WORSHIP AND CHURCH BELLS, A LETTER TO CAMILLE JORDAN Philip Foner’s introduction: This pamphlet, published in the summer of 1797 in Paris and London, was Paine’s reply to a Report made to the French Convention by Camille Jordan, a royalist lawyer and member of the Council of Five Hundred, recommending the restoration of certain Catholic […]
I. AN ANSWER TO A FRIEND PARIS, May 12, 1797 IN your letter of the 20th of March, you give me several quotations from the Bible, which you call the ‘word of God,’ to shew me that my opinions on religion are wrong, and I could give you as many, from the same book to
This poem was addressed to Mrs. Joel Barlow, the wife of the liberal American poet, Joel Barlow, who was living in Paris in 1796 when these verses were written. Accompanying the poem, Paine sent the following note: “To Mrs. Barlow, on her pleasantly telling the author that, after writing against the superstition of the Scripture
For the Pennsylvania Packet and Daily Advertiser. from the Pennsylvania Packet , March 25, 1786. AS I have always considered the bank as one of the best institutions that could be devised to promote the commerce and agriculture of the country, and recover it from the ruined condition in which the war had left both
SPEECH IN THE FRENCH NATIONAL CONVENTION, JULY 7, 1795 Philip Foner’s introduction: On the 19th of Messidor of the year III, Paine had read from the tribune in the French National Convention the translation of this speech, which he had written in English, pointing sharply to the contradictions between the principles of 1789 and the
FROM THE CASTLE IN THE AIR TO THE LITTLE CORNER OF THE WORLD* THE God that Moses writes about Is one that I refuse, He for his chosen People took The disobedient Jews. Their country often he laid waste, Their little ones he slew; But I have shown a better taste In chusing Y, O,
From the original letter at the Library of Congress. Citizen Representatives If I should not express myself with the energy I used formerly to do, you will attribute it to the very dangerous illness I have suffered in the prison of the Lux — for several days I was insensible of my own existence and
To the French National Convention August 7, 1794 Read Post »
FROM THE CASTLE IN THE AIR TO THE LITTLE CORNER OF THE WORLD MEMORY, like a beauty that is always present to hear itself flattered, is flattered by everyone. But the absent and silent goddess, Forgetfulness, has no votaries, and is never thought of; yet we owe her much. She is the goddess of ease,
TO THE LITTLE CORNER OF THE WORLD IN the region of clouds, where the whirlwinds arise, My castle of fancy was built; The turrets reflected the blue from the skies, And the windows with sunbeams were gilt. The rainbow sometimes, in its beautiful state, Enamel’d the mansion around; And the figures that fancy in clouds
Philip Foner’s introduction: After it was revealed during his trial that the king had been conspiring with the French emigres and the courts of Europe to wage war upon the people of France, the Jacobins demanded the death of the king. Having failed to avoid the trial, the Girondins now sought to soften the verdict
Philip Foner’s introduction: Paine refused to support the Girondin proposal calling for a popular referendum to decide the king’s fate. At the same time, however, while voting the king guilty of treason, he refused to vote for the death penalty. He had this address translated and read to the French National Convention on January 19,
Philip Foner’s introduction: This paper appears in the French State Archives, and is endorsed “January 1793. Thomas Payne. Copie.” The date is erroneous, for the reference to the defeat of the Duke of York at Dunkirk indicates that it was written during the late summer or early fall of 1793. The Duke of York set
