Thomas Paine, the Apostle of Liberty

"This effort to right the wrongs of Thomas Paine is, in my opinion, a service to mankind."--Andrew D. White, LL.D., First President of Cornell University, Minister to Russia, and Ambassador to Germany.

1917

IN MEMORY OF THOMAS "CLIO" RICKMAN, WILLIAM COBBETT, GILBERT VALE, HORACE SEAVER, ROBERT G. INGERSOLL, MONCURE D. CONWAY, THADDEUS B. WAKEMAN and EUGENE M. MACDONALD, noble defenders while living of the much maligned dead, this appreciation of our nation's founder and the world's greatest apostle of liberty is reverently inscribed.

THOMAS PAINE, THE APOSTLE OF LIBERTY.

FROM time immemorial men have observed the natal days of their gods and heroes. A few weeks ago Christians celebrated the birthday of a god. We come to celebrate the birthday of a man.

Within the brief space of twenty-five days occur the anniversaries of the births of the three most remarkable men that have appeared on this continent--Paine, Washington and Lincoln--the Creator, the Defender and the Savior of our Republic. To do honor to the memory of the first of these--to acknowledge our indebtedness to him as a patriot and philosopher, and to extol his virtues as a man--have we assembled here. We come the more willingly and our exercises will be characterized by a deeper earnestness because the one whose merits we celebrate has been the victim of almost infinite injustice. In the popular mind to utter a word in his behalf has been to apologize for wrong--to declare yourself the friend of Paine has been to declare yourself the enemy of man. The world is not prepared to do him full justice yet. Priestcraft, still powerful, uses all its power to prejudice the public mind against him and in too many hearts, where love and gratitude should dwell, ingratitude and hatred have their home. There are those who will condemn this meeting in his name today and some of you may spurn the blossoms I have culled to place upon his tomb.

But is it a crime to defend the dead? Has the court of Death issued an injunction restraining us from pleading the cause of the departed? We defend from the assaults of calumny the fair fame of the living, and not more sacred are the reputations of the living than of the absent dead whose voiceless lips can utter no defense. The lips of Thomas Paine have long been dumb; but mine are not, and while I live I shall defend him. As Rizpah stood by the bodies of her murdered sons, keeping back the birds of prey, so will I stand by the memory of this good man and drive back the foul vultures that feast their greedy selves and feed their starving broods on dead men's characters.

On the 29th of January, 1737, at Thetford, England, Thomas Paine was born. He was of Quaker parentage. Like nearly all of earth's illustrious sons, he was of humble origin. At an early age he left the paternal roof and began alone life's struggle,--serving in the British navy, teaching in London, engaging in mercantile pursuits, and performing the duties of exciseman.

While in London he formed the acquaintance of the learned Franklin, who induced him to cross the ocean and cast his lot with the people of the New World. He comes to America toward the close of 1774. A year of quiet observation enables him to grasp the situation here. He sees thirteen feeble colonies struggling against a powerful monarchy; he sees a tyrant whom the world styles "king" trampling the fair form of Liberty beneath his feet; he sees his subjects crouching and cringing before the throne, pleading in vain for a redress of wrongs. Separation and Independence have not yet been proposed. It is true that Lexington, and Concord, and Bunker Hill have passed into history; it is true that Patrick Henry, James Otis, John Hancock, and the Adamses have fearlessly denounced the odious measures of the British ministry; yet up to the very close of 1775, not a voice has been raised in favor of Independence. A redress of grievances is all that the boldest have demanded. But the current of history is to be turned. Rebellion is to be changed to Revolution. With the firm belief that right will triumph, Paine marshals the legions of thought that spring from his prolific brain and on the first of January, 1776, moves in solid columns against this citadel of tyranny. The shock is irresistible. The solid masonry gives way, and falls before his fierce assault. Into the breach thus made an eager people rush, and on the ruins plant the unsoiled banner of a new Republic.