THOMAS PAINE
THE APOSTLE OF LIBERTY
An Address Delivered In Chicago, January 29, 1916.
INCLUDING THE TESTIMONY OF FIVE HUNDRED WITNESSES.
By John E. Remsburg
President Of American Secular Union
"This effort to right the wrongs of Thomas Paine is, in my opinion, a service to mankind."—Andrew D. White, LL.D., First President of Cornell University, Minister to Russia, and Ambassador to Germany.
1917
IN MEMORY OF THOMAS "CLIO" RICKMAN, WILLIAM COBBETT, GILBERT VALE, HORACE SEAVER, ROBERT G. INGERSOLL, MONCURE D. CONWAY, THADDEUS B. WAKEMAN and EUGENE M. MACDONALD, noble defenders while living of the much maligned dead, this appreciation of our nation's founder and the world's greatest apostle of liberty is reverently inscribed.
CONTENTS
[ THOMAS PAINE, THE APOSTLE OF LIBERTY. ]
[ "COMMON SENSE" AND THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. ]
[ THE "RIGHTS OF MAN" AND THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. ]
[ "AGE OF REASON" AND RECANTATION CALUMNY. ]
[ PAINE'S PLACE IN LITERATURE. ]
[ TESTIMONIALS AND TRIBUTES. ]
THOMAS PAINE, THE APOSTLE OF LIBERTY.
FROM time immemorial men have observed the natal days of their gods and heroes. A few weeks ago Christians celebrated the birthday of a god. We come to celebrate the birthday of a man.
Within the brief space of twenty-five days occur the anniversaries of the births of the three most remarkable men that have appeared on this continent—Paine, Washington and Lincoln—the Creator, the Defender and the Savior of our Republic. To do honor to the memory of the first of these—to acknowledge our indebtedness to him as a patriot and philosopher, and to extol his virtues as a man—have we assembled here. We come the more willingly and our exercises will be characterized by a deeper earnestness because the one whose merits we celebrate has been the victim of almost infinite injustice. In the popular mind to utter a word in his behalf has been to apologize for wrong—to declare yourself the friend of Paine has been to declare yourself the enemy of man. The world is not prepared to do him full justice yet. Priestcraft, still powerful, uses all its power to prejudice the public mind against him and in too many hearts, where love and gratitude should dwell, ingratitude and hatred have their home. There are those who will condemn this meeting in his name today and some of you may spurn the blossoms I have culled to place upon his tomb.
But is it a crime to defend the dead? Has the court of Death issued an injunction restraining us from pleading the cause of the departed? We defend from the assaults of calumny the fair fame of the living, and not more sacred are the reputations of the living than of the absent dead whose voiceless lips can utter no defense. The lips of Thomas Paine have long been dumb; but mine are not, and while I live I shall defend him. As Rizpah stood by the bodies of her murdered sons, keeping back the birds of prey, so will I stand by the memory of this good man and drive back the foul vultures that feast their greedy selves and feed their starving broods on dead men's characters.
On the 29th of January, 1737, at Thetford, England, Thomas Paine was born. He was of Quaker parentage. Like nearly all of earth's illustrious sons, he was of humble origin. At an early age he left the paternal roof and began alone life's struggle,—serving in the British navy, teaching in London, engaging in mercantile pursuits, and performing the duties of exciseman.
While in London he formed the acquaintance of the learned Franklin, who induced him to cross the ocean and cast his lot with the people of the New World. He comes to America toward the close of 1774. A year of quiet observation enables him to grasp the situation here. He sees thirteen feeble colonies struggling against a powerful monarchy; he sees a tyrant whom the world styles "king" trampling the fair form of Liberty beneath his feet; he sees his subjects crouching and cringing before the throne, pleading in vain for a redress of wrongs. Separation and Independence have not yet been proposed. It is true that Lexington, and Concord, and Bunker Hill have passed into history; it is true that Patrick Henry, James Otis, John Hancock, and the Adamses have fearlessly denounced the odious measures of the British ministry; yet up to the very close of 1775, not a voice has been raised in favor of Independence. A redress of grievances is all that the boldest have demanded. But the current of history is to be turned. Rebellion is to be changed to Revolution. With the firm belief that right will triumph, Paine marshals the legions of thought that spring from his prolific brain and on the first of January, 1776, moves in solid columns against this citadel of tyranny. The shock is irresistible. The solid masonry gives way, and falls before his fierce assault. Into the breach thus made an eager people rush, and on the ruins plant the unsoiled banner of a new Republic.
That the Fourth of July, 1776, would not have witnessed the Declaration of Independence but for the timely appearance of Paine's "Common Sense," no candid student of history will for a moment question. This book first suggested American Independence; in this book appeared, for the first time, "The Free and Independent States of America." Nor did Paine's labors end with the publication of this work. He was the inspiring genius of the long war that followed. When Washington's little army was hurled from Long Island, when despondency filled every heart, and all seemed lost, Paine came to the rescue with the first number of his "Crisis," in which were couched those thrilling words, "These are the times that try men's souls." His pamphlet, by orders of the commander-in-chief, was read at the head of each regiment. It was also sent broadcast over the land. The effect was magical; into the dispirited ranks is breathed new life, and in the minds of the people planted a determination never to give up the struggle. At critical periods during the war number after number of this brave work appeared until, at last, he could triumphantly say, "The times that tried men's souls are over, and the greatest and completest revolution the world ever knew, gloriously and happily accomplished."
The pen of Paine was as mighty as the sword of Washington. "Common Sense" was the glorious sun that evolved a new political world; each number of the "Crisis" a brilliant satellite that helped to illumine this New World's long night of Revolution.
In the Old World liberty remained, as it still remains to a large extent, yet to be wearisomely achieved. In France the people were struggling against a corrupt and oppressive government. Paine enlisted his services in the cause of freedom there. He advocated a Republic, and organized the first Republican society in France. But Louis was permitted to resume his reign, and tranquility having been for a brief season restored, Paine went to his native England, where, in reply to Burke's "Reflections on the French Revolution," appeared his "Rights of Man." With a desperation characteristic of the detected robber the Government suppressed his work; but not until it had kindled a fire in Europe which tyrants have not yet succeeded in extinguishing and in the glare of whose unquenchable flames may be read the doom of monarchy.
The storms of revolution bursting forth afresh, Paine again repaired to France. A joyous reception awaited his arrival at Calais. As his vessel entered the harbor a hundred cannon thundered "Welcome!" As he stepped upon the shore a thousand voices shouted "Vive Thomas Paine!" Bright flowers fell in showers around him; fair hands placed in his hat the national cockade. An immense meeting assembled in his honor. Over the chair he sat in was placed the bust of Mirabeau with the colors of France, England and America united. All France was ready to honor her defender.
Three departments, the Oise, the Pas-de-Calais, and the Puy-de-Dome, each chose him for its representative. He accepted the honor from Calais and proceeded to Paris. His entry into the French capital was a triumphal one. He was received as a hero,—an intellectual hero who on the field of mental combat had vanquished Europe's most brilliant champion of monarchy, and vindicated before the tribunal of the world mankind's eternal rights.
He took his seat in the National Convention. A stupendous task devolved upon this body—the formation of a new Constitution for Republican France. Its most illustrious statesmen and its wisest legislators must be chosen to prepare it. A committee of nine was named: Thomas Paine, Danton, Condorcet, Brissot, Barrere, Vergniaud, Petion, Gensonne, and the Abbe Sieyes. To Paine and Condorcet chiefly was the work of drafting it assigned by their colleagues.
Then came the trial of Louis XVI and the beginning of those turbulent scenes which culminated in the Reign of Terror. The convention was clamoring for blood. Paine had been one of the foremost in overthrowing the monarchy. He believed the king to have been tyrannical,—to have been the pliant tool of a corrupt nobility, and of a still more corrupt priesthood. But he did not deem him deserving of death, nor did he believe that the best interests of France would be subserved by such harsh measures. But the Terrorists threatened with vengeance all who should dare to oppose them. To plead the cause of the king might be to share his fate. A vote by any member in favor of saving his life might bring an overwhelming vote against that member's own life. They had resolved that the king should die, and led by such men as Robespierre and Marat, there were assembled the most determined and the most dangerous men of France. The galleries, too, were filled with an excited mob of fifteen hundred—many of them hired assassins, fresh from the September massacre. "We vote," protested Lanjuinais when the balloting commenced, "under the daggers and the cannon of the factions." In this perilous position what course would Paine pursue? Would he, like others, quietly acquiesce in these unjust proceedings? He had never yet faltered in his purpose of pursuing what he deemed the right. Would he shrink from danger now? No! above the wild storm of that enraged assembly, through his interpreter, rose the voice of this brave man in powerful, eloquent appeals in behalf of mercy. "Destroy the King," in effect, he said, "but save the man! Strike the crown, but spare the heart!"
He pleads in vain; the king must die. "Death within four-and-twenty hours," is the decree. Amid the insults and execrations of a frenzied mob Louis is torn from the arms of his queen and children and hurried to the scaffold.
The Mountain has triumphed. The Jacobins, infuriated by the taste of a king's blood, will next devour their fellow-members. The Girondins, the heart and brains of France, are expelled from the convention, dragged to prison and to the guillotine. Paine's plea for mercy can not be forgiven. He is imprisoned; sentence of death is finally pronounced against him; the hour for his execution, with that of his fellow-prisoners, is set. Fortuitously he escapes. In summoning the victims for execution he is overlooked. Soon after, and before the mistake is discovered, the bloody Robespierre is overthrown, and his own neck receives the blow he meant for Paine. The fall of Robespierre stems the crimson torrent and, in time, secures for Paine his freedom. His imprisonment has lasted nearly a year, a year never to be forgotten, a year of chaos, from which is to arise a fairer and a better France.
Let us contemplate, for a moment, this bloody and protracted drama. Let us, in imagination, visit this death-stricken Paris. Buildings—once palaces—have been transformed into prisons. Thousands are crowded within their walls; beings of both sexes, and of every age and rank; grayhaired men who look with stolid indifference upon the scenes around them; youth, pale with fear; heroic types of manhood pacing to and fro with all the bearing of conquerors; frail women, whose swollen eyes, those tear-stained windows of the soul, faintly reveal the heart's fierce agony within! The scene is changed. All is bustle and confusion. A morbid and excited crowd is gathering; the death tumbrils go rumbling by toward the Place de la Revolution; the groans of men, the shrieks of women, rend the air and throw a shade of sadness over all deeper than midnight's gloom.
Again the scene shifts. The bustle is over now; the crowd has dispersed; those shrieks and groans are hushed. But that huge pile of headless trunks; the headsman's sack; those pools of blood; that blood-stained instrument, to whose edge still cling the straggling hairs of its victims, the golden threads of youth mingled with the silver threads of age, these remain—grim fragments of the feast where this French Saturn made his last repast.
Day after day this carnival of death goes on. Danton, Brissot, and many more of the best men of France are butchered; Roland and Condorcet die by their own hands; Talleyrand is a refugee in America, and Lafayette pines in the dungeon vaults of Austria.
Many noble women, too, are sacrificed. Marie Antoinette follows her Louis to the scaffold. In the Conciergerie, companions for a time, are held captive two of the purest and noblest of women,—the lovely and amiable Josephine Beauhamais, destined to become Napoleon's queen, and the beautiful and gifted Madame Roland, whose innocent blood must wet the cruel knife of the guillotine.
Such was the French Revolution,—"A mighty truth clad in hell-fire,"—the bloodiest, and yet the brightest page in the history of France. It might have been a bloodless one, it might have been a brighter one, had the wise and moderate counsels of Thomas Paine prevailed.
In the shadow of death the crowning effort of his life, the "Age of Reason," was composed. His pen had given kingcraft a mortal hurt; priestcraft must be destroyed. This book has filled die Orthodox world with terror. Around it has raged one of the fiercest intellectual conflicts of the age. All the artillery of Christendom has been brought to bear upon it; but without effect. Firm, impregnable, like some Gibraltar, it still stands unharmed.
Bowed with the weight of sixty-six years Paine returned to America. Here the evening of his life was passed,—embittered by a world's ingratitude.
"Men never know their saviors when they come."
The apostle of liberty, of mercy, and of truth, became successively a martyr to each. For espousing the cause of liberty England declared him an outlaw; for advocating mercy France gave him a prison; and for proclaiming the truth America placed upon his aged head the cruel crown of thorns.
But death came at last and brought relief to the persecuted sage. On a bright June morning (June 8), in 1809, the end came.
Yes, death came. But with it came no fears. No banished Hagar with famishing infant haunted him; from the desolate ruins of those Midianite homes came no phantoms to strike his soul with terror; no Uriah's ghost stood before his bedside and would not down; the hand that with no weapon but the pen had made priests and monarchs tremble, now growing cold and pallid, was not stained with the blood of a wile or child; no agonizing shrieks of a burning Servetus rang in his dying ears. Tempestuous as life's voyage had been, the old man readied his port in peace. Nature, whom he had deified, fondly and pityingly held him in her all-embracing arms, and soothed him in that last sad hour as with a mother's love. The morning sun looked kindly down and kissed his throbbing temples; gentle breezes, fragrant with the odors of a thousand roses, fanned his fevered brow; joyous birds, whose songs he loved so well, came to his window and sang their cheeriest notes; while faithful friends were at his bedside, ministering to every want. And so, bravely and peacefully, with that serenity of soul which only the conscious of a well-spent life can give, the grand old patriot passed away.
Thus have I briefly traced the public career of Thomas Paine,—a career in which his steadfast devotion to manly principles ranks him with the world's worthiest heroes. His private life was not less honorable. In his moral nature were united the noblest traits that adorn the human character.
His philanthrophy was bounded only by the limits of the world in which he lived Jew and Mohammedan, Christian and Infidel, Caucasian and Mongolian, the despised negro and the rude Indian, all to him were brothers.
His charity was of the broadest kind. He was ever ready to share his last dollar or his last comfort with the poor and distressed, and this regardless as to whether they were friends or foes. When his Republican friend, Bonneville, was crushed and impoverished by Napoleon, Paine gave to his family an asylum in America, and willed to them a part of his estate. When a brutal English officer assaulted him in Paris—and to strike a deputy the penalty was death—he saved him from the guillotine, and finding him penniless, from his own purse paid his passage home to England.
His patriotism was never questioned. Many have won the name of patriot whose services to their country have been inspired by mere selfish motives; but with him, fame, wealth, comfort, all were sacrificed for his country's welfare. Throughout that eight year's struggle, his life, his time, his talents, all were at her service. And, whether serving as aid-de-camp to General Greene in that terrible campaign of '76; filling with ability the important post of Secretary to the Committee on Foreign Affairs; with Laurens at the French court negotiating loans for his government; or cheering the despondent and nerving them up to deeds of valor,—he was at all times, and in every situation, the same modest, magnanimous, unflinching patriot.
In his disinterestedness he stands alone. At the beginning of the Revolutionary struggle he was a poor author, lacking at times even the bare necessities of life. But he had the opportunity of becoming rich. The enormous sale of "Common Sense" would of itself have secured for him a handsome competence. But what did he do? did he secure for himself the profits to which he was justly entitled? No! he presented to each of the thirteen colonies the copyright, and came out indebted to his printer for the original edition. When his country languished for want of funds to pay her soldiers in the field he started a subscription that brought her more than a million, heading it with five hundred dollars, and limited his gift to this because he had no more to give. When his "Rights of Man" was ready for the press he refused one thousand pounds for the copyright and then gave it to the world.
Moral courage was another prominent element in this great man's character. His espousal of the cause of American Independence—a cause which no other man had up to that time dared to espouse—shows a lofty heroism; his attack upon monarchy, in the very capital of a monarchical government, knowing, as he must have known, that every effort would be made to crush him, was a grand exhibition of moral bravery, while his publication of the "Age of Reason" was, in many respects, a more courageous act than either. But it was in His heroic defense of Louis XVI that his moral courage shone with all the lustre of the sun. Search all the annals of the past and say if on the historian's page is found one act, one single act, surpassing in moral sublimity that of Thomas Paine accepting a prison and, if need be, death, to save a fallen foe!
In the expression of his religious opinions no man has been more frank or explicit, while no man's religious opinions have been more grossly misrepresented. What was his belief?
"I believe in one God and no more; and I hope for happiness beyond this life.
"I believe in the equality of man; and I believe that religious duties consist in doing justice, loving mercy, and endeavoring to make our fellow-creatures happy.
"The world is my country, to do good my religion."
This was his creed; and with a firm belief in the truth and justice of this creed he lived and died.
There are, I regret to say, many good people who believe that Thomas Paine was a very bad man. They have heard this from the lips of those in whose veracity they place implicit confidence. While from infancy they have been taught to regard Jesus Christ as the mediator between man and God, they have been led to consider Thomas Paine as a sort of negotiator between the Devil and man. Now, let me ask these people, do you know why Thomas Paine has been so bitterly assailed? You have heard various charges preferred against him; but seriously, do you believe any of the charges named sufficient to account for the intense, the bitter hatred that has been manifested toward him? Have you never been impressed with the thought that there might be something back of all this, some secret grudge which your informants dare not mention? Let us notice briefly the faults and vices imputed to him.
You have been told that he was a pauper, that he died in wretchedness and want. Those who told you this were certainly mistaken. The estate presented to him by New York, in consideration of his Revolutionary services, was valued at $30,000, and the greater portion of this was remaining at his death. It is true that during his long and useful career he was many times in straitened circumstances; but this was the result, not of improvidence, or reckless expenditure, but of the devotion of his life to the cause of humanity instead of the accumulation of wealth. But what if he had died poor? Is poverty a crime? Yes, were this true, is it a thing of which to boast, that in a Christian city, within the sound of forty church-bells, an old man was suffered to lie neglected and alone, racked by the pangs of hunger and disease, piteously pleading for a crust of bread, or a cup of cold water to cool his parched and fevered tongue; and do you mean to tell us that Christian charity the while stood by unmoved, mocked his sufferings, and damned him when he died?
You have been told that he was a drunkard. A baser slander was never uttered. No human being ever saw Thomas Paine intoxicated. He was one of the most temperate of men. All of his neighbors and acquaintances indignantly denied the truth of this imputation. Gilbert Vale tells us that he knew more than twenty persons who were intimately acquainted with him and not one of whom ever saw him intoxicated. The proprietor of the house in New York, a respectable inn at which Paine boarded in his later years, says that of all his guests he was the most temperate. But supposing that he was a drunkard. Is drunkenness so rare as to secure for its victims an immortal notoriety? Are there no living drunkards for these omnivorous creatures to devour, that, like hyenas, they must dig into a drunkard's grave to fill their empty maws?
You have been told by the clergy that his writings are immoral. I defy those who make this charge to point to one immoral sentence in all that he has written. They cannot; and I further affirm that they dare not permit you to examine his writings and ascertain for yourselves the truth or falsity of this assertion. You who have never read his works may believe that they contain much that is bad. You may imagine that a deadly serpent lurks within them. Let me assure you that there is nothing in them that can harm you. The highest moral tone pervades their pages. They are full of charity, they glow with patriotism, they are warm with love. Even yet, within their lids methinks I feel the beating of the generous heart of him who penned them, every throb marking an aspiration for the welfare of his fellow-men. But admitting, for the sake of argument, that his writings are immoral. Does not the world teem with immoral literature? Are there not hundreds of immoral writers even among the living? If so, why has all this wrath been concentrated upon Paine to the almost total exclusion of the rest?
You have been told that he was an Infidel. Infidel to what? In the Christian sense of this term he was. But what peculiar significance do your informants attach to this fact? Are not three fourths of the world's inhabitants Infidels? Do not the greatest scholars of the age go far beyond him in Infidelity? Earth's wisest sons—those who have contributed most to the wealth of science, and literature, and statesmanship, have been these so-called Infidels. Yet Paine has been denounced as if he were the only Infidel that ever lived.
You have been told that he recanted on his deathbed. In other words, that he lived a hypocrite; that he only feigned Infidelity for the sake of being persecuted. A very plausible reason, surely. But this statement has been widely circulated, and that, too, in spite of the fact that every person who was with him during his dying hours pronounced it false,—those who sat by his bedside and heard every word that fell from his lips. It has ever been the custom of the church to make every distinguished individual appear as an endorser of her dogmas. See those insolent priests haunting the death chamber of Voltaire; see the crucifix thrust into the hands of the dying Litre and the dead Sherman; see the frantic efforts made to convince the world that Lincoln changed his religious views and died a Christian. An honest Quaker who visited Paine daily during his last illness testified to having been offered money to publicly state that he recanted. But he refused. Others were doubtless approached in the same manner, and with the same result. Unable to find a deathbed witness base enough to make so foul a charge, the calumny was originated by one who did not see him die. A Christian's brain conceived and bore that infamous falsehood; and black and hideous as the offspring was, nearly every orthodox clergyman was ready to serve it in the capacity of a faithful nurse. And in these nurses' arms it lived and died. Only a little while ago I saw one of them hugging to his breast and endeavoring to resuscitate with holy breath the putrid corpse of this dead lie! But supposing that he did recant, that he acknowledged the divinity of Christ. If he did this he died in the Christian faith. Now does the church treat deathbed penitents in the manner in which Paine has been treated? Has not every criminal that has repented in his last hours, from the dying thief of nineteen hundred years ago to the last murderer sent to Heaven, been held up as an object of admiration? Why, then, denounce Paine for having, as they claim, renounced his Infidelity? O Consistency, thou art, indeed, a jewel!
And now, assuming all these charges to be true, he would still have been naught but a poor, drunken Infidel; and while this would have subjected him to much harsh criticism while living, it would have been merely of a local character, and would have ceased when he was no more. Death would have silenced censure, the mantle of charity would have been spread above his grave, and the waves of oblivion would have rolled over his memory long ago. Is it possible that all Christendom would have been so deeply agitated, that the walls of her churches would have echoed every week with the fierce anathemas thundered from a thousand pulpits against the inanimate dust of a poor, drunken Infidel!
The conclusion, I think, must irresistibly force itself upon your minds that these reputed faults do not constitute the real head and front of Thomas Paine's offending. There must be something else. What is it? Would you have the mystery solved? If so, read his, "Age of Reason." Read it carefully, thoughtfully, critically; read it with your Bibles open before you; read it in connection with the ablest refutations that have been attempted against it. Do this, and the mystery will be solved. You will then know why Thomas Paine has been so bitterly assailed.
Two champions meet in the arena of debate. One of them, is overwhelmed. Smiles and groans announce his discomfiture, while shouts of applause reward the triumph of his rival. Then one of them grows angry, and stung with madness, drops the sword of argument and seizes in its stead the bludgeon of malice with which to assail his adversary. But which one does this, the successful or the defeated antagonist? I have somewhere read that "the bird that soars on pinions strong and free and is not hit by the marksman's bullet is not discomposed'"—that "it is the wounded bird that flutters!"
That Thomas Paine was not the poor, drunken, immoral wretch that priestly virulence represents him to have been, is dearly shown by the esteem in which he was held by those who knew him best. Would Dr. Franklin have retained the friendship of a poor, drunken, immoral wretch? Would Lord Erskine have defended against the government of England, a poor, drunken, immoral wretch? Would Bishop Watson have crossed swords in theological disputation with a poor, drunken, immoral wretch? Would Napoleon Bonaparte, when in the zenith of his fame, have invited to his table a poor, drunken, immoral wretch? Would France's greatest women, Roland and De Stael, have stooped to pay the tribute of praise to a poor, drunken, immoral wretch? Would President Jefferson have offered a national ship to bear to his home a poor, drunken, immoral wretch? Would Washington have acknowledged as one of the most potent factors in achieving American Independence, the pen of a poor, drunken, immoral wretch? Would the Congress of the United States and the National Convention of France have bestowed gifts and conferred, honors upon a poor, drunken, immoral wretch? Impossible! Every fact connected with his public life refutes these charges made against his private character.
In support of the claims that I have made for Thomas Paine, in refutation of the calumnies that have been circulated against him, I bring the testimony of more than five hundred witnesses—those who by intimate acquaintance, or a careful study of his life, are qualified to give a just estimate of his character and works,—historians, biographers, encyclopedists, statesmen, divines, and others; men and women who have acquired an honorable distinction in the various walks of life, and whose names alone are a sufficient guarantee that what they testify shall be the truth. From the dead and from the living—from two continents—I summon them:
"COMMON SENSE" AND THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
Dr. Joseph B. Ladd:
"Immortal Paine! whose pen, surprised we saw,
Could fashion empires while it kindled awe.
"When first with awful front to crush her foes,
All bright in glittering arms, Columbia rose,
From thee our sons the generous mandate took,
As if from Heaven some oracle had spoke;
And when thy pen revealed the grand design,
'Twas done—Columbia's liberty was thine."
W. C. Braun: "From the brain of Thomas Paine Columbia sprang full panoplied, like Minerva from the brain of Jupiter."
"Paine was the prophet of American destiny."—George Jacob Holyoake.
"Thomas Paine is one of those men who most contributed to the establishment of a Republic in America."—Abbe Sieyes.
Century Dictionary: "Took a prominent part in support of the American Revolution."
"A principal actor in the American Revolution."—M. Thiers, President Third Republic of France.
John Clark Ridpath, LL. D.: "The Morning Star of the Revolution."
Hon. William Willett: "The first champion of American liberty."
Blackie's Modern Cyclopedia (England): "One of the founders of American Independence."
"The apostle of American Independence."—M. de Lamartine.
William Cobbett: "I saw Paine first pointing the way and then leading a nation through perils and difficulties of all sorts to independence and to lasting liberty, prosperity and greatness."
"Paine was the first voice in America that was imperial."—George W. Foote.
Theodore Roosevelt: "Thomas Paine, the famous author of 'Common Sense.'"
Edmund Burke: "That celebrated pamphlet which prepared the minds of the people for Independence."
Egerton Ryerson, LL. D.: "The sudden and marvelous revolution in the American mind was produced chiefly by a pamphlet."
George Bancroft: "Franklin encouraged Thomas Paine,... who was the master of a singularly lucid and fascinating style, to write an appeal to the people of America."
"With a soul kindled into one steady blaze, he plies that fast-moving quill. That quill puts down words on paper, words that shall burn into the brains of kings like arrows winged with fire and pointed with vitriol. Go on, brave author, sitting in your garret alone at this dead hour, go on, on through the silent hours, on and God's blessings fall like breezes of June upon your damp brow, on and on, for you are writing the thoughts of a nation into birth."—George Lippard.
Pennsylvania Journal (January 10, 1776): "This day was published and is now selling by Robert Bell, in Third street, price two shillings, 'Common Sense addressed to the inhabitants of North America.'"
From this book came the world's first and greatest republic, the first realization of a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. Eloquently he pleads for separation and independence:
"The birthday of a new world is at hand."
"Everything that is right or natural pleads for separation. The blood of the slain, the weeping voice of nature cries, 'Tis time to part."
"The independence of America should have been considered as dating its era from, and published by, the first musket that was fired against her."
"O ye that love mankind! Ye that dare oppose, not only the tyranny, but the tyrant, stand forth! Every spot of the old world is overrun with oppression. Freedom hath been hunted round the globe. Asia and Africa have long expelled her. Europe regards her like a stranger and England hath given her warning to depart. O receive the fugitive, and prepare in time an asylum for mankind."
Benjamin Franklin: "A pamphlet that had prodigious effects."
Justin Winsor: "It was printed and reprinted in Philadelphia in English and once in German, and in the same year reprinted in Salem, Newbury-port, Providence, Boston, Newport, New York, Charleston, and also in London and Edinburgh."
Rev. Ashbel Green, D. D, (Chaplain to Congress): "The pamphlet had a greater run than any other ever published in our country."
William Massey, M. P.: "'Common Sense' had an immense circulation."
Francis Bowen, A. M.: "It had an enormous sale."
Historians' History of the World: "More than one hundred thousand copies of his 'Common Sense' were sold in a short time."
Prof. John Fiske: "More than a hundred thousand copies were speedily sold, and it carried conviction wherever it went."
Salmonsen's Conversationslexicon: "It had an immense sale (120,000 copies) and exerted an enormous influence."
Samuel M. Jackson, D.D., LL.D.: "'Common Sense' (120,000 copies were sold in the first three months) struck the keynote of the situation by advocating Independence and a Republican form of government."
(Referring to the sale of "Common Sense," Paine's biographer, Dr. Moncure D. Conway, says: "In the end probably half a million copies were sold.")
Eben Greenough Scott: "It was a plea for independence and a continental government."
Best of the World's Classics: "In this work Paine advocated complete separation from England."
Nordisk Familjebok Konversationslexicon: "He as boldly as convincingly sh owed the necessity of the Colonies tearing themselves away from England."
Rev. Charles E. Little: "His 'Common Sense' was widely circulated and greatly aided the Revolution by showing the importance and necessity of seeking independence."
Robert Bissett, LL. D.: "'Common Sense,' published [written] by Thomas Paine, afterwards so famous in Europe, contributed very much to the ratification of the independence of America."
John Frost, LL.D.: "It demonstrated the necessity, advantages, and practicability of independence."
Dr. George Weber: "Written in an eminently popular style it had an immense circulation, and was of great service in preparing the minds of the people for Independence."
Henry Howard Brownell: "The book was extensively circulated, and exercised, beyond question, a most powerful influence."
Robert Mackenzie: "His treatise had, for those days, a vast circulation and an extraordinary influence."
Oscar Fay Adams: "His famous pamphlet 'Common Sense' was of great service to the Americans."
Eva M. Tappan: "Its clear and logical arguments were a power in bringing on the war."
D. H. Montgomery: "Paine boldly said that the time had come for a 'final separation' from England, and that 'arms must decide the contest.'"
Rev. John Schroeder, D.D.: "'Common Sense,' from the pen of Thomas Paine, produced a wonderful effect in the different colonies in favor of Independence."
Woodrow Wilson: "Pamphlets which argued with slow and sober power gave place to pamphlets which rang with passionate appeals: which thrust constitutional argument upon one side and spoke flatly for independence. One such took precedence of all others, whether for boldness or for power, the extraordinary pamphlet which Thomas Paine, but the other day come out of England as if upon mere adventure, gave to the world as 'Common Sense.'"
American Reference Library: "'Common Sense,' more than any other single writing furnished the logical basis of Independence."
"'Common Sense' first formulated the demand for Independence."—The Nation (London).
Benson J. Lossing, LL.D.: "It was the earliest and most powerful appeal in behalf of Independence, and probably did more to fix that idea firmly in the public mind than any other instrumentality."
Richard Hildreth: "It argued in that plain and convincing style for which Paine was so distinguished."
Edmund Randolph: "A style hitherto unknown on this side of the Atlantic."
Charles Kendall Adams, LL.D: "A work which had great influence on the Colonists."
"The success and influence of this publication was extraordinary, and it won for him the friendship of Washington, Franklin and other distinguished American leaders."—Chambers' Encyclopedia.
J. Franklin Jameson, LL.D.: "'Common Sense'... exerted a profound impression."
John T. Morse, Jr.: "Thomas Paine had sent 'Common Sense' abroad among the people and had stirred them profoundly."
Lord Stanhope: "That publication had produced a strong effect."
Rev. Abiel Holmes, D.D., LL.D.: "'Common Sense', written by Thomas Paine, produced great effect."
John Howard Hinton: "'Common Sense' from the popular pen of Thomas Paine produced a wonderful effect in the different colonies in favor of independence."
Dr. David Ramsey: "In union with the feelings and sentiments of the people it produced surprising effects."
Rev. George E. Ellis, D.D.: "Of mighty cogency in its tone and substance, was that vigorous work of Thomas Paine."
Rev. Jesse A. Spencer, D.D.: "The style, manner and matter of his pamphlet were calculated to rouse all the energies of human nature."
William Grimshaw: "'Common Sense' roused the public feeling to a degree unequalled by any previous appeal."
Hand Book of American Revolution: "It affected sensibly the current of political feeling."
Barnes's Centenary History: "It produced a profound impression."
"The clear and powerful style of Paine made a prodigious impression on the American people."—Thomas Gaspey.
Charles Morris: "Its stirring tones filled all minds with the thirst for liberty."
Nouvelle Biographie Generale (France): "The pamphlet produced a prodigious effect."
"The success of this writing of Paine," says the Italian patriot and historian, Charles Botta, "cannot be described."
W. H. Bartlett: "This pamphlet produced an indescribable sensation."
John Andrews, LL.D.: "It was received with vast applause."
Timothy Pitkins: "'Common Sense' produced a wonderful effect in the different Colonies in favor of Independence."
Rev. William Gordon: "Nothing could have been better timed than this performance."
Boston Gazette (April 29, 1776): "Had the spirit of prophecy directed the birth of a publication it could not have fallen on a more fortunate period than the time in which 'Common Sense' made its appearance."
"In the elements of its strength it was precisely fitted to the hour, to the spot and to the passions."—Prof. Moses Coit Tyler.
Melville M. Bigelow: "No pamphlet was so timely, none had such an effect."
Prof. C. A. Van Tyne: "It was a firebrand which set aflame the ready political material in America."
"Every living man in America in 1776 who could read, read 'Common Sense.'... This book was the arsenal to which colonists went for their mental weapons."—Theodore Parker.
Mrs. Robert Burns Peattie: "Men, women and children read it. It was for them an education."
C. W. A. Veditz, LL.B.: "The work of Paine became the text book of the new era."
Sydney G. Fisher: "Its phrases became household words on the lips of every man in the patriot party."
Henry W. Edson: "Its concise, simple and unanswerable style won thousands to the cause."
Edward Channing: "It was read and debated in smithy and shop and converted thousands."
Henry Eldridge Bourne and Elbert Jay Benton: "Much that Paine wrote was so simple, so convincing, such 'common sense,' that thousands read it and concluded that separation was necessary."
William Cullen Bryant and Sydney Howard Gay: "Everybody read it and nearly everybody was influenced by it."
Pennsylvania Evening Post (March 17, 1776): "'Common Sense' hath made independents of the majority of the country."
Almon's Remembrancer (1776): "'Common Sense' is read by all ranks; and as many as read, so many become converted."
"'Common Sense' has converted thousands to Independence who could not endure the idea before."
(Where two or more paragraphs of testimony follow the name of a witness, all of the testimony cited, unless otherwise credited, belongs to the witness named.)
William Robinson (to Nathan Hafle, Feb. 17, 1776): "Upon my word, it is well done.... I confess a perusal of it has much reformed my notions."
Joseph Hawley (to Elbridge Gerry, Feb. 18, 1776): "I have read the pamphlet entitled 'Common Sense, Addressed to the Inhabitants of America.' and every sentiment has sunk into my well-prepared heart."
"By private letters which I have lately received from Virginia, I find that 'Common Sense' is working a powerful change there in the minds of many men."—George Washington.
Rev. John Drayton: "Colonel Gadsden (having brought the first copy of Paine's pamphlet 'Common Sense') boldly declared himself [in the Provincial Congress at Charleston, Feb. 10, 1776] for the absolute Independence of America. This last sentiment came like an explosion of thunder on the members."
Bitterly as the Colonists opposed the tyranny of the English Government there were no manifestations of disloyalty. If they harbored the thought of separation and independence no tongue or pen had dared to give expression to it. Referring to this period Hon. Alexander H. Stephens says: "Neither did Livingston, nor Washington, nor any of the prominent leaders in the cause of the Colonists at that time look to anything but a redress of grievances. None were looking to a final separation and Independence."
"When I first took command of the army," says Washington, "I abhorred the idea of Independence." When admonished that continued resistance to the crown might lead to separation, he replied: "If you ever hear of me joining in any such measures you have my leave to set me down for everything wicked." While Paine was writing his "Common Sense," Jefferson, the reputed author of the Declaration of Independence, wrote that he was "looking with fondness toward a reconciliation with Great Britain." But a little while before Franklin had assured Lord Chatham that "he had never heard in America an expression in favor of Independence."
Virginia, the province of Washington and Jefferson, declared in favor of "a redress of grievances, and not a revolution of government." In November, 1775, the Assembly of Pennsylvania, Franklin's province, elected a delegation to the Continental Congress with these instructions: "Though the British Parliament and administration have compelled us to resist their violence by force of arms, yet we strictly enjoin that you dissent from and utterly reject any proposition, should such be made, that may cause or lead to a separation from the mother country."
"Among them all not one had been stirred by that splendid dream of a new nation, a nation independent and free. There was but one mind and only one that had grasped the great plan. There was one voice crying in the wilderness. There was one herald of the dawn, one that did not hesitate in that night of hesitancy and reluctancy."—Dr. J. E. Roberts.
Dr. David Ramsay, a prominent leader in the Continental Congress and a popular historian of the Revolution, describing the effects of "Common Sense," says: "Though that measure [Separation] a few months before was not only foreign to their wishes, but the object of their abhorrence, the current suddenly became so strong in its favor that it bore down all before it."
Prof. Moses Coit Tyler: "In one sentiment all persons, Tories and Whigs, seemed perfectly to agree, viz., in abhorrence of the project of separation from the Empire. Suddenly, however, and within a period of less than six months [chiefly as a result of Paine's pamphlet] the majority of the Whigs turned completely around, and openly declared for Independence."
"Thomas Paine brought to the study of the American Revolution a mind... quick to see into things, and marvelous in its power of stating them with lucidity, with liveliness and with incisive force."
It is generally supposed that the writing of "Common Sense" with its advocacy of separation and independence was suggested by Franklin. It was not; Franklin knew nothing of its existence prior to its publication. What he suggested was a history of Colonial affairs which he believed would convince the world that the grievances of the Colonists against the mother country were just. Paine's own account of the origin of this work is as follows:
"In October, 1775, Dr. Franklin proposed giving me such materials as were in his hands towards completing a history of the present transactions, and seemed desirous of having the first volume out the next spring.. I had then formed the outlines of 'Common Sense,' and finished nearly the first part; and as I supposed the doctor's design in getting out a history was to open the new year with a new system, I expected to surprise him with a production on that subject much earlier than he thought of; and without informing him of what I was doing, got it ready for the press as fast as I conveniently could, and sent him the first pamphlet that was printed off."
Regarding the originality of his revolutionary ideas, "Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography" says: "Beyond doubt Washington, Franklin, and all other prominent men of the Revolutionary period gave Paine the sole credit for everything that came from his pen."
Washington, Franklin and Jefferson were among Paine's earliest converts. Franklin gave his book his immediate approval, and Jefferson's endorsement soon followed. Washington, writing to Joseph Reed in the same month that it was published, acknowledged its "sound doctrine and unanswerable reasoning," and declared for separation.
"Jefferson, Washington and Franklin, who up to that time [publication of 'Common Sense'] had denounced even the thought of Independence,... all changed front, and soon, not a majority, but the effective part of the people, followed."—T. B. Wakeman.
"Washington, now converted, wrote to his friends in praise of 'Common Sense'... Jefferson, John Adams, Franklin, Madison, all the great statesmen of the time, wrote praisefully of Paine's 'flaming arguments.'"—Ella Wheeler Wilcox.
"Leaders in the New York Provincial Congress considered the advisability of answering it but came to the conclusion that it was unanswerable."—Encyclopedia Britannica.
An Unknown Writer of Charleston, S. C. (Feb. 14, 1776): "Who is the author of 'Common Sense'? I can hardly refrain from adoring him. He deserves a statue of gold."
Abigail Adams: "I am charmed with the sentiments of 'Common Sense,' and wonder how an honest heart, one who wishes the welfare of his country and the happiness of posterity, can hesitate one moment at adopting them."
"'Common Sense,' like a ray of revelation, has come in season to clear our doubts and fix our choice."
John Winthrop: "If Congress should adopt its sentiments it would satisfy the people."
"The public mind was now fully educated to accept the doctrine of Independence.... Thomas Paine's celebrated pamphlet 'Common Sense' had sapped the foundation of any remaining loyalty to the British Crown."—John Clark Ridpath, LL. D.
Prof. Alexander Johnston: "Thomas Paine turned the scale by the publication of his pamphlet 'Common Sense'."
Richard Frothingham: "The great question which it treated was now discussed at every fireside; and the favorite toast at every dinner table was; 'May the independent principles of 'Common Sense' be confirmed throughout the United Colonies.'"
Henry Clay Watson: "'Common Sense' effected a complete revolution in the feelings and sentiments of the great mass of the people."
Rev. Jedediah Morse. "The change of the public mind on this occasion is without a parallel."
Dr. Benjamin Rush: "'Common Sense' burst from the press with an effect which has rarely been produced by types and paper in any age or country."
Hon. Salma Hale: "The effect of the pamphlet in making converts was astonishing, and is probably without precedent in the annals of literature."
James Cheetham (Paine's basest calumniator): "Speaking a language which the colonists had felt but not thought, its popularity, terrible in its consequences to the parent country, was unexampled in the history of the press."
General Charles Lee: "Have you [Washington] seen the pamphlet 'Common Sense'? I never saw such a masterly irresistible performance."
"He burst forth on the world like Jove in thunder."
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History: "Its trumpet tones awakened the continent, and made every patriot's heart beat with intense emotion."
J. Dorman Steele, Ph. D.: "Every line glowed with the spirit of liberty, and men's hearts were thrilled as they read."
Larned's Ready Reference History: "A more effective popular appeal never went to the bosoms of a nation.... Its effect was instantaneous and tremendous."
Henry Cabot Lodge: "The pamphlet marked an epoch, was a very memorable production; from the time of its publication the tide flowing in the direction of independence began to race with devouring swiftness to high water mark."
Encyclopedia Britannica (10th Ed.)—"There is a complete concurrence of testimony that Paine's pamphlet issued on the first of January, 1776, was a turning point in the struggle, that it roused and consolidated public feeling, and swept waverers along with the tide."
Prof. Goldwin Smith: "Colonial resolution had been screwed to the sticking point by Tom Paine, the stormy petrel of three countries, with his pamphlet 'Common Sense.'"
Dr. E. Benjamin Andrews: "Most potent of all as a cause of the resolution to separate was Thomas Paine's pamphlet 'Common Sense'."
"No writing ever more instantly swung men to its humor."—Woodrow Wilson.
Mary L. Booth: "This eloquent production severed the last link that bound the Colonies to the mother country."
Mary Howitt: "The cause of Independence took as it were a definite form from this moment."
Guilliam Tell Poussin: "It rendered the sentiment of Independence national."
"The notion of a new State, wholly free from Great Britain, first found full and convincing expression in Paine's 'Common Sense'."—London Times.
Gen. William A. Stokes: "When 'Common Sense' was published a great blow was struck. It was felt from New England to the Carolinas; it resounded throughout the world."
The sympathy and assistance of liberty-loving Europeans contributed much to the success of the Revolution, and this was due largely to the influence of Paine's "Common Sense," which was printed in nearly every tongue and read in nearly every country of Continental Europe. Even in England thousands of copies were circulated, and the American party, the party of Chatham, Fox and Burke, was greatly strengthened, while the influence of the king and his ministry was correspondingly weakened by the effect of its masterly arguments.
Lord Erskine: "In that great and calamitous conflict, Edmund Burke and Thomas Paine fought in the same field together, but with very different success. Mr. Burke spoke to a Parliament in England, such as Sir George Saville describes it, having no ears but for sounds that flattered its corruptions. Mr. Paine, on the other hand, spoke to the people, reasoned with them, told them they were bound by no subjection to any sovereignty further than their own benefit connected them, and, by these powerful arguments, prepared the minds of the American people for that glorious, just, and happy Revolution."
Marquis de Chastelleaux: "Since my arrival in America I had not yet seen Mr. Paine, that author so celebrated in America and throughout Europe by his excellent work entitled 'Common Sense.' Lafayette and myself had asked the permission of an interview, and we waited on him accordingly with Col. Laurens.... His patriotism and his talents are unquestionable."
W. E. H. Lecky: "Paine's 'Common Sense'... was translated into French, and was, if possible, even more popular in France than in America."
"The work ran through innumerable editions in America and France. The world rang with it."—Hon. Henry S. Randall.
Silas DeAne: "'Common Sense' has been translated, and has had a greater run here [in France] than in America. A person of distinction, writing to his noble friend in office, has these words: 'I think, with you, my dear Count, that "Common Sense" is an excellent work, and that its author is one of the greatest legislators among the million writers that we know.'"
Sir George Trevelyan: "It would be difficult to name any human composition which has had an effect at once so instant, so extended, and so lasting. It flew through numberless editions. It was pirated, and parodied, and imitated, and translated into the language of every country where the new Republic had well-wishers, and could hope to procure allies.... It was reprinted in all the Colonies with a frequency surprising at a time when Colonial printing houses were very few. Three months from its first appearance, a hundred and twenty thousand copies had been sold in America alone; and, before the demand ceased, it was calculated that half a million had seen the light."
"Paine saw beyond precedents and statutes, and constitutional facts or fictions, into the depths of human nature; and he knew that, if men are to fight to the death, it must be for reasons which all can understand."
John Adams: "'Common Sense' was received in France and in all Europe with rapture."
"History is to ascribe the Revolution to Thomas Paine." (Letter to Thomas Jefferson).
John Quincy Adams: "Paine's 'Common Sense' crystalized public opinion and was the first factor in bringing about the Revolution."
Samuel Adams: "Your 'Common Sense'... unquestionably awakened the public mind, and led the people loudly to call for a Declaration of our National Independence."
Parker Pillsbury: "Without his 'Common Sense,' written in 1775, we should not have had the Declaration of Independence in 1776."
Samuel Bryan: "This book, 'Common Sense,' may be called the Book of Genesis, for it was the beginning. From this book spread the Declaration of Independence, that not only laid the foundation of liberty in our own country, but the good of mankind throughout the world."
"The open movement to Independence dates from its publication."—Encyclopedia Britannica (11th Ed.)
Elkanah Watson (one of Paine's calumniators): "It everywhere flashed conviction, and aroused a determined spirit which resulted in the Declaration of Independence."
Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL. D.: "This spark was sufficient to rouse the Americans, who at once signed the Declaration of Independence."
William Howitt: "It at once seized on the imagination of the public, cast all other writers into the shades and flew in thousands and tens of thousands all over the Colonies.... The common fire blazed up in Congress, and the thing was done."
"He became the great oracle on the subject of governments and constitutions."
Thomas Gaspey: "He was treated with great consideration by the members of the Revolutionary government, who took no steps of importance without consulting him."
Grand Dictionary Universel: "He became the political catechism of the movement."
Dictionary of National Biography (America): "Joined the Provincial army in the autumn 1776 and became a volunteer aid-de-camp to General Nathaniel Greene, animating the troops by his writings [the 'Crisis']."
"The pamphlets that stirred like a trumpet call the flagging energies of a desponding people."—Rev. John Snyder.
"General Greene made him one of his aides-de-camp; but an appointment on that staff, during those weeks, carried with it very little, either of privilege or luxury. In the flight from Fort Lee Paine lost his baggage and his private papers; but he had kept or borrowed a pen. He began to write at Newark, the first stage in the calamitous retreat; and he worked all night at every halting place until his new pamphlet was completed. It was published in Philadelphia on the 19th of December, under the title of 'The Crisis,' and at once flew like wildfire through all the towns and villages of the Confederacy."—Sir George Trevelyan.
This, the first number of the "Crisis," opens with these words: "These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict the more glorious the triumph."
Samuel Eliot: "His later pamphlets, issued during the war under the name of the 'Crisis,' were of equal power [to 'Common Sense']."
Encyclopedia of Social Reform: "The 'Crisis' exerted wide influence for Independence and Republicanism."
Albert Bushnell Hart, LL.D.: "The 'Crisis' [sixteen numbers], written by Paine between 1776 and 1783, exercised an enormous influence over men and events during the Revolution."
Albert Payson Terhune: "He plunged, heart and soul, into the struggle for freedom. His 'Common Sense' and other pamphlets [the 'Crisis'] were such strong and eloquent pleas for liberty that Washington ordered some of them read aloud to the patriot armies."
National Cyclopedia of American Biography: "Its [the 'Crisis'] initial number was, by the order of General Washington, read aloud to each regiment and to each detachment."
William S. Stryker: "The effect of its strong patriotic sentences was apparent upon the spirits of the army."
George T. Cram: "The whole patriot army was inspirited by it."
Werner's Encyclopedia (Ed. 1899): "Its opening words, 'These are the times that try men's souls,' became a battle cry."
Norman Hapgood, LL.B.: "The last sentence [of the first 'Crisis'] sounds like a prophecy and the first sentence, 'These are the times that try men's souls,' was the watchword [at the battle of Trenton]."
George Lippard: "In the full prime of early manhood, he joins the army of the Revolution; he shares the crust and the cold with Washington and his men; he is with those brave soldiers on the toilsome march, with them by the camp fire, with them in the hour of battle.
"Is the day dark? Has the battle been bloody? Do the American soldiers despair? Hark! that printing press yonder, which moves with the American camp in all its wanderings, is scattering pamphlets through the ranks of the army—pamphlets written by the author-soldier; written sometimes on the head of a drum, or by the midnight fire, or amid the corpses of the dead."
"Such words as these stirred up the starved Continentals to the attack on Trenton, and there in the dawn of that glorious morning, George Washington, standing sword in hand over the dead body of the Hessian Rhol, confessed the magic influence of the author-hero's pen."
"Under that cloud, by Washington's side, was silently at work the force that lifted it. Marching by day, listening to the consultations of Washington and his generals, Paine wrote by the camp fires; the winter storms, the Delaware waves, were mingled with his ink; the half-naked soldiers in their troubled sleep dreaming of their distant homes, the skulking deserter creeping off in the dusk, the pallid face of the heavy-hearted commander, made the awful shadows beneath which was written that leaflet."—Dr. Conway.
Of this work Sir George Trevelyan writes: "The 'Crisis' was an impassioned appeal to arms. That circumstance endowed Paine's glowing rhetoric with a special value in the estimation of Americans. To their mind's eye the little work was adorned by an imaginary frontispiece of a soldier, writing by the watch-fire's light, with his comrades slumbering round him; and it was among those comrades that the author found his warmest admirers and his most convinced disciples."
"These words were fire and warmed the soldiers; they were meat and drink for the famishing; they were clothes for the naked. The soldiers were filled with a courage new and unknown. The battle of Trenton came, and as the soldiers entered that conflict, all down the ranks rang the battle cry, 'These are the times that try men's souls.' The battle was fought and won. The army of the patriots had entered upon a new career. And thus he wrote and wrought to the end of the immortal struggle."—Dr. John E. Roberts.
"In the midnight of Valley Forge the 'Crisis' was the only star that glittered in the broad horizon of despair."—Col. Ingersoll.
"Paine was the real founder of our Republic. Without his 'Common Sense' the independence of the American Colonies never would have been declared; without his 'Crisis' it never could have been won. Without his services this country, like Canada, India, Australia and South Africa, today would be a part of the British Empire.
"We would undoubtedly be under British rule today but for the wise and wonderful efforts of Thomas Paine.''—Ella Wheeler Wilcox.
"Paine's title as the discoverer and inventor of the United States is just as plain as Watt's invention of the steam engine, and everything that has taken place as a result of organizing the United States of America is the result of Thomas Paine's labors."—Rev. Thomas R. Slicer, D.D.
Timothy Matlack (Oct. 10, 1777): "The Honorable House of Assembly has proposed and Council has adopted a plan of obtaining more regular and constant intelligence of the proceedings of General Washington's army than has hitherto been had. Every one agrees that you [Paine] are the proper person for the purpose, and I am directed by his Excellency, the President, to write to you.... Proper expresses will be engaged in this business. If the expresses which pass from headquarters to Congress can be made use of so much the better,—of this you must be the judge."
Col. Asa Bird Gardener, LL.D.: "The entire British fleet was then brought up opposite Fort Mifflin, and the most furious cannonade and most desperate but finally unsuccessful defense of the place was made. The entire works were demolished, and the most of the garrison killed and wounded. Major General Greene being anxious for the garrison and desirous of knowing its ability to resist sent Mr. Paine to ascertain. He accordingly went to Fort Mercer, and from thence, on Nov. 9, (1777), went with Col. Christopher Greene commanding Fort Mercer, in an open boat to Fort Mifflin, during the cannonade, and was there when the enemy opened with two gun batteries and a mortar battery. This very gallant act shows what a fearless man Mr. Paine was."
Lippincott's Biographical Dictionary: "He was secretary to the Committee on Foreign Affairs in Congress from April, 1777, to January, 1779."
It has been asserted by Mr. Roosevelt and others that Paine, because of his action in the Deane affair, was discharged from his position as secretary to the Committee on Foreign Affairs. He was not discharged, nor was he even asked to resign. He resigned of his own volition.
Franklin Steiner: "In 1778 a fraud was about to be committed upon the infant republic.... Paine wrote several articles for the press, exposing the entire corrupt transaction, and of course made enemies of all involved in the dishonest affair, who at once made attempts to have him discharged from his position, in which they failed."
"A motion for his dismission was lost."—Dr. Conway.
"Congress refused to vote that it was 'an abuse of office,' or to discharge him."—Ibid.
It was Paine's honesty and patriotism, a desire to protect the interests of his adopted country, that caused him to make his exposure. His "indiscretion," as some diplomats characterized it, saved the Colonies a million livres. Pennsylvania applauded the act and rebuked his censors by appointing him clerk of the Assembly. His whole subsequent career—his continued labors in behalf of the Colonies—the confidence reposed in him by all the people—show that his ability, his integrity, and his patriotism were never questioned.
In less than three years after the Deane affair the members of Congress who had honestly espoused Deane's cause acknowledged the justice and wisdom of Paine's exposure.
John Jay Knox: "In 1780 occurred the darkest days of the Revolutionary War. The army was in great distress.... Thomas Paine, the Clerk in the Pennsylvania Assembly, in a letter to Blair McClenaghan, suggested a subscription for relief of the army and enclosed a contribution of $500.
American Cyclopedia: "A letter [dated May 28, 1780] was received by the Assembly of Pennsylvania from Gen. Washington, saying that, notwithstanding his confidence in the attachment of the army to the cause of the country, he feared their distresses would soon cause mutiny in the ranks. This letter was read by Paine as clerk. A despairing silence pervaded the hall, and the Assembly soon adjourned. Paine wrote to Blair McClenaghan, a merchant of Philadelphia, explaining the urgency of affairs, and enclosed in the letter $500, the amount of salary due him as clerk, as his contribution toward a relief fund. McClenaghan called a meeting next day and read Paine's letter; a subscription list was immediately circulated, and in a short time £300,000 [nearly $1,500,000] Pennsylvania currency was collected. With this as a capital, the Pennsylvania Bank, afterwards expanded into the Bank of North America, was established for the relief of the army."
Cassell's Dictionary of Religion: "In 1781 Paine was sent to France with Col. Laurens to negotiate a loan in which he was more than successful, for the French granted a subsidy of six million livres, and became a guarantor of ten millions advanced by Holland."
Lamartine says the King "loaded Paine with favors." His gift of six millions was "confided to Franklin and Paine."
Robert Morris (Feb. 10, 1782): "They [Morris, Minister of Finance, Livingston, Secretary for Foreign Affairs, and Washington, Commander-in-Chief] are agreed that it will be much for the interest of the United States that Mr. Paine be retained in their [the United States'] service."
Charles Wilson Peale: "Personal acquaintance with him gives me an opportunity of knowing that he had done more for our cause than the world who had only seen his publications could know."
"America is indebted to few characters more than to you."—Gen. Nathaniel Greene.
Calvin Blanchard: "He stood the acknowledged leader of American statesmanship, and the soul of the Revolution, by the proclamation of the legislatures of all the states and that of the Congress of the United States."
Pennsylvania Council (Dec. 6, 1784): "So important were his services during the late contest that those persons whose own merits in the course of it have been the most distinguished concur with a highly honorable unanimity in entertaining sentiments of esteem for him."
"The attention of Pennsylvania is drawn toward Mr. Paine by motives equally grateful to the human heart and reputable to the Republic."
Pennsylvania Assembly: "Thomas Paine did, during the progress of the Revolution, voluntarily devote himself to the service of the public, without accepting recompense therefor, and, moreover, did decline taking or receiving the profits which authors are entitled to on the sale of their literary works, but relinquished them for the better accommodation of the country and the honor of the public cause."
Rev. Dr. M. J. Savage: "He wrote the book which caused the Declaration of Independence, a book in such great demand that the presses groaned for months in endeavoring to supply the demand; a book, the income from the circulation of which, to-day would make a man rich, and yet he steadfastly refused to receive a cent for it."
More than fifty years ago, the Rev. Moncure D. Conway, then pastor of a church in Cincinnati, in a eulogy on Paine, said: "So disinterested was he, that, when his works were printed by the ten thousand, and as fast as one edition was out another was demanded, he, a poor and pinched author, who might very easily have grown rich, would not accept one cent for them, declared that he would not coin his principles, and made to the States a present of the copyrights. His brain was his fortune,—nay his living; he gave it all to American Independence." Paine also gave the copyrights of the several numbers of his "Crisis" to the States. The close of the Revolution found him, to quote from Dr. Conway's biography of Paine, "a penniless patriot who might easily have had fifty thousand pounds in his pocket."
(I shall quote freely from Dr. Conway. For all time this biographer will be the standard authority on Thomas Paine. He was a life-long student of Paine. In each of the three countries which Paine served, America, France and England, he had full access to the national archives of Paine's time. He was a distinguished pulpit orator in both hemispheres, and had a world-wide reputation as a literary man. Above all his love of truth and justice and His rugged honesty and candor make him a witness whose testimony is unimpeachable. To him Andrew Carnegie pays this tribute: "He has passed, but he has left behind him a precious legacy to all who were so fortunate as to be able to call him friend. They are better men and women because Moncure Conway lived and entered into their lives.")
United States Congress (Aug. 26, 1785): "Resolved, That the early, unsolicited, and continued labors of Mr. Thomas Paine, in explaining and enforcing the principles of the late Revolution by ingenious and timely publications upon the nature of liberty and civil government have been well received by the citizens of these States, and merit the approbation of Congress."
This resolution was passed by a unanimous vote.
Allibone's Dictionary of Authors: "He was rewarded by a donation from Congress of $3,000."
"In 1782, at the suggestion of Washington, Congress granted $800 to Paine.... In 1784 the State of New York presented him with 277 acres of land at New Rochelle, and Pennsylvania with £500; and in 1785 Congress gave him $3,000."—International Encyclopedia.
"Some writers have denied his political services, and have declared it impossible that a stranger at the outbreak of the Colonial struggle, he could have influenced public opinion in America; but such should remember that the contemporaries of Paine—and worthy men many of them certainly were who associated with Paine—judged differently, and not only freely circulated his writings but gave expression to their worth,... besides conferring on him the degree of M. A. (Pennsylvania University), and membership in their choicest literary association, the American Philosophical Society."—McClintock and Strong's Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Cyclopedia.
"Let it not be supposed that Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, Randolph, and the rest were carried away by a meteor. Deep answers only unto deep."—Dr. Conway.
Drake's Dictionary of American Biography: "His powerful exertions to promote the independence of America constitutes a high claim upon the gratitude of his adopted country."
Ignatius Donnelly: "Paine did a great work during the Revolutionary war in behalf of liberty and deserves to be forever remembered."
McClintock and Strong's Biblical Theological and Ecclesiastical Encyclopedia, to quote again from this standard Christian authority, says: "The truth cannot be withheld that Thomas Paine was one of the most powerful actors in the Revolutionary drama.... His services to his adopted country should not be forgotten."
"As the Tyrtaeus of the Revolution, and it is no exaggeration to style him such, we owe everlasting gratitude to his name and memory."—Rev. Solomon Southwick.
John Spencer Bassett: "History cannot forget that he was an important promoter of the Revolution."
"Paine's brawny arm applied the torch which set the country in a flame, to be extinguished only by the relinquishment of British supremacy; and for this, irrespective of his motives and character, he merits the gratitude of every American."—Gen. William A. Stokes.
"No man rendered grander, service to this country, and no man ought to be more cherished or remembered than Thomas Paine."—Rev. Minot J. Savage, D. D.
Paul Allen: "Those who regard the independence of the United States as a blessing will never cease to cherish the remembrance of Thomas Paine."
"To the welfare of Thomas Paine the Americans are not nor can they be indifferent."—James Monroe.
Hon. Elizur Wright: "It was Thomas Paine, more than any other man, or any other thing, who turned the current of history in the New World."
Rev. John Snyder: "Paine did more than any other single man to create this nation. I simply speak what will some day be the sober judgment of history."
"There was no man in the Colonies who contributed so much to bring the open Declaration of Independence to a crisis as Thomas Paine."—William Howitt.
"He did more for the American cause and for American independence than any other man."—Sir Hiram Maxim.
"Like a magnificent dream the figure of this republic arose in his brain.... The result was victory; and Thomas Paine, the dreamer, the writing soldier, had done more than any other man to make this country free, and to give it a place among the nations of the world."—Marshall J. Gaumn.
"He was the real founder of the American republic."—Henry Frank.
"He wrote the word 'Independence,' and created the greatest nation in the world."
Hon. John W. Hoyt, LL.D.: "Thomas Paine inspired the Revolution by his spirit, maintained it when in the darkest hours of the battle it seemed that the spark of liberty would go out."
Dr. J. R. Monroe: "With the wand of his genius he turned aside the scroll that concealed the future of our country, and by the inspiring picture he thus presented our disheartened and hard-pressed forefathers were nerved to press forward, to brave every peril, to dare every danger, to defy every death, till tyranny was throttled and man was free."
Rev. Martin K. Schermerhorn: "When our children's children shall celebrate America's second centennial a hundred years from now, they will write in largest letters upon their national banner this sentence which all intelligent American citizens will then enthusiastically recognize and applaud: 'Thomas Paine—the Patriot... of two hundred years ago.'"