"We have distressing accounts here from St. Domingo. It is the natural consequence of Slavery and must be expected every where. The Negroes are enraged at the opposition made to their relief and are determined, if not to relieve themselves to punish their enemies. We have no new accounts from the East Indies, and people are in much doubt. I am, affectionately yours, Thomas Paine." The "scurrility" referred to may have been that of George Chalmers, elsewhere mentioned. Two days after this letter to Short was written Paine received a notable ovation. There was a so-called "Revolution Society" in London, originally formed by a number of prominent dissenters. The Society had manifested its existence only by listening to a sermon on the anniversary of the Revolution of 1688 (November 4th) and thereafter dining together. It had not been supposed to interest itself in any later revolution until 1789. In that year the annual sermon was delivered by Dr. Richard Price, the Unitarian whose defence of the American Revolution received the thanks of Congress. In 1776 Price and Burke stood shoulder to shoulder, but the sermon of 1789 sundered them. It was "On the Love of our Country," and affirmed the constitutional right of the English people to frame their own government, to choose their own governors, and to cashier them for misconduct. This was the "red rag" that drew Burke into the arena. Dr. Price died April 19, 1791, and his great discourse gathered new force from the tributes of Priestley and others at his grave. He had been a staunch friend of Paine, and at the November festival of this year his place was accorded to the man on whom the "Constitutionalists" beheld the mantle of Price and the wreath of Washington. The company at this dinner of 1791 at the London Tavern, included many eminent men, some of them members of Parliament. The old Society was transformed--William and Mary and 1688 passed into oblivion before Thomas Paine and 1791. It was probably for this occasion that the song was written (by whom I know not)--"Paine's Welcome to Great Britain." "He comes--the great Reformer comes! Cease, cease your trumpets, cease, cease your drums! Those warlike sounds offend the ear, Peace and Friendship now appear: Welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome, Welcome, thou Reformer, here! "Prepare, prepare, your songs prepare, Freedom cheers the brow of care; The joyful tidings spread around, Monarchs tremble at the sound! Freedom, freedom, freedom, freedom,-- Rights of Man, and Paine resound!" Mr. Dignum sang (to the tune of "The tear that bedews sensibility's shrine.")