Yet England is always in dread of France,--terrified at the apprehension of an invasion, suspicious of being outwitted in a treaty, and privately cringing though she is publicly offending.
In "The American Crisis," Paine critiques England's national character, portraying it as a mix of public aggression and private insecurity regarding France.
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More from Thomas Paine
But as religion is very improperly made a political machine, and the reality of it is thereby destroyed, I will conclude this work with stating in what light religion appears to me.
There is, therefore, no power but the voluntary will of the people that has a right to act in any matter respecting a general reform; and by the same right that two persons can confer on such a subject, a thousand may.
Reason and discussion will soon bring things right, however wrong they may begin.
It serves to keep up deceitful expectations which prevent people from looking into the defects and abuses of government.