% i«;¥f *■> ..-••.' ■ r J % LIBRA^RY Theological Seminary, PRINCETON, N.J. case, K^:L.^.- a ■r ./ L V ' ^ <:Z-^S2^-^ i\ t V ^. **^ ^ \ \ K' -*■ ., >>y J TH£ WORKS OF THOMAS PAINE. VOL. IL THE WORKS OF THOMAS PAINE, SECRETARY FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS TO THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES, IN THE LATE WAR. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. IL PHILADELPHIA: PRINTED BY JAMES CAREY, A^o. 83, North Second-street. 1797. fy^kja!»jagja'>'3geaiki!Eiit.'j&j.'^jttiiiLi'jj^.a;'ji^^^ ADVERTISEMENT. HE Editor thinks It ncceflary to fay a fevv^ words relative to this fecond volume, before he fends it forth to the public. He has here inferted many articles not to be found in any other edition of Mr. Paine's works ; fome of which were with difTicultv procured. — He believes it contains the whole of his European publications, except his letter to General Wafhington, which, being a copy-right, could not legally have been publiflied by him. Several fubfcribers, and others, expreffing a wiih to liave The Age OF Reason omitted in their volumes, the work has been printed [o as to accommodate them : — to tin's end it was neceiTary to pan-e that treatife diftinftly from the body of the work, fo that it mav be bound up at the end of the volume, or wholly omitted. It was intended to print the names of the fubfcribers; but the lifts have been fo imperfedly procured, that it became expedient to abandon the idea. Pkiladelphiaj Jpril 20, 1 797. 'JBfea3LHBUi»g'jjauiaUaLtBiua«a'^ 'MJiJUMiiiJUiiKiiWiiiiiii aiwujiiui. j- ■i-»iimi..U'.ii!ii.. i.. i .-. wi CONTENTS OF THE SECOND VOLUME. Prospects on the rubicon, . . ^ Rights of Man, Part I, 33 Part II, . - - - - 131 Letter to the Author of the Republican, - - - 25J Abbe Syeyas, 257 Addrefs to the Addreflers, 259 Two Letters to Lord Onflow, _ _ - - 301 DilT^rtafion on Firfl: Principles of Government, - - 307 Letter to Mr. Secretary Durdas, - - - - 3^> The DecHne and Fall of the Euglifh Syftem of Finance, - 337 Letter to the People of France, - - - - 3^ Reafons for prtferving the Life of Louis Capet, as delivered ta tke National Convention, ----- 363 The Age of Reafon, Part I, ^ Part II, SS PROSPECTS ON THE RUBICON: OK, AN INVESTIGATION IJTTO THS CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF THE- POLITICS TO BE AGITATED AT THE MEETING OF PARLIAMENT. Vol. IL- ^ aimjLUiJ^siiaXiivijifn PREFACE. A] .N exprelTion in the Bntifli parliament refpefting the American war, alhiding to Julius Csefar having pafTed the Rubicon, has on fc- veral occafions introduced that river as the figurative river of war* Fortunately for England fhe is yet on the peaceable fide of the Rubicon ; but as the flames once kindled are not always eafily ex- tmgu Hied, the hopes of peace are not fo clear as before the late myf- terious difpute began. But while the calm lalls, it may anfvver a very good purpofe to take a view of the profpcf^s, confiftent with the maxim, that he that goeth to war {hould firft fit down and count the coft. The nation has a young and ambitious minifter at ks head, fond of himfelf ; and deficient in experience : and inftanccs have often i^tC'wvn that judgment is a different thing to genius, and that the af- fairs of a nation are but unfafcly trufted where the benefit of expe- rience is wanting. Illuilraticns iiave been drawn from the circumflances of the war before lafl to decorate the charaftcr of the prefent minifter, and, perhaps, they have been greatly ever-drawn ; for the management mud have been bad to have done lefs than what was then done, when we impartially confidev the means, the force, and*" the money em- ployed. It was then Great Britain and America againft France fingfy, for Spain did not join till near the end of the war. The great num- ber of troops which the American colonies then raifed, and paid themfelves, were fufficient to turn the fcale, if all other parts had been equal. France had not at that time attended to naval affairs fo much as fhe has done finee ; and the capture of French failors be- fore any declaration of war was made, which, however it may be juflified upon policy, will always be ranked among the clandeftinc arts of war, afi'ured a certain, but unfair advantage againft her, be- caufe it was like a man adminiftering a difabling dofe over night to the perfon wlicm he intends to challenge in the mgrning. mmn^sBmmmmaamjmum futJumMeKait}ii:-i»A\;xMiMiMMJee3»mMi^j\fim;mifAx^i^ n ii jwpwiw^it . PROxSPECTS ON THE RUBICON. R IGHT by chance and wrong by fyfcem, are things fb frequently fecn in the poh'tical world, that it becomes a proof of prudence net-r ther to cenfure nor applaud too foon. ** The Rubicon is paft," was once given as a rcofon for profecut- ing the moft expenfive war that England ever knew. Sore with the event, and groaning beneath a gaUing ^^oke of taxes, (he has again been led minifterially on to the ftiore of the fame delufive and fatal river, without being pennitted to know the objeft or reafon why. Expenfive preparations have been gone into; feais, alarms, dangers, apprehenfions, have been myfticaily held forth as if the cxiitence of the nation was at (lake, and at laft the mountain has brought forth a Dutch moufe. Whofoever will candidly review the prefent national chara(5lcrs of England and France, cannot but be ftruck with furprize at the change that is taking place. The people of France are beginning to think for themfelves, and the people of England refigning up the privilege of thinking. The affairs of Holland have been the bubble of the day; and a tax is to be laid on fhoes and boots (fo fay the newfpjipers) for the fer- vice of the iladtholder of Holland. This will undoubtedly do ho- fiour to the nation, by verifying the old Engliih proverb, " over fhoei « over boots.** But though Democrites could fcarcely have forborne laughing at the folly, yet as ferious argument and found rcafoning are preferable to ridicule, it will be bed: to quit the vein of unprofitable humour, and give the caufe a fair inveftigation. But before we da this, it may not be improper to take a general review of fundry political matters that will naturally lead to a better nnderflanding of the fubjeA. 6 PA INE's WORKS. ^-^ What has been the event of all the wars of England, but an amaz^ ing accumulation of debt, and an unparalleled burden of taxes. Sometimes the pretence has been to fupport one outlandifti caufe, and fometimes another. At one time Auftria, and another time PrufTia, another to oppofe RufTia, and fo on ; but ihe confequenc? has always been taxks. A few men have enriched themfelves by- job&and contrads, and the groaning multitude borne the burden. What has England gained by war fince the year 1738, only fifty years ago>.. to recompence her for two hundred millions fterling, incurred 39 a debt within that time, and under the annual interell of which, befides what was incurred before, fhe is now groaning? Nothing at all. The glare of fancied glory has often been held up, and the fha-. dowy recompence impofed itfelf upon the fenfes. Wars that might; have been prevented have been madly gone into, and the end has been.. debt and difcontent. A fort of fomething which m.an cannot ac- count for is mi:ced in his compofition, and renders him the fubjed of deception by the very means he takes not to be deceived. That jealoufy which the individuals of every nation feels at the- fuppofed defigns of foreign powers, fits them to be the prey of mini-, fters, and of thofe am.ong themfelves whofe trade is war, or whofe livelihood is jobs and contrads. " Confufion to the politics of Eur «* rope, and may every nation be at war in fix months," was a toaij given in my hearing not hug fince. — The man was in court to the. miniftry for a job. — Ye gentle graces, if any fuch there be, who pre*. fide over human adions how muft ye weep at the vicioufneis of man h When we coniider, for the feelings of nature cannot be difmifled,. the calamities of war and the miferies it inflids upon the human fpe-.. cies, the thoufands and tens of thoufands of every age and fex who. are. rendered wretched by the event, furely there is fomething in the heart of man that calls upon him. to think ! Surely there is fomc ten- der chord tuned by the hand of its Creator, that ftruggles to emit ink the heanng of the foul a note of forrowing fympathy. Let it thei^ be heard, and let men learn to feel, that the true greatnefs of a uatioa is founded on principles of humanity ; and that to avoid a war w.her> her own exiftence is not endangered, and \yherein the happinefs of man muft be wantonly facrificcd, is a higher principle of true honour than madly to engage in it. But independent of all civil and moral confiderations, there is no p6f- fible event that a war could produce benefits to England or France, on the prefentoccafion, that could in the mofl; dittant proportion recom- pence to either the expence flic mull be at. War involveB in its progref^ PROSPECTS ON THE RUBICOR 7' fuch a train of unforefeen and unfiippofed circumftances, filch a combi- nation of foreign matters, that no human wifdom can calculate the ^nd. It has but one thing certain, and that is increafe of taxes. The poh'cy ofEuropean courts is now fo caft, and their intereft fo interwoven v/ith each other, that however eafy it may be to begin a war, the weight arid influence of interfering nations compel even the conqueror to un- profitable conditions of peace. Commerce and maritime llrength are now becoming the fafhion, or rather the rage of Europe, and this naturally excites in them, a com- bined wifh to prevent either England or France encreafing its compa- rative Itrcngth by deftroying, or even relatively weakening the others' and therefore, whatever views each may have at the commencement of a war, new enemies will arife as either gains the advantage, and -continual obftacles enfue tc embarrUfs fuccefs. The greatnefs of Lewis the fourteenth made Europe his enemy, aiid the fam.e caufe will produce the fame confequence to any other European power. That nation, therefore, only is truly wife, who contenting herfelf with the means of defence, created to herfelf no xinneceffar)' enemies by feeking to be greater than the fyftem of Eu- rope admits. The monarch or the minifter who exceeds this line^ knows but little of his bufinefs. It is what the poet, on another oc- cafion, calls, ** The point where fenfe and nonfcnfe join." Perhaps there is not a greater inflance of the folly of calculating upon events, than are to be found in treaties of alliance. As foon as they have anfwered the immediate purpofe of either of the parties, they are but little regarded. Pretences, afterwards, are never want- ing to explain them away, nor reafons to render them abortive. And if half the money which nations lavifh on fpeculative alliances were referved for their own immediate purpofe, whenever the occa*- iion fhall arrive, it v/tiuld be more produdlively and aJvantageoufiy employed. Monarchs and minifters, from ambition or refentment, often con- template to themfelves fchemes of future greatnefs, and fct out with what appears to them the fairelt profpeft ; In the mean while, the great wheel of time and fate revolves unobfeiTed, and fomethiag, ne- ver dreamed of, turns up and blafts the whole. A few fancied or ^inprofitable laurels fupply the abfence of fuccefs, and the cxhaullod f^ation is huzza'd into new taxes. The poUtics asid interefts of European courts arr fo frequently n PAlNE's wo RKS. varyino r/(th regard to each other, that there is no fixing even the probabih'ty of their future conduct. But the great principle of alliancing feems to be but little underftood, or little cultivated in courts, perhaps the leafl of all, in that of England. — No alliance «»an be operative, that does not embrace within itfelf, not only the attachment of ihe fovereigns, but the real intereft of the na- tions. 1 he alliance between France and S^ain, however it may be fpokeri •of as a mere family compact, derives its greateft ftrength from na- tional intereft. The mines of Peru and Mexico, are the foul of this alliance. Were thofe mines extindlj the family compa£l would moll probably diflblve. Thei^j cxifts not a doubt in tlie mind of Spain, what part England v^ould a£l, refpecling thofe mines, could fne demolifh the maritime power of France ; and therefore the intereil of Spain feels itfelf con- tinually united with France. Spain have high ideas of honour, but they have not the fame ideas of Engliili honour. They confider Eng- land as wholly governed by principles of intereft, and that whatever flie thinks it her intereft to do, and fuppofes (he has the power of do- ing, ihe makes very little ceremony of attempting. But this is not nil — There is not a nation in Europe but what is n»oi?e fatisfied that thofe mines fnould be in the pofTefiion of Spain, than in that of any other European nation ; becaufe the wealth of thofe mines, fufficient to ruin Europe in the hands of fome of its pov/ers, is innocently rmployed with refpeft to Europe, and better and more peaceably diftrihnted among them all, through the medium of Spain, than it would be throu,,rh tliat of any other nation. This is one of the fecret caufesthat combine fo large a part of Europe in the intereft of France, becaufe they cannot but confider her as ftanding as a barrier to fe- cure to them the free and equal diftribution of this wealth thrcucrhout all the dominions of Europe. Th'r, allianc" of intereft is likcw'fe one of the unfeen cements that prevents Spain and Portugal, two nations not very friendly to each other, proceeding to hcftillties. They are both in the fame fituation, and whatever their difliker. may be, they cannot fail to confider, that by giving way to refentm.ent that would weaken and exhauft them- fclves, each would be expofed a prey to fome ftronger power. In ftiort, this alliance of national intereft is the only one that ca« be trufted, and the only one that can be operative. All other alli- ances formed on tlie mere will and caprice of fovereigns, ot family connexions, uncombined with national intereft, are but th^ quagmire ^i politics, and never fail to become a lois to that nalion who wafces its prefent fubfb.r:j:e on the expedancy of dillant returns. With regard to Holland, a man muft know very little of the n'.at- ter, not to know that there exifts a llronger principle of rivalfhip S.- tween Holland and England in point of commerce, than prevails be- tween England and France in point of power: and, therefore, when- ever a ftiidthoklGr of Holland fliall fee it his interell to unite with the principle of his countr)', and aS. In concert with ihc fentiments pf the very people wiio pay him for hl^ fervices, the means now taken by England to render him formidable, wdl operate contrary to the l^olitical expeftations of the prefent dny. Circumilances will produce their own natural elTecln, and no other, let tlie hopes or expedxatlons of rnan be what they may. It is not our doing a thing with a delign that it fliali aofwer fuch or luch an end, that will caufe it to produce that end ; the means taken mull have a natuVal ability and tendency within thcmfelves to produce no Vthef, for it is this, and not our wlfhes or policy, that governs the event. The Engiiili navigation acl was levelled againd the intereft of the Dutch as a whole nation, and therefore it is not to be fuppofed that the catching at the accidental circumflancer. of one man, :is In the cafe of the prefent iladtholder, can combine the intereft of that coun- try with this. A few years, perhaps a lefs tiroe, mny remove him to the place where ail things are forgotten, and his fuccelTor, contem- plating his father's troubles, will be naturally led to reprobate the means that produced tliem, and to repofe himfelf on the interells of kis country, in preference to the accidental and tumultuoas afliiiancc ©f exterior power. England herfelf exhibits at thiR day, a fpecies of this kind of policy. The prefent reign, by embracing the Scotch., has tranquihzed and conciliated the fplrit that difturbed the two former reigns. Accufa- tions were not wanting at that time to reprobr'.te the policy ns tine* tared with ingratitude towards thofe who were tlie immediate me^ns of the Hanover fuccerfion. The brilliant pen of Junius v. ^;s drawn forth, but in vain. It enraptured without convincing ; and though in the plenitude of its rage it might be faid to give elegance to bit- ternefs, yet the policy furvived the blaft. What then will be the natural confcquencc of this expence, on ac- count of the ftadth. Ider, or of a war entered into from that caufe ■ Search the various wintlii^gs and caverns of the human heart, and draw from thence the moll probable conclufion, for tiiis is more to be depended upon than the projeds or declarations of miniilcrs. Vol. n. C io PAINE's WOllKJ^. It may do veiy xvcll for a paragraph In a news-paper, cf tfie Wild efFufiORS of romantic politicians, or the mercenary views of thofe who wifh for war en any occafion, or on no occiifion at ail, but for the fake of jobs and contrails, to talk of French fineffe or French' Intrigue ; but the Dutch are wcl a people to be fmpreficd bV the fi- neiTe or intrigue of France or England, or any other niitian. If there has been any fineffe in the cafe, it has been between the ekdo- rate of Hanover, the king of Prufiia, and the fladtholder, in which k is moll probable the people of England v^/ill be fincfTed out of a funi; of money. The Dutch, as i^ already obferved, are not a people open to the fmpreflion cf linefle. It is loft upx)n them. They are iirpreffed by their commercial intereft. It is the political foul of their country, the fpring of their adionS', and when this principle coincides with their ideas of freeddnt, it has all the impulfe a Dutchsnaa is capable of feeling, Tlie oppofition fn Kolbnd were the enemies ef the fiadtholder/ opon a conviftion that he was not the friend of their national interefls. They wanted no impulfe but this. Whether this dcfcd in h'lni proceeded from foreign attachment, from bribeiy or corruption, or from the vs'eII-k;iov?rj defedl of his underllanding, is not the point of enquiry. It was ili-c efTccl: rather than the cxuk that hrstated thd Hollanders. If the ftadtholder made ufe cf the power he h^ld in the govern- ment to expofe and endanger the interefr and ]>roperty of the very p-eople who fupported hiirii whar other incentive docs any man io any country require ? If the Hollanders conceived the conduft of tiiff- ftadtholder injurious to their national intereft, they had the fame right to expel him which England had to expel the Stuarts ;* and the inter- ference cf England to re-eftabhfii him, ferves only to confirm in tht- Hollanders the fame hatred agai'nil England which the attempt of Lewis the XlVth, to re-eftablifh the Stuarts caufed in En^dand ngaiuft France ; therefore, if the prefent policy is intended to at- tach Holland to Flngland, it goes on a principk exceedingly er^ roneotis. Let us now confider the fituation cf the ftadtholder, as makinof another part of the queftion. He muft place the caufe of his troiibies to fome fecret influence which governed his condinft during the late war, or in other words, that he was fufpedled of being the tool of the then Britiili admini- ftration. The^-cfore, as iVery part of an argument ought to have its PROSPECTS ON THE RUBICON. ti weight, inftead of charging the French of intriguing with the Hol- landers, the charge jnore confiftently lies ngainft the Britifn niinlilry, &)r intriguing with the ftadtholdcr, and endangering the nation in a war without a fufficient objedl. That which the miniftry are now doing coniirms the fufpicion, and explains to the HoUiinders th:it collufion of the ftadtholder againft their national intei'eds, which he muft wifh to have concealed, and the explanation dt>es liim more hurt than the unnecefiary parade etwe^;» En«-land and France there is no real rivalihip of iaterelt; it is mc/re the eff eft of temper, difpofition, and the jealoufy of confiding in each other, than ai;y fubiiantial caufe, that keeps up the aiu'mofity. But on the part of Holland towards England, there is over and abovq- the fpirit of animofity, the more powerful motives of intereiled com- mercial rivalfiiip, and the galling remembvar.ee of pail injuricu. The ynakine^ war upon them under lord North's adminiilration, when tliey were taking no part in the huililiti,es, hut merely ?e procured when it wai wanted^ and that it would be better to take H P A I K E*s W 0 R K S. it up in this line than to cnibarrafs'Iicrfclf with fpecuiative aliiarrcfs that ferved rather to draw l-.er iiUo a continental wra'on their accciint, than extricate her from a war undertaken on licr own account. From this difcufilon of the affairs of Kollnnd, and of the inade^ quacy of Holland as an objc^ for war, we will proceed to faew that neither England nor France are in a condition to go to war ; and that there is no prefent o'oJf ft to tlie one or the other to recompcnce the expence that each mufl; be at, cr atone to tlie fubjefts of either for the additional burdens that mufi be brought upon them. I de.- iend the caufe of the poor, of the manufacturers, of the tradefmen, of the farmer, and of all thofe on whom the real burden of taxes fall — r but above all, I defend the caufe of humanity. It will always happen, that any rumour of war v.'ill be popular among a great number of people in London. There are thoufands who live by it : it is their Imryefi ; and the clamour which thofe peo^ pie keep up in news-papers and convcrfalions pafTes unfufpiciouily for the voice of the people, and it is not till after the mifchief is done, that the deception is difcovered. Such people are continually holding up in r^ry magnified terms the wealth of the nation, and the dcprcifed condition of France, as reafons for commencing a war, without knowing any thing of either of thefe.fubjefts. But admitting them to be as truej ?!s they are falfe, as will be here- after fliewn, it certainly indicates a vilenefs in the national dilpoftion ©f any country, that will make the accidental internal difliculties to -whicli all nations arc fubjecl, and fometimcs encumbered with, a rea- fon for making war upon them. The amazing encreafe and miagni- tude of the paper currency now floating in all parts of England, ex- pofes her to a Ihock as much more tremendous than the fiiock occa- fioned by the bankruptcy of the South Sea funds, as the quantity of credi land paper currency is now greater than they were at that time. Whenever fuch a circumilance (hall happen, and the wifcfl men in the nation are, and cannot avoid being, impreffed with the danger, it would be looked upon a bafenefs in France to make the dillrefs and misfortune of England a caufe and opportunity for making war upon her, yet this hideous infid'i^lity is publicly avowed in England. The bankruptcy of 1719? was pri'cipitated by the great credit which the funds then had, and the confidence which people placed in them. I« not credit making infmitcly greater flrides now than it made then? Is rot (confidence equally as blind now as at tliat day? The people then {uppofed themfelves as wife as they do now, yet they were miferablr Prospect's on tpIe pjjbicon. i; deceived, and the deception that has once happened will happen again from the fame caufes. Credit is not money, and therefore it is not pay, neither can it be pat in the place of money in tlie end. It is «nly the means of getting into debt, not tlie means of getting out, otherwife the national debt could not aociimiilate; and the delafion w-n'ch nations are under rei- petSlmg the extenfian of credit is exa6^1y like that which every man feels refpevSling life, the end is always nearer than was expeffed; and v/e bscOme bar.krupts in time by the fame deluflon that nations be- come bankrupts in property. The little wliich nations know, or are fometimes willing to knov*^, cf each other, ferves to precipitate them into wars which neither would have undertaken, had fhe fully known the extent of the power and cir- Cumftances of the other; it may t}iertf:)re be of fome ufc to place the circumftances of Engl-Tud and France in a comparative point of view. In order to do this the accidental circumftances of a nation mufl be thrown out of the acconut. By accidental circumftances is meant, thofe temporary disjointings and derangements of its internal lyllem which every nation in the world is fubjeil to, and which, like acci- dental fits of ficknefs in the human body, prevents in the interim the full exertion and exercife of its natural powers. The fubftantial hafis of the power of a nation arifes ont of its po- pulation, its wealth and its revenues. To thefe may be addx'd the difpofition of the people. Each of thefe will be fpoken lo as we pro- ceed. Inftancesare not wantino; to fhew that a nation confidmg too mucit on its natural Itrength, is Icfs inclined to be aAive in its operations tlian one of lefs natural powers who is objiged to fupply tliat defici- ency by encreafing its exertions. This has often been the cale be- tween England and France. IMie activity of England arihng from ito fears, has fometimes exceeded the exertions of France rep«fing oij its contidence. But as this depends on the accidental difpofition of a people, it will -jiot always be the fame. It is a matter well known to every man wha has lately been in France, that a very extraordinary change is work- ing itfeif in the minds of the people of that nation. A fpirit that will render France exceedingly formidable whenever its government faall embiace the fortunate opportunity of doubling its (Irtngth by al- lying, if it may be fo exprefTed (for it is difficult to exprefs a new idea by old terms) the majclly of the fovereign v,ith the majefly of the nation ; for of ail alliances that is iuiinitdy the flrongeft and ihc 1.6 PA-INIL^s WORKS. fafefl to be trufled to^ becaufe the interert fo formed, and operating againft external enemies can never be divided. It may be taken as a certain rule, that a fubje<5l of any cciintiT' attached to the gx)vernment on the principles above-mentioned is of twice the value he was before. Freedom in the fubjed is not a di- minution, as was formerly believed, of the pov^^er of government, but. an increafe of it. Yet the progrefs by which changes of this kind are effedcd, requires to be nicely attended to. Were governments to offer freedom to the people, or to fiiew an anxiety for that purpofe, the offer mofl probably would be rekaed^ The pvurpofe for which it was offered, might be mifirufted. There- lore the defire muH originate with, and proceed from the mafs of the^ people, and when the imprefiion becomes univerfal, and not before, ia the importr.nt moment for the mod effectual confolidation of national Itrerigth and greatneis that can take place. . , ^Vhile this change is v/orking, there wiD appear a kind of chaos in the nation ; hut the creation we enjoy arofe out of a chaos, and our greateft blclTings appear to have a coufufed beginning. Therefore w-t: may take it for granted, that what has at this mo- ment the appearaivce of diforder in France, is no more than one t»f the great links in tliat great chain of circiimftances by v.diich nations ac- quire the fummit of their greatnefs. The provincial aiTemblies ah*eady begun in France, are as full, or rather a fuller reprefentatlon of the, people than the parliaments of England are. Trie French, or, as they were formerly called, the Franks (frora \ylience came the Engh'fh ^ord frank and free) v/ereoppe the freefl people in Europe; and as nations appear to have their jxeijiidical revo-> lutions, it is very probable they will be fo again. Tkie<;hangc is al- ready begun, The people of France, as it is befope-'o^'fervcd, arc beginning to think for themfelvcj, and th» people of Bngland refign- ing up the prerogative of thinking. We fhall nov/ proceed to com.pare the prefcnt condition of England and France as to population, revenues and wealth, and to fncw that neither is in a condition of going to war, and that war can end in no- thing but lofs, and mod probably, a temporary ruin to both nations. To eflabiifii this point fo neceffary for both nations to be imprciTed with, a free inveftigatian of all the matters connected with it is indlf- penfible: If, therefore, any thing herein advanced fhall be difagree- able, it muft be luHified on the ground that It Is better to be known in order to prevent ruin, than to be concealed, when luch conceal-, ment fervcs only to hail en the ruin. ; PROSteCTS ON THE kUBlCON. i? OF POPULATION. The population of France being upwards of twenty-foar millions^ Is more than double that of Great J3';ituin and Irela.^d ; beiides which France recruits nio^je folditrs iu SvvIiTerlaad than England dof> iii Scotland and Ireland. To this may likewife be added, tLat England and Ireland are not on the beil teriiis. Tlie fufpicion that Lii^.h.nd governi Ireland for the purpofe of li.ev^ping; her low to prevent Ikt be- oorainij a rival iii trade and manuiatiures, will always opei'utc to kui.d Ireland in a iliate of featimeatal holliUti,e^ >vith JEugUnd. REVENUES. The revenues of France arc twe{:ty-fuur millions ftcjling. Tlie revenues of England fifteen millions and an half. The taxes pef head in France are twenty fiiilh'ngs llerling j t'ne taxes per head m England are two pounds four ftiiUings and two pence. I'he uational debt in France iuclading the life aniiuitie.s (which are two-nfths of the whole debt, and are annually expiring J at flcveii years purehafe, is one hundred and forty-two millions flerling. The national debt of England, the whole of which is on perpetual intereit, is two hundred and forty-hve millions. The national debt of France contains a power of annihilating itfclf without any new taxes for that purpofe ; becaufe it needs nomoie than to apply the life annuities a3 they expire to the purchafe of the other two fifths, which are on perpetual intereft: But the national debt of Englahd has not this advantage, and therefore the milh'on a year that is to be applied towards reducing it is fo much additional tax upon the people, over and above the current fervice. W E A L T H. This is an inrfnortarit invellig-atioa, it oujht therefore to be heard ifiith patience, and judged of v.-ithout prejudice. Nothing is more confcion' than fov people to miftake one thing for another. Dc not thofe who are crying up the wealth of the nation xniftake a paper currency for riches ? To afcertiin this point may b€ one of the means of preventing ih:xt ruin which cannot fail to follow ^y perilling in the miftake. The higheft eftimation that is made of the quantity of gold and filver in Britain at tiiisprefent day is twenty millions: And thofe who are moft converfant with money tranfadlions, beheve it to be confider- ably below that fum. Yet this is no more money than what the nation poflefled twenty years ago, and therefore, whatever her trade may be, it has produced to htr no profit. Certainly no man can be Vol. II. Vd i« P A I N E ' s W O R K S. fo unvviTe as to fuppofe that increafing tlie quantity of bank notes, which is done with as little trouble as printing of news-papers, is national wealth. The quantity of money in the nation was very well afcertained in th.G years 1773, 74, and 76, by calling in the light gold coin. There were upwards of fifteen millions and a half of gold coin then called in, which, with upwards of two millions of heavy guineas that remained out, and the lilver coin made about twenty millions, which, is more than there is at this day. There is an amazing increafe in the circulation of bank, paper, which is no more national wealth than ncAVs-papers are ; bccaufe an increafe of promifibry notes, the capital remaining unincreafing in the fame proportion, is no increafe of wealth. It ferves to raife falfe ideas which the judicious foon difcover, arid the ignorant experience to their coft. Out of twenty milliona fieiling, the prefent quantity of real mo- ney in the nation, it would be too great an :;IIowance to fay that one- fourth of that fum, which is five millions, was in London. But even admitting this to be the cafe, it would require no very conjuring powers to afcertain pretty nearly what proportion of that fum of five millions couM be in the bank. It would be ridiculous to fuppofe it could be lefs than half a million, and extravagant to fuppofe it could be two millions. It likevvrife requires no very extraordinary difcernment to afcertain hov/ imraenle the quantity of bank notes, compared to its capital in the bank muK be, when it is confidered, that the national taxes are paid in bank notes, that all great tranfaftions are done in bank notes, and that were a loan for twenty millions to be opened at the meeting of parliament, it would moil probably be fubfcribed in a few days ; Yet all men mufl know the loan could not be paid in money, becaufe it Is at leaft four times greater than all the money in London, in- cluding ihe bankers and the bank amount too. In Ihort, every thing (hov^'s, that the rage that overrun America, for paper money, or paper currency, has reached to England under another name. There it was called continental money, and here it is called bank notes. But it fignlfies not what name it bears, if the capital is not equal to the redemption. There is likewife another circumftance that cannot fail to ftrike with fome force when it id mentioned, becaufe every man that has any thing to do with money tranfa6tions, will feel the truth of it, though he may not before have refledled upon it. It is the embarraffed condition into which the gold coin h tlirown by the neeeflity of PROSPECTS ON THE RUBICON. 19^ weighing it, and by refufing guineas that are even (landing weighty and, there appear to be but very few heavy ones. Whether this k intended to force the paper currency into circulation, is not here at- tempted to be aflerted, but it certainly has that effect to a very great degree, becaufe people, rather than fubmit to the trouble and hazavd of weighing, will take paper in ^preference to money. This was once the cafe in America. The natural effeft of increafing and continuing to increafe paper currencies is that of bani(hing the real money. The (hadow takes place of the fubllance till the country is left with only fnadows in its hands. A trade that does not increafe the quantity of real money in a country, cannot be ftyled a profitable trade ; yet this is certainly the cafe with England : And as to credit, of which fo much has been faid, it may be founded on ignorance or a falfe belief, as well as on real ability. In Amfterdam, the money depofited in the bank is never taken out again. The depofitors, when they have debts to pay, transfer their right to the pcrfons to whom they are indebted, and thofc again proceed by the fame pratlice, and the transfer of the right goes for payment; now could all the money depofited in the bank of Amfterdam be privately removed away, and the matter be kept a fecret, the ignorance, or the belief that the money was flill there, would give the fame credit as if it had not been removed. In fnort, credit is often no more than an opinion, and the difference between credit and money is that money requires no opinion to fupport it. All the countries in Europe annually increafe in their quantity of gold .and filver except England. By the regifters kept at Lifboii and Cadiz, the two ports into which the gold and filver from South America are imported, it appears that above eighty millions fterling have been imported within tvvrenty years.* This has fpread itfelf over Europe, and increafed the quantity in all the countries on the continent, yet twenty years ago there was as much gold and filver in England as there is at this time. The value of the filver imported into Europe exceeds that of th.e gold, yet every one can fee there is no increafe of filver coin in Eng- land; very little filver coin appearing except what are called liirmin^'- * Frotn 1763/0 1777, a period of ^/ieen years of pence, the regif tered import at ions of gold and fdver into JLiJbon and Cadiz j nvas feventy millions flerlingx h^fidss ivhat tvas privately landed^ 29 PAINEVs WORKS: liam niiilin^s, which have a faint imprellion of king William on ottc fide, and are fmooth on the other. In what is the profits of trade to fhe^v itfelf but by increafing the quantity of that v/hich is the objefl of trade, money ? An increafe of paper is not an increafe of national profit any more than it is an In- creafe of national money, and the f.onfounding paper and money to« p ether, or not attending to the diflniclion, is a rock that the nation will one day fplit iipbii. Whether the payment of interefl to foreigners, or the trade to the Eail- Indies, or the nation embroiling itfelf in foreign wars, or whe- ther the amount of all the trade v/hich England carries on with dif- fereht parts of the world* colle(Sl:iveIy taken, balances itfelf without profit; -whether orte or all of thefe is the caufe, why the quantity of money does not increafe in England is not, in this place, the objedt of enquiry. It is the fact and not the caufe that is the matter here treated of. Men immerfed in trade and the concerns of a compting houfe, are 'not the moil fpeculative in national affairs, or always the beft judge* of them. Accuflomed to run rifk's in trade, they are habitually pre- pared to run riii^s with government, and though they are the fiiil to fuffer, they are often the lail to forefee an evil. Let us now call a look towards the manufa^ures. A great deal has been faid of their flourifhing condition, and perhaps a great deal too much, for it m?y again be ailved, where is the profit if there is no increafe of money in the nation ? The woollen manufa»5ture is the ftaple manufa6ture of England, nnd this is evidently on the decline, in fome, if not in all, its branches. 1 he city of Norwich, One of the moil populous cities in Enp-land, and wholly dependant on the woollen manufafture, is, at this day, in a very impovenfried condition, owing to the decline of its trade. But not to reft the matter on a general afiertion, or embarrafs it with numerous ftatements, we will produce a circumilance by whic^ the whole progrefs of the trade may be afcertained. So long as thirty years ago the price paid to tht fpinn'ers of wool was one fhilling for twcnty-foar Jlcains, each fkain containing five hun- dred and fixty yards. This, according to the term of the trade, was ^giving -a fliilling for a billing. A good hand would fpin twehe Ikains, which was fix-pence a day. According to the increafe of taxes, and the incretfed price of all the articles of lift, they certainly ought now to get at leafl; fifteen pence, for what thirty years ago they got one fhilling. But iuch i> PROSPECTS ON THE HUBICON. 1 1 ihe decline of the trade, that the cnfe is direftly the contrary. They now get but nine pence for the fiiilh'ng, that is, they get but nine pence for what thirty years ago they got one fln'lh'ng. Car. thefe peopk cry out for war, w'iien tliey are ah/eady half ruined by the de- cline of trade, zvA half de\'OUrcd by the increafe cf taxes? But th*? is not the whole of the misfortunes which that part of the countiy fufters, and which will extend to others. The Norfolk farm- ers were the firft who went into the praftice of manuring their land with T.arl: But time has fliewn, that though it gave a vigour to the land for Tome years, it operated in the end to cshaufl its (Irimina; that the lands in many pnvts are worfe than before they began to marl, and that it will not anfwer to marl a fecond time. The manufactures of Manchefter, Birmingham and iShei!ield have had of late a confiderable {pung^ but this appears to be rather on fpe- cuiation than certainty. The fpeculations on the American market have failed, and that on Ruffia is becoming veiy precarious. Experi- ence likewife was wanting to afcertain the quantity which the treaty *f commerce with France would give fale to, and it if moft probabk 'the eHimations have been too high, i¥iore efpetially as Englifn goods will now become unpopular in France, which Wa5 not the cale before the prefent injud'cious rupture. But in the beO: flate which manufactures can be in, they are ver)- unliable fources of national v/ealth. The reafons are, that they feldr.r*. continue lonsr in one fear. The market for them det)end8 unon the caprice of fafliions, and fometimes of politics in foreign countries, and ^hey are ^t all times ey.pofed to rivalfhip as well as to change. Tlie Americans have already fcveral manufaclurcs among them, v»'hich tliey prefer to the Englifh, fuch ?ts axes, fcythes, fickle?, hoes, planes, na?ls. Sec. Window glafs, which was once a confiderable article of {Exportation from England to America, the Am.ericans now procure from otiier countries, nearly as good as the Engliili crown glafs, and but little dearer than the common green window glafs. It is fometv-hat rem.arkable that fo many pcn^ have been difplared Lo {he\v what is called the Increafe of the commerce of England, and yet all ofthem have ftept ihort of the grand point, that is, they have gone Ro farther than to fhew that a larger number of fnipping', and a greater qu''.ntity of tonnage have been emivloyed of late •j'^ars than fo:*merlv : But this is no more than what is happening in otiier parts of Eurvope. The prefent fa fnion of the world is con:merce, and the quantity iii- qreafes in Era ".ce as well as in England. !Bnt rhe obje dt of all trade is profit, and profit fiews ftftlf, not by 22 PA IN E's W O R KS. an increafe of paper currency, for that may be nationally had without the trouble of trade, but by an increafe of real money : therefore the eftimation fhould have ended, not in the comparative quantity of {hip- ping and tonnage, but in the comparative quantity of gold and filver. Had the quantity of gold and filver increafed in England, the mi- iiiilerial writers would not have ftopped fhort at flipping and tonnage ; but if they know any thing of the matter, they muil know that it does not increafe, and that the deception is occafioned by the increafe of paper money, and that as paper continues to increafe, gold and filver will diminiih. Poorer in wealth and richer in delufion. Something is radically wrong, and time will difcovei it to be put- ting paper in the room of money. , Out of one hundred millions Ilerling of gold and filver, which muft have been imported into Europe from South America Unce the com- mencement of the peace before laft, it does not appear that England has derived or retains any portion of it. Mr. Neckar flatus the annual increafe of gold and filver in France^ that is, the proportion which France draws of the annual importation into Europe, to be upwauds of one million fterhng. But England in the fpace of twenty years, does not appear to have increafed in any thing birt paper currency. Credulity is wealth while credulity lafts, and credit is, in a thoufand inRances, the child of credulity. It requires no more faith to be- lieve paper to be money, than to believe a man could go into a quart bottle ; and the nation whofe credulity can be impofed upon by bottle conjjjring, can, for a time, be impofed upon by paper conjuring. From tlicfe matters we pafs on to make fome obfervations on the national debt, which is another fpecies of paper currency.. In fiiort, to w^hatever point the eye is diredled, whether to the money, the paper, the manufadures, the taxes, or the debt, the ina- bility of fupporting a war is evident, unlefs it is intended to carry it on by fleecing the fidn over people's ears by taxes; and therefore the endangering the nation in a war for the fake of the fladtholder of Holland, or the king of PrulTia, or any other foreign affairs, from which England can derive no polnble advantage, is an abfurd and ruinous fyllem of politics. France perhaps is not in a better fituation, and, therefore, a war where both mull Icfe, and wherein they could only ad the part of ieconds, mufl hiftorically have been denominated a boyifh, foolifl^, ttnuecefTary quarrel. But before we enter on the fwbjed of the national debt, it w/H PROSPECTS ON THE RUBICON. 23 be proper to make a general review of the different manner of car- rying on war fince the revoUuion to what was the praftice before. Before the revohition the intervals of peace and war always fvnmd means to pay off the expence, and leave the nation clear of incumbrance at the commencement of any fucceeding war ; and even for fomc years after the revolution this practice was continued. From the year 1688, (the era of the revolution) to the year 1702, a period of fourteen years, the funis borrowed by government at different times, amounted to forty-four millions; yet this lum wa-s paid off almofl as faff as it was boiTowed; thirty-four millions being paid off, at the commencement of the year 1702. This was a greater exertion than the nation has ever made fmce, for exertion is not in borrowing but in paying. From that time wars have been carried on by borrowing and fund- ing the capital on a perpetual interefl, inftead of paying it off, and thereby continually carrying forward and accumulating the weight and expence of every war into the nest. By this means that which was light at firfl becomes Immenfely heavy at lafl. The nation has now on its fhoulders the weight of all the wars from the time of queen Anne. This pradlice is exaftly like that of loading a horfe with a feather at a time till you break his back. The national debt exhibits at this day a ilriking novelty. Tt hos travelled on in a circular progrefTion till the amount of the annual interefl has exactly overtaken, or become equal to, the iirft capital of the national debt, nine millions. Here begins the evidence of the predlclions fo long foretold by the ablefl calculators in the nation. The interefl will in fuccelTiou overtake all the fucceeding capitals, and that with the proportioned rapidity with which thofe capitals accumulated ; becaufe by continuing the pratlice not only higher and higher premiums nmfl be given for loans, but the money, or rather the paper, v/ill not go fo far as it formerly did, and therefore the debt wiU increafe with a continual increaiing velocity. The expence of every war, fince the national debt began, has, upon an average, been double the expence of the war preceding it : the expence therefore of the next war will be at leafl two hundred mil- lions, which wiU increafe the annual interefl to at leafl feventeen mil- lions, and confequently the taxes in the fame proportion ; the follow- ing war will encreafe the interefl to thirty-three millions, and a third war will mount up the interell to fixLy-five millions. This is not going on in the fpirit of predidlion, b\!t taking what has already been as a rule for what will yet be, and therefore the nation has bv.t a 24 MAINE'S W O 11 K S. inifcruble profpevl to look at. The v/eight of accumulciting- intercft is not much fck till after many years have palfed over ; but when ft begins to be heavy, as it does now, the burden incrcafes like that cf Vurd.:tf no; a horfe with a farthin^r for the firfl nail 4»f thprefumip- tion is, that there will be no run upon the bank in confequence of fuch an extraordinary emilrion, but if there fhculd, no man can be at a lofs in forefeeing the ilTue. There are thofe who remember that on a former run the bank was obliged to prolong the ti:r.e by paying (hillings and fix-pences, and it is univerfally credited that a quantity of filver is now preferred in the bank for the fame purpote ; but the device,, to every perfon of reflexion, fliews that the capital is not equal to the demands, and that the chapter of accidents Is part of the bible of the bank. It may be allvcd why do not the govermvicnt ilfue tlie paper in- ftead of the bank ? The anf-.ver is, that it is ocaftly the fame thing in the end, only v/ith this difilTence in the mode, that were tlie govern- ment to do it, it vv-ould be too vifible a fyilcm cf paper ci] ;-cncy, and that a difguife is nccelfary. Having rcrourfe to the bank, is a kind of playing the bank off againft the fund';. Fighting one kir.d of paper againil another, an4 in the combat b«?;th •.•fill ke fuS'ereri-. 38 P A I N E ' s W O R K S. In fnort, the dclufion of paper riches is working as rapidly in Trt^- laud as it did in America. A young and inexperienced miniiief> like a A'^oung and inexperienced congrefs, may fuppofe that he iceh mines of wealth in a printinir.prefs, and that a nation cannot be ex- haiilled while there is paper and ink enough to print paper tivoncy. Every new emiiiicn, luitil the delufion burfts, will appear to the na- tion :m increafe of wealth. Every merchant's coffers v/iil appeat a treaiury, and he will i'weil with paper riches till he becomes ;i bankrupt. When a bank makes too free with its paper, it eX|)ofeS itfelf ill muca the fame manner w liich a government does that ffiakes too free with its power; too much credit is as bad as too little; and there is' fucii u thing as governing too much as well in a bank as in govern- ment. But nothino; cxpolts a bank more than being under the in- fluence, inilead oFthe proLetUon of government, and whenever eithei' the property or the credit of a bank, can be commanded or influenced by a government, or a mimiler, its deflrud^ion is iiot far off. V7e havvi novv ftated ilie comparative condition of England arid Eraiice as to money matters. But there yet remain fom.e things iiecefiUry to be touciicd upon. It is an error very frequently committed in the world to mifiakc difpolition for condition. France with a much better permanent condition for war than Eng- land, is in a hio difpofition to enter into one, and this difpolition in her is miiiakcn in Enghnd for want oi condition ; and on the other ]\?.p.dy the apparent diipoiltion in England for war is miilaken by her for a condition to undertake and carry one oh. There appears; a uniformity In all the works of nature, from ir.di' vidiuii animals ud to nations. The fmialler ianim^ls are ah\ays the m.oic fretful, paihonatc, and infulting. They rriilhike temper for Hrength, and often fall a facriiice to vexatious impetuofity ; whiJe larger ones go calmly on, and require repeated provocations to in- cenfe them. I'rance may ytt be aggravated into war, and very probably will. Where the condition exiils tbe difpofition m..y at any time take place. We may cveaie temper, but we cannot create ilrength. While the literature of England preferves an honourable rank among the nations of Europe, her national charafter is m.oil: miiierably fuf- fering in the world ihrongh her news papers. I'he moll barefaced perfidioufnefs, the moll abandoned principles are dtiily propagated. A total diiregard to all the obli^aliciis of iiUlici^al faith and horroui- PROSPECTS ON THE RUBICON. 29 are publicly profefled. Infliead of that true greatnefs of heart, that generoiis difdain of vulgar liLtlencfs that ou-rht always to accoriip-my the dliputes of nations, fcarcely any thing is to be feen but mcau abuGf and low fcurrility. Tliis is not the cafe in any other country in the world but Eiiixland. We will now proceed to conclude with a few additional obfervations on the ftate of politics. For fevcral weeks the nation was amufed with the daily rumours of fotne great cabinet fccret, and admiring how profoundly thie feciet was kept, when the only fccret was, that there was no fecret to divui;re. But this opinion of a fecret very well fhews that the opinion of the lation was diiFerent to the opinion of the niinifler, or the fuppo- iition of forne great fecret would not have taken place, as the affairis of the {ladtholder were then publicly knov^n. It fliews that the na- tion did not think the lladtholdcr of Holland a fullicient reafon for laying new taxes on England, and running into the rifiv: and expence of a war, and great was the furprife when the declaration and counter vleciaration, like twin mice, peeped from the cabinet. But there is one fecret that r qaires to be inveftigated, which is, wliither the miniiler did noi know that France would not engage in a war, and whether the preparatiolis were not an idle pa-rade, founded on that knowledge. Whether it was not meanly putting England under the banners of Pruffia, and taking thereby a dilhonourable advantage of the in- ternal perplexity which France v\ras then in, and which in its turn may happen to England, to aiTume the air of a challenge, which it mull be known v/ould not be accepted, becaufe there was nothing to m.ake the acceptance necelfary. Whether this conduct in the miniiler does not mifchtevoiilly operate to deUroy the harmony that appeared to be growing up betv/een the two nations ; to leiT^-n, if not totally deitroy, the advantages of the c . nmercial treaty, and to lay the feeds of future v/ars, when there was a proipe^t of a long and uninterrupted peace„ When there are two ways of accompliihir.g the fame objecl, it al- moft alv/ays happens that tlie one is better than the other; and vvhe- ther the miniiler has not chofen the word, a fjv/ cbferv;itioiis u'lll elucidate. It fignihes not what aiiy fchemes, projedls, or even treaties iru'/ be. formed, efpeciilly if done under the point of the bayonet, for ail that can bs cxpeded from lioUand is neutrality. Her tradi" is wllh all 3«> PAINE's W O R K s. nations, and it is frcni her neutrality that this trade has arifen. De- ilroy this neutrality and Holland is dcftroycd. Therefore it matters not what fentimciits party men may be of in Holland as to the ftadt- holdsrlhip, becanfe there is fcill a fuperior banner under which all will unite. Holland will not expofe her trade to the devaftations of England hy joining France in a war, neither will fiie expofe it to France by joining England. It may very well be afced, what aax- England or 1 ranee to Holland, that fae fliould join with either in a war, unlefs fhe is compelled bo it by one or the other making war upon her, as was the cafe in the laft war ? Events may Lcn happen in Europe to make all the force that Pruf- Tia can raifc i.ecciTaiy to her own oefcDce, and Holland muft be wife enough to fee, that by joining England Ihe UQt only expofes her trade to France but likewife her dominions, becaufe France can invade her . m a quarter In which England cannot ddevA her, for Holland lies open to France ly land. It is, therefore, more immediately the intereft of Holland to keep en good terms with France, neither can J^nghud give her any equivalent to balance this circumllance. How foolilh then are the politics wiiich are directed to unnatural and im- pOilible objedts! Surely the exp(A-ience of a century pad is fufficient to l}\ew to any man, except one of yederday, v/hat the condud of Holland in all cafes muil be. But there is another circumftance that does not fail to iinprefs fo- reigners, and efpecially HcHatid, which is, that the immenfity of the national debt of England, the pron5c6t of its fiill increafing^ and the exorbitancy of her paper currencies, render her too infecure in herfelf to be much confided in by foreign nations for any length of time- Becaufe that which mull happen may foon happen. Concerning the refcript delivered by the Frc^nch minifter, tlicre is one certain explanation to be put upon it, which is, that if France had been difpofcd for war, (Ije would not have made that communi- cation. The very making it goes to a full explanation of the parts; and as foon as Mr. Piit obtair.ed this knowledge, it appeared to him a iafe moment to gird on his fword, and when he found that France was as v/ell vveapcned as himfelf to propofe to take it off again, 'i'iiis is in a IQW words the whole hiflory of the campaign. A war inuiiftcr :n peace, anil a peace mi-;*rLv.r in war. Brave where there 13 nodangt", and prudent when there is. ..The I'tfcript could be noihing elfc than an explanation, on the l^rt of Fraiice, cf the fimau^n fhe conceived herfelf to be fubjecl to, PR0SPLCT3 ON THE RUBICON. 51 and the probable confeqiiences xhut m'.ght follow from it. TIus flic was not obliged to make, and therefore her making it was a matter of civil communication towards a power {he was at peace with, and which in return entitled her to a nmilar corumunication on the part of the Britidi cabi:;iet. Ali this might have been done without ciiher the expence, the tumult, the provocadons, or the ill blood that has been created. The alliance between France and the Dvitch, vvas fonned v.hilc the ftadtholder was a part of the government, therefore Franes could not from that alliance take a part either for or againU Liro. She could only acl when the whole intereit of the republic was ex- pofed to a foreign enemy, and it was act cci-taia that this might not. be the cafe. The rcfcript, therefore, infcead of being taken as a ground for war, was in itfelf a ground for peace, becaufc it tended to bnng on a dif- cufiion of all the circumilances of France and England relative to Holland, v/hich would not liave failed to place Holland in a ftatc of neutrality, and that only will be the final event now; becaufe, inde- pendent of all parties, no other is coniillent with the whole national intereft of that reDublic- But this not being done, it 15 now left to the Dutch to do it for themfclvcs. An alliance with England, at the fame time there is one exitling with France, will fecure this neutrality fo ncceffaiy to the Dutch republic. By this"fi:roke of politics foe will be free from all obliga.- tions to jom with either in a war, and be guaranteed by botli. Her alliance with England will dcb:.r Eiigland from molefiiing her trade by fea, and that with France will debar France from the fame thing, and like wife from invading her by hmd in all future cafes. There are fo many probable circumilances to anfe on the continent of Eu- rope, that the fituation of Holland requires this fafeguard, more efpe- cially from France, on account of her laud conncdlion. The rifmg greatnefs of the Rufiaan empire, the probable union of this empire with that of Germany and France, and confcquently with Spain, v/hofe interells cannot be feparated, and the probabiirty of a rupture between the emperor and the king of Pruffa, are matters that cannot fail to imprefs the Dutch with the neccffity of fecuring themfelves by land as will as by fea, and to prevent their bcin'r drawn into the quarrels either of England or France. Upon the whole, as th^re was a civil as well as an ucQ.vil h'nc of 3^ , PAINE^s WpRlv^. pcliticsto be p^irRied, every man of humane and gencicus K-Rfimen^ jTiurc larrsf-nt it was- not cliofen. A (ilirpfition for ryQ-^cc was growing up in every part of France, zmi t'>ere appeared at the fame time a mutual one rifmg in England^ A f>l<-""t wifh on both fides, was univcrfally cxpandirg itfe]f, thajt wars, fo fatal to the true intereft and burden fome by taxes tp tbf^ fubje6^s of both countries, mig}it exill no mere, and that a loBg ^n^ hfting peace migkt take place. But instead of cultivating tuls bappy oppoirtunj-ty, ibe pettif^ vanity of a young and unexperienced minifler, wbo balanced himfelf between pe?.ceand war to take his clioice of circui?i(l;ances, inilead of principles, and who vrent into an expenfive arm.ament wben thcrf was none to contend v/ith, and not till rfter the aiTalrs of "Hplhu^ might be- faid to be terminaxed, has delh-oyed thofe feeds of qarmon^r that might have been con5dercd of more value to both nations thar? jheir fleets and armies. , He has permitted tlie nation to run mad under the uniycrfd in- il.uence of a groundlefs belief of vait hoftile arnaarcents in the Eai> and Weil Indies, and the fuppofition of a fecret that never exified; By this means the fparks cf ill-will are afrefli kindled up betwcerj Jhe nations^ the fair prcfpecl of lailrng peace is vani-fned, and a train of future evils fills up the fccne, and that at a time when the in* teraal aff^iirs of France, however confufed they at prcfent appear, are naturally approaching to a great and harmonious increafe of h^ power. ■> TH0MA5 PAIN?. l <^th of y^u^ vj!-, .178". RIGHTS OF MAN 15EING AN ANSWER TO MR. BURKE'S ATTACK ON THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. By THOMAS PAINE,' S^CRKTjJRr FOR FOREIG.V AFFAIRS TO CO^fGRESS IV THt AMEHICAN TFARj AND AUTHOR OF THE ITORK ENTlTlEif "COMMON SENS E." Vol. ir. F GEORGE WJSHINGIon, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA SIR ■r 1 PRESENT you a foiall treatlfe in defence of tbofe principles of freedom which your exemplary virtue hath fo eminently con- tributed to eftablifh. That the Rights of Man may become as univerfal a& your benevolence can wifli, and that you may enjoy the happinefs of feeing the New World regenerate the Old, is the prayer of SIR, Your much obliged, and Obedient humble fervant, THOMAS PAINE» e'tafJML^.^ig^atfj'i^Kit'^gA^earg'WtaiB^^ RIGHTS OF MAN. Xl-MONG the incivilities by which nations or individuals provoke and irritate each other, Mr. Burke*s pamphlet on the French Revo- lution is an extraordinary inftance. Neither the people of France, nor the National Affembly, were troubling themfeives about the af- fairs of England, or the Engli(h Parliament ; and v/hy Mr. Burke fhould commence an unprovoked attack upon them, both in parlia- ment and in public, is a condud that cannot be pardoned on the fcore of manners, nor juftificd on that of policy. There is fcarcely an epllhet of abufe to be found in the EnglifH language, with which Mr. Burke has not loaded the French nation and the national affembly. Every thing which rancour, prejudice, ignorance or knowledge could fugged, are poured forth in the co- pious fury of near four hundred pages. In the ftrain and on the plan Mr. Burke was writing, he might have wrote on to as many thoufands. When the tongue or the pen is let loofe in a phrenzy of paflion, it is the man, and not the fubjed, that becomes exhaufted. Hitherto Mr. Burke has been miftaken and difappointed in the opinions he had formed on the affairs of France ; but fuch is the in;" gcnuity of his hope or the malignancy of his defpair, that it furnifhes him with new pretences to go on. There was a time when it was impoflible to make Mr. Burke believe there would be any revolution in France. His opinion then was, that the French had neither fpirit to undertake it, nor fortitude to fupport it ; and now that there i* onf , he feeks an efcape by condemning it. Not fufficiently content with abufing the national affembly, a grent part of his work is taken up with abufing Dr. Price (one of tlie bell- liearted men that lives) and the two focieties in England known by t3\c name of the Revolution and the Conflituticral Societies* 3^ P A 1 N E * s WORKS* D\\ Price had preached a fcrmon on the 4th of November, 1789^, being the anniverfary of what is called in England the Revolution which took place 1688. Mr. Burke, fpeaking of this fermon, fays, '* 'i'he political divine proceeds dogmatically to afi'ert, tliat, by the " principles of the revolution, the people of England have acquired " three fundaiiiontal rights : ** I. To choofe our own governors. *' 2. To cafluer tliem for mifconducl. ** 3. To frame a governnitnt for ourfelves.*' Dr. Price does not fay that the right to do thefe things exifls in thi^ %)V in that pcrfori, or in this or in that defcription of perfons, but that it exills in the ^rn, their heirs znd po/icrky, to the end of time." Mr. Burke conceives his point fufficiently eftabliflied by producing thofe claufes, which he enforces by faying that they exclude the right, «f the -nation for ever: and not yet content with making fuch decla- .rations, repeated over and over again, he further fays, " that if the ** people of England poffcfTcd fuch a right before the revciutioni** RIGHTS OF M A ^l 39 ^whlch he acknowledges to have been the cafe, not only In England, but throughout Europe^ at an early period) " yet that the Englifi ** nation did, at the time of the revolution, moft folemnly renounce *^ and abdicate it, for themfelves, and for all their pojlerity for <* ever:' As Mr. Burke occafionally applies the polfon drawn from his hor- rid principles (If it Is not a profanation to call them by the name of principles) not only to the Englifh nation, but to the French revol«- tion and the- national affembly, and charges that auguil, illuminated and illuminating body of men with the epithet G^ufurperSi I {h-^W^fans ceremonie, place another fyilem of principles In oppofitlon to his. The Englifh parliament of 1688 did a certain thing, which for themfelvcs and their conilltuents, they had a right to do, and which appeared right fhould be done; but, in addition to this right, which they pofTefled by delegation, they fet up another right hy ajfumptiont that of binding and controlling pollerity to the end of time. The cafe, therefore, divides Itfelf Into two parts ; the right which they pofTefTed by delegation, and the right which they fct up by afTurr.D- tlon. The firft is admitted ; but with refpecl to the fecond, I reply : — There never did, there never will, and there never can exifl a par- liament, or any defcrlptlon of men, or any generation of men, in any country, poiTeffed of the right or the power of binding and controlh'nj:^ pofterlty to the " end of time:' or of commanding for ever how the world fhall be governed, or who fhall govern it ; And therefore all fuch claufes, afts or declarations, by which the makers of them at- tempt to do what they have neither the right nor the power to do, nor the power to execute, arc In themfelves null and void. — Every age and generation muft be as free to a6l for itfelf, in all (a'ts, as \he ages and generations which preceded it. The vanity and prefump* tion of governing beyond the grave. Is the mod ridiculous and info- lent 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 1 688, or of any other period, had no more right to difpofe of the people of the prefent day, or to bind or to control them in anyfhape luhatever, than the parliament or the people of the prefent day have to difpofe of, bind or control thofe who are to live a hundred or a thoufand years hence. Every generation m and muft be competent to all the purpofes which Its occafions require. It Is the living, and not the dead, that are to be accnmmodated. When man ceafesto be, his power and his v/ants ceafe with hint ; and having no longer any participation in the concern^? of this woild, he 40 P A r N E ' s W O R K S. has no longer any authority in diredling who fiiall be its governors, or now its government fhall be organized, or how adminiftered. I am not contending for, nor againfc, any form of government, nor for nor againfl any party, here or elfewhere. That which a whole nation choofes to do, it has a right to do. Mr. Burke fays, No, Where then does the right exift? I am contending for the right of the /m/TOTj andagainil their being willed away, and controlled and contraded for, by the manufcript affumed 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 difpofed of their crowns by will upon their death-beds, and configned the people, like beafts of the field, to whatever fucceflbr they ap- pointed. This is now fo exploded 29 fcarcely to be remembered, and fo monftrous as hardly to be believed : But the parliamentary claufes upon which Mr. 'Burke builds his political church, are of the fame nature. The laws of every country mull be analogous to fome common principle. In England, uo parent or mailer, nor all the authority of parliament, omnipotent as it has called itfelf, can bind, or control the perfonal freedom even of an individual beyond the age of twenty- one years ; On wliat ground of right then could the parliament of ]6S8, or any other parliament bind all poUerity for ever, Thofe who have quilted the world, and thofe who are not arrived yet at it, are as remote from each other as the utmoil llretch of mor- tal imagination can conceive: What pomble obligation then can exift between them, what rule or principle can be laid down, that two non- entities, the one out of exiilence, and the other not in, and who ne- ver can meet in this world, that the one Ihould control the other to the end of time. In England, it is faid that money cannot be taken out of the pock- ets of the people without their confent : But who authorized, and who could authorize the parliam.ent of 1608 to control and take away the freedom of poilerity, and limit and confine their rights of a£ling in certain cafes for ever, who were not in exiilence to give or v^'ithhold their confent ? . A greater abfurdity cannot prefent itfelf to the underllanding 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 ex- ifted an hundred years ago, made a law, and that there does not now exift in the nation, nor never will, nor never can, a power to alter it. Under how m.any fubtleties, or abfmditiee, has tte divine tight tp- RIGHTS OF MAN. 4> favour. They become null, by attempting to become immortal The nature of them precludes confent. They deftroy the right which they rr':gkt have, by grounding it on a right which they can not have. Immortal power is not a human riglit, and therefore can- not be a right of parliament. The parliament of i6S8 might as well have paffed an aft to have authoriied themfelves to live for ever, as to make their authority live for ever. All therefore that can be faid of them is, that tliey are a formality of words, of as much import, as if thofe who uf;d them had addrefied a congratulation to them- felves, and, in the oriental fcyle of antiquity, had faid, O parliament, live for ever 1 The circumfcances of the world are continually chaneino-, and the opinions of men change alfo ; and as government is for the living, and not for the dead, it is the living only that has any right in It, Tiiat which may be thouglit right and found convenient in one sgc, may be thought wrong and found inconvenient in another. In fuch cafes, who is to decide, the living, or the dead ? As almoft one hundred pages of Mr. Burke's bock are employed upon thefe claufes, it will confequcntly follov/, that if the claufes themfelves, fo far as they fct up an ajfumed^ ufurped dominien over poftenty 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 alio : and on thi* ground I reft the m.atler. We now come m.ore particularly to the affairs cf France. Mr. Burke's book has the appearance of being written as inflru6lion to the French nation; but if I may perniit myfclf the ufe cf an extra- vagant mctaplior, fuited to the extravagance of the cafe, it is darknefs attem.pting to illuminate light. While 1 am writing this, there is accidentally before me fcm.c propofals for a declaration of rights by the marquis dc la Fa^^ette (I ailc his pardon for uJi ng his former addrefs, and do it only fordiflinc- tion'sfake) to the national ufremWy on the nth of July 17B9, three days before the taking of the Baftile; and I cannot but be ftruck how oppofite the fources are from v/hich that gentleman and Mr. Burke RIGHTS OF iM A N. 43 draw their principles. Inftead of referring to mufty records and mouldy parchments, to prove that the rights of the living are loft, " renounced and abdicated for ever" by thole who are now no more, as Mr. Burke has done, M. de la Fayette applicjs to the living world, and emphatically fayc, *' Call to mind the fcatimcats which nature ** has engraved in the heart of every citizen, and which take a new " force when they are folemnly recognized by all: — For a nation to " love hberty, it is fufficient that flie kuovrs it; and to be free, it is *< fufficient that fhe wills it." How dry, barren, and obfcure, is the fource from which Mr. Burke labours; and how ineffedua], though gay with flowers, are all his declamation and his argument, compared with thefe clear, concife, and foul-animating fentiments : Few and fhort as they arc, tliey lead on to a vail: Held of generous and manly thinking, and do not hniih, like Mr. Burke's periods, wiili muhc in the ear, and nothino; in the heart. As I have introduced the mention of M. de la Fayette, I will take the liberty of adding an anecdote rcfpefling his farewel addrefs to the Congref»of America in 1783, and which occurred frefli to m.ymind when I faw Mr. Burke's thunderinr-'- attack on the French revolution. — M. de la Fayette wciit to America at an early period of the war, and continued a volunteer in her fervice to the end* Flis conduct throu'T-h the whole of that enterorife is one of the moil extraordinary that is to be found ia the hiilory of a young man, fcaicely then twenty years of age. Situated in a ccuntiy that was iiice the lap of fenfual pleafure, and with the ir.eans of enjoying it, how few are there to be found who would exchange fuch a fcene for tlie woods and vv'ildernefd of America, and pafs the flowery years of youth in uj^prohtable dan- ger and hardfhip! But fuch is the iact. \vhen the Vv'ar ended, and he was on the point of taking his final d^^paiture, he prefented him- felf to Congrefs, and contem.plating, in his aiTeclionate farewel, the revolution he had fee n, exprelTed himfelf in thefe words: ^^ May i hit «• great monument ra':ftfd to L'lhtriy^'fcr'-cs as a Icjfon to the otprcJ[or^ and ^•"an example to the oppreJfcilP^ V/hen this addrefs came to the hands of Doctor Frankhn, who was then in France, he applied to Count Vergennes to have it inferted in the French gazette, but never could t)btaia his confent. The fa-£l was, that Count Vergennes was an arif- tccratical defpot at home, and dreaded the example of the American revolution in Fxance, as certain other perfonsnow dread the examnle of the French revolution in England; and Mr. Burke's tribute of fear (for in this light his book mull be confidered) runs parallel v/ith Count Verg^ennes' refufal. But, t« return more particularly to his work. 4^ P A I N E ' s W O R K S. *' We have feeu (fays Mr. Burke) the French rebel agtiin ft a miTd ** and lawful monarch, with more fury, outrage and infuk, th^n any ** people has been known to rife againil the moil illegal ufurper, or '* the moPc fanguinary tyrant." — This is one among a thoufand other inilcsnces, in which Mr. Burke fhews that he is i^rnorant of the fprings and principles of the French revolution. It was not againft Louis the XVIih, but ag?rnft the defpotic prin^ ciples of the government, that the nation revolted. Thefe principles had not their origin in him, but in the original eftcblifament, many centuries back ; and they were become too deeply rooted to be remov- ed, and the Augean liable of parafites and plunderers too abominably filthy to be cieaafed, by any thing fuort of a complete and univerial revolution. Vv hen it becomes neceffary to do a thing, the v/hole heart and foul fnould go into the meafure, or not rittem]>t it. Tliat crifis was then arrived, aild there remained no clioicc but to zdi with determined vi- gour,, or not to ad: at all. I'he Ling v/as known to be the friend of the nation, and this clrciimflancc was favourable to the enterprife. Perhaps no man bred up in the nyle of an abfolutc king, ever pcfTef- fed a heart fo little difpofed to the exercife of that fpecies of power as the prefent king of France. But the principles of the govern- ment itfelf iliU remained the fame. The monarch and the monarchy- were diitinC^ and feparatc tilings; and it was againil; the eilablifned defpotifm of the latter, and not againil the perloii or principles of the former, that the revolt commenced, and the revolution has been car- ried. Mr. Burke does not attend to the diftindlion between mfn and/r/V* dpksf and therefore he does not fee tliat a revolt may take place againil the defpotifm of the latter, while there lies no charge of deipotifm aixaiall the former. The natural moderation of Louis XVI. contributed nothing to alter the hereditary defpotifm of the monarchy. All the tyrannies of for- mer reigns, adled under that hereditary defpotifm, were Hill liabkes and profpecls of forming a free government. For the fake of humanity, as well as of freedom, it is well this plan •did not fucceed. Examples are not wanting to ihew how dreadfu'lv vinons. Imagination would fail io defcribing to itfelf the appearance of fuch a proceflion, and of the anxiety for the events which a few hours or a few minutes might ])roduce. What plans the miniftry was forming, were as unknown to the people vrithin the city, as what the citizens were doing wa* imknown to them ; and vlrat movements Broglio might make for the fipport or relief of the p;ace, were to the citizens equally as unknou'n. All was myflery and hazard. That the Baftile was attacked v/ith an enthuHafm of heroifirr, fich only as the higheil animation of liberty could infpire, and car- ried in the fpace of a few liours, is an event which the world is fully poffefTed of. I am not undertaking a detail of the attack, but bringing into view the confpiracy againfl the nation which provoked it, and which fell -with the B^f^rle. The prifon to which the new minidry were dooming the national afTcmblv, ia addition to its being the high altar and caflle of d'^fpotifm, became the proper objeA to begin with. This enterprife broke up the new miniflry, who beran ^?ow to fly from the ruin they had prepared for others. The troop* cf Broglio difperfed, and himrelf fied alfo. Mr. Burke lias fpoken a great deal about plots, but he ha? never once fpoken of this plf)t againfl the national affembly, and the liber- tics of the natioii ; and that he might not, he has pafTed over all tlic circumflances that might throw it in his way. The exiles who have f^ed from France, whofe caufe he fo much interef^s himfelf in, and from whom he has had his lefTon, fled in confequeuce of the mifcar- riage of this plot. No plot was formed againfl them : It was they; who were plotting againfl others ; and thbfe who fell, met, not uu- j ifllv, the punifiiment they were preparing to execute. But will Mr. Burke fiy, that if this plot, contrived with the fubtlety of ar* ambufcadc, had fucceeded, tlie fuccefsful party would have reflrained their wrath fo foon ? Let the hillory of all old governments anfwer ihe queflioR. RIGHTS OF MAN. 53 . Whom lias the national aiTembly brought to the fcafibld ? None. T'ley were themfelves the devoted vlftims of this plot, and they have not retaliated ; v.-hy then are they charged with revenge they !iave not ailed ? In the tremendous breaking forth of a whole peo- j)i ;, in which all degrees, tempers and charaders are confounded, and delivering themfelves, by a miracle of exertion, from the deftru6lion meditated againil them, is it to be expefted that nothing will hap- pen ? When men are fore with the fenfe of opprellions, and me- naced with the profpeft of new ones, is the calmnefs of philofophy, cr the palfy of infeniibility to be looked for ? Mr. Burke exclaims againil outrage ; yet the grcateft is that which he has committed. His feook is a volume of outrage, not apologized for by the impulfe of a moment, but cherifhed through a fpace of ten months ; yet Mr. Burke had no provocation, no life, no interefl at flake. More citizens fell in this llruggle than of their opponents ; but four or five pcrfons were feized by the populace, and inflantly put to death ; the governor of the Baftile, and the mayor of Paris, ^vlio was dctefled in the a'ere carried to the Hotel de Ville, and executed them on the fpot. Vvhy then does Mr. Burke charge outrages of this kind on a whole people ? -As well may he charge tlie riots and outrages of 1780 on all the people cf London, or thofe in Ireland on all his country. But every thing we fee or hear cfTeniive to our feelings, and dero- gatory to tl;e human charaftcr, fiiould lead to other reflexions. than thofe of reproach. Even the beings W'ho com.mjt them have fome claim to our conlldtration. Kovn' then is it that fuch vail clafies of mankind as are dillinguifncd bf the appellation of the vulgar, or the ignorant m.ob, arc fo num.erous in all old countries? The inilant we afic ourfelvcs this qucil.ion, refleition feels an anfwer. They arife, ar> an unavoidable confcquence, out cf the ill ccnilru^Lion of all the old gcvernm.ents in Europe, England included with the reft. It is by diftorledly exalting fom,e m.en, that others are diilortedly debafed, till the whole is out of r.aturc. A vail: m.afs of m.ankind are degradedly thrcw\n into the back-ground of the hum.an pidure, to bring forward, wich greater glare, the puppet fiicw of ftate and arillocracy. In the ccn.mencemcr.t of a levclution, thofe men are rather the followers of the ca-n^p than ci inQ fuim/ar^ of liberty, and have yet to be in- ftru£ltd how to reverence it. I give to Mr. Burke all his theatrical exaggerations for fads, and R I G H T S O F M A N. ss I then aflc him, if tliey do not efi-abliui the certainty of what I here lay down ? Admitting them to be true, they fiievv the necelTity of the French revolution, as much as any one thing he could have af- ferted. Thefe outrages were not the efteft of the principles of the revolution, but of the degraded mind that exifted befoie the revolu- tion, and which the revolution is calculated to reform. Place theni then to their proper caufe, and take the reproach of them to your own fide. It is to the honour of the national affembly, and the city of Paris, that during fuch a tremendous fcene of arms and confufion, beyond ■ the control of all authority, that they have been able, by the influence of example and exhortation, to reilrain fo much. Never were more pains taken to inftruft and enlighten mankind, and to make them fee that their intereft confifled in their virtue, and not in their revenge, ; than what have been difplayed in the revolution of France. — I now proceed to make fome remarks on Mr Burke's account of the expe- dition to Vcrfailles, 06lober 5th and 6th. I cannot confider Mr. Burke's book in fcarcely any other h'ght than a dramatic performance; and he mull, I think, have confidered it in the fame light himfelf, by the poetical liberties he has taken of omitting fome fa6ts, diftorting others, and making the whole ma- chinery bend to produce a llage effe6l. Of this kind is his account of the expedition to Verfailies, He begins this account by omitting the only fa<5ls vv^hich as caufes are known to be true ; every tiling beyond thefe is conje6lure even in Paris: and he then works up a tale accommodated to his own paffions and prejudices. It is to be obferved throughout Mr. Burke's book, that he never fpeaks of plots aga'mjl the revolution ; and it is from thofe plots that all the mifchiefs have arifen. It fuits his purpofe to exhibit the con- fequences without their caufes. It is one of the arts of the drama to do fo. If tlie crimes of men were exhibited with their fuffering, tlic ftage effedl would fometimes be loft, and the audience would be inclined to approve where it was intended they fiiould commiferate. After all the invelligations that have been made into this intricate affair (the expedition to Verfailies), it ftill remains enveloped in all that kind of myftery which ever accompanies events produced more from a concurrence of aukward circumftances, than from fixed dc- fign. While the charafters of men are forming, as is ahvays the cafe in revolutions, there is a reciprocal fufpicion, and a difpLifition to mif- interpret each other; and even parties directly oppofite in principle, will fometimes concur in pufliing forward the fame mcvement wiili 56 P A I N E ' s W O R K S. very differerit views, and with the hopes of its producing very di^ffer'- cnt confequences. A great deal of this may be difcovered in this cmbarraflcd affair, and yet the iiTae of the whole was w hat nobody had in view. . The only thin;^s certainly known are, that conf.derable uneafinefs was at this time excited at Paris, by the delay of the king in not lanclioning and forwarding the decrees of the national afiembly, par- ticularly that of the declaration cfthe rights cf man, and the decrees of the fourth of Augujl, which contained the foundation principles on vvhich the conflitution was to be treded. The kindtil, and perhaps the fairell, conjecture upon this matter is, that fome cf the minfllers intended to make remarks and obfervations upon certain parts of them, before they w'cre finally fan61ioned and fent to the provinces; but be this as it may, the enemies of the revolution derived hopes from the delay, and the friends of the revolution, imeaHuefs. During tliis flate of fufpence, \}i\& gardes du corps, which was ccm- pofed, as fuch regiments generally are, of perfons much connected with the court, gave an cntertainmiCnt at Verfailies [Odi. i,) to fome foreign regiments then arrived ; and when the entertainment w^as at tlie heiglit, on a fignal given, the gardes du corps tore the national cockade from their hats, trampled it under foot, and replaced it with u counter cockade prepared for the purpofe. An indignity of this Ivind amounted to defiance; It was like declaring war; and if men \;ill give cliallenge?, they mud expecl corifequences. But all this Ivlr. Burke has carefully kept out of fight. He begins his account by faying, *' Hiilory will record, that on the morning of the 6lh of ** Odober I 789, the king and queen of France, after a day of con- ** fufion, alarm, dilmay, and {laughter, lay down under the pledged ** fecurity of pubhc faith, to indulge nature in a few hours of refpite, ** and troubled melancholy repofe.'* This is neither the feber llyje of hiftory, nor the intention of it. It leaves every thing to be gueffed at, and miftaken. One would at leaft think there had been a battle; 'A\\6. a battle there probably would have been, had it not been for the moderating pruderice of thofe w hom Mr. Burke involves in his een- fureft. By his keeping the gardes du corps out of fight, Mr. Burke has affordt-d himfelf the dramatic licence of putting the king and tiueen in their places, as if the objed of the expedition was againfl. them. — But, to return to my account — This condud. of the gardes du corps, as might well be expefted, alarmed and enraged the Parlfians, The colours of the caufe, and the caufe itfelf, were become too united to miilake the intention of the RIGHTS.. O F"H AN. i^ifult, and the PariTians were detefiriiaeS to call the ^'- -:•'■/••- to an account. Thsre was certainly Bathing of the cor. faflination in marching in the face of day to demand fatisl^ctic. fiich a phrafe may be ufed, of a body of armed men who had v:>iiin- tarily given deSancc. But the circumftance which f(?rves '4r? ^'i r.,-- this affair into embarraiTment is, that the enemies of the iv appear to have encouraged it, as well as its friends. The one'^h to prevent a civil war by checking it in time, and the other td^irlak. one. The hopes of thofe oppofed to the revolution, refted in mvAi-^ ing the king of their party, and getting him from VeriaiUes to Met:-;, \vhere they expected to co11c£l a force, and fet.up a {landard. We have therefore two diSerent objedls prefenting themfclvcs at the fame time, and to be accomplirned by the fame means: the one," to chadife the gardes du corps, which was the objecl of the Panfiafis ; the other, to render th^'confufion of fuch a fcene an. inducement to the king to fet of? for Metz. On the 5th of Oclober, a very niimercr.3 body of wotrren, and men in the difo-uife of womea, collected round the Hotel *^ Vilie or town-hail at Paris, and fet oft for Verfailles. Their profclTeji^ cbjcct was xh.Q gardes du corps ; but prudent men readily recoiie^ell that, mifchief is eafier begun than ended ; and this imprelTed itfelF'with the more force, from the fufpicions already flatcd, and the irregu- larity of fuch a cavalcade. As foon ^.erefore as a fulficient force could be collefted M. de la Fayerte, by orders fromx the civil autho- rity of Paris, fet off after them at the head cf.tvrenty tl;oufand of -tjiie Paris mihtia. The revolution could derive no benefit from con^ iion, and its oppofers mii^ht. By an amiable and fpirited manner cS addrefs, he had hitherto been fortunate in calming difquietudes, and ' in this he was extraordinarily fuccefsful; to fruflrute, therefore, the hopes of thofe who might feek to improve this fcene into a fort of juftiiiable necefiily for the king's quitting Verfaiiies and withdrawing to Metz, and to prevent at the fame time, the confequences that might cnfue between the gardes du corps and this phalanx of men and women, he forwarded cxprelTes to the king, that he was on his march to Verfaiiies, at the orders of the civil authority of Paris, for the purpofe of peace and protection, exprefilng at the fame time, the necedity of rcftraining the gardes du corps from firing on the ]>eople.'"*' "■' I am ^a:-rcnted in ajferting this , as I had It from M. de la Fay- eite, 'with luhom I have lived in habits cffriendjlvp fir frurteen vsars. Vol. II. 1 " t^ P A I N E ' s W O R K S. He arrived at Verfailles between ten and eleven at night. The gardes du corps was drawn up, and the people had arrived lome time before, but every thing had remained fufpended. Wifdom and po- licy now confilled in changing a fcene of danger into a happv event. M. de la Fayette became the mediator between the enraged parties; and the king, to remove the uneafmefs which had arifen from the delay already flated, fent for tJie prefidcnt of the national aifembly, and figned the declaration of the rights of 7nan, and fuch other parts of the conilitution as were in re?idinefs. It was now about one in the morning. Eveiy tiling appeared to be compofed, and a general congratulation took place. At the beat of d.um a proclamation v.-as made, that the citizens of Verfailles would g'wt the hofpitality of their houfes to their fellow-citizens of Paris. Thofe who could not be accommodated in this manner, re- m lined \n tlic llreets, or took up their quarters in the churches; and at two o'clock the king and queen retired. In this ilate matters pafTed till the break of day, when a freih dif- turbance arofe from the ccnfurable conduct of fome of both parties, for fnch characters there will be in all fuch fcenes. One of the rrardes du corps apDsared at one of the windows of the palace, and the peo- ple who had remained during the night in the ftrtets accofted him with reviling and provocative language. Inftead of retiring, as {(, fuch a cafe prudence would have ditlated, he prefented his raullcet, fired, and killed one of the Paris mihtia. The peace being thus broken, the people rufned into the palace in qucft of the offender. They at- tacked the quarters of the gardes du corps within the palace, and pur- fued them through the avenues cf it, and to the apartments of the king. On this tumult, not the queen only, as Mr. Burke has repre- fented it, but every pcrfon in the palace, was awakened and alarmed; and M de ia Fayette had a fecond time to interpofe between the par- ties, the event of vvdiich was, that the gardes du corps put on the na- tional cockade, and tlie matter ended, as by oblivion, after the lofs of two or three lives. During the latter part of the time in which this ccnfufion was a£^- ing, the king and queen were in public at the balcony, and neither of them concealed for fafety's fake, as Mr. Buike inhnuates. Mat- ters being thus appeafed, and tranquility reftored, a general acclama- tion broke forth, of Le roi a Paris— Le rffi a Paris — The king to Paris. It was the fhoat of peace, and immediately accepted on the part of the king. By this meafure, all future projefts of trepanning tl>e king to Met/, and fctting up the ftandard of oppofition to the R I G H T S O F M A N. ^9 conftitutlon, were prevented, and the fufpicions cxtingaifncd. The king and his family reached Paris in the evening, and were congratu- lated on their arrival by M. Bailley, the mayor of Parisj in the name of the citizens. Mr. Burke, who throuphout his book confounds things, perfons, and principles, has in his remarks on M. Bailley's ad- drefs, confounded time alfo. He cenfures M. Bailley for calling it, ** un honjmir^^^ a good day. Mr. Burke faould have informed him- felf, that this fcene took up the fp.ace of two days, the day on which it began witli eveiy appearance of danger and rnifchief, and the day on which it terminated without the mifchicfs that threatened ; and that it is to this peaceful termination that M. Bailley alludes, and to the arrival of the kiiig at Paris. Not lefs than three hundred tliou- fand perfons arranged themfelves in the procllion from Verfaillcs to Paris, and not an act of moleftation was coinmitted during the whole march. Mr. Burke, on the authority of M. Lally Tollendal, a deferter from the national affembly, fays, that on entering Paris, the people (houted, " Tons les eveques a la lanterne.^^ Allbifncps to be hanged at the lanthorn or lamp-pods^ — It is furprifing that nobody fuculd hear this but Lally Tollendal, and that nobody fnould believe it but Mr. Burke. It has not the the leaft conne6tion with any part of the tranfaclion, and is totally foreign to every circumftance of it. The biihops have never been introduced before into any fcene of Mr. Burke's drama: Why then are they, all at once, and together, tout a. coup et tons enfemhle^ introduced now? Mr. Burke brings forward his bifhops and his lanthorn, like figures in a magic lanthorn, and raifes his fcenes by contrail: inftead of conneclion. But it ferves to fliew, with the reft of his book, v.hat little credit ought to be given, where even probability is fet at defiance, for ihe purpofe of defaming ; and with this reflcdlion, inftead of a foliioquy in praife of chivalry, as Mr. Purke has done, I clofe the account of the expedition to Ver- failles.* I have now to follow Mr. Buvke through a pathlefs wildernefs of rhapfodies, and a fort of defeant upon governmer-ts, in which he af- fcrts whatever he pleafes, on the prcfumption of its being behcved, without offering either evidence or reafons for fo doing. Before any thing can be reafoned upon to a conclufion, certain fa*£ls, * An account of the expedition tt Verfaiiles may he fcen in No. I'^t of the Revolution de Paris, containing the events from the ^d to ike lOth *f October^ 17^9' Co PAINE \s WO RKS. principles, or data, to reafon from, mufl be eftablifhed, admitted, or denied. Mr. Eurke, with his ufual outrage, abufes the declaration of the rights of man, publifhedby the national affembly of France, as the bafis on which the conftitution of France is built. This he calls " pal- try and blurred fheets of paper about the rights of man." — Does Mr. Eurke mean to deny that maji has any rights? If he does, then he muft mean that there are no fuch things as rights any where, and that he has ncne himfclf ; for who is there in the world but maji? But if Mr. Burke means to admit that man has rights, the queftion then will be, what are thofe rights, and how came man by them originally I The error of thofe who reafon by precedents drawn from antiquity, rcfpefting the rights of man, is, that they do not go far enough into antiquity. They do not go the whole way. They Hop in fome of the intermediate ilages of an hundred or a thoufand years, and pro- duce wliat was then done as a rule for the prefent day. This is no authority at all. If we travel Hill farther into antiquity, we will lind a direft contrary opinion andpraftice prevailing; and if antiquity is to be authority, a thoufand fuch authorities may be produced, fuccef- lively contradi£ling each other : But if we proceed on, we fhall at lall come out rif^ht; we fhall come to the time when man came from the hand of his maker. What was he then ? Man. Man was his }iigh and only title, and a higher cannot be given him. — But of titles I fhall fpeak hereafter. We are now got at the origin of man, and at the origin of his riffhts. As to the manner in which the world has been governed from that day to this, it is no farther any concern of curs than to make a proper ufe of the errors or the improvements which thehiftory of it prefents. Thofe who lived an hundred or a thoufand years ago, were then moderns as we are now. They had their ancients and thofe ancients had others, and we alfo (hall be ancients in our turn. If the mere name of antiquity is to govern in the affairs of life, the people who arc to live an hundred or a thoufand years hence, may as well take us for a precedent, as we make a precedent of thofe who lived an hundred or a thoufand years ago. The fadl is, that portions of antiquity, by proving every thing, eftablifh nothing. It is authority againft authority all the way, till we come to the divine origin of the rights of man, at the creation. Here our enquiries find a refting- place, and our reafon finds a home. If a difpute about the rights of man had arofe at the diftance of an hundred years from the creation, it is to this fource of authority they muft have referred, and it is to the fame fource of authority that we mull now refer. RIGHTS OF LI A N. 6i Though I mean iiot to touch upon any fcdarian principle of re- ligion, yet It m?y be worth cbfvivvlr.g, that the genealogy of Chrlil is traced to Adam.- Why then not trace the rights of man to the creation of man? I will anl"wer the queixion. Bccaufe there have been an upHart of governments, thruding themfelves between, and prefumptuouily working to un-raahe man. If any generation of men ever poffeffed the right of dictating the mode by which the v\»orld {hould be governed for ever, it wa,- the firft: generation that exited; and if that generation did not do it, no fucceeding generation can ihew any authority for doing it, nor fet any up. The illuminating arid divine principles of the eqnal 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 fucceeding each other. Every generation is equal in rights to the generations which preceded \t^ by the fame rule that every individual is born equal in rights with his cotemporaiy. Every hiftory of the creation, and eve;*}' traditionary account, whe- ther from the lettered or unlettered world, however they may vary in their opinion or belief of certain particulars, all agree in cftablifning one point, the unity of man ; by which I mean that man is all of one degree^ and confequentiy that all men are born equal, and with equr.l natural rights, in the fame manner as if pofterity had been continued by creation inftead of generation, the latter being only the mode by which the former is carried forvrard; and confequentiy, every child born into the vrorld mud be confidered as deriving its exifience from God. The v^'orld is as new to him as it was to the firll m.an that exifted, and his natural right in it is of the fame kind. The Mofaic account of the creation, whether taken as divine au- thority, or merely hiftorical, is fully u'p to this point, the unify or equa- lity of man. The expreffions admit of no contrcverfy. " And God ** faid, Let us make man in our own imaffe. In the imao-e of God ** created he him; misle and female created he them." The diflinc- tlon of fexes is pointed out, but no other didinftion is even implied. If this be not divine authority, it is at lead hidorical authority, and fhews that the equality of man, fa far from being a modern do6irine, is the olded upon record. It is alfo to be obferved, that all the rtligions known in the v/orld are founded, fo far as they relate to man, on the unity of man, as being all of one dep-ree. Whether in heaven or in hell, or in whatever ftate man may be fuppofed to exid hereafter, the good and the bad are the only didinclions. Nay, even the laws of governments are 62 P A I N E ' s W O R K S. obliged to PAde into this principle, by making degrees to confiil ii'j crimes, and not in Derfons. It is one of the greateft of all truths, and of the highell advantage to cultivate. By cor.fidering man in this light, zwd by in ft ru cling him to confidcr himfelf in this light, it places him^ in a clofe connec- tion 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 life a more fafhionable phrafe, his I'lrth and family, that he becomes dinbhite. It is not among the Itail of the evils of the prefent exifling governments in all parts of Europe, that mian, confidercd as m:an, is thrown back to a vaft diftance from his maker, and the artificial chafm filled up by a fuccefiion of barriers, or a fort of turnpike gates, through which he has to pafs. I will quote Mr. Burke's cata^csrue of barriers that he has fet up between man and his msker. Futtino' hii^ifelf in the character of a herald, he fays- — " We fear Gcd- — we ** lock with o'u^e to kings — with afFedlion to parliament? — with ** duty to m.agillrates — with reverence to pricib, and with refpecl to " nobih'ty." Mr. Burke has forgot to put in " chlialry" He has alfo forgot to put in Peter. The duty of man is not a wildernefs of turnpike gates, through v^hich he is to pais by tickets from one to the other. It is phin and fimple, and ccnfiils but of two points. His dutv to God, which eveiT man muft feel; and with refpeft to his neighbour, to do as he would be done by. If thofe to whom power is delegated do well, they will be refpetfled ; if not, they will be defpiff d ; and with re?"ard to thofe to whom no power is delegated, but who ah"ume it, the rational world can know notliing of them. Hitherto we have fpoken only (and that but in part) of the natural ri'^hts of m.an. We have now to confider the civil rights of man, and to fhew how the one originates out of the other. • Man did Hot enter into fociety to become ivorfe than he was before, nor to have lefs rip-hts than he had before, but to have thofe nVhts better fecured. His natural rights are the foundation of all his civil rights. But in order to purfue this diRinftion with more preciilon, it will be nccefTary to mark the different qualities of natural and civil rights. A few words will explain this. Natural rights are thofe which appertain to man in right of his exiftence. Of this kind are all the inteUeftual rights, or rights of the miind, and alfo all thofe rights of a6ling as an individual for his own comfort and happinefs, which are not injurious to the natural rights of others. — Civil rights arc RI G H T S O F M A N. 63 taofe which appertran to man in n^ht of his being: a member of fo- ciety. Every civil right has for its foundation fome natural right pre-exifting in the individual, bat to which his individual power is not, in all cafes, fuuiciently competent. Of this kind are all thofe wliich relate to fccurity and protection. From this fhovt review, it will be eafy to diftinguilh between that clafs of natural rights which man retains after enteiiug into focictv, and thofe which he throws into common ftock as a member of fo- ciety. The natural rights wliich he retains, are all thofe in wliich the power to execute i^ as perfeCl in the individual as the right itfelf. Among this clafs, as is before mentioned, are all the intelleftual rights, or rights of the mind : Confequently, religion is one of thofe rights. The natural rights which are not retained, are all thofe iu which, though the right h perfeft in the individual, the power to execute them is defedlive. They anfwer not his purpofe. A man, by natural right, has a right to judge in his own caufe ; and fo far as the right of the mind is concerned, he never furrenders it : But what availeth it him to judge, if he has not power to redrefs ? He therefore depofits this right in the common llock of fociety, and takes the arm of fociety, of which he is a part, in preference an-d in addition to his own. Society grants In'm nothings Every man is a proprietor in fociety, and draws on the capital as a matter of right. From thefe premifcs, two or three certain conciufions will follow. Firll, That every civil right grows out of a natural right ; or, m other words, is a natural right exchanged. Secondly, That civil power, properly confidered as fuch, is made up of the aggregate of tliat clafs of the natural rights of man, whick becomes defective in the individual in point of pov/er, and anfwers not his purpofe, but when coIle6led to a focus, becomes competent to the purpofe of every one. Thirdly, That the power produced from -the aggregate of natural rights, imperfe£l in power in the individual, cannot be applied to in- vade the natural rights v/hich are retained in the individual, and i-n which the power to execute is as perfeft as the riglit itfelf. We have now, in a few words, traced mar. from a natural indivi- dual to a m.ember of fociety, and fliewn, or endeavoured to fhew the quality of the natural rights retained, and of thofe which are ex- changed for civil rights. Let us now apply thofe princioles to cro- rernment. I« caftJng our eyes over the world, ife is extremely eafv to difiio- C^ V A I 1'^ E 's Vv^ O R K S. guild the governments which have aiifen out cf focietr, or out of the fecial compa-fl, frcni ihofe which have not : But to place, this in a clearer h'Hit than wLnt a fin ok p-]ance may afford, it will be pro- per to take a review of the fcveral fources from which governments have arifen, and on which they have been founded. They may be all comprehended under three heads, ift, Super- flition. 2dh7, Power. sdly, The common interefcs of fociety, and the common rights of man. The firft was a government of pneil-craft, the fecond of con- querors, and the third of rcafon. V/hen a fet of artful men pretended, through the medium of oracles, to hold intercourfe with the Deity, as familiarly as they now ir.arch up the back-flairs in European courts, the v^^orld was com- pletely under the gcverr,ment of fuperflition. The oracles were confulted, and whatever they were made to fa}-, becamie the law ; and this fort of government lafted ?.z long as tliis fort of fuperllition lalled. After^thefe a race of conquerors arofe, v/hofe government, like that of Wilham the conqueror, v/as founded in power, and the fword alfumed the name of a fceptre. Governments thus eftabhfhed, laft as long as the power to fiipport them lafts; but that they might avail themfclvcs of every engine in their favour, they united fraud to force, and fct up an idol which they called dhh;e right, and which, in imitation cf the pope, vv'ho affedts to be fpiritual and temporal, and in contradidion to the founder of the Chriftian reliprion, twifted it fclf afterwards into an idol of another Ihape, called church andjlate. The key of St. Peter, and the key of the treafury, became quar- tered en one another, and the v/ondering cheated multitude wor- fhipped the invention. Vvhen I ccRtemplate tlie natural dignity of man ; when I feel (for nature has not been kind enough to me to blunt my feelings) for the honour and happinefs of its charafter, I become irritated at the attempt to govern mankind by force and fraud, as if they were all knaves and fools, and can fcarcely avoid difguil at thofe who are thus impofed upon. We have now to revi. t; the governments which arife out of fociety, in contradiilindion to thofe which arofe out of fuperftition and conquelh It has been thought a confidcrable advance towards efiablifning ' the principles of freedom, to fay, that government is a compaft between thole- who govern and thofe who are £:overned : But this :R. I G H T S OF M A N. C5 cannot be true, becaufe it Is piittinjj the effefl before tlie c?.\ue ; for as man mufl; have exiftecl before goTernments exifted, there necefia- rily was a time when governments did not exift, and confequently thrre could originally exilb no governors to form fuch a compact with. The faifl therefore mull be, that the mdhi'idttah thenifelvesy each in his own perfonal and fovereign right, erJered hito a compacl •zvlih ea:J3 other to produce a government : And this is the only mode in which governments have a right to arife, and the only principle on which they have a right to exifl. To poiTefs ourfelves of a clear idea of what government is or •light to be, we muft trace it to its origin. In doing this, we fiiall cahly difcover that governments muft have arifen, either out of the people, or over the people. Mr. Burke has made no diilinftion. He invcftigates nothing to its fource, and therefore he confounds every thing: But he has figniiiedhis intention of undertaking at feme future opportunity, a comparifon between the conftitutions of Eng- land and France. As he thus renders it a fubjecl of contrevcrfy by throwing the gauntlet, I take him up on hip own ground. It is in high challenges that high truths have the right of appearing ; and I accept it with the more readinefs, becaufe it affords me, at the fame time, an opportunity of purfuing the fubje6); with refpefl: to govern- ments arifinsf out of fociety. But it will be firil neceflary to define v/hat is ir.eant by a covfututhn. if is not fuflicient that we adopt the word; we mult hx alfo a Rand- ard-fignification to it. A conftitution is not a thing in name only, but la facl. It ha<^ not an ideal, but a real exiilence; and wherever it cannot be produced in a vifible form, there is none. A conftitution is a thing antecedent to a governmcn!:, and a government is only the creature of a conftitu- tion. The conftitution of acounti-y is not the aft of its government, but of the people conflituting a government. It is the body of ele- ments, to which you can refei', and quote article by article ; and which contains the principles on which the government uiall be eftab- liflied, the mmner iu which it fhall be organized, the powers it ftiall have, the mode of eleclions, the duration of parliaments, or by what other name fnch bodies may be called; the powers v. hich the exe- cutive part of the government fiiail have ; and, in fine, every thing that relates to the complete organization of a civil government, and the principles on which It (hall aft, and by which it fhall be bound. A conftitution, therefore, is to a government, what the laws made afterwards by that government are to a court of judicature. The Vol. II. K C'6 PAINE's WORKS. court of judicature doss not make laws, neither can it alter them ; it only z'Sts in confonnitv to the lavrs made ; and the governnient is in like mannsr governed by the conilitution. Can then Mr. Eurke produce the Englifh conftituticn? If he can- not vre mav fairlv conclude, that thouc-h it has been fo much talked about, no fuch thing as a conilitution esiils, or ever did exill, and confequentl)' that t!ie people have yet a eonflitution to form. Mr- Burke will not, I prefume, deny the pofition I have already advanced ; namely, that governments arife either cut of the people, or oivr the people. The Englilh government is one of thcfe which arofe out of a ccnqucll, and not out of fociety, and confequently it arofe cv^r the people ; and though ife has been much modified from the opportunity of circumilances fince the time of William the con- queror, the country has never yet regenerated itfch^, and is therefore v.ithout a conrtitution. I readily perceive the reafon why Mr. Burke decUned going into the comporifon between the Englifh and French conftitutions, be- caufe he could net but perceive, when he fat down to the talk, that no fuch thing as a conilitution exifted on his fide the quefiion. Kis book is certainly bulky enough to have contained all he could fay on this fubje^, and it would have been the befl manner in which people could have judged of their feparate merits. Why then has he de- cliucvi the only thing that was worth while to write upon ? It was the flron^eft ^^round he could take, it the ad^'antag-es were on has fide ; but the wcakcit if they were not ; and his declining to take it, i& either a fign that he could not pofTeis it, or could not maintam it. Mr. Burke has laid, in a fpee^h laft winter in parliament, that when the national afiembly firft met in three orders (the tiers etats, the clerg)-, and the aoblefie), that Prance had then a good conilitution. Tliis (hews, among numerous other inflances, that Mr. Burke does net iinderiland what a conilitution is. The perfons {o met, were not a confiitution, but a convent'on to make a conilitution. The prefent national alTembly of France is, ilritlly fpeaking, the perfonal focial ccmpatt. The members of it are the delegates of the nation in its orhinal character ; future aiTemxblies wiU be the dele- trates of the nation in its organized character. The authoritv of the piefentafTcmbly is di5'»;rent to what the authority of fjture afTemblies will be. The authority of the prefent one is to form a conftituticii: the authority of future aiTemblies will be to legiilatc according to the principles and fonns prefcribed in that conilitution; and if experience fiiculd hereafter ihc^- that alterations, amendments, or additions arc R I G H T 5 O F M A N. 67 Bcccffaiy, the conflltution will point out the mode byivhichfuch things fhall be done, and not leave it to the difcrctionary power of the fu- ture government. A government on the principles on which conflitutional govern- ments, arixing out of fociety, are eflablifhed, cannot have the nght of altering itfelf. If it had, it would be arbitran.'. It might roaKC itfclf what it pleafed ; and wherever fuch a right is fet up, it (hews there is no conilitution. The act by which the Englifh parh'ament empowered itfelf to fit feven years, (hews there is no conflitt:t:on in England. It might, by the fame felf-auihority, have fat any greater number of years, or for life. The bill which the prefent Mr. Pitt brought Into parliament fome years ago, to reform parliament, was on the fame erroneous principle. The right of reform is in the nation in its original characler, and the conftitutional method would be by a ge- neral convention elecled for the purpofe. There is mcrever a pai-a- dox in the idea of vitiated bodies reforming themfe'ives. From thefe preliminaries I proceed to draw fome comparifons. I have already fpoken of the declaration cf rights ; and as I mean to be as concife as pofiible, I fnall proceed to ether parts cf the Frenth conflitution. The conflitution of France fays, that ever\- man who p:iys a tax of fixty fo\is per annum (2 s. and 6q. Englilh), is an elector. Wh^t article will Mr. Burke place againit this ? Can any thing be more limited, and at the fame time more capricious, than what the quali- fications of electors are in England : Limited — becaule not one man in an hundred (I fpeak much within compafs) 13 admitted to vote: Capricious — becaufe the lowed characler that can be fuppofed to €xift, and who has not fo much as the vifible m.eans of an honell live- lihood, is an eledlor in fome places ; while, in other places, the man who pays ver\' large taxes, and with a fair knov\-n charr.dier, and the farmer who rents to the amount of three or fcur hundred pounds a year, and with a property on that farm to three or four times that amount, is not admitted to be an eleiior. Ever}- thing is out of na- ture, as Mr. Burke fays on another occafion, in this firange chaos, and all forts of follies are blended with all forts of crimes. Wilhara the conqueror and his defcendants parcelled cut the country in this manner, and bribed one part of it by what they called charters, to hold the otlier parts of it the better fubjecled to their wIU. Th*s is. the reafon why fo many cf thofe charters abound in Cornwall. The people were av^rfe to the government cdabliHied at the conqued, and the towES were c^arrifoned and bribed to cnfiave the ccur.t:-\-. AU. 6S PAINE' s W O n K S. the old charters are the badges of this conqiicft, and it is from thi^ fource that the capricioufnefs of cleftioa arifes. The Freiidi cor.flitation fays, that the number of reprefentat'ves for any place ihall be in a ratio to the number of taxable inhabitants or electors. What article will Mr. Burke place againft this ? The county of Yorkfhire, which contains near a million of fouls, fends two county members; and fo does the county of Rutland, vvliich con- tains not an hundredth part of that number. The town of Old Sa- nim, which co itains n(;t three houfes, fends two members ; and the town of Mancheilcr, which contains upwards of fixty thoufand fouls, is not admitted to fend any. Is there any principle in thefe things? Is th.re any thing by which you can trace the m.arks of freedom, or difcover thofe cfwiidcm? No wonder then Mr. Burke has declined the comparifon, and endeavoured to lead his readers from the point by a wild un-yilematical difplay of paradoxical rhapfodies. The Frc^nch confli'^ution fays, that the national affembly fhall be ele£led every two years. What article will Mr. Burke place againft this ? Why, th;it tlie naiion has no right at all in the cafe : that the governm.ent is perfectly arbitrsry with refptdt to tliis point; and he ca;i cuote for his authoricv, the precedent of a form.er par- liament. The French conflitution fays, there fhall be no game laws ; that the farmer on whole lands wild game fhall be found (for it is by the produce of thofe lands ihey are kd) fhall have a right to what he.: can take. ThaL there fliall be no monopehes of any kind — that all trades fliall be free, and every man free to follow any occupation by which he can procure an lioneli liveKhcod, and in any place, town or city throughout the nation. What will Mr. Burke fay to thi^ ? In England, game is made the property of thofe at whofe expence it is not fed ; and with refpedl to monopolies, the country is cut up into monopolies. Every chartered town is an ariflocratical m.onopoly ni itfelf, and the qualihcalion of ekaors proceeds cut of thufe chartered monopohes. Is thi^ freedom ? Is this what Mr. Burke m.eans by a conflitution. In thefe chaitered monopolies, a man coming from another part of the country, is hunted from them as If he were a foreign enemy. An En-lifliman is not free of his own country: every one of thofe places prefents a barrier in his way, and tells him he is not a freeman 1-that he has no rights. Within thefe monopolies, are other mono- polies. In a city, fl^.ch for inilance as Bath, which contains between <:wcnty and thirty thoufand inhabitants, the right of ekaing reprc- RIGHTS OF MA N. 6f fentativcs to parliament is monopolifecl Into about thirty-one perfons. And within thefe monopolies are ftill others. A mun eveii of the fame town, whofe parents were not in circumftances to givehin:^ an occupation is debarred, in many cafes, from the natural right of ac- quiring one, be his genius or induftry what it may. Are thefe things examples to hold out to a country regenerating^ itfelf from ilavery, like France? — Certainly they are not; and certaia am I, thai when the people of England come to refle^l upon them, they will, like France, annihilate thofe badges of ancient opprcffion, thofe traces of a conquered nation. — Had Mr. Burke poifcfied ta- lents limilar to the auihcr " On the Wealth of Nations," he would have comprehended all the parts which enter into, and, by afiemxblage, form a conftitution. He would have reafoned from minutice to mag- nitude. It is not from iiis prejudices only, but from the disorderly call of hi-s genius, that he is unfitted for the fubje^t he writes upon. Even his genius is without a conftitution. It is a genius at random, a:"id not a genius conftituted. Bui he muft fay fomething — He has therefore mounted In the air like a balloon, to draw the eyes of the multitude fr6m the ground th^y (land upon. Much Is to be learned from the French conftitution. Conqueft and tyranny tranfplanted therr.f^lves with William the conqueror from Normandy into Eugland, and the country is yet diofigured with the irarks. Mav then the example of all France contribute to regene- rate the freedom which a province of it deftroyed ! The French conftitution fays. That to preferve the national re- prefentation from being corrupt, no member of the national afTembly iliall be an ofBcer of the government, a place-man, or a penfioner. — What will Mr. Burke place againft this? 1 will whifper his anfwer: Loaves and Jj/hes. Ah ! this government of loaves and firnes has more mifchief in it than people have yetreflefted on. The national aifembly has made the difcovery, and It holds out the example to the world. Had governments agreed to quarrel on purpofe to fleece their countries by taxes, they could not have fucceeded better than they have done. Every thing in the Englifti government appears to me the reverfc of what it ought to be, and of what it is fald to be. The parliament, imperfeclly and capricioufly elefted as It is, is neverthelefs fuppofcd to hold the national purfe m tnijl for the nation : But In the manner '\\\ which an Englifli parliament Is conftrufted, it Is like a man being both mortgager and mortgagee; and In the cgie of mifapplieatlon «f triift, it is the criminal fitting in judgm.ent upon himfclf. I: thofe >7b P A I N E ' s W O R K S. T\'ho Totc llie fupplies are the fame perfons who receive the fiipphcs when voted, and are to account for the expenditure of thofc fupplies to thofe who voted them, it is themfel'ues accountable to themfelves, and the Comedy of Errors conchides with the pantomime of Hnjh. Nei- ther the minifterial party, nor the oppofiticn, will touch upon this cafe. The national purfe 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 1."* — They order thefe things better in France. The French conilitiuion fays, that the right of war and peace is in the nation. Where clfe fhould it rende, but in thofe who are to pay the expence ? In England, this right is faid to refide in a jnefaphor, fliewn at the Tower for fix-pence or a Ihilling a-piece, fo are the lions ; and it would be a Hep nearer to reafon to fay it refided in them, for any inanimate metaphor is no more than a hat or a cap. We can all fee the abfurdlty of wcrfhipping Aaron'^s raclton calf, or Nebuchad- nezzar's golden imr.ge ; but why do men continue to praclife in themfclves, the abfurdities they defpife in others ? It may with reafon be faid, that in the manner the Englifh iration is reprefented, it fignifies not where this right refides, whether in the crown or in the parliament. War is the common harvefl: of all thofe . who participate in the divifion and expenditure of public money, in all countries. It is the art oi ccnquer'ivg at home: the objecb of it is an increafe of revenue j and as revenue cannot be increafed without taxes, a pretence m.ifi be made for expenditures. In reviewing the hiftory of the Englifh government, its wars and its taxes, a ftander- • by, not bhnded by prejudice, not warped by interefl, would declare, that taxes were not raifcd to carry on wars, but that wars were raifed to carry on taxes. Mr. Burke, as a member of the houfe of commons, is a part of the E/iglifh government ; and though he profeffes himfelf an enemy to war, he abufes the French conllitution, v/hich feeks to explode it. He holds up the Englifh government as a model in all its parts, to * // Is a praBice In fame ports of the country, nvhen tavo travellers have but one hcrfe, tvh'ich Ms the national pttrfe 'will not carry double, that the one mounts and rides tii'O cr three miles a-head, and then ties Hjc horfe to a gate, and 'walks on. When the fecond tra'ueller arrives, he takes the horfe, rides on, and paffes his companion a wMe or ioi'O, and ties Mgain i andfo en — Rids and tie. RIGHTS OF Mx\N. 7^^ "B^rance ; but he fhould firfl know tl*e remarks which the French make upon it. They contend, in favour of their own, that the portion of liberty enjoyed in England, is juft enough to enflave a country by, more productively than by defpotifm ; and that as the real object of a dcfpotifm is revenue, that a government fo formed obtains more than it could either by direcl defpotifm, or in a full ftate of freedom, and is, therefore, on the ground of intereft, oppofed to both. They r.ccount alfo for the readinefs which always appears in fuch govern- ments for engaging in wars, by remarking on the different motives which produce them. In delpotic governments, wars are the effefts of pride ; but in thofe governments in which they become the means of taxation, they acquire thereby a more permanent promptitude. The French conftitution, therefore, to provide ag:;intl both thofe evils, has taken av/ay the power of declaring war from kings and miniftcrs, and placed the right where the expence mufl fall. When the queftion on the right of v^^ar and peace was agitating in the national affembly, the people of England appeared to be much interefted in the event, and higlily to applaud the decifion. — As a principle, it applies as much to one country as to another. V/Illiam the conqueror, as a conqueror, held this power of war and peace iq, himfelf, and his defcendants have ever £v:.cq^ claimed it as a right. Although Mr. Burke has afferted the right of parliament at the levolution to bind and control the nation and pofterity for ever, he denies, at the fame time, that the parliament or tlie nation had any right to altei* what he calls the luccefiion of the crown, in any thing but in part, or by a fort of modification. By his taking this ground, he throws the cafe back to the Normati conqmjl ; and iby thus run- ning a line of fucceflion fpringing from William the conqueror to the prefent day, he makes it neceiTary to enquire who and what William the conqueror was, and where he came from : and into the origin, hiftory and nature of what are called prerogatives Every thing muft have had a beginning, and the fog of time and antiquity fhould be penetrated to difcover it. Let then Mr, Burke bring forward his Wilham of Norm.andy, for it is to this origin that his argument goes. It alfo unfortunately happens, in running this line of fuc- cefTion, that another line, parallel thereto, prefents itfelf, which is, that if the fuccefTion runs in the hne of the conqueft, the nation runs in the hne of being conquered, and it ought to refcue itfelf from this reproach. But it vrill perhaps be faid, that though the power of declariog war defcends into the heritage of the conqued, it is held in check by 72 T A I N E ' 3 W O R K 5. the right ot the parliament to withhold the fupplies. 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 mAich miichief one way as good the other : and fuch is the cafe here, for if the one raflily declares war as a nratter of nght, and the other peremp- torily withholds the fupplies as a matter of right, the remedy becomes as bad or worfe than the difeafe. The one forces the nation to a combat, and the other tics its hands : But the more probable iffiie is, that the contrail will end in a collufion between the parties, and be Hiade a fcreen to both. On this queftion of war, three thincrs are to be confidercd. Firft, The right of declaring it : Secondly, The expence of fupporting it : Thirdly, The mode of ccnduding it after it is ceclared. The French conftitution places the rig/?i where the expence mud fall, and this union can be only in the nation. The mode of conducting it after . it is declared, it configns to the executive department. — Were this the cafe in all countries, we fliould hear but little more of wars. Before T proceed to ccnfider other parts of the French conftitu- tion, and by way of reliev'ng the fatigue of argument, I will intro- duce an anecdote which I had from Dr. Franklin. While the Doftor refided in France as minifter from America, during the war, he had numerous prcpofals m.?de to him by pro- jectors of every country and of every kind, who wiilied to go to the land that floweth with milk and honey, America ; and among the reft, there was one v.ho offered h;mielf to be kinr. He introduced his propofal to the Doctor by letter, which is now in the hands of M. Be-umarchais, of P;n-is — ftaring, firft, thrt as the Americans had difmilTed or fent away* their king, that they would want another. Secondly, that hin^fclf was a Norman. Thirdly, that he was of a more ancient fiimily than the dukes of Ncnr>andy, and of a more honourable defcent, his line having never been baftardized. Fourthly, that there was already a precedent in England, of kings coming cut of Normandy : And on thefe grounds he refted his offer, evjohurf^ that the Dodor would forward it to America. But as the Doclor did not do this, nor yet fend him an anfwer, the projeclor wrote a fecond letter ; in which he did not, it is true, threaten to go over and conquer America, but only, with great dignity, propofcd that if his offer was not accepted, that an acknov.ledgm.ent of about £. 30,000 might be made to him for his genercfity ! New, as all * The word he ujl-u zuas renvoye, dlfmijed ci- fait azvay. RIGHTS OF MA N. 71 argumcjits rcfpcding iuccciTion muft neceffanly conneft that fucctf- fioa with fome begi:nung,Mr. Burke's argumei^ts on this fubje6l go to fhcvv, that there is no Engiilh origin of kings, and that they are dffccndants of the Norman Vine in right of the conqiu;!!. It may therefore be of fervice to his dcftrine to m^kc this ilory known, and to inform hi.T,, that in cafe of that natural exLiuclioii to which all mortahty is fubjecl, that kings n:ay again be had from Normandy, on more reafonable terms than Wilh'am the conqueror i and confe- qiiently, that the good people of England, at the revolution of i683, might have done much better, had inch a gerierous Norman as //v'i' known delr wants, and they had known his. The chivah-y characler which' Ivlr. Burke fo niuch adm.ires, is certainly much eafici to make a baro-ain with than a hard-dealinr'* Dutchman. I3ut, to return to the matters of the conflitution — Tiie French coniiitution f:'.ys, There fiall he no iliJes ; and of con- fequence, all that clafs of equivocal generation, which in fome coun- tries is called " ariflocracy,'' and in others " nollliiy^' is done away, and the pscr is exaked into man. Titles are but nick-names, and every nick-name is a title. The thing is perfectly harmlefs in itfelf, but ic marks a fort of foppery in the human charader which degrades it. It renders man into the di- minutive of man in things which are crreat, and the counterieit of o o woman in thino-g which are little. It talks about its fine blue riband hke a girl, and fhews its ntw ■ garter ]iik't '2. child. A certain writer, of fome antiquity, fays,' " When 1 whs a child, 1 thought as a child ; " but when I became a man, I piit away childiili things." ' It is, properly, from the elevated mind of FtariJC^ that the folly of titles have fallen. It has outgrowr» the baby-clothe? of ctiint 2.116. diikey and breeched itfelf in mannhood. France has not levelled, It has ex- alted. It has put down the dwarf to fct up the man. The^puny- ifm of a fenfelefs word like duke, or count or ear!^ has ceafed to pleafe. Even thofe who pofTeffed them have difowntd the gibberifli, and, as they outgrew the rickets, have defplfed the rattle.— The genuine mind of man, thirfting for its native home, fociety, contemns the gew- gaws that ieparate him from it. Titles are like circles drawn by the magician's wand, to contract tlic fplure of man*s felicity. He lives immured within the Baftile of a word, and furveys at a diHance the envied life of man. Is it then any wonder that titles fliould fall in France? Is it not a greater wonder they fliould be kept up any where ? What are they? What is their worth, and *' what is their amountj"' Wh'Cti we think Vol. II. L 74 PAIxNE'3 WORKS, or fpeak cU judge or ^grnrral, we affoci'ate with it the ideas of ofHce and charadler ; we think of gravity in the one and bravery in the other: but when we ufe a word merely as a title, no ideas afTociate with it. Through all the vocabulary of Adam, there is irot fuch an animal as a duke or a count ; neither can we conneft any certain idea to the words. Whether they mean Ibrength or weaknefs, wii- doni or foHy, a child or a man, or a rider or a horfe, is all equivocal. What refpedt tlien can be paid to that which defcribes nothing and wnieh means nothing? Imapination has jriven fisfure and character to. centaurs, fatyrs, and down to all the fairy tribe ; btit titles baffle even the powers of fancy, and are a chimerical non-defcript. But this is not all — If a whole country is difpofed to hold them in contempt, all their value is gone, and none will ov/n them. It is common opinion only that makes them any thing or nothing, or v.-oife than nothing. There is no occaiion to take titles away, for tney ta^ie themfelves av^^ay when fociety concurs to ridicule them* This fpccies oi: imaginary confequence has vifibly dech'ned in every part of Europe, and it hailens to its exit as the world of .reafon con- tinues to rife. There was a time when t?ic lov/ell clafs of xvhat are called nobility was mere thauc;ht of than the hic-hcft is now, and v/lien a mnn in armour riding throughout Chriftendom h\ queft of adventures v/as more i1:ared at than a modern duke. The v/orld has kan this folly fall, and it has fallen by being laughed at, and the farce of titles will follow its fate. Tlie patriots of France have dif- covered in good tim.c, that rank and dignity in fociety muft take a new ground. The old one has fallen through. It rauft now take tlie Ribflantial ground of character, iniiead of the chimerical groynd of titles; and they have brought their titles to the altar, and m.adeof them a burnt-offering to reafon. If no mifcliief liad annexed itfelf to the folly of titles, they Vv'ould not have been worth a ferious and formal deftrudion, fuch as the national aiTembly have decreed them. ; and this makes it necefiar)- to en- quire further into the nature and charafter of ariilocracy. That, then, which is called ariilocracy in fome countries, and no- bility in others, arofe out of the governments founded upon con- que-l. It was orginally a military order for the purpofe of fupporting military government (for fuch were all governments founded In con- quell) ; and to keep up a fucceHion of this order for the purpofe for which it was eilablifiied, all the younger branches of thofe families were difinherited, "and the lav/ oi pnmogemturejlnp fet up. The nature and characler of ariilocracy fiiews itfelf to us m this Ri GHT S C Fi M AN. 75 ^a^^. 'It is a law againft eveiy law of nature, and nature herfelf calls for its deftruftion. Eftablifli family juilice and ariftocracy falls. By the arlilocratical law of priniogcnkureiliip, in a family of fix cliiklreu, five are expofed. — Ariliocracy has Jiever but one child. The reft are begDtten to be devoured. They are thrown to the cannibal for prey, and the natural parent prepares the unnatural repaft. As every thing which is out of nature in man, affc6ls, more or iefs, the intereft offociety, fo does this. All the children which the ariftoci-acy difowns (which are all, except the eldeft) are, in general, call like orphans on a parifh, to be provided for by the public, but at a greater charge. Unneceffary offices and places in governments snd courts -are created at the expence of the public to maintain them. With what kind of parental refle6lions can the father or mother contemplate their younger offspring. By nature they arc children, and by marriage they are heirs ; but by ariflocracy they are ballards and orphans. Tlicy are the ilefh and blood of their parents in one line, and nothinpr akin to them in the other. To reftore, therefore, parents to their children, and children to their parents — i clations to each other, and man to fociety — and to exterminate the monfter Ariftocracy, loot and branch — the French conflitution has dcflroyed the law oi prhnogenlturejh'ip. Here then lies the monfter, and Mr. Burke, if he pleafes, may write its epitaph. Hitherto we have conlldered ariftocracy chiefly in one point of view. We have now to confider it in another. But whether we view it before or behind, or fide-ways, or any way elie, domeftically or publicly, it is flill a monfter. In France, ariftocracy had one feature Iefs in its countenance than what it has in fonie other coimtries. It did not compofe a body of hereditary legiflators. It w:is not " a corpGratlon of arijlocrnry,^^ for fuch I have heard M. de la Fayette defcribe an Englifli houfe of peers. Let us then examine the grounds upon wliich the French ■conftitution has refolved againft having fuch an houfe in France. Becaufe, in the firft place, as is already mentioned, ariftccracy is kept up by family tyranny and injuftice. Secondly, becaufe there is an unnatural unfitnefs in an ariftocracy to be legiflators for a nation. Their ideas of dUlrihuti've jiji'ice are corrxiptied at the very lource. They begin life by trampling on all their younger brothers and fifters, and relations of ever)- kind, and are taught and educated fo to do. With what ideas of jaftice or kofiour can that man enter an houfe cf Icgiflation, who abforbs in his 76 P A I :: E ' s V/ O R K 5. own perfon the inheritance of a whole family of chilchen, or doles out feme pitiful portion with the infolence of a gift ? Thirdly, becaufe iht; idea of hereditary Icgiflators is as inconfiftent as that of hercdit?.ry jadgcs, or hereditp.ry juries; and as abfard as an hereditary marheinatioian, or an hereditary wife man; and as ridicn- lous as an hereditary poet-Iaureat. Fourthly, becaufe a body of men holding themfelves accountable to nobody, ouglit not to be trnfted by any body. Fjfhly, becuule it is continuing 'die uncivilized principle of govern- ments founded in coriqutil, and the bafe idea of man having property in man, and governing him by perfonal rig^ht. Sixthly, becaufe ariftocracy has a tendency to degenerate the hu- man fpecies. By the univerfal economy of nature it is known, and by the Inllance of the Jews it is proved, tt^.at the human fpecies has a tendency to degenerate, in any fmall number of perions, Vv'hen fepa- rated from the general icock of fociety, and intermarrying conllantly with each other. It defeats even its pretended end, and becomes iu time the oppofrte of Vv'hat is noble in man. Mr. Burke taLis of riobility; let him fiie-.v what it is. The greatcfL characters the world hdvc known, liave rofe on ihe democratic floor. AniJiocracy has not been able to keep a proportionate pace with democracy. The artificial 7iol-!e flirlnks into a dwarf before the noL'e of nature ; and in the few in- flances (for there are fome in all countries J in whom nature, as by a miracle, has ilirvived in arillocracy, //j-.Jl' vien ck/pijc It. But it is tin:e to proceed to a new fnbieci:. The French conftitution lias reformed the condition of the clergy. It has raifed the income of the lovv-er and middle claffes, and taken from the higlier. None are now icfs than twelve hundred livres (hfty pounds fterling) nor any higher than about two or three thoufand pounds. What will I\Ir. Burke place againfl tiiis I Kear what he lays. He fays, " that the people of England can fee, without pain or *' grudging, an archbiihop precede a duke ; they can fee a birtioo ** of Durham, or a bifliop of \VincherLer, in pofleffion of ^. io,cgo " a-year ; and cannot fee why it is in worfe hands than efiates to " the like amount in the hands of this earl or that 'fquire." And M-". Burke offers this as an cxam.ple to Faance. As to the firft part, whetiier the arclibifhop precedes the duke, or the duke the bifliop, it is, I believe, to the people in general, fomcwhat like Stcrnhald and Hoj.k':ns,^^ox Hoph'ws and Stcrnhoul ; you may put which you })leafc fide : , Ar.d as I ccnfefs that I de> RIGHTS OF MAN. 77 not undcrftand the merits of this C3.k, I will TiOt contend it v,'Ith Mr. Burke. But with refped: to the latter, I have foniething to fay. Tvfr. Burke has not put the cafe right. The ccmparifon is out of order fey being put between the bifiiop and the carl or the 'fquire. It ought to be put between the biihop and the curate, and th.en it will fland thus : The peoph of England can fee, iv'ith out pain or grudfing, Ci kfJoop f Durham, er a h'fJoop of Wlncheftcr, in pcffiffiun of ten ihou- fand l)aitnds a-year, and. a curate on thirty or forty pounds a-year, or hfs. No, fir, they certainly do not fee thefe things without great pain and grudging. It is a Cafe that applies itfelf to every man's fenfe of juftice, and is one among many that calls aloud for a confti- tution. In France, the cry of " tb? church! the church /" was repeated as often as in Mr. Burke's book, raid as loudly as when the diiTcn- ters' bill was before the Englifh 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 them.felves who were one of the principal objects of it. It was the cry of the high beneficed clergy, to prevent am^ regulation of income taking place between thofe of ten thoufand pounds a-year and the parifii prieft. They, therefore, joined their cafe to thofe of every other ■oppreffed clafs of men, and by this union obtained redreis. The French conllitution has aboliihed tithes, that fource of perpe- tual difcontent betv/een the tilhe-holder and the parillriontr. When land is held on tithe, it is in the condition of an eilate held bctv/een two parties ; the one receiving one tenth, and the otlier nine-tenths of the produce : And, confcquently, on principles of equity, if tht eitate can be improved, and made to produce by that improvement double or treble what it did before, or in any other ratio, the ex- pence of fuch improvement ought to be borne in like proportion be- tween the parties who are to fhare the produce. But this is not the cafe In tithes ; the farmer bears the whole expence, and the tithe- holder takes a tenth of the improvement, in addition to the original tenth, and by this means gets the value of two tenths inftead of one. This is another cafe that calls for a conllitution. The French conllitution hath abolished or renounced toleration, and intoleration alfo, and hath eftabliihed univeelsal right of con- science. Toleration is not the oppof-te of intoleration, but h the counterfeit of it. Beth are dcfpotifms. The one alfaraes to itfelf the right of 7^ V A I N E ' s WO R K S. "witliholding liberty of confcicnce, and the other of granting it. Tfi«r one is the pope, armed with fire and faggot, and the other is the pope fdh'ngor granting indulgences. The former is church and Rate, and th-e latter is church and traffic. But toleration may be viewed in a much Wronger light. Man wcrfliips not himfelf, but his Maker ; and the liberty of confciencc \\'hich he claims, is not for the fervice of himfelf, but of his God. In this cafe, therefore, we mud necefTarily have the afTociated idea of two beings ; the mortal who renders the worfnip, and the immor- tal BEING who is worfliipped. Toleration, therefore, places itfelf, not between man and man, nor between church and church, nor be- Iween one denomination of religion and another, but between God and man ; between the being vi'ho worfuips, arid the being who is ■worfliipped ; and by the fame act of affumed authority by which it tolerates man to pay his worfhip, it prefum.ptuoufly and blafpliemoufly fets up itfelf to tolerate the Almighty to receive it. Were a bill brought into parliament, entitled, " An aa to tole- " rate or grant liberty to the Almighty to receive the worfhip of a " Jew or a Turk," or " to prohibit the Almighty from receiving *' it," all men would ftartle, and call it blafphemy. There would be an uproar. The prefumption of toleration in religious matters would then prefent itfelf unmaflced : But the prefumption is not the Icfs becaufe the name of *' man" only appears to thcfe laws, for the EfTociated idea of the ^.vorfAppsr and the ivorfi'ipped cannot be fepa- rated. — Who, then, art thou, vain dull and aflies ! by whatever r.ame thou art called, whether a king, a bifhop, a church or a Hate, a parliament or any thing elfe, that obtrudeft thine infignificanec between the foul of man and his Maker ? Mind thine own concerns. If he believes not as thou belie veft, it is a proof that thou belie veft not as he believeth, and there is no earthly power can determine be- tween you. With rcfpeft to what are called denominations of religion, if every ftfic is left to judge of his own religion, there is no fuch thing as a re- ligifjn that is wrong ; but if they arc to judge of each other's reli- gion, there is no fuch thing as a religion that is right ; and there- fore, all the world are right, or all the world are wrong. But with rcfpeft to religion itfelf, without regard to names, and as dire<3ing it- felf from the univerfal family of mankind to the divine objeft of all adoration, // h man hripying to his Maker the fruits of his heart ; and though thefe fruits m.ay differ from each other, like the fniits of the earth, the grateful tribute of every one is accepted. - RIGHTS OF MAN. A bifnop of Durham, or a bidiop oFWincliefter, or tlie Wn=iiurrmvjj^ who heads the dukes, will not refufe a tithe-ftieaf of wheat, becaiife it is not a cock of hay ; nor a cock of hay, becaufe it is not a (heaf of wheat ; nor a pi^, becaufe it is neither the one nor the other : But thefe fame pcrfons, under the figure of an cftaWiHicd cluircb, will not permit their Maker to receive the varied tithes of man's de- votion. One of the continual chorufcs of Mr. Burke's book i^, " Church and (late ;" he does nor mean fome one particular church, or iorne one particular ftate, but any church and fiate ; and he ufes the term as a general figure to hold forth the political doclrine of always uniting the church with the flate in every country, and he cenfures the national aiTembly for not having done this in France. Let us beftow a few thouglits on this fabjcdt. All religions are in their nature mild and benign, and united with principle9 of morality. They could not have made profelytcs at firi{, by profefiing any thing that was vicious, cruel, perfecuting, or im- moral. Like every thing elfe, they had their beginning ; and they proceeded by perfuafion, exhortation, and example. How then is it that they lofe their native mildnefs, and become mcroie and In- tolerant ? It proceeds from the connection which Mr. Burke reconimentls. By engendering the church with the flatc, a fort of mule animal, capable only of deilroying, and not of breeding up, is produced, called. The Church eJlahV-fifd by Laiv. It is a ftranger, even from Its birth, to any parent mother on which it is begotten, and whom \Ti time it kicks out and deilroys. The inqulfition in Spain does not proceed from the religion ori- ginally profelTed, but from this mule animal, engendered between the church and the ftate. The burnings \\\ Smithlield proceeded from the fame heterogeneous produdion ; and it was the regeneration of this ftrange anim.al in England afterwards, that renewed rancour and irreligion among the Inhabitants, and that drove the people called Quakers and Dllfenters to America. Perfecution Is not an original feature In any religion ; but it is always tlie ftrongly-^marked feature .of all law-religions, or rehglons eftablirncd by lav.-. Take av%-ay the law-eftabliihment, and every religion re-afiumes its original benignity. In America, a catholic priefl; Is a good citizen, a good charanes the mojl numerous, may begin to feci the necejjity cf a conjlitu-' tion, and then all thofe matters "jjHI come regularly before tl.em. Vol. II. M 32 PAINE' s \vORKS. der of tilings 5 becaufe laws muilhave exiilcncc:, before they can have execution. A king in France docs not, in addrefling himfc4f to the national alTembly, fay, '' my afTcnibly," fimilar to the phvafe ufsd in England of " my parliament ;" neither can he life it confilient with the conib- tution, nor could it be admitted. There may be propriety in the uie of it in England, -becaufe as is before mentioned, both houfes ot parharnent originated out of what is called the crown, by patertt or boon — and not cut of the inherent rights of the ])eople, as the r.r^cional alTembiy does in France, and wlv^re name delignates its origin. Trie prefident of the national aiTembly does not ailc the king io gran: to\he ajjlirmy Uhsrty offpeech, as is the cal^ with the EnghHi houfe of commons. Tiie conilitutional dignity of the national af- fembb^cannot dybafc itfelf. Speech is, m the firft: place, one of the natural, rights of man, alv/ays retained; and with rcfpcft to. the nati- onal aiiemhly, the uie of it is their didy, and the nation is their au- thority.. They were elefted by the greateil body of men exercifing the right of election the European world ever faw. They fprung not from the fil-h of rotten borouglis, ncr are they the vaiTal reprefen- tatives of ariiiocratical ones. Feeling the proper dignity of their chciradler, they fupport it. Their parliamentary language, whether lor or a^-ainft a queilion, is free, bold, and manly, and extends to all . the parts and circnmilanccs of the cafe. If any m.atter or fubje^l refpefting the executive department, or the perfon who prefides in it (the kin'^), comes before them, it is dcbnted on with the ipirit of men, and the language of gentlemen ; and their anfwer, or their addrefs, is returned in the far^- ilyle. They ftand not aloof with the gapino- vacuity of vulgar ignoiance, nor bend with the cringe of fy- cophantic infignificance. The graceful pride of trutl. knows no ex- tremes and ':referves, in every latitude or hfe, the right angled cha- racter of man. Let us novv' look to the other fide of the r^ueilion. In the addrcHes of the Euf^liPn parliaments to their kings, we fee neither the intrepid fpirit of the Hd parliaments of Fraroje, nor the ferene dignity of the prefent national afiem.bly ; neither do we fee in them any thing of the ilvle of EntdiHi mannerr, T»'hich borders fomtwhat on blantneis. Since then they are neither of foreign extraftion, nor naturally of Eiip-lifn produiSlior, th.eir origin mull be fought for elfcwhere, and that orio-in Is .the Norman conqueft. They are evidently of the vaf- falage clafi cf manners, and emphatically mark tlie proilvate diftance RIGHTS OF M A N. 8 j tliatexifls in no other condition of nnen limn between tLe conqueror and the conquered. That this vafTalage id^a and ftyle of fpeakmg was not got rid of, even at the revohition rf iv^BB, is evident from the declaration of parliament to William and Mary, in thefe words : « We do mofl humbly and faithfally /l'<5/w// ourfelves, our heirs and *^ pofterity for ever/' Siibmiffion is wholly a vaffalage term, repug- nant to the dignity of freedom, and an echo of the language ufed at the conqueil. As the ellimation of all things is by comparifon, the revolution of 1688, however from circumilances it may have been exalted above its value, will fmd its level. It is already on the wane, eclipfed by the enlarging orb of reafon, and the iumincns ve volutions cf Ail^erica and France. In kfs than another century, it vail go, as well as Mr. Burke's labours, « to the fam.ily vault of :CA the Capulets." Man- kind will then fcarcely believe that a country calling -itfelf fi'ee, would fend to Holland for a man, and clothe him with power, on purpofe to put themfelves in fear of him, and give him aln-soil: a million fter- linp" a-year for leave to J^il^jjiii themfelves and tlieir pofterity, like bond-men and bond-women, for ever. But there is a truth that ought to be made known : I have had the opportunity of feeing it : Which is, //'«/', nofiultMaiuUng appear a?iceSi there is not any defcription of men that dcjp]fe raorarchy Jo ?r.uch as ccur- i:e'rs. But they well know, that if it were feen by others, as it is feen by them, the juggle could not be kept up. They are in the con- dition of men who get their living by a Ihow, and to whom the folly of that fhow is fo familiar that they ridicule it ; but were the au- dience to be mjade as wife, in this refpeft, as themfelves, there would be an end to the fnou^ and the prohts with it. The difference be- tween a republican and a courtier with refpeft to monarchy is, that the one oppofes monarchy believing it to be fomcthing, and the other laughs at it knowing it to be nothing. As I ufed fometimes to correfpond with Mr. Burke, believing him then to be a man of founder principles than his book fliews him to be, I wrote to him kill v/inter from Paris, and gave him an account !iow profperouijy matters were going on. Among other fubjefts in that letter, I rdtrred to the happy fituation the national alfembly were placed h ; that they had taken a ground on which their moral duty and their pohtical interell were united. They have not to hold out a langua,^e which they do not beheve, for the fraudulent purpofe of making others beheve it. Their ftation requires no artiiice to fup- port it, and can only be maintained by ejilightening mankind. It is 84 P A I N E ' s W O R K S. Hot their i'ntn-cft to cherjlli ignorance, but to diipel it. Tney arc not in the 'cafe of a n->?:iill;cnal or an oppofition party in England, who, though they are oppoied, are Hill united to keep up the com- mon inyftery. The national anemblv mud thro\v open a magazine of light. It mud fhev.- man the proper chara£lcr of man ; and the nearer it can bring- him to that flandard, the dronger the national alTembly becomes. In contemplatincr the French conditution, we fee in it a rational order of things. The principles harmonife with the forms, and both with' their oiigin. It may perhaps be faid as an excufe for bad forms^ that the are nothing more than forms ; but this is a midake. Forms grow out of principles, and operate to ccntinue the principles they grow from. It is impoffible to pra6Life a bad form on any thing 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 indi- cation thjtt the principles are bad alfo. I will here finally clofe this fubje6l. I began it by remarking tliat Mr. Burke had •voluntcirV.-} declined going into a comparifon ot the Enghrii and French conditritions. He apologifes (in page 24J ) for not domg it, by faying that he had not time. Mr. Burke's book was upwards of eight months in hand, and it extended to a volume <)f three hnndred and fifty-f;:: pages. As his cm-ilTion does injury to his caufe, his apology makes it worfe 5 and men on the Englifh fide of the water will begin to confider, whether there is not fome radical defect in what is called the Englifii conditution, that made it nccef-.; fary in Mr. Burke to fupprefs the comparifon, to avoid briiiging it into view. As Mr. Burke has not written on co^ditution:'^, fo neither has he written on the French revolution. He gives no account of its com- mencement or its progrefs. He only expreiTes his wonder. *' it ** look%" fays he, " to me as if I were in a great crifis, not of the *' affairs of France alone, but of all Europe, perhaps of more than *' Europe. All circumidances taken together, tlie French revoki- *' tion is the mod adoniihing that has hitherto happericd in the ** world." As vv'ife men arc adoniihed at foolifh things, and other people at wife ones, I knou* not on which ground to account for Mr. Burke'^- adonifnment ; but certain it is that he does not undcrdand the French revolution. It has apparently burd forth like a creation from a chaos, but it is no more than the confequenee of a mental revo- lution priorily exiding in France. The mind of the nation ha^ RIGHTS OF MA N. ^5^ changed tefore hand, and the new order of things has natnrally fol- lowed the new order of thoughts. — I will here, as concifelv as I can, trace out the cfi'owth of the French re%'olution, and mark the circuni- Ranees that have contributed to produce it. The defpotifm of Louis XIV. united with the gaiety of his court, and the gaudy oftentation of his charafter, had fo humbled, and at the fame time io fafcinatcd the mind of France, that the people ap- pear to have loll all fenfe of their own dignity, in contemplatin'/ that of their grand monarch : And tlie whole reign of Louis XV. re- markable only for weaknefs and effeminacy, made no other alteration than that of fpreading a fort of lethargy over the nation, from which it file wed no dlfpofition to rife. The only figns which appr^ared of the fplilt of liberty during thofe periods, are to be found in the writings of the French philofophers. Montelquieu, prefident of the parliam-ent of ourd'eaux, went as far as a writer under a defpotic government could well proceed ; and being obliged to divide himielf between principle and prudence, his mind often appears under a veil, and we ought to give him credit for more than he has expreffed. Voltaire, who was both the batterer and fatyriil of defpotifm, tock another line. His forte lay in cxpofing and ridiculing the fuperPci- tions which pricft-craft united with ftate-craft hr.d interv,\)ven with governments. It was not from the purity of his principles, or his love of mankind (for fatire and pliilanthropy are not naUirally con- cordant) but from his ilrong capacity of fe-eing folly in its tnie iliape, and his irrefillible propenfity to expofe it, that he made theft- attacks. They were however as formidable as if the motives had been vir-.iious ; and he merits the thanks rather than the efteem of mankind. On the contrary, we hnd in the writings of RoufFeau and Abbe Raynal, a lovelinefs of fentiment in favour of liberty, that excites rcfpeft, and elevates the human faculties ; yet liaving raifed thit animation, they do not dlrec'^ its operations, but leave tlv mind in love vvrith an objeft, without defcribing the meai.s of poflliTing it. The writings of Quifne, Turgot, and the friends of thofe authors, are of a ferious kind ; but they laboured under the fame diujdvantage with Montefquieu ; thi:ir vrricings abound with moral maxims of go- vernment, but are rather dire^ed to economife and reform the admi- niftration of the government, than the government itfelf. But all thofe Avritings and many others had their weight ; and by the different manner in which they treated the fubjeft of government, Montefquieu by his "judgment and knowledge of laws, Voltaire by his Sn after the diimiifii,.! of Ciilonuc. }Ie was alio made prime miniiler, aa t. ■ ■<• i V Vol. it. N 90 P A I N E ' s W O 11 K S. office that did not always exld in France. When this office did not exiil, the chief of each of the principal departments tranfacted bufi- nefs immediately with the king; but when a prime minifter was ap- pointed, they did bufmefs only with him. The archbifliop arrived to more ftate-aiithority than any miniller fince the duke de Choifeuil, and the nation was (Irongly difpofed in his favour ; but by a line of condiit5i: fcarcely to be accounted for, he perverted every opportu- nitv, turned out a dofpot, and funk into difgrace, and a cardinal. The afTcmbly of the notables having broke up, the new m.iniiler fent the edicts for the two nev/ taxes recommended by the affembly to tlie parliaments, to be er^regiftered. They of courfe came firll before the parliament of Paris, wh.o returned for anfv/er, 'That iinth fuch a revciiue as ihs nation thtn fupported, the name of taxes ought not to he insmloncilj lul for the purpofe of reducing them; and threw both the cdifbs roi!!;d of principle it wr;.^ contended, That o'overrxment had not a iij::ht to alter itielf ; and that it the pra(fi:ice was once ad- nn'tted, it ^^oidd grow into a principle, and be made a precedent for any fniure alterations the roverr.ir.ent mi<^'ht w;{h to f flabljli : That o o the ri'tdit of alterin<-^ the p-ov^ernment was a national right, and v.f" a Tio-ht of government. .And on the pronnd of form, it v.ns contended, that the i.our pleaierc was nr.thino- more than a larc';e cabinet. The then dukes de la Pvochefoncault, Luxembourg, de Noailles, and many others, refnfed to accept the nomii-ation, and ilremior;.(ly oppofed the whole plan. When the edi<5l for eflahliflTin^ this new court was fent to the par'iaments to be enre-i-iRered, and put mto ex- fcution, they rcf (led alio. The parliament of Paris not only refnfed, but denied the authority- ; and the conteft renewed itfelf between the parliament and the cabinet more (Irongly than ever. Wliile the par- liament were fitting in debate on this Uibjec!^, the miniilry ordered a regiment of foldiers to furround thehoiife, and form a blockade. The members fent out for beds and provifion, and lived as in a befieged ci- tadel ; and as th's had no effeil, the connnanding officer was ordered *" to enter the parliament houfe and feize them, which he did, and fomc of the principal members were fhut up in different prifons. About the fame time a deputation of perfons arrived from the province of Brittan}', to remonilrate againir the eftablifliment of tr-e cour pictiiere ; and thole the archbiOiop lent to the Ball:;!-. But the f;>irit of the nation was not to be overcom.e ; and it war. To fully fenfible cf the llrcng ground it had taken, that of withholding taxes, that it contented itfelf with keeping up a fort of quiet refinance, which effettually over- threw all the plans at that tinie formed againfl it. The projeft of tlie cour pu-niers \xd.2 at laR: obliged to be given up, and the prime minifter not long afterwards followed its fate ; and M. Neckar was recalled into oIHce. The attempt to edablidi the cour plemre ; had an cffeft upon the nation, which itfelf did not perceive. It was a fort of new form of 11 I G H T S OF MA N. 93 government, that infcnlibly fi:rvecl to put the old (.ne out of fight, and to unh'ngc it from the fiiperftitious authority of antiquity. It was government dethroning government ; and the oki one, by attempting to make a new one, made a chafm. The failure of tliis fcheme renewed the fuhjecl of convening the flates-general ; and this gave rife to a new feries ofpohtics. There was no fettled form for convening the dates-general : All that it po- fitively meant, was a deputation from what was then called the cler- gy, the nobleiTe, and the commons ; but their numbers, or tlieir pro- portions, had not been alvv^ays the lame. They had been convened only on extraordinary cccanons, the latt of when was in 1 614; their numbers v^^ere then in equal proportions, and they voted by orders. It could not well efcape the fagacity of M. Neckar, that the mode of 1 614 would aiifwer neither the purpofe of the then government, - nor of the nation. As matters v/ere at that time circumllanced, it would have been too contentions to argue upon any thing. The de- bates would have been endiels upon privileges a^id exemptions, in which neither the wants of the government, nor tlie wiflics of the na- tion for a conftitution, would have been attended to. But as he did not choofe to take the decifion upon himfelf, he fiimmjoned again the a/fembly of the notahks^ and referred it to tliem. T'liis body \Vas in general interefted in the decifion, being chiefly of tlie ariftocracy and the high-paid clergy; and they decided in ftivour of tlie mode of 1614. , This decifion was againfi the fenle of tlie nation, and aifo agairffl the wimes of the court ; for the ariftocracy oppofed itlelf to botli, and contented for privileges independent of cither. The fubjeft was then taken up by the parh'ament, who recommended that the number of the commons iliould be ei:'jal to the other two ; and that thev (hould all fit in one houfe, and vote in one body. Tiie number- finally de- termined on was twelve hundred : Six hundred to be chofen by the commons (and this was lefs than their proportion c^ucht to have been when their worth and confequence is conndcred cu a national fcale) three hundred by the clergy, and three hundred by tlie ariftocracv ; but with refped- to the mode of aiTembling themfelves, whether too-ethcr or apart, or the manner in which they fhould vote, thofc m.atters were referred.* * Mr. Burhe (and I mujl tah ths Twerty of tcVnv.g h'.m he is vny unacquainted iv'ilh Fraich ajfalrs, J /peaking upon this fuljcil, fays, « The frjl thing that fl rue h me in the calling thef^utes-gencraU li'as a great de- parture from the ancient courfe ;^^ and he foon cferfays, ^^ From the 94 P A I N E ' s W O R K S. The ck£tion that followed^ was not a contefted dcclion, but sn animated one. The candidates i^-ere not men, but principles. So- tieties wc-i e formed in Paris, aiid committees of correfpondence and comiriUnicatfon eftabliuud throughout the nation, for the purpcfe of enhghtening the people, and explaining to them the principles of civil government ; and fo orderly was the eleftion conducted, that it Q.d not give rife even to the rumour oIl tumult. The Itates-general were to m.eet at Verfaillcs in April, 1789, but did not aiTenible till May. They fituated themfelves in three feparate chambers, or rather the cleriT^v and the arillocracy withdrew each into a feparate chamber. The majority of the arillocracy claimied what they called the privilege of voting as a feparate body, and of y^iving their confent or their uegr.tive iu that manner; and* many of the bi- fliops and the high beneficed clergy claimed the fam.e privilege on the part of their order. The licrs eiat (as tliey were then cr.llcd) difowned any knowledge of artificial orders and artificial privileges ; and they v/ere not only vefolute on this point but fomewhut difdainful. They began to confidcr ariiiGcracy as a kiad of fungus growing out of the corrup- rr.oTTiont I read il: I\jl, I /'rry d'ljVindly, and i>ery nearly as it has hap- pened^ all that nvas to f-.Uo'Vjy Mr. Burke certainly did not fee all that ivas to jolloiv. I ikavc ciuhaDoiired to Irtiprefs h'lni, as ivcll before as after thejlatcs-gcncral met, that therj ^ivoiddbe a revolution ; but 'ujas not auie to make han fee it, neither tijo-dd he believe it. How then he could dijhnSliy fee all the pa. is, tuhen the iidrule ivas out of fight, is beyond my coraprehenjion. And 'with refpcct to the " departure from the ancient *' courf',** hejldcs the natural 'v:eahnefs cf the remark, it Jloeivs that he is nnacqualnicd ivith circuwjianccs. The departure luas neciffary, from the experience ha di up'rn it, thai the ancient courfe ivas a lad one. TheJIates- general of 16 J /^ ix-erc called at the commencement of the civil ivar in the viinorliy of Louis XIII : But by the cla/h of arranging them by orders, they increafed the confiifiori thry 'were called to compofe. "^Bhe author of L Tn tri guc du Cabinet (Intrigue of the Calinet), ni'ho ^u-rote before any revoluticn craey ai^pcared, the more it was defpii'ed ; thrre was a viiiblc imbetiili'Ly aiid want of intdledls in the majority, a fort cfj^V TiC fats qu'/ij t!!it vs'hile it afFe6ied to be m.ore than citizen, was lefs than man. It loll ground from contempt more than from hatred ; and was raiiicr jeered at as an afs, than dreaded as a lion. This is the general charailer of ari!locracy, or what are called nobles or no- bility, or rather no-abihty, in all con.ntries. The plan of ihe mal-contents confuled new of two things ; either to deliberate a;xl vote by chambers (or ovr^, rs], more efpecially on all queftions refpecling a conftitution (by which the ariilocratical cham- ber wcnld have had a negative en any article of th.e conftitution) or, h\ cafe ti'.ey could not accompliili this objtci, to cverihrcw the na- tion:il aiTenibly eiitirely. To auecl one or o^her of thefe objccls, they began now to culti- vate a friei'idflrip with the defpotifm they had hitherto attempted to rival, and 'ihe count D'Artois became their chief. The king {vvho- has fmce declared him.felf deceived into their m.eafures) held, accord- fag'- to the (;ld form, a led of jnfllce, in which lie accorded to the de- ' liberation and ^olz pnr tc!e (by' head) upon feveral cbjeds ; but referved the deliberation and vote upon all quellions refpeullic 1C& /^ i iv .— . S \'\ \J -- iv O. « //. T'':" rrc cf c'l pr^Jhicat (:'^\:h:t'o;:s :s ihe trcfi.-^dkr cf the' naiural and irrpr4cr]pi\i:c r}^h^s cfr.'.cn; a-d ihrc rl-Lis ere ulctty. «' trz^^nt-, fccur]t;;, cii:d y^fj'ancs cf c--^:rcf^o}:. r' " in. The na.dr.n is efhtilicdly the f\:rcr of all fv'crrL''V:; nnn-rd ri;^Kt3 of eve:y ** nian has ro oth'V ''n''''S tl-rin tl;: f" vlsch nie iitccfiarv to \i:.'r m?!) v^c frc t,\.^jC-:c ox tiic fame i:^L;s; tii.d U-cld ** lim'iG are r Jt;rr;::i.u!;]e Oiily by tbe h:'-. " V. Tre Ii.vv oi:-ht to r'-obi-it ci;'v afions hurtful to A c'ctv. *' Whul is not prcb)b!^.d oy tljc i;-\v, {l-ioulcl not be \\\\ dvjrcd ; vot *' fiicu'd a:y cue be cc.r;pcikd to ibat vrl.icb ibc b;w cccs i.ct re- <* Gube. ** YI. Tbe law is nn c-xprciTion of tbe w;]] of tbe ccir.irur.ity. All ** citizens nave a ri-:bt to concur; eilb r pcrfoniilh'-, or by tb'ir re- «* prcfciitat'vis, in its ibi;nilion. It fl.ould be ihQ farr.e tc iJl, vib^~ *■' tb.ei u prot*:cls c nan-fnef : avia ad Icing eqral Vii irs f^^hl^are eqnaJ^ ** cl'gidJj to aU h<.!:eci!tec, a-.blrary orders, ought to ]je punifTicd ; ** and every cb'zcn c:d':d u-sn cr e;ppre]ivnded by virtue of tbe law, *' oii_^bt in'mcuiv-.cly Lo cbvy, aii^l not render birr,[eif ci;]p:\b!e by ^* rebflAr.ce. ** Vill. The law c"r;bt to Ir.-pcfe no otbcr pcnab.ies tban fucb as ** arc abfolutely a::f evidei:;'/ n-eeffary : A^i.d no or,e ongbt to be " pup.'u-ed, bi;-- In vbiue cf a b.w pvomu'gntcd before tbe oiTence, T 1 1> 1* 1 ano »«^g'niy n^^pa. r. ** iX. Everv r,..\ . 1 -id^;' pvtK.med ii:ncc..:;t tiii be bas been ccn- *• v'lflee, vdicrcver b:s d:tenlioii b -corncs Ii.dcipennble, all rigour to «' bim, rTiOre tb-m is nx'er.-t.y to fecure bis pcilon, ougbt to be pro- " v'df;d ar-ai-^n. by tbe ii,w. *' X. b'o man c-.u^ht lo be ir,clv.ri.ed on account cf bis cpf- '* nioiis, not evea en account of bis relidious opinions, provided bis " avowal of tbcirx i,OQZ not Ci-iluib tbe public order cflablifiied by «' law. RIGHTS CF MAN. loi « XI. The unrcftriiincd coinmunication of tliouglits an-j opinions ** beln^ one of the moH; precious rights of man, every citizen m-.y *' fpeak, write, and pabliili freely, provided he is refpoufible for the *' abufe of this liberty in cafes determined by the law. " XII. A public forc£ being neccfTary to give fecnrity to the *' righ'.s of men and of citizens, that force is inflituted for the benefit ** of the community, and not for the particular benefit of the- perfjns ** with whom it is intruficd. " XIII. A comn;on contribution being neceffary for the fnpport *• of tlie pubhc foree, and for defraying the otlrer expences of go- " vernment, it ought to be divided equally among the members of " the community, according to their abilities. *' XIV. Every citizen has a right, either by himfclf or his reprc- *' fentative, to a free voice In determining the necefHty of public con- ** t-'ibutions, the appropriation of th:m, and iheir amount, mode of ** aTedment, and duration. " XV. Every communi::y has a right to demand of all its agents, ** an account of their conduil. <* XVI. Every community in which a fep:u-alion of powers and a " fecurity of rights is not provided for, wants a conllitution. « XVII. The right to property b.ing inviolable aid facred, no " one ought to be deprived of it, except in cafes of evident public " necefnty legacy afeertained, and on cjnditijn of a previous juil ** idcmnity. OBSERVATIONS ON THE DECLARATION OF RIGHTS. The three fird articles comprehend in general terms tlie whole of a declaration of rights: All tlie fucceeding articles either originate out of them, or follow as elucidations. The 4':h, 5lh, and 6th, de- fine more particularly what is only generally exprelicd in the la, 2d, and 3d. The 7th, 8th, 9th, icth, and nth articles are declaratory of prhiciphs upon wiiich laws fliJl be confi.rued conformable to ruhis already declared. But it is quelbioned by fome Very good people in Trance, as well as in other countries, vrhcther the io:h arliclc ful- fciently guarantees the right it is intended to accord with: LefiJes which, it talces off from the divine dignity of reiigicn, and wer.kons its operative force upon the mind to make it a fubje^t of liu.nHn hws. It then prefcnts i^iUf co aian; like ii^hi Lutrcepted by a cbudy nic- 102 PAINE's WORKS. dfum, in which the fource of it is obfcured from his fight, and he fees nothing to reverence in the dufl-ry rays.* The remaining articles, beginning with the twelfth, are fubf^nn- tially contained in the principles cf the preceding articles; but, in the particular fituation which France then was, having to undo what was wrong, as well as to fet up what was right, it was proper to be more particular than what in another condition of things would be necefTary. While the declaration of rights was before the national afiembly, fome of its members remarked, that if a declaration of rights was^ publiflicd, it fhouldbe accompanied by a declaration of duties. The obfervation difcovered a mind that refie&ed, and it only erred by not reflecting far enough. A declaration of rights is, by reciprocity, a declaration of duties alfo. Whatever is my right as a man, is alfo the right of another; and it becomes my duty to guarantee, as well as to poffefs. The three nril articles are the bafis of liberty as well individual as Fxational ; nor can any country be called free, whofe government does not take its beginning from the principles they contain, and continue to preferve them pure ; and the whole of the declaration of rights is of m.ore value to the world, and will do more good, than all the laws and ftatutes that have yet been promulgated. In the declaratory exordium which prefaces the declaration of * 77'^/"^ is a Ji^igle idea, ivhkhy if it firihes rightly upon the m'lnd^ either in a legal or a religious fcr.fe, 'will prevent any man, or any lody of men, or any government, from, going tvroiig on the fuljcEt of religion; *ivhich is, that before any human irfiitutlons of government ivcre knoivn in the nvorld, there exifed, if I may fo exprefs it^ a compaEi letiveen God and man, from the beginning of time ; and that as the relation and cond'i- iiui 'which man in his individual ptri^GnJlarids in towards his maher can- not be changed, or any ^ivays altered by any human laws or human autho- rity, that religious devotion, f I'ls creator, to eftablifh a go- vernment ; a fcene fo new, and fo tranfcendantly unequalled by any thing in the European world, that the name of a revohititm is dimi- nutive of its character, and it rifts into a regeneration of man. \\ hat are the prefent governments of Europe, but a fcene of iniquity and oppreilion? What is that of England? Does not its own inliabitants fay, it is a market where eveiy man has his price, and where corrup- tion is common traffic, at the expence of a deluded people? No won- der, then, that the French, revolution is tradnced. Had it confined itfelf merely to the de{lru£lion of flagrant defpotifm, perhaps Mr. Burke and fome others had been filent. Their cry now is, •' It has " gone too far :" That is, it has gone too far for them. It ftare^ corruption in the face, and the venal tribe are all alarmed. Tlieir fear difcovers itfelf in their outrage, and they are but publifhing the groans of a wounded vice. But from fuch oppofition, the French revolution, inftead of fuffering, receives an homage. The more it is ilruck, the more fparks it will emit ; and the fear is, it will not be ftruck enousfh. It has nothinfdom.^' Having thus miade proclama- tion, he next proceeds to explain to tkem what tlieir tvaiits are, and alfo what their rights are. In tin's he has fucceeded dexteroufly, for he m.akes tlieir wnnts to be a luant cf wifdom ; but as this is but coM RIGHTS OF M A N. 105 oc3mfoit, he then informs thetn, th:it they have a rl^ht (net to :d it is, that a monarchical reafar.er never traces government to its fource, or from its fcnrce. It is one of \h'Z f'Ahlclnhs by wliich he may be known. A thoufand years hence, thofe v.dio fhall live in Am.erica or In France will look back with contemplative pride on the origin of their governments, and fay, This was the worh of our glorious ancejJors ! But what can a mona'-chical talker fay ? Wliat has he to exult in ? Alas! he has nothing. A certain fcmething forbids him to look back to a beginning, led fome robber or fome Robin Hood (hould rife from, the long obfcurity of time, and f?;y, / am the origin. Hard as Mr. Burke laboured under the reg^ncy bill and hereditary fucceiTion two years ago, and m.uch as he dived for precedents, he Hill had not boldnefs enough to bring up William frf Normandy, and iiiv, There is the head cf the Ijr^th.re is t'ji fauntain Vol. II. ' P tc6 F A I N E ^ 3 W O R K b*. of honour, tlie fon cf a proHitute, and the plunderer of the Engliin ration. The opinions of men with refpecl to government, are changing faft in ail countries. The revolutions of America and France have thrown a beam of light over the world, v.'hich reaches into man, I'hc enormous expence of govri^nnients have 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 difpelled, it is impoiTible to re-eftabliih it. It is not originally a thing of itfclf, but is only the abf.^nce of knowledge ; and though man may be kept ignoiant, h:; cannot be made ignorant. The mind, in difcoverinir truth, afts in the fame m.anner as it acls through the eye m difccvern-g an o^;je(fl;; v,dien once any objeft has been feen, it is a-npolTible to put the nvind back to the fame condition it v/as in before it faw ft. Tho-fe who talk of a counter-revolution \x\ France, lliev/ how little they underfland of man. There does not exift in the compafs cf language, an arrangement of words to exprefs fo mnch as ihc means of effefting a ccnnter-revolution. The meana. ir.ufl be an obliteration of knov.'ledge ; and it h?.3 never yet beer* difcoveredj Iicw to make man v.nhnon.v his knowledge, cr unth'inh his. thoucrhts. ivir. Burke is labouring in vain to (lop the progrefs of knowledge; at;d It comes witli the worfe PTace from him, as there is a certaiu tranf.i(rLion knovvu \'\ tlie city, which renders him fufpefted of being a pcnfioner \\\ a fictitious name. This may account ior fom.e flrange djclrine he has advanced in his book, which, though he points it a; tl-e revolution foeiety, is eireclually diredtcd againft the whole nation. " The kii)'-' of Enola-id," favs he, *' holds his croum (for it does* *' not belong to the nation, according to Mr. Buvke) in cotitempt of *' the choice of tlie revolution fociely, who have not a ilngle vote for *' a kir;g among them eitiier indi-vidually or crJkcll'vely ; imd his raa- •' jcdy's iieirs, each in their time and order, will come to the crown *■ iv'ilh the fame contempt of tlieir choice, with which his majelly has " fr.cceeded to that w!:ich he no'.v wears.'* x\s to who is kino; in Encknd or elfjwherf, or wliether there is any at a'l, or whether the people choofe a Cherokee chief, or a Hef- fian hudar for a king, rs not a matter that I trouble m.yfelf about, be that to themfclves; but with refpe£l to the doih'ine, fo far as it re- lates to the rights of men and nations, it is as abominable as any thin^ ever uttered in the moll enH.ivtd country under heaven. Whether it :R I G H T S OF M A N. 107 founds worfe to my ear, by not being accuRomecl to he^ir fucb def- j^otiim, than what it does to the car of another perfon, 1 ?.rn not fo well a JLid^e of; bat cf its abominable principle, I am at no lofs to jiulgc. It is not the revolution fociety that Mr. Burke means; it is the nation, as well in its original, as in its rsprefciitatl've charatler; and he lias taken care to make himfclf underftood, by faying that they have not a vote either colleEi'ively or in dl'u'i dually. The revcJurion fociety is compofed of citizens of all denominations, and of members of both houfes cf parliament, and confequently, if there is not a right to vote in any of the characters, there can be no right to any, cither in the nation or in its parliament. This ought to he a Ccuuion to every country, how it imports foreign families to be kings. It is fomewhat curious to obferve thct althoTigh the people of England have beei-i in the habit of talking about kings, it is always a foreign houfe of kings; hating foreigners yet governed by them. It is now the houfe of Brunfwick, one cf the petty tribes of Germany. It has hitherto been the pra6lice of the Englifh parliaments, to regulate what was called the fuccefiion, (taking it for granted, that the nation then continued to accord to the form of annexing: a m.onar- chical branch to its government ; for v.'ithout this, the parliament could not have had authority to liave fent either to Holland or to Hanover, or to irnpofe a king upon the nation againll its will). And this m.uft be the utm.oft limit to which parliament can go upon the cafe ; but the right of the nation goes to the 'zvboJe cafe, bv^caufe it has the right of changing its whole form of government. The right •of a parhament is only a right in truft, a right by delegation, and that but from a very fmali part of the nation ; and one of its houfes has not even this. Bat the right of the nation is an original right, as uni- verfal as taxation. The nation i« the paym.ailer of every thing, and every thing mud conform to its general will. I remember taking notice of a fpeech in what is called the Enghfh houfe of peers, by the then earl of Shelburne, and I think it was at the time he was miniiler, which is applicable to this cafe. I do not ■diredly charge my m.eraon,'^ with every particular; but the words and the purport as nearly as I remember, w^ere the-fe .; TIjat ihe form ef a government tvas a tnatter nvholly nt the toil! of a zation at all times: that if it chofe a monarchical formy it had a righ to have it fo, and if it after'-juards chofe to he a repuUic, it had a right to he a repuhlic, anditt fnv to a hing, ive have no longer any occafon Jor you, WkeD Hi. Earke fays tiiat " kia majelly's heirs and fuccefibrs. jcS P A T N r ' s V.^ 0 R i: s. *< cich i.i tucir time and order, w'U con^:e to tb<: crown will; ihr ** fame c^ntcm'-t of their choice wiih vvhicli his n^aicHy has fucceeded *' to that he wears," it is fayi'.i'T too much even to the humbled indi- vidual in the country; part of whole daily labour goes towards m?,k- ■in7 up the niihon flerling a-year, whicli the country gives a per- fon it ftyles a khig. G )vernmei'.t wi:h inioleuce, h G.^ijDOLiiin ; but' vrhen contempt is add.^d, it berome.s worfe; aivil to o:'y for contempt," is the excefs (,t fi jverv. 1'his fpeeies of r^-ovcrnrnei't comes from G^rmmy ; and ren^dnds rxie of \v;;at one of the Brunfwick ioldiers told me, \^ho was trsken pnfoner hy tl>e Americans v^ the late war; " Ah !" hiid he, ** America in a fine iree country, it is worth people's- *' lh:;ht'no- fa- ; I kv.ovr ihe diilerence by knowinf^ my own ; jn rny ^* country, if the prince f;rr, en.t ilraw, we <-at draw." — God help th-it countrr, thcu;/hi I, be it En^hmd or clfewhere, whofe libertiei^ ?.re to be Dro^ecled by Genr.an principles of goveriiment and princea oi i5runiV/ici:, .As Mr. E:rrke fomctime?. fpeakr^ of Enpdand, fometimes of France, and fometimes of tl'.e w< rid, ard of (government in p;enerrd, it i? diniculL to anlv.er his hook wiihont apparent]]'- meet in ^ him on the fame ;rronnd. Aillhoug^h principles ot governmenc are general fub- .pe'-ience has taught us, (meaning the Eng- ** iiih), that in any other courfe or m.cthod than that of an hcreSfary ** croivriy can our liberties be reg'.darly perpetuated and preferred " facred as our hcreilitnry right.'''* 1 aflc Mr. Burke who is to take them awa\ ? M. de la Fayette, in fpeaking to France, f government of a nation, can be crnfidered -. which are, F irfl, The right of a parlicubr family to cflablifh itfclf. Secondly, The right of a nation to eilabhTh a particular fam.ily. With refped to ihefif of thefe ht of them. Frcm fuch prin- ciples, and fuch ignorance, good Lord deliver the vrcrlci ! But, after all, what is this metaphor called a crown, or rather, what is raoiiarchy ? Is it a thing, or is it a name, or is It a ndul ? Is it " a contrivance of human wifdom,'* or of human craft, to ob- tain money from a nation under fpecious pretences ? Is ,l a tL ;^ neceffary to a nation ? If it is, in what does that necefiity confif}, what fervice does it perform, what is its bufmefs, and what are its merits ? Doth the virtue confifl in the metaphor, or in the man ? Doth the goldfmith that makes the crown, make the virtue alfo ? Doth it operate like Fortunatus*s wifning cap, or Karlcquin's wooden fword ? Doih it make a man a conjuror ? In fine, what i& it ? It appears to be a fomethin-g going much out of fafnion, falling into ridicule, and rejected in fome countries both as unnecefTary and expcnfive. In America it is confidered as an abfurdity, and in France it has fo far dechned, that the goodnefs of the man, and the refpefh for his perfonal charafter, are the only things that preicrve the ap- pearance of its exiilence. If goveniment be what Mr. Burke defcribes it, " a cootiivance of human wildom," I might alk him., if wifdom v/as at fuch a low ebb- in England, that it was become neccfiary to import it from Holland and from Hanover ? But 1 will do the country the jaib'ce to fay, that was not the cafe ; and even if it was, it miftook tiie cargo. The wifdom of every coimtry, when properly exerted, is fuliicient for ad its purpofos : and there could exid no more real occafion in England to have fent for a Dutch fiadtholder, or a German elector, than there vas in America to have done a fimllar thing^. If a country does not 112 P A IN E's WO ?^ K S. underhand ks own affairs, how is a foreigner to underftand tliem, who- knovvs neither its laws, its manners, nor its lanjruaee ? If there ex- iiled a n-.an fo tranfcendanlly wife above all others, that his wifdom was necefTary to inftrutt a nation, fome reafon might be offered for monarcry ; but wher. we call our eyes about a country, and obfei ve how every part undcrftands its own affairs ; and when we look arouad the world, and fee that of all mf n in it, the race of kings are the rioil infigniilcant in capacity ; our reafon cannot fail to aHi us— • What are thofe men kept for ? li there h any thing in monarcliy which we people of America do rot underftand, I wi(h Mr. Burke would be fo kind as to inform us. I fee in America, a govern mient extending over a countiy ten times ^s nrge as England, and conducfled with regularity for a fcriirth part of the expence v.hich government cofls in England. If I (Ic a man in America, if he wants a kino" ? he retorts, and aj]the generality of people livino- in a ftyle of plenty unknov/n in monarchical coun- tries ; and I fee that the principle of its gcvernm.ent, which is that of the erjua/ rights of man ^ is making a rapid progrefs in the world. If monarcliy is a ufelefs thing, w!iy is it kept up any where ? arid if a neceffary thing, how can it be difpenfed with ? Tliat c'l-jiU gC' - vernment h neceflary, all civilized nations v/ill agree in ; but civil go- vernment is republican government. Ail that part of the govern- ment of England which begins with the office of conftable, and pro- ceeds through the department of magillrate, quarter- ft flicn, and ge- neral afiize, includiiig trial by jury, is republican government. No- thing of m.onarehy appears in any part of it, except the name which William the conqueror impofed upon the Engliili, that of obliging them to call him " Their fovtreini lord thehin gone on by the fame fyflem which has been followed for the lait fe- venty years, mull be evident to every man ; and for the fame reafoH it cannot always go on. The funding fyllem is not money ; neither is it, properly fpeak- ing, credit. It in effecl, creates upon pnper the fum which it ap- pears to borrovv', and lays on a tax to keep the imaginary capital alive by the paym.ent of intered, and fends the annuity to market, t6 be fold for papsr already in circubtion. If any credit is ^-iven, it is t* ' nS P A I N E ^ s WORKS. the difpontion of the people to pay the tax, and not to the govern- ment which lavs it on. When this dirpofilion expires, what is iup- ■pofed to be the credit of government e!-:pires with it. The inftance of France under the former governn-.ent fhews that it is impcffible to compel the payment of taxes by force, when a whole nation is deter- mined to take its iland npon that ground. Mr. Burke, in hisreviev%rof the finances of France, flates the quan- tity of gold and iilver in France, at about eighty-eight milhons Ptcr- ling. In doing this he has, T prefume, divided by the differerce of -excliange, initcad of the ftandard of tv^-enty-four hVres to a pound flerling ; for M. Neckar's ftatcmcnt, from w^hich Mr. Burke's is taken, is iivo ihcnfand Invo hundred millions of livres^ which is upwards of ninety one miUions and an half ftcrjing. M. Neckar in France, and Mr. George Chalmers of the ofHce of trade and plantation in England, of which lord Hawkefbury is prefi- dent, publifhed nearly about the fame timiC (1786) an account of the quantity of money in each naticn, from the returns of the mint of each nation. Mr. Chalmiers from, the returns of the Englifhi mrint at the Tower of London, flates the quantity of money in England, in- cluding Scotland and Ireland, to be twenty millions fterling.* M. Neckarj- iayr., tliat t'iie amiOUiit of money in France, recoined from the old coin which was called in, was two thoufand five hundred minions of livres (upwards of one hundred and four niillions flerling), and, after deducing for waue, and ^\hat may be in the Wtft-Indies, and other poUible circumftances, ilates the circulating quantity at home, to be ninety-one millions and an half fterling ; but, taking it as Mr. Burke has put it, it is fixty- eight millions more than the na- tional quantity in England. That the quaatily or money in France cannot be under this fum, may ai once be feen from the date of the French revenue, without referring to the records of the French mint for proofs. The reve- nue of France prior to the revolution, was nearly twenty-four millions fterling ; and cis paper had then no exiflence in France, the v/holc revenue was coiledcd upon gold and filvcr ; and it would have been impoflible to have colkfted fuch a quantity of revenue upon a lefs national quantity than M. Neckar has ftated, Before the eftabliib- * See Efilmate of the Comparative Strength of Great BntaWf ly G, Chalmers. •\ See Admhiijlraikn cf the Flr^nces of France f Vol. III. by M., Neclar. RIGHTS OF MAN. iig m^nt of paper in England, the revenue was about a foarth p:irt of the nation?.! amount of gold and filvcr, as may be known by referring to the revenue prior to king William, and the quantity of money dated to be in the nation at that time, which was ncariy as much as it is now. It can be of no real fervice to a nation, to impofe upon itfelf, or to permit itfcif to be impofed upon ; but the prejudices of fome, and the impofition of others, have always reprefentcd France as a nation pof- fefling but little money — whereas the quantity is not only more than four times what the quantity is in England, but is cor.fidcrably greater on a proportion of numbers. To account for this deficiency on the part of England, fome reference fliould be h^d to the Engiiih fylicm of funding. It operates to multiply paper, and to fubllitute it in the room of mioney, in various Ihispes ; and the more paper is multiplied, the more opportunities are afforded to export the fpecie ; and it ad- mits of a poiTibility (by extending it to imail notes) of increafmg pa- per, till there is no money left. I know this is not a pleafant fubjc£l to Englifh readers ; but the matters I am going to mention, are fo important in themfelves, as to require the attention of men intereiled In money-tranfa£iions of a pub- lic nature There is a circumilance dated by M. Neckar, in his treatil'e on the adminiHration of the finances, vvliich has never been attended to in England, but v/hich forms the only bafis vv'hereon to cflimate the quantity of money (gold and filver) which ought to be in every nation in Europe, to preferve a relative proportion with other nations. Lifbon and Cadiz are the two ports into whicli (money) gold and filver from South America are imported, and which afterwards di- vides and fpreads itfelf over Europe by means of commerce, and increafes the quantity of money in all parts of Europe. If, there- fore, the amount of the annual importation into Europe can be knovvn, and the relative proportion ot the foreign com.merce of the fevcral nations by which it is dilha'buted can be afcertained, they give a rule, fufTiciently true, to afcertain the quantity oF money which ought to be found in any nation at any given time. M. Neckar (hews from the regifters of Lilbon and Cadiz, that the importation of fold and filver into Europe, is five millions licrling annually. He has not taken it on a fingle year, but on an averag-* of fifteen fucceeding years, from 1763 to 1777, both inclulive ; iu which time, the amount was one thoufaud eight hundred miihon livres, which is feventy-five millions iltrling.^ * ^idm'injjircj'ion of ihi Finan::: of Francct VcL HI. rzB R I G H T S O F M A N. From the Cvommcucemont of the Pliinover fuccefiion in 17 14, to the time Mr. Chahners publifhed, is feventy two years ; and the quan- tity imported into Europe, in that time, would be three hundred arid fixty millions flcrhng. If the foreign commerce of Great Britain be ftated at a fixth part «f Vv'hat the \vhole foreign commerce of Europe amounts to (which is probably an inferior eftimation to what the gentlemen at the exchange Y/ould allow) tlie proportion which Britain Hiould draw by commerce ef this fum, to keep herfelf on a proportion vvi::h the red of Europe, _ would be alfo a fixth part, which is fixty millions ilerling ; and if the fam^e allowance for vvalle and accident be m.ade for England, which M- Neckar makes for France, the quantity rem.aiaing after thefe dedn£iions, would be fifty two millions, and this fum ought to have been in the nation (at the time "v'r. Chalmers publ'riied) in ad- dition to the fum whiich was in the nation at the comm.encement of the Hanover fuccefiion, and to have made in the whole at Icaft fixty- fix millions ilerling ; ir.flead of which there v.'ere but twenty milhons, which is forty- fix millions below its propoitionate quantity. As the quantity of gc?d and filver, imported into Lifocn and Ca- diz is more eafily ti.fcertained than that of an^r ccm.m.odity im.ported into Enpland ; and as the quantity of m.oney coined at the Tower of London, is (till more pohtively known, the leading fads do not admit of controverfy. Either, therefore, the ccmimcrce of England is iii.'produftive of profit, or the gold and hlver which it brings in leak continually away by unfeen m.cans, at ihe average rate of about three quarters of a million a-year, v/hich, in the courfe of feventy-two years, accounts for the deficiency ; and its abfence is fupplied by paper.* * JVhtths?' ihc Er'^-'u^j commerce dees not urin"^ in mzncr, cr i-ihctber 'thf ^Dvcrnmeni finds it out after it is Irought in^ is a matter ivhich the i^arUes concerned can hfl explain ; hut that ihe deficiency exijis, is not in ihe po'zuer of either to difprove. IVhik Dr. Price, Air, Eden (nono Jiucl.land) Mr. Chahncrs, and others, ivere debating ojhether the quan- tity of monev iras greater or lefs than at the revolution, the clrcurnjlance xvas not adverted to, that Jince the rcvoIuiiGn, there cannot have lecn lefs fh an four hundred miUionsJlerUng imported into Europe ; and therefore, the r'lctitity in England ought at leajl to have hccn four times greater than it Kvas at the revohuicn, to he on a proportion ivith Europe. P/hat Englana IT noiv doing hy paper, is "what JJ:e JJ.^ouId have been ohle to do by foVid tpotiey, if gold and fiver had come into the nation in iheproporitcn it ought. HIGKTS or MAN. |2l *}'lie revolution of France is attended with many novel circum- ftances, not only in the political fphere, but in tlu; circle of money tranfactions. Among others, it fnows that a g-ovcrnment may be in a (late of infolvcncy and a nation rich. So far as the facft is con- fined to the late government of France, it was infolvent; bc^aufc the cr had not been Tent out ; andjl:e Is endcavcuriiig to rcjlore by papery ths balance fie has left hy money. It is cerlahi, that th:' gold andjdvcr ivh'ich arrive annually in the i-egi/lerjljlps to Spain and Porliigaly do not remain in thofe countries. Tahing the value half in ■gold and half in fiver, it is about four hundred tons annually ; and from the number offips and gal- icons employed in the trade of bringing thofe metals from South America la Portugal and Spainy the quantity fiijiclently proves if elf ^Lhout referring io the rcglfcrs In the fituation England noiu is, it is impffplle fie can increafe in mO' ney* High taxes not only lefftn the property of the individuals but they lef fen aljo the money capital of the nation, by inducing fmuggling, ivhich can cnly be carried on by gold and fiver. By the politics nvhich the Britfh government have carried on nvith the inland powers of Germany and tlys continent, it has jnade an enemy of all the maritime poivers, and is there- fore obliged to hep up a large jiavy ; but though the navy is built In En'^- land, the naval fores muf be purchafed from abroad, and that from coun- tries where the greatef part r.uifl be paid for in gold andfilver. Some fal- lacious rumours have been fet afoat in England to induce a belief of monevy and, among others, that of the French refugees bringing great quantities. The idea is ridiculous. The general part of the money in France is fiver ; end It would tale upwards of twenty of the largef broad wheel waggons y with ten horfes each, to remove one million ferllng of fiver. Is it then to be fuppofed, that a few people fleeing on horfe-lajk or In pof-chalfes, in a fcret manner, and having the French cufiom-houf to pafs, and the fa to crofs, could bring even afifjlciency for their own expences ? JVhen millions of money arefpohen of, itfooidd be recollected, that fuch funis can only accumulate in a country byfow degrees, and a long procef- fion of time. The mof frugal fyfiem that England could now adopt, would not recover in a century ths balance fae has hfl in money f nee the commence- ment of the Hanover fuccejjtcn. She Is feventy millions behind France, and fje mifl be infome confdcrable proportion behind every coumry in Europe., becaife the returns of the Englfh mint do not foew an increafe of money y wh'de the regi/lers of Lfbon and Cadl-zfew an European increafe of be-^ tzvsen three and four hundred millions ferllng^ Vol. IL K. 122 PATNE»s WORKS. nation woald no longer fupport its extravagance, and tlierefore it CLuId no^lo iger fiippjrt itfclf — but with refpc^r to the nation all the means exifted. A goverameiit tnay be faid to be infolvent every time it applies to a n?lioii to difcharge irs arrears. The inlolvency of the late government of France, and the prefent government of Eno^land, differed in no other refpeft than as the difpofition of the people differ. The people of France refufed their aid to the old government, and the people of England fubmit to taxation without eiiqniry. What is called the crov.-n in England has been infolvent feveral times; the lail of which, publicly known, was in May J777> vvhe 1 it applied to the nation to difcharge upwards of 6go,ooo1. priv-!te debts, which otheiAvif^ it could not pay. It was tlie error of Mw Pitt, Mr. Burke, and all thofe who were unrcqMainted with the affairs of France, to confound the French nation with the French government. Tiie French nation in efteft, endeavoured to render the late government infolvent, for the purpofc of taking c;^overnm.ent into its own hands ; and it referved its means for the fupport of the new government. In a country of fr-ch vail extent and population as France, the natural m.eans cannot be want- ing; and the political tnenns appear the inftant the nation is difpofed to permit th-m.. Whe:; Mr. Burke, in a fpeech laft winter in the BntiHi parliament, cq/I bis ijes over the map of Europe, andfaav a chojm that once ivas France., he talked like a dreamer of dreams. The fame natural France exilled as before, and all the natural means exillcd with it, Tiie only cliafin was that which the extinAion of defpot- if.n, hid left, and which vvms to be filled up with a confiitution more formidable in refourecs than the pov^er which had expired. Although tlie French nation rendered the late government infol- vent, it did not perm.it the infolvency to ael towards the creditors ; and the creditors confiderin j the nation as tlie real pay mailer, and the government only as the agent, reilcd themfelves on the nation, in preference to the government. This apptars greatly to difturb Mr. Burl.-y tru(l«^d ; but the n?it!0!ial airouibly confidcrcd them as the creditors of the nation, and not o^' tlie government — of the mafttr, and not of t)ie fteWard. Notwithftaiiding the late government could not difcharge tlie Current expences, the prefent government has paid off a great part of the capital. This has been accomplifhed by two means ; the one by IcfTening the expences of government, and the other by the {Ac of the monadic and ecclcfiaflicil landed eftates. The devotees and penitent debauchees, extortioners asid m.ifers of former days, to en- fure themfclves a better world than that which they were about to leave, had bequeathed immenfe property in truil to the pritllhood, for pious vfcs ; and the pricllhocd ki-pt it for themfclves. The na- tion^nl affen.bly has ordered it to be f(ild for the good of the whole nation, and the priefthood to be decently pro\idcd for. In confecuence of the revolution, tlie annual intertft (jf the debt of l^rance will be reduced at leail fix millions iterling, by paying off upwards of one hundred mjllioas of the capital ; wliich, with lef- fening the former expences of government at Itall three millions, will place France in a fituation worthy the imitation of EurG]itm\3SST» TO M. DE LA F AT Err. FTER an acquaintance of nearly fifteen years, in difficult litua- tions in America, and various confulta-tions in Europe, 1 feel a plea- fure in prefenting you this fmall treatife, in gratitude for your lervices to my beloved America, and as a teftimony of my elleem for the ▼irtues, public and private, w^hicii 1 know you to poiTcfs. The only point upon which I could ever difcover that we differed, was not as to principles of s^overnment, but as to time. For my own part, I think it equally as injurious to good principles to permit them to linger, as to pufii them on too fail. That which you fappofe accomplifnable in fourteen or fifteen years, I may believe practicable in a much fhorter period. Mankind, as it appears to me, are always ripe enough to underftand their true intereft, provided it be prefented clearly to tlieir underftanding, and that in a manner not to create fufpicion by any thing- like felfdefign, nor ofFend by affuming too much. Where we would wifh to reform we mull not reproach. When the American revolution was eilablifhed, I felt a difpofition to fit ferenely down and enjoy the calm. It did not appear to me *hat any objedl could afterwards arife great enough to make me quit tranquility, and feel as I had felt before. Cut when principle and not place, is the energetic caufe of a6t.ion, a man, i find, is every where the fame. I am now" once more in the public world ; and as I have not a right to contemplate on fo many years of remaining life as you have, I am refolved to labour as fall as I can ; and as I am anxious for your aid and your company, 1 wilh you to haflen your principles and overtake me. 142 r A I N E * s W O R K S. If you mak*; a campaign the cnfuing fpring, which it is moft pre* bable there will be no occafion for, 1 will come and join you. Should the campaign commence, I hope it will terminate in the extindion of Germ.an defpotifm, and m cftablifhing the freedom of --ill Germany. When France (hall be furrounded with revolutions, (lie will be in peace and fafety, and her taxes, as well as thofc ©f Germany, wiU coiifcquently become Itxlj. Yoor finccre, AfFedionatc friend, THOMAS PAINE. London, Feb. 9, 179 2. 0 PREFACE. w HEN T bf,^an the chapter entitled tlie Covrhfwn in tlic for- mer part of the RIGHTS OF MAN, pub^'lTied lad year, it uas my intention to hnve extended it to a greater length ; hut in cpfting the whole matter in my mind which I wifned to add, I found that I mud either make the work too bulky, or contraft my plan too m.uch. I therefore brought it to a clofe as foon as the fuhject would admit, and referved what I had further to fay to another opportnnl'y. Several other reafons contributed to produce this determination. I wifhed to know the manner in which a work, written in a ftyle of thinking and expreflion different to what had been cuiiomiary in Enu^- land, would be received before I proceeded farther. A grtat fitld was opening to the view of mankind by nneans of the French revolu- tion. Mr. Burke's outrageous oppofition thereto brouglit the con- troverfy into England. He attacked principles which he knew (from information) I would conteft witli him, becaufe they are principles 1 believe to be good and which I have contributed to cftablirii, and conceive myfclf bound to defend. Had he not urged the controverfy, I had mod probably been a fdent man- Another reafon for deferring the remainder of the work vas, that Mr. Burke promlfed in his firft publication to renew the fubje(fl at another oportunity, and to make a comparlfon of what he cnlled the Endlfh and French conftitutions. I therefore held myfclf in refervc o for him. He has publlfhed two works flncc, without doing this ; which he certainly would not have omitted, had the comparlfon been in his favour. In his lall work, his " Appeal from the Ne^ju to the Old Wh'igi^'' he has quoted a!»out ten pagei from the Righti of M^Hf and having gwt^ 144 P A I NE's W O R K S. himfejf the trouble of doing this, fays, " he fliall not attempt in tlie ffnallcll de^^ree to refute them," meaning the principles therein con- tained. I am cnousfh aGcim-inted with Mr. Burke to know, that he would l^ he could. But inllead of contefting them, he immediately after confoles hiinfelf witli faying that " he has done his part." — He has not done his part. He has not performed his promife of a compa- vifon of conditutions. He ibarted- a controverfy, he gave the chal- lenge, and has fled from it ; and he is now a cafe in point with his own opiiiion, that " ths age of chli^alry is gone .^" The title, as v/ell as the fubftance of his laft work, his " jlppeal,''^ IS his condemnation. Principles mufl ftand on their own nierits, and if they are good they certainly will. To put them under the (lielter of other men's authority, as Mr. Burke has done, ferves to bring them into fufpicion. Mr. Bnrke is not very fond of dividing his honours, but in this cafe he is artfully dividing the difgrace. But who are th'.jfe to wliorn Mr. Burke has made his appeal ? A fct of childifn thirikcrs and half-way politicians born in the lafl cen- tury ; men who went r,o farther wi'.h any principle than as it fuited their purpofe as a party ; the nation, was always left out of the quef- tion ; and this has been the charailer of every party from that day to tliis. The nation fees nothing in fuch vroiks, or fuch politics wor- thy its attention. A little matter will rriove a party, bat it mull be fomething great that movc:5 a nation. Thon.rh I fee nothing in Mr. Burke's Appeal worth taking notice of, there is, however, one exprelTion upon' which I fhall offer a few remarks, — After quc>tin]^ largely from the Rlghls (f Man, aud declin-^ ing to conteft the principles contained in that work, he fnys, '' This- will m'.ll probably be done (fftch ^ivrUhgs fiall he ihovghi to dfrvQ nay other refuip.i'icn than ihct of criminal jafice) by ethers, v.'lio may think wiih Mr. Burke ar,d with the fanie zeal." In the firft place, it has not yet been done by any body. Not lefs, I believe than eighi or ten pan"!pl)lets intended as anfwers to the former part of tlie '' Rfghts of Man" have been pubkH-ied by dif- ferent perfons, and not oric of them, to my knowledge, has exterided to a fecond ed'tion, nor are even the titles of them io much as gCr r.erally remembered. As I am averfe to unnecc-lTarily multiplying publicatiouo, I Imve anfwered none of them. And as I believe that a man may vv-.ite himfeif out of n pulation v/hen nobody clfe can da it, I am careful to avoid that rock. But as T would" decline unneceflary' publications on the one hand, fo would I avoid every thing that might appear lll-ie fullcn pride on PREFACE, HS the other. If Mr. Burke, or any perfon on his fide the qiiellion, will produce an anfwer to the « Rights of Man," that fhall extend to an 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 fhall fo far take the fenfe of the public for my guide (and the world knows I am not a flatterer) tliat what they do not think worth while to read, is not worth mine to anfwer, I fuppofe the number of copies to which th^ firft part of the Rigb.'s of Man ex- tended, taking England, Scotland, and Ireland, is not iefs than be- tween forty and fifty thoufand. I now come to remark on the remaining part of the quotation I have made from Mr. Burke. *' If," fays he, ^< fuch writings fhall be thought todefcrve any other refutation than that o^ criminal juPiicc." Pardoning the pun, it mufl be cnminai]vi^\ct indeed that Ihould con- demn a work as a fubiiitute for not being able to refute it. The greateft condemnation tliat could be pafied upon it would be a refu-' tation. But in proceeding by the method Mr. Burke alludes to, the condemnation would, in the final event, pafr. upon the criminality oi the proccfs and not upon the work, and in this cafe, I had rather be the author, than be either the judge, or the jury, that fiiould condemn it. But to come at once to the point. 1 have differed from fome pro- feiTional gentlemen on the fubje(5l of profecutions, and I fince find they are falling into my opinion, which I fliall here flate as fully, hut as concifely as I can. 1 will firfl put a cafe with refpc£l to any law, and then coinpare it with a government, or with what in England is, or has be^n, called a conflitution. It would be an a6l of dcfpotifm, or what in England is called arbitrary power, to make a law to prohibit invelligating the prin- ciples, good or bad, on which fuch a law, or any other is founded. If a law be bad, it is one thing to oppofe the praiR:ice of it, but it is quite a different thing to cxpofe its errors, to reafon on its de- fe(fls, and to fliew caufe why it fhould be repealed, or why another ought to be fubflituted in its place. I have always held it an opinion (making it alfo my pradicc) that it is bettei- to obey a bad law, making ufe at the fame time of every argument to fhew its errors and procure its repeal, than forcibly to violate it ; bccaufe the prece- dent of breaking: a bad law mic'^ht weaken the force, and lead to a tlifcretionary violation, of thofe v/hich arc good. Vol. II. T J46 V A I N E 's W O R K S. The cafe is the fame with refpecf^ to principles and forms of ^pveTH-' tr-^nt, or to v.hat are called conftitutions, and the parts of which they au :■ :mpoft:d. It -"s fcr the good of nations, a'-'d rot for the crrolument or ag- g-iandizement of particular individuals, that government onght to be ef^ .hiiflied, and that mankind are at the expence of fupporting it. The deffd^s of every gcvcrrmeiit raid conftiHilion both as to principle and form mv^, on a parity of rtaroning, be as open to difcuflion ass the dt'fed^s of a law, ar,d ''t is a diJt\' which every man owes to fo- ■ci'»ty lo point theru out. "\"\ htn thcfe deftfts, and the means of re- mtdying tht-m, are generally feen by a nation, that nation will reform -its irovernment or its conftitution in the one cafe, as the government repealed or reformed the law in the other. The operation of go- vernment is reftridcd to the m.aking and the admiiiiftering of laws ;- but it is to a nation that the right of forming or reforming generat- in'T or re P A I N E 's VV O R K S. has fometliing in it which generates and enlarges great ideas* Nature appears to him in magnitude. T!ie mighty obje6:s be beholds, adl upon his mind by enlarging it, and he partakes of the greatnefs he contemplates. — Its firft fettlers were emigrants from different Euro- pean nations, an 1 of diverfified p-.ofeffions of religion, retiring from the governmental perfecutions of the old world, and meeting in the new, not as enemies, but as brothers. The wants which nect^Har'ly •accompany the cultivation of a wildernefs produced among th-rr^ a ilate of fociely, which countries long h^vafT^d by the quarrel? ?nr in- trio-ues of p-overnments, had nepl^aed to cheriH^-. In fuch a fituation man becomes what he ought. He fees his fpecies, net with the in- human idea of a natural eiien y, but ?? kindred ;, a-^d he example fhews to the artificial world, that man mufl: go back to nature fof inform.ation. From the rapid progTefs which America makes in every fpecies of improvement, it is rational to conch:de, that if the governme'.its of Afia, Africa, and Europe, had begun on a principle f'mih'r t,c> that of America, or had not been very early corrupted therefrom, that thofe countries mull by this time have been m a far fuperiof condition to what they are. Age after age has pafied away, for no other purpofe than to behold their wretched nefs. Could we fuppofc a fpe6lator v/ho knew nothing of the world, and who was put into it merely to make his obfervations, he would take a great part of the old world to be new, juil ftruggling with the difficulties and hardfhips of an infant fettlement. He could not fuppofe that the hordes of miferabie poor, with which old countries abound, could be any other than thofe who had not yet had time to provide for themfelves. Lit- tle would he think they v/ere the coufequence of what in fuch couii- fries is called government. If, from the more wretched parts of the old v/orld, wc look at thofe which are in an advanced (lage of improvement, we ftili find the greedy hand of government thrufling itfelf into every corner and crevice of induftry, and grafping the fpoil of the multitude. Inven- tion is continually exercifed, to furnifh new pretences for revenue and taxation. It watches profperity as its prey, and permits none to efcape without a tribute. As revolutions have begun (and as the probability Is always greater againll a thnig beginning, than of proceeding after it ha§ begun,) it ia natural to expecfl that other revolutions will follow* The amazing and ftill increafing expences with which old govcrn- tjisnts are CQndwded^ the n-uaieirous wars they en^agq ia or provoke^ RIGHTS OF MAN ^S* die embirraffments they throw in the way of unlverfal clvjllzation and commerce, and the oppreffion and iifurpation they act at )iome, btve wearied out the patience, and exhaufted the property of the world. In fuch a fituation, and with the examples already exilling, revolutions are to be looked for. They are become fubje6ls of uni- ▼erfal converfation, and may be coniidered, as the order of the daym If fyftems of government can be introduced lefs expwifive, and more produftive of general happinefs, than thofe which have exilled, all attempts to oppofe their progrefs will in the end be fruitlefs. •Reafon, like time, will m.ake its own v/ay, and prejudice will fall in the combat with intereft. If univerfal peace, civilization ?tions contrary to each other, fo alfo is it in this. Government founded on a moral theory, en a fyjlem of unlverfal peace, on the indefeafihle hereditary rights of man, is now re- volving from weft to eaft by a ftronger impulfe than the govcrnm.ent of the fword revolved from eaft to weft. It interefts net particular ' -individuals but nations in its progrefs, and promifcs a new era to the. iiuman race. The danger to v/hich the fucccfs of revolutions is moft expof^d, is that of attempting them before the priticiples on which they proceed, •and the advantages to refuU from them, are fufnciently feen and un- ^ierftood. Almoft every thing appertaining to the ci'currftances cf a-natica \?a bt^t^i) abiurbed aud confouuaea uui:cv liie general and my- 152 PAINE 's WORKS. fterious word government. Though it avoids taking to Its account the errors it commits, and the mifchiefs it occafions, it fails not to arrogate to itff U' whatever has the appearance of profperity. It robs induilry of its honours, by pedantically making itfelf the caufe of its effeifls ; and purloins from the general character of man, the merits that appertain to him as a focial being. It may therefore be of ufe, in this day of revolutions, to dlfcrimi- nate between thofc things which are the eiTecl of government, and thoie VN'hich are not. This will btil be done by taking a review of fociety and civilization, and the confequences refulting therefrom, as things diilindl from what arc called governments. By beginning with this invciligation, we fhall be able to afiign effefbs to their pro- per cuufc, and analyze the mafs of common errors. CHAP. I. OF SOCIETY AND CIVILIZATION. G RE AT part of that order which reigns among mankind is not tlic effedl of government. It had its origin in the principles of fociety, and the natural conflitution of man. It exifted prior to government, and would exifl if the formality of government was abolifhed. The mutual dependence and reciprocal interell which man has upon man, and all the paits of a civilized community upon each other, create that great chain of connexion which holds it together. The landholder, the farmer, the manufacturer, the merchant, the tradefman, and every occupation profpcrs by the aid which each receives from the other, and from tlie whole. Common intereft regulates their concerns, and forms their laws ; and the laws which common ufage ordains, have a greater influence than the lavi's of government. In fine, fociety per- forms for itfelf almoil every thing v/hich is afcribed to government. To underftand the nature and quantity of government proper for man, it is neceffary to attend to his charader. As nature created him for focial life, flie fitted him for the ftation fhe intended. In all cafes fite made his natural wants greater than his individual powers. No one man is capable, without the aid of fociety, of fupplying his own wants ; and thofe wants, ading upon every individual, impel the whole of them into fociety, as naturally as gravitation ads to a centra. RIGHTS OF MAN. 153 But fhe has gone further. She has not only forced man into fociety by a diverfity of wants, which the reciprocal aid of edji^ other can fupply, but fhe has implanted in him a fyitem of focial aire^ions, which, though not neceflary to his exiftence, are eflential to his happinefs. There is no period in life when this love for fociety ceafes to a«ft. It begins and ends with our being. If we examine, with attention, into the compofition and conflj- tution of man, the diverfity of his wants, and the diverfity of talents in different men for reciprocally accommodating the wanis of each other, his propenfity to fociety, and confequently to preferve the advantages refulting from it, we fliall eafily difcover, that a great part of what is called government is mere impofition. Government is no farther neceffary than to fupply the few cafes to which fociety and civilization are not conveniently competent ; and ;infiances are not wanting to fhew that every thing which government -can ufefully add thereto, has been performed by the common confent ■of fociety, without government. For upwards of two years from the commencement of the American war, and to a longer period in feveral of the Arnerican .dates, there were no eflablifhed forms of government. The old -governments had been aboliflied, and the country was too much occupied in defence, to employ its attention in efbbliihing new governments; yet during this interval, order and harmony were ,preferved as inviolate as' in any country in Europe. There is a natural aptnefs in man, and more fo in fociety, becaufe it embraces a greater variety of abilities and refource, to accommodate itfelf to whatever fituation it is in. The inflant formal government is abolifhed, f;ciety begins to a6l. A general aflbciation takes place, and common intereft produces common fecurity. So far is it from being true, as has been pretended, that the aboli- tion of any formal government is the diffolution of fociety, that it acls by a contrary impulfe, and brings the latter the clofer together. All that part of its organization which it had committed to its government, devolves again upon itfelf, and' a6ts through its medium. When men, as well from natural inilind, as from reciprocal benefits, have habituated themfelves to focial and civilized life, there is always enough of its principles in practice to carry them through any changes they may find neceffary or convenient to make in their government. In fhort, man is fo naturally a creature of fociety, that it is almofl . impofTible to put him out of it. Vol. II. X 154 P A I N E ' s WORKS. Formal government makes but a fmall part of civilized life ; and when even the beft that human wifdom can devife is eftablilhed, it is a thing more in name and idea, than in fad. It is to the great arid ' fundamental principles of fociety and civilization — to the common ufage univerfally confented to, and mutually and reciprocally main- tained— to the unceafing circulation of intereft, which, pafTing through its million channels, invigorates the whole mafs of civilized man — it is to thefe things, infinitely more than to any thing which even the beft inftituted government can perform, that the fafety and profperity of the individual and of the whole depends. The more perfedt civilization is, the lefs occafion has it for govern- ment, becaufe the more does it regulate its own affairs, and govern itfelf ; but fo contrary is the practice of old governments to the reafon of the cafe, that the expences of them increafe in the proportion they ought to diminifh. It is but few general laws that civilized life requires, and thofe of fach common ufefalnefs, that whether they are enforced by the forms of government or not, the effed will be nearly the fame. If we confidcr what the principles are that firft condenfe men into fociety, and what the motives that regulate their mutual intercourfe afterwards, we fliall find, by the time we arrive at what is called government, that nearly the whole of the bufinefs is per- formed by the natural operation of the parts upon each other, Man, with refpe6l to all thofe matters, is more a creature of confiftency than he is aware, or than governments would wifli him to believe. All the great laws of fociety are laws of nature. Thofe of trade and commerce, whether with refpect to the intercourfe of indivi- duals, or of nations, are laws of mutual and reciprocal intereft. They are followed and obeyed, becaufe it is the intereft of the parties fo to do, and not on account of any formal laws their governments may impofe or interpofe. But how often is the natural propenflty to fociety difturbed or deftroyed by the operations of government ! When the latter, inftead of being ingrafted on the principles of the former, affumes to exiftfor itfelf, and afls by partialities of favour and oppreflion, it becomes the caufe of the mifchiefs itoupht to prevent. If we look back to the riots and tumults, which at various times have happened in England, we fhall find, that they did not proc&ed from the want of a povernment, but that government was itfelf the generating caufe ; initead of confolidating fociety, it ditided it ; it deprived it of its natural cohefion, and engendered difcontents and RIGHTS OF MA N. 155 diforders, which otherwife would not have exifted. .In thofe aflbciations which men promifcuoufly form for the purpofe of trade, or of any concern, in which government is totally out of ihe queftion, and in which they afl merely on thepiinciples offbciety, we fee how naturally the various parties unite ; and this fliews, by comparifon, that governments, fo far from being always the caufe or means of order, are often the deftrutiion of it. The riots of 1780 had no other fource than the remains of thofe prejudices, v/hich the govern- ment Itfelf had encouraged. But with refped to England there are alfo other caufes. Excefs and inequality of taxation, however difguifed in the means, never fail to appear in their effeft. As a great mafs of the community are thrown thereby into poverty and difcontent, they are condantly on the brink of commotion ; and, deprived, as they unfortunately are, of the means of information, areeafily heated to outrage. Whatever the apparent caufe of any riots may be, the real one is always want of happinefs. It fhews that fomething is wrong in the fyftem of govern- ment, that injures the felici.y by which fociety is to be preferved. But as fa6l is fuperior to reafoning, the inflance of America pre- fents itfelf to confirm thefe obfervations. — If there is a country in the world, where concord, according to common calculation, would be lea/t expeded, it is America. Made up, as it is, of people from different nations,* accuftomed to different forms and habits of govern- ment, fpeaking different languages, and more different in their modes of worfliip, it would appear that the union of fuch a people was impradicable ; but by the limple operation of conftruding government * That part of America ivh'ich is generally called Netv-England, Including Neiv-Hampjhire^ Majfachufeits^ Rhode-JJland, and Cari^eC', ticutf is peopled chief.y by Engli/Jo defcendants. In the Jlate of Neiu-r^ Tork, about half are Dutch, the refi Engl'ijld^ Scotch, ond I ijlo. In Neiv-ycrfey, a mixture of Engl'JJo and Duich, 'with feme Scotch and Iri/Jj. In Pennfyl'vania, about one third are EngljfJj, another Germans^ and the remainder Scotch and Irflo, ivith fome Snvedes. "^ihejlates to the fouthnvard have a greater proportion of Englifh than the middie States, but in ell of them there is a mixture ; and hejides thofe enumerated^ there are a conjiderable number of French, end fome few of all the Eu- ropean nations lying on the coafl. The mofl numerous reliff^us dtnomi- nation are the PreJl^Uriaus ; but no one fc^ is ejlabli/licd . above another, and all men are equally cilizer.s. 156 PAINE's WORKS. on the principles of fociety and the rights of man, every difnculty retires, and all the parts are brought into cordial iinifon. There, the poor are not opprelfed, the rich are not privileged. Indiiftry is not mortified by the fplendid extravagance of a court rioting at its expcnce. Their taxes are few, becaufe their government is juft ; and as there is nothing to render them wretched, there is nothing to engender riots and tumults. A metaphyfcal man, like Mr. Burke, would have tortured his invention to difcover how fuch a people could be governed. He would have fuppofed that fome muft be managed by fraud, others by force, and all by fome contrivance ; that genius mull be hired to impofe upon ignorance, and Ihew and parade to fafcinate the vulgar^ Loft in the abundance of his refearches, he would have refolved and re-refolvid, and finally overlooked the plain and eafy road that lay direddy before him. One of the great advantages of the American revolution has been, that it led to a difcovery of ihe principles, and laid open the impofition of governments. All the revolutions till then had been worked within the atmcfphcrc of a cotirt, and never on the great floor of a liation. The parties v/ere always of the clafs of courtiers ; and whatever was their rage for reformation, they carefully preferved the fraud of the profefiion. In all cafes they took care to reprefent government as a thing made lip of myfteries, which only themfelves underftood : and they hid from the underftanding of the nation, the only thing that was bene- ficial to know, namely, T hai government is nothing more than a rational ojfoc'iat'ion aEt'ing on the principles of fociety. Having thus endeavoured to fhew, that the focial and civilized ftate of man is capable of performing within itfelf, almoft every thing necefiary to its protection and government, it will be proper, on the other hand, to take a review of the prefent old governments, and examine whether their principles and praftice are correfpondent thereto. ■0B6l3§GjS^EE0>' CHAP. n. Of the Origin of the prefent Old Governments. T is impoffible that fuch governments as have hitherto exifted in the world, could have ccmmcnced by any other means than a total viola- RIGHT'S^ OF MAN. 157 ttOli of every principle facred and moral. The obfcuTity in which the origin of all the prefent old governments is buried, implies the ihiquity and difgrace with which they began. The origin of the' prefent government of America and France will ever be remembered, becaufe it Is honourable to record it ; but with refpedt to the reft, even Flattery has configned them to the tomb of time, without an infcription. It could have been no difficult thing in the early and folitary ages cfthe world, while the chief employment of men was that of attend- ing flocks and herds, for a banditti of ruffians to overrun a country, and lay it under contributions. Their power being thus eftablifhed, the chief of the band contrived to lofe the name of robber in that of monarch ; and hence the ciigin of monarchy and kings. The origin of the govtrrment of England, fo far as relates to what is called its line of monarchy, being one of the lateft, is perhaps the beft recorded. The hatred which ihc Norman invafibn and tyranny begat, muft have been deeply rooted in the nation, to have out-lived the contrivance to obliterate it. Though not a courtier will talk of the corfeubell, not a village in England has forgotten it. Thofe bands of robbers having parcelled out the world, and divided into dominions, began, as is naturally the cafe, to quarrel v/ith each other. What at firft was obtained by violence, was confidered by others as lawful to be taken, and a fccond plunderer fucceeded the firft. They alternately invaded the dominions which each had affigned to himfelf, and the brutality with which they treated each other explains the original character of monarchy. It was ruffian torturing ruffian. The conqueror confidered the conquered not as his prifoner, but his property. He led him in triumph rattling in chains, and doomed him, at pleafure, to flavery or death. As time obliterated the hiftory of their beginning, their fucceflbi s aiuimed new appearances, to cut off the entail of their difgrace, but their principles and objeds remained the fame. What at firft was plunder afTumed the fofter name of revenue ; and the power originally ufurped, thev affetfted to inherit. From fuch beginning of governments, what could be expedled, but a continual fyftem of war and extortion ? It has eftabhflied itfelf into a trade. The vice Is not peculiar to one more than to another, but is the common principle of all. There does not exift within fuch governments a ftamina v/hereon to ingraft reformation f and the fhorteft and moft efFe(^ual remedy is to begin aiiew. 158 PAINE's WORK'S.' What fcenes of horror, what perfedion of iniquity, prefent th'm- -felves in contemplating the charafler, and reviewing the hulory of fuch governments ! If we would delineate human nature with a bafenefs of heart, and hypocrify of countenance, that reflexion would fliudder at and humanity difowri, it is kings, courts, and cabinets, that mull lit for the portrait. Man, naturally as he is, with all his faults about him, is not up to the charadler. Can we poiTibly fuppofe that i; government had originated in a right principle, and had not an intered in purfuing a wrong one, that the world could have been in the wretched and quarrelfome condition we have feen it ? What inducement has the farmer, while following the plough, to lay afide his peaceful purfuits, and go to war with the farmer of another country ? Or what inducement has the manufac- turer : What is dominion to them, or to any clafs of men in a nation ? Does it add an acre to any man's eflate, or raife its value ? Are not conqueil: and defeat each of the fame price, and taxes the never-failing confequence ? — Though this reafoning may be good to a nation, it is not fo to a government. War is the Pharo table of governments, and nations the dupes of the game. If there is any thing to wonder at in this miferable fcene of gov^nments, more than might be expeded, it is the progrefs which the peaceful arts of agriculture, manufadure, and commerce have made, beneath fuch a long accumulating load of difcouragement and oppreffion. It ferves to fliew, that inftind in animals does not act with flronger impulfe, than the principles of fociety and civilization operate in man. Under all difcouragements, he purfues his objedl, s.nd yields to nothing but impoiTibilities. CHAP. Til. Ofnhe Old and New Sji/iems of Government. J3J OTHING can appear more contradidory than the principles 'on which the old goveraments began, and the condition to which fociety, civiUzation, and commerce, are capable of carrying mankind. ' Government on the old fyftem, is an afTumption of power, for the aggrandifement of itfelf; on the new, a delegation of power, for the RIGHTS OF MAN. 159 common benefit of'fociety. The former fupports itfelf by keeping up a fyflem of war; the latter promotes a fyCiem of peace, as the true means of enriching a nation. The one encouriiges national prejudices; the other promotes univerfal fociety, as the rrteans of uriiverfal commerce. The one meafures. its profperity, by the quantity of revenue it extorts; the oiher proves its excellence, by the fmall quantity of taxes it requires. Mi. Burke has talked of old and new whigs. If he can amufe him- felf with childifli names and ditl:in6tions, I ftiall not interrupt his pleafure. It is not to him, but to the Abbe Sieyes, that I addrefs this chapter. I am already engaged to the latter gentleman, to dif- cufs the fubjed of monarchicalgovernment; and as it naturally occurs -i-^ in comparing the old and new fyrtems, I make this the opportunity 1^' a:, t of prefenting to him my obfervations. I fiiall occafionally take Mr. ; T^ Burke in my way. Though it might be proved that the fyftem of government now cal- led the NEW, is the mod ancient in principle of all that have exifted, being founded on the original inherent Rights of Man : yet, as tyran- ny and the fword have fufpended the exercife of thofe rights for many centuries paft, it ferves better the purpofe of diltindion to call it the neiUf than to claim the right of calling it the old. The firft general diftindion between thofe twofyftems, is, that the one now called the old is hereditary, either in whole or in part; and the new is entirely reprefentat'i've. It rejects all hereditary govern- ment: Firft, As being an impofition on mankind. Secondly, As inadequate to the purpofes for which government is neceffary. With refped to the fird of thefe heads — It cannot be proved by what right hereditary government could begin : neither does there exilji within the compafs of mortal power, a right to eftablifh it. Man has fiO authority over pofterity in matters of perfonal right; and therefore, no man, or body of men, had, or can have, a right to fet un heredi- tary government. Were even ourfelves to come again into exigence, indead of being fucceeded by poderity, we have not now the right of taking from ourfelves 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 heiitable crown, or an heritable throne, or by what other fanciful name fuch " things may be called, have no other fignil:cant explanation than that i6o P A I N E ' s W O Tv K S. mankind are heritable property. To inherit a government, Is to inhe- rit the people, as if they vvere flocks and herds. With refpect to the kcond head, that of being inadequate to the purpofes for which government is necefTary, we have only to confider "what government elfentially is, and compare it with the circumliances to which hereditary fucceiri>)n isfubjefi:. Government ought to be a thing always in fall maturity. It ought to be fo conftruded as to be fuperior to all the accidents to which indi- vidual man isfubjecl; and therefore, hereditary fucceiTion, by being fubjecl to them ally is the moil irregular and imperfed of all the fyftems of government. We have heard the Rights of Man called 2. levelling fyflem; but the only fyflem to which the word levelling is truly applicable, is the hereditary monarchical fydem. It is a fyftem of mental levelling. It indifcriminately admits every fpecies of charader to the fame authority. Vice and virtue, ignorance and wiidom, in fliort, every quality, good or bad, is put on the fame level. Kings fucceed each other, not as rationals, but as animals. It figniiies not what their mental or moral characters are. Can we then be furprifed at the abjeft (late of the human mi.id in monarchical countries, v/hen the government itfelf is formed on fuch an abjed levelling fyilem? — It has no fixed charader. To-day it is one thing; and to-morrow it is fomething elfc. It chan- ges v/ith the temper of every fucceeding individual, and is fubjed to all the varieties ofeach. It is government through the medium of paf- Hons and accidents. It appears under all the various charaders of childhood, decrepitude, dorage, a thing at nurfe, in leading-ftrings, or in crutches Ir re\erfes the wholefome order of nature. It occa- iionallyputs children over mei, a d the conceits of non-age over wif- dom and experience. In ihort, we cannot conceive a more ridicu- lous figure of government, than hereditary fuccellion, in all its cafesi prefents. Could it be made a decree in nature, or an euid reoiflered in hea- van, and man could knov/ ii:, that virtue and wifdom fhould invariably appertain to hereditary fucceflion, the objedions to it would be remo- ved; bur when we fee that nature ads as if fhe difowned and fported with the hereditary fydem; that the mental charaders of fucceffors, in all countiies, are belov/ the average of human underflanding; that one k a tyrant, another an ideot, a third infane, and fome all three together, it is impoHible to attach, confidence to it, when reafon in man has power to ad. V R t G H T S O F M A N. i6i It is not to the Abbe Sieyes that I need apply this rcafoning; he has already faved me that trouble, by giving his own opinion upon the cafe. *' If it be aflced," fays he, " what is my opinion with refpedl " to hereditary right, I anfvver, without hefitation, that, in good *' theory, an hereditary tranfmiHion of any power or office, can never ** accord with the laws of a true reprefentation. Hereditaryfliip is, ** in this fenfe, as much an attaint upon principle, as an outrage upon " fociety. Bat let us," condnues he, *' refer to the hiitory of all ** eledive monarchies and principalities: is there one in which the ** elective mode is not worfe than the hereditary fucceflion?" As to debating on which is the worft of the tv^o, is admitting both to be bad; and herein we are agreed. The preference which the Abbe has given, is a condemnation of the thing diat he prefers. Such a mode of realoning on fuch a fubjecSt is inadmifllble, becaufe it finally amounts to an accufation upon Providence, as if (he had left to man no other choice with refped: to government than be- tween two evils, the beft of which he admits to be, " an attaint upon *^ principle, and an outrage upon fociety.^* Palling over, for the prefent, all the evils and mifchiefs which monarchy has occalioned in the world, notliing can more effcfliiilly prove its ufeleffnefs in a ftate of ci'vil government, than making it hereditary. Would we make any office hereditary that required wifdom and abilities to fill it ? and where v/ifdom and abilides are not neceflary, fucji an office, whatever it may be, is fuperHuous or inlignificant. Hereditary fucceflion is a burlefque upon monarchy. It puts Vl in the mod: ridiculous light, by prefenting it as an office v/hich any child or ideot may fill. It requires forae talents, to be a common mechanic ; but, to be a king, requires only the animal figure of man — a fort of breathing automaton. This fort of fuperdition may lalt a few years more, but it cannot loner reiift the awakened reafon and intere ft of man. As to Mr. Burke, he is a (lickler for monarchy, not altogether as a penfioner, if he is one, which I believe, but as a political man. He has taken up a contem.ptible opinion of mankind, who, in their turn, are taking up the fame of him. He confiders them as a herd of beings that muft be governed by fraud, effigy, and fliew ; and an idol would be as good a figure of monarchy with him, as a man. I will, however, do him thejullice to fay, that, with refpe(51: to America, he iias been very complimentary. He always contended, at lead in my Vol. II. Y i62 P A INE' s wo R KS. hearing, that the people of America were more enlightened than thofe of England, or of any country in Europe ; and that therefore the impofition of fnew was not necelTary in their governments. Though the comparifon between Hereditary and eledive monarchy, which the Abbe had made, is unneceffary to the cafe, becaufe the reprefentative fyftem rejedls both ; yet, were I to make the comparifon, I Ihould decide contrary to what he has done. The civil v/ars which have originated from conteded hereditary claims, are more num.erous, and have been more dreadful, and of longer continuance, than thofe which have been occadoned by eledion. All the civil wars in France arofe from the hereditary fyftem ; they were either produced by hereditary claims, or by the imperfedion of the hereditary form, which admits of regencies, or monarchy at nurfe. With refpe6l to England, its hiftory is full of the fame misfortunes. The contefts for fucceffion between the houfes of York and Lancafter, lafted a whole century ; and others of a fimilar nature, have renewed themfelves fince that period. Thofe of 1715 and 1745? were of the fame kind. The fucceffion war for the crown of Spain, embroiled almoft half Europe. The difturbances in Holland are generated from the hereditary fliip of the fladtholder. A government calling itfelf free, with an hereditary office, is like a thorn in the flefh, that produces a fermentation which endeavours to difcharge it. But I might go further, and place alfo foreign wars, of whatever kind, to the fame caufe. It is by adding the evil of hereditary fucceffion to that of monarchy, that a permanent family intereft is created, whofe confrant objecls are dominion and revenue. Poland, though an ele6live monarchy, has had fewer wars than thofe which are hereditary ; and it is the only government that has made a voluntary effay, though but a fmall one, to reform the condition of the country. Having thus glanced at a few of the defers of the old, or heredi- tary fyftems of govermuent, let us compare it Vvith the new, or reprefentative fyftem. The reprefentative fyftem takes fociety and civilization for its bafis; nature, reafon, and experience, for its guide. Experience, in all ages, and in all countries has demonftrated, that it is impofible to control Nature in her diftribution of mental powers. She gives them as fiie pleafes. Whatever is the rule by which fiie, apparently to us, fcatters them among mankind, that R I G H T S O F M A N. 163 rule remains a fecret to man. It would be as ridiculous to attempt to fix the hereditarydiip of human beauty, as of wifdom. Whatever wifdom condituently is, it is Uke a feedkfs plant ; it may be reared when it ap}>ears, but it cannot be voluntarily produced. There is always a fufficiency fomewhere in the general mafs of fociety for all purpofes ; but with refpecfl to the parts of fociety, it is continually changing its place. It rifes in one to-day, in another to-morrow, and has moft probably vifited in rotation every family of the earth', and again withdrawn. As this is the order of nature, the order of government mud neceflary follow it^ or government will, as we fee it does, degenerate into ignorance. The hereditary fyftem, therefore, is as repugnant to human v/ifdom, as to human rights : and is as abfurd, as it is unjufi. As the republic of letters brings forward the bed literary produc- tions, by giving to genius a fair and univerfal chance ; fo the reprefentativc fyflem of government is calculated to produce the wifefl laws, by collecting wifdom from v/here it can be found. I fmiie to myfelf when I contemplate the ridiculous infignificance into which literature and ail the fciences would fmk, were they made hereditary ; and I carry the fame idea into governments. An hereditary governor is as inconfiltent as an hereditary author. I know not whether Homer or Euclid had fons : but I will venture an opinion, that if they had, and had left their works unfiniflied, thofe fons could not have completed them. Do we need a flronger evidence of the abfurdity of hereditary government, than is feen in defcendants of thofe men, in any line of life, v/ho once were famous ? Is there fcarcely an inftance in v.'hich there is not a total reverfe of the charailer ? It appears as if the tide of mental faculties flowed as far as it could in certain channels, and then forfook its courfe, and arofe in others. How irrational then is the hereditary fyftem which eftablifhes channels of power, in company v/ith v/hich wifdom refafes to fiov/ ! By continuing this abfurdity, man is perpetually in contradiction with himfelf; he accepts, for a king, or a chief magiflrate, or a iegiilator, a perfon whom he would not eledt for a conflable. It appears to general obfervation, that revolutions create genius and talents ; but thofe events do no more than bring them forward. There is exiiHng in man, a mafs of fcnfe lying in a dormant ftate, and which, unlefs fomething excites it to adion, will defcend with 1.64 P A I N E ' s W:0 R K S. him, in that condition, to the grave. As it is to the advantage of foeiety that the whole of its faculties (hould be employed, the con- ftruclion of government ought to be fuch as to bring forward, by a q&ict and regular operation, all that extent of capacity which never fails to appear in revolutions. This cannot take ibxc in the infipid (late of hereditary govern- ment, not only becaufe it prevents, but becaufe it operates to benumb. Vv'^hen the mind of a nation is bowed down by aqy political fuperflitioa in its government, fuch as hereditary fuccellion is, it lofes a confiderable portion of its powers on all other fubje^ls and objects. Hereditary fuccefiion requires the fame obedience to ignorance, as to v/ifdom ; and when cnce the mind can bring itfelf to pay this indilcriminate reverence, it defcends below the flatute of mental manhood. It is fit to be great only in little things. It a(fls a treachery upon itfelf, and fuffocates the fenfations that urge to detection. Though the ancient governments prefent to us a miferable piclure of the condition of m.an, there is one which above ail others exempts itfelf from the general defcription. I mean the democracy of the Athenians. We fee more to admire, and Icfs to condemn, in that great, extraordinary people, than in any thing which hiflory affords. Mr. Burke is fo little acquainted with confHtuent principles of government, that he confounds democracy and reprefentation together. Reprefentation was a thing unknovv^n in the ancient demo- cracies. In thofe the mafs of the people met and enaded laws (grammatically f>)eaking) in the fird perfon. Simple democracy was no other than the common hall of the ancients. It fignifes xhtfonuy as v/ell as the public principle of the government. As fhefe demo- cracies increafed in population, and the territory extended, the fi mple democratical form became unwieldly and impradicable ; and as the fyltem of reprefentation was not known, the confequence was, they either degenerated convulfively into monarchies, or became abforbed into fuch as then exifled. Had the fyllem of reprefentation been then underilood, as it now is, there is no reafon to believe that thofe forms of government, now called monarchical or ariflocratical would ever have taken place. It was the want of fome method to confolidate the pa;rts of foeiety, after it became too populous, and too cxtenfive for the f;mple democratical form, and alfo the lax and folitary condition of diepherds and herdfmen in other parts of the world, that afforded opportunities to thofe unnatural modes of government to begin. RIGHTS OFMAN. i6s As it is neceflary to clear away the rubbifh of errors, into which the fubie6t of government has been thrown, I Ihall proceed to remarlt on fome others. It has always been the political craft of courtiers and court governments, to abufe fomething which they called repubhcanifm ; but what repubhcanifm was, or is, they never attempt to explain. Let us examine a little into this cafe. The only forms of government are, the democratical, the ariifo- cratical, the monarchical, and what is now called the reprefentative. What is called a republic, is not ^nj parttcular form o£ government. It is wliolly charadleriilical of the purport, matter, cr object for which government ought to be inflituted, and on which it is to be employed, res-publica, the public aifairs, or the public good f or, literally tranfiated, the public thing. It is a word of a good original, .referring to what ought to be the chara(5ier and bufinefs iyi government ; and in this fenfe it is naturally oppofed to the word monarchy, which has a bafe original fignification. It means arbitrary power in an individual perfon ; in the exercife of which, himfelf, and not the res-publica, is the objeft. Every government that does not a(5t on the principle of a republic, or in other words, that does not make the res-pnvUca its whole and fole obje(51, is not a good government. Republican government is no other than government eflablifhed and conduced for the intereft of the public, as well individually as colled>ively. It is not necef^ fariiy conneded with any particular form, but it mod: naturally affociates wich the reprefentative form, as being beft calculated td fecure the end for which a nation is at the expence of fupporting it. Various forms of government have affeded to flylc themfelves 1 republic. Poland calls itfelf a republic, which is an hereditary ariftocracy, with what is called an ele(51ive monarchy. Holland calls itfelf a republic, v/hich is chiefly ariflocratical, with an hereditary lladtholderfliip. But the government of America, which is wholly on the fyftem of reprefentation, is the only real republic in character and in prac'lice, that now exifts. Its government has no other objeuft pub- licly appear. Every man is a proprietor in government, and con* fiders "it a neceflary part of his bufiaefs to underftand. It conccrns- his intereft, becaufe it affefts his property. He examines the ccft, Sand compires it with the advantages ; and above all, he does not adopt the fiavifh cuftom of following what in ether governments are, called LFADfRS. It can only be by blinding the imderrrar.dlng of man, and miaking. "him believe that government is fome wonderful myfterious thing, that excefiive revenues are obtained. Monarchy is well ca-culatcd to enfure this end. It is the popery of government; a thing kept up to amufe the ignorant, and quiet them into taxes. •'-The government of a free country, properly fpeaking, is not m the perfons, but in the laws. The ena6ling of thofe requires no^ great expgnce ; and when they are adminiilered, the whole of civlj. n-ovcrnrr.ent is performed — the rell is all coart coiitrivacce. RIGHTS a F M A K 17^. C H A P. IV. ON CONSTITUTIONS. •*• HAT men mean diftind and fc?pnrate things when they (p"^ of conflitutions and of governmenrs, is evident ; cr, wliy arc theft? terms didlndly and feparately ufed? A conflitution is not the a6l of a government, but of a people coiiflituting a government ; and go- vernment without a conllitution, is power witliout a right. All power exerciied over a nation, mujR: have fomc beginning. It ^uft be either delegated, or alTumed. There are no other fources. All delegated powe is trail, and all afTumed power is ufurnation. Time does not alter the nature and quality of either. In viewing this fubjeifl;, the cafe and circumdances of America prefent themfelves as in the beginning of a world ; and our enr^uiry into the origin of government is. (Iiortened, by ref^^n-ing to the Fifls that have arifen in our own day. We have, no occallon to roam for in- formation into theobfcuue Rcldof antiquity, nor hazard ourfclves upon .conje<5lure. V/e are brought at once to the point of feeing govern- ment bc'^in, as if we had lived in the be^rinninr of' time. The real volume, not of hiiloiy, but of faAs, is direilly before us, unmuti- latcd by contrivance, or the errors of tradition. I will here concIiVly flate the commencement of the American conftitutions ; by v/aich the difference between coralitulions and go- vernments will fufHciently appear. It may not be improper to remind the reader, that the United States of America confift of thirteen feparate ftates, each of whicK eftablidied a government far ilfdf, after the declaration of indepen- dence, done the fourth of July 1776. Each (late a£ted indepen- dently of the reft, in forming its government; but the fame gci>eral principle pervades the wliole. V/hen the feveral ftate governments were formed, they proceeded to form the federal government, tliat a£ls over the whole in all matters which concern the intereft of the whole, or which relate to the intercourfe of the feveral ftates with each other, or with foreign nations. I will begin with giving an in- ftance from one of the ftate governments (that of Pennfrlvaniaj, and then proceed to the federal government. The ftate of Pennfylvania, though nearly of the fame extent of terri.- tory as England, was then divided into only twelve counties. Each of thofe counties had eledled a ccramittee at the commencement of the difpute with the Englifti gcvcrn:iient ^ and as the city of Philadelphia, 17^ ? A I N £ * s W O R K S, which alfo had its committee, was the moft central for intelligence, it- became the centre of communication to the feveral county commit- tees. When :t became necefiary to procsed to the formation of a government, the committee of Philadelphia propofed a conference of zVi the county commit t^ie?, to be held in that city, and which met the latter end of July 1776. Thougli thefe committees had been elected by the people, they were not elected expi'efsly for the purpofe, nor invefted with thje authority of forming a Conflitutron ; and as they could not, confift- cntly with the American id-a of rights, affame fuch a power, they e'oiild only confer upon th; matter, and pnt it into a train of opera- tion. The conferees^ therefcrc, did no more than ftate the cafe, and r£com>mend to the feveral counties to eleft fix reprcfcntativeg^ for ^ach county, to meft in convention at Philadelphia, with powers to form a conllitution, and tv.-obofe it for uxiblic confideratioru ihis convention, of vvhich Benjamiil Franklin was prefidfnt, hav- ing niet and deliberated, and agreed upon a conftitution, they next ordered it to be publiihed,- net as a thing eitablifntd, but for the eon- lideratioft of tlie Vyhble people, their approbation or rejeSion, and then adjourned to a ftared time. When the time of adjournment wan expired, the cor^vtiitioti re-anembled ; and as the general opinion of the people in approbation of it was then known, the conftitutioil was figned, fealed, and proclaimed on the auihcrlty of the people^ and the original fiiftrumerit depcfited as a pubh'c record. The con- vention then appointed a day for the geneiT.1 ekclion of the reprcr lentatiyeG v.ho were to conipofe the goveriiment, ^nd the time it mbiild commence; and having done this, they diffolved, and returned to their feveral homes and occupations. In this conflitution were laid down, firft a declaration of rights, X hen followed the form which the government ihoiild have, and thq powers it fnould poiTefs" — the authority of the courts of judicature, and of juries — the m.anner in which cleQions iliould be conduced, ^nd the proportron of reprefentatives to the number of eleftors — the time which each fuccecding allembly Ihould continue, which was one year — the mode of levying, and of accounting for the expenditure, of pubhc money — of appointing public officers, &c. &c. &c. No article of this conditution could be altered or infringed at the diicretion of the government that was to enfuc. !t was to that government a law. But as it would have been unwife to preclude the benefit of experience, and in order alfo to prevent the accumu- lation of errors, \i any fhouid be found, and to preferve an unifon of RIGHTS OF MAN. 17^ government with the circiimfcances of the ftatc at all tinies; the con- ftkutio-a provided, thjjt. at the expiration of every feven years, a con- tention fhould be elected ; for the exprefs purpofe of reviiing the con- ftitution, and making alterations, auditions, or abolitions therein, if any fuch faould be fo'Jnd necefTary. Here we fee a regular procels — a government iiTiiing cut of 3 coaftitution, formed by the people in their original charafter ; and that conllitution, ferving, not only as an auihovity, but as a lav." of control to the gov^ernr^cnt. It v/aa the political bPale of the flate. Scarcely a family was without it. Every member of the govern- ment had a copy; and nothing was more common, when any debate arofe on the principle of a bill, or on the extent of any fpecies of authority, than for the members to take the printed conllitution out of their pocket, and read the chapter with v^^hich fuch matter in de- bate was conne£l:ed. Having thus given an inilancc from one of the fcates, I will {new the proceedings by which the federal conllitution of the United States arofe and was formed. Congrefs, at its two firfc meetings, in September 17741 and May 1775, was nothing more than a deputation from the legifiatures of the feveral provinces, afterwards Hates ; and had no other authority than what arofe from common confent, and the necefiity of its acting as a public body. In every thing which related to the internal af- fairs of America, conp-refs went no further than to iffue recommenda- tion to the feveral provincial affemblies, who at difcretion adopted them or not. Nothing on the part of congrefs was compulfive ; yet, in this lituation, is v/as m.ore faithfully and aireftionately obeyed, than was any government in Europe. This inftance, like that of the , national afTembly of France, fufHciently fnews, tliat the ftrength of government does not confift in any thing '•juUhin -itfelf, but in the at- tachm.ent of a nation, and the intereil which the people feel in fup- porting it. When this is lofl, government is but a child in povver; and though, like the old government of France, it may harafs indivi- duals for a while, it but facilitates its own fall. After the declaration of independence, it became conauent with the principle on which repref^ntative governm.ent is founded, that the authority of congrefs fnould be defined and eftabliHied. Whe- ther that authority fnould be m.ore or lefs than congrefs then oifcrc- tionally cxercifed, was not the quie{tion. It was nierely the redtitude of the meafure. For this purpofe the ai^, called the aa of confederation (which 174 P A I N E 's WORKS. was a fort of imperfeci: federal conftitution) was propofed and, aftcit long deliberation, was concluded in the year 1781. It was not the aifl of congrefs, becaufe it is repugnant to the princ'ples of reprefcnta-- tive government that a body (hould give power to itfelF. Congrefs firfl; informed the feveral ftates, of the powers which it conceived were nece.Tary to be inveiled in the union, to enable it to p.rfo^m the duties and fervices required from it ; and the ftates feverally agreed with each other, and concentrated in congrefs thofe povi^ers. It may not be improper to cbferve, that in both thofe inftancegr (the one of Pennfylvania, and the other of the United States) there is no fuch thing as the idea of a compaft between the people on o:ie fide, and the governmcrit on the other. 1 he c.:)rripaft was that of the people with each other, to produce and conflitute a government. To fuppofe that any government can be a party in a compact v/ith ths whole people, is to fuppofe it to have exigence before it can h:ive a right to exiffc. The only infeunce in which a compact can take place between the people and thofe who exercife the government, is, that the people ihr.H pay them, while they choofe to err:p]<^y them. Govcrnm.ent is not a trade which any man or body cf men has a right to fet up and exercii'e for his own emclumeat, but is altogether n truft, in right of thofe by whom, that trull is delegated, and by whom it is always refumable. It has of itfelf no rights ; they are altosfether duties. Kavinp" thus fiven two inftances of the orifiinal form.at'on of a conftitution, I v/ill (new tht manner in which both have beeii chano-ed fince their tirft ellablilhrnent. The powers vefted in the govenuTients of the feveral ftates, by the ftate conftituticns, were fousd, upon experience, to be too great ; ?ind thofe vefted in the federal government, by the aft of conf^de'-a* tion, too little. The deivol v,-as not in the principle, but in the diftribution of power. Numerous publications, in pamphlets and in the newfpapers, ap- peared on the propriety and neceftity of new mode'ling the federal government. After fome time of pubh'c difcuftion, carried on through the channel of the preft:, and in converfalions, the ftate of Vir"'inia, experiencing fome inconvenience with relpeft to ccm.- merce, propofed holding a continental conference ; in confequenct of which a deputation from ftve or fix cf the ftate aften.blies ir.el at Annapolis in Maryland, in J786. This meeting, not conceiving itfelf fuiiiciently authorifed to go into the bufincfs of a reform, did no more tlian ftate their general opinions cf the propriety of the m^afure, iind RIGHTS OF MAN. 175 recommend that a convention of all the ilates fhould be held the year iblK/vvfng. This convention met at Philadelphia, in May 17S7, of v^'hich ge- nernl Walhington was eledled prefident. He was not at that time Coane6led with any of the ftate g-overnments, or with congrefs. He delivered up his commiiHon when the war ended, and iiace then had lived a pvivatc citizen. The. convention went deeply into ail the fubjefts ; and having, after a variety of debate and invefligation, agreed among thsmfelves upon the feveral parts of a federal conftitution, the next queftion was, the manner of giving it authority and pradlice. For this purpofe, they did not, like a cab;d of courtiers, fi^nd for a Dutch ft'jdtholder, or a German eleftor ; but they referred the -vsrhole matter to the fenfe and interell of the country. They firfl directed, that the propofed conftitution faouid be pub- iiflied. Secondly, that each ilate flionld ele6t a convention, exprefsly .for the purpofe of taking it into conllderation, and of ratifying or rejedling it : And that as foon as the approbation and ratincation of any nine Hates fliould be given, that thofe Hates fliould proceed to the ele^lion of their proportion of members to the new federal go- vernment'; and that the operation of it fliould then begin, and the former fedei^al govern m.ent ceafe. The feveral.ftatcs proceeded accordingly to eleft their conventions, fome of thofe conventions ratified the conftituticn by veiy larfje ma- jorities, and two or three unanimoufly. In others, there were much debate and divifion of opinion. In the MafTachufetts convention, which met at Bofton, the m.ijority was not above nineteen or tv/enty, in about three Iiundred m.embers ; but fnch is the nature of reprefen- tativc government, that it quiet;y decides all matters by majority. After the debate in the MafTachufetts convention was clofed, and the ToLe taken, the objefting members rofe, and declared, " T/jal thouglj ■* they bad argued and 'voted againji /*, lecaufe cerlaiu parls appeared to .** 'hem in a different light io 'ujhat they appeared to oihcr mtvilers ; ysf, " as tJ}€ vote had decided in favour of the conjtitution as prop fed, they *^jhouid give it the fam: pra3ical fupport as if they had v/.cd for it.'* A3 foon as nine ftates had concurred \ and tlie reft folic wed in the order their conventions were elcv^cd), the old fa'.jric of the federal government was taken down, and a new one elcc'^ed, of which Ge- neral Wafhington is prefident. — In this place I cannot help remark- inT, that the chnracler and ferv'ccs of this gentleman are fufficient to sut all thafe men called kings to fliaine. While they arc receiving 176 PAINE's WOilKS. from the A'/cat and labours of mankind, a prodigality of pay* t6 which neither their abilities nsr their fcrviccs can entitle them, he is rendering every fervice in his power, and refiifing every pecuniary reward. He accepted no pay as commander in chief; he accepts hone as prf-fident of the United States. After the new federal conllitutiGn was eftablifhed, the ftate of Pennfy:v2nia, conceiving that fome parts of its own conftitution re- quired to be altered, ekded a convention for that purpofe. The propofed alterations were publifhed, and the people concurring there- in, they were eftablifhed. In forming thofe conflitutions, or in altering them, little or no in- convenience took place. The ordiriary courfe of things was not in- terrupted, ctnd the advantages have been much. It is always the in- tereft of a far greater number of people in a nation to have thmgs 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, unlefs it decides too haftily. In the two inilancesof changing the conftltutions, the government then in being were not a6i;ors cither way. Government has no right to make itfelf a party in any debate refpee mddentnl taxrs are cf mated at three millions ^ making in ike ivhok fifteen mllhvns and a- half; nvhith among twentf-^ RIGHTS OF MAN. i^^ HI England under what is called its prefent conftitution, are fnrtv- cigbt ftiillings and fix pence per head, men, women, and childr.n^ amounting to nearly fcreiiteen n:iillions fterling, belides the expericc •f coUeftion, which is upwards of a million more In a country Hke England, where the whole of the civil govern- ment is executed by the people of every town and county, by moans of parifh officers, magiRrates, quarterly fefiions, juries, and afiize; Without any trouble to what is called the government, or any other expcnce to the revenue than the falary of the jud^^es, it is aflonilhing how fuch a mafs of taxes can be employed. Not even the internal defence of the country is paid out of the revenue. On all occa- ilons, whether real or contrived, recoui^fe is continually had to new loans and to new taxes. No wonder, then, that a machine of go- vernment fo advantageous to the advocates of a court, fhould be fo Jhriumphantly extolled ! No wonder, that St. James's or St. Ste- phen's fhould echo with the continual cry of conftitution 1 No won- ■ler, that the French revolution fliould be reprobated, and the reS" piblica treated with reproach ! The red book of England, like the red kook of France, will explain the reafon.* I will now, by way of relaxation, turn a thought or two to MrV Burke. I aHc his pardon for negle6^ing him fo long. ** America," fays he, (in his fpeech on the Canada eonllitution kill), *' never dreamed of fuch abfurd doctrine as the Rights of Man." Mr. Burke is fuch a bold prefumer, and advances his afTertions and jKis premifes with fuch a deficiency of judgment, that, without trou- bling ourfelves about principles of philofophy or politics, the mere logical conclufions they produce, are ridiculous. For inflance, If governments, as Mr. Burke aflerts, are not founded on ths lights of MAK, and are founded on any rights at all, they confequently juuft be founded on the rights oi fometh'mg tliat i% not man* What then is that fomething I four miU'tons of people ^ is not quite thirty JloiUtngs per head. France has leffened her taxes ftnce the revolutiony nearly nine millions Jierling annually » Befort the revolution, the city of Paris paid a duty of upwards of thirty per cent, on all articles brought into the city. This tax tuas ccl- leSkd at the city gates. It nvas taken off on the firfl of lajl Mayy and the gates taken doton. * What was called the livre rouge, or the red book, in France, tvBs TUJt exadly Jimilar to the court calendar in England ; hut it fti§icientJy Jhspci hotu a ^reat part of the taxes were lavifkad* i83 P AINE ^s wo R KS. Generally fpeaking, we know of no other creatures that inhabit the earth than man and beaft ; and in all cafes, where only two things offer thcmfelves, and one muft be admitted, a negation proved on any one, amounts to an affirmative on the other; and therefore, Mr. Burke, by proving againfl: the rights of mauy proves in behalf of the heqji ; and confequently, proves that government is a beaft : And as difficult things fometimes explain each other, we now fee the origin of keeping wild beafts in the Tower; for they certainly can be of no other ufe than to fiiew the origin of the government. They are in the place of a conftitution. O John Bull, what honours thou haft loft by not being a wild beaft. Thou mighteft, on Mr. Burke's fyf- ttm, have been in the Tower for lif:^. If Mr. Burke's arguments have not weight eaough to keep one ferious, the fault is lefs 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 alfo m.ake liis for giving the caufe. Having thus paid Mr. Burke the compliment of remembering him, I return to the fubjett. From the want of a conftitution in England, to reftrain and reg»» late the wild impulfe of power, many of the laws are irrational -and tyrannical, and the adminiftration of them vague and problematicah The attention of the government of England (for I rather chufe to call it by this name, than the Englllh government) appears, fmce its political connexion with Germany, to have been fo completely engrofied and abforbed by foreign affairs, and the means of railing taxes, that it feems to exift for no other purpofes. Domeftic con- cerns are neglected : And, with refpeft to regular law, there is fcarcely fuch a thing. Almoft every cafe now muft be determined by fom.e precedents, be that precedent good or bad, or whether it properly applies or not ; and the prafiice is become fo general, as to fu ggeft a fufpr- fion, that it proceeds from a deeper policy than at ftrft Hght appears. Since the revolution of America, and more fo fmee that of France, this preaching up the do&rine of precedents, drawn from times and circumftances antecedent to thofe events, has been the Itudied prac- tice of the Englifti government* The generality of thofe precedents are founded on principles and opinions, the reverfe of what they ought to be ; and the greater diftance of time they are drawn from, the more they are to be fufpedled. But by aflbciating thofe prece- dents with a fuperftitious reverence for ancient things, as monks fhcw relies and call them holy, the generality of mankind are deceived into R I G H T S O F M A N*. iSt the defign. Governments now aft as if they were afraid to awaken a fmgle reflexion in man. They are foftly leading him to the fcpiilchre of precedents, to deaden his faculties and call his attention from the fcenc of revolutions. They feel that he is arrivin"" at knowledfre fafter than they wifh, and their poHcy of precedents is the barometer of their fears. This political popery, like the ccclefiaflical popery of old, has had its day, and is haftcnin^ to its exit. The rao-o-ed relic and the antiquated precedent, the monk and the monarch, will ftioulder together. Government by precedent, without any regard to the principle of the precedent, is one of the vileft fyftems that can be fet up. In numerous inftances, the precedent ought to operate as a warning, and not as an example, and requires to be fliunned inilead of imitat- ed ; but inilead of this, precedents are taken in the lump and put «t once for conftitution and for law. Either the dodirine of precedent is policy to keep a man in a ftate •t)f ignorance, or it is a pradical confeffion that wiidom defeneratea in governments as governments increafe in age, and can only hobble along by the (lilts and crutches of precedents. How is it that the dfamc perfons who would proudly be thought wifer than their prede- ceflbrs, appear at the fame time only as the ghoits of departed wif- dom ? How ftrangely is antiquity treated I To anfwer fome pur- pofes it is fpoken of as the times of darkncfs and ignorance, and t5 anfwer others it is put for the light of the world. If the do6lrine of precedents is to be followed, the expences of government need not continue the fame. Why pay men extrava- gantly, who have but little to do ? If every thing that can happet> is already in precedent, legiflation is at an end, and precedent, like a dictionary, determines every cafe. Either, therefore, government has arrived at its dotage, and requires to be renovated, or all the oc- cafions for exercifing its wifdom have occurred. We now fee all over Europe, and particularly in England, the cu- rious phenomenon of a nation looking one way, and a government the other — the one forward, and the other backward. If govern- ments are to go on by precedent, while nations go on by improve- ment, they mull at lad come to a final feparation, and the fooncr, and the more civilly, they determine this point, the better.* * In England^ the Improvements in frgriculfure, nffful aris^ manu- 'fdSures, and commerce y have been made in oppofUion to the genius of its go- verrjncrJy i':hich is that of follow'iug precedents. It is f corn (he enters j'Sz PAINE'3 WORKS. Having tlius fpoken of conftitutions generally, as things diftln6c from a6liial governments, let us proceed to confider the parts of which a conflitution is compofed. Opinions differ more on this fubjecl, than with refpefl to the whole. That a nation ought to have a conftitiition, as a rule for the conduct of its government, is a fmiple queftion in which ail men, not direftly courtiers, will agree. It is only on the component parts that qucilions and opinions multiply But this difficulty, like every other, will diminiih when put into a train of being rightly underftood. The firft thing is, that a nation has a right to eftablifh a conili' tution. Whether it exercifes this right in the moft judicious manner at fivft, is quite another cafe. It exercifes it agreeably to the judgment it pofieffes ; and by continuing to do fo, all errors will at lafl be ex- ploded. Whefi this right is eilablifhed in a nation, there is no fear that i^ will be employed to its own injury. A nation can have no intere^ In being wrong. Though all the conftitutions of America arc on one general prin* eiple, yet no two of them are e^aftly alike in their component parts, or in the diftribution of the powers which they give to the avflual gO" vernments. Some are more, and others lefs complex. In farming a conflitution, it is firft necelfary to confider what are the ends for which govern m.ent is neceflary ? Secondly, what are the bed means, and the leafl expcnfive, for acqomplifhing thoic ends ? Government is nothing more than a national afTociation ; and the obje6l of this afTociation is the good of all, as well iiKlividually as collectively. Every man wilhes to purfue his occupation, and to cn-> joy the fruits of his labours, and the produce of his property in peace prize and in diijlry of the individuals ^ and thc'ir ntnneroiis aJfociaUonsy, 'm nvhich, tritely /peaking f government is neither pilloiv nor holjler, that theft improvements have proceeded. Ko man thought about the government^ of' ivho ivas Wi or who zvas outy ivhen he ivas planning or executing thofe things ; qnd all he had to hope, ivlth refpe^ to government, ivas, that ii. nvould let hhn alone. Three or four very /illy mlnl/Ierlal netvfpapers are continually offending agalnjl the fplrlt of national Improvement, by afcrlh" ing it to a minl/iir. They may lulth as much truth afcrth* this book ta # fiiiplflcr. RIGHTS OF MAN. 183 and fafcty, snd with the leaft pcfnble expence. When thefe things are accomph'flied, all the objcfts for which government ©ught to be eflablifhed are anfw»frcd. It has been cufliomary to confider government under three dif- im€t general heads. The legiflativc, the executive, and the judicial. But if we permit our judg-ment to aft unincumbered by the habit "•f multi})lied terms, we can perceive no more than two divifions of power, of whicli civil government is compofed, namely, that of leglf» lating or cnafting laws, and that of executing or adminiflering thein. Every thing, therefore, appertaining to civil government, clalTes it- fclf linder one or other of thefe two divifions. So far as recrards the execution of the laws, that which is called the judicial power, is ftridlly and properly the executive power of tv<:\-y country. It is that power to wliieli every individual has appeal, and which caufea the laws to be executed; neither have we any other clear idea with refpeft to the official execution of the laws. la. England, and alfo in America and France, this power begins with the magidrate, and proceeds up through all the courts of judicature. I ledvc to courtiers to explain what is meant by caliing monarchy the executive power. It is merely a nam.e in which a6ls of govern- jncnt arc done ; and any ether, or none at all, would anfwer the fame purpofe. Laws have neither more nor lefs authority on this- account. It muft be from the juftnefs of their principles, and the intercft which a nation feels therein, that they derive fupport ; if they require any other than this, it is a fign that fomcthing in the fyllem of government is imperfeft. Laws difficult to be executed cannot be generally good. With refpe^^l to the organization of the legtj! at tve powers different modes have been adopted in diderent countries. In America it is generally oompofcd of two houfes. In France it confifts but of one, but fn both countries ft is wholly by reprefentation. The cafe is, that mankind (from the long tyranny of afTumcd pow- er) have had fo few opportunities of making the neceffary trials on modes and principles of government, in order to difcover the befk, that gavernment Is but now beginning to be inoivTi} a[id experience is yet wanting^ to determine many particulars. The obje<^ions again ft two houfes are, firft, that there is an incon^ (iftency in any part of a whole legiflature, comiug to a final determi-, nation by vote on any matter, whilft t/jat matter with refpe6l to thai kuhohi IS yet only \\\ a tra^n of df liberation, and cowfequently open to new illuftrations. i8i|. TpAINE^s WORKS. S^dondir, That by taking the vote on each, as a feparate. body, it alwaTs admits of the pofiibihty, and is often the cafe in praftice, that the minority governs the majority, and that, in fome inftances, to a degree of great inconfiftency. Thirdly, That two houfes arbitrarily checking or controlling each clher, is incoi fi tent; becaafe it cannot be proved, on the principles of jiift leprefentation, that either fhould be wifer, or better than the other. They may check in the wrong as well as in the right, — an4 therefore, to give the power where we cannot give the wifdom to ufe Ie, nor be afluved of its being rightly ufed, renders the hazard at leafc equal to the precaution.* The objeftion ag:iinft a fmgle houfe is, that it is always in a con- dition of committing itfdf too foon. Biit it Oiould at the fame timi t>e remembered that when there is a ccnftitution which defines the power, and eftablitlies the principles within which a legiflature (hall * fV'tih refpeH to the t'wo hcrifes, of ivhkh the Engllfh parl'tament is ttimprfed, they appear to be effedually itiflueyiced into one^ and, as a kglflalure, to have no temper of its own. The mintfler, luhoe'ver he nt any time may he, touches it as cuith an oplurn ^and, and it Jleeps clcdience. " But if f.ve Jooh at the dflinB abilities of the ituo houfes, the difference nmll appear fo great, as tojhew the inconjflency of placing po^uter tvhert there can be no cert&ixfy of the Judgment to ufe it, JV retched as theflate rf reprefeniat'tonis in England, it is manhood compared nvith what is called the hovfe of lords ; and fo Utile is this nick-named hoife regarded, that the ^.enpiJp fcarcely inquire at any time tuhal it is doing. It appears alfo to be ffiojl under influence, and the fiirtheft remo'ved from the general inter efl of the nation, hi the debate on engaging in the Ruffian and Turhifli war, the mc^ority in the houfe of peers in favour of it was upwards of ninety, when in the other houf, which is more than double its numbers^ the md- jorily wasftxfy-4hrec. The proceedings on Mr. Fox^s bill, rcfpeSing the rights of juries, merits elfo to be noticed. The perfons called the peers were not the vbjeffs o/* that nil. They are already in poffejfon of more privileges than that bill gave to Others. They are their own jury, and if any of that houfe were profecufed for a libel, he would not fiiffer, even upon conviction, for the fir/} offence. Such inequality in laws ought not to ex'fi in any country. The French confiitution fays. That the law is the fame to every ii\dividual, whether to proteft or to puniili. AH are equal in i\» fight. RIGHTS OF MAN. 18^ •ii€tf there Is already a mors efFe^^ual check provided, and rnoie pow- erfully operating, than any other check can be. For example, Were a bill to be brought into any of the American legiOitures, fimllar to that which was pafTed Into an a6l by the EngllOi parlia- ment, at the commencement of George the firft, to extend the dura- .tlon of the aiTemblies to a longer period than they now fit, the check is In the conilitutlon, which In effed: fays, ''Thit> far Jhali thou go, and no fiiriher. But In order to remove the obieftlon agalud a fingle houfe (that of afting with too quick an Impulfe) and at the fame time to avoid the inconfillencies, la fome cafes abfurdltles, arifing from two houfes, the following method has been propofed as an Improvement on both. Fifft, To have but one reprefcntatlon. Secondly, To divide that reprefcntatlon, by lot, Into two or three ■ parts. Thirdly, That every propofed bill fliail be fufl debated In thofe' parts, by fuccefilon, that they may become hearers of each otljcr, -but without taking any vote. After v/hlch the whole reprefcntatlon to alTemble, for a general debate and determination, by vote. To this propofed Improvement has been added another, for the purpofe of keeping the reprefcntatlon In a ftate of confcant renova- tion ; which Is, that one third of the reprefcntatlon cf each county (hall go out at the expiration of one year, and the number be replaced by new ele«5lIon3. — Another third at the expiration of the fecond year replaced In like manner, and every third year to be a general €ieclIon.* But In whatever manner the feparate parts of a conftltutloji may be arranged, there Is c!ie general principle that dllllnguhTies freedom from flavery, which is, that all hereditary govsrnment over a pcoiL' h to them a. fpecles ofJJaverv, and reprefcntativz goiyernment is freedoiv, Confidering government in the only light In which It fiioul d be confidered, that of a national association, it ought to be fo conftruded as not to be difordered by any accident happening among -the parts; and, therefore, no extraordinary power, capable of pro- ducing fuch an effeiTi, Hiuuld be lodged in the hands cf any Individual. * As to the ftate cf nprfentatlon in England y it is too ahfurd to le reafoned upon. Ah)wfl all the reprcfenled parts are decreqfmg in popula- tion, and the imreprfcnted parts arc increafmg. A general convention of the nation is neceffary to take thj luhole flalc (fits government into con- federation. Vol. IL Bb iS6 PAINE's WORKS. The death, ficknefs, abf^ice, or defedlion, of any one individual in a. gcvji iiment> ought to be a matter of no more confequence, with re- fpect to the nation, than if the fame circumiiance had taken place in a nicmber of the Englifh parliament, or the French national alTembly. Scarcely any thiiig prefents a more degrading chara£ler of national greatnefsj than its being thrown into cor-fiifion by any thing happen- ing to, or acted by, an individual; and the ridiculoufnefs of the fcenc is cricn increafed by the natural infigniiicance of the perfon by whom it is occafioned. Were a government fo conftruvStea, that it could not go on unlefs a goofe or a gander were preient in the fenate, the difliculties would be jull as great and as real on the flight or ficknefs of the goofe or the gander, as if it were called a king. We laugh at ipdividuals for the filly difiiculties they make to tliemfelves, without perceiving, that the greateil of ail ridiculous things are a<5^ed in. governments.* All the confiitutions of America arc on a plan that excludes the child ifh embarraffments which occur in monarchical countries. No fufpenfion of government can there take place for a moment, from any circumiiance v.'hatever. The fyilem of reprefentation provides for every thing, and is the only fyftem in which nations and govern- ments can always appear in their proper chara£ler. As extraordinary power ought not to be lodged in the hands of any individual, fo ought there to be no appropriations of public- * It IS "dated, that in the canton of Berne, in Szu'lferlandy it had been cv'Jcinary^from time immavoriaJ, to keep a bear at the public txpencey and ihe people had,, been taught to believe, that if they had not a bear, they fl-uld all he unelone. It happened fome years ago, that the bear, then in be'iT?^, ivas taken fich, and died too fudderJy to have his place immediately fupplied iviih another. During this interregnum the people difcovered, that the corn gre-w, and the vintage fionrfhed, and the fun and moon con- tinued to rife and fet, and every thing ivent on the fame as before, and, taking courage from ihefe cir cur, fiances, they refolved not to keep any more, bears ; for, faid they, " a -iear is a very voracious, cxpenf.ve animal, " and ive ii)ere obliged to pull out his claivs, Icfl he JJjould hurt the *' citizens.^* The /lory of the bear of Berne nvas related in fonic of the French V.eivs-papcrs, at the time of the flight of Louis XVI. and the application cf it to monarchy could not be mifahen in France ; but it ferns, that the ariflocracy of Brrne applied it to themfelves^ and have Jmce prohibited thr reading of Frens'h neivs-papers» RIGHTS OF MA N. i^j money to any peiTon, beyond what his fervices 'm a Hate may be worth. It fignifies not whether a man be called a prefident, a In ;g, an emperor, a fenator, or by any otlier name, which propriety or folly may deviie, or arrogance alfiime; it k only a certain fervice he can perform in the ilate; and the fervice of any fuch individual in the rotine of ofHce, whether fuch olnce be called mojiarchical, prefiden- tial, fenatorial, or by another, name or title, can never exceed the value often thoufand pounds a yera*. All the great fervices that are done in the world are performed by volunteer chara6lers, who ac- ce2)t nothing for them ; but the rotine of cfSce is always rv.galated to fuch a general llandard of abilities as to be within the compafs of numbers in every country to perform, and therefore cannot mer.t very extraordinary rccompence. Govcrwncniy fays Swift, is a plain thing f andjitied to the capacity of r.iany heads. It is inhuman to talk of a million fterling a year, paid out of the public taxes of any country, for the fapport of any individual, whilH thoufands who are forced to contribute thereto, are pining wuh want, and ftruo-o-ling- with miferv. Governm.ent does not conhft in a contrail between prifons and palaces, between poverty and pomp; it is not inftituted to rob the needy of his mite, and incn^n'e the wretchednefs of the wretched. — But of this pnrt of the fubu-ct I-fhall fpeak hereafter, and confine m^'L-lf at prefent to political obfervations. When extraordinary power and extraordinary pay are allotted to any individual in a government, he becomes the centre, 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 difpofing of places, at the expence of a country-, and the liberties of that, country are no longer fecure. What is called the fplendcur of a throne, is no other than the corruption of the Hate. It is made up of a band of parafites, living in luxurious indolence, out of the public taxes. When once fuch a vicious fyftem is eftablilhed, il bec-on~es tlie guard and proteftion of all inferior abufes. The man who is in tlie receipt of a million a year is the lad perfon to promote a fpirit of reform, left, in the event, it fliould reach to himfelf. It is always his intereft to defend inferior abufes, as fo many out-workh to prote/, if common report is true, not a beggar in London can purchafe his 'wretched pittanct (f coal, 'without paying tcwards the ciml lifl cf the duhc cf Richmond. Were the indole produce of this impofiiicn but a JhiUing a year, the ini- quitous principle 'would be fill the fame ; but ivhen it amounts, as it is faid to do, id not kfs than turefora nation is improper. The hsppinefg of a nation is the fuperior object, and therefore the intention of an oath of allegiance ought not to be ob- fcured by being .'i;:;uratively taken, to, or in the nam.e of, any perfon. The oath, c?.l;.d ihe civic oath, in France, viz. the *' nm'ion, the laiv, " and the hvig,''^ is improper. If taken at ali, it ought to he 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 con- ducive to the h^appinefs of tlie nation, and therefore is included in it. Tlie rem.amder of the oath is improper, on the ground, that all per- fotml oaths ought to be aboIiPned. They are the remains of tyranny on one part, and flavery on the other; and the name of the Creator ©ught not to be introduced to witnefs the degradation of his creation ; or if taken, as is already mentioned, as figurative of the nation, it is in tliis place redundant. But wliatever apology may be made for oaths at the firft eflabhinment of a government, they ought not to be permitted afterwards. If a government requires the fupport of oaths, it is a fign that it is not worth fupporting, and ought not t® U I G H T S OF MA N. 191 be fupported. Make government wh?.t it ouglit to be, and it v.ill fupport itfclf. To conclude this part of the fubje£l: — One of the greatefl im- provements th:it has been made fur the perpetual fecurity and progrefs of conftitutloual hberty, is the provlhon which the new conlliliutions make for occaiionally rev.'fjng, alrenug, and amending ihem. The principle upon which Mr. Burke formed his poiiiical creed,. that ** of binding and controlling pojhriiy fo the end of ii/m, and renounc- " ing and abdicating the righ:s of all pofierily far ever,''* is now become too deteftable to be made a fubjecl of debate; and, therefore, I pafs it over with no other notice than cxpoung it. Government is but now besfinnincr to be known. Hitherto ic has been the mere exercife of power, which forbad ail effeftual enquiry into rights, and grounded iti'clf wliolly on poiTeflion. While the enemy of liberty was its judge, the progrefs of its principles mud have been fmali indeed. The conilitiitions of America, and alfo that of France, have either affixed a period for their reviiion, or laid down the mode by which improvements fnall be made. It is perhaps impoiTible to cilablifh any thi.ig that combines principles with opinions and pradlice, which the progrefs of circumltances, througli a length of years, will not in fome meafure derange, or render inconfident ; and, therefore, to prevent inconveniences accurnvdatinr, t:ll tlijv difcourasre reformations or provoke revolutions, it is beil to provide the means of regulating them as they occur. The Pvights of Man are the i-ights of all gene- rations of men, and cannot be monopolized by any. That which is worth foliowinv-T, will be followed for the fake of its worth ; and it is in this that its fecurity lies, and not in any conditions with which it may be encumb(?red. When a man leaves property to his heirs, he does not connect it with an obllgacion that they Aiall accept it,, Why then fliould wo. do otherwife with relpe^l to conPtitutions ? The bell conilitution that could now be devifed, confillent with the condition of the prefent moment, may be far fliort of that excel- lence which a few years may afford. There is a morning of reafoa rifmo- upon man on the fubjedl of government, that has not appeared before. As the barbarifm of the prefent old governments expires, the moral condition of nations, with refpecft to each other, will be changed. Man will not be brought up with the favage idea of con- fiderlng his fpecies as his enemy, becaufe the accident of birth gave the individuals exigence in countries diftinguifiied by different names; and as- conditutions have always fome relation to external as Vv'-ell as 192 PAINED WORKS. to ciomeftic circumftances, the means of benefitting by every cliange, foreign or domeilic, iliould be a part of every conllitution. We already fee an alteration in the national difpofition of England and France to\vards each other, which, vv-hen we look back to only a few years, is itfelf a revolution. Who could have forefeen, or who would have believed, that a French National Afiembly would ever have been a popular tcall in England, or that a friendly alliance of tbc two nations (hould become the wifn of either ? It fhews, that man, were he not corrupted by governments, is naturally the friend of man, and that human nature is not of itfelf vicious. That fpirit of jealoufy and ferocity, wliich the governments of the two countries iufpired, and which they rendered fubfervient to the piirpofe of taxation, is now yielding to the dictates of reafon, interefl:, and humanity. The trade of courts is beginning to be underftood, and the affeftation of myf- tery, with all the artificial forcerj^ by which they impofed upon m,an- kind, is on the decline. It has received its death-wound ; and thougli it may linger, it will expire. Government ought to be as much open to improvement as any thing which appertains to iiaan, inftead of which it has been mono- polized from age to age, by the moil ignorant and vicious of the hu- man race. Need we any otlier proof of their wretched management, than tbe cxccfs of debts and taxes with which every nation groans, and the quarre-s into which they have precipitated the world? Juft emerging from fuch a barbarous condition, it is too foon to determine to what extent of improvement governmient may yet be carried. For what we can forefee, all Europe may form but one great republic, and man be free of the whole. ■aaSGOfiCEBBassM CHAP. V. WAYS AND MEANS OF IIvlPROVING THE CONDF TION OF EUROPE, INTERSPERSED WITH MIS- CELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS. N contemplating a fubjed that embraces with equatorial m.agni- tudc the whole region of humanity, it is impoffible to confine the pur- fuit in one finglc diredion. It takes ground on every chara6lcr and condition that appertains to man, and blends the individual, the na- tion, and the vrorld. From a fmall fpark kindled in America, a flame has arifen, not to 11 I G H T S OF MA N. 193 (bee^ctinguifiu'd. V/ithout conUimIng, like the ulti.'.m failorfgum, it vyiiuls its progrefs from nation to i-iatijn,. and co'.Kjucrsby a Hhnt . .operation. Man linds liimfelf changed, lie icarccly perceives liovv. •He acquires a kaovvIt;d,;e of his riglitr, by attendin.';- juiliy to i;:s '1:1- tercfl:, and difcovers in the event that thq Rrength and ^-owers of def- pctifm confill wholly in the fear of reuiling it, ai:d that, in order *' to he free ^ it is fujjic'unt thai he to 11 Is ii.'' Having in all the preceding parts of this work endeavoured to cPcab- lifh a fylicm of principles as a baiis en wlrich governments ought to ,beere61:cd ; I fiiall proceed in this, to the ways and means of veneer- ing them into practice. But in order to introduce this part of the fubjecl with more propriety, and (Ironger e&ft, fome preliminary obfervations, deducible from, or connecled with, thofe principles, are neceffary. Y/hatever the form or ccnftitution of government may be, it o'.ight Xo have no other obieci tliaa the p-c'/zi^/W hap'jinefs. Vviien, inilead of this, it operates to create and increafe wretchedjiefs in any of the parts of fociety, it is on a wrong fyilem, and refonr.ation is neceffary. ., Ciillomary language has clafurd the sponditicn of n^an under the two defcriptions of civilized and uncivilized life. To tlse one it has af- cribed felicity and airluence ; to the otiier, hardfiup snd \v«mt. But however our imagination may be imprelfed by painting and compari* foiij it is neveithclcfs true, that a great portion cf mankind, in what are called civilized countries, arc in a itate of poverty and wretched- nefs far below the condition of an Indian. I fpeak not of one conn- try, but of all. It is fo in England, it is fo all over Europe. Let us enquire into the caufe. ■ It hes not in any natural defcd in the principles of civilization, bat in preventing thofe principles ha«ng an univerfal operation ; the confequence of which is, a perpetual fyftcm of war ar.d expence, that drains the coun::ry, and defeats the general felicity of u-hich civiliza- tion is capable. All tlie European governments (France now excepted) are con- llruciied, not on the principle of univerfal civilization, but on the re- vcnc of it. wSc) far as thofe goverair.cnts relate to each other, they are in the fame condition as we conceive of lavage uncivilized life • they put themfelves be-yond the law as well of God as of man, and are, with rcfpeit to principle and reciprocal condad, hke fo many in- dividuals in a ftate of nature. The inhabitants of every country, under the civilization of law?, c-a% civilize together j but governments being yet in an uncivilized Vol. ir. C c 194 PAINE's WORKS. ftate, anJ almoft continually at war, they pervert the atundariCC which civilized life produces, to carry on the uncivilized part to a greater extent. By thus engrafting the barbarifm of government upon the internal civilization of a country, it draws from the latter, and more efpeciaily from the poor, a great portion cf thofe earnings, which fliould be applied to their o;vn fubuftence and comfort. — Apart from all reflections of morality and philofophy, it is a melancholy fa6t, that more than one-fourth of the labour of mankind is annually confumed by this barbarous fyftem. What has.ftrved to continue this evil, is the pecuniary advantage, which all the governments of Europe have found in keeping up this ftate of uncivilization It affords to them pretences for power and revenue, for which there would be neither occafion nor apology, if tlie circle of civilization were rendered compleat. Civil government alone, or the government of laws, is not produ6tive of pretences for many taxes ; it operates at home, direclly under the eye of the coun- try, and precludes the poinbihty of much impofition* But when the fcene is laid in the uncivilized contention of governments, the field of pretences is enlarged, and the country, being no longer a judge, is .©pen to every impofition v.'hich governments plonfe to act. Not a tliirtieth, fcarccly a fortieth part, of the taxes which are raifed in Enoland, are either occafioncd by, or applied to, the pur- •pofes of civil government. It is not difiicult to fee, that the v.hole which the aclual government does in this refpe6l, is to enact laws, and that the country adminifters and executes them, at ics own ex- pence, by m.eans of magiftrates, juries, felTions, and aflize, over and .above the taxes which it y>3.js» In this view of the cafe, we have two diflinft chara6lers cf govern- ment; the one, the civil govefnment, or the government of laws, Avhich operates at home ; the other, the court or cabinet government, which operates abroad on the rude plan of uncivilized life ; the one attended with little charge, the other with boundlefs extravagance ; and fo diilin£l are the tvv'o, that if the latter were to fink, as it were by a fudden opening of the earth, and totally difappear, the former would not be deranged. It v.ould ftill piocccd, becaufe it is the common intereft of the nation that it (hould, and all the means are in practice. Revolutions, then, have for their obie6l, a change in the moral condition of governments, and with this change the burden of public taxes will leffen, and civilization will be left to the enjoyment of that abundance, of which it is now deprived. R I G H T S O F M A N. 195 Tn contemplating the whole of this fubjc*5i:, I extend my views into the department of commerce. In all my pubhcations, where the matter would admit, I have been an advocate for commerce, be- caufe I am a friend to its effedls. It is a pacilic fyftem, operating to cordialize mankind, by rendering nations, as well as individuals, ufeful to each other. As to mere theoretical reformation, I have never preached it up. The moft cfTeftual procefs is that of improving the condition of man by means of his intereft ; and it is on this ground that I take my {land. If commerce were permitted to a61:to the univerfal extent it is ca- pable, it would extirpate the fyftem of war, and produce a revolution in the uncivilized ftate of governments. The invention of commerce has arifen fince thofe governments began, and is the greateft approach towards univerfal civilization; that has yet been made by any means not immediately flowing from moral principles. Whatever has a tendency to promote the civil intercourfe of na- tions, by an exchange of benefits, is a fubje6l as worthy of philofo- phy as of politics. Commerce is no other than the traffic of two in- dividuals, multiplied on a fcale of numbers; and by tlie fame rule that nature intended the intercom fe of two,- flie intended that of all. For this purpofe fhe has diflributed the materials of m.anuf'ictures aiid commerce, in various and diPcant parts of a nation and of the world ; and as they cannot be procured by war fo cheaply or fo commo- dioufly as by commerce, flie has rendered the latter the means of ex- tirpating the former. As the two are nearly the oppofites of each other, confequently, the uncivilized ftate of European governments is injurious to com- merce. Every kind of deftru6tion or embarraffinent feives to leflen the quantity, and it matters but little in what part of the commercial world the reduction bep-ins. Like blood, it cannoi be taken from any of the parts, without being taken from the whole m-.ifs in circu- lation, and all partake of the lofs. When the ability in ar.y nation to buy isdeftroyed, it equally involves the feller. Could the govern- ment of England deftroy the commerce of all otlicr nations, flie would moft efteftually ruin her own. It is poflible that a nation may be the can-ier for the world, but fhe cannot be the merchant. She cannot be the feller and the buyer of her own merchandize. The ability to buy muft rcfde out of herfelf ; and, therefore, the profperity of any commercial nation is regulated by the profperity of the reft. If they arc poor, flie cannot iq6 P a r N E"3 W C II ks. y be rfcii ; rrd her condition, be it \vhi;t it maj? is an index of tii'cr of ve/pds'Wu'^ now he nearly ten thoufinl. RIGHTS OF MA N. 197 trade in Its own favour; Lind therefore fometbing muH be irregular in the common ideas upon this fubjeft- The faft, however, is true, according to what is called a balance^ and it is from this caufe that commerce is univerfally fupp6rted. Every nation feels the advantage, or it would abandon the praftice ; But the dec-pt!on lies in tlie mode of making up the accounts, and in attributing what are called profits to a wrong caufe. 'Mr. Pitt has fometimes amufed himfelf, by fuewing what he called a.balr^nce of trade from the cullom-houfe books. This mode of cal- culation, not only affords no rule that is true, but one that is falfe. in the firfl; place, every cargo that departs from the cupLom houfe, appears on the books as an export ; and according to the cufcom- houfs balance, the loffes at fea, and by foreign faiiurej;, are all reckoi:ed on the fide of the profit, becaufe they appear as exports. Secondly, Becaufe the importation by the fm.ugghng trade does not appear on the cullom-houfe books, to arrange againlt tlie exports. No balance, therefore, as applying to fuperior advantages, can be dr-iv/n from thefe docum.ents; and if we examine the natural operation of commerce, the idea is fallacious; and if true, would foon be inju- rious. The great fupport of commerce confifts in the balance being a level of benefits amon^: all nations. Two merchants of diiTercnt nations trading together, will both be- conie rich, and each makes the balance in his own favour ; confc-. quently, they do not get rich out of each other ; and it is the fame with rcfpedl to the nations in which they refide. Tlie cafe mult be, that each nation mull get rich out of its own m.eans, and increafc that riches by fomething v/liich it procures from anotlier in exchange. If a merchant in England fends an article of EnguHi manufadurc abroad, which colls him a fliiliing at home, and imports fomething which fells for tv.-o, he makes a balance of one fuuilng in his own favour : But tiiis is not gained out of the foreign nation or the fo- reign merchant, for he alfo does the fame by the article he receives, and neither has a balance of advantage upon the other. The ori- ginal value of the two articles in their proper countries v.-cre but two {hillings ; but by changing their places, they acquire a new idea of value, equal to double what they had at firll, and that increafcd value is equally divided. There is no otherwife a balance on foreign than en domellic com- merce. The merchants of London and Newcaflle trade on the fame principles, as if they refided in dilferen': nations, and make their ba- lances in the famiC manner : Yet London does not get rich out of 193 PAINE's WORKS. Nevvcaflle, sny more than Newcaftle out of London : But coals, the merchandize of Neu'callle, have an additional value at London, and London merehandize has the fame at Nevvcaflle. Though the principle of all commerce ic the famiC, the domeftic, in ^ national view, is the part the mod benehcial; becaufe the whole of the advantages, on both hdes, reft within the nation ; whereas, in fjreign commerce,^ it is only a participation of one half. The moll unprofitable of all commerce is that connected with fo- rci''n domi-iion. To a few individuals it may be beneficial, m.erely bccaiifc it is comm.erce ; but to the nation it is a lofs. The expence of maintaining dominion more than abforbs the profits of any trade. It does not increafe the general quantity in the world, but operates to lelTcn it ; and as a greater mafs v/ould be afloat by relinquifliing dominion, the participation without the estpence would be mere ya- Inable than a greater quantity witli it. But it is impoiable to ingrofs commerce by dominion ; and there- fore it is flill more fallacious. It cannot exift in confined channels, and neceffarily breaks out by regular or irregular means that defeat the attempt and to fucceed would be flill worfe. France, fince the ^evolution, has been m.ore than indifferent as to foreign poffefTions; and other nations will become tlic fame, when they invelligate the fubjedl with refpedt to commerce. To the expence of dom.inion is to be added that of navies, and when the amount of the two is futbraC^ed from the profits of com- merce, it will appear, that what is called the balance of trade, even admitting it to exift, is not enjoyed by the nation, but abforbed by the government. The idea of having navies for the protection of commerce, is delu- five. It is putting the means of deftruclion for the means of pro- tc6lion. CommiCrce needs no other proteclion than the reciprocal interefl which every nation feels in fupporting it — it is common flock — it exifls by a balr.nce of advantages to all ; and the only interrup- tion it meets, is f;om the prcfent uncivilized flate of governments, and whii-h it is its com.mon interefl to reform.* 7V/ji'n Ifa-w Mr. Put's made of tji'imat'ing the balance of trade, in on: of his parliamentary fpeechcsy he appeared to me to Inoiv nothing of the nature and interrfc of commerce ; and no man has more luantonly tortured it than hhnfef. During a period of peace ^ it has been havocked tuith the ctdaviitles cf ivar. Three times has it been ihrcivn into jlagnation^ and the vffels unmanned by imprefing, luiihin lefs than four years of peace. R I G li T S OF IvI A N. 199 Q_>iittlng tills fubjeft, I now proceed to other matters. — As it is necefTar)^ to include England in the profpecSl of a general reformation, it is proper to enquire into tlie defects of its government. It is only by each nation reforming its own, that the whole can be improved, arid the full benefit of reformation enjoyed. Only partial advantages can flow fi-om p:irtial reforms. France and England are the only tuo countries in Europe v^'here a reformation in government could have fuccefsfully begun The one fecure by the ocean, and the other by the immenfjty of its internal ilrength, could defy the malignancy of foreign dcfpotifm. But it is wiih revolutions as with commerce, the advantages increafc by their becoming general, and double to eitlier v;hat each would receive: alone. As a new fyflem is now opening to the viev; of the world, the Eu- ropean courts are plotting to counteract it. Alliances, contrary to all former fyflems, are agitating, and a common intevell: of courts is forming againft the common intereft (jf man. Tlie com.bination draws a line that runs throughout Europe, and prefents a caufe fo entirely new, as to exclude all calculations from^ former cfrcnmftances. V/hile defpotifm warred with defpotifm, man h.id no intereil in the contefl; but in a caufe that unites the foldier with the citizen, and nation with nation, the defpotifm of courts, though it feels tlie danger, and medi- tates revenge is afraid to llrike. No queftion has arifen within the records of hiflory that prefTed. with the importance of the prcfeat. It is not whether this or that party fliall be in or out, or whig or tory, or high or low fliall prevail; but whether man fhall inherit his rights, and univerfalcivihzation take place? Whether the fruits of his labour fhall be enjoyed by himfelf, or confumed by the profligacy of governm.ents? Whether robbery Ihall be laanifhed from courts, and wretchednefs from countries ? WHien, in countries that are called civilized, we fee age goino- to the work-houfe, and youth to the gallows, fomethin^g mud be wrono* in the fyftem of government. It would feem, by the exterior ap- pearance of fuch countries, that all was happincfs; but there lies hid- den from the eye of common obfervation, a mafs of wretchednefs that has fcarcely any other chance, than to CKpire in poverty or infamy. Its entrance into life is marked with the prciage of its fate ; and until this is remedied, it is in vain to puniih. Civil government does not exiO, in executions ; but in making that provifion for the inflrudlion of youth, and the fupporfc of age, as to exclude, as much as poCTible, profligacy from the one, and defpair 20O PAINE's V/OllKS. from thz other. Inilead of this, the refources of a counLiy are la- vi'ihed upon kings, upon courts, upon hirelings^ impoilors and profiiLUtcs; and even the poor themfelves, with all their \v?.nti; upon ihem, are compelled to fupport the fraud that opprefies. them. .: Vv'hy is it, that fcarcely any are executed but the poor ? The facl 13, a proof, among other things, of a wretchednefs in their condition. Ered up without morals, and call upon the world without a profpedl, they are the expofed facrilice of vice and legal barbarity.' The mil- lions that are fiiperfluouHy wafled upon governments are more than fuilicient to reform thofe evils, and to benefit the condition of every man in a nation, not includedw^ithin the purlieus of a court. This 1 hope to make appear in the prcgrefs of this work. It is the nature of compaflion to afTociate with m.isfortune. Ja -twking up this fubjeft I feek no recompence— I;fear no confequence. Fortified with that proud integrity, that difdains to triumph or to ■ yield, I will advocate the rights of m.an. It is to my advantage that I ha^-e ferved an apprenticcfhip to lii^?. • I know the value of moral inflruftion, and I have feen the danger of . the contiary. At an early period, little more than fixtecn years of age, ravr and .adventurous, and heated with the falfe heroifm of a miafter * v/ho had ferved in a man of war, I began the carver of my own fortune, and entv:red on board the Terrible privateer, captain Deatli. From this •adventure I was happily prevented by the affedlionate and m.oral.re- monilrance of a good father, vv^ho, from his own hv-ibits of life, being of the O'^'sker profefFion, mull begin tolcokiipon m.e as loil. But the impreiTion, much as it eiTe£led at the tim^e, began to wear away, and I entered afterwards in the King of Prufiia privateer, captain Mendez, and Vv-ent with her to fca. Yet, from inch a beginning, and with all tlie inconvem'ence of early hfe againfl me, I am proud , to fay, that with a perfeverance undifmayed by difTici.lties, a difmter- eilednrrs that compelled refpecl, I have not only contributed to raife a new empire in the v/orld, founded on a new fyllem of government, . but I have arrived at an eminence in political literature, the moll dif- ficult of all lines to fucceed and excel in, which arillocracy, with all its aids, has not been able to reach or to rival. Knowing my own hearty and feeling myft-lf, as I now do, fupe- rior to all the f:<:irmifli erf party, the inveteracy of interelled or mif- * Rcv. inilh??? KnczvIcS) :nif}cr cf -he grammar fchool ofThetfordy in Norfolk. RIGHTS OF MA K. sot talceii opponents, I anTwer not to falfcf'iood or abufe, biit proceed to ^e defe£ls of tUe Englifh govtrnment.* * PoI/:ics and filf-lnierefi ha've hcen f) ur'ifyrml^ conncCled^ thai tie tvorldy from being fn of, en ikceiv:d, has a right to he f if p'l clous of puUk characters : hut orationG at the ruin cf towns; and the eflcd: is viiible. The generality of corporation towns are in a ftate of fclitary decay, and prevented from farther ruin, only by fom.e circumllance in their fituation, fucli as a navigable rfver, or a plentiful furrounding country. As population is one of the chief fources of vvealch (for without it land itfelf has no value), every thing which operates to prevent it mull leffen the value of property ; and as corporations have not only this tendency, but dirtclly this effect, they cannot but be injurious. If any policy were to be followed, inftead of that of general freedom ,^ to every perfon to fettle where he chofe (as in 1 ranee or /America), it v;ouId be more confillent to give enccurapcment to new comers, than to preclude their admiillon by exacting piemiums from them.* The perfons moll imnicdiately fnterefted in the abolition of corpo* rations, are tlie inhabitants of the towns where corporations are edab- liiTicd. The iniiances of luancheiler, Birmingliam, and Sheffield, {\)C',\', by contrad, the injury which thofe Gothic inftitutions are to property and coumicrce. A few examples may be found, fuch r.^ that of London, whoie natural and commercial advantage, owing to its fituation on the Thames, is capable cf bearing up againil tl»e poli-' tical evils of a corporation j but in almoit all other cafes the fatality 'is too vifible to be doubti^d or denied. ■* // :s difficult to account for the cr':gm cf charter and ccrpcrrjicn iocvrsy unlt'fs 'voc Juppnje thsm to ha-ve anfcn out of or been cGtiuetlcd iviih, fomc fpscics of garrifon ftri'iccs. The times intvhich th^ylcgan jijlfy. this idea. The gencra'd'y of ihnfe totons hauc been gar rf oris audi, the cvr- torathns ivcre charged tahh the care rf the gates cf the io'wtis, luhen tm jn'd'itary garrlfon ixiai prcfent. Their refijirg or granting adw'ffjion- to flran-' ^erSf ivh'ich has produced the cvflcm of g'lvwg, fclluig and bhy:rg freedoriiy has more of the nature of garnfon authonly than c'liul go'oernment. ooU d'ltrs are free of alt corporations throughout the nation, ly the fame pro- fr'i^ly that foery foldler is free cf every gar rf on, and no other perfons are. lie can foUo'w any employment, 'with the perrn'fji.jn f his risers, in anxx i'.r^cration toivn ihrcf'-'hc-ui the natter-. RIGHTS OF MAK. 20^ - - Though the whole nation is not fo direaiy afFefted by the depref- lion of property in corporation towns as the inhabitants thcmfelves, it partakes of the confequence. By IclTening the value of property, the quantity of national commerce is curtailed. Every man is a cul- tomer in proportion to his ability ; and as all parts of a nation trade with each other, vrhatever affefts any of the parts, muil neceifarily comniuaicate to the whole. As one of the houfes of the Englifn parliament is, in a great mea- furc, made up of eledions from thefe corporations; and as it is unna- tural that a pure llream would How 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 fubmit to the mean drud;;ery and difgraceful arts, by which fiich ele6lions are carried. To be a fuccefsful candidate, he muil be deilitute of the qualities that conliii- tute a juil legiflator : And being tlius difciplined to corruption by the mode of entering into parliament, it is not to be expetled that the reprefentative fliould be better than the man. Mr. Burke, in fpeaking of the Englifh reprefentation, has ad- vanced as bold a challenge as ever was given in the days of chivalry. <• Our reprefentation," fays he, *' has been found pcrfinly adequate t{: to all ihe purpoji'S fur v/hich a reprefentation of the people can be H/defired or devif-d. I defy," continues he, " the enemies o: our *f., conftitution to dievv the contrary." This declaration from a man, who has been in conllant oppolition to all the meafures of parliament the whole ol his political life, a year or two excepted, is mod extra- ordinary ; and comparing him with himfelf, admits of no other alter- native, than that he ailed againd his judgment as a member, or h:;a declared contrary to it as an author. But it is not in the reprefentation only that the defects lie, ani therefore I proceed in the next place to arillocracy. What is called the hoafe of peers, is conllituted on a ground very fimilar to that, againll which there is a law in other cafes. It amou.r^ to 3 combination of perfons in one common interefl. No reafon caa be given, v.hy an houfe of legiilation fnould be compofcd entirely of men whofe occupation confills in letting landtrd property, than wliy it fliould be compofed of thofe v/ho hire, or of brev.-ers, or bakers, or anv other feparate clafs of men. Mr. Burke calls this houfe, " the great ground and pULir of JlcurJy *' to the landed IntcnJ}:' Let U2 examine this idea. What pillar of fecurity does the landed intereH require more than any other inter;:!!: in the ilr.tc, or what right ha:- it to a diilinil and 2o6 P A I N E 's V\'" O R Iv S. feparate reprefentation from the general intcreR of a nation ? T.ie only ufc to be made of this power, (and which it has always made), is to ward ofF taxes from itfelf, and thnnv the burden upon fuch arti- cles of confumption by which itfelf would be leail: affefted. That this has been the confeqnencc (and will always be the con- feqiience of conpLrufting- governments on combinalions), is evident with refpeft to England, from the liiitory of its taxes. Notwithiianding taxes have increafed and multiplied. upon every article of common confumption, the land-tax, which more particularly 'aifefts this " pillar,'* has diminifhcd. ' In 1788, the amount of the land-tax was ^/\i;950,oco, v>'hich is half a million Icis tlian it pro- duced ahnoil: an hundred years ago,^^ notwithiianding the rentals are in many inilanccs doubled fince that period. Before the comw'ng of the Hanoverians, the tax:s were divided in nearly equal proportions between tb.e land and articles of confumip- tion, the land bearing rather the largtfl fiiarc ; but fmce that era, nearly thirteen millions annually of new laycs have been thrown upon confumption. The confeouence of which has been a conilant in- creafe in the numiber and wretchednefs of the poor, and in the amount of the poor-rates. Yet liere again the burden does not fall in equal 3)roportions on the ariftocracy v/ith the reft of the community. Their refidences, whether m town or country, arc not mixed with the ha- bitations of the poor. They live apart f.om diPcrefs, and the expence of relievino- it. It is in manufaftiirinp- towns and labouring- vilWcs that thofe bardcns prefs the heaviell ; in many of v/hich it ic one clafs of poor fupporting another. Several of the mofi heavy and p"^rocu(51ivc taxes are fo contrived,, as to give an exemption to tliis pillar, tnu3 tlandinrr in its own defence. Tiie tax upon beer brewed for fr.le does not affeCf the ariftocracy, who brew their own beer free of this duty. It falls only on thofe \(lio have not conveniency'or ability to brew, and v.dio muil purchafe it in fmall quantities. But what v/ill mankind think of the jullice of taxation, when they know, that this tax alone, from which the arif- tocracy are from circunvHances exempt, is nearly equal to the whole <;f the had tax, l;ei::g in the year 1788, and it is not lefs now, J^^.i,C66,i^2y and with its proportion of the taxes on malt and hops, it exceeds it. — That a fmgle articL^, thus partially confumed, and that chiefly by the working part, fnould be lubjedl to a tax, equal to ^ S^^ S'r Jj/:ti ShL:!a}r's H^ory cf the Rcvsnm. The hvid-L-.x in RIGHTS OF MA N. 207 that oa tne vvliol^ rsntiil of a nation, is, peihaps, a faclnot to be pa- ralleled ill the hiftories of revenues. . This is one of the confcquences refulllng from an houfe of legn']?.- tion, cornpofed on the ground of a combination of common intereiT: ; for whatever their feparate politics as to parties may be, in this they are united. Whether a combination a^ls to raifc the price of any article for fale, or the rate of vrao-es : or whether it adls to throw taxes from itfelf upon another clafr. of the community, the principle and theefrecl: are the fame : And if the one be illegal, it will be dili- cult to fhevv that the other ought to exiil:. It is no ufe to fay, that taxes are firll propofed in the houf^ of commons; for as the ether houfe has always a negative, it can always defend itfelf; and it would be ridiculous to fuppofe that its acquief- cence in the meafares to be propofed were not underilood before hand* Befides i.rh'ch, it has obtained [o much influence by borough-traffic, and fo many of its relations and connections are dillributed on both fides of the commons, as to give it, befidea an abfolute negative in the Koufe, a preponderancy in the other, in all matters of common con- cern. It is difficult to difcover what is meant by the landed Interejl, if it does not mean a combination of ariftocratical land-holders, cppofmg their ov/n pecuniary intereft to that of the farm.er, and every branch of trade, commerce, and mannfadurc. In all other rcfpecls it is the only intereft that needs no partial protection. It enjoys the general proteftion of the world. Every individual, high or low, is ratereiled in the fruits of the earth ; men, w^omen, and children, of all ages and degrees, will turn out to affilt the farmer, rather than a harveft fhould 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 fi\il from the want of means. It is the intereft, not of the policy, but of the exlftence of man, and when it ceafes, he muft ceafe to be. No other intereft in a nation ftands on the fame united fupport. Commerce, manufaftures, arts, fcienccs, and every thing elfe, coni- pared with this, are fupported but in parts. Their profperity or their decay has not the fame univerfal influence. When the vallies laugh and fmg, it is not the farmer only, but all creation that re- joices. It is a profpe.-ity that excludes ail envy ; and this cannot be faid of any thing elfe. Why then does Mr. Burke talk of his houfe of peers, as the pil- lar of the landed intereft I Were that pillar to fink into the earthy 2ca. TAINE's WORKS. tlie fame landed property would continue, and the fame ploughing, fovving, and reaping would go on. The ariftocracy are not the far- mers who work the land, aad raife the produce, but are the mere confumers of the rent ; and when compared with the adive world, are the drones, a feraglio of males, who neither coUeA the honey nor form the hive, but exifl only for lazy enjoyment. Mr. Burke, in his firft efiay, called arifcccracy, " the Corinthian *^ capital of polifiedfociety'' Towards completing the figure, he has new added l\it pillar ; but ftiil the bafe is wanring ; and v/hen- ever a nation choofes to aft a Sampfon, not blind, but bold, down go the temple of Dagon, the lords and the Phililllnea. If a houfe of leglfiation is to be compofed of m.enof one clafs, for the purpofe of prote6iing a dillincl interell, ail the other intercHs /liould have the fame. The inequality, as wtii as the burden of tax- ^ation, arifes fronfi admitting it in one cafe, and not in all. Kad there been an houfe of farmers, there had been no game lav/s ; or ahoufc of merchants and manufacturers, the taxes had neither been fo un- equal nor fo excefiive. It is from the power of taxation being in the hands of thofe who can throw fo great a part of it from their own fhoulders, that it has rnred without a check. Men of fmall or moderate eilates, are more injured by the taxes being thrown on articles of confumption, than they are eafed by ward- ing it from landed property, for the following reafons: Firft, they confume more of the produftive taxable articles, in pro- portion to their property, than thofe of large eftates. Secondly, their refidence is chiefly in towns, and their property in houfes ; and the increafe of the poor rates, cccafioned by taxes on confumption, is in much greater proportion than the land-tax has been favoured. In Birminghami, the poor-rates are not lefs than feven {hillings in the pound. From this, as is already obferved, the ariftocracy are in a great meafure exempt. Thefe are but a part of the mifchiefs flowing from the wretched fcheme of an houfe of peers. As a combination, it can always thrfiw,a confiderable portion of taxes from itfelf ; and as an hereditary hou'fe^' ^QlJWt&Me to nobody, it refembles a rotten borough, whofe confent is to be courted by in- tereft. There are but few of its members, who are not in fome mode or other participators, or difpofers of the public money. One turnsi a candle-holder, or a lord in waiting ; another a lord of the bed cham- ber, a groom of the ftole, or any infignificant nom.inal office, to which ^ falary is annexed, paid out of the public taxes, and which avoids the R I G H T 3 O F M A N. , 5o0 lijrecl. appearance of corruption. Such fituations are derogatory ta the chara(5^er of man ; and where they can be fubmitted to, honour cannot refide. ' To all thefe are to be added the numerous dependants, the long lift of youflger branches and diftant relations, who are tg be provided for at the public expence : In (hort, were an eftimation to be made •f the charge of ariftocracy to a nation, it will be found nearly equal to that of fupportlngthe poor. The duke of Richmond alone (and there are cafes fimilar to his) takes away as much for himfelf, as would maintain two thoufand poor and aged psrfons. Is it, tlien, any wonder, that under fuch a fyftem cf government, taxes and rates have multiplied to their prefent extent ? In ftating thefe matters, I fpeak an open and dirmterefled lan- guage, dictated by no paiuon but that of hum.anity. To me, who have not only rcfufcd offers, becaufe I thought them improper, but have declined rewards I niight with reputation have accepted, it is no wonder that meannefs and impofition appear difguftiul. Indepen- dence Is my happinefs, and I view things as they are, without regard to place or perfon ; my country Is the world, and my religlcn is to do good. Mr. Burke, in fpeaking of the ariftocratical law of primogeniture^ fays, " It Is the ftanding law of our landed inheritance ; and which, ** v/Ithout queftion, has a tendency, and I chink,'* continues, he, ** a happy tendency, to preferve a chara6ler of v.-eight and conie- ** qucnce.'* Ml'. Burke, may call this law what he pleaffs, bwt humanity and impartial refledion will denour. . • it a law cf brutal injuftice. Were we not accL}ftomed to the daily practice, and did we only hear of it as the law of fome diftant part of the world, we ftiould conclude that. the leglilators of fuch countries had not yet arrived at a ftate <3f civilization. As to preferving a charaf^er of 'weight and confequcnc", the cafe ap- pears to me dlreflly the reverfe. It is an attaint upon character ; a fort of privateering en family property. It may have weight among dependant tenants, but it gives none on a fcale of nations!, and m.uch lefs of univerfal charadler. Speaking for m.yfelf, my parents were not able to give me a fiiilling, beyond what they gave' me in education ; ^nd to do this they diftreffed themfelves ; yet, I poflefs more of what is called confequence, in the world, than any one in Mr. }3urkc's ca- talogue of ariftocrats. Having thus glanced at feme of the defects cf the two houfea of Vol. it, E e 3 lo V A I N E ' s WORK S. parliament, I proceed to wliat is called the crown, upon which I fhal! be very concife. It figniiies a nominal ofnce of a million flerling a year, the bufmefs of which confifts in receiving the money. Whether the perfon be wife or foohfh, fane or infane, a native or a foreigner, m^atters not. Every miniilry afts upon the Hime idea that Mr. Burke writes, namely, th-att the people mud be hood-^winked, and held in fuperftitious ignorance by fome bugbear or other; and what is called the crov/n anfvvers this purpofe, and therefore it anfwers all the purpofes to be expefted from it. This is more than can be faid of the other two branches. The hazard to which this office is expofed in all countries, is not from any thing that can happen to the man, but from what may hap-, pen to the nation, the danger of its coming to its fenfes. It has been cuftomary to call the crown the executive power, and the cuftom is continued, though the reafon has ceafed. It was called the execudvCf becaufc the perfon whom it fignified ufed fcrm^erlv, to fit in the charafter of a judge, in adrainiitering or exe- cutin-T the laws. The tribunals were then a part of the court. The power, therefore, v/hich is nov%^ called the judicial, is what was called the executive ; and, confequently, one or other of the terms is redun- dant, and one of the oIHces ufelefs. When we fpeak of the crowu r.ow, it means nothing ; it fignifies neither a judge nor a general : Be- fidcs vv'hich, it is the laws that govern, and not the m.an. The old terms are kept up, to give an appearance of confequence to empty forms ; and the only efiecl they have is that of increafmg ex- pences. Before I proceed to the means ^,f rendering governments more conducive to the general happinefs of m.ankind, than they are at pre- fent, it will not be improper to take a review of the progrefs of tax- ation in England. It is a general idea, that when taxes arc once laid on, they are ne- ver taken ofF. However true this may have been of late, it was not always fo. Either, therefore, the people of former times were more watchful over governnient than thofe of the prefent, or government was admlnilleved with lefs extravagance. It is now feven hundred yeavs fmce the Norman conqueil, and the tftablifhment of what is called the crown. Taking this portion of time in feven feparate periods of one hundred years each, the amount of the annu-al taxes, at each period, will be as follows : Annual amount of taxes levied by William the conqueror, beginning in the year 1066, £,^cOjQ0Q -RIGHTS OF MAN. 211 Annual amount of taxes at one Imodred years from the conqueft, (1166) ^^.200,000 Annual amount of taxes ?X two hundred years from the conqueft, (1266) 150,000 Annual amount of taxes at three hundred years from the conqueft, (1366) 130,000 Annual amount of taxes at four hundred years from the conqueft, (1466) ico,ooo Thefe ftatements, and thofe which follow, are taken from fir John Sinclair's Hiftory of the Revenue ; by which it appears, that taxes continued decreafing for four hundred years, at the expiration of which time they were reduced three-fourths, viz. from four hundred thou- fand pounds to one hundred thoufand. The people of England of the prefent day, have a traditionary and hiftorical idea of the bravery of their anceftors; but v/hatever their virtues or their vices might have been, they certainly were a people v.ho would not be impofed upon, and who kept government in awe as to taxation, i£^ot as to principle. Though they were not able to expel the monarchical ufurpation, they reftri6led it to a republican economy of taxes. Let us now review the remaining tliree hundred years. Annual amount of taxes at five hundred years from the conqueft, (1566) ;^.5CC,OQO Annual amount of taxes at fix hundred years from the conqueft, (1666) ' i, 800,000 Annual amount of taxes at the prefent time, ( 1 791 ) 1 7,000,000 The difference between the firft four hundred years and the laft three, is fo aftoniftiing, as to warrant an opinion, that the national character of the EnghTn has changed. It would have been impof- fible to hr.ve dragooned the former Engliih, into the excefs of tax- ation that now exifts ; and when it is confidered that the pay of the army, the navy, and of all the revenue-ofScers, is the fame now as it was above a hundred years ago, when the taxes w^ere not above a tenth part of what they are at prefent, it appears impclTibJe to ac- count for the enormous increafe and expenditure, on any other grounds than extravagance, corruption, and intrigue.*- * Several of ths court nenvfpapers ha've of late made frequent mention ^ Wat T^ler. That his memory fJjould he traduced by court fycophants, and all thofe nvho Irjs on the fpo'tl of a public^ is not to be (wondered at^ He ivas, hoivrver, the means of checking the rage and injufiice of taxa- ■ tlm in his time^ and the nation oivcd much to hi^ 'valour. The hijlory k 9iz l^AINE^s WORKS. WIlIi the revolution of 1688, and more fo fmcc the Haaover fuc- cefiion, came the dellru(fi:ive fyflem of continental intrigues, and the rage for foreign wars and foreign dominion ; fyftems of fuch fecure myRery that the oipences admit of no accounts; a fmgle line {lands' e-oncif-Iy this : — /// ih^ time of Richard the fcoud, a poll-tax luas levied^ of one fiilling per head, upon every pci-fon in the nation , of iv hat ever ejlate (pr conditioriy on pocr as ivell as rich, avo-ve the age of ffteen years, if ttny favour ivas Jheiun in the laiv, it ivas fo the rich rather than to the poor ; as no perfon could be charged mors than t^vcnty jljilUngs for himfelf^ family and fervants, though ever fo numerous ; nubile all ether famiheSy tinder the number of tivenryf 'tuere charged per head. Poll-taxes had aU *ivays been odious y but this being alfo opprejftvc and vn'jujly it excited, as it naturally mufl^ unlverfal delefation anwng the poor and middle clajfcs. The t>erfm hnonvn by the name of IVat Tyler, nvhofe proper name was Walter, und a tyler by trade lived at Deptford, The gatherer of the poll-tax., an coining to his hoife<^ demanded tax for one of his daughters, ivhcm Tyler ceclared ivas under the age cfffcen. The tax-gatherer irjifled onfatif fying himfclf, and began an indecent examhiati-on of the girly nvhich enraging the father, he Jl ruck him 'with a hammer, that brought him to the ground, and ivas the caufe of his death. This clrcumjiance frvedto bring the dlfcontents to an ijfue. The inha- Intanls of the neighbourlyood efpoufed the caufe of Tyler, ivho, in a feiu days ivas joined, according tofome hiflorians, by upivards of fifty thoufand men, and chofen their chief. With this farce he marched to London, to demand an abolition of the tax, and a redrefs of other grievances. The court, finding itfelf in a forlorn condition, and unable to make refijlancc, agreed, ivlih Richard at its head, to hold a conference ivith Tyler in Smithf.cld, mahing many fair prof Jfions, courtier like, of its dxfp>^ition to redrefs the opprejjions. While Richard and Tyler ivere in con'oerfation en thefe matters, each being on horfehack, Wakoorth, then mayor of London; and one of the creatures of the court, ivatthed an oppor-iunity, and like a coivardly ajfajpn, flabbed Tyler with a dagger ; and two or three others falling upon hirUi he was irjlantly facrificed. Tyler appears to have been an intrepid difintereflcd vmn, with refpecl to himfclf. All his propofals made to Richard, were on a more jnjl and public ground, thau thofe which had been made to John by the barons ; and notwithflandlng the fycophancy of hiflorians , and men like Mr. Burke-, who feek to glofs over a bafe action of (he court by traducing Tyler, Kts fame will outlive their falf hood. If the barons merited a monument ttf^bt tre^ed in Runnymede, Tyler merits one in Smithjield. RIGHTS OF MAKt zt^ for millions. To what excefs taxation might hare extended, had not the French revolution contributed to break up the fyflem, and put an end to pretences, is impolTible to. fay. Viewed, ar, that revolution ought to be, as the fortunate means of leilening the load of taxes cf 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, deferves as much celebration in one country as the other. In purfuing this fubjed, I fhall begin with the matter that firft prefents itfelf, that of lefTening the burden of taxes ; and fiiall then add fuch matters and propofitions, refpefting the three countries of England, France, and America, as the prefenl profpe6l of thing-s appears to jullify ; I mean an alhance of the three, for the purpolcs that will be mentioned in their proper place. What has happened may happen again. By the flatement before fhewn of the progrefs of taxation, it is feen, that taxes have been lef- fened to a fourth part of what they had formerly been. Though the •prefent circumftances do not admit of the fame reduftioii, yet they ad- mit of fuch a beginning, as may accomplifh that end in lefs time, than in the former cafe. The amount of taxes for the vear, endincr at Michaelmas 1*^78, was as follows : Land tax, - . - - - ^.1,950,000 Cuftoms, - - - - - - 3,789,274 Excife (including old and new malt), » - 6,751,727 Stamps, ---.--. 1,278,214. Mifcellaneous taxes and incidents, - - . ^S^Z^ISS Since the year 1788, upwards of one million, new taxes have been laid on, befides the produce from the lotteries; ?.nd as the taxes have" in general been more produ6liye fmce than before, the axount may be taken, in round numbers, at £.i'jyOCO,oco N. B. The expence of colieftion and the draw-backs, wliich toge- ther amount to nearly two millioiis, are paid out of the grofs amount; and the above is the nett fum paid into the exchequer. This fum of feventeen millions is applied to two different purpofes; the one to pay the interefl of the national debt, the other to pay the current expences of each year. About nine millions are appropriated to the former ; and the remainder, being nearly eiglit millions', to tli^e latter. As to the million, frtid to be applied to the rvduftion of the 2T4 PAINE^s Vv-ORKS. debt, it is fo much like paying with one haPxd and taking out with the other, as not to merit much notice. It happened, fortunately for France, that Pa& poffeffed national domains for paying off her debt, and thereby leflening her taxes; but as this is not the cafe in England, her reduction of taxes can only take place by reducing the current cxp^nces, which may now be done to the amount of four or five millions annually, as will hereafter appear. When this is accomplifl-sed, it wilnnore than counterbalance the enor- mous charge- of the American war; and the faving will be from the fame fources ^=ej«f whence the evil arofc. As to the national debt, however heavy the intcrefl may be in taxes, yet, as it ferves to keep alive a capital, ufeful to commerce, it ba- lances by its eftetts a confiderable part of its own weight; and as the quantity of gold and hlver in England h, by fome means or other, (liort of its proper proportion* (being not more than twenty mil- lions, w^hereas it (hould be fjxty), it would, befides the injuilice, be bad policy to extinguifh a ca- 'tal that ferves to fupply that defc(5l. But with refpetfl: to the cur ""^nt expence, whatever is faved there- from is gain. The excefs may ferve to keep corruption alive, but it has no re-aftion on credit and comm.erce, like the intercft of the tlCDt. It is now very probable, that the Enghfn government (I do not mean the nation) is unfriendly to the French revolution. Whatever ferves to expofe the intrigue and leffen the influence of courts, by lef- fenino- taxation, will b'e unwelcome to thofe who feed upon the fpoil. Whilil the clamour of French intrigue, arbitrary power, popeq> and •wooden fnoes could be kept up, the nation was eafily allured and alarmed into taxes. Thofe days are now part ^ deception, it is to be hoped, has reajjed its lafi: harvellji and better times are in profpetSt for both countries, and for the u-orld. Taking it for granted, that an alliance m.ay be formed between Engr- land, France, and America, for the purpofes hereafter to be men- tioned, the national expences of France and England may confequently be Icfrened. The fame fleets and armies will no longer be necefiary to either, and the redufiion cm be made fhip for fhip on each fide. But to accomplifh thefe ob eds, the governments muil necelfarily be- fitted to a common correfpondent principle. Confidence can never take place, while an hoftile difpofition remains in either, or where myf- * Foreign intrigues, foreign ivars, and foreign dominions^ ivill in a p-eai msafure dccovnt for the drfciency , RIGHTS OF MAN. 21^ tcry and fecrecy on one fide, is oppofed to candour and opennefs on the other. Thefe matters admitted, tlie national expences mi^^ht be put back, for the fake of a precedenty to wliat they were at fome period wlieii France and England were not enemies. This, confequently, rauil be prior to the Pianover fuccefiion, and alfo to the revolution of 1688.* The lirft inllance that prefents itlVlf, antecedent to tl-.ofe dates, is in the very wafteful and profiigate times of Char-es the fecond ; at v.diich time England and France ailed as alh'es. il I have chofen a period of great extravagance, it will fervc to fnew modern extravagance in a fiill worfe Hght; efpecially as the pay of the navy, the army, and the revenue officers has not increafed ilnce that time. The peace cila!)liniment was then as folio v/s : — See fir John Sin- clair's Hiilory of the R.evenue. Navy, - - - .. - - ^.300,000 Army, - - - _ _ . 212,000 Ordnance, - - . . _ _ . 40^000 Civil Lilt, - ... - . 462,115 ^.1,014,115 The parliament, however, fettled the whole annual peace cr^ablifli- tneiit at i,2oo,ooo.f If we go back to the time of Elizabeth, the * / happened to Is in England at the celclraiicn of the centenary of the rsvolutton of 16S8. The charaSlcrs of W nil am and Mary have always •appeared to me detejlalle ; the one fck'ing io cl.flvcy his uncle^ and. the other her father, to get pojfjfion of power thenfehes ; ysi, as the nciticn was dfpofed to think fomethlng of that event, I fdt hurt at feeing it afcribe the ivhole rspiitathn of it to a man who had undtrtahn it as a job, and whoy hefides what he other wife got, charged fix hundred thouf and pounds for the expencs of the little fleet that brought him from Holland. George the f.rjl a6led the fame chfefi/led part as Williavi had done, and bo'iight the duchy of Brcmin with the money he got from England, two hundred and fifty houfand pounds over and above his pay as hing ; and having thus pur chafed it at the expence of England, added it to his Hanoverian doml- nicns for his own private profit. In fact, ev^'ry nation that dois not go- -jern itfelf. Is governed as a job. England has been the prrj of jobs zverfince the revolution^ \ Charles, like his predeccffors and fuccsffors, fin Ting that war was the harvefl of governments, engaged In a war wi th the Dutch, the expence of wbkh increafed thi annual cxperjitiirc io ;^r,8oOjCOO as ci6 PAINE's AVORKS. amcur.t of all the taxes was but half a million, yet the nation fees no- thing during that period, that reproaches it with want of confe* <]uence. All circumllances then taken together, arifing from the French revolution, from the approaching harmony and reciprocal intereft of the two nations, the abolition of court intrigue on both fides, and the progrefs of knowledge in the fcience of government, the annual ex- penditure might be pat back to one million and a half, viz, Navy, - - - , , . ^.500,000 Army, - - - _ « 500,000 Expences of government, - - , - 500,000 ^.1,500,000 Even this fum is fix times gre?.tcr than the expences of govern- ment are in America, yet the civil intefnal government of England (I mean that adminiltcred by m^ns of quarter fefilons, jurie?, and afxize, and which, in x"a6t, is nearly the whole, and performed by the nation,) is lefs Cxpence Upon the re\tnue, than the fame fpecics and poition of government is in America. • It is time that nations fhould be rational, and not be governed like animals, for the pleafure of their riders. To read the hiftory of kings, a man would be almoll inclined to fuppofe that government confilleca in (lag hunting, and that every nation paid a million a year to the huntf- man. Man ought to have pride, or fname enough to blufh at being thus impofed upon, and when he feels his proper charafher, he will. Upon all fubjecls of this nature, there iy often palling in the mind, a train of ideas he has not yet accuilomed himfelf to encourage and communicate. Reltrained by fomething that puts on the character of prudence, he acis the hypocrite upon himfelf as well as to others. It is, however, curious to obferve how foon this fpell can be dilToIved. A (ingle expreffion, boldly conceived and uttered, will fometimes put a whole company into their proper feelings, and whole nations arc 2c\i:d upon in the fame manner. As to the offices of which any civil government may be compofed,- . it matters but little by what names they are defcribed. In the rotinc ©f hufmefs, as before obferved, whether a man be flyled a prefident, a king, an emperor, a fcnator, or any thing elfe, it is impoffible that any fervice he can perform, can merit from a nation more than teiu Jalrd under the date of 1866; hut the ^cacc eJlahVijlmcnt ivas ltd £1.206,000^ RIGHTS OF MAN. 217 -tiioufand pounds a year ; and as no man fhould be p:iid beyond h'^ fervices, fo every man of a proper heart will not accept n:ore. Pub- lic money ought to be touched with the moll fcrupulous confcioul'-t ncfs of honour. It is not the produce of riches only, but ol the hard e:irniugs of labour and poverty. It is drawn even from the bittcrnef* of want and mifery. Not a beggar pafles, or perillies in the ftreets, whofe mite is not in that mafs. Were it pofllble that the coiigrefs of America, could be fo loil to their duty, and to the intcrell of their conftitucnts, as to offer general Wafhii^gton, as prefident of America, a million a year, he would not, and he could not, accept it. His fenfe of honour is of another kind. It has cod England almoil feventv millions ilerlinc:, to maintain a fa- mily imported from abroad, of very inferior capacity to thoufands iJi the nation ; and fcarcely a year has pafTed that has not produced fom.e new mercenary application. Even the phyficians' bills have been fert to the public to be paid. No wonder that jails are crowded, and taxes and poor-rates increafed. Under inch fyllems, nothing is to be looked for but what has already happened ; and as to reformation, whenever it comes, it mud be from the nation, and not from the go- vernment. To Ihew that the fum of five hundred thoufand pounds is more than fuiUcient to defray all the expences of government, exclufive of na- vie;> and armies, the following edimate is added for any country, of the fame extent as Enj^iand. . In the fird place, three hundred reprefentatives, faiiiy elected, are faflicient for all the purpofes to which legiflation can apply, and pre- ferable to a larger number. They may be divided into tv/o, or three lioufes, or meet in one, as in France, or in any manner a condituticn fiiall dired. As reprefentation is always confidered, in free countries, as thz mod honourable of all dations, the allowance made to it is merely to defray the expence v/hich the reprefentatiyes incur by that fervice, and not to it as an ofnce. If an allowance, at the rate of five hundred pounds /d"/* ann. be made to every reprefentativc, deducing for non-attendance, the expence, if the whole number attended for fix nionths each year, would be .f. 75,0c o The official departments cannot reafcv.?bly exceed the foUowinGT number, with the falaries annexi:d! Carried ovc'-/^. 7^,03^ Vol. U. Ff ^i5 PAINE's WORKS. BroiigM over, - ^- . . ^ /*. 75,00.^ Tliree officer;, at ten thoufand pounds each - 30,000 Ten ditto, at five thoufand pounds each - 50,000 Twenty ditto, at two thoufand pounds each - 40,000 Forty ditto, at one thoufand pounds each - 40,000 Two hundred ditto, 5t five hundred pounds each lco,coo Three hundred ditto, at two hundred pounds each 60,000 ■Five hundred ditto, at one hundred pounds eacli 50,000 Seven hutidred ditto, at feventy-five pounds each 52,500 /•497'50c> ifa nation chtifes, it Cftn deduci: four/i-r (T.'.v/. from all offices, and mAliP, one cf twenty ihoufavid />er ann. All revenue officers are paid out of the monies they colkd^, and therefore, are not in this eiliiriation. The foregoing is not offered as an exafl detail of offices, but to /Iiew the number and rate of falaries which five hundred thoufand pounds will fupport; and it will, on experience, be found impradica- ble to find bufinefs fufficient to juftify e^/en this expence. As to the manner in which office bufinefs is now performed, the chiefs, in feve- ral offices, fuch as the pod-office, and certain offices in the exchequer, &ic. do little more than fis"n their names three or four times a year; and the whole duty i.s performed by under clerks. Taking, therefore, one million and an half as a fufficient peace cflablifhmcnt for all tlie honeil purpofes of government, which is three hundred thotifand pounds miore than tlie peace eilablifhment m the profligate and prodigal times of Charles the fecond (notwith- ftanding, as ha3 been already cbferved, the pay and falaries of the army, na\'y, and revenue officers, continue the fame as at that pe- riod), there will remain a furplns of upwards of fix millions out of the prefent current expences. The quellion then will be, how tQ difpofe of thio furplns. Whoever has obferved the manner in which trade and taxes twifl themfclves together, mufl be fenfibie of the impoffibility of feparating them fuddenly. Firft, Becaufe the articles nov/ on hand arc already charged with the duty, and the reduction cannot take place on the prefent Hock. Secondly, Becaufe, on ?\\ thofe articles on v/hich the duty is charged m the grofs, fuch as per barrel, hogfhead, hundred weightf Cr tun, the abolition of the duty does not admit of being divided down fo aa fully to relieve the confumer, who purchafes by the pint, RIGHTS OF MAN. si^ »r tli« pound. The laft duty bid on ftrong beer and ale, was three ffiilllngs/^r barrel, which, if taken off, would lefTen tbepurchafe only half a farthing /w pint, and confequently, would not rc;ach to prac- tical relief. This being the condition of a greater part of tl;c taxes, it will be neceffary to look for fuch others as are free from this embarraffmcnt, and where the relief will be diredt and vifible, and capable cf immei- diate operation. In the firll place, then, the poor-rates are a direft tax wliich evei-y houfe-keeper feels, and who Iinows alfo, to a farthing, the furn v.'hich he pays. The national amount of the v/hole of the poor-rates is not pofitively known, but can be procured. Sir John Sinclair, in his Hiftory of the Revenue, has Hated it at ^.2,100,587. A confider- able part of which is expended in litigations, in whicli the poor, in- ftead of being reheved, are torniented. The ex2)ence, however, is the fame to the parilh from whatever caufe it arifcs. In Birmingham, the amount of the poor-rates is &)urteen thoufand pounds a year. This, though a large fum, is moderate, compared with the population. Birmingham is faid to contain feventy thou- fand fouls, and on a proportion of icventy thoufandto fourteen thou- fand pounds poor-rates, the national amount of poor-rates, taking the population cf England at feven millions, would be but one million four hundred thoufand pounds. It is, therefore, mcft probable, that the population of Birmingham is over rated. Fourteen thoufand pounds is the proportion upon fifty thoufand fouls, taking t>vo mil- lions of poor-rates as the national a This alone would be equal to a redudion c: one hundred end twenty miUions of the national debt, and confccuently equal to the whole cxpence of the American war. • It will thi-ju remain to be confidered which is the moil efFcdual mode of didributiui'- tliis remilTion ot lour nnilions. o It is CD illy fecn, that the poor are generally compofed of large fa- mihes of cliildi-cn, aiid old people pail their labour. If thefe two clalfes are provided for, the remedy will fo far reach to tlie full extent ci the cafe, that what remains will be incidenlal, and, in a great mea- sure, fall Within the compafs of benefit: clubs, which, though of hum- ]>!e invention, rnerit to be ranked amongfl ihe beil of miodcrn infli- tutions. Admitting England to contain feven millions of fouls; if one fifth thereof are of that clafs of poor which need fupport, the number will be one million four hundred thcufand. Of this number, one hundred ;:nd forty tlioufand will be a^Tcd roor, as will be hereafter fliewn, and for which a diilinft provifion will be propofed. There v/iU then remiain one miUion two hundred and fixty thou- fand, which, at live fouls to each family, amount to two hundred and Fifty-t\vo tlioufand families, rendered poor from the cxpence of children aiid the weight of taxes. The narrber .of children under fourteen years of age, in each of ihofe fam.ilic?, will be found to be about five to evei-y two families; fjme having two, and others three ; foir.e one, and others four ; fome none, and others f ve ; but it rarely happens that miore than five are under fourtc;.'n years of age, and after ihis age they are capable of lervice, or of being apprenliced. Allowing fi\e children (under fourteen years) to every two fa- miliefe. The number of children will be - - C-^o oco 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 reheved of confequence, becaufe it is from the expcnce of bringin"- up children that their poverty arifes. Having thus afcertained the greatefl number that can be fuppofed to need fupport on account of young families, I proceed to the mode of relief or diitribution, which is, RIGHTS OF MAN. 221: To pay as a remiflion of taxes to every poor family, out of the fur- plus taxes, and in room of poor-rates, four pounds a year for every child under fourteen years of age; enjoining the parents offuch chil- dren to fend them to fchool, to learn readinf* writincr and common aritlimetic ; the minillers of every pariili, of every denomination, to certify jointly to an office, for that purpofe, that this duty is per- formed. The amount of this expence will be, for fix hundred and thirty thoufand children, at four pounds per ann, each, - - - ^.2,520,000 By adopting this method, not only the poverty of the parents will be relieved, but ignorance will be banifhed from the rifmg generation, and t'le number of poor will hereafter become lefs, becaufe their abi- lities, by the aid of education, will be greater. Many ayoulh, with good natural genius, who is apprenticed to a mechanical trade, fuch as a carpenter, joiner, millv/ri^'ht, fliipwright, blackfmith, &c. is pre- vented getting forward the v.^hole of his life, from the want of a Kttie common education when a bey. I now proceed to tlie ca^e of the aged. I divide age into two claiTjs. Firit, the approach of age begin- ning at fifty. Secondly, old age commencing at fixty. At fifty, though the mental faculties of man are in full vigour, and his judgment better than at any preceding date, the bodily pow- ers for kborious life are on the decline. He cannot bear the fame quantity of fatigue as at an earlier period. He begins to earn lefs, and is lefs capable of enduring wind and weather; and in thofe more retired emplov meats where much figiit h required, he fails apace, and feels himfelf, like an «.)ld horfe, beginning to be turned adrifi. At fixty. his labour ought to be over, at leaft from direcl: necefiiiy. It is painful to fee old age working itfelf to d:ath, in what are called civilized countries, for daily bread. To form fome judgment of the number of tliofe above fifty years of age, I have feveral times counted the perfons I met in the ftreeU of London, men, women, and children, and have generally found tint the average is about one m fixtcen or feventeen. If it be faid that a.^ed perfons do not come much in the ftreets, fo neither do infants; and a great proportion of grown children are in fchools, and in work- fliops as apprentices. Taknig then fixteen for a divifor, the whole number of perfons, in England, of fifty years and upwards of both fexes, rich and poor, will be four hundred and twenty thoufand. The perfons to be provided for cut of this ^r*,)fs number will be, ^2 y I» A I N E 'V WORK S". bufbandmer, common labourerp, journeymen of every tradie and tHcir wives, faJlors, and difbande.i foldiers, worn out fervants of both fcxeSj and poor widows. There will be slfo a confiderable number of middling Iradcfmen, nft'hc, having lired decently in the former part of Hfe, begin, as age approaches, to lofe their buiincfs, and at laft fall into decay. Befides tliefe, there will be conftantly thrown off from the rcvoluf tions of that wheel, which no man can ftop, nor regulate, a number from ever}' clafs of life connected with commerce and adventure. To provide for all thofe accidents, and v^'hatever elfe may befal, I ' take the number of perfons, who at one tim.e or other of their livcs,r iifter fifty years of age, may feel it rccefTary or comfortable to be bet- ter fiipported, than they can fupport themfdves, and that net as a matter of grace and favour, but. of right, at one third of the whole number, v.'hich is one hundred and forty tlioufand, as fiated in page 220, and for Vvhom a diilinct provifion was propofed to be made. If there be more, fociety, notvv'ithftandiug the flievv' and pompofity of rovernment, is in a deplorable condition in England. Of 'this one hundred and fovtj thoufand, I take one lialf, feventy thoufand, to be of the age of fifty and under fixty, and the other half .10 be fixty 3'cars and upwards. — Having thus afcertained the p.obable proportion of the number of aged perfons, 1 proceed to the mode of rendering th-jir condition comfortable, which is. To pay to cvey fuch perfon of the age of fifty years, and until he fliall arrive at the age of fixty, t)ie fum cf fix 2>ounds/fr aim. out of the furplus taxes; and ten pounds /'fr^:,;;;. curing life, after the age of fixty. The expence of wliich will be, Seventy thoufand perfons at /*.6/w^A/«. - - ;f. 420,000 Seventy thcufand perfons at £,io per ann^ - 700,000 /*.I,l20,CCO This fupport, as already remarked, is not of the nature of a cha- rity, but of a right. Every perfon in England, male and female, pays on an average in taxes, tv.-o pounds eight flu'llings and fix pence per cnn. from the day cf his (or her) birth ; and if the expence of col- lection be added, he pays "two pounds eleven fhillings and fix-pence- Gonfequently, at the end of fifty years he lias paid one hundred and twenty-eight pounds fifteen nnllingG; and at fixty, one hundred and fifty-four pounds ten fhillings. Converting, therefore, his (or her) individual tax into a tontine, tlie mortcy he fi^all receive after fifty years, is but little r:ore thsm the legal intereft cf the net money I^ R I G H T S O F M A N. 323 lias paid; the rell is made up from thofe whofj circumilances do not require thein to draw fuch fapport, and the capital in both cafes defrays the expenccs of government. It is on this ground that I have extended the probable claims to one third oi the number of aged perfons in the nation. — Is it then better tliat the lives of one hundred and forty thoufand aged perfons be rendered comfortable, or that a million a year of public money be expended on any one indi- vidual and him often of the moil worthlefs or infigniiicant chara<5ler? Let reafon and juPcice, let honour and humanity, let even hypocrify, fycophancy and Mr. Burke, let George, let Louis, Leopold, Fre- deric, Catherine, Cornwallis, or Tippoo Saib, anfwer the queflion,* The fum thus remitted to the poor will be. To two hundred and fifty-two thoufand poor families, containing fix hundred and thirty thoufand children, /*.2,q'20,ooo To one hundred and forty thoufand aged perfons, - i,i20,oco ;^.3,640,ooo There will then remain three hundred and fixty thoufand pounds out of the four millions, part of which may be applied as follows : After all the above cafes are provided for, there will Hill be a num- ber of families who, though not properly of the clafs of poor, yet Hnd • *'' Rechon'in^ the faxes hy families, Jive to a family ^ each family pays o;t an average, 12/. lyj-. and 6d. per ann. to this fum are to be added th: poor-rates* Though all pay taxis in the articles they confurm, all do not pay poor-rates. About t"ji}0 millions are exempted, fame as wjt heing . houfe-keepers, others as not being able, and the poor thcmfelvTs ivho receivs the relief. The average, therefore, of poor-rates on the remaining number, is forty fiiillings for every family of fve perfons, nvlnch makes the tratical government only that requires Ignorance for Its fupport. Su'ppofe then fcnir hundred thoufand children to be in this condi- tion, which Is a greater number than ought to be fuppofed, after the provifions already made, the m.ethod will be. To allow for each of thofe children ten fhllliiTgs a year for the ex- pence of fchooling, for fix years each, which will give ihem fix months fchooling each year, and hulf a crown a year for paper and fpelling books. The expence of this will be annually* J^.izo.ccc. There will then remain one hundred and ten thoufand pounds. Notwithftandirgthe great modes of relief which the bell Inilltutcd and bed principled goverr.ment may devife, there will ftill be a num- ber of fmaller cafep, which It Is good policy as well as beneficence in a nation to conlider. Were twenty fnillings to be given to every woman immediately on the birth of a child, who fliould make the demand, and none will make It whofe circum (lances do not require It, It might relieve a great dealof Inilant diibefs. There are about two hundred thoufand births yearly In England ; and If claimed, by one fourth. The amount would be - - _ _ /^.^o^cco And twenty (hillings to every new married couple who fliouid claim. In like manner. This would not exceed the fum of ^^.20,000 * PulUc fcho'As do ?iot arfivcr the general pttrpofe of the pocr. They are ch'ujiy in corpcration tczw^^from 'u.'h'ich ihe country icvcns and •villa- ges are excluded; cr if admitted-^ the dl/Iance occojiGns a great hfs of time. Education^ to le ufful to the ponr^JJjoidd he on the f pot ; and the hejl me- thod, I Icht've to accompliflj this, is to encdle i]:c parents to pay the expencs ■ thewfclvcs. There are ai'vays pcrfons (f hoih jxes to be found in every •village, efpecially '■j^hcn grciving i?itn years, capable of fuch an undertal- ing. 1 tuenty children, at tcnjijillings each (and that not more thanjix. months each year), ivuvld he as much as fame livirgs amount to in the re- mote parts of Evgland ; and there are often d'freffed clergy .i'rn^s luidctvs to nv horn fuch an income ivovdd be acceptable. Whatever is given en this account to children arfu'crs t'ujo prnpofs, t''i thcni it is education^ to ihoft nvho educate thcni it is a livelihoods RIGHTS OF MAN. $Sjf Alfo twenty thoufand pounds to be appropriated to dcrfray the fu- ueral expences of j)erfons, who, travelling for work, may die at a chf- tance from their friends. By relieving pariihes from this charge, ti^.a Tick ftranger will be better treated. I fhall finifh this part of my fiibjeft with a plan adapted to the par- ticular condition of a mttropolis, fuch as London. Cafes are continually occurring In a mctropc>lis different to thofe which occur in the country, and for whicji a dlirl-'rcnt, or rather an additional mode, of relief Is nectlfary. In the country, even in large towns, people have a knowledge of c?.ch other, and dillrcfs never rifes to that extreme height it fometlmes does in a metropolis. There la no fuch thinfr in a country as pevfon?. In the literal (s.'Se of tlie word, ftafved to death, or dvi^ir vrith cold from the want of a Icdc;. \x\^. Yet fuch cafes, and others equally as miferable, happen la London. Many a youth comes up to London full ofexpe^Lations, and Vvuth little or no money, and unlefs he gets Immediate employment lie is al- ready half imdone; and boys bred up in London without any means of a livelihood, and as It often Iiappens of diffblute parents, are \x\ a ilill worfe condition, and fervants long out of place aie not niuch bet- ter off. In iliort, a world of little cafes are continually arifng, v.li'ch bufy or afPxuent life knows not of> to open the nrfc door to d^Hrefs* Hunger is not among the poft:ponab!e wants, and a day, even a few hours, in fuch a condition, is cjften the criiis of a life of ruin. Thefe circumdances, which are the general caufe of the little thefts and pllferings that lead to greater, may be prevented. There vet remnin twenty thoufand pounds out of the four millions of furplus taxes, which, with another fund hereafter to be mentioned, amount- ing to about twenty thoufand pounds more, cannot be better applied ■^than to this purpofe. The plan then will be, Firll, To ereffc two or more buildings, or take fome already ereclei*, capable of containing at leaf!: fix thoufand perfons, and to have In each of thefe places as many kinds of employment as can be con- trived, fo that every perfon who fliall come may find fometIiIng^4u'ch he or (he can do. Secondly, To receive all who fnai: come, without enquiring' who o^ what they are. The only condition to be, that for fo much, or fo many hours work, each perfon fnali receive fomany mrrJs of whole- fome food, and a warm, lodging, at leail as good as a barrack. That a cettain portion of what each perfon's work fliall be worth fl'.all be referv-ed, and given to him., or her, on their going awav ; and thit Vol. ir, G^ 226 PAlNE's Vv'ORKS. ■each perfon fhall flay as Iciig, or as ihort time, cr ccn-e -3 often as ht <:hoofe, on thcfe conditions. If each peifon ftaid three months, it would afTid by rotaticn twenty- four thcv.fand pcrff^iis anniuilly, though the re?.I number, at all times, would be but fix thcufand. By eflabliihing an afyhim of this kind, fuch perfons to whom temporary diilreiTes occur, would Iiave an opportunity to recrui': thcmfelves, and be enabled to look cut for better employment. Allowing that their labour paid but one half the expence of fup- porting them, after refjrving a portion of tljeir earnings for themfelves, the fum of forty thcufand pounds additional would defray all other charges for even a greater number than fix thcufand. The fund very j:n)pcrly convertible to this purpcfe, in addition to the twenty thcufand rounds, remaininr of the form.cr fund, will be tlie produce of tlie tax upon ccais, and fo iniquitouily and wantonly applied to the fupport of the duke of Richmond. It is horrid that any man, more efpecially at the price coals now are, fhould live on the diftrelTes of a community ; and any government permitting fuch an abufe, deferves to be difmiffed* This fund is faid to be about twenty thoufund pounds j^Yr annu:n. I fhall now conclude this plan with enumerating the feveral parti- cuaus, and then proceed to other matters. The enumeration is as follovrs ; Tiril, Abolition of two millions poor-rates. Secondly, Pn/vihon for two hundred and fifty-two thoufand poor families, Thirdly, Edacation for one million and thirty thcufand children.- Fourthly, Comfortable provifion fur one hundred and forty thou- Xand aged perfon?. Fifthly, Donatioi\ of twenty (liillings each for fifty thcufand births. Sixthly, Donation of twenty (liillings each for twenty thcufand marriages. Seventhly, Allowance of twenty thcufand pounds for the funeral cxpenges of-^:>erions traveUing for work, and dying at a diilance from their friends. Eighthly, Employment, at all times, for the cafual poor in the cities of London and Weftminiler. By the operation of this plan, the poor laws, thofe inflruments of civil torture, v.iil be fuperfeded, and the waflefiil expence of litiga- tion prevented. Tiie hearts of the humane will not be fliccked by lagged and hungry cliildren, and perfons of feventy and eighty year% RIGHTSOFMAN. 227 of age begging for bread. The dying poor will not be dragged from place to place to breathe their laft, as a reprlfal of parlfh upon panft. Widows will have a maintenance for their children, and not be carted away, on the death of their hufbands, like culprits and criminals ; and children will no longer be confidered as Incrcp.fing the dlftrelTes of their parents. Tlie haunts of tlie wretched will be known, becaufe It will be to their advantage, and the num.ber of petty crimes, the offspring of diftrefs and poverty, will be lefTencd. The poor, as well as the rich, will then be Interefced in the fupport of government, and the caufe and apprehenfion of riots and tumults will ceafe. Ye who fit In eafe, and folace yourfelves In plenty, and fuch tlicre are In Tur- key and Ruffia, as well as In England, and w^ho fay to yourfdves, ** Are we not well off," have ye thought of thefe things? When ye do, ye will ceafe to fpeak and fctl for yourfelves alone. The plan is eafy in practice. It does not embarrafs trade by a fud- den Interruption in the order of taxes, but effe^ls the reUef by chang- ing the application of them.; and the money ncceffary for the purpofe can be drawn from the exclfe colleillons, wliich are mr.de eight times a year in every miarket town in England. Having now arranged and concluded this fubjcct, I proceed to the next-. Taking the prefent current expences at fovea mlilions and an hah, which is the leaft amount they are now at, there will remain (after the fum of one million and an half be taken for the new current expences,^ and four millions for the before mentioned fervice) the fum of two millions, part of which to be applied as follows : Though fleets and arnilcs, by an alliance Vv'Ith France, will, in a great meafure, become ufelefs, yet the perfcns who have devoted themfelves to thofe fervices, and have thereby unfitted themfelves for other lines of life, are not to be fuffercrs by the means that m.ake others happy. They are a dlixerent defcriptlon of men to thofe who fv)rm or hang about a court. A part of the army will remain at leaft for fome years, and alfo of the nav)'', for which a provlfion is alreadv made in the former part of this plan of one million, which is almoft half a million more than the peace eftabhfnment of the army and navy in the prodigal times of Charles the fecond. Suppofe then fifteen thoufand foldiers to be dlfoanded, and to al- low to each of thofe men three fiilllings a week during life, clear of all deduclions, to be paid in the fame manner as the Chelfea college' penlioners arc paid, a:id for them to return to their trades and their Z2% P A I N E ' 3 W O Pv K S. friends;; anj alfo to add fiFieen thoufand fix-pences per week to the. pay of thi foklitrs v.Iio Hiall remain; tlie annual expence will be, To the pay of fifteen ilioufand difbanded foldiers, at three fhillings per week, . - - - ;^. ii~,coo Additional pay to the remaining foldiers, - 19,500 Siippcfe that the pay to the'cfiicers of the difbanded corps be of the fauie amount as the fiim allowed to the men - 11 7,00^ ^.253,500 To prevent bulky eilimat'cns, admit the fame fum to the diibanded navy as to the ariny, and the fame increafe of pay ----- - 253,50« Total, ^^-507,000 Every year. feme part of th?s fum of half a million (I omit the odd feven thoufard pounds, for the purpofe of keeping the account unem- barralTed) will fah in, and the whole of it in time,„ as it is on the ground of life annuities, except the increafed pay of tv/enty-nine tboufarid pounds. As it falls in, a part of the taxes may be taken off; fjr indance, when thirty thoufand pounds fall in, the duty on' hops may be wholly taken off ; and as other parts fall in, the duties o;j candles and foap may be lefTened, till at lad they will totally ceafc. There novv' remains at leail one million and an half of furpkii taxes. The tax on houfes and windows is one of thofe direft taxes,whichj like the poor-rates, is not confounded with trade ; and when takett oif, the relief will be inilantly fdt. This tax falls heavy on the middle ckifs of people, The amount of this tax by the return; of 178S, Houfes and windovvs by the a6l of 1766, 3^5>459 ^ i 7 Ditto ditto by the ad of 1779, 130,739 14 5 r Total, ^^.516,199 6 oi If this tax be flruck off, there will then remain about one million of furplus taxes, and as it ir. always proper to keep a fum in referve^ for incidental m.atters, it may be bcfl not to extend redudions further, in the firll nillance, but to confider what may be accompHfhed by other modes of reform. Among the taxes mofl heavily felt is the commutation tax. I fliail, therefore, offer a plan for its abolition, b/ fubllituting another in its place, which will effecl three objeds at once ; RIGHTS OF MAN. 22^ Firfl, That of removinsf the burden to where it can bell be borne. Secondly, Reftoring jpllice among families by a diftribution of property. Thirdly, extirpating the overgrown influence arifing from tlic un- natural law of primogeniture, and which is one of the principdl fources of corruption at eletiions. The amount of the commutation tax bv the returns of 178S, was, . - - . £-111,^$! When taxes are propofed, the country is amufcd by the plaufible language of taxing luxuries. One thing is called a luxury atone time, and fomething elfe at another; but the real luxury does not confiil in the article, but in the mesns of procuring it, and this is always kept out of Gght. I know not why any plant or herb of the field fnould be a greater- luxury in one country than another, but an overgrown eftate in either is a luxury at all times, and as fuch is the proper objeft of taxation. It is, therefore, right to take thofe kind tax-making gentleman up on their own word, and argue on the principle themfelvcs have laid down, that o^ tabling luxuries. If they, or their champion, Mr. Burke, who, I fear, is growing out of date like ihe man in armour, can prove that an eilate of twenty, thirty, or forty thoufand pounds a year is not a luxury, I will ^\vz up the argument. Admitting that any annual fum, fay, for inflance, one thou- fand pounds, is necelfary or fumcient for the fupport of a family, con- fequently t\vz fecond thoufand is of the nature of a luxury, the third ftill more. 10, and by proceeding en, we fliall at laft ar.nve at a fun\ that may not improperly be called a prohibitable luxury. It would be impolitic to let bounds to property acquired by indufay, and therefore it is right to place the prohibition beyond the probable acqiiifiticn to which induftry can extend ; but there ought to be a limit to property, or the accumulation of it, by bequell. It fliould pafs In fome other line. The richeil in every nation have poor rela- tions, and thofe often very near in confanguinity. The following tabic of progreffive taxation is conflrudled on the above principles, and as a fub'litute for the commutation tax. It will reach the point of prohibition by a regular operation, and therebv fuperfcdc tlic ariilocratical law of primogeniture. 233 P A I N s WORK S\ TABLE I. . A tax on all eftiates of the clear yearly value of fifty pounds, afteV deducing the land tax, and up To 5CO - From 500 to 1000 - - . On the 2d thoufand - - - On the ^.d ditto . - - . - On the 4th ditto On the 5th ditto On the 6lh ditto On the 7tli ditto On the 8 th ditto On the 9th ditto On the loth ditto On the 1 1 th ditto On the 1 2th ditto On the 13th ditto On the 14th ditto On the 13 th ditto On the 1 6th ditto On the 17th ditto On the 1 8 th ditto On the 19th ditto On the 20th ditto On the 2 ill ditto On the 2 2d ditto On the 23d ditto s. o o o I I 2 3 per pound 6 per pound 9 per pound o per pound 6 per pound o per pound o per pound o per pound o per pound o jier pound 7 o per pound 8 o per pound 9 o per pound 10 o per pound 11 o per pound 12 o per pound 13 o per pound 14 o per pound. 15 o per pound 16 o per pound 17 o per pound 18 o per pound 19 o per pound 20 o per pound The foregoing table fhtw'^ the progrefnon per pound on every progreffive thoufand. The following table fnews the amount of the tax on every thoufand feparately, and in the lall colunn, the total amount of all the feparate fums collecled. TABLE IL An eftate of 50/rr ainf.. at 3 per ;^. pays ICO 3 200 2 300 400 500 /. o I 2 0 5 7 12 5 10 o 5 6 o o o Q K i G H T S OF MAN. ^3* S 2ii. After 5 col. — the tax of fix-pence per pound takes place on the fccond 5ocL — confcGuently, an ellate of icool. prr ann. pa^ i.TS. and fo on. per pound /. J. d. For the ift 500 at p 3 2d 5C0 at 0 6 2d 1000 at 0 9 jd 1000 at I 0 4th 1000 at I 6 5 th I coo at 2 0 6th 1000 at 3 0 7 th 1000 at 1 0 8th lOGo at 5 0 9th I coo at 6 0 i,oth 1000 at 7 0 nth 1000 at 8 0 1 2th I coo at 9 c 13 th 1000 at 10 0 i4.th 1000 at II 0 ijth loco at 12 0 16th I coo at T3 0 17th 1000 at 14 c» 18th 1000 at 15 0 19th 1000 at 16 0 2Cth 1000 at 17 0 2 1 ft ] 000 at 18 0 22d 1000 at ^V 0 23d 1000 at 20 0 Total amount /. s. I. S, ^ 7 14 S TO } - 15 37 10 59 5 50 0 IC9 5 15 0 184 5 100 0 2b'4 5 150 0 434 5 200 0 634 5 250 0 88q 5 300 0 21S0 5 350 .0 1540 5 400 0 1930 5 450 0 2360 5 5C-G 0 2880 5 550 0 3430 5 600 0 4030 5 650 0 4680 5 7CD 0 5?fio 5 750 0 6i7o 5 rjoo 0 6930 5 850 0 7780 5 900 0 8680 5 950 8 9630 5 I ceo 0 10630 5 At the twenty-third thoufand the tax becomes twenty fhiilings in the pound, and confequently every thoufand beyond that fum can produce no profit but by dividing the eftate. Yet foniiidable as this tax appears, it will not, I beheve, produce fo much as the commuta- tion tax ; fhould it produce more, it on^hx. to be lowered to that amount upon eftates under two or three thoufand a year. On fmall and middling eftates it is lighter (as it is intended to be) tlian the commutation tax. It is not till after feven or eight thoufand a year, that it begins to be heavy. The object is net fo much the ' produce of the tax as the juftic^ of the nieafure. The ariftocrac^ has fcrecned itfelf too muclij and this ferves to rcilore a nart cf the lofl €g[ui!ibrium, ■^3^ r AINE's WO R Kg. As an iiirtancc of its fcreeninir itfclf, it is only neccfiary to look back to the firft citablifliment of the excife laws, at what is called the revolution, or the coming of Charles the fecond. The raillccratical intereit then in power, commuted the feudal fervices itfclf was under, by laymg a lax on beer brewed for file ; that is, they compounded with Charles fbr an exemption from thofe fervices for themfelves and their heirs, by a tax to be paid by other people. The ariilocracy do not purchafe beer brewed for liile, but brew their own beer free of the duty, and n any commutation at that lime were neceffary, it ought to have been at the expence of thofe for whom the exemptions from thofe fervices were intended ;* in (lead of which it v/as throv/n on an tntire different clafs of men. But the chief object of this progreiTive tax (befides the juilice of ?-cndei;ing taxcs..^re-*cqual than they are) is, as alre^ady ilated, to extirpate the qyergrov/n influence arifmg from the unnatural law of primogeniture, imd which is one of the principal fourcesof corruption at eledlions. It wo.uld be attended, with no good confccuences to enquire how fuch vail cfiatcs as thirty, forty, or fift'v thoufand a year could comrr.ence, and that at a time when commerce and mianufaftures were not in a ftate to admii of fuch acqnifitions. Let it be fufficient to remedy the evil by putting them in a condition of defcending again to the com.munity, by tlie quiet means of apportioning them among all tlie htcirs and heireffes of tliofe families. Tliis will be the more neceffary liecaufe hitherto the ariftocracy have quartered their younger children and connexions upon the pubhc, in ufelefs pcfts, places, and offices, which wlien abclinied Avill leave them deftitute, m;!lefs the lav.- of jiri- inogeniture be aho aboliHied or fuperfeded. A progreiTive tax v.'i]l, in a great meaiure, effcft this objeft, and that as a matter of interetl to the parties moft im.mi,edialely concerned, as win be feen by the following table ; which fhews the nett produce I'pou every eftaie, afeer fubtrafting the tax. By this it will appear, that after an ellate exceeds thirteen or fourteen thoufand a year, the remainder j-roduces but little profit to the holder, and confequently, will cither pafs to the younger children, or to other kindred. * The tax en hfcr I reived for f ale, J)'om tuhich the ariftocracy are f:{^ I 2,370, clear of the land tax and the progreiTive tax, and therefore the dividing fuch eftates wiU follow as a matter of family interefl. An eftate 01^^.23,000 a year, divided into five eflates of four thou- fand each and one of three, will be charged only ^. 1 129, which Is but live/?tr cent, but If held by one poflefTor will be charged ^f. 10,630. xYlthough an enquiry into the origin of thof;? cdatesbe unncceffar)', ihe continuation of them in their prefent Hate is another fubjeft. It is a matter of national concern. As hereditary eflates, the law has created the evil, and it ought alfo to provide the remedy. Primoge- ;iiture ought to be abolifhed, not only becaufe it is unnatural and un- Vol, II. H h ^34 P A I N £ ' s W O R K S. juft, but becaiife the countiy fufFers by its operation. By cutting off (as before obferved) the younger children from their proper por^ lion of inheritance, the pwbh'c is loaded with the expeiice of main- taining them ; and the freedom of eletftions violated by the overbear- ing influence v/hich this unjuft monopoly of family property pro- tluces. Nor is this all. It occafions a wafle of national property, A confiderable part of the land of the country is rendered unpro- du6live, by the great extent of parks and chafes which this law ferves to keep up, and this at a time when the annual produ(5iion of grain is not equal to the national confumption.* — In fiiort, the evils of the ariftocratical fyllem are fo great and numerous, fo inconliftent with every thing that is juft, wife, natural and beneficent, that when they are confidered, there ought not to be a doubt that many, who are now claffed under thiit defcription, will wifa to fee fuch a fyftem abo- lifhed. "What pleafurc can they derive from contemplating the cxpofed condition, and almoft certain beggary of their younger offspring? Iv.ery ariftocratic?,! family has an appendage of family beggars hang- ing round it, wliich in a fev/ ages, or a few generations, are fhawito)^*^ off, and confole thcmfelves with t'.Uing their tale in ahns-houfes, work-houfes, and prifons. This is the natural confluence of arillo- cracy. The peer and the beggar are often of the fame family. One ■extreme produces the other : To make one rich many mufl be made poor'; neiiher can the fyftem be lupportcd by other means. There are two claffes of people to whom the laws of England are ■particularly hoftile, and thofe the moft helplefs ; younger children hwl the p(^or. Of the fcrm.er I have juft fpoken ; of the latter I fnail mention one inftance out of the many that might be produced, and with wbich I (liall clofe this fubjeA. Several lav/s are in exiflence for.regulating and limiting workmen's wages. Why not leave them zz free to make their own bargains, as the law-makers are to let their farms and houfts ? I'erfonal labour is all the property they have. Why is thathttle, and the little freedom they enjoy to be infringed ? But the injuftice v.'ill appear ftrohgcr, if we confider the operaiion and effect of fuch laws. When wages are fixed by what is called a law, the legal wages remain ftationary, while every thing clfe is in progreflion ; and as thofe who make that law, ftill continue to lay on new taxes by other laws, they increafe the txpence of living by one law, and take away the means by another. * See the Reports c?i the Corn 'Trade, RIGHTS OF MAN. 235- But If thefe gentlemenlavv-makers and tax-makers thought it right to limit the poor pittance which perfonal kbour can produce, and on. which a whole family is to be fupported, chey certainly mufl feel themfelves happily indulged in a hmitation on their own part, of not lefs than twelve thoufand a year, and that of property they never ac- quired (nor probably any of their anccilors), and of whicli they have made fo ill a ufe. Having now finirned this fubjeft, I fhall bring the feveral particu- lars into one \iew, and then proceed to other matters. The firil eight articles are brought forward from page 226. 1 . Abolition of two millions poor-rates. 2. Provifion for two hundred and fifty-tv.'o thoufand poor families^ at the. rate of four pounds per head for each child under fourteen years of age ; wiiich, with the addition of two hundred and fifty thoufand pounds, provides alfo education for one milhon and thirty thoufand children. • 3. Annuity of fix pounds (per ann.) each for all poor pcrfons, de- cayed tradefmen, or others (fuppofcd feventy thoufand) of the age of fifty years, and until fixty. 4. Annuity of ten pounds each for life for all poor perfons, de- cayed tradefmen, and others (fuppofed feventy thoufand.) of the age of fixty years. 5. Donation of twenty fnillings each for fifty thoufand births. 6. Donation of twenty fliillings each for twenty thoufand mar- riages. 7. Allowance of twenty thoufand pounds for the funeral expences of perfons travelling for work, and dying at a diftance from their friends. 8. Employment at all. times for the cafual poor in the cities cf London and Weflminller. .. . ... Second enumeration. -•9. Abolition of the tax on houfes and windows. 10. Allowance of three fliillingc per week for life to fifteen thou- fand difbanded foldlers, and a proportionate allowance to the ofncers of the difbanded corps. 1 1. Increafe of pay to the remaining foldiers of/'. 1 9,500 annually. 12. The fame allowance to the difoanded navy, and the fame in- creafe of pay, as to the army. 13. Abolition of the commutation tax^ 236 P A INE^s won R S. 14. Plan c£ a progreffive tax, opersting to extirpate the unjuH. znd unriatiiral law of primogeniture, arxd the vicious influence of the arif- tocfatical fyiteiti.* There yet remains, as-alreacy ftated, cme milh'on of furplus taxes* oome part of this will be required for circumftatices that do not im- r.iediately prcfent thcmfclref^, and fuch part as fhall not be wanted^, will admit a furthr.- reduflion of taxes equal to that amount. Among the claims thatjuHice requires to be made, the condition cf the inferior revenue ofF-cers will merit attention. It is a reproach to any govcrnm.ent to wafte fuch an immenfity of revenue in finecures - and nominal and unRecefTary places and offices, and not allow even a decent livelihood to thofe vn vvhom the labour falls- The falary of the inferior officers of the revenue has Hood at the petty pittance oF iefs than l^fty pounds a year, for upv/ards of one hundred years. It ought to he feventy. About one hundred and twenty thoufand pounds applied to this purpofe, will put all thofe falaries in a decent condition. * IV/jen e?iqv:rles are rmide 'into the condhion of the poor , various de- grees of dijirejs zu'dl moj'i prohahly he founds to render a different arrange- ment preferable to that 'which Is already prcpcfed. JVldonvs 'cuith families ivUl he in greater tvant than luhcre there are hvfhands living. There is alfo a difcrence In the expcnce cf living In ddiffcrent countries ; and more fa in fuel. Suppofe thenffry thoifand extravrdifiary cafes, at the rate cf ten pounds per family per ann, - £^, 500,cao \oo ^OOQ families^ at £,% per family per ann. - 8oo,cco icOiCOQ families, at /^.."j per family per an n. - 700,000. 1 /\0,0G0 families, af £.^ P'^r family per ann. - 520,000. u^nd In/lead of ten fhlllwgs per head for the education of other children, to alloiv fifty fljllllngs per family for that :^^J)urpcfetofftyihovfandfa:rdUes, - - 250,00© ^ — ;^.2, 770,000 l^b,CQO tigedpsrfons as lefore, - - I,i20,oco ^'.3,890,000 This arrangement am.ounts ic the fame fum as fated in p^age 222, in- cluding the £.2^0,000 for education ; but it provides (Including the aged people ) for four hundred and four thoufand families, ivhich is almojl one third of all the families in England* RIGHTS OF M A N. 237 This was propofed to be done almofl twenty years ngo, but the treafuiy board then in being, ilartled at it, as it might lead to limilar expecStations from the army and navy; and the cv^nt was, that the king, or fom^body for him, apphed to parh'aiiiait to hav.e his. own falary raifcd an hundred thoufand a year, v/hicii being done, every thing elfe was laid afide. With refpe(5l to another clafsof men, the inferior clergy, I forbear, to enlarge on their condition ; but all partialities and prejudices for, or againft, different modes and fiorms of religion alide, common juilice will determine, whether there ousfht to be an income of twenty or thirty pounds a year to one man, and of ten thoufand to another. I fpeak on this fubjcft with the more freedom, becaufe I am knov»-ti not to be a Prelbyterian ; and therefore the cant cry of court fyco- phants, about church and meeting, kept up to amux"e and bewilder the nation, cannot beraifed againii me. Ye fimple men on both fides the queftion, do you not fee through this courtly craft ? If ye can be kept difnuting and wrangling about church and meeting, ye juft anfwer the purpofe of every courtier, who lives the while on the fooil of the taxes, and lauo^hs at vour cre- dulity. Every religion is good that teaches man to be g'v?od ; and I know of none that inilruds him to be bad. All the before-mentioned calculations, fuppofc only fixteen millions and an half of taxes paid into the exchequer, after the expence of col*-." leftion and drawbacks at the cuiloin-houfe and excife-oiTice are de- duced; whereas the fum paid into the exchequer is very nearly, if not quite, fevcnteen millions. The taxes raifed in Scotland and Ire- land are expended in thofe countries, and therefore their favings will come out of their own taxes ; but if any part be paid into the Englifh exchequer, it might be remitted. This will not r^ake one hundred thoufand pounds a year difference. There now remains only the national debt to be conHdered. In the year 1789, the inteveil, cxclufive of the tontine, was ^^T.^, 150, 138. How much the capital has been reduced fince that time the miniller bed knows. But after paying the intereft, abolifning the tax on hou- fes and windows, the commutation tax and the poor-rates ; and mak- ing all the provifions for the poor, for the education of children, the fupport of the aged, the difbanded part of the army and navy, and increafmg the pay of the remainder, there will be a furoluo of one million. The prefent fcheme of paying off the national debt appears to me, fpeaking as an indifferent perfon, to be an ill concerted, if not a falla- - 23^ PAINE's V/ORKS. clous job. The burden of the national debt connfts not in its being' fo many milh'ons, or fo m?.ny hundred milh'ons, but in the quantity of taxes coile6led every year to pay the intereil. If this quantity continue the lame, the burden of the national debt is the fame to all. intents and purpofes, be the capital iTiOre or lefs. The only know- ledge which the public can have of the reduftion of the debt, muft be through the redu6lion of taxes for paying the interefl The debt, therefore, is not reduced one farthing to the pubhc by all the nillions* that have been paid ; and it would require more money now to pur-> chafe up the capital, than v: hen the fcheme began. Digreiling for a moment at this point, to which ' fliall return a^ain, I look back to the sppointmeLt cf Mr. Pitt, as nrinifter. I was then in America. The \\?-r was ever ; a\id though refeht- ment had ceafed, memory was Hill ahive. "VVhen the ncvs cf the coahition arrived, though it v/as a niatter cf no concern to me as a citizen of Am.crica, I felt it as a man. It had fom.ethiiig in it which fnocked, by publicly fporting with decency^ if not with principle. It was in-ipudence in lord North ; it was a want of fifmnefs in Mr. Fox. Mr. Pitt was, at that time, what may be called a m.aiden charafter in politics. So far from being hackneyed, he appeared not to be initiated into the firfl myileries of court intrigue. Every thing was in his favour. Refentment againft the coalition ferved as friendfnip to him., and his ignorance of vice was credited for virtue. With the return of peace, cornm.erce and profperity would rife of itfcif ; yet even this increafe v^-as throv;n to his account. When he cam.e to the hehn the ftorm was over, and" he had nothing to interruDt his courfe. It required even ingenuity to be wrong, and he fucceedca. A little timic fSiewcd him the fam.e fort of m.an as his predecefTcrs had been. Tndead of profiting by thofe errors which had accumulated a burden of faxes unparalleled in the world, he fouo-ht, I might almoft fay, lie advertifed for enemies, and provoked means to increafe taxation. Aiming at fomething, he knew not what, he ranfacked Europe and India for adventures, and abandoning the fair Dretenfions he began v/iih, becamie the knight-errant of modern times. It is unpleafant to fee charafler throw itfelfaway. It is m.cre fo to fee one's felf deceived. Mr, Pitt had merited nothing, but he pro- mifcdmuch. Pie gave fymptoms of a mind fuperior to the meannefs and corruption of ccuvts. Piis apparent candour encouraged expec- tations- and the public confiderice, ilunned, wearied, and ccnfounded RIG H T S O F M AN. 339 by a chaos af pavdes, revived and att?-ched itfdf to turn. But miftak- ing, as he has done, the Jifguil of Lhe nation again ft the coalition, for merit in himfelf, he has rudied into meafures, which a man lefs fup« ported would not have prefunied to aft. All this feems to fhcw th:it change of minifters amounts to nothing* One goes out, another comes in^ and {till the fame meafures, vices, and extravagance are purlued. I fip;:ntie3 not v'ho is miniRer. The defeft lies in the fyftem. The foundation and the fuperftruclure of the government is bad. Prop it as you pleafe, it continually links into court government, and ever will. I return, as I promifi^d, to the fubjedl of the nat/onal debt, that offspring of the Dutch-Anglo revolution, and its handmaid the Ha- nover fucceffion. But it is now too late to enquire how it began. Thofe to whom it is due have advanced the money; and whether it v/as well or ill fpent, or pocketed, is not their crime. It is, however, eafy to fee, that as the nation proceeds in contemplating the nature and principles of government and to underftand taxes, and make comparifons be- tween thofe of America, France and England, it will be next to im- polTible to keep it in the fame torpid ilate -it has hitherto been. Some reform muil, from the necemiy of the cafe, foon begin. It is not Avhether thefe principles prefs with little or much force in the prefent moment. They are out. They are abroad in tlie vrorld, and no force can flop them. Like a fecret told, they are beyond recal ; and hemuft be blind indeed that doe^ not fee that a change is already be- ginning .. Nine millions of dead taxes .is a ferlous thing; and this not only for bad, but in a great raeafure for foi^ign government. By putting' the power of making war into the hands of the foreigners who canie for what they could get, little elfe was to be expelled than what has happened. , . Reafons are already advanced in this worli, fnewing that' v\:h$teyer the reforms in the taxes may be, they ought to be made in the cur- rent expences of government, and not in he part applied to the inte»'.e|t of the national debt. By remitting the taxes of the poor, .'/W ^vill be totally relieved and all difcontent will be taken away ; and by ilriking off fuch of the taxes as arc already m.entioned, the nation will more than recover.iht v^lude cxpence of the m.ad American war. There will then remain only the national debt as a fubjeft of dif- content, and in order to remove, or rather to prevent this, it would be good policy in the ftock-holders thenifclvc: to confiJer it as pro- 240 P A I N E ' s WORKS. perty, fubje,fl like all other property, to bear feme portion of tils taxes. It would give to it both popularity and fecurity, and as a great part of its 'prefent inconvenience is balanced by the capital which it keeps a]Ive, a meafure of this kind would fo far add to that balance 'as to filence otjeftions. This may 'be done by fuch gradual irier.ns as to accomplifh all that is neCclTaij with the greatcft eafe and convenience. Ififtead of taxing the capital, the beft method would be to tax the '"ntereit by foine prcgrefiive ratio, and to leiTen the public taxes in the fame proportion as the intereft diminiflied. Suppofe the inkerefl: was taxed one halfpenny in the pound the fnfl year, a penny more the feccnd, and to proceed by a certain ratio to be determined upon, always kfs than any other tax upon property. Such a tax would be fubtrafted from the intereft; at the tim.e of pa)Srf ment, without any expence of collection. One halfpenny in the pound would Icffen the intereft: and confe- quently the taxes, twenty thoufand pounds. The tax" ch waggons ' amounts to this fum, and this tt:x might be taken off the firil year. The fecond year the tax on female fervants, or fome other of the like amount niight alfo be taken off, and by proceeding in this manner, always applying the tax raifed from the property of the debt towards its extindion, and not carrying it to the current fervices, it would liberate itfelf. The llockholders, notwithftanding this tax, would pay lefs taxes than they do now. What they would fave by the extinftion of the poor-rates, and the tax on houfes and windows, and the commutation tax, would be confiderably greater than what this tax, flow, but cer- tain in its operation, amounts to. It appears to m.e to be prudence to look out for meafures that may apply under any circumftance that may approach. There is, at this moment, a crifis in the affairs of Europe that requires it. Preparation now lo wifdom. If taxation be once let loofe, it will be difficult to re-inilate it; neither would the relief be fo effedual, as to proceed by fome certain and gradual redudion. The fraud, hypocrify, and impolltion of governments, are now be- . ginning to be too well underft.ood to prom,ife them any logger career. The farce of monarchy and ariftocracy, in all countries, is following that of chivalry, and Mr. Burke is drefling for the funeral Let it then pafs quietly to the tomb of all other folhes, and the mourners be • comforted. ThI time is not very diftiant when Englarid will laugh at itfelf for 11 I G li T S OF MA N. 241 iendfjig to Hcillaad, Hanover, Zell, or Bruiifwlck for men, at l!ie ex- p^p.ce of a uiilL'ou a year, who undcrilood neither her laws, her Ian- ;;Ti.ige, nor her intercit, and vvhofe capacities would fcarccly have fit- ted them for the office of a panfli ccnftabie. If government could he t'iulLcd to fuch hands, ii; mull be fonie eafy and fnnple thing indeed, and materials fit for all the purpofes may be found in ever}' town and village in England. When it fhall be faid in any country in the world, my poor are liappy : Neither ignorance nor diilrefs is to be found among them ; my jails are empty of prifoncrs, my rtreets of beggars; the aged arc not in. want, the taxes are not opprefTive ; the rational world is my friend, beeaufe f am t!ie fnciid of its happinefs : When thefe things can be faid, then may that country boait its conilftution and its government. Within the fpace of a few years we have feen tvv^o revolutions, thofe uf America and France. In the former, the contefl vras long, and the conf]i6l fevere; in the latter, the nation a^tcd with fuch a ccnfo- iidated impulfc, that having no foreign enemy to contend with, the revolution was complete in power the moment it appeared. From both thofe inftances it is evident, that the greatell forces that can be brought into the field of revolutions, are reafon and common intereil. AV he re thefe can have the opportunity of aifling, cppofition dies with fear, or crumbles away by convitilion. It is ? great Handing which lliey have now un!verfally obtained ; and we may hereafter hope to fee revolution?;, or changes in governments, produced with the fame quie: operation by which any meafure, determinable by reafon and difcuilion, is acconiphfhtc. When a nation changes its opinion and habits of thinking, it is na longer to be p-overnedas before ; but it would not only be wrong, but bad policy, to attem.pt by force what ought to be accompliflied by .reafon. R.ebeUion confifts in forcibly oppofing the general v/ill of a nation, whether by a party or by a government. There ought> therefore, to be in eveiy nation a method of occafionally afcertaining the ftate of public opinion with refpecl to government. On this point the old government of France was fuperior to the prefent go* vernment of England, bccaufe, on extraordinary occafions, recoiu-fe could be had to what was then called the ilates-generah But in Eog- !'and there arc no fucli occahonai bodies; and as to thofe who are now- called reprefentatives, a great part of them are mere machines of the court, placemen, and dependants. I prcfumc, that though all the people of England pay taxes, not hn hundredth part of them are cledlors, and the members of one of Vol. II. ' I i 24^ P A I N E ' s W O R K S. them are dealers, and tlie members of one of the houfes of parliament reprefent nobody but themftivcs. There is, therefore, no power but the voluntary will of the people that has a right to a6l in any matter refpedling a general refonn; and by the fame right that two perfons can confer on fuch a fubjedl:, a thoufand may. The objedl, in all fucK preh'minary proceedings, is to lind out what the general fcnfe of a nation is, and to be governed by it. If it prefer a bad or defedivc governm.ent to a refoim, or choofe to pay ten times more taxes than there is occafion for, ft has a right fo to do ; and fo long as the ma- jority do not impofe conditions on the minority, different from what they impofe on themfelves, though there may be much error, there is no Iniuilice. Neither will the error continue long. Reafon and difcuf- lion will foon bring things right, however wroRg tliey may begin. By fuch a procefs tjO tumult is to be apprehended. The poor, in ail countries, are naturally both peaceable and grateful in all re- forms in which tlicir intereft and happinefs is included. It is only by negledting and rejcdling them that they become tumul- tuous. The cbje6l:3 that now prefs on the public attention are, the French revolution, and the profpeft of a general revolution in governments. Of all nations in Europe, there is none fo much interelled in the French revolution as England. Enemies for ages, and that at a vafl ex- pence, and without aiiy national cbjedt, the opportunity now prefents itfelf of amicably chohng the fcene, and joining their efforts to reform the reft of Europe. By doing this, they will not only prevent the further efFuhon of blood, and increafe of taxes, but be in a condition cf getting rid of a conhderable part of their prefent burdens, as has been already llatcd. Long experience however has (hewn, that re- forms of this kind are not thofe which eld governments wifh to pro- mote, and therefore it is to nations and not to fuch governments, that thefe m^atters prefent them.felvcs. In the preceding part of this work, I have fpoken cf an alliance be- tween England, France, and America, for purpcfes that were to be afterwards mentioned. Though I have no dire6l authority on tlie part of America, I have good reafon to conclude, that ihe is dif- pofed to enter into a confideration of fuch a m.eafure, provided that the governments w-ith v/hich fhe might ally, a6led as national govern- ments, and not as courts enveloped in intrigue and myftery. That France as a nation, and a national government, would prefer an alliance with England, is a matter of certainty. Nations, like individuals, who h;ive long been enemies, without knowing e?.ch other, or knowing RIGHTS OF MAN. 2^ "v^T^iy, become the better friends when they difcoYer the errors and i:r.- pofitions under which they had nfted. Admitting, therefore, the probability of fuch a connexion, I will flate fome matters by which fuch an alh'ar.ce, together with that of Holland, might render fervice, 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 propofe, with effcft, a lin-.ita- tion to and a general difmanthng of all the navies in Europe, to a certain proportion to be agreed upon. Firil, that no new fliip of war fhall be built by any power in Eu- rope, themfelves included. Secondly, that all the navies now in exigence fhall be put back, fuppofed to one tenth of their prcfent force. This will fave to France and England at leafc two miBions ftcrling annually to each, and their relative force be in the fame proportion as it is now. If men will permit themfelves to think, as rational beinga ought to think, no- thing can appear more ridiculous and abfurd, exclufive of all moral refle6licns, than to be at the expence of building navies, filling them with men, and then hauhng them into the ocean, to try which can fink each other fafteil. Peace, which coils nothing, is attended with infinitely more advantage, than any viitory with all its expence. Cut this, though it beil anfwers the purpofe of nations, does not that of court governments, v/hofe habited policy Is pretence for taxation, places, and offices. It is. 1 think, alfo certain, that the above confederated powers, to- gether with that of the United States of America, can propofe with efFeft, to Spain, the independence of South America, and the open- ing thofe countries of Immenfe extent and wealth to the general com- merce of the world, as North America now is. With how much more s:lorY, and advantage to itfelf, does a nation aft, when it exerts its powers to refcue the world from bondage, and to create to Itfelf friends, that when it employs thofe powers to in- creafe ruin, defolation, and mifery. The horrid fcene that is now afting by the EnghTn government in the Eaft-Indies, Is fit only to be told of Goths and Vandals, who, dcftitute of principle, robbed and tortured the world they were incapable of enjoying. The opening of v'outh America would produce an immenfe field of commerce, and a ready money market for manufa£tures, which the eaftern world does not. The Eafl is already a country full of manu- fadlures, the importation of which is not only an injury to tlie manu- 244 PAlNE's WORKS. failures of Eur^land, but" a drain upon It:; fncoc. "J he i:aiar;cc afainil Engisad by this trade is regiilxrhf upward? of lialf a n-ii]l:on annually fcnt out in the Eail-India Ihips in hlvcr: ysd this it. the realor, toge- ther with German intrigae, aiiJ Gcrniim frbiidics, there k fo little filver in England. But an)' war is harveft to fuch government?, liowcver n-inous it may be to a nation. It ferves to keep up deeeitiul expetSlatiorjs which prevent a people looking into the defefis ai^d abufes of government. Ii is the lo i\re ! and the lo there ! that aniufca and cheats t!ic mul- titude. Never did fo great an opportnn'ty offer itfeif to England, and to all Europe, as is produced by the two revolutions of America and France. By the former, freedom his a national champion m ihz weftern v/orld ; arvl by the latter, in Europe. "When another natiou faall join France, cefpotifm and bad government v/ill fcnrccly dare to appear. To ufe u trite expredion, the iron is btioming liol all over Europe. The iufiilted Genn^u and the enfjavcd Spaniard, the Rufs and the Pole, are bfe^^i'^^-fig to thinlv. Tiie prefent I'ge will hereafter merit to be called the Acre of Reafon, and the prefent f^c- neration Vvu'U appear to the future as the Adam of a new woild. When all the governments of Europe fliall be cHabliHied on t;ie re- prefentative fyUcm, nations v/ill become acquainted, and ih.e animofi- tics and prejudices fomented by the intrigue and artifice of courts, will ceafe. The opprefled foldier will become a freeman ; and the tor- tured failor, no lono-er dragged along the ftrects like a felon, will purfue his mercantile vovage in. frifety. It would be better thut na- tions fhould continue the pay of their foldiers during their lives, and give them their difcharge and reflore them to freedom and their friends, and ceafe recruiting, than retain fuch niultitudes at the fame txpence, in a condition ufekfs to fociety and themfelves. As r«;ii!iers have hitherto been treated m moil countries, they might be Una to be without a friend. Shunned by the citizen on an apprehenfion of be- ing enemies to liberty, and too often infuUcd by thofe who com- manded them, their oridition was a double opprefTion. But where genuine principles of liberty pervade a people, everything is rcilored to order ; and the foldier civilly treated, returns the civility. In contem.platinrr revolutions, it is eafy to ])erceive that thcv mav JO ' J i J J prife from two dillind^ caufes ; the cm?, to avoid or get rid of fome great calamity, the other, to obtain fome great and pofitlve good ; and the two may be diftinguifhed by the names of adlive and pafilvc revolutions. In thofe v/hich proceed from tlie former caufe, the teiu- RIGHTS OF M A'N. 24.5 per becomes incenfed and Toured; and the redrefs, obtained by dan- ger, is too often fullied by revenge. But in llioie v>hich proceed from the latter, the heart, rather animated than agitated, enters fe- rencly upon the fubjedl. Reafon and difculTion, perfuafion and con- vi6lion, become the weapons in the conteft, and it is only when tbofe are attempted to be fuppreffcd that recourfe is had to violence. "When men unite in agreeing that a lljltig is goody could it be obtained, fucli as relief from a burden of taxes and the extinction of corruptic: , the objefl: is more than ha'T accompliflied. What they approve as tlie ^end, they will promote in the means. Will any man fay in the prefent excefs of taxation, falling fo hea- vily on the poor, that a remiilion of five pounds annually of taxes to one hundred and four thoufand poor families is not a good tJAng ? AVill he fay that a remillion of feven pounds annually to one hundred thoufimd other poor families — of eight pounds annually to another hundred thoufand poor families, and often pounds annually to fifty thoufand poor and widowed families, are not good things ? And, to proceed a ilep farther in this climax, will he fay, that to provide againfc the misfortunes to which all human Xi^t is fabjeft, by fecuring" fix pounds annually for ail poor, diilrciTed, and reduced perfons of the age of fifty and until fixty, and often pounds annually after fixiv, is not a jtos^ th'in'z ? Will he'fay, that an abolition of two millions cf poor-rates to the hoiue-keepers, and of the whole of the houfe and window-li^rht tax and of the commutation tax is not a good thing ? Or will he fav, tliat to aboiiih corruption is a had th'ing ? If, therefore, the good to be obtained be worthy of apafTive, rati- onal, and coftlefs revolution, it would be bad policy to prefer waiting for a calamity that fliould force a violent one. I have no idea, con- fidering the reforms which are now pafiing and fpreading throun-hout Europe, that England v/ill penr.it hcrfelf to be the laft ; and where the occafion and the opportunity quietly ofTer, it is better than to wait for a turbulent necefiity. It may be confidered as an honour to the animal faculties of man to obtain redrefs by courage and danger, but it is far greater honour to the rational faculties to accompHfli the fame objeft by reafon, accommodation and general confent.* * / litioix) it is the opinion of ir.any of the mojl enlightened charuHers in Trance (there aJtvays tuill be thofe tuho fee farther into events than others) not only among the general mafs of citizen?, but of many of the principal fixsir-djer: of the fvrmar ngtiQnal ajfemhly y that the monarchical plan will not 246 P A I N E ' s W O R K S. As reforms, or revolutions, call them which you pleafe, cxtiend themfelves among nations, tliofc nations will form connexions and conventioPF, and when a few are thus confederated, the progrefs will be rapid, till defpotifin and corrupt government be totally expelled, at kail cut of two quarters of the world, Europe and America. The Algerine piracy may then be commanded to ceafe, for it is only by the m.alicious policy of old governments, againft each other, that it exifts. Thronghout this Vv'ork, various and numerous as the fubjecls are, which I have taken up and inveftigated, there is only a fmgle para- graph upon religion, viz. " tJjat every religion is good that teaches Ttian, to he good.' ^ I have carefully avoided to enlarge upon the fubject, becaufe I am inclined to believe, that what is called the prefent minillr)- wifh to fee contentions about religion kept up to prevent the nation turning its attention to fubje£l:s of govermr.ent. It is, as if they were to fay, *' hooli thai rvry, or av.y ivay^ hut thisJ'^ But as religion is very improperly ir.ade a political machine, and the reality of it is tliereby dcfiroyed, I will conclude this work v/ith Hating in v.-hat liglit rel!;:;ion appears to me. If we fuppofe a large family of children, who, on any particular day, or particular circumflance, m.ade it a cuftom to prefent to their parent fom.e token cf tlieir atTe6l;on and gratitude, each of them would make a different ofrerin;^, and mcfl probably in a different mzn- uer. Som.e would pny their congratulations in themes of verfe and profe, by fome little devices, as their genius didated, or according ta what they thought would pkafe; and, perliaps, the leaft of all, not continue tv.nry years in that ccuntry. They have found out, that as pon this fuhjetl, the idea always tvaSf that zi- hen fuch a time, from the general opinion of the nation, fl^ all arrive y thai the honourable and liberal method 3t■J^^^rn.m^9lmf.3•y>i^'^m'»fli APPEND I X inirar»"iiM Af .S the publication of this work has been delayed beyond the timt ktended, I think it not iir.proper, aU circumilances confidered, to. (late the caiifes that have occafioned that delay. The reader will probably obfcrve^.that feme parts in the plan con-, tained in this work for reducing; the taxes, and certain parts in Mr. Pitt's fpeech.at the opening of the prefcnt feiTion, Tuefday, January 3^, are fo 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 firft point out the parts that are fimilar, and then ftate fuch cir- cumuances as 1 am. acquainted- with-, leaving the reader to make his «wn conclufion. CoTifidering it as almoft an unprecedented cafe, that taxes fhould be propofed to be taken off, it is equally extraordinary tliat fuch a meafure fhould occur to two perfons at the fame time ; and dill more fo (confidering the vaft variety and multiplicity of taxes) that they fhjeuld.lut on the fame- fpecific taxes. Mr. Pitt has mentioned, in his. rpeech, the tax. on carts and fwaggons — -that ow female fervants — the lowering the tax on candles ^ and the taking off the tax of three fhillings on boufes having under feven windows. Every one of thofc fpecinc taxes are a part of the plan contained in this work, and propofed aifo to be taken off. Mr. Pitt's plan, it is true, goes no farther than to a rcdu- i-ajfinent, and tofave him the repeated trouble of metitiotitng the author, as he has not failed to doy_ I male rio hcfiLation in faying that as the opportunity- if hencjliing ly the French revel ution eajlly occurred to me, I drew up the publication in quefion, and Jloenved it to him and feme ether gentlemen i nvho, fully approving it, held a meeting for the pmpofe of making it public, andfubfcribed to the arnoinrt of fifty guirieaf to defray the expence of advcr- iyiKgr^ , IMM"^ there are at this time jii. JEnglafld, . a greater number, of inen a6iing on difittierefted principhs,\and dciermhied.io look intoth( nc^f&ri iind practices cf goveninunt thefnfehcs, and.fiof llifidly trvji, as has liltherto been the cafe, either fogoverianeM generally, or to p^irliaments, or to par^ liamentary jjipoflion, than at city former period. Had this been done a (tntury a^Of cor rapt ion c:;d taxalian had net arri'VcdtQ the height they ^i*^ m.mf ai. .' . APPENDIX. 2;i .JLn€ meeting of parliament, and he. wag informed oC the tim(i- at which It was to appear. He had contpofsd nearly the \yhoIe ^bout 3 fort- night before the time of Parliament meetings and had printed as £ar as page 1 12, and had given me a proof of the next fhett, up to page 128. It was then in lafiicient forvvardntTs to be out at the time pro- pofjd, as two other fnects were ready for ftriking off. I hud before told him, that if he thought he rtiould be ilraightened for time, I . could get part of the work done at another prefs, which he defired me not to do. In tliis manner the work Itood on the Taefday fort- night preceding t!ie meeting of parliament, when all at once, without any previous Intimation, though I had been with him ^he evening before, he Tent me by one of his workmen, all the remaining copy, from page i 12, declining to go on with the work en any conji deration * To account for this cxiraoi-dinary conduft I was totally at a lofs, as he (lopped at the part where the arguments on fyftems and princi- ples of government clofed, and where the plan for the reduction of takes, the education of children, and the fuppcrt o£ the poof and the aged begins ; and ftill more efpecially, as he had, at the time of- his ijegijining to' print, and before he had feen the whole copy, offered .a ?thou fan d pounds for the copy-right, together with the future copy* VIght of the former part of the Rights of Van. I told theperfoa Who brought me this offer that I fliould dot accept it, and wlihedv it ho^ to be Venewed, giving him as my reafon, that tbough I believed tlie printer to be an honefl man, ] would never put it in the powe.i* of any printer or publi!her to fupprefs or altera work of mine, bv mak- ing him mafter of the copy, or give to him the right of fclhug it to any miaiR;er, or to any other perfon, or to treat as a.rnere'mjitter pf traSic, that which I intended Ihoiild operate as a principle. ' ' His refufal to complete the work (which he Could not parchafc) obliged me to feek for another printer, and this of cdnfequerice would throw the publication bark till after the meeting of parliament, other- wife it would have appeared that Mu Pitt had only taktfn 'taken lip a part of the plan which I had more fully ftated. "v.'' !^'.^^\'^ '^ ' " Whether that gentleman, or any other, had feen the w6r1c'cVa.n)ir paft'of it, Is rhore than I have authority to fay. But the manner in which the w-ork wns returned, and the particular time at which this HVas done, and that after rhe off;^rs he haci madeVare- fufpicieiis clr- ciimftances'i'^'-I know what thd'opinlon of bookfellers and publiihera IS opon fiicli'a cafe, but as to my own opinion, I choofe to ma^e'hb "declaration. Tiiere are many ways by v.-hich proof (heels may be procured by other perfons before a v/orlc pubhcly appears j to which I fhall add a certai.'i circumilanccy- which is. 252 -P A I N E ' s \V 0-R K S. Aminiften'al bookfelkr in PJccadiHy- who has been employed, t% common report fays, by a clerk of one of the beards clofely cor.- • nefted with the miniilry (the board of trade and plantation of which ^ Hawk(bury is prcfidcnt) to piiblifh what he calls ir.y lAk (I wifli his own life and that thofe of the cabinet were as good) ufed to have ^his books printed at the fame printing office that I employed; but •when the former part 'of the Rigks of Alan came out, he took his work av/ay in dudgeon ; and about a wedc or ten days before the ■printer returned my copy, he came to make him an offer of his work tigam, Avhich was accepted. This would confequently gi\e him ad- ■ miffion into the printing ofnce where the fheets of this work were then lying ; and as bookfellers and printers are free with each otherj he would have the opportunity of feeing what was going on. — Be the cafe however as it may, Mr. Pitt's plan, little and diminutive as it is, would have made a very auk ward appearance, had this work appeared '&t the time the printer had engaged to finifh it. ■ 1 have now ftated the particulars Vvhich occalioned the delay, from ■the prcpofal to purchafe, to the refufal to print. If all the gentlemen •are innocent, it is very unfortunate for them that fuch a variety of fufpit-ious circumllances fliould, without any dcfign, arrange them* i felvcs together. Having now finifhed this part, I will conclude with tlating sRother circurnftance. About a fortnight or three weeks before the meeting of parliament^ a fm.all addition, amounting to about twelve fhiHings and fix pence a year, ^was made to the pay of the foldiers, or rather, their pay was docked (o much Icfs. Some geiitlemen who knew in part, that this work would contain a plan of reforms refpefting the oppreffed condf- tion of foldiers, v.'illicd me to add a note to the work, fignifying, that the part upon that fnbjecl had been in the printer's hands feme weekis before that addition of pay waspropofed. I declined doing this, lefl it flioyld be interpreted into an air of vanity, or an endeavour to ex- cite fufpicion (for which perhaps there might be no grounds) that fome of the' government gentlemen, had, by fome means or other^, , .^;^ made out what this work would contain ; and had not the printing o- . T3lnno'' been interrupted fo as to occafion a delay beyond the time iixed for. publication, nothing contained in this appendix would have appeared. THOMAS PAINE. -bnc j8g^Mji;^J•^'.'^^t■-^^-■^'^l^i'^^^^'■f^-'>*^t*t^^^^^^^ TO THE AUTHORS OF ' THE K E P UB L I G A N.'^ GENTLEMEN, M, . DUCHASTELET has mentioned to me the intention of fome perfaiis to commence a work under the title of ** The Repuh" As T am a citizen of a country which knows no other majefLy than that of the people — no other government than that of the repre- fentative 'body — no other fovereignty than that of the laws, and which is attached to France both by alliance and by gintitude, I voluntarily offer you my fervices in fupport of principles as honourable to a nation as they are adapted to promote the happinefs of mankind, I offer them to you with the more zeal, as I know the moral, lite- rary, and political charafter of thofe who are engaged in the under- taking, and find myfelf honoured in their good opinion. But I mud at the fame time obferve, that from my ignorance of the French language, my works muft neceffarily undergo a tranfla- tion ; they can of courfe be but of little utility, and my offering mud confdl more o£ wlflies than fervices — I muft add, that 1 am obliged to pafs a part of this fummer in England and Ireland. As the public has done me the unmerited favour of recognizing mc under the appellation of - ' Common Senfe," which Is my ufual figna- ture, I {hall continue it in this pubheaiion to avoid miPcakes, and to prevent my being fuppofed the author of works not my own. As t« ray political principles, I fhall endeavour, In this letter, to trace their 2|4 PAIN£*3 WO R KS, general features in fucli 3 Wanner, as that they cannot be nyTiinacfi •ftood. It 1*3 defirable in moil; infiances to avoid that, which may give even the leall fufpiclon with refpedl to the_part meant to be adopted, and particularly on the prefent occafion, where a perfect clearnefs of ex- preffion is neceflary to the avoidance of any pcflible minnterpreta- tion. 1 am happy, therefore, to find, that thrs which monarchical ignorance or knavery has fptead thrbiigh the world, the one which bears the marks of th<] moft dex- terous invention, is the opinion that the fyflem of repvbRcanlfm isohl^ adapted to a fmall country, and that a monarchy Is fuited, on the con- trary, to thofe of greater extent. Such is the language of courts, an|i fiich the fentiments which they have canfed to be adopted in monai** ehk: countries ; but the opinion is contrary at the fame time to pff^^ ciple and to experience. • . . v3 The government, to be of real ufe, fliould poflefs a complete ^no%y-« ledge of all the parties — all the circumftances, and all the intcreils of a nation. The monarchic fyftem, in confcqucnce, Inftead of being fuited to a country of great extent, would be more admifiible in a fmall territory, where an individual mi.y be fuppcfed to know the ^alrs and the Interefls of the whole. But when it is attempted to extend this individual knowledge to the affairs of a great country, \\\t capacity of knowing bears no longer any proportion to the extent or multiphcity of the objects which ought to be knowrt, atid the gov^ril- ment inevitably falls from Ignorance into tyranny. For the proof of this pofition we need only look to Spain, Russia, Gei many, Tuk* KEY, ^nd the whole of the eaftern continent — Countries for the '.deJj^ verancc cf which I offer my moft lincere wi/h yiqi:/ The hereditary fuccejjion C5in never exift as a matter of r/j-/^/ ,-' It i*^ a nullity — a nothing. To admit the idea, is to regard man as a fp.ecies of property belonging to fome individuals, either born or to be bornl It is to confider our defcendants, and all pofterity, as mere animal;* ,)^^ithp^t ^ right pea will \ ll is, in fine, the moft bafe and humiliat* Jng idea, that ever .degraded the human fpc<:ie6, and which, for thi?. honour of humanity,, fhould be deftroyed for ever. The..j,de^ of here^^tary fucceffion is fo contrary to the right?, of map, ^h^.t.:iff,w/2 \y^fe ourCelves to be recalled to cxiftence, i n Head of- laeing veplftced -^y our p^fterjty, weihould not have the right of d(?T. priving ourfelves /beforehand of thofe r/^/6/j- which would then pro- perly belong to us, On \vhat ground, then, or by vvhat authority^ do we dare to deprive of their righto thofe children who will fooa jfe^S r A I N E 's WOK K S. be men ? Why are we not itruck v»ith the injuftice which vrc per- petrate on our defcendants, by endeavouring to tranfmit them as a- vile herd, to mailers whole vices are all that can be forefeen. AVhenev€r the Frcdch conflitution fnall be rendered conformable to*; its Declaration of Rights j we fnall then be enabled to give to France, and with jullice, the appellation of a civic empire ; for its government will be the empire of laws, founded on the great republican principles. oiekai've reprefentatiotiy and x\-x Rights of Man — But monarchy and, hereditary fucceflion are incompatible with the hafis ol its conflitu- tion, I hope that I have at prefent fuf&ciently proved to you that 1 am a o-ood republican ; and I have fuch a confidence in the truth of thefe principles, that I doubt not they will foon be as . nniverfal in France as in America. The pride of human nature will aflift their evidence, will contribute to their cilabhfi-iment, and men will be afliamed of monarchy. I am, with refpeft. Gentlemen, Your friend, THOMAS PAINE. Pfzr/j, jmcy 1 791 i»jy,g'^a";u>.r.jgas£g.^^^y^^j'--{ffjA^Bwiag^ '-••' 'yv--^v!fiii'^'i'.^^r- ••rv. '^r^-'^.r^^^ss TO THE A B B E S Y E Y A S Pa; 13, Sih ju'7, 1:51. "A SIR, >T the moment of my departure for En.qlimct, I rcr J, in the Monkeur of Tuefday laft, your letter, in which you give the chiil- lenge on the fubje^l cf government, and oiTer to d^eFend what Is called .the monarchical oplnlin ajainll the repubh'can fyflem. " I accept of vour chalien<:re with plcafure ; and I '/^ace fuch a cOnfider.ce in the fupeiio;ity cf the republican fyftem over that nul- lity of fyftem, called 7Ki«.7r^>6)', that I engage not to exceed the ex- tent of fifty pages, and to leave you the liberty of taking as much la- titude as you may think proper. ** The refpeft which I bear your moral and literary reputation, will be your fecimty for my candour in the courfe of this difcuITion ; but, notwithftanding that I fhall treat the fubjeft ferioufly and fm- 'cerely, let me premife, that I confider my ftlf at liberty to ridicule, as t-hey deferve, monarchical abfurdities, whenfoever theoccaflon fiial! prelent itfclf. " By republicanifm, I do not underftand what the name fignifies in Holland, and in Come parts of Italy. 1 underftand fimply a go- vernment "by reprefentation — a government founded upon the prir.ci- ples of the Declaration of Rights ; principles to wlu'ch fcveral p^.rts of the French conftitution arife in contradiftion. The declarations of the rights of France and America are but one and the fame thing in principles, and almoft in exprcfiions; and this is the republicanifm which I undertake to defend agaii.ft what is called monarchy and ar'if- tec racy. Vol. II. L 1 35^ PAINE's WORKS. ** I fee with pleafure, that in refpe(il to one point, we are already agreed ; and that is the extreme danger of a civil I'ljl of thirty millions, I.can d'fcover no reafon why one of the parts of the government fhould be fupported with fo extravagant a profufion, v/hilfl the other icarcely receives what is fufficient for its common Vv-ants. ** This dangerous and difhonourable difprcportion, at once fupph'es the one v/ith the means of corrupting, and throws the other into the predicament of being corrupted. In America there is but little dif- ference, \vith regard to this point, between the legiflative and the executive part of our government ; but the firil is much better at- tended to than it is in France.* «< In whatfoever manner. Sir, I may treat the fubjeft of which you have propofed the inveuigation, I hope, that you will not doubt my entertaining for you the higheft efleem. I mufl alfo add, that I am not the perfonal enemy of kings. Quite the contrary. No man more heartily wiihes than m.yfelf to fee them all in the happy and honourable flate of private individuals ; but, I am the avowed, open and intrepid enemy of what is called m.onarchy; and I am fuch by prin- ciples which nothing can either alter or corrupt — by my attachment to humanity; by the anxiety which I feel within myfelf, for the dir*- nity and the honour of the human race; by the difguft which I exepe- rience, when I obferved men dire6led by children, and governed by -brutes; by the horror which all the evils that monarchy has fpread over the earth excite within m.y breaft ; and by thofe fentiments- which make me fhudder at the calam.ities, the exadions, the wars, and the maffacres with v.hich monarchy has cruflied mankind : In fliort it is againft all the hell of monarchy that I have declared war. (Signed) THOMAS PAINE.'' '^ A deputy to the c^ngrrfs receives about a guinea and a half daih i . •}J\i'i* 9\i ^^^9^i.Mi>^:'^lmlm:1au•^••gmiA^rrrv7rsu^UFs:ss'^sr,.l^xs^ ADDRESS TO THE ADDRESSERS ON THE LATE P R 0 C L A M A r I 0 N. G lOULD I have commanded circumftances with a wifii, I know not of any that -would have more generally promoted the progrefs of knowledge, than the late proclamation, and the numerous rotten borough and corporation addreffes thereon. They have not only ferved as advertlfements, but they have excited a fpirit of enquiry into principles of government, and a defire to read the Rights of Man, in places, where that fpirit and that v/ork were before un- known. The people of England, wearied and ftunned with parties, and al- ternately deceived by each, had almofl vefigned the prerogative of thinking. Even curiofity had expired, and a univerfal langour had fpread itfelf over the land. The oppofition was vifibly no other than a conteft for pcv/er, whilft the mafs of the nation flood torpidly by as the prize. In this hopelefs ftate of things, the firft part of the Rights of Max made its appearance. It had to combat with a llrange mixture, of prejudice and indifference ; it flood expofed to every fpecies of newf- paperabufe \ andbefidcs this, it had to remove the obflrudlions which ,,# zSd TAIK'E's WORKS. Mr- Burke's rude and outrageous attack on the French revoiuttofi^' had artfu'ly raifcd. ' •j'^-: Uut how eanJ-y- does even the moPc iHiterate reader dlftinjruifh the' fpontant^ous fenfaLions of the heart, from the laboured produftlons of the brain [ Truth, whenever it can fully appear, is a thing fo na- turally familiar to the mind, that an acqnain-tance commenceb at firil iight. No artificial light, yet difcovered., can diiplay all the proper- ties of day 'light ; fo neither can the bell invented hdlion fill the mind with every conviction v.-hich truth begets. To overthrow Ivlr. Burke's fallacious work was fcarcely the ope- ration of a day. E"ea the phalanx of placemen and prnfioners, who l;ad given the tone to the multitude, by clamouring forth his pcli- lical fame, became faddenly fjlent ; and the final event to himfelf has been, that as he rcfe like a rocket, lie fell hke the flick. It feldom happens, that the mind rcfts fatit^fied with the fimple detection of error or impofition. — Once put into motlonyjhat motion foon becomes accelerated ; where it had intended to ftop, it tlifcovers> new reafons to proceed, and renews and continues the purfuit far be- yond the limits it firfi: prefcribed to itfclf. — Thus it has happened to- the people of England. From a detefHon of Mr. Burke's incohe- rent rhnpfodies, and ditirorted fads, they began an enquiry into fir^ principles of government, whilft himfelf, like an objeft left far behind,' became invirxble and forgotten. .Much as the firtl part of iIiGhts of Ma ■• imprefied at its firfc appearance, the progrefRve mind foon difcovered that it did not go far. enough. It detected errors ; it expofed abfurdities ; it fliook the fabric of political fuperPcition -^ it generated new ideas ; but it did not ]>roduce a regular fyftem of principles in the room of thofe which it difplaced. And, if I may guefs at the mind of the govern- inent party, they beheld it as an unexpected gale that would foon IjIow over, and they forbore, like failors in threatening weather, to vvhiUle, left they fliould increafe the vvind. Every thing, on their 2)art, was profound filence. When the fccond part of " Rights of Ma v, comh'inhig principle and *■'-. prafl'iccy'' was preparing to appear, they affedled, for a while, to acl with the fame policy as before ; but finding their filence had no iTjore influence in fciiling the progrefs of the work, than it v/ould have in Hopping the progrefs of time, they changed their plan, and, af- fedled to treat it with clamorous contempt. The fpeech-making placemen and penfioners, and place expectants, in both houfcs of |-aihi.mcntj the cvls as wtU as the /«j, reprcfented it as a filly, inijg- ADDl^ESS TO THE ADDRES'SEP.S. i6t nificant lierformance ; as a v.'ork incapable of producing any elTcft, as fomethiiig, which they were Tare the good fenfe of the people wouled. For t/je'ir iriformation, 1 will iufpend xi while the more ferlous purpofe of my letter, and entertain them with two or three fpecciies In the lull fcfiion of parhament^r, which will fervc them for politics till parliament meets again. ; You muft know, genileir.en, that the fecond part of Rig h t s of TnIan^ (the book againil which you have been prcfenting addrciTts, though it is mod probable, that many of you did not know Ii ) v. Is to have come out preclfely at the time that parllameut lail met. ]t happened not to be publi.fii:d till a few days after. But as it was well known that the book would fnortly appear, the parliamentary oVatorii ?a,tere4 into a very cordial coalition to cry tlie bock d6\A^n,' ia^d \hey begj^n their attack by crying up the llej^!:gs of the conllitutlcin. Had it been your fate to have been there, you could nOtBiit" have been moved to the heart-and-ppckets-felt congratulations th'atpWed between all the parties on this fubjedt o( Ihjln^^s ; for the "c?//y"eii]oy places and penfious and finecures as well as the ;//.f,'an'd are as devoiitly attacned to the firm ol the houle. . . , . rirOne of the moll confplcuuus of this. motley groupe is tire Cleric of the court of king's bench j who calls hlmfelf lord Stormon/. He is* alfo called jufllce-general of Scotland,^ and keeper of Scoon"(an oppo- fition man) and. he draws from the public for thefe nominal oflices, not lefs, as I am informed, than fix thyufand pounds a year^ and he i3, moft probably, at the trouble of counting the money,, anc figiiing a irecflpt, to ihew, periinps.rtlut he.i.s^ qualified to be clerk "p^s wefl ^as j^jflice. .lie fpoke as tijllQiVb.;*,, , . _ ._.. , "\, -'^ -,:*' T^iat wf fliall all be unanimous, jn cxprefiipig ^^^^ b?.:\ Vc-'r^ 261 PA INE's W O II KS. " / take upon v.te to fay, that from the extent of wj- knowledge (for I *'* hnvefrj many thoUjfands a y:ar fur noih'mg) it fippears to me, that from *' the period of the revohition, fur it Avas by no means created then, ** it has been, both In tljcory 2i\\i^ practice, the luffl fyilem that eve^' "was formed, I never was (he means lie never was till tictu) a *' dealei- \i\ palhlcal cant. My hfe has not been occupied in that 3ght to be as ftrong in the back as a mule, or xhefire oi a malej^^t it' would crack with the weif;ht of places and offices* -He rofe, however, with- out feeling any incumbrance, full mailer of his weight; and thiis-faia this noblelord to t'other noble lord ! ^'''^ ^^^ ^^'^ .:.bor,- " The patriotic and manly mannei* invvliich the noble .lord -has i!e--'' . ADDRESS TO THE xlDDHESSERS. 253 •*/ chr^d' his fentiment?? o?i the fubjecl of the conilitiition, demands my " cordial approbation. The nobis viTcoiint hzs proved^ that however <* we may differ on particular meafuresy amidft all the jars and difio- f* nance oi parties ^ we are unanimous in principle. There is 3.perfecl and ** entire confent (between us) in the love and maintenance of the con- " flitution as happily fiihfjHn;r^. It mull undoubtedly give your lord- *' ftiips concern, to find, that the time is come! (hfigh ho !) wh.en there " iQ propriety in thefe expreffions of regard r o (o ! o ! o ! ) the con- « STiTUTioN. And that there are men (confound — their — pod*- ** tics) who diiTeminate diod(.v\n(i^ hojlile to iYxg: genimie fpirit c^ ov^ ^-ji-ell " balanced fy/Iem [it is certainly well balanced when both fides hold ** places and penfions at once). I agree vvith the noble vifcount *' that they have not (I hope) much fucc-fs. I am convinced that t*i there is.no danger to be apprehended from their attempts : But ** it is /rw/y important and confolatory (to us pliice-m.en, 1 fuppofe) to " know, that if there fliould ever arife a fcrious alarm, there is but or:.^ ^^ fpirit, one fenfe (and that fenfe, I prefume is not common fenfe ) and *' one determination in this houfe" Vvdiich undoubtedly is to held all their places and penfions as long as they can. Both thofe fpeeches (excepting the parts enclofed in parenlhefi.^^ which are added for the purpofe of ilhijl rati fin) are copied verbatim from the Morning Chronicle of the ill of February laft; and when the fituation of the fpeakers is confidered, trie one in the oppofitiou, and the other ia the miniury, and both of them living at the public cxpence, by finecure, or nominal places and oSces, it required a very unbluihing front to be able to deliver them. Can thofe men feri- ouily fuppofe any nation to be fo completely blind as not to fee through them? Can Stormont imagine that the political cant, with which he has larded his haranp-ue, will conceal the craft ? Does he not know that there never was a cover large enough to hide irl'df? Or can Grenville believe, that his credit with the public cncrcafes with his avarice for places ? But, if thefe orators will accept a fervice from me, m return for the allufions they have made to the Rights of Mar, I will m.ake a fpeech for either of them to deliver on the excellence of the conflitution, that fliall be as much to the purpofe as what they have fpokeii, or as Bo^ Imghroke^s captivating encaniiinn. Here it is. ' ' '^■' '' •'■ " That we fhall all be unanimous in exprefiiiig our attachment tr> the conllitution, I am confident. It is, my lords incompreh?nfib]y good : But the great v/onder of all is the v/ifdom ; for-it isi'''nriy lords, the wijejl fyjlem that ever ivas formed* 264 P A INE's wo RKS. " With iv-fpciR: to lis, noble lords, ibough the vvorld does not knor/ it, it is very well known to u?, that v/e havemore wifdom than wc know whnt to d<) with ; and what is Hill better, my lords, we hare it ail in (lock. I d^fv yoT2r Icrdfiiips to prove, that a tittle of it hai^ been ulcd vet; 3nd if we do but g'o on, my lords, with the frngah'ty we h?.ve hitherto done, Ave diall leave to our hfi's and fucceffors, when we go out of th.e world, the whole flock of wifdom, untouched, that we brought in ; and there is no doubt but they will follow our example. This, my lords, is one of the blelTcd efFeAs of the hereditary fyftem ; for we can never be wi.hout v/i.dcrn fo long as we keep it by us, and do not ufe it. " But, m.y lords, as iill tliis wifdom is hereditaiy property, for the uM benefit cf us and. our heirs, and it is necefFarv that the people (hould kno-v where to get a fupply for their own ufe, the excellenc* cf our cordlituLivOn has provided a king for this very purpofe, and for no ofhc^. . Bu*-, my lords, I perceive a defect to whieh the conftitu- t!on is fiibjccl:, and v/nieh I propcfe to remedy by bringing a bill i.:::o parliament for that purpofe. " The conPLitution, my lords, out cf delicacy, I prcfume, hr,3 left it as a m:atter k}^ choice to a king whethei" he will be wife or not. It h-js not, T mean, n;y lords, infifted upon it as a confLitutional point, which, I conceive, it ought to have done; for I pledge m^'feif to your lordfiiips to prove, and that with true patriotic boUncfs, that he has no choice in ihe matter. The biii, m.y lords, that I (hall bring in will be to declare, that tlte conPiitution, according to the true intent and meaning thereof, docs not invcfl the king with this choice ; our an- ceflors were too wife to do that ; and, in order to prevent any doubtS that might otherwife arife, I i]]:,}! prepare, my lords, an cnading claufe, to. fix the wifdom of kings, by ad (;f parliament ; and then, miy lords, our conRitution will be the wonder of the world ! " Wifdom, my lords, is the one' thing needful ; but that there may be no miftake in lliis matter, and thnt we m.ay proceed confiftently with the true v/ifdom of the conftitution, I ihail prcpofe a certain cri- terion whtvi^hj \\\t exnH quantify of ivlfdom necelTary for a king may be known. [ Here fl-.oujd 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, wliich 1 have not read, and whofc purport I know " only by report," Lut perhaps the bench of b'rfhops can recoUcS foniethlvg about /*/, that Saul gave the moll convincing proofs of royal wifdom before he wa? made a king,yi7/- he 'was fent to fteh his falhcr^s afjh and he could not find them, ' >->''* ADDRESS TO THE ADDRESSERS 2^5 '' Here, my lords, we have, moft happily for us,, a cafe in point : This precedent ought to be ellabliflied by acB" of parh'amcnt ; and every king, before he be crowned, ftiould be fent to feek lu's father's affes, and if he cannot find them, he ihall be declared wife endugh to be king, according to the true meaning of our excellent conllitution. All, therefore, my loi-ds, that v/ill be neceffary to be done, by the enabling claufe that I fnall bring in, will be to inveft the king before- hand with the quantity of vs'ifdom neceffary for this purpofe, left he fhould happen not to poffcfs it ; and this, my lords, we can do with- out making ufe of any of our own. " We further read, my lords, in the faid 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 difpieafed, and even exafperated, at the propofal of the Jews to have a king, and he warned them againft it with all that affurance and impudence of which he was mafler. I have been my lords, at the trouble of going all the way to Paferno/Ier-ro'ci', to procure an extraft from the printed copy. I was told that I fhould meet with it there, or in y^men-corner., for I was then going, m.y lords, to rummage for it among the curicfities of the antiquarian foc'iety. — I will read the extrad to your lordfhips, to fhevv how little Samuel knew of the matter. " The extract, my lords, is from i Samuel^ chap. §. " And Samuel told all the words of the lord unto the people that *< afked of him a king. " And he faid. This will be the manner of the king that fnall <* reign over you. He will take your fons and appoint them for " himfelf, for his chariots, and to be his horfemen ; and fom.e fliall ** run before his chariots. <* And he will appoint him captains over thoufands, and captains ** over fifties, and will fet them to ear his ground and to reap his har- ♦* veft, and to make his inftruments of war, and inftruments of his ** charidts. " And he will take your daughters to be confe(9:ionaries, and to be ** cooks, and to be bakers. ** And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your olive- yards, even the beft of them, and give them to his fervants. " And he will take the tenth of your feed, and of your vineyards, «* and give to his officers, and to his fervants. "And he will he take your men-fervants, and your maid-fervants, " and your goodlieft younjg; men, and your afTcs, and put them to his *^ work. Y«i.. XL M« 266 P A I N E^f s^^^V^O R K S. " And he will take the tenth of your ihcep, and ye fhall be his ** fervants. " And ye fhall cry out in that day, becaufe of your king, which " ye fliall have chcfen you; and the lord will not hear you on 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 faid? He pretended to be a prophet, or a wife man, but has not the event proved him to be a fool, or an incendiary ? Look around yo-u, my lords, . an4 fee if any thing has happened that he pretended to foretel ? Has not the moil profound ps^ace reigned throughout the world ever fince kings Vv'ere in fafhion ?- Are not, for example, the prefent kings of Europe the moil peaceable of mankind, and the emprefs of Ruflia the very milk of human kindnefs ? 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 fee the fame things here as are feen every where dk ? Are our young men taken to be horfemen, or foot foldiers, any more than in Germany or in Pruflia, or in Hanover or hi Hcffe ? Are not our failors as fafe at land as at fea ? Are they ever dragged from th :ir hoir.es, like oxen to the flaughter- houfe, to ferve on board fhips uf war ? V/hen they return from the perils of a long voyage with the merchandize of diflant countries, does not every man lit down under his own vine and his own fig-tree, ~^in perfect fecurity ? Is the tenth of our feed taken by tax-gatherers, "br is any part of it given to the king*s fervants? In fhort, is noi every ihin^ as free from taxes as the light from Heaven? ** Ah \ my lords, do we not fee the blelfed effeft of having kings \ji every thing we look at ? Is not the G. R. or the broad R. llampt "wpoh'eveYy thing ? Even the fhoes, the gloves, and the hats that we "wean'^are enriched with the imprefiion, and* all bur candles blaze i! Diii^nt-offcrin^r. *' Befides thefc bleffings, my lords, that cover us from the fole of the^ foot to the crown of the licad, do we not fee a race of youths gVbwIng up to be kings, who are tht; fey" p^^ragon«i'6f Virtue ? There is not one of them, my lords, but' might; b^'tthft'ed wit'h uriioid gold, as fafely as the other. Are they not "^mor^foberj hiteVJgeiit^nm'cfo'- ** /r//, more fie ady^^^ and withal, more learned, more wife, rnoi'e eveiy thing, than any youths 'we " ever had ihe fortune lo fee\^^ ' Ah ! fey bftls, they are a hopeful fimly, ''^^ ^^** .?«Tht Meffed profpefl of fuccefTion, wli'ch the hation has at this feij^ fiicnf "b^tforeats e)-cs, is a mcft ar.dcmVpk proof of the excelled inflead of a licentious and profligate perform.ance, it abounds with principles of government that are uncontrovertible — v.'ith arguments v/hich every reader will feel, are unanfwcrable-^with plans for the iiicreafe of com- merce and manufadlures — for the extindion of war — for the educa- tion of the cli'Mren of the poor — for the comfortable fupport of tlie aged and decayed perfons of boih fexes — for the relief of the army and navy, and, in Ihort, for the promotion of every thing that can benefit the moral, civil and political condition of man. JiifiWhy, then, fome calm obferver will aflc, why is the v/ork profe- cuted, if thefe be the goodly matters it contains ? I will tell tl'.ee, friend ; it contains alfo a plan for the reduction of taxes, for lefien- ■ing the immenfe expences of government, for abolifhing places and penfions j and it propofes applying the redundant taxes, that fliall be faved by thefe reforms, to the purpofes mentioned in the former pa- ragraph, inftead of applying them to the fupport of idle and prdfli- gate placemen and penfioners. Is it, then, any wonder that placemen and penfioners, and the whole train of court expedants, fhould become the promoters of ad- drefTes, proclamations, and profecutions ? or, is it any \^'phd.er^tnlit corporations and rotten boroughs, which j\re attacked alia expdfed, both in the Firft and Second Parts of the Rights of Man as unjiifl mb- nopolies and public nuifances, fhould join in the cavalcade ? Yet thefe are the fources from which addreffes have fprung. I lad not fuch perfons came forward to oppofe the Rights of Man, I fhpuld ji'ave doubted the efficacy of my own writings : But tliofc oppofer^^i'^vc now proved to me, that the blow was well directed^ a^d ^heyhave done itjuftice, by confefling the fraart. .,, \-.^ The principal deception in this bufinefs of addrefi^s has been,'' that the promoters of them have not come forward in their proper cji^rac- ters. They have aflumed to pafs themfelves upon the pupiic, as "a part of the public bearing a (hare of the burden of taxes, and ading for the pubhc good ; whereas, they arc in general that part of itth^ 'iiv/ict bo .'^ ifo P A I N E * s W O R K S. adds to the public burden, by living on the prodiK:e of tht publia taxes. They are to the public what the locufts are to the tree : The burden would be lefs, and the profperity would be greater, if they were /haken off. " I do not come here," faid Onslow, at the Surry county mect- ing- " as lord lieutenant arid cuftos rotulorum of the county, but I ** come here as a plain countiy gentleman.'* The fa<5l is, that he came there as what he was, and as no other^ and confequently he came, as one of the beings I have been defcribing. If it be the character of a "gentleman to be fed by the public, as a pauper is by the parifh. Onflow has a fair claim to the title ; and tlie fame defcription will fuit the duke of Richmond, who led the addrefs at the SufTex meeting. — Healfo may fet up for a gentleman. As to the meeting in the next adjoining county (F/nt) it was- a. fcene of difgrace. About two hundred perfons met, when a fmall part of them drew privately away from the reft, and voted an ad- drefs : The confequence of which was, that they got together by the. ears, and produced a riot in the very a6l of producing an addrefs to prevent riots. ^ , ^ , *. ■ ■ ■ . '• ""^T^ ^ "VA'^ti£L ^ That tbe proclamation and the addrefTes have failed of thcir^ in- tended effeft, may be colle6led from tbe filence which tbe govern- ment party itfelf obferves. The number of addrefles Has been weekly retailed in the Gazette ; but the number of addrefTers has been con- cealed. Several of the addrefTes have been voted by not more than.- ten or twelve perfons ; and a confiderable number of them 'by riot more than thirty. The whole number of addrefTes prefented at the time of writing this letter Is three hundred and twenty (rotten bo* rouo-hs and corporations included) and even admitting, on an average, one hundred addrefTers to each addrefs, the whole number of addrefTers would be but thirty-two thoufand, and nearly three months have been taken up in procuring this number. That the fuccefs of tlie proclamation has been lefs than the. fuccefs of the Work it wa.i in- tended to difcourage, is a matter within my own knowledge; for a greater number of tiie cheap edition of the hrll and fccond parts of Rights of Man has been fold in the fpace only of one raoutli,,^ tli^n the' whole number of addrefTers (admittinfj ^tnerft'to be, thirtv-ti^^^^ - _ •.• . . . , ■ . ^ . . 'A 'i^n-Ufj ^ci^sm j/;qm"ij thoufand) have amounted to m three months. .. ... . - . _ . . ',.r.; .,:.,■.;:■.. £ bi ofTOiiiiSuiSv-nrtmcTqut It IS a dangerous attempt m any government to lay to a nation, " (houjhalt not read.^* This is rio\\': done in Spain, and was formerlyV dbrie under the old government oT France^; but it ferved to procure* the downfalof the latter, ari:H is fubvertihg that of the former j and- ADDRlElSS TO THE ADDRESSERS. 271 it will have the fame tendency in all countries ; becaufe thought by fome means or other, is got abroad Into the world, and cannot be reflrained, though reading may. If Rights of JMan v.-ere a book that deferved the vile defcription which the promoters of the addrefs have given of it, why did not thefe men prove their charge, and fatisfy the people, by producing It, and reading it publicly ? This moil certainly ought to have been done, and would alfo have been done, had they believed it would have anfwered their purpofe. But the faft is, that the book contains truths, which thofe time-fervers dreaded to hear, and dreaded that the people fhould know ; and it is now following up the addrelTeSin every part of the nation, and convicting them of falfehoods. Among the unwarrantable proceedings to which the proclamation has given rife, the meetings of the juftlces In feveral of the towns and .counties ougfit to be noticed. Thofe men have affumed to re-ad the farce of general warrants, and to fupprefs, by their own authority, whatever publications they pleafe. This Is an attempt at power, equalled only by the conduft of the minor defpots of the mod def- potlc governments In Europe, and yet thofe juftlces aiTedl to call England a free country. But eventhls, perhaps, like the fchcme for garrifoning the country, by building mihtary barracks, is neceffary to awaken the country to a fenfe of Its rights, and, as fuch, It will have- a good effed, _^ ..„^ ^ ,^,,, ,^,, Another part of the condu6l of fuch juftlces has been, that of threateuino- to take away the licences from taverns and public-houfes, where the inhabitants of the neighbourhood affoclated to read -and difcufs the principles of government, and to Inform each other there- on." This, again. Is fimilar to what Is doing in Spain and Rufiia ; anS the reSeaion which It cannot fail to fuggeft Is, that the prlnci^^ pies and conduft of any government muft be bad, when that govern- Hient dreads and ftartles at difcuffion, and feeks fecurity by a preven-. tion of knowledge. ^ ^ o;i':/r>.fuSo7q If. the government, or the conftltutlon, or by whatever name it be, called, be that miracle of perfection which the proclamation and the_ addreffes have trumpeted it forth to be, it ought to have defied dijr7j' cuffion and Inveftigation, inftead of dreading It. Whereas etvery. a^tT. tempt It makes, either by proclamation, prefecutlon, or addrefSj,^,t^^ fupprefs Inveftigation, Is a confeflion that It feels itfelf unable to bear It. It Is error only, and not truth, that fhriaks from enquiry. All the numerous pamphlets, and all the newfpaper falfchood and abufe, that have been publifhed agalnft " Rights of Man," have fallea I'ji P A I NE's W O R KS. before it like pointlefs arrows ; and, in like manner, would any work have fallen before the confliitution, had the conftitution, as it is called, been founded on as good political principles as thofe on which the Rights of Man is written. It is a good conftitution for courtiers, placemen, penfioners, bo- rough holders, and the leaders of parties, and thefe are the men that have been the aftive leaders of addreffes ; but it is a bad conftitution for at leaft ninety-nine parts of the nation out of an hundred, and this truth is every day making its way. It is bad, firft, becaufe it entails upon the nation the uftnecefTary cxpence fif fupporting three forms and fyftems of government at once, namelv the monarchical, the ariftocratical, and the democratical. Secondly, becaufe it is impofiible to unite fuch a difcordant com- pofition by anv other means than perpetual corruption ; and therefore the corruption fo loudly and fo univerfally complained of, is no other than the natural confcquence of fuch an unnatural compound of governments ; and in this confifts that excellence which the numerous herd of placemen and penfioners fo loudly extol and which, at the fame time, occafions that enormous load of taxes under which the reft of the nation groans. Amonsr the mais of national delufions calculated to amufe and im- pofe upon the multitude, the ftanding one h:*s been, that of flattering them into taxes, by calling the governmient (or as they pleafe to ex- prefs it, the Englifli conftitution) " the envy and admiration of the " ^cuoru'L'* Scarcely an addrefs has been voted in which fome of the fpeakers have not uttered this hackneyed nonfenfical falfehood. Two revolutions have taken place, thofe of America and France, and both of them have rejefted the unnatural compounded fyftem of the Englifli government; America has declared againft all hereditary government, and cftabliflied the reprefentative fyftem of government (^;nly. France has entirely rejefted the ariftocratical part, and is now difcovering the abfurdity of the monarchical, and is approaching faft to the reprefentative fyftem. On what ground then, do thefe men eontinue a declaration, refpeding what tliey call the envy and admi- ration of other nations y which the voluntary pradice of fuch nations, as have had the opportunity of eftablifliing government, contradicts and falfifics. Will fuch men never confine themfelves to truth ? Will they be for ever the deceivers of the people ? But I v/ill go farther, and fiiiJvv, that were government now to be;- gin in England, the people could not be brought tQ eftablifti the fame fyftem they now fubmit to. ADDRESS TO THE ADDRESSERS. 273 In fpeaking upon this fubjeft (or on any other) on the purs ground of principle, antiquity and precedent ceafe to be authority, and hoary- headed error lofes its efFed. The reafonablenefs and propriety of things muft be examined abftrafledly from cuflom and ufage ; and in this point of view, the right which grows into praftice to-day is as much a right, and as old in principle and theory, as if it had the cuf- tomary fan6lion of a thoufand ages. Principles have no connexion with time, nor charadlers with names. To fay that the government of this country is eompofed of "king, lords, and commons, is the mere phrafeology of cuftom. It is eom- pofed of rrien ; and whoever the men be to whom the government of any country is intruiled, they ought to be the beft and vi'ifeft that can be found, and if they are not fo, they are not fit for the flation. A man derives no more excellence from the change of a name, or calling him king, or calling him lord, than I fhould do by changing my name from Thomas to George, or from Paine to Guelph. I Ihould not be a whit the more able to write a book, becfiufe my name were altered ; neither would any man, now called a king or a lord, have a whit the more fenfe than he now has, were he to call himfelf 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 abohflicd. It is a term unknown in free countries. But to the point.: — Let us fuppofe that government was now to begin in England, and that the plan of government, offered to the nation for its approbation or rejeftion, confilled of the following parts: Firft. — That fome one individual fhould be taken from all the reil •f the nation, and to whom all the reft Ihould fwear obedience, and never be permitted to fit down in his prefence, and that they fhould give him one million fterling a year. — That the nation fhould never after have power or authority to make laws but vv'ith his exprefs con- fent, and that his fons arid his fdns' fons, whether wife or foolifh, good men or bad, fit or unfit, fhould have the fame power, and alfo tlie fame money annually paid to them for ever. Secondly. — That there fhould be two houfes of legiflators to affift in making laws, one of which fhould, in the firft inftance, be entirely appointed by the aforefaid perfon, and that their fons and their fons' fons, whether wife or foolifli, good men or bad, fit or unfit, fhould for CYer after be hereditary legiflators. •r -Thirdly. — That the other houfc fliouldbe chofen in the fame man- ner as the houfe now called the houfe of commons Is chofen, and V©L. II. N n 274 P A I N E ' s W O R K S. ihould be fubjeft to the control of the two aforefald hereditary powers in all thin 0-5. It would be impoiTible to cram fucli a farrago of impofition and abfurdlty down the throat of this or any other nation, that were ca- pable of reafcning upon its riglits and its intereil:. They would all-:, in the nril place, on what ground of right, or on tvhat principle, fuch irrational a;id prepoilerous diftinctions could, or ought to be made ; and what pretenfions any man could have, or what fcrvices he could render, to entitle him to a million a year ? They would go farther, and revolt at the idea of configning their children and their children's children, to the domination of perfons hereafter to be born, who might, for any thing they could forefee, turn out to be knaves or fools ; and they v/ould finally difcover, that the project of hereditary governors and legiflators icas a trcajonahle ufurpation over the rights of pojhrlty. Not only the calm diciates of reafon, and the force of natural afteclion, but the integrity of manly pride, would impel men to fpurn fuch propofals. From the groffer abfurdities of fuch a fcheme, they would extend their examination to the pradb'cal defefts — They would foon fee that it would end in tyranny, accomplifned by fraud. That in the operation of it, it would be two to one againft them, becaufe the two parts that were to be made hereditary, would form a common intereft, and flick to each other ; and that themfelvcs and reprefentatives would become no better than hewers of wood and drawers of water for the other parts of the government. — Yet call one of thofe powers king, the otiicr lords, and the third, the commons, and it gives the model of what is called the Englifli government. 1 hrive aiTerted, and hnve fnewn, both in the firft and fecond parts o{ Rights of Maiiy that there is not fuch a thino- as an Enrdilh conlli- tution, and that the pevople have yet a conftitution to form. A con- jVitutwn is a thing anfi cedent to a government ; it is the aEl of the people creating a government and giving it poivcrs^ and dcfning the limits and exercife of the pozucrs fo given. But whenever did the people of England, afting in th.eir original conilituent charaCiCic, by a delega- tion elefted for that exprefs piirpofe, declare and fay, "' P/e the people ** of this land, do conjtiiute and appoint this to be our fyfiem and form of "government?^'- The government has aflumed to conRitute itfelf, but it never was conftituted by the people, in whom alone the right of conllituting reudes. I will here recite the preamble to the federal conftitution of the United States of America. I have fhewp in the fecond part of Rights ADDRESS TO THE ADDRESSERS. 275 of Math tlie-m?inner by which the conftitutlon was formed and after- wards ratiiied ; and to wiiich I refer the reader. — The preamble is in the following words : '' WE, THE PEOPLE, of the United States, in order to form *' a more perfe6l union, ellablifh juftice, infurc domeftic tran- ** quility, provide for common defence, promote the general ** welfare, and fecure the blellings of liberty to ourielves and our " pofterity, do ordain and establish this constitu- ** TiON for the United States of America." Then follow the feveral articles which appoint the manner in which the feveral component parts of the government, legiflative and executive, (hall be eledled, and the period of their duration, and the powers they fliall have : Alfo, the manner by which future additions, alterations, or amendments, fiiall be made to tlie conditution. Con- fequently, every improvement that can be made in the fcience of government, follows in that country as a matter of order. It is only in governments founded on afFumption and falfe principles, that rea- foning upon, and inveftigating fyftems and principles of government, and iliewing their feveral excellencies and defe^ls, are termed libel- lous and feditious. Thefe terms were made part of the charge brouglit againft Locke, Hampden, and Sydney, and will continue to be brought againft all good men, fo long as bad governments fliall continue. The government of this country has been oftentatloufly giving challenges for more than an hundred years pad, upon what it called its own excellence and perfeftion. Scarcely a king's fpeecli, or a parliamentary fpeech, lias been uttered, in which this glove has not been thrown, till the wDrld has been infulred with their challcnires. But it now appears that all this was vapour and vain-boafting, or that it was intended to conceal abufes and defefts, and hufli the people into taxes. I have taken the challenge up, and in behalf of the public have fhcwn, in a fair, open, and candid manner, both the radical and pradfcal defers of the fyitenr ; when, lo ! thofe champions of the civil lift have fled away, and fent the attorney-general to deny the challenge, by turning the acceptance of it into an attack, and de- fending their places and penfions by a profecution. I will liere drop this part of the fubjeci:, and ftate a few particu- lars refpeCting the profecution now pending, by which the addreffers will fee that they have been ufed as tools to the profecuting party and their dependants. The cafe is as follows : The original edition of the firft and fecond parts of Rights 0? 27^ P A I NE's W O R K S. Man, having been expenfively printed (in the modern ftyle of print- ing pamphlets, that they might be bound up with Mr. Burke's re- fiedtions on the French revolution), the high price precluded the generality of people from purchafing ; 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 requefted leave to print two thouland copies for thcmfelves, with which requeft I immedi- ately complied. The fam^e ii^queil came to me from Rotherham, from Leicelter, from ChcRer, from feveral towns in Scotland ; and Mr. James Mackintofh, author of Vind'icice GaHicia, brought me a requeil from Warwickfiiire, for leave to print ten taoufand copies in that county. I had already fcnt a cheap edition lo Scotland ; and finding the applications increafe, I concluded that the beft me- thod of complying therewith, would be to print a very numerous edi- tion in London, under my own direction, by which means the work would be more perfeit, and the price be reduced lower than it could be h J print hi n^ fmall editions in the country of only a few thoufands each. The cheap edition of the firft part was begun about the middle of lafl: April, and from that moment, and not before, I expected a profecution, and the event has proved that I was not miftaken. I had then occafion to write to Mr. Thomas Walker of Manchefter, and after informing him of my intention of giving up the work for the purpofe of general information, I informed him of what I appre- hended would be the gonfequence ; that while the work was at a price that precluded an extenfive circulation, the government party, not able to controvert the plans, arguments, and principles it contained, had chofen to remain filent ; but that I expefted they would make an attempt to deprive the mafs of the nation, and efpecially the poor, of the right of reading, by the pretence of profecuting either the author or the pubiiiher, or both. They chofe to begin with the pulplifher. Nearly a month, however, pafTed, before I had any information given mc 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 publifher of the original edition. Pie had that -cv.cnii)g been fervcd with a fummons, to appear at the court of king's bench on the Monday following, but for what purpofe was not Hated. •' Saip- pofiug it to be on account of the work, •! appointed, a meeting wit him on the next morning, which was accordingly had, when I pro- vided an attorney, and took the cxpence of the defence pa myfelf. ADDRESS TO THE ADDRESSERS. 277 But finding afterwards that he abfented himfelf from the attorney employed, and had engaged anotlier, and that lie had been clofetcd «vith the folicitors of the treafury, I left him to follow his own choice, and he chofe to plead guilty. This he might do if he plea fed ; and I make no objedion againit him for it, I believe that his idea by the word guilty, was no other than declaring himfelf to be the pub- lifher, without any regard to the merits or demerits of the work ; for were it to be conftrued otherwife, it would amount to the abfurdity of converting a publiflier into a jury, and his confeffion into a verdict upon the work itfelf. This would be the high^ift pofuble refinement upon packing of juries. On the 2 1 ft of May, they commenced their profecution againft me, as the author, by leaving a.fummons at my lodgings in town, to appear at the court of king's bench on the 8th of June following; and on the fame day (May 21,) they ijjued alfo their proclamation. Thus the court of St. James's, and the court of king's bench, were playing into each other's hands at the fame inftant of time, and the farce of addreffes brought up the rear ; and this mode of proceeding is called by the proftituted name of law. Such a thundering rapidity, after a minifterial dormancy of alm.oft eighteen months, can be attri- buted to no other caufe than their having gained information of the forwardnefs'of the cheap edition, and the dread they felt at the pro- greflive increafe of political knowledge. I was ftrongly advifed by feveral gentlemen, as well thofe in the practice of the law, as others, to prefer a bill of indi6lment againft the publifher of the proclamation, as a publication tending to in- fluence, or rather to dictate the verdidl of a jury on the iffue of a matter then pending ; but it appeared to me much better to avail myfelf of the opportunity which fuch a precedent juftified me in ufing, by meeting the proclamation and the addreffes on their own ground, and publicly defending the work which had been tlius un- warrantably attacked and traduced. — And confcious as I" novt am, athat the work entitled. Rights of Man, fo far from being, as has been Homalicioufiy or erroneoudy reprefented, a falfe, wicked, and feditious libel, is a work abounding with ufianfwerable truths, with pfiiidijiles 4*.of the pureft morality and benevolence, and with arguments hdt'tb'bc incontroverted. — Confoioug, I fay, of thefc things, and having ho objcdt o^in view, but the happinefs of mankind, I have now put the matter to ^the bcft proof in my power, by giving to the public a cheap <;ditiou of the firft and fecond parts cif that v/ot^k; ' 1:'^ every mari'rdad ai^ judge for himfelf,. not only of thcrtiiirits'bV Jemerits of theVork, 278 P A I NE's W O R K S. but of the matters therein contained, which relate to his own intercft and happinefs. If, to expofe the fraud and impofition of monarchy, and every fpecies of hereditary government — to leffen the oppreffion of taxes — to propofe plans for the education of helplefs infancy, and the com- fortable fupport of the aged and diftrcfTed — to endeavour to con- ciliate nations to each other — to extirpate the horrid praftice of v/ar — to promote univerfal peace, civilization, and commerce — and to break the chains of political fuperftition, and raife degraded man to his proper rank ; — if thefe things be libellous, let me live the h'fe of a libeller, and let the name of LIBELLER be engraved on my tomb. Of all the weak and ill judged meafures which fear, ignorance, or arrogance could fugged, the proclamation, and the proje6l for ad- drefles, are two oi the woril. They ferved to advertife the work which the promoters of thofe meafures wifhed to keep unknown j 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 they put the llrength of their party to that hazardous iffue that prudence would have avoided.— The coimty meeting for Middlefex was attended by only oue hundred and eighteen addreffers. They, no doubt, expecfled, that thoufands would flock to their flandard, and clamour againil the Rights of Man. But the cafe mod probably is, that men, in all countries, are not fo bhnd to their rights, and their intereft, as governments believe. Having thus fliewn the extraordinary manner in which the govern^ ment party commenced their attack, I proceed to offer a few obfer- vations on the profecution, and on the mode of trial by fpecial jury. In the firll place, I have written a book ; and if it cannot be refuted, it cannot be condemned. But I do not confider the pro- fecution as particularly levelled againft me, but againft the general right, or the right of every man, of inveftigating fyftems and prin- ciples of government, and fliewing their feveral excellencies or defefts. If the prefs be free only to flatter government, as Mr. Burke has done, and to cry up and extol what certain court fycophants are pleafed to call a " glorious confl:itution," and not free to examine into its errors or abufes, or whether a conllitution really exilt or not, fuch freedom is no other than that of Spain, Turkey, or Ruflia ; •ind a jury in this cafe, would not be a jury to try, but an inquifition to condemn. ^ I have aJferted, and by fair and open argument maintained, the ADDRESS TO THE ADDRESSERS. 279 right of ever^r nation at all times, to eftablifli fiich a fyftem and form of government for itfelf as bed accords with its dlfpofition, intereft and happinefs ; and to change or alter it as it fees occafion. Will any jury deny to the nation this right ? If they do, they are traitors, and their verdi6l would be null and void. And if they admit the right, the means muft be admitted alfo f for it would be the higheft abfurdity to fay, that the right exiiled, but the means did not. The queftion then is, What are the means by which the poffelTion and exercife of this national nVht are to be fecured ! The anfwer will be, o tp.at of maintaining, inviolably, the right of invelligation ; for invefti- gation always fervcs to detedl error, and to bring forth truth. I have, as an individual, given my opinion upon what I believe to be not only the beft, but the true fyftem of government, which is the reprefentative fyftem, and I have given reafons for that opinion. Firil. Becaufe in the reprefentative fyftem, no office of very ex- traordinary power, or extravagant pay, is attached to* any individual ; and confequently there is nothing to excite thofe national conten- tions and civil wars, with which countries under monarchical govern- ments are frequently convulfed, and of which the hiftory of England exhibits fuch numerous inftances. Secondly. Becaufe the reprefentative is a fyftem of government always in maturity ; whereas monarchical government fluftuates through all the ftages, from non-age to dotage. Thirdly. Becaufe the reprefentative fyftem admits of none but men, properly qualified, into the government, or removes them if they prove to be otherwife. Whereas in the hereditary fyftem, a nation may be encumbered with a knave or an ideot for a whole life-time, and not be benefited by a fucceflbr. Fourthly. Becaufe there does not exift a right to eftablifti heredi- tary government ; or, in other words, hereditary fucceflbrs ; becaufe hereditary government always means a government yet to come, and the cafe always is, that thofe Vv^ho are to live afterwards have the fame right to cftablifh government for themfelves, as the people had wlio lived before them ; and, therefore, all laws attempting to efta- blifli hereditary government, are founded on afl'umption and political fiftion. If thefe pofitions be truths, and I challenge any man to prove the contrary ; if they tend to inftruft and enlighten mankind, and to free them from error, oppreflion, and political fuperftition, which arc the cbjefts Ihave in \^vv in publifhing them, that jury would commit au sSd 'J' A I N E ' s W 0 R ^ S. ad^ of injiidice to their country, and to me, if not an a^k. of perjury, that fho aid call themy^^, nvkhedf and malk'ious^ Dragonetti, in his treatife, " On Virtues and Rewards," has a para- graph worthy of being recorded in every country of the world — ** The fcience (fays he) of the politician, confifts in fixing the true point of happinefs and freedom. Thofe men would deferve the gra- titude of ages, who fhould difcover a mode of government that con- tained the grcateft fum of individual happinefs with the leaft national expence.^^ But if juries are to be made ufe of to prohibit enquiry, to fupprefs truth, and to flop the progrefs of knowledge, this boafted palladium of liberty becomes the moH: faccefsful inflrument of tyranny. Among the arts praftifed at the bar, and from the bench, to i'm- pofe upon the underftanding of a jury, and obtain a verdict where the confciences of men could not otherwife confent, one of the mofl fuccef!,ful has been that of calling truth a libel j and of infinuating, that tlie words " falfely, wickedly, and malicioufly," though they are made the formidable and high founding part of the charge, arc, not matters for confide '.ati on with a jury. For what purpofe, then, are tliey retained, unlcfs it be for that of impofition and wilful defamation ? I cannot conceive a greater violation of order, nor a more abomi- nable infult upon morality, and upon human underftanding, than to fee a man fitting in the judgment feat, affeding by an antiquated* foppery of drefs to imprefs the audience with awe ; then caufing wilnefTes and jury to be fworn to truth and juftice, himfelf having officially fworn the fame ; then caufing to be read a profecution againll a man, charging him with having tuickedly and maliciovjly luritten and puhlipjed a certain falfe^ tvicked, and Jeditious hook ; and having gone througli ail this with a fnew of folemnity, as if he faw the eye of the Almighty darting through the roof of the building like a ray of light, turn in an inftant, the whole into a farce, and in order to obtain a verdidl that could not otherwife be obtained, tell the jury that the churgeo? falfely, zvickedly, and Jeditioitjly ^ meant nothing, that truth was out of the quellion ; and that whether th? perfon accufcd fpoke trutii or falfeliood, or intended virtuoiiJJy or tuickedly, was the fame thing ; and linaMy conclude the wretched inquifitorial fcene, by ftating fome antiquated precedent, equally as abominable as that which is then acPiing, or giving fome opi- nion of his own, and falfcly callin? the one and the other — law. It was, moft probably, to fuch a judge as this, that the moft folemii ADDRESS TO THE ADDRESSERS. 281 of all reproofs was given — The lord ivili fmite thee, thou 'U}hitencd wall:' I now proceed to offer fome remarks on wliat is calltd a fpecial jury. — As to what is called a fpecial verdift, I fliall make no other remark upon it, than that it is in reality r:oi a verdift. It is an attempt on the part of the jury to delegate, or of the bench to obtain, the exercife of that right, which is committed to the jury onlv. With refpe6l to fpecial juries, I (liall Hate fuch matters ns 1 liave been able to colleft, for I do not find any uniform opinion concerning the mode of appointing them. In the firil place, the m.ode of trial i.sbut of modern invention, and the origin of it, as I am told, is as follows : Formerly, when difputcs arofe between m.erchants, and were brought before a court, the cafe was that the nature of their com- merce, and the method of keeping mere' ants accounts, not being fuf&ciently underilood by perfons out of their own Hnc, ft became neceffary to depart from the common mode of appointing juries, v.-hofe practical knowledge would enable them to decide upon the caic. From this introdufticn, fpecial juries became more general ; but fome doubts having arifen as to their legality, an a6l was pafTed in the 3d of George 11. to ellabliih them as legal, and alfo to extend them to all cafes, not only between individuals, but in cafes where the govcrmvcnt ilfcJf fooidd be the profecutor. This mofi probably gave rife to the fufpicion fo generally entertained of packing a jury; becaufe by this act, when the crown, as it is called, is the profecutor, tlie mailer of the crown- office, who holds his omce under the crown, is the perfon who either wholly nominaies, or has great power in nominating the jury, and therefore it has greatly the appearance of the profecuting party feleft- ing a jury. The procefs is as follows : On motion being made in court, by either the plaintiff or defendant, for a fpecial jury, the court grants it or not, at its own difcretion. If it be granted, the folicitor of the party that applied for the fpe- cial jury, gives notice to the folicitor of the adverfe party, and a day and hour are appointed for them to meet at the oflice of the maf- ter of the crown-office. The mailer of the crown-office fends to the ffieriff or his deputy, who attends with the flieriff 's book of freehold- ers. Forty-eight names are taJien, and a copy thereof given to each of the parties ; and on a future day, notice is again given, and the folicitors meet a fecond time, and each ftrikes out twelve names. The Vol. 11. Oo 282 PAINE's WORKS. lift being thus reduced from forty-eight to twenty-four, the firft twelve that appear in court, and anfwer*to their names, is the fpecial jury for that caufe. The firll operation, that of takiny^ the forty-eight names, is called nominating the jury; and the reducing them to twenty-four is called ftriking the jury. Having thus Hated the general procefs, I come to particulars ; and the firft queftios will be, how arc the forty-eight names, out of which the jury is to be ftruck, obtained from the fheriff's book ? For herein lies the principal ground of fafpicion, with rcfpedl to what is under- llood by packing of juries. Either they mu'l be taken by fume rule agreed upon between tlie parties, or by ((jme common rule known and eftabliilied beforehand, or at the difcietion of fome perfon, who, in fuch a cafe, ought to be perfectly difintereited in the iffue, as well officially as otherwife. In the cafe of merchants, and in al! cafes between iF:dividuals, the mafter of the office, called the crown-ofnce, is officially an indifferent perfon, and as fucli niay be a proper perion to act between the par- ties, and Drefent thein \vii.h a liil of forty-cijrht names, out of which 7 X J CD each party is to {hike twelve. But the cafe ailumes an entire differ- ent character, when tlie government itfelf is the profecutor. The mailer of the crown office is then an oilicer holding his ofiice under the profecutor; arid it is tliereiore no wonder, tlmt the fufpicion of packing juries fiiould, in h.ich cafes, have been fo prevalent. This will apply with additional force, when the profecution is com- menced againll the author or publifner of fuch works as treat of reforms, and of the abolition of fuperlluous places and offices, Sec, becaufe in fuch cafes every perfon holding an office, fubjedt to that fufpicion, becomes interelled as a party; and the office, called the crown-oflice, niay, upon examination, be fou;id to be of this def- cription. I have heard it affcrted, that the irafler of the crown office is to open the flieriff 's book as it were per hazard, awd take thereout forty- eight yy/Vf^itv^^ name3, to v/hich "^he word merchant or efquire h'- affixed. The former c^f thcfe are certainly proper, when the cafe is betu-ecn merchants, and has reference to the origin of the cuflom, and to notiiing elfc. As to the word efquire, every m.an is an efquire who pleafcs to call himfelf efquire; and the fenfible part of mankind are leaving it off. But the m.itter for enquiry is, whether there be any exilling law to direcTt the mode by which the forty-cfght names (hall be taken, or whether tlie mode be merely that of cuftom which the office has creat-xd ; or whether the feledion of the forty-eight be ADDRESS TO THE ADDIIESSERS. 283 wholly at the difcrction and choice of the mailer of the crown-office ? One or other of the two latter appears to be the cafe, bccaufe the aft already mentioned, of the 3d of George II. lays down no rule or mode, nor refers to any preceding law — but fays only, that fpecial j-iiries fiiall hereafter be llruck, " infuch manner as fpecial juries have leen and are ufually flruck.^^ This a6l appears to me to have been what is generally underftood by a " deep take in.'' It was fitted to the fpur of the moment in whicli it was pafTed, 3d of George II. when parties ran high, and It ferved to throw into the hands of Walpole, who was then minifter, the management of juries in crown profecutions, by making the no- mination of the forty-eight perfons, from whom the jury was to be llruck, follow the precedent epLablifhed by cuftom between individuals, and by this means it flipt into pradice with lefs fufp;'cion. Now, the manner of obtaining fpecial juries through the medium of an officer of the government, fucli, for inftance, as a mafler of the crown-office, may be impartial in the cafe of merchants, or other individuals^ but it becomes highly impiTjper and fufpicious in cafes where the govern- ment itfelf is oiie of the parties. And it mull, upon the whole, appear a llrange iuconfifrency, that a government fliould keep one officer to nominate the forty-eight perfons from whom the jury is to be llruck, both of whom are officers of the civil lift., and yet continiie to call this by the pompous name oi the glorious right of trial hy jury ! In the cafe of the king r.gaind Jordan, for publilhing Rights of Man, the attorney gcr.c.al moved for the appointment of a fpecial jury, and the maiter of the crown office nominated the forty-eight perfons himfeif, and took them from fuch part of the llieriff't; book as he pleafed. The trial did not come on, occafioned by Jordan withdrawing his plea ; but il it had, it might have afforded an oppor- tunity of difcuffing the fubjecl of fpecial juric? ; for though fucli dif- cuffion might have had no elFeft in the court of king's bench it would, in the prcfent difpof]t:on for enquiry, have had a confiderable elfedl upon the country ; and in ail national reforms, this is the proper point ta begin at. Put a country right, and it v/ill foon put govern- ment r:o-ht. Among the improper things aded by the goverament in the cafe of fpecial juries, on their own motion, one has been that of treating the jury with a dinner, and nfterv/ards giving each jury- man two guineas, if a verdift be found for the profecution, and only one if otiierwifc ; and it has been long obferved, that in London and Wellmlnfter there are pevfons who appear to n^ake a trade of ferving, bv being fo frequently feen upon fpecial juries. 284 PAINE^s WORKS. Thus much for fpecial jwnes. As to what is called a conimcn jury, upon any government prciety — I cannot bring myfelf to believe, that the general motive of this fo- ciety is any thing more than that by which every former parliamentary oppofition has been governed, and by which the prefent is fufficiently known. Failing in their purfuit of power and place within doory, they have now (and that not in a very mannerly manner) endeavoured to pofTcfs themfelves 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 candor, the progrefs of a certain publication, and when they faw it had excited a fpirit of enquiry, and was rapidly fpreading, they ftepped forward to profit by the opportunity, and Mr. Fox then called it a libel. In faying this, he libelled himfeif. Politicians of this caft, fuch, J mean, as thofe who trim between parties, and He by for events, are to be found in every countr)-, and it never yet happened that they did not do more harm than good. They embarrafs bufmefs, fritter it to nothing, perplex the people, and the event to themfelves generally is, that they go juft 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 fociety, of the 25th of 288 P A I N E * s W O R K S. April, and 5th of May, will find a ftudied referve upon all the points that are real abufes. They fpeak not once of the extravagance of govcrmncntj of the abominable liii of unneceflary and finecure places and penfions, of the enormity of the civil lift of the excefs of taxes, nor of any one matter that fiibftantially affedls the nation ; and from fome convcriat:on that has pafTed in that fociety, it does not appear to rne that it is any part of their plan, to carry this clafs of re- forms into prattice. No oppofition party ever did, when it gained poileiTion. In making thefe free obfervations, I mean not to enter into con- tention with iliis lociety, their incivility towards me is what I Ihould expect from place-hunting reformers. They are welcome, however, to the ground they have advanced upon, and 1 vvi(h that every indi- vidual among them may a6t in the fame upright, uninfluenced, and public fpirited manner that I have done. Whatever reforms m>ay be obtained, and by whatever means, they will be for tlie benefit of others, and not of me. I have no other interefb in the caufe than the intereft of my heart. The part I have aifted has been wholly that of a volunteer, unconnecied with party ; and when I quit, it \lhall be as honourably as I began. ,1 confider the reform of parliament, by an application to parlia- ment, as propofed by the fociety, to be a worn-out hackney fubjed, about vv'hich the nation is tired, and the parties are deceiving each other. It is not a fubjeft that is cognizable before parliament, be- caufe no govenunent has a right to alter itfeif, either in whole or in part. The right, and the exercife of that right, appertains to the ^nation only, and the proper mean is by a national convention, eleded fo.r the purpofe, by -Al the people. By this, the will of the nation whether to reform or, not, or v/hat the reform fliall be, or how far it fliall extend, will be known, and it cannot be known by any other means. Partial addreifes, or feparate aiTociationi, are snot tefliiTio- _nieg, of, the general will, ■:■. v .A ut •=->t- ,*> i^ofltHSb ihow^ver, certain, that the opin/ons of men, with refpe^l t» fyftems and.prjiTciples of government, are changing fait in all cO'Untries. Tiie alteration in England, within the fpace of little mofre thati a yem?, is far grater than could have been believed, ^nd^it is- daily and hourly increafmg. It moves along the country with the iilence ef thought. The enormous expence of .goveniment has provodccd men to think, by making them feel ; and tlie proclanTfation has fenced to increafc jealoufy and difguit, To prevent, therefore, thofe commotio'iis -which too often Anil too fyddenly arile.::^om fuffocatcd difcontent^ ADDRESS TO THE ADDRESSERS. i^g it is beft that the general will fliould have tlie fall and free oppor- tunity of b ing publicly afcertained and known. Wretched as the (late of reprefentation is in England, it is every day becoming worfe, becaufe the unreprefentcd parts of the nation are increafing in population and property, and the reprefented parts are decreafing. It is, therefore, no-ill grounded eftinnation to fay, that as not one perfou in feven is reprefented, at leall fourteen mil- h'ons of taxes, out of the feventeen millions, are paid by the unre- prefentcd part ; for although copyholds and leafeholds are affeffed to the land tax, the holders are unreprefented, Sliould then a general demur take place as to the obligation of paying taxes, on the ground of not being reprefented, it is not the reprefentatives of rotten bo- roughs, nor fpecial juries, that can decide the queftion. This is one of the poflible cafes that ought to be forefeen, In order to prevent the inconveniences that might arife to numerous individuals, by provok- i*ig it. '■ I confefs 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 cither to withhold them, or to grant them. Government ought to be eftabliflied on fuch principles of juftice as to exclude the occafion of all fuch applications; for wherever they appear, they are virtually accufations. I wi(h that Mr. Grey, fincc he has embarked in the bufinefs, would take the whole of it into confidcration. He will then fee, that the right of reforming the ftate of the reprefentation does not refide in parliament, and that the only motion he could confiftently make, would be, that parliament fhould recGmme:id the eledlion of a convention by all the people, becaufe all pay taxes. But whether parliament recommended it or not, the right of the nation would neither be leffened nor increafed thereby. As to petitions from- the unreprefented^part, they ought not to be looked for. As well might it be expefted that Manchefler, Sheffield, &c. fliould petition the rotten boroughs, as that they fhould petition the reprefentatives of thofe boroughs. Thofe two towns alone pay far more taxes than all the rotten boroughs put together, and it is fcarcely to be expedled they fliould pay their court either to the bo- roughs, or the borough-mongers. It ought alfo to be obferved, that what Is called parliament, Is compofed of two houfes that have always declared againft the right of each other to Interfere in any matter that related to the circum- ftances of either, particularly that of eledlon, A reform, therefore V«L. IL P p 290 PAINE's WORKS. in the reprefentation, cannot, on the ground they have individually taken, become the fubjeft of an aft of parhament, bccaufe fuch a mode would include the interference, againil which the commons on their part have protciled; but muft, as well on the ground of forma- lity, as on that of right, proceed from a national convention. Let Mr. Grey, ©r any other man, fit down and endeavour to put his thoughts together, for the purpofe of drawing up an application to parhament for a reform of parliament, and he will foon convmce himfelf of the folly o^ the attempt. He will find that he cannot get on ; that he cannot make his thoughts join, fo as to produce any ef- fed; for whatever formality of words he may ufe, they will unavoid- ably include two ideas dircftly oppofed to each other; the one in fetting forth the reafons, the other in praying for the rehef, and the two when placed together, would (land thus: *' Tbe reprefentation in parliament is fo very corrupt^ that tue can no longer confide in tt^—and therefore^ confiding in the jnfiice and ^cifdc-:i of parliament, 'we pray,,''* The heavy manner in which every former propofed application to parliament has dragged, fufFtciently fhews, that though the nation mi"ht not exaftlv fee the awkwardnefs (if the meafure, it could not clearly fee its way, by tliat mean. To this alfo may be added anq- -ther remark, v/hich is, that the worfe j^cu-liament is, the lefs will be the inclination to petition it. This indifference, viewed as it ought to be, is one of the ilrongeft cenfurcs the public exprefs. It is as if they were to fay, *' Ye are not worth reforming." Let any man examine the court-kalendar of placemen in both hou- fes, and the manner in which the civil lift operates, and he will be at no lofs to account for this indifference and want of coniidence on one fide, nor of the oppofition to reforms on the other. ^^ j^^i^ 1;,- Befides the numerous lift of paid perfons exhibited in the court- ;kalendar, which fo indecently fta)-es the nation in the face, there is an Ictmknown number of mafkjd penlioncrtj, which renders jjarliament ftill more fufpeded. ■: Jpnoi.. Who would have fuppofed that Mr. Burke, holding forth- as he formerly did againft fecrct infiuence, and corrupt majorities, fliould i' become a concealed penfioner ? I will now ftate the caic, not for the '» little purpofe of expofmg Mr. Burke, but to ftiev/ the inconfiftency of SBV application to a body of men, more than halfjpf whom, as far as the nation can at prefent know, may be in the fame .^afe with himfelf. Towards the end of lord North's adminiftration, Mr. Burke |}jpup-ht a bill int« pariiam&nt, generally knovf n by the name ©f Mr. ADDRESS TO THE ADDRESSERS. 291 Burke's reform bill ; In which, among other things, it is enaded, *♦ That no penfion, exceeding the fum of three hundred pounds a year, fliall be granted to any one perfon, and that the whole amount of the penfions granted i.i one year fliall not exceed fix hundred pounds ; a lift of which, ^* together with tlie riaines of the perfons to whom the fame are granted, fliall be laid before parliament in twenty days after the beginning of each fcffion, until the whole penfion Hit fhall be reduced to ninety thoufand pounds." A provifory claufe is afterwards added, *' That it fliall be lawful for the firil commiflioner of the treafury, to return into the exchequer, any penfion or annuity, As to the civil lift, of a milhon a year, it is not to te fiippofed that any one man can eat, drink, or confuine the whole upon himfelf. The cafe is, that above }\alfthis fum is annually apportioned among courtiers, and court members of both houfes, in places and office;, * altogether Infignificant and perfttlilly ufelefs, as to every puqiofeiKjf civil, rational, and manly government. For iiiihince, ^-^-^JJt ^JTO;f^ ' Of what ufe in the fcience and fyftem of governm.entj ■%'iv¥at js Called a lord chamberlain, a mafter and a mifttvfs of the robes, a inkf- ^fe-^of the^ hd*rfe,' a imafter of the hawks, and a« hundred oiiierrfHth ^»*hts[pf^'lLawi^ derive ho additiortal force, nor additional excellente ■^Crimi fuch-mumn'tery.''* '*"-*' "'-■'•• ■■■-••- - -- '^ .: ;: ..■-.::ii_-;.fjq.-. yju ^^'' Iti the dirinrpfeinetn^'t^f t1tt^a*viriifl"fOf t!i^ year 178^ fwhichtfi^y ^4)\f ften fn firJohnSt. daily's Hlftoryofthe Revenue) are fotir fcpa- ^e'^Kk%^?of'tlii5itAimn\er)^ office of chiiijibcilaiii: '^^^ * ^'^SM778 17 — 2(]. . . - - 3,coo 5d. - - - 24,069 19 — 4th. - .- - - 10,000 18 3 i;,75,S49 14 3 Bciidcs ^-1,1 19 ch?i".i;ed for alms. From this iiiinplc, thtMeit may be gucffed at. As to the maftcr of tlie hawks (tbcre arc nq hawks kept, aiid it" there were, it is no rcafwn the people ihyuM pay the expeucf? of fteding them, many of whom are put to It 10 gt;t bread for tncir children) his ialary is r -1,11 2 ;0. Ar,u b^^ikles a lia of items of this kind, fufficient to fill a quire of pap<;r, the pe;riion lifts alone are ^.107,404 13 4, which is a greater ium tliaii all the expenccs of the federal government in America amontit W. Arnon;:;- tlie iiemr,, there are two I had no expectations of finding, and which, in this urv o^ enquiry after civil liil influence, ought to be expofe^. The op.e is an annual payment of one thoiifand feven hundiied-p^uridstc tliC diiTeating minitlers in Engla,u4>.^ftd:the...ath£iv. ciglii->|im-id,rv^d pounds to thofe in Ireland. "io trcq yhs "^jni-rrtfr ' ,fri^4sr,J3iithe fati ; and the dillribuLion, as I am infgmffpjh-a^ foU lows : Hie whole fum of /*. 1,700 is paid to one perfon, a dilTenting mJKi4qi\T^!^,;L(Andpn, who divides it among eight others ; and thofe c.i->:lit:-^tjik)ng.fuch others as they pleaie. The lay-body of the dif- iente|.s,-,i^uci mawy of their principal miniilers, have long confidered it,.a&.d4Caunuurable-,i and have endeavoured to prevent it, but flili it contiiiucs to be fceretiv paid; and as the world has fometimes feeu very.ifalfyirm addrePii^s irom parts of th.at body, it may naturally be fup/poCed, thatlhe receivers, like bifliops and other court-clergy, are not idle in promoting them. How the money is diicributed in Ire- land, !| ,kuqw not. .Xu.:^Vf!^!'W^ ''^^ ^'"'^ fecret hillory of the civil lift, is not the inten- tion 0/ this publication. It is fufficient in this place>t t.03iff!fepofeiit.ii r^reiieval character, and the mafs of influence it keeps alive. -. It will-. iieceirArily beconie one of t}>e obje;ds of rtjform; and tlurpfore enough is fai«J toi})e^v,;.hfU uu|L^er it^s v)perat.ipn,^ n to p.^rliamej)fe . can be p^pedfcJ..toT;|9ae^d,'.r,o]i-)can.confi1U jp^^t^r^ul -iiWio w<^ S^^ch reforms u^iLfiot be,promote.(|iby,the.p^ks,-ty,Jt)?^t i^ yi, p<)|reiV;x > lion of thofe pl9ccs,:;Upr,J>y iheoppofitioirwho are ,waitij3^g for them;:' and as to a nicn^r^fc^t^n j^j^^nG:S^^tf-,^^^^^ uua€j!M}jft'.v ADDRESS TO THE ADDRESSERS. 293 idea that another parliament, differently elefted to the prcfent, but iVdl a component third part of tlie fame fyilem, and fubjeft to the control of the other two parts, will abolidi thofe abufes, is altoge- ther delufion; becaufe it is not only impracticable or^ the ground of formality, but is unwifely expofmg another fet of men Ikj the fame corruptions that have tainted the prcfent. Wei'e all the objc'fts that require a reform accomplidial-Jeby a mere reform in the ftate of reprcfentation, the pcrfons who compofe the prefent parliament might, with rather more propriety, be aflved to' abolirti all the abufes themfelves, than be applied to as the mere ii^.- llruments of doinc^it by a future parliament. If the virtue be want- ing to abolilh the abufe, it is alfo wantin;^- to aft as the means, and the nation mult, of necefiity, proceed by fome other plan. Having thus endeavoured to fiiew what the ribjedl condition of par- liament is, and the impropriety of going a fecond time over the f:ime ground that has before mifcarried, I come to the remai:;ii:g part of the fubjecl. !:■;--. There ought to be, in the conflitution of every country', a 'ttto^t- of referring back, on any extraordinary occafion, to the fovereii'-n and original conftituent pov/er, which is the nation itfelf. The right of altering any part of a government cannot, as already obferved, refid-c in the government, or thlat government might make itfelf *vvhat' it pleafed. ' ' : ••'-i • It ought alfo to be taken for granted, that though a nation^fey'- feel inconveniences, either in the excefs of taxation, or in th'e'motJe'' of expenditure, or in any thing elfe, it may not at firllbe fuiricJerrt^'v^^ afTured in what p&rt of its government the defeft lies, or whe'i't" tl^t-" evil originates. It may be fuppofed to be in one part,* ahd'^li''^ enquiry be found to be in another; or partly in all. Thi^-obfcu-" rity is naturally interwoven with what are called mixed gdver/!- ments. >Judnhib &i \w:^' lo-q t:\ -iliJi iu" Be, however, the reform to be ac<:omplifl>cd v.-hatcver it rThav,''iP can only follow in confequence of ^irft obtaining a full knowled'c'-e 6f allthe caufes that have rendered fuch reform neceffary, and'ewrV'" ' thing ihort of this, i» giiefs-work or frivolous cunnin'^. In thisxafeV^ : it cannot be fuppofed that any application to pailiamcnt cat! bnVg" ' forward this knowledge. ' The body is itfelf the fuppofed cii6fe,'^'^f/" one of the fuppofed caufes, of the abufes in qucftioii j ftnld'ciannot' be*' ' cxpefted, and ou^ht not to be a (Iced, to give evidence agjiilir: itfelf^ The enquiry therefore, which is of necellity the firil ftep in t);c huT/-' ' ivsfs, cannot be truftcd to parliament, but'mafl: be undbi'bL'eh'l^i" * 294 PAINE's WORKS. di{lin(5l body of men, feparated from every fufpicion of corruption or influence. Inftead, then, of referring to rotten boroughs and abfurd cor- porations for addrefTes, or hawking them about the country to be figned by a few dependant tenants, the real and effe6lual mode would be to come at once to the point, and to afcertain the fenfe of the nation by elefting a national convention. By this method, a-s already obferved, the general will, whether to reform or not, or what the reform fhall be, or how far it fhall extend, will be known, and it cannot be known by any other means. Such a body, empow- ered and fupported by the nation, will have authority to demand in- formation upon all matters necefTary to be enquired into ; and no minifter, nor any other perfon, will dare to refufe it. It will then be feen whether feventecn millions of taxes are necefTary, and for what purpofes they are expended. The concealed penfioners will then be obliged Lo unmafl<: ; and the fource of influence and corruption, if any fuch there be, will be laid open to the nation, not for the pur- pofe of revenge, but of redrefs. By taking this public and national ground, all objedlions againft partial addrefTes on the one fide, or private afTociations on the other, \yill be done away, the nation will decree its own reforms; and the clamour about party and fa6lion, or ins or outs, will become ridiculous. .-vbsinabTqaT siiT ^ The plan and organization of a convention is eafy in praftice:^*'^"^'^^ '•^•"In the firfi place, the number of inhabitants in every county can" be fufHciently enough known, from the number of houfes afTefTed to the houfe and window-light tax in each county. This will give the r lie for apportioning the number of members to be elected to the na- tional convention in each of the counties. at»avy ^'If the total number of inhabitants in England be feven millions, aiiid the total number of members to be ele6i:ed to the convention be elite thou fand, the number of members to be elefted in a county, con- taming one hundred and fifty thoufand inhabitants, will be tiveuty- er,e, and in like proportion for any other county^'*^^^'^ ^'-' ^^^(fiv/lB -iir/* As the election of a convfntion misft, in order to ' aTcef tain thV 'general fenfe of the nation, ^o on grounds different from that of parliamentary elections, the mode that befl promifcs this end ' w^ill have no dilhculties to combat with from abfurd cuftoms and pr^-^ tended rights. The right of every man will be the fame, Tvhetlicr he lives iii a city, a town. Of a • villkge. " The "^ftom of attaching rights io^Iadj br in otli«r' words td maniiiriate wihttei', inftcad ofi^ ADDRESS TO THE ADDRESSERS. 295 the per/an, independently of place, is too abfurd 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 pofTeffes, or out of the produ6l of his labour, which is property to him ; and is amenable in his own perfon to every law of the land ; fo has every one the fame equal right to vote, and no one part of a nation, nor any individual, has a right to difpute the right of another. The man who fhould do this, ougiit to forfeit the exercife of his O'wri right for a term of years. This would render the punifhment confident with the crime. When a qualification to vote is regulated by years, it is placed on the firmell poflible ground ; becaufe the qualification is fuch, as no- thing but dying before the time can take away ; and the equahty of rights, as a principle, is recognized in the a(9: of regulating the exer- cife. But when rights are placed upon, or made dependant upon property, they are on the moll precanous of all tenures, " Riches make themfelves wings, and fly away," and the rights fly with them; and thus they become loft to the man when they would be of moft vahie. :B«icfo Fk ,-It is froma ftrange mixture of tyranny and cowardice, that ex? clufions have been fet up and continued. The boldnefs to do wrong : at firfl, changes afterwards into cowardly craft, and at laft into fear. The rcprefcntatives in England appear now to acl as if they were afraid lo do right, even in part, left it fliould awaken the nation to a feafeof all the wrongs it has endured. This cafe ferves to fliew, that the fame conduft that beft conftitutes the fafcty of an individual, namely, a ftridl adherence to principle, conftitutes alfo the fafety of a government, and that without it fafety 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 tis property; for the rights of the one are as much property to him, as wealth is property to the other, and the liitle nil is as dear as the much. It is only by fetting out on juft principles that men are trained to be juft to each other ; and it ■ will ahvays be found, that when the rich protedl the rights of the r» poor, the poor will protedl the property of the rich. But the gua- rantee, to be effcvflual, muft be parliamentarily reciprocal^j^j.j} Jfi-j^n*^* Exclufions are not only unjuft, but they frequently operate as inju- rioufly to the party, who monopohzes, as to thofe who are excluded. When men fcek to exclude others from participating in tlie exercife . of any right, they fhould, at leaft, be affured, that they can effec- - tually perform the whole of the bufinefs they undertake; for unlefg 296 P A 1 N E * s W O R K S. they do this, thenifclves will be lofers by the monopoly. This has been the cafe with refpe6l to the monopoh'zed right of eleftion. The monopolizing party has not been able to keep the parliamentary re- prefentation, to whom the power of taxation was entrufted, in the Hate it ought to have been, and have thereby multiplied taxes upon themlelves eqi;al:y with thofe who were excluded. A great deal has been, and will continue to be faid, about difqua- liiications, arifing from the coir.iniliion of offences; but were this fub- je6l urged to its full extent, it would disqualify a great nnm.bcr of' the prefent eledors, together with their reprefentatives ; for, of all offences, none are more deflructive to the morals of fociety than bri- bery and corruption. It is, therefore, civility to fuch perfons to pafs this fubject over, and to give them a fair opportunity of recovering, ' or rather of creating chara6ier. Every thing, in the prefent mode of eleflioneering in England, is the reverfe of what it ought to be, and the vulgarity that attends elections is no other than the natural confequence of inverting the order of the fyftem. In the firil place, the candidate feeks the elector, inftead cf the cleftor feeking for a reprefentative ; and the eleftors are advertifed as being in the intereft of the candidate, inftead of the candidate being in the intereft of the electors. The candidate pays the eleftor for his vote, inflead of the nation paying the reprefentative for his time and attendance on public bufinefs. The complaint for an un- due eleftion is brought by the candidate; as if he, and not the elec- tors, were the party aggrieved; and he takes on himfelf at any penod of the eledlion, 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 laft Weftminfter election between two of the candidates (Mr. Fox and lord Hood) was an indecent violation of the principles of election. The candidates, af- fumed, in their own perfons, the rights of th€ eledlors ; for it was ©nly in the body of the ele(5\ors, and not at all in the candidates, that the right of making any fuch compact or compromife could cxift. . But the principle of eleftion and reprefentation is fo completely done away, in cveiy ftage thereof, that Inconfiftency has no longer the power of iurpriling. Neither from eleftions thus conducted, nor from rotten borough addreffers, nor from county meetings, promoted by placemen and penfioners, can the fcnfe of the nation be known. It is ftill cor- ruption appeah'ng to itfelf. But a convention of a thoufand ADDPjE;^S a^O.THSr addresses. 297 peiTons, fairly elected, would bring every ir.atLcr to a decided , iffiie. As to county racetino^Sj it is only pcrfons of leifure, or tliofe who live near to the place of meelir.g, tint can attend, and the niinVosr on fuch occafions is but like a drop in the bucket compared with the whole. The oiily confident fervice which fuch meetinps could rea der, v.'ould be that of apportioning the county into convenient dif- ' trials, and when this is done, each diil rift might, according to its number of inhabitants, eleil its cjuota of comity membevs to the . national convention ; aiidthe vote of each elector might be taken in the parifh where he relided, either by ballot or by voice, as he fiiould choofe to rive it. . A national convention tiius fv^rmpd, would bring together tlie fenfe ?nd opinions of every part of the nation,, fairly taken.' The fcience of government, and the intcrell of tlie pr.blic, and of the feveral parts ■••b thereof would then, undergo an ample and r.itional difcufuon, freed from the language of .parliamentary diguife. But in all deliberations of this kind, thouodi men have a rio-ht to '-'teafon with, and endeavour to co:ivince each other, upon any matter ■ bothat refpedls t"heir common good, yet, in point of practice, the^ma- jority -of opinions, when kuown, forms a rule for the v^hole, and to re this rule every good citizen practically conformiS. ■ '^ifi Mr. Burke, as if he knew (for every concealed penfioner has' the ' opportunitv of knowing) that the abufes adl:ed under the pt^efent • fyftem, are tOQ,fl'agr3nt to be palliated, and that the majority of-opi- C^onions, whenever fuch abufes Ikould be m.ade public, would be for a general and efFe6lual reform, has endeavoured to preclude the event, by flurdily denying the right of a ir.ajority of a nation to aft as a whole. Let us bellow a thought upon this caic. . • - When any matter is pro'pofed as a fubjeil for confnltatlon, it ne- ceffarily implies fome xnode of decifion. Common confeftt, ;;rifincr *''-*from abfolute ncceffity, has placed this in a majority of opinions ; ^libecaufe without it there can be no decifion, and conrequently no •^i'djd^f. ■ Tt is perhans the only cafe in which nrankin*d_ however ■^fJ^rarious ip their ideas./ upon 'other matters, can confillently be unani- f^vtnous ; becaufe it is a mode of decifion derived from the primary original right of every individual concerned ; tbaf right being firfl individually exercifed. in giving an opinion, and whethti -that opinion ihall arrange with the minority or the majority, is ajubf«;quent acci- dental tliijig thitt neither incrcafcsjior diminiOies the individual, ori- ginal right itfdL . Vxm to any debate, ;]PnjiU ivy ox ij^i»:lliga^iu, it VpL. II. Cijl 298 P A I N E ' s W O R K S. is not fiippofcJ to be known on which fiJc the majority of opinions will fall, and therefore wliilii this mode of decifion fecures to every one the right of giving an opinion, it admits to every one an equal chance in the ultimate event. Among the matters tliat will prefent themfelves to the confidera- tion of a national convention, there is one, vxlH.lIy of a domeftic na- ture, but fo marvelloufly leaded with conful:on, as to appear at hrft fight, almoll impolTible to be reformed. I mean the condition of what is called aw. But, if we examine into the caufe from whence this confufion, now fo much the fubjeft of univerfal complaint, is produced, not only tlie remedy Vv'ill imniediately prefent itfelf, but with it, the means of preventing threfented part of tlic nation commit this power to thofe iw parliament, in whofe election tliev had no choice; and therefore, even upon the ground tlie fociety iuis taken, recourfe muil be Iiad to a national convention. The objciaon which Mr. Fox made to Mr. Grey's propofed mo- tion for a parliamentary reform was, that it contained no plan. — It certcunly did not. But the plan very eafily prefents itfclfj and whilil it is fair for all parties, it prevents the dang^^rs that might otherwife c.iife from privjilc or pcpuJar difcontent. TFIOMAS PAINE. T O L O R D O N S L O \7, LORD LIEUTENANT OF THE COUNTY OF SURIIV i. ON' THE SUBJECT OF THE LATK EXCELLENT PROCLx^MATiCNt OR, THE CHAIR M A N WHO SHALL PRESIDE AT THE MEETING TO BE HELD AT EPSOM, JUNE lo. LoN-DON, June I7, 1792. HAVE {ccn in the public newfpapers the following advertifemcnt, to wit — *' To the nobility, gentlemen, clergy, freeholders, r.nd other inlia- *' bitants of the county of Suvry. *' At the requifition and delire of I'-jveral of the freehoiden; of the ** county, I am, in the abfence of the Sheriff, to defire the favour of " your attendance, at a meeting to be held at Epfom, on Monda}- " the 1 8th inftant, at 12 o'clock at noon, to coiifiderof an humble " addrefs to his majesty, to exprefs our grateful approbation of Iris ♦* majesty's paternal and well-timed Jittendance to the public we!- *' fare, in his late moil gracious proclamation againft the eneiTiics of " our happy couilitution. (Signed) *^ ONSLOW CRANLEY/' Taking it for granted, that the aforjfaid advertifement, Cv;uaily a^ obfcure as the proclamation to which it refers, has neverthelefs fomc meaning, and is intended to effeil fome purpofe ; aod as profecution (whether wifely or unwifely, jultly or unj'udly) is already commenced againil a work entitled RIGHTS OF MAN, of which I have th: the honour and happinefs to be the author ; I feel it necciTary to addrefs this letter to you, and to requeft that it may be read publicly to the gentlemen who fliall meet at Epfom in confequencc of the ad- vertifement. The work now under profecution is, I conceive, the fame work Zoi PAINE' .s W O R K S. which is intended to be fuppreiTcd hj the aforefaid proclamation.— ~ Admitting this to be the cafe, the gentlemen of the county of Surry are called upon by foniehody to condemn a work, and they are at the fame time fm-bidden by the proclamation to know wliat that work is ; and they are further called upon to give their aid and affiflance to prevent other people from knowing it alfo. — It is therefore neceffi'Ty that the author, for his own juftification, as well as to prevent the gentlemen who fhali meet from, being impofed upon by mifreprefen- tation, fhould give fome outlines of the principles and plans which that work contains. The work, fir, in queftion contains, firft, an invelligation of gene- ral principles of government. It alfo diilinguifnes government into two clafles or fyftems, the one the hereditaiy fyftem — the other the rcprefcntative fyftcm ; and it compares thefe two fyftems with each other. It fhews, that what is called hereditary government cannot exitt as a matter of right ; becaufe hereditary government always means a government yet to come ; and the cafe always is, that thofe who are to hve afterwards have always the fame right to eftablifli a govern- ment for themfelvco as the people who had lived before them. It alfo fnews the defe6l to which hereditary government is una- voidably fubjeft : That it muft, from the nature of it, throw go- vernm.ent into the hands of men totally unvrorthy of it from the wan-t of principle, or unfitted for it from want of capacity. James the Ild. and many others are recorded in the Engliih hiftory, as proofs of the former of thofe cafes, and inilances are to be found almoft over Europe, to prove the truth of the 'atter. It then fliews tliat the reprefentative fyftem is the only true fyftem of government ; th?.t it is ah^o the only fyltem under which the liberties of any people can be permanently fecure ; and furtherj that it is the only one that can continue the fame equal probability at all times of admitting of none bat men properly quahfied, both by principles and abilities, into government, and of excluding fuch as arc otherwife. The work fhev/s alfo, by plans and calculations not hitherto denied nor controverted, n^t even by the profecution that is commenced, that the taxes now exifting may be reduced at leaft fix 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 bo confiderably reduced — that the aged poor may be comfortably pro->, vided for, and the children of poor families properly educated — that -f fifteen thoufand foldiers, and the fame number of failors, may be dK- LETTER TO LORD ONSLOW. 303 lowed three fhillings per week during life out of the furplus taxes; and alfo that a proportionate allowance tnay be made to the officers, and the pay of the remaining foldiers and lailors be incrcafed ; and that it is better to apply the furplus taxes to thofe purpofes than to confume them upon lazy and profligate placemen and penfioners ; and that the revenue, faid to be twenty thoufand pounds per annum, raifed by a tax upon coals, and given to the duke of Richmond, is a grofs impofirion upon all the people of London, and ought to be inilantly abolifhcd. This, iir, IS a concTc abn.ra(ft of the principles and plans contained in the work ihat is now profecuted, and for the fuppreilion of which the proclamation appears to be intended ; but as it is impoffible that I can in the compafs of a letter, bring into view all the matters contained in the work, and as it is proper that the gentlemen who may compofe that meetiiig (hould knov/ what the merits or demerits of it are, be- fore they come to any refolutions, either direftly or indireftly relating thereto, I requeli the honour of prefenting them with one hundred copies of the fecond part of the Rights of Man, and alfo one thou- fand copies of my letter to Mr. Dukdas, which I have directed ta be fent to Epfom for that purpofe ; and I beg the favour of the chair- man to take the trouble of prefenting them to the gentlemen who fhall meet on that occafion, with my fmcere wifhes for their happi- nefs, and for that of the nation in general. Having now clofed thus much of the fubje6l of ray letter, I next come to fpeak of what has relation to me ptrfoiially. I am well aware of the delicacy that attends it, but the purpofe of calling the meeting appears to me fo inconfiftent with that juftice that is always due between man and man, that it is proper I fhould (as well on ac- count of the gentlemen who may meet, as on my own account) ex-'" plain myfelf fully and candidly thereon. 1 have already Informed the gentlemen, that a profecution is com- menced ap'ainfi: a work of which I have the honour and hapoinefs t(> be the author ; and I have good reasons for believing that the procla^-^ matlon which the gentlemen are called to confider, and to prefent an addrefs upon, is ; iirpofely calculated to give an imprefTion to the jury before whom that matter is to come. In fhort, tliat it is dif^at- ing a verdidl by proclamation ; and I confider the inftigators of the meeting to be held at Epfom, as aiding and abetting the fameimpro^"^ per, and, in my opinion, illegal purpofe, and that in a manner very artfully contrived, as I fliail now fhcw. Had a meeting been called of the freeholders of the county of :^e4 PAINE^s WORKS. Midtilcfex, the gentlemen who had compofed that meeting would have rendered theinfelves objectionable as perfons to ferve on a jury before whom the judicial cafe was afterwards to come. But b}- cal- ling a meeting out of the county of Middlefex, that matter is artfully "avoided, and the gentlemen of Suriy are fummoned, as if it were intended t43er.ebY to give a tone to the fort of verdicS: which the infti- ,gators ©f the meeting no doubt vinTii fnould be broue^ii in, and lo igive countenance to the jury in fo doing. i am, iir, With n-iiich refped to the Gentlemen v.-ho fliall meet, Their and yoiir obedient hnmble fervant, THOMAS PAINE, II. TO THE SAME: SIPv, London, June 2T, 1792. HEN I vrrote you the letter which Mr. HorneTooke did m.e the favour to prefent to you, as chairm:an of the meeting held at lipfom, Monday, June :9, it was not with much expectation that you would do miC the juilice of permitting, or recommending it to be publicly read. I am well aware that the fignature of Thomas "Paine has fomething in it dreadful to finecure placemen and pen- fioners ; and when you, on feeing the letter opened, informed the meeting that it was figned Thomas Paine, and added, in a note of exclamation, " the com.mon cnemiy of us ail," you fpoke one of the greateil truths you ever uttered, ifyouconline the exprelTion to men of the fame defcription with yourfelf ; m.en living in indolence and luxury, on the fpoil and labours of the public. The letter has fince appeared in the Argu?, and probably in other papers- It will juftify itfelf; but if any thing on that account hath been wanting, your own condutl at the meeting would have fupplied tlic omifTion. You there fuiiiciently proved that I was nor miilaken in fuppofing that the meeting Vvas called to give an indireft aid to the profecution commenced againft a work, the reputation of which will long out-live the m.emory of the penfioner I am v.-rit:ng to. When, m.eetiugs, fn*, are called by the partizans of the court, Ui LETTER TO LOPvD ONSLOW. 305 preclude the nation the right of inveftigating fyftems and principles of governnnent, andofexpoling errors and defetls, under the pietence of profec'.iting any individual — it funiinics an additional motive for maintaining facred tha^. violated right. The princinlcs and arguments contained in the work in queftion, RIGHTS OF MAN, 'have Hood, and they now ftand, and I be- lieve ever will Hand, unrefuted. They are Rated in a fair and open manner to ilie world, and they have already received the public apro- bation of a greater number of men, of the befl: of charafters, of every denomination of religion, and of every rank in Hfe (placemen and penfioners excepted), than all the juries that fliall meet in England, for ten years to come, will amount to ; and I have moreover good reafons for believing that the approvers of that work, as well private as public, are already more numerous than all the prefent eledors throughout the nation. Not lefs than forty pamphlets, intended as anfwers thereto, have appeared, and as fuddenly difappeared : Scarcely are the titles of any of them remembered, notwithflanding their endeavours have been aided by all the daily abufe which t' e court and miniillerial newfpapers, for almoft a year and a half, could beftow, both upon the work and the author; and now that every attempt to refute, and every abufe has failed, the invention of caUing the work a libel has been hit upon, and the difcomfited party has punllanimoully retreated to profecution and a jury, and obfcuve addrefles. As I well know that a long letter from me will not be agreeable to you, I will relieve your uneafir.crj by making it as fliort as I con- veniently can ; and will conclude it with taking up the fubjed at that part where Mr.- Hornu Tookz was interrupted from going on when at the meeting. That gentleman was Rating, that the fituation you Rood in ren- dered it Improper for you to appear a^iv^Iy in a fccne in v/hich your private intercR was too vlOble; that you were a bedchamber lord at a thoufand a year, and a penRoner at three thoufand pounds a year more — and here he was Ropped by the little, but noify circle you had colleded round. Permit me then, fir, to add an explanation t^o l^iii words, for the benefit of your neighbours, and with which, and a few ebfervations, I fhall clofe my letter. When it was reported in tlie Englifh newfpapers, foiye fliort time fmce, that the emprefs of llauia had given to one of her minions a large trad of country, and fcveral thomands of peafants as property, it very juRly provoked indignation and abhorrence in thofe who heard V©L. II R 1- 3o6 P A I N E ' s W O ?. K S. ic. But if we compare the mode prisftifed in England, with tliat which appears to us fo abhorrent in Ruffia, it will be found to amount to very near the fame thing; — for example — As the whole of the revenue in England is drawn by taxes from the pockets of the people, thofe things called gifts and grants- (of which kind are all penhons and finecure places) are paid out of that ftock. The difference, thereh^re, between the two modes is,.that in England the money is colleaed by the government, and then given to the pen- honer, and in Ruffia he is left to collc6l it for himfelf. The fmalleft fum which the pcoreft family in a county fo near London as Surry, can be fuppofed to pay' ainui ally of taxes, isnotlefs than five pounds; and as your finecure of one thoufand, and penfion of three thoufand per annum, are made up of taxes paid by eight hundred fuch poor fa- milies, it comes to the fame thing as if the eight hundred families had been oiven to you, as in Ruffia, and you had coUeded the money on vour account. Were you to fay tliat you are not quartered particu- larly on the people of Surry, but on the nation at large, the objec- tion would amount to nothing; for as there are more penfioners than counties, every one may Ke conlidered as quartered on that in which he lives. What horcur or happinefa you can derive from being the pri mci- PAL PAUP ZR of the neighliourhood, and occafioning a greater expencc than the poor, the aged, and the inlirm, for ten miles round you, I leave you to eniov. At the fame time I can fee that it is no wonder vou fliould be ftrenuous in fuppreff.ng a book whicli fln'kes at the rcot of thofe abuf'js. No v^'ondcr that you fliould be againft reform?, a'Tainil the freedom of the prefs, and the right of inveiligation. To you, and to others of your defcription, thefea/e dreadful thing?; but vou fhouldalfo confider, that the motives which prompt you to a^f, ought, by refl-6lioti, to compel you to htfihnt. Havinf^ now returned ycur compliment, and fufliciently tired your patience, I take my leave of you with mentioning, that if you had R6t prevented my former letter from being read at the meeting, you would not have had the trouble of reading this; and alfo with requeil- ing, that the next time you call me "« common enemyy' you would add, *' of nsfiiiccuye plactmen and penfioners J''' I am, Sir, *^c. ^cc. c'e, the lords fpiritual and temporal, and commons, do, in the nam.e of the people ot England, moil humbly and faiilifullv fubmit ourjfhcs^ our hnrs, a;ul J^iy/hrilffs, to William and Marv, th^lr h:::rs and po/leniks^^QV ever." And in a fubfequent law, as quoted by Edmund Burke, the faid parliament, in the name of the people of Engk '.d then living, h'tuds the /aid people, thc'rr heirs and pofierU'ieSy to WdUarn and Mary, their heirs and pojt critics, to the end nf time. It is not fumcient th.at v;e laugh at the ignorance of fuch law- makers, it is necefUiry that v/e reprobate their want of principle. The conilitucnt aifembly of France ( lySvj) fell into the fame vice as the parliament of England had done, and aiTumed to cHablifh an hereditary fucceffion in ilie family of the Capets, as an a6l of the con- fiitution of that year. Th.at every nation, for tl^ time Icing, has a right to goveni itfelf as it pleafes, m.ull always be admitted ; but go- vernmtent by hereditary fncceil'on is government for another race of people, and not "for itfelf ; and as thofe on whom it is to operate are not vet in exigence, or arc minors, fo neither is the right in exill- ence to fet it up for them, and to afTume \v.c\i a -right is treafon a- gainll tkerighr of pofti^fiiy.. DISSERTATION ON GOVERNMENT. 315 I here clofc the arguments on the iirft head, that of government by heredit:u-y fucccfhon ; and proceed to the fecond, that of govern- ment by eledion and reprefentatJon ; or, as 'it nisiy be concifely ex- prefTed, rehrefcnlative gover-^imcnt in contradiitinclion to hereditary ^■overumetrt^ Reafoning by exckifion, if Lercdiiary go'vernment has not a right to cxift, and that it has not is pvoveable, repi'ffeniat'roe governrdent is ad- mitted of coiirfe. In contempJating government by eledion and reprefentation, we amufe not ourfelves in enquiring when or how, or by what right it began. Its origin is ever in view. Man is himfelf the origin and the evidence of the right. It appertains to him in right of his exill- ence, and his perfon is the title-deed. The true and only true baiiTi of reprcfentative government is equality of rights. Every inan has a right to one vote, and no more, in the choice of reprefentatives. The rich have no more right to exclude the poor from the right of voting or of defying and being e- kifledthan the poor have to exclude the rich ; and wherever it is at- t-empted, or propofed, on cither nde, it is a queftiou of force, and not of right. Who is he that would -oxlude another I — That other has a right to exclude him. That which is nov%^ called arillocracy implies an inequality of rights ; but who are the pei-fons that have a right to eftabiifh this inequality? Will the rich exclude themfelves ? No! Will the poor exclude themfelves ? No ! By what right then can any be excluded ? It would be a quedion, i^ ^-117 man, or clafs of men, have a right to exclude themfelves; but be this as it may, they cannot have the r<(.>-ht to exclude another. Tlie poor will hot delegate fuch a right to the rich,, nor the rich to the poor, and to adlime it is not only to affume arbitrary power, but to affiimc a right to commit robbery. Ferfonal rights, of which the right of voting for rcprefeutatives is one, are a fpecies of property of the moll lacreJ kind ; and he that would emoloy his pecuniary property, or preiume upon the influence it gives him, to difpofiefs or rob another of his property of rights, ufes that pecuniary property as he v.ould ufe fire-arms, and merits to have it taken from him. inequality of rights is created by a ccmibination in one part of the community to exclude' another part from its rights. Whenever it may be made an arilcle of a conllitution, or a law, that the right of voting, or. of eleftlng and being eleflt'd, ihall appertain cxclufively to perfons.poflcfliiig a certain quantity of property, be it lit tk or 316 PAINE's WORKS. much, it is a combination, of the perfons pofTeffing that quantity, to exclude thofe who do not pofrefs the fame quantity. It is invcfling themfelve? vvith powers as a felf-crcated part of fociety, to the excki- iion of the reft. It is always to be taken for granted, that thofe who oppofe an equality of rights, never mean the exclufion fhouid take place on themftlves ; and in this view of the cafe, pardoning the vanity of the thing, ariiiocracy is a uibitcl of laughter. This feif-foothing vanity is encouraged by another idea not lefs felfiili, which is, that the op- pofers conceive they are playing a fafe game, in which there is a chance to gain and none to lofc ; that at any rate the doctrine of equality includes thcin, and that if they cannot get more rights than thofe whom they oppofe and would exclude, they fliall not have lefs- This opinion has already been fatal to thoufands wiio, not contented with equal rights^ have fought more till they loll all, and experi- enced in themfeives the degrading mequal'ity they endeavoured to fix upon others. In any view of the cafe it is dangerous and impolitic, fometimes ridiculous, and always unjuil, to make property the criterion of the right of voting. If the fum, or value of the property upon which the right is to take place be confiderable, it will exclude a majority of the people, and unite them in a common intereft againft the govern- ment and ogainfl thole who fupport it, and as the power is always with the majority, they can overturn fuch a government and its fup- pdrters whenever they pleafe. If, in order to avoid this danger, a fmall quantity of property he fixed, as the criterion of the right, its exhibits liberty in difgrace, by putting it in competition v*'ith accident and infignificance. When a brood-mare (hall fortunately produce a foal or a mule, that by being worth the fum in queflion, fliali convey to its owner the right of vot- ing, or by its deaih take it from him, \\\ whom does the origin of fuch a right exill ? Is it iu the man, ox in the mule? When w^e con- fider how many ways property may be acquired without merit, aud loft without a crime, we ought to fpurn the idea of making it a crite- rion of rights. But the oiTenfive part of the cafe is, that this exclufion from the rip-ht of voting implies a iligma on the moral character of the pcrfons excluded ; and this is what no part of the community has a right to pronounce upon another part. No external circumftance can juf- tify it ; wealtli is no proof of moral charafter ; nor poverty of the 'want of it. On the contrary, wealth is often the prefuraptivc ev^ DISSERTATION ON GOVERNMENT. 317 dencc of difhonefty ; and poverty the n^g-sdv-e evidence of inno- cence. If therefore property, whether h'ttle or much, be made a criterion, the means by vvhicli that property has been acquired, ought to be made a criterion alto. The only gi-ound upon which cxclufion from the right of voting is confiftent with julh'ce, would be to inflidl it as a punirhraent for a cer- tain time upon thofe wlip fliould propofe to take away that right from others. The right of voting for reprefentatives is the primary right by whidi other rights are protefted. To take away this right is to reduce a man to a Rate of flavcry, for flavery confiils in being fubjedt to the will of another, and he that lias not a vote in the election of reprcfeivtatives, is in this cafe. The propofal therefore to disfranchifc any clafs of men is as criminal as the propofal to take away property. When we fpcak of right, we ought always to unite with it the idea of tiuties : Right becomes duties by reciprocity. The right which I enjoy becomes my duty to guarantee it to anotJier, and he to me ; and thofe who violate the duty jullly incur a forfeiture of the rii>-ht. In a poHtical wlew of the cafe, the ftrength and permanent fecurity of governm.ent is in proportion to the number of people intereiled in fupporting it. The true policy therefore is to intereft the whole by an equality of rights, for the danger arifes from excliifions. It is pofilble to exclude men from the right of voting, but it is impolTible to exclude them from the right of rebcHing againd that exclufion ; and when all other rights are taken away, the right of rebellion is made perfect. While men could be perfuaded they had no rights, or that rif/iit.i appertained only to a certain chfs of men, or that p-overnment was a thing exifting in right of itfelf, it v/as not difficult to govern them au- thoritatively. The ignorance in which they were held, and the fii- perftition in which they were inilru6lcd,. furnifhed the means of d«ing it ; but when the ignorance is gone, and the funerftitition with it ; when they perceive the irapofition that has been acted upon them ; when they reflcft that the cultivator and the manufafturer are the primary means of all the wealth that cxills iu the world, beyond what nature fpontaneoufly produces ; when they begin to feci their confe- quence by their ufefulnefs, and their right as membirs of fociety, it h then no longer poffible to govern them as before. The fraud once detedled cannot be readied. To attempt it is to provoke derijion, or invite defi:ru6lion. That property will ever be unequal is certain. Induflry, fupcri- ity of talents, or dexterity of management, 'extrcime frugali'.y, foftu- 3iS p A I N E ' s W O R K S. iiatc opportunities, or the oppofite, or the mean of thofe things, will ever produce tliat ei7ea without having recourle to the harfn ill- founding names of avarice and oppreiTion ; and befides this, there arc iome men v/ho, though they do not defpii'e wealtl), will not ftoop to the drudgery of the means of acquirinir it, nor will be trowbled whh the care of it, beyond their wants or their independence ; whilft in others there is an avidity to obtain it by every means not punilh^iblc ; it makes the fole bufinefs of their lives, and they follow it ns a religion. y^/I that is required tv'ith rcfpccl to property is to obtain it horeJI/y, and mt employ it criminally ; hut it is al-zuays criiruriaHy employed, ivhcn it is made a criterion for exclufive rights. In inHitutions that are purely pecuniary, fuch as that of a bank or a commercial co:-npany, the rights of the menibers compofing that company are wholly created by the property they invefl therein ; and no other rights are reprefented in the government of tliat company^ than what arife out of that property ; neither has that government cognizance of any thing but properly. But the cafe is totally diiTerent witli refpeci to the Inftitution or civil government, organized on the fyftem of reprefentation. Such a government has cognizance of e^iery thirigy and c^ every vum as a mem- ber of the naticSnal fociety, whether he has property or not ; and tlierefore the principle requires that every man and every kind of right be reprefented, of which the right to acquire and to hold property is but one, and that not of the moll efiential kind. The protedion of a man's perfon is m.ore facred than the prote6Hon of property ; and befides this, the faculty of performing any kind of work or fervice 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 obje61 of his protevilion, as exterior property, pcf- feiTed without that faculty, can be the objedt of protection to another oerfon. I have alvv'ays believed that the beft fecurity for property, be it much or little, is to remove from every part of the community, as far as can polTibly be done, every caufe of complaint, and every motive to vio- lence ; and this can only be done by an equality oi riglits. Wh^-n rights are fecure, property is fecure in confequence. But vvlien property is made a prctciice for unequal or exclufive riglits, it v. cakens the right to !iold the property, and provokes indignation and tumult; for it is unnatural to believe that property can be fecure under tlie guarantee of a fociety injured in its riglits b the influence of that property. DlSSEllTATION ON GOVERNMENT. 319 Ne.' t to the injuftice and ill-policy of making property a pretence torexcluiive rights, is the unaccountable ahfurdity of giving to mere found the idea of properly, and annexing to it certain rights ; for what elle is a title but found. Nature is often giving to the world f me ext raordinary men who arrive at fame by merit and univerfal confent, fiich as Ariftotle, Socrates, Plato, &c. Thefe were truly great or noble. But when government fets up a nianufa6loiy of nobles, it is as abfurd, as if fhe undertook to manufaclure wife men. Ha nobles ere'' a 11 cciinicrfehs. As property honellly obtained is beft fecured by an equality of rights, fo ill-gotten property depends for prote6lion on a monopoly of rights. Pie v/ho has robbed another of his property, will next endeavour to difarrn him of his rights, to lecure tirit property ; for v/hcn the robber becomes the ]';g!ji:icor he ceiicves hiniielf iccure. That part of the government of England that is called the Iioufc of lords was originally cgmpofed of perfons who had committed the rob- beries of which I have been fpeaking. It v/as an affcciation for the p?-otc6lion of the property they had ftolen. . But befides the criminality of tlie or-'gin of ariilocracy, it has an injarious effeCl on the moral and phylical charailer of m^an. Like fla- veiy, it debilitates the human faculties; for as the mind, bowed down by flavery, lofes in filence its elaftic pov>'erg, fo, in the contrary ex- treme, when it is buoyed up by folly, it becomes incapable of ex- erting them, and dv/indles into imbecility. It is impoffible that a mind employed upon ribands and titles can ev(^r be great. The ckildifhnefs of the objefts confumes the man. It is at all times neceiTary, and more particulaily fo during the pro- gi'efs of a revolution, and until right ideas confirm themlelves by haliit, that we frequently refrcfh our patriotifm by reference to firll prin- ples. It is by tracing things to their origin that Vv-e learn to under- iland them ; and it is by keeping that lint and that origin always in view that we never forget them. An enquiry into the origin of rights, will demonftrate to us that rights ,are r.(jt gifts from one man to another, nor from one clafs of men to another ; for who is he who uould be the firft giver, or by what principle, or on what authority, could he DoiTefs the right of giving ? A declaration of rights is not a creation of them, nor a do- nati(jn of chem. It is a manifeft of the principle by wh-.h they exiJl, fgllovved by a detail of what the rights are; for every ci ii ri'^ht hns a natural right for its foundation, and it includes t!:c principle of a reciproc-'l guarantee of thofe rights from man to man. Ai therefore 320 P A I N E ' s W O R IC S. U IS impoinbi-e to difeover any origin of rights otkerwife than in tliC origin of man, it confe<|uently follows, that rights appertain to mati in rigfet of his exiftence only, and mull therefore be equal to every man. The principle of an equality ofri.ghu is clear and hmple. Every man can underlland it,^ and it is by underftanding his rights that he learns his duties; for where the rights of men are equal, every ma« mull finally fee the necefhty of protecting the rights of others as the mod; eitV6lual fecurity for his own. But if in the formation of a con- ftitution ^ve depart from the principle of equal rights, or attempt any modification of it, we plunge into a labyrinth of difficulties from whicii ther€ is no way out but by retreating. Where are Vve to llop r Or by what principle are .we te find out the point to flop at, that fixall dilcnirjiiatc between men of tlie fame country, part of whom {hail be free, and the rcil not ? If property is to be made tlie crite- rion, it is a total departure from every moral principle of liberty, be- caufe 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 difcord, and not onlv exciting but juiiifying war againft it; for I maintain the principle, that w^jcn property is ufed as an infirument to take away the rights of thofe who nrjy happen not to pofiefs pro- perty, it is ufed to an unlawful puipofc. as fire-arms v/ould be in a fimilar cafe. In a ftatc oF nature all men are equal in rights, but tliev are not equal in power ; the weak cannot protect liimiclf againft the llrong. This being the cafe, the inititution of civil fociety is for the purpolc of making an equalization of powers that fliall be parallel to, and a guarantee of the equality of rights. The laws of a country when pro- perly conilruc^lcd apply to this purpofc. Every man takes the arm of the law for his proteftion as mere cfFcctual than his own ; and therefore every m.an li^s an equal right in tiie formation of ihe govern- m.ent and of the laws by which he is to be governed and judged. In extenfive countries and fociifties, fuch as America and France, this right, in the individu:tl can only be exercifed by delegation, that is, by cleftion and reprcfcnta.tiou; and hence it is that the inilitution of reprefentative government arifes. Hitherto I have confined myfelf to matters of principle only. Firft, that hereditary government has not a right to ex ill:; that it cannot be eftabliflied on any principle of right; and that it is a viola- tion of all principle. Secondly, that government by election and rc- prefentation has its origin in the natural and eternal rights of man; f©r whether a mjjn be \\h own lav/giver, ai; he would be in a Ilate of DISSERTATION ON GOVERNMENT. 321 nature; or whether he exercifes his portion of legiflative fovcreignty ill his own perfon, as might be the cafe in fmall democracies where all could aiTemble for the formation of the laws by which they were to be governed ; or whether he exercifes it in the choice of perfons to reprefent him in a national affembly of reprefentatives, the origin of the right is the fame' in all cafes. The firft, as is before obferved, is defedive in power; the fecond, is prac^licable only in democracies of fraall extent; the third, is the greatefl fcale upon which human government can be inftituted. Next to matters of prmciphy are matters of Gpinion, and it is nccef- fary to diftinguifli between the two. Whether the rights of men fhall be equal is not a matter of opinion but of right, and confequently of principle ; for men do not hold their rights as grants from each other, but each one in right of himfelf. Society is the guardian but not the giver. And as in extenfive focieties, fuch as America and France, the right of the individual in matters of government, cannot be exer- cifed but by elefiion and r. prefentation ; it confequently follows, that the only fyflem of government, confillent with principle, wliere fimple democracy is imprafticable, is the reprefentatlve fyllem. But as to the organical part, or the manner in wh ch the feveral parts of government fhall be arranged and compofed, it is altogether matter of opinion. It is neceffary that all the parts be conformable with the principle of equal rights ; and fo long as this principle be religioufly adhered to, no veiy material error can take place, neither can any error continue long in that part that falls within the province of opinion. In all matters of opinion, the focial compact, or the principle by which foclety Is held together, requires that the majority of opinions becomes the rule for the whole, and that the minority yields pra'er of deliberating whether it ihail a£l or not ;■ it has no difcrctionary authority in the cafe ; for it can a& no other thing that what the laws decree, and it is obliged to a and Hume for his Idea of a Per- fedl Commonv/ealth. But (continued Mr. Adam) the publication of Mr. Paine was very different, for it reviled what was mofl facred in the conflitution, deftroyed every principle of fubordination, and eflablifhed nothing in their room."' I readily perceived that Mr. Adam had not read the fecond part of the Rights of Man, and I am put under the neceflity either oi fubmitting to an erroneous charge, or of juflifying myfelf againft it: and I certainly fliall prefer the latter. — If, then, I fiiali prove to M/^. Adam, that in my reafoju'ng upon fyftems @f government, in the fe- cond part of Rights of Man, I have fliewn, as clearly, I think, as words can convey ideas, a certain fyilem. of government ; and that not exifling in theory only, but already in full and eftabliflied prac- tice, and fyilematically and practically free from all the vices and defedts of the Englifli government, and capable of producing more happinefs to tljtf people, and that alfo with an eightieth part of the taxes, which tlipprefcnt fyflem of Engliih government confumes; I hope he will do m.e the juilice when he next goes to the houfe to get up and confefs, he had been miftaken in faying, that I had eflablifhed nothing, and that I had deilroyed every principle of fubordination. Having thus opened the cafe, I now come to the point. In the fecond part of Rights of Man I have diitinguiihed govern^ ment into two claffes or fyllems ; the one the hereditary fyilem, the- other the reprefentative fyftem. In the lirit part of Rights of Man I have endeavoured to fhew, and I challenge any man to rt-fute it, that there does not exill a riglit to ellablifh hereditary government; or, in other words, hereditary go- vernors; becaufe hereditary government always means a government yet to comie, and the cafe always is, that the people who are to live afterwards have always the fame right to choofe a government for themfelves, as the people had who lived before them. In the fecond part of Rights of Man I have not repeated thofe arguments, becaufe they are irrefutable ; but have confined myfelf to flicw the defeats of what is called hereditary government, or heredi- LETTER TO MR. SECRETAR-Y BUNDAS. 327 tary fuccefiion, that it muft, 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 lid. is recorded as an inilance of the firlt of thefe cafes; and inftances are to be found alcioft all over Europe to prove the truth of the latter. To iliew the abfurdity of the hereditary fyftem flill more (Irongly, I will now put the following cafe : — take any fifty men promifcuoufiy, and it will be very extraordinary if, out of that number, more than one man fi:iould be found, whofe princiulcs and talents taken together (or fome might have principles, and others have talents) would ren- der him a perfon truly fitted to fill any very extraordinary office of national trufh If then fucli a ficnefs of charafter could not be ex- pefted to be fo-und in more than one perfon out of fifty, it would happen but once in a thoufand years to the elded fon of any one fa- mily, admitting each on an average, to hold the office twenty years, Mr. Adam talks of fomething in the conftitution which he calls mofi: facred; but T hope he does not mean hereditary fucceffion, a thing which appears to me a violation of every order of nature and of com- mon fenfe, Wlien I look into liiftory and fee the multitudes of men, otherwife virtuous, who have died, and their families been ruined, in defence of knaves and fools, and which they would not have done had they rea- foned at all upon the fyftem; I do not know a greater good that an individual can render to mankind, than to endeavour to break the chains of political fuperflition. Thofe chains are now diflblving faft, and proclamations and profecutions will ferve but to haften that dif- foiution. Having thus fpoken of the hereditary fyftem as a bad fyftem, and fubjedl to every poffible defect, I now come to the reprefeatative fyf- , tern ; and this Mr. Adam will find ftated in the fecond part of Rights of Man, not only as the beft, but as the only theory of government under which the liberties of a people can be permanentlv fecure. But it is needlefs nov.' to talk of mere theory, fince there Is already a government in full pradtlce, eftabllHied upon that theory ; or, in other words, upon the rights of man, and has been fo for almoft twenty years. Mr. Pitt, in a fpcech of his fome ftiort time fiiice, faid * That there never did, and never could exiil a government eftab- lifhed upon thofe rights, and that if It began at noon, it woidd end at nights' — Mr. Pitt has not yet arrived at the degree of a fchool boy in this fpecics of knowledge. His pra6licc has been confined to the Bieans of extorting revenue, and his boaft has been — how much? 32g P AINE's wo RKS. Whereas the boai'l of the fyftem of government that I am fpeaking of, is not how much, but how little. The fyllem of government purely reprefentative, unmixed with any thing of hereditary nonfenfe, began in America. I will now compare the effedls of that fyftem of government, with the fyllem of govern- ment in England, both during and fince the clofe of the war. So powerful is tlie reprefentative fyftem; — firft, by com.bining and confolidating all the parts of a country together, however great the extent; and fccondly, by admitting of none but men properly quali- fied into the government, or difmifling them if they prove otherwife, that America was enabled thereby totally to defeat and overthrow all the fchemes and projeds of the hereditary government of Eng- land againil her. As the eftablifliment of the revolution and inde- pendence of America is a proof of this h£i, it is neediefs to enlarge npon it. I now come to the comparative effeft of the two fyftems fince the clofe of the war, and I requeft Mr. Adam to attend to it. America had internally fuitained the ravage of upwards of feven years of war, which England had not. England fuftained only the expence of the war : whereas America fuftained, not only the expence, but the deftruftion of property committed by both armies. Not a houfe was built during that period, and many thoufands were def- troyed. The farms and plantations along the coaft of the country, for more than a thoufand miles, were laid wafte. Her commerce was annihilated. Her ftiips 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 fell for ten pounds. In fine, fhe was apparently put back an hundred years when the warclofed; which was not the cafe with England. But fuch was the event, that the fiime reprefentative fyftem of go- vernment, though fince better organized, which enabled her to con- quer enabled her alfo to recover, and ftie now prefents a more flou- riftiing condition, and a more happy and harmonized fociety under that fyftem of government, than any country in the world can boaft under any oiher. Her towns are re-built much better than before ; her farms and plantations are in higher improvement than ever; her commerce ia fpread over the world, and her funds have rifen from lefs than ten pounds the hundred to upwards of one hundred and twenty. Mr- Pitt and his colleagues, talk of the things that have happened ia his boyifti adminiftration, without knowing what greater things have happened elfewhere, and under other fyftemg of government. LETTER TO MR. SECRETARY DUNDAS. 339- I next come to ftate the expence of the two fyftcms, as they now iland in each of the coantn'es ; but it may firft be proper to obferve, that government in America is what it ought to be, a matter of honour and truft, and not made a trade of for the purpofe of lucre. The whole amount of the nett taxes in England (cy.clufive of the expence of colle6lions, of drawbacks, of feizures and condemnations, of fines and penalties, of fees of office, of litigations and inforniers, which are fome of the bleffed means of enforcing them) is, feventeen millions. Of this fum, about nine millions go for the payment of the interelt of the national debt, and the remainder, being about eight millions, is for the current annual expences. Thus miich for one fide of the cafe. I now come to the other. The expence of all the feveral departments of the general reprefen- tative government of the United States of America, extending over a fpace of country nearly ten times larger than England, is two hundred and ninety-four thoufand five hundred and fifty eight dollars, which at 4s. 6d. per dollar, 1366,2751. lis. fteriiijg, and is thus apportioned: Expence of the execut'i've departinent. The office of prefidency, nt which the prefidcnt re- ceives nothing for himfelf. Vice-prefident / Chief juftice Five afTociatesjuftices Nineteen judges of diHrid and attorney-ge- neral 6,873 15 Legl/Iatlve department. Members of congrefs at 6 dols. (il. 7s.) per day, their fecretaries, clerks, chaplains, mefTcngers, door-keepers, &c. 25,515 o Treafury department. Secretary, affiftant, comptroller, auditor, treafurer, regifter, and loan-office keeper in each ftate, to- gether with all neceffary clerks,office keepers, &c. 12,825 o Department of f}atCy including foreign affairs. Secretary, clerks, &c. &:c. 1,406 5 ^^ ^ Department of 937 10 530 . P A I N E ^ s W O R K S. Incidental and contingent expehces. j[^. s- For Irre-wocd, ilationary^ printing-, Src. 45^3^ i^ Total, ^/^. 66,2 7 5 It On account of the incurfions of the Indians on the back fettle- m^-nts, congrefs is at this time obliged to keep fix thor.fand militia in pay, in addition to a regiment of foot, and a battalion of artillery, which it always keeps ; and this increc\fec; the expence of the war- dcpart.'ncnt to 300.000 dollars, v:hich is 87,795!. flerliug, but when peace fliall be conel'.idcd witli the Indians, the greateil part of this expence will ceafe, and the total aniount of the expence of govern- ment, including that of the army, will not amount to one hundred thoufand pounds llerh'ng, whicjj, as has been already ftated, is but an eightieth part of the expcnces of the Enghfh government. I requeft Mr. Adam and Mr. Dundas, and all thofe who are talk- ing of conllitutians, andbleilings, and kings, and lords, and the Lord know what, to look at this ilatemtnt. Here is a form and fyftem of government, that is better organized and better adminiiLered than, any governrnjcnt in the world, and that for lefs than one hundred thoufand pounds per annum, and yet every member of congrcfs re- ceives, as a compenfaticn for his time and attendance on public bu- hnefs, one pound feven (hillings per day, wliich is at the rate of nearly iive hundred pounds a year. This is a government that has nothing to fear. It needs no pro- clamations to deter people from writing and reaiiing. It needs no political fupedlition to fupport it. It was by encouraging difcuf- fion and rendering the prefs free upon all iubjedis of government, that the principles of government became iinderilood in America, and the people are now enjoying the prefent blefiings under it. You hear of no riots, tumults and diforders in that country ; becaufe their exifts no cauie to produce them. — Thofe things are never tlie effedi of freedom, but of reilraint, oppreifion and cxceflive taxa- tiouv - In America, there is not that clafs of poor and wretched people that are fo numerouOy difperfed all over England, vvho are to be told by a proclamation, that tliey are happy ; and this is in a great meafure to be accounted for, not by the difference of proclamations, but by the difference of governments and the difference tDf taxes be- tween that country and this. What the labouring people of that country earn, they apply to their own ufe, and to the education of their children, and uo not pay it away in Uxes as fad as they earn ft. LETTERS TO MR. SECRETARY DUNDAS. 331 to fupport court extravntrance, and a long enormous lift, of placemen and ptnfioncTS ; and befidcs this, they have learned the manly doc- trine of revercnciug themfelves, and coofequently of refpe<5ling each other ; and they laugh at tliofe imaginary beings called kings and lords, and all the fraudulent trumpery of courts. When placemen and penfionersy or thofe who expe^ to be fuch, are lavidi in praife of a government, it is not a fign of its being a good one. The penfion-lill alone in E%land (fee Sir John Sinclair's Hiilory of the Reveirue,ipage fix of the Appendix) is one hundred and feven thoufand four hundred and four pounds, which is more than the expences of the whole government of i\.merica amount to; and I am now more convinced than before, that the offer that was made to me of a thoui?.iid pounds for the copy-right of the fecond part of Rights of Man, together with the remaining copy-right of the firfl part, vi-as to have effe^ed, by a- quick fupprcfiion, what is now attempted to be done by a profecution. The couneftion which the perfon who made that offer has with the king's printing-ofHce, may furnifii -part of the means of enouirine into this affair, when* the mi- niftry fhall ple^fe to bring their profecution to. iffue.-, — But to return to my fubjeft. I have faid, in the fecond part of Rights of Man, and I repeat it here, that the fervice of any m.an, whether called king, prefident, fcnator, legiflator cr any thing elie, cannot be worth nrore to any country, in tb.e regular rotine of office, than ten tlroufand pdihids per annum. We have a better man in Am'^rica^and more of a' gen- tleman than any king I ever knew of, who docs not occaiion eveft half that expence ; for though the falary is iixed at 56151! he does not accept it, and it is only the iKcidaital expences that are -D.aid out of it. The name by which a man-is called is, of itfclf, btrfan empty thing. It is worth and charafter alone which can render him vaiuu- hle, for without this, kings and lorda, and prelidents, are but jingling names. But v.ithout troubling, myfclf about conflitutions of govcrnmeiit"!- have fliewn in the fecond part of Riglits of Man, that an 'alliance may be formed between England,. France and Amcnca, and' tliat the expences of government in England may be pht"badk^ tb^' oiie irUiUon and a half, viz. -^ '-'^ «* ;j-fijli.^i.f Civil expence of government, - - /^. 500,000'' jsth .Army, - - . '^86,'6^c$" 1q no-NavT;,. - - - - 500^600 '■■ ;r. 1.500,000- 33^ PAINE^^ WORKS. And even this ium is fifteen times greater than the expences cif governmenl are in Araerica ; and it is ah'b greater than the whole peace cilabhihn;ent of IZngland amdunted to, about an hundred years ago. 80 much has the weight and oppreflion of taxes en- creafed lince the levokition, and efpecially fince tiie year 1 7 14. To fiiew that the fusi-af roOjOOcL is fufficicrit to defray all the civi; expences of government,, i have, in that work annexed the follovs-ing efiimate for any co-.i;:tvy of the fame extent as England, In the fitil place three hiindred reprefentatives, fairly eledled, are fufficient for ail the pvrpofes to which legiflation can apply, and pre- ferable toalaryer r.umber. If then an allowance, at the rate of five hundred pounds per an- num be made to every reprefentativc, deducting for non-attendance, the expence, if the whole number attended fix months each year, would be - - - Z** 75'^°^ The ofiicial departments could not pofTibly exceed the following number, with the falaries annexed, viz. Three ofiicers, at io,oool. each, , 30,000 Ten ditto, at 5,oool. each, 50,000 Twenty ditto, at 2,oool. each, 40,000 Forty ditto, at i,oool. each. 40,000 Two hundred ditto, at 500I. each, ioo,oco T|iree hundred ditto, at 20cl. each, 60,000 Five hundred ditto, at lool. each, 50,000 Seven hundred ditto, at 75I. each, 52,000 5,oool. each. 2,000l. each. IjOOol. each. 5001. each, 20C1. each. lool. each. 75l. each, r £' 497 '500 If a nation • chofc, it might deduct four per cent, from all the oiiices/ and' 'make one of twenty thoufand pounds per annum, and ilyie the perfon wlio would fill it, king or majefly, or give him any ether title. ' TakihcTj however, this ium of one million and an half, as an abuiidant fupply for all the expences of government under any form vvhatevcr, there will remain a furplus of nearly fix million and a hal out of the prefent taxes, after paying the intereft of the national dcbi, ; and 1 have fliewn in the fecond part of Rights of Man Avhat ap- pears to me, the bed mode of applying the jurplus money ; for I am now fp caking of ' expences and favings, and not of fyftems of crovernmtnt. '■'^ ^■'"'■''-'4 I have in the firlt place, eflimated the poor rates at two millions annually, and Ihcwn that the firll elFedual flep would be to abolifh LETTER TO MR. SECRETARY DUNDAS. 333^ the poor rates entirely (which would be a faving of two millions to the houfekeepers), and to remit four millions out of the furplus taxes to the poor, to be paid to them in money in proportion to the num- ber of children in each family, and the number of aged perfons. I have eflimated the number of perfons of both fexes 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 fave long calculations, 1 have taken 70,000 of them to be fifty years of age, and under fixty ; and the other to be fixty years and upwards ; and to allow fix pounds per annum to the former clafs, and ten pounds per annum to th« latter. The expenec of which will be, £: • Seventy thoufand perfons at 61. per annum, 420,000 Seventy thoufand perfons at loh per annum^ 700,000 _^. I, I 20, COG There will then remain of the four millions 2,88o,oool. I have ftated 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 ft according to the expence of living in differ- ent counties : but in either of thefe cafes it would together with the allowance to be made to the z/gt^., completely take 'off taxes from one third of all the families in England, befides relieving all-,- the other families from the burden, of poor rates. The whole number of families in England, lotting five fouls to each family, is one million four hundred thoufand, of which take one third, viz. d~.GG^(>(>6 to be poor families v/ho now pay four rnil- lions of taxes, and that the poorell pays at Icaft four guineas a year ; and that the other thirteen millions are paid by the other two thirds. The plan, therefore, as ftated in the work is fird', to remit or pay, as is already ftated, this fum of four millions to the poor, becaufe it is impoffible to feparate them from the others \\\ the prcfcnt mode of collefting taxes on articles of confumption : and, fecondiy, to aboliHi the poor rates, the houfe and window-light tr.x, and to change the commutation tax into a progrcffive tax, en large eilates, the parti- culars of all which are fet fortli in tlie work. I will conclude this part of my letter with an extract from the fc- cond part of Rights of Man, whicli Mr. Dundas (a man rolling in luxury at the expence of the nation) ha ; bvajjd-jd with the epith.t of ** wicked.'' 3 14 PAlNE's WORKS. " By the operation of this plan, the poor laws, thofe inflrumentJF of civil torture, will 'oc fuperceded, and the wafteful expence of litigation prevented. The hearts of the humane will not be {hocked" hy ragged and hungry children, and perfons of feventy and eighty years of age, begging for bread. Tlie dying poor v^^ill not be drag- ged from place to place, to breathe their laft, as a reprifai of pa- rifh upon parifli. Widows will have a maintenance for their chil- dren, and not be carted avi^ay, on the death of their hufoands, like culprits and criminals, and children will no longer be confidered as increafing the didrefles of their parents. The haunts of the wretched' will be known, becaufe it will be to their advantage, and the number of petty crimes, the offspring of poverty and. diftrefs, will. be leffened. The poor, as well as the rich, will then be intereftcd in the fupport of government, and the caufe and apprehenfion of riots, and tumults will ceaic. Ye, who fit in eafe, and folace yourfelves in plenty, and fuch there are in Turkey and RulTia, as well as in I'^ng- land, and who fay to yoi:rfelves, are lue not ivell oJJ'P have ye thought of thefe things ? when ye do, ye will ceafe to fpeak and feel for- yourfelvcs alone. Rights of Man, Part II. After this remiffion of feur millions 'be made, and the poor rates- and houfes and window-light tax be aboliilied, and the commutation t?!X changed, there will ilill remain nearly one million and an half of furplus taxes ; and as by an alliance between England and France and America, armies and navies will in a great meafure, be rendered- unneceffary, and as men who have either been brought up in, or long habited to, thofe lines of life, are ftill citizens of a nation in common with the reil, and have a right to participate in all plans of national benefit, it is dated in that work (Rights of Man, Part II.); to apply annually 507^0001. out of the furplus taxes to this purpofe in the following manner : To fifteen thoufand difhanded foldiers, 3s. per week, clear of £. of deductions, during life 1 1 7,00c Additional pay to the remaining foldiers per annum, 19,500- To the officers of the dilbanded corps, during hfe,thefumof 1 17,000 To fifteen thoufand difhanded failoi's, 3s. per vyD> The limits to which it is proper to confine this letter, will not ad- mit of my entering into further particulars. I addrefs it to Mr. Dun- , das becaufe he took the lead in the debate, and he wiflies, I fuppofe, •to appear confpicuous ; but the purport of it is to juftify myfelf from 4he ciiarge which Mr. Adam has made. This gentleman, as hss been obferved in the beginning of this let-. • tcr, coniiders the writings of Harrington, More and Hume, as juftiaable and legal publications, becaufe tliey reafoned by compa- rifon, though in fo doing they fliewed plans and fyflems of govern- ment, not only different from but preferable to thrt of England, and he accufes me of endeavouring to confufe, irillead of producing a fy^- tem in the room of that which I had reafoned by comparifon of the rcprefentative fyftem againft tlie hereditary fyllem ; but I have "gone further ; for I have produced an inflance of a government cftablilhed entirely on the reprefentative fyftem, under which greater happinefs is enjoyed, much fewer taxes required, and much higher credit is eftabliflied, than under the fyilem of government in Eng- land. The funds in England have arifen fince the war only, from 54I. to 97I. and they have been down, fince the proclamation to 87I. where- as the funds in America, rofe in the mean time from lol. to 120I. His charge againil me of, " dedroying every principle of fubordi- "nation," is equally as groundlefs, which even a hngle paragraph from the work will prove, and wliich I fhall here quote : ** Formerly, v/hen divifions arofe refpe6ling governm.ent, recourfe was had to the fword, and a civil war enfued. That favage cui- tom is exploded by the new fyilem, and recourfe is had to a na- . tional conveniion. Difcufiion, and the general will, arbiti'ates the queftion, and to this private opinion yields with a good grace, and Drder is preferved uninterrupted," Rights of Man, Part. H. j ,^^,| j ^^ That two different charges fliould be brought at the fame timCj • the one by a member of the legiflature, for not doing a certain thing, and the other by the attorney-general for dcmg it?j%,[;,^^ ftrange jumble of contradidlion. I have now juRihed myfelf, or;tJho'v^ work rather, againft the firft by ftating the cafe in this letter, and, thejuftihcation of the other will be undertaken in its proper place. But in any cafe the work will go on. I fliall now conclude this letter, widi faying that the only cb- jedlion I fovirld againil the plan and principles contained in the fe- cond part of the Rights of Man when I had written the book was that the}' would bendrcially intcreft at Icaft ninety-nine pcrfons out 33^ f^ A IN E ' s W O R K S. of every hundred throughout ihe nation, and therefore would not leave fufficient room for men to acl from the diredl and difmterefted principles of -licnour ; but the .profecution now commenced has for- tunately remo-ved that (ibjedion, and the approvers and protestors of that work now feel the immediate impulfeof honour, added to that of national interefle I am, tdr. Dun das. Not your obedient humble fervant, But to the contrary, THOMAS PAINE THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ENGLISH Srsr^I OF FINANCE. ** On the verge J nay even in the guJph of bankrupt cy.^^ DEBATES IN PARLIAMENT, No' >TKING, they fay, is more certain than death, and nothing more uocertain than the time of dying; yet we can always fix a period beyond which man cannot Hve, and within fome moment of which he will die. We are enabled to do this, not by any fpirit of pro- phecy, or forefight into the event, but by obfervation af wliat has happened in all cafes of human or animal exiftence. If then any other fubjeft, fuch, for inftance, as a fyilem of finance, exhibits in its progrefs a feries of fymptoms indicating decay, its final diflblu- tion Is certain, and the period of it can be calculated from the fymp- toms it exhibits. Thofe who have hitherto written on the Englifli fyftem of finance f the funding fyftem), have been uniformly impreffed with the idea of its do wnfal happening yowf //Wif or other. They took, however, ' no data for that opinion, but expreffed It predi6lively, or merely as opinion, from a convidlion that the perpetual duration of fuch a fyf- tem was a natural impolTibility. It is in this manner that Doftor Price has fpoken of it; and Smith, in his Wealth of Nations, has fpoken in the fame manner ; that is^ merely as opinion without data. " The progrefs," fays .Smith, " of the enormous debts, which " at prefent opprefs, and will in the long-run mojl ptohaUy ruin, all ** the great nations of Europe (he fhould have {md governments), " has been pretty uniform." But this general manner of fpeaking, though it might make fome imp;refrion, carried with it no convic- tion. It is not my intention to predid any thi/ig ; but I will fhew from ^ata already known, from fymptons and fa<5ls which the EngHfli Vol. II. Xx 3iB ^AINE^s WORKS. funding fyftem has already exhibited pubh'cly, that it will not loans are altogether paper tranfaftions ; and it is the excefs of thciu that brings on, with accelerating fpeed, that progreflive deprecia-" tion of funded paper money that will dilTolve the funding fyftem. I proceed 'to afcertain the expence of future wars, and I do this merely to fhew the impoffibility of the continuance of the finding fyftem, and the certainty of its dilTolution. The expence of the next war after the prefent war, according to clic . ratio that has afcertained the preceding cafes will be — 243 millicns Expence of the fecond war — 36^4. ■ tliird war — 54^ fourth war — «^ ^9 ftfth war —1.228 3200 jnillions which, at only 4 per cent, will require taxes to the nominal amount of one hundred twenty-eight millions to pay the annual mtereft, be- fides the inteveft of the prefent debt, and the expences of government, which are not included in this account. Is there a man fo mad» fo ftupid, as to fuppofe this fyftem can continue ? . . When I fiift conceived the idea of feeking for fome common ratio that fhould apply as a rule of meafurement to all the cafes of the funding fyftem, fo far ?.s to afcertuirv the fevcral ftagcs of it:3 approach 342 PAINE'? W a R K S. to difTolution, I had no expedlation that any ratio could be found that would apply with fo much exa6lncfs as this does. I was led to the idea merely by obferviiig that the funding fyilem was a thing in continual progrefiion, and that whatever was in a ilate of progrefiion might be fuppofed to admit of, at leaft, fome general ratio of mea- furement, that would apply without any very great variation. But who could have fuppofed that falling fyllems, or falling opinions, ad- mitted of a ratio apparently as true as the defcent of falling bodies I have not made the ratio, any more than Newton made the ratio of gravitation. I have only difcovered it, and explained the mode of applying it. To fhew at one view the rapid progreiHon of the funding fyftem to deftruftion, and to expofe the folly of thofe who blindly believe iu its continuance, or who artfully endeavour to im-pofe thac belief upon others, I exhibit in the annexed table, the e^:pence* of each of the fijc- wars lince the funding fyilem began, as afcertained by the ratio, and the expence of fix wars yet to come, afcertained by the fame ra.tio. FIRST SIX wa;cs. SECOND SIX WARS, I - 2 1 millions I - - 243 millions 2 - - 33 millions 2 - - 364 millions 5 - 48 millions 3 - - 546 millions. 4 - - 72 millions* 4 - - 819 millions 5 - loS millions 5 - - 1228 millions 6 - 162 millions .6 - - 1842 millions Total 444 Total 5042 millions Thofe who are acquainted with the power with which even a * The aBucd expence of the 'war of I'j^g did not come up to the fum afcwtained by the ratio. But as that luhich Is thenatural dfpofitlon of a thing, as it is the natural difpofition of a fir earn of zvater to defend, imll, if impeded in its courfes overcsme by a neiv ejhrt ivhat it had Infi by that impediment, fo it ivas tvith refpect to this » a fparing hand, and in regular annual quantities from the mines, the feveral prices of things were propor- tioned to the quantity of money at that time, and fo nearly ftationary as to vary but little in any fifty or fixty years of that period. "When the funding fyftem began, a fubftitute for gold and fiU'cr began alfo. That fubftitute was paper ; and the quantity of it ,in- creafed as the quantity of interelt increafed upon accumulated lonnt. This appearance of a new and additional fpecies of money in the na- tion foon began fo break the relative value which money and thi' things it will purchafe bore to each other before. Every thing rofc in price ; but tlue rife at firft was little and flow, like the difFercjicc in units between the two firft numbers, 8 and 12, compared ,>vith the two laft mimbers, 90 and 135, in the table. It was hovveycv fnfficicnt to make itfelf confiderably felt in a large tranfadiion. Wlicn therefore government, by engaging in a new war, required a,ne\v lonn, it was obliged to make a higher loan, than the (pr^^er ,]f\ai?*Vto. balance iheiucreafed price to which things had rifen ; aadas tjbat new BU P A I N E ' s W O R K S* . loan inci^afcd the quantity of paper in proportion to the new quantity of interefb, it carried the price of things ftill higher than before. The next loan was again higher, to balance that further incredied price ; 2nd all this in the fame manner though not in the fame degree, that every new emiflion of continental money in America, or of aflignats in France, were greater than the preceding emiffion, to make head agamft the ndvance cfprices, till the combat could be maintained no longer. Herein is founded the neceflity of which I havejull fpoken. That neceiTity proceeds \vith accelerating velocity, and the ratio I have laid down is the meafure of that acceleration ; or, to fpeak the technical language of the fubjeft, it is the meafure of the increafmg depreciation of funded paper money, which it is impoffible to pre- vent, while the quantity of that money and of bank notes continues to multiply. What el(e but this can account for the difference be- tween one war colling 21 millions, and another war cofting 160 millions ^ The difference cannot be accounted for on the fcore of extraordi- nary efforts or extraordinary achievements. The war that coll 2 1 millions was the war of the confederates, hillorically called the grand alh'ance, confiding of Englaud, Auftria, and Holland, in the time of William the third, againft Louis the Fourteenth, and in which the confederr.tcs were vidorious. The prefent is a war of a much greater confederacy— a confederacy of England, Anllria, Fruflia, the German Empire, Spain, Holland, Naples, and Sardinia, eight powers againft the French Republic fingly, and the Republic has beaten the whole confederacy. — But to return to r^y fubjeft. — It ?s faid in England, that the value of paper keeps equal with the value of gold and filver. But the cafe is not rightly ftated : for the fa6t is, that the paper has pulled doiun the value of gold and filver to level with itfelf. Gold and filver will not purchafe fo much of any purchafable article at this day as if no paper had appeared, nor fo much as it will in any country in Europe where there is no paper. How long this hanging together of m.oney and paper will continue, makes a new cafe ; becaufe it daily expofes the fyftem to fudden death, independent of the natural death it would otherwife fuffer. . I confider the funding fyilem as being now advanced into the laft twenty years of its exiftence. The fingle circumftance, wefe there no other, that a war fhould now coll nominally one hundred and iixty millions, which when the fyftem began coll but twenty-one mil- lions, or tnat tP.c loan for one year only (including the loan to the emperor) fhculd now be nominally greater than the whole expencc ON THE ENGLrSH SYSTEM OF FINANCE. 345 of that war llievvs the ftate of depreciation to which the funding fyllem has arrived. Its depreciation is in the proportion of eight for one, compared with the value of its money when the fyflem be- gan ; wiiich h the ftatc the French aflignats flood a year ago (March 1795), compared with gold and filver. It is therefore tliat I fay, that the Enghfh funding fyllem, has entered in the laft twenty years of its exiftence, comparing each twenty years of the Englifn iyllem with every fingle year of the Aincrican and French fyllems as before flated. Again, fuppofing the prefjnt war to clofe as former wars have done, and without producing either revolution or reform in England, another war, at lead, mull be looked for in the fpace of the twenty years I allude to ; for it has never yet happened that twenty years have paffed off without a war, and tliat more efpecially fmce the Enghfh government has dabbled in German politics, and ftiewn a dil- pofition to infult the world, and the world of commerce, witli her Davy. That next war will carry the national debt to very nearly feven hundred milliors, the intereil of which, at four per cent, will be twenty-eight millions befides the taxes for the (then) expences df government, which will increafe in the fame proportion, and which will carry the taxes to at leaft forty-miUions 5 and if another war only begins, it will quickly carry them to above fifty ; for it is in the laft twenty years of the funding fyflem, as in the lafl year of the American and French fyftems Vv'ithout funding, that all the great fliocks begin to operate. I havejufl mentioned that paper, In England has pulkd dotvn the value of gold and filver to a level with ttfciij and that this puIUng- doivn of gold and filver money has created the appearance of paper money keeping up. The fame thing, and the fame mifiake, took place in America and in France, and continued fcr a confiderable tinie after the commencement of their fyflem of paper ; and the a6luai depre- ciation of money was hidden under that miilake. It was faid in America, at that time, that every thing was becom- ing dear ; but gold and filver could then buy thofe dear ^cti^lgs.np^,.^ cheaper than paper could ; and therefore it v/as not called deprecia- tion. Theidea of ^i'^zr«£/} eflabhflied itfelf for the idea of deprccia- ation. The fame was the cafe in France. Though even/ tlyng rofe., ^ in price foon after affignats appeared, yet thofe dear articles coiild,b? ^„, purchafcd no cheaper with gold and filver than with paper, and it was^ only faid that things were di^ar. The fame is flill the language ij|. , Vol. IT. Y-v... S46 r A I N E ' s W O R K S. England. They called it dcanieji. But tlicy will icon f.sid that it- is an adual depreciation, and that this depreciation is the efFcd of the funding fyftem ; which, by crowdir.g fuch a continually-increaf- ing mais of paper into circulation, carries down the value of gold and filver with it. But geld and fdver wi'l, in the long run, revolt r.gainfl depreciation, imd fcparate froni the \alue o^ paper ; for the progrefs of all h;ch fviUtns appearo to be, lliat the jsaper will take the command in the beginnirig, and gold and filver in the end. But this fucceiTion in tlie command of gold and hlver over paper, makes .a crihs f\ir more cventfiil to the funding fyll^in than to any other f\ flem upon which paper can be ifTucd ; for, ftricrly fpeaking, it is not a crifis of danger, but a fyinpton of death. It is a death ftroke to the fuadur'- fydcm. It is a revolution in the v/hole of its aiiairs. If paper be ilTucd wiihout being funded upon intereft, emiffions of it can be contiiuitd after the value of it fcj)Lrates from gold and iilver, as we have feen in the two cafes of Americd and France. But the lundini'' fyllem relh :-.hogetu^n- upon the vahie of paper being equal to gold and idver ; v/hich will be as long as the pap.'r can continue car- rying down the value of gold and hlver to the fame level to which itfclfdefcends, and no longer. But even in tiii^ flate, that of defcend- ing equally together, the miniiier, whoever he may be, will find himfelf befet with accumulating difficulties ; becaiife the loans and taxes voted for the fervicc of each cnhiing year v.'ill wither in liis hands before the year expires, or before they can be applied. Thiq will fpr^e IJ*i'. to liave v^ccurfe to emifnons of what are called ex- clieqiier and navy bill?, v^hich, by fiili increafmg the inafs of paper in circulation, v. ill drive on the depreciation ilili more ra;)idly. , It c.ogbt to be knov.-n that taxes in Ihigland arc not paid in gold and filvcr, -but \\\ paper (bank notes). Every perfon who pays any confidcrabre quantity of taxes, uich as maltlters, brewers, diilillers (I appeal for the truth cf it to any of the collectors of excife in England, or to Mr. Whitebread}, knovv-s this to be the cafe. There is not gold and filver enough hi the nation to pay the taxes in coin, as T fhall (hew ; and confequently tliere is not money enough in the, bank to pav the notes. The int^.r-cft of ti^iC national funded debt is paid at the bank in the ftme kii:d of paper \\\ which the taxes are colleded. When people find, as tliey v/ill findj a refervednefs among each other in p-ivinT o-old and hiver for bank notes, or the leail preference for the former over the latter, they will go for payment to the,bank> iyb^-dhey have a right to go. They vriil do this as a meafiire..of ON THE, -ENGLISH SYSTEM OF FINANCE yj^n prudence, enclionc for himfelf, and the triuli or delufion of the fund- ing fyllem will be then proved. I hav6 f-ild in the foregoing paragraph that there is not gold and filver enough in tlie nation to pay the taxes in coin, and conlequently that there cannot be enonsrh in the bank to oay the notes. As I 6.0 not choofe to re 11 any thinj^ upon affcrtion, I appeal for the truth of this to the publications of Mr. Ed:rn (now called lordAuckhnd}, and George Chalmers, fecretary to the board of trade and plan- tation, of which Jenklnfon (now called Lord Hawkefbury), is pre iident. [Thefe fort of folks change their names fo often, that it 1 as difiicult to know them as a thief^- Chalmers gives the quantit of gold and lilver coin from the returns of coinage at the mint ; and, after deducting for the light gold rccoined, fays, tliat the amount of gold and filver coin is about iivetity millions. He had better not have proved this, efpecially if he had refle'^ed, t\\zt pullic credit is fuffi- eion ajletp. The quantity is much too little. Of this twenty millions f which Is not a fourth part of the quantity of gold and filver there is va France, as Is ihewn in Mr. Neckar's Treatlfe on the Admiuillration of the Finances] three millions at leall muft be fuppofcd to be in Ireland, fome in Scotl*id, and In the V/ell Indies, Newfoundland, &c. The quantity therefore in E'.lg- land cannot be more than [ 6 millions, which Is four millions lefs thai! tlic amount of the tuxes. But admitting there to be fixteen mlll^dnpv not more than a fourth part thereof (four millions) can be in London, when it is confidered that every city, town, village, and fann-houfc in the nation muil have a part of it, and that all the great manufac- tories, which moll require cafh, are out of London. Of this four millions In London, every banker, merchant, tradefman, 'i'[\ fhort every individual mud have fome. He mull be a poor fhop-keepcr indeed, who has not a fe.v guineas in his till. The quantity of cafli therefore In the bank can never, on the evidence of circumftance, be fo much as two millions ; moll probably not more than one million ; and on th's flender twig, always liable to be broken, hangs the whole funding fyfttm of four hu'idred m.illions, bt fides many millions, \\\ bank notes. The fum in the bank is not fulficlent to pay one- fourth of only one year's interell of the national debt, were the cre- ditors to demand ♦fjayment in cafli, or to demand cafn for the hank- notes in which tlie Interell is paid. A circundlance always liable to happen.- One of the anuifements that has kept up the farce of the fundin 8 W O R It g. refourcc, is not a refcurce, but is tlie anUdbatton of a refource. Thcj' hare anticipated what ivoidd hove been a rcfource in another genera- tion, had not the ufe of it been fo anticipated. The funding fyflem is a fyilem of anticipation. Thofe who eitabhfhed it an hundred years ago, anticipated the refourcea of thofe who were to hve an hundred years after; for the people of the prefent day have to pay the in- tered of the debts contraftcd at that time, and of all debts contraded fince. But it is the lail feather that breaks the horfe's back. Had the fyflem began an hundred years before, the amount of taxes at this time to pay the annual interefl at four per cent, (could we fuppofe fuch a fyllem of infanity could have continued) would be two hun- dred and twenty millions annually; for the capital of the debt would be 5486 millions, according.to the ratio that afcertains the expencc of the wars for the hundred years that are paft. But long before it could have reached this period, the value of bank notes, from the im- menfe quantity of them, (for it is in paper only that fuch a nominal revenue could be colledted) would have been as low or lower than con- tinental paper money has been in America or afiignats in France ; and as to the idea of exchanging them for gold and Iilver, it is too abfurd to be contradided. Do we not fee that nature, in all her operations, difowns the vifion- ary bafis upon which the funding fyilemis built? She afls always by renewed fucceflions, and never by accumulating additions perpetually progrcffing. Animals and vegetables, men and trees, have exilled ever lince the world began ; but that exiftence has been carried on by fuc- cef[ion of generations, and not by continuing the fame men and the fame trees in exiftence that exifted firft ; and to make room for the new Ihe removes the old. Every natural ideot can fee this. It is the ftock-jobbing ideot only that miftakes. He has conceived that art can do what uaturc cannot. He is teaching her a new fyftem— -that there is no occafion for man to die — That the fcheme of creation can be carried on upon the plan of the funding fyltem — That it can pro- ceed by continual additions of new beings like new loans, and all live together in eternal youth. Go, count the graves, thou ideot, and learn the folly of thy arithmetic. But befides thefe things, there is fomething viiibly farcical in the whole operation of loaning. It is fcarcely more than four years ago that fuch a rot of bankruptcy fpread itfelf over London, that the wlioie commercial fabric tottered; trade and credit were at a ftand ; and fuch was the ftate of things, that to prevent, or fufpend a general bankruptcy, the government lent the merchants fix millions' in govtrn-^ ON THE ENGLISH. SYSTEM OF FINANCE. 351 w/^«/ -paper, and now the merchants lend the government twenty-two milh'ons in their paper; and two parties, Boyd and Morgan, men but little kiiown, contend who fliall be the lenders. What a farce is thisl It reduces the operation of loaning to accommodation paper, in which the competitors contend, not who fliail lend, but who {hall fign, be- caufe there is fomething to be got for figning. Every En^lifh flock-jobber and minifter boafls of the credit of England. Its credit, fay. they, is greater than that- of any country in Europe. There is a good reafon for this; for there is not another country in Europe that could be made the dupe of fuch a .delufion. The Eneli'di funding fyftera will remain a monument of wonder, not fo much on account of the extent to which it has been carried, as of the folly of believing in it. Thofe who had formerly predified that the funding fyftem would break up when the debt fhould amount to one hundred or one hun- dred and fifty miUions, erred only in not diftinguifhing between in fol- vency and a£lual bankruptcy ; for the infolvency commenced as foon as the government became unable to pay the interefl: in cafh, or to give cafli for the bank notes in which the iHtereft was paid, whether that inability was known or not, or whether it was fufpefted or not- Infolvency always takes place before bankruptcy; for bankruptcy is nothing more than the publication of that infolvency. In the affairs of an individual, it often happens that infolvency exifts feveral years before bankruptcy, and that the infolvency is concealed and carried on till the individual is not able to pay one fhilHng in the pound. A government can ward off bankruptcy Iwnger than an individual; but infolvency will inevitably produce bankruptcy, whether in an indivi- dual or in a government. If then the quantity of bank notes payable; on demand, which the bank has iffued, are greater than the bank can pay off, the bank is infolvent; and when that infolvency be declaimed,, it is bankruptcy.* * Among the dehijions that have been impofecl upon ths natiGJi hy mi- nijlers^ to give o. fa^f^ colouring to its ajfairs, and by ncm more than by Mr. P'itti is a t?wtley, amphibious charactered thing called the b,alance .01 trade. 'This balance of trade^ as it is called^ is taken from, the cujiom- houfe boohs, in tvhlch entries are made of all cargjes exported, aud alfo all cargoes imported, in each year ; and 'when the 'valu€ of the exports, accord-^ ing to the price fet upon them by the exporter or by the cujlom-houfe, is greater than the value of the imports, ejlimated intlie farriemaniieri .tk'!yi fay, the balance of trade u much in th/ir favour^ Sj-i PAINE^s WORKS. I come now to fhew the feveral ways by which bank notes get into circulation. I fliall afterwards offer an eilimate on the total quantity or smoiint of bank-notes exifling at this moment. The bank ails in three capacities. As a bank of difcount; as a bank of depofit; and as bank for the government. Firft, as. bank of difcount. The bank difcounts merchants bills of exchange for two months. V/hen a merchant has a bill that will become due at the end of two months, and wants payment bef^^, that time, the bank advances that payment to him, deducting t^re- from at the rate of five per cent, per annum. The bill of excl^'ngfe remains at the bank as a 'pledge or pawn, and at the. end of-.tui? months it mull be redeemed. This tranfaiflion is done altogether in paper; for the profits of the bank, as a bank of difcount, arife entirely from its making ufe of paper as money. The bank gives bank-notes to the merchant in difcounting the bill of exchange, and the redeemer of the bill pays bank notes to the bank in redeeming it. It very feldom happens that any real money pafies between them. The cvjiovi-houfe hooh prove regularly enough that Jo many cargoes have been exported^ and fo many imported ; hut this is all that they prove, or 'were intended to prove. They have nothing to do ivith the balance of profit or lofs ; and it is ignorance to appeal to them upon that account: for the cafe is, that the greater the lofs is in any one year, the higher ivill this thing called ike balance of trade appear to be according to the cuflom-houft looks. For Example, nearly the n.vhole of the Mediterranean c nvoy has been taken by the French this year ; confequently thofe cargoes luill not ap- pear as imports on the cuflom-hauf hooks, and therefore, the balance of trade, by ivhich they mean the profits of it, 'will appear to be fo much the greater as the lofs amounts to; and, on the other hand, had the lofs not happened, the profits 'would have appeared to have been fo much the Icfs. All the lojfes happening dt fca to returning cargoes, by accidents, by the elements^ or by capture, make the balance appear the loigher on the fide of the ex- ports; and 'a.'cr'e they all loft at fe a, it 'w bid d appear to be- all profit oh the riiflom-houfe hooks. JJfo every cargo of exports that is lofl that occafiont another to be fen t, adds in like manner to the fide of the exports^ and app^rs as profit. This year the balance of trade 'will appear high, Ucaufe"^ loffes have been great by capture and by forms. The ignorance of the j^i^ ii/h parliament, in Tiflening to this hackneyed impojition of miniprs about the balance oftradfi, is ajlon'fliing. Itfie'ws honv little they hww of na- rional afairs ; and Mr. Grey may as 'well talk Greek to them, as to make motions ahout thefiate of the nation. They underfland fox-hunting and the game-laivs. ON TKE ENGLISH SYSTEM OF FINANCE. 353 If the profits of a bank be, for example, two liur.dred thonfand pounds a year (a great fum to be made merely by exchanging one fort of paper for anoth&r, and which fhews aifo that the merchants of that place arcpreffcd for money for payments, inftead of having monevto fpare to lend to government), it proves that the bank diicounts to ti\c amount of four millions annually, or 566,6661. every two months; and as there never remain iu the bank more than tvro months pledges, of the value of 666,6661. at any one time, the amount of bank notes m circulation at any one time Should not be more than to that amount. This is fui^cient to (hew that the prefent immenfe quanti:yof bank notes, which are dillributed through every city, town, village, and farm-houfe in England, cannot be accounted for on the fcove of dif- counting. Secondly, as a bank of depofit. To depoflt m^oney at the bank means to lodge it there for the fake of convenience, and to be drawn out at any moment the depofitor pleafes, or to be paid away to his order. When the bufmefs of difcounting is great, that of depoliting is neceflarily fmall. No man depofits and applies for difcounts at the fame time ; for it would be hke paying intereil for lending money, in- ftcad of for borrowing it. The depofits that are now made at the bank are almoft entirely in bank notes, and confequently they add nothing to the ability of the bank to pay oft the bank notes that may be prefented for payment; and befides this, the depofits are uo more the property of the bank than the cafh or bank notes In a merchant's counting houfe are the property of his book-keeper. No great in- creafe therefore of bank notes, beyond what the difcounting bufincfs admits, can be accounted for on the fcore af dcptsfits. Thirdly. The bank zSis as banker for the government. This is the connexion that threatens ruin to every public bank. It is through this connexion that the credit of a bank is forced far beyond what it ought to be, and ilill further beyond its ability to pay. It is through this conneilion that fuch an immenfe redundant quantity of bank notes have gotten into circulation; and which, inftead of be- in^ilTued becaufe there was property in the bank, have been ilTucd |j||Efaufe tlicre was none. .5^. When the treafury is empty, which happens in almoU every year of every war, Its coffers at the bank are empty alio. It is in this condition of emptlnefs that the miniiler ha5 recourfe to emiiTion;? of what are called exchequer and navy bills, which continually generates a new increafe of bank notes,, and which are fported upon the public Vol, II, Z z 354 • 1^ A I N E ' s WORKS. without there being property in the bank to pay them ^Thefc ex- chequer and navy b-lls (being, as I have faid, emitted becaufc the trcalury and us coiTers 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 fo much money. They may be com- pared to the feltlement of an account, ia which the debtor acknow- ledges the balance he owes, and for which he gives a note of hand ; or to a note of hand given to raife money upon it. Sometimes the bank difccunts thofe bills as it would difcount mer- cliants' bills of exchange ; fom.etimes it purchafes them of the holders at the current price ; and fometimes it agrees with the minillers to pay an interell upon them to the holders, and keep them in circula- tion. In every one of th fe cafes an additional quantity of bank notes get into cn-cubtion, and are fported, as I have faid, upon the public? without there being property in the bank, as banker for the govern- ment, to pay thern : and befides this, the bank has now no money Ox its own; for the money tlint was originally fubfcribed to begin the credit of the bank with at its iirft eilabliihment, has been lent to go- vernment, and wafted long ago. " The bank (fays Smith, book 2, chap. 2) afts not only as an " ordinary bank, but as a great engine of ftate ; it receives and pays " the greater part of the aniuiities which are due to the creditors of " thej^r^MV." (It is worth obferving, that the PuMicf or the nation, is always put for the government in fpeaking of debts.) ** It circu- " lates" (fays Smith) " exchequer bills, and it advances to government "the annual amount of the land and malt taxes, which are frequently **"not pa:"dtill feveral years afterwards.'* (This advancement is alfo done in bank notes, for which there is not property in the bank.) " In thofe different operations (fays Smith) its duty to the public may " fometimes have obh'ged it, v.-ithout any fault of its diredors, to ** overflnck the circulation with paper w^s/zr'j,"— -bank notes. How its duty to the public can induce it to o'verjloch that public with promiflbry bank notes which it cannot pay, and thereby expofe the individuals of that public to rum, is too paradoxical to be explained; for it is, on the credit which individuals ^ii;^ to the bank, by receiving and circulat- ing its notes, and not upon its own credit or its own property, for it has none, that the bank fports. If however it be the duty of the bank to expofe the public to this hazard, it is at leall equally the dutyof the individuals of that public to get their money and take care of themfelves; and leave it to placemen, penfioners, government contrafiors, PwC^ves's alfociation, and the members of both houfes ON THE ENGLISH SYSTEM OF FINANCE. 355 ®f parliament, who have voted away the money at tlie nod of the miniller, to continue the credit if they can, and for vv'hich their cftates individually and colleftivciy ought to anhver, as far as tlicy ■will go. There has always exifted, and ilill exifts a myileriou.?, fufpicious conne6i:ion, between the miniller and the direflors of the bank, and which explains itfclf no otherv»'ife than by a continual increafe of bank notes. Without, therefore, entering into any further details or the various contrivances by which bank notes are iffued, and thrown upon the public, I proceed, as I before mentioned, to o&r an eilimate on the total quantity of bank notes in circulation. However difpofed governments may be to wring money by taxes from the people, there is a hmit to the practice eitabiirned in the na- ture of things. That limit is the proportion between the quar;tity of money in a nation, be that quantity of money what it may, and the greatefl; quantity of tajies that can be raifed upon it. People have other ufes for money befides paying taxes; and it is only a propor- tional part of that money they can fpare for taxes, as it is only a pro- portionable part they can fpare for houfe-rent, for clothing, or for any other particular ufe. Thefe proportions find out and eflabiifli themfelves ; and that with fuch exadlnefs, that if any one part ex- ceeds its proportion, all the other p^.rt*; feel it. Before the invention of paper money (banknotes), there v/as no other money in the nation than gold and iilvcr, and the (grc-ateit quantity of money that ever was raifed in taxes c'airiirg that period, never exceeded a fourth part of the quantity of money in tne •; 'uion. It was high taxing Vvhen it came to this point. The ta::es in the •time of William the third never reached to four millions before tl>e invention of paper, and the quantity of money in the nation at that time vt^as eftimated to be about fixteen millions. The fame propor- tions ellabhihed themfelves in France. There was no proper money in France before the prefent revolution, and the taxes were colle(!:ted in gold and filver money. The highell quantity of taxes never ex- ceeded twenty-two millions llerling ; and the quantity of gold ar.d filver money in the nation at the fame time, as dated by Mr. Neckar, from returns of coinage at the mint, in his Trcatife on the Admmii- tration of the Finances, was about nicety millions llerllrig. ' To go beyond this limit of a f<)urth 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 th? 55^ ' PAINE's V/0RK3. nature of the thing eilabliihes for itfelf, be the QiKintity of raon?y it: a nation more or lefs. The amonnt of taxes in Enghvnd at this time is full twenty mil- lions ; and therefore the quantity of gold andfilver, and of bank notes, taken together, amounts to eighty millions. The quantity of gold and liivcr, as flatcd by Lord Hawkcrfbury's fecretary (George Chalmers), as I have before flicwn, is twenty millions; and there- fore, the total amount of bank notes in circulation, all made payable OH dec^and, is fixry milhons. This enormous fum will ailonifh the motJr ft'Upid ftock-jobber, aad overpower the credulity of the molt thoughikfs Engliihman : but were it only a third part of that fum, the bank camot pay halfa crown in the pound. 1 iiere is iomethmg curious in the movements of this modern com- pueated ,,iachine, the funding lyilem ; and it is only now that it is beginning- to unfold the full extent of its movements. In the firfl part of its movements it gives great powers into the mvnds of govern- ment, and in the la ii part it takf-s them completely away. - i lie funding fyllem fe.t out witly raifing revenues under the name of fe^n.s, by means of which n^-overnm-ent became both prodigal and po\veif&ibn''The loaners afTumcd the name of creditors, and though it was focTn difcovered that loaning; was government jobbing, thofe pr^- tendiffion be made on exchequer bills. ** "The hanh^i^^ fays Smith, (book ii.ch. 2) is ^^ a great engine of Jlate, And in the fame paragraph he fays, *' Thejlah'd'ityofthebank is equfd ip' that of the Br it'iflo go'v eminent ;*' which is the fame as to fay that the liability of the government is equal to that of the bank, ^and no m.ore. If then the bank cannot pay, the arch-treafurer of the holy Rg man empire (S. R. I. A.*) is a bankrupt. When Folly in- vented titles, (he did not attend to their application ; for ever fmce the government of England has been in the hands o{ arch-treafurer s^ it has been running into bankruptcy ; and as to the arch-treafurer ap- parent^ he has been a bankrupt long ago. What a miferablc prof- pe6l has England before its eyes i Before thewarof 1755 there were no bank notes lou-cr th;nn twenty pounds. During that war bank notes of fifteen pounds and of ten pounds were coined ; and now, fmce the commencement of the pre- lent war, they are coined as low as five pounds. Thefc five pound notes will circulatje chiefly among little fnop-keepers, butchers, ba- kers, market people, renters of fmall houfes, lodgers, Zlc. All the high departments of commerce, and the affluent llations of life were already o'verjiocledy as Smith expreiTes it, with the bank notes. No place remained open wherein to crowd an additional quantity of bank notes, tbyt 3mpng the clafs of people I have ju ft mentioned, and the mcaiia of doing this could be bell effe£lediby coining five pound notes*. ^ Part of the Infriptton on an E^gl'fh guln&a-^ 358 P A I N E ' 5 W O R K S. This conduct has the appearance of that of an unprincipled infolvent, who, when on the verge of bankruptcy to the amount of many thonfands, will borr w as low as five pounds of the fervanls in his houfe, and break the next day. But whatever momentary relief or aid the minifter and his bank might expect from this low contrivance of five pound notes, it will increafe the inability of the bank to pay the higher nctes,and haften the deftruftion of all ; for even the fmall taxes that ufed to be paid in money will now be paid in thofe notes, and the bank will foon find itfelf with fcarcely any other money than what the hair powder euinea tax brings in. The bank notes make the moH ferious part of the bufinefs of fi- nance ; what is called the national funded debt is but a trifle when put incomparifon with it ; yet the cafe of the bank notes has never been touc" ed upon. But it certainly ought to be known upon what au- thority, whether that cf the miniiter or cf the directors, and upon what foundation, fuch immenfe quantises are ifTced. I have fluted the amount of them at fixty raiJiions fterling ; I have produced data for that efiimation ; and befides this, the apparent quantity of them, far beyond that of gold and filver in the nation, corroborates there- with. But were there but a third part of fixty millions, the bank cannot pay half a crown in tha pound ; for no new fupply of money, as before faid, can arrive at the bank, ?.s all the taxes will be paid in paper. When the funding fyitem began, it was not doubted that the loans that had been borrowed v.'oiild be repaid. Government not only ■ propagated that belief, hut it began payipg them off. In time this profeiTion came to be abandoned : and it is not diihcult to fee that bank notes will march the fame way; for the amount of them is only another debt under another name ; and the probability is that Mr. Pitt will at lafl propofc funding them. In that cafe bank notes will not be fo valuable as French afTignats. The afngnats have a folid property in referve in the national domains ; bank notes have none ; and befiucs this, the Englifn revenue mufl then fink down to what the amount of it was before the funding fyflem began ; between three and four millions. One of which the arch-treafurer would require for him.fclf, and the arch-treafurer apparent would require three- quarters of a million more to pay his debts. " In France,''^ fays Sterne, '* they order thcfc things better.'^ I have now expofed the Englifli fyflem of finance to the eyes of all nations ; for this work will be publiuied in ail languages. In do- ON THE ENGLISH SYSTEM OF FINANCE. 359 ing this, I have done an aft of juilice to thofe numerous citizens of neutral nations who have been impofcd upon by that fraudulent fyf- tem, and who have property at (lake upon the event. As an individual citizen of America, and as far as an individual can go, 1 have revenged (if I may ufe the expreffion without any immoral meaning) the piratical depredations committed on the Ame- rican commerce by the Englifh government. — I have retaliated for France on the fubjeft of finance : and I conclude with retorting on Mr. Pitt the expreffion he ufed againft France, and fay, that the Enghih fyftem of finance " is on the verge, nay even in the GULPH OF BANKRUPTCY." THOMAS PAINE. Paris, igth Germinal, ^h year of the Republic — Aprils, 1 796. '«»8BK&»rji:^zf?j*-':5^':s^saffir>^TiS3^^ LETTER TO THE PEOPLE OF FRANCE Paris, %V. 25. [Fhfi 7'>^ar cf the Republic.) FELLOW CITIZENS, "* RECEIVE, with affecllonate gratitude, the honour which the late national afiemblyhas conferred upon me, by adopting me a citi- zen of France 5 and the additional honour of being elected by my • fellow-citizens a member of the national convention. Happily im- prefTed, as I am, by thofc teflimonies of refpect fhewn towards me as an individual, I fed my felicity encreafed by feeing the barrier broken dov^^n that divided patriotifm by fpots of earth, and limited <:itizenfhip to the foil, like vegetation. '* Had thofe honours b en conferred in an hour of national tran- quility, they would have afforded no other means of fhewing my af- fecSlion, than to have accepted and enjoyed them ; but they come ac- -compani^sd with circumfcances that give me the honourable opportu- nity of commencing my citizenfhip in the ftormy hour of difficulties. I come not to enjoy repofe. Convinced that the caufe of France is the caufe of all mankind, and that as liberty cannot be purchafed by a wifh, I gladly fhare with you the dangers and honours neceffary to fuccefs. " I am well aware that the moment of any great change, fuch as that accomplifhed on the loth of Auguft, is unavoidably the moment of terror aid confufion. The mind highly agitated by hope, fufpi- <;ion, and apprehenfion, continues v.'Ithout reft till the change be ac- complifhed. But let us now look calmly and confidentially forward, and fucccis is certain. It is no longer the paltry caufe of kings, or of this, oroftk„t individual, that calls France and her armies into action. It is the great caufe of ail. It is the cdabiirnment of a LETTER TO THE PEOPLE OF FRANCE. 361 new era, that fhall blot defpotifm from the earth, and fix, on the laSlng principles of peace and citizenfliip, the gre- 1 republic of man. " It has been iry fate to have borne a (hare in the coninrc^ncement and complete cflablifliment of one Revolution (I mean the revolution of America). The fuccefs and events of that nvoiution arc encourag- ing to us. The profperity and happinefs that have fr.ice ilov/ed to that country, have amply rewarded her for all the hardihips (lie en- dured, and for all the dangers flie encountered. « The principles on which that revolution began, have extended themfelves to Europe ; and an over-ruling providence is regenerating the old world by the principles of the new. The diilance of America from all the other parts of the globe, did not admit of her carrying thofe principles beyond her own fituation. It is to the peculiar ho- nour ©f France, that (he now raifes the ftandard of liberty for all nations ; and in fighting her own battles, contends for the rights of all mankind. " The fame fpirit of fortitude that infurcd fuccefs to America, will infure it to France ; for it is impoffible to conquer a nation de- termined to be free ! The military circum.ftances that now unite them- felves to France, are fuch as th. defpots of the earth know nothing of, and can form no calculation upon. They know not what it is to fight againft a nation. They have only been accudomed to make war upon each other, and they know from fyftem and praftice, how to calculate the probable fuccefs of defpot againfl defpot ; and here tlieir knowledge and their experience end. *' But in a conteft like the 1 refent, a new and boundlefs variety of circumftances arifes, that deranges all fuch cu(lomar)^calculations. When a whole nation a6\s as an army, the defpot knows not the ex- tent of the power againft which he contends. New armies rife againft him with the necellity of the moment. It is then that the difficulties of an invading enemy multiply, as in the former cafe they diminifhed ,• and he finds them at their height when he expeded them to end. ** The only war that has any fimilarity of circumftances with the prefent, is the late revolution-war in America. On her part, as it now is in France, it was a war of the whole nation. -i — There it was that the en?my, by beginning to conquer, put himfelf in a condition of being conquered. His firft vidories prepared him for defeat. He advanced till he could not retreat, and foiind himfelf in the midft of a nation of armies, • > . Vol. XL ^ A 362 P A I N E ' s W O R K S. " Were it now to be propofed to the Auftrinns and Pruffians, tCf cfcort them into the middle of France, and there leave them to make the moil of fuch a fitiration, they would fee too much into the dan- gers of it to accept the offer, and the fam.e dangers that 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 refufe by choice. But to reafon with defpots is throw- ing reafon away. The befl of arguments is a vigourous preparation. " Man is ever a llranger to the ways by which providence regu- lates the order of things. The interference of foreign defpots may ferve to introduce into their own enllaved countri\^s the principles they come to oppofe. Liberty and equality are bl&iTmgs too great to be the inheritance of France alone. It is honour to her to her to be their firil champion ; and fhe may now fay to her enemies, with a mighty voice, *' O ! ye Auftrians, ye Prufiians ! ye who now turn your bayonets againfi: us; it is for all Europe ; it is for all mankind, and not for France alone, that flie raifes the ilandard of liberty and equality ! " " The public caufe has hitherto fuffered from the contradictions contained in the conftitution of the former eonfb'tucnt affembly. Thofc contradictions have ferved to divide the opinions of individuals at home, and to obfcure the great principles of the revolution in other countries. But when thofe contradictions fliali be removed, and the conftitution be made conformable to the declaration of rights ; when the bagatelles of monarchy, royalty, regency ; and hereditary fuc- ceflion, fliall be expofed, with c.?. their abfurdities, a nev/ ray of light will be thrown over the world, and the revolution will derive new ftrength by being univerfally underftood. " The fcene that now opens rtfclf to France extends far beyond the boundaries of her own dominions. Every nation is becoming her col- league, and every court is become her enemy. It is nov/ the caufe of all nations againll the caufe of all courts. The terror that defpotifm felt, clandeftinely begot a confederation of defpots ; and their at- tack upon France was produced by their fears at home. " In entering on this great fccne, greater than any nation h.aji yet been called to aCl in, let us fay to the agitated mind, be calm. Let us punifn by inftru6ling, rather than by revenge. Let us b^'^fn the new a;ra by a greatnefs of fricnddiip, and hail the approach of union and fuccefs, " Your Fellow Citizen, *^ THOMAS PAINE.'^ BEsasaaaLtai:.. 'ijn&tixxsiijj jj>aju^^xakiryjni!au!ij!t.v'v>t!w^jK«i'k.;-^i'^Wfc^J^.»^^ ^ ^^ A>>k. -liOy^ n^'dr ^^^^^^ ^'taiTt- ^tCi^ ^*<^^ yU^^^*^. AJ Aw , r-^A^^^ ^^^^ >fe^<^^ ^^ ^v^ z^-^- ■■mi^ii •'r\'m('yts!f9''fa^s^^!^^s^sBssasaBA'B:9fsak THE AGE OF REASON. PART I. I T has been my intention, for feveral 3^cars paft, to publiih my thoughts upon religion. I am v/ell aware of the difficulties that attend the fubjedl; and from that confideration had referved it to a more advanced period of life. I intended it to be the laft cffering I Ihojid make to my fellow citizens of all nations ; and that at ;i time, when the purity of the motive that induced me to it, coiiid not admit of a queftion, even by thofe who might difapprove the work. The circumftance that has now taken place in France, of the total abolition of the whole national order of pricilhood, and of every thing appertaining to compulfive fyilems of religion, and compuilive articles of faith, has not only precipitated my intention, but rendered a work of this kind exceedingly necefTary ; Icll, in the general wreck of fuperilition, of faife fyltems of government, and falfe theology, we lofe fight of morality, of humanity, and of the theology that is true. As feveral of my colleagues, and others of my fello^v citizens cf France, have given me the example cf making their voluntary and individual prcfeffion of faith, I alfo v/ill make mine; and I do this ,with all that iincerity and franknefs with v/hich rhe mind cf man communicates v/ith itfelf. . I believe in one God, and no more; and I here for happinefs beyond this life. I believe the equality of man, and I believe that religious dudes confift in doing juflice, loving mercy, aroi endeavoring to make car fellow creatures happy. d PAINE's WORKS.* But left it fliould be fuppofed that I believe many other things in addition to thefe, I fhall, in the progrefs of this work, declare the things I do not believe, and my reafons for not believing them* I do not believe in the creed profeiTed by the Jewilh church, by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkilb church, by the Proteflant church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is my own church. ^/^^%1 ^i i.i4;r%^jn^~ t^hi- t.\r iA^ C% , Ail national inftitutions of churches, whether Jewilh, Chriftian, X)r Turkifh, appear to me no other than human inventions fet up to terrify and enflave mankind, and monopolize power and profit. I do not mean by this declaration to condemn thofe who believe otherwifc. They have the fame right to their belief as I have to mine. But it is neceffary to the happinefs of man, that he be mentally faithful tohimfelf. Infidelity does not confift in believing or in difbe- lieving : it ccnfiils in profeiTmg to believe whsLt he does not believe; It is impoiTible to calculate the moral mifchief, if I may fo exprefs it, that mental lying has produced in fociety. When a man has fo far corrupted and prcftituted the chaftity of his mind, as to fubfcribe his profelTional belief to things he does not believe, he has prepared himfelf for the ccmmiirion of every other crime. Ke takes up the trade of a priefl for the fake of gain, and in order to qualify himfelf for that trade, he begins with a perjury. Can we conceive any thing more deftructive to mordlity than this ? Soon after I had publiilied the pamphlet, " Common Senfe/' iri America, I faw the exceeding probability that a revolution in the fyftem of government, would be followed by a revolution in the fyilem of religion. The adulterous connexion of church and ft ate, wherever it had taken place, whether Jewilh, Chriftian, or Turkifh, had fo effefiuaily prohibited, by pains and penalties, every difcuiTion upon eftabliihed creeds, and upon firft principles of religion, that until the fyllem of governm.ent fhould be changed, thofe fubjeifts could not be brought fairly and openly before the world : but that wljenever this (hould be done, a revolution in the fyftem of religion would follow. Human inventions and prieftcraft would be detefted ; and man would return to the pure, unmixed, and unadulterated belief of one God, and no more. * Every national church or religion has eftabliftied itfelf by pretend- ing fomefpecialmiffion from God communicated to certain individuals. The Jews have their Mofes ; the Chriftians their Jefus Chrift, their apoftles and faints ; and the Turks their Mahomet ; as if the way to God was not open to every man alike. Part I. .AGE O F R E A S O N, 7 .Each of thofe churches iliew certain books which they call re^datmi, or the word of God. The Jews fay that their word ot God was given by God to Mofes, face to face ; the Chriilians fi., , that their word of God came by divine infpiration ; and the Turks fay that their word of God [the Koran] was brought by an Angel from heaven. Each of thofe churches accufes the other of unbelief; and, for my own part, I dilbelieve them all. As it is neceifary to fix right ideas to words, I v/iil, before I proceed further into the fubjed, offer fome obfervations on the word re'vela/'.on. Revelation, when applied to religion, means fomething communicated if/imediately from God to man. No one will deny or difpute the power of the Almighty to make fuch a communication if ht pleafes. But admitting, for the fake of a cafe, that fomething has been revealed to a certain perfon, and not revealed to any other perfon, it is revelation to that perfon only. When he tells it to a fecond perfon, a fecond to a third, a third to a fourth, and fo on, it ceafes to be a revelation to all thofe perfons. It is revelation to the firft perfon only, and hear/ay to every other ; and confequently they are not obliged to believe it. It is acontradiftion in terms and ideas, to call any thing a revelation that comes to us at fecond hand, either verbally or in writing. Revelation is neceifarily limited to the firft communication. After , thfs, it is only an account of fomething which that perfon fays was a revelation made to him ; and though he may find himfelf obliged to believe it, it cannot be incumbent on me to believe it in the fame manner, for it was not a revelation made totncy .and I have only his word for it that it was made to 7^77. J^) M- l^^i^r---r.-^-'^^-^<^-- fi?df -" When Mofes told the children of If^ael that he received the two tables of the commandments from the hand of God, they were not obliged to believe him, becaufe they had no other authority for it than his telling them fo ; and I have no other authority for it than fome hiftorian telling me fo, the commandments carrying no internal evidence of divinity with them. They contain fome good morali precepts, fuch as any man qualified to be a law-giver, or a legiflator,) -i could produce himfelf, without having recourfe to fupernaturalj intervention.* * This iSy honxie'very necejjary to except the declaration, ivhich/ays, that GoJ vifits the fins of the father upon the children. It is centra^ t9 enjery principle of moral jzijiice, -* - > 8 PAINE's WORKS. When I am told that the Koran was written in heaven, and brought to Mahomet by an angel, the account com.es to near the famxC kind of hearfay evidence, and fecond-hand authority, as the former. I did not fee the angel myfelf, and therefore I have a right not to believe it. When alfo I am told that a woman, called the Virgin Mary, faid, or gave out, that fhe was with child, v/ithout any cohabitation with a man, and that her betrothed hufoand, Jofeph, faid, that an angel told him fo, I have a right to believe them or not ; fuch a circumliance required a much ilronger evidence than their bare word for it : but we have not even this ; for neither Jofeph nor Mary wrote any fuch matter themfelves. It is only reported by others that they faidfo. It is hearfay upon hearfa}', and I do not chufe to reft my belief upon fuch evidence. It is^ however, not difficult to account for the credit that was given to the ftory of Jefus Chriil being the fon of God. He was born when the heathen mythology had Hill fome fafhion and repute in the world, and that mythology had prepared the people for the belief of fuch a ftory. Almoft all the extraordinary men that lived under the heathen mythology, were reputed to be the fons of fome of their gods. It was not a new thing at that time to believe a man to have been celeftially begotten: the intercourfe of gods with women was then a matter of familiar opinion. Their Jupiter, according to their accounts, had cohabited with hundreds : the ftory, therefore, had nothing in it either new, wpnderful, orobfcene: it was conformable to the opinions that then prevailed among the people called Gentiles, or mythologifts, and it was thofe people only that believed it. The Jews, who had kept ftridly to the bfelief of one God, and no more, and who had always rejected the heathen mythology, never credited the ftory. It is curious to obferve how the theory of what is called the Chriftian church, fprung out of the tail of the heathen mythology. A direct incorporation took place in the firft inftance, by making the reputed founder to be celeftially begotten. The trinity of gods that then followed, was no other than a reduftion of the former plurality, which was about twenty cr thirty thoufand. The ftatue of Mary fucceeded the ftatue of Diana of Ephefus. The deification of heroes, changed into the canonization of faints. The mythologifts had gods for every thing: the Chriftian mythologifts had faints for every thing. The church became as crowded with the one, as the pantheon had been with the other; and Rome was the place of both. Part I. A G E O F R E A S O N. 5 The Chriflian theory is little elfe than the idolatiy of the ancient mythoiogifts, accommodated to the purpofes of power and revenue; and it yet remains to reafon and philofophy to abolilh the amphibi- ous fraud. Nothing that is here faid can apply, even with the moll dillant difrefpeft, to the real charafter of Jefus Chrift. He was a virtuous and an amiable man. The morality that he preached and pra(^ifed was of the moft benevolent kind ; and though fimilar fyftems of morality had been preached by Confucius, and by feme of the Greek philofophers, many years before ; by the Quakers fmce ; and by many good men in all ages j it has not been exceeded by any. 7^ Jefus Chrift wrote no account of himfclf, of his birth, parentage, or any thing €'Sz, Not a line of what is called the New Teftament is of his writing. The hiilory of him is altogether the work of other people; and as to the account given of his refurreftion and afcenfion, it was the neceilary counterpart to the ftory of his birth. His hiftorians, having brought him into the world in a fupernatural iDc nner, were obliged to take him out again in the fame manner, or the firft part of the ftory muft have fallen to the ground. The wretched contrivance with which this latter part is told, exceeds every thing that went before it. The firft part, that of the miraculous conception, was for a thing that admitted of pub- licity ; and therefore the tellers of this part of the ftory, had this advantage, that though they might not be credited, they could not be detefted. They could not be expedled to prove \t, becaufe it "Was not one of thofe things that admitted of proof, and it was impoffible that the perfon of v/hom it was told, could prove it himfelf. But the refurredion of a dead perfon from the grave, and his afcenfion through the air, is a thing very difFcrcnt as to the evidence it admits of, to the invifible conception of a child in the womb. The refurredticn and afcenfion, fuppoiing them to have taken place, admitted of public and ocular demonftration, like that of the afcenfion of a balloon, or the fun at noon day, to all Jerufahnj at leaft. A thing which every body is required to believe, requires that the proof and evidence of it fhouid be equal to all, and univerfal; and as the public vifibility of • this laft related act was the only evidence that could give fanftion to the former part, the whole of it falls to the ground, becaufe that evidence never was given, Inftead of this, a fmall number of perfcns, not more than 10 PAINE's WORKS. eight or nine, are introduced as proxies for the whole world, to fay, theyy^'zu ify and all the reft of the world are called upon to believe it. But it appears that Thomas did not believe the refarredlion ; and as they fay, would not believe, without having ocular and manual demonftration himfelf. So neither •will I ; and the reafon is equally as good for ine, and for every other perfon, as for Thomas. It is in vain to attempt to palliate or difguife this matter. The flory, fo far as relates to the fupernatural part, has every mark of fraud and impoiition {lamped upon the face of it. Who were the authors of it is as impoihble for us now to knov/, as it is for us to be iifTured, that the books in which the account is related, were written by the perfons whofe names they bear. ^ The beft furviving evidence we now have, refpefting this affair, is the Jews. They are regularly defcended from the people who lived in the times this refurredlion and afcenfion is faid to have happened, and they fay, it is riot true. It has lono- appeared to me a llrange inconfiftency, to cite the Jews as a proof of the truth of the ftory.' It is juft the fame as if a man were to fay, I will prove the truth of what I have told you, by producing the people who fay it is falfe. That fuch a perfon as Jefus Chrift exifted, and that he was crucified, which was the mode of execution at that day, are hiftorical relations Uriftly within the limits of probability. He preached moft excellent morality, and the equality of man; but he preached alfo againft the corruptions and avarice of the Jewifh priefts ; and this brought upon him the hatred and vengeance of the whole order of priefthood. The accufation which thofe priefts brought againft him, was that of fedition and confpiracy againft the Roman government, to which the Jews were then fubjeft and tributary;! and it is not improbable that the Roman government might have fome fecret apprehenfion of the eiTe^ls of his doctrine, as well as the Jewilh priefts ; neither is ■ it improbable that Jefus Chrift had in contemplation the delivery of the Jewilh nation from the bondage of the Romans. Between the tv/o, however, this virtuous reformer and revolutionift loft his life. It is upon this plain narrative of fads, together with another cafe I am going- to mention, that the Chriftian mythologifts, calling themfelves the Chriftian church, have erefted their fable, which ibr abfurditity and extravagance, is not exceeded by any thing that is to be found in the mythology of the ancients* The ancient m.ythologifts tell that the race of giants made war ao-ainft Jupiter, and that one of them threv/ an hundred rocks againft liim at one throw; that Jupiter defeated him with thunder, and Part I. A G E O F R E A S O N. ii confined him afterwards under Mount Etna ; and that every time the giant turns himfelf. Mount Etna belches fire. It is here eafy to foe that the circumftance of the mountain, that of its being a voicancj fuggefted the idea of the fable ; and that the fable is made to fit and wind itfelf up with that circumftance. The Chriftian mythologifts tell that their Satan made war agair.il the Almighty, who defeated him, and confined him afterwards, not under a mountain, but in a pit. 'It is here eafy to fee that the firft fable lluggefted the idea of the fecond ; for the fable of Jupiter and \ the Giants was told many hundred years before that of Satan. Thus far the ancient and the Chriftian mythologifts differ very little from each other. But the latter have contrived to carry the matter much farther. They have contrived to conneift the fabulous part of the ftory of Jefus Chrift with the fable originating from Mount Etna: and in order to make all parts of the ftory tie together, they have taken to their aid the traditions of the Jews ; for the Chriftian mythology is made up partly from the ancient mythology, and partly from the Jev/ifti traditions. The Chriftian mythologifts, after having confined Satan in a pit, were obliged to let him out again, to bring on the fequel of the fable. He is then introduced into the garden of Eden in the iliape of a fnake, or a ferpent, and in that ftiape he enters into familiar conver- fation with Eve, who is no ways furprifed to hear a fnake talk ; and the iffue of this tete-a-tete is, that he perfuades 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 fuppofed that the church mythologifts v/ould have been kind enough to fend him back again to the pit ; or, if they had not done this, that they would have put a mountain upon him, (Tor they fay that their faith can remove a mountairi) or have put him under a mountain, as the former mythologifts had done, to 'prevent his getting again among the women, and doing more mifchief. But itiftead of this, they leave him at large without even obliging him to give his parole. The fecret of which is, that they could not do without him ; and after being at the trouble of making him, they bribed him to ftay. They promifed him all the Jews, all the '-t'^M^j-, Turks by anticipation, nine-tenths of the world bende, aiKl rvtW'"" Mahomet into the bargain. After this, who can doubt the boun- ICul, tifulnefs of the Chriftian mythology t Having thus made an infurredion and a battle in heaven, in u-hich none of the combatants could be either killed or wounded— B 2 K Vi/'yv*'-*-^^^^, It PAINE's WORKS. 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, chefe Chriftian mythologies bring the two ends of their fable together. Ihey reprefcnt this virtuous and amiable man, Jefus Chrifl, to be at once both God and man, and alfo the fon of God, ceiefiially begotten en purpofe to be facriiiced, becaufe, they fay, that Eve, in her longing, had eaten an apple. Putting afide every thing that might excite laughter by its abfurdity, or deteftationby its prophaneners,.and confining ourfelves merely to an examination of the parfs, it is impofiibie to conceive a ftory more derogatory to the Almighty, more inconfiflent with his wifdom, more contradictory to his power, than this llory is. In order to m.ake for it a foundation to rife upon, the inventors weic under the neceffity 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 himfelf from the pit, after what they call his fall, but they have made that pov/er increafe afterwards to infinity. Before . his fall, they reprefent him only as an angel of limited exiftence, as they reprefent the reft. After his fall, he becomes, by their account, omniprefent. He exifts every where, and at the fam.e time. He occupies the v/hole immenfity of fpace. ;j^' ' Not content with this deification of- Satan, they reprefent him as defeating by ftratsgem, in the fhape of an animal of the creation, ail the power and wifdom of the Almighty., They reprefent him. as having compelled the Almighty to the i^ire yiecejjity either of Tur rendering the whole of the creation to the government and fovereignty of this Satan, or of capitulating for its redemption, by coming down upon earth, and exhibiting himfelf upon a crofs in the uip.pe of a man. Had the inventors of this ilory told it the contrary way, that is, had they reprefented the Almighty as compelling Ga:an to exhibit h'lmjdf on a crofs in the iliape of a fnake, as a punidiment for his new tranfgrelTions, the llory would have been iefs abfurd, lefs contradiiTiory. But inftead of this, they make the tranfgrelfor triumpli, and the Almighty fall. That many good men have believed this ftrange fable, and lived very good lives under that belief, (for credulity is not a crime) is what 1 ha^^eno doubt of. In the firil place, they were educated to believe it, and they would have believed any thing elfe in the fame manner. ' There are alfo many who have been fo enthufiaftically enraptured by what they conceived to be the infinite love of God to Part I, AGE OF REASON. 13 man, in milking a facrifice of himfelf, that the vehemence of the idea has forbidden and deterred them from examining into the abfurdity and profanenefs of the ilory. The more unnatural any thing is, the more it is capable of becoming the objeft of difmal admiration. But if obje<5ts for gratitude and admiration are our defire, do they -i not prefent themfeU'es every hour to our eyes? Do we not fee fair; creation prepared to receive us the inilant we are born ; a world furniflied to our hand that coft us nothing ? Is it we that light up the fun; that pour dovvm the rain; and fill the earth with abundance?'', Whether we fleep or v/ake, the vaft machinery of the univerfe dill goes on. Are thefe things, and the bleffings they indicate in future, ; nothing to us? Can ourgrofs feelings be excited by no other fubjetts than tragedy and fuicide ? Or is the gloomy pride of man become fo intolerable, that nothing can flatter it but a facrifice of the Creator ? ' I know that this bold inveftigation will alarm many, but it would be paying too great a compliment to their credulity to forbear it upon that account. The times and the fabjeft demand it to be done. The fufpicion that the theory of v/hat is called the Chrillian church is fabulous, is becoming very extenfive in all countries ; and it v/ill be a confolation to men daggering under that fufpicion, and doubting what to believe, and what to diibelieve, to fee the fubjecl freely inveiligated. I therefore pafs on to an examination of the books called the Old and the New Teflament, Thefe books, beginning with Genefis and ending with the Revelations, (v/hich by the bye is a boolyof-^^iiidies) 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 fo, that we may know what credit to give to the report. The anfwer to this quefcicn is, that nobody can tell, except that we tell one another io. The cafe, hov/ever, hiftorically appears to be as follows : — When the church mythologifts eftablifned their fyftem, they colleded all the writings they could find, and managed them as they pleafed. It is a matter altogether of uncertainty to us, v/hether fuch of the writings as now appear, under the name of the Old and the New Tedament, are in the fame Hate in which thofe colledlors fay they found them ; or whether they added, altered, abridged, or dreifed them up. Be this as it may, they decided by vote which of the books out of the colle»fl;ion they had made, fhould be the word of god, and which Ihculd not» They rcjeded feveral; they voted others to be r4 PAINE's WORKS. doubtful, fuch as the bcoks called the Apocrypha ; and thofe books v/hich had a majority of votes, were voted to be the word of God.-' Had they voted otherwife, all the people, iince calling themfelves Chriftians, had believed otherwife ; 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 called themfelves 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 thofe 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 themfelves. In the former part of this effay, I have fpoken of revelation, I now proceed further with that fubjeft, for the purpofe of applying it to the books in queition. Revelation is a communication of fomething, which the perfon, to whom that thing is revealed, did not know before. For if I have done a thing, or feen it done, it needs no revelation to tell me I have done it, or feen it, nor to enable me to tell it, or to write it. Revelation, therefore, cannot be applied to any thing done upon earth, of which man is himfelf the aftor or the v/itnefs ; and confequently all the hiftorical and anecdotal part of the Bible, which is almoft the whole of it, is not v/ithin the meaning and compafs of the word revelation, and therefore is not the word of God. When Sampfon ran off with the gate-pofts of Gaza, if he ever did fo (and whether he did or not is nothing to us) or when he viiited his Delilah, or caught his foxes, or did any thing elfe, %vhat has revelation to do with thefe things ? If they v/ere fafts, he could tell them himfelf; or his fecretary, if he kept one, could write them, if they were worth either telling or writing; and if they were fidions, revelation could not make them true ; and whether true or not, we are neither the better nor the v/ifer for knowing them.. When we contemplate the immenfity of that Being, who direfls and governs the incomprehenfible whole, of which the utmoft ken of human fight can difcover but a part, we ought to feel fliame at calling fuch paltry ftories the word of God. V As to the account of the creation, with which the book of Gcnefis opens, it has all the appearance of being a tradition which the ifraeiites had among them before they came into Egypt ; and Part L A G E O F R E A S O N. 15 after their departure from that country, they put it at the head of their hilloryj without telling, as it is raoft probable that they did not know how they came by it. The manner in which the account opens,, Ihews it to be traditionary. It begins abruptly. It is nobody that fpeaks. It is nobody that hears. It is addreffed to nobody. It has neither firft, fecond, or third perfon. It has every criterion of being a tradition. It has no voucher. Mofes does not take it upon himfelf by introducing it with the formality that he ufes on other occafions, fuch as that of faying, " The Lord /pake unto Mofes, fo.y'in'g." Why it has been called the Mofaic account of the creation, I am at a lofs to conceive. Mofes, I believe, was too good a judge of fuch fubjecis, to put his name to that account. He had been educated among the Egyptians, who were a people as well Ikilled in fcience, and particularly in albonomy, as any people of their day ; and the iilence and caution that Mofes obferves, in not authenticating the account, is a good negative evidence that he neither told it, nor believed it. The cafe is, that every nation of people, has been world makers, and the Ifraelites had as much right to fet up the trade of world-making as any of the reft ; and as Mofes was not an / Ifraelite, he might not chufe to contradift the tradition. The account, however, is harmlefs ; and this is more than can be faid for many other parts of the Bible. Whenever we read the obfcene ftories, the voluptuous debauclu cries, the cruel and torturous executions, the unrelentin? vindiftive- nefs, with which more than half the Bible is filled, it would be more confiftent that we called it the word of a demon, than the word of God. It is a hiftory of wickednefs, that has ferved to corrupt and brutalize m^ankind ; and, for my own part, I fmcerelv deteft it, as I deteft every thing that is cruel. We fcarcely meet with any thing, a few phrafes excepted, but / what deferves either our abhorrence or our contempt, till we come toU the mifcellaneous parts of the Bible. In the anonymous publications/ the Pfalms and the Book of Job, more particularly in the latter, we find a great deal of elevated fentiment reverentially expreiTed of the power and benignity of the Almighty : but they ftand on no higfier rank than many other compofitions on fimilar fubjenpoftion of poetry differs fro7n that of prof e in the manner of mixing long andfhori fyllahles together. Take a long fyllahle out of a line of poetry^ and put a jLort one in the room of ity or put a long fyllahb: 'where afhort 07ie fhould he, and that line nvill lofe its poetical hartnoy. Ite book, and make a line of the fame number of fyllahles (heroic meafure) that fh all rhyme 'with the laft 'word. It I'jtll then be feen, that the compofition of thofe hooks IS poetical meafure. 1 he infance I fhall firfi produce is from Ifaiah. *' Herir, O ye heavens, and give car, O earth." "Tii Gad himfelf, that calls atte>ztion forth. Another inftance I fhall quote is from the mournful Jeremiah, t» tohich I fhall add t'VJO other lines, for the purpofe of .carrying out the: figure, and fke'wing the intention^ef the pOf(^,*mm«t • " O ! that mine head were waters, and min^ eyes" - Were fotmtains, foiving like the liquid fkies ; Then ^vould I gi've the mighty food releafe, A^zd njjeep a deluge for the hutna,n race. Part I. A G K O F R K A S O N. 17 for "poet, and the word prophefyhtg meant the art of making poetry. It alfo meant the art of playing poetry to a tune, upon any inftrument of mufic. We read of prophefying with pipes, tabrcts, and horns. Of prophefying with harps, with pfalteries, with cymbals, and with every other inftrument of mufic then in fafhion. Were we now to fpeak of prophefying with a fiddle, or with a pipe and tabor, the exprefTion would have no meaning, or would appear ridiculous, and to fome people contemptuous, becaufe we have changed the meaning of the word. We are told of Saul being among the prophets, and alfo that he prophefied ; but we are not told what they prophejiedy nor vv'hat he prophefied. The cafe is, there was nothing to tell ; for thefe prophets were a company of muficians and poets ; and Saul joined m the concert ; and this was called /r(j/i^^/j'/V;^i i-Oirn. 10. b. 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 pfaltery, a tabret, a pipe, and a harp, and that they prophefied, and that he prophefied with them. But it appears afterwards, that Saul prophefied badly, that is, he^er- formed his part badly, for it is faid, that " an e-u'il fp'ir'it from God'"' came upon Saul and he prophefied.'* }■ StLyyy. i^. <}' f^- /^. Now, were there no other pafiTage in the book, called the Bible, than this, to demonftrate to us that we have loft the original meaning of the word prophecy y and fubftituted another meaning \n ^ its place, this alone would be fufficient ; for it is impofiible to ufe and apply the v/ord prophecy in the place it is here ufed and applied, if we give to it the fenfe which later times have affixed to it. The manner in which it is here ufed, ftrips it of all religious mean- ing, andfhewsthataman might then be a prophet, ox m\^\X prophecy ^ as he may now be a poet, or a mufician, without any regard to the morality or the immorality of his charader. The word was originally a term of fcience, promifcuoufly applied to poetry and to mufic, and not reftrided to any fubjed upon which poetry and mufic might be exercifed. i^mfiver Cutnir i ' - & " \t'' *^' \ 1 1 1 '' 1' • <^ ^1 tttniMiii»i> — ^"■^p-'^ • ; — * Js thofe meny ivho call them/elves d'l'vhies a»d ccmnmitators, are 'very fond of puzzling one another, I lea've. them to conteft the ?ncanino- of the firji part of the phrafe, that of an evil fpirit from God, / keep to my text, I keep to the meaning of the 'VJord prophecy^ i8 P AI N E's WORKS. Deborah and Earak are called prophets, notbecaufe they predicted any thing, butbecaufe they compofed the poem or fcng that bears their name in celebration of an ad already done: David is ranked among the prophets, for he was a mufician; and was alfo reputed to he (though perhaps very erroneouiiy) the author of the Pfalms. But Abraham, Ifaac, and Jacob, are not called prophets. It does not ^pear, from any accounts we have, that they could either hng, play muiic, or make poetry. ^^ ^ ^^^ ,^, (kMu^ . %^ We are toid_of_tjie o^reater.and thejerferjprophets^ They might as ^^/'-'^ tveli teii us of the greater and the lefTer God; for there cannot h^ r^f degrees in prophefying, confiftently with its modern fenfe. But there are degrees in poetry^ and therefore the phrafe is reconcileable to the cafe, when we underftand by it the greater and the leffer poets. It is altogether unneceffiry, after this, to offer any obferyations upon what thofe men, ilyied prophets, have written. The axe goes at once to the root, by ihewing that the original meaning of the word has been miftaken, and confequently all the inferences that have been drawn from thofe books, the devotional refpeft that has hten paid to them, and the laboured commentaries' that have been written upon them., under that miftaken meaning, are not worth difputing about. In many things, however, the writings of the Jewilh. poets, deferves a better fate than that, of being bound up, as they now are, with, the trafn that accompanies them, under the abufed name of the word of God, If we permit ourfelves to conceive right ideas of things, we muft neceifariiy afiix the idea, not only of unchangeablenefs, but of the utter impofnbility 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 exift in any. written or human lan-juao-e. The continually progreffive change to which the meaning of words is fubjeft, the want of an univerfal language v/hich renders tranflations neceifary, the errors to v/hich tranilations are again fubjed, the >,ttt niiftakes of copy ills and printers, together with the poffibility of ^^f wilful alteration, are of themfelves evidences, that human language, /^<-"? whether in fpeech or in print, , cannot be the vehicle' o£ the jtvord of '^^^ God. fThe_w_ord of God exifts in fomething elfe.'- '^^ ^^^^- Icvi^ .(Ti^cJL Did the book, called the Bible, excel in purity of ideas and ' / ^ ■^^^fxpreffion, all the books that are now extant in the world, I would ) not take it for my rule of f?ith, as being the word of God; becaufe '/ the poiiibiiity would neverthelefs exift of my -being irapofed upon, - Part I. AGE OF REASON. 19 .^^.jJiL But when I fee, throughout the greatcft part of this book, fcirceU^ /> ^c/tie^- any thing but a hiftory of the grotTcft vices, and a coiledioh of the ^^'' '■'^ . moft paltry and contemptible tales, I cannot diihonour my Creator by '-j!-—^ 'ji^alling it by his name. ^/ • Thus much for the Biblj£U^I now go on to the book called the Nt%v Teftament. The »en.v Tellament! thii is, the ne--w Will, at. it there could be two wills of the Creator. ! Had it been the objeft or the intention of Jefljs Chriil to eilablirn j^' [ a hew religion, he would undoubtedly have written thefyftem himfelf, Kix procured it to he n.vritten in his life timd. But th^re is no publicatioifr^f ' extant authenticated with his name. All the books called the New Teflament were written after his death. He was a Jew by birth and by profeiTion ; and he was the Son of God in like manner that every other perfon is ; for the Creator is the Father of AH. The firft four books, called Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, do not give a hiftory of the life of Jefus Chrift,- but only detached anecdotes of him. It appears from thefe books, that the whole -^ time of his bein? a preacher was not more than eighteen months : . ^ and it was only during this Ihort time, that thefe men became >" aciquainted with him." They make mention of him, at the age of twelve years, fitting, they fay, among the Jewifh doftors, afking and anfwering them queftion^. As this was feveral years before their acquaintance with him began, it is moft probable they had this anecdote from his parents. From this time there is no account of him for about fixteen years. Where he lived, or hov/ he employed himfelf during this ihterval, is not known. Moft probably he was working at his father's trade, v/hich was that of a carpenter. It does not appear that he had any fchool education, and the proba- bility is, that he could not write, for his parents v/ere extremely- poor, as appears from their not being able to pay for a bed when he was bom. 1 . ^^" A<:L_<i It is fomewhat curious that the three perfons v/hofe names are the M moft univerially recorded, were of very obfcure parentage. Mofes j/ • was a foundling, Jefus Chrift was born in a ftable, and Mahomet was "^^^ a mule driver. The firft and the laft of thefe men, were founders ofL, different fyftems of religion ; but Jefus Chrift founded no^newjjrftem. "^^ He called men to the pradice of moral virtues, and the belief o^"^,^ one God. The great trait in his characHier is philanthropy. <^^u The manner in which he was appreh^ded, fhews that he was not much known at that time ; and it Ihews alfo that the meetings he then held with his fallowers, were infecret; and that he had eiven zo P A I NE's WORKS, ; iJ over, or fufpended, preaching publicly. Judas could no otherwifc iri o^ betray him than by giving information where he Was, and pointing 7*^j him out to the olncers that went to arreft him ; and the reafon for r-^ employing and paying Judas to do this, could arife only from :h<^tht caufes 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 alTociates with it fomething of pufdlanimity ; ,,^ and his being betrayed, or in other words, his being apprehended, on the information of one of his followers, fliews that he did not intend to be apprehended, and confequently that he did not intend to be crucified. The Chriftian mythologifts tell us, that Chriil died for the fm3 of the world, and that he came on furpofe to die. Would it no^ then have been the fame if he had died of a fever, or of the fmall po^, of old age, or of any thing elfe ? The declaratory fentence which, they fay, was pafled upon Adam in cafe he ate of the apple, was not, that thou /halt furelj be cruc'ijiedy but thou foalt furely die. The fentence was death, and not the man'rier of dying. Crucifixion, therefore, or any other particular manner of dying, made no part of the fentence tiiat Adam was to fufFer, and confequently, even upon their own tadic, it could make no part of the fentence that Chriil wa:s to fufFer in the room of Adam. A fever would have done as well as a crofs, if there was any cccaiion for either. Q-A'-^ '-'■ This fentence of death, which, they tell us, was thus palled upon Adam, muft either have meant dying naturally, that is, ceafmg to live, or, have meant .what thefe raythologifts call damnation : and confequently, the aft of dying on the part of Jefus Chrift, muft, according to their fyftem, apply as a prevention to one or other of thofe two things happening to Adam and to us. That it does not prevent our dying is evident, becaufe we all die; and if their accounts of longevity be true, men die fafter lince the a crucifixion than before : and with refpeft; to the fecond explanation, (including with it the natural death of Jefus Chrift as a fubftitute for the eternal death or damnation of all mankind) it i« impertinently reprefenting the Creator as comiag' off, or revoking the fentence, by a pun or a quibble upon the word death. That manufafturer 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 Adcwu He makes there to be two Adams j. the one who fin^ Part I. A G E O F R E A S O N. 21 in fa(5l, and fuiFers by proxy ; the other who fins by proxy, and fuiFers in fad. A religion thus interlarded with quibble, fubter- fuge and pun, has ^ tendency to inilrud its profeiTors in the practice of thefe arts. They acquire the habit without being aware of the caufe. If Jefus Chrift was the being which thofe mythologifts tell us he was, and that he came into the world to fifffevy which is a word they fometimes ufe inftead of to d'ley the only real fuftering he could have endured would haA-e been to I'l^oe. His exiftence here was a flatc of exilement or tranfportation from heaven, and the way back to his original country wns to die.---In fine, every thing in this ft range fyftem is the reverfe of what it pretends to be. It is the reverfe of truth, and I become fo tired with examining into its inconfiftencies and abfurdities, that I hallcn to the conclufion of it in order to proceed to fometliing better. How much, or what parts of the books called the New Teftamcnt, were Written by the perfons whofe names they bear, is what wc can know nothing of, neither are v/e certain in what language they were originally written. The matters they now contain may be clafied under two heads : anecdote and epiftolary correfuondence. The four books already micntioned, Matthew, Mark, Luke- and John, are altogether anecdotal. They relate events after they had taken place. They tell Avhat Jefus Chriii: did and faid, and what others did and faid to him ; and in feverai inftances they relate the fame event difi-crently. Revelation is necellarily out of the queftion with refpeft to thofe books ; not only becaufe of the difagreeraent of the writers, but becaufe revelation cannot be applied to the relating of facl:s by the perfons who faw them done, nor to the relating or recording of any difcourfe or converfation by thofe who heard it. i The books called the Ads of the Apoilles, an anonymous v/ork, belong alfo to the anecdotal part. All the other parts of the New Teftament, except the book of enigmas, called the Revelations, are a collection of letters under the name of Epiftles ; and the forgery of letters has been fuch-a common pradice in the world, that the probability is, at Icaft, I equal, whether they are genuine or forged. One thing, however, is much lefs equivocal, which is, that out of the matters contained in thofe books, together with thp afliftance of fome old ftories, the church has fet up a fyftem of religion very contradidcry to the charader of the perfon whofe name it bears. It has fet up a religion of pom pjmd_ofj;e venue, in pretended imitation of a perfon whofe life was humility and poverty. "^ "^^"^ "^^^"^^ U.i^^^r^^^ -ftz. 22 p Ai NE's Work s. The invention of a purgatory, and of the releafmg of fouis therefrom, by prayers, bought of the church with moneys the felling of pardons, difpcnfations, and indulgences, are revenue laws, without bearing that name or carrying that appearance. Eut the cafe neverthelefs is, that thofe things 4^1 ive their origin from the '-proxyfm of the crucifixion, and the theory deduced therefrom, which was, that one perfon could iland in the place of another, and could perform meritorious fervices for him. The probability therefore is, that the whole theory or dodlrine of v/hat is called the redemption (which is faid to have been accomplifhed hy tSiQ aft of one perfon in the room of another) was originally fabricated on purpofe to bring forward and build ail thofe fccondary 2iid pecuniary redemptions upon ; and that the paifages in the books upon which the idea or theory of redemption is built,, have been manufa-a^ured and fabricated for that purpofe. Why are we to give this church credit, when ihe tells us that thofe books are genuine in every part, any more than v/e give her credit for every thing elfe Iht has told us ? or for the miracles Ihe fays (lie has performed ? That fhe could fabricate writings is certain, becaufe fhe could write ; and the compoiition of the writings in quefiion, is of that kind that any body might do it; and that fhe did fabricate them, is not more inconfiilent with probability, than that ilie fhould tell us, as fhe has done, that fhe could and did work miracles. Since, then, no external evidence can, at this long diilance of time,, be produced to prove v/hether the church fabricated the doftrine called redemption, or not (for fuch evidence, > whether for or againft, would be fabjeft to the fame fufpicion of being fabricated) the cafe can only be referred to the internal evidence which the thing carries of itfeif ; and this affords a very ftrong prefumption of its being a fabrication. For the internal evidence is, that the theory or doftrine of redemption lias for its bans^ an idea of pecuniary juflice, and riot that of moral juflice. If I owe a perfon money and cannot pay him, and he threatens to put me in prifon, another perfon can take the debt upon himfeif, and pay it for me. But if I have committed a crime, e-vjery circumftance of the cafe is changed. Moral juflice cannot take the innocent for the gitilty, even if the innocent would offer itfelf. To fuppofe juflice to do this, is to deflroy the principle of its exiitcnce, which is the thing itfelf. It is then no longer juflice. It is indifcriminate revenge. This fingle reileilion will fhew that the do-flrine of redemption is founded on a mere pecuniary idea correfpoiiding to that of a debt ?ART L A G E O "F R E A S O N. 23 which another perfon might pay ; and as this pecuniary idea corref- ponds again with the fyitem of lecond redemptions, obtained through the means of money given to the church ibr pardons, the probability is, that the fame peribns fabricated both the one and the other oi^thofe theories ; and that, in truth, there is no fuch thing as J^^^^ ; redem.ption ; that it is fabulous ; and that man ftands in the fame ^.l relative condition with his Maker he ever did (land lince man exifted; '^'^ and that it is his greateli confclation to think {o, ' ^n^ju^ Let him- . believe this, and he v/ill live more confiflently rniiH-*^ morally than by a'ny other fj^flem. It is by his being taught to ^"^ ^ contemplate himfeif as an outlaw,||as an out-cait, as a beggar, as a^^^ " mumper, as one thrown, as it were, on a dung-hill, at an immenfe iw ^ diftance from his Creator, and who muft make his approaches by^ creeping and cringing to intern^diate beings, that he conceives -/ttz* either a contemptuous difregard for every thing under the na'me tjf religion, or becomes indift'crent, or turns, what he calls devout- In the latter caxe, he confumes his life in grief, or the afTcdlation of it. His prayers are reproaches. His humility is ingratitude. He calls \ himfeif a worm, and the fertile earth a dung-hill ; and all the bleffings of life by the thanklefs nam.e of vanities. He defpifes the choicelt gift of God to man, the gift of reason; and having endeavoured to force upon him/clf the belief of a fyftem againil: which reafcn revolts, he ungratefully calls it human reafon, as if a man could give reafon to himfeif. Yet with ail this ftrange appearance of humility, and this contempt for human reafon, he ventures into the boldeil prefumptions. He j^^_^^ finds fault with every thing. His felfilhnefs is never fatisfied; hist":^ ingratitude is never at an end. He takes on himfeif to direft the *" ^ Almighty what to do, even in the government of the univerfe. He |^ i jH-ays didlatorially. When it is fun-lhine he prays for rain, and '-*^*^ when it is rain he prays for fun-(hine. He follows the fame idea in every thing that he prays for; for what is the amount of all his prayers, but an attempt to m.ake the Almighty change his mind, and adl otherwife than he does. It is as if he were to fay— thou knowefl not {o well as I. But fome, perhaps, will fay, — Are we to have no God — No revelation? I anfwer, 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 ^ v\ And utter forth a glorious voice ; \ V ^ ^T- X ^ For ever fmging as they fhine, V^ The hand that made us is divine. V/hat more does man want to know than that the hand, or power that made thefe things, is divine, is omnipotent. Let him believe this, with the force it is impoflible to repel, if he permits his reafon to aft, and his rule of moral life will follow of courfe. The allufions in Job have all of them the fame tendency with this Pfalm ; that of deducing or proving a truth, that would be otherwife unknown, from truths already kiwwn. I recoiled not enough of the pafiagcs in Job, to Infert them correftly ; but there is one that occurs to me that is applicable to ^^ the fubjea I am fpeaking upon. " Canft thou by fearching find out ^^ God ? Canft thou find out the Almighty to perfedion ? ' * -4- I know not how the printers have pointed this paffage, for I keep ^ no Bible ; but it contains two diftind queftions that admit ©f diftind -^ e^t^..^^-'*~'^ / Part I. AGE OF REASON. 27 . Firft, Canft thou by/^^m^/V/^ find out God ? Yes. Becaufe, in tKe firft place, I know I did not make myfelf, and yet I have eKiften';e; and by fearchlug into the nature of other things, I find chat no other thing could make itfelf ; and yet ^nillions of other things exift ; therefore it is, that I know, by pofitive conclufion refalting from' this fearch, that there is a power fupsrioL- to all thof;^ things, and that power is God. Secondly, Canlithoa find oat the Almighty- to /^r/^.^kv.? No. Not only becaufe the power and wifdom he has manifeiled in the ftru'flurs of the creation that I behold, is to me incomprehenfible ; bat bec'.ufe even this manifeftation, great as it is, is -probably but a fmall dJi\\A?,f of that immenfity of pov/er and v/ifdom, by which millions of other v/orlds, to me invifible by their diftance, were created and continue to exifl. ' It is evident that both thefe queftions were p'at to the reafon of the perfon to whom they are" fuppofed to have been addrclTed ; and it is only by admitting the firft quellion to be anfwere'd aiBrmativeiyi that the fecond could follow. It would have been unnecefTary, and even ahfurd, to have put a- fecond q.ueilion more diilicult th:rn'the tiTll, if the firft queftion'_hadbeen'~^ahrwered negatively. Thj :','„» queftions have different objefts ; the firil refers to the exilteH(:e-'4yf God, the fecond to his attributes. Reafon Cx^n difcover the bne^ but it falls infinitely ihort in difcovering the whole of the other. I recolkvl not a fingle paflTage' in all the v/ritings afcribed to th^; men called Apoftles, that convey any idea of v/hat God is. Thofe writings are chieHy contrdverfial ; and the gloominefs of the fubjeft they dwell upon, that of a man dying in agony on a crofs, is b^ter fuited to the gloomy genius of a monk in a cell, by whom it'is not impo'iiblc they were written, than to any man breathing the open air of the .creation. The only pafiage that occurs to me, that has any reference to the works of God, by which only his power'and wifdom can be known, is related to have been fpoken by Jefus Chrift, as a remedy againft diftruftful care. " Behold the lilies of '»' the field, they toil not, neither do they fpin." This, however, is far inferior to the allufions in Job, and in the nineteenth pfalm ; but it is fimilar in idea, and the modefty of the imagery is correfoondent to the modefty of the man. As to the Chriftian fyftem of faith, it appears to me as a fpecies of atheifm ; a fort of religious denial of God. It profefles to believe in a man rather than in God. It is a compound made up chiefly of raadiifra, with but little dsifm, and is as near to atheifm as t^vilieht D z * 3» PAINE's WORKS. is to darknefs. It introduces between man and his Maker an opaque body which it calls a Redeemer; as the moon introduces her opaque felf between the earth and the fun, and it produces by this means a religious, or an irreligious eclipfe of light. It has put the whole oibit of reafon into fiiade, . The efFe6l of this obfcurity has been that of turning every thing upfide down, and reprefenting it in reverfe ; and among the revolu- tions it has thus magically produced, it has made a revolution ia Theology. That which is now called natural philofophy, embracing the whole circle of fcience, of which aftrcnomy occupies the chief place, is the iludy of the works of God and of the power and wifdom of God in his works, and is the trne theology. As to the theology that is now ftudied in its place, it is the ftudy of human opinions, and of human fancies concerning God. It is . ;iot the ftudy of God himfelf in the works that he has made, but in the v/orks or writings that man has made ; and it is not amono- the leaft of the mifchiefs that the Chriilian fyftem has done to the world, i^> that it has abandoned the original and beautiful fyftem of theology, i"ik^ l""* «* like a beautiful innocent to diltrefs and reproach, to make room for the h^g of fuperftition, The book of Job, and the 1 9th Pfalm, v/hich even the churr h admits to be more ancient than the chronological order in which they ftand in the book called the Bible, are theological orations conform- able to the original fyftem of theology. The internal evidence of thofe orations proves to a demonftration, that the ftudy and contem- plation of the works of creation, and of the power and wifdom of God revealed and manifefted in thofe works, made a great part of the religious devotion of the times in which they were written; and it was this devotional ftudy and contemplation that led to the • difcovery of the principles upon which, what are now called fciences, are eftabliihed; and it is to the difcovery of thefe principles that aimoft all the arts that contribute to the convenience of human life, owe their exiftence. Every principal art has fome fcience for its parent, though the perfon who mechanically performs the work, does not alv/ays, and but very feldom, perceive the connexion. It is a fraud of the Chriftian fyftem to call the fciences humaK in'venhons ; it is only the application of them that is human. Every fcience has for its bafis a fyftem of principles as fixed and unalterable as thofe by which the univerfe is regulated and governedo Man cannot make principles ; he canofily difcover th^m ^ Part I. AGE OF REASON. ?$ For example. Every perfon who looks at an almanack fees an account when an eclipfe will take place, and he fees alfo that it never fails to take place according to the account there given. This fhovvs that man is acquainted with the laws by which the heavenly bodies move. But 'it would be fomething worfe than ignorance, were any church on earth to fay, that thofe laws are an human invention. It would alfo be ignorance, or fomething worfe, to fay, that the fcientific principles, by the aid of which man is enabled tQ calculate and foreknow when an eclipfe will take place, are an human invention. Man cannot invent any thing that is eternal or immutable ; and the fcientific principles he employs for this purpofe, mull, and are, of neceffity, as eternal and immutable as the laws by which the heavenly bodies move, or they could not be ufed as they are, to afcertain the time when, and the manner how, an eclipfe will take place. -The fcientific principles that man employs to obtain the fore- knowledge of an eclipfe, or of any thing elfe relating to the motion of the heavenly bodies, are contained chiefly in that part of fcience that is called trigonometry, or the properties of a triangle, which, when applied to the lludy of the heavenly bcdies, is called aftronomy : when applied to direCl the courfe of a fnip on the ocean, it is called navigation ; when applied to the conil ruction of figures drawn by a rule and compafs, it is called geometry ; when applied to the conftrudlion of plans of edifices, it is called archite(5lure ; when applied to the meafurement of any portion of the furface of the earth, it is called land furveying. In fine, it is the foul of fcience. It is an eternal truth : It contains the mathematical demonjiration of which man fpeaks, and the extent of its ufes are unknown. It may be faid, 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 otherwife 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 invifible. All the properties of a triangle exill independently of the figure, and exiiled before any triangle v/as drawn or thought of by man. Man had no more to do in the formation of thofe properties, pr principles, than he had to do in 30 PAINE's WORKS. making the laws by which the heavenly bodies move : and therefore the one muft have the fame divine origin as the other. In the fame manner, as it may be faid, that man can make a triangle, fo alfo may it be faid, he can m-.ke the mechanical inftrument, called a lever. But the principle by which the lever afts, is a thing diftin<5l from the inftrument, and would exift if the inftrum-ent did not : it attaches itfelf to the inftrumeirt' after it is made ; the inftrument therefore can a6l no otherwife than it does aft ; neither can all the effort of human invention make it aft otherwife. That which, in all fuch cafes, man calls the effeSi, is no other than the principle itfelf rendered perceptible to the. fenfes. Since then man cannot make principles, from whence did he gam a knowledge of them fo as to be able to apply them, not only to things on earth, but to afcertain the motion of bodies fo iramenfely diilant from him as all the heavenly bodies are ? From whence, I a Ik, could he gain that knowledge, but from the ftudy of the true theology ? It is the ftruc^ure of the univerfe that has taught this knowledge toman. That ftrufture is an ever exiftin^^ exhibition of every principle upon which every part of mathematical fcience is founded. The offspring of this fcience is mechanics ; for mechanics is- no other than the principles of fcience applied pra^icall}'. The man who proportions the feveral parts of a mill, ufes the fame fcientific principles, as '\i he had the power of conftrufting an univerfe : but as he cannot give to matter that invifible agency, hy which all the component paj-ts of the immenfe machine of the univerfe have influence upon each other, and aft in motional unifon together without any apparent contaft, and to which man has given the name oi attraftion, gravitation, and repulfion, he fupplies the place of that agency by the humble imitation of teeth and cogs. All the parts of man's microcofm muft vifibiy touch. But could he gain a knowledge of that agency, fo as to be able to apply it in praftice, we might then fay, that another, caiiomcal book of the word of God had been difcovcred. If man could alter the properties of the lever, fo alfo could he alter the properties of the triangle : for a lever (taking that fort of lever, which is called a fteel-yard for the fake of explanation) forms, when in motion, a triangle. The line it defccnds from, (one point of that line being in the fulcrum) the line it defcends to, and the chord of the arc, which the end of the lever defcribes i:\ Part L A G E O F R E A S O N. 31 the air, are the three fides of a triangle. The other arm of the lever defcribes alfo a triangle ; and the correfponding fides of thofe two triangles, calculated fcientifically or meafured geometrically ; and alfo the fines, tangents, and fecants generated from the angles, and geometrically meafured, have the fame proportions to each other, as the different weights have that will balance each other on the lever, l What has man to do with the Pleiades, with Orion, with Sirius, with the i^ar he calls the north ftar, with the moving orbs he has named Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, and Mercury, if no ufes are to follow from their being vifible ? A lefs power of vifion would have been futficient for man, if the immenfity he now polfeffes were given only to wade itfelf, as it were, on an immenfe defert of fpace glittering with fho\y». 3^ PAlNE's WORKS. It is only by contemplating what he calls the ftarry heavens, ^ the book and fchool of fcience, that he difcovers any ufe in their being A^fible to him, or any advantage refulting from his immenfity of vilion. But when he contemplate- the fubjeft in this light, ht fees an additional m.otive for faying that vothing ^Mas made in 'va'in; for in vain would be this power of vifion if it taught man nothing. As the Chriftian fyftem of faith has made a revolution in theology, fo alfo has it made a revolution in the ftate of learning. That which is now called learning, was not learning originally. Learning does not confift, as the fchools now make it to confift, in the knowledge of languages, but in the knowledge of things to whjcrh language gives names. The Greeks were a learned people ; but learning with them, did not conuil in fpeaking Greek, any more than in a Roman's fpeaking Latin, or a Frenchman's fpeaking French, or an Englilhman's fpeaking Englifh. From what we know of the Greeks, it does not appear that they knew or ftudied any language but their own ; and this was one caufe of their becoming fo learned; it afforded them mere time to apply themfelvcs to better ftudics. The fchools of the Greeks were fchools of fcience and philofophy, and not of languages : and it is in the knowledge of the things that fcience and philofophy teach, that learning confift^. ^ Alnloft all the fcientific learning- that now exifts, came to us from the Greeks, cr the people who fpoke the Greek language. It there- fore became neceffary to the people of other nations, who fpoke a different language, that fome among them (hould learn the Greek language, in order that the learning ^the Greeks had, might be made known in thofe nations, by tranflating the Greek books of fcience and philofophy into the mother tongue of each nation. The ftudy, therefore, of the Greek language, (and in the fame inannerfor the Latin) was no other than the drudgery bufmefs of a lino-uifl ; and the lancruaire 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 itfelf ; and was fo diftinift from it, as to make it exceeding probable, that the perfons who had ftudied Greek fufficiently, to tranflate thofe works, fuch, for inftance, as Euclid's Elements, did not underftand any of the learning the works contained. As there is now nothing nev/ to be learned from the dead languages, all the ufeful books being already tranflat^, the languages arebecome Part I. AGEOFREASON. 33 ufeiefs, and the time expended in t-eaching and in learning them is wafled. So far as the ftudy of languages may contribute to the progrefs and communication of knowledge [for it has nothing to do with the creation of knowledge] it is only in the living language* 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 feven-; and it is but feldom that the teacher knows much of it himfelf. The difficulty of learning the dead languages does not arife from any fuperior abftrufenefs in the languages them- felves, but in their being deady and the pronunciation entirely loft. It would be the fame with any other language when it becomes #jv dead. /The beft Greek linguift that now exiib, does norunderftand,^,j-<- dead languages, and to make learning confift, as it originally did, ^y-^^" in fcientiiic knowledgre*// 5U-<»^"v n^v**-?,** 'fV-^-'v., 1r The apology that is fometimes made for continuing to teach the p^^t M dead languages is, that they are taught at a time v/hen a child i.st«|f*<^ not capable of exerting any other mental faculty than that of '^'*'" memory. But this is altogether erroneous. The human mind has""^, ^Jitk a natural difpolition to fcientific knowledge, and to the things con- ^^^^ neded with it. The firft and favourite amufement of a child, even before he begins to play, is that of imitating the works of man. It builds houfes with cards or fticks ; it navigates the little ocean of a bowl of water with a paper boat : or dams the ftream of a gutter, and contrives fomething which it calls a mill ; and it interefts itfelf in the fate of its works with a care that refembles affeftion. It afterwards goes to fchool, where its genius is killed by the barren ftudy of a dead language, and the philofopher is loft in the linguift. l- t'k s , - ;. „. ... ■- .'v /> , - But the apology that is now made for continuing to teach the dead languages, could not be the caufe at firft of cutting down learning to the narrow and humble fphere of linguiftry. ; the caufe> therefore muft be fought for elfewhere. In all rcfearches of this kind, the beft evidence that can be produced, is the internal evi- dence the thing carries with itfelf, and the evidence of circumftances that unites with it, both of which, in this cafe, are not difficult to be difcovered. 34 PAINE's WORKS. Putting then afide, as matter of diflin<5t confideration, the outrage offered to the moral juftice of God, by fuppofmg him to make the innocent fufFer for the guilty, and alfo the loofe morality and low contrivance of fuppofmg him to change himfelf into the fhape of a man, in order to make an excufe to himfelf for not ) executing his fnppofed fentence upon Adam ; putting, I fay, thofe I things afide, as matter of diftindl confideration, it is certain, that ( what is called the Chriftisn fyftem of faith, including in it the whimiical account of the creation ; the flrange (lory of Eve, the fnake, 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 Chriftian fyftem of arithmetic, that three are of^e, and one is three, are all irreconcilable, not only to the I divine gift of reafon that God has given to man, but to the knowledge I that man gains of the power and wifdom of God, by the aid of the ' fciences, and by ftudying the ftrufcure of the univerfe that God has made. The fetters up, therefore, and the advocates of the Chriftian fyftem o£ faith, could not but forefee that the continually progreffive- ^ knowledge that man would gain by the aid of fcience, of the power and v^^ifdom of God, manilefted in the ftrudure of the univerfe, and in all the works of creation, would militate againft, and call into queftion, the truth of their fyftem of faith ; and therefore it became neceffary to their purpofe to cut learning down to a fize lefs dangerous to their projeft, and this they effefted by reft rifting the Y^ idea of learning to the dead ftudy of dead languages. 1 hey not only rejeifled the ftudy of fcience out of the Chriftian- fchools, but they perfecutedit ; and it is only within about the laft two centuries that the ftudy has been revived. So late as 1 6 1 o, Galileo, a Florentine, difcovered and introduced the ufe of telefcopes, and by applying them to obferve the motions and appearances of the hea- venly bodies, aftbrded additional means for afcertaining the true ftrufture of the univerfe. Inftead of being efteemed for thefe . difcoveries, he was fentenced to renounce them, or the opinions refulting from them, as a damnable lierefy. And prior to that time, Vigilius was condemned to be burned for afierting 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. If the belief of errors, not morally bad, did no mifchief, it would make tio part of the moral duty of man to oppofe and remove them. V Part L AGEOFREASON. 39 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 fpace is filled with worMs. But when a fyllem o'i religion is made to grov/ out of a fuppofed fyllem of creation that is not true, and to unite itfelf therewith in a manner almoll infepa- rable therefrom, the cafe aiTumes an entirely different ground. It is then that errors, not morally bad, become fraught with the fame mifchiefs as if they were. It is then that the truth, though other- wife indifferent in itfelf, becomes an effential, by becoming the criterion, that either confirms by correfponding evidence, or denies by contradidory evidence, the reality of the religion itfelf. In this view of the cafe it is the moral duty of man to obtain every poflible evidence, that the ftrufture of the heavens, or any other part of creation affords, v/ith refpeCl: to fyflems of religion. Eur this, the fupporters or partizans of the Chriftian fyftem, as if dreading the refult, incelfantly oppofed, and not only rcjcfted the fciences, but perfecuted the profejiors. Had Newton or Defcartes lived three or four hundred years ago, and purfued their fludies as they did, it is mofl probable that they would not have lived to have finiftied them ; and had Franklin drawn lightning from the clor.ds at the fame time, it .would have been at the hazard of expiring for it in flames. Latter times have laid all the blame upon the Goths and Vandals, but, however unwilling the partizans of the Chriftian fylicm may be to believe or to acknowledge it, it is neverthelefs true, that the age of ignorance comm.enced with the Chriftian fyftem. There was more knowledge in the world before that period than for many centuries afterwards ; and as to religious knowledge, the Chriftian fyftem, as already faid, was only another fpecies of mythology ; and the mythology to which it fucceeded, was a corruption of an ancient fyftem of theifm.* * It is tmpojjihle for us non.v to k?toiv at nvhqt thne the heathen mythology begaiz; but it is certaiuy from the internal evidence that it carnesy that it did not begin in the Ja??ie fate or condition in 'zvhich it ended. All the gods of that mythology, except Saturn, -ivere of modern tn'vention, T^he fuppofed reign of Saturn n,vas prior to that nvhich is called the heathen inythoUgy, and ^vas fo far a fpecies of theifm y that E 2 56 PAINE's WORKS. It is owing to this long interregnum of fcience, and to no ether caufey that we have now to look back through a vaft chafm of many hundred years to the refpeQable charaders we call the ancients. Had the progreffion of knowledge gone on proportionably with the Hock that before exifted, that chafm would have been filled up with characters rifmg fuperior in knowledge to each other; and thofe ancients, v/e nov/ fo much admire, would have appeared re^etSably in the back ground of the fcene. But the Chrillian fyllem laid all wafte ; and if we take our ftand about the beginning of the 'fixteenth/^- century, we look back through that long chafm, to the times of the ancients, as over a vail fandy defart, in which not a fhrub appears to intercept the vifion to the fertile hills beyond. It is an inconfiftency, fcarcely poffible to be credited, that any thing ihould exift under the name of a religion, that held it to be irreligious to Hudy, and contemplate the ftrufture of the univerfe that God had made. But the fad is too well eftabliflied to be denied. The event that ferved more than any other, to break the firll link in this long chain of defpotic ignorance, is that known by the name of the reform.ation by Luther. From that time, though it does not appear to have made any part of the intention of Luther. it admitted the belief of only one God, Saturn is ftippofed to ha^e abdicated the government iti fa^voicr of his three fans and erne daughter^ Jupiter^ Pluto, Neptune and funo ; after this, thoufands of other godi and demz-gods i^ere imaginarily created , and the calendar of gods increafed as f aft as the calendar of faints, and the calendar of courts ha've increafed fince. All the corruptions that have taken place in theology y and in religion, have been produced ly admitting of vjh at man calls revealed religion. %he mythologifis pretended to more revealed religion than the Chrijiians do. They had their oracles and their priefts, ivho v^ere fnppofed to recei've and deliver the cks_the_jiiind_of,^^^ ^ ajchild^ cannot be a true fyfcem. •. -^^t-*-**,^ t . It feems as if parents of the Chriftian profelTion were alliamed to^ '^i^ tell their children any thing about the principles of their religion.'^ "^ They fometimes inftruft them in morals, and talk to them of the" goodnefs of v/hat they call Providence ; for the Chrifliarf mythology has five deities : there i^ God the Father, God the Sea, God the Holy Ghoft, the God Providence, and the Goddefs Nature. But the Chriftian ftory of God the Father putting his fon to death, or employing people to do it (for that is the plain language of the ftory) 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 ftory ftill worfe, as if mankind could be improved by the example ©f murder ; and to tell him that all this is a myftery, is only making an excufe for the incredibility of it. How different is this to the pure and fimple profefTion of Deifm! The true deill has but one Deity ; and his religion confifts in con- templating the power, wifdom, and benignity of the Deity in his works, and in endeavouring to imitate him in every thing moral, fcientifical, and mechanical. The religion that approaches the neareft of all others to true deifm, in the mor:;l and benign part thereof, is that profeffed by the Quakers, but they have contraded themielves too much by leaving the works of God out of their fyftem. Though I reverence f(^,' f t their philanthropy, I cannot help fmiling at the conceit, that ''j . if the tafte of a Quaker could have been confulted at the cteationr^rTZ 7. what a filent and drab-coloared creation it would have been. '*•• {a , , £^ Not a flower would have blolTomed its gaities ; nor a bird been 1< j^t/^ permitted to fmg. tji 1 j . mi Quitting thcfe reflexions, I proceed to other matters. After I 40 PAINE's WORKS. had made myfelf mafter of the ufe of the globes and cf the orrery,* and conceived an idea of the iniinity of fpace, and of the eternal divilibility of matter, and obtained, at lealt, a general knowledge ot what is called natural philofophy, I began to compare, or, as I have before faid, to confront, the internal evidence thofe things afford wi:h the Chriftian fyilem of faith. Though it is not a dire«^ article of the Chriftlsn fyilem that this world £hac we inhabit is the v/liole of the habitable creation, yet it is fo worked up therewith, from what is called the Mofaic ■account of the creation, the ftory of Eve and the apple, and the counterpart of that llory, the death of the fon ot God, that to believe otherwife, that is, to believe that God created a plurality of worlds, at kail as numerous as what we call ftars, renders the Chriilian fyftem of faith at once little and ridiculous ; and fcatt^rs . .^it in the mind like feathers in the air. The two beliefs cannot be l*Zti.hi:ld together in the fame mind ; and he who thinks that he believes ?^/t)cth, has thought but little of either. /e^A>ln^ Though the belief of a plurality of worlds was familiar to the ancients, it is only within the laft three centuries that the extent and dimenfions of this globe that we inhabit, have been afcertained. Several velTels, foilov/ing the tracl of the ocean, have failed entirely round the world, as a man may march in a circle, and come round by the contrary fide of the circle, to the fpot he fet out from. The circular dimenfions of our world in the wideft part, as a man would meafure the wideft round of an apple or a bail, is only twenty-five thoufand and twenty Englifii miles, reckoning fixty-nine miles and an half to an equatorial degree, and may be failed round in the fpace of about three years. i * j^s this hook may fall i?!to the hands of perfom 'who do not knonxj nji'hat an orrery is, it is for their information I add this note, as the Tiame gi'ves no idea of the ufes of the thing. The orrery has its name' from the perfon ca?i jnan hionjo thefe thhtgs ? I hanje 6ne plain an/nxjer to g'l^e, which is, that man knouos houo to calculate an eclipfe, and alfo honv to calculate, to a minute of time, 'when the planet P enus, in ?naking her re'volutiom round the Sun, will come in a ftrait Imc between our earth and the fun, and will appear to ns F z 44 PA INE's WORKS. But this, immcnfe as it is, is only one fyftem of worlds. Beyond this, at a vail diiiance into fpace, far beyond all power of calculation, are the ilars called the fixed ftars. They are called fixed, becaufe they have no revoluticnary motion, as the fix worlds, or planets have that I have been defcribing. Thofe fixed ftars continue always at the fame diftance from each other, and always in the fame place, as the fun does in the centre of our fyftem. The probability, therefore, is, that each of thofe fixed ftars is alfo a fun, round which ancther fyftem of v/orlds, or planets, though too remote for us to difcover, performs its revolutions, as cur fyftem of worlds does round our central fun. Ey this eafy progreftion of ideas, the immenfity of fpace will appear to us to be iiiled v/ith fyftems of worlds ; and that no part of fpace lies at v/afte, any more than any part of our globe of earth and v/ater is left unoccupied. Having thus endeavoured to convey, in a familiar and eafy manner, fome idea of the ftructure of the univerfe, I return to oplain what I before alluded to, namely, the great benefits arifng to man in confequence of the Creator having made a plurality oi worlds, fuch as cur fyftem is, confifting of a central fun and ftx worlds, befides fatellites, in preference to that of creating one world only of a vaft extent. It is an idea I have never loft fight of, that all our knowledge of fcience is derived from the revolutions (exhibited to our eye, and from thence to our underftanding) which thofe feveral planets, or worlds, of which cur fyftem is compofed, make in their circuit round the fun. Had then the quantity of matter which thefe ftx worlds contain, ahcnt the Jize of a large pea pajjing acrofs the face of the fun. Thts happens but t'v.'ice in aaont an hundred years, at the djjrance of aboui eight years from each other ^ and has happened t"jJice in our ttmej both of iL'kich n.vcre fore-knonjjn hy calculation. It can alfo he knonjjn ~ojhen they <^vill happen a? am for a thoufand years to come^ or to any other portion of time. As, therefore, man could not be able to da thofe ih':n7j if he did not underfand the folar Jyjlem, and the matiner in <^jjh:ch the re'volutions of the federal planets or nfjorlds are performed , the fa^ of calculati?ig aneclipfe or a tranftt of Venus, is a proof in point that the hic^ucledge exijis; and as toafenv thoufand, or e^ven a fe^M million miles, more or lefs, it makes fcarcely any fenfihle difference IK fuch immenfe dijiances^ Part I. A G E O F R E A S O N. 45 been blended into one folitary globe, the confequence to us would have been, that either no revolutionary motion would have exifted, or not a fufficiency of it to give us the ideas and the knowledge of fcience we now have; ana it is from the fciences that all the mechanical arts that contribute fo much to our earthly felicity and comfort are derived. As therefore the Creator made nothing in vain, fo alfo muft it be believed that he organized the ftrufture of the univerfe in the mod advantageous manner for the benefit of man ; and as we fee, and from experience feel, the benefits we derive from the ftrufture ' of the univerfe, formed as it is, which benefits we fhould not have had the opportunity of enjoying, if the ftrufture, fo far as relates to our fyilcm, had been a folitary globe, we can difcover, at leail, one reafon why a plurality of v/orids has been made, and that reafon calls forth the devotional ei'atitade of man, as well as his adm.iration. But it is not to us, the inhabitants of this globe> only, that the benefits arifing from a plurality of worlds are limited. The inhabitants of each of the worlds, of v/hich our fyllem is compofed, enjoy the fame opportunities of knowledge as we do. They behold the revolutionary motions of our earth, as we behold theirs. All the planets revolve in fight of each other ; and therefore the fame univerfal fchool of fcience prefents itfelf to all. Neither does the knowledge Hop here. The fyftem of worlds next to us, exhibits in its revolutions, the ■> fame principles and fchooi of fcience to the inhabitants of their fyftem, as our fyllem does to us, and in like manner throughout the immenfity of fpace. Our ideas, not only of the Almightinefs of the Creator, but of his wifdom and his beneficence, become enlarged in proportion as we contemplate the extent and the ftrufture of the univerfe. The folitary idea of a folitary world rolling, or at reft, in the immenfe ocean of fpace, gives place to the chearful idea of a fociety of v/orlds, fo happily contrived, as to adminifter, even by their motion, inftruftion to man. We fee our own earth filled with abundance ; but we forget to confider how much of that abundance is owing to the fcientific knowledge the vaft machinery of the uni- verfe has unfolded. But, in the midft of thofe refle(51ions, what are we to think of the Chriftian fyftem of faith that forms itfelf upon the idea of only one" world, and that of no greater extent, as is before (hewn, than twenty-five thoufand miles. An extent, which a man walking at tke rate of three miies an hour, for twelve hours in the day, could 46 PAINE's WORKS. he keep on in a circular diredion, would walk entirely round in lefs than two years. Alas ! what is this to the mighty ocean of fpace, and the Almighty power of the Creator ! From whence then could arife the folitary and ftrange conceit that the Almighty, who had millions of worlds equally dependent on his protcftion, fhould quit the care of all the reft, and come to die in our worlds becaufe, they fay, one man and one woman had eaten an apple. And, on the other hand, are we to fuppofe that every world, in the boundlefs creation, had an Eve, an apple, a ferpent,^ and a redeemer. In this cafe, the perfon who is irreverently called the Son of God, and fometimes God himfelf, vvould have nothing elfe to do than to travel from world to world, in an end- lefs fucceiTxon of death, v/ith fcarcely a momentary interval of life. It has been, by rejedling the evidence, that the word, or works of God in the creation, affords to our fenfes, and the adion of our rea'-jn upon that evidence, that fo many wild and wbimfical fyftems of faith and of religion, have been fabricated and fet up. Txicre m:iy be many fyftems of religion, that fo far from being moral -y bad, are in many refpecls morally good : but there can be but ONE that is true ; and that one, neceffarily muft, as it ever will, be in all things confiitent with the ever exifting word of God that / we behold in his works. But fuch is the ftrange conftruCtion of the \ Chriftian fyftem of faith, that every evidence the heavens affords Vto man, either direitly contradifts it, or renders it abfurd. It is poaible to believe, and I always feci pieafure in encouraging myfcif to beiieve it, that there have been men in the world who perfuaded themfelves that, what is called a pious fraud y might, at Icaft, under particular circumftances, be produftive of fome good. But the fraud being once eitabiifhed, could not afterwards be explained; for it is with a pious fraud, as with a bad adion, it begets a calamitous necefiity of going on. I'he perfons who firft preached the Chriftian fyftem of faith, and in fonie meafure combined with it the morality preached by Jefus Chrift, might perfuade themfelves that it was better than the heathen mythology that then prevailed. From the firft preachers, the fraud went on to the fecond, and to the third, till the idea of its being a pious fraud became loft in the belief of its being true ; and that belief came again encouraged by the intereft of thofe who made a livelihood by preaching it. But though fuch a belief m.ight, by fuch means, be rendered Part L A G E O F R E A S O N. almoft general among the laity, it is next to impoiTible to account for the continual perfecution carried on by the church, for feveral hundred years, againft the fciences and againll the profelTors of fcience, if the church had not fome record or fome tradition, that it was originally no other than a pious fraud, or did not foreile, that it could not be maintained againll the evidence that the ftrudlure of the univerfe afforded. Having thus fhewn the irreconcileable inconliilencies betv/een the jreal word of God exifting in the univerfe, and that which is called, the 'word of Qod, as fhewn to us in a printed book, that any man might make, I proceed to fpeak of the three principal means that have been employed in all ages, and perhaps in all countries, to impofe upon mankind. Thofe three means are. My fiery, Miracle, and Prophecy. The two firft are incompatible with true religion, and the third ought always to be fufpeded. With refped to my fiery, every thing we behold is, in one fenie, a myfttry to us. Our own exiilence is a myllery : the whole vegetable world is a m.yllery. We cannot account how it is that an acorn, when put into the ground, is made to develop itfelf, and become an oak. We know not how it is that the feed we fow unfolds and multiplies itfelf, and returns to us fuch an abundant intereft for fo fmall a capital. The fact, however, as diftinfl from the operating caufe, is not a myllery becaufe we fee it ; and we know alfo the means we are to ufe, which is no other than putting the feed in the ground. We know therefore as much as is neceffary for us to know ; and th^.t part of the operation that we do not know, and which if we did, we could not perform, the Creator takes upon himfelf and performs it for us. We are therefore better off than if we had been let into the fecret, and left to do it for ourfeives. But though every created tiling is in this fenfe a myflery, the word myflery cannot be applied to moral truth, any more than obfcurity can be applied to light. The God in whom we believe is a God of moral truth, and not a God of myilery or obfcuritv. Myllery is the antagoniil of truth. It is a fog of human invention, that obfcures truth and reprefents it in diltortion. Truth never envelopes /{/>^ in myflery ; and the myflery in which it is at any time enveloped, is the work of its antagoniil, and never of itfelf. Religion, therefore, being the belief of a God, and the pradice ®f moral truth, cannot have connexion with myflery. ^ The beli-^f 4S ?AINE*s WORKS. of a Godi (o far from having any. thing of myftery in it, is ci all beliefs the moll eafy, becaufe it arifes to us, as is before obferved, out of neceffity. And the pra6lice of moral truth, or in other words, a pra6lical imitation of the moral goodnefs of God, is no other than ourafting toward-s each other, as he afts benignly towards all. We cannoty^r-T;^' God in the manner we ferve thofe who cannot do without fuch fervice ; and, therefore, the only idea we can have of ferving God, is that of contributing to the happinefs of the living creation that God has m.ide. This cannot be done by retiring ourfelves from the fociety of the world, and fpending a reclufe life in feifilh devotion. The very nature and defign of religion, if I may fo exprefs it, prove, even to demonilration, that it mull be free from every thing of myftery, and unincumbered with every thing that is myfterious. Religion, confidered as a duty, is incumbent upon every living foul alike, and therefsre muft be on a level to the underftanding and comprehenlion of all. Man does not learn religion as he learns the fecrets and myfteries of a trade. He learns the theory of religion by reflection. It arifes out of the allien of his own mind upon the things which he fees, or upon what he may happen to hear or to read, and the prafhice joins itfelf thereto. V/hen men, whethev from policy or pious fraud, fet up fyftems of religion incompatible with the word or works of God in the creation, and not only above, but repugnant to human comprehenfion, they were under the neceffity of inventing, or adopting, a word that fhould ferve as a bar to all quellions, enquiries, and fpeculations. The word myftery anfwered this purpofe ; and thus it has happened, that religion, which, in itfelf, is without myftery, has been cor- rupted into a fog of myfteries. As myfiery anfwered all general purpofes, miracle followed as an occafional auxiliary. The former ferved to bev/iider the mind, the latter to puzzle the fenfes. The one v/as the lingo; the other the legerdemain. But before going further into this fubjefl, it will be proper to enquire what is to be underftood by a miracle. In the fame fenfe that every thing may be faid to be a myftery, fo aifo may it be faid, 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 Part I. AGE OF REASON. 49 make a million of worlds than to make one. Every thing therefore is a miracle in one fenfe; whilll, in the other fenfc, there is no fuch thing as a miracle. It is a miracle when compared to our power, and to our comprehenfion. It is not a miracle compared to the power that performs it. But as nothing in this defcription conveys the idea that is affixed to the word miracle, it is necelfary to carry the enquiry further. Mankind have conceived to themfelves certain laws by which, what they call nature, is fuppofed to ad ; and that a miracle is fomething contrary to the operation and eiFeft of thofe laws. But unlefs we know the v/hole extent of thofe 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 pov/er of adiinp;. The afcenfion of a man feveral miles high into the air, would have every thing in it that conftitutes the idea of a miracle, if it were not known that a fpecies of air can be generated feveral times lighter than the common atmofpheric air, and yet pol^efs elafticity enough to prevent the balloon, in which that light air is encicfed, from being comprefled into as many times lefs bulk, by the common air that fuirrounds it. In like manner, extrafting flalhes or fparks of fire from the human body, as viiibly as from a fteei flruck with a flint, and cauling iron or fteel to move without any vifible ag-ent would alfo give the idea of a miracle, if we were not acquainted with eleftricity and magnetifm : fo alfo would many other experiments in natural phiiofophy, to thofe who are not acquainted with the fubjed. The relloring perfons to life, who are to appearance dead as is pra(ftifcd upon drowned perfons, would alfo be a miracle if it were not knov/n that animation is capable of being fu 'bended without beine extindt. Befides thcfe, there arc performances by flight of hand, and by perfons acting in concert, that have a miraculous appearance, which when known, are thought nothing of. And befides thefe, there are mechanical and optical deceptions. There is now an exhibition in Paris of ghofts or fpeftres, which, though it is not impofed upon the fpedators as a fa6t, has an aftonifhing appearance. As therefore we know not the extent to which either nature or art can go, there is no pofitive criterion to determine what a miracle is ; and mankind, in giving credit to appearances, under the idea of their beinp' miracles, are fubjed to be continually impofed upon. *G 50 PAINE's WORKS. Since then appeara-nces are fo capable of deceiving, and thinp-s not real have a ftrong refemblance to things that are, nothing can be more inconfiftent than to fuppofe, that the Almighty would make ufe of means, fach as are called miracles, that would fubjedl the perfon who performed them to the fufpicion of being an impoftor, and the perfons who related them to be fufpefted of lying, and the doftrine intended to be fupported thereby, to be fufpeded as a fabulous invention. Of all the modes of evidence that ever were invented to obtain beliet to any fyflcm or opinion, to which the name of religion has been given, that of miracle y however fuccefsful the impofition may have bten, is the mofl inconfiftent. For, in the firft place, whenever recourfe is had to lliow, for the purpofe of procuring that belief, (for a miracle, under any idea of the word, is a Ihow) it implies a lamenefs or weaknefs in the doftrine that is preached. And, in the fecond place, it is degrading the Almighty into the cliarader of a fnov/.man, playing tricks to amufe and make the people ftarc and v\'onder. It is alfo the moft equivocal fort of evidence that can be fet up; for the belief is not to depend upon the thing called a m.iracle, but upon the credit of the reporter, who fays that Le faw it ; and therefore the thing, were it true, would have no better chance of being believed than if it were a lie.' Suppofe I were to f:iy, that when I fat down to write this book, a hand prefented itfelf 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 fad ? Certainly they would not. Since then, a real mirack, were it to happen, would be fubjedl to the fame fate as the falihood, the inconfiflency becomes the greater, of fuppoling the Almighty would make ufe of means that would not anfwer the purpofe for which they were intended, even if they were real. If we are to fuppofe a miracle to be fomething fo entirely out of the courfe of what is called nature, that (he muft go out of that courfe to accomplifli it ; and we fee an account given of fuch miracle by the perfon who faid he fayv it, it raifes a queftion in the mind very eafjy decided, which is, — Is it more probable that nature ^ " .(ihould go out of her courfe, or that a man fiiould tell a lie ? We M.^ i^-(have never fecn, in oar time, nature go out of .her courfe, but we *-^*^' have good reafon to believe that millions of lies have been told in ^\ the fame time ; it is therefore at leaft millions to one, that the ; reporter of a miracle tells a lie. Part I. A G E O F R K A S O N, 51 The ftory of the whale fwallowing Jonah, though a whale is^^^. large enough to do it, borders greatly on the marvellous; but itiw^* would have approached nearer to the idea of a miracle, if Jonah ha^^ ^^ fwallowed the whale. In this cafe, v/hich may ferve for all cafes o.*/fc^<^ miracles, the matter would decide itfelf as before ftated, namelv,'^*''^ Is it more probable that a man ftiould have fwallowed a whale, ox ^ ^ told a lie ? '^^ But fupponng that Jonah had really fwallowed the whale, and ^ gone with it in his belly to Nineveh, and to convince the people ^-^.^^ that it was true, have call it up in their ^i^wt of the full length ^^>^ and fize of a whale, would tliev not have believed him to have A^^ been the devil inftead of a prophet ? or, if the whale had carried ^.^ Jonah to Nineveh, and caft him up in the fame public manner, =''»*<»x. would they not have believed the whale to have been the devil, and Jonah one of his imps ? The moft extraordinary of all the things called miracles, related in the New Teftament, is that of the devil flying away with Jefus Chrift, and carrjdng him up to the top of a high mountain > and to the top of the higheil pinnacle of the temple, and fnewing him and promifmg to him all the kingdoms of the nvorld. How happened it that he did not difcover America ? or is it only with kingdoms that his footy highnefs has any intereft ? I have too much refpecl for the moral charader of Chriflj to believe that he told this v/hale of a miracle himfelf ; neither is it eafy to account for what purpofe it could have been fabricated, unlefs it were to impofe upon the connoifTeurs of miracles, as is fometimespra(flifed upon the connoiffeurs of Queen Anne's farthings, and colledors of relics and antiquities ; or to render the belief of miracles ridiculous, by out-^doing miracle, as Don Quixottc out-did chivalry ; or to embarrafs the belief of miracles by making it doubtful by what power, whether of God, or of the devil, any thing called a miracle v/as performed. It requires, however, a great deal of faith in the devil to believe this miracle. In every point of view, in whfch thcfe things called miracles can be placed and confidered, the reality of them is improbable, and their exiilence unnectlfary. They would not, as before obferved, anfwer any ufefal purpofe, 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 fpeaks univerfall) for itfelf. Miracle could be but a thing of the moment, and feei but by a few ; after this, it requires a transfer of faith, from God G 2 52 PAINE's WORK So to man, to believe a miracle upon man's report. Inftead therefore of admitticg the recitals of rniracles, as evidence of any fydem of religion being true, they ought to be conudered as fymptoms of its being tabuious. It is neceffary to the fall and upright charafter of \ truth, that it rejects the crutch ; and it is coniiitent with the character of fiible, to feek the aid that truth rejeds. Thus much for myfcery and miracle. As myftery and miracle took charge of the paft and prefent, prophefy took charge of the future, and rounded the tenies of fai;h. It was not fuiHcient to know what had been done, but what would be done. The fuppofed prophet v/as the fuppofed hifcorian of times to come : and if he happened, in ihoocing v/ith a long bow of a thoufand years, to firike within a rhoufand miles of a mark, the ingenuity of poilerity could make it point plank : and if he happened to be diredly wrong, it was only to fuppofe, as in the cafe of Jonah and Nineveh, tiiat God had repented himfelf, and changed his mind. What a fooi do fabulous fyitems of religion make of man ! It has been (hewn in a former part of this work, that the original meaning of the words prophet and prcphefying has been changed, and that a prophet, in the fenfe the word is now ufed, is a creature of modern indention ; and it is owing to this change in the meaning of the words, Ithat the flights and metaphors of the Jewifn poet'-, and phrafes and exprellicns now rendered obfcure by our not being acquainted with the local circumfbances to which they applied At the time they v/ereufed, have been erected into prophefies, and made to bend to explanations at the will and whimfical conceits of feclaries, expounders, and commentators. Every thing unintel- ligible was prophetical, and every thing infignificant was typical. A blunder would have ferved for a prophecy ; and a diih clout for a type. If by a prophet we are to fuppofe a man, to whom the Almighty communicated fome event that would take place in future, either there were fuch men, or there were not. If there were, it is confiilcnt to believe that the event, fo communicated, would be told in terms that could be underil:ocd ; and not related in fuch a loofe and obfcure manner as to be out of the comprehenfion of thofe 1 that heard it, and fo equivocal as to fit almoft any circumilance that might happen afterv/ards. It is conceiving very irreverently, of the Almighty, to fuppofe he would deal in this jefting manner -♦vitli mankind: yet all the things called prophefies, in the book called the iiiDie, come under this defcription. Part I. A G E O F R E A S O N. 53 But it is with prophefy as it is with miracle. It could not anf\ver ^^U-^^. the purpofe even if it were real. Thofe to whom a prophefy ihouid f^J!^ be toid, could not tell whether the man prophefied or lied, or r^f /■ whether it had been revealed to him, or whether he conceited it : . ' ^ - ^^^ •£ jj^g j-j^- j^g ji^^t jje prophefied, or pretended to prophefy, fnould ^^ happen, or fomething like it, among the multitude of things that '*. '^'1 arf* daily happening, nobody could again know whether he foreknew ;' it, or guefled at it, or whether it was accidental. A prophet, therefore, is a charader ufelefs and unnecelTary ; and the fafe fide of the cafe is, to guard againil being impofed upon, by not giving credit to fuch relations. Upon the whole, myftcry, miracle, and prophefy, are appendages that belong to fabulous and not to true religion. They are the means by which fo many Lo heres! and Lo theres/ have been fpread about the world, and religion been inade into a trjide. The fuccefs of otie. impoftor gave encouragement to another, and the quieting- falvo of doln^fome good by keeping u^ a. pious fraud y proted;^ them fio.n remoi'fe. " ^ *" . . ': ^ Having n?jJs% extended the fubj.e(fl to a greater length thaq, I firll ^intended, i fliall bring'it to a ciofcj^ by abilradling a j^Sfhmary from the whole. - ^ . -■ Firft, That the idea or belief or ^ word of God e:;^ifting in print, or in writing, or in fpeecji^ is inconfillent in ^itfcii foV the reafons already aiTigned. Thefe reafons, among many others, are the v/a.nt of ah univerfal languag;c; the mutability of languap^e; the errors to which tranilations are fubjejft ; Lthe pojubility of totally fupprellinjr- (_fuch a word; the probability of altering it, or of fabricatino- the whole, and impofrng it upon the world. Secondly, That the creation we behold is the real and ever exifting word of God, in which we cannot be deceived. It proclaimeth I\is power, it dcmonftrates his wifdom, it manifefts his goodnefs and I beneficence. Tliirdly, That the moral duty of man confifts in imitating the moral goodnefs and beneficence of God manifefted in the creation towards all his creatures. That feeing, as we daily do, the goodnefs of God to all men, it is an example calling upon all men to pradife the fame towards each other; and confequently that every thin?^ of perfeccition and revenge, between man and man, and every thin^ of cruelty to animals, is a violation of moral duty. 1 tro (ble not myfelf about the manner of future exiftence. I content my felf with believing, even topofitiveconvidion, that the 54 PAINE's WORKS. power that gave me exiftence is able to continue it, in any form and \ manner he pleafes, either with or without this body ; and it appears more probable to me that Ifiiall continue to exiil hereafter, than that I fhould have had exiftence, as I now have, before that exiftence 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 difagree, are the redundancies annexed to that belief; and therefore,. if ever an univerfal religion iliould prevail, it will not be believing any thing new, but in gettipg rid of redundancies, and believing as man believed at firft. Adam, if ever there were fuch a man, waa • created a Deift ; but in the mean time let every man follow, as he has a right to do, the religion and the worfhip he prefers. -^ T H E AGE OF REASON PART THE SECOND. BEING AN INVESTIGATION o t TRUE AND OF FABULOUS THEOLOGY. By THOMAS PAINE. AUTHOR OF THE WORKS ENTITLED, COMMON S2NSE, RIGHTi 9? MAN, PARTS FIRST AND SECOND, THE FIRST PART OF THE AGE OF REASON, AND DISSERTATIONS Olf FIRST PRINCIPLES OF GOVERJ^MENT, MwwaiiairfitiMiitt«rj^Sttaufjga^Bsaifea^ij Jl'.^i!:^^)a^^ PREFACE. T A H A V E mentioned in the foirmer part of the Age of ReafcA^ that it had long been my intention to publifh my thoughts upon religion, but that I had originally referved it to a later period in life, intending it to be the laft work I fhould undertake. The circum- ftances, however, that exifted in France in the latter end of the year 1795, determined me to delay it no longer. The juft and humane principles of the revolution, which philofophy had firit difFufed, had been departed from. The idea, always dangerous to fociety as it is derogatory to the Almighty, that priefts could forgive fins, though it feemed to exift no longer, had blunted the feelings of humanity, and calloufly prepared men for the commiinon of all crimes. The intolerant fpirit of church perfecution had transferred itfelf into politics; the tribunals, ftiled revolutionary, fupplied the place of an inquifition, and the guillotine of the flake. I faw many bf my moft intimate friends dellroyed ; others daily carried to prifon ; and I had reafon to believe, and had alfo intimations given me, that the fame danger was approaching myfelf. Under thefe difadvantages I began the former part of the Age of Reafon; I had, bcfides, neither bible nor teftament to refer to, ^ though I was writing againft both; nor could I procure any; } notwithflanding which, I have produced a work that no bible believer, though writing at his eafe, and with a library of church 1^ 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, Anarcharfis Cloots and myfelf; and I faw I was particularly pointed at by Bourdon de rOife, in his fpeech on that motion. Conceiving, after this, that I had but a few days of liberty, I fat down and brought the work to a clofe as fpeedily as poffible; and I had not finifhed it more than fix hours, in the ftate it has fmce appeared, before a guard came, about three in the morning, with an order figned by the two com* inittees of public fafety andfurety general, for putting me in arrefta- tion as a foreigner, and conveying me to the prifon of the Luxem- 58 PAINE's WORKS,. bourg. I contrived, in my way there, to call en/' Joel Baf low ; and I put the manufcript of the work into his hands, as more fate than in my polTelTion in prifon : and not knowing what might be the fate in France, either of the writer or the work, I add relied it to the protedion of the citizens of the United States. It is juftice that I {i^y, that the guard who executed this order, and the interpreter to the committee of general furety, who accom- panied them to examine my papers, treated me not only with civility, but with rcfpec^. The keeper of the Luxembourg, Benoit, a man of a good heart, fliewedto mc every friendfliip in his power, as did alfo all his family, while he continued in that llaticn. He was removed from it, put into arreftation, and carried before the tribunal upon a malignant accufation, but acquitted. After I had been in the Luxembour-{>- about three weeks, the Americans, then in Paris, went in a body to the convention, to reclaim mc as their countryman and friend ; but were anfwered by the prefident, Vadier, who was alfo prefident of the committee of furety general, and had figned the order for my arreftation, that I was born in England. I heard no more after this from any perfon out of the walls of the prifon, till the fall of Robefpierre on the 9th of Thermidor, 27th July, 1794. About two months before this event, I was feized with a fever that in its progrefs had every fymptom of becoming mortal, and from the effeds of vv^hich I am not recovered. It was then that I remembered with renewed fatisfadion, and congratulated myfelf moft fmcereiy, on having written the former part of the ^ge of Rtajon. I had then but little expGftation of furviving, and thofe about me had lefs. I knov/, therefore, by experience, the confci- xl entious trial of my ov/n principles^ fp ^ oL I was then with three chamber comrades, Jofeph Vanhuel£ of h^*^^^ Bruges, Charles Baftini and Michael Robyns of Louvain. The'^Jl^^^^ ' unceafng and anxious attention of thefe three friends to me by night ,^,....^^^1^ and by day, I remember with gratitude, and mention with pleafure.-^^—^ It happened that a phyfician (Dr. Grah.am) and a furgeon (Mr. f-^^^ Bond), part of the fuite of General O'Hara, were then in the "^^ - / Luxembourg. I aik not myfelf, whether it will be convenient to_-ci/.,/ci ':<> them, as men under the Engliih government, that I exprefs to them ^"^^ ^ '-'- my thanks, but I fliould reproach myfelf if I did not, and alfo to '^T^^^^ the phyfician of the Luxembourg, Dr. Markoiki. ^ tUeJft I have fomc reafon to believe, becaufe I cannot difcover 2ny other, [U.^'tZiU- that this iiincfs preferved me in exiftence. Among the papers of ''^^ ^ i,^. /c<._.£^y.^.>*<^ ^ OC^^ f^-t^f^ (^ JLrcU. Xtl^ >».l^, ^U>^ ^^ "^'^-^ ^L^^ PREFACE. 59 Robefpierre that were examined and reported upon to the convention by a committee of depities, is a note in the hand-writing of Robefpierre, in the following words : ** Demander que Thomas Paine foit " Demand that Thomas Paine ** decreted'accufationpour I'intertt "be decreed of accufation, " I'Amerique autant que de lia " for the intercfl: of America *' France." '< as well as of France." From what caufe it was that the intention was not put in execu- tion, I know not, and cannot inform myfelf ; and therefore I afcribe it to impolTibility, on account of that illnefs. The convention, to repair as much as lay in their power the injuftice I had fuftained, invited me publicly and unanimouHy to return into the convention, and which I accepted, to Hiew I could bear an injury without permitting it to injure my princip^si or mv difpofition. Jt is not becaufe right principles have been violated that they are to be abandoned. I have feen, fmce I have been at liberty, feveral publications written, fome in America and fome in England, as anfwers to the former part of the Jge of Ren/on. If the authors of thefe can amufe themfdves by fo doing, I fhall not interrupt them. They may write againft the work and againft me as much a« they pleafe. They do me more fervice than they intend, and I can have no objeflion that they write on. They will find, however, by this fecond part, without its being written as an anfwer to them, that P' they rauft return to their work, and fpin their cobweb over again. The firft is brufhed away by accident. ,/ They will now find that I have furniihed myfelf with a Bible ." and Teftament ; and I can fay alfo that I have found them to be much worfe books than I conceived. If I have erred in any thing, in the former part of the Age of Reafov, it has been by fpeaking better of fome parts than they deferved. I obferve that all my opponents refort, more or lefs, to what they call fcripture evidence and bible authority, to help them out. They are fo little mafters of the fubjeft, as to confound a difpute about authenticity, with a difpute about doftrines. I will hov/ever, put them right, that if they fhould be difpofed to write any more, they may know how to begin. THOMAS PAINE. Oclober, 1795. /I 4. (/ I^ tA/'LlL' /aCfi^'^ h-^rv*^ £^^^trL^.£y aL^/:^t*.-'-tZ ^ /l^,^-<-^ C*^^-4i»^ ^ a-,^ -^i^/v^-cJX^ fVtc^u--^ K^ix-cA-c- ^^-c-*-«- exJUiy uHi^u^ Uu-. 4-*^ c/UjlU^ ^ u^^ ^^ l^^>^->y^AcJL t, ^^^^^^^ / iJ^^^J^z^ y^<»-^ -^^-t. .^^^^ *- — < =Xit-,.^-»^ (lj; 1 Jf Sv:^\^ in their anfwejrs to the former part of The Age of Reafon^ pAR-r* II. AGE O F R E A S O N. 5^ undertake to fay, and they put fome ftrefs thereon, that the authen- ticity of the bible is as well eilabliflied as that of any other ancient book : as if our belief of the one could become any rule for our belief of tlie other. I know, however, bat of one ancient book that authoritatively challenges univerfal confent and belief, and that is Euclid's Ehmmts of GcGmetrj ;* and the reafon is, becaufe it is a book of felf-evidcnt demonftration, entirely independent of its author, and of every thing relating ta time, plac^sand circumftance. The matters con- tained in that book would have the fame authority they now have, had they been written by any other perfon, or had the v/ork been anonymous, or I;|^ the author never been known ; for the identical certainty of wlti^vas the author, makes no part of our belief of the matters contained in the book. But it is quite otherwife with refpedl to the books afcribed to- Mofes, to Jod'iua, to Samuel, &c. Thofe : are books of tejiimony-, and they teltify of things naturally incredible ; and therefore the whole of our belief, as to the authenticity of thofe books, refts, in the firft place, upon the certainty that they v/ere v/ritten by Moles, Jolhua, and Samu^ j fecondly, upon the credit we give to their teflimony. Vi^e miiy believe the firftf that is, we may believe the certainty of the authorlhip, and yet not the teftimony;. \vi the fame manner, that we may believe that a cert^v perfon gave evidence u^on a cafe, and yet not believe the evidence that he gave,., But if itfnouid be found th.'t the books afcribed to IVIoies, Jofliua, and Samuel, were not written by Mofes, Jofhua,and Samuel, every" part of the authority and authenticity of thofe books is gone at once, for there can be no fuch thing as forged or invented ^eilimony^ neither can there be anonymous teitim: ny, more efpeciaDy as to things naturally iricredibie, fuch as that of talking with God face to f^xce, or that of the fun and moon ftanding Hill at the command- of a man. The greateft part of the otlier ancient books are works of genius ; of which kind are thcfe afcribed to Homer, to Plato, to Ariftotle^ to Demofthenes, to Cicero, &c. Kerc agair^the author is not an effential in the credit we give to isny of thofe works; for as works of genius they would have the fame merit they hare now, were * Euclid^ according to chronological hijhrjy lived three hundred years before Chr'.Jt, and M>out one hundred bffo>e Archimedes. He -'jas oj- the ctty of AUxandria, hi, E^ypt. '64 MAINE'S WORKS* they anonymous. Nobody believes the Trojan ftory, as related by Homer, to be true; for it is the poet only that is admired_, and the merit cf the poet will remain, though the^fltory be fabulous. But if we diibelieve the matters related by the bible authors, Mofes for inilance, as we difbelieve the things related by Homer, there remains nothing of Mofes, in our eftimation, but an impoftor. As to the ancient hiftorians, from Herodotus to Tacitus, we credit them as far as they relate things probable and credible, and no further; for if we do, we muft believe the two miracles which Tacitus relates were performed by Vefpalian, that of curing a lame man, and a blind mnn, in juft the fame manner as the fame things are told of Jefus Chrift by his hiflorians. We muft alfo believe the miracle cited by Jofephus, that of- the fea of Pamphilia opening to let Alexander and his army pafs, as is related of the Red Sea in Exodus. Thefe miracles are quite as well authenticated as the bible miracles, and yet we do not believe them. Confequently the degree of evidence neceffary to eUabliih our belief of things naturally incredible, whether in the bible or elfewhcre, 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, becaufe that we believe things dated in other ancient %rritings ; fince we believe the things ftated in thofe writings, no further than tj^ty are probable and credible, or becaufe they are, felf-evidcnt, like Euclid, or admire them becaufe they are elegant, like Homer, or approve them becaufe they are fedate, like Plato, or judicious, like Ariftotle. Having premifed thofe things, I proceed to examine the authen- ticity of the bible, and I begin with what are called the five books ©■f Mofes ; Genejisy Exodus^ Le^viticus^ hi timbers j and D€Uterono?ny» My intention is to fhew, that thofe books are fpurious, and that Mofes is not the author of them ; and dill further, that they were not written in the time of Mofes, nor till feveral hundred years afterwards; that they are no other than an attempted hiftory of the life of Mofes, and of the times in which he is faid to'have lived 5 and alfo of the times p«ior thereto, written by fome very ignorant and ftupid pretenders to authorlhip, feveral hundred years after the death of Mofes; as men now%vrite hiftories of things that happened, or are fuppofed to have happened, feveral hundred, or feveral thoufand years ago. The evidence that I ihall produce in this cafe, is from the books rhemfelves ; and I will confine myfelf to this evidence only. Were f c5 ;?ART IL A G E O F R E A S O N. '?j king, implies more king*-. than one, at leall it implies two ; and this will cany it tc the rime; of D:.vidj and if taken in a general fciA'i^i it carries itfelf through all times of the Jevifh monarchy. Had we met with this ver^e in any part of the bible that profcJTcd to have been written after kgngs began to reign in Ifrrel, it woula have been ImpoiTibie not to have ken the application of it. I-t happens then that thic is the cr.fe. The two books of Chronicles,. which gvve a hiftory of all the kings of Ifrc-el, are propjfedly^ a^ well as in fact, written after the Jewiili monarchy began, and this verfe that I have quoted, and all the remaining verfes of the ^6rh chapter of Gcnefis, are, vvord for word, in the firi^ chapter of Chronicles, beginning at the 43d verfe. It was with coniiftency that the writer of the Chronicles could fay, as he has faid, i Chron. ch. i. ver. 43, Theje are the kin?^ tha: reigned t7i Edom before there ye^gKid any k:7ig c'oer the children of Jfrael ; becaufe he was golrig to give, and has given, a lift of the kings that had reigned in Ifraei, But as it is impoffibie that the fame exprefTion could have been ufed before that period, it is ac certain as any thing can be proved from hiftoiical hmguage, that this part of Genefis is taken from Chronicles, and that Genefis is aot fo old as Chronicles ; and probably not fo old as the book of Homer, or as jiEfop's Fables ; admitting Horner to have been, as the t:ibles of chronology {late, cotemporary with David or Solomon, and ^ibp ro have lived about the end of the Jewifli monarchy. Take av/ay from Generis the belief that Mofes was the author, on v/hich only the Itrrjnge belief that it i-; the word of God has 72 PAINE's WORKS. ftood, and there remains nothing of Genefis but an anonymous book of llories, fables, and traditionary or invented abfurdities, or of downright lies. .vThe ftorv of Eve and the ferpenty and c£ Noah and his ark, drops to a level with the Arabian talesy without the merit of being entertaining ; and the account of men living to eight and nine hundred years, becomes as fabulous as the immor- tality of the giants of the mythology. Eefides, the charader of Mofes, as ftatcd in the bible, is the mofl horrid that can be imagined. If thofe accounts be true, he was the wretch that firil began and carried on wars on the fcore, or on the pretence of religion ; and under that mafk, or that infatu- ation, committed the moft unexampled atrocities that are to be found in the hiftory of any nation, of which I will ftate only oae inftance. When the Jewilb army returned from one of their plundering and murdering excurfions, the account goes on as follows, Numbers, chap, xxxi, ver. 13. " And Mofes and Eleazer the prieft, and all the princes of the " congregation, went forth to meet them without the camp. — " And Mofes was ivroth with the officers of the hoft, with the " captains over thoufands, and captains over hundreds, which ** came from the battle. — And Mofes faid unto them, Ha've ye fa^ed ** all the njoomen al'i've P — Behold thefe caufcd the children of " Ifrael, through the counfel of Balaam, to commit trefpafs againft *' the Lord in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague among ** the congregation of the Lord. — Now, therefore, kill e^very male ** amo7ig the little ones, and kill e'very vn in a cave, it is faid, ^' And he laid great ftones en the '3 cave's mouth, vvhich remain unto this •vf^^ day." \ V In enumerating the feveral exploits of joihua and of the tribes > and of tlie places which they conquered or attempted, it i'j faid, 'I : ;J chap. XV, V. 6^, " As for the jebufites, the inhabitants of Jerufa- ^ " lem, the children of Judah could not drive them out ; but the V " Jebufites dwell with the children of Judah at Jerusalem u»fo !j ^ " this day." — The quefdon upon this paffage is, at v/hat time did the 'p J V. Jebufites and the children cf Judah dwell together at Jerufalem ? As » ^ this matter occurs again in the firft chapter of Judges, I fhall re- N ferve my obfervations till I come to that part. ^ Having thus ihewn from the book of Jofliua itfelf, without any auxiliary evidence whatever, that Jofliua is not the author of that boolcT* and that it is anonymous, and confequently without authority, I proceed as before-mentioned to the book of Judges. The book of Judges is anonymous on. the face of it, and thefe- (« each pockety and carried them as Guy Faux carried his dark lanthom, Jt and taken them out to Jhine as he might happen to ^jcant them. The >S\ fahlime and the rullciilcus are ofteti Jo nearly related^ that It is di£ici'.lt •v^j5 fore even the pretence is wanting to call it the word of God. It has not fo much as a nominal voucher. It is altogether fatherlefs.. This book begins with the fame expreifion as the book of Jofhua, \;>| That of Jofliua begins, chap, i, ver. i, Nonv after the death of f^ Mofes, Sec. And this of Judges begins ; No'zv after the death ofjofbuay Sec. This and the fimilarity of flyle between the two books, in- dicate that they are the v/ork of the fame 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 Jofiiua.: for though it V begins as if it followed immediately after his death, the fecond ^ chapter is an epitome or abilrac^l of the whole book, which, ac- ^ cording to the bible chronology, extends its hiiicry through a ^ fpace of three hundred and fix years ; that is, from the death of \^ 'jcfiiua 1426 years before Chrift, to the death of Sampfon 1120 ^ years before Chrift, and only twenty-five years before Saul went to ^ Jeeli hh father's ^f/es^ a?id nvas made king ; but there is good reafcn to believe that it was not written till the time of David at lead, and that the book of Jofhua was not written before the fame time.^^ In the fiiil chapter of Judges, the writer, after announcing the *V de?th of joflrua, proceeds to tell what happened between the children of Judah and the native inhabitVints of the land of Canaan. In this flatement, the writer, having abruptly mentioned Jer7falemy i in the 7 th verfe, fays immediately after, in the Sthverfe, by w^ay 2 of explanation, " Now the children of Judah Z?^^ fought againft Jerufalem and taken //."As Confequently this book could not have 'v^ been written before Jerufalem had been taken. The reader will '\^ recoUcft the quotation I have juft before made from the 15th chapter of Jcfliua, ver. 63, where it is faid, that the Jebujttes \ d.'v^'cll ~dJith the children ofyzidah at ferufalem at this daj, meaning ^»>j., the time v.hcn the book of JoHiua was written. '^ Y The evidence I have already produced to prove that the books I V^ , V have hitherto treated of were not written by the perfons to whom .';^ v^they are afcribcd, nor till many years after their death, if fuch Sv^ Q,j perfons ever lived, is already fo abundant, that I can afford to admit ^, X^^is pafiage with lefs weight than I am. entitled to draw from it. ^^^ For the cafe is, that fo far as the bible can be credited as an hiilory, i^ 1^ I the city of Jerufalem v/as not taken till the time of David, and i \ confequently that the book of Jpihua and of Judges v/ere not written till after the commencement of the reign of David, which was 370 years after the death of Jofhua. "1^ The' name of the city that was afterwards called Jerufalem, was 1 S^M Part II. A G E O F R E A S O N. 79 t ij originally Jebus or Jebufi, snd was the capital of the Jebulites. >^ \ The account of David's taking this city is given in 2 Samuel, I chap. V, ver. 4, Sec. alfo iti i Chron. chap, xiv, v. 4, &c. There is no mention in any part of the bible that it was ever taken before, nor any account that favours fuch an opinion. It is not faid, either ^ ^ in Samuel or in Chronicles, that theyuUer/y deftroyed ment moral religion of Deifmf in fupport of your fyftem of fallhood, c ■ idolatry, and pretended revelation ? ^ Had the cruel and murdering orders with which the bible is filled, and the numberlefs torturing executions of men, women and children, in confequence of, thofe orders, been afcribed to fome friend whofe memory you revered, you would have glowed with fatisfadlion at detecting the falfhood of the charge, and gloried in defending his injured fame. It is becaufe ye are funk in the cruelty of fuperftition, or feel no intereft in the honour of your Creator, that ye liften to the horrid tales of the bible, or hear them with callous indifference. The evidence I have produced, and fhall ftill produce, in the courfe of this work, to prove that the bible is without authority, will, whilft it wounds the ftubbornnefs of a > prieft, relieve and tranquilize the mind of millions. It will free them from all thofe hard thoughts of the Almighty, which prieft- craft and the bible had infufed into their minds, and which ftood in everlafting oppofition to all their ideas of his moral juftice and benevolence. I come now to the two books of Kings, and the two books of Chronicles. Thofe books are altogether hiftorical, and are chiefly confined to the lives and actions of the Jewifh kings, who in general were a parcel of rafcals : but thefe are matters with which we have no more concern than we have with the Roman emperors, or Homer's account of the Trojan war. Befides which, as thofe books are anonymous, and as we know nothing of the v/riter, or of his charader, it is impoffible for us to know what degree of credit to give to the matters related therein. Like all other ancient hiftories, they appear to be a jumble of fable and of fad, and of probable and of improbable things, but which diftance of time and place, and change of circumftances in the world, have rendered obfolete, and uninterefting. S2 PAINE's WORKS. The chief ufe I fliaH make of thofe books will be that of com- paring them with each other, and with other parts of the bible, to fhew the confufion, contradidion, and cruelty, in this pretended word of God. The firfc book of Kings begins with the reign of Solomon, which, according to the bible chronology, was 1015 years before Chrift ; and the fecond book ends 588 years before Chrill, being a little after the reign of Zedekiah, whom Nebuchadnezzar, after taking jerafalem, and conquering the Jews, carried captive to Babylon. The 'two books include a fpace of four hundred and twenty-feven years, ^ ■. »- - . ihe two books of Chronicles are an hiitory of the fame times, and in^eJieJTal of the fame perfons by another author 5 for it would be abiurd to-ffippofe that the fame author wrote the hiftory twice over. Ihe firft bdok of ChrGnicJes (after giving the genealogy from Adam -to Saul w-liick takes up the firfl nine chapters) begins with the reign of David, 'and the laft book ends as in the laft book of Kingsj'fooh after the reign of Zedekiah, about 588 years before t;hriii, : The tv.-o lail verfes of the laft chapter bring the Inftory £fty-£,WjO- ..years more forward, that is, to 536. But thefe verfes do not belong to the book, as I fii all fhew v/hen I come to f\:>eak of the book of Ezra. The: '-two books of Kings, befides the hiftory of Saul, D^ivid, and Solomon, who reigned over all Ifrael, contain an abllrail of the -lives of feventeen kin^sand one queen, v/ho are ftiled kings of Judah/andof nineteen who are ftiled kings ot ifrael ; for the Jewifti nation, immediately on the death of Solomon, fplit into two par- ties, who chofe feparate kings, and who carried on moil rancorous Vvars againil each other. Thefe two books are little more than a hiftory of afialTinationF, treachery, and wars. The cruelties that the Jews had accuftomed themfelves to pradtife on the Canaanites, whofe country they had favagely invaded under a pretended gift from God, they afterwards pradifed as furioufly on each other. Scarcely half their kings died a natural death, and in fome inllances whole families were deftroyed to iecure poifeiTion to the faccefibr, who, after a few years, and fometimes only a few months, or lefs, fhared the fame fate. In the tenth chapter of the fecond book of Kings, an account is given of two baikets full of children's heads, feventy in number, being expofed at the entrance of the city ; they were the children of Ahab, and were murdered by the orders of Jehu, whom Eiiiha, Part II. A G E O F R E A S 0 N. 83 the pretended man ot",God,j had anointed to be king over Ifrsel, on purpofe to commit tliis bloody deed, r;nd;a(failmate-hi3 jtredecelTor. And in the accouiu of the reign of Manahain, one oif the kings of Ifrael, who hhd murdered Shaliiiini vyho had rcig'neid'ibat •.one months it is (did, 2 Kin;»?, chap, xv, yer. i6,.that M-anaham fmotc the city of Tiphfah, becaufe they opened not the citf to him, a.-. J all the n.vome?t therein that tlf(^ Malachi, J}-ear5S3. Obfervations. mentioned, r mentioned only { in the lait chap. [ of Chronicles. not mentioned. not mentioned. not mentioned. not mentioned. not mentioned. not mentioned, fee the note.* not mentioned, not mentioned, not mentioned, not mentioned. rhi3 table is cither not very honourable for the bible hidorians, or ,not very honourable for the bible prophets ; and I leave it to priefts and commentators, who arc very le^.rned in little things, to fettle tli£ point of etiquette between the tv/o ; and to ailign a reafon why the authors of Kings and of Chronicles have treated thofe prophets, whom, in the former part of the Age of Reafon, I have confidered as poe^s, with as much degrading filence as an hiftorian of the prefen< day would treat Peter Pindar. I have one more obfervation to make on the book of Chronicles, aft^r which I fliail pafs on to review the remainino- books of' the bible. * \ In 2 Kings, chap. xt^. "jer. 25, the na?nc ter;'Ai<:r.-'3i, which evidently refers to a time after that kings be^^an to reign over the children of Ifrael ; and I have (hewn, that as this verfc is verbatim the fame as in \ I Chron. chap, i, vcr. 43, where it Hands confiftently with the j^ ^ order of hiftory, which in Genefis it does not, that the verfe in ^ ; Genefis, and a great part of the 36th chapter, have been taken *^ ^ from Chronicles ; and that the book of Genefis, though it is placed ^ v firft in the Bible, and afcribed to Mofes, has been minufadured by ^^ _ , fome unknown pcrfon after the book of Chronicles was written, n / which was not until at leaift eight hundred and fixty years after the ^ | time of Mofes. > The evidence I proceed by, to fubftantiate this, is regular, and has ^ ^ in it but two ftages. Finl:, as I have already ftated, that thef - palTage in Genefis refers itfelf for 7//;z^ to Chronicles. Secondly, * ^ ^^ that the book of Chronicles to which this paflage refers itfelf, was ^ not began to be written until at leaft eight hundred and fixty yeai:3 ? after the time of Mofes. To prove this, we have only to look into the thirteenth verfe of the third chapter of the firft book of 1 ^ Chronicles, where the writer, in giving the genealogy of the v > defcendants of David, mentions Zedekiah : and it was in the ^ time of Zedekiah that Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerufalem 588 ^ |^ years before Chrift, and confequently more than 860 years after ^ "^ Mofes. Thofe.who havefuperftitioufly boaftcd of the antiquity of -^ ' the bible, and particularly of the books afcribed to Mofes, have done it v/ithout examination and without any other authority than that of one credulous man telling it to another ; for, fo far as hiftorical and chronological evidence applies, the very firft book in the bible is not fo ancient as the book of Homer, by more than three hundred years, and is about the fame age with yEfop's Fables. '\ \ I am not contending for the morality of Homer ; on the contrary, I think it to be a book of falfe glory, tending to inftil immoral ; and mifchievous notions of honour ; and with rcfpeft to >Efop, though the moral is iVi general juH, the fable is often cruel ; and the cruelty of the fable does more injury to the heart, efpecially in a child, than the moral does good to the judgment. Having now difmiffed Kings and Chronicles, I come to the next in courfe, the book of Ezra. As one proof, among otliers I fhall produce to fiiew the diforder in which this pretended word of God, the bible, has been put together, and the uncertainty of who the authors were, we have S8 PAINE's WORKS. only to look at the three firft verfes in Ezra, and the two lad In Chronicles ; for by what kind of cutting and Ihuffling has it been, that the three firft verfes in Ezra Ihould be the two laft verfes in Chronicles, or that the two laft in Chronicles Ihould be the three firft in Ezra. Either the authors did not know their own works, or the compilers did not know the authors. Two laft verfes of Chronicles. Verfe 22. Now in the firft year of Cyrus, king of Perfia, that the word of the Lord, fpoken by the mouth of Jere- miah, might be accomplilhed, the Lord ftirred up the fpirit of Cyrus, king of Perfia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it alfo in writing, faying, 25. Thus faith Cyrus, king of Perfia, all the kingdoms of the earth hath the Lord God of heaven given m.e ; and he hath charged me to build him an houfe in Jerufalem, 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. (Irr Three firft verfes of Ezra. Verfe i. Now in the firft year of Cyrus, king of Perfia, that the v/ord cf the Lord, by the mouth of Jeremiah, might be fulfilled, the Lord ftirred up the fpirit of Cyrus, king of Perfia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it alfo in writing, faying, 2. Thus faith Cyrus, king of Perfia, the Lord God of heaven hath given me ail the kingdoms of the earth ; and he hath charged me to build him an houfe at Jerufalem, 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 yerufalenij f y^ chapter calls him J appearing unto Jofhua, and the fiory ends abruptly \ *i ^ and aviihout any conclujion. The flory is as follo-ivs — 'verfe 13.^^ -"ind \f^^ ** it came to pafs ^when fq/hua ivas by fericho, that he lift up his ey^s i >^ ** and looked, and behold, there food a man ouer agaivfr him ivith his '4^ ** f^ord draivn in his hand : afid Jo/hua ivent unto him and faid unto ^4 ^ *' han, art thou for us or for our adx'erfaries P "jerfe 14. And he faid, \ >w*!^ " nay; but as captain of the hojl of the Lord am I novj come. And I -i vj ** Jofhua fell on his face to the earth and did worfhip, and faid 7^7ito , vN^i^s ** htm. What faith my Lord unto his fervant ? ^crfe i^. And the • ^ " captain of the Lord's hof faid unto J of ma, loofe thy fhoe fro7n ojf \ \\^ *' thy foot ; for the place ivhereon thou fan deft is holy. And yofiua \ \ ** did fa." — And --what then F ?ioth'mg ; for here the fory ends, and y^^ the chapter too. ^f '^ s^ Either this fory is broken off in the ?niddle, or it is a ftory told by fame feiuify humourift in ridicule of Jq/hua's pretended 7niJ/ion fro7n God ; and the compilers of the bible not percefving the defg?i of the ftory, has told it as a ferious matter. As a ftory of humour and ridicule, it has a great deal of point; for it pompoujly introduces a?i an^el i7i the figure of a 7nan, avith a dran^vn fdoord in his harid, before tvhom Jojhua falls on his face to the earth and worfhips (nxjhich is contrary to their fecond commandment J and then this moft important embafjy from hea'ven ends, in telling fofiua to pull off his fhoe. It might as ivell have told him to pull off his breeches. It is cert am, ho~iX:ever, that the Je-ivs did not credit e'very thing their leaders told the ;n, as appears from the cavalier manner in ivhich they fpeak ofMofei (when he teas gone into the mount. ** As for this Mofes,fay **■ th'.y, we v/ct not what is become of him," E:i. chat, xxxii. \ ?l:J£I^lSf]^3\?,i:f£r^^y4^j:_ nj. 23 24 25 - 26 - 27 - 28 - 29 - 30 - 31 - ;2 - 128 42 743 621 122 223 152 1254 320 .'V. S3 34 3S 36 37 725 345 3630 973 1052 3S . 1247 I 7 61 19,444 J;; 6' 39 40 41 42 58 60 1017 74 128 J39 39- 652 Total 2Q,8i? « Part II. , AGE OF Pv E A S O N. 91 Nehemiah, in like manner, gives a lid of the returned families, and of the number of each fajrnily. He begins, as in Ezra, by faying, chap, vii, ver. 8, " The children of Parofh two thourani " three hundred and- fevcnty-two :" and fo on through all the families. This lift difFers in fevcral of the particulars from that of Ezra. In the 66th verfe, Nehemiah makes a total, and fays, a;. Ezra haa fciid, " The whole congregation together was f.:trty and *^ two thoafand, three handred and threefcore." But the pi^r- ticuiars of this lift make a total but of 31,089, fo that the errcr here is 11,271. Thcfe writers may do well enjiigh for bible- makers ; but not for any thing where tradi and cxadnefs is neceflary. The next book in courfc is the book of Either. If Madam Eft her thought it any honour to offer herfcif as a kept miftrefs to Ahafnerus, or as a rival to queen Vaftiii, who had refp.fed to conie to a drunken king, in the midft of a drunken company, to be made a ihew of (for the account fays, they had been drinking feven days and v/ere merry), let Efther and Mordecai look to that. It is na bunnefs of ours, at leaft it is none of mine ; beiides which, the ftory has a gleat deal the appearance of being fabulcuG, and is alfo anonymous. I pafs on to the book of Job, The book of Job differs in charafter from all the books we have hitherto pafted over. Treachery and murder make no part of this book. It is the meditations of a mind llrongly imprefTed with the viciifitudes of human life, and by turns fmking under, and ftruggling againft, the prefture. It is a highly wrought composition between willing fubmiirion and involuntary difcontent ; and fhews man as he fometimes is, more difpofed to be reiigned than he is capable of being. Patience hns but a fmall fliare in the charader of the perfon of whom the book treats ; on the contrary, his grief is often impetuous ; but he ftill endeavours to keep a guard upon it, and feems determined, in the midft of accumulating ills, to impofe upon himfelf the hard duty of contentment. I have fpoken in a refpsctful manner of the book of Job in the former part of the ^^7-f Augur's prayer,; in the ^oth chapter of Proverbs^ wtmediately preceding the Pro-x:erhi of Lemmlj yyd I'jhUh is the on!yfe?7fbley and ivell conceinjed, a?id nvell expyejjedf ■"*'^«^|^^' bible y hcs much the appearance of being a prayer taken frQ?n tb^^We^^s. The name of Augur occurs en no other cccafon than this; and he is introduced J together yas tlie -cafe with Solomon, and if he could not, with all his pre- tenfions to wifdom, difcover it before hand, he merited, unpitied, the mortification he afcerwards endured. In this point of viev/ his preaching is unneceilary, becaufe to know the confequences, it is only neceilary to know the cafe. Seven hundred wives, and three hundred concubines would have ilood in place of the whole book. It was needlefs after this to fay, that all was vanity and vexation of fpirit ; for it is impofiible to derive happinefs from the company of thofc whom we deprive of happinei's. To be happy in old age, it 19 necelTary that we accuflom ourfelves to objeds that can pccompany the mind all the way through life, and that we take the reil as good in their day. The mere man of pleafure is miferable in old age, and the mere drudge in bufinefs is but little better : v/hereas natural philofophy, mathematical, and mechanical fcience, are a continual fource of tranquil pleaiare ; aod in fpite of the gloomy dogmas of priefts and of ifuperftition, the ftudy of thofe things is the lludy of the true theology. It teaqhcs man to know and to admire the Creator, for the principles of fcience are in the creation, and are unchangeable, and of divine origin. Thofe who knew Benjamin Franklin will recollecl that his mind was ever young ; his temper ever ferene. Science, that never grows ^rey, was always his miftrefs. Fie was never without an objerl ; for when we ceafe to have an objed:, we become like an invalid ^n an hofpital waiting for death. Solomon's Songs, amorous and foolifh enough, but which wrinkled fanaticifm, has called divine. The compilers of the bible have placed thofe fongs after the book of Ecclefiaftes ; and * Thofe that look out of the i>Jindoto ]/halI ■ he dark^TteJ; is an obfcurc figure in tranflatioQ. foi iofs of fight / ^ 90 PAINE's W.ORKS. the chronologiils hnve afHx-ed to th(5m the. era of 1G14 years before Ch.Fi-{}, at which time Solomon, according to the fame chronology, was nineteen years of age, and was then forming his feraglio of wives and concubines. The bible-makers and the chronologills fnould have manap-cd this matter a little better, and either have {'did nothing about the time, or chofen a time lefs inconfiftent with the fuppafed divinity of thofe fongs ; for Solomon was then in the honey-moon of o^e tho?{fand debaucheries. It ihouM aifo have occurred to them, that as he wrote, if he did write, the book- of Ecclehaftes long after thefe fongs, and in which he exclaims, that all is vanity and vexation of fpiiit, that he ..included thofe fongs in that defcription. This is the more . probable, bccaufe he fays, or fomebody for him, Eccleliaftes, chap^ ii,' ver. 8. / got me me?/-Jing€rs and ivovien-Jingen (moft probably to fing thofe fongs) and mujhal hiftrufnefiti of all fortZy and behold, • (vet, II;) all n.K)as nJwiity ajid 'vexat'icn of fp'ir'it. The compilers, however, .have done their work but by halves ; for as they have given U5 the fongs, they ihould have given us the tunes that we mi2;ht fm^: them. The books called the books of the Prophets fill up all the reriiaining part of the bible. They are fixteen in number,- beginning with Ifaiah and ending with Malachi, of which I have given a iiil in the obfervations upon Chronicles. Of thefe fixteen prophets, all of v/hom, except the three laft, lived within the time the books of Kings and Qhronicles were written, two only, Ifaiah and Jeremiah, ar^ mentioned, in- the hiftory of tlK)fe books. I fliall begin with th'bfe T^vby refer ving what I have to fay, on the general character of the men called prophets, to another part of the work. Whoever .will take the trouble of reading the book afcribed to Ifai?.h, will find it one of the mcft wild and diforderly compofitions ever put '.together. -It has neither beginning, middle, nor end; and except ii. fhort hiftorical part, and a itw Iketches of hiftory in two or three of the firil chapters, is one continued incoherent bom- baflical.'rant,: full of extravagant metaphor, without application, and deftitute of meaning. A fchool-boy would fcarcely have been cxcufabic for writing fach ftiiffij' It is (at leaft in tranfiation) that kind.of 7campofition and falfe tafte, that is properly called profe run mad;-.". The hiftorical part begins at the 36th chapter, and is continued to the end" of the 39th chapter. It relates Tome matters that are faid to. have pafiVd durkig t-he reign of Hczekiah>- king of Juda'a, Part IL A G E O F R E A S O N. 97 at which time Ifaiah lived. This fragment of hiftory begins and ends abruptly. It has not the lead connexion with the chapter that precedes it, nor with that which follows it, nor with any- other in the book. It is probable that Ifaiah wrote this fragment himfelf, becaufe he was an adtor in the circumftances it treats of^ but except this part, there are fcarcely two chapters that havc^aiiy connexion with each other. One is entitled, at the beginning of the firft verfe, the Burden of Babylon ; another, the Burden of Moab; another, the Burden of Damafcus ; another, the Burden of Egypt ; another, the Burden of the Defart of the Sea ; another, the Burden of the Valley of Vifion: as you would fay, the ftory of the ■ knight of the burning mountain ; the ftory of Cinderilla, or the glaffen flipper ; the ftory of the lleeping beauty in the wood, &c. &c. , I have already Ihewn in the inilance of the two laft verfes of Chronicles, and the three firft in Ezra, that the compilers of the bible mixed and confounded the writings of different authors with each other; which alone, v/ere there no other caufe, is fulScient todeftrpy the authenticity of any compilation, becaufe it is more than prefumptive evidence, that the compilers are ignorant who the authors were. A very glaring inllance of this occurs in the book afcribed to liaiah. The latter part of the 44.th chapter, and the beginning of the 45th, fo far from having been written by Ifaiah, could only have been written by fome perfon who lived at leaft an hundred and fifty "years after Ifaiah was dead. Thefe chapters are a compliment to Cyrusy who permitted the Jews to return to Jerufalem from the Babylonian captivity, to rebuild Jerufalem and the Temple, as is ftated in Ezra. The laft verfe of the 44th chapter and the beginning of the 45th, are in the following words : That faith of CyniSy he is my fhepherd and fhall perform all my pleafare : even fay in j to feru/alem, Thou fhalt be built ; and to the Temple, thy foundation fhall be laid, Thui * faith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, ^whofe right hand I ba-ve ^ holden to fuhdue nations before him^ and I ^ this book upon the world as the writing of Ifaiah ! when Ifaiah, ^ according to their own chronology- died foon after the death of Hezekiah, which Was fix hundred and ninety-eight years before Chrift ; and the decree of Cyrus, in favour of the Jews returning to 4 Jerufalem, wasj according to the fame chronology, 536 years beibrc *N 98- PAiNE's Works; Chriil, which is a diftance of time between the'tw© of "one hundred and fixty-two years. I do not fiippofe that the compilers of the bible made thefe books, but rather that they picked "up fome loofe anonymous elTays, and put therii together under the names of fucli authors as befl fuited their purpofe. They have encouraged the"' impofition, ivhich is next to inventing it ; for it was impoffible but they muli have obferved it. When we ftt^ the ftudied craft of the fcripture- makers, in making ] every part of this romantic book of fchool-boy's eloquence, bend to the monllrous idea of a fon of God, begotten by a ghoil on the body of a virgin, there is no imposition we are not jufcified in fufpcding them of. Every phrafe and circumftance are marked with the barbarous hand of fuperftitious torture, and forced into meanings it was impoflibie they they could have. The head of every chapter, and the top of every page, are blazoned with the names of Chrift and the church, that the unweary reader might fuck in the error before he beean to read. Bchotdy a''virginjhall cori'cev^ey and hear afofii Ifaiah, chap, vii, ver. 14.. has been interpreted to mean the perfon called Jefus Chrift, and his mother Mary, and has been echoed through Chnftendom for mere than a thoufand years : and fuch has been the rage of this opinion, that f-ie. ** And when he was in the gate of Benjamin, a captain of the wsivd '*' was there, whofe name was Irijah, and he took [eremiah thtf ♦' prophet, faying, T/jou fall^Ji a^vay to the Chaldeans. '. :Theij' ^' Jeremiah faid, ii is falfe^ 1 fall net a'zvaytothe-CbrddcansJJ----^- Jeremiah being thus ftopt and accufed, v/as, after being" examin.ed^ committed to prifon on fufpicicn of being a traitor, -.wlier^r'hc remdned, as is Hated in the lafl verfe of this chapter.. ? '- ^ But the next chapter gives an account of the imprifonment ~ of Jereiniah,- which has no connefiion with this account, b\it;arcrihe?' : his imprifonment to another circumftance, and fir which we maft go back to the 2jil chapter, Tt is there ftatod, ver, i. That Zcde- . J02 PAINE's WORKS. •kiah fentPafnur, the fon- of Melchiah, and Zephaniah the fon of Maafeiah the prief!:, to Jeremiah, to enquire of him concerning Nebuchadnezzar, whofe army was then before Jerufalem ; and Jeremiahjaid to them, ver. 8, " Thus faith the Lord, Behold I (et " before you the way of life and the way of death. He that " abideth in this city, {hall die by the fword and by the famine, ** and by the peCcilence, hut, he that goeth out and falleth to the ** Chaldeans that hejiege jouy he Jhall Ivve ^ and his life Jhall be unttf " hvn for a ^rey." This interview and conference breaks off abruptly at the end of the loth verfe of the 21ft chapter ; and fuch is the difcrder of this book, that we have to pafs over fixteen chapters upon \^arious fubjetfts, in order to 'Come at the continuation and event of this conference ; ar^i this brings us to the firft verfe of the 38th chapter, as I have juft mentioned. The 3Sth chapter opens with faying, " Then Shephatiah the *' fon of Mattan, and Gedaliah the fon of Pafhur, and Jucal the ** fon of Shelemiah, and Pafhur the fon of Malchiah (here are " more perfons mentioned than in the 21ft chapter) heard the ** words that Jeremiah fpoke unto the people faying, *^ Thus faith " the Lord, he that remav/eth In this citjy Jhall die by the fnjoordy by *' Janii/jey and by the j.ejlilence ; but he that goeth forth to the Chaldeans ^^ Jiall li-ve ; for he Jhall haze his life for a prcyy and Jhall lin>e" (Sivhich are the words of the conference). ** Therefore (fay they " to Zcdekiah) we befeech thee, let this man be put to death, *' for thus he ^wtakeneth the hands of the men of i.ijar that remaineth *' /// thiicityy arid the hands of all the people in fpeakmg fuch en •' as he Jhall fay unto thee.*" Jeremiah joined himfelf afterwards tO Nebuchadnezzar, and went about prophefying for him againft the Egyptians who h?d marched to the relief of Jerufalem while it was befieged. Thus much for another of the lying prophets, and the book that bears his name. I havelDeen the more particular In treating of the books afcrlbed to Ifaiah and Jeremiah, becaufe thofc two arc fpokcn of in the book> of King? and of Chronicles, which the o.thers are not. The remainder of the books, afcribed to the men called prophets, \ H^sll not trouble myfelf much about, but take thcmcolicdivcly into the. io6 PA INK'S WORKS. obfervatlons I fliall offer on the charafter of the men llyled prophets. In the former part of the Age of Reafon I have fald, that the word prophet was the bible word for poet, and that the flights and metaphors of the Jewifh poets, have been foolifhly erefted into what are now called prophecies. I am fufficiently j-iftified in this opinion, not only becaufe the books called the Prophecies are written in poetical language; but becaufe there is no word in the bible, except it be the word prophet, that defcribes what we mean by a poet. I have alfo faid that the word flgnified a performer upon mufical inftruments, of which I have given fome inilances ; fuch as that of a compjuiy of prophets prophefying with pfalteries, with tabrets, with pipes, with harps, &c. and that Saul prophefied with them. 1 Sam., chap, x, ver. 5. It appears from this paflage, and from other parts in the book of Samuel, that the word prophet was confined tofigmtypoetr)'and mufic ; for the perfonwho was fuppofed to have a vif onary inlight into concealed things was not called a prophet h\it3.Se.er* i Sam. chap, ix, ver. 9; and it was not till after the word Seeywtnt out of ufe (which moll probably was when Saul baniflied thofehe called wizards} that the profeifion of the Seer, or the art of feeing, became incorporated into the word prophet. According to the modern meaning of the word prophet and prophefying, it fignifies foretelling events to a great diftance of time; and it became neceilary to the inventors of the gofpel to give it this latitude of meaning, in order to apply or to ftretch, what they call the prcphelies of the old teftament, to the times of the new. Bdt, according to the old teftament, the prophefying of the Seer, and afterwards of the Prophet, fo far as the meaning of the word Seer v/as incorporated into that of Prophet, had reference only to things of the time then pa/Tmg, or very clofely connected with it ; fuch as the event of a battle they were going to engage in, or of a journey or of any enterprize they were going to undertake, or of any circumft'ance then pending, or of any difficulty they were then in, all of which had immediate reference to themfelves, (as in the cafe already mentioned of Ahaz and Ifaiah, v/ith refpeft to the expreffion. Behold anjirg'in Jhall conce'i've and bear a Jon) and not to any diftant * / kno- m.on whore of all the prieils, and each has acculed tlie other of kcepr ing the llrumpct: fo well do they agree in their explanations. Kere now remain only a few books, u liich thc^ call the book< oi the lefTer prophets ; and as I have already fiiewn ihal the greater are im.noflors; it" would be cr.wardice to dilhnb the repofe of the little ones. Let them fleep then, in the arms of rlieir nurfea, the priefts, and both be forgotten together. I have gone through the Bible, as a man v/ould go through a wood with an axe on his fhoulder, and fell trees : Here they lie; and the priefls, ifthcy can, may replant them, Thej m.aj, perliaps, Hick them in tlie ground, but they will never m.akcthaii grpy.'.-n— pi pafs on to the book's, of, the New 1 eitament. T H E N E W T E S T AM EN T. :, : Tlie New Tcdamcnt, they tell us, is founded, upon the prophe- cics of the Old; if fo, it muft follow the fate of it's foundation. As it is nothing extraordinary tb.r.t a womarv fifoidd be vritli chili ' Part IT.] AGE OF REASON. 115 before fte was iTiarnec], and that the fon flie might bring forth fhould . be executed^ even unjuftly; 1 fee no reafon for not believing that fiich a woman as Mary, and fuch a man as Jofepn, and Jefus, exiftcd; their^efc exigence is a matter of indifference, about which there Is "%^ " ' either to bch'eve, or to diibeh'eve, and which comes under th^ common head of, It :n,7y lejo ; and ivhalthcn? The probability, however, is, tliat there were fuch perfons, or at lead fuch as refembled them m part of the circumilances, becaufe ahiioll all romantic ftories have been fu^gcfted by fom^ aftual circnmftance; as the adventures of Robinfon Crufoc, not a word of wliich ia true, were fuggeiled by the cafe of Alexander Selkirk. It is not then the cxillence, or non-exidence, of the perfons that I ti-ouble myfelf about ; it is the fable of Jefus Chriil, as is told '\\\ the New Tefcamcnt, and the wild and vifionary doclrine railed thereon, againil wliich I contend. The llory, taking it as it is cold, is blaf- phemoufly obfcene. It gives an account of a yo.ung wom.an engaged to be married, and vv^hile under this engagement, flic is, to fpeak plain language, debauclied by a ghoft, under the impious pretence (Luke, chap. i. ver. 35,) that ^^ the Holy Ghofu JJjali come upon tbec, and the po'ivcr ofihe Blgheft JJj all overJJjadoiv thee. ^^ Notu'ithllanding which^ Jofcph afterwards marries her as his wife, and in his turn rivals the ghoft. This iij putting the fl:ory into intelligible language, and when told in this manner, there is not a prieil but mull be afliamcd to Gwn if."'' TT Gbfcenlty in matters of faith, liowevcr wrapped up. Is always, a token of fable and impofture ; for it is aecefTary to our ferious belief in God, that wc do not connedl it v.'ith (lories that run, as it does, into ludicrous interpretations. This (lory is, upon the face, of it, the fame kind of (lory as that of Jupiter and Leda, or Jupiter and. Eu- ropa, or any of the aruorous adventures of Jupiter ; and fliewft, as la already dated in the iormer part of the Age of Reafon, that the ChrKlian faith is built upon the lieathen mytholo'^^y. , As the hiftorical parts of the Nev»' Teftiiment, fo far as concerns Jefus Chrift, are confined to a very ihort fpace of time, lefs tha,n two years, and all within the fame country, and nearly to the fame fpot, the difcordance of time, place, and circumftance, which detecfls the fallacy of the books of the Old Teftarnent, and proves them, to be impofitions, cannot be expeded to be found here in the fame abuu- "* Mary, the fuppofed virgin mother of Jefus, had fevcraJ other chil- dren, fans and daughters. See Matt* chap. xiii. ver. 55> 5^. lib P A I N E ^s WO R K S. dance. The Ntw Teftament, compared with the Old, is hke a farce of one act, in which there is not room for very numerous violations of the unities. There are, however, fonie glaring contradiftions, which, exciufive of the fallacy of the pretended prophecies, af^ fuin- cient to ihew the ilory of Jcuis Chriil to be falfe. I lay it down.as a pofition which cannot be controverted, firft, that the ogree7ireiit of all the parts of a ftory does n.ot prove the ftory to be true, becaiifc the parts may agree, and the whole may be falfe; fe- condly that the dlfagreement of the piits of a ftory proves that the nvhole cannot he true. The agreement does not prove truth, but the difagreemisnt proves fallehcod pofitively. The hiftory of Jeius Chriil is contained in the four books afcribtd \.Q Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. 'J he fir i chapter of Matthew begins with giving a genealogy of Jtfiis Chrifl; and in the third cha]:- ter of Luke, there \% alfo given a genealogy of Jefus Chrift. Did thefe two agree, it would not prove thegeneal gy to be true, becaufe it might, neverthclrfs be a fabrication; but \i they contradifl each other in every particular, it prove? falfehood abfolutdy. If Matthew fpeak truth, Luke fpeaks falfehood : and if Luke fpeak truth, Mat- thew fpeaks falfehood : and as there is no authority for believing one more than the other, there is no authority for beheving either; and if they cannot be believed, even in the very lirfl thing they fay, and fet out to prove, they are not entitled to be believed in any thing they fay afterwards. Truth is an uniform thing; and as to infpiration and revelation, were we to admit it, it is impofiible to fuppofe it cai? be cnitradidory. Either then the men called apoflles were im.poftors, or the books afcribed to them have been wrilt >n by other perfons, and fathered uport them, as is the cafe in the Old Teftament. The book of Matthew gives, chap, i, ver. 6, a genealogy by name from David, up, through Jofeph, the hufhand of Mary, to Chrift; and makes there to be ttventy-aght generations. The book of Luke gives alFo a genealogy by name from Chrift, thro gh Jofeph, the huf= band of Mary, down to David, and makes there to he forty-three gene- rations ; befides which, there are only the two names of David and Jofeph that ;.re alike in the two lifts. I here infert both genealogical lifts, and. for the fake of perfpicuity and comparifon, have placed them both in the fame dire -don, that is, from Jofeph down to David. Genealogy, according to Matthew^ Genealogy, according to Liike» Chrift. Chrift. yyXooY^^ ' 2 Jofeph. 2 Jofeph. ' ^ 3 Jacob. 3 Hcli, Part II.] AGE OF REASON. 1 1 Genealogy, according to Matthszu, 4 Matthan. 5 Eleazar. 6 Eliud. 7 Achim. 8 Sacloc. 9 Azor. [o Eliakim. 1 Abiiid. 2 Zorobabel. Salathid. [4 Jechonias, 5 Jofias. 6 Amon. 7 Manafles, l8 Ezekias. :9 Achaz. 20 Joathara. 21 Ozlas. 2 2 Joram. 23 Jofaphat. 24 Afa. 25 Abia. 26 Roboam. 27 Solomon. 28 David. Genealogy y accanilng to Luke. 4 M:iithat. 5l^evl. 6 Melchi'. 7 Janna. 8 Jofeph. 9 Mattathu;s. 10 An:os. I t N'Tum. 12 Edi. 13 Nagge. 14. Maath. 15 Mattathias. 16 Semi. 17 Jofeph. 18 Juda. 19 Joanna. 20 Rhefa. 21 Zorobabel. 22 Salathkl. 23 Neii. 24 Mclchf. 2^ Addi. 26 Cofam. 2 7 Ehnodam. 2!^ Er. 29 Jofe. 30 Eliezer, 3 1 Joram. 32 Matthat. 33 Levi'. 34 Simeoa.- 35 Ji'^^- 36 Jofeph. 37 J''"^';- 38 Eilakim. 39 Melea. 40 Me nan. 41 Mattatha* 42 Nathan. 43. David. y nS PAINE's WORKS. From the birtli of David to the birth of Chrift is upwards of Jo^& years; and as the hfe-time of Chrifc is not included, thtre are hut 27 full generations. To i: id therefore the average age of each perfon mentioned in the fiifl Yiily at the time his firu fon was born, it is only neceffary to divide loSo by 27, which gives 40 years for each per- fon. As the lifetime of man was then but of the fame extent it is now, it is an abfurdity to fuppofe, that 27 following generations fj^ould all be old bachelors, before they married ; and the more fo, when we are told, that Solomon, the next in fr.ccefQon to David, had a houfe full of wives and milirefies, before he was twenty-one years of age. So-fa4^£:&m this genealogy being a folemn truth, it is not -ev^n a 4:efrifer!*fti4e lie. The liil of Luke gives about twenty-fix years for the average age, and this is too much. Now, if thefe rnen, Matthevv- and Luke, fet out with a falfehood between them (as thefe two accounts fliew they do) in the very commencement of their hiftory of Jefus Chrifl, and of who, and of what he was, what authority (as I have before a/Iced) is there left for believing the ftrange things they tcli us afterwards? If they can- not be believed in tlieu" account of his natural genealogy, how are wc to btlieve them, when they tell us, he was the fon of God, begot- ten by a ghoft, and that an angel announced this in fecret to his mo- the'f? If they lied in one genealogy, why are we to believe them in the btheri* If his natural genealogy be manufafturcd, which it cer- tainly isj why arc we not to fuppofe, that his celeftial genealogy is manafac^ured ah''o ; and that the vv-holc is fabulous ? Can any man of ferio^s refieciioii hazard his future happir.efs upon the belief of a llory naturally im.poffible ; repugnant to every idea of decency; and related by perfons already detected of fSlfehood ? Is it not more fafe, that . we ftop ourfelves at the plain, ^jure, and unmixed belief of one God, which is deifra, than that we commit ourfelves on an ocean of impro- bable, irrational, indecent, and contradic^tory tales ?-W The firft queftion, however, upon the books of the New Tefta- ment, as tspoh thefe of the Old, k, Are they genuine? were they written by the perfons to vAiom they are afcribed? for it is upon this crouftd onl}', that the ftrange things related therein, have been credited. Upon this point, there is no /rlire^ proof for, or aga'wji ; and all that this ilate of a cafe proves, is donbtjulnefs ; and doubt- fulnefs is the 'opponte^ of belief. The Hate, therefore, that the books are in, proves againll therafelves as far as this kind of proof can gOfir .ju iljj 7.;■l^/. :-Zjt],i. uu iiDJj;;xv/ '.J.i ^y But, fixclufivc ©ftliis, the prefumptioji is, that the bdoks called the Part II.j AGE OF REASON. 119 Evangeliih, and afcribed to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, were not written by Mattlaew, Mark, Luke and John ; and that they arc impofitioHs. The difordered ilate of the liiPiory in thefe four books, the filence of one book upon matters related in the other, and the dif- agreement that is to be found among them, imph'es, that they are the produdlions of fome unconnefted individuals, many years after the things they pretend to rdate, each of whom made his own legend ; and not the writings of men h'ving intimately together, as tlie men called apoilles are fuppofed to have done: In line, that they have been Jiianufacflured, as the books of the Old Tcftament have been, by other perfons, than thofewhofe names they bear. — jAf The ftory of tlie angel, announcing, what the church calls, the im- maculate concept'tony is not fo much as mentioned in the books afcribed to Mark and John ; and is differently related in Matthew and Luke. The former fays, the angel appeared to Jofeph ; the latter fays, it v/as to Mary; but either Jofeph or Mary was the worll evidence that, could be thought of; for it v/as others that fhould have tcftifiedybr thcm^ and not they for themfclves. Were any girl that is now with child to fay, and even to fwear it, that ihe was gotten with child by a ghoft, and that an angel told her fo, would fhe be believed? Cer- tainly flie would not. Why then are we to believe the fame thing of another whom we never faw, told by nobody knows who, nor when, nor where? How ftrange and inconfiftent is It, that the fame circum- flances that would weaken the belief even of a probable ftory, fhould be given as a motive for believing this one that has, upon the. face of it, every token of abfolute ImpolTibility, and impofture..; .^,,.,^,^ The flory of Herod deftroying all the children under two years old, belongs akogether to the writer of the book of Matthew j and not one of the reft mentions any thing about it. Had fuqh, a,,CHV,, . cumftance been true, the univerfality of it mufl have made It known to all the writers; and the thing would have been too flriking,,tQ* have been omitted by any. Thj writer tells us, that Jefus efcaped this daughter, becaufe Jofeph and Mary were warned by ai? angel^ to flee with him Into Egypt; but he forgot to make provifion fbv. ; John, who. was then under two y^ars of age. / John, however, who,, llaid behind, fared as well as Jefus, >^hofied; and therefore the ftory circumflantially belles Itfelf. ; r.Aq'; 'at ai >':iiil' Not any two of thefe writers agree in reciting, exadly. In ihtfamch •words, the written infcription, iliort as it Is, which they tell us, was put over Chri.^ when he was crucihed: And befides this, Mark fay»^^ tX* and v/ent into the city, and what became of them afterwards, and who it was that faw them ; for he is not hardy enough to fay that he faw them himfelf j — whether they came out naked, and all in natural buff, he-faints and (lie-faints ; or whether they came full dreffed, and where they got their dreffes; . whether they went to their former habitations, and reclaimed their wives, their hu (bands, and their propetty, and how they were re- ceived; whether they entered ejeftments for the recovery of- their poffeflions, or brought anions of rr/w* con. againft the rival interlopers;- whether they remained on earth, and followed their former occupa- tions of preaching or working; or whether they died again, or went back to their graves alive, and buried themfejves. Strange indeed, that an army of faints fliould return to life, and no- body know who they were, nor who it was that faw them, and that not a word more fhould be faid upon the fubje6t, nor thefe faints have any thing to tell us ! Had it been the prophets who (as we are told) had formerly prophefied of thefe things, they muft have had a '^Q ' •^'■^^^-' f J ^ m PA INK'S WOPclCS. * great deal to fay. They could have told us every thing, and we fhouM r liave had pollhumciis prophecies, with notes and commentaries upon ^ ^' the firft, a h"ltle better at lealt than we have nov/i Had it been V J Mofes, and Aaron, and Joflnia, and Samuel, and David, not an un- . ; converted Jew had remained in all Jerufalem. Had it been John the ^ !^ Baptift, and the faints of the times then prefent, every body would > V have known them, and they would have out-preached and out-fam.ed \ vy all the other apoitles/^^ut inflead of this, thefe faints are made to k'V ^^"P "P ^^'^^ Jonah's gourd i-i the night, for no purpofe at all, but X& I i^ wither in the morning. Thus much for this part of the ftory. ^ The tale of the refurre6lion follows that of the crucifixion ; and in J ^v this as v.-ell as in that, the writers, whoever they were, difarree fo : I much, as to make it evident that none of them were there. Vsi The book of Matthew ilates that when Chriil was put in the fepul- i ^ chre, the Jews ap[)liv:'d to Filate for a watch or a guard to be placed y ^ over tl :e fepulchre, to prevent the body being ftolen by the difciplesj s^ and that in confequcn^e of tliis requefl, the fepulchre ^zvas made fitre, ^'^ fcallng the fiom that covered the mouth, and fctting a watch. But J >y tlic other books fay nothing about this application, nor about the feal- ; ^ iiig, nor the guard, nor the watch; and according to their accounts 1 J tiicre were none. ■ Matthew, however^ follows up this part of the V sj liory of the guard or the watch with a fecond part, that I fliall no- ^^ ^j ^ tice in the conolufion, as it ferves to deteft the fallacy of thofe books. The book of Matthew, continues it's account, and fays (chap. ), xxviii. ver. i.), that at the end of the fabbath, as it began to dawn^ ^ towards the iiril diiv of the week, came Mary Magdalene, and the ^ other Mdrvj to 0 e the fepulchre. Mark fays it was fun-rifing, and "^ John fays it vvas_dark.'l. Luke fays it was Mary Magdalene, and Jo- ^ anna, and Mary the mother of James, and other luomen, that came to ' the fepulchre ; and John ftates, that Mary Magdalene^ame alone, ') \ So well do tliey agree about their firit evidence ! they all, however, ^--^^ ^ appear to Jiave known rnofl about Mary Magdalene ; fhe was a wo- 1 I man of a large acquaintance, audit was not an ill conjefture that fhe \ ^ight be upon the (troll, w--^ ^ The book ©f Matthew goes on to fay (ver. 2.), "And behold ^ there was a "-reat earthquake, for the angel of the Lord defcended i ^ from heaven, and came and rolled back the ftone from the door, and J A/ uponjt.^^, But the other books fay nothing about any earthquake, ^ nor about the angel rolling back the Hone, znd J/ 1 ting upon it; and j according to their accounts, there was v.oj^\'\'g^fdt'w^there, Mark \ lays, the angel was 'Mithm the fcpuJchre^Jhiwg on the right fide. ^ Luke ] -^ ^^Ht-irSc^ *' J) Handing up ; and John fays, it was Jefus Chrift himfelf that told it to '^^ Mary Magdalene ; and that flie did not go into the. fepulchre, but only ilooped down and looked in. ^ Now if the writers of thefe four books had gone into any cotrt of M juftice, to prove an alihi^ (for it is of the nature of an alibi that is here attempted to be proved, namely, the abfence of a dead body, by fu- \^ jpernatural means,) and had given their evidence m the fame contra- didlory manner as it is here given, they would have been in danger of aving their ears cropt for perjury, and would have juftly deferved it. itt this is the evidence, and thefe arc the books, that have been im- ^ -pofed upon the v/orld, as being given by divine infpiration, and as the ( runchangeable word of God. r The writer of the book of Matthew, after giving this account, relates ^ ia ftory that is not to be found in any of the other books, and which is ^the fame I have jull before alluded to. ^ V " Now, fays he (that is, after the converfation the women had J^had with the angel fitting upon the ftone), behold fome of the watch J (meaning the watch that he had faid had been placed over the fepul- ^ Ichre) came into the city, and fliewed unto the chief priefts all the J ^ things that were done ; and when they v/ere affembled with the elders, C and had taken counfel, they gave large money unto the foldiers, faying, y ^ Say ye, that his difciples came by night, and itole him away while wc ^ 'Jlspt; and if this come to the governor's ears, we will perfuade him, J ^ and fecure yon. So they took the money, and did as they were ^ taught; and this faying (that his difciples ftole him away) is com- ^ wionly reported among the Jews iinill this day.^^ ^ '^ The exprcfiion, uiit'/I this day^ is an evidence that the book afcribed ^ to Matthew was not written by Matthev/, and tjiat it has been manu- J faftured long after the times and things of which it pretends to treat; Y^ for the exprcfiion implies a great length of i'ltervening time. It ^ would be inconhftentin us to ipe^k in this manner of any thing hap- pening in our own tune. To ^iv:?, th;irefore, intelligible meaning t;i ►t W^ ^^-^ • tr ^0^-^ ji^ (Pe^Ov^ U^h 1-4 PAINE's WORKS. {J/Lr^tJi^ the exprcflion, v/e muft fuppofe a lapfe of foinc gensratiuns at Icait, for this manner of fpeaking* carries the mind back to ancient time. The abfurdity ah'"© of the ftory is worth noticing; for it fhews the writer of tins book of Matthew to have been an exceeding weak and foohfh rnan. He teils a ilciy, that contradicts itielf in point of pcfiibility; for though the guard, if there were any, might be made to fay that the body was taken av.ay while they were ajleep^ that fame fleep rnuft alfo have prevented their knowing how, and by whom it was done; and yet they are made to fay, that it was the difciples w^o did it. Were a man to tender his evidence of fomething that he ihoiild fay was done, and of the manner of doing it, and of the perfons who C'A it, while he was afleep, and could know nothing of the mat- ter, fuch evidence could not be received: It will do well enough for Tellament evidence, but not for any thing where truth is concerned. I come now to that part of the evidence in thofe books, that rcfpedls the pretended appearance of Chrift after this pretended refurre6lion. The writer of tlie book of Matthew relates, that the angel that v/as fitting on the flone at the mouth of the fepulchre, faid to the two Marys, chap, xxviii. ver. 7, ** Behold Chr'iji is gene before you htc/' Galilee, there fiall ye fee hhu ; Jo, I have told you.''' And the fame writer, at the two next verfes (8, 9,), makes Chrill hirnfelf to fpeak to the lame purpofe to thefe women, immediately after the ancrei had told it to them, r;nd that they ran quickly to tell it to the difciples; and at the i6th vcrfe it is faid, *' Then iht ekn-tn dijuples ivenl a^uiny I'Uo Galilee, into a mcuntr.in where jefjis had appointed them ; and \\]\Qn they faw him, they worflriipped him." But the writer of the booh of Johfflmlls a fiory very different to i'lis; for he fays, chap» xx. ver. 19, " T/Jrw the fame day at e'vernr:^^ hi>!P the fir/i-day of the iveeh, (that is, the fame day that Chrift is faid to have rifen,) ivhen ihe doors zverefljiit, ^hcre the dfciples nvtre o.ffem- llsd, for fear ofthejevjs, came J ef us and flood tn the midfl of thcm.'^ According to Matthew, the eleven were inarching to Galilee, to meet Jeius in a mountain, by h.i, own appointment, at thevery time when, according to John, tijej vverc ad'cmbied in another place, and that not by appointment, but in fecret, for fear of the Jews. Tl)e writer of the book of Luke ccntradicls that of Matthew more pointedly than John does; ior lie fays expreisly, tiiat the meeting W3s In fcrufalem the evening of the fame day that he (Chrift) rofc, and that the tf/f'iJif/'^ were //j^r.". See Luke, chap. xxiv. ver. 13, 7,3. Now it is not poffible, unlefs wc admit thofe fuppofed difcipleg |.hc right of wilful lying, that the writers of thofe books could ht ai^ Part II.] A G E O F R E A S O N. i2^ of the eleven perfons called difciples; for if, according to Matthew, the eleven went into Galilee to meet Jcfus in a mountain, by his own ap- pointment, on the fame day that he is faid to have rifen, Luke and John mull have been two of that eleven ; yet the writer of Luke fays ex- prefsly, and John implies as rpuch, that the meeting was that fame day, in a houfe in Jenifalem, and on the otlier hand, if, according to Luke and John, the eleven were affembled in a lioufe in Jerufalem, Matthew muit have been one of tliat eleven; yet Matthew fays, the meeting was in a mountain in Galilee, and confequently the evidence given in thofe books deflroys each other. The writer of the book of Mark fays nothing about any meeting in Galilee; but he fays, chap. xvi. ver. 12, that Chrift, after his refurrcvflion, appeared in another form to two of theni as they walked into the country, and that thefe two told it to the rcfidue, who would not beheve them. Luke alfo tells a (lory, in Vv-hich he keeps Chrift employed the whole day of this pretended refurredion, until the evening, and which totally Invalidates the account of going to the mountain in Galilee. He fays, that two of them, without faying which two, went th?^l fame day to a village called Emmaws, threefcore furlongs (feven miles and an half) from Jerufaletn, and that Chrift in difguife went with them, and ftaid with them unto the evening, and fupped with them, and then vaniflied out of their fight, and re-appeared that fame evening at the meeting of the eleven iu Jerufalem. This Is the contradiiflory manner in Vv-hich the evidence of this.pre- tendcd re -appearance of Chrift Is ftated; the only point in which the writers agree, is the flculkingprivacy of that re-appearance ; I'or whcthc!' it was in the recefs of a moiiatain in Galilee, or in a fhut-up houfe in Terufalem, it was ftill il-rulkincr. To what caufe then arc we to aili'--ii this flvulking ? On the one bandit is directly repu;Tnant to the fuppofed or pretended 9id, that of convincing the world that Chriil was rifen; and on the other hand, to have afferted the publicity of it, would have expofed the writers of thofe books tu public detedlion ; and th re fore they have been under the ncccility of making It a private affair. As to the account of Chrift being fe^n })y more than five hundred. hundred at once, it is Paul only who fays it, and not the five hundre<^ who fay it for themfclves. It is therefore the teftunony but of oiic man, and that too of a vna!i; who did not, according t J tlus fame a(^- count, believe a word of the matter himfcif, at the time it is faid to iiave happsnsd. His evidence, fuppofing hiiu to have been the writer 126 PA iNE's WO R KS. of the I rth chapter of Corinthians, where this account is given,is h'ke that of a man, who comes into a court of juiHce to fvvear, that what he had fworn before is faife. A man may often fee reafon, and he has too always the right of changing his opinion ; but this liberty does not extend to matters of fa(5l. I now come to the lalt fcene, that of the afcenfion into heaven. Here all fear of the Jews, and of every thing elfc, muft necefiarily have been out of the queflion; it was that which, if true, was to feal the whole; and upon which the reality of the future million of the difciples was to reil for proof. Words, whether declarations, or pro- mifes that paflod in private, either in the recefs of a mountain in Galilee, or in a fhut-up houfe in Jerufalem, even fuppofmg them to have been fpoken, could not be evidence in public ; it was therefore ncceffary that tliis iaft fcene fiiould preclude the poffibility of denial and difpute; and that it ftiould be, as I have ftated in the former part of the Jlge of Reafon, as public and as vifible, as the fun at noon-day; at leall, it ought to have been as public as the crucifixion is reported to have been. But to come to the point. — — In the firft place, the writer of the book of Matthew does not fay a fyllable about It ;^ielther does the writer of the book of John. This beinr the cafe, is it polTible to fuppofe, that thofe wa-iters, who affe£l to be even minute in other matters, would have been filent upon this, had it been true ? The writer of the book of Mark pafFes it off in a carelefs, flovcnly manner, with a fingle dafli of the pen ; as if he was. tired of romancing, or afliamed of the ilory. So alfo does the writer of Luke. And even betw^een thefe two there is not an apparent agree* ment as to the place where this final parting is faid to have beert. The book of Mark fays, that Chritl appeared to the eleven, as they fat at meat; aliudirig to the meeting of the eleven at Jerufalem : he then flates the converfation, that he fays paffed at that meeting; and immediately after fays, (as a fcho(j^boy would finifii a dull flory,) "6's» then, after the Lord had fpoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and fat on the right hand of God. But the writer of Luke fays, that the afcenfion was from Bethany; that he (Ghrift) led them fiyt as far as Bethany, and was parted from them there, andnvas carried vh Into heaven. So alfo was Mahomet ; and as to Mofes, the apoflfe Jude fays, ver. 9, 'That Michael and the Devil df pitted about his body. While we believe fach fables as thefe, or either of them, we believe unworthily of the Almighty. I have now gone through the examination of the four books afcribed to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John ; and when it is confidered that Part Il.i AGE OF REASON. 127^ the whole fpace of time, from the crucifixion to what is called the afcenfion, is but a few days, apparently not more than three or four, and that all the circumftances are reported to have happened nearly about the fame fpot, Jerufalem, it is, I believe, inipoffible to find, in any ftory upon record, fo many, and fuch glaring abfurdities, contra- di^llons, and falfhoods, as are in thofe books. They are more nume- rous and ftviking, than 1 had any expedation of finding wlien I be- gan this examination, and far more fo than T had any idea of, when I wrote the former part of the y^ge of Reafou. I had then neither Bible nor TcftamxCnt to refer to, nor could I procure any. My own fituation, ev^n as to exiflence, was becoming every day more preca- rious ; and as I was willing to leave fomething behind m.e upon the fubjedl, I was obliged to be quick and concife. The quotations I then made, were from memory only, but they are correvfl; and the opinions I have advanced in that work, are the eiTedt of the mod clear and long eftablifhed convidion,— that the Bible and Teftament are impofitions upon the world; — that the fall of man, the account of Jefus Chrift being the Son of God, and of his dying to appeafe the wrath of God, and of falvation1)y that ftrange means, are all fabulous inventions, diflionourable to the wifdom andpower of the Almighty ;— that the only true religion is deifm, by which I then meant and now mean the belief of one God, and an imitation of his moral chara<5ler, or the practice of what are called moral virtues; — r.nd that it was upon this only (fo far as religion is concerned) that I rcfied all my hopes of happinefs hereafter. So fay I now — -and fo help me God. But to return to the fubject. — Though it is impoiTible, at this diftance of time, to afcertain as a fa6l, who were the writers of thofc four books (and this alone is fufficient to hold them \\\ doubt, and where we doubt we do not beheve), it is not diiiicult to afcertain {^ negatively, that they were not written by the perfoas to whom thev "are afcribed. The contradictions in thofe books dcmoiiilrate two ^J ihinijs. Firft, that the writers cannot have b^n cyc-witneflls and ear-wit- nefTes of the matters they relatc,^or tliey would have related them without thofe conti-adift^ons ; and confequently that the books havs not been written by the perfons called apoilles, who are fuppofed to \ have been witnefies of this kind. >^ Secondly, that the writers, whoever they were, have not av^ed in concerted mipofitioos; but each writer, feparately and individually ^ for himfelf, and without the knowledge of the other. '\) The fame evidence that applies to prove the oae, applies equally ta % ii8 P A INE*s WO R KS. prove both tliefe cnfes ; that is, that the bocks were not wrlttefi by the men called apollles, and alfo that thev are not a concerted Impo- fition. As to infpiration, It is akogether out of the queftion ; we may as well attempt to unite truth and fahliood, as inrpiratioR and con- tradition. If four men arc eye-witnefHes and ear-winelTes to a fcene, they will Without any concert among them, agree as to the time and place, when and where that fcene happened. Their individual knowledge of the thing, e^ich one knowing it for himfelf, renders concert totally iinnecclfary ; the one will not fiiy it was iw a mountain in the country, and tlic other at a lioufe in town ; the one will not fay it was at fun- rife, and the other that it was dark. For in whatever plac^ it was, and at whatever time it was, they know it equally alike. And on the other hand, if four men concert a ftory, they will make their feparate rekitions i>f that uory agree and corroborate each other to fupport the vrhcle. That rorcerfc fupplies the v^-ant of faci: in the one cafe, as the knovv'Icdgc of the fail fupercedes, in tlie other cafe, the neceiTity of concert. The fame contradiclions, therefore, that prove there has been no concert, prove alfo, that the reporters had na knowledge of the faft (or rather of that which they relate as a fa6\), and detefl alfo tlie fajfliood of their reports. Thofe books, therefore, have neither been v\Titten by the m.en called apoftles, nor by impoftors in concert. How then have they been written ? I am not one of thofe who are fond of believing there is much of -that which is called wilful lying, or lying originally, except in the cafe of men fetting up to be prophets, as in the Old Teilament; for prcphefying is lying profefTionally. In almoft all other cafes, it is rot- difficult to difcover the progrefs, by which evenfimple fuppofition, with the aid cf credulity, will m tima grow into a lie, and at laft be told as a facl; and v,'henever we find a charitable reafon for a thing of this kind, v>e oiipht not to indulge a fevere one. The ftory of Jefus Chriil appearing after he was dead, is the ftory of an apparition ; futh as timid im.agination can always create in vifion, ?.nd credulity believe. Storks of this kind had been told of the affafllnation of Julius C^far not many years before, and they gene- rally have their origin in violent deaths, or in execution of innocent perfons. In cafes of this kind, compafiion lends it's aid, and benevo- lently flretches the flory. It gees on a little and a little farther, till it becomes a mojl ctrta'm truth* Once ftart a ghoft, and credulity fills up the hiftory of it's life, and affigns the caiife of it's appearance; cntf tc41s it ©ne way, t.rxther another way, till there are as many PartJL] age of reason. 129 ftories about the ghoil, and about the proprietor of the ghoft, as there are about Jefus Chrift in thefe four books. The ftory of the appearance of jefu". Chrift is told with tliat ftrange mixture of the natural and the impoflible, that diftinguifhes a legendary tale from fadl. He is reprefent*?d as fuddenly coming in, and going out when the doors wer€ fliut, and cF vanilliing out of fight, and appearing again, as one would conceive of an unfub- ftantial vifion; then again he is hungry, fits down to meat, and eats his fupper. But as thofe who tell ftories of this kind, never provide for all the cafes, fo it is here : they have told us, that when he aiofe, he left his grave clothes behind him; but they have forgotten to provide other clothes for hfm to appear in afterwards, or io tell us what he did with them, when he afcended ; whether he ftript all off, or went up clothes and all. In the cafe of Elijah, they have been careful enough to make him throu'^ down his mantle ; how it happened not to be burnt in the chariot of fire, they alfo have not told us. But as imagination fupphes all deficiencies of this kind, we may fuppofe, if we pleafe, that it was made of falamahder's wool, Thofe who are not m.uch acquainted with ecclefiaftical hiftorv- may fuppofe, that the book called the New Teftament has exiitcd ever fince the time of Jefus Chrift, as they fuppof-' that the books afcribed to Mofes, have exifted ever fince the time of Mofes. But the fadl is hifto- rically otherwife ; there was no fuch book as the New Teftament, till more than thre^lTundred years after the time that Chrift is faid to have lived. At what time the books afcribed to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, began to appear, is altogether a matter of uncertainty. Thers is not the leaft fiiadow of evidence of who the perfons were that wrote (hem; and they might as well have been called by the names of any other fuppofed apoftles, as by the names they are now called. The originals are not in the poIFeflion of any Chriftian church exifting, any more than the two tables of ftenes written on, as they pretead, by the finger of God, upon Mount Sinai, and given to Mofes, y.re ia the poflcifion of the Jews. And eve.n if they were, there is no pofTibihty of proving the hand-v^riting in either cafe. At the time thofj four books were written, there was no printing, and ccnfequently there could be no publication, otherwife than by written copies, which any man might make, or alter at pleafurc, and call them originals. Can we fuppofe it is confiftent with the wiulom of the Almighty, to comniit liimfelf and his will to man upon fuch precarious meafis as ISO P'AINE's WORKS. thefe ; or tliat it is confident we fhorjd pin our faitli upon fuels uncertainty ? We cannot make, nor alter, noi* even imitate fo much aS a blade of grafs, that he has made, and yet we can make or alter luords ofGodf as eafily as words of man.* About three hundred and hfty years after tlie time that Chrifl: h faid to have lived, fereral v.-ritingsof the kind I am fpeakingof, w£re fcattered in the hands of divers iridividuals^ and as the church had begun to form itfelf into a hierarchy, or church government with temporal powers, it {et it fclf about eoUefting them into a code, a^, we now fee them., called the Nenv Tefiament. They decided by vote, as I iiave before faid in the former part of the ^'Ige of Reafon^ which of thofe writings, out of the colle6lion they had made, fhould be the 'word of Gody and which fiiould not. The rabbins of the Jew^s* had decided,, by vote„ upon the books of the Bible before. As the obJ£6l of the church was, as is the cafe in all national .eftablifliments of churchesy powr- and rerenue, and terror the means it ufed ; it is coniifient to f uppofe, thrvt the moft miraculous and wonderful of the writings they had colkded, iiood the bell chance of being votcd^ And as to the authenticity of the booksj the vets- Jlands in the place of It } for k can be traced no higher. Difputes, however, ran high among the people then calling them- felves Chriilians; not only as to points of do6lrine, but as to the au- t][ieiiticity of the books.. In the contcit between the perfons called ^t- Auguftine, and Faulle, about the year 400, the latter fays, " the books called the Evangeiiib, have been compofed long after the times of the apo {lies, by fome obfcure m.cn, who fearing that the world would not give credit to their relatiQn of matters^ of which they : %.7'he forma- part of the Age of Reafon h^^ not been pulJj/Ijed /wa- '■carsydnd there is already an exprejfion in if, that is not mine. The eX' pre/lion is. The bock of Luke v.'as carried by -a m.ajority of one vore only. // ^^y ^^ true, hut it is not I that have faid it. Some perfouy ivho ini'^ht know quite dife rent , that they 'gave for aufhentic. t3» PAINE^s WO^KS, When we confider the lapfe of more than three hundred yea^f intervening between the time that Chrift is faid to have lived, and the time the New Tellament was formed into a book, we muft fee, even wTthout the affiftance of hiftorical evidence, the exceeding un- certainty there is of it's authenticity. The authenticity of the book of Homer, fo far as regards the authorfhip, is much better eftabh'fhed than that of the New Teftament, though Hom.er is a thoafand years the more ancient. It was only an exceeding good poet that could have written the hook of Komer, 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 compofed Euclid's Elements, becaufe none but an exceeding good geometrician could have been the author of that work. But with refpefi: to the books of the New Tellament, particularly fuch parts as teU us of the refurreilion and afcenfion of Chrift, any perfon who could tell a ftory of an apparition, or of a man\t ivalkingi could have made fuch books ; for the ftory is moft wretchedly told. The chance, therefore, of forgery in the Teftament, is millions to one greater than in the cafe of Homer or Euclid. Of the numerous priefts or parfons of the prefent day, birtiops, and all, every one of them can make a fermon, or tranllate a fcrap of Latin, efpecially if it^ has been: tfaniiated a thouiand times before; but is there any amongft them thatcan write poetry like Homer, or fciencelike Euclid? the fumtotul of''on the jdih ■of^pheApoJlksy fays^ ikai in his tiniey about the year ^oo, many pe&pis hrie'tO' nothing either of the author, or of the hooh, St. Irene, fwho ^'Vsd before that time, reports that the J^alentinians, like fcveral other \ fe^s of the Chriflians, accufed ihc fcribtures of being filled nvith errors, imperfeBiom, and contradidions. The Ehionifls, or Na^arines, who 4v€¥i't.he fyji Chri/lians, rejected all the Epifles of Paul, and regarded htrjii 'ds animpoftqr. They report, among other things, that he iOM origii-^ itaUy n-pdgan, that he came to yervfalcm, tvhere he lived fame ti?n^ ; and tJxit having a mind to marry the daughter of the high-priejl, he caufed himfelfto be circumcifed ; but that not being able to obtain her, he quarrelled 'with iht\Je^!(yand wrote again [I circumcifion, and agairifi the obfefva* 4llf>H'bf the fikkitfif. and i^gainji all legate •£•; Part II.] AGE" OF REASON. i$^ ab, and hie, hoec, hoc ; and their knowledc^e of fcience is, three times one is three; and this is more than fuflicient to have enabled them, had tliey hVed at the time, to have written all the books of the New Teftament. As the opportunities of forgery were greater, fo alfo was the in- ducement, A man could gain no advantage by writing under the_ name of Isomer 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 fucceed. Pride would prevent the former, and impoffibility the latter* But with refpe6l to fuch books as compofe the New Teftameiit^ all the inducements \yere on the fide pf fongery. The bell imagined hiftory that could have been made at the diftance of two or three- hundred years after the time, could not have pafTed for an ongmal under the name of the real writer,* the whole cjiaace of fuccefs lay- in forgery; for the church wanted pretence for it's new do6irine, and truth and talents were out of the queftipq. ' But as it is not uncommon (as before obfervcd) to relate flories ofj perfons lualking after they are dead, and of ghofts and apparitions of fuch as have fallen by fome violent or extraordinary means ; and as the people of that day were in the habit of believing fuch things^ anc^Hy^. the appearance of angels, and alfo of devils, and of their getting^ into people's inhdes, and fliaking them like the fit of an ague, andoif their being caft. out again as if by an emetic; (Mary Magdalene, tke book of Mark tells us, had brought up, or been brought ito bed of^^- feven devils;) it was nothing extraordinary that fome ilpty of this kind ihould get cibroad of the perfon called Jefus Chrift, and after- wards become the foundation of the four books afcribed to Matth<^w, Marlf, Luke, and John. Each v/riter told the tale, as he heard it, or thereabout, and gave to his book the name of the faint, or the appj1;le* whom tradition had given as the eye-witnefs. It is only upon this ground that the contradi6lions in thofe books can be accounted for 5. and if this be not the cafe, they are downright impoikionsjk lies, and forgeries, without even the apology of credulity. •'vThat they have been written by a fort of half Je\ys, as th^ fore- going quotations mention, is difcevnible enou.gh, VTbe freque^it references made to that chief alTafr^u and irjipo Ptor, Mofes, and to the^ nien called prophets, ellablilhcs thiti point ; and on the other hand, thq church has complimented the fraud, by admitting the Bible and the Teftament to reply to each other. Between the Chriftisin-Jew, and the Chriftian-Gentile, the thing called a prophecy, and the thing pro- phefied of; the type, and the thing typified;, the fign, and th^ thin^ 134 P A I N E's WO R KS. fignified; have been induftrioiifly rummaged up, and fitted togetlier like old locks and picklock-keys. The ftory, foolifhly enough toldj. of Eve and the ferpei>t, and naturally enough as to the enmity be- tween men and ferpents; (for the ferpent always bites about the heel, becaufe it cannot reach higher; and the man always knocks the fer- pent about the heacU as the moft effeftual way to prevent it*s biting;)*' this foolifh ftory, I fay, has been made into a prophecy, a type, and a promife to begin with ; and the lying impofition of Ifaiah to Ahaz, That a 'virgin fhmild conceive and hear a fon, as a fign that Ahaz fnould conquer, when the event was, that he was defeated (as already noticed in the obfervations on the book of Ifaiah,} has been perverted, and made to ferve as a v/inder-up. Jonah and the v/hale are alfo made into figns and types. Jonah is Jefus, and the v.diaie is the grave; for it is faid, and they have made Chrift to fay it of himfelf,) Matt. chap. xii. ver. 40, " For as Jonah- was three days and three nights m the whale's belly, fo fliall the fon of man be three days and three nights m the heart of the earth." But it happens aukwardly enough that Chrift, according to their own account, was but two nights and one day in the ^ave; about 36 hours inftead 0172; that is, the Friday night, the Saturday, and the Saturday;^ !iight; fcr he was up on the Sunday morning, by fun-rife or before. But as this fits quite as well as the bite and the kick in Genefis, and the- 'Dtrgmy and hery&« in Ifaiah, it will pafs in the lump of orthodox things. Thus much for the hiftorical part of the Teftament, and its evidences,. ;- . THE EPISTLES OF PAUL. The Epiftles afcribed to Paul, being fourteen in number, almofb fill up the remaining part of the Teftament. V/hether thofe epiftles were written by the perfon to whom they are arc afcribed is a matter of no great importance, fince that writer, whoever he was, attempts to prove his doftrine by argument. Ke docs^ not pretend to have been witnefs to any of the fcenes told of the refurre61ion and the afcenfion, and he declares that he had not believed them. The ftory ofhis being ftruck to the ground as he was journeying to Damafcusi has nothing in it miraculous or extraordinary ;^Ke? efcaped with life, and that is more than many others have done wHo have been ftruck with lightning : and that he fliould lofe his iigKt *'-«// Jhall hruife thy\xt2i^ and thou Jh all brulfe his he^l/' Gensfig, chap. iii. vtt?f^-i' PartIL] age of reason. i^s for three days, and be unable to eat or drink during that time, is nothing more than is common in fuch conditions. His companions that were with him appear not to have fuffered in the fame manner, for they were well enough to lead him the remainder of the journey ; neither did they pretend to have feen any vifion. The charadier of the perfon called Paul, according to the accounts given of him, has in it a great deal of violence and fanaticifm; he had perfeciited with as much heat as he preached afterwards ; the ftroke he had received had changed his thinking, without altering his condi- tution ; and either as a Jew or a Chriftian he was the fame zealot. Such men are never good moral evidences of any dodtrine they preach. They are always in extreme:^, as well of a6lion as of belief. The dodlrine he fets out to prove by argument is the refurreflioii of the fame body, and he advances this as an evidence of immortality. But fo much will men differ in their manner of thinking, and in the conclufions they draw from the fame premifes, that this doftrine oi the refurreclion of the fame body, fo far from being an evidence of immortahty, appears to me to furnifli an evidence againft it : for, if ,li have already died in this body, and am raifed again in the fam.e body in which I have died, it is prefumptive evidence that I iliall die again, . That refurredion no more fecures me againfl the repetition of dying, than an ague fit, when pall, fecures me againfl another. To believe-" therefore in immortality, I mufl have a more elevated ide^f thg-U i§ } contained in the gloomy do6lrine of the refurreftion. rnum eudT Befidcs, as a matter of choice, as well as of hope, I had rather hari^ Bjbettex^ody and a m.erexonverrient form, than the prefent. Every animal in the creation excels us in fomething. The winged in fedts, without mentioning doves or eagles, can pafs over more fpace, and with greater eafc, in a few minutesj^than man can in an lipjir.-. -The,;, glide of the fmaileft fifn, in proportion to it^s bulk, exceeds ,u^,iq,j,^, motion, almoil beyond comparifon, and without wearinefs. Even thq,. fluggifli fnail caji afcend from the bottom cf a dungeon, where ma.n^» by the want of that ability, would perifh ; and a fpider can launch jti^l^^ from the top, as playful amufement. The perfonal powers pf njaa,^^^. fo limited, and his heavy frame fo little conftruclrled to extenfive en- joyment, that there is nothing to induce us to wiHi the opinion' r)£,j Paul to be true. It is too little for the magnitude of the fcp»er^.t(^grj^ mean for the fublimity of thefubject. t; > J - vf;ii But all other arguments apart, the confcioufnefi of exlflence is the only conceivable idea that v/e can have of another life ; and the con- tinuance of that confcioufacfs is immortahtr. The confcioufnefis 4vf . ,. 136 1^ A iNE's WO H ICS. exiftcnce, or the knowing that we exiil, is not neceflarily confined to the fame form, nor to the fame matter, even in this life. . We have not in all cafis the fam.e form, nor in any cafe the fame matter that compofed our bodit-^ twenty or thirty years ago; and yet we are confcious of being the fame perfons. Even legs and arms, which make up alm.oil half the human frame, are not neceflary to the confcioufnefs of exiilence. They may be loft, or taken away, and the full confcioufnefs of exiftence remain ; and were their place fup- . plied by wings or other appendages, we cannot conceive that it could alter our confcioufnefs ot exiftcnce. In fhort, we know not how niuch, or rather how little, of our compofition it is, and how exqui- litely fme that little is, that creates in us the confcioufnefs of exiftence ; and all beyond that is like, the pulp of a peach, diftin6l and feparate from the vegetative fpeck in the kernel. Who can fay what exceeding fine a6lion of fine matter it is, that produces a thought in • hat 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 produclion of men that has that capacity. Statues of brafs or marble will periih ; and ftatues made in imita- tion of them are not the fame ftatues, nor the fame workftianfhip, any more than the copy of a picSlure is the fame picture. But print and reprint a thought a thoufand times over, and with miaterials of anv kind, carve it on wood, or engrave it on ftone, the thought is eternalb; and identically the fame thought in every cafe. It has a capacity of unimpaired exiftence, unaffected by change of matter, and is effentially diftind, and of a nature different from every thing clfe that we know of, or can conceive. If then the thing produced has in itfelf, a capacity of being immortal, it is more than a token that the power that produced it, vvhich,is,the felf-iame thing as confciournefs of exiilence, can be imm.ortal alfo; and that independently of the mat- ter it wafS,firft, con ne6led with, as the thought is of the printing; or writing, it firft appeared in. The one idea is not more- difficult to believe than the other; and we can fee that one is true. . That the confcioufnefs of exiftence is not dependent on the fame form, or the fanje matter, is dcmonftrated to our fenfes in the works «f the creatioq, fo far- as our fcnfes are capable of receiving that de- monftratioa. A very numei r.us part of the animal creation preachesto us, far better than Paul, the belief of a life hereafter. Their little life relcmbles an earth and a heaven, a prefent and a future ftate : and cymprifva, if it may be fo exprcffcd, imrjaortality ia miv.ialuie. Pa,!< t II.] AGE OF R E A S 0 N. t^7 The mo ft beautiful parts of the creatlcnj to o'jr eyes, are the winged inffcis; and they are not fo originally. They acquire that form and that Iiiimit-ible brilliancv bv proi^rcflive changes. Tlie liow and creeping caterpillar -wcrrn of to-day, Tiaifco in a •: v/ days to a torpid figure and a llate reftmbling* death; and in the nc't cliange comes forth in all the nriniatu'-e magniuceuce of life, a fptehdld liut- terily. No refcmblance of tiie former creature remains; every iliihg is changed; all his powers are new, and life is to hii^^.another thing. We cannot conceive that the coafcioufnefs of exiftence is no. die fame in this ilate of the aiiiirjal as before: v/hy then mule 1 believe that the refurreftion of the fame .body is necelTary to coniii.ue t me tiie confcioufnefs of exillenee hereafter ? In thii former past of the ^"/gc cf Reafvn T have called th.e creation the true and only i-eal word of God; and thio iaHance, or this text, VA tiie book of creation, not only flicws'to ug that tliis tiiiing'niay l>e fo, but that it is fo ; and that the belief of a future ilate is a rs.Uonal ^W/.y, founded upon fa s viRble on the creation; for it is not more diHiciilt to believe that we fhall exill hereafter in a 'better l^ate'ahd form than at prefent, than that a worm diftuld f>ecdme a bilttcrnV,. ai^B^iuit the dunghill for the atmofplitrc, if we did not kiib-.v it as 'a x\s to .tlie doubtful jargon afcribed to Paul in the i 5 th ichap'cr of I Corinthians, which makes p:irt of th.c biiriai ferviceof fome'^Tlriiuiiiis,: it i? as detlitr.te of meaning- as the tolling ofthe bellafthe funeral. * It explains- nothing to the ^-d^rilaiMing^ -k'nifjlMf^ff^Bd^ifn^ W'^ii^ imagination; biir leaver the reader to lin(3'yny'itl'<^an'i'rig^'1if fit^c^^^ " All fleHi," fhys he, *' is not the fime J^efhV -Tlltli¥is'btili!lc% dT rjien, anetiier of fiflic;:, and another of birds.'*' An'd' vhr't upon me to lcUei;cit to he rcvelm:';n before : ne<:hcr is it proper tLti- I JJsonJd 'crlc the nvord cj man cs .he ^vcrd of Goo\ nvti put man in the pLue oj^ God.'' , Tft-s is the manner inv:hirb I have ipQi-icn of revelation m A'Z former part of the Jn^e of Reap'-: : and \viiica. wliuc it rtverenli'iliy cwimits reve]?V:oa ::s a poiuble Unne^, be- I V. Ui'^, , ^Uiv. ivil'^.j lO li.e / viilliS-' fit-\ ■ ctli L;litii,5 tl;>- ,?C)Ai!D.-t, iu pie- vents.tli.^; iii>p.>i^tiii:^a;.of|0'ie :r.a!i vi]>on u'luthcr, and precludes the A\icked ufe of pr^^tend^d re)mJutio:% But thci:,e,hj;.j[Be^kii;>g ft^if roj^klf, I *Juir. adir^ft the pGfTibih'ly of revelation ; l totaliy difoeliete, ft deteuabic wici^ednefs, the moll: horrid cruelties, and tlid j^r^QteD: mjfeiesj- that h.avc afnicied tlie hnman r:ice, haire had their origin.in ith-is tkliig caHcd revelation, or revealed rclipon. It has beenthc iTioCldilhonourablebtlief againft the charac-ier of tlicDiviniLV, andthe;,moll dv*(lrii£tive to morah'ty, and the peace and happinefs of man, t^mt ever wii^ pror.airated lince mi!ibee;an to exilL It is better,- tar better, that-. Ave adiriitred, if it were pofiible, a thoufand devilo ro roa:lid«i:d wordof God in his mouth, and have credit among iis. WheacearoTe all the horrid aSafTmations of v^'hole natior-f;, of men. wornen, and infants, with v/iiich the Bible is filled, and the b'oody Derfcc-citicms, and torir.res unto death;, and rehgious AVcirs, that fmcc t hat tinie: have- la'dJ-'unipe in blood and alhcr, ; whence aro-fe they, but fj-orritbis ijf.pious thing called revealed religion, arid thismonflrous belief ji.tli^.t,. God has fppken to man ? The lies of the Bi])lehave been the caufe o'fielif one, and the iie.s of the Tcllament the other. Sonzd-,Ci:\riRia:i3 ])rctend that Chndianity was not edabliihed by the rvw>f,fl; b.ut.of what period of time dp they fp^^ak ? It was im- iiofTible tliat t^jcfhe men ihould l^gin with the fword; tliey had not Pa^t II.] AGE OF Ri: A SON. ur thcpowcr ; but no fooner were the profeflfors of Chriri:.*c>n{tyiu^:ic;enl!)r powerful to employ th'e fword, tlian they did fo, and the flake and l\\2 facTCOt too; and Mahomet could not do it fooner. By the fartie fpirit thr.t Peter cut ovT the enr of the higli prieil's fervnnt (ii" the ftory bo true), ho woidd cut oiF his head, and the head of lu"^ mailer, had he been able. Befides this, Chriilianity grounds iifelf origuiaily upon the Bible, and the Bible was ellablifiied altogether by the Iv/ord, and that in the word ufe of it; not to terrify, but to extirpate. The Jews made no converts ; butchered all. The Bible is the fire of the Teftamer.t, and both are called the wor^/ rfGori, The Chriftians road both books; t.he miniflerfi preach from both books; and tlus tiling called Chriftianity is made up of both. It is then falfc to fay, that Chriftianity was not eft^ibliihed by t]\e fword. The oiily fed that has not perfecuted are the quakers; ar.d the only reafon that can be p-iven for it, is, that they are rath.er De'lts than Chriilians. They do not believe much about Jefus Clirill, and they call the fcriptures a dead letter. Had they called them by a worfe name, they ha^i been nearer the truth. It Ig incumbent on every man v;ho reverencer. the character of tl-t* Creator, and who wifhes to lefltMi the cataiO[;ue of artif-ciai miferies, and remove the caufe that has fown perfecuticns thick amoi^g- niaiV- kind, to exDel all ideas of revealed relio-ion as a daiirrerous IierHr, an(H an impious fraud. What is it th.at we have learned frorr this pre* teudecl thing called revealed religion? — nothing that in ufeful to ma':*i JA'-^ T and every thing that is di(honourable to his Maker. What is it t.h<;? ' Vm ^ jj> Bible teaclics us? — rapine, criwlty, and murder. "Wh.at is it th--* ^ "^^ fe '^^reftament teaches us ? — to believe that the Alm.i'jrhtv committfol I H \ drbauchery with a woman, engaged to be niarried ; and thebehef i)f ^.l v this debauchery is called faith. ; »j^ /' ( As to the fragments of morality that are irregulaily and tiptfii'y* 1 r" feattered in thofe bookc;, they make no part of thij pretended tkiag, h| revealed religion. They are the natural didat^s of confcience, ar.]il the bonds by vv-hich fcicicty is held together, and without which, it cannot CKill ; and arc nearly the fame in all religions, and in all focietie?* The Tcibament teaches nothing new upon tliis fubjcCl ; and wlvcre it attempts to exceed, it becomes mean, and rfdic.dor.s. Tlie dodrir.i: of not retaliating injuries is mud i better expreffeG in Proves br,, w])ich is a colledion as well from the Gentiles, as the Jews, thnn ft is in tiie Teftament. It is therefaid, Proverbs r.X'v*. ver. 2T, *^ If th'we eminy h h'.itigiyy^'ivc /'//.'? bread to eat ; and if he be :hhfy, give Lir.i avr^'r/i H2 PAINE's WORKS. ^r;/7i;"* but when it is faici, as in the Teftament, ^' If a man Jnuir thee on the right cheek, inrn to him the other alfo ;'' it is affafnnating the dignity of forbearance, and linking man into a fpaniel. : Loving enemies h another dogma of feigned morah'iy, and- lias be- fides no meaning. It is incumbent on man, as a movahil:, that lie does not revenge an injury ; and it is equally as good m a poh'tical fenfe, for there is no end to retahation ; each retah'ates on the other:, rmd calls it juftice; but to Jove in proportion to the injury, if it could be done, would be to oiier a premium for a crime. Belides, the word enemies is too vague and general to be ufed in a moral maxim, which ought always to be clear and defined, hke a proverb. If a man be the enemy of another from miibike and prejudice, as in the Cv^fe of religious opinions, and fomctimes in politics, that man is different to an enemy at heart, with a criminal intention ; and it is incumbent upon us, and it contributes alfo to our own tranquiaty, that we put the befi condrudtion upon a thing that it will bear. BiTt even this erroneous motive in him makes no motive for love- on tbe other part ; and to fa)-- that we can love voluntarily, and vv'ithout a motive, is morally and phyfically impofiible. Morality is injured by prefcribing to it duties, that, in the firft place, are impofiible to be performed ; and, ]^ they could be, would be produClive of evil: or, as before faid, be premiums for ctine. The maxim of doing as nve nvavM he done unto do s not include this ilrange Qocirinc of loving enemies ; for no man expeCis to be loved himftlf for bib crime, or for his enmity. ... ^' According to ivhat is called Chrifl'sfernion on the m unf in the tooh €j MattiicCu, nvhere^ among fonie good things ^ a great deal of this feigned morauiy is iniroduccd, it is there exprefsly faidj that the do Br hie of for- hearance-iOr of not rdaJia'ing injuries, was not any part of the doftrine of the Jews ; and as this doBrinc is found in Pro-verbs, it mnfl, according in thaijiitltmeht, ha'vs been copied from the Gentiles, from ivhovi Chrifl leafffH^ W-J'''^''^hofe n;rn, tvhom ye^.vijh and Chrfiinn idolators have ahufvely called heathens, had much better and clearer ideas ofjrijlice and rnoralif^^ffff^i are to be found in the Old "Tiflam^nt^fofar as it is yenvifo ; or hrthi ■Nc^v. '' The anfiver of Solon on the quflion, *' Which is the moii>'pwfc'& "popular govertimcnt " has never been exceeded by any man fnch'lAs ii^.el*^s containing a maxim of pQlilical morality. <* Tliaty^;)^^ /jf, whcpe'th^ Icuft injury doiie to the mcaineil individual, is 'c6n- fid^rred as'au'irrfult on the whole cGnHitution." Schn lived dhovf KOO years before Ctrijl. Part II.] A G E O F R E A S O K. 143 Tliofe who preach this doclrine of loving enemies, are in general the greatell perfcciuors, and they adl conrillently in fo doing; for the doftrine 13 hypocritical; and it is natural that hypocrifyfhould aft the reverfe of what it preaches. For mv own part, I difown the doftrinc, and Goifidcr ii a:, a feigned or fabulous morality; yet the man does not ex ill that can fay, I have pcrfecuted him, or any man, or any fei of men, either in the American revolution, or in the French revolution ; or that I have, in any cafe, returned evil for evil. But it is not incumbent on man to rev/ard a bad a£xion v;ith a good one, or to return good for evil; and wherever it is done, it is a voluntary n6t, and not a duty. It is alfo abfurd to fuppofe, that fuch doctrine can make any part of a revealed religion. We imitate the moral charafter of the Creator by forbearniG^ with each other, for he for- bers with all : but thi;s doclrine would imnlv that he loved ilian, r.ol in proportion as he was good, but as he was bad. If vvc confider the nature of our condition here, we muft fee there is no occaiion for fuch a thing as re'vealed relig'ioti. What is it we want to know : Does not the creation, the univerfe we behold, preach to us the exiflence of an Almighty power, that governs and regulates the whole ? And is not the evidence that this creation holds out to our fenfes infinitely flronger than any thing we can read in a book, that any impofcor might make, and call the word of God ? As fbr morality, the knowIed.G;e of it exills in every man's confcience. Here we are. The exifience of an Almighty power is fufHciently denionftrated to us, though v/e cannot conceive, as it is iniTjoiTible M^e fnculd, the nature and manner of it*s exiftence. We cannot conceive how we came here ourfelvcs, and yet we know for a fact that v/e are here. Wemuft knov/ alfo, that the power that called us into being can, if he pleafe, and when he pleafes, call us to account for the manner in which we have lived here ; and therefore, without feekincj any other motive for the belief, it is rational to believe that he will, fcr we know beforehand that he can. The probability, or even poflibility of the thing is all we ought to know ; for if we knew it as 11 facl, we fiiculd be the mere flaves of terror, our belief would have no merit, and our bed ai^ions no virtue. Dciun then teaches us, without |he poiubility of bein^ deceived, all that is neccffary and proper to be known. The creation is th<; Bible of the deift. He there reads, in the hand writing of the Creator himfelf, the certainty of his exiilence ; and all other Bibles and Teftaments ai-e to him forgeries. The probubilily that we may be called to account hereafter, will, to a relieving rnind, have tke-ia,- M4 P A I N E 's \V O R K S. Sisencc cf beHef; f(ir it is not our belief, or oiiv difbelicf, t.Iiat CTiti make or unmake the hti. As this is the (late we are in, and which it is proper we flioukl be in, as free argents, it is the fool only, and Eot the philofopher, or even the prudent men, who will live as if there were no God. But the belief of a God is fo weakened by being mixed with the ftranj:^e fable of tlie Chriftian creed, and with the wild adventures relatcd-in the Bible., and the obfcurity and obfcene nonf^jnfe of the Teftanient, that the mind of man is bewildered aa in a fog. Viewing rdl thcfe ihin|Tsin a confufed niTifs, he coiifounds fatl with fable ; and as hex:arnot believe all, he feels a difpofition to r-ejevil all. But the belief-of a God, i.s a belief diitinil: from all other things, and ought | i:ot to be confounded with any. The notion of a Trinity of Gods bas enfeebled the belief of w;^ God. x\ multiplication of beliefs acts as a divifion of belief; and in proportion v.s any tiling is divided, it is weakened. Religion, by fnch means, becomes a thing of form, inftead of fafi: ; a notion ir. (lead of principle; morality is baniilied to iirake room for an imaij'inarY thin'.?=', called faith, and this faith has it's cririn in a fuppofed dyebauchery ; a man is preached inilead of God ; an execution ^ a-s. an ol>je<^ of gratitude; the preachers daub themfelves vfkh the y l-ilood, like a troop of afTivirins, and pretend to admire the brilliancy it give? them ; they preach a humdrnm fermon on the merits of the c-jiCGUtion ; then praife Jefus Chriil for being executed, snd condemn :,;t)ie Jewb for doing it. ' A inaH, by hearing all their nonfenfe lumped and preacb.ed together, c:on£ou!>da the God of the creation with the imagined God of Chrillian*'. and lives as if there were none. Of all the fyilems of religion that ever were invented, there is none more derogatory to the Amighty, mere imedifying to n-san, more rcpnrnant to reufon, and more contradi part; neither does it anfwer the avarice of priells, but by incorporating i » themfelves and their fun6lions with it, and becoming, like the govern- f '^ ment, a party in the fyftem. It is this that forms the otherwife , t myflenoiis connexion of church and ftate; tiiC church humane, and 1^ the ftate tyrannic. >L Were a man imprefled as fully and as flrongly as he Ou^^t to be, ^ with the belief of a God, his moral life would be re^-ulated by the s:!'^ force of this belief; he would Hand in awe of God, and of himfelf, atiu I I would not do the thing that could not be concealed from either. To /^ give this belief the full opportunity of force> it is ncccKtXTj that it acts -'Nf alone. This is deifm. But when, according to the Chriftian Trinitarian fcheJne; one part of God is Tcprcfented by a dying man, and another part, callc;^< tlic Hply Ghofl:,l)y a flying pigeon, it is impoffihle that behef can attach itfelf to fuch wild conceits.* It has been the fcherae of the ChriRian church, and of all the other invented fyftems of religion, to hold man in ignorance of the Creator, as it is of government to hold him in ignorance of his rights. The fyftenls of the one are as falfe as thofe of the other, and are calculated for mutual fupport, The ftudy of theology, as it Hands m Chriftian churches, is the ftudy of nothing ; it is fotmded oh 'nothing; it refts on no principles; it proceeds by no authorities; It Has no data; it can demonftrate nothing-; and admits of no conchifioh.' Not any thing can be ftudied as a-fcicnce, without our being in poiTefiion of the principles upon wliich it is founded ; and as this is r.ot the cafe with Chriftan theology, it Is therefore the ftudy of nothing. Inftead then of ftudying theology as Is now done, out of the Bibls and Teftamont, the meanings of which books are always controverted, and the authenticity of which is difproved, it is necefiary that we refer to the Bible of the creation. The principles we difcover there, are eternal, and of divine origin : they are the foundation of all the fcience that exifts in the world, and muft be the foundation of theology. * T/je hook called the book of Matthew, fays, chap. tii. ver^ 16, that the Holy Ghoft defcended in the ftiape of a Dove. It might as well- have fa'id a goof 6 ; the creatures are equally harmlefs^ and the one is as much a nonfenfical lie as the other. The fecondof AEls, vcr-. 2, '^^^fays^ that if. defcended in a mighty rufhing wind, in the Jimpe ices, the unerring order in which they revolve, even t@ the remotefh comet, their connexion and de- pendence on each other, and to know the fyilem of laws, eilabliflied by tJie Creator, that governs and regulates the whole ; he would then, cenceive far beyond what any chirch-theology can teach him, the J)OWer, the wifdom, the vaftnefs, the munificence of the Ci-eator : he would then- fee, that all the knowledge man has of -fcience, and that ail the mechanical arts, by which he renders his fituation com- fortable here, are derived from that fource : his mind exalted by the 'fe-i^ne, and convinced by the faft, would increafe in gratitude, as it in- ci-eafed in knowledge : his religion or his worfiiip would become united "with his improvement as a man; any employment he followed, that had connection with the principles of the creation, as every thing of iigriculture, of fcience, and of the mechanical arts has, would teach him more of God, and of the gratitude he owes him, than any theo- logical Chriflian fermon he now hears. Great objedls infpire great thoughts; great munificence excites great gratitude; but the groveling tales and dotkines of the Bible and th^ Teflamcnt are fit only to €xcite contempt. ■ Though man cannot arrive, at leafl in this Hfe, at the a6lual fcene I have defcribed, he can demonftrate it ; becaufe he has knowledge of the principles upon which the creation is conftruded. We know that tiie greateft works can be reprefented in model, and that the tmivcrfc can be reprefented by the fame means. The fame principles by vwhich we meafure an inch, or an acre of ground, will meafure to raillions in extent. A circle of an inch diameter has the fame jyeometrical properties as a circle that would circumfcribe the univerfe. The fame properties of a triangle, that will demonltrate upon paper the courfe of a fhip, will do it on the ocean; and when applied to what are called the heavenly bodies, will afcertain, to a minute, the time of an eclipfe, though thofe bodies are milli- s of miles diiiant Part II.] AGE OF REASON. H7 from us. This knowledge is of divine origin ; and it is from the Blhle of the creation that man lias leurned it, and not from the ftupid Bible of the church, that teaches man nothing.^^ All the knowledge man has of fcience and of machinery, by the aid of which his exifteiice is rendered comfortable upon earth, and without which he would be fcarcely diftinguifhable in appearance and condition from a common animal, comes from the great machine and ftruclure of the univcrfe. Tl:e corflant and unwearied obfervations of our anceilors, upon the movements and revolutions of the heavenly bodies in what are luppofed to have been the early ages of the world, have brought this knowledge upon earth. It is not Mofes and the prophets, nor Jefus Chrift, nor his apoilles, that have dor^e it. The Almighty is the great mechanic of the creation, the firft phiJofopher, aod original teacher of all fcience. Let us then learr to reverence our mailer, anc let us not forget the labours of our anceftors. Had we at this day no knowledge of machinery, and were it prihble that man could have a view, as I have before defcribed, ot the ftruAure and machinery of the univerfe, he would foou conceive the idea of conftrufting fome at lead of the mechanical works wt now have ; and the idea fo conceived would progreiTively advance \n ' practice. Or could a model of the univerfe, fuch as is called an orrery, be prefented before him, and put in motion, his mind would arrive at the fame idea. Such an obje(?t, and fuch a fubject, wo'uld^ whilil it improved him in knowledge ufeful to him.felf as a man and a * The Bihle-mahers have undertaken to give us. in thejlrjl chapter of Gene/is i an account of the creation ; and in doing this they hav? demon' Jlr ate d nothing hut their Ignorance. They make there to ha'-)s hsen three, days and three nights y evenings and mornings ^ before there nvas any fun ; 'when it Is the prefence or ah fence of the fun thai is the caitfe of day: and nighty and his rifing and fettlng that of morning n id evening. Befdes it is a puerile and pitiful Ided, to fuppofc the Aiinighty tofay,\4^t there be Light. // is the Imperative fnanner of fpeaklng that a conjuror ufes^ ibhen he fays to his cups and halls, Prefto, be gone. Longinus calls this exprejjton the fubllme ; cmdhy the fame rule, the conjuror is fuhlime too, for the manner of fpeaking is expreffively and grammatically the fame. When ' authors and critics talk of the fuhlime, they fee not how nearly it harder s on the ridiculous. The fuhlime of the critic. Hie fame part of Edmund Burke's fublime and beautiful, i'> like a ivind-mill jtfi v'lfihle in a fog, ivhich imagination might diflort into a flying mountain, or an an^h angel, or a Jlociof'U-'lIdgeefe. V f4S PA INE's WORKS. 4^ . 0 , member of Toclety, as well as entertaining, afford far better "matter for Xj imprefling him with a knowledge of, and a belief in the Creator, and I of the reverence and gratitude that man owes to him, than the ftupid ^ ' texts of the Bible and the Teftament, from which, be the talents of the preacher wliat they may, only ftupid fermons can be preached. If \ iTian muft preach, let him preach fomething that is edifying, and from texts that are known to be true. "^ The Bible of the creation is incxhauftible in texts. Every part of fcience, whether connected with the geometry of the univcrfe, •';;; with the fyftems of animal and vegetable life, or with the properties of inanimate matter, is a*tex't as well for devotion as for philofophy ; for ^ ^ gratitude, as for human improvement. It will perhaps, be faid, that if fuch a revolution in tlie fyftem of religion take place, every preacher ought to be a philofophcr. Mcjl certainly ^ and every houfe of devo- '■' tfon a fchool of fcience. ^ It hasbe^n by wandering from the immutable laws of fcience, and V the right ufi^of reafon, and fctting up an invented thing called "^^ revealed religion, that fo many wild and blafphemous conceits have l^cen formed of the Almighty. The Jews have made him the affalTm ^ of the human fpecies, to make room for the religion of tiie Jews. >j The Chrfftians have made him the murderer of himfelf, and the k founder of a new religion to fuperfede and expel the Jewifh religion. ^I- And to find pretence and "admillion for thefc things, they muft have fuppofed his power or his wifdom imperfedl, or his will changeable; and the changeablenefs of his will is the imperfedion of thejudgment. ^i^ Thephilofopher knows that the laws of the Creator have never changed, s^ with refpefl either to the principles of fcience, or the properties of ^ J\ matter. Why then is it to be fuppofed they have . changed with s!^ rcfpeft to men? I here clofc the fubjeft. I have Ihewn, in all the foregoing parts cf this work, that the Bible and Teftament are impofttions and for- 4 geries ; and I leave the evidence I have produced in proof cf it, to be '\ refuted, if any one can do it; and I leave the ideas that are fuggefted ^ < in the conclufion of the work, to reft on the mind of the reader ; certain ' ^ as I am, that when opinions are free, either in matters of government vj^ or religion, truth will finally and powerfully prevail. #- A-O* ^WlALO LETTER TO GEORGE WASHINGTON, President of the United States of America. ON AFFAIRS PUBLIC AND PRIVATE. t. By THOMAS PAINE, AUTHOU OF THE V/ORKS ENTITLED, COMMON SENSE^ RIGHTS OF MAN, AGE OF REASON, &C. PHILADELPHIA: PRI14TED BY BENJ. FRANKLIN BACHE, NO. 112 MAR* KET STREET. 1796. ^Entered according to laiv,"} V , t — IMj. |.«J ^ .».■■ ^..,,. — >,|lf ,l^|...l., [f .-l.!.!^'— .1..X.I— . I >.».».»^-^. . I THOMAS PAINE, T O GEORGE WASHINGTON Paris, July 2,^ih^ I79^> S cenfure isbut awkwardly foftened by apology, I fhail offer you no apology for this letter. The eventful crifis to which your double politics have con- ducted the affairs of your country requires ^n inveili- gation uncramped by ceremony. There was a time when the fame of Americaj moral and political, flood fair and high in the world. . The luftre of her revolution extended itfelf to every indi- vidual; and to be a citizen of America gave a title to refpedl in Europe. Neither meannefs nor ingratitude had then mingled itfelf into the compofition of her character. Her refiftance to the attempted tyranny of England left her unfufpe6led of the one, and her open acknowledgment of the aid flie received from ( 4 ) JSrance precluded all fufplcion of the other. The Wafh» ington of politics had not then appeared. At the time I left America (April 1787) the conti- nental convention that formed the federal conftitution was on the point of meeting. Since that time new fchemesofpoIiticsandnewdiftin£tions of parties, have arifen. The term Antifederali/l has been applied to all thofe who combated the defeats of that conftitution, or oppofed the meafures of your adminiftration. It was only to the abfoiuteneceffity of eilablifhing fome federal autliority, extending equally over all theStates, that an inftrument,fo inconfiftent as the prefent fede- ral conftitution is, obtained a fufFrage. I would have voted for it myfelf^ had I been in America, or even for a worfe rather than have had none; provided it con- tained the means of remedying its defeats by the fame appeal to the people by which it was to be eftablifhed. It i$ always better policy to leave removeable errors to expofe themfelves, than to hazard too much in con- tending againft them theoretically. I have introduced thofe obfervations, not osly to mark the general difference between antifederalift and anti-conftitutionalift, but to preclude the efFedtj and even the application, of the former of thofe terms to myfelf. I declare myfelf oppofed to feveral matters in the conftitution, particularly to tiie man- ner in which, what is called the Executive, is foriji- - ed, and to the long duration of the Senate; and ( s ) if I liTe to return to America I will ufe all ifiy ^-n- 4eavour3 to have them altered.* I alfo declare my- felf oppofed to almoft the whole of your adminlftra- tion J for I know it to have been deceitful, if not "*<. even perfidious, as I fliall ihew in the courfe of this letter. But as to the point of confolidating the States into a federal government, it fo happens, that the pro- pofition for that purpofe came originally from myfelf. I propofed it in a letter tq Chancellor Livingfton in the fpring of the year 1 7 3.2,*whilft that gentleman was mi- niiler for foreign affairs. The five per cent, duty re- commended by Congrefs had then fallen through, having been adopted by fome of the States, altered by others, rejed^ed by Rhode Ifland, and repealed by Virginia after it had been confented to. The prcpd- fal in the letter I allude to was to get over the whofe difficulty at once, by annexing a continental legiflative body to Congrefs*, for, in order to have any law of the Union uniform, the cafe could only be, that ekher Congrefs, as it then flood, muft frame the law, and the $tates feveraliy adopt it without alteration, or, the States muft ele£l a Continental Legiilature for the purpofe. Chancellor Livingfton, Robert Morris, Go- ♦ I have always been oppofed to the mode of refining Gov- ernment up to an individual, or what is called a lingle Execu- tive. Such a man will always be tlie ciuef of a party. A plu- raUty is far better : It cOrTibines the mafs of a nalion better to- gether : And beiides tliis, it is neceli'ary to the rrar.ly niincl cf a republie, that it lofes the debafirig idea cf cbeyingan individuii. ( ^''eriieur Morris and myfeif had a meeting at the houfe of Rol>ert Morris on the fubject of that letter. There was no diveriity of opinion on the propofition for a Continental Legiflature. The only difficulty v/as on' the manner of bringing the propofition forward. Tor my own part^ as Iconfideredit as a remedy in referve, tliat could be applied at any time, when the States fa%u themfdves iVfbng enough to he put right (which did not appear to me to be the cafe at that time) I did not fee the propriety of urging it precipitately, and declined being the publiiher of it myfeif. After this account" of a fa£l, the leaders of your party will fcarcely have lUiQ hardinefs to apply to me the term of antifederalift. " But I can go to a date and to a fa£l beyond this ; for the propofition for eiedl:ing a Continental Convention to form the Continental Government is one of the fub- jedis treated of in the pamphlet Common Senfe. Having thus cleared away a little of the rubbifh that might other v/ife have lain in my v/ayj I return to the point of tim.e at which the prefent Federal Conftitu- tion and your adminiflration began. It was very well hid by an anonymous writetin Philadelphia, abcut'a year before tlia-t period, that '^ thirteen Jlaves andne'^er a hoop toUlmt mah a barrel" and as any kind of hoop- ing the barrel, however defc^lively executed, WDuld be better than "none, it v/as fcarcely polTible but that confiderable "advantages muft arife from the federal hooping of the States*- 4-t was with pleafurethat every ( 7 ) iincere friend to America beheld, as the natural effe6l of union, her rifing profperity ; and it was with grief they faw that profperity mixed, even in the bloffom, with the germ of corruption. (^Monopolies of every ^ kind marked your adminiftrationalmofl in the moment of its commencement. The lands obtained by the re- volution were lavifhed upon partizans 5 ^the intereft of the difbanded foldier was fold to the fpeculatorj in- juftice was a6led under tlie pretence of faith j and xm chief of the army became the patron of the fraud; J From fuch a beginning what could be expected, but what has happened ? A mean and fervile lubmifTion to the infults of one^^atipn, tre^qh^fy^aijui .ingra^/tiid? to another. ...;..>n..-j . .. . ..." ^-.:»,-. — ; .t^ - Some vices make .their approach with fuch a fplen-^ did appearance, that we fcarcely know to what clafsof moral difliniElions they belong. They are rather vir- tues corrupted, than vices originally. But meannefs and ingratitude have nothing equivocal in their cha-^ ra£^er. There is not a trait in them that renders them doubtful. They are.fo or iginally_ vice, that they ar€ generated in the dung of other vi^es, and- crawl into exiftence with the filth upon their back. The fugi- -^ tives have found prote6lion in you, and the levee-room is their place of rendezvous. As the Federal Conflitution is a copy, not quite fc bafe as the original, of the form of the Britifh govern*- ment, an imitation of its vices was naturally, to be ex* ( 8 ) pecbed. So intimate is the connection hetweQufbrrn zndpra^icej that to adopt the on- is to invite the other. Imitation is naturally progrc JivSj and is rapidly fo in matters that are vicious. Soon after the Federal Conftitution arrived in England, I received a letter from a female literary correfpondent . (a native of New York) very well mixed with friendihip, fentiment and politics. In my anfwer to that letter I permitted myfelf to ram- ble into the wildernefs of imagination, and to antici- pate what might hereafter be the condition of Ame- rica. I had no idea that the pi£l:ure I then drew was^ realizing fo fail, . and ftill lefs that, Mr, Waihingtori was hurrying it on. As the extract I allude to iS congenial v/ith the fubje6t I am upon, I here tran- fcribe it. <« You touch me on a very tender point when ycii <* fay, ^tbat my friends on your fide the water cannot be *^ reconciled to the idea of my ahandojiing America^ even ^^ for my native England. They are right. I had *« rather fee my horfe Button eating the grafs of Bor- ** dentown or Marrifenia, than fee all the pomp and ♦'^ lliew of Europe» ■ '* A thoufand years hence, for I mud indulge a «* few thoughts, perhaps in lefs, America may be' ** what England now is. The innocence of her cha- *^ rafter, that won the hearts of all nations in her fa- *^ vour, may found like a romance, and her iaimita- ( 9 ) " ble Virtue as if it had never been. The ruins cf " that liberty, which thoufands bled to obtain, " may juft furnilh materials for a village tale, or ex- *f tort a figh from ruftic fenfibiiity ; v/hiiil the fafhion- «« able of that day, enveloped In diffipatibn, ihail de- ■encouraging and fwallowing the grofleft adulation^ and you travelled America from one end — to the *v -other, to put yourfelf in the way of receiving it. You have as many addreffes in your cheii as James the XL As to what were your views, for if you are not great enough to have ambition you are littk enough to have vanity, they cannot be dire£^ly inferred from expreflionsof your ov/n ; but the partizans of your politics have divulged the fecret. John Adams has faid (and John, it is known, v/as alv/ays a fpeiler after places and offices, and never thought his little fervices v/ere highly enough paid) John has faid, that as Mr. Vf afhington had no child^ that the Prefidency fliould be made hereditary in the family of Lund Vv^aHiington. John might then have counted upon fome fme-cure for hiinfelf and a provifion for his defcendants. He did not go fo far as to fay alfo, that the Vice Prefidency fhould be he- reditary in the family of John Adams. He pi'udent- ly left that to (land upon the ground, that one good turn deferves another.* John Adams is one of thofe men who never con- templated the origin of government, or compre- hended any thing of firft principles. If he lir^d, he niufl have feen that the right to (tt up and eflablifli hereditary government never did, and never can, * Two perfo.'=«s to whom John Adams faki this, told n e of it. ■jriie fecretary of Mr. Jay w^^ prefent vyhen it was toM to me. B 2 ( 13 ) exifl in "any generation^ at anytime whatever; that it is of the nature of treafon , becaufs it is an at- tempt to take away the rights cf all the minors living at ihat time, and of all fucceedlng generations. It is of a d'gre^ beyond common treafon. It is a fin againil natare. The equal right of generations is a right fixed in the nature of things. It belongs to the fon when of ae;e, as it belcng-ed to the father before him. John Adams would himfelf deny tlie right that any formxer deceafcd generation could have to decree authoritatively a fuccefiion of Governors over him, or over his children ; and yet he aiTumcs the pretended right, treafonable as it is, of a6ling it himfelf. His ignorance is his befh excufe. John Jay has faid (and this John was always the fycophant of every thing in power, from Mr. Girard in America to Grenville in England) John Jay has faid, that the Senate fhould have been appointed for life. He. would then have been fure of never wanting a lucrative appointment for himfelf, nor have had any fears about impeachments. Thefe are the difguifed traitors that call themfelves federaliils.* Could I have known to what degree of corruption & perfidy the adminiftrative part of the government in America had defcended, I could have been at no iofs to have underiiood the reu^rvednefs of Mr. * If Mr. Jay d fires to know on what aulhoriiy T f y tnis, I will give that authority publicly when he chufes tsca^ tor it. ( »3 ) Wafhington towards Tne, during my imprifonment in the Luxembourg. There are cafes in wiiich ii» lence is a loud language. I will here explain the caufe of my imprlfcnment^ and return to Mr. Wall^ington afterwards. In the courfc of that rage, terror and fufpicion^ which the brutal letter of the Duke of Brunfwick firft flarted into exillencc in France, it happened^ that almoft every man v/ho was cppofed to violence, or v/ho was not violent himfclf, became fufpe6led. I had conftantly been oppofcd to every thing which v/as of the nature, or of the appearance, of violence j but as I had always done it in a manner that fhev/- ed it to be a principle founded in my heart, and net a political manoeuvre, it precluded the pretence of acculing me. I v/as reached, however, under ano- ther pretence. A decree was oaiTed to imprifon all perfons born in England , but as I v/as a member of the Conven- tion, and had been complimented v/ith the honorary itile of Citizen of France, as Mr. Waftiington and fome other Americans had been, this decree fell fhort of reaching me. A motion was afterwards made and carried, fupported chiefly by Bourdon de rOife, for expelling foreigners from the Conven- tion. My expuHion being thus eiie<£l;ed, the two committees of Public Safety and of General Sure- ( - 14 ) XT '^Jy of which Robefpierre was the dl^latoTj put mc in arreflation under the former decree for imprifon^ ing perfons born in England. . Having thus fhewn under what pretence the imprifonment was effeded, I come to fpeak of fuch parts of the cafe as apply- between me and Mr, Waflriington, either as Prefn dent or as an individual, I have always confidered that a foreigner, fuch as ^ I was in fa6l with refpect to France, might be a member of a Convention for forming a conflitu- tion, without aftefting his right of citizenfhip in the country to which he belongs, but not a member of a government after a conftitution is formed ; and I have uniformly a6led upon this diftindion. To be a member of a governmenL requires, that a perfon be in allegiance to that government and to the country locally. But a conftitution being a thing of princi^ pie and not of adbion, and vv^hich, after it be formed, is to be referred to the people for their approbation or rcjedrion, does not require allegiance in the per- fons forming and propofmg it j and befides this, it is only to the thing after it be formed and eftabliihed, and to the country after its governmental chara^ler is fixed by the adoption of a conflitution, that alle- giance can be given. No oath of allegiance or of citizeniliip was required of the members who com- -pofed the Convention 5 there v/as nothing exifting in form to fwear alledance to. If anv fuch condition ( 15 ) Kad been required I could not, as Citizen of America in fa£t, though Citizen of France by compiimenj, have accepted a feat in the Convention. As my citizenfhip in America was not altered or diminifhed, by any thing I had done in Europe (on the contrary it ought to have been conddered as ilrengthenedj for it v/as the American principle of government that I v/as endeavouring to fpread in Europe) and as it is the duty of every government to charge itfelf with the care of any of its citizens who may happeij to fall under an arbitrary perfecution a- broad, and is alfo one of the reafons for which Am- baiTadors or Minifters are appointed, — it v/as the duty of the executive department in America to have made (at lead) fome enquiries about me, as foon as it heard of my imprifonment. But if this had not been the cafe, that government owed it to me on e« very ground and principle of honor and gratitude. Mr. Wafhington owed it to me on every fcore of private acquaintance, [ I will not now fay, friend- fhip ; for it has for fome time been known, by thofe who knov/ him, that he has no friendfhips ; that he is incapable of forming any y he can ferve or defert a man or a caufe with conftitutional indifference | and it is this cold hermophrodite faculty that impofed it- felf upon the world, and was credited for a while by- enemies as by friends, for prudence, moderation and impartiality. -n { J6 ) Soon after that I was put in arreilation and ini= prifoned in the Luxembourg, tlie Americans v/ho v/ere then in Paris went in a body to the bar of th? Convention to reclaim mc. They were anfwersd by thQ, then, Prefident, Vadier, who has fmce abfcond- ed, th?<.t I luas born in England; and it was fignified to them .by fome of the Committee of Surety Gene- ral, to whom they were referred (I have been told it v/as Billaud Varrennes) that their reclamation of me was only the a61: of individuals without any aulho- rity from the American government. A few days after this, all communication from perfons im.prifoned to any perfon without the prifon was cutofFby an order of ^ClQ Police. I neither faw, nor heard from, any body for (ix months ; and the only hope tiiat remained to me v/as, that a new minifler would arrive froin America to fuDer- i. cede Morris, and that ht would be authorifed to en- quire into the caufe of my imprifonment. But even this hope, in the (late to v/hich matters were daily arriving, Vv^as too remote to have any confolatory ef- fect:, and I contented myfelf with tlie thought, that I might be rem.embered when it would be too late. There is perhaps no condition from which a man confcious of his own unrightnefs cannot derive con-^ isolation ; for it is in itfelf a confolation for him to find that he can bear that condition with calmnefs and fortitude. ( ^"7 ) \ From about the middle of March (1794) -to, the fall of Robefpierrc, 29th July, (9th of Thermidor J the ftate of things in the prifon was a continued fcene of horror. No man could count upon life for twen- ty hourso To fuch a pitch pf rage and fufpicion was Robefpierrc and his committee arrived, that.it fcem- .cd.as if they feared^to leave a rnan to live, - Scarcer ly a night pafled but in which, ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty or more were taken out of -the. prifon, carried before a pretended tribunal in the morning, and guillotined before night. One hundred and fix- ty nine were taken out of the Luxembourg in. one ^ight in the month of July and one hundred and fixty of them guillotined. A lift of two hundred more, according to the report in the prifon, v/as preparing a few days before Robefpierrc fell. , In this laii lift . I have good reafon to believe I was included. A memorandum^ in the hand writing of Itobefpierre, was afterwa-rdq jproduced in the Con- vention, . by the committee to whom £he papers of Robefpierrc were referred,' in thefe wfords : . '* Demander que Tho- *' mas Paine foit decrete : •' d-accufation, pour Tin- ** teret de 1' Ameriqiie au- " tant que de la France." I had then been imprifoned feven months, andthc C Demand that Thomas Paine be decteed of accu- fation, for the intereft o£ America as well as of France. ( i8 > iiience of the executive government of America, Mr. Wafhington, upon the cafe and upon every thing refpe6ting me, was 'explanation enough to Robef- pierre that he might proceed to extremities. A violent fever which had nearly terminated my exiftence, was, I believe, the circumflance that prefervea it, I was not in a condition to be remov- ed,^ or to know of what was p'afling, or of what had palfed for more than a month. It makes a blank in Wiy remembrance of life. The firft thing I was In- formed of was the fall of Robefpierre. About a week after this Mr. Monroe arrived to fupercede Gouverricur Morris, and as foon as I was able to write a note legible enough to be read, 1 fbuiid a way to convey one to him, by means of the rnan wh^ lighted t^e tamps in the prifon ; and whofe "unabated friendfliip to me, from whom he had never received any fervice, and with difficulty accepted any recompence, puts the chafafter of Mr. "Wafhington to fhame. In a few days I received a meffagc from Mr, Monroe, conveyed to meTn a note from an Inter- mediate perfon, with affurance of his friendfhip^ and expreffing a defirc that I would reffc the cafe ih liis hands. After a . fortnight or more had pafTed and hearing nothing - further, I wrote to a friend who was. then in Paris, a citizen of Phikdelphia, r^gnefting him to inform me what was the true ( '9 ) , fituation of things with refpeO: to me. I was fure that fomething was the matter. I began to have hard thoughts of Mr. Wafhington ; but I was un- willing to encourage them, In about ten days I received an anfwer to my let- ter in which the writer fays : <* Mr. Monroe has <« told me that he has no orders (rneaning from the <^ Prefident, Mr. Wafhington) refpecling you, but ^' that he (Mr. Monroe) will do every thing in his Monroe's letter. . - FariSi Sept. I B, 1 794. Dear Sir, I was favoured foon afiier m])- arrival here v/ith feverai letters from you and more latterly with one in the character of memorial, upon the fubjeO: of your 'confinement; and fliould havje anfwered tlieni at the tim.es they were refpeftively written had I not con- cluded you would have calculated with certainty "upon the deep intereft I take in your welfare and the ' pleafure with which' I ihall embrace eveyy opportu- nity in my power to ferve you. I fhouid ftill purfue the, fame courfe, and for reafons which muft obvi- oully occur, if I did not find that you are difquieted with apprehenfions upon interefting points, & which juftice to yoii and our country equally forbid you Ihould entertain. You mention tljat ypu.have been informed you are not confidered 0.3 an American citi- zen by the Americans, and that you have . iikewife ( 21 > heard that I had no inftru6lions refpecling you by the government. I doubt not the perfon who gave, you the information meant well, but I fufpedt he did not even convey accurately his own ideas on the firfi: point ; for I prefume the moft he could fay is that you had likewife become a French citizen and which by no means deprived you of being an American one. Even this however may be doubled, I mean the ac- quifition of citizenfhip in France, and I confefs you have faid much to fhew that it has not been made, I really fufpe££ that this was all that the gentleman who wrote you, and thofe Americans he heard fpeak upon the fubje£t, meant.- It becomes my duty however to declare to you, that I confider you as an American citizen, and that you arc confidered uni- verfally in that character by the people of America, As fuch you are entitled to my attention 5 and fo far as it can be given confiflently with thofe obliga- tions which are mutual between every government and even a tranfient paflenger you fhall receive it. The Congrefs have never decided upon the fubje£t of citizenihip in a manner to regard the prefent cafe. By being with us through the revolution you are of our country as abfolutely as if you had been born there, and you are no more of England than every native American is. This is the true do£l:rine in the prefent cafe, fo far as it becomes complicated with any other confideration. I have mentioned it ( 2S } to make you eafy upon the only point which Coui4 give you any difqufetude. Is it neceilary for me to tell you how much all your countrymen, I fpeak of the great mafs of the people, are interefted in your welfare ? They have not for- gotten the hiftory of their own revolution" and the difficult fcenes through which they pafled ; nor do they review its feveral {lages v/ithouf* reviving in their bofoms a due fenlibility of the merits of thofe who ferved them in that great and arduous conflict. The crime of iirFratitifdehas' not yet flalned, and I truft never will fcain, our national chara£ier. Yoti are confidered by iliBra- as not only having rendere^ ( 27 ) coalefced powers, he gave ftrong reasons to fufpe£l liim of it. No one who faw his conduct, and heard his converfation, could doubt his being in their in- tereft ; and had he not got off at the time he did, after his recall, he would have been in arreftation. Some letters of his had fallen into the hands of the Committee of Public Safety, and enquiry was mak- ing after him. ^ A great buftle has been made by Mr. Wafhing- ton about the conduct of Genet in America ; while that of his own minifter, Morris, in France was in- finitely more reproachable. If Genet was impru- dent or ralh, he was not treacherous *, ' but Morris was all thrae. He was the enemy of the French re- volution in every ftage of it. But, notv/ithftanding ^his conduct on the part of Morris, and the known profligacy of his charafter, Mr. Wafhington5in a let- ter he wrote to him at the time of recalling him on the complaint and requefl of the Committee of Public Safety, allures him, that though he had complied with that requeft, he ftill retained the fame efteem and friendfhip for him as before. This letter Mor- ris was foolifli enough to tell- of ; and, as his own character and condudl were notorious, the telling ei it could have but one efl'e£l:, which was that of im- plicating the charadler of the writer. Morris ftiil loiters in Europe, chiefly in England ; and Mr. Wafhington is ftill in correfpondence with him : D 2 ( 28 ) Mr. Wafhington ought therefore to expect^ cfpscit ally fince his conduct in the affair of Jay's treaty, that France iriuit confider Morris and Wafhington as men of the fame defcription. The chief differ- ence, however, between the two is (for in politics there is none) that the one is profligate enough to profefs an indifference about moral principles, and the other is prudent enough to conceal the want of them. About three months after I was at liberty, the ofHcial note of Jay to Grenville on the fubje6l of the capture of Am.erican vefTels by Britifli cruifers appeared in the American papers that arrived at Paris. Every thing was of a-piece'. Every thing was mean. The fame kind of charafter went to all circumflances public or private. Difgufted at this nationr.l degradation, as well as at the particu- lar conduct of Mr. Wafhington to me, I wrote to him (Mr. Wafliington) on the 2 2d of February (1795) under cover to the then Secretary of State (Mr. Randolph) and entrufted the letter to Mr. Letom.be, who was appointed French conful to Phi-, ladeiphia, and was on the point of taking his de- parture. When I fuppofed Mr. Letombe had failed, I mentioned the letter to Mr. Monroe, and as I was then in his houfe, I fhewed it to him. He exprefled a wifh that I would recall it, which he fuppcfed might be done, as he had learned that Mr. Letoml/e had not then failed. I agreed to do fo, and it was returned by Mr. Letombe under cover to Mr. Monr roe. The letter, however, will now reach Mr. Wafh- ington publicly, in the courfe of this work. About the month of September following, I had a fevere relapfe, which gave occafion't'6 the report of my death. ' I had felt it coming on a confiderable time before, which occafioned me to haften the work I had then in hand, the Second part of the Age of Re af on. When I had finiflied that work, I beftowed another letter on Mr. Wafhing-ton, which I fent under cover to Mr. Benj. Franklin Bache of Philadelphia. The letter is as follows. To Geobge Washington, President of the United States. Parisy Sept, 20thj 1795* Sir, I had written you a letter by Mr. Letombe, French conful, but at the requeft of Mr. Monroe I withdrew it, and the letter is ftill by me. I was the more eafdy prevailed upon to do this, as it was then my intention to have returned to America the latter end of the prefent year, 1 795 j but the ilkiefe I now fufFer prevents me. In cafe I had come, I fhould ( 30 ) kavc spplied to you for fuch parts of your official letters (and of your private ones, if you had chofen to give them) as contained any inftruflions or di- re6lions. either to Mr. Monroe, or to Mr. Morris, ©r to any other perfon refpefting me ; for, after you were informed of my imprifonmeni: in France, it was incumbent on you to have made fome enquiry into the caufe, as you might very well conclude, that I had not the opportunity of informing you of it. I cannot underftand your filence upon this fub- je£l upon any other ground, than as connivance at my imprifonment ^ and this is the manner it is un- derftood here, and will be under ftood in America, onlefs you can give me authority for contradi£ling it. I therefore write you this letter, to propofe to you to fend me copies of any letters you have written, that may remove that fufpicion. In the pre- face to the fecond part of the Age of Reafon, I have given a memorandum from the hand writing of Ro- befpierre, in which he propofed a decree of iaccufa- tion againfl me, ^^ for the inter eji of America as luell as of France J^ He could have no caufe for putting America into the cafe, but by interpreting the fi- lence of the American government into connivance and eonfent. I was imprifoned on the groimd of being born in England^, and your filence in not en- quiring into the caufe of that imprifonment and re- claiming me agalnil it, was , tacitly giving me up. ( 3J ) I ought not to have fufpe£led you of treachery ; but whether I recover from the illnefs I now fufFer or jiot, I fhall continue to think you treachcrou;-, till you give me caufe to think otherwife. I am fure you would have found yourfelf more at your eafc had you aSicd by me as you ought ; for, whether your defertion of me was intended to gratify th^ Englifh government J or to let me fall into d©ftruc- tion in France, that you might exclaim the louder againft the French revolution, or whether you hoped by my extin£lion to meet with lefs oppofition in mounting up the American government, — either o£ thefe will involve you in reproach you will not eafily (hake off. THOMAS PAINE. Here follows the letter above alluded to, whick I had flopped in complaifance to Mr. Monroe, To George Washington, President of the United States. Paris ^ Feb, 22^, 1795- Sir, As it is always painful to reproach thofe one would wifh to refpe61:,it is not without fome difficulty that I have taken the refolutioa to write to you. ( 3^ ) The dangers to v/hich I have bee-n expoied cannot have been unknovt^n to you, and the guarded filence^ you have obfervcd upon that circumfLance is \i4iat I ought net to have expected from you, either as a friend or as Prefident cf the United States. You know enough of my chara£ter to be alfured^ that I could not have deferved iniprifonment in France, and without knowing any thing more than this, you had fufficient ground to have taken fomd intereft for my fafety. Every motive arifing front recollection of times pad, ought to have fuggefted t0 you the propriety of fuch a meafure. But I cannot find that you have fo much as direfted any enquiry to be made, whether I was in prifonor at liberty, dead or alive ; what the caufe of that imprifonment waSj, or whether there was any fervice or afliftance you could render. Is this what I ought to have expefted from America after the part I have acled towards her, or will it redound to her honour or to yours, that I tell the flory. I do not helitate to fay, that yctJ have not ferved America with more difintereftednefs or greater zeal, or more fidelity, than myfelf, and I knov/ not if with better effect. After the revolution of America was eflabliflied I ventured into new fcenes of difficulties to extend the principles which that revolution had produced, and you refted at home to partake of the advantages. In the progrefs of events you beheld yourfelf a Prefident in America ( 33 ) and me a prifoner in France. You folded your arms, forgot your friend, and became filent. As every thing I have been doing in Europe was connected with my wilhes for the profperity of Ame- rica, I ought to be the liiore furprifedatthis conduct on the part of her government. It leaves me but one mode of explanation, which is, that every ihing is not as it ought to be amongH youy and that the prefence of a man who might difapprove, and who had credit enough with the Country to be heard and believed, was not wifhed for. This was the operating motive with the defpotic faftion that imprifoned me in France (tho' the pretence was, that I was a foreigner) and thofe that* have been filent and inactive towards me in America, appear to me to have a6ted from the fame motive, of wifhing me out of the Way. It is impofTible for me to difcover any other. Confidering the part I have a6ted in the revolution of America it is natural that I feel interefted in whatever relates to her character and profperity. Though I am not on the fpot, to fee what is immedi- ately acting there, I fee fome part of what fhe is a6ling in Europe. For your own fake, as well as for that of America, I was both furprifed and concern- ed at the appointment of Gouverneur Morris to be minifter to France. His conduct has proved that the opinion I had formed of that appointment was well founded. I wrote that opinion to Mr. JefFerfon E #^ ( 34 ) at the time, and I was frank enougli to fay the fan-e thing to Morris — that it ivas an unfortu?iate appoint- ment. His prating, infignificant pompofity, rendered him at once offenilve, fufpe&ed, and ridiculous j and his total negledl of ail bufmefs had fo difgufted the Americans, that they propofed entering, a proteft aeainft him. He carried this nefjle6i: to fuch an extreme, that it was neceflary to iiiiorm him of it, and I af}:ed him one day if he did not feci himfelf afliamed to take the • money of the country and do nothing for it. But Morris is (o fond of profit and voluptuoufnefs that he cares nothing about charadler. Had he not bee;i removed at the time he was, I think his conducl would have precipitated the two eoun- • tries into a rupture; and in this cafe, \\2±tAfyJ}emati- caliy, as America is .and ever will be by the Britifh government, and fufpected by France, the com- merce of America v/ould have fallen a prey to both countries. If the inconGrcerit conducl of Morris expofed the interell of America to fom.e hazard in Trainee, the punllanimous conduct of Pvir, Jay in England has rendered the charafter of the x'Ymerican government contemptible in Europe. Is it poiTible that any man ■ who has contributed to the independence of Ame- rica, and to free her from the tyranny and injuftice of the Britifh government, can read, without fhame and indignation, the note of- Jay to Grenville. < 35 ) It is a fatire upon the declaration of Indepea- dence, and an encouragemsnt to the Britifh government to treat America with .contempt. At the time this minifcer of petitions v/as aQing this miferable part, he had every means in his hands to enable him to have done his bufmefs as he ought. The fuccefs or failure of his miffion depended upon the fuccefs or failure of the French arms. Had France failedj Mr. Jay might have put his liumble petition in his pocket and gone home. The cafe happened to be otherwife, and he has facrificed the honour and perhaps all the advantages of it, by turn- ing petitioner. I take itipr granted, that he was fent to demand indemnification for the captured property; and in this cafe, if he thought he wanted a preamble to his dema;id, lie might have faid : *f That tho' the government of England might fup- " pofe itfeif under the neceuity of feizing American " property bound to France,' yet that fuppofed ne- " ceility could not preclude indemniucation to the f' proprietors, who, acting undej," the authoVity of " their own government, were not accountable to ^* any other." — But Mr. Jay fets out Vv^ith an, implied recognition of the right of the Britifn government to feize and condemn; for he enters his complaint a^ainft the irregularity of the feizuresand the condem- nation, as if they were reprehenfible only by not |j>^ing conformable to the terms of the proclamation ( 3« ) under which they were feized. Inflcad of being the Envoy of a government he goco over hke a lawyer to demand a new trial. I can hardly help believing, that Grenville wrote the note himfelf and Jay iigned it, for the fl:ile of it is domefiic and not diplomatic. The term, His Majefly, ufed v/ithout any defcriptive epithet, always fignifies the king whom the Minifter that fpeaks repreients. If this finking of the demand into a petition was a jug- gle between Grenville and jay, to cover the in- demnification, I think it will end in another juggle, that of never paying the money^ and be made ufe of afterwards to preclude the right of demanding itj for Mr. Jay has virtually difowned the right, by ap- pealing to the magnanimity of his Majejly agaift/i the capturers. He has appointed this magnanimous Majefly to be umpire in. the cafe, and the govern- ment cf the United States mull abide by the deci- fion. If, Sir, I turn fome part of this aiFair into ridicule, it is to avoid the unpleafant fenfation of ferlous indignation^ ^ Among other things, v/hich I confefs \ do not un- derftand, is the proclamation of neutrality. This has alv/ays appeared to me as an ailumption on the ^part-of the executive not warranted by the conftitu- tion. But pafling this over, as a difputable cafe, and confidering it only as political, the confequence has been that of fuftaining the lolTes of war without the ( 37 ) balance of reprifals. When the profeflion of neutrali- ty on the part of America was anfwered by hoftilities on the part of Britain, the obje£t and intention of that neutraHty exifted no longer, :^nd to maintain it after this was not only to encourage further infults and depredations, but was an informal breach of neutrality towards France, by paflively contributing to the aid of her enemy. That the government of England confidered the American government as pufillanimous is evident from the encreafing info- lence of the former towards the latter, till the affair of General Wayne. She then faw it might be poffible to kick a government into fome degree of fpirit. So far as the proclamation of neutrality was intend- ed to prevent a diilblute fpirit of privateering in Ame- rica under foreign colours, it was undoubtedly lauda- ble ; but to continue it as a government neutrality, after the commerce of the country was" made war upon, was fubmiffion and not neutrality. I have heard fo much about this thing called neutra- lity, that I know not if the ungenerous and difho- norable filence (for I mud call it fuch) that has been pbferved by your part of the government towards me, during my imprifonment, has not in fome meafure arifen from that policy. Tho* I have written you this letter, you ought not to fuppofe it has been an agreeable undertaking to me. On the contrjiry, I aiTuxe you, it has coft me ( 38 ) fome difquietude. I am forry you have given tac caufe to do it ; for as I have always remembered your former friendfhip with pleafure, I fufFer a lofs by your depriving me of that fentiment. THOMAS PAINE. **. That this letter was not written in very good tem- per is very evident-, but it was jufh fuch a letter as his. condu6l appeared to me to merit, and every- thing on his part fince has ferved to confirm that opinion. Had I wanted a commentary on his filence with refpe£t to my imprifonment in France, fome of his faction has furnifhed me with it. What I here allude to is a publication in a Philadelphia paper, copied afterwards into a Nev/ York paper, hoth. under the patronage of the Wa{]iingtoii fa£lion, in which the writer, ftill fuppoiing me in prifon in France, wonders at my lengthy refpite from the fcafFold ; and he marks his politics ftiil further by faying : " It appears moreover, that the people " of England did not relifli his (Thomas Paine's) . *' opinions quite fo well as he expelled, and that <* for one of his lafc pieces, as deftrudive to «' the peace and happinefs of their country, *' (meaning, I fuppofe, the Rights of Alan J they *« threatened our knight-errant with fuch ferious *' vengeance, that, to avoid a trip to Botany-bay, '^ he fled over to France, as a lefs dangerous voyage,'* t ( 39 ) 1 am not refuting or contradicfling the falfhood oi this publication, for it is fufficiently notorious; iieither am I cenfuring the writer 5 on the contrary I thank him for the explanation he has incautiouflj given of the principles of the Wafliington fa<£lion, Infigniiicant^ however, as the piece is, it was capa- ble of having had fome ill effedl:, had it arrived ia France during my imprifonment and in the timt: of Robefpicrre ; and I am not uncharitable in fuppofrng" that this was the intention of the writer.* I have now done with Mr. Wafliington on the fcore of private affairs. It would have been far more agreeable to me, had his conduft been fuch as not to have merited thefe reproaches. Errors or caprices of the temper can be pardoned and forgot- ten ; but a cold deliberate crime of the heart, fuch as Mr. Wafhington is capable of acting, is not to be wafhed av/ay. I now proceed to other matter. After Jay's note to Grenville arrived in Paris from America, the chara61:er of every thing that was t© follow might be eafily forefeen ; and it was upon this anticipation that my letter of February 2 2d was founded. The event has proved, that I was not miflaken, except that it has been m.uch worfe thaa I expected. * I know not who the writer of the piece is ; but fome late Americans fay it is Phineas Bond, an American refugee, and no-*v a Britilh Conful ; and tliat lie writes under the fignatiire of Pete- Skunk, or Peter Porcupine, or fstne fuch fisnature-. ( 4* i It would naturally Occur to Mr. Wafliington, that the fecrecy of Jay's milfion to England, where there was already an American mini iter, could not but create fome fufpicion in the French government ; cfpecially as the condu£l of Morris had been noto- rious, and the intimacy of Mr. Wafhington with Morris was known. The character which Mr. Wafhington has at- tempted to a£t in the world, is a fort of non-defcriba- ble, camelebn-eoloured thmg, called prudence. It is,, in many cafes, a fubftitute for principle, and is fo nearly allied to hypocrify, that it eafily Aides into it. His genius; for prudeitce furniflied him in this inftance with an expedient, that ferved, as is the natural and general chara61:er of all expe- dients, to diminifli the embarraflments of the moment and multiply them afterwards •, for he authorifed it to be made known to the French go- vernment, as a confidential matter (Mr. Wafhington fhouid recollect that I was a member of the Conven- tion, & had the means of knowing what I here ftate) he authorized it, I fay, to be made known, arid that for the purpofe of preventing any uneafmefs to France on the fcore of Mr. Jay's mifiion to England, that the obje£l ot that miflion, and of Mr. Jay's authority, was reftrl6led to that of demanding the furrender of the weftcrn pofts and indemnification for the cargoes . captured in American veflels. Mr. Wafliington knows ( 4» ) tliat fhiS was untrue j and knowing this, he had good rcafon to himfelf for refufing to furnifh the Houfe of Reprefentatlves with copies of the inftru6lions given to Jay ; as he might fufpe£l, among other things, that he {hould alfo be called upon for copies of inftru61:ions given to other minifters, and that in the contradiction of inftru£lIons his v/ant of integrity tvould be detected. Mr, Wafhington may now, per- haps, learn, when it is too late, to be of any ufe to him^ that a man will pafs better through the world with a thoufand open etrors upon his back, than in being deteCted in ONE fly falfhood. When one is detected, a thoufand are fufpeCled. : The firft account that arrived in Paris of a treaty being negociated by Mr. Jay (for nobody. fufpeCted any) came in an Englifh newfpaper, which announ- ced that a treaty offenfive and dcfenfive had been con- cluded between the United States of America and England. This was immediately denied, by every American in Paris, as an impoffible thing \ and though. it was difbelieved by the French, it imprinted ai fuf- picion that fome underhand bufinefs was going for- ward.* At length the treaty itfelf arrived, and every well-aifeCted American blulhed with (hame. * It was the embarraffmentinto which the affairs and credit of America v/cre thrown at this inftact by the report above alluded to, that made it neceffary to contradicEl it, and that by eyery rheans arifing from opinion or founded upon authority. The Committee of Public Safety, exifting at that time, had agreed to ( 4^ )• It is" curious to' obferve how tlie appearances ^of character will change, whilil the root that produces thent remains the fame. The Waihington adminif- tration having waded through the flough of negoci- ation, and whilft it amufed France with profeffions of ffiendfhip contrived to injure her, immediately* throvvs ofFthe hypocrite, and affumes the fwagger- mg air of a bravado. The party papers of tlrat iinbecile adminiftraticvn were on this occafioii filled with paragraphs about Sovereignty, A paltrcon may bpaft.of his fovereign rig-ht to let another kick himy;, and -this is the only kind of fovereignty finewn in the treaty with England. But thefe dafliing paragrapha^ asi Timothy Pickering well knows, were intended for Fra^ice ;- without whofe aflifbance in men, money and £<,l*-^ i '■ - , :-^.r. — __ _: '. ...; -.." the fill! execution, on their part, of the treaty between America and France, not wit hitauding Ibine equivocal condudon the part of the American government, not very confident '.ri h the good i'aith of an ally ; but they were not in'adifpofitiou to be impofed upon t>y a counter-treaty. That |ay had no inftnrcVions bsyond the. points abov3 ftatcd, or none thai could polfibiy be conflrucd td'sxicr.d to the length the Britiilv treaty goes, was a matter be- lieved in America, in England and in France 4 and without go- hig to an)^ c.'ther fourceit followed naturally froni the melVage of fhe"i*refide!lt to Congrefs> when he hominared Jay uposi that tnhTioa. The fccretary of Mr. Jay came to Paris r:)On af.er the treaty with Englarrd had been concluded, and brought with hiiri a' copy of .Mr. Jay's iuftruelions,w:hlch he ofiered to fnev/ to m'e as d^ju ft! fixation ofy.iy. I advifed him, as a friend, not to flicw t?h(p-m rcy anv bovly, and did not permit him to ihew tliem 10 rne. Whotsi , faid I to him, that )cu intend to implicate as cenfurcable b'y ifhe'.^ing thtifeinftr unions ? Perhaps that implication rriav fall' upon yourown government. Though I did not fee the infl'mctions Fcoiild not beatn lofs ro undcrilavid, thac %\\-^ American adminif-' Iration h^d.!been ^b.rmg a doii;ble game. ( 43 ■) thips, Mr. V/aftiington would have cut but a poor- £gure in the American war. But of his military ta- lents I fhall fpeak hereafter. I mean not to entej into any difcuirion of any ar- ticle of Jay's ti-eaty : I ihall fpeak only upon the whole of it. It is attempted to be juilifkd on the ground ©f its not being a violation of any article or articles ,of the treaty pre-exifting with France. But the fo- yereign right of explanation does not He with George Wafhington and his man Timothy ; France, pn her |?art, has, at leaft, an equal right •, and when nations difpute, it is not fo much about words as about things, A man, fuch as the world calls, a {harper, and yerfed, as Jay mufl be fuppofed to be:, in the quibbles of the law, may find a way to enter into en fupply England with naval ftores and other articles of American produce, whilft the fame articles, when coming to France, are made contraband or feizabl'e by Jay's treaty with England. The treaty with France fays, that neutral fliips make neutral pro- perty, and thereby gives proteftion to E'nglifli pro- perty on board American fliips ; and Jay's treaty delivers up French pro-perty on board American fnips to be feized by the Engiifh. It is too paltry to talk of faith, of national honour, and of the preferva- tion of treaties, v/hilil fuch a bare-faced treachery as this {lares the world in the face. The Wafnington adminiftration may fave itfelf the trouble of proving to the French govermnent its moji faithful intentions of preferving the trer.ty with France j for France has now no defire that it fhould be preferved. ' She had nominated an Envoy extra- ordinary to America, to make Mr. Wafliington and his government a prefent of the treaty, and X.o have no more to do with that or with him. It was, at the feme time^ officially declared to. the American rjai- ( 4S ) jriiiier at Paris, that the French Repiblic had rather have the American government for an open etiejny than a treacherous friend. This, fir, together with. the internal diflra£lions caufed in America, and the lofs of character in the world, is the eventful crifiSy 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 herfelf to- wards America and American commerce after all treaty ftipulations had ceafed, and under the fenfe of fervices rendered an4 injuries received, I know not. It is, however, ^n unpleafant refleftion, that ia 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 jnanifefl an invariable attachment in the general . mafs of the people to their original ally, in oppofition to the new-fangled Wafhins^ton fa61;ion, — the refo- lutions that had been taken were fufpended. It happened alfo fortunately enough, that Gouverneur IMorris was not minifter at this time. There is, however, one point that yet remains in embryo, and which, among other things, ferves to fliew the ignorance of the Wafhington treaty-mak- isrs, and their inattention to pre»exi{Ving treaties ( 4l»«a»iW»9 ) and offices under that government, and not a^ citi- zen of America who gives his affiftance in a Con- vention chofen by the people for the purpofe ol forming a government ^^ fiovo, founded on their authority. The late conftitution and government of France was diflblved the loth of Augufl, 1792. The National Legifiatiye Aflembly then in being, fuppof- ed itfelf without authority to continue its fittings, and it propofed to the departments to ele6l:, not another Legiflative Body, but a Convention for the exprefs purpofe of forming a conftitution. When the Aflembly were difcourfing on this matter, fome of the members faid, that they wiflied to gain all the information pofhble upon the fubje6t of free conftituticns, and exprefled a wifh to invite foreign- ers of any nation to the Convention, who had dif- tinguifhed themfelves in defending, explaining, aiid propagating the principles of Liberty. It was on this occafion that my na^me was mentioned in the Aflembly. I was then in England. After this a deputation from a body of the French people, in order to remove any obje£^ion that might be made againft my aflifting at the propofed Convention, re- quefl:ed the Aflembly, as their reprcfentatives, to confer on me the title of French Citizen ; after which I was eledled in four different departments, as is already known. ( ?« ) The cafe therefore is, that I accepted nothing from any king, princ-e, or fbate, nor from any gov-« ernment ; for Franc? was then without any gov- ernment, except what arofe from neceffity and confent. Neither did I make mvfelf a fervant of the French Republic, as the letter already alluded to ex- pieires ; for France at that time was not a Repub- lic, not even in name. She was altogether a peo« pie in a flate of revolution. It was not until the Convention met, that France was declared a Republic and monarchy a- boliflied ; foon after which a committee was ele£l:- ed, of which I was chofen a member, to form a conftitution, which was prefented to the Conven- tion and read by Condorcet (who was alfo a mem- ber) the 15th and i6th of February follov/ing 5 but was not to be taken into cpnlideration till after the expiration of two months. The diforders and th€ revolutionary government th.at took place after this put a flop to any further progrefs upon the cafe. In thus employing myfelf upon the formation of s conftitution, I certainly did nothing inconfiflent with the American conftitution. I took no oath of allegiance to France, nor any other oath whatever. I confidered the citizenfliip they had prefented me with, as an honorary mark of refpe£l: paid to me, not only as a friend of liberty, but as an American ( 11 ) citizen. My acceptance, of that, or of the deputy- fhip, not conferred on me by any king, prince, or ftate, but by a people in a flate of revolution and contending for liberty, required no transfer o£ niy allegiance or of my citizenfliip from America to France. In America I ij'as a real citizen, paying taxes annually ; in France I was a volunteer friend, employing myfelf on a temporary fetvice. Every. American in Paris knevv^ that it was my conftant intention to return to America, as foon as a con- flitution {hould be eftablifhed in France, and that I anxioufly waited for that event. I ever muft deny that any article of the American conftitution can be applied either literally, intention- ally, or conftrudtively againft me. It undoubtedly was the intention of the convention that framed the conftitution, to preferve the purity of the American Republic from being debafed by foreign and foppifb cuftoms ; but it could never be its Intentions to a(3: againft the principles of liberty, by forbidding its ci- tizens to aflift in promoting thofe principles in foreign countries. Neither could it be its intention to a£b againft the principles of gratitude : France had aidefle£l, that imprifonment lulth prefervation cf charaSler is preferable to liberty ivith difgrace. The letter quoted in the firft page of this memo- rial fays, that ** it would be out of character for an ^* American minjfler to interfere in the internal << affairs of France." This goes on the idea that I atn a citizen of France, and a member of the Con- vention, which is not the fa£l:. The Convention inciuded me in the vote for difmiffing foreigners from the Convention, and the Committees impri- foned me as a foreigner. It alfo fuppofes decided- ly, that the article in the American conftitution refpe£ling grants made to American citizens by fi&reign kings, princes, or ftates, is applicable to me 5 which is the very point in queflion, and a- gainft the application of which I contend. I (late evidence to the minifter to fliew, that I am not v/ithin the letter or meaning of that article ; that it cannot operate againft me ; and I apply to him for the protection that I conceive I have a right to aik and to receive. The internal affairs of France, are out of the queflion with refpe^l: to my applica- tion, or his interference. I afk it not as a citizen of France, for I am not one *, I afiC it not a?5 a member of the Convention^ for I am not one ; 1 afk it not as a man, againfl whom there is any ac • cufation', for there is nons ; I alk It not as an cxu;^ K 2 ( 76 } from America, whofe liberties I have honorably znd generoufly contributed to defend and ellablifli *, I afk it as a citizen of America, deprived of his li- berty in France under the plea of his being a for-* cigner ; and I afk it, becaufe I conceive I am enti^ tied to it, upon every principle of conftitutional juf^ tice and national honor. THOMAS PAINE. NEW BOOKS. THE following lateft works of Tho- mas Paine are publifhed at the Office of the Au- pra. No. 112 Market flreet, Philadelphia. Book- fellers may be fupplied with them in any quantity^ The Editions were publiihed under tlie eye of the Author, and are therefore corrcft. Age of Reafon, i ft Part. Do. ad Part. Diflertation on the firft principles of Government. Decline and fall of the Englifh Syftem of Finance. The following works were alfo lately pub- lifhed at the Office of the Aurora. Private letters of General Waihington in June ^nd July 1776. Prench Conftitution — a French and an Englifli Edition. French Calendar for the year V, Debates on the Britifh Treaty. Condorcet on the Human Mind. ; Zimmerman on folitudc, &c. &c. AGRARIAN JUSTICE, OPPOSED TO AGRARIAN LAW, AND TO AGRARIAN MONOPOLY, BEING A PLAN FOR MELIORATING THE CONDITION OF MAN^ By Creating in every Nation^ A NATIONAL FUND^, To Pay to every Perfon, when arrived at the Age of Twenty- ONE Years, the Sum of Fifteet^ Pounds Sterling, to enable HiM or her to begin the World \ AND ALSOj Ten Pounds Sterling per Annmn during life to every" Perfon now living of the Age of Fifty Years, and to all others when they fhall arrive at that Age, to* enable them to live in Old Age without Wretchcd- nefs, and go decently out of the World. By THOMAS PAINE, AUTHOR OF COMMON SENSK, RIGHTS OF MANf AGE OF REASON, &C. &C. PHILADELPHIA: PRINTED BY R. FOLWELL^ FO R BENJAMIN FRANKLIN BAGHE. PREFACE. HE following little Piece "was written in the winter of lyg^ and '96 ; and^ as I had not determined whether to piiblijl) it during the pre- fent war, or to wait till the co?n7nencement of a peace, it has lain by me, without alteration or 4iddition, from the time it was written. What has determined tne to puhlif}:> it now is, a Ser?non, preached by Watson, Bifhop of Lan- dafF. Seme of my readers will recoiled, that this Bifljop wrote a book, intitled. An Apology for the Bible, in anfwer to my Second Part of the A^enefits of what is called civilized life, and to remedy, at the fame time, the evil it has produced, ought to be confidered as one of the firft objects of reformed legillation. Whether that ftate that is proudly, perhaps crroneoufly, called civilization, has moft pro- moted or mod injured the general happinefs of man, is a queftion that may be ftrongly contefted. — On one fide, the fpedator is daz- zled by fplendid appearances ; on the other, he is ihocked by extremes of v/retchcdnefs -, % it ( 6 ) both of which he has erefted. The mofl af- ' fluent and the mod miferable of the human race are to be found in the countries that are called civilized. To underftand what the flate of fociety ought to be, it is neceflary to have fome idea of the natural and primitive (late of man ; fuch as it is at this day among the Indians of North America. There is not, in that flate, any of thofe fpe^tacles of human mifery which po- verty and v/ant prefent to our eyes, in all the towns and flreets of Europe. Poverty, there- fore, is a thing created by that which is called civilized life. It exiils not in the natural ftate. On the other hand, the natural flate is with- out thefe advantages which flow fromAgricul- ture. Arts, Science, and Manufactures. The life of an Indian is a continual holiday, 'compared with the poor of Europe ; and, on the other band, it appears to be abjed when compared to the rich. Civilization, therefore, or that which is fo called, has operated, two ways, to make one part of fociety more afflu- ent, and the other part more wretched, than would have been the lot of either in a natural flate. It is always poiiible to go from the natural to the civilized flate, but it is never pofTible to go from the civilized to the natural flate. The ( 7 ) reafon is, that man, in a natural ftate, fubfifling by hunting, requires ten times the quantity of land to range over, to procure himfelf fufte- nance, than would fupport him in a civilized ftate, where the earth is cultivated. Whea therefore a country becomes populous by the additional aids of cultivation, arts, and fcience, there is a neceflity of preferving things in that flate; becaufe without it, there cannot be fuf- tenance for more, perhaps, than a tenth part of its inhabitants. The thing therefore now to be done, is, to remedy the evils, and preferve the benefits, that have arifen to fociety, by paffing from the natural to that which is called the civilized flate. \ Taking then the matter up on this ground, the firft principle of civilization ought to have been, and ought ftill to be, that the condition of every perfon born into the world, after a ftate of civilization commences, ought not to be v/orfe than if he had been born before that period. But the fad is, that the condition of millions, in every country in Europe, is far worfe than if they had been born before ci- vilization began, or had been born among the Indians of North America of the prefent day. I will fhew how this fa6l has happened. It is a pofition not to be controverted, that the earth, in its natural uncultivated ftate, was, and ever would have continued to be, the COMMON PROPERTY OF THE HUMAN RACE. ( 8 ) In that ftate every man would have been hiytn to property. He would have been a joint life- proprietor with the reft in the property of the foil, and in all its natural produdions, vege^ table and animal. But the earth, in its natural ftate, as before faid, is capable of fupporting but a fmall num- ber of inhabitants compared with what it is capable of doing in a cultivated ftate. And as it is impoffible to feparate the improvement made by cultivation, from the earth itfelf, up- on which that improvement is made, the idea of landed property arofe from that infeparable connection; but it is neverthelefs true, that it is the value of the improvement only, and not the earth itfelf, that is individual property. Eve-* ry proprietor therefore of cultivated land, owes to the community a ground-rent ; for I know no better term to exprefs the idea by, for the land which he holds: and it is from this ground rent that the fund propofed in this plan is to iifue. It is deducible, as well from the nature of the thing, as from all the hiftories tranfmitted to us, that the idea of landed property com- menced with cultivation, and that there was no fuch thing as landed property before that time. It could not exift in the firft ftate of man, that of hunters. It did not exift in the fecond ftate, that of Ihepherds : Neither Abra- ham^Ifaac, Jacob, nor Job, fo far as thehiftory ( 9 ) of the Bible may be credited in probable things, were owners of land. Their property . confifted, 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 ufe oj a well in the dry country of Arabia, where thofe people lived, fhew alfo there was no landed property. It was not admitted that land could be located as property. There could be no fuch 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 fro- perty in perpetuity any part of it : neither did the Creator of the earth open a land-office, from whence the firft title-deeds iiiould iflue^ From whence then arofe the idea of landed property ? I anfwer as before, that when cul- tivation began, the idea of landed property be-^ gan with it, from the impoffibiHty of Separating the improvement made by cultivation from the earth itfelf, upon which that improvement was madcr The value of the improvement fo far exceeded the value of the natural earth, at that time, as to abforb it ; till, in the end, the common right of all became confounded into the cultivated right of the individual. But they are, neverthelefs, diflincl fpecies of rights, and will continue to be fo as long as the earth endures. B C lo ) It is .only by tracing things to their origin that we can gain rightful ideas of them, and it is by gaining fuch ideas that we difcover the boundary that divides right from wrong, and which teaches every man to knov/ his own. I have intitled this tra333}333 at ten pr. ct. with the addition of ten per J- 2^666^666 cent, more with the "} ten per > • • • • 1 ;C-43j333>333 • — £.$^666,666 ( 18 > Having thus arrived at the annual amount of the propofed fund, I come, in the next place, to fpeak of the population proportioned to this fund, and to compare it with ufes to which the fund is to be applied. The population (I mean that of England) does not exceed feven millions and a half, and the number of perfons above the age of fifty will in that cafe be about four hundred thou- fand'. There would not however be more than that number that would accept the pro- pofed ten pounds ilerling, per annum, though they would be entitled to it. I have no idea it would be accepted by many perfons v/ho had a yearly income of two or three hundred pounds fterling. But as we often fee inflan^ ces. pf rich people falling into fudden pover- ty, .even at. the age of fixty, they would al- ways h'lve the right of drawing all the arrears due to them. — ^Four millions, therefore, of the above annual fum of ^{'.5, 666, 666, will be required for four hundred thoufand aged per- fons^ at ten pounds flerhng each, I come now to fpeak of the perfons annu- ally arriving at twenty- one years of age. If all the perfons who died were above the age of twen^/-one years, the number of perfons annually arriving at that age, mufl be equal to" the annual number of deaths to keep the population flationary. But the greater part die under the age of twenty-one, and there- C '9 ) fore the number of perfons annually arriving at twenty- one, will be lefs than half the num- of deaths. The whole number of deaths up- on a population of feven millions and a 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 thefe will not receive the propofed fifteen pounds, for the reafons already mentioned, though, as in the former cafe, they would be entitled to it. Admitting then that a tenth part declined re- ceiving it, the amount would (land thus : Fund annually £.^^666^666 To 400,000 aged per- fons at ;;r. I o each ^T. 4,000,000 To 9 0,000 per Tons of 21 years, i5/.fter.ea. 1,350,000 5^3505000 remains jC';^i6,666 There are in every country ^ number of blind and lame perfons, totally incapable of earning a livehhood. But as it will always happen that the greater number of blind perfons will be among thofe who are above the age of fifty years, they will be provided for in that clafs. The remaining fum of ;r. 316, 666, will pro- vide for the lame and blind under that age, at the fame rate of ;,r. 10 annually for each per- fbn. ; : ; : i ( 20 ) Having now gone through all the neceflary calculations, and ilated the particulars of the plan, I fhall conclude with fome obfervations. It IS not charity but a right — not bounty but juftice, that I am pleading for. The pre- fent {late of what is called civilization, is * * * * It is the reverfe of what it ought to be, and * # # # * xhe contrafl of affluence and wretchednefs continually meet-* ing and offending the eye, is like dead and liv- ing bodies chained together. Though I care as little about riches as any man, I am a friend to riches becaufe they are capable of good. I care not how affluent fome may be, provided that none be miferable in confequence of it» But it is impoffible to enjoy affluence with the felicity it is capable of being enjoyed, whilfl fo much mifery is mingled in the fcene. The fight of the mifery, and the unpleafant fenfa^ tions it fuggefts, which, though they may be fuffocated, cannot be extinguilhed, are a great- er draw-back upon the fehcity of affluence than the propofed lo per cent, upon property is worth. He that would not give the one to get rid of the other, has no charity, even for him^ felf. There are, in every country, fome magnifi- cent charities eftablifhed by individuals. It is, however, but little that any individual can do, when the whole extent of the mifery to be relieved be confidered. He may fatisfy his confcience, ( 21 ) 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 fuch principles as to ad: like a fyftem of pullies, that the whole weight of mifery can be removed. The plan here propofed will reach the whole. It will immediately relieve and take out of view three claifes of wretchednefs. The blind, the lame, and the aged poor ; and it will furnifli the rifmg generation with means to prevent their becoming poor ; and it will do this, without deranging or interfering with any national mcafures. To fhew that this will be the cafe, it is fumcient to obferve, that the operation and effedl of the plan will, in all cafes, be the fame, as if every individual were voluntarily to make his will, and difpofe of his property, in the manner here propofed. But it is juftice and not charity, that is the principle of the plan. In all great cafes it is ne- celTary to have a principle more univerfally ac- tive than charity ; and with refpecl to juttice, it ought not to be left to the choice of detach- ed individuals, whether they will do juifice or not. Confidering then the plan on the ground of juflice, it ought to be the acl of the whole, growing fpontaneoufly out of the principles of the revolution, and the reputation of it to be national and not individual. A plan upon this principle w-ould benefit ( 22 ) the revolution, by the energy that fprings from the conrcioufnefs of juRice. It would multi- ply alfo the national refources ; for proper tyj like vegetation, encreafes by ofi-fets. When a young couple beghi the world, the difference is exceedingly great, whether they begin with nothing or wit h fifteen pounds a-piece. With this aid thty could buy a cow, and implements to cultivate a few acres of land ; and inUead of becoming burthens upon fociety, vvdrich is al- w^ays the cafe, where children are produced faf- ter than they can be fed, would be put in the way of becoming ufeful and profitable citizens. The national domains alfo would fell the bet- ter, if pecuniary aids were provided to culti- vate them in fmall lots. It is the pra6lice of what has unjuftly ob- tained the name of civilization (and the prac- tice merits not to be called either charity or policy) to make fome provifion for perfons be- coming poor and wretched, only at the time they become fo. — Would it not, even as a matter of economy, be far better, to devife means to prevent their becoming poor. This can bed be done, by making every perfon, when arrived at the age of twenty- one years, an inheritor of fomething to begin with. The rugged face of fociety, chequered with the ex- tremes of aiPiuence and of want, proves that fome extraordinary violence has been commit- ted upon it, and calls on juftice for redrefs. The great mafs of the poor, in all countries. C 23 ,) are become an hereditary race, and it is next to irapolTible for them to get out of that (late of themfelves. It ought alio to be obferved,that this mafs increafes in all countries that are cal- led civilized. More perfons fall annually into it, than get out of it. Thoug^h in a plan, in which juilice and hu- manity are the foundation-principles, inferefl outjht not to be admitted into the calculauon, yet it is always of advantage to the edablifli- ment of any plan, to fliew that it is beneficial as a matter of interePc. The fuccefs of any pro- posed plan, fubmitted to public confideration, mud finally depend on the numbers interefted in fup porting it, united with the juflice of its principles. The plan here propofed will benefit all, without injuring any. It will confolidate the interefl of the republic with that of the indi- vidual. To the numerous clafs difpofTeffed of their natural inheritance by the fyflem of lan- ded property, it will be an acl of national juf- tice. To perfons dying poiTefTed of moderate fortunes, it will operate as a tontine to their children, more beneficial than the fum of money paid into the fund : and it \vill give to the accumulation of riches a degree of fe- curity, that none of the old governments of Europe, now tottering on their foundations, can give.. ■' ( 24 ) I do not fuppofe that more than one family in ten, in any of the countries of Europe, hasj when the head of the family dies, a clear pro- perty left of five hundred pounds fterling. To all fuch, the plan is advantageous. That pro- perty 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 over grown acquifition of property that the fund will fupport itfelf ; and I know that the polfeffors of fuch property in England, though they would eventually be benefited by the protedlion of nine-tenths of it, will exclaim againfl the plan. But, without entering into any enquiry how they came by that property, let them recoiled that they have been the ad- vocates of this war, and that Mr. Pitt has al- ready laid on more new taxes to be raifed an- nually upon the people of England, and that for fupporting the de'potifm of Auftria and the Bourbons, againll the liberties of France, than would annually pay all the fuins propo- fed in this plan. I have made the calculations, flated in this plan, upon what is called perfonal, as well as upon landed property. The reafon for mak- ing it upon land is already explained ; and the reafon for taking perfonal property into the cal- culation, is equally well founded, though on SI different princijple. Land, as before faid, is C 25 ) the free gift cf the Creator in common to the human race. Perfonal property is the effed of Society ; and it is as impolTible for an indivi- dual to acquire perfonal property without the aid of Society, as it is for him to make land originally. Separate an individual from focie- ty, and give him an iiland or a continent to poffefs, and he cannot acquire perfonal pro- perty. He cannot become rich. So infepara- bly are the means connected with the end, in all cafes, that where the former do not exiil:, the latter cannot be obtained. All accumula- tion, therefore, of perfonal property, beyond what a man's own hands produce, is derived to him by living in fociety ; and he owes, on every principle of juflice, of gratitude, and of civili- zation, a part of that accumulation back again to fociety from whence the whole came. This is putting the matter on a general principle, and perhaps it is bed to do fo ; for if we examine the cafe minutely, it will be found, that the ac- cumulation of perfonal property is, in many inflances, the effed: of paying too little for the labour that produced it ; the confequence of which is, that the working hand perifhes in old age, and the employer abounds in affluence* It is, perhaps, impoffible to proportion exadly the price of labour to the profits it produces ; and it will alfo be faid, as an apology for in- juftice, that were a workman to receive an in- creafe of wages daily, he would not fave it figainft old age, nor be much the better for it in the interium. Make, then, fociety the trea- D ( 25 ) furcr, to guard it for him in a common fund ; for it is no reafon, that becaufe he might not make a good ufe of it for himfelf, that another ihall take it. The flate of civilization that has prevailed throughout Europe, is as unjuft in its prin- ciple, as it is horrid in its efFecls; and it is the confcioufnefs of this, and the apprehen- fion that fuch a (late cannot continue, when once invefligation begins in any country, that makes the poiTeiTors of property dread every idea of a revolution. It is the hazard and not the principles of a revolution that retards their progrefs. This being the cafe, it is neceflary as well for the protection of property, as for the fake of juftice and humanity, to form a fyf- tern, that whiKl it preferves one part of fociety from wretchednefs, fhall fecure the other from depredation. The fuperftitious awe, the enflaving rave- rence, that formerly furrounded affluence, is paiTmg away in all countries, and leaving the poifeilor of property to the convulfion of ac- cidents. When wealth and fplendour, inllead of fafcinating the multitude, excite emotions of difgufl ; when, inllead of drawing forth ad- miration, it is beheld as an infult upon wretch- ednefs ; when the oflentatious appearance it makes, ferves to call the right of it in quef- tion, the cafe of property becomes critical, and C 47 ) it is only in a fyflem of juflice that the pof- feflbr can contemplate lecurity. To remove the danger, It is neceflary to re- move the antipathies, and this can only be done by making property produdlive of a national bieffing, extending to every individual. V/hen the riches of one man above another {hall in- creafe the national fund in the fame propor- tion ; when it (hall be feen that the profperity of that fund depends on the profperity of in- dividuals ; when the more riches a man ac- quires, the better it (hall be for the general mafs ; it is then that antipathies will ceafe, and property be placed on the permanent bafis of national intereft and protedion. i have no property in France to become fub- jed; to the plan I propofe. What I have, which is not much, is in the United States of Ameri- ca. But I will pay one hundred pounds fler- ling towards this fund in France, the inllant it {hall be eifabhfhed ; and 1 will pay the fame fum in England, whenever a fimilar eftablifh- ment {hall take place in that country. x\ revolution in the ilate of civilization, k the neceifary companion of revolutions in the fyflem of government. If a revolution in any country be from bad to good, or from good to bad, the ftate of what is called civilization in that country, mud be made conformable thereto, to give that revolution effects. Def- ( 38 ) potic government fupports itfelf by abjeQ: ci- vilization, in which debafement of the human mind, and wretchednefs in the mafs of the people, are the chief crirerians. Such govern- ments confider man merely as an animal ; that the exercife of intelledlual faculty is not his pri^dlege ; that he has n thing to do with the laws^ hut to obey thefii;* and they politically depend more upon breaking the fpirit of the people by poverty, than they fear enraging it by def- peration. It is a revolution in the ftate of civilization, that will give perfedion to the revolution of France. Already the convidion, that govern- ment, by reprefentation, is the true fyftem of government, is fpreading itfelf fad in the world. The reafonablenefs of it can be feen by all. Thejuflnefs of it makes itfelf felt even by its cppofers. But when a fyftem of civilization, growing out of that fyftem of government, ihall be fo organized, that not a man or wo- man born in the republic, but ftiall inherit fome means of beginning the world, and fee before them the certainty of efcaping the mi- feries that under other governments accompa- ny old age, the revolution of France will have an advocate and an ally in the heart of all na- tions. * Expreflion of Horfley, an Englifli Bifhop, in tlie Englifh parliam^t. ( 29 ) An army of principles will penetrate where an army of foldiers cannot — ^It will fucceed where diplomatic management would fail — It is neither the Rhine, the Channel, nor the Ocean, that can arrefl its progrefs — It will march on the horizon of the world, and it will conquer. THOMAS PAINE. ( 30 ) Means for carrying the propofedPlan into • Execution, and to render it at the fame time conducive to the public Interell. I. Each canton jhall eled: in its primary affenu hlles^ three perfom^ as commljjioners for that can- ton^ who jhall take cognizance^ and keep a re- gijier of all matters happening in that canton^ conformable to the charter that fnall be eflablljhed by law^ for carrying this plan into execution. 11. The law fhall fix the manner in which the property of deceafed perfons fhall be afcertained. III. When the amount of the property of any de- eeafed perfdn Jhall be afcertained^ the principal heir to that property^ or the cldeft of the co-heirs^ if of lawful agey or if under age^ the perfon authorized by the will of the deceafed to reprefent him^ or them^ fhall give bond to the coinmijfton- ers of the canton, to pay the faid tenth part thereof within the fpace of one year, in four €(iual quarterly payments, or fooner, at the choice of the payers. One-half of the whole property jhall remain asfecurity until the bond be paid off ^ ( 31 ) IV. The bond Jh all be reg[fteredin the office of the commljftoner s of the canton^ and the original bonds jhall he dopofited in the yiational hank at Paris, The hank ff jail pub lijh every qiurter of a year the amount of the bonds in itspoffejfton^ and alfo the bonds that fhall have been paid off^ or what parts thereof fince the lajl quarterly pub- lie at I on. V. The national hank fJjall ijjtie bank notes upon the fecurity of the bonds in its poffejfon, Th€ notes fo iffiied.^ fhall be applied to pay the penftons of agedperfons^ and the compenfations to perfons arriving at twenty-one years of age* — // is both reafonahle and generous to fiippofe, that perfons not under immediate neceffity^ will fifpend their right of drawing on the fund^ until it acquire^ as it will do^ a greater degree of ability. In this cafe^ it is propofed^ that an honorary regifter be kept in each canton^ of the names of the perfons thus fufpendi^ig that rights at leafi during the prefent zvar, VI. As the inheritors of property miifi always take up their bonds in four quarterly payments ^ orfoon- er if they choofe^ there will always be numeraire arriving at the bank after the expiration of the frfl quarter J to exchange for the bank notes thai fhall be brought in* ( 32 ) VII. The hank notes being thus got into circulation^ upon the heji of all pojjible fecurity^ that of adual property^ to more than four times the amount of the bonds upon which the notes are iffued^ and with numeraire continually arriving at the hank to ex* change or pay them off whenever they fhall be prefented for that purpofe^ they will acqidre a permanent value in all parts of the republic, They can therefore be received in payment of taxes or emprunts^ equal to numeraire^ hecaufe the go-' vernment can always receive numeraire for them at the bank, VIII. It will he neceffary that the payments of the ten per cent, he made in numeraire for the firji year^fro7n the efiablifhment of the plan. But af* ter the expiration ofthefirfi year^ the inheritors of property 7nay pay the ten per cent, either in bank notes iffued upon thefund^ or in nuw.eraire. If the payments be in numeraire^ it will lie as a depofit at the bank^ to be exchanged for a quan- tity of notes equal to that amount ; and if in notes iffued upon the fund ^ it will caufe a demand upon the fund equal thereto ; and thus the operation of the plan will create means to carry itfelf into execution, F I N I s; ^^^' u ,n ^' •^^^■^•^•!ki^ '}M m