oners in favour of the British treaty, was
then President. And it was by the aid of this money, and this fleet, and
of Rochambeau's army, that Cornwallis was taken; the laurels of which
have been unjustly given to Mr. Washington. His merit in that affair was
no more than that of any other American officer.

I have had, and still have, as much pride in the American revolution as
any man, or as Mr. Washington has a right to have; but that pride has
never made me forgetful whence the great aid came that compleated
the business. Foreign aid (that of France) was calculated upon at the
commencement of the revolution. It is one of the subjects treated of
in the pamphlet _Common Sense_, but as a matter that could not be hoped
for, unless independence was declared.1 The aid, however, was greater
than could have been expected.

It is as well the ingratitude as the pusillanimity of Mr. Washington,
and the Washington faction, that has brought upon America the loss
of character she now suffers in the world, and the numerous evils her
commerce has undergone, and to which it is yet exposed. The British
Ministry soon found out what sort of men they had to deal with, and they
dealt with them accordingly; and if further explanation was wanting, it
has been fully given since, in the snivelling address of the New York
Chamber of Commerce to the President, and in that of sundry merchants of
Philadelphia, which was not much better.

1 See vol. i. of this work, p. ixx. Paine was sharply taken
to task on this point by "Cato." Ib.% pp. 145-147.--
_Editor._.

When the revolution of America was finally established by the
termination of the war, the world gave her credit for great character;
and she had nothing to do but to stand firm upon that ground. The
British ministry had their hands too full of trouble to have provoked
a rupture with her, had she shown a proper resolution to defend her
rights. But encouraged as they were by the submissive character of the
American administration, they proceeded from insult to insult, till none
more were left to be offered. The proposals made by Sweden and Denmark
to the American administration were disregarded. I know not if so much
as an answer has been returned to them. The minister penitentiary,
(as some of the British prints called him,) Mr. Jay, was sent on a
pilgrimage to London, to make up all by penance and petition. In the
mean time the lengthy and drowsy writer of the pieces s