450
will deposit a bond with good and sufficient security
in the sum of two thousand dollars, conditioned for
the payment of all costs in case I am defeated. I
shall require of you a like bond.
From the date of accepting this offer you may
have ninety days to collect and present your testi-
mony, giving me notice of time and place of taking
depositions. I shall have a like time to take evi-
dence upon my side, giving you like notice, and you
shall then have thirty days to take further testimony
in reply to what I may offer. The case shall then
be argued before the persons chosen; and their
decisions shall be final as to us.
If the arbitrator chosen by me shall die, I shall
have the right to choose another. You shall have
the same right. If the third one, chosen by our two,
shall die, the two shall choose another; and all va-
cancies, from whatever cause, shall be filled upon the
same principle.
The arbitrators shall sit when and where a major-
ity shall determine, and shall have full power to pass
upon all questions arising as to competency of
evidence, and upon all subjects.
_Second_.--As to Voltaire: I make the same prop-
osition, if you will substantiate that Voltaire died
expressing remorse or showing in any way that he
451
was in mental agony because he had attacked Catholi-
cism--or because he had denied the inspiration of the
Bible--or because he had denied the divinity of Christ.
I make these propositions because I want you
to stop slandering the dead.
If the propositions do not suit you in any particu-
lar, please state your objections, and I will modify
them in any way consistent with the object in view.
If Paine and Voltaire died filled with childish and
silly fear, I want to know it, and I want the world to
know it. On the other hand, if the believers in
superstition have made and circulated these cruel
slanders concerning the mighty dead, I want the
world to know that.
As soon as you notify me of the acceptance of
these propositions I will send you the certificate of
the bank that the money has been deposited upon
the foregoing conditions, together with copies of
bonds for costs. Yours truly,
R. G. Ingersoll.
In your paper of September 27, 1877, you acknowl-
edge the receipt of the foregoing letter, and after
giving an outline of its contents, say: "As not one
of the affirmations, in the form stated in this letter,
was contained in the offer we made, we have no
occasion to substantiate them. But we are prepared
452
to produce the evidence of the truth of our own
statement, and even to go further; to show not only
that Tom Paine 'died a drunken, cowardly, and
beastly death,' but that for many years previous, and
up to that event he lived a drunken and beastly life."
In order to refresh your memory as to what you
had published, I call your attention to the following,
which appeared in the N. Y. Observer, July 19, 1877:
"Put Down the Money.
"Col. Bob Ingersoll, in a speech full of ribaldry
and blasphemy, made in San Francisco recently, said:
"I will give $1,000 in gold coin to any clergyman
who can substantiate that the death of Voltaire was
not as peaceful as the dawn; and of Tom Paine whom
they assert died in fear and agony, frightened by the
clanking chains of devils--in fact frightened to death
by God. I will give $1,000 likewise to any one who
can substantiate this 'absurd story'--a story without
a word of truth in it."
"We have published the testimony, and the wit-
nesses are on hand to prove that Tom Paine died a
drunken, cowardly and beastly death. Let the Colo-
nel deposit the money with any honest man, and the
absurd story, as he terms it, shall be shown to be an
ower true tale. But he wont do it. His talk is Infi-
del 'buncombe' and nothing more."
453
On the 31st of August I sent you my letter, and
on the 27th of September you say in your paper:
"As not one of the affirmations in the form stated
in this letter was contained in the offer we made, we
have no occasion to substantiate them."
What were the affirmations contained in the offer
you made? I had offered a thousand dollars in gold
to any one who would substantiate "the absurd story"
that Thomas Paine died in fear and agony,frightened
by the clanking chains of devils--in fact, frightened to
death by God.
In response to this offer you said: "Let the Colo-
nel deposit the money with an honest man and the
'absurd story' as he terms it, shall be shown to be
an 'ower true tale.' But he won't do it. His talk
is infidel 'buncombe' and nothing more."
Did you not offer to prove that Paine died in fear
and agony, frightened by the clanking chains of
devils? Did you not ask me to deposit the money
that you might prove the "absurd story" to be an
"ower true tale" and obtain the money? Did you
not in your paper of the twenty-seventh of September
in effect deny that you had offered to prove this
"absurd story"? As soon as I offered to deposit
the gold and give bonds besides to cover costs, did
you not publish a falsehood?
454
You have eaten your own words, and, for my
part, I would rather have dined with Ezekiel than
with you.
You have not met the issue. You have know-
ingly avoided it. The question was not as to the
personal habits of Paine. The real question was
and is, whether Paine was filled with fear and horror
at the time of his death on account of his religious
opinions. That is the question. You avoid this.
In effect, you abandon that charge and make others.
To you belongs the honor of having made the
most cruel and infamous charges against Thomas
Paine that have ever been made. Of what you
have said you cannot prove the truth of one word.
You say that Thomas Paine died a drunken,
cowardly and beastly death.
I pronounce this charge to be a cowardly and
beastly falsehood.
Have you any evidence that he was in a drunken
condition when he died?
What did he say or do of a cowardly character
just before, or at about the time of his death?
In what way was his death cowardly? You must
answer these questions, and give your proof, or all
honest men will hold you in abhorrence. You have
made these charges. The man against whom you
Vindication of thomas paine.
455
make them is dead. He cannot answer you. I
can. He cannot compel you to produce your testi-
mony, or admit by your silence that you have
cruelly slandered the defenceless dead. I can and I
will. You say that his death was cowardly. In
what respect? Was it cowardly in him to hold the
Thirty-Nine Articles in contempt? Was it cowardly
not to call on your Lord? Was it cowardly not to
be afraid? You say that his death was beastly.
Again I ask, in what respect? Was it beastly to
submit to the inevitable with tranquillity? Was it
beastly to look with composure upon the approach
of death? Was it beastly to die without a com-
plaint, without a murmur--to pass from life without
a fear?
Did Thomas Paine Recant?
Mr. Paine had prophesied that fanatics would
crawl and cringe around him during his last mo-
ments. He believed that they would put a lie in
the mouth of Death.
When the shadow of the coming dissolution was
upon him, two clergymen, Messrs. Milledollar and
Cunningham, called to annoy the dying man. Mr.
Cunningham had the politeness to say, "You have
now a full view of death you cannot live long, and
whosoever does not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ
456
will asuredly be damned." Mr. Paine replied, "Let
me have none of your popish stuff. Get away with
you. Good morning."
On another occasion a Methodist minister ob-
truded himself when Willet Hicks was present.
This minister declared to Mr. Paine "that unless he
repented of his unbelief he would be damned."
Paine, although at the door of death, rose in his bed
and indignantly requested the clergyman to leave
his room. On another occasion, two brothers by
the name of Pigott, sought to convert him. He was
displeased and requested their departure. After-
ward Thomas Nixon and Captain Daniel Pelton
visited him for the express purpose of ascertaining
whether he had, in any manner, changed his relig-
ious opinions. They were assured by the dying
man that he still held the principles he had expressed
in his writings.
Afterward, these gentlemen hearing that William
Cobbett was about to write a life of Paine, sent him
the following note:
New York, April 24, 1818.
"Sir: We have been informed that you have a de-
sign to write a history of the life and writings of
Thomas Paine. If you have been furnished with
materials in respect to his religious opinions, or
457
rather of his recantation of his former opinions before
his death, all you have heard of his recanting is false.
Being aware that such reports would be raised after
his death by fanatics who infested his house at the
time it was expected he would die, we, the subscrib-
ers, intimate acquaintances of Thomas Paine since
the year 1776, went to his house. He was sitting
up in a chair, and apparently in full vigor and use of
all his mental faculties. We interrogated him upon
his religious opinions, and if he had changed his
mind, or repented of anything he had said or wrote
on that subject. He answered, "Not at all," and
appeared rather offended at our supposition that any
change should take place in his mind. We took
down in writing the questions put to him and his
answers thereto before a number of persons then in
his room, among whom were his doctor, Mrs.
Bonneville, &c. This paper is mislaid and cannot
be found at present, but the above is the substance
which can be attested by many living witnesses."
Thomas Nixon.
Daniel Pelton.
Mr. Jarvis, the artist, saw Mr. Paine one or two
days before his death. To Mr. Jarvis he expressed
his belief in his written opinions upon the subject of
religion. B. F. Haskin, an attorney of the city of
458
New York, also visited him and inquired as to his
religious opinions. Paine was then upon the thresh-
old of death, but he did not tremble. He was not a
coward. He expressed his firm and unshaken belief
in the religious ideas he had given to the world.
Dr. Manley was with him when he spoke his last
words. Dr. Manley asked the dying man if he did
not wish to believe that Jesus was the Son of God,
and the dying philosopher answered: "I have no
wish to believe on that subject." Amasa Woodsworth
sat up with Thomas Paine the night before his
death. In 1839 Gilbert Vale hearing that Mr.
Woodsworth was living in or near Boston, visited
him for the purpose of getting his statement. The
statement was published in the Beacon of June 5,
1839, while thousands who had been acquainted with
Mr. Paine were living.
The following is the article referred to.
"We have just returned from Boston. One ob-
ject of our visit to that city, was to see a Mr. Amasa
Woodsworth, an engineer, now retired in a hand-
some cottage and garden at East Cambridge, Boston.
This gentleman owned the house occupied by Paine
at his death--while he lived next door. As an act
of kindness Mr. Woodsworth visited Mr. Paine every
day for six weeks before his death. He frequently
459
sat up with him, and did so on the last two nights of
his life. He was always there with Dr. Manley, the
physician, and assisted in removing Mr. Paine while
his bed was prepared. He was present when Dr.
Manley asked Mr. Paine "if he wished to believe
that Jesus Christ was the Son of God," and he de-
scribes Mr. Paine's answer as animated. He says
that lying on his back he used some action and with
much emphasis, replied, "I have no wish to believe
on that subject." He lived some time after this, but
was not known to speak, for he died tranquilly. He
accounts for the insinuating style of Dr. Manley's
letter, by stating that that gentleman just after its
publication joined a church. He informs us that he
has openly reproved the doctor for the falsity con-
tained in the spirit of that letter, boldly declaring be-
fore Dr. Manley, who is yet living, that nothing
which he saw justified the insinuations. Mr. Woods-
worth assures us that he neither heard nor saw any-
thing to justify the belief of any mental change in
the opinions of Mr. Paine previous to his death; but
that being very ill and in pain chiefly arising from
the skin being removed in some parts by long lying,
he was generally too uneasy to enjoy conversation
on abstract subjects. This, then, is the best evidence
that can be procured on this subject, and we publish
460
it while the contravening parties are yet alive, and
with the authority of Mr. Woodsworth.
Gilbert Vale.
A few weeks ago I received the following letter
which confirms the statement of Mr. Vale:
Near Stockton, Cal., Green-
wood Cottage, July 9, 1877.
Col. Ingersoll: In 1842 I talked with a gentle-
man in Boston. I have forgotten his name; but he was
then an engineer of the Charleston navy yard. I am
thus particular so that you can find his name on the
books. He told me that he nursed Thomas Paine
in his last illness, and closed his eyes when dead. I
asked him if he recanted and called upon God to
save him. He replied, "No. He died as he had
taught. He had a sore upon his side and when we
turned him it was very painful and he would cry out
'O God!' or something like that." "But," said
the narrator, "that was nothing, for he believed in a
God." I told him that I had often heard it asserted
from the pulpit that Mr. Paine had recanted in his
last moments. The gentleman said that it was not
true, and he appeared to be an intelligent, truthful
man. With respect, I remain, &c.,
Philip Graves, M. D.
461
The next witness is Willet Hicks, a Quaker
preacher. He says that during the last illness of
Mr. Paine he visited him almost daily, and that
Paine died firmly convinced of the truth of the relig-
ious opinions he had given to his fellow-men. It
was to this same Willet Hicks that Paine applied for
permission to be buried in the cemetery of the
Quakers. Permission was refused. This refusal
settles the question of recantation. If he had re-
canted, of course there could have been no objection
to his body being buried by the side of the best
hypocrites on the earth.
If Paine recanted why should he be denied "a
little earth for charity"? Had he recanted, it
would have been regarded as a vast and splendid
triumph for the gospel. It would with much noise
and pomp and ostentation have been heralded
about the world.
I received the following letter to-day. The
writer is well know in this city, and is a man of
high character:
Peoria, Oct. 8th, 1877.
Robert G. Ingersoll, Esteemed Friend: My
parents were Friends (Quakers). My father died
when I was very young. The elderly and middle-
aged Friends visited at my mother's house. We
462
lived in the city of New York. Among the number
I distinctly remember Elias Hicks, Willet Hicks,
and a Mr.-Day, who was a bookseller in Pearl
street. There were many others, whose names I
do not now remember. The subject of the recanta-
tion by Thomas Paine of his views about the Bible
in his last illness, or at any other time, was dis-
cussed by them in my presence at different times.
I learned from them that some of them had attended
upon Thomas Paine in his last sickness and minis-
tered to his wants up to the time of his death.
And upon the question of whether he did recant
there was but one expression. They all said that
he did not recant in any manner. I often heard
them say they wished he had recanted. In fact,
according to them, the nearer he approached death
the more positive he appeared to be in his con-
victions.
These conversations were from 1820 to 1822. I
was at that time from ten to twelve years old, but
these conversations impressed themselves upon me
because many thoughtless people then blamed the
Society of Friends for their kindness to that "arch
Infidel," Thomas Paine..
Truly yours,
A. C. Hankinson.
463
A few days ago I received the following letter:
Albany, New York, Sept. 27, 1877.
Dear Sir: It is over twenty years ago that pro-
fessionally I made the acquaintance of John Hogeboom,
a Justice of the Peace of the county of
Rensselaer, New York. He was then over seventy
years of age and had the reputation of being a man
of candor and integrity. He was a great admirer of
Paine. He told me that he was personally ac-
quainted with him, and used to see him frequently
during the last years of his life in the city of New
York, where Hogeboom then resided. I asked him
if there was any truth in the charge that Paine was
in the habit of getting drunk. He said that it was
utterly false; that he never heard of such a thing
during the life-time of Mr. Paine, and did not believe
any one else did. I asked him about the recantation
of his religious opinions on his death-bed, and the
revolting death-bed scenes that the world had heard
so much about. He said there was no truth in
them, that he had received his information from
persons who attended Paine in his last illness, "and
that he passed peacefully away, as we may say, in
the sunshine of a great soul."...
Yours truly,
W. J. Hilton,
464
The witnesses by whom I substantiate the fact
that Thomas Paine did not recant, and that he died
holding the religious opinions he had published, are:
First--Thomas Nixon, Captain Daniel Pelton,
B. F. Haskin. These gentlemen visited him during
his last illness for the purpose of ascertaining whether
he had in any respect changed his views upon relig-
ion. He told them that he had not.
Second--James Cheetham. This man was the
most malicious enemy Mr. Paine had, and yet he
admits that "Thomas Paine died placidly, and al-
most without a struggle." (See Life of Thomas
Paine, by James Cheetham).
Third--The ministers, Milledollar and Cunning-
ham. These gentlemen told Mr. Paine that if he
died without believing in the Lord Jesus Christ he
would be damned, and Paine replied, "Let me have
none of your popish stuff. Good morning." (See
Sherwin's Life of Paine, p. 220).
Fourth--Mrs. Hedden. She told these same
preachers when they attempted to obtrude them-
selves upon Mr. Paine again, that the attempt to
convert Mr. Paine was useless--"that if God did not
change his mind no human power could."
Fifth--Andrew A. Dean. This man lived upon
Paine's farm at New Rochelle, and corresponded
465
with him upon religious subjects. (See Paine's
Theological Works, p. 308.)
Sixth--Mr. Jarvis, the artist with whom Paine
lived. He gives an account of an old lady coming
to Paine and telling him that God Almighty had
sent her to tell him that unless he repented and be-
lieved in the blessed Savior, he would be damned.
Paine replied that God would not send such a foolish
old woman with such an impertinent message. (See
Clio Rickman's Life of Paine.)
Seventh--Wm. Carver, with whom Paine boarded.
Mr. Carver said again and again that Paine did not
recant. He knew him well, and had every opportun-
ity of knowing. (See Life of Paine by Gilbert Vale.)
Eighth--Dr. Manley, who attended him in his last
sickness, and to whom Paine spoke his last words.
Dr. Manley asked him if he did not wish to believe in
Jesus Christ, and he replied, "I have no wish to
believe on that subject."
Ninth--Willet Hicks and Elias Hicks, who were
with him frequently during his last sickness, and
both of whom tried to persuade him to recant. Ac-
cording to their testimony, Mr. Paine died as he had
lived--a believer in God, and a friend of man.
Willet Hicks was offered money to say something
false against Thomas Paine. He was even offered
466
money to remain silent and allow others to slander
the dead. Mr. Hicks, speaking of Thomas Paine,
said: "He was a good man--an honest man."
(Vale's Life of Paine.)
Tenth--Amasa Woodsworth, who was with him
every day for some six weeks immediately preceding
his death, and sat up with him the last two nights of
his life. This man declares that Paine did not recant
and that he died tranquilly. The evidence of Mr.
Woodsworth is conclusive.
Eleventh--Thomas Paine himself. The will of
Thomas Paine, written by himself, commences as
follows:
"The last will and testament of me, the subscriber,
Thomas Paine, reposing confidence in my creator
God, and in no other being, for I know of no other,
nor believe in any other;" and closes in these words;
"I have lived an honest and useful life to mankind;
my time has been spent in doing good, and I die in
perfect composure and resignation to the will of my
creator God."
Twelfth--If Thomas Paine recanted, why do you
pursue him? If he recanted, he died substantially
in your belief, for what reason then do you denounce
his death as cowardly? If upon his death-bed he
renounced the opinions he had published, the busi-
467
ness of defaming him should be done by Infidels, not
by Christians.
I ask you if it is honest to throw away the testi-
mony of his friends--the evidence of fair and honor-
able men--and take the putrid words of avowed and
malignant enemies?
When Thomas Paine was dying, he was infested
by fanatics--by the snaky spies of bigotry. In the
shadows of death were the unclean birds of prey
waiting to tear with beak and claw the corpse of him
who wrote the "Rights of Man." And there lurk-
ing and crouching in the darkness were the jackals
and hyenas of superstition ready to violate his grave.
These birds of prey--these unclean beasts are the
witnesses produced and relied upon by you.
One by one the instruments of torture have been
wrenched from the cruel clutch of the church, until
within the armory of orthodoxy there remains but
one weapon--Slander.
Against the witnesses that I have produced you
can bring just two--Mary Roscoe and Mary Hins-
dale. The first is referred to in the memoir of
Stephen Grellet. She had once been a servant in his
house. Grellet tells what happened between this
girl and Paine. According to this account Paine
asked her if she had ever read any of his writings,
468
and on being told that she had read very little of
them, he inquired what she thought of them, adding
that from such an one as she he expected a correct
answer.
Let us examine this falsehood. Why would Paine
expect a correct answer about his writings from one
who had read very little of them? Does not such a
statement devour itself? This young lady further
said that the "Age of Reason" was put in her hands
and that the more she read in it the more dark and
distressed she felt, and that she threw the book into
the fire. Whereupon Mr. Paine remarked, "I wish
all had done as you did, for if the devil ever had any
agency in any work, he had it in my writing that book."
The next is Mary Hinsdale. She was a servant
in the family of Willet Hicks. She, like Mary Ros-
coe, was sent to carry some delicacy to Mr. Paine.
To this young lady Paine, according to her account,
said precisely the same that he did to Mary Roscoe,
and she said the same thing to Mr. Paine.
My own opinion is that Mary Roscoe and Mary
Hinsdale are one and the same person, or the same
story has been by mistake put in the mouth of both.
It is not possible that the same conversation should
have taken place between Paine and Mary Roscoe,
and between him and Mary Hinsdale.
469
Mary Hinsdale lived with Willet Hicks and he
pronounced her story a pious fraud and fabrication.
He said that Thomas Paine never said any such
thing to Mary Hinsdale. (See Vale's Life of
Paine.)
Another thing about this witness. A woman by
the name of Mary Lockwood, a Hicksite Quaker,
died. Mary Hinsdale met her brother about that
time and told him that his sister had recanted, and
wanted her to say so at her funeral. This turned
out to be false.
It has been claimed that Mary Hinsdale made her
statement to Charles Collins. Long after the alleged
occurrence Gilbert Vale, one of the biographers of
Paine, had a conversation with Collins concerning
Mary Hinsdale. Vale asked him what he thought
of her. He replied that some of the Friends be-
lieved that she used opiates, and that they did not
give credit to her statements. He also said that he
believed what the Friends said, but thought that
when a young woman, she might have told the
truth.
In 1818 William Cobbett came to New York.
He began collecting materials for a life of Thomas
Paine. In this he became acquainted with Mary
Hinsdale and Charles Collins. Mr. Cobbett gave a
470
full account of what happened in a letter addressed
to the Norwich Mercury in 1819. From this ac-
count it seems that Charles Collins told Cobbett that
Paine had recanted. Cobbett called for the testi-
mony, and told Mr. Collins that he must give time,
place, and the circumstances. He finally brought a
statement that he stated had been made by Mary
Hinsdale. Armed with this document Cobbett, in
October of that year, called upon the said Mary
Hinsdale, at No. 10 Anthony street, New York, and
showed her the statement. Upon being questioned
by Mr. Cobbett she said, "That it was so long ago
that she could not speak positively to any part of the
matter--that she would not say that any part of the
paper was true--that she had never seen the paper
--and that she had never given Charles Collins
authority to say anything about the matter in her
name." And so in the month of October, in the
year of grace 1818, in the mist and fog of forgetful-
ness disappeared forever one Mary Hinsdale--the
last and only witness against the intellectual honesty
of Thomas Paine.
_Did Thomas Paine live the life of a drunken beast,
and did he die a drunken, cowardly and beastly death?_
Upon you rests the burden of substantiating these
infamous charges.
471
You have, I suppose, produced the best evidence
in your possession, and that evidence I will now pro-
ceed to examine. Your first witness is Grant Thor-
burn. He makes three charges against Thomas
Paine, 1st. That his wife obtained a divorce from
him in England for cruelty and neglect. 2d. That
he was a defaulter and fled from England to Amer-
ica. 3d. That he was a drunkard.
These three charges stand upon the same evidence
--the word of Grant Thorburn. If they are not all
true Mr. Thorburn stands impeached.
The charge that Mrs. Paine obtained a divorce on
account of the cruelty and neglect of her husband is
utterly false. There is no such record in the world,
and never was. Paine and his wife separated by
mutual consent. Each respected the other. They
remained friends. This charge is without any foun-
dation in fact. I challenge the Christian world to
produce the record of this decree of divorce. Accord-
ing to Mr. Thorburn it was granted in England. In
that country public records are kept of all such de-
crees. Have the kindness to produce this decree
showing that it was given on account of cruelty or
admit that Mr. Thorburn was mistaken.
Thomas Paine was a just man. Although sepa-
rated from his wife, he always spoke of her with
472
tenderness and respect, and frequently sent her
money without letting her know the source from
whence it came. Was this the conduct of a drunken
beast?
The second charge, that Paine was a defaulter in
England and fled to America, is equally false. He
did not flee from England. He came to America,
not as a fugitive, but as a free man. He came with
a letter of introduction signed by another Infidel,
Benjamin Franklin. He came as a soldier of Free-
dom--an apostle of Liberty.
In this second charge there is not one word of truth.
He held a small office in England. If he was a
defaulter the records of that country will show that
fact.
Mr. Thorburn, unless the record can be produced
to substantiate him, stands convicted of at least two
mistakes.
Now, as to the third: He says that in 1802 Paine
was an "old remnant of mortality, drunk, bloated
and half asleep."
Can any one believe this to be a true account of
the personal appearance of Mr. Paine in 1802? He
had just returned from France. He had been wel-
comed home by Thomas Jefferson, who had said that
he was entitled to the hospitality of every American.
473
In 1802 Mr. Paine was honored with a public din-
ner in the city of New York. He was called upon
and treated with kindness and respect by such men
as DeWitt Clinton.
In 1806 Mr. Paine wrote a letter to Andrew A.
Dean upon the subject of religion. Read that letter
and then say that the writer of it was an "old rem-
nant of mortality, drunk, bloated and half asleep."
Search the files of the New York Observer from the
first issue to the last, and you will find nothing supe-
rior to this letter.
In 1803 Mr. Paine wrote a letter of considerable
length, and of great force, to his friend Samuel
Adams. Such letters are not written by drunken
beasts, nor by remnants of old mortality, nor by
drunkards. It was about the same time that he
wrote his "Remarks on Robert Hall's Sermons."
These "Remarks" were not written by a drunken
beast, but by a clear-headed and thoughtful man.
In 1804 he published an essay on the invasion of
England, and a treatise on gunboats, full of valuable
maritime information:--in 1805, a treatise on yellow
fever, suggesting modes of prevention. In short, he
was an industrious and thoughtful man. He sympa-
thized with the poor and oppressed of all lands. He
looked upon monarchy as a species of physical
474
slavery. He had the goodness to attack that form
of government. He regarded the religion of his day
as a kind of mental slavery. He had the courage to
give his reasons for his opinion. His reasons filled
the churches with hatred. Instead of answering his
arguments they attacked him. Men who were not
fit to blacken his shoes, blackened his character.
There is too much religious cant in the statement
of Mr. Thorburn. He exhibited too much anxiety
to tell what Grant Thorburn said to Thomas Paine.
He names Thomas Jefferson as one of the disreputa-
ble men who welcomed Paine with open arms. The
testimony of a man who regarded Thomas Jefferson
as a disreputable person, as to the character of any-
body, is utterly without value. In my judgment, the
testimony of Mr. Thorburn should be thrown aside
as wholly unworthy of belief.
Your next witness is the Rev. J. D. Wickham, D.
D., who tells what an elder in his church said. This
elder said that Paine passed his last days on his farm
at New Rochelle with a solitary female attendant.
This is not true. He did not pass his last days at
New Rochelle. Consequently this pious elder did
not see him during his last days at that place. Upon
this elder we prove an alibi. Mr. Paine passed his
last days in the city of New York, in a house upon
475
Columbia street. The story of the Rev. J. D. Wick-
ham, D.D., is simply false.
The next competent false witness is the Rev.
Charles Hawley, D.D., who proceeds to state that
the story of the Rev. J. D. Wickham, D.D., is cor-
roborated by older citizens of New Rochelle. The
names of these ancient residents are withheld. Ac-
cording to these unknown witnesses, the account
given by the deceased elder was entirely correct.
But as the particulars of Mr. Paine's conduct "were
too loathsome to be described in print," we are left
entirely in the dark as to what he really did.
While at New Rochelle Mr. Paine lived with Mr.
Purdy--with Mr. Dean--with Captain Pelton, and
with Mr. Staple. It is worthy of note that all of
these gentlemen give the lie direct to the statements
of "older residents" and ancient citizens spoken of
by the Rev. Charles Hawley, D.D., and leave him
with his "loathsome particulars" existing only in his
own mind.
The next gentleman you bring upon the stand is
W. H. Ladd, who quotes from the memoirs of
Stephen Grellet. This gentleman also has the mis-
fortune to be dead. According to his account, Mr.
Paine made his recantation to a servant girl of his
by the name of Mary Roscoe. To this girl, accord-
476
ing to the account, Mr. Paine uttered the wish that
all who read his book had burned it. I believe there
is a mistake in the name of this girl. Her name was
probably Mary Hinsdale, as it was once claimed that
Paine made the same remark to her, but this point
I shall notice hereafter. These are your witnesses,
and the only ones you bring forward, to support
your charge that Thomas Paine lived a drunken and
beastly life and died a drunken, cowardly and beastly
death. All these calumnies are found in a life of
Paine by a Mr. Cheetham, the convicted libeler
already referred to. Mr. Cheetham was an enemy
of the man whose life he pretended to write.
In order to show you the estimation in which Mr.
Cheetham was held by Mr. Paine, I will give you a
copy of a letter that throws light upon this point:
October 28, 1807.
"Mr. Cheetham: Unless you make a public apol-
ogy for the abuse and falsehood in your paper of
Tuesday, October 27th, respecting me, I will prose-
cute you for lying."
Thomas Paine.
In another letter, speaking of this same man, Mr.
Paine says: "If an unprincipled bully cannot be re-
formed, he can be punished." "Cheetham has been
so long in the habit of giving false information, that
truth is to him like a foreign language."
477
Mr. Cheetham wrote the life of Paine to gratify
his malice and to support religion. He was prose-
cuted for libel--was convicted and fined.
Yet the life of Paine written by this man is referred
to by the Christian world as the highest authority.
As to the personal habits of Mr. Paine, we have
the testimony of William Carver, with whom he
lived; of Mr. Jarvis, the artist, with whom he lived;
of Mr. Staple, with whom he lived; of Mr. Purdy,
who was a tenant of Paine's; of Mr. Burger, with
whom he was intimate; of Thomas Nixon and
Captain Daniel Pelton, both of whom knew him
well; of Amasa Woodsworth, who was with him
when he died; of John Fellows, who boarded at the
same house; of James Wilburn, with whom he
boarded; of B. F. Haskin, a lawyer, who was well
acquainted with him and called upon him during his
last illness; of Walter Morton, a friend; of Clio
Rickman, who had known him for many years; of
Willet and Elias Hicks, Quakers, who knew him in-
timately and well; of Judge Herttell, H. Margary,
Elihu Palmer, and many others. All these testified
to the fact that Mr. Paine was a temperate man. In
those days nearly everybody used spirituous liquors.
Paine was not an exception; but he did not drink to
excess. Mr. Lovett, who kept the City Hotel where
478
Paine stopped, in a note to Caleb Bingham, declared
that Paine drank less than any boarder he had.
Against all this evidence you produce the story of
Grant Thorburn--the story of the Rev. J. D. Wick-
ham that an elder in his church told him that Paine
was a drunkard, corroborated by the Rev. Charles
Hawley, and an extract from Lossing's history to
the same effect. The evidence is overwhelmingly
against you. Will you have the fairness to admit it?
Your witnesses are merely the repeaters of the false-
hoods of James Cheetham, the convicted libeler.
After all, drinking is not as bad as lying. An
honest drunkard is better than a calumniator of the
dead. "A remnant of old mortality, drunk, bloated
and half asleep" is better than a perfectly sober
defender of human slavery.
To become drunk is a virtue compared with steal-
ing a babe from the breast of its mother.
Drunkenness is one of the beatitudes, compared
with editing a religious paper devoted to the defence
of slavery upon the ground that it is a divine insti-
tution.
Do you really think that Paine was a drunken
beast when he wrote "Common Sense"--a pamphlet
that aroused three millions of people, as people were
never aroused by a pamphlet before? Was he a
479
drunken beast when he wrote the "Crisis"? Was
it to a drunken beast that the following letter was
addressed:
Rocky Hill, September 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 or both, or whatever it may, if you will come
to this place and partake with me I shall be exceed-
ingly 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,
"George Washington."
Did any of your ancestors ever receive a letter
like that?
Do you think that Paine was a drunken beast
when the following letter was received by him?
"You express a wish in your letter to return to
America in a national ship; Mr. Dawson, who brings
over the treaty, and who will present you with this
letter, is charged with orders to the captain of the
480
Maryland to receive and accommodate you back, if you
can be ready to depart at such a short warning. You
will in general find us returned to sentiments worthy
of former times; _in these it will be your glory to have
steadily labored and with as much effect as any man
living._ That you may live long to continue your
useful labors, and reap the reward in the _thankfulness
of nations_, is my sincere prayer. Accept the assur-
ances of my high esteem and affectionate attachment."
Thomas Jefferson.
Did any of your ancestors ever receive a letter
like that?
"It has been very generally propagated through
the continent that I wrote the pamphlet 'Common
Sense.' I could not have written anything in so
manly and striking a style."--John Adams.
"A few more such flaming arguments as were
exhibited at Falmouth and Norfolk, added to the
sound doctrine and unanswerable reasoning con-
tained in the pamphlet 'Common Sense,' will not
leave numbers at a loss to decide on the propriety of
a separation."--George Washington.
"It is not necessary for me to tell you how
much all your countrymen--I speak of the great
mass of the people--are interested in your welfare.
481
They have not forgotten the history of their own
Revolution and the difficult scenes through which
they passed; nor do they review its several stages
without reviving in their bosoms a due sensibility of
the merits of those who served them in that great
and arduous conflict. The crime of ingratitude has
not yet stained, and I trust never will stain, our
national character. You are considered by them as
not only having rendered important services in our
own Revolution, but as being on a more extensive
scale the friend of human rights, and a distinguished
and able defender of public liberty. To the welfare
of Thomas Paine the Americans are not, nor can
they be indifferent.".. James Monroe.
Did any of your ancestors ever receive a letter
like that?
"No writer has exceeded Paine in ease and famil-
iarity of style, in perspicuity of expression, happiness
of elucidation, and in simple and unassuming lan-
guage."'--Thomas Jefferson.
Was ever a letter like that written about an editor
of the _New York Observer?_
Was it in consideration of the services of a
drunken beast that the Legislature of Pennsylvania
presented Thomas Paine with five hundred pounds
sterling?
482
Did the State of New York feel indebted to a
drunken beast, and confer upon Thomas Paine an
estate of several hundred acres?
"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-creat-
ures happy."
"My own mind is my own church."
"It is necessary to the happiness of man that he
be mentally faithful to himself."
"Any system of religion that shocks the mind of
a child cannot be a true system."
"The Word of God is the creation which we
behold."
"The age of ignorance commenced with the
Christian system."
"It is with a pious fraud as with a bad action--it
begets a calamitous necessity of going on."
"To read the Bible without horror, we must undo
everything that is tender, sympathizing and benev-
olent in the heart of man."
"The man does not exist who can say I have per-
secuted him, or that I have in any case returned evil
for evil."
"Of all tyrannies that afflict mankind, tyranny in
religion is the worst."
483
"My own opinion is, that those whose lives have
been spent in doing good and endeavoring to make
their fellow-mortals happy, will be happy hereafter."
"The belief in a cruel god makes a cruel man."
"The intellectual part of religion is a private affair
between every man and his Maker, and in which no
third party has any right to interfere. The practical
part consists in our doing good to each other."
"No man ought to make a living by religion. One
person cannot act religion for another--every person
must perform it for himself."
"One good schoolmaster is of more use than a
hundred priests."
"Let us propagate morality unfettered by super-
stition."
"God is the power, or first cause, Nature is the
law, and matter is the subject acted upon."
"I believe in one God and no more, and I hope
for happiness beyond this life."
"The key of heaven is not in the keeping of any
sect nor ought the road to it to be obstructed
by any."
"My religion, and the whole of it, is the fear and
love of the Deity and universal philanthropy."
"I have yet, I believe, some years in store, for I
have a good state of health and a happy mind. I
484
take care of both, by nourishing the first with tem-
perance and the latter with abundance."
"He lives immured within the Bastile of a
word."
How perfectly that sentence describes you! The
Bastile in which you are immured is the word
"Calvinism."
"Man has no property in man."
What a splendid motto that would have made for
the _New York Observer_ in the olden time!
"The world is my country; to do good, my
religion."
I ask you again whether these splendid utterances
came from the lips of a drunken beast?
_Did Thomas Paine die in destitution and want?_
The charge has been made, over and over again,
that Thomas Paine died in want and destitution--
that he was an abandoned pauper--an outcast with-
out friends and without money. This charge is just
as false as the rest.
Upon his return to this country in 1802, he was
worth $30,000, according to his own statement made
at that time in the following letter addressed to Clio
Rickman:
"My Dear Friend: Mr. Monroe, who is appointed
minister extraordinary to France, takes charge of
485
this, to be delivered to Mr. Este, banker in Paris, to
be forwarded to you.
"I arrived at Baltimore the 30th of October, and
you can have no idea of the agitation which my
arrival occasioned. From New Hampshire to
Georgia (an extent of 1,500 miles) every newspaper
was filled with applause or abuse.
"My property in this country has been taken care
of by my friends, and is now worth six thousand
pounds sterling; which put in the funds will bring
me L400 sterling a year.
"Remember me in affection and friendship to your
wife and family, and in the circle of your friends."
Thomas Paine.
A man in those days worth thirty thousand dol-
lars was not a pauper. That amount would bring an
income of at least two thousand dollars per annum.
Two thousand dollars then would be fully equal to
five thousand dollars now.
On the 12th of July, 1809, the year in which he
died, Mr. Paine made his will. From this instru-
ment we learn that he was the owner of a valuable
farm within twenty miles of New York. He also
was the owner of thirty shares in the New York
Phoenix Insurance Company, worth upwards of fif-
teen hundred dollars. Besides this, some personal
486
property and ready money. By his will he gave to
Walter Morton, and Thomas Addis Emmett, brother
of Robert Emmett, two hundred dollars each, and
one hundred to the widow of Elihu Palmer.
Is it possible that this will was made by a pauper
--by a destitute outcast--by a man who suffered for
the ordinary necessaries of life?
But suppose, for the sake of the argument, that he
was poor and that he died a beggar, does that tend
to show that the Bible is an inspired book and that
Calvin did not burn Servetus? Do you really regard
poverty as a crime? If Paine had died a millionaire,
would you have accepted his religious opinions? If
Paine had drank nothing but cold water would you
have repudiated the five cardinal points of Calvin-
ism? Does an argument depend for its force upon
the pecuniary condition of the person making it?
As a matter of fact, most reformers--most men and
women of genius, have been acquainted with poverty.
Beneath a covering of rags have been found some of
the tenderest and bravest hearts.
Owing to the attitude of the churches for the last
fifteen hundred years, truth-telling has not been a
very lucrative business. As a rule, hypocrisy has
worn the robes, and honesty the rags. That day is
passing away. You cannot now answer the argu-
487
ments of a man by pointing at holes in his coat.
Thomas Paine attacked the church when it was
powerful--when it had what was called honors to
bestow--when it was the keeper of the public con-
science--when it was strong and cruel. The church
waited till he was dead then attacked his reputation
and his clothes.
Once upon a time a donkey kicked a lion. The
lion was dead.
Conclusion.
From the persistence with which the orthodox
have charged for the last sixty-eight years that
Thomas Paine recanted, and that when dying he
was filled with remorse and fear; from the malignity
of the attacks upon his personal character, I had con-
cluded that there must be some evidence of some
kind to support these charges. Even with my ideas
of the average honor of believers in superstition--
the disciples of fear--I did not quite believe that all
these infamies rested solely upon poorly attested
lies. I had charity enough to suppose that some-
thing had been said or done by Thomas Paine capa-
ble of being tortured into a foundation for these
calumnies. And I was foolish enough to think that
even you would be willing to fairly examine the pre-
tended evidence said to sustain these charges, and
488
give your honest conclusion to the world. I sup-
posed that you, being acquainted with the history of
your country, felt under a certain obligation to
Thomas Paine for the splendid services rendered by
him in the darkest days of the Revolution. It was
only reasonable to suppose that you were aware that
in the midnight of Valley Forge the "Crisis," by
Thomas Paine, was the first star that glittered in the
wide horizon of despair. I took it for granted that
you knew of the bold stand taken and the brave
words spoken by Thomas Paine, in the French Con-
vention, against the death of the king. I thought it
probable that you, being an editor, had read the
"Rights of Man;" that you knew that Thomas
Paine was a champion of human liberty; that he was
one of the founders and fathers of this Republic; that
he was one of the foremost men of his age; that he
had never written a word in favor of injustice; that
he was a despiser of slavery; that he abhorred tyr-
anny in all its forms; that he was in the widest and
highest sense a friend of his race; that his head was
as clear as his heart was good, and that he had the
courage to speak his honest thought. Under these
circumstances I had hoped that you would for the
moment forget your religious prejudices and submit
to the enlightened judgment of the world the evi-
489
dence you had, or could obtain, affecting in any way
the character of so great and so generous a man. This
you have refused to do. In my judgment, you have
mistaken the temper of even your own readers. A
large majority of the religious people of this country
have, to a considerable extent, outgrown the preju-
dices of their fathers. They are willing to know the
truth and the whole truth, about the life and death of
Thomas Paine. They will not thank you for having
presented them the moss-covered, the maimed and dis-
torted traditions of ignorance, prejudice, and credulity.
By this course you will convince them not of the
wickedness of Paine, but of your own unfairness.
What crime had Thomas Paine committed that he
should have feared to die? The only answer you
can give is, that he denied the inspiration of the
Scriptures. If this is a crime, the civilized world is
filled with criminals. The pioneers of human thought
--the intellectual leaders of the world--the foremost
men in every science--the kings of literature and
art--those who stand in the front rank of investiga-
tion--the men who are civilizing, elevating, instruct-
ing, and refining mankind, are to-day unbelievers in
the dogma of inspiration. Upon this question, the
intellect of Christendom agrees with the conclusions
reached by the genius of Thomas Paine. Centuries
490
ago a noise was made for the purpose of frightening
mankind. Orthodoxy is the echo of that noise.
The man who now regards the Old Testament as
in any sense a sacred or inspired book is, in my judg-
ment, an intellectual and moral deformity. There is
in it so much that is cruel, ignorant, and ferocious
that it is to me a matter of amazement that it was
ever thought to be the work of a most merciful deity.
Upon the question of inspiration Thomas Paine
gave his honest opinion. Can it be that to give an
honest opinion causes one to die in terror and de-
spair? Have you in your writings been actuated by
the fear of such a consequence? Why should it be
taken for granted that Thomas Paine, who devoted
his life to the sacred cause of freedom, should have
been hissed at in the hour of death by the snakes of
conscience, while editors of Presbyterian papers who
defended slavery as a divine institution, and cheer-
fully justified the stealing of babes from the breasts of
mothers, are supposed to have passed smilingly from
earth to the embraces of angels? Why should you
think that the heroic author of the "Rights of Man"
should shudderingly dread to leave this "bank and
shoal of time," while Calvin, dripping with the blood
of Servetus, was anxious to be judged of God? Is
it possible that the persecutors--the instigators of
491
the massacre of St. Bartholomew--the inventors and
users of thumb-screws, and iron boots, and racks--
the burners and tearers of human flesh--the stealers,
whippers and enslavers of men--the buyers and
beaters of babes and mothers--the founders of
inquisitions--the makers of chains, the builders of
dungeons, the slanderers of the living and the calum-
niators of the dead, all died in the odor of sanctity,
with white, forgiven hands folded upon the breasts
of peace, while the destroyers of prejudice--the
apostles of humanity--the soldiers of liberty--the
breakers of fetters--the creators of light--died sur-
rounded with the fierce fiends of fear?
In your attempt to destroy the character of Thomas
Paine you have failed, and have succeeded only in
leaving a stain upon your own. You have written
words as cruel, bitter and heartless as the creed of
Calvin. Hereafter you will stand in the pillory of
history as a defamer--a calumniator of the dead.
You will be known as the man who said that Thomas
Paine, the "Author Hero," lived a drunken, coward-
ly and beastly life, and died a drunken and beastly
death. These infamous words will be branded upon
the forehead of your reputation. They will be re-
membered against you when all else you may have
uttered shall have passed from the memory of men.
Robert G. Ingersoll.