New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-02-18
PAINE'S EARLY WRITINGS.
THE FIRST VOLUME OF HIS COLLECTED
WORKS.
THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. Collected
and edited by Moncure Daniel Conway. Vol L.
G774-l770. PIP viii, AS G.. +. Putnams Sons

Thomas Paine's ESSAY Common Sense" would
have attracted the attention it did II the
author had been an American. Would the
Independents of Revolutionary times have been
surprised at free discourse Of this sort from
one of their own number? 1t is shown that
they would not by the fact that before the
authorship of the pamphlet became an open
secret several well-known political essaylsts oil
the colonies were credited with 1t. Nor would
population which had been nOurished al first or
second hand on the teaching of John Locke and
the French philosophers have been startled by
the doctrines Of Common Sense" If uttered by
one from its own ranks. The surprise came with
the knowledge that this diatrbe against royalty
was the work of Englshman who had barely
time to settle himself on the western side OF the
Atlantic lie had come 10 America, IN fact'
when the ferment among the people was at is
most excited stage Referring to THIS fact ne
wrote in q letter to Franklin in HIS For my
own part. thought it very hard to have the
country set on fire about my ears almost the
. moment | got into H." With that remarkable
facility of which he was capable for catching
almost instantly the tone and color of the society
into which he fell he spoke the thoughts which
had pervaded the minds Of many. He wrote as
one having authority and yet there Is no mint IN
his life or in his writings that he had medltated
deeply on the theme of human liberty while ne
WAS Young man in England. His surround
jngs there would never have suggested IT, and
Paine everywhere was just what his surround-
ings made him. For the same reason mat ne
could never have written Common Sense" else
where than in America he could never have
written THE Age of Reason until he mad been
directly under French influences. But THE Age
of Reason does not belong in the consideration
of the present volume.
Was there ANYTHING to surprise an American
accustomed by the free converse of generations
TO the boldest theorizng in politics in Pane's
well-known distinction between society and gov
eminent in his assertion that government Is
only necessary evil at the best an EVIL re-
oujrcd by human wckedness? Surely no more
than there was in his general theory as TO the
evolution of political organisms which was Just
the one fashionable in that age. He had the skill
10 make what complicated in the writings
OF many philosophers rain to the meanest u'iuer-
standing If is simplicity itself to be told that
society is the natural gathering of people WHO
desire to be together. but that government arises
when men neglect their duties to each other
and must be constrained to perform them. That
tho colonsts did not need to be told Of the
dangers Of royalty and political arlstocracy
WAS shown by the persistence with when lhev
resisted any tendencies toward these Things.
But they knew by experience what falne ulu
not learn by theorizng that Is. the value ol an
executive His own plan for organizing the
government Of what he delighted in calling Inc
Continent would net have borne the weakest VI
the strains that the United States have actuailN
Rad TO endure He proposed an arrangement
by which each colony would send not less IMAM
thirty delegates to the Congress The delegates
were to select one of the colonies by lot. ana
from the delegates of that colony by ballot
choose n president. In order to prevent any
COLONY having two presidents before the others
had their turn, the name Of each winner was
to be dropped from the list Till all mad their
proper rotation. In this Congress no Ia" cou'u
he passed unless by three-fifths majority IN
doubtedly this portion Of Paine's essay was new
to Americans. History shows that thev pa'o
little attention 10 1t. Mr.. Conways extreme
nar,iality for Paine leads him to put the actual
differences between his hero as practical
statesman and the Americans who made "A ma
,ion into very mild words lie only says that
the bicameral legislature was not anticipated
nv the author Of Common Sense nor the
fixed representation in the Senate. nor the re'a-
ton OF the general government to the states
lie might have added, nor the whole executive
and judicial systems. either Of which is far more
necessary than the legislative TO humanity
rendered defective. according to Paine, by us
own wicke6ness. 1t is possible but hardly worth
while to dispute M. Conways claim. that PANE
was the first to devise the formation of a federal
union 1t was not ideas that were lacking on
this subject; it was the will to agree. That
tho notion of federation was in the air both
In Furope and America be shown from the
French historical studies nearly all anterior TO
the American Revolution but copiously used'
after Il was over by the essaylsts OF Inc
Federalist" 1t not he who first mentioned
in a popular way what mad long been a thems
Of learned speculation. but they who got Amer
leans finally to consent to it. who are OF serious
value in the history Of federation
While Paine had really nothing to say to the
trained politicians nor to the learned men OF
the colonies which they did not already know.
he had a way OF putting things which went to
the hearts of the plain people. What they had
been slowly thinking out for themselves, he
uttered for them or the instant They could
ford TO indulge his theories inasmuch as he
became the mouthpiece OF their resentment
That being an Englishman. he should be able
10 do this with so familiar an air was the mir
acle that attracted the popular admiration
Nowadays Americans are growing Indifferent 10
criticism from foreigners, whether 1t comes in
the form of praise or blame. But this mood Is
as set recent and imperfect. In the past the /
value OF such things was not rarely over
estimated. Numerous examples Will occur to /
every by which to judge OF Paine In the hght !
OF that suggestive phrase used in l1I6 by John |
Adams, in a letter to his wife, "a gentleman /
about two years from England. The one /
essay made his fame. What he wrote in the /
political vein afterward-and some of the pieces /
in THE American Crisis show more thought
and vast deal more experience in American
life and business-attaned popularity largely |
because OF the signature. Common Sense" If
the case had been different. why should Wash
ington have failed to other papers in the !
"Crisis" series as he did the first one? BY his |
order 1t read to the troops the retreat |
across the Delaware. and the memorable first |
sentence, These times that try mems /
souls" not only the watchword for the /
march Trenton but has been familiar
quotation ever since. II may well be that