Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1847-08-07


parm les legislators de la naton Paine setat asue aux
lois dc la republque await la protection que la
o DIES nations ct les ratc les Ests inns u assuralent
lie letre du mnre tut renermee par Morris dams une aae
quill tcryt Pane Ct dernier repondt par ienyo dun
prCJet de replque au ministre"
Mr. MONROE arrived in Paris from America as the success
so of Goveneur Morris in the year 1874. The new Minis
ter the fall of Robesperre accomplished Panes release
The prisoner had escaped the guotne It were by miracle
His destitute condition induced Monroe to take MN into the
Hotel OF the Legation but his personal demeanor was 50
gross and his habits of inebey 50 nveterae, that
necessary to conne him to his chamber may remark,
en- pasa groesque in his letter against Louis XVI, that
he he drunkard Pane reproaches the monarch with drunk
In 1895 he issued Paris the second part Of his
d Of Reason for which he would have been prosecuted IN
the United States and which exngulshed all remains OF
sideaon for him in that country. The Americans
neny Christian peopehe least on earth inclined to de-
ism moreover they entertained the strongest anpahy to
every actor in the of the French Convention and the
of the brgands the French capital though they
knew how distinguish between them and the suffering
French nation. In the correspondence OF Franklin vo 10,
p IS there is admirable letter to Pane dlssuading him
from the publication OF negious work which the phlo-
sopher understood to be meditaed and predicting exactly
what would be the evil effects for Paine himself Afterwards
Paine composed several tBtannc pamphlets under the
auspices Of the French Government He did not leave
France until 1895. On his return to the United States he
Stunned by all respectable people he continued his daily
noxcaton and in 1909 died hdeous spectacle of filth and
apathy The Society of Friends refused his corpse ntement
any of their cemeteries, Notwithstanding the plea OF
the family among whom his death took place that his parents
Quakers He buried privately his own farm
and many years ago. his bones either purchased
stoen- do ecoect whch-and transported to England
speculation pious homage of nfdely. The Amer-
reoced in getting rid of every remnant of the man.
So odlous he, almost universally that citizens good
character who happened bear the name applied and
with success, for authority TO change least the preo
Thomas We may thus understand that Americans
uray indignant being proclaimed responsible for his
France. He their enroy; they invested
him with a dignityha of Sage-wh which neither his
life at all consisted; they repudated him finally
apostle teacher he could not be styled the colleague
any time the friend of Franklin, in the of
equality. The philosopher only accorded him patronage,
with very moderate commendaon however of his
natural abilities, his capacity of being useful to the American
cause and the positive of his pen that
Paine possessed much native vigor of intellect his positive
knowledge comparatively slender; his reading limited
and desuItory but this circumstance served perhaps
the force simplicity, and racness of his writings and
render him the filter for popular controversy and occasion
al efficiency. Franklin discovered his aptitude contributed
10 turn them to American account and duly appreciated their
results The importance and influence Of his writings in the
colonies enhanced with the Americans by the umbrage
and alarm which they created in Great Britain The House
of Lords ordered them to be publicly burnt by the hands of
the executioner NJ de Lamartne could have
inquired all into his biography, for find that in the sh
and last volume of the History of the Girondsts p. 49,
Paine is dubbed the Democratic American, and Danton is
made to address him in this strain Whayou did for yon
country have endeayoed to do for mine have been less
fortunate, but not more cupabIe than you were Danon
had concurred in transforming Paine into French citizen,
and was not ignorant OF his origin,
Panes language his letter to the Convention respecting
Louis WI. indeed ignoble and violent and such
real American representative sage would have employed
with purpose nevertheless il is susceptible OF
apology and of favorable interpretation that might have
eved the American people, and the coarse individual
from the reproach of absolute ngatude NJ. de Lamane
relates that several of the Gonds and others of the Con-
venon, who wished the life of the monarch nvegh
ed against him the most vuent tone and phrase and de-
cared themselves nexorab order conceal and promote
the better their humane and sautary design. Paine did not
originally advise the execution of the king but Punishment
the United States where las he knew Louis would enjoy all
the sympathy soace and rebuon which his situation could
admit. Paine protested against the sentence Of death he
voted proposed stead imprisonment dur
the war; and exile afterwards In urging first the trial
of the king he is supposed by observers with good opporu
niy to have deemed that scheme the best of final
for Lou being probable that unless the Conven-
ton assumed the Judgment the popuace would murder the
royal prisoner in the Temple. In section of NJ. de La
marines 35th book Paine is named among those who made
repeated Efforts to gain respite for Louis after the condem
nation The poet-hsoran excuse and even justify, the
Duke OF Orleans for voting the death OF his and
aye he airms that Philippe EgahtG acted in this dread
fu nstance-par conricti0n et par repu6HcanSme Why
could similar paaves be adduced in favor of Paine's
proceedings which much less ncongruous, cruel
and unnatural Why they broadly genealzed and
severely reprobated as an American enormy Allow
add that NJ de Lamane leaves his reader in doubt whether
he himself does hold the Convention ustabe by right
and expedency trying and executing Louis. lie so
trays represents the victim, from the beginning to the end
Of the reign, that there scarcely of the characters whom
he introduces and depicts in his whole work for whom the
ensemble much contempt little compassion might be
felt quite possible for Paine imagine in the
and conduct Of Lous-consdeng all the oboguy caumny,
and conumey avshed by the Paris and the orators of
the clubs and the Convenon-trats than those which
the historian desgnates
The American writer in the Journal des De6atS cites truly
and appropriately the plans and exerons of Morris avert
the fate with which the King threatened, and to provide
for him passage the best of asylums-he United States.
We doubt that the Americans who sroye by personal
and dangerous enterprise snatch Lafayette from the dun
Of Omutz, and ceased negotiation for that end,
would have incurred any cost trouble risk for the rescue
OF Louis XVI if the least chance of had presented IT.
self TO their anxious vigilance. should not omit TO quote
what Morris communicates in letter to Mr. Jefferson, dated
2sth December 1892 " II is well you should know that the
majority Of the Convention merely to refer the
of the King the people, but send him and his fami
ly to America. is Paine Who is IL make the motion he
another authentic source" There another very impressive
to Mr. Jesrson the condition, temper and objects of the
political parties in Paris the treatment of Louis and the ques-
ton Of h le which exctes additional regret that NJ de La
MARITIME acquainted with the memoirs before he indi
ted his sixth volume.
The American gentleman in the DejatS notices NJ dc La
MARITIME suggestion of the 5000 900 ancs which the his
toan supposed have been deposited the hands OF Frank
I'm and Paine He might have cited the extraordinary case
Of the claim of Bcaumarchas the American Government,
originally Of four million and half vres, OF which the Con-