The New Rochelle Pioneer, 21 October 1905
Patriotic Ceremony at the Monument Last Saturday — Only Authentic Remains of Thomas Paine, a Relic, Presented to the City — Singing by Children — Addresses by Dr. E. B. Foote, Jr., Theodore Schroeder, Prof Thaddeus B. Wakeman and Mayor Clarke.
With patriotic ceremonies, the famous monument on North avenue, erected to the memory of Thomas Paine, the author-hero of the American Revolution, was re-dedicated last Saturday afternoon and the custody of the memorial formally given over to and accepted by the City of New Rochelle.
More than a thousand people witnessed and took part in the ceremonies which were of an auspicious character.
Prior to the ceremonies there was a brilliant parade from the City Hall to the monument. The line was led by a platoon of police in command of Patrolman Kelly. Following in line were Mayor Clarke, members of the Board of Aldermen, City Officials; Minutemen, Major E. T. Paul commanding; Flandreau Post, G. A. R., Jos. Ferguson commanding; Veterans of the Spanish War, Norman Crosby Command, Peter Bartlett commanding; Detachment of Second Battery, N. G., N. Y., Brevet-Major Wilson; Sons of the American Revolution; Detachment of Artillerymen and Band from Fort Slocum.
The railing around the monument was covered with the National Standard and flags were suspended from ropes about the grounds. Two banners were displayed bearing the words:
“Spare the man, but kill monarchy.”—Paine.
“Thomas Paine, Author-Hero of the American Revolution.”
A handsome green wreath, fastened with two long streamers of green silk ribbon, one bearing the words “Thomas Paine” and the other “A France Reconnaissante” was the only decoration on the monument and it gave a strikingly beautiful effect. The wreath was a gift of Mme. Adelaine LeForte, a resident of France, as an expression of appreciation of Paine’s services to her country.
Paine Relic Exhibited.
A portion of the brain of Thomas Paine, removed at the time his body was stolen from the tomb near the site of the present monument, and carried to England by Lord Corbett in 1819, was exhibited for the first time.
The brain, which resembles a piece of hardened putty, was carried about by Dr. E. B. Foote, Jr., who was chairman of the meeting, and turned over to Mayor Clarke. It is the property of M. D. Conway, author of the “Life of Paine,” who found it in an auction shop in London a few years ago.
Mr. Conway kept the possession of the brain a secret until he learned of the action of the City of New Rochelle in appropriating money to inclose and preserve the plot where the monument now stands. He then wrote to the committee in charge of the celebration asking permission to put the relic of the brain back in the tomb. As soon as the fragment can be incased in a copper box it will be reburied.
The discovery of the brain of Paine leaves little doubt that the story told concerning the theft of his body, that it fell finally into the hands of vandals who cut it up and sold it for relics, is true.
Dr. Foote Presides.
The ceremonies commenced with music by the Fort Slocum band. About 200 school children, under the direction of Prof. George H. Foss, sang “America.”
Dr. Foote then made the opening address. He said in part:
Others will tell you about Paine’s life and works. I shall give you only the last page of the story.
Thomas Paine died in New York city on June 8, 1809, not quite one hundred years ago, and was soon buried in a corner of his farm here, where the old lane joins North street. It was within fifty feet of the present site of this monument and just about south of it. There was a headstone with the brief inscription, suggested by himself:
Thomas Paine
Author of “Common Sense.”
Born Jan. 29, 1737
Died June 8, 1809Seemingly he considered “Common Sense” his greatest or most useful work.
The grave, no doubt, was much neglected, until in 1819, when William Cobbett, an English admirer of Paine resurrected the coffin and contents, and shipped all to England. Cobbett was a man of good intentions and grand ideas, and honestly expected to honor Paine’s remains with a great monument in England, and even expected to “effect the reformation of England, as to Church and State.” The fact is, however, that Cobbett’s dreams failed, and the bones of Paine received less reverent care in the land of his birth than they had here in the land of his adoption.
Mr. M. D. Conway, the author of the only complete and authentic “Life of Paine” traced these bones through several hands, and succeeded in acquiring by purchase, the only discoverable remnant of the body of Paine, a small piece of mummified brain, which bore a printed label, reading as follows:
A portion of the
Brain
of Mr.
Thomas Paine“Tuesday, January 7th, 1833, I went to 11 Bolt Court, Fleet Street, and there with Mr. Gutsell and Mr. Dean, I saw, at the house of Mr. Cobbett, the remains of Mr. Thomas Paine, when I procured some of the hair, and from his skull I took a portion of his brain, which had become hardened and which is almost perfectly black,” B. Tilley.
Mr. Conway now gives this relic to this memorial, where it will find its most appropriate, and we hope, final interment. We can at least say from now on, this monument protects the remains of Thomas Paine, or, at least, all the material portion that can be discovered.
But Paine’s soul, like John Brown’s, “goes marching on,” and as Mr. Conway truly says, “His principles rest not,” and his ideas are destined to be far more widely scattered than his bones.
President Andrew Jackson said, “Thomas Paine needs no monument made by hands; he has erected a monument in the hearts of all lovers of Liberty.”
But Paine’s friends of sixty years ago, were not content with this view, and a subscription was made and this great block of stone with quotations from the author’s works, was erected here in 1839. It was placed as near the empty grave as possible, at the side of this lane or private right-of-way, thus becoming a sort of foundling on somebody’s doorstep. There it stood, attracting only the attention of the passer-by and the occasional pilgrim from other states, accumulating moss until it looked neglected and forlorn.
In 1881, societies in New York and Brooklyn, caused it to be cleaned and recut and made presentable, and several decoration day gatherings were held about it from time to time, until in 1899 the Paine enthusiasts topped off the stone monument with the bronze bust of Paine, by sculptor Wilson MacDonald, who is fortunately able to be with us to-day in spite of his advanced age, and who no doubt regards this as the proudest day of a life of 80 years.
Time brings necessary changes in all things, and so it happened that when New Rochelle took up the improvement of North Street, this monument had to be readjusted, and was moved a few feet from its first location, but the officials in charge fortunately had due appreciation of the value of this landmark and memorial to a great man. They gave it a new foundation, a prominent site, and in every way the most generous and worthy treatment, so that it will be from now on “a thing of beauty and a joy forever” to all who know enough to understand what Paine did in the originating and founding of this nation.
So, at last, within one hundred years, the City of New Rochelle has honored itself by thus honoring its only representative among the fathers of the country, by adopting as its ward this stone that was a foundling, and the associated friends of Paine who have often shown it reverent care now unite in tendering to the City of New Rochelle all their rights and title in this memorial, including, of course, the bronze bust and lastly the remains of Paine direct from Mr. M. D. Conway, the one man who has done most to make clear to us all the great utility and grand purpose of Paine’s life, words and works.
The Mayor and Common Council of New Rochelle are here to-day to accept this memorial, all that we have to offer of it, and the Honorable Henry S. Clarke, the Mayor, will speak for the City.
“Paine, the Author-Hero,” by Theodore Schroeder.
Theodore Schroeder was the next speaker. He said:
Almost a century ago, Thomas Paine died, and was buried near this spot. He is beyond the reach of either calumny or praise. We cannot honor him now, we can only honor ourselves by showing our understanding and appreciation of him.
Paine never had his genius ruined by any college culturine. He was a graduate only from the university of hard knocks. He acquired knowledge by doing things, rather than from a study of the books written by men who never did anything.
At the age of thirty-seven, he came to America, penniless; all of his effects having been sold to pay his debts. Through Franklin’s aid, he became editor of the “Pennsylvania Magazine.” There, in one short year, he inaugurated more important reforms, than stand to the credit of most great men. Among these, were opposition to dueling and slavery, and the advocacy of an international copyright, of equality for women, of sane marriage and divorce laws, such as now obtain in nearly every state in the Union, except New York, and the abolition of war, by international arbitration. In all these reforms, inaugurated in America, by Paine, civilized man now agrees with him.
Paine was the first American, publicly to suggest that the war of the colonists should be one for independence instead of merely for redress and reconciliation. He anticipated the Declaration of Independence, by writing of the “Free and independent States of America,” and was the first to pen the words, “United States of America.”
During the days of the revolution, it was the opinion of many, that the pen of Paine had contributed more to its success, than the generalship of Washington. Paine’s “Common Sense,” first demonstrated the necessity of separation and independence. And the fire of this independence, he now kept alive, with the fuel of his mighty brain. Before the battle of Trenton, the half-clad and half-starved soldiers were called together, to hear read Paine’s “Crisis,” which burst upon them thus: “These are the times that try men’s souls. The Summer soldier, and the sunshine patriot, will in this crisis shrink from the services of his country.”
The pamphlet read by every corporal’s guard, both in and out of the army, produced more than the intended effect. The enthusiasm it inspired was the chief element in the success at the battle of Trenton.
The convention of New York, reduced by fear and desertion to nine members, was recalled and reanimated. Militiamen, tired of war, and straggling from the army, returned.
Subsequently, as Secretary of the Pennsylvania Assembly, he started a subscription with his entire salary, which resulted in the raising of a relief fund of half a million dollars, and thus again, he saved the revolution from disaster. Though, himself penniless, he gave to America, the Copyright of all his books; at a time when they were selling by the thousands. Later, he again saved the revolution from failure, securing the timely aid of France.
When the great Franklin said: “Where liberty is, there is my home,” the great Paine said: “Where liberty is not, there is mine.” His love encompassed all mankind, his sympathy all living things. America did not now need Paine and could no longer contain his affections. He left for France and England, where liberty was not.
Later, we find him an adviser in the French Revolution, which he so vigorously defended in his “Rights of Man.” This defense of liberty made him so popular, that though not a citizen of France, by unanimous vote of three communes, he was elected as a citizen of the world to be, a member of the French Assembly.
Here he performed the grandest act of his noble career when at the risk of his own life, he protested, and voted against the execution of the dethroned monarch. For this, he was imprisoned, and just miraculously escaped death.
It was in hourly expectation of arrest and death, that he wrote his “Age of Reason,” which was an attack upon the then prevalent superstition. This was the book which destroyed his popularity, among people who still believed, even in America, in boring holes through the tongue of people who denied the Trinity.
Thomas Paine believed that Jesus of Nazareth, was but an exceptionally good man. For this, he was maligned by all the slanderous tongues of the church and burned in effigy in half the towns of England. He said that he believed in one God and no more, and for this, he was publicly jeered and hooted at in the streets of Trenton, where a few years before, he had inspired ardour in an army, in the times that tried men’s souls.
Paine defended the liberties of man against the usurped power of crowned ruffians. For this, he was denounced as “brutal.” He defended the rights of conscience against the bloody bigotry of his time. This made him “vulgar and low.”
When royalty could not answer Paine’s arguments in the “Rights of Man,” he was threatened with death, and outlawed from the country he was offering freedom. Paine’s sympathy for mankind had made kings his foes, his mercy cost him his liberty, his generosity kept him in poverty, his charity made him enemies, and by intellectual honesty, he lost his friends. Denied the right to vote, because he was a citizen of France, by Federalist judges of election, for whose liberty he had fought; imprisoned in France, because he was not a citizen of France; maligned because he was brave; shunned because he was honest; hated by those to whom he had devoted his whole existence; denied a burial place in the soil he helped make free, by the church which first taught him the lesson of humanity; thus ended the life of Thomas Paine.
The world is growing better, more just and more hospitable. The narrow intolerance which once threatened to erase Paine’s name from the pages of history, is passing away. Gradually we are coming to know that a kings crown or priest’s robe never rested upon a nobler man than the one who had the greatness and the goodness to say: “The world is my country, to do good, my religion.”
Mr. Schroeder’s address was received with great applause. He was followed by Edward Hagaman Hall, a Son of the American Revolution and one of the Minutemen in uniform. Mr. Hall who was suddenly called upon, made a pleasing address which was greeted with cheers and long applause.
The addresses were interspersed with music by the band and singing by the children.
“Why Patriots Honor Paine.”
A brilliant and intensely enthusiastic address was made by Prof. Thaddeus B. Wakeman, of the Manhattan Liberal Club. He formally gave over the custody of the monument to Mayor Clarke on behalf of the City of New Rochelle.
Space forbids the printing of Mr. Wakeman’s address in this issue of The Pioneer, and it is reserved for a future issue.
Mayor Clarke’s Acceptance.
Mayor Clarke was warmly received by the spectators. He said in part:
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen:
I have the honor to act in behalf of my associates of the Common Council as representative of the people of the City of New Rochelle, in the acceptance of this historical memorial. This memorial should prove a perpetual object-lesson, inculcating not merely the spirit of patriotism, but the fundamental idea which was part of all Paine’s writings, namely: political equality for all men. He ranks with Samuel Adams, as the patriot who taught the subjects of the British Government who were then citizens of the American Colonies, that they had rights and responsibilities far greater than those imposed on them as subjects of the British Crown. He began an intellectual awakening that led to the Revolution and to the amazing triumph of the ideas of political equality for all and the power of popular sovereignty to carry on a Government in which all men were equal under the law. His “Common Sense” awakened instant interest, owing to the stirring words with which he commenced that immortal political pamphlet:
“These are the times that try men’s souls.” He wrote, inspired with the great idea that every man should be regarded, in his relation of citizen, as the equal of every other. The lesson he then taught is a lesson that should not be forgotten to-day. His were among the great services that gave to us this beautiful land of liberty. Oh, may this memorial ever serve to keep fresh in the minds of this and coming generations the services, the patriotism, the love of liberty, of Thomas Paine and the men of his time.
Now, Mr. Chairman, in behalf of my associates of the Common Council and the City of New Rochelle, I accept this monument, promising to cherish and preserve it, and with the hope that it may prove an inspiration to patriotism and self-sacrificing citizenship.
Salute by Second Battery.
The Second Battery had taken a position in the field east of the monument and after Mayor Clarke’s formal acceptance, fired a salute of 13 guns.
The ceremonies closed with prayer offered by Rev. DeWitt L. Pelton, of St. James’ Church, New York, chaplain of the Minutemen of the Continentals.
Refreshments were served to visitors on the grounds and in this line, the Women’s Auxiliary Corps of the G. A. R. did splendid work as hostesses, under the direction of Miss Mary Frances Hayes, their president, assisted by Mrs. Stephen Romain, chaplain; Mrs. Edward Osterhout, color bearer; Mrs. Norman L. Underhill, assistant conductor; Mrs. William Lockwood, color bearer; Miss Jennie Dodge, musician; Mrs. Bedford and others.
After the invited guests had partaken of the refreshments served in the See homestead, opposite the monument Mayor Clarke, who proved to be the popular man of the day, called on Capt. F. H. Sargent of the Regulars; Major E. T. Pauli, of the Minutemen; Capt. Louis H. Cornish, Private Tyler and others for short addresses. All responded in a happy vein and the visitors left in the best of good humor with warm expressions of appreciation of the hospitality of New Rochelle.
Flandreau Post.
Flandreau Post, G. A. R., whose ranks are so noticeably diminishing with each successive public appearance of The Post, was represented by Joseph Ferguson, commander; A. Sweat, S. V. commander; John Keefer, Jr. V. commander; W. W. Dodge, adjutant; Jos. Parker, officer of guard; comrade J. S. Ingalls, Peter Sutton, Conrad Lasker, Matthew Herman, Matthew Brady and William Pagan.
City Receives Key to Gate.
Mayor Clarke accepted the key to the gate in front of the monument from the hands of George W. Lloyd, who for thirty years has been the custodian of the Paine plot. The key will be hung in the City Hall. The relic of Paine presented by Mr. Conway will be placed in a copper box to be deposited in the monument.
The Committee of Arrangements.
The committee of arrangements consisted of Mayor Henry S. Clarke, Aldermen Kuchler, Blume, Davis, Kallenberg, Hilldring, Koch, Steele and Walter. E. B. Foote, Jr., M. D., treasurer Paine Bronze Bust Committee; Captain George Loyd, of the Paine Historical Society; Wilson McDonald (Sculptor), of the Manhattan Liberal Club; Jas. B. Elliott, of the Paine Memorial Association; R. E. Low, of the Brooklyn Philosophical Association.