CHAPTER XV. PONTIFICAL AND POLITICAL INVENTIONS
Paine was the literary lion in New York—where Congress sat in 1785—and was especially intimate with the Nicholsons, whose house was the social salon of leading republicans.* One may easily read between the lines of the following note to Franklin that the writer is having "a good time" in New York, where it was written September 23d:
* "Commodore Nicholson was an active republican politician
in the city of New York, and his house was a headquarters
for the men of his way of thinking. The young ladies'
letters are full of allusions to the New York society of
that day, and to calls from Aaron Burr, the Livingstons, the
Clintons, and many others.... An other man still more
famous in some respects was a frequent visitor at their
house. It is now almost forgotten that Thomas Paine, down to
the time of his departure for Europe in 1787, was a
fashionable member of society, admired and courted as the
greatest literary genius of his day.... Here is a little
autograph, found among the papers of Mrs. Gallatin [née
Nicholson]; its address is to: 'Miss Hannah N., at the Lord
knows where.—You Mistress Hannah if you don't come home, I
'll come and fetch you. T. Paine.'"—Adams' "Life of
Gallatin."
"My Dear Sir,—It gives me exceeding great pleasure to have the opportunity of congratulating you on your return home, and to a land of Peace; and to express to you my heartfelt wishes that the remainder of your days may be to you a time of happy ease and rest. Should Fate prolong my life to the extent of yours, it would give me the greatest felicity to have the evening scene some resemblance of what you now enjoy.
"In making you this address I have an additional pleasure in reflecting, that, so far as I have hitherto gone, I am not conscious of any circumstance in my conduct that should give you one repentant thought for being my patron and introducer to America.
"It would give me great pleasure to make a journey to Philadelphia on purpose to see you, but an interesting affair I have with Congress makes my absence at this time improper.
"If you have time to let me know how your health is, I shall be much obliged to you.
"I am, dear Sir, with the sincerest affection and respect,
"Your obedient, humble servant,
"Thomas Paine.
"The Hon'ble Benjamin Franklin, Esquire.
"My address is Messrs. Lawrence and Morris, Merchants."
To this came the following reply, dated Philadelphia, September 24th:
"Dear Sir,—'I have just received your friendly congratulations on my return to America, for which, as well as your kind wishes for my welfare, I beg you to accept my most thankful acknowledgments. Ben is also very sensible of your politeness, and desires his respects may be presented.
"I was sorry on my arrival to find you had left this city. Your present arduous undertaking, I easily conceive, demands retirement, and tho' we shall reap the fruits of it, I cannot help regretting the want of your abilities here where in the present moment they might, I think, be successfully employed. Parties still run very high—Common Sense would unite them. It is to be hoped therefore it has not abandoned us forever."*
* The remainder of the letter (MS. Philosoph. Soc.,
Philadelphia) seems to be in the writing of William Temple
Franklin, to whom probably Paine had enclosed a note: "Mr.
Williams whom you inquire after accompanied us to America,
and is now here. We left Mrs. Wms. and her sisters well at
St. Ger's, but they proposed shortly returning to England to
live with their uncle, Mr. J. Alexander, who has entirely
settled his affairs with Mr. Wal-pole and the Bank. Mr. Wm.
Alex'r I suppose you know is in Virginia fulfilling his
tobacco contract with the Farmer Gen'l. The Marquis la
Fayette we saw a few days before we left Passy—he was well
and on the point of setting off on an excursion into
Germany, and a visit to the Emperor K. of Prussia.—I
purpose shortly being at New York, where I will with
pleasure give you any further information you may wish, and
shall be very happy to cultivate the acquaintance and
friendship of Mr. Paine, for whose character I have a
sincere regard and of whose services I, as an American, have
a grateful sense"
The "arduous undertaking" to which Franklin refers was of course the iron bridge. But it will be seen by our next letter that Paine had another invention to lay before Franklin, to whom he hastened after receiving his $3,000 from Congress:
"Dec. 31, 1785.—Dear Sir,—I send you the Candles I have been making;—In a little time afer they are lighted the smoke and flame separate, the one issuing from one end of the Candle, and the other from the other end. I supposed this to be because a quantity of air enters into the Candle between the Tallow and the flame, and in its passage downwards takes the smoke with it; for if you allow a quantity of air up the Candle, the current will be changed, and the smoke reascends, and in passing this the flame makes a small flash and a little noise.
"But to express the Idea I mean, of the smoke descending more clearly it is this,—that the air enters the Candle in the very place where the melted tallow is getting into the state of flame, and takes it down before the change is completed—for there appears to me to be two kinds of smoke, humid matter which never can be flame, and enflameable matter which would be flame if some accident did not prevent the change being completed—and this I suppose to be the case with the descending smoke of the Candle.
"As you can compare the Candle with the Lamp, you will have an opportunity of ascertaining the cause—why it will do in the one and not in the other. When the edge of the en-flamed part of the wick is close with the edge of the Tin of the Lamp no counter current of air can enter—but as this contact does not take place in the Candle a counter current enters and prevents the effect [?] in the candles which illuminates the Lamp. For the passing of the air thro' the Lamp does not, I imagine, burn the smoke, but burns up all the oil into flame, or by its rapidity prevents any part of the oil flying off in the state of half-flame which is smoke.
"I do not, my Dear Sir, offer these reasons to you but to myself, for I have often observed that by lending words for my thoughts I understand my thoughts the better. Thoughts are a kind of mental smoke, which require words to illuminate them.
"I am affectionately your Obt. & Hble. servant,
"Thomas Paine.
"I hope to be well enough tomorrow to wait on you."