Qualifications of Officers, and on the numerous Evils arising to the Revenue from the Insufficiency of the pres- ent Sa'aries (1772). The ability displaj'ed in this his first prose composition induced one of the commission- ers of excise to give him a letter of introduction to Benjamin Franklin, then in London as a deputy from the colonies of North America to the British govern- ment. Franklin was favorably impressed with Paine, and, hoping that his services might prove beneficial to the colonies, advised him to go to America. Paine took the advice, settled at Philadelphia in 1774, and devoted himself to literary works. He became a con- tributor to various periodical works, and in January, 1775, editor of the Philacleljihia Magazine. In 1776, at the outbreak of our colonial conflict, he embraced the cause of the colonies, and enlisted as a volunteer in the ami}'. He had previously influenced public opin- ion in favor of independence from the British throne by an article which he published in the Pennsylvania Journal (Octol)er, 1775), entitled " Serious Thoughts." In it he declared for political equality, and gave ex- pression to the hope of the ultimate abolition of slaver}'. He now further encouraged the radical movers for sep- aration by another publication of his, entitled Common Sense (Phila. 1776, 8vo). These writings made a pro- found impression, especially the latter, and contributed in an eminent degree to make the people of this coun- trj' of one mind. The masses, who had reasoned but little on the subject, were stirred to activity, and thus thousands who would otherwise have been passive, if not opponents to the independence scheme, were brought to the aid of the Revolutionar}' movement. True, some of his political teachings could not have the endorsement of the moral and religious element ; yet the truth cannot be withheld that Thomas Paine was one of the most powerful actors in the Revolu- tionary drama, and that, whatever his failings, errors, or vices, his service to his adopted countr}' sh«uld not be forgotten. Some writers have denied his po- litical services, and have declared it impossible that, a stranger at the outbreak of the colonial struggle, he could have influenced public opinion in America; but such should remember that the contemporaries of Paine — and worthy men many of them certainly were who associated with Paine — judged diflferentlj', and not only freely circulated his writings, but gave expression to their worth for political purposes by voting him £500 through their legislators, besides conferring on him the degree of M.A. (Pennsylvania University), and mem- bership in their choicest literary association, the Amer- ican Philosophical Societ}'. Though in the arm}', Paine continued to employ his pen. In December, 1776, he published his first Crisis, which opened with the phrase, " These are the times that try men's souls." So well was it believed to meet the emergency of those times that it was, by order, read at the head of every regi- ment, and is pronounc^ed to have done much to rouse the drooping ardor of the people. He continued such publications until the attainment of peace in 1783. In 1777 he was made secretary to the Congressional Com- mittee on Foreign Affairs, but in 1779 he was obliged to resign this post, because he had in an excited en- counter divulged the secrets of his office. In 1781 Paine was sent to France with colonel Lawrence to negotiate a loan, in which he was more than success- ful; for the French government granted a subsid}' of six millions of livres to the Americans, and also be- came guarantee for a loan of ten millions advanced by Holland. On his return to America he was rewarded for his services by being appointed, in 1785, clerk to - the Assembly of Pennsylvania ; he received from Con- gress a donation of $3000 ; and the state of New York bestowed on him the confiscated estate of Frederick Davoe, a royalist, near New Rochelle, in the state of New York, consisting of 500 acres of well-cultivated land, with a good stone house. After the peace be- tween Great Britain and America, Paine employed ,
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