Our support and success depend on such a variety of men and circumstances, that every one who does but wish well, is of some use: there are men who have a strange aversion to arms, yet have hearts to risk every shilling in the cause, or in support of those who have better talents for defending it.
Thomas Paine: “Our support and success depend on such a variety of men and circumstances, that every one who does but wish well, is of…”
Editor's note · Context
Paine emphasizes that diverse forms of support, beyond military service, are crucial for the success of the American cause.
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The meaning, then, good people, of all this, is: That government is governed by no principle whatever; that it can make evil good, or good evil, just as it pleases.
It has nothing to dread from attacks; truth has given it an establishment, and time will record it with a name as lasting as his own.
Many of the facts were in themselves principles; such as the declaration of American Independence, and the treaty of alliance between France and America, which recognised the natural rights of man, and justified resistance to oppression.
But from such opposition the French Revolution, instead of suffering, receives an homage.