Not one glance of compassion, not one commiserating reflection that I can find throughout his book, has he bestowed on those who lingered out the most wretched of lives, a life without hope in the most miserable of prisons.
Paine criticizes Edmund Burke in "Rights of Man" for his lack of compassion towards those who suffered under the old regime, particularly prisoners, in contrast to his sympathy for the aristocracy.
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But in England there are no such occasional bodies; and as to those who are now called Representatives, a great part of them are mere machines of the court, placemen, and dependants.
The poor, in all countries, are naturally both peaceable and grateful in all reforms in which their interest and happiness is included.
Nations, like individuals, who have long been enemies, without knowing each other, or knowing why, become the better friends when they discover the errors and impositions under which they had acted.
When another nation shall join France, despotism and bad government will scarcely dare to appear.