French Revolution After involving itself in the
Seven Years' War and the
American Revolutionary War, France found itself financially ruined. Attempts to pass an economic plan to alleviate that in the
Estates-General of 1789 led instead to the Third Estate forming the
National Assembly. Succeeded, in turn, by the
National Constituent Assembly and the
Legislative Assembly, the various legislative bodies succeeded in rendering the monarchy
constitutional, limited by democratic institutions. Attempts to remove the monarch entirely, although thwarted on
20 June 1792, led to the effective overthrow of
Louis XVI on
10 August. On 21 October, France was formally declared a republic. Britain was initially sympathetic to the revolutionaries of France, but the sympathy dissolved with the
execution of Louis XVI and was replaced by hostility and a growing schism within the
Whigs. While the
Foxite branch argued for the Revolution as a source of general liberty, the administration of
William Pitt became increasingly repressive, fearing the spread of
Jacobinism to the United Kingdom and the overthrow of the government. The split was reflected in the behaviour of the people. While some joined societies dedicated to parliamentary reform, others formed mobs under the banner of "Church and King" and attacked the homes of liberals and those who sympathised with the French Revolution, including that of
Joseph Priestley. The
Association for Preserving Liberty and Property against Republicans and Levellers was formed and served as "an organised body of private agents engaged in ferreting out sedition wherever it raised its inky head".
Paine and the Rights of Man Thomas Paine was a noted writer and political theorist whose work had influenced and helped drive the
American Revolution. Having returned to England, he decided to write a book,
Rights of Man, addressing the arguments of
Edmund Burke, a prominent conservative strongly fearful of the French Revolution. The first part was published in 1791 and attracted no attention from Pitt's administration. The second, published on 16 February 1792, advocated, amongst other things, the right of the people to replace their government if they thought it appropriate. The work was an immediate success, selling a million-and-a-half copies, and generating public support for various reform movements. It also brought Paine to the attention of the government and made him a subject to its crackdown. While Paine was visiting an aunt in Kent, Pitt had a writ issued against J.S. Jordan, Paine's publisher, prosecuting him for seditious libel, which carried a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. Paine returned to London and began to campaign for Jordan, finding him a lawyer and agreeing to pay his legal fees. Jordan, however, pleaded guilty and turned his files over to the court. With that additional evidence, a writ was issued for Paine on 21 May, charging him with the same crime. His trial date was set for 8 June, and later rescheduled for 18 December. Paine left England before he could be tried since he had been elected a member of the
National Convention in
France, tasked with writing a new constitution. He departed England on 13 September, never to return, but further infuriated the government remotely by republishing the
Rights of Man and writing
Letter Addressed to the Addressors of the Late Proclamation in which he defended his actions and beliefs against those who had chosen to side with the government. Paine was instead represented
in absentia by
Thomas Erskine, a famous lawyer and orator who served as
Attorney General to the Prince of Wales. As the trial date approached, both Erskine and Paine were targeted by vicious personal attacks. Paine's writ was followed by hundreds of
loyal addresses, many of which targeted him, the burning of an effigy in Exeter and the banning of the sale of any of his books in Chester. Pamphlets slandering him were widely published, and both Paine and Erskine had their personal lives dug into. == Trial ==