Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 43.djvu/80

 was issued, expressing sympathy with the French revolution and demanding reforms in England (see Rights of Man, App.)

Paine lodged with his friend Rickman, a bookseller, and met many of the reformers: Lord Edward FitzGerald, Mary Wollstonecraft, Sharp the engraver, Romney, ‘Walking’ Stewart, Horne Tooke, and others, are mentioned by Rickman. He was toasted by the societies which were beginning to spring up; and began the second part of the ‘Rights of Man.’ His printer, Chapman, became alarmed, and handed over the sheets which he had printed to Jordan. Paine also gave a note to Jordan (dated 16 Feb. 1692). In it Jordan was directed, if questioned by any one in authority, to give Paine's name as author and publisher. On 14 May Jordan received a summons; he pleaded guilty, and gave up his papers (Address to Addressers). Paine was summoned on 21 May. He wrote to the attorney-general stating that he was prepared to meet the case fully, and had ordered his attorney to put in an appearance. He appeared in court on 8 June, when the trial was postponed to December. He also published letters to Dundas (6 June), to Lord Onslow (17 and 21 June), who had summoned a county meeting at Epsom, and to the sheriff of Sussex (20 June), who had summoned a meeting at Lewes. He spoke at a meeting of the ‘Friends of the People’ on 12 Sept. His friends heard that he would be arrested for his speech. The next evening he was at the house of Johnson, the publisher, when William Blake (, Life of Blake, p. 12) told him that he would be a dead man if he went home. He started at once with John Frost (1750–1842) [q. v.], who took him by a circuitous route to Dover. They were searched by the custom-house officer, upon whom Paine made an impression by a letter from Washington, and were allowed to sail, twenty minutes before a warrant for Paine's arrest arrived from London.

The attorney-general, Archibald Macdonald [q. v.], explained in the trial that he had not prosecuted the first part, because he thought that it would only reach the ‘judicious reader.’ The second had been industriously circulated in all shapes and sizes, even as a wrapper for ‘children's sweetmeats.’ It was said, in fact, that two hundred thousand copies had been circulated by 1793 (Impartial Memoirs). The real reasons were obvious. The respectable classes had taken alarm at the events in France. The old and new whigs had fallen out, and the reforming societies were becoming numerous. The ‘Society for Constitutional Information,’ of which Horne Tooke was the leading member, thanked Paine on the appearance of each part of his book. The ‘Corresponding Society,’ formed at the beginning of 1792, and affiliated to the ‘Constitutional,’ with numerous other societies which now sprang up throughout the country, joined in commending Paine's books, and circulated copies in all directions. ‘The Rights of Man’ was thus adopted as the manifesto of the party which sympathised with the French revolution. Although they disavowed all intentions of violence, the governing classes suspected them of Jacobinism, and a prosecution of Paine was inevitable. (The trials of Hardy and Horne Tooke in 1794, reported in ‘State Trials,’ vols. xxiv.–v., give a full history of these societies and their relation to Paine; see also reports of Committee of Secrecy, 1794, in Parl. Hist. xxxi. 751, &c.) Paine on 4 July handed over 1,000l., produced by the sale of the ‘Rights of Man,’ to the Constitutional Society (State Trials, xxiv. 491). Chapman had offered him successively 100l., 500l., and 1,000l., for the second part at different stages of the publication (ib. xxii. 403), but Paine preferred to keep the book in his own hands. It was suggested (, i. 330) that the money was really to be paid by government with a view to suppressing the book. It is, however, highly improbable that government would guarantee to pay hush-money with so little security for permanent effect. The trial took place on 18 Dec. 1792. Paine wrote a letter from Paris (11 Nov. 1792) to the attorney-general, saying that he had business of too much importance to be present, and cared nothing for the result. He suggested that the attorney-general and ‘Mr. Guelph’ might take warning from the examples made of similar persons in France. Erskine, who defended him, tried to treat this letter as a forgery, but conviction, if before doubtful, became now inevitable.

Several prosecutions for publishing or circulating the ‘Rights of Man’ followed in 1793, as the alarm in England became more intense (, ii. 278 n., gives a list). Paine was welcomed enthusiastically in France. On 26 Aug. the title of French citizen had been conferred upon him and other celebrities by the national assembly. On 6 Sept. he was elected by the Pas de Calais a member of the convention. The departments of Oise and Puy de Dôme also elected him. Paine was met by salutes and public addresses, and on 19 Sept. reached Paris. He appeared that night at the national assembly. Frost reports next day (State Trials, xxiv. 536) that Paine was in