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The union of Morality and Peace is congenial, but that of
Religion and War is a paradox, and the solution of it is
hypocrisy.
—Thomas Paine.
THOMAS PAINE
1792
Born January 29, 1737; Died June 8, 1809.
(From the Dean-Wilcox engraving of the painting by
George Romney.)

Thomas Paine
ON
War and Monarchy
BY
W. M. VAN DER WEY DE
PRESIDENT
Thomas Paine National Historical Association
PUBLISHED BY THE
Thomas Paine National Historical Association
NEW YORK
E’or copies of
“Thomas Paine, the Great Commoner of Mankind,”
by Elbert Hubbard,
“Lest We Forget,” by Ella. Wheeler Wilcox,
and
“Thomas Paine on War and Monarchy,” by W. M. van der Weyde,
price ten cents each,
Address the
THOMAS PAINE NATIONAL HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION
W. H. Harvey, Treasurer,
62 Vesey Street, New York,
ſº Aſ A
~ Jºcº & . . Xuº a & 2 #
/ f r; "-"e ~
// 2 o /* *
Thomas Paine
O
War and Monarchy
Had the world but heeded the wise counsels of
Thomas Paine, Europe would not now be drenched
in blood, and the rest of the universe had been
spared the abhorrent spectacle of a half-dozen great
nations vying with one another in the slaughter of
their fellow-men.
Thomas Paine gave to the world nearly a cen-
tury and a quarter ago (in the years 1791-2)
“Rights of Man,” parts I and II, a work which is
generally acknowledged to be the greatest political
treatise ever written.
In its pages are exposed the follies of monarchi-
cal rule, of hereditary succession, titles, warfare,
navies, etc. No work published upon the subject
6 THOMAS PAINE ON WAR AND MON ARCHY
of government has ever contained such a mass of
unanswerable logic. Although deeply analytical and
expressed both eloquently and with great vigor,
“Rights of Man” is so simply written that it can
be read, understood and appreciated by children.
Scores of so-called “replies” to “Rights of Man”
were published soon after the appearance of Paine's
work. Most of these were written at the instiga-
tion of the British government, which Paine had
attacked. None of the “replies” had more than an
ephemeral life, however, for their arguments were
valueless, and today these writings rank as curiosi-
ties of that period, along with the poems of deri-
sion, gross cartoons and other malevolent publica-
tions that sprang up on all sides when “Rights of
Man” was the chief topic of conversation in Eng-
land. The government strove frantically to sup-
press Paine's book and prosecuted and outlawed the
author for “high treason” and “libel”—facts which
but advertised the book the more and secured for it
a still greater circle of readers.
THOMAS PAINE ON WAR AND MON ARCHY 7
To Paine's great work most of the governmental
reforms that have taken place in England since the
end of the eighteenth century may be credited.
Great Britain still has a king who acquires his
throne by hereditary succession, but the nation is
today virtually a republic and the “king” is but the
merest puppet, with no autocratic powers whatever.
There is no doubt that Paine's political writings,
particularly his “Rights of Man,” more than any
other agency, have wrought this transformation.
True indeed is it that all the principles of gov-
ernment advocated by Paine have not yet seen frui-
tion in England or elsewhere, but it seems more
than probable (especially in view of the present
European cataclysm) that Paine's recommendations
regarding the finding of other means than war to
settle differences between nations will at last receive
attention and that other equally perspicacious coun-
sel will be also heeded.
The book that the British government desperately
endeavored to extirpate more than a century ago
8 THOMAS PAINE ON WAR AND MON ARCHY
not only survived to become a guide in political
affairs, but its sale is today more extensive than
at any time since its publication was prosecuted as
“high treason.”
It is not only in “Rights of Man” that Paine
treats of the folly of hereditary succession and sim-
ilar topics. All through Paine's various political
works, “The Crisis,” “Common Sense,” “Letters to
the Addressers,” may be found dissertations on
such subjects. The “Letter to the Addressers”
(Addressers of George III, 1792) has been some-
times published as Part III of “Rights of Man.”
In Paine's preface to the French edition of
“Rights of Man,” Part I, he says:
“If the miseries of war, and the flood of evils it spreads
over a country, did not check all inclination to mirth, and
turn laughter into grief, the frantic conduct of the gov-
ernment of England would only excite ridicule. But it is
impossible to banish from one's mind the images of suf-
fering which the contemplation of such vicious policy pre-
sents. To reason with governments, as they have existed
for ages, is to argue with brutes. It is only from the
nations themselves that reforms can be expected.”
THOMAS PAINE ON WAR AND MON ARCHY 9
Paine had but little hope of any reformation com-
ing directly from the governments—i.e., from the
rulers and their courts—but he had unbounded faith
in the people—the nations. If wars are to be,
it is not the rulers, he declared, that should have
authority to declare them, but only the people.
Paine wrote:
*
2*On this question of war three things are to be consid-
ered : first, the right of declaring it; second, the expense
of supporting it; third, the mode of conducting it after
it is declared. The French constitution places the right
where the expense must fall, and this union can be only
in the nation. The mode of conducting it, after it is de-
clared, it consigns to the executive department. Were this
the case in all countries, we should hear but little more
of wars.”
Wars can benefit only the rulers and their para-
sitical train; the nation itself always suffers. Heavy
taxation follows every war and it is the people that
pay:
“Whatever is the cause of taxes to a nation becomes
also the means of revenue to a government. Every war
10 THOMAS PAINE ON waR AND MONARCHY
terminates with an addition of taxes, and consequently
with an addition of revenue; and in any event of war, in
the manner they are now commenced and concluded, the
power and interest of governments are increased. War,
therefore, from its productiveness, as it easily furnishes
the pretense of necessity for taxes and appointments to
places and offices, becomes the principal part of the system
of old governments, and to establish any mode to abolish
war, however advantageous it might be to nations, would
be to take from such government the most lucrative of its
branches. The frivolous matters upon which war is made
show the disposition and avidity of governments to uphold
the system of war, and betray the motives upon which
they act.”
Nowadays, when we daily hear the partisans of
each of the warring countries of Europe accusing
the other governments of perfidy and intrigue and
ambition, it is interesting to read what Paine says
of the habits of accusation by governments as a
means of inflaming the people.
The paragraph that follows is from the conclu-
sion of “Rights of Man,” Part I:
“As war is the system of government on the old con-
THOMAS PAINE ON waR AND MONARCHY 11
struction, the animosity which nations reciprocally enter-
tain is nothing more than what the policy of their gov-
ernments excite, to keep up the spirit of the system. Each
government accuses the other of perfidy, intrigue, and
ambition, as a means of heating the imagination of their
respective nations, and incensing them to hostilities. Man
is not the enemy of man but through the medium of a
false system of government. Instead, therefore, of ex-
claiming against the ambition of kings, the exclamation
should be directed against the principles of such govern-
ments; and instead of seeking to reform the individual,
the wisdom of a nation should apply itself to reform the
system.”
Paine foresaw the downfall of monarchical gov-
ernments and their replacement by republics pat-
terned after that republic which he himself devised
and did so much to establish—the United States of
America. The fulfillment of Paine's prophecy and
hope regarding the European countries is, we are
now told, close at hand. It is confidently asserted
by many publicists, as well as by magazine and
newspaper writers, that the European war will be
succeeded by the prompt establishment of republics
12 THOMAS PAINE ON waR AND MONARCHY
in place of the various monarchies. Paine had
hoped that with the abolishment of royalty in
France other nations would see the advantages of
republics and that in a brief time all monarchies
would be but memories and that the succeeding re-
publics would in due course affiliate in a great “Fed-
eration of the World and Parliament of Man.”
Paine's dream is, indeed, in all probability soon
to be realized. Instead of its having been a matter
of but a few years, however, it is already a century
and a quarter since the great author made his
prophecy and Some years more will, no doubt, in-
tervene before we shall see republics covering the
map of Europe.
Paine wrote in “Rights of Man,” Part II:
“Could we suppose a spectator who knew nothing of
the world and who was put into it merely to make his
observations, he would take a great part of the old world
to be new, just struggling with the difficulties and hard-
ships of an infant settlement. He could not suppose that
the hordes of miserable poor, with which old countries
abound, could be any other than those who had not yet
THOMAS PAINE ON war AND MONARCHY 13
been able to provide for themselves. Little would he
think they were the consequence of what in such coun-
tries is called government.
“If, from the more wretched parts of the old world,
we look at those which are in advanced state of improve-
ment, we still find the greedy hand of government thrust-
ing itself into every corner and crevice of industry, and
grasping the spoil of the multitude. Invention is contin-
ually exercised, to furnish new pretenses for revenue and
taxation. It watches prosperity as its prey, and permits
none to escape without a tribute.
“As revolutions have begun (and as the probability is
always greater against a thing beginning than of proceed-
ing after it has begun), it is natural to expect that other
revolutions will follow. The amazing and still increas-
ing expenses with which old governments are conducted,
the numerous wars they engage in or provoke, the embar-
rassments they throw in the way of universal civilization
and commerce, and the oppression and usurpation acted
at home, have wearied out the patience and exhausted the
property of the world. In such a situation, and with
such examples already existing, revolutions are to be
looked for. They are become subjects of universal con-
versation, and may be considered as the order of the day.
14 THOMAS PAINE ON WAR AND MON ARCHY
“If systems of government can be introduced less expen-
sive, and more productive of general happiness, than those
which have existed, all attempts to oppose their progress
will in the end prove fruitless. Reason, like time, will
make its own way, and prejudice will fall in the combat
with interest. If universal peace, harmony, civilization
and commerce are ever to be the happy lot of man, it
cannot be accomplished but by a revolution in the present
system of governments.
“All the monarchical governments are military. War
is their trade; plunder and revenue their objects. While
such governments continue, peace has not the absolute
security of a day. What is the history of all monarchical
governments but a disgustful picture of human wretched-
ness, and the accidental respite of a few years' repose?
Wearied with war, and tired with human butchery, they
sat down to rest and called it peace. This certainly is
not the condition that heaven intended for man; and if
this be monarchy, well might monarchy be reckoned among
the sins of the Jews.
“The revolutions which formerly took place in the world
had nothing in them that interested the bulk of mankind.
They extended only to a change of persons and measures,
but not of principles, and rose or fell among the common
transactions of the moment. What we now behold may
THOMAS PAINE ON WAR AND MON ARCHY 15
not improperly be called a ‘counter revolution.” Conquest
and tyranny, at some early period, dispossessed man of
his rights, and he is now recovering them. And as the
tide of human affairs has its ebb and flow in directions
contrary to each other, so also is it in this. Government
founded on a moral theory, on a system of universal
peace, on the indefeasible hereditary rights of man, is
now revolving from west to east by a stronger impulse
than the government of the sword revolved from east to
west. It interests not particular individuals but nations
in its progress, and promises a new era to the human
race.”
Paine's dissertation on government and its ori-
gin, and his analysis of the workings of society, in
“Rights of Man,” Part II, chapters I, II and III,
constitute the most extremely valuable, enlightening
and interesting chapters in the book. These chap—
ters are entitled “Society and Civilization,” “On
the Origin of the Present Old Government,” and
“Of the Old and New Systems of Government.”
The following paragraphs quoted from Chapter
I explain how almost unnecessary is formal govern-
ment to man :
16 THOMAS PAINE ON waR AND MONARCHY
“There is a natural aptness in man, and more so in
society, because it embraces a greater variety of abilities
and resources, to accommodate itself to whatever situation
it is in. The instant formal government is abolished, so-
ciety begins to act. A general association takes place,
and common interest produces common security.
“So far is it from being true, as has been pretended,
that the abolition of any formal government is the dissolu-
tion of society, it acts by a contrary impulse, and brings
the latter the closer together. All that part of its organ-
ization which it had committed to its government devolves
again upon itself, and acts through its medium. When
men, as well from natural instinct as from reciprocal bene-
fits, have habituated themselves to social and civilized life,
there is always enough of its principles in practice to
carry them through any changes they may find necessary
or convenient to make in their government. In short,
man is so naturally a creature of society, that it is almost
impossible to put him out of it.
“Formal government makes but a small part of civilized
life; and when even the best that human wisdom can
devise is established, it is a thing more in name and idea
than in fact. It is to the great and fundamental principles
of society and civilization—to the common usage univer-
Sally consented to, and mutually and reciprocally main-
THOMAS PAINE ON WAR AND MONARCHY 17
tained—to the unceasing circulation of interest which, pass-
ing through its innumerable channels, invigorates the whole
mass of civilized man—it is to these things, infinitely more
than anything which even the best instituted government
can perform, that the safety and prosperity of the indi-
vidual and of the whole depends.
“The more perfect civilization is, the less occasion has
it for government, because the more does it regulate its
own affairs, and govern itself; but so contrary is the
practice of old governments to the reason of the case,
that the expenses of them increase in the proportion they
ought to diminish. It is but few general laws that civil-
ized life requires, and those of such common usefulness
that whether they are enforced by the forms of govern-
ment or not, the effect will be nearly the same. If we con-
sider what the principles are that first condense men into
society, and what the motives that regulate their mutual
intercourse afterwards, we shall find, by the time we arrive
at what is called government, that nearly the whole of
the business is performed by the natural operation of the
parts upon each other.
“Man, with respect to all those matters, is more a creat-
ure of consistency than he is aware of, or than govern-
ments would wish him to believe. All the great laws of
society are laws of nature. Those of trade and com-
18 THOMAS PAINE ON waR AND MONARCHY
merce, whether with respect to the intercourse of indi-
viduals, or of nations, are laws of mutual and reciprocal
interest. They are followed and obeyed, because it is the
interest of the parties so to do, and not on account of any
formal laws their governments may impose or interpose.
“But how often is the natural propensity to society dis-
turbed or destroyed by the operations of government
When the latter, instead of being engrafted on the prin-
ciples of the former, assumes to exist for itself, and acts
by partialities of favor and oppression, it becomes the
cause of the mischiefs it ought to prevent.
“If we look back to the riots and tumults which at
various times have happened in England, we shall find
that they did not proceed from the want of a government,
but that government was itself the generating cause; in-
stead of consolidating society, it divided it; it deprived
it of its natural cohesion, and engendered discontents and
disorders, which otherwise would not have existed.”
Paine's account of the origin of monarchical
governments should be read by all idolaters of kings
and supporters of monarchies. The republics of
the world, as he shows, are the only governments
that have been instituted upon honest foundations,
THOMAS PAINE ON WAR AND MON ARCHY 19
In Paine's time there were but two republics in the
world, the United States of America and France.
He was largely concerned in the establishment of
both.
The following paragraphs are from “Rights of
Man,” Part II, constituting the second chapter:
“It is impossible that such governments as have hith-
erto existed in the world could have commenced by any
other means than a total violation of every principle, sacred
and moral. The obscurity in which the origin of all the
present old governments is buried implies the iniquity and
disgrace with which they began. The origin of the pres-
ent governments of America and France will ever be re-
membered because it is honorable to record it; but with
respect to the rest, even flattery has consigned them to the
tomb of time without an inscription.
“It could have been no difficult thing in the early and
solitary ages of the world, while the chief employment
of men was that of attending flocks and herds, for a
banditti of ruffians to overrun a country, and lay it under
contribution. Their power being thus established, the
chief of the band contrived to lose the name of robber
in that of monarch and hence the origin of monarchy and
kings.
20 THOMAS PAINE ON waR AND MONARCHY
“The origin of the government of England so far as it
relates to what is called its line of monarchy, being one
of the latest, is perhaps the best recorded. The hatred
which the Norman invasion and tyranny begot must have
been deeply rooted in the nation to have outlived the con-
trivance to obliterate it. Though not a courtier will talk
of the curfew bell, not a village in England has forgot-
ten it.
“Those bands of robbers having parceled out the world,
and divided it into dominions, began, as is naturally the
case, to quarrel with each other. What at first was ob-
tained by violence was considered by others as lawful to
be taken, and a second plunderer succeeded the first. They
alternately invaded the dominions which each had assigned
to himself, and the brutality with which they treated each
other explains the original character of monarchy. It
was ruffian torturing ruffian. The conqueror considered
the conquered not as his prisoner but his property. He
led him in triumph rattling in chains, and doomed him, at
pleasure, to slavery or death. As time obliterated the his-
tory of their beginning, their successors assumed new ap-
pearances, to cut off the entail of their disgrace, but their
principles and objects remained the same. What at first
was plunder assumed the softer name of revenue; and the
power they originally usurped they affected to inherit.
THOMAS PAINE ON WAR AND MON ARCHY 21
“From such beginning of governments, what could be
expected, but a continual system of war and extortion?
It has established itself into a trade. The vice is not
peculiar to one more than to another, but is the common
principle of all. There does not exist within such govern-
ments a stamina whereon to ingraft reformation; and the
shortest and most effectual remedy is to begin anew.
“What scenes of horror, what perfection of iniquity,
present themselves in contemplating the character and re-
viewing the history of such governments If we would
delineate human nature with a baseness of heart, and
hypocrisy of countenance, that reflection would shudder
at and humanity disown, it is kings, courts, and cabinets
that must sit for the portrait. Man, as he is naturally,
with all his faults about him, is not up to the character.
“Can we possibly suppose that if government had orig-
inated in a right principle, and had not an interest in pur-
suing a wrong one, that the world could have been in the
wretched and quarrelsome condition we have seen it?
What inducement has the farmer while following the
plough, to lay aside his peaceful pursuits and go to war
with the farmer of another country P. Or what induce-
ment has the manufacturer? What is dominion to them,
or to any class of men in a nation? Does it add an acre
to any man's estate, or raise its value? Are not conquest
22 THoMAS PAINE ON WAR AND MONARCHY
and defeat each of the same price, and taxes the never-
failing consequence? Though this reasoning may be good
to a nation, it is not so to a government. War is the
faro-table of governments, and nations the dupes of the
game.
“If there is anything to wonder at in this miserable
scene of governments, more than might be expected, it is
the progress which the peaceful arts of agriculture, man-
ufactures, and commerce have made, beneath such a long
accumulating load of discouragement and oppression.
It serves to show that instinct in animals does not act
with stronger impulse than the principles of society and
civilization operate in man. Under all discouragements
he pursues his object, and yields to nothing but impossi-
bilities.”
Paine's remarks concerning hereditary govern-
ment are as applicable today as they were when
written. These paragraphs are also culled from
“Rights of Man”:
“It cannot be proved by what right hereditary govern-
ment could begin: neither does there exist within the com-
pass of mortal power a right to establish it. Man has
no authority over posterity in matters of personal right;
and, therefore, no man, or body of men, had, or can have,
THOMAS PAINE ON waR AND MONARCHY 23
a right to set up hereditary government. Were even our-
selves to come again into existence, instead of being suc-
ceeded by posterity, we have not now the right of taking
from ourselves the rights which would then be ours. On
what grounds, then, do we pretend to take them from
others?
“All hereditary government is in its nature tyranny. An
heritable crown, or an heritable throne, or by what other
fanciful name such things may be called, have no other
significant explanation than that mankind are heritable
property. To inherit a government is to inherit the people,
as if they were flocks and herds.
“Hereditary succession is a burlesque upon monarchy.
It puts it in the most ridiculous light, by presenting it as
an office which any child or idiot may fill. It requires
some talents to be a common mechanic; but to be a king
requires only the animal figure of a man—a sort of
breathing automaton. This sort of superstition may last
a few years, but it cannot long resist the awakened reason
and interest of man.
“I smile to myself when I contemplate the ridiculous
insignificance into which literature and all the sciences
would sink were they made hereditary; and I carry the
same idea into governments. An hereditary governor is
as inconsistent as an hereditary author.
24 THOMAS PAINE ON WAR AND MONARCHY
“That which is called monarchy always appears to me
a silly, contemptible thing. I compare it to something
kept behind a curtain about which there is a great deal of
bustle and fuss, and a wonderful air of seeming solem-
nity; but when, by any accident, the curtain happens to
be open and the company see what it is, they burst into
laughter. . . . We must shut our eyes against reason,
we must basely degrade our understanding, not to see the
folly of what is called monarchy.
“It can only be by blinding the understanding of man,
and making him believe that government is some won-
derful, mysterious thing, that excessive revenues are ob-
tained. Monarchy is well calculated to ensure this end.
It is the popery of government; a thing kept up to amuse
the ignorant, and quiet them into paying taxes.”
The most far-reaching evils of the world are at-
tributable, in Paine's opinion, to monarchical gov-
ernment and the wars upon which it thrives. The
poverty of the peoples of Europe by comparison
with the populace of the United States is notorious.
As Paine says, “something must be wrong in the
system of government.” Note the humanitarianism
as well as the sound reasoning in the following para-
graphs:
THOMAS PAINE ON waR AND MONARCHY 25
“When, in countries that are called civilized, we see
age going to the work-house, and youth to the gallows,
something must be wrong in the system of government.
It would seem, by the exterior appearance of such coun-
tries, that all was happiness; but there lies hidden from
the eye of common observation a mass of wretchedness
that has scarcely any other chance than to expire in pov-
erty or infamy. Its entrance into life is marked with the
presage of its fate; and until this is remedied, it is in
vain to punish.
“Civil government does not exist by execution; but in
making that provision for the instruction of youth, and
the support of age, as to exclude, as much as possible,
profligacy from the one and despair from the other. In-
stead of this, the resources of a country are lavished upon
kings, upon courts, upon hirelings, impostors and prosti-
tutes; and even the poor themselves, with all their wants
upon them, are compelled to support the fraud that op-
presses them.
“Why is it that scarcely any are executed but the poor?
The fact is a proof, among other things, of a wretched-
ness in their condition. Bred up without morals, and cast
upon the world without a prospect, they are the exposed
sacrifice of vice and legal barbarity. The millions that
are superfluously wasted upon governments are more than
26 THOMAS PAINE ON waR AND MONARCHY
sufficient to reform those evils, and to benefit the condi-
tion of every man in a nation, not included in the purlieus
of a court.”
The last chapter of “Rights of Man” covers many
interesting topics, including a dissertation on taxes.
The necessity of education for children is urged
and a plan for old-age pensions is discussed at some
length. The cost to the nation of so-called aris-
tocracy is considered among other subjects. Re-
ferring to the expenses of a court Paine says:
“There are but few of its members who are not in
some mode or other participators or disposers of the pub-
lic money. One turns a candle-holder or a lord in wait-
ing; another a lord of the bed-chamber, a groom of the
stole, or any insignificant nominal office, to which a salary
is annexed, paid out of the public taxes, and which avoids
the direct appearance of corruption. Such situations are
derogatory to the character of a man; and where they
can be submitted to, honor cannot reside.
“To all these are to be added the numerous dependents,
the long list of the younger branches and distant relations,
who are to be provided for at the public expense: in
short, were an estimation to be made of the charge of
THOMAS PAINE ON waR AND MONARCHY 27
the aristocracy to a nation, it will be found nearly equal
to that of supporting the poor. The duke of Richmond
alone (and there are cases similar to his) takes away as
much for himself as would maintain two thousand poor
and aged persons. Is it, then, any wonder that under
such a system of government, taxes and rates have multi-
plied to their present extent?
“In stating these matters, I speak an open and disinter-
ested language, dictated by no passion but that of human-
ity. To me, who have not only refused offers, because I
thought them improper, but have declined rewards I
might with reputation have accepted it is no wonder that
meanness and imposition appear disgusting. Independence
is my happiness, and I view things as they are, without
regard to place or person; my country is the world, and
my religion is to do good.”
Paine abhorred war, and his earlier political
works expressed the same hope he disclosed in his
subsequent publications—that it would be event-
ually banished from the world altogether.
“If there is a sin superior to every other,”
Thomas Paine wrote in his third “Crisis” (1778),
“it is that of wilful and offensive war. Most other
28 THOMAS PAINE ON WAR AND MONARCHY
sins are circumscribed within narrow limits, that is,
the power of one man cannot give them a very
general eartension, and many kinds of sins have
only a mental eatistence from which no infection
arises; but he who is the author of a war lets loose
the whole contagion of hell, and opens a vein that
bleeds a nation to death.”
In “Crisis VII” (1778) Paine points out the folly
of any nation engaged in commerce seeking war
with another such nation. He says:
“War can never be the interest of a trading nation any
more than quarreling can be profitable to a man in busi-
ness. To make war with those who trade with us is like
setting a bulldog upon a customer at the shop-door.”
In his paper “On Legislative and Executive Pow-
ers” (1791) Paine wrote:
“It is not impossible—nay, it is even probable—that the
whole system of government in Europe will change, that
the ferocious use of war—that truly barbarous cause of
wretchedness, poverty and taxation—will yield to pacific
means of putting an end to quarrels among nations.”
THOMAS PAINE ON WAR AND MON ARCHY 29
Paine proposes in “Rights of Man” the general
dismantling of all the navies of Europe and the
agreement between the nations to build no more
ships of war. On this subject Paine wrote, in part,
as follows:
“The idea of having navies for the protection of com-
merce, is delusive. It is putting the means of destruction
for the means of protection. Commerce needs no other
protection than the reciprocal interest which every nation
feels in supporting it—it is common stock—it exists by
a balance of advantages to all; and the only interruption
it meets, is from the present uncivilized state of gov-
ernments, and which is its common interest to reform.
“There can be no such thing as a nation flourishing
alone in commerce; she can only participate; and the de-
struction of it in any part must necessarily affect all.
When, therefore, governments are at war, the attack is
made upon the common stock of commerce, and the con-
sequence is the same as if each had attacked his own.”
The great European war of 1914 is a notable
illustration of the destruction wrought by some of
the world's nations affecting all. America, as well
as other nations at peace, has felt the pinch of
30 THOMAS PAINE ON waR AND MONARCHY
Tw
poverty and suffering in consequence of the Euro-
pean conflict.
These two paragraphs are also culled from
“Rights of Man”:
“When we survey the wretched condition of man, un-
der the monarchical and hereditary systems of govern-
ment, dragged from his home by one power, or driven
by another, and imapoverished by taxes more than by
enemies, it becomes evident that those systems are bad,
and that a general revolution in the principle and con-
struction of governments is necessary.
“When it shall be said in any country in the world,
my poor are happy: neither ignorance nor distress is to
be found among them; my jails are empty of prisoners,
my streets of beggars; the aged are not in want, the
taxes are not oppressive: the rational world is my friend,
because I am the friend of its happiness: when these
things can be said, then may that country boast of its
constitution and its government.”
When the British government prosecuted Paine
for his publication of “Rights of Man,” alleging
libel, Paine wrote and published his “Letter to the
Addressers,” in which he reiterated his charges
against the government and added to their number,
THOMAS PAINE ON waR AND MONARCHY 31
This pamphlet had a large circulation and many of
its passages became proverbs. The following is an
interesting paragraph:
“If to expose the fraud and imposition of monarchy
and every species of hereditary government—to lessen the
oppression of taxes—to propose plans for the education of
helpless infancy, and the comfortable support of the aged
and distressed—to endeavor to conciliate nations to each
other—to extirpate the horrid practice of war—to pro-
mote universal peace, civilization and commerce—and to
break the chains of political superstition, and raise de-
graded man to his proper rank—if these things be libelous,
let me live the life of a libeler, and let the name of libeler
be engraved on my tomb.”
Paine's essay on “Royalty” (1792) contains some
passages that are anti-monarchical gems. Note
this:
“Some talent is required to be a simple workman; to be
a king there is need to have only the human shape, to be
a living automaton. We are astonished when reading that
the Egyptians placed on the throne a flint and called it
their king. We smile at the dog Barkouf, sent by an
32 THOMAS PAINE ON WAR AND MONARCHY
THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
Asiatic despot to govern one of his provinces. But mon-
archs of this kind are less mischievous and less absurd
than those before whom whole peoples prostrate them-
selves. The flint and the dog at least imposed on no-
body.”
Just at this time, when the publishing houses
are pouring out a stream of books on the subject
of the European war, most of the books contra-
dictory, non-informative and otherwise worthless,
comparatively little heed is given to the brilliant
writings of Thomas Paine, that fearless “citizen
of the world,” wild was the first to expose the
absurdity of monarchy and hereditary succession,
to plead for an end to warfare and for the establish-
ment of republics in place of kingdoms.
The greatest good fortune that could befall the
world would be a general reading by all peoples of
the writings of Thomas Paine—as pertinent in 1914
as when they first came fresh from the presses at
the close of the eighteenth century.
DD NOT REMOVE
MUTIILATE [ ARD

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