The Life Of Thomas Paine, Vol. 2. (of 2): With A History of His Literary, Political and Religious Career in America France, and EnglandConway, Moncure Daniel
History
The Life Of Thomas Paine, Vol. 2. (of 2): With A History of His Literary, Political and Religious Career in America France, and England
Conway, Moncure Daniel
Paine, Thomas, 1737-1809
On July 15, 1801, Napoleon concluded with Pius VII. the Concordat.
Naturally, the first victim offered on the restored altar was
Theophilan-thropy. I have called Paine the founder of this Society,
because it arose amid the controversy excited by the publication of "Le
Siècle de la Raison," its manual and tracts reproducing his ideas and
language; and because he gave the inaugural discourse. Theism was little
known in France save as iconoclasm, and an assault on the Church: Paine
treated it as a Religion. But, as he did not speak French, the practical
organization and management of the Society were the work of others, and
mainly of a Russian named Hauëy. There had been a good deal of odium
incurred at first by a society which satisfied neither the pious nor the
freethinkers, but it found a strong friend on the Directory. This
was Larévellière-Lépeaux, whose secretary, Antoine Vallée, and young
daughter, had become interested in the movement. This statesman never
joined the Society, but he had attended one of its meetings, and, when
a distribution of religious edifices was made, Theophilanthropy was
assigned ten parish churches. It is said that when Larevéllière-Lépeaux
mentioned to Talleyrand his desire for the spread of this Society, the
diplomat said: "All you have to do is to get yourself hanged, and revive
the third day." Paine, who had pretty nearly fulfilled that requirement,
saw the Society spread rapidly, and he had great hopes of its future.
But Pius: VII. also had an interested eye on it, and though the
Concordat did not go into legal operation until 1802, Theophilanthropy
was offered as a preliminary sacrifice in October, 1801.
The description of Paine by Walter Savage Landor, and representations
of his talk, in the "Imaginary Conversations," so mix up persons, times,
and places, that I was at one time inclined to doubt whether the two had
met. But Mr. J. M. Wheeler, a valued correspondent in London, writes
me: "Landor told my friend Mr. Birch of Florence that he particularly
admired Paine, and that he visited him, having first obtained an
interview at the house of General Dumouriez. Landor declared that Paine
was always called 'Tom,' not out of disrespect, but because he was a
jolly good fellow." An interview with Paine at the house of Dumouriez
could only have occurred when the General was in Paris, in 1793. This
would account for what Landor says of Paine taking refuge from trouble
in brandy. There had been, as, Rickman testifies, and as all the facts
show, nothing of this kind since that period. It would appear therefore
that Landor must have mixed up at least two interviews with Paine, one
in the time of Dumouriez, the other in that of Napoleon. Not even
such an artist as Landor could invent the language ascribed to Paine
concerning the French and Napoleon.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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