OR, THE GENTLEMAN WHO SHALL PRESIDE AT THE MEETING TO BE HELD AT LEWES,
JULY 4.
London, June 30, 1792.
Sir,
I have seen in the Lewes newspapers, of June 25, an advertisement,
signed by sundry persons, and also by the sheriff, for holding a meeting
at the Town-hall of Lewes, for the purpose, as the advertisement states,
of presenting an Address on the late Proclamation for suppressing
writings, books, &c. And as I conceive that a certain publication
of mine, entitled "Rights of Man," in which, among other things, the
enormous increase of taxes, placemen, and pensioners, is shewn to be
unnecessary and oppressive, _is the particular writing alluded to in
the said publication_; I request the Sheriff, or in his absence, whoever
shall preside at the meeting, or any other person, to read this letter
publicly to the company who shall assemble in consequence of that
advertisement.
Gentlemen--It is now upwards of eighteen years since I was a resident
inhabitant of the town of Lewes. My situation among you, as an officer
of the revenue, for more than six years, enabled me to see into the
numerous and various distresses which the weight of taxes even at that
time of day occasioned; and feeling, as I then did, and as it is natural
for me to do, for the hard condition of others, it is with pleasure I
can declare, and every person then under my survey, and now living, can
witness, the exceeding candour, and even tenderness, with which that
part of the duty that fell to my share was executed. The name of _Thomas
Paine_ is not to be found in the records of the Lewes' justices, in any
one act of contention with, or severity of any kind whatever towards,
the persons whom he surveyed, either in the town, or in the country;
of this, _Mr. Fuller_ and _Mr. Shelley_, who will probably attend the
meeting, can, if they please, give full testimony. It is, however, not
in their power to contradict it.
Having thus indulged myself in recollecting a place where I formerly
had, and even now have, many friends, rich and poor, and most probably
some enemies, I proceed to the more important purport of my letter.
Since my departure from Lewes, fortune or providence has thrown me
into a line of action, which my first setting out into life could not
possibly have suggested to me.
I have seen the fine and fertile country of America ravaged and deluged
in blood, and the taxes of England enormously increased and multiplied
in consequence thereof; and this, in a great measure, by the instigation
of the same class of placemen, pensioners, and Court dependants, who
are now promoting addresses throughout England, on the present
_unintelligible_ Proclamation.
I have also seen a system of Government rise up in that country, free
from corruption, and now administered over an extent of territory ten
times as large as England, _for less expence than the pensions alone in
England amount to_; and under which more freedom is enjoyed, and a more
happy state of society is preserved, and a more general prosperity is
promoted, than under any other system of Government now existing in the
world. Knowing, as I do, the things I now declare, I should reproach
myself with want of duty and affection to mankind, were I not in the
most undismayed manner to publish them, as it were, on the house-tops,
for the good of others.
Having thus glanced at what has passed within my knowledge, since my
leaving Lewes, I come to the subject more immediately before the meeting
now present.
Mr. Edmund Burke, who, as I shall show, in a future publication, has
lived a concealed pensioner, at the expence of the public, of fifteen
hundred pounds per annum, for about ten years last past, published a
book the winter before last, in open violation of the principles of
liberty, and for which he was applauded by that class of men _who are
now promoting addresses_. Soon after his book appeared, I published the
first part of the work, entitled "Rights of Man," as an answer thereto,
and had the happiness of receiving the public thanks of several bodies
of men, and of numerous individuals of the best character, of every
denomination in religion, and of every rank in life--placemen and
pensioners excepted.
In February last, I published the Second Part of "Rights of Man," and as
it met with still greater approbation from the true friends of national
freedom, and went deeper into the system of Government, and exposed the
abuses of it, more than had been done in the First Part, it consequently
excited an alarm among all those, who, insensible of the burthen of
taxes which the general mass of the people sustain, are living in luxury
and indolence, and hunting after Court preferments, sinecure places, and
pensions, either for themselves, or for their family connections.
I have shewn in that work, that the taxes may be reduced at least _six
millions_, and even then the expences of Government in England would be
twenty times greater than they are in the country I have already spoken
of. That taxes may be entirely taken off from the poor, by remitting to
them in money at the rate of between _three and four pounds_ per head
per annum, for the education and bringing up of the children of the poor
families, who are computed at one third of the whole nation, and _six
pounds_ per annum to all poor persons, decayed tradesmen, or others,
from the age of fifty until sixty, and _ten pounds_ per annum from after
sixty. And that in consequence of this allowance, to be paid out of the
surplus taxes, the poor-rates would become unnecessary, and that it is
better to apply the surplus taxes to these beneficent purposes, _than to
waste them on idle and profligate courtiers, placemen, and pensioners_.
These, gentlemen, are a part of the plans and principles contained in
the work, which this meeting is now called upon, in an indirect manner,
to vote an address against, and brand with the name of _wicked and
seditious_. But that the work may speak for itself, I request leave to
close this part of my letter with an extract therefrom, in the following
words: [_Quotation the same as that on p. 26_.]
Gentlemen, I have now stated to you such matters as appear necessary
to me to offer to the consideration of the meeting. I have no other
interest in what I am doing, nor in writing you this letter, than the
interest of the _heart_. I consider the proposed address as calculated
to give countenance to placemen, pensioners, enormous taxation, and
corruption. Many of you will recollect, that whilst I resided among you,
there was not a man more firm and open in supporting the principles of
liberty than myself, and I still pursue, and ever will, the same path.
I have, Gentlemen, only one request to make, which is--that those
who have called the meeting will speak _out_, and say, whether in
the address they are going to present against publications, which the
proclamation calls wicked, they mean the work entitled _Rights of Man_,
or whether they do not?