LETTER: Liberty for all

BEN PIMLOTT'S assertion that Tom Paine's concern for liberty did not extend to non-whites and women is wrong ("Early Islington man", Review, 16 April). John Keane's biography shows that Paine campaigned in the Pennsylvania Journal against the slave trade, inspiring the formation of The Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage. He was also a strong supporter of the rights of native Americans. By 1795 he advocated the cause of universal suffrage, influenced by his friend, Mary Wollstonecraft.

Chris Lamb

Bath