Washington sentinel. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1853-1856, 1855-10-20
Grant rhorburn ON Tom paine.

author of the : Age Of Reason" written by
the venerable Grant Thorburn, in March last,
in the New York Observer:
/ will tell you the truth, as / shall stand before
the Judge OF all the earth in a few months
being now in my SD year--a step between me
and death. To make the narrative plain,
must first say few words about William Car
yer, with whom Mr. Paine and i boarded.
From my youth | admired Mr.. Paine's polti-
cal writings; and in my twentieth year was
prisoner in Edinburgh, for reading and
preaching his "Rights of Man" / arrived
in New York in June, 1894. A few weeks
thereafter William Carver arrived from Eng
land. He wrought, journeyman blacksmith,
in the same shop with myself he making
| wrought (not cut nails. Mr.. Paine and
boarded with Carver hence our intimacy He,
his wife and Mr.. Paine were natives of the
| same town in England. often sat with them
| on winter evenings, hearing them relate their
youthful pranks and deeds of ripper years.
Thus / learned his history from his cradle,
traced him through life, and followed him to
his grave in 1909. We agreed on politics,
| and parted by natural consent on the cage of
Reason" never in anger. He married re-
spectacle woman in the town of LOWS. She
died in eleven months thereafter prema-
ture delivery from brutal treatment. He then
married the daughter of the collector of the
port of LOWS: after three years she obtained
divorce for like treatment. In 1878, while he
held an Office in the custom-house, (given him
by his father.in-law,) he,was detected in taking
brides from smugglers, and fed to America.
He was appointed Secretary to the Secret Com
mittee of the House of Congress, and took the
oath of Office not to dvulge their secrets. He
broke his oath by publishing in the Philadel-
phia Bulletin the project of secret mission
to the court Of France by Silas Dean. He
was summoned before Congress, acknowledged
himself the author, and was dismissed with
disgrace See the Journal OF Congress of
1894 or 5. This treachery occasoned much
trouble to Congress- and in the court of Louis
XVI, and nearly frustrated the coming Of Gen.
Lafayette, with the French feet and army.
Mr.. Paine now went to France and was
chosen member of the first Convention. For
time he helped Robespierre to establish the
freedom of the press, the liberty of speech, and
the rights of conscience, by means of the guillo-
tine. Robespierre quarreled with Mr.. Paine
he was marked for the guillotine, and escaped
by a miracle. Mr.. Jefferson sent frigate to
bring home Mr.. Paine from the hands of his
enemies. He arrived in the spring Of 1902
spoke with him in the City Hotel, few hours
on to Washington. A feast was got ready, and
those of like thinking were invited.
Paine entered late, his face unwashed, his
beard unshorn, and Keeling like drunken man.
look of CONSERVATION shone forth from every
face; mirth ceased; one by one they went out,
leaving Paine on his chair, fast asleep. Next
day he received letters and instructions to
return to New York When Aaron Burr came
back from Europe, whittier he had fled after
his duel with Hamilton, he kept his law Office
In Nassau street, near my seed store. From
him | obtained the account as above stated.
Mr.. Paine was absent eight or ten days.
Meantime the walters spread abroad the fame
of his Incorporate, slovenly and filthy habits.
The City Hotel and every decent house refused
to board him. In this dilemma William Carver
took him in.
Mr.. Paine was man of strong mind, and
having seen the cutters Of Paris flooded with
blood, his company was very interesting when
not under the influence of brandy. He told me
that when Louis XIV was condemned by the
Convention to suffer death, each member on
voting, was requested to state his reasons.
When it came to Mr. Paine he voted against
his death. II think, gentlemen" said Mr..
Paine, "we are not making war on the person
of the king, as n man. We are contending for
principle. Unfortunately for Louis, he was
born a king; he could not help it. Let us
Danish him to America, there he can do no
harm. Let us spare his life and give him a
sum of money to live on" | think this is the
bright spo, in Paine's history. In consequence
of his very Incorporate habits, he was summed
by the respectable portion of his friends, many
months before his death. He asked permission
from the Trustees of the Society of Friends, 10
have his bones laid in their burying ground;
they refused He was much hurt by their
refusal. His father was a member of the
Society of Friends in England. Paine died of
delirium tremens. His last words we're, "Lord
Jesus, help" He was buried on his own farm,
near New York. Carver, his warm friend and
ndmirer, assured me that Mr.. Paine drank two
gallons of brandy per week, during the last
three months of his life. I. A. Emmett, one of
his executors, told me, when Mr.. Paine's affairs
were all settled, balance Of $500 remained
for his relations in England
NORTHWESTERN (yA.) RAILRoAD.-A letter
from Parkersburg, Va, dated the 10th, inst,
saws: