In a great affair, where the happiness of man is at stake, I love to work for nothing. I take neither copyright nor profit from anything I publish. Is there an example even of a rich man? Not one writer in a thousand would act thus. But here are two contemporary ex- amples. Multiply one thousand by one thousand and you have: Another most prominent characteristic of Junius was hatred -of the Scotch. For this no parallel was found at first in any of Paine's writings.
The expression " Scotch and foreign mercena- ries,'' in the draft of the Declaration of Independence, which so offended two gentleman of that country that it had to be stricken out, was doubtless penned by Paine, for Jefferson had no antipa- thy to the Scotch. But that kind of evidence was scarcely ad- missible without other Support. Speaking of the policy of embracing the Scotch in the reign of George HI. The brilliant pen of Junius was drawn forth, but in vain. This was sufficient proof that Paine, like Junius, hated the Scotch; but then the somewhat embarrassing question arose if Paine was Junius, could he have thus alluded to that writer?
Should galling Junius make a new attack, Whose lashes still are flagrant on your back. The libeller by some state blood-hound trace, And make him feel the terrors of your place. Lord Mansfield was " that Scotchman" whom Junius hoped to "pull to the ground: Paine, this is Mrs.
Full text of "Thomas Paine: Was he Junius?"
The claim for Sir Philip Francis alone has in recent years maintained any degree of stability. On the evidence of handwriting a very plausible case has been made out, sufficient to convince many that he wrote the disguised hand of Junius. But when I did, 1 soon found positive proof that Francis was not Junius. In a private letter to Woodfall, without date, but certainly written a day or two after November 10, , Junius says: I have been out of town these three weeks, and though I got your last could not conveniently answer it.
B," who was not Junius. But on the fourth of November, , Philip Francis wrote a. Since my discovery of this alibi I have been happy to learn that not less than half a dozen others have been proved in Notes- and Queries. There are more than three hundred parallels of character, conduct, opinion, style, sentiment, and language between Paine and Junius, and no fact incompatible with their identity has been found. See how differently he Nvrites his name: In Junms's " Dedication to the English Nation," he says: You are roused at last to a sense of your danger.
If Junius lives, you shall often be reminded of it. Did he not fulfill that promise? Frank- lin had been insulted at court and was about to leave England forever.
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Already he had sent Paine to Philadelphia with letters of introduction. But he himself did not embark until three months after the first issue of The Crisis. I believe that Frank- lin was the only man who detected Junius. Hence in all his writings he never alludes to him. Paine and Franklin were bosom friends, and worked together even when far apart. With- out their secret work American independence would not have been achieved. Is it, therefore, any exaggeration to say that Paine and Franklin made this nation?
For wronged America let pity cease, Let all her sons be massacred in peace. The Newark Gazette of October 5, , contained the follow- ing editorial paragraph: It has long been supposed that Mr. Jefferson drew up the Declaration of Independence, This report was raised to further his election, and the philosopher has thought fit to countenance it. Jefferson, for re- vision and amendment, and it yfQ.
Who was that " certain person" whose name the editor kindly suppressed, lest it should humiliate his political adversaries? And did Congress assign to that same person the task of revising and amending the draft of the Declaration reported by the committee of five? Jefferson himself had not so recorded it in his " notes written on the spot," nor in his letter to the Journal de Paris in , giving a history of the transaction " with precision.
Jefferson," is all that Chief Justice Marshall could say in Therefore the public must have been unenlightened as to the authorship of the instrument not only up to , but for many years thereafter; and if Jefferson had died three years earlier than he did, the only evidence that he drew the Declara- tion of Independence would have been: That the original draft is in his own handwriting.
That the task of drawing it was assigned to him by the committee; and 3, That in his own equivocal words, as recorded in " It was accordingly done, and being approved by them, I reported ic to the House. And Thomas Paine, as I shall undertake to prove, was that " certain person" referred to by the editor of the Newark Gazette. The very first literary work of Paine after his arrival in 1 was a series of seven anonymous letters in support of Jefferson's administration, published in the National Intelligencer, signed " Plain Sense," and afterward reprinted in a pamphlet with the following tide: In Jefferson's works, vol.
It is in his own handwridng except four verbal amendments by Franklin and two by Adams. There are many other erasures and interlineations, all in Jeffer- son's handwriting being amendments made by Congress. The first paragraph of the original draft, as reported by the committee,, is as follows: The italicized words were erased, and other language substi- tuted therefor by Congress. The second paragraph of the Declaration was amended still more, the original being as follows: The following paragraph in regard to the slave trade was en- tirely stricken out: Determined to keep open a mar- ket where men should be bought and sold, he has prostituted his nega- tive for suppressing every legislative attempt to prohibit or to restrain this execrable commerce.
And that this assemblage of horrors might want no fact of distinguished die, he is now exciting those very people to rise in. Did he not know the state of feeling in- regard to slavery before he made the draft? It is true that he, though a slaveholder, deplored the existence of the institution;.. Speaking of this paragraph in the original draft of the Declara- tion. At this very time, too, they are permitting their chief magistrate to- send over not only soldiers oi our common blood, but Scotch and foreign, mercenaries, to invade and destroy us.
These facts have given the last stab to agonizing affection, and manly spirit bids us renounce forever these unfeeling brethren. Be it so, since they will have it. We will tread it apart from them. Aside from the eloquence and pathos of this passage, altogether t eyond the capacity of Jefferson's pen, there is other evidence to rove that he did not compose it. In referring to it, he said: When the Declaration of Independence was under the consideration of -Congress, there were two or three unlucky expressions in it which gave -offense to some members. Furthermore, is not the argument of Mr.
I quote the whole clause as adopted, with an amendment in brackets, but without the interpolated words " Scotch and other," which appear without erasure in Jefferson's draft: He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to -complete the works of death, destruction, and tyranny already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy [scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages and totally] unworthy the head of a civilized nation.
When the subsequent passage, containing the offensive words, "Scotch and foreign mercenaries,'' was stricken out by Congress, the interpolated words " Scotch and other" in this clause should have been erased. And in the engrossed copy they were omitted but in Jefferson's draft they still remain, thus: If Paine drew it, and not only wished to be unknown but was will- ing to let another have the credit of the performance, Jefferson was nevertheless placed in an embarrassing position.
How" could he dare, even in notes written on the spot, much less in any public communication, while Paine was living, avow him- self the author? Hence in his notes, written on the spot, he- says: A committee was appointed to prepare a Declaration of Independence. The committee were John Adams, Dr. Franklin, Roger Sherman, Robert- R.
This was reported to the House on Friday, the twenty -eighth of June, when it was read, and ordered to lie on the table. On the twenty-eighth of June the Declaration of Independence was re- ported to the House and was laid on the table. In , in answer to a proposal to publish his writings, after mentioning many of them, he says: I say nothing of numerous drafts of reports, resolutions, declarations,, etc..
These having be- come the acts of public bodies, there can be no personal claim to them. This was nearly three months after the death of Paine, and yet, Jefferson makes no personal claim. Ten years later he repeats his first account of the transactions, but makes no acknowledgment of authorship. Two years later, in , he again repeats the history as before,, but interpolates a clause as follows: The committee for drawing the Declaration of Independence desired me to do it.
It was accordingly done, and being approved by them, I reported it to the House on Fiiday, the twenty -eighth of June. Here is an indirect acknowledgment. Two years later, in. August, , at the age of eighty, he writesi " I consented — I drew it. Paine had been dead sixteen years, and in the- next year Jefferson died. The Declaration of Independence is an epitome of Paine'S' " Common Sense," which Jefferson certainly did not consult at the time the draft was prepared, for he says: Whether I had gathered my ideas from reading, I do not know.
Identity of Junius
Of course not, if he had before him a complete draft prepared by Thomas Paine; all he had to do was to copy it in his own hand. Franklin and published under the borrowed name of Paine, who iiaci come over witlt him from England. It is true that the authorship of " Common Sense'" was attrib- uted for a time, not only to Dr. Franklin, but to John Adams and others. But Jefferson ought to have known that it was pub- lished anon5maously. Nor did Paine come over with Franklin; he preceded him six months. He replied that they were.
A motion was then made to expel him from the office of secretary. Paine then asked to be heard in his own defense. This was refused, whereupon, rather than remain un- der censure unheard, he resigned his office.
This was in Janu- ary, ; so that from this time he must have been publicly known as the writer " Common Sense,'' though it does not appear that he made any other public acknowledgment until Now the Declaration of Independence answers completely to -such a manifesto. And lastly, in the formal Declaration of Independence is asserted the " full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, and establish commerce" with other nations.
Hence, the most eloquent orator of our time is constrained to say: Certain it is that Jefferson could not have written anything so manly, so striking, so comprehensive, so clear, so convincing, and so faultless in rhetoric and rhythm. Denslow, after an elaborate argument on the ques- tion of the authorship of the instrument, says: The Declaration of Independence must hereafter be construed as a fabric whose warp and woof were Thomas Paine's. But in that as in the rest of his writings, he frequently violates the rules of rhetoric.
The fact is, he was not a rhetorician, and flights of eloquence in his compositions are as rare as billows on a mill-pond. The eloquent and impressive passages of the Dec- a ration are unmistakably in the style of Paine. And this is what he said in his paper, Cobbett's Register, about the authorship of the Declaration: Jefiferson and some others Iiave had the credit of being the authors of the Declaration of Independence of America.
Either of them for aught I know, inay have written it; but Paine was its author. Let us enter into it with candor and decency. Respect is due to the station of ministers, etc. In the first paragraph of the Declaration is this: A decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes, etc.
In his famous letter to the king, December 19, , is this passage: They left their native land in search of freedom, and found a desert. Divided as they are into a thousand forms of policy and religion, there is one point on which they all agree: So in the draft of the Declaration, we have the following pas- sage, of which only the first thirteen words were allowed to re- main: We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration aijd settlement here;.
The cause of America was the principal theme of " Casca," who was Thomas Paine. In his first letter, dated April 15, , "Casca" says: Have they yet had a prospect of any other terms than such as would make them slaves? They are not destitute of arms al- ready, and they will be supplied with more in spite of our vigilant fleet. Four days after the date of this letter, or rather of The Crisis containing it, the massacre at Lexington occurred; and I infer that at that time he was either on the ocean, returning to Eng- land to procure arms, salt petre and other munitions of war, or had actually arrived in London.
I once more call America a nation, and a great nation. If unwarrantable oppression may be resisted upon revolution principles,, the tie between England and America is actually dissolved, our protec- tion is withdrawn, our tyrannic sword unsheathed, and common sense proclaims aloud that obedience in America is no more. But the subsequent letters of "Casca" all breathe the spirit of American independence.
If Junius lives you shall often be reminded of it. This was after the news of the massacre at Lexington had reached England, and the letter overflows with the characteristic rage of Junius. I quote the first paragraph: Like that fell monster and infernal tyrant, Charles the First, you are determined to deluge the land with innocent blood. Fired with rage at the more than savage barbarity of your mercenary troops, your cursed instruments of slaughter in America, I can no longer keep within the bounds of decency.
The breast of every true Englishman must be filled with indignation, and that respect which is due to a king will be lost ia a noble zeal for the preservation of our country and fellow subjects. We shall find it, to our cost, in vain to send English soldiers none but Scotch will do the business against English breasts.
An Eng- lish army will not, and a navy cannot destroy the liberties of America. Your clime you change, your sentiments retain; In Scotchmen treason is an innate stain. From this I quote the follow- ing: Where is the man of reason and education except the servile Wesley , who will expose himself to universal derision and contempt by denying this eternal truth: He has the igno- rance and impudence to tell us that our all — our lives, our liberties, and our property — are, without our consent, at the absolute disposal of king and Parliament.
Neither Mansfield nor Johnson ever ventured so far. Paine had been dead fourteen years and everybody believed at last that Jefferson drew it. Nor would it have been wise or politic for him to disclose the real author at any time, especially after the publication of Paine's "Age of Reason.
With the death of Paind was fulfilled the promise of Junius, who said: C, on May 31, , which passed 20 revolutionary resolutions, but without a word to parallel the Declaration of July 4, These resolutions were printed in the South Carolina Gazette of June 13, The minutes of the council held at this place the other day will make the impotence of government here as apparent to jour lord- ship as anything I can set before you.
The resolves of the com- mittee of Mecklenburg, which your lordship will find in the enclosed newspaper, surpass all the horrid and treasonable publications that the inflammatory spirits of the continent have yet produced. A copy of these resolves was sent off, I am informed, by express to the Congress of Philadelphia as soon as they were passed.
The Governor was rightly informed that a copy of the resolves was sent by express to the Congress at Philadelphia. Furthermore, the resolutions of May 31, , similar to those adopted in other colonies, were printed, in part, at least, in several Northern newspapers of that period. Whatever impression may have been made upon the Con- gress by these resolutions, it does not appear to have been enduring.
In June, , John Adams was dumbfounded to see in the Essex Register an article entitled " Raleigh Register Declaration of Independence," embodying five reso- lutions purporting to have been adopted at Charlotte, on May 20, ? The italicised words occur also in the Declaration of July 4, The word " inherent" was stricken out of the original draft of the Declaration. The words '' British Crown" and " are and of right ought to be" were inserted by amendment made in Congress, being taken from a reso- lution of June 7, offered by Richard Henry Lee. Had it been communicated to me in the time of it, I know, if you do not, that it would have been printed in every Whig newspaper upon this con- tinent.
And you seem to think it genuine. I believe it spurious. I deem it to be a very unjustifiable quiz, like that of the volcano so minutely related to us as having broken out in North Carolina some half -dozen years ago. It appeals to an original book, which is burnt, to Mr. William- son, now probably dead, whose memory did not recollect, in the history he has written of North Carolina , this gigantic step of the county of Mecklenburg.
Horry, too, is silent in his history of General Marion, whose scene of action was the country border- ing on Mecklenburg; Ramsay, Marshall, Jones, Girardin, Wirt, historians of the adjacent States, all silent. Patrick Henry's resolutions, far short of independence, flew like lightning through every paper, and kindled both sides of the Atlantic, this: It is not known even a month after, when a similar proposition is first made in that body.
Armed with this bold example, would not you have addressed our timid brethren in peals of thunder on their tardy fears? Would not every advocate of independence have rung the glories of Mecklenburg county in North Carolina in the ears of the doubting Dickinson and others, who hung so heavily on us. It was not till that an old news- paper was discovered by Peter Force, of Washington, con- taining a part of the resolutions.
Afterwards the complete records were procured by George Bancroft from the British archives, and were published in Wheeler's History of North Carolina in The authenticity of the resolutions of May 20, , was exploded by Mr. Yet for seventeen years past this mythical Declaration of Independence has been celebrated in North Carolina. Hill have each of them made speeches at these anni- versaries. Bancroft always avoided the question of the Mecklen- burg Declaration of Independence, but now Mr.
A year ago in the Of en Courts a philosophic weekly journal, he attempted to account for Jefferson's non-recognition oF the paper in by his " feeble memory" and ''jealousy concerning the paternity" of the Declaration of How about the memory of John Adams.? Conway surmises that the resolutions of May 31, , were the tempered expressions of the " absolute Dec- laration of Independence " after the " receipt of the tidings from Lexington.
Conway's " Life of Thomas Paine," in two volumes, , is a good work, despite its numerous errors. He un- dertakes, in a long foot-note, to upset the theory that Paine was Junius. The last para- graph is as follows: Conwaj for causing me to discover the important fact that on February 5, , the speech of Admiral Saunders in the House of Commons was listened to by Junius, who reappeared in America as Common Sense.
I have since found further evidence of Paine's listening to parliamentary debates. In his treatise on Gunboats, , he says: I remember the late Commodore Johnson saying in the British House of Commons at the commencement of the American war that " a single gun in a retired situation, would drive a ship of the line from her moorings. I have heard Lord Chatham's manly eloquence rudely drowned by a combined roar of the ministers' majority in the House of Lords.
I have heard that great orator answered by ministerial mouths without argument, without sense, without grammar, and without English. And Casca's constant theme was the cause of America. I must note a singular parallel in these three writers. For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offenses: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.
Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. Page - When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect for the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
Page - At this very time too, they are permitting their chief magistrate to send over not only soldiers of our common blood, but Scotch and foreign mercenaries to invade and destroy us. Page - For never can true reconcilement grow Where wounds of deadly hate have pierced so deep Page - Nor have we been wanting in attention to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us.
We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. Page - We might have been a. Be it so, since they will have it. The road to happiness and to glory is open to us too. We will tread it apart from them, and acquiesce in the necessity which denounces our eternal separation.