relative to it. Something appeared to be wanting to move them, beyond the ordinary short and cold addresses of newspaper publications.

"At this time I called upon Mr. Paine, and suggested to him the propriety of preparing our citizens for a perpetual separation of our country from Great Britain, by means of a work of such length, as would obviate all the objections to it.* He seized the idea with avidity, and immediately began his famous pamphlet in favour of that measure. He read the

sheets to me at my house, as he composed them. When he had finished them, I advised him to put them into the hands of Dr. Franklin, Samuel Adams, and the late Judge Wilson; assuring him at the same time, that they held the same opinion that he had defended,

The first of those gentlemen, and I be

* I have always understood and still believe that this suggestion came originally from Mr. Paine himself; indeed Doctor Rush's letter is all through a little egotistical, and from the close of it, it may be seen he was also a man of prejudice.

lieve the second, saw the manuscript; but Judge Wilson being from home when Mr. Paine called upon him, it was not subjected to his inspection. No addition was made to it by Dr. Franklin, but a passage was struck out, or omitted, in the printing it, which I conceive to be one of the most striking in it: it was the following: A greater absurdity cannot be conceived than three millions of people running to their sea-coast every time a ship 'arrives from London, to know what portion of liberty they should enjoy.'

"A title only was wanted for this pamphlet before it was committed to press. Mr. Paine proposed to call it 'Plain Truth:' I objected to it, and suggested the title of Common Sense.' This was instantly adopted, and nothing now remained but to find a printer who had boldness enough to publish it. At that time there was a certain Robert Bell, an intelligent Scotch printer and bookseller in Philadelphia, whom I knew to be as high toned as Mr. Paine upon the subject of American independence. I mentioned the pamphlet to him, and he at once consented to run the risk of publishing

it. The author and the printer were immediately brought together, and Common Sense' burst from the press of the latter in a few days with an effect which has been rarely produced by types and paper in any age or country.

"Between the time of the publication of this pamphlet and the 4th of July 1776, Mr. Paine published a number of essays in Mr. Bradford's paper under the signature of 'The Forester,' in defence of the opinions contained in his Common Sense,"

"In the summer and autumn of 1776 he served as a volunteer in the American war under General Washington. Whether he received pay and rations I cannot tell. He lived a good deal with the officers of the first rank in the army, at whose tables his Common Sense' always made him a welcome guest. The legislature of Pennsylvania gave Mr. Paine £500 as an acknowledgment of the services he had rendered the United States by his publications.

"He acted as clerk to the legislature of Penn

sylvania about the year 1780. I do not know the compensation he received for his services in that station. He acted a while as secretary of the Secret Committee of Congress, but was dismissed by them for publishing some of their secrets relative to Mr. Deane.

"Mr. Paine's manner of life was desultory: he often visited in the families of Dr. Franklin, Mr. Ritterhouse, and Mr. G. Clymer; where he made himself acceptable by a turn he discovered for philosophical as well as political subjects.

"After the year 1776 my intercourse with Mr. Paine was casual. I met him now and then at the tables of some of our whig citizens, where he spoke but little, but was always inoffensive in his manner and conversation.

"I possess one of his letters written to me from France upon the subject of the abolition of the slave trade. An extract from it was published in the Columbian Magazine.

"I did not see Mr. Paine when he passed

thro Philadelphia a few years ago. His principles avowed in his 'Age of Reason' were so offensive to me that I did not wish to renew my intercourse with him.

"I have thus briefly and in great haste endeavoured to answer your questions.-Should you publish this letter, I beg my testimony against Mr. Paine's infidelity may not be omitted in it.

"From, Sir,

"Your's respectfully,

"BENJAMIN RUSH."

One cannot read the close of this letter without lamenting to see this hackneyed word “infidelity” so everlastingly misapplied to injure and vilify those against whom it is hurled. The word "infidelity" means only a disbelief of any opinion or any thing advanced, and may be with propriety applied to christians as not believing in deism, as well as to deists as not believing in christianity; so that all