circumstances of the case, resolved on laying the transaction before the public. He accordingly wrote for the newspapers several essays, under the title of "Common Sense to the Pub. lic on Mr. Deane's Affairs," in which he exposed the dishonest designs of Deane. The business, in consequence, soon became a subject of general conversation: the demand was rejected by the auditing committee, and Deane soon afterward absconded to England. For this piece of service to the Americans, Paine was thanked and applauded by the people; but by this time a party had begun to form itself, whose principles, if not the reverse of independence, were the reverse of republicanism. These men had long envied the popularity of Paine, but from their want of means to check or control it, they had hitherto remained silent. An opportunity was now offered for venting their spleen. Mr. Paine, in exposing the trickery of Deane, had incautiously mentioned one or two circumstances that had come to his knowledge in consequence of his office; this was magnified into a breach of confidence, and a plan was immediately formed for depriving him of his situation; accordingly, a motion was made for an order to bring him before congress. Mr. Paine readily attended; and on being asked whether the articles in question were written by him, he replied that they were. He was then directed to withdraw. As soon as he had left the house, a member arose and moved : "That Thomas Paine be discharged from the office of secretary to the committee for foreign affairs;" but the motion was lost upon a division. Mr. Paine then wrote to congress, requesting that he might be heard in his own defence, and Mr. Lawrence made a motion for that purpose, which was negatived. The next day he sent in his resignation, concluding with these words: "As I cannot, consistently with my character as a freeman, submit to be censured unheard; therefore, to preserve that character and maintain that right, I think it my duty to resign the office of secretary to the committee for foreign affairs; and I do hereby resign the same." This conduct on the part of congress may, in some degree, be attributed to a desire to quiet the fears of the French ambassador, who had become very dissatisfied in consequence of its being known to the world that the supplies were a present from his master. To silence his apprehensions, and preserve the friendship of the French court, they treated Paine with ingratitude. This they acknowledged at a future 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: "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- ACTIVE PART IN THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 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 |