ear that
he will again plunge at the king, or tear the ermine of Lord Mansfield,
Thomas Paine, just landed upon the shores of America, hurls back a shaft
at royalty which transfixes it to the wall of its castle. This was
_Common Sense_. A reaction had taken place in England, and the people of
America were also affected thereby. Reconciliation was the cry,
independence scarcely lisped, and, when lisped, people "startled at the
novelty of it." "In this state of political suspense," says Mr. Paine,
"the pamphlet of Common Sense made its appearance, and the success it
met with does not become me to mention. Dr. Franklin, Mr. Samuel, and
John Adams were severally spoken of as the supposed author. I had not,
at that time, the pleasure either of personally knowing or being known
to the two last gentlemen. The favor of Dr. Franklin's friendship I
possessed in England, and my introduction to this part of the world was
through his patronage.... In October, 1775, Dr. Franklin proposed giving
me such materials as were in his hands toward completing a history of
the present transactions, and seemed desirous of having the first volume
out the next spring. I had then formed the outlines of Common Sense and
finished nearly the first part; and, as I supposed the doctor's design
in getting out a history was to open the new year with a new system, I
expected to surprise him with a production on that subject much earlier
than he thought of, and, without informing him what I was doing, got it
ready for the press as fast as I conveniently could, and sent him the
first pamphlet that was printed off."--Note, Crisis, iii.

Opening the new year with a new system is emphatically what Junius also
did, and it is most remarkable that the appearance of Junius' first
Letter had, at first, the same effect in England that Common Sense had
in America. Both came like thunderbolts. "On January 10, 1776, when 'a
reconciliation with the mother country was the wish of almost every
American,' a pamphlet called Common Sense, advocating the establishment
of a republic of free and independent states, 'burst upon the world'--in
the language of Dr. Rush--'with an effect which has rarely been produced
by types and paper in any age or country.' It was immediately denounced
as 'one of the most artful, insidious, and pernicious of pamphlets!'
John Dickinson, a staunch supporter of the American cause, and author of
the 'Farmers' Letters,' opposed the idea of independence