There ought to be some regulation with respect to the spirit of denunciation that now prevails. If every individual is to indulge his private malignancy or his private ambition, to denounce at random and without any kind of proof, all confidence will be undermined and all authority be destroyed. Calumny is a species of Treachery that ought to be punished as well as any other kind of Treachery. It is a private vice productive of public evils; because it is possible to irritate men into disaffection by continual calumny who never intended to be disaffected. It is therefore, equally as necessary to guard against the evils of unfounded or malignant suspicion as against the evils of blind confidence. It is equally as necessary to protect the characters of public officers from calumny as it is to punish them for treachery or misconduct. For my own part I shall hold it a matter of doubt, until better evidence arises than is known at present, whether Dumouriez has been a traitor from policy or resentment. There was certainly a time when he acted well, but it is not every man whose mind is strong enough to bear up against ingratitude, and I think he experienced a great deal of this before he revolted. Calumny becomes harmless and defeats itself, when it attempts to act upon too large a scale. Thus the denunciation of the Sections [of Paris] against the twenty-two deputies [Girondists] falls to the ground. The departments that elected them are better judges of their moral and political characters than those who have denounced them. This denunciation will injure Paris in the opinion of the departments because it has the appearance of dictating to them what sort of deputies they shall elect. Most of the acquaintances that I have in the Convention are among those who are in that list, and I know there are not better men nor better patriots than what they are.
I have written a letter to Marat of the same date as this but not on the same subject. He may show it to you if he chuse.
Votre Ami,
Thomas Paine.
Citoyen Danton.
XIX. A CITIZEN OF AMERICA TO THE CITIZENS OF EUROPE (1)
18th Year of Independence.
1 State Archives, Paris: États Unis, vol. 38, fol. 90. This
pamphlet is in English, without indication of authorship or
of the place of publication. It is accompanied by a French
translation (MS.) inscribed "Par Thomas Payne." In the
printed pamphlet the date (18th Year, etc) is preceded by
the French words (printed): "Philadelphie 28 Juillet 1793."
It was no doubt the pamphlet sent by Paine to Monroe, with
various documents relating to his imprisonment, describing
it as "a Letter which I had printed here as an American
letter, some copies of which I sent to Mr. Jefferson." A
considerable portion of the pamphlet embodies, with
occasional changes of phraseology, a manuscript (États Unis,
vol. 37, Do. 39) endorsed: "January 1793. Thorn. Payne.
Copie. Observations on the situation of the Powers joined
against France." This opens with the following paragraph:
"It is always useful to know the position and the designs of
one's enemies. It is much easier to do so by combining and
comparing the events, and by examining the consequences
which result from them, than by forming one's judgment by
letters found or intercepted. These letters could be
fabricated with the intention of deceiving, but events or
circumstances have a character which is proper to them. If
in the course of our political operations we mistake the
designs of our enemy, it leads us to do precisely that which
he desires we should do, and it happens by the fact, but
against our intentions, that we work for him." That the date
written on this MS. is erroneous appears by an allusion to
the defeat of the Duke of York at Dunkirk in the closing
paragraph: "There are three distinct parties in England at
this moment: the government party, the revolutionary party,
and an intermedial party,—which is only opposed to the war
on account of the expense it entails, and the harm it does
commerce and manufactures. I am speaking of the People, and
not of the Parliament. The latter is divided into two
parties: the Ministerial, and the Anti-ministerial. The
revolutionary party, the intermedial party, and the anti-
ministerial party, will all rejoice, publicly or privately,
at the defeat of the Duke of York at Dunkirk." The two
paragraphs quoted represent the only actual additions to the
pamphlet. I have a clipping from the London Morning
Chronicle of Friday, April 25, 1794, containing the part of
the pamphlet headed "Of the present state of Europe and the
Confederacy," signed "Thomas Paine, Author of Common Sense,
etc." On February 1,1793, the Convention having declared
war, appointed Paine, Barère, Condorcet and Faber, a
Committee to draft an address to the English people. It was
never done, but these fragments may represent notes written
by Paine with reference to that task. The pamphlet
probably appeared late in September, 1793.—Editor.,
Understanding that a proposal is intended to be made at the ensuing meeting of the Congress of the United States of America "to send commissioners to Europe to confer with the Ministers of all the Neutral Powers for the purpose of negotiating preliminaries of peace," I address this letter to you on that subject, and on the several matters connected therewith.