CORRESPONDENCE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IV, Issue 253, 22 September 1884, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE.

Mr Hagffen m Reply.

(TO THE EDITOR OF THE STANDARD.) Sib,— l have read Mr Sunn's reply, to my letter, and fail to see that it answers the questions at issue. Cook said Paine was a drunkard. 1 pro duced the evidence of a " local preacher " who knew him personally to show that he was not a drunkard. Who.se testimony is the more reliable — that of the mau who knew him intimately or that of the priest who did not, and whose writings and speeches are marked tor their intemperance of all that is opposed to orthodoxy] Anyone except Mr Bunn would say that the man who knew him personally ought to be the true witness. Consequently Cook has. slandered Paine. Mr Bunn then quotes an article from some Encyclopedia — he does not say which, and the article might have been written j by a priest for all we know. The fact that it mentions that Paine was intemperate, while those who knew him say he was not, shown chat the article is unreliable and is probably only a summary of current rumoi\ It is worth nothing. Granting ('though I doubt its truili) the passage rekitiug to Paiue's married life, was it anything m notoriety compared with the lives of those two Saints, David and Solomon — the for'rner resorting to murder to satisfy his bestial passions m acquiring another man's wife he had morally ruined. The other having wives or " concubines " to be counted by hundreds? Bid none ever say a good wopd of Paine. I shall quote from the men who knew him personal ly : — not from the priests who slandered him. Said Jackson : — f *Thomas Paine needs no monument made by hands; he has erected himself a monument m the hearts of, all lovors of liberty." Said the noble George "Washington who never told a lie, though a sceptic, f * Your presence may remind Congress of your pa*t services to this country, arid if it is |v my power to impress them command my best exertions with freedom as they will l>e rendered cheerfully by one who entertains a lively sense of the impoitance of your woiks." Again referring to Paine's works, Washington said : — "That hi* * common sense ' and many of his ' crisis ' were well timed and had a happy effpet on the public mind, none, I believe, who will turn to the epochs at which they were published will deny. That his services have hitherto passed unnoticed is obvious to all " Said Jefferson : " That you may long live to continue your useful labours and to reap the reward of the thankfulness of nations it is my since^'o prayer." Skjd Monroe : "To, ihe welfare of Thomas Paine," the Americans are no\ nor can they be, indifferent." Said Napoleon : " A statue of gold ought to be erected to you m every, city of thft Universe." Said Judge Herttell, "No -man m modern ages has done more to benefit mankind, or distinguished himself more for thfc immense moral good he has effected for his species than Thomas Paine, who, m trnlh, merits eternal life s*nd doubtless will be immortalised m the memory and gratitude of future generations." The last authority I. shall quote is Barlow who say* : "He was one of the most benevolnnt and disinterested of mankind. He was always charitable to the poor beyond his rowans, a sure protector and a friend to all m distress." Will such a tribute over be paid to Mr Bunn or the saintly Mr Cook either? and how much is their authority worth on eubjectslhey* evidently know little about? That "nearly all Christendom is against Breven " is true, but jt is always against a man who does not think as it does, and P>aine is only one •of a thousand over whose death-bed the Church has circulated the basest falsehoods. I .should like to go ..fully into this matter, but your space forbidu. Allow me. to say that m reference to the Srenoji Revolution, if J common " sense haa governed the people for fourteen centuries instead of the Church and superstition there would huve been no bloodshed, but the people had been so I'obbed by the Government, so degraded by the Chnrdh they were not fit to construct a Republic and oarried away by hatred for their sufferings they acted as they did. In conclusion I would just say a word m regard to the morality, &c, of England being attributed to Christianity. In England aand Wales alone there are about 300,000 prisoners — a nice trjb.ute £o Christianity certainly as they nearly all process to belong to some sect, Things ai:e* imprQ}?Jn£; however, but civilization and not t]be Church is the cause, and Professor Levi, who has mado the result of Educational influences a specialty, shows that it is Education and not the Church which is doiug 1 the good work. — I am, &c, E. A. Haqow. Woodyille, Sept, 20.