T H E TO R C H O F REASON, SIL V E R T O N , O REG O N , F E B R U A R Y 8, 1900-
We can add to th eir voice in th e s e ' The above an d sim ilar expres eyes;— All, all conjure us to act
has been printed by the I ruth
fundam ental docum ents a few con- sions of P aine, culminating
“ I8 wisely aud faithfully in the rela
Seeker, of New York. I would like
tions which we sustain to them .”
firm ations and even these con- expression in the Seventh Crisis,
Following these glorious voices
to take for granted th a t it ha» been
' “ The
Religion
of H u m an ity • ,” were
d
e
n
s
e
d
:—
se
u
;—
-
«
,
or wHl be, read by you, for it is
T hom as P aine asks: “ W h at is the real foundation of our Repub of the “ S pirits” and the “ M asters” in
qu ite necessary to enable you to l i k R epublic?" and replies:
lie and of all m odern R epubl.can- the past, and their hopes for the
u n d erstan d well th e reasons why
“ T he best form of governm ent for ism. Change th e word ‘M onarchy futur«*, we went through a bloody
the b irth d ay of Paine should be
• !• , and —
X-KI« R
»ro hit!
to w
Im perialism
you
have
his civil— a fratricid al war; we buried
conductiug
the
‘res-publica’,
or
the
made the Republican Festival of the
verdict upon the issue of our day. our very souls in debt and obliga-
puhlic
business
of
a
nation,
after
it
U nited States and of the world —
J efferson reaffirms the P ream ble lions th a t we have not yet, after
becomes
too
extensivo
and
populous
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provided alw ays,that we are to have for the simple, dem ocratic form.” to the D eclaration.
W
h
a
t
a
volum
e. more th an a qu arter of a century,
JUI
I
I
I
“
r
i
l
l
i
p
i
V
j
-w
*
the R epublican as our form and
been able to really lessen; and
The Federal Republic, he shows at could be collected from his works
now we are met a t the close of the
model of governm ent.
length, is its n atu ral form, in which sustaining it, and closing with th e
F inding ourselves thus free for
century w ith the avowal th a t all of
ever m em orable words:
the
people
sustain
the
im
perishable
th is evening to grapple with the
“ E te rn a l vigilance is th e p n c e o f lib e rty .” th is blood, toil, debt aud sacrifice
S
tates
and
their
divisions
for
their
question of the nature and continu
has been a foolish experim ent to
W ashington , though conserva
dom estic affairs, and the in d estru ct
ance of the Republic, let us pause
determ ine “ W h at is all this w orth?”
tive and constructive in a d m in istra
ible
Nation
for
the
general,
com
and realize where we are by listening
And are we to answer, as far as
tion, like Jefferson, was as stu rd y
mon,
internal
and
international
to the voices of those who have made
our R epublic is concerned, nothing !
a R epublican. He says:
purposes.
H
e
shows
th
a
t,
i t possible for us to be w hat andw bere
“ The preservation of the sacred T h at our g reat R evolution was in
IN
A
R
E
P
U
B
L
IC
,
we are. Yes, let us for a few m om ents
fire of L iberty, aud the perpetua fact, and in the long run, a mis
(1)
Men
are
born,
and
alw
ays
tu rn back to the past and hearken
take; th a t our governm ent is not
tion of the R epublican model of
continue,
free
and
equal
in
respect
to its adm onitions as though from
governm ent, were considered by its only to sym pathize w ith the British
th e “opened heavens.” 'A ould not its of th eir rights.
arm ies in serving others as they
founders as finally staked on the
(2)
G
overnm
ent
is
instituted
to
voice be like th a t which came to th e
experim ent in tru sted to the hands did us; hut th a t we are to im itate
re treatin g S ain t of old:
Quo preserve these rights, viz.: Liberty,
their exam ple, and rival and, if pos
of the American people.”
property,
security
and
resistance
to
V ad is?”—“ W h ith er goest th o u ?”
A gain, while W ashington, like sible, excel them in bearing the
Do you rem em ber how those words oppression.
Paine, did not approve of the un “ white m a n ’s b u rd en ,” of placing
(3)
All
governm
ent
aud
au
th
o
r
are said to have come to S aint I eter?
upon them a colonial Em pire, in
constitutional
and
anti-republican
W hy,from ‘the heavens’when he was ity is derived only from the people
parts of the F rench R evolution, he stead of the F ederal Republic which
governed.
about to leave the Rome of Nero to
would sustain Dem ocratic home
retained
to
the
last
his
devotion
to
Again he says:—
escape persecution unto death ?
R epublicanism .
In his reply of governm ents as the nurseries of
“
I
am
the
avowed,
open,
and
in
They came when he was about to
the new brotherhood of M ankind.
th
a
n
k
s
to
Paine
for
fifty
copies
of
deny his Lord again, and adm on- i trepid enemy of w hat is called
Now we are laughed at if we
his “ R ights of M an,” W ashington,
M
onarchy;
and
I
am
such
by
p
rin
ished him th a t he m ust go back
cherish the hope of Thom as Paine,
to
whom
th
a
t
work
was
dedicated,
like a true soldier of the cross and ciples which nothing can either a l
says, May 6, 1792, when he, too, was of W ashington, and of the “ F a th
bear witness and suffer, for if not ter or corrupt — by my attachm ent
very busy with a “ Congress on his ers,” th a t th e “ S tarry B anner is to
to
H
um
anity
;
by
the
anxiety
which
th e cause of the great redem ption
be the C onstellation of hum an
would fail, and the Lord would 1 feel within myself for the dignity h an d s” :—
“ I rejoice in the inform ation of rights,” and those rights the basis
and
the
honor
of
the
hum
an
race;
have to return and be again cruci
of the independence, liberty, growth
fied, or the hum an race could never by the disgust which I experience your personal prosperity, an d as welfare and happiness of every
no one can feel a greater interest in
be saved. An old m yth, you m ay when I observe men directed by
the happiness of m ankind th a n I people, as it was, and was ever to be
well say.
es, but our Q uo \ a dis ? children, aud governed by brutes;
to us. W here are we? W hither are
do,
th
a
t
it
is
the
first
wish
of
my
and
by
those
sentim
ents
which
to us is a real, an awful challenge
heart th a t the enlightened policy we drifting? If there is any pos
of history and evolution. For if make me shudder a t the calam ities,
sible doubt about it, the testing in
th e Republic is the true polity and the exactions, the wars, and the of the present age m ay diffuse to quiry should begin at once in the
all men those blessings to which
salvation of m ankind, and we, aftei m assacres with which M onarchy
head and h e a rt of every Am erican;
being called to save it, allow it to has crushed m ankind; in short, it thev are en titled , and lay the for as to th is foundation of every
foundation of happiness for future
be sacrificed, again m ust the race is against all the hell of M onarchy
thing, “ tru th can never be confirm
generations.
decline, and again m ust H um anity, th a t I have declared w ar.”
W ashington had in sim ilar term s ed enough though doubt did ever
And again:—
“ the C hrist th a t is to be”, be sacri
sleep.”
“ It is no longer the p altry cause replied to P ain e’s letter sending
ficed by ever longer revolutions and
A nd of whom m ust we inquire?
to him the key of the B astile, A ug
wars before the E ra of Liberty, of kings, or of this or th a t in d iv id
W hen the sailor is in doubt as to
Peace and Progre.-s can retu rn to ual, th a t calls France and her arm ust 10, 1790. (C onw ay’s Life of his course of whom does he make
ies into action. It is the great cause P aine, Vol. I., 300-303.)
perm anently bless our race.
W hy of S cience , of
T here is no time, and there cer inquiry?
The latter p art of the last century of A ll . I t is the establishm ent of
tain ly should be no need to repeat course, the verified and classified
m ade of our civilized nations a Gol a new E ra , th a t shall blot despot-
knowledge of M athem atics, Astron
gotha of sacrifice to achieve the cer is from the ea rth , aud fix ou last- : fu rth er the declarations of the gen om y and N avigation. H e would
tain ty of a better era. W ere they ing principles of peace and citizen- elation which endorsed the D eclara be considered as not only “ unsafe,’
tion of Independence unanimously ,
m istaken? Shall we flee from the ship the great R epublic of M an .”
b u t practically insaue if he should
as
the
most
im
p
o
rtan
t
political
and
obligation and sacrifice of follow
Aud again he says:
“
Let it then be heard, and let hum an docum ent ever issued by fail to m ake this inquiry an d fol
ing up their victories, or make com
low its results.
mon cause with their enemies, and m an learn to feel th a t the true Man.
And now as to our S h ip of S tate ,
forget the thousands— nay, m illions greatness of a nation is founded! D aniel W ebster brought to a fo-
the sam e du ty of tak in g the Scien
who perished th a t a real D em ocrat on principles of H umanity . . . cus and tra n sm itte d to us the voice tific bearings of our course, and of
ic Republic m ight become possible I defend the cause of the poor, of th a t generation and its century
following them faithfully when
and never again“ perish from off the of the m anufacturer, of the trades- when he sent to us this splendid taken, is the most binding aud sol
face of the e a rth ”. When the rev m an, of the farm er, and of all invocation, adm ouition and en
emn d u ty th a t rests upon the con
olutions of the last century were thuse on whom the real burden tre a ty :—
This lovely land, this glorious science of every citizen. W hat
achieved the revolutionists were of taxes falls—hut above all I
liberty, these benign institutions, these physical Sciences above
th in k in g as much of th eir posterity defend the C ause of H umanity .”
the dear purchase of our fathers, nam ed are to the ship a t sea, the
as of themselves. How strange it
Again P aine says:
H istorical and Social Sciences, sum
I speak an open and disinterest- are ours I Ours to enjoy, ours to
would have seemed to them if they
med up in the term S ociology , are
could have fore-heard the u tteran c ed language dictated by no passion preserve, ours to transmit . Gener-
to the Ship of State. T he evolution
es of today? How different their but th a t of H u m an ity . Indepen- ations past an d generations to come
of H istory reveals the steady course
efforts would have been, could they dence is my happiness, and m ust hold us responsible for the sacred of Progress of which th a t Science i-
I view tru st. O ur fathers from behind
have known the little labor and tie th a t of* the people.
sham e it would have been for us to things as they are, w ithout regard adm onish us w ith th eir anxious, the outcom e and exponent. L
repudiate their Bills of R ights, the to place or person. My country is paternal voices, posterity calls out said th a t it differs from the physic
Im m ortal D eclaration,and th e great
a l Sciences, because its results are
of the future,
C onstitution,and its main and ever the world , to do good is my re - to us from the bosom
....
• .
1! -!i—
_
the world tu rn s h ith er its solicitous, not precise and certain as in them-
avowed objects and purposes?
LIGION« »
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