"And until independence is declared, the continent
will feel itself like a man who continues putting off some unpleasant
business from day to day, yet knows it must be done; hates to set about
it, wishes it over, and is continually haunted with the thoughts of its
necessity." To this he thought it necessary to add a labored argument
against kings from the Old Testament, which may possibly have had much
weight with a people some of whose descendants still triumphantly quote
the same holy book in favour of slavery.
The King's speech, "a piece of finished villany" in the eyes of true
patriots, appeared in Philadelphia on the same day as "Common Sense".
Thus Paine was as lucky in his time of publication as in his choice of
a subject. All contemporaries admit that the pamphlet produced a
prodigious effect. Paine himself says,--"The success it met with was
beyond anything since the invention of printing. I gave the copyright
up to every State in the Union, and the demand ran to not less than one
hundred thousand copies." The authorship was attributed to Dr.
Franklin, to Samuel Adams, and to John Adams.
It is hardly necessary to mention that the movement party, with General
Washington at its head, considered Paine's "doctrines sound, and his
reasoning unanswerable.
Pages:
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127