"Thomas Paine?" Charles looked at the young man in front of him with surprise.
It was Thomas Paine, the great writer and philosopher who had stirred up Philadelphia in recent months, the author of the famous American independence treatise "Common Sense."
"Yes, Mr. Councilor." Paine smiled and nodded.
"Oh, hello! Hello!" Charles quickly reached out his hand and shook it firmly. "I have read your book 'Common Sense,' Mr. Paine. I greatly admire your foresight and deeply agree with your views."
"Haha! I have also heard your speech at the Continental Congress, and I greatly admire your inclinations."
The two flattered each other, both understood each other, and greatly liked each other's views.
However, relatively speaking, Charles still regretted that Paine had published "Common Sense" so early. After seeing the book, he greatly regretted not having come to this world sooner, otherwise, he would surely have been the author of this book.
In fact, the content of this book was very simple, merely a one-sided listing of the harm Britain had caused America, and the possibility of America defeating Britain. If it were him, Charles was sure that the book he wrote would be more accurate than Paine's.
Among Americans, who generally did not believe they could defeat Britain at the time, Paine was considered one of the more ideologically correct individuals. However, he was definitely a true revolutionary.
First, he wrote "Common Sense" in America, inciting Americans to revolution. After the revolution succeeded, he immediately extended his hand to France, which had helped America, exporting revolution to France and instigating the French Revolution. He was one of the strongest foreign aids and ideological mentors in the French Revolution.
It can be said that America's later export of revolution to South America and Latin America was also influenced by him, including the later Monroe Doctrine, and even the "world police" of the twenty-first century.
Most people believe that American interventionism began with Monroe, but in fact, Monroe was a small soldier in the Continental army at this time, and many of his ideas were influenced by Paine.
However, relatively speaking, Paine was a revolutionary, and we traditionally do not speak ill of revolutionaries, so the responsibility was habitually pushed to the politician Monroe, who truly successfully implemented interventionism.
Thomas Paine was not a verbose person. After the pleasantries, he directly asked:
"Your Excellency, Councilor, I heard you were a student at the French Artillery Academy?"
"Yes, Mr. Paine. I studied at the French Artillery Academy for nearly two years, but unfortunately, due to my father's death, I had to return to America early. I only learned some military theoretical knowledge, and I am not as professional as regular graduates when it comes to specifically commanding artillery."
Charles quickly pushed back, knowing this guy was a radical. If he asked why he didn't go to the battlefield, it would be troublesome. At this time, the American Continental army had no advantage over the British army, and even the strongest person would only get beaten on the battlefield.
"Then what do you think of the war we are currently engaged in? The Boston campaign has been going on for half a year. When will it yield results?"
Paine did not press the previous question but instead looked at his interview notes, which had questions already written down, and asked them one by one.
"The battle of Boston? Well, I think it should yield results very soon, perhaps in a few days or dozens of days. We are making progress every day. If the British army doesn't want to be annihilated, they should choose to withdraw from Boston honorably to ensure they are not captured by us.
However, our navy has just been established and fundamentally cannot block their retreat by sea, so it's basically impossible for us to completely annihilate them."
Charles secretly regretted that besides knowing about the Charlestown victory from watching "The Patriot" and learning about the "Saratoga victory" in history, he didn't remember any other battles.
"So, in the battle of Boston, you don't think we will ultimately achieve victory over the British army?"
"No, quite the opposite." Charles quickly clarified, lest this radical revolutionary consider him a surrenderist. "I think driving the British army out is our greatest victory. Because this can ensure that Boston will not be destroyed by war and that the residents of Boston will not be affected by the war. I think General Washington must also be thinking this way."
"Then what do you think about the future development of America? Councilor Charles. Is it independence, or submission?" This time Paine didn't look at his interview notes and asked a rare question of his own.
"Hahahaha! Mr. Paine, aren't you asking the obvious? I believe no American with a conscience would choose to submit." Charles answered very readily.
"Indeed, I agree. So what about the prospects for America's development? I heard you just invested fifty thousand pounds to buy a piece of wasteland in Pittsburgh. Is this your trust in the development prospects of the western wilderness as a Pittsburgh native?" Paine pressed on with the question Charles hadn't answered earlier.
But the land purchase incident he mentioned in his follow-up question made Charles feel awkward.
If he were to say directly that he trusted Pittsburgh's development, it might lead some blindly trusting people to also buy land in Pittsburgh. The people who went to inspect the land in Pittsburgh haven't returned yet. If they knew that because of his words, the land had already been bought by others, they would certainly be dissatisfied with him, and that would be troublesome.
After thinking for a moment, Charles found a subtle way to answer:
"There's no trust or distrust involved; it's just personal interest. Pittsburgh is my hometown, and I feel that one hundred thousand acres of land isn't enough, so I want to buy more."
Thomas Paine's interview with Charles was very successful. The two were like a pre-arranged act, with questions and answers flowing smoothly, and both were basically satisfied with the questions and responses.
Charles mainly answered Paine's questions regarding the general direction, those that could add points to his political image, and occasionally interspersed a few questions that Paine added on the fly.
Those impromptu questions best reflected Paine's leftist stance, and Charles often found them difficult to handle. On the other hand, for the so-called major policy questions, although he did not understand the specific situation of the war of Independence's development, there was no need for him to give detailed opinions to the interviewing reporter.
Instead, vaguely bluffing was what Charles was best at. His eloquence, honed as a tour guide in the twenty-first century, made Paine, the young radical revolutionary, so excited he almost floated away. Paine believed that publishing today's interview would definitely boost Americans' confidence in moving towards independence again.
But while Charles was happy, he felt somewhat awkward. This interview felt too consciously arranged. Even with a few sharp questions interspersed, it didn't feel like something a passionate youth who wrote "common sense" would ask.
Instead, it felt more like an announcer performing a script set by his sir. He also understood that Morris had probably given a heads-up beforehand, wanting his image to become widely known among the common people through this report. The few sharp questions interspersed were probably the revolutionary unable to restrain his personality, asking a few questions of his own.
"Your Excellency, Councilor, at the end of the interview, do you have anything you would like to say to our compatriots through us?"
"If you agree, I can use a passage from your article to tell our American compatriots: We currently bear the name of British subjects, which is neither accepted nor recognized abroad: the custom of foreign courts is against us, and will always be so, until we, through independence, rank among other nations.
These actions may seem unfamiliar and difficult at first, but like all other steps we have taken, they will soon become quite suitable and nothing extraordinary. Before declaring independence, the American continent will feel like a person who always postpones an unpleasant matter day by day, yet he knows it must be done, but is unwilling to act, wishing it were already resolved, while constantly remembering its necessity."
This interview was indeed very successful. At least after the newspaper came out, whether it was ordinary citizens reading the paper or big capitalists and merchants, Charles was immediately classified as a radical revolutionary.
This attracted the support of a large number of passionate young people, and at the same time, it caused many pro-British factions to distance themselves from him.
Moreover, Paine personally clearly admired Charles, and even published a signed commentary to praise Charles' views and opinions. This made Charles, who had already been identified as a rising political star, become, in the eyes of many common people, nothing short of a great political figure.
This poor great man was, in fact, a complete political novice; he had not even attended a formal parliamentary meeting yet.
However, his opportunity came very soon.
After Charles finished dealing with matters in Philadelphia, he finally left Philadelphia for Boston on March 16th, but halfway there, he encountered a fast horse messenger from Boston, who said that on March 17th, the British army hastily withdrew from Boston, and General Washington had easily occupied Boston without firing a single shot.
The early battles of America's resistance against Britain had reached their first peak of victory.
Amidst cheers and celebratory gunshots, Charles immediately changed his mind and decided to return to Philadelphia on the spot to announce this good news to the Continental Congress.