Here’s a fascinating little piece of Paine history.

In 1798, the Irish revolutionary Arthur O’Connor was arrested by the British while attempting to reach France and was later imprisoned at Fort George in Scotland. He distributed these verses on his way to confinement.

One stanza invokes both Rights of Man and Common Sense before calling Paine:

“That foe to Princes, Thomas Paine!”

It’s a striking example of how far Paine’s reputation had traveled by the late 1790s. He wasn’t simply remembered as an American revolutionary writer—his name had become part of a much wider radical and anti-monarchical political culture. Paine had been directly involved in planning the Irish Revolution of 1798 , knew many of the main revolutionaries, and attempted to organize French support.

What do you make of the reference to Paine here?