Thomas Paine, Privateersman ONE element in Thomas Paines life has never ceased to intrigue me: his claim to having sailed on a British privateer during the Seven Years War with France. He mentioned the adventure in Part II of his revolutionary Rights of zJkCany written in 1791: At an early period, little more than sixteen years of age, raw and adventurous . . . I began the carver of my own fortune, and entered on board the Terrible privateer, Captain Death. From this adventure I was happily prevented by the affectionate and moral remonstrance of a good father. . . . But the impression . . . began to wear away, and I entered afterwards in the King of Prussia privateer, Captain Mendez, and went in her to sea.1 Paines story appears reasonable; in reflecting upon his youth, he exhibits not bravado but faintly amused candor. In fact, he counts the adventure among the inconveniences which beset his early life. Had a flaw not appeared in the fabric of his tale—his having given his age as sixteen—Paines anecdote, though a rare personal revelation, would have received even less attention than it has to date. In the days before privateering was abolished, belligerent governments commissioned privately-owned ships of war, or privateers, to prey upon the vessels of an enemy power. Only after a state of war existed between the two countries could a privateer obtain such a commission.2 When Thomas Paine turned sixteen in January 1753, England had been at peace for several years. The ensuing war with France did not formally begin until three years later, in May 1756. While the London newspapers occasionally mentioned privateers fitting out in anticipation of war, nowhere is the Terrible privateer mentioned until some months after war was declared. Thus Thomas 1 Philip S. Foner, ed., The Complete Writings of Thomas Paine (New York, 1945), I, 405, hereinafter, Writings. 2 E. P. Statham, Privateers and Privateering (New York, 1910), 6. 451 4 5 2 ALYCE BARRY October Paine was nineteen years of age when the Terrible sailed in November 1756, and we have no reason to believe that the privateer had begun fitting out three years earlier, before war with France appeared imminent. Paines defamatory biographer, George Chalmers, quite readily noted the discrepancy in Paines age: how little Pain[e] is to be trusted, he wrote, when he does pretend to give a passage of his own life.3 To understand the error in Paines version, we can choose one of several explanations. Paines memory failed as he recounted in 1791 an experience thirty-five years in his past. He had mistaken the name of the Kjng of Prussias Captain, Menzies, for Mendez. As a rule, however, Paines friends and acquaintances attributed to him an amazing memory even in his old age; more important, one wonders how Paine could confuse his nineteen-year-old self with a boy three years younger. Second, Paines hand may have made the error, or, third, perhaps the typesetter was at fault. In either case, the error could easily have escaped detection until after it appeared in print, owing to the somewhat unusual circumstances of the books publication. The first printer to whom Paine entrusted his manuscript for %ights of zMan, Tart the Second, abandoned the project, perhaps for fear of prosecution for sedition, more likely because he had been bribed or threatened. In doing so, he ruined Paines original plan to circulate the work just as Parliament was convening.4 Anxious that his proposals reach the public as quickly as possible, Paine may not have taken sufficient care in examining the proof sheets to catch the error. While Chalmers insinuation that Paine was lying must be admitted as another explanation, Paines claim to a voyage on the KjnS °f Prussia is eminently more credible than the notion that he made the story up. I fear no consequences, Paine wrote. Fortified with that proud integrity that disdains to triumph or to yield, I will advocate the Rights of Man. Paine felt he had, even from such a beginning, and with all the inconveniences of early life against him, helped to establish a new empire in America and had risen to eminence in political literature.5 Feeling himself well 3 Francis Oldys [George Chalmers], The Life of Thomas Pain, 7th ed. (London, 1793), 4». 4 Paine describes the incident in the works Appendix. Writings, I, 455-456. 5 Ibid., I, 405-406. 1977 THOMAS PAINE, PRIVATEERSMAN 453 fortified with courage and integrity, Paine had no need to manufacture this otherwise rather farfetched tale, in which he cited no specific act of courage in battle, to prove his bravery or virility. His further claim to disinterestedness that compelled respect is inconsistent with his confession to having been a sea-going mercenary, or privateer. Paine clearly felt that his violent introduction to manhood was a handicap he overcame. Had he chosen to lie, Paine would hardly have done so in a fashion so inconsistent with the rest of the work, in which he condemns the privateering trade. Paine describes the British law of primogeniture—a law of brutal injustice—as a sort of privateering upon family property; and he regards privateersmen themselves as little better than pirates when he alludes to them as the robbers of every nation.6 A recurring theme in Rights of
Posted on: Fri, 07 Nov 2014 22:37:54 +0000
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