In 1773 he was elected to the Assembly of his Province and was one of the members who conducted the impeachment of Peter Oliver, then Chief Justice, who was accused of acting under the dictation of the king instead of the Assembly. In the prosecution of that trial Mr. Paine manifested strong talent and great professional skill. In 1774 he was again returned to the Assembly and boldly warned the people against the dangers to be apprehended from the appointment of Gov. Gage to succeed Gov. Hutchinson. It was plain to his mind that the nefarious designs of the British ministry were to be enforced by the bayonet unless the people tamely submitted to slavery. An awful crisis was approaching. A larger committee than at any previous time convened at Boston, which proposed and urged the plan of a General Congress to be convened at Philadelphia. Gov. Gage sent an order for them to disperse but his orderly was refused admittance. Five delegates were appointed to meet the General Congress of whom Mr. Paine was one. This measure was originated in Massachusetts in 1765 and was strongly urged in a circular in 1768. The set time to favor Liberty had now come. The galling yoke had become painful—most of the colonies approved the plan. By the originators of this proposition a separation from England was not contemplated—a restoration of chartered rights was all that was asked and this in the most loyal and respectful language. With this object in view the Congress convened. When the delegates compared notes they were astonished at the wide spread system of abuses that was on the flood tide of advancement throughout the Colonies. Each had supposed his own constituents most oppressed. Indignation increased but wisdom and deliberation stamped every transaction with a manly dignity. The proceedings were calm as a summer morning but firm as the rock of ages. The delegates appealed to the king, to Parliament, to the British nation, to the American people—to a gazing world for the justice of their claims—the equity of their demands. But appeals were vain, cries useless, remonstrances unheeded. They were answered by legions of hireling troops in all the panoply of war with the shrill bugle grating harshly upon the ear. They saw the glittering steel of the foe dazzling in the sun beams. Open resistance or servile submission were the alternatives.
Mr. Paine was a member of the Provincial Congress convened in Concord, Mass. in October 1774. He superintended the preparation of a spirited address to the people of England which put many in the mother country right and did much to rouse the Colonists to a just indignation towards the overbearing ministry. In 1775 he was a member of the Continental Congress and was placed upon many important committees. He was chairman of the committee on the manufacture of arms and for furnishing the army. He was indefatigable in his labors in the glorious cause of Liberty. He often said—"I fear we shall become slaves because we are not industrious enough to be free." Mr. Paine was one of the committee to prepare a constitution for his native state and had the credit of framing that instrument. In 1776 he was a member of the Continental Congress. He was on the committee with Messrs. Jefferson and Rutledge who prepared the rules that governed the action of that body. He was one of the committee to inquire into the causes of the disasters of the campaign in Canada. When the glorious 4th of July 1776 dawned upon Columbia's sons like smiling Heaven and the Eagle of Liberty soared in peerless majesty over their blood-stained soil—Mr. Paine was at his post. With a buoyant heart and firm hand he wrote his name upon that matchless instrument which is the consolation of freemen—the consternation of tyrants.
He did much to rouse his friends to action by his letters written in the most happy style. In his native state he stood high in the temple of fame—in Congress he was esteemed by all its members. He was continued in that body for several years and when he could be spared served in the legislature of his State. In 1777 he was speaker of the House of Representatives. The same year he was appointed attorney-general by the unanimous vote of both branches of the legislature. He was a prominent member of the committee that formed the Act reducing the price of labor and goods to a standard of equality. In 1779 he was elected to the Executive Council. The numerous duties imposed upon him he discharged to the satisfaction of his constituents. He was continued in the office of attorney-general until 1790. He then declined in order to pursue some more lucrative business to provide for the increasing wants of a large and destitute family. He had expended all his earnings in the cause of freedom but a scanty support. He was then appointed a judge of the Superior Court. He continued on the bench until 1804 when ill health compelled him to resign. He discharged his judicial duties with justice and ability and did much to advance the interests of religion, social order and a sound state of society. On his resignation he was appointed a counsellor of the commonwealth and continued to impart his salutary advice and shed around him a benign influence until the king of terrors closed his useful career on the 11th of May 1814. Calm and resigned he slept in death. He entered Jordan's flood with a full assurance of being hailed with the joyful sentence—"Well done good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joys of thy Lord." If the bright examples here presented fail to benefit the reader his virtue and patriotism are paralyzed.
In the life of Judge Paine we have a picture which the Christian, patriot, jurist and statesmen may contemplate with delightful pleasure. Because he administered the laws strictly some called him harsh but no one dared accuse him of injustice. His integrity was beyond the reach of slander and the assaults of malice. From his solicitude to direct a wayward son in the paths of rectitude he was reported unkind to his family. The tale was as false as the heart was base that originated it. He was all kindness and affection. His anxiety for the welfare and usefulness of this very son is proof of the deepest paternal regard. He was a friend to common school education and the sciences. He was the founder of the American Academy of Massachusetts in 1780. The degree of LL.D. was conferred upon him by the Cambridge University.
Mr. Paine was a striking example of the happy results of perseverance and industry. He became greatly useful and acquired his fame without the aid of patrons in early life—rising by his own exertions and supplying the wants of his destitute and aged parents to the day of their death. His career in public and private life was marked with the purest integrity, the loftiest patriotism, the strictest morality, the most refined consistency and the most exemplary piety. His life was a continued round of usefulness—his labors a blessing to mankind—his death a loss that was keenly felt by his personal friends and the nation at large. A review of his bright examples affords the highest eulogy that can be pronounced upon his character. They will be held in veneration to the remotest period of truth-telling time by all who revere virtue and love Liberty.
JOHN PENN.
A federal republican government is an unlimited partnership of the noblest character. Based upon an equality of original representative stock, an equality of interest in the welfare of the firm devolves upon each individual of the compact. Unlike monopolizing corporations that often make the poor poorer and the rich richer—each stockholder has a right to speak, vote and act upon all questions in primary meetings irrespective of the number of shares held. The specie of the firm consists in equality of representation, natural rights, protection in person, properly and freedom. These precious coins cannot be diminished in quantity or reduced in quality by alloy without courting danger. To aid in preserving them pure is the duty of all and should not be entrusted to the aspiring few. Separately and collectively each and the whole are solemnly bound to pursue all honourable means to advance the general good. Each one is bound to bring every talent into use—to leave none in the dark quarry of ignorance, the quagmire of negligence or to rust by inertness. The unfaithful steward that had but one talent was condemned because he did not put it to use. Who can tell what his talents are until he brings them to the light? Rich ores often lie deep. Many men have passed their majority without rising to mediocrity in point of developed intellect and have then suddenly risen, like a blazing meteor and illuminated the world. By several of the signers of the Declaration of Independence this was beautifully demonstrated.
Among these was John Penn, born in Caroline county, Virginia, the 17th of May 1741. He was the only child of Moses Penn who married Catharine, the daughter of John Taylor. The education of the son was confined to the commonest of common schools—the only kind then in his neighbourhood. A little learning has been called a dangerous thing but the amount taught in some common schools at the present era of light is too small to be dangerous—too limited to do much good. The most important branch of the education of that era his parents attended to themselves. By example and precept they taught him the principles of religion, social virtue and moral honesty. Upon a farm young Penn labored with his sire who had but few books and did not desire more. When John was but eighteen years of age his father died and left him a small fortune. He had an increasing thirst for knowledge but no library fountain at which he could drink and drink again until he should have within himself a living stream of mental light. He communicated his ardent desire to improve his education to his neighbor and relative, Edmund Pendleton who was a profound lawyer and an able statesman. Convinced that young Penn possessed strong native talent he made him welcome to his valuable library and became deeply interested in his improvement. After exploring the fields of general science this young philomath commenced the study of law with his relative and brought out mental ores from his long neglected intellectual quarry of a rare and rich variety. Mr. Pendleton was delighted with his pupil and the pupil delighted in pleasing him.
Mr. Penn surmounted the barriers that lay before him with an astonishing rapidity. Before some of his friends supposed he had mastered the elementary principles of Blackstone he presented himself at the court for examination—was admitted to the Bar and at once exhibited the bright plumage of a successful lawyer. But three years previous his now soaring talents were buried deep in their native quarry—unknown and unsuspected—a strong admonition to every reader under similar circumstances to examine closely the quarry of his own immortal mind. The professional eminence of Mr. Penn rose as rapidly as his appearance in the forum was surprising. He gained the confidence of the community, the respect of the courts and the esteem of his senior brethren. In 1763 he doubled his original stock in the firm of the social compact by leading to the hymenial altar the amiable and accomplished Susannah Lyme—thus avoiding the hyemal frost that creeps chillingly over lonely bachelors.