they passed; nor do they review its several stageswithout reviving in their bosoms a due sensibility ofthe merits of those who served them in that greatand arduous conflict. The crime of ingratitude hasnot yet stained, and I trust never will stain, ournational character. You are considered by them asnot only having rendered important services in ourown Revolution, but as being on a more extensivescale the friend of human rights, and a distinguishedand able defender of public liberty. To the welfareof Thomas Paine the Americans are not, nor canthey be indifferent.".. James Monroe.Did any of your ancestors ever receive a letterlike that?"No writer has exceeded Paine in ease and famil-iarity of style, in perspicuity of expression, happinessof elucidation, and in simple and unassuming lan-guage."'—Thomas Jefferson.Was ever a letter like that written about an editorof theNew York Observer?Was it in consideration of the services of adrunken beast that the Legislature of Pennsylvaniapresented Thomas Paine with five hundred poundssterling?482Did the State of New York feel indebted to adrunken beast, and confer upon Thomas Paine anestate of several hundred acres?"I believe in the equality of man, and I believethat religious duties consist in doing justice, lovingmercy, 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 hebe mentally faithful to himself.""Any system of religion that shocks the mind ofa child cannot be a true system.""The Word of God is the creation which webehold.""The age of ignorance commenced with theChristian system.""It is with a pious fraud as with a bad action—itbegets a calamitous necessity of going on.""To read the Bible without horror, we must undoeverything 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 evilfor evil.""Of all tyrannies that afflict mankind, tyranny inreligion is the worst."483"My own opinion is, that those whose lives havebeen spent in doing good and endeavoring to maketheir 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 affairbetween every man and his Maker, and in which nothird party has any right to interfere. The practicalpart consists in our doing good to each other.""No man ought to make a living by religion. Oneperson cannot act religion for another—every personmust perform it for himself.""One good schoolmaster is of more use than ahundred priests.""Let us propagate morality unfettered by super-stition.""God is the power, or first cause, Nature is thelaw, and matter is the subject acted upon.""I believe in one God and no more, and I hopefor happiness beyond this life.""The key of heaven is not in the keeping of anysect nor ought the road to it to be obstructedby any.""My religion, and the whole of it, is the fear andlove of the Deity and universal philanthropy.""I have yet, I believe, some years in store, for Ihave a good state of health and a happy mind. I484take care of both, by nourishing the first with tem-perance and the latter with abundance.""He lives immured within the Bastile of aword."How perfectly that sentence describes you! TheBastile in which you are immured is the word"Calvinism.""Man has no property in man."What a splendid motto that would have made fortheNew York Observerin the olden time!"The world is my country; to do good, myreligion."I ask you again whether these splendid utterancescame 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 justas false as the rest.Upon his return to this country in 1802, he wasworth $30,000, according to his own statement madeat that time in the following letter addressed to ClioRickman:"My Dear Friend: Mr. Monroe, who is appointedminister extraordinary to France, takes charge of485this, to be delivered to Mr. Este, banker in Paris, tobe forwarded to you."I arrived at Baltimore the 30th of October, andyou can have no idea of the agitation which myarrival occasioned. From New Hampshire toGeorgia (an extent of 1,500 miles) every newspaperwas filled with applause or abuse."My property in this country has been taken careof by my friends, and is now worth six thousandpounds sterling; which put in the funds will bringme £400 sterling a year."Remember me in affection and friendship to yourwife 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 anincome of at least two thousand dollars per annum.Two thousand dollars then would be fully equal tofive thousand dollars now.On the 12th of July, 1809, the year in which hedied, Mr. Paine made his will. From this instru-ment we learn that he was the owner of a valuablefarm within twenty miles of New York. He alsowas the owner of thirty shares in the New YorkPhoenix Insurance Company, worth upwards of fif-teen hundred dollars. Besides this, some personal486property and ready money. By his will he gave toWalter Morton, and Thomas Addis Emmett, brotherof Robert Emmett, two hundred dollars each, andone 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 forthe ordinary necessaries of life?But suppose, for the sake of the argument, that hewas poor and that he died a beggar, does that tendto show that the Bible is an inspired book and thatCalvin did not burn Servetus? Do you really regardpoverty as a crime? If Paine had died a millionaire,would you have accepted his religious opinions? IfPaine had drank nothing but cold water would youhave repudiated the five cardinal points of Calvin-ism? Does an argument depend for its force uponthe pecuniary condition of the person making it?As a matter of fact, most reformers—most men andwomen of genius, have been acquainted with poverty.Beneath a covering of rags have been found some ofthe tenderest and bravest hearts.Owing to the attitude of the churches for the lastfifteen hundred years, truth-telling has not been avery lucrative business. As a rule, hypocrisy hasworn the robes, and honesty the rags. That day ispassing away. You cannot now answer the argu-487ments of a man by pointing at holes in his coat.Thomas Paine attacked the church when it waspowerful—when it had what was called honors tobestow—when it was the keeper of the public con-science—when it was strong and cruel. The churchwaited till he was dead then attacked his reputationand his clothes.Once upon a time a donkey kicked a lion. Thelion was dead.Conclusion.From the persistence with which the orthodoxhave charged for the last sixty-eight years thatThomas Paine recanted, and that when dying hewas filled with remorse and fear; from the malignityof the attacks upon his personal character, I had con-cluded that there must be some evidence of somekind to support these charges. Even with my ideasof the average honor of believers in superstition—the disciples of fear—I did not quite believe that allthese infamies rested solely upon poorly attestedlies. 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 thesecalumnies. And I was foolish enough to think thateven you would be willing to fairly examine the pre-tended evidence said to sustain these charges, and488give your honest conclusion to the world. I sup-posed that you, being acquainted with the history ofyour country, felt under a certain obligation toThomas Paine for the splendid services rendered byhim in the darkest days of the Revolution. It wasonly reasonable to suppose that you were aware thatin the midnight of Valley Forge the "Crisis," byThomas Paine, was the first star that glittered in thewide horizon of despair. I took it for granted thatyou knew of the bold stand taken and the bravewords spoken by Thomas Paine, in the French Con-vention, against the death of the king. I thought itprobable that you, being an editor, had read the"Rights of Man;" that you knew that ThomasPaine was a champion of human liberty; that he wasone of the founders and fathers of this Republic; thathe was one of the foremost men of his age; that hehad never written a word in favor of injustice; thathe was a despiser of slavery; that he abhorred tyr-anny in all its forms; that he was in the widest andhighest sense a friend of his race; that his head wasas clear as his heart was good, and that he had thecourage to speak his honest thought. Under thesecircumstances I had hoped that you would for themoment forget your religious prejudices and submitto the enlightened judgment of the world the evi-489dence you had, or could obtain, affecting in any waythe character of so great and so generous a man. Thisyou have refused to do. In my judgment, you havemistaken the temper of even your own readers. Alarge majority of the religious people of this countryhave, to a considerable extent, outgrown the preju-dices of their fathers. They are willing to know thetruth and the whole truth, about the life and death ofThomas Paine. They will not thank you for havingpresented them the moss-covered, the maimed and dis-torted traditions of ignorance, prejudice, and credulity.By this course you will convince them not of thewickedness of Paine, but of your own unfairness.What crime had Thomas Paine committed that heshould have feared to die? The only answer youcan give is, that he denied the inspiration of theScriptures. If this is a crime, the civilized world isfilled with criminals. The pioneers of human thought—the intellectual leaders of the world—the foremostmen in every science—the kings of literature andart—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 inthe dogma of inspiration. Upon this question, theintellect of Christendom agrees with the conclusionsreached by the genius of Thomas Paine. Centuries490ago a noise was made for the purpose of frighteningmankind. Orthodoxy is the echo of that noise.The man who now regards the Old Testament asin any sense a sacred or inspired book is, in my judg-ment, an intellectual and moral deformity. There isin it so much that is cruel, ignorant, and ferociousthat it is to me a matter of amazement that it wasever thought to be the work of a most merciful deity.Upon the question of inspiration Thomas Painegave his honest opinion. Can it be that to give anhonest opinion causes one to die in terror and de-spair? Have you in your writings been actuated bythe fear of such a consequence? Why should it betaken for granted that Thomas Paine, who devotedhis life to the sacred cause of freedom, should havebeen hissed at in the hour of death by the snakes ofconscience, while editors of Presbyterian papers whodefended slavery as a divine institution, and cheer-fully justified the stealing of babes from the breasts ofmothers, are supposed to have passed smilingly fromearth to the embraces of angels? Why should youthink that the heroic author of the "Rights of Man"should shudderingly dread to leave this "bank andshoal of time," while Calvin, dripping with the bloodof Servetus, was anxious to be judged of God? Isit possible that the persecutors—the instigators of491the massacre of St. Bartholomew—the inventors andusers of thumb-screws, and iron boots, and racks—the burners and tearers of human flesh—the stealers,whippers and enslavers of men—the buyers andbeaters of babes and mothers—the founders ofinquisitions—the makers of chains, the builders ofdungeons, 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 breastsof peace, while the destroyers of prejudice—theapostles of humanity—the soldiers of liberty—thebreakers of fetters—the creators of light—died sur-rounded with the fierce fiends of fear?In your attempt to destroy the character of ThomasPaine you have failed, and have succeeded only inleaving a stain upon your own. You have writtenwords as cruel, bitter and heartless as the creed ofCalvin. Hereafter you will stand in the pillory ofhistory as a defamer—a calumniator of the dead.You will be known as the man who said that ThomasPaine, the "Author Hero," lived a drunken, coward-ly and beastly life, and died a drunken and beastlydeath. These infamous words will be branded uponthe forehead of your reputation. They will be re-membered against you when all else you may haveuttered shall have passed from the memory of men.Robert G. Ingersoll.THE OBSERVER'S SECOND ATTACK* From the NY. Observer of Nov. 1, 1877.TOM PAINE AGAIN.In the Observer of September 27th, in responseto numerous calls from different parts of the countryfor information, and in fulfillment of a promise, wepresented a mass of testimony, chiefly from personswith whom we had been personally acquainted,establishing the truth of our assertions in regard tothe dissolute life and miserable end of Paine. It wasnot a pleasing subject for discussion, and an apology,or at least an explanation, is due to our readers forresuming it, and for occupying so much space, orany space, in exhibiting the truth and the proofs inregard to the character of a man who had become sodebased by his intemperance, and so vile in hishabits, as to be excluded, for many years before andup to the time of his death, from all decent society.Our reasons for taking up the subject at all, andfor presenting at this time so much additional testi-mony in regard to the facts of the case, are these:At different periods for the last fifty years, efforts493have been made by Infidels to revive and honor thememory of one whose friends would honor him mostby suffering his name to sink into oblivion, if thatwere possible. About two years since, Rev. O. B.Frothingham, of this city, came to their aid, andundertook a sort of championship of Paine, makingin a public discourse this statement: "No privatecharacter has been more foully calumniated in thename of God than that of Thomas Paine." (Mr.Frothingham, it will be remembered, is the one whorecently, in a public discourse, announced the down-fall of Christianity, although he very kindly madethe allowance that, "it may be a thousand yearsbefore its decay will be visible to all eyes." It isour private opinion that it will be at least a thousandand one.) Rev. John W. Chadwick, a minister ofthe same order of unbelief, who signs himself, "Min-ister of the Second Unitarian Society in Brooklyn,"has devoted two discourses to the same end, eulogiz-ing Paine. In one of these, which we have beforeus in a handsomely printed pamphlet, entitled,"Method and Value of his (Paine's) ReligiousTeachings," he says: "Christian usage has determ-ined that an Infidel means one who does not believein Christianity as a supernatural religion; in theBible as a Supernatural book; in Jesus as a super-494natural person. And in this sense Paine was anInfidel, and so, thank God, am I." It is proper toadd that Unitarians generally decline all responsibil-ity for the utterances of both of these men, and thatthey compose a denomination, or rather two denom-inations, of their own.There is also a certain class of Infidels who arenot quite prepared to meet the odium that attachesto the name; they call themselves Christians, buttheir sympathies are all with the enemies of Chris-tianity, and they are not always able to conceal it.They have not the courage of their opinions, likeMr. Frothingham and Mr. Chadwick, and they workonly sideways toward the same end. We have beenno little amused since our last article on this subjectappeared, to read some of the articles that have beenwritten on the other side, though professedly on noside, and to observe how sincerely these men depre-cate the discussion of the character of Paine, as anunprofitable topic. It never appeared to them un-profitable when the discussion was on the other side.Then, too, we have for months past been receivingletters from different parts of the country, askingauthentic information on the subject and stating thatthe followers of Paine are making extraordinaryefforts to circulate his writings against the Christian495religion, and in order to give currency to these writ-ings they are endeavoring to rescue his name fromthe disgrace into which it sank during the latteryears of his life. Paine spent several of his lastyears in furnishing a commentary upon his Infidelprinciples. This commentary was contained in hisbesotted, degraded life and miserable end, but hisfriends do not wish the commentary to go out inconnection with his writings. They prefer to havethem read without the comments by their author.Hence this anxiety to free the great apostle ofInfidelity from the obloquy which his life broughtupon his name; to represent him as a pure, noble,virtuous man, and to make it appear that he died apeaceful, happy death, just like a philosopher.But what makes the publication of the facts in thecase still more imperative at this time is the whole-sale accusation brought against the Christian publicby the friends and admirers of Paine. Christianministers as a class, and Christian journals areexpressly accused of falsifying history, of defaming"the mighty dead!" (meaning Paine,) etc. Inthe face of all these accusations it cannot be out ofplace to state the facts and to fortify the statementby satisfactory evidence, as we are abundantly ableto do.496The two points on which we proposed to producethe testimony are, the character of Paine's life (refer-ring of course to his last residence in this country,for no one has intimated that he had sunk into suchbesotted drunkenness until about the time of hisreturn to the United States in 1802), and the realcharacter of his death as consistent with such a life,and as marked further by the cowardliness, whichhas been often exhibited by Infidels in the samecircumstances.It is nothing at all to the purpose to show, as hisfriends are fond of doing, that Paine renderedimportant service to the cause of American Inde-pendence. This is not the point under discussionand is not denied. No one ever called in questionthe valuable service that Benedict Arnold renderedto the country in the early part of the Revolutionarywar; but this, with true Americans, does not sufficeto cast a shade of loveliness or even to spread a man-tle of charity over his subsequent career. Whatevershare Paine had in the personal friendship of thefathers of the Revolution he forfeited by his subse-quent life of beastly drunkenness and degradation,and on this account as well as on account of hisblasphemy he was shunned by all decent people.We wish to make one or two corrections of mis-497statements by Paine's advocates, on which a vastamount of argument has been simply wasted. Wehave never stated in any form, nor have we eversupposed, that Paine actually renounced his Infidel-ity. The accounts agree in stating that he died ablaspheming Infidel, and his horrible death we regardas one of the fruits, the fitting complement of hisInfidelity. We have never seen anything thatencouraged the hope that he was not abandoned ofGod in his last hours. But we have no doubt, onthe other hand, that having become a wreck in bodyand mind through his intemperance, abandoned ofGod, deserted by his Infidel companions, and de-pendent upon Christian charity for the attentions hereceived, miserable beyond description in his condi-tion, and seeing nothing to hope for in the future, hewas afraid to die, and was ready to call upon Godand upon Christ for mercy, and ready perhaps in thenext minute to blaspheme. This is what we referredto in speaking of Paine's death as cowardly. It isshown in the testimony we have produced, and stillmore fully in that which we now present. The mostwicked men are ready to call upon God in seasonsof great peril, and sometimes ask for Christian min-istrations when in extreme illness; but they areoften ready on any alleviation of distress to turn to498their wickedness again, in the expressive languageof Scripture, "as the sow that was washed to herwallowing in the mire."We have never stated or intimated, nor, so far aswe are aware, has any one of our correspondentsstated, that Paine died in poverty. It has beenfrequently and truthfully stated that Paine was de-pendent on Christian charity for the attentions hereceived in his last days, and so he was. His Infidelcompanions forsook him and Christian hearts andhands ministered to his wants, notwithstanding theblasphemies of his death-bed.Nor has one of our correspondents stated, asalleged, that Paine died at New Rochelle. TheRev. Dr. Wickham, who was a resident of that placenearly fifty years ago, and who was perfectly familiarwith the facts of his life, wrote that Paine spent "hislatter days" on the farm presented to him bythe State of New York, which was strictly true,but made no reference to it as the place of hisdeath.Such misrepresentations serve to show how muchthe advocates of Paine admire "truth."With these explanations we produce further evi-dence in regard to the manner of Paine's life and thecharacter of his death, both of which we have already499characterized in appropriate terms, as the followingtestimony will show.In regard to Paine's "personal habits," even beforehis return to this country, and particularly his aver-sion to soap and water, Elkana Watson, a gentlemanof the highest social position, who resided in Franceduring a part of the Revolutionary war, and whowas the personal friend of Washington, Franklin,and other patriots of the period, makes some inci-dental statements in his "Men and Times of theRevolution." Though eulogizing Paine's efforts inbehalf of American Independence, he describes himas "coarse and uncouth in his manners, loathsomein his appearance, and a disgusting egotist." OnPaine's arrival at Nantes, the Mayor and other dis-tinguished citizens called upon him to pay theirrespects to the American patriot. Mr. Watson says:"He was soon rid of his respectable visitors, wholeft the room with marks of astonishment and dis-gust." Mr. W., after much entreaty, and only bypromising him a bundle of newspapers to read whileundergoing the operation, succeeded in prevailingon Paine to "stew, for an hour, in a hot bath." Mr.W. accompanied Paine to the bath, and "instructedthe keeper, in French, (which Paine did not under-stand,) gradually to increase the heat of the water500until 'le Monsieur serait bien bouille (until the gentle-man shall be well boiled;) and adds that "he becameso much absorbed in his reading that he was nearly-parboiled before leaving the bath, much to his im-provement and my satisfaction."William Carver has been cited as a witness in be-half of Paine, and particularly as to his "personalhabits." In a letter to Paine, dated December 2,1776, he bears the following testimony:"A respectable gentlemen from New Rochellecalled to see me a few days back, and said thateverybody was tired of you there, and no one wouldundertake to board and lodge you. I thought thiswas the case, as I found you at a tavern in a mostmiserable situation. You appeared as if you hadnot been shaved for a fortnight, and as to a shirt, itcould not be said that you had one on. It was onlythe remains of one, and this, likewise, appeared notto have been off your back for a fortnight, and wasnearly the color of tanned leather; and you had themost disagreeable smell possible; just like that ofour poor beggars in England. Do you remember thepains I took to clean you? that I got a tub of warmwater and soap and washed you from head to foot, andthis I had to do three times before I could get youclean." (And then follow more disgusting details.)501"You say, also, that you found your own liquorsduring the time you boarded with me; but youshould have said, 'I found only a small part of theliquor I drank during my stay with you; this part Ipurchased of John Fellows, which was a demijohn ofbrandy containing four gallons, and this did not serveme three weeks.' This can be proved, and I meannot to say anything that I cannot prove; for I holdtruth as a precious jewel. It is a well-known fact,that you drank one quart of brandy per day, at myexpense, during the different times that you haveboarded with me, the demijohn above mentionedexcepted, and the last fourteen weeks you were sick.Is not this a supply of liquor for dinner and supper?"This chosen witness in behalf of Paine, closes hisletter, which is full of loathsome descriptions ofPaine's manner of life, as follows:"Now, sir, I think I have drawn a complete por-trait of your character; yet to enter upon everyminutiae would be to give a history of your life, andto develop the fallacious mask of hypocrisy and de-ception under which you have acted in your politicalas well as moral capacity of life."(Signed) "William Carver."Carver had the same opinion of Paine to his dyingday. When an old man, and an Infidel of the Paine502type and habits, he was visited by the Rev. E. F.Hatfield, D.D., of this city, who writes to us of hisinterview with Carver, under date of Sept. 27, 1877:"I conversed with him nearly an hour. I tookspecial pains to learn from him all that I could aboutPaine, whose landlord he had been for eighteenmonths. He spoke of him as a base and shamelessdrunkard, utterly destitute of moral principle. Hisdenunciations of the man were perfectly fearful, andfully confirmed, in my apprehension, all that had beenwritten of Paine's immorality and repulsiveness."Cheetham's Life of Paine, which was publishedthe year that he died, and which has passed throughseveral editions (we have three of them now beforeus) describes a man lost to all moral sensibility andto all sense of decency, a habitual drunkard, and it issimply incredible that a book should have appearedso soon after the death of its subject and should havebeen so frequently republished without being at oncerefuted, if the testimony were not substantially true.Many years later, when it was found necessary tobolster up the reputation of Paine, Cheetham'sMemoirs were called a pack of lies. If only one-tenth part of what he publishes circumstantially inhis volume, as facts in regard to Paine, were true, allthat has been written against him in later years does503not begin to set forth the degraded character of theman's life. And with all that has been written onthe subject we see no good reason to doubt the sub-stantial accuracy of Cheetham's portrait of the manwhom he knew so well.Dr. J. W. Francis, well-known as an eminent phy-sician, of this city, in his Reminiscences of New York,says of Paine:"He who, in his early days, had been associatedwith, and had received counsel from Franklin, was,in his old age, deserted by the humblest menial; he,whose pen has proved a very sword among nations,had shaken empires, and made kings tremble, nowyielded up the mastery to the most treacherous oftyrants, King Alcohol."The physician who attended Paine during his lastillness was Dr. James R. Manley, a gentleman of thehighest character. A letter of his, written in Octo-ber of the year that Paine died, fully corroboratesthe account of his state as recorded by StephenGrellet in his Memoirs, which we have alreadyprinted. He writes:"New York, October 2, 1809: I was called uponby accident to visit Mr. Paine, on the 25th of Feb-ruary last, and found him indisposed with fever, andvery apprehensive of an attack of apoplexy, as he504stated that he had that disease before, and at thistime felt a great degree of vertigo, and was unableto help himself as he had hitherto done, on accountof an intense pain above the eyes. On inquiry ofthe attendants I was told that three or four dayspreviously he had concluded to dispense with hisusual quantity of accustomed stimulus and that hehad on that day resumed it. To the want of hisusual drink they attributed his illness, and it is highlyprobable that the usual quantity operating upon astate of system more excited from the above priva-tions, was the cause of the symptoms of which hethen complained.... And here let me be per-mitted to observe (lest blame might attach to thosewhose business it was to pay any particular attentionto his cleanliness of person) that it was absolutelyimpossible to effect that purpose. Cleanliness ap-peared to make no part of his comfort; he seemedto have a singular aversion to soap and water; hewould never ask to be washed, and when he was hewould always make objections; and it was not un-usual to wash and to dress him clean very muchagainst his inclinations. In this deplorable state,with confirmed dropsy, attended with frequent cough,vomiting and hiccough, he continued growing frombad to worse till the morning of the 8th of June,505when he died. Though I may remark that duringthe last three weeks of his life his situation was suchthat his decease was confidently expected every day,his ulcers having assumed a gangrenous appearance,being excessively fetid, and discolored blisters hav-ing taken place on the soles of his feet without anyostensible cause, which baffled the usual attempts toarrest their progress; and when we consider hisformer habits, his advanced age, the feebleness of hisconstitution, his constant habit of using ardent spiritsad libitum till the commencement of his last illness,so far from wondering that he died so soon, we areconstrained to ask, How did he live so long? Con-cerning his conduct during his disease I have notmuch to remark, though the little I have may besomewhat interesting. Mr. Paine professed to beabove the fear of death, and a great part of his con-versation was principally directed to give the impres-sion that he was perfectly willing to leave this world,and yet some parts of his conduct were with difficultyreconcilable with his belief. In the first stages of hisillness he was satisfied to be left alone during theday, but he required some person to be with him atnight, urging as his reason that he was afraid thathe should die when unattended, and at this periodhis deportment and his principle seemed to be con-506sistent; so much so that a stranger would judge fromsome of the remarks he would make that he was anInfidel. I recollect being with him at night, watch-ing; he was very apprehensive of a speedy dissolu-tion, and suffered great distress of body, and perhapsof mind (for he was waiting the event of an applica-tion to the Society of Friends for permission that hiscorpse might be deposited in their grave-ground, andhad reason to believe that the request might berefused), when he remarked in these words, 'I thinkI can say what they made Jesus Christ to say—"MyGod, my God! why hast thou forsaken me?" Hewent on to observe on the want of that respect whichhe conceived he merited, when I observed to himthat I thought his corpse should be matter of leastconcern to him; that those whom he would leavebehind him would see that he was properly interred,and, further, that it would be of little consequence tome where I was deposited provided I was buried;upon which he answered that he had nothing else totalk about, and that he would as lief talk of his deathas of anything, but that he was not so indifferentabout his corpse as I appeared to be."During the latter part of his life, though his con-versation was equivocal, his conduct was singular;he could not be left alone night or day; he not only507required to have some person with him, but he mustsee that he or she was there, and would not allowhis curtain to be closed at any time; and if, as itwould sometimes unavoidably happen, he was leftalone, he would scream and halloo until some personcame to him. When relief from pain would admit,he seemed thoughtful and contemplative, his eyesbeing generally closed, and his hands folded uponhis breast, although he never slept without the assist-ance of an anodyne. There was something remark-able in his conduct about this period (which comprisesabout two weeks immediately preceding his death),particularly when we reflect that Thomas Paine wasthe author of the 'Age of Reason.' He would callout during his paroxysms of distress, without inter-mission, 'O Lord help me! God help me! JesusChrist help me! Lord help me!' etc., repeating thesame expressions without the least variation, in atone of voice that would alarm the house. It wasthis conduct which induced me to think that he hadabandoned his former opinions, and I was moreinclined to that belief when I understood from hisnurse (who is a very serious and, I believe, piouswoman), that he would occasionally inquire, when hesaw her engaged with a book, what she was reading,and, being answered, and at the same time asked508whether she should read aloud, he assented, andwould appear to give particular attention."I took occasion during the nights of the fifthand sixth of June to test the strength of his opinionsrespecting revelation. I purposely made him a verylate visit; it was a time which seemed to suit exactlywith my errand; it was midnight, he was in greatdistress, constantly exclaiming in the words abovementioned, when, after a considerable preface, Iaddressed him in the following manner, the nursebeing present: 'Mr. Paine, your opinions, by a largeportion of the community, have been treated withdeference, you have never been in the habit of mix-ing in your conversation words of coarse meaning;you have never indulged in the practice of profaneswearing; you must be sensible that we are ac-quainted with your religious opinions as they aregiven to the world. What must we think of yourpresent conduct? Why do you call upon JesusChrist to help you? Do you believe that he canhelp you? Do you believe in the divinity of JesusChrist? Come, now, answer me honestly. I wantan answer from the lips of a dying man, for I verilybelieve that you will not live twenty-four hours.' Iwaited some time at the end of every question; hedid not answer, but ceased to exclaim in the above509manner. Again I addressed him; 'Mr. Paine, youhave not answered my questions; will you answerthem? Allow me to ask again, do you believe? orlet me qualify the question, do you wish to believethat Jesus Christ is the Son of God?' After a pauseof some minutes, he answered, 'I have no wish tobelieve on that subject.' I then left him, and knewnot whether he afterward spoke to any person onany subject, though he lived, as I before observed,till the morning of the 8th. Such conduct, underusual circumstances, I conceive absolutely unaccount-able, though, with diffidence, I would remark, not somuch so in the present instance; for though the firstnecessary and general result of conviction be a sin-cere wish to atone for evil committed, yet it may bea question worthy of able consideration whetherexcessive pride of opinion, consummate vanity, andinordinate self-love might not prevent or retard thatotherwise natural consequence. For my own part,I believe that had not Thomas Paine been such adistinguished Infidel he would have left less equivo-cal evidences of a change of opinion. Concerningthe persons who visited Mr. Paine in his distress ashis personal friends, I heard very little, though I mayobserve that their number was small, and of thatnumber there were not wanting those who endeavor-510ed to support him in his deistical opinions, and toencourage him to 'die like a man,' to 'hold fast hisintegrity,' lest Christians, or, as they were pleased toterm them, hypocrites, might take advantage of hisweakness, and furnish themselves with a weapon bywhich they might hope to destroy their glorious sys-tem of morals. Numbers visited him from motivesof benevolence and Christian charity, endeavoring toeffect a change of mind in respect to his religioussentiments. The labor of such was apparently lost,and they pretty generally received such treatmentfrom him as none but good men would risk a secondtime, though some of those persons called frequently."The following testimony will be new to most ofour readers. It is from a letter written by BishopFenwick (Roman Catholic Bishop of Boston), con-taining a full account of a visit which he paid toPaine in his last illness. It was printed in theUnitedStates Catholic Magazinefor 1846; in theCatholicHeraldof Philadelphia, October 15, 1846; in a sup-plement to theHartford Courant, October 23, 1847;and inLittell's Living Agefor January 22, 1848,from which we copy. Bishop Fenwick writes:"A short time before Paine died I was sent for byhim. He was prompted to this by a poor Catholicwoman who went to see him in his sickness, and511who told him, among other things, that in hiswretched condition if anybody could do him anygood it would be a Roman Catholic priest. Thiswoman was an American convert (formerly a Shak-ing Quakeress) whom I had received into the churchbut a few weeks before. She was the bearer of thismessage to me from Paine. I stated this circum-stance to F. Kohlmann, at breakfast, and requestedhim to accompany me. After some solicitation onmy part he agreed to do so? at which I was greatlyrejoiced, because I was at the time quite young andinexperienced in the ministry, and was glad to havehis assistance, as I knew, from the great reputationof Paine, that I should have to do with one of themost impious as well as infamous of men. Weshortly after set out for the house at Greenwichwhere Paine lodged, and on the way agreed on amode of proceeding with him."We arrived at the house; a decent-looking elderlywoman (probably his housekeeper,) came to thedoor and inquired whether we were the Catholicpriests, for said she, 'Mr. Paine has been so muchannoyed of late by other denominations calling uponhim that he has left express orders with me to admitno one to-day but the clergymen of the CatholicChurch. Upon assuring her that we were Catholic512clergymen she opened the door and showed us intothe parlor. She then left the room and shortly afterreturned to inform us that Paine was asleep, and, atthe same time, expressed a wish that we would notdisturb him, 'for,' said she, 'he is always in a badhumor when roused out of his sleep. It is better wewait a little till he be awake.' We accordingly satdown and resolved to await a more favorable moment.'Gentlemen,' said the lady, after having taken herseat also, 'I really wish you may succeed with Mr.Paine, for he is laboring under great distress of mindever since he was informed by his physicians that hecannot possibly live and must die shortly. He sentfor you to-day because he was told that if any onecould do him good you might. Possibly he maythink you know of some remedy which his physiciansare ignorant of. He is truly to be pitied. His crieswhen he is left alone are heart-rending. 'O Lordhelp me!' he will exclaim during his paroxysms ofdistress—'God help me—Jesus Christ help me!'repeating the same expressions without the leastvariation, in a tone of voice that would alarm thehouse. Sometimes he will say, 'O God, what haveI done to suffer so much!' then, shortly after, 'Butthere is no God,' and again a little after, 'Yet ifthere should be, what would become of me hereafter.'513Thus he will continue for some time, when on a sud-den he will scream, as if in terror and agony, andcall out for me by name. On one of these occasions,which are very frequent, I went to him and inquiredwhat he wanted. 'Stay with me,' he replied, 'forGod's sake, for I cannot bear to be left alone.' Ithen observed that I could not always be with him,as I had much to attend to in the house. 'Then,' saidhe, 'send even a child to stay with me, for it is ahell to be alone.' 'I never saw,' she concluded, 'amore unhappy, a more forsaken man. It seems hecannot reconcile himself to die.'"Such was the conversation of the woman whohad received us, and who probably had been employ-ed to nurse and take care of him during his illness.She was a Protestant, yet seemed very desirous thatwe should afford him some relief in his state ofabandonment, bordering on complete despair. Hav-ing remained thus some time in the parlor, we atlength heard a noise in the adjoining passage-way,which induced us to believe that Mr. Paine, who wassick in that room, had awoke. We accordingly pro-posed to proceed thither, which was assented to bythe woman, and she opened the door for us. Onentering, we found him just getting out of hisslumber. A more wretched being in appearance I514never beheld. He was lying in a bed sufficientlydecent of itself, but at present besmeared with filth;his look was that of a man greatly tortured in mind;his eyes haggard, his countenance forbidding, andhis whole appearance that of one whose better dayshad been one continued scene of debauch. His onlynourishment at this time, as we were informed, wasnothing more than milk punch, in which he indulgedto the full extent of his weak state. He had par-taken, undoubtedly, but very recently of it, as thesides and corners of his mouth exhibited very un-equivocal traces of it, as well as of blood, which hadalso followed in the track and left its mark on thepillow. His face, to a certain extent, had also beenbesmeared with it."Immediately upon their making known the objectof their visit, Paine interrupted the speaker by say-ing: "That's enough, sir; that's enough," and againinterrupting him, "I see what you would be about.I wish to hear no more from you, sir. My mind ismade up on that subject. I look upon the whole ofthe Christian scheme to be a tissue of absurditiesand lies, and Jesus Christ to be nothing more than acunning knave and impostor." He drove them outof the room, exclaiming: Away with you and yourGod, too; leave the room instantly; all that you515have uttered are lies—filthy lies; and if I had alittle more time I would prove it, as I did aboutyour impostor, Jesus Christ."This, we think, will suffice. We have a mass ofletters containing statements confirmatory of whatwe have published in regard to the life and death ofPaine, but nothing more can be required.INGERSOLL'S SECOND REPLY.Peoria, Nov. 2d, 1877.To the Editor of the New York Observer:You ought to have honesty enough to admit thatyou did, in your paper of July 19th, offer to provethat the absurd story that Thomas Paine died interror and agony on account of the religious opinionshe had expressed, was true. You ought to havefairness enough to admit that you called upon meto deposit one thousand dollars with an honest man,that you might, by proving that Thomas Paine diddie in terror, obtain the money.You ought to have honor enough to admit thatyou challenged me and that you commenced thecontroversy concerning Thomas Paine.You ought to have goodness enough to admitthat you were mistaken in the charges you made.You ought to have manhood enough to do whatyou falsely asserted that Thomas Paine did:—youought to recant. You ought to admit publicly thatyou slandered the dead; that you falsified history;that you defamed the defenceless; that you deliber-517ately denied what you had published in your ownpaper. There is an old saying to the effect thatopen confession is good for the soul. To you ispresented a splendid opportunity of testing the truthof this saying.Nothing has astonished me more than your lackof common honesty exhibited in this controversy. Inyour last, you quote from Dr. J. W. Francis. Whydid you leave out that portion in which Dr. Francissaysthat Cheetham with settled malignity wrote thelife of Paine?Why did you leave out that part inwhich Dr. Francis says that Cheetham in the samewayslandered Alexander Hamilton and De WittClinton?Is it your business to suppress the truth?Why did you not publish the entire letter of BishopFenwick? Was it because it proved beyond allcavil that Thomas Paine did not recant? Was itbecause in the light of that letter Mary Roscoe,Mary Hinsdale and Grant Thorburn appeared un-worthy of belief? Dr. J. W. Francis says in thesame article from which you quoted, "Paine clung tohis Infidelity until the last moment of his life!'Whydid you not publish that? It was the first line im-mediately above what you did quote. You musthave seen it. Why did you suppress it? A lawyer,doing a thing of this character, is denominated a518shyster. I do not know the appropriate word todesignate a theologian guilty of such an act.You brought forward three witnesses, pretendingto have personal knowledge about the life and deathof Thomas Paine: Grant Thorburn, Mary Roscoeand Mary Hinsdale. In my reply I took the groundthat Mary Roscoe and Mary Hinsdale must havebeen the same person. I thought it impossible thatPaine should have had a conversation with MaryRoscoe, and then one precisely like it with MaryHinsdale. Acting upon this conviction, I proceededto show that the conversation never could have hap-pened, that it was absurdly false to say that Paineasked the opinion of a girl as to his works who hadnever read but little of them. I then showed by thetestimony of William Cobbett, that he visited MaryHinsdale in 1819, taking with him a statement con-cerning the recantation of Paine, given him by Mr.Collins, and that upon being shown this statementshe said that "it was so long ago that she could notspeak positively to any part of the matter—that shewould not say any part of the paper was true." Atthat time she knew nothing, and remembered noth-ing. I also showed that she was a kind of standingwitness to prove that others recanted. Willett Hicksdenounced her as unworthy of belief.519To-day the following from the New YorkWorldwas received, showing that I was right in myconjecture:Tom Paine's Death-Bed.To the Editor of the World:Sir: I see by your paper that Bob Ingersoll dis-credits Mary Hinsdale's story of the scenes whichoccurred at the death-bed of Thomas Paine. Noone who knew that good lady would for one momentdoubt her veracity or question her testimony. Bothshe and her husband were Quaker preachers, andwell known and respected inhabitants of New YorkCity,Ingersoll is right in his conjecture that MaryRoscoe and Mary Hinsdale was the same person. Hermaiden name was Roscoe, and she married HenryHinsdale. My mother was a Roscoe, a niece of