The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1878-03-13
The Philosopher aad Statesman.
and the Age of ReasOn-'

The eminent American historian, Bancroft has re-
corded of Benjamin Franklin, alluding to his great /
abilities and superior judgment: " He was the great
est diplomast Of the eighteenth century. He never
spoke word too soon be spoke word too |
late; /; he never spoke a word too much; he never
failed to speak the right word at the right season."
Franklin. when he died. had nations for his
er ard the great and the good throughout the world
as his eulogists.
Thomas Paine, native of England, of Quaker
parentage, having made the acquaintance Of Frank
lin in his native country, it may be said intro
duced by him to America He reached Philadelphia
the of the actual outbreak of the Revolution
in l775. lie useful servant in that cause by
his pen, especially by his famous pamphlet 50 Com
mon Sense" the preparation of which was suggested
to him by DR.. Rush. the benevolent and Christian
Patriot of Philadelphia. His services during the
war time were properly acknowledged by the govern
ment.
In 1887 Paine returned to Europe. State pro-
secution foot agaiast him il England, when
a French deputation called him to France to sit in
Convention for the department OF Calais. He voted
for the trial of King Louis XVI, but recommended
his banishment America. He attracted the ill
will Of the extreme party, and was arrested and sent
to prison by Robespierre, narrowly escaping the
guillOtne. The tyrant falling AFTER the Anne
rcan Ambassador reclaimed him. His imprison-
ment lasted eleven months.
His infdel work - The Age of Reason.' made its
first appearance while he in prison, contrary to
the advice of Dr. Franklin, to whom he sent the
manuscript for his examination. Although, at an
l early period of his life. he had himself written a
e =. tn.
his warning hand Paine. with his appeal to the OBJ
legations of that arch corrupter himself religion
:" Perhaps you indebted to her originally, that
is your gious education. for the habits of virtue
upon which you justly value yourself. You
might easily display your excellent talents of rea-
\ sonng upon less hazardous subject, and thereby
obtain rank with most distinguished authors
!or among US it is not necessary, among the Hot
tentots, that youth to be raised into the company
of men, should prove his manhood by beating his
. mother. would advise you not to attempt un-
chainng the tiger but burn this piece before
e seen by any other person. II men are so wicked
= with religion. what would they be without it %
p In the year with the completion of this
wretched publication. Paine forth in Paris hi.
: . letter to George Washington, whom he charged with
negleeting the influence of government for hi:
release American citizen, and not content with
this discussion, deprecated for the lack of qualtie.
= which he had expressly attributed to him in hi.
American publications He gave vent to his leelin
in the following epgramatic direction TO the sculptor
: who should make the statue Of Washington:
n Take from The mine the coldest, hardest stone,
II It needs no fashion, 1t is Washington;
J. But If You chsel. let your strokes be rude,
And on his breast engrave " "Ingratitude! !"
He had now, by these writings, made enemies o.
every friend of religion aud his cOuntry-for patriot
d ism identical with respect for Washngton-anC
when he returned to America in 1902, it was to fal
rapidly in public estimation, with the additional in
cumbrGHce of the personal neglect and vices of ntem
perance and avarice into which he fell in his old age
1t has been asserted that all the stories of Paine
e bad habits taken from Cheetham's Biography .
Il him, and tissue of falsehoods from one VIII,
= was an enemy but in the encyclopedia of American
d Literature" by Duyeknk, published by Scribner
"a New York, from which this article is chiefly compil
ed, other authorities given indepen lent source
sc to the same effect; that his intemperance no
,e tOriOus. and he has left a melancholy memorial o
his appearance in the plaster bust which preserved
oI in the rooms of the New York Historical Society
n Paine's vanity Wnunded by the neglect int
which he had fallen his early habits of neatnes
q could be detected in the filth into which he ha
if become preciptated.
In his last sickness, young Quaker women beiu,
in attendance, is recorded that he asked if she hn
" read his " Age of Reason" She replied tha
she had once commenced to read it, but besomin;
ia disre sed by its perusa she threw it into the fire
10 TINS PANE reJ0ned that he wished that other
IT, had done the same. Death approaching, he desired
in recollection of his Quaker Parentage be inerrer
lg in the cemetery of that body, but this consolation
ar refused him-a circumstance which it is said
- affected him deeply. He died in New York in 1909
ne His remains taken to New Rochelle, where b
10 was inferred his farm. Ten years afterwards
when Cobbett wished to create a sensation, he alb
'u surdy red the of the bones which he carrie
nd to Engand.
The merit of Paine's style. as a prose writer,
Ill great. In another light the study of his charace
D. may be of Import the world, in showing tha
certain degree of ready tact and ability and cer
e tain amount of benevoenee may consist with tn
~ utter absence of the higher philosophical and mora
r qualities Paine had great deal of wit and saga
Vi city, but their exercise confined a narro,
n field When he undertook his upon the Chri:
n tain religion, it without the learning, tn
" thought, the feeling requisite for its study Is
of any better motive than vanity.
Notwithstanding his experience of the French Re
OF volution, in the cell of the Luxembourg he woul
D. not relinquish the egosm and self sufciency whc
~ had placed him there. Suffering from awlessnesi
Ill he vain and empty enought iufict that
Or upon the world in its most Important relations Th
''Age of Reason is justly treated with contemp
but it points most significant moral of the worti
lessness of the shallow powers of the understandn
divorced from the control of the higher faculties
Up the soul.
d.
NEW NV EDTTI LINTENnS