In support of the claims that I have made for Thomas Paine, in refutation of the calumnies that have been circulated against him, I bring the testimony of more than _five hundred witnesses_--those who by intimate acquaintance, or a careful study of his life, are qualified to give a just estimate of his character and works,--historians, biographers, encyclopedists, statesmen, divines, and others; men and women who have acquired an honorable distinction in the various walks of life, and whose names alone are a sufficient guarantee that what they testify shall be the truth. From the dead and from the living--from two continents--I summon them: "COMMON SENSE" AND THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. Dr. Joseph B. Ladd: "Immortal Paine! whose pen, surprised we saw, Could fashion empires while it kindled awe. "When first with awful front to crush her foes, All bright in glittering arms, Columbia rose, From thee our sons the generous mandate took, As if from Heaven some oracle had spoke; And when thy pen revealed the grand design, 'Twas done--Columbia's liberty was thine." W. C. Braun: "From the brain of Thomas Paine Columbia sprang full panoplied, like Minerva from the brain of Jupiter." "Paine was the prophet of American destiny."--_George Jacob Holyoake_. "Thomas Paine is one of those men who most contributed to the establishment of a Republic in America."--_Abbe Sieyes_. Century Dictionary: "Took a prominent part in support of the American Revolution." "A principal actor in the American Revolution."--_M. Thiers, President Third Republic of France_. John Clark Ridpath, LL. D.: "The Morning Star of the Revolution." Hon. William Willett: "The first champion of American liberty." Blackie's Modern Cyclopedia (England): "One of the founders of American Independence." "The apostle of American Independence."--_M. de Lamartine._ William Cobbett: "I saw Paine first pointing the way and then leading a nation through perils and difficulties of all sorts to independence and to lasting liberty, prosperity and greatness." "Paine was the first voice in America that was imperial."--_George W. Foote_. Theodore Roosevelt: "Thomas Paine, the famous author of 'Common Sense.'" Edmund Burke: "That celebrated pamphlet which prepared the minds of the people for Independence." Egerton Ryerson, LL. D.: "The sudden and marvelous revolution in the American mind was produced chiefly by a pamphlet." George Bancroft: "Franklin encouraged Thomas Paine,... who was the master of a singularly lucid and fascinating style, to write an appeal to the people of America."