INTRODUCTORY LETTER,

ON THE

GENERAL STATE OF THE UNION.

MY DEAR SIR,

TO WILLIAM GREATHEED LEWIS, ESQ.

Southam, Warwickshire, July 8th, 1839.

'I trust the subject, on which I am about to address you, will be of sufficient importance to claim your attention, and induce you to render me your assistance in superintending my work through the press. It is no other than that of laying before you the result of my long and searching inquiries after the Goddess with which, in our young days, you and I were enamoured. I well recollect the first time of our meeting; we were then just grown up-both of us villagers-both from the county of Warwick. The similarity of our political opinions caused us at once to become warmly attached to each other, and we soon made up our minds to go to the land of promise. We, however, were windbound at Liverpool for several weeks, until our exchequer became nearly exhausted; and we, for that time, postponed our trip to America, and separated, never to meet again for a great number of years. You turned to scholastic and literary pursuits; I became a manufacturer, married, and settled in my native county; but I never could extinguish my desire to see the far-famed republic, and at length emigrated to the United States. I saw many things in America that I did not expect to see, and that did not square with the ideas I had formed from the various accounts I had heard and read. However, I attended to my business, paid but little attention to politics, and, for the first five or six years that I was there, had no great reason to complain: after this, however, a system of corruption in the States' governments, as well as in the government of the United States, began to develop itself in such a manner as to arouse my attention, though previously disposed to quietly acquiesce in things that were wrong, upon the ground that there is no such thing as perfection in earthly governments. I therefore pertinaciously held to my favourite system. I could

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not be persuaded that, however wrong things might go for a time, that all would right itself in a country where "the great principles of selfgovernment were recognised and acted upon."

But, my dear Sir, I am now, most reluctantly, obliged to acknowledge the fallacy of self-government, believing that it has no existence in the nature of things. I have read all that has been written on this subject by Paine, Jefferson, and all the popular writers of our day; and, as far as my ability extends," I have deeply considered their doctrines. Indeed, it was Paine that first wrought upon my youthful understanding, and, if you will permit me, I will tell you the manner in which it was done it will have a tendency to show what trifling accidents turn us about, and lead us into different paths to those we first pursued, in the commencement of our passage through this transitory life.

I had an occasion, when not more than fifteen years of age, to go to Birmingham, and was requested to take a letter to a gardener, at a gentleman's seat near that place. I found him in a house situated within a large garden, enclosed by a high brick wall, forming a world of itself. It was early in the spring, so that I did not see his paradise to the best advantage; but I saw the trees arranged; every branch spread, adjusted, secured, and prepared to receive the mellowing influence of the ruling power which was expected to finish the work, and cover those walls with clusters of grapes, peaches, apricots, plumbs, and fruit of every kind, that care and the climate could bring to perfection. Of these trees he gave me a full description: he was old enough to be my grandfather, but he did not think it a waste of time to talk with and instruct a rustic boy. The green-houses were full of everything that were usually found in those charming places: these, together with the sensible conversation of the gardener, afforded pleasures that were entirely new to me. When the time came for my departure he accompanied me a mile or two, and, as we walked along, he freely gave me his excellent advice on many subjects; he warned me to shun the dangerous practice that was then getting so common, of drinking spirituous liquors, the consequences of which he showed so clearly, that I resolved to resist any temptation of that kind that should ever come in my way, and till this hour I have observed that resolution; though I do not claim any merit for forbearance, because I never liked spirituous liquor, and therefore I made no sacrifice. I only refrained from forcing myself to do that which would have been disagreeable to me; while I have seen boys, who, considering it manly to drink spirits, have forced it down against their taste, and, with practice, have become habitual drunkards.

My new friend, at parting, took me by the hand, and addressed me, as nearly as I can remember, in these words: "You are," said he, "entering into the world, of the good and evil of which you have but little

conception. As you pass along you will be continually beset by evils of every kind, and, however desirous you may be to avoid them, they will frequently come in such a questionable shape, that you will be penetrating indeed if you do not often mistake them for virtues. I have had some experience, and I know that a new path has lately been marked out for my countrymen, which, in a few years, will lead them to troubles, such as I have no wish to live to see. I am aware that what I can do towards staying the evils is but little, but I consider it my duty to give to the young, as far as possible, the information that experience has given. to me; and when I meet with a youth that seems to pay attention to what I say, it gives me more pleasure than any other thing." Here he took out of his pocket a book, and, without making any comment upon it, he presented it to me, saying, "Read that with attention." We then parted, and I never saw him again; but, believing his motive to be good, I have ever remembered him with great respect, and always considered the meeting with him as an incident that had more to do in forming my character, be it good or be it bad, than all the other circumstances that ever happened to me in the course of my life.

I proceeded to my lodgings, and, after supper, I opened my book, and read, as follows, on the title-page:-RIGHTS OF MAN; being an Answer to MR. BURKE'S ATTACK on the FRENCH REVOLUTION. By THOMAS PAINE. Thomas Paine!! why, surely, thought I, this is not the "Tom Paine" that I had used to hear spoken of as such a frightful character, and whom we burnt in effigy a few years back. I had never read a book through in my life, but, out of respect for the giver, I was determined to read this. I had not proceeded far, before I felt greatly interested, so much so, that I continued reading till daylight the next morning. On that day I executed my business with all speed, returned to my book, and finished reading the first and second parts of the Rights of Man. What a change that book made in me! It put my thought in motion. "Ah," said I, now I have discovered the whole secret of all our grievances; now I see why the burning of Paine in effigy was encouraged in our village; why the poor are become so miserable, and why all these soldiers are found to be necessary." I attributed our troubles to our form of government; to there being a king, a titled nobility, and an established church. In this opinion I remained for years, while things continued to get worse and worse; until at last I was struck, while viewing a miserable family that formerly were so well dressed, so cheerful, and in every way so comfortable and happy-I was struck with the idea, that the changes could not be owing to the form of government, because they did not take place until I was old enough to recollect the circumstance; whereas, we find that kings have ruled for thousands of years! and Mr. Paine gives us the origin of the English

nobility, which he dates from William the Conqueror; and, as to the church, it is the same that was established by Henry the Eighth, some hundreds of years ago. This gave a turn to my way of thinking on these subjects, and forced me to look for another cause, which I thought I had discovered in the war, and in the unredeemable paper-money to which that war gave rise. Still I believed that Paine was right, and that self-government, of all other systems, was the most just, the most cheap, and the most perfect. This shows the necessity of age and experience, to be enabled to judge of matters of this kind. If we err as to the cause of our grievances, how can we proceed, with any hope of success, to redress them?

Now the late Mr. Paine's principles of government might do very well for a truly enlightened people, who could live securely without any governing at all, or for a people, the majority of whom were of that kind; but, alas! notwithstanding what the flattering designing demagogues say to the contrary, such a people have never been found on the earth, and there is nothing to justify the belief that they ever will be found. Of this, no man's writings furnish stronger evidence than Mr. Paine's, except it be those of Mr. Jefferson. On both of which I will here make some remarks: In the " Rights of Man" we find the Americans set forth as the most sensible people in the world; a people fit, in all respects, to be governed by laws based upon the principles so clearly laid down by Paine and Jefferson. In the year 1791-2 Paine, then in London, wrote that book, in which he says, "If you ask an American if he wants a king? he retorts, and asks you if you take him for an idiot?" Mr. Paine had just left America. fully persuaded that his principles were there fairly engrafted-that nothing could prevent them thriving, and even expanding to the remotest parts of Europe. "For what we can foresee," said he, "all Europe may form one great republic, and man be free of the whole." Mr. Jefferson left America on a mission to France, with the same belief as to the thriving condition of democracy. He returned in the year 1790; that is, one year before Paine told us, in London, the tale about the king and the idiot. Mr. Jefferson lands in New York, and there expects to see the graft in full bearing; but, instead of which, he gives us a very different account, for which I must refer my readers to the Appendix.

By this account we see the little reliance there is to be placed on the opinions of men, though of the highest order in point of talents. We must compare and move cautiously in forming our opinions on matters of government. If we wish to be correct, depend upon it that nothing but experience will make us so. You see that while I, a youth in England, was wondering at the stupidity of my own countrymen, and eager to join a people that was, all at once, become so enlightened as to retort,

when asked if, to govern them, they wanted a king, that very people at the same moment were crying out, Give us kings; give us an aristocracy, paper-money, public debt, and govern us by one of two motives, force or interest. Among all the respectables of New York, assembled at the various dinner-parties, where politics were the chief topic, poor democracy and republicanism were without a single advocate, with the exception of the stranger Mr. Jefferson and a few others. So desirous were they then for royalty and grandeur, that they harassed Washington nearly out of his life. Mr. Jefferson further tells us that

"When the president went to New York, he resisted for three weeks the efforts to introduce levees. At length he yielded, and left it to Humphreys and some others to settle the form. Accordingly an ante-chamber and presence-room were provided, and, when those who were to pay their court were assembled, the president (Washington) set out, preceded by Humphreys. After passing through the ante-chamber, the door of the inner room was thrown open, and Humphreys entered, first calling out with a loud voice, The President of the United States.' The president was so much disconcerted with it, that he did not recover it the whole time of the levee, and, when the company was gone, he said to Humphreys, " Well, you have taken me in once, but, by G―d, you shall never take me in a second time.'"

Mr. Jefferson says that Washington accepted the presidency a second time with great reluctance on his part, and that "he expressed the extreme wretchedness of his existence while in office." It seems they put his effigy on a guillotine and cut off the head, buried the body, and

so on.

This was the treatment of the great and good man from a people who had just thrown a beam of light over the world. One-half of those people were making a mountebank of him, and the other half were, in desire, cutting off his head with a guillotine,-a proof, if any were wanted, that an honest man was totally unfit for their service. And so it has been ever since. If an honest man, now by chance is called to one of their important offices, it would be better for him, and every day the more and more confirms this truth, to be in his grave than in such

a situation.

I might notice many instances of ingratitude towards Washington that took place much earlier. Even his own principal officers, that served under him while he led them to victory, were jealous of his talents and fame, and conspired against him. One of these instances he speaks of himself in a letter to Patrick Henery, in the year 1778.

"I cannot," he says,

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precisely mark the extent of their views, but it appeared in general that General Gates was to be exalted on the ruin