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[TO THOMAS PAINE.]*

On his Arguments against a Particular Providence, &c.

[Without date.]

DEAR SIR: I have read your manuscript with some attention. By the argument it contains against a particular Providence, though you allow a general Providence, you strike at the foundations of all religion. For, without the belief of a Providence, that takes cognizance of, guards and guides, and may favor particular persons, there is no motive to worship a Deity, to fear his displeasure, or to pray for his protection.

I will not enter into any discussion of your principles, though you seem to desire it. At present I shall only give you my opinion, that, though your reasonings are subtle, and may prevail with some readers, you will not succeed so as to change the general sentiments of mankind on that subject, and the consequence of printing this piece will be, a great deal of odium drawn upon yourself, mischief to you, and no benefit to others. He that spits against the wind spits in his own face.

But, were you to succeed, do you imagine any good would be done by it? You yourself may find it easy to live a virtuous life without the assistance afforded by religion; you having a clear perception of the advantages of virtue, and the disadvantages of vice, and possessing a strength of resolution sufficient to enable you to resist common temptations. But think how great a portion of mankind consists of weak and ignorant men and women, and of inexperienced, inconsiderate youth of both sexes, who have need of the motives of religion to restrain them from vice, to support their virtue, and retain them in the practice of it till it becomes habitual, which is the great point for its security. And, perhaps, you are indebted to her originally that is, to your religious education - for the habits of virtue upon which you now justly value yourself. You might easily display your excellent talents of reasoning upon a less hazardous subject, and thereby obtain a rank with our most distinguished authors. For among us it is not necessary, as among the Hottentots, that a youth, to be raised into the company of men, should prove his manhood by beating his mother.

I would advise you therefore not to attempt unchaining the tiger, but to burn this piece before it is seen by any other person, whereby you will save yourself a great deal of mortifica

*There is little doubt that this letter was addressed to Paine, although it was originally published without the name of the person to whom it was directed.

tion from the enemies it may raise against you, and perhaps a good deal of regret and repentance. If men are so wicked with religion, what would they be if without it? I intend this letter itself as a proof of my friendship, and therefore add no professions to it; but subscribe simply yours, B. FRANKLIN.

[TO THE EDITORS OF THE PENNSYLVANIA GAZETTE.]

On Party Abuse-Newspaper Scurrility.

MESSRS. HALL AND SELLERS: I lately heard a remark that, on examination of the Pennsylvania Gazette for fifty years from its commencement, it appeared that during that long period scarce one libellous piece had ever appeared in it. This generally chaste conduct of your paper is much to its reputation; for it has long been the opinion of sober, judicious people, that nothing is more likely to endanger the liberty of the press than the abuse of that liberty by employing it in personal accusation, detraction and calumny. The excesses some of our papers have been guilty of in this particular have set this State in a bad light abroad, as appears by the following letter, which I wish you to publish, not merely to show your own disapprobation of the practice, but as a caution to others of the profession throughout the United States. For I have seen an European newspaper, in which the editor, who had been charged with frequently calumniating the Americans, justifies himself by saying "that he had published nothing disgraceful to us, which he had not taken from our own printed papers." I am, &c., A. B.

"NEW YORK, March 30, 1788.

DEAR FRIEND: My gout has at length left me, after five months' painful confinement. It afforded me, however, the leisure to read, or hear read, all the packets of your newspapers which you so kindly sent for my amusement.

"Mrs. W. has partaken of it; she likes to read the advertisements; but she remarks some kind of inconsistency in the announcing so many diversions for almost every evening in the week, and such quantities to be sold of expensive superfluities, fineries, and luxuries just imported, in a country that at the same time fills its papers with complaints of hard times and want of money.

"I tell her that such complaints are common to all times and

all countries, and were made even in Solomon's time, when, as we are told, silver was as plenty in Jerusalem as the stones in the street, and yet even then there were people that grumbled, so as to incur this censure from that knowing prince: Say not thou that the former times were better than these; for thou dost not inquire rightly concerning that matter.

"But the inconsistence that strikes me the most is that between the name of your city, Philadelphia, brotherly love, and the spirit of rancor, malice and hatred, that breathes in its newspapers. For I learn from those papers that your state is divided into parties: that each ascribes all the public operations of the other to vicious motives; that they do not even suspect one another o. the smallest degree of honesty; that the antifederalists are such merely from the fear of losing power, places or emoluments, which they have in possession or in expectation; that the federalists are a set of conspirators, who aim at establishing a tyranny over the persons and property of their countrymen, and to live in splendor on the plunder of the people. I learn, too, that your justices of the peace, though chosen by their neighbors, make a villanous trade of their office, and promote discord to augment fees, and fleece their electors; and that this would not be mended by placing the choice in the executive council, who, with interested or party views, are continually making as improper appointments. Witness a 'petty fiddler, sycophant and scoundrel,' appointed judge of the Admiralty; an old woman and fomenter of sedition' to be another of the judges, and 'a Jeffries' chief-justice, &c. &c.; with 'two harpies,' the comptroller and naval officers, to prey upon the merchants and deprive them of their property by force of arms, &c.

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I am informed also, by these papers, that your General Assembly, though the annual choice of the people, shows no regard to their rights, but, from sinister views or ignorance, makes laws in direct violation of the constitution, to divest the inhabitants of their property, and give it to strangers and intruders; and, that the Council, either fearing the resentment of their constituents, or plotting to enslave them, had projected to disarm them, and given orders for that purpose; and, finally, that your president, the unanimous joint choice of the Council and Assembly, is an old rogue,' who gave his assent to the federal constitution merely to avoid refunding money he had purloined from the United States.

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"There is, indeed, a good deal of manifest inconsistency in all this; and yet, a stranger seeing it in your own prints, though he

does not believe it all, may probably believe enough of it to conclude that Pennsylvania is peopled by a set of the most unprincipled, wicked, rascally and quarrelsome scoundrels upon the face of the globe. I have sometimes, indeed, suspected that these papers are the manufacture of foreign enemies among you, who write with a view of disgracing your country, and making you appear contemptible and detestable all the world over; but then I wonder at the indiscretion of your printers in publishing such writings! There is, however, one of your inconsistencies that consoles me a little, which is, that, though living you give one another the characters of devils, dead you are all angels! It is delightful, when any of you die, to read what good husbands, good fathers, good friends, good citizens, and good Christians you were, concluding with a scrap of poetry that places you, with certainty, every one in heaven. So that I think Pennsylvania a good country to die in, though a very bad one to live in."

[TO CHARLES THOMPSON.]

PHILADELPHIA, December 29, 1788. DEAR OLD FRIEND: Enclosed I send a letter to the President of Congress for the time being, which, if you find nothing improper in it, or that in regard to me you could wish changed or amended, I would request you to present. I rely much on your friendly counsel, as you must be better acquainted with persons and circumstances than I am; and I suppose there will be time enough before the new Congress is formed to make any alterations you may advise, though, if presented at all, it should be to the old one.

In the copy of my letter to Mr. Barclay, you may observe, that mention is made of some "considerable articles which I have not charged in my accounts with Congress, but on which I should expect from their equity some consideration." That you may have some information what those articles are, I enclose also a "Sketch of my Services to the United States," wherein you will find mention of the extra services I performed that do not appertain to the office of plenipotentiary, namely, as judge of admiralty, as consul before the arrival of Mr. Barclay, as banker in examining and accepting the multitude of bills of exchange, and as secretary for several years, none being sent to me, though other ministers were allowed such assistance.

I must own I did hope that, as it is customary in Europe to make some liberal provision for ministers when they return home from foreign service, the Congress would at least have been kind enough to have shown their approbation of my conduct by a grant of a small tract of land in their western country, which might have been of use and some honor to my posterity. And I cannot but still think they will do something of the kind for me whenever they shall be pleased to take my services into consideration, as I see by their minutes that they have allowed Mr. Lee handsomely for his services in England, before his appointment to France, in which services I and Mr. Bollan cooperated with him, but have had no such allowance; and, since his return, he has been very properly rewarded with a good place, as well as my friend Mr. Jay: though these are trifling compensations in comparison with what was granted by the king to M. Gérard on his return from America, but how different is what has happened to me! On my return from England in 1775, the Congress bestowed on me the office of Postmaster-general, for which I was very thankful. It was indeed an office I had some kind of right to, as having previously greatly enlarged the revenue of the post, by the regulations I had contrived and established, while I possessed it under the crown. When I was sent to France, I left it in the hands of my son-in-law, who was to act as my deputy. But, soon after my departure, it was taken from me, and given to Mr. Hazard. When the English ministry formerly thought fit to deprive me of the office, they left me, however, the privilege of receiving and sending my letters free of postage, which is the usage when a postmaster is not displaced for misconduct in the office; but in America I have ever since had the postage demanded of me, which since my return from France has amounted to above fifty pounds, much of it occasioned by my having acted as minister there.

When I took my grandson, William Temple Franklin, with me to France, I purposed, after giving him the French language, to educate him in the study and practice of the law. But, by the repeated expectations given me of a secretary, and constant disappointments, I was induced, and indeed obliged, to retain him with me, to assist in the secretary's office; which disappointments continued till my return, by which time so many years of the opportunity of his studying the law were lost, and his habits of life became so different, that it appeared no longer advisable; and I then considering him as brought up in the diplomatic line, and well qualified by his knowledge in that branch for the employ of a secretary at least (in which opinion I was not alone,

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