“Wythe, Mason, Pendleton, with Henry
joined,
Rush, Rodney, Langdon, friends of humankind,
Persuasive Dickinson, the farmer’s
boast,
Recording Thompson, pride of all the host,
Nash, Jay, the Livingstons, in council
great,
Rutledge and Laurens, held the rolls of
fate.”
But no! Neither author nor authorling liked to have his name seen in company with Thomas Paine. And when a curious compiler has taken him up, he has held him at arm’s length, and, after eyeing him cautiously, has dropped him like some unclean and noxious animal.
Sixty years ago, Paine’s friends used to say, that, “in spite of some indiscreet writings on the subject of religion,” he deserved the respect and thanks of Americans for his services. We think that he deserves something more at the present day than this absolute neglect. There is stuff enough in him for one volume at least. His career was wonderful, even for the age of miraculous events he lived in. In America, he was a Revolutionary hero of the first rank, who carried letters in his pocket from George Washington, thanking him for his services. And he managed besides to write his radical name in large letters in the History of England and of France. As a mere literary workman, his productions deserve notice. In mechanics, he invented and put up the first iron bridge of large span in England; the boldness of the attempt still excites the admiration of engineers. He may urge, too, another claim to our attention. In the legion of “most remarkable men” these United States have produced or imported, only three have achieved infamy: Arnold, Burr, and Paine. What are Paine’s titles to belong to this trio of disreputables? Only these three: he wrote the “Age of Reason”; was a Democrat, perhaps an unusually dirty one; and drank more brandy than was good for him. The “Age of Reason” is a shallow deistical essay, in which the author’s opinions are set forth, it is true, in a most offensive and irreverent style. As Dr. Hopkins wrote of Ethan Allen,—
“One hand was clenched to batter
noses,
While t’other scrawled ’gainst
Paul and Moses.”