RIGHTS OF MAN: |
BEING AN |
ANSWER TO MR. BURKE'S ATTACK |
ON THE |
FRENCH REVOLUITON. |
PART 1. |
BY |
T. PAINE, |
AUTHOR OF |
COMMON SENSE, |
LETTER TO THE ABBE RAYNAL, &c. &c. |
LONDON: |
PRINTED FOR J. PARSONS, No. 21, PATER-NOSTER
ROW: |
OF WHOM MAY BE HAD, THE SECOND PART OF THE SAME |
WORK, AND "COMMON SENSE," PRICE SIX-PENCE
EACH. |
1792. |
[PRICE SIX-PENCE.] |
Rights of Man. |
69 |
| When we survey the wretched condition of man under the
monarchical and hereditary systems of Government, dragged from his
home by one power, or driven by another, and impoverished by taxes
more than by enemies, it becomes evident that those systems are bad,
and that a general revolution in the principle and construction of
Governments is necessary. |
| What is Government more than the management of the affairs
of a Nation? It is not, and from its nature cannot be, the property
of any particular man or family, but of the whole community, at whose
expence it is supported; and though by force or contrivance it has
been usurped into an inheritance, the usurpation cannot alter the
right of things. Sovereignty, as a matter of right, appertains to
the Nation only, and not to any individual; and a Nation has at all
times an inherent indefeasible right to abolish any form of Government
it finds inconvenient, and establish such as accords with its interest,
disposition, and happiness. The romantic and barbarous distinction
of men into Kings and subjects, though it may suit the condition of
courtiers, cannot that of citizens; and is exploded by the principle
upon which Governments are now founded. Every citizen is a member
of the sovereignty, and, as such, can acknowledge no personal subjection,
and his obedience can be only to the laws. |
| When men think of what Government is, they must necessarily
suppose it to possess a knowledge of all the objects and matters upon
which its authority is to be exercised. In this view of Government,
the republican system, as established by America and France, operates
to embrace the whole of a Nation, and the knowledge necessary to the
interest of all the parts, is to be found in the center, which the
parts by representation form: But the old Governments are on a construction
that excludes knowledge as well as happiness: Government by Monks,
who know nothing of the world beyond the walls of a Convent, is as
consistent as government by Kings. |
| What were formerly called Revolutions, were little more
than a change of persons, or an alteration of local circumstances.
They rose and fell like things of course, and had nothing in their
existence or their fate that could influence beyond the spot that
produced them. But what we now see in the world, from the Revolutions
of America and France, is a renovation of the natural order of things,
a system of principles as universal as truth and the existence of
man, and combining moral with political happiness and national prosperity. |
| " I. Men are born and always continue free, and
equal in respect of their rights. Civil distinctions, therefore, can
be founded only on public utility. |
| II. The end of all political associations is the preservation
of the natural and imprescriptible rights of man; and these rights
are liberty, property, security, and resistance of oppression. |
| III. The Nation is essentially the source of all sovereignty;
nor can any INDIVIDUAL, or ANY BODY OF MEN, be entitled to any authority
which is not expressly derived from it." |
| In these principles, there is nothing to throw a nation
into confusion by inflaming ambition. They are calculated to call
forth wisdom and abilities, and to exercise them for the public good,
and not for the emolument or aggrandizement of particular descriptions
of men or families. Monarchical sovereignty, the enemy of mankind,
and the source of misery, is abolished; and sovereignty itself is
restored to its natural and original place, the Nation. Were this
the case throughout Europe, the cause of wars would be taken away. |
It |
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