part ii, Preface.
_Junius._
"I am not conversant in the language of panegyric. These praises are extorted from me; but they will wear well, for they have been dearly earned."--Let. 53.
The above characteristic is quite peculiar. I do not remember of ever seeing the like of it in any other writer, and as there is a perfect parallel here, the fact that it stands almost alone gives it great weight.
* * * * *
They were both enthusiasts, as the following parallel on _moderation_ will show:
_Paine._
"Though I would carefully avoid giving unnecessary offense, yet I am inclined to believe that all those who espouse the doctrine of reconciliation may be included within the following descriptions: Interested men, who are not to be trusted; weak men who can not see; prejudiced men who will not see; and a certain sort of _moderate_ men, who think better of the European 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."--Common Sense.
_Junius._
"The lukewarm advocate avails himself of any pretense to relapse into that indolent indifference about every thing that ought to interest an Englishman, so unjustly dignified with the title of _moderation_."--Let. 58.
"I have been silent hitherto, though not from that shameful indifference about the interests of society which too many of us possess and call _moderation_."--Let. 44.
Paine and Junius both had the same opinion of moderate men.
* * * * *
They both, also, had secretiveness large. That Junius never revealed himself to the world, and that he baffled all the king's spies, is evidence enough on his side. I will now present a few evidences in regard to Mr. Paine. First, in regard to his wife. No one knows why they parted, and, when interrogated, he would make the evasive answer, "I had a cause." But, if pressed, he would bluntly respond, "It was a private affair, and nobody's business." He also sent her money without letting her know the source of it. Secondly: His Common Sense was kept a secret from Dr. Franklin till published, and this when the doctor had placed the materials in his hands toward completing a history of colonial affairs. He says: "I expected to surprise him with a production on that subject much earlier than he thought of, and, without informing him what I was doing, got it ready for the press as fast as I conveniently could, and sent him the first pamphlet that was printed off." Thirdly: He projected a plan of going to England in disguise, and getting out a pamphlet in secret, to rouse the English people. See what he says about it on page 66 of this book. Fourthly: "The Address and Declaration" of the gentlemen who met at the Thatched House tavern in 1791, in England, was written by Mr. Paine, although he was not known, and took no part in the meeting. He only revealed himself as the author of it after Horne Tooke, the supposed author, had stated that Mr. Paine was the author. But this is what he says about it: "The gentleman who signed the address and declaration as chairman of the meeting, Mr. Horne Tooke, being generally supposed to be the person who drew it up, and having spoken much in commendation of it, has been jocularly accused of praising his own work. To free him from this embarrassment, and to save him the repeated trouble of mentioning the author, as he has not failed to do, I make no hesitation in saying, I drew up the publication in question," etc.--Rights of Man, note.
This is sufficient to show a trait of character which made Junius, as a secret, a success. Without this strong ruling passion there could have been no Junius to spring like a tiger upon king and court. But, if it can be shown in any mental characteristic that Mr. Paine is incompatible with that character which is stamped upon Junius and made him a success, I will surrender the argument.
Mr. Paine says, as Horne Tooke had not failed to declare him the author, he then acknowledged it as his own. Had Mr. Tooke been silent, you may well be assured Mr. Paine would never have divulged it to friend or foe of either. Since Mr. Paine above has used the expression, "Jocularly accused of praising his own work," the reader will not fail to remember the same characteristic in Junius, when he says of Philo Junius, and who was also the real Junius himself, that "the subordinate character was never guilty of the indecorum of praising his principal." This again reminds us of Mr. Paine, when speaking of that passage in Numbers: "Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were on the face of the earth." Paine bluntly responds: "If Moses said this of himself, instead of being the meekest of men, he was one of the most vain and arrogant of coxcombs."
* * * * *
I now call attention to the fact that Mr. Paine and Junius, when attacking the private character of men, both seem to delight, when the fact would fit, in charging bastardy:
_Paine._
"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 certainty hath no divinity in it."--Common Sense.
_Junius._
Speaking of the Duke of Grafton's ancestors:
"Those of your grace, for instance, left no distressing examples of virtue, even to their _legitimate_ posterity; and you may look back with pleasure to an illustrious pedigree, in which heraldry has not left a single good quality upon record to insult or upbraid you. You have better proofs of your descent, my lord, than the register of a marriage," etc.--Let. 12.
In their appeals to posterity they were both equal and frequent. Mr. Paine says, in closing his first Crisis: "By perseverance and fortitude we have the prospect of a glorious issue; by cowardice and submission the sad choice of a variety of evils, a ravaged country, a depopulated city, habitations without safety, and slavery without hope; our homes turned into barracks and bawdy-houses for Hessians and a _future race_ to provide for, whose fathers we shall doubt of. Look on this picture and weep over it! and if there yet remains one thoughtless wretch who believes it not, let him suffer it unlamented." Junius also says in strains as pathetic and patriotic: "We owe it to _posterity_ not to suffer their dearest inheritance to be destroyed. But if it were possible for us to be insensible of these sacred claims, there is yet an obligation binding on ourselves, from which nothing can acquit us, a personal interest which we can not surrender. To alienate even our own rights would be a crime as much more enormous than suicide as a life of civil security and freedom is superior to a bare existence; and if life be the bounty of Heaven, we scornfully reject the noblest part of the gift, if we consent to surrender that certain rule of living, without which the condition of human nature is not only miserable, but contemptible."--Let. 20.
* * * * *
In the study of the human heart, and in a knowledge of the secret workings of the mind they were both masters. And, had it not been that they overapplied the nobler virtues in the common people, they would never have gone wrong in their conclusions. They failed not in the knowledge, but in the application of the thing. They thought it existed where it did not. But this is the law, which they laid down as follows:
_Paine._
"It is the faculty of the human mind to become what it contemplates, and to act in unison with its objects."--R. M., part i.
_Junius._
"By persuading others we convince ourselves. The passions are engaged, and create a maternal affection in the mind which forces us to love the cause for which we suffer." ... "When once a man is determined to believe, the very absurdity of the doctrine confirms him in his faith."--Let. 35.
The mental constitution of Mr. Paine made him practical. What he knew he considered of no use to himself unless he could apply it in some way. He finds the people oppressed by the usurpations of government, and he urges to rebellion. He finds in America, Britain had prohibited the importation of powder, and his knowledge of chemistry immediately supplies the national magazines. His mechanical thought was not satisfied until it had taken the form of an iron bridge. It was the same disposition in Junius which kept him forever talking of "experience," and the "evidence of facts." I give a single parallel out of hundreds:
_Paine._
"In the progress of politics, as in the common occurrences of life, we are not only apt to forget the ground we have traveled over, but frequently neglect to gather up _experience_ as we go."--Crisis, iii.
_Junius._
"As you yourself are a singular instance of youth without spirit, the man who defends you is a no less remarkable example of _age_ without the benefit of _experience_."--Let. 9.
I merely call attention to the above fact as a practical feature of the mind common to both. In the same manner both make frequent mention of "_reason_" and "common sense." Examples of this kind it is useless to give, for they look out from every page.
* * * * *
I now pass to consider their doctrines and private opinions; and first of politics:
I have heretofore proven that they were not partisans in the strict sense of the term, yet they both had party proclivities:
_Paine._
"There is a dignity in the warm passions of a whig which is never to be found in the cold malice of a tory; in the one nature is only heated, in the other poisoned. The instant the former has it in his power to punish, he feels a disposition to forgive, but the canine venom of the latter knows no relief but revenge. This general distinction will, I believe, apply in all cases, and suits as well the meridian of England as America."--Crisis, vi.
_Junius._
To the king: "You are not, however, destitute of support. You have all the Jacobites, Non-jurors, Roman Catholics, and _Tories_ of this country, and all Scotland without exception.... And truly, sir, if you had not lost the _Whig_ interest of England, I should admire your dexterity in turning the hearts of your enemies."--Let. 35.
"When I hear the undefined privileges of the popular branch of the legislature exalted by _tories_ and jacobites, at the expense of those strict rights which are known to the subject and limited by the laws, I can not but suspect that some mischievous scheme is in agitation to destroy both law and privilege, by opposing them to each other."--Let. 44.
They both declare _Law to be king_:
_Paine._
"But where, say some, is the king of America? ... So far as we approve of monarchy, in America _the law is king_."--C. S.
_Junius._
To the king: "Nor can you ever succeed [against Wilkes] unless he should be imprudent enough to forfeit the protection of those _laws to which you owe your crown_."--Let. 35.
They both express themselves on the game laws of England as follows:
_Paine._
"Had there been a house of farmers, there had been no game laws.... The French constitution says there shall be no game laws; that the farmer on whose lands wild game shall be found (for it is by the produce of those lands they are fed) shall have a right to what he can take. In England, game is made the property of those at whose expense it is fed."--R. of M.
_Junius._
"As to the game laws, he [Junius] never scrupled to declare his opinion that they are a species of the forest laws: that they are oppressive to the subject; and that the spirit of them is incompatible with legal liberty: that the penalties imposed by these laws bear no proportion to the nature of the offense: that in particular, the late acts to prevent dog-stealing or killing game between sun and sun, are distinguished by their absurdity, extravagance, and pernicious tendency."--Let. 63.
Both express themselves the same on _laws_ in general:
_Paine._
"The government of a free country, properly speaking, is not in the persons, _but in the laws_."--R. of M.
_Junius._
"The submission of a free people to the executive authority of government is no more than a compliance with the laws which they themselves have enacted."--Let. 1.
I would have the reader mark the fact that the above sentiment of Junius is the first he proclaims in his book. This, it will readily be seen, contains in itself the whole system of politics which Junius and Paine labored to establish. From this sentiment arose the frequent expressions of Junius, "Original rights;" "First rights;" "Sacred original rights of the people;" "The meanest mechanic is equal to the noblest peer;" and which Paine embodied in the expression, "Mankind are originally equal in the order of creation." Herein also we find the foundation for that method of both in tracing the rights of man back to their origin, and the easy manner in distinguishing original right from usurpation. A parallel here will make this plain:
_Paine._
"The example shows to the artificial world that man must go back to nature for information."--R. M., part ii. "Can we possibly suppose that if government had originated in a right principle and had not an interest in pursuing a wrong one, that the world could have been in the wretched and quarrelsome condition we have seen it? ... What was at first plunder, assumed the softer name of revenue, and the power originally _usurped_ they affected to inherit."--R. M., part ii., chap. ii. See, also, a fine specimen of this kind of argumentation in the first chapter of Common Sense.
_Junius._
"To establish a claim of privilege in either house, and to distinguish _original right from usurpation_, it must appear that it is indispensably necessary for the performance of the duty, and also that it has been uniformly allowed. From the first part of this description it follows, clearly, that whatever privilege does of right belong to the present House of Commons, did equally belong to the first assembly of their predecessors, was so completely vested in them, and might have been exercised in the same extent. From the second we must infer that privileges which, for several centuries, were not only never allowed, but never even claimed by the House of Commons, must be founded upon usurpation."--Let. 44.
In regard to America, I have shown their views to run parallel. Mr. Paine says in Crisis vii: "The ministry and minority have both been wrong." And Junius says in his first Letter: "But unfortunately for his country, Mr. Grenville was at any rate to be distressed because he was minister, and Mr. Pitt and Lord Camden were to be the patrons of America because they were in opposition." The minority here meant no more than the ruin of a minister and split the nation, without doing the colonies any good. Mr. Paine also says of Lord Chatham on this same point in Crisis viii: "An opinion hangs about the gentlemen of the minority, that America would relish measures under their administration which she would not from the present cabinet. On this rock Lord Chatham would have split had he gained the helm."
I bring forward this parallel to show three things, the same political opinions, the same views of the parties in England, and the same figures of speech, all thrown into the same subject-matter. This, together with the same resemblance in style, surely point to the same author.
This leads me on to speak of other private opinions. And first of lawyers, and especially Lord Mansfield:
_Paine._
"It is difficult to know when a lawyer is to be believed."--Let. to Erskine, Int.
_Junius._
"As a practical profession, the study of the law requires but a moderate portion of abilities. The learning of a pleader is usually upon a level with his integrity. The indiscriminate defense of right and wrong contracts the understanding, while it corrupts the heart. Subtlety is soon mistaken for wisdom, and impunity for virtue. If there be any instances upon record as some there are undoubtedly of genius and morality united in a lawyer, they are distinguished by their singularity, and operate as exceptions."--Let. 67.
Of those who preside at St. James': "They know no other influence than corruption, and reckon all their probabilities from precedent. A new case is to them a new world, and while they are seeking for a parallel they get lost. The talents of Lord Mansfield can be estimated at best no higher than those of a sophist. He understands the subtleties but not the elegance of nature, and by continually viewing mankind through the cold medium of the law, never thinks of penetrating into the warmer regions of the mind."--Crisis, vii.
"Considering the situation and abilities of Lord Mansfield, I do not scruple to affirm, with the most solemn appeal to God for my sincerity, that in my judgment he is the very worst and most dangerous man in the kingdom."--Let. 68.
The above parallel in regard to Lord Mansfield is most remarkable. Let us consider it. Whether the statements be true or not, is immaterial. Mr. Paine said he knew no other influence than corruption; that his talents were those of a sophist, and that he understood the subtleties of nature, not its elegance. Reference is here had to the Athenian sophists, whose art it was "to make the worse appear the better reason." This art made them talented in a certain direction, and in the employment of it they became renowned and rich. Paine affirms that the law had corrupted him. Junius says the practice of the law makes a bad man, and that Mansfield was, considering the conditions, the worst man in the kingdom. This is an opinion so singular and prominent, so rare among men, and expressed so boldly and unqualifiedly, by both Paine and Junius, that it furnishes a parallel which comes with positive and telling force. Perhaps Paine and Junius were the only two writers at the time who held this opinion. And that they should express it in the same manner, with all the fine shades and attending peculiarities the same, and be at the same time two persons, is a phenomenon which nature never exhibited but once, and never will again among mankind. To remove the weight of this evidence, something positive must be brought forward to rebut it.
* * * * *
It will be noticed above that Mr. Paine spoke of "precedent" being the basis of reckoning all their probabilities, and that a new case was a new world. Here we find another parallel in opinion:
_Paine._
"Government by precedent, without any regard to the principle of the precedent, is one of the vilest systems that can be set up. In numerous instances, the precedent ought to operate as a warning, and not as an example, and requires to be shunned instead of imitated; but, instead of this, precedents are taken in the lump, and put at once for constitution and for _law_."--R. of M., part ii., chap. iv.
_Junius._
"Precedents, in opposition to principle, have little weight with Junius, but he thought it necessary to meet the ministry on their own ground."--Let. 16, note.
"I am no friend to the doctrine of precedents, exclusive of right, though lawyers often tell us that whatever has been done once may lawfully be done again."--Preface.
Many examples could be given of the above likeness, but these are sufficient.
* * * * *
I submit the following in regard to Lord North:
_Paine._
"As for Lord North, it is his happiness to have in him more philosophy than sentiment, for he bears flogging like a top, and sleeps the better for it. His punishment becomes his support, for while he suffers the lash for his sins, he keeps himself up by twirling about. In politics, he is a good arithmetician, and in every thing else _nothing at all_."--Crisis, vii.
_Junius._
"The management of the king's affairs in the House of Commons can not be more disgraced than it has been. A leading minister repeatedly called down for absolute ignorance, ridiculous motions ridiculously withdrawn, deliberate plans disconcerted, a week's preparation of graceful oratory lost in a moment, give us some though not adequate ideas of Lord North's parliamentary abilities and influence. Yet, before he had the misfortune of being Chancellor of the Exchequer, he was neither an object of derision to his enemies, nor of melancholy pity to his friends. I hope he [Grafton] will not rely on the fertility of Lord North's genius for finance; _his lordship is yet to give us the first proof of his abilities_."--Let. 1.
Mr. Paine, no doubt, had in his mind this passage of Junius when he described him as a twirling top, a good arithmetician in _politics_, but in every thing else nothing at all.
* * * * *
In speaking of the misconduct of England, they both make it commence at the termination of the Seven Years' War, and speak of the time reckoned from the beginning of the year 1763. I will notice Junius first, so as to present this parallel in chronological order. He says in his first Letter, written Jan. 21, 1769: "Outraged and oppressed as we are, this nation will not bear, _after a six years'_ peace, to see new millions," etc. On February 14, 1770, he says: "_At the end of seven years_ we are loaded with a debt," etc. This is the method, in regard to time Junius always employs when speaking of the distress and calamities of England.
Let us now pass over to America, and we find, near the close of 1778, Mr. Paine uses the same method and language, when addressing the people of England in Crisis, vii: "A period of sixteen years of misconduct and misfortune is certainly long enough for any one nation to suffer under." He elsewhere uses the same language in the same way, which shows a mental habit peculiar to both.
* * * * *
The same opinion of court and courtier has elsewhere been shown, but a definite parallel or two may not be out of place:
_Paine._
"For the caterpillar principles of all courts and courtiers are alike."--Rights of Man, part i.
_Junius._
"Where birth and fortune are united, we expect the noble pride and independence of a man of spirit, not the servile, humiliating complaisance of a courtier."--Let. 1.
They held the same opinion of oaths:
_Paine._
"If a government requires the support of oaths, it is a sign that it is not worth supporting, and ought not to be supported."--R. of M., part ii, chap. iv.
_Junius._
"He [the minister] is the tenant of the day, and has no interest in the inheritance. The sovereign himself is bound by other obligations, and ought to look forward to a superior, a permanent interest. His paternal tenderness should remind him how many hostages he has given to society. The ties of nature come powerfully in aid of _oaths_ and protestations."--Let. 38.
They place _personal interest_ above strict _moral right_, as a means of improvement:
_Paine._
"As to 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."--R. of M., part ii, chap. v.
_Junius._
"It will be said, that I deny at one moment what I would allow at another. To this I answer, generally, that human affairs are in no instance governed by strict, positive right.... My premises, I know, will be denied in argument, but every man's conscience tells him they are true. It remains then to be considered whether it be for the _interest of the people_," etc.--Let. 44.
The reader will here see a mental characteristic the same, and a philosophy growing therefrom which is boldly affirmed by both.
* * * * *
That we gather strength by antagonism, and in this way the vicious are often brought into notice and become successful, is a prominent fact noticed by both.
_Paine._
"Those whose sentiments are injudicious or unfriendly, will cease of themselves, unless too much pains is bestowed upon their conversion."--C. S., Int.
_Junius._
"Mr. Wilkes, if not persecuted, will soon be forgotten."--Let. 11. See also Let. 1 and 35.
I have heretofore given examples of the above to prove another fact.
* * * * *
I now call attention to the passion of suspicion:
_Paine._
"I am not of a disposition inclined to suspicion. It is, in its nature, a mean and cowardly passion, and, upon the whole, even admitting error into the case, it is better; I am sure it is more generous to be wrong on the side of confidence, than on the side of suspicion. _But_, I know as a fact, that the English government.... Their anti-revolutionary doctrines invite suspicion even against one's will, and in spite of one's charity to believe well of them."--Let. to Samuel Adams.
_Junius._
"The situation of this country is alarming enough to rouse the attention of every man who pretends to a concern for the public welfare. Appearances justify _suspicion_; and when the safety of a nation is at stake, suspicion is a just ground of inquiry."--Let. 1.
The above is strong language in regard to _suspicion_. Paine thinks it mean and cowardly if not well founded, and Junius thinks it is justifiable when the safety of a nation is at stake. This is an uncommon sentiment, and, if Mr. Paine was Junius, he is found repeating himself after an interval of thirty-four years.
In regard to thinking for one's self, Junius says of Benson, in withering rebuke to Lord Mansfield, who had committed him for contempt: "He had the _impudence_ to pretend to _think for himself_." Paine exclaims: "Why is man afraid to think?"
* * * * *
There is a fact now in regard to the English army which is of great weight in my argument relative to a change of opinion. Junius always spoke highly of the army, while he sometimes censured individual officers. Speaking of the regiments of the guards, he says: "Far be it from me to insinuate the most distant reflection upon the army. On the contrary, I honor and esteem the profession, and if these gentlemen were better soldiers I am sure they would be better subjects." Mr. Paine, just nine years afterward, when in America, and fighting against the English army, says of the English people: "They are made to believe that their generals and armies differ from those of other nations, and have nothing of rudeness or barbarity in them. They suppose them what they wish them to be; they feel a disgrace in thinking otherwise. There was a time when I felt the same prejudices, and reasoned from the same errors; but experience--sad and painful experience--has taught me better. What the conduct of former armies was I know not, but what the conduct of the present is I well know--it is low, cruel, indolent, and profligate."--Crisis, vii. This is a species of dovetailing the life and opinions of Junius into those of Mr. Paine. But the reader will see there is no effort on my part. All I ask is for truth to take its course. It would be beneath the dignity of a scientific criticism to stoop to artifice.
* * * * *
I wish now to bring forward a complex parallel, to show that pride of character which would not stoop to the meanness of party politics, and to show, also, their opinion of bribery at elections, and the origin of "military governments" in England.
"It is difficult," says Mr. Paine, "to account for the origin of charter and corporation towns, unless we suppose them to have arisen out of, or having been connected with, some species of garrison service. The times in which they began justify this idea. The generality of these towns have been garrisons, and the corporations were charged with the care of the gates of the town when no military garrison was present. Their refusing or granting admission to strangers, which has produced the custom of giving, selling, and buying freedom, has more of the nature of garrison authority than civil government."--Rights of Man, part ii, chap. 5, note.
I am now prepared to give the parallels:
_Paine._
"As one of the houses of the English Parliament is in a great measure made up by elections from these corporations, and as it is unnatural that a pure stream would flow from a foul fountain, its vices are but a continuation of the vices of its origin. A man of moral honor and good political principles can not submit to the mean _drudgery_ and disgraceful arts by which such elections are carried."
_Junius._
"But it seems the sale of a civil employment was not sufficient, and _military governments_, which were intended for the support of worn-out veterans, must be thrown into the scale to defray the extensive bribery of a contested election."--Let. 34.
"But is there no honorable way to serve the public without engaging in personal quarrels with insignificant individuals, or submitting to the _drudgery_ of canvassing votes for an election."--Let. 53.
Says Mr. Paine: "_I love method._" This, every action proved. His business transactions, his political plans, the productions of his pen, were all in design and execution methodical. In dedicating his life to the good of mankind, he studied method in the use of his great mental powers. He never set about doing any thing without a plan and specifications. He carried in the brain the ideal of the work he was to give material shape and substance. His plans were always well-digested and often long in maturing. He, for example, anticipated the revolution, and proceeded to fill the public arsenals with powder. He then brought out Common Sense, when public opinion was decidedly against a declaration of independence, to educate that public sentiment in favor of it. This produced the desired effect, and when war was fairly begun upon a proper basis and plan, he struck the enemy at the proper time and place with an occasional Crisis. The first Crisis he wrote, for example, won a battle for the Union. After the war was over, he went to England and brought out his Rights of Man, laboring in the same lines and advocating the very principles of Junius. There is not a political principle expressed in Junius which was not again reproduced in Rights of Man. But method is stamped upon every production of his pen. Take, for example, Common Sense. The design was to bring public sentiment up to a declaration of independence. Now if we examine the method of the work, we will find the steps like a geometrical demonstration, from first principles to conclusion. In Common Sense he first convinces the reason, then inflames the passions, and lastly destroys dissension by a stirring, manly, patriotic appeal. The work proper is divided into four parts.
I. Of the origin and design of government. Here the first principles are laid down, and are such as to convince the mind of every man capable of thinking. He then shows that the English constitution is not founded upon such principles; and that a people seeking political happiness while clinging to such a rotten government, is like a man seeking connubial happiness while he is attached to a prostitute.
II. Of monarchy and hereditary succession. Here he brings out his great political axiom, _the equality of man in the order of creation_, and then ridicules the pretentions of kings, and demolishes the whole fabric of "sacred titles" by an appeal to sacred and profane history, to the rights of man, to his reason, to his affections, and to posterity. He has now prepared the mind of the American reader for the reception of truth, and he brings forward--
III. Thoughts on the present state of the American affairs.
He begins by saying: "In the following pages I offer nothing more than simple facts, plain arguments, and common sense." It is now he warms with the subject, and having before prepared the mind with exalted views of government and with the axioms upon which all just governments are founded; having before shown that all legislative powers are derived from the people, and founded in the consent of the governed; having, in short, announced his bill of rights, he now comes forward with an indictment against England. This is full and complete, and by the time the reader has done with it he is then prepared for his final argument, which is--
IV. The ability of America to acquire and maintain her independence.
He afterward added an appendix, in which he recounts the principal causes which impel the colonies to a separation.
The reader will remark the _method_ of the whole piece. He takes hold of the mind by strategy at first, and then places before it principles, facts, causes, and consequences, till he has made it entirely his own.
If now the reader will return to the first Letter of Junius, he will find an admirable example of the same method. As to _method_, the two pieces are every way identical. Did a person not study this Letter of Junius, he would perhaps fail to get, at first, the exact likeness which Mr. Paine has so completely reproduced in Common Sense, as an artistic performance.
Junius' Letter to the king is also an example of the same method. There is, first, the bill of rights, and then the indictment. We find here the same strategy, which takes possession of the mind of the people, the same method to place the writer above and beyond selfish motives, the same foundation of principles, the same superstructure of argument, and the same method of bringing the reader to the conclusions. Herein we find _policy_.
* * * * *
The policy of Mr. Paine made him extremely cautious, and he weighed well the consequences of speaking to the public, studying especially the proper time. This was the habit of Junius also. I will now give a few examples: When the civil laws of England had been trampled on by the military, in the case of General Gansel, Junius delayed speaking about it. He says: "Had I taken it up at an earlier period, I should have been accused of an uncandid, malignant precipitation, as if I watched for an unfair advantage against the ministry, and would not allow them a reasonable time to do their duty. They now stand without excuse."--Let. 30. He then proceeds to strike the ministry "hip and thigh." In Letter 44 he also mentions the fact of having been silent, not from a "shameful indifference," but because he had determined to "not deliver a hasty opinion on a matter of so much delicacy and importance."
The same constitutional caution is exhibited in Mr. Paine. Upon national honor, in Crisis xii, dated May, 1782, he says: "In March, 1780, I published part of the Crisis, No. viii, in the newspapers, but did not conclude it in the following papers, and the remainder has lain by me till the present day. There appeared about that time some disposition in the British cabinet to cease the further prosecution of the war, and as I had formed my opinion that whenever such a design should take place, it would be accompanied by a dishonorable proposition to America respecting France, I had suppressed the remainder of that number, not to expose the baseness of any such proposition." He now incorporates it in this number, and then follows with one of the noblest productions on national honor which it has been the fortune of man to write.
* * * * *
I now give an opinion on the principles of the English constitution:
_Paine._
"A government on the principles on which constitutional governments arising out of society are established, can not have the right of altering itself. If it had, it would be arbitrary. It might make itself what it pleased; and whenever such a right is set up, it shows that there is no constitution. The act by which the English parliament empowered itself to sit for seven years, shows there is no constitution in England. It might, by the same self-authority, have to sat any greater number of years, or for life."--R. of M., part i.
_Junius._
"There can not be a doctrine more fatal to the liberty and property we are contending for, than that which confounds the idea of a supreme and an arbitrary legislature.... If the majority can disfranchise ten boroughs, why not twenty--why not the whole kingdom? Why should not they make their own seats in parliament for life? When the septennial act passed, the legislature did what, apparently and palpably, they had no power to do."--Let. 68.
Although the above doctrine that the people, not the legislature, are supreme, is not new, yet it was rarely asserted in the time of Paine, and renders the above parallel strong and peculiar. Even the same language is used in making the same application to the septennial act, which might as well have empowered the members of parliament to sit _for life_.
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Here is a parallel on the opinion of the _jobbing_ spirit of courtiers:
_Paine._
"Every nation that does not govern itself, is governed as a _job_. England has been the prey of _jobs_ ever since the revolution."--R. of M., part ii, chap, v., note.
_Junius._
To Draper: "It would have been more decent in you to have called this dishonorable transaction by its true name, a _job_, to accommodate two persons by particular interest and management at the castle."--Let. 7.
Both Paine and Junius frequently give vent to their detestation of gambling and gamblers. A single case in point is sufficient:
_Paine._
"Those who knew the savage obstinacy of the king, and the jobbing, _gambling_ spirit of the court, predicted the fate of the petition."--Crisis, iii.
_Junius._
To Bedford: "His own honor would have forbidden him from mixing his private pleasures or conversation with jockeys, _gamesters_, blasphemers, gladiators, and buffoons."--Let. 23. See, also, Let. 14.
They both have the same opinion of the _theater_; but as the proof of this is only circumstantial, I will not cumber these pages with it. We know that Paine was a Quaker upon this point; and Junius contemptuously addresses Garrick, the actor, "Now mark me, _vagabond_! keep to your _pantomimes_," etc.
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I now pass to consider their religious opinions. And, first, their views of God:
_Paine._
"The Almighty hath implanted in us these unextinguishable feelings for good and wise purposes."--C. S.
"The country was the gift of Heaven, and God alone is their Lord and sovereign."--Crisis, v.
"From such men and such masters may the gracious hand of Heaven preserve America."
_Junius._
"Grateful as I am to the good Being whose bounty has imparted to me this reasoning intellect," etc.--Let. 68.
"They acknowledged the hand of Providence in the descent of the crown upon the head of a true Stuart." [Spoken in irony.]--Let. 49.
"If they should no longer appeal to the creature of the constitution, but to that high Being, who gave them the rights of humanity, whose gifts it were sacrilege to surrender, let me ask you sir," etc.--Let. 35.
"The will of God hath parted us, and the deed is registered for eternity."--Crisis, v.
"Even the distance at which the Almighty hath placed America and England, is a strong and _natural_ proof that the authority of the one over the other was never the design of Heaven.
"I do not scruple to affirm, with the most solemn appeal to God for my sincerity."--Let. 68.
"The people also found it necessary to appeal to Heaven in their turn."--Let. 9.
"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.
"I am as confident, as I am that God governs the world, that America will never be happy till she gets clear of foreign dominion."--Crisis, i.
"And if life be the bounty of Heaven, we scorn fully reject the noblest part of the gift," etc.--Let. 20.
"If when the opportunity offers itself you neglect to do your duty to yourselves and to posterity, to _God_ and your country," etc.--Dedication.
Of Providence they further say:
_Paine._
"But Providence, who best knows how to time her misfortunes as well as her immediate favors, chose this to be the time, and who dare dispute it?"--Crisis, iii.
"To the _interposition of Providence_ and her blessings on our endeavors, and not to British benevolence are we indebted for the short chain that limits your ravages."--Crisis, vi.
"To deny such a right would be a kind of atheism against nature, and the beat answer to such an objection will be: 'The fool hath said in his heart there is no God!'"--Crisis, iii.
_Junius._
"If it should be the will of Providence to afflict him with a domestic misfortune," etc.--Let. 23.
"The next is a most remarkable instance of the goodness of Providence."--Let. 66.
"If by the immediate _interposition of Providence_ it were possible for us to escape a crisis so full of terror and despair, posterity will not believe the history of the present times."--Let. 1.
Mr. Paine wrote the Age of Reason as an argument against atheism on the one hand and fanaticism on the other. This he says himself.
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I will now give the language of Mr. Paine on religion, infidelity, atheism, fanaticism, and morality, and then subscribe the language of Junius.
{163}In his discourse to the Theophilanthropists of Paris, Mr. Paine says: "Religion has two principal enemies--_fanaticism and infidelity_, or that which is called _atheism_. The first requires to be combatted by reason or morality, the other by natural philosophy." In opposing atheism he makes intelligent force the God of the universe. This is his language: "_God is the power_, or first cause, _nature is the law_, and _matter is the subject acted upon_." That is, there is a duality in the universe--_force_ and _matter_; and the action of _force_ on matter produces the _laws of nature_, or, every phenomenon is produced by the motion of matter. He founds his argument against atheism on the _motion_ of matter, and elaborates it in his clear and forcible style, and then says: "Where will infidelity--where will atheism find cause for this astonishing velocity of motion, never ceasing, never varying, and which is the preservation of the earth in its orbit? It is not by reasoning from an acorn to an oak, or from any change in the state of matter on the surface of the earth, that this can be accounted for. _Its cause is not to be found in matter, nor in any thing we call nature._ The atheist who affects to reason, and the fanatic who rejects reason, plunge themselves alike into inextricable difficulties. The one perverts the sublime and enlightening study of natural philosophy into a deformity of absurdities by not reasoning to the end, the other loses himself in the obscurity of metaphysical theories, and dishonors the Creator by treating the study of his works with contempt. The one is a half-rational of whom there is some hope, the other is a visionary to whom we must be charitable."
I wish the reader to compare with the last sentence above the following extracts from Junius, to be found in Letters 44 and 35: "The opinions of these men are too absurd to be easily renounced. Liberal minds are open to conviction, liberal doctrines are capable of improvement. _There are proselytes from atheism, but none from superstition._" "When once a man is determined to believe, the very absurdity of the doctrine confirms him in his faith."
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But Junius, like Paine, was a _religious_ man. In Letter 56, he says: "I know such a man; my lord, I know you both, _and, with the blessing of God_ (_for I, too, am religious_), the people of England shall know you as well as I do."
As Mr. Paine has been misunderstood by the religious world, and as so much has been said against his religion that a prejudice deep and bitter now rests on the world against him, I will give a couple of extracts from his Rights of Man on this point. I confess that my own prejudices were so great against him (and I thought myself quite liberal), that they would not suffer me to read his works till quite recently. Such is the tyranny of religious instruction. The first extract is from the first part. In a note, he says: "There is a single idea, which, if it strikes rightly upon the mind, either in a legal or a religious sense, will prevent any man, or any body of men, or any government, from going wrong on the subject of religion; which is, that before any human institutions of government were known in the world, there existed, if I may so express it, a compact between God and man from the beginning of time; and that, as the relation and condition which man in his individual person stands in toward his Maker can not be changed by any human laws or human authority, that religious devotion, which is a part of this compact, can not so much as be made a subject of human laws; and that all laws must conform themselves to the prior-existing compact, and not assume to make the compact conform to the laws, which, besides being human, are subsequent thereto. The first act of man, when he looked around and saw himself a creature which he did not make, and a world furnished for his reception, must have been devotion; and devotion must ever continue sacred to every individual man, as it appears right to him, and governments do mischief by interfering."
The next extract is from part second, near its close, and I would call the attention of the reader to the beauty of the allegory:
"But as religion is very improperly made a political machine, and the reality of it is thereby destroyed, I will conclude this work with stating in what light religion appears to me.
"If we suppose a large family of children on any particular day, or particular occasion, made it a custom to present to their parents some token of their affection and gratitude, each of them would make a different offering, and most probably in a different manner. Some would pay their congratulations in themes of verse and prose, others by some little devices, as their genius dictated or according to what they thought would please; and, perhaps, the least of all, not able to do any of those things, would ramble into the garden or the field and gather what it thought the prettiest flower it could find, though perhaps it might be but a simple weed. The parents would be more gratified by such a variety than if the whole of them had acted on a concerted plan, and each had made exactly the same offering. This would have the cold appearance of contrivance, or the harsh one of control. But of all unwelcome things nothing would more afflict the parent than to know that the whole of them had afterwards gotten together by the ears, boys and girls, fighting, and reviling, and abusing each other about which was the best or the worst present.
"Why may we not suppose that the great Father of all is pleased with a variety of devotion; and that the greatest offense we can act is that by which we seek to torment and render each other miserable? For my own