be
the interest of no man who seeks the public good; and it is the deceiver
only, or one interested in the deception, that can wish to preclude
enquiry.

The suspicion against the late Administration is, that it was plotting
to overturn the representative system of government, and that it spread
alarms of invasions that had no foundation, as a pretence for raising
and establishing a military force as the means of accomplishing that
object.

The law, called the Sedition Law, enacted, that if any person should
write or publish, or cause to be written or published, any libel
[without defining what a libel is] against the Government of the United
States, or either house of congress, or against the President, he
should be punished by a fine not exceeding two thousand dollars, and by
imprisonment not exceeding two years.

But it is a much greater crime for a president to plot against a
Constitution and the liberties of the people, than for an individual to
plot against a President; and consequently, John Adams is accountable to
the public for his conduct, as the individuals under his administration
were to the sedition law.

The object, however, of an enquiry, in this case, is not to punish, but
to satisfy; and to shew, by example, to future administrations, that an
abuse of power and trust, however disguised by appearances, or rendered
plausible by pretence, is one time or other to be accounted for.

Thomas Paine.

BORDENTOWN, ON THE DELAWARE,

New Jersey, March 12, 1803. vol. III--27

LETTER VII.

EDITOR'S PREFACE.

This letter was printed in _The True American_, Trenton, New
Jersey, soon after Paine's return to his old home at
Bordenton. It is here printed from the original manuscript,
for which I am indebted to Mr. W. F. Havemeyer of New York.
Although the Editor has concluded to present Paine's
"Maritime Compact" in the form he finally gave it, the
articles were printed in French in 1800, and by S. H. Smith,
Washington, at the close of the same year. There is an
interesting history connected with it. John Hall, in his
diary ("Trenton, 20 April, 1787") relates that Paine told
him of Dr. Franklin, whom he (Paine) had just visited in
Philadelphia, and the Treaty he, the Doctor, made with the
late King of Prussia by adding an article that, should war
ever break out, Commerce should be free. The Doctor said he
showed it to Ve