Junius Unmasked Part 6

Mr. Jefferson says of his style: "No writer has exceeded Paine in familiarity of style, in perspicuity of expression, happiness of elucidation, and in simple and una.s.suming language."

Style presents the _law_, as well as the image, of the writers' mind; in other words, style gives us the true portrait and habits of the mind, for the mind can by no means counterfeit itself. I will therefore proceed to an a.n.a.lysis and comparison of Mr. Paine's style with that of Junius; and, first, of the sentence, or period. The different members are of the same length, hence the rythm or harmony. Take the following examples, and I will place bars between the different members to aid the eye:

"The style and language you have adopted are, I confess, not ill suited to the elegance of your own manners, or to the dignity of the cause you have undertaken. Every common dauber writes rascal and villain under his pictures, because the pictures themselves have neither character nor resemblance. But the works of a master require no index; his features and coloring are taken from nature; the impression is immediate and uniform; nor is it possible to mistake the characters, whether they represent the treachery of a minister, or the abused simplicity of a king."

"Were I disposed to paint a contrast, I could easily set off what you have done in the present case against what you would have done in _that_ case, and by justly opposing them, conclude a picture that would make you blush. But as, when any of the prouder pa.s.sions are hurt, it is much better philosophy to let a man slip into a good temper than to attack him in a bad one-- for that reason, therefore, I only state the case, and leave you to reflect upon it."

"Ye that tell us of harmony and reconciliation, can ye restore to us the time that is past? Can ye give to prost.i.tution its former innocence? Neither can ye reconcile Britain and America. The last cord now is broken-- the people of England are presenting addresses against us. There are injuries which nature can not forgive-- she would cease to be nature if she did. As well can the lover forgive the ravisher of his mistress, as the continent forgive the murders of Britain."

"The question is not of what metal your instruments are made, but whether they are adapted to the work you have in hand. Will they grant you common halls when it shall be necessary? Will they go up with remonstrances to the king? Have they firmness enough to meet the fury of a venal House of Commons? Have they fort.i.tude enough not to shrink at imprisonment? Have they spirit enough to hazard their lives and fortunes in a contest, if it should be necessary, with a prost.i.tuted legislature? If these questions can fairly be answered in the affirmative, your choice is made. Forgive this pa.s.sionate language. I am unable to correct it. The subject comes home to us all. It is the language of my heart."

The above is sufficient. The first and last paragraphs are from Junius, the other two from Paine. The last two paragraphs are pa.s.sionate, the first two calm but energetic. Throughout the whole, nature is at work--there is nothing artificial. But it was the melody or rythm that I wished to indicate to the reader. This is peculiar and common to both, and itself can not be imitated. If a writer ever succeeds in reproducing this style, it will be from the nature of his own mind, and not from imitation.

If the reader will now return to page 71, and compare the Dedication to Junius with the Introduction to Common Sense, he will find in rythm a striking parallel, because the subject is the same, and the mind of the writer is performing the same work.

Grammatical accuracy is often sacrificed to conciseness, as in the following:

_Paine._

"Many circ.u.mstances have and will arise which are not local."--Introduc.

_Junius._

"If this be your meaning and opinion, you will act consistently with _it_ in choosing Mr. Nash."--Let. 57.

Mr. Paine was bold enough to transcend the minor rules of grammar whenever he found them c.u.mbersome to his style. In this he is consistent with Junius.

There is a majesty of manner, and a grandeur of style, which strike the mind of the reader with great force. Take, for example, the following:

_Paine._

"It was not Newton's honor, neither could it be his pride, that he was an Englishman, but that he was a philosopher; the heavens had liberated him from the prejudices of an island, and science had expanded his soul as boundless as his studies."--Crisis, viii.

_Junius._

"You have still an honorable part to act. The affections of your subjects may still be recovered; but, before you subdue their hearts, you must gain a n.o.ble victory over your own.

Discard those little personal resentments which have too long directed your public conduct. Pardon this man the remainder of his punishment; and, if resentment still prevails, make it what it should have been long since--an act, not of mercy, but of contempt. He will soon fall back into his natural station, a silent senator, and hardly supporting the weekly eloquence of a newspaper. The gentle breath of peace would leave him on the surface neglected and unremoved; it is only the tempest that lifts him from his place.

"The heart that feels not now is dead; the blood of his children will curse his cowardice who shrinks back at a time when a little might have saved the whole, and made them happy. I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection." ... Speaking of the principles of war, he continues: "What signifies it to me whether he who does it is a king or a common man; my countryman or not my countryman; whether it be done by an individual villain or an army of them?

... Let them call me rebel and welcome; I feel no concern from it, but I should suffer the misery of devils were I to make a wh.o.r.e of my soul by swearing allegiance to one whose character is that of a sottish, stupid, stubborn, worthless, brutish man! ... There are cases which can not be overdone by language, and this is one."--Crisis, i.

"Without consulting your ministers, call together your whole council. Let it appear to the public that you can determine and act for yourself. Come forward to your people. Lay aside the wretched formalities of a king, and speak to your subjects with the spirit of a man, and in the language of a gentleman.... These sentiments, sir, and the style they are conveyed in, may be offensive, perhaps, because they are new to you."--Let. 35.

In the following, diminutives are handled with telling effect:

_Paine._

"Indolence and inability have too large a share in your composition ever to suffer you to be any thing more than the hero of little villainies and unfinished adventures."--To Lord Howe, Crisis, v.

"That a man whose soul is absorbed in the low traffic of vulgar vice, is incapable of moving in any superior region, is clearly shown in you by the event of every campaign."--To Lord Howe, Crisis, v.

"You may plan and execute little mischiefs, but are they worth the expense they cost you, or will such partial evils have any effect on the general cause? Your expedition to Egg Harbor will be felt at a distance like an attack upon a hen-roost, and expose you in Europe with a sort of childish frenzy."--Crisis, vi.

_Junius._

"About this time the courtiers talked of nothing but a bill of pains and penalties against the lord mayor and sheriffs, or impeachment at the least.

Little Mannikin Ellis told the king that if the business were left to his management he would engage to do wonders. It was thought very odd that a business of so much importance should be intrusted to the most contemptible little piece of machinery in the whole kingdom. His honest zeal, however, was disappointed. The minister took fright, and at the very instant that little Ellis was going to open, sent him an order to sit down.

All their magnanimous threats ended in a ridiculous vote of censure, and a still more ridiculous address to the king."--Note, Let. 38.

The reader will observe that the method also of ridicule is the same. A hundred examples of this might be selected from both; and he has, doubtless, already noticed the biting satire of both. The Letters of Junius are among the finest specimens of satire in the English language, and are only equaled by Mr. Paine's Letters to Lord Howe, and pa.s.sages in his Rights of Man to Mr. Burke. I will give a few extracts. It will be remembered how Junius called the king not only a "ruffian," but said "nature only intended him for a good humored fool," and that if he ever retired to America he would get a severe covenant to digest from a people who united in detesting the pageantry of a king and the supercilious hypocrisy of a bishop. With this remembrance I will submit the following piece of satire from Crisis, No. vi:

"Your rightful sovereign, as you call him, may do well enough for you, who dare not inquire into the humble capacities of the man; but we, who estimate persons and things by their real worth, can not suffer our judgment to be so imposed upon; and unless it is your wish to see him exposed, it ought to be your endeavor to keep him out of sight. The less you have to say about him the better. We have done with him, and that ought to be answer enough. You have been often told so. Strange! that the answer must be so often repeated. You go a begging with your king as with a brat, or with some unsalable commodity you are tired of; and though every body tells you no, no, still you keep hawking him about.

But there is one that will have him in a little time, and as we have no inclination to disappoint you of a customer, we bid nothing for him."

Many pa.s.sages of similar severity could be collected. In fact, the two Letters addressed to Lord Howe are not equaled in force or severity by the most savage of Junius' productions. I now call attention to other parallel peculiarities.

{103}The manner of threatening, commanding, and warning, is, the same:

_Paine._

"I hold up a warning to your senses, if you have any left.... I call, not with the rancor of an enemy, but the earnestness of a friend, on the deluded people of England.... There is not a n.o.bleman's country seat but may be laid in ashes by a single person."--Crisis, vi.

_Junius._

"The English nation must be roused and put upon its guard.... The corruption of the legislative body on this side, a military force on the other, and then _farewell_ to England."--Let. 40.

"A change of the ministry in England may probably bring your measures into question and your head to the block."--To Lord Howe, Crisis, v.

"Sullen and severe without religion, profligate without gayety, you live like Charles the Second, without being an amiable companion, and, for aught I know, may die as his father did, without the reputation of a martyr."--Let. 12.

"Go home, sir, and endeavor to save the remains of your ruined country by a just representation of the madness or her measures. A few moments well applied may yet preserve her from political destruction."--Crisis, v.

"Return, my lord, before it be too late, to that easy, insipid system which you first set out with.

Take back your mistress. Indulge the people.

Attend New Market. To be weak and inactive is safer than to be daring and criminal; and wide is the distance between a riot of the populace and a convulsion of the whole kingdom."--Let. 11.

"The farce of monarchy and aristocracy in all countries is following that of chivalry, and Mr.

Burke is dressing for the funeral. _The time is not very distant_ when England will laugh at itself for sending to Holland, Hanover, Zell, or Brunswick, for men, at the expense of a million a year, who understand neither her laws, her language, nor her interest, and whose capacities would scarcely have fitted them for the office of parish constable."--Rights of Man.

"_The period is not very distant_ at which you will have the means of redress in your own power; it may be nearer, perhaps, than any of us expect, and I would warn you to be prepared for it."--Dedication.

But examples of this kind are not wanting in any chapter or Letter. The threat, the command, the warning, is a peculiarity so prominent that no one would fail to observe it. And this peculiarity often pa.s.ses into the style of prophecy. As above, Junius says: "The period is not very distant," and Mr. Paine repeats the expression in the same style: "The time is not very distant." This reveals, not a literary theft, but a mind whose mode of thinking and expression was ever the same.