smallest sum
which the poorest family in a county so near London as Surry, can be
supposed to pay annually, of taxes, is not less than five pounds; and as
your sinecure of one thousand, and pension of three thousand per annum,
are made up of taxes paid by eight hundred such poor families, it comes
to the same thing as if the eight hundred families had been given to
you, as in Russia, and you had collected the money on your account.
Were you to say that you are not quartered particularly on the people
of Surrey, but on the nation at large, the objection would amount to
nothing; for as there are more pensioners than counties, every one may
be considered as quartered on that in which he lives.

What honour or happiness you can derive from being the PRINCIPAL PAUPER
of the neighbourhood, and occasioning a greater expence than the poor,
the aged, and the infirm, for ten miles round you, I leave you to enjoy.
At the same time I can see that it is no wonder you should be strenuous
in suppressing a book which strikes at the root of those abuses. No
wonder that you should be against reforms, against the freedom of the
press, and the right of investigation. To you, and to others of your
description, these are dreadful things; but you should also consider,
that the motives which prompt you to _act_, ought, by reflection, to
compel you to be _silent_.

Having now returned your compliment, and sufficiently tired your
patience, I take my leave of you, with mentioning, that if you had not
prevented my former letter from being read at the meeting, you would not
have had the trouble of reading this; and also with requesting, that
the next time you call me "_a common enemy_," you would add, "_of us
sinecure placemen and pensioners_."

I am, Sir, &c. &c. &c.

Thomas Paine.

VII. TO THE SHERIFF OF THE COUNTY OF SUSSEX,

OR, THE GENTLEMAN WHO SHALL PRESIDE AT THE MEETING TO BE HELD AT LEWES,
JULY 4.

London, June 30, 1792.

Sir,

I have seen in the Lewes newspapers, of June 25, an advertisement,
signed by sundry persons, and also by the sheriff, for holding a meeting
at the Town-hall of Lewes, for the purpose, as the advertisement states,
of presenting an Address on the late Proclamation for suppressing
writings, books, &c. And as I conceive that a certain publication
of mine, entitled "Rights of Man," in which, among other things, the
enormous increase of taxes, placemen, and pensioners, is shewn to be
unnecessary and o