The Political Writings of Thomas PaineCambridge Scholars Publishing, 2009 - 212 páginas This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text, images, or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1830. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... LETTER TO THE ABBE RAYNAL, ON THE AFFAIRS OF NORTH AMERICA: IN WHICH THE MISTAKES IN THE ABBE'S ACCOUNT or THE REVOLUTION OF AMERICA ARE CORRECTED AND CLEARED CP. INTRODUCTION. A London translation of an original work in French, by the abbe Raynal, which treats of the revolution of North-America, having been re-printed in Philadelphia and other parts of the continent, and as the distance at which the abbe is placed from the American theatre of war and politics, has occasioned him to mistake several facts, or misconceive the causes or principles by which they were produced, the following tract, therefore, is published with a view to rectify them, and prevent even accidental errors from intermixing with history, under the sanction of time and silence. The editor of the London edition has entitled it, "The Revolution of America, by the Aepe Raynal," and the American printers have followed the example. But I have understood, and I believe my information just, that the piece, which is more properly reflections on the revolution, was unfairly purloined from the printer whom the abbe employed, or from the manuscript copy, and is only part of a larger work then in the press, or preparing for it. The person who procured it, appears to have been an Englishman, and though, in an advertisement prefixed to the London edition, he has endeavoured to gloss over the embezzlement with professions of patriotism, and to soften it with high encomiums on the author, yet the action in any view in which it can be placed, is illiberal and unpardonable. "In the course of his travels," says he, "the translator h?.j>r pily succeeded in obtaining a copy of this exquisite little piece, Vol. T. 39 which has not made its appearance from any press. He pub lishes a French edition, in... |