The evening Argus. [volume] (Rock Island, Ill.) 1861-1871, 1868-05-02
From the Dsyenport True Rad
TOM. PAINE.
by CLINT P ARKHunsr.

and knovn 90 EttIe Those who have every
reason ~ cherish his memory with gratitude,
fidelity and veneration, can recall him but
With ;nyectiye and aversion. His fame is
standing horror, and to quote his rarely coin
ed maxims OF Wisdom, is very much like
shocking a church with the sentiments of
beeIzebub. People have allowed their minds
to become SO befogged with sectarian preju-
dice, and so imbued with orthodox bigotry,
that not one person in ten knows where
Paine was born, where he flourished,
what his habits of life were, what noble OBJ
iects engrossed his ambition, and what was
his final end. To their perverted imagina-
tons he was villainy personifed, a hideous
monster, gifted with brilliant talents to wage
war against all that was holy on earth, and
to denounce all that was glorious in heaven;
a species of depntydeviL clothed in mortal
form as God Is tabled to have appeared two
thousand years ago This general ignorance,
sfrom no fault ofbiogra pliers, for despite the
calumnies Of his enemies, the name ofPaine
has been enshrined in glory, and the record
of his God-hke career perpetuated, by some
of the most gifted minds of the nineteenth
century. In no other case has the old asser-
ton that republics are ungrateful, been so
thoroughly proven correct. While his pri-
vate life was unexceptionable, and his car
eer rs a public man useful in the highest
degree-either worthy to be initiated in any
cline, nation, or age-those who have differ
ed with him on religious topics, have heaped
above his grave the vilest opprobrium, and
yet in so doing, have damned him to per-
petual fame. Those who should have been
his eulogists have been his bitterest calum-
niators, and while they have rendered his
solitary greatness the more conspicuous, they
have thrown such barriers around his opini-
ons, that to even investigate them, is to sink
to the common level of outlaws and bias
phemers.
1t is demanded that we condemn him with
out trial, or be deemed no better than
those nltra-zealots have painted him. By
SO doing, the grossest injustice has been
committed against one of the most subtle
intellects, and most generous hearts God
ever clothed in mortal habiliments. For
this crime, an irredeemable odium must ever
rest upon the people. While we are loud IN
our praise Of the reckless idols who -four
ished in their element, in the Revolutions
carnival Of blood, and have reared marble
piles above the graves of more than ono
martial libertine, we have visited intamy
an hatred upon the memory of Washing
tons compatriot-one of the master minds
that precipitated the struggle, and not I'M
frequently guided it.
Paine was a rare man, such as is pro-
dueed not once in century. The very
boldness of character which made him first
to propose separation from England, when
mems souls were tried, and the most intrepid
trembled for the future, irnpelled him to in.
vestigate unsparingly the superstitons which
l. c III
for score of centuries, and to pierce that
sanctifed veil which pretension and bigotry
had arrsyed around their crimes. A greater
than Luther, he aimed at q trebly greater
reformation, and with aR audacity which
out-rivalled even that of the German Monk.
struck a blow at superstition which centur-
les will not repair. His reward was such as
all men receive who dare to breas; popular
delusion. His name has been buried in OBJ
loeuy By the masses, but the future will re-
deem the past, and for the sake of the truth
and the future, must all disciples of reason
endure reprosch.
An Englishman By birth, he alike avoided
the persecutive spirit of the established
church, and the rigid dogmas of the unbend-
ing Puritans. Instead OF having been reared
to vice and sin, as the seifrighteous would
have Us believe, he was reared In the pure
unostentatious faith of the Quakers. IF no
pompeus ancestral line preceded him, he
was still more a man of the people, and the
better qualified to appreciate the mental and
moral darkness in which the masses labored.
His liberal sentiments allowed him to claim
no especial land. He was In every sense a
citizen OF the world. In his own immortal
words, which equal any maxim of the Man
God, THE roorId acGs his coatlItry, and TO do
good his religion"
His private character commanded the res
pect of all who knew him. His talents were
versatile and brilliant. In keen logic or
terse reasoning powers he had no superior.
de could WOO the muses., or crush q politi
cal sophistry with equal ease. Theological
mysteries were unrolled 20 empty air, be.
fore his succinct analysis. His patriotism
was of the unadulserated species, aud until
called by congress to post of high honor
and grave responsibility, he served in the
ranks of Washington's army with a heroisrn
worthy Of the days of Sparta. Without
hope of remuneration, he freely cast the
last dollar of his private fortune into the
public treasury, and in one hour of darkness,
when bankruptcy threatened to battle valor
in its hour of success, he raised the noble
fund of million and half of dollars in
| gold by private subscription, ALL of which
was received by the government and dis
triouted to the troops. He was unlearned
| In the arts of later loyalty, and had drawn
no inspiration from the fountain of puritanic
patriotism. In every emergency, his voice
In council was pillar Of strength, and
the confidential friend of Washington,
Franklin and Jefferson, he welded an inhu.
ence which coming ages will continue tc
feel. When the fierce struggle terminated
in success, he abandoned the spoils to more
selfish champions, and FASTENED to France,
called by the voice of suffering people, &c
take part in that wild upheaval of passion
which shook thrones and blotted out dynas
1 ties. In this, his hand was ever interposed
70 protect the innocent, and mar the vic
Hence of mobs or despots, and at the peril
OF ms life score Of times.
his death was peaceful and happy, as be.
came tnat OF man who had given his whole
lifetime Tor that of all mankind in general
his views OF Supreme Being were as ele.
waited and srsverential as his. arguments
against bsseless system Of superstition are
| true and unanswerable. When every poli,
zeal mountebank has been created a demi.
| god by the rampant and easily bepuiled
populace, and every brainless chieftain ha,
received his full need of honor, what arro
giant ingratitude to deny to Thomas Paine
| q foremost rank in the list of the founder,
of our republioi If, deluded by the cries 0,
blgots and tyrants, three generations have
ignored his patriotism, virtues and valuabl,
services, others, it is to be hoped, win b,