The suspicion against the late Administration is, that it was plotting to overturn the representative system of government, and that it spread alarms of invasions that had no foundation, as a pretence for raising and establishing a military force as the means of accomplishing that object.
The law, called the Sedition Law, enacted, that if any person should write or publish, or cause to be written or published, any libel [without defining what a libel is] against the Government of the United States, or either house of congress, or against the President, he should be punished by a fine not exceeding two thousand dollars, and by imprisonment not exceeding two years.
But it is a much greater crime for a president to plot against a Constitution and the liberties of the people, than for an individual to plot against a President; and consequently, John Adams is accountable to the public for his conduct, as the individuals under his administration were to the sedition law.
The object, however, of an enquiry, in this case, is not to punish, but to satisfy; and to shew, by example, to future administrations, that an abuse of power and trust, however disguised by appearances, or rendered plausible by pretence, is one time or other to be accounted for.
Thomas Paine.
BORDENTOWN, ON THE DELAWARE,
New Jersey, March 12, 1803. vol. III—27
LETTER VII.
EDITOR'S PREFACE.
This letter was printed in The True American, Trenton, New
Jersey, soon after Paine's return to his old home at
Bordenton. It is here printed from the original manuscript,
for which I am indebted to Mr. W. F. Havemeyer of New York.
Although the Editor has concluded to present Paine's
"Maritime Compact" in the form he finally gave it, the
articles were printed in French in 1800, and by S. H. Smith,
Washington, at the close of the same year. There is an
interesting history connected with it. John Hall, in his
diary ("Trenton, 20 April, 1787") relates that Paine told
him of Dr. Franklin, whom he (Paine) had just visited in
Philadelphia, and the Treaty he, the Doctor, made with the
late King of Prussia by adding an article that, should war
ever break out, Commerce should be free. The Doctor said he
showed it to Vergennes, who said it met his idea, and was
such as he would make even with England. In his Address to
the People of France, 1797 (see p. 366), Paine closes with a
suggestion on the subject, and a year later (September 30,
1798), when events were in a critical condition, he sent
nine articles of his proposed Pacte Maritime to
Talleyrand, newly appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs. The
letters that passed are here taken from the originals (State
Archives, Paris, Itats Unis, vol. 48).
"Rue Theatre frangaise, No. 4, 9 Vendemaire, 6 year.