FIRS (sic.) ADVOCATE OF WOMEN'S RIGHTS America's first advocate of woman's
rights was not one of the "fair sex,"
not an American, but an Englishman,
Thomas Paine. Among the earliest
writings of Paine we find him advocating more freedom for the "gentler
sex" and at the same time stating the
position of men in no uncertain light.
In one place he says:
"If we take a survey of the ages and
of countries we shall find the women
almost without exception, at all times,
and in all places, adored and oppressed. Man, who has never neglected an opportunity of exerting his
power in paying homage to their
beauty, has always availed himself of
their weakness. He has been at once
their tyrant and their slave."
Later on, recurring to women's
beauty, he writes: "Even among people where beauty received the highest
homage we find men who would derive the sex of every kind of reputation.
The most virtuous woman,' says a
celebrated Greek, is she who is
least talked of. Thot(sic.) morose man,
he imposes duties upon women, would
deprive them of the sweets of public
esteem, and in exacting virtues
from them would make it a crime to
aspire at honor."
By far the most picturesque portion
of his article, however, is that in
which he gives what he considers
would be the defense of a woman. Al-
thugh over a century cid, this plea
might be given word for word and
still be in accord with the platform
orations of today. Paine makes her
speak in this wise:
"How great is your injustice? If we
have an equal right with you to virtue,
why should we not have an equal right to
praise? The public esteem ought to wait
upon merit. Our duties are different from yours, but they are not
therefore less difficult to fulfill, or of
less consequence to society. They are
the fountain of your felicity and the
sweetness of life. We are wives and
mothers. 'Tis we who form the union;
and the cordiality of families. 'Tis
we who soften that savage rudeness;
which considers everything as clue to
force, and which would involve man
with man in eternal war, and we cultivate in you that humanity which:
makes you feel for the misfortunes of
others, and our tears forewarn you of
your own danger. Nay, you cannot
be ignorant that we have need of
courage not less than you. More
feeble in ourselves, we have perhaps
more trials to encounter. Nature assails us with sorrows, law and customs press us with constraint, and
sensibility and virtue claim us with
their continual conflict. Sometimes
also the name of citizen demands from
us the tribute of fortitude.
"When you offer your blood to the
state think that it is ours. In giving
it our sons and husbands we give move
than ourselves. You can only die on
the field of battle; but we have the
misfortune to survive those whom we
love most. Alas! while your ambitious vanity is unceasingly laboring
to cover the earth with statues, with
monuments and with inscriptions to
eternize, if possible, your names and,
give yourselves an existence when this
body is no more, why must we be condemned to live and die unknown?
Would that the grave and eternal forgetfulness should be our lot. Be not
our tyrants in all. Permit our names
to be sometimes pronounced 'beyond
the narrow circle in which we live.
Permit friendship, or at least love, to
inscribe its emblem on the tomb
wheme (sic.) our ashes repose and deny us
not that public esteem which, after the custom of one's self, is the sweetest
reward of well doing."
Upholding the rights of women was
not the only claim which Thomas Paine has to fame, and is perhaps the
one of which he is the least recognized. It was his writings in connection
with the American and French revolu-
tions that gained for him a niche in
fame's temple.
Born at Thetford, Norfolk, England,
January 29, 1737, he was the son of a
staymaker and was brought up to become his father's successor in business. This, however, did not meet with
iyoung Paine's ideas, so he secured a
position in the customs and also be-
came manager for a tobacco manufactory. Even with these two sources
of income, however, he was not able to
keep out of debt, and 17 74 was dismissed. It was then that he came to
America. Although he had done practically nothing in a literary way before
he began to write as soon as he had
settled here and it was in a Philadelphia magazine, in August, 177 5, when
he was thirty-eight years of age, that
the article on women's rights ap-
peared.
It was in the following year that he
first earned recognition. This came
with the appearance of a pamphlet
entitled "Common Sense" in which he
set forth his views in regard to and
his advocacy of the cause of the colonies against the mother country. This
stand won him many enemies, but also
some friends, among them being
Washington and Franklin. Congress
also showed a friendship for him,
when at the close of the war he was
appointed secretary to the committee
on foreign affairs. In 1787 he went to
France and later to England, in both
of which places he won many influential friends. In the latter place, however, where he wrote "The Rights of
Man," the enmity of the British government became so great that he was
forced to flee to France. Here he
again got into difficulties and was imprisoned and was only released at the
intercession of the American government. It was while he was in prison
that he wrote the paper on "Deism,"
scoring both atheism, and Christianity,
which brought forth such a storm of
abuse.
Returning to America in 1802, he
retired to private life, spending the
last years of his life at New Rochelle.
It was while making a visit to New
York that, on June 8, 1809, he died in
a house in Grove street. With only his landlady, her daughters and a
Quaker to follow the man who had
won international fame was buried a
short distance from New Rochelle. It
was several years before the grave was
even noticed, but then a handsome
monument was erected on the spot.
When this was done, however, the
grave no longer contained the remains
of Paine, as William Cobbett had previously removed them to England and
deposited them no one knows where.
—-Washington Star. -
