New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1850-01-29
Thomas Paine.

scknowl edgmeut, hence tins article.
We never liked Paine b, we are 10, the ies'
sensible q his merits We regard hin a. By far
the most effective popular writer 0 h.s ,irne and
in that tune good writer Tor the People was acaF
worth brigade 70 the cause Of Liberty. And
Paine Dot only defended Liberty bit he loved i.
He took 20 is championship ike duck 70 water.
1t was a time which demanded the brushing a"af
O. the cObwebs y Tradition and the DIVINE hieAt
Of Kings. and Paine was the very genus O. De.
/ structiou 80 human being was ever more hear
tv inclined 10 discredit everything that his iathe'
had reverenced hence he was the man for tie
slashing WORK required to inangurate HeTo.1tion'
In that capacity he did good service 20 America,
I T. Liberty and TO Mankind Nor was re mere
! oamphleteer-a smart pedder Of c.aptrap-a
conner OF rousing sentences for times d doubt ard
riaL when the security o. Human Rights depends
on the stor NEST awakening o. popular passion Let
those who s. regard hun iUst undertake rep'y =
I oae Of his earlier chapters OF the Rights Of Man
When tina, book becomes obsolete, II VIII becsasc
the great truths II cnuncistes have ceased b b.
disputed
Paine was an able, effective hearty Revolution
had no gcnius at al. for building up Liberty in his
eyes wa. unbridIed license, near to that As
was consistent with personal safety. Probably lns
severe imprisonment and narrow escape from death
At the hands OF the French TeTors,s somewhat
modified bis practical ideas on this head. yet spec
ulatvely he died as he had lived. puller dow
and Jaoobiu.
It il singular that hs fortunes and bis fate d,Tsr
ei So widely from those y! his friend and aly Je.
forson Thomas Jefferson was Ike him chli
promoter Of the American Revolution with las pen
ike him in,apprehensiou Of the nature AID extent
Of Popular Rights was half century IN advance
@ nearly all their contemporaries like hm vas no
less thoroughly lniidel than a Democrat hatiuR
the Christian + aith with an intense and undisrlis
ed ierocity like him, was INSCRIPTIONS and ceo.
tous in his personal morals like him cherished au
instructive hatred Of Washington even while pro
Tossing to respect and esteem him aud Ike hru
was better qualified o. overturn dynasty than p
lay broad and deep the foundations o. Nation
prosperity True Paine was druAkard and per
sona.y offensive IN his habits. which Jellersoa
never was but on the other hand Jefferson did
no, scruple to live bouuhfuly from the proceed. q
the unpaid labor Of slaves. winch inst as in.
consistent with hs ideas Of Human Rights as WIZ,
Paines and which we do not believe the latter
would have done, badly as the world has thought
of him. Paiues natural abilities were scarcely D.
ieror 70 Jeilersons, his devotion to their common
principles equally ardent. and his labors Tor them
not less efficient Yet Jefferson was Secretary %
state Vice President. twice President, and then
lived eighteen years thereafter popular idol and
euidcr OF the Nations desunics while Pane
struggled on in comparative obscuri;y and genera
poverty. dying uuhonored aud uuwept in the neigh
borlood OF tins city aud only remembered since
his departure by small number of has luhdel DIS
ciplcs, with whom his attacks on Christianity ar
his most admired and cherished productions
Those writings are grossly distasieiul to Us. moi
merely nor mainly because Of their lnhdeLty
skep,icism may be and has been So expressed rs
to win the profound respect o; the most devolt be
levers But when man place. himself in oster
tatious hostility TO the conviction, Of great ms
jsrity Of the wise and good Of fifteen centuries B
deccn, rsspec, for the opinions OF mankind rs IL,
Declaration OF Independence phrases IT, sLouid
teach him 10 speak considerably tenderly, respect
fully But Pane had no such idea He sat down
IN the French prison % which his brother inhdei'
had most causelessly consigned Inn 10 overthrow
the religion OF the Bible without a copy OF tlai
Book at hand-wilhout having ever carefully or dis
passioua,ely considered It's claims to credence or
the evidences which sustain misunderstanding thci
such and such 'rer the doctrines OF Christ bec6us
somebody said So. aud that Christ was an impos
tor because those doctrines did not square with hs
notions OF reason aud divinity The tone Of las
work IS presumptuous. scoiiuc, ubsld dogmatc
nsoent 1t Is as much to say. J. Tom Psuc,
know everything, and whoever disseuis from my
doctrines must be knaye or lcol-there IS 10 thlt
choice Such a work could have but these ei
iects-To Encourage ewd, reprObstc boys Ia Pursu
IN. the course dictated TO them by their fierce.
regulated passions, oil which the religion OF "a,
Bible was the only practical check. and 10 impc
devon;. revorent. exemplary Christians 10 a deeper
dislike OF infdeli,y in all its iorms Judging its IN
rinsic character by tins God-deiying manifestation
Thomas Paine was born IN Thetiord England
| in 1887, Of Quaker father and a Church OF Eu-
| land mother He SAYS he was infdel from hi,
seventh year tie was twice married his hrs,
wife died within year. tie second parted non
him very soon after maruage.-He tined severe
different pursuits, but Was not successful in any
30 in l77i he migrated 10 tins copuiy He 500.
plunged into the mias, OF the Revolutionary fer
ment and rendered signal service to the ADeucau
cause by his pamphlets entitled Common Sense
AMI The CRISIS, the latter issued At intervals
throughout the War. In l7so he wen, 20 France
with Col LaureIs. who was sent oct 10 ccoiiste
loan returning with him next year He had pre-
viously been a Secretary OF Congress and dismiss
cd kr violating the secrets conhded 70 him such
bat he was fairly paid in one way or another
Cor his Revolutionary writings Ater the Pcscc
he went 70 England, where he was prosecute0
for seditious writings fleeing thence ~ France
where he was chosen member % the Natlona
Assembly thence prosecuted by the Terrorls's
anurisoned and sl but executed Libersted OF
the isu OF Robespierre. he fingered IN poverty sna
obscurity At Paris nj. >02 when Nj Jefferson. the
President; had him brought u tins country N Ma
! rOna vessel A woman, who was not ms wife
DC, another mans accompanied or followed HIM -
/ HIS reception by Jefferson vas not such IS M his
own opinion he meFited, and though he wrote, a.
formerly, the side Of the JeAcrsonan party. his
writings were no longer seized, perhaps because
! ne longer needed. He vss DOT compkmeuted viii
Y Nm