the other, I shall, though a foreigner in your country, subscribe as much money as any other man towards supporting the right of the Nation against the prosecution; and it is for this purpose only that I shall do it.

To Arch. Macdonald,
Attorney-General.

THOMAS PAINE.

As I have not time to copy letters, you will excuse the corrections.

P. S. I intended, had I staid in England, to have pub. lished the information, with my remarks upon it, before the trial came on; but, as I am otherwise engaged, I reserve myself till the trial is over, when I shall reply fully to every thing you shall advance.

T. P.

D 2

REASONS FOR PRESERVING THE LIFE OF LOUIS
CAPET, AS DELIVERED TO THE NATIONAL
CONVENTION.

CITIZEN PRESIDENT,

Jan. 1793.

My hatred and abhorrence of monarchy are sufficiently known, they originate in principles of reason and conviction, nor except with life, can they ever be extirpated; but my compassion for the unfortunate, whether friend or enemy, is equally lively and sincere. I voted that Louis should be tried, because it was necessary to afford proofs to the world of the perfidy, corruption and abomination of the monarchical system. The infinity of evidence that has been produced, exposes them in the most glaring and hideous colours, thence it results, that monarchy, whatever form it may assume, arbitrary or otherwise, becomes, necessarily a centre, round which is united every species of corruption, and the Kingly trade is no less destructive of all morality in the human breast, than the trade of an executioner is destructive of its sensibility.

I remember during my residence in another country that I was exceedingly struck with a sentence of M. Autheine, at the Jacobins, which corresponds exactly with my own idea," make me a King to day," said he," and I shall be a robber to-morrow."

Nevertheless I am inclined to believe that if Louis Capet had been born in an obscure condition, had he lived within the circle of an amiable and respectable neighbourhood, at liberty to practise the duties of domestic life, had he been thus situated, I cannot believe that he would have shewn himself destitute of social virtues: we are in a moment of fermentation like this, naturally little indulgent to his vices, or rather to those of monarchical Governments; we regard them with additional horror and indignation, not that they are more heinous than his predecessors, but because our eyes are now open and the veil of delusion at length with drawn; yet the lamentable degraded state to which he is actually reduced, is surely far less imputable to him, than to the constituent assembly, which of its own authority, without consent or advice of the people, restored him to

the throne,

I was in Paris at the time of the flight or abdication of Louis XVI. and when he was taken and brought back. The proposal of restoring to him the supreme power struck me with amazement; and although at that time, I was not a French citizen, yet as a citizen of the world, I employed all the efforts that depended on me to prevent it.

A small society, composed only of five persons, two of whom are now members of the convention, took at that time, the name of the republican club (societe republicaine.)

This society opposed the restoration of Louis, not so much on account of his personal offences, as in order to overthrow the monarchy, and to erect on its ruins the republican system and an equal representation.

With this design, I traced out in the English language certain propositions, which were translated with some trifling alterations, and signed by Achilles Duchatlet, actually lieutenant-general in the army of the French republic, and at that time one of the five members which composed our little party: the law requiring the signature of a citizen at the bottom of each printed paper.

The paper was indignantly torn by Malouet; and brought forth in this very room as an article of accusation against the person who had signed. it, the author and their adherents; but such is the revolution of events, that this paper is now received and brought forth for a very opposite purpose to remind the nation of the errors of that unfortunate day, that fatal error of having not then banished Louis XVI. from its bosom, and hot to plead this day in favour of his exile, preferably to his death.

The paper in question was conceived in the following

terms:

"Brethren and fellow citizens,

"The serene tranquility, the mutual confidence which prevailed amongst us, during the time of the late king's escape, the indifference with which we beheld him return, are unequivocal proofs that the absence of a King is more desirable than his presence, and that he is not only a political superfluity, but a grievous burden pressing hard on the whole nation.

"Let us not be imposed on by sophisms; all that concerns this, is reduced to four points.

"He has abdicated the throne in having fled from his post. Abdication and desertion are not characterized by the

length of absence, but by the single act of flight; in this instance, the act is every thing, and the time nothing. The nation can never give back its confidence to a man who; false to his trust, perjured to his oath, conspires a clandestine flight, obtains a fraudulent passport, conceals a King of France under the disguise of a valet, directs his course towards a frontier covered with traitors and deserters, and evidently meditates a return into our country, with a force capable of imposing his own despotic Laws.

"Whether ought his flight to be considered as his own act, or the act of those who fled with him? Was it a spontaneous resolution of his own, or was it inspired into him by others? The alternative is inmaterial: whether fool or hypocrite, idiot or traitor, be has proved himself equally nworthy of the vast important functions that had been delegated to him.

"In every sense that the question can be considered, the reciprocal obligation which subsisted between us is dissolved. He holds no longer authority. We owe him no longer obedience. We see in him no more than an indifferent person; we can regard him only as Louis Capet.

"The history of France presents little else than a long series of public calamity, which takes its source from the vices of the King: we have been the wretched victims that have never ceased to suffer, either for them or by them. The catalogue of their oppressions was complete, but to complete the sum of their crimes, treason yet was wanting. Now the only vacancy is filled up, the dreadful list is full: the system is exhausted: there are no remaining errors for them to commit, their reign is consequently at an end.

An

"What kind of office must that be in a Government which requires neither experience nor ability to execute ?-that may be abandoned to the desperate chance of birth, that may be filled with an idiot, a madman, a tyrant, with equal effect, as by the good, the virtuous, and the wise. office of this nature is a mere non-entity; it is a place of show, not of use. Let France, then, arrived at the age of reason, no longer be deluded by the sound of words, and let her deliberately examine, if a King, however insignificant and contemptible in himself, may not at the same time be extremely dangerous.

"The thirty millions which it costs to support a King in the eclat of stupid, brutal luxury, present us with an easy method of reducing taxes, which reduction would at once release the people, and stop the progress of political cor

ruption. The grandeur of Nations consists not, as kings pretend, in the splendour of thrones, but in a conspicuous sense of their own dignity, and in a just disdain of those barbarous follies and crimes, which, under the sanction of royalty, have hitherto desolated Europe.

"As to the personal safety of Mr. Louis Capet, it is so much the more confirmed, as France will not stoop to degrade herself by a spirit of revenge, against a wretch who has dishonoured himself.

66

In defending a just and glorious cause it is not possible to degrade it, and the universal tranquillity which prevails, is an undeniable proof that a free people know how to respect themselves."

Having thus explained the principles and the exertions of the republicans, at that fatal period when Louis was re-instated in full possession of the executive power, which by his flight had been suspended, I return to the subject, and to the deplorable situation in which the man is now actually involved.

What was neglected at the time of which I have been speaking, has been since brought about by the force of necessity; the wilful treacherous defects in the former constitution have been brought to light, the continual alarm of treason and conspiracy roused the nation, and produced eventually a second revolution. The people have beat down royalty, never, never to rise again; they have brought Louis Capet to the bar, and demonstrated, in the face of the whole world, the intrigues, the cabals, the falsehood, corruption, and rooted depravity, the inevitable effects of monarchical Governments. There remains, then, only one question to be considered, what is to be done with this man.

For myself, I seriously confess, that when I reflect on the unaccountable folly that restored the executive power to his hands, all covered as he was with perjury and treason, I am far more ready to condemn the constituent assembly than the unfortunate prisoner Louis Capet.

But abstracted from every other consideration, there is one circumstance in his life which ought to cover, or at least to palliate, a great number of his transgressions; and this very circumstance affords the French nation a blessed occasion of extricating itself from the yoke of Kings, without defiling itself in the impurities of their blood.

It is to France alone, I know, that the United States of America owe that support which enabled them to shake off the unjust and tyrannical yoke of Britain. The ardour