The hopes of the British Government having been baffled in the expected reduction of the Colonies, and being compelled to acknowledge their independence, Mr. Paine had now leisure to turn to his mechanical and philosophical studies. He was admitted a member of the American Philosophical Society, and appointed Master of Arts, by the University of Philadelphia, and we find nothing from his pen in the shape of a pamphlet until the year 1786, He then published his "Dissertations on Governments, the Affairs of the Bank, and Paper Money." The object of this pamphlet was to expose the injustice and ingratitude of the Congress in withdrawing the charter of incorporation from the American Bank, and to show, that it would rather injure than benefit the community. The origin of this Bank having been solely for the carrying on of the war with vigour, and to furnish the army with necessary supplies, at a time when the want of food and clothing threatened a mutiny, Mr. Paine condemned the attempt to suppress it as an act of ingratitude. At a moment when the United States were overwhelmed with a general gloom by repeated losses and disasters, and by want of vigour to oppose the enemy, Mr. Paine proposed a voluntary contribution to recruit the army, and sent his proposal, and five hundred dollars as a commencement, to his friend Mr. M'Clenaghan. The proposal was instantly embraced, and such was the spirit by which it was followed, that the Congress established the leading subscribers into a Bank Company, and gave them a charter. This incident might be said to have saved America for that time, and as Mr. Paine has fairly shown that the Bank was highly advantageous to the interest of the United States at the time of its suppression, and that the act proceeded from party spleen, we cannot fail to applaud the spirit of this pamphlet, although it was an attack on the conduct of the Congress. It forms another proof that our Author never suffered his duty and principle to be biassed by his interest. In the year 1787, Mr. Paine returned to Europe, and first proceeded to Paris, where he obtained considerable applause for the construction of a model of an iron bridge which he presented to the Academy of Sciences. The iron bridge is now becoming general in almost all new erections, and will doubtless, in a few years, supersede the more tedious and expensive method of building bridges with stone. How few are those who walk across the bridge of Vauxhall and call to mind that Thomas Paine was the first to suggest and recommend the use of the iron bridge: he says, that he borrowed the idea of this kind of bridge from seeing a certain species of spider spin its web*! In the mechanical arts Mr. Paine took great delight, and made considerable progress. In this, as in his political and theological pursuits, to ameliorate the condition, and to add to the comforts, of his fellow men, was his first object and final aim.