better principles. You, Mr. Harford were quite premature in saying, that these men were following Thomas Paine. Had I come out of court with a verdict of approbation on the part of the packed Jury, they would have done it; but they waited to see which way the wind would blow, and they turned that way. Mr. Hunt was no longer my "bosom companion," as you called him, I never saw him alone afterwards; but where and what is he? and where and what are the doctrines of Thomas Paine? The one is down, the other flourish as green as ever in politics; and Christianity still writhes, still gasps, before his " Age of Reason" supported by all the more important publications which it has brought forth. Had every human being in the country turned from me, had my wife, my sister, had every friend deserted me, I would have clung to the works of Thomas Paine, in the assurance of eventual triumph. I now have that triumph. Though in prison, I feel it not and with respect to political or doctrinal influence, I do feel myself to be the most powerful man in this country. This may be egotism; but it is truth,-truth which I mean to display to the conviction of all. I consider my career as hardly yet begun. This prison has been my college. Here I have been tutored. And soon I shall receive a call to go forth to preach (in print) to people and to nations. Let what I have done be considered but a preparation for what I intend to do. As yet, I have hardly considered myself as possessing any thing of individual character. I am now moving toward independence and powerful means, and " so help me God." I will make the very best use of them. My pleasure, my gain, my every thing interesting and desired lies that way. What think you now of the "impious Carlile," whose moral testimonials were as nothing without the obligations of Christianity? What think you now of the country, your last hope of which was my removal from London in 1819?

You have been one of my immediate persecutors, as a member of the Vice Society, and from the pamphlet before me, professing to be a description of Thomas Paine and his principles, and a connection of the Radicals with them, in 1819, I shall shew you to be as vicious a man as ever put pen to paper. In a pretended defence of your country and its present principles of government, you as a professed suppressor of Vice in others, have resorted to the most wilful lies, You have made up a memoir of Paine, with additional abuse and lies, from others of similar character; that of Cheetham, pronounced wilfully false by an American Jury: that under the name of Francis Oldys, a forgery or fable that emanated directly from a government office in 1792, under the direction and purchase of the present Lord Liverpool, the late George Chalmers, then a Clerk to the Board of Trade, being its author; and that by Cobbett, which, read by a reflecting mind, could never injure any reputation but that of the author, parts of which even you have been ashamed to copy. These are your base authorities, and the only fair memoirs of the man published,

that by Sherwin, and that by Clio Rickmen, both then in existence and extensively advertised, you have never looked at for a quotation. The writings of Thomas Paine will ever be his best memoir, and no other that can be written will ever give a better history and display of the man. He wrote what he acted as well as what he thought, for his were the thoughts that either preceded or followed actions by himself or others, and though he developed new principles, they came forth with all the weight of experience and practicability; they were developed as narratives rather than as theories. His Common Sense developed a principle to the struggling Americans necessary to be acted upon. His Rights of Man was the result of a successful acting upon that principle. And his Age of Reason,' his third great, powerful and well timed work, was a detection of fraud in the actions of others: an assault upon the master-trick by which mankind have been plundered and oppressed.

You say: “Mr. Carlile has established his claim to a full share of Paine's infamy." I feel the compliment; for I have proved, will again prove in this letter, and Mr. Paine's writings will be a standing proof, that the infamy which I share is that of imitating the most useful man that has yet lived and one of the best moral characters that has passed through life. If your name survives this century, it will be but to stink as that of one of the calumniators of Thomas Paine; mine, I am now satisfied, will go. down with his and receive respect through a thousand generations, to be engraved with his on a thousand monuments, and to receive a sort of universal citizenship. I see clearly what I am doing and what will be the effects of those doings, or of the principles which I espouse, upon a long series of years. Had Mr. Paines' Age of Reason' been defended from its first appearance, as I have defended it, this country would have discharged its priests by this time: and, with its priests, three fourths of its present taxation, three fourths of its present misery. The Age of reason,' and I, its defender, have now triumphed over your calumny, over your vice-Society, and over all the priestly influence of this country.

6

Your calumny on Paine is dedicated to Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, your fellow vice suppressor. I know Tommy Acland,' as the Devonshire people call him; and if I recollect his family history rightly, his hatred of Paine, and Republicanism is hereditary; for, his father, or grandfather, got well thrashed and was made a prisoner by the successful, the glorious rebels of the United States. He went out to assist in crushing the rebels and came home without laurels to fall in a duel.

I have a printed document before me which gives the lie to alinost every assertion about Mr. Paine, made in your calumnious memoir. In any matter relating to character you have not one truth. Cheetham did mingle some good accounts with his lies and calumnies, but your object was to pick up all that was calum

nious, and to vilify one of human society's best productions, by denying him any one good purpose or quality. A viler act than yours was never performed with the pen: your purpose was vile, and your effort has been without effect. You have been quoted by many a priest and religious character; but whenever exposure has followed, and it has followed, and will follow, every where, your slanders will but heighten the admiration of Thomas Paine. As Callender said, of the King's proclamation against the Rights of Man,' it has but illumined the character of the man which it was meant to scorch.

As the document which I am about to copy will almost fill one of my Nos. I must comment on it and on your comment in a second letter. But as to the facts about Mr. Paine, had it been written for the purpose, it could not have been more suitable. It has been drawn forth by the lying religious tracts of this country, and, so far, they have done good, as all such calumnious opposition always does good, and is foremost in defeating its own purposes. Every cause to hate his slanderers will but heighten the admiration for Thomas Paine. You have given cause enough: you have maligned a better man than your fabled Jesus Christ.

The document which is to follow, is an introduction to a new edition of Mr. Paine's Theological works, lately printed at New York. The author of the introduction is Mr. John Fellows, of that city, who was many years the acquaintance of Mr. Paine. But, as this edition has my name as its publisher and is dated London, Mr. Fellows has made it appear, as if I were the author of the introduction and he my communicant on the matters concerning Mr. Paine. I never approve these evasions, and therefore, I give this explanation to set the reader right. It is Mr. Fellows who speaks of his personal observation of the comparatively small quantity of spirituous liquor which Mr. Paine drank, and he brings that very Mr. Dean, as his authority, whose wife you and Cheetham have adopted as the authority for the contrary statement. This introduction is the most faithful sketch of the character of Mr. Paine, in his latter days, that has yet appeared; for even his friends in this country have been led away by the clamours about drunkenness. Were you never drunk? I proceed to

the copy.

INTRODUCTION.

BY THE EDITOR.

No writer probably has exposed the impositions practised upon mankind under the garb of religion with more effect than Thomas Paine; and no one has borne a greater share of obloquy from those who conceive their interests to be connected with a continuance of the fraud. The pulpit and the press have teemed incessantly with the most virulent censures against him. But patient and persevering, temperate and firm, he suffered no error to escape him, and the exposure of the blunders and absurdities of his adversaries is the only revenge which he has condescended to take for their insolent abuse. His object was the happiness of man, and no calumny

could divert him from his purpose. He conscientiously believed that human happiness depended on the belief of one God, and the practice of moral virtue; and that all religious faith beyond that led to persecution and misery History gives an awful confirmation of the justness of his opinion. Dr. Bellamy, author of "The history of all religions," comes to this conclusion at last, that he was "well assured that true religion consists neither in doctrines, nor opinions, but in uprightness of heart."

and

Religion has been most shamefully perverted, for sinister purposes, made to consist in the belief of something supernatural and incomprehensible; and these incomprehensible beliefs are made to vary in different countries as may suit those who tyrannize over the minds and consciences of men. Thus, in some countries, he who says, he believes, that a certain man, in former times, was translated bodily to heaven, that another took a journey leisurely there in a fiery chariot, and that a third arrested the course of the sun to give him more daylight for human slaughter is denom nated a pious, good man. In other countries, a person to gain the same appellation, must believe that Mahomet, in one night, took a ride to heaven upon his horse Borack, had a long conversation with the angel Gabriel, visited all the planets, and, got to bed with his wife before morning; and upon another occasion, that he cut the moon in two parts, and carried the one half in his pocket to light his army. Whilst on the contrary the philosopher, who, wishing to instruct and render his fellow men happy, honestly declares that he puts no faith in such idle stories, is considered animpious wicked man.

It is time that these prejudices, so disgraceful to the intelligence of the present age, should be banished from the world, and it behoves all men of understanding and talents to lend a helping hand to effect it

Prejudices," says Lequinio, an elegant French writer, in his work entitled, "Les Prejuges Detruits,"" arise out of ignorance and the-want of reflection; these are the basis on which the system of despotism is erected, and it is the master piece of art in a tyrant, to perpetuate the stupidity of a nation, in order to perpetuate its slavery and his own dominion. If the multitude knew how to think, would they be dupes to phantoms, ghosts, hobgoblins, spirits, &c. as they have been at all times and in all nations. What is nobility for example, to a man who thinks? What are all those abstract beings, children of an exalted imagination, which have no existence but in vulgar credulity, and who cease to have being as soon as we cease to believe in them? The greatest, the most absurd, and the most foolish of all prejudices, is that very prejudice which induces men to believe that they are necessary for their happiness, and for the very existence of society."

The same writer observes, that, "while there are religions, we are told there will be fanaticism, miracles, wars, knaves, and dupes. There are penitents, fanatics, and hypocrites, in China and in Turkey, as well as in France; but there is not any religion, perhaps, in which there exists such a spirit of intolerance as in that professed by the christian priests, the author of which preached up toleration by his example, as well as by his precepts."

Notwithstanding the intolerant spirit which prevails universally among all those, who call themselves true believers; notwithstanding the persecutions and inquisitorial tortures which take place daily, in a greater or less degree, throughout the Christian world, there are many who although they profess liberal opinions, are so indifferent in matters of religion, as to contend, that they ought not to be discussed, except by those whose peculiar

The author's country.

province it is to teach them. Upon this principle, Mr. Paine has been condemned by many even of his friends, as though all men had not an equal stake at issue, and an equal right to express their opinions on so momentous a subject. This sentiment exhibits an apathy to human suffering, in those who express it, that is certainly not very flattering to their goodness of heart.

Were it not for the writings of philosophers, which, where they have been permitted to be read, have in some measure softened the asperity of fana- ́ ́ticism, all christendom would, no doubt, now experience the same sufferings as are at this time endured in Spain, under the government of the pious Ferdinand.

Even Bishop Watson, who wrote an "apology for the Bible," in answer to the "Age of Reason," disclaims the above illiberal sentiment; graciously conceding the right of private judgment in matters of religion. He says, "it would give me much uneasiness to be reported an enemy to free inquiry in religious matters, or as capable of being animated into any degree of personal malevolence against those who differ from me in opinion. On the contrary, I look upon the right of private judgment, in every concern respecting God and ourselves, as superior to the controul of human authority."

It is with some reluctance that I make the following extract of a private letter, a copy of which has lately been inclosed to me by my correspondent at New-York; but the contents are so much in point on this occasion, that I am induced to take the liberty. It was written by one* of the most distinguished patriots of the American revolution, and who still remains a living witness of the services of those who essentially contributed to that memorable event, in answer to a letter covering that of Mr. Paine to Andrew A. Dean; which will appear in this publication." I thank you, Sir, for the inedited letter of Thomas Paine, which you have been so kind as to send me. I recognize in it the strong pen and dauntless mind of Common Sense, which among the numerous pamphlets written on the same occasion, so pre-eminently united us in our revolutionary opposition.

"I return the two numbers of the periodical paper t, as they appear to make part of a regular file. The language of these is too harsh, more calculated to irritate than to convince or to persuade. A devoted friend myself to freedom of religious inquiry and opinion, I am pleased to see others exercise the right without reproach or censure; and I respect their conclusions, however different from my own. It is their own reason, not mine, nor that of any other, which has been given them by their creator for the investigation of truth, and of the evidences even of those truths which are presented to us as revealed by himself. Fanaticism, it is true, is not sparing of her invectives against those who refuse blindly to follow her dictates in abandonment of their own reason. For the use of this reason, however, every one is responsible to the God who has planted it in his breast, as a light for his guidance, and that, by which alone he will be judged. Yet why retort invectives? It is better always to set a good example than to follow a bad one."

The advice recommended to controvertists in the foregoing letter is certainly worthy to be adopted. That recrimination, however, should some times be resorted to, by those who advocate liberal opinions, is not sur

*Mr. Jefferson, the late President of America, to William Carver.

R. C.

+ The Republican." Mr. Jefferson had seen nothing like them before, and

in all such cases, they alarmed him. One of those Nos. was the letter to Car

No. 5 Vol. 8.

R. C.