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Thomas Paine: Rights of Man (1792)
Thomas Paine: Rights of Man (1792)
mean to deny that man has any rights? If he does, then he must mean
Thomas Paine: that there are no such things as rights anywhere, and that he has none
himself; for who is there in the world but man? But if Mr. Burke
Rights of Man (1792) means to admit that man has rights, the question then will be: What
are those rights, and how man came by them originally?
[Squashed version edited by Glyn Hughes. This condensed and The error of those who reason by precedents drawn from antiq-
abridged version reduces about 90,000 words to about 7,200.] uity, respecting the rights of man, is that they do not go far enough
into antiquity. They stop in some of the intermediate stages of an
hundred or a thousand years, and produce what was then done, as a
Dedication rule for the present day. This is no authority at all. If antiquity is to be
authority, a thousand such authorities may be produced, successively
To George Washington: President Of The United States Of contradicting each other; but if we proceed on, we shall at last come
America out right; we shall come to the time when man came from the hand of
Sir, his Maker. What was he then? Man! Man was his high and only title,
I present you a small treatise in defence of those principles of free- and a higher cannot be given him.
dom which your exemplary virtue hath so eminently contributed to Though I mean not to touch upon any sectarian principle of relig-
establish. That the Rights of Man may become as universal as your ion, yet it may be worth observing, that the genealogy of Christ is
benevolence can wish, and that you may enjoy the happiness of seeing traced to Adam. Why then not trace the rights of man to the creation
the New World regenerate the Old, is the prayer of of man? Every history of the creation, and every traditionary account,
Sir, all agree in establishing one point, the unity of man; by which I mean
Your much obliged, and Obedient humble Servant, that men are all of one degree, and consequently that all men are born
Thomas Paine equal, and with equal natural right; and consequently every child born
into the world must be considered as deriving its existence from God.
The world is as new to him as it was to the first man that existed, and
Rights of Man: Being an answer to Mr Burke’s attack on the his natural right in it is of the same kind.
French Revolution The Mosaic account of the creation, whether taken as divine au-
thority or merely historical, is full to this point, the unity or equality of
Among the incivilities by which nations or individuals provoke and man. The expression admits of no controversy. ‘And God said, Let us
irritate each other, Mr. Burke’s pamphlet on the French Revolution is make man in our own image. In the image of God created he him;
an extraordinary instance. There is scarcely an epithet of abuse to be male and female created he them.’ The distinction of sexes is pointed
found in the English language, with which Mr. Burke has not loaded out, but no other distinction is even implied. If this be not divine au-
the French Nation and the National Assembly. Everything which ran- thority, it is at least historical authority, and shows that the equality of
cour, prejudice, ignorance or knowledge could suggest, is poured forth man, so far from being a modern doctrine, is the oldest upon record.
in the copious fury of near four hundred pages. His natural rights are the foundation of all his civil rights. A few
Mr. Burke with his usual outrage, abused the Declaration of the words will explain this. Natural rights are those which appertain to
Rights of Man, published by the National Assembly of France, as the man in right of his existence. Of this kind are all the intellectual rights,
basis on which the constitution of France is built. This he calls ‘paltry or rights of the mind, and also all those rights of acting as an individual
and blurred sheets of paper about the rights of man.’ Does Mr. Burke
3 THOMAS PAINE RIGHTS OF MAN 4
for his own comfort and happiness, which are not injurious to the long as the power to support them lasts; but that they might avail
natural rights of others. Civil rights are those which appertain to man themselves of every engine in their favor, they united fraud to force,
in right of his being a member of society. Every civil right has for its and set up an idol which they called Divine Right, and which, in imita-
foundation some natural right pre-existing in the individual, but to the tion of the Pope, who affects to be spiritual and temporal, and in con-
enjoyment of which his individual power is not, in all cases, sufficiently tradiction to the Founder of the Christian religion, twisted itself after-
competent. Of this kind are all those which relate to security and pro- wards into an idol of another shape, called Church and State. The key
tection. of St. Peter and the key of the Treasury became quartered on one
From this short review it will be easy to distinguish between that another, and the wondering cheated multitude worshipped the inven-
class of natural rights which man retains after entering into society and tion.
those which he throws into the common stock as a member of society. When I contemplate the natural dignity of man, when I feel (for
A man, by natural right, has a right to judge in his own cause. Every Nature has not been kind enough to me to blunt my feelings) for the
man is a proprietor in society, and draws on the capital as a matter of honour and happiness of its character, I become irritated at the at-
right. tempt to govern mankind by force and fraud, as if they were all knaves
It follows, then, that the power produced from the aggregate of and fools, and can scarcely avoid disgust at those who are thus imposed
natural rights, imperfect in power in the individual, cannot be applied upon.
to invade the natural rights which are retained in the individual, and in We have now to review the governments which arise out of society.
which the power to execute is as perfect as the right itself. Let us now In such, the fact must be that the individuals themselves, each in his
apply these principles to governments. own personal and sovereign right, entered into a compact with each
In casting our eyes over the world, it is extremely easy to distin- other to produce a government: and this is the only mode in which
guish the governments which have arisen out of society, or out of the governments have a right to arise, and the only principle on which
social compact, from those which have not; but to place this in a they have a right to exist.
clearer light they may be all comprehended under three heads. To possess ourselves of a clear idea of what government is, or
First, Superstition. ought to be, we must trace it to its origin. A constitution is not a thing
Secondly, Power. in name only, but in fact. It has not an ideal, but a real existence; and
Thirdly, The common interest of society and the common rights wherever it cannot be produced in a visible form, there is none. A
of man. constitution is a thing antecedent to a government, and a government
The first was a government of priestcraft, the second of conquer- is only the creature of a constitution. The constitution of a country is
ors, and the third of reason. not the act of its government, but of the people constituting its gov-
When a set of artful men pretended, through the medium of ora- ernment.
cles, to hold intercourse with the Deity, as familiarly as they now Can, then, Mr. Burke produce the English Constitution? If he can-
march up the back-stairs in European courts, the world was completely not, for we may fairly conclude that though it has been so much talked
under the government of superstition. The oracles were consulted, and about, no such thing as a constitution exists, or ever did exist, and con-
whatever they were made to say became the law; and this sort of gov- sequently that the people have yet a constitution to form. The English
ernment lasted as long as this sort of superstition lasted. Government is one of those which arose out of a conquest, and not out
After these a race of conquerors arose, whose government, like that of society, and consequently it arose over the people; and though it has
of William the Conqueror, was founded in power, and the sword as- been much modified from the opportunity of circumstances since the
sumed the name of a sceptre. Governments thus established last as
5 THOMAS PAINE RIGHTS OF MAN 6
time of William the Conqueror, the country has never yet regenerated The French Constitution says, There shall be no titles; and, of
itself, and is therefore without a constitution. consequence, all that class of equivocal generation which in some
Mr. Burke said, in a speech last winter in Parliament, ‘that when countries is called ‘aristocracy’ and in others ‘nobility,’ is done away,
the National Assembly first met in three Orders (the Tiers Etat, the and the peer is exalted into the Man.
Clergy, and the Noblesse), France had then a good constitution.’ This Titles are but nicknames, and every nickname is a title. The thing
shows, among numerous other instances, that Mr. Burke does not is perfectly harmless in itself, but it marks a sort of foppery in the hu-
understand what a constitution is. The persons so met were not a con- man character, which degrades it. It reduces man into the diminutive
stitution, but a convention, to make a constitution. of man in things which are great, and the counterfeit of women in
I now proceed to draw some comparisons between the French con- things which are little. It talks about its fine blue ribbon like a girl, and
stitution and the governmental usages in England. shows its new garter like a child. A certain writer, of some antiquity,
The constitution of France says that every man who pays a tax of says: ‘When I was a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a
sixty sous per annum (2s. 6d. English) is an elector. What article will man, I put away childish things.’ It is from the elevated mind of France
Mr. Burke place against this? Can anything be more limited, and at the that the folly of titles has fallen. It has outgrown the baby clothes of
same time more capricious, than the qualification of electors is in Eng- Count and Duke, and breeched itself in manhood. France has not
land? levelled, it has exalted. It has put down the dwarf, to set up the man.
The French Constitution says that the number of representatives Let us then examine the grounds upon which the French Constitu-
for any place shall be in a ratio to the number of taxable inhabitants or tion has resolved against having a House of Peers in France.
electors. In England, the county of York, which contains nearly a mil- Because, in the first place, aristocracy is kept up by family tyranny
lion of souls, sends two county members; and so does the county of and injustice.
Rutland, which contains not an hundredth part of that number. The Secondly. Because there is an unnatural unfitness in an aristocracy
old town of Sarum, which contains not three houses, sends two mem- to be legislators for a nation.
bers; and the town of Manchester, which contains upward of sixty Thirdly. Because the idea of hereditary legislators is as inconsistent
thousand souls, is not admitted to send any. as that of hereditary judges, or hereditary juries; and as absurd as an
The French Constitution says that the National Assembly shall be hereditary mathematician, or an hereditary wise man; and as ridiculous
elected every two years. What article will Mr. Burke place against this? as an hereditary poet laureate.
Why, that the nation has no right at all in the case; that the govern- Fourthly. Because a body of men, holding themselves accountable
ment is perfectly arbitrary with respect to this point; and he can quote to nobody, ought not to be trusted by anybody.
for his authority the precedent of a former Parliament. Fifthly. Because it is continuing the uncivilised principle of gov-
The French Constitution says that the right of war and peace is in ernments founded in conquest, and the base idea of man having prop-
the nation. Where else should it reside but in those who are to pay the erty in man, and governing him by personal right.
expense? In England this right is said to reside in a metaphor shown at Sixthly. Because aristocracy has a tendency to deteriorate the hu-
the Tower for sixpence or a shilling a piece: so are the lions; and it man species. By the universal economy of nature it is known, and by
would be a step nearer to reason to say it resided in them, for any in- the instance of the Jews it is proved, that the human species has a ten-
animate metaphor is no more than a hat or a cap. We can all see the dency to degenerate, when separated from the general stock of society,
absurdity of worshipping Aaron’s molten calf, or Nebuchadnezzar’s and inter-marrying constantly with each other.
golden image; but why do men continue to practise themselves the The French Constitution hath abolished or renounced Toleration
absurdities they despise in others? and Intolerance also, and hath established Universal Right Of Con-
7 THOMAS PAINE RIGHTS OF MAN 8
science. Toleration is not the opposite of Intolerance, but is the coun- Declaration
terfeit of it. Both are despotisms. The one assumes to itself the right of Of The Rights Of Man And Of Citizens
withholding Liberty of Conscience, and the other of granting it. The By The National Assembly Of France
one is the Pope armed with fire and faggot, and the other is the Pope
selling or granting indulgences. The former is church and state, and The representatives of the people of France, formed into a Na-
the latter is church and traffic. tional Assembly, doth recognize and declare, in the presence of the
Were a bill brought into any Parliament, entitled, ‘An Act to toler- Supreme Being, and with the hope of his blessing and favour, the fol-
ate or grant liberty to the Almighty to receive the worship of a Jew or lowing sacred rights of men and of citizens:
Turk,’ or ‘to prohibit the Almighty from receiving it,’ all men would
startle and call it blasphemy. There would be an uproar. The presump- One: Men are born, and continue, free and equal in respect of their
tion of toleration in religious matters would then present itself un- Rights.
masked. Who then art thou, vain dust and ashes! by whatever name Two: The end of all Political associations is the Preservation of the
thou art called, whether a King, a Bishop, a Church, or a State, a Par- Natural and Imprescriptible Rights of Man; Liberty, Property, Secu-
liament, or anything else, that obtrudest thine insignificance between rity, and Resistance of Oppression.
the soul of man and its Maker? Mind thine own concerns. If he be- Three: The Nation is the source of all Sovereignty.
lieves not as thou believest, it is a proof that thou believest not as he Four: Political Liberty consists in the power of doing whatever
believes, and there is no earthly power can determine between you. does not Injure another.
The inquisition in Spain and the persecution of dissenters in Eng- Five: The Law ought to Prohibit only actions hurtful to Society.
land does not proceed from the religion originally professed, but from What is not Prohibited should not be hindered.
this mule-animal, engendered between the church and the state. Per- Six: the Law is an expression of the Will of the Community. All
secution is not an original feature in any religion; but it is alway the Citizens have a right to concur, either personally or by their Represen-
strongly-marked feature of all law-religions, or religions established by tatives, in its formation.
law. Take away the law-establishment, and every religion re-assumes Seven: No Man should be accused, arrested, or held in confine-
its original benignity. In America, a catholic priest is a good citizen, a ment, except in cases determined by the Law.
good character, and a good neighbour; an episcopalian minister is of Eight: The Law ought to impose no other penalties but such as are
the same description: and this proceeds independently of the men, absolutely and evidently necessary.
from there being no law-establishment in America. Nine: Every Man being presumed innocent till he has been con-
One of the first works of the National Assembly in France, instead victed.
of vindictive proclamations against dissent, as has been the case with Ten: No Man ought to be molested on account of his opinions, not
other governments, was to publish a declaration of the Rights of Man, even on account of his Religious opinions, provided his avowal of them
as the basis on which the new constitution was to be built, and which is does not disturb the Public Order.
here subjoined: Eleven: Citizens may speak, write, and publish freely.
Twelve: A Public force is instituted for the benefit of the Commu-
nity and not for the particular benefit of the persons to whom it is
intrusted.
9 THOMAS PAINE RIGHTS OF MAN 10
Rights of Man: Part second, Combining principle and practice nation, has been absorbed and confounded under the general and mys-
terious word government. It may therefore be of use in this day of
TO revolutions to discriminate between those things which are the effect
M. DE LA FAYETTE of government, and those which are not.
After an acquaintance of nearly fifteen years in difficult situations
in America, and various consultations in Europe, I feel a pleasure in
presenting to you this small treatise, in gratitude for your services to Chapter I: Of society and civilisation
my beloved America, and as a testimony of my esteem for the virtues,
public and private, which I know you to possess. A great part of that order which reigns among mankind is not the
Your sincere, Affectionate Friend, effect of government. It has its origin in the principles of society and
Thomas Paine the natural constitution of man. It existed prior to government, and
London, Feb. 9, 1792 would exist if the formality of government was abolished. The mutual
dependence and reciprocal interest which man has upon man, and all
the parts of civilised community upon each other, create that great
Introduction chain of connection which holds it together. The landholder, the
farmer, the manufacturer, the merchant, the tradesman, and every
The independence of America, considered merely as a separation occupation, prospers by the aid which each receives from the other,
from England, would have been a matter but of little importance, had and from the whole. Common interest regulates their concerns, and
it not been accompanied by a revolution in the principles and practice forms their law; and the laws which common usage ordains, have a
of governments. She made a stand, not for herself only, but for the greater influence than the laws of government.
world, and looked beyond the advantages herself could receive. To understand the nature and quantity of government proper for
As America was the only spot in the political world where the prin- man, it is necessary to attend to his character. As Nature created him
ciple of universal reformation could begin, so also was it the best in the for social life, she fitted him for the station she intended. In all cases
natural world. An assemblage of circumstances conspired, not only to she made his natural wants greater than his individual powers. No one
give birth, but to add gigantic maturity to its principles. The scene man is capable, without the aid of society, of supplying his own wants,
which that country presents to the eye of a spectator, has something in and those wants, acting upon every individual, impel the whole of
it which generates and encourages great ideas. them into society, as naturally as gravitation acts to a centre.
If systems of government can be introduced less expensive and For upwards of two years from the commencement of the Ameri-
more productive of general happiness than those which have existed, can War, and to a longer period in several of the American States,
all attempts to oppose their progress will in the end be fruitless. Rea- there were no established forms of government. The old governments
son, like time, will make its own way, and prejudice will fall in a com- had been abolished, and the country was too much occupied in defence
bat with interest. If universal peace, civilisation, and commerce are to employ its attention in establishing new governments; yet during
ever to be the happy lot of man, it cannot be accomplished but by a this interval order and harmony were preserved as inviolate as in any
revolution in the system of governments. country in Europe. There is a natural aptness in man, and more so in
The danger to which the success of revolutions is most exposed is society, because it embraces a greater variety of abilities and resource,
that of attempting them before the principles on which they proceed, to accommodate itself to whatever situation it is in. The instant formal
and the advantages to result from them, are sufficiently seen and un- government is abolished, society begins to act: a general association
derstood. Almost everything appertaining to the circumstances of a takes place, and common interest produces common security.
13 THOMAS PAINE RIGHTS OF MAN 14
The more perfect civilisation is, the less occasion has it for gov- of the band contrived to lose the name of Robber in that of Monarch;
ernment, because the more does it regulate its own affairs, and govern and hence the origin of Monarchy and Kings.
itself; but so contrary is the practice of old governments to the reason From such beginning of governments, what could be expected but
of the case, that the expenses of them increase in the proportion they a continued system of war and extortion?
ought to diminish. It is but few general laws that civilised life requires,
and those of such common usefulness, that whether they are enforced
by the forms of government or not, the effect will be nearly the same. Chapter III: Of the old and new systems of government
If we consider what the principles are that first condense men into
society, and what are the motives that regulate their mutual inter- Government, on the old system, is an assumption of power, for the
course afterwards, we shall find, by the time we arrive at what is called aggrandisement of itself; on the new, a delegation of power for the
government, that nearly the whole of the business is performed by the common benefit of society. The first general distinction between those
natural operation of the parts upon each other. two systems, is, that the one now called the old is hereditary, either in
Man, with respect to all those matters, is more a creature of consis- whole or in part; and the new is entirely representative. It rejects all
tency than he is aware, or than governments would wish him to be- hereditary government:
lieve. All the great laws of society are laws of nature. Those of trade First, As being an imposition on mankind.
and commerce, are laws of mutual and reciprocal interest. They are Secondly, As inadequate to the purposes for which government is
followed and obeyed, because it is the interest of the parties so to do, necessary.
and not on account of any formal laws their governments may impose All hereditary government is in its nature tyranny. To inherit a
or interpose. government, is to inherit the people, as if they were flocks and herds.
But how often is the natural propensity to society disturbed or de- Kings succeed each other, not as rationals, but as animals. It signi-
stroyed by the operations of government! When the latter, instead of fies not what their mental or moral characters are. It appears under all
being ingrafted on the principles of the former, assumes to exist for the various characters of childhood, decrepitude, dotage, a thing at
itself, and acts by partialities of favour and oppression, it becomes the nurse, in leading-strings, or in crutches. It reverses the wholesome
cause of the mischiefs it ought to prevent. order of nature. It occasionally puts children over men, and the con-
ceits of nonage over wisdom and experience. In short, we cannot con-
ceive a more ridiculous figure of government, than hereditary succes-
Chapter II: Of the origins of the present old governments sion, in all its cases, presents.
The representative system takes society and civilisation for its basis;
It is impossible that such governments as have hitherto existed in nature, reason, and experience, for its guide. Simple democracy was
the world, could have commenced by any other means than a total society governing itself without the aid of secondary means. By in-
violation of every principle sacred and moral. The obscurity in which grafting representation upon democracy, we arrive at a system of gov-
the origin of all the present old governments is buried, implies the ernment capable of embracing and confederating all the various inter-
iniquity and disgrace with which they began. ests and every extent of territory and population; and that also with
It could have been no difficult thing in the early and solitary ages advantages as much superior to hereditary government, as The Repub-
of the world, while the chief employment of men was that of attending lic of letters is to hereditary literature.
flocks and herds, for a banditti of ruffians to overrun a country, and lay Monarchy is all a bubble, a mere artifice to procure money. The
it under contributions. Their power being thus established, the chief whole expense of the federal government of America, founded on the
system of representation, and extending over a country nearly ten
15 THOMAS PAINE RIGHTS OF MAN 16
times as large as England, is but six hundred thousand dollars, or one Monarchy would not have continued so many ages in the world,
hundred and thirty-five thousand pounds sterling. had it not been for the abuses it protects. It is the master-fraud, which
I presume that no man in his sober senses will compare the charac- shelters all others. By admitting a participation of the spoil, it makes
ter of any of the kings of Europe with that of General Washington. itself friends; and when it ceases to do this it will cease to be the idol of
Yet, in France, and also in England, the expense of the civil list only, courtiers.
for the support of one man, is eight times greater than the whole ex- The principle upon which Mr. Burke formed his political creed,
pense of the federal government in America. To assign a reason for that of ‘binding and controlling posterity to the end of time, and of
this, appears almost impossible. renouncing and abdicating the rights of all posterity, for ever,’ is now
The government of a free country, properly speaking, is not in the become too detestable to be made a subject of debate; and therefore, I
persons, but in the laws. The enacting of those requires no great ex- pass it over with no other notice than exposing it.
pense; and when they are administered, the whole of civil government The best constitution that could now be devised, consistent with
is performed–the rest is all court contrivance. the condition of the present moment, may be far short of that excel-
lence which a few years may afford. There is a morning of reason ris-
ing upon man on the subject of government, that has not appeared
Chapter IV: Of constitutions before.
The trade of courts is beginning to be understood, and the affecta-
That men mean distinct and separate things when they speak of tion of mystery, with all the artificial sorcery by which they imposed
constitutions and of governments, is evident; or why are those terms upon mankind, is on the decline. It has received its death-wound; and
distinctly and separately used? A constitution is not the act of a gov- though it may linger, it will expire. Government ought to be as much
ernment, but of a people constituting a government; and government open to improvement as anything which appertains to man, instead of
without a constitution, is power without a right. which it has been monopolised from age to age, by the most ignorant
Government is nothing more than a national association; and the and vicious of the human race. Need we any other proof of their
object of this association is the good of all, as well individually as col- wretched management, than the excess of debts and taxes with which
lectively. Every man wishes to pursue his occupation, and to enjoy the every nation groans, and the quarrels into which they have precipitated
fruits of his labours and the produce of his property in peace and the world? Just emerging from such a barbarous condition, it is too
safety, and with the least possible expense. When these things are ac- soon to determine to what extent of improvement government may yet
complished, all the objects for which government ought to be estab- be carried. For what we can foresee, all Europe may form but one
lished are answered. great Republic, and man be free of the whole.
Considering government in the only light in which it should be
considered, that of a National Association, it ought to be so con-
structed as not to be disordered by any accident happening among the Chapter V: Ways and means of improving the condition of
parts; and, therefore, no extraordinary power, capable of producing Europe interspersed with miscellaneous observations
such an effect, should be lodged in the hands of any individual. The
death, sickness, absence or defection, of any one individual in a gov- Whatever the form or constitution of government may be, it ought
ernment, ought to be a matter of no more consequence, with respect to have no other object than the general happiness. When, instead of
to the nation, than if the same circumstance had taken place in a mem- this, it operates to create and increase wretchedness in any of the parts
ber of the English Parliament, or the French National Assembly. of society, it is on a wrong system, and reformation is necessary.
17 THOMAS PAINE RIGHTS OF MAN 18
As it is necessary to include England in the prospect of a general to a distinct and separate representation from the general interest of a
reformation, it is proper to inquire into the defects of its government. nation?
It is only by each nation reforming its own, that the whole can be im- In stating these matters, I speak an open and disinterested lan-
proved, and the full benefit of reformation enjoyed. Only partial ad- guage, dictated by no passion but that of humanity. To me, who have
vantages can flow from partial reforms. not only refused offers, because I thought them improper, but have
When, in countries that are called civilised, we see age going to the declined rewards I might with reputation have accepted, it is no won-
workhouse and youth to the gallows, something must be wrong in the der that meanness and imposition appear disgustful. Independence is
system of government. Why is it that scarcely any are executed but the my happiness, and I view things as they are, without regard to place or
poor? The fact is a proof, among other things, of a wretchedness in person; my country is the world, and my religion is to do good.
their condition. Bred up without morals, and cast upon the world Having thus glanced at some of the defects of the two houses of
without a prospect, they are the exposed sacrifice of vice and legal parliament, I proceed to what is called the crown.
barbarity. It signifies a nominal office of a million sterling a year, the business
Knowing my own heart and feeling myself as I now do, superior to of which consists in receiving the money. Whether the person be wise
all the skirmish of party, the inveteracy of interested or mistaken op- or foolish, sane or insane, a native or a foreigner, matters not. Every
ponents, I answer not to falsehood or abuse, but proceed to the defects ministry acts upon the same idea that Mr. Burke writes, namely, that
of the English Government. I begin with charters and corporations, the people must be hood-winked, and held in superstitious ignorance
and the evil of those Gothic institutions, the corporation towns. by some bugbear or other; and what is called the crown answers this
As one of the Houses of the English Parliament is, in a great meas- purpose, and therefore it answers all the purposes to be expected from
ure, made up of elections from these corporations; and as it is unnatu- it. This is more than can be said of the other two branches.
ral that a pure stream should flow from a foul fountain, its vices are but The hazard to which this office is exposed in all countries, is not
a continuation of the vices of its origin. A man of moral honour and from anything that can happen to the man, but from what may happen
good political principles cannot submit to the mean drudgery and to the nation–the danger of its coming to its senses.
disgraceful arts, by which such elections are carried. To be a successful I shall now turn to the matter of lessening the burthen of taxes.
candidate, he must be destitute of the qualities that constitute a just Since the year 1788, upwards of one million new taxes have been
legislator; and being thus disciplined to corruption by the mode of laid on, besides the produce of the lotteries; and as the taxes have in
entering into Parliament, it is not to be expected that the representa- general been more productive since than before, the amount may be
tive should be better than the man. taken, in round numbers, at £17,000,000. About nine millions of which
But it is not in the representation only that the defects lie, and are appropriated to the payment of interest on the national debt, and
therefore I proceed in the next place to the aristocracy. eight to the current annual expenses.
What is called the House of Peers, is combination of persons in All circumstances arising from the French revolution, and the ap-
one common interest. No better reason can be given, why a house of proaching harmony of the two nations, and the progress of knowledge
legislation should be composed entirely of men whose occupation in the science of government, the annual expenditure might be put
consists in letting landed property, than why it should be composed of back to one million and a half, thus there will remain a surplus of up-
those who hire, or of brewers, or bakers, or any other separate class of wards of six millions out of the present current expenses. The question
men. Mr. Burke calls this house ‘the great ground and pillar of security then will be, how to dispose of this surplus.
to the landed interest.’ What pillar of security does the landed interest The first step of practical relief, would be to abolish the poor-rates
require more than any other interest in the state, or what right has it entirely, and in lieu thereof, to make a remission of taxes to the poor of
19 THOMAS PAINE RIGHTS OF MAN 20
double the amount of the present poor-rates, viz., four millions annu- Why may we not suppose, that the great Father of all is pleased with
ally out of the surplus taxes. By this measure, the poor would be bene- variety of devotion; and that the greatest offence we can act, is that by
fited two millions, and the house-keepers two millions. This alone which we seek to torment and render each other miserable? As to what
would be equal to a reduction of one hundred and twenty millions of are called national religions, we may, with as much propriety, talk of
the National Debt, and consequently equal to the whole expense of the national Gods. It is either political craft or the remains of the Pagan
American War. system, when every nation had its separate and particular deity.
This money could be distributed so as to provide pound 4 annually It is now towards the middle of February. Were I to take a turn
per head for the support of children of poor families, and to provide into the country, the trees would present a leafless, wintery appear-
also for the cost of education of over a million children; to give annui- ance. Yet people might by chance might observe that a single bud on a
ties of pound 10 each for the aged poor over sixty, and of pound 6 each twig had begun to swell. I should reason very unnaturally to suppose
for the poor over fifty; to give donations of pound 1 each on occasions this was the only bud in England which had this appearance. It is,
of births in poor families and marriages of the poor; to make allow- however, not difficult to perceive that the spring is begun.
ances for funeral expenses of persons travelling for work and dying at a
distance from their friends; and to furnish employment for the casual
poor of the metropolis where modes of relief are necessary that are not
required in the country.
When it shall be said in any country in the world, my poor are
happy, my jails are empty of prisoners, my streets of beggars; the aged
are not in want, the taxes are not oppressive; the rational world is my
friend, because I am the friend of its happiness: then may that country
boast its constitution and its government.
Never did so great an opportunity offer itself to England, and to all
Europe, as is produced by the two Revolutions of America and France.
By the former, freedom has a national champion in the western world;
and by the latter, in Europe. When another nation shall join France,
despotism and bad government will scarcely dare to appear. To use a
trite expression, the iron is becoming hot all over Europe. The in-
sulted German and the enslaved Spaniard, the Russ and the Pole, are
beginning to think. The present age will hereafter merit to be called
the Age of Reason, and the present generation will appear to the future
as the Adam of a new world.
I have carefully avoided to enlarge upon the subject, because I am
inclined to believe that what is called the present ministry, wish to see
contentions about religion kept up, to prevent the nation turning its
attention to subjects of government. But as religion is very improperly
made a political machine, and the reality of it is thereby destroyed.