(February, 1879.)
Fling mud enough and some of it will stick. This noble maxim has been
the favorite of traducers in all ages and climes. They know that the
object of their malignity cannot always be on the alert to cleanse
himself from the filth they fling, especially if cast behind his
back; they know that lies, and especially slanderous lies, are hard to
overtake, and when caught harder to strangle; and therefore they feel
confident as to the ultimate fate of their victim if they can only
persevere long enough in their vile policy of defamation. For human
nature being more prone to believe evil than good of others, it
generally happens that the original traducers are at length joined by a
host of kindred spirits almost as eager and venomous as themselves, "the
long-neck'd geese of the world, who are ever hissing dispraise because
their natures are little;" while a multitude of others, not so
much malignant as foolish and given to scandal, lend their cowardly
assistance, and help to vilify characters far beyond the reach of their
emulation. And should such characters be those of men who champion
unpopular causes, there is no lie too black for belief concerning them,
no accusation of secret theft or hateful meanness or loathsome lust,
that will not readily gain credence. Mr. Tennyson speaks of--
That fierce light which beats upon a throne,
And blackens every blot
but what is that to the far fiercer and keener light which beats upon
the lives of the great heroes of progress? With all due deference to
the Poet Laureate, we conceive that kings and their kind have usually
extended to them a charity which covers a multitude of their sins. The
late king of Italy, for instance, was said to have had "the language of
a guardroom, the manners of a trooper, and the morals of a he-goat," yet
at his death how tenderly his faults were dealt with by the loyal press,
and how strongly were all his merits brought into relief. Our own royal
Sardanapalus, George the Fourth, although Leigh Hunt had the courage
to describe him aright and went to the gaol for so doing, was styled by
Society "the first gentleman in Europe." Yet Mazzini, Vittor Emmanuel's
great contemporary, whose aims were high and noble as his life was pure,
got little else than abuse from this same loyal press; and the Society
which adored George the Fourth charged Shelley himself with unspeakable
vices equalled only by the native turpitude of his soul.
Perhaps no man has suffered more from calumny than Thomas Paine. During
his lifetime, indeed, his traducers scarcely ever dared to vent their
malice in public, doubtless through fear of receiving a castigation
from his vigorous and trenchant pen. But after his death they rioted
in safety, and gave free play to the ingenuity of their malevolence.
Gradually their libels became current; thousands of people who knew
almost nothing of his life and less of his writings were persuaded that
Thomas Paine, "the Infidel," was a monster of iniquity, in comparison
with whom Judas appeared a saint, and the Devil himself nearly white;
and this estimate finally became a tradition, which the editors of
illustrated religious papers and the writers of fraudulent "Death-Bed
Scenes" did their best to perpetuate. In such hands the labor of
posthumous vilification might have remained without greatly troubling
those who feel an interest in Thomas Paine's honor through gratitude
for his work. The lowest scavengers of literature, who purvey religious
offal to the dregs of orthodoxy, were better employed thus than in a
reverse way, since their praise is so very much more dishonorable and
appalling than their blame. But when other literary workmen of loftier
repute descend to the level of these, and help them in their villainous
task, it becomes advisable that some one who honors the memory of the
man thus aspersed should interpose, and attempt that vindication which
he can no longer make for himself.
In reviewing Mr. Edward Smith's "Life of Cobbett," our principal
literary paper, the Athenæum, in its number for January 11th, went out
of its way to defame Paine's character. This is what it said:--
"A more despicable man than Tom Paine cannot easily be found among the
ready writers of the eighteenth century. He sold himself to the highest
bidder, and he could be bought at a very low price. He wrote well;
sometimes he wrote as pointedly as Junius or Cobbett. Neither excelled
him in coining telling and mischievous phrases; neither surpassed him in
popularity-hunting. He had the art, which was almost equal to genius, of
giving happy titles to his productions. When he denounced the British
Government in the name of 'Common Sense' he found willing readers in the
rebellious American colonists, and a rich reward from their grateful
representatives. When he wrote on behalf of the 'Rights of Man,' and in
furtherance of the 'Age of Reason,' he convinced thousands by his
title-pages who were incapable of perceiving the inconclusiveness of his
arguments. His speculations have long since gone the way of all shams;
and his charlatanism as a writer was not redeemed by his character as a
man. Nothing could be worse than his private life; he was addicted to
the most degrading of vices. He was no hypocrite, however, and he cannot
be charged with showing that regard for appearances which constitutes
the homage paid by vice to virtue. Such a man was well qualified for
earning notoriety by insulting Washington. Only a thorough-paced rascal
could have had the assurance to charge Washington with being
unprincipled and unpatriotic. Certainly Mr. Smith has either much to
learn, or else he has forgotten much, otherwise he could not venture to
suggest the erection of a monument 'recording the wisdom and political
virtues of Thomas Paine.'"
Now we have in this tirade all the old charges, with a new one which
the critic has either furnished himself or derived from an obscure
source--namely, that Paine "sold himself to the highest bidder." Let us
examine the last charge first. The critic curiously contradicts himself.
Paine, he admits, could "sometimes write as pointedly as Junius or
Cobbett," whose works sold enormously, and he had the art of devising
happy titles for his productions; yet, although he sold himself to the
highest bidder, he could be bought at a very low price! The fact is,
Paine was never bought at all. His was not a hireling pen. Whatever he
wrote he put his name to, and he never parted with the copyright of any
of his works, lest the Government or some friend of despotism should
procure their suppression. He also published his writings at a
ridiculously low price, so low indeed that he lost by them instead of
gaining. Of his "Common Sense," that fine pamphlet which stirred the
American colonists to battle against their oppressors, not less than a
hundred thousand copies were sold; yet he found himself finally indebted
to his printer £29 12s. 1d. Fifteen years later the English Government
tried through the publisher to get the copyright of the "Rights of Man;"
but though a large sum was offered, Paine refused on principle to let it
pass out of his own hands. The first part of this work was published
at a price which precluded any chance of profit; the publication of
the second part caused him to be tried and condemned for treason, the
penalty of the law being escaped only by flight. All publication of his
works, whether political or religious, was afterwards illegal. Thousands
of copies were circulated surreptitiously, or openly by men like Richard
Carlile, who spent nine years in prison for his sale of prohibited
books. But clearly Paine could derive no profit from this traffic in
his works, for he never set foot in England again. Thomas Paine wrote
in order to spread his political and religious views, and for no other
purpose. He was not a professional author, nor a professional critic,
and never needed payment for his literary work. And assuredly he got
none. Let the _Athenæum_ critic inform the world to whom Paine sold
himself, or who ever paid him a penny for his writings. Until he does so
we shall believe that the author of "Common Sense," the "Rights of Man,"
and the "Age of Reason," was honest in saying: "In a great affair, where
the good of mankind is at stake, I love to work for nothing; and so
fully am I under the influence of this principle, that I should lose
the spirit, the pride, and the pleasure of it, were I conscious that I
looked for reward."
Popularity-hunting, to use the critic's graceless phrase, was Paine's
next fault; but as, according to the same authority, he was guilty in
this respect only in the same sense as Junius was, the burden of his
iniquity cannot be very great.
Addiction to the most degrading of vices, is a charge difficult to
confute until we know specifically what vice is meant. Paine has been
accused of drunkenness; but by whom? Not by his intimate acquaintances,
who would have detected his guilt, but by his enemies who were never in
his society, and therefore could know nothing of his habits. Cheetham,
who first disseminated this accusation, was a notorious libeller, and
was more than once compelled to make a public apology for his lies;
but he was a shameless creature, and actually in his "Life" of Paine
resuscitated and amplified falsehoods for which he had tendered abject
apologies while his victim was alive. Even, however, if Paine had
yielded to the seductions of strong drink, he should be judged by the
custom of his own age, and not that of ours.
Mr. Leslie Stephen does not rail against Boswell for his drinking
powers; Burns is not outlawed for his devotion to John Barlycorn; Byron
and Sheridan are not beyond pardon because they often went drunk to bed;
and some of the greatest statesmen of last century and this, including
Pitt and Fox, are not considered the basest of men because they
exercised that right which Major O'Gorman claims for all Irishmen--"to
drink as much as they can carry." But no such plea is necessary, for
Paine was not addicted to drink, but remarkably abstemious. Mr. Fellows,
with whom he lived for more than six months, said that he never saw him
the worse for drink. Dr. Manley said, "while I attended him he never was
inebriated." Colonel Burr said, "he was decidedly temperate." And even
Mr. Jarvis, whom Cheetham cited as his authority for charging Paine with
drunkenness, authorised Mr. Vale, of New York, editor of the _Beacon_,
to say that _Cheetham lied_. Amongst the public men who knew Paine
personally were Burke, Home Tooke, Priestley, Lord Edward Fitzgerald,
Dr. Moore, Jefferson, Washington, Volney and Condorcet: but none of
these ever hinted at his love of drink. The charge of drunkeness is a
posthumous libel, circulated by a man who had publicly quarrelled with
Paine, who had been obliged to apologise for former aspersions, and who
after Paine's death was prosecuted and _condemned_ for libelling a lady
whom he had accused of undue familiarity with the principal object of
his malice.
Finding the charge of drunkenness unequivocally rebutted, Paine's
traducers advance that of licentiousness. But this is equally
unsuccessful. The authority relied on is still Cheetham, who in turn
borrowed from a no less disreputable source. A man named Carver had
quarrelled with Paine over money matters; in fact, he had been obliged
with a loan which he forgot to pay, and like all base natures he showed
his gratitude to his benefactor, when no more favors could be expected,
by hating and maligning him. A scurrilous letter written by this fellow
fell into the hands of Cheetham, who elaborated it in his "Life." It
broadly hinted that Madame Bonneville, the by no means youthful wife of
a Paris bookseller who had sheltered Paine when he was threatened with
danger in that city, was his paramour; for no other reason than that
he had in turn sheltered her when she repaired with her children to
America, after her home had been broken up by Buonaparte's persecution
of her husband. This lady prosecuted Cheetham for libel, and a jury of
American citizens gave her a verdict and damages.
Here the matter might rest, but we are inclined to urge another
consideration. No one of his many enemies ever accused Paine of
licentiousness in his virile manhood; and can we believe that he began
a career of licentiousness in his old age, when, besides the infirmities
natural to his time of life, he suffered dreadful tortures from an
internal abscess brought on by his confinement in the reeking dungeons of
the Luxembourg, which made life a terror and death a boon? Only lunatics
or worse would credit such a preposterous story.
The _Athenoum_ critic alleges that Paine insulted Washington, and was
therefore a "thorough-paced rascal." But he did nothing of the kind. He
very properly remonstrated with Washington for coolly allowing him to
rot in a French dungeon for no crime except that he was a foreigner,
when a word from the President of the United States, of which he was
a citizen, would have effected his release. Washington was aware of
Paine's miserable plight, yet he forgot the obligations of friendship;
and notwithstanding frequent letters from Munro, the American ambassador
at Paris, he supinely suffered the man he had once delighted to honor to
languish in wretchedness, filth, and disease. George Washington did much
for American Independence, but Thomas Paine did perhaps more, for his
writings animated the oppressed Colonists with an enthusiasm for liberty
without which the respectable generalship of Washington might have
been exerted in vain. The first President of the United States was, as
Carlyle grimly says, "no immeasurable man," and we conceive that Paine
had earned the right to criticise even him and his policy.
Every person is of course free to hold what opinion he pleases of
Paine's writings. The _Athenoum_ critic thinks they have "gone the way
of all shams." He is wrong in fact, for they circulate very extensively
still. And he may also be wrong in his literary judgment. William
Hazlitt, whose opinion on any subject connected with literature is at
least as valuable as an _Athenoum_ critic's, ranked Paine very high as
a political writer, and affirmed of his "Rights of Man" that it was "a
powerful and explicit reply to Burke." But Hazlitt had read Paine, which
we suspect many glib critics of to-day have not; for we well remember
how puzzled some of them were to explain whence Shelley took the motto
"We pity the Plumage, but Forget the Dying Bird" prefixed to his Address
to the People on the death of the Princess Charlotte. It was taken, as
they should have known, from one of the finest passages of the "Rights
of Man." Critics, it is well known, sometimes write as Artemus Ward
proposed to lecture on science, "with an imagination untrammeled by the
least knowledge of the subject."
Let us close this vindication of Paine by citing the estimate of him
formed by Walt Whitman, an authority not to be sneered at now even
by _Athenoum_ critics. In 1877 the Liberal League of Philadelphia
celebrated the 140th birthday of Thomas Paine, and a large audience was
gathered by the announcement that Whitman would speak. The great
poet, according to the _Index_ report, after telling how he had become
intimate with some of Paine's friends thirty-five years before, went on
to say:--
"I dare not say how much of what our Union is owning and enjoying
to-day, its independence, its ardent belief in, and substantial practice
of, Radical human rights, and the severance of its Government from all
ecclesiastical and superstitious dominion--I dare not say how much of
all this is owing to Thomas Paine; but I am inclined to think a good
portion of it decidedly is. Of the foul and foolish fictions yet told
about the circumstances of his decease, the absolute fact is that, as
he lived a good life after its kind, he died calmly, philosophically, as
became him. He served the embryo Union with the most precious service,
a service that every man, woman, and child in the thirty-eight States
is to some extent receiving the benefit of to-day, and I for one here
cheerfully and reverently throw one pebble on the cairn of his memory."
We are content to let the reader decide between Whitman and the
_Athenoum_ critic in their respective estimates of him who wrote, and as
we think acted up to it--"All the world is my country, and to do good my
religion."