, sitting on the right side. Luke says there were two, and they +were both standing up; and John says they were both sitting down, one at +the head and the other at the feet. + +Matthew says, that the angel that was sitting upon the stone on the +outside of the sepulchre told the two Marys that Christ was risen, and +that the women went away quickly. Mark says, that the women, upon seeing +the stone rolled away, and wondering at it, went into the sepulchre, and +that it was the angel that was sitting within on the right side, that +told them so. Luke says, it was the two angels that were Standing +up; and John says, it was Jesus Christ himself that told it to Mary +Magdalene; and that she did not go into the sepulchre, but only stooped +down and looked in. + +Now, if the writers of these four books had gone into a court of justice +to prove an alibi, (for it is of the nature of an alibi that is +here attempted to be proved, namely, the absence of a dead body by +supernatural means,) and had they given their evidence in the same +contradictory manner as it is here given, they would have been in danger +of having their ears cropt for perjury, and would have justly deserved +it. Yet this is the evidence, and these are the books, that have been +imposed upon the world as being given by divine inspiration, and as the +unchangeable word of God. + +The writer of the book of Matthew, after giving this account, relates +a story that is not to be found in any of the other books, and which is +the same I have just before alluded to. "Now," says he, [that is, after +the conversation the women had had with the angel sitting upon the +stone,] "behold some of the watch [meaning the watch that he had said +had been placed over the sepulchre] came into the city, and shawed unto +the chief priests all the things that were done; and when they were +assembled with the elders and had taken counsel, they gave large money +unto the soldiers, saying, Say ye, that his disciples came by night, and +stole him away while we slept; and if this come to the governor's ears, +we will persuade him, and secure you. So they took the money, and did as +they were taught; and this saying [that his disciples stole him away] is +commonly reported among the Jews until this day." + +The expression, until this day, is an evidence that the book ascribed +to Matthew was not written by Matthew, and that it has been manufactured +long after the times and things of which it pretends to treat; for +the expression implies a great length of intervening time. It would be +inconsistent in us to speak in this manner of any thing happening in our +own time. To give, therefore, intelligible meaning to the expression, +we must suppose a lapse of some generations at least, for this manner of +speaking carries the mind back to ancient time. + +The absurdity also of the story is worth noticing; for it shows the +writer of the book of Matthew to have been an exceeding weak and foolish +man. He tells a story that contradicts itself in point of possibility; +for though the guard, if there were any, might be made to say that the +body was taken away while they were asleep, and to give that as a +reason for their not having prevented it, that same sleep must also have +prevented their knowing how, and by whom, it was done; and yet they are +made to say that it was the disciples who did it. Were a man to tender +his evidence of something that he should say was done, and of the manner +of doing it, and of the person who did it, while he was asleep, and +could know nothing of the matter, such evidence could not be received: +it will do well enough for Testament evidence, but not for any thing +where truth is concerned. + +I come now to that part of the evidence in those books, that respects +the pretended appearance of Christ after this pretended resurrection. + +The writer of the book of Matthew relates, that the angel that was +sitting on the stone at the mouth of the sepulchre, said to the two +Marys (xxviii. 7), "Behold Christ is gone before you into Galilee, there +ye shall see him; lo, I have told you." And the same writer at the next +two verses (8, 9,) makes Christ himself to speak to the same purpose to +these women immediately after the angel had told it to them, and that +they ran quickly to tell it to the disciples; and it is said (ver. 16), +"Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where +Jesus had appointed them; and, when they saw him, they worshipped him." + +But the writer of the book of John tells us a story very different to +this; for he says (xx. 19) "Then the same day at evening, being the +first day of the week, [that is, the same day that Christ is said +to have risen,] when the doors were shut, where the disciples were +assembled, for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst of +them." + +According to Matthew the eleven were marching to Galilee, to meet Jesus +in a mountain, by his own appointment, at the very time when, according +to John, they were assembled in another place, and that not by +appointment, but in secret, for fear of the Jews. + +The writer of the book of Luke xxiv. 13, 33-36, contradicts that of +Matthew more pointedly than John does; for he says expressly, that the +meeting was in Jerusalem the evening of the same day that he (Christ) +rose, and that the eleven were there. + +Now, it is not possible, unless we admit these supposed disciples the +right of wilful lying, that the writers of these books could be any of +the eleven persons called disciples; for if, according to Matthew, +the eleven went into Galilee to meet Jesus in a mountain by his own +appointment, on the same day that he is said to have risen, Luke and +John must have been two of that eleven; yet the writer of Luke says +expressly, and John implies as much, that the meeting was that same day, +in a house in Jerusalem; and, on the other hand, if, according to Luke +and John, the eleven were assembled in a house in Jerusalem, Matthew +must have been one of that eleven; yet Matthew says the meeting was in a +mountain in Galilee, and consequently the evidence given in those books +destroy each other. + +The writer of the book of Mark says nothing about any meeting in +Galilee; but he says (xvi. 12) that Christ, after his resurrection, +appeared in another form to two of them, as they walked into the +country, and that these two told it to the residue, who would not +believe them. [This belongs to the late addition to Mark, which +originally ended with xvi. 8.--Editor.] Luke also tells a story, in +which he keeps Christ employed the whole of the day of this pretended +resurrection, until the evening, and which totally invalidates the +account of going to the mountain in Galilee. He says, that two of them, +without saying which two, went that same day to a village called Emmaus, +three score furlongs (seven miles and a half) from Jerusalem, and +that Christ in disguise went with them, and stayed with them unto the +evening, and supped with them, and then vanished out of their sight, and +reappeared that same evening, at the meeting of the eleven in Jerusalem. + +This is the contradictory manner in which the evidence of this pretended +reappearance of Christ is stated: the only point in which the writers +agree, is the skulking privacy of that reappearance; for whether it +was in the recess of a mountain in Galilee, or in a shut-up house in +Jerusalem, it was still skulking. To what cause then are we to assign +this skulking? On the one hand, it is directly repugnant to the supposed +or pretended end, that of convincing the world that Christ was risen; +and, on the other hand, to have asserted the publicity of it would have +exposed the writers of those books to public detection; and, therefore, +they have been under the necessity of making it a private affair. + +As to the account of Christ being seen by more than five hundred at +once, it is Paul only who says it, and not the five hundred who say it +for themselves. It is, therefore, the testimony of but one man, and that +too of a man, who did not, according to the same account, believe a +word of the matter himself at the time it is said to have happened. +His evidence, supposing him to have been the writer of Corinthians xv., +where this account is given, is like that of a man who comes into a +court of justice to swear that what he had sworn before was false. A man +may often see reason, and he has too always the right of changing his +opinion; but this liberty does not extend to matters of fact. + +I now come to the last scene, that of the ascension into heaven.--Here +all fear of the Jews, and of every thing else, must necessarily have +been out of the question: it was that which, if true, was to seal the +whole; and upon which the reality of the future mission of the disciples +was to rest for proof. Words, whether declarations or promises, that +passed in private, either in the recess of a mountain in Galilee, or in +a shut-up house in Jerusalem, even supposing them to have been spoken, +could not be evidence in public; it was therefore necessary that this +last scene should preclude the possibility of denial and dispute; and +that it should be, as I have stated in the former part of 'The Age of +Reason,' as public and as visible as the sun at noon-day; at least it +ought to have been as public as the crucifixion is reported to have +been.--But to come to the point. + +In the first place, the writer of the book of Matthew does not say a +syllable about it; neither does the writer of the book of John. This +being the case, is it possible to suppose that those writers, who affect +to be even minute in other matters, would have been silent upon this, +had it been true? The writer of the book of Mark passes it off in a +careless, slovenly manner, with a single dash of the pen, as if he was +tired of romancing, or ashamed of the story. So also does the writer of +Luke. And even between these two, there is not an apparent agreement, +as to the place where this final parting is said to have been. [The last +nine verses of Mark being ungenuine, the story of the ascension +rests exclusively on the words in Luke xxiv. 51, "was carried up into +heaven,"--words omitted by several ancient authorities.--Editor.] + +The book of Mark says that Christ appeared to the eleven as they sat at +meat, alluding to the meeting of the eleven at Jerusalem: he then states +the conversation that he says passed at that meeting; and immediately +after says (as a school-boy would finish a dull story,) "So then, after +the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and +sat on the right hand of God." But the writer of Luke says, that the +ascension was from Bethany; that he (Christ) led them out as far as +Bethany, and was parted from them there, and was carried up into heaven. +So also was Mahomet: and, as to Moses, the apostle Jude says, ver. 9. +That 'Michael and the devil disputed about his body.' While we believe +such fables as these, or either of them, we believe unworthily of the +Almighty. + +I have now gone through the examination of the four books ascribed to +Matthew, Mark, Luke and John; and when it is considered that the whole +space of time, from the crucifixion to what is called the ascension, is +but a few days, apparently not more than three or four, and that all the +circumstances are reported to have happened nearly about the same spot, +Jerusalem, it is, I believe, impossible to find in any story upon record +so many and such glaring absurdities, contradictions, and falsehoods, as +are in those books. They are more numerous and striking than I had any +expectation of finding, when I began this examination, and far more +so than I had any idea of when I wrote the former part of 'The Age of +Reason.' I had then neither Bible nor Testament to refer to, nor could I +procure any. My own situation, even as to existence, was becoming every +day more precarious; and as I was willing to leave something behind me +upon the subject, I was obliged to be quick and concise. The quotations +I then made were from memory only, but they are correct; and the +opinions I have advanced in that work are the effect of the most clear +and long-established conviction,--that the Bible and the Testament are +impositions upon the world;--that the fall of man, the account of Jesus +Christ being the Son of God, and of his dying to appease the wrath +of God, and of salvation by that strange means, are all fabulous +inventions, dishonourable to the wisdom and power of the Almighty;--that +the only true religion is deism, by which I then meant and now mean +the belief of one God, and an imitation of his moral character, or the +practice of what are called moral virtues;--and that it was upon this +only (so far as religion is concerned) that I rested all my hopes of +happiness hereafter. So say I now--and so help me God. + +But to retum to the subject.--Though it is impossible, at this distance +of time, to ascertain as a fact who were the writers of those four books +(and this alone is sufficient to hold them in doubt, and where we doubt +we do not believe) it is not difficult to ascertain negatively that +they were not written by the persons to whom they are ascribed. The +contradictions in those books demonstrate two things: + +First, that the writers cannot have been eye-witnesses and ear-witnesses +of the matters they relate, or they would have related them without +those contradictions; and, consequently that the books have not been +written by the persons called apostles, who are supposed to have been +witnesses of this kind. + +Secondly, that the writers, whoever they were, have not acted in +concerted imposition, but each writer separately and individually for +himself, and without the knowledge of the other. + +The same evidence that applies to prove the one, applies equally to +prove both cases; that is, that the books were not written by the men +called apostles, and also that they are not a concerted imposition. As +to inspiration, it is altogether out of the question; we may as well +attempt to unite truth and falsehood, as inspiration and contradiction. + +If four men are eye-witnesses and ear-witnesses to a scene, they will +without any concert between them, agree as to time and place, when and +where that scene happened. Their individual knowledge of the thing, each +one knowing it for himself, renders concert totally unnecessary; the +one will not say it was in a mountain in the country, and the other at +a house in town; the one will not say it was at sunrise, and the other +that it was dark. For in whatever place it was and whatever time it was, +they know it equally alike. + +And on the other hand, if four men concert a story, they will make their +separate relations of that story agree and corroborate with each other +to support the whole. That concert supplies the want of fact in the one +case, as the knowledge of the fact supersedes, in the other case, the +necessity of a concert. The same contradictions, therefore, that +prove there has been no concert, prove also that the reporters had no +knowledge of the fact, (or rather of that which they relate as a fact,) +and detect also the falsehood of their reports. Those books, therefore, +have neither been written by the men called apostles, nor by imposters +in concert.--How then have they been written? + +I am not one of those who are fond of believing there is much of that +which is called wilful lying, or lying originally, except in the case of +men setting up to be prophets, as in the Old Testament; for prophesying +is lying professionally. In almost all other cases it is not difficult +to discover the progress by which even simple supposition, with the aid +of credulity, will in time grow into a lie, and at last be told as a +fact; and whenever we can find a charitable reason for a thing of this +kind, we ought not to indulge a severe one. + +The story of Jesus Christ appearing after he was dead is the story of an +apparition, such as timid imaginations can always create in vision, +and credulity believe. Stories of this kind had been told of the +assassination of Julius Caesar not many years before, and they generally +have their origin in violent deaths, or in execution of innocent +persons. In cases of this kind, compassion lends its aid, and +benevolently stretches the story. It goes on a little and a little +farther, till it becomes a most certain truth. Once start a ghost, and +credulity fills up the history of its life, and assigns the cause of its +appearance; one tells it one way, another another way, till there are as +many stories about the ghost, and about the proprietor of the ghost, as +there are about Jesus Christ in these four books. + +The story of the appearance of Jesus Christ is told with that strange +mixture of the natural and impossible, that distinguishes legendary tale +from fact. He is represented as suddenly coming in and going out when +the doors are shut, and of vanishing out of sight, and appearing again, +as one would conceive of an unsubstantial vision; then again he is +hungry, sits down to meat, and eats his supper. But as those who tell +stories of this kind never provide for all the cases, so it is here: +they have told us, that when he arose he left his grave-clothes behind +him; but they have forgotten to provide other clothes for him to appear +in afterwards, or to tell us what he did with them when he ascended; +whether he stripped all off, or went up clothes and all. In the case of +Elijah, they have been careful enough to make him throw down his mantle; +how it happened not to be burnt in the chariot of fire, they also have +not told us; but as imagination supplies all deficiencies of this kind, +we may suppose if we please that it was made of salamander's wool. + +Those who are not much acquainted with ecclesiastical history, may +suppose that the book called the New Testament has existed ever since +the time of Jesus Christ, as they suppose that the books ascribed +to Moses have existed ever since the time of Moses. But the fact is +historically otherwise; there was no such book as the New Testament till +more than three hundred years after the time that Christ is said to have +lived. + +At what time the books ascribed to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, began +to appear, is altogether a matter of uncertainty. There is not the least +shadow of evidence of who the persons were that wrote them, nor at what +time they were written; and they might as well have been called by the +names of any of the other supposed apostles as by the names they are now +called. The originals are not in the possession of any Christian +Church existing, any more than the two tables of stone written on, they +pretend, by the finger of God, upon Mount Sinai, and given to Moses, +are in the possession of the Jews. And even if they were, there is no +possibility of proving the hand-writing in either case. At the time +those four books were written there was no printing, and consequently +there could be no publication otherwise than by written copies, which +any man might make or alter at pleasure, and call them originals. Can +we suppose it is consistent with the wisdom of the Almighty to commit +himself and his will to man upon such precarious means as these; or that +it is consistent we should pin our faith upon such uncertainties? We +cannot make nor alter, nor even imitate, so much as one blade of grass +that he has made, and yet we can make or alter words of God as easily +as words of man. [The former part of the 'Age of Reason' has not been +published two years, and there is already an expression in it that is +not mine. The expression is: The book of Luke was carried by a majority +of one voice only. It may be true, but it is not I that have said it. +Some person who might know of that circumstance, has added it in a note +at the bottom of the page of some of the editions, printed either in +England or in America; and the printers, after that, have erected it +into the body of the work, and made me the author of it. If this has +happened within such a short space of time, notwithstanding the aid of +printing, which prevents the alteration of copies individually, what may +not have happened in a much greater length of time, when there was no +printing, and when any man who could write could make a written copy and +call it an original by Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John?--Author.] + +[The spurious addition to Paine's work alluded to in his footnote drew on +him a severe criticism from Dr. Priestley ("Letters to a Philosophical +Unbeliever," p. 75), yet it seems to have been Priestley himself who, in +his quotation, first incorporated into Paine's text the footnote added +by the editor of the American edition (1794). The American added: +"Vide Moshiem's (sic) Ecc. History," which Priestley omits. In a modern +American edition I notice four verbal alterations introduced into the +above footnote.--Editor.] + +About three hundred and fifty years after the time that Christ is +said to have lived, several writings of the kind I am speaking of were +scattered in the hands of divers individuals; and as the church had +begun to form itself into an hierarchy, or church government, with +temporal powers, it set itself about collecting them into a code, as +we now see them, called 'The New Testament.' They decided by vote, as I +have before said in the former part of the Age of Reason, which of those +writings, out of the collection they had made, should be the word of +God, and which should not. The Robbins of the Jews had decided, by vote, +upon the books of the Bible before. + +As the object of the church, as is the case in all national +establishments of churches, was power and revenue, and terror the +means it used, it is consistent to suppose that the most miraculous and +wonderful of the writings they had collected stood the best chance of +being voted. And as to the authenticity of the books, the vote stands in +the place of it; for it can be traced no higher. + +Disputes, however, ran high among the people then calling themselves +Christians, not only as to points of doctrine, but as to the +authenticity of the books. In the contest between the person called St. +Augustine, and Fauste, about the year 400, the latter says, "The books +called the Evangelists have been composed long after the times of the +apostles, by some obscure men, who, fearing that the world would not +give credit to their relation of matters of which they could not be +informed, have published them under the names of the apostles; and +which are so full of sottishness and discordant relations, that there is +neither agreement nor connection between them." + +And in another place, addressing himself to the advocates of those +books, as being the word of God, he says, "It is thus that your +predecessors have inserted in the scriptures of our Lord many things +which, though they carry his name, agree not with his doctrine." This is +not surprising, since that we have often proved that these things have +not been written by himself, nor by his apostles, but that for the +greatest part they are founded upon tales, upon vague reports, and put +together by I know not what half-Jews, with but little agreement between +them; and which they have nevertheless published under the name of the +apostles of our Lord, and have thus attributed to them their own errors +and their lies. [I have taken these two extracts from Boulanger's Life +of Paul, written in French; Boulanger has quoted them from the writings +of Augustine against Fauste, to which he refers.--Author.] + +This Bishop Faustus is usually styled "The Manichaeum," Augustine having +entitled his book, Contra Frustum Manichaeum Libri xxxiii., in which +nearly the whole of Faustus' very able work is quoted.--Editor.] + +The reader will see by those extracts that the authenticity of the +books of the New Testament was denied, and the books treated as tales, +forgeries, and lies, at the time they were voted to be the word of God. +But the interest of the church, with the assistance of the faggot, bore +down the opposition, and at last suppressed all investigation. Miracles +followed upon miracles, if we will believe them, and men were taught to +say they believed whether they believed or not. But (by way of throwing +in a thought) the French Revolution has excommunicated the church +from the power of working miracles; she has not been able, with the +assistance of all her saints, to work one miracle since the revolution +began; and as she never stood in greater need than now, we may, without +the aid of divination, conclude that all her former miracles are +tricks and lies. [Boulanger in his life of Paul, has collected from the +ecclesiastical histories, and the writings of the fathers as they are +called, several matters which show the opinions that prevailed among the +different sects of Christians, at the time the Testament, as we now see +it, was voted to be the word of God. The following extracts are from the +second chapter of that work: + +[The Marcionists (a Christian sect) asserted that the evangelists were +filled with falsities. The Manichaeans, who formed a very numerous +sect at the commencement of Christianity, rejected as false all the New +Testament, and showed other writings quite different that they gave for +authentic. The Corinthians, like the Marcionists, admitted not the Acts +of the Apostles. The Encratites and the Sevenians adopted neither the +Acts, nor the Epistles of Paul. Chrysostom, in a homily which he made +upon the Acts of the Apostles, says that in his time, about the year +400, many people knew nothing either of the author or of the book. St. +Irene, who lived before that time, reports that the Valentinians, like +several other sects of the Christians, accused the scriptures of being +filled with imperfections, errors, and contradictions. The Ebionites, or +Nazarenes, who were the first Christians, rejected all the Epistles of +Paul, and regarded him as an impostor. They report, among other things, +that he was originally a Pagan; that he came to Jerusalem, where he +lived some time; and that having a mind to marry the daughter of the +high priest, he had himself been circumcised; but that not being able to +obtain her, he quarrelled with the Jews and wrote against circumcision, +and against the observation of the Sabbath, and against all the legal +ordinances.--Author.] [Much abridged from the Exam. Crit. de la Vie de +St. Paul, by N.A. Boulanger, 1770.--Editor.] + +When we consider the lapse of more than three hundred years intervening +between the time that Christ is said to have lived and the time the +New Testament was formed into a book, we must see, even without the +assistance of historical evidence, the exceeding uncertainty there is +of its authenticity. The authenticity of the book of Homer, so far as +regards the authorship, is much better established than that of the New +Testament, though Homer is a thousand years the most ancient. It was +only an exceeding good poet that could have written the book of Homer, +and, therefore, few men only could have attempted it; and a man capable +of doing it would not have thrown away his own fame by giving it to +another. In like manner, there were but few that could have composed +Euclid's Elements, because none but an exceeding good geometrician could +have been the author of that work. + +But with respect to the books of the New Testament, particularly such +parts as tell us of the resurrection and ascension of Christ, any person +who could tell a story of an apparition, or of a man's walking, could +have made such books; for the story is most wretchedly told. The chance, +therefore, of forgery in the Testament is millions to one greater than +in the case of Homer or Euclid. Of the numerous priests or parsons of +the present day, bishops and all, every one of them can make a sermon, +or translate a scrap of Latin, especially if it has been translated +a thousand times before; but is there any amongst them that can write +poetry like Homer, or science like Euclid? The sum total of a parson's +learning, with very few exceptions, is a, b, ab, and hic, haec, hoc; +and their knowledge of science is, three times one is three; and this is +more than sufficient to have enabled them, had they lived at the time, +to have written all the books of the New Testament. + +As the opportunities of forgery were greater, so also was the +inducement. A man could gain no advantage by writing under the name of +Homer or Euclid; if he could write equal to them, it would be better +that he wrote under his own name; if inferior, he could not succeed. +Pride would prevent the former, and impossibility the latter. But with +respect to such books as compose the New Testament, all the inducements +were on the side of forgery. The best imagined history that could have +been made, at the distance of two or three hundred years after the time, +could not have passed for an original under the name of the real +writer; the only chance of success lay in forgery; for the church wanted +pretence for its new doctrine, and truth and talents were out of the +question. + +But as it is not uncommon (as before observed) to relate stories of +persons walking after they are dead, and of ghosts and apparitions of +such as have fallen by some violent or extraordinary means; and as the +people of that day were in the habit of believing such things, and of +the appearance of angels, and also of devils, and of their getting into +people's insides, and shaking them like a fit of an ague, and of their +being cast out again as if by an emetic--(Mary Magdalene, the book of +Mark tells us had brought up, or been brought to bed of seven devils;) +it was nothing extraordinary that some story of this kind should get +abroad of the person called Jesus Christ, and become afterwards the +foundation of the four books ascribed to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. +Each writer told a tale as he heard it, or thereabouts, and gave to his +book the name of the saint or the apostle whom tradition had given as +the eye-witness. It is only upon this ground that the contradictions in +those books can be accounted for; and if this be not the case, they are +downright impositions, lies, and forgeries, without even the apology of +credulity. + +That they have been written by a sort of half Jews, as the foregoing +quotations mention, is discernible enough. The frequent references +made to that chief assassin and impostor Moses, and to the men called +prophets, establishes this point; and, on the other hand, the church +has complimented the fraud, by admitting the Bible and the Testament +to reply to each other. Between the Christian-Jew and the +Christian-Gentile, the thing called a prophecy, and the thing prophesied +of, the type and the thing typified, the sign and the thing signified, +have been industriously rummaged up, and fitted together like old locks +and pick-lock keys. The story foolishly enough told of Eve and the +serpent, and naturally enough as to the enmity between men and serpents +(for the serpent always bites about the heel, because it cannot reach +higher, and the man always knocks the serpent about the head, as the +most effectual way to prevent its biting;) ["It shall bruise thy head, +and thou shalt bruise his heel." Gen. iii. 15.--Author.] this foolish +story, I say, has been made into a prophecy, a type, and a promise to +begin with; and the lying imposition of Isaiah to Ahaz, 'That a virgin +shall conceive and bear a son,' as a sign that Ahaz should conquer, +when the event was that he was defeated (as already noticed in the +observations on the book of Isaiah), has been perverted, and made to +serve as a winder up. + +Jonah and the whale are also made into a sign and type. Jonah is Jesus, +and the whale is the grave; for it is said, (and they have made Christ +to say it of himself, Matt. xii. 40), "For as Jonah was three days and +three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of man be three days +and three nights in the heart of the earth." But it happens, awkwardly +enough, that Christ, according to their own account, was but one day +and two nights in the grave; about 36 hours instead of 72; that is, the +Friday night, the Saturday, and the Saturday night; for they say he was +up on the Sunday morning by sunrise, or before. But as this fits quite +as well as the bite and the kick in Genesis, or the virgin and her son +in Isaiah, it will pass in the lump of orthodox things.--Thus much for +the historical part of the Testament and its evidences. + +Epistles of Paul--The epistles ascribed to Paul, being fourteen in +number, almost fill up the remaining part of the Testament. Whether +those epistles were written by the person to whom they are ascribed is +a matter of no great importance, since that the writer, whoever he was, +attempts to prove his doctrine by argument. He does not pretend to +have been witness to any of the scenes told of the resurrection and the +ascension; and he declares that he had not believed them. + +The story of his being struck to the ground as he was journeying to +Damascus, has nothing in it miraculous or extraordinary; he escaped with +life, and that is more than many others have done, who have been struck +with lightning; and that he should lose his sight for three days, and be +unable to eat or drink during that time, is nothing more than is common +in such conditions. His companions that were with him appear not to have +suffered in the same manner, for they were well enough to lead him the +remainder of the journey; neither did they pretend to have seen any +vision. + +The character of the person called Paul, according to the accounts +given of him, has in it a great deal of violence and fanaticism; he had +persecuted with as much heat as he preached afterwards; the stroke +he had received had changed his thinking, without altering his +constitution; and either as a Jew or a Christian he was the same zealot. +Such men are never good moral evidences of any doctrine they preach. +They are always in extremes, as well of action as of belief. + +The doctrine he sets out to prove by argument, is the resurrection of +the same body: and he advances this as an evidence of immortality. +But so much will men differ in their manner of thinking, and in the +conclusions they draw from the same premises, that this doctrine of +the resurrection of the same body, so far from being an evidence of +immortality, appears to me to be an evidence against it; for if I have +already died in this body, and am raised again in the same body in which +I have died, it is presumptive evidence that I shall die again. That +resurrection no more secures me against the repetition of dying, than an +ague-fit, when past, secures me against another. To believe therefore in +immortality, I must have a more elevated idea than is contained in the +gloomy doctrine of the resurrection. + +Besides, as a matter of choice, as well as of hope, I had rather have a +better body and a more convenient form than the present. Every animal +in the creation excels us in something. The winged insects, without +mentioning doves or eagles, can pass over more space with greater ease +in a few minutes than man can in an hour. The glide of the smallest +fish, in proportion to its bulk, exceeds us in motion almost beyond +comparison, and without weariness. Even the sluggish snail can ascend +from the bottom of a dungeon, where man, by the want of that ability, +would perish; and a spider can launch itself from the top, as a playful +amusement. The personal powers of man are so limited, and his heavy +frame so little constructed to extensive enjoyment, that there is +nothing to induce us to wish the opinion of Paul to be true. It is too +little for the magnitude of the scene, too mean for the sublimity of the +subject. + +But all other arguments apart, the consciousness of existence is the +only conceivable idea we can have of another life, and the continuance +of that consciousness is immortality. The consciousness of existence, or +the knowing that we exist, is not necessarily confined to the same form, +nor to the same matter, even in this life. + +We have not in all cases the same form, nor in any case the same matter, +that composed our bodies twenty or thirty years ago; and yet we are +conscious of being the same persons. Even legs and arms, which make up +almost half the human frame, are not necessary to the consciousness of +existence. These may be lost or taken away and the full consciousness +of existence remain; and were their place supplied by wings, or other +appendages, we cannot conceive that it could alter our consciousness of +existence. In short, we know not how much, or rather how little, of our +composition it is, and how exquisitely fine that little is, that creates +in us this consciousness of existence; and all beyond that is like the +pulp of a peach, distinct and separate from the vegetative speck in the +kernel. + +Who can say by what exceeding fine action of fine matter it is that a +thought is produced in what we call the mind? and yet that thought +when produced, as I now produce the thought I am writing, is capable +of becoming immortal, and is the only production of man that has that +capacity. + +Statues of brass and marble will perish; and statues made in imitation +of them are not the same statues, nor the same workmanship, any more +than the copy of a picture is the same picture. But print and reprint +a thought a thousand times over, and that with materials of any kind, +carve it in wood, or engrave it on stone, the thought is eternally +and identically the same thought in every case. It has a capacity of +unimpaired existence, unaffected by change of matter, and is essentially +distinct, and of a nature different from every thing else that we know +of, or can conceive. If then the thing produced has in itself a capacity +of being immortal, it is more than a token that the power that produced +it, which is the self-same thing as consciousness of existence, can +be immortal also; and that as independently of the matter it was first +connected with, as the thought is of the printing or writing it first +appeared in. The one idea is not more difficult to believe than the +other; and we can see that one is true. + +That the consciousness of existence is not dependent on the same form +or the same matter, is demonstrated to our senses in the works of +the creation, as far as our senses are capable of receiving that +demonstration. A very numerous part of the animal creation preaches to +us, far better than Paul, the belief of a life hereafter. Their little +life resembles an earth and a heaven, a present and a future state; and +comprises, if it may be so expressed, immortality in miniature. + +The most beautiful parts of the creation to our eye are the winged +insects, and they are not so originally. They acquire that form and +that inimitable brilliancy by progressive changes. The slow and creeping +caterpillar worm of to day, passes in a few days to a torpid figure, and +a state resembling death; and in the next change comes forth in all the +miniature magnificence of life, a splendid butterfly. No resemblance of +the former creature remains; every thing is changed; all his powers +are new, and life is to him another thing. We cannot conceive that the +consciousness of existence is not the same in this state of the animal +as before; why then must I believe that the resurrection of the same +body is necessary to continue to me the consciousness of existence +hereafter? + +In the former part of 'The Agee of Reason.' I have called the creation +the true and only real word of God; and this instance, or this text, in +the book of creation, not only shows to us that this thing may be so, +but that it is so; and that the belief of a future state is a rational +belief, founded upon facts visible in the creation: for it is not more +difficult to believe that we shall exist hereafter in a better state and +form than at present, than that a worm should become a butterfly, and +quit the dunghill for the atmosphere, if we did not know it as a fact. + +As to the doubtful jargon ascribed to Paul in 1 Corinthians xv., which +makes part of the burial service of some Christian sectaries, it is +as destitute of meaning as the tolling of a bell at the funeral; it +explains nothing to the understanding, it illustrates nothing to the +imagination, but leaves the reader to find any meaning if he can. "All +flesh," says he, "is not the same flesh. There is one flesh of men, +another of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds." And what +then? nothing. A cook could have said as much. "There are also," says +he, "bodies celestial and bodies terrestrial; the glory of the celestial +is one and the glory of the terrestrial is the other." And what then? +nothing. And what is the difference? nothing that he has told. "There +is," says he, "one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and +another glory of the stars." And what then? nothing; except that he says +that one star differeth from another star in glory, instead of distance; +and he might as well have told us that the moon did not shine so bright +as the sun. All this is nothing better than the jargon of a conjuror, +who picks up phrases he does not understand to confound the credulous +people who come to have their fortune told. Priests and conjurors are of +the same trade. + +Sometimes Paul affects to be a naturalist, and to prove his system of +resurrection from the principles of vegetation. "Thou fool" says he, +"that which thou sowest is not quickened except it die." To which one +might reply in his own language, and say, Thou fool, Paul, that which +thou sowest is not quickened except it die not; for the grain that dies +in the ground never does, nor can vegetate. It is only the living grains +that produce the next crop. But the metaphor, in any point of view, is +no simile. It is succession, and [not] resurrection. + +The progress of an animal from one state of being to another, as from a +worm to a butterfly, applies to the case; but this of a grain does not, +and shows Paul to have been what he says of others, a fool. + +Whether the fourteen epistles ascribed to Paul were written by him +or not, is a matter of indifference; they are either argumentative or +dogmatical; and as the argument is defective, and the dogmatical part is +merely presumptive, it signifies not who wrote them. And the same may +be said for the remaining parts of the Testament. It is not upon the +Epistles, but upon what is called the Gospel, contained in the four +books ascribed to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and upon the pretended +prophecies, that the theory of the church, calling itself the Christian +Church, is founded. The Epistles are dependant upon those, and must +follow their fate; for if the story of Jesus Christ be fabulous, all +reasoning founded upon it, as a supposed truth, must fall with it. + +We know from history, that one of the principal leaders of this church, +Athanasius, lived at the time the New Testament was formed; [Athanasius +died, according to the Church chronology, in the year 371--Author.] and +we know also, from the absurd jargon he has left us under the name of +a creed, the character of the men who formed the New Testament; and we +know also from the same history that the authenticity of the books of +which it is composed was denied at the time. It was upon the vote of +such as Athanasius that the Testament was decreed to be the word of God; +and nothing can present to us a more strange idea than that of decreeing +the word of God by vote. Those who rest their faith upon such authority +put man in the place of God, and have no true foundation for future +happiness. Credulity, however, is not a crime, but it becomes criminal +by resisting conviction. It is strangling in the womb of the conscience +the efforts it makes to ascertain truth. We should never force belief +upon ourselves in any thing. + +I here close the subject on the Old Testament and the New. The evidence +I have produced to prove them forgeries, is extracted from the books +themselves, and acts, like a two-edge sword, either way. If the evidence +be denied, the authenticity of the Scriptures is denied with it, for it +is Scripture evidence: and if the evidence be admitted, the authenticity +of the books is disproved. The contradictory impossibilities, contained +in the Old Testament and the New, put them in the case of a man who +swears for and against. Either evidence convicts him of perjury, and +equally destroys reputation. + +Should the Bible and the Testament hereafter fall, it is not that I +have done it. I have done no more than extracted the evidence from +the confused mass of matters with which it is mixed, and arranged that +evidence in a point of light to be clearly seen and easily comprehended; +and, having done this, I leave the reader to judge for himself, as I +have judged for myself. + + + +CHAPTER III - CONCLUSION + +IN the former part of 'The Age of Reason' I have spoken of the three +frauds, mystery, miracle, and Prophecy; and as I have seen nothing in +any of the answers to that work that in the least affects what I have +there said upon those subjects, I shall not encumber this Second Part +with additions that are not necessary. + +I have spoken also in the same work upon what is celled revelation, and +have shown the absurd misapplication of that term to the books of +the Old Testament and the New; for certainly revelation is out of the +question in reciting any thing of which man has been the actor or the +witness. That which man has done or seen, needs no revelation to tell +him he has done it, or seen it--for he knows it already--nor to enable +him to tell it or to write it. It is ignorance, or imposition, to apply +the term revelation in such cases; yet the Bible and Testament are +classed under this fraudulent description of being all revelation. + +Revelation then, so far as the term has relation between God and man, +can only be applied to something which God reveals of his will to man; +but though the power of the Almighty to make such a communication is +necessarily admitted, because to that power all things are possible, +yet, the thing so revealed (if any thing ever was revealed, and which, +by the bye, it is impossible to prove) is revelation to the person only +to whom it is made. His account of it to another is not revelation; and +whoever puts faith in that account, puts it in the man from whom the +account comes; and that man may have been deceived, or may have dreamed +it; or he may be an impostor and may lie. There is no possible criterion +whereby to judge of the truth of what he tells; for even the morality of +it would be no proof of revelation. In all such cases, the proper +answer should be, "When it is revealed to me, I will believe it to be +revelation; but it is not and cannot be incumbent upon me to believe +it to be revelation before; neither is it proper that I should take the +word of man as the word of God, and put man in the place of God." This +is the manner in which I have spoken of revelation in the former part of +The Age of Reason; and which, whilst it reverentially admits revelation +as a possible thing, because, as before said, to the Almighty all things +are possible, it prevents the imposition of one man upon another, and +precludes the wicked use of pretended revelation. + +But though, speaking for myself, I thus admit the possibility of +revelation, I totally disbelieve that the Almighty ever did communicate +any thing to man, by any mode of speech, in any language, or by any kind +of vision, or appearance, or by any means which our senses are capable +of receiving, otherwise than by the universal display of himself in the +works of the creation, and by that repugnance we feel in ourselves to +bad actions, and disposition to good ones. [A fair parallel of the then +unknown aphorism of Kant: "Two things fill the soul with wonder and +reverence, increasing evermore as I meditate more closely upon them: +the starry heavens above me and the moral law within me." (Kritik +derpraktischen Vernunfe, 1788). Kant's religious utterances at the +beginning of the French Revolution brought on him a royal mandate +of silence, because he had worked out from "the moral law within" a +principle of human equality precisely similar to that which Paine had +derived from his Quaker doctrine of the "inner light" of every man. +About the same time Paine's writings were suppressed in England. Paine +did not understand German, but Kant, though always independent in +the formation of his opinions, was evidently well acquainted with the +literature of the Revolution, in America, England, and France.--Editor.] + +The most detestable wickedness, the most horrid cruelties, and the +greatest miseries, that have afflicted the human race have had their +origin in this thing called revelation, or revealed religion. It +has been the most dishonourable belief against the character of the +divinity, the most destructive to morality, and the peace and happiness +of man, that ever was propagated since man began to exist. It is better, +far better, that we admitted, if it were possible, a thousand devils to +roam at large, and to preach publicly the doctrine of devils, if there +were any such, than that we permitted one such impostor and monster +as Moses, Joshua, Samuel, and the Bible prophets, to come with the +pretended word of God in his mouth, and have credit among us. + +Whence arose all the horrid assassinations of whole nations of men, +women, and infants, with which the Bible is filled; and the bloody +persecutions, and tortures unto death and religious wars, that since +that time have laid Europe in blood and ashes; whence arose they, but +from this impious thing called revealed religion, and this monstrous +belief that God has spoken to man? The lies of the Bible have been the +cause of the one, and the lies of the Testament [of] the other. + +Some Christians pretend that Christianity was not established by the +sword; but of what period of time do they speak? It was impossible that +twelve men could begin with the sword: they had not the power; but no +sooner were the professors of Christianity sufficiently powerful to +employ the sword than they did so, and the stake and faggot too; and +Mahomet could not do it sooner. By the same spirit that Peter cut off +the ear of the high priest's servant (if the story be true) he would +cut off his head, and the head of his master, had he been able. Besides +this, Christianity grounds itself originally upon the [Hebrew] Bible, +and the Bible was established altogether by the sword, and that in the +worst use of it--not to terrify, but to extirpate. The Jews made +no converts: they butchered all. The Bible is the sire of the [New] +Testament, and both are called the word of God. The Christians read +both books; the ministers preach from both books; and this thing +called Christianity is made up of both. It is then false to say that +Christianity was not established by the sword. + +The only sect that has not persecuted are the Quakers; and the only +reason that can be given for it is, that they are rather Deists than +Christians. They do not believe much about Jesus Christ, and they +call the scriptures a dead letter. [This is an interesting and correct +testimony as to the beliefs of the earlier Quakers, one of whom was +Paine's father.--Editor.] Had they called them by a worse name, they had +been nearer the truth. + +It is incumbent on every man who reverences the character of the +Creator, and who wishes to lessen the catalogue of artificial miseries, +and remove the cause that has sown persecutions thick among mankind, +to expel all ideas of a revealed religion as a dangerous heresy, and an +impious fraud. What is it that we have learned from this pretended thing +called revealed religion? Nothing that is useful to man, and every +thing that is dishonourable to his Maker. What is it the Bible teaches +us?--repine, cruelty, and murder. What is it the Testament teaches +us?--to believe that the Almighty committed debauchery with a woman +engaged to be married; and the belief of this debauchery is called +faith. + +As to the fragments of morality that are irregularly and thinly +scattered in those books, they make no part of this pretended thing, +revealed religion. They are the natural dictates of conscience, and the +bonds by which society is held together, and without which it cannot +exist; and are nearly the same in all religions, and in all societies. +The Testament teaches nothing new upon this subject, and where it +attempts to exceed, it becomes mean and ridiculous. The doctrine of not +retaliating injuries is much better expressed in Proverbs, which is +a collection as well from the Gentiles as the Jews, than it is in the +Testament. It is there said, (Xxv. 2 I) "If thine enemy be hungry, +give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink:" +[According to what is called Christ's sermon on the mount, in the book +of Matthew, where, among some other [and] good things, a great deal of +this feigned morality is introduced, it is there expressly said, that +the doctrine of forbearance, or of not retaliating injuries, was not +any part of the doctrine of the Jews; but as this doctrine is found in +"Proverbs," it must, according to that statement, have been copied from +the Gentiles, from whom Christ had learned it. Those men whom Jewish and +Christian idolators have abusively called heathen, had much better and +clearer ideas of justice and morality than are to be found in the Old +Testament, so far as it is Jewish, or in the New. The answer of Solon on +the question, "Which is the most perfect popular govemment," has never +been exceeded by any man since his time, as containing a maxim of +political morality, "That," says he, "where the least injury done to +the meanest individual, is considered as an insult on the whole +constitution." Solon lived about 500 years before Christ.--Author.] but +when it is said, as in the Testament, "If a man smite thee on the right +cheek, turn to him the other also," it is assassinating the dignity of +forbearance, and sinking man into a spaniel. + +Loving, of enemies is another dogma of feigned morality, and has besides +no meaning. It is incumbent on man, as a moralist, that he does not +revenge an injury; and it is equally as good in a political sense, for +there is no end to retaliation; each retaliates on the other, and calls +it justice: but to love in proportion to the injury, if it could be +done, would be to offer a premium for a crime. Besides, the word enemies +is too vague and general to be used in a moral maxim, which ought +always to be clear and defined, like a proverb. If a man be the enemy +of another from mistake and prejudice, as in the case of religious +opinions, and sometimes in politics, that man is different to an enemy +at heart with a criminal intention; and it is incumbent upon us, and +it contributes also to our own tranquillity, that we put the best +construction upon a thing that it will bear. But even this erroneous +motive in him makes no motive for love on the other part; and to say +that we can love voluntarily, and without a motive, is morally and +physically impossible. + +Morality is injured by prescribing to it duties that, in the first +place, are impossible to be performed, and if they could be would be +productive of evil; or, as before said, be premiums for crime. The maxim +of doing as we would be done unto does not include this strange doctrine +of loving enemies; for no man expects to be loved himself for his crime +or for his enmity. + +Those who preach this doctrine of loving their enemies, are in general +the greatest persecutors, and they act consistently by so doing; for the +doctrine is hypocritical, and it is natural that hypocrisy should act +the reverse of what it preaches. For my own part, I disown the doctrine, +and consider it as a feigned or fabulous morality; yet the man does not +exist that can say I have persecuted him, or any man, or any set of men, +either in the American Revolution, or in the French Revolution; or that +I have, in any case, returned evil for evil. But it is not incumbent on +man to reward a bad action with a good one, or to return good for evil; +and wherever it is done, it is a voluntary act, and not a duty. It +is also absurd to suppose that such doctrine can make any part of a +revealed religion. We imitate the moral character of the Creator by +forbearing with each other, for he forbears with all; but this doctrine +would imply that he loved man, not in proportion as he was good, but as +he was bad. + +If we consider the nature of our condition here, we must see there is +no occasion for such a thing as revealed religion. What is it we want +to know? Does not the creation, the universe we behold, preach to us the +existence of an Almighty power, that governs and regulates the whole? +And is not the evidence that this creation holds out to our senses +infinitely stronger than any thing we can read in a book, that any +imposter might make and call the word of God? As for morality, the +knowledge of it exists in every man's conscience. + +Here we are. The existence of an Almighty power is sufficiently +demonstrated to us, though we cannot conceive, as it is impossible we +should, the nature and manner of its existence. We cannot conceive how +we came here ourselves, and yet we know for a fact that we are here. +We must know also, that the power that called us into being, can if he +please, and when he pleases, call us to account for the manner in which +we have lived here; and therefore without seeking any other motive +for the belief, it is rational to believe that he will, for we know +beforehand that he can. The probability or even possibility of the thing +is all that we ought to know; for if we knew it as a fact, we should be +the mere slaves of terror; our belief would have no merit, and our best +actions no virtue. + +Deism then teaches us, without the possibility of being deceived, all +that is necessary or proper to be known. The creation is the Bible of +the deist. He there reads, in the hand-writing of the Creator himself, +the certainty of his existence, and the immutability of his power; and +all other Bibles and Testaments are to him forgeries. The probability +that we may be called to account hereafter, will, to reflecting minds, +have the influence of belief; for it is not our belief or disbelief that +can make or unmake the fact. As this is the state we are in, and which +it is proper we should be in, as free agents, it is the fool only, and +not the philosopher, nor even the prudent man, that will live as if +there were no God. + +But the belief of a God is so weakened by being mixed with the strange +fable of the Christian creed, and with the wild adventures related in +the Bible, and the obscurity and obscene nonsense of the Testament, that +the mind of man is bewildered as in a fog. Viewing all these things in +a confused mass, he confounds fact with fable; and as he cannot believe +all, he feels a disposition to reject all. But the belief of a God is +a belief distinct from all other things, and ought not to be confounded +with any. The notion of a Trinity of Gods has enfeebled the belief of +one God. A multiplication of beliefs acts as a division of belief; and +in proportion as anything is divided, it is weakened. + +Religion, by such means, becomes a thing of form instead of fact; of +notion instead of principle: morality is banished to make room for +an imaginary thing called faith, and this faith has its origin in a +supposed debauchery; a man is preached instead of a God; an execution is +an object for gratitude; the preachers daub themselves with the blood, +like a troop of assassins, and pretend to admire the brilliancy it gives +them; they preach a humdrum sermon on the merits of the execution; then +praise Jesus Christ for being executed, and condemn the Jews for doing +it. + +A man, by hearing all this nonsense lumped and preached together, +confounds the God of the Creation with the imagined God of the +Christians, and lives as if there were none. + +Of all the systems of religion that ever were invented, there is none +more derogatory to the Almighty, more unedifying to man, more repugnant +to reason, and more contradictory in itself, than this thing called +Christianity. Too absurd for belief, too impossible to convince, and too +inconsistent for practice, it renders the heart torpid, or produces only +atheists and fanatics. As an engine of power, it serves the purpose of +despotism; and as a means of wealth, the avarice of priests; but so +far as respects the good of man in general, it leads to nothing here or +hereafter. + +The only religion that has not been invented, and that has in it every +evidence of divine originality, is pure and simple deism. It must have +been the first and will probably be the last that man believes. But pure +and simple deism does not answer the purpose of despotic governments. +They cannot lay hold of religion as an engine but by mixing it with +human inventions, and making their own authority a part; neither does it +answer the avarice of priests, but by incorporating themselves and their +functions with it, and becoming, like the government, a party in the +system. It is this that forms the otherwise mysterious connection of +church and state; the church human, and the state tyrannic. + +Were a man impressed as fully and strongly as he ought to be with the +belief of a God, his moral life would be regulated by the force of +belief; he would stand in awe of God, and of himself, and would not do +the thing that could not be concealed from either. To give this belief +the full opportunity of force, it is necessary that it acts alone. This +is deism. + +But when, according to the Christian Trinitarian scheme, one part of God +is represented by a dying man, and another part, called the Holy Ghost, +by a flying pigeon, it is impossible that belief can attach itself to +such wild conceits. [The book called the book of Matthew, says, (iii. +16,) that the Holy Ghost descended in the shape of a dove. It might as +well have said a goose; the creatures are equally harmless, and the one +is as much a nonsensical lie as the other. Acts, ii. 2, 3, says, that +it descended in a mighty rushing wind, in the shape of cloven tongues: +perhaps it was cloven feet. Such absurd stuff is fit only for tales of +witches and wizards.--Author.] + +It has been the scheme of the Christian church, and of all the other +invented systems of religion, to hold man in ignorance of the Creator, +as it is of government to hold him in ignorance of his rights. +The systems of the one are as false as those of the other, and are +calculated for mutual support. The study of theology as it stands in +Christian churches, is the study of nothing; it is founded on nothing; +it rests on no principles; it proceeds by no authorities; it has no +data; it can demonstrate nothing; and admits of no conclusion. Not any +thing can be studied as a science without our being in possession of the +principles upon which it is founded; and as this is not the case with +Christian theology, it is therefore the study of nothing. + +Instead then of studying theology, as is now done, out of the Bible and +Testament, the meanings of which books are always controverted, and the +authenticity of which is disproved, it is necessary that we refer to the +Bible of the creation. The principles we discover there are eternal, and +of divine origin: they are the foundation of all the science that exists +in the world, and must be the foundation of theology. + +We can know God only through his works. We cannot have a conception of +any one attribute, but by following some principle that leads to it. +We have only a confused idea of his power, if we have not the means of +comprehending something of its immensity. We can have no idea of his +wisdom, but by knowing the order and manner in which it acts. The +principles of science lead to this knowledge; for the Creator of man is +the Creator of science, and it is through that medium that man can see +God, as it were, face to face. + +Could a man be placed in a situation, and endowed with power of vision +to behold at one view, and to contemplate deliberately, the structure of +the universe, to mark the movements of the several planets, the cause +of their varying appearances, the unerring order in which they revolve, +even to the remotest comet, their connection and dependence on each +other, and to know the system of laws established by the Creator, that +governs and regulates the whole; he would then conceive, far beyond what +any church theology can teach him, the power, the wisdom, the vastness, +the munificence of the Creator. He would then see that all the knowledge +man has of science, and that all the mechanical arts by which he renders +his situation comfortable here, are derived from that source: his mind, +exalted by the scene, and convinced by the fact, would increase in +gratitude as it increased in knowledge: his religion or his worship +would become united with his improvement as a man: any employment he +followed that had connection with the principles of the creation,--as +everything of agriculture, of science, and of the mechanical arts, +has,--would teach him more of God, and of the gratitude he owes to +him, than any theological Christian sermon he now hears. Great objects +inspire great thoughts; great munificence excites great gratitude; but +the grovelling tales and doctrines of the Bible and the Testament are +fit only to excite contempt. + +Though man cannot arrive, at least in this life, at the actual scene I +have described, he can demonstrate it, because he has knowledge of the +principles upon which the creation is constructed. We know that the +greatest works can be represented in model, and that the universe can be +represented by the same means. The same principles by which we measure +an inch or an acre of ground will measure to millions in extent. A +circle of an inch diameter has the same geometrical properties as a +circle that would circumscribe the universe. The same properties of a +triangle that will demonstrate upon paper the course of a ship, will +do it on the ocean; and, when applied to what are called the heavenly +bodies, will ascertain to a minute the time of an eclipse, though those +bodies are millions of miles distant from us. This knowledge is of +divine origin; and it is from the Bible of the creation that man has +learned it, and not from the stupid Bible of the church, that teaches +man nothing. [The Bible-makers have undertaken to give us, in the first +chapter of Genesis, an account of the creation; and in doing this they +have demonstrated nothing but their ignorance. They make there to have +been three days and three nights, evenings and mornings, before there +was any sun; when it is the presence or absence of the sun that is the +cause of day and night--and what is called his rising and setting that +of morning and evening. Besides, it is a puerile and pitiful idea, to +suppose the Almighty to say, "Let there be light." It is the imperative +manner of speaking that a conjuror uses when he says to his cups and +balls, Presto, be gone--and most probably has been taken from it, +as Moses and his rod is a conjuror and his wand. Longinus calls this +expression the sublime; and by the same rule the conjurer is sublime +too; for the manner of speaking is expressively and grammatically the +same. When authors and critics talk of the sublime, they see not how +nearly it borders on the ridiculous. The sublime of the critics, like +some parts of Edmund Burke's sublime and beautiful, is like a windmill +just visible in a fog, which imagination might distort into a flying +mountain, or an archangel, or a flock of wild geese.--Author.] + +All the knowledge man has of science and of machinery, by the aid of +which his existence is rendered comfortable upon earth, and without +which he would be scarcely distinguishable in appearance and condition +from a common animal, comes from the great machine and structure of the +universe. The constant and unwearied observations of our ancestors +upon the movements and revolutions of the heavenly bodies, in what are +supposed to have been the early ages of the world, have brought this +knowledge upon earth. It is not Moses and the prophets, nor Jesus +Christ, nor his apostles, that have done it. The Almighty is the great +mechanic of the creation, the first philosopher, and original teacher of +all science. Let us then learn to reverence our master, and not forget +the labours of our ancestors. + +Had we, at this day, no knowledge of machinery, and were it possible +that man could have a view, as I have before described, of the structure +and machinery of the universe, he would soon conceive the idea of +constructing some at least of the mechanical works we now have; and the +idea so conceived would progressively advance in practice. Or could a +model of the universe, such as is called an orrery, be presented before +him and put in motion, his mind would arrive at the same idea. Such an +object and such a subject would, whilst it improved him in knowledge +useful to himself as a man and a member of society, as well as +entertaining, afford far better matter for impressing him with a +knowledge of, and a belief in the Creator, and of the reverence and +gratitude that man owes to him, than the stupid texts of the Bible and +the Testament, from which, be the talents of the preacher; what they +may, only stupid sermons can be preached. If man must preach, let him +preach something that is edifying, and from the texts that are known to +be true. + +The Bible of the creation is inexhaustible in texts. Every part of +science, whether connected with the geometry of the universe, with +the systems of animal and vegetable life, or with the properties of +inanimate matter, is a text as well for devotion as for philosophy--for +gratitude, as for human improvement. It will perhaps be said, that if +such a revolution in the system of religion takes place, every preacher +ought to be a philosopher. Most certainly, and every house of devotion a +school of science. + +It has been by wandering from the immutable laws of science, and the +light of reason, and setting up an invented thing called "revealed +religion," that so many wild and blasphemous conceits have been formed +of the Almighty. The Jews have made him the assassin of the human +species, to make room for the religion of the Jews. The Christians have +made him the murderer of himself, and the founder of a new religion +to supersede and expel the Jewish religion. And to find pretence and +admission for these things, they must have supposed his power or his +wisdom imperfect, or his will changeable; and the changeableness of the +will is the imperfection of the judgement. The philosopher knows that +the laws of the Creator have never changed, with respect either to the +principles of science, or the properties of matter. Why then is it to be +supposed they have changed with respect to man? + +I here close the subject. I have shown in all the foregoing parts of +this work that the Bible and Testament are impositions and forgeries; +and I leave the evidence I have produced in proof of it to be refuted, +if any one can do it; and I leave the ideas that are suggested in the +conclusion of the work to rest on the mind of the reader; certain as +I am that when opinions are free, either in matters of govemment or +religion, truth will finally and powerfully prevail. + + +END OF PART II + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Writings Of Thomas Paine, Complete, by +Thomas Paine + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE *** + +***** This file should be named 31270-8.txt or 31270-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/2/7/31270/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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