The Newtown bee., 1909-06-18

to depart. o receive the fugitive and prepare an asylum for man. kind"
 The effect of Common Sense was instantaneous. One hundred thous- and copies were struck from the press; the Legislature of Fennsyl- vania voted $2,500 to the author; Washington himself wrote an appre- ciative letter concerning the pamph- let. In the fall of the year 1776 Paine enlisted in the Continental army and was for while aide-de- camp on the staf! of General Greene. In December of the same year he be- gan the publication of a series of sixteen ramphlets entitled The Crisis which appeared at intervals until the close of the war and had con- siderable political influence. In January, TIT, Paine was appointed secretary to the commission sent by Congress to treat with the Indians at Easton, Pennsylvania, and the following April he was elected secre- atry to the Congressional Committee of Foreign Affairs. He was com pelled to resign, two years later, for having imprudently given to the world a diplomatic secret which em- broiled the Colonies and their French ally, and shortly afterward became clerk to the Pennsylvania Assembly, In 17S1 he went to France with Colonel Laurens to obtain a loan, an errand in which he was successful. The following year, at the sugges- tion of Washington, Congress grant ed Paine $500, and subsequently, he received $9,00C from the same source on account of his services during the war, 300 pounds from Penn sylvania, and a tract of 300 acres at
 New Rochelle from the State of New York. Paine's next exploit was the construction of the model for an iron bridge, with which he sailed for Europe in 17S7, visiting France and England. The model was set up on Paddington Green and attracted enormous crowds. The bridge vas ultimately constructed and set up across the Weir at Sun 25eHand, being the first of it's kind
 to be erected. Paine was lionized
 in Paris and in London-in the lat
 ter city by the partisans of Burke and Fox, who had bitterly opposed
 the British government in it's policy toward the American Colonies. But
 Paine quarreled with Burke upon the appearance of the English states mans Reflections on the Revolution in France, which assailed the new order of conditions across the Chan mel, and he answered him in his most famous work, the Rights Of
 Man, which had an immense sale. The preface to the American edition was written by Thomas Jefferson.
 The British government brought suit against Paine for his attack up- on the Constitution, and, in his aD- sence passed sentence of outlaWry upon him. But Paine had alreauy gone to France, where he was re- ceiyed with wild acclamations, and Le was elected to a seat in the French National Convention by Pas de Calais, although he was ig- norant of French and was forced to have translations of the speeches read for him. He assisted in fram- ing the French Constitution in 1793, But the moderate party, the Giron- dists, with whom he has associated, fell from power, having opposed the execution of Louis XVII, Paine was arrested by the Jacobins, mar rowly escaped the guillOtine, and was committed for ten months to the prison at Luxembourg. While there he completed the second part of ms Age of Reason. He was released Tn 1794, upon a change of government, through the intercessiOn ot James Monroe, then American minister to France. He was restored to his seat in the Convention and sat until its in 1795. After an ab- sence from the United States or 10 years Paine returned to America Tn 1902. He was conveyed to Baltl- more in a government vessel, and re- ceived with honor and banqueting But the publication ot his Age or Reason, with it's attacks upon re vcaled religion, had won for him the enmity of the more feryidly portion of the community. He took up his residence at Bordenville, N. J., and subsequently, moved to New Rochelle and to New York City, dying there on June c, 1SJ9. Although born a Quaker, the members of that com denied his request that his remains should be inferred in one of their cemeteries, and he was buried upon the farm which the State Of New York had presented to him at New Rochelle. In 1919 his body was removed to England by William CObbett. A monument was erected near the spot of his burial ill New Rochelle in 1889, and is owned by that city. A few years ago it was found necessary to replace the base which had been mutilated by relic hunters, and fhe monument was re- moved about 150 feet down to the bottom of the hill on which t for merly stood. The house in which Paine lived, the property of the Association of New Ro- chelle, was lately removed also to be near the statue.