"You expressed a wish to get a passage to this country in a public vessel. Mr. Dawson is charged with orders to the captain of the Maryland to receive and accommodate you back if you can be ready to depart at such short warning. Rob. R. Livingston is appointed minister plenipotentiary to the republic of France, but will not leave this till we receive the ratification of the convention by Mr. Dawson.** I am in hopes you will find us returned generally to sentiments worthy of former times. In these it will be your glory to have steadily labored, and with as much effect as any man living. That you may long live to continue your useful labors and to reap the reward in the thankfulness of nations, is my sincere prayer. Accept assurances of my high esteem and affectionate attachment."
* "The Minister of the Interior to Thomas Paine: I have
received, Citizen, the observations that you have been so
good as to address to me upon the construction of iron
bridges. They will be of the greatest utility to us when the
new kind of construction goes to be executed for the first
time. With pleasure I assure you, Citizen, that you have
rights of more than one kind to the gratitude of nations,
and I give you, cordially, the expression of my particular
esteem.—Chaptal."
It is rather droll, considering the appropriation of his
patent in England, and the confiscation of a thousand pounds
belonging to him, to find Paine casually mentioning that at
this time a person came from London with plans and drawings
to consult with him about an iron arch of 600 feet, over the
Thames, then under consideration by a committee of the House
of Commons.
** "Beau Dawson," an eminent Virginia Congressman.
The subjoined notes are from letters of Paine to Jefferson:
Paris, June 9, 1801. "Your very friendly letter by Mr. Dawson gave me the real sensation of happy satisfaction, and what served to increase it was that he brought it to me himself before I knew of his arrival. I congratulate America on your election. There has been no circumstance with respect to America since the times of her revolution that excited so much attention and expectation in France, England, Ireland, and Scotland as the pending election for President of the United States, nor any of which the event has given more general joy:
"I thank you for the opportunity you give me of returning by the Maryland, but I shall wait the return of the vessel that brings Mr. Livingston."
Paris, June 25,1801. "The Parliamentaire, from America to Havre, was taken in going out, and carried into England. The pretence, as the papers say, was that a Swedish Minister was on board for America. If I had happened to have been there, I suppose they would have made no ceremony in conducting me on shore."*
{1802}
Paris, March 17,1802. "As it is now Peace, though the definitive Treaty is not yet signed, I shall set off by the first opportunity from Havre or Dieppe, after the equinoctial gales are over. I continue in excellent health, which I know your friendship will be glad to hear of.—Wishing you and America every happiness, I remain your former fellow-labourer and much obliged fellow-citizen."
Paine's determination not to return to America in a national vessel was owing to a paragraph he saw in a Baltimore paper, headed "Out at Last." It stated that Paine had written to the President, expressing a wish to return by a national ship, and that "permission was given." There was here an indication that Jefferson's invitation to Paine by the Hon. John Dawson had become known to the President's enemies, and that Jefferson, on being attacked, had apologized by making the matter appear an act of charity. Paine would not believe that the President was personally responsible for the apologetic paragraph, which seemed inconsistent with the cordiality of the letter brought by Dawson; but, as he afterwards wrote to Jefferson, "it determined me not to come by a national ship."* His request had been made at a time when any other than a national American ship was pretty certain to land him in an English prison. There was evidently no thought of any éclat in the matter, but no doubt a regard for economy as well as safety.