* Paine still had faith in Bosville. He was slow in suspecting any man who seemed enthusiastic for liberty. In this connection it may be mentioned that it is painful to find in the "Diary and Letters of Gouverneur Morris," (ii., p. 426) a confidential letter to Robert R. Livingston, Minister in France, which seems to assume that Minister's readiness to receive slanders of Jefferson, who appointed him, and of Paine whose friendship he seemed to value. Speaking of the President, Morris says: "The employment of and confidence in adventurers from abroad will sooner or later rouse the pride and indignation of this country." Morris' editor adds: "This was probably an allusion to Thomas Paine, who had recently returned to America and was supposed to be an intimate friend of Mr. Jefferson, who, it was said, received him warmly, dined him at the White House, and could be seen walking arm in arm with him on the street any fine afternoon." The allusion to "adventurers" was no doubt meant for Paine, but not to his reception by Jefferson, for Morris' letter was written on August 27th, some two months before Paine's arrival. It was probably meant by Morris to damage Paine in Paris, where it was known that he was intimate with Livingston, who had been introduced by him to influential men, among others to Sir Robert Smith and Este, bankers. It is to be hoped that Livingston resented Morris' assumption of his treacherous character. Morris, who had shortly before dined at the White House, tells Livingston that Jefferson is "descending to a condition which I find no decent word to designate." Surely Livingston's descendants should discover his reply to that letter. The defeated Federalists had already prepared their batteries to assail the President for inviting Paine to return on a national ship, under escort of a Congressman. It required some skill for these adherents of John Adams, a Unitarian, to set the Inquisition in motion. It had to be done, however, as there was no chance of breaking down Jefferson but by getting preachers to sink political differences and hound the President's favorite author. Out of the North, stronghold of the "British Party," came this partisan crusade under a pious flag. In Virginia and the South the "Age of Reason" was fairly discussed, its influence being so great that Patrick Henry, as we have seen, wrote and burnt a reply. In Virginia, Deism, though largely prevailing, had not prevented its adherents from supporting the Church as an institution. It had become their habit to talk of such matters only in private. Jefferson had not ventured to express his views in public, and was troubled at finding himself mixed up with the heresies of Paine.*