Whatever might be thought of Paine's course in the Deane-Beaumarchais
affair, there could be no doubt that the country was saved from a
questionable payment unjustly pressed at a time when it must have
crippled the Revolution, for which the French subsidies were given.
Congress was relieved, and he who relieved it was the sufferer. From the
most important congressional secretaryship he was reduced to a clerkship
in Owen Bid-die's law office.
Paine's patriotic interest in public affairs did not abate. In the
summer of 1779 he wrote able articles in favor of maintaining our right
to the Newfoundland fisheries in any treaty of peace that might be made
with England. Congress was secretly considering what instructions should
be sent to its representatives in Europe; in case negotiations should
arise, and the subject was discussed by "Americanus" in a letter to the
_Pennsylvania Gazette_, June 23d. This writer argued that the fisheries
should not be mentioned in such negotiations; England would stickle at
the claim, and our ally, France, should not be called on to guarantee
a right which should be left to the determination of natural laws.
This position Paine combated; he maintained that independence was not a
change of ministry, but a real thing; it should mean prosperity as well
as political liberty. Our ally would be aggrieved by a concession to
Great Britain of any means of making our alliance useful. "There are but
two natural sources of wealth--the Earth and the Ocean,--and to lose the
right to either is, in our situation, to put up the other for sale."
The fisheries are needed, "_first_, as an Employment _Secondly_, as
producing national Supply and Commerce, and a means of national wealth.
_Thirdly_, as a Nursery for Seamen." Should Great Britain be in such
straits as to ask for peace, that would be the right opportunity to
settle the matter. "To leave the Fisheries wholly out, on any pretence
whatever, is to sow the seeds of another war." (_Pennsylvania Gazette_,
June 30th, July 14th, 21st.) The prospects of peace seemed now
sufficiently fair for Paine to give the attention which nobody else did
to his own dismal situation. His scruples about making money out of the
national cause were eccentric. The manuscript diary of Rickman, just
found by Dr. Clair Grece, contains this note:
"Franklin, on returning to America from France, where he had been
conducting great commercial and other concerns of great import and
benefit to the States of America, on having his accounts looked over by
the Committee appointed to do so, there was a deficit of L100,000. He
was asked how this happened. 'I was taught,' said he very gravely, 'when
a boy to read the scriptures and to attend to them, and it is there
said: muzzle not the ox that treadeth out his master's grain.' No
further inquiry was ever made or mention of the deficient L100,000,
which, it is presumed, he devoted to some good and great purpose to
serve the people,--his own aim through life."
Rickman, who named a son after Franklin, puts a more charitable
construction on the irregularities of the Doctor's accounts than
Gouverneur Morris (p. 140). The anecdote may not be exact, but it was
generally rumored, in congressional circles, that Franklin had by no
means been muzzled. Nor does it appear to have been considered a serious
matter. The standard of political ethics being thus lowered, it is easy
to understand that Paine gave more offence by his Diogenes-lantern than
if he had quietly taken his share of the grain he trod out The security
of independence and the pressure of poverty rendered it unnecessary
to adhere to his quixotic Quaker repugnance to the sale of his
inspirations, and he now desired to collect these into marketable shape.
His plans are stated in a letter to Henry Laurens.
"Philadelphia, Sepr. 14th, 1779.--Dear Sir,--It was my intention to have
communicated to you the substance of this letter last Sunday had I not
been prevented by a return of my fever; perhaps finding myself unwell,
and feeling, as well as apprehending, inconveniences, have produced in
me some thoughts for myself as well as for others. I need not repeat
to you the part I have acted or the principle I have acted upon; and
perhaps America would feel the less obligation to me, did she know,
that it was neither the place nor the people but the Cause itself that
irresistibly engaged me in its support; for I should have acted the same
part in any other Country could the same circumstances have arisen
there which have happened here. I have often been obliged to form
this distinction to myself by way of smoothing over some disagreeable
ingratitudes, which, you well know, have been shewn to me from a certain
quarter.
"I find myself so curiously circumstanced that I have both too many
friends and too few, the generality of them thinking that from the
public part I have so long acted I cannot have less than a mine to draw
from--What they have had from me they have got for nothing, and they
consequently suppose I must be able to afford it. I know but one kind of
life I am fit for, and that is a thinking one, and, of course, a
writing one--but I have confined myself so much of late, taken so little
exercise, and lived so very sparingly, that unless I alter my way of
life it will alter me. I think I have a right to ride a horse of my own,
but I cannot now even afford to hire one, which is a situation I never
was in before, and I begin to know that a sedentary life cannot be
supported without jolting exercise. Having said thus much, which, in
truth, is but loss of time to tell to you who so well know how I am
situated, I take the liberty of communicating to you my design of doing
some degree of justice to myself, but even this is accompanied with some
present difficulties, but it is the easiest, and, I believe, the most
useful and reputable of any I can think of. I intend this winter to
collect all my Publications, beginning with Common Sense and ending with
the fisheries, and publishing them in two volumes Octavo, with notes. I
have no doubt of a large subscription. The principal difficulty will be
to get Paper and I can think of no way more practicable than to desire
Arthur Lee to send over a quantity from France in the Confederacy if she
goes there, and settling for it with his brother. After that work is com
pleated, I intend prosecuting a history of the Revolution by means of a
subscription--but this undertaking will be attended with such an amazing
expense, and will take such a length of Time, that unless the States
individually give some assistance therein, scarcely any man could afford
to go through it. Some kind of an history might be easily executed
made up of daily events and triffling matters which would lose their
Importance in a few years. But a proper history cannot even be began
unless the secrets of the other side of the water can be obtained, for
the first part is so interwoven with the Politics of England, that, that
which will be the last to get at must be the first to begin with--and
this single instance is sufficient to show that no history can take
place of some time. My design, if I undertake it, is to comprise it
in three quarto volumes and to publish one each year from the time of
beginning, and to make an abridgment afterwards in an easy agreeable
language for a school book.
"All the histories of ancient wars that are used for this purpose,
promotes no Moral Reflection, but like the beggars opera renders the
villain pleasing in the hero. Another thing that will prolong the
completion of an history is the want of Plates which only can be done
in Europe, for that part of a history which is intended to convey
discription of places or persons will ever be imperfect without them. I
have now, Sir, acquainted you with my design, and unwilling, as you know
I am, to make use of a friend while I can possibly avoid it, I am really
obliged to say that I should now be glad to consult with two or three on
some matters that regard my situation till such time as I can bring the
first of those subscriptions to bear, or set them on foot, which cannot
well be until I can get the paper; for should I [be] disappointed of
that, with the subscriptions in my hand, I might be reflected upon, and
the reason, tho' a true one, would be subject to other explanations.
"Here lies the difficulty I alluded to in the beginning of this letter,
and I would rather wish to borrow something of a friend or two in
the interim than run the risk I have mentioned, because should I be
disappointed by the Paper being taken or not arriving in time, the
reason being understood by them beforehand will not injure me, but in
the other case it would, and in the mean Time I can be preparing for
publication. I have hitherto kept all my private matters a secret, but
as I know your friendship and you a great deal of my situation, I can
with more ease communicate them to you than to another.
"P. S. If you are not engaged to-morrow evening I should be glad to
spend part of it with you--if you are, I shall wait your opportunity."*
* I am indebted to Mr. Simon Gratz of Philadelphia for a
copy of this letter.
It was a cruel circumstance of Paine's poverty that he was compelled to
call attention not only to that but to his services, and to appraise the
value of his own pen. He had to deal with hard men, on whom reserve
was wasted. On September 28th he reminded the Executive Council of
Pennsylvania of his needs and his uncompensated services, which, he
declared, he could not afford to continue without support. The Council
realized the importance of Paine's pen to its patriotic measures, but
was afraid of offending the French Minister. Its president, Joseph Reed,
on the following day (September 29th) wrote to that Minister intimating
that they would like to employ Paine if he (the minister) had no
objection. On October 11th Gerard replies with a somewhat equivocal
letter, in which he declares that Paine had agreed to terms he
had offered through M. de Mirales, but had not fulfilled them. "I
willingly," he says, "leave M. Payne to enjoy whatever advantages he
promises himself by his denial of his acceptance of the offers of M.
de Mirales and myself. I would even add, Sir, that if you feel able to
direct his pen in a way useful to the public welfare--which will perhaps
not be difficult to your zeal, talents, and superior lights,--I will be
the first to applaud the success of an attempt in which I have failed."*
On the same date Paine, not having received any reply to his previous
letter, again wrote to the Council.
* "Life and Correspondence of Joseph Reed." By his
grandson. 1847.
"Honble. Sirs.--Some few days ago I presented a letter to this Honble.
Board stating the inconveniences which I lay under from an attention to
public interest in preference to my own, to which I have recd, no reply.
It is to me a matter of great concern to find in the government of this
State, that which appears to be a disposition in them to neglect their
friends and to throw discouragements in the way of genius and Letters.
"At the particular request of the Gentleman who presides at this board,
I took up the defence of the Constitution, at a time when he declared
to me that unless he could be assisted he must give it up and quit the
state; as matters then pressed too heavy upon him, and the opposition
was gaining ground; yet this Board has since suffered me to combat with
all the inconveniences incurred by that service, without any attention
to my interest or my situation. For the sake of not dishonoring a cause,
good in itself, I have hitherto been silent on these matters, but
I cannot help expressing to this board the concern I feel on this
occasion, and the ill effect which such discouraging examples will have
on those who might otherwise be disposed to act as I have done.
"Having said this much, which is but a little part of which I am
sensible, I have a request to make which if complied with will enable me
to overcome the difficulties alluded to and to withdraw from a service
in which I have experienced nothing but misfortune and neglect. I have
an opportunity of importing a quantity of printing paper from France,
and intend collecting my several pieces, beginning with Common Sense,
into two Volumes, and publishing them by Subscription, with notes; but
as I cannot think of beginning the Subscription until the paper arrive,
and as the undertaking, exclusive of the paper, will be attended with
more expense than I, who have saved money both in the Service of the
Continent and the State, can bear, I should be glad to be assisted with
the loan of fifteen hundred pounds for which I will give bond payable
within a year. If this should not be complied with, I request that
the services I have rendered may be taken into consideration and such
compensation made me therefor as they shall appear to deserve.
"I am, Honble. Sirs, your obt. and humble servt.,
"Thomas Paine."
The constitution which Paine, in the above letter, speaks of defending
was that of 1776, which he had assisted Dr. Franklin, James Cannon
and others in framing for Pennsylvania. It was a fairly republican
constitution, and by its enfranchisement of the people generally
reduced the power enjoyed by the rich and reactionary under the
colonial government In Still's biography of John Dickinson the continued
conflicts concerning this constitution are described. In 1805, when a
constitutional convention was proposed in Pennsylvania, Paine pointed
out the superiority of its constitution of 1776, which "was conformable
to the Declaration of Independence and the Declaration of Rights, which
the present constitution [framed in 1790] is not".* The constitution
of 1776, and Paine's exposure of the services rendered to the enemy
by Quakers, cleared the Pennsylvania Assembly of the members of that
society who had been supreme. This process had gone on. The oath of
allegiance to the State, proposed by Paine in 1777, and adopted, had
been followed in 1778 (April 1st) by one imposing renunciation of all
allegiance to George III., his heirs and successors, to be taken by all
trustees, provosts, professors, and masters. This was particularly aimed
at the nest of "Tories" in the University of Philadelphia, whose head
was the famous Dr. William Smith. This provost, and all members of the
University except three trustees, took the oath, but the influence of
those who had been opposed to independence remained the same.
* Paine forgot the curious inconsistency in this
constitution of 1776, between the opening Declaration of
Rights in securing religious freedom and equality to all who
"acknowledge the being of a God," and the oath provided for
all legislators, requiring belief in future rewards and
punishments, and in the divine inspiration of the Old and
New Testaments. This deistical oath, however, was probably
considered a victory of latitudiarianism, for the members
of the convention had taken a rigid trinitarian oath on
admission to their seats.
In 1779 the Assembly got rid of the provost (Smith), and this was done
by the act of November which took away the charter of the University.*
It was while this agitation was going on, and the Philadelphia "Tories"
saw the heads of their chieftains falling beneath Paine's pen, that his
own official head had been thrown to them by his own act. The sullen
spite of the "Tories" did not fail to manifest itself. In conjunction
with Deane's defeated friends, they managed to give Paine many a
personal humiliation. This was, indeed, easy enough, since Paine, though
willing to fight for his cause, was a non-resistant in his own behalf.
It may have been about this time that an incident occurred which was
remembered with gusto by the aged John Joseph Henry after the "Age of
Reason" had added horns and cloven feet to his early hero. Mr. Mease,
Clothier-General, gave a dinner party, and a company of his guests,
on their way home, excited by wine, met Paine. One of them remarking,
"There comes 'Common Sense'"; Matthew Slough said, "Damn him, I shall
common-sense him," and thereupon tripped Paine into the gutter.** But
patriotic America was with Paine, and missed his pen; for no _Crisis_
had appeared for nearly a year. Consequently on November 2, 1779, the
Pennsylvania Assembly elected him its Clerk.
* See "A Memoir of the Rev. William Smith, D.D.," by Charles
J. Stille, Philadelphia, 1869. Provost Stille, in this
useful historical pamphlet, states all that can be said in
favor of Dr. Smith, but does not refer to his controversy
with Paine.
** This incident is related in the interest of religion in
Mr. Henry's "Account of Arnold's Campaign against Quebec."
The book repeats the old charge of drunkenness against
Paine, but the untrustworthiness of the writer's memory is
shown in his saying that his father grieved when Paine's
true character appeared, evidently meaning his "infidelity."
His father died in 1786, when no suspicion either of Paine's
habits or orthodoxy had been heard.
{1780}
On the same day there was introduced into that Assembly an act for the
abolition of slavery in the State, which then contained six thousand
negro slaves. The body of this very moderate measure was prepared by
George Bryan, but the much admired preamble has been attributed by
tradition to the pen of Paine.* That this tradition is correct is now
easily proved by a comparison of its sentiments and phraseology with the
antislavery writings of Paine presented in previous pages of this work.
The author, who alone seems to have been thinking of the negroes and
their rights during that revolutionary epoch, thus had some reward
in writing the first proclamation of emancipation in America. The act
passed March 1, 1780.
* "Life and Correspondence of Joseph Reed," ii., p. 177;
North American Review, vol. lvii., No. cxx.
The Preamble is as follows:
"I. When we contemplate our abhorrence of that condition, to which the
arms and tyranny of Great Britain were exerted to reduce us, when we
look back on the variety of dangers to which we have been exposed, and
how miraculously our wants in many instances have been supplied, and
our deliverances wrought, when even hope and human fortitude have
become unequal to the conflict, we are unavoidably led to a serious and
grateful sense of the manifold blessings, which we have undeservedly
received from the hand of that Being, from whom every good and perfect
gift cometh. Impressed with these ideas, we conceive that is is our
duty, and we rejoice that it is in our power, to extend a portion of
that freedom to others, which hath been extended to us, and release from
that state of thraldom, to which we ourselves were tyrannically doomed,
and from which we have now every prospect of being delivered. It is not
for us to enquire why, in the creation of mankind, the inhabitants of
the several parts of the earth were distinguished by a difference in
feature or complexion. It is sufficient to know that all are the work
of the Almighty Hand. We find in the distribution of the human species,
that the most fertile as well as the most barren parts of the earth
are inhabited by men of complexions different from ours, and from each
other; from whence we may reasonably as well as religiously infer, that
He, who placed them in their various situations, hath extended
equally his care and protection to all, and that it becometh not us to
counteract his mercies. We esteem it a peculiar blessing granted to
us, that we are enabled this day to add one more step to universal
civilization, by removing, as much as possible, the sorrows of those,
who have lived in undeserved bondage, and from which, by the assumed
authority of the Kings of Great Britain, no effectual, legal relief
could be obtained. Weaned, by a long course of experience, from those
narrow prejudices and partialities we had imbibed, we find our hearts
enlarged with kindness and benevolence towards men of all conditions
and nations; and we conceive ourselves at this particular period
particularly called upon by the blessings which we have received, to
manifest the sincerity of our profession, and to give a substantial
proof of our gratitude.
"II. And whereas the condition of those persons, who have heretofore
been denominated Negro and Mulatto slaves, has been attended with
circumstances, which not only deprived them of the common blessings
that they were by nature entitled to, but has cast them into the deepest
afflictions, by an unnatural separation and sale of husband and wife
from each other and from their children, an injury, the greatness
of which can only be conceived by supposing that we were in the
same unhappy case. In justice, therefore, to persons so unhappily
circumstanced, and who, having no prospect before them whereon they may
rest their sorrows and their hopes, have no reasonable inducement to
render their service to society, which they otherwise might, and also in
grateful commemoration of our own happy deliverance from that state
of unconditional submission to which we were doomed by the tyranny of
Britain.
"III. Be it enacted, &c."
The New Year, 1780, found Washington amid much distress at Morristown.
Besides the published letters which attest this I have found an extract
from one which seems to have escaped the attention of Washington's
editors.* It was written at Morristown, January 5th.
* It is in the Ward Collection at Lafayette College, Easton,
Pa., copied by a (probably) contemporary hand.
"It gives me extreme Pain that I should still be holding up to Congress
our wants on the score of Provision, when I am convinced that they are
doing all that they can for our relief. Duty and necessity, however,
constrain me to it. The inclosed copies of Letters from Mr. Flint, the
Assistant Commissary, and from Gen. Irvine, who commands at present our
advanced troops, contain a just Representation of our situation. To add
to our Difficulties I very much fear that the late violent snow storm
has so blocked up the Roads, that it will be some days before the
scanty supplies in this quarter can be brought to camp. The troops, both
officers and men, have borne their Distress, with a patience scarcely
to be conceived. Many of the latter have been four or five days
without meat entirely and short of Bread, and none but very scanty
Supplies--Some for their preservation have been compelled to maraud and
rob from the Inhabitants, and I have it not in my power to punish or
reprove the practice. If our condition should not undergo a very speedy
and considerable change for the better, it will be difficult to point
out all the consequences that may ensue. About forty of the Cattle
mentioned by Mr. Flint got in last night."
The times that tried men's souls had come again. The enemy, having
discovered the sufferings of the soldiers at Morristown, circulated
leaflets inviting them to share the pleasures of New York. Nor were
they entirely unsuccessful. On May 28th was penned the gloomiest
letter Washington ever wrote. It was addressed to Reed, President of
Pennsylvania, and the Clerk (Paine) read it to the Assembly. "I assure
you," said the Commander's letter, "every idea you can form of our
distresses will fall short of the reality. There is such a combination
of circumstances to exhaust the patience of the soldiery that it begins
at length to be worn out, and we see in every line of the army the most
serious features of mutiny and sedition." There was throughout the long
letter a tone of desperation which moved the Assembly profoundly. At
the close there was a despairing silence, amid which a member arose and
said, "We may as well give up first as last." The treasury was nearly
empty, but enough remained to pay Paine his salary, and he headed
a subscription of relief with $500.* The money was enclosed to Mr.
M'Clenaghan, with a vigorous letter which that gentleman read to a
meeting held in a coffee-house the same evening. Robert Morris and
M'Clenaghan subscribed L200 each, hard money. The subscription, dated
June 8th, spread like wildfire, and resulted in the raising of L300,000,
which established a bank that supplied the army through the campaign,
and was incorporated by Congress on December 21st.
* The salary was drawn on June 7th, and amounted to $1,699.
For particulars concerning Paine's connection with the
Assembly I am indebted to Dr. William H. Egle, State
Librarian of Pennsylvania.
Paine, by his timely suggestion of a subscription, and his "mite," as he
called it, proved that he could meet a crisis as well as write one.
He had written a cheery _Crisis_ in March, had helped to make good
its hopefulness in May, and was straightway busy on another. This
was probably begun on the morning when M'Clenaghan came to him with a
description of the happy effect and result produced by his letter and
subscription on the gentlemen met at the coffee-house. This _Crisis_
(June 9, 1780) declares that the reported fate of Charleston, like the
misfortunes of 1776, had revived the same spirit; that such piecemeal
work was not conquering the continent; that France was at their side;
that an association had been formed for supplies, and hard-money
bounties. In a postscript he adds: "Charleston is gone, and I believe
for the want of a sufficient supply of provisions. The man that does not
now feel for the honor of the best and noblest cause that ever a country
engaged in, and exert himself accordingly, is no longer worthy of a
peaceable residence among a people determined to be free."
Meanwhile, on "Sunday Morning, June 4th," Paine wrote to President Reed
a private letter:
"Sir,--I trouble you with a few thoughts on the present state of
affairs. Every difficulty we are now in arises from an empty treasury
and an exhausted credit. These removed and the prospect were brighter.
While the war was carried on by emissions at the pleasure of Congress,
any body of men might conduct public business, and the poor were of
equal use in government with the rich. But when the means must be drawn
from the country the case becomes altered, and unless the wealthier part
throw in their aid, public measures must go heavily on.
"The people of America understand rights better than politics. They have
a clear idea of their object, but are greatly deficient in comprehending
the means. In the first place, they do not distinguish between sinking
the debt, and raising the current expenses. They want to have the war
carried on, the Lord knows how.
"It is always dangerous to spread an alarm of danger unless the prospect
of success be held out with it, and that not only as probable, but
naturally essential. These things premised, I beg leave to mention, that
suppose you were to send for some of the richer inhabitants of the City,
and state to them the situation of the army and the treasury, not as
arising so much from defect in the departments of government as from
a neglect in the country generally, in not contributing the necessary
support in time. If they have any spirit, any foresight of their own
interest or danger, they will promote a subscription either of money or
articles, and appoint a committee from among themselves to solicit the
same in the several Counties; and one State setting the example, the
rest, I presume, will follow. Suppose it was likewise proposed to them
to deposit their plate to be coined for the pay of the Army, crediting
the government for the value, by weight.
"If measures of this kind could be promoted by the richer of the Whigs,
it would justify your calling upon the other part to furnish their
proportion without ceremony, and these two measures carried, would make
a draft or call for personal service the more palatable and easy.
"I began to write this yesterday. This morning, it appears clear to me
that Charleston is in the hands of the enemy, and the garrison
prisoners of war. Something must be done, and that something, to give it
popularity, must begin with men of property. Every care ought now to be
taken to keep goods from rising. The rising of goods will have a most
ruinous ill effect in every light in which it can be viewed.
"The army must be reunited, and that by the most expeditious possible
means. Drafts should first be countenanced by subscriptions, and if men
would but reason rightly, they would see that there are some thousands
in this State who had better subscribe thirty, forty, or fifty guineas
apiece than run the risk of having to settle with the enemy. Property is
always the object of a conqueror, wherever he can find it. A rich man,
says King James, makes a bonny traitor; and it cannot be supposed that
Britain will not reimburse herself by the wealth of others, could she
once get the power of doing it. We must at least recruit eight or ten
thousand men in this State, who had better raise a man apiece, though
it should cost them a thousand pounds apiece, than not have a sufficient
force, were it only for safety sake. Eight or ten thousand men, added to
what we have now got, with the force that may arrive, would enable us
to make a stroke at New York, to recover the loss of Charleston--but the
measure must be expeditious.
"I suggest another thought. Suppose every man, working a plantation,
who has not taken the oath of allegiance, in Philadelphia County, Bucks,
Chester, Lancaster, Northampton, and Berks, were, by the new power
vested in the Council, called immediately upon for taxes in kind at a
certain value. Horses and wagons to be appraised. This would not only
give immediate relief, but popularity to the new power. I would remark
of taxes in kind, that they are hard-money taxes, and could they be
established on the non-jurors, would relieve us in the articles of
supplies.
"But whatever is necessary or proper to be done, must be done
immediately. We must rise vigorously upon the evil, or it will rise upon
us. A show of spirit will grow into real spirit, but the Country must
not be suffered to ponder over their loss for a day. The circumstance
of the present hour will justify any means from which good may arise. We
want rousing.
"On the loss of Charleston I would remark--the expectation of a foreign
force arriving will embarrass them whether to go or to stay; and in
either case, what will they do with their prisoners? If they return,
they will be but as they were as to dominion; if they continue, they
will leave New York an attackable post. They can make no new movements
for a considerable time. They may pursue their object to the Southward
in detachments, but then in every main point they will naturally be at a
stand; and we ought immediately to lay hold of the vacancy.
"I am, Sir, your obedient humble servant,
"Thomas Paine."
If Paine had lost any popularity in consequence of his indirect censure
by Congress, a year before, it had been more than regained by his action
in heading the subscription, and the inspiriting effect of his pamphlets
of March and June, 1780. The University of the State of Pennsylvania,
as it was now styled, celebrated the Fourth of July by conferring on him
the degree of Master of Arts.* Among the trustees who voted to confer
on him this honor were some who had two years before refused to take the
American oath of allegiance.
In the autumn appeared Paine's _Crisis Extraordinary_. It would appear
by a payment made to him personally, that in order to make his works
cheap he had been compelled to take his publications into his own
hands.** The sum of $360 paid for ten dozen copies of this pamphlet was
really at the rate of five cents per copy. It is a forcible reminder of
the depreciation of the Continental currency. At one period Paine says
he paid $300 for a pair of woollen stockings.
* Mr. Burk, Secretary of the University of Pennsylvania,
sends me some interesting particulars. The proposal to
confer the degree on Paine was unanimously agreed to by the
trustees present, who were the Hon. Joseph Reed, President
of the Province; Mr. Moore, Vice-President; Mr. Sproat
(Presbyterian minister), Mr. White (the Bishop), Mr.
Helmuth, Mr. Wei-borg (minister of the German Calvinist
Church), Mr. Farmer (Roman Catholic Rector of St. Mary's),
Dr. Bond, Dr. Hutchkinson, Mr. Muhlenberg (Lutheran
minister). There were seven other recipients of the honor on
that day, all eminent ministers of religion; and M.D. was
conferred on David Ramsay, a prisoner with the enemy.
** "In Council. Philadelphia, October 10th, 1780. Sir,--Pay
to Thomas Paine Esquire, or his order, the amount of three
hundred and sixty dollars Continental money in State money,
at sixty to one, amount of his account for 10 dozen of the
Crisis Extraordinary. Wm. Moore, Vice President.--To David
Rittenhouse Esquire, Treasurer."
Although the financial emergency had been tided over by patriotic
sacrifices, it had disclosed a chaos.
"Sir,--Please to pay the within to Mr. Willm. Harris, and you will
oblige yr. obt. Hble. Sert., Thos. Paine.--David Rittenhouse Esq."
"Red. in full, H. Wm. Harris." [Harris printed the pamphlet].
Congress, so far from being able to contend with Virginia on a point
of sovereignty, was without power to levy taxes. "One State," writes
Washington (May 31st) "will comply with a requisition of Congress;
another neglects to do it; a third executes it by halves; and all differ
either in the manner, the matter, or so much in point of time, that we
are always working up hill, and ever shall be; and, while such a system
as the present one or rather want of one prevails, we shall ever be
unable to apply our strength or resources to any advantage." In the
letter of May 28th, to the President of Pennsylvania, which led to the
subscription headed by Paine, Washington pointed out that the resources
of New York and Jersey were exhausted, that Virginia could spare nothing
from the threatened South, and Pennsylvania was their chief dependence.
"The crisis, in every point of view, is extraordinary." This sentence of
Washington probably gave Paine his title, Crisis Extraordinary. It is in
every sense a masterly production. By a careful estimate he shows that
the war and the several governments cost two millions sterling annually.
The population being 3,000,000, the amount would average 13s. 4d. per
head. In England the taxation was L2 per head. With independence a peace
establishment in America would cost 5s. per head; with the loss of it
Americans would have to pay the L2 per head like other English subjects.
Of the needed annual two millions, Pennsylvania's quota would be an
eighth, or L250,000; that is, a shilling per month to her 375,000
inhabitants,--which subjugation would increase to three-and-threepence
per month. He points out that the Pennsylvanians were then paying only
L64,280 per annum, instead of their real quota of L250,000, leaving
a deficiency of L185, 720, and consequently a distressed army. After
showing that with peace and free trade all losses and ravages would be
speedily redressed, Paine proposes that half of Pennsylvania's quota,
and L60,000 over, shall be raised by a tax of 7s. per head. With this
sixty thousand (interest on six millions) a million can be annually
borrowed. He recommends a war-tax on landed property, houses, imports,
prize goods, and liquors. "It would be an addition to the pleasures
of society to know that, when the health of the army goes round, a few
drops from every glass become theirs."
On December 30, 1780, Dunlap advertised Paine's pamphlet "Public Good."
Under a charter given the Virginia Company in 1609 the State of Virginia
claimed that its southern boundary extended to the Pacific; and that its
northern boundary, starting four hundred miles above, on the Atlantic
coast, stretched due northwest. To this Paine replies that the charter
was given to a London company extinct for one hundred and fifty years,
during which the State had never acted under that charter. Only the
heirs of that company's members could claim anything under its extinct
charter. Further, the State unwarrantably assumed that the northwestern
line was to extend from the northern point of its Atlantic base; whereas
there was more reason to suppose that it was to extend from the southern
point, and meet a due west line from the northern point, thus forming a
triangular territory of forty-five thousand square miles. Moreover, the
charter of 1609 said the lines should stretch "from sea to sea." Paine
shows by apt quotations that the western sea was supposed to be a short
distance from the Atlantic, and that the northwestern boundary claimed
by Virginia would never reach the said sea, "but would form a spiral
line of infinite windings round the globe, and after passing over
the northern parts of America and the frozen ocean, and then into the
northern parts of Asia, would, when eternity should end, and not before,
terminate in the north pole." Such a territory is nondescript, and a
charter that describes nothing gives nothing. It may be remarked here
that though the Attorney-General of Virginia, Edmund Randolph, had to
vindicate his State's claim, he used a similar argument in defeating
Lord Fairfax's claim to lands in Virginia which had not been discovered
when his grant was issued.* All this, however, was mere fencing
preliminary to the real issue. The western lands, on the extinction
of the Virginia companies, had reverted to the Crown, and the point
in which the State was really interested was its succession to the
sovereignty of the Crown over all that territory. It was an early
cropping up of the question of State sovereignty. By royal proclamation
of 1763 the province of Virginia was defined so as not to extend beyond
heads of rivers emptying in the Atlantic.
* "Omitted Chapters of History Disclosed in the Life and
Papers of Edmund Randolph," pp. 47, 60.
Paine contended that to the sovereignty of the Crown over all
territories beyond limits of the thirteen provinces the United States
had succeeded. This early assertion of the federal doctrine, enforced
with great historical and legal learning, alienated from Paine some of
his best Southern friends. The controversy did not end until some
years later. After the peace, a proposal in the Virginia Legislature to
present Paine with something for his services, was lost on account of
this pamphlet.*
* Of course this issue of State v. National sovereignty was
adjourned to the future battle-field, where indeed it was
not settled. Congress accepted Virginia's concession of the
territory in question (March I, 1784), without conceding
that it was a donation; it accepted some of Virginia's
conditions, but refused others, which the State surrendered.
A motion that this acceptance did not imply endorsement of
Virginia's claim was lost, but the contrary was not
affirmed. The issue was therefore settled only in Paine's
pamphlet, which remains a document of paramount historical
interest.
There was, of course, a rumor that Paine's pamphlet was a
piece of paid advocacy. I remarked among the Lee MSS., at
the University of Virginia, an unsigned scrap of paper
saying he had been promised twelve thousand acres of western
land. Such a promise could only have been made by the old
Indiana, or Vandalia, Company, which was trying to revive
its defeated claim for lands conveyed by the Indians in
compensation for property they had destroyed. Their agent,
Samuel Wharton, may have employed Paine's pen for some kind
of work. But there is no faintest trace of advocacy in
Paine's "Public Good." He simply maintains that the
territories belong to the United States, and should be sold
to pay the public debt,--a principle as fatal to the claim
of a Company as to that of a State.
The students of history will soon be enriched by a "Life of Patrick
Henry," by his grandson, William Wirt Henry, and a "Life of George
Mason," by his descendant, Miss Rowland. In these works by competent
hands important contributions will be made (as I have reason to know) to
right knowledge of the subject dealt with by Paine in his "Public Good."
It can here only be touched on; but in passing I may say that Virginia
had good ground for resisting even the semblance of an assertion of
sovereignty by a Congress representing only a military treaty between
the colonies; and that Paine's doctrine confesses itself too idealistic
and premature by the plea, with which his pamphlet closes, for the
summoning of a "continental convention, for the purpose of forming
a continental constitution, defining and describing the powers and
authority of Congress."