Alexandria advertiser and commercial intelligencer. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1800-1803, 1802-12-01
FROM rHs National IErfLIIcsNcEs.
THOMAS PAINE.
Is The eifizens Of tbe Uuited States.
LETTER THE FIRrs.

Ill Wh"AS MAJ So IVY Az i1"t - sdbA
70 whole greatneis I contributed MY
part.
When failed for Europe in the fpring
of 1897, il was MY intention.to return
TO America the nexe year, and enjoy in
retirement, the eteem of M friends and
the rrpole l was entitled TO. 4 had food
our the form of one revolution and had
no with to embark inIanother. Bur other
fcenes and circumeancts than thole of
contemplated eale were allotted ME-
The French revolution was beginning to
perminase when / arrived in France
The principles oft were good, they were
copied from America, and the men who
conducted it were honea. But the fury
of faction foon extinguiihed the one. and
fent the other to the lcafola. OF thoie
who began that revolution 1 am alnolt
the only furvivor, and thar through a
thouEand dangers. owe this, not TO the
prayers Of prisas, not the Piety of bypo-
er;tes, but to the continued protection of
Providence. [Of Providence fays the
blalphemer.
But while beheld with pleaiure the
dawn Of liberty riGng in Europe, I faw,
with regret the luars Of it fading in Anne
RIGA. In lefs than two years from the
time of MY departure fome di&ant fynp-
toms painful ly iuggeeed the idea thar the
principles of the revolution were expiring
on the foil that produced them. re-
ceived at that time, letter from a fe-
male literary correspondent, and In MY
ssfzuer 10 her I expreiIed MY fears on
that head in the following penGve /oh-
loqw.
You touch me on very tender point
9 when you fay thar my friends on your
dde the water Cannot be reconciled to
the idea OF my abandoning America
even for my native Engltnd. They
are right. I had rather fee my horfe
+ Button eating the gratis OF Bordenscwn
or MoSifanea than Zee all the pomp and
: fhow of Europe.
A thoufand years hence, for I NUT
{ indulge few thoughts, perhaps in leis,
America may be what Europe now is.
The Innocence of her character, thar
won the heartsof all nations in her "a
vor, may found like a romance, and her
inimitable virtue as if it had never been.
The ruins Of ghat liberty for which
ssthoufands bled MAY jaf furniai mate
rails for village tale, or extors fgh
from rultic fenGbility Whit the fath.
ionable of that day, enveloPed in..diflipa-
ton, lhall deride the principle and deny
the faef.
When we contemplate the fall of en-
pires, and the extinction of the nations
& Of the ancient world, we fee but little
more TO excite our regrer than the moul-
dering ruins Of pompous palaces, magri-
hcent monuments, lofty pyramids and
walls and towers of the mott cofly
workmanship but'when the empire of
America lhall fall, the fubjef fer con.
temp!atiye iorrowwiA be inGni ely gre
err than crumbling BRAS CT marble can
infpife. II will not then be faid here
food temple Of vaf antiquity, here
rofe a babel of invihbIe height, or
there palace of fu1ptuous extrava-
gsnce but, here! ah painful thought |!
the uoblea work of human wifdom, the
z grandeR fcene of.homan glory, the fair
cauf. of freedom ROSE and FELL.
Read this, and then ak if | forget A
- mefica.'
I now KNOW, fron the information
I obtain upon the fpot that the imprealons
that difreied Me, for I was proud of
America, were bur 100 well founded. -
She was turning her back her own slo-
~, and making haRy ttrides IN the retro
yade path OF Oblivion. Bur a fpark from
The altar Of SEVENTY-SIX, uaextin-
guihed and unexlins ailhable through that
long night of error, is again lighting
& III 49,, ~. ,ar,,