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PUBLISHED (wkkly) 3T JLLM4KD: HALL, -TUESDAY, JULY 2, 1803
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... THOMAS "PAINE,' J" '
To trx Citizens or thk United StAtxa,
, ' Letter the Eighth. : ,
MUCH has been said,' and much .remains
to be said, of that undescribed and undescrl
bable nothing, called federalism. It is a word ".
without a meaning, and designates a faction
" that has no principles. Ask. a man who calls
himself a federalist, what federalism is f and
. he cannot tell yoU; Ask him what are iU
principles? arid he has none to give. Fede
ralism then, witli respect to government, is
aimilar to Atheism.with respect" to 'religion,
. nominal nothing without principles. The
federal papers, especially those of New-England,
have often saidv that " tittigion and Fe
deralism must go together." Rut if their reli
sricn.is related to their federalism ; if it is as
destitute(of morals as th.-ir federalism .is of .
' " principlfs"; arid! Tciflflir" it" Wiirao ihern -no
ood.vnthis world or ihe next. It will
ipondemu them a impostors and hypocrites
in both. ; '
.Those who once nVilred as leaders under
theassumed and fraudulent name of federal-
m, (uutwho are since gone, not into hono
lubTe andspeace,ab!'.i., retirement,; like Jzhn
Jpickinson andfj-rf s Thompson . put into
Obscurity and oblivio!, like John T Adams and
ohnJay)had some plans in contemplation-
liichJhey.cQaci:ale(ifi!Dm .their deludcdxU-
Barents, but those plans can be discovered
ijirough the jyatiz'y, but clumsy, vfil ol' con-'
duct , those leaders adopted. " No cover is
fprg: enough to hide itself," says the Spanish-
- pros'ctb. , ' .
I It requires more artifice-andTjrnnaejement
- to dis'jise and .conceal sinister designs than
schemers are aware of.. A man never turns,
a rogue but he turns a fool. lie incautiously .
lets out something by which those he inttn-
' lcd to cheat or impose upon begin to find him
oaf.'. -Whereas truth is a straight fjnvjrd
.thin;, even an ignorant nun will not blunder
in a,irjeory"rrior can an artful man keep a
- falseTory straight.
But those leaders, suppoiinp: themselves in
ft higher poitio" than what common obser
vation would reach, presumed on their suppo
eedcomeTtence and the expected credolily
of their adherents, to impose oa the natimby
clamorous and Wse pretences, for the pm-.
poie of raisinc: a stan Jin army of fifty thou.
. tlund mtn ; and when thv had ?;jt th .it aruiv
the mask would huve been thrown orT, and
their deluded adherents would Iuvp pkid the
' price of their duplicity by bung enslaved.
Hut u1 the midst of this cateerof delusion
nd imposition, those leader became fool.
They did every thing they ought not to hue
done. "They advocated plans which shewed
tht their inteu'.ion and cause was iwt good.
They laboured to provoke war. They ii;v po
sed every thing which lead to pesre.' They
loaded the country with vexatious and imc
cessary taxes, and then opposrd the reduc
tion of them. They opposed a reduction of
their own partisans at the expence of the
public. In short, they run thems.lvc a-
- fjroutulf first by their extravagance id next
by their folly, blinded by -their v n vani
ty, andthoagh bc.vildcred in the' wildsrness
of their own projects, thry foolmily supposed
' themselves above detectioii. They hud nei
tler sense enough to know, nor logic enough
lo perceive, that r. we can reason upward
from cause to effect, so aNo can we reason
downward ftom effect to cause, and discover,
by the means they nuke use of, the motives
nd object of any party ; fur when the means
are had, the motive and the end to be obtain-
ed cannot be good.
The manners also, and language cf any
paiUyjs another clue tliut leads to the disco
"vffy 6nTreTrreArtnaracTcn: VHNi-ihir
cause and principles of a party are good, its
idmcates muke tise id rca.on, argument and
fJ language. Trut H can derive noadvantage
from boisterous rugantf. fiut when the
rnotiyet and principU of a party ie U It it
is necessary to conceal then, nd its ate'tcis
having principles they dare tjt ti ailnjwUSjf,
nd cannot defend, avoid every thini; of ri"-.i-n:nt,
and take refuge in tlute at:d faUeh tod.
The federal papers are an imtanre rf the
justness of this remaik. Their f iges arc
rrouded ih abuse, but never with urtMiinriMt
lor they have no principles to argue from t
and as for falsehood, it hat become so natti
rally their m$the' tongue, especially in New.
England, that they seem to have lott the
fiiwer as well as the ditpotitioa la spcuk the
truth. Thos papers Inve been of gre it aid
tothi republican cause, ml oid hjr the addi
tional disgrace they have brought onthcirown
disgraceful faction, but by serving a o'
to set off, with greater eclat, the decency and
well principled argument of the republican
pipers. I hive hadsomeetperisnce, perhaps
as much as vnnt men have had. In thevari
cus turns ifrK.rnici life, hut I never saw a
f rrs'trittcf fuels undrrtakt lo conduct a
party thin the leaders of the federalists have
keen, and tht editor of their pa peri. They
Jt hn Dickinson, the respe ctahle author
tftl.e Farmer! Letteti before the rsv(lution
bef m, Chstlts Thompson, the faithful ie
rretsrjr tf the tld t&rt&reii duiinj the rtr
luticrw
caprespond tothe story told of a man whow
become so proud and famous for lying tliat
he disdained speaking trutk lest he should
lose his character.
r Cannot these stupid people see, dr, accor-
ding to some dogmas; of their owm, are their
hearts hardened, that they shall not see, that
the more' vulgar and abusive they 'afe, the
more ground they lose in the estimation of
the- public. Every election, especially in
New-England, is wearing them down, till
they will be lost even as a faction, and Mas
sachusetts and Connecticut will recover Iheir
former character. Every .thing this faction
does hastens its exit. The abusive vulgarity of
Hulbert, a petty fogging attorney -of Shef
field, in Massachusetts, and one of its legis
lators, has contributed lo bring forward the fu
neral. In his late unprincipled speech in
the legislature, of that state, he has driven;
another nail in the eofiin of the federal faction,
and I leave it to the" New-England Palladium
to clinch it. It is a paper worthy of being
trie Lmltoon ot such a iaction, and of such an
hvpocritical impostor. . Thus much for the
character of parties and the method of ascer-.
taining their motives and objects. T now"
proceed to other matters. -
When I returned to America in November
1S02, (after an absence of more tliBn four
teen years) I found the country in & state of
jllsqijletudeLThe-people were di vided-int
two classes, under the names of republicans
ud federalists an din point of numbers ap
pcared to be nearly balanced. The republi
cans were the majority in congress, and all
the administration were of that description;
but they were us,ai:ed with outrageous, a
buse in a!l the ferr.l papers, but never by
argument. I am 'enough acquainted with
life "arid the world, to know, that abuse is the
evidenc e of wr.t of arr.r.unu and that those
who tuc; it, have not ri.riu 0h their sid?
There is a dignified calmness in conscious
rectitude, which descends not to abue'.' It
can reason,' bu" it' can:M rage. It cannot
quit the strong fortress cf rectitude to skir
mish in the fhlds of vulgarity.
It wa not difficult to perceive that this di
vision unci agitation arose from some reports
spread during the administration of Jdlin A
dama, and in the latter time of Gen. W ash
injton, which one part of the people believed,
and the other did not; and the point to he
ascertained was, whether those reports were
true; or fuse. If either of those cases could
bs 'ascertained eHectuaily, it would unite the
people. The chief of those reports, was, the
danger of an invasion from France ; and this
was mtde a cause for borrowing by lo rn, five
millions of dollars, at the highrate of eight
per cent, laying on a land tax of two millions
of d dlars annually ; beside a great number
of other t ixcs ; and for rmug a standing ar
my of fifty thousand m m.
Now, if the danger was real, it onghi to
have been provided auinst. If it was a fic
tion, and the design of raising an army tube
employed to accomplish ome concealed pur
pose, the country n.'it to be informed of it.
The party stding themselves-'federalists ap
peared to believe the danger, ami the repub
licans to ridicule it as fabulous; an I in this
state the parties tood. It was, however, e
qually the interest of both, to know the truth,
on which ever side the truth might fdl.
Hcin at Washingtonin ihc winter 1802-3,
I talked with some members of congress on
the subject, particularly with Mr. Urccken
ridge ; sena'or from Kentuckcy, the same
person who brought in the bill for repealing
John, darns' judiciary law, and the mid
night appointments mvle in consequence of
it. This repeal saved the conntty ii ij.f.vo
thousand diltar) .annual j besides freeing it
-frmvinnde4jHdiHary lpohiHii
I iporc tohim of the propriety of congress
appointing a enmmi'tee, or by some other
mrthod as they might think proper, to en.
qoirc into the conduct of the former admU
lustration, that of John Adams and to - call
upon him to produce the infortmtion whe
thrronViat or o'herwise, which he went upon,
if he hd any, for pti'ting the country lo such
vt expence, um'er the idea real or pretend
cd, of an invasion from France. This would
he giving John Adams a fair chance of clear
ing himself, if lie could, from she suspicion
that his l.ninistration was a trm !.
lion on the puplic j and on the other hand, if
ths imposition should be proved, It would
enlighten the country, and put it on its guard
agsinst future Impositions.
Mr. UreckenridKe agreed with me in the
propriety , and fitness of the ninvire. lie
aw that information was wanted, ami that it
would he useful, because when the truth
houM he known, St would compose the peo
ple. John Adams had gone away in what
may be called a tUndtitlne tnanntr, without
urrendering into the hands of hit successor,
as he ought to have done In person, any ac
count of the affairs r the ciecutive depart
mcnt, fjrei ;n or domestic. There arc no
papers or documents that I know of, and t be.
here there are nojie, because there can be
hone In the wcrttary of state's office, that
will justify J. A.lamt in the expenct lo which
his administration piitihe country; or even
afT-ml ground for suspicion ht either France
or Diglaal iutendcl to mvada the Unite J
States. Forjarhat purpose thenSAfras an army.
tftbraisedTPTbcrprojectors of such a mea
sure mtisthave had some object in view, and
as that object -has never been explained, it
ought to be enquired into. It is bad policy,
j.nd also a bad precedent, especially in pub
lic aHairs, to let imposition slide away with
out detection. s '
At the time I5 talked with Mr. Ikecken
ridge on this subject, I expected that Mr,
Skipwith formerly f-and at this time Ameri
can consul at Paris, and Joel Barloyj, would
soon arrive, and I did not wish the enquiry to
begone into till they came. After the fall of
Robespierre and the establishment of the di
rectory constitution, those two gentlemen
ard myst lf (Mr. Monroe being recalled) had
better opportunities of 'knowing the enti
nients and intention of the French govern- '
jrvent with respect to America than any o
thers had; and they-can be evidence,"equalIvrJ
with myself, that -no intention existed in the
Prench government to invade America; nor
was any preparation made fojsuch an at
tempt, nor could it be made. The possibility"
of auch a thing did not exist. The French
navy was at that lime nearly annihilated ; her
ports blockaded by the British ; and she had
to fight by. land single handed against almost
the whole of Europe. She had it not in her
power to spare a regiment, much less could
she spare an army, to send to America ; and
if she could have spared one, she had not the
means of transporting it, nor a convoy to pro
tect it. All the circumstances as weil as the '
evidence that can be provided, will shew that
the administration of Jhn Adams wasa frau
dulent and expensive imposition on ti e coun
try ; and that the army to be raided was in
teridei for some secret purpose, and not for
the purpose of.defenre. If John Adams was
not conscious of something wrong, and ap
prehensive of some consequent s, why did lie
abscond in the hasty and private manner he
did? Or why did his jnutizans Want to put
A.ron Uurr. in the presidency ? In the days
of the black cockades, John Aclnms had one
so enormous and valiantly large that, he ap
peared to he suspended by it ; but when his
midnight hour arrived, his valor f.cd and him
self also.
The voluntary lembzsrv of Dr. Logan td
Pnris Appears, to h.ive disconcerted John's"
administration, and discoiiifitud its leaders;
because it served to rxp- re and put an end
to their project. When.V. Log;n calletl
on Timothy Pickering, fcrretary of state,
with Mr. Shipwith's dispatches from Paris,
Timothy, before he knew the contents,
though Logan knew the whole, began to
talk of invasions and danVs, jjml the neces
sity of prcpjratLn. ' Ifmavle very well"
sa'.d Logan, u to have the mi!:tia ahvsin
gotd order."" The mUitij. sir ." said Timo
thy, 44 the militia nrvr did any g jrd and never
Ki!i. IVe must haw an ars.it o) fifty thousand
men." When Loan was going away, Ti
mothy 'aid to him at the door, Sir, the go
vernment don't thank you."
When Login waitc:! on General Wash-
t Mr. Skipwith rrs;gtiH the consulship
during the ad Ministration of John Adams, I
believe n account ofa rtdeinsulting letter he
received from Tim v by Pickering, then se
civt.iry of stale. Mr, Jefferson rc-appointcd
Mr. Skipwi'h.
I Timothy Pickering's reflection on the
mitui.i deserves a rebuff. It was the mili
tia that fiucht at Rmkert hilL
rtn militia gem ral It washy the aid of i
iimncrous leinlorccmcnu of militia to join
(icneml Gates that Hurgovne was tken.
ii was iy a vojunterr militia under Suri, a
volunteer General, that Col. Hiurn, a Hessian
,JLoUcer,wo defeated aUlenninirtoru-iiwVw
ii i
mnt, which wis the prelude to the captuie
of Durgoyne. But perhaps Timothy reasons
Irom himself; and il he makes himself thu
standard by whiclrto judge of the merits of
the nuTtiia. there is ground for bis saying
the militia never did any good, and never .
Timothy's first public employment wj tery
harmless, that of a teacher of psalmody.
When the revolution begm he Itarr.id the
manual exerciic, and thrn taught it. He was
aftcrwsrds appointed Colonel of a rciinnit
of militia, and when the afTairs of l.ningtjn
andConcord took place, April 19, 1773, and
the British were retreating from Concord
back to Boiton, an order was sent to Timothy,
to march with his regiment, and post him.
self at a certain place tocutofTlhrir retreat.
Timothy matched, but be stopped short of
the place, and drew up his men, and went
to prayers, till the British passed It. His
prayers saud hini from the dangers of that
day. I do not know that he aung psalms .
Perhaps not. The enemy might have orr
heard Aim. " Had Timothy done his duty
on that rcAsioo, aid put his trust In Cod
without roitcting away his time, the whole
party of the British, afoul two thousand,
must" hire been piisontr, for they could
not have got buck Into Boston; and the
hughier at Bunker's hill, the 17th of Jun
fallowing, could not ,ive taken plscc. Tha
whole force of the British at Boston at that
time, as about four thousand ( cni hotf t
sihithvere on tkla axpediiioo.
r. r;
iwrton, who had been theft annomted tha
... ... - - -1 1 . - -
lieutenant general of the army then raising-)
of which" John was commander in thief !
the eeneral received him cold I v nnrl strrnl
--r.- - y
aRd said to him in a haughty tone, end' praj t'
.sir, Hi hat 44 right have you that are but d
private citizen, lo interfere in met tars i cf '. go
vemment?" Logan very prudenil re
plied, 44 1 have no answer, sir to mike to
that," and wilhdrcw-The State of Pennsyl
vania soon after this elected Dr. -Loan cne
of its senators in Congress.
Circunutances often unriddle and explain
themselves, and It happens so in this case;
for. if the administration, and those leaders
connected with it, were sincere in their be
lief that the danger was reid and that the
country (as Governeur Myi t is expressed u
in his funeral oration on ..Hamilton) Waa
44 menaced with danger. from ivithsut." and that t
": Fraiifce intended an in vaMoiH andf, T at the
same lime they had no concealed object in .
contemplation themselves, 'they would wcU"
.come the messenger. that should. bring them .
good -tidings t hat ell was well. But if, on the
contrary, they knsw they were acting a fraud
and heating the country with falsehoods and
Ldse' aiarms, for the purpose of procuring
loa:,ltvymg new taxes, and raising an arrry
to accomplish ome concealed purpsse tha
could nyt lie accomplished wiilvout that
tieatht ry, they would be enraged at him ;
r.na mis uccc tints tor tne ructe reception Ur
Logaa received from that administration.
Tlioust ndi Who supported that administra
tion from a belief that it was acting right,
hae since abandoned it from a conviction
;that it ac'ed deceitfully wrong, and this also
accounts far the great majority at the l?st4r
Presidential election. We have no alarms
nowrnpr. should we have had any tbrn, if lh"
present administration hadfexisted at thai
lime. O
It requires only a prudent afid honest: ittfr
miratio.i to preserve .A merit a aikayyV,
- pence. lier tiistanr.e, lr.cm .the. i.urfr-arl -.- V
world frees her from itS'irarir'iir'. " Hi i tv!i.v t
men get into power, whose heads, like tlt
head of John Adams, are filled with "strong
notions" k counter revolutionary principles V
projects, things will be sure to go wrong. Zu'wxT
kiuuiia ,i iiu vTa iKu.t iu urrt 01 a party
than the leader of it, entered cfi the cITire of
president with his head tinned by the rkvn
tion he was lifted to; and his principles (if
he ever had any), corrupted. He ivrntd
out to be a counter revolutionist: on: if the
concealed rrojec's of his ar'huraticn hod suc
ceeded, the federal constitution wonki have .1
been destroyed, and that bf persons undirJ
the assumed and frndulcnt nameofi.Vf;.i. ,
As General Washington (said John Adams) ":
has no children, it will be rirht to make the fri-t
vernmeft' hereditary in the fm.i'y cf Lund
Washington." perlnps John intended ibis as K
sty introduction otlumsel! and Ins hope nil sen
gjdhecy. in preference to any of. the Wah- '
ingtons ; for this same Joh Adms wa
one of the chiefs of a party in conceit at '
Ywk-twn in Pennsylvania, in the latter end
of the - year-1 77 7 - ami beginning of 78." for
dismissing Washington fiom vthe ron nar.d
if the army, because they said he tec not cr
palne ff it end d.d nothing Vet under John's
administra'ion, the name of Washington vra
maJe use of for the purpose of Introducimr
and covering a counter revolutionary tysteim
!tuch is the inconsistency of faction and of
men who have no fixed principles !
The Independence of America would li4V
added hut little to her own happincsi, and
been efnn.hcncfil to the world, if her govvvn
fnrnl had been formed on the cvtrvjt n:x!efs
of the dd hrld. It Wtl the onrorttinitv of'
beginning the nrortd 6 'riemj, as it -werejard,
mtntin w Inch the right! of all men ihctihW
be preserved, that gave value to indepeti-t
dence The, pamphlet Common Senee, the-
ftrst work I ever published, embraced hotii
those objects. Mere independence might it;
; some fnture time, hae been effected and-
established by arms without frireipk, but a
jutt system of government could not. In
short, it was the principle, at that time, that
produced the indtpcttiVwe ; for until iIk ,
principle spread itstlf altosd among the peo
ple, independence was not thought r.f. ard
America was fighting sithfut an object.
Those who, know the circumstance of the
times I apeak of know thit to be true
I am not persecuting John Adams nftf
any other man, nor did I ever pe ticcute any j
but I seethe propriety, and even the nercs -sity
ofiiiMituting an enquiry into the confu
ted state of affairs during ,is adniSniitrtion
All the circumstances and f.it evidence ccm-".'
Uncd with them, justify the suspicion f--.t
during that admi.miratioii the cftmirf was
grossly Imposed un and put to a gre it an( -unneceisary
cxprncc, which the preirnl
administration hat to pay o(T; and that some
concealed ami counter rt volution ry achemo
-a In crttitcmplatitn. The Irideri, t pe
rattly , might hid frnm each other whit hia
own particulir oliject was. T.ath of them
m'rght hive Afferent ene. But all f the W
iKrted In thr preliminary prrjrct, thatof
raising an army i and the cas ould hatt
been lhat when they had collected that arm?
they would have bn.kfn Into distinct lurlica. -
.us icnsraie oi AJumacf a irrf.f, an
(