The Writings of Thomas Paine, Volume II

ITH MISCELLANE

on, and the world. From a small spark, kindled in America, a flame has arisen not to be extinguished. Without consuming, like the Ultima Ratio Regum, it winds its progress from nation to nation, and conquers by a silent operation. Man finds himself changed, he scarcely

erected, I shall proceed in this, to the ways and means of rendering them into practice. But in order to introduce this part of the subject

ary language has classed the condition of man under the two descriptions of civilised and uncivilised life. To the one it has ascribed felicity and affluence; to the other hardship and want. But, however our imagination may be impressed by painting and comparison, it is neverthele

re the two, that if the latter were to sink, as it were, by a sudden opening of the earth, and totally disappear, the former would not be deranged. It would still proceed, because it is the common interest of the nation that it should, and all the means are in practice. Revolutions, then, have for their object a change in the moral condition of governments, and with this change the burthen of public taxes will lessen, and civilisation will be left to the enjoyment of that abundance, of which it is now deprived. In contemplating the whole of this subject, I extend my views into the department of commerce. In all my publications, where the matter would admit, I have been an advocate for commerce, because I am a friend to its effects. It is a pacific system, operating to cordialise mankind, by rendering nations, as well as individuals, useful to each other. As to the mere theoretical reformation, I have never preached it up. The most effectual process is that of improving the condition of man by means of his interest; and it is on this ground that I take my stand. If commerce were permitted to act to the universal extent it is capable, it would extirpate the system of war, and produce a revolution in the uncivilised state of governments. The invention of commerce has arisen since those governments began, and is the greatest approach towards universal civilisation that has yet been made by any means not immediately flowing from moral principles. Whatever has a tendency to promote the civil intercourse of nations by an exchange of benefits, is a subject as worthy of philosophy as of politics. Commerce is no other than the traffic of two individuals, multiplied on a scale of numbers; and by the same rule that nature intended for the intercourse of two, she intended that of all. For this purpose she has distributed the materials of manufactures and commerce, in various and distant parts of a nation and of the world; and as they cannot be procured by war so cheaply or so commodiously as by commerce, she has rendered the latter the means of extirpating the former. As the two are nearly the opposite of each other, consequently, the uncivilised state of the European governments is injurious to commerce. Every kind of destruction or embarrassment serves to lessen the quantity, and it matters but little in what part of the commercial world the reduction begins. Like blood, it cannot be taken from any of the parts, without being taken from the whole mass in circulation, and all partake of the loss. When the ability in any nation to buy is destroyed, it equally involves the seller. Could the government of England destroy the commerce of all other nations, she would most effectually ruin her own. It is possible that a nation may be the carrier for the world, but she cannot be the merchant. She cannot be the seller and buyer of her own merchandise. The ability to buy must reside out of herself; and, therefore, the prosperity of

uggling trade does not appear on the custom

e examine the natural operation of commerce, the idea is fallacious; and if true, would soon be injuri

tly, they do not get rich of each other; and it is the same with respect to the nations in which they reside. The case must be, tha

t this is not gained out of the foreign nation or the foreign merchant, for he also does the same by the articles he receives, and neither has the advantage upon the other. The original value of the two

hey resided in different nations, and make their balances in the same manner: yet London does not get rich out of Newcastle, any more than Newcas

the part the most beneficial; because the whole of the advantages, an both sides, rests

on it is a loss. The expense of maintaining dominion more than absorbs the profits of any trade. It does not increase the general quantity in the world, but operates to

arily breaks out by regular or irregular means, that defeat the attempt: and to succeed would be still worse. France, since the Revolution, has b

subtracted from the profits of commerce, it will appear, that what is called the balance of tr

s no other protection than the reciprocal interest which every nation feels in supporting it-it is common stock-it exists by a balance of advantage

eformation, it is proper to inquire into the defects of its government. It is only by each nation reforming its own, that t

e by the ocean, and the other by the immensity of its internal strength, could defy the malignancy of foreign despotism. But it is wit

the common interest of man. This combination draws a line that runs throughout Europe, and presents a cause so entirely new as to exclude all calculations from former circumstances. While despotism warred with despo

, or Whig or Tory, high or low shall prevail; but whether man shall inherit his rights, and universal civilisation take place? Whether the fruits of his labo

m, by the exterior appearance of such countries, that all was happiness; but there lies hidden from the eye of common observation, a mass of wretchedness, that has scarcel

s possible, profligacy from the one and despair from the other. Instead of this, the resources of a country are lavished upon kings, upon courts, upon hi

world without a prospect, they are the exposed sacrifice of vice and legal barbarity. The millions that are superfluously wasted upon governments are more than sufficient to

ubject I seek no recompense-I fear no consequence. Fortified with that proud int

ticeship to life. I know the value of moral instru

n habits of life, being of the Quaker profession, must begin to look upon me as lost. But the impression, much as it effected at the time, began to wear away, and I entered afterwards in the King of Prussia Privateer, Captain Mendez, and went with her to sea. Yet, from such a beginning, and with all the inconvenience of early life against me, I am proud to say, that with a pe

mish of party, the inveteracy of interested or mistaken opponents, I answer n

charters and

hat every inhabitant, who is not a member of a corporation, shall not exercise the right of voting," such charters would, in the face, be charters not of rights, but of exclusion. The effect is the same under the form they now stand; and the only persons on whom they operate are the persons whom they exclude. Those whose rights are guaranteed, by

tions, cannot be said to be an Englishman in the full sense of the word. He is not free of the nation, in the same manner that a Frenchman is free of France, and an American of America. His rights are circumscribed to the town, and, in some cases, to the parish of his birth; and all other parts, tho

s of wealth (for without it land itself has no value), everything which operates to prevent it must lessen the value of property; and as corporations have not only this tendency, but directly this effect, they cannot but be injurious. If any policy we

field show, by contrast, the injuries which those Gothic institutions are to property and commerce. A few examples may be found, such as that of London, whose natural and commercial advantage

s of the consequence. By lessening the value of property, the quantity of national commerce is curtailed. Every man is a customer in proportion

tion of the vices of its origin. A man of moral honour and good political principles cannot submit to the mean drudgery and disgraceful arts, by which such elections are carried. To be a successful candidate, he must be d

ntation of the people can be desired or devised." "I defy," continues he, "the enemies of our constitution to show the contrary."-This declaration from a man who has been in constant opposition to all the measures of parliament the who

that the defects lie, and therefore I pro

t. No better reason can be given, why a house of legislation should be composed entirely of men whose occupation consists in letting landed property, than why it should be composed of those

and separate representation from the general interest of a nation? The only use to be made of this power (and which it always has mad

nsequence) of constructing governments on combinations, is ev

ularly affects this "pillar," has diminished. In 1778 the amount of the land-tax was L1,950,000, which is half-a-million less

The consequence of which has been a constant increase in the number and wretchedness of the poor, and in the amount of the poor-rates. Yet here again the burthen does not fall in equal proportions on the aristocracy with the rest of the community. Their residences, whether in to

ty to brew, and who must purchase it in small quantities. But what will mankind think of the justice of taxation, when they know that this tax alone, from which the aristocracy are from circumstances exempt, is nearly equal to the whole of the land-tax, being in the year 1788, and it is not less now, L1,66

to parties may be, in this they are united. Whether a combination acts to raise the price of any article for sale, or rate of wages; or whether it acts to throw taxes from

ose that its acquiescence in the measures to be proposed were not understood before hand. Besides which, it has obtained so much influence by borough-traffic, and so many of its relati

est that needs no partial protection. It enjoys the general protection of the world. Every individual, high or low, is interested in the fruits of the earth; men, women, and children, of all ages and degrees, will turn out to assist the farmer, rather than a harvest should not be got in;

this, are supported but in parts. Their prosperity or their decay has not the same universal influence. When the valleys laugh and sing, i

e, and the same ploughing, sowing, and reaping would go on. The aristocracy are not the farmers who work the land, and raise the produce, but are the mere consumers of t

mpleting the figure, he has now added the pillar; but still the base is wanting; and whenever a nation cho

then of taxation, arises from admitting it in one case, and not in all. Had there been a house of farmers, there had been no game laws; or a house of merchants and manufacturers, the taxes had nei

being thrown on articles of consumption, than they are eased

ve taxable articles, in proportion to th

y taxes on consumption, is in much greater proportion than the land-tax has been favoured. In Birmingham, the poor-rates are

schiefs flowing from the wretc

ts members, who are not in some mode or other participators, or disposers of the public money. One turns a candle-holder, or a lord in waiting; another a lord of the bed-chamber, a groom of the stole, or any insignificant nominal o

o be made of the charge of aristocracy to a nation, it will be found nearly equal to that of supporting the poor. The Duke of Richmond alone (and there are cases similar to his) takes away as

because I thought them improper, but have declined rewards I might with reputation have accepted, it is no wonder that meanness and imposition appear disgus

ing law of our landed inheritance; and which, without question, has a tendency, and I thi

al injustice. Were we not accustomed to the daily practice, and did we only hear of it as the law of some distant pa

e weight among dependent tenants, but it gives none on a scale of national, and much less of universal character. Speaking for myself, my parents were not able to give me a shilling, beyond w

two houses of parliament, I proceed to what is cal

foreigner, matters not. Every ministry acts upon the same idea that Mr. Burke writes, namely, that the people must be hood-winked, and held in superstitious ignorance by some bugbear

s not from anything that can happen to the man, but from what

the executive power, and the custom is

which is now called the judicial, is what was called the executive and, consequently, one or other of the terms is redundant, and one of the offices useless. When we speak of the crown now, it means nothing; it signifies neit

o the general happiness of mankind, than they are at present, it will n

y have been of late, it was not always so. Either, therefore, the people of former times were more wat

t is called the crown. Taking this portion of time in seven separate periods of one h

vied by William

n the year

years from the con

years from the con

years from the con

years from the con

iz., from four hundred thousand pounds to one hundred thousand. The people of England of the present day, have a traditionary and historical idea of the bravery of their ancestors; but whatever their virtues or their vices might have been, the

the remaining th

mount of

the conquest

the conquest

time (1791

oned the former English, into the excess of taxation that now exists; and when it is considered that the pay of the army, the navy, and of all the revenue officers, is the same now as it was about a hundred years ago

le line stands for millions. To what excess taxation might have extended had not the French revolution contributed to break up the system, and put an end to pretences, is impossible to say. Viewed, as that revolution ought to be, as the fortunate means o

hall then add such matter and propositions, respecting the three countries of England, France, and America, as the present prospe

ave been lessened to a fourth part of what they had formerly been. Though the present circumstances do not admit of th

he year ending at Michael

ax L 1

ms 3,

ng old and new

s 1,2

taxes and inci

--

,57

n, said to be applied to the reduction of the debt, it is so much like paying with one hand and taking out with the other, as not to merit much notice. It happened, fortunately for France, that she possessed national domains for paying off her debt, and thereby lessening her taxes; but as this is not the case with England, her reduction of taxes can only take place by reducing the current expenses, which may now be done to the amount of four or five millions annually, as will hereafter appear. When this is accomplished it will more than counter-balance the enormous charge of the American war; and the saving will be from the same source from whence the evil arose. As to the national debt, however heavy the interes

, by lessening taxation, will be unwelcome to those who feed upon the spoil. Whilst the clamour of French intrigue, arbitrary power, popery, and wooden shoes could be kept up, the nation was e

d. The same fleets and armies will no longer be necessary to either, and the reduction can be made ship for ship on each side. But to accomplish these objects the governments must necessarily be fitted to

sion, and also to the Revolution of 1688.*32 The first instance that presents itself, antecedent to those dates, is in the very wasteful and profligate times of Charles the Second; at which time England and France acted as a

n as follows (see Sir John Sinc

L 3

212

nce 4

List 4

-

014

we go back to the time of Elizabeth the amount of all the taxes was but half a million, y

eciprocal interest of the two nations, the abolition of the court intrigue on both sides, and the progress of k

L 5

500

f Governme

-

500

land (I mean that administered by means of quarter sessions, juries and assize, and which, in fact, is nearly the whole, an

de, or shame enough to blush at being thus imposed upon, and when he feels his proper character he will. Upon all subjects of this nature, there is often passing in the mind, a train of ideas he has not yet accustomed himself to encourage and communicate. Restrained by something that puts on the character

is impossible that any service he can perform, can merit from a nation more than ten thousand pounds a year; and as no man should be paid beyond his services, so every man of a proper heart will not accept more. Public money ought to be touched with the most

d. It has cost England almost seventy millions sterling, to maintain a family imported from abroad, of very inferior capacity to thousands in the nation; and scarcely a year has passed that has not produced some new mercenary application. Even the physicians' bills have been

o defray all the expenses of the government, exclusive of navies and armies, t

poses to which legislation can apply, and preferable to a larger number. They may be divided int

able of all stations, the allowance made to it is merely to defray the expens

t the rate of five

every representa

the expense, if

months, each year

rtments cannot re

er, with the s

ten thousand po

ive thousand po

two thousand po

one thousand p

at five hundred p

o, at two hundred

o, at one hundred

o, at seventy-five

-

97

ur per cent. from all offices, and m

of the monies they collect, and th

, be found impracticable to find business sufficient to justify even this expense. As to the manner in which office business is now performed, the Chiefs, in several offices, suc

ablishment in the profligate and prodigal times of Charles the Second (notwithstanding, as has been already observed, the pay and salaries of the army, navy, and revenue officers, con

taxes twist themselves together, must be sensible

already charged with the duty, and the reduc

ty does not admit of being divided down so as fully to relieve the consumer, who purchases by the pint, or the pound. The last duty laid on strong beer and ale w

ry to look for such others as are free from this embarrassment and where

e whole of the poor-rates is not positively known, but can be procured. Sir John Sinclair, in his History of the Revenue has stated it at L2,100,587. A considerable part of

oportion of seventy thousand to fourteen thousand pounds poor-rates, the national amount of poor-rates, taking the population of England as seven millions, would be but one million four hundred thousand pounds.

ate of things a labouring man, with a wife or two or three children, does not pay less than between seven and eight pounds a year in taxes. He is not sensible of this, because it is disguised to him in the articles which he buys, and he

ount of the present poor-rates, viz., four millions annually out of the surplus taxes. By this measure, the poor would be benefited two millions, and the house-keepers two

hich is the most effectual mode of dist

es are provided for, the remedy will so far reach to the full extent of the case, that what remains will be incidental, and, in a great mea

need support, the number will be one million four hundred thousand. Of this number, one hundred and forty t

five souls to each family, amount to two hundred and fifty-two thousand fa

families; some having two, and others three; some one, and others four: some none, and others five; but it rarely happens t

(under fourteen years

f children w

s, were they all liv

parents are relieved of consequence, because it is from th

supposed to need support on account of young families, I

rteen years of age; enjoining the parents of such children to send them to school, to learn reading, writing, and common arithmetic; the ministers of

d and thirty t

s per annum e

fter become less, because their abilities, by the aid of education, will be greater. Many a youth, with good natural genius, who is apprenticed to a mechanical trade, such

d to the cas

he approach of age, beginning at fifty.

e on the decline. He cannot bear the same quantity of fatigue as at an earlier period. He begins to earn less, and is less capable of enduring wind and weat

ecessity. It is painful to see old age working itself to dea

he average is about one in sixteen or seventeen. If it be said that aged persons do not come much into the streets, so neither do infants; and a great proportion of grown children are in schools and in

n, common labourers, journeymen of every trade and their wives, sailors,

who having lived decently in the former part of life, begin, as

utions of that wheel which no man can stop nor regulate, a numbe

o be better supported, than they can support themselves, and that not as a matter of grace and favour, but of right, at one-third of the whole number, which is one hundred and forty thousand, as stated

nder sixty, and the other half to be sixty years and upwards. Having thus ascertained the probable proport

the age of sixty, the sum of six pounds per annum out of the surplus taxes, and te

persons, at L6 pe

persons, at L10

-

120

fifty-four pounds ten shillings. Converting, therefore, his (or her) individual tax in a tontine, the money he shall receive after fifty years is but little more than the legal interest of the net money he has paid; the rest is made up from those whose circumstances do not require them to draw such support, and the capital in both cases defrays the expenses of government. It is on this ground that I have extended the probable claims to one-third of the number of ag

emitted to the

d fifty-two thous

ed and thirty thousa

forty thousand ag

-

640

xty thousand pounds out of the four million

e education to their children; and such children, under such a case, would be in a worse condition than if their parents were actually poor. A nation under a w

condition, which is a greater number than ought to be supp

se of schooling for six years each, which will give them six months sc

his will be annu

ain one hundred and

st principled government may devise, there will be a number of smaller cas

very woman who should make the demand, and none will make it whose circumst

ousand births yearly in Englan

t would b

couple who should claim in like manner.

f persons, who, travelling for work, may die at a distance from their friends.

with a plan adapted to the particular co

e country, even in large towns, people have a knowledge of each other, and distress never rises to that extreme height it sometimes does in a metropolis. There is no such thing in the

lihood, and as it often happens of dissolute parents, are in a still worse condition; and servants long out of place are not much better off. In short, a world of little cases is continually arising, whi

here yet remain twenty thousand pounds out of the four millions of surplus taxes, which with another fund hereafter to be men

east six thousand persons, and to have in each of these places as many kinds of employment as c

receive so many meals of wholesome food, and a warm lodging, at least as good as a barrack. That a certain portion of what each person's work shall be worth shall be

number, at all times, would be but six thousand. By establishing an asylum of this kind, such persons to whom tempora

serving a portion of their earnings for themselves, the sum of forty thousand pounds

s, so iniquitously and wantonly applied to the support of the Duke of Richmond. It is horrid that any man, more especially at the price coals now are, should live on

enumerating the several particular

ation is a

on of two mill

two hundred and fifty

r one million and thi

ision for one hundred and

enty shillings each for

nty shillings each for t

r the funeral expenses of persons travelling for

es, for the casual poor in the c

sh. Widows will have a maintenance for their children, and not be carted away, on the death of their husbands, like culprits and criminals; and children will no longer be considered as increasing the distresses of their parents. The haunts of the wretched will be known, because it will be to their advantage; and the number of petty crimes, the offspring of distress and poverty, will be lessened. The poo

, but effects the relief by changing the application of them; and the money necessary for the purpose ca

concluded this subject

, there will remain (after the sum of one million and an half be taken for the new current expenses and four

devoted themselves to those services, and have thereby unfitted themselves for other lines of life, are not to be suffere

on is already made in the former part of this plan of one million, which is almost half a million

l deductions, to be paid in the same manner as the Chelsea College pensioners are paid, and for them to return to their trades and their friends;

fteen thousand d

llings per w

to the remainin

he pay to the

be the same amou

men 1

L25

estimations, ad

nded navy as

increase of

-

l L5

nd of life annuities, except the increased pay of twenty-nine thousand pounds. As it falls in, part of the taxes may be taken off; and as, for instance, when thirty thousand pounds fall in, the duty on hops

ot confounded with trade; and, when taken off, the relief will be instantly felt. This tax f

d windows

of 1766 3

be 1779 130

---

16,199

lways proper to keep a sum in reserve, for incidental matters, it may be best not to extend reductio

t once: 1, that of removing the burthen to where it can best be borne; 2, restoring justice among families by a distribution of property; 3, extirpating the overgrown influence ar

thing is called a luxury at one time, and something else at another; but the real luxury does n

f taxation. It is, therefore, right to take those kind tax-making gentlemen up on their own word, and argue on the principle themselves have laid down, that of taxing luxuries. If they or their cham

shall at last arrive at a sum that may not improperly be called a prohibitable luxury. It would be impolitic to set bounds to property acquired by industry, and therefore it is right to place the prohibition beyond the probable acquisitio

and as a substitute for the commutation tax. It will reach the point of prohibition

BL

es of the clear ye

ing the land

0s 3d

00 to L

econd th

third

fourt

fifth

sixth

seven

eight

th " 6s 0d

tenth

elevent

twelf

hirteent

ourteent

fifteen

sixteen

eventeen

ighteent

ineteent

twentie

wenty-fi

enty-seco

wenty-th

and. The following table shows the amount of the tax on every thousand separat

BL

stat

at 3d per pou

" "

" " "

" " "

" "

" "

ce on the second L500; consequently an estate

l am

500 at 0s 3d

6 14 1

at 0 9

1 0 50

al a

6d per pound

0 100

0 150

0 200

0 250

0 300

7 0 350

8 0 400

9 0 450

0 0 500

1 0 550

2 0 600

3 0 650

4 0 700

5 0 750

6 0 800

7 0 850

8 0 900

al a

s 0d per pound

0 0 1000

no profit but by dividing the estate. Yet formidable as this tax appears, it will not, I believe, produce so much as the com

en or eight thousand a year that it begins to be heavy. The object is not so much the produce of the tax as the justice

itself was under, by laying a tax on beer brewed for sale; that is, they compounded with Charles for an exemption from those services for themselves and their heirs, by a tax to be paid by other people. The aristocracy do not purchase beer brewed for sale, but br

than they are) is, as already stated, to extirpate the overgrown influence arising from the unna

t it be sufficient to remedy the evil by putting them in a condition of descending again to the community by the quiet means of apportioning them among all the heirs and heiresses of those families. This will be the more necessary, because hi

he following table; which shows the net produce upon every estate, after subtracting the tax. By this it will appear that after an estate exceeds thirteen or fo

LE

duce of every estat

ree thousand

ousand T

subtracted

0 L2

59

109

184

284

434

634

880

110

0 153

0 193

0 238

2880

housand

ubtracted) (

3430

4030

4680

5380

6130

6930

7780

8680

9630

10,63

llings are dropp

viding such estates will follow as a matter of family interest. An estate of L23,000 a year, divided into five estates of four thousand

d) the younger children from their proper portion of inheritance, the public is loaded with the expense of maintaining them; and the freedom of elections violated by the overbearing influence which this unjust monopoly of family property produces. Nor is this all. It occasions a waste of national property. A considerable part of the land of the country is rendered unproductive, by the great extent of parks and chases which this

ging round it, which in a few ages, or a few generations, are shook off, and console themselves with telling their tale in almshouses, workhouses, and prisons. This is the natural consequence o

st helpless; younger children, and the poor. Of the former I have just spoken; of the latter I shall m

e. Why is that little, and the little freedom they enjoy, to be infringed? But the injustice will appear stronger, if we consider the operation and effect of such laws. When wages are fixed by what is called a law, the legal wag

le family is to be supported, they certainly must feel themselves happily indulged in a limitation on their own part, of not less than twelve thou

l bring the several particulars into one

articles, mentio

of two millio

per head for each child under fourteen years of age; which, with the addition of two hundred a

persons, decayed tradesmen, and others (supposed sevent

oor persons, decayed tradesmen, and others (supp

shillings each for f

shillings each for twe

funeral expenses of persons travelling for wo

r the casual poor in the citi

Enume

the tax on hou

fifteen thousand disbanded soldiers, and a proportio

the remaining soldier

disbanded navy, and the same i

n of the com

the unjust and unnatural law of primogeniture, and t

l be required for circumstances that do not immediately present themselves, and such part

nd nominal and unnecessary places and officers, and not allow even a decent livelihood to those on whom the labour falls. The salary of the inferior officers of the revenue has stood at the petty pittance of

ead to similar expectations from the army and navy; and the event was, that the King, or somebody for him, applied to par

ide, common justice will determine, whether there ought to be an income of twenty or thirty pounds a year to one man, and of ten thousand to another. I speak on this subject with the more freed

g about church and meeting, ye just answer the purpose of every courtier, who lives the while on the spoils of the taxes, and

ffice are deducted; whereas the sum paid into the exchequer is very nearly, if not quite, seventeen millions. The taxes raised in Scotland and Ireland are expended in those countries, and ther

time the minister best knows. But after paying the interest, abolishing the tax on houses and windows, the commutation tax, and the poor-rates; and making all the provisions for the

quantity of taxes collected every year to pay the interest. If this quantity continues the same, the burthen of the national debt is the same to all intents and purposes, be the capital more or less. The only knowledge which the public can have of the reduction of th

which I shall return again, I look back to

as over; and though resentment h

t as a man. It had something in it which shocked, by publicly sporting with decency, if

first mysteries of court intrigue. Everything was in his favour. Resentment against the coalition served as friendship to him, and his ignorance of v

redecessors had been. Instead of profiting by those errors which had accumulated a burthen of taxes unparalleled in the world, he sought, I might almost say, he advertised for enemies, and provoked mean

anness and corruption of courts. His apparent candour encouraged expectations; and the public confidence, stunned, wearied, and confounded by a chaos of parties, revived and attached itself to

es, vices, and extravagance are pursued. It signifies not who is minister. The defect lies in the system. The foundation and

tional debt, that offspring of the Dutch-Anglo re

government, and to understand taxes, and make comparisons between those of America, France, and England, it will be next to impossible to keep it in the same torpid state it has hitherto been. Some reform must, from the necessity of the case, soon begin. It is not whethe

asure for foreign government. By putting the power of making war into the hands of the forei

, and not in the part applied to the interest of the national debt. By remitting the taxes of the poor, they will be totally relieved, and all discontent wil

themselves to consider it as property, subject like all other property, to bear some portion of the taxes. It would give to it both popularity and security, and as a g

as to accomplish all that is necessary

x the interest by some progressive ratio, and to lessen the p

to proceed by a certain ratio to be determined upon, always less than any other tax upon property. Such

ght be taken off the first year. The second year the tax on female servants, or some other of the like amount might also be taken off, and by proceeding in thi

save by the extinction of the poor-rates, and the tax on houses and windows, and the commutation ta

his moment, a crisis in the affairs of Europe that requires it. Preparation now is wisdom. If taxation be once let loose, it will

archy and aristocracy, in all countries, is following that of chivalry, and Mr. Burke is dressing aristocracy, in all countries, is following that

nderstood neither her laws, her language, nor her interest, and whose capacities would scarcely have fitted them for the office of a parish constable. If government

are empty of prisoners, my streets of beggars; the aged are not in want, the taxes are not oppressive; the rational world is my friend,

n was complete in power the moment it appeared. From both those instances it is evident, that the greatest forces that can be brought into the field of revolutions, are reason and common interest. Where these can have the opportunity of acting, opposition dies with fear, or cru

whether by a party or by a government. There ought, therefore, to be in every nation a method of occasionally ascertaining the state of public opinion with respect to government. On this point the old government of France was superior to the present government of England, beca

bject, in all such preliminary proceedings, is to find out what the general sense of a nation is, and to be governed by it. If it prefer a bad or defective government to a reform or choose to pay ten times more taxes than there is any occasion for, it has a right so to do; and so long as the majority do not impose conditions on the minority, different from what they impose upon themselves, though there may be

out any national object, the opportunity now presents itself of amicably closing the scene, and joining their efforts to reform the rest of Europe. By doing this they will not only prevent the further effusion of blood, and increase of taxes, but be in a condition of getting rid of a

isposed to enter into a consideration of such a measure, provided, that the governments with which she might ally, acted as national governments, and not as courts enveloped in intrigue and mystery. That France as a nation, and a national government, would

matters by which such an alliance, together with that of Holland, might rend

confederated, they could propose, with effect, a limitation to, and a general dis

shall be built by any power i

themselves to think, as rational beings ought to think, nothing can appear more ridiculous and absurd, exclusive of all moral reflections, than to be at the expense of building navies, filling them with men, and then hauling them into the ocean, to try which can sink each other

es of America, can propose with effect, to Spain, the independence of South America, and the opening th

friends, than when it employs those powers to increase ruin, desolation, and misery. The horrid scene that is now acting by the English government in t

manufactures, the importation of which is not only an injury to the manufactures of England, but a drain upon its specie. The balance against England by this trade is regularly upwards o

to keep up deceitful expectations which prevent people from looking into the defects and ab

he latter, in Europe. When another nation shall join France, despotism and bad government will scarcely dare to appear. To use a trite expression, the iron is becoming hot all over Europe. The insulted German and the

yage in safety. It would be better that nations should wi continue the pay of their soldiers during their lives, and give them their discharge and restore them to freedom and their friends, and cease recruiting, than retain such multitudes at the same expense, in a condition useless to society and to themselves. As soldiers have hitherto been treated in most coun

e temper becomes incensed and soured; and the redress, obtained by danger, is too often sullied by revenge. But in those which proceed from the latter, the heart, rather animated than agitated, enters serenely upon the subject. Reason and discussion, persuasion and conviction, become the weapons in the contest, and it is only when

to one hundred thousand other poor families-of eight pounds annually to another hundred thousand poor families, and of ten pounds annually to fifty thousand poor and widowed families, are not good things? And, to proceed a step further in this climax, will

s, and of the whole of the house and window-light tax and of the commutation ta

which are now passing and spreading throughout Europe, that England will permit herself to be the last; and where the occasion and the opportunity quietly offer, it is better than to wait for a turbulent necessity. It may be co

re thus confederated, the progress will be rapid, till despotism and corrupt government be totally expelled, at least out of two quarters of the world, Europe

have taken up and investigated, there is only a single paragraph upon

d the present ministry, wish to see contentions about religion kept up, to prevent the nation turning its

and the reality of it is thereby destroyed, I will conclude

ed, or according to what they thought would please; and, perhaps, the least of all, not able to do any of those things, would ramble into the garden, or the field, and gather what it thought the prettiest flower it could find, though, perhaps, it might be but a simple weed. The parent would be more gratified by such a variety, than if the whole of them had acted on a concerted plan, an

miserable? For my own part, I am fully satisfied that what I am now doing, with an endeavour to conciliate mankind, to render their condition happy, to unite nations that have hitherto been

is in this case as with what is called the British constitution. It has been taken for granted to be good, and encomiums have supplied the place of proof. But when

tem, when every nation had its separate and particular deity. Among all the writers of the English church clergy, who have treated on the general subject of

to America. Mr. Burke has thrown it in my way, and I thank him. On a certain occasion, three years ago, I pressed him to propose a national convention, to be fairly elected, for the purpose of taking the state of the nation into consideration; but I found, that however strongly the parliament

age custom is exploded by the new system, and reference is had to national conventions. Discussion and the general wil

an are founded, "a new-fangled doctrine." The question is not whether those principles are new or old, but

t reason at all, to suppose this was the only bud in England which had this appearance. Instead of deciding thus, I should instantly conclude, that the same appearance was beginning, or about to begin, every where; and though the vegetable sleep will continue longer on some trees and plants than on others, and though some of them may not blosso

PE

time intended, I think it not improper, all circumstances

of the present session, Tuesday, January 31, are so much alike as to induce a belief, that either the author had taken the hint from Mr. Pitt, or Mr. Pitt from the

t the same time; and still more so (considering the vast variety and multiplicity of taxes) that they should hit on the same specific taxes. Mr. Pitt has mentioned, in his

reduction proposed in this work, to nearly six millions. I have made my calculations on only sixteen millions and an half of revenue, still asserting that it was "very nearly, if not quite, seventeen millions." Mr. Pitt states it at

who met at the Thatched-House Tavern, August 20, 1791. Among many other particulars stated in that Address, is the following, put as an interrogation to the govern

ddress and Declaration respecting the French Revolution, and the reduction of taxes in disgust, that the Landlord was under the necessity of inf

nt, will be found reduced to a regular system in this work. But as Mr. Pitt's speech contains s

time at which it was to appear. He had composed nearly the whole about a fortnight before the time of Parliament meeting, and had given me a proof of the next sheet. It was then in sufficient forwardness to be out at the time proposed, as two other sheets were ready for striking off. I had before told him, that if he thought he should be straitened for time, I could get

is beginning to print, and before he had seen the whole copy, offered a thousand pounds for the copy-right, together with the future copy-right of the former part of the Rights of Man. I told the person who brought me this offer that I should not accept it, and wished it not to be renewed, giving him as my reason, that though I believed

nd this of consequence would throw the publication back till after the meeting of Parliament, otherways

ch this was done, and that after the offers he had made, are suspicious circumstances. I know what the opinion of booksellers and publishers is upon such a case, but as to my own opinion, I c

d at the same printing-office that I employed; but when the former part of Rights of Man came out, he took his work away in dudgeon; and about a week or ten days before the printer returned my copy, he came to make him an offer of his work again, which was accepted. This would consequently give him admission into the printing-office where the sh

the refusal to print. If all the Gentlemen are innocent, it is very unfortunate for them that su

rt, I will conclude with st

g the oppressed condition of soldiers, wished me to add a note to the work, signifying that the part upon that subject had been in the printer's hands some weeks before that addition of pay was proposed. I declined doing this, lest it should be interpreted into an air of vanity, or an endeavour to excite suspicio

as P

OTES FOR PART

ret

f the judges is, the greater t

ret

ministers who now serve such a king, with but a decent appearance of respect, cordially obey the orders of those whom but the other day, in his name, they had committed to the Bastille?" In the other the taking it is mentio

ret

personally from M. de la Fayette, with whom I li

ret

een in No. 13 of the Revolution de Paris containing t

ret

carry double, that the one mounts and rides two or three miles ahead, and then ties the horse to a gate and walks on. When the sec

ret

was renvoye, dism

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the case is now changing. France and America bid all comers welcome, and initiate them into all the rights of citizenship. Policy and interest, therefore, will, but perhaps too late, dictate in England, what reason and justice could not. Those manufacturers are withdrawing, and arising in other places. There is now erecting in Passey, three miles from Paris, a large cotton manufactory, and several are already erected in America. Soon after the rejecting the Bill for repealing the test-law, one of the richest manufacturers in England said in my hearing, "England, Sir, is not a country for a dissenter to live in,-we must go to France." These are truths, and it is doing justice to both parties to tell them. It is chiefly the dissenters that have carried English manufactures to the height t

ret

French finances again in the English Parliament, i

ret

ke him see it, neither would he believe it. How then he could distinctly see all the parts, when the whole was out of sight, is beyond my comprehension. And with respect to the "departure from the ancient course," besides the natural weakness of the remark, it shows that he is unacquainted with circumstances. The departure was necessary, from the experience had upon it, that the ancient course was a bad one. The States-General of 1614 were called at the commencement of the civil war in the minority of Louis XIII.; but by the class of arranging them by orders, they increase

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inning of time: and that as the relation and condition which man in his individual person stands in towards his Maker cannot be changed by any human laws or human authority, that religious devotion, which is a part of this compact, cannot so much as be made a subject of human laws; and that all laws must conform themselves to this prior existing compact, and not assume to make t

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, the occurrences have been published: but the matters recorded in this narrative, are pri

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parative Strength of Great

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the Finances of France,

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of the Finances of

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olution, there cannot have been less than four hundred millions sterling imported into Europe; and therefore the quantity in England ought at least to have been four times greater than it was at the Revolution, to be on a proportion with Europe. What England is now doing by paper, is what she would have been able to do by solid money, if gold and silver had come into the nation in the proportion it ought, or had not been sent out; and she is endeavouring to restore by pap

me Powers, and is therefore obliged to keep up a large navy; but though the navy is built in England, the naval stores must be purchased from abroad, and that from countries where the greatest part must be paid for in gold and silver. Some fallacious rumours have been set afloat in England to induce a belief in money, and, among others, that of the French refugees bringing great quantities. The idea is ridiculou

would not recover in a century the balance she has lost in money since the commencement of the Hanover succession. She is seventy millions behind France, and she must be in some considerable proportion behind ever

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f English and Dutch, with some Scotch and Irish. In Pennsylvania about one third are English, another Germans, and the remainder Scotch and Irish, with some Swedes. The States to the southward have a greater proportion of English than the middle States, but in all of them there is a mi

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reader is referred to Rights of Man, P

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the whole fifteen millions and a half; which among twenty-four millions of people, is not quite thirteen shillings per head. France has lessened her taxes since the revolution, nearly nine millions sterling annually. Before t

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as not exactly similar to the Court Calendar in England; but it

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associations, in which, tritely speaking, government is neither pillow nor bolster, that these improvements have proceeded. No man thought about government, or who was in, or who was out, when he was planning or executing those things; and all he had to hope, with r

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e effectually influenced into one, and, as a legislature, to have no temper of its own. The min

it is manhood compared with what is called the house of Lords; and so little is this nick-named house regarded, that the people scarcely enquire at any time what it is doing. It appears also to be most under influence, and the furthest removed from the ge

re privileges than that bill gave to others. They are their own jury, and if any one of that house were prosecuted for a libel, he would not suffer, even upon conviction, for the first offense. S

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e represented parts are decreasing in population, and the unrepresented parts are increasing. A gen

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d with another. During this interregnum the people discovered that the corn grew, and the vintage flourished, and the sun and moon continued to rise and set, and everything went on the same as before, and taking courage from these circumstances, they resolved not to keep any more bears; for, said they, "a bear is a very voracious expensive animal, and we were obliged to

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o some corruption in governments. The simile of "fortifications," unfortunately involv

y governments, ancient or modern, there is not a greater than that of quar

ue, not a beggar in London can purchase his wretched pittance of coal, without paying towards the civil list of the Duke of Richmond. Were the whole produce of this imposition but a shilling a year, the iniquitous principle w

ublic, the vice originates in the government; and so general is it become, that whether the parties are in

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test number of vessels cleared out of the port of Philadelphia, before the commencement of the war, was between eight and nine hundred. In the year 1788, the number was upwards

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nature and interest of commerce; and no man has more wantonly tortured it than himself. During a period of peace it has been havocked with the c

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ster of the grammar schoo

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is head. I did not, at my first setting out in public life, nearly seventeen years ago, turn my thoughts to subjects of government from motives of interest, and my conduct from that moment to this proves the fa

urally performed was all the government that was necessary, and that monarchy and aristocracy were frauds and impositions upon mankind. On these principles I published the pamphlet Common Sense. The success it met with was beyond anything since the inventi

I resigned the office, and declined at the same time the pecuniary offers made by the Ministers of France and Spain, M. Gerald and Don Juan Mirralles.] I had by this time so completely gained the ear and confidence of America, and my own independence was become so visible, as to give me a range in political writing beyond, perhaps, what any man ever possessed in any country, and, what is more extra

teen miles distant, and General Washington had taken his headquarters at Rocky Hill, within the neighbourhood of Congress, for the purpose of resigning up his commissi

ll, Sept.

ake of retirement or economy I know not. Be it for either, for both, or whatever it may, if yo

them, command my best exertions with freedom, as they will be rendered cheerfully by one who entertains a live

shing

and Andre happening just after, he changed his mind, under strong apprehensions for my safety, wrote very pressingly to me from Annapolis, in Maryland, to give up the design, which, with some reluctance, I did. Soon after this I accompanied Colonel Lawrens, son of Mr. Lawrens, who was then in the Tower, to France on business from Congress. We landed at L'orient, and while I remained there, he being gone forward, a circumstance occurred that renewed my former design. An English packet from Falmouth to New York, with the Government dispatches on board, was brought into L'orient. That a packet should be taken is no extraordinary thing, but that the dispatches should be taken with it will scarcely be credited, as they are always slung at the cabin wi

ns was so unwilling to return alone, more especially as, among other matters, we had a charge of upwards of two hundred thousand pounds sterling in money, that

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the corporations were charged with the care of the gates of the towns, when no military garrison was present. Their refusing or granting admission to strangers, which has produced the custom of giving, selling, and buying freedom, has more of the nature of garrison authority than civ

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tory of the Revenue. The land

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estation among the poor and middle classes. The person known by the name of Wat Tyler, whose proper name was Walter, and a tiler by trade, lived at Deptford. The gatherer of the poll tax, on coming to his house, demanded tax for one of his daughters, whom Tyler declared was under the age of fifteen. The tax-gatherer insisted on satisfying himself, and began an indecent examination of the girl, which, enraging the father, he struck him with a hammer that brought him to the ground, and was the cause of his death. This circumstance served to bring the discontent to an issue. The inhabitants of the neighbourhood espoused the cause of Tyler, who in a few days was joined, according to some histories, by upwards of fifty thousand men, and chosen their chief. With this force he marched to London, to demand an abolition of the tax and a redress of other grievances. The Court, finding itself in a forlorn condition, and, unable to make resistance, agreed, w

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urt at seeing it ascribe the whole reputation of it to a man who had undertaken it as a job and who, besides what he otherwise got, charged six hundred thousand pounds for the expense of the fleet that brought him from Holland. George the First acted the same close-fisted part as William had done, and bought the Duchy of Bremen with the money

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nts, engaged in a war with the Dutch, the expense of which increased the annual expenditure t

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., when the taxes began to increase, and they h

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e poor themselves who receive the relief. The average, therefore, of poor-rates on the remaining number, is forty shillings for every family of five persons, which make the whole average amount of taxes and rates L14 17s. 6d. For six persons L17 17s. For seven persons L2O 16s. 6d. The average of taxes in America, under the ne

nd Am

d. L

f five persons

f six persons

f seven person

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ieve, to accomplish this is to enable the parents to pay the expenses themselves. There are always persons of both sexes to be found in every village, especially when growing into years, capable of such an undertaking. Twenty children at ten shillings each (and that not more than six months each year) wou

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esent commutation tax, being by the returns of 1788, L1,666,152-and, consequently, they ought to take on themsel

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ports on the

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a different arrangement preferable to that which is already proposed. Widows with families will be in greater want than whe

y thousand extrao

ounds per family

at L8 per family

at L7 per family

at L5 per family

shillings per hea

to allow fifty sh

to fifty thousand

-

770

persons as be

-

890

including the L250,000 for education; but it provides (including the aged people) for four h

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that, for a man to merit a million sterling a year from a nation, he ought to have a mind capable of comprehending from an atom to a universe, which, if he had, he would be above receiving the pay. But they wished not to appear to lead the nation faster than its own reason and interest dictated. In all the conversations where I have been present upon this subject, the idea always was, that when such a time, from the g

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tion in saying, that as the opportunity of benefiting by the French Revolution easily occurred to me, I drew up the publication in question, and showed it to him and some other gentlemen, who, fully approving it, held a meeting for the purpose of making it public, and subscribed to the amount of fifty guineas to defray the expense of advertising. I believe there are at this time, in England, a grea

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