By R.W. Morrell

Citizen Of The World, Essays On Thomas Paine, Edited by Ian Dyck, Christopher Helm, London, 1987, £14,95, 

THIS very readable work is in a way a memorial to the late George Spater, a member of the Thomas Paine Society who wrote a very fine two volume biography of William Cobbett which was published in 1982, I may well have been during the research for that work, which took in what may be said to be the hate-love relationship of Cobbett towards Paine, which prompted Mr. Spater to commence research into writing a similar biographical study of Paine; unfortunately this project was brought to an end by his death in 1984, Had Mr. Spater completed his book it would, I suspect, have been an exceptionally good work, if the four chapters compiled from his notes by Professor Dyck, also a member of the TPS, are anything to go upon, Indeed it is thanks to Professor Dyck that George Spater’s notes, manuscripts, etc., have been brought together the chapters on Paine which together with an introduction, also by Mr. Spater, which constitutes the first part, and one chapter in the second part, of this book.

George Spater writes in a style which is at once scholarly yet appealing to the non-academic readers who simply want an authoritative presentation of the facts of Paine’s life and work, I do not think it can be said he adds anything new to what we know of Paine, indeed, he regrettably fell into the trap of equating seditious libel with treason, for though many make the claim that Paine was charged with treason this is not historically accurate, In his introduction Mr. Spater poses various questions a historian approaching Paine’s life and work must, or should, ask themselves. It was seemingly these questions that Mr. Spater intended to answer in his biography.

Mr. Spater examines briefly in his introduction the claim made by George Hindmarch that Paine wrote the articles signed ‘A Forester’, which had appeared in a Lewes newspaper, but goes on to reject this, stating they had been written by the Rev. Richard Michell, of East Dean, on the basis of a report in the same paper several years later which announced the death of the cleric and identifying him as author of the letters.

The four chapters on Paine by Mr. Spater cover his early life, his life in America, his life in Europe and finally, his legacy, this last being the book’s concluding chapter. 

The second part of the book consists in addition to the already mentioned chapter by George Spater of three other chapters, ‘Thomas Paine and Millenarian Radicalism” by Professor J.F.C. Harrison, “Debts and Liabilities: William Cobbett and Thomas Paine” by Professor Dyck and, “Collaborators of a Sort: Thomas Paine and Richard Carlile” by Professor Joel H. Weiner, Each of these constitutes well researched and quite fascinating contributions to understanding the influence of Paine on groups and individuals, but, as in the case of Professor Weiner’s essay particularly, we come up against the antagonism Paine’s influence generated in some circles and how much courage it took to combat the forces which sought to suppress not only his works but others which were seen as a direct challenge to the social order. 

It is thanks to Richard Carlile, though not him alone, that Paine’s works were eventually made available to the public without penalties, and I sometimes feel Carlile to be as much a neglected figure as Paine was. It is a pity there is no monument to him in Fleet Street, for he was a truly valiant campaigner for press freedom. We can see a parallel between Carlile’s campaign to publish Paine’s works in face of a vicious government campaign to suppress them and the contemporary campaign in Britain (and abroad) on the part of the government to legally suppress the book Spycatcher. Paine believed in the right to air freely views and information, and as in the Silas Deane affair, was willing to put himself at risk to expose scandal in high places, In respect to official bodies seeking to suppress material embarrassing to them, or to certain individuals associated with them, things do not seem to have changed all that much since the 18th century.

Citizen of the WPM is not just a valuable contribution to our understanding of Thomas Paine but important in introducing readers to other aspects of his influence, The editor, Professor Dyck, says the volume is addressed equally to the reading public and to an academic audience, as both have contributed to our understanding of Paine. This is a valid claim, and I think both groups have much to gain by reading this very fine work, a work which is a fitting and lasting memorial to a fine scholar.