The Rise of Thomas Paine

and The Case of the Officers of Excise

Paul Myles

• Publisher: Thomas Paine Society UK
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781999326319
• Edition: 1
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: History

This is the story of how an unknown and lowly Englishman came to be thrust onto the international stage with world-changing effect. While Thomas Paine is known by all Americans as one of their founding fathers, he remains relatively obscure in Great Britain. Thomas Paine's skill as a writer was recognised by George Lewis Scott, a commissioner of Excise, who was at the height of English society. Scott had been trying to reduce the corruption that was endemic in the Excise Service, Paine had suffered it at first hand. This was in 1772 in Lewes, the County town of East Sussex while Paine was still just an outrider of Excise. Paine articulated the argument in his first pamphlet, but despite 4000 copies being printed the four years-long campaign came to nought. It was this effort that exposed the bungling and corrupt ministry and convinced Paine to try his hand in the North American Colonies, which was already aflame from the poor treatment by the United Kingdom. Paine left England with a letter of introduction from Benjamin Franklin. Within a year Paine had written Common Sense, the document that kindled the War of Independence. Paine followed this with 13 Crisis papers that were highly influential in steadying the American troops in the fight against their mother country. This story uses previously unseen documents from the Treasury boxes in the National Archives in Kew. Several strands have been drawn together that show that the United Kingdom was in deep disarray and that it was these factors that drove the emergent United States of America to break free from the United Kingdom.

CHAPTER 4

Paine’s progress through the Excise Service

Hindmarch turned to examine Thomas Paine’s progress through the Excise Service. This part of the story was produced in a paper entitled ‘The First Excise Period,’ submitted to The Thomas Paine Society UK and a few other interested parties.⁶ To date, these findings have not been published to the public. Hindmarch himself declared that it contained many extracts from official papers and therefore was not suitable for the general reader. Drawing together information from these papers, the story presented in the essay showed a critical component of the making of The Case. This was where close attention to the minute book, with a certain knowledge about how the service functioned, paid dividends. A story emerged that was contrary to the popular legend that Paine was a drifter in his early life, constantly failing at whatever he tried. The personal story of Paine from within the Excise shows us how Paine witnessed at first hand how mismanagement at the national level caused corruption among Officers of Excise at all levels, especially those on the front line.

Hindmarch used the Excise General Letter Books, Minute Books, and the Board’s Entry Books of Correspondence with the Treasury. The Minute Books, however, are the most complete and revealing source he used. They contain minutes of the meetings of the Board of Commissioners in which the correspondence from the collections were read out to the Commissioners and their responses recorded. These included descriptions of the character traits of Excise Officers.

After the Excise was brought under central control in 1683, a Board of Commissioners was established to oversee the organisation on a day-to-day basis. Under the new board, the service was separated into a Country service and a London service. The Country service was further divided into 39 ‘Collections’, generally following county borders. Wales was divided into four ridings: East, West, North and Middle. Each Collection, headed by an officer called a Collector who represented the Commissioners, had a number of districts, each controlled by a Supervisor. By 1770, the number of Collections in the Country service had risen to 53. The officers were mostly centred in market towns, with some of the larger towns having more than one officer. The areas in such towns were called ‘divisions,’ and the country areas outside the towns were called ‘out rides.’ The London service was divided into categories: Brewery, Distillery, Tea, Coffee, and Chocolate, amongst others. The total strength of the Excise department in 1771 was over 3,000. There were nine Commissioners, situated in Broad Street in London, with a staff of 230. Country officers numbered 2,736, under 256 Supervisors, who reported to 53 Collectors.⁷

Paine would most likely have learnt about the Excise Service from his father-in-law, James Lambert, whilst in Dover during his brief marriage to Mary Lambert. In particular, he would have learnt about discipline in the service, as James Lambert was discharged from duty in 1735 for a variety of errors at breweries.

The lengthy process of petitioning to be an Officer of Excise belied the struggle to ensure honesty in the service. Layers of verification about suitability, garnished with oaths, revealed a national insecurity. Financial security was a worry, but there was also a fear of the threat from the deposed Stuart dynasty. Therefore, allegiance to the Hanoverian king was reinforced as often as possible; fealty to the House of Hanover and Protestant Christianity was intertwined with a denial of the Catholic faith. The contrast between this process and the reality of the practices in the Excise could not have been greater. Paine’s experience after admission was one of corruption and deceit. He was almost immediately caught up in venal practice, in which he would take no part.

The terms of Royal Gauger and Officer of Excise were interchangeable. To be an Officer of Excise required the ability to interpret complicated and exacting rules in order to perform well. The laws, regulations and exemptions were ever changing with different manufacturing processes.

A comprehensive manual, The Royal Gauger, was authored by Charles Leadbetter in 1739, running through seven editions up to 1779. It was a huge volume of 450 pages with detailed instructions. At the beginning of this manual he defined what exactly gauging meant: ‘the methods of finding the contents of all sorts of Cisterns, Coppers, Backs, Coolers, Tuns, Stills and Casks, when full, or Part empty.’ He showed examples of how to do this using ‘The Pen and Sliding Rule,’ and further added, ‘and this not in Ale, Beer, Wine and Malt only; but in Made-Wines, Soap, Starch, Candles, Hops, Coffee, Tea, Chocolate, all Sorts of Leather, Paper, etc.’⁸

Leadbetter, who was an Officer of Excise before he wrote the manual, but also famous as a mathematician, recorded the rule that someone might become an Officer of Excise in the following manner:

‘The method of obtaining Employment in the Excise is by petitioning the Commissioners for an Order to be instructed, and in order to that, the Person where he was born a certificate of his Age, which must not be less than 21 or more than 30; and if he is married he must have no more than two children.’

Any expectant officer could not make the petition himself. Paine’s sponsor was Mr. Cocksedge, the Recorder at Thetford, whose assistance was probably sought by Frances, Paine’s mother. Her father was a Thetford attorney. In the system of patronage at play, deference to a superior was rewarded by the humble approach of those below them seeking favours. The order of instruction was by the Commissioner Mr. Frankland. Mr. Cocksedge may have personally known Frankland, or perhaps one of the other nine Commissioners. The pleasure of issuing orders allowing one to start the long process of application was shared by the Commissioners on an equal basis, in rotation.

Particular care was taken to establish the applicant’s date of birth and the trade he had been apprenticed to. The candidate then had to nominate two guarantors to stand security for his future handling of Excise revenue to the sum of £20, almost half a year’s salary for an Officer of Excise. The candidate would have paid 20 shillings to the Supervisor for his certificate and, after acceptance, 40 shillings to the Officer who then instructed him.

There were stringent conditions in place to ensure applicants reached the required standard. Checks were made on health, sobriety, intelligence, and that the applicant possessed a sound understanding of mathematics. Their handwriting had to be proficient, and they had to be free of debts, loyal to the government, and prove membership of the Church of England.

It didn’t stop there. According to Leadbetter, after all the above steps were taken, if the petitioner could not obtain the positive countenance of some gentleman, preferably a Member of Parliament, that was personally acquainted with one of the Commissioners to frequently remind the Commissioner of his promise, then the petition would certainly come to nothing. There was so much competition for places that only the most ardent efforts on behalf of an applicant would gain an appointment.⁹ Oaths of allegiance and supremacy had to be taken either before two Justices of the Peace or one of the Barons of the Exchequer; these oaths can be seen in Appendix One.

It would not have escaped Thomas Paine’s notice that the oaths contained much regarding allegiance to the House of Hanover and to King George III in particular. The test oath denied the Catholic faith. The oath of abjuration in exhausting detail reified the Hanoverian Court. This oath demanded loyalty to a European royal dynasty, one over the other, which would play out sharply in Paine’s later writings, notably Common Sense, where Paine ridiculed the idea of monarchy.

Thus began Paine’s journey in the Excise Service. The experience could not have been more in contrast to the oaths. Chalmers recorded Paine’s first post:

‘he was soon sent as a supernumerary to gage the brewers of Grantham; and in August 1764, he was employed to watch the smugglers of Alford. Whether, while he thus walked at Grantham, or rode as an exciseman at Alford, his practises had been misrepresented by malice, or his dishonesty had been detected by watchfulness, tradition has not told us: but it is certain, that he was dismissed from his office, in August, 1765.’¹⁰

Chalmers’ claim that Paine was taken on as a Supernumerary is confirmed by the actual minute book entry.

Minute Book 1 December 1762

‘Thomas Middleton, Officer of Holbeach Outride, Grantham Collection, being dead, as by Mr. Thwaites Collector, his letter of 28th.ult. Ordered that the Supernumerary or proper Officer supply the vacancy and that Thomas Pain be Supernumerary on Mr. Frankland’s motion.’¹¹

Before a successful petitioner could become a fully-fledged Officer of Excise he spent time as a Supernumerary on half pay. This could be considered a probationary period where, as described below, the most senior officer in the district could make an assessment of ability.

A supernumerary as defined by Leadbetter:

‘The Supernumerary is a commissioned officer, who attends on the Collector, carries the Portmantua from Place to Place during the Round; receives Half-pay; and when a vacancy happens he goes into business: As soon as that happens the Collector acquaints the Board, and they immediately order him another Supernumerary, who receives his Commission when he comes to the Collector.’¹²

According to Chalmers, Paine was sent to Grantham in August 1764. There is no actual...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Title Page
• Contents
• Introduction
• George Hindmarch showed the way
• History of the Excise Service
• Paine’s progress through the Excise Service
• Corruption in the Excise Service reached a breaking point
• The national campaign
• The Case of The Officers of Excise
• George Lewis Scott, Thomas Paine and Benjamin Franklin
• The Sussex Weekly Advertiser or Lewes Journal
• Conclusion
• Analysis of The Case
• The Original Case of the Officers of Excise
• The Oaths
• 18c Printing in Lewes by Peter Chasseaud
• Acknowledgements