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A LETTER TO GEORGE WASHINGTON, ON THE SUBJECT OF THE LATE TREATY CONCLUDED BETWEEN GREAT-BRITAIN AND THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, INCLUDING OTHER MATTERS.

By THOMAS PAINE, AUTHOR OF COMMON SENSE, RIGHTS OF MAN, &c. &c. &c

PHILADELPHIA PRINTED.

LONDON: Reprinted for T. WILLIAMS, Little Turnſtile, High Holborn.

1797.

(PRICE SIXPENCE)

LETTER FROM THOMAS PAINE &c. &c.

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AS cenſure is but awkwardly ſoftened by apology, I ſhall offer you no apology for this letter. The eventful criſis, to which your double politics have conducted the affairs of your country, requires an inveſtigation uncramped by ceremony.

There was a time when the fame of America, moral and political, ſtood fair and high in the world. The luſtre of her revolution extended itſelf to every individual, and to be a citizen of America, gave a title to reſpect in Europe. Neither meanneſs nor ingratitude had then mingled in the compoſition of her character. Her reſiſtances to the attempted tyranny of England left her unſuſpected of the one, and her open acknowledgment of the aid ſhe received from France precluded all ſuſpicion of the other. The politics of Waſhington had not then appeared.

At the time I left America (April 1787) the continental Convention, that formed the federal conſtitution, was on the point of meeting. Since that time new ſchemes of politics, and new diſtinctions of parties, have ariſen. The term Antifederaliſt has been applied to all thoſe who combated the defects of that conſtitution, or oppoſed the meaſures of your adminiſtration. It was only to the abſolute neceſſity of eſtabliſhing ſome federal authority, extending equally over all the States, that an inſtrument ſo inconſiſtent as the preſent federal conſtitution is, obtained a ſuffrage. I would have voted for it myſelf, had I been in America, or even for a worſe, rather than have had none; provided it contained the means of remedying its defects by the ſame appeal to the people, by which it was to be eſtabliſhed. It is always better policy to leave removable errors to expoſe themſelves, than to hazard too much in contending againſt them theoretically.

[2]I have introduced theſe obſervations not only to mark the general difference between Antifederaliſt and Anticonſtitutionaliſt, but to preclude the effect, and even the application, of the former of theſe terms to myſelf. I declare myſelf oppoſed to ſeveral matters in the conſtitution, particularly to the manner in which what is called the executive is formed, and to the long duration of the ſenate; and it I live to return to America, I will uſe all my endeavours to have them altered. I alſo declare myſelf oppoſed to almoſt the whole of your adminiſtration; for I know it to have been deceitful, if not perfidious, as I ſhall ſhow in the courſe of this letter. But as to the point of conſolidating the States into a federal government, it ſo happens, that the propoſition for that purpoſe came originally from myſelf. I propoſed it in a letter to chancellor Livingſton in the ſpring of the year 1782, whilſt that gentleman was miniſter for foreign affairs. The five per cent duty recommended by congreſs had then fallen through, having been adopted by ſome of the States, altered by others, rejected by Rhode Iſland, and repealed by Virginia, after it had been conſented to. The propoſal in the letter I allude to, was to get over the whole difficulty at once, by annexing a continental legiſlative body to Congreſs; for in order to have any law of the Union uniform, the caſe could only be, that either Congreſs, as it then ſtood, muſt frame the law, and the States ſeverally adopt it without alteration, or, the States muſt elect a continental legiſlature for the purpoſe. Chancellor Livingſton, Robert Morris, Governor Morris, and myſelf, had a meeting at the houſe of Robert Morris on the ſubject of that letter. There was no diverſity of opinion on the propoſition for a continental legiſlature: the only difficulty was on the manner of bringing the propoſition forward. For my own part, as I conſidered it as a remedy in reſerve, that could be applied at any time, when the States ſaw themſelves wrong enough to be put right (which did not appear to be the caſe at that time,) I did not fee the propriety of urging it precipitately, and declined being the publiſher of it myſelf. After this account of a fact, the leaders of your party will ſcarcely have the hardineſs to apply to me the term of Antifederaliſt. But I can go to a date and to a fact beyond this. for the propoſition for electing a continental convention. To form the continental government is one of the ſubjects treated of in the pamphlet Common Senſe.

Having thus cleared away a little of the rubbiſh that might otherwiſe have lain in my way, I return to the point of time at which the preſent federal conſtitution and your adminiſtration began. It was very well ſaid by an anonymous writer in Philadelphia, about a year before that period, that "thirteen [3]ſtaves and ne'er a hoop will not make a barrel;" and as any kind of hooping the barrel. however defectively executed, would be better than none, it was ſcarcely poſſible but that conſiderable advantages muſt ariſe from the federal hooping of the States. It was with pleaſure that every ſincere friend to America beheld as the natural effect of union, her riſing proſperity, and it was with grief they ſaw that proſperity mixed, even in the bl [...]om, with the germ of corruption. Monopolies of every kind marked your adminiſtration almoſt in the moment of its commencement. The lands obtained by the revolution were laviſhed upon partizans; the intereſt of the diſbanded ſoldier was ſold to the ſpeculator; injuſtice was acted under the preſence of faith; and the chief of the army became the patron of the fraud. From ſuch a beginning what elſe could [...]e expected, than what has happened? A mean and ſervile ſubmiſſion to the inſults of one nation; treachery and ingratitude to another.

Some vices make their approach with ſuch a ſplendid appearance, that we ſcarcely know to what claſs of moral diſtinctions they belong. They are rather virtues corrupted than vices originally. But meanneſs and ingratitude have nothing equivocal in their character. There is not a trait in them that renders them doubtful. They are ſo originally vice, that they are generated in the dung of other vices, and crawl into exiſtence with the filth upon their back. The fugitives have found protection in you, and the levee-room is their place of rendezvous.

As the federal conſtitution is a copy, though not quite ſo baſe a the original, of the form of the Britiſh government, an imitation of its vices was naturally to be expected. So intimate is the connection between form and practice, that to adopt the one is to invite the other. Imitation is naturally progreſſive, and is rapidly ſo in matters that are vicious.

Soon after the federal conſtitution arrived in England, I received a letter from a female literary correſpondent (a native of New York) very well mixed with friendſhip, ſentiment, and politics. In my anſwer to that letter, I permitted myſelf to ramble into the wilderneſs of imagination, and to anticipate what might hereafter be the condition of America. I had no idea that the picture I then drew was realiſing ſo faſt, and ſtill leſs that Mr. Waſhington was hurrying it on. As the extract I allude to is congenial with the ſubject I am upon, I here tranſcribe it:

You touch me on a very tender point, when you ſay, that my friends on your ſide the water cannot be reconciled to the idea of my abandoning America even for my native England. [4]They are right. I had rather ſee my horſe Button eating the graſs of Bordentown or Morriſſania, than ſee all the pomp and ſhew of Europe.

A thouſand year hence, for I muſt indulge a few thoughts, perhaps in leſs, America may be what England now is. The innocence of her character, that won the hearts of all nations in her favour, may ſound like a romance, and her inimitable virtue as if it had never been. The ruins of that liberty, which thouſands bled to obtain, may juſt furniſh materials for a village tale, or extort a ſigh from ruſtic ſenſibility: while the faſhionable of that day, enveloped in diffication, ſhall deride the principle, and deny the fact.

When we contemplate the fall of empires, and the extinction of the nations of the ancient world, we ſee but little more to excite our regret than the mouldering ruins of pompous palaces, magnificent monuments, lofty pyramids, and walls and towers of the moſt coſtly workmanſhip: but when the empire of America ſhall fall, the ſubject for contemplative ſorrow will be infinitely greater than crumbling braſs, or marble can inſpire. It will not then be ſaid. Here ſtood a temple of vaſt antiquity, here roſe a Babel of inviſible height, or there a Palace of ſumtuous extravagance; but, Here, ah painful thought! the nobleſt work of human wiſdom, the greateſt ſcene of human glory, the fair cauſe of freedom, roſe and fell: Read this, and then aſk if I forget America!

Impreſſed as I was, with apprehenſions of this kind, I had America conſtantly in my mind in all the publications I afterwards made. The Firſt, and ſtill more, the Second Part of the Rights of Man, bear evident marks of this watchfulneſs; and the diſſertations on Firſt Principles of Government goes more directly to the point than either of the former. I now paſs on to other ſubjects.

It will be ſuppoſed by thoſe into whoſe hands this letter may fall, that I have ſome perſonal reſentment againſt you: and I will therefore ſettle this point before I proceed further.

If I have any reſentment, you muſt acknowledge that I have not been haſty in declaring it, neither would it now be declared (for what are private reſentments to the public) if the cauſe of it did not unite itſelf as well with your public as with your private character, and with the motives of your political conduct.

The part I acted in the American revolution is well known. I ſhall not here repeat it. I know alſo, that, had it not been for the aid received from France, in men, money, and ſhips, your cold and unmilitary conduct (as I ſhall ſhew in the courſe [5]of this letter) would in all probability have loſt America; at leaſt ſhe would not have been the independant nation ſhe now is. You ſlept away your time in the field, till the finances of the country were completely exhauſted, and you have but little ſhare in the glory of the final event. It is time, ſir, to ſpeak the undiſguiſed language of hiſtorical truth.

Elevated to the chair of the preſidency, you aſſumed the merit of every thing to yourſelf; and the natural ingratitude o [...] your conſtitution began to appear. You commenced your preſidental career by encouraging and ſwallowing the groſſeſt adulation; and you travelled America from one end to the other to put yourſelf in the way of receiving it. You have as many addreſſes in your cheſt as James the Second. As to what were your views, for if you are not great enough to have ambition you are little enough to have vanity, they cannot be directly inferred from expreſſions of your own; but the partizans of your politics have divulged the ſecret.

John Adams has ſaid, (and John it is known was always a ſpeller after places and offices, and never thought his little ſervices were highly enough paid) John has ſaid, that as Mr. Waſhington had no child, the preſidency ſhould be made hereditary in the family of Lun Waſhington. John might then have counted upon ſome ſinecure for himſelf, and a proviſion for his deſcendants. He did not go ſo far as to ſay alſo, that the vice preſidency ſhould be hereditary in the family of John Adams. He prudently left that to ſtand upon the ground, that one good turn deſerves another*.

John Adams is one of thoſe men who never contemplated the origin of government, or comprehended any thing of firſt principles. If he had, he might have ſeen, that the right to ſet up and eſtabliſh hereditary government never did, and never can, exiſt in any generation at any time whatever; that it is of the nature of treaſon, becauſe it is an attempt to take away the rights of all the minors living at that time, and of all ſucceeding generations. It is of a degree beyond common treaſon; it is a ſin againſt nature. The equal rights of generations it is a right fixed in the nature of things, it belongs to the ſon when of age, as it belonged to the father before him. John Adams would himſelf deny the right that any former deceaſed generation could have to decree authoritatively a ſucceſſion of governors over him or over his children, and yet [...]e aſſumes a pretended right, treaſonable as it is, of acting it himſelf. His ignorance is his beſt excuſe.

[6]John Jay has ſaid, (and this John was always the ſycophant of every thing in power, from Mr. Girard in America, to Grenville in England) John Jay has ſaid, that the ſenate ſhould have been appointed for life. He would then have been ſure of never wanting a lucrative appointment for himſelf, and have hand no fears about impeachment. Theſe are the diſguiſed traitors that call themſelves federaliſts*

Could I have known to what degree of corruption and perfidy the adminiſtrative part of the government of America had deſcended, I could have been at no loſs to have underſtood the reſervedneſs of Mr. Waſhington towards me during my impriſonment in the Luxembourg. There are caſes in which ſilence is a loud language. I will here explain the cauſe of that impriſonment, and return to Mr. Waſhington afterwards.

In the courſe of that rage, terror and ſuſpicion, which the brutal letter of the Duke of Brunſwick firſt ſtarted into exiſtence in France, it happened that almoſt every man who was oppoſed to violence, or who was not violent himſelf, became ſuſpected. I had conſtantly been oppoſed to every thing which was of the nature, or of the appearance of violence; but as I had always done it in a manner that ſhewed it to be a principle founded in my heart, and not a political manoeuvre, it precluded the pretence of accuſing me. I was reached however under another pretence.

A decree was paſſed to impriſon all perſons born in England; but as I was a member of the Convention, and had been complimented with the honorary ſtyle of citizen of France, as Mr. Waſhington and ſome other Americans have been, this decree fell ſhort of reaching me. A motion was afterwards, made and carried, ſupported chiefly by Bourdon de l'Oiſe, for expelling foreigners from the Convention. My expulſion being thus affected, the two committees of public ſafety and of general ſurety, of which Robeſpierre was the dictator, put me in arreſtation under the former decree for impriſoning perſons born in England. Having thus ſhewn under what pretence the impriſonment was affected, I come to ſpeak of ſuch parts of the caſe as apply between me and Mr. Waſhington, either as a preſident, or as an individual.

I have always conſidered that a foreigner, ſuch as I was in fact, with reſpect to France, might be a member of a convention for framing a conſtitution, without affecting his right of citizenſhip, in the country to which he belongs, but not a [7]member of a government after a conſtitution is formed; and I have uniformly acted upon this diſtinction. To be a member of a government requires a perſon being in allegiance with that government and to the country locally. But a conſtitution, being a thing of principle, and not of action, and which after it is formed, is to be referred to the people for their approbation or rejection, does not require allegiance in the perſons forming and propoſing it; and beſides this, it is only to the thing after it is formed and eſtabliſhed, and to the country after its governmental character is fixed by the adoption of a conſtitution, that the allegiance can be given. No oath of allegiance or of citizenſhip was required of the members who compoſed the Convention: there was nothing exiſting in form to ſwear allegiance to. If any ſuch condition had been required, I could not, as citizen of America, in fact, though citizen of France by compliment, have accepted a ſeat in the Convention.

As my citizenſhip in America was not altered or diminiſhed by any thing I had done in Europe (on the contrary, it ought to have been conſidered as ſtrengthened, for it was the American principle of government that I was endeavouring to ſpread in Europe), and as it is the duty of every government to charge itſelf with the care of any of its citizens who may happen to fall under an arbitrary perſecution abroad, and this is alſo one of the reaſons for which ambaſſadors or miniſters are appointed, it was the duty of the executive department in America, to have made, at leaſt ſome, enquiries about me, as ſoon as it heard of my impriſonment. But if this had not been the caſe, that government owed it to me on every ground and principle of honour and gratitude. Mr. Waſhington owed it to me on every ſcore of private acquaintance, I will not now ſay friendſhip; for it has ſome time been known by thoſe who know him, that he has no friendſhips, that he is incapable of forming any; he can ſerve or deſert a man, or a cauſe, with conſtitutional indifference; and it is this cold hermaphrodite faculty that impoſed itſelf upon the world, and was credited a while by enemies, as by friends for prudence, moderation, and impartiality.

Soon after I was put into arreſtation, and impriſonment in the Luxembourg, the Americans who were then in Paris, went in a body to the bar of the Convention to reclaim me. They were anſwered by the then preſident Vadier, who has ſince abſconded, that I was born in England, and it was ſignified to them, by ſome of the committee of general ſurety, to whom they were referred (I have been told it was Billaud Varennes), that their reclamation of me was only the act of [8]individuals, without any authority from the American government.

A few days after this, all communication between perſons impriſoned, and any perſon without the priſon was cut off by an order of the police. I neither ſaw nor heard from any body for ſix months; and the only hope that remained to me was, that a new miniſter would arrive from America to ſuperſede Morris, and that he would be authoriſed to inquire into the cauſe of my impriſonment: but even this hope, in the ſtate to which matters were daily arriving, was too remote to have any conſolatory effect, and I contented myſelf with the thought that I might be remembered when it would be too late. There is, perhaps, no condition from which a man, conſcious of his own uprightneſs, cannot derive conſolation; for it is in itſelf a conſolation for him to find, that he can bear that condition with calmneſs and fortitude.

From about the middle of March (1794) to the fall of Robeſpierre, July 29, (9th of Thermidor) the ſtate of things in the priſons was a continued ſcene of horror. No man could count upon life for twenty hours. To ſuch a pitch of rage and ſuſpicion, were Robeſpierre and his committee arrived, that it ſeemed as if they feared to leave a man to live. Scarcely a night paſſed in which ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, or more, were not taken out of the priſon, carried before a pretended tribunal in the morning, and guillotined before night. One hundred and ſixty-nine were taken out of the Luxembourg one night, in the month of July, and one hundred and ſixty of them guillotined. A liſt of two hundred more, according to the report in the priſon, was preparing a few days before Robeſpierre fell. In this laſt liſt I have good reaſon to believe I was included. A memorandum in the hand writing of Robeſpierre was afterwards produced in the Convention, by the committee to whom the papers of Robeſpierre were referred, in theſe words: ‘Demander que Thomas Paine ſoit decreté d'accuſation pour l'interét de l'Amerique, autant que de la France.’ ‘Demand that Thomas Paine, be decreed of accuſation for the intereſt of America, as well as of France.’

I had been impriſoned ſeven months, and the ſilence of the executive part of the government of America (Mr. Waſhington) upon the caſe, and upon every thing reſpecting me, was explanation enough to Robeſpierre that he might proceed to extremities.

A violent fever which had nearly terminated my exiſtence, [9]was, I believe, the circumſtance that preſerved it. I was not in a condition to be removed, or to know of what was paſſing, or of what had paſſed, for more than a month. It makes a blank in my remembrance of life. The firſt thing I was informed of was the fall of Robeſpierre.

About a week after this, Mr. Monroe arrived to ſuperſede Governor Morris, and as ſoon as I was able to write a note legible enough to be read, I found a way to convey one to him by means of the man who lighted the lamps in the priſon; and whoſe unabated friendſhip to me, from whom he had never received any ſervice, and with difficulty accepted any recompence, puts the character of Mr. Waſhington to ſhame.

In a few days I received a meſſage from Mr. Monroe, conveyed to me in a note from an intermediate perſon, with aſſurance of his friendſhip, and expreſſing a deſire that I would reſt the caſe in his hands. After a fortnight or more had paſſed, and hearing nothing farther, I wrote to a friend who was then in Paris, a citizen of Philadelphia, requeſting him to inform me what was the true ſituation of things with reſpect to me. I was ſure that ſomething was the matter, I began to have hard thoughts of Mr. Waſhington, but I was unwilling to encourage them.

In about ten days, I received an anſwer to my letter, in which the writer ſays, ‘Mr. Monroe has told me that he has no order (meaning from the preſident, Mr. Waſhington) reſpecting you, but that he (Mr. Monroe) will do every thing in his power to liberate you; but, from what I learn from the Americans lately arrived in Paris, you are not conſidered, either by the American government, or by individuals, as an American citizen.’

I was now at no loſs to underſtand Mr. Waſhington and his newfangled faction, and that their policy was ſilently to leave me to fall in France. They were ruſhing as faſt as they could venture, without awakening the jealouſy of America, into all the vices and corruptions of the Britiſh government; and it was no more conſiſtent with the policy of Mr. Waſhington, and thoſe who immediately ſurrounded him, than it was with that of Robeſpierre or of Pitt, that I ſhould ſurvive. They have, however, miſſed the mark, and the reaction is upon themſelves.

Upon the receipt of the letter juſt alluded to, I ſent a memorial to Mr. Monroe, which the reader will find in the appendix, and I received from him the following anſwer. It is dated the 18th of September, but did not come to hand till about the 18th of October. I was then falling into a relapſe, the weather was becoming damp and cold, fuel was not be [10]had, and the abſceſs in my ſide, the conſequence of thoſe things, and of want of air and exerciſe, was beginning to form, and has continued immoveable ever ſince. Here follows Mr. Monroe's letter.

DEAR SIR,

I was favoured, ſoon after my arrival here, with ſeveral letters from you, and more latterly with one in the character of memorial upon the ſubject of your confinement; and ſhould have anſwered them at the times they were reſpectively written, had I not concluded, you would have calculated with certainty upon the deep intereſt I take in your welfare, and the pleaſure with which I ſhall embrace every opportunity in my power to ſerve you. I ſhould ſtill purſue the ſame courſe, and for reaſons which moſt obvious occur, if I did not find that you are diſquieted with apprehenſions upon intereſting points, and which juſtice to you and our country equally forbid you ſhould entertain. You mention that you have been informed you are not conſidered as an American citizen by the Americans, and that you have likewiſe heard that I had no inſtructions reſpecting you by the government. I doubt not the perſon who gave you the information meant well, but I ſuſpect he did not even convey accurately his own ideas on the firſt point: for I preſume the moſt he could ſay is, that you had likewiſe become a French citizen, and which by no means deprived you of being an American one. Even this however, may be doubted. I mean the acquiſition of citizenſhip in France, and I confeſs you have ſaid much to ſhow that it [...] not been made. I really ſuſpect that this was all that the gentleman who wrote to you, and thoſe Americans he heard ſpeak upon the ſubject, meant. It becomes my duty, however to declare to you, that I conſider you as an American citizen, and that you are conſidered univ [...]ſal [...]y in that character by the people of America. As ſuch you are entitled to my attention; and ſo far as it can be given conſiſtently with thoſe obligations which are mutual between every government and even a tranſient paſſenger, you ſhall receive it.

The Congreſs have never decided upon the ſubject of citizenſhip, in a manner to regard the preſent caſe. By being with us through the revolution, you are of our country as abſolutely as if you had been born there, and you are no more of England, than every native American is. This is the true doctrine in the preſent caſe, ſo far as it becomes complicated with any other conſideration. I have mentioned it to make [11]you eaſy upon the only point which could give you any diſquietude

Is it neceſſary for me to tell you how much all your countrymen, I ſpeak of the great maſs of the people, are intereſted. in your welfare! They have not forgotten the hiſtory or their own revolution, and the difficult ſcenes through which they paſſed; nor do they review its ſeveral ſtages without reviving in their boſoms a due ſenſibility of the merits of thoſe who ſerved them in that great and arduous conflict. The crime of ingratitude has not yet ſtained, and I truſt never will ſtain, our national character. You are conſidered by them, as not only having rendered important ſervices in our own revolution, but as being, on a more extenſive ſcale, the friend of human rights, and a diſtinguiſhed and able advocate in favour of public liberty. To the welfare of Thomas Paine the Americans are not, nor can they be, indifferent.

Of the ſenſe which the Preſident has always entertained of your merits, and of his friendly diſpoſition towards you, you are too well aſſured, to require any declaration of it from me. That I forward his wiſhes in ſeeking your ſafety is what I well know; and this will form an additional obligation on me to perform what I ſhould otherwiſe conſider as a duty.

You are in my opinion, at preſent menaced by no kind of danger. To liberate you, will be an object of my endeavours, and as ſoon as poſſible. But you muſt, until that event ſhall be accompliſhed, bear your ſituation with patience and fortitude; you will likewiſe have the juſtice to recollect, that I am placed here upon a difficult theatre*, many important objects to attend to, and with few to conſult. It becomes me in purſuit of thoſe, to regulate my conduct in reſpect to each, as to the manner and the time, as will in my judgment, be beſt calculated to accompliſh the whole.

With great eſteem and reſpect conſider me perſonally your friend.

JAMES MONROE.
*
This I preſume alludes to the embarraſſments which the ſirange conduct of Governor Morris had occaſioned, and which. I well know had created ſuſpicions of the ſincerity of Mr. Waſhington.

The part in Mr. Monroe's letter, in which he ſpeaks of the Preſident, (Mr Waſhington) is put in ſoft language. Mr. Monroe knew what Mr. Waſhington had ſaid formerly, and he was willing to keep that in view. But the fact is, not only that Mr. Waſhington had given no orders to Mr. Monroe, as the letter ſtated; but he did not ſo much as ſay to him, inquire if Mr. Paine be dead or alive, in priſon or out, or ſee if there be any aſſiſtance we can give him.

[12]While theſe matters were paſſing, the liberations from the priſons were numerous; from twenty to forty in the courſe of almoſt every twenty-four hours. The continuance of my impriſonment after a new miniſter had arrived immediately from America, which was now more than two months, was a matter ſo obviouſly ſtrange, that I found the character of the American government ſpoken of in very unqualified terms of reproach; not only by thoſe who ſtill remained in priſon, but by thoſe who were liberated, and by perſons who had acceſs to the priſon from without. Under theſe circumſtances, I wrote again to Mr. Monroe, and found occaſion to ſay, among other things, ‘It will not add to the popularity of Mr. Waſhington, to have it believed in America, as it is be lieved here, that he connives at my impriſonment.’

The caſe, ſo far as it reſpected Mr. Monroe, was, that having to get over the difficulties, which the ſtrange conduct of Governor Morris had thrown in the way of a ſucceſſor, and having no authority from the American government, to ſpeak officially upon any thing relating to me, he found himſelf obliged to proceed by unofficial means with individual members; for though Robeſpierre was overthrown, the Robeſpierrian members of the Committee of Public Safety, ſtill remained in conſiderable force, and had they found out, that Mr. Monroe had no official authority upon the caſe, they would have paid little or no regard to his reclamation of me. In the mean time my health was ſuffering exceedingly, the dreary proſpect of winter was coming on; and impriſonment was ſtill a thing of danger. After the Robeſpierrian members of the Committee were removed, by the expiration of their time of ſerving, Mr. Monroe reclaimed me, and I was liberated the 4th of November. Mr. Monroe arrived in Paris the beginning of Auguſt before. All that period of my impriſonment, at leaſt, I owe not to Robeſpierre, but to his colleague in projects, George Waſhington. Immediately upon my liberation, Mr. Monroe invited me to his houſe, where I remained more than a year and half; and I ſpeak of his aid and friendſhip, as an open-hearted man will always do in ſuch a caſe, with reſpect and gratitude.

Soon after my liberation the Convention paſſed an unanimous vote, to invite me to return to my ſeat among them. The times were ſtill unſettled and dangerous, as well from without as within, for the coalition was unbroken, and the conſtitution not ſettled. I choſe, however, to accept the invitation; for as I undertake nothing but what I believe to be right, I abandon nothing that I undertake; and I was willing alſo to ſhow, that, as I was not of a caſt of mind, to be deterred by proſpects or retroſpects of danger, ſo neither were [13]my principles to be weakened by misfortune or perverted by diſguſt.

Being now once more abroad in the world, I began to find that I was not the only one who had conceived an unfavourable opinion of Mr. Waſhington; it was evident that his character was on the decline as well among Americans, as among foreigners of different nations. From being the chief of the government, he had made himſelf the chief of a party; and his integrity was queſtioned, for his politics had a doubtful appearance. The miſſion of Mr. Jay to London, notwithſtanding there was an American miniſter there already, had then taken place, and was beginning to be talked of. It appeared to others, as it did to me, to be enveloped in myſtery, which every day ſerved either to increaſe or to explain into matter of ſuſpicion.

In the year 1790, or about that time, Mr. Waſhington, as preſident, had ſent Governor Morris to London, as his ſecret agent, to have ſome communication with the Britiſh miniſtry. To cover the agency of Morris it was given out, I know not by whom, that he went as an agent from Robert Morris, to borrow money in Europe, and the report was permitted to paſs uncontradicted. The event of Morris's negociation was, that Mr. Hammond was ſent miniſter from England to America, Pinkney from America to England, and himſelf miniſter to France. If, while Morris was miniſter in France, he was not an emiſſary of the Britiſh miniſtry and the coaleſced powers, he gave ſtrong reaſon to ſuſpect him of it. No one who ſaw his conduct, and heard his converſation, could doubt his being in their intereſt; and had he not got off at the time he did, after his recall, he would have been in arreſtation. Some letters of his had fallen into the hands of the Committee of Public Safety, and enquiry was making after him.

A great buſtle has been made by Mr. Waſhington about the conduct of Genet in America, whilſt that of his own miniſter, Morris, in France was infinitely more reproachable. If Genet was imprudent or raſh, he was not treacherous; but Morris was all three. He was the enemy of the French revolution, in every ſtage of it. But notwithſtanding this conduct on the part of Morris, and the known profligacy of his character, Mr. Waſhington, in a letter he wrote to him at the time of recalling him on the complaint and requeſt of the Committee of Public Safety, aſſures him, that though he had complied with that requeſt, he ſtill retained the ſame eſteem and friendſhip for him as before. This letter Morris was fooliſh enough to tell of; and, as his own character and conduct [14]were notorious, the telling of it could have but one effect, which was that of implicating the character of the writer, Morris ſtill loiters in Europe, chiefly in England; and Mr. Waſhington is ſtill in correſpondence with him.—Mr. Waſhington ought, therefore, to expect, eſpecially ſince his conduct in the affair of Jay's treaty, that France muſt conſider Morris and Waſhington as men of the ſame deſcription The chief difference, however, between the two is (for in politics there is none) that the one is profligate enough to profeſs an indifference about moral principles, and the other is prudent enough to conceal the want of them.

About three months after I was at liberty, the official note of Jay to Grenville, on the ſubject of the capture of American veſſels by the Britiſh cruiſers, appeared in the American papers that arrived at Paris. Every thing was of a piece—every thing was mean. The ſame kind of character went to all circumſtances public or private. Diſguſted at this national degradation, as well as at the particular conduct of Mr. Waſhington to me, I wrote to him (Mr. Waſhington) on the twenty-ſecond of February, 1795, under cover to the then ſecretary of ſtate (Mr. Randolph) and entruſted the letter to Mr. Letombe, who was appointed French conſul to Philadelphia, and was on the point of taking his departure. When I ſuppoſed Mr. Letombe had failed, I mentioned the letter to Mr. Monroe, and as I was then in his houſe, I ſhowed it to him. He expreſſed a wiſh that I would recall it, which he ſuppoſed might be done, as he had learned that Mr. Letombe had not then failed. I agreed to do ſo, and it was returned by Mr. Letombe under cover to Mr. Monroe. The letter will, however, now reach Mr. Waſhington publicly in the courſe of this Work.

About the month of September following, I had a ſevere relapſe, which gave occaſion to the report of my death. I had felt it coming on a conſiderable time before, which occaſioned me to haſten the work I had then on hand, The Second Part of the Age of Reaſon. When I had finiſhed the work, I beſtowed another letter on Mr. Waſhington, which I ſent under cover to Mr. Franklin Bache, of Philadelphia. The letter was as follows:

TO GEORGE WASHINGTON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

SIR,

I HAD written you a letter by Mr. Letombe, French conſul but, at the requeſt of Mr. Monroe, I withdrew it, and [15]the letter is ſtill by me. I was the more eaſily prevailed upon to do this, as it was then my intention to have returned to America the latter end of the preſent year (1795); but the illneſs I now ſuffer prevents me. In caſe I had come, I ſhould have applied to you for ſuch parts of your official letters (and your private ones, if you had choſen to give them) as contained any inſtructions or directions either to Mr. Monroe, or to Mr. Morris, or to any other perſon, reſpecting me; for after you were informed to my impriſonment in France, it was incumbent on you to have made ſome enquiry into the cauſe, as you might very well conclude that I had not the opportunity of informing you of it. I cannot underſtand your ſilence upon this ſubject upon any other ground, than as connivance at my impriſonment; and this is the manner it is underſtood here, and will be underſtood in America, unleſs you will give me authority for contradicting it. I therefore write you this letter, to propoſe to you to ſend me copies of any letters you have written, that I may remove this ſuſpicion. In the preface to the Second Part of the Age of Reaſon, I have given a memorandum from the hand-writing of Robeſpierre, in which he propoſed a decree of accuſation againſt me, "for the intereſt of America as well as of France." He could have no cauſe for putting America in the caſe, but by interpreting the ſilence of the American government into connivance and conſent. I was impriſoned on the ground of being born in England; and your ſilence in not enquiring the cauſe of that impriſonment, and reclaiming me againſt it, was tacitly giving me up. I ought not to have ſuſpected you of treachery; but whether I recover from the illneſs I now ſuffer, or not, I ſhall continue to think you treacherous, till you give me cauſe to think otherwiſe. I am ſure you would have found yourſelf more at your eaſe, had you acted by me is you ought; for whether your deſertion of me was intended to gratify the Engliſh government, or to let me fall into deſtruction in France, that you might exclaim the louder againſt the French revolution; or whether you hoped by my extinction to meet with leſs oppoſition in mounting up the American government; either of theſe will involve you in reproach you will not eaſily ſhake off.

THOMAS PAINE.

Here follows the letter above alluded to, which had been withdrawn:

[16]

TO GEORGE WASHINGTON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

SIR,

As it is always painful to reproach thoſe one would wiſh to reſpect, it is not without ſome difficulty that I have taken the reſolution to write to you. The danger to which I have been expoſed cannot have been unknown to you, and the guarded ſilence you have obſerved upon that circumſtance is what I ought not to have expected from you, either as a friend or as preſident of the United States.

You knew enough of my character to be aſſured, that I could not have deſerved impriſonment in France; and, without knowing any thing more than this, you had ſufficient ground to have taken ſome intereſt for my ſafety. Every motive ariſing from recollection ought to have ſuggeſted to you the conſiſtency of ſuch a meaſure. But I cannot find that you have ſo much as directed any enquiry to be made whether I was in priſon or in liberty, dead or alive; what the cauſe of that impriſonment was, or whether there was any ſervice or aſſiſtance you could render. Is this what I ought to have expected from America, after the part I have acted towards her? or will it redound to her honour or to your's that I tell the ſtory? I do not heſitate to ſay that you have not ſerved America with more fidelity, or greater zeal, or more diſintereſtedneſs, than myſelf, and perhaps not with better effect. After the revolution of America had been eſtabliſhed, you reſted at home to partake its advantages, and I ventured into new ſcenes of difficulty to extend the principles which that revolution had produced. In the progreſs of events, you beheld yourſelf a preſident in America, and me a priſoner in France; you folded your arms, forgot your friend, and became filent.

As every thing I have been doing in Europe was connected with my wiſhes for the proſperity of America, I ought to be the more ſurpriſed at this connuct on the part of her government. It leaves me but one mode of explanation, which is, that every thing is not as it ought to be amongſt you, and that the preſence of a man who might diſapprove, and who had credit enough with the country to be heard and believed, was not wiſhed for. This was the operating motive with the deſpotic faction that impriſoned me in France (though the pretence was that I was a foreigner) and thoſe that have been ſilent and inactive towards me in America, appear to me to have acted from the ſame motive. It is impoſſible for me to diſcover any other.

[17]After the part I have taken in the revolution of America, it is natural that I feel intereſted in whatever relates to her character and proſperity. Though I am not on the ſpot to ſee what is immediately acting there, I ſee ſome part of what ſhe is acting in Europe. For your own ſake, as well as for that of America, I was both ſurpriſed and concerned at the appointment of Governor Morris, to be miniſter to France. His conduct has proved, that the opinion I had formed of that appointment was well founded. I wrote that opinion to Mr. Jefferſon at the time, and I was frank enough to ſay the ſame thing to Morris, that it was an unfortunate appointment. His prating inſignificant pompoſity rendered him at once offenſive, ſuſpected, and ridiculous; and his total neglect of all buſineſs had ſo diſguſted the Americans, that they propoſed drawing up a proteſt againſt him. He carried this neglect to ſuch an extreme, that it was neceſſary to inform him of it; and I aſked him, one day, if he did not feel himſelf aſhamed to take the money of the country, and do nothing for it? but Morris is ſo fond of profit and voluptuouſneſs, that he cares nothing about character. Had he not been removed at the time he was, I think his conduct would have precipitated the two countries into a rupture; and in this caſe, hated ſyſtematically as America is, and ever will be, by the Britiſh Government, and at the ſame time ſuſpected by France, the commerce of America would have fallen a prey to both.

If the inconſiſtent conduct of Morris expoſed the intereſt of America to ſome hazard in France, the puſillanimous conduct of Mr. Jay in England has rendered the American government contemptible in Europe. Is it poſſible that any man, who has contributed to the independence of America, and to free her from the tyranny and injuſtice of the Britiſh government, can read without ſhame and indignation the note of Jay to Grenville? It is a ſatire upon the declaration of independence, and an encouragement to the Britiſh government to treat America with contempt. At the time this miniſter of petitions was acting this miſerable part, he had every means in his hands to enable him to have done his buſineſs as he ought. The ſucceſs or failure of his miſſion depended upon the ſucceſs or failure of the French arms. Had France failed, Mr. Jay might have put his humble petition in his pocket, and gone home. The caſe happened to be otherwiſe, and he has ſacrificed the honour, and perhaps the advantage of it, by turning petitioner. I take it for granted, that he was ſent over to demand indemnification for the captured property; and, in this caſe, if he thought he wanted a preamble to his demand, he might have ſaid, ‘That, though the government [18]of England might ſuppoſe itſelf under the neceſſity of ſeizing American property bound to France, yet that ſuppoſed neceſſity could not preclude indemnification to the proprietors, who, acting under the authority of their own government, were not accuntable to any other.’ But Mr. Jay ſets out with an implied recognition of the right of the Britiſh government to ſeize and condemn; for he enters his complaint againſt the irregularity of the ſeizures, and the condemnation, as if they were reprehenſible only by not being conformable to the terms of the proclamation under which they were ſeized. Inſtead of being the envoy of a government, he goes over like a lawyer to demand a new trial. I can hardly help thinking but that Grenvile wrote that note himſelf and Jay ſigned it; for the ſtyle of it is domeſtic, and not diplomatic. The term his Majeſty, uſed without any deſcriptive epithet, always ſignifies the king whom the miniſter repreſents. If this ſinking of the demand into a petition was a juggle between Grenville and Jay to cover the indemnification, I think it will end in another juggle, that of never paying the money; and be made uſe of afterwards to preclude the right of demanding it: for Mr. Jay has virtually diſowned the right by appealing to the magnanimity of his Majeſty againſt the capturers. He has made this magnanimous majeſty the umpire in the caſe, and the government of the United States muſt abide by the deciſion. If, Sir, I turn ſome part of this buſineſs into ridicule, it is to avoid the unpleaſant ſenſation of ſerious indignation.

Among other things which I confeſs I do not underſtand, is your proclamation of neutrality. This has always appeared to me as an aſſumption on the part of the executive. But paſſing this over as a diſputable caſe, and conſidering it only as political, the conſequence has been that of ſuſtaining the loſſes of war, without the balance of repriſals. When the profeſſion of neutrality, on the part of America, was anſwered by hoſtilities on the part of Britain, the object and intention of that neutrality exiſted no longer; and to maintain it after this was not only to encourage farther inſults and depredations, but was an informal breach of neutrality towards France, by paſſively contributing to the aid of her enemy. That the government of England conſidered the American government as puſillanimous, is evident from the increaſing inſolence of the conduct of the former towards the latter, till the affair of General Wayne. She then ſaw that it might be poſſible to kick a government into ſome degree of ſpirit. So far as the proclamation of neutrality was intended to prevent a diſſolute ſpirit of privateering in America under foreign colours, it was undoubtedly laudable; but to continue it as a government neutrality, [19]after the commerce of America was made war upon, was ſubmiſſion, and not neutrality.—I have heard ſo much about this thing called neutrality, that I know not if the ungenerous and diſhonourable ſilence (for I muſt call it ſuch) that has been obſerved by your part of the government towards me, during my impriſonment, has not in ſome meaſure ariſen from that policy.

Though I have written you this letter, you ought not to ſuppoſe it has been an agreeable undertaking to me. On the contrary, I aſſure you, it has coſt me ſome diſquietude. I am ſorry you have given me cauſe to do it; for, as I have always remembered your former friendſhip with pleaſure, I ſuffer a loſs by your depriving me of that ſentiment.

THOMAS PAINE.

That this letter was not written in very good temper, is very evident; but it was juſt ſuch a letter as his conduct appeared to me to merit, and every thing on his part ſince has ſerved to confirm that opinion. Had I wanted a commentary on his ſilence, with reſpect to my impriſonment in France, ſome of his faction have furniſhed me with it. What I here allude to, is a publication in a Philadelphia paper, copied afterwards into a New-York paper, both under the patronage of the Waſhington faction, in which the writer, ſtill ſuppoſing me in priſon in France, wonders at my lengthy reſpite from the ſcaffold. And he marks his politics ſtill farther, by ſaying, ‘It appears, moreover, that the people of England did not reliſh his (Thomas Paine's) opinions quite ſo well as he expected; and that for one of his laſt pieces, as deſtructive to the peace and happineſs of their country (meaning, I ſuppoſe, the Rights of Man) they threatened our knight-errant with ſuch ſerious vengeance, that, to avoid a trip to Botany Bay, he fled over to France, as a leſs dangerous voyage.’

I am not refuting or contradicting the falſehood of this publication, for it is ſufficiently notorious; neither am I cenſuring the writer: on the contrary, I thank him for the explanation he has incautiouſly given of the principles of the Waſhington faction. Inſignificant, however, as the piece is, it was capable of having ſome ill effects, had it arrived in France during my impriſonment, and in the time of Robeſpierre; and I am not uncharitable in ſuppoſing that this was one of the intentions of the writer*.

[20]I have now done with Mr. Waſhington on the ſcore of private affairs. It would have been far more agreeable to me, had his conduct been ſuch as not to have merited theſe reproaches. Errors, or caprices of the temper, can be pardoned and forgotten; but a cold eliberate crime of the heart, men as Mr. Waſhington is capable of acting, is not to be waſhed away — I now proceed to other matter:

After Jay's note to Grenville arrived in Paris from America, the character of every thing that was to follow might be eaſily foreſeen; and it was upon this anticipation that my letter of February the twenty-ſecond was founded. The event has proved that I was not miſtaken, except that it has been much worſe than I expected.

It would naturally occur to Mr. Waſhington, that the ſecreſy of Jay's miſſion to England, where there was already an American miniſter, could not but create ſome ſuſpicion in the French government, eſpecially as the conduct of Morris had been notorious, and the intimacy of Mr. Waſhington with Morris was known.

The character which Mr. Waſhington has attempted to act in the world, is a ſort of non-deſeribable cameleon coloured thing, called Prudence. It is, in many caſes, a ſubſtitute for Principle, and is ſo nearly allied to Hypocriſy, that it eaſily ſlides into it. His genius for prudence furniſhed him, in this inſtance, with an expedient that ſerved (as is the natural and general character of all expedients) to diminiſh the embarraſſment of the moment, and multiply them afterwards; for he cauſed it to be announced to the French government as a confidential matter (Mr. Waſhington ſhould recollect that I was a member of the Convention, and had the means of knowing what I here ſtate) — he cauſed it, I say, to be announced, and that for the purpoſe of preventing any uneaſineſs to France, on the ſcore of Mr. Jay's miſſion to England, that the object of that miſſion, and Mr. Jay's authority, were reſtricted to the demanding of the ſurrender of the weſtern poſts, and indemrification for the cargoes captured in American veſſels. — Mr. Waſhington knows that this was untrue; and knowing this, he had good reaſon, to himſelf, for refuſing to furniſh the Houſe of Repreſentatives with copies of the inſtructions given to Jay, as he might ſuſpect, among other things, that he ſhould alſo be called upon for copies of inſtructions given to other miniſters, and that in the contradiction of inſtructions his want of integrity would be detected. Mr. Waſhington may now perhaps learn, when it is too late to be of any uſe to him, that a man will paſs better through the world with a thouſand open errors upon his back, than in being detected [21]in one ſly falſehood. When one is detected, a thouſand are ſuſpected.

The firſt account that arrived in Paris of a treaty being negotiated by Mr. Jay (for nobody ſuſpected any) came in an Engliſh newſpaper, which announced that a treaty, offenſive and defenſive, had been concluded between the United States of America and England. This was immediately denied by every American in Paris, as an impoſſible thing; and though it was diſbelieved by the French, it imprinted a ſuſpicion that ſome underhand buſineſs was going forward. At length the treaty itſelf arrived, and every well-affected American bluſhed with ſhame.

It is curious to obſerve how the appearances of characters will change, whilſt the root that produces them remains the ſame. The Waſhington faction having waded through the ſlough of negociation, and, whilſt it amuſed France with profeſſions of friendſhip contrived to in ure her, immediately throws off the hypocrite and aſſumes the ſwaggering air of a bravado. The party papers of that imbecile adminiſtration were on this occaſion filled with paragraphs about ſovereignty. A poltroon may boaſt of his ſovereign right to let another kick him, and this is the only kind of ſovereignty ſhown in the treaty with England. But thoſe daſhing paragraphs, as Timothy Pickering well knows, were intended for France, without whoſe aſſiſtance, in men, money, and ſhips, Mr. Waſhington would have cut but a poor figure in the American war. But of his military talents I ſhall ſpeak hereafter.

I mean not to enter into any diſcuſſion of any article of Jay's treaty; I ſhall ſpeak only upon the whole of it. It is attempted to be juſtified on the ground of its not being a violation of any article or articles of the treaty pre-exiſting with France. But the ſovereign right of explanation does not lie with George Waſhington and his man Timothy; France, on her part, has, at leaſt, an equal right: and when nations diſpute, it is not ſo much about words as about things.

A man, ſuch as the world calls a ſharper, as verſed as Jay muſt be ſuppoſed to be in the quibbles of the law, may find a way to enter into engagements, and make bargains, in ſuch a mahner as to cheat ſome other party, without that party being able, as the phraſe is, to take th [...] law of him. This often happens in the cabaliſtical circle of what is called law. But when this is attempted to be acted on the national ſcale of treaties, it is too deſpicable to be defended, or to be permitted to exiſt. Yet this is the trick upon which Jay's treaty is [22]founded, ſo far as it has relation to the treaty pre-exiſting with France. It is a counter-treaty to that treaty, and perverts all the great articles of that treaty to the injury of France, and makes them operate as a bounty to England, with whom France is at war. The Waſhington adminiſtration ſhows great deſire that the treaty between France and the United States be preſerved. Nobody can doubt its ſincerity upon this matter. There is not a Britiſh miniſter, a Britiſh merchant, or a Britiſh agent or factor, in America, that does not anxiouſly wiſh the ſame thing. The treaty with France ſerves now as a paſſport to ſupply England with naval ſtores, and other articles of American produce; whilſt the ſame articles when coming to France are made contraband, or ſeizable, by Jay's treaty with England. The treaty with France ſays, that neutral ſhips make neutral property, and thereby gives protection to Engliſh property on board American ſhips; and Jay's treaty delivers up French property on board American ſhips to be ſeized by the Engliſh. It is too paltry to talk of faith, of national honour, and of the preſervation of treaties, whilſt ſuch a bare-faced treachery as this ſtares the world in the face.

The Waſhington adminiſtration may ſave itſelf the trouble of proving to the French government its moſt faithful intentions of preſerving the treaty with France; for France has now no deſire that it ſhould be preſerved; ſhe had nominated an envoy extraordinary to America, to make Mr. Waſhington [...]nd his government a preſent of the treaty, and to have no [...]ore to do with that or with him. It was at the ſame time officially declared to the American miniſter at Paris, that the French republic had rather have the American government for an open enemy than a treacherous friend. This, ſir, together with the internal diſtractions cauſed in America, and the loſs of character in the world, is the eventful criſis alluded to in the beginning of this Letter, to which your double politics have brought the affairs of your country. It is time that the eyes of America be opened upon you.

[...]ow France would have conducted herſelf towards America, and American commerce, after all treaty ſtipulations had ceaſed, and under the ſenſe of ſervices rendered, and injuries received, I know not. It is, however, an unpleaſant reflection, that in all national quarrels, the innocent, and even the friendly part of the community, become involved with the culpable and the unfriendly; and as the accounts that arrived from America continued to manifeſt an invariable attachment, in the general maſs of the people, to their original ally, in oppoſition to the new-fangled Waſhington faction, the reſolutions [23]that had been taken in France were ſuſpended. It happened alſo, fortunately enough, that Governor Morris was not miniſter at this time.

There is, however, one point that yet remains in embryo, and which, among other things, ſerves to ſhow the ignorance of the Waſhington treaty makers, and their inattention to pre-exiſting treaties, when they were employing themſelves in framing or ratifying the new treaty with England.

The ſecond article of the treaty of commerce between the United States and France ſays, ‘The Moſt Chriſtian King and the United States engage mutually not to grant any particular favour to other nations, in reſpect to commerce and navigation, that ſhall not immediately become common to the other party, who ſhall enjoy the ſame favour freely, if the conceſſion was freely made, or on allowing the ſame compenſation if the conceſſion was conditional.’

All the conceſſions therefore made to England by Jay's treaty are, through the medium of this ſecond article in the pre-exiſting treaty, made to France, and become engrafted into the treaty with France, and can be exerciſed by her as a matter of right, the ſame as by England.

Jay's treaty makes a conceſſion to England, and that unconditionally, of ſeizing naval ſtores in American ſhips, and condemning them as contraband. It makes alſo a conceſſion to England to ſeize proviſions and other articles in American ſhips. Other articles, are all other articles; and none but an ignoramus, or ſomething worſe, would have put ſuch a phraſe into a treaty. The condition annexed to this caſe is, that the proviſions and other articles ſo ſeized, are to be paid for at a price to be agreed upon. Mr. Waſhington, as preſident ratified this treaty after he knew the Britiſh government had recommenced an indiſcriminate ſeizure of proviſions, and of all other articles in American ſhips: and it is now known that thoſe ſeizures were made to fit out the expedition going to Quiberon Bay, and it was known beforehand that they would be made. The evidence goes alſo a good way to prove that Jay and Grenville underſtood each other upon that ſubject. Mr. Pinkney, when he paſſed through France in his way to Spain, ſpoke of the recommencement of the ſeizures as a thing that would take place. The French government had by ſome means received information from London to the ſame purpoſe, with the addition, that the recommencement of the ſeizures would cauſe no miſunderſtanding between the Britiſh and American governments. Grenville, in defending himſelf againſt the oppoſition in parliament, on account of the ſcarcity of corn, ſaid (ſee his ſpeech at the opening of the [24]parliament that met October 29, 1795) that the ſupplies for the Quiberon expedition were furniſhed out of the American ſhips, and all the accounts received at that time from England ſtated that thoſe ſeizures were made under the treaty. After the ſupplies for the Quiberon expedition had been procured, and the expected ſucceſs had failed, the ſeizures were countermanded; and had the French ſeized proviſion veſſels going to England, it is probable that the Quiberon expedition could not have been attempted.

In one point of view, the treaty with England operates as a loan to the Engliſh government. It gives permiſſion to that government to take American property at ſea, to any amount, and pay for it when it ſuits her; and, beſides this, the treaty is in every point of view a ſurrender of the rights of American commerce and navigation, and a refuſal to France of the rights of neutrality. The American flag is not now a neutral flag to France; Jay's treaty of ſurrender give a monopoly of it to England.

On the contrary, the treaty of commerce between America and France was formed on the moſt liberal principles, and calculated to give the greateſt encouragement to the infant commerce of America. France was neither a carrier nor an exporter of naval ſtores, or of proviſions; thoſe articles belonged wholly to America; and they had all the protection in that treaty which a treaty can give. But ſo much has that treaty been perverted, that the liberality of it on the part of France has ſerved to encourage Jay to form a counter-treaty with England; for he muſt have ſuppoſed the hands of France tied up by her treaty with America, when he was making ſuch large conceſſions in favour of England. The injury which Mr. Waſhington's adminiſtration has done to the character, as well as to the commerce of America, is too great to be repaired by him. Foreign nations will be ſhy of making treaties with a government that has given the faithleſs example of perverting the liberality of a former treaty to the injury of the party with whom it was made.

In what a fraudulent light muſt Mr. Waſhington's character appear in the world, when his declarations and his conduct are compared together! Here follows the letter he wrote to the Committee of Public Safety, whilſt Jay was negociating in profound ſecreſy this treacherous treaty:

George Waſhington, Preſident of the United States of America, to the repreſentatives of the French people, members of the Committee of Public Safety of th [...] French republic, the great and good friend and a [...]ly of the United State.

[25]On the intimation of the wiſh of the French republic that a new miniſter ſhould be ſent from the United States, I reſolved to manifeſt my ſenſe of the readineſs with which my requeſt was fulfilled (that of recalling Genet), by immediately fulfilling the requeſt of your government (that of recalling Morris).

It was ſome time before a character could be obtained worthy of the high office of expreſſing the attachment of the United States to the happineſs of our allies, and crawing cloſer the bonds of bur friendſhip. I have now made choice of James Monroe, one of our diſtinguiſhed citizens, to reſide near the French republic, in quality of miniſter plenipotentiary of the United States of America. He is inſtructed to bear to you our ſincere ſolicitude for your welfare, and to cultivate with zeal the cordiality ſo happily ſubſiſting between us. From a knowledge of his fidelity, probity, and good conduct, I have entire confidence that he will render himſelf acceptable to you, and give effect to your deſire of preſerving and advancing on all occaſions the intereſt and connection of the two nations. I beſeech you, therefore, to give full credence to whatever he ſhall ſay to you on the part of the United States, and moſt of all, when he ſhall aſſure you that your proſperity is an object of our affection. And I pray God to have the French republic in his holy keeping.

G. WASHINGTON.

Was it by entering into a treaty with England to ſurrender French property on board American ſhips, to be ſeized by the Engliſh, whilſt Engliſh property on board American ſhips was declared by the French treaty not to be ſeizable, that the bonds of friendſhip between America, and France were to be drawn cloſer? Was it by declaring naval ſtores contraband when coming to France, whilſt by the French treaty they were not contraband when going to England, that the connection between France and America was to be advanced? Was it by opening the American ports to the Britiſh navy in the preſent war, from which ports that ſame navy had been expelled by the aid ſolicited from France in the [...]merican war (and that aid gratuitouſly given), that the gratitude of America was to be ſhewn, and the ſolicitude ſpoken of in the letter demonſtrated?

As the letter was addreſſed to the Committee of Public Safety, Mr. Waſhington did not expect it would get abroad in the world, or be ſeen by any other eye than that of Robeſpierre, or be heard by any other ear than that of the Committee; that it would paſs as a whiſper acroſs the Atlant [...]c from one dark chamber to the other, and there terminate.

[26]It was calculated to remove from the mind of the Committee all ſuſpicion upon Jay's miſſion to England, and in this point of view it was ſuited to the circumſtances of the moment then paſſing; but as the event of that miſſion has proved the letter to be hypocritical, it ſerves no other purpoſe of the preſent moment than to ſhew that the writer is not to be credited. Two circumſtances ſerved to make the reading of the letter neceſſary in the Convention; the one was, that they who ſucceeded on the fall of Robeſpierre, found it moſt proper to act with publicity; the other, to extinguiſh the ſuſpicions which the ſtrange conduct of Morris had occaſioned in France.

When the Britiſh treaty and the ratification of it by Mr. Waſhington were known in France, all further declarations from him of his good diſpoſition, as an ally and a friend, paſſed for ſo many cyphers; but ſtill it appeared neceſſary to him to keep up the farce of declarations. It is ſtipulated in the Britiſh treaty, that commiſſioners are to report, at the end of two years, on the caſe of neutral ſhips making neutral property. In the mean time neutral ſhips do not make neutral property according to the Britiſh treaty, and they do according to the French treaty. The preſervation therefore of the French treaty became of great importance to England, as by that means ſhe can employ American ſhips as carriers, whilſt the ſame advantage is denied to France. Whether the French treaty could exiſt as a matter of right after this clandeſtine perverſion of it, could not but give ſome apprehenſions to the partizans of the Britiſh treaty, and it became neceſſary to them to make up by fine words what was wanting in good actions.

An opportunity offered to that purpoſe. The Convention, on the public reception of Mr. Monroe, ordered the American flag and the French flag to be diſplayed unitedly in the hall of the Convention. Mr. Monroe made a preſent of an American flag for the purpoſe. The Convention returned this compliment, by ſending a French flag to America, to be preſented by their miniſter, Mr. Adet, to the American government. This reſolution paſſed long before Jay's treaty was known or ſuſpected: it paſſed in the days of confidence;—but the flag was not preſented by Mr Adet till ſeveral months after the treaty had been ratified. Mr. Waſhington made this the occaſion of ſaying ſome fine things to the French miniſter; and the better to get himſelf into tune to do this, he began by ſaying the fineſt things of himſelf.

‘Born, Sir,’ ſaid he, ‘in a land of liberty; having learned its value; having engaged in a perilous conflict to [27]defend it; having, in a word, devoted the beſt years of my life to ſecure its permanent eſtabliſhment in my own country; my anxious recollections, my ſympathetic feelings, and my beſt wiſhes, are irreſiſtibly excited, whenever, in any country, I ſee an oppreſſed people unfurl the banner of freedom.’—Mr. Waſhington, having expended ſo many [...]ine phraſes upon himſelf, was obliged to invent a new one for the French, and he calls them "Wonderful people!"—The coaleſced powers acknowledge as much.

It is laughable to hear Mr. Waſhington talk of his ſympathetic feelings, who has always been remarked, even among his friends, for not having any. He has, however, given no proof of any to me. As to the pompous encomiums he ſo liberally pays to himſelf on the ſcore of the American revolation, the propriety of them may be queſtioned; and, ſince he has forced them ſo much into notice, it is fair to examine his pretenſions.

A ſtranger might be led to ſuppoſe, from the egotiſm with which Mr. Waſhington ſpeaks, that himſelf, and himſelf only, had generated, condu [...]ted, completed, and eſtabliſhed, the revolution. In fine, that it was all his own doing.

In the firſt place, as to the political part, he had no ſhare in it; and therefore the whole of that is out of the queſtion with reſpect to him. There remains, then, only the military part; and it would have been prudent in Mr. Waſhington not to have awakened inquiry upon that ſubject. Fame then was cheap; he enjoyed it cheaply; and nobody was diſpoſed to take away the laurels that, whether they were acquired or not, had been given.

Mr. Waſhington's merit conſiſted in conſtancy. But conſtancy was the common virtue of the revolution. Who was there that was inconſtant? I know but of one military defection, that of Arnold; and I know of no political defection, among thoſe who made themſelves eminent when the revolution was formed by the declaration of independence. Even Silas Deane, though he attempted to defraud, did not betray.

But when we ſpeak of military character, ſomething more is to be underſtood than conſtancy; and ſomething more ought to be underſtood than the Fabian ſyſtem of doing nothing. The nothing part can be done by any body, Old Mrs. Thompſon, the houſekeeper of head-quarters (who threatened to make the ſun and the wind ſhine through Rivington of New-York) could have been as good as Barak.

Mr. Waſhington had the nominal rank of commander in chief, but he was not ſo in fact. He had, in reality, only a [28]ſeparate command. He had no control over, or direction of, the army to the northward under Gates, that captured Burgoyne; or of that to the ſouth under Greene, that recovered the ſouthern ſtates*.—The nominal rank, however, of commander in chief, ſerved to throw upon him the luſtre of thoſe actions, and to make him appear as the ſoul and centre of all military operations in America.

He commenced his command June 1775, during the time the Maſſacauſet army lay before Boſton, and after the affair o [...] Bunker's Hill. The commencement of his command was the commencement of inactivity. Nothing was afterwards done, or attempted to be done, during the nine months he remained before Boſton. If we may judge from the reſiſtance made at Concord, and afterwards at Bunker's Hill, there was a ſpirit of enterpriſe at that time, which the preſence of Mr. Waſhington chilled into cold defence. By the advantage of a good exterior he attracts reſpect, which his habitual ſilence tends to preſerve; but he has not the talent of inſpiring ardour in an army. The enemy removed from Boſton to Halifax in March 1776, to wait for reinforcements from Europe, and to take a more advantageous poſition at New-York.

The inactivity of the campaign of 1775, on the part of General Waſhington, when the enemy had a leſs force than in any other future period of the war, and the injudicious choice of poſitions taken by him in the campaign of 1776, when the enemy had its greateſt force, neceſſarily produced the loſſes and misfortunes that marked that gloomy campaign. The poſitions taken were either iſlands, or necks of land. In the former, the enemy, by the aid of their ſhips, could bring their whole force againſt a part of General Waſhington's, as in the affair of Long Iſland; and in the latter, he might be ſhut up as in the bottom of a bag. This had nearly been the caſe at New-York, and it was ſo in part: it was actually the caſe at Fort Waſhington; and it would have been the caſe at Fort Lee, if General Greene had not moved precipitately off, leaving every thing behind, and, by gaining Hackinſuch-bridge, got out of the bag of Bergin-neck.—How far Mr. Waſhington, as general, is blamable for thoſe matters, I am not undertaking to determine; but they are evidently defects in military geography. The ſucceſsful ſkirmiſhes at the cloſe of that campaign (matters that would ſcarcely be noticed in a better ſtate of things) make the brilliant exploits of General Waſhington's ſeven campaigns.— [29]No wonder we ſee ſo much puſillanimity in the preſident, when we ſee ſo little enterpriſe in the general!

The campaign of 1777 be ame famous, not by any thing on the part of General Waſhington, but by the capture of General Burgoyne and the army under his command, by the northern army at Saratoga, under General Gates. So totally diſtinct and unconnected were the two armies of Waſhington and Gates, and ſo independent was the latter of the authority of the nominal commander in chief, that the two generals did not ſo much as correſpond, and it was only by a letter of General (ſince Governor) Clinton, th [...] General Waſhington was informed of that event. The B [...]ſh took poſſeſſion of Philadelphia this year, which they eva [...]ated the next, juſt time enough to ſave their heavy baggage and ſleet of tranſports from capture by the [...]ench admiral D'Eſtaign, who arrived at the mouth of the Delaware ſoon after.

The capture of Burgoyne gave an [...]lat in Europe to the American arms, and facilitated the alliance with France. The eclat, however, was not kept up by any thing on the part of General Waſhington. The ſame unfortunate languor that marked his entrance into the fiel, continued always. Diſcontent began to prevail ſtrongly againſt him, and a party was formed in Congreſs, whilſt ſitting at York Town in Pen [...]lvania, for removing him from the command of the army. The hope however of better times, the news of the alliance with France, and the unwillingneſs of ſhowing diſcontent, diſſipated the matter.

Nothing was done in the campaign of 1778, 1779, 1780, in the part where genera [...] Waſhington commanded, except the taking Stony-Point by general Wayne. The ſouthern ſtates in the mean time were overrun by the enemy. They were afterwards recovered by general Greene, who had in a very great meaſure created the army that accompliſhed that recovery. In all this general Waſhington had no ſhare. The Fabian ſyſtem of war, followed by him, began now to untold itſelf with all its evils; for what is Fabian war without Fabian means to ſupport it? The finances of Congreſs, depending wholly on emiſſions of paper-money, were exhauſted. Its credit was gone. The continental treaſury was not able to pay the expence of a brigade of waggons to tranſport the neceſſary ſtores to the army, and yet the ſole object, the eſtabliſhment of the revolution, was a thing of remote diſtance. The time I am now ſpeaking of is in the latter end of the year 1780.

In this ſituation of things it was found not only ex [...]ient, but abſolutely neceſſary, for Congreſs to [...] the whole [30]caſe to its ally. I know more of this matter (before it came into Congreſs, or was known to general Waſhington), of its progreſs, and its iſſue, than I chooſe to ſtate in this letter. Colonel John Laurens was ſent to France, as an envoy extraordinary on this occaſion, and by a private agreement between him and me, I accompanied him. We ſailed from Boſton in the Alliance frigate, February eleventh, 1781. France had already done much in accepting and paying bills drawn by Congreſs; ſhe was now called upon to do more. The event of colonel Laurens's miſſion, with the aid of the venerable miniſter Franklin, was, that France gave in money, as a preſent, ſix millions of livres, and ten millions more as a loan, and agreed to ſend a fleet of not leſs than thirty ſail of the line, at her own expenſe, as an aid to America. Colonel Laurens and myſelf returned from Breſt the firſt of June following, taking with us two millions and a half of livres (upwards of one hundred thouſand pounds ſterling) of the money given, and convoying two ſhips with ſtores.

We arrived at Boſton the twenty-fifth of Auguſt following. De Graſſe arrived with the French fleet in the Cheſapeak at the ſame time, and was afterwards joined by that of Barras, making thirty-one ſail of the line. The money was tranſported in waggons from Boſton to the bank of Philadelphia, of which Mr. Thomas Willing, who has ſince put himſelf at the head of the liſt of petitioners in favour of the Britiſh treaty, was then preſident. And it was by the aid of this money, of this fleet, and of Rochambeau's army, that Cornwailis was taken; the laurels of which has been unjuſtly given to Mr. Waſhington. His merit in that affair was no more than that of any other American officer.

I have had, and ſtill have, as much pride in the American revolution as any man, or as Mr. Waſhington has a right to have; but that pride has never made me forgetful whence the great aid came that completed the buſineſs. Foreign aid (that of France) was calculated upon at the commencement of the revolution. It is one of the ſubjects treated of in the pamphlet Common Senſe, but as a matter that could not be hoped for, unleſs independence was declared. The aid however was greater than could have been expected.

It is as well the ingratitude as the puſillanimity of Mr. Waſhington, and the Waſhington faction, that has brought upon America the loſs of character ſhe now ſuffers in the world, and the numerous evils her commerce has undergone, and to which it is ſtill expoſed. The Britiſh miniſtry ſoon found out what ſort of men they had to deal with, and they dealt with them accordingly; and if further explanation was [31]wanting, it has been fully given ſince, in the ſnivelling addreſs of the New York chamber of commerce to the preſident, and in that of ſundry merchants of Philadelphia, which was not much better.

When the revolution of America was finally eſtabliſhed by the termination of the war, the world gave her credit for great character; and ſhe had nothing to do but to ſtand firm upon that ground. The Britiſh miniſtry had their hands too full of trouble to have provoked a rupture with her, had ſhe ſhown a proper reſolution to defend her rights: but encouraged as they were, by the ſubmiſſive character of the American adminiſtration, they proceeded from inſult to inſult, till none more were left to be offered. The propoſals made by Sweden and Denmark to the American government were diſregarded. I know not if ſo much as an anſwer has been returned to them. The miniſter penitentiary, (as ſome of the Britiſh prints called him) Mr. Jay, was ſent on a pilgrimage to London, to make all up by penance and petition. In the mean time, the lengthy and drowſy writer of the pieces ſigned Camillus held himſelf in reſerve to vindicate every thing; and to found in America the tocſin of terror upon the inexhauſtible reſources of England. Her reſources, ſays he, are greater than thoſe of all the other powers. This man is ſo intoxicated with fear and finance, that he knows not the difference between plus and minus— between a hundred pounds in hand, and a hundred pounds worſe than nothing.

The commerce of America, ſo far as it had been eſtabliſhed, by all the treaties that had been formed prior to that by Jay, was free, and the principles upon which it was eſtabliſhed were good. That ground ought never to have been departed from. It was the juſtifiable ground of right; and no temporary difficulties ought to have induced an abandonment of it. The caſe is now otherwiſe. The ground, the ſcene, the pretenſions, the every thing is changed. The commerce of America is by Jay's treaty put under foreign dominion. The ſea is not free for her. Her right to navigate it is reduced to the right of eſcaping; that is, until ſome ſhip of England or France ſtops her veſſels, and carries them into port. Every article of American produce, whether from the ſea or the land, fiſh, fleſh, vegetable, or manufacture, is by Jay's treaty made either contraband, or ſeizable. Nothing is exempt. In all other treaties of commerce the article which enumerates the contraband articles, ſuch as fire-arms, gunpowder, &c. is followed by another which enumerates the articles not contraband; but it is not ſo in Jay's treaty. There is no exempting article. Its place is ſupplied by the article for ſeizing and carrying into port; and [32]the ſweeping phraſe of proviſions and other articles includes every thing. There never was ſuch a baſe and ſervile treaty of ſurrender, ſince treaties began to exiſt.

This is the ground upon which America now ſtands. All her rights of commerce and navigation are to be begin anew, and that with loſs of character to begin with.—If there is ſenſe enough left in the heart, to call a bluſh into the cheek, the Waſhington adminiſtration muſt be aſhamed to appear.—And as to you, ſir, treacherous in private friendſhip (for ſo you have been to me, and [...] in the day of danger) and a hypocrite in public life, to world will be puzzled to decide, whether you are an APOSTATE, or an IMPOSTOR? Whether you have abandoned good principles, or whether you ever had any?

THOMAS PAINE.

Appendix A APPENDIX.
MEMORIAL OF THOMAS PAINE TO MR. MONROE, Alluded to in the foregoing Letter.

I ADDRESS this memorial to you, in conſequence of a letter I received from a friend 18th Fructidor, ( [...] pt. 14th) in which he ſays;— ‘Mr. Monroe has told me, that he has no orders (meaning from the Congreſs) repecting you; but I am ſure he will leave nothing undone to liberate you. But, from what I learn from all the late Americans, you are not conſidered either by the government, or by the individuals as an American citizen. You have been made a French citizen, which you have accepted, and you have further made yourſelf a ſervant of the French republic; and therefore it would be out of character for an American miniſter to interfere in their internal concerns.—You muſt therefore [33]either be liberated out of compliance to America, or ſtand your trial, which you have a right to demand.’

This information was ſo unexpected by me, that I am at a loſs how to anſwer it. I know not on what principle it originates;—whether from an idea, that I had voluntarily abandoned my citizenſhip of America, for that of France, or from any article of the American conſtitution applied to me.—The firſt is untrue with reſpect to any intention on my part; and the ſecond is without foundation, as I ſhall ſhow in the courſe of this memorial.

The idea of conferring honour of citizenſhip upon foreigners, who had diſtinguiſhed themſelves in propagating the principles of liberty and humanity, in oppoſition to deſpotiſm, war, and bloodſhed, was firſt propoſed by me to La Fayette, at the commencement of the French revolution, when his heart appeared to be warmed with thoſe principles. My motive in making this propoſal was to render the people of different nations more fraternal than they had been, or then were. I obſerved that almoſt every branch of ſcience had poſſeſſed itſelf of the exerciſe of this right, ſo far as it regarded its inſtitution. Moſt of the academies and ſocieties in Europe, and alſo theſe of America, conferred the rank of honorary member, upon foreigners eminent in knowledge, and made them, in fact, citizens of their literary or ſcientific republic; without affecting or anywiſe diminiſhing, their rights of citizenſhip in their own country, or in other ſocieties: and why the ſcience of government ſhould not have the ſame advantage, or why the people in one nation, ſhould not by their repreſentatives, exerciſe the right of conferring the honour of citizenſhip, upon individuals eminent in another nation; without a affecting their rights of citizenſhip, is a problem yet to be ſolved.

I now proceed to remark on that part of the letter, in which the writer ſays—that, from all he can learn from the late Americans, I am not conſidered in America, either by the government or by the individuals, as an American citizen.

In the firſt place I wiſh to aſk, what is here meant by the government of America? The members who compoſe the government, are only individuals when in converſation, and who moſt probably, hold very different opinions upon the ſubject.—Have Congreſs as a body made any declaration reſpecting me, that they now no longer conſider me as a citizen? If they have not, any thing they otherwiſe ſay, is no more than the opinion of individuals, and conſequently is not legal authority, or anywiſe ſufficient authority to deprive any man of his citizenſhip. Beſides, whether a man has forfeited his [34]rights of citizenſhip, is a queſtion not determinable by Congreſs, but by a court of judicature, and a jury; and muſt depend upon evidence, and the application of ſome law or article or the conſtitution to the caſe. No ſuch proceeding has yet been had, and conſequently I remain a citizen until it be had, be that deciſion what it may; for there can be no ſuch thing as a ſuſpenſion of rights in the interim.

I am very well aware, and always was, of the article of the conſtitution which ſays, as nearly as I can recollect the word, that ‘any citizen of the United ſtates, who ſhall accept any title, place, or office, from any foreign king, prince, or ſtate, ſhall forfeit and loſe, his right or citizenſhip of the United States.’

Had the article ſaid, that any citizen of the United ſtates, who ſhad be member of any foreign convention, for the purpoſe of [...] a free con [...]ation, ſhall forfeit and [...] of the United States, the article had been directly applicable to me; but the idea of ſuch an article never could have entered the mind of the American Convention, and the preſent article is altogether foreign to the caſe with reſpect to me. It ſuppoſes a government in active exiſ [...]ence, and not a government diſſolved; and it ſuppoſes a citizen of America, accepting titles and offices under that government, and not a citizen of America who gives his aſſiſtance in a convention choſen by the people, for the purpoſe of forming a government de now, founded on their authority.

The late conſtitution and government of France was diſſolved the tenth of Auguſt 1792. The national legiſlative aſſembly then in being, ſuppoſed itſelf without ſufficient authority to continue its ſittings, and it propoſed to the departments to elect, not another legiſlative aſſembly, but a convention for the expreſs purpoſe of forming a new conſtitution. When the aſſembly were diſcourſing on this matter, ſome of the members ſaid, that they wiſhed to gain all the aſſiſtance poſſible upon the ſubject of free conſtitutions; and expreſſed a wiſh to elect and invite foreigner, of any nation to the convention, who had diſtinguiſhed themſelves in-defending, explaining, and propagating, the principles of liberty. It was on this occaſion that my name was mentioned in the aſſembly. After this, a deputation from a body of the French people, in order to remove any objection that might be made againſt my aſſiſting at the propoſed convention, requeſted the aſſembly, as their repreſentatives, to give me the title of French Citizen; after which, I was elected a member of the French Convention, in four different departments, as is already known.

The caſe therefore is, that I accepted nothing from any [35]king, prince, or ſtate; or from any government: for France was without any government, except what aroſe from common conſent, and the neceſſity of the caſe. Neither did "I make myſelf a ſervant of the French Republic," as the letter alluded to expreſſes; for at that time France was no republic, not even in name. She was altogether a people in a ſtate of revolution.

It was not until the Convention met that France was declared a republic, and monarchy aboliſhed; ſoon after which a committee was elected, of which I was a member, to form a conſtitution, which was preſented to the Convention, the fifteenth and ſixteenth of February following, but was not to be taken into conſideration till after the expiration of two months, and if approved by the Convention, was then to be referred to the people for their acceptance, with ſuch additions or amendments as the convention ſhould make.

In thus employing myſelf upon the formation of a conſtitution, I certainly did nothing inconſiſtent with the American conſtitution. I took no oath of allegiance to France, or any other oath whatever. I conſidered the citizenſhip they had preſented me, as an honorary mark of reſpect paid to me not only as a friend to liberty, but as an American citizen. My acceptance of that, or the deputyſhip, not conferred on me by any king, prince, or ſtate, but by a people in ſtate of revolution, and contending for liberty, required no transfer of my allegiance or of my citizenſhip, from America to France. There I was a real citizen, paying taxes; here I was a voluntary friend, employing myſelf on a temporary ſervice. Every American in Paris knew, that it was my conſtant intention to return to America, as ſoon as a conſtitution ſhould be eſtabliſhed, and that I anxiouſly waited for that event.

I ever muſt deny, that the article of the American conſtitution already mentioned, can be applied either verbally, intentionally, or conſtructively, to me. It undoubtedly was the intention of the Convention that framed it, to preſerve the parity of the American republic, from being debaſed by foreign and foppiſh cuſtoms; but it never could be its intention to act againſt the principles of liberty, by forbidding its citizens to aſſiſt in promoting thoſe principles in foreign countries; neither could it be its intention to act againſt the principles of gratitude. France had aided America in the eſtabliſhment of her revolution, when invaded and oppreſſed by England and her auxiliaries. France in her turn was invaded and oppreſſed by a combination of foreign deſpots. In this ſituation I conceived it an act of gratitude in me, as a citizen of America, to render her in return the beſt ſervices I could perform. I came to France (for I was in England when I received the [36]invitation) not to enjoy eaſe, emoluments, and foppiſh honours, as the article ſuppoſes; but to encounter difficulties and dangers in defence of liberty; and I much queſtion whether thoſe who now malignantly ſeek (for ſome I believe do) to turn this to my injury, would have had courage to have done the ſame. I am ſure Governor Morris would not. He told me the ſecond day after my arrival (in Paris), that the Auſtrians and Pruſſians, who were then at Verdun, would be in Paris in a fortnight. I have no idea, ſaid he, that ſeventy thouſand diſciplined troops can be ſtopt in their march by any power in France.

Beſides the reaſons I have already given for accepting the invitation to the Convention, I had another that has reference particularly to America, which I mentioned to Mr. Pinckney the night before I left London to come to Paris: ‘That it was to the intereſt of America that the ſyſtem of European governments ſhould be changed, and placed on the ſame principle with her own.’

It is certain that governments upon ſimilar ſyſtems agree better together, than thoſe that are founded on principles diſcordant with each other; and the ſame rule holds good with reſpect to the people living under them. In the latter caſe they offend each other by pity, or by reproach; and the diſcordancy carries itſelf to matters of commerce. I am not an ambitious man, but perhaps I have been an ambitious American. I have wiſhed to ſee America the Mother Church of government.

I have now ſtated ſufficient matter to ſhow that the article in queſtion is not applicable to me; and that any ſuch application to my injury, as well in circumſtances as in rights, is contrary both to the letter and intention of that article, and is illegal and unconſtitutional. Neither do I believe that any jury in America, when they are informed of the whole of the caſe, would give a verdict to deprive me of my rights upon that article. The citizens of America, I believe, are not very fond of permitting forced and indirect explanations to be put upon matters of this kind. I know not what were the merits of the caſe with reſpect to the perſon who was proſecuted for acting as prize-maſter to a French privateer, but I know that the jury gave a verdict againſt the proſecution. The rights I have acquired are dear to me. They have been acquired by honourable means, and by dangerous ſervice in the worſt of times, and I cannot paſſively permit them to be wreſted from me. I conceive it my duty to defend them, as the caſe involves a conſtitutional and public queſtion, which is, how far the power of the federal government extends, in depriving any citizen of his rights of citizenſhip, or of ſuſpending them.

[37]That the explanation of national treaties belongs to Congreſs, is ſtrictly conſtitutional; but not the explanation of the conſtitution itſelf, any more than the explanation of law in the caſe of individual citizens. Theſe are altogether judiciary queſtions. It is however worth obſerving, that Congreſs, in explaining the article of the treaty with reſpect to French prizes and French privateers, confined itſelf ſtrictly to the letter of the article. Let them explain the article of the conſtitution with reſpect to me in the ſame manner, and the deciſion, did it appertain to them, could not deprive me of my rights of citizenſhip, or ſuſpend them, for I have accepted nothing from any king, prince, ſtate, or government.

You will pleaſe to obſerve, that I ſpeak as if the federal government had made ſome declaration upon the ſubject of my citizenſhip; whereas the fact is otherwiſe; and your ſaying that you have no orders reſpecting me, is a proof of it. They, therefore, who propagate the report of my not being conſidered as a citizen of America by government, do it to the prolongation of my impriſonment, and without authority; for Congreſs, as a government, has neither decided upon it, nor yet taken the matter into conſideration; and I requeſt you to caution ſuch perſons againſt ſpreading ſuch reports.—But be theſe matters as they may, I cannot have a doubt that you find and feel the caſe very different, ſince you have heard what I have to ſay, and known what my ſituation is, than you did before your arrival.

Painful as the want of liberty may be, it is a conſolation to me to believe, that my impriſonment proves to the world, that I had no ſhare in the murderous ſyſtem that then reigned. That I was an enemy to it, both morally and politically, is known, to all who had any knowledge of me; and could I have written French as well as I can Engliſh, I would publickly have expoſed its wickedneſs, and ſhown the ruin with which it was pregnant.—They who have eſteemed me on former occaſions, whether in America, or in Europe, will, I know, feel no cauſe to abate that eſteem, when they reflect, that impriſonment with preſervation of character, is preferable to liberty with diſgrace.

The letter before quoted in the firſt page of this memorial, ſays, ‘it would be out of character for an American miniſter to interfere in the internal affairs of France.’—This goes on the idea that I am a citizen of France, and a member of the Convention; which is not the fact. The convention [...] declared me to be a foreigner; and conſequently the citizenſhip and the election are null and void. It alſo has the appearance of a deciſion, that the article of the conſtitution [38]reſpecting grants made to American citizens by foreign kings, princes, or ſtates, is applicable to me; which is the very point in queſtion, and againſt the application of which I contend. I ſtate evidence to the miniſter to ſhow, that I am not within the letter or meaning of that article, that it cannot operate againſt me; and I apply to him for the protection that, I conceive, I have a right to aſk, and to receive. The internal affairs of France are out of the queſtion with reſpect to my application, or his interference. I aſk it aot as a citizen of France, for I am not one; I aſk it not as a member of the Convention, for I am not one; both theſe, as before ſaid, have been rendered null and void; I aſk it, not as a man againſt whom there is any accuſation, for there is none; I aſk it, not as an exile from America, whole liberties I have honourably and generouſly contributed to eſtabliſh; I aſk it as a citizen of America, deprived of his liberty in France, under the plea of being a foreigner; and I aſk it, becauſe I conceive I am entitled to it upon every principle of conſtitutional juſtice and national honour.

THOMAS PAINE.
Notes
*
Two perſons, to whom John Adams ſaid this, told me of it. The ſecretary of Mr. Jay was preſent when it was told to me.
*
If Mr. John Jay deſires to know on what authority I ſay this, I will give that authority publicly when he choſes to call for it.
*
I know not who the writer of the piece is, but ſome late Americans ſay it is Phineas Bond, an American refugee, and now a Britiſh conſul; and that he writes under the ſignature of Peter Skunk, or Peter Porcupine, or ſome ſuch ſignature.
*
See Mr. Winterbotham's valuable Hiſtory of America, lately publiſhed.
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Zitationsvorschlag für dieses Objekt
TextGrid Repository (2020). TEI. 3714 A letter to George Washington on the subject of the late treaty concluded between Great Britain and the United States of America including other matters By Thomas Paine. University of Oxford Text Archive. . https://hdl.handle.net/21.T11991/0000-001A-5D4B-9