CHAPTER XX. ROBERT TREAT PAINE. Where Freedom stood on Plymouth Rock BOSTON is distinguished as being the city in which many valorous acts of patriotism and loyalty to the cause of Independence were performed, and where stern resistance to encroachments of European aggressions was made. But, perhaps, for no one incident is it more celebrated than for being the birth-place of so warm and uncompromising a patriot as the one whose name stands at the head of this memoir. In this circumstance alone it has acquired a reputation favorable throughout the country as it is over the Commonwealth in which it is situated, and which will remain a bright spot in its history so long as she respects the name of Liberty and the Constitution which binds the Union together. Robert Treat Paine was born in 1731. His father was a minister of the Gospel, and an active officiating clergyman, and his mother was daughter of the Rev. Mr. Treat, of Barnstable County. Governor Treat, of Connecticut, was his maternal grandfather. It will, therefore, be readily seen, that his connections on both sides, were of the most pious and religious character, and in those days of puritanical discipline, must have exerted a salutary effect upon In addition to this, the moral education of Mr. Paine, at a very early day, received the advantages of instruction in letters from Mr. Lovell, who was also the tutor of John Hancock and John Adams. Such were the moral and religious influences which made so marked and admired a character of Mr. Paine, and which shone so conspicuously in his after conduct. him. And such were the results. At the age of fourteen years Mr. Paine was admitted into Harvard College, where he went commendably through the programme of studies, and graduated with the usual honors. After he left college he employed himself in the capacity of a school teacher, and was remarkably successful in that vocation. Subsequently he made a voyage to Europe, where he was courteously received among the prominent of the religious circles, and where his society was courted by the literati. On his return to Massachusetts he prepared himself for the ministry, in which calling he was chosen to accompany, as their chaplain, in 1755, a military expedition to the north. He was a man much esteemed by the soldiers for his meekness and devotion, and won friends as well in the camp as at his own domestic fireside. After the expedition had returned, Mr. Paine abandoned his theological pursuits as a profession, commenced the study of law with Mr. Pratt afterward Chief Justice of New York -and was admitted to practice at the bar. He commenced his legal profession in Boston, the city of his nativity, where he attained an honorable celebrity; but he soon afterward selected the town of Taunton as a place of residence. At this place he became a powerful rival and an inveterate opponent of the distinguished Timothy Ruggles, who was President of the Colonial or "Stamp Act Congress," in 1765, and opposed to some of its measures; but when the Revolution broke out he took sides with the king and Parliament. Mr. Paine early espoused the cause of the Colonists, yet he conducted himself so cautiously and prudently that he retained the Governor's confidence. After Governor Bernard had dissolved the Assembly, in 1768, a Provincial Convention was called, which Mr. Paine attended as a delegate from Taunton. The reason of the Governor dissolving the Assembly was because, with closed doors, they adopted a circular to be sent to all the other Colonies, inviting them to send delegates to a General Colonial Congress to be held in New York. When the trial of Captain Preston and his men occurred in 1770, the indisposition of the District Attorney prevented his attendance, and Mr. Paine was chosen as his substitute. He conducted that important trial with great ability, achieving new laurels to deck his already distinguished reputation. The Vigilance Committee of Taunton unanimously selected him as its chairman in 1773, which position he filled to the satisfaction of the people. During the years 1773 and 1774 he was a member of the Provincial Assembly, and was appointed a commissioner to conduct the proceedings in the case of the impeachment of Chief Justice Oliver. The ground of his impeachment was based on the fact, that he received his salary directly from the crown, and not from the people of the province, and thus was made independent of them. He was a firm and uncompromising advocate of a Continental Congress, and while he was a member of the Assembly, in spite of Governor Gage, it elected delegates to the General Congress, of whom Mr. Paine was one. During the autumn of 1774 he was elected a member of the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts, where he exhibited unusual activity in the discharge of his arduous duties. He was deputed by the General Congress, with two others, to visit the army of General Schuyler, at the north, for the purpose of observation. The commission was a peculiarly deli.. cate one, but Mr. Paine and his colleagues performed the task with signal ability and entire satisfaction. Some time during the same year he was chosen a side judge to sit on the bench with John Adams who had been appointed Chief Justice of the Province of Massachusetts. The honor thus conferred upon Mr. Paine, however, was declined, but his valuable services could not be dispensed with in a public capacity, and in December, he was again elected to the General Congress, and on the 4th of July, 1776, he was proud to acknowledge the privilege of voting for and signing the Declaration of Independence. In 1777 he was made Attorney-General of Massachusetts by a unanimous vote of the Council and Representatives, and he held the office until 1790, when he was appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court. Subsequently he was chosen a member of the Convention that framed the Constitution of his native State. For fourteen years he discharged his duties as judge, but in 1804 he left the bench, on account of the approaching infirmities of age. He died in 1814 at the age of 84 years. Thus passed through the most troublous times in our country's history one of the purest patriots that ever lived. His long and active life was devoted almost exclusively to the public service, and a grateful people duly appreciated his labors. Few men ever attain an eminence of character so devoid of offense, and few pass from the public arena more honored and respected. Although his portrait is not found with his compatriots who signed the Declaration of Independence, in Independence Hall, his name and memory are associated with theirs and the history of that hallowed room, with imperishable lustre and undying honor. -"Be just, and fear not; Let all the ends thou aimst at be thy country's, Thy God's, and Truth's; then if thou fall'st, O Cromwell, |