Volume II Part 31 (1/2)
Mr Badeau, of New Rochelle, reing up the bones, about dawn There is a legend that Paine's little finger was left in America, a fable, perhaps, of his once sotry that refused hireatly served As to his bones, no man knows the place of their rest to this day His principles rest not His thoughts, untraceable like his dust, are blown about the world which he held in his heart For a hundred years no hu has been born in the civilized world without some spiritual tincture from that heart whose every pulse was for humanity, whose last beat broke a fetter of fear, and fell on the throne of thrones
APPENDIX A THE COBBETT PAPERS
In the autu the papers preserved by the fa an introduction froation at Paris In this letter, dated at Willishman writes: ”Ambitious to become the citizen of a free state I have leftwith me youth, a small family, a few useful literary talents, and that is all”
Cobbett had been married in the same year, on February 5th, and visited Paris, perhaps with an intention of reusted with the revolution he left for America He had conceived a dislike of the French revolutionary leaders, a whom he included Paine He thus becae Chalmers, which had not been reprinted in America, and reproduced the stateraphical sketch published in Philadelphia, 1796 In later life Cobbett beca fresh currency to a tissue of slanders
In the very year of this publication, afterwards much lamented, Paine published in Europe a work that filled Cobbett with adlish Systeold payland that followed the next year The paister_ was eloquent in Paine's praise, the more earnestly, he confessed, because he had ”been one of hislaid his hand upon this truly greatflahted my taper”
A sketch of Thoenerously confided to h her nephew, Willialand
The public announcement (1818) by Cobbett, then in America, of his intention to write a Life-of Paine, led to his negotiation with Madame Bonneville, ith her husband, resided in New York Mada of some of Paine's manuscripts, such as that on ”Freemasonry,” and the reply to Bishop Watson, printed in _The Theophilanthropist_ (1810) She had also been preparing, with her husband's assistance, notes for a biography of Paine, because of the ”unjust efforts to tarnish the nation ive her a thousand dollars for the manuscript, which was to contain important letters from and to eminent men She stated (September 30, 1819) her conditions, that it should be published in England, without any addition, and separate fros I suppose it was one or all of these conditions that caused the non-coain
Cobbett re-wrote the whole thing, and it is now all in his writing except a few passages by Madame Bonneville, which I indicate by brackets, and two or three by his son, J P Cobbett Although Madaave some revision to Cobbett's manuscript, most of the letters to be supplied arethe Cobbett papers Soon afterward the Bonnevilles went to Paris, where they kept a sraphy in Michaud's Dictionary is annotated by the , and states that in 1829 she had begun to edit for publication the Life and posthumous papers of Thomas Paine From this it would appear that she had retained the inal letters In 1833 Madarated to St Louis, where her son, the late General Bonneville, lived Her Catholicis years, and to that cause, probably also to a fear of reviving the old scandal Cheetham had raised, may be due the suppression of the papers, with the result mentioned in the introduction to this work She died in St
Louis, October 30, 1846, at the age of 79 Probably William Cobbett did not feel entitled to publish the ht have waited for the important documents that were never sent He died in 1835 The recollections are those of both M
and Mada out the parts that represent Madae and reminiscences, as Cobbett has preserved her speech in the first person, and, with characteristic literary acumen, her expressions in such important points Histo do beyond occasional correction of a date, supplying one or two letters indicated, which I have found, and o a few letters, extracts, etc, already printed in the body of this work, where unaccompanied by any comment or addition from either Cobbett or the Bonnevilles
At the time when this Cobbett-Bonneville sketch ritten New York was still a provincial place Nicolas Bonneville, as Irving describes him, seated under trees at the Battery, absorbed in his classics, arded with suspicion had it been known that his long separation from his family was due to detention by the police Mada incident, besides illustrating the characters of Paine and Bonneville, or of Bonneville's surveillance In 1797, while Paine and Bonneville were editing the _Bien Inforht asylum with thes alone had caused his denunciation as a royalist He had escaped frouise, a pauper Count, who kneell the nanimity of the two men whose protection he asked He remained, as proof-reader, in the Bonneville house for some time, safely; but when the conspiracy of 18 Fructidor (Septeainst royalists, the Count feared that hehis benefactors, and disappeared When the royalist conspiracy against Bonaparte was discovered, Barruel-Beauvert was again hunted, and arrested (1802) His trial probably brought to the knowledge of the police his former sojourn with Paine and Bonneville Bonaparte sent by Fouche a warning to Paine that the eye of the police was upon him, and that ”on the first complaint he would be sent to his own country, America” Whether this, and the closer surveillance on Bonneville, were connected with the Count, who also suffered for a tio, remains conjectural Towards the close of life Bonneville received a pension, which was continued to hisSo much even a monarchy with an established church could do for a republican author, and a freethinker; for Bonneville had published heresies like those of Paine
THOMAS PAINE, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND CHARACTER
[More exactly than any other author Thomas Paine delineates every Circus; nevertheless, since many pretended Histories of the Life of T P have been published, tracing him back to the day of his] birth, we shall shortly observe, that, as was never denied by hiland on the 29 January, in the year 1737; that his father Joseph Paine was a stay-hter of a country attorney, and that she belonged to the Church of England; but, it appears, that she also afterwards beca in 1787, as appears from a letter of the father to the son
The bracketed words, Madaraph by Cobbett is crossed out by her pen: ”The early years of the life of a Great Man are of little consequence to the world Whether Paine ed barrels before he became a public character, is of no more importance to us than whether he addled oollen or with linen It is the man, in conjunction with those labours which have produced so much effect in the world, e are to follow and contemplate Nevertheless, since many pretended histories of the life of Paine have been published, etc”
The above-mentioned histories relate (and the correctness of the statement has not been denied by him), that Paine was educated at the free-school of Thetford; that he left it in 1752, when he was fifteen years of age, and then worked for some time with his father: that in a year afterwards, he went to London: that from London he went to Dover: that about this ti a sailor: that he afterwards did embark on board a privateer: that, between the years 1759 and 1774 he was a stay rocer, and an usher to a school; and that, during the period he ice married, and separated by iven by Cobbett froht of the careful researchesof this biography
In this year 1774 and in the land for Philadelphia, where he arrived safe; and noe begin his history; for here we have hi an essential part of our plan to let Thomas Paine speak in his oords, and explain himself the reason for his actions, whenever we find written papers in his own hand, though in incoments, we shall insert such, in order to enable the reader to judge for hihtest circuer_ ”A word often enables us to judge of a great design”
”I happened to co out of hostilities I found the disposition of the people such that they overned by a reed Their suspicion was quick and penetrating, but their attachment to Britain was obstinate, and it was at that tiainst it They disliked the Ministry, but they esteerievance operated without resentle object was reconciliation Bad as I believed the Ministry to be, I never conceived the of hostilities; e it
I viewed the dispute as a kind of law-suit, in which I supposed the parties would find a way either to decide or settle it I had no thoughts of independence or of arms The world could not then have persuaded me that I should be either a soldier or an author If I had any talents for either they were buried in ht ever have continued so had not the necessity of the tied and driven the myself happy wished everybody else so But when the country, into which I had just set my foot, was set on fire about my ears, it was time to stir It was time for every man to stir”
From Crisis vii, dated Philadelphia, November 21, 1778
In Cobbett's MS the extract is only indicated
His first intention at Philadelphia was to establish an Acadehtthen little known in the education of young Aeazine
About this time he published, in Bradford's journal, an essay on the slavery, of the negroes, which was universally well received; and also stanzas on the death of General Wolfe
In 1776, January 10, he published Common Sense In the same year he joined the army as aid-de-camp to General Greene Gordon, in his history of the Independence of the United States (vol ii p 78), says: [Wanting]--Ra!] Anecdote of Dr Franklin preserved by Thoiven, in the Hall ton had made his retreat from New York Thomas Paine published the first nuuard in the camp It revived the army, reunited the members of the [New York] Convention, when despair had reduced the their standards and flying in all directions The success of the ar to this first number of the Crisis In 1778 he discovered the robberies of Silas Deane, an agent of the United States in France
He gave in his resignation as Secretary, which was accepted by the Congress In 1779 he was appointed-Clerk to the General assembly of Pennsylvania, which office he retained until 1780 In 1780 he departed for France with Col John Laurens, coress to the Court at Versailles to obtain the aid that anted