A. C. Hankinson.
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A few days ago I received the following letter: Albany, New York, Sept. 27, 1877.
Dear Sir: It is over twenty years ago that pro- fessionally I made the acquaintance of John Hogeboom,
a Justice of the Peace of the county of Rensselaer, New York. He was then over seventy years of age and had the reputation of being a man of candor and integrity. He was a great admirer of Paine. He told me that he was personally ac- quainted with him, and used to see him frequently during the last years of his life in the city of New York, where Hogeboom then resided. I asked him if there was any truth in the charge that Paine was in the habit of getting drunk. He said that it was utterly false; that he never heard of such a thing during the life-time of Mr. Paine, and did not believe any one else did. I asked him about the recantation of his religious opinions on his death-bed, and the revolting death-bed scenes that the world had heard so much about. He said there was no truth in them, that he had received his information from persons who attended Paine in his last illness, "and that he pa.s.sed peacefully away, as we may say, in the sunshine of a great soul."...
Yours truly,
W. J. Hilton,
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The witnesses by whom I substantiate the fact that Thomas Paine did not recant, and that he died holding the religious opinions he had published, are: First--Thomas Nixon, Captain Daniel Pelton, B. F. Haskin. These gentlemen visited him during his last illness for the purpose of ascertaining whether he had in any respect changed his views upon relig- ion. He told them that he had not.
Second--James Cheetham. This man was the most malicious enemy Mr. Paine had, and yet he admits that "Thomas Paine died placidly, and al- most without a struggle." (See Life of Thomas Paine, by James Cheetham).
Third--The ministers, Milledollar and Cunning- ham. These gentlemen told Mr. Paine that if he died without believing in the Lord Jesus Christ he would be d.a.m.ned, and Paine replied, "Let me have none of your popish stuff. Good morning." (See Sherwin"s Life of Paine, p. 220).
Fourth--Mrs. Hedden. She told these same preachers when they attempted to obtrude them- selves upon Mr. Paine again, that the attempt to convert Mr. Paine was useless--"that if G.o.d did not change his mind no human power could."
Fifth--Andrew A. Dean. This man lived upon Paine"s farm at New Roch.e.l.le, and corresponded
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with him upon religious subjects. (See Paine"s Theological Works, p. 308.)
Sixth--Mr. Jarvis, the artist with whom Paine lived. He gives an account of an old lady coming to Paine and telling him that G.o.d Almighty had sent her to tell him that unless he repented and be- lieved in the blessed Savior, he would be d.a.m.ned.
Paine replied that G.o.d would not send such a foolish old woman with such an impertinent message. (See Clio Rickman"s Life of Paine.)
Seventh--Wm. Carver, with whom Paine boarded.
Mr. Carver said again and again that Paine did not recant. He knew him well, and had every opportun- ity of knowing. (See Life of Paine by Gilbert Vale.)
Eighth--Dr. Manley, who attended him in his last sickness, and to whom Paine spoke his last words.
Dr. Manley asked him if he did not wish to believe in Jesus Christ, and he replied, "I have no wish to believe on that subject."
Ninth--Willet Hicks and Elias Hicks, who were with him frequently during his last sickness, and both of whom tried to persuade him to recant. Ac- cording to their testimony, Mr. Paine died as he had lived--a believer in G.o.d, and a friend of man.
Willet Hicks was offered money to say something false against Thomas Paine. He was even offered
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money to remain silent and allow others to slander the dead. Mr. Hicks, speaking of Thomas Paine, said: "He was a good man--an honest man."
(Vale"s Life of Paine.)
Tenth--Amasa Woodsworth, who was with him every day for some six weeks immediately preceding his death, and sat up with him the last two nights of his life. This man declares that Paine did not recant and that he died tranquilly. The evidence of Mr.
Woodsworth is conclusive.
Eleventh--Thomas Paine himself. The will of Thomas Paine, written by himself, commences as follows:
"The last will and testament of me, the subscriber, Thomas Paine, reposing confidence in my creator G.o.d, and in no other being, for I know of no other, nor believe in any other;" and closes in these words; "I have lived an honest and useful life to mankind; my time has been spent in doing good, and I die in perfect composure and resignation to the will of my creator G.o.d."
Twelfth--If Thomas Paine recanted, why do you pursue him? If he recanted, he died substantially in your belief, for what reason then do you denounce his death as cowardly? If upon his death-bed he renounced the opinions he had published, the busi-
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ness of defaming him should be done by Infidels, not by Christians.
I ask you if it is honest to throw away the testi- mony of his friends--the evidence of fair and honor- able men--and take the putrid words of avowed and malignant enemies?
When Thomas Paine was dying, he was infested by fanatics--by the snaky spies of bigotry. In the shadows of death were the unclean birds of prey waiting to tear with beak and claw the corpse of him who wrote the "Rights of Man." And there lurk- ing and crouching in the darkness were the jackals and hyenas of superst.i.tion ready to violate his grave.
These birds of prey--these unclean beasts are the witnesses produced and relied upon by you.
One by one the instruments of torture have been wrenched from the cruel clutch of the church, until within the armory of orthodoxy there remains but one weapon--Slander.
Against the witnesses that I have produced you can bring just two--Mary Roscoe and Mary Hins- dale. The first is referred to in the memoir of Stephen Grellet. She had once been a servant in his house. Grellet tells what happened between this girl and Paine. According to this account Paine asked her if she had ever read any of his writings,
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and on being told that she had read very little of them, he inquired what she thought of them, adding that from such an one as she he expected a correct answer.
Let us examine this falsehood. Why would Paine expect a correct answer about his writings from one who had read very little of them? Does not such a statement devour itself? This young lady further said that the "Age of Reason" was put in her hands and that the more she read in it the more dark and distressed she felt, and that she threw the book into the fire. Whereupon Mr. Paine remarked, "I wish all had done as you did, for if the devil ever had any agency in any work, he had it in my writing that book."
The next is Mary Hinsdale. She was a servant in the family of Willet Hicks. She, like Mary Ros- coe, was sent to carry some delicacy to Mr. Paine.
To this young lady Paine, according to her account, said precisely the same that he did to Mary Roscoe, and she said the same thing to Mr. Paine.
My own opinion is that Mary Roscoe and Mary Hinsdale are one and the same person, or the same story has been by mistake put in the mouth of both.
It is not possible that the same conversation should have taken place between Paine and Mary Roscoe, and between him and Mary Hinsdale.
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Mary Hinsdale lived with Willet Hicks and he p.r.o.nounced her story a pious fraud and fabrication.
He said that Thomas Paine never said any such thing to Mary Hinsdale. (See Vale"s Life of Paine.)
Another thing about this witness. A woman by the name of Mary Lockwood, a Hicksite Quaker, died. Mary Hinsdale met her brother about that time and told him that his sister had recanted, and wanted her to say so at her funeral. This turned out to be false.
It has been claimed that Mary Hinsdale made her statement to Charles Collins. Long after the alleged occurrence Gilbert Vale, one of the biographers of Paine, had a conversation with Collins concerning Mary Hinsdale. Vale asked him what he thought of her. He replied that some of the Friends be- lieved that she used opiates, and that they did not give credit to her statements. He also said that he believed what the Friends said, but thought that when a young woman, she might have told the truth.
In 1818 William Cobbett came to New York.
He began collecting materials for a life of Thomas Paine. In this he became acquainted with Mary Hinsdale and Charles Collins. Mr. Cobbett gave a
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full account of what happened in a letter addressed to the Norwich Mercury in 1819. From this ac- count it seems that Charles Collins told Cobbett that Paine had recanted. Cobbett called for the testi- mony, and told Mr. Collins that he must give time, place, and the circ.u.mstances. He finally brought a statement that he stated had been made by Mary Hinsdale. Armed with this doc.u.ment Cobbett, in October of that year, called upon the said Mary Hinsdale, at No. 10 Anthony street, New York, and showed her the statement. Upon being questioned by Mr. Cobbett she said, "That it was so long ago that she could not speak positively to any part of the matter--that she would not say that any part of the paper was true--that she had never seen the paper --and that she had never given Charles Collins authority to say anything about the matter in her name." And so in the month of October, in the year of grace 1818, in the mist and fog of forgetful- ness disappeared forever one Mary Hinsdale--the last and only witness against the intellectual honesty of Thomas Paine.