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THE CRISIS |
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Written by Thomas Paine
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Wednesday, 24 March 2010 |
Thomas Paine (1737-1809), one of America's great founding patriots, wrote this on December 23, 1776, when America was less than six months
old. Substitute Democrats for Tories,
Obama for King George III, Pelosi for Howe, Reid for Gage - Sarah Palin for the
"Jersey maid" - and he is speaking to us today.
These are the times that try men's souls. The
summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the
service of their country; but he that stands by 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. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is
dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon
its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM
should not be highly rated.
Britain, with an army to enforce her tyranny, has declared that
she has a right (not only to TAX) but "to BIND us in ALL CASES
WHATSOEVER" and if being bound in that manner, is not slavery, then is
there not such a thing as slavery upon earth. Even the expression is impious;
for so unlimited a power can belong only to God.
'Tis surprising to see how rapidly a panic will
sometimes run through a country. All nations and ages have been subject to
them. Britain has trembled like an ague at the report of a French fleet of
flat-bottomed boats; and in the fifteenth century the whole English army, after
ravaging the kingdom of France, was driven back like men petrified with fear;
and this brave exploit was performed by a few broken forces collected and
headed by a woman, Joan of Arc.
Would that heaven might inspire some Jersey maid
to spirit up her countrymen, and save her fair fellow sufferers from ravage and
ravishment!
Yet panics, in some cases, have their uses; they
produce as much good as hurt. Their duration is always short; the mind soon
grows through them, and acquires a firmer habit than before. But their peculiar
advantage is, that they are the touchstones of sincerity and hypocrisy, and
bring things and men to light, which might otherwise have lain forever
undiscovered.
In fact, they have the same effect on secret
traitors, which an imaginary apparition would have upon a private murderer.
They sift out the hidden thoughts of man, and hold them up in public to the
world. Many a disguised Tory has lately shown his head, that shall
penitentially solemnize with curses the day on which Howe arrived upon the Delaware.
Voltaire has remarked that King William[1] never
appeared to full advantage but in difficulties and in action; the same remark
may be made on General Washington, for the character fits him. There is a
natural firmness in some minds which cannot be unlocked by trifles, but which,
when unlocked, discovers a cabinet of fortitude; and I reckon it among those
kind of public blessings, which we do not immediately see, that God hath
blessed him with uninterrupted health, and given him a mind that can even
flourish upon care.
I shall conclude this paper with some
miscellaneous remarks on the state of our affairs; and shall begin with asking
the following question, Why is it that the enemy have left the New England
provinces, and made these middle ones the seat of war?
The answer is easy: New England
is not infested with Tories, and we are. I have been tender in raising the cry
against these men, and used numberless arguments to show them their danger, but
it will not do to sacrifice a world either to their folly or their baseness.
The period is now arrived, in which either they or
we must change our sentiments, or one or both must fall. And what is a Tory?
Good God! What is he? I should not be afraid to go with a hundred Whigs against
a thousand Tories, were they to attempt to get into arms. Every Tory is a
coward; for servile, slavish, self-interested fear is the foundation of Toryism;
and a man under such influence, though he may be cruel, never can be brave.
I once felt all that kind of anger, which a man
ought to feel, against the mean principles that are held by the Tories: a noted
one, who kept a tavern at Amboy, was standing at his door, with as pretty a
child in his hand, about eight or nine years old, as I ever saw, and after
speaking his mind as freely as he thought was prudent, finished with this
unfatherly expression, "Well! give me peace in my day."
Not a man lives on the continent but fully
believes that a separation must some time or other finally take place, and a
generous parent should have said, "If there must be trouble, let it be in
my day, that my child may have peace;" and this single reflection, well
applied, is sufficient to awaken every man to duty.
Not a place upon earth might be so happy as America. Her situation is remote from all the wrangling world, and
she has nothing to do but to trade with them. A man can distinguish himself
between temper and principle, and I am as confident, as I am that God governs
the world, that America will never be happy till she gets clear of foreign
dominion. Wars, without ceasing, will break out till that period arrives, and
the continent must in the end be conqueror; for though the flame of liberty may
sometimes cease to shine, the coal can never expire.
I call not upon a
few, but upon all: not on this state or that state, but on every state: up and
help us; lay your shoulders to the wheel; better have too much force than too
little, when so great an object is at stake.
Let it be told to the
future world, that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue
could survive, that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger,
came forth to meet and to repulse it.
Say not that
thousands are gone, turn out your tens of thousands; throw not the burden of
the day upon Providence, but "show your faith by
your works," that God may bless you.
It matters not where
you live, or what rank of life you hold, the evil or the blessing will reach
you all. The far and the near, the home counties and the back, the rich and the
poor, will suffer or rejoice alike.
The heart that feels
not now is dead; the blood of his children will curse his cowardice, who
shrinks back at a time when a little might have saved the whole, and made them
happy.
I love the man that
can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by
reflection. 'Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is
firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles
unto death.
My own line of
reasoning is to myself as straight and clear as a ray of light. Not all the
treasures of the world, so far as I believe, could have induced me to support
an offensive war, for I think it murder; but if a thief breaks into my house,
burns and destroys my property, and kills or threatens to kill me, or those
that are in it, and to "bind me in all cases whatsoever" to his
absolute will, am I to suffer it?
What signifies it to
me, whether he who does it is a king or a common man; my countryman or not my
countryman; whether it be done by an individual villain, or an army of them? If
we reason to the root of things we shall find no difference; neither can any
just cause be assigned why we should punish in the one case and pardon in the
other.
Let
them call me rebel and welcome, I feel no concern from it; but I should suffer
the misery of devils, were I to make a whore of my soul by swearing allegiance
to one whose character is that of a sottish, stupid, stubborn, worthless, brutish
man[2]. I conceive likewise a horrid
idea in receiving mercy from a being, who at the last day shall be shrieking to
the rocks and mountains to cover him, and fleeing with terror from the orphan,
the widow, and the slain of America.
There are cases which cannot be overdone by
language, and this is one. There are persons, too, who see not the full extent
of the evil which threatens them; they solace themselves with hopes that the
enemy, if he succeed, will be merciful.
It is the madness of folly, to expect mercy from
those who have refused to do justice; and even mercy, where conquest is the
object, is only a trick of war; the cunning of the fox is as murderous as the
violence of the wolf, and we ought to guard equally against both.
Howe's first object is, partly by threats and
partly by promises, to terrify or seduce the people to deliver up their arms
and receive mercy. The ministry recommended the same plan to Gage, and this is
what the Tories call making their peace, "a peace which passeth all
understanding" indeed! A peace which would be the immediate forerunner of
a worse ruin than any we have yet thought of.
Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776
[1] Voltaire is referring to William of Orange
(1650-1702) who, after England's Glorious Revolution of 1688, ruled England and
Scotland with his wife Mary (daughter of the overthrown king James II) - the
reign of William & Mary. Paine is
citing Voltaire's Letter IX on
the English.
[2] Paine is specifically referring to King
George III (1738-1820), the ruler of England
at the time of the Revolution
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