Strictures o• the Second Part of Paine's Rights of Man, with copious Extracts.
(From the Analytical Review for March, 1792.)
COURTEOUS reader, we announce to thee, the publication of the Second part of the Rights of Man. Wert thou pleased with the first part? Thou wilt be delighted with the second. Didst thou say of the former, such a work deserves no other consutation than that of criminal justice? Thou wilt say of this, the only way to answer it is to hang the author.
For our parts, we wish neither to kindle thy hopes, nor to provoke thy horrors. Lo! we in∣troduce thee to the author, and leave thoe and him to settle the proper mode of confutation. Only keep your tempers. We will sit by; and as re∣viewers of the controversy, will occasionally break silence. We will also take the liberty of dropping at the close a few remarks, to qualify your tem∣pers, if you should chance to disagree.
Thou wilt perceive, reader, at the outset, that Mr. P: so far from thinking he has received any defeat from the replies made to his former publica∣tion, conceives himself to stand on an eminence, asserts a victory, and claims a triumph. p. vii.
'Several other reasons contributed to produce this determination (of deferring the remainder of his work.) I wished to know the manner in which a work, written in a style of thinking and expression different to what had been customary in England, would be received before I proceeded farther. A great field was opening to the view of mankind by means of the French Revolution. Mr. Burke's outrageous opposition thereto brought the controversy into England. He attacked prin∣ciples which he knew (from information) I would contest with him, because they are principles I believe to be good, and which I have contributed Page 224to establish, and conceive myself bound to defend, Had he not urged the controversy, I had most probably been a silent man.
'Another reason was, that Mr. Burke promised in his first publication to renew the subject at ano∣ther opportunity, and to make a comparison of what he called the English and French Constitu∣tions. I therefore held myself in reserve for him, He has published two works since, without doing this; which he certainly would not have omitted, had the comparison been in his favour.
'In his last work, "His appeal from the new to the old Whigs," he has quoted about ten pages from the Rights of Man, and having given himself the trouble of doing this, says,
'The title, as well as the substance of his l•st work, his "Appeal," is his condemnation. Prin∣ciples must stand on their own merits, and if they are good, they certainly will. To put them un∣der the shelter of other men's authority, as Mr. Burke has done, serves to bring them into suspi∣cion. Mr. Burke is not very fond of dividing ••s honours, but in this case he is artfully dividing the disgrace.
'But who are those to whom Mr. Burke has made his appeal? A set of childish thi•kers and half-way politicians born in the last century; men who went no farther with any principle than as it Page 225suited their purpose as a party; the nation was al∣ways lest out of the question; and this has been the character of every party from that day to this. The nation sees nothing in such works, or such politics worthy its attention. A little matter will move a party, but it must be something great that moves a nation.
'Though I see nothing in Mr. Burke's Appeal worth taking notice of, there is, however, one expression upon which I shall offer a few remarks. After quoting largely from the Rights of Man, and declining to contest the principles contained in that work, he says,
'In the first place, it has not yet been done by any body. Not less I believe, than eight or ten pamphlets intended as answers to the former part of the "Rights of Man" have been published by different persons, and not one of them, to my knowledge, has extended to a second edition, nor are even the titles of them so much as generally remembered. As I am averse to unnecessarily mul∣tiplying publications, I have answered none of them. And as I believe that a man may write himself out of reputation when nobody else can do it, I am careful to avoid that rock.
'But as I would decline unnecessary publicati∣ons on the one hand, so would I avoid every thing that might appear like sullen pride on the other. If Mr, Burke, or any other person on his side the question, will produce an answer to the "Rights of Man," that shall extend to an half, or even to a fourth part of the number of copies to which the Rights of Man extended, I will reply to his work. But untill this be done, I shall so far take the sense of the public for my guide, (and the world knows Page 226I am not a flatterer) that what they do not think worth while to read, is not worth mine to answer, I suppose the number of copies to which the first part of the Rights of Man extended, taking En∣gland, Scotland, and fieland, is not less than be∣tween forty and fifty thousand.
Mr. P. taking the common notion of the excel∣lency of the English constitution (Mr. P. will ex∣cuse our using that expression) to be fallacious, and aiming to prepare his readers for remarks on its imperfections, proceeds as follows. P. XIV.
'As to the prejudices which men have from education and habit, in favour of any particular form or system of government, those prejudices have yet to stand the test of reason and reflection. In fact, such prejudices are nothing. No man is prejudiced in favour of a thing, knowing it to be wrong. He is attached to it on the belief of its being right; and when he sees it is not so, the prejudice will be gone. We have but a defective idea of what prejudice is. It might be said, that until men think for themselves the whole is pre∣judice, and not opinion; for that only is opinion which is the result of reason and reflection. I offer this remark, that Mr. Burke may not conside too much in what has been the customary preju∣dices of the country.
'I do not believe that the people of England have ever been fairly and candidly dealt by. They have been imposed upon by parties, and by men assuming the character of leaders. It is time that the nation should rise above those trifles. It is time to dismiss that inattention which has so long been the encouraging cause of stretching taxation to excess. It is time to dismiss all those songs and toasts which are calculated to enslave, and ope∣rate to suffocate reflection. On all such subjects men have but to think, and they will neither act wrong, nor be misled. To say that any people are Page 227not fit for freedom, is to make poverty their choice, and to say they had rather be loaded with taxes than not. If such a case could be proved, it would equally prove, that those who govern are not fit to govern them, for the 〈◊〉 are a part of the same national mass.
'But admissing government •o be changed all over Europe; it certainly 〈◊〉 be done without convulsion or revenge. It is not worth making changes or revolations, unless it be for so ne great national benefit; and when this shall appear to a nation, the danger will be, as in America and France, to those who oppose.'
Speaking of the expectations to be formed from the prevailing bias towards revolutions in different nations, our author of serves, P. 4.
'As revolutions have begun, (and as the proba∣bility is always greater against a thing beginning than of proceeding after it has begun), it is natural to expect that other revolutions will follow. The amazing and still encreasing expences with which old governments are conducted, the numerous wars they engage in or provoke, the embarrassments they throw in the way of universal civilization and commerce, and the oppression and usurpation they act at home have wearied out the patience, and exhausted the property of the world. In such a situation, and with the examples already exist∣ing, revolutions are to be looked for. They are become subjects of universal conversation, and may be considered as the Order of the day.
'If systems of government can be introduced, less expensive, and more productive of general happiness, than those which have existed, all at∣tempts to oppose their progress will in the end be fruitless. Reason, like time, will make its own way, and prejudice will fall in a combat with in∣terest. If universal peace, civilization, and com∣merce, are ever to be the happy lot of man, it Page 228cannot be accomplished but by a revolution in the system of governments. All the monarchical go∣vernments are military. War is their trade, plun∣der and revenue their objects. While such go∣vernments continue, peace has not the absolute security of a day. What is the history of all mo∣narchical governments, but a disgustful picture of human wretchedness, and the accidental respite of a few years repose? Wearied with war, and tired with human butchery, they sat down to rest, and called it peace. This certainly is not the con∣dition that Heaven intended for man; and if this be monarchy, well might monarchy be reckoned among the sins of the Jews.
'The revolutions which formerly took place in the world, had nothing in them that interested the bulk of mankind. They extended only to a change of persons and measures, but not of principles, and rose or sell among the common transactions of the moment. What we now behold, may not impro∣perly be called a "counter revolution" Conquest and tyranny, at some early period, dispossessed man of his rights, and he is now recovering them. And as the tide of all human affairs has its ebb and flow in directions contrary to each other, so also is it in this. Government sounded on a moral theory, on a system of universal peace, on the indefea∣sible hereditary Rights of Man, is now revolving from west to east, by a stronger impulse than the government of the sword revolved from east to west. It interests not particular individuals, but nations, in its progress, and promises a new aera to the human race.'
This work is divided into five chapters, present∣ing remarks on society and civilization—on the origin of the present old Governments (among the old governments comes poor old England)—on the old and new systems of governments—on constitu∣tions— Page 229ways and means of improving the condition of Europe.
With respect to the chapter on civilization, we cannot help expressing our admiration of many re∣marks, which betray great political capacity, and much originality of thought. Mr. Paine supposes, from the interest men have in society, that the in∣stances in which a formal government has any real benefit are few, and that the more perfect civili∣zation is, the sess occasion there is for government. Our author observes, P. 11.
'If we look back to the riots and tumults, which at various times have happened in England, we shall find, that they did not proceed from the want of a government, but that government was itself the generating cause; instead of consolidating so∣ciety, it divided it: it deprived it of its natural cohesion, aud engendered discontents and disorders, which otherwise would not have existed. In those associations which men promiscuously form for the purpose of trade, or of any concern, in which government is totally out of the question, and in which they act merely on the principles of society, we see how naturally the various parties unite; and this shews, by comparison, that go∣vernments, so far from being always the cause or means of order, are often the destruction of it. The riots of 1780 had no other source than the re∣mains of those prejudices, which the government itself had encouraged. But with respect to En∣gland there are also other causes.
'Excess and inequality of taxation, however disguised in the means, never fail to appear in their effects. As a great mass of the community are thrown hereby into poverty and discontent, they are constantly on the brink of commotion; and deprived, as they unfortunately are, of the means of information are easily heated to outrage. What∣ever the apparent cause of any riots may be, the Page 230real one is always want of happiness. It shews that something is wrong in the system of govern∣men, that injures the felicity by which society is to be preserved.
In speaking of the origin of the old governments, Mr. P. traces monarchy to a banditti of Ruffians! Do but hear him! p. 15.
'It is impossible that such governments as have hitherto existed in the world, could have com∣menced by any other means than a total violation of every principle sacred and moral. The obscu∣rity in which the origin of all the present old go∣vernments is buried, implies the iniquity and dis∣grace with which they began. The origin of the present government of America and France will ever be remembered, because it is honourable to record it; but with respect to the rest, even flat∣tery has consigned them to the tomb of time, with∣out an inspiration.
'It could have been no difficult thing in the early and solitary ages of the world, while the chief employment of men was that of attending flocks and herds, for a banditti of ruffians to over∣run a country, and lay it under contributions. Their power being thus established, the chief of the band contrived to lose the name of robber in that of monarch; and hence the origin of monar∣chy and kings.
'The origin of the government of England, so far as relates to what is called its line of monarchy, being one of the latest, is perhaps the best record∣ed. The hatred which the Norman invasion and tyranny begat, must have been deeply rooted in the nation, to have outlived the contrivance to obliterate it. Though not a courtier will talk of the curfeu bell, not a village in England has for∣gotten it.'
These remarks, however, though they will ap∣ply Page 231to most of the monarchies which have been established, will certainly not apply to all,
When treating on the origin of the old and new systems of government, our author makes the fol∣lowing severe reflections on hereditary govern∣ment, p. 21.
'Government ought to be a thing always in full maturity. It ought to be so constructed as to be superior to all the accidents to which individual man is subject; and therefore, hereditary successi∣on, by being subject to them all, is the most irregu∣lar and imperfect of all the systems of government.
'We have heard the Rights of Man called a le∣telling system; but the only system to which the word levelling is truly applicable, is the hereditary monarchical system. It is a system of mental level∣ling. It indiscriminately admits every species of character to the same authority. Vice and virtue. ignorance and wisdom, in short, every quality, good or bad, is put on the same level. Kings succeed each other, not as ra•ionals, but as ani∣mals. It signifies not what their mental or moral characters are. Can we then be surprited at the abject state of the human mind in monarchial countries, when the government itself is formed on such an abject levelling system?—It has no fixed character. To day it is one thing; to-morrow it is something else. It changes with the temper of every succeeding individual, and is s•bject to all the varieties of eaeh. It is government through the medium of passions and accident. It appears under all the various characters of childhood, de∣crepitude, dotage, a thing at nurse, in leading-strings, or in crutches. It reverses the wholesome order of nature. It occasionally puts children over men, and the conceits of non-age over wis∣dom and experience. In short, we cannot con∣ceive a more ridiculous figure of government, than hereditary succession, in all its cases presents.
'Could it be made a degree in nature, or an Page 232adict registered in heaven, and man could know in that virtue and wisdom should invariably appertain to hereditary succession, the objections to it would be removed; but when we see that nature acts as if she disowned and sported with the hereditary system: that the mental characters of successors, in all countries, are below the average of human understanding; that one is a tyrant, another an ideot, a third insane, and some all three together, it is impossible to attach confidence to it, when reason in man has power to act.'
In speaking on the tendency of elective govern∣ments, many political writers have spoken of them as the cause of civil wars. Mr. Paine on the other hand contends, that civil wars, which have origi∣nated from contested hereditary claims, are more numerous, and have been more dreadful, and of longer continuance, than those which have been occasioned by elective governments. Mr. Paine's views here correspond to the reflections made on the same subject by the illustrious sufferer Algernon Sidney.
One hardly can help smiling at the following remark, p. 36.
'Whether I have too little sense to see, or too much to be imposed upon; whether I have too much or too little pride, or of any thing else, I leave out of the question; but certain it is, that what is called monarchy, always appears to me a filly, contemptible thing. I compare it to some∣thing kept behind a curtain, about which there is a great deal of bustle and fuss, and a wonderful air of seeming solemnity; but when, by any accident, the curtain happens to be opened, and the com∣pany see what it is, they burst into laughter.'
Whether the remark be true or false, we do not determine; fed risum teneatis amici?
If those which follow be all true, however, dis∣posed Page 233as we were to smile, we could not avoid being grave. p. 38.
'That monarchy is all a bubble, a mere court artifice to procure money, is evident (at least to me), in every character in which it can be viewed. It would be impossible, on the rational system of representative government, to make out a bill of expences to such an enormous amount as this de∣ception admits. Government is not of itself a very chargeable institution. The whole expence of the federal government of America, founded, as I have already said, on the system of represen∣tation, and extending over a country ten times as large as England, is but six hundred thousand dol∣lars, or one hundred and thirty-five thousand pounds sterling.
'I presume, that no man in his sober senses, will compare the character of any of the kings of Eu∣rope with that of General Washington. Yet, in France, and also in England, the expence of the civil list only, for the support of one man, is eight times greater than the whole expence of the federal government in America. To assign a rea∣son for this, appears almost impossible. The ge∣nerality of people in America, especially the poor, are more able to pay taxes, than the generality of people either in France or England.
'But the case is, that the representative system diffuses such a body of knowledge throughout a nation, on the subject of government, as to explode ignorance, and preclude imposition. The craft of courts cannot be acted on that ground. There is no place for mystery; no where for it to begin. Those who are not in the representation, know as much of the nature of business as those who are. An affectation of mysterious importance would there be scouted. Nations can have no, secrets; and the secrets of courts, like those of individuals, are always their defects.'
Page 234'Our author, after stating the manner in which America proceeded in forming her constitution, still insists on what he had formerly advanced, viz. that England has no constitution. Whether truly or no, we leave others to decide. We will just quote a word or two on this subject.
'In England, (p. 50. 51.) it is not difficult to perceive that every thing has a constitution, except the nation. Every society and association that is established, first agreed upon a number of original articles, digested into form, which are its consti∣tution. It then appointed its officers, whose pow∣ers and authorities are deseribed in that constituti∣on, and the government of that society then com∣menced. Those officers, by whatever name they are called, have no authority to add to, alter, or abridge the original articles. It is only to the con∣stituting power that this right belongs.
'From the want of understanding the difference between a constitution and a government, Dr. Johnson, and all writers of his description, have always bewildered themselves. They could not but perceive, that there must necessarily be a con∣trouling power existing somewhere, and they placed this power in the discretion of the persons exer∣cising the government, instead of placing it in a constitution formed by the nation. When it is in a constitution, it has the nation for its support, and the natural and the political countrouling powers are together. The laws which are enacted by go∣vernments, countroul men only as individuals, but the nation, through its constitution, countrouls the whole government, and has a natural ability so to do. The final controuling power, therefore, and the original constituting power, are one and the same power.'
Having, as he thinks, demolished the doctrine of an 'English constitution,' he then drops a word or two on precedents, &c.
Page 235'In numerous instances, he says (P. 58.) 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 ta∣ken in the lump, and put at once for constitution and for law.
'Either the doctrine of precedents is policy to keep a man in a state of ignorance or is it a prac∣tical confession that wisdom degenerates in govern∣ments, as governments increase in age, and can only hobble along by the stilts and crutches of precedents. How is it that the same persons who would proudly be thought wiser than their prede∣cessors, appear at the same time only as the ghosts of departed wisdom? How strangely is antiquity treated! To answer some purposes it is spoken of as the times of darkness and ignorance, and to an∣swer others, it is put for the light of the world.
'If the doctrine of precedents is to be followed, the expences of government need not continue the same. Why pay men extravagantly, who have but little to do? If every thing that can happen is already in precedent, legislation is at an end, and precedent, like a dictionary, determines every case. Either, therefore, government has arrived at its dotage, and requires to be renovated, or all the occasions for exercising its wisdom have oc∣curred.'
In speaking on the expences of government our author is sometimes very affecting, and sometimes very indignant.
P. 68. 'It is inhuman to talk of a million ster∣ling a year, paid out of the public taxes of any country, for the support of any individual, whilst thousands who are forced to contribute thereto, 〈◊〉 pining with want, and struggling with misery. Government does not consist in a contrast between •••ons and palaces, between poverty and pomp; it is not instituted to rob the needy of his mite, Page 236and increase the wretchedness of the wretched.— But of this part of the subject I shall speak hereaf∣ter, and confine myself at present to political ob∣servations.
'When extraordinary power and extraordinary pay are allotted to any individnal in a government, he becomes the center, round which every kind of corruption generates and forms. Give to any man a million a year, and add thereto the power of creating and disposing of places, at the expence of a country, and the liberties of that country are no longer secure. What is called the splendor of a throne is no other than the corruption of the state. It is made up of a band òf parasites, living in luxurious indolence, out of the public taxes.
'When once such a vicious system is establish∣ed, it becomes the guard and protection of all in∣ferior abuses. The man who is in the receipt of a million a year, is the last person to promote a spirit of reform, lest, in the event, it should reach to himself. It is always his interest to defend in∣ferior abuses, as so many out-works to protect the citadel; and in this species of political fortification, all the parts have such a common dependence that it is never to be expected they will attack each other †
Page 237'Monarchy would not have continued so many ages in the world, had it not been for the abuses it protects. It is the master-fraud, which shelters all others. By admitting a participation of the spoil, it makes itself friends; and when it ceases to do this, it will cease to be the idol of courtiers.'
Every hereditary claim Mr. Paine not only treats as a great absurdity, but as a severe cruelty; as proceeding from a system which, while it ag∣grandizes one branch of a family, impoverishes all the rest, making them either beggars or pension∣ers. The younger branches of families thus made needy and dependent, too untaught to pursue a line of industry, and too high-spirited to submit to poverty, throw themselves on the mercy of go∣vernment, and become either tools or knaves.
Whatever sentiments particular readers may form on some part of this work, there are, we appre∣hend, in the last chapter, remarks entitled to the serious consideration of all parties, respecting the expences of government, the baneful tendency of charters and corporations—the oppressive nature of our taxes on the poor, arising from the very formation of our government, and our boasted sys∣tem of representation (which many writers, as well as Mr. Paine, ridicule as fallacious and theoretical or despise as necessarily corruptible, and oppres∣sive)— the progress of taxation in England—the necessary expences of government—and the means of disposing of the surplus taxes.
Page 238In remarking on what Mr. Burke said relative to the House of Peers, the following fact is produ∣ced, which Mr. Paine calls a fact not to be paral∣leled in the history of taxation.
P. 100. 'Notwithstanding taxes have encreased and multiplied upon every article of common consump∣tion, the land tax, which more particularly affects this 'pillar' has diminished. In 1788, the amount of the land-tax was 1,950,000l. which is half a million less than it produced almost an hundred years ago †, notwithstanding the rentals are in many instances doubled since that period.
'Before the coming of the Hanoverians, the taxes were divided in nearly èqual proportions between the land and articles of consumption, the land bearing rather the largest share; but since that aera, nearly thirteen millions annually of new taxes have been thrown upon consumption. The con∣sequence of which has been a constant encrease in the number and wretchedness of the poor, and in the amount of the poor-rates. Yet here again the burthens does not fall in equal proportions on the aristocracy with the rest of the community. Their residences, whether in town or country, are not mixed with the habitations of the poor. They live apart from distress, and the expence of reliev∣ing it. It is in manufacturing towns and labouring villages that those burthens press the heaviest; in many of which it is one class of poor support∣ing another.
'Several of the most heavy and productive taxes are so contrived, as to give an exemption to this pillar, thus standing in its own defence. The tax upon beer brewed for sale does not affect the aristocracy, who brew their own beer free of this duty. It falls only on those who have not conveni∣ency or ability to brew, and who must purchase it in Page 239small quantities. But what will mankind think of the justice of taxation, when they know, that this tax alone, from which the aristocracy are from circum∣stances exempt, is nearly equal to the whole of the land-tax, being in the year 1788, and it is not less now, than 1, 666, 152l. and with its proportion of the taxes on malt and hops, it exceeds it.—That a single article, thus partially consumed, and that chiefly by the working part, should be subject to a tax, equal to that on the whole rental of a nation, is, perhaps, a fact not to be parelleled in the histories of re∣venues.'
'The taxes levied by William the Conqueror, beginning in the year 1066, were 400,000l.—In the year 1466 they had decreased to 100,000. Five hundred years after the conquest (1566) the annual amount of taxes was 500,000l. Annual amount of taxes in 1791, 17,000,000l. exclusive of the expence of collection, and the drawbacks, which are nearly 2,000,000l. more.' The difference be∣tween the first 400 years and the last three, con∣tinues Mr. P. is so astonishing as to warrant an opinion that the national character of the English has changed. About 9,000,000l. of this sum is ap∣propriated to pay the interest of the national debt.
Mr. Paine supposes, from a variety of circum∣stances taken together, that the annual expenditure might be fixed at 1,500,000l. The surplus of more than 6,000,000l. out of the present current expen∣ces, he supposes, might be disposed of as follows. The poor rates might be abolished, and in lieu of them a remission of taxes might be made to the poor of double the amount of those rates out of the surplus taxes. By which means the poor would be benefited 20,000l. and the housekeepers 20,000l This remission he supposes to be applied to the edu∣cation of poor children, and the support of old people past their labour; to the education of chil∣dren of a class of people, who, though not strictly Page 240poor, are incapable of giving their children educa∣tion: to the relief of workmen (making the demand) on the birth of a child, and of every new married couple claiming in like manner; and 20.000l. to defray the funeral expences of persons who, travelling for work, die at a distance from their friends; 20,000l. to what he calls 'a world of little cases,' arising particularly in London. To make up the deficiency, necessary to supply the demand of these cases, he proposes to add 20,000l. the tax laid on coals in London, 'so iniquitously and wantonly applied to the support of the Duke of Richmond. The sum of 2,000,000l. of the current expences, Mr. Paine wonld apply as fol∣lows: 117,000l. to the relief of disbanded soldiers; additional pay to the remaining soldiers 19,500l. To the officers of the disbanded corps 117,000l. to the disbanded navy the same sum, amounting to 253,500l. the total 507,000l.; he also proposes, that as any part of this half million falls in, part of the taxes may be taken off. There now remain at least one million and an half of surplus taxes: he therefore proposes that the tax on houses and win∣dows may be taken off, amounting to 516, 299l. 6s. 0d. ¼, and the surplus of 10,000l. of sur∣plus taxes to be kept in reserve for incidental mat∣ters.
In this plan of reform Mr. Paine proposes, that the commutation tax may be taken off, and that there be substituted in its room a tax on estates, so regulated as to destroy the unnatural law of primo∣geniture, so fruitful of corruptions at elections.
Our author also proposes, that the laws regulat∣ing workmens wages should be abolished, and the yet remaining sum of surplus taxes (10000l.) he proposes to be applied to increase the salary of the inferior revenue officers, and of the inferior clergy.
Page 241Though we have already exceeded the bounds of our review, we cannot avoid transcribing the following passages.
p. 162. 'When a nation changes its opinion and habits of thinking, it is no longer to be go∣verned as before: but it would not only be wrong, but bad policy, to attempt by force what ought to be accomplished by reason. Rebellion consists in forcibly opposing the general will of a nation, whether by a party or by a government. The•e ought, therefore, to be in every nation a method of occasionally ascertaining the state of public opi∣nion with respect to government. On this point the old government of France was superior to the present government of England, because, on extra∣ordinary occasions, recourse could be had to what was then called the States General: But in Eng∣land there are no such occasional bodies; and as to those who are now called Representatives, a great part of them are mere machines of the court, placemen, and dependants.
'I presume, that though all the people of Eng∣land pay taxes, not an hundreth part of them are electors, and the members of one of the houses of parliament represent nobody but themselves. There is, therefore, no power but the voluntary will of the people that has a right to act in any matter respecting a general reform; and by the same right that two persons can confer on such a subject, a thousand may. The object, in all such prelimi∣nary proceedings, is to find out what the general sense of a nation is, and to be governed by it. If it prefer a bad or defective government to a reform, or chuse to pay ten times more taxes than there is occasion for, it has a right so to do; and so long as the majority do not impose conditions on the minority, different from what they impose on themselves, though there may be much error, there is no injustice. Neither will the error continue Page 242long. Reason and discussion will soon bring things to rights, however wrong they may begin. By such a progress no tumult is to be apprehended. The poor, in all countries, are naturally both peaceable and grateful in all reforms in which their interest and happiness is included. It is only by neglecting and rejecting them that they become tumultuous.'
Mr. P. seldom touches upon religion. His rea∣son he assigns as follows:
p. 171. 'I have carefully avoided to enlarge upon the subject, because I am inclined to believe, that what is called the present ministry wish to see contentions about religion kept up, to prevent the nation turning its attention to subjects of go∣vernment. It is, as if they were to say, 'Look that way, or any way, but this.'
