Paine hated war in itself; but he held war a proper and righteous means to noble ends.
Consistency is not only the bugbear of little minds; it is also the trade-mark of them.

Paine also detested monarchies.

"Some talent is required to be a simple workman," he wrote; "to be a king there is need to have only the human shape." Of Burke, he said: "Mr.Burke's mind is above the homely sorrows of the vulgar.

He can feel only for a king or a queen....

He pities the plumage, but forgets the dying bird." Yet when he was a member of that French Assembly that voted King Louis to death, he fought the others fiercely,--even though unable to speak French,--persistently opposing them, with a passionate determination and courage which came near to costing him his life.
For, as Brailsford says, "The Terror made mercy a traitor." Are these things truly paradoxes, or are they rather manifestations of that God-given reason which can clearly see things as they are as well as things as they should be, and see both to good and helpful purpose?
In 1802 Paine returned to America, just sixty-five years old.