In 1774 Mr. Penn removed to North Carolina. Carrying with him a high legal reputation he soon obtained a lucrative practice. He had participated largely in the patriotic feelings that were spreading over the Colonies like an autumn fire on a prairie. He had fully imbibed the principles of his venerable preceptor who was one of the boldest of the bold Virginians in the vindication of chartered rights and was a member of the general Congress of 1774. The liberal views and splendid talents of Mr. Penn were soon appreciated by his new acquaintances. On the 8th of September 1775 he was appointed to the Continental Congress and repaired to the post of duty and honor the ensuing month. He became an active and prominent member of that venerated assembly of sages whose wisdom, sagacity and intelligence emblazoned the historic page with a new and more brilliant lustre. He served on numerous committees and acquitted himself with great credit in the discharge of every duty that devolved upon him. In the committee room, in the House, among the people—in every situation in which he moved he made the cause of liberty his primary business. So highly were his services appreciated by his constituents that they continued him in Congress until the accumulating dangers that were threatening his own state induced him to decline a re-election in 1779. He was an early and warm supporter of the Declaration of Independence. When the joyful day arrived to take the final question he most cheerfully and boldly sustained it by his vote and signature—enrolling his name with the brightest constellation of illustrious statesmen that ever illuminated a legislative chamber.
South Carolina had been devastated by Lord Cornwallis who was preparing to carry destruction to North Carolina. Emissaries from the British were already within its precincts to prepare the way for the triumphant entry of the cruel foe. Already had the friends of royal power received instructions to seize the most prominent whigs and the military stores with an assurance of immediate support. The cruelties that had been practised in South Carolina carried terror to all but hearts of oak. The sacrifice of Col. Hayne at Charleston in that state, will give the reader a faint idea of the spirit of demoniac revenge that characterized some of the refined and christianized British officers.
When that city fell into his hands, Lord Cornwallis issued a proclamation promising all who would desist from opposing the authority of the king the most sacred protection of person and property on condition that each should sign an instrument of neutrality which obligated the signers not to take up arms against the mother country and exonerated them from serving against their own. Being a prisoner and separated from his wife and six small children then residing in the country—his lady confined with the small pox—Col. Hayne finally signed the fatal instrument with great reluctance upon the solemn assurance of the highly civilized and professedly christianized English officers and James Simpson—intendant of British police, that he should never be required to bear arms in support of the crown. Like Bishop Cranmer, Col. Hayne subscribed to that which his soul detested that he might fly to the relief of his suffering family. As in the case of Bishop Cranmer his enemies pursued him with a relentless persecution that nothing but death could allay—a persecution that would have made the untutored Indian shudder at broken faith and weep tears of blood over violated vows. It was a total disregard of law, justice and humanity.
Soon after his return to his dying wife and little ones the British called at his house and ordered him into the army of the mother country and threatened him with close confinement if he refused. In vain he referred them to the conditions upon which he so reluctantly signed the article of neutrality. In vain he claimed protection under the provincial militia law that imposed a fine when a citizen chose not to render personal service. To his relentless oppressors all was a dead letter. He pointed them to the wife of his bosom—the mother of his children—sinking under the small pox and rapidly approaching another world. Their sympathy was sealed—their compassion frozen up. In a few short hours Mrs. Hayne closed her eyes in death. She rested in peace. A different fate was in reserve for the afflicted husband. The order to enter the British army must be obeyed or immediate imprisonment would follow. By the violation of the pledges made to him on their part he correctly considered himself absolved from all obligations to the officers of the crown. He at once entered the American army, preferring death to the ranks of the invaders. A brilliant but short career in the service of his country awaited him. He was soon made a prisoner and sent to Charleston where Lord Rawdon, a general of his most Christian majesty, loaded him with irons—submitted him to a mock trial—ex parte in its proceedings and conclusions—based on revenge and cruelty, resolved on the speedy and ignominious death of his victim. Col. Hayne was sentenced to be hung. Amazement and dismay, indignation and surprise were strongly manifested by all classes. A large proportion of the friends of the crown deemed the transaction a species of murder. A petition—headed by the royal governor and numerously signed by persons of high standing who still adhered to the mother country was presented to Lord Rawdon in behalf of the unfortunate prisoner but all in vain.
"Still revenge sat brooding on his dark and sullen brow
And the grim fiends of hell urged his soul on to murder."
The ladies of Charleston—wives and daughters of royalists and whigs, then united in a petition couched in the most moving language—praying that the life of Col. Hayne might be spared. This met with a cold reception and peremptory refusal. As a last effort to rescue their father from the gallows—his infant children, dressed in deep mourning and bathed in tears, were led before Lord Rawdon. Upon their knees, with their suffused eyes fixed upon him, they addressed the monster in a strain of heart-moving eloquence that none but infant innocents can express—none but fiends resist. "Our mother is dead—spare! O! spare our dear father!!!
"But still he stood unmoved,
Hard as the adamantine rock,
Dark as a sullen cloud before the sun."
So melting was this scene that veteran soldiers wept aloud and all were astounded at the demoniac course of the blood thirsty and relentless Rawdon. A request was then made that Col. Hayne might be permitted to die as a military officer and not hung as a felon. This was also denied. As a devout Christian the martyr resigned himself to his cruel fate and prepared his mind for the approaching crisis. His little son was permitted to visit him in prison. When he saw his father loaded with irons he burst into tears. The parent remarked to him, "Why will you break my heart with unavailing sorrow? Have I not often told you that we came into this world to prepare for a better? For that better life, dear boy, your father is prepared. Instead of weeping, rejoice with me that my troubles are so near an end. To-morrow I set out for immortality. When I am dead bury me by the side of your mother." No imagination can fully conceive—no fancy can truly paint—no pen clearly portray, no language can half express the heart rending reality of that last sad interview between the father and his son. When upon the fatal drop with the accursed halter around his neck—Col. Hayne shook hands with his friends—bade them an affectionate farewell—urged them to persevere in the glorious cause of freedom—recommended his children to the protection of three gentlemen present and the next moment was struggling in death. The sight was too much for his son—his brain became disordered—his reason fled—he died insane. With his expiring breath he faintly whispered—"My mother is dead!—Spare! O! spare my dear father!!!"
Fortunately for North Carolina the efficient and sagacious Greene with his brave officers and half clad soldiers checked the triumphant and murderous career of the British army. The operations of this brave General were greatly accelerated by Mr. Penn. In 1780, when Lord Cornwallis penetrated the western part of the state to Charlottetown, the crisis became alarming and this bold patriot was placed at the helm of public affairs with almost unlimited power. He was authorized to seize supplies by force and do all things that he deemed necessary to repel the invading foe. He proved equal to the emergency. He knew his duty and performed it with such discretion and prudence that no complaints of injustice were heard. The state was saved from a merciless enemy—Tarleton was humbled—Ferguson killed and Cornwallis put on his back track at double quick time.
After discharging the duties imposed by his own state Mr. Penn retired to private life and the pursuit of his profession. In 1784 he was appointed Receiver of Taxes for North Carolina—a high encomium upon his reputation for integrity. Fatigued with public service he resigned this office in a few months. He then bid a final farewell to the perplexing duties of political life and took his exit from the public arena decked with a civic wreath of unfading honor. He again entered into the soul-cheering enjoyments of domestic felicity which were soon exchanged for those of another and brighter world. In September 1788 he was gathered to his fathers and laid in the silent tomb there to await the resurrection of the great day. He was cut down just as he began to enjoy the fruits of his labors—in the prime of life and left a vacuum in society not readily filled. His grave was moistened with tears—a nation mourned his loss.