Washington (22 Feb. 1795), which he suppressed at Monroe's request. On 20 Sept. he wrote another, calling upon Washington to clear himself from the charge of ‘treachery;’ and, having received no answer to this, he wrote and published a letter, dated 3 Aug. 1796. It is a long and bitter attack upon Washington's military career, as well as upon his policy as president. Paine's very intelligible resentment at Morris's inaction is some palliation, though not an adequate excuse.
Paine's ‘Age of Reason’ had strengthened the feeling against him in England. The chief answers were: Gilbert Wakefield's ‘Examination’ (1794) and Bishop Watson's ‘Apology for the Bible’ (1796). Thomas Williams was convicted for the publication in June 1797, when Paine published a vigorous letter to Erskine, who was counsel for the prosecution. During the following years the publication of Paine's books in England was a service of danger, and by all the respectable writers he was treated as the typical ‘devil's advocate.’ Paine remained at Paris till the peace of Amiens. He stayed with Monroe for a year and a half. In 1831 a sum of 1,118 dollars was paid to Monroe by act of congress for moneys paid to Paine or on his account. After finishing the second part of the ‘Age of Reason,’ Paine had a severe relapse in the autumn of 1795. Early in 1796 he went into the country to recover his health, and in April published a pamphlet against the ‘English System of Finance.’ Cobbett, who had fiercely attacked Paine, and in his earlier writings defended Washington against him, became the panegyrist of his old enemy upon long afterwards reading this pamphlet, which expressed his own views of paper money. Paine was for a time the guest of Sir Robert Smith, a banker in Paris. Lady Smith had made Paine's acquaintance just before his arrest, and they carried on a complimentary correspondence. Monroe was recalled at the end of 1796, and Paine, after preparing to return with him, was deterred by a prospect of British cruisers in the Channel. He afterwards took up his abode with Nicolas de Bonneville, a French journalist, who had translated some of Paine's works, and been one of the five members of his ‘Republican Club.’ Paine wrote a few papers, made suggestions to French ministers, and subscribed a hundred livres in 1798 towards a descent upon England. Napoleon, it is said, invited him to join the expedition, and Paine hoped to proclaim liberty at Thetford under Napoleon's wing. The hope of such a consummation recurred to him in 1804, when he published a pamphlet in America upon the then expected invasion. Paine's philanthropy had quenched any patriotic weakness. In 1797 he established in Paris a sect of ‘Theophilanthropists,’ consisting of five families, and delivered an inaugural address. It was supported by Larévellière-Lépeaux of the Directory, but was suppressed in October 1801.
Jefferson, now president of the United States, offered Paine a passage to America in a ship of war. Paine declined the offer, upon hearing a report that Jefferson had apologised for making it. He decided, however, to return; his friend Sir Robert Smith died, and the Bonnevilles promised to follow him to America. He landed at Baltimore on 30 Oct. 1802. His property had risen in value, and was expected to produce 400l. a year. Some of his friends, such as Rush and Samuel Adams, had been alienated by the ‘Age of Reason.’ He stayed, however, with Jefferson, who consulted him about the Louisiana purchase and other political affairs, and published various pamphlets and articles in the following years, but without any marked effect. He went to Bordentown early in 1803, and, though welcomed by his own party, was hooted by an orthodox mob on a visit to New York shortly afterwards. Mme. Bonneville, with her three children, reached America in the autumn. She settled in Paine's house at Bordentown, as a teacher of French. Finding Bordentown dull, she followed Paine to New York in 1804. Her husband was under surveillance in France, and could neither follow her nor send her money. Paine had to prove that he was not legally responsible for her debts. He now resolved to settle at New Rochelle, where Mme. Bonneville began to keep house for him. Here, at Christmas 1804, a man named Derrick, who owed him money, fired a gun into Paine's room. Derrick appears to have been drunk, and, although he was arrested, the charge was not pressed. Mme. Bonneville again went to New York to teach French. Paine put her younger children to school in New Rochelle, and went into a lodging. He found his income insufficient, and applied to Jefferson to obtain for him some reward for past services from Virginia. He spent the winter 1805–6 in New York, in the house of William Carver, where he joined Elihu Palmer in a ‘deistic propaganda.’ He wrote for Palmer's organ, ‘The Prospect.’ Palmer died in 1806. Paine gave a part of his reply to Bishop Watson to Palmer's widow, who published it in the ‘Theophilanthropist’ in 1810. Another part, given to Mme. Bonneville, disappeared. Early in 1806 Paine returned to New Rochelle, and had to sell the house at Bordentown for three
