Home >
The British review Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense”…
The British review Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense”…
Item # 703376
May 30, 1776
THE LONDON CHRONICLE, May 30, 1776
* Thomas Paine's "Common Sense"
* Critical British response
* American Revolutionary War
* Great year to have (1776)
A terrific issue as almost the entirety of page 5 is taken up with a report headed: "COMMON SENSE: Address to the Inhabitants of AMERICA on several Interesting Subjects. October, Price 1s, 6d". There is a prefacing not reading: "This Tract was originally published at Philadelphia and is just reprinted and published here. The writer of the introduction to it says, 'Who the author of this production is, is wholly unnecessary to the public, as the object for attention is the doctrine itself, not the man. Yet it may not be unnecessary to say that he is unconnected with any party, and under no sort of influence public or private, but the influence of reason and principle'. "
This is a wonder and very detailed review of Thomas Paine's most famous work. The review begins: "The following are some of our author's thoughts on the present state of American affairs:..." with the balance taken up with much commentary on Common Sense.
Wonderful to have this content in a newspaper from London. This full report is shown in the photos.
The back page has an "Extract of a Letter From Virginia" with a report on a recent convention there regarding Lord Dunmore & relations with England.
Eight pages, 8 1/2 by 11 inches, very nice, clean condition.
AI notes: From a British perspective, Thomas Paine’s Common Sense represents a dangerously incendiary and overly simplistic attack on the established order, written with an impassioned but reckless disregard for the complexities of governance and empire. Paine’s arguments, though rhetorically powerful and accessible to the common man, dangerously undermine the legitimacy of the British Crown and Parliament, institutions that have long provided stability, legal structure, and protection to the American colonies. His blanket condemnation of monarchy and hereditary rule dismisses centuries of political tradition and the practical realities of maintaining a vast empire. Moreover, Paine’s call for immediate and total independence fails to account for the economic dependencies and geopolitical consequences that such a rupture would entail, disregarding the challenges the colonies would face in self-governance, defense, and international diplomacy. While his pamphlet may succeed in stirring colonial discontent and nationalist fervor, it does so at the expense of reasoned debate, threatening to incite rebellion that could lead to chaos and suffering on both sides of the Atlantic.
Category: Revolutionary War
Available Now
$985.00
