l soon be men? Why are we not
struck with the injustice which we perpetrate on our descendants, by
endeavouring to transmit them as a vile herd to masters whose vices are
all that can be foreseen.

Whenever the _French_ constitution shall be rendered conformable to its
_Declaration of Rights_, we shall then be enabled to give to France, and
with justice, the appellation of a _civic Empire_; for its government
will be the empire of laws founded on the great republican principles
of _Elective Representation_, and the _Rights of Man_.--But Monarchy
and Hereditary Succession are incompatible with the _basis_ of its
constitution.

I hope that I have at present sufficiently proved to you that I am
a good Republican; and I have such a confidence in the truth of the
principles, that I doubt not they will soon be as universal in _France_
as in _America_. The pride of human nature will assist their evidence,
will contribute to their establishment, and men will be ashamed of
Monarchy.

I am, with respect, Gentlemen, your friend,

Thomas Paine.

Paris, June, 1791.

III. TO THE ABBE SIEYES.(1)

Paris, 8th July, 1791.

Sir,

At the moment of my departure for England, I read, in the _Moniteur_
of Tuesday last, your letter, in which you give the challenge, on
the subject of Government, and offer to defend what is called the
_Monarchical opinion_ against the Republican system.

I accept of your challenge with pleasure; and I place such a confidence
in the superiority of the Republican system over that nullity of a
system, called _Monarchy_, that I engage not to exceed the extent of
fifty pages, and to leave you the liberty of taking as much latitude as
you may think proper.

The respect which I bear your moral and literary reputation, will be
your security for my candour in the course of this discussion; but,
notwithstanding that I shall treat the subject seriously and sincerely,
let me promise, that I consider myself at liberty to ridicule, as they
deserve, Monarchical absurdities, whensoever the occasion shall present
itself.

By Republicanism, I do not understand what the name signifies in
Holland, and in some parts of Italy. I understand simply a government
by representation--a government founded upon the principles of the
Declaration of Rights; principles to which several parts of the French
Constitution arise in contradiction. The Declaration of Rights of France
and America are but one and the same thing in