PAINE
PAINE
$300,000, called the Robert Treat Paine associa-
tion, for charitable work. He was a representative
in the general court from Waltham in 1884 and
was unsuccessful Democratic and Independent
candidate for representative in the 49th congress
in 1884. He was elected president of the Wells
Memorial Workingmen's institute, which he
organized in 1879 and which included a co-
operative bank and building association. He
also organized the Workingmen's Loan associa-
tion and served as president of the congress of
workingmen's clubs. In 1891 he became presi-
dent of the Pf^ace association.
PAINE, Thomas, author and diplomatist, was born in Thetford, Norfolk county, England, Jan. 29, 1737; son of Joseph Paine, a Quaker, and by occupation a staymaker. He attended the Thet- ford grammar school until 1750, when he learned the trade of staymaking and engaged in that business until 1755, when he went to sea on a privateer. He soon returned to Thetford, and in 1757 obtained employment with a London stay- maker, becoming interested in the philosophical lectures of Martyn and Ferguson. He removed to Dover in 1858, and the following year established himself as a master staymaker in Sandwich, Kent county. He was married in 1759 to Mary Lambert, an orphan, who was a servant in a woolen draper's family, and in 1760 they removed to Margate, where she died. He abandoned his trade and prepared himself for a position as excise officer, returning to Thetford in 1761 as a supernumerary officer of excise. In 1764 he was appointed to watch smugglers, was discharg- ed from office in August, 1765, and engaged in teaching English in an academy in London, 1765- 66, and in a school in Kensington in 1767. He was re-appointed to the excise service in 1768, and deputed as officer in Lewes, Sussex county. In 1771 he was married to Elizabeth OUive of Lewes. When the excisemen united in signing a plea to parliament for an increase of salary, Paine was entrusted with the prosecution of the matter, and in 1772 prepared his petition, but was unable to get a hearing. He was again dis- missed from the excise service in April, 1774, and in June of the same year became formally separated from his wife. He removed to London, and made the acquaintance of Benjamin Frank- lin, in whose electrical experiments he was interested. In consequence of this acquaintance he left England in 1774, with letters from Franklin to Richard Bache in Pliiladelphia, where he obtained employment as a tutor and was chosen by Robert Aitkin to assist in publishing the Pennsylvania Magazine or American Museum, which he edited for eighteen months. In its columns he urged the extension of independence to the enslaved negro, was the first to advocate
international arbitration and to propose national
and international copyright. During the Revolu-
tion he published political pamphlets, including
" Common Sense" (1775), of which half a million
copies were distributed, and donated the copy-
right to the colonies for the cause of independence.
In July, 1776, he published a pamphlet, entitled "A
Dialogue between the Ghost of Gen. Montgomery,
Just Arrived from the Elysian Fields, and an
American Delegate in a Wood Near Philadelphia."
In November, 1776, he joined the Pennsylvania
division of the flying camp, and while in the
army composed the first number of "Crisis,"
writing only by night, and publishing the paper,
Dec. 19, 1776, just before the battle of Trenton.
The opening words, " These are the times that
try men's souls," became a familiar watchword
in the camp. He was appointed secretary to the
commission sent by congress to treat with the
Indians at Easton, Pa., Jan. 21, 1777, and was
elected secretary of the committee of foreign
affairs, April 17, 1777. He resigned his position
of secretary on account of a controversy with
Silas Deane, and was reduced to a clerkship in
Owen Biddle's law office. He was appointed
clerk of the Pennsylvania assembly in 1780, and
in February, 1781, accompanied Col. John Laurens
to France, for the purpose of procuring a loan.
Their mission was entirely successful and on
their return to Philadelphia, Paine became a
social lion, but was without means and suffered
for want of food. Upon the earnest solicitation
of General Washington congress ultimately paid
Paine a salary of $800 a year for secret services.
After the conclusion of the treaty of peace, upon
his endeavor to obtain some recognition of his
services. New York state presented him with
277 acres of land at New Rochelle; Pennsylvania
voted him £500, and congress paid liim $3,000.
He had been engaged on designs for an iron
bridge over the Schuylkill, and in April, 1787, he
sailed for France to obtain the approval of his
work by the French engineers. The plans were
sanctioned by the French Academy and sent to
the Royal Society. While in France he drew up
a proposal for friendship between France and
England, and acted as arbitrator. Visiting
London, he at once became a social and diplomatic
feature of that metropolis. In November, 1790. he
began his reply to Edmund Burke's " Reflections
on the Revolution in Fiance," entitled "Rights
of Man," which he dedicated to George Washing-
ton, and which reached a large circulation.
The Democratic views set forth in this publica-
tion exposed him to punishment for sedition and
on the conferment of the title of French citizen
by the National Assembly on Aug. 26, 1792. he
returned to France. He was elected president
of the Constitutional society of Calais, and a
