Thomas Paine, the Apostle of Liberty: An Address Delivered in Chicago, January 29, 1916; Including the Testimony of Five Hundred WitnessesRemsburg, John E. (John Eleazer)
History
Thomas Paine, the Apostle of Liberty: An Address Delivered in Chicago, January 29, 1916; Including the Testimony of Five Hundred Witnesses
Remsburg, John E. (John Eleazer)
Paine, Thomas, 1737-1809
"There are eleven original portraits of Thomas Paine, besides a death
mask, a bust, and the profile copied in this [Conway's] work.... In all
of the original portraits of Paine his dress is neat and in accordance
with fashion."--_Dr. Conway_.
The foregoing testimonials regarding Paine's personal appearance and
dress are equally true of his old age. The Jarvis painting, executed
when he was an old man of sixty-seven, is a mute witness to this. This
portrait is that of a handsome, temperate, well-preserved man. It is
of itself a standing refutation of the slanders of his defamers, and
especially of the charge that he was addicted to drunkenness in his old
age.
Aaron Burr: "I always considered Mr. Paine a gentleman, a pleasant
companion, and a good-natured and intelligent man, _decidedly
temperate_."
Regarding another base calumny, Dr. Conway says: "During Paine's life
the world heard no hint of sexual immorality connected with him,
but after his death Cheetham published [in his 'Life of Paine'] the
following: 'Paine brought with him from Paris, and from her husband in
whose house he had lived, Margaret Brazier Bonneville, and her three
sons. Thomas has the features, countenance, and temper of Paine.'"
Madame Bonneville was a lady of unblemished character, educated,
cultured and refined. For this vile insinuation its author, a
disreputable publisher of New York, who boasted of having nine libel
suits pending against him at one time, was pronounced guilty of slander
by a jury composed mostly of Christians.
Counsellor Sampson (Cheetham's prosecutor): "It is argued that
everything should be intended to favor the defendant, who has written
so godly a work against the prince of deists and for the Holy Gospel....
His book, a godly book--a vile obscene, and filthy compilation, which
bears throughout the character of rancorous malice!"
Commenting on this case, Ellery Sedgwick, the able editor of the
_Atlantic Monthly_, in his Beacon biography of Paine, says: "The
evidence which her (Madame Bonneville's) lawyers adduced at the trial
was conclusive, and the jury found Cheetham guilty; but Judge Hoffman,
with casuistry worthy of his version of Christianity, held that Mr.
Cheetham, while guilty of libel, had written a very useful book in
favor of religion, and fixed the damages at the modest sum of $150. Thus
sheltered, Cheetham's lies grew into history."
Some years ago the evangelist, Rev. Dr. R. A. Torrey, while in England,
made a brutal attack upon Paine's character, repeating the slanders
that have been circulated against him. W. T. Stead, the noted editor and
publisher of the _Review of Reviews_, London, who later perished on
the ill-fated Titanic, in his magazine defended Paine and refuted the
slanders of Torrey. Of the Madame Bonneville slander he says:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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