period by a grant; of which I shall have occasion to speak in its proper place.

Paine was now deprived of the means of obtaining a livelihood; and being averse to rendering his literary labors subservient to his personal wants, he engaged himself as clerk to Mr. Biddle, an attorney at Philadelphia.

He

The ingratitude of congress produced no change in Mr. Paine's patriotism. On every occasion, he continued to display the same degree of independence and resolution, which had first animated him in favor of the republican cause. had enlisted himself as a volunteer in the American cause; and he vindicated her rights under every change of circumstance, with unabated ardor.

In a communication made many years afterwards to Cheetham, (who would have contradicted it, could he have done so without stating what every one would immediately know to be false,) he says:—

66

I served in the army the whole of the 'time that tried men's souls,' from the beginning to the end.

Soon after the declaration of independence, July 4, 1776, congress recommended that a body of ten thousand men, to be called the flying camp, because it was to act wherever necessary, should be formed from the militia and volunteers of Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. I went with one division from Pennsylvania, under General Roberdeau. We were stationed at Perth Amboy, and afterward at Bergen ; and when the time of the flying camp expired, and they went home, I went to Fort Lee, and served as aid-de-camp to Greene, who commanded at Fort Lee, and was with him through the whole of the black times of that trying campaign.

I began the first number of the "Crisis," beginning with the well-known expression, 'These are the times that try men's souls', at Newark, upon the retreat from Fort Lee, and continued writing it at every place we stopped at, and had it printed at Philadelphia, the 19th of December, six days before. the taking the Hessians at Trenton, which, with the affair at Princeton, the week after, put an end to the black times."

Soon after the resignation of his secretaryship, he was chosen clerk of the legislature of Pennsylvania. This appointment is a proof that, though he had some enemies, he had many friends; and that the malicious insinuations of the former had not been able to weaken the attachment of the latter.

In February, 1781, Paine, at the earnest solicitation of Colonel Laurens, accompanied him to France, on a mission which the former had himself set on foot, which was, to obtain of the French government a loan of a million sterling annually during the war. This mission was so much more successful than they expected, that six millions of livres as a present, and ten millions as a loan, was the result. They sailed from Brest, at the beginning of June, and arrived at Boston in August, having under their charge two millions and a half in silver, and a ship and a brig laden with clothing and military stores.

Before going to France, as just narrated, Paine headed a private subscription list, with the sum of five hundred dollars, all the money he could raise; and the nobleness of his conduct so stimulated the munificence of others, that the subscriptions amounted to the generous sum of three hundred thousand pounds.

Soon after the war of Independence had been brought to a successful termination, Mr. Paine returned to Bordentown, in New Jersey, where he had a small property. Washington, rationally fearing that one so devoted and generous might be in circumstances not the most flourishing, wrote to him the following letter:

ROCKY HILL, Sept. 10, 1783.

I have learned, since I have been at this place, that you are at Bordentown. Whether for the sake of retirement or economy, I know not. Be it for either, for both, or whatever it may, if you will come to this place and partake with me, I shall be exceedingly happy to see you at it.

Your presence may remind congress of your past services to this country; and if it is in my power to impress them, command my best exertions with freedom, as they will be rendered cheerfully by one who entertains a lively sense of the importance of your works, and who, with much pleasure, subscribes himself.

Your sincere friend,

G. Washington. In 1785, congress, on the report of a committee consisting of Mr. Gerry, Mr. Petit, and Mr. King,

Resolved, That the board of treasury take order for paying to Mr. Thomas Paine, the sum of three thousand dollars.

This, however, was not a gratuity, although it took that shape. It was but little if any more than was due Mr. Paine,

in consequence of the depreciation of the continental money in which his salary as secretary of the committee of foreign affairs had been paid.,

Mr. Paine had resolved not to make any application to the congress on the score of his literary labors; but he had several friends in the provincial assemblies who were determined that his exertions should not pass unrewarded. Through their influence, motions in his favor were brought before the legislature of Pennsylvania and the assembly of New York; the former gave him £500, and the latter the confiscated estate of a Mr. Frederick Devoe, a royalist. This estate, situated at New Rochelle, consisting of more than three hundred acres of land in a high state of cultivation, with a spacious and elegant stone-house, beside extensive outbuildings, was a valuable acquisition; and the readiness with which it was granted, is a proof of the high estimation in which Mr. Paine's services were held by one of the most opulent and powerful states in the Union.

In 1786, he published at Philadelphia, his " Dissertations on Government," "The Affairs of the Bank," and "PaperMoney." The bank alluded to was the one which had been established some years before, under the name of the “Bank of North America," on the capital of the three hundred thousand pounds, which resulted from the subscription which Paine headed with five hundred dollars, as has already been stated; which bank, instead of being what banks now are,the stimulants of a gambling credit system, and a ruinous importing system, had been of vast use to the cause of our national independence. Paine advocated a paper currency when it was of use, instead of being an abuse; in his days it helped to secure national independence, instead of subjecting the country, as it now does, to a servitude to the interests of England, which could she have foreseen, it is questionable whether even British pride would not have so succumbed to British avarice, that not a gun would have been fired, or a sword drawn against us. England could have afforded to pay us as many pounds for subjecting ourselves as we have done to her interests, as it cost her pennies to vainly attempt to prevent us from doing this. It is highly worthy of remark, that Paine opposed giving even the Independence promoting Bank of North America, a perpetual charter.

At this time Mr. Paine was highly popular, and enjoyed the esteem and friendship of the most literary, scientific, and patriotic men of the age.

PERIOD THIRD.

1787-1809.

MR. PAINE GOES TO EUROPE. HIS REVOLUTIONARY MOVE-
MENTS IN ENGLAND. IS ELECTED A MEMBER OF THE
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF FRANCE. TAKES AN

ACTIVE PART IN THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
HIS DEATH.

THE success which had crowned Mr. Paine's exertions in America, made him resolve to try the effects of his influence in the very citadel of the foes of liberal principles in government, whose out-posts he had stormed. As America no longer needed his aid, he resolved to attack the English government at home; to free England herself.

Accordingly, in April, 1787, he sailed from the United States for France, and arrived in Paris after a short passage. His knowledge of mechanics and natural philosophy had procured him the honor of being admitted a member of the American Philosophical society; he was also admitted Master of Arts by the university of Philadelphia. These honors, though not of much consequence in themselves, were the means of introducing him to some of the most scientific men in France, and soon after his arrival he exhibited to the Academy of Sciences, the model of an iron bridge which had occupied much of his leisure time during his residence in America. This model received the unqualified approbation of the Academy, and it was afterwards adopted by the most scientific men of England.

From Paris Mr. Paine proceeded to London, where he arrived on the third of September. Before the end of that month he went to Thetford to see his mother, who was now borne down by age, and was, besides, in very straightened circumstances. His father, it appears, had died during his

absence; and he hastened to the place of his birth to relieve the wants of his surviving parent. He led a recluse sort of life at Thetford for several weeks, being principally occupied in writing a pamphlet on the state of the nation, under the title of "Prospects on the Rubicon." This was published in London, toward the end of the year 1787.

During the year 1788, Mr. Paine was principally occupied in building his bridge. For this purpose he went to Rotherham in Yorkshire, in order that he might have an opportunity of superintending its iron castings.

The situation of France had now become of great interest to all Europe, and Mr. Paine was in the confidence of the chief actors in the great events which were there taking place, and he hastened again to Paris to witness and assist in the downfall of Bourbon despotism; to act his part in the great drama of freedom, the scene of which had shifted from the land of Washington to the country of Lafayette.

The French are peculiarly sensitive to the shafts of ridicule; and Voltaire,* taking a wise advantage of this, had made such good use of his exquisite wit, that both priestcraft and statecraft had become rather absurd than respectable in the estimation of the higher orders of those who held both their wealth and their positions under such patronage.

The writings of the Abbe Raynal had imbued the French with respect for the natural rights of humanity, and consequently with contempt and abhorrence for the vested rights of tyrants; and the writings of that great apostle of liberty, Rousseau, had long been preparing the way, in France, for what those of Paine had effected in America; in fact, Rousseau was the "author hero" of the French Revolution; and it was more owing to his pen, than to anything else, that the views of the people of France so differed from those of their rulers, that, whilst the latter, in assisting America to throw off the British yoke, looked no further than the weakening and humiliating of England, the former approved of, and sustained the measure, as initiatory to the destruction of monarchy itself.

The return from America, of the troops of Lafayette, had furnished a vast reinforcement to the popular cause, and infused its principles throughout all France. Mr. Paine 1emarks, that

That Encyclopedia of wit and wisdom, Voltair's "Philosophical Dictionary," is published by Mr. J. P. Mendum, at the office of the Boston Investigator."