By Gary Berton
The Editorial Board of the Collected Works of Thomas Paine presented an overview of the ongoing project. They presented a picture from the work done to date that Paine had been an active writer for 17 years before coming to America. And he had ties to Benjamin Franklin, then an ambassador to England, from an early date when Paine was just entering adulthood.
A piece of collaborative research to this claim has been found, which we copy here. The letter reads:
Ambrose Serle to the Earl of Dartmouth,
11 June 1777
My Lord,
I have the Honor to inclose to Your Lordship two Publications, circulated by the Rebels. One of them, the Crisis, is written by a Mr. Paine, who was brought over hither, some Years ago, by Dr. Franklin, and has been chiefly employed by him, in one Pursuit or other, ever since. He was a Grub street Writer in London, when he fell into the Doctor’s Way; and, by falling into his Principles, was enabled by him to emerge from Obscurity, and to meet with considerable Attentions in this Country. He has nothing to lose, but every thing to hope, from the Establishment of the present rebellious Situation.
“A Grub Street Writer” was a derogatory term used by the aristocracy against the political writers, and others, of the 18th century, synonymous to “hack writers” living in the poor area around that street. This shows that Paine was actively writing before coming to America. It also shows his close ties to Franklin from that early period. Although he probably didn’t live there, Paine fits the underground Patriotic Whig political writing group in philosophy. The new works being discovered by the Project has confirmed his role as a leading writer close to the Pitt/Shelburne faction long before coming to America. Volume I of the new Collection of his writings will be almost entirely filled with these recently discovered works, and will explain how a writer could produce a brilliant work like Common Sense, after two decades of honing his skills.
A reading by Paulie Wenger
Paulie Wenger was one of the presenters at the Thomas Paine National Historical Association’s Thomas Paine Symposium, June 17, 2022, and he uncovered an unknown freethinker from the mid-19th century, Tamar Davis. She was hounded by the state authorities until she died young in prison. As part of his talk was a poem she wrote on Paine:
The Reformer and Patriot
by Tamar Davis
Written for the 116 Anniversary of the Birth-Day of Thomas Paine. From the Boston Investigator, January 26, 1853.
Bright laurels bring the conquering chief to crown,
And wreathe with bays the poet’s young renown;
But garlands gather from the mighty Oak
Whose gnarled limbs defy the thunder stroke
For the Reformer who, in fearless might,
Dares nobly battle for the Truth and Right!
Long, long ago, dark Error wrapped mankind
And hateful priests enslaved the human mind;
Now bidding War unsheathe his bloody steel,
And then presiding o’er the rack and wheel;
Hear saintly Luther without mercy doom
Unnumbered victims to a watery tomb;
See grim old Calvin, like a demon smile,
Where of Servetus gleams the lighted pile;
And Cranmer, too, compelled the fate to bide
He’d dealt to others in his hour of pride;
Then later still to sage New England turn
Where priests decide and tortured witches burn!
Now, even now, they still presume to blind
And breathe anathemas o’er all mankind;
The same in mind and thought, in wish and will,
They’re avaricious, grasping, selfish still.
Not now, indeed, they light the horrid fire
Where aged women poor and lone expire;
Not now, indeed, the torturing rack they build;
Not now are dungeons by their orders filled.
Thanks to the noble, great, and godlike train
Who dared their idiot phrenzy to restrain!
Thanks to the Man, their leader, proudly names.
Who civil rights and mental freedom claimed!
Of pious fraud and mummeries exposed,
And superstition’s silly rites disclosed;
And holding up for bigotry to read
The thousand errors of her worthless creed,
Became the mark for hate’s malicious shaft,
Aimed in their fury by the priestly craft.
And long shall live the glorious name of Paine!
While Justice, Truth, and Gratitude remain;
So long as men with generous thought endued
Admire the great and reverence the good,
So long as nations glory in the fate
That brought disunion of the Church and State,
So long as freedom to the memory clings
Of those who humbled priests and conquered kings,
Age after age shall murmur their applause
And bless the Champion of a righteous cause!
A native ardor all his soul refined;
Not for himself he labored, but mankind;
And knows the earth a nobler, greater part
Than acts the Patriot of exalted heart,
Who stirs to mighty deeds his fellow men,
Whether he wields the falchion or the pen?