that subject, but as I do not speak French, and as the
matter requires confidence, General Duchatelet has desired me to say
that if you can make it convenient to dine with him and me at Auteuil,
he will with pleasure do the office of interpreter. I send this letter
by my servant, but as it may not be convenient to you to give an answer
directly, I have told him not to wait--Thomas Paine."

It will be noticed that Paine now keeps his servant, and drives to the
Mayor's dinner in a hackney coach. A portrait painted in Paris about
this time, now owned by Mr. Alfred Howlett of Syracuse, N. Y., shows him
in elegant costume.

It is mournful to reflect, even at this distance, that only a little
later both Paine and his friend General Duchatelet were prisoners. The
latter poisoned himself in prison (1794).

The illustrative notes and documents which it seems best to set before
the reader at the outset may here terminate. As in the previous volumes
the writings are, as a rule, given in chronological sequence, but an
exception is now made in respect of Paine's religious writings, some of
which antedate essays in the present volume. The religious writings
are reserved for the fourth and final volume, to which will be added
an Appendix containing Paine's poems, scientific fragments, and several
letters of general interest.

I. THE REPUBLICAN PROCLAMATION.(1)

"Brethren and Fellow Citizens:

"The serene tranquillity, the mutual confidence which prevailed amongst
us, during the time of the late King's escape, the indifference with
which we beheld him return, are unequivocal proofs that the absence of
a King is more desirable than his presence, and that he is not only a
political superfluity, but a grievous burden, pressing hard on the whole
nation.

"Let us not be imposed on by sophisms; all that concerns this is reduced
to four points.

"He has abdicated the throne in having fled from his post. Abdication
and desertion are not characterized by the length of absence; but by the
single act of flight. In the present instance, the act is everything,
and the time nothing.

"The nation can never give back its confidence to a man who, false to
his trust, perjured to his oath, conspires a clandestine flight, obtains
a fraudulent passport, conceals a King of France under the disguise of
a valet, directs his course towards a frontier covered with traitors
and deserters, and evidently meditates a return into our country, with a