ABSTRACT
Southey is again the occasion here; this time it is Thomas Paine’s The Rights of Man (1791) which is in the background. Unrest in the armed forces (a prolonged naval mutiny and a brief but significant rebellion among the artillery) had its source in disgraceful conditions of service and incompetent command. It suited the national interest to blame Paine instead. The Rights of Man is too eloquently plain-speaking to be easily parodied. As with Godwin, it is easier for the anti-jacobins to play on Southey’s extravagancies than to attack Paine directly.
