Introduction

Robert Treat Paine (1731-1814) is best remembered today as a signer of the Declaration of Independence. However, his position as a public figure in Massachusetts stretched over more than thirty years, beginning in 1770, when he stood as co-counsel for the Crown in the Boston Massacre Trials, and continuing until 1804 when he resigned from the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts due to declining health. In this long career during a most important phase of Massachusetts and American history, Paine also served on numerous local and statewide committees, in the House of Representatives and on the Governor's Council for Massachusetts, in the Provincial Congress, in the Continental Congress, as the attorney general of Massachusetts, and as a delegate to the state's constitutional convention.

This edition of his correspondence and public and legal papers is based primarily on the Robert Treat Paine Papers at the Massachusetts Historical Society with additions from other collections and repositories. The bulk of the family papers and library were inherited by Charles Cushing Paine (1808-1874), a grandson who took a great interest in the family history and was the first to organize the papers. His son, General Charles Jackson Paine (1833-1916), later inherited the collection and kept it in his home at 87 Mount Vernon Street, Boston.

In 1940 the first installment of the Robert Treat Paine Papers came to the Society from John B. Paine, Frank C. Paine, Helen P. Kimball, Georgina P. Fisher, and Mary A. Winsor, the children of General Paine. The gift consisted of thirty-five volumes of manuscripts, spanning a period from 1660 to 1862, with the great bulk of the papers concerning the period of Robert Treat Paine's lifetime, 1731-1814.

The Paine family greatly increased the collection of Robert Treat Paine papers and rare books in 1954. Among the new acquisitions were four large volumes containing minutes of trials and law cases from 1760 through 1789, as well as his notes kept during the Boston massacre trials. There are few more complete working records of a colonial lawyer. A complementary collection of the related Cushing family was also given to the Society by the Paine family. Included in that gift are the papers of several leading legal and political figures of the time, most notably a small volume containing legal notes of Chief Justice William Cushing and his R10charge in the Jennison case (1783), the case which is said to have ended slavery in Massachusetts.1

Robert Treat Paine was of the fifth generation of Paines in America. The founder, the first Thomas Paine, came in 1622 bringing with him a ten-year-old son of the same name. They settled in Yarmouth on Cape Cod, but the younger Thomas (d. 1706) later moved on to Eastham. It was there, about 1650, he married Mary Snow, daughter of Nicholas and Constance Snow of Eastham and granddaughter of Stephen Hopkins, who came over in the Mayflower in 1620. James Paine (1665-1728), the sixth son of that union, moved to Barnstable where he prospered and served the community in various capacities. He married Bethiah Thacher (1671-1734), of a family somewhat more distinguished than his own, and their only son to reach manhood was yet another Thomas.

This Thomas Paine, the father of Robert Treat Paine, was born in Barnstable on April 9, 1694. His early schooling was under the supervision of two neighboring ministers who fitted him for college. Thomas's student years at Harvard College were not particularly distinguished, but he did show an aptitude for scientific investigation which his son later repeated. Upon graduation with the Class of 1717, he went to Andover to study theology under the Reverend Thomas Barnard. There followed a brief return to Harvard, where he was appointed a scholar of the house enabling him to pursue astronomical studies. During this time he compiled and published almanacs for the years 1718 and 1719. After a period of itinerant preaching in churches in the Old Colony, Paine accepted a call from Weymouth and was ordained there on August 19, 1719.

In 1720 Thomas Paine took his second degree at Harvard. The following year he acquired a wife. His marriage to Eunice Treat (1704-1747), the granddaughter of Vice-President Samuel Willard of Harvard and Governor Robert Treat of Connecticut, was a fortunate one, for it added not only social position but also money to the Paine line. Robert Treat Paine was very proud of the fact that an ancestor had been a governor of Connecticut, and in 1774 while on his way with the other Massachusetts delegates to the First Continental Congress he stopped at Milford, Connecticut, to show the party Robert Treat's tombstone.

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Thomas Paine's ministry at Weymouth was not satisfactory. His salary was low, a mere ninety pounds a year with the parsonage, and despite his best efforts to have it increased it remained fixed while the purchasing power of the pound declined steadily. In 1730 Thomas removed to Boston with his wife and daughter Abigail. Paine continued to preach at Weymouth for three years until he finally secured his dismissal effective on April 15, 1734. Abigail had been born in 1725. She, together with Robert Treat, born in 1731, and Eunice, born in 1733, were his only children to survive infancy.

Leaving the ministry as well as Weymouth behind him, Thomas Paine entered business, where if the risks were great the rewards were corre-spondingly substantial. His papers contain a prayer of his, dated March 27, 1735:

And as inasmuch as the necessary Duty of providing well for my own House urges me to undertake some Business to inlarge my Income I now humbly recommend myself in that Case to the Guidance Direction of Divine Providence. And Earnestly beg the Manifestation Thereof in all my Future Conduct. Now, 0 Lord, show me the Way of my Duty Interest; and send Prosperity I humbly do beseech thee.

If Thomas Paine had closed his accounts books in 1745, it might well be said that his prayer was answered in full. By the standards of his day he was a wealthy man, busily engaged in a profitable foreign trade, sending out his own ships, and operating iron furnaces at Abington and Bridgewater. His son, Robert, entered Harvard secure in the knowledge that his social and economic position was superior to that of many of his classmates. Yet in just four years the family position changed almost completely.

Robert Treat Paine was born in Boston2 on March 11, 1731, and baptized in the Old South Church by the Reverend Thomas Prince. He attended the Public Latin School where he studied under John Lovell, the famous schoolmaster. In 1745, after seven years at the school, his proud father soon took him to Cambridge where he was duly enrolled in Harvard College.

Virtually nothing remains in the Paine Papers to document his precollege years, until April of 1745, several months before leaving the Latin R12School, when young Paine received a notebook from his father in which he proceeded to record his daily activities. Throughout his long life he faithfully kept a diary, and this notebook and succeeding ones contain the only continuous record we have of his doings. That same year Paine made a copy of a stenographic system, which he used to make many shorthand entries in his diaries concerning private matters.3 Fortunately, Charles Cushing Paine, who spent much of his time caring for the collection, deciphered most of those entries. Unfortunately, Robert Treat Paine was not the kind of man to confide his innermost thoughts to a diary, and there are many instances in which he dismisses his part in important events with a casual reference. One cannot help feeling, in comparing Paine's diary with that of John Adams, that his place in history might have been more firmly established if he had given more of himself to the written page. John Adams certainly did not fall into this error. These two men were to be intimately concerned in the stirring events leading up to the American Revolution, but it is Adams who has kept us by far the better literary account.

The summer of 1745 was an exciting one in Boston, and it must have been difficult for young Paine to fix his thoughts on the opening of his college career. In March an expedition set out to take Louisbourg from the French, and all New England watched its progress with rapt attention. Paine's first diary entry on March 25 noted that "The Generall with most part of the Forces sailed to Canso." In the months that followed he carefully recorded the rumors and bits of information about the expedition circulating in Boston. When news finally arrived that Louisbourg had fallen he probably took part in the celebration. On July 3 his diary reads:

Commencement Cambridge—in going the Chaise oversett with my Father me. News that Cape Briton was taken the 17th of June, on account of wch. the Bells rang all Day. The Evening was attended with bon fires all manner of Fire Work.

In addition to recording the round of festivities that followed, Paine had other matters to occupy his time. He anxiously awaited the drawing of the Massachusetts lottery for which his father had given him a ticket. He also essayed his first hesitating steps at dancing school. The ticket proved R13to be a blank, and, if we can believe John Adams, his success as a dancer was limited. Years later Adams declared:

I have known several men of sense and learning who could dance — Otis, Sewall, Paine—but none of them shone that way, and neither of them had more sense, or learning, or virtue for it.4

The Harvard of Paine's day was a small school with a student body numbering only a hundred or so. The three buildings that made up the physical plant are now well known to us through the famous Burgis view of Harvard done in 1726. The faculty consisted of President Edward Holyoke, Professors Edward Wigglesworth and John Winthrop, and four tutors: Belcher Hancock, Joseph Mayhew, Henry Flynt, and Thomas Marsh. Paine's class, which graduated in 1749, finished with twenty-two members, fairly representative of the average class of his time.

Much misinformation has been bandied about of the rigors and strict discipline of college life in colonial days. Paine's papers preserve his manu-script copy of the laws of Harvard College. These Laws regulated a student's life, and truly if they were strictly abided by then life would not have been altogether joyous. There is good reason to believe, however, that neither the letter nor the spirit of the laws was closely followed. Paine's diary contains abundant information about his college days, and the life he led seems to be not greatly different from that led by a modern schoolboy of his years.

Paine was a good student and there are numerous references in his diary to the courses taken and the books read. He had a real interest in scientific matters and in his free time busied himself with simple experiments. In September of 1747 he noted on two separate occasions that he went "to see the Electricity." Later, he became interested in clockmaking and corresponded on this subject with his friend Richard Cranch and also with Gawen Brown, the well-known Boston clockmaker. During his lifetime he was careful to note unseasonable temperatures, earthquakes and other natural phenomena. This scientific bent was to lead him in 1780 to become one of the founders of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

With a few kindred spirits, Paine formed a literary club at Harvard, R14

which went by the high-sounding name of the Phenphilenici Club. Among his college writings in the papers is an address he delivered before the Club, "Nosce teipsum."5 The following extract from the address exemplifies the spirit and taste of the club:

But w[he]n ails said & done Man has a heart deceitfull & above all things desparately Wicked. Compounded of such intricate mazes, windings, and tur[n]ings & false Bottoms too nice to be perciev'd by human Eye, & all the Garrisons are posses'd by Such, Learned, Smooth Tongued, Eloquent, Decietfull, & desperate foes that A man Must be furnished with a Head fill'd with Wisdom, affections chain'd with adamant, an Heart of Polish'd Steel, a brain well skill'd with their Severall Scouts & rescouts, Lastly a Resolution to Dye or Conquer or in vain will he engage this Enemy.6

Paine's other formal college writings are in much the same vein: rather heavy treatises on man's place in the universe and the futility of striving for earthly rewards. They are not enlivened by that wit which was said to be characteristic of Paine's personality. For occasional flashes of it one must turn to his personal letters, especially to those exchanged with his favorite sister, Eunice.

The papers contain many instances of the lighter side of college life. Although dogged with poor health for much of his life, Paine managed to take part in the normal activities of his day. His diary mentions skating, gunning, swimming at the Great Bridge, dancing, and fishing. One can almost feel the lure of spring in his entry of May 3, 1746: "Went to Fresh Pond, got canes very large turtles with Appleton Barrett. absent from prayers at night"; or in the following entry of May 15: "Whipple gave us a very Sumptuous treat. Oliver got drunk before dinner. Went home boozy myself."

But college life was not completely blissful. Occasionally, Paine ran afoul of the college authorities, and he was once hauled up to explain the forging of a note. He was not pleased to learn that the other students ridiculed the Phenphilenici Club, and he was thoroughly unhappy when "Mr. Mayhew punished me 3 shillings for sleeping at lecture, when really I did not."

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In his senior year Paine began to show a much more thoughtful and serious side. His interest in church matters deepened and at his earnest request he was admitted into full communion in the Old South Church in Boston. Business matters had not been going well for his father and young Paine had received hints to this effect from time to time. If he had any doubts they were removed by a letter from his sister Abigail, who said that Thomas Paine had resolved not to keep Commencement and had urged her to announce her engagement to Joseph Greenleaf.

Many of his reasons are to tedeious to name but one a Consideration of my age and his Curcumstances not being so promising as some years past by reason of many Losses and disapoinments and his infirmities of body & age Come on which makes him desirious to have me Seteled, and he thinks this a good prospect for a Living and his only objection what we all know: the family.7

Greenleaf may not have been as socially prominent as the elder Paine would have liked, but he did prove to be a thoroughly good husband and kind brother-in-law.

Since business was slow there were not many opportunities available to the new graduates. Paine and some of his friends were fortunate to secure school teaching positions in the smaller towns. Starting in September 1749, Paine kept school at Lunenburg in northern Worcester County. While there he kept up a steady correspondence with his friends and family which reveals many interesting sidelights on the teaching practices of the time. Like many another young teacher, Paine was very enthusiastic about his work and had great plans for improving the Lunenburg school. On his first day he reported:

. . . I began my School at my boarding Place but 5 Scholars P.M. 6&c. O how they did hum & haw & whine & sing & every thing else dis-agreeable however I keep the best of order & hope to break them, of some of their bad habits wch seem almost rivetted into them. I have but newly began my school so have nott & so much to say concerning that as I expect by & by.8

Paine's praiseworthy attitude did not last, and before long his sister R16Abigail shrewdly deduced that he was not altogether happy in his situation. Life in a small town was much too quiet for a youth accustomed to Cambridge and Boston, and there was little in the way of intellectual stimulus. Then, too, he must have been considerably upset when news reached him in December of his father's business failure. At any rate, in March 1750 Paine was looking for a new teaching position. After several offers he decided to take the post of usher in the South Grammar School in Boston. This change led Cotton Tufts to "heartily rejoice at your Prosperity, that from a Land of Bitterness surrounded with Thorns & Briars you are remov'd to Canaan a Land of Pleasantness, & freindly to the Muses.9

While the change of scene was welcome, it soon became apparent that teaching would not be Paine's chosen vocation. Indeed he later warned his cousin against it: "yet can you bear to live from Year to Year get nothing before hand, or can you bear to be the Wash Pot or Rather the Dogg Whipper of Hallifax which Title yr. occupation deserves...."10 For Paine, teaching promised little in the way of social or financial success, and he was now faced with the problem of supporting not only himself but also his sister Eunice. On August 13, Paine with what must have been a sigh of relief resigned his post at the Grammar School and turned his attention to the sea.

The papers for 1751-1754 are concerned chiefly with the various trading voyages Paine made. The student of colonial commerce will find in them an extensive record of the conduct of small trading ventures. The hiring of a ship, the drawing up of articles of agreement, sailing orders, cargoes, prices, etc., are set down in detail. In all, Paine made three voyages to North Carolina, acting as master on the first and third voyages. This last voyage also took him to Fayal and Cadiz.

Paine made his first voyage in early 1751. Having formed a partnership with James Allen and Joseph Palmer, he sailed from Boston on February 5 in the sloop Success for North Carolina carrying a miscellaneous cargo. He found the harbors there crowded with American and English vessels and was able to secure a cargo of pitch and tar only after a long and tiring wait. It was July 10, 1751, before he returned to Boston. The unexpected length of the voyage proved costly, and the venture was a financial failure.

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In the interval between voyages Paine went to Philadelphia on business. While there he met many of the influential people of the town and was particularly intimate with the Franklins. At this time he decided to be inoculated for the smallpox, being persuaded by a doctor who Incouraged me much, by Setting the Thing in a Proper Light before me"11 Doctor Thomas Bond inoculated Paine on September 30, 1751. He was ill for much of October and while in confinement kept a record of the disease which is almost clinical in its objectiveness.

The papers contain many references to the smallpox epidemics which periodically swept through the American towns. Medical historians will find some extremely interesting letters on the methods used to combat the disease as well as on the occasional decision to let it run its course. There was an epidemic in Boston in 1752, which Abigail Greenleaf described in a letter to her brother:

Soon after you Sail'd it broke out in Several familys in Town but tis Generally thought it might have been Stop'd, had the phisians & the town in general desir'd. It was thought to be a good Season of the year and no business in town to be hindred therefore twas best to have it spread; and Contrary to Law when it was it but five or six houses they began to inoculate we waited till the Seventh of April and then my Self with Cato Peggy went through the operation we all had it more favourable than you had.12

Joseph Greenleaf graphically described this epidemic in his letter of July 22, noting:

yr. Father had but 30 pustles in his Face, my Wife 45 Eunice abt. 60 Cato Peggy very few, but poor Enoch a million (as far as I know) yet never lost a meal of Victuals altho' he Stunk like---13

Paine sailed from Boston on his second voyage to North Carolina on January 27, 1752, and did not return until November 27. In his letters and diary he gives an excellent account of business conditions there and the method he used to collect a cargo of tar. Unfortunately, when Paine arrived at Boston he found the market dull and had to sell the tar at £4.5.0 R18per barrel. While in North Carolina, Paine wrote to President Edward Holyoke of Harvard asking to be admitted to the Master of Arts degree. His petition was successful.

Paine's third voyage found him master of the sloop Hannah sailing from Boston on May 19, 1753, for North Carolina loaded with brick. There he unloaded the brick and took on a cargo of pipe staves and barrel staves for Fayal in the Azores. Arriving there on September 14, he found no market for the staves and after a few days of sightseeing he proceeded to Cadiz. There he sold his cargo and purchased wines, raisins and lemons as instructed in his sailing orders. Paine found loading and unloading his vessel a slow business but managed to pass the time pleasantly visiting the churches and fortifications, attending a play which he thought poorly performed, and watching the religious processions. It was not until January 30, 1754, that he was back in Boston after a long and arduous passage:

I was 57 days at Sea & 30 of them on our Coast in the most Tatter'd Condition imaginable despairing of ever arriving to Any port, but by the Goodness of Providence I am well home, where I found my Owners very Uneasy by Reason of the Reapeated Reports of one J---n Ca--y who had spread abroad that I was gone ashore in Cales to learn Spanish & had hawld up my Vessell & determin'd not to leave the Country till I had learnd the Language.14

Paine was at home for only a few months before he was off again, this time as the master of the sloop Seaflower on a whaling voyage to Davis Strait from Billingsgate (now Wellfleet), Cape Cod. The voyage began on May 6, 1754, and ended on August 28 with the Seaflower back in Billings-gate Bay. Paine kept a journal of the voyage as well as a log book both of which he illustrated with pen sketches. By September 11, Paine had dis-posed of the oil and by the end of the month had all accounts settled. It marked the end of his maritime career.

During the final months of 1754 Paine was in Boston carefully consider-ing his next move. His years at sea had provided change and adventure but had not been financially rewarding. It may be that he considered studying for the ministry, but there is nothing in the papers to confirm it. He did attend church services frequently, and there are many references to the famous evangelist George Whitefield, whom he heard preach.

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By December Paine had made up his mind to become a lawyer and was thinking seriously of settling in Falmouth—now Portland, Maine—to carry on his studies. The expense of living there may have been a deterrent, however, for his final decision was to study at Lancaster under his cousin Judge Samuel Willard. After several false starts Paine was at last entering upon a career which was to bring him honor and renown. This tall, slim young man with piercing black eyes and deep voice has not left many intimate self-portraits, but there is a revealing postcript in a letter to his friend Richard Cranch:

P.S. I forgot to tell you that I have a Stray Heart which has elop'd frome sometime since, I fancy it is wandring upon yr. River. I should be glad to have it before I retire, least it should get into bad hands. I believe twold gladly shelter under yr. Roof & if you catch it pray correct it of sundry bad qualitys which you'll find have taken deep Root. Such as too great a desire to please those who are Freinds rather in my Esteem than their Actions, a prying Curiosity wch. by Desiring & admiring too much the Virtues of others hinder my making Any improvements at home. You'll find likewise a great deal of Ambition wch. wants to be put into a right Channel at present it serving rather to extol others than Advance my self & sundry other Foibles wch. pray correct or irradicate as you see fit as for the Vanity of wch. you'll find such plenty don't meddle wth. that, it having been my only Support for a long Time, But for Reason Sake dont put in Any Love, that wth. the other failings I have above discrib'd being utterly inconsistent wth. my Intended Life.15

Lancaster Paine spent the winter and spring studying. The quiet town furnished him a peace and solitude that was a welcome change after the years at sea. In a letter to his sister Eunice he spoke of having

left behind me all my volatile Mercury wch. has so long kept my Soul on the Wing. I left my Maggots at the Fortification as Sailors do their Religion at the Cape, & I no sooner turned my back on the Noisy City, but a harmonious Peace broke in upon my Soul, & my wild Passions wch. had so long hurried me & kept my Mind in a Tumult, at once asswaged & left me as the Fog before the Meridian Sun, just as R20tho' Sedateness were inconsistent wth. that Climate & as tho' that Air breathed nothing but Confusion. I have Enjoy'd a greater Requiem then for many Years past, having nothing to disturb or interrupt me, Books enough to Instruct & amuse me. . . .16

As a relaxation from his study of the law he was persuaded by friends to preach on six Sundays at the neighboring town of Shirley. From his letters one gathers that he thoroughly enjoyed the experience but had no desire to follow it as a permanent calling.

With the coming of spring Paine began to get restive. The quiet life was a bit too quiet, and as he reported "my Divinity is Nearly ex-hausted."17 More worldly matters were discussed in his letters and by summertime he was exchanging light verse with his friend Samuel Quincy. Perhaps the desire for a change was quickened by the preparations Massachusetts was making to participate in the expedition against Crown Point. Lancaster was on the military road and before long the tread of marching troops became a familiar sound to Paine. He first applied for a commission in the army but found none available. When he learned that his cousin Colonel Samuel Willard was forming a regiment, he applied for the post of chaplain. His application was successful, and on August 8 a commission was issued to him. On September 11, 1755, together with Colonel Willard and the regimental surgeon, Doctor Phinehas Phelps, he set off for Albany and for four adventurous months in the service.

Paine's experiences as a chaplain are noted in some detail in his diary and letters to his family. Before going to Fort Edward he spent some time at Albany and apparently enjoyed the society he met there. Life in camp was not pleasant, but Paine did his work with characteristic thoroughness. The papers record the goings on in camp—the rumors, reports of scouts, occasional brushes with the enemy, the death of Colonel Willard of a "slow nervous putrid Fever," and the general atmosphere of boredom prevalent in most army camps. With the advance of winter the action of the expedition was slowed down; it eventually broke off in December. By the end of the month Paine was back in Boston with only the sketches he made of military forts and maps to remind him of an exciting period in his life now behind him.

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The next few years were busy ones for Paine. With the itch for miltary adventure now out of his system he was able to concentrate on his studies. Perhaps as a guarantee that he was leaving the old life behind him he directed that his quadrant and pea jacket be sold. There were a few trips to Halifax and Connecticut on his father's business, but he spent most of his time reading law books, attending court sessions, and corresponding with other law students about knotty legal problems.

Paine's training for the Bar followed the usual pattern of his time. While it is true that a few wealthy youths went to England for their legal training, most of the young men studied at home in the office of some established lawyer. Paine was fortunate in being allowed to study under Benjamin Prat, one of the leading members of the Massachusetts Bar and later chief justice of New York. Although Paine approached Prat about studying under him on October 6, 1756, it was not until March 8, 1757, that he began to read in his office. After two months of concentrated work Paine was admitted to the Bar as an attorney. In a letter to an unidentified correspondent Paine wrote:

The forever memorable Sixth of May, was the day of my espousals, on the which I was wedded to a Lady of great birth & parentage; her maiden name was Law, descended from the antient family of the Laws which from the earliest ages have been esteemed the patron of the distressed & the protector of their Liberties.18

The lot of a young lawyer is not always an easy one, and in Paine's case it was complicated by the death of his father on May 30, 1757. For the next three years he had not only to establish his own practice but also to act as executor of his father's insolvent estate. The papers reveal the difficulties attached to this latter office. Debts were owed to Thomas Paine in such widely separated places as Nova Scotia and the West Indies. Inadequate bookkeeping made the task of collecting them extraordinarily difficult. This coupled with the general decline of business following the fall of Quebec in 1759 and the resulting inability of debtors to pay their creditors forced Paine to present a disappointing inventory to the Suffolk County Probate Court in 1760. Only £270.9.10 was left to meet the creditors' claims of £2475.13.7. They had to be satisfied with the Sum R22of Two Shillings two pence, one farthing on the Pounds of the Debts to them respectively owing."

During this period Paine had to decide where to establish his law office. For a time he considered York, then Falmouth, but finally settled on Boston. From this base he frequently rode the circuit, attending court sessions at York, Portsmouth, Cambridge, Worcester, Plymouth, and Barnstable. Financial returns were not great. Sister Eunice asked "how long can you live on a Smile."19 He found, too, that lawyers were considered a special kind of gentry. To Eunice, Paine acidly stated: "by all calculation I can keep as cheap as I can board my self for we Lawyers are such big folks that no one will board us without paying top price tho' we agree to have nothing for it."20

Paine was ambitious, and he drove himself hard in these early years. The competition for legal business was keen, and he did not propose to occupy a low place in the professional ranking. In April 1758 he entered the select circle of barristers when he was admitted to practice in the Superior Court. He accomplished this at some cost to his health. There are references in his papers to his bodily infirmities and his efforts to find remedies. In a letter to William Cushing he spoke of having

devoured a Continent of Potatoes, Turnep Yards with[ou]t Number; Swallowed Mercury enough to make a New Planet & gluttoniz'd as much Alloes as would imbitter the Gulph Stream; as for cold Water Sr., the prime diluter! You Never saw Lake George nor the Euxine Sea & so I can't tell you. In the Midst of my troubles I threatned hard to come and see you (& a threatining you would have thought it if I had Come) however in Mercy I spared you; lye one thing to comfort me I don't fail in Essentials, I eat & drink & laugh as to every thing but business as much spirits as ever but there I fail, the Enemy has seized my Capitol, & laid my Brains (those prime Ministers of State) not under Tribute but into fetters.21

John Adams also commented on Paine's ill-health in his diary entry of October 18, 1758: "Paines Face has lost its Bloom, and his Eye its Vivacity and fire. His Eye is weak, his Countenance pale and his Attention R23unsteady. And what is worse, he suffers this decline of Health to retard, almost to Stop his studies." Adams and Paine, the two fledgling lawyers, were to be keen rivals for a part of their lives and jealous of each other. Yet it is Adams who has given us one of the few contemporary descriptions of Paine

Bob Paine is conceited and pretends to more Knowledge and Genius than he has. I have heard him say that he took more Pleasure in solving a Problem in Algebra than in a frolick. He told me the other day, that he was as curious after a minute and particular Knowledge of mathematicks and Phylosophy, as I could be about the Laws of Antiquity. By his Boldness in Company, he makes himself a great many Enemies. His Aim in Company is to be admired, not to be beloved. He asked me what Duch Commentator I meant? I said Vinius.—Vinnius, says he, (with a flash of real Envy, but pretended Contempt,) you cant understand one Page of Vinnius.—He must know that human Nature is disgusted with such in-complaisant Behaviour. Besides he has no Right to say that I dont understand every Word in Vinnius, or even in I. . 1 for he knows nothing of me. For the future let me act the Part of a critical spy upon him, not that of an open unsuspicious friend.—Last Superiour Court at Worcester he dined in Company with Mr. Gridly, Mr. Trowbridge, and several others, at Mr. Putnams, and altho a modest attentive Behaviour would have best become him in such a Company, yet he tried to ingross the whole Conversation to himself. He did the same, in the Evening, when all the Judges of the Superiour Court with Mr. Winthrop, Sewall, &c. were present, and he did the same last Thanksgiving day, at Coll. Quincies, when Mr. Wibirt, Mr. Cranch &c. were present. This Impudence may sett the Million a Gape at him but will make all Persons of Sense despize him, or hate him. That evening at Put[nam]s, he called me a Numbskull and a Blunder Buss before all the Superiour Judges. I was not present indeed, but such expressions were indecent and tended to give the Judges a low Opinion of me, as if I was despize'd by my Acquiantance. He is an impudent, ill-bred, conceited fellow. Yet he has Witt, sense and Learning, and a great deal of Humour, and has Virtue and Piety except his fretful, peevish, Childish Complaints against the Disposition of Things. This Character is drawn with Resentment of his ungenerous Treatment of me, and Allowances must therefore be made, but these are unexaggerated facts.22

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In fairness it must be said that Paine was not unaware of the defects in his personality and once sadly admitted "if I could talk soft things without meaning or design I should be much better liked."23

Paine was a frequent visitor to Taunton, and in 1761 he decided to establish his home and office there. For the next nine years the papers are concerned in large part with his legal career. He was in almost constant attendance at the meetings of the various courts on their circuits, and it was not long before he developed a reputation as a competent lawyer. Among his clients were John Amory, the Boston merchant; John Singleton Copley, the artist; and Richard Smith, a prominent Philadelphia merchant.

The student of legal history will find in the papers for these years an excellent record of the daily round of a colonial lawyer. A good part of Paine's time was apparently spent in collecting debts, both for clients and on his own behalf as executor to his father's lingering insolvent estate. Cases concerned with counterfeiting, land disputes, and criminal matters were part of the regular fare. One cannot avoid the feeling that the New Englander of this period was one of the most litigious beings that ever existed. Within the profession itself there were efforts made to improve the standards of the Bar, and there is a fine letter to Paine from James Hovey to this effect.24

There is little in the papers for these years to throw light on Paine's political thinking. He was in correspondence with the leading lawyers of his day and visited at their homes and those of such leading political figures as Thomas Hutchinson, Andrew Oliver, James Otis, and John Adams. One would give much to know what was discussed over the dinner table, but Paine has left no record. Brief entries in his diary show that he opposed the Stamp Act and was delighted with its repeal. In fact, on the anniversary of the repeal, March 18, 1767, he celebrated the memorable day by getting drunk; his entry for March 19 reads "very sick all day."

In Taunton affairs Paine took an increasingly important part. As early as 1766 he was chosen as moderator of the town and again in 1768. In that year he was also sent as a representative to the convention at Boston which met to discuss the landing of the British troops. Such tasks as R25choosing a minister and acting as surveyor of highways also fell to his lot. Even before the break with Great Britain came, it had become almost a matter of course to have Paine among those representing Taunton when any important step had to be taken.

Much has been written about the sober life of New Englanders. The Paine Papers will help show that this opinion has been somewhat exaggerated. If the social life was not as colorful as in some of the other sections it still had much to recommend it. The investigator will find references to dancing, public concerts, play-going—Paine saw The Gamester and The Virgin Unmasked in Newport—and other amusements. Affairs of the heart had first claim and Paine was not immune, although he protested too much of his desire to remain single. Shorthand entries in his diary show a keen interest in women, and if he was not married at an earlier age it was not for want of trying. Several romances ended disappointingly, and it was not until 1770 that he took a wife, Sally Cobb, daughter of Thomas and Lydia (Leonard) Cobb, of Taunton and sister of General David Cobb. Although not the equal of Paine intellectually, Sally proved to be a good helpmate and was to bear him eight children. The most noted of these was Robert Treat Paine, Jr., the poet and playwright.

The year 1770 was momentous in Paine's life for it witnessed not only his marriage but also his participation in a trial that was to make his name known thoughout the colonies. When the so-called Boston Massacre took place on March 5, 1770 Paine was not in Boston. Four days later, however, he received a carefully worded letter from William Molineux on behalf of the Boston selectmen, asking him to undertake the prosecution of Captain Thomas Preston and the eight British soldiers involved in the affair.

By a Vote of the Town you'l Observe they are to Pay the Expence of Prosecution, of Consequence you will be by them amply Satisfyed. It is the Opinion of the Select Men, & also those that are Suppos'd to be better Acquainted in Law Matters, that it will not be in Character for the Town to Appear against the Criminals, but the Relatives of the Deceased, by whome in whose Name You are the Gentleman pitched Upon in their behalf, against the said Richardson & the Capt. & Soldiers. . . .25

R26 Ebenezer Richardson, a customs informer, had been attacked on February 22 and driven into his house by a mob of young men. From a window he had fired into the crowd, killing a boy by the name of Christopher Snyder.

In order to prepare Paine for the trials, Molineux enclosed a narrative of the Massacre which had been rushed into print by the Boston selectmen. It contained some ninety-six depositions designed to prove that the soldiers had been at fault. Efforts to control the circulation of this pamphlet are evident from Molineux's statement "(tho' none are allow'd to be given out but under Peculiar Circumstances)."

The trial of Richardson took place in April 1770 with Paine and Samuel Quincy acting for the prosecution. Richardson was found guilty but received a pardon in 1772. Meanwhile the trials of Captain Thomas Preston and the British soldiers were postponed until the fall, and tempers which had been at the boiling point were allowed to cool off. In October the trial of Captain Preston was held with Robert Auchmuty, Josiah Quincy and John Adams acting for the defense; Samuel Quincy and Paine for the prosecution. Since the prosecution was unable to prove that Captain Preston had given orders to the guard to fire he was acquitted. The trial of the eight British soldiers that followed in November also resulted in the acquittal of all but two, who were convicted of manslaughter.

Paine must have been disappointed with the findings. He had worked hard and conducted the cases in a manner to win the admiration of many of his contemporaries. Samuel Fayerweather declared "you attracted the Attention of your Audience Ciceronian like, & Increas'd your Fame."26 Paine reported the findings in his diary but made no comment. He had been tired at the end of the trials and so had John Hodgson, the shorthand writer. By the time it was Paine's turn to give his final speech, Hodgson's arm had given out, and he had made no record of Paine's closing remarks. Fortunately the papers preserve a manuscript volume containing Paine's notes on the trials and also a rough draft of the closing speech.

With the trial of the British soldiers over, Paine's life resumed temporar-ily its even pace. Family affairs, routine civil cases, the building of a home in Taunton form the subject matter of much of his correspondence. This quiet life came to an end on May 17, 1773, when he was chosen to represent Taunton in the General Court. From this time onward Paine R27was to be almost continuously in public life until his retirement from the Supreme Court of Massachusetts in 1804.

The noticeable decline in the intensity of colonial opposition to Great Britain was checked in November 1772 when it was learned that she intended to erect a civil list in Massachusetts by paying the salaries of judges and governors from the customs receipts. This move created a wave of resentment that Samuel Adams skillfully fomented. He grasped this opportunity to set up the Boston Committee of Correspondence and circulate widely a report of a committee of inhabitants listing the infringements made on the rights of the colonists. Town after town approved the Boston resolutions and formed its own committee of correspondence. Taunton did not answer the Boston letter until August 28, 1773, but it too approved of Boston's actions. Paine served on the Taunton committee and apparently drew up the answer for there is a rough draft of it in his hand in the papers.

Certainly there were many who did not altogether approve of Samuel Adams and his tactics, even though they were believers in the patriot cause. Increase Sumner in a letter to Roland Cushing urged the latter to take up his pen in the cause. He thought it best to warn him against extremes, however, declaring:

The Whigs haven't stuck at Anything, how ever Rash & unwarrantable, to accomplish their Designs, —The Tories, under a pretence of Supporting Order good G[overnme]nt on the other hand have advanced the most Palpable Absurdities—so that the Character of a high Whig or high Tory by the most judicious, is thought to be equally despicable!27

Paine was in Sandwich when he first heard of the passage of the Boston Port Bill. Shortly thereafter he and Daniel Leonard were chosen representatives to the General Court from Taunton and they were both on hand when it met at Salem on June 7. The Port Bill had gone into effect on June 1 and it was evident that some move must be made to counteract it. An embarrassment arose, however, when it was discovered that Leonard, a known Tory sympathizer, had been elected to the important committee to report on the state of the Province. Unless he could be hoodwinked there was grave danger that he would prevent any action being R28taken by the popular group. The manner in which he was rendered harmless was written by Robert Treat Paine years later and makes an interesting story.28

This first segment of the Robert Treat Paine Papers ends in August 1774 when Paine leaves for the Continental Congress at Philadelphia and at the beginning of his public career. His work in Congress and subsequent career as attorney general and later judge in Massachusetts will be treated in later volumes of this same series.

Stephen T. Riley

Director Emeritus Massachusetts Historical Society

1.

The papers relating to the Cushing family have been established as a separate collection, Cush¬ing Family Papers, 1650-1840.

2.

On School Street near the site now occupied by the Old City Hall.

3.

Theophilus Metcalfe (fl. 1649), Short-writing. The most easie, exact, uncoil and speedy method that hath ever been obtained, or taught . . . Many editions.

4.

Diary entry for July 22, 1771, in Diary and Autobiography of John Adams, ed. L. H. Butterfield, 4 vols. (Cambridge, Mass., 1962), 2:46-47.

5.

"Know thyself," a Greek proverb from Delphi.

6.

Printed in full under Phinphilenici Address, April 1, 1748.

7.

Abigail Paine to RTP, Boston, March 4, 1759.

8.

RTP to Abigail Paine, Lunenburg, Sept. 23, 1749.

9.

Cotton Tufts to RTP, Cohasset, May 21, 1750.

10.

RTP to James Freeman, Boston, Aug. 13, 1751.

11.

RTP to Joseph Palmer and Richard Cranch, Philadelphia, Sept. 26, 1751.

12.

Abigail Greenleaf to RTP, Boston, July 24, 1752.

13.

Joseph Greenleaf to RTP, Boston, July 22, 1752.

14.

RTP to Henry Kemp and William Pickern, Boston, Feb. 26, 1754.

15.

RTP to Richard Cranch, Boston, Jan. 13, 1755.

16.

RTP to Eunice Paine, Lancaster, Feb. 12, 1755.

17.

RTP to Eunice Paine, Lancaster, March 24, 1755.

18.

"Extract from a Letter on Being Sworn to the Bar," [May 13, 1757].

19.

Eunice Paine to RTP, Germantown, Jan. 15, 1758.

20.

RTP to Eunice Paine, Boston, Aug. 28, 1758.

21.

RTP to William Cushing, Boston, Oct. 14, 1758.

22.

Diary entry for Dec. 3 or 4, 1758, in Diary and Autobiography of John Adams, 1:59-60.

23.

RTP to Eunice Paine, Boston, July 6, 1759.

24.

James Hovey to RTP, Plymouth, Oct. 22, 1764.

25.

William Molineux to RTP, Boston, March 9, 1770.

26.

Samuel Fayerweather to RTP, Narragansett, Dec. 8, 1770.

27.

Increase Sumner to Roland Cushing, Boston, Nov. 24, 1772. Cushing Family Papers, 1650-1840, MHS.

28.

It is printed under the date [after April 20, 1795].