The Sun.
London, England, 1819-07-20 00:00:00

AGE OF REASON.

At the moment when,our Patriots are drinking
to the Immortal Meinory of Tom PArtla," a man
who denied. all Immortality, the:following article
may he interesting. As the, works, too, of this
Atheistical Wretch have been recently revived,
we may properly revive an aciount of the manner
in which that odious life concluded, which bad
been Wholly employed in endeavours to root Out
every principle of Loyalty, and every sense of
•

" T AJNE ."
(From an frisk Paper.)

" SIR,---Having met with a hook, published in
America, wherein the latter
.part 'of the life of
Thomas Paine is detailed, and being persuaded tlitt
feW copies have reached thii'Conntry,,l am of opi-
nion that the last •moments Of so extraordinary a
character, it known, may in some degree atone for
the lite of iniquity he led,-by counteracting those
pernicious doctrines. he caused- to be disseminated
through the world.—The. blOw be aimed at our
Constitution fell to the grotind, leaving no trace
of its effect behind ; but the notions which he
propagated respecting religion, or rather hisen-
deavours to extirpate it from the -fand, I am afraid„
still pervade the mind; of too many. Such inbt;
united persoms-, if any now 'reinain, would
well to compare the close of hi 3 life with-every
other part of it, and it is for 'those that this sh-ort
quotation is ad e ; they .will then have sitffiCient
reason to renounce so cheerless and delusive' a
system. The author of the sketch of his life, Mr.
Cheetham of New-Yoi-k, seems to have obtained
his intelligence from persons with whom Paine
passed a great- part of it ; but I cannot thilik'oi
following the author through the whole of his
life, which is well known to thousands, in Eng-
land especially, who to this day remember him a
stay-maker, and afterwards a tide-Waiter, I be-
lieve, at Rochester, and from which pest he was
dismissed for ill-behatiour.

" It appears that lie was soon tired of the
Republic of France, though his former principles
continued the same. fle'artived at Baltimore 'on
the 13th of October, in company with*a
woman named Borneville,'Whom he had seduced,
Iron) her husband, and afterwards cruelly beaten.
At the first inn he went to, he • was principally
visited by the lower class of• emigrants trom Eng-
land; Scotland, and Ireland, for no tespectable
persons encouraged his approach—a reception
now generally known to most of the unhappy
people Who expect to find all hearts and arms
as open as the country, but' to which error
that WORTHY, CObbetl, bRi, with Others, opened
then' eves. tlere, he drank grog in the tap-room
with all, and making free with all, he was daily in-
toxicated, an habitual drunkenness which seems to
have commenced With the French itev°l"6""•
Mrs. Dean, with whom he lodged afterwards, says
he was deliberately and disgustingly filthy, espe-
cially in his bed-chamber, and even it) his bed,
so as not to be described with riche:Eq.—ln the
spring of 1804, he returned to his farm at New
Rochelle ; he engaged an old woman, black Betty,
who, it seems, was nearly a mitel) for him in
drunkenness; they frequently, says our author,
would he prostrate on the satire floor, quite drunk,
swearing and threatening to fight, bat incapable
of approaching each other to combat—nothing
but inability prevented a battle:

" Tliii have 1 extracted a few circumstances
which mark the character of the deluded (qa. de-
luding) man, at an advanced period of his life.—
But his last moments cannot be better described
than by quoting a ,pas Sage from a letter written
by Dr. Manley, who attended Paine during his
last illness—about.eleven months previous to his
death, with the exception of six weeks imme-
diately before it, be was drunk and sober twice a
day. Ile thus proceeds:—
" During the .latter part of his life, though
his conversation was equivocal, his conduct wns
singular; he would not be left alone night or day.
lie not only required to _have some person -with
him, but he must see that he Was there, and
would not allow his curtain to be closed at any
time, and if it would sometimes unavoidably hap-
pen, he would scream and halloo, until some per-
sou came to him. When relief front pain would
admit, lie seemed thoughtful and contemplative,
his eyes being generally closed, and his hands
folded on his breast ; althoGgli he never slept
without the assistance of an anodyne.
" There was something remarkable in his con-
duct about this period (which comprises two
weeks immediately preceding his death), pat Heti-
lady when we reflect that Paine was the ant hot
of the " Age of Reason." Ile would call out
during his paroxysms of distress, without inter-
mission—" Oh !- Lord help me !—God help me !
—Jesus Christ, help me ! !—Oh ! Lord help me !"
&e.--repeating the same expression, without the
least van tivion, in a tone of voice that would alarm
the whole house. It was this conduct which in-
duced me to think that he had abandoned his tormer
opinions 5 Hod I Was more inclined to that belief,
when 1 understood from his nurse, who was a very
serious, and, 1 believe, a pion's woman, that he
would occasionally enquire, when he saw her en-
gaged with a book, what she was reading, aod
being answered " Hohare's Companion to the
Altai," and at the sable time asking„ whether she
would read aloud, he asseuted, and would appear
to give particular attention. I took occasion
during the night of the sth or 6th of June, to test
the strength of his opinion respettikg Reve-
lation. 1 purposely made hint a very late
visit ; it was a time that seemed to sort exactly
with my errand, it WWI ; he was in
great distrt,24, cowtowly v.(ti,in,in6 111 the

Words above 'mentioned :---When, after a con-
isiderable preface, 1 adds essed him in the fol-
lowing manner :—" Mr. Paine, ybur opinions,
by a large proportion of the community, have
been treated with deference You have never
been in the habit of mixing in your conversa-
tion words of course—You have .never indulged
in the habit of profane *swestring--7-Yon must
be sensible' that see are -aCqUainted with your
religious opitions as they are given to the world ;
what must we think of your present condo('
why do yon Call on Jesus Christ to. help you ;
do you believe that he can help you ?.Do you be-
lieve in the divinity of .le,ns 'Christ ? Conte
now, answer tire honestly-1 want an answer
from the lips of a dying man, for I believe you
will not live four and twenty lioursi" I wait-
ed souse time at the end of every question. lie
did not answer, but ceased to excfaim in the above
manner. Again, I addiessed him—" Mr. Paine,
you have not answered my questions—Will yon
answer them.—Allow me to ask you again, do you
believe,.or, let me qualify the question, do yon
wish to believe that JESUS CHRIST it the Son of
God." After a pause of some minutes, he answer-
ed, " 1 have no wish to believe,on that subject."
1 then left him, and I know not whether he spoke
to any person, on any subject, though he lived,
As 1 before observed, till the morning of the Sth.
" Thus. we find him on his death-bed, calling
upon that God, Whose interposition he always de-
niedupon that Sevionr, whose t existence he
never would admit—ever afraid of his ov,n shallow.
The awful change, he was conscious must soon take
place, opened to his view that which convinced
-him of the reality of those things he had under-
taken with such zeal to refute. The reason for
his deciining to..answer the close questions put to
him, is apparent : the pride of his heart would
not allow him to declare, hilly and honestly,
that his forwer opinions were erroneous the ex-
pressions alone, which escaped from his lips, are
sufficient ; they prove more plainly the workings
of his heart, than the most solemn declarations
he could haVe glade. It may be thought by
some a want of charity in me to expose the
failings of a .departed man : I should chink so too,
were it not to serve a peculiar purpose ; to set at
rest the minds of those he has disturbed, and to
expel the poison of infidelity from the land. In
every point cif view his false character appeals:
Its England, all titles were obnoxious to him : he
•was for levelling all distinctions. In America,
tiefore the French Revolution, we find him assum-
ing a title in an edition of the Rights of Man ; be
styles himself " Secretary. for Foreign Affairs to
the COngrets of the United Slates," a title he hall
no ckiin to, as he was tnr.re;y a copying eietk,
which situation lie afterwards foreiten by a scan-
dalous breach of trust ; proving, that what he
ed in others, be, in reality, was fond of
himself."

* It word,/ appear, however, that when &mil:, and retired
from the public eye, ivhich hp equally courted-and feared, h*
was not unaccotuFlished in this infernal science.--It i, wrii
huown, that no man who seeks for pdpularity ei.er sivears—au d
to car.,e lie dare not.

t Paine's ignorance of hi,tory-eannot be more fully provtil
than by dertytog that there ever was such a person as Jesmtt
Christ. Ignoraot, to a proverb, as are the Tor yet eve,'
1/le/ know that our Sar•iout Was upon earth, and ackaowlettg-e
that he was a great prophet, itil.ertut (they say) to
Mahotuet.

SOUTH AMERICAN pAnuoTs.

COPY OF AN ORIGINAL LLTTFR FROM AN ERGLISIi

ovricca IN VENEZUELA

" In Camp, April 14th, 181 V.

" MY DEAR --, I beg of yuu, a, a HotiLniar
favour, and kindness to others that may have any
idea of leaving their native country for this place
of misery, to deter them (rout such a stei); it is
beyond description bad. lam dying by ine!.,e,
as arc most of my countrymen. 1 ant at the,
rime under close arrest for demanding my pees-
port, and expressing my sentiments fully to the
Supreme Chief (Bolivar) of the wretched 11-eat-
went we are compelled to suffer, marching all'day
and night, 'exposed to such heat as I never l'erore
experienced, and frequently from 3) to 40 hours
without breaking our fast, and even then a small
portion of bad beef and muddy water. The
Englishmen drop on the road by dozens, front
excessive fatigue, and are threatened to be shot
unless they proceed. They are strangers to
any sense of feeling, or any other quality men
ought to possess. As to pay, I have not heard
of any such thing, neither do we expect to re-
ceive as much as will pay our expellees to Eng-
land, should we ever be so fortunate as to have
the power of returning. I am told that General
Bolivar has said that he would shoot me if
ever wrote to him- on the sohject of quitting
the conwry. A small quantity of tobacco has
lately beet, fur sale, and a General Officer bought.
it up, and is retailing it out at considerable
profit. We cannot get ay much as a little salt.
Water and beef, beef and water, is the only living
we live had these six weeks. Ve cannot make
any village of comfort, as the Spaniards are
in possess;ou of them all, and they arc much it
strong for us. We have had one battle, and got
the worst of it ; lost one regiment and four
officers. Colonel l'igot, commanding the Eng.
Tag wonntied, and had hip lior:c shot ututicr
him. We have since had a narrow escape of he-
log all cut of by surprise. We crossed the Aswa
one hour and advanced a short distance, and
were obliged to return the next, expecting
them to attack the canoes before we could
pass. For God's sake let me know what is
going on in Englund. lam writing on the toot
of a tree, it is the only shelter I have had fur
many weeks. My servant deserted to the Spa-
oiords, and took with hint fourteen pieces of city
lioen, and if 1 I,aci ttto abilts I would give one
fora pittance and salt.
my dear, trial? N-eere,

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