fully and honourably devoted his pen to

support the glorious cause of general liberty " and the rights of man. In his reply to Mr. "Burke's miserable rhapsody in favour of op

exertions of this Society are directed to the acquirement of useful knowledge, and to spread the same, as far as our endeavours and abilities can extend.

"We declare that we have derived more true knowledge from the two works of Mr. THOMAS PAINE, entitled RIGHTS OF MAN, Part the First and Second, than from any other author on the subject. The practice as well as the principle of government is laid down in those works, in a manner so clear and irresistibly convincing, that this Society do hereby resolve to give their thanks to Mr. Paine for his two said publications entitled 'Rights of Man,' Part 1st and 2d. Also

"Resolved unanimously, That the thanks of this Society be given to Mr. Paine for the affectionate concern he has shewn in his second work in behalf of the poor, the infant, and the aged; who, notwithstanding the opulence which blesses other parts of the community, are by the grievous weight of taxes rendered the miserable victims of poverty and wretchedness.

"Resolved unanimously, That the thanks of this Society be given to J. HORNE TOOKE, Esq. for his meritorious support of our lawful privileges, as a firm advocate of our natural and just rights, the establishment of an equal representation of the people.

it pression, popery, and tyranny, he has urged "the most lucid arguments, and brought for"ward truths the most convincing. Like a

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powerful magician he touches with his wand "the hills of error and they smoke; the moun"tains of inhumanity and they melt away."

"Had Thomas Paine," says another most enlightened writer in 1795, in reply to Cheetham, Cobbett, Oldys, &c. "been nothing

to be considered either of a ministerial or an opposition party (names of which we are tired, having been so often deceived by both) do ardently recommend it to all their fellow citizens, into whose hands these resolutions may come, to confer seriously and calmly with each other, on the subject alluded to; and to manifest to the world, that the spirit of true liberty is a spirit of order; and that to obtain justice, it is consistent that we be just ourselves.

"Resolved unanimously, That these Resolutions be printed, and that a Copy thereof be transmitted to the Society for Constitutional Information in London,' requesting their approbation for twelve of our friends to be entered into their Society, for the purpose of establishing a connexion and a regular communication with that and all other similar societies in the kingdom.

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"Mar. 14, 1792.

By order of the Committee,

"DAVID MARTIN, Chairman."

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"superior to a vagabond seaman, a bankrupt

stay maker, a discarded exciseman, a porter "in the streets of Philadelphia, or whatever "else the insanity of Grub-street chooses to "call him, hundreds of thousands of copies of "his writing had never announced his name in every village on the globe where the English

language is spoken, and very extensively " where it is not; nor would the rays of royal indignation have illuminated that character "which they cannot scorch."

The following are the observations of Mr. Erskine, now Lord Erskine, when counsel for him on the prosecution against him for his work. Rights of Man.' Upon the matter, which I hasten to lay before you, can you refuse in justice to pronounce, that from "his education, from the accidents and habits "of his life, from the time and circumstances "attending it, and from every line and letter "of the work itself and all his other writings "before and ever since, his conscience and "understanding (no matter whether errone

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'

ously or not) were deeply and solemnly impressed with the matters contained in his "book; that he addressed it to the reason of "the nation at large, and not to the passions of "individuals; and that in the issue of its influ"ence he contemplated only what appeared "to him (though it may not to us) to be the "interest and happiness of England, and of the "whole human race? In drawing the one or "other of these conclusions, the book stands "first in order, and it shall speak for itself.

"Gentlemen, the whole of it is in evidence "before you, the particular parts arranged

having only been read by my consent upon "the presumption that on retiring from the "court you would carefully compare them "with the context, and all the parts with "the whole viewed together.

"You cannot indeed do justice without it. "The most common letter, even in the ordi

nary course of business, cannot be read in

a cause to prove an obligation for twenty

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shillings without the whole being read, that "the writer's meaning may be seen without

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deception.

"But in a criminal charge only of four pages and a half, out of a work containing "nearly two hundred, you cannot, with even "the appearance of common justice, pronounce

a judgment without the most deliberate and "cautious comparison. I observe that the "noble and learned judge confirms me in this "observation. But if any given part of a work "be legally explanatory of every other part "of it, the preface, à fortiori, is the most material, because the preface is the author's own key to his writing; it is there that he "takes the reader by the hand and introduces "his subject; it is there that the spirit and "intention of the whole is laid before him

by way of prologue. A preface is meant by "the author as a clue to ignorant or careless "readers; the author says by it to every man "who chooses to begin where he ought, "look at my plan, attend to my distinctions,