t the most credulous that while
the war raged between France and England, neither could spare a man to
invade America. For what purpose, then, could it be wanted? The case
carries its own explanation. It was wanted for the purpose of destroying
the representative system, for it could be employed for no other. Are
these men Federalists? If they are, they are federalized to deceive and
to destroy.

The rage against Dr. Logan's patriotic and voluntary mission to France
was excited by the shame they felt at the detection of the false alarms
they had circulated. As to the opposition given by the remnant of
the faction to the repeal of the taxes laid on during the former
administration, it is easily accounted for. The repeal of those taxes
was a sentence of condemnation on those who laid them on, and in the
opposition they gave in that repeal, they are to be considered in the
light of criminals standing on their defence, and the country has passed
judgment upon them.

Thomas Paine.

City of Washington, Lovett's Hotel, Nov. 19, 1802.

LETTER III.(1)

1 The National Intelligencer, Dec. 29th, 1802.--_Editor._.

To ELECT, and to REJECT, is the prerogative of a free people.

Since the establishment of Independence, no period has arrived that
so decidedly proves the excellence of the representative system of
government, and its superiority over every other, as the time we now
live in. Had America been cursed with John Adams's _hereditary Monarchy_
or Alexander Hamilton's _Senate for life_ she must have sought, in the
doubtful contest of civil war, what she now obtains by the expression of
public will. An appeal to elections decides better than an appeal to the
sword.

The Reign of Terror that raged in America during the latter end of the
Washington administration, and the whole of that of Adams, is enveloped
in mystery to me. That there were men in the government hostile to the
representative system, was once their boast, though it is now their
overthrow, and therefore the fact is established against them. But that
so large a mass of the people should become the dupes of those who were
loading them with taxes in order to load them with chains, and deprive
them of the right of election, can be ascribed only to that species
of wildfire rage, lighted up by falsehood, that not only acts without
reflection, but is too impetuous to make any.

There is a general and striking difference between the genuine effects
of