e.

Citizens, when I left the United States in the year 1787 I promised to
all my friends that I would return to them the next year; but the hope
of seeing a revolution happily established in France, that might serve
as a model to the rest of Europe,(1) and the earnest and disinterested
desire of rendering every service in my power to promote it, induced me
to defer my return to that country, and to the society of my friends,
for more than seven years. This long sacrifice of private tranquillity,
especially after having gone through the fatigues and dangers of the
American Revolution which continued almost eight years, deserved a
better fate than the long imprisonment I have silently suffered. But it
is not the nation but a faction that has done me this injustice. Parties
and Factions, various and numerous as they have been, I have always
avoided. My heart was devoted to all France, and the object to which I
applied myself was the Constitution. The Plan which I proposed to the
Committee, of which I was a member, is now in the hands of Barere, and
it will speak for itself.

1 Revolutions have now acquired such sanguinary associations
that it is important to bear in mind that by "revolution"
Paine always means simply a change or reformation of
government, which might be and ought to be bloodless. See
"Rights of Man" Part II., vol. ii. of this work, pp. 513,
523.--:_Editor_.

It is perhaps proper that I inform you of the cause as-assigned in the
order for my imprisonment. It is that I am 'a Foreigner'; whereas, the
_Foreigner_ thus imprisoned was invited into France by a decree of the
late National Assembly, and that in the hour of her greatest danger,
when invaded by Austrians and Prussians. He was, moreover, a citizen of
the United States of America, an ally of France, and not a subject of
any country in Europe, and consequently not within the intentions of any
decree concerning Foreigners. But any excuse can be made to serve the
purpose of malignity when in power.

I will not intrude on your time by offering any apology for the broken
and imperfect manner in which I have expressed myself. I request you to
accept it with the sincerity with which it comes from my heart; and I
conclude with wishing Fraternity and prosperity to France, and union and
happiness to her representatives.

Citizens, I have now stated to you my situation, and I can have no doubt
but your justice will restore me