can we find a foundation for the famous document. I
know of but one man American born, at that day, with sufficient genius
to write it--Benjamin Franklin--and he would have failed in the style
and language, and especially in those fine strokes of the affection.[A]

For Mr. Paine to write the Declaration and be ready to hand it to the
chairman of the committee, is characteristic of the man. He did the same
thing at the "Thatched House" tavern meeting in England in 1791. Mr.
Horne Tooke who signed the Address and Declaration as chairman of the
meeting, received the document privately from the hand of Mr. Paine, and
had Mr. Tooke not afterward disclaimed the authorship of it when charged
upon him, Mr. Paine would never have revealed the secret. It was
revealed in this manner: Mr. Tooke having spoken in commendation of the
Declaration which he signed "was jocularly accused of praising his own
work, and to free him from this embarrassment [says Mr. Paine], and the
repeated trouble of mentioning the author, _as he has not failed to do_,
I make no hesitation in saying, I drew up the publication," etc. Now,
Mr. Paine was never guilty of _praising his own work_, and nowhere can I
find that he ever praised the Declaration of Independence as a work, or
that he ever mentioned Junius but once. [B]Had Mr. Jefferson been the
author of the Declaration, Mr. Paine no doubt would have called it "_A
masterly performance_."

And thus it is, his hand is seen, though not publicly acknowledged, in
all those first principles upon which the fabric of our government
rests. And it was the peculiarity of this great man _to do the work, and
let others carry off the honors_.

"But truth shall conquer at the last;
For round and round we run,
And ever the right comes uppermost,
And ever is justice done."

NOTE A.

Truly speaking, there is no original Declaration in existence. There are
several "original" Declarations extant, all differing somewhat. John
Adams had one, Benjamin Franklin, it is said, had one in England.
Richard Henry Lee and others had "originals," all in manuscript. The one
I have followed may be found in Marshall's Life of Washington, and does
not differ, only in a few minor respects, from the one in Jefferson's
works, Washington edition. The real _original_ was destroyed as soon as
copied, and we have only nature to guide us in the study of one which is
almost a faithful copy.

NOTE B.

In 17