1 Dr. Ames, Baxter, Durham, [John] Locke, Carmichael, [Francis] Hutcheson, Montesquieu, and Blackstone, Wallace, etc., etc. Bishop of Gloucester [Author’s note].
2 Richard Baxter, seventeenth-century English nonconformist minister.
4 Gideon was a great military leader of the Old Testament; Samuel was the first great Hebrew prophet.
5 Biblical king of Judah and Israel.
6 French Norman leader who conquered England in 1066.
7 Noble families struggling for control of the English throne in the so-called Wars of the Roses (1455-1487).
8 Henry Pelham, prime minister of England from 1743 to 1754.
9 Electorate in Germany whose ruling family provided kings of England starting with George I in 1714.
10 Eastern Massachusetts city then suffering from the closing of its port by Great Britain in 1774.
11 Reference to losses in the Battle of Bunker Hill (1775).
12 Thomas Anello, otherwise Massanello, a fisherman of Naples, who after spiriting up his countrymen in the public market place, against the oppression of the Spaniards, to whom the place was then subject, prompted them to revolt, and in the space of a day became King [Author’s note].
13 Those who would fully understand of what great consequence a large and equal representation is to a state, should read Burgh’s Political Disquisitions [Author’s note].
14 ‘Thou hast tasted of prosperity and adversity; thou knowest what it is to be banished thy native country, to be over-ruled as well as to rule, and set upon the throne; and being oppressed thou hast reason to know now hateful the oppressor is both to God and man: If after all these warnings and advertisements, thou dost not turn unto the Lord with all thy heart, but forget him who remembered thee in thy distress, and give up thyself to follow lust and vanity, surely great will be thy condemnation. —Against which snare, as well as the temptation of those who may or do feed thee, and prompt thee to evil, the most excellent and prevalent remedy will be, to apply thyself to that light of Christ which shineth in thy conscience and which neither can, nor will flatter thee, nor suffer thee to be at ease in thy sins.’ Barclay’s Address to Charles II [Author’s note].
15 The present winter is worth an age, if rightly employed; but, if lost or neglected, the whole continent will partake of the evil; and there is no punishment that man does not deserve, be he who, or what, or where he will, that may be the means of sacrificing a season so precious and useful.—[Author’s note]—a citation from his “Common Sense.”
16 Sir William Howe (1729-1814), commander of British troops in America until 1778.
17 Line from Parliament’s Declaratory Act of 1766 asserting authority over the American colonies.
18 Thomas Gage (1721-1787), last royal governor of Massachusetts.
19 Charles Cornwallis (1735-1805), English general who surrendered in October 1781 to George Washington at Yorktown, in the last major battle of the American Revolution.
20 “These are the times that try men’s souls,” The Crisis No. i. published December, 1776 [Author’s note].
21 That the revolution began at the exact period of time best fitted to the purpose, is sufficiently proved by the event.—But the great hinge on which the whole machine turned, is the Union of the States: and this union was naturally produced by the inability of any one state to support itself against any foreign enemy without the assistance of the rest.
Had the states severally been less able than they were when the war began, their united strength would not have been equal to the undertaking, and they must in all human probability have failed.—And, on the other hand, had they severally been more able, they might not have seen, or, what is more, might not have felt, the necessity of uniting: and, either by attempting to stand alone or in small confederacies, would have been separately conquered.
Now, as we cannot see a time (and many years must pass away before it can arrive) when the strength of any one state, or several united, can be equal to the whole of the present United States, and as we have seen the extreme difficulty of collectively prosecuting the war to a successful issue, and preserving our national importance in the world, therefore, from the experience we have had, and the knowledge we have gained, we must, unless we make a waste of wisdom, be strongly impressed with the advantage, as well as the necessity of strengthening that happy union which had been our salvation, and without which we should have been a ruined people.
While I was writing this note, I cast my eye on the pamphlet, Common Sense, from which I shall make an extract, as it exactly applies to the case. It is as follows:
22 The main and uniform maxim of the judges is, the greater the truth the greater the libel [Author’s note].
23 Richard Price (1723-1791), Unitarian minister, moral philosopher, and political activist.
24 Charles Gravier, comte de Vergennes (1717-1787), minister of foreign affairs under Louis XVI; Vergennes signed, with Benjamin Franklin, France’s alliance with the Americans in the American Revolution, and later assisted in negotiating the Treaty of Paris (1783).
25 Famous royal prison (now demolished) in the center of Paris and despised symbol of absolutism; a crowd seized it on July 14, 1789, in the early months of the French Revolution.
26 Since writing the above, two other places occur in Mr. Burke’s pamphlet in which the name of the Bastille is mentioned, but in the same manner. In the one he introduces it in a sort of obscure question, and asks: “Will any ministers who now serve such a king, with but a decent appearance of respect, cordially obey the orders of those whom but the other day, in his name, they had committed to the Bastille?” In the other the taking it is mentioned as implying criminality in the French guards, who assisted in demolishing it. “They have not,” says he, “forgot the taking the king’s castles at Paris.” This is Mr. Burke, who pretends to write on constitutional freedom [Author’s note].
27 References to The Pilgrim’s Progress, a prose allegory by the English writer and preacher John Bunyan (1628-1688); it was published in two parts, in 1678 and 1684.
28 Victor Claude, prince de Broglie (1757-1794), president of the Constituent Assembly (1791) and adjutant general of the French Revolutionary army.
29 It is a practice in some parts of the country, when two travellers have but one horse, which, like the national purse, will not carry double, that the one mounts and rides two or three miles ahead, and then ties the horse to a gate and walks on. When the second traveller arrives he takes the horse, rides on, and passes his companion a mile or two, and ties again, and so on—Ride and tie [Author’s note].
30 See “Estimate of the Comparative Strength of Great Britain,” by G. Chalmers [Author’s note].
31 See “Administration of the Finances of France,” vol. iii., by M. Neckar [Author’s note].
32 “Administration of the Finances of France,” vol. iii [Author’s note].
33 “Whether the English commerce does not bring in money, or whether the government sends it out after it is brought in, is a matter which the parties concerned can best explain; but that the deficiency exists, is not in the power of either to disprove. While Dr. Price, Mr. Eden, (now Auckland,) Mr. Chalmers, and others, were debating whether the quantity of money in England was greater or less than at the Revolution, the circumstance was not adverted to, that since the Revolution, there cannot have been less than four hundred millions sterling imported into Europe; and therefore the quantity in England ought at least to have been four times greater than it was at the Revolution, to be on a proportion with Europe. What England is now doing by paper, is what she would have been able to do by solid money, if gold and silver had come into the nation in the proportion it ought, or had not been sent out; and she is endeavoring to restore by paper, the balance she has lost by money. It is certain, that the gold and silver which arrive annually in the register-ships to Spain and Portugal, do not remain in those countries. Taking the value half in gold and half in silver, it is about four hundred tons annually; and from the number of ships and galloons employed in the trade of bringing those metals from South-America to Portugal and Spain, the quantity sufficiently proves itself, without referring to the registers.
In the situation England now is, it is impossible she can increase in money. High taxes not only lessen the property of the individuals, but they lessen also the money capital of the nation, by inducing smuggling, which can only be carried on by gold and silver. By the politics which the British Government have carried on with the Inland Powers of Germany and the Continent, it has made an enemy of all the Maritime Powers, and is therefore obliged to keep up a large navy; but though the navy is built in England, the naval stores must be purchased from abroad, and that from countries where the greatest part must be paid for in gold and silver. Some fallacious rumours have been set afloat in England to induce a belief in money, and, among
others, that of the French refugees bringing great quantities. The idea is ridiculous. The general part of the money in France is silver; and it would take upwards of twenty of the largest broad wheel wagons, with ten horses each, to remove one million sterling of silver. Is it then to be supposed, that a few people fleeing on horse-back or in post-chaises, in a secret manner, and having the French Custom-House to pass, and the sea to cross, could bring even a sufficiency for their own expences?
When millions of money are spoken of, it should be recollected, that such sums can only accumulate in a country by slow degrees, and a long procession of time. The most frugal system that England could now adopt, would not recover in a century the balance she has lost in money since the commencement of the Hanover succession. She is seventy millions behind France, and she must be in some considerable proportion behind every country in Europe, because the returns of the English mint do not shew an increase of money, while the registers of Lisbon and Cadiz shew an European increase of between three and four hundred millions sterling [Author’s note].
34 Ancient Greek mathematician, physicist, and inventor (c.287-212 B.C.).
35 German mercenary hired by the British to serve with their forces during the American Revolution.
36 That part of America which is generally called New-England, including New-Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode-Island, and Connecticut, is peopled chiefly by English descendants. In the state of New-York about half are Dutch, the rest English, Scotch, and Irish. In New-Jersey a mixture of English and Dutch, with some Scotch and Irish. In Pennsylvania about one third are English, another Germans, and the remainder Scotch and Irish, with some Swedes. The States to the southward have a greater proportion of English than the middle States, but in all of them there is a mixture; and besides those enumerated, there are a considerable number of French, and some few of all the European nations, lying on the coast. The most numerous religious denomination are the Presbyterians; but no one sect is established above another, and all men are equally citizens [Author’s note].
37 In 1066 William I of Normandy, known as William the Conqueror (1027?-1087), invaded England and became its king.
38 Reputedly introduced in England by William of Normandy as a means of political repression.
39 Place to play faro, a gambling card game.
40 Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès (1748-1836), French Revolutionary leader and radical pamphleteer.
41 Two rebellions attempting to restore the exiled Stuart line to the English throne.
42 When Charles II of Spain (1665-1700) died childless, Europe became embroiled in the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714) to determine whether the throne should go to France or Austria.
43 Two renowned ancient Greeks: Homer (approx. ninth century B.C.) was an epic poet to whom the Iliad and the Odyssey are attributed; Euclid (flourished c.300 B.C.) was a geometrician.
44 Athens was a city-state in ancient Greece.
45 For a character of aristocracy, the reader is referred to Rights of Man, Part I. [Author’s note].
46 Chief magistrate of the Dutch republic, and a German prince entitled to elect the Holy Roman Emperor.
47 Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), English lexicographer, poet, and essayist.
48 The “Great Charter” (1215) the English barons forced King John to sign, limiting royal power by law.
49 Paine refers to the kings from the houses of Plantagenet, Lancaster, York, Tudor, and Stuart who ruled after the Magna Charta was signed.
50 Charles I was beheaded in 1649 during the Puritan Revolution; James II was deposed in 1688.
51 England deposed James II in favor of his nephew and son-in-law William of Orange.
52 Sir Robert Walpole (1676-1745), regarded as England’s first prime minister; he was very powerful during the reigns of George I and II.
53 The whole amount of the assessed taxes of France, for the present year, is three hundred millions of francs, which is twelve millions and a half sterling; and the incidental taxes are estimated at three millions, making in the whole fifteen millions and a half; which among twenty-four millions of people, is not quite thirteen shillings per head. France has lessened her taxes since the revolution, nearly nine millions sterling annually. Before the revolution, the city of Paris paid a duty of upwards of thirty per cent. on all articles brought into the city. This tax was collected at the city gates. It was taken off on the first of last May, and the gates taken down [Author’s note].
54 What was called the livre rouge, or the red book, in France, was not exactly similar to the court calender in England; but it sufficiently showed how a great part of the taxes was lavished [Author’s note].
55 Personification of England, as a bullheaded but kind farmer.
56 In England the improvements in agriculture, useful arts, manufactures, and commerce, have been made in opposition to the genius of its government, which is that of following precedents. It is from the enterprise and industry of the individuals, and their numerous associations, in which, tritely speaking, government is neither pillow nor bolster, that these improvements have proceeded. No man thought about government, or who was in, or who was out, when he was planning or executing those things; and all he had to hope, with respect to government, was, that it would let him alone. Three or four very silly ministerial newspapers are continually offending against the spirit of national improvement, by ascribing it to a minister. They may with as much truth ascribe this book to a minister [Author’s note].
57 With respect to the two houses, of which the English parliament is composed, they appear to be effectually influenced into one, and, as a legislature, to have no temper of its own. The minister, whoever he at any time may be, touches it as with an opium wand, and it sleeps obedience.
But if we look at the distinct abilities of the two houses, the difference will appear so great, as to show the inconsistency of placing power where there can be no certainty of the judgment to use it. Wretched as the state of representation is in England, it is manhood compared with what is called the house of Lords; and so little is this nick-named house regarded, that the people scarcely inquire at any time what it is doing. It appears also to be most under influence, and the furthest removed from the general interest of the nation. In the debate on engaging in the Russian and Turkish war, the majority in the house of peers in favor of it was upwards of ninety, when in the other house; which was more than double its numbers, the majority was sixty-three.
The proceedings on Mr. Fox’s bill, respecting the rights of juries, merits also to be noticed. The persons called the peers were not the objects of that bill. They are already in possession of more privileges than that bill gave to others. They are their own jury, and if any one of that house were prosecuted for a libel, he would not suffer, even upon conviction, for the first offence. Such inequality in laws ought not to exist in any country. The French constitution says, that the law is the same to every individual, whether to protect or to punish. All are equal in its sight [Author’s note].
58 As to the state of representation in England, it is too absurd to be reasoned upon. Almost all the represented parts are decreasing in population, and the unrepresented parts are increasing. A general convention of the nation is necessary to take the whole form of government into consideration [Author’s note].
59 It is related that in the canton of Berne, in Switzerland, it has been customary, from time immemorial, to keep a bear at the public expense, and the people had been taught to believe, that if they had not a bear they should all be undone. It happened some years ago that the bear, then in being, was taken sick, and died too suddenly to have his place immediately supplied with another. During this interregnum the people discovered that the corn grew, and the vintage flourished, and the sun and moon continued to rise and set, and everything went on the same as before, and taking courage from these circumstances, they resolved not to keep any more bears; for, said they, “a bear is a very voracious expensive animal, and we were obliged to pull out his claws, lest he should hurt the citizens.” The story of the bear of Berne was related in some of the French newspapers, at the time of the flight of Louis XVI., and the application of it to monarchy could not be mistaken in France; but it seems that the aristocracy of Berne applied it to themselves, and have since prohibited the reading of French newspapers [Author’s note].
60 Jonathan Swift (1667-1745), English satirist and political writer.
61 It is scarcely possible to touch on any subject, that will not suggest an allusion to some corruption in governments. The simile of “fortifications,” unfortunately involves with it a circumstance, which is directly in point with the matter above alluded to.
Among the numerous instances of abuse which have been acted or protected by governments, ancient or modern, there is not a greater than that of quartering a man and his heirs upon the public, to be maintained at his expence.
Humanity dictates a provision for the poor; but by what right, moral or political, does any government assume to say, that the person called the Duke of Richmond, shall be maintained by the public? Yet, if common report is true, not a beggar in London can purchase his wretched pittance of coal, without paying towards the civil list of the Duke of Richmond. Were the whole produce of this imposition but a shilling a year, the iniquitous principle would be still the same; but when it amounts, as it is said to do, to no less than twenty thousand pounds per annum, the enormity is too serious to be permitted to remain. This is one of the effects of monarchy and aristocracy.
In stating this case I am led by no personal dislike. Though I think it mean in any man to live upon the public, the vice originates in the government; and so general is it become, that whether the parties are in the ministry or in the opposition, it makes no difference: they are sure of the guarantee of each other [Author’s note].
62 “The final argument of kings”; a resort to force; motto engraved on Louis XIV’s cannon.
63 In America the increase of commerce is greater in proportion than in England. It is, at this time, at least one half more than at any period prior to the revolution. The greatest number of vessels cleared out of the port of Philadelphia, before the commencement of the war, was between eight and nine hundred. In the year 1788, the number was upwards of twelve hundred. As the State of Pennsylvania is estimated at an eighth part of the United States in population, the whole number of vessels must now be nearly ten thousand [Author’s note].
64 Army pensioners in the Royal Hospital, London.
65 Restoration of the English monarchy in 1660, on the accession of Charles II (1630-1685).
66 The tax on beer brewed for sale, from which the aristocracy are exempt, is almost one million more than the present commutation tax, being by the returns of 1788, 1,666,I52l.—and, consequently, they ought to take on themselves the amount of the commutation tax, as they are already exempted from one which is almost a million greater [Author’s note].
67 See the Reports on the Corn Trade [Author’s note].
68 When inquiries are made into the condition of the poor, various degrees of distress will most probably be found, to render a different arrangement preferable to that which is already proposed. Widows with families will be in greater want than where there are husbands living. There is also a difference in the expence of living in different counties: and more so in fuel.
Suppose then fifty thousand extraordinary cases, at the
This arrangement amounts to the same sum as stated in p. 489, including the 250.000l, for education; but it provides (including the aged people) for four hundred and four thousand families, which is almost one third of all the families in England [Author’s note].
69 I know it is the opinion of many of the most enlightened characters in France (there always will be those who see further into events than others,) not only among the general mass of citizens, but of many of the principal members of the former National Assembly, that the monarchical plan will not continue many years in that country. They have found out, that as wisdom cannot be made hereditary, power ought not; and that, for a man to merit a million sterling a year from a nation, he ought to have a mind capable of comprehending from an atom to a universe, which, if he had, he would be above receiving the pay. But they wished not to appear to lead the nation faster than its own reason and interest dictated. In all the conversations where I have been present upon this subject, the idea always was, that when such a time, from the general opinion of the nation, shall arrive, that the honourable and liberal method would be, to make a handsome present in fee simple to the person, whoever he may be, that shall then be in the monarchical office, and for him to retire to the enjoyment of private life, possessing his share of general rights and privileges, and to be no more accountable to the public for his time and his conduct than any other citizen [Author’s note].
70 Plundering like that of the pirates of Algeria.
71 Richard Watson (1737-1816), who wrote a famous answer to Paine’s Age of Reason in 1796.
72 It is, however, necessary to except the declaration which says that God visits the sins of the fathers upon the children. This is contrary to every principle of moral justice [Author’s note].
73 Statue of a multi-breasted virgin goddess adorning a lavish temple in Turkey that subsequently was rededicated to the Virgin Mary.
74 One of the twelve apostles; called “Doubting Thomas” because he doubted Jesus’ resurrection; see the Bible, John 20:24-29.
75 Greek for “hidden”; books included in the Greek Septuagint and Latin Vulgate versions of the Bible, but not in many other versions.
76 Biblical Israelite of great strength whose feats are recorded in the Bible; see Judges 13-16.
77 Biblical king of Israel.
78 Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), publisher of Poor Richard’s Almanack (1732-1757).
79 As there are many readers who do not see that a composition is poetry, unless it be in rhyme, it is for their information that I add this note.
Poetry consists principally in two things—imagery and composition. The composition of poetry differs from that of prose in the manner of mixing long and short syllables together. Take a long syllable out of a line of poetry and put a short one in the room of it, or put a long syllable where a short one should be, and that line will lose its poetical harmony. It will have an effect upon the line like that of misplacing a note in a song.
The imagery in those books called the Prophets appertains altogether to poetry. It is fictitious, and often extravagant, and not admissible in any other kind of writing than poetry.
To shew that these writings are composed in poetical numbers, I will take ten syllables, as they stand in the book, and make a line of the same number of syllables, (heroic measure) that shall rhyme with the last word. It will then be seen that the composition of those books is poetical measure. The instance I shall first produce is from Isaiah:—
“Hear, O ye heavens, and give ear, 0 earth!”
’T is God himself that calls attention forth.
Another instance I shall quote is from the mournful Jeremiah, to which I shall add two other lines, for the purpose of carrying out the figure, and shewing the intention of the poet.
“O, that mine head were waters and mine eyes”
Were fountains flowing like the liquid skies;
Then would I give the mighty flood release
And weep a deluge for the human race [Author’s note].
80 Biblical king of Israel.
81 As those men who call themselves divines and commentators are very fond of puzzling one another, I leave them to contest the meaning of the first part of the phrase, that of an evil spirit of God. I keep to my text. I keep to the meaning of the word prophesy [Author’s note].
82 Deborah was a Hebrew judge; Barak, a warrior, was her most important ally in combating the Canaanites; see the Bible, Judges 4-5.
83 Biblical king of Israel, reputed author of the Psalms.
84 Abraham was the first patriarch of the Hebrew people; Isaac was his son and Jacob his grandson.
85 Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve apostles; after betraying Jesus, he hanged himself.
86 Paul (originally Saul) of Tarsus, early Christian leader.
87 Joseph Addison (1672 1719), English poet and essayist.
88 Popular eighteenth-century faith that emphasized reason and design in creation.
89 As this book may fall into the hands of persons who do not know what an orrery is, it is for their information I add this note, as the name gives no idea of the uses of the thing. The orrery has its name from the person who invented it. It is a machinery of clock-work, representing the universe in miniature: and in which the revolution of the earth round itself and round the sun, the revolution of the moon round the earth, the revolution of the planets round the sun, their relative distances from the sun, as the center of the whole system, their relative distances from each other, and their different magnitudes, are represented as they really exist in what we call the heavens [Author’s note].
90 Allowing a ship to sail, on an average, three miles in an hour, she would sail entirely round the world in less than one year, if she could sail in a direct circle, but she is obliged to follow the course of the ocean [Author’s note].
91 Those who supposed that the Sun went round the earth every 24 hours made the same mistake in idea that a cook would do in fact, that should make the fire go round the meat, instead of the meat turning round itself towards the fire [Author’s note].
92 If it should be asked, how can man know these things? I have one plain answer to give, which is, that man knows how to calculate an eclipse, and also how to calculate to a minute of time when the planet Venus, in making her revolutions round the Sun, will come in a strait line between our earth and the Sun, and will appear to us about the size of a large pea passing across the face of the Sun. This happens but twice in about a hundred years, at the distance of about eight years from each other, and has happened twice in our time, both of which were fore-known by calculation. It can also be known when they will happen again for a thousand years to come, or to any other portion of time. As therefore, man could not be able to do these things if he did not understand the solar system, and the manner in which the revolutions of the several planets or worlds are performed, the fact of calculating an eclipse, or a transit of Venus, is a proof in point that the knowledge exists; and as to a few thousand, or even a few million miles, more or less, it makes scarcely any sensible difference in such immense distances [Author’s note].
93 Son of the prophet Amittai, Jonah allegedly was swallowed by a fish; see the Bible, 2 Kings 14:25, and Jonah 1-2.
94 Title character in the novel by Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616).
95 Jean-Baptiste du Val-de-Grâce, baron de Cloots (1755-1794), Prussian participant in the French Revolution.
96 François-Louis Bourdon (1758-1798), French Revolutionary leader.
97 Barlow (1754-1812) was an American poet and diplomat.
98 Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre (1758-1794), leader of the Jacobins in the French Revolution.
99 According to what is called Christ’s sermon on the mount, in the book of Matthew, where, among some other [and] good things, a great deal of this feigned morality is introduced, it is there expressly said, that the doctrine of forbearance, or of not retaliating injuries, was not any part of the doctrine of the Jews; but as this doctrine is found in “Proverbs,” it must, according to that statement, have been copied from the Gentiles, from whom Christ had learned it. Those men whom Jewish and Christian idolators have abusively called heathen, had much better and clearer ideas of justice and morality than are to be found in the Old Testament, so far as it is Jewish, or in the New. The answer of Solon on the question, “Which is the most perfect popular government,” has never been exceeded by any man since his time, as containing a maxim of political morality. “That,” says he, “where the least injury done to the meanest individual, is considered as an insult on the whole constitution.” Solon lived about 500 years before Christ [Author’s note].
100 The book called the book of Matthew, says, (iii. 16,) that the Holy Ghost descended in the shape of a dove. It might as well have said a goose; the creatures are equally harmless, and the one is as much a nonsensical lie as the other. Acts, ii. 2,3, says, that it descended in a mighty rushing wind, in the shape of cloven tongues: perhaps it was cloven feet. Such absurd stuff is fit only for tales of witches and wizards [Author’s note].
101 The Bible-makers have undertaken to give us, in the first chapter of Genesis, an account of the creation; and in doing this they have demonstrated nothing but their ignorance. They make there to have been three days and three nights, evenings and mornings, before there was any sun; when it is the presence or absence of the sun that is the cause of day and night—and what is called his rising and setting, that of morning and evening. Besides, it is a puerile and pitiful idea, to suppose the Almighty to say, “Let there be light.” It is the imperative manner of speaking that a conjuror uses when he says to his cups and balls, Presto, be gone—and most probably has been taken from it, as Moses and his rod is a conjuror and his wand. Longinus calls this expression the sublime; and by the same rule the conjuror is sublime too; for the manner of speaking is expressively and grammatically the same. When authors and critics talk of the sublime, they see not how nearly it borders on the ridiculous. The sublime of the critics, like some parts of Edmund Burke’s sublime and beautiful, is like a windmill just visible in a fog, which imagination might distort into a flying mountain, or an archangel, or a flock of wild geese [Author’s note].
102 François-Noël Babeuf (also known as Gracchus Babeuf; 1760-1797), radical French Revolutionary leader.
103 William Pitt, first earl of Chatham (1708-1778), a great British parliamentary leader.
104 Expression of Horsley, an English bishop, in the English parliament [Author’s note].
105 George Wythe (1726-1806), American Revolutionary leader and Virginia jurist.
106 Congregational minister and author of economic pamphlets (1726-1795).
107 American Revolutionary leader and prominent Federalist (1752-1816).
108 Benjamin Rush (1745-1813), physician, essayist, and leader in American Revolution.
109 Horatio Gates (1728-1806), British officer who became an American in the Revolutionary War.
110 Cromwell (1599-1658) was a parliamentary general in the English Civil War (1642-1648) who became lord protector of England.
111 King of Babylonia (ruled c.605-562 B.C.; died 562 B.C.) who destroyed Jerusalem in 586 B.C. He is mentioned in numerous books of the Old Testament.
112 George Logan (1753-1821), Quaker physician who initiated a personal diplomatic mission to France in 1798.
113 Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès (1748-1836), French Revolutionary leader and radical pamphleteer; see Rights of Man, p. 194.
114 That is, Anacharsis Cloots: Jean-Baptiste du Val-de-Grace, baron de Cloots (1755-1794), Prussian participant in the French Revolution; see The Age of Reason, P. 307.
115 Barlow (1754-1812) was an American poet and diplomat; see The Age of Reason, p. 308.
116 James Monroe (1758-1831), fifth president of the United States, who, while he was the American minister to France in 1794, befriended Paine.
117 Reference to “Peter Porcupine,” the English wit and political essayist William Cobbett (1763-1835).
118 Deane (1737-1789) was a Continental Congressman and diplomat involved in controversial foreign loans.
119 Aaron Burr (1756-1836); U.S. vice president (1801-1805), famous for shooting Alexander Hamilton in a duel.
120 See the Bible, Exodus 32.
121 Spanish soldier Francisco de Bobadilla (died 1502) sent to Santo Domingo by Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain on reports of dissension between Christopher Columbus and other Spaniards; Bobadilla returned Columbus to Spain in chains but he was later freed to make his fourth and final voyage for the Spanish monarchs.
122 Reference to the administration of John Adams (1735-1826), who served as second U.S. president from 1797 to 1801.
123 King (1755 -1827) was American minister to Great Britain from 1796 to 1803.
124 John Quincy Adams (1767-1848), the sixth U.S. president, was appointed minister to the Netherlands in 1794 and later promoted to the Berlin Legation.
125 Thomas Truxtun (1755-1822), American naval officer.
