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 Enur^J iUivrdmo CcJctcfCarwress thji2^day of Sep'' 1817 by James Webster a" -Jic- Sate of Temisyl. aiu 
 
SKETCHES 
 
 OF 
 
 THE LIFE AJID CHAEACTER 
 
 PATRICK HENRY. 
 
 BY WILLIAM WIRT 
 
 OF RICHMOND. V I B O I N I A. 
 
 ' In (luo hoc maxfmiun est, quod neque ante Ilium, quem Ille InUtarateur neque post lUura qui 
 eura imitari poosset. inventus est." Paterc. lib. 1. cap. v. 
 
 ' Btt distinguishing characteristic is this, that he was preceded bj/ non€ v/hom he imUatedt 
 nor did any cmne after who could imitate him." 
 
 REVISED EDITION, 
 
 WITH HEADINGS TO EACH CHAPTER, AND SUCH AN ARRANGEMENT 
 
 OP THE NOTES CONTAINED IN THE rORMER EDITIONS, 
 
 AS TO RENDER THE WORK SUITABLE FOR 
 
 A CLASS BOOK IN ACADEMIES 
 
 AND SCHOOLS. 
 
 ITHACA, N. Y. : 
 PUBLISHED BY MACK, ANDRUS & CO., 
 
 No. 69 OWEGO STREET. 
 
 1848. 
 
.lo 
 
 ■H5W7S5f 
 
 District op Penkstlvania, to wit : 
 
 Be it Remembered, That, on the twenty-first day of March, in the forty-second year ot 
 the Independence of the United States of America, James Webster, of the said District, 
 hath deposited in this office the title of a book, the right whereof he claims as proprietor, 
 in the words following, to wit : "Sketches of the Life and Character of Patrick Henry. 
 By William Wirt, of Richmond, Virginia. Second edition, corrected by the Author. In 
 quo hoc maximum est, quod neque ante ilium, quem ille imitaretur, neque post ilium, qui 
 eum imitari posset, inventus est. Paterc. Lib. i. cap. v." In conformity to the act of 
 Congress of the United Slates, entitled, "An act for the encouragement of learning, by 
 securing the copies of Maps, Charts, and Books, to the authors and proprietors of such 
 copies, daring the time therein mentioned ;" and also to an act, entitled, "An act supple- 
 mentary to an act, entitled, ' An act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the 
 copies of Maps, Charts, and Books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during 
 the time therein mentioned,' and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing 
 engraving, and etching, historical and other Prints." D. Caldwell, 
 
 Clerk of the District of Pennsylvania, 
 
 Re-entered, according to the act of Congress, in the year 1839, by Thomas M'Elhath, in 
 the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District of New York. 
 
 
TO 
 
 THE YOUNG MEN OF VIRGINIA, 
 
 THIS WORK 
 IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED, 
 
 BY 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 The leader has a right to know what degree of credit is due to the following 
 narrative ; and it is the object of this preface to give him that satisfaction. 
 
 It was in the summer of eighteen hundred and five, that the design of writing 
 this biography was first conceived. It was produced hy an incident of feeling, 
 which, however it affected the author at the time, might now be thought light 
 and trivial by the reader ; and he shall not, therefore, be detained by the recital 
 of it. The author knew nothing of Mr. Henry, personally. He had never 
 seen him, and was of course compelled to rely wholly on the information of 
 others. As soon, therefore, as the design was formed of writing his life, 
 aware of the necessity of losing no time in collecting, from the few remaining 
 coevals of Mr. Henry, that personal knowledge of the subject which might ere 
 long be expected to die with them, the author despatched letters to every 
 quarter of the state in which it occurred to him as probable that interesting 
 matter might be found ; and he was gratified by the prompt attention which 
 was paid to his inquiries. 
 
 There were, at that time, living in the county of Hanover, three gentlemen 
 of the first respectability, who had been the companions of Mr. Henry's child- 
 hood and youth ; these were, Col. Charles Dabney, Capt. George Dabney, 
 and Col. William 0. Winston ; the two first of whom are still living. Not 
 having the pleasure of a personal acquaintance with these gentlemen, the 
 author interested the late Mr. Nathaniel Pope in his object, and, by his instru- 
 mentality, procured all the useful information which was in their possession. 
 Mr. Pope is well known to have been a gentleman of uncommonly vigorous 
 and discriminating mind ; a sacred observer of truth, and a man of the purest 
 sense of honour. The author cannot recall the memory of this most amiable 
 and excellent man, to whom (if there be any merit in this work) the friends 
 of Mr. Henry and the state of Virginia owe so many obligations, without 
 paying to that revered memory the tribute of his respect and affection. Mr. 
 Pope was one of those ardent young Virginians, who embarked before they 
 had attained their maturity, in the cause of the American revolution : he joined 
 an animated and active corps of horse, and signalized himself by an impetuous 
 gallantry, which drew upon him the eyes and the applause of his commander. 
 In peace, he was as mild as he had been brave in war ; his bosem was replete 
 A2 
 
n PltEFACfi. 
 
 with the kindest affectioTis ; he was in truth, one of the best of coirtpaniony, 
 and one of the warmest of friends. The fact that he was the acknowledged 
 head of the several bars at which he practised in the country, may assure the 
 reader of his capacity for the commission which he so cheerfully undertook, in 
 regard to Mr. Henry ; and the unblemished integrity of bis life may assure 
 him also of the fidelity with which that commission was executed. So many 
 important anecdotes in the following work depend on the credit of this gentle-* 
 man as a witness, that the slight sketch which has been given of his character, 
 will not, it is hoped, be thought foreign to the purpose of this preface. Mr. 
 Pope did not confine his inquiries to the county of Hanover: he waa indefati- 
 gable in collecting information from every quarter ; which he never accepted, 
 however, but from the purest sources ; and his authority for evety incident 
 ivas given with the most scrupulous accurac)\ The author had hoped to have 
 had it in his power to gratify this gentleman, by submitting to his view the 
 joint result of their labours, and obtaining the benefit of his last corrections ; 
 but he waa disappointed by his untimely and melancholy death. He fell a 
 victim to that savage practice, which, under the false name of honour, con- 
 tinued to prevail too long ', and his death is believed to have been highly 
 instrumental in hastening that system of legislation in restraint of this practice, 
 which now exists in Virginia. 
 
 Besides the contributions furnished by Mr. Pope, the writer derived material 
 aid from various other quarters. The widow of Mr. Henry was still living, 
 and had intermarried with Judge Winston ; from this gentleman (who waa 
 also related to Mr. Her<ry by blood, and had been intimately acquainted with 
 him through the far greater part of his life,) the author received a succinct, 
 but extremely accurate and comprehensive memoir. 
 
 Col. Meredith, of Amherst, was a few years older than Mr. Henry, had 
 been raised in the same neighbourhood, and had finally married one of his 
 sisters. Having known Mr. Henry from his birth to his death, he had it in 
 his power to supply very copious details, which were taken down from his 
 narration by the present Judge Cabell, and forwarded to the author. 
 
 One of the most intimate and confidential friends of Mr. Henry was the 
 late Judge Tyler. The judge had a kind of Roman frankness, and even 
 bluntness, in his manners, together with a decision of character and a benevo- 
 lence of spirit, which had attached Mr. Henry to him, from his first appear- 
 ance on the public stage. They were, for a long time, members of the House 
 of Delegates together, and their friendship continued until it was severed by 
 death. From Judge Tyler the author received a very minute and interesting 
 communication of incidents, the whole of which had either passed in his own 
 presence, or had been related to him by Mr. Henry himself. 
 
 The writer is indebted to Judge Tucker for two or three of his best inci- 
 dents ; one of them ^ill probably be pronounced the most interesting passage 
 of the work. He owes to the same gentleman, too, the fullest and liveliest 
 description of the person of Mr. Henry, which has been furnished from any 
 
rREFACE. vii 
 
 qutrter ; and he stands further indebted to him for a rare and (to the purpose 
 of this work) a very important book — the Journals of the House of Burgesses 
 for the years seventeen hundred and sixty-three, four, five, six, and seven. 
 
 From Judge Roane the author has received one of the fairest and most 
 satisfactory communications that has been made to him ; and the vigour and 
 elegance with which that gentleman writes, has frequently enabled the author 
 to relieve the dulness of his own narrative, by extracts from his statements. 
 
 Mr. Jefferson, too, has exercised his well-known kindness and candour on 
 this occasion ; having not only favoured the author with a very full communi- 
 cation in the first instance ; but assisted him, subsequently and repeatedly, 
 with his able counsel, in reconciling apparent contradictions, and clearing 
 away difficulties of fact. 
 
 Besides these statements, drawn from the memory of his correspondents, 
 the writer was favoured, by the late Governor Page, with the reading of a 
 pretty extended sketch, which he had himself prepared, of the life of Mr. 
 Henry; and he has, furthermore, availed himself of the kind permission of 
 Mr. Peyton Randolph, to examine an extremely valuable manuscript history ot 
 Virginia, written by his father, the late Mr. Edmund Randolph ; which em 
 braces the whole period of Mr. Henry's public life. 
 
 In addition to these stores of information the author has had the good 
 fortune to procure complete files of the public newspapers, reaching froni the 
 year seventeen hundred and sixty-five down to the close of the American 
 revolution ; by these he has been enabled to correct, in some important 
 instances, the memory of his correspondents, in relation not only to dates, but 
 to facts themselves. 
 
 He has been fortunate, too, in having procured several original letters, 
 which shed much light on important and hitherto disputed facts, in the life of 
 Mr. Hemy. 
 
 The records of the General Court, and the archives of the state, havino- 
 been convenient to the author, and always open to him, he has endeavoured 
 assiduously and carefully to avail himself of that certain and permanent 
 evidence which they afford ; and has been enabled, by this means, as the 
 reader will discover, to correct some strange mistakes in historical facts. 
 
 The author's correspondents will find, that he has departed, in some in- 
 stances, from their respective statements ; and he owes them an explanation 
 for having done so : the explanation is this — >their statements were, in several 
 instances, diametrically opposed to each other ; and were sometimes all con- 
 tradicted by the public prints, or the records of the state. It ought not to be 
 matter of surprise-, that these contradictions should exist, even among those 
 most respectable gentlemen, relying, as they did, upon human memory mere- 
 ly ; and- speaking of events so very remote, without a previous opportunity of 
 communicating with each other. It will be seen by them, that the author has 
 been obliged in several instances, to contradict even the several histories of 
 the times, concerning which he writes ; but this he has never done, without 
 
Vlll PREFACE. 
 
 the most decisive proofs of his own correctness, which he has always cited ; 
 nor has he ever departed from the narratives of his several correspondents, 
 except under the direction of preponderating evidence. As among those 
 contradictory statements, all could, not be true, he has sought the correction 
 by public documnets, when such correction was attainable ; and when it was 
 not, he has selected, among his narrators, those whose opportunities to know 
 the fact in question seemed to be the best. This he has done, without the 
 slightest intention to throw a shadow of suspicion on the credit of any gentle- 
 man who has been so obliging as to answer his inquiries ; but merely from tho 
 necessity which he was under, either of making some selection, or abandoning 
 the work altogether ; and because he knew of no better rule of selection, than 
 that which he has adopted. 
 
 Although it has been so long since the collection of these materials was 
 begun, it was not until the summer of eighteen hundred and fourteen that the 
 last communication was received. Even then, when the author sat down to 
 the task of imbodying his materials, there were so many intricacies to disen- 
 tangle, and so many inconsistencies, from time to time, to explain and settle, 
 and that, too, through the tedious agency of cross-mails, that his progress was 
 continually impeded, and has been, to him, most painfully retarded. 
 
 Other causes, too, have contributed to delay the publication. The author 
 is a practising lawyer ; and the courts which he attends, keep him perpetually 
 and exclusively occupied in that attendance, through ten months of the year ; 
 nor does the summer recess of two months afford a remission from professional 
 labour. In Virginia, the duties of attorney, counsellor, conveyancer, and 
 advocate, are all performed by the same individual ; hence, the summer vaca- 
 tion, instead of being a time of leisure, is not only the season of preparation 
 for the approaching courts, but is subject, moreover, to a perpetual recurrence 
 of what are here called office duties, which renders a steady application to any 
 other subject impossible. 
 
 These sketches are now submitted to the public, with unaffected diffidence ; 
 not of the facts which they detail, for on them the author has the firmest 
 relia-;cc ; but of the manner in which he has been able to accomplish his 
 undertaking. For, (to say nothing of his inexperience and want of ability for 
 such a work) he has been compelled to write (when he was suffered to write 
 at all) amidst that incessant professional annoyance which has been mentioned, 
 and which is known by every man who has ever made the trial, to forbid the 
 hope of success in any composition of this extent. Conld the writer have 
 looked forward, with any reasonable calculation, to a period of greater ease, 
 his respect for the memory of Mr. Henry, as well as his regard for himself, 
 would have induced him to suspend this undertaking until that period should 
 have arrived. But having no ground for any hope of this kind, he has thought 
 it better to hazard even these crude sketches, than to suffer the materials, 
 which he had accumulated with so much toil, and for an object which he 
 thought so laudable, to perish on his hands. 
 
PREFACE. IX 
 
 These remarks are not mavle with the view of deprecating the censures of 
 critics by profession ; but merely to bespeak the candour of that larger portion 
 of readers, who are willing to be pleased with the best efforts that can be 
 reasonably expected from the circumstances of the case. The author, however, 
 is well satisfied that the most indulgent reader (although benevolently disposed 
 to overlook defects of execution) will bo certainly disappointed in the matter 
 itself of this work ; for, notwithstanding all his exertions, he is entirely con- 
 scious that the materials, which he has been able to collect are scanty and 
 meager, and utterly disproportionate to the great fame of Mr. Henry. It is 
 })robable, that much of what wasjonce known of him had perished, before the 
 author commenced his researches ; and, it is very possible, that much may 
 still be known, which he has not been able to discover ; because it lies in 
 unsuspected sources, or with persons unwilling, for some reason or other, to 
 communicate their information. It is the conviction, that he has not been 
 able to inform himself of the whole events of Mr, Henry's life, and that his 
 collection can be considered only as so many detached sketches. If, in this 
 humble and unassuming character, it shall give any pleasure to the numerous 
 admirers of Mr. Henry, in Virginia, the author will have attained all that he 
 has a right to expect. 
 
 Richmond, Va. Sept. 5th, 1817, 
 
 NOTE A, 
 It appears by the journals of the house of burgesses, of the 14th November, 
 seventeen hundred and sixty-four, (page 38,) that a committee was appointed 
 to draw up the following address, memorial, and remonstrance ; which com- 
 mittee was composed of the following persons, to wit : Mr. Attorney, (Peyton 
 Randolph,) Mr. Richard Henry Lee, Mr. Landon Carter, Mr. Wythe, Mr, 
 Edmund Pendleton, Mr. Benjamin Harrison Mr. Gary, and Mr. Fleming, te 
 whom, afterward, Mr. Bland was added. The address to the king is from the 
 pen of the attorney.* 
 
 * On the authority of IMr. Jefferson. 
 " To the king^s most excellent Majesty. 
 " Most Gracious Sovereign, 
 
 " We, your majesty's dutiful and loyal subjects, the council and burgesser 
 of yonr ancient colony and dominion of Virginia, now met in general assembly, 
 beg leave to assure your majesty of our firm and inviolable attachment to youa 
 sacred person and government ; and as your faithful subjects here have at all 
 times been zealous to demonstrate this truth, by a ready compliance with the 
 royal rcquisttion during the late war, by which a heavy and oppressive debt 
 of near half a million had been incurred, so at this time they implore permis- 
 sion to approach the throne with humble confidence, and to entreat that your 
 majesty will be graciously pleased to ptotect our people of this colony in the 
 enjoyment of their ancient and inestimable right of being governed by such 
 laws, respecting their internal polity and taxation, as are derived from their 
 own consen(, with the approbation of their sovereign or his substitute : a right 
 which, as men, and descendants of Britons, they have ever quietly possessed, 
 since, first by royal permission and encouragement, they left the mother king- 
 dom to extend its commerce and dominion. 
 
ADVERTISEMENT- 
 
 The appearance of a duodecimo edition of Marshall's Life of Wash' 
 ington, suggested to the proprietors of The Life of Patrick Henrys tho 
 desirableness and utility of the present edition. As that masterly 
 sketch of the heroic deeds and character of the Father of his country, 
 lurmshes to the youth of our land the most impressive lessous of pa- 
 triotism and manly energy, so it was presumed that this graphic de- 
 lineation of the genius of the ^^forest-horn Demosthenes^^ was admira- 
 bly calculated to elicit in the youthful mind, feelings of emulation 
 which time might develop into action and honourable usefulness. It 
 was not, however, alone for youth, or for the use of the School Libra - 
 ries of our several states, that this work has assumed its present form — 
 it was equally designed for those who would have purchased the 
 former edition, had it been less expensive, who will ^d under a less 
 commanding appearance, the same as is contained in the octavo edi- 
 tion — the only alteration being in a more convenient »?r»ng«ment of 
 some of the notes. 
 
WIRT'S 
 LIFE OF PATRICK HENRY. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Birth of Patrick Henry — Family Reminiscences — Early Propensities — 1» 
 placed under the Care of a Merchant — Engages in Business with his Broth- 
 er — Becomes bankrupt — Is married — Commences farming — Abandons Agri- 
 culture and recommences mercantile Business — Is again unfortunate — 
 Becomes acquainted with Mr. Jefferson — Determines to study Law — Is 
 licensed — Contest on the Subject of the Tobacco Law — Mr. Henry retained 
 as Counsel — Success of his first Effort. 
 
 Patrick Henry, the second son of John and Sarah Henry, 
 and one of nine children, was born on the twenty-ninth of 
 May, seventeen hundred and thirty-six, at the family-seat, called 
 Studley, in the county of Hanover and colony of Virginia. In 
 his early childhood, his parents removed to another seat, in the 
 same county, then called Mount Brilliant, now the Retreat ; at 
 which latter place Patrick Henry was raised and educated. His 
 parents, though not rich, were in easy circumstances ; and, in 
 point of personal character, were among the most respectable 
 inhabitants of the colony. 
 
 His father. Col. John Henry, was a native of Aberdeen in 
 Scotland. He was, it is said, a first cousin to David Henry, 
 who was the brother-in-law and successor of Edward Cave, in 
 the publication of that celebrated work, " The Gentleman's 
 Magazine," and himself the author of several literary tracts : 
 John Henry is also said to have been a nephew, in the mater- 
 nal line, to the great historian Dr. William Robertson. He 
 came over to Virginia, in quest of fortune, some time prior to 
 the year seventeen hundred and thirty, and the tradition is, that 
 he enjoyed the friendship and patronage of Mr. Dinwiddle, af- 
 terward the governor of the colony. By this gentleman, it is 
 reported, that he was introduced to the elder Col. Syme of 
 Hanover, in whose family, it is certain, that he became domes- 
 ticated during the life of that gentleman ; after whose death he 
 intermarried with his widow, and resided on the estate which 
 he had left. 
 11 
 
12 wirt's life of 
 
 It is considered as a fair^oof of the personal merit of Mr. 
 John Henry, that, in those days, when offices were bestowed 
 with peculiar caution, he was the colonel of his regiment, the 
 principal surveyor of the county, and, for many years, the 
 presiding magistrate of the county court. His surviving ac- 
 quaintances concur in stating, that he was a man of liberal 
 education ; that he possessed a plain, yet solid understanding ; 
 and lived long a life of the most irreproachable integrity and 
 exemplary piety. 
 
 His brother Patrick, a clergyman of the church of England, 
 followed him to this country some years afterward ; and be- 
 came, by his influence, the minister of St. Paul's parish in 
 Hanover, the functions of which office he sustained throughout 
 life with great respectability. Both the brothers were zealous 
 members of the established church, and warmly attached to the 
 reigning family. Col. John Henry was conspicuously so. 
 *' There are those yet alive," says a correspondent, (Mr. Pope, 
 in eighteen hundred and five,) " who have seen him at the head 
 of his regiment, celebrating the birth-day, of George HI. with 
 as much enthusiasm as his son Patrick afterward displayed in 
 resisting the encroachments of that monarch."* 
 
 Mrs. Henry, the widow of Col. Syme, as we have seen, and 
 the mother of Patrick Henry, was a native of Hanover county, 
 and of the family of Winstons. She possessed, in an eminent 
 degree, the mild and benevolent disposition, the undeviating 
 probity, the correct understanding, and easy elocution, by which 
 that ancient family has been so long distinguished. Her brother 
 William, the father of the present Judge Winston, is said to 
 have been highly endowed with that peculiar cast of eloquence, 
 for which Mr. Henry became, afterward, so justly celebrated. 
 Of this gentleman, I have an anecdote from a correspondent, 
 (Mr. Pope,) which I shall give in his own words : — 
 
 " I have often heard my father, who was intimately acquaint- 
 ed with this William Winston, say, that he was the greatest 
 orator whom he ever heard, Patrick Henry excepted ; that 
 during the last French and Indian war, and soon after Brad- 
 dock's defeat, when the militia were marched to the frontiers 
 of Virginia, against the enemy, this William Winston was the 
 lieutenant of a company ; that the men, who were indifferently 
 clothed, without tents, and exposed to the rigour and inclem- 
 ency of the weather, discovered great aversion to the service, 
 and were anxious and even clamorous to return to their families ; 
 
 * Mr. Burk's account of Mr. Henry is extremely careless and full of errors. 
 He begins by making him the son of his uncle : — ** Patrick Henry, the son of 
 a Scotch gentleman of the same name,'^ &c. — 3d vol. of the History of Vir- 
 ginia, page 300. 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 13 
 
 when this "William Winston, mounting a stump, (the common 
 rostrum., you know, of the field-orator of Virginia,) addressed 
 them with such keenness of invective, and declaimed with such 
 force of eloquence, on liberty and patriotism, that when he 
 concluded, the general cry was, ' Let us march on ; lead us 
 against the enemy !' and they were now willing, nay, anxious 
 to encounter all those difficulties and dangers which, but a few 
 moments before, had almost produced a mutiny. 
 
 Thus much I have been able to collect of the parentage and 
 family of Mr. Henry ; and this, I presume, will be thought quite 
 sufficient, in relation to a man, who owed no part of his great- 
 ness to the lustre of his pedigree, but was, in truth, the soul 
 founder of his own fortunes. 
 
 Until ten years of age, Patrick Henry was sent to a school in 
 the neighbourhood, where he learned to read and write, and 
 made some small progress in arithmetic. He was then taken 
 home, and under the direction of his father, who had opened a 
 grammar-school in his own house, he acquired a superficial 
 knowledge of the Latin language, and learned to read the char- 
 acter, but never to translate Greek. At the same time, he made 
 a considerable proficiency in the mathematics, the only branch 
 of education for which, it seems, he discovered in his youth, 
 the slightest predilection. 
 
 But he was too idle to gain any solid advantage from the 
 opportunities which Avere thrown in his way. He was passion- 
 ately addicted to the sports of the field, and could not support 
 the confinement and toil which education required. Hence, 
 instead of system, or any semblance of regularity in his studies, 
 his efforts were always desultory, and became more and more 
 rare ; until at length, when the hour of his school exercises 
 arrived, Patrick was scarcely ever to be found. He was in the 
 forest with his gun, or over the brook with his angle-rod ; and, 
 in these frivolous occupations, when not controlled by the 
 authority of his father, (which was rarely exerted,) he would, it 
 is said, spend whole days and weeks, with an appetite rather 
 whetted than cloyed by enjoyment. His school-fellows, having 
 observed his growing passion for these amusements, and having 
 remarked that its progress was not checked either by the want 
 of companions or the want of success, have frequently watched 
 his movements to discover, if they could, the secret source of 
 that delight which they seemed to afix)rd him. But they made 
 no discovery which led them to any other conclusion than (to 
 use their own expression) that " he loved idleness for its own 
 sake." They have frequently observed him lying along, under 
 the shade of som« tree that overhung the sequestered stream, 
 watching, for hours, at the same spot, the motionless cork of 
 
 2 
 
14 wirt's life of 
 
 liis fishing line, without one ^touraging symptom of success, 
 and without any apparent source of enjoyment, unless he could 
 lind it in the ease of his posture, or in the illusions of hope, or, 
 which is most probable, in the stillness of the scene and the 
 silent workings of his own imagination. 
 
 This love of solitude, in his youth, was often observed. 
 Even when hunting with a party, his choice was not to join the 
 noisy band that drove the deer ; he preferred to take his stand, 
 alone, where he might wait for the passing game, and indulge 
 himself, meanwhile, in the luxury of thinking. Not that he 
 was averse to society ; on the contrary, he had, at times, a 
 very high zest for it. But even in society, his enjoyments 
 while young, were of a very peculiar cast ; he did not mix in 
 the wild mirth of his equals in age ; but sat, quiet and demure, 
 taking no part in the conversation, giving no responsive smile 
 to the circulatingjest, but lost, to all appearance, in silence and 
 abstraction. This abstraction, however, was only apparent; 
 for on the dispersion of a company, when interrogated by his 
 parents as to what had been passing, he was able, not only to 
 detail the conversation, but to sketch, with strict fidelity, the 
 character of every speaker. None of these early delineations 
 of character are retained by his contemporaries ; and, indeed, 
 they are said to have been more remarkable for their justness, 
 than for any peculiar felicity of execution. 
 
 I cannot learn that he gave, in his youth, any evidence of that 
 precocity which sometimes distinguishes uncommon genius. 
 His companions recollect no instance of premature wit, no 
 striking sentiment, no flash of fancy, no remarkable beauty or 
 strength of expression ; and no indication, however slight, 
 either of that impassioned love of liberty, or of that adventur- 
 ous daring and intrepidity, which marked so strongly, his fu- 
 ture character. So far was he, indeed, from exhibiting any one 
 prognostic of this greatness, that every omen foretold a life, at 
 best, of mediocrity, if not of insignificance. 
 
 His person is represented as having been coarse, his man- 
 ners uncommonly awkward, his dress slovenly, his conversa- 
 tion very plain, his aversion to study invincible, and his facul- 
 ties almost entirely benumbed by indolence. No persuasions 
 could bring him either to read or to work. On the contrary, 
 he ran wild in the forest, like one of the aborigines of the 
 country, and divided his life between the dissipation and uproar 
 of the chase and the languor of inaction. 
 
 His propensity to observe and comment upon the human 
 character was, so far as I can learn, the only circumstance 
 which distinguished him, advantageously, from his youthful 
 companions. This propensity seems to have been born with 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 15 
 
 him, and to have exerted itself, instinctively, the moment that 
 a new subject was presented to his view. Its action was in- 
 cessant, and it became, at length almost the only intellectual 
 exercise in which he seemed to take delight. To this cause 
 may be traced that consummate knowledge of the human heart 
 which he finally attained, and which enabled him, when he 
 came upon the public stage, to touch the springs of passion 
 with a master-hand, and to control the resolutions and decis- 
 ions of his hearers, with a poAver, almost more than mortal. 
 
 From what has been already stated, it will be seen how little 
 education had to do with the formation of this great man's 
 mind. He was, indeed, a mere child of nature, and nature 
 seems to have been too proud and too jealous of her work, to 
 permit it to be touched by the hand of art. She gave him 
 Shakspeare's genius, and bid him, like Shakspeare, to depend 
 on that alone. 
 
 Let not the youthful reader, however, deduce, from the ex- 
 ample of Mr. Henry, an argument in favour of indolence and 
 the contempt of study. Let him remember that the powers 
 which surmounted the disadvantage of those early habits, 
 were such as very rarely appear upon this earth. Let him re- 
 member, too, how long the genius, even of Mr. Henry, was 
 kept down and hidden from the public view, by the sorcery of 
 those pernicious habits ; through what years of poverty and 
 wretchedness they doomed him to struggle ; and, let him re 
 member, that, at length, when in the zenith of his glory, Mr. 
 Henry himself had frequent occasion to deplore the conse- 
 quences of his early neglect of literature, and to bewail " the 
 ghosts of his departed hours." 
 
 His father, unable to sustain, with convenience, the expense 
 of so large a family as was now multiplying on his hands, 
 found it necessary to qualify his sons, at a very early age, to 
 support themselves. With this view, Patrick was placed at the 
 age of fifteen, behind the counter of a merchant in the country. 
 How he conducted himself in this situation, I have not been 
 able to learn. There could not, however, I presume, have 
 been any flagrant impropriety in his conduct, since, in the next 
 year, his father considered him qualified to carry on business 
 on his own account. Under this impression, he purchased a 
 small adventure of goods for his two sons, William and Pat- 
 rick, and, according to the language of the country, *' set them 
 up in trade." William's habits of idleness were, if possible, 
 still more unfortunate than Patrick's. The chief management 
 of their concerns, devolved, therefore, on the younger brother, 
 and that management seems to have been most wretched. 
 
 Left to himself, all the indolence of his character returned. 
 
16 wirt's life of 
 
 Those unfortunate habits 0hich he had formed, and whose 
 spell was already too strong to be broken, comported very 
 poorly with that close attention, that accuracy and persevering 
 vigour, which are essential to the merchant. The drudgery of 
 retailing and of book-keeping soon became intolerable ; yet he 
 was obliged to preserve appearances by remaining continually 
 at his stand. Besides these unpropitious habits, there was 
 still another obstacle to his success, in the natural kindness 
 of his temper. " He could not find it in his heart" to disap- 
 point any one who came to him for credit; and he was very 
 easily satisfied by apologies for non-payment. He condemned, 
 in himself, this facility of temper, and foresaw the embarrass- 
 ments with which it threatened him ; but he was unable to over- 
 come it. Even with the best prospects, the confinement of 
 such a business would have been scarcely supportable ; but 
 with those which now threatened him, his store became a pris- 
 on. To make the matter still worse, the joys of the chase, 
 joys now to him forbidden, echoed around him every morning, 
 and by their contrast, and the longings which they excited, 
 contributed to deepen the disgust which he had taken to his 
 employments. 
 
 From these painful reflections, and the gloomy forebodings 
 which darkened the future, he sought, at first, a refuge in mu- 
 sic, for which it seems he had a natural taste, and he learned to 
 play well on the violin and on the flute. From music he passed 
 to books, and, having procured a few light and elegant authors, 
 acquired, for the first time, a relish for reading. 
 
 He found another relief, too, in the frequent opportunities 
 now afforded him of pursuing his favourite study of the human 
 character. The character of every customer underwent this 
 scrutiny ; and that, not with reference either to the integrity 
 or solvency of the individual, in which one would suppose that 
 Mr. Henry would feel himself most interested ; but in relation 
 to the structure of his mind, the general cast of his opinions, 
 the motives and principles which influenced his actions, and 
 what may be called the philosophy of character. 
 
 In pursuing these investigations, he is said to have resorted 
 to arts, apparently so far above his years, and which looked so 
 much like an afterthought, resulting from his future eminence, 
 that I should hesitate to make the statement, were it not attested 
 by so many witnesses, and by some who cannot be suspected 
 of the capacity for having fabricated the fact. Their account 
 of it, then, is this : — that whenever a company of his customers 
 met in the store, (which frequently happened on the last day of 
 che week,) and were themselves sufficiently gay and animated 
 to talk and act as nature prompted, without concealment, with- 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 17 
 
 out reserve, he would take no part in their discussions, but 
 listen ^nth a silence as deep and attentive as if under the influ- 
 ence of some potent charm. If, on the contrary, they were 
 dull and silent, he would, without betraying his drift, task him- 
 self to set them in motion, and excite them to remark, collision, 
 and exclamation. He was peculiarly delighted with comparing 
 their characters, and ascertaining how they would severally act 
 in given situations. With this view he would state a hypo- 
 thetic case, and call for their opinions one by one, as to the 
 conduct which would be proper in it. If they differed, he would 
 demand their reasons, and enjoy highly the debates in which 
 he would thus involve them. But multiplying and varying 
 those imaginary cases at pleasure, he ascertained the general 
 course of human opinion, and formed, for himself, as it were, a 
 graduated scale of the motives and conduct which are natural to 
 man. Sometimes he would entertain them Avith stories, gathered 
 from his reading, or, as was more frequently the case, drawn 
 from his own fancy, composed of heterogeneous circumstances, 
 calculated to excite, by turns, pity, terror, resentment, indigna- 
 tion, contempt ; pausing in the turns of his narrative, to ob- 
 serve the effect; to watch the different modes in which the pas- 
 sions expressed themselves, and learn the language of emotion 
 from those children of nature. 
 
 In these exercises, Mr. Henry could have had nothing in 
 view beyond the present gratification of a natural propensity. 
 The advantages of them, however, were far more permanent, 
 and gave the brightest colours to his future life. For those 
 continual efforts to render himself intelligible to his plain and 
 unlettered hearers, on subjects entirely new to them, taught 
 him that clear and simple style which forms the best vehicle 
 of thought to a popular assembly ; while his attempts to in- 
 terest and affect them, in order that he might hear from them 
 the echo of nature's voice, instructed him in those topics of 
 persuasion by which men were the most certainly to be moved, 
 and in the kind of imagery and structure of language, which 
 were the best fitted to strike and agitate their hearts. These* 
 constituted his excellences as an orator ; and never was there 
 a man, in any age, who possessed, in a more eminent degree, 
 the lucid and nervous style of argument, the command of the 
 most beautiful and striking imagery, or that language of pas- 
 sion which burns from soul to soul. 
 
 In the meantime, the business of the store was rushing 
 headlong to its catastrophe. One year put an end to it. Wil- 
 liam was then thrown loose upon society,* to which he was 
 
 * I have seen an original letter from Col. John Henry to his son William, in 
 which he remonstrates with him on his wild and dissipated course of life. 
 
 2* 
 
 W 
 
18 wirt's life of 
 
 never afterward usefully altered ; and Patrick was engaged 
 for the two or three following years, in winding up this disas- 
 trous experiment as well as he could. 
 
 His misfortunes, however, seem not to have had the effect 
 either of teaching him prudence or of chilling his affections. 
 For, at the early age of eighteen, we find him married to a 
 Miss Shelton, the daughter of an honest farmer in the neigh- 
 bourhood, but in circumstances too poor to contribute eflect- 
 ually to her support. By the joint assistance of their parents, 
 however, the young couple were settled on a small farm, and 
 here, with the assistance of one or two slaves, Mr. Henry had 
 to delve the earth, with his own hands, for subsistence. Such 
 are the vicissitudes of human life ! It is curious to contem- 
 plate this giant genius, destined in a few years to guide the 
 councils of a mighty nation, but unconscious of the intellectual 
 treasures which he possessed, encumbered, at the early age of 
 eighteen, with the cares of a family ; obscure, unknown, and 
 almost unpitied ; digging, with wearied limbs and with an ach- 
 ing heart, a small spot of barren earth, for bread, and blessing 
 the hour of night which relieved him from toil. 
 
 Little could the wealthy and great of the land, as they rolled 
 f along the highway in splendour, and beheld the young rustic at 
 work in the coarse garb of a labourer, covered with dust and 
 melting in the sun, have suspected that this was the man who was 
 destined not only to humble their pride, but to make the prince 
 himself tremble on his distant throne, and to shake the bright- 
 est jewels from the British crown. Little, indeed, could he 
 himself have suspected it; for amid the distresses which 
 thickened around him at this time, and threatened him not only 
 with obscurity but with famine, no hopes came to cheer the 
 gloom, nor did there remain to him any earthly consolation, 
 save that which he found in the bosom of his own family. 
 Fortunately for him, there never was a heart which felt this 
 consolation with greater force. No man ever possessed the 
 domestic virtues in a higher degree, or enjoyed, more exquis- 
 itely, those pure delights which flow from the endearing rela- 
 tions of conjugal life. 
 
 Mr. Henry's want of agricultural skill, and his unconquer- 
 able aversion to every species of systematic labour, drove him, 
 necessarily, after a trial of two years, to abandon this pursuit 
 
 There is reason to believe, however, that at a later period, he may have re- 
 formed, since a gentleman, to whom the manuscript of this work was submit- 
 ted, notes on this passage, that when he was at college at Williamsburgh, he 
 recollects to have seen William Henry a member of the assembly, from the 
 county of Fluvanna ; that he was called colonel, and was, he afterward under- 
 stood, pretty well provided as to fortune. 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 19 
 
 altogether. His next step seems to have heen dictated by ab- 
 solute despair ; for, selling off his little possessions, at a sac- 
 rifice for cash, he entered, a second time, on the inauspicious 
 business of merchandise. Perhaps he flattered himself that 
 he would be able to profit by his past experience, and conduct 
 this experiment to a more successful issue. But if he did so, 
 he deceived himself. He soon found that he had not changed 
 his character, by changing his pursuits. His early habits still 
 continued to haunt him. The same want of method, the same 
 facility of temper, soon became apparent by their ruinous ef- 
 fects. He resumed his violin, his flute, his books, his curious 
 inspection of human nature ; and not unfrequently ventured to 
 shut up his store, and indulge himself in the favourite sports 
 of his youth. 
 
 His reading, however, began to assume a more serious char- 
 acter. He studied geography, in which it is said that he be- 
 came an adept. He read, also, the charters and history of the 
 colony. He became fond of historical works generally, par- 
 ticularly those of Greece and Rome ; and, from the tenacity of 
 his memory and the strength of his judgment, soon made him- 
 self a perfect master of their contents. Livy was his favour- 
 ite ; and having procured a translation, he became so much en- 
 amoured of the work, that he made it a standing rule to read it 
 through, once at least, in every year, during the early part of 
 his life.* The grandeur of the Roman character, so beautiful- 
 ly exhibited by Livy, filled him with surprise and admiration ; 
 and he was particularly enraptured with those vivid descrip- 
 tions and eloquent harangues with which the work abounds. 
 Fortune could scarcely have thrown in his way, a book better 
 fitted to foster his republican spirit, and awaken the still dor- 
 mant powers of his genius ; and it seems not improbable, that 
 the lofty strain in which he himself afterward both spoke and 
 acted, was, if not originally inspired, at least highly raised, by 
 the noble models set before him by this favourite author. 
 
 This second mercantile experiment was still more unfortu- 
 nate than the first. In a few years it left him a bankrupt, and 
 placed him in a situation than which it is diflScult to conceive 
 one more wretched. Every atom of his property was now 
 gone, his friends were unable to assist him any further ; he had 
 tried every means of support, of which he could suppose him- 
 self capable, and every one had failed; ruin was behind him; 
 poverty, debt, want, and famine, before ; and, as if his cup of 
 misery was not already full enough, here were a suffering wife 
 aod 'children to make it overflow. 
 
 •- Jud^B ]\efson had this statement from Mr. Henry himself. 
 
30 wirt's life of 
 
 But with all his acuteness of feeling, Mr. Henry possessed 
 j^reat native firmness of character ; and, let me acfd, great re- 
 liance, too, on that unseen arm which never long deserts the 
 faithful. Thus supported, he was able to bear up under the 
 heaviest pressure of misfortune, and even to be cheerful, under 
 circumstances which would sink most other men into despair. 
 
 It was at this period of his fortunes, that Mr. Jeflerson be- 
 came acquainted with him ; and the reader, I am persuaded, 
 will be gratified with that gentleman's own account of it. 
 These are his words : — " My acquaintance with Mr. Henry 
 commenced in the winter of seventeen hundred and fifty-nine — 
 sixty. On ray way to the college I passed the Christmas- 
 holydaysat Col. Dandridge's, in Hanover, to whom Mr. Henry 
 was a near neighbour. During the festivity of th§ season, I 
 met him in society every day, and we became well acquainted, 
 although I was much his junior, being then in my seven- 
 teenth year, and he a married man. 
 
 " His manners had something of coarseness in them; his pas- 
 sion was music, dancing, and pleasantr3r. He excelled in the last, 
 and it attached every one to him. You ask some account of 
 his mind and information at this period; but you will recollect 
 that we were almost continually engaged in the usual revelries 
 of the season. The occasion, perhaps, as much as his idle dis- 
 position, prevented his engaging in any conversation which 
 might give the measure either of his mind or information. 
 Opportunity was not, indeed, wholly wanting ; because Mr. 
 John Campbell was there, who had married Mrs. Spotswood, 
 the sister of Col. Dandridge. He w^as a man of science, and 
 often introduced conversation on scientific subjects. Mr. Hen- 
 ry had, a little before, broken up his store, or rather it had 
 broken him up ; but his misfortunes were not to be traced, 
 either in his countenance or conduct." 
 
 This cheerfulness of spirit, under a reverse of fortune so 
 severe, is certainly a very striking proof of the manliness of 
 his character. It is not, indeed, easy to conceive that a mind 
 like Mr. Henry's could finally sink under any pressure of ad- 
 versity. Such a mind, although it may not immediately per- 
 ceive whither to direct its efforts, must always possess a con- 
 sciousness of power sufficient to buoy it above despondency. 
 But, be this as it may, of Mr. Henry it v/as certainly true, as 
 Dr. Johnson has observed of Swift, that "he was not one of 
 those who, having lost one part of life in idleness, are tempted 
 to throw away the remainder in despair." 
 
 It seems to be matter of surprise, that even, yet, amid all 
 those various struggles for subsistence, the powers of his mind 
 had not so far developed themselves as to suggest to any friend 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 21 
 
 the pursuit for which he was formed. He seems to have been 
 a plant of slow growth ; but, like other plants of that nature, 
 formed for duration, and fitted to endure the buffetings of the 
 rudest storm. 
 
 It was now, when all other experiments had failed, that, as 
 a last effort, he determined, of his own accord, to make a tria' 
 of the law. No one expected him to succeed in any eminent 
 degree. His unfortunate habits were, by no means, suited to 
 so laborious a profession : and even if it were not too late in 
 life for him to hope to master its learning, the situation of his 
 affairs forbade an extensive course of reading. In addition to 
 these obstacles, the business of the profession, in that quarter, 
 was already in hands from which it was not easily to be taken ; 
 for (to mention no others) Judge Lyons, the late president of 
 the court of appeals, was then at the bar of Hanover, and the 
 adjacent counties, with an unrivalled reputation for legal learn- 
 ing ; and Mr. John Lewis, a man, also, of very respectable 
 legal attainments, occupied the whole field of forensic eloquence. 
 
 Mr. Henry himself seems to have hoped for nothing more 
 from the profession than a scanty subsistence for himself and 
 his family, and his preparation was suited to these humble ex- 
 pectations ; for to the study of a profession, which is said to 
 require the lucubrations of twenty years, Mr. Henry devoted 
 not more than six weeks.* On this preparation, however, he 
 obtained a license to practise the law. How he passed with 
 two of the examiners, I have no intelligence ; but he himself 
 used to relate his interview with the third. This was no other 
 than Mr. John Randolph, who was afterward the king's attor- 
 ney-general for the colony ; a gentleman of the most courtly 
 elegance of person and manners, a polished wit, and a profound 
 lawyer. 
 
 At first, he was so much shocked by Mr. Henry's very un- 
 gainly figure and address, that he refused to examine him : un- 
 derstanding, however, that he had already obtained two signa- 
 tures, he entered with manifest reluctance, on the business. A 
 very short time was sufficient to satisfy him of the erroneous 
 conclusion which he had drawn from the exterior of the can- 
 didate. With evident marks of increasing surprise, (produced 
 no doubt by the peculiar texture and strength of Mr. Henry's 
 style, and the boldness and originality of his combinations,) he 
 continued the examination for several hours : interrogating the 
 
 * So say Mr. Jefferson and Judge Winston. Mr. Pope says nine month?. 
 Col. Meredith and Capt. Dabney, six or eight months. Judge Tyler, one 
 month ; and he adds : " This I had from his own lips. In this time, he read 
 Coke upon Littleton, and the Virginia laws." 
 
22 wirt's life of 
 
 candidate, not on the principles of municipal law, in which he, no 
 doubt, soon discovered his deficiency, but on the laws of na- 
 ture and of nations, on the policy of the feudal system, and 
 on general history, which last he found to be his stronghold. 
 
 During the very short portion of the examination which was 
 devoted to the common law, Mr. Randolph dissented, or affect- 
 ed to dissent from one of Mr. Henry's answers, and called 
 upon him to assign the reasons of his opinion. This produced 
 an argument ; and Mr. Randolph now played off on him the same 
 arts which he himself had so often practised on his country 
 customers ; drawing him out by questions, endeavouring to 
 puzzle him by subtleties, assailing him with declamation, and 
 watching continually the defensive operations of his mind. 
 After a considerable discussion, he said : " You defend your 
 opinions well, sir; but now to the law and to the testimony." 
 Hereupon, he carried him to his office, and opening the au- 
 thorities, said to him : " Behold the face of natural reason ; you 
 have never seen these books, nor this principle of the law ; yet 
 you are right, and I am wrong ; and from the lesson which 
 you have given me (you must excuse me for saying it) I will 
 never trust to appearances again. Mr. Henry, if your industry 
 be only half equal to your genius, I augur that you will do 
 well, and become an ornament and an honour to your profes- 
 sion." It was always Mr. Henry's belief that Mr. Randolph 
 had affected this difference of opinion, merely to afford him the 
 pleasure of a triumph, and to make some atonement for the 
 wound which his first repulse had inflicted. Be this as it may, 
 the interview was followed by the most marked and permanent 
 respect on the part of Mr. Randolph, and the most sincere 
 good-will and gratitude on that of Mr. Henry.* 
 
 It was at the age of four-and-twenty that Mr. Henry obtain- 
 
 * This account of Mr. Henry's examination is given by Judge Tyler, who 
 states it as having come from Mr. Henry himself. It was written before I had 
 received the following statement from Mr. Jefferson ; and although there is 
 some difference in the circumstances, it has not been thought important enough 
 to make an alteration of the text necessary. This is Mr. Jefferson's state- 
 ment : — " In the spring of seventeen hundred and sixty, he came to Williams- 
 burgh to obtain a license as a lawyer, and he called on me at college. He told 
 me he had been reading law only six weeks. Two of the examiners, however, 
 Peyton and John Randolph, men of great facility of temper, signed his license 
 with as much reluctance as their dispositions would permit them to show. Mr. 
 Wythe absolutely refused. Robert C. Nicholas refused also at first ; but, on 
 repeated importunities and promises of future reading, he signed. These 
 facts I had afterward from the gentlemen themselves ; the two Randolphs ac- 
 loiowledging he was very ignorant of the law, but that they perceived him to 
 be a youn<T man of genius, and did not doubt that he would soon qualify him- 
 self."' 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 23 
 
 ed his license. Of the science of law, he knew almost noth- 
 ing r of the practical part he was so wholly ignorant, that he 
 was not only unable to draw a declaration or a plea, but inca- 
 pable, It IS said, of the most common or simple business of his 
 profession, even of the mode of ordering a suit, giving a no- 
 tice, or making a motion in court. It is not at all wonderful, 
 therefore, that such a novice, opposed as he was by veterans, 
 covered with the whole armour of the law, should lin^rer in the 
 background for three years.* ^ 
 
 During this time, the wants and distresses of his family were 
 extreme. The profits of his practice could not have supplied 
 them even with the necessaries of life ; and he seems to have 
 spent tne greatest part of his time, both of his study of the law 
 and the practice of the first two or three years, with his father- 
 in-law, Mr. Shelton, who then kept the tavern at Hanover 
 courthouse. Whenever Mr. Shelton was from home, Mr. 
 Henry supplied his place in the tavern, received the ouests, 
 and attended to their entertainment. All this was very natural 
 in Mr. Henry's situation, and seems to have been purely the 
 voluntary movement of his naturally kind and obliging dispo- 
 
 Hence, however, a story has arisen, that in the early part of 
 his ife he was a barkeeper by profession. The fact seems 
 not to have been so : but if it had been, it would certainly have 
 redounded much more to his honour than to his discredit ; for 
 as Mr. Henry owed no part of his distinction either to birth or 
 fortune, but wholly to himself, the deeper the obscurity and 
 poverty from which he emerged, the stronger is the evidence 
 which it bears to his powers, and th'e greater glory does it shed 
 around him. o j 
 
 About the time of Mr. Henry's coming to the bar, a contro- 
 versy arose in Virginia, which gradually produced a very 
 strong excitement, and called to it, at length, the attention o't 
 the whole state. 
 
 This was the famous controversy between the clergy on the 
 one hand, and the legislature of the people of the colony on 
 the other, touching the stipend claimed by the former ; and as 
 this was the occasion on which Mr. Henry's genius first broke 
 lorth, those ivho take an interest in his life, will not be dis- 
 pleased by a particular account of the nature and grounds of 
 the dispute. It will be borne in mind, that the church of En^ 
 gland was at this period the established church of Virginia ; 
 
 <.:! " "^^f M ' ??^ distinguished at tne bar for near four years."-Judffe Win- 
 VoUd' 3of • ^"'''' '"'™'''' '^'' ^' '''^ '^' ^''^ ^" h^« profession^at once. 
 
34 
 
 WIRT S LIFE OF 
 
 and by an act of assembly, passed so far back as the year six- 
 teen hundred and ninety-six, each minister of a parish had been 
 provided with an annual stipend of sixteen thousand pounds of 
 tobacco. This act was re-enacted, with amendments, in seven- 
 teen hundred and forty-eight, and in this form had received the 
 royal assent. The price of tobacco had long remained sta- 
 tionary at two pence in the pound, or sixteen shillings and 
 eight pence 'per hundred. According to the provisions of the 
 law, the clergy had the right to demand, and were in the prac- 
 tice of receiving, payment of their stipend in the specific to- 
 bacco ; unless they chose, for convenience, to commute it for 
 money at the market-price. 
 
 In the year seventeen hundred and fifty-five, however, the 
 crop of tobacco having fallen short, the legislature passed " an 
 act to enable the inhabitants of this colony to discharge their 
 tobacco-debts in money for the present year :" by the pro- 
 visions of which, " all persons, from whom any tobacco was 
 due, were authorized to pay the same either in tobacco or in 
 money, after the rate of sixteen shillings and eight pence per 
 hundred, at the option of the debtor.^^ This act was to con- 
 tinue in force for ten months and no longer, and did not contain 
 the usual clause of suspension, until it should receive the royal 
 assent. 
 
 "Whether the scarcity of tobacco was so general and so no- 
 torious, as to render this act a measure of obvious humanity 
 and necessity, or whether the clergy were satisfied by its gen- 
 erality, since it embraced sheriffs, clerks, attorneys, and all 
 other tobacco-creditors, as well as themselves, or whether they 
 acquiesced in it as a temporary expedient, which they supposed 
 not likely to be repeated, it is certain, that no objection was 
 made to the law at that time. They could not, indeed, have 
 helped observing the benefits which the rich planters derived 
 from the act ; for they were receiving from fifty to sixty shil- 
 lings per hundred for their tobacco, while they paid off their 
 debts, due in that article, at the old price of sixteen shillings 
 and eight pence. Nothing, however, was then said in defence 
 either of the royal prerogative or of the rights of the clergy, 
 but the law was permitted to go peaceably through its ten 
 months' operation. 
 
 The great tobacco-planters had not forgotten the fruits of 
 this act, when, in the year seventeen hundred and fifty-eight, 
 upon a surmise that another short crop was likely to occur, 
 the provisions of the act of seventeen hundred and fifty-five 
 were re-enacted, and the new law, like the former, contained 
 no suspending clause. The crop, as had been anticipated, did 
 li^ll short, and the price of tobacco rose immediately from six- 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 25 
 
 teen and eight pence to fifty shillings per hundred. The clergy 
 now took the alarm, and the act was assailed by an indignant, 
 sarcastic, and vigorous pamphlet, entitled, " The Two-Penny 
 Act," from the pen of the Reverend John Camm, the rector of 
 York-Hampton parish, and the Episcopalian commissary for 
 the colony.* 
 
 He was answered by two pamphlets written, the one by Colo- 
 nel Richard Bland, and the other by Colonel Landon Carter, in 
 both which the commissary was very roughly handled. He re- 
 plied, in a still severer pamphlet, under the ludicrous title of " The 
 Colonels Dismounted." The colonels rejoined ; and this war 
 of pamphlets, in which, with some sound'argument, there was 
 a great deal of what Dryden has called " the horse-play of 
 raillery," was kept up, until the whole colony, which had at 
 first looked on for amusement, kindled seriously in the con- 
 test from motives of interest. Such was the excitement pro- 
 duced by the discussion, and at length so strong the current 
 against the clergy, that the printers found it expedient to shut 
 their presses against them in this colony, and Mr. Camm had 
 at last to resort to Maryland for publication. 
 
 These pamphlets are still extant, and it seems impossible to 
 deny, at this day, that the clergy had much the best of the 
 argument. The king in his council took up the subject, de- 
 nounced the act of seventeen hundred and fifty-eight as a usur- 
 pation, and declared it utterly null and void. "Thus supported, 
 the clergy resolved to bring the question to a judicial test; and 
 suits were accordingly brought by them, in the various county 
 courts of the colony, to recover their stipends in the specific 
 tobacco. They selected the county of Hanover as the place of 
 the first experiment; and this was made in a suit instituted by 
 the Reverend James Maury,t against the collector of that 
 county and his sureties. 
 
 The record of this suit is now before me. The declaration 
 is founded on the act of seventeen hundred and forty-eight, 
 which gives the tobacco ; the defendants pleaded specially'the 
 act of seventeen hundred and fifty eight, which authorizes the 
 
 * The governor of Virginia represented the king ; the council, the house of 
 lords ; and the Episcopahan commissary (a member of the council) repre«=ent- 
 ed the spiritual part of that house ; the house of burgesses was, of course 
 the house of commons. ' 
 
 t Mr. Burk (vol. 3d, page 303) makes the Rev. Patrick Henry the plaintifl 
 m this cause ; in this he is corrected by the records of the county Mr Burk 
 also sets down "The Two-Penny Act," to the speculations of a man by the 
 name ot Dickmson ; in this he is confuted by the act itself; the preamble ex- 
 pressly foundmg it on the shortness of the crop 
 
 3 
 
36 wirt's life of 
 
 commutatiou into money, a^sixteen and eight pence ; to this 
 plea the plaintiff demurred, assigning for causes of demurrer, 
 tirst, that the act of seventeen hundred and fifty-eight, not hav- 
 ing received the royal assent, had not the force of a law ; and, 
 secondly, that the king, in council, had declared the act null 
 and void. The case stood for argument on the demurrer to 
 the November term, seventeen hundred and sixty-three, and 
 was argued by Mr. Lyons for the plaintiff, and Mr. John Lewis 
 for the defendants ; when the court, very much to the credit ot 
 their candour and firmness, breasted the popular current by 
 sustaining the demurrer. 
 
 Thus far, the clergy sailed before the wind, and concluded, 
 with good reason, tha't their triumph was complete : for the act 
 of seventeen hundred and fifty-eight having been declared void 
 by the judgment on the demurrer, that of seventeen hundred and 
 forty-eight was left in full force, and became, in law, the only 
 standard for the finding of the jury. Mr. Lewis was so thor- 
 oughly convinced of this, that he retired from the cause ; inform- 
 ing his cHentsthat it had been, in effect, decided against them, 
 and that there remained nothing more for him to do. In this 
 desperate situation, they appUed to Patrick Henry, and he under- 
 took to argue it for them before a jury, at the ensuing term. 
 
 Accordingly, on the first day of the following December, he 
 attended the court, and, on his arrival, found in the courtyard 
 such a concourse as would have appalled any other man in his 
 situation. They were not the people of the county merely who 
 were there, but visiters from all the counties, to a considerable 
 distance around. The decision upon the demurrer had pro- 
 duced a violent ferment among the people, and equal exultation 
 on the part of the clergy ; who attended the court in a large 
 body, either to look down opposition, or to enjoy the final 
 triumph of this hard-fought contest, which they now consider- 
 ed as perfectly secure. 
 
 Among many other clergymen, who attended on this occa* 
 sion, came the 'Reverend Patrick Henry, who was the plaintiff in 
 another cause of the same nature, then depending in court. 
 When Mr. Henry saw his uncle approach, he walked up to his 
 carriage, accompanied by Colonel Meredith, and expressed his 
 regret\t seeing him there. "Why so?" inquired the uncle, 
 *' Because, sir," said Mr. Henry, " you know that I have never 
 yet spoken in public, and I fear that I shall be too much over- 
 awed by your presence, to be able to do my duty to my clients ; 
 besides, sir, I shall be obliged to say some hard things of the 
 clergy, and I am very unwilling to give pain to your feelings." 
 His uncle reproved him for having engaged in the cause; 
 which Mr. Henry excused by saying, that the clergy had not 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 
 
 587 
 
 thought him worthy of being retained on their side, and he 
 knew of no moral principle by which he was bound to refuse 
 a fee from their adversaries ; besides, he confessed, that m this 
 controversy, both his heart and judgment, as well as his pro- 
 fessional duty, were on the side of the people ; he then request- 
 ed that his uncle would do him the favour to leave the ground. 
 
 " Why, Patrick," said the old gentleman, with a good-natur- 
 ed smile, "as to your saying hard things of the clergy, I ad- 
 vise you to let that alone : take my word for it, you will do 
 yourself more harm than you will them; and as to my leaving 
 the ground, I fear, my boy, that my presence could neither do 
 you harm nor good in such a cause. However, since you seem 
 to think otherwise, and desire it of me so earnestly, you shall 
 be gratified." Whereupon, he entered his carnage again, and 
 returned home. . 
 
 Soon after the opening of the court, the cause was called. 
 It stood on a writ of inquiry of damages, no plea having been 
 entered by the defendants since the judgment on the demurrer. 
 The array before Mr. Henry's eyes was now most fearful. On 
 the bench sat more than twenty clergymen, the most learned 
 men in the colony, and the most capable, as well as the sever- 
 est critics, before whom it was possible for him to make his 
 dehut. The court-house was crowded with an overwhelming 
 multitude, and surrounded with an immense and anxious throng, 
 who, not finding room to enter, were endeavouring to listen 
 without, in the deepest attention. 
 
 But there was something still more awfully disconcerting 
 than all this ; for in the chair of the presiding magistrate sat 
 no other person than his own father. Mr. Lyons opened the 
 cause very briefly : in the way of argument he did nothing 
 more than explain to the jury, that the decision upon the de- 
 murrer had put the act of seventeen hundred and fifty-eight en- 
 tirely out of the way, and left the law of seventeen hundred 
 and forty-eight as the only standard of their damages ; he then 
 concluded with a highly-wrought eulogium on the benevo- 
 lence of the clergy. , ,x , ^ 
 
 And now came on the first trial of Patrick Henry s strength. 
 No one had ever heard him speak, and curiosity was on tiptoe. 
 He rose very awkwardly, and faltered much in his exordium. 
 The people hung their heads at so unpromising a commence- 
 ment; the clergy were observed to exchange sly looks with 
 each other; and his father is described as having almost sunk 
 with confusion from his seat. 
 
 But these feelings were of short duration, and soon gave 
 place to others, of a very diflferent character. For now were 
 those wonderful faculties which he possessed, for the first time, 
 
2g wirt's life of 
 
 developed; and now was ffst witnessed that mysterious and 
 almost supernatural transformation of appearance, which the 
 lire of his own eloquence never failed to work m hmi. For as 
 his mind rolled along, and began to glow fj-om its own action, 
 all the exuvicE of the clown seemed to shed themselves sponta- 
 
 iieously. , 1 1 r* rrv,« 
 
 His attitude, by degrees, became erect and lotty. Ihe 
 spirit of his genius awakened all his features. His countenance 
 shone with a nobleness and grandeur which it never bef^ore 
 exhibited. There was a lightning in his eyes which seemed to 
 rive the spectator. His action became graceful, bold, and com- 
 mandino- ; and in the tones of his voice, but more especially in 
 his emphasis, there was a peculiar charm, a magic of which any 
 one who ever heard him will speak as soon as he is named, 
 but of which no one can give any adequate description. 1 hey 
 can only say that it struck upon the ear and upon the heart, m 
 a manner which language cannot tell Add to all these his 
 wonder-working fancy, and the peculiar phraseology in which 
 be clothed its images ; for he painted to the heart with a force 
 that almost petrified it. In the language of those who heard 
 him on this occasion, "he made their blood run cold, and their 
 hair to rise on end." 
 
 It will not be difficult for any one who ever heard his most 
 extraordinary man, to believe the whole account of this trans- 
 action, which is given by his surviving hearers ; and from their 
 account, the courthouse of Hanover county must have exhibit- 
 ed on this occasion, a scene as picturesque, as has been ever 
 witnessed in real life. •. . r n 
 
 Thev say that the people, whose countenance had iallen as 
 he arose, had heard but a very few sentences before they began 
 to look up; then to look at each other with surprise, as if 
 doubting the evidence of their own senses; then, attracted by 
 some strong gesture, struck by some majestic attitude, fascin- 
 ated by the spell of his eye, the charm of his emphasis, and 
 the varied and commanding expression of his countenance, 
 thev could look away no more. 
 
 In less than twenty minutes, they might be seen in every 
 part of the house, on every bench, in every window, stooping 
 forward from their stands, in deathlike silence ; their features 
 fixed in amazement and awe ; all their senses listening and 
 riveted upon the speaker, as if to catch the last strain of some 
 heavenly visitant. The mockery of the clergy was soon turn- 
 ed into alarm ; their triumph into confusion and despair ; and 
 at one burst of his rapid and overwhelming invective, they 
 fled from the bench in precipitation and terror. As for the 
 father, such was his surprise, such his amazement, such his 
 
PATRICK HENRY. Z9 
 
 rapture, that, forgetting where he was, and the character which 
 he was tilling, tears of ecstasy streamed down his cheeks, with- 
 out the power or inclination to repress them. 
 
 The jury seem to have been so completely bewildered, that 
 they lost sight, not only of the act of seventeen hundred and 
 forty-eight, but that of seventeen hundred and fifty-eight also ; 
 for thoughtless even of the admitted right of the plaintiff, they 
 had scarcely left the bar, when they returned with a ver- 
 dict of one penny damages. A motion was made for a new 
 trial ; but the court, too, had now lost the equipoise of their 
 judgment, and overruled the motion by a unanimous vote. 
 The verdict and judgment overruling the motion, were fol- 
 lowed by redoubled acclamations, from Avithin and without the 
 house. 
 
 The people, who had with difficulty kept their hands off their 
 champion, from the moment of closing his harangue, no sooner 
 saw the fate of the cause finally sealed, than they seized him 
 at the bar, and in spite of his own exertions, and the continued 
 cry of " order" from the sheriffs and the court, they bore him 
 out of the courthouse, and raising him on their shoulders, car- 
 ried him about the yard, in a kind of electioneering triumph. 
 
 ! what a scene was this for a father's heart ! so sudden ; 
 so unlooked for ; so delightfully overwhelming ! At the time, 
 he was not able to give utterance to any sentiment ; but, a few 
 days after, when speaking of it to Mr. Winston, (the present 
 Judge Winston,) he said, with the most engaging modesty, and 
 with a tremour of voice, which showed how much more he felt 
 than he expressed, "Patrick spoke in this cause near an hour! 
 and in a manner that surprised me ! and showed himself well- 
 informed on a subject, of which I did not think he had any 
 knowledge !'* 
 
 1 have tried much to procure a sketch of this celebrated 
 speech. But those of Mr. Henry's hearers who survive, seem 
 to have been bereft of their senses. They can only tell you, 
 in general, that they were taken captive ; and so delighted with 
 their captivity, that they followed implicitly, whithersoever he 
 led them : that, at his bidding, their tears flowed from pity, 
 and their cheeks flushed with indignation : that when it was 
 over, they felt as if they had just awaked from some ecstatic 
 dream, of which they were unable to recall or connect the par- 
 ticulars. It was such a speech as they believe had never be- 
 fore fallen from the lips of man ; and to this day, the old peo- 
 ple of that county cannot conceive that a higher compliment 
 can be paid to a speaker, than to say of him, in their own 
 homely phrase: — "Jfe is almost equal to Patrick^ when he 
 plead against the parsons.^* 
 
 3* 
 
30 wirt's life of 
 
 The only topic of this spWch of which any authentic account 
 remains, is the order of the king in council, whereby the act 
 of seventeen hundred and fifty-eight had been declared void. 
 This subject had in truth been disposed of by the demurrer ; 
 and, in strictness of proceeding, neither Mr. Henry nor the 
 jury had anything to do with it. The laxity of the county- 
 court practice, however, indulged him in the widest career he 
 chose to take, and he laid hold of this point, neither with a fee- 
 ble nor hesitating hand ; but boldly and vigorously pressed it 
 upon the jury, and that, too, with very powerful effect. 
 
 He insisted on the connexion and reciprocal duties between 
 the king and his subjects ; maintained that government was a 
 conditional compact, composed of mutual and dependant cove- 
 nants, of which a violation by one party discharged the other ; 
 and intrepidly contended that the disregard which had been 
 shown, in this particular, to the pressing wants of the colony, 
 was an instance of royal misrule, which had thus far dissolved 
 the political compact, and left the people at liberty to consult 
 their own safety ; that they had consulted it by the act of 
 seventeen hundred and fifty-eight, which, therefore, notwith- 
 standing the dissent of the king and his council, ought to be 
 considered as the law of the land, and the only legitimate meas- 
 ure of the claims of the clergy. 
 
 The nature of this topic, and the earnest and undaunted man- 
 ner in which Mr. Henry is said to have pursued and maintain- 
 ed it, proves that even at this period, which has been marked 
 as the era of our greatest attachment and devotion to the pa- 
 rent country, his mind, at least, was disposed to pry into the 
 course of the regal administration, and to speak forth his sen- 
 timents without any fear of the consequences. The reception 
 which the people gave to the argument, proves that they also 
 had no superstitious repugnance to the consideration of such 
 topics, nor any very insuperable horror at the idea of a separa- 
 tion. Not that there is ground to suspect that any one had, 
 at this time, realized such an event, or even contemplated it 
 as desirable. 
 
 The suj;rgestion, therefore, which I have sometimes heard, 
 that Mr. Henry was already meditating the independence of the 
 colonies, and sowing the seeds of those reflections which he 
 wished to ripen into revolt, is, in my opinion, rather curious 
 than just. I believe that he thought of nothing beyond success 
 in his cause ; and since the desperate posture in which he found 
 it demanded a daring and eccentric course, he adopted that 
 which has been already stated. The character of his argument 
 proves that he was naturally a bold and intrepid inquirer, who 
 was 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 31 
 
 sovereignty itself ; and of course that he was made of good 
 revolutionary materials. 
 
 But an adequate provocation had not at this time been given : 
 and it would be imputing to Mr. Henry a criminal ambition, of 
 which there is no proof, to suppose that he was meditating the 
 subversion of a government, against which the voice of serious 
 complaint had not yet been heard. Besides, Mr. Henry's 
 standing in society was at this period so humble, as to have 
 rendered the meditation of such a purpose, on his part, pre* 
 sumptuous in the extreme ; and equally inconsistent both with 
 his unassuming modesty, and that natural good sense and accu- 
 rate judgment which are, on all hands, assigned to him. 
 
 Immediately on the decision of this cause, he was retained 
 in all the cases, within the range of his practice, which depend- 
 ed on the same question. But no other case was ever brought 
 to trial. They were, all throughout the colony, dismissed by 
 the plaintifts ^ nor was any appeal ever prosecuted in the case 
 of Mr. Maury* The reason assigned for this by Mr. Camm is, 
 that the legislature had voted money to support the appeal on 
 the part of the defendants, ar«i that the clergy were not rich 
 enough to contend against the whole wealth and strength of 
 the colony.* 
 
 The clergy took their revenge in an angry pamphlet from 
 the pen of Mr. Camm, in which a very contemptuous account 
 IS given both of the advocate and the court. Mr. Henry is 
 stigmatized in it as an obscure attorney : and the epithet was 
 true enough as to the time past, but it was now true no longer. 
 His sun had risen with a splendour which had never before 
 been witnessed in this colony ; and never afterward did it dis- 
 grace this glorious rising. 
 
 * Mr. Camm is right as to the interference of the legislature. I have not 
 been able, however, to find any resolution of the legislature to this effect, car • 
 Her than the seventh of April, seventeen hundred and sixty-seven : wrhcre 
 Mr. Maury's case was decided in Hanover, on the first of December, seventee 
 hundred and sixty-three. The following is extracted from tho journal of tho 
 day first mentioned : — 
 
 "On a motion made — Resolved, that the committee of correspondence be 
 directed to write to the agent, to defend the parish-collectors from all appeals 
 from judgments here given, in suits brought by the clergy, for recovering iheit 
 salaries, payable on or before the last dav of May, seventeen hundred and lifty* 
 nine ; and that this house will engage to defray the expense thereof." 
 
32 WIflt's LIFE OF 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 State of Society in Virginia — Mr. Henry's Popularity — His Appearance bcfor^ 
 the House of Burgesses — The Stamp-Act — Mr. Henry is elected a Meirv 
 ber of the House — Anecdote of Washington — Sketches of Public Charac 
 ters : John Robinson, Peyton Randolph, Edmund Pendleton, George Wytht 
 and Richard Henry Lee — He opposes the Aristocracy of the House on the 
 Proposition for a Loan-Office — Introduces his celebrated Resolutions against 
 the Stamp- Act — The Effect — Mr. Jefferson's Account of this Transaction- 
 Anecdote of the Debate. 
 
 It is almost unnecessary to state, that the display which Mr. 
 Henry had made in " the parsons^ cause^^^ as it was popularly 
 called, placed him at once at the head of his profession, in that 
 quarter of the colony in which he practised. He became the 
 theme of every tongue. He had exhibited a degree of elo- 
 quence, which the people had never before witnessed ; a spe- 
 cies of eloquence, too, entirely new at the bar, and altogether 
 his own. He had formed it on no living model, for there was 
 none such in the country. He had not copied it from books, 
 for they had described nothing of the kind ; or if they had, he 
 was a stranger to their contents. 
 
 Nor had he formed it himself, by solitary study and exercise ; 
 for he was far too indolent for any such process. It was so 
 unexampled, so unexpected, so instantaneous, and so transcend- 
 ent in its character, that it had, to the people, very much the 
 appearance of supernatural inspiration. He was styled " the 
 orator of nature ;" and was, on that account, much more re- 
 vered by the people than if he had been formed by the severest 
 discipline of the schools ; for they considered him as bringing 
 his credentials directly from heaven, and owing no part of his 
 greatness to human institutions. 
 
 There were other considerations, also, which drew him still 
 more closely to the bosom of the people. The society of Vir- 
 ginia was at that time pretty strongly discriminated. A gen- 
 tleman who lived in those days, and who had the best opportu- 
 nities of judging on the subject, has furnished the following 
 interesting picture of it : — 
 
 ** To state the differences between the classes of society, and 
 the lines of demarcation which separated them, would be diffi- 
 cult. The law, you know, admitted none, except as to the 
 twelve counsellors. Yet, in a country insulated from the Euro- 
 pean world, insulated from its sister colonies, with whom there 
 was scarcely any intercourse, little visited by foreigners, and 
 having little matter to act upon within itself, certain families 
 had risen to splendour by wealth, and by the preservation of it 
 from generation to ffeneration, binder the law of entails ; some 
 
PATRICK HE?iPvY» 
 
 33 
 
 had produced a series of men of talents ; families in general 
 had remained stationary on the grounds of their forefathers, 
 for there was no emigration to the westward in those days ; 
 the Irish, who had gotten possession of the valley between the 
 Blue Ridge and the North Mountain, formed a barrier over 
 which none ventured to leap ; and their manners presented no 
 attraction to the lowlanders to settle among them. 
 
 " In such a state of things, scarcely admitting any change of 
 station, society would settle itself down into several strata, 
 separated by no marked lines, but shading off imperceptibly 
 from top to bottom, nothing disturbing the order of their repose. 
 There were, then, first, aristocrats, composed of the great land- 
 holders, who had seated themselves below tidewater on the main 
 rivers, and lived in a style of luxury and extravagance insup- 
 portable by the other inhabitants, and which indeed, ended in 
 several instances in the ruin of their own fortunes. Next 
 to these were what might be called half-breeds; the de- 
 scendants of the younger sons and daughters of the aristo- 
 crats, who inherited the pride of their ancestors, without their 
 wealth. 
 
 "Then came the pretenders, men, who, from vanity or the im- 
 pulse of growing wealth, or from that enterprise v/hich i« nat- 
 ural to talents, sought to detach themselves from the plebeian 
 ranks, to which they properly belonged, and imitateii. at some 
 distance, the manners and habits of the great. Next to these, 
 were a solid and independent yeomanry, looking askance at 
 those above, yet not venturing to jostle them. And last and 
 lowest, a /ecwZwm of beings, called overseers, the most abject, 
 degraded, unprincipled race ; always cap in hand to the dons 
 who employed them, and furnishing materials for the exercise 
 of their pride, insolence and spirit of domination." 
 
 It was from the body of the yeomanry, whom my correspond 
 ent represents as " lookiiig askance" at those above them, that 
 Mr. Henry proceeded. He belonged to the body of the people. 
 His birth, education, fortune, and manners, made him one of 
 themselves. They regarded him, therefore, as their own prop' 
 erty, and sent to them expressly for the very purpose of hum- 
 bling the pride of the mighty, and exalting the honour of his 
 own class. 
 
 Mr. Henry had too much sagacity not to see this advantage, 
 and too much good sense not to keep and to improve it. He seems 
 to have formed to himself, very early in life, just views of so- 
 ciety, and to have acted upon them with the most laudable sys- 
 tem and perseverance. He regarded government as instituted 
 solely for the good of the people ; and not for the benefit of 
 those who had contrived to make a job of it. He looked upon 
 
S4 WIRT's tIFfi OF 
 
 the body of the people, thegffore, as the basis of society, the 
 fountair of all power, and, directly or indirectly, of all offices 
 and honours, which had been instituted originally for their use. 
 He made it no secret, therefore ; nay, he made it his boast, that 
 on every occasion, " he bowed to the majesty of the people." 
 
 With regard to himself, he saw very distinctly, that all his 
 hopes rested on the people's favour. He therefore adhered to 
 them with unshaken fidelity. He retained their manners, their 
 customs, all their modes of life, with religious caution. He 
 dressed as plainly as the plainest of them ; ate only the homely 
 fare, and drank the simple beverage of the country ; mixed 
 with them on a footing of the most entire and perfect equality, 
 and conversed with them, even in their own vicious and de- 
 praved pronunciation.* 
 
 If this last were the effect of artful compliance, as has been 
 strenuously affirmed, it was certainly carrying the system far 
 ther than dignity would warrant. Mr. Henry should have 
 been the instructer as well as the friend of the people, and, by 
 his example, have corrected instead of adopting their errors. 
 It is very certain, that by this course he disgusted many of 
 those whom it was often his business to persuade ; not because 
 they considered it as a proof of vulgarity and ignorance, but 
 because they regarded it as a premeditated artifice to catch the 
 favour and affections of the people. That it was so, I am not 
 disposed to believe. I think it much more probable, that those 
 errors of pronunciation were the effect of early and inveterate 
 habit, which had become incurable before he was informed of 
 his mistake. 
 
 He had no occasion to resort to such petty artifices, either to 
 gain or to hold the affections of the people. He held them by 
 a much higher and a much firmer title : the simplicity of his 
 manners ; the benevolence of his disposition ; the integrity of 
 his life ; his real devotion to their best interests ; that uncom- 
 mon sagacity, which enabled him to discern those interests in 
 every situation ; and the unshaken constancy with which he 
 pursued them, in spite of every difficulty and danger that could 
 threaten him. From the point of time, of which we are now 
 speaking, it is very certain that he suffered no gale of fortune, 
 however high or prosperous, to separate him from the people : 
 nor did the people, on their part, ever desert him. He was 
 
 * Governor Page relates, that he once heard him express the following sen- 
 timents, in this vicious pronunciation : — " Naiteral parts is better than all the 
 larnin upon yearth ,•" but the accuracy of Mr. Page's memory is questioned in 
 this particular, by the acquaintances of Mr. Henry, who say, that he was too 
 good a grammarian to have uttered such a sentence, although they admit the 
 inaccuracy of his pronunciation, in some of the words imputed to him. 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 36 
 
 the man to whom they looked in every crisis of difficulty, and 
 the favourite on whom they were ever ready to lavish all the 
 honours in their gift. 
 
 Middleton, in his life of Cicero, tells us, that the first great 
 speech of that orator, his defence of Roscius of Ameria, was 
 made at the age of twenty-seven ; the same age, he adds, 
 at which the learned have remarked, that Demosthenes distin- 
 guished himself in the assembly of the Athenians : — *' as if this 
 were the age," I quote his own words, "at which these great 
 genios regularly bloomed toward maturity." 
 
 It is rather curious, than important, to observe, that Mr. 
 Henry furnishes another instance in support of this theory ; 
 since it was precisely in the same year of his life, that his tal- 
 ents first became known to himself and to the world. Nor let 
 the admirer of antiquity revolt at our coupling the name of 
 Henry with those of Cicero and Demosthenes : it can be no 
 degradation to the orator either of Greece or Rome, that his 
 name stands enrolled on the same page with that of a man of 
 whom such a judge of eloquence as Mr. Jeff'erson has said, 
 that " he was the greatest orator that ever livedo 
 
 But the taste of professional fame which Mr. Henry had de- 
 rived from the *' parsons' cause," exquisite as it must have been, 
 was not sufficient to inspire him with a thirst for the learning 
 of his profession. He had an insuperable aversion to the old 
 Hack-letter of the law-hooks, (which was often a topic of rail- 
 lery with him,) and he was never able to conquer it, except for 
 preparation in some particular cause. No love of distinction, 
 no necessity, however severe, were strong enough to bind him 
 down to a regular course of reading. 
 
 He could not brook the confinement. The reasoning of the 
 law was too artificial, and too much cramped for him. While 
 unavoidably engaged in it, he felt as if manacled. His mind 
 was perpetually struggling to break away. His genius delight- 
 ed in liberty and space, in Avhich it might roam at large, and 
 feast on every variety of intellectual enjoyment. Hence, he 
 was never profound in the learning of the law. On a question 
 merely legal, his inferiors, in point of talents, frequently em- 
 barrassed and foiled him ; and it required all the resources of 
 his extraordinary mind to support the distinction which he had 
 now gained. 
 
 The most successful practice in the county courts was, in 
 those days, but a slender dependance for a family. Notwith- 
 standing, therefore, the great addition to his business, which 
 we have noticed, Mr. Henry seems still to have been pressed 
 by want. With the hope of improving his situation, he re- 
 moved, in the year seventeen hundred and sixty-four, to the 
 
36 wirt's life or 
 
 county of Louisa, and re^ed at a place called the Roun(3 
 about. Here I have learned nothing remarkable of him, unless 
 it may be thought so, that he pursued his favourite amusement 
 of hunting with increased ardour. 
 
 *' After his removal to Louisa," says my informant, *' he has 
 been known to hunt deer, frequently for several days together, 
 carrying his provision with him, and at night encamping in the 
 woods. After the hunt was over, he would go from the ground 
 to Louisa court, clad in a coarse cloth coat, stained with all the 
 trophies of the chase, greasy leather breeches, ornamented in 
 the same way, leggings for boots, and a pair of saddle-bags on 
 his arm. Thus accoutred, he would enter the courthouse, 
 take up the first of his causes that chanced to be called ; and if 
 there was any scope for his peculiar talent, throw his adversary 
 into the background, and astonish both court and jury, by the 
 powerful effusions of his natural eloquence." 
 
 There must have been something irresistibly captivating in 
 Mr. Henry's mode of speaking, even on the most trivial sub- 
 jects. The late Judge Lyons has been heard to say of himself, 
 while practising with Mr. Henry, that "he could write a letter, 
 or draw a declaration or plea at the bar, with as much accu- 
 racy, as he could in his office, under all circumstances, except 
 when Patrick rose to speak ; but that whenever he rose, al- 
 though it might be on so trifling a subject as a summons and 
 petition for twenty shillings, he was obliged to lay down his 
 pen, and could not write another word, until the speech was 
 finished." Such was the charm of his voice and manner, and 
 the interesting originality of his conceptions ! 
 
 In the fall of seventeen hundred and sixty-four, Mr. Henry 
 had an opportunity of exhibiting himself on a new theatre. A 
 contest occurred in the house of burgesses, in the case of Mr. 
 James Littlepage, the returned member for the county of Han- 
 over. The rival candidate and petitioner was Nathaniel West 
 Dandridge.* The charge against Mr. Littlepage was bribery 
 and corruption. The parties were heard by their counsel, be- 
 fore the committee of privileges and elections, and Mr. Henry 
 was on this occasion employed by Mr. Dandridge. 
 
 Williamsburgh, then the seat of government, was the focus 
 of fashion and high life. The residence of the governor, (the 
 immediate representative of the sovereign,) the royal state in 
 
 * Here is another mistake of Mr. Burk. He states the contest to have 
 been between Col. Syme (Mr. Henry's half-brother) and Col. Richard Little- 
 page. The journal contradicts him, and supports the text. There was no 
 such contest as that of which he speaks ; at least, between the years seventeen 
 hundred and sixty-two and seventeen hundred and sixty-eight. 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 37 
 
 which he lived, the polite and brilliant circle which he always 
 had about him, diffused their influence through the city and the 
 circumjacent county, and filled Williamsburgh with a degree of 
 emulation, taste, and elegance, of which we can form no con- 
 ception by the appearances of the present day. During the 
 session of the house of burgesses, too, these stately modes of 
 life assumed their richest forms ; the town was filled with a 
 concourse of visiters, as well as citizens, attired in their gayest 
 colours ; the streets exhibited a continual scene of animated 
 and glittering tumult ; the houses, of costly profusion. 
 
 Such was the scene in which Mr. Henry was now called 
 upon, for the first time, to make his appearance. He made no 
 preparation for it, but went down just in the kind of garb which 
 he had been accustomed to exhibit all his life, and is said to have 
 worn on this occasion particularly, a suit which had suffered 
 very considerably in the service. The contrast which he ex- 
 hibited with the general elegance of the place, was so striking, 
 as to call upon him the eyes of all the curious and the mis- 
 chievous ; and, as he moved awkwardly about, in his coarse 
 and threadbare dress, with a countenance of abstraction and 
 total unconcern as to what was passing around him, (interest- 
 ing as it seemed to every one else,) he was stared at by some 
 as a prodigy, and regarded by others as an unfortunate being, 
 whose senses were disordered. 
 
 When he went to attend the committee of privileges and elec- 
 tions, the matter was still worse. " The proud airs of aristoc- 
 racy," says Judge Tyler, detailing this incident of Mr. Henry's 
 life, " added to the dignified forms of that truly august body, 
 were enough to have deterred any man possessing less firm- 
 ness and independence of spirit than Mr. Henry. He was 
 ushered with great state and ceremony into the room of the 
 committee, whose chairman was Colonel Bland.* 
 
 " Mr. Henry was dressed in very coarse apparel ; no one 
 knew anything of him ;t and scarcely was he treated with 
 
 * Mr. Tyler says, ''that enlightened and amiable man, John Blair;" but in 
 this he is corrected by the journal, which shows that Mr. Bland was the chair- 
 man of the committee of privileges and elections for that year. I should have 
 thought, from the general accuracy of Mr. Tyler's statement, that Mr. Blair 
 might have been officiating as chairman fro tempore, in the absence of Col. 
 Bland ; but that Mr. Blair does not appear, by the journal, to have belonged to 
 the committee, or even to have been a member of the house in seventeen hun- 
 dred and sixty-four. His name does not appear till seventeen hundred and 
 sixty-six. 
 
 Mr. Tyler, reciting Mr. Henry's own narrative, after a lapse of several years, 
 might very easily have confounded two names as similar as those of Bland aad 
 Blair. 
 
 + That is, I presume, of his person ; for after the very splendid eschibilion 
 
 4 
 
38 wirt's life of 
 
 decent respect by any one^cept the chairman, who could not 
 do so much violence to hi^feelings and principles, as to de- 
 part, on any occasion, from the delicacy of the gentleman. But 
 the general contempt was soon changed into as general admi- 
 ration ; for Mr. Henry distinguished himself by a copious and 
 brilliant display on the great subject of the rights of suffrage, 
 superior to anything that had been heard before within those 
 walls. Such a burst of eloquence, from a man so very plain 
 and ordinary in his appearance, struck the committee with 
 amazement ; so that a deep and perfect silence took place du- 
 ring the speech, and notasoundbutfromhislips was tobeheard 
 in the room." 
 
 So far, Judge Tyler. Judge Winston relating the same inci- 
 dent, says : " Some time after, a member of the house, speaking 
 to me of this occurrence, said, he had, for a day or two, ob- 
 served an ill-dressed young man sauntering in the lobby ; that 
 he seemed to be a stranger to everybody, and he had not the 
 curiosity to inquire his name ; but that, attending when the 
 case of the contested election came on, he was surprised to find 
 this same person counsel for one of the parties ; and still more 
 so when he delivered an argument superior to anything he had 
 ever heard." The case, according to the report of the com- 
 mittee of privileges and elections, is not one which seems to 
 present much scope for a very interesting discussion ; but Mr. 
 Henry's was one of those minds which impart interest to every 
 subject they touch. 
 
 The same year, seventeen hundred and sixty-four, is mem 
 orable for the origination of that great question which led final- 
 ly to the independence of the United States. It has been said 
 by a gentleman, at least as well qualified to judge as any other 
 now alive, (Mr. Jefferson,) that " Mr. Henry certainly gave the 
 first impulse to the ball of the revolution." In order to show 
 the correctness of this position, it is proper to ascertain the 
 precise point to which the controversy with Great Britain had 
 advanced, when Mr. Henry first presented himself in the char 
 acter of a statesman. 
 
 In March, seventeen hundred and sixty-four, the British par- 
 liament had passed resolutions, preparatory to the levying a 
 revenue on the colonies by a stamp-tax. These resolutions 
 ■were communicated to the house of burgesses of Virginia, 
 through their committee of correspondence, by the colonial 
 agent ; and having been maturely considered, resulted in the 
 appointment of a special committee to prepare an address to 
 
 which he made in the parsons' cause, his name could not have been wholly 
 suaknown : the text, however, gives the words of my correspondent faithfully. 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 39 
 
 the king, a memorial to the lords, and a remonstrance to the 
 house of commons. 
 
 On the eighteenth of December, seventeen hundred and six- 
 ty-four, these papers were reported, and (after various amend- 
 ments, which considerably diluted their spirit) received the con- 
 currence of the council. The reader will perceive, on perusing 
 them, (see Appendix, note A,) that while they affirm, in clear 
 and strong terms, the constitutional exemption of the colony 
 from taxation by the British parliament, they breathe, never- 
 theless, a tone so suppliant, and exhibit such a picture of anti- 
 cipated suffering from the pressure of the tax on the exhausted 
 resources of the colony, as to indicate that no opposition be- 
 fond remonstrance was, at this time, meditated. Remon- 
 *>trance, however, was vain. In January, seventeen hundred 
 •iud sixty-iive, the famous stamp-act was passed, to take effect 
 in the colonies on the first of November following. 
 
 The annunciation of this measure seems at first to have stun- 
 jied the comment from one extremity to the other. The pres- 
 ses, which spread the intelligence among the people, were 
 themselves manifestly confounded ; and so far from inspiring 
 tne energy of resistance, they seemed rather disposed to have 
 looked out for topics of consolation, under submission.* The 
 truth IS, that ail ranks of society were confounded. No one 
 knew what lo hope, what more to fear, or what course was best 
 to be taken. Bome, indeed, were fond enough to entertain 
 hopes that tne united remonstrances of the colonial legislatures, 
 the fate of wnich had not yet been heard, might induce the 
 mother-couniry to change her policy ; these hopes, however, 
 were faint ; and lew there were that entertained them. Many, 
 considered submission, in the present state of the colonies, as 
 unavoidable ; and that this was the opinion of Doctor Franklin 
 himself, is apparent from the remark with which he took leave 
 of Mr. Ingersol, on his departure for America. f 
 
 The idea of resistance, by force was nowhere glanced at in 
 the most distant manner ; no heart seems to have been bold 
 enough, at first, to conceive it. Men, on other occasions mark- 
 ed for intrepidity and decision, now hung back, unwilling to 
 submit, and yet afraid to speak out in the language of bold and 
 
 * Thus in the Pennsylvania Gazette of the thirtieth of May, seventeen hun- 
 dred and sixty-five : "We hear the sums of money arising from the new stamp 
 duties in North America, for the first five years, are chiefly to be applied tow- 
 ard making commodious post-roads from one province to another, erecting 
 bridges where necessary, and other measures ecjually important to facilitate an 
 extensive trade." 
 
 t ** Go home and tell your countrymen to get children as fast as they 
 can." — Gordon. 
 
^ WIRT^S LIFE 0¥ 
 
 open defiance. It was ju^gpit this moment of desponcTency 112 
 some quarters, suspense in others, and surly and reluctant sub- 
 mission wherever submission appeared, that Patrick Henry 
 stood forth to raise the drooping spirit of the peoplcy and to 
 unite all hearts and hands in the cause of his country. 
 
 With the view of making way for him, and placing him in 
 the public councils of his country, Mr. William Johnson, who 
 had been elected a member of the house of burgesses for the 
 county of Louisa, vacated his seat by accepting the commission 
 of coroner. The writ of election to supply his place was 
 awarded on the first of May, seventeen hundred and sixty-five, 
 and on the twentieth day of that month, it appears by the jour- 
 nals, that Mr. Henry was added to the committee for courts of 
 justice. 
 
 Here, again, he was upon a new theatre, and personally un- 
 known, except to those few who might have heard his argu- 
 ment on the contested election of Mr. Littlepage, the preceding 
 winter. His dress and manners were still those of the plain 
 planter, and, in his personal appearance, there was nothing tc 
 excite curiosity, or awaken expectation. The forms of the 
 house, of which he was now for the first time a member, werCy 
 as has been stated, most awfully dignified ; its active members 
 were composed of the landed aristocracy and their adherents ; 
 and among them were men to whose superiority of talents, as well 
 as influence and power, the yeomanry of the country had long 
 heen accustomed to bow with tacit and submissive deference. 
 
 John Robinson, the speaker of the house, was one of the 
 most opulent men in the colony, and the acknowledged head of 
 its landed aristocracy. He had now filled the chair of the 
 house with great dignity, and without interruption, for five-and- 
 twenty years. He was, also, the colonial treasurer; and from 
 the high oflTices which he held, in connexion with the regal 
 government, was as warmly attached to its authority by inter- 
 est, as he was by taste and fashion to all the grandeur of its 
 forms. 
 
 But, notwithstanding this close alliance with the court, his 
 personal influence, in every class of society, was very great ; 
 and he held that influence by a tenure far superior to any that 
 his own vast wealth or the power of the crown could confer. 
 For he possessed a strong and well-informed mind, enlarged 
 and corrected by great experience, and he united with it a be- 
 nevolence of spirit and a courtesy of manners which never fail- 
 ed to attach every heart that approached him. The poor drew 
 near to him without awe or embarrassment ; they came, indeed, 
 with filial confidence ; for they never failed to find in him a; 
 sympathetic friend and an able counsellor. The rich enjoyei 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 
 
 41 
 
 in him an easy, enlightened, and instructive companion ; and, 
 next to the governor, regarded him as the highest model of 
 elegance and fashion. , . i j. i 
 
 An anecdote is related of this gentleman, which displays in 
 a strong and amiable light, the exalted force of his feelings, 
 and the truly noble cast of his manners. When Colonel Wash- 
 incrton (the immortal saviour of his country) had closed his 
 career in the French and Indian war, and had become a mem- 
 ber of the house of burgesses, the speaker, Robinson, was 
 directed, by a vote of the house, to return their thanks to that 
 gentleman, on behalf of the colony, for the distingmshed mili- 
 tary services which he had rendered to his country. As soon 
 as Colonel Washington took his seat, Mr. Robinson, in obedi- 
 ence to this order, and following the impulse of his own gen- 
 erous and grateful heart, discharged the duty with great dig- 
 nity ; but with such warmth of colouring and strength ot 
 expression, as entirely confounded the young hero. 
 
 He rose to express his acknowledgments for the honour ; but 
 such was his trepidation and confusion, that he could not give 
 distinct utterance to a single syllable. He blushed, stammer- 
 ed, and trembled, for a second ; when the speaker reheved him 
 by a stroke of address that would have done honour to Louis 
 XIV. in his proudest and happiest moment. " Sit down, Mr. 
 Washington," said he, with a conciliating smile ; " your mod- 
 esty is equal to your valour ; and that surpasses the power of 
 any language that I possess."* i ,. .. .t, 
 
 Peyton Randolph, the king's attorney-general, held the next 
 rank to the speaker. He was not distinguished for eloquence ; 
 but he derived great weight from the solid powers of his un- 
 derstanding, and the no less solid virtues of his heart. He 
 was well acquainted with all the forms of parUamentary pro- 
 ceeding ; was an eminent lawyer, and a well-informed and prac 
 
 tical statesman. • *v« 
 
 Richard Bland was one of the most enhghtened men m the 
 colony. He was a man of finished education, and of the most 
 unbending habits of application. His perfect mastery of every 
 fact connected with the settlement and progress of the colony, 
 had ffiven him the name of the Virginian antiquary.! He was 
 a politician of the first class ; a profound logician, and was also 
 considered as the first writer in the colony.| 
 
 Edmund Pendleton, the protege of the speaker Robinson, 
 was also among the most prominent members in the house. 
 
 * On the authority of Edmund Randolph. t Edmund Randolph. 
 
 t " He was," says a correspondent, '* the most learned and logical man oj 
 those who took a prominent lead in public affairs; profound m constitutional 
 
 4* 
 
4/2 WIRT's Llt^ OF 
 
 He had, in a great measure,^l^ercome the disadvantages of an' 
 extremely defective education, and by the force of good com- 
 pany and the study of correct authors, had attained to great 
 accuracy and perspicuity of style. The patronage of the 
 speaker had introduced him to the first circles, and his man- 
 ners were elevated, graceful and insinuating. His person was 
 spare, but well-proportioned ; and his countenance one of the 
 finest in the world ; serene — contemplative— benignant — with 
 that expression of unclouded intelligence and extensive re- 
 search, which seemed to denote him capable of anything that 
 could be effected by the power of the human mind. 
 
 His mind itself was of a very fine order. It was clear, com- 
 prehensive, sagacious and correct ; with a most acute and sub- 
 tile faculty of discrimination ; a fertility of expedient which 
 could never be exhausted ; a dexterit)'^ of address which never lost 
 an advantage and never gave one ; and a capacity for continued- 
 and unremitting application, which was perfectly invincible. 
 
 As a lawyer and a statesman, he had few equals ; no supe- 
 riors. For parliamentary management, he was without a rival- 
 With all these advantages of person, manners, address, and 
 intellect, he was also a speaker of distinguished eminence. 
 
 He had that silver voice* of which Cicero makes such fre- 
 quent and honourable mention — an articulation uncommonly 
 distinct — a perennial stream of transparent, cool, and sweet 
 elocution; and the power of presenting his arguments with 
 great simplicity and striking effect. He was always graceful,, 
 argumentative, persuasive ; never vehement, rapid, or abrupt. 
 He could instruct and delight ; but he had no pretensions to 
 those high powers v/hich are calculated to *' shake the human 
 soul." 
 
 George Wythe, also a member of the House, was confessed- 
 ly among the first in point of abilities. There is a story circu- 
 lated, as upon his own authority, that he was initiated by his 
 
 lore ; but a most nngraceful speaker in debate. He wrote the first pamphle£ 
 on the nature of the connexion with Great Britain, which had any pretensions 
 to accuracy of view on that subject ; but it was a singular one : he would set 
 out on sound principles, pursue them logically, till he found them leading ta 
 the precipice which we had to leap ; start back, alarmed ; then resume his 
 ground, go over it in another direction, be led again, by the correctness of his 
 reasoning, to the same place, and again tack about and try other processes to 
 reconcile right and wrong ; biit left his reader and himself bewildered between 
 the steady index of the compass in their hand, and the phantasm to which it 
 seemed to point. Still, there was more sound matter in this pamphlet than in 
 the celebrated Farmer's Letters, which were really but an ignis fatuus, mi»' 
 "eading us from true principle." 
 
 * Vox argentea. See the Brutws^ passim^ 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 43 
 
 mother in the Latin classics.! Be this as it may, it is certain 
 that he had raised tipon the original foundation, whencesoever 
 acquired, a superstructure of ancient literature which has been 
 rarely equalled in this country. He was perfectly familiar 
 with the authors of Greece and Rome ; read them with the 
 same ease, and quoted them v/ith the same promptitude that he 
 could the authors in his native tongue. He carried his love of 
 antiquity rather too far; for he frequently subjected himself to 
 the charge of pedantry ; and his admiration of the gigantic 
 writers of Queen Elizabeth's reign, had unfortunately betrayed 
 him into an imitation of their quaintness. 
 
 Yet, with all this singularity of taste, he was a man of great 
 capacity ; powerful in argument ; frequently pathetic ; and ele- 
 gantly keen and sarcastic in repartee. He was long the rival 
 of Mr. Pendleton at the bar, whom he equalled as a common 
 lawyer, and greatly surpassed as a civilian : but he was too 
 open and direct in his conduct, and possessed too little man- 
 agement, either with regard to his own temper or those of 
 other men, to cope with so cool and skilful an adversary. 
 Though a full match for Mr. Pendleton in the poAvers of fair 
 and solid reasoning, Mr. Pendleton could, whenever he pleased, 
 and would, whenever it was necessary, tease him with quibbles, 
 and vex him with sophistries, until he destroyed the composure 
 of his mind, and robbed him of his strength. 
 
 No man was ever more entirely destitute of art than Mr. 
 Wythe. He knew nothing, even in his profession, and never 
 Would know anything of " crooked and indirect by-ways." 
 Whatever he had to do, was to be done openly, avowedly, and 
 above-board. He would not, even at the bar, have accepted 
 of success on any other terms. 
 
 This simplicity and integrity of character, although it some- 
 times exposed him to the arts and sneers of the less scrupulous, 
 placed him before his countrymen on the ground which Cesar 
 wished his wife to occupy ; he was not only pure, but above 
 all suspicion. The unaffected sanctity of his principles, united 
 with his modesty and simple elegance of manners, his attic wit, 
 his stores of rare knowledge, his capacity for business, and the 
 real power of his intellect, not only raised him to great emi- 
 nence in public, but rendered him a delightful companion, and 
 a most valuable friend. 
 
 But Richard Henry Lee was the Cicero of the house. His 
 face itself was on the Roman model ; his nose Cesarean ; the 
 port and carriage of his head, leaning persuasively and grace- 
 fully forward ; and the whole contour noble and fine. Mr. Lee 
 was, by far, the most elegant scholar in the house. He had 
 
 * I heard it from the late Judge Nelson, his relation. 
 
44 wirt's life ov 
 
 studied the classics in the^ue spirit of criticism. His taste 
 had that delicate touch, which seized with intuitive certainty 
 every beauty of an author, and his genius that native affinity 
 \vhich combined them Avithout an effort. Into every Avalk of 
 literature and science, he had carried this mind of exquisite 
 selection, and brought it back to the business of life, crowned 
 with every light of learning, and decked with every wreath, 
 that all the muses and all the graces could entwine. 
 
 Nor did those light decorations constitute the whole value of 
 its freight. He possessed a rich store of historical and politi- 
 cal knowledge, with an activity of observation, and a certainty 
 of judgment, that turned that knowledge to the very best ac- 
 count. He was not a lawyer by profession ; but he understood 
 thoroughly the constitution both of the m.other-country and 
 her colonies; and the elements also of the civil and municipal 
 law. Thus, while his eloquence was free from those stiff and 
 technical restraints which the habits of forensic speaking are 
 so apt to generate, he had all the legal learning which is neces- 
 sary to a statesman. He reasoned well, and declaimed freely 
 and splendidly. The note of his voice was deeper and more 
 melodious than that of Mr. Pendleton. It was the canorous 
 voice* of Cicero. 
 
 He had lost the use of one of his hands, which he kept con- 
 stantly covered with a black-silk bandage, neatly fitted to the 
 palm of his hand, but leaving his thumb free ; yet, notwith- 
 standing this disadvantage, his gesture was so graceful and so 
 highly finished, that it was said he had acquired it by practising 
 before a mirror.f Such was his promptitude, that he required 
 no preparation for debate. He was ready for any subject, as 
 soon as it was announced ; and his speech was so copious, so 
 rich, so mellifluous, set off with such bewitching cadence of 
 voice, and such captivating grace of action, that, while you 
 listened to him, you desired to hear nothing superior, and in- 
 deed thought him perfect. He had a quick sensibility and a 
 fervid imagination, which Mr. Pendleton wanted. Hence his 
 orations were warmer and more delightfully interesting ; yet 
 still, to him those keys were not consigned which could unlock 
 the sources either of the strong or tender passions. 
 
 His defect was, that he was too smooth and too sweet. His 
 style bore a striking resemblance to that of Herodotus, as de- 
 scribed by the Roman orator : " He flowed on, like a quiet 
 and placid river, without a ripple."J He flowed, too, through 
 banks covered with all the fresh verdure and variegated bloom 
 
 * Vox canora. See the Brutus, passim. t Edmund Randolph. 
 
 * Siyie ullis salebris, quasi sedatus amnis, Jluit. Orat. XII. 39. 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 45 
 
 of the spring ; but his course was too subdued, and too beauti- 
 fully regular. A cataract, like that of Niagara, crowned with 
 overhanging rocks and mountains, in all the rude and awful 
 grandeur of nature, would have brought him nearer to the 
 standard of Homer and of Henry. 
 
 These were some of the stars of first magnitude that shone 
 in the house of burgesses in the year seventeen hundred and 
 sixty-five. There was yet a cluster of minor luminaries, which 
 it were endless to delineate, but whose blended rays contrib- 
 uted to form that uncommon galaxy in which the plebeian 
 Henry was now called upon to take his place. What had he 
 to enable him to cope with all this lustre of talents and erudi- 
 tion ? Very little more than the native strength of his charac- 
 ter ; a constancy of soul, which no array of power could 
 shake ; a genius that designed with all the boldness of Angelo, 
 and an imagination that coloured with all the felicity of Titian. 
 
 It has been already stated, that Mr. Henry was elected with 
 express reference to an opposition to the stamp-act. It was 
 not, however, expected by his constituents, or meditated by 
 himself, that he should lead the opposition. The addresses of 
 the preceding year, made to the king, lords, and commons, in 
 which so strong a truth had been stated, as that the stamp-act, 
 if persisted in, would reduce the colony to a state of slavery, 
 founded a hope that those who had commenced the opposition 
 by remonstrance, would continue to give it the eclat of their 
 high names, by resistance of a bolder character, if bolder 
 should be necessary. Mr. Henry waited, therefore, to file in 
 under the first champion that should raise the banner of colo- 
 nial liberty. In the meantime, another subject unexpectedly 
 occurred to call him up, and it was on this other that he made 
 his debut in the house. 
 
 The incident has been stated to me in the following terms, 
 by a gentleman (Mr. JeflTerson) who heard the debate : " The 
 gentlemen of this country had, at that time, become deeply in- 
 volved in that state of indebtment which has since ended in so 
 general a crush of their fortunes. Mr. Robinson, the speaker, 
 was also the treasurer, an officer always chosen by the assem- 
 bly. He was an excellent man, liberal, friendly, and rich. He 
 had been drawn in to lend, on his own account, great sums of 
 money to persons of this description ; and especially those 
 who were of the assembly. 
 
 "He used freely for this purpose the public money, confiding 
 for its replacement in his own means, and the securities he had 
 taken on those loans. About this time, however, he became 
 sensible that his deficit to the public was become so enormous, 
 ^s that a discovery must soon take place, for as yet the public 
 
46 wirt's life of 
 
 had no suspicion of it. Hailfevised, therefore, with his friends 
 in the assembly, a plan for a public loan-office, to a certaia 
 amount, from which moneys might be lent on public account, 
 and on good landed security to individuals. 
 
 *' I find, in Royle's Virginia Gazette of the seventeenth of 
 May, seventeen hundred and sixty-five, this proposition for a 
 loan-office presented, its advantages detailed, and the plan ex- 
 plained. It seems to have been done by a borrowing member, 
 from the feeling with which the motives are expressed, and to 
 have been preparatory to the intended motion. Between the 
 seventeenth and thirtieth, (the latter being the date of Mr. 
 Henry's resolutions on the stamp-act,) the motion for a loan- 
 office was accordingly brought forward in the house of bur- 
 gesses ; and had it succeeded, the debts due to Robinson ou 
 these loans would have been transferred to the public, and his 
 deficit thus completely covered. 
 
 *' This state of things, however, was not yet known : but 
 Mr. Henry attacked the scheme on other general grounds, in 
 that style of bold, grand, and overwhelming eloquence, for 
 which he became so justly celebrated afterward. I had been 
 intimate with him from the year seventeen hundred and fifty- 
 nine and sixty, and felt an interest in what concerned him ; and 
 I can never forget a particular exclamation of his in the debate, 
 which electrified his hearers. It had been urged, that, from 
 certain unhappy circumstances of the colony, men of substan- 
 tial property had contracted debts, which, if exacted suddenly, 
 must ruin them and their families, but with a little indulgence 
 of time, might be paid with ease. 
 
 "* What, sir !' exclaimed Mr. Henry, in animadverting on 
 this, ' is it proposed then to reclaim the spendthrift from his 
 dissipation and extravagance, by filling his pockets with 
 money V These expressions are indelibly impressed on my 
 memory. He laid open with so much energy the spirit of fa- 
 vouritism, on which the proposition was founded, and the 
 abuses to which it would lead, that it was crushed in its birth. 
 He carried with him all the members of the upper counties, 
 and left a minority composed merely of the aristocracy of the 
 country. From this time his popularity swelled apace ; and 
 Mr. Robinson dying the year afterward, his deficit was brought 
 to light, and discovered the true object of the proposition."* 
 
 * In reply to this communication, I stated my surprise that no evidence of 
 this motion was to be found on the journals of the day, and begjcfed my corres- 
 pondent to explain it, which he does very satisfactorily hi the following terms : 
 "Abortive motions are not always entered on the journals, or rather they are 
 rarely entered. It is the modern introduction of yeas and nays which has 
 given the means of placing a rejected motion on the journals : and it is likeljr 
 
PATRICK HENRY, 
 
 47 
 
 The exclamation above quoted by my correspondent as hav- 
 xno- electrified Mr. Henry's hearers, is a striking specimen of 
 one of his great excellences in speaking; which was, the 
 power of condensing the substance of a long argument, into 
 one short pithy question. The hearer was surprised, in find- 
 ing himself brought so suddenly and so clearly to a just con- 
 clusion. He could scarcely conceive how it was effected ; and 
 could not fail to regard, with high admiration, the power of that 
 intellect which could come at its ends by so short a course; 
 and work out its purposes with the quickness and certainty of 
 
 magic. 
 
 The aristocracy were startled at such a phenomenon irom 
 the plebeian ranks. They could not be otherwise than indig- 
 nant at the presumption of an obscure and unpolished rustic, 
 who, without asking the support or countenance of any patron 
 among themselves, stood upon his own ground, and bearded 
 them "even in their den. That this rustic should have been 
 able, too, bv his single strength, to baffle their whole phalanx 
 and put it to rout, was a mortification too humiliating to be 
 easily borne. They affected to ridicule his vicious and de- 
 praved pronunciation, the homespun coarseness of his lan- 
 guage, and his hypocritical canting in relation to his humility 
 and ignorance. 
 
 But they could not help admiring and envying his wonderful 
 gifts ; that thorough knowledge of the human heart which he 
 displayed ; that power of throwing his reasoning into short 
 and clear aphorisms ; which, desultory as they were, supplied, 
 in a great degree, the place of method and logic ; that imagina- 
 tion so copious, poetic, and sublime; the irresistible power 
 with which he caused every passion to rise at his bidding ; and 
 all the rugged might and majesty of his eloquence. From this 
 moment, Ye had no friends on the aristocratic side of the 
 house. They looked upon him with envy and with terror. 
 They were forced at length to praise his genius ; but that praise 
 
 that the speaker, who, as treasurer, was to be the loan-officer, and had the di- 
 rection of the journals, would choose to omit an entry of the motion in this 
 case. This accounts sufficiently for the absence of any trace of the motion oa 
 the journals. There was no suspicion then, (so far at least as I knew,) that 
 Mr. Robinson had used the public money in private loans to his friends, and 
 that the secret object of this scheme was to transfer those debtors to the pub- 
 lic, and thus clear his accounts. I have diligently examined the names of the 
 members on the journals of seventeen hundred and sixty-four, to see if any 
 were still living, to whose memory we might recur on this subject ; but I find 
 not a single one now remaining in life." This debate must have been in sev- 
 enteen hundred and sixty-five instead of seventeen hundred and sixty-four. 
 The only surviving member of that year is Paul Carrington, sen., esq., who 
 took his seat in the house after the debate in question. 
 
48 wirt's life of 
 
 was wrung from them, wi|j|^painful reluctance. They would 
 have denied it if they could. They would have overshadowed 
 it ; and did at first tr;y to overshadow it, by magnifying- his 
 defects ; but it would have been as easy for them to have eclip- 
 sed the splendour of the sun, by pointing to his spots. 
 
 If, however, he had lost one side of the house by his un- 
 daunted manner of blowing up this aristocratic project, he had 
 made the other side his fast friends. They had listened with ad- 
 miration, unmixed with envy. Their souls had been struck with 
 amazement and rapture, and thrilled with unspeakable sensa- 
 tions which they had never felt before. The man, too, who 
 had produced these effects, luas one of themselves. This was 
 balm to them ; for there is a wide difference between that dis- 
 tant admiration, which we pay as a tax, due to long-standing 
 merit, in superior rank, and that throbbing applause which 
 rushes spontaneously and warm from the heart, toward a new 
 man and an equal. 
 
 There is always something of latent repining, approaching 
 to resentment, mingled with that respect which is exacted from 
 us by rank ; and we feel a secret gratification in seeing it hum- 
 bled. In the same proportion, we love the man who has given 
 us this gratification, and avenged, as it were, our own past in- 
 dignities. Such was precisely the state of feeling which Mr. 
 Henry produced, on the present occasion. The lower ranks 
 of the house beheld and heard him with gratitude and venera- 
 tion. They regarded him as a sturdy and wide-spreading oak, 
 beneath whose cool and refreshing shade they might take ref- 
 uge from those beams of aristocracy that had played upon them 
 so long, with rather an unpleasant heat. 
 
 After this victorious sally upon their party, the former lead- 
 ers of the house were not very well-disposed to look with a fa- 
 vourable eye on any proposition which he should make. They 
 had less idea of contributing to foster the popularity and pam- 
 per the power of a man, who seemed born to be their scourge, 
 and to drag down their ancient honours to the dust. It was in 
 this unpropitious state of things, after having waited in vain for 
 some step to be taken on the other side of the house, and 
 when the session was within three days of its expected close, 
 that Mr. Henry introduced his celebrated resolutions on the 
 stamp-act. 
 
 I will not withhold from the reader a note of this transaction 
 from the pen of Mr. Henry himself It is a curiosity, and high- 
 ly worthy of preservation. After his death, there was found 
 among his papers one sealed, and thus endorsed: "Enclosed 
 are the resolutions of the Virginia assembly in seventeen hun- 
 dred and sixty-five, concerning the stamp-act. Let my exeeu- 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 49 
 
 lors open this paper." Within was found the following copy 
 of the resolutions, in Mr. Henry's handwriting: — 
 
 " Resolved, That the first adventurers and settlers of this, 
 his majesty's colony and dominion, brought with them, and 
 •transmitted to their posterity, and all other his majesty's sub- 
 iects, since inhabiting in this, his majesty's said colony, all the 
 privileges, franchises, and immunities, that have at any time 
 been held, enjoyed, and possessed by the people of Great 
 Britain. 
 
 " Resolved, That by two royal charters, granted by King 
 James the first, the colonists, aforesaid, are declared entitled to 
 all the privileges, liberties, and immunities of denizens and nat- 
 ural-born subjects, to all intents and purposes, as if they had 
 been abiding and born within the realm of England. 
 
 "Resolved, That the taxation of the people by themselves, 
 or by persons chosen by themselves to represent them, who 
 can only know what taxes the people are able to bear, and the 
 easiest mode of raising them, and are equally affected by such 
 taxes themselves, is the distinguishing characteristic of British 
 freedom, and without which the ancient constitution cannot 
 subsist. 
 
 " Resolved, That his majesty's liege people of this most an- 
 cient colony, have uninterruptedly enjoyed the right of being 
 thus governed by their own assembly, in the article of their 
 taxes and internal police, and that the same hath never been 
 forfeited, or any other way given up, but hath been constantly 
 recognised by the king and people of Great Britain. 
 
 " Resolved, therefore. That the general assembly of this col- 
 ony have the sole right and power to lay taxes and impositions 
 upon the inhabitants of this colony ; and that every attempt to 
 vest such power in any person or persons whatsoever, other 
 than the general assembly aforesaid, has a manifest tendency 
 to destroy British as well as American freedom." 
 
 On the back of the paper containing those resolutions, is the 
 following endorsement, which U also in the handwriting of Mr. 
 Henry himself : "The within resolutions passed the house of 
 'burgesses in May, seventeen hundred and sixty-five. They 
 formed the first opposition to the stamp-act, and the scheme of 
 taxing America by the British parliament. All the colonies, 
 either through fear, or want of opportunity to form an opposi- 
 tion, or from influence of some kind or other, had remained si- 
 lent. I had been for the first time elected a burgess, a few 
 days before, was young, inexperienced, unacquainted with the 
 forms of the house, and the mem.bers that composed it. Find- 
 ing the men of weight averse to opposition, and the commence- 
 ment of the tax at hand, and that no person was likely to step 
 
 5 
 
50 wirt's life op 
 
 forth, I determined to ventm^, and alone, unadvised, and unas- 
 sisted, on a blank leaf of a^)ld law-book* wrote the within. 
 
 " Upon offering them to the house, violent debates ensued. 
 Many threats were uttered, and much abuse cast on me, by the 
 party for submission. After a long and warm contest, the res- 
 olutions passed by a very small majority, perhaps of one or two 
 only. The alarm spread throughout America with astonishing 
 quickness, and the ministerial party were overwhelmned. The 
 great point of resistance to British taxation was universally 
 established in the colonies. This brought on the war, which 
 finally separated the two countries, and gave independence to 
 ours. Whether this will prove a blessing or a curse will de- 
 pend upon the use our people make of the blessings which a 
 gracious God hath bestowed on us. If they are wise, they will 
 be great and happy. If they are of a contrary character, they 
 will be miserable. Righteousness alone can exalt them as a 
 nation. 
 
 " Reader ! whoever thou art, remember this ; and in thy 
 sphere, practise virtue thyself, and encourage it in others. — 
 P. Henry." 
 
 Such is the short, plain, and modest account which Mr. 
 Henry has left of this transaction. But other interesting par- 
 ticulars have been handed down by tradition, and live still in 
 the recollection of one, at least, now in life, as the reader will 
 presently see by his own statement. 
 
 The resolutions having been prepared in the manner which 
 has been mentioned, were shown by Mr. Henry to two mem- 
 bers only, before they were offered to the house ; these were 
 John Fleming, a most respectable member for the county of 
 Cumberland, and George Johnston, for that of Fairfax.! 
 
 The reader will remark that the first four resolutions, as left 
 by Mr. Henry, do little more than reafiirm the principles ad- 
 vanced in the address, memorial, and remonstrance of the 
 preceding year ; that is, they deny the right assumed by the 
 
 * Judge Tyler says " an old Coke upon Littleton." 
 
 t Judge Winston, on the authority of Mr. Henry himself. The report of 
 the day, that Mr. Johnston drew the resolutions, is certainly unfounded. Mr. 
 Johnston, now only known from the circumstance of his having seconded Mr. 
 Henry's resolutions, is one of those many friends of liberty who are sliding 
 fast from the recollection of their country, and who deserve to be rescued from 
 oblivion, by a more particular notice than it is in my power to bestow upon 
 them. Of Mr. Johnston, I can learn only, that he was a lawyer in the North- 
 ern Neck, highly respectable in his profession ; a scholar, distinguished for 
 vigour of intellect, cogency of argument, firmness of character, love of order, 
 and devotion to the cause of rational liberty — in short, exactly calculated by 
 his love of the cause, and the broad and solid basis of his understanding, to 
 uphold the magnificent structure of Henry's eloquence. 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 51 
 
 British parliament, and assert the exclusive right of the col- 
 ony to tax itself. There is an important difference, however, 
 between those state papers and the resolutions, in the point of 
 time and the circumstances under which they were brought 
 forward, for the address and other state papers were prepared 
 before the stamp-act had passed ; they do nothing more, there- 
 fore, than call in question, by a course of respectful and sub- 
 missive reasoning, the propriety of exercising the right, before 
 it had been exercised ; and they are, moreover, addressed to 
 the legislature of Great Britain, hy the way of 'prevention^ and 
 in a strain of decent remonstrance and argument. 
 
 But at the time when Mr. Henry offered his resolutions, the 
 stamp-act had passed ; and the resolutions were intended for 
 the people of the colonies. It will also be observed, that the 
 fifth resolution, as given by Mr. Henry, contains the bold as- 
 sertion, that every attempt to vest the power of taxation over 
 the colonies in any person or persons whatsoever, other than 
 the general assembly, had a manifest tendency to destroy Brit- 
 ish, as well as American freedom ; which was asserting, in 
 effect, that the act which had passed was an encroachment on 
 the rights and liberties of the people, and amounted to a direct 
 charge of tyranny and despotism against the British king, lords, 
 and commons. 
 
 It is not wonderful that even the friends of colonial rights, 
 who knew the feeble and defenceless situation of this country, 
 should be startled at a step so bold and daring. That effect 
 was produced ; and the resolutions were resisted, not only by 
 the aristocracy of the house, but by many of those who were 
 afterward distinguished among the brightest champions of 
 American liberty. 
 
 The following is Mr. Jefferson's account of this transaction : 
 " Mr. Henry moved and Mr. Johnston seconded these reso- 
 lutions successively. They were opposed by Messrs. Ran- 
 dolph, Bland, Pendleton, Wythe, and all the old members, 
 whose influence in the house had, till then, been unbroken. 
 They did it, not from any question of our rights, but on the 
 ground that the same sentiments had been, at their preceding 
 session, expressed in a more conciliatory form, to which the 
 answers were not yet received. But torrents of sublime elo- 
 quence from Henry, backed by the solid reasoning of John- 
 ston, prevailed. The last, however, and strongest resolution, 
 was carried but by a single vote. 
 
 "The debate on it was most bloody. I was then but a stu- 
 dent, and stood at the door of communication between the 
 house and the lobby (for as yet there was no gallery) during the 
 whole debate and vote ; and I well remember that, after the 
 
63 WIRT S LIFE OF 
 
 numbers on the division wlPI told and declared from the ehair, 
 Peyton Randolph (the attorney-general) came out at ihc door 
 where I was standing, and said, as he entered the lobby : * By 
 God, I would have given 500 guuieas for a single vote :' for 
 one would have divided the house, and Robinson was in the 
 chair, who he knew would have negatived the resolution. 
 
 " Mr. Henry left town that evening ; and the next morning, 
 before the meeting of the house, Colonel Peter Randolph, then 
 of the council, came to the hall of burgesses, and sat at the 
 clerk's table till the house-bell rang, thumbing over the vol- 
 umes of journals, to find a precedent for expunging a vote of 
 the house, which, he said, had taken place while he was a mem- 
 ber or clerk of the house, I do not recollect which. I stood by 
 him at the end of the table, a considerable part of the time, 
 looking on, as he turned over the leaves ; but I do not recollect 
 whether he found the erasure. In the meantime, some of the 
 timid members, who had voted for the strongest resolution, 
 had become alarmed ; and as soon as the house met, a motion 
 was made and carried to expunge it from the journals. 
 
 " There being at that day but one printer, and he entirely 
 under control of the governor, I do not know that this reso- 
 lution ever appeared in print. I write this from memory : but 
 the impression made on me at the time was such as to fix the 
 facts indelibly in my mind. I suppose the original journal 
 was among those destroyed by the British, or its obliterated 
 face might be appealed to. And here I will state, that Burk's 
 statement of Mr. Henry's consenting to withdraw two resolu- 
 tions, by way of compromise with his opponents, is entirely 
 erroneous." 
 
 The manuscript journal of the day is not to be found ; whether 
 it was suppressed, or casually lost, must remain a matter of 
 uncertainty ; it disappeared, however, shortly after the ses- 
 sion,* and therefore could not have been among the documents 
 destroyed by the British during the revolutionary war, as con- 
 jectured by Mr. Jefferson. 
 
 In the interesting fact of the erasure of the fifth resolution, 
 Mr. Jefferson is supported by the distinct recollection of Mr. 
 Paul Carrington, late a judge of the court of appeals of Vir- 
 ginia, and the only surviving member, it is believed, of the 
 house of burgesses of seventeen hundred and sixty-five. The 
 statement is also confirmed, if indeed further confirmation were 
 necessary, by the circumstance, that instead of the five resolu- 
 
 * " The manuscript journal was missing ten years before hostilities between 
 the two countries ; therefore could not have been destroyed, as you supposed 
 probable." — Paul Carrington, senr. 
 
PATRICK HENRY. &3 
 
 iions, so solemnly recorded by Mr. Henry, as having passed 
 the house, the journal of the day exhibits only the following 
 four : — 
 
 " Resolved, That the first adventurers and settlers of this 
 his majesty's colony and dominion of Virginia, brought with 
 them and transmitted to their posterity, and all others his ma- 
 jesty's subjects, since inhabiting in this his majesty's said colo- 
 ny, all the liberties, privileges, franchises, and immunities, that 
 have at any time been held, enjoyed, and possessed by the peo- 
 ple of Great Britain. 
 
 " Resolved, That by two royal charters, granted by King 
 James I., the colonists aforesaid are declared entitled to all 
 liberties, privileges, and immunities of denizens and natural 
 subjects to all intents and purposes, as if they had been abiding 
 and born within the realm of England. 
 
 " Resolved, That the taxation of the people, by themselves, 
 or by persons chosen by themselves to represent them, who 
 can only know what taxes the people are able to bear, or 
 the easiest method of raising them ; and must, themselves, 
 be affected by every tax laid on the people, is the only security 
 against a burdensome taxation, and the distinguishing character- 
 istic of British freedom, without which the ancient constitution 
 cannot exist. 
 
 "Resolved, That his majesty's liege people of this his most 
 ancient and loyal colony have, without interruption, enjoyed 
 the inestimable right of being governed by such laws re- 
 specting their internal polity and taxation, as are derived 
 from their own consent, with the approbation of their sover- 
 eign, or his substitute ; and that the same hath never been 
 forfeited or yielded up, but hath been constantly recognised by 
 the kings and people of Great Britain.''^* 
 
 " By these resolutions," says Mr. Jefferson, " and his man- 
 
 * Such are the resolutions, as they were amended and passed by the house, 
 with the exception of that which was rescinded on the next day. — Journals of 
 seventeen hundred and sixty-five, page 150. Several historical mistakes have 
 been committed in relation to these resolutions. Judge Marshall, in his Life 
 of Washington, (vol. 2d, note 4th, of the appendix,) gives an erroneous copy 
 of them, from the book called Prior Documents ; in this, he is set right by tha 
 journals : he represents six as having been offered, and two rejected ; his au- 
 thority for this, again, is the Prior Documents : but he is contradicted by Mr. 
 Henry, himself, who represents five only as having been offered and passed, 
 and Mr. Henry's written statement accords with the clear and strong recollec- 
 tion both of Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Carrington. 
 
 Mr. Burk gives the same erroneous copy with Judge Marshall, and adds to 
 them several mistakes of his own : he says the resolutions passed, by a large 
 majority, forty only having voted against them. Mr. Burk did not know the 
 number of the members, or he would have known that a vote of forty, in the 
 negative, would not have left a large majority in favour of the resolutions. 
 But we have the authority of Mr. Henry himself, (as we have seen,) of Mr. 
 
 5* 
 
54 wirt's life of 
 
 ner of supporting them, M#^enry took the lead out of the 
 hands of those who had, theretofore, guided the proceedings 
 of the house ; that is to say, of Pendleton, Wythe, Bland, Ran- 
 dolph." It was, indeed, the measure which raised him to the 
 zenith of his glory. He had never before had a subject which 
 entirely matched his genius, and was capable of drawing out 
 all the powers of his mind. It was remarked of him through- 
 out his life, that his talents never failed to rise with the occa- 
 sion, and in proportion with the resistance which he had to 
 encounter. The nicety of the vote, on his last resolution, 
 proves that this was not a time to hold in reserve any part of 
 his forces. 
 
 It was, indeed, an Alpine passage, under circumstances even, 
 more unpropitious than those of Hannibal ; for he had not only 
 to fight, hand to hand, the powerful party who were already in 
 possession of the heights, but at the same instant to cheer and 
 animate the timid band of followers, that were trembling, and 
 fainting, and drawing back below him. It was an occasion 
 that called upon him to put forth all his strength, and he did 
 put it forth, in such a manner as man never did before. 
 
 The cords of argument with which his adversaries frequently 
 flattered themselves that they had bound him fast, became pack- 
 threads in his hands. He burst them with as much ease as the 
 unshorn Samson did the bands of the Philistines. He seized 
 the pillars of the temple, shook them terribly, and seemed to 
 threaten his opponents with ruin. It was an incessant storm 
 of lightning and thunder, which struck them aghast. The faint- 
 hearted gathered courage from his countenance, and cowards 
 became heroes while they gazed upon his exploits. 
 
 Jefferson, and of Mr. Carrington, for saying that the resolutions were carried 
 by a majority of 07ic only ; on what authority Mr. Burk speaks, we are not in- 
 formed. His whole account of Mr. Henry's proposal on the next day, to se- 
 cede, and of his finally giving up two resolutions, for the sake of unanimity, is 
 contradicted again by Mr. Henry, Mr. Jefferson, and Mr. Carrington ; there is 
 no such statement in the papers of the day, and the author does not conde- 
 scend to give us his authority. Mr. Burk's skeleton of Mr. Henry's speech, 
 on that occasion, is believed to be equally apocryphal ; the author of these 
 sketches has not been able to procure a single authentic trace of that speech, 
 except the anecdote presently given in the text. 
 
 Mr. Burk concludes his account of this affair thus : " Struck with the 
 alarming tendency of these proceedings, the governor suddenly dissolved the 
 assembly,*' &c. — Vol. 3d, page 310. In opposition to this statement, we are 
 told by Mr. Henry himself, that when he offered his resolutions, the session 
 was near its regular close ; and the journals prove the fact to have been so. 
 Mr. Henry left town for home on the evening of the day on which his resolu- 
 tions were adopted ; it was on the next day (consequently in his absence) that 
 the motion to rescind was made ; and the printed journals show that day and 
 the day following to have been occupied with the usual business which closea 
 a legislative session. 
 
PATRICK HENKr. 55 
 
 It was in the midst of this magnificent debate, while he was 
 descanting on the tyranny of the obnoxious act, that he ex- 
 claimed in a voice of thunder, and with the look of a god : — 
 " Cesar had his Brutus — Charles the First, his Cromwell — and 
 George the Third " — (" Treason," cried the speaker — " Treason, 
 treason !" echoed from every part of the house. It was one of 
 those trying moments which is decisive of character. Henry 
 faltered not for an instant ; but rising to a loftier attitude, and 
 fixing on the speaker an eye of the most determined fire, he 
 finished his sentence with the firmest emphasis) — '■'■may 'profit 
 ly their exam'ple. If this be treason, make the most of it."* 
 
 This was the only expression of defiance which escaped him 
 during the debate. He was, throughout life, one of the most 
 perfectly and uniformly decorous speakers that ever took the 
 floor of the house. He was respectful even to humility ; and 
 the provocation must be gross indeed which Avould induce him 
 to notice it. Yet when he did notice it, better were it for the 
 man never to have been born, than to fall into the hands of such 
 an adversary. One lash from his scourge was infamy for life ; 
 his look of anger or contempt was almost death. 
 
 After this debate, there was no longer a question among the 
 body of the people, as to Mr. Henry's being the first statesman 
 and orator in Virginia. Those, indeed, whose ranks he had 
 scattered, and whom he had thrown into the shade, still tried 
 to brand him with the names of declaimer and demagogue. 
 But this was obviously the effect of envy and mortified pride. 
 A mere declaimer and demagogue could never have gained, 
 much less have kept for more than thirty years, that ground 
 which Mr. Henry held ; with a people, too, so cool, judicious, 
 firm, and virtuous, as those who achieved the American revo- 
 lution. 
 
 From the period of which we have been speaking, Mr. Hen- 
 ry became the idol of the people of Virginia ; nor was his name 
 confined to his native state. His light and heat were seen and 
 felt throughout the continent; and he was eve^where regard- 
 ed as the great champion of colonial liberty. 
 
 The impulse thus given by Virginia, was caught by the other 
 colonies. Her resolutions were everywhere adopted with pro- 
 gressive variations. The spirit of resistance became bolder 
 
 * I had frequently heard the above anecdote of the cry of treason, but v/ith 
 su h variations of the conchidincr vi'ords, that I began to doubt whether the 
 ■whole might not be fiction. With a view^ to ascertain the truth, therefore, I 
 submitted it to Mr. Jefferson, as it had been given to me by Judge Tyler, and 
 this is his answer : " I well remember the cry of treason, the pause of Mr. 
 Henry at the name of Georfxe III., and the presence of mind with which he 
 closed his sentence, and baffled the charge vociferated." The incident, there- 
 fore, becomes authentic history. 
 
56 wirt's life of 
 
 and bolder, until the whol^ontinent was in a flame; and by 
 the first of November, when the stamp act was, according to 
 5ts provisions, to have taken effect, its execution had become ut- 
 terly impracticable."* 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Repeal of the Stamp-Act — Session of 1766 — Mr. Henry's Character as a 
 Lawyer — Anecdote of Major Scott — State of Feeling in the British Parlia- 
 ment — Remonstrance of the Massachusetts Legislature — Obnoxious Charac- 
 ter of the Soldiery stationed in America — Collision of the People in New 
 York with the Troops — Farther Encroachments of Parliament — Opposition 
 of Massachusetts to the new Duties — Dissolution of the Colonial Legisla- 
 tures — Appointment of Corresponding Committees — Notice of Mr. Carr— 
 Sketch of the Virginia Legislature of 1773 — Mr. Henry's Views on the 
 Issue of the Contest with Great Britain — Dissolution of the House of Bur- 
 gesses — Subsequent Proceedings — Delegates appointed — Mr. Henry appomi- 
 ed a Deputy to a Congress of the Colonies. — The Congress meets at Phil- 
 adelphia. 
 
 At the opening of the next session, the speaker announced 
 the repeal of the stamp-act; and the house of burgesses, in a 
 paroxysm of feeling, voted a statue to the king, and an obelisk 
 to the British patriots by whose exertions the repeal had been 
 elfected. But before these monuments of national gratitude 
 could be executed the effervescence subsided ; and on the ninth 
 of December, seventeen hundred and sixty-six, the bill which 
 had been prepared for that purpose, was postponed to the first 
 day of the next session ; after which, we hear of it no more. 
 
 At the session of seventeen hundred and sixty-six, a question 
 of great interest in those days, and one of real importance to 
 the colony, came on to be discussed in the house of burgesses. 
 Mr. Robinson, who had so long held the joint offices of speak- 
 er and treasurer, was now dead. The general fact of his de- 
 linquency as t|||asurer was understood, although the sum was 
 not yet ascertained ; and that delinquency, whatever it might 
 be, was alleged to have arisen principally from loans made to 
 
 * The chronicles of the day e.xhibit, in a manner very curious and interest- 
 ing, the progress of these feelings. We have already given a specimen of the 
 drooping spirit of the Pennsylvania Gazette, on the first annunciation of the 
 stamp-act ; but after Mr. Henry had touched with his match the train of 
 American courage, its scintillations were seen, sparkling and flashing, on every 
 page of this paper. Thus, in the paper of June twentieth, seventeen hun- 
 dred and seventy-five : "We learn from the northward, that the stamp-act 
 is to take effect in America on All Saints' day, the first of November next. 
 In the year seventeen hundred and fifty-five, on the first of November, hap- 
 
 fened that dreadful and memorable earthquake which destroyed the city o! 
 asboji." 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 57 
 
 members of the house of burgesses. As the speaker, although 
 elected in the first instance by the house, could not act until 
 approved by the governor, and, when so approved, was in office 
 for seven years, re-eligible indefinitely — and, as in the recent 
 instance of Mr. Robinson, it had been discovered, that an office 
 so held was too apt to generate a devotion to the purposes of 
 the British court — it was considered by the patriots in the 
 house, as a measure of sound policy, to take out of the hands 
 of the speaker so formidable an engine of corruption and pow- 
 er as the treasury of the colony.* 
 
 A motion was therefore made to separate the office of treas- 
 urer from the speaker's chair, which was supported by Mr. 
 Henry with his usual ability. An arduous struggle ensued. 
 Innovations, however correct in themselves, never fail to star- 
 tle those who have grown gray in a veneration for the existing 
 order of things. They fancy that they see in every important 
 change an indirect blow at the established government, and at 
 the foundations of their own property. This union of the 
 speaker's chair with the office of treasurer, was one of those 
 errors in policy which time had consecrated, and it required a 
 hand both steady and skilful to remove the veil and expose its 
 deformity. That hand was furnished by Mr. Henry. 
 
 The union of boldness and decency which composed his char- 
 acter, of decisive energy in the support of his own opinions, 
 and respectful tenderness toward those of others, fitted him pe- 
 cuharly for the discharge of this duty. The house admired, on 
 this occasion, the facility with which he could adapt himself 
 to any subject. He had that foundation of strong natural sense, 
 without which genius is a misfortune ; an instinctive accuracy 
 of judgment, which always proportioned his efforts to the occa- 
 sion. He was never guilty of the ridiculous and common error 
 among young members, of attempting to force the subject be- 
 yond its nature — of swelling trifles into consequence, and work- 
 ing the ocean into tempest, 
 
 " To waft a feather, or to drown a fly." 
 
 It is almost superfluous to add, that such a cause, in the hands 
 of such an advocate, did not fail of success. The motion for 
 separating the two offices being carried, a committee was ap- 
 
 * A correspondent furnishes the followinj^ note on this passage : " There 
 was but one clear and sound bottom on which the separation of the chair and 
 the treasury was decided. The legislature made all the levies of money pay- 
 able into the hands of their speaker, over whom they had control. The only 
 hold the governor had on him was, a negative on his appointment as speaker 
 at every new election, which amounted, consequently, to a negative on him as 
 treasurer, and disposed him, so far, to be obsequious to the governor." 
 
58 WIRT S LIFE OF 
 
 pointed to examine the accents of the late treasurer, and their 
 report disclosed an enormous deficit, exceeding a hundred thou- 
 sand pounds. 
 
 On the separation of the offices of speaker, and treasurer, 
 Peyton Randolph, the attorney-general, was elected to the 
 chair ; and Robert C. Nicholas, an eminent lawyer and a most 
 virtuous man, to the office of treasurer. 
 
 After having tried his strength for several years on the legis- 
 lative floor, against some of the brightest champions of the bar, 
 Mr. Henry came, in the year seventeen hundred and sixty-nine, 
 to the bar itself of the general court. " The profits of his prac- 
 tice, theretofore," says my informant. Judge Winston, "must 
 have been very moderate. For about this time, he informed 
 me that he thought his property was not worth more than fif- 
 teen hundred pounds ; adding, that if he could only make it 
 double that sum, he should be entirely content." 
 
 At this bar, he entered into competition with all the first legal 
 characters in the colony, some of whom had been educated at 
 the Temple. Mr. Pendleton and Mr. Wythe have been already 
 mentioned: but, in addition to these, he had to encounter Mr. 
 John Randolph, Mr. Thompson Mason, Mr. Robert C. Nicho- 
 las, Mr. Mercer, Mr. Blair, and Mr. Jeflerson ; all of them 
 masters of the learning of their profession, and all of them men 
 of pre-eminent abilities. 
 
 It cannot be expected from Mr. Henry's legal preparation, 
 that he was able to contend with these gentlemen on a mere 
 question of law. He wanted that learning whose place no 
 splendour of genius can supply to the lawyer ; and he wanted 
 those habits of steady and persevering application, without 
 which that learning is not to be acquired. It is said, indeed, 
 that he was wofully deficient as a lawyer ; so little acquainted 
 with the fundamental principles of his profession, and so little 
 skilled in that system of artificial reasoning on which the com- 
 mon law is built, as not to be able to see the remote bearings 
 of the reported cases ; and hence, it has been said, that it hap- 
 pened with him not unfrequently, whenever he did attempt to 
 argue a question of law, to furnish authorities destructive to his 
 own cause. 
 
 Yet he never did and never could vanquish his aversion to 
 the systematic study of the law. On questions turning on the 
 laws of nations, and even on the maritime law, whose basis is 
 natural reason and justice, his vigour of mind made him occa- 
 sionally very great. One of my correspondents, for example, 
 relates to me an instance of his appearing in the court of admi- 
 ralty, under the regal government, in behalf of a Spanish cap- 
 tain, whose vessel and cargo had been libelled. A gentleman 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 59 
 
 who was present, and who was very well qualified to judge, 
 v/as heard to declare, after the trial was over, that he never 
 heard a more eloquent or argumentative speech in his life; that 
 Mr. Henry was on that occasion greatly superior to Mr. Pen- 
 dleton, Mr. Mason, or any other counsel who spoke to the sub- 
 ject : and that he was astonished how Mr. Henry could have 
 acquired such a knowledge of the maritime law, to which, it 
 was believed, he had never before turned his attention. 
 
 But this special preparation on a given subject, and that sub- 
 ject, too, depending on the liberal and equitable principles of 
 the maritime law, is not at all at variance with the report o£ 
 his inefficiency, on questions to be decided by the common law 
 merely. The power of arguing questions, of the latter descrip- 
 tion to advantage, requires the mind, in the first place, to be 
 deeply imbued with that peculiar spirit of reasoning which 
 reigns throughout the whole system of the common law ; and, 
 in the next, it requires a cool and clear accuracy of thinking, 
 and an elaborate exactness and nicety in the deduction of 
 thought, to which Mr. Henry's early and inveterate habits of 
 indolence, as well as the sublime and excursive fervour of his 
 genius, were altogether hostile. 
 
 It was on questions before a jury, that he was in his natural 
 element. There, his intimate knowledge of human nature, and 
 the rapidity as well as justness of his inferences, from the flit- 
 ting expressions of the countenance, as to what was passing in 
 the hearts of his hearers, availed him fully. The jury might be 
 composed of entire strangers, yet he rarely failed to know them, 
 man by man, before the evidence was closed. There was no 
 studied fixture of features that could long hide the charac- 
 ter from his piercing and experienced view. The slightest un- 
 guarded turn of countenance, or motion of the eye, let him at 
 once into the soul of the man whom he was observing. 
 
 Or, if he doubted whether his conclusions were correct, from 
 the exhibitions of countenance during the narration of the evi- 
 dence, he had a mode of playing a prelude, as it were, upon 
 the jury, in his exordium, which never failed to " wake into 
 life each silent string," and show him the whole compass as 
 well as pitch of the instrument ; and, indeed, (if we may be- 
 lieve all the concurrent accounts of his exhibitions in the general 
 court,) the most exquisite performer that ever " swept the 
 sounding lyre" had not more a sovereign mastery over its pow- 
 ers, than Mr. Henry had over the springs of feeling and thought 
 that belong to a jury. There was a delicacy, a taste, a felicity 
 in his touch, that was perfectly original, and without a rival. 
 
 His style of address, on these occasions, is said to have re- 
 sembled very much that of the scriptures. It was strongly 
 
60 wirt's life of 
 
 marked with the same sim^city, the same energy, the same 
 pathos. He sounded no alarm ; lie made no parade, to put the 
 jury on their guard. It was aJl so natural, so humble, so un- 
 assuming-, that they were carried imperfectly along, and attuned 
 to his purpose, until some master-touch dissolved them into 
 tears. His language of passion was perfect. There was no 
 word " of learned length or thundering sound," to break the 
 charm. It had almost all the stillness of solitary thinking. It 
 was a sweet revery, a delicious trance. 
 
 His voice, too, had a wonderful effect. He had a singular 
 power of infusing it into a jury, and mixing its notes with their 
 nerves, in a manner which it is impossible to describe justly ; 
 but which produced a thrilling excitement, in the happiest con- 
 cordance with his designs. No man knew so well as he did 
 what kind of topics to urge to their understandings ; nor what 
 kind of simple imagery to present to their hearts. His eye, 
 which he kept riveted upon them, assisted the process of fas- 
 cination, and at the same time informed him what theme to 
 press, or at what instant to retreat, if by rare accident he touch- 
 ed an unpropitious string. And then he had such an exuber- 
 ance of appropriate thoughts, of apt illustrations, of apposite 
 images, and such a melodious and varied roll of the happiest? 
 words, that the hearer was never wearied by repetition, and 
 never winced from an apprehension that the intellectual treas- 
 ures of the speaker would be exhausted.* 
 
 The defence of criminal causes was his great professional 
 forte. It seems that the eighth day of the general court was 
 formerly set apart for criminal business. Mr. Henry made 
 
 * A striking example of this witchery of his eloquence, even on common 
 subjects, was related by a very respectable gentleman, the late Major Joseph 
 Scott, the marshal of this state. This gentleman had been summoned, at 
 great inconvenience to his private affairs, to attend as a witness a distant court, 
 in which Mr. Henry practised. The cause which had carried him thither hav- 
 ing been disposed of, he was setting out in great haste to return, when the 
 sheriff summoned him to serve on a jury. This cause was represented as a 
 complicated and important one ; so important as to have enlisted in it all the 
 most eminent members of the bar. , 
 
 He was therefore alarmed at the prospect of a long detention, and made an 
 unavailing effort with the court to get himself discharged from the jury. He 
 was compelled to take his seat. When his patience had been nearly exhaust- 
 ed by the previous speakers, Mr. Henry rose to conclude the cause, and having 
 much matter to answer, the major stated that he considered himself a prisoner 
 for the evening, if not for the night. But, to his surprise, Mr. Henry appear- 
 ed to have consumed not more than fifteen minutes in the reply ; and he 
 would scarcely believe his own watch, or those of the other jurymen, when 
 they informed him that he had in reality been speaking upward of two hours. 
 ^So powerful was the charm by which he could bind the senses of his hearers, 
 
 I'l make even the most impatient unconscious of the lapse of time. 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 61 
 
 little or no figure during the civil days of the court; but on 
 the eighth day he was the monarch of the bar. These causes 
 brought him into direct collision with Mr. John Randolph, who 
 Jtiad now succeeded Peyton as the attorney-general. 
 
 Mr. Randolph, it has been remarked, was, in person and 
 manners among the most elegant gentlemen in the coloiiy, and 
 in his profession one of the most splendid ornaments of the bar. 
 He was a polite scholar, as well as a profound lawyer, and his 
 eloquence also was of a high order. His voice, action, style, 
 were stately, and uncommonly impressive ; but gigantic as he 
 was in relation to other men, he was but a pigmy, when op- 
 posed in a criminal trial to the arch magician, Henry. In 
 those cases Mr. Henry was perfectly irresistible. He adapted 
 himself, without effort, to the character of the cause : seized 
 with the quickness of intuition, its defensible point, and never 
 permitted the jury to lose sight of it. 
 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds has said of Titian, that, by a few 
 strokes of his pencil, he knew how to mark the image and 
 character of whatever object he attempted ; and produced by 
 this means a truer representation than any of his predecessors, 
 v:ho finished every hair. In like manner, Mr. Henry, by a few 
 master-strokes upon the evidence, could in general stamp upon 
 the cause whatever image or character he pleased; and con- 
 vert it into tragedy or comedy, at his sovereign will, and with 
 a power which no efforts of his adversary could counteract. 
 
 He never wearied the jury by a dry and minute analysis of 
 the evidence ; he did not expend his strength in finishing- the 
 hairs; he produced all his high effect by those rare master- 
 touches, and by the resistless skill with which, in a very few 
 words, he could mould and colour the promment facts of a 
 cause to his purpose. He had wonderful address, too, in lead- 
 ing off the minds of his hearers from the contemplation of un- 
 favourable points, if at any time they were too stubborn to 
 yield to his power of transformation. He beguiled the hearer 
 so far from them, as to diminish them by distance, and soften, 
 if not entirely cast into shade, their too strong natural colours. 
 At this distance, too, he had a better opportunity of throwing 
 upon them a false light, by an apparently casual ray of refraction 
 from other points in the evidence, whose powers no man bet- 
 ter knew how to array and concentrate, in order to disguise or 
 eclipse an obnoxious fact. 
 
 It required a mind of uncommon vigilance, and most intracta- 
 ble temper, to resist this charm with which he decoyed away 
 liis hearers ; it demanded a rapidity of penetration which is 
 rarely, if ever, to be found in the jury-box, to detect the intel- 
 lectual juggle by which he spread his nets around them ; it 
 
 6 
 
68 wirt's life of 
 
 called for a stubbornness ^d obduracy of soul which do 
 not exist, to sit unmoved under the pictures of horror, or of 
 pity which started from his canvass. 
 
 They might resolve, if they pleased, to decide the cause 
 against him, and to disregard everything which he could urge 
 in the defence of his client. But it was all in vain. Some 
 feint, in an unexpected direction, threw them off their guard, 
 and they were gone ; some happy phrase, burning from the 
 soul ; some image fresh from Nature's mint, and bearing her 
 own beautiful and genuine impress, struck them with delight- 
 ful surprise, and melted them into conciliation; and concilia- 
 tion toward Mr. Henry, was victory inevitable. In short, he 
 understood the human character so perfectly ; knew so well 
 all its strength and all its weaknesses, together with every path 
 and by-way which winds around to the citadel of the best forti- 
 fied heart and mind, that he never failed to take them, either 
 by stratagem or storm. Hence he was, beyond doubt, the 
 ablest defender of criminals in Virginia, and will probably never 
 be equalled again. 
 
 It has been observed, that Mr. Henry's knowledge of the 
 common law was extremely defective ; but his attendance upon 
 the general court was calculated to cure that defect, in a con- 
 siderable degree. All legal questions of magnitude or diffi- 
 culty came before that tribunal, either originally or by appeal ; 
 and he had continual opportunities of hearing them discussed 
 in the ablest manner, by the brightest luminaries of the Ameri- 
 can bar. 
 
 His was a mind on which nothing was lost ; oh which no 
 useful seed could be cast without shooting into all the luxuri- 
 ance of which its nature was susceptible. Thus improving 
 every hint, and ramifying every principle which was brought 
 into his view, there is reason to believe that a few years must 
 have made him not only a master of the general canons of 
 property, but of the modifications and exceptions of more fre- 
 quent occurrence, by which those canons are restrained and 
 governed. 
 
 In support of this conclusion, I find that in January, seven- 
 teen hundred and seventy-three, Robert C. Nicholas, who had 
 enjoyed the first practice at the bar, and who, by virtue of his 
 oilice of treasurer, was forced to relinquish that practice, com- 
 mitted, by a public advertisement, his unfinished business to 
 Mr. Henry ; a step which a man so remarkably scrupulous in 
 the discharge of every moral duty would not have taken, had 
 there been any incompetency on the part of his substitute. 
 
 The British ministry, however, did not permit Mr. Henry to 
 waste himself in forensic exertions. The joy of the Amer- 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 63 
 
 icans, on the repeal of the stamp-act, was very short-lived. 
 That measure had not been, on the part of the British parlia- 
 ment, a voluntary sacrifice to truth and right. The ministry 
 and their friends disavowed this ground; and were forward on 
 every occasion, to convince the colonies that they had nothing 
 to expect, either from the clemency or the magnanimity of 
 the British cabinet. 
 
 Thus on a question of supplies for the army, in the session 
 of parliament of seventeen hundred and sixty-six and seven, 
 a motion was made in the house of commons, that the revenues 
 arising and to arise in America, be applied to subsisting the 
 troops now there, and those other regiments which it is -pro- 
 posed to send; in support of which, that brilliant political 
 meteor, Charles Townsend, urged, among other things, *' the 
 propriety of more troops being sent to America, and of their 
 being quartered in the large towns^ 
 
 He said, that he had a plan preparing, which he would lay be- 
 fore the house, for the raising of supplies in America. That 
 the legislative authority of Great Britain extended to every col- 
 ony in every particular. That the distinction between internal 
 and external taxes was nonsense; and that he voted for the 
 repeal of the stamp-act, not because it was not a good act, but 
 because, at that time, there appeared a propriety in repealing 
 it. He added, that he repeated the sentence, that the galleries 
 might hear him, and after that, he did not expect to have his 
 statue erected in America : in all which, Mr. Grenville joined 
 him fully. This temper soon manifested itself in open acts, 
 and turned the late joy of the colonies into mourning. 
 
 The first obnoxious measure was a stern demand of satisfac- 
 tion from the legislatures of the colonies, for the injuries which 
 had been done to the stamp-officers and their adherents. The 
 legislature of Massachusetts, of whom this demand was first 
 made, very respectfully, and with good reason, questioned the 
 propriety and justice of taxing the whole colony for the ex- 
 cesses of a few individuals, which^they had neither prompted 
 nor approved ; for the sake of peace, however, and in the spirit 
 of accommodation, that satisfaction was given ; but they an- 
 nexed to their vote of satisfaction a grant of pardon to the 
 rioters; and, in England, according to the usual courtesy of 
 that country, nothing was said of the satisfaction, while the 
 pardon was treated as a most insolent and impudent usurpation 
 of the royal authority. 
 
 The next step was that suggested by Mr. Townsend, of quar- 
 tering large bodies of troops upon the chief towns in the col- 
 onies, and demanding of the several colonial legislatures a pro- 
 vision for their comfortable support and accommodation. A 
 
64 wirt's life of 
 
 measure more replete with^^asperation could scarcely have 
 been devised. The very presence of those myrmidons was an 
 insult ; for it was a direct reflection on the fidelity of the col- 
 onists. Their object was perfectly understood : it was to curb 
 the just and honourable spirit of the people ; to dragoon them 
 into submission to the parliamentary claim of taxation, and 
 reduce them to the condition of vassals, governed by the right 
 of conquest. The rudeness of the soldiery, too, was well cal- 
 culated to keep up and increase the irritation, which their pres- 
 ence alone would have been sufficient to excite. 
 
 In Boston, they were in the habit of stopping the most re- 
 spectable citizens in the streets, and compelling them to answer 
 insulting inquiries, or committing them to confinement on their 
 refusal, assigning, as the ground of their conduct, that the town 
 was a garrisoned town. In New York, they provoked a con- 
 test with the people, by making war upon a liberty-pole, which 
 w^as the first object of their earthly devotions, and which the 
 soldiers continually destroyed or attempted to destroy, as soon 
 as it could be replaced. And, as if all this insult and humil- 
 iation were not enough, the colonies were to be constrained to 
 tax themselves, to foster and cherish those instruments of their 
 degradation. 
 
 The legislature of New York, in a tone at least sufficiently 
 submissive for the occasion, and on the false ground of the in- 
 ability of the colony, begged to be excused from making the 
 provision. For this high oflfence, the legislative power of that 
 colony was abolished by act of parliament, until they should 
 submit to make the provision which was required : and they 
 did submit. 
 
 A body of British troops, alleged to have been driven by 
 stress of weather into Boston, in the recess of the colonial 
 legislature, had been provided for out of the public moneys, by 
 the governor and his council. The legislature met shortly 
 afterward, and remonstrated against this unconstitutional ap- 
 propriation, with that Roman firmness and dignity which mark- 
 ed the character of Massachusetts in every stage of the contest. 
 But Governor Bernard, highly indignant at what he aflfected to 
 consider as presumption, made such a communication upon the 
 subject to the British court, as could have had, and could have 
 been designed to have, no other effect than to widen the breach, 
 and inflame more highly those animosities which already re- 
 quired no new aggravation. 
 
 These military preparations were well understood to be the 
 harbingers of some unconstitutional act, the execution of which 
 they were necessary to enforce. Why those preparations were 
 restricted to the northern states, and more particularly to Mas- 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 65 
 
 sachusctts, has never been satisfactorily explained. There 
 was no colony which resisted with more firmness and con- 
 stancy the pretensions of the British parliament than that of 
 Virginia; yet no military force was thought necessary, during 
 the lives of the governors Fauquier and Bottetourt, to keep 
 down the spirit of rebellion in this colony. 
 
 A solution of the difficulty may perhaps be found in the 
 character of the different governors. Virginia had the good 
 fortune, during this period, to be governed by enlightened and 
 amiable men, who saw and did justice to the motives and meas- 
 ure of resistance which was meditated ; who were both able 
 and willing to distinguish between reason and force, between 
 remonstrance and rebellion ; who perceived with pleasure, the 
 spirit of genuine and unaffected loyalty and affection for the 
 parent-country, which mingled itself with every complaint ; 
 and who, in their communications to the British court, were 
 disposed rather " to extenuate," than " to set down aught in 
 malice." Whereas Bernard, the governor of Massachusetts, 
 was the fit instrument and apt representative of the masters 
 whom he served : for he had all their pride and unfeeling inso- 
 lence, and seems to have enjoyed a kind of fiend-like pleasure, 
 in rendering his province hateful at home, by the most viru- 
 lent misrepresentations ; and in drawing down upon her the ac- 
 cumulated curses and oppressions of the parent-country.* 
 
 These preparatory steps having been taken, an act of parlia- 
 ment was passed, imposing certain duties on glass, white and 
 red lead, painters' colours, tea, and paper, imported into the 
 colonies. This act was to take effect on the twentieth of No- 
 vember, seventeen hundred and sixty-seven ; and, to insure its 
 operation, another act authorized the king to appoint a board 
 of trade to reside in the colonies, and to instruct them at his 
 pleasure and without limits, as to the mode of executing their 
 duties under this law. A commission accordingly issued, by 
 which the commissioners were armed with a power of search 
 and seizure, at their discretion ; with authority to call for aid 
 upon the naval and military establishments within the colony ; 
 and with an exemption from prosecution or responsibility be- 
 
 * Extract of a letter, dated London, June fifth, seventeen hundred and 
 seventy : "The people of England now curse Governor Bernard, as bitterly 
 as those of America. Bernard was drove out of the Smyrna coffee-house, 
 not many days since, by General Oglethorpe, who told him he was a dirty, 
 factious scoundrel, and smelled cursed strong of the hangman ; that he had 
 better leave the room, as unworthy to mix with gentlemen of character, but 
 that he would give him the satisfaction of following him to the door, had htt 
 any thing to reply. The governor left the house like a guilty coward." — PernP' 
 sylvania Gazette, August 30th, 1770. 
 
 6* 
 
fore any of the 'king''s couris, for whatsoever they might do, 
 by any construction of their commission. 
 
 Another measure which gave great offence to the colonies, 
 was the establishment of a board of admiralty, with extensive 
 powers, supported by large salaries independent of the colo- 
 nies, yet drawn from the revenues compulsorily levied upon 
 them ; and the appointment, also, of common law judges, to be 
 paid by the crown out of the revenues of the colony, and to 
 hold their offices during the king's pleasure. 
 
 To ail these outrages the legislatures of the colonies answer- 
 ed by petitions, memorials, remonstrances, and letters, address- 
 ed to the friendiS of colonial liberty in England ; blending, with 
 the strongest professions of loyalty, the expression of their 
 hope, that those obnoxious measures would be reconsidered 
 and reversed, and the colonies protected in their ancient and 
 unalienable rights. In reply, they received from the kindest 
 of their English friends, only exhortations to patience under 
 their sufferings ; by the court-party, menaces and anathemas 
 werebrandishedover their heads; and the commissioners of the 
 revenue, together with their auxiliaries, the naval and military 
 officers and soldiery, continued to outrage and insult them, both 
 in their persons and property. 
 
 The people of Massachusetts, with the view of frustrating 
 the new revenue-bill, entered into an association, by which 
 they bound themselves not to import from Great Britain, or use 
 any of the articles taxed ; and included in the resolution every 
 article of British manufacture which was not of the first and 
 most indispensable necessity. The legislature of that state 
 also resolved on a circular-letter to their sister-colonies, invi- 
 ting their concurrence and co-operation toward procuring re- 
 lief, in a constitutional way, from the grievances under which 
 they were all suilering. 
 
 This measure having been reported by Governor Bernard, 
 with his usual embellishments, to the Earl of Hilsborough, the 
 British minister for the American department, that minister re- 
 quired the governor to demand of the legislature an immediate 
 rescission of their resolution, on pain of their being forthwith 
 dissolved. They refused to rescind, and were dissolved ac- 
 cordingly. The same minister also addressed a circular-letter 
 to the governors of the other colonies, exhorting them to crush 
 this correspondence and concert among the colonial legisla- 
 tures in the bud, by exacting from them an assurance that they 
 would not answer the circular of Massachusetts. They refu- 
 sed to give such assurance, and were in their turn dissolved. 
 
 These violent measures, however, produced an effect very 
 different from that which was expected to flow from them. 
 
PATRICK HENRYo 67 
 
 The dissolution of their legislatures swelled the catalogue of 
 their wrongs, and ministered additional fuel to the resentments of 
 the people. The non-importation agreement became general ; 
 and, by means of committees established in the several colonies, 
 its execution was guarded with a vigilance which could not be 
 eluded. A breach of it was infamy, inevitable and unpardona- 
 ble. Its observance was a badge of honour, by which the pa- 
 triot-colonist was proud to be distinguished. 
 
 The piivation was, indeed, in many respects severe, but the 
 sufferers were upheld by that kind of holy fortitude which ena- 
 bled the Christian martyrs, to smile amid the flames and to 
 Iriumph, even in the agonies of death. Every grade of society, 
 all ages, and both sexes, kindled in this sacred competition of 
 patriotism. The ladies of the colonies, in the dawn, and 
 throughout the whole progress of the revolution, shone with 
 pre-eminent lustre in this war of fortitude and self-denial. They 
 renounced, without a sigh, the use of the luxuries and even of 
 the comforts to which they had been accustomed ; and felt a 
 nobler pride in appearing dressed in the simple productions of 
 {heir ov/n looms, than they had ever experienced from glitter- 
 ing in the brightest ornaments of the East. 
 
 The British court looked upon this trial of virtuous fortitude 
 ivith surly and inexorable rigour. They seemed determined 
 io carry the point, at every hazard. The sufferings of their 
 own merchants and manufacturers were forgotten, in the bar- 
 barous pleasure with which they contemplated the sufferings of 
 \he colonists. It is not in human nature to continue long to 
 return good for evil, affection for cruelty. The admiration and 
 devotion of the colonies for the parent-country became gradu- 
 ally weaker. This transition of feeling is most interestingly 
 markcjd in the chronicles of the day. The epithets, " our kind 
 and indulgent mother," with which she was wont to be greeted, 
 were progressively changed into " unnatural parent — cruel 
 stepmother — proud, merciless oppressor — haughty, unfeeling, 
 and unrelenting tyrant." 
 
 This state of feeling was aggravated by the collisions which 
 were perpetually occurring between the king's soldiery and the 
 people of the towns in which they were quartered. The streets 
 of New York and of Boston were the theatres of continual riots, 
 ending almost invariably in blood, and not unfrequently in 
 death. The newspapers of the day teem with the detail of 
 scenes of this sort ; and from the effect which they produce on 
 the reader at this distance of time, it is not very difficult to con- 
 ceive what must have been their operation on the people of that 
 day, already goaded to madness by previous injuries. 
 
 It is not my purpose to record the series of measures which led 
 
68 wirt's life of 
 
 to the dismemberment of the^ritish empire. This is the func- 
 tion of the historian. My business is only with Mr. Henry; 
 and, for my purpose, nothing more is necessary than to recall 
 the general character of the contest, for the pm-pose of showing 
 the part which he bore in it. The revolution may be truly 
 said to have commenced with his resolutions in seventeen hun- 
 dred and sixty-five. 
 
 From that period not an hour of settled peace had existed 
 between the two countries. It is true, that the eruption pro- 
 duced by the stamp-act had subsided with its repeal ; and the 
 people had resumed their ancient settlements and occupations ; 
 but there was no peace of the heart or of the mind. The rum- 
 bling of the volcano was still audible, and the smoke of the cra- 
 ter continually ascended, mingled not unfrequently with those 
 flames and masses of ignited matter which announced a new 
 and more terrible explosion. 
 
 These were " the times that tried the souls of men ;" and 
 never, in any country or in any age, did there exist a race of 
 rnen whose souls were better fitted to endure the trial. Pa- 
 tient in suffering, firm in adversity, calm and collected amid the 
 dangers which pressed around them, cool in council, and brave 
 in battle, they were worthy of the cause, and the cause was 
 worthy of them. 
 
 The house of burgesses of Virginia, which had led the oppo- 
 sition to the stamp-act, kept their high ground during the whole 
 of the ensuing contest. Mr. Henry, having removed again 
 from Louisa to his native county, in the year seventeen hun- 
 dred and sixty-seven or sixty-eight, continued a member of the 
 public councils till the close of the revolution; and there could 
 be no want of boldness in any body of which he was a member. 
 
 The session of seventeen hundred sixty-eight or sixty-nine, 
 was marked by a set of resolutions so strong as to have excited 
 even the amiable and popular Bottetourt to displeasure. By 
 those resolutions they reasserted, in the most emphatic terms, 
 the exclusive right of the colony to tax themselves in all cases 
 whatever ; complained of the recent acts of parliament, as so 
 many violations of the British "constitution; and remonstrated, 
 vigorously, against the right of transporting the freeborn sub- 
 jects of these colonies to England, to take their trial before 
 prejudiced tribunals, for ofl^ences alleged to be committed in 
 the colonies. 
 
 The tradition with regard to these resolutions is, that they 
 were agreed to in a committee of the whole on one day, but 
 not reported to the house, with the view of preventing their 
 appearance on the journal of the next day, before they could 
 be completely passed through the forms of the house ; appre- 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 69 
 
 nending, from tlie fate of the Massachusetts legislature, that a 
 linowledge of these resolutions, on the part of the governor, 
 would produce an immediate dissolution of the house. When 
 the house rose for the evening, however, the fact of their hav- 
 ing passed such resolutions was whispered to the governor ; 
 and he endeavoured in vain to procure a copy of them from the 
 clerk, (Mr. Wythe,) 
 
 On the next day, the house, foreseeing the event, met on the 
 instant of the ringing of the bell, and with closed doors receiv- 
 ed the report of their resolutions, considered, adopted, and or- 
 dered them to be entered upon their journals ; whirh they had 
 scarcely done when they were summoned to attend (he govern- 
 or, and were dissolved, " Mr. Speaker," said he, ** and gen- 
 tlemen of the house of representatives, I have heard of your 
 resolves, and augur ill of their effects ; you have made it my 
 duty to dissolve you, and you arc accordingly dissolved." 
 
 But the dissolution of the house of burgesses did not change 
 the materials of which it had been composed. The same mem- 
 bers were re-elected without a single exception, and the same 
 determined spirit of resistance continued to diffuse itself from 
 the legislature over the colony which they represented, and to 
 animate by sympathy the neighbouring colonies. This house 
 had the merit of originating that powerful engine of resistance, 
 corresponding committees between the legislatures of the dif* 
 ferent colonies.* The measure was brought forward by Mr. 
 Dabney Carr, a new member from the county of Louisa, in a 
 committee of the whole house, on the twelfth of March, seven 
 teen hundred and seventy-three ; and the resolutions, as adopt- 
 ed, now stood upon the journals of the day, in the following 
 terms : — 
 
 "Whereas, the minds of his majesty's faithful subjects in this 
 colony have been much disturbed by various rumours and re- 
 ports of proceedings, tending to deprive them of their ancient, 
 legal, and constitutional rights ; 
 
 "And whereas, the affairs of this colony are frequently con- 
 nected with those of Great Britain, as well as the neighbouring 
 colonies, which renders a communication of sentiments neces- 
 sary : in order, therefore, to remove the uneasiness, and to 
 quiet the minds of the people, as well as for the other good 
 purposes above mentioned :— 
 
 * The state of Massachusetts is entitled to equal honour : the measures 
 were so nearly coeval in the two states, as to render it impossible that either 
 could have borrowed it from the other. The messengers, who bore the prop- 
 ositions from the two states, are said to have crossed each other on the way. 
 This is Mr. Jefferson's account of it ; and Mrs. Warren, in her very interest- 
 ing history of the revolution, admits, that the measure was original on the part 
 of Virginia. See the note to page 110 of her first volume. 
 
70 
 
 *'Be it resolved, That a i^tRiding committee of correspond* 
 ence and inquiry be appointed, to consist of eleven persons, to 
 wit : the Honourable Peyton Randolph, esquire, Robert C. 
 Nicholas, Richard Bland, Richard H. Lee, Benjamin Harrison, 
 Edmund Pendleton, Patrick Henry, Dudley Digges, Dabney 
 Carr, Archibald Gary, and Thomas Jefferson, esquires, any six 
 of whom to be a committee, whose business it shall be to ob- 
 tain the most early and authentic intelligence of all such acts 
 and resolutions of the British parliament, or proceedings of 
 administration, as may relate to or affect the British colonies in 
 America; and to keep up and maintain a correspondence and 
 communication with our sister-colonies, respecting those im- 
 portant considerations ; and the result of such of their proceed- 
 ings, from time to time, to lay before this house. 
 
 " Resolved, That it be an instruction to the said committee, 
 that they do, without delay, inform themselves particularly of 
 the principles and authority on which was constituted a court 
 of inquiry, said to have been lately held in Rhode Island, with 
 powers to transport persons accused of offences committed in 
 America, to places beyond the seas, to be tried. 
 
 " The said resolutions being severally read a second time, 
 were, upon the question severally put thereupon, agreed to by 
 the house, nemine contradicente, 
 
 " Resolved, That the speaker of this house do transmit to 
 the speakers of the different assemblies of the British colonies 
 on the continent, copies of the said resolutions, and desire that 
 they will lay them before their respective assemblies, and re- 
 quest them to appoint some person or persons of their respect- 
 ive bodies, to communicate from time to time with the said 
 committee." 
 
 In supporting these resolutions, Mr. Carr made his dehut^ 
 and a noble one it is said to have been. This gentleman by 
 profession a lawyer, had recently commenced his practice at 
 the same bars with Patrick Henry ; and although he had not 
 yet reached the meridian of life, he was considered by far the 
 most formidable rival in forensic eloquence that Mr. Henry had 
 ever yet had to encounter. He had the advantage of a person 
 at once dignified and engaging, and the manner and action of 
 an accomplished gentleman. 
 
 His education was a finished one ; his mind trained to cor- 
 rect thinking ; his conceptions quick, and clear, and strong ; 
 he reasoned with great cogency, and had an imagination which 
 enlightened beautifully, without interrupting or diverting the 
 course of his argument. His voice was finely toned ; his feel- 
 ings acute ; his style free, and rich, and various ; his devotion 
 to the cause of liberty verging on enthusiasm ; and his spirit 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 71 
 
 firm and undaunted, beyond the possibility of being shaken. 
 With what delight the house of burgesses hailed this new 
 champion, and felicitated themselves on such an accession to 
 their cause, it is easy to imagine. But what are the hopes and 
 expectations of mortals ! 
 
 ** Ostendent terris hunc tantum fata, neque ultra 
 " Esse sinent — " 
 
 In two months from the time at which this gentleman stood 
 before the house of burgesses, in all the pride of health, and 
 genius, and eloquence — he was no more : lost to his friends, 
 and to his country, and disappointed of sharing in that noble 
 triumph which awaited the illustrious band of his compatriots.* 
 
 Mr. Carr's resolutions were supported successively by Mr. 
 Henry, and Mr. Richard Henry Lee, with their usual ability. 
 The reader will no doubt be gratified by a short sketch of this 
 assembly, as it presented itself to a gentleman who now saw it 
 for the first time, and who looked upon it with an eye of taste 
 and genius ; the writer who was then in the ardour of youth, 
 and a stranger in the colony, has since been distinguished by 
 holding and adorning some of the highest offices of the state. 
 
 * I cannot withhold from the reader the following note of this transaction 
 and of the character of Mr. Carr, from one v.ho knew him well, and heard this 
 his first and last speech in the house of representatives : " I well remember 
 the pleasure expressed in the countenance and conversation of the members 
 generally, on this debut of Mr. Carr, and the hopes they conceived, as well 
 from the talents as the patriotism it manifested. But he died within two 
 months after, and in him we lost a powerful fellow-labourer. 
 
 ♦' His character was of a high order : a spotless integrity, sound judgment, 
 handsome imagination, enriched by education and reading, quick and clear in 
 his conceptions, of correct and ready elocution, impressing every hearer with 
 the sincerity of the heart from which it flowed. His firmness was inflexible in 
 whatever he thought right : but when no moral principle was in the way, never 
 had man more of the milk of human kindness, of indulgence, of softness, of 
 pleasantry in conversation and conduct. The number of his friends, and the 
 warmth of their aff'ection, were proofs of his worth and of their estimate of it. 
 To give to those now living an idea of the afiliction produced by his death, in 
 the minds of all those who knev/ him, I liken it to that lately felt by them- 
 selves on the death of his eldest son, Peter Carr ; so like him in all his en- 
 dowments and moral qualities, and whose recollection can never recur without 
 a deep-drawn sigh from the bosom of every one who knew him." 
 
 Extract from the Virginia Gazette, of May 29, 1773. 
 " On Sunday, the sixteenth of May, died, at Charlottesville, in the thirtieth 
 year of his age, Dabney Carr, esquire, attorney at law, and member of assem- 
 bly for the county of Louisa. This excellent person possessed a fine genius, 
 and a benevolent heart, with a taste for all that was polite, elegant, or social ; 
 and when occasion offered, displayed a masculine eloquence, and an undaunted 
 love of liberty." 
 
73 wirt's life of 
 
 " When I first saw Mr. HPiry, which was in March, seven- 
 teen hundred and seventjr-three, he wore a peach-blossom-col- 
 oiired coat and a dark wig, which tied behind, and I believe, a 
 bag to it, as was the fashion of the day. When pointed out to 
 me as the orator of the assembly, I looked at him with no great 
 prepossession. On the opposite side of the house sat the 
 graceful Pendleton, and the harmonious Richard Henry Lee, 
 whose aquiline nose, and Roman profile struck me much more 
 forcibly than that of Mr. Henry, his rival in eloquence. The 
 distance from the gallery to the chair, near which these distin- 
 guished members sat, did not permit me to have such a view ol 
 their features and countenances, as to leave a strong impres- 
 sion, except of Mr. Lee's, whose profile was too remarkable 
 not to have been noticed at an even greater distance. 
 
 " I was then between nineteen and twenty, had never heard 
 a speech in public, except from the pulpit — had attached to the 
 idea I had formed of an orator, all the advantages of person 
 which Mr. Pendleton possessed, and even more — all the ad- 
 vantages of voice which delighted me so much in the speeches 
 of Mr. Lee — the fine polish of language, which that gentleman 
 united with that harmonious voice, so as to make me sometimes 
 fancy that I was listening to some being inspired with more 
 than mortal powers of embellishment, and all the advantages 
 of gesture which the celebrated Demosthenes considered as the 
 first, second, and third qualifications of an orator. I discover- 
 ed neither of these qualifications in the appearance of Mr. 
 Henry, or in the few remarks I heard him deliver during the 
 session. 
 
 " It was at this time that Mr. Dabney Carr made a motion 
 for appointing a standing committee of correspondence with 
 the other colonies. I was not present when Mr. Henry spoke 
 on this question ; but was told by some of my fellow-colle- 
 gians, that he far exceeded Mr. Lee, whose speech succeeded 
 the next day. Never before had I heard what I thought ora- 
 tory ; and if his speech was excelled by Mr. Henry's, the lat- 
 ter must have been excellent, indeed. This was the only sub- 
 ject that I recollect, which called forth the talents of the mem- 
 bers during that session, and there was too much unanimity to 
 have elicited all the strength of any one of them." 
 
 My correcpondent had an opportunity of seeing Mr. Henry 
 not long aftervvard, when speaking on a subject of the highest 
 moment to the liberties of his country, and of witnessing that 
 almost supernatural transformation of appearance, which has 
 been already noticed as being invariably wrought by the excite- 
 ment of his genius. We shall have his own account of it by- 
 and-by ; and shall see that he no longer formed an exception to 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 73 
 
 the voice of his country, in assigning the palm of popular elo- 
 quence to this most rare and extraordinary favourite of nature. 
 
 It is not improbable, as it has been suggested, that the 
 strongly-marked distinction of ranks which prevailed in this 
 country, and the resentment, if not envy, with which the poor- 
 er classes looked up to the splendour and ostentation of the 
 landed aristocracy, had a considerable agency in inflaming Mr. 
 Henry's hostility to the British court. He probably regarded 
 the untitled nobles of Virginia as a sort of spurious emanation 
 from the royal stock ; connected them in his resentments, and 
 transferred from the effect to the cause, the larger stream of 
 his indignation. 
 
 He had a rooted aversion and even abhorrence to everything 
 in the shape of pride, cruelty, and tyranny ; and could not tol- 
 erate that social inequality from which they proceeded, and by 
 which they were nourished. The principle which he seems to 
 have brought with him into the world, and which certainly 
 formed the guide of all his public actions, was, that the whole 
 human race was one family, equal in their rights, and iheir 
 birthright liberty. 
 
 The elements of his character were most happily mingled 
 for the great struggle which was now coming on. His views 
 were not less steady than they were bold. His vision pierced 
 deeply into futurity ; and long before a whisper of independ- 
 ence had been heard in this land, he had looked through the 
 whole of the approaching contest, and saw, with the eye and 
 the rapture of a prophet, his country seated aloft among the 
 nations of the earth. 
 
 A striking proof of this prescience, is given in an anecdote 
 communicated to me by Mr. Pope. These are his words : — 
 ** I am informed by Colonel John Overton, that before ane drop 
 of blood was shed in our contest with Great Britain, he was at 
 Colonel Samuel Overton's, in company with Mr. Henry, Col- 
 onel Morris, John Hawkins, and Colonel Samuel Overton, 
 when the last-mentioned gentleman asked Mr. Henry, 'whether 
 he supposed Great Britain would drive her colonies to extrem- 
 ities : — And if she should, what he thought would be the issue 
 of the war.' 
 
 " When Mr. Henry, after looking round to see who were 
 present, expressed himself confidentially to the company in 
 the following manner : — ' She will drive us to extremities — no 
 accommodation will take place — hostilities will soon com- 
 mence — and a desperate and bloody touch it will be.' — * But,* 
 said Colonel Samuel Overton, * do you think, Mr. Henry, that 
 an infant nation as we are, without discipline, arms, ammuni- 
 tion, ships of war, or money to procure them— do you think it 
 
 7 
 
74 
 
 possible, thus circumstance^f to oppose successfully the fleets 
 and armies of Great Britain V 
 
 '* 'I will be candid with you,' replied Mr. Henry, ' I doubt 
 whether we shall be able, alone, to cope with so powerful a 
 nation. But,' continued he, (rising from his chair, with great 
 animation,) ' where is France ? Where is Spain ? Where is 
 Holland? the natural enemies of Great Britain. — Where will 
 they be all this while ? Do you suppose they will stand by, 
 idle and indifferent spectators to the contest? Will Louis 
 XVI. be asleep all this time ? Believe me, no ! 
 
 "'When Louis XVL shall be satisfied by our serious oppo- 
 sition, and our Declaration of Independence, that all prospect 
 of a reconciliation is gone, then, and not till then, will he fur- 
 nish us with arms, ammunition, and clothing ; and not with 
 these only, but he will send his fleets and armies to fight our 
 battles for us ; he will form with us a treaty off'ensive and de- 
 fensive, against our unnatural mother. Spain and Holland 
 will join the confederation ! Our independence will be estab- 
 lished ! and we shall take our stand amonff the nations of the 
 earth !' " 
 
 Here he ceased ; and Colonel John Overton says, he shall 
 never forget the voice and prophetic manner with which these 
 predictions were uttered, and which have been since so literally 
 verified. Colonel Overton says at the word independence, the 
 company appeared to be startled ; for they had never heard 
 anything of the kind before even suggested. 
 
 It was anticipated, that the establishment of corresponding 
 committees would lead eventually to a congress of the colo- 
 nies, and that measure was brought about by the following 
 circumstances : — 
 
 The people of Boston having thrown into the sea a vessel 
 load of tea, which was attempted to be forced upon them, were 
 punished by an act of parliament, which shut up their port, 
 from and after the first day of June, seventeen hundred and 
 seventy-four. The house of burgesses of Virginia being in 
 session when this act arrived, passed an order which stands 
 upon their journal in the following terms : — 
 
 *' Tuesday, the 24.th of May, 14 Geo. III. 1774. 
 
 "This house, being deeply impressed with apprehension of 
 the great dangers to be derived to British America, from the 
 hostile invasion of the city of Boston, in our sister-colony of 
 the Massachusetts bay, whose commerce and harbour are, on 
 the first day of June next, to be stopped by an armed force, , 
 deem it highly necessary that the said first day of June next 
 J)e set apart, by the members of this house, as a day of fasting, 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 75 
 
 liumiliation, and prayer, devoutly to implore the Divine inter- 
 position for averting the heavy calamity which threatens de- 
 struction to our civil rights, and the evils of civil war ; to give 
 us one heart and one mind, firmly to oppose, by all just and 
 proper means, every injury to American rights ; and that the 
 minds of his majesty and his parliament may be inspired from 
 above with wisdom, moderation, and justice, to remove from 
 the loyal people of America all cause of danger from a contin- 
 ued pursuit of measures pregnant with their ruin. 
 
 " Ordered, therefore. That the members of this house do 
 attend in their places, at the hour of ten in the forenoon, on the 
 said first day of June next, in order to proceed with the speaker 
 and the mace to the church in this city, for the purpose afore- 
 said ; and that the Reverend Mr. Price be appointed to read 
 prayers, and to preach a sermon suitable to the occasion." 
 
 In consequence of this order. Governor Dunmore, on the 
 following day, dissolved the house, with this speech : — " Mr. 
 Speaker, and gentlemen of the house of burgesses : I have in 
 my hand a paper published by order of your house, conceived 
 in such terms as reflect highly upon his majesty and the par- 
 liament of Great Britain, which makes it necessary to dissolve 
 you, and you are dissolved accordingly." 
 
 The members immediately withdrew to the Raleigh tavern, 
 where they formed themselves into a committee to consider of 
 the most expedient and necessary measures to guard against 
 the encroachments which so glaringly threatened them ; and im- 
 mediately adopted the following spirited association : — 
 
 " An association signed by eighty-nine members of the late 
 house of burgesses. We, his majesty's most dutiful and loyal 
 subjects, the late representatives of the good people of this 
 country, having been deprived, by the sudden interposition of 
 the executive part of this government, from giving our coun- 
 trymen the advice we wished to convey to them, in a legisla- 
 tive capacity, find ourselves under the hard necessity of adopt- 
 ing this, the only method we have left, of pointing out to our 
 countrymen such measures as, in our opinion, are best fitted 
 to secure our dear rights and liberty from destruction, by the 
 heavy hand of power now lifted against North America. 
 
 " With much grief we find, that our dutiful applications to 
 Great Britain for the security of our just, ancient, and consti- 
 tutional rights, have been not only disregarded, but that a de- 
 termined system is formed and pressed, for reducing the inhab- 
 itants of British America to slavery, by subjecting them to the 
 payment of taxes imposed without the consent of the people or 
 their representatives ; and that, in pursuit of this system, we 
 find an act of British parliament, lately passed for stopping the 
 
"U wirt's life of 
 
 harbour and commerce of thrown of Boston, in our sister-col- 
 ony of Massachusetts bay, xmlil the people there submit to 
 the payment of such unconstitutional taxes; and* which act 
 most violently and arbijtrasrily deprives them of their property, 
 in wharves erected l^y private persons, at their own great and 
 proper expense ; which act is, in our opinion, a most danger- 
 ous attempt to destroy the constitutional liberty and rights of 
 all North America. ' ,, 
 
 " It is furthCT our opinion, that as tea, on its importation into 
 America, is charged tvith a duty imposed by parliament, for 
 the purpose ^f fiaising a r^'^enue without the consent of the 
 people, it ought not* to be used by any person who wishes well 
 to the constittjtional rights and liberties of British America. 
 And whereas the India company have ungenerously attempted 
 the ruin of America, by sending many ships loaded with tea 
 into the colonies, thereby intending to fix a precedent in favour 
 of arbitrary taxation, we deem it highly proper and do accord- 
 ingly recommend it strongly to bur feountrymen, not to pur- 
 chase or use any kind of East India commodity whatsoever, 
 except saltpetre and spices, until the grievances of America are 
 redressed. 
 
 " We are further clearly of ;«opimo1i, that an attack made on 
 one of our sister-colonies, to compel submission to arbitrary 
 taxes, is an attack made on all British America, and threatens 
 ruin to the rights of all, unless the united wisdom of the whole 
 be applied. And for this purpose it is recommended to the 
 committee of correspondence , that they communicate with their 
 several corresponding committees^ on the expediency of ap' 
 pointing deputies from the several colonies of British Amer- 
 ica^ to meet in general congress, at suc/i place, annually, as 
 shall be thought most convenient ; there to deliberate on those 
 general measures lohich the united interests of America may 
 from time to time require. 
 
 " A tender regard for the int&rests of our fellow-subjects, the 
 merchants and manufacturers of Great Britain, prevents us 
 from going further at this time ; most earnestly hoping that 
 the unconstitutional principle of taxing the colonies without 
 their consent will not be persisted in, thereby to compel us 
 against our will, to avoid all commercial intercourse with Brit- 
 ain. Wishing them and our people free and happy, we are 
 their affectionate friends, the late representatives' of Virginia. 
 
 " The 27th day of May, 1774." 
 
 To give effect to the recommendation of a congress on the 
 part of this colony, delegates were shortly after elected by the 
 several counties to meet in Williamsburgh on the first of Au- 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 7t 
 
 gust following, to consider further of the state of public affairs, 
 and more particularly, to appoint deputies to the general con- 
 gress, which was to be convened at Philadelphia, on the fifth 
 of September following. The clear, firm, and animated instruc- 
 tions given by the people of the several counties to their dele- 
 gates, evince the thorough knowledge of the great parliamentary 
 question which now pervaded the country, and the determined 
 spirit of the colonists to resist the claim of British taxation. 
 
 The following are the Instructions from the county of Han- 
 over : — 
 *' To John Syme and Patrick Henry, Jun., Esquires. 
 
 "Gentlemen, You have our thanks for your patriotic, faith- 
 ful, and spirited conduct, in the part you acted in the late 
 assembly, as our burgesses, and as we are greatly alarmed at 
 the proceedings of the British parliament respecting the town 
 of Boston, and the province of Massachusetts bay; and as we 
 understand a meeting of delegates from all the counties in this 
 colony is appointed to be in Williamsburgh on the first day of 
 next month, to deliberate on our public affairs, we do hereby 
 appoint you, gentlemen, our delegates ; and we do request you, 
 then and there, to meet, consult, and advise, touching such 
 matters as are most likely to effect our deliverance from the 
 evils with which our country is threatened. 
 
 *'The importance of those things which will offer themselves 
 for your deliberation is exceedingly great ; and when it is con- 
 sidered that the effect of the measures you may adopt will 
 reach our latest posterity, you will excuse us for giving you 
 our sentiments, and pointing out some particulars, proper for 
 that plan of conduct we wish you to observe. 
 
 " We are freemen ; we have a right to be so ; and to enjoy all 
 the privileges and immunities of our fellow-subjects in Eng- 
 land ; and while we retain a just sense of that freedom, and 
 those rights and privileges necessary for its safety and secu- 
 rity, we shall never give up the right of taxation. Let it suf- 
 fice to say, once for all, loe will never be taxed but by our own 
 representatives ; this is the great badge of freedom, and British 
 America hath hitherto been distinguished by it ; and when we 
 see the British parliament trampling upon that right, and acting 
 with determined resolution to destroy it, we would wish to see 
 the united wisdom and fortitude of America collected for its 
 defence. 
 
 "The sphere of life in which we move hath not afforded us 
 lights sufficient to determine with certainty, concerning those 
 things from which the troubles at Boston originated. Whether 
 the people there were warranted by justice, when they destroy- 
 ed the tea, we know not ; but this we know, that the parlia- 
 
 7* 
 
tS wirt's life of 
 
 ment by their proceedings, Imve made us and all North Amer- 
 ica parties in the present dispute, and deeply interested in the 
 event of it ; insomuch that if our sister-colony of Massachu- 
 setts bay is enslaved/ 'ire cannot long remain free. 
 
 "Our minds are filled with anxiety when we view the friendly 
 regard of our parent stat6 turhed into enmity ; and those pow- 
 ers of government formerly exerted for our aid and protection, 
 formed into dangerous efforts for our destruction. We read 
 our intended doom in the Boston port-bill, in that for altering 
 the mode of trial in criminal cases, and, finally, in the bill for 
 altering the form of government in the Massachusetts bay. 
 These several acts are replete with injustice and oppression, 
 and strongly expressive of the future policy of Britain toward 
 all her colonies ; if a full and uncontrolled operation is given 
 to this detestable system in its earlier stages, it will probably 
 be fixed upon us for ever. 
 
 *' Let it, therefore, be your great object to obtain a speedy 
 repeal of those acts ; and for this purpose we recommend the 
 adoption of such measures as may produce the hearty union 
 of all our countrymen and sister-colonies. United we stand, 
 
 DIVIDED WE FALL. 
 
 "To attain this wished-for union, we declare our readiness ta 
 sacrifice any lesser interest arising from a soil, climate, situa- 
 tion, or productions peculiar to us. "We judge it conducive to 
 the interests of America, that a general congress of deputies 
 from all the colonies be held, in order to form a plan for guard- 
 ing the claim of the colonists, and their constitutional rights, 
 from future encroachment, and for the speedy relief of our suf- 
 fering brethren at Boston. 
 
 " For the present, we think it proper to form a general asso- 
 ciation against the purchase of all articles of goods imported 
 from Great Britain, except negroes' cloths, salt, saltpetre, pow- 
 der, lead, utensils and implements for handy-craftsmen and 
 manufacturers, which cannot be had in America ; books, pa- 
 per, and the like necessaries ; and not to purchase any goods 
 or merchandise that shall be imported from Great Britain, after 
 a certain day that may be agreed on for that purpose by the 
 said general meeting of deputies at Williamsburgh, except the 
 articles aforesaid, or such as shall be allowed to be imported 
 by the said meeting ; and that we will encourage the manufac- 
 tures of America by every means in our power. 
 
 "A regard to justice hinders us at this time from withholding 
 our exports ; nothing but the direct necessity shall induce us 
 to adopt that proceeding, which we shall strive to avoid as long 
 as possible. The African trade for slaves we consider as most 
 dangerous to the virtue and welfare of this country ; we there- 
 
fATRlCK HENRY, 79 
 
 fore most earnestly wish to see it totally discouraged. A steady 
 loyalty to the kings of England has ever distinguished our 
 country; the present state of things here, as well as the many 
 instances of it to be found in our history, leave no room to 
 doubt it. 
 
 " God grant that we may never see the time when that loy- 
 alty shall be found incompatible with the rights of freemen. 
 Our most ardent desire is, that we and our latest posterity may 
 continue to live under the genuine, unaltered constitution of 
 England, and be subjects, in the true spirit of that constitution, 
 to his majesty, and his illustrious house; and may the wretches 
 who affirm that we desire the contrary, feel the punishment 
 due to falsehood and villany. 
 
 " While prudence and moderation shall guide your councils, 
 we trust, gentlemen, that firmness, resolution, and zeal, will ani- 
 mate you in the glorious struggle. The arm of power, which 
 is now stretched forth against us, is indeed formidable ; but we 
 do not despair. Our cause is good ; and if it is served with 
 constancy and fidelity, it cannot fail of success. We promise 
 you our best support, and we will heartily join in such meas- 
 ures as a majority of our countrymen shall adopt for securing 
 the public liberty. 
 
 " Resolved, That the above address be transmitted to the 
 printers to be published in the gazettes. 
 
 "William Pollard, Clerk." 
 
 On the first of August, accordingly, the first convention of 
 Virginia delegates assembled in Williamsburgh ; and gave a 
 new proof of the invincible energy by which they were actua- 
 ted, in a series of resolutions, whereby they pledged themselves 
 to make common cause with the people of Boston in every ex- 
 tremity, and broke off all commercial connexion with the 
 mother-country, until the grievances of which they complained 
 should be redressed. By their last resolution they empowered 
 their moderator, Mr. Peyton Randolph, or in case of his death, 
 Robert C. Nicholas, esquire, on any future occasion that might 
 in his opinion require it, to convene the several delegates of the 
 colony, at such time and place as he might judge proper. 
 
 They then appointed as deputies to congress on the part of/ 
 this colony, Messrs. Peyton Randolph, Richard Henry Lee,/- 
 George Washington, Patrick Henry, Richard Bland, Benjamin f . 
 Harrison, and Edmund Pendleton, and furnished them with the 
 following firm and spirited letter of instructions : — 
 ^^Instructions for the Deputies appointed to meet in General 
 Congress^ on the part of the Colony of Virginia. 
 
 "The unhappy disputes between Great Britain and her Amer- 
 ican colonies, which began about the third year of the reign of 
 
W WIRT'S LIFE or 
 
 his present majesty, and since continually increasing, have pro • 
 ceeded to lengths so dangerous and alarming, as to excite just 
 apprehensions in the minds of his majesty's faithful subjects of 
 the colony, that they are in danger of being deprived of their 
 natural, ancient, constitutional, and chartered rights, have com 
 pelled them to take the same into their most serious consider 
 ation ; and being deprived of their usual and accustomed modfe 
 of making known their grievances, have appointed us their rep- 
 resentatives, to consider what is proper to be done in this dan- 
 gerous crisis of American affairs. 
 
 "It being our opinion that the united wisdom of North Amer- 
 ica should be collected in a general congress of all the colonies, 
 we have appointed the Honourable Peyton Randolph, Richard 
 Henry Lee, George Washington, Patrick Henry, Richard 
 Bland, Benjamin Harrison, and Edmund Pendleton, esquires, 
 deputies to represent this colony in the said congress, to be 
 held at Philadelphia on the first Monday in September next. 
 
 "And that they may be the better informed of our sentiments 
 touching the conduct we wish them to observe on this impor- 
 tant occasion, we desire that they will express, in the first 
 place, our faith and true allegiance to his majesty. King George 
 IH., our lawful and rightful sovereign ; and that we are deter- 
 mined, with our lives and fortunes, to support him in the legal 
 exercise of all his just rights and prerogatives. And, however 
 misrepresented, we sincerely approve of a constitutional con- 
 nexion with Great Britain, and wish most ardently a return of 
 that intercourse of affection and commercial connexion that 
 formerly united both countries ; which can only be effected by 
 a removal of those causes of discontent which have of late un- 
 happily divided us. 
 
 "It cannot admit of a doubt, but that British subjects in 
 America are entitled to the same rights and privileges as their 
 fellow-subjects possess in Britain ; and, therefore, that the pow- 
 er assumed by the British parliament to bind America by their 
 statutes, in all cases whatsoever, is unconstitutional and the 
 source of these unhappy differences. 
 
 " The end of government would be defeated, by the British 
 parliament exercising a power over the lives, the property, and 
 the liberty of American subjects, who are not, and from their 
 local circumstances cannot, be there represented. Of this na- 
 ture we consider the several acts of parliament for raising a 
 revenue in America, for extending the jurisdiction of the courts 
 of admiralty, for seizing American subjects, and transporting 
 them to Britain, to be tried for crimes committed in America, 
 and the several late oppressive acts respecting the town of Bos- 
 ton, and province of Massachusetts bay. 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 81 
 
 " The original constitution of the American colonies, posses- 
 sing their assemblies with the sole right of directing their inter- 
 nal polity, it is absolutely destructive of the end of their in- 
 stitution, that their legislatures should be suspended, or pre- 
 vented, by hasty dissolutions, from exercising their legislative 
 powers. 
 
 "Wanting the protection of Britain, we have long acquiesced 
 in their acts of navigation, restrictive of our commerce, which 
 we consider as an ample recompense for such protection ; but 
 as those acts derive their efficacy from that foundation alone, 
 we have reason 19 expect they will be restrained, so as to pro- 
 duce the reasonable purposes ot Britain, a^d not be injurious 
 to us. 
 
 " To obtain retiress of these grievances, without which the 
 people of America can neither be safe, free, nor happy, they 
 are willing to undergo the great ihconvenience that will be de- 
 rived to them, fron? stopping all imports whatsoever from Great 
 Britain, after the first day of November next, and also to cease 
 exporting any commodity whatsoever to the same place, after 
 the tenth day of August, seventeen hundred and seventy-five. 
 
 " The earnest desire we have to make as quick and full pay- 
 ment as possible of our debts to Great Britain, and to avoid the 
 heavy injury that would anse to this coimtry from an earlier 
 adoption of the non-exportation plan, after the people have al- 
 ready applied so much of their labour to the perfecting of the 
 present crop, by which means they have been prevented from 
 pursuing other methods of clothing and supporting their fami- 
 lies, have rendered it necessary to restrain you in this article 
 of non-exportation ; but it is our desire that you cordially co- 
 operate with our sister-colonies in general congress, in such 
 other just and proper methods as they, or the majority shall 
 deem necessary for the accomplishment of these valuable 
 ends. 
 
 "The proclamation issued by General Gage, in the govern- 
 ment of the province of the Massachusetts bay, declaring it 
 treason for the inhabitants of that province to assemble them- 
 selves to consider of their grievances, and form associations for 
 their common conduct on the occasion, and requiring the civil 
 magistrates and officers to apprehend all such persons to be 
 tried for their supposed offences, is the most alarming process 
 that ever appeared in a British government ; the said General 
 Gage has thereby assumed and taken upon himself powers 
 denied by the constitution to our legal sovereign ; he not hav 
 ing condescended to disclose by what authority he exercises 
 such extensive and unheard-of powers, we are at a loss to de« 
 termine whether he intends to justify himself as the represent* 
 
62 wirt's life of 
 
 ative of the king, or as the commander-in-chief of his majesty's 
 forces in America. 
 
 " If he considers himself as acting in the character of his 
 majesty's representative, we would remind him that the statute 
 25th, Edward III., has expressed and defined all treasonable 
 offences, and the legislature of Great Britain hath declared that 
 no offence shall be construed to be treason, but such as is point- 
 ed out by that statute ; and that this was done to take out of 
 the hands of tyrannical kings, and of weak and wicked minis- 
 ters, that deadly weapon which constructive treason hath fur- 
 nished them with, and which had drawn the blood of the best 
 and honestest men in the kingdom ; and that the king of Great 
 Britain hath no right by his proclamation to subject his people 
 to imprisonment, pains, and penalties. 
 
 " That if the said General Gage conceives he is empowered 
 to act in this manner, as the commander-in-chief of his majesty's 
 forces in America, this odious and illegal proclamation must 
 be considered as a plain and full declaration that this despotic 
 viceroy will be bound by no law, nor regard the constitutional 
 rights of his majesty's subjects, whenever they interfere with 
 the plan he has formed for oppressing the good people of Mas- 
 sachusetts bay ; and, therefore, that the executing, or attempt- 
 ing to execute, such proclamation, will justify resistance and 
 reprisal." 
 
 On the fourth of September, seventeen hundred and seventy- 
 four, that venerable body, the old continental congress of the 
 United States, (toward whom every American heart Avill bow 
 with pious homage, while the name of liberty shall be dear in 
 our land,) met for the first time at Carpenter's Hall, in the city 
 of Philadelphia. Peyton Randolph, of Virginia, was chosen 
 president, and the house was organized for business with all 
 the solemnities of a regular legislature.* 
 
 The most eminent men of the various colonies were now, 
 for the first time, brought together. They were known to each 
 other by fame ; but they were personally strangers. The 
 
 * Sallust, in his second oration to C. Cesar, De Republica Ordinanda, 
 gives a short and animated picture of their Roman ancestors which, with the 
 change of a single word, (libertate for imperio,) describes so happily our old 
 continental congress, that I am sure I shall gratify the classic reader by its 
 insertion. 
 
 " Itaque, majores nostri, cum bellis asperimis premerentur, equis, viris, 
 pecunia amissa, nunquam defessi sunt armati de libertate contendere. Non 
 inopia aerarii, non vis hostium, non adversa res, ingentem eorum animum 
 subegit : quern, quae virtiite ceperant, simul cum anima retinerent. Atqne 
 ea, magis fortibus consiliis, quam bonis prseliis, patrata sunt. Quippe apud 
 illos, una respublica erat ; ei consulebant; factio, contra hostes parabatur; 
 corpus atque ingenium, patriae, non suae, quisque potentiae exercitabat." 
 
PATRICK HENRY. bo 
 
 meeting was awfully solemn. The object which had called 
 them, together was of incalculable magnitude. The liberties of 
 no less than three millions of people, with that of all their pos- 
 terity, were staked on the wisdom and energy of their councils. 
 No wonder, then, at the long and deep silence which is said to 
 have followed upon their organization ; at the anxiety with 
 which the members looked around upon each other ; and the 
 reluctance which every individual felt to open a business so 
 fearfully momentous. 
 
 In the midst of this deep and deathlike silence, and just 
 when it was beginning to become painfully embarrassing, Mr. 
 Henry arose slowly, as if borne down by the weight of the 
 subject. After faltering, according to his habit, through a most 
 impressive exordium, in which he merely echoed back the con- 
 sciousness of every other heart, in deploring his inability to do 
 justice to the occasion, he launched gradually into a recital of 
 the colonial wrongs. Rising, as he advanced, with the gran- 
 deur of his subject, and glowing at length with all the majesty 
 and expectation of the occasion, his speech seemed more than 
 that of mortal man. 
 
 Even those who had heard him in all his glory, in the house 
 of burgesses of Virginia, were astonished at the manner in 
 which his talents seemed to swell and expand themselves, to 
 fill the vaster theatre in which he was now placed. There was 
 no rant — no rhapsody — no labour of the understanding — no 
 straining of the voice — no confusion of the utterance. His 
 countenance was erect — his eye, steady — his action, noble — 
 his enunciation, clear and firm — his mind poised on its centre — 
 his views of his subject comprehensive and great — and his 
 imagination coruscating with a magnificence and a variety, 
 which struck even that assembly with amazement and awe. 
 He sat down amid murmurs of astonishment and applause ; and 
 as he had been before proclaimed the greatest orator of Vir- 
 ginia, he was now, on every hand, admitted to be the first ora- 
 tor of America. 
 
 He was followed by Mr. Richard Henry Lee, who charmed 
 the house with a different kind of eloquence — chaste — clas- 
 sical — beautiful — his polished periods rolling along without ef 
 fort, filling the ear with the most bewitching harmony, and de- 
 lighting the mind with the most exquisite imagery. The cul- 
 tivated graces of Mr. Lee's rhetoric received and at the same 
 time reflected beauty, by their contrast with the wild and grand 
 effusions of Mr. Henry. Just as those noble monuments of 
 art which lie scattered through the celebrated landscape of 
 Naples, at once adorn, and are in their turn adorned by the sur- 
 rounding majesty of Nature. ^ 
 
LIFE OF 
 
 Two models of eloquence|iRich so perfect in its kind, and so 
 finely contrasted, could not but fill the house with the highest 
 admiration ; and as Mr. Henry had before been pronounced the 
 Demosthenes, it was conceded on every hand, that Mr. Lee 
 was the Cicero, of America. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Proceedings of the Congress — Mr. Henry's early Opinion of Washington — 
 Meeting of Delegates in Richmond — Mr. Henry's Resolutions for arming 
 the Militia — Speech on that Occasion — Resolutions Adopted. 
 
 It is due, however, to historic truth to record, that the su- 
 perior powers of these great men were manifested only in de- 
 bate. On the floor of the house, and during the first days of 
 the session, while general grievances were the topic, they took 
 the undisputed lead in the assembly, and were confessedly, 
 primi inter pares. But when called down from the heights ot 
 declamation, to that severer test of intellectual excellence, tJie 
 details of business, they found themselves in a body of cool- 
 headed, reflecting, and most able men, by whom they were, in 
 their turn, completely- thrown into the shade. 
 
 A petition to the king, an address to the people of Great 
 Britain, and a memorial to the people of British America, were 
 agreed to be drawn. Mr. Lee, Mr. Henry, and others, were 
 appointed for the first ; Mr. Lee, Mr. Livingston, and Mr. Jay, 
 for the two last. The splendour of their debut occasioned Mr. 
 Henry to be designated by his committee, to draAV the petition 
 to the king, with which they were charged ; and Mr. Lee was 
 charged with the address to the people of England. 
 
 The last was first reported. On reading it, great disappoint- 
 ment was expressed in every countenance, and a dead silence 
 ensued for some minutes. At length, it was laid on the table, 
 for perusal and consideration, till the next day : when first one 
 member and then another arose, and paying some faint com- 
 pliment to the composition, observed that there were still cer- 
 tain considerations not expressed, which should properly find 
 a place in it. The address was, therefore, committed for 
 amendment; and one prepared by Mr. Jay, and offered by 
 Governor Livingston, was reported and adopted, with scarcely 
 an alteration. 
 
 These facts are stated by a gentleman to whom they were 
 communicated by Mr. Pendleton and Mr. Harrison, of the Vir 
 
8b 
 
 PATRICK HENRY. 
 
 as 
 
 ginia delegation, (except that Mr. Harrison erroneously __ 
 cribed the draught to Governor Livingston,) and to whom they 
 were afterward confirmed by Governor Livingston himself. 
 Mr. Henry's draught of a petition to the king was equally un- 
 successful, and was recommitted for amendment. Mr. John 
 Dickinson (the author of the Farmer's Letters) was added to 
 the committee, and a new draught, prepared by him, was 
 adopted.* 
 
 This is one of the incidents in the life of Mr. Henry to 
 which an allusion was made in a former page, when it was ob- 
 served, that notwithstanding the wonderful gifts which he had 
 derived from nature, he lived himself to deplore his early neg- 
 lect of literature. But for this neglect, that imperishable 
 trophy won by the pen of Mr. John Dickinson would have 
 been his ; and the fame of his genius, instead of resting on 
 tradition, or the short-lived report of his present biographer, 
 would have flourished on the immortal page of the American 
 history. 
 
 It is a trite remark, that the talents for speakmg and for 
 writing eminently are very rarely found united in the same ind' 
 viduaf; and the rarity of the occurrence has led to an opinion, 
 that those talents depend on constitutions of mind so widely 
 different, as to render their union almost wholly unattainable. 
 This was not the opinion, however, it is believed, at Athens 
 and at Rome : it cannot, I apprehend, be the opinion either in 
 the united kingdom of Great Britain. 
 
 There have been, indeed, in these countries distmguished 
 orators, who have not left behind them any proofs of their emi- 
 nence in composition ; but neither have they left behind them 
 any proofs of their failure in this respect ; so that the conclu- 
 sion of their incompetency is rather assumed than established. 
 On the other hand, there have been in all those countries, too 
 many illustrious examples of the union of those talents, to jus- 
 tify the belief of their incongruity by any general law of nature. 
 That there have been many eminent writers who, from phys- 
 ical defects, could never have become orators, is very certain : 
 but is the converse of the proposition equally true ? Was there 
 ever an eminent orator who might not, by proper discipline, 
 
 * The late Governor Tyler, a warm friend of Mr. Henry, used to relate an 
 anecdote in strict accordance with this statement : it was, that after these two 
 gentlemen had made their first speeches, Mr. Chase, a delegate from Maryland, 
 walked across the house to the seat of his colleague, and said to him, in an 
 under voice : " We might as well go home ; we are not able to legislate with 
 these men." But that after the house came to descend to details, the same 
 Mr. Chase was heard to remark : " Well, after all, I find these are but men- • 
 and in mere matters of business, but very common men:' 
 
 8 
 
86 wirt's life of 
 
 have become, also, a very3#fhiinent writer? What are the 
 essential qualities of the orator ? Are they not judgment, in- 
 vention, imagination, sensibility, taste, and expression, or the 
 command of strong and appropriate language? 
 
 If these be the qualities of the orator, it is very easy to un- 
 derstand how they may be improved by the discipline of the 
 closet ;* but not so easy to comprehend how they can possibly 
 be injured by it. Is there any danger that this discipline will 
 tame too much the fiery spirit, the enchanting wildness, and 
 magnificent irregularity of the orator's genius ? The example 
 of Demosthenes alone is a sufiicient answer to this question ; 
 and the reader will, at once, recall numerous other examples, 
 corroborative of the same truth, both in ancient and modern 
 times. 
 
 The truth seems to be, that this rare union of talents results, 
 not from any incongruity in their nature, bnt from defective edu- 
 cation, taking this word in its larger, Roman sense. If the 
 genius of the orator has been properly trained in his youth to 
 both pursuits, instead of being injured, it will, 1 apprehend, be 
 found to derive additional grace, beauty, and even sublimity, 
 from the discipline. His flights will be at least as bold — they 
 will be better sustained — and whether he chooses to descend 
 in majestic circles, or to stoop on headlong wing, his perform- 
 ance will not be the worse for having been taught to fly. 
 
 For Mr. Henry and for the world, it happened unfortunately, 
 that instead of the advantage of this Roman education, of which 
 we have spoken, the years of his youth had been wasted in idle- 
 ness. He had become celebrated as an orator before he had 
 learned to compose ; and it is not therefore wonderful, that 
 when withdrawn from the kindling presence of the crowd, he 
 was called upon for the first time to take the pen, all the spirit 
 and flame of his genius were extinguished.! 
 
 * Nulla enim res tantum ad dicendum proficit, quantum scriptio. — Cic. 
 Brut. xxiv. 92. 
 
 + On this subject, of the rare union of the talents of t?p'8aking and writing 
 m the same man, Cicero has a parallel between Galba and Laslius, which is 
 not less just than it is beautiful. After having spoken of Galba as one of 
 those men of great but less cultivated natural powers, who were afraid of low- 
 ering the fame of their eloquence by submitting their writings to the world, he 
 proceeds thus : — " Quern (Galbam) fortasse vis non ingenii solum, sed etiam 
 animi, et naturalis quidam dolor dicentem incendebat, effeciebatque, ut et inci- 
 tata, et gravis, et vehemens esset oratio : dein, cum otiosus stilum prehende- 
 rat, motusque omnis animi. tanquam ventus, hominem defecerat, flacessebat 
 oratio : quod iis, qui limatius dicendi conscctantur genus, accidere non solet, 
 propterea quod prudentia nunquam deficit oratorem, qua ille utens, eodem mo- 
 do possit et dicere et scribere ; ardor animi non semper adest, isque cum con- 
 eedit, omnis ilia vis et quasi flamma oratoris extinguitur. Hanc igitur ob 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 87 
 
 But while, with reference to his own fame and the lasting 
 benefits which he might have conferred on the world, we 
 lament his want of literary discipline, it is not impossible that, 
 for the times in which he lived, and for the more immediate 
 purpose of the American revolution, the popular opinion may 
 be correct. 
 
 The people seem to have admired him the more for his want 
 of discipline. " His genius," they say, " was unbroken, and 
 too full of fire, to bear the curb of composition. He delighted 
 to swim the flood, to breast the torrent, and to scale the mount- 
 ain : and supported as he was, in all public bodies, by mas- 
 ters of the pen, they insist that it was even fortunate for 
 the revolution, that his genius was left at large to revel in all 
 the wildness and boldness of nature ; that it enabled him to in- 
 
 causam, videtur Laelii mens spirare etiam in scriptis, Galbae autem, vis occi- 
 disse." Brutus, xxiv. 93. 
 
 There seems to have been a strong resemblance between the structure of 
 Galba's eloquence and character, and those of Mr. Henry. In their habits, 
 however, there was this striking difference, that Galba's preparation for speak- 
 ing was always most elaborate ; Mr. Henry's, generally, none at all. On this 
 head, of Galba's anxious preparation, Cicero gives us a very interesting anec- 
 dote : Lslius, it seems, was engaged in a great cause, in which he spoke with 
 the peculiar elegance which always distinguished him ; but not having suc- 
 ceeded in convincing his judges, the case was adjourned to another day, and a 
 new argument was called for. Lslius again appeared, and surpassed his for- 
 mer exertions, but with the same result, of another adjournment and a call for 
 re-argument. His clients attended him to his house on the rising of the 
 court, expressed their gratitude in the strongest terms, and begged that he 
 would not permit himself to be wearied into a desertion of them. To this 
 Laelius answered, that what he had done for the support of the cause, had, in- 
 deed, been diligently and accurately performed ; but he was satisfied that that 
 cause could be better defended by the more bold and vehement eloquence of 
 Galba. 
 
 Galba was accordingly applied to ; but was, at first, startled at the idea of 
 succeeding such an orator as Laelius in any cause ; more especially, on the 
 short time for preparation that was then allowed him. He yielded, however, 
 to their importunities ; and employed the whole of the intermediate day and 
 the morning of that in which the court was to sit, in studying and annotating, 
 •with the help of his amanuensis. When the hour of court arrived, his clients 
 called for him, and Galba came out, " with that complexion and those eyes," 
 says Cicero, " which would have led you to suppose that he had been engaged 
 in pleading a cause, and not in studying it." Whence it appears that Galba 
 was not less vehement and inflamed in meditating, than in the act of deliver- 
 ing a speech. His success was proportioned to his preparation. " In the 
 midst of the greatest expectation, surrounded by a vast concourse of hearers, 
 before Laelius himself, he plead the cause with so much force and so much 
 power, that no part of his speech passed without applause, and his clients 
 were discharged, with the approbation of every one." What an impression 
 does this give us of the magnanimity of Laelius, as well as the abilities of 
 Galba ! Mr. Henry would not have taken the trouble of Galba's preparation ; 
 but he would have gained the cause, if hnman abilities could have gained it. 
 
fuse, more successfully, his ^n intrepid spirit into the meas- 
 ures of the revolution ; that it rendered his courage more con- 
 tagious, and enabled him to achieve, by a kind of happy rash- 
 ness, what perhaps had been lost by a better regulated mind." 
 
 But to resume our narrative : congress arose in October, s^nd 
 Mr. Henry returned to his native county. Here, as was nat' 
 ural, he was surrounded by his neighbours, who were eager to 
 hear not only what had been done, but what kind of men had 
 composed that illustrious body. 
 
 He answered their inquiries with all his wonted kind- 
 ness and candour; and having been asked by one of them, 
 "whom he thought the greatest man in congress," he replied : 
 "If you speak of eloquence, Mr. Rutledge, of South Carolina, 
 is by far the greatest orator ; but if you- speak of solid informa- 
 tion and sound judgment, Colonel Washington is, unquestion- 
 ably, the greatest man on that floor." Such was the penetra- 
 tion which, at that early period of Mr. Washington's life, could 
 pierce through his retiring modesty and habitual reserve, and 
 estimate so correctly the unrivalled worth of his character. 
 
 On Monday, the twentieth of March, seventeen hundred and 
 seventy-five, the convention of delegates, from the several 
 counties and corporations of Virginia, met for the second time. 
 This assembly was held in the old church in the town of Rich- 
 mond. Mr. Henry was a member of that body also. The 
 reader will bear in mind, the tone of the instructions given by 
 the convention of the preceding year to their deputies in con- 
 gress. 
 
 He will remember that, while they recite with great feeling 
 the series of grievances under which the colonies had laboured, 
 and insist with firmness on their constitutional rights, they 
 give, nevertheless, the most explicit and solemn pledge of their 
 faith and true allegiance to his majesty King George HI., and 
 avow their determination to support him with their lives and 
 fortunes, in the legal exercise of all his just rights and prerog- 
 atives. He will remember, that these instructions contain also, 
 an expression of their sincere approbation of a connexion with 
 Great Britain, and their ardent wishes for a return of that 
 friendly intercourse from which this country had derived so 
 much prosperity and happiness. 
 
 These sentiments still influenced many of the leading mem- 
 bers of the convention of seventeen hundred and seventy-five. 
 They could not part with the fond hope that those peaceful days 
 would again return which had shed so much light and warmth 
 over the land ; and the report of the king's gracious reception 
 of the petition from congress tended to cherish and foster that 
 hope, and to render them averse to any means of violence. 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 89 
 
 But Mr. Henry saw things with a steadier eye and a deeper 
 insight. His judgment was too solid to be duped by appear- 
 ances ; and his heart too firm and manly to be amused by false 
 and flattering hopes. He had long since read the true charac- 
 ter of the British court, and saw that no alternative remained 
 for his country but abject submission or heroic resistance. It 
 M'as not for a soul like Henry's to hesitate between these 
 courses. 
 
 He had offered upon the altar of liberty no divided heart. 
 The gulf of war which yawned before him was indeed fiery and 
 fearful; but he saw that the awful plunge was inevitable. The 
 body of the convention, however, hesitated. They cast around 
 *'a longing, lingering look" on those flowery fields on which 
 peace, and ease, and joy, were still sporting; and it required 
 all the energies of a Mentor like Henry to push them from the 
 precipice, and conduct them over the stormy sea of the revo- 
 lution, to liberty and glory. 
 
 The convention being formed and organized for business, 
 proceeded in the first place, to express their unqualified appro- 
 bation of the measures of congress, and to declare that they 
 considered " this whole continent as under the highest obliga- 
 tions to that respectable body, for the wisdom of their counsels, 
 and their unremitted endeavours to maintain and preserve 
 inviolate the just rights and liberties of his majesty's dutiful 
 and loyal subjects in America." 
 
 They next resolve, that " the warmest thanks of the conven- 
 tion, and of all the inhabitants of this colony, were due, and that 
 this just tribute of applause be presented to the worthy del- 
 egates, deputed by a former convention to represent this colony 
 in general congress, for their cheerful undertaking and faithful 
 discharge of the very important trust reposed in them." 
 
 The morning of the twenty-third of March was opened, by 
 reading a petition and memorial from the assembly of Jamaica, 
 to the king's most excellent majesty : whereupon it was — 
 " Resolved, That the unfeigned thanks and most grateful ac- 
 knowledgments of the convention be presented to that very 
 respectable assembly, for the exceeding generous and affection- 
 ate part they have so nobly taken in the unhappy contest be- 
 tween Great Britain and her colonies ; and for their truly pa- 
 triotic endeavours to fix the just claims of the colonists upon 
 the most permanent constitutional principles : — that the assem- 
 bly be assured, that it is the most ardent wish of this colony, 
 [and they were persuaded of the whole continent of North 
 America,] to see a speedy return of those halcyon days, when 
 we lived a free and happy people." 
 
 These proceedings were not adapted to the taste of Mr. 
 
 8* 
 
90 WIRT S LIFE OF 
 
 Henry ; or. the contrary, they were " gall and wormwood" to 
 him. The house required to be wrought up to a bolder tone. 
 He rose, therefore, and moved the following manly resolu- 
 tions : — 
 
 " Resolved, That a well-regulated militia, composed of gen- 
 tlemen and yeomen, is the natural strength and only security 
 of a free government ; that such a militia in this colony would 
 for ever render it unnecessary for the mother-country to keep 
 among us, for the purpose of our defence, any standing army 
 of mercenary soldiers, always subversive of the quiet, and dan- 
 gerous to the liberties of the people, and would obviate the pre- 
 text of taxing us for their support. 
 
 " That the establishment of such militia is, at this time, pecu- 
 liarly necessary, by the state of our laws, for the protection 
 and defence of the country, some of which are already expired, 
 and others will shortly be so : and that the known remissness 
 of government in calling us together in legislative capacity, 
 renders it too insecure, in this time of danger and distress, to 
 rely that opportunity will be given of renewing them, in gen- 
 eral assembly, or making any provision to secure our inesti- 
 mable rights and liberties, from those further violations with 
 which they are threatened. 
 
 " Resolved, therefore, That this colony be immediately put 
 into a state of defence, and that 
 
 he a committee to prepare a plan for imbodying, arming and 
 disciplining such a number of men, as may be sufjicient for 
 that purpose.''"' 
 
 The alarm which such a proposition must have given to 
 those who had contemplated no resistance of a character more 
 serious than petition, non-importation, and passive fortitude, 
 and who still hung with suppliant tenderness on the skirts of 
 Britain, will he readily conceived by the reflecting reader. The 
 shock was painful. It was almost general. The resolutions 
 were opposed as not only rash in policy, but as harsh and well 
 nigh impious in point of feeling. Some of the warmest patriots of 
 the convention opposed them. Richard Bland, Benjamin Har- 
 rison, and Edmund Pendleton, who had so lately drunk of the 
 fountain of patriotism in the continental congress, and Robert 
 C. Nicholas, one of the best as w^ell as ablest men and patriots 
 in the state, resisted them with all their influence and abilities. 
 
 They urged the late gracious reception of the congressional 
 petition by the throne. They insisted that national comity, and 
 much more filial respect, demanded the exercise of a more dig- 
 nified patience. That the sympathies of the parent-country 
 were now on our side. That the friends of American liberty 
 in parliament were still with us, and had, as yet, had no cause 
 
PATRICK HBNRT. {91 
 
 to blush for our indiscretion. That the manufacturing interests 
 of Great Britain, already smarting under the effects of our non- 
 importation, co-operated powerfully toward our relief. That 
 the sovereign himSelf had relented, and showed that he looked 
 upon our sufferings with an eye of pity. 
 
 "Was this a moment," they asked, " to disgust our friends, 
 to extinguish all the conspiring sympathies which were work- 
 ing in our favour, to turn their friendship into hatred, their pity 
 into revenge ? And what was there, they asked, in the situa- 
 tion of the colony, to tempt us to this ? Were we a great mili- 
 tary people ? Were we ready for war 1 Where were our 
 stores — where were our arms — where our soldiers — where our 
 generals — where our money, the sinews of war ? They were 
 nowhere to be found. 
 
 "In truth, we were poor — we were naked — we were defence- 
 less. And yet we talk of assuming the front of war ! of assu- 
 ming it, too, against a nation, one of the most formidable in 
 the world ? A nation ready and armed at all points ! Her 
 navies riding triumphant in every sea; her armies never march- 
 ing but to certain victory I What was to be the issue of the 
 struggle we were called upon to court? What could be the 
 issue, in the comparative circumstances of the two countries, 
 but to yield up this country an easy prey to Great Britain, 
 and to convert the illegitimate right which the British par- 
 liament now claimed, into a firm and indubitable right, by 
 conquest ! 
 
 " The measure might be brave ; but it was the bravery of 
 madmen. It had no pretension to the character of prudence ; 
 and as little to the grace of genuine courage. It would be 
 time enough to resort to measures o( despair, when every well- 
 founded hope had entirely vanished." 
 
 To this strong view of the subject, supported as it was by 
 the stubborn fact of the well-known helpless condition of the 
 colony, the opponents of these resolutions superadded every 
 topic of persuasion which belongs to the cause. 
 
 " The strength and lustre which we have derived from our 
 connexion with Great Britain — the domestic comforts which 
 we had drawn from the same source, and whose value we were 
 now able to estimate by their loss — that ray of reconciliation 
 which was dawning upon us from the east, and which promised 
 so fair and happy a day : — with this they contrasted the clouds 
 and storms which ihe measure now proposed was so well cal- 
 culated to raise — and in which we should not have even the 
 poor consolation of being pitied by the world, since we should 
 have so needlessly and rashly drawn them upon ourselves." 
 
 These arguments and topics of persuasion were sp well jus- 
 
92 » wirt's life of 
 
 tified by the appearance of tmngs, and were moreover so en- 
 tirely in unison with that love of ease and quiet which is nat- 
 ural to man, and that disposition to hope for happier times, 
 even under the most forbidding circumstances, that an ordinary 
 man, in Mr. Henry's situation, would have been glad to com 
 pound with the displeasure of the house, by being permitted to 
 withdraw his resolutions in silence. 
 
 Not so Mr. Henry. His was a spirit fitted to raise the 
 whirlwind, as well as to ride in and direct it. His was that 
 comprehensive view, that unerring prescience, that perfect 
 command over the actions of men, which qualified him not 
 merely to guide, but almost to create the destinies of nations. 
 
 He rose at this time with a majesty unusual to him in an ex- 
 ordium, and with all that self-possession by which ke was so 
 invariably distinguished. "No man," he said, " thought more 
 highly than he did of the patriotism, as well as abilities, of the 
 very worthy gentlemen who had just addressed the house. 
 But diff'erent men often saw the same subject in diff'erent lights ; 
 and, therefore, he hoped it would not be thought disrespectful 
 to those gentlemen, if, entertaining as he did, opinions of a 
 character very opposite to theirs, he should speak forth his 
 sentiments freely, and without reserve. 
 
 " This," he said, " was no time for ceremony. The question 
 before this house was one of awful moment to the country. 
 For his own part, he considered it as nothing less than a ques- 
 tion of freedom or slavery. And in proportion to the magni- 
 tude of the subject, ought to be the freedom of the debate. It 
 was only in this way that they could hope to arrive at truth, 
 and fulfil the great responsibility which they held to God and 
 their country. Should he keep back his opinions at such a 
 time, through fear of giving offence, he should consider him- 
 self as guilty of treason toward his country, and of an act of 
 disloyally toward the Majesty of heaven, which he revered 
 above all earthly kings. 
 
 "Mr. President," said he, " it is natural to man to indulge in 
 the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a 
 painful truth — and listen to the song of that siren, till she 
 transforms us into beasts. Is this," he asked, " the part of 
 wise men, engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty ? 
 Were we disposed to be of the number of those, who having 
 eyes, see not, and having ears, hear not, the things which so 
 nearly concern their temporal salvation? For his part, what- 
 ever anguish of spirit it might cost, he was willing to know the 
 whole truth ; to know the worst, and to provide for it. 
 
 " He had," he said, " but one lamp by which his feet were 
 guided ; and that was the lamp of experience. He knew of no 
 
PATRICK H£NRY. 93 
 
 way of judging of the future but by the past. And judging by 
 the past, he wished to know what there had been in the con- 
 duct of the British ministry for the last ten years, to justify 
 those hopes with which gentlemen had been pleased to solace 
 themselves and the house? Is it that insidious smile with 
 which our petition has been lately received ? Trust it not, sir ; 
 it will prove a snare to your feet. Suffer not yourselves to be 
 betrayed with a kiss. 
 
 " Ask yourselves how this gracious reception of our petition 
 comports with those warlike preparations which cover our 
 waters and darken our land. Are fleets and armies necessary 
 to a work of love and reconciliation ? Have we shown our- 
 selves so unwilling to be reconciled, that force must be called 
 in to win back our love? Let us not deceive ourselves, sir. 
 These are the implements of war and subjugation — the last ar- 
 guments to which kings resort. 
 
 " I ask gentlemen, sir, what means this martial array, if its 
 purpose be not to force us to submission ? Can gentlemen as- 
 sign any other possible motive for it ? Has Great Britain any 
 enemy in this quarter of the world, to call for all this accumu- 
 lation of navies and armies ? No, sir, she has none. They 
 are meant for us ; they can be meant for no other. They are 
 sent over to bind and rivet upon us those chains which the 
 British ministry have been so long forging. And what have 
 we to oppose them ? Shall we try argument ? Sir, we have 
 been trying that for the last ten years. Have we anything 
 new to offer upon the subject? Nothing. We have held the 
 subject up in every light of which it is capable ; but it has been 
 all in vain. Shall we resort to entreaty and humble supplica- 
 tion ? What terms shall we find, which have not been already 
 exhausted ? 
 
 " Let us not, I beseech you, sir, deceive ourselves longer. 
 Sir, we have done everything that could be done, to avert the 
 storm which is now coming on. We have petitioned — we have 
 remonstrated — we have supplicated — we have prostrated our- 
 selves before the throne, and have implored its interposition to 
 arrest the tyrannical hands of the ministry and parliament. 
 Our petitions have been slighted ; our remonstrances have pro- 
 duced additional violence and insult; our supplications have 
 been disregarded ; and we have been spurned, with contempt, 
 from the foot of the throne. 
 
 " In vain, after these things, may we indulge the fond hope 
 of peace and reconciliation. There is no longer any room for 
 hope. If we wish to be free — if we mean to preserve in- 
 violate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so 
 long contending — if we mean not basely to abandon the noble 
 
94 wirt's life of 
 
 struggle in wliich we have Teen so long engaged, and which 
 we have pledged ourselves never to abandon, until the glorious 
 object of our contest shall be obtained ! — we must fight ! — I re- 
 peat it, sir, we must fight ! ! ! An appeal to arms and to the 
 God of hosts, is all that is left us !* 
 
 " They tell us, sir," continued Mr. Henry, " that we are 
 weak — unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But 
 when shall we be stronger. Will it be the next week or the next 
 year ? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a 
 British guard shall be stationed in every house ? Shall we 
 gatherstrength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the 
 means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs, 
 and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemy 
 shall have bound us hand and foot ? Sir, we are not weak, 
 if we make a proper use of those means which the God of na- 
 ture hath placed in our power. 
 
 "Three millions of people armed in the holy cause of liberty, 
 and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible 
 by any force which our enemy can send against us. Besides, 
 sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God 
 who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise 
 up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to 
 the strong alone ; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. 
 Besides, sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to 
 desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There 
 is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are 
 forged. Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston ! 
 The war is inevitable — and let it come ! ! I repeat it, sir, let it 
 come ! ! ! 
 
 " It is vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may 
 cry, peace, peace — but there is no peace. The war is actually 
 begun ! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring 
 to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are 
 already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it 
 that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so 
 dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of 
 chains and slavery ? Forbid it, Almighty God I — I know not 
 
 ♦"Imagine to yourself," says my correspondent, (Judge Tucker,) " this 
 sentence delivered' with all the calm dignity of Cato, of Utica — imagine to 
 yourself the Roman senate, assembled in the capitol, when it was entered by 
 the profane Gauls, who, at first, were awed by their presence, as if they had 
 entered an assembly of the gods ! — imagine that you heard that Cato addres- 
 sing such a senate — imagine that you saw the handwriting on the wall of Bel- 
 shazzar's palace — imagine you heard a voice as from heaven uttering the 
 words : * We must fight,'' as the doom of fate, and you may have some idea of 
 the speaker, the assembly to whom he addressed himself, and the auditory, of 
 which I was one." 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 95 
 
 what course others may take ; but as for me," cried he, with both 
 his arms extended aloft, his brows knit, every feature marked 
 with the resolute purpose of his soul, and his voice swelled to 
 its boldest note of exclamation — " give me liberty, or give me 
 death !" 
 
 He took his seat. No murmur of applause was heard. The 
 effect was too deep. After the trance of a moment, several 
 members started from their seats. The cry, " to arms !" seem- 
 ed to quiver on every lip, and gleam from every eye. Richard 
 H. Lee arose and supported Mr. Henry, with his usual spirit 
 and elegance. But his melody was lost amid the agitations of 
 that ocean, which the master-spirit of the storm had lifted up 
 on high. That supernatural voice still sounded in their ears, 
 and shivered along their arteries. They heard, in every pause, 
 the cry of liberty or death. They became impatient of speech, 
 their souls were on fire for action.* 
 
 The resolutions were adopted ; and Patrick Henry, Richard 
 H. Lee, Robert C. Nicholas, Benjamin Harrison, Lemuel Rid- 
 dick, George Washington, Adam Stevens, Andrew Lewis, Will- 
 iam Christian, Edmund Pendleton, Thomas Jefferson, and 
 Isaac Zane, esquires, were appointed a committee to prepare 
 the plan called for by the last resolution.! 
 
 * Mr. Randolph, in his manuscript history, has given a most eloquent and 
 impressive account of this debate. Since these sheets were prepared for the 
 press, and at the moment of their departure from the hands of the author, he 
 lias received from Chief Justice Marshall, a note in relation to the same de- 
 bate, which he thinks too interesting to suppress. It is the substance of a 
 statement made to the chief justice (then an ardent youth, feeling a most en- 
 thusiastic admiration of eloquence, and panting for war) by his father, who 
 was a member of this convention. Mr. Marshall, (the father,) after speaking 
 of Mr. Henry's speech, " as one of the most bold, vehement, and animated 
 pieces of eloquence that had ever been delivered," proceeded to state, that 
 " he was followed by Mr. Richard H. Lee, who took a most interesting view 
 of our real situation. He stated the force which Britain could probably bring 
 to bear upon us, and reviewed our resources and means of resistance. He 
 stated the advantages and disadvantages of both parties, and drew from this 
 statement auspicious inferences. But he concluded with saying, admitting the 
 probable calculations to be against us, we are assured in holy writ that "the 
 race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong ; and if the language of 
 genius may be added to inspiration, I will say with our immortal bard: — 
 
 " ' Thrice is he armed, who hath his quarrel just ! 
 And he but naked, though locked up in steel, 
 Whose conscience with injustice is oppressed I' " 
 
 t Colonel Robert Carter Nicholas (although opposed like all the older pa- 
 triots, from the considerations which have been stated in the text, to resistance 
 at this particular point of time) was, nevertheless, oue of the firmest support- 
 ers of the principles of the revolution. As soon, therefore, as the measure of 
 resistance was carried, in order to give to it the greatest effect, he rose and 
 
96 wirt's life of 
 
 The constitution of this c^mittee proves, that in those days 
 of genuine patriotism there existed a mutual and noble confi- 
 dence, which deemed the opponents of a measure no less wor- 
 thy than its friends to assist in its execution. A correspond- 
 ent, (Mr. Jefferson,) who bore himself a most distinguished 
 part in our revolution, in speaking of the gentlemen whom I 
 have just named, as having opposed Mr. Henry's resolutions, 
 and of Mr. Wythe, who acted with them, says : — 
 
 " These were honest and able men, who had begun the op- 
 position on the same grounds, but with a moderation more 
 adapted to their age and experience. Subsequent events fa- 
 voured the bolder spirits of Henry, the Lees, Pages, Mason, 
 &c., with whom I went in all points. Sensible, however, of 
 the importance of unanimity among our constituents, although 
 we often wished to have gone on faster, we slackened our pace, 
 that our less ardent colleagues might keep up with us ; and 
 they, on their part, differing nothing from us in principle, 
 quickened their gait somewhat beyond that which their pru- 
 dence might, of itself, have advised, and thus consolidated 
 the phalanx which breasted the power of Britain. By this har- 
 mony of the bold with the cautious, we advanced, with our 
 constituents, in undivided mass, and with fewer examples of 
 separation than perhaps existed in any other part of the union.'* 
 
 The plan for imbodying, arming and disciplining the militia, 
 proposed by the committee which has just been mentioned, 
 was received and adopted, and is in the following terms : — 
 
 *' The committee propose that it be strongly recommended 
 to the colony, diligently to put in execution the militia law 
 passed in the year 1738, entitled, ' An act for the better regula- 
 ting of the militia,' which has become in force by the expiration 
 of all subsequent militia laws. 
 
 *' The committee are further of opinion, that as, from the ex- 
 piration of the abovementioned laws, and various other causes, 
 the legal and necessary disciplining the militia has been much 
 neglected, and a proper provision of arms and ammunition has 
 not been made, to the evident danger of the community, in 
 case of invasion or insurrection ; that it be recommended to 
 the inhabitants of the several counties of this colony, that they 
 form one or more volunteer companies of infantry and troops 
 of horse in each county, and to be in constant training and 
 readiness to act on any emergency. 
 
 "That it be recommended particularly to the counties of 
 
 moved to change the system ; and, instead of arming the militia, to raise ten 
 thousand regulars for the war ; but the motion was overruled. Chief Justice 
 Marshall says : "I have frequently heard my father speak of Colonel Nicho- 
 .as's motion, to raise ten thousand men for the war." 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 97 
 
 Brunswick, Dinwiddle, Chesterfield, Henrico, Hanover, Spot- 
 sylvania, King George, and Stafford, and to all counties below 
 these, that, out of such of their volunteers, they form, each of 
 them, one or more troops of horse; and to all the counties 
 above these, it is recommended that they pay a more particular 
 attention to forming a good infantry. 
 
 " That each company of infantry consist of sixty-eight, rank 
 and file, to be commanded by one captain, two lieutenants, one 
 ensign, four sergeants, and lour corporals ; and that they have 
 a drummer, and be furnished with a drum and colours ; that 
 every man be provided with a good rifle, if to be had, or other- 
 wise with a common firelock, bayonet, and cartouch-box, and 
 also with a tomahawk, one pound of gunpowder, and four 
 pounds of ball at least, fitted to the bore of his gun ; that he 
 be clothed in a hunling-shirt, by way of uniform ; and that 
 he use all endeavour, as soon as possible, to become acquainted 
 with the military exercise for infantry, appointed to be used by 
 his majesty in the year seventeen hundred and sixty-four. 
 
 "That each troop of horse consist of thirty, exclusive of 
 officers ; that every horseman be provided with a good horse, 
 bridle, saddle, with pistols and holsters, a carbine or other 
 short firelock, with a bucket, a cutting-sword or tomahawk, 
 one pound of gunpowder, and four pounds of ball, at least ; 
 and use the utmost diligence in training and accustoming his 
 horse to stand the discharge of firearms, and in making himself 
 acquainted with the military exercise of cavalry. 
 
 *' That in order to make a further and more ample provision 
 of ammunition, it be recommended to the committees of the 
 several counties, that they collect from their constituents, in 
 such manner as shall be most agreeable to them, so much 
 money as will be sufficient to purchase half a pound of gun- 
 powder, one pound of lead, necessary flints and cartridgepaper, 
 for every titheable person in their county ; that they immedi- 
 ately take effectual measures for the procuring such gunpow- 
 der, lead, flints, and cartridgepaper, and dispose thereof, when 
 procured, in such place or places of safety as they may think 
 best: audit is earnestly recommended to each individual to 
 pay such proportion of the money necessary for these pur- 
 poses, as by the respective committees shall be judged requisite. 
 
 " That it may happen that some counties, from their situa- 
 tion, may not be apprized of the most certain and speedy meth- 
 od of procuring the articles before-mentioned, one general com- 
 mittee should be appointed, whose business it should be, to 
 procure for such counties as may make application to them, 
 such articles, and so much thereof, as the moneys wherewith they 
 shall furnish the said committee will purchase, after deducting 
 
 9 
 
98 wirt's life of 
 
 the charges of transportatioiiff nd other necessary expenses." 
 At the same session of the convention, I find that the alert 
 and inquiring spirit of Mr. Henry laid hold of another instance 
 of royal misrule. 
 
 Governor Dunmore, it seems, by a recent proclamation, had 
 declared that his majesty had given orders for all vacant lands 
 within this colony to be put up in lots at public sale ; and that 
 the highest bidder for such lots should be the purchaser thereof, 
 and should hold the same, subject to a reservation of one half- 
 penny per acre, by way of annual quitrent, and of all mines of 
 gold, silver, and precious stones. These terms were deemed 
 an innovation on the established usage of granting lands in 
 this colony ; and this sagacious politician saw in the proceed- 
 ing, not only an usurpation of power, but a great subduction 
 of the natural wealth of the colony, and the creation, moreover, 
 of a separate band of tenants and retainers, devoted to the vilest 
 measures of the crown. With a view, therefore, to defeat 
 this measure, he moved the following resolution, which was 
 adopted : — 
 
 " Resolved, That a committee be appointed to inquire whether 
 his majesty may of right advance the terms of granting lands 
 in this colony, and make report thereof to the next general as- 
 sembly or convention ; and that, in the meantime, it be recom- 
 mended to all persons whatever, to forbear purchasing or ac- 
 cepting lands on the conditions before mentioned." Of this 
 committee he was of course the chairman ; and the other mem- 
 bers were Richard Bland, Thomas Jeiferson, Robert C. Nicho- 
 las, and Edmund Pendleton, esquires. 
 
 The convention having adopted a plan for the encourage- 
 ment of arts and manufactures in this colony, and reappointed 
 their former deputies to the continental congress, with the sub- 
 stitution of Mr. Jefferson for Mr. Peyton Randolph, in case of 
 the non-attendance of the latter ;* and having also provided 
 for a re-election of delegates to the next convention, came to an 
 adjournment. It is curious to read in the file of papers from 
 which the foregoing proceedings are extracted, and immedi- 
 ately following them, this proclamation of his Excellency Lord 
 Dunmore : — 
 
 " Whereas, certain persons, styling themselves delegates of 
 several of his majesty's colonies in America, have presumed, 
 without his majesty's authority or consent, to assemble together 
 at Philadelphia, in the months of September and October last, 
 and have thought fit, among other unwarrantable proceedings, 
 
 * He was speaker of the house of burgesses, a call of which was expected, 
 and did accordingly take place. 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 99 
 
 to resolve that it wil. be necessary that another congress should 
 be held at the same place on the tenth of May next, unless re- 
 dress of certain pretended grievances be obtained before that 
 time : and to recommend that all the colonies of North America 
 should choose deputies to attend such congress : / am com- 
 manded by the kingf and I do accordingly issue this my proc- 
 lamation, to require all magistrates and other officers to use 
 their utmost endeavours to prevent any such appointment oi' 
 deputies, and to exhort all persons whatever within this govern- 
 ment, to desist from such an unjustifiable proceeding, so highly 
 displeasing to hi-s majesty." 
 
 This proclamation was published while the convention was 
 in session, and was obviously designed to have an effect on 
 their proceedings. It passed by them, however, "as the idle 
 wind which they regarded not." The age of proclamations 
 was gone, and the glory of regal governors pretty nearly ex- 
 tinguished for ever. 
 
 It ought not to be omitted, however, that this very conven- 
 tion passed resolutions complimentary to Lord Dunmore, and 
 the troops which he had commanded in an expedition of the 
 preceding year against the Indians : a compliment which, as 
 we shall see, was afterward found to be unmerited. As the 
 resolution in regard to Lord Dunmore does honour to the can- 
 dour of the convention, and shows also how little personality 
 there was in the contest, I take leave to subjoin it : — 
 
 *' Resolved, unanimouslyj That the most cordial thanks of 
 the people of this colony are a tribute justly due to our worthy 
 governor, Lord Dunmore, for his truly noble, wise, and spirited 
 conduct, on the late expedition against our Indian enemy — a 
 conduct which at once evinces his excellency's attention to the 
 true interests of this colony, and a zeal in the executive depart- 
 ment which no dangers can divert, or difficulties hinder, from 
 achieving the most important services to the people who have 
 the happiness to live under his administration." 
 
 Lord Dunmore was not a man of popular manners ; he had 
 nothing of the mildness, the purity, the benevolence and suav- 
 ity of his predecessor. On the contrary, he is represented as 
 having been rude and offensive ; coarse in his figure, his coun- 
 tenance and his manners. Yet he received from the house of 
 burgesses the most marked respect. 
 
 Thus, in seventeen hundred and seventy-four, while the lib- 
 erties of the colonies were bleeding at every pore, and while 
 the house was smarting severely, under the recent news of the 
 occlusion of the port of Boston, they paid to Lady Dunmore, 
 who had just arrived at Williamsburgh, the most cordial and 
 elegant attentions, congratulated his Lordship on this increase 
 
100 wirt's life of 
 
 to hia domestic felicity ; ana even, after their abrupt dissolu 
 tion, complimented the inhabitants of the palace with a splendia 
 ball and entertainment, in honour of the arrival of the Count 
 ess Dunmore and her family. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 The Export of Powder from Great Britain prohibited — Seizure of the Military 
 Stores in Massachusetts and other Colonies — Magazine at Williamsburgh 
 plundered by Order of Governor Dunmore — Address of the Common Coun- 
 cil — Lord Dunmore's Reply — Excitement occasioned by the Proceedings — • 
 Mr- Henry's View as to the Result of these Events — He is invested with the 
 Command of the Hanover Volunteers and marches for Williamsburgh — • 
 The Affair of the Powder Compromised — Lord Dunmore's Proclamation 
 against Mr. Henry. 
 
 The storm of the revolution now began to thicken. The 
 cloud of war had actually burst on the New England states, 
 while as yet the middle and southern colonies were in compar- 
 ative repose. The calm, however, was deceitful, and of short 
 duration ; and, as far as Virginia was concerned, had been oc- 
 casioned rather by the absence of Governor Dunmore on an 
 Indian expedition, than any disposition on his part to favour 
 the colony. His return to Williamsburgh was the signal for 
 violence. 
 
 It seems to have been a matter of concert among the colonial 
 governors, if indeed the policy was not dictated by the British 
 court, to disarm the people of all the colonies at one and the 
 same time, and thus incapacitate them for united resistance. 
 
 To give effect to this measure, the export of powder from 
 Great Britain was prohibited ; and an attempt was generally 
 made about the same period to seize the powder and arms in 
 the several provincial magazines. Gage, the successor of 
 Hutchinson in the government of Massachusetts, set the exam- 
 ple, by a seizure of the ammunition and military stores at Cam- 
 bridge, and the powder in the magazines at Charlestown, and 
 other places. His example was followed by similar attempts 
 in other colonies to the north. 
 
 And on Thursday, the twentieth of April, seventeen hundred 
 and seventy-five, Captain Henry Collins, of the armed schooner 
 Magdalen, then lying at Burwell's ferry, on James river, came 
 up at the liead of a body of marines, and, acting under the or- 
 ders of Lord Dunmore, entered the city of Williamsburgh in 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 101 
 
 the dead of the night, and carried off from the public maga- 
 zine about twenty barrels of powder, which he placed on board 
 his schooner before the break of day. 
 
 Clandestine as the movement had been, the alarm was given 
 to the inhabitants early on the next morning. Their exaspera- 
 tion may be easily conceived. The town was in tumult. A 
 considerable body of them flew to arms, with the determination 
 to compel Captain Collins to restore the powder. With much 
 difficulty, however, they were restrained by the graver inhab- 
 itants of the town, and by the members of the common council, 
 who assured them that proper measures should be immediately 
 used to produce a restoration of the powder, without the effu- 
 sion of human blood. The council, therefore, met in their cor- 
 porate character, and addressed the following letter to Gov- 
 ernor Dunmore : — 
 
 " To his Excellency the Right Honourable John, Earl of Dun- 
 more, his majesty's lieutenant, governor-general, and com- 
 mander-in-chief of the colony and dominion of Virginia : — 
 The humble address of the mayor, recorder, aldermen, and 
 common council of the city of Williamsburgh : — 
 "My Lord — We, his majesty's dutiful and loyal subjects, 
 the mayor, recorder, aldermen and common council of the city 
 of Williamsburgh, in common hall assembled, humbly beg 
 leave to represent to your excellency, that the inhabitants of 
 this city were this morning exceedingly alarmed by a report 
 that a large quantity of gunpowder was, in the preceding night, 
 while they were sleeping in their beds, removed from the pub- 
 lic magazine in this city, and conveyed under an escort of ma 
 rines, on board one of his majesty's armed vessels lying at a 
 ferry on James river. 
 
 "We beg leave to represent to your excellency, that, as the 
 magazine was erected at the public expense of this colony, and 
 appropriated to the safe-keeping of such munition as should be 
 there lodged, from time to time, for the protection and security of 
 the country, by arming thereout such of the militia as might be 
 necessary in cases of invasions and insurrections, they humbly 
 conceive it to be the only proper repository to be resorted to 
 in times of imminent danger. 
 
 "We further beg leave to inform your excellency, that from 
 various reports at present prevailing in different parts of the 
 country, we have too much reason to believe that some wicked 
 and designing persons have instilled the most diabolical no- 
 tions into the minds of our slaves; and that, therefore, the utmost 
 attention to our internal security is become the more necessary. 
 " The circumstances of this city, my lord, we consider as 
 peculiar and critical. The inhabitants, from the situation of 
 
 9* 
 
l^Ogp wirt's life ov 
 
 the magazine in the midst of their city, have for a long tract of 
 time, been exposed to all those dangers which have happened 
 in many countries from explosions and other accidents. They 
 have, from time to time, thought it incumbent on them to guard 
 the magazine. For their security they have, for some time 
 past, judged it necessary to keep strong patrols on foot ; in 
 their present circumstances, then, to have the chief and ne- 
 cessary means of their defence removed, cannot but be extreme- 
 ly alarming. 
 
 " Considering ourselves as guardians of the city, we there- 
 fore humbly desire to be informed by your excellency, upon 
 what motives, and for what particular purpose, the powder has 
 been carried off in such a manner ; and we earnestly entreat 
 your excellency to order it to be immediately returned to the 
 magazine." 
 
 To which his excellency returned this verbal answer: — 
 that "hearing of an insurrection in a neighbouring county, he 
 had removed the powder from the magazine, where he did not 
 think it secure, to a place of perfect security ; and that, upon 
 his word and honour^ whenever it was wanted on any insurrec- 
 tion, it should be delivered in half an hour ; that he had re- 
 moved it in the night-time, to prevent any alarm, and that Cap- 
 tain Collins had his express commands for the part he had 
 acted ; he was surprised to hear the people Avere under arms 
 on this occasion, and that he should not think it prudent to put 
 powder into their hands in such a situation." 
 
 This conditional promise of the return of the powder, sup- 
 ported by the influence of Mr. Peyton Randolph, Mr. Robert 
 C. Nicholas, and other characters of weight, had the effect, it 
 seems, of quieting the inhabitants for that day. On the suc- 
 ceeding night, however, a new alarm took place, on a report 
 that a number of armed men had again landed from the Magda- 
 len, about four miles below the city, with a view, it was pre- 
 sumed, of making another visit of nocturnal plunder. The in- 
 habitants again flew to arms ; but, on the interposition of the 
 same eminent citizens, the ferment was allayed, and nothing 
 more was done than to strengthen the usual patrol for the de- 
 fence of the city. 
 
 On the next day, Saturday the twenty-second of April, when 
 everything was perfectly quiet, Lord Dunmore, with rather 
 more heat than discretion, sent a message into the city, by one 
 of the magistrates, and which his lordship had delivered with 
 the most solemn asseverations, that if any insult were offered 
 to Captain Foy, (a British captain residing at the palace, as 
 his secretary, and considered to be the instigator of the gov- 
 ernor to his violences,) or to Captain Collins, he would declare 
 
PATRICK HKNRY» 103 
 
 freedom f® the slaves^, and lay the town in ashes; and he add* 
 ed, that he could easily depopulate the whole country. At 
 this time, both Captains Foy and Collins were and had been 
 continually walking the streets, at their pleasure, without 
 the slightest indication of disrespect. The effect of a threat, 
 so diabolically ferocious, directed toward the people who had 
 ever shown him and his family such enthusiastic marks of re- 
 spect and attention, and following so directly the plunder of 
 the magazine, will be readily conceived. Yet it broke not out 
 into any open act. His lordship remained unmolested even by 
 a disrespectful look. The augmented patrol was kept up ; but 
 no defensive preparation was made by the inhabitants of the 
 city. 
 
 The transactions which were passing in the metropolis circu* 
 lated through the country with a rapidity proportioned to their 
 interests, and with this farther aggravation, which was also 
 true in point of fact, that in addition to the clandestine removal 
 of the powder, the governor had caused the muskets in the 
 magazine to be stripped of their locks. 
 
 In the midst of the irritation excited by this intelligence, 
 came the news of the bloody battles of Lexington and Con- 
 cord, resulting from an attempt of the governor-general Gage, 
 to seize the military stores deposited at the latter place. The 
 system of colonial subjugation was now apparent : the effect 
 was instantaneous. The whole country flew to arms. The 
 independent companies, formed in happier times for the pur- 
 pose of military discipline, and under the immediate auspices 
 of Lord Dunmore himself, raised the standard of liberty in 
 every county. 
 
 By the twenty-seventh of April, there was assembled at 
 Fredericksburgh upward of seven hundred men well-armed and 
 disciplined, " friends of constitutional liberty and America.'* 
 Their march, however, was arrested by a letter from Mr. Pey- 
 ton Randolph, in reply to an express, and received on the 
 twenty-ninth, by which they were informed that the gentlemen 
 of the city and neighbourhood of Williamsburgh, had had full 
 assurance from his excellency, that the affair of the powder 
 should be accommodated, and advising that the gentlemen of 
 Fredericksburgh should proceed no farther. 
 
 On the receipt of this letter, a council was held of one hun- 
 dred and two members, delegates of the provincial convention, 
 and officers and special deputies of fourteen companies of light- 
 horse, then rendezvoused on the ground ; who, after the most 
 spirited expression of their sentiments on the conduct of the 
 governor, and after giving a mutual pledge to be in readiness 
 at a moment's warning, to reassemble, and by force of arraa 
 
104 wirt's life of 
 
 to defend the laws, the liberty, and rights of this or any sister- 
 colony from unjust and wicked invasion, advised the return of 
 the several companies to their respective homes ; and also or- 
 dered that expresses should be despatched to the troops assem- 
 bled at the Bowling Green, and also to the companies from 
 Frederick, Berkley, Dunmore, and such other counties as were 
 then on their march, to return them thanks for their cheerful 
 offers of service, and to acquaint them with the determination 
 then taken. By way of parody on the governor's conclusion 
 of the proclamations, by which he was striving to keep down 
 the spirit of the country, " God save the king," the council con- 
 cluded their address with " God save the liberties of America." 
 
 Mr. Henry, however, was not disposed to let this incident 
 pass off so lightly. His was a mind that watched events with 
 the coolness and sagacity of a veteran statesman. He kindled, 
 indeed, in the universal indignation which the conduct of the 
 governor was so well calculated to excite ; seeing clearly the 
 inconvenience which the colony must experience in the ap- 
 proaching contest, from the loss of even that small store of am- 
 munition. This, however, was a minor object in his esteem. 
 
 What he deemed of much higher importance was, that that 
 blow, which must be struck sooner or later, should be struck at 
 once, before an overwhelming force should enter the colony ; 
 that that habitual deference and subjection which the people 
 were accustomed to feel toward the governor, as the represent- 
 ative of royalty, and which bound their spirits in a kind of tor- 
 pid spell, should be dissolved and dissipated ; that the military 
 resources of the country should be developed ; that the people 
 might see and feel their strength by being brought out togeth- 
 er : that the revolution should be set in actual, motion in the 
 colony ; that the martial prowess of the country should be 
 awakened, and the soldiery animated by that proud and reso- 
 lute confidence, which a successful enterprise in the commence- 
 ment of a contest never fails to inspire. 
 
 These sentiments were then avowed by him to two confiden- 
 tial friends ;* to whom he farther declared that he considered 
 the outrage on the magazine a most fortunate circumstance ; 
 and as one which would rouse the people from north to south. 
 "You may in vain talk to them," said he, "about the duties 
 on tea, &c. These things will not affect them. They depend 
 on principles too abstracted for their apprehension and feeling. 
 But tell them of the robbery of the magazine, and that the next 
 step will be to disarm them, you bring the subject home to 
 
 * Colonel Richard Monris and Captain George Dabney ; on the authorily 
 of Mr. Dabney. 
 
PATRKJK HENRT. 105 
 
 their bosoms, and they ,)vill be ready to fly to arms to defend 
 thenselves." 
 
 To make of this circumstance all the advantage which he 
 contemplated, as soon as the intelligence reached him from 
 Williamsburgh, he sent express-riders to the members of the 
 Independent Company of Hanover, who were dispersed and 
 resided in different parts of the country, requesting them to 
 meet him in arms, at New Castle, on the second of May, on. 
 business of the highest importance to American liberty. In 
 order to give greater dignity and authority to the decisions of 
 ihat meeting, he convoked to the same place the county com- 
 mittee. 
 
 When assembled, he addressed them with all the powers of 
 his eloquence ; laid open the plan on which the British minis- 
 try had fallen to reduce the colonies to subjection, by robbing 
 them of all the means of defending their rights ; spread before 
 their eyes, in colours of vivid description, the fields of Lexing- 
 ton and Concord, still floating with the blood of their country- 
 men, gloriously shed in the general cause ; showed them that the 
 recent plunder of the magazine in Williamsburgh was nothing 
 more than a part of the general system of subjugation ; that 
 the moment was now come in which they were called upon to 
 decide, whether they chose to live free, and hand down the 
 noble inheritance to their children, or to become hewers of 
 wood, and drawers of water to those lordlings, who were them- 
 selves the tools of a corrupt and tyrannical ministry — he paint- 
 ed the country in a state of subjugation, and drew such pictures 
 of wretched debasement and abject vassalage, as filled their 
 souls with horror and indignation — on the other hand, he car- 
 ried them, by the powers of his eloquence, to an eminence like 
 Mount Pisgah ; showed them the land of promise, which was 
 to be won by their valour, under the support and guidance of 
 Heaven ; and sketched a vision of America, enjoying the smiles 
 of liberty and peace, the rich productions of her agriculture 
 waving on every field, her commerce whitening every sea, in 
 teints so bright, so strong, so glowing, as set the souls of his 
 hearers on fire. 
 
 He had no doubt, he said, that that God, who in former ages 
 had hardened Pharaoh's heart, that he might show forth his 
 power and glory in the redemption of his chosen people, had, 
 for similar purposes, permitted the flagrant outrages which had 
 occurred in Williamsburgh, and throughout the continent. It 
 was for them now to determine, whether they were worthy of 
 this divine interference ; whether they would accept the high 
 boon now held out to them by Heaven — that if they would, 
 though it might lead them through a sea of blood, they were 
 
106 
 
 WIRT S LIFE OF 
 
 to remember that the sam^Bod whose power divided the Red 
 sea for the deliverance of Israel, still reigned in all his glory, 
 unchanged and unchangeable— was still the enemy of the op- 
 pressor, and the frieiid of the oppressed — that he would cover 
 them from their enemies by a pillar of cloud by day, and guide 
 their feet through the night by a pillar of fire — that for his own 
 part, he was anxious that his native county should distinguish 
 itself in this grand career of liberty and glory, and snatch the 
 noble prize which was now offered to their grasp — that no time 
 was to be lost — that their enemies in this colony were now few 
 and weak — that it would be easy for them, by a rapid and vig- 
 orous movement, to compel the restoration of the powder 
 which had been carried ofl', or to make a reprisal on the king's 
 revenues in the bands of the receiver-general, which would 
 fairly balance the accopnt — that the Hanover volunteers would 
 thus have an opportunity of striking the first blow in this colo- 
 ny, in the great cause of American liberty, and would cover 
 themselves with never-fading laurels. 
 
 These were heads of his harangue. I presume not to give 
 the colouring. That was Mr. Henry's own, and beyond the 
 power of any man's imitation. The effect, however, was equal 
 to his wishes. The meeting was in a flame, and a decision im- 
 mediately taken, that the powder should be retrieved, or coun 
 terbalanced by a reprisal. 
 
 Captain Samuel Meredith, who had heretofore commanded 
 the Independent Company, resigned his commission in Mr. 
 Henry's favour, and the latter gentleman was immediately in- 
 vested with the chief command of the Hanover volunteers. Mr. 
 Meredith accepted the commission of lieutenant; and the pres- 
 ent Colonel Parke Goodall was appointed the ensign of the 
 company. Having received orders from the committee, cor- 
 respondent with his own suggestions. Captain Henry forthwith 
 took up his line of March for Williamsburgh. 
 
 Ensign Goodall was detached, with a party of sixteen men, 
 to cross the river into King William county, the residence o4 
 Richard Corbin, the king's receiver-general ; to demand from 
 him three hundred and thirty pounds, the estimated value of 
 the powder ; and, in the event of his refusal to make him a pris- 
 oner. He was ordered, in this case, to treat his person with 
 all possible respect and tenderness, and to bring him to Don- 
 castle's ordinary, about sixteen miles above Williamsburgh, 
 where the ensign was required, at all events, to rejoin the main 
 body. 
 
 The detachment, in pursuance of their orders, reached the 
 residence of the receiver-general some hours after bedtime, and 
 a guard was stationed around the house until morning. About 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 107 
 
 daybreak, however, the ladies of the family made their appear- 
 ance, and gave the commanding officer of the detachment the 
 firm and correct assurance, that Colonel Corbin was not at 
 home ; but that the house, nevertheless, was open to search, if 
 it was the pleasure of the officer to make it. The manner of 
 the assurance, however, was too satisfactory to render this ne- 
 cessary, and the detachment hastened to form the junction with 
 the main body which had been ordered. 
 
 In the meantime, the march of his gallant corps, in arms, 
 headed by a man of Mr. Henry's distinction, produced the 
 most striking effects in every quarter. Corresponding compa- 
 nies started up on all sides, and hastened to throw themselves 
 under the banners of Henry. It is believed that five thousand 
 men at least, were in arms, and were crossing the country 
 to crowd around his standard, and support it with their lives. 
 The march was conducted in the most perfect order, and with 
 the most scrupulous respect to the country through which they 
 passed. The ranks of the royalists were filled with dismay. 
 Lady Dunmore, with her family, retired to the Fowey man-of- 
 war, then lying off the town of Little York. Even the patriots 
 in Williamsburgh were daunted by the boldness, and, as they 
 deemed it, the rashness of the enterprise. 
 
 Messenger after messenger was despatched to meet Mr. 
 Henry on the way, and beg him to desist from his purpose, 
 and discharge his men. It was in vain. He was inflexibly 
 resolved to effect the purpose of his expedition or to perish in 
 the attempt. Th.e messengers were therefore detained, that 
 they might not report his strength ; and the march was contin- 
 ued with all possible celerity. The governor issued a procla- 
 mation, in which he denounced the movement, and called upon 
 the people of the country to resist it. He could as easily have 
 called " spirits from the vasty deep." He seems not to have 
 reHed much, himself, on the efficacy of his proclamation. The 
 palace was therefore filled with arms, and a detachment of ma- 
 rines ordered up from the Fowey. Before daybreak, on the 
 morning of the fourth of May, Captain Montague, the com- 
 mander of that ship, landed a party of men, with the following- 
 letter, addressed to the Honourable Thomas Nelson, the presi- 
 dent of his majesty's council: — 
 
 " Fowey, May 4th, 1775. 
 
 " Sir, — I have this morning received certain information 
 that his excellency Lord Dunmore, governor of Virgina, is 
 threatened with an attack at daybreak, this morning, at his pal- 
 ace in Williamsburgh, and have thought proper to send a de- 
 tachment from his majesty's ship under my command, to sup 
 port his excellency : therefore strongly pray you to make use 
 
108 
 
 of every endeavour to pr4^nt the party from being molested 
 and attacked, as in that case I must be under a necessity to fire 
 upon this town. From 
 
 "George Montague." 
 
 Lord Dunmore, however, thought better of this subject, and 
 caused Mr. Henry to be met at Doncastle's, about sunrise on 
 the same morning, with the receiver-general's bill of exchange, 
 for the sum required. It was accepted as a satisfaction for 
 the powder, and the following receipt was passed by Mr. 
 Henry : — 
 
 ^'■Doncastle's Ordinary, New Kent, May ith, 1775. 
 
 " Received from the Honourable Richard Corbin, Esq., his 
 majesty*s receiver-general, three hundred and thirty pounds, as 
 a compensation for the gunpowder lately taken out of the pub- 
 lic magazine by the governor's order ; which money I promise 
 to convey to the Virginia delegates at the general congress, to 
 be, under their direction, laid out in gunpowder for the colo- 
 ny's use, and to be stored as they shall direct, until the next 
 colony convention, or general assembly ; unless it shall be ne- 
 cessary, in the meantime, to use the same in the defence of this 
 colony. It is agreed, that in case the next convention shall 
 determine that any part of the said money ought to be returned 
 to his majesty's said receiver-general, that the same shall be 
 done accordingly. "Patrick Henry, jun. 
 
 " Test — Samuel Meredith, 
 Parke Goodall." 
 
 The march of the marines from the Fowey had, however, 
 produced the most violent commotion both in York* and Wil- 
 
 ■* " The town of York being somewhat alarmed by a letter from Captain 
 Montague, commander of his majesty's ship the Fowey, addressed to the Hon. 
 Thomas Nelson, esquire, president of his majesty's council in Virginia; and a 
 copy of said letter being procured, a motion was made, that the copy should 
 be laid before the committee, and considered. The copy was read, and is as 
 follows : — 
 
 " ' Foivey, May 4, 1775. 
 
 " ' Sir — I have this morning received certain information that his excellency 
 the Lord Dunmore, governor of Virginia, is threatened with an attack at day- 
 break this morning, at his palace in Williamsburgh, and have thought proper to 
 send a detachment from his majesty's ship under my command to support his 
 excellency; therefore, strongly pray you to make use of every endeavour to 
 prevent the party from being molested and attacked, as in that case I must bo' 
 under the necessity to tire upon this town. From George Montague. 
 
 *^ ''To the Hon. Thomas Nelson.'' 
 
 " The committee, together with Capt. Montague's letter taking into consid- 
 eration the time of its being sent, which was too late to permit the president to 
 use his influence, had the inhabitants been disposed to molest and attack the 
 detachment ; and further considering that Col. Nelson, who, had his threat 
 carried into execution, must have been a principal sufferer, was at that 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 109 
 
 liamsburgh, Mr. Henry himself seemed to apprehend that the 
 public treasury would be the next object of depredation and 
 that a pretext would be sought for it in the reprisal which had 
 just been made. He therefore addressed, from Doncastle's, 
 the following letter to Robert Carter Nicholas, esquire, the 
 treasurer of the colony : — 
 
 "ilfa2/4, 1T75. 
 
 " Sir — The affair of the powder is now settled, so as to pro- 
 duce satisfaction to me, and I earnestly wish to the colony in 
 general. The people here have it in charge from Hanover 
 committee, to tender their service to you, as a public officer, 
 for the purpose of escorting the public treasury to any place 
 in this colony, where the money would be judged more safe 
 than in the city of Williamsburgh. The reprisal now made by 
 the Hanover volunteers, though accomplished in a manner less 
 liable to the imputation of violent extremity, may possibly be 
 the cause of future injury to the treasury. If, therefore, you 
 apprehend the least danger, a sufficient guard is at your service. 
 I beg the return of the bearer may be instant, because the men 
 wish to know their destination. With great regard, I am, sir, 
 your most humble servant, " Patrick Henry, jun." 
 
 To this letter an answer was received from Mr. Nicholas, 
 importing that he had no apprehension of the necessity, or 'pro- 
 priety of the proffered service : and Mr. Henry understanding, 
 also, that the private citizens of Williamsburgh were in a great 
 measure quieted from their late fears for their persons and 
 property, judged it proper to proceed no farther. Their expe- 
 dition having been crowned with success, the volunteers return- 
 ed in triumph to their respective homes. 
 
 The committee of Hanover again met ; gave them their 
 warmest thanks for the vigour and propriety with which they 
 
 very moment exerting his utmost endeavours in behalf of government, and the 
 safety of his excellency's person, unanimously come to the following resolu- 
 tions : — 
 
 " Resolved, That Capt. Montague, in threatening to fire upon a defenceless 
 town, in case of an attack upon the detachment, in which said town might not 
 be concerned, has testified a spirit of cruelty unprecedented in the annals of 
 civilized times ; that, in his late notice to the president, he has added insult 
 to cruelty ; and that considering the circumstances already mentioned, of one 
 of the nvost considerable inhabitants of said towrn, he has discovered the most 
 hellish principles that can actuate a human mind. 
 
 " Resolved, That it be recommended to the inhabitants of this town, and 
 to the country in general, that they do not entertain or show any other mark of 
 civility to Capt. Montague, besides what common decency and absolute neces- 
 sity require. 
 
 " Resolved, That the clerk do transmit the above proceedings to the public 
 printers, to be inserted in the Virginia gazettes. 
 
 (A true copy.) '* Willum Rusbbll, Cl'k Com." 
 
 10 
 
110 WIBT*8 LIFE OF 
 
 had conducted the enterpri^pr; and returned their acknowledg- 
 ments, in suitable terms, to the many vohmteers of the differ- 
 ent counties, who joined and were marching, and ready to co- 
 operate with the volunteer company of Hanover. 
 
 Two days after the return of the volunteers, and when all 
 was again quiet, the governor thundered the following anathe- 
 ma from the palace : — 
 
 " By his excellency, the Right Honourable John, Earl of 
 Dunmore, his majesty's lieutenant and governor-general of the 
 colony and dominion of Virginia, and vice-admiral of the 
 same : — 
 
 ♦' A PROCLAMATION. 
 
 *' Virginia, to wit : — Whereas, I have been informed, from 
 imdoubted authority, that a certain Patrick Henry, of the 
 county of Hanover, and a number of deluded followers, have 
 taken up arms, chosen their officers, and styling themselves 
 an Independent Company, have marched out of their county, 
 encamped, and put themselves in a posture of war ; and have 
 written and despatched letters to divers parts of the country, 
 exciting the people to join in these outrageous and rebellious 
 practices, to the great terror of his majesty's faithful subjects, 
 and in open defiance of law and government ; and have com- 
 mitted other acts of violence, particularly in extorting from his 
 majesty's receiver-general the sum of three hundred and thirty 
 pounds, under pretence of replacing the powder I thought 
 proper to order from the magazine : whence it undeniably ap- 
 pears, that there is no longer the least security for the life or 
 property of any man ; wherefore I have thought proper with 
 the advice of his majesty's council, and in his majesty's name, 
 to issue this my proclamation, strictly charging all persons 
 upon their allegiance, not to aid, abet, or give countenance to 
 the said Patrick Henry, or any other persons concerned in 
 such unwarrantable combinations ; but, on the contrary, to op- 
 pose them and their designs by every means ; which designs 
 must otherwise inevitably involve the whole country in the 
 most direful calamity, as they will call for the vengeance of 
 offended majesty, and the insulted laws, to be exerted here to 
 vindicate the constitutional authority of government. 
 
 "Given under my hand and seal of the colony, at Wil- 
 liamsburgh, this sixth day of May, seventeen hundred and 
 seventy-five, and in the fifteenth year of his majesty's 
 reign. " Dunmore. 
 
 " God save the king." 
 
 But Lord Dunmore's threats and denunciations had no other 
 effect than to render more conspicuous and more honourable tho 
 
PATRICK HBNRY. Ill 
 
 man who was the object of them. Mr. Henry, who had been on 
 the point of setting out for congress at the time when he had 
 been called off by the intelligence from Williamsburgh, now 
 resumed his journey, and was escorted in triumph by a large 
 party of gentlemen, as far as Hooe's ferry, on the Potomac. 
 Messengers were sent after him from all directions, bearing 
 the thanks and the applauses of his assembled countrymen, 
 for his recent enterprise ; and in such throngs did these ad- 
 dresses come, that the necessity of halting to read and answer 
 them converted a journey of one day into a triumph of many. 
 Thus the same man, whose gemus had in the year seventeen 
 hundred and sixty-five given the first political impulse to the 
 revolution, had now the additional honour of heading the first 
 military movement in Virginia, in support of the same cause. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Second Session of the Delegates to Congress — Attachment of the People of 
 Virginia to Lady Dunmore — Barbarous Proceeding of Lord Dunmore — 
 Takes his Residence on board the Fowey — His Correspondence with the 
 Committee — Mr. Henry is appointed Colonel of one of the Regiments raised 
 by the Colonial Convention — Tender of the British sloop Otter is burnt by 
 the People — Correspondence with Capt. Squire in relation to that Event-— 
 Lord Dunmore heads a Body of Recruits — Col. Woodford is sent to oppose 
 his Progress — Circumstances leading to Mr. Henry's resignation — He is 
 elected a Delegate to the Convention — Declaration of Rights — Mr. Henry 
 elected Governor of Virginia — Addresses connected with that Event. 
 
 I CANNOT learn that Mr. Henry distinguished himself pe- 
 culiarly at this session of congress. The spirit of resistance 
 was sufficiently excited ; and nothing remained but to organize 
 that resistance, and to plan and execute the details which were 
 to give it effect. In business of this nature, Mr. Henry as we 
 have seen, was not efficient. It has been already stated that 
 he was unsuccessful in composition, of which much was done, 
 and eminently done, at this session ; and the lax habits of his 
 early life had implanted in him an insuperable aversion to the 
 drudgery of details. He could not endure confinement of any 
 sort, nor the labour of close and solitary thinking. 
 
 His habits were all social, and his mind delighted in unlimited 
 range. His conclusions were never reached by an elaborate 
 deduction of thought; he gained them as it were per saltern; 
 yet with a certainty not less infallible than that of the driest 
 and severest logician. It is not wonderful, therefore, that he 
 
113 wirt's life of 
 
 felt himself lost amid the derations in which congress was 
 now engaged, and that he enjoyed the relief which was afford- 
 ed him, by a military appointment from his native state. It 
 will be proper, however, to explain particularly the proceed- 
 ings which led to this incident in the life of Mr. Henry. 
 
 Shortly after the affair of the gunpowder, Lord North's con- 
 ciliatory proposition, popularly called the Olive Branch, arrived 
 in America. Hereupon the governor of Virginia called a 
 meeting of the house of burgesses ; and as if the quarrel were 
 now completely over, Lady Dunmore and her family returned 
 from the Fowey to the palace. 
 
 If an estimate may be formed from the newspapers of the 
 day, into which the people seem to have poured their feeA' -^^ 
 without reserve, that lady was eminently a favourJL » m this 
 colony. Her residence here had been short ; yet the exalted 
 virtues which marked her character, and those domestic graces 
 and attractions which shone with the more lustre by contrast 
 with his lordship, had already endeared her to the people; and 
 would have consecrated her person, and those of her children, 
 amid the wildest tumult to which this colony could possibly 
 be excited. The people had been extremely wounded by her 
 late departure for the Fowey : they considered it as a measure 
 of his lordship, and as an unjust reflection both upon the judg- 
 ment and generosity of the people of this country. 
 
 They had told him intelligibly enough, that they had formed 
 a much more correct estimate of her worth than he himself ap- 
 peared to have done ; and that so far from her being insecure 
 in the bosom of a people who thus admired, respected, and 
 loved her, his lordship would have acted much more wisely to 
 have kept her near his person, and covered himself under the 
 sacred shield which sanctified her in the eyes of Virginians. 
 In proportion to their regret and mortification at her depar- 
 ture, was the ardour of delight with which they hailed her re- 
 turn. A paragraph in Purdie's paper assured her, that "her 
 arrival at the palace was to the great joy of the citizens of 
 Williamsburgh, and of the people of the whole country, who 
 had the most unfeigned regard and affection for her ladyship, 
 and wished her long to live among them." 
 
 On Thursday, the first of June, the general assembly accord- 
 ing to the proclamation of Lord Dunmore, met at the capitol 
 in the city of Williamsburgh. He addressed them with great 
 earnestness on the alarming state of the colony ; and exhibited 
 the conciliatory proposition of the British ministry, as an ad- 
 vance on the part of the mother-country, which it was the duty 
 of the colonists to meet with gratitude and devotion. The 
 council answered him in a manner perfectly satisfactory ; bu4 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 
 
 113 
 
 before he could receive the answer of the house of burgesses, 
 an incident occurred, which drove his lordship precipitatel> 
 from his palace, and terminated for ever all friendly relations 
 between himself and the people of Virginia. 
 
 It seems, that during the late ferment, produced by the re- 
 moval of the powder, and while Mr. Henry was on his march 
 toward Williamsburgh, some of the inhabitants of the town, 
 to the great offence of the graver citizens, had possessed them- 
 selves of a few of the guns which still remained in the maga- 
 zine. This step gave great displeasure as well as alarm to the 
 governor ; and although the mayor and council, as well as all 
 the more respectable inhabitants of the town, condemned it m 
 terms as strong as his own, and sincerely united in the means 
 which were used to recover the arms, yet his lordship contin- 
 ued to brood over it in secret, until, with the aid of the minions 
 of the palace, he hatched a scheme of low and cruel revenge, 
 sufficient of itself to cover him with immortal infamy. 
 
 It was on Monday night, the fifth of June, that this scheme 
 discovered itself. " Last Monday night," says Purdie, "an 
 unfortunate accident happened to two persons of this city, who, 
 with a number of others, had assembled at the magazine, to 
 furnish themselves with arms. Upon their entering the door, 
 one of the guns, which had a spring to it, and was charged 
 eight fingers deep with swan-shot, went off", and lodged two 
 balls in one of their shoulders, another entered at his wrist, and 
 is not yet extracted : the other person had one of his fingers 
 shot off, and the next to it so much shattered as to render it 
 useless, by which sad misfortune he is deprived of the means 
 of procuring a livelihood by his business. Spring-guns, it 
 seems, were placed at other parts of the magazine, of which 
 the public were totally ignorant ; and certainly had any person 
 lost his life, the perpetrator or perpetrators of this diabolical 
 invention might have been justly branded with the opprobri- 
 ous title of murderers. O tempora ! O mores !" 
 
 The indignation naturally excited by this piece of deliberate 
 and barbarous treachery, which was at once traced to Lord 
 Dunmore, was farther aggravated by a discovery that several 
 barrels of powder had been buried in the magazine, with the 
 purpose, it was reasonably conjectured, of being used as a mine, 
 and thus producing still more fatal destruction, when the occa- 
 sion should offer. Early on the next morning, Lord Dunmore 
 with his family, including Captain Foy, fled from the palace to 
 return to it no more, and took shelter on board the Fowey, 
 from the vengeance which he knew he so justly deserved. No 
 commotion, however, had ensued to justify his retreat. 
 
 The people, indeed, were highly indignant, but they were 
 10» 
 
114 
 
 silent and quiet. The suggestions of his lordship's conscience 
 had alone produced his flight. He left behind him a message to 
 the speaker and house of burgesses, in which he ascribed this 
 movement to apprehensions for his personal safety; stated that 
 he should fix his residence on board the Fowey; that no inter- 
 ruption should be given to the sitting of the assembly ; that he 
 should make the access to him easy and safe; and thought it 
 would be more agreeable to the house to send to him, from time 
 to time, one or more of their members, as occasion might re- 
 quire, than to put the whole body to the trouble of moving to 
 be near him. 
 
 On receiving this message, the house immediately resolved 
 itself into a committee of the whole, and prepared an answer, 
 in which they expressed their deep concern at the step which 
 he had taken — assuring him that his apprehensions of personal 
 danger were entirely unfounded ; regretting that he had not 
 expressed them to the house previous to his departure, since, 
 from their zeal and attachment to the preservation of order and 
 good government, they should have judged it their indispensa- 
 ble duty to have endeavoured to remove any cause of disquie- 
 tude. They express the anxiety with which they contemplate 
 the very disagreeable situation of his most amiable lady and 
 her family, and assure him, that they should think themselves 
 happy in being able to restore their perfect tranquillity, by re- 
 moving all their fears. 
 
 They regret his departure and the manner of it, as tending 
 to keep up the great uneasiness which had of late so unhappily 
 prevailed in this country ; and declared that they will cheer- 
 fully concur in any measure that may be proposed, proper for 
 the security of himself and his family ; they remind him how 
 impracticable it will be to carry on the business of the session 
 with any tolerable degree of propriety, or with that despatch 
 which the advanced season of the year required, while his lord- 
 ship was so far removed from them, and so inconveniently sit- 
 uated ; and conclude with entreating him, that he would be 
 pleased to return with his lady and family to the palace, which 
 they say, they are persuaded will give the greatest satisfaction, 
 and be the most likely means of quieting the minds of the 
 people. 
 
 This communication was carried down to him by a deputa- 
 tion of two members of the council, and four of the house of 
 burgesses ; and in reply to language so respectful, and assur- 
 ances so friendly and conciliatory, his lordship returned an an- 
 swer in which he charged them with having slighted his ofl'ers 
 of respect and civility, with giving countenance to the violent 
 and disorderly proceeding of the people, and with a usurpation 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 115 
 
 of the executive power in ordering and appointing guards to 
 mount in the city of Williamsburgh, with the view, as was pre- 
 tended, to protect the magazine, but which might well be doubt- 
 ed, as there then remained nothing therein which required being 
 guarded ; he exhorts them to return within the pale of their con- 
 stitutional power ; to redress the many grievances which existed ; 
 to open the courts of justice ; to disarm the independent com- 
 panies, and what was not less essential by their own example, 
 and every means in their power, to abolish the spirit of perse- 
 cution which pursued, with menaces and acts of oppression, 
 all his majesty's loyal and orderly subjects. 
 
 For the accomplishment of which ends, he invited them to 
 adjourn to the town of York, opposite to which the Fowey lay, 
 where he promised to meet and remain with them till their 
 business should be finished. But with respect to their entreaty 
 that he would return to the palace, he represents to them that 
 unless they closed in with the conciliatory proposition now 
 offered to them by the British parliament, his return to Wil- 
 liamsburgh would be as fruitless to the people, as possibly it 
 might be dangerous to himself. So that he places the event of 
 his returning, on their acceptance of Lord North's offer of con- 
 ciliation. 
 
 The house of burgesses now took up that proposition ; and 
 having examined it in every light, with the utmost attention, 
 they conclude with a firm and dignified rejection of it, and an 
 appeal •' to the even-handed justice of that Being who doth no 
 wrong ; earnestly beseeching him to illuminate the councils, 
 and prosper the endeavours, of those to whom America had 
 confided her hopes, that, through their wise direction, we may 
 again see reunited the blessings of liberty and prosperity, and 
 the most permanent harmony with Great Britain."* 
 
 A correspondence on another topic was now opened between 
 the council and burgesses, and the governor, Dunmore. 
 
 The former addressed him with a request, that he would or- 
 der a large parcel of arms which he had left in the palace to 
 be removed to the public magazine, a place of greater safety. 
 This he peremptorily refused ; and ordered that those arms, 
 belonging to the king, should not be touched without his ex- 
 press permission. In their reply, they say, that the arms may 
 in some sort be considered as belonging to the king, as the su- 
 preme head of the government, and that they were properly 
 under his lordship's direction; yet they humbly conceived, 
 that they were originally provided and had been preserved for 
 the use of the country in cases of emergency. 
 
 * This vigorous and eloquent production is fronx the same pen which drew 
 the Declaration of American Independence, 
 
116 ' wirt's life of 
 
 The palace, they say, had indeed been hitherto much respect 
 ed, but not so much out of regard to the building, as the resi 
 dence of his majesty's representative. Had his lordship 
 thought fit to remain there, they would have had no apprehen- 
 sions of danger ; but considering these arms at present as ex- 
 posed to his lordship's servants, and every rude invader, the 
 security derived from his lordship's presence could not now be 
 relied on. They, therefore, again entreat him to order the re- 
 moval of the arms to the magazine. They then proceed to 
 state, that they cannot decline representing to him that the im- 
 portant business of the assembly had been much impeded by 
 his excellency's removal from the palace — that this step had 
 deprived them of that free and necessary access to his lord- 
 ship, to which they were entitled by the constitution of the 
 country — that there were several bills of the last importance 
 to the country, now ready to be presented to his excellency for 
 his assent. 
 
 They complain of the inconvenience to which they had been 
 put in sending their members twelve miles to wait on his ex- 
 cellency, on board of one of his majesty's ships of war, to pre- 
 sent their addresses — they state that they think it would be 
 highly improper, and too great a departure from the constitu- 
 tional and accustomed mode of transacting business, to meet 
 his excellency at any other place than the capitol, to present 
 such bills as were ready for his signature — and, therefore, 
 beseech him to return for this purpose. 
 
 To all this he gave a very short answer ; that, as to the arms, 
 he had already declared his intention, and conceived they were 
 meddling with a subject which did not belong to them ; he de- 
 sired to know whom they designed by the term rude invader ; 
 that the disorders in Williamsburgh and other parts of the 
 country, had driven him from the palace ; and that, if any incon- 
 venience had arisen to the assembly on that account, he was 
 not chargeable with it ; that they had not been deprived of any 
 necessary or free access to him ; that the constitution undoubt- 
 edly vested him with the power of calling the assembly to any 
 place in the colony, which exigency might require ; that not 
 having been made acquainted with the whole proceedings of 
 the assembly, he knew of no bills of importance, which, if he 
 were inclined to risk his person again among the people, the 
 assembly had to present to him, nor whether they were such 
 as he could assent to. 
 
 In the course of their correspondence he required the house 
 to attend him on board the Fowey, for the purpose of obtain- 
 ing his signature to the bills ; and some of the members to pre- 
 vent an actual dissolution of the government, and to give effect 
 
PATRICK HENRT. 117 
 
 to the many necessary bills which they had passed, proposed 
 to yield to this extraordinary requisition. The project, how- 
 ever, was exploded by a member's rising in his place, and re- 
 lating the fable of the sick lion and the fox. 
 
 The governor having thus virtually abdicated his office, the 
 government was in effect dissolved. The house hereupon 
 resolved, " That his Lordship's message, requiring the house 
 to attend him on board one of his majesty's ships-of-war, is a 
 high breach of the rights and privileges of this house." — " That 
 the unreasonable delays thrown into the proceedings of this 
 house by the governor, and his evasive answers to the sin- 
 cere and decent addresses of the representatives of the people, 
 give us great reason to fear, that a dangerous attack may be 
 meditated against the unhappy people of this colony." — "It 
 is, therefore, our opinion, they say, that they prepare for the 
 preservation of their property, and their inestimable rights and 
 liberties with the greatest care and attention." 
 
 " That we do and will bear faith and true allegiance to our 
 most gracious sovereign, George III., our only lawful and 
 rightful king: that we will, at all times, to the utmost of our 
 power, and at the risk of our lives and properties, maintain and 
 defend his government in this colony, as founded on the estab- 
 lished laws and principles of the constitution : that it is our 
 most earnest desire to preserve and strengthen those bonds of 
 amity, with all our fellow-subjects in Great Britain, which are 
 so very essential to the prosperity and happiness of both coun- 
 tries." Having adopted these resolutions without a dissenting 
 voice, they adjourned themselves to the twelfth of October fol- 
 lowing ; and the delegates were summoned to meet in conven- 
 tion at the town of Richmond, on the seventeenth of July.* 
 
 Immediately on the adjournment of the house of burgesses, 
 a very full meeting of the citizens of Williamsburgh convened, 
 on the call of Peyton Randolph, at the court-house in that city, 
 " to consider of the expediency of stationing a number of men 
 there for the public safety ; as well to assist the citizens in their 
 nightly watches, as to guard against any surprise from our ene- 
 mies ; whereupon it was unanimously agreed (until the general 
 convention should meet) to invite down from a number of 
 counties, to the amount of two hundred and fifty men. Mean- 
 while, until they arrived, the neighbouring counties, they say, 
 were kind enough to lend them their assistance. 
 
 * On this occasion, Richard H. Lee, standing with two of the burgesses in 
 the porch of the capitol, inscribed with his pencil on a pillar of the capitol, 
 these prophetic lines, from Shakspeare : — 
 
 "When shall we three meet again? 
 In thunder, lightning, and in rain; 
 When the hurly-burly's done, 
 When the battle's lost and xeon.** 
 
118 wirt's life of 
 
 On the twenty-ninth of Jime, the Fowey ship, and Magdalen 
 schooner, sailed from York ; on board the latter went Lady 
 Dunmore, and the rest of the governor's family, bound for Eng- 
 land ; and the colony was for a short time relieved by the re- 
 port that the Fowey carried Lord Dunmore and Captain Foy 
 on a visit to General Gage, at Boston. This report, however, 
 was unfounded. The Fowey merely escorted the Magdalen to 
 the Capes, and then returned again to her moorings, before 
 York. The Otter sloop-of-war, commanded by Captain Squire, 
 thereupon fell down to the mouth of York river, with the inten- 
 tion of cruising along the coast, and seizing all provision ves- 
 sels ; and soon became distinguished at least for the malignity 
 of her attempts. The Fowey was relieved by the ship Mercu- 
 ry, of twenty-four guns, John Macartney, commander, and de- 
 parted for Boston, and carrying with her the now obnoxious 
 Captain Foy. The governor's domestics left the palace, and 
 removed to his farm at Montibello, about six miles below Wil- 
 liamsburgh ; and the governor himself fixed his station at the 
 town of Portsmouth. In this posture of things, on Monday, 
 the twenty-fourth of July, seventeen hundred and seventy-five, 
 the colonial convention met at the city of Richmond. 
 
 The proceedings of this convention were marked by a char- 
 acter of great decision and vigour. One of their first measures 
 was an ordinance for raising and imbodying a sufficient force 
 for the defence and protection of the colony. By this ordi- 
 nance it was provided, that two regiments of regulars, to con- 
 sist of one thousand and twenty privates, rank and file, should 
 be forthwith raised and taken into the pay of the colony ; and 
 a competent regular force was also provided for the protection 
 of the western frontier. The whole colony was divided into 
 sixteen military districts ; with a provision, that a regiment of 
 six hundred and eighty men, rank and file, should be raised on 
 the eastern shore district, and a battalion of five hundred in each 
 of the others ; to be forthwith armed, trained, furnished with 
 all military accoutrements, and ready to march at a minute's 
 warning. 
 
 A committee, called the committee of safety, was also organ- 
 ized, with functions and powers analogous to those of the ex- 
 ecutive department, and apparently designed to supply the 
 vacancy occasioned by the governor's abdication of that branch 
 of the government. 
 
 The convention now proceeded to the appointment of officers 
 to command the regular forces. The lofty stand which Mr. 
 Henry had taken in the American cause, his increasing popu- 
 larity, and the prompt and energetic movement which he had 
 made in the aflfair of the gunpowder, brought him strongly be* 
 
PATMCK HENRY. 119 
 
 fore the view of the house ; and he was elected the colonel of the 
 iirst regiment, and the commander of all the forces raised, and 
 to be raised, for the defence of the colony. Mr. William Wood- 
 ford, who is said to have distinguished himself in the French 
 and Indian war, was appointed to the command of the second 
 regiment. 
 
 The place of rendezvous for the troops was the city of Wil- 
 liamsburgh. Mr. Henry was at his post on the twentieth of 
 September, examining the grounds adjacent to the city, for the 
 purpose of selecting an encampment ; and the place chosen 
 was at the back of William and Mary college. The troops 
 were recruited and poured in with wonderful rapidity. The 
 papers of the day teem with the annunciation of company after 
 company, both regulars and minute-men, with the highest en- 
 comiums on the appearance and spirit of the troops ; and had 
 the purpose been offensive war, Colonel Henry was soon in a 
 situation to have annihilated any force that Lord Dunmore 
 could at that time have arrayed against him. 
 
 But there was, in truth, something extremely singular and 
 embarrassing in the situation of the parties in regard to each 
 other. It was not war, nor was it peace. The very ordinance 
 by which these troops were raised, was filled with professions 
 of allegiance and fidelity to George III. — professions, whose 
 sincerity there is the less reason to doubt, because they are 
 confined to the exercise of his constitutional powers, and stand 
 connected with an expression of their firm determination to 
 resist any attempt on the liberties of the country. The only 
 intelligible purpose, therefore, for which these troops were 
 raised, was a preparation for defence ; and for defence against 
 an attempt to enforce the parliamentary taxes upon this colony. 
 With respect to Lord Dunmore, he was indeed considered as 
 having abandoned the duties of his office : yet still he was re- 
 garded as the governor of Virginia ; and there seems to have 
 been no disposition to ofl^er violence to his person. 
 
 Dunmore, on his part, considered the colony as in a state of 
 open and general rebellion ; not merely designing to resist an 
 attempt to enforce upon them an obnoxious tax, but to subvert 
 the regal government wholly and entirely ; and had his power 
 been equal to his wishes, there is no reason to doubt that he 
 would have disarmed the colony, and hung up without cere- 
 mony, the leaders of this traitorous revolt, as he affected to 
 consider it. His impotence, however, and the aversion of the 
 colonists to act otherwise than defensively, produced a suspense 
 full of the most painful anxiety. 
 
 In the meantime. Captain Squire, commander of his majes- 
 ty's sloop, the Otter, had been labouring throughout the sum- 
 
120 wirt's life of 
 
 mer with some success, tc^liange the defensive attitude of the 
 colony. He was engaged in cruising continually in James and 
 York rivers, plundering the defenceless shores, and carrying 
 off the slaves, wherever seduction or force could place them in 
 his power. These piratical excursions had wrought up the . 
 citizens who were not in arms to a very high pitch of resent- 
 ment ; and an accident soon gave them an opportunity of par- 
 tial reprisal, which they did not fail to seize. 
 
 On the second of September, the captain, sailing in a tender, 
 on a marauding expedition from James to York river, was en- 
 countered by a violent tempest, and his tender was driven on 
 shore upon Back river, near Hampton. It was night, and the 
 storm still raging : — the captain and his men, distrusting (un- 
 justly, as it would seem from the papers) the hospitality of the 
 inhabitants, made their escape through the woods ; the vessel 
 was on the next day discovered and burnt by the people of the 
 neighbourhood. In consequence of this act, the captain ad- 
 dressed the following letter to the committee of the town of 
 Hampton : — 
 
 " Otter sloop, Norfolk river, Sept. 10, 1775. 
 
 "Gentlemen — Whereas, a sloop-tender, manned and arm- 
 ed in his majesty's service, was, on Saturday the second in- 
 stant, in a violent gale of wind, cast on shore in Back river, 
 EHzabeth county, having on board the undermentioned king's 
 stores, which the inhabitants of Hampton thought proper to 
 seize : I am therefore to desire, that the king's sloop, with all 
 the stores belonging to her, be immediately returned ; or the 
 people of Hampton, who committed the outrage, must be an- 
 swerable for the consequences. 
 
 " I am, gentlemen, your humble servant, 
 
 "Matthew Squire." 
 
 This letter, with a catalogue of the stores having been com- 
 municated to the committee of Williamsburgh, and by them 
 having been laid before the commanding officer of the volun- 
 teers of that place, Major James Innes, at the head of a hun- 
 dred men, who courted the enterprise, flew to Hampton to re- 
 pel the threatened invasion. Squire, however, satisfied him- 
 self for the present, by falling down to Hampton road, where 
 he seized the passage-boats, with the negroes in them, by way 
 of reprisal, as he alleged, for the stores, &c., taken out of his 
 tender when driven ashore in the late storm; "which boats 
 and negroes," adds Purdie's paper of the day, "it is likely he 
 intends taking into the Jcing^s service, to send out a pirating 
 for hogs, fowls, &c. A very pretty occupation for the captain 
 of one of his majesty's ships-of-war." 
 
 Th« next paper announces the movements of Squire by a 
 
PATRICK HBNRY. 121 
 
 paragraph, which I extract verbatim, as showing in an amu- 
 sing light, the spirit of the times, and as Camden says, " the 
 plain and jolly mirth of our ancestors," even in the midst of 
 misfortunes : — "We hear that the renowned Captain Squire, of 
 his majesty's sloop Otter, is gone up the bay for Baltimore in 
 Maryland ; on his old trade, it is to be presumed, of negro- 
 catching, pillaging the farms and plantations of their stock and 
 poultry, and other illustrious actions, highly becoming a 
 Squire in the king's navy. Some say, his errand was to watch 
 for a quantity of gunpowder intended for this colony ; but that 
 valuable is now safely landed where he dare not come to smell 
 it." The same paper contains the following answer from the 
 committee of Hampton to Squire's letter : — 
 *'To Matthew Squire, Esq., commander of his majesty's sloop 
 Otter, lying in Hampton roads. 
 
 " Hampton, September 16, 1775. 
 
 " Sir — Yours of the tenth instant, directed to the committee 
 of the town of Hampton, reciting, that a sloop-tender on his 
 majesty's service was, on the second instant, cast on shore near 
 this place, having on board some of the king's stores, which 
 you say were seized by the inhabitants, and demanding an im- 
 mediate return of the same, or that the people of Hampton 
 must answer the consequences of such outrage, was this day 
 laid before them, who knowing the above recital to be injuri- 
 ous and untrue think proper here to mention the facts relative 
 to this matter. The sloop we apprehend, was not in his ma- 
 jesty's service, as we are well assured that you were on a pilla- 
 ging or pleasuring parly ; and although it gives us pain to use 
 indelicate expressions, yet the treatment received from you 
 calls for a state of facts, in the simple language of truth, how- 
 ever harsh it may sound. 
 
 *' To your own heart we appeal for the candour with which 
 we have stated them — to that heart which drove you into the 
 woods in the most tempestuous weather, in one of the darkest 
 nights, to avoid the much-injured and innocent inhabitants of this 
 county, who had never threatened or ill-used you — and who 
 would at that time have received you, we are assured, with 
 humanity and civility, had you made yourself and situation 
 known to them. 
 
 " Neither the vessel nor stores were seized by the inhabit- 
 ants of Hampton ; the gunner, one Mr. Gray — and the pilot, 
 one Mr. Ruth — who were employed by you on this party, are 
 men, we hope, who will still assert the truth. From them, di- 
 vers of our members were informed that the vessel and stores 
 together with a good seine, (which you, without cause, so has- 
 tily deserted,) were given up as irrecoverably lost, by the offi- 
 
132 wirt's life of 
 
 cers, and some of the prc^p^etors, to one Finn, near whoso 
 house you were driven on shore, as a reward for his entertain- 
 ing you, &.C., with respect and decency. 
 
 " The threats of a person whose conduct hath evinced that 
 he was not only capable, hut desirous of doing us, in our then 
 defenceless state, the greatest injustice, we confess, were some- 
 what alarming ; but with the greatest pleasure we can inform 
 you, our apprehensions are now removed. 
 
 " Although we know that we cannot legally be called to ac- . 
 count for that which you are pleased to style an outrage, and 
 notwithstanding we have hitherto, by you been treated with 
 iniquity, we will, as far as in our power lies, do you right upon 
 just and equitable terms. 
 
 " First. We, on behalf of the community, require from you the 
 restitution of a certain Joseph Harris, the property of a gentle- 
 man of our town, and all other our slaves whom you may have 
 on board ; which said Harris, as well as other slaves, hath been 
 long harboured, and often employed, with your knowledge, (as 
 appeared to us by the confession of Ruth and others, and is 
 well known to all your men,) in pillaging us under cover of 
 night, of our sheep and other live stock. 
 
 " Secondly. We require that you will send on shore all 
 boats, with their hands, and every other thing you have detain- 
 ed on this occasion. 
 
 "And lastly. That you shall not, by your own arbitrary 
 authority, undertake to insult, molest, interrupt, or detain, the 
 persons or property of any one passing to and from this town, 
 as you have frequently done for some time past. 
 
 "Upon complying with those requisitions, we will endeav- 
 our to procure every article left on our shore, and shall be 
 ready to deliver them to your pilot and gunner, of whose 
 good behaviour we have had some proofs. 
 
 "We are, &c., 
 " The Committee of Elizabeth City county^ 
 and town of Hampton^ 
 In the meantime. Squire's threat against Hampton was not 
 an empty one, as is proven by the following account of the at- 
 tempt to execute it : the article is extracted from a supplement 
 to Purdie's paper of October twenty-seventh, seventeen hun- 
 dred and seventy-five : — 
 
 " After Lord Dunmore, with his troops and the navy, had 
 been for several weeks seizing the persons and property of his 
 majesty's peaceable subjects in this colony — on Wednesday 
 night last, a party from an armed tender landed near Hampton, 
 and took away a valuable negro slave and a sail from the ov/n- 
 er. Next morning there appeared off the mouth of Hampton 
 
PATRICK HBNRY. 123 
 
 river, a large armed schooner, a sloop, and three tenders, 
 with soldiers on board, and a message was received at Hamp- 
 ton from Captain Squire, on board the schooner, that he would 
 that day land and burn the town ; on which a company of reg- 
 ulars, and a company of minute-men,* who had been placed 
 there in consequence of former threats denounced against that 
 place, made the best disposition to prevent their landing, aided 
 by a body of militia who were suddenly called together on the 
 occasion. 
 
 " The enemy accordingly attempted to land, but were retarded 
 by some boats sunk across the channel for that purpose. Upon 
 this they fired several small cannon at the provincials without 
 any effect, who in return discharged their small arms so effect- 
 aaily, as to make the enemy move off, with the loss of several 
 men, as it is believed. But they had, in the meantime, burnt 
 down a house belonging to Mr. Cooper, on the river. On in- 
 telligence of this reaching Williamsburgh, about nine o'clock 
 at night, a company of riflemen was despatched to the aid of 
 Hampton, and the colonel of the second regiment sent to take 
 the command of the whole ; who with the company, arrived 
 about eight o'clock next morning. 
 
 " The enemy had in the night cut through the boats sunk, 
 and made a passage for their vessels, which were drawn close 
 cp to the town, and began to fire upon it soon after the arrival 
 of the party from Williamsburgh ; but as soon as our men 
 were so disposed as to give them a few shot, they went off so 
 hastily that our people took a small tender, with five white 
 men, a woman, and two slaves, six swivels, seven muskets, 
 some small arms, a sword, pistols, and other things, and several 
 papers belonging to Lieutenant Wright, who made his escape 
 by jumping overboard and swimming away with Mr. King's 
 man, who are on shore; and a pursuit it is hoped may over- 
 take them. 
 
 " There were two of the men in the vessel mortally wound- 
 ed ; one is since dead, and the other near his end. Besides 
 which, we are informed, nine were seen to be thrown over- 
 board from one of the vessels. We have not a man even 
 wounded. The vessels went over to Norfolk, and we are in- 
 formed the whole force from thence is intended to visit Hamp- 
 ton this day. If they should, we hope our brave troops are 
 prepared for them ; as we can with pleasure assure the public, 
 
 *" Captain George Nicholas commanded the regulars, and Captain Lyne the 
 minute- men; Captain Nicholas, therefore, as being in the regular service, had 
 the command of the whole in the first skirmish. This gentleman was the eld- 
 est son of Colonel Robert C. Nicholas ; and on the return of peace became 
 highly distinguished both as a politician and a lawyer. 
 
124 wirt's life of 
 
 that every part of them belied with spirit and bravery, and 
 are wishing for another skirmish." 
 
 The next paper contains the following card to Captain 
 Squire, which is inserted merely as another specimen of the 
 character of the times : — 
 
 " Williamsburghy November 3d, 
 
 " The riflemen and soldiers of Hampton desire their compli- 
 ments to Captain Squire and his squadron, and wish to know 
 how they approve the reception they met last Friday. Should 
 he incline to renew his visit, they will be glad to see him ; oth- 
 erwise, in point of complaisance, they will be under the neces- 
 sity of returning the visit. If he cannot find the ear that was 
 cut off, they hope he will wear a wig- to hide the mark ; for 
 perhaps it may not be necessary that all should know chance 
 had effected that which the laivs ought to have done." 
 
 In the meantime, Lord Dunmore, with a motley band of 
 tories, negroes, and recruits from St. Augustine's, was "cutting 
 such fantastic capers" in the country round about Norfolk, as 
 made it necessary to crush him or drive him from the state. 
 "With this view, the committee of safety (who, by their consti- 
 tution, were authorized to direct all military movements) de- 
 tached Colonel Woodford, at the head of about eight hundred 
 men to cross James river at Sandy Point, and go in pursuit of 
 his lordship. Colonel Henry himself had been anxious for 
 this service, and is said to have solicited it in vain. But the 
 committee of safety* seem to have distrusted too much his 
 want of military experience, to confide to him so important 
 an enterprise. 
 
 The disgust which Mr. Henry had conceived at the palpable 
 reflection on his military capacity was increased by Colonel 
 Woodford's refusal to acknowledge his superiority in command. 
 This gentleman, after his departure from Williamsburgh, on 
 the expedition against Dunmore, considered himself as no longer 
 under Mr. Henry's authority ; and consequently addressed all 
 
 * The committee of safety was composed of the following gentlemen : — Ed- 
 mund Pendleton, George Mason, Hon. John Page, Richard Bland, Thomas 
 Ludwell Lee, Paul Carrington, Dudley Digges, William Cabell, Carter Brax- 
 ton, James Mercer, and John Tabb, esquires. The clause of the ordinance 
 of convention which authorized this committee to direct all military move- 
 ments, is the following : — 
 
 "And whereas it may be necessary for the public security, that the forces to 
 be raised by virtue oif this ordinance should, as occasion may require, be 
 marched to different parts of the colony, and that the officers should be sub- 
 ject to a proper control, Be it ordained by the authority aforesaid, That the offi- 
 cers and soldiers under such command shall in all things, not otherwise particu- 
 larly provided for by this ordinance, and the articles established for their regu- 
 lation, be under the control, and subject to the order of the general committea 
 of safety." 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 125 
 
 his communicalions to the convention when in session, and 
 when not so, to the committee of safety. On the sixth Decem- 
 ber, seventeen hundred and seventy-five, Mr. Henry sent an 
 express to Colonel Woodford, with the following letter : — 
 
 " On Virginia service. 
 
 "To William Woodford, Esq., colonel of the second regiment 
 
 of the Virginia forces. 
 
 " Headquarters, Dec. 6, 1775. 
 " Sir — Not hearing of any despatch from you for a long time, 
 I can no longer forbear sending to know your situation, and 
 what has occurred. Every one as well as myself, is vastly 
 anxious to hear how all stands with you. In case you think 
 anything could be done to aid and forward the enterprise you 
 have in hand, please to write it. But I wish to know your sit- 
 uation, particularly with that of the enemy, that the whole may 
 be laid before the convention now here. The number and de- 
 signs of the enemy, as you have collected it, might open some 
 prospects to us, that might enable us to form some diversion 
 in your favour. The bearer has orders to lose no time, and 
 return with all possible haste. I am, sir, your most humble 
 servant, "P. Henry, jun. 
 
 "P. S. Captain Alexander's company is not yet come. 
 
 "Col. Woodford." 
 To this letter, on the next day, he received the following 
 answer from Colonel Woodford : — 
 
 *' Great Bridge, 7th Dec, 1775. 
 "Sir — I have received yours per express; in answer to 
 which must inform you, that, understanding you were out of 
 town, I have not written you before last Monday, by the return 
 of the honourable the convention's express, when I referred you 
 to my letter to them for every particular respecting mine and 
 the enemy's situation. I wrote them again yesterday and this 
 morning,' which no doubt they will communicate to you, as 
 commanding officer of the troops at Williamsburgh. When 
 joined, I shall always esteem myself immediately under your 
 command, and will obey accordingly ; but when sent to com- 
 mand a separate and distinct body of troops, under the imme- 
 diate instructions of the committee of safety — whenever that 
 body or the honourable convention is sitting, I look upon it as 
 my indispensable duty to address my intelligence to them, as 
 the supreme power in this colony. 
 
 "If I judge wrong, I hope that honourable body will set me 
 right. I would wish to keep up the greatest harmony between 
 us, for the good of the cause we are engaged in ; but cannot 
 bear to be supposed to have neglected my duty, when I have 
 
 11* 
 
128 wirt's life of 
 
 done everything 1 conceivecTto be so. The enemy are strong- 
 ly fortified on the other side the bridge, and a great number of 
 negroes and tories with them ; my prisoners disagree as to the 
 numbers. We are situate here in mud and mire, exposed to 
 every hardship that can be conceived, but the want of provis- 
 ions, of which our stock is but small, the men suffering for 
 shoes ; and if ever soldiers deserved a second blanket in any 
 service, they do in this ; our stock of ammunition much re- 
 duced, no bullet-moulds that were good for anything sent to 
 run up our lead, till those sent the other day by Mr. Page. 
 If these necessaries and better arms had been furnished in time 
 for this detachment, they might have prevented much trouble 
 and great expense to this colony. 
 
 " Most of those arms I received the other day from Williams- 
 burgh are rather to be considered as lumber, than lit to be put 
 in men's hands, in the face of an enemy : with much repair, 
 some of them will do ; with those, and what I have taken from 
 the enemy, hope to be better armed in a few days. I have 
 written to the convention, that it was my opinion, the greatest 
 part of the first regiment ought immediately to march to the 
 scene of action with some cannon, and a supply of ammunition, 
 and every other necessary for war that the colony can muster, 
 that a stop may be put to the enemy's progress. 
 
 "As to the Carolina troops and cannon, they are by no 
 means what I was made to expect : sixty of them are here, and 
 one hundred will be here to-morrow; more, it is said, will fol- 
 low in a few days, under Colonel Howe ; badly armed, cannon 
 not mounted, no furniture to them. How long these people 
 will choose to stay, it is impossible for me to say ; ninety-nine 
 in one hundred of these lower people rank tories. From all 
 these informations, if you can make a diversion in my favour, 
 it will be of service to the colony, and very acceptable to my- 
 self and soldiers ; whom, if possible, I will endeavour to keep 
 easy under their hard duty, but begin to doubt whether it will 
 be the case long." 
 
 In two days after the receipt of this letter, came the news 
 of the victory of the Great Bridge, by which Colonel Wood- 
 ford at once threw into the shade the military pretensions of 
 all the other state officers ; a circumstance not very well cal- 
 culated to gild the pill of contumacy, which he had just present- 
 ed to the commander-in-chief. The committee of safety had 
 now a delicate part to act between these two officers ; they 
 were extremely anxious to avoid the decision of the question 
 which had arisen between them, seeing very distinctly that 
 their decision could not but disappoint very painfully that gen- 
 tleman who was their favourite officer. 
 
PATRICK HBNRY. 127 
 
 They seem to have been apprehensive that Colonel Wood- 
 foi d would be led, by that decision, to resign in disgust ; and 
 were justly alarmed at the idea of losing the services of so 
 valuable an officer, especially after the distinction which he 
 had recently gained at the Great Bridge. Mr. Henry, howev- 
 er, insisted that the committee or convention should determine 
 the question, as being the only way to settle the construction 
 of his commission. It was accordingly taken up, and decided 
 by the following order of the committee : — 
 
 " In Committee — December, mdcclxxv 
 
 •♦ Resolved, unanimously. That Colonel Woodford, although 
 acting upon a separate and detached command, ought to cor- 
 respond with Colonel Henry, and make returns to him at prop- 
 er times of the state and condition of the forces under his com- 
 mand ; and also that he is subject to his orders, when the con- 
 vention, or the committee of safety, is not sitting, but that while 
 either of those bodies are sitting, he is to receive his orders 
 from one of them." 
 
 The address which was thought necessary in communicating 
 this resolution to Colonel Woodford, is a proof of the very 
 high estimate in which he was held by the committee ; and the 
 same evidence furnishes very decisive proof that Colonel Hen- 
 ry had not owed his military appointment to the suffrage ol 
 those members of the committee who maintained the corres- 
 pondence. Thus, on the thirteenth of December, seventeen 
 hundred and seventy-five, a member of the convention address- 
 ed a letter to Colonel Woodford, which seems to have been a 
 preparative for the resolution of the committee, and is certain- 
 ly suited, with great dexterity, to that object; the writer, after 
 some introductory observations, says : — " Whether you are 
 obliged to make your returns to Colonel H — y, and to send 
 your despatches through him to the convention and committee 
 of safety, and also from those bodies through him to you, must 
 depend upon the ordinance and the commission he bears. 
 
 "You will observe his commission is strongly worded, be- 
 yond what I believe was the intention of the person who drew 
 it* — but the ordinance, I think, clearly gives the convention, 
 
 * The committee appointed to draw up and report the forms of commis- 
 sions, for the officers of the troops to be raised by order of the convention of 
 the summer of 1775, were, Mr. Banister, Mr. Lawson, Mr. Walkins, and Mr. 
 Holt ; and on the 26th of August, 1775, Mr. Banister from this committee re- 
 ported the following : — 
 " Form of a commission for the colonel of the first regiment, and commander 
 
 of the regular forces. 
 ♦'The committee of safety for the colony of Virginia to Patrick Henry, Esq. 
 
 " Whereas by a resolution of the delegates of this colony, in convention as- 
 sembled, ii was determined that you, the said Patrick Henry, Esq., should be 
 
128 wirt's life of 
 
 and committee of safety acting under their authority, the abso 
 lute direction of the troops. The dispute between you must 
 be occasioned, I suppose, (for I have not seen your letter to 
 the colonel,) by disregard of him as a commander, after the 
 adjournment of the committee of safety, and before the meet- 
 ing of the convention; at which time, I am apt to think, though 
 I am not military man enough to determine, your correspond- 
 ence should have been with him as commanding officer. 
 
 "I have talked with Colonel Henry about this matter; he 
 thinks he has been ill treated, and insists the officers under his 
 command shall submit to his orders. I recommended it to 
 him to treat the business with caution and temper ; as a differ- 
 ence at this critical moment between our troops would be at- 
 tended with the most fatal consequences ; and took the liberty 
 to assure him you would, I was certain, submit to whatever 
 was thought just and reasonable. He has laid the letter before 
 the committee of safety, whose sentiments upon the subject I 
 expect you must have received before this. I hope it will not 
 come before the convention, but from what Colonel Henry 
 said, he intimated it must, as it could be no otherwise deter- 
 mined. 
 
 " My sentiments upon that delicate point, I partly communi- 
 cated upon the expected junction of the Carolina troops with 
 
 colonel of the first regiment of regulars, and commander-in-chief of all the 
 forces to be raised for the protection and defence of this colony ; and by an 
 ordinance of the same convention it is provided, that the committee of safety 
 should issue all military commissions : Now, in pursuance of the said power to 
 us granted, and in conformity to the appointment of the convention, we, the 
 said committee of safety, do constitute and commission you, the said Patrick 
 Henry, Esq., colonel of the first regiment of regulars, and commander-in-chief 
 of all such other forces as may, by order of the convention, or committee of safe-- 
 ty, be directed to act in conjunction with them; and with the said forces, or any 
 of them, you are hereby empowered to resist and repel all hostile invasions, and 
 quell and suppress any insurrections which may be made or attempted 
 against the peace and safety of this his majesty's colony and dominion. 
 
 "And we do require you to exert your utmost efforts for the promotion of dis- 
 cipline and order among the officers and soldiers under your command, agreeable 
 to such ordinances, rules, and articles, which are now or hereafter may be, institu- 
 ted for the government and regulation of the army ; and that you pay due obe- 
 dience to all orders and instructions, which, from time to time, you may receive 
 from the convention or committee of safety : to hold, exercise, and enjoy the 
 said office of colonel and commander-in-chief of the forces, and to perform 
 and execute the power and authority aforesaid, and all other things which are 
 truly and of right incidental to your said office, during the pleasure of the 
 convention, and no longer. And we do hereby require and command all officers 
 and soldiers, and every person whatsoever, in any way concerned, to be obedient 
 and assisting to you in all things, touching the due execution of this commis" 
 sion, according to the purport or intent thereof. 
 
 " Given under our hands at this day of Anno 
 
 Dom. 177 ." 
 
PATRICK HBNRT. 129 
 
 ours which I presume you have received. By your letter yes- 
 terday to the president, I find you agree with me. I very cor- 
 dially congratulate you on the success at the Bridge and the 
 reduction of the fort, which will give our troops the benefit of 
 better and more wholesome ground. Your letter came to the 
 convention just time enough to read it before we broke up, as 
 it was nearly dark ; it was however proposed and agreed, that 
 the president should transmit you the approbation of your con- 
 diiCt in treating with kindness and humanity the unfortunate 
 prisoners ; and that your readiness to avoid dispute about rank 
 with Colonel Howe, they consider as a further mark of your 
 attachment to the service of your country. 
 
 " I have had it in contemplation paying you a visit, but have 
 not been able to leave the convention, as many of our members 
 are absent and seem to be in continual rotation, some going, 
 others returning. We shall raise many more battalions, and, 
 as soon as practicable, arm some vessels. A commander or gen- 
 eral, I suppose, will be sent us by the congress, as it is expect- 
 ed our troops will be upon continental pay. I pray God to 
 protect you, and prosper all your endeavours." 
 
 But the letter from the chairman of the committee, which 
 enclosed the resolution is a masterpiece of address, so far as 
 relates to the feelings of Colonel Woodford ; though certainly 
 not well judged to promote the permanent harmony of those 
 officers, by inspiring sentiments of respect and subordination 
 for the superior. The letter bears date on the twenty-fourth 
 of December, seventeen hundred and seventy-five ; it is writ- 
 ten in a strain of the most frank and conciliatory friendship — 
 full of deserved eulogy on Colonel Woodford's conduct — and 
 very far from complimentary to the colonel of the first regiment. 
 
 In relation to this gentleman, (after having mentioned the 
 resolution of raising other regiments,) he says: "The field- 
 officers to each regiment will be named here, and recommend- 
 ed to congress ; in case our army is taken into continental pay, 
 they will send commissions. A general officer will be chosen 
 there, I doubt not, and sent us ; with that matter, I hope we 
 shall not intermeddle, lest it should be thought propriety re" 
 quires our calling- or rather recommending our present first 
 officer to that station. 
 
 " Believe me, sir, the unlucky step of calling that gentleman 
 from our councils, where he was useful, into the field, in an 
 important station, the duties of which he must, in the nature of 
 things, be an entire stranger to, has given me many an anxious 
 and uneasy moment. In consequence of this mistaken step, 
 which cannot now be retracted or remedied, for he has done 
 nothing worthy of degradation, and must keep his rank, we 
 
130 wirt's life of 
 
 must be deprived of the s^ppice of some able officers, xvhose 
 honour and former ranks will not suffer them to act under him 
 in this juncture, when we so much need their services ; how- 
 ever, I am told, that Mercer, Buckner, Dangerfield, and Wee- 
 den, will serve, and are all thought of. I am also told, that 
 Mr. Thurston and Mr. Millikin are candidates for regiments : 
 the latter, I believe, will raise, and have a German one. In 
 the course of these reflections, my great concern is on your 
 account. 
 
 "The pleasure I have enjoyed in finding your army conduct- 
 ed with wisdom and success, and your conduct meet with the 
 general approbation of the convention and country, makes me 
 more uneasy at a thought that the country should be deprived 
 of your services, or you made uneasy in it, by any untoward 
 circumstances. I had seen your letter to our friend Mr. Jones, 
 (now a member of the committee of safety,) and besides that, 
 Colonel Henry has laid before the committee your letter to 
 him, and desired our opinion whether he was to command you 
 or not. 
 
 " We never determined this till Friday evening ; a copy of 
 the resolution I enclose you. If this will not be agreeable, and 
 prevent future disputes, I hope some happy medium will be 
 suggested to effect the purpose, and make you easy ; for the 
 colony cannot part with you, while troops are necessary to be 
 continued." 
 
 Mr. Henry had too much sagacity not to perceive the light 
 in which he was viewed by the committee of safety, and too 
 much sensibility not to be wounded by the discovery. His 
 situation was indeed, at this time, most painfully embarrassing. 
 The rank which he had held was full of the promise of honour 
 and distinction; he was the first officer of the Virginia forces ; 
 the celebrity which he had already attained among his country- 
 men, not only by his political resistance to the measures of the 
 British parliament, but by the bold and daring military enter- 
 prise which he had headed the preceding year, in the affair of 
 the gunpowder, led his countrymen to expect, that the appoint- 
 ment which he now Iteld would not be a barren one, but that 
 he would mark it with the characters of his extraordinary ge- 
 nius, and become as distinguished in the field as he had been in 
 the senate. 
 
 He knew that these expectations were entertained, and had 
 every disposition to realize them; but his wishes and his hopes 
 were perpetually overruled by the committee of safety, who 
 commanded over him, and who gratuitously distrusting his ca- 
 pacity for war, would give him no opportunity of making trial 
 of it. Yet Mr. Henry, untried, has been most unjustly sHghted 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 131 
 
 as a soldier, and spoken of as a mere military cipher ! If I 
 have not been misinformed, some of those who composed this 
 very committee did, in aftertimes, frequently allude to this pe- 
 riod of his life, to prove the practical inutility of his character, 
 and have applied to him the saying, which Wilkes applied to 
 Lord Chatham, that "all his power and efficacy was seated in 
 his tongue."* 
 
 What figure he might have made in war, had the opportu- 
 nity been allowed him, can now be only matter of speculation. 
 His personal bravery, so far as I have heard, has never been 
 called in question ; or if it has, it has been without evidence : 
 and neither his ardour in the public cause, nor his strong natu- 
 ral sense, can with any colour of justice be disputed. If we 
 superadd to these qualities that presence of mind, that prompti- 
 tude, boldness, and novelty of view — that dexterous address, 
 and fertility of expedient, for which he was remarkable — I can 
 see no reason to doubt, that he would have justified the highest 
 expectations of his admirers, had he been permitted to com- 
 mand the expedition which he courted. 
 
 As to his want of experience, the alleged ground for keep- 
 ing him so ignominiously confined to headquarters, he pos- 
 sessed pretty nearly as much experience as Colonel Washing- 
 ton had when he covered the retreat of Braddock's routed 
 forces ; as much, too, as those young generals of ours who 
 have recently covered themselves with so much glory on our 
 northern frontier : nor would it seem to comport with that re- 
 spect which the committee owed to the convention, from whom 
 both Colonel Henry and themselves had received their respect- 
 ive appointments, to arrogate the power of reversing the decree 
 of the convention, and practically degrading the officer of their 
 first choice. It is certain that the committee were severely 
 spoken of at the day, and that the people, as well as the 
 soldiery, did not hesitate openly to impute their conduct toward 
 Mr. Henry to personal envy. 
 
 Other humiliations yet awaited him. Shortly after the affair 
 of the Great Bridge, Colonel Howe, of North Carolina, at the 
 head of five or six hundred men of that state, joined Colonel 
 Woodford ; and taking the command of the whole, with the 
 consent of the latter gentleman, who yielded to the seniority of 
 his commission, marched with their united forces into Norfolk, 
 which had been evacuated by the British. From this post 
 Colonel Howe continually addressed his communications to the 
 committee of safety, or to the convention ; and Colonel Henry, 
 
 • — homines incrtissimi 
 
 i, quorum omnia vis, virtusque in lingua sita est. 
 
 iSallust Oratio sec. De Rep. Ord. 
 
132 wirt's life of 
 
 after having seen his lawfiii'ights and honours transferred in 
 the first instance, to an inferior officer of his own, had now 
 the mortification of seeing himself completely superseded, and 
 almost annihilated, by an officer from another state of only 
 equal rank. 
 
 But even this was not all : six additional regiments had been 
 raised by the convention, and congress had been solicited to 
 take the Virginia troops on continental establishment. They 
 resolved to take the six new regiments, passing by the two first; 
 a discrimination which conveys so palpable a reflection on the 
 two first regiments, that it is difficult to account for it, except 
 by the secret influence of that unfriendly star, which had hith- 
 erto controlled and obscured Mr. Henry's military destinies. 
 The measure was so exactly adjusted to the wish expressed by 
 Colonel Woodford's correspondent, that congress would not 
 devolve the chief command of the Virginia forces on Colonel 
 Henry, that it is difficult to avoid the suspicion that the sug- 
 gestion came from the same quarter. 
 
 The convention, however, now interfered in behalf of their 
 favourite ; and remonstrated against this degradation of the 
 officers of their first choice ; earnestly recommending it to 
 congress, if they adhered to their resolution of taking into con- 
 tinental pay no more than six regiments, to suflfer the two first 
 to stand first in the arrangement. This course was accordingly 
 adopted; but, at the same time, commissions of brigadier- 
 general were forwarded by congress to Colonel Howe, and 
 Colonel Andrew heiois. 
 
 The reader, if he knows anything of the scrupulous and 
 even fastidious delicacy with which military officers watch the 
 most distant reflection upon their competency, will not be sur- 
 prised that Mr. Henry refused the continental commission of 
 colonel,* which was now offered to him and immediately re- 
 
 '* The following is an exact copy of the commission sent from the general 
 congress to the committee of safety, appointing Colonel Henry to the com- 
 mand of the first regiment, or battalion, in this colony, taken upon the conti- 
 nental establishment, agreeable to the requisition of the last convention : — 
 
 In C 
 
 ONGRESS. 
 
 "The delegates of the United Colonies of New Hampshire, Massachusetts 
 bay, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, the 
 counties of New Castle, Kent, and Sussex, on Delaware, Maryland, Virgin- 
 ia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, to Patrick Henry, Esq. : — 
 " We, reposing especial trust and confidence in your patriotism, valour, 
 conduct, and fidelity, do, by these presents constitute and appoint you to be 
 colonel of the first battalion of Virginia forces, in the army of the United Col- 
 onies, raised for the defence of American liberty, and for repelling every hos- 
 tile invasion thereof. You are, therefore; carefully and diligently to discharge 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 133 
 
 signed that which he held from the state. His resignation pro- 
 duced a commotion in the camp, which wore at first an alarm- 
 ing aspect; and would probably have had an extremely unpro- 
 pitious effect on the military efforts of the state, had it not been 
 instantaneously quelled by his own patriotic exertions. The 
 following is the notice of this transaction from Purdie's paper 
 of March first, seventeen hundred and seventy-six : — 
 
 "Yesterday morning, the troops in this city being informed 
 that Patrick Henry, esquire, commander-in-chief of the Virginia 
 forces, was about to leave them, the whole went into deep 
 mourning, and being under arms, waited on him at his lodg- 
 ings, when they addressed him in the following manner: — 
 
 " * To Patrick Henry, jun,. Esquire. 
 *'* Deeply impressed with a grateful sense of the obligations 
 we lie under to you, for the polite, humane, and tender treat- 
 ment manifested to us through the whole of your conduct, 
 while we had the honour of being* under your command, per- 
 mit us to offer you our sincere thanks, as the only tribute we 
 have in our power to pay to your real merits. Notwithstand- 
 ing your withdrawing yourself from the service fills us with 
 the most poignant sorrow, as it at once deprives us of our 
 father and general ; yet, as gentlemen, we are compelled to 
 applaud your spirited resentment to the most glaring indigni- 
 ty. May your merit shine as conspicuous to the world in gen- 
 eral, as it hath done to us, and may Heaven shower its choicest 
 blessings upon you !' 
 
 " To which he returned the following answer : — 
 " * Gentlemen — I am exceedingly obliged to you for your 
 approbation of my conduct. Your address does me the high- 
 est honour. This kind testimony of your regard to me would 
 have been an ample reward for services much greater than 
 
 the duty of colonel, by doing and performing all manner of things thereunto 
 belonging. 
 
 " And we do strictly charge and require all officers and soldiers under your 
 ccmmand to be obedient to your orders as colonel. And you are to obseive 
 and follow such orders and directions, from time to time, as you shall receive 
 from this or a future congress of the United Colonies, or committee of con- 
 gress, for that purpose appointed, or commander-in-chief for the time being of 
 the army of the United Colonies, or any other superior officer, according to 
 the rules and discipline of war, in pursuance of the trust reposed in you. This 
 commission to continue in force until revoked by this or a future congress. 
 " By order of the Congress, 
 
 " John Hancock, President. 
 *« Attest, 
 
 "Charles Thomson, Secretary. 
 *' Philadelphia, Feb. Wh, 1776." 
 
 12 
 
134 wirt's life of 
 
 those I have had the poiv0f to perform. I return you, and 
 each of you, gentlemen, my best acknowledgments for the 
 spirit, alacrity, and zeal you have constantly shown in your 
 several stations. I am unhappy to part with you. I leave the 
 service, but I leave my heart with you. May God bless you, 
 and give you success and safety, and make you the glorious 
 instrument of saving our country.' 
 
 " After the officers had received Colonel Henry's kind an- 
 swer to their address, they insisted upon his dining with them 
 at the Raleigh tavern, before his departure : and after dinner a 
 number of them proposed escorting him out of town, but were 
 prevented in their resolution by some uneasiness getting among 
 the soldiery, who assembled in a tumultuous manner, and de- 
 manded their discharge, declaring their unwillingness to serve 
 under any other commander ; upon which Colonel Henry 
 found it necessary to stay a night longer in town ; which he 
 spent in visiting the several barracks, and used every argument 
 in his power with the soldiery, to lay aside their imprudent 
 resolution, and to continue in the service which he had quitted 
 from motives in which his honour alone was concerned ; and 
 that, although he was prevented from serving his country in a 
 military capacity, yet his utmost abilities should be exerted for 
 the real interest of the united colonies, in support of the glori- 
 ous cause in which they have engaged. 
 
 " This, accompanied with the extraordinary exertions of 
 Colonel Christian and other officers present, happily produced 
 the desired effect, the soldiers reluctantly acquiescing : and we 
 have now the pleasure to assure the public, that those brave 
 fellows are now pretty well reconciled, and will spend the last 
 drop of their blood in their country's defence." 
 
 This is the man who has been sometimes branded as a tur- 
 bulent, seditious, factious demagogue ! Had he been of this 
 character, what an occasion was here to have provoked it to 
 action ! This love for the man and the officer, and this resent- 
 ment of the indignities to which he had been subjected, were not 
 confined to the camp at Williamsburgh ; they pervaded the 
 whole army, and were felt and expressed by the following ad- 
 dress, signed by upward of ninety officers at Kemp's landing 
 and Suftolk, [in Colonel Woodford's camp,) as well as at Wil- 
 liamsburgh ; and printed by their desire in Purdie's paper of 
 the twenty-second of March, seventeen hundred and seventy- 
 five : — 
 
 •• Sir — Deeply concerned for the good of our country, we 
 smcerely lament the unhappy necessity of your resignation, 
 and with all the warmth of affection assure you, that, whatever 
 may have given rise to the indignity lately offered to you, wq 
 
PATRICK HBNRT. 135 
 
 join with the general voice of the people, and think it our duty 
 to make this public declaration of our high respect for your 
 distinguished merit. To your vigilance and judgment as a 
 senator this united continent bears ample testimony ; while she 
 prosecutes her steady opposition to those destructive ministe- 
 rial measures which your eloquence first pointed out and taught 
 to resent, and your resolution led forward to resist. 
 
 " To your extensive popularity the service also is greatly in- 
 debted, for the expedition with which the troops were raised ; 
 and, while they were continued under your command, the firm- 
 ness, candour, and politeness, which formed the complexion of 
 your conduct toward them, obtained the signal approbation of 
 the wise and virtuous, and will leave upon our minds the most 
 grateful impression. Although retired from the immediate 
 concerns of war, we solicit the continuance of your kindly at- 
 tention. We know your attachment to the best of causes ; we 
 have the fullest confidence in your abilities, and in the recti- 
 tude of your views ; and however willing the envious may be 
 to undermine an established reputation, we trust the day will 
 come, when justice shall prevail, and thereby secure you an 
 honourable and happy return to the glorious employment of 
 conducting our councils, and hazarding your life in the defence 
 of your country. 
 
 " With the most grateful sentiments of regard and esteem, 
 we are, sir, very respectfully, your most obliged and obedient 
 humble servants." 
 
 If any doubt can be entertained as to the body to which this 
 imputation of envy pointed, it will be removed by the following 
 defence of the committee of safety, extracted from the sup- 
 plement to Purdie's paper of the fifteenth of March, seventeen 
 hundred and seventy-six : — 
 
 "Mr. Purdie — I am informed a report is prevailing through 
 the colony, that the committee of safety were the cause of 
 Colonel Henry's resigning the command of his battalion ; which 
 it is supposed hath received confirmation from the address of 
 the ofiicers to that gentleman, in which they speak of a glar- 
 ing indignity having been offered him, if it was not wholly 
 derived from that source. That the good people of the coun- 
 try may be truly informed in this matter, the following state of 
 facts is submitted, without comment, to the impartial judgment 
 of the public : — 
 
 *' As soon as the last convention had voted the raising seven 
 new battalions of troops, besides augmenting the old ones, the 
 committee of safety informed our delegates to congress of that 
 vote, desiring they would use their best endeavours to have the 
 whole supported at continental expense ; in answer to which, 
 
136 wirt's life of 
 
 a letter was received from lift delegates, dated the thirtieth of 
 Decembei, of which the following is an extract: 'The resolu- 
 tions of congress for taking our six additional [they would not 
 agree to lake our other two] battalions, into continental pay, 
 and for permitting an exportation for supplying our country- 
 men with salt, are enclosed.' 
 
 " It was supposed from hence, an intention prevailed in con- 
 gress to pass by the two old battalions, and take six of the 
 new ones into continental pay ; which, as it was said those 
 officers would take precedency of provincial ones of equal rank, 
 was generally thought wrong, since it would degrade the offi- 
 cers of the two first battalions ; and, to avoid this, the conven- 
 tion came to a resolution, the tenth of January, of which the 
 following is part : ' Should the congress adhere to their reso- 
 lution of taking into continental pay no more than six battal- 
 ions, let it be earnestly recommended to them to suffer our two 
 present battalions (to be completed as before mentioned) to 
 stand first in the arrangement ; since, otherwise, the officers 
 first appointed by this convention, most of whom have already 
 gone through a laborious and painful service, will be degraded 
 in their ranks, and there is too much reason to apprehend that 
 great confusion will ensue/ 
 
 " The worthy gentlemen (not a member of the committee of 
 safety) who proposed this resolution, informed the convention, 
 he had consulted some of the officers of the first regiment, who 
 wished to have their rank preserved, though it was foreseen 
 the pay would be reduced. 
 
 " The committee of safety, in a letter to the delegates, dated 
 the twenty-fifth of January, enclosing this resolution, thus 
 write : ' You have a list of the field officers as they stand re- 
 commended, and we doubt not receiving the commissions in 
 the like order, with blanks for the proper number of captains 
 and subalterns. If, however, the resolution of congress should 
 be unalterably fixed to allow us but six battalions, you will 
 please to attend to that part of the resolve which recommends 
 their being the first six, as a point of great consequence to our 
 harmony, in which may be involved the good of the common 
 cause.' 
 
 " The committee of safety afterward received the commis- 
 sions wholly filled up for the field officers of six battalions, in 
 the rank they stood recommended by the convention, begin- 
 ning with Colonel Henry, and ending with Colonel Buckner of 
 the sixth battalion, with directions to deliver them. Colonel 
 Henry was accordingly offered his commission, which he de- 
 clined accepting, and retired without assigning any reasons. 
 
 "As to the general officers, the convention left them en- 
 
PATRICK MENRY. 137 
 
 tirely to the choice of the congress, without recommenda- 
 tion ; nor did the committee of safety at all intermeddle in that 
 choice. "A Friend TO Truth." 
 
 Immediately following this defence of the committee, in the 
 same paper, are the two following articles : — 
 
 *' Mr. Purdie — The address of the officers to Colonel Hen- 
 ry, and the colonel's reply, have led some of our enemies to 
 hope that there would be great discontent in the army, by 
 which our military operations would be retarded, and that there 
 would be a considerable murmuring against the congress ; but 
 they are much mistaken. It is true the soldiers and officers 
 were very unhappy at parting with so amiable a commander as 
 Colonel Henry ; and might be a little imprudent in some ex- 
 pressions on the occasion ; but there is not a man of them who 
 is not so warmly attached to the glorious cause he is engaged 
 in, as to serve with alacrity under any commander, rather than 
 it should suffer. 
 
 " And Colonel Henry himself is a gentleman of so much 
 honour, and so true a patriot, that he will never countenance a 
 murmur against the congress ; nay so far from it, that it is 
 highly probable he will soon be found in that august assembly, 
 urging v/ith his powerful eloquence, the necessity of prosecu- 
 ting the war with redoubled vigour. I am a sincere friend to 
 the congress and to Colonel Henry." 
 
 " Mr Purdie, 
 
 " * Envy will merit as its shade pursue : 
 
 But, like the shadow, proves the substance true.' — Pope. 
 
 **I was not surprised to see, in your last week's gazette, the 
 resignation of Patrick Henry, esquire, late commander-in-chief 
 of all the Virginia forces, and colonel of the tirst regiment. 
 From that gentleman's amiable disposition, his invariable per- 
 severance in the cause of liberty, we apprehend that envy 
 strove to bury in obscurity his martial talents. Fettered and 
 confined, with only an empty title, the mere echo of authority, 
 his superior abilities lay inactive, nor could be exerted for 
 his honour, or his country'' s good. 
 
 "Virginia may truly boast, that in him she finds the able 
 statesman, the soldier's father, the best of citizens, and liber- 
 ty's dear friend. Clad with innocence, as in a coat-of-mail. he 
 is proof against every serpentile whisper. The officers and 
 soldiers, who know him, are riveted to his bosom ; when he 
 speaks, all is silence ; when he orders, they cheerfully obey ; 
 and in the field, under so sensible, so prudent an officer, though 
 hosts oppose them, with shouts they meet their armed foe, the 
 sure presages of victory and success. 
 
 12* 
 
138 wirt's life of 
 
 " Let us, my countrym^f with grateful hearts, remember 
 that he carried off the standard of liberty, and defeated Gren- 
 ville in his favourite stamp'act. 
 
 " ' While many dreaded, till with pleasing eye» 
 Saw tyranny before brave Henry fly.' 
 
 " I am, Mr. Purdie, your friend, and a well-wisher to Vir- 
 ginia. " An Honest Farmer." 
 
 It is very clear from the last piece, as well as from the ad- 
 dress of the ninety officers, which has been already given, and 
 which was published by their desire in a paper subsequent to 
 that which contains the defence of the committee, that that de- 
 fence had been by no means satisfactory ; and that either the 
 committee as a body, or what is more probable, some individ- 
 ual or individuals of it, were still believed to have had a secret 
 hand in planning and directing the series of indignities which 
 had driven Mr. Henry from a military life. 
 
 It would seem that the truly respectable and venerable chair- 
 man of that committee came in at the time for his full propor- 
 tion of this censure, and that he smarted severely under it: 
 this I infer, from a letter of his to Colonel Woodford some 
 time afterward, in answer to one by which that gentleman had 
 consulted him as to the propriety of his resigning his commis- 
 sion. After having dissuaded him from this step by other top- 
 ics, he proceeds thus : — "I am apprehensive that your resigna- 
 tion will be handled to your disadvantage, from a certain 
 quarter, where all reputations are sacrificed for the sake of 
 one ; what does it signify, that he resigned without any such 
 cause, or assigning any reason at all ? it is not without exam- 
 ple, that others should be censured for what he is applauded 
 for:^ 
 
 This acrimony, so unusual from a man of Mr Pendleton's 
 benevolence and courtesy, could have been wrung from him 
 only by the bitterest provocations ; and renders it highly prob- 
 able, that the numerous and enthusiastic admirers of Mr. Hen- 
 ry had implicated this gentleman deeply in the indignities 
 which had recently been offered to their favourite. 
 
 The necessity of placing this incident of Mr. Henry's life 
 in its true light, upon the evidence in my possession, has im- 
 posed upon me a very painful duty in regard to Mr. Pendleton. 
 With the justice or injustice of the construction placed upon 
 his conduct in relation to Mr. Henry, I have nothing to do. 
 Even if just, the infirmity of human nature may be easily ex- 
 cused in feeling some uneasiness at the eclipsing brightness 
 with which Mr. Henry had rushed, like a comet, to the head of 
 affairs in Virginia. 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 139 
 
 It demands, however, no uncommon measure of charity to 
 believe, that what was imputed to envy at the time, proceeded, 
 60 far as Mr. Pendleton was concerned, from a single eye to 
 the public good, and a sincere belief on his part, (an opinion 
 in which he was by no means singular,) that Mr. Henry's inex- 
 perience in military affairs made it unsafe to commit to his 
 management the infancy of our war. 
 
 The people required to be animated by success in the onset ; 
 and it was therefore very natural in the committee of safety, on 
 whom the responsibility for the management of the war de- 
 volved, to select, for the first enterprises, the most experienced 
 commander. Mr. Pendleton was too virtuous a man, and too 
 faithful a patriot, to have yielded consciously to any other 
 motive of action than the public good. His country has fixed 
 its seal upon his exalted character, and the writer of these 
 sketches is much more disposed to brighten than to efface the 
 impression. 
 
 The motives of Mr. Henry's resignation of his commission 
 which have been stated, are very easily and clearly deducible 
 from the papers of the day, and were expressly avowed by him 
 to his confidential friends and brother-in-law, Colonel Mere- 
 dith.* To other friends, however, he stated that he was 
 the more reconciled to the necessity which had compelled 
 him to resign, because he believed that he could perhaps serve 
 the cause of his country more effectually in the public councils 
 than in the field. f 
 
 Immediately upon his resignation he was elected a delegate 
 to the convention from the county of Hanover. The session 
 of that body, which was now coming on, was pregnant with 
 importance. Dunmore had abdicated the chair of government, 
 and the royal authority in the colony was seen and felt no long- 
 er, but in acts of hostility. 
 
 The king had declared from his throne, that the colonists 
 must be reduced by force to submit to the British claim of tax- 
 ation ; and the colonists, on their part, had avowed that they 
 never would submit to this prostration of their rights ; but, on 
 
 * These are Colonel Meredith's words : — " P. H. in a communication to Colo- 
 nel M. stated his motives for resigning his commission as colonel. He con- 
 ceived himself neglected, by younger officers having been put above him, and 
 preferred to him ; particularly in the affair of the Great Bridge, where he wish- 
 ed to have commanded ; but Colonel Woodford received that appointment. 
 He disliked his being kept in and about Williamsburgh, and not appointed to 
 some important post or expedition. He was thus induced to think he was 
 neglected by those nho had the power of appointment. He therefore re- 
 signed." 
 
 t Judge Tyler, an Captain George Dabney. 
 
140 wirt's life of 
 
 the contrary, that they wo\0t hand down to their children the 
 birthright of liberty which they had enjoyed, or perish in the at- 
 tempt. On this quarrel arms had been taken up on both sides, 
 and the appeal had been made to the God of battles. The war 
 had assumed a regular and settled form ; blood had been pro- 
 fusely shed in various parts of the continent, and reconcilia- 
 tion had become hopeless. 
 
 The people being thus abandoned by their king, put out of 
 his protection, declared in a state of open rebellion, and treated 
 as enemies, the social compact which had united the monarch 
 with his subjects was at an end ; the colonial constitution, 
 which could be set and kept in motion only by the presence 
 and agency of the king or his representative, was of course dis- 
 solved ; and all the rights and powers of government reverted, 
 of necessity, to their source, the people. These causes produ- 
 ced the convention. 
 
 It was the organ by which the people chose to exercise the 
 fundamental rights thus thrown back upon them, by the disso- 
 lution of the regal government. It was the substitute for the 
 whole government which had been withdrawn — legislative, ex- 
 ecutive, and judiciary. It represented the whole political pow- 
 er of the people ; and had been expressly elected to take care 
 of the republic. The means of accomplishing this object were 
 left to themselves, without limitation or restriction on the part 
 of the people. 
 
 Hitherto, while any hope of a restoration of the original gov- 
 ernment on just terms could be entertained, the convention had 
 been satisfied with temporary expedients ; the first convention, 
 however, had exercised the power of the people in their highest 
 capacity, by adopting a species of constitution, and organizing a 
 government under it ; thus they erected an executive, under the 
 name of a committee of safety, which the people recognised as 
 flowing directly from themselves. 
 
 Before the meeting of the convention of seventeen hundred 
 and seventy-six, however, it was seen and well understood on 
 every hand, that the contest could not be maintained by the peo- 
 ple, without the aid of regular government : and that the polit- 
 ical malady of which they complained, could be extirpated in 
 no other way than by applying the knife to the root. The 
 newspapers of the preceding year contain frequent suggestions 
 of this kind ; the impression had now become universal ; and 
 the papers present specimens of explicit instructions from the 
 people to their delegates to this effect.* 
 
 *The following are instructions from the freeholders of Jame»' city to their 
 delegates : — 
 
PATRICK HKNRT. 141 
 
 Thus instructed in the sentiments of their constituents, and 
 representing the people in their highest sovereign capacity, the 
 convention met on the sixth of May, seventeen hundred and 
 seventy-six, in the old capitol in the city of Williamsburgh. Mr. 
 Pendleton having been elected president, after having thanked 
 the house for the honour done him, addressed them with great 
 solemnity, in the following terms : — " We are now met in general 
 convention according to the ordinance for our election, at a time 
 truly critical, \^hen subjects of the most important, and inter- 
 esting nature require our serious attention. 
 
 *' The administration of justice, and almost all the powers of 
 government, have now been suspended for near two years. It 
 will become us to reflect whether we can longer sustain the 
 great struggle we are making in this situation." Having then 
 directed their attention to certain specific subjects which re- 
 quired attention, he concluded his short, but impressive address, 
 by exhorting the members to calmness, unanimity, and dili- 
 gence. 
 
 " To Robert C. Nicholas, and William Norvell, Esquires : — 
 
 " Gentlemen — In vain do we congratulate ourselves on the innpotency of 
 the minister to divide us, if our union amounts to nothing more than a union 
 in one common lethargy. War hath been brought into our houses, heightened 
 by terrors and cruelties which the justest cause wants even palliatives for; but 
 faint advances toward peace, insidiously urged, have caught the ear of the 
 credulous, and groundless hopes of accommodation deluded the timid, so that 
 the free military system remains untouched in most essential points. As if 
 our inexperience, poverty in warlike stores, and the infancy of our navy, were 
 of trifling moment, we have ventured to neglect resources in such difRcultie*, 
 which Heaven hath placed within our attainment. 
 
 *' Alliances may be formed at an easy price, capable of supplying these dis- 
 advantages, but an independent state disdains to humble herself to an equality 
 in treaty with another, who cannot call her politics her own ; or to be explicit, 
 she cannot enter into a negotiation with those who denominate themselves 
 rebels, by resistance, and confession of a dependancy. 
 
 *' Reasons, drawn from justice, policy, and necessity, are everywhere at 
 hand for a radical separation from Great Britain. From justice ; for the blood 
 of those who have fallen in our cause cries aloud, * It is time to part.' From 
 necessity, because she hath, of herself, repudiated us by a rapid succession of 
 insult, injury, robbery, murder., and a, formal declaration of war. These are but 
 few, and some of the weakest arguments which the great volume of our op- 
 pression opens to every spirited American. 
 
 " It cannot be a violation of our faith now to reject the terms of 1763. 
 They are a qualified slavery at best, and were acceptable to us, not as the 
 extent of our right, but the probable cause of peace ; but since the day in 
 which they were most humbly offered as the end of animosities, an interval 
 hath passed, marked with tyranny intolerable, 
 
 '* We, therefore, whose names are hereunto subscribed, do request and 
 instruct you, our dclecrates, (provided no just and honourable terms are offered 
 by the king,) to exert your utmost ability, in the next convention, toward, 
 dissolving the connexion between America and Great Britain, totally, tinallt 
 
 AND lEEEVOCABLT." 
 
142 wirt's life of 
 
 On the fifteenth of May, jj|r. Cary reported from the commit* 
 tee of the whole house on the state of the colony, the following 
 preamble and resolutions, which were unanimously adopted : — 
 
 " Forasmuch as all the endeavours of the United Colonies, 
 by the most decent representations and petitions to the king 
 and parliament of Great Britain, to restore peace and security to 
 America under the British government, and a r^nion with that 
 people upon just and liberal terms, instead of a redress of griev- 
 ances, have produced, from an imperious and vindictive admin- 
 istration, increased insult, oppression, and a vigorous attempt 
 to effect our total destruction. By a late act, all these colo- 
 nies are declared to be in rebellion, and out of the protection of 
 the British crown ; our properties subjected to confiscation ; 
 our people, when captivated, compelled to join in the murder 
 and plunder of their relations and countrymen ; and all former 
 rapine and oppression of Americans declared legal and just. 
 Fleets and armies are raised, and the aid of foreign troops en- 
 gaged to assist these destructive purposes. 
 
 " The king's representative in this colony hath not only 
 withheld all the powers of government from operating for our 
 safety, but, having retired on board an armed ship, is carrying 
 on a piratical and savage war against us ; tempting our slaves, 
 by every artifice, to resort to him, and training and employing 
 them against their masters. In this state of extreme danger, 
 we have no alternative left, but an abject submission to the will 
 of those overbearing tyrants, or a total separation from the 
 crown and government of Great Britain : uniting and exerting 
 the strength of all America for defence, and forming alliances 
 with foreign powers for commerce and aid in war. 
 
 "Wherefore, appealing to the Searcher of hearts for the sin- 
 cerity of former declarations, expressing our desire to preserve 
 the connexion with that nation, and that we are driven from 
 that inclination by their wicked councils, and the eternal laws 
 of self-preservation, 
 
 *' Resolved, unanimously. That the delegates appointed to 
 represent this colony in general congress, be instructed to pro- 
 pose to that respectable body, to declare the united colo- 
 nies FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES, absolvcd from all alle- 
 giance to, or dependance upon, the crown or parliament of 
 Great Britain ; and that they give the assent of this colony to 
 such declaration, and to whatever measures may be thought 
 proper and necessary by the congress for forming foreign 
 alliances, and a confederation of the Colonies, at such 
 time, and in the manner, as to them shall seem best. Provided, 
 that the power of forming government for, and the regulation 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 143 
 
 of, the internal concerns of each colony, be left to the respect- 
 ive colonial legislatures. 
 
 '• Resolved, unanimously, That a committee be appointed to 
 prepare a declaration of rights, and such a plan of gov- 
 ernment as will be most likely to maintain peace and order in 
 this colony, and secure substantial and equal liberty to the 
 people." 
 
 This measure was followed by the most lively demonstrations 
 of joy. The spirit of the times, is interestingly manifested by 
 the following paragraph fromPurdie's paper of the seventeenth 
 of May, which immediately succeeds the annunciation of the 
 resolutions : — 
 
 " In consequence of the above resolutions, universally re- 
 garded as the only door which will lead to safety and pros- 
 perity, some gentlemen made a handsome collection for the 
 purpose of treating the soldiery, who next day were paraded in 
 Waller's grove, before Brigadier-General Lewis, attended by 
 the gentlemen of the committee of safety, the members of the 
 general convention, the inhabitants of this city, &c., &c. The 
 resolutions being read aloud to the army, the following toasts 
 were given, each of them accompanied by a discharge of the 
 artillery and small arms, and the acclamations of all present: — 
 
 " 1. The American Independent States. 
 
 *'2. The grand Congress of the United States, and their 
 respective legislatures. 
 
 " 3. General Washington, and victory to the American arms. 
 
 " The Union Flag of the American States waved upon the 
 capitol during the whole of this ceremony ; which being ended, 
 the soldiers partook of the refreshments prepared for them by 
 the affection of their countrymen, and the evening concluded 
 with illuminations, and other demonstrations of joy ; every one 
 seeming pleased that the domination of Great Britain was now 
 at an end, so wickedly and tyrannically exercised for these 
 twelve or thirteen years past, notwithstanding our repeated 
 prayers and remonstrances for redress." 
 
 The committee appointed to prepare the declaration and 
 plan of government, called for by the last resolution, were the 
 following : — Mr. Archibald Gary, Mr. Meriwether Smith, Mr. 
 Mercer, Mr. Henry Lee, Mr. Treasurer, Mr. Henry, Mr. 
 Dandridge, Mr. Gilmer, Mr. Bland, Mr. Digges, Mr. Carring- 
 ton, Mr. Thomas Ludwell Lee, Mr. Cabell, Mr. Jones, Mr. 
 Blair, Mr. Fleming, Mr. Tazewell, Mr. Richard Gary, Mr. Bul- 
 litt, Mr. Watts, Mr. Bannister, Mr. Page, Mr. Starke, Mr. David 
 Mason, Mr. Adams, Mr. Reed, and Mr. Thomas Lewis ; to 
 whom were afterward successively added, Mr. Madison, Mr. 
 
144 wirt's life op 
 
 Ruthford, Mr. Watkins, M^ George Mason, Mr. Harvie, Mr. 
 Curie, and Mr. Holt. 
 
 On Wednesday, the twelfth of June following, that declara- 
 tion of rights which stands prefixed to our statutes, was reported 
 and adopted without a dissenting voice ; as was also, on Sat- 
 urday, the twenty-ninth of the same month, the present plan 
 of our government. 
 
 The striking similitude between the recital of wrongs prefixed 
 to the constitution of Virginia, and that which was afterward 
 prefixed to the Declaration of Independence of the United 
 States, is of itself sufficient to establish the fact that they are 
 from the same pen. But the constitution of Virginia preceded 
 the Declaration of Independence, by nearly a month ; and was 
 wholly composed and adopted while Mr. Jefferson is known to 
 have been out of the state, attending the session of congress 
 at Philadelphia. From these facts alone, a doubt might nat- 
 urally arise whether he was, as he has always been reputed, 
 the author of that celebrated instrument, the Declaration of 
 American Independence, or at least the recital of grievances 
 which ushers it in ; or whether this part of it, at least, had not 
 been borrowed from the preamble to the constitution of Vir- 
 ginia. 
 
 To remove this doubt, it is proper to state, that there now 
 exists among the archives of this state an original rough draught 
 of a constitution for Virginia, in the hand-writing of Mr. Jef- 
 ferson, containing this identical preamble, and which was for- 
 warded by him from Philadelphia, to his friend Mr. Wythe, to 
 be submitted to the committee of the house of delegates. The 
 body of the constitution is taken principally from a plan pro- 
 posed by Mr. George Mason ; and had been adopted by the 
 committee before the arrival of Mr. Jefferson's plan ; his pre- 
 amble, however, was prefixed to the instrument ; and some of 
 the modifications proposed by him introduced into the body 
 of it. 
 
 The salary of the governor to be appointed under the new 
 constitution was immediately fixed by a resolution of the house 
 at one thousand pounds per annum ; and the house proceeded 
 to elect forthwith the first republican governor for the com- 
 monwealth of Virginia. This was the touchstone of public 
 favour. The office was of the first importance ; and the whole 
 state was open to the choice of the house. The question was 
 decided on the first ballot. The vote stood thus : — 
 For Patrick Henry, jun. Esq. - - - 60 
 Thomas Nelson, Esq. - - - - 45 
 John Page, Esq. 1 
 
 Whereupon it was ♦* Resolved, That the said Patrick Henry> 
 
PATRICK HllNRY. 146 
 
 jun. Esq., be governor of this commonwealth, to continue in 
 that office until the end of the succeeding session of assembly 
 after the last of March next ; and that Mr. Mason, Mr. Henry- 
 Lee, Mr. Digges, Mr. Blair, and Mr. Dandridge, be a com- 
 mittee to wait upon him, and notify such appointment." 
 
 On Monday, the first of July, Mr. George Mason, of this 
 committee, reported, that they had performed the duty assigned 
 them, and that the governor had been pleased to return the 
 following answer to the convention : — 
 
 •* To the Honourable the President and House of Con- 
 vention : — 
 
 " Gentlemen — The vote of this day, appointing me governor 
 of the commonwealth, has been notified to me in the most po- 
 lite and obliging manner, by George Mason, Henry Lee, Dudley 
 Digges, John Blair, and Bartholomew Dandridge, esquires. 
 
 "A sense of the high and unmerited honour conferred upon 
 me by the convention, fills my heart with gratitude, which I 
 trust my whole life will manifest. I take this earliest oppor- 
 tunity to express my thanks, which I wish to convey to you, 
 gentlemen, in the strongest terms of acknowledgment. 
 
 " When I reflect that the tyranny of the British king and 
 parliament hath kindled a formidable war, now raging through- 
 out this wide-extended continent, and in the operations of 
 which this commonwealth must bear so great a part; and that, 
 from the events of this war, the lasting happiness or misery of 
 a great proportion of the human species will finally result ; that, 
 in order to preserve this commonwealth from anarchy, and its 
 attendant ruin, and to give vigour to our councils, and effect to 
 all our measures, government hath been necessarily assumed, 
 and new-modelled ; that it is exposed to numberless hazards, 
 and perils, in its infantine state ; that it can never attain to ma- 
 turity, or ripen into firmness, unless it is guarded by an affec- 
 tionate assiduity, and managed by great abilities ; I lament my 
 want of talents ; I feel my mind filled with anxiety and uneasi- 
 ness, to find myself so unequal to the duties of that important 
 station, to which I am called by the favour of my fellow-citizens 
 at this truly critical conjuncture. The errors of my conduct 
 shall be atoned for, so far as I am able, by unwearied endeav- 
 ours to secure the freedom and happiness of our common 
 country. 
 
 " I shall enter upon the duties of my office, whenever you, 
 gentlemen, shall be pleased to direct ; relying upon the known 
 wisdom and virtue of your honourable house to supply my 
 defects, and to give permanency and success to that system of 
 government which you have formed, and which is so wisely 
 
 IS 
 
146 wirt's life op 
 
 calculated to secure equayiberty, and advance human hap- 
 piness. 
 
 " I have the honour to be, gentlemen, 
 
 *' your most obedient and very humble servant, 
 
 " P. Henry, jun." 
 
 Mr. Henry was also immediately greeted with the following 
 affectionate address, from the two regiments which he had re- 
 cently commanded : — 
 
 *' To his excellency Patrick Henry, jun. Esq,, governor of 
 the commonwealth of Virginia: — The humble address of 
 the first and second Virginia regiments : — 
 
 " May it please your excellency : — 
 
 " Permit us with the sincerest sentiments of respect and joy, 
 to congratulate your excellency upon your unsolicited pro- 
 motion to the highest honours a grateful people can bestow. 
 
 " Uninfluenced by private ambition, regardless of sordid 
 interest, you have uniformly pursued the general good of your 
 country ; and have taught the world, that an ingenuous love of 
 the rights of mankind, an inflexible resolution, and a steady 
 perseverance in the practice of every private and public virtue, 
 lead directly to preferment, and give the best title to the hon- 
 ours of our uncorrupted and vigorous state. 
 
 *' Once happy under your military command, we hope for 
 more extensive blessings from your civil administration. 
 
 " Intrusted as your excellency is, in some measure, with the 
 support of a young empire, our hearts are willing, and arms 
 ready, to maintain your authority as chief magistrate ; happy 
 that we have lived to see the day, when freedom and equal 
 rights, established by the voice of the people, shall prevail 
 through the land. We are, may it please your excellency, 
 your excellency's most devoted and most obedient servants." 
 To which he returned the following exquisite answer: — 
 " Gentlemen of the first and second Virginia regiments :— - 
 
 " Your address does me the highest honour. Be pleased to 
 accept my most cordial thanks for your favourable and kind 
 sentiments of my principles and conduct. 
 
 *' The high appointment to which my fellow-citizens have 
 called me, was, indeed, unmerited, unsolicited. I am, there- 
 fore, under increased obligations to promote the safety, dignity, 
 and happiness of the commonwealth. 
 
 "While the civil powers are employed in establishing a 
 system of government, liberal, equitable, in every part of which 
 the genius of equal liberty breathes her blessed influence, to 
 you is assigned the glorious task of saving, by your valour s^U 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 14T 
 
 that is dear to mankind. Go on, gentlemen, to finish the great 
 work you have so nobly and successfully begun. Convince the 
 tyrants again, tliat they shall bleed, that America will bleed to 
 her last drop, ere their wicked schemes find success. 
 
 *' The remembrance of my former connexion with you shall 
 ever be dear to me. I honour your profession, I revere that 
 patriot virtue, which, in your conduct, hath produced cheerful 
 obedience, exemplary courage, and contempt of hardship and 
 danger. Be assured, gentlemen, I shall feel the highest plea- 
 sure in embracing every opportunity to contribute to your hap- 
 piness and welfare ; and I trust the day will come, when I shall 
 make one of those that will hail you among the triumphant de- 
 liverers of America. 
 
 *'I have the honour to be, gentlemen, 
 
 *' Your most obedient and very humble servant, 
 
 « P. Henry, jun.'* 
 
 When it is said that Mr. Henry was not successful as a 
 writer, the remark must be understood as applicable only to 
 those extended compositions in which it was necessary to digest 
 and arrange a mass of arguments with skill and effect, and to 
 give them beauty as well as order. In his short eflfusions, when 
 excited by strong feelings, he was sometimes very happy ; of 
 which the above answer is a very pleasing specimen. 
 
 The first council appointed under the constitution were, 
 John Page, Dudley Digges, John Taylor, John Blair, Benja- 
 min Harrison, of Berkeley, Bartholomew Dandridge, Thomas 
 Nelson, and Charles Carter, of Sherley, esquires. Mr. Nelsoa 
 (the same gentleman who had received so honourable a vote as 
 governor) declined the acceptance of the oflSce, on account of 
 his age and infirmities ; and his place was supplied by Mr. 
 Benjamin Harrison, of Brandon. 
 
 The governor's palace, together with the out-buildings be- 
 longing to itin Williamsburgh, having, by a previous resolution, 
 been appropriated as a public hospital, was, by a resolution of 
 the first of July, restored to its original destination ; and the 
 committee who had been appointed to notify the governor of 
 his election, were now directed to inform him of the desire of 
 the convention, that he would make the palace his place of 
 residence. On the fifth of July the sum of one thousand 
 pounds was directed by the house, to be laid out in furniture for 
 the palace^ including the furniture already there, belonging to 
 the country ; and on the same day, the governor and members of 
 the privy council took their respective oaths of oflSce, and en- 
 tered at once upon the discharge of their constitutional duties. 
 
149 wirt's life or 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Mr. Henry's Administration as Governor of Virginia — Disasters of the Rev- 
 olution — Their Effects — A prospect of making a Dictator is originated in 
 Virginia — Mr. Henry vindicated — His Re-election in 1777 — The plot to sup- 
 plant General Washington — Anonymous Disclosures to Mr. Henry — Let- 
 ters to Washington on that subject — Washington's Reply — Mr. Henry agaia 
 re-elected in 1778 — Narration of the Ca&e of Josiah Philips — Mr. Henry 
 declines a fourth Election — Death of his Wife — He remarries — General 
 Gates enters Richmond in disgrace — Mr. Henry's Resolution in favour of 
 that Officer — General Gates's Reply — Dispiriting State of Affairs — Meeting 
 of the Assembly at Richmond — Mr. Harrison elected Speaker — Tarlton 
 makes a Descent upon the Town — -Arrival of the French — Termination of 
 the Revolution — Mr. Henry's Course as Member of the Assembly — He 
 advocates the Return of the Refugees — Sentiments on Freedom of Com- 
 merce — Bill for Intermarriages with the Indians — Incorporation of religious 
 Societies — Bill for establishing a Provision for Teachers of Religion — Visit 
 of Lafayette and Washington to Richmond — Reminiscences of Mr. Henry 
 by a Cotemporary — Comparison between Him and Mr. Lee — Judge Stuart's 
 delineation of Mr. Henry's Eloquence — He is again elected Governor of 
 Virginia in 1784 — Resigns in 1786 — Resumes the Practice of the Law — 
 The Federal Constitution adopted at Philadelphia. 
 
 Shortly after Mr. Heory's election as goyernor. Lord 
 Dunmore was driven from Gwinn's Island, and from the state, 
 to return to it no more ; and Virginia was left in repose from 
 every external enemy. No opportunity, therefore, was afforded 
 to the governor to distinguish himself in the exercise of that 
 important constitutional power which created him the com- 
 mander-in-chief of the forces of the state. Duties, however, 
 of more importance than lustre, remained for the executive of 
 the state — in keeping up the ardour of the commonwealth in 
 the public cause — in furnishing and forwarding their quota of 
 military supplies to the grand continental army — in awakening 
 the spirit of the state to the importance of discipline, and pre- 
 paring the militia for the effectual discharge of their routine of 
 duty — in watching and crushing the intrigues of the tories wha 
 still infested the state, and went about clandestinely, preaching 
 disaffection to the patriot cause, and submission to Great Britain 
 — in counteracting the schemes of speculating monopolists and 
 extortioners, who sought to avail themselves of the necessities 
 of the times, and to grow rich by preying on the misfortunes of 
 the people — in short, in eradicating and removing those nu- 
 merous moral diseases, which spring up with so much fecundity, 
 and flourish so luxuriantly, amid the calamities of a revolution — 
 and in keeping the body politic pure and healthy in all its parts. 
 
 The numerous and well directed proclamations with which 
 the papers of the day abounded, attest the vigilance and 
 energy with which these duties were performed. To enter 
 
PATRICK HSNRY^ 
 
 140 
 
 wpon a detail of them, would be to write the history of Virginia 
 during this period, instead of the life of Mr. Henry ; a work 
 wholly unnecessary, since it has been already executed with 
 minuteness and fidelity by an elegant writer, * whose work will 
 probably see the light before these sketches. I shall confine 
 myself to a few prominent incidents of Mr. Henry's adminis- 
 tration, on account of some of which a degree of censure has 
 been unjustly, I think, attached to his character. 
 
 The fall of the year 1776 was one of the darkest and most 
 dispiriting periods of the revolution. The disaster at Long 
 Island had occurred, by which a considerable portion of the 
 American army had been cut off— a garrison of between three 
 and four thousand men had been taken at Fort Washington — 
 and the American general, with the small remainder, disheart- 
 ened, and in want of every kind of comfort, was retreating 
 through the Jerseys before an overwhelming power, which 
 spread terror, desolation, and death, on every hand. This was 
 the period of which Paine, in his Crisis, used that memorable 
 expression :—" These are the times which try the souls of 
 men !" For a short time the courage of the country fell. 
 Washington alone remained erect, and surveyed with godlike 
 composure the storm that raged around him. ^ Even the heroism 
 of the Virginia legislature gave way ; and, in a season of de- 
 spair, the mad project of a dictator was seriously meditated. 
 
 That Mr. Henry was thought of for this office, has been alleged, 
 and is highly probable ; but that the project was suggested by 
 him, or even received his countenance, I have met with no one 
 who will venture to affirm. There is a tradition that Colonel 
 Archibald Cary, the speaker of the senate, was principally in- 
 strumental in crushing this project; that meetmg Colonel 
 Syme, the step-brother of Colonel Henry, in the lobby of the 
 house, he accosted him very fiercely in terms like these :-— "I 
 am told that your brother wishes to be dictator : tell him from 
 me, that the day of his appointment shall be the day of his 
 death— for he shall feel my dagger in his heart before the sunset 
 of that day ;" and the tradition adds, that Colonel Syme, m 
 great agitation, declared, " that if such a project existed, his 
 brother had no hand in it, for that nothing could be more foreign 
 to him, than to countenance any office which could endanger, in 
 the most distant manner, the liberties of his country." 
 
 The intrepidity and violence of Colonel Cary's character 
 renders the tradition probable; but it furnishes no proof of 
 Mr. Henry's implication in the scheme. It is most certain, 
 that both himself and his friends have firmly and uniformly 
 
 •Mi. L. H. Girardin,the continuator of Burk's History of Virginia. 
 
 13» 
 
Jbd WIRT*S LIFE at 
 
 persisted in asserting his iptiocence ; and there seems to be 
 neither candour or justice in imputing to him, without evidence,, 
 a scheme which might just as well have originated in the as- 
 sembly itself. It was not more than a month afterward, that 
 congress actually did, with relation to General Waahington, 
 very nearly what the Virginia legislature are said to have con- 
 templated in regard to Mr. Henry ; they invested him with 
 powers very little short of dictatorial : yet no one ever sus- 
 pected General Washington of having prompted the measure. 
 Why then shall Mr. Henry be suspected? 
 
 Neither General Washington himself, nor any other patriot, 
 had maintained the principles of the revolution with more consis- 
 tency and uniformity than Patrick Henry ; and it will certainlj^ 
 never satisfy a fair inquirer, to attempt to balance a suspicion, 
 without the shadow of proof, against the whole course of a long 
 and patriotic life. The charge, moreover, seems preposterous. 
 What advantage could a rational man promise himself from the 
 dictatorship of a single state, embarked with twelve other sover- 
 eign and independent states, in one common cause ; a cause^ 
 too, now so well understood by the whole body of the American 
 people, and in which all their souls were so intensely engaged? 
 The man who was at the head of the armies of the union, mighi 
 have played the part of Cesar or Cromwell, had he possessed 
 their wicked spirit ; but what could the dictator of a single state, 
 do, and that, too, a state affirm and enlightened patriots ? 
 
 It is impossible to believe that the legislature themselves couli, 
 have entertained a doubt of Mr. Henry^s innocence ; since at 
 the next annual election for governor, which took place on the 
 thirtieth of May, seventeen hundred and seventy-seven, he was 
 re-elected unanimously ; the house being composed of nearly 
 the same members, and the same Colonel Gary being speakef 
 of the senate. This honourable proof of confidence, by those 
 who best knew the whole case — who watched, with a scrutiny 
 so severely jealous, the conduct of our prominent men — ant? 
 among whom were some who derived no pleasure from thj 
 public honours of Mr. Henry — will be decisive of this question, 
 with every man who is dispassionately searching for the truth, 
 and is willing to find it. 
 
 This very honourable mark of the confidence of the legisla 
 ture, in re-electing him unanimously to the ofllce of governoi, 
 afifected Mr. Henry most sensibly ; and to the committee who 
 announced it to him, he gave the following answer : — 
 
 " Gentlemen : The signal honour conferred on me by the 
 general assembly in their cfioice of me to be the governor oi 
 this eommonwealth, demands my best acknowledgments, which 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 161 
 
 I beg the favour of you to convey to them in the most accepta- 
 ble manner. 
 
 *' I shall execute the duties of that high station, to which I 
 am again called by the favour of my fellow-citizens, according 
 to the best of my abilities, and I shall rely upon the candour 
 and wisdom of the assembly, to excuse and supply my defects. 
 The good of the commonwealth shall be the only object of my 
 pursuit, and I shall measure my happiness according to the suc- 
 cess which shall attend my endeavours to establish the public 
 liberty. I beg to be presented to the assembly ; and that they 
 and you will be assured, that I am, with every sentiment of the 
 highest regard, their and your most obedient and very humble 
 servant, 
 
 "P.Henry." 
 
 It was in the course of this year's administration of the gov- 
 ernment by Mr. Henry, that that memorable plot which dis- 
 graces our history, was formed to supplant General Washing- 
 ton. This is said to have proceeded from the glory which 
 General Gates had gained by the capture of Burgoyne and his 
 army at Saratoga, and was believed to have been suggested by 
 General Gates himself. The plot is said to have been an ex- 
 tensive one, and to have embraced some of the members of 
 congress, and many officers of the army. The high estimate 
 which Mr. Henry had formed of the abilities of General Wash- 
 ington, while that illustrious man was comparatively unknown 
 to his countrymen, has been already stated. This estimate, in- 
 stead of having been lowered, had been confirmed and raised 
 by subsequent events. 
 
 Mr. Henry was too cool and judicious an observer of events, 
 to have imputed to the commander-in-chief the disasters of the 
 autumn of seventeen hundred and seventy-six. His masterly 
 retreat throuo^h the Jerseys, the brilliant strokes of generalship 
 exhibited at Trenton and Princeton, and above all, that singular 
 constancy of soul with which he braved adversity, had excited his 
 grateful admiration, and established Washington in his heart as 
 one of the first of human beings. He not only admired him as 
 a general, but revered him as a patriot, and loved him as a 
 friend. Feeling for General Washington sentiments like these, 
 the reader may judge of the indignation and horror with which 
 he read the following anonymous letter, addressed to him by 
 one of the conspirators against that father of his country : — 
 " YoRKTowN, January 12th, 1778. 
 
 " Dear sir : The common danger of our country first brought 
 you and me together. I recollect with pleasure the influence 
 of your conversation and eloquence upon the opinions of this 
 country, in the beginning of the present controversy. You 
 
152 wirt's life of 
 
 first taught us to shake ofF^r idolatrous attachment to royalty 
 and to oppose its encroachments upon our liberties, with our 
 very lives. By these means you saved us from ruin. The in- 
 dependence of America is the offspring of that liberal spirit of 
 thinking and acting which followed the destruction of the scep- 
 tres of kings, and the mighty power of Great Britain. 
 
 *' But, sir, we have only passed the Red sea. A dreary 
 wilderness is still before us, and unless a Moses or a Joshua 
 are raised up in our behalf, we must perish before we reach the 
 promised land. We have nothing to fear from our enemies on 
 the way. General Howe, it is true, has taken Philadelphia ; 
 but he has only changed his prison. His dominions are bound- 
 ed on all sides, by his out-sentries. America can only be un- 
 done by herself. She looks up to her councils and arms for 
 protection; but alas ? what are they? Her representation in 
 congress dwindled to only twenty-one members — her Adams— 
 her Wilson — her Henry, are no more among them. Her coun- 
 cils weak — and partial remedies applied constantly for univer- 
 sal diseases. 
 
 "Her army — what is it ? a major-general belonging to it, 
 called it a few days ago, in my hearing, a moh. Discipline 
 unknown or loholly neglected. The quartermaster and com- 
 missary's departments filled with idleness, ignorance, and pec- 
 ulation — our hospitals crowded with six thousand sick, but 
 half provided with necessaries or accommodations, and more 
 dying in them in one month, than perished in the field during 
 the whole of the last campaign. The money depreciating, 
 without any efl'ectual measures being taken to raise it — the 
 country distracted with the Don Quixote attempts to regulate 
 the prices of provisions — an artificial famine created by it, and 
 a real one dreaded from it — the spirit of the people failing 
 through a more intimate acquaintance with the causes of our 
 misfortunes — many submitting daily to General Howe — and 
 more wishing to do it, only to avoid the calamities which threat- 
 en our country. 
 
 " But is our case desperate? by no means. We have wisdom, 
 virtue, and strength enough to save us, if they could be called 
 into action. The northern army has shown us what Americans 
 are capable of doing, with a general at their head. The spirit 
 of the southern army is no way inferior to the spirit of the 
 northern. A Gates, a Lee, or a Conway, would in a few weeks 
 render them an irresistible body of men. The last of the above 
 officers has accepted of the new office of inspector-general of 
 our army, in order to reform abuses ; but the remedy is only a 
 palliative one. 
 
 " In one of his letters to a friend, he says, * a great and good 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 163 
 
 God hath decreed America to be free — or the * • • * • • 
 and weak counsellors, would have ruined her long ago.' You 
 may rest assured o( each of the facts related in this letter. The 
 author of it is one of your Philadelphia friends. A hint of his 
 name, if found out by the handwriting, must not be mentioned 
 to your most intimate friend. Even the letter must be thrown 
 in the fire. But some of its contents ought to be made public, 
 in order to awaken, enlighten, and alarm our country. I rely 
 upon your prudence, and am, dear sir, with my usual attachment 
 to you, and to our beloved independence, yours sincerely. 
 
 '* His Excellency P. Henry.'''' 
 
 Mr. Henry did not hesitate a moment as to the course which 
 it was proper for him to take with this perfidious letter : he 
 enclosed it forthwith to General "Washington, in the following 
 frank and high-minded communication : — 
 
 " WiLLiAMSBURGH, February 20, 1T70. 
 
 " Dear sir : You will no doubt, be surprised at seeing the 
 enclosed letter, in which the encomiums bestowed on me are 
 as undeserved, as the censures aimed at you are unjust. I am 
 sorry there should be one man who counts himself my friend, 
 who is not yours. 
 
 " Perhaps I give you needless trouble in handing you this 
 paper. The writer of it may be too insignificant to deserve 
 any notice. If I knew this to be the case, I should not have 
 intruded on your time, which is so precious. But there may 
 possibly be some scheme or party forming to your prejudice. 
 The enclosed leads to such a suspicion. Believe me, sir, I 
 have too high a sense of the obligations America has to you, to 
 abet or countenance so unworthy a proceeding. The most ex- 
 alted merit hath ever been found to attract envy. But I please 
 myself with the hope, that the same fortitude and greatness of 
 mind which have hitherto braved all the difficulties and dangers 
 inseparable from your station, will rise superior to every at- 
 tempt of the envious partisan. 
 
 " I really cannot tell who is the writer of this letter, which 
 not a little perplexes me. The handwriting is altogether 
 strange to me. 
 
 " To give you trouble of this gives me pain. It would suit 
 my inclination better to give you some assistance in the great 
 business of the war. But I will not conceal any thing from 
 you by which you may be affected ; for I really think, your 
 personal welfare and the happiness of America are inti- 
 mately connected. I beg you will be assured of that high re- 
 gard and esteem, whh which I ever am, dear sir, your affec- 
 tionate friend and very humble servant, *' P. Henry. 
 
 " His Excellency General Washington.'''' 
 
154 wirt's life of 
 
 Not having received anj^tnswer to this letter, and being 
 filled with solicitude by the wicked conspiracy, he again wrote 
 to General Washington, as follows : — 
 
 *' WiLLiAMSBURGH, Mavch 5, 1778. 
 
 " Dear Sir : By an express which Colonel Finnic sent to 
 camp, I enclosed you an anonymous letter, which I hope got 
 safe to hand. 1 am anxious to hear something that will serve 
 to explain the strange affair, which I am now informed is taken 
 up respecting you. Mr. Curtis has just paid us a visit, and by 
 him I learn sundry particulars concerning General Mifflin, that 
 much surprised me. It is very hard to trace the schemes and 
 windings of the enemies to America. I really thought that 
 man its friend : however, I am too far from him to judge of his 
 present temper. 
 
 " While you face the armed enemies of our liberty in the 
 field, and by the favour of God have been kept unhurt, I trust 
 your country will never harbour in her bosom the miscreant 
 who would ruin her best supporter. I wish not to flatter ; but 
 when arts, unworthy honest men, are used to defame and tra- 
 duce you, I think it not amiss, but a duty, to assure you of that 
 estimation in which the public hold you. 
 
 "Not that I think any testimony I can bear is necessary for 
 your support, or private satisfaction ; for a bare recollection of 
 what is past must give you sufficient pleasure in every circum- 
 stance of life. But I cannot help assuring you, on this occasion, 
 of the high sense of gratitude which all ranks of men, in this 
 your native country, bear to you. It will give me sincere 
 pleasure to manifest my regards, and render my best services 
 to you or yours. I do not like to make a parade of these 
 things, and I know you are not fond of it : however, I hope the 
 occasion will plead my excuse. 
 
 " The assembly have, at length, empowered the executive 
 here, to provide the Virginia troops serving with you 
 with clothes, &c. I am making provision accordingly, and 
 hope to do something toward it. Every possible assistance 
 from government is afforded the commissary of provisions, 
 whose department has not been attended to. It was taken up 
 by me too late to do much. Indeed, the load of business de- 
 volved on me is too great to be managed well. A French ship, 
 mounting thirty guns, that has been long chased by the English 
 cruisers, has got into Carolina, as I hear last night. 
 
 "Wishing you all possible felicity, I am, my dear sir, 
 " Your ever affectionate friend, 
 
 " And very humble servant, 
 
 "P. Henry. 
 
 •* His Excellency General Washington" 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 165 
 
 In reply, Mr. Henry received, shortly afterward the two fol- 
 lowing very cordial letters from the general : — 
 
 "Valley Forge, March 27, 1778. 
 
 "Dear Sir: About eight days past, I was honoured with 
 your favour of the 20th ultimo. Your friendship, sir, in trans- 
 mitting me the anonymous letter you had received, lays me 
 under the most grateful obligations; and, if anything could 
 give a still a further claim to my acknowledgments, it is the 
 very polite and delicate terms in which you have been pleased 
 to make the communication. 
 
 " I have ever been happy in supposing that I held a place 
 in your esteem, and the proof of it you have afforded on this 
 occasion makes me peculiarly so. The favourable light in which 
 you hold me is truly flattering ; but I should feel much regret if 
 I thoughtthe happiness of America so intimately connected with 
 my personal welfare, as you so obligingly seem to consider it. 
 All I can say is, that she has ever had, and I trust she ever will 
 have, my honest exertions to promote her interests. I cannot 
 hope that my services have been the best, but my heart tells 
 me they have been the best that I could render. 
 
 "That I may have erred in using the means in my power 
 for accomplishing the objects of the arduous, exalted station 
 with which I am honoured, I cannot doubt : nor do I wish my 
 conduct to be exempted from the reprehension it may deserve. 
 Error is the portion of humanity, and to censure it, whether 
 committed by this or that public character, is the prerogative 
 of freemen. 
 
 "This is not the only secret and insidious attempt that has 
 been made to wound my reputation. There have been others 
 equally base, cruel, and ungenerous ; because conducted with 
 as little frankness, and proceeding from views, perhaps, as per- 
 sonally interested. 
 
 " I am, dear sir, &c. 
 
 " George Washington. 
 " To his excellency Patrick Henry, Esq., 
 Governor of Virginia^ 
 
 "Camp, Marches, 1778. 
 " Dear Sir : Just as I was about to close my letter of yester- 
 day, your favour of the fifth instant came to hand. I can only 
 thank you again in the languague of the most undissembled 
 gratitude for your friendship, and assure you, the indulgent dis- 
 position which Virginia in particular, and the states in general, 
 entertain toward me, gives me the most sensible pleasure. 
 The approbation of my country is what I wish ; and as far as 
 my abilities and opportunity will permit, I hope I shall endeav- 
 
156 wirt's life of i 
 
 our to deserve it. It is^e highest reward to a feeling 
 mind; and happy are they wno so conduct themselves as to 
 merit it. The anonymous letter with which you were pleased 
 to favour me, was written by * * * *, so far as I can judge 
 from the similitude of hands. ****** 
 
 "My caution to avoid everything that could injure the ser- 
 vice, prevented me from communicating, except to a very few 
 of my friends, the intrigues of a faction which I knew was 
 formed against me, since it might serve to publish our internal 
 dissensions ; but their own restless zeal to advance their views 
 has too clearly betrayed them and made concealment on my 
 part fruitless. I cannot precisely mark the extent of their 
 views ; but it appeared, in general, that Genera] Gates was to 
 be exalted on the ruin of my reputation and influence. 
 
 "This I am authorized to say from undeniable facts in my 
 own possession — from publications, the evident scope of which 
 could not be mistaken — and from private detractions industri- 
 ously circulated. * * * # *^ jt jg commonly 
 supposed, bore the second part in the cabal ; and General Con- 
 way, I know, was a very active and malignant partisan ; but 
 I have good reason to believe, that their machinations have re- 
 coiled most sensibly upon themselves. 
 
 " I am, dear sir, &c., " Geo. Washington. 
 
 " His excellency Patrick Henry^ Esq. 
 Governour of Virginia^ 
 
 The plot did recoil on its contriver, and left General Wash- 
 ington more firmly established than ever in the confidence of 
 his countrymen. 
 
 At the spring session of seventeen hundred and seventy- 
 eight, Mr. Henry was again unanimously re-elected to the office 
 of governor. Mr. Jefl^erson, Mr. Dandridge. and Mr. Page, 
 the committee appointed to announce to him that event, re- 
 ceived and reported the following answer : — 
 
 " Gentlemen : The general assembly in again electing me 
 governor of this commonwealth, have done me very signal 
 honour. I trust that their confidence thus continued in me, will 
 not be misplaced. 
 
 "I beg you will be pleased, gentlemen, to present me to the 
 general assembly, in terms of grateful acknowledgment for this 
 fresh instance of their favour toward me ; and to assure them, 
 that my best endeavours shall be used to promote the public 
 good, in that station to which they have once more been pleas- 
 ed to call me." 
 
 At this same session an act was passed, on account of which 
 both Mr. Henry and the legislature have been, it is thought, 
 improperly censured. I mean the act to attaint Jogiah Phil* 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 157 
 
 ips. This man, in the summer of seventeen hundred and ser- 
 enty-sevexi, at the head of a banditti, commenced a course of 
 crimes in the counties of Norfolk and Princess Anne, which 
 spread terror and consternation on every hand. Availing him- 
 self of the disaffection which prevailed in that quarter, and 
 taking refuge from occasional pursuit in the fastnesses of the 
 Dismal Swamp, he had carried on a species of war against the 
 innocent and defenceless, at the bare mention of which hu- 
 manity shudders. 
 
 Scarcely a night passed without witnessing the shrieks of 
 women and children, flying by the light of their own burning 
 houses, from the assaults of these merciless wretches ; and 
 every day was marked by the desolation of some farm, by rob- 
 beries on the highway, or the assassination of some individual 
 whose patriotism had incurred the displeasure of this fierce 
 and bloody leader of banditti. Every attempt to take them 
 had hitherto proved abortive ; when in May, seventeen hun- 
 dred and seventy-eight, the governor received the following 
 letter from Colonel John Wilson : — 
 
 "Norfolk County, May 30, 1778. 
 
 " Honourable Sir : I received your letter the fourteenth 
 instant of the twelfth April, respecting the holding the militia 
 in readiness, and my attention to the arms and accoutrements, 
 which I shall endeavour to comply with as far as in my power : 
 that much, however, may not be expected from this county, I 
 beg to observe, that the militia, of late, fail much in appearing 
 at musters, submitting to the trifling fine of five shillings, which, 
 they argue, they can aflbrd to pay, by earning more at home ; 
 but I have reason to fear, through disaflfection. With such a 
 set of men, it is impossible to render any service to country 
 or county. 
 
 *' A few days since, hearing of the ravages committed by Phil- 
 ips and his notorious gang, I ordered fifty men to be raised out 
 of four companies, consisting of upward of two hundred : of 
 those only ten appeared, and it being at a private muster, I 
 compelled twenty others into duty, putting them under the 
 command of Captain Josiah Wilson, who immediately marched 
 after the insurgents ; and that very night, one fourth of his 
 men deserted. Captain Wilson still pursued, but to no pur- 
 pose : they were either taken to their secret places in the 
 swamp, or concealed by their friends, that no intelligence could 
 be obtained. He then returned, his men declaring they could 
 stay no longer, on account of their crops. 
 
 " I consider, therefore, that rather than that they should 
 wholly desert, it miofht be better to discharge them, and wait 
 the coming of the Nansemond militia, when I trusted some- 
 
 14 
 
158 
 
 thing might be done : but ^ those men I can hear no tidings; 
 and unless they or some other better men do come, it will be 
 out of my power to effect anything with the militia of this 
 county; for such is their cowardly disposition, joined to their 
 disaffection, that scarce a man, without being forced, can be 
 raised to go after the outlyers. 
 
 " We have lost Captain Wilson since his return : having some 
 private business at a neighbour's, within a mile of his own 
 house, he was fired on by four men concealed in the house, 
 and wounded in such a manner that he died in a few hours ; 
 and this will surely be the fate of a few others, if their request 
 of the removal of the relations and friends of those villains 
 be not granted, which I am again pressed to solicit for, and in 
 which case neither assistance, pay, nor plunder, is expected ; 
 conceiving that to distress their supporters is the only means 
 by which we can root those wretches from us, and thereby es- 
 tablish peace and security to ourselves and families. 
 
 *' I am, with great respect, honourable sir, 
 
 " Your most obedient humble servant, 
 
 "John Wilson." 
 
 *' May 24. — A company of about fifty men are now come 
 from Nansemond ; but I am informed by the captain, that they 
 will not be kept above two days, five having deserted already. 
 
 "John Wilson." 
 
 The governor immediately enclosed this letter to the house 
 of delegates, with the following communication : — 
 " The Honourable Benjamin Harrison, Esq., Speaker of the 
 House of Delegates. 
 
 " WiLLiAMSBURGH, May 27, 1778. 
 
 "Sir : I was always unwilling to trouble the general assem- 
 bly with anything that seemed of too little consequence for 
 deliberation. In that view I have for some time considered the 
 insurrection in Princess Anne and Norfolk. I have from time 
 to time given orders to the commanding^ officers of those coun- 
 ties, to draw from the militia a force sufficient to quell it. These 
 officers have often complained of the difficulty of the business, 
 arising partly from the local circumstances attending it, but 
 chiefly from the backwardness and even disaffection of the peo- 
 ple. In order to remove the latter obstacle, I gave orders for 
 one hundred men to be drawn out into this service, from Nan- 
 semond county ; but I am sorry to say, the almost total want of 
 discipline in that and too many other militias in the state, seems 
 to forbid the hope of their doing much to effect. 
 
 " Col. Wilson, whose letter I enclose, has several times given 
 rue to understand, that, in his opinion, the removal of such 
 families as are in league with insurgents, was a step absolutely 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 159 
 
 necessary, and has desired me to give orders accordingly. But 
 thinking that the executive power is not competent to such a 
 purpose, I must beg leave to submit the whole matter to the 
 assembly, who are the only judges how far the methods of 
 proceeding directed by law are to be dispensed with on this oc- 
 casion. 
 
 " A company of regulars, drawn from the several stations, 
 will be ordered to co-operate with the militia, though indeed 
 their scanty numbers will not permit it to be done without 
 hazard. But I cannot help thinking this ought to be encoun- 
 tered ; for an apparent disposition to disturb the peace of this 
 state has been manifested by these people during the whole 
 course of the present war. It seems, therefore, that no effort 
 to crush these desperadoes should be spared. 
 
 " My duty would no longer suffer me to withhold these sev- 
 eral matters from the view of the general assembly, to whom I 
 beg leave to refer them through you. 
 " With great regard, 
 
 " I have the honour to be, sir, 
 
 " Your most obedient humble servant, 
 
 "P. Henry." 
 
 This letter was communicated to the house on the day of its 
 date, and was immediately referred to a committee of the whole 
 house, on the state of the commonwealth. That committee 
 was immediately formed ; but not having time to go through 
 the subject, had leave to sit again. On the next day the house 
 again resolved itself into a committee of the whole, and after 
 some time spent therein, the speaker resumed the chair, and 
 Mr. Carter reported on the subject of Philips, as follows : — 
 
 " Information being received, that a certain 
 Philips, with divers others, his associates and confederates, 
 have levied war against this commonwealth within the counties 
 of Norfolk and Princess Anne, committing murders, burning 
 houses, wasting farms, and doing other acts of enormity, in de- 
 fiance of the officers of justice — 
 
 " Resolved, That it is the opinion of this committee, that if 
 the said Philips, his associates, and confede- 
 
 rates, do not render themselves to some officer, civil or mili- 
 tary, within this commonwealth, on or before day 
 of June, in this present year, such of them as fail so to do, 
 ought to be attainted of high treason ; and that in the meantime, 
 and before such render, it shall be lawful for any person, with 
 or without orders, to pursue and slay, or otherwise to take and 
 deliver to justice, the said Philips, his associates 
 and confederates." 
 
 Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Smith, and Mr. Tyler, were the commit- 
 
160 wirt's life of 
 
 tee appointed to prepare ai^ bring in a bill, pursuant to this 
 resolution, which was reported on the same day, and read the 
 first time. On the two succeeding days it was read a second 
 and third time; and thus regularly passed through the forms 
 of the lower house. It was communicated to the senate by Mr 
 Jefferson, on the thirtieth day of the month, and returned, pass- 
 ed by them, without amendment, on the first day of June, which 
 was the last day of the session. The act, as it stands upon the 
 statute book of the session, is as follows :-— 
 *^ An act to attaint Josiah Philips and others, unless they ren- 
 der themselves to justice within a certain time. 
 
 " "Whereas a certain Josiah Philips, labourer, of the parish 
 of Lynhavenand county of Princess Anne, together with divers 
 others, inhabitants of the counties of Princess Anne, and Nor- 
 folk, and citizens of this commonwealth, contrary to their 
 fidelity, associating and confederating together, have levied war 
 against this commonwealth, within the same, committing mur- 
 ders, burning houses, wasting farms, and doing other acts of 
 hostility in the said counties of Princess Anne and Norfolk, 
 and still continue to exercise the same enormities on the good 
 people of this commonwealth ; and, whereas, the delays which 
 would attend the proceeding to outlaw the said offenders, ac- 
 cording to the usual forms and procedures of the courts of law, 
 would leave the said good people, for a long time exposed to 
 murder and devastation : — 
 
 " Be it, therefore, enacted by the general assembly, That if 
 the siaid Josiah Philips, his associates and confederates, shall 
 not, on or before the last day of June, in the present year, ren- 
 der themselves to the governor, or to some member of the privy 
 council, judge of the general court, justice of the peace, or com- 
 missioned oflicer of the regular troops, navy or militia of this 
 commonwealth, in order to their trials for the treasons, mur- 
 ders, and other felonies by them committed, that, then, such of 
 them, the said Josiah Philips, his associates and confederates, 
 as shall not so render him or themselves, shall stand and be 
 convicted and attainted of high treason, and shall suffer the 
 pains of death, and incur all forfeitures, penalties, and disabili- 
 ties, prescribed by the law against those convicted and attainted 
 of high treason; and that execution of this sentence of attain- 
 der shall be done, by order of the general court, to be entered 
 so soon as may be conveniently, after notice that any of the 
 said offenders are in custody of the keeper of the public jail. 
 
 "And if any person committed to the custody of the keeper 
 of the public jail, as an associate or confederate of the said 
 Josiah Philips, shall allege that he has not been of his associ- 
 ates or confederates, at any time after the first day of July, in 
 
PATRICK HBNRT. 151 
 
 the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy- 
 seven, at which time the said murders and devastations were 
 begun, a petit jury shall be summoned and charged, according 
 to the forms of the law, to try, in the presence of the said court, 
 the fact so alleged ; and if it be found against the defendant, 
 execution of this act shall be done as before directed. 
 
 "And that the good people of this commonwealth may not, 
 in the meantime, be subject to the unrestrained hostilities of the 
 said insurgents : Be it further enacted, That from and after the 
 passing of this act, it shall be lawful for any person, with or 
 without orders, to pursue and slay the said Josiah Philips, and 
 any others who have been of his associates or confederates, at 
 any time after the said first day of July aforesaid, and shall not 
 have previously rendered him or themselves to any of the offi- 
 cers, civil or military, before described, or otherwise to take 
 and deliver them to justice, to be dealt with according to law. 
 Provided, that the person so slain be in arms at the time, or 
 endeavouring to escape being taken." 
 
 Philips was apprehended in the course of the autumn, and 
 indicted by Mr. Edmund Randolph, attorney-general, /or high- 
 way-robbery, simply. On this charge he was tried at the Oc- 
 tober term of the general court, convicted, and executed: so 
 that the act of attainder was never brought to bear upon him at 
 all. This is the whole case of Josiah Philips. The reader 
 will judge whether Mr. Henry deserves censure for having 
 communicated to the legislature the letter of Col. Wilson ; or 
 whether that body acted with too much severity toward a wretch, 
 who had not only set the laws of his country at defiance, but 
 was waging a cruel and dastardly war upon men without arms, 
 upon women and children ; and acting, not the part of a brave 
 and open enemy, but that of an enemy of the human family. 
 
 .Tust at the close of Mr. Henry's administration, Virginia 
 suffered an invasion of a few days, under the British officers 
 Collin and Matthew. They seized Fort Nelson, near Norfolk, 
 destroyed the naval stores at Gosport, burnt Suffolk, and dis- 
 appeared before the militia could be rallied to chastise their in- 
 solence. This occurred in the month of May, seventeen hun- 
 dred and seventy-nine ; and the facility and impunity with which 
 the enterprise was accomplished, very probably suggested the 
 more serious invasion of the state, which afterward took place 
 under the traitor Arnold. 
 
 It would seem, that a wish was entertained to re-elect Mr. 
 Henry to the office of governor a fourth time, although the con- 
 stitution declared him ineligible after the third year. The im- 
 pression seems to have been that his appointment for the first 
 year, not having been made by delegates who had themselves 
 
 14* 
 
162 WIRT*S LIFE OF 
 
 been elected under the coni^ution, ought not to be counted as 
 one of the constitutional years of service. Mr. Henry, how- 
 ever, had too scrupulous a respect for that instrument to accept 
 the office, even in a doubtful case ; and, therefore, addressed 
 the following letter to the speaker : — 
 
 "May 28, 1779. 
 
 "Sir: The term for which I had the honour to be elected 
 governor by the late assembly being just about to expire, and 
 the constitution, as I think, making me ineligible to that office, 
 I take the liberty to communicate to the assembly through you, 
 sir, my intention to retire in four or five days. 
 
 "I have thought it necessary to give this notification of my 
 design, in order that the assembly may have the earliest oppor- 
 tunity of deliberating upon the choice of a successor to me in 
 office. With great regard, 
 
 " I have the honour to be, sir, 
 
 " Your most obedient servant, 
 
 "P. Henry." 
 
 Thus closed Mr. Henry's administration : and although he 
 had not an opportunity of distinguishing it by any splendid 
 achievements, it is honour enough that he had given universal 
 satisfaction, and that he retired with a popularity confirmed and 
 increased. 
 
 It has been thought best not to break the chain of the narra 
 tive, as to his public character, by noticing the changes which 
 had before this time occurred in his domestic relations. It 
 may be proper to pause here for the purpose of supplying this 
 omission. 
 
 His wife, the partner of his youth, and the solace of his early 
 adversities, had died in the year seventeen hundred and seventy- 
 five, after having made him the father of six children. The 
 anguish of this blow was mitigated by the circumstance of her 
 having been, for several years, in a state of ill health and of 
 suffering, from which there was no hope of recovery; and to 
 her, therefore, death indeed " came like a friend to relieve her 
 from pain." 
 
 Neither had the father lived to witness the promotion of his 
 son to the highest honours of the republic. He had lived how- 
 ever, long enough to enjoy the first bloom of his fame, and to 
 see him the most celebrated and rising character in the state. 
 He had died about the year seventeen hundred and seventy, and 
 left behind him a name highly respectable for every private and 
 social virtue. 
 
 His uncle, for M'-hom he seems to have had a strong affection, 
 had died during his government, and in token of his affection 
 and respect, had appointed him the executor of his will. 
 
PATRICK U£NRT. 103 
 
 His tender and indulgent mother still survived, and felt all 
 that pure and exquisite delight, which the well-deserved honours 
 of her son were calculated to inspire. 
 
 After the death of his wife, Mr. Henry sold the farm called 
 Scotch Town, on which he had resided in Hanover, and pur- 
 chased eight or ten thousand acres of valuable land in the 
 county of Henry ; a county which had been erected during his 
 government, and which had taken its name from him, as did 
 afterward its neighbouring county of Patrick. In the year sev- 
 enteen hundred and seventy-seven, he intermarried with Doro- 
 thea, the daughter of Mr. Nathaniel W. Dandridge, with whom, 
 after the resignation or expiration of his office, he removed to 
 his newly-acquired estate, called Leatherwood, and there re- 
 sumed the practice of the law. In the year seventeen hundred 
 and eighty, we find him again in the assembly, and one of the 
 most active members in the house. 
 
 During the winter session of this year, General Gates entered 
 the city of Richmond from his southern campaign, where he 
 had most wofully fulfilled General Lee's prediction.* His total 
 defeat at Camden, and a series of subsequent ill fortune, had 
 left South Carolina completely in the hands of the victorious 
 British ; and to increase his humiliation, congress had not only 
 superseded him in that command, by the substitution of General 
 Greene, but had passed a resolution requiring the commander- 
 in-chief to order a court of inquiry on his conduct. Under 
 these accumulated disgraces, the unfortunate general entered 
 the city of Richmond ; when Mr. Henry moved a resolution 
 which displays, in a most engaging light, the delicate and gene- 
 rous sensibility of his character; it was as follows: — 
 
 " Resolved, That a committee of four be appointed to wait 
 on Major-general Gates, and to assure him of the high regard 
 and esteem of this house ; that the remembrance of his former 
 glorious services cannot be obliterated by any reverse of for- 
 tune ; but that this house, ever mindful of his great merit, will 
 omit no opportunity of testifying to the world, the gratitude 
 which, as a member of the American union, this country owes 
 to him in his military character." 
 
 The author may be permitted to say of a state, which is his 
 only by adoption, that in an assembly of Virginians, this gen- 
 erous resolution could not fail to pass unanimously. The 
 committee appointed to corarhunicate it to the general, were, 
 Mr. Henry, Mr. Richard H. Lee, Mr. Zane, and General Nel- 
 son. We may be assured, that a committee, chosen with so 
 
 * When Gen. Charles Lee heard of Gen. Gates's appointment to the com- 
 mand of the southern army, he foretold that " his northern laurels would be 
 txyxn^^ ixiio southerntoillovoa.''^ 
 
164 wirt's life of 
 
 much judgment,* discliargW their duty in a manner the most 
 grateful to the wounded feelings of the general ; and on the 
 next day, Mr. Henry reported the following answer, which was 
 spread upon the journal : — 
 
 "Richmond, December 28^ 1780. 
 
 " Sir : I shall ever remember with the utmost gratitude, the 
 high honour this day done me by the honourable the house of 
 delegates of Virginia. When engaged in the noble cause of 
 freedom and the United States, I devoted myself entirely to the 
 service of obtaining the great end of their union. That I have 
 been once unfortunate is my great mortification ; but, let the 
 event of my future services be what they may, they will, as 
 they always have been, be directed by the most faithful integ- 
 rity, and animated by the truest zeal for the honour and interest 
 of the United States. "Horatio Gates." 
 
 The spring and summer of the next year presented a period 
 of even deeper darkness than the autumn of seventeen hundred 
 and seventy-six. Virginia, had not, hitherto, been the theatre 
 of hostile operations of a very serious character ; her sufferings 
 had been rather those of sympathy with her northern and south- 
 ern sisters ; but in this year the calamities of war were brought 
 home to her own bosom. Arnold's invasion took place in Ja- 
 nuary : having carried his ravages as high up as Richmond and 
 Westham, he retired to Portsmouth, where he rested till April, 
 when General Philips succeeded to the command, and paid an- 
 other visit of desolation to Manchester. 
 
 In the next month came Lord Cornwallis, with his victorious 
 army from the south, driving everything before him, and stri- 
 king terror into whatsoever quarter he approached. Having 
 formed a junction between his forces and those under the com- 
 mand of General Philips, there was no longer a military force 
 in the state which had the power to resist him. The inferior 
 body of republican troops, under the Marquis la Fayette, moved 
 before him, without the ability to strike a blow ; and Cornwallis 
 roamed at pleasure, and without any apprehension, through the 
 interior of the state. 
 
 The seventh of May was the day appointed by law for the 
 meeting of the assembly at Richmond. A few members met 
 and took the oaths prescribed bylaw; but the number not being 
 sufficient to proceed to business, the house was adjourned from 
 day to day until the tenth ; when, upon information of the ap- 
 
 * Mr. Henry, the mover, had recently closed his administration with honour, 
 as the first republican governor of Virginia, and was the most considerable man 
 in the commonwealth ; Mr. Lee was a member of the congress, whose vote we 
 have just mentioned; Mr. Zane represented the county in which Gen. Gates 
 lived ; and Gen. Nelson was the most popular military character in the state. 
 
PATRICK HSNRT. 105 
 
 proach of the enemy, they adjourned to the twenty-fourth, to 
 meet at Charlottesville. It was not until the twenty-eighth, that 
 a house was formed to proceed to business at this place ; when 
 Mr. Benjamin Harrison was elected speaker, and after making 
 the usual acknowledgments for tiiat honour, proceeded to ad- 
 dress the following remarks to the house ; which I quote, not 
 because they are a very favourable specimen of Mr. Harrison's 
 oratory, but to show the panic which prevailed even among the 
 first men of the country : — 
 
 "The critical and dangerous situation of our country leads 
 me to hope, that my recommending it to you to despatch the 
 weighty matters that will be under your consideration, with all 
 convenient speed, will not be taken amiss ; the people expect 
 that effectual and decisive measures will be taken to rid them 
 of an implacable enemy, that are now roaming at large in the 
 very bowels of our country, and I have no doubt of your an- 
 swering their expectations ; the mode of doing this may indeed 
 be difficult : but it not being my province to point it out, I shall 
 leave it to your wisdom, in full confidence that everything that 
 is necessary for quieting the minds and dispelling the fears of 
 our constituents, will be done." 
 
 Eight days after this address, Mr. John Jouett, a citizen of 
 the place, entered the town on horseback, at full speed, and an- 
 nounced the near and rapid approach of Tarlton, at the head 
 of three hundred cavalry and mounted infantry. The house 
 had just met, and was about to commence business, when the 
 alarming cry of "Tarlton and the British," was spread through 
 the village ; and they had scarcely taken time to adjourn infor- 
 mally to Staunton, when Tarlton rushed like a thunderbolt into 
 the village, in the confident expectation of seizing the whole 
 assembly ; but the birds had flown. He made seven of them 
 only prisoners. The rest reassembled in Staunton, on the sev- 
 enth of June. On the tenth of June, a false report of his ap- 
 proach produced another panic ; and the house having merely 
 taken time to resolve that they would meet at the Warm Springs, 
 If it should be found dangerous to meet in Staunton on the next 
 day ; and on their failure so to do, that the speaker might call 
 a meeting, when and where he pleased, again broke up and 
 dispersed. 
 
 It was at this period of almost hopeless darkness, when the 
 energies of the state seemed to have been pretty nearly para- 
 lyzed, that the project of a dictator was again revived ; and it 
 is again highly probable, that Mr. Henry was the character who 
 was in view for that office. Inquiries have been made of the 
 surviving members of that assembly to ascertain whether the 
 project could be traced to him, or whether he had any kind of 
 
166 wirt's life of 
 
 participation in the proposiP^, but those inquiries have resulted 
 m a conviction of his entire innocence. The project came from 
 other quarters, and seems to have been the last refuge of that 
 general despair which for a short time pervaded the whole 
 commonwealth. • 
 
 But this period of deep darkness was the harbinger of break- 
 ing day. The morning dawned with the arrival of those aids 
 from France, which Mr. Henry had so long ago predicted ; and 
 the sun of American independence arose to set no more. He 
 lived to witness the glorious issue of that revolution which his 
 genius had set in motion ; and (to repeat his own prophetic 
 language, before the commencement of the struggle) "to see 
 America take her stand among the nations of the earth." The 
 contest closed with the capture of Cornwallis, at Little York, 
 on the nineteenth of October, seventeen hundred and eighty- 
 one ; and thus, the ball of the revolution rested in the same 
 state in which it had received the first impulse. 
 
 This enlightened and patriotic statesman, however, was not 
 yet inclined to indulge himself in that repose to which he was 
 so well entitled. The constitution of the state had as yet been 
 tried only in war, when the sense of common danger, and their 
 ardour in the common cause, might of themselves have been 
 sufficient to keep the people together, and to supply, in a good 
 degree, the place of government. It was necessary to see how 
 the instrument would work in peace ; what assurance it gave 
 of public order and well-regulated liberty ; or whether any, and 
 what defects in the plan required amendment. 
 
 There were other considerations, too, which called loudly for 
 attention. The war had left the country in a most deplorable 
 situation ; poor and in debt ; its warriors unrequited ; its finances 
 wholly deranged ; its jurisprudence unsettled; and all its facul- 
 ties weak, disordered, and exhausted. This was no time for 
 the patriot to quit his post. It demanded all his vigilance to 
 guard the infant republic against the machinations of its enemies, 
 both abroad and at home ; it required all his care and all his 
 skill to heal the numerous disorders which had flowed from the 
 war ; to nurse the new-born nation into health and strength ; to 
 develop its resources, moral and physical ; and thus to give 
 security and permanence to its liberties. 
 
 With the view of contributing his aid to those great objects, 
 Mr. Henry still continued to represent the county of his resi- 
 dence, in the legislature of the state, and controlled the pro- 
 ceedings of that body, with a weight of personal authority, and 
 a power of eloquence, which it was extremely difficult, and in- 
 deed almost impossible to resist. A striking evidence of this 
 power was given, immediately on the close of the revolution, 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 167 
 
 in his advocating the return of the British refugees. The mea- 
 sure was most vehemently opposed. There was no class of 
 human beings against whom such violent and deep-rooted pre- 
 judices existed. The name of "British tory," was of itself 
 enough, at that period, to throw almost any company in Vir- 
 ginia into flames, and was pretty generally a signal for a coat 
 of tar and feathers ; a signal which was not very often disobeyed. 
 Mr. Henry's proposition in favour of a class of people so odious 
 could not fail to excite the strongest surprise ; and was, at first, 
 received with a repugnance apparently insuperable. 
 
 The late Judge Tyler, then the speaker of the house, op- 
 posed it in the committee of the whole, with great warmth ; and 
 in the course of the discussion, turning from the chairman to 
 Mr. Henry, he asked him, "how he, above all other men, could 
 think of inviting into his family, an enemy, from whose insults 
 and injuries he had suflfered so severely?" To this Mr. Henry 
 answered, that "the personal feelings of a politician ought not 
 to be permitted to enter those walls. The question," he said, 
 " was a national one, and in deciding it, if they acted wisely, 
 nothing would be regarded but the interest of the nation. 
 
 "On the altar of his country's good he was willing to sacri- 
 fice all personal resentments, all private wrongs — and he flat- 
 tered himself, that he was not the only man in the house who 
 was capable of making such a sacrifice. We have, sir," said 
 he, " an extensive country, without -population — what can be a 
 more obvious policy than that this country ought to be peopled ? 
 — people, sir, form the strength, and constitute the wealih of a 
 nation. I want to see our vast forests filled up by some process 
 a little more speedy than the ordinary course of nature. I wish 
 to see these states rapidly ascending to that rank which their 
 natural advantages authorize them to hold among the nations of 
 the earth. Cast your eyes, sir, over this extensive country — 
 observe the salubrity of your climate ; the variety and fertility 
 of your soil — and see that soil intersected in every quarter by 
 bold, navigable streams, flowing to the east and to the west, as 
 if the finger of Heaven were marking out the course of your 
 settlements, inviting you to enterprise, and pointing the way to 
 wealth. 
 
 " Sir, you are destined, at some time or other, to become a 
 great agricultural and commercial people; the only question is, 
 whether you choose to reach this point by slow gradations, and 
 at some distant period ; lingering on through a long and sickly 
 minority; subjected, meanwhile, to the machinations, insults, 
 and oppressions of enemies, foreign and domestic, without 
 sufficient strength to resist and chastise them ; or whether you 
 choose rather to rush at once, as it were, to the full enjoyment 
 
168 wirt's life of 
 
 of those high destinies, aniy^e able to cope» single-handed, with 
 the proudest oppressor of me old world. 
 
 If you prefer the latter course, as I trust you do, encournge 
 emigration ; encourage the husbandmen, the mechanics, the mer- 
 chants of the old world, to come and settle in this land of prom- 
 ise ; make it the home of the skilful, the industrious, the fortunate 
 and happy, as well as the asylum of the distressed ; fill up the 
 measure of your population as speedily as you can, by the means 
 which Heaven hath placed in your power ; and I venture to 
 prophesy there are those now living, who will see this favoured 
 land among the most powerful on earth ; able, sir, to take 
 care of herself, without resorting to that policy which is always 
 so dangerous, though sometimes unavoidable, of calling in 
 foreign aid. 
 
 " Yes, sir ; they will see her great in arts and in arms — her 
 golden harvests waving over fields of immeasurable extent; her 
 commerce penetrating the most distant seas, and her cannon 
 silencing the vain boasts of those who now proudly affect to 
 rule the waves. But, sir, you must have men ; you cannot get 
 along without them ; those heavy forests of valuable timber, 
 under which your lands are groaning, must be cleared away; 
 those vast riches which cover the face of your soil, as well as 
 those which lie hid in its bosom, are to be developed and gath- 
 ered only by the skill and enterprise of men ; your timber, sir, 
 must be worked up into ships, to transport the productions of 
 the soil from which it has been cleared ; then you must have 
 commercial men and commercial capital, to take off your pro- 
 ductions, and find the best markets for them abroad ; your 
 great want, sir, is the want of men ; and these you must have, and 
 will have speedily, if you are wise. 
 
 *' Do you ask how you are to get them ? Open your doors, 
 sir, and they will come in ; the population of the old world is 
 full to overflowing ; that population is ground, too, by the op- 
 pressions of the governments under which they live. Sir, they 
 are already standing on tiptoe upon their native shores, and 
 looking to your coasts with a wistful and longing eye ; they see 
 here a land blessed with natural and political advantages, which 
 are not equalled by those of any other country upon earth; 
 aland on which a gracious Providence hath emptied the horn 
 of abundance; a land over which peace hath now stretched 
 forth her white wings, and where content and plenty lie down 
 at every door ! 
 
 "Sir, they see something still more attractive than all this ; 
 they see a land in which liberty, hath taken up her abode ; that 
 liberty, whom they had considered as a fabled goddess, exist- 
 ing only in the fancies of poets ; they see her here, a real di-* 
 
PATRICK HENRY. i69 
 
 vinity; her altars rising on every hand throughout these happy 
 states ; her glories chanted by three millions of tongues; and 
 the whole region smiling under her blessed influence. Sir, let 
 but this our celestial goddess, liberty, stretch forth her fair hand 
 toward the people of the old world ; tell them to come, and bid 
 them welcome ; and you will see them pouring in from the north, 
 from the south, from the east, and from the west; your wilder- 
 nesses will be cleared and settled ; your deserts will smile ; your 
 ranks will be filled ; and you will soon be in a condition to defy 
 the powers of any adversary. 
 
 " But gentlemen object to any accession from Great Britain ; 
 and particularly to the return of the British refugees. Sir, I 
 feel no objection to the return of these deluded people ; 
 they have, to be sure mistaken their own interests most 
 wofully, and most wofully have they suffered the punish- 
 ment due to their offences. But the relations which we bear to 
 them and to their native country are now changed ; their king 
 hath acknowledged our independence ; — the quarrel is over ; 
 peace hath returned and found us a free people. Let us have 
 the magnanimity, sir, to lay aside our antipathies and prejudices, 
 and consider the subject in a political light. 
 
 "Those are an enterprising, moneyed people; they will be 
 serviceable in taking off the surplus produce of our lands, and 
 supplying us with necessaries, during the infant state of our 
 manufactures. Even if they be inimical to us in point of feel- 
 ing and principle, I can see no objection, in a political view, in 
 making them tributary to our advantage. And as I have no 
 prejudices to prevent my making this use of them, so, sir, I 
 have no fear of any mischief that they can do us. Afraid of 
 them ! — what, sir," — said he, rising to one of his loftiest atti- 
 tudes, and assuming a look of the most indignant and sovereign 
 contempt, — "shall we, who have laid the proud British lion at 
 our feet, now be afraid of his ivhelps ?" 
 
 The force of this figure, and the energy with which it was 
 brought out, are said to have produced an effect that made the 
 house start simultaneously. It continued to be admired, long 
 after the occasion which gave it birth had passed away, and was 
 frequently quoted by Mr. Wythe to his students, while professor 
 of law at William and Mary college, as a happy specimen of 
 those valuable figures, which unite the beauty of decoration 
 with the effect of argument. 
 
 The gentleman (Judge Tyler) to whom I am indebted for the 
 preceding incident, has favoured me also with the following 
 one, which I shall give in his own words : — 
 
 " Mr. Henry espoused the measure which took off the re- 
 straints on British commerce, before any treaty was entered 
 15 
 
170 W1RT*S LIFE OF 
 
 into ; in which I opposed hw^ on this ground, that that measure 
 would expel from this country the trade of every other nation, 
 on account of our habits, language, and the manner of conduct- 
 ing business on credit between us and them: also on this 
 ground, in addition to the above, that if we changed the then 
 current of commerce, we should drive away all competition, 
 and never perhaps should regain it, (which has literally hap- 
 pened.) In reply to these observations, he was beyond all 
 expression eloquent and sublime. 
 
 " After painting the distresses of the people, struggling 
 through a perilous war, cut off from commerce so long that 
 they were naked, and unclothed, he concluded with a figure, 
 or rather a series of figures, which I shall never forget, 
 because, beautiful as they were in themselves, their eflfect was 
 heightened beyond all description, by the manner in which he 
 acted what bespoke : — ' Why,' said he, 'should we fetter com- 
 merce ? If a man is in chains, he droops and bows to the earth, 
 for his spirits are broken,' looking sorrowfully at his feet ; ' but 
 let him twist the fetters from his legs, and he will stand erect, 
 — straightening himself, and assuming a look of proud defiance. 
 Fetter not commerce, sir — let her be as free as air — she will 
 range the whole creation, and return on the wings of the four 
 winds of heaven, to bless the land with plenty.' " 
 
 In the fall session of seventeen hundred and eighty-four, Mr. 
 Henry proposed and advocated several measures which deserve 
 particular mention : — one of them, on account of the originality 
 and boldness of mind from which it proceeded ; and others, be- 
 cause they have sometimes been made the subjects of censure 
 against him. The first respects the Indians. Those unfortu- 
 nate beings, the natural enemies of the white people, whom 
 they regarded as lawless intruders into a country set apart for 
 themselves by the Great Spirit, had continued, from their first 
 landing, to harass the white settlements, and hang, like a pesti- 
 lence on their frontier, as it advanced itself toward the west. 
 
 The story of their accumulated wrongs, handed down by tra- 
 dition from father to son, and emblazoned with all the colours 
 of Indian oratory, had kept their war-fires smoking from age to 
 age, and the hatchet and scalping-knife perpetually bright. 
 They had long since abandoned the hope of being able, by their 
 single strength, to exterminate the usurpers of their soil; but 
 either from the spirit of habitual and deadly revenge, or from 
 the policy of checking, as far as they could, the perpetually ex- 
 tending encroachments of the white men, they had waged an 
 unremitting war upon their borders, marked with horrors which 
 eclipse the wildest fictions of the legendary tale. These peo- 
 ple, too, besides the mischiefs to which they were prompted by 
 
PATRICK HBNBY. 
 
 ni 
 
 ^ their own feelings and habits, were an ever-ready and a most 
 terrific scourge, in the hands of any enemy with whom this 
 country might be at variance. 
 
 The stories of these border skirmishes, which yet live m the 
 traditions of the west, are highly worthy of collection. They 
 exhibit scenes of craft, boldness, and ferocity, on the part of 
 the savages, and of heroic and desperate defence by the semi- 
 barbarous men, women, and children, who were the objects of 
 these attacks, which mark the characters of both sides in a most 
 interesting manner. Those tales of the long, obstinate, and 
 bloody defence of log-cabins; of the almost incredible achieve- 
 ments of women and little boys ; of the sometimes total and 
 sometimes partial havoc of families; of the captivity, tortures, 
 and death of some ; and the miraculous escape, wanderings, and 
 preservation of others— would form a book of more interest 
 than any other that could be put into the hands of a Virginia 
 reader ; and would furnish the subject of many a novel, drama, 
 and painting. The adventure of Captain Smith and Pocahontas, 
 if you put aside the dignity of their characters, is cold and tame, 
 when compared with some which are related among the western 
 inhabitants of this state. 
 
 Dunmore, although thanked at the time for his services, was 
 afterward believed, by the house of burgesses, to have made use 
 of them in the years* seventeen hundred and seventy-four and 
 five, in order to draw off the attention of the colonists from the 
 usurpation of the British court : and, in the recent war of the 
 revolution, that merciless enemy had been again let loose upon 
 our frontier, with all the terrors of savage warfare. The return 
 of peace with Britain had given us but a short respite from their 
 hostilities. I perceive, by the journal of the house of delegates, 
 that on the fifth of November, seventeen hundred and eighty- 
 four, it was, on the motion of Mr. Henry, 
 
 "Resolved, That the governor, with the advice of council, 
 be requested to adopt such measures as may be found necessary 
 to avert the danger of hostilities with the Indians, and to incline 
 them to treat with the commissioners of congress ; and for that 
 purpose to draw on the treasury for any sum of money not ex- 
 ceeding one thousand pounds, which shall stand charged to the 
 account of money issued for the contingent charges of govern 
 ment." 
 
 A treaty with the Indians, however, was well known to be a 
 miserable expedient ; the benefits of which would scarcely last 
 as long as the ceremonies that produced it. The reflecting po- 
 litician could not help seeing, that, in order to remove the an- 
 noyance effectually, the remedy must go to the root of the dis- 
 ease—that that inveterate and fatal enmity which rankled ia the 
 
172 wirt's life of 
 
 hearts of the Indians miist#i eradicated — that a common inte 
 rest and congenial feelings between them and their white neigh- 
 bours must be created — and humanity and civilization gradually 
 superinduced upon the Indian character. The difficulty lay in 
 devising a mode to effect these objects. The white people who 
 inhabited the frontier, from the constant state of warfare in 
 which they lived with the Indians, had imbibed much of their 
 character ; and learned to delight so highly in scenes of crafty, 
 bloody, and desperate conflict, that they as often gave as they 
 received the provocation to hostilities. 
 
 Hunting, which was their occupation, became dull and tire- 
 some, unless diversified occasionally by the more animated and 
 piquant amusement of an Indian skirmish ; just as " the blood 
 more stirs to rouse a lion than to start a hare." The policy, 
 therefore, which was to produce the deep and beneficial change 
 that was meditated, must have respect to both sides, and be cal- 
 culated to implant kind affections in bosoms which at present 
 were filled only with reciprocal and deadly hatred. The remedy 
 suggested by Mr. Henry was to encourage marriages between 
 these conterminous enemies; and having succeeded, in the 
 committee of the whole house, in procuring the report of a res- 
 olution to this effect, he prepared a bill which he is said to 
 have advocated with irresistible earnestness and eloquence. 
 The inducements held out by this bill, to promote these mar- 
 riages, were, pecuniary bounties to be given on the certificate 
 of marriage, and to be repeated at the birth of each child ; ex- 
 emption from taxes ; and the free use of a seminary of learning, 
 to be erected for the purpose, and supported at the expense of 
 the state. 
 
 This bill, which is thought worthy of preservation, as a polit- 
 ical curiosity, is as follows : — 
 "^ hill for the encouras^ement of marriages with the Indians, 
 
 "Whereas, intermarriages between the citizens of this com- 
 monwealth and the Indians living in its neighbourhood, may 
 have great effect in conciliating the friendship and confidence 
 of the latter, whereby not only their civilization may in some 
 degree be finally brought^ '3t, but in the meantime, their hos- 
 tile inroads be prevented : for encouraging such intermarriages, 
 
 Be it enacted by the General Assembly, That if any free 
 white male inhabitant of this commonwealth shall, according to 
 the laws thereof, enter into the bonds of matrimony with an 
 Indian female, being of lawful age, and under no precontract to 
 any Indian male, and shall thereby induce her to become an in- 
 habitant of this commonwealth, and to live with him in the 
 character of a wife, such male inhabitant, on producing a certifi- 
 cate of ssuch marriage, under the hand and seal of the person 
 
PATRICK HENRT. 173 
 
 celebrating the same, shall be entitled to receive a premium of 
 
 pounds, out of any unappropriated money which the 
 
 treasurer may have in his hands, or of such money as may 
 hereafter be appropriated to such use ; shall, over and above 
 
 such premium, be entitled to the sum of pounds, for every 
 
 child proceeding from such marriage, on a certificate of the birth 
 thereof, and their apparent cohabitancy, under the hand and seal 
 of any one justice of the peace of the county in which he re- 
 sides, and shall, moreover, be exempted from all taxes on his 
 person and property for and during the time of such cohabitancy. 
 
 ^^ And he it further enacted^ That if any free female inhabit- 
 ant of this commonwealth shall, in like manner, intermarry 
 with any male Indian of lawful age, they shall, on a certificate 
 
 thereof, as aforesaid, be entitled to pounds, to be paid as 
 
 aforesaid, and laid out under the direction of the court of the 
 county within which such marriage shall be celebrated, in the 
 purchase of live stock, for his and her use, and such male In- 
 dian shall be annually, on the first day of October, entitled to 
 ■ pounds, to be paid as aforesaid, and laid out under the di- 
 rection of the said court, in the purchase of clothes for his use ; 
 and each male child proceeding from such intermarriage, shall, 
 
 at the age of be removed to such public seminary of 
 
 learning, as the executive may direct, and be there educated 
 until the age of twenty-one, at the public expense, to be defrayed 
 out of such funds as may hereafter be appropriated to the same. 
 And the governor, with the advice of council, is hereby author- 
 ized and desired to cause the benefit of this provision to be ex- 
 tended to all such male children ; and if any such male Indian 
 shall become an inhabitant of this commonwealth, he shall be 
 moreover exempted from all taxes on his person or the property 
 he may acquire. 
 
 ^'■And he it further enacted, That the offspring of the inter- 
 marriages aforesaid, shall be entitled, in all respects, to the same 
 rights and privileges, under the laws of this commonwealth, as 
 if they had proceeded from intermarriages among free white 
 inhabitants thereof. 
 
 ^^And he it further enacted, That the executive do take the 
 most eff'ectual and speedy measures for promulgating this act to 
 such tribe or tribes of Indians as they may think necessary." 
 
 On the third reading of the bill, the first blank was filled with 
 ten — the second with j^re — the third with ten — the fourth with 
 three — and the fifth with ten years. 
 
 While Mr. Henry continued a member of the house, the 
 progress of this bill was unimpeded. It passed through a first 
 and second reading, and was engrossed for its final passage, 
 when his election as governor took effect, and displaced him 
 
 15* 
 
174 
 
 from the floor: on the thirdly after which event the bill was 
 read a third time and rejected. 
 
 It were a useless waste of time to speculate on the probable 
 effects of this measure, had it succeeded. It is considered, 
 however, as indicative of great humanity of character, and as 
 marked with great boldness, if not soundness of policy. Mr. 
 Henry is said to have been extremely sanguine as to its efficacy, 
 and to have supported it by some of the highest displays of his 
 eloquence. 
 
 The other two measures to which I have adverted, as having 
 been patronised by Mr. Henry, at this session, were, the incor- 
 poration of the Protestant Episcopal church, and what is called 
 *' a general assessment." These measures have been frequently 
 stated, in conversation, as proofs of a leaning on the parr of 
 Mr. Henry, toward an established church, and that, too, the 
 aristocratic church of England. To test the justness of this 
 charge, the journals of the house of delegates have been exam- 
 ined, and this is the result of the evidence which they liirnish: 
 on the seventeenthof November, seventeen hundred and eighty- 
 four, Mr. Matthews reported from the committee o" the whole 
 house, on the state of the commonwealth, the folk wing resolu- 
 tion: — 
 
 ^^ Resolved, That it is the opinion of this committee, that acts 
 ought to pass for the incorporation of all societies of the 
 Christian religion, which may apply for the same.^^ 
 
 The ays and noes having been called f(,r, on the passage of 
 this resolution, were, ays, sixty-two, noes, twenty-three; Mr. 
 Henry being with the majority. 
 
 The principle being thus established in relation to all religious 
 societies, which should desire a legal existence for the benefit 
 of acquiring and holding property to the use of their respective 
 churches, leave was given, on the same day, to bring in a bill 
 to incorporate the clergy of the Protestant Episcopal church, 
 which had brought itself within that principle by having applied 
 for an act of incorporation; and Mr. Henry was one, but not 
 the chairman,* of the committee appointed to bring in that bill. 
 
 How a measure which holds out to all religious societies, 
 equally, the same benefit, can be charged with partiality, be- 
 cause accepted by one only, it is not very easy to discern. It 
 would seem, to an ordinary mind, that on the same principle, 
 the Christian religion itself might be charged with partiality, 
 since its offers, though made to all, are accepted but by a few : 
 and it is very certain, that if Mr. Henry is to be suspected of 
 
 * The chairman was Mr. Carter H. Harrison ; the rest of the committee 
 were, Mr. Henry;. Mr. Thomas Smith, Mr. William Anderson, aud Mr. Taze- 
 well. • 
 
PATRICK HSNRY. 175 
 
 ft bias toward an established church, on account of this vote, 
 the charge will reach some of the foremost and best-establish- 
 ed republicans in the state, whose names stand recorded with 
 Mr. Henry's on this occasion, and who hold to this day the 
 undiminished confidence of their countrymen. 
 
 The other measure, the general assessment, proceeded from 
 a number of petitions from different counties of the common- 
 werith, which prayed that as all persons enjoyed the benefits 
 <'i religion, all might be required to contribute to the expense 
 of supporting so7ne form of worship or other. The commit- 
 tee to whom these petitions were referred, reported a bill 
 whose preamble sets forth the grounds of the proceeding, and 
 furnishes a conclusive refutation of the charge of partiality to 
 any particular form of religion. The bill is entitled, " A bill, 
 establishing a provision for teachers of the Christian religion ;" 
 and its preamble is in the following words : — 
 
 " Whereas the general diffusion of Christian knowledge 
 hath a natural tendency to correct the morals of men, restrain 
 their vices, and preserve the peace of society ; which cannot 
 be effected without a competent provision for learned teachers, 
 who may be thereby enabled to devote their time and attention 
 to the duty of instructing such citizens as, from their circum- 
 stances and want of education, cannot otherwise attain such 
 knowledge; and it is judged such provision may be made by 
 the legislature, without counteracting the liberal principle 
 heretofore adopted and intended to be preserved, by abolishing" 
 all distinctions of pre-eminence among the different socic 
 ties or communities of Christians.^* 
 
 The provisions of the bill are in the strictest conformity with 
 the principles announced in the close of the preamble ; the 
 persons subject to taxes are required, at the time of giving in 
 a list of their titheables, to declare to what particular religious 
 society they chose to appropriate the sums assessed upon them, 
 respectively ; and, in the event of their failing or declining to 
 specify any appropriation, the sums thus circumstanced are 
 directed to be paid to the treasurer, and applied by the general 
 assembly to the encouragement of seminaries of learning, 
 in the counties where such sums shall arise. 
 
 If there be any evidence of a leaning toward any particular 
 religious sect in this bill, or any indication of a desire for an 
 established church, the author of these sketches has not been 
 able to discover them. Mr. Henry was a sincere believer in 
 the Christian religion, and had a strong desire for the success- 
 ful propagation of the gospel, but there was no tincture of big- 
 otry or intolerance in his sentiments ; nor have I been able to 
 learn that he had a punctilious preference for any particular 
 
176 Wirt's life of 
 
 form of Avorship. His faifn regarded the vital spirit of the 
 gospel, and busied itself not at all with external ceremonies or 
 controverted tenets. 
 
 Both these bills, " for incorporating the Protestant Episcopal 
 church," and " establishing a provision for teachers of the 
 Christian religion," were reported after Mr. Henry had ceased 
 to be a member of the house ; but the resolutions on which 
 they were founded were adopted while he continued a mem- 
 ber, and had his warmest support. The first bill passed into 
 a law ; the last was rejected by a small majority on the third 
 reading. 
 
 The same session afforded Mr. Henry a double opportunity 
 of gratifying, in the most exquisite manner, that naturally bland 
 and courteous spirit, which so eminently distinguished his 
 character. General Washington and the Marquis la Fayette, 
 both of them objects of the warmest love and gratitude to this 
 country, visited Richmond in November. They arrived on 
 different days. The general entered the city on the fifteenth, 
 and the journal of the next morning exhibits the following 
 order : — 
 
 "The house being informed of the arrival of General Wash- 
 ington in this city. Resolved., nemine contradicente, that as a 
 mark of their reverence for his character, and affection for his 
 person, a committee of five members be appointed to wait upon 
 him, with the respectful regard of this house, to express to 
 him the satisfaction they feel in the opportunity afforded by 
 his presence of offering this tribute to his merits ; and to as- 
 sure him that as they not only retain the most lasting impres- 
 sions of the transcendant services rendered in his late public 
 character, but have, since his return to private life, experienced 
 proofs that no change of situation can turn his thoughts from 
 the welfare of his country, so his happiness can never cease 
 to be an object of their most devout wishes and fervent suppli- 
 cations. 
 
 ** And a committee was appointed of Mr. Henry, Mr. Jones, 
 (of King George,) Mr. Madison, Mr. Carter H. Harrison, and 
 Mr. Carrington." 
 
 To this spontaneous and unanimous burst of feeling, Gen- 
 eral Washington returned an answer marked with his char- 
 acteristic modesty, and full of the most touching sensibility. 
 It is worthy of insertion, as showing, in a soft and winning 
 light, a character with which we are apt to associate only the 
 images of a dignity and reserve, approaching to sternness. 
 ** Gentlemen," said he, " my sensibility is deeply affected by 
 this distinguished mark of the affectionate regard of your hon- 
 ourable house. I lament, on this occasion, the want of those 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 17t 
 
 powers which would enable me to do justice to my feelings ; 
 and shall rely upon your indulgent report to supply the defect ; 
 at the same time, I pray you to present for me, the strongest 
 assurances of unalterable affection and gratitude, for this last 
 pleasing and flattering attention of my country." 
 
 The marquis, who had beeS to France since the close of hos- 
 tilities, made his entree on the morning of the seventeenth of 
 November ; and the house, immediately on its meeting, came 
 to the following resolution : — 
 
 " The house being informed of the arrival, this morning, of 
 the Marquis de la Fayette in this city, Resolved, nemine con- 
 tradicente, that a committee of five be appointed, to present to 
 him the affectionate respects of this house, to signify to him 
 their sensibility to the pleasing proof given by this visit to the 
 United States, and to this state in particular, that the benevolent 
 and honourable sentiments which originally prompted him to 
 embark in the hazardous fortunes of America, still render the 
 prosperity of its affairs an object of his attention and regard; 
 and to assure him, that they cannot review the scenes of blood 
 and danger through which we have arrived at the blessings of 
 peace, without being touched, in the most lively manner, with 
 the recollection, not only of the invaluable services for which 
 the United States at large are so much indebted to him, but of 
 that conspicuous display of cool intrepidity and wise conduct, 
 during his command in the campaign of seventeen hundred and 
 eighty-one, which, by having so essentially served this state in 
 particular, have given him so just a title to its particular ac- 
 knowledgments. That, impressed as they thus are with the 
 distinguished lustre of his character, they cannot form a wish 
 more suitable, than that the lesson it affords may inspire all 
 those whose noble minds may emulate his glory, to pursue it 
 by means equally auspicious to the interests of humanity. 
 
 " And a committee was appointed of Mr. Henry, Mr. Mad- 
 ison, Mr. Jones, (of King George,) Mr. Matthews, and Mr. 
 Brent." 
 
 To this address, the marquis made the following polite and 
 feeling answer : — 
 
 "Gentlemen: With the most respectful thanks to your 
 honourable body, permit me to acknowledge, not only the flat- 
 tering favour they are now pleased to confer, but also the con- 
 stant partiality, and unbounded confidence of this state, which 
 in trying times, I have so happily experienced. Through the 
 continent, gentlemen, it is most pleasing forme tojoinwilh my 
 friends in mutual congratulations ; and I need not add what my 
 sentiments must be in Virginia, where step by step have I so 
 keenly felt for her distress, so eagerly enjoyed her recovery. 
 
173 wirt's life op 
 
 •* Our armed force was o1<%ed to retreat, but your patriotic 
 hearts stood unshaken ; and while, either at that period, or in our 
 better hours, my obligations to you are numberless ; I am happy 
 in this opportunity to observe, that the excellent services of 
 your militia were continued with unparalleled steadiness. Im- 
 pressed with the necessity of federal union, I was the more 
 pleased in the command of an army so peculiarly federal ; as 
 Virginia herself freely bled in defence of her sister states. 
 
 "In my wishes to this commonwealth, gentlemen, I will per- 
 severe with the same zeal, that once and for ever has devoted 
 me to her. May her fertile soil rapidly increase her wealth — 
 may all the waters which so luxuriantly flow within her limits, 
 be happy channels of the most extensive trade — and may she in 
 her wisdom, and the enjoyment of prosperity, continue to give 
 the world unquestionable proofs of her philanthropy and her 
 regard for the liberties of all mankind. 
 
 "La Fayette." 
 Time had now brought forward several new political charac- 
 ters, who had risen high in the public estimation: but Mr. Henry 
 and Mr. Lee still kept their ground far in the van. A gentle- 
 man of great distinction, who began his public career in seven- 
 teen hundred and eighty-three, found both these eminent 
 men in the house of delegates, and heard them for the first 
 time in debate : he served through the two sessions of that and 
 those of the following year, and has communicated to me so 
 vivid and interesting a comparison of their merits, as they struck 
 his young and ardent mind, that I cannot consent to withhold it 
 from the reader. 
 
 " I met with Patrick Henry in the Assembly in May, seven- 
 teen hundred and eighty-three. I also then met with Richard H. 
 Lee. I lodged with Mr. Lee one or two sessions, and was 
 perfectly acquainted with him, while I was yet a stranger to 
 Mr. Henry. These two gentlemen were the great leaders in 
 the house of delegates, and were almost constantly opposed : 
 there were many other great men who belonged to that body; 
 but, as orators, they cannot be named with Henry or Lee. Mr. 
 Lee was a polished gentlemen : he had lost the use of one of 
 his hands, but his manner was perfectly graceful. 
 
 " His language was always chaste, and although somewhat 
 too monotonous, his speeches were always pleasing ; yet he 
 did not ravish your senses, nor carry away your judgment by 
 storm. His was the mediate class of eloquence described by 
 Rollin in his belles lettres ; he was like a beautiful river, mean- 
 dering through a flowery mead, but which never overflowed its 
 banks. It was Henry who was the mountain torrent that 
 swept away everything before it : it was he alane who thun* 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 179 
 
 dered and lightened : he alone attained that sublime species of 
 eloquence also mentioned by Rollin. 
 
 *'It has been one of the greatest pleasures of my life to hear 
 these two great masters, almost constantly opposed to each 
 other, for several sessions. I had no relish for any other 
 speaker. Henry was almost always victorious. He was as 
 much superior to Lee in temper as in eloquence ; for while, 
 with a modesty approaching almost to humility, he would apol- 
 ogise to the house for being so often ' obliged to differ from 
 the honourable gentleman, which he assured them, was 
 from no want of respect for him.' Lee was frequently much 
 chafed by the opposition ; and I once heard him say aloud, and 
 petulantly, after sustaining a great defeat, that, 'if the votes 
 were weighed instead of being counted, he should not have 
 lost it.'* 
 
 " Mr. Henry was inferior to Mr. Lee in the gracefulness of 
 his action, and perhaps also in the chasteness of his language: 
 yet his language was seldom incorrect, and his address always 
 striking. He had a fine blue eye, and an earnest manner, 
 which made it impossible not to attend to him. His speaking 
 was unequal, and always rose with the subject and the exigency. 
 In this respect he differed entirely from Mr, Lee, who was al- 
 ways equal, and therefore less interesting. At some times, 
 Mr. Henry would seem to hobble, (especially at the beginning 
 of his speeches,) and at others, his tones would be almost dis- 
 agreeable : yet it was by means of his tones, and the happy 
 modulation of his voice, that his speaking had perhaps its 
 greatest effect. 
 
 * This hit of Mr. Lee was thought a very happy one at the time. I 
 have heard it mentioned by several others who were members of the house, 
 particularly by Judge Tyler. This gentleman represented it as having occurred 
 after a division and count of the house, and just as the members were about 
 to return to their seats. A member who was in the majority, and who was 
 not very remarkable either for intellect or urbanity, said, with a coarse laugh, 
 to Mr. Lee, " Well, you see you have lost it." Upon which the latter, look- 
 ing at him with rather a contemptuous and sneering countenance, answered, 
 " Yes, I have lost it, but if votes were weighed instead of being counted, I 
 should 710^ have lost it." 
 
 Was this thought original in Mr. Lee, or had he unconsciously borrowed it 
 from the younger Pliny 1 " Sed hoc pluribus [levins] visum est. Nume- 
 rantur enim sententicB, nan ponderantur: nee aliud in publico consilio potest 
 fieri, in quo nihil est tarn insequale. quam aequalitas ipsa; nan cum sit impar 
 prudentia, par omnium jus est." — Plin. Epist. Lib. IL Epist. XIL 
 
 " Yet these reflections, it seems, made no impression upon the majority. 
 Votes go by number, not weight ; nor can it be otherwise in assemblies of 
 this kind, where nothing is more unequal than that equality which pre- 
 vails in them ; for though every member has the same weight of suffrage, every 
 member has not the same strength of judgment." — Melmoth's Translation o? 
 Pliny. London, 1748. 
 
180 
 
 " He had a happy articul^on — a clear, bold, strong voice — • 
 and every syllable was distinctly uttered. He was always very 
 unassuming, and very respectful toward his adversaries ; the 
 consequence was, that no feeling of disgust or animosity was 
 arrayed against him. He was great at a reply, and greater in 
 proportion to the pressure which was bearing upon him ; and 
 it seemed to me, from the frequent opportunities of observa- 
 tion afforded me during the period of which I have spoken, that 
 the resources of his mind and of his eloquence were equal to 
 any drafts which could possibly be made upon them." 
 
 This inequality in the speeches of Mr. Henry, was imputed 
 by some of his observers to art. He always spoke, they say, 
 for victory, and wishing to carry every one with him, adapted 
 the different parts of his discourse to their different capacities. 
 A critic of a higher order would sometimes think him trifling, 
 when in truth he was making a most powerful impression on 
 the weaker members of the house. By these means it is said, 
 he contrived to worm his way through the whole body, and to 
 insinuate his influence into every mind. When he hobbled, it 
 was like the bird that thus artfully seeks to decoy away the 
 foot of the intruder from the precious deposite of her brood ; and 
 at the moment when it would be thought that his strength was 
 almost exhausted, he would spring magnificently from the 
 earth, and tower above the clouds. 
 
 He knew all the local interests and prejudices of every quar- 
 ter of the state, and of every county in it; and whether these 
 prejudices were rational or irrational, it is said that he would 
 appeal to them without hesitation, and, whenever he found it 
 necessary, enlist them in his cause. His address on these oc- 
 casions has been highly admired even by those who have cen- 
 sured the course as deficient in dignity and candour. It was 
 executed with so much delicacy and adroitness, and covered 
 under a countenance of such apostolic solemnity, that the 
 persons on whom he was operating were unconscious of the 
 design. 
 
 Winding his way thus artfully through the house, from coun- 
 ty to county, from prejudice to prejudice, with the power of mov- 
 ing them, when he pleased, from tears to laughter, from laughter 
 to tears, of astonishing their imaginations, and overwhelming 
 their judgments and hearts, it is easy to conceive how irresist- 
 ible he must have been. When with these prodigious faculties 
 the reader connects his engaging deportment out of the house 
 — the uncommon kindness and gentleness of his nature — the 
 simplicity, frankness, and amenity of his manners — the inno- 
 cent playfulness and instruction of his conversation — the in- 
 tegrity of his life — and the high sense of the services which he 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 181' 
 
 had rendered to the cause of liberty and his country — he will 
 readily perceive, that the opinions and wishes of such a man 
 would be, of themselves, almost decisive of any question. 
 
 The artifice of resorting to erroneous local prejudices, in a 
 legislative debate, is certainly not to be commended. Truth 
 stands in need of no such aids. It must be admitted that there 
 is more purity as well as dignity, in supporting a sound meas- 
 ure by sound arguments only : and we must be prepared to 
 become Jesuits, before we can justify a resort to wrong means 
 to promote even a right end. In excuse of Mr. Henry, we 
 have nothing to urge except immemorial and almost universal 
 usage ; and it is moreover highly probable, that many of the 
 instances, in which he was accused of resorting improperly to 
 local prejudices, were cases in which the questions were, from 
 their nature, to be decided in a great measures by local inter- 
 ests. Of this description is the following one, now furnished, 
 at my request, in writing, by Judge Archibald Stuart, from 
 whom I had the pleasure to hear it in conversation several 
 years ago : — 
 
 " At your request, I attempt a narrative of the extraordinary 
 effects of Mr. Henry's eloquence in the Virginia legislature, 
 about the year seventeen hundred and eighty-four, when I was 
 present as a member of that body. 
 
 "The finances of the country had been much deranged during 
 the war, and public credit was at a low ebb; a party in the leg- 
 islature thought it then high time to place the character and 
 credit of the state on a more respectable footing, by laying tax- 
 es commensurate with all the public demands. With this view, 
 a bill had been brought into the house, and referred to a com- 
 mittee of the whole; in support of which the then speaker, (Mr. 
 Tyler,) Henry Tazewell, Mann Page, William Ronald, and 
 many other members of great respectability, (including, to the 
 best of my recollection, Richard H. Lee, and, perhaps, Mr. 
 Madison,) took an active part. Mr. Henry, on the other hand, 
 was of opinion that this was a premature attempt; that policy 
 required that the people should have some repose after the fa- 
 tigues and privations to which they had been subjected, during 
 a long and arduous struggle for independence. 
 
 "The advocates of the bill, in committee of the whole house, 
 used their utmost efforts, and were successful in conforming it 
 to their views, by such a majority (say thirty) as seemed to en- 
 sure its passage. When the committee rose, the bill was in- 
 stantly reported to the house; when Mr. Henry, who had been 
 excited and roused by his recent defeat, came forward again in 
 all the majesty of his power. For some time after he com- 
 
 16 
 
183 wirt's life of 
 
 menced speaking, the count^^nces of his opponents indicated 
 no apprehension of danger to their cause. 
 
 "The feeUngs of Mr. Tyler, which were sometimes warm, 
 could not on that occasion be concealed, even in the chair. His 
 countenance was forbidding, even repulsive, and his face turned 
 from the speaker. Mr. Tazewell was reading a pamphlet : and 
 Mr. Page was more than usually grave. After some time, 
 however, it was discovered that Mr. Tyler's countenance grad- 
 ually began to relax ; he would occasionally look at Mr. Henry ; 
 sometimes smile ; his attention by degrees became more fixed ; 
 at length it became completely so: — he next appeared to be 
 in good humour ; he leaned toward Mr. Henry — appeared 
 charmed and delighted, and finally lost in wonder and amaze- 
 ment. The progress of these feelings was legible in his^counte- 
 nance. 
 
 " Mr. Henry drew a most affecting picture of the state of 
 poverty and suffering in which the people of the upper counties 
 had been left by the war. His delineation of their wants 
 and wretchedness was so minute, so full of feeling, and withal 
 so true, that he could scarcely fail to enlist on his side every 
 sympathetic mind. He contrasted the severe toil by which tliey 
 had to gain their daily subsistence, with the facilities enjoyed 
 by the people of the lower counties. The latter, he said, re- 
 siding on the salt rivers and creeks, could draw their supplies 
 at pleasure, from the waters that flowed by their doors ; and 
 then he presented such a ludicrous image of the members who 
 had advocated the bill, (the most of whom were from the lower 
 counties,) peeping and peering along the shores of the creeks, 
 to pick up their mess of crabs, or addling off to the oyster- 
 rocks, to rake for their daily bread, * as filled the house with a 
 roar of merriment. Mr. Tazewell laid down his pamphlet, and 
 shook his sides with laughter ; even the gravity of Mr. Page 
 was affected : a corresponding change of countenance prevailed 
 through the ranks of the advocates of the bill, and you might 
 discover that they had surrendered their cause. In this they 
 were not disappointed ; for on a division, Mr. Henry had a 
 majority of upward of thirty against the bill." 
 
 Kff this be a fair specimen of the cases (as probably it is) in 
 which Mr. Henry was accused of appealing improperly to local 
 prejudices, the censure seems undeserved. It is obvious that 
 the consideration urged by him, on this occasion, belonged 
 properly to the subject, and that the appeal to local circum- 
 stances was fairly made. Candour will justify us in looking, 
 
 * At that day, (and perhaps still,) the poorer people on the salt cr8ek3, 
 lived almost exclusively on fish ; passing whole days, and sometimes weeks, 
 tvithout seeing a grain of bread. 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 183 
 
 with great distrust, to the censures cast on this extraordinary 
 man, by rivals whom he had obscured. 
 
 On the seventeenth of November, seventeen hundred and 
 eighty-four, Mr. Henry was again elected governor of Virginia, 
 to commence his service from the thirtieth day of the same 
 month. The communication made by him to the first legisla- 
 ture which met after his election, is inserted in the Appendix ; 
 it is given at large, as a specimen of Mr. Henry's style in more 
 extended compositions than have yet been submitted to the 
 reader, and for the further purpose of showing, that the objects 
 with which a governor of Virginia, acting within the pale of the 
 constitution, is conversant in time of peace, are not such as to 
 shed much lustre on his character, or to solicit very powerfully 
 the attention of his biographer. (See Appendix, Note B.) 
 
 In examining the public archives of this date, there is a cir- 
 cumstance whose frequent and indeed constant recurrence, 
 presses itself most painfully on the attention : I mean the re- 
 signation of state officers, on the plea of a necessity to resort 
 to some more effectual means of subsistence. It is not generally 
 known, that the councils of Virginia were, during the period 
 of which we are now speaking, enlightened and adorned by 
 some of the brightest of her sons ; much less is it known that 
 they were driven from those councils, by that wretched policy 
 which has always regulated the salaries of officers in Virginia. 
 The letters of resignation, during the years seventeen hundred 
 and eighty-four, five, and six, which now stand on the public 
 files, affijrd the best comment on this policy. 
 
 Virginia lost during those years, the services of such men as 
 have rarely existed in this or any other country ; and such as 
 she can never hope to see again in her councils, until the sys- 
 tem of penury shall yield to that of liberality. At the close of 
 the war, indeed, there was some apology for this penury ; the 
 country was wretchedly poor and in debt. But this cause 
 has long since ceased, and with it also should cease the 
 affect. 
 
 Virginia is now rich, and may fill her offices with the flower of 
 her sons ; but can it be expected that men who wish to live free 
 from debt, and to leave their families independent at their deaths, 
 will relinquish the pursuits by which they are able to affect 
 these objects, and enter upon a service full of care, responsi- 
 bility, and anxiety; a service whose certain fruits (if it be their 
 only dependance) must be a life of pecuniary embarrassment; 
 and (what is still worse) their wives and children, after their 
 deaths, must be cast on the charity of a cold and unfeeling 
 world. Ought such a sacrifice to be expected ? and yet must 
 it not be the inevitable consequence of an exclusive dependaace 
 
184 wirt's life of 
 
 on the salary of any office u|^Virginia, which requires talents 
 of the highest order I 
 
 How affecting is that spectacle which we have seen of a pub- 
 lic officer, who, having worn out the prime and vigour of life in 
 the service of his country, instead of being enabled to retire, in 
 old age, to the repose and peace which he so justly deserved, is 
 compelled to toil on for subsistence, though trembling, perhaps, 
 under the weight of eighty winters, oppressed by debt, harassed 
 by his creditors, with the certainty before him of dying poor 
 and involved ; and leaving his posterity, if he have any, on the 
 parish ! How forcibly does it remind us of that pathetic ex- 
 clamation of Wolsey : — 
 
 ** O Cromwell, Cromwell, 
 Had I but served my God, with half the zeal 
 I served my king, he would not, in mine age 
 Have left me naked to my enemies !" 
 
 Is it in reference to the warm and generous state of Virginia, 
 that these reflections can be made, and made too with truth and 
 justice ! 
 
 These remarks are not foreign to our story : in the fall of 
 seventeen hundred and eighty-six, while yet a year remained 
 of his constitutional term, Mr. Henry was under the necessity 
 of retiring from the office of governor. There never was a 
 man whose style of living was more perfectly unostentatious, 
 temperate and simple ; yet the salary had been inadequate to 
 the support of his family ; and, at the end of two years, he 
 found himself involved in debts, which for the moment, he saw 
 no hope of paying, but by the sacrifice of a part of his estate. 
 Let it be remembered, that this occurred in the year seventeen 
 hundred and eighty-six ; and let it be further remembered, that 
 the salary was then very nearly v/hat it still remains ! 
 
 In consequence of Mr. Henry's declining a re-election, the 
 legislature proceeded to appoint his successor ; and then, on 
 the succeeding twenty-fifth of November, the house of dele- 
 gates came to the following resolution : — 
 
 ** Resolved, unanimously^ That a committee be appointed to 
 wait on his excellency the governor, and present him the thanks 
 of this house, for his wise, prudent, and upright administration, 
 during his last appointment of chief magistrate of this com- 
 monwealth, assuring him that they retain a perfect sense of his 
 abilities, in the discharge of the duties of that high and impor- 
 tant office, and wish him all domestic happiness, on his return 
 to private life." 
 
 To this resolution, Mr. Corbin, one of the committee, re- 
 ported the following answer from Mr. Henry :— 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 185 
 
 "Gentlemen: The house of delegates have done me dis- 
 tinguished honour, by the resolution they have been pleased to 
 communicate to me through you. I am happy to find my en- 
 deavours to discharge the duties of my station, have met with 
 their favourable acceptance. 
 
 " The approbation of my country is the highest reward to 
 which my mind is capable of aspiring, and I shall return to 
 private life, highly gratified in the recollection of this instance 
 of regard shown me by the house ; having only to regret that 
 my abilities to serve my country have come so short of my 
 wishes. 
 
 " At the same time that I make my best acknowledgments to 
 the house for their goodness, I beg leave to express my par- 
 ticular obligations to you, gentlemen, for the polite manner in 
 which this communication is made to me.'* 
 
 On the fourth of December, in the same year, Mr. Henry 
 was appointed by the legislature, one of seven deputies from 
 this commonwealth to meet a convention proposed to be held 
 in Philadelphia, on the following May, for the purpose of re- 
 vising the federal constitution. On this list of deputies, his 
 name stands next to that of him, who stood of right before all 
 others in America ; the order of appointment as exhibited by 
 the journals being as follows : George Washington, Patrick 
 Henry, Edmund Randolph, John Blair, James Madison, George 
 Mason, and George Wythe. 
 
 The same cause, however, which had constrained Mr. Henry's 
 retirement from the executive chair of state, disabled him now 
 from obeying this honourable call of his country. On his re- 
 signing the government, he retired to Prince Edward county, 
 and endeavoured to cast about for the means of extricating him- 
 self from his debts. At the age of fifty years, worn down by 
 more than twenty years of arduous service in the cause of his 
 country, eighteen of which had been occupied by the toils and 
 tempests of the revolution, it was natural for him to wish for 
 rest, and to seek some secure and placid port in which he 
 might repose himself from the fatigues of the storm. This, 
 however, was denied him ; and after having devoted the bloom 
 of youth and the maturity of manhood to the good of his country, 
 he had now in his old age to provide for his family. 
 
 " He had nerer," says a correspondent, (Judge Winston,) 
 ** been in easy circumstances ; and soon after his removal to 
 Prince Edward county, conversing with his usual frankness 
 with one of his neighbours, he expressed his anxiety under the 
 debts which he was not able to pay; the reply was to this 
 effect : * Go back to the bar ; your tongue will soon pay your 
 
 16* 
 
ISS whit's Lift: of 
 
 debts. If you will promis^o go, I will give you a retaimn|, 
 fee on the spot/ 
 
 " This blunt advice determined him to return to the practice 
 of the law ; which he did in the beginning of seventeen hun- 
 dred and eighty-eight ; and during six years he attended reg- 
 ularly the district courts of Prince Edward and New London." 
 
 Direful must have been the necessity which drove a man of 
 Mr. Henry's disposition and habits, at his time of life, and 
 tempest-beaten as he was, to resume the practice of such a pro 
 fession as the law. He would not, however, undertake the 
 technical duties of the profession; his engagements were con- 
 fined to the argument of the cause ; and his clients had of 
 course, to employ other counsel, to conduct the pleadings, and 
 ripen their cases for hearing. Hence his practice was restricted 
 to difficult and important cases ; but his great reputation kepi 
 him constantly engaged ; he was frequently called to distant 
 courts ; the light of his eloquence shone in every quarter of the 
 state, and thousands of tongues were everywhere employed in 
 repeating the fine eflfusions of his genius. 
 
 The federal constitution, the fruit of the convention at Phila- 
 delphia, had now come forth, and produced an agitation which 
 had not been felt since the return of peace. The friends and 
 the enemies to its adoption were equally zealous and active in 
 their exertions to promote their respective wishes ; the presses 
 throughout the continent teemed with essays on the subject ; 
 and the rostrum, the pulpit, the field, and the forest, rung with 
 declamations and discussions of the most animated character. 
 Every assemblage of people, for whatsoever purpose met, either 
 for court or church, muster or barbecue, presented an arena for 
 the political combatants; and in some quarters of the union, 
 such was the public anxiety of the occasion, that gentlemen in 
 the habit of public speaking, converted themselves into a sort 
 of itinerant preachers, going from county to county, and from 
 state to state, collecting the people by distant appointments, and 
 challenging all adversaries to meet and dispute with them the 
 propriety of the adoption of the federal constitution. 
 
 All who sought to distinguish themselves by public speaking, 
 all candidates for popular favour, and especially the junior mem-, 
 bers of the bar, flocked to these meetings from the remotest dis- 
 tances, and entered the lists with all the ardour, and gallantry 
 of the knights of former times at their tilts and tournaments. 
 Never was there a theme more fruitful of discussion, and never 
 was there one more amply or ably discussed. 
 
 Of the convention which was to decide the fate of this instru- 
 ment in Virginia, Mr. Henry was chosen a member for the county 
 of Prince Edward. Although the constitution had come forth 
 
PATRICK HBNRY. 187 
 
 with the sanction of the revered name of Washington, and car- 
 ried with it all the weight of popularity which that name could 
 not fail to attach to any proposition, it had not the good fortune 
 to be approved by Mr. Henry. He was (to use his own expres- 
 sion) " most awfully alarmed" at the idea of its adoption ; for he 
 considered it as threatening the liberties of his country; and he 
 determined, therefore, to buckle on once more the armour which 
 he had hung up in the temple of peace, and try the fortune of 
 this, the last of his political fields. 
 
 CHAPTER VHL 
 
 Convention at Richmond on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution— Un- 
 common Array of Men of Talent in the Convention— Mr. Henry's Reply to 
 Gen. Lee— To Mr. Pendleton— Synopsis of the chief Objections to the 
 Constitution— Mr. Henry's Reply to Mr. Madison and Mr. Corbin— Singular 
 Incident connected with Mr. Henry's closing Address— Session of the As- 
 sembly in October— Mr. Henry nominates Richard H. Lee and Mr. Grayson 
 as Senators in Opposition to Mr. Madison — His Resolutions in the Assembly 
 on the Subject of the Constitution — Anecdote of his Retaliation upon a young 
 Member — Draft of Letters to Governor Clinton and to several States. 
 
 The convention met in Richmond, on the second of June, 
 seventeen hundred and eighty-eight, and exhibited such an array 
 of variegated talents, as had never been collected before within 
 the limits of the state, and such a one as it may well be feared 
 we shall never see again. A few of the most eminent of these 
 statesmen are still alive; of whom, therefore, delicacy forbids 
 us to speak as they deserve. Their powers, however, and the 
 peculiar characters of their intellectual excellence, are so well 
 known that their names will be sufficient to speak their respect- 
 ive eulogies. 
 
 We may mention, therefore, Mr. Madison, the late president 
 of the United States; Mr. Marshall, the chief-justice; and Mr. 
 Monroe, now the president. What will the reader think of a 
 body, in which men like these were only among their equals! 
 Yet such is the fact; for there were those sages of other days, 
 Pendleton and Wythe; there was seen displayed the Spartan 
 vigour and compactness of George Nichols; and there shone 
 the radiant genius and sensibility of Grayson; the Roman en- 
 ergy and the Attic wit of George Mason was there; and there, 
 also, the classic taste and harmony of Edmund Randolph; "the 
 splendid conflagration" of the 'high-minded Innis; and the 
 matchless eloquence of the immortal Henry ! 
 
188 WIRT*S LIFE OF 
 
 The debates and procee(iffgs of this Convention, by Mr. Da- 
 vid Robertson, of Petersburgh, have passed through two editions; 
 yet it is believed that their circulation has been principally con- 
 fined to Virginia; and even in this state, from the rapid progresjsi 
 of our population, that book is supposed to be in, comparatively, 
 few hands. Hence it has been thought proper to give a short 
 sketch of Mr. Henry's course in this body. It ought to be pre- 
 mised, however, that the published debates have been said, by 
 those who attended the convention, to present but an imperfect 
 view of the discussion of that body. In relation to Mr. Henry, 
 they are confessedly imperfect; the reporter having sometimes 
 dropped him in *.hose passages in which the reader would be 
 most anxious to follow him. 
 
 From the skill and ability of the reporter, there can be no 
 doubt that the substance of the debates, as well as their general 
 course, are accurately preserved. The work is, therefore, a 
 valuable repository of the arguments by which the constitution 
 was opposed on one hand, and supported on the other; but it 
 must have been utterly impossible for a man who possesses the 
 sensibility and high relish for eloquence which distinguish the 
 reporter, not to have been so far transported by the excursions 
 of Mr. Henry's genius, as sometimes, unconsciously, to have 
 laid down his pen. 
 
 It was not until the fourth, that the preliminary arrangements 
 for the discussion were settled. Mr. Pendleton had been unan- 
 imously elected the president of the convention ; but it having 
 been determined that the subject should be debated in committee 
 of the whole, the house on that day resolved itself into commit- 
 tee, and the venerable Mr. Wythe was called to the chair. In 
 conformity with the order which had been taken, to discuss the 
 constitution, clause by clause, the clerk now read the preamble, 
 and the two first sections ; and the debate was opened by Mr. 
 George Nicholas. 
 
 He confined himself strictly to the sections under considera- 
 tion, and maintained their policy with great cogency of argu- 
 ment. Mr. Henry rose next, and soon demonstrated that his 
 excursions were not to be restrained by the rigour of rules. 
 Instead of proceeding to answer Mr. Nicholas, he commenced 
 by sounding an alarm calculated to produce a most powerful 
 impression. The eflect, however, will be entirely lost upon the 
 reader, unless he shall associate with the speech which I am 
 about to lay before him, that awful solemnity and look of fear- 
 ful portent, by which Mr. Henry could imply even more than 
 he expressed; and that slow, distinct, emphatic enunciation, by 
 which he never failed to move the souls of his hearers. 
 
 "Mr. Chairman: The public mind, as well as my own, is 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 189 
 
 extremely uneasy at the proposed change of government. Give 
 me leave to form one of the number of those who wish to be 
 thoroughly acquainted with the reasons of this perilous and un- 
 easy situation — and why we are brought hither to decide on this 
 great national question. I consider myself as the servant of 
 the people of this commonwealth — as a sentinel over their rights, 
 liberty, and happiness. I represent their feelings when 1 say, 
 that they are exceedingly uneasy, being brought from that state 
 of full security which they enjoyed, to the present delusive ap- 
 pearance of things, 
 
 "A year ago, the minds of our citizens were at perfect repose. 
 Before the meeting of the late federal convention at Philadel- 
 phia, a general peace and a universal tranquillity prevailed in 
 this country — but since that period, they are exceedingly uneasy 
 and disquieted. When I wished for an appointment to this 
 convention, my mind was extremely agitated for the situation 
 of public affairs. I conceive the republic to be in extreme 
 danger. 
 
 "If our situation be thus uneasy, whence has arisen this fear- 
 ful jeopardy? It arises from this fatal system — it arises from a 
 proposal to change our government — a proposal that goes to the 
 utter annihilation of the most solemn engagements of the states 
 — a proposal of establishing nine states into confederacy, to the 
 eventual exclusion of four states. It goes to the annihilation of 
 those solemn treaties we have formed with foreign nations. The 
 present circumstances of France — the good offices rendered us 
 by that kingdom, require our most faithful and most punctual 
 adherence to our treaty with her. 
 
 "We are in alliance with the Spaniards, the Dutch, the Prus- 
 sians: those treaties bound us as thirteen states, confederated 
 together. Yet here is a proposal to sever that confederacy. Is 
 it possible that we shall abandon all our treaties and national 
 engagements? And for what? I expected to have heard the 
 reasons of an event, so unexpected to my mind and many others. 
 Was our civil polity or public justice endangered or sapped? 
 Was the real existence of the country threatened — or was this 
 preceded by a aoournful progression of events? 
 
 "This proposal of altering our federal government is of a 
 most alarming nature. Make the best of this new government 
 — say it is composed by anything buit inspiration — you ought to 
 be extremely cautious, watchful, jealous of your liberty; for in- 
 stead of securing our rights, you may lose them for ever. If a 
 wrong step be now made, the republic maybe lost forever. If 
 this new government will not come up to the expectation of the 
 people, and they should be disappointed, their liberty will be 
 lost, and tyranny must and will arise. 
 
190 wirt's life of 
 
 *'I repeat it again, and J|pbeg gentlemen to consider, that a 
 wrong step made now, will plunge us into misery, and our re- 
 public will be lost. It will be necessary for this convention to 
 have a faithful historical detail of the facts that preceded the 
 session of the federal convention, and the reason that actuated 
 its members in proposing an entire alteration of government, 
 and to demonstrate the dangers that awaited us: if they were of 
 such awful magnitude, as to warrant a proposal so extremely 
 perilous as this, I must assert, that this convention has an abso- 
 lute right to a thorough discovery of every circumstance rela- 
 tive to this great event. 
 
 "And here I would make this inquiry of those worthy char- 
 acters who composed a part of the late federal convention. I 
 am sure they were fully impressed with the necessity of form- 
 ing a great consolidated government, instead of a confederation. 
 That this is a consolidated government is demonstrably clear; 
 and the danger of such a government is to my mind very stri- 
 king. I have the highest veneration for those gentlemen: but, 
 sir, give me leave to demand, what right had they to say, lye, 
 the people ? 
 
 "My political curiosity, exclusive of my anxious solicitude 
 for the public welfare, leads me to ask, who authorized them to 
 speak the language of, we, the people, instead of, we, the states? 
 States are the characteristics, and the soul of a confederation. 
 If the states be not the agents of this compact, it must be one 
 great, consolidated, national government of the people of all 
 the states. I have the highest respect for those gentlemen who 
 formed the convention; and were some of them not here, I 
 would express some testimonial of esteem for them. 
 
 "America had, on a former occasion, put the utmost confi- 
 dence in them; a confidence which was well-placed; and I am 
 sure, sir, I would give up anything to them ; I would cheerfully 
 confide in them as my representatives. But, sir, on this great 
 occasion, I would demand the cause of their conduct. Even 
 from that illustrious man, who saved us by his valour, I would 
 have a reason for his conduct — that liberty which he has given 
 us by his valour, tells me to ask this reason-*-and sure I am, 
 were he here, he would give us that reason: but there are other 
 gentlemen here who can give us this information. The people 
 gave them no power to use their name. That they exceeded 
 their power is perfectly clear. 
 
 "It is not mere curiosity that actuates me— -I wish to hear the 
 real, actual, existing danger, which should lead us to take those 
 steps so dangerous in my conception. Disorders have arisen ia 
 other parts of America; but here, sir, no dangers, no insurrec- 
 tion, or tumult, has happened — everything has been calm and 
 
PATRICK HENRY, 191 
 
 tranquil. But, notwithstanding this, we are wandering on the 
 great ocean of human affairs. I see no landmark to guide us. 
 We are running we know not whither. 
 
 "Difference in opinion has gone to a degree of inflammatory 
 resentment, in different parts of the country, which has been 
 occasioned by this perilous innovation. The federal convention 
 ought to have amended the old system — for this purpose they 
 were solely delegated: the object of their mission extended to 
 no other consideration. You must therefore forgive the solicit- 
 ation of one unworthy member, to know what danger could 
 have arisen under the present confederation, and what are the 
 causes of this proposal to change our government?" 
 
 This inquiry was answered by an eloquent speech from Mr. 
 Randolph ; and the debate passed into other hands ; until on the 
 next day. General Lee, in reference to Mr. Henry's opening 
 speech, addressed the chair, as follows: — 
 
 "Mr. Chairman: I feel every power of my mind moved by 
 the language of the honourable gentleman, yesterday. The 
 eclat and brilliancy which have distinguished that gentleman, 
 the honours with which he has been dignified, and the brilliant 
 talents which he has so often displayed, have attracted my re- 
 spect and attention. On so important an occasion, and before so 
 respectable a body, I expected a new display of his powers of 
 oratory: but, instead of proceeding to investigate the merits of 
 the new plan of government, the worthy character informed us 
 of horrors which he felt, of apprehensions in his mind, which 
 made him tremblingly fearful of the fate of the commonwealth. 
 
 "Mr. Chairman : Was it proper to appeal to the /ear of this 
 house? The question before us belongs to the judgment of this 
 house; I trust he is come to judge and not to alarm.. I trust 
 that he, and every other gentleman in this house, comes with a 
 firm resolution, coolly and calmly to examine, and fairly and 
 impartially to determine." 
 
 In the further progress of his speech. General Lee again said, 
 rather tauntingly, of Mr. Henry — "The gentleman sat down as 
 he began, leaving us to ruminate on the horrors with which he 
 opened." 
 
 Mr. Henry, rising immediately after these sarcastic remarks, 
 gave a striking specimen of that dignified self-command, and 
 that strict and uniform decorum, by which he was so pre-emi- 
 nently distinguished in debate. Far from retorting the sarcasms 
 of his adversary, he seemed to have heard nothing but the com- 
 pliments with which they stood connected, and rising slowly 
 from his seat, with a countenance expressive of unaffected hu- 
 mility, he began with the following modest and disqualifying 
 exordium : — 
 
102 wirt's life of 
 
 "Mr. Chairman: I ammuch obliged to the very worthy 
 gentleman for his encomiur]^ I wish I was possessed of talents, 
 or possessed of anything; that might enable me to elucidate this 
 great subject. I own, sir, I am not free from suspicion. I am 
 apt to entertain doubts. I rose, on yesterday, not to enter upon 
 the discussion, but merely to ask a question which had arisen in 
 my own mind. When I asked that question, I thought the 
 meaning of my interrogation was obvious. The fate of America 
 may depend on this question. 
 
 "Have they said, we, the states ? Have they made a propo- 
 sal of a compact between states ? If they had, this would be a 
 confederation; it is, otherwise, most clearly, a consolidated 
 government. The whole question turns, sir, on that poor' little 
 thing, the expression, we, the people, instead of, the states of 
 America." 
 
 He tlien proceeded to set forth, in terrible array, his various 
 objections to the constitution; not confining himself to the 
 clauses under debate, but ranging through the whole instrument, 
 and passing from objection to objection, as they followed each 
 other in his mind. This departure from the rule of the house, 
 although at first view censurable, was insisted upon by himself 
 and his colleagues, as being indispensable to a just examination 
 of the particular clause under consideration; because the policy 
 or impolicy of any provision did not always depend upon itself 
 alone, but on other provisions with which it stood connected, 
 and, indeed, upon the whole system of powers and checks that 
 were associated with it in the same instrument, and thus formed 
 only parts of one entire whole. 
 
 The truth of this position, in relation to some of the provi- 
 sions, could not be justly denied; and a departure once made 
 from the rigour of the rule, the debate became at large, on ev- 
 ery part of the constitution; the disputants at every stage look- 
 ing forward and backward throughout the whole instrument, 
 without any control other than their own discretion. Thus 
 freed from restraints, under which his genius was at all times 
 impatient, uncoupled and let loose to range the whole field at 
 pleasure, Mr. Henry seemed to have recovered, and to luxuriate 
 in all the powers of his youth. He had, indeed, occasion for 
 them all; for while he was supported by only three effective 
 auxiliaries, opposed to him stood a phalanx, most formidable 
 both for talents and weight of character; and several of whom 
 it might be said, with truth, that each was "m himself a host :^* 
 for at the head of the opposing ranks stood Mr. Pendleton, Mr. 
 Wythe, Mr. Madison, Mr. Marshall, Mr. Nicholas, Mr. Ran- 
 dolph, Mr. Innis, Mr. Henry Lee, and Mr. Corbin. Fearful 
 odds! and such as called upon him for the most strenuous tx* 
 ertion of all his faculties. 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 193 
 
 Nor did he sink below the occasion. For twenty days, dur- 
 ing which this great discussion continued without intermission, 
 his efforts were sustained, not only with undiminished strength, 
 but with powers which seemed to gather new force from every 
 exertion. All the faculties useful for debate were found united 
 in him, with a degree of perfection, in which they are rarely 
 seen to exist, even separately, in different individuals: irony, 
 ridicule, the purest wit, the most comic humour, exclamations 
 that made the soul start, the most affecting pathos, and the most 
 sublime apostrophes, lent their aid to enforce his reasoning, and 
 to put to flight the arguments of his adversaries. 
 
 The objection that the constitution substituted a consolidated 
 in lieu of a confederated government, and that this new consol- 
 idated government threatened the total annihilation of the state 
 sovereignties, was pressed by him with most masterly power: 
 he said there was no necessity for a change of government so 
 entire and fundamental — and no inducement to it, unless it was 
 to be found in this splendid government, which we were told 
 was to make us a great and mighty people. 
 
 "We have no detail," said he, "of those great considerations, 
 which, in my opinion, ought to have abounded, before we should 
 recur to a government of this kind. Here is a revolution as 
 radical as that which separated us from Great Britain. It is as 
 radical, if in this transition our rights and privileges are endan- 
 gered, and the sovereignty of the states be relinquished: and 
 cannot we plainly see, that this is actually the case? The rights 
 of conscience, trial by jury, liberty of the press, all your immu- 
 nities and franchises, all pretensions to human rights and privi- 
 leges, are rendered insecure, if not lost, by this change so loudly 
 talked of by some, and so inconsiderately by others. Is this 
 tame relinquishment of rights worthy of freemen? Is it wor- 
 thy of that manly fortitude that ought to characterize repub- 
 licans? 
 
 "It is said eight states have adopted this plan : I declare, that 
 if twelve states and a half had adopted it, I would with manly 
 firmness, and in spite of an erring world, reject it. You are 
 not to inquire how your trade may be increased, nor how you 
 are to become a great and powerful people, but how your lib' 
 erties can be secured ; for liberty ought to be the direct end of 
 your government. Is it necessary fpr your liberty, that you 
 should abandon those great rights by the adoption of this sys- 
 tem? Is the relinquishment of the trial by jury, and the liberty 
 of the press, necessary for your liberty ? Will the abandonment 
 of your most sacred rights tend to the security of your liberty? 
 Liberty, the greatest of all earthly blessings — give us that pre* 
 Clous jeweli and you may take everything else ! 
 
 17 
 
194 wirt's life of 
 
 "But I am fearful I havejived long enough to become an old- 
 fashioned fellow. Perha}l^n invincible attachment to the dear- 
 est rights of man, may, in these refined, enlightened days- be 
 deemed old-fashioned : if so, I am contented to be so : I say, the 
 time has been, when every pulse of my heart beat for American 
 liberty, and which, I believe, had a counterpart in the breast of 
 every true American ; but suspicions have gone forth — suspicions 
 of my integrity — publicly reported that my professions are not 
 real — twenty-three years ago was I supposed a traitor to my 
 country: I was then said to be a bane of sedition because I sup- 
 ported' the rights of my country : I may be thought suspicious, 
 when I say our privileges and rights are in danger: but, sir, a 
 number of the people of this country are weak enough to think 
 these things are too true. 
 
 "I am happy to find, that the gentleman on the other side de- 
 clares they are groundless : but, sir, suspicion is a virtue, as long 
 as its object is the preservation of the public good, and as long 
 as it stays within proper bounds: should it fall on me, I am con 
 tented; conscious rectitude is a powerful consolation: I trust 
 there are many who think my professions for the public good to 
 be real. Let your suspicion look to both sides: there are many 
 on the other side, who possibly may have been persuaded of the 
 necessity of these measures, which I conceive to be dangerous 
 to your liberty. 
 
 "Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect 
 every one who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing 
 will preserve it but downright force : whenever you give up that 
 force, you are inevitably ruined. I am answered by gentlemen, 
 that though I might speak of terrors, yet the fact was, that we 
 were surrounded by none of the dangers I apprehended. I con- 
 ceive this new government to be one of those dangers: it has 
 produced those horrors which distress many of our best citizens. 
 We are come hither to preserve the poor commonwealth of Vir- 
 ginia, if it can be possibly done: something must be done to 
 preserve your liberty and mine. 
 
 "The confederation, this same despised government, merits, 
 in my opinion, the highest encomium: it carried us through a 
 long and dangerous war: it rendered us victorious in that bloody 
 conflict with a powerful nation: it has secured us a territory 
 greater than any European monarch possesses: and shall a gov- 
 ernment which has been thus strong and vigorous, be accused 
 of imbecility, and abandoned for want of energy? Consider 
 what you are about to do, before you part with this government. 
 Take longer time in reckoning things ; revolutions like this have 
 happened in almost every country of Europe: similar examples 
 are to be found in ancient Greece and ancient Rome: instances 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 195 
 
 oC the people losing their liberty by their own carelessness and 
 the ambition of a few. 
 
 "We are cautioned, by the honourable gentleman who pre- 
 sirles, against faction and turbulence: I acknowledge that licen- 
 tiousness is dangerous, and that it ought to be provided against: 
 I acknowledge, also, the new form of government may effectu- 
 ally prevent it: yet there is another thing it will as effectually 
 do — it will oppress and ruin the people. There are sufficient 
 guards placed against faction and licentiousness : for when power 
 is given to this government to suppress these, or for any other 
 purpose, the language it assumes is clear, express, and unequiv- 
 ocal: but when this constitution speaks of privileges, there is 
 an ambiguity, sir, a fatal ambiguity^ an ambiguity which is 
 very astonishing!" 
 
 The adoption of the instrument had been maintained upon 
 the ground that it would increase our military strength, and en- 
 able us to resist the lawless ambition of foreign princes: it had 
 been urged, too, that if the convention should rise without adopt- 
 ing the instrument, disunion and anarchy would be the certain 
 consequences. In answer to these topics he said: — 
 
 "Happy will you be, if you miss the fate of those nations, 
 who, omitting to resist their oppressors, or negligently suffering 
 their liberty to be wrested from them, have groaned under in- 
 tolerable despotism! Most of the human race are now in this 
 deplorable condition. And those nations who have gone in 
 search of grandeur, poiuer, and splendour, have also fallen a 
 sacrifice, and been the victims of their own folly. While they 
 acquired those visionary blessings, they lost their freedom. 
 
 "My great objection to this government is, that it does not 
 leave us the means of defending our rights, or of waging war 
 against tyrants. It is urged by some gentlemen, that this new 
 plan will bring us an acquisition of strength, an army, and the 
 militia of the states. This is an idea extremely ridiculous: 
 gentlemen cannot be in earnest. This acquisition will trample 
 on your fallen liberty! Let my beloved Americans guard 
 against that fatal lethargy that has pervaded the universe. Have 
 we the means of resisting disciplined armies, when our only de- 
 fence, the militia, is put into the hands of congress? 
 
 "The honourable gentleman said, that great danger would 
 ensue, if the convention rose without^adopting this system. I 
 ask, where is that danger? I see none. Other gentlemen have 
 told us within these walls, that the union is gone — or, that the 
 union will be gone. Is not this trifling with the judgment of 
 their fellow-ciiizens? Till they tell us the ground of their fears, 
 I will consider them as imaginary. I rose to make inquiry 
 where those dingers were; they could make no answer: I be- 
 lieve I never shall have that answer. 
 
J96 wirt's life of 
 
 "Is there a disposition u^ the people of this country to revolt 
 against the dominion of Isws? Has there been a single tumult 
 in Virginia? Have not the people of Virginia, when labouring 
 under the severest pressure of accumulated distresses, mani- 
 fested the most cordial acquiescence in the execution of the 
 laws? What could be more lawful than their unanimous acqui- 
 escence under general distresses? Is there any revolution in 
 Virginia? Whither is the spirit of America gone? Whither 
 is the genius of America fled ? It was but yesterday when our 
 enemies marched in triumph through our country. Yet the. 
 people of this country could not he appalled by their pompoua 
 armaments : they stopped their career^ and victoriously cap- 
 tured them! Where is the peril now compared to that? 
 
 "Some minds are agitated by foreign alarms. Happily for 
 us, there is no real danger from Europe : that country is engaged 
 in more arduous business: from that quarter there is no cause 
 of fear: you may sleep in safety for ever for them. Where is 
 the danger? If sir, there was any, I would recur to the Amer- 
 ican spirit to defend us — that spirit which has enabled us to sur- 
 mount the greatest difficulties : to that illustrious spirit I address 
 my most fervent prayer, to prevent our adopting a system de- 
 structive to liberty. 
 
 "Let not gentlemen be told that it is not safe to reject this 
 government. Wherefore is it not safe? We are told there are 
 dangers; but those dangers are ideal; they cannot be demon- 
 strated. To encourage us to adopt it, they tell us that there is 
 a plain, easy way of getting amendments. When I come to 
 contemplate this part, I suppose that I am mad, or, that my 
 countrymen are so. The way to amendment is, in my concep- 
 tion, shut. Let us consider this plain, easy way.^^ 
 
 He then proceeds to demonstrate, that as the constitution re- 
 quired the concurrence of three fourths of the stales to any 
 amendment, it followed that six tenths of the people, in four of 
 the smallest states, (not containing collectively one-tenth part at 
 the population of the United States,) would have it in their 
 power to defeat the most salutary amendments; and then asks, 
 "Is this, sir, an easy mode of securing the public liberty? It 
 is, sir, a most fearful situation, when the most contemptible mi- 
 nority can prevent the alteration of the most oppressive govern- 
 ment: for it may, in many respects, prove to be such. Is this 
 the spirit of republicanism? What, sir, is the genius of de- 
 mocracy? Let me read that clause of the bill of rights of Vir- 
 ginia, which relates to this: — 
 
 "'Third Article. That government is, or ought to be, insti- 
 tuted for the common benefit, protection, and security of the 
 people, nation, or community; of all the various modes and 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 197 
 
 forms of government, that is best which is capable of producing 
 the greatest degree of happiness and safety, and is most effectu- 
 ally secured against the danger of m-al-administfation; and that 
 whenever any government shall be found inadequate, or con- 
 trary to these purposes, a majority of the community hath an 
 indubitable, unalienable, and indefeasible right to reform, alter, 
 or abolish it, in such manner as shall be judged most conducive 
 to the public weal.' 
 
 "This, sir, is the language of democracy, that a majority of 
 the community have a right to alter their government when 
 found to be oppressive; but how different is the genius of your 
 new constitution from this? How different from the sentiments 
 of freemen, that a contemptible minority can prevent the good 
 of the majority? If, then, gentlemen, standing on this ground, 
 are come to that point, that they are willing to bind themselves 
 and their posterity to be oppressed, / am amazed, and inex- 
 pressibly astonished ! 
 
 "If this be the opinion of the majority, 1 must submit; but 
 to me, sir, it appears perilous and destructive; I cannot help 
 thinking so ; perhaps it may be the result of my age ; these may 
 be feelings natural to a man of my years, when the American 
 spirit has left him, and his mental powers, like the members of 
 the body, are decayed. If, sir, amendments are left to the twen- 
 tieth, or to the tenth part of the people of America, your liberty 
 is gone for ever. 
 
 " We have heard that there is a great deal of bribery practised 
 in the house of commons in England; and that many of the 
 members raised themselves to preferments by selling the rights 
 of the people. But, sir, the tenth part of that body cannot con- 
 tinue oppressions on the rest of the people. English liberty is, 
 in this case, on a firmer foundation than American liberty. It 
 will be easily contrived to procure the opposition of one tenth 
 of the people to any alteration, however judicious." 
 
 Mr. Pendleton had repelled the idea of danger from the 
 adoption of the constitution, on the ground of the facility 
 with which the people could recall their delegated powers, and 
 chan ore their servants. "We will assemble in convention,'* 
 said Mr. Pendleton, " wholly recall our delegated powers, or 
 reform them so as to prevent such abuse, and punish our serv- 
 ants." In reply to this, Mr. Henrjf said : — "The honourable 
 gentleman who presides told us, that, to prevent abuses in our 
 government, we Avill assemble in convention, recall our dele- 
 gated powers, and punish our servants for abusing the trust re- 
 posed in them. Oh, sir, we should have fine times, indeed, if 
 to punish tyrants, it were only necessary to assemble the peo- 
 ple ! Your arms wherewith you could defend yourselves, are 
 17* 
 
198 wirt's life of 
 
 gone ! and you have no IqjMfer an aristocratical, no longer a 
 democratical spirit. Did you ever read of any revolution in 
 any nation, brought about by the punishment of those in power, 
 inflicted by those who had no power at all? You read of a 
 riot act in a country which is called one of the freest in the 
 \vorld, where a few neighbours cannot assemble, without the 
 risk of being shot by a hired soldiery, the engines of despo- 
 tism. 
 
 " We may see such an act in America. A standing- army 
 we shall have also, to execute the execrable commands of ty- 
 ranny ; and how are you to punish them? Will you order 
 them to be punished 1 Who shall obey these orders f Will 
 your mace-bearer he a match for a disciplined regiment? In 
 what situation are we to be ? The clause before you gives a 
 power of direct taxation, unbounded and unlimited ; exclusive 
 power of legislation, in all cases whatsoever, for ten miles 
 square ; and over all places purchased for the erection of forts, 
 magazines, arsenals, dock-yards, tSfc. What resistance could 
 he made ? The attempt would be madness. You will find all 
 the strength of this country in the hands of your enemies ; 
 those garrisons will naturally be the strongest places in the 
 country. Your militia is given up to congress, also, in another 
 part of this plan ; they will therefore act as they think proper ; 
 all power will be in their own possession ; you cannot force 
 them to receive their punishment." 
 
 He continued to ridicule, very successfully, the alluring idea 
 of the expected splendour of the new government, and the 
 imaginany checks and balances which were said to exist in this 
 constitution: "If we admit," said he, "this consolidated gov- 
 ernment, it will be because we like a great splendid one. 
 Some way or other we must be a great and mighty empire ; 
 we must have an army, and a navy, and a number of things ! 
 When the American spirit was in its youth, the language of 
 America was different: liberty, sir, was then the primary ob- 
 ject.^^ And again : "This constitution is said to have beauti- 
 ful features ; when I come to examine these features, sir, they 
 appear to me horribly frightful ! Among other deformities, it 
 has an awful squinting ; it squints tovjard monarchy ! And 
 does not this raise indignation in the heart of every true Amer- 
 ican ? 
 
 "Your president may easily become king; your senate is so 
 imperfectly constructed, that your dearest rights may be sacri- 
 ficed by what may be a small minority ; and a very small 
 minority may continue, for ever, unchangeable, this govern- 
 ment, although horridly defective ; where are your checks in 
 this government ? Your strong hold will be in the hands of 
 
PATRICK HENRY. t^ 
 
 your enemies ; it is on a supposition that your American gov- 
 ernors shall be honest, that all the good qualities of this gov- 
 ernment are founded ; but its defective and imperfect construc- 
 tion puts it in their power to perpetrate the worst of mischiefs, 
 should they be bad men ; and, sir, would not all the world, 
 from the eastern to the western hemisphere, blame our dis- 
 tracted folly in resting our rights upon the contingency of OUT 
 rulers being good or had ? 
 
 "Show me that age and country, where the rights and lib- 
 erties of the people were placed on the sole chance of their 
 rulers being good men, without a consequent loss of liberty ? 
 I say, that the loss of that dearest privilege has ever followed, 
 with absolute certainty, every such mad attempt. If your 
 American chief be a man of ambition and abilities, how easy 
 is it for him to render himself absolute ! The army is in his 
 hands; and if he be a man of address, it will be attached to 
 him ; and it will be the subject of long meditation with him 
 to seize the first auspicious moment to accomplish his design; 
 and, sir, will the American spirit, solely, relieve you when this 
 happens? 
 
 *' I would rather infinitely, and I am sure most of this con- 
 vention are of the same opinion, have a king, lords, and com- 
 mons, than a government so replete with such insupporta- 
 ble evils. If we make a king, we may prescribe the rules by 
 which he shall rule his people, and interpose such checks as 
 shall prevent him from infringing them : but the president in 
 the field, at the head of his army, can prescribe the terms on 
 which he shall reign master, so far that it will puzzle any 
 American ever to get his neck from under the galling yoke. I 
 cannot, with patience, think of this idea. If ever he violates 
 the laws, one of two things will happen : he will come at the 
 head of his army to carry everything before him ; or he will 
 give bail, or do what Mr. Chief Justice will order him. If he 
 be guilty, will not the recollection of his crimes teach him to 
 make one bold push for the American throne? Will not the 
 immense difference between being master of everything, and 
 being ignominiously tried and punished, powerfully excite him 
 to make this bold push? 
 
 " But, sir, where is the existing force to punish him ? Can 
 he not, at the head of his army, beat down every opposition? 
 Away with your president; we shall have a king: the army 
 will salute him monarch ; your militia will leave you, and as- 
 sist in making him king, and fight against you: and what have 
 you to oppose this force? What will then become of you and 
 your rights ? Will not absolute despotism ensue?" [Here Mr. 
 Henry strongly and pathetically expatiated on the probability 
 
200 wirt's life of 
 
 of the president's enslaviryt America, and the horrid conse- 
 quences that must result.] 
 
 After the frank admission of the reporter, exhibited by the 
 words contained in these brackets, that he had not attempted 
 to follow Mr. Henry in this pathetic excursion, the reader will 
 perceive, that it would be doing- injustice to the memory of that 
 eminent man, to multiply extracts from this book, as specimens 
 of his eloquence. The stenographer who should be able to 
 take down Mr. Henry's speeches, word for word, must have 
 other qualities besides the perfect mastery of his art; he must 
 have the perfect mastery of himself, and be able, for the mo- 
 ment, to play the mere automaton; for without such self-com- 
 mand, no man, who had a human heart in his bosom, could lis- 
 ten to his startlingexclamations, or horror-breathing tones, with- 
 out keeping his eyes immovably riveted upon the speaker. His 
 dominion over his hearers was so absolute, that it was idle to 
 think of resisting him ; you would as soon think of resisting 
 the lightning of heaven. 
 
 The very tone of voice in which he would address the 
 chairman, when he felt the inspiration of his genius ri- 
 sing — "Mr. Chairman!" — and the awful pause which fol- 
 lowed this call — fixed upon him at once every eye in the 
 assembly : and then his own rapt countenance ! — those eyef 
 which seemed to beam with light from another world, and un 
 der whose fiery glance the crest of the proudest adversary fell ! 
 his majestic attitudes, and that bold, strong, and varied action, 
 which spoke forth, with so much power, the energies of his 
 own great spirit, rendered his person a spectacle so sublime, 
 and so awfully interesting, that to look in any other direction 
 when the spell was upon him was not to be expected from any 
 man who had eyes to see and ears to hear. Little cause have 
 we, therefore, to wonder or to complain, that a gentleman of 
 Mr. Robertson's lively admiration of genius, and of his quick 
 and kindling sensibility, was sometimes bedimmed by his own 
 tears, and at others torn from his task by those master-flights, 
 which rushed like a mighty whirlwind from the earth, and car- 
 ried up everything in their vortex. 
 
 The chief objections taken to the constitution are reducible 
 to the following heads : — 
 
 I. That it was a consolidated, instead of a confederated gov- 
 ernment : that in making it so, the delegates at Philadelphia 
 had transcended the limits of their commission: changed fun- 
 damentally the relations which the states had chosen to bear 
 to each other: annihilated their respective sovereignties : de- 
 stroyed the barriers which divided them : and converted the 
 whole into one solid empire. To this leading objection, al- 
 
PATRICK HENRT> 201 
 
 most all the rest had reference, and were urged principally 
 with the view to illustrate and enforce it. 
 
 'J. The vast and alarming array of specific powers given to 
 the general government, and the wide door opened for an un- 
 limited extension of those powers, by the clause which author- 
 ized congress to pass all laws necessary to carry the given 
 powers into effect. It was urged that this clause rendered the 
 previous specification of powers an idle illusion ; since, by the 
 force of construction arising from that clause, congress might 
 easily do anything and everything it chose, under the pre- 
 tence of giving effect to some specified power. 
 
 3. The unlimited power of taxation of all kinds : the states 
 were no longer to be required, in their federative characters, 
 to contribute their respective proportions toward the expenses 
 and engagements of the general government: but congress 
 were authorized to go directly to the pockets of the people, 
 and to sweep from them en masse, from north to south, what- 
 ever portion of the earnings of the industrious poor the rapa- 
 city of the general government, or their schemes of ambitious 
 grandeur, might suggest. 
 
 It was contended, that such a power could not be exercised, 
 without just complaint, over a country so extensive, and so 
 diversified in its productions and the pursuits of its people: that 
 it was impossible to select any subject of general taxation which 
 would not operate unequally on the different sections of the 
 union, produce discontent and heart-burnings among the people, 
 and most probably terminate in open resistance to the laws: that 
 the representatives in congress were too few to carry with them 
 a knowledge of the wants and capacities of the people in the 
 different parts of a large state, and that the representation could 
 not be made full enough to attain that object, without becoming 
 oppressively expensive to the country : that hence taxation 
 ought to be left to the states themselves, whose representation 
 was full, who best knew the habits and circumstances of their 
 constituents, and on what subjects a tax could be most conve- 
 niently laid. Mr. Henry said that he was willing to grant this 
 power conditionally; that is, upon the failure of the states to 
 comply with requisitions from congress : but that the absolute 
 and unconditional grant of it, in the first instance, filled his mind 
 with the most awful anticipations. 
 
 It was resolved, he saw clearly, that we must be a great and 
 splendid people; and that in order to be so, immense revenues 
 must be raised from the people : the people were to be bowed 
 down under the load of their taxes, direct and indirect; and a 
 swarm of federal tax-gatherers were to cover this land, to blight 
 every blade of grass, and every leaf of vegetation, and consume 
 
202 
 
 Us productions for the enricjipnent of themselves and their mas- 
 ters: it was not contendedffe supposed, but that the state leg- 
 islature, also, might impose taxes for their own internal pur- 
 poses: thus the people were to be doubly oppressed, and be- 
 tween the state sheriffs and the federal sheriffs to be ground to 
 dust: on this subject he drew such a vivid and affecting picture 
 of these officers, entering in succession the cabin of the broken- 
 hearted peasant, and the last one rifling the poor remains which 
 the first had left as is said to have drawn tears from every eye. 
 
 4. The power of raising armies and building navies, and still 
 more emphatically, the control given to the general government 
 over the militia of the states, was most strenuously opposed. 
 The power thus given was a part of the means of that aggran- 
 dizement which was obviously meditated, and there could be no 
 doubt that it would be exercised: so that this republic, whose 
 best policy was peace, was to be saddled with the expense of 
 maintaining standing armies and navies, useless for any other 
 purpose than to insult her citizens, to afford a pretext for in- 
 creased taxes, and an augmented public debt, and finally to sub- 
 vert the liberties of her people : her militia, too, her last remain- 
 ing defence, was gone. 
 
 "Congress," said Mr. Henry, "by the power of taxation — 
 by that of raising an army and navy — and by their control over 
 the militia — have the sword in the one hand, and the purse in 
 the other. Shall we be safe without either? Congress have an 
 unlimited power over both; they are entirely given up by us. 
 Let him (Mr. Madison) candidly tell me where and when did 
 freedom exist, when the sword and purse were given up from 
 the people? Unless a miracle in human affairs shall interpose, 
 no nation ever did or ever can retain its liberty, after the loss 
 of the sword and the purse." 
 
 The unlimited control over the militia was vehemently op- 
 posed, on the ground, that the marching militia from distant 
 states to quell insurrection, and repel invasions, and keeping the 
 free yeomanry of the country under the lash of martial law, 
 would, in the first instance, produce an effect extremely inimical 
 to the peace and harmony of the union; and in the next, harass 
 the agricultural body of the people so much, as to reconcile 
 them, as a less evil, to that curse of nations, and bane of free- 
 dom, a standing army: — and secondly, this power was opposed, 
 on the ground that congress, under the boundless charter of 
 constructive power which it possessed, might transfer to the 
 president the power of calling forth the militia, and thus enable 
 him to disarm all opposition to his schemes. 
 
 5. The several clauses providing for the federal judiciary were 
 objected to, on the ground of the clashing jurisdictions of the 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 203 
 
 state and federal courts; and secondly, because infinite power 
 was given to congress to multiply inferior federal courts at plea- 
 sure; a power which they would not fail to exercise, in order 
 to swell the patronage of the president, to their own emolument; 
 and thus enable him to reward their devotion to his views, by 
 bestowing on them and their dependants those offices which they 
 had themselves created. 
 
 6. It was contended that the trial by jury was gone in civil 
 cases, by that clause which gives to the supreme court appellate 
 power over the law and the fact in every case; and which there- 
 by enabled that tribunal to annihilate both the verdict and judg- 
 ment of the inferior courts: and that in criminal cases also, the 
 trial by jury was worse than gone, because it was admitted, that 
 the common law, which alone gave the challenge for favour, 
 would not be in force as to the federal courts; and hence a jury 
 might, in every instance, be packed to suit the purpose of the 
 prosecution. 
 
 7. The authority of the president to take the command of the 
 armies of the United States, in person, was warmly resisted, on 
 the ground, that if he were a military character, and a man of 
 address, he might easily convert them into an engine for the 
 worst of purposes. 
 
 8. The cession of the whole treaty-making power to the pres- 
 ident and senate, was considered as one of the most formidable 
 features in the instrument, inasmuch as it put it in the power of 
 the president and any ten senators, who might represent the five 
 smallest states, to enter into the most ruinous foreign engage- 
 ments, and even to cede away by treaty any portion of the ter- 
 ritory of the larger states : it was insisted, that the lower house, 
 who were the immediate representatives of the people, instead 
 of being excluded as they were by the constitution from all par- 
 ticipation in the treaty-making power, ought at least to be con- 
 sulted, if not to have the principal agency in so interesting a 
 natianal act. 
 
 9. The immense patronage of the president was objected to: 
 because it placed in his hands the means of corrupting the con- 
 gress, the navy, and army, and of distributing, moreover, 
 throughout the society, a band of retainers in the shape of 
 judges, revenue officers, and tax-gatherers, which would render 
 him irresistible in any scheme of ambition that he might medi- 
 tate against the liberties of his country. 
 
 10. The irresponsibility of the whole gang- of federal officers 
 (as they were called) was objected to : there was indeed, in some 
 instances, a power of impeachment pretended to be given, 
 but it was mere sham and mockery; since, instead of being 
 tried by a tribunal, zealous and interested to bring them to jus- 
 
204 wirt's life of 
 
 tice, they were to try each other for offences, in which, proba 
 bly, they were all muluall^mplicated. 
 
 11. It was insisted, that if we must adopt a constitution ce- 
 ding away such vast powers, express and implied, and so fraught 
 with danger to the liberties of the people, it ought at least to be 
 guarded by a bill of rights; that in all free governments, and in 
 the estimation of all men attached to liberty, there were certain 
 rights unalienable — imprescriptible — and of so sacred a char- 
 acter, that they could not be guarded with too much caution: 
 among these were the liberty of speech and of the press — what 
 security had we, that even these sacred privileges would not be 
 invaded? Congress might think it necessary, in order to carry 
 into effect the given powers, to silence the clamours and cen- 
 sures of the people; and, if they meditated views of lawless 
 ambition, they certainly will so think : what then would become 
 of the liberty of speech and of the press? 
 
 Several objections of a minor character were urged, such as : — 
 
 1. That the ambiguity with which the direction for publishing 
 the proceedings of congress was expressed, ("from time to 
 time,") put it in their power to keep the people in utter igno- 
 rance of their proceedings; and thus to seize the public liberties 
 *'by ambuscade." 
 
 2. That the ninth section of the first article, professing to set 
 out restrictions upon the power of congress, gave them, by ir- 
 resistible implication, the sovereign power over all subjects not 
 excepted, and thus enlarged their constructive powers, ad in- 
 jinituvi. 
 
 3. That congress had the power of involving the southern 
 states in all the horrors which would result from a total eman- 
 cipation of their slaves; and that the northern states, uninter- 
 ested in the consequences of such an act, had a controlling ma- 
 jority, which possessed the power, and would not probably want 
 the inclination to effect it. 
 
 4. That the pay of the members was by the constitution to 
 be fixed by themselves, without limitation or restraint. *'They 
 may, therefore," said Mr. Henry, "indulge themselves in the 
 fullest extent. They will make their compensation as high as 
 they please. I suppose, if they be good men, their own deli- 
 cacy will lead them to be satisfied with moderate salaries. But 
 there is no security for this, should they be otherwise inclined." 
 
 These objections, and many others which it were tedious to 
 enumerate, were pressed upon the house day after day, with all 
 the powers of reasoning and of eloquence ; and where argument 
 and declamation were found unavailing, the force of ridicule 
 was freely resorted to. Thus, in relation to the objection of 
 consolidation, Mr. Madison had said : — 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 205 
 
 "There are a number of opinions as to the nature of the gov- 
 ernment; but the principal question is, whether it be a federal 
 or consolidated government. In order to judge properly of the 
 question before us, we must consider it minutely in its principal 
 parts. I conceive, myself, that it is of a mixed nature: — it is, 
 in a manner, unprecedented: we cannot find one express exam- 
 ple in the experience of the world — it stands by itself. In some 
 respects, it is a government of a federal nature; in others, it is 
 of a consolidated nature." 
 
 He then proceeds to point out and discriminate its federal 
 from its national features. Mr. Corbin, on the same side, ex- 
 pressed himself satisfied with Mr. Madison's definition of the 
 instrument; but begged leave to call it by another name, viz., 
 *'fl representative federal government, as contradistinguished 
 from a confederacy." 
 
 Mr. Henry, in replying to these gentlemen, says: — "This 
 government is so new, it wants a name ! I loish its other nov- 
 elties were as harmless as this. We are told, however, that, 
 collectively taken, it is without an example ! — that it is national 
 in this part, and federal in that part, &c. We maybe amused, 
 if We please, by a treatise of political anatomy. In the brain 
 it is national: the stamina are federal — some limbs are feder- 
 al, others national. The senators are voted for by the state 
 legislatures — so far it is federal. Individuals choose the mem- 
 bers of the first branch — here it is national. 
 
 "It is federal in conferring general powers; but national m 
 retaining them. It is not to be supported by the states — the 
 pockets of individuals are to be searched for its maintenance. 
 What signifies it to me, that you have the most curious ana- 
 tomical description of it in its creation? To all the common 
 purposes of legislation, it is a great consolidation of govern- 
 ment. You are not to have the right to legislate in any but 
 trivial cases; you are not to touch private contracts: you are 
 not to have the right of having armies in your own defence: 
 you cannot be trusted with dealing out justice between man and 
 man. 
 
 " What shall the states have to do ? Take care of the poor 
 — repair and make highways — erect bridges — and so on, and 
 so on ! Abolish the state legislatures at once. What purposes 
 should they be continued for? Our legislature will indeed be a 
 ludicrous spectacle — one hundred and eighty men, marching in 
 solemn farcical procession, exhibiting a mournful proof of the 
 lost liberty of their country, without the power of restoring it. 
 But, sir, we have the consolation, that it is a mixed g^overnment' 
 that is, it may work sorely in your neck; but you will have some 
 comfort by saying, that it was a federal government in its origin !*' 
 
 18 
 
206 wirt's life of 
 
 Notwithstanding this ridicule, however, thrown on some of 
 their arguments, Mr. Henlf^did not fail, on every proper occa- 
 sion, to do justice to the great abilities and merits of his adver- 
 saries. To the eloquence of Col. Innis he paid a memorable 
 tribute; and in one short sentence sketched a picture of it so 
 vivid, and so faithful, that it would be injustice to both gentle- 
 men not to give it a place: — "That honourable gentleman is 
 endowed with great eloquence — eloquence splendid, magnificent, 
 and sufficient to shake the human mind!" 
 
 No circumlocution could have described with half the spirit 
 and truth, that rare union of pomp and power which distinguished 
 Col. Innis; whose car of triumph was always a chariot of war; 
 pugncB vel pompcB, pariter aptus. One of the most singular 
 instances on record of the fallacy of the human memory, oc- 
 curred in the course of these debates: this was in relation to 
 the case of Josiah Phillips, which has been already mentioned. 
 Mr. Randolph, in answer to Mr. Henry's panegyrics on the con- 
 stitution of the state of Virginia, brought forward that case in 
 the following terms : — 
 
 "There is one example of this violation (of the state consti- 
 tution) in Virginia, of a most striking and shocking nature; an 
 example so horrid, that if I conceived my country would pas- 
 sively permit a repetition of it, dear as it is to me, I would seek 
 means of expatriating myself from it. A man, who was then a 
 citizen, was deprived of his life thus: — from a mere reliance on 
 general reports, a gentleman in the house of delegates informed 
 the house, that a certain man (Josiah Philips) had committed 
 several crimes, and was running at large perpetrating other 
 crimes; he, therefore, moved for leave to attaint him; he ob- 
 tained that leave instantly; no sooner did he obtain it, than he 
 drew from his pocket a bill ready written for that effect; it was 
 read three times in one day, and carried to the senate; I will 
 not say that it passed the same day through the senate ; but he 
 was attainted very speedily and precipitately, without any proof 
 better than vague reports! 
 
 " Without being confronted with his accusers and witnesses : 
 without the privilege of calling for evidence in his behalf, he 
 was sentenced to death, and was afterward actually executed. 
 Was this arbitrary deprivation of life, the dearest gift of God to 
 man, consistent with the genius of a republican g^overnment? 
 Is this compatible with the spirit of freedom? This, sir, has 
 made the deepest impression in myheart, and I cannot contem- 
 plate it without horror." Now the reader, by adverting to the 
 statement which has been already given of Philips's case, and 
 which is founded on record, will find that there is not one 
 word of this eloquent invective that is consistent with the facts* 
 
PATRICK HBNRY. 207 
 
 What makes the case still more strange is, that Mr. Ran- 
 dolph, at the happening of the occurrence to which he alludes, 
 held the double office of clerk of the house of delegates, and 
 attorney-general of the commonwealth ; in the first character, 
 he had, only ten years before, been officially informed, that the 
 bill of attainder had not been founded on report, but on a com- 
 munication of the governor, enclosing the letter of the command- 
 ing officer of the militia in the quarter which was the theatre of 
 Philips's ravages ; that that letter had been in due form commit- 
 ted to the whole house on the state of the commonwealth, whose 
 resolutions led to the bill in question ; and that the bill, instead 
 9f being read three times in one day, had been regularly, and 
 according to the forms of the house, read on three several days. 
 
 While in his character of attorney-general, he had himself 
 endicted and prosecuted Philips for highway robbery — con- 
 fronted him with the witnesses, whose names are given at the 
 foot of the endictment, still extant among our records, and en- 
 dorsed in Mr. Randolph's own hand-writing ; convicted him on 
 that charge, on which charge, and on which alone, Philips, was 
 regularly sentenced and executed. Yet, not only Mr. Ran- 
 dolph, but all the other members who had occasion to advert to 
 the circumstance, and even Mr. Henry, on whom it is supposed 
 to have been designed to bear, proceed in their several crimina- 
 tions and defences, upon the admission that Philips had fallen a 
 victim to the bill of attainder. Had the incident been of a com- 
 mon character, there would have been nothing strange in its 
 having been forgotten ; but it is one of so singular and interest- 
 ing a nature, that this total oblivion of it by the principal actors 
 themselves becomes a matter of curious history. (See Appen- 
 dix. Note C.) 
 
 The convention had been attended, from its commencement, 
 by a vast concourse of citizens of all ages and conditions. The 
 interest so universally felt in the question itself, and not less the 
 transcendent talents which were engaged in its discussion, pre- 
 sented such attractions as could not be resisted. Industry de- 
 serted its pursuits, and even dissipation gave up its objects, for 
 the superior enjoyments which were presented by the hall ot 
 the convention. Not only the people of the town and neigh- 
 bourhood, but gentlemen from every quarter of the state, were 
 seen thronging to the metropolis, and speeding their eager way 
 to the building in which the convention held its meetings. 
 
 Day after day, from morning till night, the galleries of the 
 house were continually filled with an anxious crowd, who forgot 
 the inconvenience of their situation in the excess of their enjoy- 
 ment ; and far from giving any interruption to the course of the 
 debate, increased its interest and solemnity by their silence and 
 
208 wirt's lifb of 
 
 attention. No bustle, no n|^tion, no sound was heard among 
 them, save only a slight movement when some new speaker 
 arose, whom they were all eager to see as well as to hear ; or 
 when some masterstroke of eloquence shot thrilling along their 
 nerves, and extorted an involuntary and inarticulate murmur, 
 pay after day was this banquet of the mind and of the heart 
 spread before them, with a delicacy and variety which could 
 never cloy. 
 
 There every taste might find its peculiar gratifications — the 
 man of wit-r- the man of feeling — the critic — the philosopher — • 
 the historian — the metaphysician — the lover of logic — the ad- 
 mirer of rhetoric — every man who had an eye for the beauty 
 of action, or an ear for the harmony of sound, or a soul for the 
 charms of poetic fancy — in short, every one who could see, or 
 hear, or feel, or understand, might find in the wanton profusion 
 and prodigality of that attic feast, some delicacy adapted to his 
 peculiar taste. Every mode of attack and of defence, of which 
 the human mind is capable, in decorous debate — every species 
 of weapon and armour, offensive and defensive, that could be 
 used with advantage, from the Roman javelin to the Parthian 
 arrow, from the cloud of Eneas to the shield of Achilles — all 
 that could be accomplished by human strength, and almost 
 more than human activity, was seen exhibited on that celebra- 
 ted floor. 
 
 Nor did the debate become oppressive by its unvarying for- 
 mality. The stateliness and sternness of extended argument 
 were frequently relieved by quick and animated dialogue. 
 Sometimes the conversation would become familiar and friendly. 
 The combatants themselves would seem pleased with this re- 
 lief; forget that they were enemies, and by a sort of informal 
 truce put off their armour, and sit down amicably together to 
 repose, as it were, in the shade of the same tree. By this agree- 
 able intermixture of colloq»uial sprightliness and brilliancy with 
 profound, and learner!, and vigorous argument — of social cour- 
 tesy, and heroic gallantry, the audience, far from being fa- 
 tigued with the discussion, looked with regret to the hour of ad- 
 journment. 
 
 In this great competition of talents, Mr. Henry's powers ot 
 debate still shone pre-eminent. They were now exhibiting 
 themselves in a new aspect. Hitherto his efforts, however 
 splendid, had been comparatively short and occasional. In the 
 house of burgesses in seventeen hundred and sixty-five, in the 
 congress of seventeen hundred and seventy-four, and the state 
 convention of seventeen hundred and seventy-five, he had ex- 
 hibited the impetuous charge of the gallant Francis the First: 
 but now, in combination with this fiery force, he was displaying 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 209 
 
 all the firm and dauntless constancy of Charles the Fifth. No 
 shock of his adversaries could move him from his ground. Hia 
 resources never failed. His eloquence was poured from inex- 
 haustible fountains, and assumed every variety of hue and form 
 and motion, which could delight or persuade, instruct or as- 
 tonish. 
 
 Sometimes it was the limpid rivulet sparkling down the 
 mountain's side, and winding its silver course between margins 
 of moss — then gradually swelling to a bolder stream, it roared 
 in the headlong cataract, and spread its rainbows to the sun — 
 now, it flowed on in tranquil majesty, like a river of the west, 
 reflecting from it polished surface, forest, and cliflT, and sky — 
 anon, it was the angry ocean, chafed by the tempest, hanging 
 its billows, with deafening clamours, among the cracking 
 shrouds, or hurling them in sublime defiance at the storm that 
 frowned above. 
 
 Toward the close of the session, an incident occurred of a 
 character so extraordinary as to deserve particular notice. The 
 question of adoption or rejection was now approaching. The 
 decision was still uncertain, and every mind and every heart 
 was filled with anxiety. Mr. Henry partook most deeply of 
 this feeling ; and while engaged, as it were, in his last eflforts, 
 availed himself of the strong sensations which he knew to per- 
 vade the house, and made an appeal to it which, in point of sub- 
 limity, has never been surpassed in any age or country of the 
 world. 
 
 After describing, in accents which spoke to the soul, and to 
 which every other bosom deeply responded, the awful immen- 
 sity of the question to the present and future generations, and 
 the throbbing apprehensions with which he looked to the issue, 
 he passed from the house and from the earth, and looking as 
 he said, "beyond that horizon which binds mortal eyes," he 
 pointed — with a countenance and action that made the blood 
 run back upon the aching heart — to those celestial beings who 
 were hovering over the scene, and waiting with anxiety for a 
 decision which involved the happiness or misery of more than 
 half the human race. 
 
 To those beings — with the same thrilling look and action — 
 he had just addressed an invocation that made every nerve 
 shudder with supernatural horror — when, lo ! a storm at that 
 instant arose, which shook the whole building, and the spirits 
 whom he had called seemed to have come at his bidding. Nor 
 did his eloquence, or the storm immediately cease — but avail- 
 ing himself of the incident, with a master's art, he seemed to 
 mix in the fight of his ethereal auxiliaries, and " rising on the 
 wings of the tempest, to seize upon the artillery of Heaven, 
 
210 wirt's life of 
 
 and direct its fiercest thun^prs against the heads of his adver 
 saries." The scene became insupportable ; and the house 
 rose without the formality of adjournment, the members rush- 
 ing from their seat with precipitation and confusion.* 
 
 But all his efforts were in vain. Either the justice of the op- 
 posing cause, or the powers of his adversaries, or the prejudg- 
 ed opinions and instructions of the members, rendered his rea- 
 soning and his eloquence equally unavailing. Out of a house, 
 composed of one hundred and sixty-eight members, the ques- 
 tion of ratification was carried by a majority of ten. Mr. 
 Henry seemed to have a presage of this result. After the 
 storm which has been mentioned, Colonel Innis, who, in his 
 character of attorney-general, had been nitherto attending a 
 court of oyer and terminer^ came into the house, and the de- 
 bate was renewed. Mr. Henry, in answering him, closed the 
 last speech which he delivered on the floor, with the following 
 remarks : — 
 
 " I beg pardon of this house for having taken up more time 
 than came to my share ; and I thank them for the patience and 
 polite attention with which I have been heard. If I shall be in 
 the minority, I shall have those painful sensations which arise 
 from a conviction of being overpowered in a good cause. Yet, 
 I will be a peaceable citizen ! My head, my hand, and my 
 heart shall be free to retrieve the loss of liberty, and remove 
 the defects of that system, in a constitutional way, I wish 
 not to go to violence, but will wait with hopes that the spirit 
 which predominated in the revolution is not yet gone : nor the 
 cause of those who are attached to the revolution yet lost — I 
 shall therefore patiently wait, in expectation of seeing that 
 government changed, so as to be compatible with the safety, 
 liberty, and happiness of the people." 
 
 The objections, however, which had been urged, and the ar- 
 guments by which they had been supported, although they 
 had not succeeded in preventing the ratification of the consti- 
 tution, had produced a very serious effect on the house. Be- 
 fore their final dissolution, they agreed to a bill of rights, and 
 a series of amendments (twenty in number,) embracing and 
 providing for the objections of Mr. Henry and his associates. 
 A copy of these amendments, engrossed on parchment, and 
 
 * The words above quoted are those of Judge Archibald Stewart ; a gen- 
 tleman who was present, a member of the convention, and one of those who 
 voted against the side of the question supported by Mr. Henry. The incident, 
 OS given in the text, is wholly founded on the statements of those who were 
 witnesses of the scene ; and by comparin»g it with the corresponding passage 
 in the printed debates, the reader may decide how far these are to be relied on 
 £fl specimens of Mr. Henry's eloquence. 
 
PATRICK HSNRT. 911 
 
 «igned by the president of the convention, was ordered to be 
 transmitted to congress, together with the instrument of rati* 
 fication. Similar copies were ordered to be transmitted to 
 the executive and legislatures of the several states ; and fifty- 
 copies of the ratification and proposed amendments were ordered 
 to be struck for the use of each county in this commonwealth. 
 
 Mr. Henry lost no ground with the people, at the time, for 
 the part which he had taken on this occasion ; and when after- 
 Ward the constitution began to develop its tendencies by prac- 
 tical operation, so many of his predictions were believed by a 
 majority of the people of Virginia to be fulfilled, and so many 
 more in a rapid progress of fulfilment, that his character for 
 political penetration rose higher than ever. That he had lost 
 no ground at the time, two signal proofs were given in the ses- 
 sion of assembly immediately following that of the convention* 
 The latter body rose on the twenty-seventh of June, and the 
 assembly met on the twentieth of October following. This 
 interval had been too short to permit the subsidence of that 
 high excitement, which the canvass of the constitution had 
 provoked ; and the assembly was consequently discriminated 
 by feelings of party as strong and determined, as those which 
 had characterized the convention itself. 
 
 The constitution having been adopted by a sufficient num- 
 ber of states to carry it into efiect, it became necessary at this 
 session to provide for its organization, and, among other meas- 
 ures, to choose two senators to represent this state, in the con- 
 gress of the United States. For this office, Mr. Madison was 
 presented by those who were at that time distinguished by the 
 appellation of federalists ; by which nothing more was then 
 meant, than that they were advocates for the adoption of the 
 new federal constitution. 
 
 The anti-federalists, on the contrary, who were alarmed by 
 the vast powers which they considered as granted by the con- 
 stitution, regarded it as a salutary check on the constructive 
 extension of those powers, and as the best means of securing 
 those amendments which they deemed essential to the liber- 
 ties of the people, that the first congress should be composed 
 of men of their own sentiments. In opposition to Mr. Madi- 
 son, therefore, Mr. Henry took the unusual liberty of nomi- 
 nating two candidates, Mr. Richard H. Lee and Mr. Grayson ; 
 and, notwithstanding the great accession of character which 
 Mr. Madison had acquired by the ability with which he had es- 
 poused the ratification of the constitution, those gentlemen 
 were elected by a considerable majority. 
 
 At the same session of the assembly, Mr. Henry, whose 
 mind seems to have been filled with the most opp ressive soli- 
 
Sn^ WIRT*S UfR OF 
 
 citude by the unconditionaPkdoption of the constitution, an^ 
 who brooded with correspondent anxiety over the most effect 
 ive means of procuring amendments, moved, in the committee 
 of the whole house, the following preamble and resolu' 
 tions : — 
 
 "Whereas the convention of delegates of the people of this 
 commonwealth did ratify a constitution or form of government 
 for the United States, referred to them for their consideration, 
 and did also declare that sundry amendments to exceptionable 
 parts of the same ought to be adopted ; and whereas the sub- 
 ject-matter of the amendments agreed to by the said convention 
 involves all the great, essential, and unalienable rights, liber- 
 ties, and privileges of freemen ; many of which, if not cancel- 
 led, are rendered insecure under the said constitution, until the 
 same shall be altered and amended : — 
 
 *' Resolved^ That it is the opinion of this committee, that 
 for quieting the minds of the good citizens of this common- 
 wealth — and securing their dearest rights and liberties — and 
 preventing those disorders which must arise under a govern- 
 ment not founded in the confidence of the people — application 
 be made to the congress of the United States, as soon as they 
 shall assemble under the said constitution, to call a convention 
 for proposing amendments to the same, according to the mode 
 therein directed. 
 
 " Resolved, That it is the opinion of this committee, that a 
 committee ought to be appointed to draw up and report to the 
 house, a proper instrument of writing, expressing the sense of 
 the general assembly, and pointing out the reasons which in- 
 duce them to urge their application thus early, for calling the 
 aforesaid convention of the states. 
 
 " Resolved, That it is the opinion of this committee, that 
 the said committee ought to be instructed to prepare the draft 
 of a letter, in answer to one received from his excellency 
 George Clinton, Esq., president of the convention of New 
 York — and a circular letter, on the aforesaid subject, to the 
 other states in the union, expressive of the wish of the general 
 assembly of this commonwealth, that they may join in an appli- 
 cation to the new congress, to appoint a convention of the states, 
 so soon as the congress shall assemble under the new consti- 
 tution." 
 
 These were carried in committee, and immediately reported 
 to the house; when a motion was made to amend them, by 
 striking out from the word "whereas," and substituting in lien 
 of the original, the following preamble and resolutions : — 
 
 " Whereas, the delegates appointed to represent the good 
 people of this commonwealth, in the late convention held in 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 213 
 
 the month of June last, did, by their act of the twenty-fifth of 
 the same month, assent to and ratify the constitution, recom- 
 mended on the seventeenth day of September, seventeen hun- 
 dred and eighty-seven, by the federal convention for the gov- 
 ernment of the United States, declaring themselves, with a sol- 
 emn appeal to the Searcher of hearts for the purity of their 
 intentions, under the conviction, " that whatsoever imperfec- 
 tions might exist in the constitution, ought rather to be exam- 
 ined in the mode prescribed therein, than to bring the Union 
 into danger by a delay, with a hope of obtaining amendments 
 previous to the ratification. 
 
 " And whereas, in pursuance of the said declaration, the 
 same convention did, by their subsequent act of the twenty- 
 seventh of June, aforesaid, agree to such amendments to the 
 said constitution of the government for the United States, as 
 were by them deemed necessary to be recommended to the 
 consideration of the congress which shall first assemble under 
 the said constitution, to be acted upon according to the mode 
 prescribed in the fifth article thereof; at the same time enjoin- 
 ing it upon their representatives in congress, to exert all their 
 influence, and use all reasonable and legal methods, to obtain a 
 ratification of the foregoing alterations and provisions, in the 
 manner provided by the fifth article of the said constitution, 
 and in all congressional laws to be passed in the meantime, to 
 conform to the spirit of those amendments as far as the said 
 constitution would admit. 
 
 ** Resolved, Therefore, that it is the opinion of this committee, 
 that an application ought to be made, in the name and on the 
 behalf of the legislature of this commonwealth, to the congress 
 of the United States, so soon as they shall assemble under the 
 said constitution, to pass an act recommending to the legisla- 
 tures of the several states, the ratification of a bill of rights, 
 and of certain articles of amendment, proposed by the conven- 
 tion of this state, for the adoption of the United States; and 
 that, until the said act shall be ratified in pursuance of the fifth 
 article of the said constitution of the government for the United 
 States, congress do conform their ordinances to the true spirit 
 of the said bill of rights and articles of amendment. 
 
 ^^ Resolved, That it is the opinion of this committee, that the 
 executive ought to be instructed to transmit a copy of the fore- 
 going resolution to the congress of the United States, so soon 
 as they shall assemble, and to the legislatures and executive 
 authorities of each state in the union." 
 
 On this proposal of amendment a very animated debate en- 
 sued, which resulted in its rejection, and the adoption of the 
 original report, by a majority of more than two for one. 
 
214 wirt's life of 
 
 These two measures — tl^^lection of the senators named hy 
 Mr. Henry, in opposition to so formidable a competitor as Mr, 
 Madison — and the carrying so strong a measure as the call of a 
 new continental convention, for the purpose of revising and al- 
 tering the constitution — certainly furnish the most decisive proof, 
 that his influence remained unimpaired by the part which he 
 had taken in the convention of the state. 
 
 It was in the course of the debate which has been just men- 
 tioned, that Mr. Henry was driven from his usual decorum into 
 a retaliation, that became a theme of great public merriment at 
 the time, and has continued ever since one of the most popular 
 anecdotes that relate to him. 
 
 He had insisted, it seems, with great force, that the speedy 
 adoption of the amendments was the only measure that could 
 secure the great and unalienable rights of the freemen of this 
 country — that the people were known to be exceedingly anxious 
 for this measure — that it was the only step which could recon- 
 cile them to the new constitution — and assure that public con- 
 tentment, security, and confidence, which were the sale objects 
 of government, and without which no government could stand 
 — that whatever might be the individual sentiments of gentle- 
 men, yet the wishes of the people, the foundation of all author- 
 ity, being known, they were bound to conform to those wishes 
 ■ — that, for his own part, he considered his opinion as nothing, 
 when opposed to those of his constituents; and that he was 
 ready and willing at all times and on all occasions^ "to boWf 
 with the utmost deference, to the majesty of the people.'''' 
 
 A young gentleman, on the federal side of the house, who had 
 been a member of the late convention, and had in that body, re- 
 ceived, on one occasion, a slight touch of Mr. Henry's lash, re- 
 solved now, in an ill-fated moment, to make a set charge upon 
 the veteran, and brave him to the combat. He possessed fancy, 
 a graceful address, and an easy, sprightly elocution; and had 
 been sent by his father, (an opulent man, and an officer of high 
 rank and trust under the regal government,) to finish his educa- 
 tion in the colleges of England, and acquire the polish of the 
 court of St. James; where he had passed the whole period of 
 the American revolution. 
 
 Returning with advantages which were rare in this country, 
 and with the confidence natural to his years, presuming a little 
 too far upon those advantages, he seized upon the words, "bow 
 to the majesty of the people," which Mr. Henry had used, and 
 rung the changes upon them with considerable felicity. 
 
 He denied the solicitude of the people for the amendments, 
 so strenuously urged on the other side; he insisted that the peo- 
 ple thought their "great and unalienable rights" sufficiently se- 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 215 
 
 cured by the constitution which they had adopted: that the pre- 
 amble of the constitution itself, which was now to be considered 
 as the language of the people, declared its objects to be, among 
 others, the security of those very rights; the people then de- 
 clare the constitution the guarantee of their rights, while the 
 gentleman, in opposition to this public declaration of their sen- 
 timents, insists upon his amendments as furnishing that guaran- 
 tee; yet the gentleman tells us, that *'he bows to the majesty 
 of the people:" these words he accompanied with a most grace- 
 ful bow. 
 
 "The gentleman," he proceeded, "had set himself in oppo- 
 sition to the will of the people, throughout the whole course of 
 this transaction: the people approved of the constitution: the 
 suffrage of their constituents in the last convention had proved 
 it — the people wished, most anxiously wished, the adoption of 
 the constitution, as the only means of saving the credit and the 
 honour of the country, and producing the stability of the union: 
 the, gentleman, on the contrary, had placed himself at the head 
 of those who opposed its adoption — yet, the gentleman is ever 
 read^ and willing, at all times and on all occasions, to hoio to 
 the majesty of the people,^^ (with another profound and graceful 
 bow.) 
 
 Thus he proceeded, through a number of animated sentences, 
 winding up each one with the same words, sarcastically repeat- 
 ed, and the accompaniment of the same graceful obeisance. 
 Among other things, he said, "it was of little importance whether 
 a country was ruled by a despot, with a tiara on his head, or by 
 a demagogue in a red cloak, a caul-bare wig," &c., (describing 
 Mr. Henry's dress so minutely, as to draw every eye upon him,) 
 "although he should profess on all occasions to how to the ma^ 
 jesty of the people.''* 
 
 A gentleman who was present, and who, struck with the sin- 
 gularity of the attack, had the curiosity to number the vibrations 
 on those words, and the accompanying action, states, that he 
 counted thirteen of the most graceful bows he had ever beheld,- 
 The friends of Mr. Henry considered such an attack on a man 
 of his years and high character as very little short of sacrilege; 
 on the other side of the house, there was, indeed, a smothered 
 sort of dubious laugh, in which there seemed to be at least as 
 much apprehension as enjoyment. Mr. Henry had heard the 
 whole of it without any apparent mark of attention. 
 
 The young gentleman having finished his philipic, very much 
 at least to his own satisfaction, took his seat, with the gayest 
 expression of triumph in his countenance — "/few/ Nescia, 
 mens hominum, fati, sortisque futures /" Mr. Henry raised 
 himself up, heavily, and with affected awkwardness — 
 
216 wirt's life ot 
 
 **Mr. Speaker," said he, " I am a plain man, and have been 
 educated altogether in VirgPfia. My whole life has been spent 
 among planters, and other plain men of similar education, who 
 have never had the advantage of that polish which a court alone 
 can give, and which the gentleman over the way has so happily 
 acquired; indeed, sir, the gentleman's employments and mine 
 (in common with the great mass of his countrymen) have been 
 as widely different as our fortunes; for while that gentleman 
 was availing himself of the opportunity which a splendid for- 
 tune afforded him, of acquiring a foreign education, mixing 
 among the great, attending levees and courts, basking in the 
 beams of royal favour at St. James\ and exchanging courtesies 
 with crowned heads, I was engaged in the arduous toils of the 
 revolution; and was probably as far from thinking of acquiring 
 those polite accomplishments which the gentleman has so suc- 
 cessfully cultivated, as that gentleman then was from sharing in 
 the toils and dangers in which his unpolished countrymen were 
 engaged. 
 
 "I will not, therefore, presume to vie with the gentleman in 
 those courtly accomplishments, of which he has just given the 
 house so agreeable a specimen; yet such a bow as I can make, 
 shall be ever at the service of the people." — Herewith, although 
 there was no man who could make a more graceful bow than 
 Mr. Henry, he made one so ludicrously awkward and clownish, 
 as took the house by surprise, and put them into a roar of laugh- 
 ter. — "The gentleman, I hope, will commiserate the disadvan- 
 tages of education under which I have laboured, and will be 
 pleased to remember, that 1 have never been a favourite with that 
 monarch, whose gracious smile he has had the happiness to enjoy." 
 
 He pursued this contrast of situations and engagements, for 
 fifteen or twenty minutes, without a smile, and without the 
 smallest token of resentment, either in countenance, expression, 
 or manner. "You would almost have sworn," says a corres- 
 pondent, "that he thought himself making his apology for his 
 own awkwardness, before a full drawing-room at St. James.' 
 I believe there was not a person that heard him, the sufferer 
 himself excepted, who did not feel every risible nerve affected. 
 His adversary meantime hung down his head, and sinking low- 
 er and lower, until he was almost concealed behind the inter- 
 posing forms, submitted to the discipline as quietly as a Russian 
 malefactor, who had been beaten with the knout, till all sense 
 of feeling was lost." 
 
 The documents reported and adopted by the house of dele 
 gates, in consequence of the foregoing resolutions, are the fol- 
 lowing — which are given, because they are said to be from the 
 pen of Mr. Henry ;■ — 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 217 
 
 " Resolved^ That it is the opinion of this committee, that an 
 application ought to be made, in the name and on behalf of the 
 legislature of this commonwealth, to the congress of the United 
 States, in the following words, to wit: — 
 *'The good people of this commonwealth, 
 
 "In convention assembled, having ratified the constitution 
 submitted to their consideration, this legislature has, in confor- 
 mity to that act, and the resolutions of the United States in con- 
 gress assembled, to them transmitted, thought proper to make 
 the arrangements that were necessary for carrying it into effect. 
 Having thus shown themselves obedient to the voice of their 
 constituents, all America will find that so far as it depends on 
 them, that plan of government will be carried into immediate 
 operation. But the sense of the people of Virginia would be 
 but in part complied with, and but little regarded, if we went no 
 further. 
 
 "In the very moment of adoption, and coeval with the ratifi- 
 cation of the new plan of government, the general voice of the 
 convention of this state pointed to objects no less interesting to 
 the people we represent, and equally entitled to your attention. 
 At the same time that, from motives of affection for our sister 
 states, the convention yielded their assent to the ratification, 
 they gave the most unequivocal proofs that they dreaded its 
 operation under the present form. 
 
 "In acceding to a government under this impression, painful 
 must have been the prospect, had they not derived consolation 
 from a full expectation of its imperfections being speedily 
 amended. In this resource, therefore, they placed their confi- 
 dence — a confidence that will continue to support them, while 
 they have reason to believe they have not calculated upon it in 
 vain. 
 
 "In making known to you the objections of the people of 
 this commonwealth to the new plan of government, we deem it 
 unnecessary to enter into a particular detail of its defects, which 
 they consider as involving all the great and unalienable rights 
 of freemen: For their sense on this subject, we refer you to the 
 proceedings of their late convention, and the sense of this gen- 
 eral assembly, as expressed in their resolutions of the day 
 
 of . 
 
 "We think proper, however, to declare that, in our opinion, 
 as those objections were not founded on speculative theory, but 
 deduced from principles which have been established by the 
 melancholy example of other nations, in different ages — so they 
 never will be removed, until the cause itself shall cease to exist. 
 The sooner, therefore, the public apprehensions are quieted, and 
 the government is possessed of the confidence of the people, 
 
 19 
 
218 wirt'8 life of 
 
 the more salutary will be its operations, and the longer its du- 
 ration. ^ 
 
 "The cause of amendments we consider as a common cause; 
 and since concessions have been made from political motives, 
 which we conceive may endanger the republic, we trust that a 
 commendable zeal will be shown for obtaining those provisions, 
 which experience has taught us are necessary to secure from 
 danger the unalienable rights of human nature. 
 
 "The anxiety with which our countrymen press for the ac- 
 complishment of this important end, will ill admit of delay. 
 The slow forms of congressional discussion and recommenda- 
 tion, if indeed they should ever agree to any change, would Ave 
 fear be less certain of success. Happily for their wishes, the 
 constitution hath presented an alternative, by submitting the de- 
 cision to a convention of the states. To this, therefore, we re- 
 sort, as the source from whence they are to derive relief from 
 their present apprehensions. 
 
 "We do, therefore, in behalf of our constituents, in the mosi 
 earnest and solemn manner, make this application to congress, 
 that a convention be immediately called, of deputies from the 
 several states, with full power to take into their consideration 
 the defects of this constitution that have been suggested by the 
 state conventions, and report such amendments thereto as they 
 shall tind best suited to promote our common interests, and se- 
 cure to ourselves, and our latest posterity, the great and unali- 
 enable rights of mankind." 
 
 Draft of a letter to Governor Clinton on the same subject: — 
 
 *'Sir: The letter from the convention of the state of New- 
 York hath been laid before us since our present session. The 
 subject which it contemplated was taken up, and we have the 
 pleasure to inform you of the entire concurrence in sentiment, 
 between that honourable body and the representatives in senate 
 and assembly of the freemen of this commonwealth. 
 
 "The propriety of immediately calling a convention of the 
 states, to take into consideration the defects of the constitution 
 was admitted ; and in consequence thereof, an application agreed 
 to, to be presented to the congress, so soon as it shall be con- 
 vened for the accomplishment of that important end. We here- 
 with transmit to your excellency, a copy of this application, 
 wmcn we request may be laid before your assembly at their 
 next meeting. We take occasion to express our most earnest 
 wishes that it may obtain the approbation of New-York, and of 
 all other sister states." 
 
 Draft of a letter to the several states on the same subject:— 
 
 "The freemen of this commonwealth, in convention assem- 
 bled, having, at the fs^me time that they ratified the federal con- 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 219 
 
 ttitution, expressed a desire that many parts, which they con- 
 sidered as exceptionable parts, should be amended — the general 
 assembly, as well from a sense of duty as a conviction of its 
 defects, have thought proper to take the earliest measures in 
 their power, for the accomplishment of this important object. 
 They have accordingly agreed upon an application to be pre- 
 sented to the congress, so soon as it shall be assembled, request- 
 ing that honpurable body to call a convention of deputies from 
 the several states, to take the same into their consideration, and 
 report such amendments as they shall find best calculated to 
 answer the purpose. 
 
 "As we conceive that all the good people of the United States 
 are equally interested in obtaining those amendments that have 
 been proposed, we trust that there will be a harmony in their 
 sentiments and measures, upon this very interesting subject. 
 We herewith transmit to you a copy of this application, and 
 take the liberty to subjoin our earnest wishes that it may have 
 your concurrence." 
 
 In the two remaining years during which Mr. Henry contin- 
 ued a member of the assembly, I find nothing worthy of par- 
 ticular remark. In the spring of seventeen hundred and ninety- 
 one, he declined a re-election, with the purpose of bidding a 
 final adieu to public life: and although the tender of the most 
 honourable appointments, the solicitations of his numerous 
 friends and admirers, and ultimately his own wishes conspired 
 to draw him from his retreat, he never again made his appear- 
 ance in a public character. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Mr. Henry continues the Practice of the Law — Case of " the British Debts'* 
 — Uncommon Interest elicited to hear Mr. Henry on this Case — His Speech 
 — Mode of answering opposing Counsel — Sketch of Him in his professional 
 Character — His Defence of the Son of Dr. Holland on his Trial for Murder 
 — Anecdote of the Case of John Hook — He bids a final Adieu to his Profes- 
 sion in 1794. 
 
 Mr. Henry still continued, however, rather through neces- 
 sity than choice, the practice of the law : and in the fall of this 
 year, seventeen hundred and ninety-one, a cause came on to 
 be argued before the circuit court of the United States, in which 
 he made what has been considered his most distinguished dis- 
 play of professional talents. This was the celebrated case of 
 
23a 
 
 the British debts ; a case in which, from its great and exten- 
 sive interest, the whole pdwer of the bar of Virginia was em- 
 barked, and which was discussed with so much learning, argu- 
 ment, and eloquence, as to have placed that bar, in the estima- 
 tion of the federal judges, (if the reports of the day may be 
 accredited,) above all others in the United States. 
 
 The cause was argued first in seventeen hundred and ninety- 
 one, before Judges Johnson and Blair, of the supreme court, 
 and Griffin, judge of the district ; and afterward in seventeen 
 hundred and ninety-three, before Judges Jay and Iredell, and 
 the same district judge. Mr. Henry was one of the counsel 
 for the defendant, and argued the cause on both occasions. 
 The deep interest of the question, in a national point of view, 
 and the manner in which it involved more particularly the 
 honour of the state of Virginia, and the fortunes of her citi- 
 zens, had excited Mr. Henry to a degree of preparation which 
 he had never before made ; and he came forth, on this occasion, 
 a perfect master of every principle of law, national and muni- 
 cipal, which touched the subject of investigation in the most 
 distant point. 
 
 Of the first argument, a manuscript report is still extant, ta- 
 ken in shorthand by Mr. Robertson, the same gentleman who 
 reported the debates of the convention of Virginia in seven- 
 teen hundred and eighty-eight. The second argument was not 
 reported ; because, as Mr. Robertson states, he was informed 
 by the counsel, that it would be nothing more than a repetition 
 of the first; and he adds, that he was afterward told it was 
 much inferior. What must we conclude, then, as to the pow- 
 ers displayed by Mr. Henry in the first argument, when, in the 
 course of the second and inferior one, he extorted from Judge 
 Iredell, as he sat on the bench, the exclamation: — "Gracious 
 God ! — He is an orator indeed /" 
 
 The report of the first argument, as deciphered by Mr. Rob- 
 ertson, from his stenographic notes, has been obligingly sub- 
 mitted to the author of these sketches, and he has extracted 
 from it an imperfect analysis of Mr. Henry's speech. The re- 
 port may unquestionably be relied on, so far as it professes to 
 state the principles of law, and the substance of the arguments 
 urged by the very eminent counsel engaged in the cause ; and 
 in this point of view, it is to be lamented that so valuable a 
 work should still exist only in the form of a manuscript. But, 
 as a sample of Mr. Henry's peculiar and inimitable eloquence, 
 it is subject to all the objections which have been already urged 
 to the printed debates of the Virginia convention. 
 
 This manuscript report bears upon its face the most con- 
 clusive proof of its inaccuracy in those passages in which it 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 2Sl 
 
 attempts to exhibit either the captivating flights of Mr. Hen- 
 ry's fancy, or those unexpected and overwhelming assaults 
 which he made upon the hearts of his judges ; for in all such 
 passages, (it is believed, without an exception,) the pen has 
 been drawn through the sentence as originally written, in such 
 a manner, however, as to leave the words still legible ; while 
 the same thought, or something like it, has been interlined in 
 other words ; and even the interlineations themselves are of- 
 tener than otherwise erased, altered, and farther interlined, for 
 the purpose of seeking to amend the expression : so that, in 
 casting one's eyes over the manuscript report of Mr. Henry's 
 speech, in order to single out the most brilliant passages, those 
 which are the most blotted and blurred by erasures and inter- 
 lineations may be selected at once, without the hazard of mis- 
 take. Hence, it is obvious, that the reporter had not in his 
 stenographic notes, the very expression of the speaker; but 
 some hint merely of the thought, which he was afterward un- 
 able to fill up to his own satisfaction. If farther evidence on 
 this subject were required, it is found in this circumstance : that, 
 on reading Mr. Robertson's imitations of the splendid parts 
 of Mr. Henry's speech to several of those who heard it deliv- 
 ered, there has not been one who has not turned off from the 
 recital with the strongest expressions of disappointment, and 
 in several instances corrected by memory the language of the 
 reporter. 
 
 This explanation is equally due to the memory of Mr. Henry, 
 to the reader, and the author ; for the author is fully aware, 
 that if the truth of the general character which he has attempt- 
 ed to give of Mr. Henry's eloquence shall be tested by those 
 imperfect specimens to which, for want of more accurate ones, 
 he has been compelled to resort, discredit will be thrown upon 
 the whole work, and it will be regarded rather as romance than 
 history. But the ingenuous and candid reader will look be- 
 yond those poor and wretched imitations, and my own equally 
 poor and wretched descriptions, to that proof of Mr. Henry's 
 eloquence which is furnished by its practical effects. Can 
 there be any doubt of the supreme eloquence of that man 
 who awakened and hushed at his pleasure, "the stormy wave 
 of the multitude?" who, by his powers of speech, roused the 
 whole American people from north to south ? put the revolu- 
 tion into motion, and bore it upon his shoulder, as Atlas is said 
 to do the heavens? to whose charms of persuasion, not the 
 rabble merely, but all ranks of society, have borne the most 
 unanimous evidence ? who moved not merely the populace, the 
 rocks, and stones of the field, but, "by the summit took the 
 mountain-oak, and made him stoop to the Dlain ?'' 
 
 19* 
 
233 wirt's life or 
 
 Instead, then, of comparing our descriptions of Mr. Henry's 
 eloquence with the specimiirs which his reporters have made 
 of it, let the reader compare that description with the effect* 
 which it actually wrought, and the universal testimony which 
 is borne to it, by the rapturous admiration of every one who 
 ever had the happiness to hear him ; and the author so far from 
 being afraid of the charge of exaggeration, will be apprehen- 
 sive only of that of presumption, in attempting a description of 
 powers so perfectly undescribable. 
 
 But to return to his argument in the case of the British debts. 
 In order to render intelligible the analysis which we propose 
 to give to the reader, it will be necessary to prefix to it a state- 
 ment of the case, of the pleadings, and the points made in ar- 
 gument, by the opening counsel. 
 
 William Jones, a British subject, as surviving partner of the 
 mercantile house of Farrell and Jones, brought an action of 
 debt in the federal circuit court at Richmond, against Doc- 
 tor Thomas Walker, of the county of Albemarle, in Virginia, 
 on a bond which bore date before the revolutionary war ; to 
 wit, on the eleventh of May, seventeen hundred and seventy- 
 two. To this action the defendant pleaded five several 
 pleas : — 
 
 1. The first was, the plea of payment generally, on which 
 the plaintifif took issue ; but it was not tried, the cause having 
 gone off on the demurrers growing out of the subsequent 
 pleadings. 
 
 2. In his second plea, the defendant relies on the act of se- 
 questration, passed by the legislature of Virginia during the 
 revolutionary war, to wit, on the twentieth of October, seven- 
 teen hundred and seventy-seven; by which it was enacted, that 
 *'it should be lawful for any citizen of this commonwealth, ow- 
 ing money to a subject of Great Britain, to pay the same, or any 
 part thereof, from time to time, as he should think fit, into the 
 loan office of the state; taking thereout a certificate for the same 
 in the name of the creditor, with an endorsement under the hand 
 of the commissioner of the loan office, expressing the name of 
 the payee, delivering such certificate to the governor and coun- 
 cil, whose receipt should discharge him from, so much of the 
 cZe6^:"-^and the defendant exhibits the governor's receipt for 
 two thousand one hundred and fifty-one pounds and eighteen 
 shillings, which he offers in bar to so much of the plaintiff's 
 demand. 
 
 3. In his third plea, he sets out the act of forfeiture, passed 
 by the assembly on the third of May, seventeen hundred and 
 seventy-nine, whereby it was, among other things, enacted, 
 "that all the property, real and personal, within the common- 
 
PATRICK HENRY. TSS 
 
 wealth, belonging at that time to any British subject, should be 
 deemed to be vested in the commonwealth;" as also the act of 
 the sixth of May, seventeen hundred and eighty-two, whereby 
 it was enacted, *'that no demand whatsoever, originally due to 
 a subject of Great Britain, -should be recoverable in any court 
 of this commonwealth, although the same might be transferred 
 to a citizen of this state, or to any other person capable of main- 
 taining such action, unless the assignment had been or might be 
 made for a valuable consideration bona fide paid before the first 
 of May, seventeen hundred and seventy-seven:" and the plea 
 insists that the debt, in the declaration mentioned, was personal 
 property of a British subject, forfeited to the commonwealth 
 under the first-mentioned act, and a demand, whose recovery in 
 the courts of the commonwealth was barred by the last. 
 
 4. The fourth plea takes the ground, that the king of Britain 
 and his subjects were still alien enemies, and that the state of 
 war still continued, on the ground of the several direct viola- 
 tions of the definitive treaty of peace, which follow: — 
 
 First, in continuing to carry off the negroes in his possession, 
 the property of American citizens, and refusing to deliver them, 
 or permit tne owners to take them, according to the express 
 stipulations of that treaty: — 
 
 Secondly, in the forcible retention of the forts Niagara and 
 Detroit, and the adjacent territory: — 
 
 Thirdly, in supplying the Indians, who were at war with the 
 United States, with arms and ammunition, furnished within the 
 territories of the United States, to wit, at the forts Detroit and 
 Niagara, and at other forts and stations forcibly held by the 
 troops and armies of the king, within the United States; and in 
 purchasing from the Indians, within the territories aforesaid, the 
 plunder taken by them in war from the United States, and the 
 persons of American citizens made prisoners; which several 
 infractions, the plea contends, had abolished the treaty of peace, 
 and placed Great Britain and the United States in a state of war; 
 and that hence, the plaintiff, being an alien enemy, had no right 
 to sue in the courts of the United States. 
 
 5. The fifth plea sets forth, that at the time of contracting the 
 debt in the declaration mentioned, the plaintifli" and the defend- 
 ant were fellow-subjects of the same king and government; that 
 on the fourth of July, seventeen hundred and seventy-six, the 
 government of the British monarch in this country was dissolved, 
 and the coallegiance of the parties severed ; whereby the plea 
 contends, that the debt in the declaration mentioned was annulled. 
 
 To the second plea the plaintiff replied, insisting on the treaty 
 of peace of seventeen hundred and eighty-three, whereby it was 
 stipulated, that creditors on either side should meet with no 
 
234 
 
 lawful impediment to the r^overy of the full value, in sterling 
 money, of all bona fide d^ots theretofore contracted; and also 
 on the constitution of the United States of seventeen hundred 
 and eighty-seven, by which it had been expressly declared, that 
 treaties which were then made, or which should thereafter be 
 made, under the authority of the United States, should be the 
 supreme law of the land, anything in the constitution, or the 
 laws of any state, to the contrary notwithstanding. 
 
 The defendant rejoined, that the treaty had been annulled by 
 the infractions of it on the part of Great Britain, and so could 
 not aid the cause of the plaintiff; and farther, that the debt in 
 the declaration mentioned was not bona fide due, and owing to 
 the plaintiff at the date of the treaty, insomuch as the same (or 
 at least two thousand one hundred and fifty-one pounds and 
 eighteen shillings of it) had been discharged by the payment set 
 forth in the second plea; and hence, that it was not a subsisting 
 debt, within the terms and provisions of the treaty. 
 
 To this rejoinder, as also to the third, fourth, and fifth pleas 
 of the defendant, the plaintiff demurred; and the cause came on 
 to be argued, on these demurrers, at Richmond, on the twenty- 
 fourth of November, seventeen hundred and ninety-one. 
 
 The Virginian reader will readily estimate the splendour and 
 power of the discussion in this case, when he learns the names 
 of the counsel engaged in it; on the part of the plaintiff, then, 
 were Mr. Ronald, Mr. Baker, Mr. Wickham, and Mr. Starke; 
 and on that of the defendant, Mr. Henry, Mr. Marshall, (af- 
 terward chief justice of the United States,) Mr. Alexander Camp- 
 bell, and Mr. Innis, the attorney-general of Virginia: I mention 
 their names in the order in which they spoke on their respective 
 sides. 
 
 The cause was opened with great fairness and ability, by Mr. 
 Ronald and Mr. Baker, in succession ; they were answered by 
 all the counsel of the defendant; and Mr. 'Wickham, Mr. Starke, 
 and Mr. Baker, were heard in the reply. The opening counsel 
 made the following points: — 
 
 First, that debts were not a subject of confiscation in war. 
 
 Secondly, that if they were, Virginia, at the time of passing 
 the acts relied on by the defendant, was not a sovereign and in- 
 dependent state. Great Britain not having at that time assented 
 to her independence; and hence, that she had not the power of 
 legislating away the debts of fellow-subjects not represented in 
 her legislative councils — which councils, were themselves a 
 usurpation in the eye of the law. 
 
 Thirdly, that if debts were subject to confiscation, and Vir- 
 ginia were competent to pass laws to that effect, she had not 
 done so ; and Mr. Baker particularly entered into a minute and 
 
PATRICK HSNRT. 
 
 Ingenious scrutiny of the language of the several acts of as- 
 sembly, to prove that, so far from having been forfeited, the 
 debts were recognised as existing British debts down to the yeai 
 seventeen hundred and eighty-two. 
 
 Fourthly, that if all these points were against the plaintiff, 
 the right of recovering those debts was restored by the treaty 
 of seventeen hundred and eighty-three, and the constitution ol 
 the United States, which recognised that treaty as the supreme 
 law of the land; and, 
 
 Fifthly, that the alleged infractions of the treaty on the part 
 of Great Britain did not produce the effect of abolishing the 
 treaty; that this was a national concern, with which the indi- 
 vidual plaintiff and defendant had nothing to do; that the ques- 
 tion of infraction was one to be decided by the supreme power 
 of the nation only, and one of which the court could not, with 
 any propriety, take cognizance. 
 
 Mr. Baker closed his opening speech on Thursday evening, 
 the twenty-fourth of November, and it was publicly understood 
 that Mr. Henry was to commence his reply on the next day. 
 The legislature was then in session ; but when eleven o'clock, 
 the hour for the meeting of the court, arrived, the speaker found 
 himself without a house to do business. All his authority and 
 that of his sergeant-at-arms were unavailing to keep the mem- 
 bers in their seats; every consideration of public duty yielded 
 to the anxiety which they felt, in common with the rest of their 
 fellow-citizens, to hear this great man on this truly great and 
 extensively-interesting question. 
 
 Accordingly, when the court was ready to proceed to business, 
 the court-room of the capitol, large as it is, was insufficient to 
 contain the vast concourse that was pressing to enter it. The 
 portico, and the area in which the statue of Washington stands, 
 were filled with a disappointed crowd, who, nevertheless, main- 
 tained their stand without. In the court-room itself, the judges 
 through condescension to the public anxiety, relaxed the rigour 
 of respect which they were in the habit of exacting, and per- 
 mitted the vacant seats of the bench, and even the windows be- 
 hind it, to be occupied by the impatient multitude. The noise 
 and tumult, occasioned by seeking a more favourable station, 
 were at length hushed, and the profound silence which reigned 
 within the room gave notice to those without, that the orator 
 had risen, or was on the point of rising. 
 
 Every eye in front of the bar was riveted upon him with the 
 most eager attention; and so still and deep was the silence, that 
 every one might hear the throbbing of his own heart. Mr. 
 Henry, however, appeared wholly unconscious that all this prep- 
 aration was on his account, and rose with as much simplicity 
 
226 WIRT*S LIFE OF 
 
 and composure, as if the (M^asion had been one of ordinary oc- 
 currence. Nothing can be more plain, modest, and unaffected, 
 than his exordium : — " I stand here, may it please your honours, 
 to support, according to my power, that side of the question 
 which respects the American debtor. 
 
 "I beg leave to beseech the patience of this honourable court; 
 because the subject is very great and important, and because I 
 have not only the greatness of the subject to consider, but those 
 numerous observations which have come from the opposing 
 counsel to answer. Thus, therefore, the matter proper for my 
 discussion is unavoidably accumulated. Sir, there is a circum- 
 stance in this case, that is more to be deplored than that which 
 I have just mentioned, and that is this : those animosities which 
 the injustice of the British nation hath produced, and which I 
 had well hoped would never again be the subject of discussion, 
 are necessarily brought forth. 
 
 "The conduct of that nation, which bore so hard upon us in 
 the late contest, becomes once more the subject of investigation. 
 I know, sir, how well it becomes a liberal man and a Christian 
 to forget and to forgive. As individuals professing a holy reli- 
 gion, it is our bounden duty to forgive injuries done us as indi- 
 viduals. But when to the character of Christian you add the 
 character of patriot, you are in a different situation. Our mild 
 and holy system of religion inculcates an admirable maxim of 
 forbearance. If your enemy smite one cheek, turn the other to 
 him. But you must stop there. You cannot apply this to your 
 country. As members of a social community, this maxim does 
 not apply to you. When you consider injuries done to your 
 country, your political duty tells you of vengeance. Forgive 
 as a private man, but never forgive public injuries. Observa- 
 tions of this nature are exceedingly unpleasant, but it is my 
 duty to use them." 
 
 With the same primeval simplicity, he enters upon the argu- 
 ment; not making a formal division of the whole subject, but 
 merely announcing the single proposition which he was about 
 to maintain for the time; thus, immediately after the exordium 
 which has been quoted he proceeds thus: — 
 
 "The first point which I shall endeavour to establish will be, 
 that debts in common wars become subject to forfeiture; and if 
 forfeited in common wars, much more must they be so in a rev- 
 olution war, as the late contest was. In considering this sub- 
 ject, it will be necessary to define what a debt is. I mean by it 
 an engagement, or promise, by one man to pay another, for a 
 valuable consideration, an adequate price. By a contract thus 
 made, for a valuable consideration, there arises what, in the law 
 phrase, is called a lien on the body and goods of the promissc 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 227 
 
 or debtor. This interest, which the creditor becomes entitled 
 to, in the goods and body of his debtor, is such as may be taken 
 from the creditor, if he be found the subject of a hostile country. 
 
 ''This position is supported by the following authorities." 
 He then cites and reads copious extracts from Grotius and Vat- 
 tel, which seem to support his position decisively — and then 
 proceeds thus: — "This authority decides in the most clear and 
 satisfactory manner, that, as a nation, we had powers as exten- 
 sive and unlimited as any nation on earth. This great writer, 
 after stating the equality and independence of nations, and who 
 are, and who are not enemies, does away the distinction between 
 corporeal and incorporeal rights, and declares that war gives 
 the same right over the debts, as over the other goods of an 
 enemy. 
 
 "He illustrates his doctrine by the instance of Alexander's 
 remitting to the Thessalians, a debt due by them to the Theban 
 commonwealth: this is a case in point — for supposing the sub- 
 jects of Alexander had been indebted to the Thebans, might he 
 not have remitted the debts due by them to that people, as well 
 as the debts due them by his allies, the Thessalians? Let me 
 not be told that he was entitled to the goods of the Thebans, 
 because he had conquered them. If he could remit a debt due 
 by those whose claim of friendship was so inferior, those who 
 were only attached to him by the feeble ties of contingent and 
 temporary alliance — if his Macedonians, his immediate and nat- 
 ural subjects, were indebted to the Thebans, could he not have 
 remitted their debts? 
 
 "This author states, in clear, unequivocal terms, by fair in- 
 ference and unavoidable deduction, that when two nations are 
 at war, either nation has a right, according to the laws of nature 
 and nations, to remit to its own citizens debts which they may 
 owe to the enemy. If this point wanted further elucidation, it 
 is pointedly proved by the authority which I first quoted from 
 Grotius, that it is an inseparable concomitant of sovereign pow- 
 er, that debts and contracts similar to those which existed in 
 America, at the time the war with Great Britain broke out, may, 
 in virtue of the eminent domain, or right, be cancelled and 
 destroyed. 
 
 '"^4 king has a greater right in the goods of his subjects^ 
 for the public advantage, than the proprietors themselves. 
 And when the exigency of the state requires a supply, every 
 man is more obliged to contribute toward it, than to satisfy his 
 creditors. The sovereign may discharge a debtor from the ob- 
 ligation of paying, either for a certain time, or for ever * 
 "What language can be more expressive than this? Can tha 
 raind of man conceive anything more comprehensive? 
 
228 wirt's life of 
 
 ♦* Rights are of two sorts, private and inferior, or eminent and 
 superior, such as the comi^lnity hold over the persons and es- 
 tates of its members for the common benefit. The latter is par- 
 amount to the former. A king or chief of a nation has a 
 greater right than the owner himself over any property in the 
 nation. The individual who owns private property cannot dis 
 pose of it, contrary to the will of his sovereign, to injure the 
 public. This author is known to be no advocate for tyranny, 
 yet he mentions that a king has a superior power over the prop- 
 erty in his nation, and that by virtue thereof, he may discharge 
 his subjects for ever from debts which they owe to an enemy. 
 
 "The instance which our author derives from the Roman his- 
 tory, affords a striking instance of the length to which the ne- 
 cessities and exigencies of a nation will warrant it to go. It 
 was a juncture critical to the Roman affairs. But their situation 
 was not more critical or dangerous than ours at the time these 
 debts were confiscated. It was after the total defeat and dread- 
 ful slaughter at Cannae, when the state was in the most imminent 
 danger. Our situation in the late war was equally perilous. 
 Every consideration must give way to the public safety. 
 
 "That admirable Roman maxim, salus populi suprema leXj 
 governed that people in every emergency. It is a maxim that 
 ought to govern every community. It was not peculiar to the 
 Roman people. The impression came from the same source 
 from which we derive our existence. Self-preservation, that 
 great dictate implanted in us by nature, must regulate our con- 
 duct; we must have a power to act according to our necessities, 
 and it remains for human judgment to decide what are the prop- 
 er occasions for the exercise of this power. Call to your rec- 
 ollection our situation during the late arduous contest. Was 
 it not necessary in our day of trial, to go to the last iota of hu- 
 man right? The Romans fought for their altars and household 
 gods. By these terms they meant everything dear and valuable 
 to men. Was not our stake as important as theirs? 
 
 "But many other nations engage in the most bloody wars for 
 the most trivial and frivolous causes. If other nations who car- 
 ried on wars for a mere point of honour, or a punctilio of gal- 
 lantry, were warranted in the exercise of this power, were not 
 we, who fought for everything most inestimable and valuable to 
 mankind, justified in using it? Our finances were in a more 
 distressing situation than theirs at this awful period of our ex- 
 istence. Our war was in opposition to the most grievous op- 
 pression — we resisted, and our resistance was approved and 
 blessed by Heaven. 
 
 "The most illustrious men who have considered human af- 
 fairs, when thev have revolved human rights, and considered 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 229 
 
 how far a nation is warranted to act in cases of emergency, de- 
 clare that the only ingredient essential to the rectitude and va- 
 lidity of its measures is, that they be for the public good. I 
 need hardly observe that the confiscation of these debts was for 
 the public good. Those who decided it were constitutionally 
 enabled to determine it. Grotius shows that you have not only 
 power over the goods of your enemies, but according to the 
 exigency of affairs, you may seize the property of your citizens." 
 
 After reading the apposite passage from Grotius, he says: — 
 "I read these authorities to prove, that the property of an enemy 
 is liable to forfeiture, and that debts are as much the subject of 
 hostile contest as tangible property. And Vattel, page 484, as 
 before mentioned, pointedly enumerates rights and debts among 
 such property of the enemy as is liable to confiscation. To this 
 last author I must frequently resort in the course of my argu- 
 ment. I put great confidence in him, from the weight of his 
 authority — for he is universally respected by all the wise and 
 enlightened of mankind, being no less celebrated for his great 
 judgment and knowledge, than for his universal philanthropy. 
 One of his first principles of the law of nations is, a perfect 
 equality of rights among nations; that each nation ought to be 
 left in the peaceable enjoyment of that liberty it has derived 
 from nature. 
 
 "I refer your honours to his preliminary discourse from 6th 
 to the 12th page; and as it will greatly elucidate the subject, 
 and tend to prove the position I have attempted to support, I 
 will read sections 17, 18, 19, and 20, of this discourse." Hav- 
 ing read these sections, he touches transiently, but powerfully, 
 the objection to the want of national independence to pass the 
 laws of forfeiture, till that independence was assented to by the 
 king of Great Britain. *'When the war commenced," said he, 
 "these things, called British debts, lost their quality of external 
 obligation, and became matters of internal obligation, because 
 the creditors had no right of constraint over the debtors. They 
 were before the war, matters of perfect external obligation, ac- 
 companied by a right of constraint; but the war having taken 
 away this right of constraint over the debtors, they were changed 
 into an internal obligation, binding the conscience only. For 
 it will not surely be denied, that the creditor lost the right of 
 constraint over his debtor. 
 
 "From the authority of this respectable author, therefore — 
 from the clearest principles of the laws of nature and nations, 
 these debts became subject to forfeiture or remission. Those 
 authors state, in language as emphatic and nervous as the human 
 mind can conceive, or the human tongue can utter, that inde- 
 pendent nations have the power of confiscating the property of 
 
 20 
 
280 WIRT S LIFE OF 
 
 their enemies; and so had this gallant nation. America, being 
 a sovereign and complet^iation, in all its forms and depart- 
 ments, possessed all the rights of the most powerful and ancient 
 nations. Respecting the power of legislation, it was a nalion 
 complete, and without human control. Respecting public jus- 
 tice, it was a nation blessed by Heaven, with the experience of 
 past times; not like those nations, whose crude systems of ju- 
 risprudence originated in the ages of barbarity and ignorance 
 of human rights. 
 
 "America was a sovereign nation, when her sons stepped 
 forth to resist the unjust hand of oppression, and declared them- 
 selves independent. The consent of Great Britain was not ne- 
 cessary {as the gentlemen on the other side urge) to create us 
 a nation. Yes, sir, we were a nation, long before the monarch 
 of that little island in the Atlantic ocean gave his puny assent 
 to it." — These words he accompanied by a most significant 
 gesture — rising on tiptoe — pointing as to a vast distance, and 
 half-closing his eyelids, as if endeavouring with extreme diffi- 
 culty, to draw a sight on some object almost too small for vision 
 — and blowing out the words puny assent, with lips curled with 
 unutterable contempt. — 
 
 "America was, long before that time, a great and gallant na- 
 tion. In the estimation of other nations we were so: the be- 
 neficent hand of Heaven enabled her to triumph, and secured 
 to her the most sacred rights mortals can enjoy. When these 
 illustrious authors, these friends to human nature, these kind 
 instructers of human errors and frailties,* contemplate the ob- 
 ligations and corresponding rights of nations, and define the in- 
 ternal right, which is without constraint and not binding, do 
 they not understand such rights as these, which the British 
 creditors now claim? Here this man tells us what conscience 
 says ought to be done, and what is compulsory. These British 
 debts must come within the grasp of human power, like all other 
 human things. They ceased to have that external quality, and 
 fell into that mass of power which belonged to our legislature 
 by the law of nations." 
 
 He comes now to a very serious obstacle, which it required 
 both address and vigour to remove. Vattel, whom he had 
 cited to support his position of the forfeitable character Oi 
 debts, and who, so far as Mr. Henry had read him, does sup- 
 port him explicitly, annexes a qualification to the principle, 
 which had been pressed with great power by the gentlemen 
 who opened the cause. The curiosity of the reader will be 
 gratified by seeing the manner in which he surmounted the 
 
 * In the second argument, he eulogized the writers on the laws of nations, 
 as " benevolent spirits, who held up the torch of science to a benighted world." 
 
rATRICR HBNRT. 231 
 
 objection. "But we are told, that admitting this to be true in 
 the fullest latitude, yet the customary law of Europe is against 
 the exercise of this power of confiscation of debts; in support 
 of which position, they rely on what is added by Vattel, p. 484. 
 
 Let us examine what he says : — ' The sovereign has naturally 
 the same right over what his subjects may be indebted to ene- 
 mies : therefore, he may confiscate debts of this nature, if the 
 term of payment happen in the time of war, or at least he may 
 prohibit his subjects from paying while the war lasts. But at 
 present, in regard to the advantage and safety of commerce, all 
 the sovereigns of Europe have departed from this rigour. 
 And as this custom has generally been received, he who should 
 act contrary to it, would injure the public faith ; for strangers 
 trusted his subjects only, from a firm persuasion, that the 
 general custom would be observed.' 
 
 " Excellent man ! and excellent sentiments ! The principle 
 cannot be denied to be good : but when you apply it to the case 
 before the court, does it warrant their conclusions ? The 
 author says, that although a nation has a right to confiscate 
 debts due by its people to an enemy, yet, at present the cus- 
 tom of Europe is contrary. It is not enough for this author to 
 tell us that this custom is contrary to the right. He admits 
 the right. Let us see whether this custom has existence here. 
 Vattel, having spoken of the necessary law of nations, which 
 is immutable, and the obligations whereof are indispensable, 
 proceeds to distinguish the several other kinds of natural law 
 in the same preliminary discourse, pp. 11 and 12, thus : — 
 
 " ' Certain maxims and customs consecrated by long use, and 
 observed by nations between each other, as a kind of law, form 
 this customary law of nations, or the custom of nations. This 
 law is founded on a tacit consent, or, if you will, on a tacit 
 convention of the nations that observe it with respect to each 
 other. Whence, it appears, that it is only binding to those 
 nations that have adopted it, and that is not universal, any 
 more than conventional laws. It must be here also observed 
 of this customary law, that the particulars relating to it do not 
 belong to a systematic treatise on the law of nations, but that 
 •we ought to confine ourselves to the giving a general theory of 
 it, that is, to the rules which here ought to be observed, as well 
 with respect to its effects, as in relation to the matter itself: 
 and in this last respect, these rules will serve to distinguish the 
 lawful and innocent customs, from those that are unjust and 
 illegal ! 
 
 **'Whena custom is generally established, either between 
 all the polite nations in the world, or only between those of a 
 certain continent, as of Europe for example ; or those who 
 
232 wirt's life of 
 
 have a more frequent correspondence ; if that custom is in its 
 own nature indifferent, al^ much more, if it be a wise and 
 useful one, it ought to be obligatory on all those nations who 
 are considered as having given their consent to it. And they 
 are bound to observe it with respect to each other, while they 
 have not expressly declared that they will not adhere to it. 
 But if that custom contains anything unjust or illegal, it is of 
 no force ; and every nation is under an obligation to abandon 
 it, nothing being able to oblige or permit a nation to violate a 
 natural law. 
 
 " ' These three kinds of the law of nations, voluntary, con- 
 ventional and customary, together, compose the positive law 
 of nations. For they all proceed from the volition of nations ; 
 the voluntary law, from their presumed consent : the conven- 
 tional law, from an express consent ; and the customary law^ 
 from a tacit consent : and as there can be no other manner of 
 deducing any law from the will of nations, there are only these 
 three kinds of the positive law of nations.* 
 
 ''This excellent author, after having stated the voluntary 
 law of nations to be the result of the equality of nations, and 
 the conventional law to be particular compacts or treaties, 
 binding only on the contracting parties, declares, that the 
 customary law of nations is only binding to those nations 
 that have adopted it ; that it is a particular and not a univer- 
 sal law ; that it applies only to distinct nations. The case of 
 Alexander and the Thebans is founded on the general law of 
 nations, applicable to nations at war. It is enough for me, then, 
 to show that America, being at war, was entitled to the privi- 
 lege of national law. But, says Vattel, the present state of 
 European refinement controls the general law (of which he had 
 been before speaking). 
 
 " We know that the customary law of nations can only bind 
 those who are parties to the custom. In the year 1776, when 
 America announced her will to be free, or in the year 1777, 
 when the law concerning British debts passed, was there a cus- 
 tomary law of America to this effect? Or were the customary 
 laws of Europe binding on America? Were we a party to 
 any such customary law? Was there anything in our consti- 
 tution or laws which tied up our hands ? No, sir. To make 
 this customary law obligatory, the assent of all the parties to 
 be bound by it is necessary. There must be an interchange 
 of it. ^ 
 
 " It is not for one nation or community to say to another, you 
 are bound by this law, because our kingdom approves of it. 
 It must not only be reciprocal in its advantages and principles, 
 but it must have been reciprocal in its exercise* Virginia 
 
PATRICK HEXRT. 233 
 
 could not, therefore, be bound by it. Let us see whether it 
 could be a hard case on the British creditors, that this custom- 
 ary law of nations did not apply in thoir favour. Were these 
 debts contracted /roTTz. a persuasion of its observance 1 Did 
 the creditors trust to this customary laxo of nations ? No, sir. 
 They trusted to what they thought as firm, the statute and 
 common law of England. 
 
 ♦' Victorious and successful as their nation had lately been, 
 when they, in their pride and inconsiderate self-confidence, 
 stretched out the hand of oppression, their subjects placed no 
 reliance on the customs of particular nations. They put con- 
 fidence in those barriers of right, which were derived from 
 their own nation. Their reliance was, that the tribunals estab- 
 lished in this country, under the same royal authority, as in 
 England, would do them justice. If we were not willing, they 
 possessed the power of compelling us to do them justice. The 
 debts, having, therefore, not been contracted /rom any reliance 
 on the customary law of nations, were they contracted from 
 a regard ' to the rights of ccmmerce i" 
 
 *' From a view of promoting the commerce of those little 
 things called colonies? This regard could not have been the 
 ground they were contracted on, for their conduct evinced that 
 they wished to take the right of commerce from us. What 
 other ingredient remains to show the operation of this custom 
 in their favour? The book speaks of strangers trusting sub- 
 jects of a diflferent nation, from a reliance on the observance 
 of the customary law. 
 
 *' The fact here was, that fellow-subjects trusted us, on the 
 footing just stated ; trusted to the existing compulsory process 
 of law, not relying on a passive inert custom. A fearful, 
 plodding, sagacious trader, would not rely on so flimsy, so un- 
 certain a dependance. Something similar to what he thought 
 positive satisfaction, he relied on. Were we not subject to the 
 samekinor? The cases are then at variance. He states the 
 custom to exist for the advantage of commerce, and that a de- 
 parture from it would injure the public faith. Public faith is 
 in this case out of the question. 
 
 "The public faith was not pledged — it could not therefore 
 be injured. I have already read to your honours from the llth 
 paije of the preliminary discourse of Vattel, '■that the customa- 
 ry law of nations is only binding on those who have adopted it^ 
 and that it is not universal, any more than conventional laws.'' 
 It is evident we could not be bound by any convention or treaty 
 to which we ourselves were not a party : and from this author- 
 ity it is equally obvious that we could not be bound by any 
 .customary law to which we were not parties. 
 
 20* 
 
234 wirt's life of 
 
 " I think, therefore, witl ^ reat submission to the court, that 
 the right for which I cont^med, that is, that in common wars 
 between independent nations, either of the contending parties 
 has a right to confiscate or remit debts due by its people to the 
 enemy, is not shaken by the customary law of nations, as far 
 as it regards us, because the custom could not affect us. But 
 gentlemen say we were not completely independent till the 
 year 1783! To take them on their own ground, their argu- 
 ments vvill fail them. There is a customary law which will op- 
 erate pretty strongly on our side of the question. What were 
 the inducements of the debtors 1 On what did the American 
 debtor rely? 
 
 " Sir, he relied for protection on that system of common and 
 statute law on which the creditors depended. Was he deceived 
 in that reliance ? That he was most miserably deceived, I be- 
 lieve will not admit of a doubt. The customary law of nations 
 will only apply to distinct nations, mutually consenting thereto. 
 When tyranny attempted to rivet her chains upon us, and we 
 boldly broke them asunder, we w^re remitted to that amplitude 
 of freedom which the beneficent hand of Nature gave us. We 
 were not bound by fetters which are of benefit to one party, 
 while they are destructive to the other. Would it be proper 
 that we should be bound, and they unrestrained?" 
 
 As a still farther answer to the objection, and as giving the 
 only rule of restraint in operating on the property of a belli- 
 gerant, he cites the following principle from Vattel, and applies 
 it to the actual state of America : " Vattel, book the 3d, ch. 8, 
 sect. 137, says, that *the lawful end gives a true right only to 
 those means which are necessary for obtaining such end» 
 Whatever exceeds this, is censured by the laws of nature as 
 faulty, and will be condemned at the tribunal of conscience. 
 Hence it is, that the right to such or such acts of hostility 
 varies according to their circumstances. What is just and per- 
 fectly innocent in a war, in one particular situation, is not 
 always so in another. Right goes hand in hand with necessity^ 
 and the exigency of the case ; but never exceeds it.' 
 
 "This, sir, is the first dictate of nature, and the practice of 
 of nations ; and if your misfortunes and distresses should be 
 sad and dreadful, you are let loose from those common restraints 
 ■which may be proper on common occasions, in order to pre- 
 serve the great rights of human nature. 
 
 "This is laid down by that great writer in clear and unequiv- 
 ocal terms. If then, sir, it be certain from a recurrence to 
 facts, that it was necessary for America to seize on British 
 property, this book warrants the legislature of this state in 
 passing those confiscating and prohibitory laws. I need only 
 
PATRICK HENRY. S3S 
 
 refer to your recollection, for our pressing situation during the 
 late contest; and happy am I, that this all-important question 
 comes on, before the heads of those, who were actors in the 
 great scene, are laid in the dust. An uninformed posterity 
 would be unacquainted with the awful necessity which im- 
 pelled us on. 
 
 " If the means were within reach, we were warranted by the 
 laws of nature and nations to use them. The fact was, that 
 we were attacked by one of the most formidable nations under 
 heaven ; a nation that carried terror and dread with its thunder 
 to both hemispheres." — [This illustration of the power of Great 
 Britain was, if we may trust respectable tradition, much more 
 expanded than we find it in the report ; and such was the force 
 of his imagination, and the irresistible energy of his delivery 
 and action, that the audience now felt themselves instinctively 
 recoiling from the tremendous power of that very nation, 
 which but a short time before had been exhibited as a mere dot 
 in the Atlantic, a point so microscopic as to be scarcely visible 
 to the naked eye : he proceeds to close the first member of his 
 first point thus :1 
 
 " Our united property enabled us to look in the face that 
 mighty people. Dared we to have gone in opposition to them 
 bound hand and foot ? Would we have dared to resist them 
 fettered? for we should have been fettered, if we had been 
 deprived of so considerable a part of our little stock of na- 
 tional resources. In that most critical and dangerous emer- 
 gency, our all was but a little thing. Had we a treasury? — an 
 exchequer? Had we commerce? Had we any revenue ? Had 
 we anything from which a nation could draw wealth ? No, 
 sir. Our credit became the scorn of our foes. However, the 
 efforts of certain patriotic characters (there were not a few of 
 them, thank Heaven) gave us credit among our own people. 
 
 "But we had not a farthing to spare. We were obliged to 
 go on a most grievous anticipation, the weight of which we 
 feel at this day. Recur to our actual situation, and the means 
 M'hich we had of defending ourselves. The actual situation of 
 America is described here, where this author says, • that right 
 goes hand in hand with necessity.* The necessity of being 
 great and dreadful, you are warranted to lay hold of every 
 atom of money within your reach, especially if it be the money 
 of your enemies. It is prudent and necessary to strengthen 
 yourselves and weaken your enemies. 
 
 " Vattel, book 3d, ch. 8, sect. 138, says, ' The business of a 
 just war being to suppress violence and injustice, it gives aright 
 to compel, by force, him who is deaf to the voice of justice. It 
 ^ives a right of doing against the enemy, whatever is necessary 
 
236 wirt's life of 
 
 for weakening him — for disabling him from making any farther 
 resistance in support of h#'injustice — and the most effectual, 
 the most proper methods may be chosen, provided they have 
 nothing odious, be not unlawful in themselves, or exploded by 
 the law^ of nature.' Here let me pause for a moment, and ask, 
 whether it be odious in itself, or exploded by the law of nature, 
 to seize those debts ? 
 
 "No — because the money was taken from the very offenders. 
 We fought for the great, unalienable, hereditary rights of hu- 
 man nature. An unwarrantable attack was made upon us. An 
 attack, not only not congenial with motherly or parental tender- 
 ness, but incompatible with the principles of humanity or civil- 
 ization. Our defence then was a necessary one. What says 
 Vattel, book 3d, chapter 8, section 136? — 'The end of a just 
 war is to revenge or prevent injury ; that is, to procure by force 
 the justice which cannot otherwise be obtained; to compel an 
 unjust person to repair an injury already done, or to give secu- 
 rities against any wrong threatened by him. 
 
 " ' On a declaration of war, therefore, this nation has a right 
 of doing against the enemy whatever is necessary to this justi- 
 fiable end of bringing him to reason, and obtaining justice and 
 security from him.' We have taken nothing in this necessary 
 defence, but from the very offenders — those who unjustly at- 
 tacked us : for we had a right of considering every individual 
 of the British nation as an enemy. This I prove by the same 
 great writer, p. 519, section 139, of the same book: — 'An ene- 
 my attacking me unjustly gives an undoubted right of repelling 
 his violences ; and he who opposes me in arms, when I demand 
 only my right, becomes himself the real aggressor, by his un- 
 just resistance. He is the first author of violence, and obliges 
 me to make use of force, for securing myself against the 
 wrongs intended me either in my person or possessions ; for if 
 the effects of this force proceed so far as to take away his life, 
 he owes the misfortune to himself ; for, if by sparing him, I 
 should submit to the injury, the good would soon become the 
 prey of the wicked. 
 
 " ' Hence the right of liilling enemies in a just war is de- 
 rived ; when their resistance cannot be suppressed— when they 
 are not to be reduced by milder methods, there is a right of 
 taking away their life. Under the na7ne of enemies, as we 
 have already shown, are comprehended not only the first au- 
 thor of the war, but ]\kewise all who join him, and fight for his 
 cavse.^ Thus I think the first part of my position confirmed 
 and unshaken ; that in common wars, a nation not restrained 
 by the customary law of nations, has a right to confiscate debts." 
 
 In the second member ©f that point, he is released from the 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 237 
 
 servility of quotation ; and, to borrow a phrase of his own, 
 *' remitted to the amplitude" of his natural genius : the reader 
 will therefore be amused by a more copious extract : — " From 
 this I will go on to the other branch of my position : that if, 
 in common wars, debts be liable to forfeiture, a fortiori, must 
 they be so in a revolution war. Let me contrast the late war 
 with wars in common. According to those people called kings, 
 wars in common are systematic and produced for trifles ; for 
 not conforming to imaginary honours ; because you have not 
 lowered your flag before him at sea; or for a supposed affront 
 to the person of an ambassador. 
 
 "Nations are set by the ears, and the most horrid devasta- 
 tions are brought on mankind, for the most frivolous causes. 
 If then, when small matters are in contest, debts be forfeitable, 
 what must have accrued io us, as engaged in the late revolution 
 war — a war commenced in attainder, perfidy, and confiscation ? 
 If we take with us this great principle of Vattel, that right 
 goes in hand with necessity, and consider the peculiar situation 
 of the American people, we will find reason more than suffi- 
 cient to give us a right of confiscating those debts. 
 
 " The most striking peculiarity attended the American war. 
 In the first of it, we were stripped of every municipal right. 
 Rights and obligations are correspondent, co-extensive, and in- 
 separable — they must exist together, or not at all. We were, 
 therefore, when stripped of all our municipal rights, clear of 
 every municipal obligation, burden, and onerous engagement. 
 If then the obligation be gone, what is become of the corres- 
 pondent right? They are mutually gone." 
 
 These little words, "they are mutually gone," which would 
 have made no figure in the pronunciation of an ordinary 
 speaker, are said to have formed a beautiful picture, as delivered 
 by Mr. Henry : his eyes seemed to have pursued these asso- 
 ciated objects to the extremest verge of mortal sight, while the 
 fail of his voice, and correspondent fall of his extended hand, 
 with the palm downward, depicted the idea of evanescence 
 with indescribable force : the audience might imagine, that 
 they saw the objects at the very instant when they vanished 
 in the distance, and became commingled with the air : and all 
 this, too, without any aflfected pause to give it effect ; without 
 any apparent effort on his part ; but with all the quickness of 
 thought and all the ease of nature. 
 
 "The case of sovereign and independent nations at war is 
 far different; because, there private right is respected, and do- 
 mestic asylum held sacred. Was it the case in our war? No, 
 sir. Daggers were planted in your chambers, and mischief, 
 death, and destruction, might meet you at your fireside. 
 
238 vVirt's life of 
 
 " There is an essential variance between the late war and 
 common wars. In comnl#R wars, children are not obliged to 
 fight against their fathers, nor brothers against brothers, nor 
 kindred against kindred. Our men were compelled, contrary 
 to the most sacred ties of humanity, to shed the blood of their 
 dearest connexions. In common wars, contending parties re- 
 spect municipal rights, and leave even to those they invade, 
 the means of paying debts, and complying with obligations ; 
 they touch not private property. For example, when a British 
 army lands in France, they plunder nothing: they pay for 
 what they have, and respect the tribunals of justice, unless they 
 have a mind to be called a savage nation. 
 
 " Were we thus treated ? Were we permitted to exercise in- 
 dustry and to collect debts, by which we might be enabled to 
 pay British creditors ? Had we a power to pursue commerce ? 
 No, sir. What became of our agriculture? Our inhabitants 
 were mercilessly and brutally plundered, and our enemies pro- 
 fessed to maintain their army by those means only. Our slaves 
 carried away, our crops burnt, a cruel war carried on against 
 our agriculture — disability to pay debts produced by pillage 
 and devastation, contrary to every principle of national law. 
 From that series of plenty in which we had been accustomed 
 to live and to revel, we were plunged into every species of hu- 
 man calamity. 
 
 " Our lives attacked — charge of rebels fixed upon us — con- 
 fiscation and attainder denounced against the whole continent; 
 and he that was called king of England sat judge upon our 
 case — he pronounced his judgment, notlike those to whom poetic 
 fancy has given existence — not like him who sits in the in- 
 fernal regions, and dooms to the Stygian lake those spirits who 
 deserve it, because he spares the innocent, and sends some to 
 the fields of Elysium — not like him who sat in ancient imperial 
 Rome, and wished the people had but one neck, that he might 
 at one blow strike off" their heads, and spare himself the trouble 
 of carnage and massacre, because one city would have satisfied 
 his vengeance — not like any of his fellow-men, for nothing 
 would satiate his sanguinary ferocity, but the indiscriminate de- 
 struction of a whole continent — involving the innocent with 
 the guilty. 
 
 *' Yes, he sat in judgment with his coadjutors, and pronoun 
 ced proscription, attainder, and forfeiture, against men, women, 
 and even children at the breast. Is not this description point- 
 edly true in all its parts? And who were his coadjutors and 
 executioners in this strange court of judicature? Like the 
 fiends of poetic imagination — Hessians, Indians and Ne^roes^ 
 were his coadjutors and executioners. Is there anything in 
 
PATRICK HENRT. 839 
 
 this sad detail of offences which is unfounded ? anything not 
 enforced by the act of parliament against America ? We were 
 thereby driven o^it of their protection, and branded by the 
 epithet rebels. 1 he term rebel may not now appear in all its 
 train of horrid consequences. 
 
 "We know that when a person is called rebel by that gov- 
 ernment, his goods and life are forfeited, and his very blood 
 pronounced to be corrupted, and the severity of the punish- 
 ment entailed on his posterity. To whom may we apply for 
 the verity of this? The jurisprudence and history of that 
 nation prove, that, when they speak of rebels, nothing but 
 blood will satisfy them. Is there nothing hideous in this part 
 of the portrait? It is unparalleled in the annals of mankind. 
 Though I have respect for individuals of that nation, my duty 
 constrains me to speaks thus. 
 
 "When we contemplate this mode of warfare, and the sen- 
 timents of the writers on natural law on this subject, we are 
 justified in saying, that in this revolution war, we had a right 
 to consider British debts as subject to confiscation — and to seize 
 the property of those who originated that war. As to the in- 
 juries done to. agriculture, they appear in a diminutive view, 
 when compared to the injuries and indignities offered to per- 
 sons, and mansions of abode. Sir, from your seat you might 
 have seen instances of the most grievous hostility : not only 
 private property wantonly pillaged, but men, women, and chil- 
 dren, dragged publicly from their habitations, and indiscrimin- 
 ately devoted to destruction. The rights of humanity were 
 sacrificed. We were then deprived not only of the benefits of 
 municipal, but natural law. 
 
 "If there shall grow out of these considerations a palpable 
 disability to pay those debts, I ask if the claim be just? For 
 that disability was produced by those excesses — by those very 
 men who come on us now for payment. Here give me leave 
 to say, that they sold us a bad title in whatever they sold us — 
 in real as well as in personal property. Describe the nature 
 of a debt: it is an engagement or promise to pay — but it must 
 be for a valuable consideration. If this be clear, was not the 
 title, to whatever property they sold us, bad in every sense of 
 the word, when the war followed? What can add value to 
 property? Force. 
 
 "Notwithstanding the equity and fairness of the debt when 
 incurred, if the security of the property received was after- 
 ward destroyed, the title has proved defective. Suppose mill- 
 ions were contracted for and received, those millions give you 
 no advantage without force to protect them. This necessary 
 protection is withdrawn by the very men who were bound to 
 
240 wirt's life of 
 
 afford it, and who now demand payment. Neither lands, slaves, 
 nor other property, are ^rth a shilling, without protecting 
 force. This title was destroyed, when the act of parliament, 
 putting us out of their protection, passed against America. I 
 say, sir, the title was destroyed by the very offenders who come 
 here now and demand payment. Justice and equity cancel the 
 obligation as to the price that was to be given for it, because 
 the tenure is destroyed, and the effects purchased have no 
 value. 
 
 "Such a claim is unsupported by the plainest notions of right 
 and wrong. For this long catalogue of offences committed 
 against the citizens of America, every individual of the British 
 nation is accountable. How are you to be compensated for 
 those depredations on persons and property? Are you to go 
 to the kingdom of England, to find the very individual who did 
 you the outrage, and demand satisfaction of him? To tell you 
 of such a remedy as this, is adding insult to injury. Every 
 individual is chargeable with national offences." 
 
 To maintain this last position, he cites an authority expressly 
 in point, from Vattel, and proceeds thus : — " These observa- 
 tions of Vattel amount to this : that a king or conductor of a 
 nation is considered as a moral person, by means of whom the 
 nation acquires or loses its rights, and subjects itself to pen- 
 alties. The individuals, and the nation which they compose 
 are one. I will therefore take it for granted, that whatever 
 violences and excesses were committed on this continent are 
 chargeable to the plaintiff in this very action. Recollect our 
 distressed situation. We had no exchequer, no finances, no 
 army, no navy, no common means of defence. 
 
 "Our necessity — dire necessity compelled us to throw aside 
 those rules which respect private property, and to make im- 
 presses on our own citizens to support the war. Right and 
 necessity being co-extensive, we were compelled to exert a 
 right the most eminent over the whole community. The salus 
 populi demanded what we did. If we had a right to disregard 
 the legal fences thrown round the property of our citizens, had 
 we not a greater right to take British property? 
 
 "Another peculiarity contributes to aid our defence. The 
 want of an exchequer obliged us to emit paper money, and 
 compel our citizens to receive it for gold. In the ears of some 
 men this sounds harshly. But they are young men, who do 
 not know and feel the irresistible necessity that urged us. 
 Would your armies have been raised, clothed, maintained, or 
 kept together without paper money ? Without it, the war 
 would have stood still, resistance to tyranny would have stop 
 ped, and despotism, with all its horrid train of appurtenances, 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 241 
 
 must have depressed your country. We compelled the people 
 to receive it in payment of all debts — we induced and invited 
 them (if we did not compel them) to put it into the treasury, 
 as a complete discharge from their debts. 
 
 " Sir, I trust I shall not live to see the day, when the public 
 counsels of America, will give ground to say that this was a 
 state trick, contrived to delude and defraud the citizens. What 
 must it be ostensibly, when, by the compact of your nation, 
 they had publicly bound and pledged themselves, that it was 
 and should be money, if afterward, in the course of human 
 events, when temptations present themselves, they shall de- 
 clare that it is not money ? 
 
 " Sir, the honest planter is unskilled in political tricks and 
 deceptions. His interest ought never to be sacrificed. The 
 law is his guide. The law compelled him to receive it, and his 
 countrymen would have branded him with the name of enemy 
 if he had refused it. The laws of the country are as sacred 
 as the imaginary sanctity of British debts. Sir, national en- 
 gagements ought to be held sacred ; the public violation of 
 this solemn engagement will destroy all confidence in the gov- 
 ernment. If you depart from the national compact one iota, 
 you give a dangerous precedent, which may imperceptibly and 
 gradually introduce the most destructive encroachment on hu- 
 man rights." 
 
 He then proceeds to notice more directly the objection, that 
 we were not a people competent for legislation till the assent 
 of the British king was given to our independence: — "I will 
 beg leave here to dissent from the position of the gentleman 
 on the other side, which denied that we were a people, till our 
 enemies were pleased to say we were so. That we were a 
 people, and had a right to do everything which a great and a 
 royal — nay, an imperial people could do, is clear and indispu- 
 table. Though under the humble appearance of republican- 
 ism, our government and national existence, when examined, 
 are as solid as a rock — not resting on the mere fraud and op- 
 pression of rulers, nor the credulity nor barbarous igno- 
 rance of the people; but founded on the consent and convic- 
 tion of enlightened human nature. That we had every right 
 that completely independent nations can have, will be satisfac- 
 torily proved to your honours, by again referring to Vattel." 
 
 He then cites and reads a passage from Vattel, the effect of 
 which is, that during a civil war, the parties, acknowledging no 
 common judge on earth, are to be considered as two distinct 
 people ; and to govern themselves in the conduct of the war 
 by the general laws of nations. After which he proceeds 
 thus : — 
 
 21 
 
M2 wirt's life of 
 
 *♦ Here then, sir, is proof abundant, that beK">rc the acknowl- 
 edgment of American in4pf)endence by Greai j^rttain., we had 
 aright to be considered as a nation ; because on eaitli we had 
 no common superior, to give a decision of the disptite between 
 us and our sovereign. After declaring ourselves a sovereign 
 people we had every right a nation can claim as an independ* nt 
 community. But the gentlemen on the other side greatly rely 
 upon this principle, that a contract cannot be dissolved without 
 the consent of all the contracting parties : the inference is, that 
 the consent of the king of Great Britain was necessary to the 
 dissolution of the government. 
 
 "Tyranny has too often and too successfully riveted its 
 chains, to warrant a belief, that a tyrant will ever voluntarily 
 release his subjects from the governmental compact. Rather 
 might it be expected, that the last iota of human misery would 
 be borne, and the oppression would descend from father to 
 son, to the latest period of earthly existence. The despotism 
 of our sovereign ought to be considered as an implied consent, 
 on his part, to dissolve the compact between us; and he and 
 his subjects must be considered as one — there can be no dis- 
 tinction. For, in any other view, his consent would not have 
 been obtained without force. There is such a thing, indeed, 
 as tyranny from free choice. Sweden not long ago surren- 
 dered its liberties in one day, as Denmark had done formerly ; 
 so that this branch of the human family is cut off from every 
 possible enjoyment of human rights. 
 
 " But the right to resist oppression is not denied. The gen- 
 tlemen's doctrine cannot therefore apply to national communi- 
 ties. If any additional force was wanting to confirm what I 
 advance, it would be derived from the treaty of peace, which 
 further proves, that we were entitled to all the privileges of in- 
 dependent nations. The consent of all the people of Europe 
 said we were free. Our former master withheld his consent 
 till a few unlucky events compelled him. And when he gave 
 his fiat, it gave us, by relation back to the time of the declara^ 
 tion of independence, all the rights and privileges of a com- 
 pletely sovereign nation : our independence was acknowledged 
 bv him, previous to the completion of the treaty of peace. It 
 was not a condition of the treaty, but was acknowledged, by 
 his own overture, preparatory to it. 
 
 "View the consequences of their fatal doctrine. There 
 would not only have been long arrears of debts to pay, but a 
 long catalogue of crimes to be punished. If the ultimate ac- 
 knowledgment of our independence by Great Britain had not 
 relation back to the time of the declaration of independence, 
 all the intermediate acts of legislation would be void— and 
 
PATRICK RfiNRY. 243 
 
 every decision an*5 net, ropsequent thereon, would be null. 
 But, sir, we were a complete nation on every principle, accord- 
 ing to the authorities I have already read ; in addition to which 
 I will refer your honours to Vattel, book iv. ch. vii. sec. 88, to 
 show we were entitled to the benefits of national law, and to 
 use all the resources of the community : 
 
 " ' From the equality of all nations really sovereign and inde- 
 pendent, it is a principle of the voluntary law of nations, that 
 no nation can control another in its internal municipal legisla- 
 tion.' If we consider the business of confiscation according 
 to the immemorial usages of Great Britain, we will find ihat 
 the law and practice of that country support my position. In 
 the wars which respect revolutions which have taken plac<^ in 
 that island — life, fortune, goods, debts, and everything else 
 were confiscated. The crimen Icbscb majestatis, as it is called, 
 involved everything. Every possible punishment has been 
 inflicted on suflfering humanity that it could endure, by the 
 party which had the superiority in those wars, over the defeat- 
 ed party, which was charged with rebellion. 
 
 " What would have been the consequences, sir, if we had 
 been conquered? Were we not fighting against that majesty ? 
 Would the justice of our opposition have been considered ? 
 The most horrid forfeitures, confiscations, and attainders, would 
 have been pronounced against us. Consider their history, 
 from the time of William the First till this day. Were not 
 his Normans gratified with the confiscation of the richest 
 estates in England? Read the excessive cruelties, attainders, 
 and confiscations, of that reign. England depopulated — its in- 
 habitants stripped of the dearest privileges of humanity — de- 
 graded with the most ignominious badges of bondage — and 
 totally deprived of the power of resistance to usurpation and 
 tyranny. 
 
 ♦'This inability continued to the time of Henry the Eighth. 
 In his reign, the business of confiscation and attainder, made 
 considerable havoc. After his reign, some stop was put to that 
 effusion of blood which preceded and happened under it. Rec- 
 ollect the sad and lamentable eflTects of the York and Lancas- 
 trian wars. Remember the rancorous hatred and inveterate 
 detestations of contending factions — the distinction of the 
 white and red roses. To come a little lower — what happened 
 in that island in the rebellions of seventeen hundred and fif- 
 teen and seventeen hundred and forty-five? If we had been 
 conquered, would not our men have shared the fate of the peo- 
 ple of Ireland? A great part of that island was confiscated, 
 though the Irish people thought themselves engaged in a laud- 
 able cause. What confiscation and punishments were inflictetl 
 
244 wirt's life of 
 
 in Scotland? The plains of Culloden, And the neighbouring 
 gibbets, would show you. ^ thank Heaven that the spirit of 
 liberty under the protection of the Almighty, saved us from 
 experiencing so hard a destiny. 
 
 "But had we been subdued, would not every right have been 
 wrested from us? What right would have been saved? 
 Would debts have been saved? Would it not be absurd to 
 save debts, while they should burn, hang, and destroy? Be- 
 fore we can decide with precision, we are to consider the dan- 
 gers we should have been exposed to, had we been subdued. 
 After presenting to your view this true picture of what would 
 have been our situation, had we been subjugated — surely a 
 correspondent right will be found, growing out of the law of 
 nations in our favour. 
 
 " Had our subjugation been effected, and we pleaded for par- 
 don- — represented that we defended the most valuable rights of 
 human nature, and thought they were wrong — would our peti- 
 tion have availed? I feel myself impelled, from what has 
 passed, to ask this question. I would not wish to have lived 
 too see the sad scenes we should have experienced. 
 
 " Needy avarice, and savage cruelty, would have had full 
 scope. Hungry Germans, blood-thirsty Indians, and nations 
 of another colour, would have been let loose upon us. The 
 sad effects of such warfare have had their full influence on a 
 number of our fellow-citizens. Sir, if you had seen the sad 
 scenes which I have known ; if you had seen the simple but 
 tranquil felicity of helpless and unoffending women and chil- 
 dren, in little log huts on the frontiers, disturbed and destroyed 
 by the sad effects of British warfare and Indian butchery, your 
 soul luould have been struck with horror ! Even those help- 
 less women and children were the objects of the most shock- 
 ing barbarity. 
 
 " Give me leave again to refer to Vattel, p. 9 : — ' Nations be- 
 ing free, independent, and equal, and having a right to judge 
 according to the dictates of conscience, of what is to be done 
 in order to fulfil its duties ; the effect of all this is, the produ- 
 cing, at least externally and among men, a perfect equality of 
 rights between nations, in the administration of their affairs, 
 and the pursuit of their pretensions, without regard to the in- 
 trinsic justice of their conduct, of which others have no right 
 to form a definitive judgment: so that what is permitted in 
 one, is also permitted in the other ; and they ought to be con- 
 sidered in human society as having an equal right.' 
 
 "If it be allowed to the British nation to put to death, to for- 
 feit and confiscate debts and everything else, may we not (hav- 
 ing an equal right) confiscate — not life, for we never desire it — 
 
PATRICK riENRr. 
 
 but that which is the common object of confiscation — property^ 
 goods, and debts, which strengthen ourselves and weaken our 
 enemies? I trust that this short recapitulation of events 
 shows, that if there ever was in the history of man a case re- 
 quiring the full use of all human means, it was our case in the 
 late contest ; and we were therefore warranted to confiscate 
 the British debts." •/ r.<nljf ■ 
 
 He now takes another girbund to establish the confiscation; 
 [ shall give his whole argument on this point in his own 
 tvords : — 
 
 "I beg leave to add that these debts are lost on another prin- 
 ciple. By the dissolution of the British government, America 
 went into a state of nature — on the dissolution of that of which 
 we had been members, there being no government antecedent, 
 we went necessarily into a state of nature. To prove this, I 
 need only refer to the Declaration of Independence, pronoun- 
 ced on the fourth day of July, seventeen hundred and seventy- 
 six, and our state constitution." — Here Mr. Henry read part 
 of the constitution. — "It recites many instances of misrule 
 fey the king of England — it asserts the right and expediency 
 of dissolving the British government, and going into a state 
 of nature ; or, in other words, to establish a new government. 
 The right of dissolving it and forming a new system, had pre- 
 ceded the fourth day of July, seventeen hundred and seventy 
 six. 
 
 "A recapitulation of the events of the tyrannical acts of gov- 
 ernment, would demonstrate a right to dissolve it. But I may 
 go farther, and even say, that the act of parliament which de- 
 clared us out of the king's protection, dissolved it. For what 
 is government? It is an express or implied compact between 
 the rulers and ruled, stipulating reciprocal protection and obe- 
 dience. That protection was withdrawn, solemnly withdrawn 
 from us. Of consequence, obedience ceased to be due. Our 
 municipal rights were taken away by one blow. Municipal 
 obligations and government were also taken away by the same 
 blow. 
 
 "Well, then, there being no antecedent government, we re- 
 turned into a state of nature. Unless we did so, our new com- 
 pact of government could only be a usurpation. In a state of 
 nature there is no legal lien in the person or property of any 
 one. If you are not clear of every antecedent engagement, 
 what is the legality or strength of the present constitution of 
 government? If any antecedent engagements are to bind, 
 how far are they to reach ? You had no right to form a new 
 government, if the old system existed ; and if it did not exist, 
 you were necessarily and inevitably in a state of nature. 
 
 21* 
 
346 wirt's life o? 
 
 " In my humble opinion, by giving validity to such claims, 
 you destroy the very idea ^ the right to form a new govern 
 ment. Vattel calls government the totality of persons, estates, 
 and effects, formed by every individual of the new society, and 
 that totality represented by the governing power. How can 
 the totality exist while an antecedent right exists elsewhere? 
 See Grotius, page 4, which I have already read, and note 29 : 
 because the design and good of civil society necessarily re- 
 quire, that the natural and acquired rights of each member 
 should admit of limitations several ways, and to a certain de- 
 gree by the authority of him or them, in whose hands the sov- 
 ereign authority is lodged. When we formed a new govern- 
 ment, did there exist any authority that limited our rights? 
 How can the totality exist, if any other person or persons have 
 an existing claim upon you ? 
 
 *' It appears to me, that that equality which is involved in a 
 state of nature cannot exist while such claim exists. The 
 court will recollect what I have already read out of "Vattel, in 
 sections 15 and 18. The equality here ascribed to independ- 
 ent nations is equally ascribed to men in a state of nature. A 
 moral society of persons cannot exist without this absolute 
 equality. The existence of individuals in a state of nature, 
 depends in like manner upon, and is inseparable from such 
 equality. 
 
 " Rights, as before-mentioned, Vattel, pp. 8 and 9, are di- 
 vided into internal and external: oi external rights, he makes 
 the distinction of perfect and imperfect. I beseech your hon- 
 ours to fix this distinction in your minds. The 'perfect external 
 right only is accompanied with the right of constraint. The 
 imperfect right loses that quality, and leaves it to the party to 
 comply or not to comply with it. When the former govern- 
 ment was dissolved, the American people became indebted to 
 nobody. You either owe everything or nothing — and every 
 contract and engagement must be done away, if any. 
 
 " In a state of nature you are free and equal. But how are 
 you free, if another have a lien on your body ? Where is 
 your freedom, or your equality with that person, who has the 
 right of constraining you? This right of constraint implies a 
 complete authority over you, but not however to enslave you. 
 This constraint is always adequate to the right or obligation. 
 Where can you find the possibility of this equality which na- 
 ture gives her sons, if we admit an existing right of constraint? 
 
 "If it be a fact, that on the dissolution of the government 
 we did enter into a state of nature, (and that we did, I humbly 
 judge, cannot be denied, as at that time no government existed 
 at all,) it destroys all claim to one farthing. This will be found 
 
IPATRtCK HENRT> ^7 
 
 to be true, as well upon the ground of equity and good con- 
 science as in law, when it is considered, that when we went 
 into a state of nature, the means of paying debts were taken 
 away from us by them ; because, so far as they had power over 
 us, they prevented us from getting money to pay debts. They 
 interdicted us from the pursuit of profitable commerce ; from 
 getting gold and silver, the only things they would take — they 
 unjustly drove us to this extremity. By the concession of the 
 worthy gentlemen, their attack upon us was unjust. 
 
 *' But then, debts are not subject to confiscation, say gentle* 
 men, because there were no inquests, no office found for the 
 commonwealth. Has a debt an ear-mark ? Is it tangible or 
 visible? Has it any discriminating quality ? Unless tangible 
 or visible, how is it to be ascertained or distinguished? What 
 does an inquest mean ? A solemn inquiry by a jury, by ocular 
 examination, with other proofs. If an inquest of office were 
 to be had of land, a jury could tell the lines and boundaries of 
 it, because they may be distinguished from others, and its 
 identity may thereby be ascertained. If a horse be the object 
 of inquiry, he can be easily distinguished from any other horse. 
 *' In like manner every other article of visible property may 
 be subject to inquests ; but such a thing as an inquest of a debt 
 never existed, as far as my legal knowledge extends. What 
 are to be the consequences, if this proceeding be requisite ? 
 You must set up a court of inquisition, summon the whole na- 
 tion, and ask every man how much do you owe ? This would 
 be productive of endless confusion, perplexity and expense, 
 without the desired effect. The laws of war and of nations 
 require no more than that the sovereign power should openly 
 signify its will, that the debts be forfeited. There is no par- 
 ticular forensic form necessary. The question here is not, 
 whether this confiscation be traversed in all the forms of 
 municipal regulations. There is a question between Great 
 Britain and America similar to that between Alexander and the 
 Thebans. Has the sovereign signified his pleasure that debts 
 he remitted t 
 
 " A sign is completely sufficient, if it be understood by the 
 people. There is a necessity of thus speaking the legislative 
 will, that the other party may know it, and retaliate ; for what 
 is allowed to one, is to both parties. This was diflJerent from 
 the nature of a solemn war. War is lawful or unlawful, ac- 
 cording to the manner of conducting it. In the prosecution of 
 a lawful solemn war, it is necessary that you do not depart from 
 certain rules of moderation, honour, and humanity, but act 
 according to the usual practice of belligerant powers. Did the 
 mother-country cooduct the war against us in this manner X 
 
24S wirt's life or 
 
 We did openly say, we mean to confiscate yotir debts, aiid 
 modify them, because th^ have lost their perfect external 
 quality — they are imperfect — we claim that right, as a sover- 
 eign people, over that species of your property. 
 
 ** Sir, it was not done in a corner. It was understood by 
 our enemies. They had a right to retaliate on any species of 
 our property they could find. The right of retaliation, or just 
 retortion, for equivalent damage on any part of an enemy's 
 property, is permitted to every nation. What right has the 
 Britishnation(for if the nation have not the right, none of its peo- 
 ple have) to demand a breach of faith in the American govern- 
 ment to its citizens? I have already mentioned the engage 
 ment of the government with its citizens respecting the paper 
 money — If you take it, it shall he money. Shall it be judged 
 now not to be money? Shall this compact be broken for the 
 sake of the British nation ? No, sir, the language of national 
 law is otherwise* '[ 
 
 *'Sir, the laws of confiscation and paper-money made to-* 
 gether one system, connected and sanctioned by the legislature, 
 on which depended once the fate our country, and on which 
 depend now the happiness, the ease, and comfort of thousands 
 of your fellow-citizens. Will it not be a breach of the com- 
 pact with your people, to say that the money is not to keep up 
 its original standard in the quality given it by law? What were 
 the effects of this system? What would have been the efllects, 
 had your citizens been apprized that British debts must be 
 paid ? Would they have taken the money ? Would they have de- 
 posited the money in the loan-office if they had been warned by 
 law, that they must deposite it, subject to the future regulations 
 of peace; that it should not release them from the creditors? 
 
 "However right it may appear now to decry the paper- 
 money, it would have been fatal then ; for America might have 
 perished, without the aid and eflfect of that medium. Your 
 citizens, trusting to this compact, submitted to a number of 
 things almost intolerable— impressments and violences on their 
 property — it encouraged them to exert themselves in defence 
 of their property against the enemy during the war. If the 
 debt in the declaration mentioned be recovered, the compact is 
 subverted, as respecting the paper-money. And this subver- 
 sion is to take effect for the interest of those men, whom, by 
 all laws human and divine, we were obliged to consider as en- 
 emies ; men who were obliged to comply with the regulations 
 and requisitions of their king ; and our people will have been 
 labouring, not for themselves, but for the benefit of the British 
 eubject. 
 
 " When a vessel is in danger in a storm, those who abide oii 
 
PATRICK HENRY. ?J49 
 
 ooard of her, and encounter the dangers of the sea to save her, 
 are allowed some little compensation for salvage, for their 
 fidelity and gallantry in endeavouring to prevent her loss ; 
 while those who abandon her are entitled to nothing. But, in 
 opposition to this wise and politic principle, we, who have 
 withstood the storms and dangers, receive no compensation ; 
 but those who left the political ship, and joined those on the 
 other side of the water who wished to sink her, and who caused 
 her to fight eight long years for her preservation, shall come in 
 at last, and get their full share of this vessel, and yet will have 
 been exonerated from every charge. 
 
 *' For whom, then, were the people of America engaged in 
 war? Not for themselves, I am sure — the property that they 
 saved will not be for themselves, but for those whom they had 
 a right to call enemies. I am not willing to ascribe to the 
 meanest American the love of money, or desire of eluding the 
 payment of his debts, as the motive of engaging in the war. 
 No, sir. He had nobler and better views. But he thinks him- 
 self well entitled to those debts, from the laws and usages of 
 nations, as a compensation for the injuries he has sustained. 
 There is a sad drawback on this property saved. A national 
 debt for seventeen years, considerable taxes, which were pro- 
 fusely laid during the war on lands and slaves ; and, since the 
 peace, we have been loaded with a heavy taxation. I know 
 that I advocate this cause on a very advantageous ground, when 
 I speak of the right of salvage. 
 
 " The cargo on board the wrecked vessel belongs to the 
 British, it will have been saved for them ! but the salvage is 
 due to us only. If you take it on the ground of interest — you 
 may hold as a pledge — you may retain for salvage. If you 
 take it on the scale of the common law, or of national law-— 
 you may oppose damages to debts — retain the debts, to retri- 
 bute and compensate for the injuries they have done you. I 
 have now got over and I trust established the first point ; that 
 is that debts in common wars are subject to forfeiture, and 
 much more so in a revolution war like the American war." 
 
 These copious extracts from the report on Mr. Henry's first 
 point are deemed necessary to give the reader an idea of his 
 mode of argumentation, so far as it can be furnished by this 
 report. It would be trespassing on the indulgence of the 
 proprietor of the manuscript, (which has never been published,) 
 and trespassing too, perhaps, on the patience of that portion 
 of my readers who can find no enjoyment in legal discussion, 
 to pursue any farther this extended mode of analysis. Having 
 established his* first position, he presents his next point thus : — 
 " My next point is, that the British debts being so forfeited (as 
 
260 WIRT S LIFS OF 
 
 I conceive) can only be revived by the treaty; and unless they 
 be so revived, they are gone^r ever. I will then consider how 
 this matter stands under the treaty." 
 
 He proceeds then to show by authority, the rules by which 
 treaties are to be construed ; and demonstrates, that a treaty 
 can confer no benefit unless it be mutually observed with good 
 faith ; that perfidy on either side is a forfeiture of all its advan- 
 tages ; that the stipulations of a treaty are in the nature of con- 
 ditions precedent ; that a breach on either side dissolves the 
 covenant altogether, and places the parties on the general 
 ground which they occupied before the treaty ; that Great Brit- 
 ain had violated the treaty, in the moment of its ratification, by 
 carrying off our slaves, and detaining with an armed force those 
 posts of which she had stipulated the immediate surrender ; 
 that the pretence of her having acted thus as a retaliatory 
 measure for the non-payment of the debts, was an insult to 
 common understanding, because she began her infractions be- 
 fore any experiment had been made of a recovery of the debts ; 
 that the notion of a reprisal, preceding any injury — and a re- 
 taliation, in advance^ of any wrong on the opposite side, was 
 so far from mitigating her offence, that it was a daring insult on 
 the honour and good faith of this nation 1 Having, by a series 
 of authorities directly in point, established the right of the 
 American nation to regard the treaty as abolished by any per- 
 fidious infraction of it, on the part of Great Britain, he shows 
 next, that those infractions were established by the pleadings; 
 in the cause ; because the defendant, by his several pleas, had 
 specified those infractions, and the plaintiff, by demurring tc 
 the pleas, had admitted the truth of their averments. 
 
 Great Britain, then, as a nation, having by her own perfidy 
 forfeited all right to insist upon the treaty, and that treaty, as 
 between the nations, being annulled, the next question was, 
 whether any individual of the British nation could claim any 
 advantage under the treaty ? This he shows could not be 
 done, because in making the treaty, the sovereigns of the two 
 nations acted for all the individuals of their respective nations ; 
 the individuals were bound by all the acts of those sovereigns, 
 whether in making or abolishing a treaty^ "Here," said he, 
 " are two moral persons, Great Britain and America, making a. 
 contract. 
 
 The plaintiff claims and the defendant defends under 
 and through them ; and if either nation or moral person 
 has no right to benefits from such contract, individuals claim 
 ing under them can have none. The plaintiff then claims un^ 
 der his nation, but if that nation have committed perfidy re- 
 specting the observance of the compact, no right caA be car* 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 251 
 
 Tied therefrom to the plaintiff. It puts him back in the same 
 situation he was in before the treaty." 
 
 H« shows the absurdity of considering the treaty as annul- 
 led, in relation to all the individuals, in their collective char- 
 acter of a nation, and yet as in full force for the benefit of each 
 individual separately; for if this plaintiff had a right to all the 
 beneficial effects of the treaty, every man in England had the 
 same right ; and he cites and reads from Vattel, a conclusive 
 authority, to show, that the conventional law of nations could 
 take its effect only from universal right, extending equally to 
 all the citizens or individuals of a nation. 
 
 But to say that America had a right to consider the treaty 
 as void against all the individuals of the British nation, collect- 
 ively^ while each and every individual of that nation separ- 
 ately, could enforce it upon her, was to offer to the understand- 
 ing a paradoxical absurdity, as insulting to common sense, as 
 the conduct of Great Britain had been to the honour of the 
 American nation. 
 
 He contended further on this point, that if the treaty had 
 been observed by Great Britain, and were of consequence still 
 obligatory, it did not and could not operate where moneys had 
 been actually paid into the treasury under the laws of the 
 state ; for the provision of the treaty is, *' that creditors on 
 either side should meet with no lawful impediment to the re- 
 covery of all bona fide debts heretofore contracted." The de- 
 fendant, he said, having paid the money into the treasury ac- 
 cording to the act of assembly, and the truth of the pay- 
 ment being admitted in the record, this article of the treaty 
 could not support the plaintiff's claim. 
 
 ♦' To derive a benefit from the treaty, the plaintiff must de- 
 mand a bona fide debt ; that is, a debt bona fide due. The 
 word debt implies that the thing is due ; for if it be not 
 due, how can it be a debt? To give to these words, all debts 
 heretofore contracted, a strictly literal sense, would be to au- 
 thorize a renewed demand for debts which had been actually 
 paid off to the creditor ; for these were certainly within the 
 words of the treaty, being debts heretofore contracted : — to 
 avoid this absurd and dishonest consequence, you must look 
 at the intention of the thing; and the intention certainly was 
 to embrace those cases where there had not been a legal pay- 
 ment. I ask," said he, " why a payment made in gold and 
 silver is a legal payment? Because the coin of those metals 
 is made current by the laws of this country. If paper be 
 made current by the same au^thority, why should not a pay- 
 ment in it be equally valid ? 
 
 "The British subject cannot demand payment, because I 
 
263 
 
 confront his demand with a receipt. Why will a receipt dis 
 charge in any instance ? — l^ause it is founded on the laws of 
 the country. A receipt given in consequence of a payment in 
 coin, is a legal discharge, only because the laws of the coun- 
 try make it so. I ask then, why a receipt given in conse- 
 quence of a payment into the treasury, be not of equal valid- 
 ity, since it has precisely the same foundation ? It is expressly 
 constituted a discharge by a legislature having competent au- 
 thority. This debt, therefore, having been legally paid by the 
 contractor, was not due from him at the time of making the 
 treaty, and therefore is not within the intention of that instru- 
 ment. 
 
 *' But, say the gentlemen on the other side, the one payment 
 has the consent of the creditor, and the other has not : he who 
 paid coin has the creditor's consent to the discharge, but he 
 who paid money into the treasury wants it. Have we not sat- 
 isfied this honourable court, that the governing power had a 
 right to put itself in the place of the British subjects? Hav- 
 ing had an unquestionable right to confiscate, sequester, or 
 modify those debts as they pleased, they had an equally indu- 
 bitable right to substitute themselves in the stead of the plain- 
 tifl^, otherwise those authorities have been quoted in vain." 
 
 He then cites authorities to prove, that the law of the place 
 governs the contract ; and concludes that the payment into the 
 treasury having in this instance been made in consequence of 
 a law of this commonwealth, which was strictly consonant 
 with the laws of nations, and which had declared that such 
 payment should operate as a complete and final discharge^ 
 this was not a subsisting debt, within the contemplation of the 
 treaty, and remained therefore, wholly unaflfected by it. 
 
 " The next question was, whether this court could take no- 
 tice of this infraction of the treaty, on the part of Great Brit- 
 ain, and found their judgment upon it. On this question he 
 observes that the court were not called upon to step out of 
 their appropriate sphere, in order to invade the province of 
 the jury by trying facts ; the facts were all agreed by the plead- 
 ings ; the court were merely called upon to say what was the 
 law arising on those facts. 
 
 " The existence or non-existence of the treaty, was a legal 
 inference from the facts agreed ; which the courts alone were 
 competent to decide. The plaintiff himself had forced this 
 question on the court, by relying in his replication on the 
 treaty, as restoring his right to recover this debt. He sets up 
 his right under this instrument expressly, and then questions 
 the jurisdiction of the court to decide upon the instrument! 
 The treaty, quoad hod is the covenant of the parties in this 
 
PATRICK H£NRY. ^3 
 
 tift : the question presented by the pleadings is, whether the 
 plaintiff who, by that covenant, has taken upon himself the 
 performance of a precedent condition, can claim any benefit 
 under it, until he shall show that this precedent condition has 
 been performed. 
 
 " On this question," said he, " the gentleman's argument is, 
 that the court have no power to decide on the construction of 
 the covenant, which he himself has brought before them ; that 
 they have nothing to do with the dependance or independence 
 of the stipulations or the reciprocal rights of the parties, to 
 claim under the covenant, without showing a previous perform- 
 ance on their respective parts ! 
 
 *' He, on the contrary, insisted that, under the constitution 
 of the United States, the question belonged, peculiarly and 
 exclusively, to the judicial department; that by the constitu- 
 tion it was expressly provided, that the judicial power should 
 extend to all cases arising- tender treaties ; that the law of 
 treaties embraced the whole extent of natural and national law • 
 that the constitution therefore, by referring all cases arising un- 
 der treaties to the judiciary, had of necessity invested them 
 with the power of appealing to that code of laws, by which 
 alone the construction, the operation, the efficacy, the legal ex- 
 istence or non-existence of treaties, must be tested: and by 
 this code they were told in the most emphatic terms, that he 
 who violates one article of a treaty, releases the other party 
 from the performance of any part of it: that the reference of 
 %11 cases arising under treaties, to the judicial department, car- 
 ried with it every power near or remote, direct or collateral 
 which was essential to a fair and just decision of those cases 
 that in every such case, the very first question was, Is there a 
 treaty or not? — not whether there has been a treaty — but 
 whether there is an existing obligatory, operative treaty. 
 
 " To decide this question, the court must bring the facts to 
 the standard of the laws of nations ; and by this standard iJ 
 had been shown, that in the case at bar, there existed no treaty 
 from which a British subject could claim any benefit. That if 
 the judicial department had not the power of deciding thig 
 question, there was no department in the American govern- 
 ment which did possess it: the state governments have nothing 
 to do with it — congress cannot touch the subject — they may 
 indeed declare war for a violation ; but a nation was not to be 
 forced to this extremity on every occasion ; there were other 
 modes of redress, short of a declaration of war, to which na- 
 tions had a right to resort ; and one of them, as he had shown, 
 was the power of withholding from the perfidious violator oi 
 a treaty, those benefits which he claimed under it. 
 
 23 
 
254 wirt's life of 
 
 "Now congress could not by a law declare a treaty void — it 
 is not among those granlgTof power which the constitution 
 makes to them ; they cannot, therefore, meddle with the sub- 
 ject in any other way than by a declaration of war ; neither 
 can the president and senate touch it. They can make treaties ; 
 but the constitution gives them no power to expound a treaty ; 
 much less to declare it void; they can only unite with the 
 house of representatives, in punishing an infraction by a dec- 
 laration of war. To the judiciary alone then, belongs this 
 pacific power of withholding legal benefits, claimed under a 
 treaty, because of the mala fides of the party claiming them. 
 
 "Now what will be the situation of this country, compared 
 with that of Great Britain, if you deny this power to the judi- 
 ciary ? If you have not observed the treaty with good faith, 
 and go to England, claiming any benefit under the treaty, there 
 is a power there, called royal prerogative, which will tell you — 
 no — go home and act honestly, and you shall have your rights 
 under the treaty. 
 
 "Your breach of faith will not drive them to a declaration 
 of war — there is a power there which obtains redress by with- 
 holding your rights, until you act with good faith : but where 
 is the reciprocal and corresponding power in our government, 
 if it be not in the judiciary ? It is nowhere ; we have no 
 redress short of a declaration of war. Is this one of the pre- 
 cious fruits of the adoption of the federal constitution, to bind 
 us hand and foot with the fetters of technicality, and leave us 
 no way of bursting them asunder, but by a declaration of war, 
 and the effusion of human blood ! It was never intended. 
 The wisdom and virtue which framed the constitution could 
 never have intended to place the country in this humiliating 
 and awful predicament." 
 
 "Give to this power of deciding on treaties, which is dele- 
 gated to the federal judiciary, a liberal construction — give them 
 all the incidental powers necessary to carry it into effect — 
 open to them the whole region of natural and national law, 
 which furnishes the only rule of expounding those national 
 compacts, called treaties, and your government is unmutilated, 
 its measure of power is full up to the exigences of the nation, 
 and you treat on equal terms : but upon the opposite construc- 
 tion, much better would it be that America should have no 
 treaties at all, than that having them, she should want those 
 means of enforcement and redress which all other nations 
 possess." 
 
 Having thus established that debts are subject to confisca- 
 tion in common wars, and much more so in the war of the rev- 
 olution — that Virginia was an independent nation, and as such, 
 
PATRICK HENRT. 255 
 
 crompetent to the exercise of this right of eminent domain — of 
 taking to herself the debts of her enemies — that she had in 
 fact exercised this right, and that this debt had, under one of 
 her laws of that character, been legally discharged — that the 
 treaty had no effect in reviving the claim, because the treaty 
 had been annulled by the infractions of it on the part of Great 
 Britain — and because if it had not, this was not a subsisting 
 debt, within the purview of the treaty — and finally, that the 
 rourt's jurisdiction extended to every question touching the 
 consequence or annulment of treaties. 
 
 He said he had now finished his own view of the subject, 
 and should have taken his seat, but for the necessity of giving 
 a 'particular answer to the various objections to these princi- 
 ples, which had been so ably urged by the counsel for the 
 plaintiff. 
 
 In this part of his subject he shows the most masterly acute- 
 ness, address, and vigour. A gentleman who was present, (the 
 late Mr. Hardin Burnley,) has described some of the circum- 
 stances of his manner, with a very interesting minuteness : — 
 *«Mr. Henry," he said, "had taken ample notes of the argu- 
 ments of his adversaries : the people would give him his own 
 time to examine his not€s, and select the argument or remark 
 that he meant to make the subject of his comments, observing 
 in these pauses the most profound silence. If the answer 
 he was about to give was a short one, he would give it without 
 removing his spectacles from his nose — but if he was ever 
 seen to give his spectacle a cant to the top of his wig, it was a 
 declaration of war, and his adversaries must stand clear." 
 
 I propose to give a few specimens only of his mode of an- 
 swering the arguments of the opposing counsel. It had been 
 urged by them that the laws of nations had declared only the 
 e6?<a^e of an alien enemy liable to confiscation — but that debts 
 were mere rights — choses in action — and therefore not of a 
 confiscable character. His answer to this is a happy mixture 
 of ridicule and argument. It is short, and I shall give it in his 
 own words : — 
 
 " But a chose in action is not liable to forfeiture. Why ? 
 Because it is too terrible to be done. There is such a thing as 
 straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel. Things much 
 more terrible have been done — things, from which our nature, 
 where it has any pretensions to be pure and correct, must re- 
 coil with horror. Show me those laws which forfeit your life, 
 attaint your blood, and beggar your wife and children. Those 
 sanguinary and inhuman laws, to which every thing valuable 
 must yield, are to be found in the code of that people, under 
 whom the plaintiff now claims. 
 
256 wirt's life of 
 
 *' Is it so terrible to confiscate dehtSf when thei/ forfeit Ufe^ 
 and corrupt the very soui^ of your blood ? Though every 
 other thing dear to humanity is forfeitable, yet debts, it seems^ 
 must be spared ! Debts are too sacred to be touched? It is a 
 mercantile idea that worships Mammon instead of God. A 
 chose in action shall pass — it is without your reach. What 
 authority can they adduce in support of such conclusive pre- 
 eminence for debts? No political or human institution has 
 placed them above other things. If debt be the most sacred of 
 all earthly obligations, I am uninformed from whence it has de- 
 rived that eminence. The principle is to be found in the day- 
 books, journals and legers of merchants ; not in the writings 
 or reasonings of the wise and well-informed — the enlightened 
 instructers of mankind, 
 
 " Can any gentlemen show me any instance, where the life 
 or property of a gentleman or plebeian in England is forfeited, 
 and yet his debts spared ? The state can claim debts due to 
 one guilty of high treason. Are they not subject to confisca- 
 tion? I concur in that sound principle, that good faith is es- 
 sential to the happiness of mankind ; that its want stops all 
 human intercourse, and renders us miserable. This principle 
 is permanent, a>"-d universal. Look to what point of the com- 
 pass you will, you will find it pervading all nations. Who 
 does not set down its sacred influence as the only thing that 
 comforts human life ? Does the plaintiff claim through good 
 faith? How does he derive his claim? Through perfidy: 
 through a polluted channel. Everything of that kind would 
 have come better from our side of the question, than from theirs." 
 
 Mr. Ronald had insisted strenuously, that there could be no 
 forfeiture or escheat without the inquest of a jury ; and that no 
 act of the legislature had, in fact, directly forfeited these debts. 
 In answer to this, Mr. Henry says, *' but the gentleman has 
 observed, that neither the declaration of the legislature, by the 
 act of 1779, that the British subjects had become aliens, and 
 their property vested in the commonwealth, nor any other act 
 passed on the subject, could divest the debts out of the British 
 creditors. It cannot be done without the solemnity of an in- 
 quiry by jury. The debt of A or B, cannot be given to C, 
 without this solemnity. 
 
 *' Is the little legality of forms, which are necessary when 
 you speak of estates and titles, requisite on such mighty occa- 
 sions as these? When the fate of a nation is concerned, yon 
 are to speak the language of nature. When your very exist- 
 ence is at stake, are you to speak the technical language of 
 books, and to be confined to the limited rules of technical crit- 
 icism? to those tricks and quirks — those little twists and hvirl» 
 
PATRICK HENRY. ^7 
 
 of low chicanery and sophistry, which are so beneficial to 
 professional men ? Alexander said, in the style of that mighty- 
 man, to the Thessalians, *You are free from the TliebanSy* and 
 the debts they owed them were thereby remitted. 
 
 ** Every other sovereign has the same right to use the same 
 natural, manly, and laconic language ; not when he is victori- 
 ous only, but in every situation, if he be in a state of hostility 
 with other nations. The acts use not the language of techni- 
 cality, they speak not of releases, discharges and acquittances ; 
 but they speak the legislative will, in simple speech, to the 
 human understanding — a style better suited to the purpose, 
 than the turgid and pompous phraseology of many great 
 writers." 
 
 Mr. Ronald, who was a native of Scotland, and at the com- 
 mencement of the revoluti')nary war at least, had been sus- 
 pected of being not very warm in the American cause, had 
 urged the objection to the national competency of Virginia, at 
 the time of the passage of those laws of confiscation and for- 
 feiture, on which the defendant relied ; and in the course of his 
 observations, had unfortunately used the remark, that Virginia 
 was, at that time, nothing more than a revolted colony. 
 
 When Mr. Henry came to notice this remark, he gave his 
 spectacles the war cant : — " But another observation," said he, 
 *'was made; that by the law of nations we had not a right to 
 legislate on the subject of British debts — we were not an indc' 
 pendent nation — and I thought," said he, raising himself aloft, 
 while his frame dilated itself beyond the ordinary size, "that I 
 heard the word — revolt /" 
 
 At this word, he turned upon Mr. Ronald his piercing eye, 
 and knit his brows at him, with an expression of indignation 
 and contempt, which seemed almost to annihilate him. It was 
 like a stroke of lightning. Mr. Ronald shrunk from the with- 
 ering look: and, pale and breathless, cast down his eyes, 
 "seeming," says my informant, " to be in quest of an auger- 
 hole, by which he might drop through the floor, and escape for 
 ever from mortal sight." 
 
 Mr. Henry perceived his suffering, and his usual good-nature 
 immediately returned to him. He raised his eyes gently tow- 
 ard the court, and shaking his head slowly, with an expres- 
 sion of regret, added, "I wish I had not heard it: for though 
 innocently meant, (and I am sure that it was so, from the char- 
 acter of the gentleman who mentioned it,) yet the sound dis- 
 pleases me — it is unpleasant." Mr. Ronald breathed again, 
 and looked up, and his generous adversary dismissed the topic, 
 to resume it no more. 
 
 It may give the reader some idea of the amplitude of this 
 
 22* 
 
rt»58 WIRT S LIFE Of 
 
 argument, when he is told t]p^ Mr. Henry wars engaged three 
 days successively in its delivery ; and some faint conception of 
 the enchantment which he threw over it, when he learns that 
 although it turned entirely on questions of law, yet the audi- 
 ence, mixed as it was, seemed so far from being wearied, that 
 they followed him throughout with increased enjoyment. The 
 room continued full to the last; and such was the "listening 
 silence" with which he was heard, that not a syllable that he 
 uttered is believed to have been lost. 
 
 When he finally sat down, the concourse rose with a general 
 murmur of admiration ; the scene resembled the breaking up 
 and dispersion erf a great theatrical assembly, which had been 
 enjoying for the first time, the exhibition of some new and 
 splendid drama : the speaker of the house of delegates was at 
 length able to command a quorum for business ; and every 
 quarter of the city, and, at length, every part of the state, was 
 filled with the echoes of Mr. Henry's eloquent speech. 
 
 His practice during these last years, of which we are now 
 speaking, was confined pretty generally to cases of conse- 
 quence. He did not like the profession, and was not willing 
 to embark in any case for the ordinary fees. I have an inter- 
 esting sketch of him, in his professional character, during 
 those years, from the same elegant pen, which in a former 
 page, exhibits the parallel between him and Mr. Lee in 1784; 
 it is as follows : — 
 
 " At the bar, Mr. Henry was eminently successful. When 
 1 saw him there, he must, from the course of his life, which 
 had been chiefly political, have become somewhat rusty in the 
 learning of his profession : yet I considered him as a good 
 lawyer : he seemed to be well acquainted with the rules and 
 canons of property. He would not, indeed, undergo the 
 drudgery necessary for complicated business ; yet I am told, 
 that in the British debt cause, he astonished the public not less 
 by the matter than the manner of his speech. 
 
 "It was however as a criminal lawyer that his eloquence had 
 the fairest scope, and in that character I have seen him. He 
 was perfect master of the passions of his auditory, whether in 
 the tragic or comic line. The tones of his voice, to say noth- 
 ino- of his matter and gesture, were insinuated into the feel- 
 ings of his hearers, in a manner that baffles all description. 
 It seemed to operate by mere sympathy ; and by his tones 
 alone, it seemed to me, that he could make you cry or laugh at 
 pleasure. I will endeavour to give you some account of this 
 tragic and comic effect in two instances, which I witnessed. 
 
 "About the year 1792, one Holland killed a young man in 
 Botetourt, The young man was popular, and lived, I think, 
 
PATRICK H£NRYo 25© 
 
 with Mr- King, a wealthy merchant in Fincastle, who employed 
 Mr. John Brackenridge to assist in the prosecution of Holland. 
 This Holland had gone up from the county of Louisa as a 
 schoolmaster, but had turned out badly, and was unpopular. 
 The killing was in the night, and was generally believed to be 
 murder. He was the son of one Doctor Holland, who was 
 yet living in Louisa, and had been one of Mr. Henry's juvenile 
 friends and acquaintances. 
 
 "It was chiefly at the instance of the father, and for a very 
 moderate fee, that Mr. Henry undertook to go out to the district 
 court of Greenbrier, to defend the prisoner. Such were the 
 prejudices there, that the people had openlyland repeatedly 
 declared that even Patrick Henry need not come to defend 
 Holland, unless he brought a jury with him. On the day of 
 trial, the courthouse was crowded. I did not move from my 
 seat for fourteen hours ; and had no wish to do so. The ex- 
 amination of the witnesses took up great part of the time, and 
 the lawyers were probably exhausted. Brackenridge was elo- 
 quent; but Henry left no dry eye in the courthouse. 
 
 *' The case I believe was murder ; though, possibly, mart' 
 slaughter only. Mr. Henry laid hold of this possibility with 
 such effect as to make all forget that Holland had killed the 
 storekeeper at all ; and presented the deplorable case of the 
 jury killing Holland, an innocent man. By that force of de- 
 scription which he possessed in so wonderful a degree, he ex- 
 hibited, as it were, at the clerk's table, old Holland and his 
 wife, who were then in Louisa ; but the drawing was so pow- 
 erful, and so true to nature, that we seemed to see them before 
 us, and to hear them asking of the jury, * Where is our son? 
 What have you done with him V 
 
 "All this was done in a manner so solemn and touching, and 
 a tone so irresistible, that it was impossible for the stoutest 
 heart not to take sides with the criminal: as for the jury, they 
 lost sight of the murder they were trying, and wept most pro- 
 fusely, with old Holland and his wife, whom Mr. Henry painted, 
 and perhaps proved to be very respectable. During the ex- 
 amination of the evidence, the bloody clothes had been brought 
 in. Mr. Henry objected to their exhibition, and applied most 
 forcibly and pathetically Antony's remark on Cesar's wounds, 
 on those dumh mouths which would raise the stones of Rome 
 to mutiny. 
 
 " He urged that this sight would totally deprive the jury of 
 their judgment, which would be merged in i\\e\r feelings. The 
 court were divided, and the motion fell. The result of the 
 trial was, that after the retirement of a half or quarter of an 
 hour, the jury brought in a verdict of not guilty ; but on being 
 
1560 wirt's life of 
 
 reminded by the court thatjj^ey might find a decree of homi 
 cide, inferior to murder, th^ altered their verdict to guilty of 
 manslaughter^ 
 
 *' Mr. Ilenry was not less successful in the comic line, when 
 it became necessary to resort to it. You have no doubt heard 
 how he defeated John Hook, by raising the cry of 5ee/ against 
 him. I will give you a similar instance. In the year 1792, 
 there were many suits on the south side of James river, for 
 inflicting Lynch's law ; thirty-nine lashes, inflicted without trial 
 or law, on a mere suspicion of guilt, which could not be regu- 
 larly proved. This lawless practice, which, sometimes by the 
 order of a magHtrate, sometimes without, prevailed extensively 
 in the upper counties on James river, took its name from the 
 gentleman who set the first example of it. 
 
 "A verdict of five hundred pounds had been given in Prince 
 Edward district court, in a case of this kind. This alarmed the 
 defendant in the next case, who employed Mr. Henry to defend 
 him. The case was, that a wagoner and the plaintiff* were 
 travelling to Richmond together, when the wagoner knocked 
 down a turkey, and put it into his wagon. Complaint was 
 made to the defendant, a justice of the peace; both the parties 
 were taken upC, and the wagoner agreed to take a whipping 
 rather than be sent to jail : but the plaintiff" refused : the jus- 
 tice, however, gave him also a small flagellation; and for this 
 the suit was brought. 
 
 " The plaintiff", by way of taking ofl^ the force of the defence, 
 insisted that he was wholly innocent of the act committed. 
 Mr. Henry on the contrary contended, that he was a party 
 present, aiding and assisting. In the course of his remarks, 
 he expressed himself thus: — 'But, gentlemen of the jury, the 
 plaintiflf tells you he had nothing to do with the turkey — I dare 
 say, gentlemen, not until it was roasted^'' &c. He pronounced 
 this word roasted with such rotundity of voice, such a ludi- 
 crous whirl of the tongue, and in a manner so indescribably 
 comical, that it threw every one into a fit of laughter at the 
 plaintiff, who stood up in the place usually allotted to crimi 
 nals ; and the defendant was let oflf with little or no damages.'* 
 The case of John Hook, to which my correspondent alludes, 
 is worthy of insertion. Hook was a Scotchman, a man of 
 wealth, and suspected of being unfriendly to the American 
 cause. During the distresses of the American army, conse- 
 quent on the joint invasion of Cornwallis and Phillips in sev- 
 enteen hundred and eighty-one, a Mr. Venable, an army com- 
 missary had taken two of Hook's steers for the use of the 
 troops. 
 
 The act had not been strictly legal ; and on the establish 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 261 
 
 merit of peace, Hook, under the advice of Mr. Cowan, a gen- 
 tleman of some distinction in the law, thought proper to bring 
 an action of trespass against Mr. Venable, in the district court 
 of New London. Mr. Henry appeared for the defendant, and 
 is said to have disported himself in this cause to the infinite 
 enjoyment of his hearers, the unfortunate Hook always ex- 
 cepted. After Mr. Henry became animated in the cause, says 
 a correspondent, (Judge Stuart,) he appeared to have complete 
 control over the passions of his audience : at one time he ex- 
 cited their indignation against Hook : vengeance was visible 
 in every countenance : again when he chose to relax and ridi- 
 cule him, the whole audience was in a roar of laughter. 
 
 He painted the distress of the American army, exposed 
 almost naked to the rigour of a winter's sky, and marking the 
 frozen ground over which they marched, with the blood of 
 their unshod feet — " where was the man," he said, " who had 
 an American heart in his bosom, who would not have thrown 
 open his fields, his barns, his cellars, the doors of his house, 
 the portals of his breast, to have received with open arms, the 
 meanest soldier in that little band of famished patriots ? Where 
 is the man? — There he stands — but whether the heart of an 
 American beats in his bosom, you, gentlemen, are to judge." 
 
 He then carried the jury, by the powers of his imagination, 
 to the plains around York, the surrender of which had follow- 
 ed shortly after the act complained of: he depicted the surren- 
 der in the most glowing and noble colours of his eloquence — 
 the audience saw before their eyes the humiliation and dejec- 
 tion of the British, as they marched out of their trenches — 
 they saw the triumph which lighted up every patriot face, and 
 heard the shouts of victory, and the cry of Washington and 
 liberty as it rung and echoed through the American rank, and 
 was reverberated from the hills and shores of the neighbouring 
 river — " but hark ! what notes of discord are these which dis- 
 turb the general joy, and silence the acclamations of victory — 
 they are the notes of John Hook, hoarsely brawling through 
 the American camp, beef! beef! beef!'^ 
 
 The whole audience were convulsed : a particular incident 
 will give a better idea of the effect, than any general descrip- 
 tion. The clerk of the court, unable to command himself, and 
 unwilling to commit any breach of decorum in his place, rush- 
 ed out of the courthouse, and threw himself on the grass, in 
 the most violent paroxysm of laughter, where he was rolling, 
 when Hook, with very different feelings, came out for relief 
 into the yard also. " Jemmy Steptoe," said he to the clerk, 
 ** what the devil ails ye, mon ?" Mr. Steptoe was only able to 
 say, that he could not help it» " Never mind ye," said Hook, 
 
262 wirt's life of 
 
 "wait till Billy Cowan gets up he'll show him the la'/' Mr. 
 Cowan, however, was so^mpletely overwhelmned by the 
 torrent which bore upon his client, that when he rose to reply 
 to Mr. Henry, he was scarcely able to make an intelligible or 
 audible remark. 
 
 The cause was decided almost by acclamation. The jury 
 retired for form sake, and instantly returned with a verdict for 
 the defendant. Nor did the effect of Mr. Henry's speech stop 
 here. The people were so highly excited by the tory audacity 
 of such a suit, that Hook began to hear around him a cry more 
 terrible than that of beef; it was the cry of tar and feathers : 
 from the application of which it is said, that nothing saved 
 him but a precipitate flight and the speed of his horse. 
 
 I have not attempted, in the course of these sketches, to fol- 
 low Mr. Henry through his professional career. I have no ma- 
 terials to justify such an attempt. It has been, indeed, stated 
 to me in general, that he appeared in such and such a case, and 
 that he shone with great lustre ; but neither his speeches in 
 those cases, nor any point of his argument, nor even any bril- 
 liant passage has been communicated, so that the sketch that 
 could be given of them must be either confined to a meager 
 catalogue of the causes, or the canvass must be filled up by 
 my own fancy, which would at once be an act of injustice to 
 Mr. Henry, and a departure from that historical veracity, 
 which it has been my anxious study in every instance to ob- 
 serve. 
 
 I have been told, for example, that in the year seventeen 
 hundred and seventy-four, Mr. Henry appeared at the bar of 
 the general court, in defence of a married man by the name of 
 Henry BuUard, indicted for the murder of a beautiful girl, who 
 lived in his house, to whom he had unfortunately become at- 
 tached, and whom in a moment of frantic despair, he sacrificed 
 to his hopeless passion. The defence is said to have been 
 placed on the ground of insanity ; and it is easy to conceive, in 
 general the figure which Mr. Henry must have made in such a 
 course. Those pathetic powers of eloquence, in which he 
 was so pre-eminently great, had ample scope for their exercise 
 in this case ; and we can credit, without difficulty, the assertion, 
 that he deluged the house with tears, and effected the acquittal 
 of his client. But this is all that we know of the case.* 
 
 * If this is the case of Henry Bullard, who was *indicted at the April term 
 of seventeen hundred and seventy-four, for the murder of Mary Pinner, this 
 honour claimed by my correspondent for Mr Henry, is not due ; for the records 
 of the general court show, that the indictment, although originally drawn for 
 the charge of murder, was reduced to manslaughter by the grand jury ; of 
 which offence the prisoner was convicted. There is, probably, some mistake 
 in the name. 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 263 
 
 So also I learn that, on the same occasion after the war, he 
 appeared at the bar of the house of delegates, in support of a 
 petition of the officers of the Virginia line, who sought to be 
 placed on the footing of those who had been taken on conti- 
 nental establishment : and that, after having depicted their ser- 
 vices and their sufferings in colours which filled every heart 
 with sympathy and gratitude, he dropped on his knees at the 
 bar of the house, and presented such an appeal as might almost 
 have softened rocks, and bent the knotted oak. Yet no ves- 
 tige of this splendid speech remains ; nor have I been able, 
 after the most diligent inquiries, to ascertain the year in which 
 it occurred ; similar petitions having been presented for several 
 successive sessions. 
 
 It was in the year seventeen hundred and ninety-four, that 
 he bade a final adieu to his profession, and retired to the bosom 
 of his own family. He retired, loaded with honours, public 
 and professional: and carried with him the admiration, the 
 gratitude, the confidence, and the love of his country. No 
 man had ever passed through so long a life of public service, 
 with a reputation more perfectly unspotted. 
 
 Nor had Mr. Henry, on any occasion, sought security from 
 censure, by that kind of prudent silence and temporizing neu- 
 trality, which politicians so frequently observe. On the con- 
 trary, his course had been uniformly active, bold, intrepid, and 
 independent. On every great subject of public interest, the 
 part which he had taken was open, decided, manly ; his coun- 
 try saw his motives, heard his reasons, approved his conduct, 
 rested upon his virtue and his vigour; and contemplated with 
 amazement, the evolution and unremitted display of his trans- 
 cendent talents. 
 
 For more than thirty years he had now stood before that 
 country — open to the scrutiny and the censure of the invidious — 
 yet he retired, not only without spot or blemish, but with all 
 his laurels blooming full and fresh upon him — followed by the 
 blessings of his almost adoring countrymen, and cheered by 
 that most exquisite of all earthly possessions — the conscious- 
 ness of having, in deed and in truth, played well his part. He 
 had now, too, become disembarrassed of debt; his fortune was 
 affluent ; and he enjoyed in his retirement, that ease and dig- 
 nity, which no man ever more richly deserved. 
 
264 WIRT S LIFE OF 
 
 CI^TER X. 
 
 Mr. Henry's Retirement — State of Politics — Letter to his Daughter — He is 
 again elected Governor — Declines the Office — His Position in regard to the 
 two great Political Parties — Presents himself as a Candidate for the House 
 of Delegates — Speech before opening the Polls — Eminent Men arrayed 
 against Him — His Death. 
 
 Whatever difference of opinion may exist as to other parts 
 of his character, in this the concurrence is universal : that 
 there never was a man better constituted than Mr. Henry to 
 enjoy and adorn the retirement on which he had now entered. 
 Nothing can be more amiable, notning more interesting and 
 attaching, than those pictures which have been furnished from 
 every quarter, without one dissentient stroke of the pencil, of 
 this great and virtuous man in the bosom of private life. 
 
 Mr. Jefferson says, that " he was the best-humoured com- 
 panion in the world." His disposition was indeed all sweet- 
 ness — his affections were warm, kind, and social — his patience 
 invincible — his temper ever unclouded, cheerful, and serene — 
 his manners plain, open, familiar, and simple — his conversation 
 easy, ingenuous, and unaffected, full of entertainment, full of 
 instruction, and irradiated with all those light and softer graces 
 which his genius threw without effort, over the most common 
 subjects. It is said that there stood in the court, before his door, 
 a large walnut-tree, under whose shade it was his delight to 
 pass his summer evenings, surrounded by his affectionate and 
 happy family, and by a circle of neighbours who loved him al- 
 most to idolatry. Here he would disport himself with all the 
 careless gayety of infancy. 
 
 Here, too, he would sometimes warm the bosoms of the old, 
 and strike fire from the eyes of his younger hearers, by re- 
 counting the tales of other times; by sketching with the bold- 
 ness of a master's hand, those great historic incidents in which 
 he had borne a part; and by drawing to the life, and placing 
 before his audience, in colours as fresh and strong as those of 
 nature, the many illustrious men in every quarter of the continent, 
 with whom he had acted a part on the public stage. Here, too, 
 he would occasionally discourse with all the wisdom and all the 
 eloquence of a Grecian sage, of the various duties and offices 
 of life; and pour forth those lessons of practical utility, with 
 which long experience and observation had stored his mind. 
 
 Many were the visiters from a distance, old and young, who 
 came on a kind of pious pilgrimage, to the retreat of the vete- 
 ran patriot, and found him thus delightfully and usefully em- 
 ployed — the old to gaze upon him with long-remembered affec- 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 265 
 
 tion, and ancient gratitude — the young, the ardent, and the 
 emulous, to behold and admire, with swimming eyes, the cham- 
 pion of other days, and to look with a sigh of generous regret, 
 upon that height of glory which they could never hope to reach. 
 Blessed be the shade of that venerable tree — ever hallowed the 
 spot which his genius has consecrated ! 
 
 Mr. Henry received these visits with all his characteristic 
 plainness and modesty ; and never failed to reward the fatigue 
 of the journey by the warmest welcome, and by the unceremo- 
 nious and fascinating familiarity, with which he would at once 
 enter into conversation with his new guests, and cause them to 
 forget that they were strangers, or abroad. Nor must the reader 
 suppose that in these conversations he assumed any airs of su- 
 periority ; much less that his conversation was, as in some of 
 our conspicuous men, a continued, imperious, and didactic lec- 
 ture. On the contrary, he carried into private life, all those 
 principles of equality which had governed him in public. 
 
 That ascendancy, indeed, which proceeded from the superior 
 energy of his mind, and the weight of his character, would 
 manifest itself unavoidably, in the deference of his companions ; 
 but there was nothing in his manner which would have ever 
 reminded them of it. On the contrary, it seemed to be his 
 study to cause them to forget it, and to decoy them into a free 
 and equal interchange of thought. If he took the lead in con- 
 versation, it was not because he sought it ; but because it was 
 forced upon him by that silent delight with which he perceived 
 that his comp^Jiy preferred to listen to him. 
 
 But it was in the bosom of his own family, where the eye of 
 every visiter and even every neighbour was shut out — where 
 neither the love of fame, nor the fear of censure, could be sus- 
 pected of throwing a false light upon his character — it was in 
 that very scene, in which it has been said that "no man is a 
 hero," that Mr. Henry's heroism shone with the most engaging 
 beauty. It was to his wife, to his children, to his servants, 
 that his true character was best known : to this grateful, de- 
 voted, happy circle, were best known the patient and tender 
 forbearance, the kind indulgence, the forgiving mildness, and 
 sweetness of his spirit, those pure and warm affections, which 
 were always looking out for the means of improving their feli- 
 city, and that watchful prudence and circumspection, which 
 guarded them from harm. 
 
 What can be more amiable than the playful tenderness with 
 which he joined in the sports of his little children, and the 
 boundless indulgence with which he received and returned their 
 caresses ? " His visiters," says one of my correspondents, 
 " have not unfrequently caught him lying on the floor, with a 
 
 23 
 
266 wirt's life of 
 
 group of these little ones, climbing over him in every direction, 
 or dancing around him, ^h obstreperous mirth, to the tune 
 of his violin, while the only contest seemed to be who should 
 make the most noise." If there be any bachelor so cold of 
 heart as to be offended at this anecdote, I can only remind him 
 of the remark of the great Agesilaus to the friend who found 
 him riding on a stick among his children: *^DonH mention it, 
 till you are yourself a father V^ 
 
 Such were the scenes of domestic and social bliss, such the 
 delicious tranquillity, in which Mr. Henry passed the first years 
 of his retirement. Yet this retreat, which so well deserved to 
 have been considered as sacred, was doomed in a few years to 
 be disturbed by the bickerings of political party. Since Mr. 
 Henry's retirement from public life, new parties had arisen in 
 the United States, whose animosities had been carried to an 
 alarming height. 
 
 The federalists, who supported the measures of the new 
 government throughout, were accused by their adversaries of 
 a disposition to strain the constructive powers of the constitu- 
 tion to their highest possible pitch ; of a secret wish to convert 
 the government, into a substantial monarchy at least ; to which 
 purpose, the assumption of state debts, the establishment of 
 the funding system, and of the national bank, the alarming in- 
 crease of the public debt, the imposition of a heavy load of 
 internal taxes, the establishment of an army and a navy, with 
 all their consequences of favouritism and extensive executive 
 patronage, were alleged to have been introduced. 
 
 They were branded with the name of aristocrats, a name of 
 reproach borrowed from the parties in France ; and were char- 
 ged with being inimical to the cause of human liberty, as was 
 said to be proved by their hostility to the progress of the 
 French revolution, as well as by the alarming character of those 
 measures which they were pushing forward in America. They 
 were suspected and accused of a preference for a government 
 of ranks and orders, and a secret love of titles of nobility ; of 
 which it was said, one of their principal leaders had furnished 
 a decisive proof, so far as he was concerned, by having pro- 
 posed the introduction of titles in the continental convention 
 which had framed the constitution. 
 
 The party which urged these charges, took the name of re- 
 publicans and democrats ; declared themselves the friends of 
 liberty and the people, and the firm advocates of a government 
 of the people by the people. They were devoted, with enthu- 
 siasm, to the cause of liberty in France : considered man, as 
 the only title of nobility which ought to be admitted, and his 
 freedom and happiness as the sole objects of government ; this 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 267 
 
 they contended, was the principle on which the A mericail revo- 
 lution had turned ; that the great objects of the revolution 
 could be no otherwise attained, than by a simple, pure, eco- 
 nomical, and chaste administration of the federal government; 
 and by restricting the several departments under the new con- 
 stitution, to the express letter of the powers assigned to them 
 by that instrument. 
 
 The federalists on the other hand, denied and repelled, with 
 great acrimony and vehemence, the charges which had been 
 urged against them by their adversaries. They contended that 
 the measures complained of were warranted by the constitution, 
 and were necessary to give to the federal government the effect 
 which was intended by its adoption. They insisted that they 
 were simply the friends of order and good government ; and 
 in their turn, branded their adversaries with the name of Jaco- 
 bins, who having caught the mania from France, were for 
 overturning all government and throwing everything into an- 
 archy and uproar, in the hope of rising themselves to the top 
 of the chaos. 
 
 They alleged that the opposition was formed of the dregs of 
 the American people, headed and goaded on by a few design- 
 ing men, and fermented into faction by the revolutionary ele- 
 ments thrown among them, from abroad, in the shape of 
 French and Irish emigrants and convicts. They insisted that 
 it was indispensably necessary to the peace and order of the 
 American nation, that those foreign incendiaries should be 
 driven out from the land, and that the licentious fury of our 
 own populace should also be bridled. Under this impression, 
 were passed those alien and sedition laws, which are supposed 
 to have put an end to the federal power in America. 
 
 It is not my function to decide between these parties ; nor 
 do I feel myself qualified for such an office. I have lived too 
 near the times, and am conscious of having been too strongly 
 excited by the feelings of the day, to place myself in the chair 
 of the arbiter. It would indeed, be no difficult task to present, 
 under the engaging air of historic candour, the arguments on 
 one side, in an attitude so bold and commanding ; and to exhibit 
 those on the other, under a form so faint and shadowy, as to 
 beguile the reader into the adoption of my own opinions. 
 
 But this would be unjust to the opposite party, and a disin- 
 genuous abuse of the confidence of the reader. Let us then re- 
 mit the question to the historian of future ages ; who, if the 
 particular memory of the past times shall not be lost in those 
 great events which seem preparing for the nation, will proba- 
 bly decide, that, as in most family quarrels, both parties have 
 been somewhat in the wrong. 
 
*J68 WIRT S LIFE OF 
 
 For my purpose, it is sufficient to state the rise and existence 
 of those parties, and the ffpt that their collision had convulsed 
 the whole society. Mr. Henry, although removed from the 
 immediate scene of contention, was still an object of too much 
 consequence to be viewed with indifference. He had a weight 
 of character which gave to his opinions a preponderating inilu' 
 ence on every subject, and both parties were equally anxious 
 to gain him to their cause. His expressions were watched 
 with the most anxious attention, and it was not long before an 
 alarm of his defection from the popular cause was given. The 
 first occasion of it I discover, was the treaty of seventeen hun- 
 dred and ninety-four, with Great Britain, commonly known 
 by the name of Jay's treaty. 
 
 It will be remembered by the reader, that Mr. Henry had 
 objected to the constitution on the ground that it gave to the 
 president and senate the whole treaty-making power. This 
 construction of the instrument was not denied in the state con- 
 vention ; but on the contrary, was at least impliedly admitted ; 
 and the provision was vindicated on the ground that the power 
 of treating could be nowhere more safely and properly 
 lodged. 
 
 " When, therefore, the republican leaders in the house of 
 representatives claimed a right to participate in the ratification 
 of Jay's treaty, Mr. Henry considered them as inconsistent 
 with themselves, and as departing from their own construction 
 of the constitution. This charge and the defence, have both 
 been made known to me, by the following letter from Mr. 
 Henry to his daughter, Mrs. Aylett : — 
 
 " Red Hill, August 20, 1796. 
 
 " My Dear Betsy : Mr. William Aylett's arrival here, 
 with your letter, gave me the pleasure of hearing of your wel- 
 fare, and to hear of that is highly gratifying to me, as I so sel- 
 dom see you," &c. [The rest of this paragraph relates to 
 family affairs.] 
 
 *' As to the reports you have heard of my changing sides in 
 politics, I can only say they are not true. I am too old to 
 exchange my former opinions, which have grown up into fixed 
 habits of thinking. True it is, I have condemned the conduct 
 of our members in congress, because, in refusing to raise 
 money for the purposes of the British treaty, they, in effect, 
 would have surrendered our country, bound hand and foot, to 
 the power of the British nation. This must have been the 
 consequence, I think; but the reasons for thinking so are too 
 tedious to trouble you with. The treaty is, in my opinion, a 
 very bad one, indeed. 
 
 But what must I think of those men, whom I myself warned 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 269 
 
 of the danger of giving the power of making laws by means 
 of a treaty, to the president and senate, when I see these same 
 men denying the existence of that power, which they insisted, 
 in our convention, ought properly to be exercised by the presi- 
 dent and senate, and by none other ? The policy of these men, 
 both then and now, appears to me quite void of wisdom and 
 foresight. These sentiments I did mention in conversation 
 in Richmond, and perhaps others which I don't remember ; 
 but sure I am, my first principle is, that from the British we 
 have everything to dread, when opportunities of oppressing 
 us shall offer. 
 
 *'It seems that every word was watched which 1 casually 
 dropped, and wrested to answer party views. Who can have 
 been so meanly employed, I know not — nor do I care; for I 
 no longer consider myself as an actor on the stage of public life. 
 It is time for me to retire ; and I shall never more appear in a 
 public character, unless some unlooked-for circumstance shall 
 demand from me a transient effort, not inconsistent with pri- 
 vate life — in which I have determined to continue. 
 
 I see with concern our old commander-in-chief most abu- 
 sively treated — nor are his long and great services remembered, 
 as any apology for his mistakes in an office to which he was to- 
 tally unaccustomed. If he, whose character as our leader 
 during the whole war was above all praise, is so roughly han- 
 dled in his old age, what may be expected by men of the com- 
 mon standard of character 1 I ever wished he might keep him- 
 self clear of the office he bears, and its attendant difficulties — but 
 I am sorry to see the gross abuse which is published of him. 
 Thus, my dear daughter, have I pestered you with a long let- 
 ter on politics, which is a subject little interesting to you, 
 except as it may involve my reputation. I have long learned 
 the little value which is to be placed on popularity, acquired by 
 any other way than virtue ; and I have also learned, that it is 
 often obtained by other means. 
 
 The view which the rising greatness of our country presents 
 to my eyes, is greatly tarnished by the general prevalence of 
 deism ; which, with me, is but another name for vice and de- 
 pravity. I am, however, much consoled by reflecting, that the 
 religion of Christ has, from its first appearance in the world, 
 been attacked in vain, by all the wits, philosophers, and wise 
 ones, aided by every power of man, and its triumph has been 
 complete. 
 
 "What is there in the wit, or wisdom of the present de- 
 istical writers or professors, that can compare them with Hume, 
 Shaftsbury, Bolingbroke, and others? and yet these have been 
 confuted, and their fame decaying ; insomuch, that the puny 
 
270 wirt's life of 
 
 efforts of Paine are thrown in to prop their tottering fabric, 
 whose foundations cannot siapd the test of time. 
 
 "Among other strange things said of me, I hear it is said by 
 the deists that I am one of the number ; and, indeed, that 
 some good people think I am no Christian. This thought 
 gives me much more pain than the appellation of tory ; because 
 1 think religion of infinitely higher importance than politics; 
 and I find much cause to reproach myself, that I have lived so 
 long, and have given no decided and public proofs of my being 
 a Christian. 
 
 " But, indeed, my dear child, this is a character which I prize 
 far above all this world has or can boast. And among all 
 the handsome things I hear said of you, what gives me the 
 greatest pleasure is, to be told of your piety and steady virtue. 
 Be assured there is not one tittle, as to disposition or character, 
 in which my parental affection for you would suffer a wish for 
 your changing ; and it flatters my pride to have you spoken of 
 as you are. 
 
 "Perhaps Mr. Roane and Anne may have heard the reports 
 you mention. If it will be any object with them to see what I 
 write you, show them this. But my wish is to pass the rest 
 of my days, as much as may be, unobserved by the critics of 
 the world, who would show but little sympathy for the defi- 
 ciencies to which old age is so liable. May God bless you, 
 my dear Betsy, and your children. Give my love to Mr. Ay- 
 lett, 
 
 " And believe me ever your affectionate father, 
 
 "P.Henry." 
 
 This charge, however, had not deprived Mr. Henry of the 
 confidence of his country ; for in the session of the legislature 
 which followed the date of his letter, he was for the third time 
 elected the governor of the state. The letter by which he de- 
 clined the acceptance of that office is as follows : — 
 
 * To the honourable the speaker of the house of delegates. 
 "Charlotte County, November 29, 1796. 
 
 " Sir : I have just received the honour of yours, informing 
 me of my appointment to the chief magistracy of the common- 
 wealth. And I have to beg the favour of you, sir, to convey 
 to the general assembly, my best acknowledgments, and warm- 
 est gratitude for the signal honour they have conferred on me. 
 I should be happy if I could persuade myself, that my abilities 
 were commensurate to the duties of that office ; but my de- 
 clining years warn me of my inability. 
 
 "I beg leave, therefore, to decline the appointment, and to 
 hope and trust that the general assembly will be pleased to 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 271 
 
 excuse me for doing so ; as no doubt can be entertained that 
 many of my fellow-citizens possess the requisite abilities for 
 this high trust. 
 
 " With the highest regard, I am, sir, 
 
 "Your most obedient servant, 
 
 " P. Henry." 
 
 This was the last testimonial of public confidence which Mr. 
 Henry received from his native state. The rumours of his po- 
 litical apostacy became strong and general. He was a prize 
 worth contending for; and it is not wonderful, therefore, that 
 the rival parties observed, with the most jealous distrust, every 
 advance which was made toward him by the other, and inter- 
 preted such advances as so many stratagems to gain him over : 
 nor is it wonderful, if, during the fever of that hot and violent 
 struggle, many things were supposed to be seen, which did not 
 in fact exist: and that those which did exist were sometimes 
 seen under false shapes and colours. 
 
 It was reported at that day, that on Mr. Jefferson's resig- 
 nation of the office of secretary of state, that office was of- 
 fered to Mr. Henry, in the confidence, that while the offer 
 would gratify him, he would nevertheless reject it : however 
 this may be, it is certain that the embassy to Spain was offered 
 to him, during the first administration ; and that to France du- 
 ring the second.* 
 
 These offers were known at the time ; and when compared 
 with his advanced age — the large family with which he was en- 
 cumbered — "his settled and well-known purpose of retirement — • 
 and the consequent probability that these offers would not be 
 accepted— and the sentiments which he afterward expressed, 
 in favour of some of the measures of the administration, 
 which were extremely obnoxious in Virginia — those offers 
 were considered by the republicans, as so many strokes of po- 
 litical flattery, addressed to the vanity of an old man, and 
 which had been but too successful in having won him to the 
 federal ranks. 
 
 That he approved of the alien and sedition laws, as good 
 measures, is undeniable ; indeed, he was not a man who would 
 deny any opinion that he held : and, however honest might 
 have been his conviction, both of the constitutionality and ex- 
 pediency of these measures, it is equally undeniable, that his 
 sentiments in relation to them, combined with the above causes, 
 by which those sentiments were suspected of having been in- 
 fluenced, produced an extremely unpropitious effect on his 
 popularity in Virginia. 
 
 * On the authority of Judge Winston. 
 
272 wirt's life of 
 
 The charge of apostacy, however, implies a previous com 
 mitment to the opposite sid^ but the evidence that Mr. Henry 
 ever stood committed to the democratic or to any other party, 
 (except the great American party of liberty and republican 
 government,) has not yet been seen by the author of these 
 sketches. At the time of his retirement, it is believed that the 
 post-constitutional parties vi^ere not distinctly marked. He 
 had no opportunity, after they were so marked, of expressing 
 his opinion publicly in favour of the one side or the other. 
 
 It is highly probable, that his opinions did not coincide 
 throughout with those of either side: and it would be rather 
 rash to infer, from his disapprobation of one or more measures 
 of the administration, or from his general love of liberty, that 
 he must of necessity have been attached at first to the demo- 
 cratic side. Nor would it be more correct to infer, from his 
 having resisted the adoption of the federal constitution, that 
 he was therefore opposed to the measures of those who admin- 
 istered it ; for the converse of this proposition, which must be 
 equally true, would have thrown many more into the federal 
 ranks than would have been willing to acknowledge the con- 
 nexion. Mr. Henry had moreover declared, as we have seen, 
 in the last speech which he made in the state convention, in 
 opposition to the constitution, that if it should be adopted, he 
 would be a peaceable citizen ; that he would not go to violence, 
 but that he would seek the correction of whatever he thought 
 amiss, hy quiet means. 
 
 Upon the whole, it would seem more liberal, more consonant 
 to the high character of Mr. Henry's mind, with his time of 
 life, and with that distant and feeble connexion which he now 
 considered himself as holding with politics, and indeed with 
 the world — to believe that he looked, without passion or pre- 
 judice of any kind, on the course of the administration, ap- 
 proving or condemning, according to his own judgment, with- 
 out reference to the pleasure or opinions of either side; or if 
 we must suppose him under personal influence of any kind, 
 would it have been unpardonable in him, to have been influen- 
 ced by the opinions of that man who had ever stood first both 
 in his judgment and affections, and whom all America acknowl- 
 edged as the father of his country ? Other natural causes, too, 
 may be fairly considered as having united their influence in 
 producing this difference of political sentiment, between Mr. 
 Henry and the majority of his state. 
 
 In the year seventeen hundred and ninety-seven, his health 
 began to decline, and continued to sink gradually to the mo- 
 ment of his death.* He had now passed through a stormy lif<i 
 * Judge Winston. 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 273 
 
 to his sixtieth year, and the vigour of his mind, exhausted 
 more by past toils than by years, began to give way. Those 
 energies which had enabled him to brave the power of Great 
 Britain, and to push forward the glorious revolution which 
 made us free, existed no longer in their original force. 
 
 The usual infirmities of age and disease began to press, 
 sorely and heavily, upon his sinking spirits. He was startled 
 by that clash of contending parties, which rang continually 
 around him, and invaded, with perpetually increasing horror, 
 the stillness of his retreat. His retirement cut him off, almost 
 entirely, from all communication with those who were best able 
 to explain the grounds, as well as the character and measure 
 of opposition to the offensive measures, which was intended ; 
 and the spirit and views of that opposition were, no doubt, ag- 
 gravated to him by report. 
 
 Acting as those things did on the mind of an infirm old man ; 
 worn out by the toils and troubles of the past revolution, and 
 naturally wishing for repose ; alarmed too, and agonized by 
 the hideous scenes of that revolution which was then going on 
 in France; and tortured by the apprehension that those scenes 
 were about to be acted over again in his own country — it is not 
 surprising, that he was dismayed by the vehemence of that polit- 
 ical strife which then agitated the United States ; nor would it 
 be surprising, if his solicitude to allay the ferment and restore 
 the peace of society, should, in some degree, have obscured 
 the decisions of his mind ; and placed him, rather by his fears 
 than his judgment, in opposition to the forcible resistance, 
 which he had been erroneously led to consider as meditated by 
 the democratic party. 
 
 In a mind thus prepared, the strong and animated resolu- 
 tions of the Virginia assembly, in seventeen hundred and 
 ninety-eight, in relation to the alien and sedition laws, conjured 
 up the most frightful visions of civil war, disunion, blood, and 
 anarchy ; and under the. impulse of these phantoms, to make 
 what he considered a virtuous effort for his country, he pre- 
 sented himself in Charlotte county, as a candidate for the house 
 of delegates, at the spring election of seventeen hundred and 
 ninety-nine. 
 
 On the day of the election, as soon as he appeared on the 
 ground, he was surrounded by the admiring and adoring crowd, 
 and whithersoever he moved, the concourse followed him. A 
 preacher of the Baptist Church, whose piety was wounded by 
 this homage paid to a mortal, asked the people aloud, "Why 
 ihey thus followed Mr. Henry about ? — Mr. Henry," said he, 
 *'is not a god !" 
 
 ** No," said Mr. Henry, deeply affected both by the scene 
 
274 wirt's life of 
 
 and the remark : " no, indeed, my friend ; I ara but a poor 
 worm of the dust — as fleeti<|f and unsubstantial as the shadow 
 of the cloud that flies over your fields, and is remembered no 
 more." The tone with which this was uttered, and the look 
 which accompanied it, affected every heart, and silenced every 
 voice. Envy and opposition were disarmed by his humility ; 
 the recollection of his past services rushed upon every mem- 
 ory, and he " read his history" in their swimming eyes. 
 
 Before the polls were opened, he addressed the people of the 
 county to the following effect: — "He told them that the late 
 proceedings of the Virginian assembly had filled him with ap- 
 prehensions and alarm ; that they had planted thorns upon his 
 pillow ; that they had drawn him from that happy retirement 
 which it had pleased a bountiful Providence to bestow, and in 
 which he had hoped to pass, in quiet, the remainder of his 
 days ; that the state had quitted the sphere in which she had 
 been placed by the constitution ; and in daring to pronounce 
 upon the validity of federal laws, had gone out of her jurisdic- 
 tion in a manner not warranted by any authority, and in the 
 highest degree alarming to every considerate man ; that such 
 opposition on the part of Virginia, to the acts of the general 
 government, must beget their enforcement by military power ; 
 that this would probably produce civil war ; civil war, foreign 
 alliances ; and that foreign alliances must necessarily end in 
 subjugation to the powers called in. 
 
 " He conjured the people to pause and consider well, before 
 they rushed into such a desperate condition, from which there 
 could be no retreat. He painted to their imaginations, Wash- 
 ington, at the head of a numerous and well-appointed army, 
 inflicting upon them military execution: * And where (he asked) 
 are our resources to meet such a conflict? — Where is the citi- 
 zen of America who will dare to lift his hand against the father 
 of his country V 
 
 " A drunken man in the crowd threw up his arm, and ex- 
 claimed that 'he dared to do it.' — ' No,' answered Mr. Henry, 
 rising aloft in all his majesty : *you dare not do it : in such a 
 parricidal attempt, the steel would drop from your nerveless 
 arm /' * The look and gesture at this moment, (says a corres- 
 pondent,) gave to these words an energy on my mind unequalled 
 by anything that I have ever witnessed.' Mr. Henry, pro- 
 ceeding in his address to the people, asked — ' whether the 
 county of Charlotte would have any authority to dispute an 
 obedience to the laws of Virginia;' and he pronounced Virginia 
 to be to the Union, what the county of Charlotte was to her. 
 
 "Having denied tbe right of a state to decide upon the con- 
 stitutionality of federal laws, he added, that perhaps it might 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 275 
 
 be necessary to say something of the merits of the laws in 
 question. His private opinion was, that they were good and 
 proper. But, whatever might be their merits, it belonged to 
 the people, who held the reins over the head of congress, and 
 to them alone, to say whether they were acceptable or other 
 wise to Virginians ; and that this must be done by way of peti- 
 tion. That congress were as much our representatives as the 
 assembly, and had as good a right to our confidence. 
 
 " He had seen with regret, the unlimited power over the 
 purse and sword consigned to the general government ; but 
 that he had been overruled, and it was now necessary to sub- 
 mit to the constitutional exercise of that power. 'If,' said he, 
 ' I am asked what is to be done, when a people feel themselves 
 intolerably oppressed, my answer is ready : — Overturn tke 
 government. But do not, I beseeech you, carry matters to this 
 this length, without provocation. Wait at least until some in- 
 fringement is made upon your rights, and which cannot other- 
 wise be redressed ; for if ever you recur to another change, 
 you may bid adieu for ever to representative government. 
 
 " You can never exchange the present government but for a 
 monarchy. If the administration have done wrong, let us all 
 go wrong together, rather than split into factions, which must 
 destroy that union upon which our existence hangs. Let us 
 preserve our strength for the French, the English, the Germans, 
 or whoever else shall dare to invade our territory, and not ex- 
 haust it in civil commotions and intestine wars.' He concluded, 
 by declaring his design to exert himself in the endeavour to allay 
 the heart-burnings and jealousies which had been fomented in 
 the state legislature ; and he fervently prayed, if he was deem- 
 ed unworthy to effect it, that it might be reserved to some 
 other and abler hand, to extend this blessing over the community." 
 
 This was the substance of the speech written down at the 
 time by one of his hearers. " There was," says the writer, 
 ** an emphasis in his language, to which, like the force of his 
 articulation, and the commanding expression of his eye, no 
 representation can do justice ; yet I am conscious of having 
 given a correct transcript of his opinions, and in many in- 
 stances, his very expression." 
 
 Such was the last effort of Mr. Henry's eloquence : the 
 power of the noonday sun was gone ; but its setting splendours 
 were not less beautiful and touching. After this speech, the 
 polls were opened ; and he was elected by his usual command- 
 ing majority. His intention having been generally known for 
 some time before the period of the state elections, the most 
 formidable preparations were made to oppose him in the as 
 sembly. 
 
376 wirt's life of 
 
 Mr. Madison, (the late president of the United States,) Mr. 
 Giles, of Amelia, Mr. Ta)^, of Caroline, Mr. Nicholas of 
 Albemarle, and a host of young men of shining talents from 
 every part of the state, were arrayed in the adverse rank, and 
 commanded a decided majority in the house. But Heaven, in 
 its mercy, saved him from the unequal conflict. The disease 
 which had been preying upon him for two years, now hastened 
 to its crisis ; and on the sixth day of June, seventeen hundred 
 and ninety-nine, this friend of liberty and of man was no 
 more ! 
 
 Here let us pause. The storm of seventeen hundred and 
 ninety-nine, thank Heaven! has passed away; and we again 
 enjoy the calm and sunshine of domestic peace. We are able, 
 now, to see with other eyes, and to feel with far different 
 hearts. Who is there that, looking back upon the part he bore 
 in those scenes, can say that he was at no time guilty of any 
 fault of conduct, any error of opinion, or any vicious excess 
 of feeling? The man who can say this, is either very much 
 to be pitied, or most exceedingly to be envied. 
 
 But whatever we may be disposed to say or think of our- 
 selves, there can be very little doubt, that that Being who is 
 the searcher of hearts, sees very much during that period, to 
 be forgiven in us all. It would, indeed, be presumptuous in 
 the extreme, amid the universal admission which is made of 
 the imperfections of human nature, in the happiest circum- 
 stances, to contend for its infallibility, while acting under 
 the scourge of the most angry and vindictive passions. 
 
 Let it be admitted, then, that during the period of which we 
 are speaking, Mr. Henry was g\x\\iy of a political aberration; 
 but let all the peculiar circumstances of his case which have 
 been enumerated, be taken into the account, and let it be far- 
 ther remembered, that if he did go astray, as the majority of 
 the state believe, he strayed in company with the father of his 
 country — and where is the heart so cold and thankless, as to 
 balance a mistake thus committed, against a long life of such 
 solid, splendid, and glorious utility? Certainly not in Vir* 
 ginia — and it is to Virginians only that this appeal is made. 
 The sentiments now so universally expressed in relation to 
 Mr. Henry, evince, that the age of party resentment has pass- 
 ed away, and that that of the noblest gratitude has taken its 
 place. But let us return to our narrative. 
 
 At the session of the assembly immediately following Mr. Hen- 
 ry's death, before the spirit of party had time to relent, and 
 give way to that generous feeling of grateful veneration for 
 him, which now pervades the state, a federal member of the 
 house moved the following resolution : — 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 277 
 
 " The general assembly of Virginia, as a testimonial of their 
 veneration for the character of their late illustrious fellow- 
 citizen, Patrick Henry, whose unrivalled eloquence and supe- 
 rior talents were, in times of peculiar peril and distress, so 
 uniformly, so powerfully, and so successfully, devoted to the 
 cause of freedom, and of his country — and, in order to invite 
 the present and future generations to an imitation of his vir- 
 tues, and an emulation of his fame — 
 
 " Resolved, That the executive be authorized and requested, 
 to procure a marble bust of the said Patrick Henry, at the pub- 
 lic expense, and to cause the same to be placed in one of the 
 niches of the hall of the house of delegates.", 
 
 Nothing could have been more unfortunate for the success 
 of this resolution, than the time at which it was brought for- 
 ward, and the mover by whom it was offered. The time, as 
 we have seen, was during that paroxysm of displeasure against 
 Mr. Henry, which even his death, although it had abated, had 
 not entirely allayed : and the mover was a gentleman who had 
 himself been recently counted on the republican side of the 
 house, and was now also smarting under the charge of apos- 
 tacy. 
 
 All the angry passions of the house immediately arose at 
 such a proposition, from such a quarter. A republican mem- 
 ber moved to lay the resolution on the table ; the gentleman 
 who offered it replied with warmth, that if it were so disposed 
 of he would never call it up again. It was laid upon the table, 
 and has been heard of no more. 
 
 Thus lived, and thus died, the celebrated Patrick Henry of 
 Virginia ; a man who justly deserves to be ranked among the 
 highest ornaments and noblest benefactors of his country. 
 Had his lot been cast in the republics of Greece or Rome, his 
 name would have been enrolled by some immortal pen, amono- 
 the expellers of tyrants and the champions of liberty : the 
 proudest monuments of national gratitude would have risen to 
 his honour, and handed down his memory to future genera- 
 tions. 
 
 As it is, his fame as yet, is left to rest upon tradition, and on 
 that short notice which general history can take of him ; while 
 no memorial, no slab even, raised by the hand of national grat- 
 itude, points us to his grave, or tells where sleep the ashes of 
 the patriot and the sage. May we not hope, that this reproach 
 upon the state will soon be wiped away, and that ample atone- 
 ment will be made for our past neglect? 
 
 24 
 
278 wirt's life of 
 
 C^^PTER XI. 
 
 Delineations of Mr. Henry's private Character — Anecdotes of Mr. Lee — of 
 Mr. Gallatin — Mr. Henry's Political Foresight— Description of his Person— » 
 Further General View of his Character — Conclusion. 
 
 Mr. Henry, by his two marriages, was the father of fifteen 
 children. By his first wife he had six, of whom two only sur- 
 vived him ; by his last he had six sons and three daughters, 
 all of whom, together with their mother, were living at his 
 death. 
 
 He had been fortunate during the latter part of his life ; and, 
 chiefly by the means of judicious purchases of lands, had left 
 his family, large as it was, not only independent, but rich. 
 
 In his habits of living, he was remarkably temperate and 
 frugal. He seldom drank anything but water ; and his table, 
 though abundantly spread, was furnished only with the most 
 simple viands. Necessity had imposed those habits upon him 
 in the earlier part of his life ; and use, as well as reason, now 
 made them his choice. 
 
 His children were raised up with little or no restraint. He 
 seems not to have thought very highly of early education. It 
 is indeed probable, that his own success, which was attributa- 
 ble almost entirely to the natural powers of his mind, had di- 
 minished the importance of an extensive education in his view. 
 But although they were sufl^ered to run wild for some years, 
 and, indeed, committed to the sole guidance of nature, to a 
 much later period than usual, yet they were finally all well ed- 
 ucated ; and not only by the reflected worth of their father, 
 but by their own merits, have always occupied a most respect- 
 able station in society. 
 
 Mr. Henry's conversation was remarkably pure and chaste. 
 He never swore. He was never heard to take the name of 
 his Maker in vain. He was a sincere Christian, though after 
 a form of his own ; for he was never attached to any particu- 
 lar religious society, and never, it is believed, communed with 
 any church. A friend who visited him not long before his 
 death, found him engaged in reading the Bible : — "Here," said 
 he, holding it up, " is a book worth more than all the other 
 books that were ever printed : yet it is my misfortune never to 
 have found time to read it, with the proper attention and feel- 
 ing, till lately. I trust in the mercy of Heaven that it is not 
 yet too late." 
 
 He was much pleased with Soamc Jenyns* view of the in- 
 ternal evidences of the Christian religion ; so much so, that 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 279 
 
 about the year seventeen hundred and ninety, he had an impres- 
 sion of it struck at his own expense, and distributed among the 
 people. His other favourite works on the subject were Dod- 
 dridge's " Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul," and 
 Butler's "Analogy of Religion, Natural and Revealed." This 
 latter work, he used at one period of his life to style, by way 
 of pre-eminence, his Bible. The selection proves not only 
 the piety of his temper, but the correctness of his taste, and 
 his relish for profound and vigorous disquisition. 
 
 His morals were strict. As a husband, a father, a master, 
 he had no superior. He was kind and hospitable to the stran- 
 ger, and most friendly and accommodating to his neighbours. 
 In his dealings with the world, he was faithful to his promise, 
 and punctual in his contracts, to the utmost of his power. 
 
 Yet we do not claim for him a total exemption from the fail- 
 ures of humanity. Moral perfection is not the property of 
 man. The love of money is said to have been one of Mr. 
 Henry's strongest passions. In his desire for accumulation, he 
 was charged with wringing from the hands of his clients, and 
 more particularly those of the criminals whom he defended, 
 fees rather too exorbitant. He was censured too, for an at- 
 tempt to locate the shores of the Chesapeake, which had here- 
 tofore been used as a public common, although there was, at 
 that time, no law of the state which protected them from lo- 
 cation. 
 
 In one of his earlier purchases of land, he was blamed also 
 for having availed himself of the existing laws of the state, in 
 paying for it in the depreciated paper currency of the country ; 
 nor was he free from censure on account of some participation 
 which he is said to have had in the profits of the Yazoo trade. 
 He was accused, too, of having been rather more vain of 
 his wealth, toward the close of his life, than became a man 
 so great in other respects. Let these things be admitted, and 
 "let the man who is without fault cast the first stone." 
 
 In mitigation of these charges, if they be true, it ought to 
 be considered that Mr. Henry, had been, during the greater 
 part of his life, intolerably oppressed by poverty and all its 
 distressing train of consequences ; that the family for which 
 he had to provide was very large ; and that the bar, although 
 it has been called the road to honour, was not in those days the 
 road to wealth. With these considerations in view, charity 
 may easily pardon him for having considered only the legality 
 of the means which he used to acquire an independence ; and 
 she can easily excuse him too, for having felt the success of 
 his endeavors a little more sensibly than might have been be- 
 coming. 
 
280 wirt's life ot 
 
 He was certainly neither proud, nor hard-hearted nor penu 
 rious : if he was either, ^p^re can be no reliance on human 
 testimony ; which represents him as being, in his general inter- 
 course with the world, not only rigidly honest, but one of 
 the kindest, gentlest, and most indulgent of human beings. 
 
 While we are on this ungrateful subject of moral imperfec- 
 tion, the fidelity of history requires us to notice another charge 
 against Mr. Henry. His passion for fame is said to have been 
 too strong ; he was accused of a wish to monopolize the public 
 favour ; and under the influence of this desire, to have felt no 
 gratification in the rising fame of certain conspicuous charac- 
 ters ; to have indulged himself in invidious and unmerited re- 
 marks upon them, and to have been at the bottom of a cabal 
 against one of the most eminent. If these things were so 
 —alas ! poor human nature ! 
 
 It is certain that these charges are very inconsistent with his 
 general character. So far from being naturally envious, and 
 disposed to keep back modest merit, one of the finest traits in 
 his character was, the parental tenderness with which he took 
 by the hand every young man of merit, covered him with his 
 aegis in the legislature and led him forward at the bar. In re- 
 lation to his first great rival in eloquence, Richard Henry Lee, 
 he not only did ample justice to him on every occasion, in pub- 
 lic, but defended his fame in private, with all the zeal of a 
 brother ; as is demonstrated by an original correspondence 
 between those two eminent men, now in the hands of the 
 author. 
 
 Of Colonel Innis, his next great rival, he entertained, and 
 uniformly expressed, the most exalted opinion ; and in the 
 convention of 1788, as will be remembered, paid a compliment 
 to his eloquence, at once so splendid, so happy, and so just, 
 that it will live for ever. The debates of that convention 
 abound with the most unequivocal and ardent declarations of 
 his respect, for the talents and virtues of the other eminent 
 gentlemen who were arrayed against him — Mr. Madison — 
 Mr. Pendleton — Mr. Randolph. 
 
 Even the justly great and overshadowing fame of Mr. Jef- 
 ferson never extorted from him, in public at least, one invidi- 
 ous remark ; on the contrary, the name of that gentleman, who 
 was then in France, having been introduced into the debates of 
 the convention, for the purpose of borrowing the weight of 
 his opinion, Mr. Henry spoke of him in the strongest and 
 warmest terms, not only of admiration, but of affection — sty- 
 ling him "owr illustr ions fellow-citizen,'^ — ^^our enlightened 
 and worthy countryman^'' — " our common friend." 
 
 The iD'^rdinate love of money and of fame, are, certainly, 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 281 
 
 base and degrading passions. They have sometimes tarnish- 
 ed characters otherwise the most bright ; but they will find no 
 advocate or apologist in any virtuous bosom. In relation to 
 Mr. Henry, however, we may be permitted to doubt whether 
 the facts on which these censures (so inconsistent with his gen- 
 eral character) are grounded, have not been misconceived; 
 and whether so much of them as is really true, may not be 
 fairly charged to the common account of human imperfection. 
 
 Mr. Henry's great intellectual defect was his indolence. To 
 this it was owing, that he never possessed that admirable alert- 
 ness and vigouros versatility of mind, which turns promptly 
 to everything, attends to everything, arranges everything, 
 and by systematizing its operations, despatches each in its 
 proper time, and place and manner. To the same cause it is to 
 be ascribed, that he never possessed that patient drudgery, and 
 that ready, neat, copious, and masterly command of details, 
 which forms so essential a part of the duties both of the states- 
 man and the lawyer. 
 
 Hence, too, he did not avail himself of the progress of sci- 
 ence and literature, in his age. He had not, as he might have 
 done, amassed those ample stores of various, useful, and curious 
 knowledge, which are so naturally expected to be found in a 
 great man. His library (of which an inventory has been fur- 
 nished to the author) was extremely small ; composed not on- 
 ly of a very few books, but those, too, commonly odd volumes. 
 Of science and literature, he knew little or nothing more than 
 was occasionly gleaned from conversation. It is not easy to 
 conceive, what a mind like his might have achieved in either, 
 or both of these walks, had it been properly trained at first, or 
 industriously occupied in those long intervals of leisure which 
 he threw away. 
 
 One thing, however, may be safely pronounced ; that had 
 that mind of Herculean strength been either so trained, or so 
 occupied, he would have left behind him some written monu- 
 ment, compared with which, even statutes and pillars would 
 have been but the ephemerae of a day. But he seems to have 
 been of Hobbes's opinion, who is reported to have said of 
 himself, that " if he had read as much as other men, he should 
 have been as ignorant as they were."* Mr. Henry's book 
 was the great volume of human nature. In this, he was more 
 deeply read than any of his countrymen. He knew men 
 thoroughly ; and hence arose his great power of persuasion. f 
 
 • Bayle : article Hobbes. 
 
 t " It is in vain," says the Chancellor D'Aguesseau, " that the orator flatters 
 himself with havinff the talent to persuade men, if he has not acquired that of 
 knowing them." Discourse i., p. 1. 
 
S82 wirt's life of 
 
 His preference of this study, is manifested by the following 
 incident : — he met once, iif^L bookstore, with the late Mr. 
 Ralph Wormley, who, although a great bookworm, was infi- 
 nitely more remarkable for his ignorance of men, than Mr. 
 Henry was for that of books. — "What, Mr. Wormley," said 
 he, "still buying books?" "Yes," said Mr. Wormley, "I 
 have just heard of a new work, which I am extremely anxious 
 to peruse." "Take my word for it," said he, " Mr. Wormley, 
 " we are too old to read books : read men — they are the only 
 volumes that we can peruse to advantage." But Mr. Henry 
 might have perused both with infinite advantage, not only 
 to himself, but to his country, and to the world ; and that 
 he did not do it, may, it is believed, be fairly ascribed, rather 
 to the indolence of his temper, than the deliberate decision of 
 his judgment. 
 
 Judge Winston says, that " he was, throughout life, negli- 
 gent of his dress :" but this, it is apprehended, applied rather 
 to his habits in the country, than to his appearance in public. 
 At the bar of the general court, he always appeared in a full 
 suit of black cloth, or velvet, and a tie wig, which was dressed 
 and powdered in the highest style of forensic fashion ; in the 
 winter season, too, according to the costume of the day, he 
 wore over his other apparel an ample cloak of scarlet cloth ; 
 and thus attired, made a figure bordering on grandeur. While 
 he filled the executive chair, he is said to have been justly at- 
 tentive to his dress, and appearance; "not being disposed to 
 afford the occasion of humiliating comparisons between the 
 past and present government." 
 
 He had long since, too, laid aside the offensive rusticity of 
 his juvenile manners. His manners, indeed, were still unosten- 
 tatious, frank, and simple ; but they had all that natural ease 
 and unaffected gracefulness, which distinguish the circles of the 
 polite and wellbred. On occasions, too, where state and cere- 
 mony were expected, there was no man who could act better his 
 part. I have had a description of Mr. Henry, entering, in the 
 full dress which I have mentioned, the hall of delegates, at 
 whose bar he was about to appear as an advocate, and saluting 
 the house, all around, with a dignity and even majesty, that 
 would have done honour to the most polished courtier in 
 Europe. 
 
 This, however, was only on extraordinary occasions, when 
 such a deportment was expected, and was properly in its place. 
 In general, his manners were those of the plain Virginian gen- 
 tleman — kind — open — candid — and conciliating — warm with- 
 out insincerity, and polite without pomp — neither chilling by 
 his reserve, nor fatiguing by his loquacity — but adapting him- 
 
PATRICK RENRY. ^83 
 
 self, without an effort, to the character of his company. " He 
 would be pleased and cheerful," says a correspondent, •' with 
 persons of any class or condition, vicious and abandoned per- 
 sons only excepted ; he preferred those of character and talents, 
 but would be amused with any who could contribute to his 
 amusement." 
 
 He had himself a vein of pleasantry, which was extremely 
 amusing, without detracting from his dignity. His companions, 
 although perfectly at their ease with him, were never known to 
 treat him with degrading familiarities. Their love and their 
 respect for him equally forbade it. Nor had they any dread of 
 an assault upon their feelings ; for their was nothing cruel in 
 his wit. 
 
 The tomahawk and scalping-knife were no part of his collo- 
 quial apparatus. He felt no pleasure in seeing the victim 
 writhe under his stroke. The benignity of his spirit could not 
 have borne such a sight without torture. He found himself 
 happiest in communicating happiness to others. His conver- 
 sation was instructive and delightful ; stately where it should 
 be so, but in general, easy, familiar, sprightly, and entertaining ; 
 always, however, good-humoured, and calculated to amuse 
 without wounding. 
 
 As a specimen of this light and good-natured pleasantry, the 
 following anedote has been furnished : Mr. Henry, together 
 with Mr. Richard H. Lee, and several other conspicuous mem- 
 bers of the assembly, were invited to pass the evening and 
 night at the house of Mr. Edmund Randolph, in the neighbour- 
 hood of Richmond. Mr. Lee, who was as brilliant and copious 
 in conversation as in debate, had amused the company to a very 
 late hour, by descanting on the genius of Cervantes, particu 
 larly as exhibited in his chef d^ cRuvre, Don Quixote. 
 
 The dissertation had been continued rather too long : the 
 company began to yawn, when Mr. Henry, who had observed 
 it, although Mr. Lee had not, rose slowly from his chair, and 
 remarked as he walked across the room, that Don Quixote was 
 certainly a most excellent work, and most skilfully adapted to 
 the purpose of the author: "but," said he, "Mr. Lee," stop- 
 ping before him, with a most significant archness of look, 
 " you have overlooked in your eulogy, one of the finest things 
 in the book." " What is that ?" asked Mr. Lee. " It is," said 
 Mr. Henry, " that divine exclamation of Sancho, * Blessed be 
 the man that first invented sleep : it covers one all over^ like a 
 cloak,^ " Mr. Lee took the hint ; and the company broke up 
 in good humour. 
 
 His quick and true discernment of characters, and his pre- 
 iMjiep.?^ of political events, were very much admired. The 
 
284 wirt's life of 
 
 following examples of each, have been furnished by Mr* 
 Pope : — 0f 
 
 Mr. Gallatin came to Virginia when a very young man: he 
 was obscure and unknown, and spoke the English language so 
 badly, that it was with difficulty he could be understood. He 
 was engaged in some agency which made it necessary to pre- 
 sent a petition to the assembly, and endeavoured to interest the 
 leading members in its fate, by attempting to explain, out of 
 doors, its merits and justice. But they could not understand 
 him well enough to feel any interest either for him or his peti- 
 tion. In this hopeless condition he waited on Mr. Henry, and 
 soon felt that he was in different hands. 
 
 Mr. Henry, on his part, was so delighted with the interview, 
 that he spoke of Mr, Gallatin everywhere in raptures — "he 
 declared him, without hesitation or doubt, to be the most sen 
 sible and best informed man he had ever conversed with — lie is 
 to be sure,^^ said he, " a most astonishing' man /" The reader 
 well knows how eminently Mr. Gallatin has since fulfilled this 
 character ; and considering the very disadvantageous circum- 
 stances under which he was seen by Mr. Henry, is certainly 
 a striking proof of the superior sagacity of the observer. 
 
 In relation to his political foresight, the following anecdote 
 is in Mr. Pope's own words: — "In the year 1798, after Bona- 
 parte had annihilated five Austrian armies, and, flushed with 
 victory, was carrying away everything before him, I heard Mr. 
 Henry in a public company observe, (shaking his head after his 
 impressive manner) — ' It won't all do ! the present generation 
 in France is so debased by a long despotism, they possess so 
 few of the virtues that constitute the life and soul of republi- 
 canism, that they are incapable of forming a correct and just 
 estimate of rational liberty. 
 
 «* Their revolution will terminate differently from what you 
 expect — their state of anarchy will be succeeded by despotism ; 
 and I should not be surprised, if the very man at whose victo- 
 ries you now rejoice, should, Cesar-like, subvert the liberties 
 of his country. All who know me,' continued Mr. Henry, 
 *know that I am a firm advocate for liberty and republicanism ; 
 I believe I have given some evidences of this. I wish it may 
 not be so, but I am afraid the event will justify this prediction.' " 
 
 The following is the fullest description which the author has 
 been able to procure of Mr. Henry's person. He was nearly 
 six feet high ; spare, and what may be called rawboned, with a 
 slight stoop of the shoulders — his complexion was dark, sun- 
 burnt, and sallow, without any appearance of blood in his 
 cheeks — his countenance grave, thoughtful, penetrating, and 
 strongly marked with the lineaments of deep reflection — the 
 
PATRICK HENRY, 285 
 
 earnestness of his manner, united with an habitual contraction or 
 knitting of his brows, and those lines of thought with which 
 his face was profusely furrowed, gave to his countenance, at 
 some times, the appearance of severity — yet such was the 
 power which he had over its expression, that he could shake 
 off from it in an instant, all the sternness of winter, and robe it 
 in the brightest smiles of spring. 
 
 His forehead was high and straight; yet forming a sufficient 
 angle with the lower part of his face — his nose somewhat of the 
 Roman stamp,though like that which we see in the bust of Cicero, 
 it was rather long, than remarkable for its Cesarean form, Ot 
 the colour of his eyes, the accounts are almost as various as 
 those w^hich we have of the colour of the chameleon — they are 
 said to have been blue, gray, what Lavater calls green, hazel,, 
 brown, and black — -the fact seems to have been that they were of 
 a bluish-gray, not large ; and being deeply fixed in his head, 
 overhung by dark, long, and full eyebrows, and farther shaded 
 by lashes that were both long and black, their apparent colour 
 was as variable as the lights in which they were seen — but all 
 concur in saying that they were, unquestionably, the finest fea- 
 ture in his face — brilliant — full of spirit, and capable of the most 
 rapidly-shifting and powerful expression — at one time piercing 
 and terrible as those of Mars, and then again soft and tender 
 as those of Pity herself — his cheeks were hollow — his chin 
 long, but well formed, and rounded at the end, so as to form a 
 proper counterpart to the upper part of his face. 
 
 "I find it difficult," says the correspondent from whom I 
 have borrowed this portrait, " to describe his mouth ; in which 
 there was nothing remarkable, except when about to express a 
 modest dissent from some opinion on which he was comment- 
 ing — he then had a sort of half-smile, in which the want of 
 conviction was perhaps more strongly expressed, than the sa- 
 tirical emotion, which probably prompted it. His manner and 
 address to the court and jury might be deemed the excess of 
 humility, diffidence, and modesty. 
 
 " If, as rarely happened, he had occasion to answer any re- 
 mark from the bench, it was impossible for Meekness herself 
 to assume a manner less presumptuous — but in the smile of 
 which I have been speaking, you might anticipate the want of 
 conviction, expressed in his answer, at the moment that he 
 submitted to the superior wisdom of the court, with a grace that 
 would have done honour to Westminster hall. In his reply to 
 counsel, his remarks on the evidence, and on the conduct of the 
 parties, he preserved the same distinguished deference and po- 
 liteness, still accompanied, however, by the never-failing' in- 
 dex of this skeptical smile, where the occasion prompted.'* 
 
28S wirt's life of 
 
 In short, his features were manly, bold, and well-proportioned^ 
 full of intelligence, and adap^g themselves intuitively to every 
 sentiment of his mind, and xvery feeling of his heart. His 
 voice was not remarkable for its sweetness ; but it was firm, of 
 full volume, and rather melodions than otherwise. Its charms 
 consisted in the mellowness and fulness of its note, the ease and 
 variety of its inflections, the distinctness of its articulation, the 
 fine effect of its emphasis, the felicity with which it attuned 
 itself to every emotion, and the vast compass which enabled it 
 to range through the whole empire of human passion, from the 
 deep and tragic half whisper of horror, to the wildest excla- 
 mation of overwhelming rage. 
 
 In mild persuasion, it was as soft and gentle as the zephyr 
 of spring; while in rousing his countrymen to arms, the win- 
 ter storm that roars along the troubled Baltic, was not more 
 awfully sublime. It was at all times perfectly under his com- 
 mand ; or rather, indeed, it seemed to command itself and to 
 modulate its notes, most happily to the sentiment be was utter- 
 ing. It never exceeded, or fell short of the occasion. There 
 was none of that long-continued and deafening vociferation, 
 which always takes place, when an ardent speaker has lost 
 possession of himself — no monotonous clangour, no discord- 
 ant shriek. 
 
 Without being strained, it had that body and enunciation 
 which filled the most distant ear, without distressing those 
 which were nearest him: hence it never became cracked or 
 hoarse, even in his longest speeches, but retained to the last 
 ah its clearness and fulness of intonation, all the delicacy of 
 its inflection, all the charms of its emphasis, and enchanting 
 variety of its cadence. 
 
 His delivery was perfectly natural and well timed. It has 
 indeed been said, that, on his first rising, there was a species 
 of sub-cantus very observable by a stranger, and rather disa- 
 greeable to him ; but that in a very few moments even this it- 
 self became agreeable, and seemed, indeed, indispensable to the 
 full eflfect of his peculiar diction and conceptions. In point ot 
 time, he was very happy : there was no slow and heavy drag- 
 ging, no quaint and measured drawling, with equidistant pace, 
 no stumbling and floundering among the fractured members of 
 deranged and broken periods, no undignified hurry and trepida- 
 tion, no recalling and recasting of sentences as he went along, 
 no retraction of one word and substitution of another not bet- 
 ter, and none of those affected bursts of almost inarticulate 
 impetuosity, which betray the rhetorician rather than display 
 the orator. 
 
 On the contrary, ever self-collected, deliberate and dignified. 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 287 
 
 he seemed to have looked through the whole period before he 
 commenced its delivery ; and hence his delivery was smooth, 
 and firm, and well accented ; slow enough to take along with 
 him the dullest hearer, and yet so commanding, that the quick 
 had neither the power nor the disposition to get the start of 
 him. Thus he gave to every thought its full and appropriate 
 force ; and to every image all its radiance and beauty. 
 
 No speaker ever understood better than Mr. Henry the true 
 use and power of the pause : and no one ever practised it with 
 happier effect. His pauses were never resorted to for the pur- 
 pose of investing an insignificant thought with false import- 
 ance ; much less were they ever resorted to as a finesse to gain 
 time for thinking. The hearer was never disposed to ask, 
 *' why that pause ?" nor to measure its duration by a reference 
 to his watch. On the contrary, it always came at the very 
 moment, when he would himself have wished it, in order to 
 weigh the striking and important thought which had just been 
 uttered ; and the interval was always filled by the speaker with 
 a matchless energy of look, which drove the thought home 
 through the mind and through the heart. 
 
 His gesture, and this varying play of his features and voice, 
 were so excellent, so exquisite that many have referred his 
 power as an orator principally to that cause ; yet this was all 
 his own, and his gesture, particularly, of so peculiar a cast, 
 that it is said it would have become no other man. I do not 
 iearn thatitwas very abundant ; for there was no trash about it; 
 none of those false motions to which undisciplined speakers are 
 so generally addicted ; no chopping nor sawing of the air ; no 
 thumping of the bar to express an earnestness, which was 
 much more powerfully, as well as more elegantly expressed by 
 his eye and countenance. Whenever he moved his arm, or 
 his hand, or even his finger, or changed the position of his 
 body, it was always to some purpose ; nothing was inefficient ; 
 everything told ; every gesture, every attitude, every look was 
 emphatic ; all was animation, energy, and dignity. 
 
 Its great advantage consisted in this — that various, bold, and 
 original as it was, it never appeared to be studied, affected, or 
 theatrical, or "to overstep," in the smallest degree, "the mod- 
 esty of nature ;" for he never made a gesture, or assumed an 
 attitude, which did not seem imperiously demanded by the occa 
 sion. Every look, every motion, every pause, every start was 
 completely filled and dilated by the thought which he was ut- 
 tering, and seemed indeed to form a part of the thought itself. 
 His action, however strong, was never vehement. He was 
 never seen rushing forward, shoulder foremost, fury in his 
 countenance, and phrensy in his voice, as if to overturn the 
 
288 wirt's life of 
 
 bar, and charge his audience sword in hand. His judgn^enl 
 "was too manly and too solid^nd his taste too true, to permit 
 him to indulge in any such CTctravagance. 
 
 His good sense and his self-possession never deserted him. 
 In the loudest storm of declamation, in the fiercest blaze ot 
 passion, there was a dignity and temperance which gave it 
 seeming. He had the rare faculty of imparting to his hearers 
 all the excess of his own feelings, and all the violence and tu- 
 mult of his emotions, all the dauntless spirit of his resolution, 
 and all the energy of his soul, without any sacrifice of his own 
 personal dignity, and without treating his hearers otherwise 
 than as rational beings. He was not the orator of a day ; and 
 therefore sought not to build his fame on the sandy basis of a 
 false taste, fostered, if not created, by himself. He spoke for 
 immortality ; and therefore raised the pillars of his glory on 
 the only solid foundation — the rock of Nature. 
 
 So much has been already said, incidentally, of his attain- 
 ments, and the character of his mind, both as a statesman and 
 an orator, that little remains to be added in a general way. As 
 a statesman, the quality which strikes us most is his political 
 intrepidity : and yet it has sometimes been objected to him, that 
 he waited on every occasion, to see which way the popular cur- 
 rent was sitting, when he would artfully throw himself into it, 
 and seem to guide its course. Nothing can be more incorrect: 
 it would be easy to multiply proofs to refute the charge ; but I 
 shall content myself with a few which are of general notoriety. 
 
 1. The American revolution is universally admitted to have 
 begun in the upper circles of society. It turned on principles 
 too remote and abtruse for vulgar apprehension or considera- 
 tion. Had it depended on the unenlightened mass of the com- 
 munity, no doubt can be entertained at this day, that the tax 
 imposed by parliament would have been paid without a ques- 
 tion. Since, then, the upper circle of society did not take its 
 impulse from the people, the only remaining inquiry is, who 
 gave the revolutionary impulse to that circle itself? It was 
 unquestionably Patrick Henry. 
 
 This is afiirmed by Mr. JeflTerson ; it is demonstrated by the 
 resistance given to Mr. Henry's measures, by those who were 
 afterward the stanchest friends of the revolution ; it is farther 
 proved, by the sentiment before noticed, with which Doctor 
 Franklin (who was then considered as the first American states- 
 man) dismissed Mr. Ingersoll on his departure from London ; 
 a sentiment, which evinces beyond doubt, that Doctor Franklin 
 considered resistance to the British power to be, at that time, 
 premature; and finally, this honour is assigned to Mr. Henry, 
 I perceive, by a late interesting historian of Massachusets, the 
 
PATRICK HENRY. ^89 
 
 on!y state which has ever pretended to dispute the palm witli 
 
 Virginia. 
 
 The historian to whom I allude, is Mrs. Mercy Warren, who 
 is said to be the widow of the celebrated General Warren, 
 the hero of Bunker's Hill. These are her words: — "The 
 house of burgesses of Virginia were the first who formally re- 
 solved against the encroachments of power, and the unwar- 
 rantable designs of the British parliament. The novelty of 
 their procedure, and the boldness of spirit that marked the 
 resolutions of that assembly, at once astonished and discon- 
 certed the officers of the crown, and the supporters of the 
 measures of administration. These resolutions were ush- 
 ered into the house on the thirtieth of May, one thousancJ 
 seven hundred and sixty-five, by Patrick Henry, Esq., a 
 young gentleman of the law, till then unknown in political life. 
 He was a man possessed of strong powers, much professional 
 knowledge, and of such abilities as qualified him for the exi- 
 gences of the day. Fearless of the cry of treason, echoed 
 against him from several quarters, he justified the measure and 
 supported the resolves, in a speech that did honour both to his 
 understanding and his patriotism, "(fee. Mrs. Warren's History 
 of the American Revolution, vol. i.,p.28. 
 
 On this great occasion, then, it is manifest, that he did not 
 wait for the popular current ; but on the contrary, that it was 
 he alone, who, by his single power moved the mighty mass of 
 stagnant waters, and changed the silent lake into a roaring tor- 
 rent. When it is remembered too, that he was then young and 
 obscure, and of course without personal influence — that this 
 step was the result of his own solitary reflection, and that he 
 was perfectly aware of the personal danger which must attend 
 it — we can require nothing farther to satisfy us, that he was a 
 bold, original, independent politician, who thought for himself, 
 and pursued the dictates of his own judgment, wholly regard- 
 Jess of personal consequences. 
 
 2. Again, in the spring of 1775, that upper circle, which still 
 headed the revolution, were disposed to acquiesce in the plun- 
 der of the magazine, and exerted their utmost eflxjrts to allay 
 the ferment which it had excited. They had, in fact succeeded ; 
 and the people were everywhere composed, save within the im- 
 mediate sphere of Mr. Henry's influence. The reader has already 
 seen, that it was he who on that occasion excited the people, not 
 who was excited by them ; that he put them into motion, and 
 avowed to his confidential friends, at the time, the motives of 
 policy by which he was actuated; that he placed himself at 
 the head of an armed band, which he had himself convened for 
 the purpose ; and in spite of the entreaties and supplications 
 
 25 
 
^90 wirt's life of 
 
 of the patriots at Williamsburgh, and in defiance of the threats 
 of Dunmore and his myr|jp(dons, pressed firmly and intrepidly 
 on, until the object of his expedition was completely obtained. 
 
 3. So also in the state convention, the same year, the old 
 patriotic leaders were disposed still to rely on the efficacy of 
 petitions, memorials, and remonstrances; it was Mr. Henry 
 who proposed, and in spite of their opposition (which was of 
 so strenuous and serious a character, that one of them in ma- 
 king it, is said to have shed tears most profusely) carried the 
 bold measure of arming the militia. This was not dictated by 
 the people. 
 
 The fact was, that at that day, the people placed themselves 
 in the hands of their more enlightened friends ; they never 
 ventured to prescribe either the time, the manner, or the meas- 
 ure of resistance ; and there can be no room for a candid doubt 
 that, but for the bold spirit and overpowering eloquence of 
 Patrick Henry, the people would have followed the pacific 
 counsels of Mr. Randolph, Mr. Nicholas, Mr. Pendleton, Mr. 
 Wythe, and other men of acknowledged talents and virtue. 
 
 It was Mr. Henry, therefore, who led both the people and 
 their former leaders. The latter, indeed came on so reluc- 
 tantly at firstf that they may be said to have been rather drag- 
 ged along than led ; they did come, however, and acquiring 
 warmth by their motion, made ample amends thereafter foi 
 their early hesitation. 
 
 The author has no intention, by these remarks, to impair in 
 the smallest degree, the well-earned reputation of those vete- 
 ran statesmen. They had commenced the opposition to the 
 stamp act, and the other obnoxious acts of the British parlia- 
 ment, before Mr. Henry made his appearance as a politician ; 
 they had commenced it too, on the same grounds, and would, 
 probably, at some later period, have been wrought up by theii 
 own principles and feelings, to a forcible resistance to those 
 measures. 
 
 But the statements above are unquestionably correct ; they 
 did not approve of the immediate application of force ; Mr. 
 Henry's policy was condemned by them as rash and precipi' 
 fate. The author is in possession of an original letter from 
 one of these statements, in which Mr. Henry is expressly and 
 directly accused of having precipitated the revolution, against 
 the judgment of the older and cooler patriots. " Events, how- 
 ever," as we have seen, " favoured the bolder measures of Mr. 
 Henry," and proved his policy to be the best. 
 
 4. About the close of the war, again, when he proposed to 
 permit the return of that obnoxious class of men called Brit' 
 ish refugees and Scotch tories, did he follow the popular cur- 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 2&1 
 
 rent? So far from it, that he stemmed the current, and turned 
 back its course, by the power of his resistance. 
 
 5. So in the case of the federal constitution, whither did the 
 current of the American people tend ? Most certainly to its 
 adoption, yet Mr. Henry, to use his own language, " with 
 manly firmness, and in spite of an erring world," with the re- 
 vered Washington at their head, opposed its adoption with all 
 the powers of his eloquence. 
 
 The truth seems to be, that this charge is only a variation 
 of that conveyed by the opprobrious epithets of demagogue 
 and factious tribune, which we have seen that his rival long 
 since sought to fasten upon him ; and there can be little doubt, 
 that it proceeded from the writhings and contortions of the 
 same agonized envy. That a poor young man, issuing from 
 his native woods, unknown, unfriended, and comparatively un- 
 lettered, should have been able, by the mere force of unassist- 
 ed nature, to break to pieces the strong political confederacy 
 which then ruled the country, to annihilate all the arts and 
 j^Tiesse of parliamentary intrigue; to eclipse by his sagacity, 
 the experience of age ; and, by the sole strength of his native 
 genius, to throw into the shade all the hard-earned attainments 
 of literature and science, was entirely too humiliating to be 
 borne in silence. 
 
 It was necessary, therefore, to resort to some solution of 
 this phenomenon which should at once reduce the honours of 
 this plebeian up-start, and sooth the wounded feelings of those 
 whose pride he had brought down. Hence it became fashion- 
 able, in the higher circles, to speak of Mr. Henry as a design- 
 ing- demagogue^ a factious tribune^ who carried his points not 
 by fair and open debate, but by violent and inflammatory ap- 
 peals to the worst passions of the multitude ; and who fre- 
 quently gave himself the air of leading the people, when in 
 truth he was merely following their own blind lead. 
 
 This cant has had its day, and its propagators. Truth has 
 set the subject to rights. Mr. Henry is alleged, by those 
 who had the best opportunities of knowing him, to have been 
 not inferior, either in public or private virtue, to any patriot of 
 the revolution : and he was confessedly superior to them all, 
 in that combination of bold, hardy, adventurous, splendid, and 
 solid qualifications, which are so peculiarly fitted to revolu- 
 tionary times. 
 
 " He left," says Judge Winston, " no manuscripts." This 
 was to have been expected. We have seen that he could not 
 bear the labour of writing ; nor, indeed, of that long-continued, 
 coherent, and methodical thinking, without which, no succes.s- 
 ful composition, of any extent, can be produced. He thought, 
 
2J9-2 wirt's life ot 
 
 indeed, a great deal; but his thinking was too desultory and 
 irregular to take the form ^ composition. 
 
 Kis mind had nex'er been disciplined to wait upon his pen — 
 it still moved on — and its prismatic beauties were as evanescent 
 as they were beautiful. His imagination "bodied forth the 
 forms of things" much more rapidly than his unpractised pen 
 could "turn them to shapes;" and it is not improbable, that 
 his own observation of the difference between the vigour with 
 which he thought, and the comparative decrepitude with 
 which he wrote, disgusted him with his first attempts, and pre- 
 vented their repetition. 
 
 Yet this habit which he had of thinking for himself, and 
 looking directly at every subject, with the natural eyes of his 
 understanding, without using what has been called the specta- 
 cles of books, was perhaps of advantage to him, both as a 
 statesman and an orator : as a statesman, it possibly exempted 
 him from that common error of scientific theorists, of for- 
 cing resemblances between the present and some past historical 
 era, and accommodating their measures to this imaginary 
 identity; hy his mode of considering subjects, no circumstance 
 was either sunk or magnified, or distorted, in order to bend 
 the case to a fanciful hypothesis ; nor, in deciding what was 
 proper to be done in America, did he look to see what had 
 been found expedient at Athens or Rome. 
 
 On the contrary, knowing well the people with whom he 
 had to deal, of what they were capable, and what was neces- 
 sary to their happiness, how much they could bear, and how 
 much achieve, and looking immediately at the subject, (what- 
 ever it might be,) with that piercing vision, that solid judgment 
 and ready resource, which characterized his mind — he seemed 
 to seize in every case, rather " luckily than laboriously," the 
 course which of all others was surest of success. 
 
 In short, this habit made him an original, sound and practi- 
 cal statesman, instead of being a learned, dreaming, and vision- 
 ary theorist. Not that Mr. Henry was deficient in historical 
 knowledge ; he had enough of it for all the useful purposes either 
 of analogy or illustration ; but he never permitted it to inter- 
 cept his proper view of the subject, or to take the lead in sug- 
 gesting what was fit to be done. This he chose rather to de- 
 rive from the nature of the case itself, and the character of the 
 people among whom that case occurred. 
 
 This habit of relying more on his own meditations than on 
 books, was, also, perhaps, a service to him as an orator : for 
 by this course, he avoided the beaten paths and roads of 
 thought; and instead of exhibiting in his speeches old ideas 
 newly vamped up, and ancient beauties tricked off in mod- 
 
PATRICK HElfRV. 293 
 
 ern tinsel, his arguments, sentiments, and figures, had all 
 Aat freshness and novelty which are so universally captivating. 
 
 In what did his peculiar excellence as an orator consist? in 
 what consisted that unrivalled power of speaking, which all 
 who ever heard him admit him to have possessed? The 
 reader is already apprized, that the author of these sketches 
 never had the advantage of hearing Mr. Henry, and that no 
 entire speech of his was ever extant, either in print or writing : 
 hence, there are no materials for minute and exact analysis. 
 This inquiry, however, is natural, and has been directed, with- 
 out success, to many of the most discriminating of Mr. Hen- 
 ry's admirers. Their answers are as various as the complex- 
 ion of their own characters ; each preferring that property 
 from which he had himself derived the most enjoyment. 
 Some ascribe his excellence wholly to his manner ; others, in 
 great part, to the originality and soundness of his matter. 
 And among the admirers, in both classes, there are not two 
 who concur in assigning the pre-eminence to the same quality. 
 
 Of his matter, one will admire the plainness and strength 
 of his reasoning; another, the concentrated spirit of his aphor- 
 isms ; a third, his wit ; a fourth, his pathos ; a fifth, the intrin- 
 sic beauty of his imagination : so in regard to his manner, 
 one will place his excellence in his articulation and emphasis ; 
 a second, in the magic power with which he infused the tones 
 of his voice into the nerves of his hearers, and riveted their at- 
 tention. The truth therefore, probably is, that it was not in any 
 singular charm, either of matter or manner, that we are to 
 look for the secret of his power ; but that like Pope's defini- 
 tion of beauty, it was " the joint force and full result of all." 
 
 If, however, we are to consider as really and entirely his, 
 those speeches which have already been given in his name to 
 the public, or are now prepared for them, there can be no difii- 
 culty in deciding, that his power must have consisted princi- 
 pally in his delivery. We know what extraordinary effects 
 have been produced by the mere manner of an orator, without 
 any uncommon weight or worth of matter. 
 
 " Friar Narni, a capuchin, was so remarkable for his elo- 
 quence, that his hearers, after a sermon, cried out mercy in the 
 streets, as he passed home : and thirty bishops, starting up 
 under a discourse, hurried home to their respective diocesses : 
 yet, when his sermons came to be published, they were thought 
 to be unworthy of his reputation ; which shows how much de- 
 pends on action ; and how correct the saying of Demosthenes 
 was on that subject." — Bayle. Article Narni. 
 
 We have the authority, however, of those who heard the 
 identical speeches now professed to be given as his, for dc- 
 
 25* 
 
294 WIRT's LIFB of 
 
 daring, that they are an extremely imperfect representation 
 of them ; and their ability iP'correct them so frequently from 
 memory, establishes the fact, that it was not the charm of de- 
 livery merely, which constituted the difference between the re* 
 port and the original. 
 
 This is not the only instance in which a great orator has 
 been ipjured, by imperfect attempts to represent him : for 
 (to say nothing of those modern proofs, which will easily 
 occur to the reader) we are told that the great Pericles 
 himself met with a similar fate. *' Some harangues of Peri- 
 cles were still extant in Quintilian's time ; but that learned 
 rhetorician, finding them disproportioned to the high reputa- 
 tion of this great man, approved the opinion of those who 
 looked upon them as a supposititious work. An indifferent 
 harangue, however, being recited by an excellent orator, may 
 charm the hearers. Action is almost all T^ Article Pericles. 
 
 Candour and justice, however, require us to repeat, that Mr. 
 Robertson's reports are unquestionable, in point of good faith; 
 and that they are highly valuable, on account of the accuracy and 
 fidelity with which they are believed to have preserved the 
 substance of the debates. It is with extreme regret that the 
 author has made a single comment to their disadvantage; but 
 justice to Mr. Henry has made it indispensable. 
 
 The basis of Mr. Henry's intellectual character was strong' 
 natural sense. His knowledge of human nature was, as we 
 have seen, consummate. His wisdom was that of observation, 
 rather than of reading. His fancy, although sufficiently preg- 
 nant to furnish supplies for the occasion, was not so exuberant 
 as to oppress him with its productions. He was never guilty 
 of the fault, with which Corinna is said to have reproached her 
 rival Pindar, of pouring his vase of flowers all at once upon 
 the ground ; on the contrary, their beauty and their excellence 
 were fully observed, from their rarity, and the happiness with 
 which they were distributed through his speeches. 
 
 His feelings were strong, yet completely under his command ; 
 they rose up to the occasion, but were never suffered to over* 
 flow it; his language was often careless, sometimes incor- 
 rect ; yet upon the whole it was pure and perspicuous, giv- 
 ing out his thoughts in full and clear proportion ; free from af- 
 fectation, and frequently beautiful ; strong without effort, ant; 
 adapted to the occasion ; nervous in argument, burning in pas- 
 sion, and capable of matching the loftiest flights of his genius. 
 
 It may perhaps assist the reader's conception of Mr. Henry's 
 peculiar cast of eloquence, to state the points in which he dif- 
 fered from some other orators. Those which distinguished 
 him from Mr. Lee have been already exhibited. Colonel Innis's 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 296 
 
 manner was also very different. His habitual indolence fol- 
 lowed him into debate ; he generally contented himself with a 
 single view of his subject; but that was given with irresistible 
 power. 
 
 His eloquence was indeed a mighty and a roaring torrent ; it 
 had not, however, that property of Horace's stream, lahitur et 
 lahetuTy in omne volubilis cBvum — on the contrary, it com- 
 monly ran by in half an hour. But it bore a striking resem- 
 blance to the eloquence of Lord Chatham ; it was a short but 
 bold and most terrible assault — a vehement, impetuous and 
 overwhelming burst — a magnificent meteor, which shot majes- 
 tically across the heavens, from pole to pole, and straight ex- 
 pired in a glorious blaze. 
 
 Mr. Henry, on the contrary, however indolent in his gene- 
 ral life, was never so in debate, where the occasion called for 
 exertion. He rose against the pressure, with the most uncon- 
 querable perseverance. He held his subject up in every light 
 in which it could be placed ; yet always with so much power, 
 and so much beauty, as never to weary his audience, but on the 
 contrary to delight them. He had more art than Colonel Innis : 
 he appealed to every motive of interest — urged every argu- 
 ment that could convince — pressed every theme of persuasion — 
 awakened every feeling, and roused every passion to his aid. 
 He had more variety, too, in his manner ; sometimes he was 
 very little above the tone of conversation ; at others in the 
 highest strain of epic sublimity. 
 
 His course was of longer continuance — his flights better 
 sustained, and more diversified, both in their direction, and 
 velocity. He rose like the thunder-bearer of Jove, when he 
 mounts on strong and untiring wing, to sport in fearless majesty 
 over the troubled deep — now sweeping in immense and rapid 
 circles — then suddenly arresting his grand career, and hover- 
 ing aloft in tremulous and terrible suspense — at one instant, 
 plunged amid the foaming waves — at the next, reascending on 
 high, to play undaunted among the lightnings of heaven, or soar 
 toward the sun. 
 
 He differed too, from those orators of Great Britain, with 
 whom we have become acquainted by their printed speeches. 
 He had not the close method and high polish of those of Eng- 
 land ; nor the exuberant imagery which distinguishes those of 
 Ireland. On the contrary, he was loose, irregular, desultory — 
 sometimes rough and abrupt — careless in connecting the parts 
 of his discourse, but grasping whatever he touched with gigan- 
 tic strength. In short, he was the Orator of Nature ; and 
 such a one as Nature might not blush to avow. 
 
 If the reader shall still demand how he acquired those won- 
 
296 PATRICK HENRY. 
 
 derful powers of speaking which have been assigned to him, 
 we can only answer, with Gray, that they were the gift of 
 Heaven — the birthright of ^nius. 
 
 " Thme too, these keys, immortal boy ! 
 This can unlock the gates of joy ; 
 Of horror, that, and thrilling fears. 
 Or ope the sacred source of sympathetic tears." 
 
 It has been said of Mr. Henry, by Mr. John Randolph, of 
 Roanoke, with inimitable felicity, that '*he was Shakspeare 
 and Garrick combined !" Let the reader then imagine the 
 wonderful talents of those two men united in the same indi- 
 vidual, and transferred from scenes of fiction to the business 
 of real life, and he will have formed some conception of the 
 eloquence of Patrick Henry. In a word, he was one of those 
 perfect prodigies of Nature, of whom very few have been pro- 
 duced since the foundations of the earth were laid ; and of 
 him may it be said, as truly as of any one that ever existed :-— 
 
 ** He was a man, take him for all in all, 
 We ne'er shall look upon his like again^ 
 
/ 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 NOTE A. 
 
 It appears by the journals of the house of burgesses, of the 14th November, 
 seventeen hundred and sixty-four, (page 38,) that a committee was appointed 
 to draw up the following address, memorial, and remonstrance ; which com- 
 mittee was composed of the following persons, to wit : Mr. Attorney, (Peyton 
 Randolph,) Mr. Richard Henry Lee, Mr. Landon Carter, Mr. Wythe, Mr. 
 Edmund Pendleton, Mr. Benjamin Harrison, Mr. Gary, and Mr. Fleming, to 
 whom, afterward, Mr. Bland was added. The address to the king is from the 
 pen of the attorney.* 
 
 *' To the king^s most excellent Majesty, 
 " Most Gracious Sovereign, 
 
 " We, your majesty's dutiful and loyal subjects, the council and burgesses 
 of your ancient colony and dominion of Virginia^ now met in general assembly, 
 beg leave to assure your majesty of our firm and inviolable attachment to your 
 sacred person and government ; and as your faithful subjects here have at all 
 times been zealous to demonstrate this truth, by a ready compliance with the 
 royal requisitions during the late war, by which a heavy and oppressive debt 
 of near half a million had been incurred, so at this time they implore permis- 
 sion to approach the throne with humble confidence, and to entreat that your 
 majesty will be graciously pleased to protect our people of this colony in the 
 enjoyment of their ancient and inestimable right of being governed by such 
 laws, respecting their internal polity and taxation, as are derived from their 
 own consent, with the approbation of their sovereign or his substitute ; a right 
 which, as men, and descendants of Britons, they have ever quietly possessed, 
 since, first by royal permission and encouragement, they left the mother king- 
 dom to extend its commerce and dominion. 
 
 •' Your majesty's dutiful subjects of Virginia most humbly and unanimously 
 hope, that this invaluable birthright, descended to them from their ancestors, 
 and in which they have been protected by your royal predecessors, will not be 
 suflfered to receive an injury under the reign of your sacred majesty, already 
 so illustriously distinguished by your gracious attention to the liberties of the 
 people. 
 
 " That your majesty may long live to make nations happy, is the ardent 
 prayer of your faithful subjects, the council and burgesses of Virginia^ 
 
 The author cannot learn who drew the following memorial ; but from tne 
 style of the composition, compared with the members of the committee, and 
 the distribution of its other labours, he thinks it probable that it was Mr. Pen- 
 dleton ; possibly Mr. Bland. 
 
 • On the authority of Mr. Jefferson. 
 
298 APPENDIX. 
 
 •' To the Right Honourable the LoiiFSpiritual and Temporal, in Parliament 
 assembled:— 
 
 " The Memorial of the Council and Burgesses of Virginia, now met in General 
 
 Assembly, 
 " Humbly represents, 
 
 " That your memorialists hope an application to your lordships, the fixed 
 and hereditary guardians of British liberty, will not be thought improper at this 
 time, when measures are proposed, subversive, as they conceive, of that free- 
 dom, which all men, especially those who derive their constitution from Britain, 
 have a right to enjoy ; and they flatter themselves that your lordships will not 
 look upon them as objects so unworthy your attention, as to regard any impro- 
 priety in the form or manner of their application, for your lordships' protection, 
 of their ust and undoubted rights as Britons. 
 
 " It cannot be presumption in your memorialists to call themselves by this 
 distinguished name, since they are descended from Britons, who left their 
 native country to extend its territory and dominion, and who, happily for 
 Britain, and as your memorialists once thought, for themselves too, effected 
 this purpose. As our ancestors brought with them every right and privilege 
 they could with justice claim in their mother kingdom, their descendants may 
 conclude, they cannot be deprived of those rights without injustice. 
 
 " Your memorialists conceive it to be a fundamental principle of the British 
 constitution, without which freedom can nowhere exist, that the people are 
 not subject to any taxes but such as are laid on them by their own consent or 
 by those who are legally appointed to represent them : property must become 
 too precarious for the genius of a free people which can be taken from them 
 at the will of others, who cannot know what taxes such people can bear, or 
 the easiest mode of raising them ; and who are not under that restraint, which 
 is the greatest security against a burdensome taxation, when the representa- 
 tives themselves must be affected by every tax imposed on the people. 
 
 "Your memorialists are therefore led into an humble confidence, that your 
 .ordships will not think any reason sufficient to support such a power, in the 
 British parliament, w'here the colonies cannot be represented : a power never 
 before constitutionally assumed, and which, if they have a right to exercise on 
 any occasion, must necessarily establish this melancholy truth, that the inhab- 
 itants of the colonies are the slaves of Britons from whom they are descended : 
 and from whom they might expect every indulgence that the obligations of 
 interest and affection can entitle them to. 
 
 " Your memorialists have been invested with the right of taxing their own 
 people from the first establishment of a regular government in the colony, and 
 requisitions have been constantly made to them by their sovereigns, on all 
 occasions when the assistance of the colony was thought necessary to preserve 
 the British interest in America ; from whence they must conclude they cannot 
 now be deprived of a right they have so long enjoyed, and which they have 
 never forfeited. 
 
 ♦• The expenses incurred during the last war, in compUance with the demands 
 on this colony by our late and present most gracious sovereigns, have involved 
 us in a debt of near half a million, a debt not likely to decrease under the 
 continued expense we are at, in providing for the security of the people against 
 the incursions of our savage neighbours ; at a time when the low state of our 
 staple commodity, the total want of specie, and the late restrictions upon the 
 trade of the colonies, render the circumstances of the people extremely distress- 
 ful ; and which, if taxes are accumulated upon them by the British parliament, 
 will make them truly deplorable. 
 
APIPENDIX. 299 
 
 " Your memorialists cannot suggest to themselves any reason why they 
 should not still be trusted with the property ol their people, with whose abilities, 
 and the least burdensome mode of taxing, (with great deference to the superior 
 wisdom of parliament,) they must be best acquamted. 
 
 " Your memorialists hope they shall not be suspected of being actuated, on 
 this occasion, by any principles but those of the purest loyalty and affection, as 
 they always endeavoured by their conduct to demonstrate, that they consider 
 their connexion with Great Britain, the seat of liberty, as their greatest hap- 
 piness. 
 
 *' The duty they owe to themselves and their posterity, lays your memorial- 
 ists under the necessity of endeavouring to establish their constitution upon its 
 proper foundation ; and they do most humbly pray your lordships to take this 
 subject into your consideration with the attention that is due to the well-being 
 of the colonies, on which the prosperity of Great Britain does, in a great 
 measure, depend." 
 
 Mr. Wythe was the author of the following remonstrance. '* It was done 
 with so much freedom, that, as he told me himself, his colleagues of the com- 
 mittee shrunk from it as wearing the aspect of treason, and smoothed its 
 features to its present form."* 
 
 ♦' To the Honourable the Knights, Citizens, and Burgesses of Great Britain, in 
 Parliament assembled : — 
 
 " The Remonstrance of the Council and Burgesses of Virginia. 
 
 *'It appearing, by the printed votes of the house of commons of Great 
 Britain in parliament assembled, that in a committee of the whole house the 
 seventeenth day of March, last, it was resolved, that toward defending, pro- 
 tecting, and securing the British colonies and plantations in America, it may 
 be proper to charge certain stamp duties in the said colonies and plantations ; 
 and it being apprehended that the same subject, which was then declined, may 
 be resumed and further pursued in a succeeding session, the council and bur- 
 gesses of Virginia, met in general assembly, judge it their indispensable duty, 
 in a respectful manner, but with decent firmness, to remonstrate against such 
 a measure ; that at least a cession of those rights, which in their opinion must 
 be infringed by that procedure, may not be inferred from their silence, at so 
 important a crisis. 
 
 " They conceive it is essential to British liberty, that laws, imposing taxes 
 on the people, ought not to be made without the consent of representatives 
 chosen by themselves ; who, at the same time that they are acquainted with 
 the circumstances of their constituents, sustain a portion of the burden laid on 
 them. The privileges, inherent in the persons who discovered and settled 
 these regions, could not be renounced or forfeited by their removal hither, 
 not as vagabonds or fugitives, but licensed and encouraged by their prince, 
 and animated with a laudable desire of enlarging the British dominion, and 
 extending its commerce : on the contrary, it was secured to them and their 
 descendants, with all other rights and immunities of British subjects, by a royal 
 charter, which hath been invariably recognised and confirmed by his majesty 
 and his predecessors, in their commissions to the several governors, grantincr a 
 power, and prescribing a form of legislation ; according to which, laws for 
 the administration of justice, and for the welfare and good government of the 
 colony, have been hitherto enacted by the governor, council, and general 
 assembly ; and to them, requisitions and applications for supplies have been 
 directed by the crown. As an instance of the opinion which former sovereigns 
 entertained of these rights and privileges, we beg leave to refer to three acts 
 
 * Mr, Jefferson. 
 
300 APPENDIX. 
 
 of the general assembly, passed in the thirty-second year of the reign of King 
 Charles II. (one of which is entitled ' An act for raising a public revenue for 
 the better support of the gove'^nmerit^ his majesty's colony of Virginia,^ impo- 
 sing several duties for that purpose,) which being thought absolutely necessary, 
 were prepared in England, and sent over by their then governor, the lord 
 Culpepper, to be passed by the general assembly, with a full power to give 
 the royal assent thereto ; and which were accordingly passed, after several 
 amendments were made to them here ; thus tender was his majesty of the 
 rights of his American subjects ; and the remonstrants do not discern by what 
 distinction they can be deprived of that sacred birthright and most valuable 
 inheritance by their fellow-subjects, nor with what propriety they can be taxed 
 or affected in their estates, by the parliament, wherein they are not, and indeed 
 cannot constitutionally, be represented. 
 
 " And if it were proper for the parliament to impose taxes on the colonies at 
 all, which the remonstrants take leave to think would be inconsistent with the 
 fundamental principles of the constitution, the exercise of that power, at this 
 time, would be ruinous to Virginia, who exerted herself in the late war, it is 
 feared beyond her strength, insomuch that to redeem the money granted for 
 that exigence, her people are taxed for several years to come ; this, with the 
 larger expenses incurred for defending the frontiers against the restless Indians, 
 who have infested her as much since the peace as before, is so grievous, that 
 an increase of the burthen would be intolerable ; especially as the people are 
 very greatly distressed already from the scarcity of circulating cash among 
 them, and from the little value of their staple at the British markets. 
 
 " And it is presumed, that adding to that load which the colony now labours 
 under, will not be more oppressive to her people than destructive of the inter- 
 ests of Great Britain : for the plantation trade, confined as it is to the mother- 
 country, hath been a principal means of multiplying and enriching her inhabit- 
 ants ; and, if not too much discouraged, may prove an inexhaustible source of 
 treasure to the nation. For satisfaction in this point, let the present state of 
 the British fleets and trade be compared with what they were before the set- 
 tlement of the colonies ; and let it be considered, that while property in land 
 may be acquired on very easy terms, in the vast uncultivated territory of 
 North America, the colonists will be mostly, if not wholly, employed in agri- 
 culture ; whereby the exportation of their commodities to Great Britain, and 
 the consumption of manufactures supplied from thence, will be daily increas- 
 ing. But this most desirable connexion between Great Britain and her colo- 
 nies, supported by such a happy intercourse of reciprocal benefits as is 
 continually advancing the prosperity of both, must be interrupted, if the people 
 of the latter, reduced to extreme poverty, should be compelled to manufacture 
 those articles they have been hitherto furnished with from the former. 
 
 " From these considerations, it is hoped that the honourable house of com- 
 mons will not prosecute a measure which those who may suffer under it cannot 
 but look upon as fitter for exiles driven from their native country, after igno- 
 miniously forfeiting her favours and protection, than for the posterity of Britons, 
 who have at all times been forward to demonstrate all due reverence to the 
 mother-kingdom ; and are so instrumental in promoting her glory and felicity ; 
 and that British patriots will never consent to the exercise of any anti-consti- 
 tutional power which, even in this remote corner, may be dangerous in its 
 example to the interior parts of the British empire, and will certainlv be 
 detrimental to its commerce." 
 
A1^P£NDt£. 301 
 
 NOTE B. 
 
 Council Chamber, October 17th, 1785. 
 Sib — Since the last session of assembly, I have received sundry acts, reso- 
 lutions, and other communications from congress, which I transmit to the 
 general assembly, marked No. 1, and which will claim the attention of the 
 legislature, according to their nature and importance, respectively. 
 
 Tho execution of the militia law hath caused much embarrassment to the 
 executive. Compelled to name all the field officers throughout the state, and 
 possessing sufficient information as to the fitness of individuals for these offices 
 in a few counties only, they were constrained to search out proper persons, by 
 such means as accident furnished, and by letters addressed to the several 
 counties. In some instances, the gentleman to whom they were addressed, 
 refused to give any information. In many others, the answers came too late 
 to avail ; the law directing the commissions to issue the first of April. In this 
 situation, the business has been conducted : and from a partial knowledge ot 
 characters in some counties, and a total ignorance of them in others, I am 
 sensible many who are worthy of command have been passed by, and others 
 less fit for office may have been commissioned. And notwithstanding a close 
 attention has been given to this business, many of the counties have not yet 
 been officered, for want of the recommendations of captains and subalterns. 
 
 Finding that the arms and ammunition directed to be purchased, could not 
 be procured except from beyond the sea, application has been made by me to 
 Mr. Jefferson and the Marquis de la Fayette, requesting their assistance to Mr. 
 Barclay, (who was commissioned to m?Jce the purchase,) in accomplishing this 
 important work ; and I have the satisfaction to find, that the affair is in such a 
 train as to promise the speedy arrival of these much-wanted articles. For 
 more full information respecting this transaction, I send you sundry letters, 
 (Ko. 2,) by one of which you will see that our noble friend the marquis offers 
 us his services, if there shall be occasion for them. 
 
 I transmit, herewith, a letter from the honourable Mr. Hardy, covering a 
 memorial to congress from sundry inhabitants of Washington county, praying 
 the establishment of an independent state, to be bounded as is therein express- 
 ed. The proposed limits include a vast extent of country in which we have 
 numerous and very respectable settlements, which, in their growth, will form 
 an invaluable barrier between this country and those who, in the course of 
 events, may occupy the vast plains westward of the mountains, some of whom 
 may have views incompatible with our safety. Already the militia of that 
 part of the state is among the most respectable we have : and by these means 
 it is, that the neighbouring Indians are awed into professions of friendship. 
 But a circumstance has lately happened, which renders the possession of that 
 territory, at the present time, indispensable to the peace and safety of Virginia : 
 I mean the assumption of sovereign power by the western inhabitants of North 
 Carolina. If these people, who, without consulting their own safety or any 
 other authority known in the American constitution, have assumed govern- 
 ment, and while unallied to us, and under no engagements to pursue the objects 
 of the federal government, they shall be strengthened by the accession of so 
 great a part of our country, consequences /atal to our repose will probably 
 follow. It is to be observed, that the setiiements of this new society stretch 
 on to great extent in contact with ours in Washington county, and thereby 
 expose our citizens to the contagion of chat example, which bids fair to destroy 
 the peace of North Carolina. 
 
 In this state of things it is, that variety of informations have come to me, 
 stating that several persons, but especially Col. Arthur Campble, have used 
 
 26 
 
302 APPENDIX. 
 
 their utmost endeavours, and with some success, to persuade the citizens in 
 that quarter to break off from this^pmmonwealth, and attach themselves to- 
 the newly-assumed government, or erect one distinct from it. And in order to 
 effect this purpose, the equity and authority of the laws have been arraigned, 
 the collection of the taxes impeded, and our national character impeached. 
 But as I send you the several papers I have received on that subject, I need 
 not enlarge further than remark that if this most important part of our territory 
 be lopped off, we lose that barrier for which our people have long and often 
 fought, that nursery of soldiers from which future armies may be levied, and 
 through which it will be almost impossible for our enemies to penetrate : we 
 shall aggrandize the new state, whose connexions, views, and designs we know 
 not ; shall cease to be formidable to our savage neighbours, or respectable ta 
 our western settlements, at present and in future. 
 
 While these and many other matters were contemplated by the executive,- 
 it is natural to suppose, the attempt for separation was discouraged by every 
 lawful means ; the chief of which was, displacing such of the field officers of 
 militia, in Washington county, as were active partisans for separation, in order 
 to prevent the weight of office being cast in the scale against this state : ta 
 this end a proclamation was issued, declaring the militia law of the last session 
 in force in that county, and appointments of officers were made agreeable to it. 
 
 I hope to be excused for expressing a wish, that the assembly, in deliberating 
 on this affair, will prefer lenient measures in order to reclaim our erring fellow- 
 citizens. Their taxes have run into three years' arrear, and, thereby, grown 
 to an amount beyond the ability of many to discharge, while the system ol 
 our trade has been such, as to render their agriculture unproductive of money ; 
 and I cannot but suppose, that if even the warmest supporters of separation 
 had seen the mischievous consequences of it, they would have retracted ; and 
 condemned that intemperance in their own proceedings, which opposition in 
 sentiments is too apt to produce. 
 
 A letter from the countess of Huntingdon, and another from Sir James Jay, 
 expressing her intentions to attempt the civilization of the Indians, are also 
 sent you. It will rest with the assembly to decide upon the means for execu- 
 ting this laudable design, that reflects so much honour on that worthy lady. 
 
 By a resolution of the last assembly, the auditors were prevented from liqui- 
 dating the claims of the officers and soldiers, after the first day of May last. 
 Although the wisdom of such a measure must be admitted, yet several cases 
 have come to my knowledge where claims, founded upon the clearest principles 
 of justice, have been rejected by reason of that restriction: and when I con- 
 sider that the claim;»nts will be found to consist, in considerable degree, of 
 widows, orphans, and those who have been taken prisoners, I am persuaded 
 the assembly will think that a rigorous adherence to the forement.oned resolu- 
 tion is improper, and that justice wjll be done to the claims of those few, 
 whose poverty, ignorance, or other misfortunes, prevented earlier applica- 
 tions. 
 
 By Mr. Ross's letter No. 5, the assembly will observe his demand against 
 the state, and that it can be properly discussed only by the legislature. Al- 
 though the post at Point of Fork has been long occupied, I cannot discover 
 the least trace of title to the ground vested in the public, or any previous 
 stipulation with the proprietor for the temporary possession of it. While the 
 assembly are considering of a proper satisfaction to the owner for the time past, 
 I trust provision will be made to secure a permanent repository for the public 
 arms and military stores, at that or some other place most proper for the 
 purpose. 
 
 The honourable William Nelson hath resigned his office as a member of th* 
 council, as appears by his letter. No. 6. 
 
 The honourable Henry Tazewell, esq., has been appointed a judge of the 
 
APPENDIX. 303 
 
 general court in the room of the honourable B. Danbridge, esq., deceased, until 
 the assembly shall signify their pleasure. 
 
 The honourable George Muter, esq., has been appointed a judge of the 
 general court in Kentucky, in the room of Cyrus Griffin, esq., who resigned 
 his appointment. 
 
 Thomas Massie, esq., having resigned his appointment for opening a road 
 on the northwestern frontier, Joseph Neville, esq., has been appointed in his 
 room. 
 
 The report of the commissioners for disposing of the Gosport lands, No. 9, 
 will explain to the assembly their transactions in that business. 
 
 Mr. Rene Rapicault, of New Orleans, exhibited an account against this 
 commonwealth for a considerable sum of money which appears to be due to 
 him. But as it will be found by reference to his papers, No. 10, that this 
 debt, however just, cannot be paid from any fund now existing, it is submitted 
 to the legislature to make such provision for its payment, as to them shall 
 seem proper. 
 
 The report of the commissioners for extending the boundary line between 
 Virginia and Pennsylvania, No. 11, will explain the manner in which that 
 business has been executed. 
 
 By Mr. Jefferson's letters it appears, that the original sum granted to pro- 
 cure a statue of General Washington will be deficient. The further sum 
 wanting, together with the reasons for increasing the expense of the worli, 
 will appear by Mr. Jefferson's correspondence, No. 12. 
 
 The crews of the boats Liberty and Patriot were ordered to be enlisted for 
 twelve months from August last, unless sooner discharged. This was done in 
 order that the assembly might, if they judged proper, determine to discontinue 
 them, or if they are retained, make suitable provision for their support : hith- 
 erto, that has been defrayed out of the contingent fund. But the great variety 
 of expenses charged on that fund, make it necessary, in future, to provide some 
 other mode of support for them. The assembly will, no doubt, observe in the 
 course of their deliberations on the subject of revenue, that it is necessary for 
 the executive to commission the officers. The officer commanding one of these 
 boats has detected several persons attempting to evade the payment of duty, 
 and in compliance with the law, as he supposes, took bonds for the payments 
 of the penalties imposed for making false entries. But it seems there are great 
 difficulties in recovering judgment on these bonds, owing to ambiguity in the 
 law respecting the subject. The assembly will apply such remedy for this 
 evil as they think proper. 
 
 Application hath been made to the executive, on the subject of paying into 
 the continental treasury, warrants for interest due on loan-office certificates, 
 and other liquidated claims against the continent. And although there can be 
 no doubt that payments made by the treasurer to the continental receiver, may 
 include the proportion of warrants specified by congress in their acts of the 
 twenty-eighth of April, seventeen hundred and eighty-four, yet the receiver, 
 when possessed of the cash, although it was unaccompanied by any warrants, 
 does not conceive himself justified in parting with any money in exchange for 
 them. So that until the assembly shall interpose, by making these warrants 
 receivable at the treasury, our citizens will suffer great injury, and be deprived 
 of a facility enjoyed by the citizens of the other states. 
 
 The sum of money allowed by the assembly in their resolution of the thir- 
 teenth of June, seventeen hundred and eighty-three, for compiling, printing, 
 and binding the laws, has proved inadequate to the purpose ; five hundred 
 pounds having been expended in the printing, and two hundred and fifty en- 
 gaged to be divided among the gentlemen who made the compilation ; so that 
 nothing is left to pay for the binding. 
 
 I cannot forbear informing the assembly, that many county courts have failed 
 
304 APPEXDIX. 
 
 to recommend sheriffs in the months of June and July. In consequence of this, 
 many of the counties will be without sheriffs, inasmuch as the executive think 
 they have no power to issue commi^lns in such cases. As this evil threatens 
 so many parts of the state with anarchy, I have no doubt of the legislature 
 remedying it with all possible despatch. 
 
 I have the honour to be, with great regard, 
 
 Your most obedient, humble servant, 
 
 P. HENRY. 
 The Honourable the Speaker of the House of Delegates. 
 
 NOTE C. 
 
 Judge Tucker, in his edition of Blackstone, having fallen into Mr. Ran* 
 dolph's mistake, in regard to the case of Josiah Philips, the following note has 
 been furnished to the author by the gentleman who was the chairman of the 
 committee : — 
 
 " The case of Josiah Philips, I find strangely represented by Judge Tucker 
 and Mr. Edmund Randolph, and very negligently vindicated by Mr. Henry. 
 That case is personally known to me, because I was of the legislature at the 
 time, was one of those consulted by Mr. Henry, and had my share in the pas- 
 sage of the bill. I never before saw the observation of those gentlemen, which 
 you quote on this case, and will now, therefore, briefly make some strictures 
 on them. 
 
 " Judge Tucker, instead of a definition of the functions of bills of attainder, 
 has given a just diatribe against their abuse. The occasion and proper office 
 of a bill of attainder is this ; when a person charged with a crime withdraws 
 from justice, or resists it by force, either in his own or a foreign country, no 
 other means of bringing him to trial or punishment being practicable, a special 
 act is passed by the legislature, adapted to the particular case ; this prescribes 
 to him a sufficient term to appear and submit to a trial by his peers, declares 
 that his refusal to appear shall be taken as a confession of guilt, as in the ordi- 
 nary case of an offender at the bar refusing to plead, and pronounces the sen>- 
 tence which would have been rendered on his confession or conviction in a 
 court of law. No doubt that these acts of attainder have been abused in Eng- 
 land as instruments of vengeance by a successful over a defeated party, but 
 what institution is insusceptible of abuse, in wicked hands ? 
 
 " Again, the judge says, ' the court refused to pass sentence of execution 
 pursuant to the directions of the act.' The court could not refuse this, because 
 it was never proposed to them, and my authority for this assertion shall be pre- 
 sently given. 
 
 " For the perversion of a fact so intimately known to himself, Mr. Randolph 
 can be excused only by our indulgence for orators who, pressed by a powerful 
 adversary, lose sight, in the ardour of conflict, of the rigoious accuracies of 
 fact, and permit their imagination to distort and colour them to the views of the 
 moment. He was attorney-general at the time, and told me himself, the first 
 time I saw him after the trial of Philips, that when taken and delivered up to 
 justice, he had thought it best to make no use of the act of attainder, and to 
 take no measure under it; and that he had indicted him, at the common law, 
 either for murder or robbery, (I forget which, and whether for both,) that he 
 was tried on this indictment in the ordinary way, found guilty b}-- the jury, sen- 
 tenced and executed under the common law ; a course which every one ap- 
 proved, because the first object of the act of attainder was, to bring him to a fair 
 trial. Whether Mr. Randolph was right in this information to me, or, when in 
 the debate with Mr. Henry, he represents this atrocious offender as sentenced 
 and executed under the act of attainder, let the record of the case decide. 
 
APPENDIX. 305 
 
 ** • Without being confronted with his accusers and witnesses, without the 
 privilege of caliing for evidence in his behalf, he was sentenced to death, and 
 afterward actually executed.' I appeal to the universe to produce one single 
 Instance from the first establishment of government in this state to the present 
 day, where, in a trial at bar, a criminal has been refused confrontation with his 
 accusers and witnesses, or denied the privilege of calling for evidence in his 
 behalf. Had it been done in this case, I would have asked of the attorney- 
 general, why he proposed or permitted it ? But, without having seen the re- 
 cord, I will venture, on the character of our courts, to deny that it was done. 
 But if Mr. Randolph meant, only, that Philips had not these advantages, on the 
 passage of the bill of attainder, how idle to charge the legislature with omitting 
 to confront the culprit with his witnesses, when he was standing out in arms, 
 and in defiance of their authority; and their sentence was to take effect, only 
 on his own refusal to come in and be confronted. We must either, therefore, 
 consider this as a mere hyperbolism of imagination, in the heat of debate, or, 
 what I should rather believe, a defective statement by the reporter of Mr. Ran- 
 dolph's argument. I suspect this last the rather, because this point in the 
 charge of Mr. Randolph is equally omitted in the defence of Mr, Henry. This 
 gentleman must have known that Philips was tried and executed under the 
 common law, and yet, according to this report, he rests his defence on a justifica- 
 tion of the attainder only. But all who knew Mr. Henry, know, that when at 
 ease in argument, he was sometimes careless, not giving himself the trouble of 
 ransacking either his memory or imagination for all the topics of his subject, or 
 his audience that of hearing them. No man on earth knew better when he had 
 said enough for his hearers. 
 
 "Mr. Randolph charges us with having read the bill three times in the same 
 day. I do not remember the fact, nor whether this was enforced on us by the 
 urgency of the ravages of Philips, or of the time at which the bill was intro- 
 duced. I have some idea it was at or near the close of the session. The jour- 
 nals, which I have not, will ascertain this fact." 
 
 The following proceedings against Josiah Philips and his associates, are 
 extracted from the records of the general court ; and are followed by the notice 
 of the execution of these men, from the public prints of the day : which, it is 
 hoped, will put a final end to this mistake, so little to the honour of our revo- 
 lution. ^ 
 
 " Virginia, to wit :— 
 
 " The jurors for the commonwealth, upon their oath present: That Josiah 
 Philips, late of the parish of Lynhaven, in the county of Princess Ann, labourer, 
 on the ninth day of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred 
 and seventy-eight, with force and arras, at the parish aforesaid, in the county 
 aforesaid, in the highway of the commonwealth there, in and upon one James 
 Hargrove, in the peace of God and of the commonwealth, then and there being, 
 feloniously did make an assault, and him, the said James Hargrove, in bodily 
 fear and danger of his life, in the highway aforesaid, then and there feloniously 
 did put, and twenty-eight men's felt hats of the value of twenty shillings each, 
 and five pounds of twine of the value of five shillings each pound, of the goods 
 and chattels of the same James Hargrove, from the person and against the will 
 of the said James Hargrove, in the highway aforesaid, then and there feloniously 
 and violently did steal, take and carry away, against the peace and dignity of 
 the commonwealth. 
 
 " Witness.— James Hargrove, Benjamin Grifl5n, William Lovett, Polly Davis, 
 Horatio Davis, and#3hn Matthias. Sworn in court, Oct. 20th, 1778. 
 
 John May." 
 
 The above endictment is thus endorsed : — 
 
 « An endictment against Josiah Philips for robbery," (in Mr. Randolph*."! 
 hand- writing.) « A true bill. Wm. Holt, foreman." 
 
 26* 
 
308 APPENDIX. 
 
 « Virginia, 
 
 «< In the General^jpwrt, 20th October, 1778. 
 «< Josiah Philips, late of the parish of Lynhaven, in the county of Princess 
 Ann labourer, who stands endicted for robbery, was led to the bar in custody 
 of the keeper of the public jail, and was thereof arraigned, and pleaded not 
 guilty to the endictment, and for his trial put himself upon God and his coun- 
 try Whereupon came a jury, to wit : James Letate, Thomas Stanley, Gilliara 
 Booth, Stapieton Crutchfield, John Tankerley, John Draper, Leonard Henley, 
 Micajah Chiles, Richard Swepson, William James Lewis, Thomas Cowles, 
 and Ambrose Raines, who, being elected, tried and sworn the truth ot, and 
 upon premises to speak, and having heard the evidence, upon their oath to say, 
 that the said Josiah Philips is guilty of the robbery aforesaid m manner and lorm 
 as in the endictment against him is alleged, and that he had neither lands nor 
 tenements, goods nor chattels at the time of committing the said robbery, nor at 
 any time since, to their knowledge; and thereupon he is remanded to jail. 
 
 " October the 27th, 1778. 
 « Josiah Philips, late of the parish of Lynhaven, in the county of Princess 
 Ann, labourer, who stands convicted of robbery, was again led to the bar m 
 custody of the keeper of the public jail, and thereupon it being demanded ot 
 him if any thing he had or knew to say for himself, why the court here, to 
 judgment and execution of and upon the premises, should not proceed, he said 
 he had nothing but what he had before said. Therefore, it is considered by the 
 court, that he be hanged by the neck until he be dead. 
 
 « October 28, 1778. 
 « John Lowry, John Reizen, and Charles Bowman, for murder, Josiah Philips, 
 James Hodges, Henry M'Lalen, and Robert Hodges, for robbery, J -.imes Ran- 
 dolph for horse-stealing, Joseph Turner, otherwise called Josiah Blankenship, 
 for Burglary, and John Highwarden, for grand larceny, being under sentence ot 
 death by the judgment of the court yesterday passed against them lor their saia 
 offence : It is awarded that execution of the said sentence be severally made 
 and done upon them the said John Lowry, John Reizen, Chades Bowman, Jo- 
 siah Philips, James Hodges, Henry M'Lalen, Robert Hodges, James Randolph, 
 Joseph Turner, otherwise called Josiah Blankenship and John Highwarden, by 
 the sheriff- of York county, on Friday the fourth day of December next be. 
 tween the hours of ten and twelve in the forenoon, at the usual place of execu- 
 
 tion. 
 
 Copies— Teste, n n r ** 
 
 ^ « Pevton Drew, C. G. C." 
 
 Extract from Dixon and Hunter's paper of October 30th, 1778. 
 « WiLLiAMSBUHGH-At a general court, begun ^n^ held at the capitol the 
 10th instant, the following criminals were condemned to suifer d^^th: Charles 
 Bowman, from Prince George, for murder ; John Lovvry, ^^^"^ B^Jf^^'^' ^^^ 
 ditto; Josiah Philips, James Hodges, Robert Hodges and Henry M^Lalen Jrom 
 Princess Ann, for robbery: John Highwarden, from Fauquier, for grand larceny . 
 Joseph Turner, alias Josiah Blankenship, from Albemarle, tor burglary ; and 
 James Randolph, from Culpeper, for horse-stealing." 
 
 Extract from Dixon and Hunter's paper of December 4, 1778. 
 « WiLLiAMSBURGH-This day were executed, at the gallows °«^^ ^jiis city 
 pursuant to their sentence, the following cnmmals viz : Josiah Phihps, Henry 
 M'Lalen, Robert Hodges, John Reizen and Josiah Blankenship. 
 

 
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