Common Sense
Addressed to the Inhabitants of America, January 10, 1776.

by Thomas Paine
(1776)

From The Works of Thomas Paine (Conway Edition, 1894-96), Volume 1.
Source: https://filthylittleatheist.com/works/common-sense/
Public domain. CC0 / Public Domain Mark 1.0.

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', Perhaps the sentiments contained in the following pages, are not_7^# sufficiently fashionable to procure them general Favor ; a long Habit of not thinking a Thing wrong, gives > it a superficial appearance of being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defence of Custom. But the Tumult soon subsides. Time makes more Converts than 3,

£eason. As a long and violent abuse of power is generally the feans of calling the right of it in question, (and in matters too which might never have been thought of, had not the sufferers been aggravated into the inquiry,) and as the King of England hath undertaken in his own right, to support the Parliament in what he calls Theirs, and as the good People of this Country are grievously oppressed by the Combination, they have an undoubted privilege to enquire into the

' This pamphlet, whose effect has never been paralleled in literary history, was published January lo, 1776, with the following title :

Common Sense : Addressed to the Inhabitants of America, on the following Interesting Subjects, viz.: I. Of the Origin and Design of Government in General ; with Concise Remarks on the English Constitution. II. Of Monarchy and Hereditary Succession. III. Thoughts on the Present State of American Affairs. IV. Of the Present Ability of America ; with some Miscellaneous Reflections.

Man knows no master save creating Heaven, Or those whom choice and common good ordain.

Thomson. Philadelphia : Printed, and Sold, by R. Bell, in Third Street, mdcclxxvi.

Pretensions of both, and equally to reject the Usurpation of

In th^ following Sheets, the Author hath studiouslyavoided every thing which is personal among ourselves. Compliments as well as censure to individuals make no part thereof. The wise and the worthy need not the triumph of a Pamphlet ; and those whose sentiments are injudicious or unfriendly will cease of themselves, unless too much pains is bestowed upon their conversions.

' The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind. Many circumstances have, and will arise, which are not local, but universal, and through which the principles of all lovers of mankind are affected, and in the event of which their affections are interested. The laying a. country desolate with fire and sword, declaring war against the natural rights of all mankind, and extirpating the defenders thereof from the face of the earth, is the concern of every man to whom nature hath given the power of feeling ; of which class, regardless of party censure, is *"''

The' Author.

Postscript to Preface in the third edition.

P. S. The Publication of this r^&vi Edition hath been' delayed, with a view of taking notice (had it been necessary) of any attempt to refute the Doctrine of Independence : As no answer hath yet appeared, it is now presumed that none will, the time needful for getting such a Performance ready for the Public being considerably past.

Who the Author of this Production is, is wholly unnecessary to the Public, as the Object for Attention is the Doctrine itself, not the Man. Yet it may not be unnecessary to say, That he is unconnected with any party, and under rto sort of Influence, public or private, but the influence of reason and principle.

Philadelphia, February 14, 1776.

Common Sense

ON THE ORIGIN AND DESIGN OF GOVERNMENT IN GEN-ERAL, WITH CONCISE REMARKS ON THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION.

Some writers have so confounded society with government, as to leave little or no distinction between them ; whereas they are not only different, but have different origins.

i Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness ; the former promotes our happiness possiiive/jfhy uniting our affections, the latter negatively by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first is a patron, the last a punisher.

Society in every state is a blessing, butijowerninent, even in its best state, js^buta necessary evil ; in its worst state an intolerable one : for when we suffer, or are exposed to the same miseries by a Government, which we might expect in a country without Government, our calamity is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer. Government, likejdress, is the badge of lost innocence ; the palaces of kings are built upon the ruins of the bowers of paradise. jFor were the impulses of conscience clear, uniform andirresistibly obeyed, man would need no other lawgiver ; but that not being the case, he finds it necessary to surrender up a part of his property to furnish means for the protection of the rest ; and this he is induced to do by the same prudence which in every other case advises him, put of two evils to choose the least. Wherefore, security being the

True design and end of government, it unanswerably follows that whatever form thereof appears most likely to ensure it to us, with the least expence and greatest benefit, is preferable to all others.

70 T^E WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [l776

In order to gain a clear and just idea of the design and end of government, let us suppose a small number of persons settled in some sequestered part of the earth, unconnected with the rest ; they will then represent the first peopling of any country, or of the world. In this state of natural liberty, society will be their first thought. A thousand motives will excite them thereto ; the strength of one man is so unequal to his wants, and his mind so unfitted for perpetual solitude, that he is soon obliged to seek assistance and relief of another, who in his turn requires the same. Four or five united would be able to raise a tolerable dwelling in the midst of a wilderness, but one man might labour out the common period of life without accomplishing any thing ; when he had felled his timber he could not remove it, nor erect it after it was removed ; hunger in the mean time would urge him to quit his work, and every different want would call him a different way. Disease, nay even misfortune, would be death ; for though neither might be mortal, yet either would disable him from living, and reduce him to a state in which he might rather be said to perish than to die.

Thus necessity, like a gravitating power, would soon form our newly arrived emigrants into society, the reciprocal blessings of which would supercede, and render the obliga-_tions of law and government unnecessary while they remained perfectly just to each other ; but as nothing but Heaven is impregnable to vice, it will unavoidably happen that in proportion as they surmount the first difficulties of emigration, which bound them together in a common cause, they will begin to relax in their duty and attachment to each other : and this remissness will point out the necessity of establishing some form of government to supply the defect of moral virtue.

Some convenient tree will afford them a State House, under the branches of which the whole Colony may assemble to deliberate on public matters. It is more than probable that their first laws will have the title only of Regulations and be enforced by no other penalty than_gublic disesteem. In this 5l5i P^rJiSffiSS* ^^^""y-'BiaS.-^^^Eirti^J^g^^ill have asSatf

But as the Colony encreases, the public concerns will encrease likewise, and the distance at which the members maybe separated, will render it too inconvenient for all of them to meet on every occasion as at first, when their number was small, their habitations near, and the public concerns few and trifling. This will point out the convenience of their consenting to leave the legislative part to be managed by a select number chosen from the whole body, who are supposed to have the same concerns at stake which those have who appointed them, and who will act in the same manner as the whole body would act were they present. If the colony continue encreasing, it will become necessary to augment the number of representatives, and that the interest of every part of the colony may be attended to, it will be found best to divide the whole into convenient parts, each part sending its proper number : and that the elected mi^t never form to themselves an interest separate from the electors, prudence will point out the propriety of having elections often : because as the - ^/^c^^^ might by that means return and mix again with the general body of the electors in a few months, their fidehty to the public will be secured by the prudent reflection of not making a rod for themselves. And as this frequent interchange will establish a common interest with every part of the community, they will mutually and naturally support each other, and on this, (not on the unmeaning name of king,) depends the strength of srovernment. a nd^the^ happiness of the governed.

Here then is the origin and rise of government ; namely, \ a mode rendered necessary by the inability of moral virtue to govern the world ; here too is the design and end of government, viz. Freedom _and seCTpty. And however our eyes may be dazzled with show, or our ears deceived by sound ; however prejudice may warp our wills, or interest darken out" understanding, the simple voice of n ature and reason wil l say, 'tis right. '

I draw my idea of the form of government from a princi-' pie in nature which no art can overturn, viz. that the more simple any thing is, the less liable it is to be disordered, an|d

the easier repaired when disordered ; and with this maxim in view I offer a few remarks on the so much boasted constitution of England. That it was noble for the dark and slavish times in which it was erected, is granted. When the world was overrun with tyranny the least remove therefrom was a glorious rescue. But that it is imperfect, subject to convulsions, and incapable of producing what it seems to ^.promise, is easily demonstrated.

• Absolu te govgmments, (tho' the disgrace of human na-Lsi.vrc€) have this advantage with them, they are simple ; if the peopfe^suSer, fh~ey"lSfiow the head from which their suffering springs ; know likewise the remedy ; and are not bewildered by a variety of causes and cures. But the constitution of England is so exceedingly complex, that the nation may suffer for years together^ithbuf being able to discover in which part the fault lies ; some will say in one and some in another, and every political physician will advise a different medicine. '

I know it-is difficult to get over local or long standing prejudices, yet if we will suffer ourselves to examine the component parts of the English constitution, we shall find them to be the base remains of two ancient tyrannies, compounded with some new Republican materials.

First. — The remains of Monarchical tyranny in the person of the King.

Secondly. — The remains of Aristocratical tyranny in the persons of the Peers.

Thirdly. — The new Republican materials, in the persons of the Commons, on whose virtue "depends the freedom of England.

The two first, by being hereditary, are independant of the People ; wherefore in a constitutional sense they contribute nothing towards the freedom of the State.

To say that the constitution of England is an union of three powers, reciprocally checking each other, is farcical ; either the words have no meaning, or they are fiat contradictions.

To say that the Commons is a check upon the King, presupposes two things. First. — That the King is not to be trusted without being looked after ; or in other words, that a thirst for absolute power is the natural disease of monarchy.

Secondly. — That the Commons, by being appointed for that purpose, are either wiser or more worthy of confidence • than the Crown.

But as the same constitution which gives the Commons a power to check the King by withholding the supplies, gives afterwards the King a power to check the Commons, by empowering him to reject their other bills ; it again supposes that the King is wiser than those whom it has already supposed to be wiser than him. A mere, absurdity ! — "i-^' '^^ ' 

There is something exceedingly ridiculous in the composition of Monarchy ; it first excludes a man from the means of information, yet empowers him to act in cases where the highest judgment is required. The state of a king shuts him from the World, yet the business of a king requires him to know it thoroughly; wherefore the different parts, by unnaturally opposing and destroying each other, prove the whole character to be absurd and useless.

Some writers have explained the English constitution thus : the King, say they, is one, the people another ; the Peers are a house in behalf of the King, the commons in behalf of the people ; but this hath all the distinctions of a house divided against itself ; and though the expressions be pleasantly arranged, yet when examined they appear idle and ambiguous ; and it will always happen, that the nicest construction that words are capable of, when applied to the description of something which either cannot exist, or is too incomprehensible to be within the compass of description, will be words of sound only, and though they may amuse the ear, they cannot inform the mind : for this explanation includes a previous question, viz. kow came the king by a p ower which the people are afra id to trust, a nd always obliged to check? Such a power co uld not be th e gift of a wise geople^jieither can any p ower, w hich needschecking, be from Gpd ; yet the provision which the constitution makes supposes such a power to exist.

But the provision is unequal to the task ; the means either cannot or will not accomplish the end, and the whole affair is a Felo dese : for as the greater weight will always carry up the less, and as all the wheels of a machine are put in motion by one, it only remains to know which power in the constitution has the most weight, for that will govern : and tho' the others, or a part of them, may clog, or, as the phrase is, check the rapidity of its motion, yet so long as they cannot stop it, their endeavours will be ineffectual : The first moving power will at last have its way, and what it wants in speed is supplied by time.

That the crown is this overbearing part in the English constitution needs not be mentioned, and that it derives its whole consequence merely from being the giver of places and pensions is self-evident ; wherefore, though we have been wise enough to shut and lock a door against absolute Monarchy, we at the same time have been foolish enough to put the Crown in possession of the key.

The prejudice of Englishmen, in favour of their own government, by King, Lords and Common§. arises as much or more from national pride than reason. f Individuals are undoubtedly safer in England than in some other countries : but the will of the king is as much the law of the land in Britain as in France, with this difference, that instead of proceeding directly from his mouth, it is handed to the people under the formidable shape of an act of parliament. For the fate of Charles the ^First hath only made kings more subtle — not more just. ,

Wherefore, layiri'g aside all national pride and prejudice in favour of modes and forms, the plain truth is that it is wholly \ owing to the constitution of the people, and not to the constitution of the government that the crown is not as oppressive in England as in Turkey.

An inquiry into the constitutional errors in the English form of government, is at this time highly necessary ; for as we are never in a proper condition of doing justice to others, while we continue under the influence of some leading partiality, so neither are we capable of doing it to our- selves while we remain fettered by any obstinate prejudice, ^And as a man who is attached to a prostitute is unfitted — to- choose or judge of a wife, so any prepossession in favour of a rotten constitution of government will disable us from discerning a good one.

Of Monarchy and Hereditary Succession

Mankind being originally equals in the order of creation, the'equality could only be destroyed by some subsequent circumstance : the distinctions of rich and poor may in a great measure be accounted for, and that without having recourse to the harsh ill-sounding names of oppression and avarice. Oppression is often the consequence, but seldom or never the means of riches ; and tho' avarice will preserve a man from being necessitously poor, it generally makes him too timorous to be wealthy.

But there is another and greater distinction for which no truly natural or religious reason can be assigned, and that is the distinction of men into > KlNGS and SU BJECTS. Male and female are the distinctions of nature, good and bad the distinctions of Heaven ; but how a race of men came into the world so exalted above the rest, and distinguished like some new species, is worth inquiring into, and whether they are the means of happiness or of misery to mankind.

In the early ages of the world, according to the scripture chronology there were no kings ; the consequence of which was, there were no wars ; it is the pride of kings which t hrows mankind into confusion. Holland, without a king hath enjoyed more peace for this last century than any of the monarchical governments in Europe. Antiquity favours the same remark ; for the quiet and rural lives of the first Patriarchs have a happy something in them, which vanishes when we come to the history of Jewish royalty.

Government by kings was first introduced into the world by- the Heathens, from whom the children of Israel copied the custom. It was the most prosperous invention the Devil ever set on foot for the promotion of idolatry. The

Heathens paid divine honours to their deceased kings, and the Christian World hath improved on the plan by doing the same to their living ones. |How i mpious is t he title of sacred_Majesl3LappliMJta-a-W0ri«7-who-in the midst of his splendor is crumbling into dust !

As the exaTtIng one man so greatly above the rest cannot be justified on the equal rights of nature, so neither can it be defended on the authority of scripture ; for the will of the Almighty as declared by Gideon, and the prophet Samuel, expressly disapproves of government by Kings. All anti-monarchical parts of scripture, have been very smoothly glossed over in monarchical governments, but they undoubtedly merit the attention of countries which have their governments yet to form. Render unto Cesar the things which are Cesar's, is the scripture doctrine of courts, yet it is no support of monarchical government, for the Jews at that time were without a king, and in a state of vassalage to the Romans.

Near three thousand years passed away, from the Mosaic account of the creation, till the Jews under a national delusion requested a king. Till then their form of government (except in extraordinary cases where the Almighty interposed) was a kind of Republic, administered by a judge and the elders of the tribes. Kings they had none, and it was held sinful to acknowledge any being under that title but the Lord of Hosts. And when a man seriously reflects on the idolatrous homage which is^paid toTFe persons"df kings, he need not wonder that the Almighty, ever jealous of his honour, should disapprove a form of government whigh so impiouslyJm«ad.es±he prer^atHEof Heaweii

Monarchy is ranked in scripture as one of the sins of the Jews, for which a curse in reserve is denounced against them. The history of that transaction is worth attending to.

The children of Israel being oppressed by the Midianites, Gideon marched against them with a small army, and victory thro' the divine interposition decided in his favour. The Jews, elate with success, and attributing it to the generalship of Gideon, proposed making him a king, saying, Rule thou over us, thou and thy son, and thy son's son. Here

1776] COMMON- SENSE. Jf was temptation in its fullest extent ; not a kingdom only, but an hereditary one ; but Gideon in the piety of his soul replied, / will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you. THE LORD SHALL RULE OVER YOU. Words need not be more explicit ; Gideon doth not decline the honour, but denieth their right to give it ; neither doth he compliment them with invented declarations of his thanks, but in the positive stile of a prophet charges them with disaffection to their proper Sovereign, the King of Heaven.

About one hundred and thirty years after this, they fell again into the same error. The hankering which the Jews had for the idolatrous customs of the Heathens, is something exceedingly unaccountable ; but so it was, that laying hold of the misconduct of Samuel's two sons, who were intrusted with some secular concerns, they came in an abrupt and clamorous manner to Samuel, saying. Behold thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways, now make us a king to judge us like all the other nations. And here we cannot but observe that their motives were bad, viz. that they might be like unto other nations, i. e. the Heathens, whereas their true glory lay in being as much unlike them as possible. But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, give us a King to judge us ; and Samuel prayed unto the Lord, and the Lord said unto Samuel, hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee, for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, THAT I SHOULD NOT REIGN OVER THEM. According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day, wherewith they have forsaken me, and served other Gods : so do they also unto thee. Now therefore hearken unto their voice, howbeit, protest solemnly unto them and show them the manner of the King that shall reign over them, i. e. not of any particular King, but the general manner of the Kings of the earth whom Israel was so eagerly copying after. And notwithstanding the great distance of time and difference of manners, the character is still in fashion. And Samuel told all the words of the Lord unto the people, that asked of him a King. And he said. This shall be the manner of the King that shall reign over you. He will take your sons and appoint ..um for himself for his chariots and to be his horsemen, and some shall run before his chariots (this description agrees with the present mode of impressing men) and he will appoint him captains over thousands and captains over fifties, will set them to ear his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots. And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers (this describes the expense and luxury as well as the oppression of Kings) and he will take your fields and your vineyards, and your olive yards, even the best of them,, and give them to his servants. And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give them to his officers and to his servants (by which we see that bribery, corruption, and favouritism, are the standing vices of Kings) and he will take the tenth of your men servants, and your maid servants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work : and he will take the tenth of your sheep, and ye shall be his servants, and ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen, AND THE LORD WILL NOT HEAR YOU IN THAT DAY. This accounts for the continuation of Monarchy ; neither do the characters of the few good kings which have lived since, either sanctify the title, or blot out the sinfulness of the origin ; the high encomium given of David takes no notice of him officially as a King, but only as a Man after God's own heart. Never- 't he less the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel, and they said, Nay but we, will have a king over us, that we may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us, and go out before us and fight our battles. Samuel continued to reason with them but to no purpose ; he set before them their ingratitude, but ail would not avail ; and seeing them fully bent on their folly, he cried out, / will call unto the Lord, and he shall send thunder and rain (which was then a punishment, being in the time of wheat harvest) that ye may perceive and see that your wickedness is great which ye have done in the sight of the Lord, IN ASKING YOU A KING. So Samuel called unto the Lord, and the Lord sent thunder and rcv^v that day, and all the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel. And all the people said unto Samuel, Pray for thy servants unto the Lord thy God that we die not, for WE HAVE ADDED UNTO OUR SINS THIS EVIL, TO ASK A KING. These p ortions of scripture are direct and positiv-e . They admit of no equivocal construction. That the A lmighty ha th here entered his protest against monar chical governm ent is true, or the scripture is false. An^~aman hath good reas^On to believe that there is as much of kingcraft as priestcraft in withholding the scripture from the public in popish countries. For monarchy in every instance is the popery of government.

To th e evil of monarchy we have added that of hereditary su ccession: and as th e first is a degradation and lessening of ourselves^o t,l;L|^,,,g.e£pnd. claimed as a matterof right, is an msult and i mposit i on on posterity . For all men being originally equals, no one by birth could have a right to set up his own family in perpetual preference to all others for ever, and tho' himself might deserve some decent degree of honours of his cotemporaries, yet his descendants might be far too unworthy to inherit them. One of the strongest natural proofs of the folly of hereditary right in Kings, is t hat nature disapproves it. otherwise she would not so frequently turn it into ridicule, by giving mankind an Ass for a Lion.

Secondly, as no man at first could possess any other pub-' lie honors than were bestowed upon him, so the givers of those honors could have no power to give away the right of posterity, and though they might say " We choose you for our head," they could not without manifest injustice to their children say " that your children and your children's children shall reign over ours forever." Because such an unwise, unjust, unnatural compact might (perhaps) in the next succession put them under the government of a rogue or a fool. Most wise men in their private sentiments have ever treated j iereditary right with contempt ; yet it is one of those evils which when once establi shed is not easily removed : many submit trom lear, otners Irom superstitionT and the more powerful part shares with the king the plunder of the rest.

This is supposing the present race of kings in the world to have had an honorable origin: whereas it is more than probable, that, could we take off the dark covering of antiquity and trace them to their first rise, we should find the first of them nothing better than the principal ruflfian of some restless gang, whose savage manners or pre-eminence in subtilty obtained him the title of chief among plunderers : and who by increasing in power and extending his depredations, overawed the quiet and defenceless to purchase their safety by frequent contributions. _ Yet his electors could have no idea of giving hereditary right to his descendants, because such a perpetual exclusion of themselves was incompatible with the free and unrestrained principles they professed to live by. Wherefore, hereditary succession in the early ages of monarchy could not take place as a matter of claim, but as something casual or complemental ; but as few or no records were extant in those days, and traditionary history stuff'd with fables, it was very easy, after the lapse of a few generations, to trump up some superstitious tale conveniently timed, Mahomet-like, to cram hereditary right down the throats of the vulgar. Perhaps the disorders which threatened, or seemed to threaten, on the decease of a leader and the choice of a new one (for elections among ruffians could not be very orderly) induced many at first to favour hereditary pretensions ; by which means it happened, as it hath happened since, that what at first was submitted tg,as a convenience was afterwards claimed as a right.

jland since the conquest hath known some few good [chs, but groaned beneath a much larger number of ones : yet no man in his senses can say that their claim under William the Conqueror is a very honourable one. A French bastard landing with an armed Banditti and establishing himself king of England against the consent of the natives, is in plain terms a very paltry rascally original. It certainly hath no divinity in it. However it is needless to spend much time in exposing the folly of hereditary

1776] COMMON SENSE.

right ; if there are any so weak as to believe it, let them promiscuously worship the Ass and the Lion, and welcome. I shall neither copy their humility, nor disturb their devotion. Yet I should be glad to ask how they suppose kings came at 0jst? The question admits but of thrgs^answers, viz. either by lot, by election, or by usurpation. \ If the first y king was taken by lot, it establishes a precedewHor the next, which excludes hereditary succession. Saul was by lot, yet the succession was not hereditary, neither does it appear from that transaction that there was any intention it ever should. If the first king of any country was by election, that likewise establishes a precedent for the next ; for to say, that the right of all future generations is taken away, by the act of the first electors, in their choice not only of a king but of a family of kings for ever, hath no parallel in or out of scripture but the doctrine of original sin, which supposes the free will of all men lost in Adam ; and from such comparison, and it will admit of no other, hereditary succession can derive no glory. For as in Adam all sinned, and as in the fii'st electors all men obeyed : as in the one all mankind were subjected to Satan, and in the other to sovereignty ; as our innocer^t^e was lost in the first, and our authority in the last ; and as both disable us from re-assumin g some former state and privileg e, it unanswerably fo llows that original sin and Jiereditary succession are parallels. D ishonourable raiik ! inglorious connection ! yet the most subtle sophist cannot" produce a juster simile.

As to usurpation, no man will be so hardy as to defend it ; and that William the Conqueror was an usurper is a fact not to be contradicted. Th e_.plain truth is, that the antiquity of

_English.^mflajchj^adILn£l,.b£s^ lonkinp into. — —

But it is not so much the absurdity as thee yil of hered itary succession w hich concerns mankind. Di d it ensure a race of . good and wise men it would have the seal of rl iYinp antViruiity, but as it ©ipeRS a _door to the foolish, the wic ked, and the M^^^^jan^^tTiath in it the nature of oppression. Men who look upon themselves born to reign, and others to obey, soon grow insolent. Selected from the rest of mankind, their

VOL. I. — 6 minds are early poisoned by importance ; and the world they act in differs so materially from the world at large, that they have but little opportunity of knowing its true interests, and when they succeed to the government are frequently the most ignorant and unfit of any throughout the dominions.

Another evil which attends hereditary succession is, that the t hrone is subject to be possessed hy a min or at any a^e: all which time the regency acting under the cover of a king have every opportunity and inducement to betray their trust. The same national misfortune happens when a king worn out with age and infirmity enters the last stage of human weakness. In both these cases the public becomes a prey to every miscreant who can tamper successfully with the follies either of age or infancy.

The most plausible plea which hath ever been offered in favor of hereditary succession is, that it preserves a nation from civil wars ; and were this true, it would be weighty ; whereas it is the most bare-faced falsity ever imposed upon mankind. The whole history of England disowns the fact. Thirty kings and two minors have reigned in that distracted kingdom since the conquest, in which time there has been (including the revolution) no less than eight civil wars and nineteen RebeUions. Wherefore instead of making for peace, it makes against it, and destroys the very foundation it seems to stand upon.

The contest for monarchy and succession, between the houses of York and Lancaster, laid England in a scene of blood for many years. Twelve pitched battles besides skirmishes and sieges were fought between Henry and Edward. Twice was Henry prisoner to Edward, who in his turn was prisoner to Henry. And so uncertain is the fate of war and the temper of a nation, when nothing but personal matters are the ground of a quarrel, that Henry was taken in triumph from a prison to a palace, and Edward obliged to fly from a palace to a foreign land ; yet, as sudden transitions of temper are seldom lasting, Henry in his turn was driven from the throne, and Edward re-called to succeed him. The parliament always following the strongest side. This contest began in the reign of Henry the Sixth, and was not entirely extinguished till Henry the Seventh, in whom the families were united. Including a period of 6^ years, viz. from 1422 to 1489.

In short, monarchy and succession have laid (not this or that kingdom only) but the world in blood and ashes. 'Tis a form of government which the word of God bears testimony against, and blood will attend it.

If we enquire into the business of a King, we shall find that in some countries they may have none ; and after sauntering away their lives without pleasure to themselves or advantage to the nation, withdraw from the scene, and leave their successors to tread the same idle round. In absolute monarchie s the wh ole weight of business civil and m ilitary lies on the_ King ; the children of Israel in their request for a king urged tHis'plea, " that he may judge us, and go out before us and fight our battles." But in countries where he is neither a Judge nor a General, as in England, a man would be puzzled to know what is his business.

The nearer any g overnme nt appro9.;;Jli,fia, ,t,Q '^.B.^P"^^'^! the less busmess there is for a King. It is somewhat difficult to nnd a proper name for the government of England. Sir William Meredith calls it a RepubHc ; but in its present state it is unworthy of the name, because the corrupt influence of the Crown, by having all the places in its disposal, hath so efifectually swallowed up the power, and eaten out the virtue of the House of Commons (the Republican part in the constitution) that the government of England is nearly as monarchical as that of France or Spain. Men fall out with names without understanding them. For 'tis the Repubhcan and not the Monarchical part of the constitution of England which Englishmen glory in, viz. the liberty of choosing an House of Commons from out of their own body — and it is easy to see that when Repubhcan virtues fails, slavery ensues. Why is the constitution of England sickly, but because monarchy hath poisoned the Republic ; the Crown hath engrossed the Commons.

In England a King hath Httle more to do than to make war and give away places ; which, in plain terms, is to empoverish the nation and set it together by the ears. A pretty business indeed for a man to be allowed eight hundred thousand sterling a year for, and worshipped into the bargain ! Of more worth is one honest man to society, and in the sight of God, than all the crowned rufifians that ever lived.

Thoughts on the Present State of American Affairs

In the following pages I offer nothing more than simple facts, plain arguments, and common sense : and have no other preliminaries to settle with the reader, than that he will divest himself of prejudice and prepossession, and suffer his reason and his feelings to determine for themselves : that he will put on, or rather that he will not put off, the true character of a man, and generously enlarge his views beyond the present day.

Volumes have been written on the subject of the struggle between England and America. Men of all ranks have embarked in the controversy, from different motives, and with various designs ; but all have been ineffectual, and the period of debate is closed. Arms as the last resource decide the contest ; the appeal was the choice of the King, and the Continent has accepted the challenge.

It hath been reported of the late Mr. Pelham (who tho' an able minister was not without his faults) that on his being attacked in the House of Commons on the score that his measures were only of a temporary kind, replied, " they will last my time." Should a thought so fatal and unmanly possess the Colonies in the present contest, the name of ancestors will be remembered by future generations with detestation.

The Sun never shined on a cause of greater worth. 'Tis not the affair of a City, a County, a Province, or a Kingdom ; but of a Continent— of at least one eighth part of the habitable Globe. 'Tis not the concern of a day, a year, or an age ; posterity are virtually involved in the contest, and will be more or less affected even to the end of time, by the pro- ceedings now. Now is the seed-time of Continental union, faith and honour. The least fracture now will be like a name engraved with the point of a pin on the tender rind of a young oak ; the wound would enlarge with the tree, and posterity read it in full grown characters.

By referring the matter from argument to arms, a new *era for poHtics is struck — a new method of thinking hath arisen. All plans, proposals, &c. prior to the nineteenth ojE April, i. e. to the commencement of hostilities," are like the almanacks of., the last year ; which tho' proper then, are superceded and useless now. Whatever was advanced by the advocates on either side of the question then, terminated in one and the same point, viz. a union with Great Britain ; _ the only difference between the parties was the method of effecting it ; the one proposing force, the other friendship ; but it hath so far happened that the first hath failed, and the second hath withdrawn her influence.

As much hath been said of the advantages of reconciliation, which, like an agreeable dream, hath passed away and left us as we were, it is but right that we should examine the contrary side of the argument, and enq uire into snmp of the manv - material inj uries which these rolo niVs siml-airi, and always will sustain, hv being connecte d' with an d dependant on Great-Britain. To examine that connection and dependance, oiTtKFprinciples of nature and common sense, to see what we have to trust to, if separated, and what we are to expect, if dependant.

I have heard it asserted by some, that as America hasN . flourished under her former connection with Great-Britain, V the same connection is necessary towards her future happi, y ness, and will always have the same effect. Nothing can be more fallacious than this kind of argument. We may as well assert that because a chil d has thrived upon milk, that ^t is never to have meat, or that the first twenty years of our lives is to become a precedent for the next twenty. But even this is admitting more than is true ; for I answer ' At Lexington, Massachusetts, 1775. — Editer. roundly, that America would have flourished as much, and probably much more, had no European power taken any notice of her. The commerce by which she hath enriched herself are the necessaries of life, and will always have a market while eating is the custom of Europe. / But she has protected us, say some. That she hath en-V grossed us is true, and defended the Continent at our expense as well as her own, is admitted ; and she would have defended Turkey from the same motive, viz. for the sake of trade and dominion. «

Alas ! we have been long led away by ancient prejudices and made large sacrifices to superstition. We have boasted the protection of Great Britain, without considering, that her motive -wdiS interes t not a ttachm ent ; and that she did not protect us from our enemies on our account ; but from her enemies on her own account, from those who had no quarrel with us on any other account, and who will always be our enemies on the same account. Let Britain waive her pretensions to the Continent, or the Continent throw off the dependance, and we should be at peace with France and Spain, were they at war with Britain. The miseries of Hanover last war ought to warn us against connections.

It hath lately been asserted in parliament, that t he Colonies hav e no relation to each other but throufi-h the Pa rent Couii taliXTrtKarTeriin'svlvania and the Jerseys, and so on for the rest, are sister Colonies by the way of England ; this is certainly a very roundabout way of proving relationship, but it is the nearest and only true way of proving enmity (or enemyship, if I may so call it.) France and Spain never were, nor perhaps ever will be, our enemies as Americans, but as our being the subjects of Great Britain.

But Britain is the parent country, say some. Then the more shame upon her conduct. Even brutes do not devour their young, nor savages make war upon their families; Wherefore, the assertion, if true, turns to her reproach ; but it happens not to be true, or only partly so, and the phrase parent or mother country hath been jesuitically adopted by the King and his parasites, with a low papistical design of gaining an .';.fijtfj(^r lias on the credulous weakness of our minds. ^Euro pe, ana not England, is the pa rent country of America. I. This newlWorld hath been the asylum for the

n;ica."\ "ThTs new]

ecuteS lovers oj of Eqfope. Hi persecutes lovers oacivil and religious liberty from every part of EqfopCfc HMer have they fled, not from the tender embraces (9ph£ motyf, but from the cruelty of the monster ; and iftTs so far^ne of England, that the same tyranny which drovathe first 3piigrants from home, pursues their descendants ^t^.

In this extSKive quaver of the globe, we forget the narrow limits ofKlHr'^ndred and sixty miles (the extent of England) and carry our friendship on a larger scale ; we claim brotherhood with every European Christian, and triumph in the generosity of the sentiment.

It is pleasant to observe by what regular gradations we surmount the force o f local prejudices, as we enlarge our acquaintance with the World. A man born in any town in England divided into parishes, will naturally associate most with his fellow parishioners (because their interests in many cases will be common) and distinguish him by the name of neighbour ; if he meet him but a few miles from home, he drops the narrow idea of a street, and salutes him by the name of townsman ; if he travel out of the county and meet him in any other, he forgets the minor divisions of street and town, and calls him countryman, i. e. countyman : but if in their foreign excursions they should associate in France, or any other part of Europe, their local remembrance would be enlarged into that of Englishmen. And by a just parity of reasoning, all Europeans meeting in America, or any other quarter of the globe, are countrymen ; for England, Holland, Germany, or Sweden, when compared with the whole, stand in the same places on the larger scale, which the divisions of street, town, and county do on the Smaller ones ; Distinctions too limited for Continental minds. Not one third of the inhabitants, even of this province, [Pennsylvania], are of Eng-IIsR'^es'cent. Wherefore, I reprobate the phrase of Parent or Mother Country applied to England only, as being false, selfish, narrow and ungenerous.

( But, admitting that we were all of English descent, what Moes it amount to ? Nothing. Britain, being now an open &tiemy, extinguishes every other name and title : and to say that reconciliation is our duty, is truly farcical. The first king of England, of the present line (William the Conqueror) was a Frenchman, and half ftie peers of England are descendants from the same country ; wherefore, by the same method of reasoning, England ought to be governed by France.

Much hath been said of the unit ed strength of Britain and the Colonies, that in conjunction they mrglh!Phid_defiai^L.tQ the world : IBut this is mere presumption ; the fate of war is uncertain, neither do the expressions mean any thing ; for this continent would never suffer itself to be drained of inhabitants, to support the British arms in either Asia, Africa, or Europe.

Besides, what have we to do with setting the world at dej fiance ? Our plan is commerce, and that, well attended to, ! will secure us the peace and friendship of all Europe ; because it is the interest of all Europe to have America a free port. Her trade will always be a protection, and her barrenness of gold and silver secure her from invaders.

I challenge the warmest advocate for reconciliation to show a single advantage that this continent can reap by being connected with Great Britain. I repeat the challenge ; not a single advantage is derived. Our corn will fetch its price in any market in Europe, and our imported goods must be paid for buy them where we will.

But the injuries andjdisadvantages which we sustain by that connection, arejwithpjiitJtuimber ; and oirf duly to mankind at larggr^rS'-^'iras to ourselves, instruct us to renounce the alliance : because, any s ubmission to, or dependance on. Gr eat Britain , tends directly to involve this Continent jn \ European wars and quarrels , and set us at variance with nations who- would otherwise seek our friendship, and against whom we have neither anger nor complaint. As Europe is our mar ket for tr ade, we ought to form no partial coaa jection with any part of it. It is the true interest of America^to steer clear of European contentions, which^shejieyer can do, whUerByller depen3ance on Britain, she is made the makeweight injthe scale of British politics. ^;^

Europe is too~thickly planted vjitlUKingdoms to be long at peace, and whenever a war breaks out between England and any foreign power, the trade of America goes to 'ruin, because of her connection with Britain. The next war may not turn out like the last, and should it not, the advocates for reconciliation now will be wishing for separation then, tecause neutrality in that case would be a safer convoy than a man of war.TEvery thing that is right or reasonable pleads ^ for separation. The blood of the slain, the weeping voice ' of nature cries, 'TiS TIME TO PART.J Even the distance at which the Almighty hath placed England and America is a strong and natural proof that the authority of the one over the other, was never the design of Heaven. The time likewise at which the Continent was discovered, adds weight to the argument, and the manner in which it was peopled, encreases the force of it. The Reformation was preceded by the discovery of America : As if the Almighty graciously meant to open a sanctuary to the persecuted in future years, when home should afford neither friendship nor safety.

The authority of Great Britain over this continent, is a form of government, which sooner or later must have an end : And a serious mind can draw no true pleasure by looking forward, under the painful and positive conviction that what he calls " the present constitution " is me rely tempajaxjiwAs parents, we can have no joy, knowing that this government is not sufficiently lasting to ensure any thing which we may bequeath to posterity : And by a plain method of argument, as we are running the next generation into debt, we ought to do the work of it, otherwise we use them meanly and pitifully. In order to discover the line of our duty rightly, we should take our children in our hand, and _fix our station a few years fa rther into life : that eminence will present a prospect which a few present fears and prejudices conceal from our sight.

fence, yet I am inclined to believe, that all those who e s-pouse the doctrine of reconciliation..m av b e included with in thej ollowin^ descr iptions. Interested men, who are not to be tr usted , weak men who / cannot see, prejudiced men who will not see, and a certain l/set of mo derat emen who think better of the.£u£Qpean world than it deserves ; and this last class, by an ill-judged deliberation, will be the cause of more calamities to this Continent than all the other three.

It is the good fortune of many to live distant from the scene of present sorrow ; the evil is not sufficiently brought to their doors to make them feel the precariousness with which all American property is possessed. But let our imaginations transport us a few moments to Boston ; that seat of wretchedness will teach us wisdom, and instruct us for ever to renounce a power in whom we can have no trust. The inhabitants of that unfortunate city who but a few months ago were in ease and affluence, have now no other alternative than to stay and starve, or turn out to beg. Endangered by the fire of their friends if they continue within the city, and plundered by the soldiery if they leave it, in their present situation they are prisoners without the hope of redemption, and in a general attack for their relief they would be exposed to the fury of both armies.

Men of passive tempers look somewhat lightly over the offences of Great Britain, and, still hoping for the best, are apt to call out. Come, come, we shall be friends again for all this. But examine the passions and feelings of mankind : bring the doctrine of reconciliation to the touchstone of nature, and then tell me whether you can hereafter love, hon- \ our, and faithfully serve the power that hath carried fire and sword into your land ? If you cannot do all these, then are you only deceiving yourselves, and by your delay bringing ruin upon posterity. Your future connection with Britain, whom you can neither lov e nor honour, will be force d and VLjinatural, and being formed only on the plan of present convenience, will in a little time fall into a relapse more wretched than the first. But if you say, you can still pass the violations over, then I ask, hath your house been burnt?/ Hath your property been destroyed before your face ? Are/ your wife and children destitute of a bed to lie on, or bread to live on ? Have you lost a parent or a child by their hands, and yourself the ruined and wretched survivor ? If you have not, then are you not a judge of those who have. But if you have, and can still shake hands with the murderers, then are you unworthy the name of husband, father, friend, or lover, and whatever may be your rank or title in life, you have the heart of a coward, and the spirit of a sycophant.

This is not inflaming or exaggerating matters, but trying them by those feelings and affections which nature justifies, and without which we should be incapable of discharging the social duties of life, or enjoying the felicities of it. I mean not to exhibit horror for the purpose of provoking revenge, but to awaken us from fatal and unmanly slumbers, that we may pursue determinately some fixed object. 'Tis not in the power of Britain or of Europe to conquer America, if she doth not conquer herself by delay and timidity. The present winter is worth an age if rightly employed, but if lost or neglected the whole Continent will partake of the misfortune ; and there is no punishment which that man doth not deserve, be he who, or what, or where he will, that may be the means of sacrificing a season so precious and useful.

'Tis repugnant to reason, to the universal order of things, to all examples from former ages, to suppose that this Continent can long remain subject to any external power. The most sanguine in Britain doth not think so. The utmost stretch of human wisdom cannot, at this time, compass a plan, short of separation, which can promise the continent even a year's security. Reconciliation is now a fallacious^ dream. Nature hath deserted the connection, and art cannot supply her place. For, as Milton wisely expresses, " never can true reconcilement grow where wounds of deadly hate have pierced so deep."

Every qu iet method for peace hath been ineffectual.^ Our prayers have been rejected with disdain ; and hath tended to convince us that nothing flatters vanity or confirms obstinacy in Kings more than repeated petitioning — and nothing hath contributed more than that very measure to make the Kings of Europe absolute. Witness Denmark and Sweden. Wherefore, since nothing but blows will do, for God's sake let us com e to a final separation, a nd not leave the next generation to be cutting throats under the violated unmeaning names of parent and child.

T o say they will never attemp t it again is idk-an d visipnary ; we thought so at the repeal of the stamp act, yet a year or two undeceived us ; as well may we suppose /that nations which have been once defeated will never renew the quarrel.

As to government matters, 'tis not in the power of Britain to do this continent justice : the bpsiness o f it will fioonbetooweighty..aad. intricate to be .managed_wItH~any tol erable degree of convenience, by. a p ower so distant fr om us, and so very ignorant of us ; for if they cannot conquer "us, they cannot govern us. To be always running three or four thousand miles with a tale or a petition, waiting four or five months for an answer, which, when obtained, requires five or six more to explain it in, will in a few years be looked upon as folly and childishness. There was a time when it was proper, and there is a proper time for it to cease.

Small islands not capable of protecting themselves are

' the proper objects for government ' to take under their care ;

^'but there is something absurd, in supposing a Continent to be perpetually governed by an island. In no instance hath nature made the satellite larger than its primary planet ;

and as England and America, with respect to each other, reverse the common order of nature, it is evident that they belong to different systems. England to Europe : America

to itself.

J I am not induced by motives of pride, party, or resent-

] ment to espouse the doctrine of separation and independy ence ; I am clearly, positively, and conscientiously persuaded f that it is the true interest of this Continent to be so ; that

^ ' In some later editions " kingdoms." — Editor. /

every thing short of that is mere patchwork, that it can afford X no lasting felicity, — that it is leaving the sword to our children, S and shrinking back at a time when a little more, a little ( further, would have rendered this Continent the glory of ^ the earth. .^

As Britain hath not manifested the least inclination towards a compromise, we may be assured that no terms can ' be obtained worthy the acceptance of the Continent, or any ways equal to the expence of blood and treasure we have "^ been already put to.

The objectcontended for , ought always to be ar somejust pr oportion to the expense. The removal of North, or the whole detestable junto, is a matter unworthy the millions we have expended. A temporary stoppage of trade was an inconvenience, which would have sufficiently ballanced the repeal of all the acts complained of, had such repeals been obtained ; but if the whole Continent must take up arms, if every man must be a"soI3ie^~Tis^Carcely worth our -while_to fight agamsta <^g£tem£tible ministry o^\ y^. Dearly, dearly do we pay for the repeal of the acts, if that is all we fight ' for; for, in a just estimation 'tis as great a folly to pay a l Bunker-hill price for law as for land. As I have always con- ~ sidered the independancy of this continent, as an event which sooner or later must arrive, so from the late rapid progress of the Continent to maturity, the event cannot be far off. Wherefore, on the breaking out of hostilities, it was not worth the while to have disputed a matter which time would have finally redressed, unless we meant to be in earnest : otherwise it is like wasting an estate on a suit at law, to regulate the trespasses of a tenant whose lease is just expiring. No man was a warmer wisher for a reconciliation than myself, before the fatal nineteenth of April, 1775, but the moment the event of that day was made known, I rejected the hardened, sullen-tempered Pharaoh of England for ever ; and disdain the wretch, that with the pretended title of Father of his people can unfeelingly hear of their slaughter, and composedly sleep with their blood upon his soul.

But admitting that matters were now made up, what would be the event ? I answer, the ruin of the Continent. And that for several reasons.

First. The powers of governing still remaining in the hands of the King, he will have a negative over the whole legislation of this Continent. And as he hath shown himself such an inveterate enemy to liberty, and discovered such a thirst for arbitrary power, is he, or is he not, a proper person to say to these colonies. You shall make no laws but what I please ! ? And is there any inhabitant of America so ignorant as not to know, that according to what is called the present constitution, this Continent can make no laws but what the king gives leave to ; and is there any man so unwise as not to see, that (considering what has happened) he will suffer no law to be made here but such as suits his purpose ? We may be as effectually enslaved by the want of laws in America, as* by submitting to laws made for us in England. After matters are made up (as it is called) can there be any doubt, but the whole power of the crown will be exerted to keep this continent as low and humble as possible? Instead of going forward we shall go backward, or be perpetually quarrelling, or ridiculously petitioning. We are already greater than the King wishes us to be, and will he not hereafter endeavor to make us less ? To bring the matter to one point. Is the Efiffier-sicho is jealous of our prosperity, j L-B.roBeL. power Jtogovernus? Whoever says No, to this question, is an Independant for independency means no more than this, whether we shall make our own laws, or, whether the King, the greatest enemy this continent hath, or can have, shall tell us there shall be no laws but such as I like. But the King, you will say, has a negative in England ; the people there can make no laws without his consent. In point of right and good order, it is something very ridiculous that a youth of twenty-one (which hath often happened) shall say to several millions of people older and wiser than himself, " I forbid this or that act of yours to be law." But in this place I decline this sort of reply. though I will never cease to expose the absurdity of it, and only answer that England being the King's residence, and America not so, makes quite another case. The King's negative here is ten times more dangerous and fatal than it can be in England ; for there he will scarcely refuse his consent to a bill for putting England into as strong a state of defense as possible, and in America he would never suffer such a bill to be passed. 

America is only a secondary object in the system of British politics" Englaffa-tmraulLH Llie gooaiof this country no further than it answers her own purpose. Wherefore; her own interest leads her to suppress the growth of ours in every case which doth not promote her advantage, or in the least interferes with it. A pretty state we should soon be in under such a second hand government, considering what has happened ! Men do not change from enemies to friends by the alteration of a name : And in order to show that reconciliation now is a dangerous doctrine, I afifirm, that it would be policy in the King at this titne to repeal the acts, for the sake of reinstating himself in the government of the provinces ; In order that HE MAY ACCOM-PLISH BY CRAFT AND SUBTLETY, IN THE LONG RUN, WHAT HE CANNOT DO BY FORCE AND VIOLENCE IN THE SHORT ONE. Reconciliation and ruin are nearly related. /

Secondly. That as e ven the best terms w hich w? can expect to obtain can amount to no more than a temporary expedient, or aTcind of government by guardianship, "wTuHTcairnsFno longer than till the Colonies come of age, so the general face and state of things in the interim will be unsettled and unpromising. Emigrants of property will not choose to come to a country whose form of government hangs but by a thread, and who is every day tottering on the brink of commotion and disturbance •; and numbers of the present inhabitants would lay hold of the interval to dispose of their effects, and quit the Continent.

But the most powerful of all arguments is, that nothing but independance, i. e. a Continental form of government, can keep the peace of the Continent and preserve it inviolate from civil wars. I dreadjhe event of a reconciliation with Britain now, as it is "more th an pro 'BaEle'that^'ir'wiir befollowed b y a revolt some where or other, the consequences of whlclTinay be far~fnore fatal than all the malice of Britain.

Thousands are already ruined by British barbarity ; (thousands more will probably suffer the same fate.) Those men have other feelings than us who have nothing suffered. All they now possess is liberty ; what they before enjoyed is sacrificed to its service, and having nothing more to lose they disdain submission. Besides, the general temper of the Colonies, towards a British government will be like that of a youth who^ is nearly out of his time ; they will care very little about her: ' And a government which cannot preserve the peace is no government at all, and in that case we pay our money for nothing ; and pray what is it that Britain can do, v/hose power will be wholly on paper, should a civil tumult break out the very day after reconciliation ? I have heard some men say, many of whom I believe spoke without thinking, that they dreaded an independance, fearing that it would produce civil wars : It is but seldom that our first thoughts are truly correct, and that is the case here ; for there is ten times more to dread from a patched up connection than from independance. I make the sufferer's case my own, and I protest, that were I driven from house and home, my property destroyed, and my circumstances ruined, that as a man, sensible of injuries, I could never relish the doctrine of reconciliation, or consider myself bound thereby.

The Colonie s have manifested such a spirit of good order and obgdienc e to Continental goverri ment, as is sufficient tomake every reasonable person easy and happy on that head. No man can assign the least pretence for his fears, on any other grounds, than such as are truly childish and ridiculous,, viz., that one colony will be striving for superiority over another.

Where there are no distinctions there can be nosuperiority ; perfect equality affords no temptation. The Republics of Europe are all (and we may say always) in peace. Holland and Switzerland are without wars, foreign or domestic: Monarchical governments, it is true, are never long at rest : the crown itself is a temptation to enterprising ruffians at home ; and that degree of pride and insolence ever attendant on regal authority, swells into a rupture with foreign powers in instances where a republican government, by being formed on more natural principles, would negociate the mistake.

If there is any true cause of fear respecting independance, it is because no plan Ts^^eFTaid^ ownr Men do not see their way out. Wherefore, as an openmg into that business I offer the following hints ; at the same time modestly affirming, that I ha; ^ no oth er opinion of them my self, tha n that they may be the means of ^'vnpf rise rn ?jnmething bette r. Could the straggling thoughts of individuals be collected, they would frequently form materials for wise and able men to improve into useful matter.

Let the assemblies be annual, with a president only. The representation more equal, their business wholly domestic, and subject to the authority of a Continental Congress.

Let each Colony be divided into six, eight, or ten, convenient districts, each district to send a proper number of Delegates -to Congress, so that each Colony send at least thirty. The whole number in Congress will be at least 390. Each congress to sit and to choose a President by the following method. When the Delegates are met, let a Colony be taken from the whole thirteen Colonies by lot, after which let the Congress choose (by ballot) a president from out of the Delegates of that Province. In the next Congress, let a Colony be taken by lot from twelve only, omitting that Colony from which the president was taken in the former Congress, and so proceeding on till the "whole thirteen shall have had their proper rotation. And in order that nothing may pass into a law but what is satisfactorily just, not less than three fifths of the Congress to be called a majority. He that will promote discord, under a government so equally formed as this, would have joined Lucifer in his revolt.

But as there is a peculiar delicacy from whom, or in what manner, this business must first arise, and as it seems most agreeable and consistent that it should come from some inter- mediate body between the governed and the governors, that is, between the Congress and the People, let a Continental Conference be held in the following manner, and for the following purpose,

A Committee of twenty six members of congress, viz. Two for each Colony. Two Members from each House of Assembly, or Provincial Convention ; and five Representatives of the people at large, to be chosen in the capital city or town of each Province, for, and in behalf of the whole Province, by as many quahfied voters as shall think proper to attend from all parts of the Province for that purpose ; or, if more convenient, the Representatives may be chosen in two or three of the most populous parts thereof. In this conference, thus cissembled, will be united the two grand principles of business, knowledge and power. The Members of Congress, Assemblies, or Conventions, by having had experience in national concerns, will be able and useful counsellors, and the whole, being impowered by the people, will have a truly legal authority.

The conferring members being met, let their business be to frame a Continental Charter, or Charter of the United Colonies ; (answering to what is called the Magna Charta of England) fixing the number and manner of choosing Members of Congress, Members of Assembly, with their date of sitting ; and drawing the line of business and jurisdiction between them: Always remembering, that our strength is Conti- ^nental, not Provincial. Securing freedom and property to ^ all men, and above all things, the free exercise of religion, I according to the dictates of conscience ; wrthsnrh nther matter as it is necessary for a charter to contain. Immediately after which, the said conference to dissolve, and the bodies which shall be chosen conformable to the said charter, to be the Legislators and Governors of this Continent for the time being: Whose peace and happiness, may GOD preserve. Amen.

Should any body of men be hereafter delegated for this or some similar purpose, I offer them the following extracts from that wise observer on Governments, Dragonetti. " The

1776] COMMON SENSE. gg science," says he, " of the Politician consists in fixing the true point of happiness and freedom. Those men would deserve the gratitude of ages, who should discover a mode of gover nment that contained the p-reatest sum o f individual happmes § |. with the least national expens e." (Dragonetti ,on " Virtues and Reward.")

But where, say some, is the King of America? I'll tell you, friend, he reigns above, and doth not make havoc of mankind like the Royal Brute of Great Britain. Yet that we may not appear to be defective even in earthly honours, / let a day be solemnly set apart for proclaiming the Charter ; '' let it be brought forth placed on the Divine Law, the Word \ of God ; let a crown be placed thereon, by which the world : may know, that so far as we approve of monarchy, thatan_^ A merica the law is king. For as in absolute governments the King is law, so in free countries the law ought to be king ; and there ought to be no other. But lest any ill use should afterwards arise, let the Crown at the conclusion of the ceremony be demolished, and scattered among the ' people whose right it is.

A government of our own is our natural right : and when a man seriously reflects on the precariousness of human affairs, he will become convinced, that it is infinitely wiser and safer, to form a constitution of our own in a cool deliberate manner, while we have it in our power, than to trust such an interesting event to time and chance. If we omit it now, some Massanello* may hereafter arise, who, laying hold of popular disquietudes, may collect together the desperate and the discontented, and by assuming to themselves the powers of government, finally sweep away the liberties of the Continent like a deluge. Should the government of America return again into the hands of Britain, the tottering situation of things will be a temptation for some desperate adventurer to try his fortune ; and in such a case, Thomas Anello, otherwise Massanello, a fisherman of Naples, who after spiriting up his countrymen in the public market place, against the oppression of the Spaniards, to whom the place was then subject, prompted them to revolt, and in the space of a day became King.— AuiAor. what relief can Britain give ? Ere she could hear the news, the fatal business might be done ; and ourselves suffering like the wretched Britons under the oppression of the Con-

' queror. [ Ye that oppose independance now, ye know not what ye do : ye are opening a door to eternal tyranny, by keeping vacant the seat of government. '\ There are thousands and tens of thousands, who would thmk it glorious to expel from the Continent, that barbarous and hellish power, which hath stirred up the Indians and the Negroes to destroy us ; the cruelty hath a double guilt, it is dealing brutally by us, and treacherously by them.

To talk of friendship with those in whom our reason forbids us to have faith, and our affections wounded thro' a thousand pores instruct us to detest, is madness and folly. Every day wears out the little remains of kindredjbetween us and them ; and can there_be anyjreasoji ±0 hope, that as the relationsEip expires, the a ffection will encrease, o r that we shall agree better when we have ten times more and greater concerns to quarrel over than ever ?

Ye that tell us of harmony and reconciliation, can ye restore to us the time that is past ? Can ye give to prostitution its former innocence ? neither can ye reconcile Britain and America. The last cord now is broken, the people of England are presenting addresses against us. There are injuries wh ich naf;iirp..c.annn<- fnro-ivp.;. she would cease to be nature if she did. As well can the lover forgive the ravisher of his mistress, as the Continent forgive the murders of Britain. The Almighty hath implanted in us these unextinguishable feelings for good and wise purposes. They are the Guardians of his Image in our hearts. They distinguish us from the herd of common animals. The social compact would dissolve, and justice be extirpated from the earth, or have only a casual existence were we callous to the touches of affection. The robber and the murderer would often escape unpunished, did not the injuries which our tempers

.- ^lastain, provoke us into justice.

y O ! ye that love mankind ! Ye that dare oppose not only the tyranny but the tyrant, stand forth ! Every spot of the

1776] COMMON SENSE.

lOI old world is overrun with oppression. Freedom hath been hunted round the Globe. Asia and Africa have long expelled her. Europe regards her like a stranger, and England "'-' hath given her warning to depart. O ! recd«e the fugitive, and prepare in time an asylum for mankind. |

OF THE PRESENT ABILITY OF AMERICA: WITH SOME MISCELLANEOUS REFLECTIONS.

I HAVE never met with a man, either in England or America, who hath not confessed his opinion, that a separation between the countries would take place one time or other : And there is no instance in which we have shown less judgment, than in endeavoring to describe, what we call, the ripeness or fitness of the Continent for independance.

As all men allow the measure, and vary only in their opinion of the time, let us, in order to remove mistakes, take a general survey of things, and endeavor if possible to find out the very time. But I need not go far, the inquiry ceases at once, for the time hath found us. The general concurrence, the glorious union of all things, proves the fact.

'Tis not in numbers but in unity that our great strength l ies : yet our present numbers are sulficient to repel the force of all the world. The Co ntinent hath a t this time the largest bqdj^ of arm ed and disciplined men^ qr7any^owS~un3er Heaven : and is just arrived at that pitch of strength, in which no single colony is able to support itself, and the whole, when united, is able to do any thing. .Qurland force is more t han sufficien t, and as to Naval affairs, we cannoflbe insensible that Britain would never^suHeFanTGherican man of war to be built, while the Contment renaained in her hands. Wherefore, we should be no forwarder an hundred years hence in that branch than we are now ; but the truth is, we should be less so, because the timber of the Country is every day diminishing, and that which will remain at last, will be far off or diiificult to procure. Were the Continent crowded with inhabitants, her sufferings under the present circumstances would be intolerable. The more seaport-towns we had, the more should we have both to defend and to lose. Our present numbers are so happily proportioned to our wants, that no man need be idle. The diminution of trade affords an army, and the necessities of an army create a new trade.

Debts we have none : and whatever we may contract on this account will serve as a glorious memento of our virtue. Can we but leave posterity with a settled form of government, an independant constitution of its own, the purchase at any price will be cheap. But to expend millions for the sake of getting a few vile acts repealed, and routing the present ministry only, is unworthy the charge, and is using posterity with the utmost cruelty ; because it is leaving them the great work to do, and a debt upon their backs from which they derive no advantage. Such a thought 's unworthy a man of honour, and is the true characteristic of a narrow heart and a pidling politician.

The debt we may contract doth not deserve our regard if the work be but accompHshed. No nation ought to be without a debt. A nationaldebtJsa_national bond; and when it bears no interest, is in no case a grievance. Britain is oppressed with a debt of upwards of one hundred and forty millions sterling, for which she pays upwards of four millions interest. And as a compensation for her debt, she has a large navy ; America is without a debt, and without a navy ; yet for the twentieth part of the English national debt, could have a navy as large again. The navy of England is not worth at this time more than three millions and a half sterling.

The first and second editions of this pamphlet were published without the following calculations, which are now given as a proof that the above estimation of the navy is a just one. See Entic's " Naval History," Intro., p. 56.

The charge of building a ship of each rate, and furnishing her with masts, yards, sails, and rigging, together with a proportion of eight months boatswain's and carpenter's seastores, as calculated by Mr. Burchett, Secretary to the navy.

For a ship of lOO guns,

35,553 I.

29,886

23,638

17,785

14,197

10,606

7,558

5,846

3,710

And hence it is easy to sum up the value, or cost, rather, of the whole British navy, which, in the year 1757, when it was at its greatest glory, consisted of the following ships and guns.

Ships.

Guns.

Cost of one.

Cost of all.

55,553/.

213,318 /.

29,886

358,632

23,638

283,656

17,785

764,755

14,197

496,895

10,605

424,240

7,558

340,110

3,710

215,180

85 Sloo iires anot ps, bombs liips, one her, at

, and with

1- 2,COO

Cost,

170,000

3,266,786/.

Remains for guns. Total,

233,214

3,500,000/.

No^jDaiuitijJ^ on th£^obe is so happily situated, or so internally capable o7 rajsi^_afl.eet as America. Tar, timber, J iron, and corHa^e"are her natural produce. We need go abroad for nothing. Whereas the Dutch, who make large profits by hiring out their ships of war to the Spaniards and Portugese, are obliged to import most of the materials they use. We ought to view the building a fleet as an article of commerce, it being the natural manufactory of this country.

'Tis the best money we can lay out. A navy when finished is worth more than it cost : And is that nice point in national policy, in which commerce and protection are united. Let us build ; if we want them not, we can sell ; and by that means replace our paper currency with ready gold and silver.

In point of manning a fleet, people in general run into great errors ; it is not necessary that one fourth part should be sailors. The Terrible privateer, captain Death, stood the hottest engagement of any ship last war, yet had not twenty sailors on board, though her complement of men was upwards of two hundred. A few able and social sailors will soon instruct a sufficient number of active landsmen in the common work of a ship. Whe refore we never can b e more capable of beginning on maritime matters than now , while our" timber is standing, our fisheries blocked up, and our sailors and shipwrights out of employ. Men of war, of seventy and eighty guns, were built forty years ago in New England, and why not the same now? Shi£buildingjs America 's greatest pride , and in which she will, in time, exceTEhe wholiS'liirorld. The great empires of the east are mostly inland, apd consequently excluded from the possibility of rivalling her. Africa is in a state of barbarism ; and no power in Europe, hath either such an extent of coast, or such an internal supply of materials. Where nature hath given the one, she hath withheld the other ; to America only hath she been liberal to both. The vast empire of Russia is almost shut out from the sea; wherefore her boundless forests, her tar, iron, and cordage are only articles of commerce.

In point-Qt._saf£ Lv. ou^ht we to be without a fleet ? We are not the little people now, which we were sixty years ago ; at that time we might have trusted our property in the streets', or fields rather, and slept securely without locks or bolts to our doors and windows. The case is now altered, and our methods of defence ought to improve with our encrease of property. A common pirate, twelve months ago, might have come up the Delaware, and laid the city of Philadelphia under contribution for what sum he pleased;

1776] COMMON SENSE. lOS and the same might have happened to other places. Nay, any daring fellow, in a brig of fourteen or sixteen guns, might have robbed the whole Continent, and carried off half a million of money. These are circumstances which demand our attention, and point out the necessity of naval protection.

Some perhaps will say, that after we have made it up with \ Britain, she will protect us. Can they be so unwise as to 1 mean, that she will keep a navy in our Harbours for that \ purpose? C ommon sense will tell us. that the power which \ h ath endeavoured to suj)du.e-Uii.,.i£ Gt=alLothers.^^ theV most in iproper to defend us. Conquest may be effected under the pretence of friendship ; and ourselves, after a long and brave resistance, be at last cheated into slavery. An d^if her ships are no t to be admitted int o our harbours, I would ask,, how is she to £rotect us ? A navy threeor four thousan dmiles off can be of littlc-Use. and on sudden emergencies, none at all. Wherefore i^ wemust hereafterprotecL ourselves ; why no t dojtfor ourselves ?._; Why , do it. for an other? '

The English list of ships of war, is long and formidable, but not a tenth part of them are at any one time fit for service, numbers of them are not in being; yet their names are pompously continued in the list, if only a plank be left of the ship : and not a fifth part of such as are fit for service, can be spared on any one station at one time. The East and West I Indies, Mediterranean, Africa, and other parts, over which ^ Britain extends her claim, make large demands upon her^ navy. From a mixture of prejudice and inattention, we have contracted a false notion respecting the navy of England, and have talked as if we should have the whole of it to encounter at once, and, for that reason, supposed that we must have one as large ; which not being instantly practicable, has been made use of by a set of disguised Tories to discourage our beginning thereon. Nothing can be further from truth than this ; for if America had only a twentieth part of the naval force of Britain, she would be by far an over-match for her ; because, as we neither have, nor claim

/ any foreign dominion, ouodlflJLe-faiXje.would be employed o n our o, wn cpagt l where we should, in the long run, have two to one the advantage of those who had three or four thousand miles to sail over, before they could attack us, and the same distance to return in order to refit and recruit. And although Britain, by her fleet, hath a check over our trade to Europe, we have as large a one over her trade to the West Indies, which, by laying in the neighborhood of the Continent, lies entirely at its mercy.

Some method might be fallen on to keep up a naval force in time of peace, if we should not judge it necessary to support a constant navy. If premiums were to be given to Merchants to bu ild and employ in their service, ship s rnounted wi th twenty^ thirty, forty, or fifty gun s, (the premiums to De m proportion to the loss of bulk to the merchant,) fifty or sixty of those ships, with a few guardships on constant duty, would keep up a sufificient navy, and that without burdening ourselves with the evil so loudly complained of in England, of suffering their fleet in time of peace to lie rotting in the docks. To unite the sinews of commerce and defence is sound policy ; for when our strength and our riches play into each other's hand, we need fear no external enemy.

In almost every article of defence we aboun d. Hemp flourishes even to rankness, so that we need not want cordage. Our iron is superior to that of other countries. Our small arms equal to any in the world. Cannon we can cast at pleasure. Saltpetre and gunpowder we are every day producing. Our knowledge is hourly improving. Resolution is our inherent character, and courage hath never yet forsaken us. Wherefore, what is it that we want ? Why is it that we hesitate ? From Britaii> we can expect nothing but ruin. If she is once admitted to the government of America again, this Continent will not be worth living in. Jealousies will be always arising ; insurrections will be constantly happening ; and who will go forth to quell them ? Who will venture his life to reduce his own countrymen to a foreign obedience ? The difference between Pennsylvania and Connecticut,

1776J COMMON SENSE. IO7 respecting some unlocated lands, shows the insignificance of a British government, and fully proves that nothing but Continental authority can regulate Continental matters.

Another reason why the present time is preferable to all others, is, that the fewer our numbers are, the mor e land t here is yet unoccupied, which, instead of being lavished by the king on his worthless dependants, may be hereafter applied, not only to the rltgrliargr^ ^f f-lip prpgpnt Hphf- but to the constant support of governnient. No nation under Heaven hath such an acivantage as this.

The infant state of the Colonies, as it is called, so far from being against, is an argument in favour of independance. We are st iffigient l y nnmernns. a nd were we more so we might be less united. — ^is a matter worthy of observation, that the m ore a country is peopled, the s maller their armies a re. In military numbers, the ancients far exceeded the moderns : and the reason is evident, for trade being the consequence of population, men became too much absorbed thereby to attend to any thing else. Commerce diminishes the spirit both of patriotism and military defence. And history sufficiently informs us, that the bravest achievements were alwaj's accomplished in the non-Jage of a nation. With the increase of commerce England hath lost its spirit. The city of London, notwithstanding its numbers, submits to continued insults with the patience of a coward. The more men have to lose, the less willing are they to venture. The rich are in general slaves to fear, and submit to courtly power with the trembling duplicity of a spaniel.

Youth is the seed-time of good habits as well in nations as in individuals. It might be difficult, if n ot impossible , to for m the Continent into or ie„^v:£OUa.ePt JjaJL-A-CeJltury hence. The vast variety of interests, occasioned by an increase of trade and population, wo uld create co nfusion. Colony would be against Colony. EaclTbeing" alile woiild scorn each other's assistance : and while the proud and foolish gloried in their little distinctions, the wise would lament that the union had not been formed before. Wherefore the present time is the true time for establishing it. The intiy

// macy which is contracted in infancy, and the friendship which is formed in misfortune, are of all others the most lasting and unalterable. Our present union is marked with both these characters : we are young, and we have been distressed ; but our concord hath withstood our troubles, and fixes a memorable ^ra for posterity to glory in.

The present time, likewise, is that pecuhar time which never happens to a nation but once, viz. the time of forming itself into a government. Most nations have let slip the opportunity, and by that means have been compelled to receive laws from their conquerors, instead of making laws for themselves. First, they had a king, and then a form of government ; whereas the articles or charter of government should be formed first, and men delegated to execute them afterwards : but from the errors of other nations let us learn wisdom, and lay hold of the present opportunity — to begin government at the right end.

When William the Conqueror subdued England, he gave them law at the point of the sword ; and, until we consent that the seat of government in America be legally and authoritatively occupied, we shall be in danger of having it filled by some fortunate ruffian, who may treat us in the same manner, and then, where will be our freedom ? where our property ?

As to religion, I hold it to be the i ndispensable duty of gover nmen tjto^rotect all conscientious professors thereof, and I know of no other business which government hath to do therewith. Let a man throw aside that narrowness of soul, that selfishness of principle, which the niggards of all professions are so unwilling to part with, and he will be at once delivered of his fears on that head. Suspicion is the companion of mean souls, and the bane of all good society. For myself, I fully and conscientiously bel ieve, that it is the will of the Almighty that there should be a diversity oivtligious opinions_aniflngjjis. It affords a larger field for our" Christian kindness : were we all of one way of thinking, our religious dispositions would want matter for probation ; and on this liberal principle I look on the various denominations among us, to be like children of the same family, differing only in what is called their Christian names. /

In page [97] I threw out a few thoughts on the propriety ' • of a Continental Charter (for I only presume to offer hints, not plans) and in this place, I take the liberty of re-mentioning the subject, by observing, that a charter is to be understood as a bond of solemn obligation, which the whole enters into, to support the right of every separate part, whether of religion, professional freedom, or property. A firm bargain and a right reckoning make long friends.

I have heretofore likewise mentioned the necessity., of a la rge and equal representation : and there is no political matter which more deserves our attention. A small number of electors, or a small number of representatives, are equally dangerous. But if the number of the represefttatives be not only small, but unequal, the danger is encreased. As an instance of this, I '/mention the following ; when the petition of the associators was before the House of Assembly of Pennsylvania, tiyerity-eight members only were present ; all the Bu:c|^s county members, being eight, voted against it, and had seven of the Chester members done the same, this whole province had been governed by two counties only; and this danger it is always exposed to. The unwarrantable stretch likewise, which that house made in their last sitting, to gain an undue authority over the Delegates of that Province, ought to warn the people at large, how they trust power out of their own hands. A set of instructions for their Delegates were put together, which in point of sense and business would have dishonoured a school-boy, and after being appi-oved by a few, a very few, without doors, were carried into the house, and there passed in behalf of the whole Colony ; whereas, did the whole colony know with what ill will that house had entered on some necessary public measures, they would not hesitate a moment to think them unworthy of such a trust.

required a consultation, there was no method so ready, or at that time so proper, as to appoint persons from the several houses of Assembly for that purpose ; and the wisdom with which they have proceeded hath preserved this Continent from ruin. But as it is more than probable that we shall never be without a CONGRESS, every well wisher to good order must own that the mode for choosing members of that body, deserves consideration. And I put it as a question to those who make a study of mankind, whether representation and election is not too great a power for one and the same body of men to possess ? When we are planning for posterity, we ought to remember that virtue is not hereditary.

It is from our enemies that we often gain excellent maxims, and are frequently surprised into reason by their mistakes. Mr. Cornwall (one of the Lords of the Treasury) treated the petition of the New York Assembly with contempt, because that house, he said, consisted but of twentysix members, which trifling number, he argued, could not with decency be put for the whole. We thank him for his involuntary honesty.*

To CONCLUDE, however strange it may appear to some, or however unwilling they may be to think so, matters not, but many strong and strikin g reasons may he g-jven to show , that nothing can se ttle our affairs so ex peditiou sly as an open and determined dec laration for independ ance. Some of which are.

First — It is the custom of Nations, when any two are at war, for some other powers, not engaged in the quarrel, to step in as mediators, and bring about the preliminaries of a peace : But while America calls herself the subject of Great Britain, no power, however well disposed she may be, can offer her mediation. Wherefore, in our present state we may quarrel on for ever.

Secondly — It is unreasonable to suppose, that France or
  â€¢ Those who would fully understand of "what great consequence a large and equal representation is to a state, should read Burgh's Political Disquisitions. — A uthor.

1776] COMMON SENSE. 'J 1I -yit^"^ Ak HI ,

Spain will give us any kind of assistance, if we mean only to make use of that assistance for the purpose of repairing the breach, and strengthening the connection between Britain and America ; because, those powers would be sufferers by the consequences.

Thirdly — While we profes s ourselves the subjects of Britain, we must, in the eyes of foreign nations, be consi dpvf-A ac ^phplg The precedent is somewhat dangerous to their peace, for men to be in arms under the name of subjects: we, on the spot, can solve the paradox; but to unite resistance and subjection, requires an idea much too refined for common understanding.

Fourthly — Were a manifesto to be published, and despatched to foreign Courts, setting forth the miseries we have endured, and the peaceful methods which we have ineffectually used for redress ; declaring at the same time, that not being able any longer to live happily or safely under the cruel disposition of the British Court, we had been driven to the necessity of breaking off all connections with her; at the same time, assuring all such Courts of our peaceable disposition towards them, and of our desire of entering into trade with them : such a memorial would produce more good effects to this Continent, than if a ship were freighted with petitions to Britain.

Ugder ou r present denomination of British s ubjects, we can n either be received nor heard abroad : the custom of all Courts is against us, and will be so, until by an independance we take rank with other nations.

These proceedings may at first seem strange and difficult, but like all other steps which we have already passed over, will in a little time become familiar and agreeable : and until an independance is declared, the Continent will feel itself like a man who continues putting off some unpleasant business from day to day, yet knows it must be done, hates to set about it, wishes it over, and is continually haunted with the thoughts of its necessity.

Appendix to Common Sense

Since the publication of the first edition of this pamphlet, or rather, on the same day on which it came out, the King's Speech made its appearance in this city [Philadelphia]. Had the spirit of prophecy directed the birth of this production, it could not have brought it forth at a more seasonable juncture, or at a more liecessary time. The bloody-mindedness of the one, shows the necessity of pursuing the doctrine of the other. Men read by way of revenge. And the Speech, instead of terrifying, prepared a way for the manly principles of Independance.

Ceremony, and even silence, from whatever motives they may arise, have a hurtful tendency when they give the least degree of countenance to base and wicked performances; wherefore, if this maxim be admitted, it naturally follows, that the King's Speech, as being a piece of finished villany, deserved and still deserves, a general execration, both by the Congress and the people. Yet, as the domestic tranquillity of a nation, depends greatly on the chastity of what might properly be called NATIONAL MANNERS, it is often better to pass some things over in silent disdain, than to make use of such new methods of dislike, as might introduce the least innovation on that guardian of our peace and safety. And, perhaps, it is chiefly owing to this prudent delicacy, that the King's Speech hath not before now suffered a public execution. The Speech, if it may be called one, is nothing better than a wilful audacious libel against the truth, the common good, and the existence of mankind ; and is a formal and pompous method of offering up human sacrifices to the pride of tyrants. But this general massacre of mankind, is one of the privileges and the certain consequences of Kings ; for as nature knows them not, they know not her, and although they are beings of our own

1776] ' COMMON SENSE. II3 creating, they know not us, and are become the Gods of their creators. The speech hath one good quahty, which is, that it is not calculated to deceive, neither can we, even if we would, be deceived by it. Brutality and tyran ny app ear on the face of it. It leaves us at no loss : And every line convinces, even in the moment of reading, that he who hunts the woods for prey, the naked and untutored Indian, is less Savage than the King of Britain.

Sir John Dalrymple, the putative father of a whining Jesuitical piece, fallaciously called, " The address of the people of England to the inhabitants of America," hath perhaps from a vain supposition that the people here were to be frightened at the pomp and description of a king, given (though very unwisely on his part) the real character of the present one : " But," says this writer, " if you are inclined to pay compliments to an administration, which we do not complain of (meaning the Marquis of Rockingham's at the repeal of the Stamp Act) it is very unfair in you to withhold them from that prince, by whose NOD ALONE they were permitted to do any thing." This is toryism with a witness ! Here is idolatry even without a mask : And he who can calmly hear and digest such doctrine, hath forfeited his claim to rationality — an apostate from the order of manhood — and ought to be considered- asiitie wh.o...haJ;b„ not rrnXM jrhisiLMX) the proper dignity of ma n, but , ^unk hi mself beneath thg rank of animals, and contemptibly crawls through the world like a worm.

soever sect or denomination ye are of, as wenas;^e who are more immediately the guardians of the ^ubHc liber ty!^ if ve wish to preserveyou t^ native country upcontamiHat-ed- by Europeanjcorrup^ji,„ye must in sfrrpi- wi'^h a separation. "But leaving the moral part to private reflection, I shall chiefly confine my further remarks to the following heads :

First, That it is the interest of America to be separated from Britain.

Secondly, Which is the easiest and most practicable plan, RECONCILIATION or INDEPENDENCE ? with some occasional remarks.

In support of the first, I could, if I judged it proper, produce the opinion of some of the ablest and most experienced men on this continent : and whose sentiments on that head, are not yet publicly known. It is in reality a self-evident position : for no nation in a state of foreign dependance, limited in its commerce,"iind ri-amjTPrj atid fpfi-prpH in ii-g legislative powers, can P^^P-r arj-.i^e.a<- any.^Tiatprial pminptiop

America doth not yet know what opulence is ; and although the progress which she hath made stands unparalleled in the history of other nations, it is but childhood compared with what she would be capable of arriving at, had she, as she ought to have, the legislative powers in her own hands. England is at this time proudly coveting what would do her no good were she to accomplish it ; and the continent hesitating on a matter which will be her final ruin if neglected. It is the commerce and not the conquest of America by which England is to be benefited, and that would in a great measure continue, were the countries as independant of each other as France and Spain ; because in many articles neither can go to a better market. But it is the independance of this country of Britain, or any other, which is now the main and only object worthy of contention, and which, like all other truths discovered by necessity, will appear clear and stronger every day.

First, Because it will come to that one time or other.

Secondly, Because the longer it is delayed, the harder it will be to accomplish.

I have frequently amused myself both in public and private companies, with silently remarking the specious errors of those who speak without reflecting. And among the many which I have heard, the following seems the most general, viz. that had this rupture happened forty or fifty years hence, instead of now, the continent would have been more able to have shaken off the dependance. To which I reply, that our military ability, at this time, arises from the experience gained in the last war, and which in forty or fifty years time, would be totally extinct. The continent would not, by that time, have a general, or even a military officer left ; and we, or those who may succeed us, would be as ignorant of martial matters as the ancient Indians: and this single position, closely attended to, will unanswerably prove that the present time is preferable to all others. The argument turns thus : At the conclusion of the last war, we had experience, but wanted numbers ; and forty or fifty years hence, we shall have numbers, without experience ; wherefore, the proper point of time, must be some particular point between the two extremes, in which a sufficiency of the former remains, and a proper increase of the latter is obtained : And that point of time is the present time.

The reader will pardon this digression, as it does not properly come under the head I first set out with, and to which I again return by the following position, viz. :

Should affairs be patched up with Britain, arid she to remain the governing and sovereign power of America, (which, as matters are now circumstanced, is giving up the point entirely) we shall deprive ourselves of the very means of sinking the debt we have, or may contract. The value of the back lands, which some of the provinces are clandestinely deprived of, by the unjust extension of the limits of Canada, valued only at five pounds sterling per hundred acres, amount to upwards of twenty-five millions, Pennsylvania currency ; and the quit-rents, at one penny sterling per acre, to two mil-Hons yearly.

It is by the sale of those lands that the debt may be sunk, without burthen to any, and the quit-rent reserved thereon will always lessen, and in time will wholly support, the yearlyexpense of government. It matters not how long the debt, is in paying, so that the lands when sold be applied to thedischarge of it, and for the execution of which the Congressfor the time being will be the continental trustees.

I proceed now to the second head, viz. Which is the easiest and most practicable plan, Reconciliation or Independence ; with some occasional remarks.
 ^^[2j.^i£S:Ji£J.yiS.XQ£„hisgujd.eJ^aaL£a&ilyJjsa^^ ofnis argument, and on that ground, I answer generally — That independance5^2w^i3; €\n^Q.%\va^\&\vcie.,containedwithinour selves ; and reconciliation, a matter exceedingly perplexed and complicated, and in which a treacherous capricious court is to interfere, gives the answer without a doubt.

The present state of America is truly alarming to every man who is capable of reflection. Without law, without, government, without any other mode of power than what is founded on, and granted by, courtesy. Held together by an unexampled occurrence of sentiment, which is nevertheless subject to change, and which every secret enemy is endeavoring to dissolve. Our present condition is, Legislation without law ; wisdom without a plan ; a constitution without a name ; and, what is strangely astonishing, perfect independance contending for dependance. The instance is without a precedent,, the case never existed before, and who can tell what may be the event ? The property of no mantis secure in the present unbraced syst^ of ffingr'"The"nund'of the~muTtiFude is"" left at random; andseSng"fR) fixed object before them, they pursue such as fancy or opinion presents. Nothing is criminal ; there is no such thing as treason; wherefore, every one thinks himself at liberty to act as he pleases. The Tories would not have dared to assemble offensively, had they known that their lives, by that act, were forfeited to the laws of the state. A line of distinction should be drawn between Enghsh soldiers taken in battle, and inhabitants of America taken in arms. The first are prisoners, but the latter traitors. The one forfeits his liberty, the other his head.

Notwithstanding our wisdom, there is a visible feebleness.

in some of our proceedings which gives encouragement to dissentions. The Continental Belt is too loosely buckled : And if something is not done in time, it will be too late to do ;any thing, and we shall fall into a state, in which neither Reconciliation nor Independance will be practicable. The king and his worthless adherents are got at their old game of •dividing the Continent, and there are not wanting among us Printers who will be busy in spreading specious falsehoods. The artful and hypocritical letter which appeared a few months ago in two of the New- York papers, and likewise in two others, is an evidence that there are men who want both judgment and honesty.

It is easy getting into holes and corners, and talking of reconciliation : But do such men seriously consider how •difficult the task is, and how dangerous it may prove, should the Continent divide thereon ? Do they take within their view all the various orders of men whose situation and cir- cumstances, as well as their own, are to be considered therein ? Do they put themselves in the place of the sufferer whose all is already gone, and of the soldier, who hath quitted all for the defence of his country ? If their ill-judged moderation be suited to their own private situations only, regardless of others, the event will convince them that " they are reckoning without their host."

Put us, say some, on the footing we were in the year 1 763 : To which I answer, the request is not now in the power of Britain to comply with, neither will she propose it ; but if it were, and even should be granted, I ask, as a reasonable •question, By what means is such a corrupt and faithless court to be kept to its engagements ? Another parliament, nay, even the present, may hereafter repeal the obligation, on the pretence of its being violently obtained, or unwisely granted ; and, in that case. Where is our redress ? No going to law with nations ; cannon are the barristers of crowns ; and the sword, not of justice, but of war, decides the suit. To be on the footing of 1763, it is not sufficient, that the laws only be put in the same state, but, that our circumstances likewise be put in the same state ; our burnt and destroyed towns re- paired or built up, our private losses made good, our public debts (contracted for defence) discharged ; otherwise we shall be millions worse than we were at that enviable period. Such a request, had it been complied with a year ago, would have won the heart and soul of the Continent, but now it is too late. " The Rubicon is passed."

Besides, the taking up arms, merely to enforce the repeal of a pecuniary law, seems as unwarrantable by the divine law, and as repugnant to human feelings, as the taking up arms to enforce obedience thereto. The object, on either side, doth not justify the means ; for the lives of men are too valuable to be cast away on such trifles. It is the violence which is done and threatened to our persons ; the destruction of our property by an armed force ; the invasion of our country by fire and sword, which conscientiously qualifies the use of arms : and the instant in which such mode of defence became necessary, all subjection to Britain ought to have ceased ; and the independance of America should have been considered as dating its era from, and published by, the first musket that -was fired against her. This line is a line of consistency ; neither drawn by caprice, nor extended by ambition ; but produced by a chain of events, of which the colonies were not the authors.

I shall conclude these remarks, with the following timely and well-intended hints. We ought to reflect, that there are thre e differpnt- ^^J:\y'=. hy -nrViirVi ar^ in dependancy ma y here after be effected ; and that one of th ose three, will, one day or other, be the fate of America, viz. "By the legal voic e of the people in Congress ; by a military power ; or by a mob : It may not always happen that our soldiers are clt i> zens, and the multitude a body oferfeasonabI§)men ; virtue, as 1 have already remarked, is not hereditary, neither is it perpetual. Should an independancy be brought about by the first of those means, we have every opportunity and every encouragement before us, to form the noblest, purest constitution on the face of the earth. We have it in our power to begin the world over again. A situation, similar to the present, hath not happened since the days of Noah until now. The birthday of a new world is at hand, and a race of men, perhaps as numerous as all Europe contains, are to receive their portion of freedom from the events of a few months. The reflection is awful, and in this point of view, how trifling, how ridiculous, do the little paltry cavilings of a few weak or interested men appear, when weighed against the business of a world.

Should we neglect the present favorable and inviting period, and independance be hereafter effected by any other means, we must charge the consequence to ourselves, or to those rather whose narrow and prejudiced souls are habitually opposing the measure, without either inquiring or reflecting. There are reasons to be given in support of independance which men should rather privately think of, than be publicly told of. We ought not now to be debating whether we shall be independant or not, but anxious to accomplish it on a firm, secure, and honorable basis, and uneasy rather that it is not yet began upon. Every day convinces us of its necessity. Even the Tories (if such beings yet remain among us) should, of all men, be the most solicitous to promote it ; for as the appointment of committees at first protected them from popular rage, so, a wise and well established form of government will be the only certain means of continuing it securely to them. Wherefore, if they have not virtue enough to be Whigs, they ought to have prudence enough to wish for independance.

In short, Independance is the only Bond that tye and keep us together. We shall then see our object, and our ears will be legally shut against the schemes of an intriguing, as well as cruel, enemy. We shall then, too, be on a proper footing to treat with Britain ; for there is reason to conclude, that the pride of that court will be less hurt by treating with the American states for terms of peace, than with those, whom she denominates " rebelHous subjects," for terms of accommodation. It is our delaying in that, encourages her to hope for conquest, and our backwardness tends only to prolong the war. As we have, without any good effect therefrom, withheld our trade to obtain a redress of our grievances, let us now try the alternative, by independantly redressing them ourselves, and then offering to open the trade. The mercantile and reasonable part of England, will be still with us ; because, peace, with trade, is preferable to war without it. And if this offer be not accepted, other courts may be applied to.

On these grounds I rest the matter. And as no offer hath yet been made to refute the doctrine contained in the former editions of this pamphlet, it is a negative proof, that either the doctrine cannot be refuted, or, that the party in favor of it are too numerous to be opposed. WHERE-FORE, instead of gazing at each other with suspicious or doubtful curiosity, let each of us hold out to his neighbor the hearty hand of friendship, and unite in drawing a line, which, like an act of oblivion, shall bury in forgetfulness every former dissention. Let the names of Whig and Tory be extinct ; and let none other be heard among us, than those of a good citizen ; an open and resolute friend ; and a virtuous supporter of the rights of MANKIND, and of the FREE AND INDEPENDANT STATES OF AMERICA. V

XVI. Epistle to Quakers.

To the Representatives of the Religious Society of the People called Quakers, or to so many of them, as were concerned in publishing a late piece, entitled " THE ANCIENT TESTI-MONY and Principles of the people called Quakers renewed, with respect to the King and GOVERNMENT, and touching the COMMOTIONS now prevailing in these and other parts of AyiERlCA, addressed to the PEOPLE IN General." '

The writer of this is one of those few who never dishonors rehgion either by ridiculing or cavilling at any denomination whatsoever. To God, and not to man, are all men accountable on the score of religion. Wherefore, this epistle is not so properly addressed to you as a religious, but as a political body, dabbling in matters which the professed Quietude of your Principles instruct you not to meddle with.

As you have, without a proper authority for so doing, put yourselves in the place of the whole body of the Quakers, so the writer of this, in order to be. in an equal rank with yourselves, is under the necessity of putting himself in the place of all those who approve the very writings and principles against which your testimony is directed : And he hath chosen this singular situation, in order that you might discover in him that presumption of character which you can-
not see in yourselves. For neither he nor you have any claim or title to Political Representation.

When men have departed from the right way, it is no wonder that they stumble and fall. And it is evident from the manner in which ye have managed your testimony, that politics (as a religious body of men) is not your proper Walk ; for however well adapted it might appear to you, it is, nevertheless, a jumble of good and bad unwisely put together, and the conclusion drawn therefrom both unnatural and unjust.

The first two pages (and the whole doth make but four) we give you credit for, and expect the same civility from you, because the love and desire of peace is not confined to Quakerism, it is the natural as well as the religious wish of all denominations of men. And on this ground, as men laboring to establish an Independant Constitution of our own, do we exceed all others in our hope, end, and aim. Our plan is peace for ever. We are tired of contention with Britain, and can see no real end to it but in a final separation. We act consistently, because for the sake of introducing an endless and uninterrupted peace, do we bear the evils and the burthens of the present day. We are endeavoring, and will steadily continue to endeavor, to separate and dissolve a connection which has already filled our land with blood ; and which, while the name of it remains, will be the fatal cause of future mischiefs to both countries.

We fight neither for revenge nor conquest ; neither from pride nor passion ; we are not insulting the world with our fleets and armies, nor ravaging the globe for plunder. Beneath the shade of our own vines are we attacked ; in our own houses, and on our own lands, is the violence committed against us. We view our enemies in the characters of Highwaymen and Housebreakers, and having no defence for ourselves in the civil law, are obliged to punish them by the military one, and apply the sword, in the very case where you have before now applied the halter. Perhaps we feel for the ruined and insulted sufferers in all and every part of the Continent, with a degree of tenderness which hath not yet made its way into some of your bosoms. But be ye sure that ye mistake not the cause and ground of your Testimony. Call not coldness of soul, rehgion ; nor put the Bigot in the place of the Christian.

O ye partial ministers of your own acknowledged principles. If the bearing arms be sinful, the first going to war must be more so, by all the difference between wilful attack and unavoidable defence. Wherefore, if ye really preach from conscience, and mean not to make a political hobbyhorse of your religion, convince the world thereof, by proclaiming your doctrine to our enemies, for they likewise bear ARMS. Give us proof of your sincerity, by publishing it at St. James's, to the commanders in chief at Boston, to the admirals and captains who are piratically ravaging our coasts, and to all the murdering miscreants who are acting in authority under HIM whom ye profess to serve. Had ye the honest soul of Barclay * ye would preach repentance to your king : ye wpuld tell the Royal Wretch his sins, and warn him of eternal ruin. Ye would not spend your partial invectives against the injured and insulted only, but, like faithful ministers, would cry aloud and spare none. Say not that ye are persecuted, neither endeavor to make us the authors of that reproach which ye are bringing upon yourselves ; for we testify unto all men, that we do not complain against you because ye are Quakers, but because ye pretend to be and are not Quakers.

Alas ! it seems by the particular tendency of some part of your testimony, and other parts of your conduct, as if all sin
  â€¢ ' ' Thou hast tasted of prosperity and adversity ; thou knowest what it is tO' be banished thy native country, to be over-ruled as vifell as to rule, and sit upon the throne : and being oppressed thou hast reason to know how hateful the oppressor is both to God and man ; If after all these warnings and advertisements, thou dost not turn unto the Lord with all thy heart, but forget him who remembered thee in thy distress, and give up thyself to follow lust and vanity, surely, great will be thy condemnation. — Against which snare, as well as the temptation of those who may or do feed thee, and prompt thee to evil, the most excellent and prevalent remedy will be, to apply thyself to that light of Christ which shineth in thy conscience, and which neither can nor will flatter thee, nor suffer thee to be at ease in thy sins." — Barclay's Address to Charles II. was reduced to, and comprehended in, the act of bearing arms, and that by the people only. Ye appear to us to have mistaken party for conscience ; because the general tenor of your actions wants uniformity : And it is exceedingly difiScult for us to give credit to many of your pretended scruples ; because we see them made by the same men, who, in the very instant that they are exclaiming against the mammon of this world, are nevertheless hunting after it with a step as steady as Time, and an appetite as keen as Death.

The quotation which ye have made from Proverbs, in the third page of your testimony, that "when a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him ; " is very unwisely chosen on your part ; because it amounts to a proof that the king's ways (whom ye are so desirous of supporting) do not please the Lord, otherwise his reign would be in peace.

I now proceed to the latter part of your testimony, and that for which all the foregoing seems only an introduction, viz.

"It hath ever been our judgment and principle, since we were •called to profess the light of Christ Jesus, manifested in our consciences unto this day, that the setting up and putting down kings and governments, is God's peculiar prerogative ; for causes best known to himself : And that it is not our business to have any hand or contrivance therein ; nor to be busy bodies above our station, much less to plot and contrive the ruin, or overturn of any of them, but to pray for the king, and safety of our nation, and good of all men : That we may live a quiet and peaceable life, in all godliness and honesty; under the government which God is pleased to set over us."

If these are really your principles why do ye not abide by them ? Why do ye not leave that, which ye call God's work, to be managed by himself? These very principles instruct you to wait with patience and humility, for the event of all public measures, and to receive that event as the divine will towards you. Wherefore, what occasion is there for your political testimony, if you fully believe what it contains ? And the very publishing it proves that either ye do not believe what ye profess, or have not virtue enough to practice what ye believe.

The principles of Quakerism have a direct tendency to make a man the quiet and inoffensive subject of any, and every government which is set over him. And if the setting up and putting down of kings and governments is God's peculiar prerogative, he most certainly will not be robbed thereof by us ; wherefore, the principle itself leads you to approve of every thing which ever happened, or may happen to kings, as being his work. Oliver Cromwell thanks you. Charles, then, died not by the hands of man ; and should the present proud Imitator of him come to the same untimely end, the writers and publishers of the testimony are bound, by the doctrine it contains, to applaud the fact. Kings are not taken away by miracles, neither are changes in governments brought about by any other means than such as are common and human ; and such as we now are using. Even the dispersing of the Jews, though foretold by our Saviour, was effected by arms. Wherefore, as ye refuse to be the means on one side, ye ought not to be medlers on the other ; but to wait the issue in silence ; and, unless you can produce divine authority to prove that the Almighty, who hath created and placed this new world at the greatest distance it could possibly stand, east and west, from every part of the old, doth, nevertheless, disapprove of its being independant of the corrupt and abandoned court of Britain \ unless, I say, ye can show this, how can ye, on the ground of your principles, justify the exciting and stirring up the people " firmly to unite in the abhorrence of all such writings, and measures, as evidence a desire and design to break off the happy connection we have hitherto enjoyed with the kingdom of Great Britain, and our just and necessary subordination to the king, and those who are lawfully placed in authority under him." What a slap in the face is here ! The men, who, in the very paragraph before, have quietly and passively resigned up the ordering, altering and disposal of kings and governments, into the hands of God, are now recalling their principles, and putting in for a share of the business. Is it possible, that the conclusion, which is here justly quoted, can any ways follow from the doctrine laid down ! The inconsistency is too glaring not to be seen ; the absurdity too great not to be laughed at ; and such as could only have been made by those whose understandings were darkened by the narrow and crabbed spirit of a despairing political party ; for ye are not to be considered as the whole body of the Quakers, but only as a factional and fractional part thereof.

Here ends the examination of your Testimony ; (which I call upon no man to abhor, as ye have done, but only to read and judge of fairly ;) to which I subjoin the following remark " That the setting up and putting down of kings " must certainly mean, the making him a king who is yet not so, and the making him no king who is already one. And pray what hath this to do in the present case ? We neither mean to set up nor to pull down, neither to make nor to unmake, but to have nothing to do with them. Wherefore, your testimony, in whatever light it is viewed, serves only to dishonor your judgment, and for many other reasons had better have been let alone than published.

First, Because it tends to the decrease and reproach of all religion whatever, and is of the utmost danger to society, to make it a party in political disputes.

Secondly, Because it exhibits a body of men, numbers of whom disavow the publishing of political testimonies, as being concerned therein and approvers thereof.

Thirdly, Because it hath a tendency to undo that continental harmony and friendship which yourselves, by your late liberal and charitable donations, hath lent a hand to establish ; and the preservation of which is of the utmost consequence to us all.

And here, without anger or resentment, I bid you farewell. Sincerely wishing, that as men and christians, ye may always fully and uninterruptedly enjoy every civil and religious right, and be, in your turn, the means of securing it to others ; but that the example which ye have unwisely set, of mingling religion with politics, may be disavowed and reprobated by every inhabitant of America.

XVII. The Forester's Letters.'

I.

To Cato

To be nobly wrong is more manly than to be meanly right. Only let the error be disinterested — let it wear not the mask, but the mark of principle, and 'tis pardonable. It is on this large and liberal ground, that we distinguish between men and their tenets, and generously preserve our friendship for the one, while we combat with every prejudice of the other. But let not Cato take this compliment to himself; he stands excluded from the benefit of the distinction ; he deserves it not. And if the sincerity of disdain can add a cubit to the stature of my sentiments, it shall not be wanting.

' "The writer of ' Common Sense' and ' The Forester' is the same person," wrote John Adams to his wife. ' ' His name is Paine, a gentleman about two years from England, — a man who, Gen. Lee says, has genius in his eyes." The letters signed "The Forester" are four, and originally appeared in the Pennsylvania jfournal, the dates of issue being April 3, 10, 24, May 8, 1776. The April letters were replies to " Cato," who was writing a series of letters, in the Pennsylvania Gazette, vigorously combating the republican doctrines of Paine's "Common Sense,'' and its pleas for Independence. " Cato " was the Rev. Dr. William Smith, a Scotch clergyman of the English Church, Provost of the College of Philadelphia, and the most influential preacher in that city until his fall with the royalist cause which he had espoused. The letters of these disputants were widely copied in the country, and the controversy was the most exciting and important immediately preceding the Declaration of Independence. The proposal of such a Declaration was really the issue. It was vehemently opposed by the wealth and aristocracy of Philadelphia, headed by Dr. Smith, and the discussion was almost a battle. This may explain its acrimony, on which neither writer, probably, reflected with satisfaction in after years. The " Cato " letters are not included in the collected Works of Dr. Smith (Philadelphia, 1803), nor have the letters of " The Forester " appeared hitherto in any edition of Paine's Writings. They are, however, of much historical interest. The fourth letter of " The Forester," it will be seen, has no reference to Cato. — Editor.

It is indifferent to me who the writer of Cato's letters is^ and sufficient for me to know, that they are gorged with absurdity, confusion, contradiction, and the most notorious and wilful falsehoods. Let Cato and his faction be against Independence and welcome ; their consequence will not now turn the scale : But let them have regard to justice, and pay some attention to the plain doctrine of reason. Where these are wanting, the sacred cause of truth applauds our anger, and dignifies it with the name of Virtue.

Four letters have already appeared under the specious name of Cato. What pretensions the writer of them can have to the signature, the public will best determine ; while, on my own part, I prophetically content myself with contemplating the similarity of their exits. The first of those letters promised a second, the second a third, the third a fourth ; the fourth hath since made its appearance, and still the writer keeps wide of the question. Why doth he thus loiter in the suburbs of the dispute ? Why hath he not shewn us what the numerous blessings of reconciliation [with Great Britain] are, and proved them, practicable ? But he cunningly avoids the point. He cannot but discover the rock he is driving on. The fate of the Roman Cato is before his eyes : And that the public may be prepared for his funeral, and for his funeral oration, I will venture to predict the time and the manner of his exit. The moment he explains his terms of reconciliation the typographical Cato dies. If they be calculated to please the [British] Cabinet they will not go down with the Colonies : and if they be suited to the Colonies they will be rejected by the Cabinet: The line of no-variation is yet unfound ; and, like the philosopher's stone, doth not exist. " I am bold," says Cato, " to declare and yet hope to make it evident to every honest man, that the true interest of America lies in reconciliation with Great Britain on constitutional principles."

This is a curious way of lumping the business indeed ! And Cato may as well attempt to catch lions in a mousetrap as to hope to allure the public with such general and unexplained expressions. It is now a mere bugbear to talk of reconciliation on constitutional principles unless the terms of the first be produced and the sense of the other be defined; and unless he does this he does nothing.

To follow Cato through every absurdity and falsehood in the compass of a * letter is impossible ; neither is it now necessary. Cassandra (and I thank him) hath saved me much trouble ; there is a spirit in his remarks which honesty only can inspire, and a uniformity in the conduct of his letters which the want of principle can never arrive at.' Mark that, Cato.

One observation which I cannot help making on Cato's letters, is that they are addressed " To the People of Pennsylvania " only : In almost any other writer this might have passed unnoticed, but we know it hath mischief in its meaning. The particular circumstance of a convention is undoubtedly Provincial, but the great business of the day is Continental. And he who dares to endeavour to withdraw this province from the glorious union by which all are supported, deserves the reprobation of all men. It is the true interest of the whole to go hand in hand ; and dismal in every instance would be the fate of that Colony which should retreat from the protection of the rest.

The first of Cato's letters is insipid in its stile, language and substance ; crowded with personal and private innuendues and directly levelled against " the Majesty of the People of Pennsylvania." The Committee could 'only call, propose, or recommend a Convention ; " but, like all other public measures, it still rested with the people at large, whether they would approve it or not ; and Cato's reasoning on the right or wrong of that choice is contemptible ; because, if
VOL, I.— 9 the body of the people had thought, or should still think that the Assembly (or any of their Delegates in Congress) by setting under the embarrassment of oaths, and entangled with government and Governors, are not so perfectly free as they ought to be, they undoubtedly had and still have both the right and the power to place even the whole authority of the Assembly in any body of men they please ; and whoever is hardy enough to say to the contrary is an enemy to mankind. The constitution of Pennsylvania hath been twice changed through the cunning of former Proprietors ; surely, the people, whose right, power, and property is greater than that of any single man, may make such alterations in their mode of government as the change of times and things require. Cato is exceedingly fond of impressing us with the importance of our " chartered constitution." Alas ! We are not now. Sir, to be led away by the jingle of a phrase. Had we framed our conduct by the contents of the present charters, we had ere now been in a state of helpless misery. That very assembly you mention hath broken it, and been obliged to break it, in almost every instance of their proceedings. Hold it up to the Public, and it is transparent with holes ; pierced with as many deadly wounds as the body of M'Leod." Disturb not its remains, Cato, nor dishonour it with another funeral oration.

There is nothing in Cato's first letter worthy of notice but the following insinuating falsehood : " Grievous as the least restraint of the press must always be to a people entitled to freedom, it must be the more so, when it is not only unwarranted by those to whom they have committed the care of their liberties but cannot be warranted by them., consistent with liberty itself." The rude and unscholastical confusion of persons in the above paragraph, though it throws an obscurity on the meaning, still leaves it discoverable. Who, Sir, hath laid any restraint on the liberty of the press ? I know of no instance in which the press hath ever been the

" News had reached Philadelphia of the battle of Moore's Creek Bridge, North Carolina, in which the " Tory" forces were defeated, and their temporary commander, M'Leod, fell "pierced with twenty balls." — Editor. object of notice in this province, except on account of the tory letter from Kent county, which was first published last spring in the Pennsylvania Ledger, and which it was the duty of every good man to detect because the honesty of the press is as great an object to society as the freedom of it. If this is the restraint you complain of, we know your true character at once ; and that it is so, appears evident from the expression which immediately follows the above quotation : your words are, " Nevertheless, we readily submitted to it while the least colourable pretence could be offered for requiring such a submission." Who submitted, Cato? we Whigs, or we Tories ? Until you clear up this, Sir, you must content yourself with being ranked among the rankest of the -writing Tories ; because no other body of men can have any pretence to complain of want of freedom of the press. It is not your throwing out, now and then, little popular phrases which can protect you from suspicion ; they are only the gildings under which the poison is conveyed, and without which you dared not to renew your attempts on the virtue of the people.

Cato's second letter, or the greatest part thereof, is taken up with the reverence due from us to the persons and authority of the Commissioners, whom Cato vainly and ridiculously •stiles Ambassadors coming to negociate a peace. How came Cato not to be let a little better into the secret ? The act of parliament which describes the powers of these men hath been in this city upwards of a month, and in the hands too of Cato's friends. No, Sir, they are not the Ambassadors of j>eace, but the distributors of pardons, mischief, and insult. Cato discovers a gross ignorance of the British constitution in supposing that these men can be empowered to act as Ambassadors. To prevent his future errors I will set him right. The present war differs from every other, in this instance, viz. that it is not carried under the prerogative of the crown as other wars have always been, but under the authority of the whole legislative power united ; and as the barriers which stand in the way of a negociation are not proclamations but acts of parliament, it evidently follows, that were even the King of England here in person, he could not ratify the terms or conditions of a reconciliation ; because, in the single character of King he could not stipulate for the repeal of any acts of parliament, neither can the Parliament stipulate for him. There is no body of men more jealous of their privileges than the Commons : Because they sell them. Mark that, Cato.

I have not the least doubt upon me but that their business (exclusive of granting us pardons) is downright bribery and corruption. It is the machine by which they effect all their plans. We ought to view them as enemies of a most dangerous species, and he who means not to be corrupted by them will enter his protest in time. Are they not the very men who are paid for voting in every measure against us, and ought we not to suspect their designs ? Can we view the barbarians as friends? Would it be prudent to trust the viper in our very bosoms ? Or to suffer them to ramble at large among us while such doubtful characters as Cato have a being upon the continent ? Yet let their persons be safe from injury and outrage — but trust them not. Our business with them is short and explicit, viz. : We are desirous of peace, gentlemen ; we are ready to ratify the terms, and will virtuously fulfil the conditions thereof ; but we should deserve all and every misery which tyranny can inflict, were we, after suffering such a repetition of savage barbarities, to come under your government again.

Cato, by way of stealing into credit, says, " that the contest we are engaged in is founded on the most noble and virtuous principles which can animate the mind of man. We are contending (says he) against an arbitrary ministry for the rights of Englishmen." No, Cato, we are now contending against an arbitrary King to get clear of his tyranny. While the dispute rested in words only, it might be called " contending with the ministry," but since it is broken out into open war, it. is high time to have done with such silly and water-gruel definitions. But it suits not Cato to speak the truth. It is his interest to dress up the sceptred savage in the mildest colors. Cato's patent for a large tract of land is yet unsigned. Alas poor Cato ! Cato proceeds very importantly to tell us, " that the eyes vf all Europe are upon us." This stale and hackneyed phrase hath had a regular descent, from many of the King's speeches down to several of the speeches in Parliament ; from thence it took a turn among the little wits and bucks of St. James's ; till after suffering all the torture of senseless repetition, and being reduced to a state of vagrancy, it was charitably picked up to embellish the second letter of Cato. It is truly of the bug-bear kind, contains no meaning, and the very using it discovers a barrenness of invention. It signifies nothing to tell us " that the eyes of all Europe are upon us," unless he had likewise told us what they are looking at us for : which as he hath not done, I will. They are looking at us, Cato, in hopes of seeing a final separation between Britain and the Colonies, that they, the lookers-on, may partake of a free and uninterrupted trade with the whole Continent of America. Cato, thou reasonest wrong.

For the present, Sir, farewell. I have seen thy soliloquy and despise it. Remember thou hast thrown me the glove, Cato, and either thee or I must tire. I fear not the field of fair debate, but thou hast stepped aside and made it personal. Thou hast tauntingly called on me by name ; and if I cease to hunt thee from every lane and lurking hole of mischief, and bring thee not a trembling culprit before the public bar, then brand me with reproach, by naming me in the list of your confederates.

The Forester.

Philadelphia, March 28, 1776.

II. To Cato.

Before I enter on the more immediate purpose of this letter, I think it necessary, once for all, to endeavour to settle as clearly as I can, the following point, viz : How far personality is concerned in any political debate. The general maxim is, that measures and not men are the thing in question, and the maxim is undeniably just when rightly under-134 THE WAITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [l77&

stood. Cato as a refuge for himself, hath quoted the author of Common Sense who in his preface says, "That the object for attention is the doctrine itself not the man" that is, not the rank or condition of the man. For whether he is with those whose fortune is already made, or with those whose fortune is yet to make, or among those who seldom think or care whether they make any, is a matter wholly out of the question and entirely confined to himself. But the political characters, political dependencies, and political connections of men, being of a public nature, differ exceedingly from the circumstances of private life ; and are in many instances so nearly related to the measures they propose, that to prevent our being deceived by the last, we must be acquainted with the first. A total ignorance of men lays us under the danger of mistaking plausibility for principle. Could the wolf bleat like the lamb the flock would soon be enticed into ruin ; wherefore to prevent the mischief, he ought to be seen as well as heard. There never was nor ever will be, nor ever ought to be, any important political debate carried on, in which a total separation in all cases between men and measures could be admitted with sufficient safety. When hypocrisy shall be banished from the earth, the knowledge of men will be unnecessary, because their measures cannot then be fraudulent ; but until that time come (which never will come) they ought, under proper limitations, to go together. We have already too much secrecy in some things and too little in others. Were men more known, and measures more concealed, we should have fewer hypocrites and more security.

As the chief design of these letters is to detect and expose the falsehoods and fallacious reasonings of Cato, he must not expect (when detected) to be treated like one who had debated fairly ; for I will be bold to say and to prove, that a grosser violation of truth and reason scarcely ever came from the pen of a writer ; and the explanations which he hath endeavoured to impose on the passages which he hath quoted from Common Sense, are such as never existed in the mind of the author, nor can they be drawn from the words

17761 THE FORESTER'S LETTERS. 1 35

themselves. Neither must Cato expect to be spared where his carelessness of expression, and visible want of compassion and sentiment, shall give occasion to raise any moral or philosophical reflection thereon. These things being premised, I now proceed to review the latter part of Cato's second letter.

In this place Cato begins his first attack on Common Sense, but as he only discovers his ill will, and neither offers any arguments against it, nor makes any quotations from it, I should in this place pass him by, were it not for the following strange assertion : " If little notice," says Cato {little opposition he means) " has yet been taken of the publications concerning Independance, it is neither owing to the popularity of the doctrine, the unanswerable nature of the arguments, nor the fear of opposing them, as the vanity of the author would suggest." As Cato has given us the negative reasons, he ought to have given us the real ones, for as he positively tells what it was not owing to, he undoubtedly knows what it was owing to that he delayed his answers so long ; but instead of telling us that, (which perhaps is not proper to be told) he flies from the argument with the following plump declarations, " Nine tenths of the people of Pennsylvania," says he, " yet abhor the doctrine." But stop, Cato ! not quite so fast, friend ! If this be true, how came they, so late as the second of March last, to elect for a Burgess of this city, a gentleman of known Independant Principles, and one of the very few to whom the author of Common Sense shewed some part thereof while in manuscript.'

Cato is just as unfortunate in the following paragraph. " Those," says he, " who made the appeal (that is, published the pamphlet) have but little cause to triumph in its success. Of this they seem sensible : and, like true quacks, are constantly pestering us with additional doses till the stomachs of their patients begin wholly to revolt." It is Cato's hard fate to be always detected : for perhaps there never was a pamphlet, since the use of letters were known, about which

' David Rittenhouse, elected in the place of Franklin, who had left for France. — Editor. SO little pains were taken, and of which so great a number went off in so short a time ; I am certain that I am within compass when I say one hundred and twenty thousand. The book was turned upon the world like an orphan to shift for itself ; no plan was formed to support it, neither hath the author ever published a syllable on the subject, from that time till after the appearance of Cato's fourth letter ; wherefore what Cato says of additional doses administered by the author is an absolute falsity ; besides which, it comes with an ill grace from one, who frequently publishes two letters in a week, and often puts them both into one paper — Cato here, Cato there, look where you will.

At the distance of a few lines from the above quotations, Cato presents us with a retrospective view of our former state, in which, says he, " we considered our connection with Great Britain as our chief happiness — we flourished, grew rich, and populous to a degree not to be paralleled in history." This assertion is truly of the. legerdemain kind, appearing at once both right and wrong. All writers on Cato's side have used the same argument and conceived themselves invincible ; nevertheless, a single expression properly placed dissolves the charm, for the cheat lies in putting the time for the cause. For the cheat lies in putting the consequence for the cause ; for had we not flourished the connection had never existed or never been regarded, and this is fully proved by the neglect shewn to the first settlers who had every difficulty to struggle with, unnoticed and unassisted by the British Court.

Cato proceeds very industriously to sum up the former declarations of Congress and other public bodies, some of which were made upwards of a year ago, to prove, that the doctrine of Independance hath no sanction from them. To this I shall give Cato one general answer which is, that had he produced a thousand more such authorities they would now amount to nothing, they are out of date ; times and things are altered ; the true character of the King was but little known among the body of the poeple of America a year ago ; willing to believe him good, they fondly called him so, but have since found that Cato's Royal Sovereign, is a Royal Savage.

Cato hath introduced the above-mentioned long quotation of authorities against independance, with the following curious preface. " Nor have many weeks," says he, " yet elapsed since the first open proposition for independance was published to the world. By what men of consequence this scheme is supported or whether by any, may possibly be the subject of future enquiry. Certainly it hath no countenance from the Congress, to whose sentiments we look up with reverence. On the contrary, it is directly repugnant to every declaration of that respectable body." Now Cato, thou hast nailed thyself with a witness ! Directly repugnant to every declaration of that respectable body ! Mind that, Cato, and mark what follows. It appears by an extract from the resolves of the Congress, printed in the front of the oration delivered by Dr. Smith, in honor of that brave man Qeneral Montgomery, that he, the Doctor, was appointed by that honorable body to compose and deliver the same ; in the execution of which, the orator exclaimed loudly against the doctrine of independance ; but when a motion was afterwards made in Congress, (according to former usage) to return the orator thanks, and request a copy for the press, the motion was rejected from every part of the house and thrown out without a division.'

I now proceed to Cato's third letter, in the opening of which he deserts the subject of independance, and renews
138 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [l77^

his attack on the Committee.' Gate's manner of writinghas as much order in it as the motion of a squirrel. He frequently writes as if he knew not what to write next, just as the other jumps about, only because it cannot stand still. Though I am sometimes angry with him for his unprincipled method of writing and reasoning, I cannot help laughing at other times for his want of ingenuity : One instance of which he gives us in kindly warning us against " the foul pages of interested writers, and strangers intermedling in our affairsy Were I to reply seriously my answer would be this : Thou seemest then ignorant, Cato, of that ancient and numerous order which are related to each other in all and every part of the globe — with whom the kindred is not formed by place or accident, but in principle and sentiment. A freeman, Cato, is a stranger nowhere — a slave, everywhere. But were I disposed to answer merrily, I should tell him, that as his notions of friendship were so very narrow and local, he obliges me to understand, that when he addresses the people with the tender title of " my dear countrymen " which frequently occurs in his letters, he particularly means the long list of Macs published in Donald M'Donald's Commission."

In this letter Cato recommends the pamphlet called Plain Truth, a performance which hath withered away like a sickly unnoticed weed, and which even its advocates are displeased at, and the author ashamed to own.' About the middle of this third letter, Cato gives notice of his being ready to take the field. " I now proceed," says he, "to give my reasons."
° ' ' Plain Truth : addressed to the Inhabitants of America, containing Remarks on a late Pamphlet, intitled Common Sense : etc. Written by Candidus. Will ye turn from Flattery and attend to this Side ? " This pamphlet of 37 pages, published in Philadelphia and London, was the most elaborate of many replies to ' ' Common Sense. " It was dull, however, and was out of date almost as soon as it appeared. — Editor.

How Cato hath managed the attack we are now to examine ; and the first remark I shall offer on his conduct is, that he hath most unluckily entered the list on the wrong side, and discharged his first fire among the tories.

In order to prove this, I shall give the paragraph entire : — " Agriculture and Commerce," says Cato, " have hitherto been the happy employments, by which these middle colonies have risen into wealth and importance. By them the face of the country has been changed from a barren wilderness, into the hospitable abodes of peace and plenty. Without them we had either never existed as Americans, or existed only as savages. The oaks would still have possessed their native spots of earth, and never have appeared in the form of ships and houses. What are now well cultivated fields, or flourishing cities, would have remained only the solitary haunts of wild beasts or of men equally wild." The reader cannot help perceiving that through this whole paragraph our connexion with Britain is left entirely out of the question, and our present greatness attributed to external causes, agriculture and commerce. This is a strange way, Cato, of overturning Common Sense, which says, " I challenge the warmest advocate for reconciliation, to shew a single advantage which this continent can reap by being connected with Great-Britain ; I repeat," says he, " the challenge : not a single advantage is derived. Our corn will fetch its price in any market in Europe ; and our imported goods must be paid for, buy them where we will." Cato introduces his next paragraph with saying, " that much of our former felicity was owing to the protection of England is not to be denied." Yes, Cato, I deny it wholly, and for the following clear and simple reasons, viz., that our being connected with, and submitting to be protected by her, made, and will still make, all her enemies, our enemies, or as Common Sense says, " sets us at variance with nations who would otherwise seek our friendship, and against whom we have neither anger nor complaint."

The following passage is so glaringly absurd that I shall make but a short comment upon it. " And if hereafter," says Cato, " in the fulness of time, it shall be necessary to separate from the land that gave birth to [some of] our ancestors, it will be in a state of perfect manhood, when we can fully wield our own arms, and protect our commerce and coasts by our own fleets." But how are we to come ^ij fleets, Cato, while Britain hath the government of the Continent ? Unless we are to suppose, as you have hinted in the former paragraph, that our oaks are to grow into ships, and be launched self-built from their " native spots of earth." It is Cato's misfortune as a writer, not to distinguish justly between magic and imagination ; while on the other hand there are many passages in his letters so seriously and deliberately false, that nothing but the most hardened effrontery, and a cast of mind bordering upon impiety, would have uttered. He frequently forces me out of the common track of civil language, in order to do him justice ; moderation and temper being really unequal to the task of exposing him.

Cato, unless he meant to destroy the ground he stood upon, ought not to have let the following paragraph be seen. " If our present differences" says he, " can be accommodated, there is scarce a probability that Britain will ever reneiv her late fatal system of policy, or attempt again to employ force against us." How came Cato to admit ^& probability of our being brought again into the same bloody and expensive situation ? But it is worth remarking, that those who write without principle, cannot help sometimes blundering upon truth. Then there is no real security, Cato, in this reconciliation of yours on constitutional principles ? It still amounts to nothing ; and after all this expence of life and wealth, we are to rest at last upon hope, hazard, and uncertainty. Why then, by all that is sacred, " it is time to part."

But Cato, after admitting the probability of our being brought again into the same situation, proceeds to tell us how we are to conduct ourselves in the second quarrel ; and that is, by the very same methods we have done the present one, viz., to expend millions of treasure, and thousands of lives, in order to patch up a second union, that the way may be open for a third quarrel ; and in this endless and chequered round of blood and treacherous peace, hath Cato disposed of the Continent of America. That I may not be thought to do Cato injustice, I have quoted the whole passage: "But should Britain be so infatuated," says he, "at any future period, as to think of subjugating us, either by the arts of corruption, or oppressive exertions of power, can we entertain a doubt but we shall Again, with a virtue equal to the present and with the weapons of defence in our hands (when necessary) convince her that we are willing by a constitutional connection with her, to afford and receive reciprocal benefits ; but although subjects of the same King, we will not consent to be her slaves." — Come hither, ye little ones, whom the poisonous hand of Cato is rearing for destruction, and remember the page that warns ye of your ruin.

Cato, in many of his expressions, discovers all that calm command over the passions and feelings which always distinguishes the man who hath expelled them from his heart. Of this careless kind is the before mentioned phrase, " our present differences," and the same unpardonable negligence is conveyed in the following one : " Although I consider her," says he, " as having in her late conduct toward us, acted the part of a cruel stepdame." Wonderful sensibility indeed ! All the havoc and desolation of unnatural war ; the destruction of thousands ; the burning and depopulating of towns and cities ; the ruin and separation of friends and families, are just sufficient to extort from Cato, this one callous confession. But the cold and creeping soul of Cato is a stranger to the manly powers of sympathetic sorrow. He moves not, nor can he move in so pure an element. Accustomed to lick the hand that hath made him visible, and to breathe the gross atmosphere of servile and sordid dependence, his soul would now starve on virtue, and suffocate in the clear region of disinterested friendship.

Surely when Cato sat down to write, he either did not expect to be called to an account, or was totally regardless of reputation, otherwise he would not have endeavoured to persuade the public that the doctrine of Independance was broached in a kind of seditious manner, at a time " 1 ' says he, " some gleams of reconciliation began first to break in upon us." Come forth, Cato, and prove the assertion ! Where do these gleams of reconciliation spring from ? Are they to be found in the King's speech, in the address of either House of Parliament, or in the act which lets loose a whole kennel of pirates upon our property, and commissions another set to insult with pardons the very men whom their own measures had sought to ruin ? Either prove the assertion, Cato, or take the reward of it, for it is the part of an incendiary to endeavour with specious falsehoods to mislead the credulity of unwary readers. Cato likewise says, that, while we continue united, and renounce all thoughts of Independance, " we have the utmost assurance of obtaining a full redress of our grievances, and an ample security against 2Lny future violation of owx just rights." If Cato means to insinuate that we have received such an assurance, let him read the conclusion of the preceeding paragraph again. The same answer will serve for both.

Perhaps when we recollect the long and unabated cruelty of the British court towards us, and remember the many prayers which we have put up both to them and for them, the following piece of declamation of Cato can hardly be equalled either for absurdity or insanity : " If we now effect independance," says he, " we must be considered as a faithless people in the sight of all mankind, and could scarcely expect the confidence of any nation upon earth, or look up to Heaven for its approving sentence." Art thou mad, Cato, or art thou foolish — or art thou both — or art thou worse than both ? In this passage thou hast fairly gone beyond me. I have not language to bring thee back. Thou art safely intrenched indeed ! Rest therefore in thy stronghold till He who fortified thee in it shall come and fetch thee out.

Cato seems to be possessed of that Jesuitical cunning which always endeavours to disgrace what it cannot disprove ; and this he sometimes effects, by unfairly introducing our terms into his arguments, and thereby begets a monster which he sends round the country for a show, and tells the good people that the name of it is independance.

Of this character are several passages in his fourth and fifth letters, particularly when he quotes the term "foreign assistance," which he ungenerously explains into a surrender •of the Continent to France and Spain. Such an unfair and sophistical reasoner doth not deserve the civility of good manners. He creates, likewise, the same confusion by frequently using the word peace for union, and thereby charges us falsely by representing us as being determined to " reject all proposition of peace." Whereas, our wish is peace but not re-union; and though we would gladly listen to the former, we are determined to resist every proposal for the latter, come from where it will ; being fully persuaded, that in the present state of affairs separation of governments is the only and best thing that can be done for both countries.

The following case is unjustly put. " There never was a war," says Cato, " so implacable, even among states naturally rivals and enemies, or among savages themselves, as not to \i2M& peace for its object as well as the end." But was there everawar, Cato, which had M«2(7« for its object? No. What Cato means by states naturally rivals and enemies, I shall not enquire into, but this I know (for myself at least) that it was not in the power of France or Spain, or all the other powers in Europe, to have given such a wound, or raised us to such a mortal hatred as Britain hath done. We feel the same kind of undescribed anger at her conduct, as we would at the sight of an animal devouring its young ; and this particular species of anger is not generated in the transitory temper of the man, but in the chaste and undefiled womb of nature.

Cato, towards the conclusion of his third letter, (at which place I shall leave him for the present,) compares the state of Britain and America to the quarrels of lovers, and from thence infers a probability, that our affections will be renewed thereby. This I cannot help looking on as one of the most unnatural and distorted similes that can be drawn. Come hither ye that are lovers, or ye that ha'Oe been lovers, and decide the controversy between us ! What comparison is there between the soft murmurs of an heart mourning in secret, and the loud horrors of war — between the silent tears of pensive sorrow, and rivers of wasted blood — between the sweet strife of affection, and the bitter strife of death — between the curable calamities of pettish lovers, and the sad sight of a thousand slain ! " Get thee behind me," Cato, for thou hast not the feelings of a man.

The Forester.

Philadelphia, April 8, 1776.

III. To Cato.

Cato's partizans may call me furious ; I regard it not. There are men, too, who have not virtue enough to be angry and that crime perhaps is Cato's. He who dares not offend cannot be honest. Having thus balanced the charge, I proceed to Cato's 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th letters, all of which, as they contain but little matter, I shall dismiss with as little trouble and less formality.

His fourth letter is introduced with a punning Soliloquy — Cato's title to soliloquies is indisputable ; because no man cares for his company.* However, he disowns the writing it, and assures his readers that it " was really put into his hands." I always consider this confirming mode of expression as betraying a suspicion of one's self ; and in this place it amounts to just as much as if Cato had said, "you know my failing, Sirs, but what I tell you now is really true." Well, be it so, Cato ; you shall have all the credit you ask for ; and as to when or where or how you got it, who was the author, or who the giver, I shall not enquire after ; being fully convinced, by the poetical merit of the performance, that tho' the writer of it may be an Allen^ he '11 never be a Ramsay.f Thus much for the soliloquy ; and if this gentle
t Allan Ramsay a famous Scotch poet of genuine wit and humour. — Author, chastisement should be the means of preventing Cato or his colleague from mingling their punning nonsense with subjects of such a serious nature as the present one truly is, it will answer one of the ends it was intended for.

Cato's fourth, and the greatest part of his fifth letter, are constructed on a false meaning uncivilly imposed on a passage quoted from Common Sense ; and for which, the author of that pamphlet hath a right to expect from Cato the usual concessions. I shall quote the passage entire, with Cato's additional meaning, and the inferences which he draws therefrom. He introduces it with saying, " In my remarks on the pamphlet before me I shall first consider those arguments on which, he (the author) appears to lay his chief stress ; and these are collected under four heads in his conclusion, one of which is, ' It is the custom of nations when any two are at war, for some other powers not engaged in the qimrrel, to step in by way of Mediators, and bring about the prelimenaries of a peace ; but while America calls herself the subject of Great-Britain, no power, however well disposed she may be, can offer her mediation.' " The meanfng contained in this passage is so exceedingly plain, and expressed in such easy and familiar terms, that it scarcely admits of being made plainer. No one, I think, could have understood it any other wise, than that while we continue to call ourselves British Subjects, the quarrel between us can only be called a family quarrel, in which, it would be just as indelicate for any other nation to advise, or any ways to meddle or make, even with their offers of mediation, as it would be for a third person to interfere in a quarrel between a man and his wife. Whereas were we to make use of that natural right which all othernationshave done before us, and erect a government of our own, independant of all the world, the quarrel could then be no longer called a family quarrel, but a regular war between the two powers of Britain and America, in the same manner as one carried on between England and France ; and in this state of political separation, the neutral powers might kindly render their mediation, (as hath always been the practice) and. bring about the preliminaries

VOL. I. — 10 of a peace, — not a union, Cato, that is quite another thing. But instead of Cato's taking it in this easy and natural sense, he flies away on a wrong scent, charges the author with proposing to call in foreign assistance ; and under this willful falsehood raises up a mighty cry after nothing at all. He begins his wild and unintelligible comment in the following manner : " Is this," says he, (meaning the passage already quoted) "common sense, or common nonsense ? Surely peace * with Great Britain cannot be the object of this writer, after the horrible character he has given of the people of that country, and telling us, that reconciliation with them would be our ruin. The latter part of the paragraph seems to cast some light upon the former, although it contradicts it, for these mediators are not to interfere for making up the quarrel, but to widen it by supporting us in a declaration. That we are not the subjects of Great Britain. A new sort of business truly for mediators. But this," continues Cato, " leads us directly to the main enquiry — What foreign power is able to give us this support ? " What support, Cato ? The passage you have quoted neither says a syllable, nor insinuates a hint about support : — It speaks only of neutral powers in the neighbourly character of mediators between those which are at war ; and says it is the custom of European courts to do so. Cato hath already raised Commissioners into Ambassadors ; but how he could transform mediators into men in arms, and mediation into military alliance, is surpassingly strange. Read the part over again, Cato ; if you find I have charged you wrongfully, and will point it out, I will engage that the author of Common Sense shall ask your pardon in the public papers, with his name to it : but if the error be yours, the concession on your part follows as a duty.

Though I am fully persuaded that Cato does not believe one half of what himself has written, he nevertheless takes amazing pains to frighten his readers into a belief of the whole. Tells them of foreign troops (which he supposes we

 It is a strange thing that Cato cannot be taught to distinguish between peace and union. — Author. are going to send for) ravaging up and down the country ; of their " bloody massacres, unrelenting persecutions, which would harrow up {?,z.ys. h.e) the very souls of Protestants and freemen." Were they coming, Cato, which no one ever dreamed of but yourself (for thank God, we want them not,) it would be impossible for them to exceed, or even to equal, the cruelties practised by the British army in the East-Indies : The tying men to the mouths of cannon and " blowing them away " was never acted by any but an English General, or approved by any but a British Court. Read the proceedings of the Select Committee on Indian Affairs.

From temporal fears Cato proceeds to spiritual ones, and in a hypocritical panic, asks, " To whose share will Pennsylvania fall — that of his most Catholic, or his most Christian King? I confess," continues he, "that these questions stagger me." I don't wonder at it, Cato — I am glad to hear that some kind of remorse hath overtaken you — that you begin to feel that you are "heavy laden." You have had a long run, and the stoutest heart must fail at last.

Cato perceiving that the falsehoods in his fourth letter past unreproved, ventured boldly on a fifth, in which he continues, enlarging on the same convenient bugbear. " In my last," says he, " some notice was taken of the dangerous proposition held up by the author of Common Sense, for having recourse to foreign assistance." When will Cato learn to jspeak the truth ! The assistance which we hope for from France is not armies, (we want them not) but arms and ammunition. We have already received into this province only, near two hundred tons of saltpetre and gunpowder, besides muskets. Surely we may continue to cultivate a useful acquaintance, without such malevolent beings as Cato j-aising his barbarous slander thereon. At this time it is not only illiberal, but impolitic, and perhaps dangerous to be pouring forth such torrents of abuse, as his fourth and fifth letters contain, against the only power that in articles of defence hath supplied our hasty wants. Lord Clive, the chief of Eastern plunderers, received the thanks of Parliament for " his honourable conduct in the East-Indies. — Author. Cato, after expending near two letters in beating down an idol which himself only had set up, proudly congratulates himself on the defeat, and marches off to new exploits, leaving behind him the following proclamation : " Having thus," says Cato, " dispatched his (the author of Common Sense's) main argument for independence, which he founds on the necessity of calling in foreign assistance, I proceed to examine some other parts of his work." Not a syllable, Cato, doth any part of the pamphlet in question say of calling in foreign assistance, or even forming military alliances. The dream is wholly your own, and is directly repugnant both to the letter and spirit of every page in the piece. The idea which Common Sense constantly holds up, is to have nothing to do with the political affairs of Europe. " As Europe," says the pamphlet, " is our market for trade, we ought to form no political connections with any part of it. It is the true interest of America to steer clear of all European contentions." And where it proposes sending a manifesto to foreign courts (which it is high time to do) it recommends it only for the purpose of announcing to them the impossibility of our living any longer under the British government, and of " assuring such Courts of our peaceable disposition towards them, and of our desire of entering into trade with them." Learn to be an honest man, Cato, and then thou wilt not be thus exposed. — I have been the more particular in detecting Cato here, because it is on this bubble that his air-built battery against independance is raised — a poor foundation indeed ! which even the point of a pin, or a pen, if you please, can demolish with a touch, and bury the formidable Cato beneath the ruins of a vapour.

From this part of his fifth letter to the end of his seventh he entirely deserts the subject of independance, and sets up the proud standard of Kings, in preference to a Republican form of Government. My remarks on this part of the subject will be general and concise.

In this part of the debate Cato shelters himself chiefly in quotations from other authors, without reasoning much on the matter himself ; * in answer to which, I present him with a string of maxims and reflexions, drawn from the nature of things, without borrowing from any one. Cato may observe, that I scarcely ever quote ; the reason is, I always think. But to return.

Government should always be considered as a matter of convenience, not of right. The scripture institutes no particular form of government, but it enters a protest against the monarchical form ; and a negation on one thing, where two only are offered, and one must be chosen, amounts to an affirmative on the other. Monarchical government was first set up by the Heathens, and the Almighty permitted it to the Jews as a punishment. " I gave them a King in mine anger." — Hosea xiii. 11. A Republican form of government is pointed out by nature — Kingly governments by an unequality of power. In Republican governments, the leaders of the people, if improper, are removable by vote ; Kings only by arms : an unsuccessful vote in the first case, leaves the voter safe ; but an unsuccessful attempt in the latter, is death. Strange, that that which is our right in the one, should be our ruin in the other. From which reflexion follows this maxim. That that mode of government in which our right becomes our ruin, cannot be the right one. If all human nature be corrupt, it is needless to strengthen the corruption by establishing a succession of Kings, who, be they ever so base, are still to be obeyed ; for the manners of a court will always have an influence over the morals of a people. A Republican government hath more true grandeur in it than a Kingly one. On the part of the public it is
I50 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [i77&

more consistent with freemen to appoint their rulers than to have them born ; and on the part of those who preside, it is far nobler to be a ruler by the choice of the people, than a King by the chance of birth. Every honest Delegate is more than a Monarch. Disorders will unavoidably happen in all states, but monarchical governments are the most subject thereto, because the balance hangs uneven. " Nineteen rebellions and eight civil wars in England since the conquest" Whatever commotions are produced in RepubHcan states, are not produced by a Republican spirit, but by those who seek to extinguish it. A Republican state cannot produce its own destruction, it can only suffer it. No nation of people, in their true senses, when seriously reflecting on the rank which God hath given them, and the reasoning faculties he hath blessed them with, would ever, of their own consent, give any one man a negative power over the whole : No man since the fall hath ever been equal to the trust, wherefore 'tis insanity in us to entrust them with it ; and in this sense, all those who have had it have done us right by abusing us into reason. Nature seems sometimes to laugh at mankind, by giving them so many fools for Kings ; at other times, she punishes their folly by giving them tyrants ; but England must have offended highly to be curst with both in one. Rousseau proposed a plan for establishing a perpetual European peace ; which was, for every State in Europe to send Ambassadors to form a General Council, and when any difference happened between any two nations, to refer the matter to arbitration instead of going to arms. This would be forming a kind of European Republic : But the proud and plundering spirit of Kings hath not peace for its object. They look not at the good of mankind. They set not out upon that plan : And if the history of the Creation and the history of Kings be compared together the result will be this — that God hath made a world, and Kings have robbed him of it.

But that which sufificiently establishes the Republican mode of government, in preference to a Kingly one, even when all other arguments are left out, is this simple truth, that all men are Republicans by nature, and Royalists only by fashion. And this is fully proved by that passionate adoration which all men shew to that great and almost only remaining bulwark of natural rights, trial by juries, which is founded on a pure Republican basis. Here the power of Kings is shut out. No Royal negative can enter this Court. The Jury, which is here supreme, is a Republic, a body of Judges chosen from among the people.

The charter which secures this freedom in England, was formed, not in the senate, but in the field ; and insisted on by the people, not granted by the crown ; the crowli in that instance granted nothing, but only renounced its former tyrannies, and bound itself over to its future good behaviour. It was the compromise, by which the wearer of it made his peace with the people, and the condition on which he was suffered to reign.

Here ends my reply to all the letters which have at present appeared under the signature of Cato, being at this time seven in number. I have made no particular remarks on his last two, which treat only of the mode of government, but answered them generally. In one place I observe, he accuses the writer of Common Sense with inconsistency in having declared, " That no man was a warmer wisher for reconciliation than himself, before the fatal 19th of April, 1775 " ' ; " that is," (says Cato) reconciliation to monarchical government." To which I reply that war ought to be no man's wish, neither ought any man to perplex a state, already formed, with his private opinions ; " the mode of government being a proper consideration for those countries " only "which have their governments yet to form." {Common Sense).

On a review of the ground which I have gone over in Cato's letters, (exclusive of what I have omitted) I find the following material charges against him :

First. He hath accused the Committee with crimes generally ; stated none, nor proved, nor attempted to prove any. • The " Massacre at Lexington," as it was generally called. — Editor. N. B. The pretence of charging the acts of a body of men on individuals, is too slender to be admitted.*

Secondly. He hath falsely complained to the public of the restraint of the press.

Thirdly. He hath wickedly asserted that " gleams of reconciliation hath lately broken in upon us," thereby grossly deceiving the people.

Fourthly. He hath insinuated, as if he wished the public to believe, that we had received " the utmost assurance of having all our grievances redressed, and an ample security against any future violation of our just rights."

Fifthly. He hath spread false alarms of calling in foreign troops.

Sixthly. He hath turned the scripture into a jest. Ez. 35.

These falsehoods, if uncontradicted, might have passed for truths, and the minds of persons remote from better intelligence might have been greatly embarrassed thereby. Let our opinions be what they will, truth as to facts should be strictly adhered to. It was this affecting consideration that drew out the Forester (a perfect volunteer) to the painful task of writing three long letters, and occasioned to the public the trouble of reading them.

Having for the present closed my correspondence with Cato, I shall conclude this letter with a well meant affectionate address

To the People.

It is not a time to trifle. Men, who know they deserve nothing from their country, and whose hope is on the arm that hath fought to enslave ye, may hold out to you, as Cato hath done, the false light of reconciliation. There is no such
1776] THE FORESTER'S LETTERS. 1 53

thing. 'Tis gone ! 'Tis past ! The grave hath parted us — and death, in the persons of the slain, hath cut the thread of life between Britain and America.

Conquest, and not reconciliation is the plan of Britain. But admitting even the last hope of the Tories to happen, which is, that our enemies after a long succession of losses, wearied and disabled, should despairingly throw down their arms and propose a re-union ; in that case, what is to be done ? Are defeated and disappointed tyrants to be considered like mistaken and converted friends ? Or would it be right, to receive those for Governors, who, had they been conquerors, would have hung us up for traitors ? Certainly not. Reject the offer then, and propose another ; which is, we will make peace with you as with enemies, but we will never re-unite with you as friends. This effected, and ye secure to yourselves the pleasing prospect of an eternal peace. America, remote from all the wrangling world, may live at €ase. Bounded by the ocean, and backed by the wilderness, who hath she to fear, but her GOD ?

Be not deceived. It is not a little that is at stake. Reconciliation will not now go down, even if it were offered. 'Tis a dangerous question ; for the eyes of all men begin to open. There is now no secret in the matter ; there ought to be none. It is a case that concerns every man, and every man ought to lay it to heart. He that is here and he that was born here are alike concerned. It is needless, too, to split the business into a thousand parts, and perplex it with endless and fruitless investigations, in the manner that a writer signed a Common Man hath done. This unparalleled contention of nations is not to be settled like a schoolboy's task of pounds, shillings, pence, and fractions. That writer, though he may mean well, is strangely below the mark : for the first and great question, and that which involves every other in it, and from which every other will flow, is happiness. Can this continent be happy under the government of Great Britain or not ? Secondly, Can she be happy under a government of our own ? To live beneath the authority of those whom we cannot love, is misery, slavery, or what name you please. In that case, there will never be peace. Security will be a thing unknown, because a treacherous friend in power is the most dangerous of enemies. The answer to the second question, Can America be happy under a government of her own, is short and simple, viz. As happy as she please ; she hath a blank sheet to write upon. Put it not off too long.*

Painful as the task of speaking truth must sometimes be, yet I cannot avoid giving the following hint, because much, nay almost every thing depends upon it ; and that is, a thorough knowledge of the persons whom we trust. It is the duty of the public, at this time, to scrutinize closely into the conduct of their Committee Members, Members of Assembly, and Delegates in Congress ; to know what they do, and their motives for so doing. Without doing this, we shall never know who to confide in ; but shall constantly mistake friends for enemies, and enemies for friends, till in the confusion of persons we sacrifice the cause. I am led to this reflexion by the following circumstance. That the Gentleman to whom the unwise and arbitrary instructions to the Delegates of this province owe their being, and who hath bestowed all his power to support them, is said to be the same person who, when the ships now on the stocks were wanting timber, refused to sell it, and thus by preventing our strength to cry out of our insufficiency. — But his hour of fame is past — he is hastening to his political exit.

The Forester.

IV.

Whoever will take the trouble of attending to the progress and changeability of times and things, and the conduct of mankind thereon, will find, that extraordinary circumstances do sometimes arise before us, of a species, either so purely natural or so perfectly original, that none but the man of

 Forget not the hapless African. — Author. nature can understand them. When precedents fail to spirit us, we must return to the first principles of things for information ; and think, as if we were the first men that thought. And this is the true reason that, in the present state of affairs, the wise are become foolish, and the foolish wise. I am led to this reflexion by not being able to account for the conduct oi the Quakers on any other : for although they do not seem to perceive it themselves, yet it is amazing to hear with what unanswerable ignorance many of that body, wise in other matters, will discourse on the present one. Did they hold places or commissions under the King, were they Governors of provinces, or had they any interest apparently distinct from us, the mystery would cease ; but as they have not, their folly is best attributed to that superabundance of worldly knowledge which in original matters is too cunning to be wise. Back to the first plain path of nature, friends, and begin anew: for in this business your first footsteps were wrong. You have now travelled to the summit of inconsistency, and that with such accelerated rapidity as to acquire autumnal ripeness by the first of May. Now your resting time comes on. You have done your utmost and must abide the consequences. Yet who can reflect on such conduct without feeling concern ! Who can look, unaffected, on a body of thoughtful men, undoing in one rash hour the labour of seventy years : Or what can be said in their excuse, more, than that they have arrived at their second childhood, the infancy of threescore and ten.

But my chief design, in this letter, is to set forth the inconsistency, partiality, and injustice of the dependant faction,^
'Opponents of American Independence.— ^i^jVc^. and like an honest man, who courts no favor, to shew to them the dangerous ground they stand upon ; in order to do which, I must refer to the business, event, and probable consequences of the late election.

The business of that day was to do what ? Why, to elect four burgesses to assist those already elected, in conducting the miHtary proceedings of this province, against the power of that crown by whose authority they pretend to sit : and those gentlemen when elected, are according to the rules of that House (as the rest have done) to take an oath of allegiance to serve the same King against whom this province, with themselves at the head thereof, are at war: and a necessary qualification required of many voters was, that they likewise should swear allegiance to the same King against whose power the same house of assembly had just before obliged them either to fine or take up arms. Did ever national hypocrisy arise to such a pitch as this ! Under the pretence of moderation we are running into the most damnable sins. It is now the duty of every man from the pulpit and from the press, in his family and in the street to cry out against it. Good God ! Have we no remembrance of duty left to the King of Heaven ! No conscientious awe to restrain this sacrifice of sacred things ? Is this our chartered privilege ? This our boasted constitution, that we can sin and feel it not? The clergy of the English church, of which I profess myself a member, complain of their situation, and wish relief ; in short, every thinking man must feel distress. Yet, to the credit of the people be it spoken, the sin lies not at their door. We can trace the iniquity in this province to the fountain head, and see by what delusions it has imposed on others. The guilt centres in a few, and flows from the same source, that a few years ago avariciously suffered the frontiers of this province to be deluged in blood ; and though the vengeance of Heaven hath slept since, it may awake too soon for their repose.

A motion was sometime ago made to elect a convention to take into consideration the state of the province. A more judicious proposal could not be thought of. Our pres-1776] THE FORESTER'S LETTERS. 1 57

ent condition is alarming. We are worse off then other provinces, and such an enquiry is highly necessary. The House of Assembly in its present form is disqualified for such business, because it is a branch from that power against whom we are contending. Besides, they are in intercourse with the King's representative, and the members, which compose the house have, as members i/iereqf taken an oath to discover to the King of England the very businesswhich, in that inquiry, would unavoidably come before them. Their minds too are warped and prejudiced by the provincial instructions they have arbitrarily and without right issued forth. They are again improper because the enquiry would necessarily extend to them, as a body, to see how far it is proper to trust men with such unlimited power as they have lately assumed. In times like these, we must trace tothe root and origin of things ; It being the only way to become right, when we are got systematically wrong. The motion for a Convention alarmed the crown and proprietary dependants ; ' but, to every man of reflexion, it had a cordial and restorative quality. The case is, first, we are got wrong — Secondly, how shall we get right? Not by a House of Assembly ; because they cannot sit as Judges, in a case, where their own existence under their present form and authority is to be judged of. However, the objectors found out a way, as they thought, to supercede the necessity of a Convention, by promoting a bill for augmenting the number of representatives ; not perceiving at the same time that such an augmentation would encrease the necessity of a Convention ;, because, the more any power is augmented, which derives it's authority from our enemies, the more unsafe and dangerous it becomes to us. Far be it from the writer of this to censure the individuals which compose that House ; his aim being only against the chartered authority under which it acts. However, the bill passed into a law, (which shews, that in Pennsylvania, as well as in England, there is no constitution, but only a temporary form of government.*) While,

' Opponents of American Independence.— £<iiV»;-.
  â€¢ This distinction will be more fully explained in some future letter. — A uthor^ in order to show the inconsistency of the House in its present state, the motion for a convention was postponed, and four conscientious independent gentlemen were proposed as candidates, on the augmentation, who, had they been elected would not have taken the oaths necessary to admit a person as member of that Assembly. And in that case, the house would have had neither one kind of authority or another, while the old part remained sworn to divulge to the King what the new part thought it their duty to declare against him. Thus matters stood on the morning of election.

On our side we had to sustain the loss of those good citizens who are now before the walls of Quebec, and other parts of the continent ; while the tories by never stirring out remain at home to take the advantage of elections ; and this evil prevails more or less from the Congress down to the Committees. A numerous body of Germans of property, zealots in the cause of freedom, were likewise excluded for non-allegiance. Notwithstanding which, the tory non-conformists, that is those who are advertised as enemies to their country, were admitted to vote on the other side. A strange contradiction indeed ! To which were added the testimonizing Quakers, who, after suffering themselves to be duped by the meanest of all passions, religious spleen, endeavour in a vague uncharitable manner to possess the Roman Catholics of the same disease. These parties, with such others as they could influence, were headed by the proprietary dependants to support the British and Proprietary power against the public. They had pompously given out that nine tenths of the people were on their side. A vast majority truly ! But it so happened that, notwithstanding the disadvantages we laid under of having many of our votes rejected, others disqualified for non-allegiance, with the great loss sustained by absentees, the manoeuvre of shutting up the doors between seven and eight o'clock, and circulating the report of adjourning, and finishing the next morning, by which several were deceived, — it so happened, I say, that on casting up the tickets, the first in numbers on the dependant side, and the first on the independant side, viz. Clymer and Allen, were a tye : 923 each.*

To the description which I have already given of those who are against us, I may add, that they have neither associated nor assisted, or but very few of them ; that they are a collection of different bodies blended by accident, having no natural relation to each other ; that they have agreed rather out of spite than right ; and that, as they met by chance, they will dissolve away again for the want of a cement.

On our side, our object was single, our cause was one ; wherefore, we cannot separate, neither will we separate. We have stood the experiment of the election, for the sake of knowing the men who were against us. Alas, what are they ? One half of them ought to be now asking public pardon for their former offences ; and the other half may think themselves well off that they are let alone. When the enemy enters the country, can they defend themselves? Or will they defend themselves ? And if not, are they so foolish as to think that, in times like these, when it is our duty to search the corrupted wound to the bottom, that we, with ten times their strength and number (if the question were put to the people at large) will submit to be governed by cowards and tories ?

He that is wise will reflect, that the safest asylum, especially in times of general convulsion when no settled form of government prevails, is, the love of the people. All property is safe under their protection. Even in countries where the lowest and most licentious of them have risen into outrage they have never departed from the path of natural honor. Volunteers unto death in defence of the person or fortune of those who had served or defended them, division of property never entered the mind of the populace. It is incompatible with that spirit which impels them into action. An avaricious mob was never heard of ; nay, even a miser pausing in the midst of them,' and catching their spirit, would from that instant cease to be covetous. Mr. Samuel Howell, though in their ticket, was never considered by us a proprietary dependant. — Author.

I shall conclude this letter with remarking, that the English fleet and army have of late gone upon a different plan of operation to what they first set out with ; for instead of going against those Colonies where independence prevails most, they go against those only where they suppose it prevails least. They have quitted Massachusetts-Bay and gone to North-Carolina, supposing they had many friends there. Why are they expected at New- York ? But because they imagine the inhabitants are not generally independents, (yet that province hath a large share of virtue, notwithstanding the odium which its House of Assembly brought upon it.) From which I argue that the electing the King's Attorney for a Burgess of this city, is a fair invitation for them to come here ; and in that case, will those who have invited them turn out to repulse them ? I suppose not, for in their 923 votes there will not be found more than sixty armed men, perhaps not so many. Wherefore, should such an event happen, which probably will, I here give my first vote to levy the expence attending the expedition against them, on the estates of those who have invited them..

The Forester.

Xvi Ii

Between the Ghost of General MONTGOMERY just arrived fom the Elysian Fields ; and an American DELEGATE, in a wood near Philadelphia.

Delegate. Welcome to this retreat, my good friend. If I mistake not, I now see the ghost of the brave General Montgomery.

General Montgomery. I am glad to see you. I still love liberty and America, and the contemplation of the future greatness of this Continent now forms a large share of my present happiness. I am here upon an important errand, to warn you against listening to terms of accommodation from the court of Britain.

Del. I shall be happy in receiving instruction from you in the present trying exigency of our public affairs. But suppose the terms you speak of should be just and honorable?

Gen. Mont. How can you expect these, after the King has proclaimed you rebels from the throne, and after both houses of parliament have resolved to support him in carrying on a war against you ? No, I see no offers from Great Britain but of Pardon. The very word is an insult upon our cause. To whom is pardon offered ? — to virtuous freemen. For what ? — for flying to arms in defence of the rights of humanity : And from whom do these offers come ? — From a ROYAL Criminal. You have furnished me with a
VOL. I. — II i6i new reason for triumphing in my death, for I had rather have it said that I died by his vengeance, than lived by his mercy.

Del. But you think nothing of the destructive consequences of war. How many cities must be reduced to ashes ! how many families must be ruined ! and how many widows and orphans must be made, should the present war be continued any longer with Great Britain.

Gen. Mont. I think of nothing but the destructive consequences of slavery. The calamities of war are transitory and confined in their effects. But the calamities of slavery are extensive and lasting in their operation. I love mankind as well as you, and I could never restrain a tear when my love of justice has obliged me to shed the blood of a fellow creature. It is my humanity that makes me urge you against a reconciliation with Great Britain, for if this takes place, nothing can prevent the American Colonies from being the seat of war as often as the King of Great Britain renews his quarrels with any of the Colonies, or with any of the belligerent powers of Europe.

Del. I tremble at the doctrine you have advanced. I see you are for the independence of the Colonies on Great Britain.

Gen. Mont. I am for permanent liberty, peace, and security to the American Colonies.

Del. These can only be maintained by placing the Colonies in the situation they were in the year 1763.

Gen. Mont. And is no satisfaction to be made to the Colonies for the blood and treasure they have expended in resisting the arms of Great Britain ? Who can soften the prejudices of the King — the parliament — and the nation, each of whom will be averse to maintain a peace with you in proportion to the advantages you have gained over them ? Who shall make restitution to the widows — the mothers — and the children of the men who have been slain by their arms? Can no hand wield the sceptre of government in America except that which has been stained with the blood of your countrymen ? For my part if I thought this Conti- nent would ever acknowledge the sovereignty of the Crown of Britain again, I should forever lament the day in which I offered up my life for its salvation.

Del. You should distinguish between the King and his ministers.

Gen. Mont. I live in a world where all political superstition is done away. The King is the author of all the measures carried on against America. The influence of bad ministers is no better apology for these measures, than the influences of bad company is for a murderer, who expiates his crimes under a gallows. You all complain of the corruption of the parliament, and of the venality of the nation, and yet you forget that the Crown is the source of them both. You shun the streams, and yet you are willing to sit down at the very fountain of corruption and venality.

Del. Our distance and charters will protect us from the influence of the crown.

Gen. Mont. Your distance will only render your danger more imminent, and your ruin more irretrievable. Charters are no restraints against the lust of power. The only reason why you have escaped so long is, because the treasure of the nation has been employed for these fifty years in buying up the virtue of Britain and Ireland. Hereafter the reduction of the representatives of the people of America will be the only aim of administration should you continue to be connected with them.

Del. But I foresee many evils from the independence of the Colonies. Our trade will be ruined from the want of a navy to protect it. Each Colony will put in its claim for superiority, and we shall have domestic wars without end.

Gen. Mont. As I now know that Divine Providence intends this country to be the asylum of persecuted virtue from every quarter of the globe, so I think your trade will be the vehicle that will convey it to you. Heaven has furnished you with greater resources for a navy than any nation in the world. Nothing but an ignorance of your strength could have led you to sacrifice your trade for the protection of a foreign navy. A freedom from the restraints of the acts of navigation I foresee will produce such immense additions to the wealth of this country that posterity will wonder that ever you thought your present trade worth its protection. As to the supposed contentions between sister colonies, they have no foundation in truth. But supposing they have, will delaying the independance of the Colonies 50 years prevent them ? No — the weakness of the Colonies, which at first produced their union, will always preserve it, 'till it shall be their interest to be separated. Had the Colony of Massachuset's-bay been possessed of the military resources which it would probably have had 50 years hence, would she have held out the signal of distress to her sister colonies, upon the news of the Boston port-bill ! No — she would have withstood all the power of Britain alone, and afterwards the neutral colonies might have shared the fate of the colony of Canada. Moreover, had the connection with Great-Britain been continued 50 years longer, the progress of British laws, customs and manners (now totally corrupted) would have been such that the Colonies would have been prepared to welcome slavery. But had it been otherwise, they must have asserted their independance with arms. This is nearly done already. It will be cruel to bequeath another contest to your posterity.

Del. But I dread all innovations in governments. They are very dangerous things.

Gen. Mont. The revolution, which gave a temporary stability to the liberties of Britain, was an innovation in government, and yet no ill consequences have arisen from it. Innovations are dangerous only as they shake the prejudices of a people; but there are now, I believe, but few prejudices to be found in this country, in favor of the old connection with Great-Britain. I except those men only who are under the influence of their passions and offices.

Del. But is it not most natural for us to wish for a connection with a people who speak the same language with us, and possess the same laws, religion, and forms of government with ourselves.

Gen. Mont. The immortal Montesquieu says, that nations should form alliances wi^h those nations only which are as unlike to themselves as possible in religion, laws and manners, if they mean to preserve their own constitutions. Your dependance upon the crown is no advantage, but rather an injury to the people of Britain, as it increases the power and influence of the King. The people are benefited only by your trade, and this they may have after you are independant of the crown. Should you be disposed to forgive the King and the nation for attempting to enslave you, they will never forgive you for having bafHed them in the attempt.

Del. But we have many friends in both Houses of Parliament.

Gen. Mont. You mean the ministry have many enemies in Parliament who connect the cause of America with their clamours at the door of administration. Lord Chatham's conciliatory bill would have ruined you more effectually than Lord North's motion. The Marquis of Rockingham was the author of the declaratory bill.' Mr. Wilkes has added infamy to the weakness of your cause, and the Duke of Grafton and Lord Lyttleton have rendered the minority junto, if possible, more contemptible than ever.

Del. But if we become independant we shall become a commonwealth.

Gen. Mont. I maintain that it is your interest to be independant of Great Britain, but I do not recommend any new form of government to you. I should think it strange that a people who have virtue enough to defend themselves against the most powerful nation in the world should want wisdom to contrive a perfect and free form of government. You have been kept in subjection to the crown of Britain by a miracle. Your liberties have hitherto been suspended by a
1 66 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1776

thread. Your connection with- Great-Britain is unnatural and unnecessary. All the wheels of a government should move within itself. I would only beg leave to observe to you, that monarchy and aristocracy have in all ages been the vehicles of slavery.

Del. Our governments will want force and authority if we become independant of Great-Britain.

Gen. Mont. I beg leave to contradict that assertion. No royal edicts or acts of assembly have ever been more faithfully or universally obeyed than the resolves of the Congress. I admire the virtue of the colonies, and did not some of them still hang upon the haggard breasts of Great-Britain, I should think the time now come in which they had virtue enough to be happy under any form of government. Remember that it is in a commonwealth only that you can expect to find every man a patriot or a hero. Aristides, Epaminondas, Pericles, Scipio, Camillus, and a thousand other illustrious Grecian and Roman heroes, would never have astonished the world with their names, had they lived under royal governments.

Del. Will not a declaration of independance lessen the number of our friends, and increase the rage of our enemies in Britain?

Gen. Mont. Your friends (as you call them) are too few — too divided — and too interested to help you. And as for your enemies, they have done their worst. They have called upon Russians — Hanoverians — Hessians — Canadians — Savages and Negroes to assist them in burning your towns — desolating your country — and in butchering your wives and children. You have nothing further to fear from them. Go, then, and awaken the Congress to a sense of their importance ; you have no time to lose. France waits for nothing but a declaration of your independance to revenge the injuries they sustained from Britain in the last war. But I forbear to reason any further with you. The decree is finally gone forth. Britain and America are now distinct empires. Your country teems with patriots — heroes — and legislators, who are impatient to burst forth into light and importance. Here- after your achievements shall no more swell the page of British history. God did not excite the attention of all Europe — of the whole world — nay of angels themselves to the present controversy for nothing. The inhabitants of Heaven long to see the ark finished, in which all the liberty and true religion of the world are to be deposited. The day in which the Colonies declare their independance will be a jubilee to Hampden — Sidney — Russell — Warren — Gardiner — Macpherson — Cheeseman, and all the other heroes who have offered themselves as sacrifices upon the altar of liberty. It was no small mortification to me when I fell upon the Plains of Abraham, to reflect that I did not expire like the brave General Wolfe, in the arms of victory. But I now no longer envy him his glory. I would rather die in attempting to obtain permanent freedom for a handful of people, than survive a conquest which would serve only to extend the empire of despotism. A band of heroes now beckon to me. I can only add that America is the theatre where human nature will soon receive its greatest military, civil, and literary honours.

XIX. The American Crisis.

editor's preface.

Thomas Paine, in his Will, speaks of this work as The American Crisis, remembering perhaps that a number of political pamphlets had appeared in London, 1 775-1 776, under general title of " The Crisis." By the blunder of an early English publisher of Paine's writings, one essay in the London " Crisis " was attributed to Paine, and the error has continued to cause confusion. This publisher was D. I. Eaton, who printed as the first number of Paine's " Crisis " an essay taken from the London publication. But his prefatory note says : " Since the printing of this book, the publisher is informed that No. i, or first Crisis in this publication, is not one of the thirteen which Paine wrote, but a letter previous to them." Unfortunately this correction is sufficiently equivocal to leave on some minds the notion that Paine did write the letter in question, albeit not as a number of his " Crisis " ; especially as Eaton's editor unwarrantably appended the signature " C. S.," suggesting " Common Sense." There are, however, no such letters in the London essay, which is signed " Casca." It was published August 9, 1775, in the form of a letter to General Gage, in answer to his Proclamation concerning the affair ^t Lexington. It was certainly not written by Paine. It apologizes for the Americans for having, on April 19, at Lexington, made " an attack upon the King's troops from behind walls and lurking holes." The writer asks : " Have not the Americans been driven to this frenzy ? Is it not common for an enemy to take every advantage ? " Paine, who was in America when the affair occurred at Lexington, would have promptly de-168 nounced Gage's story as a falsehood, but the facts known to every one in America were as yet not before the London writer. The English " Crisis " bears evidence throughout of having been written in London. It derived nothing from Paine, and he derived nothing from it, unless its title, and this is too obvious for its origin to require discussion. I have no doubt, however, that the title was suggested by the English publication, because Paine has followed its scheme in introducing a " Crisis Extraordinary." His work consists of thirteen numbers, and, in addition to these, a " Crisis Extraordinary" and a "Supernumerary Crisis." In some modern collections all of these have been serially numbered, and a brief newspaper article added, making sixteen numbers. But Paine, in his Will, speaks of the number as thirteen, wishing perhaps, in his characteristic way, to adhere to the number of the American Colonies, as he did in the thirteen ribs of his iron bridge. His enumeration is therefore followed in the present volume, and the numbers printed successively, although other writings intervened.

The first " Crisis " was printed in the Pennsylvania Journal, December 19, 1776, and opens with the famous sentence, " 'I'hfese are the times tWt try men's souls " ; the last " Crisis " appeared April 19, 1783, (eighth anniversary of the first gun of the war, at Lexington,) and opens with the words, " The times that tried men's souls are over." The great effect produced by Paine's successive publications has been attested by Washington and Franklin, by every leader of the American Revolution, by resolutions of Congress, and by every contemporary historian of the events amid which they were written. The first " Crisis " is of especial historical interest. It was written during the retreat of Washington across the Delaware, and by order of the Commander was read to groups of his dispirited and suffering soldiers. Its opening sentence was adopted as the watchword of the movement on Trenton, a few days after its publication, and is believed to have inspired much of the courage which won that victory, which, though not imposing in extent, was of great moral effect on Washington's little army.

THE CRISIS.
