The Government resorted to tyrannous measures; young men who sympathised with the French movement and agitated for reforms at home were sent to Botany Bay.

Paine was prosecuted for his Rights of Man, which directly preached revolution.

But the most important speculative work of the time, William Godwin's Political Justice, escaped the censorship because it was not published at a popular price.

[Footnote: Godwin had helped to get Paine's book published in 1791, and he was intimate with the group of revolutionary spirits who were persecuted by the Government.

A good account of the episode will be found in Brailsford's Shelley, Godwin, and their Circle.] The Enquiry concerning Political Justice, begun in 1791, appeared in 1793.