"This letter, with Mrs. Bonneville's, come to you under cover to the American Minister from Mr. Madison, Secretary of State. As soon as you receive it I advise you to call on General Armstrong and inform him of the proper method to have your surveillance taken off. Mr. Champagny, who succeeds Talleyrand, is, I suppose, the same who was Minister of the Interior, from whom I received a handsome friendly letter, respecting the iron bridge. I think you once went with me to see him.
"Call on Mr Skipwith with my compliments. He will inform you what vessels will sail for New York and where from. Bordeaux will be the best place to sail from. I believe Mr. Lee is American Consul at Bordeaux. When you arrive there, call on him, with my compliments. You may contrive to arrive at New York in April or May. The passages, in the Spring, are generally short; seldom more than five weeks, and often less.
"Present my respects to Mercier, Bernardin St. Pierre, Dupuis, Grégoire.—When you come, I intend publishing all my works, and those I have yet in manuscript, by subscription. They will make 4 or 5 vol. 4°, or 5 vol. 8°, about 400 pages each. Yours in friendship.—T. P."*
* This letter is entirely in the writing of Madame
Bonneville. Beneath it is written: "The above is a true
copy of the original; I have compared the two together.
James P. Cobbett." The allusion to Champagny is either a
slip of Madame's pen or Paine's memory. The minister who
wrote him about his bridge was Chaptal. See ii., p. 296. The
names in the last paragraph show what an attractive literary
circle Paine had left in France, for a country unable to
appreciate him.
While Paine was one day taking his usual after-dinner nap, an old woman called, and, asking for Mr. Paine, said she had something of great importance to communicate to him. She was shown into his bed-chamber; and Paine, raising himself on his elbow, and turning towards the woman, said: "What do you want with me?" "I came," said she, "from God, to tell you, that if you don't repent, and believe in Christ, you 'll be dammed." "Poh, poh, it's not true," said Paine; "you are not sent with such an impertinent message. Send her away. Pshaw! God would not send such a foolish ugly old woman as you. Turn this messenger out. Get away; be off: shut the door." And so the old woman packed herself off.
After his arrival Paine published several articles in the newspapers of New York and Philadelphia. Subsequent to a short illness which he had in 1807, he could not walk without pain, and the difficulty of walking increased every day. On the 21st of January, 1808, he addressed a memorial to the Congress of the United States, asking remuneration for his services; and, on the 14th of February, the same year, another on the same subject. These documents and his letter to the Speaker are as follows.*
* "Are as follows" in Madame B.'s writing, after striking
oat Cobbett's words, "will be found in the Appendix." The
documents and letters are not given, but they are well
known. See ii., p. 405.
The Committee of Claims, to which the memorial had been submitted, passed the following resolution: "Resolved, that Thomas Paine has leave to withdraw his memorial and the papers accompanying the same." He was deeply grieved at this refusal; some have blamed him for exposing himself to it. But, it should be recollected, that his expenses were greatly augmented by his illness, and he saw his means daily diminish, while he feared a total palsy; and while he expected to live to a very great age, as his ancestors had before him. His money yielded no interest, always having been unwilling to place money out in that way.
He had made his will in 1807, during the short illness already noticed. But three months later, he assembled his friends, and read to them another will; saying that he had believed such and such one to be his friend, and that now having altered his belief in them, he had also altered his will. From motives of the same kind, he, three months before his death, made another will, which he sealed up and directed to me, and gave it me to keep, observing to me, that I was more interested in it than any body else.
He wished to be buried in the Quaker burying ground, and sent for a member of the committee [Willett Hicks] who lived in the neighborhood. The interview took place on the 19th of March, 1809. Paine said, when we were looking out for another lodging, we had to put in order the affairs of our present abode. This was precisely the case with him; all his affairs were settled, and he had only to provide his burying-ground; his father had been a Quaker, and he hoped they would not refuse him a grave; "I will," added he, "pay for the digging of it."