Paine, Dundas, and Onslow. A letter to Mr. Henry Dundas: ... in answer to his speech on the late excellent proclamation. Also two letters to Lord Onslow, ... By Thomas Paine, ...

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- [titlepage]

- TO Mr. HENRY DUNDAS.

- TO ONSLOW CRANLEY, OR THE CHAIRMAN WHO SMALL PRESIDE AT THE MEETING TO BE HELDAY EPSOM, JUNE 18.

- TO ONSLOW CRANLEY, COMMONLY CALLED LORD ONSLOW,

PAINE, DUNDAS, AND ONSLOW.

A LETTER TO MR. HENRY DUNDAS, ONE OF HIS MAJESTY'S PRINCIPAL SECRETARIES OF STATE, AND TREASURER OF THE NAVY.

IN ANSWER TO HIS SPEECH ON THE LATE EXCELLENT PROCLAMATION.

ALSO TWO LETTERS TO LORD ONSLOW, LORD LIEUTENANT OF THE COUNTY OF SURRY.

BY THOMAS PAINE, AUTHOR OF COMMON SENSE, A LETTER TO THE ABBE RAYNAL, A LETTER TO THE MARQUIS OF LANSDOWN, AND RIGHTS OF MAN.

LONDON: PRINTED FOR L. WAYLAND, NO. 2, MIDDLE-ROW, HOLBORN. 1792.

TO Mr. HENRY DUNDAS.

SIR,
London June 6, 1792.

AS you opened the debate in the house of Commons, May 25th, on the Proclamation for suppressing. Publications, which that Proclamation (without naming any) calls wicked and seditious, and as you applied those approbrious epithets to the works entitled "RIGHTS OF MAN," I think it unnecessary to offer any other reason for addressing this Letter to you.

I begin, then, at once, by declaring that I do not believe there are to be found in the writings of any author, ancient or modern, on the subject of Government, a spirit of greater benignity, and a stronger inculcation of moral principles than in those which I have published. They come, Sir, from a man, who, by having lived in different countries, and under different systems of Government, and who, being intimate in the construction of them, is a better judge of the subject than it is possible that you, from the want of those opportunities, can be:—And, besides this, they come from an heart that knows not how to beguile.

I will further say, that when that moment arrives in which the best consolation that shall be left will be that of looking back on some past actions, more virtuous, more meritorious, than the rest, I shall then with happiness remember, among other things, I have written the RIGHTS OF MAN.—As to what Proclamations, or Prosecutions, or Place-men, or Place-expectants,—those who possess, or those who are gaping for office, may say of them, it will not alter their character, either with the world or with me.

Having, Sir, made this declaration, I shall proceed to remark, not particularly upon your own Speech on that occasion, but on any other Speech to which your Motion on that day gave rise; and I shall begin with that of Mr. ADAM.

This Gentleman accuses me of not having done the very thing that I have done, and which he says, if I had done, he should not have accused me.

Mr. ADAM, in his Speech, (see the Morning Chronicle of May 26,) says, ‘That he had well considered the subject of Constitutional Publications, and was by no means ready to say (but the contrary) that books of science upon Government, though recommending a doctrine or system different from the form of our Constitution, (meaning that of England) were fit objects of prosecution; that if he did, he must condemn (which he meant not to do) HARRINGTON for his Oceana, SIR. THOMAS MORE for his Eutopia, and HUME for his Idea of a perfect Common-wealth. But, (continued Mr. Adam,) the Publication of Mr. PAINE was very different; for it reviled what was most sacred in the Constitution, destroyed every principle of subordination, and established nothing in their room. ’

I readily perceive that Mr. ADAM had not read the Second Part of Rights of Man, and I am put under the necessity, either of submitting to an erroneous charge, or of justifying myself against it; and I certainly shall prefer the latter.—If, then, I shall prove to Mr. ADAM, that, in my reasoning upon Systems of Government in the Second Part of Rights of Man, I have shewn as clearly, I think, as words can convey ideas, a certain System of Government, and that not existing in theory only, but already in full and established, practice, and systematically and practically free from all the vices and defects, of the English Government, and capable of producing more happiness to the People, and that also with an eightieth part of the Taxes, which the present System of English Government consumes; I hope he will do me the justice when he next goes to the House, to get up and confess he had been mistaken in saying, that I had established nothing, and that I had destroyed every principle of subordination. Having thus opened the case, I now come to the point.

In the Second Part of RIGHTS OF MAN, I have distinguished Government into two classes or systems; the one the hereditary system; the other the representative system.

In the First Part of Rights of Man, I have endeavoured to shew, and I challenge any man to refute it, that there does not exist a right to establish Hereditary Government; or, in other words Hereditary Governors; because Hereditary Government always means a Government yet to come, and the case always is, that the People who are to live afterwards, have always the same right to chuse a Government for themselves, as the people had who lived before them.

In the Second Part of Rights of Man, I have not repeated those arguments, because they are irrefutable; but have confined myself to shew the defects of what is called Hereditary Government, or Hereditary Succession; that it must, from the nature of it, throw Government into the hands of men totally unworthy of it, from want of principle, or unfitted for it from want of capacity.—James the IId. is recorded as an instance of the first of these cases; and instances are to be found almost all over Europe to prove the truth of the latter.

To shew the absurdity of the Hereditary System still more strongly, I will now put the following case—Take any fifty men promiscuously, and it will be very extraordinary, if out of that number, one man should be found, whose principles and talents taken together, (for some might have principles, and others have talents) would render him a person truly fitted to fill any very extraordinary office of National Trust. If, then, such a fitness of character could not be expected to be found in more than one person out of fifty, it would happen but one in a thousand years to the eldest son of any one family, admitting each, on an average, to hold the office twenty years. Mr. Adam talks of something in the Constitution which he calls most sacred; but I hope he does not mean hereditary succession, a thing which appears to me a violation of every order of nature, and of common sense.

When I look into History, and see the multitudes of men, otherwise virtuous, who have died, and their families been ruined, in defence of knaves and fools, and which they would not have done, had they reasoned at all upon the system; I do not know a greater good that an individual can render to mankind, than to endeavour to break the chains of political superstition. Those chains are now dissolving fast, and proclamations and prosecutions will serve but to hasten that dissolution.

Having thus spoken of the Hereditary System as a bad system, and subject to every possible defect; I now come to the Representative System; and this Mr. ADAM will find stated in the Second Part of the Rights of Man, not only as the best, but as the only Theory of Government under which the liberties of a people can be permanently secure.

But it is needless now to talk of mere Theory, since there is already a Government in full practice, established upon that Theory, or in other words, upon the Rights of Man, and has been so for almost twenty years. Mr. Pitt, in a speech of his some short time since, said, ‘That there never did, and never could exist a Government established upon those Rights, and that if it began at noon, it would end at night.’ Mr. Pitt is not yet arrived at the degree of a school-boy in this species of knowledge. His practice has been confined to the means of extorting revenue, and hist boast has been—how much ? Whereas the boast of the System of Government that I am speaking of, is not how much, but how little.

The System of Government purely representative, unmixed with any thing of hereditary nonsense, began in America. I will now compare the effects of that system of Government with the system of Government in England, both during, and since the close of the war.

So powerful is the Representative System; first, by combining and consolidating all the parts of a country together, however great the extent; and secondly, by admitting of none but men properly qualified into the Government, or dismissing them if they prove to be otherwise, that America was enabled thereby totally to defeat and overthrow all the schemes and projects of the Hereditary Government of England against her. As the establishment of the Revolution and Independance of America is a proof of this fact, it is needless to enlarge upon it.

I now come to the comparative effect of the two Systems since the close of the war, and I request Mr. Adam to attend to it.

America had internally sustained the ravage of upwards of seven years of war, which England had not. England sustained only the expence of the war; whereas America sustained, not only the expence, but the destruction of property committed by both armies. Not a house was built during that period, and many thousands were destroyed. The farms and plantations 〈1 page duplicate〉 〈1 page duplicate〉 along the coast of the country, for more than a thousand miles, were laid waste. Her commerce was annihilated. Her ships were either taken or had rotted within her own harbour. The credit of her funds had fallen upwards of ninety per cent that is, an original hundred pounds would not sell for ten pounds. In fine, she was apparently put back an hundred years when the war closed; which was not the case with England.

But such was the event, that the same Representative System of Government, though since better organized, which enabled her to conquer, enabled her also to recover; and she now presents a more flourishing condition, and a more happy and harmonized society under that system of Government, than any country in the world can boast under any other. Her towns are rebuilt, much better than before; her farms and plantations are in higher improvement than ever; her commerce is spread over the world, and her funds have risen from less than ten pounds the hundred to upwards of one hundred and twenty. Mr. Pitt, and his colleagues, talk of the things that have happened in his boyish Administration, without knowing what greater things have happened elsewhere, and under other systems of Government.

I next come to state the expence of the two systems, as they now stand in each of the countries; but it may first be proper to observe, that Government in America is what it ought to be, a matter of honour and trust, and not made a trade of for the purpose of lucre.

The whole amount of the nett taxes in England (exclusive of the expence of collection, of drawbacks, of seizures and condemnations, of fines and penalties, of fees of office, of litigations and informers, which are some of the blessed means of enforcing them) is, seventeen millions. Of this sum, about nine millions go for the payment of the interest of the National Debt, and the remainder, being about eight millions, is for the current annual expences. Thus much for one side of the case. I now come to the other.

The expence of all the several departments of the general Representative Government of the United States of America, extending over a space of country nearly ten times larger than England, is two hundred and ninety-four thousand, five hundred and fifty-eight dollars, which, at 4s. 6d. per dollar, is 66,275l. 11s. sterling, and is thus apportioned.

Expence of the Executive Department.

l.

s.

The Office of the Presidency, at which the President receives nothing for himself

5,625

0

Vice President

1,125

0

Chief Justice

900

0

Five associate Justices

3,937

10

Nineteen Judges of Districts and Attorney General

6,873

15

Legislative Department.

Members of Congress at six dollars (1l. 7s.) per day, their Secretaries, Clerks, Chaplains, Messengers, Door-keepers, &c.

25,515

0

Treasury Department.

Secretary, Assistant, Comptroller, Auditor, Treasurer, Register, and Loan-Office-Keeper, in each State, together with all necessary Clerks, Office-Keepers, &c.

12,825

0

Department of State, including Foreign affairs.

Secretary, Clerks, &c. &c.

1,400

5

Department of War.

Secretary, Clerks, Paymaster, Commissioner, &c.

1,462

10

Commissioners for settling Old Accounts.

The whole Board, Clerks, &c.

2,598

15

Incidental and Contingent Expences.

For Fire-wood, Stationary, Printing, &c.

4,006

16

Total

66,275

11

On account of the incursions of the Indians on the back settlements, Congress is, at this time, obliged to keep six thousand militia in pay, in addition to a regiment of foot, and a battalion of artillery, which it always keeps; and this increases the expence of the War Department to 390,000 dollars, which is 87,795l. sterling, but when Peace shall be concluded with the Indians, the greatest part of this expence will cease, and the total amount of the expence of Government, including that of the army, will not amount to one hundred thousand pounds sterling, which, as has been already stated, is but an eighteenth part of the expences of the English Government.

I request Mr. Adam and Mr. Dundas, and all those who are talking of Constitutions, and blessings, and Kings, and Lords, and the Lord knows what, to look at this statement. Here is a form and system of Government, that is better organized and better administered than any Government in the world, and that for less than one hundred thousand pounds per annum, and yet every Member of Congress receives, as a compensation for his time and attendance on public business, one pound seven shillings per day, which is at the rate of nearly five hundred pounds a year.

This is a government that has nothing to fear. It needs no proclamations to deter people from writing and reading. It needs no political superstition to support it. It was by encouraging discussion, and rendering the press free upon all subjects of Government, that the principles of Government became understood in America, and the people are now enjoying the present blessings under it. You hear of no riots, tumults, and disorders in that country; because their exists no cause to produce them. Those things are never the effect of Freedom, but of restraint, oppression, and excessive taxation.

In America there is not that class of poor and wretched people that are so numerously dispersed all over England, and who are to be told by a Proclamation, that they are happy; and this is in a great measure to be accounted for, not by the difference of Proclamations, but by the difference of Governments and the difference of Taxes between that country and this. What the labouring people of that country earn they apply to their own use, and to the education of their children; and do not pay it away in taxes as fast as they earn it, to support Court extravagance, and a long enormous list of Place-men and pensioners; and besides this, they have learned the manly doctrine of reverencing themselves, and consequently of respecting each other; and they laugh at those imaginary beings called Kings and Lords, and all the fraudulent trumpery of Courts.

When Place-men and Pensioners, or those who expect to be such, are lavish in praise of a Government, it is not a sign of its being a good one. The pension list alone, in England, (see Sir John Sinclair's History of the Revenue, page 6, of the Appendix,) is One Hundred and seven thousand Four Hundred and Four Pounds, which is more than the expences of the whole Government of America amount to. And I am now more convinced than before, that the offer that was made to me of a Thousand Pounds, for the copy-right of the Second Part of the Rights of Man, together with the remaining copy-right of the First Part, was to have effected, by a quick suppression, what is now attempted to be done by a Prosecution. The connection which the person who made that offer has with the King's Printing Office, may furnish part of the means of enquiring into this affair, when the Ministry shall please to bring their Prosecution to issue. But to return to my subject.—

I have said, in the Second Part of Rights of Man, and I repeat it here, that the service of any man, whether called King, President, Senator, Legislator, or any thing else, cannot be worth more to any country, in the regular routine of office, than Ten Thousand Pounds per annum. We have a better man in America, and more of a Gentleman than any King I ever knew of, who does not occasion even half that expence; for, though the salary is fixed at Five Thousand Two Hundred and Sixty-Five Pounds, he does not accept it, and it is only the incidental expences that are paid out of it. The name by which a man is called is, of itself, but an empty thing. It is worth and character alone which can render him valuable, for without these, Kings, and Lords, and Presidents are but jingling names.

But without troubling myself about Constitutions of Government, I have shewn, in the Second Part of Rights of Man, that an alliance may be formed between England, France, and America, and that the expences of Government in England may be put back to one million and an half, viz.

Civli expence of Government,

£500,000

Army,

500,000

Navy,

500,000

1,500,000

And even this sum is fifteen times greater than the expences of Government are in America; and it is also greater than the whole peace establishment of England amounted to about an hundred years ago. So much has the weight and oppression of Taxes encreased since the Revolution, and especially since the year, 1714.

To shew that the sum of 500,000l. is sufficient to defray all the civil expences of Government, I have, in that work, annexed the following estimate for any country of the same extent as England:

In the first place, three hundred Representatives, fairly elected, are sufficient for all the purposes to which Legislation can apply, and preferable to a larger number.

If then an allowance, at the rate of five hundred pounds per ann. be made to every Representative, deducting for non-attendance, the expence, if the whole number attended six months each year, would be £ 75,000

The Official Departments could not possibly exceed the following number, with the salaries annexed, viz.

Three Officers,

at 10,000l. each,

30,000

Ten ditto,

at 5,000l. each,

50,000

Twenty ditto,

at 2,000. each,

40,000

Forty ditto,

at 1,000l. each,

40,000

Two hundred ditto,

at 500l. each,

100,000

Three hundred ditto,

at 200l. each,

60,000

Five hundred ditto,

at 100l. each,

50,000.

Seven hundred ditto,

at 75l. each,

52,500

£. 497,500

If a Nation chose, it might deduct four per cent. from all the offices, and make one of twenty thousand pounds per annum; and style the person who should fill it, King, or Majesty, or Madjesty, or give him any other title.

Taking, however, this sum of one million and an half as an abundant supply for all the expences of Government under any form whatever, there will remain a surplus of nearly six millions and an half out of the present Taxes, after paying the interest of the National Debt; and I have shewn, in the Second Part of Rights of Man, what appears to me the best mode of applying the surplus money; for I am now speaking of expences and savings, and not of systems of Government.

I have in the first place, estimated the poor-rates at two millions annually, and shewn that the first effectual step would be to abolish the poor-rates entirely, (which would be a saving of two millions to the house-keepers,) and to remit four millions out of the surplus taxes to the poor to be paid to them in money in proportion to the number of children in each family, and the number of aged persons.

I have estimated the number of persons of both sexes in England, of fifty years of age and upwards, at 420,000, and have taken one-third of this number, viz. 140,000, to be poor people.

To save long calculations, I have taken 70,000 of them to be upwards of fifty years of age and under sixty, and the other to be sixty years and upwards; and to allow six pounds per ann. to the former class, and ten pounds per ann. to the latter. The expence of which will be,

Seventy thousand persons at 6l. per ann.

420,000

Seventy thousand persons at 10l. per ann.

700,000

£. 1,120,000

There will then remain of the four millions 2,880,000l. I have stated two different methods of appropriating this money. The one is to pay it in proportion to the number of children in each family, at the rate of three or four pounds per ann. for each child; the other is, to apportion it according to the expence of living in different countries; but in either of these cases it would, together with the allowance to be made to the aged, completely take off taxes from one-third of all the families in England, besides relieving all the other families from the burthen of poor-rates.

The whole number of families in England, lotting five souls to each family, is one million four hundred thousand, of which I take one third, viz. 466,666 to be poor families, who now pay four millions of taxes, and that the poorest pays at least four guineas a year; and that the other thirteen millions are paid by the other two-thirds. The plan, therefore, as stated in the work is, first, to remit or repay, as is already stated, this sum of four millions to the poor, because it is impossible to separate them from the others in the present mode of collecting taxes on articles of consumption; and, secondly, to abolish the poor-rates, the house and window-light tax, and to change the Commutation Tax into a progressive Tax on large estates, the particulars of all which are set forth in the work, and to which I desire Mr. ADAM to refer for particulars. I shall here content myself with saying, that to a town of the population of Manchester, it will make a difference in its favour, compared with the present state of things, of upwards of fifty thousand pounds annually, and so in proportion to all other places throughout the nation. This certainly is of more consequence, than that the same sums should be collected to be afterwards spent by riotous and profligate courtiers, and in nightly revels at the Star and Garter Tavern, Pall-Mall.

I will conclude this part of my letter with an extract from the Second Part of Rights of Man, which Mr. Dundas (a man rolling in luxury at the expence of the nation) has branded with the epithet of "wicked."

‘By the operation of this plan, the poor laws, those ins;truments of civil torture, will be superseded, and the wasteful expence of litigation prevented. The hearts of the humane will not be shocked by ragged and hungry children, and pers;ons of seventy and eighty years of age begging for bread. The dying poor will not be dragged from place to place, to breathe their last, as a reprisal of parish upon parish. Widows will have a maintenance for their children, and not be carted away, on the death of their husbands, like culprits and criminals, and children will no longer be considered as increasing the distresses of their parents. The haunts of the wretched will be known, because it will be to their advantage, and the number of petty crimes, the offspring of poverty and distress, will be lessened. The poor, as well as the rich, will then be interested in the support of Government and the cause and apprehension of riots and tumults will cease. Ye who sit in ease, and solace yourselves in plenty, and such there are in Turkey and Russia as well as in England, and who say to yourselves, are we not well off? have ye thought of these things? When ye do, ye will cease to speak and feel for yours;elves alone.’—Rights of Man, Part II. p. 136.

After this remis;s;ion of four millions be made, and the poor Rates and Hous;e and Windowlight Tax be abolished, and the Commutation Tax changed, there will still remain nearly one million and an half of surplus Taxes; and as by an alliance between England, France, and America, armies and navies will, in a great measure be rendered unnecessary; and as men who have either been brought up in, or long habited to, those lines of life, are still citizens of a nation in common with the rest, and have a right to participate in all plans of National benefit, it is stated in that work (Rights of Man, Part II.) to apply annually 507,000l. out of the surplus taxes to this purpose in the following manner:

To fifteen thousand disbanded soldiers, 3s. per week each (clear of deductions) during life

117,000

Additional pay to the remaining soldiers, per ann.

19,500

To the officers of the disbanded corps, during life, the same sum of

117,000

To fifteen thousand disbanded sailors, 3s. per week, during life

117,000

Additional pay to the remaining s;ailors

19,500

To the officers of the disbanded part of the navy, during life

117,000

£. 507,000

The limits to which it was proper to confine this letter, will not admit of my entering into further particulars. I address it to Mr. Dundas because he took the lead in the debate, and he wishes, I suppose, to appear conspicuous; but the purport of it is to justify myself from the charge which Mr. Adam has made.

This Gentleman, as has been observed in the beginning of this Letter, considers the writings of Harrington, Moore, and Hume, as justifiable and legal Publications, because they reasoned by comparison, though, in so doing, they shewed plans and systems of Government, not only different from, but preferable to, that of England; and he accuses me of endeavouring to confuse, instead of producing a system in the room of that which which I had reasoned against; whereas the fact is, that I have not only reasoned by comparison of the Representative system against the Hereditary system, but I have gone further; for I have produced an instance of a Government established entirely on the Representative system, under which much greater happiness is enjoyed, much fewer Taxes required, and much higher credit is establis;hed, than under the system of Government in England. The Funds in England have risen since the war only from 54l. to 97l. and they have been down, since the Proclamations, to 87l. whereas the Funds in America rose in the mean time from 10l. to 120l. His charge against me "of destroying every principle of subordination," is equally as groundless, which even a single paragraph from the work will prove, and which I shall here quote:

‘Formerly, when divisions arose respecting Governments, recourse was had to the sword, and a civil war ensued. That savage custom is exploded by the new system, and recourse is had to a National Convention. Discussion, and the generol will, arbitrates the question, and to this private opinion yields with a good grace, and order is preserved uninterrupted. ’—Rights of Man, Part II. p. 173.

That two different charges should be brought at the same time, the one by a Member of the Legislative for not doing a certain thing, and the other by the Attorney General for doing, it, is a strange jumble of contradictions. I have now justified myself, or the work rather, against the first, by stating the case in this letter, and the justification of the other will be undertaken in its proper place. But in any case the work will go on.

I shall now conclude this Letter with saying, that the only objection I found against the plan, and principles contained in the Second Part of Rights of Man when I had written the book, was, that they would beneficially interest at least ninety-nine persons out of every hundred throughout the nation, and therefore would not leave sufficient room for men to act from the direct and disinterested principle of honour; but the prosecution now commenced has fortunately removed that objection, and the approvers and protectors of that work now feel the immediate impulse of honour, added to that National Interest.

I am, Mr. Dundas, Not your obedient humble Servant But the contrary, THOMAS PAINE.

TO ONSLOW CRANLEY, OR THE CHAIRMAN WHO SMALL PRESIDE AT THE MEETING TO BE HELDAY EPSOM, JUNE 18.

London, June 17th, 1792.
SIR,

I HAVE s;een in the Public Newspapers the following Advertisement, to wit—

To the Nobility, Gentlemen, Clergy, Freeholders, and other Inhabitants of the County of Surry.

At the requisition, and desire of several of the Freeholders of the County, I am, in the absence of the Sheriff, to desire the favour of your attendance, at a Meeting to be held at Epsom, on Monday the 18th Instant, at 12 o'Clock at noon, to consider of an Humble Address to his MAJESTY, to express our grateful approbation of his MAJESTY paternal and well-timed attention to the public welfare, in his late most gracious Proclamation against the enemies of our happy Constitution.

(Signed) ONSLOW CRANLEY.

Taking it for granted, that the aforesaid Advertisement, equally as obscure as the Proclamation to which it refers, has nevertheless some meaning, and is intended to effect some purpose; and as prosecution (whether wisely or unwisely, justly or unjustly) is already commenced against a work intitled RIGHTS OF MAN, of which I have the honour and happiness to be the author; I feel it necessary to address this Letter to you, and to request that it may be read publicly to the Gentlemen who shall meet at Epsom in consequence of the Advertisement.

The work now under prosecution is, I conceive, the same work which is intended to be suppressed by the aforesaid Proclamation.—Admitting this to be the case, the Gentlemen of the county of Surrey are called upon by somebody to condemn a work, and they are at the same time forbidden by the Proclamation to know what that work is; and they are further called upon to give their aid and assistance to prevent other people from knowing it also.—It is therefore necessary that the Author, for his own justification, as well as to prevent the Gentlemen who shall meet from being imposed upon by misrepresentation, should give some outlines of the principles and plans which that work contains.

The work, Sir, in question contains, first, an investigation of general principles of Government.

It also distinguishes Government into two classes or systems, the one the hereditary system— the other the representative system; and it compares these two systems with each other.

It shews, that what is called Hereditary Government cannot exist as a matter of right; because Hereditary Government always means a Government yet to come; and the case always is, that those who are to live afterwards have always the same right to establish a Government for themselves as the people who had lived before them.

It also shews the defect to which Hereditary Government is unavoidably subject: that it must, from the nature of it, throw Government into the hands of men totally unworthy of it from the want of principle, or unfitted for it from want of capacity. JAMES the IId. and many others are recorded in the Englist History, as proofs of the former of those cases, and instances are to be found almost over Europe, to prove the truth of the latter.

It then shews that the representative system is the only true system of Government; that it is also the only system under which the liberties of any people can be permanently secure; and further, that it is the only one that can continue the same equal probability at all times of admitting of none but men properly qualified, both by principles and abilities, into Government, and of excluding such as are otherwise.

The work shews also, by plans and calculation not hitherto denied nor controverted, not even by the prosecution that is commenced, that the taxes now existing may be reduced at least six millions, that taxes may be entirely taken off from the Poor, who are computed at one third of the nation; and that taxes on the other two thirds may be considerably reduced— that the aged Poor may be comfortably provided for, and the children of poor families properly educated—that fifteen thousand soldiers, and the same number of sailors; may be disbanded and allowed three shillings per week during life out of the surplus taxes; and also that a proportion-allowance may be made to the officers, and the pay of the remaining soldiers and sailors be encreased; and that it is better to apply the surplus taxes to those purposes than to consume them upon lazy and profligate placemen and pensioners; and that the revenue, said to be twenty thousand pounds per annum, raised by a tax upon coals, and given to the Duke of RICHMOND, is a gross imposition upon all the people of London, ought to be instantly abolished.

This, Sir, is a concise abstract of the principles and plans contained in the work that is now prosecuted, and for the suppression of which the Proclamation appears to be intended: but as it is impossible that I can in the compass of a letter, bring into view all the matters contained in the work, and as it is proper that the Gentlemen who may compose that Meeting should know what the merits or demerits of it are, before they come to any resolutions, either directly or indirectly relating thereto, I request the honour of presenting them with one hundred copies of the Second Part of the RIGHTS OF MAN, and also one thousand copies of my letter to Mr. DUNDAS, which I have directed to be sent to Epsom for that purpose; and I beg the favour of the Chairman to take the trouble of presenting them to the Gentlemen who shall meet on that occasion, with my sincere wishes for their happiness, and for that of the Nation in general.

Having now closed thus much of the subject of my letter, I next come to speak of what has relation to me personally. I am well aware of the delicacy that attends it, but the purpose of calling the Meeting appears to me so inconsistent with that justice that is always due between man and man, that it is proper I should (as well on account of the Gentlemen who may meet, as on my own account) explain myself fully and candidly thereon.

I have already informed the Gentlemen, that a prosecution is commenced against a work of which I have the honour and happiness to be the Author; and I have good reasons for believing that the Proclamation which the Gentlemen are called to consider, and to present an Address upon, is purposely calculated to give an impression to the Jury before whom that matter is to come. In short, that it is dictating a verdict by Proclamation; and I consider the instigators of the Meeting to be held at Epsom, as aiding and abetting the same improper, and in my opinion illegal purpose, and that in a manner very artfully contrived, as I shall now shew.

Had a Meeting been called of the Freeholders of the County of Middlesex, the Gentlemen who had composed that Meeting would have rendered themselves objectionable as persons to serve on a Jury before whom the judicial case was afterwards to come. But by calling a meeting out of the County of Middlesex, that matter is artfully avoided, and the Gentlemen of Surrey are summoned, as if it were intended thereby to give a tone to the sort of verdict which the instigators of the Meeting no doubt wish should be brought in, and to give countenance to the Jury in so doing.

I am, SIR, With much respect to the Gentlemen who shall meet, Their and your obedient humble Servant, THOMAS PAINE,

TO ONSLOW CRANLEY, COMMONLY CALLED LORD ONSLOW,

London, June, 21, 1792.
SIR,

WHEN I wrote you the Letter which Mr. HORNE TOOKE did me the favour to present to you, as Chairman of the Meeting held at Epsom, Monday, June 18th it was not with much expectation that you would, do me the justice of permitting, or recommending it to be publickly read. I am well aware that the signature of THOMAS PAINE has something in it dreadful to sinecure Placemen and Pensioners; and when you, on seeing the Letter opened, informed the Meeting that it was signed THOMAS PAINE, and added, in a note of exclamation, "the common enemy of us all," you spoke one of the greatest truths you ever uttered, if you confine the expression to men of the same description with yourself; men living in indolence and luxury, on the spoil and labours of the public.

The letter has since appeared in the ARGUS, and probably in other papers. It will justify itself; but if any thing on that account hath been wanting, your own conduct at the Meeting would have supplied the omission. You there sufficiently proved that I was not mistaken in supposing that the Meeting was called to give an indirect aid to the prosecution commenced against a work, the reputation of which will long out-live the memory of the Pensioner I am writing to.

When Meetings, Sir, are called by the partizans of the Court, to preclude the Nation the right of investigating Systems and Principles of Government, and of exposing errors and defects, under the pretence of prosecuting any individual —it furnishes an additional motive for maintaining facred that violated right.

The principles and arguments contained, in the work in question, RIGHTS OF MAN, have stood, and they now stand, and I believe ever will stand, unrefuted. They are stated in a fair and open manner to the world, and they have already received the public approbation of a greater number of men, of the best of characters, of every denomination of religion, and of every rank in life, (Placemen and Pensioners excepted) than all the Juries that shall meet in England, for ten years to come, will amount to, and I have more-good reasons for believing that the approvers of that work, as well private as public, are already more numerous than all the present Electors throughout the Nation.

Not less than forty pamphlets, intended as answers thereto, have appeared, and as suddenly disappeared: Scarcely are the titles of any of them remembered, notwithstanding their endeavours have been aided by all the daily abuse which the Court and Ministterial Newspapers, for almost a year and a half, could bestow, both upon the work and the author; and now that every attempt to refute, and every abuse has failed, the invention of calling the work a Libel has been hit upon, and the discomfited party has pusillanimously retreated to prosecution and a Jury, and obscure Addresses.

As I well knew that a long Letter from me will not be agreeable to you, I will relieve your uneasiness by making it as short as I conveniently can; and will conclude it with taking up the subject at that part where Mr. HORNE TOOKE was interrupted from going on when at the Meeting.

That Gentleman was staring, that the situation you stood in render it improper for you to appear actively in a scene in which your private interest was too visible; that you were a Bedchamber Lord at a thousand a year, and a Pensioner at three thousand pounds a year more— and here he was stopped by the little, but noisy circle you had collected round. Permit me then, Sir, to add an explanation to his words, for the benefit of your neighbours, and with which, and a few observations, I shall close my letter.

When it was reported in the English Newspapers, some short time since, that the Empress of RUSSIA had given to one of her minions a large tract of country, and several thousands of peasants as property, it very justly provoked indignation and abhorrence in those who heard it. But if we compare the mode practiced in England, with that which appears to us so abhorrent in Russia, it will be found to amount to very near the same thing;—for example—

As the whole of the revenue in England is drawn by taxes from the pockets of the people, those things called gifts and grants, (of which kind are all pensions and sinecure places) are paid out of that stock. The difference, therefore, between the two modes is, that in England the money is collected by the Government, and then given to the Pensioner, and in Russia he is left to collect it for himself. The smallest sum which the poorest family in a county so near London as Surrey, can be supposed to pay annually of taxes, is not less than five pounds; and as your sinecure of one thousand, and pension of three thousand per annum, are made up of taxes paid by eight hundred such poor families, it comes to the same thing as if the eight hundered families had been given to you, as in Russia, and you had collected the money on your account. Were you to say that you are not quartered particularly on the people of Surrey, but on the nation at large, the objection would amount to nothing; for as there are more Pensioners than counties, every one may be considered as quartered on that in which he lives

What honour or happiness you can derive from being the PRINCIPAL PAUPER of the neighbourhood, and occasioning a greater expence than the poor, the aged, and the infirm, for ten miles round you, I leave you to enjoy. At the same time I can see that it is no wonder you should be strenuous in suppressing a book which strikes at the root of those abuses. No wonder that you should be against Reforms, against the Freedom of the Press, and the Right of Investigation. To you, and to others of your description, these are dreadful things; but you should also consider, that the motives which prompt you to act, ought, by reflection, to compel you to be silent.

Having now returned your compliment, and sufficiently tired your patience, I take my leave of you, with mentioning, that if you had not prevented my former Letter from being read at the Meeting, you would not have had the trouble of reading this; and also with requesting, that the next time you call me ‘ a common enemy, ’ you would add, "of us sinecure Placemen and Pensioners.

I am, Sir, &c. &c. &c. THOMAS PAINE.

Information about this book

Title statement

Paine, Dundas, and Onslow. A letter to Mr. Henry Dundas: ... in answer to his speech on the late excellent proclamation. Also two letters to Lord Onslow, ... By Thomas Paine, ...

Paine, Thomas, 1737-1809.

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University of Oxford Text Archive
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ID [ota]

http://ota.ox.ac.uk/id/5490

ID [isbn10]

1106024893

ID [isbn13]

9781106024893

ID [TCP]

K131636.000

ID [BIBNO]

cw3307754892

ID [ECSS]

1273800300

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Source

— Paine, Dundas, and Onslow. A letter to Mr. Henry Dundas: ... in answer to his speech on the late excellent proclamation. Also two letters to Lord Onslow, ... By Thomas Paine, ..., Paine, Thomas, 1737-1809.. 34p. ; 12⁰. London :: printed for L. Wayland,. 1792.. [Reproduction of original from the British Library.] [English Short Title Catalog, ESTCT224202.] [Electronic data. Farmington Hills, Mich. : Thomson Gale, 2003. Page image (PNG). Digitized image of the microfilm version produced in Woodbridge, CT by Research Publications, 1982-2002 (later known as Primary Source Microfilm, an imprint of the Gale Group).]

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