The Rights of Man | Page 8

of sincerest friendship found in the official correspondence of
the English government with that of France, its conduct gives the lie to all its declarations,
and shows us clearly that it is not a court to be trusted, but an insane court, plunging in all
the quarrels and intrigues of Europe, in quest of a war to satisfy its folly and countenance
its extravagance.
The English nation, on the contrary, is very favorably disposed towards the French
Revolution, and to the progress of liberty in the whole world; and this feeling will
become more general in England as the intrigues and artifices of its government are better
known, and the principles of the revolution better understood. The French should know
that most English newspapers are directly in the pay of government, or, if indirectly
connected with it, always under its orders; and that those papers constantly distort and
attack the revolution in France in order to deceive the nation. But, as it is impossible long
to prevent the prevalence of truth, the daily falsehoods of those papers no longer have the
desired effect.
To be convinced that the voice of truth has been stifled in England, the world needs only
to be told that the government regards and prosecutes as a libel that which it should
protect.*[1] This outrage on morality is called law, and judges are found wicked enough
to inflict penalties on truth.
The English government presents, just now, a curious phenomenon. Seeing that the
French and English nations are getting rid of the prejudices and false notions formerly

entertained against each other, and which have cost them so much money, that
government seems to be placarding its need of a foe; for unless it finds one somewhere,
no pretext exists for the enormous revenue and taxation now deemed necessary.
Therefore it seeks in Russia the enemy it has lost in France, and appears to say to the
universe, or to say to itself. "If nobody will be so kind as to become my foe, I shall need
no more fleets nor armies, and shall be forced to reduce my taxes. The American war
enabled me to double the taxes; the Dutch business to add more; the Nootka humbug
gave me a pretext for raising three millions sterling more; but unless I can make an
enemy of Russia the harvest from wars will end. I was the first to incite Turk against
Russian, and now I hope to reap a fresh crop of taxes."
If the miseries of war, and the flood of evils it spreads over a country, did not check all
inclination to mirth, and turn laughter into grief, the frantic conduct of the government of
England would only excite ridicule. But it is impossible to banish from one's mind the
images of suffering which the contemplation of such vicious policy presents. To reason
with governments, as they have existed for ages, is to argue with brutes. It is only from
the nations themselves that reforms can be expected. There ought not now to exist any
doubt that the peoples of France, England, and America, enlightened and enlightening
each other, shall henceforth be able, not merely to give the world an example of good
government, but by their united influence enforce its practice.
(Translated from the French)
RIGHTS OF MAN
Among the incivilities by which nations or individuals provoke and irritate each other,
Mr. Burke's pamphlet on the French Revolution is an extraordinary instance. Neither the
People of France, nor the National Assembly, were troubling themselves about the affairs
of England, or the English Parliament; and that Mr. Burke should commence an
unprovoked attack upon them, both in Parliament and in public, is a conduct that cannot
be pardoned on the score of manners, nor justified on that of policy.
There is scarcely an epithet of abuse to be found in the English language, with which Mr.
Burke has not loaded the French Nation and the National Assembly. Everything which
rancour, prejudice, ignorance or knowledge could suggest, is poured forth in the copious
fury of near four hundred pages. In the strain and on the plan Mr. Burke was writing, he
might have written on to as many thousands. When the tongue or the pen is let loose in a
frenzy of passion, it is the man, and not the subject, that becomes exhausted.
Hitherto Mr. Burke has been mistaken and disappointed in the opinions he had formed of
the affairs of France; but such is the ingenuity of his hope, or the malignancy of his
despair, that it furnishes him with new pretences to go on. There was a time when it was
impossible to make Mr. Burke believe there would be any Revolution in France. His
opinion then was, that the French had neither spirit