Thomas Paine

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THE LIFE AND WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE
Volume I. Biographies & Appreciations 1. Introduction 2. Life of Paine 3. Erskine Defense of Paine 4. Father of Republics 5. American Revolution 6. Ingersoll on Paine 7. Journey to the Home 8. A Square Deal Volume II. Common Sense & Miscellaneous Essays Introduction Explanatory Preface Common Sense 1. Common Sense 2. Monarchy and Hereditary Succession 3. Thoughts of the Present State of American Affairs 4. Of the Present Ability of America 5. Appendix 6. Epistle to Quakers Miscellaneous Essays 1. African Slavery in America 2. A Dialogue Between General Wolfe 3. Magazine in America 4. Useful and Entertaining Hints 5. Anecdotes Alexander the Great 6. Reflections Lord Clive 7. Cupid and Hymen 8. Duelling 9. Reflections on Titles 10. The Dream Interpreted 11. Reflections on Unhappy Marriages 12. Thoughts on Defensive War 13. An Occasional Letter on the Female Sex 14. A Serious Thought 15. The Foresters Letters 16. A Dialogue 17. Retreat Across the Delaware 18. Letter to Franklin in Paris 19. The Affair of Silas Deane Volume III. the American Crisis 1. The Crisis I 2. The Crisis II, To Lord Howe 3. The Crisis III 4. The Crisis IV 5. The Crisis V, To General Howe 6. The Crisis VI, To the Earl of Carlisle Etc 7. The Crisis VII, To the People of England 8. The Crisis VIII, Address to the People of England 9. The Crisis IX, 10. The Crisis X, On the Subject of Taxation 11. The Crisis XI, On the King of England's Speech 12. The Crisis XII, On the Present State of News 13. The Crisis XIII, To Sir Guy Carleton 14. The Crisis XIV, To the Earl of Shelbourne 15. The Crisis XV, 16. The Crisis XVI, To the People of America Volume IV. Rights of Man, Part I. 1. To George Washington 2. Historical Preface 3. Preface to English Edition 4. Preface to French Edition 5. Rights of Man, Part I 6. Declaration of the Rights of Man 7. Observations on the Declaration of Rights 8. Miscellaneous Chapter 9. Conclusion Rights of Man, Part II. Rights of Man, Part II, Preface. I. Of Society and Civilisation II. On the Origin of the Present Old Governments III. Of the Old and New Systems of Government IV. On Constitutions Volume V. Rights of Man, Part II & Miscellaneous Essays Rights of Man, Part II. V. Plus Appendix Ways and Means of Improving Miscellaneous Essays 1. To the Authors of Le Republicain 2. A Republican Manifesto 3. To the Abbe Sieyes 4. To the Attorney General 5. To Mr Secretary Dundas 6. Letters to Onslow Cranley 7. To the Sheriff of the County of Sussex 8. To Mr Secretary Dundas 9. Letter Addressed to the Addressers 10. Address to the People of France 11. Essay Written to Aid New Republicans 12. To the Attorney General on the Prosecution 13. On the Propriety of Bringing Louis Xvi to Trial 14. Reasons For Preserving the Life of Louis Capet 15. Shall Louis Xvi Be Respited 16. Plan of A Declaration 17. Answers to Four Questions Volume VI. the Age of Reason, Part I. 1. To My Fellow Citizens of the U.S.A. 2. Age of Reason Part1 3. Age of Reason Part2 Preface 4. Age of Reason Part2 5. The New Testament 6. Conclusion 7. Age of Reason Letters 8. Age of Reason Prosecution Volume VII. the Age of Reason, Part II. 1. The Existence of God 2. Worship and Church Bells 3. Extract from a Reply to the Bishop of Llandaff 4. Origin of Freemasonry 5. Prospect Papers 6. Examination of Prophecies 7. A Letter to Andrew Dean 8. Predestination Volume VIII. Essays, Letters and Addresses. 1. To the Public on Mr Deanes Affair 2. Autobiographical Sketch 3. Messrs Deane Jay and Gerard 4. 1 Peace and the Newfoundland Fisheries 5. 2 Peace and the Newfoundland Fisheries 6. 3 Peace and the Newfoundland Fisheries 7. The American Philosophical Society 8. Emancipation of Slaves 9. Public Good 10. Intro Letter to the Abbe Raynal 1782 11. Letter to the Abbe Raynal 1782 12. Dissertations on Government the Affairs Volume IX. Essays, Letters and Addresses. 1. The Society For Political Enquiries 2. Prospects on the Rubicon 3. Specification of Thomas Paine 4. Letter to Jefferson in Paris 1789-02-16 5. Address and Declaration 6. Private Letters to Jefferson 7. Letter to Danton 8. A Citizen of America to the Citizens of Europe 9. Appeal to the Convention 10. Memorial Addressed to James Monroe 11. Addenda 12. Letter to George Washington 13. Observations 14. Dissertation on First Principles of Government 15. The Constitution of 1795 16. The Decline and Fall of the English System of Finance 17. Forgetfulness Volume X. Essays, Letters and Poems. 1. Agrarian Justice 2. The Eighteenth Fructidor 3. The Recall of Monroe 4. Private Letter to Thomas Jefferson 5. Proposal That Louisiana Be Purchased 6. Thomas Paine to the Citizens of the United States 7. To the French Inhabitants of Louisiana 8. Case of the Officers of Excise 9. Letter to Dr Goldsmith 10. Scientific Memoranda 11. The Iron Bridge 12. The Construction of Iron Bridges 13. To the People of England on the Invasion of England 14. Constitutional Reform 15. Constitutions Governments, and Charters 16. The Cause of Yellow Fever 17. Liberty of the Press 18. Songs and Rhymes 19. The Will of Thomas Paine

TO THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL,
On the Prosecution Against
The Second Part of Rights of Man.

Paris, eleventh of November, first year of the Republic [1792].

Mr. Attorney-General:

Sir:- As there can be no personal resentment between two strangers, I write this letter to you, as to a man against whom I have no animosity.

You have, as Attorney-General, commenced a prosecution against me as the author of “Rights of Man.” Had not my duty, in consequence of my being elected a member of the National Convention of France, called me from England, I should have stayed to have contested the injustice of that prosecution; not upon my own account, for I cared not about the prosecution, but to have defended the principles I had advanced in the work.

The duty I am now engaged in is of too much importance to permit me to trouble myself about your prosecution: when I have leisure, I shall have no objection to meet you on that ground; but, as I now stand, whether you go on with theprosecution, or whether you do not, or whether you obtain a verdict, or not, is a matter of the most perfect indifference to me as an individual. If you obtain one (which you are welcome to if you can get it), it cannot affect me either in person, property, or reputation, otherwise than to increase the latter; and with respect to yourself, it is as consistent that you obtain a verdict against the Man in the Moon as against me; neither do I see how you can continue the prosecution against me as you would have done against one of your own people, who had absented himself because he was prosecuted; what passed at Dover proves that my departure from England was no secret.

My necessary absence from your country affords the opportunity of knowing whether the prosecution was intended against Thomas Paine, or against the right of the people of England to investigate systems and principles of government; for as I cannot now be the object of the prosecution, the going on with the prosecution will show that something else was the object, and that something else can be no other than the people of England, for it is against their rights, and not against me, that a verdict or sentence can operate, if it can operate at all. Be then so candid as to tell the jury (if you choose to continue the process), whom it is you are prosecuting, and on whom it is that the verdict is to fall. I But I have other reasons than those I have mentioned for writing you this letter; and, however you may choose to interpret them, they proceed from a good heart. The time, Sir, is becoming too serious to play with court prosecutions, and sport with national rights. The terrible examples that have taken place here, upon men who, less than a year ago, thought themselves as secure as any prosecuting judge, jury, or attorney-general, now can in England, ought to have some weight with men in your situation.

That the Government of England is as great, if not the greatest, perfection of fraud and corruption that ever took place since governments began, is what you cannot be a stranger to unless the constant habit of seeing it has blinded your senses; but though you may not choose to see it, the people are seeing it very fast, and the progress is beyond what you may choose to believe. Is it possible that you, or I, can believe, or that reason can make any other man believe, that the capacity of such a man as Mr. Guelph, or any of his profligate sons, is necessary to the government of a nation? I speak to you as one man ought to speak to another; and I know also that I speak what other people are beginning to think.

That you cannot obtain a verdict (and if you do, it will signify nothing) without packing a jury (and we both know that such tricks are practised), is what I have very good reason to believe, I have gone into coffee-houses, and places where I was unknown, on purpose to learn the currency of opinion, and I never yet saw any company of twelve men that condemned the book; but I have often found a greater number than twelve approving it, and this I think is a fair way of collecting the natural currency of opinion.

Do not then, Sir, be the instrument of drawing, twelve men into a situation that may be injurious to them afterwards. I do not speak this from policy, but from benevolence; but if you choose to go on with the process, I make it my request to you that you win read this letter in court, after which the judge and the jury may do as they please. As I do not consider myself the object of the prosecution, neither can I be affected by the issue, one way or the other, I shall, though a foreigner in your country, subscribe as much money as any other man toward supporting the right of the nation against the prosecution; and it is for this purpose only that I shall do it.

Thomas Paine.

As I have not time to copy letters, you will excuse the corrections.

P.S. - I intended, had I stayed in England, to have published the information, with my remarks upon it, before the trial came on; but as I am otherwise engaged, I reserve myself till the trial, is over, when I shall reply fully to everything you shall advance.

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