Among the many calumnies circulated against Paine is the charge that during his later years, after he wrote the "Age of Reason," he was, both in France and in America, a drunkard. This charge is false. Paine was one of the most temperate men of his time. Concerning his use of intoxicants in France his old friend Clio Rickman, who visited him in Paris, who was with him during his last day in that city, and who accompanied him to Havre when he sailed for America, says: "He did not drink spirits, and wine he took moderately; he even objected to any spirits being laid in as a part of his sea-stock." Hon. E. B. Washburne, who made a thorough investigation of Paine's career in France, bears the following testimony: "A somewhat extended study of the French Revolution during the extraordinary period in which Paine was so intimately connected with it, fails to show anything to the prejudice of his personal or political character." "Returned to the United States on the invitation of Jefferson in 1802."--_Library of World's Best Literature_. Charles T. Sprading: "Jefferson offered him return passage from Europe on a United States man-of-war." National Intelligencer (Washington, Nov. 10, 1802): "Thomas Paine has arrived in this city and has received a cordial reception from the Whigs of Seventy-six and the Republicans of 1800." "He was cordially received by the President, Thomas Jefferson. He also visited the heads of the departments."--_Boston Post_. Philadelphia Aurora, Washington Correspondent of (November 26, 1802): "His address is unaffected and unceremonious. He neither shuns nor courts observation. At table he enjoys what is good with the appetite of temperance and vigor, and puts to shame his calumniators by the moderation with which he partakes of the common beverage of the boarders.... I am proud to find a man whose political writings upon the whole have never been equaled, and whom I have admired on that account, free from the contamination of debauchery and habits of inebriety which have been so grossly and falsely sent abroad concerning him." Dr. Samuel Latham Mitchell, M. C. (Washington, Dec. 11, 1802): "At Mr. Gallatin's I saw for the first time the celebrated Thomas Paine. We had some conversation before dinner and we sat side by side at the table.... This extraordinary man contributed exceedingly much to entertain the company." Albert Gallatin was at this time Secretary of the Treasury. Referring to this period, including all the remaining years of his life, Conway says: "Paine's defamers have manifested an eagerness to ascribe his maltreatment to personal faults. This is not the case.... He was neat in his attire. In all portraits, French and American, his dress is in accordance with the fashion. There was not, so far as I can discover, a suggestion while he was at Washington, that he was not a suitable guest for any drawing-room in the capital."