act well thy part, a nation's life dwells in thy
words. He is presented to the king, who only expects the passing
formalities of an introduction. But Laurens speaks: "I am just from the
army of Washington. I know well its condition, it is fully set forth in
this memorial;" and then touching his sword, he adds, with animation,
"Unless speedy succor is sent to my country, the weapon I now wear at my
side as the ally of your majesty, might be drawn as the _subject_ of
Great Britain against you and France." The king was struck dumb; but
soon rallied himself and replied briefly, but favorably. He took the
memorial, the money was granted, and Paine accompanied Laurens home with
$2,500,000 in silver. The army is paid, fed, and clothed; Yorktown is
attacked upon the strength of it; Cornwallis surrenders, and the British
power is broken in this country forever, through those great causes put
in motion and faithfully sustained by the man who had on his hands "THE
BUSINESS OF A WORLD."

The great work of Thomas Paine is now nearly done in America, but mighty
things are yet to be done for the world. The next year he writes his
famous letter to the Abbe Raynal, and the Crisis, which guides the
nation to honor. A few years of rest, in which he writes his
Dissertation on Government, and other pieces; is elected a member of the
Philosophical Society, receives the hospitalities of Washington, and
three thousand dollars from Congress for his ten years services in
America, and he sails for France where he sees the fires of revolution
beginning to kindle.

But he has taken care to provide wisdom for his country before he quits
her shores. His far-reaching eye sees that a Federal Constitution will
have to be formed for the states, and in 1786 he is careful to
incorporate into his Dissertation on Government a _Declaration of
Rights_. In this Declaration of Rights lies the foundation of the
republic, and although not prefixed to the Federal Constitution at the
time it was formed and adopted, a complete synopsis of it was afterward
added as the ten first amendments thereto. Franklin has also come home
to labor awhile, now more than eighty years old; and being chosen a
delegate to the Federal Convention, Mr. Paine sailed for France the 16th
of April, 1787, just a month before it convened. He has finished his
work in America. This work he did faithfully and well. He is now fifty
years old, and there are ten years of revolutionary work, and twen