PAINE', AGE OF REASON,
From Peter Porcupine'/ Political Cenfar ; Or,
Monthly Re-view, for May.
Tlx Christian Religion teaches men to forego
their private interells for the fake of doing good,
it is not therefore surprising, that deists and stheifts
should forego their private interests for the fake of
daiug mifchfef. Things opposite in their nature
mud be expected to be opposite in their effedU.
The Editor of the Aurora of Philadelphia, (Mr.
Bsnjamin FRAMtLiN Bache) has advertised for
file a fecoud pirt of Paine's Age of Reason at a low
price. It is said he has received Jifteen thousand co- j
pus of this from Paris, and it is very certain that j
he fells them at a price which will hardly pay firft
coif and exp'nfes. When I went to fehool, I re-i
member we had for a copy: '• Zeal in a goods
deserves applause." If this old maxim be a j
true one, 1 would a(k what zeal in a bad caul'e d 4* :
serves.
A per.son to whom the parties were well known, 1
has allured me, that poor Paine imbibed his firft
principles of deism of DoAor Franklin.; if so, it is
poflible that the Editor of the Aurora may look
tipon the didtibution of The age of Reason as a
means of propagating his Grand'Fathcrfs principles,
and so far fomeperfom will defend it, as aa adt of j
filial piety, or rather filial gratitude; for as to piety, •
I think we may venture to leave it out of the quef- j ]
tion. I
This grateful man (Wuld, however, rc
colled* that a vender of poison will not be exeufed
merely hecaufe the compound was kneaded up, or |
the receipt for it given, by his anccdor. Deism (
cannot be well said to run in the blood, or I Humid j
really be aftaid, that the descendant of the illudri
ous old deist was contaminated. Charity,bids ree to f
hope the contrary, and to aftribe the excess of -his i
zeal to the amiable motivejibovemeHfioned.
It is going too far, perhaps, to fay that any loss |
on these blasphemous pamphlets is to fair on Mr. (
Bache. The French Republic has ever shewn a fin- (
cere desire of regenerating us, and as (he -finds us
ohftinate in politics, (he may be willing to try her
hand in another way. The papers have tdld us late- ,
ly, that Mad Tom takes up his lodgings at the ,
haufe of the American Ernbnffador if this second (
part of The age of Reason should have cone to us _
nnder his auspices, it is a fadl of a. curious .nature a
indeed. v
As to the work itfeif, it cannot be better describ
ed than fjy faying that it.is as stupid and despicable j
as its author. The wretch-has all his life been em
ployed in leading fools ad ray from their duty, and,
as nothing is more .easy, he lias often succeed- t
ed. His religion is exadly of a peace with his po- e
litics ; one inculcates the right of revolting against
government, and the ether revolting against
God. Having fucceededsgaind the Lord's anoint- t|
ed, (1 mean his and our ci-devant friend the most
Christian king) he turued-his impious arras against g
the Lord himfelf. This process is perfedily natur
al, as has been exemplified in the coflduft of others t j
a* well as that of ToffliPaine.
How Tom came to thiuk of exercifinghis elurn
fy battered pen upon the Christian Religion is what j
lias excited a good deal of euriofity, without ever j c
being well accounted -for in this country ; not- n ,
withstanding, the circumilsnces undet w-.ich a man
writes ought to be attended to in forming a'judg
ment of hit opinions, particulaiiy if those opinions
are new atid extraordinary. .For this reason, I { i'
lhall endeavor to trace this raggamufHn deist from |
America to his Paris dungeon, and to account for c|
his having laid down the dagger of infurredlton Jn tc
order to take up the chalice of irreligion. w
Thomas, after having retailed out a good deal t j.
of very Common Sense, commonly called Nonfehle,
found himfelf rather richer than when he began.*
This gave him a smack for .revolutions ; but find
ing himfelf finking fact into his native mud, .and g 0
pretty universally despised and neglsdled by" the
yeople of this country : finding, in (hort, ,that the jjj
Ameiicans were returning to order, and feeling that ( j (
his element was confufion, he eroded the Atlantic c ,
tp balk in the rays of trie French revoln'ion.
, Tile Propagande at Paris, that is, the society in
diluted for the propagation of the vile and detefta-
ble principles of the Rights of Man, as laid down t *
i» the famous Fiench Constitution, fixed their Ja- a 9
cobinical eyes on Tom, as an excellent raiffionsry (1[
for Great Britain and Irelrnd. Off goes Tom with
his Rights of Man, which he had the abominable < j c
impudence to dedicate to George Wafliingion.-(-
The English Jacobins dared at him at firft : he w
went a step further than tney had ever dreamed of ; g
—his dodtrines, however, grew familiar to their j:
ears ; they took him under their wing, and he made J
sure of another revolution. This security was his
misfortune, and had nearly coll him a voyage to the
South Sea.
From the thief catchers in England Tom fled,
and took his feat among the thieves of Paris. Af
ter having diilinguifhed himfelf in execrating the t ( ;
Conditution he had written in defence of, he, and
two or three others, set to work at>d made a new
one ; quite brand new, without a single ounce of
old duflf. This covered T«hti with glory foon*af
ter, when it was tinanimoufly accepted by the rich,
fiee, generous and humane French nation. n<
Tins may be locked upon as the happied part of
Tom's life. He had enjoyed paitial revolts before,
had seen doors and windows broken in, and had
probably partaken of the pillage of some ari.locra- as
tic (lores and dwelling houfn; but, to live in a te
eontinual (late of infurredtion, " sacred, holy, or- '''
gauized infunedlion to fit seven days in the m
ha
* In his second part of the Rights of Man, he
fays he has v place in the State of Delaware.— |t ;
Wliether this be a lie or not I cannot tell; but, if | e |
it is true, it was certainly the produdt «f the revylu
tion; for every one knows he had nothing, before. m
This was encouragement for him to try his taients tll
in other countries, A confifcatedcaltle in France, an
t r si.me Abbey where he might join sacrilege to
robtxiy, was a fufficient temptation to him _
ac".>f6 tiie ocesn. ■
f The Second part w as dedicated to La Fayette
to which oubody h*dauy kind ol objedlion. gy
" week Ifluing decrees Tor plunder, profcriptfon "a'"!
madacre, was a luxurious life indeed ! it was, h w
ever, a (hort life and a merry one : it laded but
live months. T|ie teudcr-hearted philanthropic
murderer, BrifTdt, aad his fadtion, fell from tlte pin
-0 nacle of their glory : poor Tom's wares got out of
I, vogue and his carcafsgot into a dungeuo.
8 This was a deeadful "reverse for old Commsn
>f Sense. To be hurled, all in a moment, from the tip
e top of the mountain of the Grande Convention Na
tionale down to the very bottom of a (linking dmi
• geou, was enough to give a (hock to his poor un
r deady brain. Bufthis was not all; be well knew
" that the national razjf was at work, and had every'
- j reason to suppose that his days were numbered.
11 He laid extended on the dirt like a fhecp or a calf
1 in a daughter lioufe, expedlmg eveiy moment that
- i the butcher for him.
"j How Thomas came to escape is farne'hing that
1 • will probably remain a miitery. It was said, that
1 j Danton (the new chief tyranr) (pared his Life at
! the request of certain Americans; but this is improbable,
'bable, not that some Americans, might not be found
filly enough to petition for it, but becaufr, when his
a enlargement was afterwards demanded upon the
' feore of his being an American, the niling tyrants
' -anl.vered, that he was a facre Anglais, a damned
' Englishman. The-fadt is, I believe, Danton and
his party despised Tom too much to run any rifle of
'. dtfobliging their friends in Great Brirain and A
merica by taking away his worthless life. Be the
motive what it might, he was kept in bis cage, and
I there he wrote thefirft part of his Age of Reason.
Nyw to-the motive that-led lim to the corr.po
fition of this blasphemous work ; which was no o
ther than that of faviag his ugly uncombed head
from the guillotine. ,
The reader will recolkdl, that it was under the
reign of Danton that the Cbridian Religion was a- ,
bolifhed by a decree. A few days before Tom's
imprifanment the famous ftdival of Reason was ;
held. . A cornmcn drumpet was dressed up as thr j
Goddefi Reason,* seated on a Uvrone of turf, and. j
while incense wag burnt before her altar-at forneHit
tle distance, the idolatrous populace, with the Con
vention at their heed, prostrated themselves before
her Not many days before this, the conflitutibn-'
al Bishop of Pari»j-|- with his vicars and three rec
tors, came to the Convention and abdicated their
religion, declaring themselves to have been cheaij,
and that in future they would profefs eo other
wordiip than that »f Reason. In short, Danton,
and Rob'fpierre (then second in command) were
inceflantly occupied in extirpating thermal! remains
of rChriftranity from the minds of the poor bruufi
ed and enslaved French. It was a necefTary prepa
ration to the bloody work they intended they should
execute.
.Citizen Common Sense knew this, and therefore
it was not wonderful that he should attempt to fof*
ten his lot, and prolong, perhaps, his mifemble days,
by fotnething from his pen, calculated at once to
flatter their vaaity and further their execrableviewg.
Thomashad long railed against the baseness of cour
tiers, but when the inowient of trial came he was
found as base as the hafelt. The high-minded re
publican Paine, who had set Lord* and Kings «t
defiance, was obliged to bend the knee before a vile
low-bred French .pettifogger.. He descended ro
nuke life of the very phrases that the new tyrants
had introduced. The Goddess was called Reafqn,
•the church which was profaned by her worship was
called the Temple of Reason, and theinfeription ott
the banners carried at the feftival was •" The Age
of Reason" (Le fiecle de la Raifoo) the very title
of Tom's book. Base adulation ! adulation npt
to be excused even by the situation in which he
was. The old French clergy, with the dagger at
their breads, scorned to purchase life at ftich a
price.
I would by t£ means be understood as believing 1
that Paine's book was a desertion of his principles ; j
for, as I before observed, he had been corrupted
years before. It is the difgraceful motive for pub- '
lifhing hw creed that lam exposing. Thut it '
done to make his court to the tyrants of the day '
c«not be doubted ; for, in all his former works, ,if
he has occafioato speak of the Christian religion, t
he does it in decent if not refpedlful language. In £
his Rights of Man, for inftatjee, he extols tolera
tion, and observes, that all religions are good ; but
jis soon as he got into his new fafhioned (lu(ly r a '
dungeon, he drfcovered that they were all bad, or a( '
least the Christian Religion, and it was of the divers
denominations of that religion that he before pre
tended to speak. When he said, that all religions
were good, he was an abomiuable hypocrite, or he 1
i 3 one now, when he tells o« that the Christian Re
ligion is a very bad one. Either he dif-uifrd l)is
fectiments to deceive the English, or he has since
Vione so to deceive Danton and Robespierre. Tom
knows the value of a charadter for confideney too
well to run the rifle of losing it unless upon a pie f-
Jing emergency: but, the guillotine was yet red *
with the blood of his comrades, and he well knew
that there was but this one way of keepiog his own °
corrupted dreams within his veins.
It will be said, by Tom's deidical friends, that b
the Second Part of the Age of Reason was written |<
after his releafement, atid at a time when he was in d
no danger. Very true; but the die was cad ; the
Tirft Part was out, and there was no recalling it.
He had openly attacked both heaven and earth ; I
he could do no more. One eflTay at blasphemy w;n
as good as a thousand for establishing his new p»e- p
tendons to infamy ; but Thomas had now some- g
tiling else to attend to besides his reputation ; 1 \
mean his belly. The usual means of. fubfifterce n
had failed: he was no longer agi eat Reprefenti- I
ti.e of a great and free people. The handful of a
aflignatshe received daily were gone to some more a
(taunch patriot, and the old Rights of Man was
left to dine where he could. As to political drugs I
Thomas's were grown out of vogue in France as n
mush as they now are in this country . hisconfti- 1,
tution was declared to be the moll dupid perform r
ance that evet tlTued, from a fkk brain, and itsamhor v
—r ~~ 1
* She was guillotined soon after. o
f The confti?utional clergy means the new cler- t
gy, the clergy of the revolution, the apostates. h
[J • fell into discredit as rapidly at he had risen to fame *
- Among thousands ot others,be expeiienced the fud
t den change- in the opinions of the volatile Parisians
c from being a fort of derai-god he was heroine
i- the mod degraded thing in nature, a poor,half star
,f ved despised pretender to renown. Bcfidcs, ihe
constitution that wa3 now com<ng into play,
council of voungcrs and a council of elders and five
kings, ele&ed by people of some property, or, at
. least, fomc qualification, was what Tom nevercould
defend with his right of universal fuffrage and con
tinual infurre£tion, and, for once, he had the pru„
v dcnce to hold his tongue,
Tom's fste in Fiance was nearly tfhat it had
' been in Ahiericaj when it was no longer necessary
f to employ him he funk into negle£L Happy if he
t could have ceased eating when his infttrreftioo tal
ents became nfelefs ; but as he could not, he must
-«ontin<ie to write, and as he was in a country where
( be could revile none but the almighty, the almighty'
1 he reviled. The present of poison he has sent to
' his "fellow-citizens" of America, is not therefore,
so ihuch the work of choice as of necedity. The
Second Part of the Age of Reason he wrote for a
5 living and the First Part he wrote for hisiife .
; Those who prefer a few years of lite to every
; thing else, may possibly find an exeufe for this de
' graded raan : it is impossible for any of us to fay
' how we (hould a£t at the foot of the guillotine.
' But, what shall be (aid to those, who, pieffed by
neither danger nor want, make uncommon exertions
to.spread his infamous performance among the ig
' norant part of their countrymen, and thereby sow
in their minds the feeds of vice, inq. ietude, and
despair ? Again, dtiifls may "fir.d some apology for
doinghi 8--, but who will dare tobecom; the apolo
giil of those booksellers, who, profeffors of the
*ChriiHan faith, throw out this of bljfphemy
! to catch unwary comers, and, smiling at their frm-
I plieity, pocket the dirty penqe. Such meß, (and
; they are but too numerous) are like the Hollander
; on ihe coal! of Japan, who, to outllnp others in
i trade with the natives, tranjples ofl the cross of hit
j Saviour.
! Infnrreftiim, revolution, tronftitution, a know
i ledge in all these seems to he a necessary qualiftca
i tion in a profeCToi of the Rights of Man. Tom
! Paine understood the firli perfe£lly well, he had a
flnattering tff the second, but Ss to the third he was
and, if alive is, totally ignorant.
Philadelphia, Jane 7.
married.3 —Last Evening by the right Rev.
Bishop White, Mr. Walter V/. Hyer, Prin
ter of this city, to Miss Margaret Stuber daugh
ter of the late Dr. Stube*, ofLancafter.
It appears that the Portuguese lndiaman, men
tioned in our paper of the 4th irift. to have been
captured by the French frigate Cybele, was not
taken by that ihip, but by the Convention of 44
guns.
Cj" The Letter-Bag of the Danifn brigantine
Den Nye Prove, capt. Hanfen, for Hamburgh,
will betaken froin the Poll-Office to-moriow even
ing, at 6 o'clock.
Capt. Newhall «vho left Cadiz the 4th April, in
forcis that admiral Richery's squadron was then in
that harbor.
A Whale, lately carried into Nantucket, made
35 barrels of head, and 50 of body oil, and fold
tor 2689 dollars.
BY THIS DAY'S MAIL.
NEW-YORK, June*.
From Geneva we learn that M. Salicetti ha» ar
rived there, and uses all his efforts to defeat the pro
jess of the Coalition.
The Aultrian and English ministers have declar
ed to the government of Genoa, that any aids af
forded to the French will be confiJered es acts of
hofiility.
An article from Vienna mentions, that the in
trigue which has deprived Clairfait ot the command
of the Imperial troops, is ascribed to gen. Maeck. '
Arrived at this Port.
Ship Sampson, Sword, India
Urig Orange, Wallh, Dublin
Prince Edwatd, Faflefton, Halifax. 1
POLITICAL NEWS, ''
Tranjlatcd for the Argus, from Pshift't Journal,
from April 7, to co, inclujive.
PARIS, April 2* |
The Executive Directory has resolved as follows: ;
1. All turbulent and noisy theatres (hall be (hut. I
2. Only playsor songs which>havebeen annour.c- '
ed by handbills, shall be represented or sung. 4
3. The theatre of Feydcau Urcet is allowed to c
open again. t
4. The feats fixed on the place lately rented out
by citizen Cardinaux to the Pantheon Society, (hall '
be broken,, and citizen Cardinaux is ordered not to
let that place to any society whose object is political
discussions, until further orders.
(Signed) LETOURNEUR, President.
In confluence of this refutation, the theatre of
Faydeau-ftreet opened agaiti yesterday. r
The conqueror of Holland,' the vanquisher of the
greatest Generals of Europe, the illuitrious Pic he
g'u, occupi a a vety modelt apartment in Paris,
Vauban's Hotel, Law-flreet. He is a General no C
more; no fumftion has been appointed for him. X
He appears in public without uniform, without f
appa-atus, without ostentation. He re- 11
grets, nor does he complain against anv body ; he
vvilhes for peace ; he confefl'es the nee'efiity of it.
He withes that his courage and genius be no more
necessary at the head of our aimies ; he speaks of "
ins rivals but in praise, and is much reserved with *
thofr who may have wronged him. Hi
wishes for nothing but reft after so miu ti crlory
Deeming himf.lf happy in enj..y.'«i<T the oramudr
ot thegpod citizens,and the admiratios of Europe,
and even of those he has vanquished, he difd:.'i
thecalum, ,es with which jacobins and their gazetu « j
| .'.Oitour htm alcioft every day. j .
He (hi-.res their hatred with General Hoche, wh»
- answers their attacks by taking Charette, and put.
s ting thus an end to the horrid Vendean war. Thev
r cannot forgive Hoche having (hut up their clubs a*?
Nantes, any more than Pichegru having vanquifhft}
"on the 12th Germinal, the terrorists who were wil
s ling to save BilJatid, Collot, and Barrere.
I COUNCIL OF FIVE HUNDRED.
1 S't!ting of the I $lh Germinal.
• c Thetdifctiffion is opened on Duchatel'a project of
re eftablilhing the natii»v:l lottery.
Audouin claimed the introdutlory-queftion • hi*
1 chief argument was the immorality of that measure
r which would prove the utter ruin of several families*
; Philip De'.ville-oMrrved, that at the epocha ef
. the States General, the representatives of a l| t h e
provinces unatiimotifly agreed in reqvir-lftnjj
: predion of lotteries. He claimed also the imto
■ dudlory question.
, Fermont required tint the commiflior fhoula be
, informed of i more fimp'e mean which could alum
the fatne end, he did not know of any which at.
; tacked properties in so a diredt manner.
The difcuffiori closed, and the firit trial wasdu
bious.
At the second, the council declared that there
was fufficient cause to deliberate, and adjourned the
projedt for three days.
Letters from Vienna (late, that Clairfkyt is to
repair to Peterlhourg, in confequsncc; of an iovita
tion from the Empicfs. It is believed that the ob
jc<?f of the voyage is relative to a war which Ruflii
leems to mediate against the Turks, as being the
creation of the threefold alliance.
The Marquis Del C. mpo, the Spanilh AmW
fadot, was at the opera on Decadi lalt He was
loaded with Spanilh decorations. The public has
in a very lively manner, applauded the AmbaflTacor
of an allied nation, Some terrorists have been so
daring as to murmur ; but they h ? ve not h.eicoun
tcnanced, and were obliged to keep their peate.
% COLOGNE, -Martfi 22.
We are informed from Vezcl, lhaT"we muCiiot*~"r
doubt any more of a Prussian army ccmpofeS of
35,000 men marching towards Westphalia, under
the apparent pretext, to prott ft againH the'belli
gerent .powers, the line of neutrality, violated in
the lad campaign bjr the French in the paflage 0 f
the Rhine, and after-wards by General Claitfayt.
It has been remarked,-that.for fame time pad, the
gazettes which are printed jvith tile approbation of
the Prullian government, have entirely altered their
language; they fay, that, (hould ttie Direaorv
mistake so far the interest of France, as to refute
peace as piopufed hy the cou.t of Berlin, the prin.
cipal conditions of which is a reciprocal reftiuuicm
of ail conquests, then meafnres (hall be ente<ed into,
which it is not time yet to difa*vcr,that the threat-'
ening language -is tolerated .and even approved by
the Prussian court, fioce miniileiial papeis profefs it
which they would not dare to do., were thc ¥ not
tacitly approved.
BALTIMORE, June 4.
A raved yesterday, the (hip Cariifle, Porter, ia
S weetfs from Liverpool.
April 16, in lit. 49, 28, was hoarded hy » F_
privateer brig, of 12 guns ; which detained them
about two hours, put on boaib three Engliih pri
soners, and di(miffed them.
18, lat. 46, 10, was boarded by an Enghfh (hip
44 g un8 > from St. Domingo, bound to Ports
mouth, which took on hoard the three men le:t
with them hy the French privateer.
The latter (hip used capt. Porter with some in.
civility, she fen r on boar<l of him two officers, to
demand the Carlisle's papers.
It was not without difficulty that he got them
hack. rhe Frenchmen affirmed that they were
falCe. He was t hen obliged to <go uit board the
privateer, the captain of which filled a boat with
Enghfh prisoners, and inhfted on captain Porter
taking them along with him. He demanded a
luitable supply of ptoviiions, having not enough ta
spare for so many men. At lalt he was forced tu
take the three above mentioned.
May l 7t h, Ist. 38, 51, spoke the brig Freedom
of Boston, out 13 days bouud to Falmouth. In
the night spoke a (hip from Baltimore. Blowing
hard could not learn tier name, or destination. May
37> spoke a (loop from Charleflon bound to New-
London. ....... > r
On Monday Jaft, in the Chesapeake, capt. Par—
ter met with a very heavy squall, which carried
away his fore and inizen top malts.
NORFOLK, May 30.
Yesterday arrived in Hampton roads bound to
Richmond, the schooner Violet, capt. Downing-
Lee, 2 I days from the Bay of Honduras. Came
pallc tigers Mr. Jeremiah Barton ii.id Mr. Thomas
Ry min erf on. By this vessel we have intelligence
of the following American vefTels which have load
ed at that settlement fmce the latihcation of the
treaty between the United States and Great Britain.
Ship Gen. Lincoln, Lawrence, from and to New»
Yoik.
Brig riora, Williams, from and to do.
Schooner Hampt.n, Hodge, do. do.
Sloop Hiram, M'Donald, do. do.
Brig Elizabeth, Howlet, from Philadelphia.
Schooner Violet, Lee, Jrom Norfolk to Rich,
mond. , ~
Ship Speedwell,! atem, from and to Charleston.
Schooner Nancy, Birch, do. do.
1 he Violet Lef: at Honduras the snow Aurora,
Capt. Brown of Charleston ; and on the 6th -
May spoke a brig belonging to Wafliingtop, N. C. .
from Jamaica, going into the bay, then under Tur
neff, with a fair wind.
FREDERICKSBURGr June 3.
R-ymtlds and Goofrley, rhe two persons who 1
>\ere apprehended lad fall, upjn (ufpicion of hav
ing lobbed the public mail, were tried-lad week, at
Richmond, before the Diftri& Court of the United
States, and acr-quitted.
IVA A r TED,
Several Apprentices to the Printing
"Apf'x at tlte. Office of the-Gazette of <l»# •
United States, No. 119, Chefnut-fireet. f