]
Early in May, 1780, while the Assembly of Pennsylvania was receiving
petitions from all parts of the State, praying for exemption from
taxes, a letter was brought to the speaker from General Washington, and
read to the House by Paine as clerk. It stated simply that the army was
in the utmost distress from the want of every necessary which men could
need and yet retain life; and that the symptoms of discontent and
mutiny were so marked that the General dreaded the event of every hour.
"When the letter was read," says Paine, "I observed a despairing
silence in the House. Nobody spoke for a considerable time. At length a
member, of whose fortitude I had a high opinion, rose. 'If,' said he,
'the account in that letter is true, and we are in the situation there
represented, it appears to me in vain to contend the matter any longer.
We may as well give up first as last.' A more cheerful member
endeavored to dissipate the gloom of the House, and moved an
adjournment, which was carried," Paine, who knew that the Assembly had
neither money nor credit, felt that the voluntary aid of individuals
could alone be relied upon in this conjuncture. He accordingly wrote a
letter to a friend in Philadelphia, a man of influence, explaining the
urgency of affairs, and inclosed five hundred dollars, the amount of
the salary due him as clerk, as his contribution towards a relief fund.
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