The Republican journal., 1896-01-30

ngntlng ana bearing all their prvations
And to this task he bent his keen intellect,
his devoted soul, and his unwearied pen
Number after number of the ssCrisis'1
was written and published and circulated
IN every camp; and their salutary effect
upon the troops is attested by their Of
ficers, by Paine friends and reluctantly
admitted by his enemies. The tirst num-
| Der of Common Sense" reached Wash
ington soon after tdings that Norfolk.
Va, had been burned by Lord Dunmore'
The General in letter to Joseph Reed.
says: "A few more such flaming argu
ments as We're exhibited at Falmouth and
Norfolk, added to the sound doctrine and
unansWerable reasoning contained in the
pamphlet Common Sense, will not leave
numbers at loss to decide upon the pro-
prlety OF separation" This pamphlet.
ITO quote another writer gave spirit and
resolution to the Americans who we're
then waveling and undetermined to assert
their rights, and inspired decisive energy
into their counsels; we may therefore ven
ture to say without fear of contradiction.
that the great American cause owed as
much to the pen of Paine as to the sword
of Washington"
When Paine was prisoner in France
and appealed to the government of the
United States for recognition of his claim
to American citizenship, James Monroe
wrote as follows: 1.-THE citizens of the
United States cannot look back upon the
time OF their own Revolution without
recollectlng among the names of their
most distinguished patriots that of Thorn
as Paine. The services he rendered to his
country in its struggle for freedom have
implanted in the hearts of his country
of l.
faced as long as they shall deserve the
title OF just and generous people,"
But this 'sense of gratitude was eff
faced, or most etfectually retired under
the ban of theological bigotrv. Thomas
Paine, Patriot, was degraded to Tom
Paine, lnfidel. All his distinguished ser
vices to the cause of human liberty in
america and Europe weighed nothing in
the estimation of the great world against
the charge OF atheism and intidelitv. Out
! OF his own mouth the theologians convict
ed him of intidelity, though no man ever
lived who in thought and service of hui
mainly followed more closely the spirit of
Chllstianitys Founder He spent his life
III the cause OF humanity, Drawing great
perils III France and England. and what
was harder to bear, suffering inoratitude.
neglect, poverty, and even the Injustice of
one highest in power in his beloved
America.
nder the charge of heresy the man,
thongh he be patriot, reformer, saviour.
WAS sure to go down. No less certain is
1t hat III due season he will be justified.
he American people owe debt of graft
tude to Mr. Moncure d. Conway for the
thorough and incontrovertble iustitica-
ton of Thomas Paine which he has pub
Ii he'd in his e ID
OF his self sacrificing services to the
cause of American liberty Washington
wro e.: ''His writings certainly have had
powerful effect on the public mind" And
Madison in a letter to Washington says
should it finally appear that the merits
OF the man whose writings have SO much
contributed to enforce and foster the
spirit OF independence in the people of
America, are unable to inspire them with
a Just beneficence, the world, it is to be
feared, will give us as little credit for our
policy as for gratitude in this particular
The reproach which for so many years
has rested upon Thomas Paine's charac-
ter, and the execration in which the
Christian Church has held his memory,
have been fostered by jealous pulpiteels
and pamphleteers, of whom the most that
in charity can be said, is, that they
suffered their judgments to be warped by
very shallow and insufficient evidence, by
charges which proceeded from his politi-
cal enemies and traducers. Mr.. Conway
mas rendered the greatest service to the
cause of humanity by proving every one
OF the base charges unfounded in fact.
1t may be due to those who in the last
generations circulated those charges and
branded with infdelity and atheism a
man than whom I,
manity-and so God-with greater, more
constant devotion, or more positively re-
corded his belief in God, and his hope of
heaven, to grant that they were sincere.
But whoever in this day dares to breathe
| the charge of infidel or atheist against
this man is either inexcusably ignorant or
a base hypocrite
| have retrained from going into the de-
| tails of this mans labors and sacrifices for
| the cause of liberty in our own country
and France. They occupy two large vol
umes, and ought to be read by every one
who is interested in the early history of
his native land. No truer patriot than
| Thomas Paine ever lived, and no truer
man. His was master mind, which, de-
voted to one main purpose Of human lib
erty, foresaw the battle grounds of mans
/ moral warfare, and discussed with pro-
| l'uOAie "iStoul tIlc pIODlttIS WHICH sue
cessively have occupied legislators, phil
anthropists, theologiAns and humanitari-
ans, down to the present day 'Events,' -
says Mr.. Conway, ''selected his seeds of
American Independence, of republican
| equality, freedom from royal, ecclesiasti-
cal and hereditary privilege, for swifter
and more imposing harvest; but the whole
circle of human ideas and principles was
recognized by this lone, way-faring man.
The first to urge extension of the prnci-
piles ofindependence to the enslaved negro;
the first to arraign monarchy and to point
out the danger of its survival in presi-
dency; the first to propose articles of a
more thorough nationality to the new
born States; the first to advocate inter
national arbitration, the first to expose the
absurdity and criminality of dueling; the
first to suggest more rational ideas of
marriage and divorce; the irst to advo-
cate national and international copyright;
the first to plead for the animals; the first
to demand justice for woman; what bril-
liants would our modern reformers have
contributed to a coronet for that man S
brow, had he not worshipped the God of
his fathers after the way that theologians
call "heresy!'
r Pitchers Castoria.