The Labor enquirer., 1885-01-24
GOVERNMENTS.
What Thomas Paine Said About
the Rights Of Man 100
Years Ago.
Words Which Will Bear Careful Study
During the Days Of the Coming
Storm.
It is impossible that such government

:. !, - -
tpffhciple, sacred and moral. The OBJ
security in which the origin Of all the
present old governments is buried i'm
plies the inlQuity and disgrace with
which they baEsn- The origin Of lths
present governments of America and
France will ever be remembered, be
cause it is honorable to record 1T; but
with respect to the rest, even. fattery
has consigned them to the tomb of time
without an inscription.
It could have been no difficult thing
in the early and SOLITARY ages Of the
world, while the chief employment Of
men was That Of attending focks and
herds, for q banditti Of rufians to over;
run country and lay it under cpntrihu-
tion. Their power being thus estab-
lished, the chief Of the band contrved
to lose the. name of robber in that OF
monarch; and hence the origin of mon
archy and kings. a II. 5.
The origin of the government of En-
gland. so far as it relates to what is
called its line of monarchy, being one OF
the latest, is perhaps the best recorded.
The hatred which the Norman invasion
and tyranny begat, must have been
deeply rooted in the nation to have out
lived the contrivance to ,obliterate it.
Though not courtier will talk of the
curfew bell, not village in England has
forgotten it. =,
These bands of robbers having par
celed out The world, and divided It into
dominions, began, as is naturally the
case, to quarrel with each other What
was at first obtained by violence, was
considered by Others as lawful to be
taken, and the second plunderer sue
ceeded the first. They alternately in
vaded the .dominions which each had
assigned to himself and the brutality
with which they treated each other ex-
plains the original character of mon
archy. 1t was rufian torturing ruffian.
The conquerer considered the conquered
not as his prisoner, but as his property
He led him in triumph rattDing In chains
and doomed 1in, az pleasure, TO slavery
or death. As time obliterated the hiss
tory of their beginning, their successors
assumed new appearances, to cut off the
entail of their disgrace, but their prin-
ciples and objects remained the same.
What at first was plunder assumed the
softer nama.of ffaysnuei and The power
they originally usurped, they affected to
inherit. -a.- -
From such beginning of governments,
what could be expected but continual
system of war and extortion? 1t has
established itself into a trade. The vice
is not peculiar to one more than to an
other, but is the common principle of all.
There does not exist within such govern
ments stamina whereon to lngraft re-
formation and the shortest and most
efectual remedy is to begin anew.
What scenes of horror, what perfec-
ton of iniquity, present themselves in
contemplating the character and review
ing the history of such governments ?
If we would delineate human nature
with basenesss of heart and hypocrisy
of countenance, that reflection would
shudder at and humanity disown, it is
kings, courts and cabinets, that must sit
for the portrait. Man, as he is natur-
ally, witlkall his faults about him, is not
up to the character.
Can we possibly suppose that if gov
ernment had originated m right prin-
c;iipIe, and had not an Interest in pur-
SUNG a wrong one, that The world could
have been in the wretched and quarrel
some condition we have seen it? What
inducement has the farmer, while fol
lowing the pillow, to lay aside his peaceful
pursuits and go to war on the farmer OF
another country Or what inducement
has the manufacturer What ls do
minion to them, or to any class of men
in nation? Does it add an acre to
any mans estate, or raise its value? Are
not conquest and defeat each of the
same price, and taxes the never-failine
consequence Though this reasoning
may be good to a nation, it is notso to a
government. War is the faro table O.
governments, and nations the dupes O.
the game. ..''-
If there is anything to wonder at ir
this miserable scene of governments
more than might be expected, it IS the
progress which the peaceful arts of agri
culture, manufactures and commerce.
have made beneath such long accumu
lating load of discouragement and op
preston. 1t serves to show that instinc
lin animals does not act with stronge
impulse than the. principle of societ.
and civilization operate in man. Unde
all discouragements he pursues his OBJ
j ject, and yields to nothing but impos
ksibilities. r.sz.. -. \ ..a.-., j,,e
What Archimedes said of the mechan
ical powers, may be applied to reasol
and liberty: "Had We" said he, "aplac
to stand upon, we might raise tn
world"
The revolution in America. presente
in politics what. was only a theory il
mechanics, So deeply rooted we're th
governments of the old world, and 8
! effectually had the tyranny and the an