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by Thomas Paine (Author)
An expression in the British parliament respecting the American war, alluding to Julius Caesar having passed the Rubicon, has on several occasions introduced that river as the figurative river of war. Fortunately for England, she is yet on the peaceable side of the Rubicon; but as the flames once kindled are not always easily extinguished, the hopes of peace are not so clear as before the late mysterious dispute began. But while the calm lasts, it may answer a very good purpose to take a view of the prospects, consistent with the maxim, that he that goeth to war should first sit down and count the cost. The nation has a young and ambitious minister at its head, fond of himself, and deficient in experience: and instances have often shown that judgment is a different thing from genius, and that the affairs of a nation are but unsafely trusted where the benefit of experience is wanting. Illustrations have been drawn from the circumstances of the war before last, to decorate the character of the present minister, and, perhaps, they may have been greatly over-drawn; for the management must have been bad to have done less than what was then done, when we impartially consider the means, the force, and the quantity of money employed. It was then Great Britain and America against France singly, for Spain did not join till near the close of the war. The great number of troops which the American colonies then raised, and paid themselves, were sufficient to turn the scale; if all other parts had been equal. France had not at that time attended to naval affairs so much as she has done since; and the capture of French sailors before any declaration of war was made; which, however it may be justified upon policy, will always be ranked among the clandestine arts of war, assured a certain, but unfair advantage against her, because it was like a man administering a disabling dose over night to the person whom he intends to challenge in the morning.
Author Biography
Thomas "Tom" Paine (February 9, 1737 - June 8, 1809) was an author, pamphleteer, radical, inventor, intellectual, revolutionary, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He has been called "a corsetmaker by trade, a journalist by profession, and a propagandist by inclination." Born in Thetford, in the English county of Norfolk, Paine emigrated to the British American colonies in 1774 in time to participate in the American Revolution. His principal contributions were the powerful, widely read pamphlet Common Sense (1776), the all-time best-selling American book that advocated colonial America's independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain, and The American Crisis (1776-1783), a pro-revolutionary pamphlet series. His writing of "Common Sense" was so influential that John Adams reportedly said, "Without the pen of the author of 'Common Sense, ' the sword of Washington would have been raised in vain." In 1789 Paine visited France, and lived there for much of the following decade. He was deeply involved in the early stages of the French Revolution. He wrote the Rights of Man (1791), in part-defence of the French Revolution against its critics, in particular the British statesman Edmund Burke. In Great Britain, for this publication he was later tried and convicted in absentia for the crime of seditious libel. Despite not speaking French, he was elected to the French National Convention in 1792. The Girondists regarded him as an ally, so, the Montagnards, especially Robespierre, regarded him as an enemy. In December of 1793, he was arrested and imprisoned in Paris, then released in 1794. He became notorious because of The Age of Reason, his book that advocates deism, promotes reason and freethinking, argues against institutionalised religion and Christian doctrines. He also wrote the pamphlet Agrarian Justice ( 1795), discussing the origins of property, and introduced the concept of a guaranteed minimum income. Paine remained in France during the early Napoleonic era, but condemned Napoleon's dictatorship, calling him "the completest charlatan that ever existed". In 1802, at President Jefferson's invitation, he returned to America where he died on June 8, 1809.
