WE

CHAPTER VI.

THE ABANDONED.

E have followed our "rebellious needleman" from obscurity to the summit of literary fame, to the zenith of political glory; we have seen kings and rulers of nations quailing at his unprivileged words; priestcraft has shrunk back aghast, for his grip is on her it is time for him to rest. But old age and disease are undermining the Overthrower of thrones and altars; and as if these were all the household comforts a worn-out man can need, old friends are falling off, and some begin to think that "he has gone too far"-has been too much in earnest. Truly, it requires some virtue― greater virtue than may get a name in a revolution-to stand by him who likes no abuses. England has cast him forth: he was not to be bought with place or pension; neither would he take holy orders. France, counter-revolutionized, would disenfranchise such as he. And America, his "beloved America," is too proud of her independence to welcome back the-infidel. Certainly, to no men are reformers more offensive than to their friends, the slower-paced. Let a man be advised: and be careful to cut his conscience to the stature of his friends! There will be no condemnation like theirs. "Why, we are liberal; but we cannot tolerate that:" Doubtless a sufficient proof of your liberality! The thousand thousand to whom Common Sense was given, to say nothing of some little efficient service in the war for Independence, independent as they were, crowded not to

MARAT.

M

ARAT, says Lamartine in his History of the Girondists, "was born in Switzerland. A writer without talent, a savant without reputation, with a desire for fame without having received from society or nature the means of acquiring either, he revenged himself on all that was great not only in society but in nature. Genius was as hateful to him as aristocracy. Wherever he saw anything elevated or striking he hunted it down as though it were a deadly. enemy. He would have levelled creation. Equality was his mania, because superiority was his martyrdom; he loved the Revolution because it brought down all to his level; he loved it even to blood, because blood washed out the stain of his long-enduring obscurity; he made himself a public denouncer by the popular title; he knew that denouncement is flattery to all who tremble, and the people are always trembling. A real prophet of demagogueism, inspired by insanity, he gave his nightly dreams to daily conspiracies. The Seid of the people, he interested it by his self-devotion to its interests. He affected mystery like all oracles. He lived in obscurity, and only went out at night; he only communicated with his fellows with the most sinistrous precautions. A subterranean cell was his residence, and there he took refuge safe from poignard and poison. His journal affected the imagination like something supernatural. Marat was wrapped in real fanaticism. The confidence reposed in him nearly amounted to worship. The fumes of the blood he incessantly demanded had mounted to his brain. He was the delirium of the Revolution, himself a living delirium !"-E.

the sea-shore to hail back their friend, not the least to be esteemed among their liberators. Even Washington had forgotten his own hand-writing; or held he too precise a memory of Paine's angry letter from Paris, thus ending -"As to you, Sir, treacherous in private friendship and a hypocrite in public life, the world will be puzzled to decide, whether you are an APOSTATE or an IMPOSTOR, whether you have abandoned good principles, or whether you ever had any."* That letter, too, contained some ill-looking facts, not yet cleared up: at least Peter Porcupine's Answer says nothing. Such things are not to be forgiven by Christian men; neither may Infidelity be countenanced. Other causes of neglect may have been at work. The Commander-in-chief was a Federalist, and feared the republic might become too republican. Paine, though he misunderstood Robespierre, was a thorough-going democrat; thought La Fayette required spurring. Very dangerous these unaccommodating men, never halting at word of command, to respectable slave proprietors, who fain would harness revolutions to their family chariots, and hold the reins themselves. Here too was another sore. The great Washington was a slave-holder. Paine hated the "infernal traffic in negroes ;" had only kept silence on that subject during the revolution, for fear of ruining all. But he had since written-"We must push that matter" (of abolition) "further on your side of the water. I wish that a few well-instructed negroes could be sent among their brethren in bondage; for until they are enabled to take their own part nothing will be done."† Was this to be forgotten? Yet Jefferson was a slaveholder; and he at least could write friendly, with 'assurance of high esteem and affectionate attachment."‡ An infidel, too, was Jefferson; but too wary to publish

* Letter to George Washington.

+Letter to a friend in Philadelphia, Paris, March 16th, 1789.

Jefferson to Paine, July, 1802.

it till he was out of reach. After all, something must be allowed for the bent of a man's character. Washington's great point seems to have been respectability: and respectability, "thin film" as it is, keeps the wearer well with the slow-eyed world, "whose God is the Almighty Dollar;" and how shall great things be done without it? Truth is not to be spoken at all times. Your politic reformer will allow as much: but Paine was not of that stamp. He was one of those who "achieve greatness;" Washington one upon whom greatness is "thrust." The difference is worth notice when medals are struck. *

Paine arrived at Baltimore, in Maryland, on the 30th of October, 1802. "From New Hampshire to Georgia

*"It is evident from all the writings of Mr. Paine, says Richard Carlile, "that he lived in the closest intimacy with Washington up to the time of his quitting America in 1787, and it further appears that they corresponded up to the time of Mr. Paine's imprisonment in the Luxembourg. But here a fatal breach took place. Washington, having been the nominal commander-in-chief during the struggle for independence, obtained much celebrity, not for his exertions during that struggle, but in laying down all command and authority immediately on its close, and in retiring to private life, instead of assuming anything like authority or dictation in the government of the United States, which his former situation would have enabled him to do if he had chosen. This was a circumstance only to be paralleled during the purest periods of the Roman and Grecian republics, and this circumstance obtained for Washington a fame to which his generalship could not aspire. Mr. Paine says that the disposition of Washington was apathy itself, and that nothing could kindle a fire in his bosom - neither friendship, fame, nor country." This might in some measure account for the relinquishment of all authority at a time when he might have held it, and, on the other hand, should have moderated the tone of Mr. Paine in complaining of Washington's neglect of himself whilst confined in France. The apathy which was made a sufficient excuse for the one case should have also formed a sufficient excuse for the other. This was certainly a defect in Mr. Paine's career as a political character. He might have attacked the conduct of John Adams, who was a bitter foe to Paine, republicanism, and purity of principle, and who found the apathy and indifference of Washington a sufficient cloak and opportunity to enable him to carry on every species of court and monarchical intrigue in the character of vice-president. He openly avowed his attachment to the monarchical system of government; he made an open proposition to make the presidency of the United States hereditary in the family of Washington, although the latter had no children of his own; and even ran into an intrigue and correspondence with the court and ministry of England on the subject of his diabolical purposes. All this intelligence burst upon Mr. Paine immediately on his liberation from a dreadful imprisonment, and at a moment when the neglect of the American government had nearly cost him his life. It was this which drew forth his virulent letter against Washington. The slightest interference of Washington would have saved him from several months' unjust and unnecessary imprisonment, for there was not the least charge against him further than that of having been born in England, although he had actually been outlawed in that country for supporting the cause of France and of mankind!"-Eckler.