Excerpt from The Political Writings of Thomas Paine, Secretary to the Committee of Foreign Affairs in the American Revolution, Vol. 2 of 2: To Which Is Prefixed a Brief Sketch of the Author's Life, a New Edition With Additions Illustrations have been drawn from the Circumstances of the war before last, to decorate the character of the present minister, and, perhaps, they may have been greatly over-drawn; for the management must have been bad to have 'done less than what was then done, when we impartially consider the means, the force, and the quantity of money employed. It was then Great Britain and America against France singly, for Spain did not join till near the close of the war. The great number of troops which the American colonies then raised, and paid themselves, were sufficient to turn the scale, if all other parts had been equal. France had not at that time attended to naval affairs so much as she has done since and the capture of French sailors before any declaration of war was made, which, however it may be justified upon policy, will always be ranked among the clandestine arts of war, assured a certain, but unfair advantage against her, because it was like a man administering a disabling dose over night to the person whom he intends to challenge in the morning. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.